A Triple Bounty

"C-cough... You bastards from the Idergo Cult...!"

The First Prince collapsed in disbelief. To think he would be defeated by such insignificant scum like the Idergo Cult!

Most of the damage had been dealt by Umbaka, and Tae-hyun had merely landed the final blow...

Still, the experience points he received were enough to level him up twice. That was how incredible the First Prince's level and status ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were!

Normally, Tae-hyun would check his items later when he was safe, but this time was different. Checking the items was of utmost importance.

‘Yes!’

Fortunately, he had succeeded in obtaining the First Prince's head. He had been worried, but it was now securely in his possession. Now, all he had to do was escape this island and return.

"?"

Both Tae-hyun and Carbanog were bewildered. What was this?

‘No, this is insane...!’

Tae-hyun was horrified. It wasn't like ordering a whole chicken and finding three necks inside—how on earth did three heads drop ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from one guy?!

His Luck stat was so absurdly high that the bonus item acquisition rate triggered this bizarre phenomenon.

‘No, it's incredibly creepy.’

Honestly, carrying three prince heads in his bag was deeply unsettling. He wasn't Cain—why did he have three heads?

"Groooooaaaar!"

Umbaka roared in fury. An intruder from the outside had stolen his prey. For Umbaka, who possessed immense pride in his culinary skills, this was an unforgivable offense!

Whoooooosh—

"?!"

Tae-hyun was startled. Umbaka tilted his head back, and a massive sphere of magical energy began to gather above his mouth.

That was just like...

‘A Dragon Breath?!’

As a self-proclaimed dragon expert, Tae-hyun quickly recognized the signs. That was definitely a breath attack!

"Everyone, prepare to retreat! We're pulling out!"

"!"

The players who had been launching attacks from behind hesitated. Retreat?

...Of course, they were more than happy to!

Having just received free experience points thanks to Tae-hyun finishing off the First Prince while they stood by, the players had absolutely no complaints about retreating. In fact, if Tae-hyun hadn't said anything, they might have run away first. The levels of the monsters here were just that terrifying.

"Damn it! I wanted to fight and wipe them all out, but we have to pull back! How frustrating!"

"But since Kim Tae-hyun is telling us to fall back, we have no choice!"

Still, having their pride to consider, the players made a show of being highly reluctant.

Seeing this, Hallus asked, "Should I ask Kim Tae-hyun to let us fight? If it's him, I feel like we could..."

"Just run, you idiot!"

"Fall back, fall back!!"

"...???"

"Plague Explosion! Endless Spring of Poison! Idergo's Terrible Curse!"

Tae-hyun cast spells frantically from the very rear. If he had been in his Avatar of Archisus state, it might have been easier to block such skills, but right now, he had no choice. He had to use the skills of the Avatar of Idergo!

‘Seriously, that Idergo guy is completely useless!’

"Plague Knight, forward! You have to block him!"

"Grrrrrr!"

The Plague Knight charged at Umbaka and began to launch a fierce assault. As he swung his rusty, poison-coated sword, explosive bursts of plague energy erupted, striking Umbaka.

"Roar!"

Perhaps annoyed by the Plague Knight's attacks, Umbaka stopped preparing his breath and slammed his fist down on the knight.

Craaaack!

Umbaka's attack power was monstrous. The formidable Plague Knight was crushed in a single blow. However, the authority of the Idergo Cult was not to be underestimated either.

The Plague Knight rapidly resurrected using the surrounding plague energy! He was dragging the battle into a muddy, exhausting brawl. This bought more than enough time for Tae-hyun's group to escape.

"Roar!"

With an annoyed expression, Umbaka pressed his attack against the Plague Knight. Although it looked like a tight match, Umbaka clearly held the upper hand. The Plague Knight was unable to deal any significant damage.

In the midst of this, Umbaka finally noticed Tae-hyun's group fleeing.

"Groooooaaaar!"

With fire in his eyes, Umbaka began to sprint toward them.

"We're spotted!"

"Kim Tae-hyun! What do we do?!" the players shouted in panic.

If Umbaka caught up now, at least two or three of them would die. They needed a way to buy time, no matter what!

‘Ugh, that Idergo guy is really of no help at times like this!’

No matter how powerful a spell he cast, Umbaka would likely ignore it and keep charging. His defense was just that solid. To divert his attention somehow...

"...This is crazy, but...!"

Tae-hyun pulled out an item. It wasn't a bomb, but the Head of the First Prince of Erangs Kingdom. Since he had three, he didn't need two of them!

Whoosh, whoosh—

Tae-hyun tossed one to the left and one to the right.

"Huh?"

Umbaka was thrown into utter confusion. The head that the intruder had clearly stolen had somehow returned, and now there were two of them?

"...It worked!! Run!!!"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

As Tae-hyun, who was at the very back, yelled, the remaining players sprinted forward without looking back.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Hallus asked, "How on earth did you...?!"

"...It's a long story, so I'll explain it to you later."

Tae-hyun's group ran like madmen.

Meanwhile, the knights realized something was off and turned their heads. Even though they were focused on their own battle, there was no way they could miss the commotion happening behind them.

They cried out in sheer horror.

"P-Prince!!!"

While they were fighting, the First Prince's head had somehow been severed from his body!

"The monsters did it!"

Tae-hyun shouted, feeling a slight pang of guilt, but his words didn't convince them at all.

"You bastards of the Idergo Cult!!!!!"

"We will slaughter you! We will hunt down every single one of your filthy kind and slaughter you all!"

"Are you listening, Idergo Cult?!"

"We swear on our honor as knights! We will live solely to kill you!!"

The knights screamed, their voices dripping with absolute rage and hatred. This was resentment on a completely different level than anything before. If they could avenge themselves on the Idergo Cult, they would gladly sell their souls to a demon!

"Roar!"

"You bastards! We won't let you escape!"

The knights abandoned everything and began to chase after Tae-hyun's group. The Golden Gorillas, in turn, began to chase after the knights.

A chaotic, three-way chase unfolded across the island's beaches.

"Kim Tae-hyun, this is dangerous! This is seriously dangerous!"

All the players here were high-level Rankers. Yet, even these Rankers were trembling in fear. The enemies chasing them from behind were simply too terrifying.

If they got caught, they felt like they would literally be forced to log out!

"Hmm. There is one way..."

"What is it?! What is it?! We'll do anything!"

"There's a skill that sacrifices one party member to grant a buff to the rest..."

"..."

"..."

Wasn't that the exact skill Cain had been subjected to during the tournament?

At the mention of using that skill, everyone's faces stiffened.

"Just kidding. We can't even use it in our current state anyway, and even if we did, there's no guarantee we could handle all of them."

They had to pull those gorillas and knights apart and deal with them one by one. Facing them all at once while they were grouped up like that was impossible, even with Deception.

‘I wish I could use Deception right about now.’

His newly acquired skill, Deception. He had thought of it as a useless skill that merely disguised his equipment to look like what the opponent feared most...

But now that he was the one being chased, that skill suddenly felt like a godsend. If only it weren't for that damn Idergo!

"Shouldn't we look for other members of our cult?!"

"Uh... no. It could be a trap by the Archisus Church disguised as them, so it's too dangerous."

Tae-hyun casually brushed off the words of the amnesiac Idergo priest. Even if they found them, far from helping, those priests would probably try to chop off Tae-hyun's head first.

"T-then, is this the end?"

"Stop talking nonsense! There's no way Lord Kim Tae-hyun didn't prepare a plan!!"

"Did you just call him 'Lord' Kim Tae-hyun?"

Hallus was no longer even trying to hide his fanboying, openly displaying his devotion. He had completely fallen for Tae-hyun after watching him clear the quest.

To clear a quest of impossible difficulty using all sorts of unorthodox methods—that was the very essence of an explorer.

This is what a true explorer looks like!!

"Lord Kim Tae-hyun! Please tell us! You have a way, don't you?!"

"Well... I do."

"?!?!"

At Tae-hyun's words, everyone's faces brightened. As expected of Kim Tae-hyun!

"You bastard, stop playing with our hearts!"

"I knew I could trust you!!"

"Hahaha, what a jokester!!"

"But the method is a bit incomplete, so I didn't really want to use it..."

"Are we really in a position to be picky right now?! Anything is fine! What is it?!"

"We take a boat and leave the island."

"...!"

Everyone was startled by Tae-hyun's words. It was something they hadn't even considered yet.

This island was a place they couldn't escape by flying or using magic. The only way out was to swim through the ocean!

They had assumed that obtaining a boat would be an immense task, requiring them to search the island for a village and complete various quests.

"There are no villages on this island. I think there are only monsters here. Even if we tried to find a village, we'd likely die before we could."

"B-but where are we going to get a boat?"

"When we were building the temporary fortress earlier, I was making one inside. It's not fully finished yet, but it should be seaworthy."

"Wait. When did you make that?"

One of the guild members listening was bewildered.

Surely, the only time Tae-hyun had was the brief moments while they were building the fortress and the short wait while repairing equipment?

Could he really build a boat in such a short amount of time??

"D-does that even make sense? Phil, does that make sense to you?"

"It... it shouldn't make sense, but since it's Kim Tae-hyun, somehow it does..."

Phil, the blacksmith, muttered in disbelief. Was it really possible to build a boat in that brief window?

"Of course, it's not fully completed. But the important thing is that we can ride it, right?"

"True."

"As long as we can get on it... Gasp! They're catching up! Speed up! Cast some buffs!"

"I'm on it! Haste! Wind Walk!"

"Kim Tae-hyun! Where is the boat?!"

"It's right up ahead."

"...Huh????"