“I Said Those Were Our Items!”
If it had been anyone else, Smith would’ve started by cursing him out.
But Smith was still showing restraint.
What a shining personality.
“Why are they your items?”
“Because we were the ones who cleared the quest first and worked to obtain them! Do you have any idea how much these Black Rock Sect guild members suffered?”
“I cleared a ton of prerequisite quests for this too, you know? It was even harder for me since I was alone.”
A lie that flew out in less than a second, without even wetting his lips!
And yet Smith flinched.
“I-is that truly so?”
“Smith! That’s a lie! Kim Tae-hyun could never have gotten a crown-related quest like that! He’s got nothing to do with Necromancers!”
The Black Rock Sect guild members beat their chests and shouted from behind him.
“Why not? I could’ve gotten it too.”
“Kim Tae-hyun…! I thought well of you. Were you deceiving me?”
“No. It’s true. I came here after clearing the prerequisite quests. Otherwise how would I have gotten here?”
“...It doesn’t matter. I have to help the Black Rock Sect! If you do not hand over the crown, I will attack!”
Smith made the declaration grandly from atop his horse.
But by that point, Tae-hyun had already vanished from sight.
Shadow Dive
Shadow Leap
Lucky Strike ×3
Critical Explosion
You attack first and talk later.
An explosive damage combo!
No matter how sturdy Smith’s knight class was, Tae-hyun didn’t think anyone could take a hit like that and walk away unharmed.
The eternal, undying power of the Ancient Empire protects Smith.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG!
Tae-hyun’s attack exploded against Smith’s back with a thunderous roar...
...but he felt absolutely nothing, as if no damage had gone in at all.
This bastard... I’m a bad matchup for him!
Tae-hyun clicked his tongue and retreated.
Smith was standing there completely fine!
Even though he had been ambushed, it hadn’t mattered. Smith’s skill was one of those overwhelmingly powerful types that didn’t require any delicate control at all.
You just activated it, and it applied to your whole body.
Shuuuu—
Smoke scattered from all over Smith’s body.
Glaring at Tae-hyun through the slit in his helmet, Smith shouted, “So that is how you mean to play it. Very well. Then I shall face you in earnest as well!”
This reminds me of Pan-On 1.
Tae-hyun was reminded of a Holy Knight ranker he’d fought back then.
He’d been so absurdly tanky that the only way to deal with him had been to hit him and hit him and hit him and hit him until the other guy finally gave up....
That was exactly the feeling Smith gave off now.
Whatever skill that was, Tae-hyun didn’t know, but it seemed to reduce incoming damage to a few hundredths of its original value.
Otherwise there was no way Smith could take Tae-hyun’s attack and still look that unbothered.
No idea how long that duration lasts, though....
Tae-hyun found himself thinking that Lee Se-yeon would actually be easier to deal with.
Against Lee Se-yeon, Tae-hyun held the advantage. Against Smith, it was the opposite.
Tae-hyun’s greatest weapon was burst damage through tricky methods and layered skill combos—but if that got shut down, things became very inconvenient very quickly.
His available attack methods dropped sharply.
“Want to team up with me?”
From a distance, Lee Se-yeon called out, amplifying her voice with magic.
“Hell no, you punk!”
“Really?”
“I said I really don’t want to!”
“Really really?”
“Ah, just get lost already!”
“You’ll regret that later, you know?”
As if to prove her point, not only Smith but the Orc elite warriors also came charging in with their axes raised.
To make matters worse!
If it had been anyone else, they would’ve caved long ago.
Hand the crown over to Smith, or hand it over to Lee Se-yeon...
There were plenty of options.
All they had to do was kneel.
But Tae-hyun didn’t.
In moments like this, his born contrarian streak reared its head harder than ever.
“I refuse!”
“Kim Tae-hyun! You will regret this!”
With that shout, Smith charged.
The Black Rock Sect guild members followed behind him!
As the assault began, magic and all kinds of ranged skills came flying in.
Tae-hyun dodged most of them, and tanked a few with his body.
Evasion successful.
Evasion successful.
Smith absorbed most of Tae-hyun’s attacks.
But Tae-hyun was no pushover either.
Smith’s attacks, and the Black Rock Sect’s attacks too, were all being slipped past by his monstrous Luck!
Unlike Lee Se-yeon, Smith and the Black Rock Sect hadn’t prepared as thoroughly for fighting Kim Tae-hyun, so they had very few ways to land meaningful damage on him.
Eternally Spinning Spear Blade
“You don’t seriously think I’m going to let that hit me, do you?”
Smith came barreling in with a threatening skill, but Tae-hyun instantly sensed it, evaded, and twisted the attack aside.
Circle of Counterattack
Smith was too tanky for reflecting it back at him to matter anyway, so Tae-hyun sent it at one of the Black Rock Sect guild members instead!
“Kraaaagh!”
The guild member screamed and went tumbling, and Smith visibly flinched.
Tae-hyun himself might not be scary—but if his attacks got reflected like that, the ones who suffered were the Black Rock Sect members!
Just as Tae-hyun found Smith troublesome, Smith inwardly found Tae-hyun troublesome as well.
Most attacks were simply evaded, and to land damage he had to use very specific skills—but whenever he used those skills, Tae-hyun sensed them uncannily well and dodged them.
Luck wasn’t Tae-hyun’s only strength.
Originally, back in Pan-On 1, Tae-hyun had been famous for his superb control!
In a battlefield where dozens of attacks were pouring in, deciding which ones to dodge and which ones to block was not something just anyone could do.
“......”
“......”
Tae-hyun and Smith stared at each other for a moment.
Each searching for an opening.
But their situations were different.
Smith had the Black Rock Sect behind him, but Tae-hyun also had to deal with the Orc elite warriors charging in to kill Cain.
KWA-WA-WA-WA!
The elite warriors roared their battle cries and began rushing toward Tae-hyun and Cain.
As if things weren’t bad enough.
“This is driving me insane.”
Muttering that, Tae-hyun raised his weapon.
Should he deal with the Orcs first, then come back and fight Smith again?
“...Get out of there!”
Suddenly, Smith shouted at the top of his lungs and began pulling back with the Black Rock Sect guild members.
“What’s with him?”
Cain tilted his head as he watched.
But Tae-hyun felt it instinctively.
Something dangerous was coming!
Otherwise there was no reason for Smith to suddenly do that.
What the hell is it...?
He found out almost immediately why Smith had retreated.
Over Cain’s position, a magical bombardment from the Orc elite shamans under the Great Chieftain began raining down.
“Aaaaargh!”
Cain started tanking through it, chugging potions and using every skill he could.
Tae-hyun endured by dodging everything—the exploding stone fragments, the flaming whips lashing at his body, all of it.
That one has a strange technique. Make it so he can’t dodge!
You have been afflicted with the Curse of Decaying Vigor. This is an unavoidable curse. Your overall stats decrease.
You have been afflicted with the Curse of Decaying Vigor. This is an unavoidable curse. Your overall stats decrease.
Each one by itself was nothing special—a curse ordinary players could ignore and keep fighting through.
But when high-level Orc shamans layered those curses one after another and poured them down in stacks, it became an entirely different story.
Evasion failed.
You have entered a bleeding state.
You successfully resisted with a skill.
Once even ordinary magic started landing damage, Tae-hyun decided things were getting dangerous.
Staying here any longer would be the same as begging to be killed.
Break through the encirclement!
The one bit of good news was that Smith and the Black Rock Sect guild members—who had been tying him down—had backed off because of the Orcs’ large-scale assault!
Yong-yong, throw every spell you can at the shamans!
Su-hyeok! Have the ones with you unleash all their magic at the shamans too!
“Cain, follow me! Use every skill you can if it’s available!”
“Okay! I already used—”
At that moment, the area darkened.
A shadow had fallen over them.
Cain lifted his head.
Far off in the sky, something enormous was hovering overhead.
“...?”
KWAKWAKWAKWANG!
He immediately found out what it was.
The Orc Great Chieftain Karag had hurled himself down from above.
You have been struck by Great Chieftain Karag’s attack.
Resistance failed.
You cannot move.
Tae-hyun lightly succeeded in evading it, but Cain was paralyzed on the spot by Karag.
“Is it him?”
“Chwik, yes! That’s him!”
Behind him, countless Orc warriors were waiting with bloodshot eyes, and around them stood the remaining Orc elite warriors.
And into that scene had descended Great Chieftain Karag!
He was several times larger than an ordinary Orc.
Big enough that you could’ve believed he was one of the Giant race.
Karag had brought another Orc with him.
Tae-hyun felt like he’d seen that Orc somewhere before.
Where was that again?
“And that one?”
“Chwik! Not him. That one actually told us who the culprit was!”
“Really?”
“...!”
Hearing the exchange between Karag and the Orc, Tae-hyun realized who the Orc Karag had brought along was.
That’s the Orc I scammed before?!
The very Orc who had witnessed Tae-hyun saying, Cain killed Kazak! He’s the culprit!
Maybe that was why the Orc glared murderously at Cain—but didn’t glare at Tae-hyun the same way.
Karag looked down arrogantly and spoke.
“Insolent human. Normally I would kill you here alongside him, but I hear you told us who slew Kazak, so I will grant you one chance. Begone. I will spare your life.”
Great Chieftain Karag guarantees your life.
You may leave this battlefield alone.
Cain let out a long sigh when he heard that.
Then he sent a whisper.
“Hey. Just go, at least you.”
“What, did you eat something weird?”
“...You little...! I’m trying to be considerate here!”
Cain nearly burst a vessel when Tae-hyun reacted like that.
“Then what, you want both of us to die?!”
“It’s just weird because you’re acting like this.”
“If you die, I get hit with penalties too!”
“Ah. Okay, that I understand.”
“.......”
The reason Cain was being so considerate was simple.
Among his passive skills was one that imposed a powerful penalty if the Pope of the Order fell in battle!
If they both died here, Cain would have to suffer that penalty twice over.
At that point, sacrifice was the better option...!
What Cain didn’t realize was how all of this would look later to the people watching the broadcast.
The very image of a loyal retainer!
“But this won’t work.”
“What? Why? Are you insane?”
“If I’d known I could escape like this, I wouldn’t have told Su-hyeok to stay put....”
When Tae-hyun didn’t leave, the Great Chieftain roared harshly.
“You refuse to go? Even after I granted you a chance? Then die with him!”
Tae-hyun smacked his lips.
It was too much of a loss to just run by himself here.
Forget Cain—even assuming Cain died, he would obviously lose Jeong Su-hyeok and all the Orc shamans Su-hyeok had brought with him, and starting with the Power Warrior guild members, every single Archisus Order NPC that followed Tae-hyun would be wiped out as well.
There’s too much to lose to just bolt... damn it. Do I have to use it?
Tae-hyun fingered the item in his hand.
A powerful item he had obtained after fighting the Sadiq Church.
Single-use—but in the hands of a player as skilled in engineering as Tae-hyun, it could turn this entire area into hell.
The problem was...
I already used Archisus’s Blessing. I already used the Divine Territory too. And I’m loaded down with curses right now. If I set this off and it kills all our allies too, that’s basically suicide....
Tae-hyun himself would be fine.
Because he still had one thing he trusted.
A skill he had obtained after founding the Order.
With that, he could survive once without penalty.
No idea how many people besides me can endure it, though.
If he detonated this, he couldn’t even guess how much chaos it would cause.
Tae-hyun’s mind raced.
Was there really no other way?
Some method to stall for time and get everyone to evacuate...?
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG!
At that moment, Great Chieftain Karag was shoved violently to the side.