The Art of Extortion

"Are you insane?!" Unable to accept the sudden turn of events, the opposing party leader reacted violently. It was a miracle he hadn't drawn his sword already!

But Cain was shameless. Ever since his days as the guild leader of Red Zone, he had always possessed a natural talent for tormenting others. And that talent had only been honed to a razor-sharp edge from following Tae-hyun around! Seeing Cain speak without even a twitch of his facial muscles, the party leader was utterly flabbergasted.

"So you want to PK right now, is that it?"

"PK? Sounds great. Give it a shot." Cain smirked, beckoning with a finger. The party leader flinched at the sight of that grin. He was currently dragged all by himself right in front of the enemy party. If a fight broke out, he would be focused down and obliterated in an instant!

Seeing the party leader's panic, Cain's smirk widened. The sheer insolence of that smile made the party leader's blood boil.

This bastard dares...

Lately, no player had dared to act so arrogantly in front of him. Now that he had surpassed level 100, he was at a level where he could walk around Pan-On with his chest puffed out!

Hey, attack all at once! Cast Ice Wall in front of me, and blast Blizzard behind them! They barely have any HP left anyway, so they'll die in no time! The party leader gnashed his teeth as he whispered commands to his party members.

Noticing this, Tae-hyun grinned and threw his arm around the party leader's shoulders.

"?!"

"My friend, why so angry? We should play Pan-On nicely. Don't you know what 'nicely' means?"

"L-Let go of me!"

"Weren't you speaking formally just a second ago? Where did your manners go?"

Flustered, the party leader's polite facade had completely crumbled, revealing his true colors. Tae-hyun squeezed the party leader's hand tightly and called out.

"Hey, guys! If you're going to use AoE skills, fire them right here! Your party leader will die right along with us! His HP is probably plummeting as we speak!"

"...!"

Startled by those words, the party leader checked his HP. While they were talking, his health had already dropped by more than half!

"And the moment you start attacking, my friend here is going to use the skill he just used again! You can't evade that skill, you know? So at least one of you is guaranteed to start the fight with the plague curse."

The chain skill Cain possessed wasn't normally considered overpowered. It was simply a skill that threw a chain to pull an opponent directly in front of him. Since it didn't completely incapacitate the target, he still had to fight them afterward.

But now that Cain was afflicted with the plague curse, making him a walking biological weapon, it had transformed into an entirely different beast. It was now a terrifying skill that guaranteed dragging at least one poor soul down into the depths of the plague curse with him!

"You over there, the one who looks like a mage. You're the one planning to cast the AoE, right?"

"Huh? Me?"

"Yeah, you!"

Singled out by Tae-hyun, the mage player shook his head in a panic.

"No? You're not casting magic?"

"I wasn't even thinking about it!"

"Really? Well, then I guess we'll have to target someone else."

The moment Tae-hyun spoke, Cain began scanning the crowd, his eyes darting from person to person. Seeing this, the opposing party members quickly averted their eyes. The instant they made eye contact, they would be dragged over!

"Why are you looking away? Hmm?"

"..."

"Guys! If we fight, one of you is absolutely going to catch the plague curse. Is it really worth going that far for a guy like this?"

You guys aren't actually listening to this bastard, are you?! While Tae-hyun spoke, the party leader frantically sent whispers to his teammates.

But there was no reply! They even avoided the party leader's desperate, pleading gaze.

Hey, you disloyal, cowardly bastards! Is this how you're going to play it?!

It was a pickup party thrown together purely for mutual benefit. There was no room for loyalty or camaraderie.

Tae-hyun smirked. No words were spoken aloud, but the situation was clear as day. This party was already as good as dead.

"Alright, I'm returning your party leader, so run along now. Just remember, if you try to ambush us, the first person to throw a punch is going straight to plague town. Just so you know, this guy is infected. Be careful."

Tae-hyun released his grip and shoved the party leader back. The party leader stumbled back to his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠teammates in a daze. But the awkwardness in the air was palpable! The party leader glared at his members, while they awkwardly avoided his gaze.

"Shall we head inside?"

"Y-Yes?"

The players who had been watching Tae-hyun and Cain's extortion show as if possessed snapped out of it and stammered.

"They'll be busy acting like that for a while, so let's just leave them be and head in."

"...Yes!"

Even though they had their own party leader, the members naturally fell in line behind Tae-hyun as they entered. The atmosphere from the recent spectacle made it feel completely natural! As they approached the dungeon entrance, the sound of bickering echoed from behind.

"You cowardly bastards! You abandoned me?!"

"What are you talking about? You're the one who got dragged away first! Hey! Don't come any closer! I'll attack if you get close!"

"You think getting the quest is everything, you assholes?!"

"Yes, it is! What are you gonna do about it?!"

Tae-hyun shrugged.

"They're fighting so pathetically, aren't they?"

"Indeed."

Tae-hyun and Lee Da-bi were utterly shameless, having fractured an entire party with a single skill. Watching them, the leader of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the party Tae-hyun's group had joined tilted his head in confusion.

That chain skill... I feel like I've seen it somewhere before.

Clank, clank—

"Monsters! Everyone, prepare for battle!"

As primitive dwarf warriors charged out from the depths of the underground cavern, the players braced themselves with tense expressions. Normally, these weren't enemies to be so nervous about. However, they were currently afflicted with the plague curse! Even with heals and buffs, their HP would steadily drain if they let their guard down for even a second. One unlucky slip-up could mean instant death!

"Tanks, please use your skills!"

What few shield and healing skills they could muster were entirely concentrated on the tanks.

As the tanks rushed forward and unleashed their skills, the primitive dwarf warriors focused their attacks on them.

Bang, bang, bang! Heavy blows rained down upon the shields. The primitive dwarf race, occasionally spotted beneath the Espa Kingdom, was a highly hostile mob that attacked on sight without exception.

The problem was that, despite being primitive, they used muskets!

Muskets. They were quite a rare weapon in Pan-On. With high single-shot damage and an unnecessarily cool aesthetic, they certainly seemed like they should be popular... but they were incredibly difficult to utilize!

Not only did you need the Blacksmithing Skill and Engineering skill as a baseline, but you also had to choose the dwarf race. On top of that, the accuracy was terrible, and the attack speed was painfully slow. In other words, a player using such a weapon would inevitably have to become a blacksmith with very few combat skills. If such a blacksmith held a musket with poor accuracy and slow attack speed, they were practically begging to get killed.

The issue was that the dwarf monsters encountered in places like this used muskets with terrifying proficiency!

"Seriously, why are they using muskets when they're a primitive tribe? I bet those bastards haven't even learned Engineering."

Tae-hyun grumbled as he activated his stealth skill.

He rapidly closed the distance.

An explosive damage cycle unleashed without giving the enemy a single moment to breathe!

Under the onslaught of Tae-hyun's sudden ambush from behind, the primitive dwarf warriors collapsed instantly. His offensive power melted them down before the other damage dealers could even launch their attacks!

"???!"

"What the hell????"

The players who had been preparing to attack from behind blinked in sheer disbelief. The burst of damage was so absurd that they wondered if they were hallucinating or if a game-breaking bug had just occurred!

The players here were all high-level users who had surpassed level 100. Although rumors circulated that the top rankers were past level 150 and the absolute peak rankers were nearing level 200, level 100 was by no means a low level in Pan-On. To even enter a dungeon while afflicted with the plague curse, one had to be at least that strong! Naturally, the monsters appearing here were around that level as well. No matter how damage-oriented a class was, unleashing that kind of burst damage was simply abnormal!

And didn't he say he wasn't even level 100 yet?!

The party leader was the most shocked of all. The man had clearly stated he was under level 100. Yet, he was pulling off this kind of damage. Regardless of their bewilderment, Tae-hyun swiftly looted the fallen dwarves.

So this is what that skill does...

Tae-hyun shook his head. It was the reward skill he had barely managed to obtain after going through all that trouble in the Demon Realm. Due to its cryptic description, he hadn't been able to grasp its function at first, but now he understood. It was a skill that summoned extra hands to assist him whenever he used a skill!

Even just now, when he unleashed his skills, transparent hands had suddenly materialized from thin air to cast additional skills. It was a sight eerie enough to send a shiver down even the boldest of spines, and Tae-hyun was no exception! Regardless, it had made clearing the mobs incredibly easy. A passive skill that added extra strikes was the perfect match for Tae-hyun's already burst-heavy skill set.

"As for the items... hmm."

Well... this is a bit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠awkward to use as-is.

While Tae-hyun inspected the item, the other party members went about their business. Players who had temporarily boosted their HP with skills took a moment to rest and wait for their cooldowns. The clearing speed had slowed down significantly due to the plague curse! Thanks to this, Tae-hyun was able to buy some time without having to make excuses to the others.

My Intermediate Blacksmithing Skill is barely at level 8.

He was casually thinking thoughts that would make other blacksmiths faint in horror. This was a skill he had raised to this level purely through causing all sorts of havoc with bombs and stealing the gear of high-level NPCs!

Not bad.

Tae-hyun inspected the musket with a satisfied expression. If anyone else had seen it, they would have screamed, "Who on earth would use a weapon like this! Are you insane?!" But to Tae-hyun, it didn't matter. His overwhelming Luck stat would easily cover the high explosion rate and low accuracy. It was a shame that the Unstable attribute made its durability drop easily and made it prone to destruction, but Tae-hyun only planned on using it as a disposable weapon anyway. It was strictly for auxiliary offense!

Since the party members here could easily collapse, I should prepare a few more offensive options.

In such a narrow, winding space, and with the party members' HP already so low, using bombs was too risky. One wrong move could easily result in friendly fire.

"Tae-hyun, Tae-hyun."

"...?"