Five of Them Weren’t Enough
The thought of his friend cross-dressing and acting cute in front of strangers seemed visually unbearable.
“About twenty of them, I guess. Good. Let’s head back for now.”
“Huh?”
When Kim Tae-hyun turned around instead of going any closer, Choi Sang-yun looked startled.
“Don’t worry. I’ve already thought of a way.”
“Stop right there!”
“...?”
Tae-hyun was surprised. The Red Zone guild members were still a fair distance away. How had someone gotten this close so quickly?
He found out the answer soon enough.
They weren’t Red Zone guild members at all.
Two familiar faces, plus three unfamiliar ones.
“So it was you guys? I thought it was something serious...”
Kim Byeong-guk and Choi Eun-cheol.
The two idiots who’d looked down on Tae-hyun, tried to PK him, died, and gotten their items looted.
After the seventy-two-hour timer passed, they resurrected and immediately checked their inventories.
Total disaster.
The heavy armor, the axe, the belt, the earring—gone.
Kim Byeong-guk had it bad, but Choi Eun-cheol was in even worse shape.
He had no confidence he’d ever find another item like the one he’d lost. He had to recover it from Tae-hyun, no matter what.
Ignoring the death penalty and everything else, they’d gone looking for him.
Of course, they’d brought friends.
There was no way they’d try taking on Tae-hyun with just the two of them after what had happened before.
Five in total.
Five players in their fifties. Against a player like Tae-hyun, that ought to be enough to crush him easily.
“You little bastard...! If you don’t want to die, hand over the earring right now!”
“Oh, that earring? Thanks. I’ve been putting it to good use.”
He taunted them the instant they met.
A thick vein bulged on Choi Eun-cheol’s forehead.
Tae-hyun waved with an infuriating grin.
“Looks like you really want this back? Too bad. I was planning to put it up on the auction site tomorrow. You can buy it back then.”
“I’ll kill you! Just try listing it!”
“And then what?”
“If you don’t hand over that earring right now, I’ll kill—”
“And what’ll that do? Unlike you, I’m not flagged for PK right now, so even if you kill me, I probably won’t drop much. Think the earring’s going to fall? At best you’ll get some random rock I stole off an Orc. And since I’m low level, my death penalty’s nothing special either.”
Tae-hyun beat him down with pure facts.
Choi Eun-cheol couldn’t even argue back. His lips just twitched.
“Y-you little...!”
“But don’t worry.”
“...?”
“We’re planning to PK. Starting now.”
Tae-hyun lowered his hand.
That was the signal.
The figure beside him—Choi Sang-yun—vanished.
The two had been together since Fantasy Online 1. They knew each other’s timing from a glance alone.
Shrink Ground was a skill that erased distance in an instant, making it incredibly useful against ranged classes like Mages and Archers.
Using it, Sang-yun closed the gap in one burst.
The first target was...
“Aaaagh!”
The Priest.
Out of the five, that was the one he aimed for first.
Sang-yun’s blade moved smoothly, then smashed clean across the Priest’s neck.
A Ranker over level ninety had launched a surprise attack. A class with low defense and low HP like Priest had no way to survive it.
The Priest dropped dead on the spot and was logged out immediately.
“Hyun-jun!”
Having struck first with a PK, Sang-yun’s body flushed red.
The mark of a PK player.
In Fantasy Online 2, player information was hidden well enough that unless the other person spoke, even their name was hard to figure out. But there were still a few things you could tell at a glance.
The appearance of equipped items. Their current condition.
And whether they had committed PK or not.
If you died while in that red state, the penalty was much harsher, and you lost more items.
That was exactly how Kim Byeong-guk and Choi Eun-cheol had died to Tae-hyun and lost their gear.
But Sang-yun didn’t care in the slightest.
He just had to not die.
“You bastard...!”
Next was the Mage.
Sang-yun fought like a true Ranker. Even in that sudden chaos, he attacked in proper order of priority.
He dodged the Warrior’s strike, evaded the Rogue’s sneak attack, then darted straight toward the Mage.
“Fire Ar— gkh!”
The stronger a spell was, the longer it took to prepare. And if you got hit during that preparation, the cast time dragged out even more.
Choi Eun-cheol wasn’t foolish enough to try using some long-cast spell in this situation. He’d chosen quick-cast fire magic to pin Sang-yun’s feet down first.
Fast movement like that meant an Agility-type Warrior. If so, his defense couldn’t be that high.
But Sang-yun didn’t allow even that much.
A difference of nearly forty levels, and still he didn’t relax for a second.
Meanwhile, Tae-hyun faced Kim Byeong-guk.
Kim Byeong-guk glared at him like he wanted him dead.
Tae-hyun smirked and asked,
“Not charging in first this time?”
Kim Byeong-guk hesitated for a moment.
If he attacked first, he’d be treated as the PK player.
Tae-hyun knew that, so he waited.
Sang-yun didn’t care, but Tae-hyun did.
Grinding his teeth, Kim Byeong-guk rushed in.
That beauty rampaging in the back looked fairly high-level. Which meant he needed to finish Tae-hyun quickly and go help his friends.
The screams from behind were making him nervous.
“You bastard! Die!”
Kim Byeong-guk’s equipment had changed.
Instead of his old style—putting everything into axe blows—he now had a gigantic shield in one hand and a relatively small axe in the other.
The giant axe had been one of the things Tae-hyun looted when he died, sure—but Kim Byeong-guk had also put some thought into this.
That guy... he looked low-level, but his damage wasn’t normal. He’s got something going on.
Kim Byeong-guk had died in a single hit to Tae-hyun, but he wasn’t stupid enough to repeat the exact same mistake.
Either Tae-hyun’s real level was much higher than it looked, or he had some kind of special class with special skills.
The world of Fantasy Online 2 was huge.
So Kim Byeong-guk had chosen an extreme defense style.
Hide his whole body behind a massive shield, then look for openings with the axe in his other hand.
Back when they fought before, Tae-hyun’s movements had been amazing—but not overwhelmingly fast.
Compared to Warriors or Rogues who focused on Agility, it was a speed he could keep track of.
He’d only lost because he attacked first and let Tae-hyun read him completely before countering. If he played it this way, Tae-hyun wouldn’t land the first hit.
And no matter how hard Tae-hyun hit, the shield would absorb it.
Shield Bash!
Even if he wasn’t fully used to the shield yet, a level was still a level. Kim Byeong-guk’s skill had plenty of power behind it.
Tae-hyun quickly sidestepped.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
“So you did use your head!”
A long gouge tore through the ground.
Kim Byeong-guk hid his face behind the shield and stared at Tae-hyun.
The meaning was obvious: he was going to keep charging with his body hidden behind that shield.
“Good... let’s see...”
Lucky Strike, seven stacks.
After exploding his attack power upward, Tae-hyun charged in.
His target was Kim Byeong-guk’s shield.
If he struck once, the other guy would try to exploit the opening—but Tae-hyun was confident he could dodge. Even if a skill came flying in, he now had the skills he’d gotten after changing classes into the Avatar of Archisus.
If things got dangerous, he’d use them.
Come on!
Kim Byeong-guk’s eyes blazed.
No matter how high Tae-hyun’s attack power was, there was no way he could break through this shield.
The moment his movement stopped, Kim Byeong-guk would—
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWANG!
The explosive crash rang out so loudly even Sang-yun, fighting behind them, turned his head.
Exion Steel Shield has been destroyed by the powerful impact.
Item destruction.
Kim Byeong-guk’s jaw dropped.
He’d only ever heard about it before, never seen it happen.
Against truly powerful boss monsters, gear could get smashed. Items had durability, after all, so if you were unlucky, it happened.
But while fighting a player? For fully durable gear to end up like this...
“Y-you bastard...”
Tae-hyun was surprised too.
Surprised at the power of the Ancient Hammer.
But now wasn’t the time to stand there admiring it.
Holding the hammer, Tae-hyun grinned.
“Later.”
Pop!
A strangely cute sound rang out.
Ancient Hammer cannot deal damage to living creatures.
“What?”
Without thinking, Tae-hyun spoke to the system.
Of course, there was no way it would answer.
“...?”
Kim Byeong-guk had squeezed his eyes shut, expecting to die.
But no damage came.
“What the hell?”
He unconsciously opened his eyes and looked at Tae-hyun.
Tae-hyun let out a sigh, put the hammer away, and drew his sword.
Lucky Strike was still active.
“W-wait...!”
Thud, thud, thud!
“Ughhkk!”
“I knew it was way too strong...”
Tae-hyun stared at the Ancient Hammer, still blazing with aura, and sighed.
If it had enough power to destroy a shield in one hit, it would’ve made fighting ridiculously easy.
But now he understood something from that exchange.
This thing... only deals damage to items and nonliving objects...?
Some items had hidden options that didn’t show up in the description.
The only way to find those out was through firsthand experience.
Ancient Hammer (+7)
Durability: ∞ / ∞
Attack Power: ?
While equipped, Blacksmith-type skills can be used, and Blacksmith-type skill levels increase.
Cannot be destroyed by ordinary means.
Attack power is determined by the Blacksmithing Skill.
An item once used by an ancient blacksmith.
Logically speaking, there’s no way an ancient item would be better than a modern one, right?
(Additional Option) Cannot deal damage to living creatures.
“...”
No matter how long he stared, the option didn’t disappear.
Tae-hyun let out another sigh.
Then he put the hammer into his inventory.
Good thing he found out now. If this had happened in some other situation, his life could’ve been in real danger.
Screams rose from behind him.
It sounded like Sang-yun was butchering the remaining players.
“W-wait! Let’s compromise! We can work something out!”
Thud!
“I just got paid to come! I’m not really their friend! If you just let me go—”
Thud!
Clean finish.
He didn’t even bother listening to excuses.
Sang-yun dealt with the remaining players neatly.
“You’ve made some pretty serious enemies, haven’t you? It’s one thing when I’m here, but what are you gonna do if they come after you while I’m gone?”
“Once I finish the quest, I’m leaving this place anyway. I probably won’t run into them again.”
The continent in Fantasy Online 2 was so vast that running into the same people again wasn’t actually all that common.
And besides...
“Even if I do, if these are the kind of guys they send, it’s not much to worry about... Doesn’t look like they’re from a guild, either.”
Just a few real-life buddies dragged in for backup.
“That’s true.”
“You okay with the PK penalty?”
“I’m not gonna die here, so it’s fine, it’s fine. Besides, if anyone messes with me, there are plenty of people who’ll take revenge for me, so they can’t really touch me.”
“...”
Tae-hyun and Ji-su both took one step back.
Seeing that, Sang-yun looked dumbfounded.
“I just fought for you knowing full well I’d eat the penalty, and this is how you treat me?!”
“Haha. You misunderstand. What did I do?”
“More importantly, what was that earlier? A skill? Didn’t that shield just shatter?”
“Ah. That.”
Tae-hyun sighed.
“It’s the effect of the hammer I enhanced.”
“Seriously?! Isn’t that totally insane?!”
Sang-yun clearly didn’t know the full effect yet.
“Yeah. And it doesn’t do damage to living creatures.”
“...”
“Say something, at least.”
“Uh... should we go hunt somewhere else?”
“You might as well just laugh at me.”
That almost made it worse.
He’d risked his life enhancing the thing, and it turned out to be useless in an actual fight.
“Anyway, those idiots delayed us long enough. Let’s get back to the fortress already. I’m going to call in the soldiers.”
“Huh?”
“...What?”
At Sang-yun’s words, both of them tilted their heads.
“The soldiers?”
“The fortress soldiers?”
Call in the fortress soldiers and get help fighting the Orc tribes.
It was a good idea.
If it had been possible.
Tae-hyun and Ji-su had already tried asking the fortress soldiers for help.
And they’d been refused.
The side effect of excessively high affinity.
That side effect was the NPCs’ limitless faith in them.