Why Are These Bastards So Damn Persistent?!
Choi Sang-yun swung his sword.
He wanted to finish this quickly and get over to help Kim Tae-hyun, but the Orcs were far more tenacious than he'd expected.
They were lower level than he was, but they made up for it with numbers, and they attacked in a frighteningly organized way.
When one fell, two took its place. When two fell, three rushed in.
Because they kept coming at him in coordinated waves, it was taking longer than it should have to clean them up.
Ah, whatever. He'll handle it fine on his own!
Tae-hyun's low level still bothered him, but Sang-yun trusted him.
Honestly, Choi Sang-yun just couldn't imagine Kim Tae-hyun losing to anyone.
"Chwik. That hammer... looks impressive...."
"Sure does."
First, break the armor. Then think.
That armor really did look like an incredible, painfully valuable piece of gear, but...
Tae-hyun gave it up fast.
Most other people would have hesitated here, too greedy to make the hard call.
I could sell that armor alone for thousands—maybe hundreds of millions....
But Tae-hyun made his decision.
If he dragged this out, there was no telling what might happen.
There were still Red Zone guild members around, and Kazak wasn't an easy opponent either.
He could have attacks specifically aimed at Tae-hyun's weaknesses instead of ordinary swings.
And Tae-hyun had no idea what other skills Kazak might be hiding.
If he pulls out something annoying, my life could be on the line.
"Chwik. That hammer. I'll be taking it!"
Bang!
AoE skill!
Tae-hyun moved immediately.
As Kazak raised his weapon and slammed it into the ground, the earth split apart and slabs of rock shot upward.
Evasion successful.
Evasion successful.
Evasion successful.
"Chwik! Again! This human bastard!"
Kazak glared at Tae-hyun, seething.
He couldn't understand why every single one of his attacks kept missing.
"Chwik! Then I'll just make sure it can't miss!"
It looked like Kazak was finally starting to get the hang of his movement.
Tae-hyun closed the distance fast.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
If it wasn't a skill and just a normal attack, he could dodge that much easily enough.
He slipped past the first swing, dove into Kazak's guard on the second, and on the third—
"Chwik. Did you think I'd just let you hit me?"
Kazak sneered and swung his weapon to smash Tae-hyun flat.
Lucky Strike
Lucky Strike, Lucky Strike, Urging, Lucky Strike...
He got lucky.
In that split-second burst, he stacked it all the way up to seven.
Tae-hyun didn't dodge.
Instead, he raised the Ancient Hammer and smashed it straight into Kazak's axe.
"Chwik, you stupid human!"
Kazak shouted with arrogant certainty.
No enemy had ever tried to overpower him head-on.
No Orc. No opponent. No one had ever beaten him in a contest of raw strength.
His strength was his pride.
And this axe was no ordinary weapon.
It was the tribe's treasure, forged from melted meteoric iron by the three finest Orc blacksmiths in the clan—
KRAAACK!
Your equipment has been destroyed by a powerful impact.
"?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"
Tae-hyun was startled too, but not nearly as much as Kazak.
Kazak's jaw dropped open in sheer horror.
"Chwik, m-my axe...!"
Tae-hyun hadn't expected Kazak's weapon to be completely destroyed either.
With all the enhancement buffs layered on top of it, he'd thought maybe he'd be able to crack it at most.
Besides, it even had an anti-destruction option under normal circumstances...
Though it hadn't been enhanced.
Kazak has entered a state of shock after the destruction of his tribe's treasured weapon.
A crisis was also an opportunity.
Tae-hyun instantly swung the hammer with all his strength at Kazak's chest.
Like a master blacksmith bringing a hammer down on a heated blade at the exact right point, Tae-hyun drove the blow straight into Kazak's breastplate.
Kazak tried to dodge in shock, but he was already too late.
BOOOOM!!!!
Your equipment has been destroyed by a powerful impact.
Apparently he wasn't the first player on the server to get it.
But that wasn't what mattered right now.
"Chwik, impossible, human...! Chwik?"
Kazak roared and grabbed at his armor, then realized something was wrong.
The armor had been shattered, but he hadn't been injured at all.
By Kazak's understanding of the world, that made no sense.
"Chwik! Human, what in the world are you...?!"
"Yeah. That's it! Keep standing there all confused!"
Tae-hyun drew his sword at once and prepared to rush in.
The Lucky Strike buff still had time left.
"Kraaaaaaah!"
But then someone interfered.
Red Zone Guild Master Cain was impatient and greedy.
So the fact that he'd managed to restrain himself after being seized by the fortress soldiers was, honestly, kind of impressive.
Not long after being captured, Cain figured out what was going on.
Those three arrogant player bastards were trying to pull an eat-and-run.
On the Orc village they had broken through with their own blood and effort.
Cain was more than used to taking things from other people, but he wasn't used to being the one who got robbed.
At first he tried to hold back, but he just couldn't do it.
And when he checked, that slim, gorgeous woman swinging the sword was a ranker.
A beautiful ranker named Sayu.
If a ranker of her caliber had come all the way out here to hunt this Orc, didn't that mean the Orc Chieftain had something special?
And on top of that, the armor—these Orcs clearly had powerful gear of some kind.
Cain finally made his choice.
"Stop those soldiers!"
"?!!"
The guild members moved the instant their Guild Master gave the order.
They blocked the soldiers.
While they bought time, Cain leaped down with weapon in hand.
There was no way in hell he was letting that smug bastard take the Orc Chieftain's head.
As he rushed over, he saw Tae-hyun smash the armor apart.
"???"
It made no sense.
He didn't look that high level....
Wait. Is he a ranker hiding his gear?
There were a few rankers who did that.
They deliberately wandered around in shabby equipment.
In Fantasy Online, there were almost no reliable ways to see another player's stats or skills.
All you could really judge was what they looked like on the outside.
If they were wearing dirt-cheap gear, naturally you'd assume they were low level.
Some rankers abused that in reverse.
No one paid attention to players dressed like trash.
People just didn't care about lowbies.
Using that disguise let them clear quests quickly.
No interference from other guilds. No attention from rival rankers.
It was plausible.
There was no way some low-level nobody could fight the Orc Chieftain like that.
"Die, Kazak!"
Charge of Blood and Rage
Like a true ranker, Cain unleashed a powerful attack skill.
A warrior through and through, he swung his heavy sword and smashed into Kazak, whose armor had already been destroyed.
A critical hit has been triggered!
A powerful attack has succeeded!
Kazak has been inflicted with the abnormal status Bleeding.
Kazak has been inflicted with the abnormal status Stun.
A skill that shaved away his own health, then converted it into a full-force charge that dealt enormous damage to a monster.
If it landed cleanly, even a boss would have a hard time enduring it.
As expected, Kazak staggered.
Once the armor was gone, the damage hit him directly.
"You little rat bastard. You'd better watch yourself from now on. I won't ever forget that you got in my way today!"
In the middle of it all, Cain glared at Tae-hyun and spat the warning out.
But he had completely misunderstood Tae-hyun's personality.
"Oh, really?"
"?!"
A critical hit has been triggered!
"Ghk!"
Tae-hyun didn't hesitate for even a second. He rushed forward and stabbed Cain in the neck.
It was such a completely unexpected attack that Cain took it full on.
Even with his defense and health pool, his HP started dropping fast enough to make him gape.
What the hell kind of attack power is that?!
"Looks like you should be the one being careful today. I'm not the type who waits around and gets revenge later. I get revenge right away."
"Y-you don't see that Orc?"
It had never crossed his mind that Tae-hyun—unless he was insane—would come after him first in this situation.
There was a boss monster right in front of them, Orcs still alive all around them, and on top of that, he was the Red Zone Guild Master.
And yet Tae-hyun just stabbed him without a second thought.
"The Orc can die later. First I kill the bastard who stuck his nose into my business."
"Are you insane? You think you can beat me?"
"I think I probably can. Oh—and look behind you."
"?!"
Startled, Cain turned around.
Sure enough, Kazak was there.
But Kazak was still only staggering, the damage from Cain's attack having clearly hit hard.
Slash!
"Kgh!"
"Well, one thing's certain. You're definitely stupid. Right?"
Tae-hyun sneered and swung his sword horizontally.
He struck Cain's opening with perfect precision.
Cain snarled and swung his own sword wildly at Tae-hyun, but Tae-hyun slipped it with a clean dodge.
Losing HP had pissed him off enough, but what enraged Cain most was the fact that he'd fallen for a cheap trick like that.
That pathetic little fake-out actually got me?!
But to Tae-hyun, this was just one more option in the toolbox.
If it helped him win, he'd do anything.
"You bastard... I'll kill you. And when you resurrect, I'll hunt you down and kill you again...."
Cain made up his mind.
Even if he had to give up on killing the Orc, he was going to kill this insufferable human first.
"Hey. Behind you. Behind you. This time I'm serious."
"Shut up! I kill you first!"
"Chwik! I'll kill you, human!"
Roaring like a bull, Kazak charged.
Normally Cain never would've been hit by an attack like that.
But Tae-hyun had him so furious he couldn't see straight.
"Kuh-huhk!"
Cain's body flew sideways.
With a comparatively small axe in each hand, Kazak pounced on him.
Normally he would've gone after Tae-hyun, but after taking that monstrous hit just now, he'd decided Cain was the bigger threat and targeted him first.
"Chwik! I'll kill you, human!"
Kazak climbed on top of Cain.
Then, bleeding all over, he started hacking down with his axes.
"Kgh! Kraaagh!"
Cain raised his thick gauntlets over his face and tried desperately to get out from under him.
But Kazak's strength was no joke.
Once Cain lost positional advantage, escaping was hard.
Red Slash!
Spurt!
Cain barely managed to fire off a skill, but Kazak only reeled, then endured it.
He was blind with rage.
Blood poured from his entire body. He looked like he was one step from death.
And yet he was still throwing everything he had into the attack.
Kazak, in a mortally wounded state, unleashes his primitive monstrous strength!
"You piece of shit...!"
If he died here—dragged down by some Orc Chieftain monster in a place like this—it would be the stupidest death imaginable.
Cain slammed Kazak as hard as he could, then prepared to fire off a skill with everything he had.
Pride didn't matter anymore.
First he had to survive.
And right then—
Thrust!
"...?"
Kazak suddenly froze.
The tip of a sword was jutting out from his chest.
"Thanks. I probably couldn't have taken him this easily without you."
That hateful voice came from above.
Kazak coughed blood and collapsed.
Tae-hyun was standing behind him.
While Kazak had been focused entirely on Cain, Tae-hyun had stacked Lucky Strike high enough to land an instant-kill blow.
You have defeated Kazak, son of the Great Chieftain of the Orc Great Tribe!
You have obtained the title Enemy of the Orcs.
This is the first time this title has been obtained on the server. All stats increase by 10.
Your level has increased.
You have become hostile with the Orc Great Tribe.
You have acquired an Orc Medium Battle Axe.
You have acquired an Orc Tribe Village Map.
You have acquired Broken Armor Fragments.
You have acquired Broken Axe Fragments.
An absurd number of messages poured out one after another.
Leveling up was nice, and getting loot was even nicer, but...
"Wait. What? The son of the Orc Great Chieftain?"
Tae-hyun was starting to get a very strong feeling that he had just messed with something he really, really shouldn't have.