The Great Chieftain’s Son? You Could’ve Warned Me!
“No way... The Great Chieftain’s son...? You never said that! You should’ve told me in advance!”
The Orcs of the east were always split apart and fighting each other, but there were a few matters in which they cooperated.
Among them, Great Chieftain Karag led the largest Orc tribe, and he was Kazak’s father.
The moment he hears that he has lost his son, he will undoubtedly be consumed with rage.
Anyone connected to Kazak’s death would be wise to prepare themselves.
🎁 Reward: ?
A quest window had popped up helpfully enough.
It was explaining the current situation.
In short: Who killed my son?! A disgustingly strong Orc chief was going to lead the Orcs and come storming in.
While Tae-hyun stood there rejecting reality, messages were appearing for the others too.
The windows kept coming.
It was level-up speed that couldn’t even be compared to Tae-hyun’s.
Tyrum Ranger was definitely a fast-growth class.
Ji-su shot past level 40 in an instant.
That meant Orc Chieftain Kazak had been that strong, and that this quest had been just that dangerous.
And once you added the class traits of Tyrum Ranger on top of that, the growth rate was absurd.
If Tae-hyun, who had gained a single level, had properly registered what was happening, he would’ve found it ridiculous.
“Y-you little bastard...!”
Only then did Cain come back to his senses and get to his feet.
He looked like he could kill Tae-hyun with his eyes alone.
Stepping over Kazak’s corpse, Cain glared at him.
“You. You’d better remember my face. Because I’m going to chase you down and kill you from here on out.”
“Sure. Sure. Why don’t you die once today, rest for seventy-two hours, and think it over. Your mind might change.”
“You think you can beat me? Huh?”
“Yeah. I think I can. For one thing, you got beaten up by Orcs pretty badly just now...”
Tae-hyun pointed behind him with a finger as he spoke.
But Cain didn’t turn around.
I’m not falling for that again!
Seeing that, Tae-hyun snorted.
“Aw. Not buying it?”
“Cut the cheap tricks!”
“Fine. Your loss if you don’t look.”
Shhk—
A blade came to rest behind him.
When he turned, the beauty from earlier was pointing a sword at him.
“I’ve got a high-level friend too. Want to take us both on?”
Choi Sang-yun had returned after finishing off the remaining Orc warriors.
Cain ground his teeth.
What a filthy, godawful day this was turning into.
“What, is this bastard your boyfriend or something?”
Tae-hyun ignored him and moved straight to threats.
“So. What’ll it be? Want to fight here? Or are you going to back off quietly?”
“My guild members are all here.”
“Yeah. And those soldiers we like so much are over there too. Holding your guild members. They’ll be coming down soon.”
To catch the suddenly fleeing Cain, the fortress soldiers were about to gather his guild members in one place and move out.
If a fight broke out here, it would become all-out war.
“I don’t care who wins. Once it’s over, your guild will be smashed to pieces. As for the fortress soldiers, if they die, that’s got nothing to do with us.”
There wasn’t a single false word in what Tae-hyun had said.
And Choi Sang-yun even supplied extra commentary.
“And if we start fighting, we’re definitely killing you first.”
“Ah. Right. Almost forgot that.”
“You... goddamn... $#*&@*(&$...”
“Watch your mouth! My stream is rated for all ages.”
While they were bickering, someone appeared in the distance.
An Orc.
The moment he saw the village completely wrecked, the Orc froze in shock.
“Chwik! Chief! How dare these humans...!”
His grief-stricken cry rang out loudly.
But Tae-hyun was thinking something else.
The quest window that had popped up earlier.
Tae-hyun had a strong feeling that Orc was about to run back and report something to the Great Chieftain.
If that was the case...
“He did it!”
“!?!?”
Passing the blame!
Tae-hyun pointed at Cain and shouted.
“Look! That bastard’s stepping on your chief’s corpse!”
“What kind of bullshit is that?! You did it!”
“See the corpses of the Orcs here? His subordinates did that!”
That part, at least, was true.
But from Cain’s perspective, it was enough to make him pound his chest in frustration.
Speech succeeded.
A village in ruins. The corpses of fallen mercenaries.
And the Red Zone Guild Master standing on Kazak’s corpse...
It was far too believable.
Trembling, the Orc clenched his fist.
Then he shouted with all his strength.
“Chwik! I will never forget this, you evil human bastards! Killing our chief and burning our village to the ground!”
At least that was one weight off his mind.
Even if the Great Chieftain came charging in, he’d go after Cain first.
Cain’s bloodshot eyes locked onto Tae-hyun.
With a grin, Tae-hyun said,
“No need to thank me. From now on, if you introduce yourself as the hero who killed the Orc chief, I won’t object.”
“You little @#^&##!”
As if he couldn’t hold back any longer, Cain drew his weapon and charged Tae-hyun.
Penalty or no penalty, he was going to kill him right here.
Evasion succeeded.
Evasion succeeded.
But the attack missed pathetically.
Tae-hyun countered at once.
With a furious face, Cain shouted,
“Blood Wave!”
He had been getting ignored by Tae-hyun and played for a fool the whole time, but Cain was still a Rare-class player ranked among the top players.
Warrior of Red Blood could consume his own health to use various skills, and the lower his HP dropped, the higher his attack power rose.
In an instant, a red circle formed around Cain and spread outward like a ring.
Pow! Pow-pow!
Tae-hyun flinched.
He had failed to evade.
You have been hit by Blood Wave. Damage will accumulate.
As the Avatar of Archisus, you invoke Divine Authority. Damage is reduced.
It felt like the first time he had actually taken damage since fighting rabbits in front of the village.
That red wave skill seemed to ignore evasion and inflict damage directly.
And the more times it hit, the more damage it stacked.
If I get in close, this could get annoying.
But no skill was perfect, and the damage itself wasn’t as high as he’d expected.
Tae-hyun’s stats, excluding Luck, were around the level-50 range.
He’d just been hit by Cain, who was over level 80, and if this was all it did, then honestly, that was more than manageable.
Especially with Divine Authority layered on top.
Divine Authority’s a lot better than I thought.
When he’d first seen it, he’d thought, How much damage could it possibly block? But now that he’d tested it, it looked extremely useful.
Cain glared at Tae-hyun with burning eyes.
He would kill him. No matter what.
It felt as though every bit of bad luck he’d suffered that day was Tae-hyun’s fault.
And in truth, it was.
With deadly seriousness, Cain fixed his eyes on Tae-hyun and began preparing his next skill.
Tae-hyun was no longer just some low-level player in cheap gear.
As though facing another ranker, Cain carefully read his movements.
If I get close, he’ll probably use that red wave again. How many more times can he use it?
My HP’s dropped too much. I want to use a potion, but with him in front of me...
Even if he wanted to drink an HP potion, it wouldn’t be easy with an enemy right in front of him.
Cain considered running.
If he could just make it back to where his guild members were, he could probably salvage this somehow.
He wanted to kill Tae-hyun, but that could wait until after he got up there and recovered.
Besides, right now...
“...!”
He saw Tae-hyun glancing behind him and signaling.
That woman from before!
The one who was clearly a ranker—Choi Sang-yun—was behind him.
Cain clenched his teeth and stepped backward.
At the same time, he prepared his counter skill, Blood Mace.
But Choi Sang-yun merely yawned and waved a hand.
“??”
“He told me not to interfere.”
Thud!
“You... insane...”
“Thanks. For falling for the same trick over and over.”
HP has fallen to 0. You have died.
He had used Lucky Strike to increase his attack power, then aimed for a vital point.
As he realized he’d been had and was about to log out, Cain glared at Tae-hyun.
“I swear, I’ll find you and...”
“Sure. Sure. Think it over during your seventy-two hours. And remember: revenge is bad for your health.”
That infuriating tone that twisted the knife to the very end.
Tae-hyun waved cheerfully.
And with that, Cain’s broadcast ended.
— Who the hell is that?!
— First time I’ve seen him. Is he a ranker?
— Sa-yu’s next to him, and she’s a ranker.
— I’m a Sa-yu fan.
— Same.
— Is that Sa-yu’s boyfriend?
— Sa-yu said she doesn’t have a boyfriend!
— Then just a friend?
— Uh, is that really what we should be talking about right now? That guy just beat Cain one-on-one!
— That wasn’t one-on-one. It was two-on-one.
— Two-on-one my ass! Sa-yu didn’t even interfere!
— Plus Cain already got beaten up by Orcs.
— Oh, shut up. Then could you beat Cain one-on-one?
Silence from everyone.
Half the people watching Cain’s stream were antis, but no one denied his skill.
He was undeniably a high-level player and an expert.
A weakling couldn’t lead a guild like that and extort taxes from people.
You could only shake people down if you were strong enough to do it.
An unexpected side benefit.
Thanks to all that, Choi Sang-yun’s stream popularity was rising without him even knowing it.
“Man. Still, it worked out somehow.”
When that hidden little secret about the Orc chieftain’s parentage had suddenly surfaced, he’d definitely panicked...
But looking at it now, it was fine.
That Orc from earlier had gone back believing Cain had killed the chief.
Even if the Great Chieftain came charging in, Cain would be his first target.
Tae-hyun was relatively safe.
And they’d cleared the quest too, while the Red Zone guild members...
“Move it! Follow me, you bastards!”
With their guild master killed by Tae-hyun, they were flustered—but being dragged off by the soldiers all the same.
Just looking at them, they were as good as finished.
Cain would come back for Tae-hyun with his guild members the moment he revived, but by then Tae-hyun would already be somewhere else.
Choi Sang-yun pointed at him.
“You know you’re marked red right now, right? I’m fine, but you should probably stay hidden for a while.”
If you initiated PK and killed another player, a red aura clung to you.
It faded over time, but while it lasted, there were all kinds of penalties.
Towns and cities might reject you, for one...
Just in case, Tae-hyun cautiously approached the fortress soldiers.
Surely they weren’t about to start cursing him as a murderer...
“Ah! There he is! Our hero! Everyone, give him a hand! Not only did he take down the Orc chieftain, he personally dealt with those criminals too!”
He had forgotten one thing.
Cain had already been marked as an enemy of the Salz Kingdom.
The commander liked Tae-hyun if anything; there was no way he was going to criticize him over that.
The soldiers clapped and cheered.
Fame has increased.
Affinity with Aden Fortress has increased.
Contribution points have increased.
Clapping Tae-hyun on the shoulder, the commander said,
“When the Centurion told me at first, I didn’t believe him. I thought, ‘How could one man possibly defeat an Orc chieftain alone?’”
“Haha. If you knew that, maybe you could’ve stopped me?”
“Hahaha. This fellow. You’ve got jokes!”
Tae-hyun had been completely serious, but the commander seemed to think it was a joke.
He laughed heartily.
Affinity with the fortress commander has increased.
Affinity going up just from breathing!
“But now that I’ve seen it, I have no choice but to admit I was wrong and he was right! You’re far more impressive than I imagined. As expected of the Tyrum Hunters. Of course they’d send someone like you!”
“Thank you, Commander.”
“No, I’m the one who should be grateful—to have had the chance to fight alongside a hero like you. If there’s ever anything you need my help with, just say the word.”
You may borrow the fortress soldiers.
Depending on whether the soldiers grow stronger or are lost, your affinity with the fortress will change.