A Fair One-Versus-One-Hundred
"Just tell me the truth! I'll do whatever you want! Why would you try to trick me now?!"
"This punk complains even when I'm being nice. Just run in the opposite direction, you idiot," Kim Tae-hyun scolded Cain.
With nearly a hundred players gathered, using Cain as a shield wasn't very effective. It was much better to split up, scatter, and shake them off.
"Are you serious? I'm going, okay? I'm really going! Don't you dare complain later—gark!"
Tae-hyun struck Cain to snap him out of it. Cain finally came to his senses and bolted in the opposite direction.
Now, what should I do...
Although Tae-hyun's weakness lay in curse attacks like the ones they were pouring out, he naturally had several countermeasures prepared. The skills he had obtained after clearing the continent quest, and the curse resistance and curse reflection skills attached to items like his Ostern Royal Family's Secret Armor or the Prince's Necklace. Using these, he could withstand a few more attacks. The problem was...
If I play it that way, it'll turn into a war of attrition. That's the absolute last thing I should do right now.
Fighting a war of attrition against so many opponents was suicide. He would easily get overwhelmed and forced to log out. In that case?
Summon!
A motorcycle materialized out of thin air. As Tae-hyun hopped onto it, the surrounding players screamed.
"He's trying to run!"
"Catch him!"
"Cast your skills!"
Because the first wave of curse skills had already been swept away, their coordination was off, but dozens of skills still flew toward him. In their haste, they also threw plenty of crowd-control skills instead of just curses.
⟨ Ankle-Grabbing Shadow ⟩
⟨ Warrior's Repelling Red Shout ⟩
⟨ Back-of-the-Head Strike ⟩
"Stun him! If we can just tie his feet, we win!"
Loud skill effects exploded. With so many skills pouring onto a single person simultaneously, the surrounding area was completely obscured by the flashing lights. As time passed and the skill effects faded, the players' jaws dropped.
"W-what the hell..."
"He's completely fine?!"
He had dodged the curses that looked genuinely dangerous and simply tanked the rest with his body. Thanks to his absurd evasion rate, the word "Evaded" kept popping up over and over! The players had rushed their attacks out of panic when they saw him trying to escape, making a critical mistake.
Even if it took a bit longer, we should have focused on guaranteed-hit curses!
The gathered players realized this too late. Unlike in Pan-On 1, the Tae-hyun of Pan-On 2 possessed a truly monstrous level of defense.
"Ugh, that son of a bitch. Why didn't he just stick to being a blacksmith..."
"But he has the blacksmithing skill right now too, doesn't he?"
"You idiot! That's not what I meant!"
Meanwhile, Tae-hyun revved his motorcycle and sped off. Seeing this, the players snapped out of their daze and moved. Their initial plan of overwhelmingly crushing him before he could do anything had failed, so they had to transition to the next phase.
"Block him! There's no way he can break through all of us!"
"Tanks to the front! Tanks to the front!"
"Priests, cast your buffs! Watch out for his burst damage!"
"But aren't we overreacting a bit?"
"Are you crazy?! Even this isn't enough!"
The players swarmed together to form a wall. To an outsider, they looked like a massive raid party hunting a world boss. It was comical to see them coordinate like this against a single player, but every single one of them was dead serious.
If I take to the skies... I'll probably get shot down.
With archers and mages crawling all over the place, the moment he flew up, his motorcycle would become a prime target for concentrated fire. Rather than trying to escape while burning skills to protect the bike, it was better to... break through the front!
Aki-sus's Divine Territory
"?!"
Aki-sus's Divine Territory has unfolded. Within the territory, the laws of Aki-sus are applied.
One of the most powerful wide-area skills in all of Pan-On! Tae-hyun didn't stop. This time, he activated the item skills attached to his motorcycle.
Explosive Acceleration, Go Wild!
Vroooooooom!
"W-wait, what?"
Although they had braced themselves, the players standing directly in his path gulped as Tae-hyun charged at them at full speed, activating all sorts of skills on his motorcycle. They wanted to kill Tae-hyun, but none of them wanted to be the first to die!
Right then, the effects of Aki-sus's Divine Territory began to manifest.
[Failed to resist Luck. You have been cursed.]
[An earthquake occurs.]
"...Huh?"
Tae-hyun doubted his eyes when he saw the message window. What did it just say?
Rumbleeeeeee!
A massive sound, incomparable to any noise made during the battle so far, began to echo from deep beneath the earth. And then, the ground began to collapse!
"What the fuck?!"
"Run! Get out of the way!"
The players who had been holding their formations fell into complete chaos. And so did the front yard of the Prika Arena!
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Aaargh! What is this?! What's happening?!"
From afar, players who had been munching on Power Warrior Guild brand popcorn while thinking, Whoa! A fight broke out! and Kim Tae-hyun is going 1 vs 100! I have to watch this! screamed and ran for their lives.
"Kim Tae-hyun! What do you think you're doing?! No matter how much danger you're in, how could you drag innocent bystanders into this?!"
One of the players pointed a finger at Tae-hyun and condemned him, but Tae-hyun didn't even pretend to listen.
"What are they even talking about? They got hurt because they were loitering around to watch. It's not my fault."
But the accusations kept flying.
"You haven't changed a bit since Pan-On 1! You absolute piece of trash! To think a guy like you got popular just because you appeared on TV and won a tournament!"
"Boo! Quit Pan-On!"
"Do you have any idea how many tears of blood we shed because of you?!"
"A bunch of guys trying to gank a single person with a hundred people sure have a lot to say..."
As he spoke, Tae-hyun ran over a fallen player with his motorcycle.
"Gark!"
He wasn't trying to kill them and force a logout. He just needed to deal as much damage as possible to carve out an escape route.
Sadik's Flame Dash
"Huh?"
Whoosh!
"Aaaargh!"
Running over the fallen player with his motorcycle wasn't enough; the skill made absolutely sure to incinerate them with Sadik's Flame!
"Ah. Right. This was one of the options. The trigger rate was so low I completely forgot about it."
It was one of the motorcycle's active skills, but because the probability was so low, it had slipped his mind!
"Y-you... you..."
"You absolute devil of a bastard!"
"Ah, yes, yes."
With a casual reply, Tae-hyun broke through the encirclement and began to speed away. The players who had been hurling curses quickly gave chase. They wouldn't let him escape!
Despite the earthquake and various misfortunes that had erupted, surprisingly few players had actually logged out. The priests had been incredibly quick to cast healing spells.
Tsk. Since there are a hundred of them, they can recover from almost anything. If I don't split them up, this is going to get dangerous...
At that moment, screams erupted from behind.
"Aaargh! What is that?!"
"It's a Vampire!"
Evangeline and her squad of Vampires had suddenly appeared. The unexpected ambush threw the players into a panic.
"What do we do?"
"Split up and pursue! Groups 5 and 6, block them! The rest, keep chasing! Dammit, that's Evangeline! The Canadian ranker!"
Thanks to the tournament, the faces of the participating players were already widely known.
"Evangeline! Don't you hold a grudge against Kim Tae-hyun too?! You're one of us! Join hands and cooperate with us!"
A confident proposal! The ambush coalition made the offer in all sincerity. They had watched the tournament and understood Evangeline's feelings. After all, they had suffered the exact same way!
However, Evangeline was resolute.
"Shut up!"
"?!"
"What do a bunch of losers who only know how to swarm around in groups like you know about me?!"
A cry filled with deep-seated resentment! Evangeline immediately went into a frenzy and began to run wild. With the Vampire NPCs she brought along joining the fray, her momentum was terrifying.
"Kim Tae-hyun! How can you be so cheap?!"
"Fight us fair and square, one versus a hundred!"
"Are you guys actually serious right now?"
Even Evangeline, who was listening, found their words utterly absurd! Seeing this, Tae-hyun let out a sigh of relief. With her holding them off, she would definitely keep the enemy in check.
"There's another one here!"
"?!?!"
A swordsman player suddenly appeared. It was Choi Sang-yun.
"Why is Sang-yun here?!"
"He came to help Kim Tae-hyun! He's on Tae-hyun's side!"
"Why is this bastard Kim Tae-hyun doing things he never used to do?! In Pan-On 1, he always played solo!"
"And why are all the people helping this guy women?!"
Choi Sang-yun shot a glance at Tae-hyun from a distance. Tae-hyun nodded.
Players peeled off to deal with Evangeline, and more peeled off to deal with Choi Sang-yun. Just this much was enough to give Tae-hyun some breathing room.
"Thanks, everyone! Then I'll..."
Right then, one more person appeared. It was Lee Se-yeon.
"...Why are you here?"
"..."
Even amidst the chaotic noise, Tae-hyun's voice carried with strange clarity. Lee Se-yeon did her absolute best to maintain her poker face.
I came all this way to help, and he reacts like that...
"Lee Se-yeon?"
"Why is Lee Se-yeon here?!"
Of all people, even Lee Se-yeon had shown up. The players gathered for the ambush cried out in sheer frustration.
"Lee Se-yeon! Surely you understand why we're doing this!"
"Well... I suppose I don't entirely misunderstand."
"Exactly! You know better than anyone how much we've suffered!"
"But I've never suffered because of him."
"?!"
"I never lost to him in Pan-On 1. I beat Kim Tae-hyun."
Lee Se-yeon shrugged. Seeing that, Tae-hyun felt a surge of irritation, completely forgetting the gravity of the situation.
That girl is seriously...
But Tae-hyun's irritation was nothing compared to the fury of the other players.
"How can you say that?!"
"She has absolutely no professional courtesy...! Crush her too! Even Lee Se-yeon can't win against this many of us!"
"Hey, Kim Tae-hyun is escaping over there!"
"?!"
Kim Tae-hyun was already widening the distance! The players had scattered to deal with the reinforcements appearing from all directions. The tight encirclement they had initially formed had already shrunk by half.
"Well then, shall I make my escape as well?"
"Where do you think you're going?!"
"You want to fight?"
"...Just you wait! There won't be a next time!"
Lee Se-yeon shook her head.
That's why they get scammed every single time...
Where would be a good spot...
He had more than enough experience fighting one-versus-many. In fact, he had fought far fewer one-on-one battles in his life!
The easiest thing I can do right now is head into a dungeon.
Slipping into a dungeon, drawing them in, and picking them off one by one was a classic tactic. No matter how many of them there were, a dungeon had structural limits, unlike the open field. The problem was that this was the Prica Continent. Unlike the Central Continent, he knew very few dungeons here.
Should I search for a usable dungeon right now? Ah, wait. Come to think of it, there is one.
The dungeon of the Rabbit God, Carbanog! Tae-hyun smirked. A brilliant plan had just crossed his mind.
Click! Tae-hyun hung up without even listening to the rest. Because Lee Se-yeon had done something so out of character, he had momentarily suffered from a delusion.
But why did Lee Se-yeon come to help me anyway?
If Lee Se-yeon, who had purely come to repay her debt from losing the tournament, heard his thoughts, she would have immediately turned around to kill him herself. While lost in thought, the entrance to a dungeon appeared in the distance.
"That bastard is entering a dungeon!"
"Let's go in!"
Of all things, a dungeon?
Should we just bail?
A few of them hesitated, the nightmares of Pan-On 1 flashing back into their minds.