The Suspicious Mage
Completely unaware of the scheme Kim Tae-hyun and Lee Da-bi were cooking up, Jang Ssu-an focused on preparing himself. 'I'll cast Eye of Vitality, and since I can't afford to get ambushed again, I'll use Shadow Boundary too...' He was thoroughly fired up, casting all sorts of buff skills on himself.
"But why are there Orcs here? Didn't they say this was a safe village?"
"I'm not sure either. It seems something has happened."
Tae-hyun scanned the area. He could see the remnants of what used to be a village.
"There's no one here. The villagers have completely vanished."
You possess the passive skill Advanced Tactics.
You receive a bonus to reading the battlefield and analyzing the situation.
In an instant, black-and-white scenes began to flicker and play out before Tae-hyun's eyes. With the Advanced Tactics skill, one could glimpse past events by analyzing traces or ruins. This was exactly one of those moments.
'Honestly, Advanced Tactics is a lot more awkward to use than Speech... but well, I'm glad I can at least use it like this.'
Unless you were an executive of a giant guild, it was a skill that rarely saw use, especially for someone like Tae-hyun who mostly played in small groups!
The past scene ended with those words.
"..."
"What's wrong?"
"...They say Great Chieftain Karag has awakened."
"..."
The expressions of everyone present shifted. A few of them froze completely.
Great Chieftain Karag. The supreme Orc leader who commanded the countless Orc tribes of the Uruk region.
In the past, because Cain had defeated Karag's son (though it was actually Tae-hyun's doing), a massive continent-wide quest had triggered, launching a grand Orc offensive.
Countless players had banded together to block them, and Tae-hyun had barely managed to end the quest by trapping and severely wounding Karag... but he was already awake?
"Didn't that guy take a massive hit from Cain's Self-Destruction? How is he already awake? Seriously, that Sadiq guy is completely useless. Was his power a defective product or something?"
Tae-hyun shamelessly complained about the power he had stolen without permission.
'M-Master. Even so, Lord Sadiq's power is the real deal.'
'Shut up. What kind of god's power can't even finish off a single Orc?'
Hearing that Karag had awakened, Cain's face turned pale.
"Hey, hey. Isn't this extremely dangerous then? He caused such a massive ruckus last time..."
"Indeed. Cain, you're in deep trouble."
"You're right. You're going to be in serious danger, Cain."
They spoke as if it were entirely someone else's problem!
Since Tae-hyun and Lee Da-bi reacted that way, the others simply nodded, thinking, 'Oh, is that so? I guess only Cain is in danger.'
"...Now that I think about it, the only reason I'm in danger is because of you!! And don't act like you're innocent! You're in just as much danger as I am!" Cain shouted, pointing a finger at Tae-hyun.
As long as Karag had a brain, there was no way he wouldn't hold a grudge against Tae-hyun, who had triggered the explosion right in front of his face.
"Hey, at least I didn't kill his son. Compared to me, you're the one who actually landed the killing blow on him."
"That was your doing!" Cain protested, but Tae-hyun casually ignored him.
"Anyway, if Karag has awakened, this is going to be quite a headache."
"Yeah. The Uruk region is already packed with dangerous monsters, making quests hard enough to clear as it is..."
Initially, they had planned to sneak around, avoiding monsters to clear the Archisus missionary quest, but this changed things.
"Hmm... Should we just move around stealthily for now and assess the situation...?"
If the Orcs found out that Tae-hyun's group was wandering around the Uruk region, they wouldn't react kindly. They would stop at nothing to kill them!
'Chwek! Why haven't those guys returned yet? I'll have to teach them a harsh lesson.'
'Chwek! You are absolutely right, sir.'
"...?"
The voices of Orcs drifted from a distance. Since the other Orcs hadn't returned, their comrades had clearly come looking for them.
The group quickly hid.
"Hey, the Orc corpses... they should have despawned by now, but what about the items? If there's any junk loot left behind, they'll notice."
Intelligent NPCs could deduce the situation by analyzing traces. Everyone here was a high-level player or above. None of them would bother picking up the cheap junk items dropped by common Orc warriors.
"...Actually, I picked them up...!"
Except for Lee Da-bi. She raised her hand with a sheepish expression.
"Great job! Thanks to you, we can let them pass without getting caught."
"Wouldn't it be better to just kill them?"
"Hmm... I think having only one Orc party go missing is less suspicious than having two parties vanish. I don't know how smart these Orcs are, but..."
Flash!
At that moment, one of the hidden party members suddenly bolted out. He charged fiercely toward the Orcs.
"...?"
"??"
"This time will be different!"
"What the—"
Before Tae-hyun could even finish his sentence, Jang Ssu-an lunged forward and struck the first blow against the Orcs.
'Chweeeek! Humans! There are humans here! An ambush—gah!'
"Are you watching, Kim Tae-hyun?! This is my true skill! I was just caught off guard earlier!"
"..."
"..."
"Should we kill him now?"
"...And that's why I wanted to stay quiet, but you had to go and ruin everything. Do you understand?"
"B-But, just wiping them all out could have been one way to handle..."
"Ah. Shut up."
"..."
Jang Ssu-an shut his mouth. Tae-hyun's aura was not one to be argued with.
"There. Finished."
"...?"
"Hang this sign around your neck and wear it."
"I am a troll. Please do not kick me out of the party."
It was an item crafted with excellent skill, but Jang Ssu-an looked utterly disgusted.
"What kind of item is this?!"
"Are you going to wear it? Or are you leaving?"
"Leaving? Where?"
"Where else? Out of the party."
"...I'll wear it..."
"Good. Don't forget to think twice before you act next time."
"Yes. You saw correctly. The rumor that Great Chieftain Karag has awakened is almost certainly true."
"How could this be!"
Fortunately, the next village the group arrived at was completely intact. The villagers nodded fearfully as they spoke.
"According to the rumors, some suspicious mage visited the Orcs. Normally, the Orcs reject all outsiders, but since Great Chieftain Karag hadn't woken up for so long, it seems they resorted to such measures."
"A mage?"
Whoever this mage was, the fact that they had awakened Karag meant they probably weren't up to any good.
"They don't sound like a good person... Could they be from Sadiq's faction?"
Tae-hyun immediately suspected Sadiq whenever anything suspicious popped up! However, everyone else shook their heads.
"I don't think so."
"Why?"
"...Because you completely destroyed all of their major NPCs..."
"Ah, that's true."
A perfectly logical reason that even Tae-hyun had to accept! Regardless, Tae-hyun's mind grew more complicated.
'The Archisus quest probably triggered because Karag woke up... These two things can't be unrelated. Karag's awakening means the Orcs will become highly active, which will inevitably make things difficult for the other factions in the Uruk region. In that case, what should I do?'
If he were a large guild, he would have brought a massive force to clash with the Orc tribes or expand their territory, but that wasn't Tae-hyun's style.
"...I should infiltrate the Orc tribe."
"What?!"
"That sounds a bit too dangerous."
"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea. No matter how good you are at disguising yourself, disguising as an Orc is impossible."
Everyone was shocked by Tae-hyun's words. While Tae-hyun was famous for disguising himself as other people and appearing all over the place, sneaking into another race's faction was a completely different story.
"Ah. Do you have a way to transform into an Orc? Do you have a transformation potion?"
"No. And I never planned on pretending to be an Orc in the first place."
"Then what are you going to go in as?"
"Didn't they say a suspicious mage went in and woke Karag up? Why can't I do the same?"
"...No way..."
"I can easily play the part of a suspicious mage. I'll just go there, show them I have skills, and ask them to let me in."
'If it's you, Master, you can definitely pull it off!'
Listening to the conversation between Tae-hyun and the others, Jang Ssu-an tilted his head in confusion. The meeting was conducted in a way he couldn't comprehend at all.
"...Is that really how he clears quests?"
"What about it?"
"To clear a quest, shouldn't you first call your guild members, or if that's not possible, post a recruitment thread to gather a party... isn't that how it's supposed to be done?"
Tae-hyun didn't follow the standard quest-clearing formula at all! It was a fresh shock to Jang Ssu-an.
"Well, Kim Tae-hyun has always cleared things like that."
"What if he fails?"
"If he fails, that's great. Honestly, I'd love to see Kim Tae-hyun get forced to log out... Wait, hold on! If he does, I'll get hit with a penalty too!"
Only then did Cain remember his class characteristics and gasped in horror.
"Hey, Kim Tae-hyun! No! Let's think about this again!"
But Tae-hyun was already preparing for the job. His experience at the Erangs Kingdom Magic Tower had helped him grow.
...Not that his magic skills had improved, but his skill at pretending to be a powerful mage certainly had!
Draped in a black robe that covered his face, holding nothing but a staff, Tae-hyun looked exactly like a sinister, wicked mage. His entire appearance screamed, 'I am a mage plotting something evil!'
"I'll go contact the Orcs like this."
"They might reject you."
"Well, if they reject me, I'll just come back. If they attack, I'll run away."
Tae-hyun was full of confidence. The beauty of this method was that the risk of failure was extremely low.
Since Tae-hyun's face was altered by the Marquis's Mask, there was no way the Orcs would recognize his true identity.
If he tried to enter pretending to be a mage and got rejected? He could just turn around and leave.
If they attacked? He could just dodge and run.
Since they wouldn't know who he was, they wouldn't pursue him relentlessly.
'For something I came up with on the spot, this is a foolproof plan.'
Tae-hyun nodded in satisfaction.
However, there was one scenario Tae-hyun hadn't considered.
Namely, what would happen if this plan succeeded spectacularly!
Su Ning was currently embroiled in political warfare.
The Odan Castle siege.
Since that battle, the Guild Alliance had split into factions, fiercely arguing over who was to blame.
Naturally, those who had directly commanded the forces had no choice but to keep their heads down.
In contrast, those who had stayed in the background, like Su Ning, gained a much stronger voice.
'See! What did I tell you? Didn't I tell you not to underestimate Kim Tae-hyun! The guys who mocked me look absolutely pathetic now!'
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Su Ning steadily expanded his faction. Recruiting some, expelling others...
Whenever he faced a troublesome guild member, Su Ning would think of Kim Tae-hyun.
'Compared to that monster, these guys are nothing!'
Now, almost anyone else just looked like a greenhorn to him!
Then, a piece of news reached Su Ning's ears.
"Leader Su Ning. Leader Su Ning. Have you seen this?"
"What is it?"
"It's hilarious. It's a video of Jang Ssu-an getting humiliated. That guy acted all cool and mighty, but look at him now..."
Su Ning checked the video with a strict, serious, and solemn expression. He had been cultivating a charismatic image within the Guild Alliance lately, after all.
Pfft!
But a laugh escaped him instinctively!
"Hilarious, right?"
"I-I didn't laugh."