The Art of the Escape
"Aaaah!!"
...????
Monroso couldn't comprehend the situation at first.
The threats he recognized were: Karag, who was currently berserking and recovering his strength; the corrupted chieftains; the uncorrupted Orc chieftains and warriors trying to kill him; and finally, Kim Tae-hyun, the wicked traitor from the Magic Tower who wielded a mysterious power.
That was it.
He had never even considered some nameless thief—who had only been caught trying to rob the storehouse and fled—to be an enemy.
Yet now, that very thief was snatching the Authority of the Great Chieftain right out of his hands and running away.
"Y-You... you filthy thief...!"
"Lord Tae-hyun! Save me!"
"Good job, Ed-an! Run!"
Archisus's Divine Territory
An unexpected achievement by Ed-an!
It was truly a stealth and thievery skill worthy of a (self-proclaimed) former Great Thief. Even though Monroso had let his guard down, to think he actually succeeded in stealing from him in that state!
Tae-hyun immediately activated his divine domain skill to support Ed-an.
Flash-!
The surroundings, which had been polluted by all kinds of demons, were powerfully purified by Archisus's divine power.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Monroso unleashed a wrathful skill at Ed-an.
A demonic spear flew toward Ed-an's back...
Only to explode in midair.
The skill has failed.
"What in the... Are you a follower of Archisus?!"
Only then did Monroso realize Tae-hyun's true identity.
Well, not a follower, but an Avatar!
"Ed-an, give the order!"
"Pardon??"
"The necklace, you idiot! If you stole it, you have to use it!"
"Oh, right... Uh, let's see..."
Ed-an caught on to Tae-hyun's meaning and quickly racked his brain. Holding up the necklace, he bellowed:
"By the Authority of the Great Chieftain, I command you! Beat that bastard Monroso to death!"
"Good job."
"Fufu, with this, my abilities have been proven—"
"Hand over the necklace."
"Ah, yes."
Ed-an, who had been slyly trying to slip the necklace into his shirt, handed it over to Tae-hyun with a dejected face.
"Chwek. Die, Monroso!"
"You fools! I am the Great Chieftain! I am your master!"
Regardless of Monroso's desperate struggles, the Orc Royal Guard's onslaught began.
Encirclement has been activated.
The target within the encirclement has all stats reduced. Escape is impossible.
The attacks of the Orc Royal Guard were on a completely different level compared to those of the chieftains. Unlike the chieftains, whose combat power varied wildly, the Royal Guard members all possessed combat capabilities on par with semi-boss monsters, and their coordinated skill usage was exquisite.
"Blessed Orc Oil!"
"Whispering Spirit Weapon!"
Trapping Monroso in their encirclement, the Orc Royal Guard applied buffs highly effective against demons and began to beat him mercilessly.
The sheer brutality of the assault sent a shiver down Tae-hyun's spine.
'Now that I think about it, if it weren't for Monroso, I would have been the one on the receiving end of that beating.'
"Argh! Argh! Aaagh!"
Because his spells kept failing, Monroso couldn't even put up a proper resistance and was thoroughly thrashed.
Archisus's Divine Territory has expired.
"You bastards! Counterattack...!"
As soon as the domain expired, Monroso staggered and tried to cast a spell. He had 30% HP remaining, and he still had his magic...
"Archisus's Authority: Curse!"
Tae-hyun didn't miss the opportunity.
He had to kill Monroso when he had the chance. The Great Chieftain was out of his mind, so he probably wouldn't pursue them even if left alone, but Monroso would definitely hunt him down!
"You... you wretched Archisus scoundrel, I'll tear you to shreds!!!! Aaaaagh!"
It was the ultimate skill for making someone quit the game!
Archisus's Authority: Curse has been cast.
Luck is being continuously drained.
"Argh, argh, aaagh!"
Monroso's resistance grew increasingly sluggish.
Sensing it was time for the finishing blow, Tae-hyun quickly ordered:
"Ed-an. Tell them to stop."
"Pardon?"
"Tell them to stop!"
"Ah, yes! Stop! Halt!"
"...?"
"Chwek?"
The Orc Royal Guard paused.
Their faces clearly asked, What is this guy doing?
In that brief window, Tae-hyun lunged forward.
"Near-Perfect Consecutive Hits, Critical Explosion!"
"Aaaaaagh!"
• The Corrupted Warlock, Monroso, has fallen into an eternal slumber.
• Your Reputation has increased significantly.
• Your Holy stat has increased significantly.
• The mages of the Erangs Kingdom Magic Tower rejoice at this news.
• You have acquired an item.
• You have acquired an item.
• Your Stealth skill has leveled up. [Intermediate Stealth] has evolved into [Advanced Stealth].
• Your Magic skill has leveled up. [Intermediate Magic] has evolved into [Advanced Magic].
"..."
Monroso raid successful.
What made him even happier than the successful raid was that, thanks to leveling up four times at once, he had finally reached level 90.
"Whoa! I leveled up ten times! Kim Tae-hyun! You're amazing!!"
"..."
Cain was celebrating like a madman beside him.
For Cain, a ranker at level 169, to level up ten times at once... just how much experience points did that Monroso guy yield?
Moreover, Cain's contribution to the raid was far less than Tae-hyun's.
'According to other rankers in their mid-to-late 100s, the required experience points increase exponentially from that point on, making leveling up incredibly difficult...'
Tae-hyun stopped himself from thinking further.
Let's just look at the status window!
Other people were other people; Tae-hyun was Tae-hyun!
Once again, he felt a deep sense of accomplishment. He had really worked hard to raise this character.
If it were anyone else, they would still be struggling, unable to even reach level 50.
'And in the midst of all this, my Luck is closing in on 5,000...'
Even though he had consumed Luck to cast several skills, it had already grown back to almost 5,000.
The random stat bonuses from leveling up had clearly gone into Luck.
'...Why did it have to go to Luck, which is already ridiculously high? Why not Strength, Agility, or at least Constitution or Wisdom...'
...
'At this rate, raising my Reputation higher than my Infamy might be impossible...'
His Infamy stat was so high that he wondered if he should just accept being a notorious villain and play accordingly.
It was all because of the massive amount of Infamy he had gained after summoning Heuk-heuk.
Although he had narrowed the gap significantly, Tae-hyun was the type of person who inevitably gained Infamy every time he completed a quest, so there was a limit to what he could do.
Other rankers with four-digit Reputation were praised with comments like, "Wow! They must have worked themselves to death just to raise their Reputation!" But Tae-hyun was casually sitting in the five-digit range.
In truth, the stat that had a more direct impact on Tae-hyun than Reputation or Infamy was Holy.
While it was necessary for managing the church and casting skills, Tae-hyun needed the Holy stat even more because of a specific skill he possessed.
The passive skill that reduced incoming damage based on his Holy stat!
Most of his defensive skills were focused on evasion before getting hit.
In such a situation, a skill that reduced damage rather than evading it was extremely rare and useful.
After all, Tae-hyun was in a position where he had to compensate for his inevitably low HP—due to his low level—with skills and control!
Avoiding and evading was fine, but once damage started getting through, even Tae-hyun would be in danger.
In that sense, Divine Authority could be considered an extra life for him.
'As for my skills...'
Tae-hyun was delighted to see that his Stealth and Magic skills had finally reached the Advanced rank.
Though the fact that he still only had a few spells he could actually cast was a bit of a problem!
In other words, the Advanced skills Tae-hyun currently possessed were...
├─ Advanced Swordsmanship:Lv. 4 (5%)
├─ Advanced Magic:Lv. 1 (2%)
├─ Advanced Stealth:Lv. 1 (4%)
├─ Advanced Rhetoric:Lv. 9 (42%)
├─ Advanced Engineering:Lv. 7 (41%)
├─ Advanced Blacksmithing:Lv. 5 (2%)
└─ Advanced Tactics:Lv. 6 (11%)
Other players would be considered "someone who knows a thing or two about skills" if they focused on one or at most two main skills and got them to Advanced. Yet, Tae-hyun had managed to raise a whopping seven skills to Advanced.
It was character growth that transcended the realm of ordinary humans!
It would have been impossible without his relentless grinding, the unique characteristics of the Avatar of Archisus class, and the skill rewards from major quests.
'What on earth did I even do to get Rhetoric to level 9 already? Just one more level and it'll hit Master rank.'
While he had to struggle to raise other skills like Swordsmanship or Magic, Rhetoric seemed to level up effortlessly without him even trying.
If it was already this effective at Advanced rank, he might even be able to strike up a friendly conversation with Great Chieftain Karag once it reached Master.
What if it went beyond Master and reached Legendary?
Tae-hyun couldn't even begin to imagine.
In the first place, raising a skill to Legendary meant reaching the absolute peak of that discipline.
Unlike reaching Master, it wouldn't be something he could achieve simply by leveling it up; it would undoubtedly require completing all sorts of complex quests.
'No need to think about that now. It's a long way off. Hmm... since things have turned out like this, maybe I should try raising my Intermediate Cooking to Advanced next? That seems like it would be easier than pushing an Advanced skill to Master...'
If anyone else had heard his plan, they would have screamed, Stop leveling up, you absolute maniac!
"Chwek, chwek. Human."
"Hmm?"
"We defeated Monroso... so why hasn't the Great Chieftain returned to normal?"
"Ah."
Tae-hyun, who had been quickly reviewing his status window, snapped back to reality.
Monroso had fallen, but reality remained.
The innermost fortress was half-destroyed by demonic flames, and Karag and the corrupted chieftains were still recovering their strength.
The Orc chieftains had seemingly hoped that the Great Chieftain would regain his senses once Monroso was defeated, but reality was cold.
'And honestly, it's better for me if he doesn't regain his senses.'
If Karag remained insane, he wouldn't pay much attention to Tae-hyun escaping.
But if Karag came to his senses?
'He'd probably try to tear me and Cain to shreds first!'
One of them had tried to burn him to death, and the other was believed to have killed his son...
"Chwek, human! The Great Chieftain is starting to move again. What should we do?"
"Ah, yes. I have a plan prepared for just such an occasion."
"Chwek! What is it! Tell us!"
"Run!"
"...????"
The moment Tae-hyun spoke, Cain and Ed-an immediately began running right behind him.
Having worked with Tae-hyun for so long, they weren't even surprised by this anymore.
Saruon was a beat too slow.
"W-What? Wait for me!"
"Chwek, chwek! Human! Stop right there! What are you doing!"
"You guys should run too! Look at the Great Chieftain! Once he recovers his strength, he's going to go wild again. Do you really think you can handle that?!"
Tae-hyun and Cain widened the distance, immediately pulled out their motorcycles, and mounted them.
Then, they began to flee at full speed.
In truth, they had planned to run even before defeating Monroso.
It was only because Monroso had held them back.
Tae-hyun wasn't foolish enough to ride his momentum and try to take down Karag just because they had defeated Monroso.
The two of them were clearly on completely different levels.
"Chwek! Human! Human!!!"
And so, Tae-hyun's party departed, leaving the Orcs of the Uruk region in utter ruin.
"They say the Orcs of the Uruk region have all scattered, and only Karag and the corrupted Orcs remain in the innermost fortress. A few parties tried to challenge them but were wiped out instantly, so now no one dares to go near..."
"Then what about the Auston Kingdom territory quest?"
"Since it requires bringing back Karag's head, it's practically dead in the water. From what I can see, it looks like most people have given up..."