Angels Are Easy Prey
Carbanog feels pity for the angel Yohas.
I don't know which god it is, but sending a subordinate to the Avatar of Archisus... What a foolish god...
Hey, now. Let's not curse. From Tae-hyun's perspective, Yohas was just a wonderfully sweet mark! There was absolutely no reason to badmouth him.
"Do you know of the Demon Duke Mosrak? Of course, there is no way Your Majesty does not. A hero such as yourself could not possibly be ignorant of Demon Duke Mosrak, who rules over an entire layer of the Demon Realm."
"Of course." Naturally, Tae-hyun had no idea who Mosrak was.
Carbanog explains that Mosrak is a sinister and cunning demon who hides in the shadows to weave conspiracies.
Hmm... Demons had their own distinct personalities and archetypes. Galgral, who served Adad, was a textbook warrior type—a bellicose brute who charged in without a second thought. Edaor was similar. Although he had plotted in the arena, the fact that he ultimately showed himself to lead the demons proved he was quite combative. In contrast, this demon named Mosrak was the exact opposite.
Carbanog believes it is fine, as Archisus is far more wicked and insidious anyway.
Thanks, Carbanog.
"Mosrak intends to exploit a hero like Your Majesty. Since you are a champion who has vanquished many demons, he knows you will not hesitate to fight them. Your Majesty, you must not be deceived by that fiend! Mosrak will use you, and the moment you are exhausted, he will betray you!"
"Well, that actually sounds pretty reasonable."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing."
Tae-hyun felt relieved after hearing the explanation. He had actually suspected Mosrak of making that offer to sell him out to other demons. If the Duke merely planned to use him as a useful hunting dog and backstab him later, that was a much better scenario.
Demons are surprisingly warm-hearted!
"Your Majesty! I have shared all the information I possess. We must summon that demon right this instant and slay him!"
"I don't know about that. Did a demon visit me? I'm not quite sure who you're talking about..."
"Do not lie to me! I can sense a faint demonic energy lingering here. It is clear a demon was present just moments ago. The one who was here until just now—that is the demon!" Yohas pointed directly at Cain as he spoke. He had sensed the demonic energy radiating from him.
Wait... he's picking up the energy coming from Cain?! During the quest for the crazed Orc Great Chieftain, Cain had consumed demon blood and become half-demonized. Yohas was clearly misunderstanding the source of that aura.
"Why are you pointing at me... Gasp." Cain seemed to realize it too.
"What is the matter?"
"No, it's nothing. Anyway, you want me to catch that demon, right? But aren't you going to provide any support?"
"I shall assist you when you hunt that demon."
"Other than that?"
"Uh... does a hero like Your Majesty require anything else to achieve great justice? As long as you possess a sense of justice and faith..."
Tae-hyun's expression turned cold.
"Right. My score for you is one point... No, never mind. Anyway, go wait outside for a moment."
"Y-Your Majesty! Surely you are not acting this way simply because I did not bring other support?"
"What do you take me for? Are you insulting me? Enough, get out."
"It is not that... Your Majesty! I will truly be of immense help to you."
"I told you to get out. Do you want me to test my newly acquired skills on you?"
"Your Majesty! Please listen! I am an expert in demon hunting, and I know exactly how to fight them..."
"I'm a demon-hunting expert too. I don't need your help. Don't act so high and mighty just because you're helping me catch a single demon."
"I-I shall help you with other matters as well!"
Yohas makes an offer.
The extent of Yohas's assistance will be determined by your Speech skill.
"Oh?" Tae-hyun's ears perked up. Seeing this, Yohas nodded eagerly.
"If it is within my power to help...!"
"Hmm, but asking too much of an angel would be..."
Thirty minutes later.
"...So, we must act together until the demon hunt is complete, fight together whenever a demon appears, and in the meantime, if anything happens to your territory, I must assist... Furthermore, I must help you while you train in related skills... Uh... isn't this... a bit too much miscellaneous labor?"
Only after the terms were finalized did Yohas realize something was amiss. Wasn't this just pure exploitation?
"Yohas. Do you not want to do it? If you didn't want to, you should have just said so."
"N-No. It is not that I do not want to..."
"Excellent. That's all that matters. Now! Let's go hunt some demons!"
"!" Yohas's face brightened. Tae-hyun was keeping his word after all!
"I shall accompany you."
"No. You should save your strength for later."
"But if I lent you my strength to hunt demons, and we do not hunt them, then I...?"
"There are plenty of other demons, aren't there?"
"Uh, are there other demons in your territory?"
"Discard your stereotypes. They don't necessarily have to be in my territory."
"I shall accept your proposal."
"Your Majesty! I knew it! If it were the Avatar of Archisus, he would surely accept a demon's—ah, I mean, I knew a great hero like Your Majesty would accept this proposal."
"..."
"Hehehe. Then please take this."
What Dervene handed over was a map.
"These are the locations where the demons are hiding. Please eliminate them."
"So, are you going to give me what you promised right away?"
"Fufu, I cannot give you all of it just yet..."
"You have to give me a down payment first so I can trust you."
"My master does not like to..."
"...lie? Well, I love lying. I get it, so hand over the down payment!"
"...I shall bring it."
Dervene has lost the Speech battle.
Items have been added to your territory.
"Once you defeat those demons, I shall reveal your next target."
"Fine. Let's do that."
Yohas had told him to execute the demon's messenger, but Tae-hyun had gone ahead and secretly shaken hands with him instead!
"Did you slay him?"
"Ah, he was far too good at running away, so I lost him. He was incredibly fast."
"Oh dear! I should have gone with you!"
"Well, it's fine. We can go together now."
"Pardon? Isn't it over?"
"What are you talking about? We agreed to move together until the demon hunt is finished."
"Uh... but you said he escaped..."
"Hey now! Do you have any idea how many other demons there are in this world? Are you saying you're just going to stand by and watch them commit such atrocities?!"
"..."
If you continue to deceive Yohas, he may flee.
A message window popped up, but Tae-hyun pretended not to see it.
"Now, let's go!"
Leading Yohas along, Tae-hyun fell deep into thought. How can I make the absolute most out of Yohas? He intended to squeeze every last drop of utility out of this angel while he had the chance. Taking him to the Auston Kingdom to attack the Guild Alliance is probably out of the question, right? It would be too easy to expose his identity, and Yohas would likely resist...
! Tae-hyun slapped his knee as inspiration struck. There was one other place.
"Why are we changing direction?"
"Let's stop by Uruk first!"
The corrupted Orc Great Chieftain Karag, who had essentially turned into a demon and gone mad! He and his subordinates were still roaming the deepest depths of the mountain fortress. With an angel—the ultimate counter to demons—currently in his hands, if he didn't hunt Karag now, when would he ever get another chance?
"I am Neuga!"
"I am Neuna! He's Neuda! That guy is Neura!"
"I am... uh, Neuga..."
"We already did that one!"
"Neure?"
"Someone else already took that one too!"
"Ah, these names are ridiculously hard!"
A sudden bandit craze had swept through the Auston Kingdom! Unlike the duo of Tae-hyun and Cain, who had thoroughly concealed their identities so no one could tell who they were, these new bandits made it glaringly obvious.
"You damn Orc bastards!! You're the Choigang Jizon Moossang Guild, aren't you! Do you really think you can handle the consequences of this?!"
"We don't know any such magnificent guild!"
"That's right, you greenhorns!"
Orcs wearing nothing but simple masks while sporting their incredibly flashy, high-end gear! How many Orc guilds like this could there possibly be in Pan-On? Furthermore, the Guild Alliance had once engaged in a fierce, bloody war against this very Orc guild in the Auston Kingdom.
"Plunder! Plunder everything!"
"Stealing from others feels way better than pay-to-win, big brother!"
"Haha. Why not just do both?"
"As expected of you, big brother!"
Given their sheer numbers, the Orc Ahjussis stripped everything clean. For the Guild Alliance, who were currently busy preparing to raid the Avatar of Sadiq, this was enough to make them clutch the backs of their necks in sheer frustration!
"Ah. Right. The uncles aren't here."
Tae-hyun only realized the situation after arriving in Uruk. Most of the middle-aged players had excitedly left to try their hand at being bandits.
"Hmm... should we just do this ourselves?"
"What's going on?"
Yang Sung-gyu had been left behind all by himself to manage the Orc territory. After all, if everyone else left to play bandit, someone had to keep the place running!
"Haha. It's nothing."
"...You're acting extremely suspicious..."
Yang Sung-gyu shot him a highly skeptical look. What is there to gain in the Uruk region that brought him all the way here?
"See you next time!"
"Tae-hyun! Wait a second!"
But Tae-hyun quickly scurried away, leading his party with him. Watching them go, Yang Sung-gyu couldn't shake off an uneasy feeling.
Kim Tae-san had completely forgotten. He had forgotten that Great Chieftain Karag, whom he had been desperately preparing to hunt for ages, was waiting in the deepest depths of the mountain peak fortress!
"Is it really okay not to tell him?"
"If I tell him, he'll just tell us to wait. And now that I think about it, keeping all the loot for ourselves is much better than sharing."
"..."
"..."
A ruthless competition for experience points, showing no mercy even between father and son!
"What if he gets angry later?" Lee Da-bi asked with a worried expression.
"To be precise, he'll pout. But I have a perfect countermeasure for that." Tae-hyun pulled out an item.
A skull necklace passed down through generations of Great Chieftains, symbolizing absolute authority over the Orc tribes.
From Kim Tae-san's perspective, this was an item he had to obtain at all costs.
This single item will settle everything. An item guaranteed to melt away any grudge or petulance!
"Yohas. Hurry up and teach us."
"...Yes..."
You are learning magic from Yohas.
The instructor possesses a Master-grade magic skill. Your magic skill level increases rapidly.
You have learned the [ ] skill.
You have learned the [ ] skill...
Tae-hyun was intent on squeezing him dry! With Yohas standing before them, the entire party gathered around in harmony, extorting magic spells from him.
"Do you have any angel-related swordsmanship skills?"
"Are there any angel-related archery skills?"
"By any chance, do angels possess merchant skills?"
The excited party members tried to extract absolutely everything they could from Yohas.
"I do..."
"I have that too..."
"I do possess that as well, but... wait, is this truly necessary to fight demons?"
Yohas is falling into self-loathing.
"Cheer up, Yohas! Thanks to you, we will be able to vanquish the demons! This is all part of the training process."
"I-Is that so?"
"Yes. Of course it is."
"Then are we finally going to hunt the demon now?"
"Just a little more practice first. Demons are scary, you know."
"..."
"By the way, are there no blacksmiths among angels? I know there are some among demons."
The demon blacksmith Saruon was an NPC currently residing in Tae-hyun's territory. Judging by his incredible skills, an angelic blacksmith would undoubtedly be just as magnificent.
"...N-No, there are none."
Yohas is lying!
For an angel to tell a lie is an extremely shocking occurrence...
