The Signal Flare

The warehouse door opened before long. As soon as Denelson flew into a rage, the mages scrambled in a panic and rushed to obey.

"What about them?!"

"Th-they seem to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have made a hole here and gone down below."

"Why would they make a hole and go down?"

"......"

None of the pirates answered. They didn't know either.

Denelson's mind spun rapidly.

So that merchant group came here because there was something underneath this place!

To think there had been a secret hidden below that even he didn't know about.

Denelson's expression hardened.

"Completely surround the area. They can't stay down there forever. The moment they come back up, seize them at once and bring them before me. I'll interrogate them personally!"

"Yes, sir!"

If the merchant group had gone this far to get it, then whatever secret lay below had to be valuable.

That was what Denelson believed.

"...And that's what happened."

"This is all because of that idiot count!"

Tae-hyun shouted, exasperation surging up in his chest.

Denelson's supposedly brilliant brain, my ass. If that clueless Count Marcel hadn't gone on babbling, they never would've been found out.

"H-haha... my apologies. I had no idea."

In the distance, Count Marcel came into view. He was fidgeting anxiously in the middle of the pirates. Apparently he had only now realized what he'd done.

Rufo and Tae-hyun glared at him like they wanted him dead.

Count Marcel awkwardly averted his gaze.

When they kept staring, he thumped his chest as if he were the one being wronged and said,

"No, really, it's not as if I did it knowingly! Who told you to move around so noisily?"

"......"

Rufo looked even more furious than Tae-hyun.

Tae-hyun stopped him and shook his head. Now was not the time to beat that bastard to death.

At that moment, a message window appeared.

Legend, my ass...

Sure, if he could deceive the pirates and slip away, he'd gain fame for a while—but the real question was whether that was even possible.

But the quest wasn't over.

"Huh?"

Something about that quest description seemed off.

A righteous heart?

Tae-hyun read it again.

"...!"

Come to think of it, the Atali Kingdom navy was stationed not too far from here.

Rufo had gone to make preparations just in case, but were they already here?

Well, if it's the kingdom navy, they've probably suffered a lot at the hands of pirates too...

If they sent a signal, the fleet could come.

Tae-hyun judged that his odds had gone up a little.

But even that wasn't the end of the quest.

"!!"

Tae-hyun fell into thought.

It wanted him to rescue all the people they had brought here and take them out too?

This seemed like a quest connected to the Avatar of Archisus.

Since he was an incarnation of a god, doing a grand deed like saving people would naturally bring a matching reward.

And sure enough, Divinity, Fame, and the rapid spread of his name were all excellent rewards.

The number of people dragged here is roughly...

Even with a rough estimate, this was a chance to multiply his Divinity and Fame several times over.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Fame was one thing, but Divinity was extremely important to Tae-hyun.

I can't dodge everything forever.

Tae-hyun's stats far surpassed those of other players, but he also had a clear weakness.

Leveling up was hard for him.

He had to avoid as much damage as possible—or block it and reduce it.

The first part was mostly covered by his overwhelming Luck, which let him dodge most attacks, but the real problem was attacks that couldn't be evaded.

And this is what patches that weakness.

It was a simple passive skill that reduced damage taken based on his Divinity stat, but it was by no means weak.

Since leveling came so slowly to him, Tae-hyun had to devote himself to these two methods of defense.

From that perspective, Divinity was a stat he desperately needed.

The problem was whether, in this situation, he could actually rescue people and lead them out.

Honestly, getting out alone looks hard enough...

"Enough of this! Drop your weapons now, or I'll start by putting a hole through one of you!"

As Tae-hyun hesitated, one of the pirates finally lost patience and barked that out.

To be fair, they'd already waited quite a while.

Tae-hyun lifted his head.

He could hear something rising from below.

So it's finally here.

"M-Mr. Tae-hyun."

Rufo seemed to have heard it too.

"Surely... not, right?"

The Specter of the Ancient God was absurdly powerful, but Rufo hadn't imagined it would come out of the dungeon.

After all, it was basically a guardian set there to watch over it.

But the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠noise coming from below betrayed Rufo's hopes.

"I think it is."

Tae-hyun grinned.

Then the floor gave way all at once.

"Aaaagh!"

"What the hell is that?!"

The pirates screamed and fled.

Some giant black thing had erupted from the underground and immediately begun smashing everything in sight.

Stay here, and you'd be trapped to death in no time.

"Mr. Tae-hyun! Let's go!"

Thanks to that, the encirclement had broken apart too.

Rufo was inwardly impressed.

So he'd been waiting for that all along.

No ordinary person would ever do something like this.

No matter how much you hated being captured by pirates, waiting for a monster like that was insane.

"Th-that..."

"What?"

Tae-hyun stared at the Specter of the Ancient God with visible regret.

Beneath the place where it had burst through, the treasures stored in the warehouse were spilling down into the pit.

What a damn waste!

"Are you seriously worrying about that right now?!"

"Shut it. A waste is a waste."

The moment he finished speaking, Tae-hyun moved.

One of the pirates tried to block his path, but...

"Damn it. Fine! No helping it!"

Infamy or bad luck, none of that mattered right now.

First he had to get out alive.

The pirates were no pushovers.

He had to use everything he could.

Tae-hyun raised the Wraith Warrior's Sword.

The sinister aura pouring off it made the pirate flinch and step back.

"W-what the hell is that?"

Tae-hyun answered with an attack instead.

"Gahhh!"

The pirate staggered back with a scream.

It had only taken a single hit, but more than half his health was gone and his vision swam.

"You bastard!"

Rufo looked like a swordsman at a glance, but Tae-hyun was known as a cook.

How strong could a cook brought along by a merchant group possibly be?

That was what they'd thought.

But the moment he took that one blow, the pirate changed his mind.

That really nags at me.

Tae-hyun clicked his tongue.

Still, he couldn't afford to care about Infamy right now.

He lunged straight at the pirate.

The pirate had just taken a critical hit, but he still tried to recover his stance and defend himself.

Knock away the sword and then...

Tae-hyun feinted left with a thrust. The pirate twitched and shifted his sword that way.

At once, Tae-hyun twisted his body and slashed.

It was the kind of fighting style only someone hardened by all kinds of brawls could pull off.

In a virtual reality game, stats and skill levels weren't everything.

Personal instinct mattered too.

Because you were physically moving your own body to fight, even with high stats and high skill levels, if you were clumsy, combat became difficult.

Of course, if the stat gap between you and your opponent was absurdly wide, then even if you were hit, you'd take no damage—or they'd simply look slow to you.

But Tae-hyun's stats were by no means low.

Add to that his inborn combat sense, and pirates like these were no match for him.

"Kyaaaagh!"

"Let's go, Rufo!"

"Yes, sir!"

Message windows poured up one after another.

But Tae-hyun ignored them.

Even if the Caterand Pirates hired assassins to hunt him down later, that wasn't something he could worry about now.

Behind them was the Specter of the Ancient God.

And ahead...

"M-Mr. Tae-hyun."

"Tch..."

Tae-hyun clicked his tongue.

Denelson and his men were swarming in from outside.

Denelson's fists trembled.

His handsome face was twisted beyond recognition.

"Think he's angry?"

"...Yes. I believe he is."

Rufo shook his head.

They had managed to get out of the collapsing building, but breaking through that wave of pirates charging from the distance looked difficult.

"Cough, hack... hey! Help me out here! Is anyone there?!"

A familiar voice came from the shattered building, coughing violently.

The two of them turned their heads at the same time.

Count Marcel.

"H-haha... on second thought, perhaps I don't need help after all. I'll just... move this myself... and come out."

As both their gazes landed on him at once, Count Marcel cleared his throat awkwardly.

"If we kill him now, would it count as the pirates doing it?" Tae-hyun muttered.

Hearing that, Rufo looked aghast and shook his head.

"No, no matter what, that might be going a little far..."

"Even if we save him, I feel like he'll just screw us over again..."

Oblivious to what they were talking about, Count Marcel ran over with bright-eyed innocence.

"You've somehow escaped. Good! Now take me back with you!"

"You not see all those pirates over there?"

"Uh..."

Count Marcel turned his head.

In the distance, Denelson was already reforming the encirclement, his face murderous.

Even though the building had collapsed and his men had died, Denelson hadn't blinked once.

Instead, his first move had been to rebuild the cordon so Tae-hyun and Rufo couldn't escape in the chaos.

He truly was worthy of being called a pirate captain.

Count Marcel forced a weak smile.

Then he started running toward the pirates.

"I surrender! I surrender! I'm surrendering!"

"Th-that..."

Rufo nearly surged forward to punch him, but Tae-hyun caught his arm.

"Now isn't the time."

"What do we do?"

"Break through the encirclement and call in the kingdom navy. How are they supposed to be summoned?"

"If we fire the signal flare, the kingdom navy will start moving in."

"And where's the flare?"

"On our ship."

"And that ship..."

"...has probably already been seized by the pirates."

Tae-hyun shrugged.

Couldn't be helped.

If that was the only way, then they'd just have to do it.

"Let's go. We need to call the kingdom navy."

"Do you think that's possible?"

"It's not a question of whether it's possible or not..."

Since they'd been discovered going underground, it was only natural that the merchant group's ship had fallen into pirate hands too.

If they wanted to send the signal, they had to reach the ship and find the flare.