The Weight of Their Gaze
Look at those eyes.
If it's Kim Tae-hyun, he can do anything!
From Tae-hyun's perspective, this was highly uncomfortable. He had only come here to look for the demon, and if things didn't pan out, he had fully intended to cause as much chaos as possible before leaving.
If I set fire to the forest on my way out, I'll just make another enemy...
Even Tae-hyun couldn't bring himself to go that far.
Carbanog encourages you not to show weakness.
No thanks.
If he didn't show weakness here, it meant he'd have to unleash Sadik's Flame and burn the entire forest to the ground.
"Then we'll head inside right away."
"Oh! I shall assist you as well."
"Uh, well... if you insist, go ahead."
Tae-hyun hesitated. Seeing this, Cain was utterly shocked.
"Wait, why?! He's offering to be a voluntary sucker!"
"When someone is that nice, it makes me feel a bit guilty for scamming them."
"And you didn't feel guilty with me?!"
"Hey, when I met you, you were the guild leader of Red Zone. You practically had 'Please rob me' written on your forehead."
Tae-hyun's conscience was acting up in the strangest places!
Regardless, since Tae-hyun didn't refuse, Nicola summoned a few more of his guild members.
And so, the joint raid of the two parties began.
"This pet is truly beautiful. I want one too."
"Hehehehe."
Heuk-heuk let out a sly, snickering laugh. How long had it been since he last received a compliment?
"This brilliant golden light!"
"..."
Heuk-heuk's laughter ground to a halt. He was talking about Yong-yong?
Cheer up. You're, uh... really good at flapping your wings.
Tae-hyun was truly terrible at offering genuine encouragement!
Heuk-heuk was utterly dumbfounded to hear such a clumsy compliment from someone who usually deceived others with master-class Speech.
"Master... even for a compliment, that was just..."
Do you want to die?
"Ah, enemies ahead!"
Grrrrr!
The Contaminated Black-Claw Wolf has appeared!
The beast unleashes a howl!
"Everyone, watch out! Its howl is extremely dangerous!"
It was a highly annoying skill that inflicted various status ailments the moment one heard it!
Highest-grade Tactical Skill
Party members are immune to status ailments.
"?"
"??"
"????"
Unlike Nicola's party, who were stumbling around and hastily casting recovery spells, Tae-hyun's party was completely unaffected.
"Sweep them away!"
Tae-hyun's group moved a step ahead of the rest!
Cain charged to the front, Lee Da-bi and Yu Ji-soo took up positions in the middle, and Jeong Su-hyeok unleashed a barrage of attacks from the rear.
"Oh! Incredible!"
Nicola was particularly amazed by Jeong Su-hyeok's magic.
He was the mage who had once drawn significant attention during the tournament!
Although his overall level and equipment lagged behind top rankers, it was said he compensated for it with brilliant control...
Seeing it in person, the rumors were absolutely true.
Incredible speed!
Jeong Su-hyeok's strategy was simple.
He continuously spammed Lightning Barrage at the clusters of monsters!
Unlike other mages who learned a wide variety of spells, Jeong Su-hyeok had dedicated himself to mastering just one.
Having already reached the maximum skill level for Lightning Barrage, his casting speed was naturally blazing fast.
The inherent drawback of relying on a single spell was solved by his passive skill, Chaos Casting.
If an opponent raised a barrier to block lightning magic? If he kept spamming, a barrier-dispelling spell would eventually trigger.
If lightning magic lacked the damage to finish off an opponent? If he kept spamming, a highly effective counter-elemental spell would eventually trigger.
Wait, did he just buff the enemy? Did I see that wrong?
Of course, there were times when such side effects occurred, but overall, it was a minor issue.
"As expected of player Kim Tae-hyun! Magnificent! Screw the Guild Alliance! Long live Kim Tae-hyun!"
"...??"
Did he just slip something incredibly bizarre into that sentence?
Tae-hyun's group looked at each other in bewilderment.
Such vulgar language did not match Nicola's refined appearance at all!
Regardless, the two parties cleared the forest at a rapid pace.
With everyone being either a ranker or high-tier player, their combat prowess was terrifying!
Yip! Yipe!
You have defeated the Contaminated Black-Claw Wolf. Reputation increases.
If you report this fact to the Erangs Kingdom...
You have defeated the Contaminated Evil Rabbit.
Carbanog is heartbroken.
Cain marveled at the rapidly rising experience bar.
"Wow, this is a great place to grind exp, isn't it?"
In truth, very few players cleared massive quests back-to-back like Tae-hyun did; most leveled up through hunting like this.
After all, while major quests offered massive rewards, they also carried a high risk of failure!
Furthermore, they weren't exactly easy to come by whenever one wanted.
The only reason Tae-hyun leveled up through major quests was because he had no choice.
His required experience points were so absurdly high that normal grinding simply wouldn't cut it!
"Shouldn't we just stay here and keep hunting?" Cain asked excitedly.
Tae-hyun raised a hand to smack him but decided against it.
The forest undergoes a transformation.
The Miasma blocks your path.
Your Holy stat is high. The Miasma cannot block your path.
Tae-hyun's class and skills were specialized for clearing these types of regions and dungeons.
Debuffs that would normally consume a significant amount of time were resolved instantly.
Even without relying on Divine Foresight, his various passive skills and the map he had received made the journey incredibly smooth!
Thanks to this, the group easily made their way through the forest.
"Aaaah! Save me! Aaaaaah!"
"!"
In the distance, they could see a party screaming and running for their lives.
Seeing this, Nicola shouted, "Oh no! I am going to help!"
Patter, patter, patter—
Without even looking back, Nicola dashed forward alongside his guild members.
He moved with such blazing speed that Tae-hyun's group didn't even have time to react!
Left behind, Tae-hyun's group was dumbfounded. To just run off without saying a word...
"What... what is this?"
"Should we follow them?"
"No. That's a place we shouldn't go."
Tae-hyun checked the map to verify their direction.
The area Nicola had just charged into was marked with a giant 'X' on the map.
"..."
"..."
"Should we go help?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Tae-hyun nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. Honestly, I had no intention of helping either."
"Will... will they be okay?"
"Nicola can handle himself. I saw him fight earlier; he's pretty good."
"Aaaah, aaaaaah!"
It was Nicola and his guild members who rescued the screaming players.
With a display of brilliant magic, the pursuing wolves were completely wiped out.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
"We are here to help!"
"Th-thank you so much!"
Nicola turned around and spoke.
"Player Kim Tae-hyun! Helping other players always feels so—huh? Player Kim Tae-hyun, where are you?"
"I don't know?"
"Wasn't he following right behind us?"
"I think we lost them?!"
Only then did the guild members who had followed Nicola realize that Tae-hyun's group was gone.
"Oh dear! To miss out on this. Player Kim Tae-hyun must be deeply disappointed."
"You can just play together next time, Guild Master."
"That's right. Player Kim Tae-hyun would love that too."
The guild members were saying things that would make Tae-hyun shudder in disgust if he heard them!
They firmly believed that Tae-hyun possessed a pure and benevolent heart, just as he was portrayed on broadcasts.
"We're here. This is the place."
Entering the Demon's Cabin.
A powerful demonic energy attacks the intruders.
You possess the skill [Divine Foresight].
You possess an extremely high Holy stat.
The demonic energy has no effect on you.
You possess the Highest-grade Tactical Skill. Your party members are unaffected by the demonic energy.
Ever since he acquired the Highest-grade Tactical Skill, party play had become significantly easier.
He could now share his commander buffs with his allies.
"Ugh! Such wicked demonic energy!"
As the dark, gloomy mist rolled in, Yohas shuddered in disgust.
To an angel like Yohas, nothing was more unpleasant than this kind of fog.
Shring—
Yohas immediately drew his sword.
Seeing this, Tae-hyun furrowed his brows.
First, I need to leave him behind.
Tae-hyun's goal was to meet the demon, gather detailed information, and extort as much as possible from them.
If a deal was possible, he fully intended to strike one with this demon.
The more, the merrier!
Although he had received support from Dervene to hunt down the demon, there was no rule saying he actually had to kill it.
He just needed to make Dervene believe that he had slain the demon.
Carbanog is dumbfounded.
Carbanog thinks that Archisus is indeed Archisus.
Carbanog was utterly flabbergasted to see Tae-hyun immediately plotting to scam a demon.
Of course, to pull this off, he had to temporarily get rid of Yohas.
There was no way Yohas would quietly stand by and watch him negotiate with a demon.
The angel would undoubtedly charge in sword-first!
"Master, how do you plan to leave him behind? That angel is a pushover, but he is persistent."
"Master, that angel is stupid, but he is persistent."
The two dragons were in perfect agreement.
Just watch. I have my ways.
"Ah! Yohas! Phytos has suddenly handed down a divine revelation!"
"..."
"..."
[......]
"Phytos says I must go in alone!"
"Is... is that true? But why?"
"Phytos favors mighty warriors. He clearly wants us to fight with our own strength rather than relying on the aid of an angel!"
Yohas looked skeptical, but the outcome was already decided.
An angel of Phytos could not disobey the words of Phytos himself!
Yohas is falling into corruption.
If Phytos learns of this fact...
This is easier than I thought. Can't I just keep lying to him without doing anything special?
Watching Yohas fall slightly deeper into corruption every time he was deceived, Tae-hyun realized that managing him might actually be incredibly simple.
"Who is there?! Who is it?! This holy power... which god's leftover dregs dare to..."
"!"
As they left Yohas behind and walked forward, a voice echoed from the darkness.
Tae-hyun tensed.
Divine Foresight!
The demon's power is extremely strong. Divine Foresight cannot be used.
Carbanog warns you. The demon's power is exceptionally formidable!
Shoot. Maybe I should have brought Yohas along?
He had hoped to at least exchange a few words, but the demon was hostile right from the start.
It seemed he had underestimated the impact of his high Holy stat.
If the opponent was a demon, it wouldn't be surprising if they attacked on sight.
"No... wait. There is a demon here as well. Who are you?"
"?"
Cain was flustered when a finger was pointed at him from the darkness.
"Who are you calling a demon? I'm a human—"
"Hahaha! You certainly have a sense of humor."
"Hey, you jerk! I'm already in a bad mood because of this contamination! For your information, I am an Archisus—"
Tae-hyun quickly covered Cain's mouth.
No matter how he looked at it, invoking the name of Archisus rarely led to anything good.
"Archisus...?"
The demon's voice suddenly sounded heavily distorted.
"What is your connection to Archisus? Hmm?"
"He means he's a demon so wicked that even Archisus would weep."
"What? Bold words. It is rare to see such confidence. You must truly be exceptionally evil."
"..."
"But, novice. You still have a long way to go. Confidence is well and good, but the sheer wickedness of Archisus is not something a greenhorn demon like you can easily emulate. Watch your tongue from now on. I may be generous... but other demons might find you arrogant."
Tae-hyun felt a wave of relief that he had made up that excuse. Judging by the demon's reaction...
"But why does someone traveling with a demon... possess such holy power?"
"I'm, uh... what do you call it... currently affiliated with a religious order, but I'm planning to betray them."
"Oh...?"
The demon is pleased with your words.
"Which order is it?"
"Uh... the Phytos Church."
"Hahaha! The order of those brainless hammer-wielders... No wonder you want to betray them. It is a suffocating place."
"My thoughts exactly."
"Even cursing Phytos! You truly intend to betray them."
The demon is highly pleased with your words.
The Demon Freid reveals himself.
A faint silhouette emerged from the darkness, revealing a demon dressed in elegant, aristocratic attire.
It was the Demon Freid.