The Nerve of These Bastards... Am I Invisible or What?!

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In the meantime, however, Denelson and the pirates had nearly finished closing the net around them.

The underground prison and storeroom being smashed to pieces made him angry enough to clutch the back of his neck, but even in the middle of that fury, Denelson completed the encirclement.

Those two might slip away in the meantime, after all.

"Drop your weapons and surrender at once! You thieving scammer bastards!"

"I-I surrender!"

Count Marcel hopped up and down, pointing frantically at himself.

But the pirates were so enraged that Count Marcel didn't even register in their eyes.

"Surrender! If you don't surrender...!"

"What changes if we do?"

Listening from the side, Tae-hyun suddenly grew curious and asked.

"What?"

"If we surrender, do you spare our lives or something?"

"Uh...."

The pirate who'd been speaking turned his head and looked at Denelson. Denelson shook ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his head firmly.

"No!"

"Then what's so good about it?"

"Uh... if you surrender, we'll kill you cleanly!"

"And if we don't?"

"You die!"

"That's not much of a difference."

"...Shut up! Attack! Attack!"

While they were talking, Tae-hyun and Rufo had already taken up position.

Since the Specter of the Ancient God had risen from below, everything above it had been reduced to rubble as well.

Thanks to that, there were plenty of broken stone chunks to hide behind.

Thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip—

The pirates loosed a furious rain of arrows. The two of them ducked behind the rocks.

"Aaaagh! Aaaagh! I said I surrender!"

Count Marcel screamed and ran this way and that.

Tae-hyun watched him with fascination.

"Wow. He actually is managing to dodge."

"This is hardly the time to be impressed! We can't stay here!"

"So what, you want us to charge through that hail of arrows? I'd be fine, but you'd be in a whole lot of pain."

"...Is there no other way?"

"Actually, I'm waiting for the Specter of the Ancient God to come up from below."

Tae-hyun pointed downward as he said it.

Rufo swallowed hard.

The Specter of the Ancient God had been chasing them until just a moment ago.

Just thinking about it was horrifying.

Can we even beat that?

The furious pirates waiting ahead of them and the Specter of the Ancient God below.

It was hard to say which one was worse.

"A-are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Hey, I don't want to fight that mystery freak either. But what choice do we have? Those pirates over ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there aren't exactly going to let us stroll past."

Tae-hyun had a point.

The pirates packed in here weren't suddenly going to step aside.

If they wanted to break through the encirclement, something had to happen.

"Then why isn't it coming out?"

"I've been wondering the same thing."

"...It can't be that it can't come outside, right?"

"No way. Surely not...."

Tae-hyun said that, then started feeling a little uneasy.

If that monster down there doesn't come out, dealing with the pirates gets a lot harder.

"What about your Authority?"

"What?"

"Didn't you obtain the Authority of Archisus?"

"Oh. I did."

"Then use it now! Is this really the time to save it?"

"It's not that I was saving it. Things were just so hectic I forgot."

Tae-hyun checked the newly acquired skill as he spoke.

Huh?

This was very different from what he'd imagined.

It wasn't an attack skill or a defensive skill, but a summoning skill.

And one that permanently consumed Luck, at that.

Is it something like a hunter's animal companion? Hmm....

The fact that it consumed Luck permanently bothered him.

And the line about not being able to summon it again until it was dismissed once it had been called.

Tae-hyun realized something.

If he got stingy with his Luck, this was exactly the kind of skill that would just waste precious Luck for nothing.

If he was going to use it, he had to commit to it boldly.

How much should I invest...?

"Huff, huff! Thought I was gonna die! Don't those bastards have any honor?!"

While Tae-hyun was thinking it over, Count Marcel came tumbling in with a desperate dive-roll.

Rufo and Tae-hyun stared at him in disbelief.

Count Marcel shook his head, his face drenched in sweat. Then he looked at Tae-hyun and said awkwardly,

"I-if you're going to run, then take me with you too...."

...

Such shamelessness that even Tae-hyun had to click his tongue!

But Tae-hyun didn't panic.

Calmly, he pulled out a sheet of paper and held it out.

"What's this?"

Count Marcel tilted his head.

"Write this on there: 'I, Count Marcel, received the grace of having my life saved by Kim Tae-hyun, and I will absolutely repay that debt.' Then on the back, write, 'If I fail to repay it, I am honorless garbage.'"

"W-what are you saying?! Why would I write something like that?!"

Instead of answering, Tae-hyun grabbed Count Marcel.

Then he lifted him up on top of the broken stone.

The pirates were still firing arrows indiscriminately.

"Aaaagh! Aaaaaaagh! Put me down! Put me down!!"

Count Marcel shrieked in terror.

But Tae-hyun paid no attention and asked,

"Feeling like signing the contract now? Huh?"

"I will! I will! I'll write it, just put me down!"

"More politely! More desperately!"

"I'll write it, so please put me down!"

"Sob... you awful bastards...."

Forced to write the contract, Count Marcel muttered bitterly beside them.

Whether he complained or not, Tae-hyun neatly tucked the paper into his clothes.

Once they got back, he'd be able to make a nice profit off this.

"Those bastards... get in there and drag them out!"

Even after flooding the place with arrows, the two still wouldn't come out, and Denelson roared in fury.

"Yes, sir!"

The pirates drew their blades and started charging in.

Seeing that, Rufo shouted urgently,

"What if that Specter really isn't coming out?!"

"Urgh...."

"Isn't there another way?!"

Tae-hyun fell into thought.

Should he summon the Divine Beast now?

He couldn't use it carelessly.

At a glance, it was obvious this was the sort of skill that could spiral into disaster if summoned wrong.

He wanted to get out of here first, find a good time and place, and use it properly with room to think.

But the situation wasn't allowing that.

He had to use something.

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM!

But he didn't have long to think.

With another explosive crash, the Specter of the Ancient God burst up from the underground.

"I have risen, you fleeing wretches!"

"Specter!"

"I knew we could count on you!"

"...What?"

The Specter of the Ancient God was bewildered when the two people who had been running from it turned and cheered at the sight of it.

Denelson frowned and asked,

"What the hell is that?"

"I-it must be the monster that was underground."

"Is it connected to what those merchant bastards were looking for? Doesn't matter. Kill it too! Mages, are you ready?"

"Y-yes!"

The Caterand Pirates were large in number.

They had mages among them too.

Originally, Denelson had planned not to use magic. He'd intended to capture those two alive and make them suffer for real.

But once the Specter of the Ancient God appeared, he changed his mind.

"Blow that whole area to pieces with magic!"

"Yes!"

Wooooong—

Of course, Tae-hyun and Rufo heard that too.

The mages seemed to be preparing some fairly powerful spells, and both of them tensed.

"What do we do?!"

Rufo asked in alarm.

Tae-hyun calmly came up with a solution.

"Specter!"

Tae-hyun shouted toward the Specter of the Ancient God.

The Specter turned its gaze to him.

"...?"

"Those guys are about to attack you! Brace yourself for magic!"

"Successor. Why do you worry for me?"

"Because I'm the one who's supposed to beat you! Don't lose to some other bastards!"

"How moving! Naturally, I shall do no such thing!"

The Specter of the Ancient God surged upward and began hurling black masses through the air.

"D-damn it! Block it! Protect the mages!"

The pirate mages, now the target, recoiled in terror.

The pirates rushed forward with shields and threw themselves in front of the mages, but the Specter's magic was by no means weak.

Each hit sent pirates carrying heavy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tower shields flying backward.

"That thing's too strong!"

"Damn it! Then put up the barriers first!"

The pirate mages who had been preparing to attack grit their teeth and began erecting barriers instead.

Right now, staying alive came first.

If they died before attacking, none of it mattered.

A skill that made enemies fight enemies with nothing but your tongue.

It perfectly matched exactly what Tae-hyun was doing.

The Specter of the Ancient God truly lived up to being a dungeon boss.

After only a few attacks pinned down the pirate mages, it moved on to summoning its subordinates.

"Rise, my warriors! "

Darkness swelled and boiled.

The ground around them blackened, and from it emerged familiar monsters, crawling out with eerie noises.

Specter Warriors.

"Fight, my warriors!"

The Specter Warriors began marching forward with heavy, pounding steps.

The pirates blanched at the sight of undead appearing out of nowhere.

"What the hell is that?"

"Where did those things even come from?"

"Quiet! Don't lose focus. The enemy numbers just went up a bit, that's all! Shoot them down!"

They were startled, but the Caterand Pirates were no pushovers.

In an instant, they got the confusion under control and reformed their lines.

"Attack!"

Thwip-thwip-thwip-thwack!

"Gale Arrow!"

"Trekalo's Poison Arrow!"

There were excellent archers among the pirates as well.

Brilliant effects burst out as their arrows struck down the Specter Warriors.

But the Specter Warriors kept advancing steadily.

Using their fallen comrades as shields, they pressed forward!

"Hyaaaah!"

Once the Specter Warriors drew close, the pirates roared and charged.

Kakakakang—

The pirates' sabers clashed with the Specter Warriors' blades.

Sparks flew as shouts rang out.

"Die, insignificant humans!"

"Kgh!"

The Specter Warriors had a peculiar fighting style.

When a pirate swung at them, they didn't dodge. They simply took the blow and struck back at the same time.

A style perfectly suited to the undead—trading bone for bone.

A few Specter Warriors fell, but they were tougher than expected.

More pirates were going down instead.

"These insolent undead bastards!"

At the sight of that, Denelson exploded with rage and charged in himself.

The moment he rushed in and swung his sword, two Specter Warriors were sent flying.

"Sword of the Raging Sea!"

A crashing wave surged forth and smashed into the Specter Warriors.

Denelson was no joke.

Watching him, Tae-hyun asked Rufo,

"Damn, he's strong as hell. Think you could take him?"

"...."

The moment the Specter of the Ancient God started fighting, Tae-hyun and Rufo began running in the opposite direction.

A few pirates blocking their path were something Rufo and Tae-hyun could dispatch in an instant.

Once they'd gained some distance, and it looked like the pirates were too preoccupied with the Specter of the Ancient God to spare them any attention, they had room to breathe.

Enough room to stand on a rise and watch Denelson fight.

As Denelson cut down the Specter Warriors, he swatted aside one of the black spells fired by the Specter of the Ancient God.

"Kgh!"

Then he saw it—Tae-hyun and Rufo escaping over the hill.

Denelson suddenly felt his blood pressure spike.

"Gah. He's looking this way!"

Count Marcel cried out in panic the moment his eyes met Denelson's.

"Relax. He won't be able to chase us while he's fighting the Specters. Let's go!"

Tae-hyun turned without a moment's hesitation.

The Specter of the Ancient God, oblivious to Tae-hyun fleeing, was happily beating the pirates to a pulp.

"Try and defeat me, humans! Wahahahahaha!"

"You eternally cursed undead bastard, on my island?!"

Denelson drew his greatsword with both hands and charged. Behind him, the mages cast their spells all at once.

Under the layers of buff magic, Denelson's body flared brilliantly.

Watching the whole scene, Team Leader Choi Myung-sung let out a hollow laugh and muttered,

"Anyone seeing that would think he's the hero."