Denelson! Instead of Pulling Stunts, You Should’ve Dodged My Attack First!
“Denelson! Instead of pulling stunts, you should’ve dodged my attack first!”
“Shut up!”
Denelson’s movements had visibly slowed.
If one leg got cut that badly, slowing down was only natural. He was enduring the Specter’s curse, but even that much of a slowdown was more than enough to let Kim Tae-hyun push him back.
“So you’ve got some weird technique, huh? Fine. I’ll play along with that.”
“......!”
Denelson raised his sword in front of him and began muttering something.
Wave Chain Attack
“Told you. It won’t work.”
Tae-hyun slipped past the attack coming in from the side and deftly blocked the one from the front.
But Denelson didn’t stop.
A storm of attacks kept pouring in without pause.
The sword scattered in every direction, leaving afterimages behind. At the same time, savage aura flared up and came crashing down on Tae-hyun from every angle.
Blocking one strike or evading one blow wasn’t enough. This was a relentless chain attack of death that wouldn’t stop until either the opponent died or Denelson’s own HP was exhausted.
But it still didn’t work.
You have successfully evaded.
You have successfully evaded.
You have been afflicted by Ferocious Wave Wound. Your HP continuously decreases.
You resist with Divine Authority.
You have successfully evaded.
It seemed Denelson had realized Tae-hyun’s evasion rate was absurdly high.
To deal with him, he was only using skills with high accuracy and a huge number of strikes.
Because of that, they didn’t all miss completely. Every now and then, one heavy hit would land.
Terrifying.
Denelson truly deserved his reputation as the infamous captain of a pirate crew.
Even a single hit tore through Tae-hyun’s HP.
And that was without even taking the attack properly.
Tae-hyun never let himself get hit cleanly. No matter what, he deflected the blow or took it at an angle.
And even then, the moment an attack registered as a hit, his HP dropped fast.
Still, Tae-hyun remained calm.
From the outside it looked dangerous, but in reality, it wasn’t.
Denelson might have been pressing him hard, but the one truly controlling the flow of the fight right now was Tae-hyun.
Tae-hyun’s level was low, but his stats had grown tremendously.
He could endure this much easily enough.
Besides, he can’t keep this kind of attack up forever.
If his HP really did get into danger?
I just run straight back.
This wasn’t like before. Denelson had no subordinates left to help him now.
As far as Tae-hyun was concerned, he could afford to take his time with this opponent.
You endured the unending assault. Stamina increased by 1. Vitality increased by 1.
You barely avoided a critical hit. Agility increased by 1.
Huh?
Windows kept popping up as he continued to dodge.
And in that instant, Tae-hyun realized something.
This bastard Denelson’s so high-level that just dodging him makes my stats shoot up like this!
When was he ever going to get another opportunity like this?
He’d wanted to clear that underground dungeon too, but the Specter of the Ancient God had forced him to flee.
Tae-hyun decided he was going to squeeze Denelson for everything he was worth.
“Huff, huff... you bastard...!”
“Ah! He’s too strong! Aaagh! At this rate I think I’m gonna lose!”
“......?”
Watching from afar, Rufo tilted his head.
What is that man doing?
“Why is he acting like that?”
“Who knows......?”
“Shouldn’t we help him?”
“I don’t think so.”
That might’ve been how it looked from outside, but Denelson—whose judgment had gone out the window after taking a dragon breath to the face—couldn’t think straight anymore.
Seeing Tae-hyun seem to falter, he clung to him and kept unloading attack after attack to the bitter end.
“Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!”
“Kyaaaagh! Aaaargh! Ughhhh!”
“Ha! Now you’re fini— huh?”
Only after finishing the chained skill did Denelson finally realize something was wrong.
Tae-hyun had definitely been screaming, but outwardly he looked a lot more intact than he should have.
“You... don’t tell me...”
“Damn. Caught me. Still, I raised them a lot, so good enough.”
Those words sent Denelson’s blood pressure soaring all the way to the heavens.
He trembled violently. If killing that smug little bastard was possible, it felt like he’d do anything.
“Even if I have to beg a demon for power, I swear I’ll rip you apart with my own hands!”
“Wow. That’s a bit harsh. Why don’t you go back to the old you, the one who liked posing? You really think a demon’s gonna lend you power just because you ask? The world’s not that easy.”
“I don’t care if it’s a demon or a god! You’re going to die by my hand!”
“That’s what I’m saying. The world’s not that ea—”
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG!
Something burst up from underground along with his words.
“?!”
—Successor, how dare you deceive me... and bring in an outside being!
“Weren’t you dead?!”
It was the Specter of the Ancient God.
The Specter of the Ancient God glared at Tae-hyun with blazing light.
After deceiving it over and over up till now, Tae-hyun averted his gaze.
—I went underground and evaded the attack. Dragons are powerful, but I too am a mighty existence! A breath that did not strike me properly could never kill me!
“Man, you’re both ridiculously persistent.”
—I have made my decision! A vile man like you is unworthy of inheriting the Avatar’s succession!
“......?”
—I shall personally finish you here!
“What is this, some neighborhood council chief position? You think you can just change your mind whenever you feel like it? I didn’t even want this in the first place—this got forced on me, you bastard! Who do you think you are, deciding things on your own?”
Tae-hyun made an insultingly rude gesture at the Specter of the Ancient God.
The Specter seemed in better shape than Denelson, but that didn’t really change anything.
“Yong-yong! Hit him with one more breath!”
—.......
There was no reply.
“Yong-yong?”
“L-Lord Tae-hyun. Up there......”
“......?”
Tae-hyun looked up at the sky.
Something small and golden was falling down.
Instinctively, Tae-hyun reached out and caught it.
“What is this tiny cute thing?”
“That dragon just now......”
“Don’t tell me you’re about to joke that that enormous dragon turned into this? Hahaha.”
“Hahaha......”
Rufo let out the kind of hollow laugh people made when their minds had left their bodies.
Seeing that, Tae-hyun let out a deep sigh.
“Damn it.”
“Yong-yong. You’re okay, right?”
Tae-hyun realized what had happened.
When he had chosen his divine beast, instead of a small but stable one, he had picked a powerful but unstable divine beast.
Right. I mean, if I could control a fully complete dragon, that would be way too broken!
The Gold Dragon really was monstrously powerful—but it was unstable in return.
If it used too much power, it shrank like this.
At this point, it looked more like an adorable pet than anything else.
“When are you turning back?”
—.......
No answer.
Tae-hyun suddenly felt uneasy.
“Hey. I asked when you’re turning back.”
“Don’t tell me it’s permanent?”
“......”
Tae-hyun stared blankly up at the sky.
He’d burned that much Luck to summon a divine beast, and now there was a real chance it had amounted to a one-shot breath attack.
“You really should’ve paced yourself...... whatever. When have I ever lived relying on that.”
Tae-hyun picked Yong-yong up with one hand and stuffed him into his bag.
“If you’re weak now, stay in there.”
Your divine beast’s loyalty has increased.
The Specter of the Ancient God began laughing madly as it stared at Tae-hyun.
—So it seems that dragon can no longer lend you its power! At last, your end has come!
And Denelson, seeing that, started laughing just the same.
“Kuhahaha! Serves you right! You strutted around so full of yourself, and now you’re finally proper—kugh!”
A critical hit has been triggered.
“The Specter of the Ancient God’s still fresh enough to posture like that, but what exactly are you relying on to act up in front of me like this?”
Tae-hyun spoke in a cold voice as he looked at Denelson.
Denelson, who had been sneering right up until Tae-hyun drove a strike into one of his vital points, staggered backward, trying to retreat.
“Originally I was planning to drag this out and milk you for a while longer, but since that bastard’s still alive, plans changed. Rufo! Get up here! We kill this one first, then deal with that one!”
“How dare you, you little—!”
“I told you it won’t work.”
KWA-KWA-KWANG!
Denelson wrung out the last of his strength and attacked again, but his assault had long since become simple.
Tae-hyun immediately used Circle of Counterattack.
Whirl—
The strike went in at the exact right timing and returned straight back at him.
Denelson coughed blood and collapsed.
“M-me... dying like this... impossible...!”
You have defeated Denelson, infamous captain of the Caterand Pirates. Fame increases by 250.
NPCs connected to the Caterand Pirates will now treat you differently.
You have obtained the title: The One Who Brought Order to the Caterand Sea.
Defeating the infamous captain of the Caterand Pirates is an astonishing feat.
The poets of the harbor will sing your name, and the king of the kingdom will wish to see you.
When fighting at sea, all stats increase by 5%.
It was a simple effect, but an incredible one.
And that wasn’t the end of the messages.
Huh?
Level-up windows popped up all at once.
For a moment, Tae-hyun thought the game had bugged out.
The passive skill of the Avatar of Archisus increased the EXP required to level up depending on Luck.
And Tae-hyun’s Luck stat was at a level that other players couldn’t even begin to compare to.
Because of that, leveling up had always been a brutal struggle for him.
Yet now he was leveling up repeatedly like this.
No matter how high-level Denelson was... Ah!
Tae-hyun realized what he had overlooked.
His Luck had dropped by that much because he had used the Summon Divine Beast skill.
Add a heavyweight like Denelson on top of that, and this kind of level-up spree became possible.
Of course, if some other player had killed Denelson, they probably would’ve jumped ten levels or more with ease...
Still, I’ll take it.
The moment he checked his inventory, a pang of regret hit him.
Because of the dragon breath, all those incredible items had been smashed to pieces.
Normally, each one of them would’ve been worth tens of millions of won—no, maybe even hundreds of millions.
Equipment used by someone on Denelson’s level was the kind of gear players in Fantasy Online 2 couldn’t obtain at all.
Would be nice if even the broken scraps could be used for something.
Thud, thud, thud—
“......?”
He’d been about to inspect the rest of the loot, but the situation wasn’t giving him that kind of luxury.
The moment Tae-hyun heard the sound, he rolled away.
Black thorns stabbed into the exact spot where he’d been standing a moment before.
KRAK!
—You seem awfully relaxed, Successor. But will you still sound that calm after seeing this?
“Can’t we solve this rationally? By talking? Hm?”
Tae-hyun said that while toying with his sword.
Of course, even as he said it, Tae-hyun knew full well this was not something that could be solved by talking.
“Lord Tae-hyun! I’ll assist you!”
“Good timing.”
“How should we fight? Just give the order.”
For an NPC on Rufo’s level to say something like I’ll follow whatever you say was extremely rare.
That was how overwhelming Tae-hyun’s performance today had been.
He had deceived the pirates, gone underground and stolen divine authority, and finally even controlled a dragon.
At this point, no one could deny that Tae-hyun was the Avatar of Archisus.
If he wasn’t, then who else in the world could possibly do all this?
“Stall for time.”
“Pardon?”
“I said stall for time. If we drag this out long enough, the kingdom navy will show up anyway, won’t they?”
“Ah... yes......”
“Then I’m counting on you. I’ve got somewhere I need to go.”
“Excuse me???!”