Abandoned, Then Surrounded

Rufo stared at Tae-hyun with a dumbfounded expression.

Tae-hyun had left without even a second of hesitation.

"N-no, Lord Tae-hyun! You can't do this!"

But no answer came back.

"Hey! You bastard!"

—......

The Specter of the Ancient God gave Rufo a look that was hard to read.

Something about that gaze felt almost... pitying, and Rufo bristled at once.

"What are you staring at?!"

—Really, you never should have acknowledged a man like that as the successor to the Incarnation. How foolish.

"Don't talk nonsense. Lord Tae-hyun is more fitting than anyone to be the Avatar of Archisus!"

—Even after he just abandoned you?

"...He made a tactical retreat!"

—I don't think so.

"Shut up, you bastard!"

Overcome with rage, Rufo drew his sword and charged.

The Specter of the Ancient God swelled its body and said,

—So when you have no argument left, you lash out in anger. Humans truly are pathetic. Still, don't be too disappointed that your master abandoned you.

"...?"

—It won't matter soon enough.

—Look.

The Specter of the Ancient God began expanding, larger and larger.

"W-wait, that—!"

Rufo panicked, but the Specter did not stop.

Even Tae-hyun, who had been running at full speed, saw it and frowned.

"What now?"

He figured out what the Specter of the Ancient God had done almost immediately.

A message window began appearing.

"What?"

Tae-hyun asked the question without thinking.

What kind of insane nonsense is that?

The peaceful, beautiful Caterand Island had been transformed into a cursed dungeon because the Specter of the Ancient God had risen from underground.

It was a quest that had appeared simultaneously for every player on the island.

But the players, already in total chaos from the dragon breath, couldn't even begin to think about clearing something like that.

"Can we run now? Looks like the pirates are gone..."

"There are still some left."

Even if the entire island had been blown to pieces, pirates still remained here and there.

The pirates keeping watch over the players were among them.

This area hadn't been hit by the breath, so they had survived as a bonus.

"Can we take them down ourselves?"

"You do it. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I don't want to."

"W-who said I was going to? I was just asking."

Even if their numbers had dropped, the pirates were still no joke.

If someone stepped up first and died, the only one losing out would be them.

"Kyaaaagh!"

"?!"

Then suddenly, a pirate screamed and collapsed.

The one who appeared was Tae-hyun.

Dropping his stealth, Tae-hyun swung his sword and cut down another pirate.

"Lord Tae-san!"

'Huh?'

Tae-hyun flinched for an instant.

'Ah. Right. I was using an alias.'

The players stared at Tae-hyun in a daze, too stunned by his sudden appearance to react right away.

He had actually come to save them.

Then, one by one, they started cheering.

Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan were the first to start it.

"Hooray! I knew you'd come save us!"

"Long live Kim Tae-san!"

"Uh... well..."

Tae-hyun hesitated.

The reason he had come to save them was because of a quest.

Divine Power and Fame were incredibly important stats for Tae-hyun.

Normally, he would have left them to fend for themselves, but with the pirates nearly wiped out, rescuing these people would be easy.

All he had to do was come over, kill the pirate guards, and load them onto a ship. End of story.

That was why he had left Rufo to deal with the Specter and come running here instead, but...

'Yeah, this feels weird.'

The people were cheering for the name Kim Tae-san.

He had picked an alias he wouldn't mind getting cursed under, but somehow he'd ended up being treated like a hero.

"See? He came to save us!"

"T-this makes no sense..."

Woo Jeong-sik, one of the blacksmith players dragged to the island, stammered in disbelief.

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

He was the one who had bet that Tae-hyun wouldn't come.

And honestly, who in their right mind would come back in that situation?

That's why he'd taken the bet.

And yet... Tae-hyun had actually shown up.

"You were way too harsh. I told you, I believed in him from the start!"

"Exactly! Come to think of it, the island quests were just a little rough, but the rewards were amazing."

"If he were really that bad a person, would he have come all the way back here to save us in the first place? Woo Jeong-sik, you went way too far."

The players switched sides in an instant.

Woo Jeong-sik was so wronged he wanted to beat his chest.

'You were all talking crap behind his back too!'

Now that Tae-hyun had returned, the tied-up players all started sucking up to him without waiting for anyone else to begin.

They were desperate in case he had somehow heard them badmouthing him.

And once one or two people started praising him, the mood shifted immediately.

After all, when someone known for being nice does one bad thing, they instantly become a villain.

But when someone who seems like a villain does one good thing, their whole image changes.

Before long, Tae-hyun had become that cool player who's a little cold, sure, but responsible and considerate, and who brought everyone to a place full of amazing opportunities.

Of course, they all thought he was Kim Tae-san, but still.

"Kuh-ugh! Aaaagh!"

The remaining pirates were no match for Tae-hyun.

He cleaned them up with ease.

One pirate stabbed at Tae-hyun with a spear.

Tae-hyun narrowly dodged it and cut him from shoulder to waist.

'As narrowly as possible.'

Unless the situation was truly dangerous, using it to raise his stats like this wasn't a bad idea.

Stats were always better the more you had.

The more he pulled off close, razor-thin dodges, the more his Agility rose.

"U-uuurghhh..."

The pirate that got hit staggered and couldn't get back up.

Not long after, he became a corpse and faded away in gray light.

"?!"

The curse burning around his wrist.

It was the one Denelson had placed on him.

'I thought it was gone?!'

He'd assumed killing Denelson had settled it, but the curse hadn't ended at all.

Tae-hyun clicked his tongue.

The more pirates he killed, the more all his stats would drop.

'How long is this curse supposed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to last?'

For the next twelve hours, he was stuck fighting with a stat-reduction curse hanging over him.

If the battle had already ended, it wouldn't have mattered at all.

But right now, he still had to deal with the remaining pirates and the Specter of the Ancient God.

Of course it bothered him.

'Well, whatever!'

Tae-hyun stopped worrying and cut down the remaining pirate.

For now, the pirates here had to be dealt with first.

"Die, you bastard!"

One of the pirates had hidden himself in the shadows and lunged at Tae-hyun in an assassination strike.

Among the pirates here, he seemed to be one of the higher-level ones.

Looking at the chunk taken out of his HP, Tae-hyun calculated quickly.

'If I fight after taking one more hit here, my Constitution stat should go up.'

Smack!

"Y-you bastard!"

The pirate glared at Tae-hyun as if wronged.

But the one more dumbfounded was Tae-hyun.

"I handed it to you and you still couldn't take it?!"

With that, Tae-hyun lopped off the pirate's head.

Once all the pirates were dealt with, what remained was easy.

Tae-hyun stood before the players and shouted.

Things had already come this far.

He needed to handle the players as cleanly as possible.

"I came here to save you all!"

"Waaaaaah!"

The players erupted in cheers.

They were genuinely starting to believe Tae-hyun was a good person.

For Tae-hyun, who was using the alias Kim Tae-san, it was a deeply awkward situation.

'Doesn't matter. A few words and that can change right back.'

Tae-hyun shouted in an arrogant tone.

"Don't get too happy! I didn't come here for your sake!"

But the players only fell silent for a moment before starting to whisper among themselves.

Once an image had taken hold, it didn't shake off easily.

Tae-hyun was so baffled he almost laughed.

'Whatever. I don't have time to care about that right now anyway...'

First, he needed to deal with the Specter of the Ancient God.

He wasn't too worried.

Denelson was dead, and most of the pirates were dead too.

On top of that, the kingdom navy was on its way, so no matter how strong the Specter was, it would go down eventually.

If it was the kingdom navy, they'd have mages and priests with them too.

'So if I just stall for time and survive, the quest clears itself?'

He had gained the Authority, and he had gotten Denelson's items too... well, even if they were broken.

If he just took care of the Specter of the Ancient God, it felt like he could finally leave this damned island behind.

Tae-hyun began leading the players up the hill.

They had to reach the shore and get onto a ship.

"U-um... what is that?"

But what the players saw when they crested the hill was a tightly packed horde of Specter Warriors filling the surrounding area.

The island, which had been peacefully getting blown to pieces just moments ago, was now swarming with them.

In some ways, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they were even more troublesome than the pirates.

"Ah, earlier it said the Dungeon of the Ancient God had opened, right? This must be it."

"I guess? But still, even so, why did this many Specter Warriors suddenly appear all over the island?"

While the players chattered, Tae-hyun sank into thought.

The reason so many Specter Warriors had appeared...

'Did the Specter of the Ancient God raise every pirate corpse on the island?'

Necromancy.

If Necromancers had enough corpses and enough time, there was no end to how strong they could become.

A monster on the level of the Specter of the Ancient God could probably raise all the corpses across this island.

'So this is what it meant by clearing the dungeon...!'

He hadn't expected the pirates getting wiped out by dragon breath to come back around like this.

Tae-hyun let out a sigh and drew his sword.

He was starting to get nervous about the side effects, but he couldn't bring out the hammer.

There were far too many players behind him.

"Follow me. We're breaking through."

"A-are you sure that'll work?"

"Then stay behind and die."

Tae-hyun's indifferent voice made the players snap back to attention and nod quickly.

Tae-hyun was obviously not the kind of person who'd make allowances just because they whined.

He began issuing cold, rapid-fire orders.

Not a second of hesitation.

"Blacksmiths to the outside. Painters and fishermen, inside. Bards and cooks, center. If you've got even one attack skill, you stand on the outside. Get every skill you can use ready. Don't start whining that you can't fight. If you swing and land one hit, damage still goes through. Cooks, make every dish you can right now and feed everyone. Blacksmiths, got any equipment on you? If you can wear it, put it on immediately."

"B-but it'll lower my proficiency."

"Does this look like the time to worry about proficiency? Just put it on. Better than getting dropped in one hit."

"......!"

"What is it?"

"Nothing... nothing at all."

Tae-hyun answered as casually as ever, but the player who had asked felt a sudden chill run down his spine.