Akisus or Death
"Ah, right. Focus." Tae-hyun shook his head.
Carbanog nods in agreement. It says that all believers are precious, so there is no need to judge them by their skill.
There's no way those guys are normal either. Since they worshiped Akisus, there was bound to be something off about them! Tae-hyun was absolutely sure of it. The laws of the universe never failed.
......
Ignoring Carbanog's stinging glare, Tae-hyun focused on the hunt. Regardless of any quirks they might have, the hunt was going incredibly smoothly. They're quite reliable.
"Slave's Eye!"
"Slave's Eye!"
"Slave's Eye!"
The Tribal Elite Great Warrior's movement has been slowed.
The Tribal Elite Great Warrior has been immobilized!
When they all activated the skill together, the effect was several times stronger than Cain's.
Carbanog estimates the power to be roughly 8 Cains.
"No, more like 10 Cains..."
"Why do I feel so insulted?" Cain swung his weapon with a grimace. He felt strangely uneasy, as if someone were playing a joke on him behind his back!
You have acquired a new skill after witnessing a fellow Slave of Akisus use their skill.
"Slave comrade! Doesn't it feel great to fight naked?"
"Indeed! True strength only shines when you cast off your armor!"
"Look at our slave comrade, he's so thrilled he's speechless. Heh. No need to thank us."
"No, I really want to put my armor back on..."
"What an excellent training method," Tae-hyun marveled. Fighting without armor on purpose! It was a combat style where a single mistake meant instant death, but the benefits were undeniable. Fighting on the edge of survival granted higher stat bonuses, not to mention boosting focus and control. Sure, it was risky, but as long as you didn't die, it was pure profit!
I should have raised Cain like that! Tae-hyun reflected on his past choices. He had been far too kind and soft-hearted, which was why he hadn't been able to help Cain reach his full potential!
"Hey! My Strength stat went up, so I can wear my armor now!"
"No. Keep fighting like that."
"?!" Cain looked utterly dumbfounded. Even Tae-hyun was taking their side now.
"From what I can see, it's the perfect way to build up your stats and control. We should have started this sooner."
"Then why don't you fight like that too?!"
"How dare you!"
"Insolent fool!"
Crash! Cain was instantly pinned to the ground for his slip of the tongue.
Tae-hyun spoke with absolute confidence.
"I dodge almost every attack anyway, so that method doesn't work on me."
"......"
"Besides, my control is already too perfect to improve any further."
"......"
Well, that's true. It was incredibly annoying, but it was the undeniable truth. It wasn't as if Tae-hyun's skills could actually get any better at this point. Honestly, was there even room for improvement?
"So do it with a grateful heart. There are plenty of people in this world who would kill for a stat-growth opportunity like this!"
"......" Cain nodded with a deeply conflicted expression. The logic was perfectly sound, so why did he feel so incredibly wronged?
"Kuooh..."
Carbanog relays that the golem is asking if it can leave now.
"I told you, not yet! What if we die after you leave?" Tae-hyun scolded the Adamantium Giant Golem. You might not be useful right this second, but I can't let you go! Who knows when or where I'll need you! Of course, if he actually said that out loud, even the most good-natured golem would probably go on a rampage.
"Kuoooh..."
Carbanog relays that the golem absolutely detests those tribesmen.
The Adamantium Giant Golem seemed to genuinely detest the Akisus Tribe. The tribal warriors pestered the golem every chance they got.
"Adamantium Golem! Offer your body to Lord Akisus!"
"Yeah, yeah! You're so huge, it won't hurt to slice off a few pieces!"
"Give us some of your body to carve a statue! No, wait, why don't you just become the statue yourself?!"
"......" No wonder it hated them!
"O Avatar! Your arrival is a revelation from Akisus! A revelation to teach the glory of Lord Akisus to the heathens in this mine!"
"Huh?" Tae-hyun was slightly taken aback. He had only come here to obtain adamantium. Now that he had gathered plenty, he was planning to leave! He had only been brainstorming ways to coax the Adamantium Giant Golem into giving him a bit more, not plotting to conquer the entire mine.
Besides, this mine... If he messed with the wrong people here, Lee Se-yeon would definitely misunderstand. The tribes loyal to the Emperor and the Asbian Empire were factions Se-yeon had to protect!
“I knew it...! Kim Tae-hyun, you bastard! You came here to get in my way!” It would be a complete misunderstanding, but an incredibly difficult one to explain away. He wanted to avoid that scenario at all costs.
"Well, do we really have to teach them? I only need you guys."
"No! There is only one rule of Akisus: Akisus or death! That is all!" It was a brutal rule that even Tae-hyun was hearing for the first time!
"Akisus or death!"
"Akisus or death!"
"Bring Akisus to every tribe here! Or bring them death!"
"Let's slaughter them all!"
Right at that moment, a player leading a horde of elite undead monsters emerged from the opposite tunnel. It was Lee Se-yeon.
"......"
"......"
"I knew it...! Kim Tae-hyun, you bastard! You came here to get in my way!" Lee Se-yeon pointed a finger at him and shouted.
Tae-hyun looked up at the ceiling and let out a deep sigh. Lee Da-bi's warning echoed in his ears.
“Tae-hyun, you must not fight with Se-yeon! With the Guild Alliance watching, if the two of you fight...”
Wait, let me think. I don't think those were her exact words.
“Tae-hyun, try your best not to fight with Se-yeon! But if you do have to fight, make sure to strip her of everything she owns!”
Of course, Lee Da-bi had said no such thing. It was merely Tae-hyun distorting his own memories now that he was backed into a corner.
"K-Kim Tae-hyun! I actually trusted you! You really are a terrible person!" Kim Hyeon-ah's voice trembled with betrayal. To think she had trusted him and spoken up for him, only to find him plotting such a heinous conspiracy here!
Tae-hyun composed himself, looked Lee Se-yeon dead in the eye, and spoke with gravity.
"Se-yeon."
"...What?" Se-yeon flinched slightly at his serious tone.
"It's a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding, my foot! Is 'it's a misunderstanding' really the best excuse you can come up with?!"
"Avatar, shall we kill them?"
"Just looking at that sinister Necromancer makes me sick..."
The Akisus Tribe warriors only fueled the misunderstanding from the sidelines. Se-yeon and Hyeon-ah had already drawn their weapons.
"Wait, is that an Adamantium Golem?! How on earth are you controlling that?!" Se-yeon was utterly shocked. She had never seen an Adamantium Golem before! Hyeon-ah was equally stunned. "We were just fighting those things earlier! How did you tame it?!"
"Oh... we became friends."
"......"
"......"
With Se-yeon looking ready to strike at any second, Tae-hyun did his absolute best to explain the situation.
"So you're saying you came here, found a tribe that worships Akisus, and met an Adamantium Golem that owed a debt to Akisus, and that's how this happened?"
"Yeah."
"......" Se-yeon stared at him as if asking, Does this guy think I'm as gullible as Cain? It was a lie so absurd it defied belief.
"They're just making a fuss about converting the other tribes to Akisus, which is why they said those things. I have absolutely no intention of wiping out the other tribes."
"Really? Is that true? You swear?"
"Unni, make him swear on a live stream."
"He doesn't care about stuff like that, so it's pointless."
"I can hear you both, you know," Tae-hyun said, exasperated by their conversation.
"Think about it logically. If I had teamed up with Smith, I'd be trying to persuade the tribes here, not slaughtering them."
"Well, that's true." She had jumped to conclusions after hearing "Let's slaughter them all!", but hearing his explanation, Tae-hyun's words actually made sense.
"So we're good, right? I'll be on my way."
"Wait. What are you planning to do?"
"Just going to do a little missionary work for Akisus before I head out."
"And if they don't listen?"
"...Persuasion?"
"As if you'd ever use persuasion!" Se-yeon scoffed. Persuasion, my foot! He was obviously going to attack them!
"Let's do this. I'll go with you and help you persuade them."
"Avatar, has this filthy Necromancer converted to Akisus?"
"...Can you please make them shut up?" Se-yeon felt a massive headache coming on just looking at the Akisus Tribe. Where on earth did he find these people...?
"Wait a minute. Is that Cain?!" Se-yeon gasped. She hadn't recognized him at first because he was sitting there stripped of his gear, but it was definitely Cain.
"It's a long story, let's skip it."
"...Fine. Anyway, here is my proposal. Some of the tribes here are loyal to the Emperor."
Se-yeon pulled an item from her inventory. It was an item that allowed her to issue commands to the loyal tribes in the Emperor's name and prevented them from attacking her. Tae-hyun's eyes gleamed. With that item...
"...Try to steal it and you're dead."
"W-Who said anything about stealing?"
"I'll go and persuade them to believe in Akisus, so you help me with my task in return."
"What's your task?"
"I need to catch Smith. He slipped away earlier."
Unlike Tae-hyun, Smith was firmly on the opposing side of Se-yeon. His quest objective was to persuade the neutral and loyal tribes to turn against the Emperor!
"If we catch Smith, as for the items... hmm, how about we each take the gear that fits our class best?"
"Hey..." Se-yeon glared at Tae-hyun's transparent attempt to hoard the loot. Smith's gear would obviously fit Tae-hyun far better than a Necromancer like her!
"Just roll dice for it."
"...Deal!" Tae-hyun grinned brightly. Seeing that smile, Se-yeon felt a sudden chill, as if she had just made a terrible mistake.
"But you can't persuade the neutral tribes, can you?"
"It doesn't matter if we have to fight those guys."
"Death! Death! Death!"
"Akisus or death!"
Se-yeon stared at Tae-hyun with a look of sheer exhaustion.
"...Your tastes are getting weirder by the day."
"This is not my taste."
🏛 Status: Alert
💀 Factions: Goblin Tribe
Goblins, huh? Smith pulled out items that goblins typically favored from his inventory. Gold should do the trick. Anyone else would have wept at the waste, but Smith was a high-ranking player. He could afford to spend items of this caliber. Besides, time was of the essence. Now that Se-yeon had shown up, he needed to persuade the tribes as quickly as possible.
I need to persuade them quickly and team up with Mr. Kim Tae-hyun... Smith was still blissfully unaware that Tae-hyun had already joined forces with Se-yeon. A foolish dream indeed!
"Goblin friends! I have gold here. Please accept this and hear me out!"
Rustle—
With the sound of swift movement in the distance, small shadows emerged. Goblins armed with small gunpowder blowguns appeared and greedily snatched up the gold pieces he had laid down.
The Goblin Tribe is delighted by the gold.
Affinity has increased slightly.
Your Reputation within the Goblin Tribe has increased.
Even after offering so much gold, his affinity and reputation within the tribe barely budged! But Smith remained unfazed. This was how normal NPCs behaved when meeting someone for the first time. Tae-hyun, who became best friends with NPCs the moment they met, was the anomaly here, not Smith.
"What brings you here?"
"I have come because the tyrant Uipoatl of the Asbian Empire..." Smith launched into a lengthy explanation. Unlike Tae-hyun, Smith chose to explain the entire situation with absolute honesty.
Yawn—
The listening goblins were yawning in boredom!
A penalty has been applied to Speech due to excessive verbosity.
The difficulty of persuading the Goblins has increased.
"......"
"And?"
"Fight alongside me! Otherwise, the tyrant Uipoatl will plunge the empire into misery once more."
"We don't care. Even the tyrant Uipoatl cannot reach this mine. And no one can find this cave."
"But I just found it."
"......"
Your affinity with the Goblin Tribe has decreased.
This is too hard! Smith lamented inwardly. Trying to build affinity through the Speech skill was incredibly difficult. He felt it would be much easier if they just handed him a quest to complete instead.