Brangson’s Proposal
Brangson’s offer meant nothing to Tae-hyun.
He’d turned down every kind of offer imaginable by now, so there was no reason he’d suddenly be tempted just because someone dangled a position in the royal navy in front of him.
“What’s that?”
While that was happening, Brangson seemed to realize that something was wrong with the island.
The fortress and facilities that should have been there were all smashed to pieces, reduced to utter ruin, and instead of the pirates who ought to have been swarming the area, undead were crawling all over it.
“Well, the way that happened is...”
Rufo stepped forward to explain.
But Tae-hyun stopped him.
There was nothing to gain from letting Rufo handle this. This was the sort of thing he had to do.
The devil’s tongue, pinning every last bit of blame on Denelson!
“Hm? Wait. The ships can’t leave?”
Brangson tilted his head as if something sounded off.
“Why didn’t you say that sooner?”
Tae-hyun shamelessly shrugged.
“Didn’t I? I thought I did. Rufo, didn’t you say it?”
“I gave the order, certainly. It seems part of it must have been omitted along the way.”
The two of them smoothly passing the blame back and forth!
Brangson had clearly never imagined a situation like this, so he looked briefly flustered before turning back to his men and issuing orders.
“The ships can’t get out? Confirm it.”
“Yes, Admiral. The winds and currents are flowing in the opposite direction.”
“Damn...”
As Brangson’s face darkened, Tae-hyun put a hand on his shoulder from the side.
“Well, what of it? We just have to kill it, don’t we?”
“...”
What was done was done.
Brangson gave the order, and the fleet began preparing to land on the island.
“Prepare bombardment! Wipe out those specters on the island!”
The sailors in their splendid royal uniforms moved briskly, loading magic shells into the magic cannons.
Magic cannons were so expensive that players could rarely afford to use them so freely—but the royal navy burned through them like water.
“Fire!”
BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOM!
Explosions erupted across the island.
Fire magic blasted apart the specter warriors wandering about.
“Keep firing as soon as the next round is ready!”
BOOM! KWA-BOOM! KWA-KWA-BOOM!
“Priests, cast your spells on the soldiers. We’re going in soon!”
Before setting foot on the island, they intended to erase as many specter warriors as possible.
That was Brangson’s aim.
They were throwing away expensive magic shells by the handful, but he didn’t seem the least bit bothered.
And in practice, the specter warriors near the shoreline were being annihilated before they could do much of anything.
“Man. The royal navy really is something. Good thing we dragged them over here, huh?”
“Shh, shh. Lower your voice, Tae-hyun-nim.”
Tae-hyun and Rufo watched the scene and spoke quietly.
“Don’t worry. He can’t hear. Still, if these guys are this strong, why couldn’t they deal with the pirates before?”
“Because when the pirates were alive, they couldn’t just approach and attack like this. Pirates aren’t idiots. Of course they would have retaliated.”
Being revived as specter warriors had its advantages, but the disadvantages were just as obvious.
The biggest one was that they could no longer mount proper tactical defenses the way they had when they were alive.
Of course, the island’s fortress facilities had all been smashed to pieces too, but still...
“Looks like it’s been roughly cleared. Give the landing order!”
At Brangson’s signal, the royal navy lowered boats and began advancing.
“Let’s go. We should help.”
“Yes? Do you owe them something?”
When Tae-hyun said he was going to help, Rufo asked in startled disbelief.
“No, but if we stick our spoon into the royal navy’s fight, there’s profit in it.”
“...That’s true. Understood.”
Assist the Royal Navy of Atali
The royal navy of the Atali Kingdom intends to enter Caterand Island, purify it, and seize control of it.
You have already done more than enough—but if you help the soldiers fight the undead, the kingdom will be all the more grateful.
🎁 Reward: ? ?????
It was a choice-based quest.
They could stay aboard the ship and wait, or they could disembark with the royal navy and fight alongside them.
Staying aboard meant getting back safely.
Fighting with the royal navy meant there was real danger involved.
No matter how strong the royal navy was, the specter warriors on the island were no easy opponents.
In exchange, though, there would obviously be extra rewards.
The players fell into deliberation.
“What are you gonna do?”
“What do you mean, what am I gonna do? We barely made it out alive, and now you want us to go back in there...? No thanks. If I die, I lose out. We only just escaped.”
“Right? I feel the same. I’m staying on the ship.”
Most of them leaned toward staying aboard.
Honestly, it was only natural.
Earlier, Tae-hyun had risked his life to carve a path through the front line. But if they went down now, they’d have to stand shoulder to shoulder with the royal navy and fight.
For production-class players or artist-class players, that was inevitably a heavy burden.
Brangson approached Tae-hyun and said,
“I am placing great expectations on you.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you have an opinion on how we should fight this?”
Brangson asks for your opinion.
His response will vary depending on the result.
Tactics skill increases.
“The Specter of the Ancient God has probably gone back underground. Cursing the whole island like this must’ve taken a lot out of it, so it’ll need time to recover. If you’re going to attack, I think it would be best not to waste time and just push straight in.”
“Push straight in?”
“Yes. I think it’d be best to form a small elite subjugation force and strike immediately. Even if you land and take the island slowly, all that’ll do is waste time.”
“Hmm.”
Brangson fell silent in thought.
Tae-hyun suddenly grew curious.
Would he really listen?
An admiral of the kingdom’s Third Fleet could easily afford to be arrogant. Tae-hyun had played a huge role in clearing out this island, sure—but listening to his advice was a different matter entirely.
“I’ll trust your judgment. You came here first and handled things this far, so your words must carry weight.”
“...!”
“Good. Astal! Call the mages and priests. We’re forming a strike force to descend underground!”
At that moment, someone sidled over.
It was Count Marcel.
Recognizing his face, Brangson brightened.
“Why, if it isn’t Count Marcel! I heard you were trapped among the pirates.”
“Ahem. Ahem. I was. You might’ve rescued me a little sooner, don’t you think?”
“My apologies. Circumstances did not allow it. Still, to see you come out in one piece—truly, that is a relief.”
“It is, yes...”
Count Marcel looked at Tae-hyun.
Thinking of all the abuse he’d suffered at Tae-hyun’s hands just to make it this far made something rise hot in his chest.
Should I just report this bastard right now?
While Count Marcel wrestled with that dilemma, Brangson looked at Tae-hyun and said,
“You even rescued Count Marcel. You’ve rendered great service indeed. My thanks once again. It can’t have been easy, rescuing the Count from a situation like that.”
“Haha. What could be more important than saving a human life? Naturally, it put me in danger, but I simply could not abandon others.”
Speech skill increases.
“...”
After staring at Tae-hyun, Count Marcel gave up on speaking.
The atmosphere was such that saying anything would clearly get him nowhere.
“Admiral. Preparations are complete.”
“Good! We enter the island!”
Mages, priests, archers.
These were the indispensable classes for a balanced party.
If there was a mage in the back, the people fighting at the front felt secure.
There was always a powerful finishing blow waiting.
If there was a priest in the middle, everyone could trust them.
Even if they were hurt, they’d be healed immediately.
Honestly, breaking through a dungeon with just two people the way Tae-hyun had done was what was abnormal.
Normally, this was how it was supposed to be done.
A tank to fight in front, damage dealers behind them, healers in the rear...
A good party was one where everyone had their roles divided like that.
If the dungeon was huge and powerful, then the party composition expanded—or multiple parties went in at once.
Yeah. This is how easy it’s supposed to be.
That was what Tae-hyun thought as he walked along with the royal navy.
The priests and mages at his side looked incredibly reassuring.
At a glance, they were clearly NPCs well over level one hundred.
“But why did you two come along?”
“Hehe...”
Tae-hyun wasn’t the only one who’d decided to go onto the island.
Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan had volunteered too.
“We wanted to help you!”
“Did it never occur to you that helping me might mean staying on the ship?”
“...We may be low-level, but we’ll do our best!”
“Low-level, huh.”
Tae-hyun paused for a moment to think.
No matter how he looked at it, Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan were both higher level than he was.
But the two blacksmiths interpreted his reaction in an entirely different way and quickly raised their voices.
“Yes! We’ll do our best! We’ll work hard!”
“The royal navy will handle the fighting anyway, so you can just help from the back. Tuning their weapons and such.”
“...Huh?”
Tae-hyun stopped walking and called out to the royal navy soldiers.
Seeing that, Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan were startled.
The strike force that had landed on the island was the elite of the elite.
Their faces carried the stiff severity of men made entirely out of sternness, seriousness, and discipline.
It was hard to casually speak to soldiers like that.
But Tae-hyun walked right up to them and—
“Want me to take a look at your weapons?”
—started drumming up business.
“Ta-Tae-san-nim. Even so, isn’t that a bit...”
“Why?”
“They might get angry.”
But the soldier did not get angry.
He gave Tae-hyun a respectful bow and said,
“I would be grateful.”
There was no way the soldiers would dare get mad when Brangson himself was treating Tae-hyun kindly.
This was the power of connections.
“Let’s work on their gear as we go.”
“W-wait a moment. It takes time...”
“If you’re that slow, what good are you? Hurry up. Faster! Faster! More, more, more, more!”
[Skill Activated]
Tae-hyun harried the two blacksmiths without a shred of hesitation.
In a situation where they had to get underground as quickly as possible, there was no time to waste.
A true blacksmith got the job done on time.
“Uh, um...”
“Hm?”
Tae-hyun was surprised to realize there were two more players present.
Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan were one thing—but there were more people who’d come down?
It was Woo Jeong-sik and Ju Hyeon-yeong.
“No, why are you here?!”
Kim Ji-sahn marched up to Woo Jeong-sik and demanded an explanation.
Hadn’t they already made an agreement?
But Woo Jeong-sik averted his eyes with a shameless expression, pretending he had no idea what he was talking about.
“You’re really going to do this?”
“I have no idea what you mean.”
Woo Jeong-sik brazenly insisted on his innocence.
By now, he had already figured out why Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan were acting like this.
Those little bastards. Trying to hog all the benefits for themselves.
What Tae-hyun had shown during the preparations had been more than enough to leave an impression.
If he could use blacksmithing skills to that degree and was that strong, then there was a very good chance he was a ranker even among blacksmith players.
But was there a ranker like that among the streamers? Then again, there are plenty of rankers who don’t stream...
Not every ranker streamed.
Some kept quiet and raised their characters alone so they wouldn’t be targeted or countered.
Woo Jeong-sik assumed Tae-hyun was one of those types.
If that was the case?
Then I need to stick to him!