The Green Wave
"How dare those filthy demons force me to the ground!"
Despite his fall, Hakkaras was still in perfect condition. The demonic chains weren't a skill designed to pierce his thick, powerful scales and deal damage; they had merely dragged him down to the earth. But that alone was more than enough.
The morale of the demons is rising!
The morale of the Archisus Artillery is rising!
Just losing his ability to fly significantly lowered the raid's difficulty. It made it much easier for the attackers to strike, while Hakkaras could no longer rain down magic toward the ground as he had before. After all, he would get caught in his own crossfire!
The raid had now entered Phase 2. Against a grounded Hakkaras, they had to pierce his defenses and deal actual damage!
Kim Tae-hyun versus Hakkaras. A battle of the century that would make any Pan-On player clench their fists and break into a cold sweat just hearing about it!
...And yet, this showdown had begun incredibly abruptly. Without any prior announcement, Tae-hyun had suddenly flown in and thrown the first punch at Hakkaras!
Pan-On players only realized what was happening when a live stream suddenly went up on the Power Warrior Guild's official channel.
As the rumors spread, people began flooding into the Power Warrior Guild's stream at an insane rate.
Due to an extremely high volume of concurrent viewers, the stream may experience temporary delays or buffering...
So many users had gathered that the streaming server was lagging and on the verge of crashing entirely!
"Bwahaha! Those idiot Guild Alliance bastards! Did they really think we wouldn't notice them moving at night? We're unemployed, we're logged in twenty-four-seven!"
"Party Leader... Please, you're embarrassing us..."
"Huh? Wait, they're saying Kim Tae-hyun is raiding a Black Dragon right now?"
"What?! Where?! Let's go watch!"
Even the bandit players running wild in the Auston Kingdom reacted.
"We're finally here! Once we clear this dungeon, our massive eight-part chain quest will finally be—"
"Hey, they say Kim Tae-hyun is raiding a Black Dragon!"
"...Let's go watch that first!"
It was the same in the Erangs Kingdom.
Countless other players all across Pan-On either rushed to the scene in person or, at the very least, opened up the stream upon hearing the news. This was an absolute must-watch!
"Prepare reinforcements! We must take down Kim Tae-hyun!"
The news of Tae-hyun raiding Hakkaras quickly reached the Guild Alliance as well. It was an emergency!
One of the veteran guild members explained to the newcomer with a look of sheer pity.
The elites of the Guild Alliance, who had stubbornly remained in the capital even when their outlying territories were being pillaged and their members beaten, finally mobilized. It was a staggering force, boasting over ten high-ranking players!
Even the rankers who used to make up excuses like, "Ah, my stomach hurts..." or "Ah, my mother is sick..." whenever Kim Tae-hyun's name was mentioned stepped forward. They all knew the truth.
With the Black Dragon here, this is our absolute best chance to crush Kim Tae-hyun!
Opportunities to strike at Tae-hyun under such favorable conditions were incredibly rare in Pan-On. The rankers knew this all too well. It required the rankers to be gathered together, and for Tae-hyun to willingly throw himself into a dangerous situation... A golden opportunity where multiple perfect factors aligned!
"Waaaaaaaah!"
"?"
"??"
Tae-hyun, who was about to launch an attack on the grounded Hakkaras, turned his head. What was that noise? From far away, a massive horde of Orcs was charging over the hill.
"Eek!" Cain flinched. Perhaps due to his severe trauma from being beaten by Orcs so many times in Pan-On, his body tensed up automatically at the sight of the charging horde.
However, these Orcs were allies. It was the Orc tribes led by Kim Tae-san!
"We've come to help!" Kim Tae-san shouted, raising his weapon with a solemn expression.
Although Tae-san and his Orc tribes had been scattering and avoiding direct confrontations until now, there was no longer any need for that.
We'll raid this Black Dragon and complete the quest!
Successfully raiding Hakkaras, the guardian of the Auston Kingdom, would be more than enough to satisfy the conditions for his Great Chieftain quest.
"Uh... I don't really need your help, though?"
"...Hey!" Kim Tae-san snapped, his temper rising. He had put so much effort into making a cool entrance, and this brat was ruining it!
"No, seriously, I don't need it. How many of those Orcs are even over level 100 right now...?"
The Orc tribes led by Kim Tae-san were indeed staggering in sheer numbers. It was only natural, considering he had scraped together every single tribe of a race known for its rapid population growth. However, high-level Orcs were extremely scarce among them.
"W-well, we have a decent number of elites too!"
He was referring to the chieftain's guard NPCs that Tae-san personally commanded.
"It must have taken you forever to raise them. If they take one wrong hit from a Black Dragon, they'll be instantly vaporized."
Tae-hyun was genuinely worrying about him. Kim Tae-san realized this as well. It wasn't teasing; it was real concern!
And here I thought he was just making fun of me. He had misunderstood because of how they usually bickered.
"Just focus on ranged attacks and keep as much distance as possible. The tanking is being handled by the demons anyway."
Just as Tae-hyun said, Esla's demons were putting on a spectacular display of tanking. They swarmed from the front, back, sides, above, and below in a relentless assault! No matter how many times Hakkaras tore them apart or wiped them out with magic, the demons lunged forward without a single care for their own lives.
Man... I should have saved that summon for something else...
Tae-hyun felt that summoning this army just once would have been enough to conquer the Guild Alliance's capital and everything else in one fell swoop.
Right then, another group appeared.
"Waaaaaaaah!"
"...?"
"Are there even more Orcs?"
"Huh? No, that's not us..."
The identity of the newcomers was quickly revealed by system alerts.
The army of the Auston Kingdom has arrived!
A force composed of adventurers from the Auston Kingdom has...
It was the full military might mobilized by the Guild Alliance! A powerful force consisting of mercenaries, kingdom soldiers, various NPCs, and guild members. Although they were fewer in number compared to the Orc tribes, they were incomparably superior in quality—a true elite force! On top of that, the sheer number of high-ranking players among them was highly threatening. Each of them was powerful enough to wipe out an entire Orc tribe single-handedly.
Yet, Kim Tae-san and the "Orc Uncles" did not show a shred of fear. They had fully anticipated this kind of situation from the moment they declared war on the Auston Kingdom.
"Those bastards finally showed their faces! Let's pay them back for what they owe us!"
"Waaaaaaaah!"
"Think of our territory! Why did our land turn into a Plague Wasteland?!"
"Because of those bastards!!"
"Boooooo!"
Not just the older players, but even the regular guild members joined in the jeering. They genuinely believed it was all the Guild Alliance's fault. Having repeated the lie so many times, they had brainwashed themselves into believing it!
Naturally, the Guild Alliance members listening from the other side were utterly dumbfounded.
"What the hell are these crazy bastards talking about?!"
"You guys were the ones who blew it up!"
"Do you have any idea how much we've suffered because of that?!"
Thanks to Kim Tae-san and his "Orc Uncles" turning the area into a Plague Wasteland before leaving, the Guild Alliance had wept tears of blood. They had put so much effort into conquering it, only to find that it produced no food, and the high pollution levels caused their morale and public security to plummet... In the end, they had no choice but to tearfully abandon that vast expanse of land.
"Orcs! Charge! Wipe out those cowardly, filthy bastards!"
"Waaaaaaaah!"
"Chwiiiiiiik!"
The guild members and the Orc tribes poured down from the hill like a tidal wave. Their numbers were so immense that they completely blanketed the hillside! However, the members of the Guild Alliance merely snorted in derision.
"Hmph. Do they think they can win just because they have numbers?"
"This actually worked out perfectly. We've been holding back, but this time we're going to show them what real pain feels like."
The Orcs had been roaming the outskirts of the Auston Kingdom, pillaging and destroying their territories at will! The Alliance members ground their teeth in rage. If not for the strict orders to prioritize defending the capital and the central regions, they would have marched out to fight them long ago. Although the Orcs' numbers were quite large, they weren't afraid. They planned to quickly wipe them out with magic and wide-area skills, then take down Tae-hyun while he was busy fighting the Black Dragon.
"Huh...?" Something felt off. A massive wave of Orcs had just poured down the hill, yet there were still more Orcs standing at the top.
"...?"
"Is that... an afterimage?"
"Chwiiiiiiiiiiik!" The battle cries of so many Orcs blended together, stretching into a long, deafening roar. Only then did the Guild Alliance members realize the truth: the Orc tribes hadn't even fully arrived yet! The sheer height of the hill had simply hidden the rest of the horde from view.
"I-it's fine. We can handle that many..."
"Yeah. It's well within our expectations."
"Chwik!"
"Ah, stop it already, you crazy bastards!"
"Just how many did you bring?! Do you guys do nothing but eat and breed?!"
The Guild Alliance was a faction that prided itself on its massive member count in Pan-On. With a heavy concentration of Chinese players, they boasted an overwhelming numerical advantage that was on a completely different level compared to other guilds. Yet, the sheer number of Orc tribe members was completely overwhelming even them!
The enemy's numbers are too vast!
Morale is plummeting.
Behind the hill, and behind that, and even further behind, more Orcs were flooding in. It was quite literally a green wave!
Were there really this many invading Orcs?!
The streams definitely didn't show anything close to this number!
When Kim Tae-san had first declared war on the Auston Kingdom, the number of Orcs was nowhere near this level.
Don't tell me he intentionally hid their true numbers back then?!
It was Kim Tae-san's trap, designed to screw over his opponents at the most critical moment! The sheer cunning of these middle-aged gamers, forged in the fires of old-school hardcore MMORPGs, was truly something else.
"Let's go! Let's go! Wipe them out!"
Only then did the Guild Alliance realize the gravity of the situation and frantically begin to respond.
"All forces, assume defensive formations! Build a temporary fortress immediately!!!"
"Gather by party! Do not scatter!"
Hakkaras and Kim Tae-hyun were no longer the priority. If they weren't careful, they would be completely trampled by Kim Tae-san and his Orcs—opponents they hadn't even considered a threat until now!
Because the Guild Alliance's own numbers were so massive, issuing precise, coordinated commands in the heat of the moment was practically impossible. Furthermore, players with high-level tactical skills like Tae-hyun were extremely rare. In the end, the Guild Alliance had no choice but to split up and form defensive lines around their most famous parties.
"Look, Lin Yao is over there! Let's head toward him!"
"That's Icarus over there! Let's group up with Icarus!"
"No, maybe Liu Song's side is safer..."
Because they were all blindly clustering around the famous rankers, the gaps between their formations were wide and poorly defended. It was a perfect setup for a divide-and-conquer strategy!
Seeing those glaring weaknesses, Kim Tae-san brilliantly commanded his Orcs to exploit them... Or rather, he didn't. Because Tae-san didn't possess any tactical skills either!
To be fair, even Tae-hyun, with his highest-grade tactical skills, would have struggled to perfectly coordinate an army of this size. There were simply far, far too many of them.
Thus, Kim Tae-san abandoned any hope of elegant leadership or flawless strategy. His plan was simple: just push forward!
"Chwik! Chwik!"
"The Chieftain said to charge over there!"
"Not there, you idiots! There's nothing over there!"
"Chwik! Those guys are the enemy!"
"Those are our allies!"
Fortunately, the older guild members scattered throughout the ranks managed to grab the confused Orcs and point them in the right direction.
*Rumble!*
Despite the chaotic nature of the charge, the Guild Alliance couldn't afford to laugh. They were utterly paralyzed by the sheer volume of enemies filling their vision.
"Fire! Fire! Don't let them climb the hill!"
Having scrambled to the high ground, the Guild Alliance quickly formed a perimeter and began unleashing wide-area spells and skills indiscriminately. A rain of arrows poured down alongside fireballs, ice, and lightning.
"Chwik! Chwiiik!"
"Chwik! It hurts too much!"
"Hmph. I expected as much."
Kim Tae-san muttered as he glared at the distant Guild Alliance. The Orcs currently charging were actually a decoy! Once they wiped them out, the enemy would be exhausted from expending all their arrows and mana...
Archisus's Blessing
"???"
"??????"
Both the Guild Alliance and Kim Tae-san stared in absolute shock. Aren't you supposed to be fighting Hakkaras?!