The Green Wave and the Shameless Pope

Both the Guild Alliance and Kim Tae-san stared at Tae-hyun in sheer bewilderment, but Tae-hyun didn't care in the slightest. I just need to pop out, help them for a bit, and head right back! Esla's demonic army was fighting brilliantly against Hakkaras. This much was fine. What mattered right now was screwing over the Guild Alliance! He had to give them a proper thrashing so they wouldn't dare interfere with the Hakkaras raid. Still, leaving a literal Black Dragon right in front of him to go help with a battle on the plains behind them? Everyone was utterly dumbfounded by his insane train of thought.

"B-Block him!"

Flash!

Even in a massive battlefield teeming with tens of thousands of players, Tae-hyun's absurd presence shone brilliantly. Drawing his sword with absolute confidence, he rode Yong-yong into the fray, bestowing buffs upon the Orcs! Everyone clicked their tongues in awe at the sheer audacity of a man who stepped forward so boldly while the Guild Alliance players waited menacingly on the hill above.

"Get him! Don't let him escape!"

"Attack!"

The Guild Alliance executives screamed from all directions. From their perspective, Tae-hyun—whom they already detested to the bone—had practically rolled right into their laps! With his disguises, clones, and all sorts of elusive tricks, opportunities to corner him like this were incredibly rare. Especially when the Guild Alliance's entire military might was gathered in one place, giving them an overwhelming advantage! No one was about to let this chance slip away.

"A bounty to whoever strikes Kim Tae-hyun first! If you capture him, you will be granted the finest territory in the Auston Kingdom! Even if you don't capture him yourself, anyone who contributes to his downfall will be handsomely rewarded!"

"A-A bounty? How much?"

"Is that what's important right now?!"

"But wait, wasn't the last bounty still unpaid? When are we getting that?"

"Shh. Keep your mouth shut if you don't want to get kicked out."

A few guild members cast suspicious glances, but the vast majority fell for the bait hook, line, and sinker. Territory! The word 'territory' carried immense weight. If I can just land the last hit, I can become a lord! Ninety-nine percent of Pan-On players would never even touch a piece of land before they quit the game. It was only natural that the guild members' eyes rolled back with greed.

"Uwooooah!"

"I'm... I'm going to get him!"

The crazed guild members charged forward! Even as he watched them rush him, Tae-hyun didn't flinch. With a perfectly calm face, he asked, "Hey, if I commit suicide, do I get the territory too?"

"...That crazy bastard!"

"Kill him! Kill him!"

His attitude was enough to give the executives high blood pressure! Still, the guild members who stepped up to capture Tae-hyun were fairly high-level players. They quickly cut through the swarming Orcs and arrived right in front of him.

"Die—!"

"You want to die?"

Splat!

Tae-hyun had been standing still, but the moment the leading player entered his attack range, he moved like lightning.

Parrying the opponent's attack perfectly and redirecting it back at them, freezing their movement for a brief moment. At that exact instant, the opponent's torso was left completely exposed! Tae-hyun's strike lunged straight for that opening.

"!!"

The guild member panicked as his attack was parried so effortlessly, leaving him wide open to a counter. I-It's fine. I received buffs before coming here, and I geared up for physical defense, so I can take a few hits. If I hold out, my party members will... Thoughts raced through his mind! He planned to endure a few blows and counterattack, but when facing Tae-hyun, things never went according to plan.

He didn't even need to use Critical Explosion. His attack power was already bloated by Archisus Swordsmanship and Lucky Strike. On top of that, he had the newly acquired buff from Alexeos's Blessing. The newly modified warrior-type buff! Its power was truly terrifying. It brought down a high-level player in just a few basic attacks.

"?"

"???"

"?????"

The accompanying guild members, who had been preparing to gang up on Tae-hyun while he was focused on their ally, froze in their tracks. It was over already?

"This makes no se—"

Slash! Stab!

He seemed to want to say "This makes no sense," but in the time it took to utter those words, he should have run, widened the distance, or at least activated a defensive skill. Tae-hyun turned without hesitation and sliced through the guild member. *Spurt!*

"What the hell?!"

"Is he on drugs?!"

They knew Tae-hyun's burst damage was terrifying, but even so, this was absurd. To tear through high-level guild members who had prepared so thoroughly this quickly!

"No—"

With Critical Explosion active, it was a single shot!

"T-That monster!"

Tae-hyun began to run wild. Riding Yong-yong, he began to shred the approaching guild members like a blender. *Slash! Slash! Slash!*

If players who had maxed out their buffs and geared up for physical defense only lasted a few hits, those who hadn't were simply one-shotted! On top of that, there was Yong-yong, whom Tae-hyun was riding. Whenever Thief players tried to approach Tae-hyun in stealth, Yong-yong ruthlessly unleashed wide-area magic. *Crackle!* Lightning arced in all directions, roasting the hidden Thieves. Even if they survived the damage, their stealth was broken, and once that happened...

"Hello there."

"O-Oh, hello, sir—*gack!*"

Tae-hyun's sword immediately flew at them. *Slash! Slash! Slash!* Tae-hyun joyfully swung, stabbed, and exploded his way through the crowd, occasionally tossing Sadiq's fire magic and bombs to give the guild members a warm, fiery welcome.

"Hahaha! Die!"

"That... that crazy bastard..."

"Is he a human or a butcher?"

Watching dozens of guild members get pureed in less than a minute, the executives and rankers stood with their mouths agape. It felt like watching a monster that was already terrifying return as an even greater abomination! But the shock was only just beginning. One of the executives finally noticed something bizarre.

"W-Wait a minute. What's going on over there?"

The Orcs, who hadn't even been able to climb the hill moments ago, had somehow breached the Guild Alliance's front lines and were tearing into their formation.

In response to the sudden Orc human-wave tactics, the Guild Alliance had hastily and clumsily thrown together a defensive formation. It wasn't a unified, cohesive front, but rather a fragmented line hastily assembled around famous rankers. Well-constructed formations, even when divided, would cooperate and move systematically. Naturally, the Guild Alliance's formation possessed no such coordination. It was an "every man for himself" setup under the loose direction of rankers and executives! Yet, there was a reason why the surging wave of Orcs had been beaten back and kept at bay until now.

First of all, the level gap was simply too ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wide. To deal with Kim Tae-hyun, the Guild Alliance had selected high-level guild members and brought along premium NPCs, starting with elite mercenary groups. In contrast, many of the Orc warriors sent by Kim Tae-san were low-level.

Since this is going to be a long battle anyway, there's no need to show all our cards from the start. We need to wear them down first! Tae-san's plan was to exhaust the enemy's archers and mages before launching the real assault. The Guild Alliance's firepower was indeed formidable; under the relentless barrage of arrows and magic, the Orcs couldn't even gain a foothold and fell in droves. Furthermore, the Guild Alliance held the high ground on the hill. Having hastily erected wooden palisades to create a temporary outpost, even the Orcs lucky enough to reach the front lines couldn't scale them and were sliced to pieces.

But Archisus's Blessing changed everything. A skill capable of shaking a massive battlefield! The Guild Alliance should have paid attention to what kind of buff Tae-hyun was casting when he stepped forward. But they had only focused on Tae-hyun himself—because of his absurdly overwhelming presence! Thanks to that, the Orcs, now sharing his insane Luck stat through Archisus's Blessing, charged up the hill in high spirits. The barrages of arrows and magic were met with a cascade of "Evasion" prompts! Unless it was an unavoidable skill, they were practically invincible for a short duration.

"They're not dying! What is this?!"

"All the arrows are missing... Kim Tae-hyun! Kim Tae-hyun did something! Switch to curses! Cast curses!"

"We can't kill them quickly with curses! Look at how many there are!"

"You idiots! Just slow them down!"

A few useful suggestions were made, but it was already too late. The Orcs had completely closed the distance and were swarming the outpost.

"Chwiik!"

"Chwik! Get over here, you archer bastards!"

The Orcs leaped over the wooden palisades by stepping on their allies' shoulders! The archers quickly retreated, and the melee classes stepped forward. The Orcs themselves weren't too difficult to handle, but the problem was that the Guild Alliance could no longer safely use wide-area skills.

"Don't panic! They're just low-level mobs anyway! Push them back, and we can use our AoE skills again!"

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

Rankers and executives could be seen shouting all over the place, trying to rally the guild members. Seeing this, Kim Tae-san rejoiced.

"Tae-hyun made this so much easier."

"Yes! Charge in!"

He had expected to create this kind of opening only after half of his Orcs had been wiped out, but Tae-hyun had achieved it with a single skill. The moment the battle shifted to close-quarters combat, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it became an overwhelming advantage for Kim Tae-san's side. The enemy's greatest strength was completely neutralized!

"Giants, forward! Sadiq's demonic beasts, advance!"

*Rumble!*

Kim Tae-san's hidden forces finally began to reveal themselves. As the giants hurled massive boulders, the temporary outpost walls shattered instantly. The moment a breach opened, dozens of Orcs poured in like a pack of wild dogs. The guild members screamed, swinging their weapons wildly. It was a brutal, chaotic situation unlike anything they had ever experienced! The defensive lines looked as if they were about to be completely swept away by a green tidal wave.

"Aaaah! Run!"

"There's nowhere to run!"

While the hill above was still holding out, the guild members who had rushed down to capture Tae-hyun were in the gravest danger. Before they knew it, their escape route had been completely cut off by the Orcs! Even if they tried to carve a path through the Orcs, doing so with Tae-hyun standing right in front of them was sheer suicide.

"I surrender!"

"What? You're tender?"

*Splat!*

"Mr. Kim Tae-hyun! I've always been a fan!"

"Sure! Thanks!"

*Splat!*

No words could get through to Tae-hyun! The guild members who had charged down were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠completely wiped out. Having finished cleaning up, Tae-hyun calculated his options. Archisus's Blessing... I might be able to cast it one more time before the effect ends.

Tae-hyun was currently under the effect of Alexeos's Blessing, which drastically reduced all his skill cooldowns! Normally, a powerful wide-area buff skill like Archisus's Blessing was something he could barely use once per battle, but now he could cast it without any burden. The poor guild members had charged in completely unaware that Tae-hyun had grown several times stronger, making them objects of pure pity.

-Master! You must help us with the Hakkaras raid!

Heuk-heuk cried out urgently. Despite the demons swarming him, Hakkaras was standing tall and fighting back fiercely. His power was enough to make even the tireless demonic army hesitate! This was exactly when Tae-hyun was needed. A man who wasn't just raw power, but someone incredibly adept at introducing game-changing variables to flip the board!

-I know. I'm on my way!

Tae-hyun smacked his lips and turned around. It would have been so great to dive into the Guild Alliance right now and go completely wild... The Guild Alliance wouldn't just crumble here. Since they had brought so many rankers, they would surely endure this much. He had wanted to stir up their ranks even further, so returning like this was a bit of a shame!

"Hakkaras! Did you have a nice rest?!"

-You... you wretched Avatar of Archisus!

Hakkaras, who was pinned to the ground while spewing his breath, roared in fury as he saw Tae-hyun flying in from the distance. That shameless human bastard!

The moment he arrived, Tae-hyun greeted Hakkaras with his signature set of Archisus authority skills. Hakkaras, who had been catching his breath after fending off the demons, flew into a rage once more at this warm welcome.

-How dare you!