A Miracle of Demonic Proportions
"Why only us?!"
"Look at Archisus showing his true colors!"
"I knew he was a demon, not a god!"
Esla's demons grumbled at Tae-hyun's words, but they had no choice. Their master, Esla, had sworn an oath, so they had to keep it!
"Deploy the barrier with everything you've got!"
Tae-hyun sent all the demons to the front of Lee Da-bi. While everyone else was busy fleeing for their lives, Lee Da-bi was rooted to the spot, casting her curse. If the demons shielded her with their magic and bodies, it would minimize the damage. And it would protect the runners behind her too!
"W-What is this? What is happening? Avatar of Archisus! What on earth did you do?!"
Only then did Hakkaras seem to realize what skill Tae-hyun had used. He had expected the demons to target his weak points, but the attack came from an entirely different direction!
"Stop! Avatar of Archisus! If you detonate it, you will die too!"
"I'll just die and resurrect."
The Authority of Archisus skill: Resurrection.
Resurrection-type skills were incredibly rare and hard to obtain, but once acquired, they were worth every penny. Even if the cooldown was ridiculously long, it gave him the guts to play chicken in moments like this.
"Avatar of Archisus! Let's negotiate, seriously! I will keep my oath this time, I swear!"
"Sure!"
Tae-hyun replied agreeably, but he was already preparing. He couldn't give Hakkaras any time. The dragon might find a way to dispel the curse!
"Detonate!"
"AVATAR OF ARCHISUS—!!!!!"
And then, a massive explosion erupted. It was a cataclysmic blast, the likes of which had never been seen in Pandemonium Online.
When Tae-hyun had ordered everyone to run, he had also messaged Kim Tae-san.
-Father.
-Yeah? You fighting well? What happened to Hakkaras?
-Run as far away as you can!
-What do you mean by—
The user is currently unavailable to receive whispers.
-......
It was absurd and baffling, but Kim Tae-san knew very well that Tae-hyun wasn't one to joke about such things. If Tae-hyun said that, there was a reason!
"Everyone! Run in the opposite direction!"
"??"
"Why is the Guild Leader acting like this?"
Kim Tae-san's guild members and the Orcs moved without knowing why. There was still loot scattered all over the plains, but... it was an order from their Guild Leader!
"Ah, what a waste of loot."
"Still, we should..."
However, the players who weren't part of the guild ignored the order.
"Why should we run?"
"This is a jackpot! We can take all of this for ourselves!"
"Those Guild Alliance bastards are too scared to come back anyway. If they do, we can just run then."
The players happily picked up the items. At that moment, the Guild Alliance parties came riding out of the distant forest on horseback.
"You bastards!"
"Hieeeek!"
These were the players who had been beaten and chased away earlier, returning to see if they could salvage anything! They felt wronged by their defeat on the plains and wanted to vent their anger. Seeing that Lee Se-yeon, Kim Tae-san, and the Orcs were gone, they decided to unleash their wrath on the remaining players!
"W-We're sorry!"
"Die!"
"We were just picking up items..."
"Die!!"
The Guild Alliance parties were absolutely furious. They had lost a battle they shouldn't have lost and had been forced to flee! How else were they supposed to vent this rage?
"Wait. What is that...?"
"??"
At that moment, a colossal explosion swept in from the back of the plains.
Rumbleeeee!
An explosion several times more intense than Hakkaras's Dragon Breath engulfed the area. Tae-hyun, who was inside Hakkaras, took the direct hit. There was nothing he could do! Like a leaf caught in a hurricane, Tae-hyun was tossed around violently inside the blast.
"Blessing of Archisus! Aki-sus's Divine Territory! Summon Wind of Fortune!"
Tae-hyun began spamming every skill he could to minimize the damage.
Summon Wind of Fortune
A powerful wind blows across the region!
The wind repels the explosion, protecting your allies!
'It worked!'
Tae-hyun let out a sigh of relief. Since it was a random elemental summon, it could have been dangerous, but he had rolled a great outcome.
The wind redirects the explosion, pushing it forward!
The destructive power of the explosion has been further amplified!
'Uh...'
While the impact on Tae-hyun's side was reduced, the blast grew exponentially stronger in the opposite direction! Right where Kim Tae-san and the Guild Alliance were fighting.
'...They'll... they'll be fine, right?'
Tae-hyun didn't have the luxury to worry about them. A barrage of system messages flooded his vision, completely blocking his sight.
Successfully evaded the attack...
Successfully evaded the attack...
Successfully evaded the attack...
...
...
The explosion damage hit dozens, hundreds of times per second! No matter how many times his absurd Luck triggered an evasion, some damage still slipped through.
Caught in the explosion of dark magic! You have sustained massive damage!
'Urgh...'
With the explosion lasting this long, even his Luck couldn't save him from taking a hit or two. It was a massive, overwhelming onslaught that defied probability.
'Hmm. Actually, I think I can adapt to this.'
Tossed around in midair by the blast, Tae-hyun gradually adjusted and began to "swim" through the shockwaves. Even though the explosion was still raging, he felt he could adapt!
⊳ You are enduring the explosion! Your Constitution has increased.
⊳ You are enduring the explosion! Your...
⊳ You are utilizing the recoil of the explosion to move! Your Engineering skill has...
Severe trials always fostered skill growth. A blast of this scale was the ultimate catalyst.
"Avatar of Archisus!!"
'Huh? Hakkaras should be dead by now, right?'
He had turned into a bomb and blown to smithereens, so how was he talking to him? Tae-hyun was bewildered. Did dragons leave behind a lingering soul even after death? If so, how powerful was a dragon's soul?
"Avatar of Archisus! Argh!"
"Ah. It was just the demons."
Tae-hyun breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, the demons were in no position to feel relieved.
"How are you surviving this... Argh!"
The demons had deployed their barriers with everything they had, surviving only because they were receiving Tae-hyun's blessing and divine territory. Even so, they were being swept away one by one.
"How much longer do we have to hold out?!"
"Until the explosion ends! Hang in there!"
Tae-hyun shouted back, using the recoil of the blast to navigate his way to Lee Da-bi. She had been left behind because she was holding down Hakkaras.
"You did great. Let's go!"
"Tae-hyun!"
"...Wait, what is that around you?"
A dark, ominous aura was swirling around Da-bi.
"Ah. This is nothing."
"It doesn't look like nothing...?"
She looked like someone possessed by an evil spirit!
"Well... it's a negative curse..."
"...?"
"Save the chat for later and run, Avatar of Archisus!!" the demons shrieked.
They were literally shielding them with their bodies, yet those two were having a cozy chat while strolling along!
After hearing her explanation, Tae-hyun looked deeply moved.
"...I will definitely repay this debt."
"N-No, really, it's fine. I did it because I wanted to."
"No. I must..."
"Ah! Just move already, you...!"
The demons' desperate screams echoed through the chaos.
Tae-hyun had been prepared to use his saved hidden skills, like Aki-sus's Blessing or Authority of Archisus, but surprisingly, it wasn't necessary.
A miracle wrought by Esla's demonic army!
They had blocked the massive explosion with their bodies, carving out an escape route.
"You guys did way better than I expected, demons!"
-......
-......
But no reply came.
The few remaining high-ranking demons looked utterly exhausted and battered.
"We have kept our promise."
"We are returning to the Demon Realm now."
Tae-hyun said, feeling a bit disappointed, "There might still be Hakkaras's subordinates around, you know?"
"How could there be any left?!"
"Even if there were, they would have been vaporized by that explosion!"
Except for the high-ranking demons, the rest had all collapsed while shielding them and had already been sent back to the Demon Realm. It would take them a long time to recover their strength.
The demons pointed at Tae-hyun, cursing him.
"Ugh! You absolute demon!"
This time, the word 'demon' carried a very different nuance.
"Lord Esla! Please send us back!"
"Please sever our connection with this Avatar of Archisus!"
"......"
Perhaps hearing their desperate pleas, a portal to the Demon Realm opened in the sky, and Esla's voice echoed through.
"Return, my subordinates!"
"Esla. Thank you."
"Yes. I have repaid my debt. Esla always keeps his word."
"We should get closer in the future..."
"It was miserable working with you, and I hope we never meet again!"
Whoosh!
The portal to the Demon Realm slammed shut the moment the demons crossed over. Esla was a man who knew exactly how to deal with the Avatar of Archisus.
No solicitors allowed! Avoiding contact altogether was the secret to a long life.
Tae-hyun yelled toward the sky before the portal completely vanished.
"Esla! Don't be like that! Do you know how much trouble I went through to free you?! I know you can hear me! I'm going to come find you!"
"...Don't you dare! I won't let you in!"
A terrified reply leaked through the closing rift.
"Anyway..."
Tae-hyun tore his gaze away from the closed portal and surveyed his surroundings.
A massive crater!
The hills had been completely flattened, and not a single player was in sight. The remaining players had clearly been logged out.
'How far did that explosion reach?'
Surely it didn't wipe out the nearby fortresses or villages, right?
'If I had known it would be this big, I should have summoned Hakkaras right in front of the Guild Alliance's capital!'
'Though, if I did that, I probably would have been beaten to death by them before the fight even started...'
As the residual shockwaves finally settled, the rewards began to roll in.
A spectacular achievement—gaining 15 levels all at once!
A Black Dragon was indeed a Black Dragon.
'My HP finally surpassed 100,000!'
Level 143!
While other top-tier rankers were proudly announcing their grand ambitions to reach Level 300 after passing 250, Tae-hyun was perfectly satisfied with this.
In fact, he had half-abandoned his greed for leveling up. Now, he just had to rely on his stats and skills!
Your Holy stat has significantly increased!
Your Reputation has significantly increased!
Your Infamy has significantly increased!
'Wait, why did my Infamy go up?!'
Well, it made sense since he had completely obliterated the landscape.
'My Reputation is over 70,000, and my Infamy is at 50,000... It's still manageable, but...'
Amidst all this, his Holy stat had finally surpassed 20,000. A corresponding reward followed.
Luck's Blessing
Temporarily increases the Luck stat significantly!
'Wait, I don't need any more of this.'
His Luck stat was already more than enough.
Luck: 6,215.
Look at this unyielding Luck stat!
Tae-hyun actually wanted to spend this Luck stat somewhere. He thought it would have dropped significantly after casting curses to capture Hakkaras, but it seemed to have skyrocketed again due to the level-up bonuses.
'Honestly, around 4,000 to 5,000 would be much better...'
One might say there was no harm in having high Luck, but for Tae-hyun, it was a detriment.
Because of his passive skill, the higher his Luck stat, the more experience points he needed to level up. He needed to keep it at a moderate level!
'...Hmm. Is this a crafting skill?'
A skill that temporarily boosted Luck would be highly useful for crafting.
'Ah. There's also the seed. That's perfect.'
He had been feeling uneasy about his rising Infamy, but with such absurdly high Luck, maybe he could somehow resolve it.
Your fame spreads across the continent!
The hunters of the continent are astonished by your grand feat! Renowned hunters may come seeking you.
The lords of the Atali Kingdom are stirred by these rumors. Some among them may step forward to serve you!
"...!"
The Dragon Slayer title! It was a title that made one's heart race just by hearing it.
"......"
Tae-hyun felt like he was seeing opportunities to change to a Legendary Class far more often than anyone else in the world, even though most players would never see one in their entire lives.