The Nightmare of Every Fan

The troll who had been stirring up trouble was gone, but the anxiety of those left behind did not vanish. The ultimate nightmare of every fan! It was the dread of their favorite player transferring to another team—especially an overseas one!

In truth, now that Nebuchadnezzar had vanished, sweeping away the remaining undead was child's play.

Of course, a Legendary-grade Death Knight was still a formidable monster. Under normal circumstances, it could easily serve as a field boss that would send entire parties running for their lives!

But right now, this desert was packed with an overwhelming force, ranging from holy paladin orders to powerful mages.

"I am a Death Knight! Bow before—"

Kaaaa-booooom!

As a barrage of holy magic and artillery fire rained down, the Death Knight was instantly reduced to what used to be a Death Knight.

"...!"

Tae-hyun could feel Golgol-i, who was also a Death Knight, trembling violently inside his ring.

Tae-hyun looked around and whispered, "I told you not to come out, didn't I?"

Right now, the surrounding paladins were shouting, "Death to all undead!" at the top of their lungs. It wouldn't do Tae-hyun any good if they caught him commanding Golgol-i.

"I... I only did so because I had something to report to Master."

"What is it?"

"My power has grown significantly stronger."

"Oh... even though you did absolutely nothing?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Even Yong-yong and Heuk-heuk looked at Golgol-i with pity.

"It is because Master did not summon me... It is not my fault..."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Tae-hyun quickly placated him.

He could let Yong-yong and Heuk-heuk roam freely because everyone just went, "Oh, look at those cool dragon pets! So awesome! Amazing!" But Golgol-i was a different story. In most towns, the standard reaction to an undead was, "Eek! An undead!"

'It must be because of Nebuchadnezzar, right?'

While Yong-yong had carried Tae-hyun directly into the fray and Heuk-heuk had rained down magic from the fortress, Golgol-i had stayed quietly hidden. They had to be mindful of the paladins, after all...

'Actually, that was the biggest concern.'

Summoning a Death Knight in front of Nebuchadnezzar was like trying to challenge Tae-hyun to a dice roll. If Golgol-i had been snatched away, Tae-hyun would have cried tears of blood.

The only reason Golgol-i had grown stronger without doing anything was likely because Tae-hyun had acquired Nebuchadnezzar's Blackmagic.

'Whew. See? I told you Nebuchadnezzar's Blackmagic would come in handy.'

'I can't hear you, I can't hear you. Time to check my gear.'

Once the undead in the surrounding desert were mostly cleared out, Tae-hyun finally had the leisure to inspect his equipment.

What he anticipated most was, of course, Uipoatl's set! Depending on what he got, he might even erect a statue of him in his territory.

Tae-hyun began by checking his damaged gear.

With his absurdly high Luck stat, Tae-hyun rarely had to worry about gear breaking. His durability stats usually refused to drop. Yet, the deathly energy emitted by Nebuchadnezzar had managed to damage his equipment. To think it had done this much damage despite all the defensive skills he had active...

'Back in Pan-On 1, I used to break and repair things all the time.'

First, his Wanderer's Set items, along with the Anklet of Sealing and the Crimson Betrayal Shirt, were damaged.

Fortunately, his main weapons and accessories were safe. Since those were crucial for his MP recovery speed, it would have been a massive headache if they had broken.

His primary rings were perfectly fine, as were his other artifacts.

It seemed the items with lower durability had shattered first.

'I can easily replace the Anklet of Sealing or the Crimson Betrayal Shirt, but losing the Wanderer's Set items is a real shame.'

Though he had obtained it early in the game, the Wanderer's Set was incredibly valuable because it was a growth-type set. Its base durability was low and weak, but it grew alongside Tae-hyun's stats!

Since it consisted of a cloak, belt, shoes, and gloves, Tae-hyun had gotten immense utility out of it.

"..."

'Hmm. Maybe I should extract the materials and try to craft it again.'

'It's a waste not to. And honestly, where else am I going to find materials like this?'

Materials that had taken a direct hit from Nebuchadnezzar's energy! They were certainly resources that couldn't be found anywhere else in Pan-On.

'It's been a while. I should try crafting with Akisus's Artifact Crafting.'

Carbanog watched him with a conflicted expression, unsure whether to stop him. It sounded completely insane, but since Tae-hyun was the one doing it, it felt like it might actually work... Surely, using Akisus's Artifact Crafting would salvage it somehow?

Tae-hyun pulled out the spear that Uipoatl had been holding. The very spear that had managed to deal damage to Nebuchadnezzar! Just how good was it...!

'Holy crap!'

Tae-hyun's eyes widened. He had guessed it would be good, but this far exceeded his expectations.

The Dae-man-bul-gang-geom, which he had crafted by sacrificing all other stats with the intention of using it as a disposable burst ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠weapon, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only had an attack power of 375. Yet, Dragon's Ruin had a base attack power of 580. Considering that spears generally dealt slightly less damage than swords, this was downright demonic.

On top of that, it granted bonuses when fighting dragons...

'Well, it makes sense given that it requires Level 800, Legendary Spearmanship, and the Emperor title.'

If a weapon with such steep requirements had mediocre stats, that would have been the real scam. Slaying Uipoatl was worth it for this weapon alone.

Tae-hyun fought back tears of deep emotion.

"Are you crying?"

"I-I'm not crying."

Tae-hyun blinked away the moisture in his eyes and finished reading the spear's description.

'Hmm...'

There were two problems: the equip time limit and the dragon attacks.

He didn't really need to worry about the latter, but the time limit was concerning. Since Tae-hyun would probably conquer the entire server before he ever reached Level 800, he would have to use Dragon's Ruin with the time limit penalty active.

'...Surely it won't give me something ridiculous like five seconds, right? Please, at least give me thirty seconds...'

Because he was so used to dealing with bizarre items, Tae-hyun was deeply grateful for even an unreasonable condition like thirty seconds. Anyone else would have complained even if the limit was several hours!

'...What a useless piece of information I didn't need to know.'

Tae-hyun and Carbanog grimaced simultaneously. They had absolutely no interest in Uipoatl's sewing hobbies!

'But the options are absolutely insane.'

A shirt was bound to have lower defense than outer armor. It would be bizarre if an inner shirt had the same defense as heavy plate armor! Yet, this shirt boasted higher defense than most actual armor sets. What was even more ridiculous was that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠defense wasn't even its main feature.

The true strength of this shirt lay in its skills and bonus options!

The various overpowered passive skills and equip bonuses would produce a truly terrifying synergy when combined with the Akisus Adamantium Armor he was currently wearing.

'But I've already met the requirements?'

Other players wouldn't have been able to wear it, but Tae-hyun had hunted a dragon before. To think that experience would come in handy here!

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

'Oh, come on. The probability is low anyway.'

'...Mmm...'

Even if the probability was extremely low, wearing two items with that option would inevitably increase the risk. Once it was pointed out, a sense of foreboding naturally crept in!

'But it's not like I can just not wear it.'

Since his previous shirt had been destroyed during the fight with Nebuchadnezzar anyway, this worked out perfectly. Tae-hyun equipped it immediately.

The next item was the Soul Necklace of the Asbian Empire. This was the item Tae-hyun anticipated even more than the weapon. Hadn't Uipoatl used this to block Nebuchadnezzar's attacks? Just how broken was it...!

"...!!"

It was completely different from what he had expected. Instead of flat physical or magic defense, it defended through a skill!

'So it traps the souls of defeated boss monsters, and then consumes them to block attacks!'

It was a fantastic item, but a bit tricky to use. Uipoatl was an emperor, so he could trap souls left and right, but for Tae-hyun, just filling the charges would be a chore.

'Wait. If they're just higher level than me, doesn't that make them a "powerful foe"?'

'Well, I suppose so.'

If Pan-On were that easy, Tae-hyun wouldn't have had to suffer so much in the first place.

'Still... even without that, it's an incredibly powerful item.'

It currently had 8 charges. That meant he could completely block attacks 8 times.

'Actually, it might be better to give this to someone else.'

Tae-hyun already had plenty of decent defensive gear. Moreover, with his high evasion rate and divine authority skills, his defense was already more than sufficient. This item would be far more useful to the other players in his party.

'Ah. I should check the Archisus authority skill too.'

After defeating Nebuchadnezzar, another of Archisus's authorities had unlocked: Archisus's Soul Hall. He couldn't tell what kind of skill it was just from the name.

"???"

Even after reading the description, he still had no idea what it did.

'I'll just have to try using it.'

"Archisus's Soul Hall!"

The moment he activated the skill, his vision went pitch black, and he was suddenly transported elsewhere.

Everything was dark, and prison-like cells lined both sides of the corridor.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"...!"

Someone was violently rattling the iron bars of a cell. It was an Orc that looked strangely familiar.

"You..."