Catching Arrows and Kicking Down Gates
I swung my greatsword like it was the most natural thing in the world. Catching an arrow flying straight at me with my bare hand? Easy. My enhanced dynamic vision and reflexes made such ridiculous feats feel routine.
"Take it back."
I spun on one leg like a top. The force started in my thigh, surged through my waist, raced up my back and shoulders, then exploded down my arm. Shiiiiiing—! The arrow broke the sound barrier in an instant, trailing a sonic boom as it flew straight back to its owner.
Crunch! The arrow easily shattered a goblin’s skull and kept going, punching straight through the chest of the goblin warrior standing behind it.
"You really should take better care of your arrows."
Didn’t they say you’ll be in big trouble if you keep losing your stuff?
"Die! Grrrk!"
"You idiot! Who the hell screams while trying to ambush someone?!"
I casually leaned aside to dodge the dagger aimed at my throat, then planted a straight punch right into the ambushing goblin’s face, slamming him into the ground.
Crunch! The sound of his skull cracking under the force echoed clearly.
"They just keep coming, huh."
I swatted another incoming arrow aside with my greatsword and kicked away the ones rushing in close. "Are they trying to wear me down with attrition?"
When the battle first started, every type of goblin had come at me at once. Goblin warriors, spearmen, shield bearers, heavy cavalry, and even long-range archers. It felt like I was fighting an entire formation as if I were some giant monster. But as the fight dragged on and their losses piled up, they seemed to have changed tactics.
Rather than trying to beat me directly, they were probably trying to stall for time and deal with the undead first. At the same time, they were draining my stamina. In the current situation, it was the most efficient strategy.
‘Is this the Goblin Lord’s plan? But where the hell is he?’
It was about time for him to show up, yet the bastard hadn’t shown even the tip of his nose. It seemed he didn’t consider this situation a serious threat.
"Hmm? Looks like they arrived at just the right time."
Rumble—! Rumble—!
The ground-shaking vibrations were coming from the northeast.
"You’re way too late."
I climbed up onto the ramparts for a moment and looked northeast. There I saw the exhausted decoy unit running toward me, with a horde of undead hot on their heels.
"Reinforcements have arrived."
A perfect chance to cause even bigger chaos had shown up. Shall we turn the Goblin Lord’s stomach inside out?
"Let’s throw a really big party."
The only reason the goblins had been able to hold out against the undead until now was thanks to these sturdy walls. In other words, without the walls, they were nothing more than food.
"FBI! OPEN UP!"
I kicked the firmly shut castle gate with all my strength.
Boom—!
"Huh? It held?"
The goblins seemed to understand the importance of the gate; they had built it ridiculously sturdy.
"OPEN THE DOOR!"
Kwaaang—!
This time I added a spin to the kick.
Kwaaaang—!
With an even louder crash, the gate finally lost its function.
"Now I’m going on a rampage~!"
The feeling of storming the enemy’s home base and running wild before escaping was like the thrill of a vulture sweeping up every last worker in a game.
After watching a new wave of undead join from beyond the walls, I decided it was time to make my exit. Continuing to rampage here any longer would be difficult. My stamina was still fine, but staying in this chaotic mess too long would become a problem.
"This should be enough for leveling up."
By hunting goblins and undead alternately, I had somehow reached level 15. Time to hurry back to Dorua and spend my stat points.
"Let’s go, Bboongbboong-ah!"
"H-hiiiing!"
I lifted the packhorse I had tied up in the nearby forest again.
"Hahaha! I’m heading out now!"
"Hihiiing!"
I picked up the startled packhorse and sped away from the area.
"Everyone’s still alive!"
"W-what the hell are you carrying?!"
"What does it look like? It’s a horse."
"Why—why are you running while carrying a horse?!"
"What are you talking about! This horse is a living being too. We should save it while we still can."
It looked like the decoy unit had used all their horses as bait and were running on their own two feet. What a bunch of slowpokes.
Wait, was I—who was running while carrying a horse—not a slowpoke either? Nonsense! My choice was mine, and theirs was theirs! Putting someone who can ride a horse whenever they want on the same level as someone who can’t… they still have a long way to go.
"You can run that lightly even while carrying a heavy horse? What kind of person are you?"
"Just your average knight-aspiring mercenary."
"You were aiming to be a knight? That explains the ridiculous strength."
The mercenaries nodded in understanding as they looked at the greatsword on my back.
"So that’s what it takes to become a knight. I guess I’ll just stay a mercenary."
I somehow ended up crushing one man’s dream. Not my fault.
"Hey, I think something’s chasing us from behind?"
"Hah, looks like I didn’t pull full aggro."
When I looked back, about a hundred undead were chasing after us.
"Aggro? What does that mean?"
"It means provocation."
"Hmm, that has a nice ring to it. Aggro, aggro..."
"It’s the perfect word for someone who works on the front line like you."
"Then I’ll have to aim to become an aggro tanker from now on!"
No. That’s not it. It was the perfect moment to correct him, but first I had to deal with the undead chasing us.
"I don’t think I’ll be able to hunt orcs anymore."
"Same here."
"Everyone, run faster. I’ll take care of the rear."
"You sure? Aren’t you tired?"
"I’m fine. I still have plenty of stamina left."
The effects of stats were more amazing than I thought. They let me function normally even after going days without sleep. By my gut feeling, if I raised my stats even higher, I might be able to last a week or even longer.
"Please take care of the horse on the way."
"Don’t die. If it looks bad, just run."
"Don’t worry."
I sent the party ahead and turned to face the pursuing undead.
"Unfortunately, running away isn’t an option for me."
Stat distribution. I allocated one point.
The muscles throughout my body twitched and became slightly denser. The temporary aftereffects that came with stat increases were also getting shorter and shorter.
I raised one more point. The aftereffects were shorter than before.
"Hoo, still okay."
I raised another point. My total stats were now at 12. I was investing one point into every stat to keep things balanced.
"Now I can move even when the aftereffects hit."
I raised one more point. No burden at all.
I raised one more point. I drew my greatsword.
I raised one more point. By now the undead were right in front of me.
A total of 15 stat points. It looked like a pathetic number, but the power contained within it was on a completely different level.
Whoooosh—!
When I swung my greatsword, the wind pressure alone pushed the enemies back. Although it was the lowest rank, my body had now reached the level of a knight who could handle aura.
"I’ll chew up everything except the gold teeth."
I sliced through the necks of three mindless undead that charged at me. I smacked the heads of the orcs that popped up with the flat of my blade. Then I burst the head of the orc behind them. Home run.
"Take this too."
I grabbed the body of the orc whose head had been severed and hurled it with one hand. The corpse flew with terrifying force and created another corpse on impact.
"Persistent bastards."
These grotesque things that kept moving even after their heads or hearts were destroyed. Because their autonomic nervous systems were still active, the only way to completely kill them was to burn them or chop them into pieces.
"But incapacitating them is enough."
No matter how undead they were, without a head, arms, or legs, they were nothing more than twitching corpses.
"Die!"
Instead of my own flesh, I fed a rock to the one that came charging with its mouth wide open. The creature collapsed in what looked like gratitude.
Another guest came screaming and pounced on top of the fallen one.
"No cutting in line!"
Hey! You have to wait your turn. Where are your manners!
Kwaaaang—!
When my greatsword slammed into the ground, a shower of dirt exploded upward. Several orc undead were sent flying by the powerful shockwave.
"No matter how many I kill, it doesn’t seem to end!"
I grabbed the arm of one trying to dig into my side, twisted it, and threw it to the left. It collided with another, which then collapsed like falling dominoes.
‘I can’t let them get behind me. The moment that happens, it gets hard to cover everything.’
I slowly retreated while reducing their numbers like herding sheep. If I could just maintain this, it would end eventually.
"Looks like no more are joining."
While dodging attacks and rampaging around, I glanced behind me. No more undead were joining their ranks. That meant I could go all out without worrying about stamina from now on.
"Here’s a present."
I spun my body widely and hurled my greatsword. The spinning blade sliced through the undead, separating their upper and lower bodies as they could only scream.
"You guys can’t climb up here, right?"
In the meantime, I climbed onto a nearby tree and broke off thick branches.
"One!"
I threw the branch like a spear, impaling it straight into one’s stomach.
Thud—!
"Grrroooar!"
The orc undead with a branch through its gut thrashed wildly trying to move, but it was useless. The branch was buried deep into the ground; no ordinary strength would be able to pull it out.
"Good. It works well."
Even if I couldn’t kill them completely, just incapacitating them made the battle much easier. I continued impaling them one by one, reducing their numbers as much as possible.
"Hmm, I feel like there was a king who did something similar."
The nickname that came from skewering enemies’ corpses on stakes—Impaler. Vlad the Third.
"I wonder what that king would say if he saw me now?"
I heard he called himself the Son of the Dragon.
"That’s not what’s important."
What mattered more was that these damn orc undead were gradually decreasing in number. Now I could even fight them head-on.
"Didn’t I tell you? I’ll chew up everything except the gold teeth."
I jumped down from the tree, picked up the greatsword that had fallen to the ground, and spoke.