I Said Don't Touch
I Said Don't Touch
While Yor was doing an excellent job as kindling for the community.
The hot topic wasn't just his appearance and where he lived.
People on the internet were more persistent than you'd think, always out to learn as much as possible about a subject.
Especially when it came to an NPC who handed out quests, they were willing to memorise every single mole on his body.
Not because the users particularly wanted to see his body. Honestly.
Anyway.
With that much attention on him, it was only natural that this subject would come up.
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[So how strong is this guy?]
I get he's a big deal since he lives in a high-level zone,
but how strong is he, exactly?
Seriously, could he beat an Imperial Knight?
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[You think Imperial Knights are a joke? lol]
[↳ No, for real, he might actually win. Don't they say even those guys have to risk their lives to enter the Forbidden Forest?]
[↳ Yeah right, Imperial Knights are the best~ their elite can cut down ogres~]
[Who knows, maybe he's just living there hiding from the monsters.]
[↳ Then could you survive like that, even if you hid? You'd be dead the second you got caught?]
It was about Yor's strength, that is.
Since he was an NPC in a high-level zone, he did seem strong.
But since he had never actually demonstrated his skills, people naturally started to doubt it.
Of course, this doubt had gradually begun to fade thanks to the incident where Yor subdued malicious users, and when he tossed them the mutated wolf material items.
Even if there was no direct proof, he kept giving them indirect evidence.
But just as a thousand people looking at the sea will see a thousand different seas.
Everyone saw the world differently, vastly differently.
And the internet, by its very nature, was a place where an extremely diverse array of people gathered. Countless beliefs and values mixed and clashed together.
What was the point of all this?
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[So what? lol]
Have any of you actually seen him fight?
I don't believe a damn thing unless I see it with my own eyes, you sons of bitches lol
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In other words, there were masses of those bastards.
No matter how much circumstantial evidence piled up, no one had ever actually seen him fight.
Until they saw that, they had no choice but to doubt the other's abilities.
Taking it a step further, some were even starting to say that maybe the 'Forbidden Forest' was an easier zone than they thought.
It was a deeply frustrating situation, but anonymous spaces were always like this.
Thanks to all that, the subject was being debated for longer than expected.
But amidst all that, there was someone observing the situation from a different angle.
'This... could rake in a lot of views.'
That was why Demon's Saga professional streamer Kim Mari headed for the 'Forbidden Forest'.
*
Schwack—!
With the swing of Kim Mari's axe, the charging boar's body was split in half.
Even for a high-level player, bisecting a monster charging head-on like that...
It was truly tremendous strength befitting a ranker warrior.
Light praise filled the chat window.
[Is that a person or an ogre, fuck]
[As expected of you, sis! Absolutely nothing beats a beast like you!]
[I feel bad for the boar...]
"Hoo, maybe because it's the Surface Layer. It's pretty simple here."
She didn't bother reacting to the chat and instead spoke to her party members.
It was one of her pieces of know-how as a major broadcaster with an average of around 4,000 viewers.
You had to know how to ignore the chat window to a certain degree.
Especially when filming combat content like now.
The viewers who were here now had come to watch, not to chat. It was better to show them she was focusing on the fight.
"Yeah, too easy, right?"
Her party members reacted to what she said.
Kim Mari's party had four people total.
Herself, the melee warrior and tank, along with an archer, a wizard, and a priest.
It was a fairly standard and stable composition.
To top it off, most of their levels ranged from the late 70s to early 80s, boasting considerably high levels.
They were the members she had painstakingly gathered from her guild for today's content.
"At this rate, won't we break through to the Middle Layer in no time?"
As such, the party members' confidence was climbing higher and higher.
Of course, they knew the 'Forbidden Forest' was a high-level zone.
They weren't even dreaming about the dangerous Deep Layer.
They said even the Imperial Knights couldn't enter there.
But what about the Middle Layer?
If they did well, they might just be able to clear it.
In the first place, it was unprecedented for high-powered forces of this level to enter the Forbidden Forest.
Because of the forest's closed-off nature and vastness,
and its complex network of paths, exploration itself had not gone smoothly there.
As a result, the Forbidden Forest was, in itself, an unexplored territory.
The only reason it had become a topic of conversation lately was because of the NPC, Yor, who lived in this forest.
How varied and numerous the monsters inside were, was completely unknown. Given all that, it was, in a way, only natural for them to hold out this hope.
Their confidence rose a little more as they entered the Middle Layer and hunted the first monster they met.
"Graaaagh...!"
Crash!
A massive boulder created by the wizard crushed the mutated water deer's torso.
The water deer had no choice but to die on the spot from that boulder.
Kim Mari, who had been desperately holding out while the wizard chanted, let out a ragged breath.
"Huff... Huff...!"
Her body was covered in wounds inflicted by the water deer. It was a good thing she had set her Assimilation Rate to fifteen per cent before the fight.
The archer, who had been firing off suppressive shots the whole time, spoke in an aghast tone.
"What the hell, how is a water deer that strong?"
"No, but still, we caught it without taking much damage. This is doable."
Kim Mari said that, soothing the archer.
It was certainly difficult. But it was by no means too much to handle.
The archer's suppressive fire was sharp, the wizard's magic was powerful, and she herself could hold the front line well enough.
It was a little tough, but it wasn't impossible.
And on top of that...
"Mari, are you alright?"
Her team even had a 'male' priest.
As long as his Holy Power permitted, even her wounds were not a big problem.
"Oh my, of course I'm fine. Haha!"
What's more, it even put her in a good mood.
Every time the priest touched her skin and infused it with Holy Power, the corners of her mouth crept upward.
Morale rising was only natural.
The broadcast was also doing quite well.
[Maybe this is more doable than we thought?]
[That water deer shit was weaksauce lol]
[Rankers really are something else, holy shit]
The current viewer count was a whopping 7,500.
Even though it hadn't been long since she started this content, it was clear more would come as time went on.
She looked at the viewer count with a pleased expression and thought.
'It'd be good if I could meet that NPC, too.'
The very reason this forest had become a hot topic recently—in fact,
It was the reason she had decided to try tackling the Forbidden Forest this time.
To be blunt, if she met that NPC, she could suck up views like crazy.
It might be a little dangerous, but she could tolerate that much for her own profit.
'And while I'm at it, it'd be nice if I could confirm his skills...'
Of course, she had no intention of attacking him.
It was better for the players to maintain friendly relations with NPCs as much as possible, after all.
But what about a sparring match where their lives were guaranteed?
A light sparring match, not a life-or-death duel?
Somehow, some way, it might be possible.
She could figure out Yor's skills, which the community was so intensely curious about.
Thus, she busily let her hopes run wild inside her head as she stood up.
"Alright then, let's go!"
Everything was smooth sailing so far.
The monsters were manageable, and the archer was doing a fairly good job as a guide.
Full of momentum, her party headed deeper into the forest like that.
Completely unaware that the nearby trees they passed were covered in claw marks left by something.
*
Several more days had passed since Yoo Chae-rin went back after visiting my home.
"Looloo~"
I had spent that time really peacefully.
No Otherworlders had come here, and no monster bastards had recklessly trespassed into my territory.
Thanks to that, I had been savouring peace for the first time in a long while.
My head ached a little, but I'd had so many intense things happen lately that there was no time to be bored.
Thanks to that, my mind, which had been half-drowned in depression, also felt healthier than it had in ages.
The weather was sunny too, so the crispness of spring was in full force.
It wasn't particularly cold or hot. Truly perfect weather.
Thanks to that, I was in the middle of hanging laundry for the first time in a long while.
"Lala~"
Humming to myself, I hung up the laundry I had worked hard to wash at the river.
Underwear, pants, a top, and the like were all neatly hung on the clothesline.
I usually hung the laundry a little ways behind my cave when I got back from washing.
In this forest full of manly trees, this spot got the most sunlight.
Of course, the foreign objects that were clothes attracted a fair bit of aggro in this forest, but...
Well, it couldn't be helped. The clothes wouldn't dry without at least a little sunlight, would they?
Hanging them inside the cave would just make them smell of mildew later.
"Haah, I feel accomplished."
After hanging all the laundry like that, I lightly wiped my forehead.
Maybe because I was a little excited, I had put a lot of effort into the laundry.
With the idea of trying to wear clean clothes, I had washed every single piece of clothing I owned.
Thanks to that, except for the thin short-sleeved shirt and shorts I was wearing now, I was a penniless bum without a single other set of clothes.
I hung them all up with the resolve that if they didn't dry today, I was a dead man.
In short, I was burning the ships.
Anyway, once I had finished hanging all the laundry like that, I brought my spear out from the cave.
Since I had nothing to do while the clothes dried anyway, I planned to go on a light exploration.
It was always good to secure food supplies whenever I had time.
Since I was eating three meals a day, even if I stockpiled food, it tended to run out very quickly.
Like that, I started roaming the Middle Layer with only a single weapon in hand.
"Huaaaagh!"
"Save me! Nooooo!"
It was a few hours later that I found people being chased by some monster.