Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Fallen Hunter (3)
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“Area Taunt! Titan Endurance!”
At Rokan’s call, Gouki responded with a wide-area taunt.
The enemies, who had been glaring at Rokan with murderous intent, ready to tear him apart, all turned and charged toward Gouki in unison.
“Whirlwind!”
Rokan dropped down right behind them.
What followed was one-sided brutality!
The foes racing toward Gouki with eyes rolled back in frenzy couldn’t even mount a proper defense before getting swept into the whirlwind Rokan created.
Kyak!
Thud thud thud thud.
Even those who broke free didn’t reach Gouki unscathed.
The traps Miyuki had laid out in advance were slowing their advance.
The request to focus solely on traps that hindered movement, ignoring damage output, was paying off perfectly.
Otherwise, Gouki couldn’t have held out long against attacks from enemies of similar levels, supercharged by corrupted power.
Kyarak!
Rokan hurriedly thinned their numbers, but there were a solid two hundred of them.
Over twenty had already slipped past Rokan and his traps to land blows on Gouki.
Gouki had hunkered down into a full defensive stance, but at this rate, he wouldn’t last more than a few minutes.
“Hold the line back there!”
Whoosh.
But Rokan had no intention of helping them. That was their role from the start—dying like this.
As if focused solely on culling as many as possible while Gouki held out, Rokan swept through the enemy rear without pause, dooming Gouki and Miyuki to gradually take hits until death claimed them.
[Mercenary Gouki has been knocked out. Automatically returning to the Mercenary Guild.]
[Mercenary Miyuki has been knocked out. Automatically returning to the Mercenary Guild.]
Kyak.
The now leaderless half-elves and orcs faltered for a moment. They glanced around, then eyed each other.
Kyak!
Hostility buried deep in their subconscious began to erupt.
The corrupted power eroded their reason, but it merely triggered the rage within—like a rage virus, perhaps.
“You idiots! Not each other—that one! Attack him!”
The corrupted mage, watching the colosseum erupt into chaos as they turned on one another, bellowed in fury, but it was already beyond control.
As hostile races to begin with, just locking eyes ignited uncontrollable killing intent—no stopping it now.
“Whirlwind!”
Amid the turmoil, Rokan steadily racked up experience points.
What better setup for scooping up XP than this chaos?
They were too busy fighting each other to resist properly until their bodies crumbled and souls shattered.
“Thanks!”
Rokan even flashed a grin and thanked them.
But the barrier over the colosseum blocked even the mage’s intervention, leaving him helpless.
[The corrupted power enveloping the colosseum dissipates.]
Finally, as the last half-elf and orc breathed their final breaths, the barrier shrouding the colosseum vanished.
“Leap Attack!”
Rokan launched himself at the mage in the same instant.
“Wind Hammer!”
But the mage had anticipated it, activating his spell. Magic that compressed wind into a hammer crashing down.
Rokan might overwhelm in raw power, but this was a different realm from physical force—he got flung back.
“Damn.”
Mixed with corrupted power, it shaved off a hefty chunk of his health.
“Set 3.”
Rokan instantly switched gear sets. He knew the mage’s arsenal wasn’t just spells, but closing the gap was priority one.
“Orb of Destruction.”
Then a sinister orb radiating immense pressure hurtled toward him.
Small in size, but instinct screamed not to collide with it—he leaped aside, and the impact point crumpled entirely.
“Lethal stuff.”
A fitting trait for a corrupted monster.
But the mage’s attacks had a fatal flaw.
“Barrage!”
If it didn’t connect, it was over.
And with such power came gaps between strikes—Rokan chained his dodge straight into a barrage.
“Shield of Despair!”
Thump.
The barrage was blocked by another spell.
But that used up two of the mage’s combo skills.
“Charge!”
Rokan barreled in, swinging his battle axe in a wide arc.
“Insolent fool! You’ll pay dearly for defying me!”
Was the mage unhinged? He swung his staff right back at Rokan.
It gleamed with special metal infused with corrupted power—for a mere mage, no less.
Clang!
The result was astonishing. Despite the head-on clash, Rokan merely tumbled back a few meters.
Most players would’ve been overpowered outright.
‘Human enhancement type, as expected.’
The mage’s final combo skill, forged from corrupted power.
A skill that melted corrupted power into body cells for strength.
Unusual for a mage, but a spellcaster strong up close was plenty threatening.
“Still half-baked.”
Clang clang clang clang.
But that only mattered against lesser foes. No mage relying on corrupted power could withstand Rokan, who wouldn’t yield even to level 200s in strength.
Each block sent the mage reeling, while Rokan methodically dismantled him, stacking damage.
He could’ve ended it quick, but the corrupted power bolstering him wasn’t just muscle—it granted absurd vitality too.
“Critical Strike! Strike!”
‘It’ll pop eventually if I keep squeezing.’
With that cold assessment, Rokan brought his battle axe down.
“This can’t happen. I was chosen! I won’t fall to the likes of you...!”
“Everyone’s got grand delusions—right up until the beating starts.”
Splat!
Rokan’s battle axe carved into the mage’s chest again.
Bubble bubble.
The skin boiled and regenerated instantly, but each time, the corrupted power within weakened noticeably.
‘Time to finish it.’
Gauging the dregs of his power, Rokan gripped his axe tighter.
Now or never.
A roundhouse kick toppled the mage’s stance, then Rokan hooked the staff with his axe as if to cleave vertically, yanking with raw force.
Whirr.
“Return!”
The mage channeled magical force to reclaim his weapon, but Rokan’s strike landed first.
He severed the outstretched arm, then stomped the returning staff to halt it.
Followed by a point-blank barrage!
Without the corrupted power, limbs would’ve shredded—but the mage barely survived with a gaping hole.
“Mercy... unforgivable. You... you alone...!”
Combat effectiveness gone, all that remained was one-sided pummeling, torture-like dismemberment.
Even chopped like fried octopus, limbs twitched to reattach—Rokan flung them far to prevent it.
Only malice remained in the mage now.
‘It’s done.’
Just a limbless torso left, but corrupted addiction made his vitality tenacious.
Decapitate? Crush the heart? Before Rokan could experiment, the mage played his last card.
“...I’ll take you with me!”
Boom rumble rumble boom!
Self-destruct!
Igniting his final corrupted power to detonate like a bomb, dragging Rokan along.
But even this desperate bid was anticipated.
“Yeah, no.”
Berserk’s immortality effect.
Timing it perfectly, Berserk shrugged off the blast with minor scorching.
“Cancel.”
No need to prolong Berserk. Once the explosion faded, he casually canceled it.
[Health is insufficient. If you fail to recover to 90% of max health within 10 seconds, you may die.]
“Health Charge.”
Bottomed-out health fixed with one Health Charge.
Fully restored, Rokan picked up a single orb from the mage’s charred-white corpse.
He could’ve killed him outright, but the drawn-out torment and induced self-destruct were all for this.
[You have acquired the Polluted Power Orb.]
Nearly depleted now, but the faint residue was pure corrupted power.
What Rokan had gone to such lengths for.
It hid a secret.
Killing the mage outright shattered the orb, but self-destruction “emptied” it for acquisition.
Rokan took it straight to Crosroad.
There, he handed it to Malkin, the Crosroad defense captain and investigation squad member.
“Huh, this is...!”
Malkin took it nonchalantly at first, but his expression shifted instantly. As Crosroad’s strongest, he sensed the faint power within.
“Where did you find this?”
“Got it from a corrupted monster. It self-destructed right before dying and left this. Seems like this might be how the ‘corruption’ spreads.”
They’d figure it out eventually, but no need to wait—Rokan generously tossed in the hint.
Indeed, this “Corruption Orb” was how “they” propagated corruption.
The ones Rokan found early in the main quest were likely experiments to spread it easier and wider.
“Whoa, if true, that’s a massive discovery. You’ve done something incredible. Hold on—big reward when results come in.”
Having heard that much, Malkin hurriedly sent a message somewhere and vanished.
He’d return soon with the reward, probably.
Post-Berserk debuff left Rokan idle anyway—he lounged in a chair, browsing the homepage.
“What the...?”
Then he spotted news that killed any relaxation.
[The 4th Wave Cities Set Sail for the First Advance to the Central Continent Across the Sea!]
A team had launched toward the Central Continent.
Levels far too low, but they’d gone all-in on the sailing quest for a shot, per a brief interview in the article.
‘These bastards...’
They clearly knew about the “First Arrival” title. No other explanation for such recklessness.
98% chance of failure, but it made Rokan anxious.
If they hit that 2% and actually landed?
Even just planting a marker and rune booking back?
Rokan would lose a title to sheer absurdity.
“Unbelievable.”
Worse, they weren’t alone—multiple top guilds and teams from other 3rd Wave city regions had hit 160-170 and planned reckless sea crossings.
Some had sailed already; others within a day or two.
Obvious total wipe on sea monster raids, but if even one lucked out and arrived safely, the Central Continent First Arrival title was gone.
“What to do?”
Choices: sabotage or race them.
Sabotage had issues—limited methods, and for those already at sea, just pray for monster attacks.
So, race them—but that wasn’t easy either.
No Crosroad guild ready to ship out together, and forcing a spot wouldn’t help.
Better solo, but then sea monster raids would catch him unprepared.
‘Surviving alone isn’t enough...’
He’d live, but adrift mid-ocean on a crewless ship? Useless.
Rune books blocked over open sea to prevent exploits—might have to suicide back.
The sea was a field of variables and prep needs.
“In the end, that option?”
Pondering grimly in his seat until Malkin returned, Rokan made the hard call.
The only way to outpace the early starters, success odds low even for him—shelved until now, but no choice.
Nothing else worked.