Chapter 67
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: The Carry
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As soon as the fifth round began, Min Ju-ri recalled Ryu Min’s advice.
-The quest to kill 300 orcs is by no means easy. Orcs are tough monsters, and they tend to move in hordes. You must never think of taking them on alone.
-So that's why you told me to get help from Black Scythe?
-Yes. Once the zone integration is complete, find Black Scythe first. Don't even think about fighting the orcs. Even if you can't make contact with him, wait for an hour before you move.
-Okay. Thanks for the heads-up, Min!
Just as Ryu Min had said, Min Ju-ri waited for the zones to integrate.
And just as expected of the Prophet class, the zones really did integrate, and she began her search for Black Scythe.
‘How do I find him?’
The thought crossed her mind for a moment, but she didn't need to look far.
Because Black Scythe was among the ten zone representatives gathered for the bonus game.
‘Ah, there he is. I can talk to him after this is over.’
At the same time, her interest was piqued.
She wondered if Black Scythe could truly seize the position of the integrated zone's representative.
The result was as expected: a victory for Black Scythe.
And he had displayed an almost absurdly overwhelming difference in skill.
‘Well, he is level 30.’
Nodding in understanding, she started to approach Black Scythe.
But when she actually tried to walk toward him, her feet wouldn't move.
She could see Black Scythe descending from the stage after the deathmatch, yet she couldn't get any closer.
She didn't have the courage.
‘Wh-why am I like this…?’
The reason was simple.
A primal fear.
The fear of the strong, inherent in all humans, made her hesitate.
It was even worse because she had just witnessed him mercilessly slice off his opponent's head.
‘M-Min told me. I have to work with Black Scythe. He said he’d surely want my help.’
She steeled herself, repeating that he wouldn't harm her, that he couldn't be such a psycho as to draw a blade on their first meeting.
But by the time she came to her senses, Black Scythe was already gone.
‘Ah… I ended up losing him.’
He had probably left to work on the main quest.
The players around her were also scattering one by one to hunt orcs.
Everyone except Min Ju-ri.
‘Now what do I do? He said I couldn’t handle orcs alone, so I can’t just move recklessly…’
With nothing else to do, Min Ju-ri decided to wait for an hour, just as Ryu Min had told her.
He had warned her so sternly that she didn't even think of going to look at the orcs.
An hour passed like that.
[Time remaining until the end of the round: 08:55:15]
[Main Quest Progress: Orcs 0/300]
Min Ju-ri sighed as she looked at the progress window.
A sudden wave of anxiety washed over her.
‘This is bad. What if I can’t kill 300 and get eliminated?’
It was a natural worry, seeing as an hour had passed without her doing anything.
‘I came here relying on Black Scythe, but now I can't even find him…’
It was her own fault.
She had gotten scared for no reason and let Black Scythe out of her sight.
‘I can’t just stand here like this. There’s no guarantee he’ll come back to the starting point, right?’
She had to go find him.
At this rate, she might not see him again before the round ended.
*Thud, thud.* She started walking.
Her eyes darted around, searching for Black Scythe.
She didn't neglect to keep an eye on her surroundings, either.
‘I think he went this way…’
She walked aimlessly in the direction where Black Scythe had disappeared.
After about ten minutes of walking?
She saw a wooden palisade in the distance.
It was a village, but its crude construction suggested it was an orc settlement.
‘Could he be in there? No. It might be dangerous, so I should avoid it for now.’
She chose to go around it rather than get closer.
But, absurdly, at that very moment, she encountered the one being she had hoped to avoid.
An orc.
She recognized it at once, as it looked exactly like the orcs she had seen in games.
"Chwik, chwiik!"
The orc spotted Min Ju-ri and charged at her, axe in hand.
‘Damn it, I didn't want to fight an orc…!’
A battle was now unavoidable.
Min Ju-ri immediately cast a buff on herself.
‘Bless!’
[All stats increased by 50% due to the effect of the skill Bless.]
Her main stat, Agility, rose from 24 to 36.
Her Strength, which she had put a few points into, also rose from 12 to 18.
Min Ju-ri drew the rapier she had received upon her class advancement.
‘There are two things in my favor.’
First, she was only facing one of them.
Second, she had heard about the orcs' weakness from Ryu Min.
‘He said their muscles are tough everywhere else, so I should aim for the neck.’
This was the woman who had survived the living hell of the fourth round.
She was confident in a one-on-one fight.
*Whoosh-!*
The orc's axe swung toward her shoulder.
She dodged it lightly, thinking that it was slower than she expected.
‘Dodging is easy. The problem is accuracy.’
Aiming for a moving opponent's neck would be anything but easy.
This wasn't a game; there was no accuracy correction.
‘If I mess up and hit somewhere else, it’ll counterattack.’
Ryu Min had warned her that most people died in a panic when their weapons got stuck.
‘He said it’s hard to pull out because of the muscle density, so I need to be quick and concise.’
While dodging the axe and looking for an opening, Min Ju-ri's sword struck at the orc's neck.
But because the orc moved, it ended up lodged in its chest.
The rapier, which had sunk in with a *squelch*, was quickly pulled out.
‘Thank goodness. It didn't get caught in the muscle like I was worried about.’
Thanks to the short, sharp thrust, it was much easier to withdraw.
"Chwiiiik!"
The orc, clutching its chest in pain, swung its axe in a frenzy.
But Min Ju-ri was not one to be hit by such slow and unskilled swings.
*Stab- Stab- Stab-!*
She continued her assault, repeatedly thrusting and aiming for the neck.
Then, on her sixth attempt, she managed to pierce a hole in the orc's neck.
"Chwik! Gurgle, chwihiik!"
Green blood gushed out from between the orc's fingers as it clutched its throat.
As its movements slowed, she pressed her advantage, stabbing it two, three more times.
*Thud.*
"Hah, hah."
Breathing heavily, Min Ju-ri wiped the sweat from her brow.
‘It was tough, but I did it. I took down an orc one-on-one.’
Her joyful smile was short-lived.
Min Ju-ri suddenly began to rub her eyes and blink repeatedly.
‘What? Am I seeing things?’
Because the man she had been so desperately searching for was walking toward her from straight ahead.
‘Is that really Black Scythe in front of me? For real?’
Her surprise quickly gave way to a sigh of relief.
The man she had been looking for had walked right up to her.
No, he walked right past her.
"...Ah! Excuse me!"
At the sudden shout, Black Scythe turned around aloofly.
"What is it?"
"Ah, um, well… that is…"
Now that she had to speak, she felt like her throat had closed up.
After a moment of hesitation, Min Ju-ri blurted it out.
"Mr. Black Scythe! Please, let's team up!"
"For what?"
"Huh? Ah… a p-party."
Black Scythe tilted his head.
There was no way he wouldn't understand the game term 'party'.
"Why should I party with you?"
"W-well, that's…"
Deciding it would be faster to show him than to explain, Min Ju-ri suddenly stretched out her hand.
As a halo of light extended from her hand and entered his mind, Ryu Min feigned a startled expression.
"What… is this?"
"It's Bless. My buff skill. It lasts for three hours. It should have increased all of your stats by 50%."
Though he already knew, Ryu Min made a show of checking his status window.
"I've confirmed it. That's correct."
"Does that answer your question? My buff will be a great help in hunting."
"So you're saying if I want to keep receiving this buff, I should party with you?"
"Yes. To be precise, please help me with my hunt."
"Hmm."
Ryu Min stroked his chin, pretending to contemplate.
Then, deliberately playing his part, he shot her a cold glare.
"I have the Right of Command. I could make you my assistant right now."
"Ah…"
Min Ju-ri was flustered.
She hadn't expected him to respond like this.
Of course, Ryu Min had no intention of wasting his Right of Command.
"Can you promise you won't stab me in the back?"
"O-of course!"
"Fine. I'll trust you this once."
Ryu Min suddenly extended his hand.
Realizing what he meant, Min Ju-ri carefully took it.
"Since we're partying, we might as well do a simple introduction. I'm [Black Scythe], level 32, class is Grim Reaper."
"Ah, I'm [Minjujuui]. I'm level 13, and my class is Buffer."
"You said you needed help? From what I saw earlier, you seemed to handle that orc just fine."
"That was my first time fighting one, and honestly, it was tough."
"An hour and a half has passed, and that was your first?"
"Ahaha… well, it just sort of happened that way…"
Min Ju-ri scratched her cheek, unable to say she had wasted time waiting for him.
"You must be short on time, then."
"Yes… I've only just killed one, so I need to get to 300 quickly."
"Then I'll help you finish them quickly."
"How are you going to do that?"
"I'll weaken the orcs to the brink of death, and you can deliver the final blow. As long as you get the last hit, the kill will count for you."
It was what was known in games as power-leveling.
"You can handle that much, right?"
"Of course. You saw me take down that orc. I'm not so weak that I can't eat the food you spoon-feed me."
"Then there's nothing to worry about. Let's go."
"Wait a moment."
At Min Ju-ri's call, Ryu Min turned his head impassively.
"What is it?"
"I'm grateful for your help, but… I'm worried I might get in the way of your quest, Mr. Black Scythe."
"Don't worry about that. I've already finished the main quest."
"What?"
He already killed 300?
But there were still over eight hours left in the round?
While Min Ju-ri stood there with a dumbfounded expression, Ryu Min spoke.
"My goal isn't the main quest. It's the sub-quest. I've already obtained one Stone of Balance."
"Oh, you already found one?"
"I got it from killing a boss called an Orc Warrior. I'll probably have to kill more bosses to get the rest."
"Ah… so there were bosses…"
Being familiar with games, Min Ju-ri had expected a boss to appear eventually.
But she hadn't thought it would be this round.
"If you're interested in the sub-quest, just say the word. I'll give you a chance to face a boss alone."
"N-no, thank you. I can barely handle an orc, let alone a boss…"
Waving her hands in refusal, Min Ju-ri glanced at Ryu Min.
‘So that's what he was worried about earlier? That I might covet the Stone of Balance and betray him.’
In reality, he had trusted her and wasn't worried, but from her perspective, it was a natural conclusion.
"Don't worry, Mr. Black Scythe. I have no interest in the sub-quest. I'm satisfied with just the main quest. So I will never betray you. Not that I have the skill to, anyway…"
"Understood. I'll take your word for it."
With that, Ryu Min started walking ahead.
Min Ju-ri scurried to catch up from behind.
"Don't stay behind me, walk beside me. I can't protect you if you're not in my line of sight."
"Ah, okay."
Min Ju-ri was no longer afraid of Black Scythe.
‘Now that I’ve talked to him, he doesn’t seem as cold-blooded as his image suggests.’
He offered to help her hunt and told her to stay close for her safety; he had a subtle way of looking out for her.
‘I’m glad I listened to Min. Honestly, I was on the fence about whether Black Scythe would even party with me, but now I’m even getting his help…’
She was curious how he would power-level her through the orc kills, but she would find that out soon enough.
As the two walked side-by-side, lost in thought, a pack of orcs appeared.
"Chwik- chwik!"
As the three orcs approached with menacing eyes, Min Ju-ri raised her rapier defensively.
Just then.
"Wait here for a moment."
Ryu Min spoke nonchalantly and stepped forward, swinging his scythe low.
The thick legs of the orcs were sliced like meat.
"Kuork!"
"Kwehk!"
As the orcs collapsed to the ground, the scythe flashed again across their upper bodies.
This time, both of their arms were severed from their torsos.
The orcs, now just limbless torsos, howled in agony.
"Now, kill them. All three."
"..."
"What are you spacing out for?"
"Ah, my apologies."
Snapping out of it, Min Ju-ri approached the orcs.
*Stab- Stab- Stab!*
Taking their lives was not difficult.
Especially when they were helpless opponents who had lost their arms and legs.
[You have slain an Orc!]
[EXP +2.35%]
[Gold +40]
Min Ju-ri's jaw dropped as she read the messages that appeared.
‘Th-this is… this is too easy, isn't it?’
Having fought one herself, she knew well.
Orcs were not easy monsters.
That's why, even though he called it power-leveling, she expected to have to take some risks…
‘There’s no risk at all, is there?’
It was so comfortable and easy, like being spoon-fed deboned fish.
‘To think killing orcs could be this easy.’
She could only marvel once more at Black Scythe's skill.
"Let's go."
"Ah, yes!"
She felt it once again.
She was really, truly fortunate to have partied with Black Scythe.