The Villain Appears (2)
The Awakened Slayer community.
This community was created almost immediately after the initial awakening outbreak and quickly became the central hub for countless awakened individuals.
In essence, nearly every awakened person relies on this forum for information.
It was the only place where people could freely exchange massive amounts of data from the very first days of total chaos.
Back when goblins were suddenly popping up everywhere, guides on how to handle each rank were posted constantly. Awakened people had no choice but to depend on this place.
But lately, with the tension around monsters easing off, the overall tone had shifted.
These days, the board was flooded with posts arguing about rank hierarchies.
Of course, the one name that always came up in these discussions was the only publicly confirmed S-rank: Kang Hae-il.
According to the theory that rank is everything, Kang Hae-il, the sole S-rank, was the strongest being in this world.
Yet there was always one rebuttal that appeared in the replies.
The theory that Sagosul was the true strongest.
Of course, this wasn’t the mainstream opinion.
In the early days of the chaos, no one disputed Sagosul’s strength. But over time, he had shown far too little activity in the media.
Just like that comment said, Sagosul had only been active during the goblin period.
At least, that was how it looked to the citizens.
They had never seen Sagosul—Moon Junil—slay the Champion Goblin, wipe out the necromancer group chat, slice the rag golem in one cut, or beat the living hell out of Kang Hae-il with a utility knife.
A lot of time had passed.
While Junil took a breather after converting his gold, Hae-il had resolved to become stronger to avenge his father.
He had cleared countless gates since then.
Being the only S-rank, possessing strikingly handsome features, and displaying righteous behavior gave the media everything they needed to package him as the new hero.
This was the small comfort his constellation viewers could cling to these days.
To the citizens, the true hero wasn’t Sagosul. It was Kang Hae-il.
At least, that had been the case until the Gangnam Station gate opened.
The forum users were just as bewildered.
Even though they were only leaving comments, every single one of them was an awakened. They knew exactly how ridiculous it was to use skills this way.
And of course, the same rebuttal appeared again.
The theory that Sagosul was stronger than Kang Hae-il.
However, he had not shown himself for quite a while.
More importantly, he was nowhere to be seen even during major incidents like the Gangnam Station gate explosion.
As a result, awakened people refused to acknowledge Sagosul.
However—
Ordinary citizens had a slightly different perspective.
They didn’t know the inner circumstances of the awakened, and humans tend to remember first impressions best.
The hero of the 4th Line who prevented a major disaster at the very beginning of the incident had left the deepest mark.
Of course, the users of the Slayer Forum still refused to accept it.
Pfft.
Whether anyone acknowledged it or not, Junil could barely hold back his laughter.
This is what they call killing with borrowed power.
The flames roaring around him were thanks to the wind spirit he was currently controlling.
It was Junil’s favorite method.
The ultimate example of getting things done without lifting a finger.
“Ugh, uwaah! Hot! Fuck, Kang Hae-il! What the hell are you doing!?”
Since he was also roasting the already-annoying Yu Jihun with Kang Hae-il’s own fire, there was no greater satisfaction.
His constellation viewers were reacting the exact same way.
“Hehehe~!”
The wind spirit loved playing pranks, so it was flying around with a huge grin.
It was clearly enjoying causing chaos after finally getting out of the pendant.
“Why does it keep going there?”
Kang Hae-il couldn’t understand why his aim kept missing.
Of course he couldn’t. This wasn’t natural wind. It was the wind spirit’s mischief.
“Isn’t that guy doing it on purpose!?”
Eventually, rumors started spreading in Yu Jihun’s party that Kang Hae-il was deliberately roasting Yu Jihun.
It wasn’t an unreasonable assumption.
He kept hitting only Yu Jihun. Anyone would find it strange.
But something even stranger was happening.
“But he really is aiming correctly? The wind just keeps blowing this way.”
Just as the healer from Yu Jihun’s party said, Kang Hae-il’s aim was perfectly locked onto the orcs.
He even adjusted his trajectory to account for the wind.
Yet every single time, the wind direction would shift as if by magic and target Yu Jihun’s backside again.
“H-hot-hot-hot!”
Crash!
Yu Jihun’s ice barrier shattered once more.
Yu Jihun was still displaying the tenacity of an A+.
Even with flames chasing his rear, he was steadily carving through the orcs one by one.
Oh.
Even Junil had to admit it was impressive skill.
But the real harassment hadn’t even begun yet.
“N-no! Damn… Hae-il bro! Why do you keep shooting at Jihun?!”
Junil had moved on to sowing discord.
It wasn’t that he held any personal grudge against Kang Hae-il.
But business is business.
“I’m not doing it on purpose.”
“Bro! Stop that and shoot over here!”
“Where?”
“Wherever I throw!”
Whoosh!
Junil pulled a dagger from his inventory and hurled it.
The amount of mana infused into that dagger was easily five times more than normal, but no one could see it clearly through the roaring flames.
“Over there?”
“Yes!”
“I tried there earlier…”
“Just do it!”
Kang Hae-il tilted his head but gave it a shot anyway.
Kwaaaaaang!
“!”
The flames suddenly flew exactly where Kang Hae-il intended with zero deviation, and the orcs’ entire barricade collapsed.
Rumble…!
The orcs had built barricades and other structures to defend their position. When those collapsed, the orcs themselves were crushed underneath.
“Krrraaaagh…!”
“Krrgh!?”
Yu Jihun’s party, who had been fighting at the front, barely managed to leap aside before they were crushed too.
“Crazy!”
“What the hell!? Why did it collapse?”
“Something… flew in.”
The mage in Yu Jihun’s party, who was sensitive to mana, found Junil’s dagger throw suspicious.
“What was that? Didn’t that porter throw something?”
But Junil simply grinned and proudly displayed his rank for all to see.
[F]
Then he pointed at his own head and asked Hae-il.
“F-rank is still useful, right?”
“Of course. Ranks are just numbers…”
“Exactly!”
Slap!
The two of them high-fived.
Watching the scene, Yu Jihun muttered.
“Hmph. Typical support who did nothing but act like they carried the whole game at the end.”
“Is that so? But that dagger definitely…”
“Don’t pay attention to an F-rank.”
Yu Jihun cut in sharply.
“He thinks he actually did something.”
“Got it.”
The mage completely dropped his suspicion toward Junil.
Huh?
That was when a dark figure suddenly attacked him.
Kwaaaaaang!
In the blink of an eye, the mage was caught in the jaws of a massive wolf.
Crunch…!
“U-uwaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
The scream didn’t last long.
Hot red blood exploded in every direction as the mage’s body was torn apart.
Bang.
“Kahahahaha!”
The being riding atop the wolf laughed.
[Kerak Lv.28]
An orc riding a wolf. Kerak.
A named elite warrior.
Two more wolf-riding orcs lined up beside him.
[Notoura Lv. 23]
[Dabuk Lv 23]
Three of these monsters.
Even the low-level orcs were one level higher than Kang Hae-il.
Huh.
A proper gate had finally opened.
Jackpot.
Junil thought to himself, then suddenly spoke to Hae-il.
“B-bro… I, I need to use the bathroom real quick…”
“Now? We’re in the middle of a fight.”
It was such a ridiculous excuse even he felt embarrassed.
But he had built up plenty of trust, and above all, he had the ultimate shield.
“Fine. Go. You’re an F-rank anyway.”
“······?”
Kwaang!!
At that moment, all the members of Yu Jihun’s party at the front began collapsing.
“Fuck, Hae-il bro!”
Yu Jihun’s desperate voice rang out.
“Get up here! We’re all gonna die at this rate!”
“…Guess I should go help.”
Kang Hae-il finally prepared to fight seriously.
Swish.
Hae-il took off his outer coat.
Underneath was a sleeveless shirt. His toned arms were revealed.
He had prepared spare clothes because they always burned off during fights.
His constellation viewers were finally showing some excitement.