Chapter 80
Chapter 80
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Seventh Trial
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Content: Establish merits in the faction you participated in!
-33,333 Zone Participants: 298
July 1, 2030 approached, and all players transferred to the arena of the seventh trial.
And at that moment, just as Hae-jin had explained to his party members, the people from each zone appeared at the garrison of the faction they had made victorious.
In Hae-jin's zone, the faction that had won the previous trial's arena was the orc faction.
As such, Hae-jin was summoned to the orc faction's garrison.
The players reacted.
"What? It's orcs?"
"Yeah."
"We made the orc faction the winning side in the last trial's arena and ended up joining them?"
"Seems like it."
"Still, that's a relief."
"What's?"
"Look over there. He's there."
One player pointed at a spot with his index finger.
Standing where he pointed was Hae-jin.
Everyone could see him.
Someone voiced their curiosity about him.
"But wasn't that originally the human faction's side? Is it okay for him to be with the orcs?"
"Well, doesn't each trial's arena have different settings?"
"Yeah?"
Hae-jin thought to himself amid the players' chatter.
'No way it's different.'
The worldviews overlapped across each trial's arena, so the settings didn't change.
Hae-jin pondered this.
'Well, they'll all find out soon enough.'
They would learn soon.
What he meant was...
"Gruk! Everyone, gather!"
His voice boomed loud enough to echo through the garrison.
The "gruk" at the front made it obvious to anyone that it was an orc's voice.
At that voice, the newly summoned players and the orcs already at the garrison all turned to look.
Hae-jin looked that way too, and upon seeing the orc on the platform, he recognized who it was.
'An Orc General.'
Orc General.
He was one of the general-class beings among the orcs.
Think of him as an orc with abilities second only to Orc Lords and Orc Kings.
In any case, he was the general of this orc garrison, which was currently being pushed back by the human faction.
Once all the players and orcs in the garrison had gathered, the Orc General spoke.
"Gruk! Until now, we've been on the defensive! We couldn't overcome the humans' defenses. But heroes have come to aid us! With them, we will seize victory!"
"Groooar!"
As the Orc General spoke of the players' arrival, he boosted the morale of the demoralized garrison orcs.
Thanks to the overlapping worldviews, the orcs knew.
They knew that otherworldly heroes who had greatly influenced the war between the human and orc factions were on their side.
Having rallied their spirits, the Orc General suddenly pointed at Hae-jin.
"And you, hero. I would like you to step forward as their representative."
When the Orc General called Hae-jin forward as the players' representative, he followed the order.
Hae-jin knew exactly what the Orc General was going to do.
Once Hae-jin stood before the Orc General, the orc swiftly drew the sword from his waist.
Shing-!
The sword shot out quickly, as if aiming for Hae-jin's throat.
But Hae-jin didn't move.
The reason was simple.
He sensed no killing intent.
If the Orc General had truly been aiming for his throat, he would have felt the killing intent.
The Orc General's sword, launched without any killing intent, came to rest on Hae-jin's shoulder.
Then the Orc General spoke.
"Gruk, for our victory, hero who shook the human faction, will you grant us the glory of victory once more?"
Hero who shook the human faction.
There was a title given only to those who had achieved the hidden trial in the previous trial's arena.
But since Hae-jin had inherited everything from Joo-hyuk, no system window had appeared saying he'd obtained it.
The players buzzed at the Orc General's line.
"What? So the previous trial's arena is connected to this world's setting?"
"Yeah? 'Hero who shook the human faction'?"
"Was the setting that he was a spy planted in the human faction by the orcs?"
"Looks like it."
"Man, that's impressive."
"Yeah."
They watched the Orc General treat Hae-jin with a mix of awe and envy.
In that situation, Hae-jin spoke to the Orc General.
"Of course."
"Gruk, good. Then will you take the vanguard position?"
"Hmm, no, I won't."
"Gruk, you won't?"
"Yeah."
At those words, the Orc General asked with puzzlement.
"Gruk, why not?"
"Because you wouldn't be able to keep up if I led the vanguard."
"Gruk, we wouldn't be able to keep up?"
"Yeah."
"Gruk, why not?"
"You'll see when you watch."
Hae-jin said that and smirked.
Afterward, he moved just like that.
To the walls visible from the orc garrison—the place where the human faction was defending.
He headed there.
Flash!
The Orc General saw Hae-jin vanish before his eyes.
The others couldn't track Hae-jin's instantaneous movement, but the Orc General could.
He saw Hae-jin pass right by him.
The Orc General turned his head.
Reflected in his eyes was...
A single black crow charging alone toward the sturdy castle where the humans were defending.
Seeing it, the Orc General said,
"Gruk, you're right. You're far too fast to serve as vanguard. But we can't just stand idly by."
With that, the Orc General turned his head.
To the orcs and players in the garrison awaiting his command.
"Gruk! Alright, let's go too, our heroes!"
"Groooar!"
"Charge!"
'I need to use it.'
As Hae-jin approached the castle defended by the humans, he opened his inventory.
From the inventory, Hae-jin took out the 'Merit Scroll.'
He tore it immediately.
[Item! You have used the 'Merit Scroll.']
[Merit points will now be applied at double rate.]
Merit points.
You accumulated them by defeating enemies, and the Merit Scroll from the previous trial's arena doubled those points.
There were also Hero Scrolls and Transformation Scrolls, which let you transform into an allied faction's hero NPC to fight, or use the Transformation Scroll to switch to a favorable faction for survival.
But Hae-jin had no reason to resort to such tactics.
First, the Hero Scroll?
Why transform when he was already the strongest?
Second, the Transformation Scroll?
Using it would maximize survival odds.
Just capturing enemy soldiers in the enemy faction as an allied soldier racked up points.
With overwhelming forces defending while targeting the enemy faction as a transformed ally, you could safely stack merits.
And if you helped properly to prevent other players from gaining merits, you could solo-zone survival too.
However, since Hae-jin aimed to save as many survivors as possible, he had no need for the Transformation Scroll.
He had told the other party members who received hidden trial rewards from the previous arena.
Unconditionally get the Merit Scroll and use it to max out merits.
He had no choice.
They needed to save as many survivors as possible.
Anyway, after using the Merit Scroll to double his own merit points, Hae-jin swiftly leaped over the castle walls.
Seeing it, the Orc General was dumbfounded.
"Gruk, ha, he jumped over that in one go?"
The Orc General was stunned by Hae-jin's movement.
It was inevitable.
They had prepared battering rams and ladders for the siege, yet Hae-jin had scaled and cleared those sturdy, towering walls in a single bound.
Afterward, how much time passed?
When the Orc General arrived at the human faction's castle with the garrison orcs and players...
Normally, they would endure attacks from the defenders, smash the gates with the battering ram, and have other troops scale the walls with ladders for the siege.
But...
Creeeak-.
No need for the ram—the gates opened.
Standing before the open gates was Hae-jin.
Without a word, Hae-jin opened the gates and turned away.
He had nothing to say.
With the gates open, the orc garrison troops and players just needed to handle the forces guarding the inner village and lord's castle.
As Hae-jin silently opened the gates and walked off, the Orc General shouted.
"Gruk! Our hero has opened the gates! Everyone, eliminate the forces within our territory!"
"Groooar!"
"Ooooooh!"
Like that, the orcs and players entered behind Hae-jin and began clearing the territory's forces.
Hae-jin kept advancing forward, cutting down only the troops blocking his path.
Slash, slashhh-, slashhhh-!
He cleaved through enemies without respite, pressing onward.
Hae-jin's goal was singular.
'Capture the lord.'
The territory's forces were commanded by the lord's knight captain.
But the hidden trial's condition was to kill the lord.
Compared to previous hidden trials, it might seem easy.
But it wasn't necessarily.
'You can't catch him if you don't know where the lord is.'
Exactly.
The lord had handed full defensive authority to the knight captain and hidden in a secret space.
Without knowing his location, finding him was no easy task.
Of course, that was mere trivia to Hae-jin, who had the information.
Naturally, since Hae-jin knew, the other party members also knew exactly where each enemy faction's lord was hiding.
So there was no worry about them failing the hidden trial.
For now, Hae-jin just needed to focus on his own.
Before long, Hae-jin entered the lord's castle.
The lord's castle housed knights stronger than the territory's regular forces.
Of course, even so.
Slash, slashhh-, slashhhh-!
They fell before Hae-jin's massacre like leaves in the wind.
Soon, Hae-jin arrived at the lord's bedchamber.
There was a spacious bed.
Seated on it was a man.
A man clad head to toe in armor, armed with sword and shield.
The man on the bed spotted Hae-jin and rose.
The man shouted at Hae-jin.
"Do you have no pride as a human?!"
Mentioning human pride to Hae-jin.
Hae-jin smirked at him.
"Sorry, but I'm not the same kind of human as you."
Declaring himself different from the man.
In response, laughter came from the man.
"Heh heh, right. You're a hero, aren't you? Then allow me to introduce myself. My name is 'Potero Senos'. I am the lord of this 'Senos' territory."
The man introduced himself as the lord of Senos territory.
But Hae-jin knew full well.
He was not the lord of Senos, Potero.
He was Knight Captain 'Banks Sijaf', pretending to be Potero to protect the real lord, Potero Senos.
As Banks played the lord, he thought,
'So in the end, I go without revealing my name.'
Having reached a certain level as knight captain, Banks could tell.
He was no match at all for the opponent he faced, the orc faction's hero.
As Banks thought this, Hae-jin said to him.
"Don't worry. I'll remember your name. Knight Captain Banks Sijaf."
"How did you... "
Slashhh-.
Banks wore an expression of shock at how Hae-jin knew his identity.
However, the next moment.
In Banks's vision, Hae-jin appeared, then slowly his crown, back, and feet passed by in sequence.
His head severed in a single stroke, he met his end.