CH 79

Chapter 79: Tomb of the Wind Warrior (3)

Senia herself admitted that she didn’t have much of a ‘gift of gab’. She had little confidence when it came to expressing herself with words, and consequently, she tended not to say much when streaming Players.

Among the Guardians, as well as the other Intermediate Administrators, she was starting to be called the ‘Intermediate Administrator of Silence’.

‘I am well aware that it isn’t really a good moniker.’

Intermediate Administrator of Silence sounded good enough, but frankly put, it was ‘Streamer who can’t talk’. In any case, Senia knew that very well, so she chose the strategy of simply being tight-lipped. She could afford to do so because she had such good quality content, Kim Hyukjin.

‘But…’

This time, she could not be taciturn. She heard Hyukjin’s words.

–I told you, didn’t I? I will set the stage.

He was a Player far weaker than herself. But despite that, he was forging ahead with such a Play.

‘Player Kim Hyukjin. You are right.’

From his actions, his confidence, and his words, she realized something. She herself grasped what she had to do right now, and how she should do it.

And so, she opened her mouth.

–The clear condition has been satisfied. However, I believe this may not be a very gratifying clear for many of you. That is also the reason why the Herdsman of Las Vegas is debating whether he should acknowledge the clear.

Even as she spoke, Senia surprised herself. It felt like the longest string of words she spoke in her entire streaming career. And she had the feeling that she could actually speak quite well; it was just that she hadn’t practiced it much.

–...So if there is anyone who would bestow a new quest given within the prescribed rules, I would be grateful for your participation.

The quest was already cleared. To coerce another clear, a force of equal value would be necessary. In other words, a reward.

A little time passed. Hyukjin and his party members heard new notices.

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ and ‘Whispering Devil’ make a proposal to the Players.]

[Hunt all the Orc species monsters.]

[The Players can refuse the Guardians’ proposal.]

Senia’s wings trembled. It felt like she realized something huge today.

‘Ah—!’

So this was how you were supposed to do it. You could get Coins like this, too. This was precisely that sponsorship inducement she’d heard all about.

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ and ‘Whispering Devil’ have donated 50,000 Coins each.]

They didn’t donate those Coins to the Players. They donated them to her, the Intermediate Administrator, so she could issue a new quest. She, too, would need a small reward for acting as the intermediary. She got a whopping 50k from each of the ‘suckers’, as Kim Hyukjin put it. A total of 100k Coins.

‘With this—!’

She could afford to feed and support her young siblings, who only had her to rely on after their parents passed away. With this, she could give her siblings good clothes and good food.

‘This is how you do it.’

Goosebumps rose along her arms. She had the feeling that Hyukjin taught her something big today. Her reaction was not visible to the eye.

–Thank you for the sponsorships. Player Kim Hyukjin’s party will soon proceed with the Tomb of the Wind Warrior raid.

And then, her gaze moved to Hyukjin. The Pause would end soon, and the Orcs would appear.

‘The cards are stacked against them.’

He gave something to Jo Sunghyun, and after receiving it, there was certainly a change in the young wind magician. However, the difficulty was too high for that to make a difference. It wasn’t just three or four Orcs, but a staggering six.

‘Orc Archers, regular Orcs. And a Great Orc Warrior. It won’t be easy.’

But Hyukjin looked confident. Because she was talking to the Guardians, she wasn’t able to fully relay what Hyukjin and the other Players were saying. To be more precise, she intentionally didn’t stream it. This, too, was a type of directing technique.

‘If it’s Player Kim Hyukjin, he will have come up with some kind of method.’

It was a lie to say this wouldn’t be dangerous. It definitely was. But even so, Hyukjin pushed ahead, which meant he had some kind of trick up his sleeve. He must have shared that plan with the other Players.

‘I didn’t… share the method with the Guardians.’

By this point, Senia was curious, too. Just how would Kim Hyukjin hunt that big horde of Orcs?

‘How will you do this?’

* * *

Yoohyun understood exactly what he had to do.

“Got it, hyungnim. I’ll move exactly like you instructed!”

Yoohyun and Sung-gu fist bumped.

“Ahh! You muscleman, why’s your fist so hard?”

“Huhuhuhu. You’re just weak, Sung-gu. You weakling.”

“Ha. You watch your back, I swear. And watch out for fire. Seriously, if it weren’t for Hyukjin, I wouldn’t bother playing with you.”

Despite the barbed words, the two of them often met up to go to cafés and had run several raids together. They were just loosening their nerves and working up their fighting spirit with a very short conversation. Yeonseo went up to Sung-gu, saying, “Why’re you guys quarreling when you can’t even fight?”

Yeonseo, Sung-gu, and Yoohyun made one team.

Sunhwa walked in front of Sunghyun, almost like she was protecting him.

“You’re with me, right, oppa?”

“Yeah. Let’s do our best.”

“You’re supposed to be the core of this battle, oppa.” Sunhwa flashed him a smile. She was standing in front of Sunghyun with her tiny body. “I’ll protect you no problem, so please do your best with what my oppa asked you to do!”

The nuance behind ‘my oppa’ and ‘oppa’ felt very different when she said them. Of course, ‘my oppa’ referred to me, and just ‘oppa’ was Sunghyun. From the nuance to her attitude, her treatment of the two was very different.

“Al-Alright.”

Sunhwa and Sunghyun made another team. I grinned.

‘They’ve taken up good positions.’

We didn’t have much time. I knew that Senia deliberately didn’t stream them while they were preparing, and other Streamers weren’t contracted with me.

‘It’s just a guess, but I bet our words were turned into static.’

It was probably something like that.

‘Senia, I’ll raise your value.’

I heard a notice.

[The ‘Nameless Observer’ continues to observe.]

With this, I was sure of it. The Nameless Observer didn’t actively encourage me to stand on the frontlines, but they also didn’t dislike me going forward and leading. They simply maintained the position of a ‘neutral observer’. Like their name suggested, they were truly just ‘observing’. The Nameless Observer was a fairly magnanimous Guardian who didn’t forcefully push ‘observation’ as the Playing method.

I suddenly realized something.

‘I was given Onlooker at first, right?’

Observer felt more active than Onlooker.

‘If I can upgrade the class through the 2nd advancement…’

If the next class followed the same trend, there was a high chance I might get a class that would encourage slightly more active Play.

‘A class more active than Observer…’

I had an idea of what that would look like. It would be a class that obtained information through observation and then used that information and knowledge to garner the greatest profit possible. It might end up feeling similar to a ‘sovereign’ class.

‘It’s not set in stone yet.’

I decided to focus on the battle for now. I could feel the Great Orc Warrior’s intense energy.

‘It’s okay.’

I wasn’t worried. I had faced him once before. That fear of the ‘unknown’ one felt when facing a completely new opponent had disappeared long ago.

* * *

All of the monsters finished appearing.

[The Great Orc Warrior is starting to roar.]

At the same time:

[The morale of the Orcs increases.]

[The Orcs are becoming violent.]

The Orcs spotted us, [!!!] marks appearing over their heads.

“Your opponent is here, you pieces of scum!”

Yoohyun smashed the ground with a thud, giving off the energy of a massive bull. Yeonseo flew past him.

[Using the movement skill Heavenly Demonic Flying Step.]

It was so she could get between the Orcs and disrupt their movements. Trusting them, Choi Sung-gu began to chant an incantation.

[Speller Kartina Neu-Armi]

A hard-to-understand special magic incantation flowed from his lips. There were a whopping six regular Orcs. Yeonseo was messing up their advance and movements while Yoohyun was aggroing them. However, it was impossible for him to pull all of the violent Orcs.

Hyukjin moved to the Orcs with a speed that was neither fast nor slow and used a skill.

[Using the special skill Mettle.]

[Mettle]

‘Mettle’ is the aura of a ruler and the higher form of ‘Pressure’. It induces instinctive fear and awe in those who are of a lower level than the user.

Hyukjin’s level was 30, and the Orcs’ was around level 27.

[Using the special skill Mettle.]

[Using the special skill Mettle.]

Yoohyun and Yeonseo also used Mettle at the same time. They had gained the ability with Hyukjin, and their combined Mettle squashed the Orcs.

A smile floated to Yeonseo’s lips. The Orcs’ movements definitely dulled, and their reaction speed was also greatly slowed. Mettle had the ability to overwhelm multiple lower level creatures.

‘With this… we should be able to hunt them.’

She wasn’t the Shin Yeonseo of the past. Yoohyun and Sung-gu were the same. They had been able to hunt Orcs even when their levels were low, but now, they were five levels higher than the Orcs. There might be a lot of Orcs, but they were up against three Players.

Yoohyun yelled “Oryaaa” as he punched.

Squeaaaaaal!

He struck one of the Orcs right in the solar plexus.

‘It’s just as hyungnim said.’

The Orc Archers didn’t have a chance to look their way—they were perfectly aggroed by Sunhwa.

Fwip fwip!

Two arrows were fired in succession. One aimed for Sunhwa’s forehead, and the other her heart. Staring directly at the arrows, Sunhwa said, “Oppa,” and used a skill at the same time.

[Using the skill Platinum Shield.]

To that, the prepared Sunghyun added his magic.

[Wendies Napera]

Wind began to blow. Earlier, Hyukjin had instructed him to recall the wind that blew in the ‘Hill of Blowing Wind’. He cast his spell while imagining those gusts.

[Visualize those gusts in your own way and recreate them. They don’t have to be strong. They just need to slightly change the trajectory of the arrows so that Sunhwa can avoid a direct hit.]

When he was listening, he wasn’t sure he could do it. But he’d grasped it right away when he tried. After using the ‘Venti Body Tome’, he could visualize the wind.

‘I can do this…!’

He became sure he could do it.

‘It’s like Hyukjin hyung said.’

Hyukjin’s suggestion was spot on. Two small arrows appeared.

[←←]

He produced a wind so feeble it was hardly fair to compare it to the gusts from the ‘Hill of Blowing Wind’.

‘Wind that can change the trajectory.’

He only needed to give them a slight nudge. He also wasn’t casting an AOE spell to cover the entire field, just the two arrows. He focused. Boosted by the ‘Venti Body Tome’, his body had become incredibly sensitive to ‘wind’.

Clank!

As the metallic sound rang out, Sunhwa smiled brightly.

“There wasn’t much impact. Oppa, I think you did it.”

They brushed off two arrows with ease. At that moment, Sunghyun felt a pounding that could not be put into words. It wasn’t something he felt from Sunhwa, but a pounding that came from deep within.

‘What is this feeling?’

It felt like he had stepped foot on a completely new world.

‘My heart… is pounding.’

He simply listened and acted according to Hyukjin’s words. Both Sunhwa and him, as well as the other Players, simply carried out their individual roles in their individual positions. But the picture that had been so hazy earlier was becoming so concrete that it was nearly a reality.

‘Is this the power of a real leader?’

A shiver went down his spine. The mere presence of an outstanding leader was enough to make him feel like each party member could give 120%. There was no doubt. Sunghyun inferred Hyukjin’s ability and class.

‘Sovereign class.’

Not just a regular sovereign-type class, but an excellent one supported by outstanding talent and sense.

‘But…’

Would everything truly happen like Hyukjin said? Would everything continue to go well? It was nearly impossible to hunt the Great Orc Warrior with a head-on attack, and Hyukjin himself had said that. Still, they had made it this far. Sunghyun could only trust and move on.

‘I will do what I need to do.’

And so, the quest created by the joint bets of the Herdsman of Las Vegas, the Whispering Devil, and even the Courageous Lion King began in earnest, right on Hyukjin’s palm.

____