The Villain has Perished

[Three Minutes Ago]

"Demonic Slash!"

Jae-sung slashed downwards. At his words, an azure white arc made of mana flew out of his blade.

➤[ 1-star Master Orc killed ]

➤[ 1-star Master Orc killed ]

➤[ 1-star Master Orc killed ]

➤[ +1500 EXP ]

Notifications appeared in the corner of his vision as his attack killed three orcs. Jae-sung wiped the sweat gathering on his forehead and muttered, "There are too many monsters."

Currently, Jae-sung was standing inside the village of the Orc tribe. He was trying to reach the largest house, which was protected by countless orcs.

"I don't know if Sir Sol is there. But seeing how these monsters are protecting that place, there should be some kind of clue as to what is happening inside this forest in that house."

A few days ago, Jae-sung and Varnish entered the Forest of Silence to search for Sol. Sol had entered the forest long ago but there never returned. Although most people believed that Sol had died to monsters, they still needed to recover Sol's corpse. After all, he was the third heir of Lionel Dukedom.

Schwing!

Jae-sung dodged the two massive clubs and swung his sword at the heels of the orcs. He thought, 'What we found after reaching the Lake of Purity was a massacre of monsters. It seemed that something sinister was going on inside the forest.

I wanted to enter the middle section to search for Sir Sol — because I knew that he was alive. But Sir Varnish was against such thoughts. He firmly believed that Sir Sol was dead. It was then, we met the knights of the Holy Order.'

The quest to defeat Sol in a spar that Jae-sung received hadn't disappeared. Thus, he was confident that Sol wasn't dead. Nevertheless, he couldn't tell this to the others and had to give excuses as to why he believed that a human who had recently reached the 1st Mortal Awakening survived the massacre that killed hundreds of monsters.

Clang!

An orc ambushed Jae-sung from behind. It could have been a fatal injury had Jae-sung not blocked the attack at the last second.

He clicked his tongue and muttered, "Shield of Boreas."

Strong winds appeared around Jae-sung. As the orcs tried to attack him they realized that all their fatal attacks were being deflected by the winds.

Jae-sung continued moving forward. Nonetheless, he was advancing at a snail's pace due to the overwhelming number of enemies . He pondered, 'The knights of the Holy Order were also shocked at the annihilation of monsters and they decided to move quickly. However, a problem arose.

They couldn't decide if they should enter deeper into the forest to investigate further or return to the Church and make a report. But the female knight, Lady Setuna, was adamant about finding the cause of the annihilation of monsters, so the knights of the Holy Order decided to proceed ahead.

Ultimately, Sir Varnish also consented to enter the forest to search for Sir Sol, after the knights of the Holy Order said that we should move with them, if we were going to enter deeper into the forest.'

The number of orcs Jae-sung was facing at this moment was too much to handle alone. He plunged his sword into the ground and shouted, "Earth Rupture!"

Faint tremors appeared and caused the orcs near Jae-sung to lose their footing. Jae-sung used the opportunity and killed all orcs in his immediate surroundings.

One day ago, when Jae-sung and the knights of the Holy Order entered the forest, they encountered many strange elements. The most bizarre of these were the annihilated monster villages.

After encountering more of these destroyed villages, they realized something astonishing. The destroyed villages inside the middle section and the lake in the outer section were forming a line. Every life in a straight path had been reaped as if a great calamity had swept through. It was unnatural, like someone was purposely leaving clues for them to follow. And if they extended the line it reached…

The orc tribe in the inner section.

The group had been following the line slowly in apprehension. But tonight they saw a flare in the sky.

The flare seemed like a man-made one and, thinking that it might be Sol asking for help, after much discussion Jae-sung broke off from the group and rushed ahead. Everyone in the group had seen Jae-sung's concealment skills and they were aware that Jae-sung was their best choice in that situation.

Schwing!

➤[ 2-star Master Orc killed ]

➤[ +600 EXP ]

Jae-sung continued moving while slaying orcs. He mused. "At first, I couldn't decide where I should head to after reaching the location of the flare, until I recalled an easy method to do that: If you encounter monsters in a maze that means you are going in the right direction."

If Jae-sung learned anything from video games, it is that when you meet enemies, it means that you're going in the right direction.

Among the 400 orcs outside the forest, 1000 Great Apes marching toward the orc tribe, and over 2000 orcs surrounding the orc chieftain's house, the place with most enemies was as clear as day.

If this many orcs were standing guard around the biggest house — this was Jae-sung's observation because those orcs were carrying weapons and according to him, why else would the orcs surround something inside their territory, if not to protect it. — that must be the boss's location!

Jae-sung believed he would find clues about the annihilated monsters or Sol's disappearance in the place the Orcs were protecting — again, the orcs weren't protecting the place; it was all one big misunderstanding on Jae-sung's part. A misunderstanding that Sol predicted because he was aware of his personality and had set up the pieces for the said misunderstanding personally.

Huff—! Huff—!

Thin lines of sweat formed on Jae-sung and his back was completely drenched. No matter how many orcs he killed, the numbers weren't decreasing.

Forget reaching the orc chieftain's house, at this rate, Jae-sung would exhaust himself first and die to the innumerable orcs. Jae-sung was also aware of this, yet he was smiling.

He rummaged through his pocket and took out an item. "I'm tight on time and can't fight all of you. So, shall we settle this with a game?"

Without waiting for a response from the orcs, Jae-sung tossed the item he pulled from his pocket into the air — A coin.