V55C6P4 – The Great Escape

The instant he confirmed the enemy’s skill, he prepared autonomously.

“Sword of Regeneration!”

He bent backwards and used the secret sword technique.

The skill greatly enhanced his health points and defense.

< Health points increased by 200%. Influence of nearby plants increased defense.

Wrecked trees and gra.s.ses transfer all their remaining energy. Defense increased by 12%.>

*Ch-ch-ching!*

The Loa Sword and the a.s.sa.s.sin’s dagger clashed relentlessly in close distance.

At first, it seemed that the a.s.sa.s.sin’s incoming attack was going to land straight on him, but he barely deflected it.

“Kyaaah!”

“Weed-nim!”

“Dodge… Huh?”

In the eyes of his approaching comrades, he was just about to be a.s.sa.s.sinated, but in the next split second, he was already ready to defend himself.

Then, the a.s.sa.s.sin flung his arm. This time, five daggers flew toward Weed.

– Condemning Throw!

A secret technique in a.s.sa.s.sination!

It throws a poisoned dagger on the enemy.

‘I’ve heard about it. It is a fearful, lethal skill.’

One dagger could dish out 100,000 damage. That being said, about half was poison damage over time.

a.s.sa.s.sins had minimal health points and lacked defensive skills as a tradeoff for the best burst damage.

Weed swung the Loa Sword, deflecting three daggers.

Defensive skills like Closing Eyes Shut had no meaning in this situation!

‘I need some distance.’

He took two daggers to the body while activating his dimensional gate glove, escaping from the attacker’s reach.

He distanced himself about 10 meters and earned enough time to catch his breath.

“Healing Touch!”

Weed only put his trust in reliable priests like Irene.

They were capable of healing health points or abnormal status right away.

– Dwarf. You are quite skilled in surviving.

Zultan slowly approached, slipping out from the veil of darkness.

One of the boss level enemies that guarded Kaybern’s lair now stood in front of him.

Weed whispered while keeping his eyes on Zultan.

“Are there any other enemies following us within a 2 km radius?”

– Swift Coldwind: I am sorry. It seems like he moved among the ashes as I did not spot him.

“Let bygones be bygones. What about the enemy?”

– Swift Coldwind: There are small groups of monsters in sight. No other significant movements spotted.

“What about Kaybern?”

– Swift Coldwind: It is heading to the dwarf village in the west.

He was able to deduce quickly.

‘a.s.sa.s.sins do have tracking skills. He must have followed my tracks by chance.’

Weed gave a glance to Pale and Seasoned Crab.

– Pale: Understood.

– Seasoned Crab: Hu-hu-hu-hu.

The comrades and high-level users that were waiting at Tis Village slowly backed away and surrounded the area.

Seasoned Crab hid in the shadows.

Weed tapped the Loa Sword on his palm and spoke.

“Hey. Did you come alone?”

– I alone am enough to kill a lowly dwarf.

Zultan knew of Weed only as one of the countless dwarves that robbed Kaybern’s lair.

Oblivious he had chased down the bandits’ truly evil boss.

Weed let out a deep sigh.

“Wheeew.”

– Are you afraid? Do not worry. Death is close.

It was common to lure out boss level monsters to their defeat.

The minions were taken care of in advance, or there was the other option of setting traps in a good location and playing the waiting game.

Weed didn’t like luring because it usually took too much time.

“I think this is what they mean when something falls into your lap. After such a splendid time at the dragon’s lair, more items are delivering themselves to me. I wonder just how much misfortune there will be after all this luck today.”

Pale, Python and the dwarven warriors a.s.sembled in Tis Village.

At least a hundred users had surrounded him.

A typical boss level monster would have fled, but Zultan greatly underestimated humans and dwarves.

Much like how Kaybern looked down on humans, his subordinates did the same.

“Let us begin right away.”

The instant Weed gave the order, Pale’s arrow fired from Zultan’s right.

“Let’s go!”

“Kill it!”

All the users charged at once.

Back at the lair it was an unfavorable battle and they were forced into a defensive stance.

However, if it was a boss monster that came all the way here all on its own, the glory was only for the first to kill!

– Weaklings! I will slaughter you all.

Zultan sprayed his daggers and dropped smoke as he engaged in battle.

“Harmonious Light!”

“Intensifying Flas.h.!.+”

“Rolling Wind!”

Numerous magic spells cleansed the smoke.

The users stuck close so that cloaking couldn’t be used, followed by concentrated fire, ice and lightning magic attacks.

“Flash Storm!”

“Arrgh!”

“Who used an area of effect magic skill?!”

“Calm down and focus on the fight.”

Zultan was overwhelmed by various magic spells each second.

Surprisingly, most magic spells were swallowed by the darkness, but some did come in direct contact.

He managed to kill ten dwarves, but as he was an a.s.sa.s.sin his health points were declining fast.

Weed grasped the Loa Sword and engaged in the biggest human contemplation.

‘Do I go for the last hit, or not?’

Finis.h.i.+ng Zultan would grant him combat achievements.

‘Wouldn’t it be too obvious? I’m sure there are quite a number of groups that are jealous of me.’

Even if he were to be criticized by other people, it was a stupid thing to give up on such an opportunity.

‘Yeah, this is what it should be. I can deal with the guilt later.’

Pa-pa-pa-pa-pat!

The force of the dwarves and the other users was elevating.

They too knew that Zultan’s end wasn’t too far.

‘Kill it.’

‘It’s mine.’

He took out a poisoned long sword and swung it in resistance, damaging nearby dwarves.

Even so, the users charged fearlessly to end Zultan’s life with their own hands.

Even mages and priests were preparing their most powerful spells.

‘This fight will end in a split second.’

They didn’t have time to check Zultan’s remaining health points. They left it all on instincts and just bombarded their skills.

It was when all the users were waiting for Zultan’s demise.

A shadow elongated from behind Zultan and pounced.

– Executioner’s Blade!

It was an a.s.sa.s.sin skill that executed a target instantly if its health points had fallen below 5%.

Seasoned Crab had made his appearance.

“Oh, no way!”

“This cannot be!”

The dwarven users screamed.

“Ah heck, merciless axes!”

“Doom Smas.h.!.+”

“Berserk!”

Each user landed the most powerful skill on Zultan.

Kaybern could stand its ground thanks to its high resistance and health points, but a.s.sa.s.sin Zultan did not have the luxury of having such stats.

< a.s.sa.s.sin Zultan of Ulta Mountain Pa.s.s, the overseer of death has entered eternal rest… >

Weed pa.s.sed through multiple dimensional gates the moment Seasoned Crab appeared.

Users were blocking either the entrance or the exit, so he took a few detours, and in the last moment, he debated using Instant Sculptural Technique.

‘I don’t have much temporal energy left, and I have to reserve it for Kaybern…’

He was just 3 meters away when Zultan met his end!

Even as Zultan’s body was fading away with the darkness, melee attacks, as well as magic spells, shamanic chants, arrows and other attacks, were landing – a moment too late.

The interest of the users was not about winning against Zultan.

“What, who got it?!”

“Who is it?”

The users searched their surroundings. They suspected one another, trying to confirm who took Zultan’s loot.

Seasoned Crab stealthily picked up the item dropped by Zultan.

“So, SeasonedCrab-nim got it in the end?”

“a.s.sa.s.sin SeasonedCrab. SeasonedCrab-nim got the loot.”

“Such a t.u.r.d.”

“We did all the work, and SeasonedCrab-nim took the last hit.”

Seasoned Crab became subject to the grudge of all the users!

Seasoned Crab felt this was unfair and he also had a say against this matter.

He was the one who contested Zultan back in the dragon’s lair to begin with.

a.s.sa.s.sins with lethal attack damage aiming for surprise attacks and the cutthroat finish was by the books.

Funny enough, the finis.h.i.+ng attack led to the hate of all users at the location.

Though achievement points were split up based on the contribution in combat, it was incomparable to the finisher.

Weed sheathed the Loa Sword and spoke as he pa.s.sed by.

“A man cannot live like that if he has a conscience.”

“…”

“I know how to strike last too, but I didn’t.”

“…”

***

The dwarven users of Thor were expecting to welcome a ma.s.sive change.

First of all, a large forest fire lit between Ulta and Sygorn Mountain Pa.s.s, followed by the invasion of monsters led by Kaybern.

“Just what are we going through because of Weed’s robbery?”

“Exactly. My house, my blacksmith shop, everything is gone.”

“What about our homeland? I lived there for four years…”

Kaybern set the dwarves as the target for revenge.

On the day of the robbery alone, he destroyed five dwarven cities and demanded tremendous offerings.

The usual offerings paid by the dwarves increased tenfold!

“What are we supposed to do…? This is just telling us to die.”

The dwarves hated Weed so much that they wanted to kill him.

On the Royal Road discussion board of each race, there was a relay of criticism and complaints about Weed but the impact didn’t spread any further.

The dwarven race quest!

The robbery of the dragon lair was also a release of the old dwarven grudge.

Of course, the quest itself said to steal the Brazier of Sacrifice, not loot as many treasure as possible…

– Kaybern is a seriously evil dragon. Any dwarven user is aware of it. A quest to slay that dragon will arise at any moment.

– Would now be the time? Judging by its pure strength, it just seems impossible.

– He’s carrying out the Wish of the Dwarf, the racial quest and it’s bound to cause some unintended damage. If you’re a dwarf, you have to endure it.

– Did you lose your house? I lost my house that I worked over a year to get.

– I agree. Weed has caused too much damage for us dwarves.

– I sincerely hope that he succeeds in the quest and slays Kaybern. This time around, the humans became the target, but it was us dwarves that suffered for a really long time. Now I just wish that we won’t be bullied anymore.

The Arpen Empire quickly released a statement.

Weed wasn’t in the least interested but Seoyoon created a relief program for the victims.

– I sincerely apologize for the damages. Those of you who lost homes and blacksmith shops in Thor may migrate to the Arpen Empire. Better homes and blacksmith shops will be built for free. For a smooth settlement, we will provide iron ores and various materials for no profit for three months.

The dwarves lost their establishments, but the Arpen Empire offered sincere a.s.sistance.

Until now, damages that arose due to quests in Royal Road were never compensated.

Users were trampled upon under the principle of power as prestigious guilds kept killing and stealing.

In comparison, the Arpen Empire stepping up to provide compensation for damages from the race quest remedied the complaints from the dwarves.

(To be continued…)