Chapter 85 …
“Grrrk!”
“S-spare me!”
“You monster… guh!”
Whenever a hunting team arrived, they were slaughtered in an instant. And just as the last of them fell, if new hyenas swarmed in, Eliza would step forward again and draw the aggro.
Then they were slaughtered again.
This simple, straightforward strategy kept working over and over.
Of course, once rumors began to spread, some players tried their best not to attack the orc—but that wasn’t something they could fully control.
Even if they clenched their teeth and tried to ignore the orc, the orc would somehow force its way in and provoke them into attacking.
Sometimes it would even tap a hidden player on the shoulder, startling them and baiting an attack.
It happened frequently.
“Hey… what kind of orc is that?”
“Is an orc allowed to act like this?!”
“Man, this is so unfair. What does hitting an orc have to do with initiating combat?”
How many times had it repeated—Eliza successfully claiming self-defense, then Dohyun appearing to massacre the attackers?
At some point, everyone who had been trying to hunt Dohyun disappeared.
Instead, for dozens of minutes now, the situation had reversed—Dohyun was the one hunting others by throwing out Eliza as bait.
“Hey, you. You heading to the Fetid Rock Forest right now?”
In the Fetid Rock Forest, neither the hyenas targeting Dohyun nor the users hunting orcs were anywhere to be seen.
It was because of a rumor that had spread through Brion.
“Watch out for orcs. If you attack an orc, he appears.”
“He shows up anytime, anywhere. Remember—never attack an orc.”
A bizarre rumor: attack an orc and you die.
“Hey, you going hunting? They say don’t go right now.”
“Why?”
“You didn’t hear? If you kill an orc, you die instantly. They say corpses are piling up like mountains.”
“A mutant orc shows up, and if you attack it, some monster comes flying in. They say it’s impossible to kill.”
“No, I heard the orc explodes when it dies. Like a suicide squad or something.”
As rumors tend to do, the story became more and more distorted. By the time it reached ordinary players, it barely resembled the truth.
But all the strange variations shared one common point:
—Beware the orc.
It used to be standard advice given to newbies arriving in Brion.
Now, the meaning had completely changed.
[Level Up!]
[You have obtained quest material: ‘Concentrated Orc Blood.’]
“Nice~.”
Seeing the level-up message, Dohyun couldn’t hold back a satisfied sound.
And this wasn’t the first level he’d gained—it was already his second.
He was now level 29.
[Concentrated Orc Blood (50 / 50)]
[You have collected all required Concentrated Orc Blood.]
Perfect timing—the orc blood was fully collected too.
He’d been grinding so mindlessly that the main quest was nearly complete.
—Defeat monsters near Brion (776 / 1,000)
At this pace, he could probably clear it by tomorrow.
[Fetid Rock Forest Exploration (0 / 1)]
All that remained now was the exploration.
If he’d had to worry about people watching him, it would have taken twice as long—but thanks to the disappearance of the troublemakers, he could hunt in peace.
“Yeah, this is how hunting should be. So relaxing.”
What a peaceful grind this was.
Sure, a few players still glanced his way occasionally, but none were interfering like before.
And that wasn’t all. He’d gained a mountain of items from dealing with the fools who charged at him.
‘One shield and ten armor pieces.’
Eleven pieces of equipment in total.
Most overlapped with Dohyun’s own gear and were lower-tier versions, so they had to go on the auction house—but not all of them.
[Special Silver Shield crafted by a Master Workshop]
Grade: Rare
Description: A special shield made of silversteel, one of the rare ores.
Since ancient times, silver has been known as a noble and sacred metal said to contain holy power.
Level Requirement: 30
Class Restriction: Shield Warrior line
Defense: 110
Damage Reduction: 124–143
Durability: 90 / 100
Special Option:
If you successfully guard three times consecutively, Defense +30 for 90 seconds.
This was the silver shield dropped by the first group that charged him.
Since its level requirement was 10 levels higher than his existing Silversteel Shield, its stats were better.
And unlike the Silversteel Shield—which required holy power to fully utilize—the Silver Shield’s option worked for anyone.
[Thousand Forms devours ‘Special Silver Shield crafted by a Master Workshop.’]
[There is already devoured equipment.]
[Spit out ‘Silversteel Shield’ and devour ‘Special Silver Shield crafted by a Master Workshop’?]
“Yep.”
[‘Special Silver Shield crafted by a Master Workshop’ has been devoured.]
Without a moment’s hesitation, Dohyun swapped shields.
This was another advantage of Thousand Forms.
When it devoured a new weapon, it spat out the previously consumed one—meaning infinite recycling was possible.
[Registering ‘Silversteel Shield’ to the Auction House.]
[Set to 24 hours.]
After listing the last piece of gear, Dohyun’s face filled with a broad smile.
‘Guess I’m eating beef again today.’
If everything sold, he’d probably make around ten million won.
Grinding, questing, earning money, and even securing footage for NewTube.
Four birds with one stone.
Dohyun looked fondly at Eliza, who was still in her orc form.
“Eliza, you’re my lucky charm.”
—Rizari!
This was all thanks to Eliza’s parasitic ability.
When he first saw the trait, he’d just thought it was interesting—but after using it himself, its utility was incredible.
Especially for someone like Dohyun, who had plenty of enemies.
Just this time alone—thanks to Eliza parasitizing the orc, all those annoying pests had vanished.
‘Well… I’d be scared too. Some crazy orc charges at you, and if you hit it, it counts as initiating combat.’
Ignore it and it harasses you. Kill it and you’re in trouble.
Even Dohyun would get fed up and stay away.
‘Still… isn’t it a bit too empty? Feels like the player population got cut in half.’
It was a bit more deserted than expected, but good was good.
For someone constantly in the spotlight like Dohyun, this was far more comfortable.
“Eliza, how long are you planning to stay transformed?”
—Riza? Riza!
—She says she’ll keep patrolling in case bad guys show up again.
“…Hmm. Thanks.”
Dohyun answered calmly.
He appreciated the sentiment, but that cute voice coming from such a vicious face still felt weird every time.
And if it were just the voice, that would be one thing.
Eliza was naturally affectionate—when she was happy, she’d hop around and rub her head against him…
…which, unfortunately, sometimes gave Dohyun chills.
‘No. I have to endure this. She’s too precious to complain.’
Rubbing his arm, Dohyun steeled himself.
If she got hurt and refused to parasitize again, he’d be the one at a loss.
—Riza!
“Yeah, yeah…”
While patting the large orc beard rubbing against him, Dohyun shifted his gaze.
Not because it was hard to look at.
There was another important reason.
“At this point I’ve searched everywhere. Why isn’t it clearing?”
No matter how large the Fetid Rock Forest was, he should’ve met the condition by now.
He’d even pushed into areas thick with fog, yet there was still no sign of completion.
—There’s still somewhere you haven’t checked, Master.
—Riza!
Jihad suddenly cut in, and Eliza agreed.
Yeah—they were right.
‘There is one place.’
More accurately, one place he couldn’t check.
[The aura of death is extremely dense.]
[A field boss will soon respawn in the Fetid Rock Forest.]
[Time Remaining: 00:03:01]
The field boss hadn’t spawned yet.
He thought the exploration condition might complete like it did in the western forest of Raven, but apparently not.
Seeing the timely message, Dohyun grinned.
“Perfect timing.”
—Rizari.
The Fetid Rock Forest field boss appears within dense fog.
Not figuratively—literally.
The “aura of death,” a system designed to prevent excessive mob pulling, generates unusually thick fog when it becomes highly concentrated.
And somewhere randomly within it, the field boss appears.
‘Well, that’s the lore, anyway.’
Even if you tried to cheese it by deliberately raising the death aura through mass pulls, the field boss wouldn’t spawn unless the scheduled time arrived.
But it wasn’t just flavor text either.
If the death aura hadn’t accumulated enough, the boss truly wouldn’t appear—even when the time came.
Because of that, people in Brion often said:
—What a garbage RNG game!
The so-called field boss lottery.
For someone like Dohyun, who hated gacha mechanics, nothing could be more painful.
But today was different.
“Heh… hehehe… hehehehe…”
—…Eliza, don’t look at him. It’s dangerous.
—Riza…
Even Jihad found the laugh unsettling, and Eliza reluctantly agreed.
But Dohyun had no choice.
[Time Remaining: 00:01:58]
[Conditions satisfied.]
The moment the timer entered the one-minute range—
[Trait ‘Slayer’ has activated.]
[A nearby corresponding boss has been detected.]
[Field Boss ‘Death Orc Warrior’ location revealed.]
The Slayer trait activated, marking the boss’s location on the minimap.
The moment the field boss lottery became a guaranteed hit for Dohyun.
‘…So this is why people use map hacks.’
Back when he played Craft Star, he never understood those cheaters.
Now?
He totally got it.
Why wouldn’t you use something this broken?
‘It’s not super close, but…’
If he sprinted at full speed, he could make it in time.
Grinning, Dohyun immediately turned and ran.
Dozens of seconds of all-out sprinting—using Backstab movement bursts along the way—
[Time Remaining: 00:00:05]
Thanks to speed that hardly seemed possible for level 29—and the extra boosts—he arrived exactly on time.
“Huff… huff… M-Master… too fast…”
—Rizari…
Jihad, trailing behind, looked half dead.
Eliza, who had released her parasitic form before moving and rode comfortably on Dohyun’s shoulder, patted Jihad’s head.
Meanwhile, Dohyun stared only at the empty ground.
He was standing exactly where the boss marker was.
In five seconds, the boss would appear.
[An orc warrior drawn by the aura of death appears.]
[Field Boss ‘Death Orc Warrior’ has respawned.]
Screeeeeech—!
Just as expected, the message appeared—and with it came a thunderous roar.
If ordinary orcs sounded like pressure cookers, this one was more like a train.
Its appearance matched the noise.
“…Krrgh.”
At least 250 cm tall, and more than 1.5 times the bulk of a normal orc.
Even unarmored orcs were intimidating—but this one, befitting a field boss, wore armor.
Not fully armored, at least.
More like a barbarian warrior than a medieval knight—only key areas like shoulders, vitals, and head were protected.
But even that was enough to be overwhelming.
Scrrrk—
Even its weapon dwarfed the double-bladed axes other orcs carried.
It was so massive it dragged along the ground.
Anyone would have tensed up.
But Dohyun’s eyes weren’t on the monster.
