Chapter 171 …
A blue forest of trees, a remote Troll colony.
Having reached a relatively secluded area among the many troll colonies, Dohyun smiled with satisfaction.
“Yeah, this should be good enough.”
There are definitely no people around. It seems you’ve found a good place, my lord.
Pant, pant… Too fast. S-slow down…
Charlie stood beside him wiping sweat, while Jihad struggled to catch his breath a short distance away.
Dohyun had gotten excited and sprinted without adjusting his speed, making it difficult for them to keep up.
Charlie, being a knight, at least had enough stamina to endure it—but for Jihad, a necromancer, it was absolute torture.
Lizaliza!
…Lucky. I want to ride in the pocket too.
Liza? Liza!
With my size, there’s no way I’d fit in there, idiot.
Jihad grumbled while watching Eliza smile innocently, completely unaware of their suffering.
Chuckling, Dohyun stepped forward.
A message appeared.
[You have entered a Troll Colony.]
Although a message appeared, this place wasn’t a dungeon.
Nor was it a hidden field. It was simply an area attached to the main field.
Because of that, there were no extra benefits or surprise quests.
You might wonder what the point of a colony was—but for players confident in their skills, there was no better hunting ground.
[The trolls have detected an intruder. Prepare for battle.]
There was no need to lure monsters.
They would automatically swarm the intruder to eliminate them.
The difficulty increased, but in return it meant gaining a large amount of experience in a short time.
This place is perfect for testing.
That was the reason Dohyun had come here.
There was no better place to test the performance of Fierce Strike Slash (猛擊斬).
Besides, most of the quest materials for Luriel were found in colonies like this—killing two birds with one stone.
Speak of the devil.
“Keo?”
“Keoaar!”
A group of trolls spotted Dohyun and charged toward him.
There were more than ten of them.
Even more than the colony he had visited before while doing a quest.
Apparently this was one of the colonies with a particularly large number of trolls.
Should I summon undead?
“No.”Okay.
Jihad awkwardly stepped back.
Meanwhile, Dohyun stepped forward.
“KEOAR!”
With that alone, the distance between them rapidly closed.
Partly because Dohyun took a large stride, but mostly because the trolls were charging in excitement.
Soon the distance shrank to about four meters.
[Activating Fierce Strike Slash.]
[The sword is infused with the energy of Fierce Strike.]
Dohyun’s body slid forward.
Like a butterfly fluttering and a bee stinging.
His blurred figure suddenly shot forward at tremendous speed, swinging his sword.
A faint green energy enveloped the blade.
Slash!
First strike.
“KEOOO—!”
The troll that had been cut staggered backward as a pale green shockwave burst from the sword.
Dohyun stepped forward again.
And swung once more.
Second strike.
[You have defeated a Troll of the Colony.]
Two slashes killed the troll.
Another troll jumped in—and he cut that one as well.
Again it took two strikes.
But then—
[Fourth Strike stack achieved.]
[Damage stacks.]
[Movement distance of Fierce Strike increases according to stacks.]
[If used within 1 second, the chain can continue.]
Slash—!
“KEOAR!”
Fifth strike.
[You have defeated a Troll of the Colony.]
This time the troll died in a single slash.
The sword had now changed to a yellow glow, carrying a completely different momentum.
From that moment on, the rampage began.
Slash! Slash!
Seventh strike. Ninth strike. Twelfth strike…
Each time he swung his sword and advanced, a troll died.
That was all there was to it.
Even when a few trolls charged in anger over their fallen comrades, one slash turned them into cold corpses.
[You have defeated a Troll of the Colony.]
[The trolls have detected an intruder. Prepare for battle.]
Soon the original ten or so trolls were dead, and new ones rushed in almost instantly.
Nothing changed.
If anything, it became worse.
Whoosh—
“Keo?”
Dohyun’s Fierce Strike had now reached the point where it could cut across a distance of more than four meters in an instant.
What had once been just a single step forward had now become a charging slash.
[Maximum stacks reached.]
[Movement distance has reached maximum and cannot increase further.]
[If the attack is blocked or fails, stacks will reset.]
[The sword’s fierce energy has reached its peak and turns crimson.]
One shot, one kill!
No—beyond that.
He cut down two trolls with a single strike while advancing.
Dohyun had become an unstoppable engine of destruction.
Like an 8-ton truck with broken brakes.
Boom! Crash! Slash! Thud!
Originally the skill was meant to knock enemies back and continue a fierce combo.
But now it was practically a massacre machine.
Watching Dohyun mow down the trolls of the colony like a madman, Charlie clicked his tongue.
That fierce momentum… It’s definitely the swordsmanship once used by the knight commander of an enemy army.
“What, you recognize it?”
It was a kingdom that has now been destroyed. Though he eventually lost the war, no one could stop that man’s momentum.
“Oh?”
Many tried to imitate him, but no one could wield his swordsmanship as excellently as this. Just how far does our lord’s potential go? His growth speed is simply astonishing.
Each time the crimson aura scattered, blood sprayed and trolls died.
Any enemy that blocked his path was cut down as he advanced endlessly.
Watching that sight made Charlie feel as if he were once again witnessing the Butcher of the Battlefield he had seen long ago.
He had heard that fragments of that forgotten sword style had been passed down to disciples—but seeing it like this felt strangely nostalgic.
Hmm.
While cutting down trolls and listening to the story, Dohyun became interested.
The Butcher of the Battlefield.
The swordsmanship of a knight commander from a fallen kingdom…
You can’t learn NPC secret sword styles through skill draws.
If that were possible, players wouldn’t bother becoming NPC disciples.
Could the exception be skills from dead NPCs?
Hero-grade skills often displayed significant power.
Maybe their origins were the techniques of heroes who had died or been forgotten in the past.
It wasn’t just Dohyun’s speculation.
This topic had once been debated in a community that liked discussing such theories.
One of the arguments back then was that player skills might actually be techniques of past heroes.
Looks like I ended up proving that theory.
Interesting—but that was all.
Smirking, Dohyun stepped forward again and swung his sword.
Whoosh—
“…Ah.”
He paused.
The sword he had swung absentmindedly sliced through empty air.
There were no enemies left.
[You failed to activate Fierce Strike Slash within 1 second.]
[Fierce Strike Slash has ended.]
[Most of the Troll Colony has been cleared.]
Clearing almost the whole colony with a single skill… that’s seriously broken.
Since no more trolls appeared, the rest were probably hiding or stuck somewhere due to terrain.
If they had all come out at once, he might really have wiped out an entire colony with just one skill.
No wonder Bora-ajusshi wanted this so badly.
It was a perfect skill for Bora.
In terms of raw damage and base stats, Bora was stronger than anyone in Demrock.
If Bora used Fierce Strike Slash…
Ugh. That’d be terrifying.
Those trolls would probably all be players right now.
Anyway, the experiment with Fierce Strike Slash was complete.
Now he just needed to properly clear the troll colony and gather materials.
At this pace, finishing the grinding quest wouldn’t take fifteen days—it might be much faster.
Alright, let’s go.
Just as Dohyun stepped forward with renewed momentum—
Ding—
[10 seconds remaining for available login time.]
[Connection will soon terminate. Please move to a safe location.]
“….”
Dohyun scratched his head at the poorly timed message.
The enthusiasm he had just built up instantly cooled.
Still, for one hour, he had squeezed out more than enough value.
[RCD recording has ended.]
“I’m out of time. I’ll log—”
Yes. Take care, my lord.
Let’s rest as well.
Lizaliza!
Dohyun logged out mid-sentence.
Charlie, Jihad, and Eliza—used to it by now—casually said goodbye and returned to the Guardian Room.
Pshh—
“Another productive day.”
The capsule opened, and Dohyun stretched with a satisfied smile.
Pulling a good skill always felt great.
After loosening up a bit, he stepped into the living room.
Hyuna was sitting curled up on the sofa watching TV.
Dohyun frowned.
My mood just got worse.
The shy face Hyuna had made when asking for his autograph suddenly flashed in his mind.
As Dohyun grimaced at the unpleasant memory, Hyuna met his gaze and made a similar expression.
“What are you doing? Why are you making your ugly face even uglier?”
“I saw something horrifying today.”
“A mirror?”
“I’ll kill you.”
After exchanging their usual “kind words,” Dohyun drank some water to soothe his dry throat.
Nothing beat a cold glass of water after gaming.
Just then—
“I wonder when the Kaiser video will be uploaded.”
“Pffft!”
“Hey! What are you doing?! Why are you spitting water everywhere?!”
“N-no, it just went down the wrong pipe. But why the Kaiser video?”
Caught off guard by the sudden comment, Dohyun asked nervously.
Hyuna flipped her hair confidently.
“Oh~ I saw Kaiser today. I watched him kill a field boss live. Jealous? His control was insane.”
“…R-really? I thought you didn’t like Kaiser that much. Didn’t you prefer Berze?”
“It’s not that I disliked him. I just didn’t care much.”
“Then why suddenly?”
“After seeing him in person, I finally understood why Min and Suyeon keep going on about Kaiser all the time.”
Her eyes shone with excitement as she recalled the moment.
“And lately Berze’s image has kind of taken a hit. People still like him for his face, but for me? Not really anymore. Kaiser is way more manly and cool.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me…”
“What? Why are you suddenly cursing?”
“No, nothing. Kaiser is cool. Very manly.”
“Right?”
Did Hyuna realize it?
That she had just praised her own brother as cool.
Dohyun was once again reminding himself that he must never let his identity be discovered.
Just then—
“Ah!”
Hyuna suddenly changed expression.
A moment ago she was praising Kaiser, but now she frowned.
“I think Kaiser has a bad personality.”
“…? That can’t be true.”
“No, I’m serious. I heard it clearly. When I asked for an autograph, he swore at me. I guess the rumors about him folding people up if they annoy him are true.”
“N-no way. You probably misheard. Or maybe he was swearing about something else and the timing was weird. You’re probably just being sensitive.”
“Really? Hmm… Then why are you defending him? You’re not the type to defend people. Unless you’re hitting them with a shield.”
She stared suspiciously at him.
Realizing his mistake, Dohyun shut his mouth.
Bzzzz—
At that moment his phone vibrated.
[Kwak Jaeyeol: Holy crap! I saw Kaiser!]
[Kim Doohyeong: Seriously insane. I can’t wait for the video to be uploaded.]
[Kim Hyunsu: Guys, congratulate me. Jonghyun decided to join our King-God-General Kaiser Punch Guild today.]
[Yoo Jonghyun: I had no choice. Kaiser seduced me. What a charismatic man…]
[Kim Doohyeong: You crazy bastard lol]
[Kwak Jaeyeol: But what’s Dohyun doing? He’s been suspicious lately.]
[Kim Doohyeong: Seriously. Especially whenever Kaiser gets mentioned, he goes quiet. Does he have something going on with Kaiser?]
Dohyun swallowed hard while looking at Hyuna and his friends closing in on him from both sides.
…Did I just completely screw myself?
