Chapter 12
My gaze fixed on the limp corpse of the Orc Legion Commander.
The problem was that my body was far from normal, too. It began to feel as though my body were being torn into pieces.
My consciousness began to fade away.
But then, all at once, it came rushing back.
[Level up!]
[Lv.6 → Lv.8]
[‘Strength’ increases by 11.]
[‘Agility’ increases by 11.]
[‘Vitality’ increases by 12.]
[‘Mana’ increases by 8.]
A two-level increase.
It hadn't even happened when I killed ‘Queen Ansranthrope,’ the boss of the Floor 1 stage.
Since killing a Legion Commander who wasn't even a boss had raised my level by two, I supposed that if I hadn't managed to acquire the ‘Doombringer’ skill, I would have died for certain.
Apparently, I hadn't reached the point where my stat increases had begun to plateau yet.
I didn't even think of opening my status window.
Because I could feel eyes on me.
Eyes that viewed me as a monster, without distinguishing between orcs and humans.
Pwoooooo!
The sound of a horn blared in my ears.
The orcs began retreating like the tide going out. I killed two of them with the remaining short spears meant for throwing, then killed one with my straight sword, bringing my pursuit to an end.
The orcs mounted enormous boars hidden within the encampment they had set up and fled. Perhaps it was because their leader, the Legion Commander, had disappeared.
The orcs fled even faster than I had expected.
Why wasn't the Floor 2 stage over even after killing a Legion Commander?
Pandemonium.
This damn difficulty.
I examined the corpse of the Orc Legion Commander before me.
I'd gone through all that trouble, but it didn't look like there was anything worth taking from this bastard.
The axe this bastard had used was far too large for me to wield, no matter how I looked at it.
Far too large for my liking.
My gaze shifted to the Legion Commander's waist.
Oh-ho.
There was at least one useful-looking item. A one-handed axe that looked like I could use it was hanging there. I tore it free from his waist and put it in my Inventory.
And I had already confirmed that the terminal was invisible to NPCs. There was no way I could kill the Orc Legion Commander and leave without taking a proof photo.
I took a picture of the Legion Commander's corpse, then put away the terminal.
I sensed someone's presence.
“Yoo-seong.”
The person approaching while calling my name was Risellin.
Risellin slowly looked me over from head to toe. Risellin must have thought I was taking quite a beating during the fight, but found it strange that I looked perfectly fine once it ended.
“…Are you hurt anywhere?”
Yes.
There had definitely been places where I was injured.
They had vanished without a trace.
“As you said, Yoo-seong, the orcs are retreating now that the Legion Commander has been killed. Let's head inside the castle first.”
“Understood.”
As we entered the area inside the castle walls, I could feel people's gazes turning toward me.
No, those gazes had continued ever since I killed the Orc Legion Commander.
I looked at the words positioned at the far right edge of my vision.
Five days remaining until the Exchange Gathering.
There was still plenty of time, but in a few more days, I would begin to feel pressed for time.
It didn't seem like the orcs or any other monsters would appear again today.
At the very least, it needed to end within three days.
Only then did I look at Risellin, who was lowering her weapons.
“By any chance, what was the name of the former leader of the Lukerna Mercenary Band?”
“…All of a sudden?”
Risellin's eyes grew round.
Yes, it was strange. Anyone would find it odd that I was prying into something like this. Still, I felt I could ask after having made a decent contribution.
At least I had already proven that I wasn't some strange person.
“Yes, the Lukerna Mercenary Band. I think I've heard of it somewhere before.”
I decided to add a little more detail so I wouldn't be treated as a completely strange person.
“The former leader's name is Delisa. She's my mother. It is a fairly famous mercenary band, in its own way, though that's all thanks to the honor she built up long ago. She's living peacefully in our hometown now.”
One of the Lukerna Mercenary Band members standing beside her gave a bitter smile after hearing Risellin's words.
“Of course we'd be miserable if we compared ourselves to the previous generation. That was when the Great Hero Helion was with us.”
The member, who had a magnificent mustache, lowered his head to Risellin immediately after speaking.
“I'm sorry. I misspoke.”
He clearly looked older than Risellin, but he seemed to be showing respect for her position as the mercenary band's leader.
I had no time to wonder why that was a slip of the tongue.
“It's all right. It isn't as though my father died recently. It was when I was ten.”
Helion.
I engraved that name in my mind.
So I could tell the gallery bros.
There was one thing I had forgotten to ask.
“Is Ed all right?”
At my question, Risellin let out a faint sigh before nodding.
“Ed is receiving treatment right now. You saved Ed's life, Yoo-seong.”
I scratched the back of my head.
“I thought maybe I had pushed him a little too hard.”
Risellin slowly shook her head.
“If you hadn't pushed him that hard, he might have died. Ed is grateful, too.”
Risellin pointed to a tent on the left.
When I lifted the flap slightly, I saw Ed, the Lukerna Mercenary Band's Assault Captain, sleeping inside.
Seeing the bandages wrapped around his upper body, I couldn't bring myself to disturb Ed.
I was given a private tent atop the castle wall. They had probably given it to me because they had been deeply impressed by the sight of me killing the Legion Commander.
I lay down inside the sleeping bag.
The wounds on my body had completely recovered thanks to leveling up, but that recovery hadn't extended to my mental fatigue.
Well, I suppose it would be even stranger if my wretched mood suddenly shot upward just because I leveled up.
I was about to open the gallery, but then I remembered something I needed to check first.
My status window.
<Player Status>
Name : Han Yoo-seong
Species : Human
Lv.8
Strength : 47
Agility : 45
Vitality : 46
Mana : 26
Skills : Pain Suppression Lv.3 Composure Lv.3 Cover Lv.1 Danger Detection Lv.2
Expanded Vision Lv.1 Focus Enhancement Lv.2 Warrior’s Movement Lv.3
Mana Body Enhancement Lv.2 Doombringer Lv.1
Considering that I had been Level 3 when I first entered the Floor 2 stage, my growth rate was frightening.
I would have to ask the gallery whether my growth was this fast because I was playing on Pandemonium difficulty.
I took out the terminal and opened the Transcendent Gallery.
Title : Guys, I killed an Orc Legion Commander. But does this bastard normally appear on Floor 2?
Author : ㅇㅇ*
-I almost died in the most miserable way possible. I barely managed to kill him. But what's even more surprising is that the Legion Commander isn't a boss monster. The stage doesn't end even after killing him. LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Once I posted it, comments began pouring down like rain.
└ ?
└ ??
└ Bullshit, no.
└ ???? Huh?
└ Why would an Orc Legion Commander show up on Floor 2ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Why wouldn't he show up? Because it's Panㅋㅋㅋdeㅋㅋㅋmoniumㅋㅋㅋ
└ The world is basically telling you to go die, and you somehow survivedㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Pioneer) Yeah, Pandemonium really is the real deal. I didn't see a Legion Commander until Floor 5.
└ Light’s Sword) Hard difficulty has had them appear on Floor 2 as well. I think I wrote that in the appendix. Hmm, you clearly weren't paying close attention.
Ah.
I vaguely remembered seeing it. It had been a list of monsters with a high chance of appearing on Floor 2. But at the time, I was too busy getting pummeled by the Sparring Golem Mk. 2 you'd sent me.
From Floor 3 onward, should I get the gallery members to give me a complete list of the monsters that appear?
└ Hard difficulty is insane too. I'm on Normal, and an Orc Legion Commander showed up on Floor 12. I was scared shitless when I encountered it then, too.
└ You met that guy on Floor 2? And killed him? LMAOOOOO The climber is unbelievable.
└ That guy's a natural talent, I told you. For a twenty-first-century Earthling, anyway.
└ Great Mage) I told you, the people who have a chance of clearing are the ones who get summoned here.
└ The one who was more skeptical than anyone? Look at that change of stanceㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Great Mage) Shut up!!!
A chance of clearing. Who knows. I had nearly died for real this time, so the Great Mage's words didn't resonate with me much.
└ Light’s Sword) Well done.
└ ㅇㅇ*) I'd be dead if it weren't for your advice. If I hadn't acquired Doombringer, I would've been cut in half on the spot.
└ Light’s Sword) Oh-ho, you acquired the Doombringer skill. As expected, my eye for people hasn't rusted.
└ You acquired the Doombringer skill?? On Floor 2, too? Fuck… You really are a natural talent.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Isn't Doombringer just a linked skill you acquire once Warrior's Movement reaches Level 3?
└ Nope~~ It isn't~~ On Easy and Normal difficulty, Warrior's Movement itself rarely appears. A tiny handful of people at the very top acquire Warrior's Movement, but not a single one of them has acquired Doombringer just by reaching Level 3~~
└ Pioneer) Even on Hard difficulty, plenty of people acquire Warrior's Movement, but it's rare for someone to reach Level 3 and acquire Doombringer as well.
What?
Wasn't it just a linked skill you acquired once you reached Level 3 in ‘Warrior's Movement’?
└ ㅇㅇ*) You don't have it either?
└ Pioneer) That's right. I acquired Warrior's Movement and even raised it to Level 10, but I still didn't acquire Doombringer.
└ Great Mage) I can't definitively say that there are skills you can certainly acquire within the Tower. Players are beings who gain different things even when they experience the same events.
I suppose it would be strange if everyone could acquire it.
Once my thoughts had settled somewhat, I remembered that I had the answer to the hottest topic currently being discussed in the Transcendent Gallery.
Title : Found Out Mercenary Captain Risellin's Father's Name
Author : ㅇㅇ*
-They say it's Helion? Does anyone know who he is?
After a brief silence, comments began to appear.
└ LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO A commoner! Jackpot!
└ Hey, at least he's not some ordinary knightㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ He's one of the Seven Heroes.
└ Yeah~~ He's still just a commoner. Sovereign <<<<<<<< Great Commoner.
└ Absolute Sovereign) …So be it. Helion is worthy of my blessing.
└ Fuckㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Anyone would think the Sovereign was acting like a father sending his daughter off to be married, not someone who had overcome hardship and adversity alongside Helionㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ No, but it's not just the Sovereign who got NTR'd. Easy, Normal, and Hard all got NTR'd as a group, so why are you reacting like such cheerful, carefree guys?
└ Seriously, one of you is talking like he wasn't robbedㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Spear King) It wasn't stolen… This is the flow of life, the fate of life. Merely an inevitable meeting and parting.
└ What bullshit └
└ Swamp Sword Saint) Helion and Delisa… Did they say whether they're living well?
└ Spear King hyung… let's stop. This is too pathetic and sadㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ Swamp Sword Saint) No, I'm just asking.
└ LMAOOOOOO Isn't this less pathetic and more creepy?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ ㅇㅇ*) Delisa is in her hometown, so she seems to be doing well… but they say Helion is dead? When Risellin was ten.
└ Gasp
└ Huh? Um…
└ Tch, he went through all that hardship and still died.
└ Isn't the Seven Heroes dying young the rule? Why are you acting surprised?
└ Tower scenario trait: good guys die earlyㅇㅇ
└ Shaman) Hawawa, I've killed demons alongside Helion before. I hope he found peace in the face of fate.
└ Spear King hyung, you weren't asking whether he was doing well, but whether he was alive or dead? I was too naive. Sorryㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Swamp Sword Saint) No. The former. Understand the context properly.
└ Absolute Sovereign) I see… Helion is dead. Delisa must be lonely.
└ Fuck, guys, just take your hands off the keyboard!!!! My perception of you guys is getting more twisted by the second.
I strongly agreed with that last comment.
└ ㅇㅇ*) So does that mean it's rare even among the Hard-difficulty guys for a Legion Commander to appear on Floor 2?
└ Absolute Sovereign) It didn't appear for me.
└ Great Mage) It appeared, but it was the boss.
└ Light’s Sword) That one was the boss monster. When I killed it, Floor 2 ended.
└ Dragon Demon King) Beltui—also had a Legion Commander appear on Floor 2. But Beltui—that one was the boss monster.
So even on Hard difficulty, a Legion Commander has appeared on Floor 2, but in all those cases, the Legion Commander was the boss monster.
This damn Pandemonium.
But there was one nickname I didn't recognize.
Dragon Demon King?
└ㅇㅇ*) Who are you, anyway?
└Dragon Demon King) Beltui—I'm a dragon who woke up from hibernation. Nice to meet you, Beltui—nice to meet you, Pandemonium.
I could tell right away that he was a strange one.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Anyway, what kind of monster do you think will be the boss on Floor 2? Is there anything above the Orc Legion Commander?
└ Great Mage) An Orc Great Warrior or an Orc Shaman. There is an Orc King as well, but I doubt the Orc King will appear.
└ Light’s Sword) If it's a Great Warrior, you'll have no choice but to fight and kill it the same way you killed the Legion Commander.
└ Great Mage) If a Shaman appears, it would be easier to kill it if you had a mage beside you. But that isn't knowledge available to mage NPCs at that level. If you tell them, they'll be able to do it. Even a Third-Circle mage should manage it.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Oh, tell me how, then.
The Great Mage told me how to use a mage, assuming I had one beside me.
└ ㅇㅇ*) But aren't Great Mages usually stubborn? What if they don't believe me?
└ Great Mage) What else? Beat them a few times and seize control of the situation.
Very decisive.
Why did someone named Great Mage seem to share the same hatred of mages?
└ Great Mage) If you can't think of a logical way to persuade someone, you have to persuade them with force.
Apparently, that was simply the Great Mage's personality.