Chapter 10
The gleaming armor inherited only by the village's hero.
The Bandit King's helmet.
The most expensive greatsword in the shop.
And all kinds of flashy consumables, too.
A character with all of that is standing before my screen.
“Who am I?”
-We behold Wayo, hero of the village..
-Is this possible on the first try??
-He's fucking good, seriously
-This is what talent looks like
The literal hero who conquered the bandit fortress after overcoming the bandit camp.
That was none other than Hero Wayo.
“I refuse to entertain any more doubts.”
-Kyaㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Please die..
-Fucking hell, are you really going to clear it??
Now the favorites were the ones trembling instead.
They'd all dumped their points in to safely win 1.1 times their stake, but now it looked like the underdogs were going to take everything.
“How are you feeling, traitorous favorites?”
-Wayo up!! Wayo up!!
-This fucking..
-How about we call it a draw??
“Heh-heh.”
Nom nom.
I laughed as I speared salmon with my fork.
For the record, I'm currently eating with my character standing in the village.
We have to fill our stomachs before saving the world.
-What are you eating??
-What's on today's menu??
“Salmon salad.”
For the record, Roselia made the salad herself.
As befitting a manager, she took responsibility for my diet, making a ton of food and leaving it for me whenever she came over.
Roselia is really good at baking bread.
It's a shame I won't be able to eat it soon, with the season coming up.
-??
-You said you were eating
-That's supposed to be a meal??
“Yeah, well, I'll order malatanghulu after the stream.”
-Kyaㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Malatanghulu is legit
Saying that, I moved my character.
It was about time to set off again.
-Going straight to the next map?
-The difficulty gets way higher now
-Please die
“What are you talking about? You should be cheering me on, if anything.”
I cackled at the embittered favorites and set off.
Clink, clink.
A few hours ago, I'd felt a wall when I saw the Bandit Knight's armor, but now I was wearing impressive armor too.
“Make way for the hero knight.”
Crash!
I smashed an onggi jar along the way, too.
Having saved the village and reached maximum affinity with its residents, I didn't care about something like this.
-?? No, why the jar..
-This bastard can't break his old habitsㅋㅋ
“It's a victory parade, a victory parade. I'm not coming back now.”
Like Kim Yushin, I should be grateful I hadn't cut off any horses' heads in the village.
“Anyway… the next map is a forest, huh?”
The first map, where bandits were the main enemies, had been closer to a plain, but when I opened the map and looked at the next area, it was a forest.
-Yep
-Please encounter a giant
-You could get wiped out in the next map
“A giant? Tell it to come out.”
I'll turn it into a mere dwarf.
So I can look down on someone.
-Look at that nose in the air, fucking hell
-Why's he acting so cocky??
-Yeah, keep being arrogant like that
“I might as well just clear the ending.”
Up until then, I'd thought I would sweep through the forest just like before.
So I went in ready to turn it into a plain, but….
“What's that?”
After arriving in the forest, I looked at the monster standing ahead.
Yeah, it wasn't a person. A monster was standing there.
It looked about twice my height, with a massive iron mace resting on its shoulder.
“Wait, it was bandits until just now.”
They'd been mere bandits. No matter how strong they were, armored bandits or bandit mages were still opponents I could handle.
But what the hell was that….
-The giant has enteredㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-How the fuck do you even kill that??
-Upvote if you miss the bandits
-That's the hidden dungeon's gatekeeper
“Ah... A gatekeeper.”
Even behind the giant, I could see something resembling ruins.
That must be the entrance to the hidden dungeon.
-You don't have to fight it now
-Run run run
-But killing it is really juicy
“...Really?”
They said it was juicy if I killed it?
Then I was tempted again.
-???
-What do you mean, “really,” fuck
-Yeah, go dieㅋㅋㅋ
-Honestly, I'd fight it
-Wayo, please run. I bet all my points
“Don't worry. I'll be careful.”
-Why are you taking out the Flame Cloth??
-Uh-oh, don't apply it
-This bastard's just got no brainㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Fwoosh.
As I spoke, I applied the Flame Cloth I'd taken out to my greatsword, and flames shot up.
“Giants aren't weak to fire?”
-Kyaㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Great Wayo
-The drip is insaneㅋㅋ
Honestly, I did hesitate for a moment, but I wasn't the same as before anymore.
How many bandits had I killed?
[Hahuhur!!!]
Around then, the giant spotted me and charged over with a tremendous roar.
-Whoa, whoa, whoa
-Damn, it's fucking huge??
-Time to collect from the favoritesㅋㅋㅋ
-Please let it smash his head
-Run, fuck
As the chat roiled violently, the giant raised its mace high.
[Hural!!]
Boom!!
I immediately used a roll to dodge the attack and swung my greatsword.
-Gyaaah!
-Look at the screen shaking
-It's insanely tough??
“...Yeah, I guess.”
I slipped past it and cut its leg, but the damage was only as high as my viewer count.
In other words, it barely did any damage.
“I guess I just have to keep pounding it.”
I drank a stamina-boosting potion and took a step back.
Whoosh-!!
The giant's mace swept through empty air, and I dashed again.
My character leapt forward while using a skill, then swung the greatsword upward from below.
Slash-!
With a satisfying impact sound, the giant's health bar dropped.
-Oh
-Cleanㅋㅋ
-You know how to use skills now
“This is basic… uh… gah!”
Boom!!
My body suddenly flew into the air, and a huge chunk of my health disappeared.
-What was that screamㅋㅋㅋ
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Yeah, fucking die
-Holy shit, look at his health dropping
“What the hell?”
I'd clearly gone in after seeing it whiff, but the giant had quickly unleashed a two-hit combo.
I checked my health bar and saw that barely half remained.
Even though I was wearing armor approaching a knight's standard, I'd lost half my health.
Whoosh-! Boom!
-Wowㅋㅋ
-No way you dodged that?
-That was seriously close
After that, the chat roiled every time the giant swung its mace.
It was an enemy on an entirely different level from everything before.
Its attacks were strong and fast, but more than anything….
“This isn't doing any damage?”
The Flame Cloth enchantment I'd kept crafting and farming ever since using it once before wasn't working very well.
“It doesn't even catch fire.”
With a flaming sword, a Bandit Knight or Bandit King would catch fire all over after a few hits and take damage over time.
But that giant was perfectly fine.
-Well.. it's earth elementㅋㅋㅋ
-Poison's its weaknessㅋㅋ
“Why are you only telling me now??”
-ㅋㅋㅋ
-Because you didn't askㅋㅋ
-I'm betting on the favorite, thoughㅋㅋㅋ
Damn… no wonder my attacks weren't landing.
I hurriedly rummaged through my bag.
I thought I'd stocked some Poison Cloth, too….
Boom!!
“Ugh!”
I had to dodge attacks while taking out the cloth.
After moving frantically, I managed to find several Poison Cloths.
I quickly took one out and applied it to my sword.
Ssssss.
The flames went out, and an ominous green light climbed along the blade.
-This is the stuffㅋㅋㅋ
-Kyaㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-The giant's dead nowㅋㅋ
“Shall we begin round two?”
-It'll be different from before, hey
-Poison is legitㅋㅋㅋ
-Can a hero even use poison??
“Poison? What, did you think I was fighting a saint?”
Besides, my opponent was a giant.
What was wrong with using poison?
-For realㅋㅋㅋ
-Let's kill it now
-Now the damage is going in??
If poison really was its weakness, then applying the Poison enchantment had made the damage start landing meaningfully.
“You should've told me sooner…!”
I muttered that while cutting the giant's leg with my greatsword.
It would've been nice if you'd told me in advance.
-For realㅋㅋㅋ
-Ah, I'm betting on the favorite~
-You aren't actually going to kill it, right??
-I'm starting to run low on stamina?
The damage was going in now, but a problem had arisen.
As the chat said, I was out of stamina.
I was now at the point where two more hits—or one if I was unlucky—would kill me, so rolling constantly was draining my stamina rapidly.
“Whew…!”
Even now, I rolled to the side to dodge the mace.
But perhaps I shouldn't have rolled right.
[Hualra!!]
The giant's consecutive attacks slammed down over my head one after another.
“...!”
There was no time to roll.
In that case….
Clang!!
I pressed right-click and took a defensive stance.
[Guh!]
Of course, since I didn't have a shield, my character was immediately knocked back and staggered, but at least I endured one hit.
-Wowㅋㅋㅋ
-He blocked that
-That was fucking sick
-My heart nearly fell out, fuck
-Phew..
“This is a real crisis now.”
-For real
-We're fucked
-We've almost got it
My remaining stamina was at 5%.
I'd already used all my stamina potions during the fight, so I had nothing left.
But fortunately, the giant's health was nearly gone too.
[Hwootang!!]
Even then, the giant began an attack animation.
Judging from its previous patterns, it was the prelude to a combo.
Could I dodge the entire combo with the stamina I had left?
Even if I dodged all of it, I wouldn't have enough stamina for a follow-up attack.
So….
-???
-What are you doing??
-Back off!! Back off, I said
Instead, I plunged forward.
The two-handed greatsword had the highest single-attack damage of all the weapons in the game, but.
Because of its slow animations, it was a weapon people avoided.
However.
[Gaaaaah!]
What if I pressed the attack key half a beat early?
As the giant's mace fell above my head, my greatsword swung half a beat early as well.
From below to above.
The tip of the blade crossed an agonizingly close distance and grazed across the giant's chest.
Thud!!
The giant's massive body collapsed straight to the ground.
-Whoa??
-Did he get it???
-No way a normal attack reached;;
-What is thisㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-He killed a giant with these stats??
“Phew….”
I caught my breath and looked over the roiling chat.
Yeah, this was why I streamed.
Thump.
Like David after defeating Goliath, I stood atop the giant's corpse.
“Patriotic underdog bettors, raise your heads.”
-Yes..!
-Wayo up!! Wayo up!!
-This bastard's physical skill is legit;
-Kyaㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-How are you feeling, hatersㅋㅋㅋ
-We acknowledge the favorites' defeat..
-This guy's just Guts;
With a flourish!
I calmly watched the traitorous haters and favorites declare defeat, then raised my greatsword high.
I was Giant Slayer Wayo now.
“Damn, the loot is good.”
-For real
-Tastyㅋㅋㅋ
-Should we switch to the mace?
After farming the giant's massive mace, its heart, and all sorts of other items.
“Then shall we go in there?”
I pointed toward the entrance to the hidden dungeon the giant had been guarding.
Having defeated the gatekeeper, I had to go in now.
-???
-No no no no
-You really can't go in thereㅋㅋ
-Can you??
-If you clear that with these stats, I'll genuinely respect you
The giant had only just been defeated.
Seeing the viewers trembling again, I spoke softly.
“It was something my mentor once told me-”
My mentor, Han Seonghwa, diligently checked the day's quotations on a phone app. He had memorized a few of them and would suddenly bring them up out of nowhere.
One particularly memorable quote came to mind.
-??
-What did he say?
“Cowards die many times before their deaths, but the brave taste death only once.”
-..!
-Is your mentor Shakespeare?
-Kyaㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-So you're going in?
-Yeah, I don't know anymore
-Show us. Make history.
“Because that's what a hero does.”
I nodded and boldly entered the hidden dungeon.
“Bankai…! Stop it!!”
-Please stopㅋㅋㅋ
-You're going to die at this rate!!
-My points, fuuuck~~!
Hero Wayo entered the grave that day.