Chapter 78 - The Duke's Tournament (3)

"What…?"

The soldiers couldn't believe what they were seeing.

The sight of skeletons collapsing every time the boy swung his sword didn't seem real.

One hit, one kill!

Even if they tried with all their strength, they needed at least 10 cuts to defeat an opponent, so they couldn't understand why the undead couldn't withstand those light-looking attacks.

The reason was that Hyun had surpassed a thousand combos.

That was the power of a combo Thief that had learned «Trance».

[Only attacks faster than 0.8 seconds will count towards the combo!]

Hyun could feel his body getting faster.

With so many opponents, he didn't have to worry about the combo being cut short.

Paf-!

As the two swords flashed, the skeletons that were surrounding the soldier became dust and scattered away.

The eyes of the soldier that was saved met TarrTarr's.

"Th-thank you..."

He was the soldier who had accused Hyun just a few moments before of being crazy.

Hyun spoke to him as the man seemed to be feeling a mixture of emotions containing regret, gratitude, and shame.

"Don't get far away. It's dangerous."

That soldier, who had been close to dying, seemed to be getting hope from Hyun's words.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a savior. Hyun was cutting the skeletons that were climbing the walls at an incredible speed. Not only that, but he immediately leaped toward another soldier who was in danger.

For some reason, the soldier’s eyes teared up.

'There are too many dangerous places.'

Hyun looked around while helping the soldiers who were in danger.

The walls of the fortress had been completely destroyed. The battle wasn't simply about defending the fortress anymore. It was slowly becoming more complex.

The reason was that all the defending walls had suddenly collapsed.

The soldiers tried to hold while forming a circle.

Hyun alone was running in the outskirts while reducing the number of undead monsters.

1280 combo! 1291 combo!

As TarrTarr's swords started to get faster, more and more undead monsters began gathering.

"A knight…?"

Someone murmured after seeing Hyun fighting a horde of undead.

Yes, if he wasn't a knight of the Duke, it wouldn’t make sense that he had so much power!

Only after a while, the soldiers started to wonder about Hyun's identity—and that seemed to be the most reasonable explanation.

"The knight is supporting us…!"

"Yes, the Duke hasn't abandoned us! He sent us the knight before he arrived!"

The soldiers didn't find out that TarrTarr's level was similar to theirs because they were low-level soldiers who didn't know about the «combo» skill.

Those that had accused Hyun were feeling ashamed.

They had bashed the knight without knowing his true intentions!

They felt ashamed for having talked without properly knowing about the situation.

[ <Time before the Duke arrives: 239 seconds> ]

Hyun didn't have time to think about what the soldiers were saying.

He just kept slashing the necks of the undead, broke their bones, and cut their souls!

The number of combos began increasing faster.

But it wasn't still enough to face the army of undead that were flocking like ants.

'Switch.'

Hyun sheathed TarrTarr's two short swords.

And he took out a sword that was over two meters long.

A sword that was even taller than TarrTarr appeared.

Claymore…

The two-handed sword wasn't a weapon that matched a Thief.

Although its attack range was bigger, you became slower. And thus, taking advantage of the Thief's speed became more difficult. Of course, that was disadvantageous if you wanted to accumulate combos.

Even so, Hyun had prepared that sword just in case.

In case something like this happened!

Clink-!

As he swung the sword, he cut through every opponent in front of him.

With just one attack, he defeated five undead, and with that, he gained five extra combo counts.

'Just like I thought, one hit is enough!'

Hyun yelled for joy inside.

The things he'd prepared for the tournament were working.

Because he had surpassed two thousand combos, that giant sword had become the perfect weapon to annihilate the army of undead.

Slash-!

As he swung the sword, everything around was cut.

All of the undead within the attack range of the sword turned into dust while making chilling screams.

Even though the movements were big, they weren't slow.

It was thanks to the increased speed obtained by accumulating lots of combos.

The look of TarrTarr wielding Claymore freely made him look like a Knight who had received a buff in wind-type attacks.

'The doesn't seem to be an end to this.'

Boo- Booo-

White ghosts began flying while crying loudly.

Sometimes there were some horrible-smelling zombies and ghouls mixed with the skeletons.

As time went on, stronger undead started to appear.

The zombies aimed to do a surprise attack, and the ghosts were roaming around in the air, targetting the human's heads.

From time to time, an arrow from a skeleton archer came flying through.

"Ugh...!"

The sword of a skeleton penetrated the chest of a soldier.

The rusty sword had completely penetrated his body.

"Hans, no!"

The moment the sword pierced his chest, the soldier died.

Thud-

His body didn't disappear; it just remained there on the floor.

After seeing him die, the remaining soldiers thought of the same thing.

One of them could be the next one to die.

"There are too many enemies!"

"Mr. Knight, when is the rest of the support coming?!"

"Let's try to resist a little bit more!"

The last person that spoke was Hyun.

It was a quest that recreated a historical battle.

The only ones that could see the remaining time were Hyun and TarrTarr, both users.

[ <Time before the Duke arrives: 103 seconds> ]

The number of incoming undead had increased.

Even if he cut five enemies simultaneously, that place was soon covered by other ones.

The dead monsters’ bodies were already taller than a soldier, and a disgusting smell was coming from them.

[3052 combo! You've achieved a new record!]

The speed at which Hyun defeated the undead monsters had increased, but the rate at which new ones appeared was even faster.

"Coff...!"

Another soldier fell.

But no one seemed disturbed after seeing that.

No, they didn't have time to see it. They just felt that death was near.

They didn't have time to relax. Being sad was a luxury at that moment.

[ <Time before the Duke arrives: 50 seconds> ]

It was at that moment that Hyun heard a cry that made him feel as if his heart was about to sink.

Booooooo-!

Two 'Black Ghosts' had appeared and were rushing toward the middle of the fortress.

'That…!'

The moment he saw the two monsters emitting chilling energy, he immediately stood in front of the soldiers and shouted.

"Everyone, stand behind me!"

The soldiers also felt their hearts sink as they saw the black figures getting closer.

If they come face to face with those, they'd surely die!

Their survival instincts were sending them a warning.

The soldiers who felt danger approaching started to move immediately.

'I need a light weapon!'

Hyun quickly changed his weapon to the pair of short swords.

Vroom-!

A dark energy brushed past his hair.

The elite black ghost's instant kill attack…

But it didn't hit him.

Hyun knew all their attack patterns.

After dodging the attack, Hyun cut one of the two ghosts’ necks with both hands. It scattered into the air with a horrible scream.

'One more!'

There was another ghost left.

The robe of the remaining ghost began fluttering.

Tens of dark knives came flying in his direction in a second!

But even those weren't able to touch Hyun.

He could dodge the because he knew their patterns, but from the soldier's perspective, they looked like movements that were far above the level of a human.

The look of Hyun dealing with overwhelmingly strong monsters looked like a knight that appeared in myths.

[4000 combo! You've obtained the achievement ‘Reality of the Sword God’!]

[Your Agility has increased by 1!]

"Ugh!"

An arrow struck one of the soldiers in the head, and he collapsed on the floor.

After that, he was attacked by the undead around, and his body was disfigured.

"Ugh...! Let me go!"

A ghost had grabbed a soldier by the neck and was taking him up.

The ghost threw him right in the middle of the undead. Everyone could imagine what was about to become of him.

Ting-!

The notification window changed after five soldiers had lost their lives.

[ <Time before the Duke arrives: 0 seconds> ]

[You've successfully cleared the highest difficulty of the undead defense!]

[Oops, it seems like the Duke had to attend a very important event today, so he won't be able to get here!]

[If you're lucky, the Duke will revive you as an undead, so don't lose hope.]

* Hint: The time you can resist will greatly influence the number of points you'll receive!

Hyun smiled bitterly.

'As expected, this is how it's gonna be done.'

When the quest started, there was a part that had said that the extra time resisted will count towards the number of points gained.

The moment he read those words, a thought had crossed his mind.

Was it possible that the Duke wouldn't appear even after the quest’s time was over?

Hyun's prediction was right.

The window that showed the remaining time had been replaced with another thing.

[ <Extra Points: x1.12> ]

- As time goes on, the number of extra points obtained will increase.

"When is the Duke going to come!"

'He's not coming...'

Hyun couldn't answer that.

After looking at the undead that were slowly approaching them, Hyun sighed.

Bones that emitted blue light…

A small skeleton who was wearing a robe…

'A lich came?'

Only one lich had appeared.

Although it may not look that menacing, its appearance in the battle was basically as if death itself had appeared.

Even in Asra, the lich was among the most bothersome monsters.

Whir-

A dark energy began spreading as the lich pointed its wand to the front.

The bodies of the undead touched by that dark energy were revived.

And the place where there were the most amount of corpses…!

It was the place where the soldiers were standing while forming a circle.

"Argh!"

As tens of monsters were suddenly revived, two soldiers that became isolated screamed.

As the horde of undead swallowed their colleagues, no one had a way to know if they'd died or not.

"Ugh… This is hell!"

"Did the Duke abandon us…?"

As countless reviving lights began rising from everywhere, the soldiers started to die one after the other.

Only three soldiers, Hyun included, were left alive when the lich's mana plummeted.

"Ugh!"

"Redment? Did you die?!"

"Mr. Knight..."

As Redment was devoured by the undead, only Hyun and another soldier were left alive.

It seemed he was in shock after losing all his colleagues. His hands weren't moving.

"Isn't the Duke going to come?" He asked Hyun with eyes that showed he'd lost all his hope after looking at the corpses of his deceased colleagues.

Clang-!

Only the sound of Hyun fighting against the countless undead echoed through the battlefield.

"This… Is a tragedy."

After saying that, the last remaining soldier grabbed the sword and pointed it toward himself.

The sword penetrated his stomach and emerged out of his back.

Even if there wasn't blood on the sword, it was still a shocking scene.

"Huh…?!"

Not only TarrTarr, but Hyun was also surprised by what happened.

'An NPC committed suicide…?'

Even Hyun, who had played Asra for 8 years, had never seen anything like that.

Of course, even back then, the NPCs had an intelligence comparable to a human's. But it was the first time he had seen one acting in such a human way.

Was it that he hadn't noticed the expressions in Asra because the graphics weren't so detailed?

'What the…?'

Hyun could feel his heart beating faster.

No, maybe that was how TarrTarr was feeling? After all, he was currently using «Assimilation» on him.

But Hyun felt that even if he weren't using «Assimilation», he would be feeling similarly.

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