[You have acquired 1 coin.]
A message that always brings joy.
But what made Jeonghyun even happier now was the fact that he could personally kill orcs and move on.
The first orc at the forefront was busy swinging his axe wildly at Ha-jun’s shield.
He seemed like a creature born solely to kill humans, which made him relentless in throwing his dagger without hesitation.
Even after entering a stealth state, it was the same.
The orcs, who still hadn’t properly noticed Jeonghyun’s presence, couldn’t anticipate his movements.
In this situation, what he aimed for were not the orcs directly in front of him, but those flanking around to approach.
Fortunately, he only sensed movement from one direction.
“Only three of them?”
Despite their appearance, orcs were monsters with surprisingly good intelligence.
They might act in groups, but their rear defense was likely sufficient against a few attackers.
Jeonghyun initially targeted those orcs approaching from an unexpected angle, the outermost position.
And his target was the lead orc.
The dagger infused with stealth and assassination techniques easily pierced through the orc’s back.
“Feels good!”
Though the orc’s back seemed to have more than just muscles, in an instant, it stiffened before collapsing, indicating Jeonghyun had pierced its heart accurately.
As the lead orc fell, the surrounding orcs appeared visibly unsettled.
Did they possess enough intelligence to track down the one who threw the dagger?
Stealth automatically deactivated after one attack, and it couldn’t be activated again for a certain period.
So, it was inevitable that Jeonghyun, who had been clearly positioned next to the orcs, would be discovered.
“Kwee-yaak!”
The enraged orcs let out various roars.
But once again, a flying dagger swiftly entered through one orc’s open mouth, severing its spine.
Normally, he would continue attacking until the last one without losing momentum.
[Proficiency level of “Dagger Technique” (D) has increased from 1 to 2.]
An unexpected notification popped up, interrupting the flow.
“What?”
Compared to other attributes he had leveled up so far, this seemed to progress rather quickly.
“Well, considering I used stealth techniques more than maces after acquiring them, it’s understandable.”
It was a well-known fact that weapon skills leveled up a bit faster than overall attributes such as physical prowess or combat sense.
Plus, even though it was just one rank higher, wasn’t D grade the highest?
Anyway, leveling up proficiency was always a welcome occurrence.
With that thought, as he closed the notification window,
“Uwaaaah!”
Jeonghyun had to hastily dodge an axe that suddenly descended towards his head.
Despite the myriad of thoughts that seemed to pass by, it was just a fleeting moment.
The last remaining orc had already closed in with its axe.
Since he was within axe range, using the upgraded stealth technique was now out of the question.
“Facing an orc head-on for the first time.”
Although he had experienced combat through the Association’s testing system, it was entirely different from reality.
Gripping the mace firmly with both hands, Jeonghyun poised himself.
The orc charging with its axe reminded him of battling a troll at the Goblin Gate.
There was no Jucheol (one of the Mask villain) to jab its Achilles’ heel now, but Jeonghyun wasn’t the same as back then either.
Swish-
The orc’s axe aimed directly for his head.
However, Jeonghyun easily evaded it.
In terms of speed and strength, he was nearly on par with Jucheol.
Back then, avoiding attacks required throwing his entire body to barely evade them, but now he could move with certainty and precise timing.
Thud-
Jeonghyun calmly swung the mace upwards, striking the orc’s jaw.
Putting all your strength into a full swing after barely avoiding an attack was foolish.
For humanoid beings, aiming for the vital spot, particularly the lower jaw, was more effective.
Given the considerable height difference between Jeonghyun and the orc, it was an advantageous attack for him.
The orc’s jaw, which had been lowered due to the sudden movement, forcefully snapped upwards.
It wouldn’t be pleasant for the orc, even as a creature used to such experiences.
“Kwee-yaak!”
Though the attack seemed almost reflexive, it wasn’t particularly threatening.
Without a proper target, the attack was inaccurate and didn’t pose much of a threat.
Such random swings were useless against Jeonghyun, who could see their trajectory.
“Missed—”
Jeonghyun swiftly maneuvered behind the orc.
In that moment, the orc’s shaken mind didn’t notice Jeonghyun’s shift.
“It would’ve been better if I had Cheolyong’s mace at times like this.”
The previous mace had a spike at the end, useful for thrusting attacks.
While thrusting attacks were quite effective, unfortunately, this mace lacked such a spike.
Instead, unlike its previous completely spherical shape, it now had several sharp edges protruding, resembling a star from above.
Despite being less advantageous for thrusting attacks,
Whack-
It was more suitable for swinging, the mace’s natural form.
With no hesitation, Jeonghyun swung the mace, tearing into the orc’s back.
Blood spurted, but he paid it no mind and continued his onslaught.
“Kwee-ya-ah!”
The agonized screams of the orc were like a symphony to Jeonghyun in this moment.
With each strike, more blood splattered as he tore through what he had already carved, encountering even tougher resistance.
Thunk- Clang-
[You have acquired 1 coin.]
After the notification window popped up, Jeonghyun’s hand came to a halt.
An orc lay motionless on the ground, twitching.
Even if its spine was completely severed, not even an ogre, let alone an orc, could escape the fate of becoming a corpse.
Jeonghyun looked down at the orc, bloodied and steaming with rage.
The orc lying on the ground and the person who made him that way.
Jeonghyun soon took a step forward.
Although the feeling was unusual, there was no time to quietly enjoy it.
***
“Yunghoon, didn’t you say Jeonghyun was an unregistered individual?”
“Yeah…”
Sua and Yunghoon’s futile conversation continued.
Nevertheless, their hands were still moving briskly.
The orcs hadn’t been completely dealt with yet.
But anyone who laid eyes on them and killed an orc with their martial arts wouldn’t react like that.
Orcs.
Though somewhat underrated in many works of fiction, facing their actual size and ferocity made it difficult to imagine a hero slashing through them with a sword as depicted in stories.
Facing them one-on-one was challenging enough, let alone dealing with several at once.
In fact, Yunghoon and Sua could handle orcs individually.
However, in battle, numbers were equivalent to violence.
Dealing with one opponent compared to two or more was markedly different.
Similarly, even if three hunters capable of facing orcs alone were gathered, dealing with a dozen opponents would require maintaining the current situation.
You had to intercept the attacks of others before taking advantage of an opening to attack.
When each of us was more valuable than the opponent, there was no choice.
However, after Jeonghyun joined the fray, the situation completely changed.
Swoosh—
At first, it was a very faint sound.
Amidst the battle’s chaos of screams and clashing metal, even if they were hunters, they couldn’t hear properly.
“Huh?”
Hansu, who was holding up his shield to block the ax as always, tilted his head.
By now, there should have been a tremendous impact, but the timing was off.
Carefully peeking outside his shield, he saw the orc collapsing.
A dagger was almost buried in the orc’s back, nearly halfway into the hilt.
It looked familiar yet intensified.
“Huh?”
How surprised the death was, that even the orcs nearby might turn their heads.
But that was just the beginning.
To the hunters, it was like a blessing from heaven, but to the orcs, it was like an invitation to hell.
Thud—
Another dagger of the same shape lodged itself into the orc’s chest as it turned to find the source of the first dagger.
If it were just the blade, it might have been difficult to pierce through the orc’s thick chest to reach its heart, but the handle went in, showing the strength behind it.
For orcs with no proper means of defense, it was a disaster.
“Kwiiih!”
Only after two orcs died pitifully did they notice Jeonghyun behind them.
The leader orc at the forefront roared.
But naturally, their enemies weren’t just Jeonghyun.
“Sua, now!”
“Okay!”
As the orcs’ attention focused entirely on Jeonghyun, Yunghoon didn’t miss the momentary gap.
His spear pierced through an orc’s neck with precision.
Sua didn’t land the finishing blow, but she left a significant wound on the closest orc.
The orcs, once in complete dominance, now faced a desperate situation in the blink of an eye.
Though they attempted to divide their forces and attack from both sides, the advantage from numerical superiority vanished the moment they made that choice.
With the orc numbers decreasing, the burden on Ha-jun lessened.
Then healer Daeyoon didn’t need to focus solely on Ha-jun anymore.
Therefore, both Yunghoon and Sua could take a more aggressive stance in their attacks.
Although the frequency of attacks halved, the resulting chain effect was tremendous.
The problem was whether Jeonghyun could withstand the situation where four orcs, including the leader, charged at him.
How Jeonghyun suddenly appeared from behind the orcs was unknown.
Upon revealing himself, he immediately exerted overwhelming influence, but initially, it was the result of a well-balanced combination of surprise and martial skills.
Although he carried a decent quality mace on his back, showing such martial skills alone as an unregistered individual was close to miraculous.
Considering melee combat utilizing a mace was generally considered inferior, if he, having turned the tide of battle, died without a means of escape, it would be a futile death.
The hunters facing the orcs head-on would inevitably face more challenges.
Finally, when Sua knocked down another orc and the balance of numbers equalized,
“Urgh!”
With Ha-jun’s shout, the front line began to move.
Naturally, their direction was toward where Jeonghyun was.
Even though they witnessed his fantastic performance, given that there were four orcs charging at him, it wasn’t surprising that his body was overwhelmed by the axes.
No, it might be even more natural that way.
“We have to go help him quickly!”
That was the shared thought in Yunghoon, Sua, and Ha-jun’s minds right now.
Fortunately, the orcs were more focused on attacking than defending.
Once they switched to offense, the hunters’ forward speed was incredibly fast.
While Ha-jun was deflecting axes with his shield, Sua darted in like lightning.
And Yunghoon displayed excellent spear skills, marking attacks aimed at her.
Thus, they knocked down all the orcs blocking the path to Jeonghyun, and when the front was finally clear,
“…Huh?”
Those who had charged through with their decisive momentum let out somewhat disappointed voices.
Suddenly, all three orcs Jeonghyun had been facing were not lying in their positions but contorted in their own ways.
The only commonality was that each had one or two daggers almost embedded in their vital spots.
And Jeonghyun, with an indifferent expression, was in the midst of striking down the last orc’s head.
