🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 20
It looked outwardly very ordinary.
It wasn’t a massive figure like a Warlord, nor was it adorned with mystical charms like a Shaman.
It was just an average-looking Orc.
Of course, “average” was still much bigger than a human.
‘How is this possible?’
I rubbed my eyes several times after seeing the guardian spirit mark floating above that seemingly ordinary Orc’s head.
I wondered if I was seeing it wrong.
{Guardian Spirit: Sigurd the Dragonslayer (Legendary)}
But the words stayed there, hovering over its head, following that Orc wherever it went.
‘Is this some kind of raid boss gimmick?’
That was one possibility.
After all, this world was created by a system. Adding a quirky feature like that wouldn’t be hard.
But the problem was—nobody else besides me could see other people’s guardian spirits.
And this ability was something I’d only gotten through breaking system rules with “Evil’s” help.
Meaning, the system had attached a setting to a raid boss that literally no one was capable of perceiving.
‘I can’t make sense of this.’
Was it just an illusion that made it look like that, or was it actually a system-bound being, the same as human Awakeners?
I couldn’t tell just by watching from afar.
So there was only one way to solve this mystery.
‘I’ll have to kill it to find out.’
If I absorbed its guardian spirit, I’d know.
Clench.
I balled my fist tight.
The cestus around my hand strained against my grip.
I planned to close in, ambush, and kill it in one strike.
I braced my foot, preparing to leap.
Boom!
But just then, an explosion rang out from deep within the forest.
‘Hm?’
The Orcs in the village all turned their heads toward the source of the sound.
They began chattering in their guttural tongue.
“Kak! Baghrung do grak!”
The biggest Orc among them came out holding a farming tool.
He led the other males toward the explosion site.
Among them was the Awakener Orc.
I trailed them at a distance.
Boom! Boom!
Before long, the Orc group reached the place where the explosion had occurred.
“Taaaap!”
Crash!
As expected, human Awakeners were fighting there.
And just as I feared, the battle had escalated enormously.
‘So human greed blinds them this much, huh.’
They had forgotten the true purpose of this stage—the boss fight—and were consumed by eliminating rivals.
It had turned into a full-on war between factions.
If I didn’t step in soon, too many would die or give up the stage, leaving us without enough people to defeat the boss.
And that would mean I might miss out on the final reward.
‘I need to stop them quickly—huh?’
“Orcs!”
“What?”
“The boss! They brought the raid boss here!”
Suddenly, someone noticed the Orcs with farming tools and shouted.
Then, someone immediately loosed an arrow at the frozen Orcs.
“Kak!”
“Draw the boss’s attacks onto them!”
‘Are you kidding me…’
The Awakeners there must’ve mistaken the approaching Orcs for the raid boss.
And instead of uniting to fight it, they decided to use it to attack each other.
The most twisted, idiotic logic imaginable.
Swish!
“Guhk!”
“Kahk!”
At once, archers from one side began raining arrows at the Orc group.
The Orcs, armed with nothing but farming tools, stood no chance against professional fighters.
They fell helplessly to the onslaught.
“Graralak!”
Panicked, the rest threw down their tools and fled.
“Akh tung! Hagaak!”
But one of them did not run.
He was clutching another fallen Orc, wailing in grief.
He looked no different from a human who had just lost family.
‘That one…’
That Orc was the Awakener with the legendary guardian spirit.
“Graaaaaaaaaaah!”
He roared so loud the forest shook.
Blue light flared in his eyes.
Then, a message appeared.
{The Raid Boss descends into the final stage.}
{Prepare for battle.}
A young Orc, Oddvar, had wanted to join the adults in investigating the strange sound outside the village.
“Big brother! Let me come too!”
His younger brother, Byorn, begged to join.
“No. You stay here.”
“No! I’m thirteen now. I’m a grown-up!”
“I said no.”
Oddvar firmly refused.
But their uncle Dag, listening nearby, encouraged Byorn instead.
“It’s fine! If anything dangerous happens, I’ll protect you. Thirteen is old enough to help defend the village, isn’t it?”
“Yeah!”
“…Fine. But stay right behind me.”
And so Oddvar reluctantly brought his brother along.
That mistake cost Byorn his life.
“Gaaaah!”
“Byorn!”
Strange humans appeared and shot arrows.
Uncle Dag, who had promised to protect him, was killed instantly by an arrow.
The other villagers fled in terror.
Oddvar wanted to run too—but when he saw his little brother collapse, he couldn’t.
“B-Brother…”
“Byorn! Are you okay?”
“I… can’t… breathe…”
“Stay with me! Byorn!”
But Byorn closed his eyes in his arms.
“BYOOOOORN!”
Oddvar cried out, but there was no answer.
His brother was gone forever.
The sorrow and despair lasted only a moment.
Then came rage—fury directed at the humans before him, the cause of it all.
The villagers had done nothing, yet these demons had attacked without warning.
They had to be punished.
Oddvar prayed with all his heart that they would.
And then—
Rumble.
The earth trembled, the forest howled.
A mighty force like a thunderbolt poured down from the sky.
—I will borrow your body and strike down these wicked humans.
A voice echoed in his head.
It was his guardian spirit—Sigurd, the legendary Orc hero, Dragonslayer.
“Gram.”
From that moment, Oddvar instinctively knew what to do.
He infused power into the kitchen knife he was holding.
Vmmm—
A massive sword projected itself, as long as he was tall and as wide as his palm.
The Dragonslayer Sword, Gram.
The legendary weapon that felled Fafnir the Dragon now rested in his hands.
“That’s the boss! Draw its attacks here!”
The humans, seeing this, concentrated their fire on him.
Whoosh!
A glowing red arrow hurtled toward him.
Oddvar casually swung Gram one-handed like a dagger, knocking the arrow aside.
Boom!
It exploded on impact, flames bursting everywhere.
But Oddvar was unharmed.
In fact, the smoke concealed him, allowing him to gather strength for a greater attack.
Thump… thump…
The Dragon Heart pumped within him.
Dragon blood coursed through his body, magnifying his mana.
Clang.
Oddvar raised Gram high.
KRAAAASH!
And brought it down.
A tidal wave of mana erupted from the blade, sweeping forward.
“Uaaagh!”
No human caught in its range survived.
Even those who barely dodged had limbs torn off where the wave grazed them.
Some Awakeners lost their talisman barriers just by being nearby.
“Wh-What…?”
The humans realized in horror—they couldn’t waste time fighting each other anymore.
“Kill them all.”
Thud!
Oddvar leapt into their midst.
The earlier attack had just been the opening shot.
Sigurd’s true power lay in close combat.
Slash!
He cleaved three humans in half with one swing.
“Get back! Don’t fight him head-on!”
Someone shouted.
But Oddvar was faster.
He closed in before they could retreat and cut them down.
His monstrous skill left them powerless.
“Damn it! Just fire everything! Use whatever powers you’ve got!”
The Awakeners, finally united by fear, unleashed a barrage at him.
Only now did it start to resemble an actual raid boss battle.
Whoosh! Boom! Crack!
Arrows, spells, sword-ki, bullets—
Everything rained down on Oddvar.
They knew they couldn’t match him in close combat, so they tried to overwhelm him with ranged firepower.
Thud!
“RAAAAAH!”
Oddvar stomped the ground and roared.
BOOM!
A shockwave burst from his body, deflecting every incoming projectile.
“Th-That’s insane…”
“How are we supposed to beat that…?”
The Awakeners began to understand.
Every year, countless world-class Awakeners, fully equipped, attempted this raid—
And still, there were always reports of failure against the final boss.
Now they knew why.
The raid boss was on an entirely different level than the previous stage bosses.
“Maybe… we should give up…”
Demoralized, they backed away as Oddvar advanced.
At first, he had seemed like a weakling, smaller and frailer than even ordinary Orcs.
Now he loomed like a mountain-sized monster.
Step… step…
“Die.”
His growled word sounded to human ears like the guttural snarl of a beast.
He raised his sword to finish the remaining Awakeners.
Shhhk!
Clang!
A sudden ambush struck from behind.
Oddvar blocked it with his blade.
Whoosh!
He spun and countered.
But the attacker evaded with sharp, fluid movements.
It was Yoo Shin-woo.
Fwshhh!
Dark flames spread from his greatsword, climbing the blade and wrapping around Oddvar’s body.
