Swoosh—!
When Kyung-hoon released the bowstring, the arrow flew swiftly and landed right in the middle of the Greenskin formation.
Thud!
The arrow struck a goblin’s head, causing blood to gush out as it collapsed.
[Defeat the Greenskins! 1/312]
With the enemies packed so tightly, it was impossible to miss.
Kyung-hoon circled their formation, firing arrows as he went.
The goblins at the front raised their shields to defend or counterattack, but it was useless.
Their bows had a much shorter range.
Even if they managed to hit him, he wasn’t too worried.
The arrowheads they used were made of obsidian, which posed no threat to him in his full armor.
By the time he had taken down about fifteen of them alone, a notification popped up.
[Level up!]
The level-up chime and message window appeared.
Remaining enemies: 297!
“Kraaaa!”
At the same time, a loud roar erupted from the Greenskin formation.
Suddenly, the goblins and orcs began charging toward Kyung-hoon in a chaotic frenzy, screaming wildly.
It seemed they were furious at being shot at from a distance they couldn’t reach.
Coincidentally, Kyung-hoon had just run out of arrows.
“If you’re coming to me, I’m grateful!”
Kyung-hoon stashed his bow and drew his sword from his waist.
Whoosh—!
A blue haze began to emanate from the blade.
The Aura skill.
It enhanced the power of the weapon he was holding.
“Hyaa!”
He then glanced at the tactical map displayed in the lower right corner of his vision.
It showed the real-time positions and movements of both allies and enemies.
‘Left flank!’
True to his experience as a seasoned ‘Meta Pangaea’ player, he instantly pinpointed the weakest spot in the enemy formation with just a glance.
Without hesitation, he charged toward it on horseback.
*Crash! Boom!*
Even though he was alone, the impact was significant.
His armored horse tore through the enemy formation in an instant.
The Greenskins tried to close in and attack him, but their blows couldn’t penetrate his full armor.
*Slash! Slash!*
“Kyaaak!”
In contrast, every swing of Kyung-hoon’s sword sent monster heads or limbs flying into the air.
Against the Greenskins, who only had cloth covering their vital areas, each strike was fatal.
After breaking through the formation, he circled around and charged again, targeting another weak spot.
[You have defeated 50 monsters in a single battle.]
[Title ‘Monster Slayer’ acquired.]
[The effect of ‘Troublemaker Tyrant’ prevents the use of other titles.]
[Enemy morale decreases! Enemy attack power reduced by 5%.]
After repeating this two or three times, the enemy’s morale began to crumble.
By the time he had taken down over fifty monsters alone, Oswell called out to him.
“Young lord!”
Oswell and ten knights charged toward him on horseback.
Their coordinated charge instantly shattered the monster ranks.
*‘Hmm?’*
Ian looked at them with a puzzled expression as they approached.
“Even if you wish to earn merit, charging in alone is reckless! Why are you so rash?”
Oswell scolded him instead.
“…Are you worried about me?”
Kyung-hoon was so shocked that he unintentionally spoke formally to the NPC.
“Of course I’m worried! How could I not be?!”
‘This is insane. Absolutely insane. They’re reacting this realistically now?’
The NPCs’ behaviour had changed so much that Kyung-hoon began to doubt if this was the same ‘Meta Pangaea’ he knew.
He had clearly ordered them to stand by.
Under normal circumstances, a character would have obeyed that command, even if he was in danger.
“Protect the young lord! Clear a path!”
“Yes, Captain!”
The knights began carving through the enemies, just as Kyung-hoon had done earlier.
Soon, Oswell guided his horse back to safety.
“From now on, I will handle the monsters.”
Kyung-hoon checked the ongoing quest log.
[Defeat the Greenskins! 68/312]
His original goal had been to take down about a hundred monsters alone, but…
‘Well, this should be enough.’
“Then go ahead.”
He had spent enough time gauging how much the AI and realism had been upgraded.
The stiff, game-like movements and attack animations had definitely improved.
It felt almost real.
“The young lord’s brave charge has broken the monsters’ morale! Do not shame yourselves in front of him! Fight with all your might!”
“Waaaah!”
[Allies are inspired by your bravery. Allies’ attack power increases by 10%.]
[Your heroic actions have impressed the soldiers. Leadership increased by 1.]
Thanks to Kyung-hoon’s charge, the soldiers’ morale soared sky-high.
—
Some time later…
After entrusting the battle command to Oswell, the vast plain was soon stained with the blood of monsters.
[Defeat the Greenskins! 312/312]
[Quest ‘Greenskins’ completed.]
[Player’s contribution: 29 goblins, 23 orcs defeated.]
[Allied casualties: 10 lightly wounded, 1 seriously wounded.]
[Experience points awarded based on quest contribution.]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
“Should I invest the points first?”
Thanks to the experience points earned from completing the quest, Kyung-hoon leveled up again.
Normally, each level-up grants 5 points, but thanks to Schrantz’s special perk, he received an additional point, totaling 6 points per level-up.
With this, he distributed his points into Strength, Agility, and Magic in a 3:2:1 ratio.
Name: Ian von Schrantz (Lv.5)
Race: Human
Class: Noble
Profession: Knight
Title: Troublemaker Tyrant
Strength: 32
Agility: 25
Magic: 19
Leadership: 2
The stats were so impressive that it was hard to believe he was only level 5.
As he admired at his progress, Oswell approached him.
“Young lord.”
“What is it?”
“We’ve loaded all the monster carcasses onto the carts. What should we do with them?”
It was absurd for him to ask about the distribution of mere monster remains.
In other words, this was a branching point that would determine how the character ‘Ian’ would develop moving forward.
Monster carcasses were money.
With over 300 monsters slain without a single one left behind, they could earn quite a bit.
But Kyung-hoon had no attachment to it.
“Distribute them evenly among the soldiers who fought with us.”
“Huh?”
Oswell stared at him blankly.
The knights beside him did the same.
They seemed to doubt whether they had heard correctly.
Of course, Kyung-hoon understood why they reacted this way.
If it were the Ian they knew, he would have claimed all the spoils for himself.
He would have given the soldiers a little and used the rest to buy luxury items.
Or perhaps he wouldn’t have even given the soldiers anything at all.
That was just the kind of person Ian was.
‘If I were desperate for money, I would’ve chosen a different character.’
But today, he just wanted to enjoy some mindless fun.
‘In other words, today, I’ll be the generous tree that gives without holding back.’
“Ah, and if anyone performed exceptionally, give them an extra share.”
Of course, the in-game characters wouldn’t know that.
Perhaps that’s why Oswell’s expression brightened.
Oswell, who had been inwardly anxious, thinking Ian would take everything, had even prepared to sacrifice part of his own salary to boost the soldiers’ morale.
But surprisingly, Ian had shown great generosity.
“Did you hear that? The young lord has been exceedingly generous to all of you!”
“Long live Young Lord Ian! Long live Schrantz!”
The soldiers cheered and shouted in celebration.
No one had expected the troublemaker young lord to make such a grand gesture.
[The soldiers are in awe of your valor and generosity. The loyalty of all Schrantz troops has increased by 2.]
However, Kyung-hoon, who could see the soldiers’ loyalty at a glance, only sighed inwardly.
‘Even after the increase, it’s still only in the single digits.’
Except for Oswell, no one else’s loyalty exceeded 10.
Even the knights of the family, despite the loyalty boost, were only at around 7 or 8.
‘Well, it can’t be helped. It doesn’t matter anyway.’
“Alright, let’s head back now.”
“Yes, young lord. Everyone, prepare to withdraw!”
‘It’s been a while… It’s probably close to dawn by now. Maybe I should get some sleep.’
Kyung-hoon still had the sweet weekend ahead of him.
“Log out!”
[…….]
“…Huh?”
But nothing happened.
“Log out!”
“Log out!”
“Log out!”
No matter how many times he shouted, the result was the same.
The system remained silent.
The familiar darkness that would envelop him and return him to reality didn’t come.
Kyung-hoon looked around.
The soldiers were still moving, so the game was clearly still running.
It wasn’t that the game had frozen.
That left the possibility of a bug or a hardware malfunction.
“Task manager!”
[…….]
“Task manager!”
But no matter how many times he called, nothing changed.
“Damn it! I’m stuck in the game. How long did I set the forced shutdown timer for? Six hours, right?”
The VR gaming device was set to automatically shut down the game after six hours.
This was to prevent situations like being trapped in the game due to bugs or system errors.
In online games, you could call an operator to resolve the issue immediately, but in offline games like Meta Pangaea, that wasn’t an option.
“Why is the young lord acting like that all of a sudden?”
The soldiers whispered among themselves at Kyung-hoon’s irritable behavior.
“How should I know? The young lord’s always been eccentric.”
“Maybe he regretted being so generous to us?”
“He wouldn’t take back what he gave, would he?”
“No way, he wouldn’t do that.”
“Even so, a noble wouldn’t go back on their word.”
But.
“If it were anyone else, maybe. But the young lord? He’d do that and more.”
“….”
“….”
No one disagreed with that statement.
It would’ve been unfair if Kyung-hoon had heard it, though.
“I knew something was off when there was noise during the login. Was that when the error happened? Ugh, this damn game.”
The soldiers, hoping the young lord’s mood wouldn’t worsen, quietly hurried to prepare for the retreat.
But even after six hours passed, and then a full day.
Kyung-hoon never logged out.
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