Chapter 52: Chapter52-Orc King
"Why the hell won’t you die, you ugly, fat bastard?!"
A frustrated shout rang through the jungle, shattering the silence of the night.
The voice belonged to someone relentlessly driving a sword into an orc’s face.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Even after the orc’s body had gone completely still, the stabbing didn’t stop.
He kept striking with every ounce of strength he had left, only stopping nearly a minute later.
His fingers finally loosened around the hilt.
Breathing hard, he dropped to the ground beside the orc’s corpse.
"Huff... Huff..."
His chest heaved as he struggled to catch his breath. His clothes were soaked beyond recognition.
From his shirt to his pants, every inch of fabric was soaked in thick, sticky green blood.
That exhausted, blood-covered person...
...was me.
Damn...
I was completely drained. Every muscle in my body ached, and my arms felt so heavy that even holding my sword had become difficult.
As if that weren’t enough, I smelled absolutely horrible.
No.
"Horrible" wasn’t nearly enough to describe it.
I smelled like I’d spent the entire day rolling around in the corpses of dead monsters.
Honestly...
It was revolting.
I had no idea how long I’d been killing orcs.
What I did know was that I still hadn’t reached Iron Rank.
And I was already in this miserable condition.
"What the hell..." I muttered between heavy breaths. "Why am I still this physically weak?"
I clicked my tongue.
Complaining wasn’t going to change anything.
With a tired sigh, I raised my left wrist to check the time.
The moment I looked at it, I frowned.
My smartwatch was completely covered in thick green blood.
"...Seriously?"
I wiped the screen clean with my right hand until the display finally became visible.
8:11 p.m.
I stared at the numbers in silence.
Five hours.
I’d been hunting orcs for five straight hours...
...and I still hadn’t reached Iron Rank.
A weary sigh escaped my lips.
"Fuck..."
I lowered my head.
"I seriously suck at this."
After sitting there for a few moments, I slowly raised my eyes to the night sky.
There weren’t any stars.
Only a lone moon hung overhead, its pale light spreading across the darkness.
It was beautiful.
Even inside a dungeon, the moon could look this breathtaking. Nature really was something else.
As I sat there quietly admiring it, I suddenly felt a hand rest on my shoulder.
"The moon’s beautiful, isn’t it?"
I recognized the voice right away. It was Eden.
I turned to my left and found him sitting beside me.
"Yeah..." I answered softly before looking back up at the sky.
For a while, neither of us said a word. We simply sat there, letting the silence settle between us as we watched the moon.
After a few quiet moments, I finally spoke.
"By the way... did you finish all of them?"
Eden smiled and casually pointed his thumb toward the left.
"See for yourself."
I followed the direction he indicated.
The sight before me was almost unbelievable.
Monster cores littered the ground as far as my eyes could reach.
There were so many that they could easily be stacked into a small hill.
From what I could see, there had to be thousands of them.
Even so, I wasn’t all that surprised.
I’d spent the last five hours watching Eden fight.
By now, I had a clear understanding of just how ridiculously strong he was.
Looking back, I could finally understand why he’d been so confident when he made that Blood Pact with me.
With strength like his, that kind of confidence was only natural.
After taking in the scene for another moment, I shifted my gaze back to the moon.
A few seconds passed before Eden broke the silence again.
"So, did you rank up?"
I let out a quiet sigh.
"No."
"How much more do you need?"
"Give me a second," I said. "Let me check."
With that, I opened my character interface.
---
Name: Michael Frostburne
Race: Human
Current Rank: Bronze
Current Level: 96
Title: 0
Progression to Iron Rank: 96% (96/100 levels)
Progression to Level 97: 10% (5/50 essences)
Total Essences: 4805/5000
...
---
After giving the screen a quick glance, I dismissed it.
"Two hundred more."
Eden looked at me.
"Just two hundred?"
"Yeah."
A smile spread across his face.
"Alright. Give me a minute."
The next moment, he disappeared.
I wasn’t surprised.
He’d most likely gone to find another monster for me.
Watching him, I couldn’t help feeling lucky.
Having a friend like him really made things easier. Tasks that would’ve felt overwhelming on my own somehow seemed manageable with him around.
As I sat there waiting, I felt the orc’s corpse beneath me begin to crumble away. I stayed where I was and watched it happen.
Slowly, the body turned to ash and scattered into the air until nothing remained. With the corpse gone, I slipped down and landed on the ground with a soft thud.
Thankfully, it didn’t hurt.
My eyes drifted to the spot beside me, where a monster core lay only a few inches away.
The red crystal gave off a faint glow beneath the moonlight.
I reached over, picked it up, and stored it in my inventory.
The moment I finished, a loud roar echoed through the jungle.
I immediately got to my feet and turned toward the direction it had come from.
Damn... Eden really worked fast.
Curious, I checked the time. 8:18 p.m.
Only a few minutes had passed since he’d left.
He’d already found another monster and brought it back.
Without wasting another second, I lifted my right hand and flicked my fingers. At my command, the two swords resting on the ground rose into the air and floated into position in front of me, ready for the next fight.
They climbed higher before stopping at neck level, one hovering to my left and the other to my right.
Keeping both swords within my peripheral vision, I fixed my gaze on the direction the roar was coming from.
The roar grew louder with every passing second.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t all that nervous. If anything, I felt fairly calm.
There were two reasons for that.
First, I trusted Eden. As long as he was watching over me, I didn’t have to worry about getting injured, let alone killed.
Second, I was convinced he was bringing me another armless monster.
For the past five hours, every monster he’d sent my way had already lost its arms, so I had no reason to expect this one would be any different.
Just then, Eden suddenly appeared right in front of me.
I looked at him in confusion.
"What happened? Where’s the monster?"
"The monster?" he replied casually. "Don’t worry. He’s almost here."
He?
That choice of words caught my attention for a second.
Still, I didn’t think much of it. He’d probably just misspoken.
Eden smiled at me.
"Michael, get ready. I’m about to give you some interesting training."
I frowned.
"Training? What are you talking about?"
"You’ll understand in a few seconds," he said. Then his expression turned serious.
"And one more thing. This time, I’m not going to help you."
His words left me confused.
What’s that supposed to mean?
I opened my mouth to ask, but before I could say a single word, he disappeared.
For a brief moment, I simply stood there, staring at the empty space he’d left behind.
Training?
And what did he mean by he wasn’t going to help me?
The questions swirled through my head, but I didn’t have time to think.
"Auhhhhhhhh!"
A deep, thunderous roar suddenly tore through the jungle.
It was far louder than any roar I’d heard so far.
Instinctively, I looked toward the source.
The second my eyes landed on the creature charging straight at me, every thought in my head disappeared.
My breath caught.
"No..."
A wave of cold ran through my body.
My heartbeat lurched, and an overwhelming sense of danger washed over me.
My fingers trembled.
My legs felt heavy.
For a split second, I couldn’t make myself move.
It was as if every instinct in my body had frozen in place.
The creature racing toward me was the source of the roar that had echoed across the jungle for the past minute.
An Orc King.
At first glance, it resembled the Orc Warriors I’d been fighting all evening, but the similarities ended there.
A golden crown rested atop its head, making its status unmistakable.
Unlike the other orcs, it wielded two massive broadswords, one in each hand.
As I stared at it, a familiar holographic screen materialized before my eyes.
---
Orc King
Height: Approximately 8’2"
Weight: Around 600 pounds
Strengths: Monstrous strength, dense musculature, exceptional pain tolerance, and powerful battle instincts.
Weaknesses: Slow reflexes, slow movement speed, high intelligence, and vulnerable to precise attacks.
Critical Body Parts: Eyes, throat, heart.
Rank: Rare Rank Monster.
---
The instant I finished reading, the last sliver of hope I’d been clinging to disappeared.
It really was an Orc King.
And that was the worst possible opponent Eden could have sent my way.
Among hunters, Orc Kings were infamous.
They weren’t merely Rare Rank monsters. They were regarded as one of the strongest monsters in the entire Rare Rank category.
Their physical strength alone was said to rival that of Platinum Rank hunters.
That reputation was exactly why I recognized it the moment I saw it.
But none of that mattered anymore.
I desperately tried to force my body to move, but it refused to respond.
Fear and panic surged through me as I watched the Orc King steadily close the distance, both massive broadswords clenched in its hands. My heart hammered against my ribs.
Move...
Come on, move, you idiot...
I cursed at myself and tried again, but my legs refused to obey. No matter how hard I struggled, they stayed rooted to the ground.
This isn’t working...
Then a thought suddenly struck me.
I quickly looked around and shouted at the top of my lungs, "Eden, you bloody bastard! Is this your idea of training?!"
"Yep."
The reply came almost instantly.
I whipped my head to the right.
There he was.
Eden was sitting comfortably on a thick tree branch with one leg swinging lazily in the air. He was casually eating an apple, looking more like someone enjoying a picnic than a person watching a life-and-death battle unfold.
I stared at him in disbelief.
"What the hell are you doing?!" I shouted. "That thing’s going to kill me!"
He calmly took another bite of the apple before replying.
"No, it won’t."
What does he mean by that?
This guy...
Suddenly...
