Max Talent Player

The Great Orc Warrior was convinced it was the predator here. It filled its lungs, preparing to let out a bellow full of confidence.

“GUROAAAAR!”

It roared, opening its jaws wide. These tiny humans. Even if they came in a swarm, it would not fear them in the least. It wondered how delicious human meat was, if it could become even stronger by eating humans. Its thoughts were dominated by such instincts.

But then—

Spluuurt!

Hyukjin’s sword pierced through the Great Orc Warrior’s mouth.

“SQUEAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!”

The moment it roared—that was the moment Hyukjin had been aiming for. The Great Orc Warrior’s skin was tough. Even its eyes were sturdy. The mouth was very nearly the sole vulnerable spot of such a sturdy monster.

‘Now. The inside of the mouth!’

It was a fleeting moment, but Hyukjin didn’t let it slip through his fingers.

“SQUEAAAAL!”

With a sword lodged in its mouth, the Great Orc Warrior screamed as it crouched. Hyukjin’s attack didn’t end there.

‘I have to see it through.’

The Great Orc Warrior’s right fist came flying at him, but Hyukjin dodged it with ease. The force behind the punch was great enough to kill him instantly, but only if it hit him. Hyukjin took out the item he’d picked up earlier.

He drove the ‘Steel Spike’ upright at a 90 degree angle in the beast’s mouth.

‘Now, it won’t be able to close its mouth…!’

He had utilized the strategy to the utmost, not missing the tiny opening he was given. He took a step back.

“Yoohyun!”

Yoohyun swiftly ran over. The Great Orc Warrior had fallen to its knees. It was clawing desperately at its face, but the pain was too great for it to grab the sword lodged deep inside. It flailed in pain, unable to do anything.

“Aim for the temples.”

The Great Orc Warrior on its knees was at a height where Yoohyun’s fists could easily reach its head.

“Yes, hyungnim!”

Yoohyun approached quickly. He used his left foot as a central axis and pivoted his hips. A right fist loaded with all the force of Yoohyun’s weight slammed into the Great Orc Warrior’s temple.

Bam!

A resounding boom burst out.

Yoohyun’s fist landed precisely on the Great Orc Warrior’s temple. Staying in place, Yoohyun threw his left fist with his weight behind it.

A left hook after a right hook.

Yoohyun’s sturdy legs allowed him to perfectly keep his balance. The momentarily incapacitated Great Orc Warrior was no different from a sandbag to him.

The Great Orc Warrior’s upper body swayed.

“Hyungnim! Can I attack its jaw?”

“As long as you don’t dislodge the stake.”

“Understood.”

Yoohyun grabbed the Great Orc Warrior’s head with both hands and thrust his knee into its chin.

[Using the skill Beginner Knee Kick.]

The knee kick planted perpendicular to the ground didn’t dislodge the stake. Rather, it pushed the stake further into the monster’s gums, fixing it more firmly in place.

‘It went through…!’

Normally, the Great Orc Warrior would counterattack or block, but not right now. First of all, it was under the paralyzing poison of ‘Mutant Wolf’s Fang’, and secondly, it had suffered an attack to a vulnerable part of its body—the mouth. The current Great Orc Warrior was not the usual Great Orc Warrior. It was far weaker.

Yeonseo came in as well.

[Using the skill Single Hit Finisher.]

Yeonseo had also determined that the Great Orc Warrior’s weakness was the inside of its mouth. She aimed at a point directly inside the mouth, and her sword pierced its mark.

After around five minutes, the Great Orc Warrior finally collapsed limply to the ground.

Splurt!

Hyukjin buried his sword into the back of the Great Orc Warrior’s head.

[Great Orc Warrior has been killed.]

[EXP acquired.]

[50 Coins acquired.]

He was able to get an item from the Great Orc Warrior’s body.

[Great Orc Warrior’s Molar]

A long molar of the Great Orc Warrior. It is imbued with the Great Orc Warrior’s strength. If processed in a special way and ingested, you will be able to acquire a special power.

No other items were dropped. 

[The 2nd Gateway scenario quest, ‘Kill the Orc Warrior’, has been cleared.]

[Distributing the ‘Kill the Orc Warrior’ quest clear rewards.]

[‘Great Orc Warrior’s Iron Armor’ has been acquired.]

[‘Great Orc Warrior’s Leather Shoes’ has been acquired.]

Hyukjin craned his ears at the notices.

‘The Great Orc Warrior set… is pretty valuable, even in the middle period.’

He was given iron armor and one pair of leather shoes. Currently, considering it was the beginner period, where most Players hadn’t even advanced properly yet, he had gotten extremely good items.

‘It should be really helpful in the level 30 period.’

But it didn’t end there.

[The special ability ‘Mettle’ has been acquired.]

The rewards for killing the Great Orc Warrior, a nearly impossible, highly difficult foe to defeat if not for Hyukjin’s quick thinking, were absolutely not small.

[Mettle]

‘Mettle’ is the aura of a ruler and the higher form of ‘Pressure’. It induces instinctive fear and awe in those who are of a lower level than the user.

Unlike an ‘innate ability’, which was a dormant power within a Player, a ‘special ability’ was a new power granted to a Player by an external force. Among those ‘special abilities’, Hyukjin acquired ‘Mettle’.

‘Ah, so this is the higher form of Pressure.’

‘Pressure’ was the ability the President of Sungshin, Song Kiyoung, had used. Now, Hyukjin had the higher version of it, Mettle.

But just then, he heard another notice.

* * *

[The ‘Herdsman of Las Vegas’ has begun to watch you.]

For a moment, I could only doubt my ears.

‘The Herdsman of Las Vegas?’

Even among Guardians, he was an extremely famous one. He was the Guardian of ‘Michelle’, one of America’s top Rankers. Her nickname was ‘Pyramid’, or more precisely, ‘Gold Pyramid’.

‘Michelle’s Guardian is watching me?’

The Herdsman of Las Vegas was a Guardian who placed a great deal of importance on ‘effective team plays’ and ‘teamwork’. Michelle was a Player optimized for that.

‘The queen at the top of countless sovereign class Players.’

Each and every one of the Players under Michelle’s banner, the so-called ‘Michelle Division’, were national powerhouses of the highest level. The sovereign they followed was Michelle, and the Guardian Michelle made a contract with was the ‘Herdsman of Las Vegas’.

‘I thought he would be in the US server?’

He was watching the Korean server instead of the US one? This was certainly unprecedented.

‘The only person who successfully contracted with the Herdsman of Las Vegas was Michelle…’

A Guardian who had given almost exclusive support to Michelle and based his operations in the US server suddenly started to watch me. However, it didn’t end at simply ‘watching’.

[The ‘Herdsman of Las Vegas’ has sent you ‘Great Orc Warrior’s Leather Pants’ as a sponsorship.]

He kicked things off with a very generous sponsorship. With that, I was able to acquire the Great Orc Warrior’s armor, shoes, and pants.

“Did anyone else get a notice from a Guardian called the Herdsman of Las Vegas?” I asked.

Everyone shook their heads. The Herdsman of Las Vegas was only interested in me.

[The clear condition has been fulfilled as a result of clearing the scenario quest.]

[Hunt the remaining Orcs.]

Originally, the 2nd Gateway in the 2nd underground floor of the Seoul Station Dungeon would be finished once you destroyed the three crystals and smashed the petrified Orcs. But now, we had to kill all the living Orcs. The difficulty itself was far higher.

However, they weren’t Orc Warriors, but regular Orcs, and terrified ones, at that. It wasn’t difficult to hunt them down.

[Orc has been killed.]

[EXP acquired.]

[Level increased.]

[Current level: 29]

We went around the dungeon for about one hour.

“Squeaal!”

And then, we succeeded in killing the last Orc.

[You have cleared the Seoul Station Dungeon 2nd Underground Floor.]

[300 Coins acquired.]

[Dungeon title ‘Conqueror of the Seoul Station Dungeon’ acquired.]

[Leaving the dungeon in 30 seconds.]

Dungeon titles were different from regular titles. Dungeon titles were special titles that only applied within the dungeon where it was acquired. Normally, they weren’t that useful.

‘Having it is still better than nothing, though.’

Sunhwa smiled wide. “We cleared it!”

Her brightly smiling face looked really cute. I wondered if this is how it would feel if I had a daughter later. Everyone relished the joy of the clear.

Yeonseo went into a big stretch. “I’ll need to sleep for about three days when we get out.”

While she was stretching, something caught my eye.

‘Huh?’

Over there, near the tent of the Great Orc Warrior, I saw a door in the air.

“What’s that door?”

Yeonseo turned.

“I don’t see anything?”

[Leaving the dungeon in 20 seconds.]

Sunhwa also tilted her head. “What? Is there something there?”

Yoohyun was the same. “There’s nothing there, hyungnim!”

[Leaving the dungeon in 13 seconds.]

I was sure of it. Only I could see that door. I had never heard of any kind of ‘door’ within this hidden piece, the Seoul Station Dungeon 2nd Underground Floor, not even in the exploration logs of the Great Explorer ‘Jackson’.

[Leaving the dungeon in 9 seconds.]

A door only I could see. What did it mean? I had never experienced a phenomenon like this in the flesh.

[In addition, the 2nd floor of the D-Tower parking lot is being established as an extra Safe Zone.]

During the Tutorial, I had heard a special notice that no one else had heard.

‘An unfair notice… determined by talent.’

That was what I was seeing right now.

‘It’s because of that notice that I attempted the D-Tower 2nd Floor.’

It was because I heard that extra safe zone notice that I was able to come back alive from the Tutorial.

A door visible only to me…

I made a decision.

“There’s a door only I can see. I think it’s a special hidden piece,” I said quickly.

[Leaving the dungeon in 6 seconds.]

“So you guys go out first. I’ll come out after clearing it.”

The clock kept ticking down. There was no time to spare.

[Leaving the dungeon in 3 seconds.]

I immediately used ‘Flash Step’ with title switching and reached the door instantaneously. Voices came from behind me.

“Hey! Boss! What is it? What’s going on!”

“Hyungnim!”

“Oppa!”

I wasn’t able to explain any more.

[Leaving the dungeon in 1 second.]

My hand touched the door.

[You have discovered a Special Hidden Piece, ‘Forest of Unknowns’.]

[Entering the ‘Forest of Unknowns’.]