14 Chapter 13

A large Orc wasn't enough to describe it nor was it a living horror. It was a being of over 6 meters tall with gruesome black muscles covering every inch of its body. It had a small head with two sickening eyes. Although Nex made an assault that caused large injuries to it, it didn't seem to have an effect to it. To prove how ineffectual the attack is, the muscles and veins all over its body began to quiver before covering the damaged area. It has recovered to its previous perfect hideous self!

Upon seeing this ridiculous recovery speed, Nex sighed, "Seems like I would need to think of another plan."

He then looked at his status.

OverBurst : 4:05 minutes left.

Dash : 1:10 minutes left.

HP ; 80%

Sighing once again, Nex activated [Intermediate Enchantment] and dodged an enormous fist that came at him at an absurd speed. He then appeared next to the monster's leg and slashed his empowered sword through its shin.

The Corrupted Orc King let out a roar full of rage but Nex continued his onslaught so as to not give the monster a moment to regenerate its lost leg. He immediately jumped up to its shoulder.

'[Intermediate Enchantment]'

Getting cut again, this time through where its heart is supposed to be at, the monster didn't show any other reaction aside from roaring and trying to attack Nex who was still in mid-air. These feeble attacks were useless as Nex landed on its shoulder and swung his sword through half of its neck.

Without inspecting his handiwork, Nex returned to the ground once again but he wasn't able to stand at the spot for more than 5 seconds before he leaped forward. He glanced back to where he was standing before and saw that a crater had been formed around the Orc King's fist that is still occupying the area.

"So things like these are nothing but a waste of time huh?" He murmured as he looked the now perfectly fine behemoth. Seeing the monster preparing to launch a counter-attack on him, Nex's expression turned grim.

'This leaves me no choice.' He then entered a strange pose and extended his sword to his back and suddenly, his body began to shine.

In a foreign language he then uttered, "[Martial Secret : White Shadow]"

*Bang!*

A loud explosion reverberated from where Nex was but not even a second has passed when the spot turned empty. A shining figure appeared above the monster's back.

In the same foreign language, he issued, "[Martial Secret : Mana Sword]". The sword in his hand shone with mana and with just a swing, the monster was halved.

Landing on the ground, Nex stared at the falling body of the Orc before inspecting his MP.

MP : 50/1917

Nex shook his head and closed his eyes, 'Using a [Secret Arts] of this level is still too early for this body to handle.' Just as he was about to begin restoring his MP, a cute voice resounded happily.

"Wow! Daddy! You did it!"

He felt as if a bucket of ice cold water had been splashed all over him. He turned his head towards the entrance of the hall and saw Iris running towards him; excitement clearly written on her little face.

"Why are you still here? I told you to run away!"

Iris stopped on her tracks, startled. She didn't expect that instead of a warm doting smile, she would be met with an angry and distressed face.

What showed on his face was not even a third of what Nex is currently feeling on the inside. As if to worsen the situation, he saw in his peripheral vision that the Orc King's corpse began to twitch.

"F*ck! Iris, run! Now---"

He didn't even get to finish his urgent commands when a tentacle made of flesh came from the corpse and flung Iris away to the wall.

"Iris!"

Witnessing the situation at hand, Nex's eyes became red in fury as he stared at the monster that is now rising from the ground. It had grown countless of fleshy tentacles. He wasn't even able to notice the weirdness in this --- an Orc King somehow evolving to a hybrid of an Orc and squid. The author also didn't notice, I think, but the editor, yours truly, did! I mean, how much of a freak can this guy turn into?

"[Berserk]"

"[Soul Sword First Art : Eradicate]"

The monster was only able to display his repulsive evolved self when a large slash made of light cut through it.

*Screech!*

The monster that seemed impossible to kill is now beginning to make horrendous sounds as it was being consumed by bright silver flames.

Nex paid no heed to the dying big Boss. He ran straight towards where Iris was blasted to. He was able to relax when he saw her condition, "Thank god."

Due to Maple's timely reaction, Iris was protected from the attack by a shield that the Spirit summoned using most of its regained power. It collapsed from exerting all of its effort into this defense but held on to her consciousness as it continued safeguarding the little girl.

Lifting the small spirit, Nex injected her with mana gradually in gratitude, "Good job, little one."

Sensing that the danger is over, Maple finally let the flicker of vigilance go and give in to exhaustion. Nex placed the fairy beside Iris so that both will be more comfortable. His attention was diverted to a couple of messages from the system that suddenly popped out.

[Level Up]

[Congratulations!]

[You are the first one to both kill and solo a Royal-rank Boss!]

[You have received 10,000 Gold!]

[You have received 100,000 Fame!]

[The Title "Who Said I Can't?" has evolved into "The Impossible Man"!]

[Would you like to announce your name? (You can put a nickname)]

"Yes, the usual."

Nex sighed as he looked back at the burnt corpse of the monster, or at least what was left of it. Although using this skill has finished it in one strike, the risk he had to take was a dangerous one and he may have died without even achieving anything. The backlash soon happened as his sword began to crumble and turn into dust while numerous wounds appeared all over his hand.

*Cough*

His face suddenly became pale and copious amount of blood gushed out of his mouth. The strength on his legs quickly ran out and he fell to the ground. A message appeared in front of him.

HP : 2%

[OverBurst Duration has ended. Side effects will now begin.]

"Damned game…"

And with those words, he lost consciousness.

•••

[World Announcement : The player "Everyone else is a Noob" is the first to both kill and solo a Royal-Rank Boss, Congratulations!]

[World Announcement : The player "Everyone else is a Noob" is the first to both kill and solo a Royal-Rank Boss, Congratulations!]

[World Announcement : The player "Everyone else is a Noob" is the first to both kill and solo a Royal-Rank Boss, Congratulations!]

"...Cheater."

"Cheater."

"There must be a bug."

"Undoubtedly, a cheater."

"... I think we found where the GM is."

•••

A long time ago, in Perias...

In the middle of a ravaged battlefield, a young man around 19 years of age gasped for breath while sitting on the ground. Around him were countless of dead bodies of warriors and remains from various species. Despite the diversity, they all had one target --- him.

'Isn't this enough already?!' A distressed voice of a girl was heard inside his head. 'You could have just given up and ran away! You could have asked for help from other people! Must you always do things this way?!' At this point, she was already crying loudly.

In contrast to her emotional outbursts, the young man was calm when he stood up.

"I already told you before, I won't do it anymore. Except you, everyone I get close to, either dies or lose something important to them. They regret even knowing me and some had even become my enemies. Why should I bother getting help when all I get is bitter resentment?"

'Then why do you keep on doing this? Why can't you just let it go and leave with me?' She seemed to have regained her composure when she said this in a softer tone.

The young man shook his head with a wry smile, "As much as I want to, I can't. The moment I accepted this burden, I have already lost my freedom. I have to see this to its end."

'But that doesn't mean you can just---'

"Enough." The young man stopped her. He then pulled out a sword out of nowhere. "We need to end this conversation now."

As he said that, the area began to be filled with innumerable beings from all directions. Their battle cries resounded as they started sprinting towards the young man.

'Stay safe…' The girl said her last words gently in resignation.

The young man smiled as he readied his sword; his eyes surveying the opponents before him.

"Well then," He said as his silver eyes began to glow.

"Let's blow off some steam."

•••

"Daddy! Please wake up!"

"Iris?"

Nex woke up from his dream upon hearing Iris' crying voice. Although the pain is currently rampaging all over his body, he still stood up and received the sobbing girl in his embrace.

"Daddy!" She began to cry even harder as he hugged her. "It's all Iris' fault! I didn't mean to though! I'm so sorry you got hurt! Iris is a bad girl! Please forgive me, Daddy! Don't hate Iris!" Her frantic bawling came continuously.

"It wasn't your fault, it's mine. I should have finished the monster sooner." Nex smiled and tried to soothe her, "I don't hate you so stop crying now. Did you get hurt anywhere?"

Hearing the reassurance in Nex's voice she seemed placated enough to shake her head and reply, "No, Maple saved me! Ah! That reminds me, Maple come out and say hello to my Daddy."

Slowly, a small fairy came out from Iris' hair and looked at Nex formally as if she is meeting a very important person. Gathering enough courage, she curtseyed and began to make sounds of greeting.

"Ya, ya!"

"Hello to you too!" Nex smiled gently and rubbed her head, a thing that the Spirit accepted with delight.

Iris who saw the development from the side, opened her eyes wide, "Wow, Daddy! Maple usually never lets anyone, aside from me and Mommy touch her, she must really like you!"

Nex continued his gentle smiling as he passed Maple back to her, "She is a good child take good care of her and cherish her, okay?"

"Mhm! I know that already! We are already bestest of friends!" She said innocently while hugging her Spirit.

Feeling that he recovered enough, Nex stood up despite the ongoing ruckus the pain in his body is doing and dusted off his clothes. He stared at the ruined hall and then at the remains of the monster and then said to the girl, "Iris, I need you to stay back for a moment. I am going to check on something."

"Okay…" Although worried, Iris learnt greatly from her past mistakes complied, albeit reluctantly.

While going towards the remains, Nex checked his new title.

[The Impossible Man(Legendary-Higher)]

*Effects :

-30% in all stats against a Boss that is at Lord rank.

-Additional 10% for every rank above the Lord rank.

-Additional 3% per level difference between the Boss and player. The boss must be at least 5 levels higher than the player.

*Note : Rules and differences never binds me, for I am the Impossible.

"Quite useful."

Arriving at the remains, Nex found 4 glittering items.

+30 Gold

[Corruption Bane Necklace(Legendary-Higher) Level 10]

*All stats +20

*Mana +25

*Strength +15

*+10% all stats against demon-kin and corrupted beings.

*Mana Revive(active) : when activated, MP will be fully restored and for the next minute, all skills that cost less than 10% of total MP will require no mana on casting.

*Cooldown: 1 Hour.

[Corruption Bane Bracelet(Legendary-Higher) Level 10]

*All stats +15

*Vitality +30

*Agility +20

*+10% all stats against demon-kin and corrupted beings.

*Mana Shield(active) : By injecting mana to the bracelet, a shield made of mana will be created to block attacks. The durability of the shield will be determined by the amount of mana and the user mana control (mana affinity skill for players of non-Master mode).

*Whistle!*

"These two alone are enough for me to have stats twice more than that of normal players." Nodding in content, Nex placed these items inside his inventory before looking at the last item.

[Purified Core(Legendary-Higher) Quest Item!]

*Note : This purified core was a great terror. Bring this item to the Spring Village Head and receive your rewards.

"Well, I hope this quest will be worth something." He pocketed the item as well and after checking that nothing was left, he went back to the worried Iris.

"Daddy!" She hugged him for several minutes that Nex had to trick her to regain his freedom. He convinced her that bad guys were still lurking and they have to flee to safety.

They finally left the cave and were walking in the forest towards the direction of the village when Nex look up at the sky. He then checked the time and his face turned strange. 'I've been in the game for almost 36 hours; although part of it, I wasn't conscious, that's still 12 hours in real life.'

"Hmmn?" Suddenly, he stopped in place then looked towards a certain direction, smiling, "Iris, your pick-up has arrived."

The puzzled Iris looked in the same direction and after a few moments, a figure appeared there. Seeing who it was, Iris cried in surprise and happiness.

"Grandpa James!"

She quickly run to the middle-aged Elf dressed in butler clothes and hugged him. The latter smiled pleasantly and put his hand on her head.

"Thank god that you're okay. You don't know how much you made Her Highness and I worried." He then turned his head to Nex and bowed his head slightly, "Thank you, young man."

"That's fine." Nex dismissed the formality with a smile. "I just did what should be done. There is no need for such recognition. I only ask that I could say my goodbye to Iris before you take her home."

"Why say goodbye?" Iris asked in panic and ran to Nex and held his clothes, "Didn't Daddy say that he will take me home?"

Nex smiled and bent down to her eye-level and softly said, "I am sorry Iris but I can't go home with you right now."

"Why?" She began to sob in earnest. "You don't want Iris anymore? Is it because Iris didn't listen to you before? You hate Iris after all!"

"It's not that." He patted her head, "It's just that I can't go with you now as I am too weak to go to the capital right now."

"Then I'll stay with you!"

"No." He shook his head and patiently explained, "I am going to probably meet a lot more monsters in the future and they will be far stronger than the ones we met. I am unsure if I can protect you during dangerous times, so I can't take you with me now. I need you to promise me that you will return home and wait for me to come, okay?"

"Okay." She unwillingly promised. She then took out a small token and gave it to him, "Then take it. When you arrive at the capital, it will help you find me."

"Thank you." He stood up then gave her a pat on the head for the last time and then made a signal for her to go back to James.

He then stared at the middle-aged elf then bowed his head a little with sincerity and said earnestly, "Keep her safe."

James' strength although highly superior to Nex by immeasurable amount felt his blood ran cold when he saw the look at the latter's eyes. The fear he felt was blocked by his pride and was not able to show in his face. His face held iciness as he grabbed Iris before disappearing along with her.

Looking quietly at the spot where Iris was just at, Nex heaved out a sigh. He then turned back to the city.

"I guess I can try to have someone close again."

Editor's note: the term "bestest" was intended for the purpose of stressing Iris' innocence and age.