CH 102

‘I can’t see…!’ Siegfried was blinded.

[Alert: You have been inflicted with a status ailment!]

[Alert: Your character is blind!]

[Alert: This effect will last for ten seconds!]

That wasn’t the end of it…

Beeeep…!

Even his sense of hearing disappeared.

[Alert: You have been inflicted with a status ailment!]

[Alert: Your character is deaf!]

[Alert: This effect will last for ten seconds!]

He lost both his vision and his hearing at the same time as the arrow shot by the descendant of God Arrow Windforce afflicted him with status ailments.

The arrow exploded like a flashbang grenade in real life. In fact, the name of the skill itself was ‘Flashbang Arrow’.

‘That bastard dares to pull cheap tricks!’ 

Siegfried covered his head and rolled on the ground.

He was trying his best not to get hit by an arrow while he was blinded and deafened.

However, there were no follow-up attacks from the descendant of God Arrow Windforce.

[Alert: Your vision has returned!]

[Alert: Your sense of hearing has returned!]

The Flashbang Arrow’s effect ended, but the descendant was nowhere to be seen on top of the gorge.

“What the hell? Where…?” Siegfried muttered.

The descendant of God Arrow Windforce disappeared similar to how they appeared.

“What were you trying to do with me?!” Siegfried shouted, but he didn’t receive any response.

His meeting with the descendant of God Arrow Windforce ended without a single conversation. They cooperated once and fought once, and that was the end of it.

***

Siegfried successfully defended the Snake Gorge against the Cryptids, and he retreated to the 3rd Corps of the Macallan Kingdom to reunite with his battalion members.

“Battalion Commander-nim!”

The first to greet him was none other than Carell.

“You were alive! What took you so long?” Carell asked.

“Something happened on the way, and what’s the big deal if I die? I’ll come back to life after two days anyway,” Siegfried replied with a shrug.

‘The descendant of the God Arrow, eh…’ His mind was occupied with only one thought.

He couldn’t think of anything else aside from the descendant of God Arrow Windforce, and it was all thanks to what Deus had told him.

“My disciple.”

“Yes, Master?”

“Be careful of the descendant of God Arrow Windforce.”

“Why is it specifically the descendant of God Arrow Windforce, Master?”

“The skills that you possess will be directly countered by God Arrow Windforce. You won’t be able to beat the God Arrow Windforce’s descendant unless you reach a certain level so remember to run away if ever you bump into them. You can stay if you want to become a porcupine, but I suggest retreating. Do you understand?”

“I won’t be able to beat them?”

“Yes.”

“How will they counter me?”

“You will realize it yourself once you clash with that descendant.”

“Then, will I be able to win if I reach a certain level?”

“Yes, you will be able to beat the descendant of God Arrow Windforce once you reach the 2nd stage of the skills I created.”

“How strong is the 2nd stage?”

“You will realize it once you reach that level, so don’t be too conscious of it and train hard for now.”

“Yes, Master.”

Since even Deus had told him that defeating the descendant of God Arrow Windforce was impossible until he reached the 2nd stage of his master’s skills, it was definitely impossible for Siegfried to defeat God Arrow Windforce’s descendant in the meantime.

‘Tsk… I wanted to test my skills against that person…’ Siegfried clicked his tongue and grumbled inwardly in regret. He wanted to fight the God Arrow’s descendant to test out what ‘counter’ and 2nd stage Deus was talking about.

‘I’m sure I’ll get to meet and fight them again,’ Siegfried thought. He was looking forward to meeting God Arrow Windforce’s descendant once again.

After all, God Arrow Windforce’s descendant was an enemy he had to defeat one day.

Clap! Clap! Clap! 

All of a sudden, a round of applause came from nowhere.

“Hmm?” Siegfried turned toward where the applause was coming from.

“Thank you for your hard work!”

“Battalion Commander-nim is a true hero!”

“Hurray for Battalion Commander-nim!”

“Thank you, Battalion Commander-nim!”

“I survived thanks to you! I respect you, Battalion Commander-nim!”

Countless troops cheered and fervently clapped for Siegfried.

Ding!

A message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: You have cleared the Quest – ‘Operation – Retreat in the Dead of the Night’!]

[Alert: Go and collect your reward from Overlock, the commander of the 3rd Corps!]

The message notified him that he had finally cleared the difficult quest.

“Battalion Commander-nim! Where is Commander Sieg-nim?”

A soldier from the command center could be heard shouting Siegfried’s alias. The soldier ran toward him when the former spotted him.

“Salute! Are you Commander Sieg-nim?” asked the soldier.

“Yeah, why?” Siegfried replied.

“The Corps Commander-nim wishes to meet you!”

“I’m tired...”

“Pardon?”

“No, I’ll be on my way, so ask him to wait for a bit.”

“Yes, sir! Salute!” the soldier saluted to Siegfried before running toward the command center tent.

“Ah… I’m so tired. Why does he want to meet now of all times?” Siegfried grumbled. He eventually sighed in resignation and muttered, “I’ll have to go since it’s the corps commander calling me after all…”

He would have ignored the call and logged out if it was the division commander calling him, but he had to go because the corps commander was a three-star general.

***

“Oh! Lieutenant Colonel Sieg!” Overlock exclaimed and warmly welcomed Siegfried before saying, “Great job! You did great! Come, take a seat over here!”

“Ah… yes…” Siegfried weakly muttered in response.

“Why don’t you have a drink first? What do you want? Wine? Beer? Whiskey? Brandy? Perhaps vodka?”

“Just a cold glass of water will do, sir,” Siegfried replied. He felt pretty thirsty after the exhausting ordeal.

It seemed that he was planning to cut the conversation short and log out so that he could finally get some rest back in reality.

“Here,” Overlock said as he extended a glass of water over to Siegfried.

“Thank you.”

“Back to what I was saying. You really did a great job! It must have been a very difficult operation, but many of our troops survived, and it’s all thanks to you!” Overlook revealed a wide smile.

“I just did what I was supposed to, sir,” Siegfried replied with a shrug.

“Nonsense! You’re a hero! A war hero!”

“Haha…”

“I will inquire with my kingdom if they can bestow upon you a medal! A war hero like you deserves to have their merits recognized!”

“Thank you, sir.”

Lieutenant General Overlock sincerely thanked and praised Siegfried.

“Ah, this is a reward,” Overlock extended a chest over to Siegfried.

“What is this, sir?” Siegfried asked before opening the chest.

[Check for 10,000 gold × 1]

[Mercedes Speedrunner × 1]

The chest contained the rewards for ‘Operation – Retreat in the Dead of the Night,’ which were a check for ten thousand gold and a pair of black socks.

“What are these, sir?”

“What else? Those are your rewards!”

“I know, but these socks…”

“Why don’t you check them out first before asking? You will be able to tell with that Rune of Insight of yours, right?” Overlock suggested.

“Ah… Alright…” Siegfried then used his Rune of Insight on the black pair of socks.

[Mercedes Speedrunner]

[A pair of socks crafted by the Mercedes Workshop.]

[Its durability is very low, and it cannot be repaired.]

[Type: Armor (Socks)/Disposable]

[Rating: Unique]

[Durability: 3/3]

[Special Abilities: Movement Speed +100, Superspeed]

[Superspeed: Movement speed will increase by 500% for 3 seconds.]

The pair of black socks turned out to be an artifact crafted by the famous Mercedes Workshop, and it granted its user the ability to move extremely fast for a few seconds.

‘Such a shame… I wouldn’t have lost the God Arrow’s descendant if I had this with me…’ Siegfried grumbled inwardly while thinking of God Arrow Windforce’s descendant.

“Have you checked it?” Overlock asked.

“Yes, sir,” Siegfried replied.

“As you saw, it’s not a permanent artifact, but it is still something that you can use in urgent situations. In fact, this might be just what you need in risky situations. This is a very expensive artifact only provided to high-ranked officers once a year, mind you,” Overlock explained.

“Are you really giving this to me, sir?” Siegfried asked.

“Of course!” Overlock exclaimed and nodded in response before saying, “This is actually not enough of a reward for a war hero like you! Don’t you agree?”

“No, sir. I am thankful that you were being mindful of me.”

“Hoho! Look at how humble you are!” Overlock looked at Siegfried with eyes full of affection before saying, “Hmm… by the way…”

“Yes?”

“Do you have any plans to work for our kingdom?”

“What?!”

“We are not on par with the empire, but our Macallan Kingdom is still a formidable country. I’m certain that the kingdom will be willing to grant you a noble title and knight you if you so wish for it. Then, you can be the knight of a kingdom and—” Overlock started.

“I refuse,” Siegfried immediately refused the offer before saying, “Becoming a civil servant is just not my style, sir.”

What Siegfried meant by a civil servant wasn’t simply those who work for a country to get paid a monthly wage. The civil servant Siegfried was talking about here was the Adventurers affiliated with a country.

Adventurers affiliated with a country would receive a stipend from their affiliated country every month, and they would convert their received stipend into real-life cash, which made them exactly like civil servants in real life.

Now, why would a country in the game hire Adventurers?

The reasons were simple:

1. An Adventurer had the Rune of Transcendence, which allowed them to quickly become stronger.

2. They were immortals.

The Adventurers had quick and unlimited growth thanks to their Rune of Transcendence, and this simple fact was more than enough for them to be pretty attractive in the eyes of the countries on the continent.

On top of that, the Adventurers were immortal beings, so the country could deploy them wherever they wanted without fear of losing the Adventurers. As such, the Adventurers were almost equal to an infinite source of manpower for the countries.

The only downside to their deaths was the fact that they would disappear for forty-nine hours. Of course, they would immediately come back and start working again after that.

The reasons above were the reason why each country on the continent hired Adventurers left and right by offering them a pretty high ‘salary’ to become affiliated with their country.

The reason Overlock made such an offer to Siegfried was no different. He was currently scouting Siegfried in hopes of strengthening the Macallan Kingdom’s national power.

However, Siegfried had no plans to work underneath someone, and he was already making a pretty decent amount of money without having to work for someone else. Not to mention, Siegfried was already a king, so why would he even bother becoming affiliated with the Macallan Kingdom to serve another king?

“I have no plans to become affiliated with a specific country, sir,” Siegfried clarified.

“Hoho…” Overlock laughed. However, he seemed disappointed as he said, “Figures. An Adventurer with a bright future like you is bound to refuse being tied down by a country, but I still can’t help but be disappointed by your refusal. It would be great if you were to become a subject of our Macallan Kingdom…”

“I respectfully decline, sir.”

“I understand. I won’t bother you with it anymore. Instead, I hope that you will do your best while you’re in this place. Can I ask for that from you, at the very least? Our forces are in dire need of a hero like you,” Overlock said while looking desperate.

Patriotism.

The Macallan Kingdom was in charge of driving back the Cryptids for the past few decades now, and most of their national strength was being poured into this place.

It was a long and tiring war against the Cryptids, and the entire kingdom was already weary from the long war.

As such, it was inevitable for Siegfried to become a special existence in this place.

He was one of the few people who was able to blow a new breath of life into the army and instill bravery in them during these dark times. The soldiers and officers of the Macallan Kingdom were looking up to him as well.

“If you continue to do your best and keep racking up achievements…” Overlook trailed off.

“…?” Siegfried listened intently, expecting something big.

“I will allow you to marry my daughter,” Overlock concluded.

A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.

It was pretty good how he managed to capture Siegfried’s undivided attention and interest, but Overlock somehow managed to screw it up with his nonsense.