Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Pride of the Weak (2)

Two large swords flew towards him simultaneously.

He couldn’t dodge both.

‘I’ll have to take one hit. But I must make sure to take the other one’s life in exchange.’

Kang Hyeon didn’t avoid the incoming sword and instead thrust his own blade forward.

This was only possible because of his armor’s defense, his healing ability, and his belief in resurrection.

“Squeek...”

The Orc whose neck was instantly pierced spat out blood.

-Thwack!

“Kuhuk!”

At the same time, Kang Hyeon felt a heavy impact on his back.

Blood burst from Kang Hyeon’s mouth along with a groan.

“Urgh, I’d be a corpse if I didn’t have this body. Damn it!”

Although it had become less frequent recently, Kang Hyeon had always lived with pain since the dungeon incident.

The sensation of his back being crushed was nothing compared to when his back was actually crushed.

“Huaaap!”

“Queek?!”

A brief opening due to carelessness.

Those who succeed in their attacks reveal a very short gap.

Usually, it’s impossible for the one being attacked to ignore the pain and exploit that gap,

But Kang Hyeon could do it.

-Squelch

Ignoring the pain in his back, Kang Hyeon pulled his sword out of the Orc’s neck.

He immediately swung it towards the face of another Orc.

The one who recognized the attack quickly jerked its head back, but still ended up getting one eye slashed.

“Quee! Queeeek!”

The Orc retreated while screaming and clutching its eye.

Just as Kang Hyeon was about to finish it off.

“Queak!”

“What kind of survival instinct is this? Like a cockroach?!”

The Orc that Kang Hyeon had thrown earlier. The Ax-wielding Orc with a pierced stomach and wounds all over its body had somehow approached Kang Hyeon closely.

-Whoosh!

The Ax that the Orc swung diagonally barely grazed Kang Hyeon’s head.

-Stab!

Kang Hyeon, who avoided the attack with a slide, quickly stood up and thrust his sword into the Orc’s jaw.

“Qui, queek..!”

Ignoring the Orc’s dying scream, Kang Hyeon pulled out his sword.

Blood spurted from the Orc’s neck in all directions.

“Haa, haa. Now, only you is left.”

Kang Hyeon, covered in blood from head to toe, glared at the last Orc.

All of its companions were dead, and it had lost one eye.

It should normally feel fear in this situation.

However, the Orc glared back at Kang Hyeon with its remaining eye.

That eye was burning with complete fighting spirit.

“Queek, quek!”

The Orc pointed its large sword at Kang Hyeon and said something.

Kang Hyeon also raised his sword to point at the Orc.

“You’re about to die, but you’ve got style.”

The Orc, mistaking Kang Hyeon’s words for some grand resolve, nodded solemnly.

“Queeeeek!”

“Stop making sounds like a squealing pig!”

The Orc and Kang Hyeon ran towards each other while shouting.

‘I’ll aim for the area where its vision is limited due to the injured eye.’

His judgment and movement occurred simultaneously.

The Orc’s sword barely grazed Kang Hyeon, and

“Bisection!”

-Slash!

Kang Hyeon’s sword cleanly passed through the Orc’s neck.

“Queek..?”

At the moment its neck was perfectly severed.

Even in that moment, the Orc’s eye was wide open in disbelief, staring straight ahead.

-Thud, thud...

It walked a few more steps with its head separated before collapsing.

“Tough bastards... Phew.”

It was one of the most challenging battles he could count on one hand.

Kang Hyeon sat on the ground and slowly caught his breath.

[Level Up!]

Hearing this sound soon after, Kang Hyeon smiled.

“Good timing.”

With the level up, all his wounds and fatigue were recovered, making him feel like he could fly.

“How long has it been since I last leveled up.”

That’s when it happened.

“Huh..?”

“Quik! Queek!”

“Quok! Quok!”

The voices of other Orcs were heard nearby. They seemed to be companions of the Orcs he had just dealt with.

‘Damn. Just when I thought I could rest...’

Kang Hyeon’s expression turned serious.

‘Wait, this isn’t just one or two.’

He had risked his life to kill just three Orcs.

But this time, even from a rough estimate, the unpleasant quik-quik sounds were extremely noisy.

“Damn it...”

He didn’t care about dying himself.

After all, if he died, he would resurrect.

But the guilt of not being able to protect his parents would haunt him forever.

“So this is how it ends...”

Just before Kang Hyeon’s last breath,

“Orcs!”

People appeared from somewhere and rushed towards the Orcs.

-Clang! Clang!

“Block it!”

“Squeak!”

They were all ability users wearing armor and wielding cold weapons instead of guns.

‘Who are they..?’

These suddenly appeared individuals pushed back the Orcs in an instant.

Among them, a woman with long flowing hair stirring among the Orcs particularly stood out.

“Haap!”

“Squeak!”

Dodging an Orc’s sword, the woman instantly thrust her sword into its vital point.

Then she quickly dodged.

-Kwang!

The Great Warrior’s sword struck down in that spot, and the woman, who had somehow moved behind the Great Warrior, pierced his chest with her sword.

The series of movements were smooth and natural like flowing water, without any hindrance.

Every movement followed the highest efficiency under thorough calculation.

Kang Hyeon could finally recognize who this woman was.

‘Han Se-yeon.’

It was impossible not to know who she was.

After all, she was one of only two official Tutorial graduates in South Korea.

‘She fights well...’

Watching her, Kang Hyeon recalled something Kang A-hyun had said once.

-Bullshit. How can you compare an elite who graduated from the Tutorial in a week to a slow learner who took over 3 months?

Remembering those words, Kang Hyeon swallowed a hollow laugh.

‘Slow learner. A slow learner... It was true after all. Heh.’

Honestly, he didn’t know the difference would be this severe.

In fact, he had thought that if it was a one-on-one fight, he might win.

That thought had grown stronger as he went through dungeons.

He had inwardly mocked people who fumbled with monsters he could dispatch with a single strike.

-Why is everyone so incompetent? Was I actually a natural talent?

The events of the past few months flashed before his eyes like a kaleidoscope.

He was just excited about making money.

He pranced around like an unbridled colt at the fact that he was a little stronger than others.

-You shouldn’t deal with these guys like that. Here, like this!

-Wow!

He felt ridiculous thinking about how he had shown off in front of people with his meager skills.

“Damn, what natural talent...”

As Kang A-hyun had said, he was indeed a slow learner.

He had just gone a little ahead because he had more experience than others, because of the extreme situations he had inevitably gone through.

“If only I had tried a little harder...”

He regretted the time he had spent slacking off after graduating from the Tutorial.

If he had continued to work hard like during the Tutorial, at least he wouldn’t have been so helplessly defeated like this.

‘Mom, Dad, are they safe?’

He wanted to get up and check, but he couldn’t move a finger.

His consciousness was gradually becoming blurry.

Although it had been quite a while since he felt this sensation, Kang Hyeon knew this feeling well.

Death had come.

‘Just stay alive. Next time, I will surely protect you....’

Unable to finish his words, Kang Hyeon’s consciousness faded away.

***

Ippotranslation

***

“Guild Leader, it’s over.”

“Good work.”

“There are civilian survivors here too.”

“When the soldiers arrive, hand them over properly.”

“Yes!”

After giving instructions, Han Se-yeon looked around.

“Where is he?”

Clearly, when they had arrived here, there was a man collapsed a little distance away.

Given the circumstances, it was clear that man had fought with the Orcs.

“He seemed quite skilled...”

When Han Se-yeon first saw the battlefield, she was very surprised.

There were over a dozen Orc corpses strewn about horribly.

Moreover, even the Great Warrior was staggering, wounded.

‘I thought it must have been a clash with another guild...’

It was not a level that could be achieved by an ability user alone.

However, looking around, the only one who had fought the Orcs was that man alone.

He seemed to have already breathed his last, but he was clearly a great warrior.

“I was going to at least recover the body, but...”

In the meantime, it seemed some other monster targeting corpses had taken it.

“It can’t be helped. That must have been his fate to die like that.”

If he died without even leaving a corpse behind, that must have been that man’s destiny.

“Yes. It’s fate.”

Just as she had taken on the mission to save the Earth from destruction.