Chapter 61: Chapter 61

72 hours felt like 720 hours had passed.

“Damn… It’s finally over.”

Hong Hyun-Woo, who was deeply addicted to New World, had been suffering for the past few days.

His hatred for the martial artist grew even stronger as he couldn’t even log into the game during the time he should have been enjoying it.

[DespairedYou: Quest complete. I have him tied up, so you can log in whenever you want.]

There was nothing to be afraid of anymore.

He had put in a request to a level 201 Saber, and the Saber had completed the quest very successfully.

[Hey, let’s go in together. He said he caught the guy.]

Kim Bong-Goo also hated the martial artist.

The 30 gold they had paid, 15 gold each, included tying him up.

“Damn it, let’s pay him back for sure.”

The thought of the martial artist’s suffering face already filled him with excitement.

Hong Hyun-Woo hurriedly logged in.

And there, the Saber was waiting for them.

“Have you arrived?”

“Yes. But where is the martial artist?”

“I’ll tell you after the other client logs in.”

“Yes.”

A minute later, Kim Bong-Goo also logged in.

“Where’s the martial artist?”

Kim Bong-Goo also looked for the martial artist first.

“Ah, about that…”

DespairedYou laughed awkwardly and scratched his cheek.

“Ha, what is it now?”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

Hong Hyun-Woo and Kim Bong-Goo’s faces were filled with annoyance at the slow response.

“The client has changed.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

Before Hong Hyun-Woo and Kim Bong-Goo could react, Hong Hyun-Woo’s head fell to the ground.

He had been struck by DespairedYou’s sword.

Kim Bong-Goo looked down at Hong Hyun-Woo’s corpse with a dumbfounded expression, unable to comprehend the unexpected turn of events.

Soon, he glared at DespairedYou with a furious face.

“What the hell are you doing!”

“I’m sorry. You should have been more careful who you messed with.”

DespairedYou didn’t care and cut Kim Bong-Goo’s throat.

The difference in level between a level 140 second class advancement and a level 200 third class advancement was like heaven and earth.

Even with the two of them, they couldn’t stand against a single Saber.

And the martial artist behind him was an exception, as he was beyond the norm.

“Good work.”

Jeong-Hoon patted his shoulder with a satisfied face.

With this, they were suspended for 120 hours.

“Yes. Then may I take my leave?”

“There’s one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to hunt the Ogre King now, and he has quite a few minions.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Help me subjugate it.”

“…”

The level difference between Jeong-Hoon and the Saber was a precarious 97.

Since it didn’t exceed the 100-level limit set by New World, there would be no penalty.

He was a very suitable minion for the Ogre King subjugation.

“Why? You don’t want to?”

“N-No…”

“Good. You should do that much after getting 30 gold, right?”

Is that your money?

DespairedYou wanted to shout that, but different words came out of his mouth.

“Of course! Please rest at the back! I’ll take care of everything!”

* * *

The Ogre King was newly added.

Therefore, a new field that shouldn’t have existed was added.

“Is this it? The Ogre King?”

“Yes. But don’t go there.”

“Why?”

“The experience is really low. It’s less than half of what you get from a single level 140 monster.”

“What? Even though the level is set between 170 and 190?”

“Exactly. There’s no one here over level 150…”

However, the Ogre King had become a target to avoid for users, even though it had only been added a week ago.

“The lord begged me to kill the Ogre King for him.”

“You too? Me too.”

Most users diligently carried out the town quests in Autobahn.

The reason was the experience points given for each town quest.

The amount of experience was quite substantial, so any user who was leveling up would do the town quests.

However, they did not accept the Ogre King subjugation quest offered by the lord.

The experience points were low despite the monsters being over level 170, and the reward for risking their lives to kill the Ogre King was too meager.

“Honorary Knight of Autobahn? Oh please…”

“What can you do with that?”

“They say you can freely enter and exit the lord’s castle and the town.”

“Pfft, who would go crazy and try to catch a level 190 monster just to get that? It’s not worth it.”

That’s right.

The reward was the Honorary Knight of Autobahn.

It was a rather unconventional offer, granting the title of knight within Autobahn at the lord’s discretion, even without a knighting ceremony.

However, it was also a reward that users didn’t need.

This was because there were few places they couldn’t enter in the first place.

Even if they accepted it, they would have to hire a mercenary over level 200 to hunt the level 190 monster, which would cost too much money.

It was more profitable to level up and reach level 150 to move on to the next town during the time spent on the quest.

“Let’s go in.”

Of course, Jeong-Hoon knew the true value of this quest better than anyone.

“Are we really going in with just the two of us?”

DespairedYou hesitated slightly.

There were a total of five newly added fields.

If this was the Ogre King’s territory from here, it meant there were quite a few monsters.

“What else?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to gather a few more people before going in…?”

“You talk a lot of nonsense. It seems like you want to die.”

“No! I’ll go in!”

DespairedYou led the way into the portal.

* * *

At the same time.

Hong Hyun-Woo was…

“Argh! Damn it!”

He was shedding tears of blood at the 120-hour suspension.

15 gold.

A whopping 15 gold.

In cash, that was 150,000 won.

He had paid such a large sum to hire someone, and all he got in return was a stab in the back.

“I scraped together all my money to hire you, and you betray me?!”

He hadn’t even considered the possibility of betrayal.

Buzz-

His smartphone vibrated.

Kim Bong-Goo had also been forcibly logged out after being killed by the martial artist.

[Hey… What should we do?]

Contrary to his expectation of anger, Kim Bong-Goo asked in a gloomy voice.

“What?”

[That guy… He’s really out to kill us…]

“Hey… You don’t mean…?”

[If we die next time, it’s a month… We might really get permanently banned…]

Permanent ban.

The worst punishment, handed down when penalties accumulated and one was deemed worthless.

Once permanently banned, no amount of begging would lift it.

Since each person could only create one ID in their lifetime, being permanently banned meant never being able to enter New World again.

Thinking that far, Hong Hyun-Woo’s face turned pale.

“N-No way, he wouldn’t go that far, would he?”

[He’s the guy who hired the guy we hired, for even more money…]

They had really messed with the wrong person.

“What about hiring someone else?”

[With what money?]

“…”

[Let’s just apologize… Let’s say we did something we shouldn’t have and that we won’t do it again.]

“You bastard, don’t you have any pride?”

[What good is pride if you get permanently banned?]

“…”

[I’m going to apologize. You can keep resisting.]

The call ended with those words.

* * *

Slash.

DespairedYou’s sword ripped through the ogre’s abdomen.

“Cough!”

The level 170 ogre, with its massive body, spilled its guts and collapsed on the ground.

This was the 22nd one.

“Phew.”

Hunting 22 of them without rest was not an easy task.

Unlike the monsters in the field, they moved in groups and surrounded DespairedYou in a circle.

Thanks to that, he had used up all his magic power hunting 22 of them.

His health was also running low.

‘Potions are precious.’

Potions that restore health and magic power.

Potions made by alchemists were traded at quite high prices.

There were ways to recover health and magic power by eating food or resting in town, but in dungeons or field hunting, you couldn’t go back and forth to town, so you had to rely on the help of a healer or potions.

As a result, those who didn’t have healing classes bought potions in bulk, and alchemists were making a fortune.

‘It’s crazy to use achievement points on potions.’

In the early days of New World, users used achievement points to obtain potions, but as the importance of points became more apparent with each level up, the use of points to purchase potions decreased significantly.

That’s why the saying “If you want to make money, become an alchemist” came about.

Of course, it wasn’t easy for an alchemist to reach the stage of making potions.

They had to at least complete the second class advancement, and since alchemists had almost no combat skills, they had to rely on the help of other users in the early stages.

However, once they reached the second class, they could make potions, so many people switched to alchemist.

“Cough!”

An arrow pierced the ogre’s neck.

As it trembled, another arrow flew and pierced its head.

DespairedYou, Lee Si-Woo, looked at the source of the arrows with admiration in his eyes.

‘How can he shoot so well?’

The one who shot the arrows was none other than Jeong-Hoon.

From Lee Si-Woo’s perspective, Jeong-Hoon was a martial artist who had completed his second class advancement and moved to Autobahn.

But the martial artist’s archery skills were extraordinary.

Moreover, the ogre was frozen for a few seconds after being pierced by the arrow.

That meant he had skills related to archery.

‘Theoretically, martial artists can learn skills from various classes with their Steadfast Will. However, the conditions are so extreme that it’s virtually impossible to obtain them. So far, no one has met the conditions.’

An old guide for martial artists posted on World Com.

He had thought that the martial artist’s performance was inferior to other classes, and that New World had just put in the option as a filler, but this martial artist was maximizing that option.

‘Is that even possible?’

There were dozens of corpses piled up like a mountain in front of Jeong-Hoon.

They were all ogres killed by Jeong-Hoon.

‘…He must have mastered archery with his Steadfast Will. That means he’s likely famous for archery in the real world too.’

One of the conditions for activating Steadfast Will.

It was to raise proficiency to the point where the skill reacted.

It was something that could only be learned through direct experience, as it was not corrected by the system.

Therefore, Lee Si-Woo thought that Jeong-Hoon was a genius who was famous for archery in the real world.

It wasn’t just archery.

He was also skilled in fist techniques.

Not just skilled.

The damage that pierced through Epic grade armor…

Anyway, he was a monster disguised as a level 104.

“Take care of the rest.”

Jeong-Hoon pointed his chin towards the oncoming ogres.

“Ah, yes…”

Lee Si-Woo, having recovered his health and magic power with a potion, hurriedly raised his sword.

Soon, he was once again facing the ogres.

‘Damn it, why did I take that request?’

It was all because of those Ora-Knight and assassin bastards.

If they hadn’t put in the request, he wouldn’t be suffering like this.

‘Just you wait until you log in. I’ll kill you right away.’

Lee Si-Woo planned to vent his boiling anger on the two of them.

“Cough!”

The last ogre in the field collapsed on the ground.

Now, only the dungeon where the Ogre King lurked remained.

‘So he came down here, right below the northern snowy mountains.’

There was a portal next to the dungeon.

It seemed to be the portal connected to the lord’s castle, as it wasn’t working at the moment.

“Are you going in right away?”

Lee Si-Woo asked cautiously.

He was completely exhausted from following Jeong-Hoon this far.

Even though he was over level 200 and had just completed his third class advancement, the sheer number of ogres had taken its toll.

Warrior classes like Saber had no choice but to consume magic power with every attack and defense, and their health naturally decreased due to the continuous close combat.

He had managed to hold on with potions, but it was impossible to enter the dungeon right away in this state.

“We have to.”

Jeong-Hoon said and cast a healing spell on Lee Si-Woo.

His health and magic power were partially restored.

The light scratches on his body also disappeared completely.

“Huh…?”

Lee Si-Woo’s eyes widened at the change in his body.

“Go in first.”

Jeong-Hoon pointed his chin towards the dungeon.

“Ah, okay.”