Chapter 33: Pulling Aggro Without a Skill

“Oh?”

Kang Juho let out a small exclamation as he checked the trending posts.

A new post had appeared about a rare class—one that hadn’t been visible just yesterday.

Of course, it was more of a brag disguised as an info post.

Just as he expected, there was no real information about how to unlock the class.

Only a skill or two were briefly mentioned.

-Grando: So what’s the class change requirement?

-Maeil-i Bom: Can you DM me the conditions for it?

-NerfParrot: Wow, totally OP! This needs a nerf.

-Recard: Looks weak to me. Seems like a Guardian with no real attack skills.

-Firebolt: Recard / Maybe the attack skills come in later?

-Recard: Firebolt / Then what are you supposed to do early game?

User reactions were all over the place.

After scanning through the comments, Kang Juho backed out of the post and started scrolling through more trending ones.

“Hm?”

One headline caught his attention.

“How to Pull Aggro Without a Skill?”

He clicked into the post titled “You Can Draw Aggro Without a Taunt Skill!”

“Shouting? Monsters aggro from shouting?”

Kang Juho raised an eyebrow.

The post claimed that you could draw monster aggro simply by yelling.

This wasn’t about expanding awareness through sound—that mechanic was already known.

This was aggro in the middle of combat.

-TankGod: It’s real. I was gonna post it first—missed my chance!

-Heavenly: How strong is the effect though?

-IGot: Not huge. Maybe enough to reset two or three buffs or a couple heals.

-Temma: Couldn’t this accidentally pull nearby mobs too?

-IGot: You gotta use it carefully. If yelling pulls them, they would’ve come to the battle sounds anyway.

“Could be useful in a pinch.”

It was genuinely good info.

Kang Juho noted a few more useful posts before getting up from his seat—it was time for dreamland.

He set his alarm and headed to bed.

***

Meanwhile, in the Roman Chamber of House Rodegas…

Two men sat inside the chamber.

One was Roman, head of the Marquisate of Rodegas.

The other was Poeras, leader of their shadowy Intelligence Division.

Roman was deep in thought.

‘How is this even possible?’

He couldn’t make sense of what had happened.

After a pause, he finally spoke.

“What’s your take on it?”

“They’re no ordinary people.”

Poeras answered firmly.

Their scouts had been sent to investigate the deaths of several apprentice knights.

Only two returned.

Even the squad leader, Lagaen, had fallen.

“I went myself…”

Poeras had re-entered the collapsed cavern and dug through the rubble.

What greeted him was a gruesome scene.

While they’d focused more on tracking than fighting, this was still a skilled recon team—not weaklings.

But they’d been massacred.

“I believe we should report this to the King.”

While this happened in the Rodegas territory—and by protocol should be handled internally—this was beyond their scope.

Sure, if Roman deployed his true forces, they might contain the threat…

But it would come at a high cost, and attract unwanted scrutiny from other nobles.

‘If this is a scheme by House Radas…’

The Kingdom of Paraville was split between two factions:

The Royalist Faction, led by King Corbin Parabil,

And the Noble Faction, led by former Duke Hofnum Radas.

Roman was firmly on the king’s side.

If this was Radas’ doing, it was carefully orchestrated to weaken them.

‘I’ll need to confirm.’

Roman resolved to investigate whether this was a plot by Radas—and if so, to what extent they had prepared.

***

Back to the North Gate…

Kang Juho arrived at the northern gate and checked his supplies while waiting for Kim Seokju.

‘Plenty of food, potions, whetstones… all good.’

Then he opened his skill window to check his mastery levels.

‘Just a bit more to go.’

Hammer of Fury: 5% left

Relentless: 7% left

‘Can’t wait to max them.’

Just then, Kim Seokju arrived.

“Hey!”

“Got anything to buy?”

Juho handed over their loot proceeds and the money he had borrowed.

“Nah, I’m good. Let’s go!”

Their prep was complete.

They headed northeast, toward Hodvel Prairie, just beside the Coban’s Marsh.

“Learned all your skills?”

“Only Sticky Swamp and Spirit of Shackles. I need level 170 for Rage.”

• Sticky Swamp: Slows movement speed by 50% in a wide area.
• Spirit of Shackles: Passive; reduces enemy defense by 10%.
• Rage: Buff; increases damage by 10%, but lowers all defense by 20%.

Rage required a hard-to-get item.

“170? That’s Evadore Mountains. You need Ogre loot too?”

Juho had planned to hunt Ogres there—not just for XP, but for specific loot.

Seokju nodded.

“Yeah, I need 20 Ogre Hide Fragments.”

They were rare, expensive, and only 1–2 were sold per shop—if at all.

“We’ll just hunt for them ourselves.”

“Yeah, no point buying them.”

Juho then remembered something.

“Oh, and I got that Orc Tendon quest.”

“…Whoa, 20% more XP?”

“Yup. I’ll handle the turn-in for you.”

“Thanks a ton!”

Soon, they arrived at their destination.

[You have entered Hodvel Prairie.]

They froze.

Their expressions twisted in confusion and dismay.

“Isn’t this… a bit much?”

Seokju muttered.

‘Yeah, this is ridiculous…’

The guidebook said orcs traveled in groups—like Lizardmen.

But the distance between groups was the problem.

Only about 100 meters apart.

If they fought one group, others might rush in mid-battle.

“What do we do?”

Seokju asked.

“Hmm…”

Juho hesitated.

Moving to another zone would waste time. Hodvel was their most efficient spot.

The next best hunting ground was in the opposite direction.

‘Staying feels risky… but moving is inefficient.’

If it were zombies or ghouls from the Desolate Tomb, continuous farming wouldn’t be a problem.

But orcs were on another level.

‘Let’s test them first.’

Decision made, Juho spoke.

“Let’s try one fight.”

He still didn’t know how dangerous orcs really were.

If things went wrong, Seokju had plenty of crowd control to retreat safely.

“Okay! Buffing now…”

[Defense +14% for 4 minutes.]

[All speeds +14% for 3 minutes.]

Buffed up, Juho approached the nearest orc pack.

Screeeee!

The orc let out a nasal snort.

Screeee! Screeee!

All 7 orcs charged at him.

‘They’re not intimidated?’

Juho frowned.

He expected a level gap to trigger a fear debuff.

His plan to test just one enemy fell apart.

They reached him and began attacking.

He couldn’t kite them without drawing more groups, so he blocked and checked his HP bar.

‘So Lizardmen really were tankier…’

The orcs were manageable.

‘Let’s see how fast I can kill one.’

He counterattacked.

Whack! Whack! Whack! WHACK! Thud!

The fourth blow brought one down.

“…!”

Juho was stunned.

He’d switched to his heavy Reinforced Iron Hammer for damage, but still expected more resistance from orcs.

‘This could work!’

With Seokju’s debuffs, Hammer of Fury could finish the job.