Chapter 28: Suppression of the Wasteland King

“Gwahaha! Gwahahaha!”

The Tyrant with a hammer slung over his shoulder laughed.

“Kkup? Kkeurak!”

Flowerdol kicked and whined.

‘Was he frustrated because he hadn’t defeated it himself?’

Still, it was a relief the Tyrant took it down first.

If Flowerdol had attacked, it would have reflected damage back.

[Mission Clear!]

[+200 Gold]

[Pet Bonus!] [+40 Gold]

[Pet Bonus!] [+20 Steel Shard]

[+5 General Cards]

[+100 Diamonds]

[Champion Monster Defeated] [+1 General Card]

‘Huh?’

But six cards appeared on the screen.

‘What was this?’

Five were probably achievement rewards.

Ah.

It seemed that champion monsters also granted rewards upon defeat.

Like bosses, they had a farming structure.

“Oh! Hero! I trusted you. ·!”

[SKIP]

As soon as the Village Elder appeared, I skipped.

Thunk!

And returned to the stage.

‘Should I just keep going like this?’

[Lv.23: Evergreen Forest Outskirts of the Green Village]

[Lv.24: Shallow Area of Evergrove Forest]

[Lv.25: Deep Area of Evergrove Forest]

[Lv.26: Shaded Area of Evergrove Forest]

[Lv.27: Desolate Area of Evergrove Forest]

I cleared the remaining dungeons as well.

Before, they were dungeons where you had to bring something, but now it was just clearing out the orcs.

It felt a little dull.

[Lv.29: Daejanggun Toralarask]

I immediately set out for the next dungeon.

Thunk!

The dungeon started on the green plains.

This dungeon was the one with the general Toralarask accompanied by 30 orcs.

Two burly ones stepped forward without me needing to act.

“Grraah!”

“Kkuap-kkuap!”

[Lv.28 Retired Orc Veteran defeated.]

[Lv.28 Retired Orc Veteran defeated.]

Thud! Bang!

“Kkuak!”

“Ugh!”

All the orcs were crushed outright.

I felt sorry just watching.

[Lv.28 Retired Orc Veteran defeated.]

[Lv.28 Retired Orc Veteran defeated.]

Finished off the remaining orcs.

It only took one minute.

Thanks to the Tyrant and Flowerdol, I only got to defeat one.

The sitting general growled.

“Gwahahaha!”

The Tyrant laughed, hammer in hand.

‘Could he really not recognize me?’

‘Could he not recognize me standing right in front of the King?’

Well.

I guess I just had to accept it.

It was my fault for expecting something.

“Kraa!!!”

The general let out a loud roar and charged.

That yellow hue covering his body.

That was the ‘unstoppable’ pattern, wasn’t it?

Still, I watched without worry.

If the general orc had unstoppable,

“Grraa!!!”

We had the Tyrant.

Thunk!

[★★★★★ Wasteland Tyrant: Orc’s Chieftain Effect!]

[Unaffected by special effects used by the Orc race.]

“Kkuwak!”

The general was thrown by a single blow from the Tyrant.

It was truly a tremendous hit.

The magic shielding the general shattered instantly.

“Kkurrak! Kkuap!”

Flowerdol also joined in the attack.

Thud-thak-thak! Kraak!

The general orc never got a chance to counterattack.

It just took the hits, exposing his entire body.

“722…!”

‘Huh?’

A strange energy flickered from the general.

What pattern was this?

Ah, the intimidation pattern.

I quickly hid behind Flowerdol.

This pattern also had a reliable counter.

“Grrr… Grraaak!!!”

Bang!

The general’s roar exploded.

It was the same intimidating roar I had experienced before, but

[Stray Dog Hunter]

Unaffected by intimidation effects from monsters Lv.64 and below.

My ‘Stray Dog Hunter’ trait.

[Orc’s Chieftain]

Unaffected by special effects used by the Orc race.

The Tyrant’s ‘Orc’s Chieftain’ trait.

[Master of Madness]

Cannot use potions. Unaffected by all intimidation effects.

Flowerdol’s ‘Master of Madness’ trait ignored it.

“Geh?”

‘Is this what they call bad matchups?’

The general orc’s eyes went wide, facing three unharmed opponents.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the poor orc.

“Grrrraa!!!”

“Kkuap-kkuap!!!”

[Lv.29 Daejanggun Toralarask defeated.]

[Achievement: Defeat Daejanggun Toralarask without equipping any gear.]

“Kkuéek!”

And just like that, the general orc was defeated.

Including the regular orcs, it took four minutes.

Faster than the giant Ratman.

If I had to farm, this dungeon would be perfect.

[Mission Clear!]

[+250 Gold]

[Pet Bonus!] [+80 Gold]

[Pet Bonus!] [+50 Steel Shard]

[+100 Diamonds]

[+8 General Cards]

Thunk!

Returned to the stage to check rewards.

‘Three cards for boss defeat and five for achievements?’

I secured seventeen cards from revisiting dungeons.

‘Gobo-ri said it before, right?’

Users go crazy over cards.

Now I understood that feeling.

Just seeing the accumulating cards made me smirk.

[Available Deployment Areas]

[Lv.30: Wasteland Tyrant]

Checked the next deployment location.

This dungeon promised another exciting battle.

A powerful tyrant king versus a tyrant.

‘What would happen once inside?’

‘Would they be surprised seeing each other?’

‘Or just ignore each other like their orc subordinates?’

Considering Valhalla’s flaws, probably the latter.

Thinking so, I deployed immediately.

Thunk!

Entering the dungeon, I saw orc corpses everywhere.

Of course, here too,

[SKIP]

Skip.

“Grryaaak!”

“Kyaak!”

Many orcs charged at once.

[Orcs of the valley are flooding in! Their numbers are endless!]

“Let’s go!”

“Grra!”

“Kkuap-kkuap!”

We broke through with the two 5-star heroes.

Swoosh! Thud! Kraak!

[100 Orcs defeated!]

[The massacre cannot be stopped!]

‘Phew.’

When I defeated six alone, 100 orcs were wiped out.

Those 5-stars were incredible.

Pushing forward fiercely, we soon reached deep inside the valley.

[Boss: Wasteland Tyrant] Lv.30

[Boss monster has appeared!]

[This is a boss battle.]

[Manual combat recommended.]

“Grrr… Grrraaah!!!”

The King of the Orcs appeared through the dust.

I chuckled softly, hitting the king beside me.

“Hey. It’s you. Your twin.”

“Grra?”

“Kkuap? Kkuap-kkuap!”

Flowerdol burst out laughing at my words.

Laughing at the tyrant before us and our own tyrant, Thunk!

“Kkuel.”

Our Tyrant’s fist calmed things down.

‘Was that a warning not to laugh?’

The hierarchy between the Tyrant and Flowerdol made me smile.

No Easter eggs here, huh? Do you know their strategy? You have to trigger the falling rocks, right?

“Grrra!!!”

“Kkuap-kkuap!!!”

Before I could finish, the two dashed forward.

Well.

They wouldn’t need a strategy.

I smiled lightly and charged the boss.

“Kkuap-kkuap!”

Flowerdol attacked first.

Thunk!

The boss raised his hammer and blocked Flowerdol.

Then spun his body to throw Flowerdol off,

“Kkuap!”

Flowerdol rolled and fell to the ground.

The veteran combat skills resembled ‘our Tyrant’s.’

“Grraa!”

Our Tyrant struck down his hammer.

The boss raised his hammer to block the strike aimed at his head.

Thunk-thunk!

The massive impact caused the ground beneath the boss to sink.

The power was incredible.

I seized the opportunity and sliced open the boss’s belly.

Slash!

I wasn’t just standing idly by either.

“Grrr… Grraaa!!!”

The boss extended his leg to attack.

Thunk!

Our Tyrant took it head-on.

“Grrr…”

But our Tyrant didn’t flinch.

Even the shock resonating through the valley was absorbed with bare flesh.

This was the…

Tank!

The ‘tank’ Gobo-ri mentioned.

Pure physical strength sent chills down my spine.

“Kkuap-kkuap! Kkuap!”

Flowerdol, up on his feet, charged the boss.

Thunk!

“Ghk!”

The boss was pushed back.

At the same time, our Tyrant slammed down his hammer.

Kraang!

“Gkraak!”

The hammer crashed onto the boss’s head.

The once invincible boss crashed down.

No need to trigger falling rocks after all?

The boss’s health was dropping on screen.

Our 5-stars were so strong they built up damage even without falling rocks.

“Grr… Grra! Kraak!”

Boom!

The fallen boss slammed his fist down.

Crack! Snap! Kraak!

The fissures spread from the ground to the cliffs.

One cliff collapsed, swallowing the boss whole.

Kugugu…

The two stepped back, watching the dust.

This was a different ending than before.

Here, the boss was supposed to run away alive.

Caught in such a rockfall, he would have died.

No chance to escape.

“722……”

‘Huh?’

But the boss wasn’t dead.

He was alive and standing atop the cliff.

‘Even if the process changed, was the result the same?’

Well, I just let it slide.

Small glitches were just ‘Valhalla things.’

There were so many issues that people joked about it.

Even now, I was just ‘Valhalla-ing.’

No different from just accepting it.

[Lv.30 Wasteland Tyrant suppressed.]

[Achievement: Suppress the Wasteland Tyrant without equipping gear.]

[Achievement: Dance with the Beast! Deploy with a general hero and beast companion 15 times.]

[★★ Wandering Swordsman’s trait updated!]

[Trait: Stray Dog Hunter → Beast Companion]

[★★★★★ Terrible Man-Eating Flower’s trait updated!]

[Trait: Fierce Glutton → Docile Glutton]

[Mission Clear!]

[+300 Gold]

[Pet Bonus!] [+100 Gold]

[Pet Bonus!] [+40 Steel Shard]

[+200 Diamonds]

[+13 General Cards]

A massive number of notifications popped up all at once.

‘What was this?’

‘Why so many?’

Checking through the screen, ‘Two achievements?’

I had earned two achievements.

No wonder I got thirteen cards.

The long-dormant trait updates also happened.

Thunk!

Returned to the stage to check the traits.

[Beast Companion]

Unaffected by intimidation effects.

First, my trait.

The ‘Stray Dog Hunter’ trait changed to ‘Beast Companion.’

‘Did the conditions disappear?’

The ‘under a certain level’ wording was gone.

The Tyrant and Flowerdol’s ‘intimidation immunity’ had conditions, but no conditions meant a better change.

‘Could it activate anytime, anywhere?’

[Docile Glutton]

Has a low chance to instantly kill allies.

Flowerdol’s ‘Fierce Glutton’ also changed to a different trait.

0124……

Not a big change.

Since he hadn’t attacked for a while, maybe this was overcoming limitations.

“Kkuap! Kkuap-kkuap!”

Thunk! Thunk!

But Flowerdol was pounding the air.

‘What?’

‘Was he telling me to hurry up?’

I chuckled and checked the screen.

[Lv.31: Wasteland Pursuit]

Already the last dungeon.

I cleared all the dungeons in no time.

Well.

‘Users who abandoned me before said the same, didn’t they?’

You need 5-stars to smoothly clear dungeons.

I could somewhat understand the users’ feelings now.

It was a little ironic that a 2-star like me sympathized with them.

Thunk!

Back into the dungeon.

“Grrr…”

The dungeon began on the broken cliff.

The boss atop the cliff growled and quickly fled.

There was a pursuit cutscene here, right?

I looked for the skip message, but

‘Huh?’

None.

Well, this dungeon was about chasing orcs and gathering clues.

No skip wasn’t strange.

I gripped my sword and stepped forward.

“Let’s go! We have to chase! Hurry… huh?”

Suddenly!

“Kkur!”

Flowerdol lifted me up.

‘What?’

‘Was he attacking me?’

Quiet for a moment, then finally?

Startled, Flowerdol threw me, “Kkuraak!!!”

“Ugh!”

I flew far, seeing the fleeing boss just before hitting the ground.

Kraak!

“Gkewk!”

“Grryaaak!”

I collided and rolled with the boss.

[☆ Consuming Healing Potion to restore ★★ Wandering Swordsman.]

“Ugh… Why! What are you doing!”

I got up, healed by the potion.

The strong impact had dropped my health to about 30%.

“Kkuap-kkuap! Akkak!”

Flowerdol calmly ran over.

That damn bastard.

When my arm broke, my heart nearly stopped.

If this weren’t Valhalla, that injury could have been permanent.

That guy, seriously………!

[Achievement: Suppress the Wasteland Tyrant within 30 seconds.]

‘Huh?’

Something was achieved.

‘Suppress the Wasteland Tyrant within 30 seconds?’

“Kkuap-kkuap! Kkurak!”

Flowerdol grabbed me, bouncing me up and down.

‘What?’

‘Did he know and throw me on purpose?’

To get this achievement?

[Boss: Wasteland Tyrant] Lv.30

[Boss monster has appeared!]

“722……!”

The fallen boss rose.

Good grief.

I never expected such an achievement.

”Is this what they call a ‘challenge game’?’

Achieving an unexpected achievement, I felt bewildered.