Chapter 15: Wasteland Tyrant

Let’s see.

‘Was the 4-star exchange only once?’

If so, then it was simply a ‘mask’ to wear.

Rose and Gobori said they were ‘unboxing,’ so I followed along, and it felt like the cards stuck a bit better this time.

Bang!

“Oh!”

“It’s out!”

A booming sound echoed from the start.

Rose and Gobori were excited as if it were their own business.

[★★★ Ashen Fang Assassin]

The first hero card was an assassin wearing a black mask.

Like other heroes, the assassin glanced around cautiously.

Then she removed her mask, revealing a pale face.

She was a woman with striking red eye makeup and full lips.

“Hah. What is this trash party? Could it be a free-to-play user’s party? Having to deal with trash like you? What a disaster, seriously.”

The assassin snorted and laughed.

This reaction was… the same as the elf’s a few hours ago.

So it wasn’t an exaggeration to say this was common.

“Ah, I hate this one. Should just send her to the warehouse.”

Then Rose chimed in, “Right? I’m tired of this too, sigh.”

Gobori sighed and nodded as well.

‘Was it because of the elf earlier?’

They both looked exhausted.

“What? Warehouse? What nonsense are you trash saying?”

The assassin exploded in anger at their words.

Gobori didn’t back down and shouted, “User!!! This assassin class is only useful for burst combos because of her frail body! Maybe for PvP or 5-man expeditions, but during story clearing, she’s useless! She’s a counter hero who quickly cuts down enemies from the back line!”

“You little goblin…”

The assassin was flustered by Gobori’s words.

‘Was she wrong?’

Well, I also wanted to focus on the battle now.

I sent the assassin on the training ground.

[Personal Training]

Training one hero.

Whoosh!

Greetings to the new companion would come later.

“Oh! You really sent her! Our user is king!”

Rose gave a thumbs-up, pleased.

“Hehe. You heard my info, right? Didn’t lie.”

Gobori puffed up his chest boastfully.

Maybe this assassin was a ‘tsundere’ concept like Rose.

But the important thing now was the event.

I decided to exclude anything that could ruin the mood and concentrate.

[★★ Fisherman’s Trident]

[★ Leather Sandals]

[☆ Healing Potion]

Tap!

Next cards yielded a trident and a pair of sandals.

[★ Leather Sandals]

[+5% Defense]

‘Is that all the sandals’ ability?’

I dragged the sandals from the screen and handed them to Gobori.

Since many equipment pieces were piling on me, there was no need to be greedy.

“Oh! Sandals! Thank you! You’re too kind, Your Grace!”

Gobori bowed deeply, shouting.

“Huh? Why didn’t I get any? Give me some too!”

Rose pouted, shaking her fist in frustration.

[★★ Seraphim Side Sword]

[☆ Healing Potion]

[☆ Healing Potion]

[★ Pearl Earring]

Tap tap!

Thin side swords and a white earring fell out next.

[★ Pearl Earring]

+5% Defense

Same stats as the sandals?

This was… for Rose.

“Oh! Finally! You know I like you, right? Kiss, mwah!”

Rose coquettishly showed off after receiving the earring.

“Ugh!”

Gobori beside her retched, disgusted.

Anyway, four cards remained.

I flipped through them one by one.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Oh!”

“What’s going on?”

Rose and Gobori got excited at the three booming sounds.

[★★★ Scroll: Root Bind]

[★★★ Shadow Shuriken]

[★★★ Smoke Bomb]

A 3-star scroll and two 3-star equipment pieces dropped on the stage.

“Wow, this batch is pretty good! Root Bind is a crowd control skill! We can teach it to mages, and Rose should be able to learn it too! Let’s give it to our little fairy!”

“Right! Give it to me! I’m sick of just passive heals every time! Give me something active! Hurry!”

Gobori and Rose shouted.

‘Crowd control? Passive and active?’

I pressed the scroll to check info.

[★★★ Scroll: Root Bind]

[Raises roots to bind the target.]

Raising roots to bind the target?

It looked like a kind of ankle-capturing magic.

After all, Rose relied on just one pollen attack.

It seemed like a decent gift for Rose, who lacked special attacks.

[[Taught [★★★ Root Bind] to [★★★★ Rose Fairy]]]

“Yahoo! A skill! Finally got magic!”

“Ha! Finally this little fairy can contribute? She’s always just spreading pollen crap around!”

“Pollen crap? Pollen crap! I told you not to say that! It’s the worst thing I can hear!”

“Pollen crap! Pollen crap! Fairy’s pollen crap!”

“Eeek! Die!”

Rose and Gobori bickered.

I smirked and checked the equipment.

The ‘shuriken’ weapon looked tricky to handle.

The smoke bomb was…

[★★★ Smoke Bomb]

[Scatters smoke in the contacted area. Charges five smoke bombs per expedition.]

Ah.

It seemed to go well with Gobori’s slingshot.

I dragged it from the screen and gave it to Gobori.

“Oh? You gave this to me to use? Thanks! Loyal!”

Gobori jumped up.

He smiled and gave more commentary.

“They gave this to load into the slingshot and shoot? Not bad, right?”

“Oh! You think the same as me? Bombs and smoke bombs! I feel like I finally have a proper role, haha!”

Gobori happily lifted his slingshot.

Watching this, I flipped the last card.

[☆ Healing Potion]

Thunk!

The last card was a potion.

Since the haul was good, it didn’t feel annoying.

Let’s see.

I put the awkward trident, shuriken, and side sword into the warehouse.

Having lots of equipment was good, but it was starting to feel complicated.

[Warehouse] [Collected Equipment]

[★★★★ Fire Ring]

[★★★ Scroll: Rapid Fire]

[★★★ Shadow Shuriken]

Now I was starting to get confused about what I had.

“Ugh. The equipment keeps piling up! User! You can put unwanted gear into the Crushing Machine! Then you get Steel Shards. You can use those to craft equipment! Let’s leave it to our golden-handed Dwarf brother!”

“Right! Let’s leave it to him later too! I’m curious what will come out!”

Maybe sensing this excitement, Gobori and Rose shouted.

[You have played for 3 hours.]

[Excessive gaming may interfere with daily life.]

[Tip! Unused equipment can be recycled in the Crushing Machine! Use the shards gained to craft new gear!]

A similar tip popped on the screen.

‘So grinding equipment yields shards?’

Junior had brought back about 600 shards, so I had plenty.

Good to know they could be used if needed.

I cleared my mind and waited for the repairs to finish.

“Oh. You’ve been waiting? Repairs are done! I worked extra carefully on this sword. I think it came out just how you wanted. Here’s your equipment!”

The hammering stopped and Dulv returned.

[Repair Complete!]

[★★ Uruk Slayer] [Great Success!]

[★★★ Half Plate Mail] [Great Success!]

[★★ Stuh Helm]

[★★ Folding Knife] [Great Success!]

The result: three Great Successes.

“Eek! 5-star!”

“Wow! Human victory! Our Dwarf brother is the best!”

Rose and Gobori were amazed.

I was nearly breathless too.

[★★ Dwarf Shock Trooper’s traits updated!]

[Traits: Hammerer with the Cooled Hammer, Rekindled Hammerer]

And Dulv’s traits had been updated.

I’d experienced this a few times myself.

I opened Dulv’s traits on the screen.

Dulv and Gobori and Rose were all delighted by the sudden update.

[★★ Dwarf Shock Trooper] Lv. 1

[Rekindled Hammerer]

[Watcher of Ash and Hearth]

Dulv had two traits.

‘Is it normal for 2-star heroes to have two?’

I must be special with three traits.

[Rekindled Hammerer]

[Attack speed increases by 10% each time the hammer is swung. When hammering stops, it gradually decreases.]

[Watcher of Ash and Hearth]

[Immune to fire attacks level 1 or below.]

I checked both traits.

‘Was this good?’

Just then, “Wow. Our Dwarf brother is no joke! On the volcano map, he’ll be ridiculously strong! Though that’s way later!”

Gobori added commentary.

“Wait, the hammer swinging condition — does that work even in the forge? That’s awesome!”

Rose couldn’t hide her amazement either.

‘Ridiculously strong’ meant he was powerful, right?

I wasn’t the only one checking Dulv’s info.

[Uruk Slayer]

[+80% Attack (+50%), +30% Critical Rate]

I checked the 5-star Uruk Slayer.

130% Attack!

I was amazed even looking at it.

I didn’t know how incredible that stat was, but the moment I held it, I shivered.

Well.

In my previous world, I had no connection with swords.

This was my own famous sword gained after coming to Valhalla.

I looked at Dulv and expressed my thanks.

“This is the best. Even in my home world, I never got a sword like this.”

“Hehe, you flatter me. I only did the repairs. The sword’s potential must have awakened on its own.”

“That you awakened it is amazing, though.”

“Hehe, you’re too kind.”

We laughed and finished preparations.

At last, we were ready to face the King of the Orcs.

[Lv. 30: Wasteland Tyrant]

“Wow! Now it’s boss fight time! This dungeon has quite a twist. It’ll be a good dungeon for our bro who’s been looking forward to the story! Let’s go!”

Just as we were about to depart, Gobori spoke.

“Twist?”

I tilted my head, confused.

“Hey! No spoilers! I want to see our Dolsoe’s reaction!”

“Oh, right? Let’s go! Ready! Move out!”

Rose and Gobori whispered.

I couldn’t catch what they meant.

“Spoilers? What’s that? I feel like I’ve heard that before.”

I asked, looking at the two of them.

“Anyway, let’s go! Let’s go!”

“Hurry up! Hurry!”

But they didn’t answer.

Only Dulv, who was listening, added, “If you know the future, it’s no fun. Sometimes you have to experience things not knowing to get excited, hehe. It’s like a blacksmith watching the fire, wondering what kind of masterpiece will come out.”

“Hmm…”

I frowned and glared at Gobori.

‘What exactly were they hiding…?’

If there were no issues, I decided to just leave.

[Available Deployment Area]

[Lv. 30: Wasteland Tyrant]

Thunk!

Upon entering the dungeon, orc corpses lay around.

A green plain stained blood red.

The dungeon started on the plain where I had fought before.

“Oh! You did it! That was an amazing battle! Taking down all those orcs! Truly incredible!”

An elder suddenly appeared and said.

“Incredible!”

“You’re definitely a hero!”

The villagers echoed their admiration.

“While the heroes faced the main force, our scouts arrived! They found the orcs’ base… here! Please end this long fight! It’s a nearby valley! Intelligence says orcs are gathered there! Please!”

“Please!”

The villagers agreed with the elder.

It was probably just flavor text.

I nodded roughly and replied.

Thump thump thump!

Then a golden marker appeared.

I thought I could just walk as usual, when suddenly, “Skip it! Skip! How long are we supposed to walk? Skip!”

Rose shouted, breaking the silence.

Her earsplitting voice startled Gobori.

“Ah, geez! Turn on your blinkers when entering!”

“If I whisper, you pretend not to hear! Let’s skip this map! Skip!”

“Yeah. What’s the point of watching a no-battle section? Skip it, skip!”

Rose and Gobori shouted one after another.

Right.

Now that I thought of it, there was a ‘skip’ function.

It seemed like a long walk to that place.

I pressed ‘SKIP’ on the screen.

I was lazy anyway, so I gave it a try.

Thunk!

“Graaaah!”

“Kyaaah!”

Then many orcs appeared.

Or rather, did we appear?

Everyone on the plain was moved to the valley.

Countless orcs waited at the valley’s entrance.

“Oh! We skipped!”

“You can do it too if you want! We believed in you, damn it!”

Gobori and Rose were amazed.

[Orcs from the valley are swarming! Their end is unknown!]

But there was no time to savor this.

Gugugu…

“Graaah!”

“Kyaaa!”

The valley echoed with roars as countless orcs poured out.

Gripping the Uruk Slayer, I stared straight ahead.

“I’ll lead! Follow me!”

“Yes! Leave the rear to us! Gobori Powder Property!”

“Rose! Root Bind!”

Together, we charged through the valley.

[★★ Rose Fairy: Root Bind skill!]

Thud!

“Ugh!”

An orc running at the front got caught by the roots and fell.

‘So that was the skill?’

Without missing a chance, I cut the orc’s throat.

Crunch!

[Lv. 15 Orc Recruit defeated.]

Compared to the main force, these felt lighter.

I kept my guard up and struck with force.

Crunch! Crack!

[Lv. 15 Orc Recruit defeated.]

[Lv. 15 Orc Recruit defeated.]

“Gyaaaah!”

“Ugh!”

The orcs poured in and were crushed by sharp blades.

[Lv. 10 Orc Soldier defeated.]

[Lv. 10 Orc Soldier defeated.]

Crunch! Crack!

“Ekk!”

***

After a while of hacking through, something felt off.

Not only was their level dropping, but I felt they were becoming insignificant.

The mighty orcs had turned into goblin-level foes from the prologue.

[100 Orcs defeated!]

[Slaughter unstoppable!]

After the hundredth kill, the orcs swarming from the valley slowed.

Dudung! Dududung! Dudududung!

Music played.

Thunk! Thunk!

Something heavy approached.

Emerging from the dust was a giant wearing bright yellow armor and a huge horned helmet.

‘Was he about 2.5 meters tall?’

His face was masked in a lion-shaped helmet, a terrifying sight reminiscent of a demon from hell.

The comparison wasn’t an exaggeration—his appearance was brutal.

“Grrr…”

A growl echoed from inside the helmet.

“Grar! Po! Malka!”

The orc brandished a hammer threateningly.

With unmistakable killing intent, he locked eyes with me—the one who killed his subordinates.

“Grrrraaah!!!”

[Boss: Wasteland Tyrant] Lv. 30

[Boss monster has appeared!]

[This battle is a boss fight.]

[Manual combat recommended.]

Gugugu!

A roar echoed through the massive valley.

The Wasteland Tyrant.

King of the Orcs.

His presence was as intimidating as his name.

I hoped he would be as interesting an opponent as he was intimidating.

“Let’s go!”