Chapter 55: The Arrival of the Elite

“Is the food supply enough?”

“I’m fine. I’m not moving much anyway. How about you?”

“I’m fine too. What about the byproducts?”

“It’s a bit iffy, but with the buff, it should be okay.”

The buff didn’t just increase Seokju’s Strength.

Kim Seokju also rose, and the weight he could carry had greatly increased.

“Alright, then it’s decided—we’ll hunt until tomorrow, including my share?”

“Yes, let’s go for it!”

The reason Kang Juho and Kim Seokju were discussing food and byproducts was because of the hunt.

The hunting environment was excellent, to say the least.

There were no competitors, and plenty of monsters.

Moreover, the experience gain rate was extremely fast.

And there were Quests.

Quests that rewarded better the more you hunted!

There was even a Guild Quest, so for Kang Juho, there were two Quests, not just one.

Therefore, Kang Juho and Kim Seokju changed their plan—not to hunt just until level 225, but until the update.

Since there was no problem with food or byproducts, there was no need to return to the city to restock.

They only had to keep hunting until tomorrow.

“I’ll give you a buff: Physical Enhancement… Resistance Enhancement.”

[Physical attack power increased by 32% for 10 minutes.]

[Physical resistance increased by 8% for 10 minutes.]

It was time to end the break.

Kang Juho stood up from his seat, receiving the buff from Kim Seokju.

Then he moved toward the nearby group of Orcs.

Because he was already quite close?

After only a few steps, the Orc group recognized Kang Juho.

Having hunted for eight hours and significantly leveled up, Kang Juho’s level gap had shrunk, so no more sneers were triggered, and the Orcs started charging at him.

“Hammer of Fury!”

Kang Juho immediately cast Hammer of Fury, closing the distance with the Orc group rapidly.

Swaak! Swaak!

Naturally, Kang Juho was the aggressor.

And the moment the wave spread, the battle was essentially over.

Facing the frozen Orcs, Kang Juho swung his hammer again, and as the wave spread, the Orcs froze once more.

This cycle repeated, and the Orcs offered no resistance, meeting their demise.

It wasn’t a battle—it was a one-sided massacre.

Kang Juho moved toward the next Orc group, thinking:

‘How long can I keep doing this?’

Hammer of Fury was endlessly usable.

The Orcs were immobilized.

Currently, the hunting method was very comfortable.

But this comfortable hunting couldn’t continue.

Right now, the monsters froze upon being attacked, but as levels increased, the stun duration would shorten until one day, there’d be no stun at all.

Without stun, even when attacked, they could immediately counterattack.

That’s when hunting would become difficult.

-Chwak!

-Chwik!

Soon, another Orc group arrived, and Kang Juho immediately swung the Hammer of Fury.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

And the wave knocked the Orcs down.

Now, only one Orc remained—one who’d been hit directly by the hammer.

Kang Juho swung once more, knocking down the last Orc, and at that moment,

[You have defeated 3,000 Orcs.]

[Elite Orc Paramus is pursuing you as an enemy of his tribe.]

The message appeared.

“….?”

Seeing the message, Kang Juho’s face filled with tension.

‘Elite?’

For a moment, he thought he’d misread it, rubbed his eyes, and checked again, but it was no mistake.

The message clearly said that the elite Orc intended revenge.

Kang Juho turned his head to look at Kim Seokju.

Seokju was approaching with a stunned expression.

Seeing Seokju’s dazed face, Kang Juho was certain.

“You got it too?”

The message was clear.

“Yes, I got it as well.”

Just as Kang Juho expected.

“I’ve never seen an elite message pop up before.”

Kim Seokju chuckled and shook his head.

It didn’t make sense that an elite monster would trigger a message, not even a boss monster.

“That’s right. Must be because of the Quest?”

No matter how he thought about it, the only reason an elite monster would trigger a message was the Quest.

“Will it wait?”

“Hmm, let’s wait and see.”

The message didn’t only mention revenge.

It said they were pursuing them.

In other words, it was highly likely that Paramus was running toward their location.

Or they might respawn during the battle.

If that happened?

It wouldn’t matter if Paramus charged at Kang Juho directly.

But if the aggro went to Kim Seokju, it would be a serious problem.

There was no need to risk danger just to save time.

“If it doesn’t come within five minutes, we’ll continue hunting!”

Of course, they weren’t going to wait indefinitely.

After hearing Kim Seokju’s answer, Kang Juho opened his character window.

Looking at the character window, Kang Juho couldn’t help but smile.

His stats were far from what you’d expect of a level 223.

‘Once the Auction House opened…’

Even though his stats were already high, they would undergo an even greater transformation.

‘I hope the heroes rank jumps up immediately.’

He closed the character window with anticipation.

Then he opened his inventory, took out the hammer, and opened the Skill Window.

‘Should be able to hit 10 tomorrow.’

His Relentless mastery had already reached 9, and he was eyeing the last step.

It was impossible to reach 10 today.

There wasn’t enough time, and above all, mastery slowed down from level 9 onward.

He planned to hunt all day tomorrow but wasn’t confident he’d reach 10.

‘How will it be when it hits 10?’

Kang Juho imagined.

Until now, the cooldown reduction had been a steady 2 seconds each level.

If it rose by 2 seconds again, it would be 19 seconds.

But it wouldn’t be a vague 19 seconds—the final mastery level 10 would strengthen the skill much more.

He expected it would drop the cooldown to somewhere between 20 and 25 seconds.

Of course, this was just a guess; it might add a new effect.

While contemplating the skill, five minutes passed.

“Let’s hunt.”

The elite Orc hadn’t appeared, and Kang Juho stood up.

“Physical Enhancement…”

At Kang Juho’s words, Kim Seokju immediately began casting buffs.

Thud…Thud…

And as if waiting for the buff to finish, footsteps began to sound in the distance.

They were no ordinary footsteps.

Kang Juho looked toward the source of the sound.

From afar, something was running, kicking up clouds of dust.

“Looks like an elite.”

Kim Seokju finished the buff and said.

“Right, it’s huge…”

The source of the dust was none other than Orcs.

They were so large that Kang Juho almost thought they were Trolls, and a large number of regular Orcs accompanied them.

The elite Orc Paramus from the message was obvious.

“Should we cast Seal of Attribute right away?”

“Hmm, I’ll give you the signal.”

Kang Juho answered calmly and started watching the elite Troll Paramus.

“Now!”

Soon, when it was close enough that Paramus’s expression looked fierce and twisted, Kang Juho shouted.

At the shout, Kang Juho dashed toward Paramus.

“Multi-Chain!”

Kim Seokju immediately cast Multi-Chain.

Paramus and the surrounding Orcs were sealed.

“Hyung, 10 seconds!”

As expected, elites were elites.

While normal Orcs were sealed for over 20 seconds, Paramus’s seal lasted less than half that.

“Taunt!”

As soon as Kang Juho arrived, he cast Taunt.

Paramus and his subordinate Orcs turned their gaze from Kim Seokju to Kang Juho.

“Hammer of Fury!”

Kang Juho smiled in relief and swung his hammer toward Paramus.

Swaak! Swaak!

The hammer exploded, and simultaneously the chains burst, sending waves outward.

The Orcs broke free from the seal but froze from the wave.

However, only the normal Orcs were frozen.

Paramus, the elite monster, immediately swung his iron club after breaking free from the seal.

Ughh.

Kang Juho instinctively raised his shield, but Paramus’s iron club crashed down.

Bang!

The club slammed, sending Kang Juho flying.

As he was knocked back, Kang Juho checked his health.

‘Only 4,000 damage?’

Kang Juho was surprised.

Blocking attacks from normal Orcs dealt around 500 to 600 damage.

But even if it was elite, 7 to 8 times the damage?

-Chwak!

Whoosh!

Paramus swung his iron club again with a roar.

Kang Juho, wearing a shocked expression at the damage, stepped back to dodge.

Bang!

The club slammed into the ground, creating an explosion.

-1@$#0!

Seemingly angered by missing his attack, Paramus roared.

As Kang Juho heard the roar, he thought:

‘No stun, this is serious…’

The monsters he’d fought so far had at least some stun.

But Paramus had none.

His attack power wasn’t weak either.

Even with a 63% damage reduction rate, it still dealt 4,000 damage.

If Kang Juho couldn’t block it with his shield?

Each attack would cost him about 10,000 health.

Currently, Kang Juho’s health exceeded 130,000 thanks to buffs.

Ten thousand damage was a huge threat.

-1@$!@

Paramus roared again.

The Orcs, freed from the seal, charged at Kang Juho.

Paramus didn’t move but kept his eyes on Kang Juho.

“Hmm?”

Kang Juho smiled.

‘I’ll drain his health with waves.’

He didn’t need to attack directly.

Kang Juho had the wide-area Hammer of Fury.

Besides, the wave damage was much stronger than direct hits.

Swaak! Swaak!

The Orcs arrived, and Kang Juho’s hammer exploded again.

The wave spread.

The Orcs entered the stun state again.

-!@#

Paramus, damaged by the wave, grimaced and roared once more.

He began approaching with pounding footsteps.

Of course, the Orcs blocked Paramus’s path.

Swaak! Swaak!

Kang Juho circled around, raising his shield and swinging his hammer at the stunned Orcs.

Swaak! Swaak!

The Orcs’ shield block didn’t last long.

The wave simultaneously knocked the Orcs down, and Paramus strode over the bodies of his tribe, closing in on Kang Juho.

“Seokju! Seal of Attribute!”

Kang Juho shouted as Paramus approached.

There was no need to fight one-on-one.

Just as Paramus had his Orc followers, Kang Juho had Kim Seokju supporting him in battle.

“Seal of Attribute!”

Kim Seokju cast Seal of Attribute, sealing Paramus.