Chapter 20
—
It had an extremely ordinary appearance.
It wasn’t a towering giant like a Warlord, nor did it possess unique magical accessories like a Shaman.
Just an orc with a normal build.
Of course, even an “ordinary” orc was much larger than a human.
‘How is this even possible?’
I rubbed my eyes multiple times, staring at the Guardian Spirit indicator above the plain orc’s head.
Maybe I had seen it wrong.
{Guardian Spirit: Sigurd, Dragon Slayer (Legendary)}
But the text remained floating above the orc, following it around.
‘Is this some kind of Raid Boss gimmick?’
I considered that possibility.
The system that created this entire world could easily add such a feature.
The problem was that nobody else had the ability to see other people’s Guardian Spirits.
And this ability of mine? It was something I obtained by defying the system through Malice’s intervention.
In other words, the system deliberately gave the Raid Boss an attribute that no one else could identify.
‘I have no idea what’s going on.’
I couldn’t tell if this was merely a visual effect or if it was truly an entity bound by the same rules as human Awakeners.
Watching from afar wasn’t going to solve the mystery.
There was only one way to find out.
‘I’ll have to kill it to know for sure.’
By absorbing its Guardian Spirit.
Clench.
I tightened my grip, feeling the taut pressure of the cestus encasing my hand.
I was ready to launch a surprise attack and take it down in one strike.
Boom!
But as I was preparing to make my move, a loud explosion erupted in the forest.
‘Hmm?’
The orcs in the village all turned their heads toward the source of the explosion.
They began murmuring among themselves before one of them, the largest, emerged carrying a farming tool.
The big orc began leading the males toward the explosion site.
Among them was the orc Awakener I had been observing.
I trailed the group from a distance.
Boom! Boom!
Eventually, the orcs approached the site of the explosion.
“Charge!”
Crash!
Sure enough, human Awakeners were fighting each other at the scene.
And just as I feared, the scale of the conflict had grown significantly.
‘Human greed can blind people to this extent, huh.’
The participants had completely forgotten about the Raid Boss, focusing instead on eliminating their rivals.
It had escalated into an all-out battle between groups.
If I didn’t intervene and stop it soon, there might not be enough people left to defeat the boss.
And more importantly, I wouldn’t be able to claim the final reward.
‘I need to stop this… Wait, what?’
“It’s orcs!”
“What?”
“They brought the Raid Boss here!”
Someone noticed the orc group with farming tools and shouted.
Immediately, someone fired an arrow at the motionless orcs.
“Ugh!”
“Lure the boss to attack them!”
‘These lunatics….’
The Awakeners had mistaken the approaching orcs for the Raid Boss.
And instead of uniting to fight, they decided to use the “boss” to attack their human rivals.
It was a twisted, desperate move, completely devoid of reason.
Whoosh!
“Argh!”
“Kyak!”
The archer from one faction began shooting arrows at the orcs.
Unarmed and armed only with farming tools, the orcs stood no chance against the skilled fighters.
The orcs fell one by one to the barrage of arrows.
“Graaargh!”
The survivors eventually panicked and abandoned their tools, fleeing in terror.
“Ugh thunk! Haghk!”
But one orc didn’t flee.
It cradled another fallen orc in its arms, wailing in grief.
It was a sight eerily similar to a human mourning a loved one.
‘That one….’
It was the orc with the Legendary Guardian Spirit, Sigurd.
“Graaaah!”
The orc let out a deafening roar that reverberated throughout the forest.
Its eyes began glowing blue.
A system message appeared.
{The Raid Boss descends upon the final stage.}
{Prepare for battle.}
* * *
Young orc Odvar had joined his villagers in investigating the strange noises outside their settlement.
“Brother! I want to come too!”
His younger brother, Bjorn, begged to join him.
“No, you stay here.”
“But I’m thirteen now! I’m practically an adult!”
“I said no.”
Odvar firmly denied him.
However, their uncle Dag encouraged Bjorn.
“It’s fine! If anything happens, I’ll protect him. A thirteen-year-old should learn to help protect the village, right?”
“Yeah, exactly!”
“Sigh… Fine, but stick close behind me.”
In the end, Odvar allowed his brother to come along.
It was a decision he would regret for the rest of his life.
“Argh!”
“Bjorn!”
Strange-looking humans appeared and began firing arrows.
Dag, who had promised to protect Bjorn, was the first to die.
The other villagers fled in fear.
Odvar wanted to run too, but when he saw his brother fall, he couldn’t leave.
“Bro…ther….”
“Bjorn! Are you okay?”
“I can’t… breathe….”
“Stay with me! Bjorn!”
But Bjorn closed his eyes for the last time in Odvar’s arms.
“Bjoorrn!”
Odvar cried out, but there was no response. His brother was gone forever.
Grief and despair filled his heart, but they were quickly replaced by rage.
He directed his fury at the humans before him—the ones who had attacked without provocation.
These demons deserved divine punishment.
Odvar prayed for vengeance.
Then.
Rumble. Rumble.
The ground trembled, and the forest seemed to cry out.
A surge of overwhelming power descended from the heavens like a thunderbolt.
“I shall borrow your body to punish these wicked humans.”
An unknown voice echoed in Odvar’s mind.
It was his Guardian Spirit, the legendary orc hero, Sigurd, Dragon Slayer.
* * *
“Gram.”
From that moment on, Odvar instinctively knew what he had to do without anyone needing to tell him.
He imbued his strength into the kitchen knife he was holding.
Whirr.
The blade transformed, extending to a length as tall as himself, with a width as wide as his palm.
The Dragon Slayer Sword, Gram.
The legendary weapon that had slain the evil dragon Fafnir was now in his hands.
“That’s the boss! Focus your attacks on it!”
Upon witnessing the transformation, the humans began targeting Odvar with all their might.
Whoosh!
A single arrow glowing red shot forward with terrifying speed.
Odvar effortlessly deflected it with a swing of the massive sword in one hand, as though he were wielding a dagger.
Boom!
The arrow exploded upon contact with Gram’s blade, unleashing a ferocious energy wave that engulfed him.
But Odvar remained unfazed.
Instead, the smoke from the explosion concealed his movements, giving him time to gather power for a massive attack.
Thump. Thump.
The Dragon Heart pumped blood furiously.
Dragon’s Blood coursed through his veins, amplifying his mana to the extreme.
Clink.
Odvar raised Gram high into the air.
CRAAAAASH!
He swung it down with immense force.
A tidal wave of mana erupted from the blade, sweeping everything in its path.
“Argh!”
None of the humans caught within the range of the attack survived.
Even those who narrowly avoided a direct hit lost significant parts of their bodies wherever the energy had grazed them.
Some Awakeners’ talisman barriers shattered just from being near the mana wave, without even making contact.
“What… what is this…?”
The overwhelming display of power finally made the humans realize: this was no time to fight among themselves.
“Kill them all.”
Thud!
Odvar launched himself into the midst of the human forces.
The earlier attack had merely been a prelude.
The true strength of Guardian Spirit Sigurd lay in close combat.
Slash! Slash!
With a single swing of Gram, he split three humans in half.
“Don’t engage the orc! Keep your distance!”
Someone yelled a warning upon witnessing his lightning-fast movements.
But Odvar was even quicker.
The moment they retreated, he closed the distance and swung his sword faster than they could react.
Against his monstrous skill, the humans stood no chance.
“Damn it! Just shoot! Use any power you have!”
Having suffered devastating losses, the Awakeners finally united and focused their attacks on Odvar.
At last, the “Raid Boss Battle” began to take shape.
Whoosh! Boom! Bang!
Arrows, spells, sword waves, bullets.
A barrage of ranged attacks rained down on the lone orc.
The humans aimed to exploit his unmatched melee strength by concentrating all their firepower from a distance.
Thud!
“Arghhhh!”
As the attacks poured in from all sides, Odvar stomped on the ground and let out a thunderous roar.
BOOM!
A shockwave erupted from his body, neutralizing every projectile in the air.
Everything either exploded mid-flight or fell harmlessly to the ground.
“This… this is impossible….”
“How are we supposed to beat that…?”
The Awakeners finally began to understand the truth.
Every year, countless world-class Awakeners, armed with top-tier stats and equipment, challenged these raids.
And yet, rumors always circulated of parties failing to defeat the final boss at certain stat thresholds.
Now, they understood why.
This Raid Boss was on an entirely different level compared to the Stage 4 bosses they had faced.
“Should we just give up and go back…?”
Demoralized, they watched as Odvar slowly advanced toward them.
At first, he had seemed like nothing more than a scrawny orc, weaker than the average grunt.
Now, he appeared like a mountain-sized monster.
Step. Step.
“Kill.”
Odvar muttered in a low growl.
To the humans, it sounded like the guttural snarl of a beast, making him seem even more terrifying.
As he raised his greatsword to finish off the remaining Awakeners,
Swoosh!
Clang!
A sudden attack struck from behind.
Odvar blocked it with his sword.
Whoosh!
He immediately turned to counterattack.
But the human who had launched the ambush skillfully dodged his strike.
It was Yoo Shin-woo.
Whoosh!
Black flames ignited on the greatsword, climbing along the blade and wrapping around Odvar’s body.
—
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