◈ Episode 59. Hybrids

There were five of them.

The Demon Corps leaders surrounded Ho Yeol.

The people watching could not help but feel their hearts sink.

-Is this a true story?!

-This is still too much!

-What are the other guilds doing? They can’t even turn off their aggro.

Demon army movements?

It was a familiar pattern, at least to players.

Monsters tend to kill the most threatening enemies first.

Even Arcana had an aggro system.

I couldn’t help but feel frustrated, even though I knew it was inevitable.

However.

“……Wait, do you see any familiar faces?”

The hopelessness didn’t last long.

The angle zoomed in.

And there they were: familiar faces.

“If I’m not mistaken, that looks like Jesse Heinness!”

Jesse, why did you get out of there and go to……?

No wonder the reaction was so strong.

Wasn’t Jesse always a member of the Shining Guild?

But it wasn’t unexpected.

This was the same Jesse who hadn’t shown up in the Yusra Kingdom.

-What the hell, was that joke real?

-What joke? You’re talking about something that only you know.

-No, it’s about Jesse possibly leaving The Shining.

-That’s bullsh*t.

-There’s been a lot of talk about him leaving the guild in the first place.

But the more I looked at it, the more I couldn’t dismiss it as bullsh*t.

Jesse’s face on the broadcast screen.

Especially those pupils, so different from normal.

They were glowing.

They were sparkling.

-Doesn’t he look motivated?

-Is this the Jesse Heinness I know???

-He doesn’t say much in public.

What could be the reason?

One of the cast members brought up a provocative topic.

“……Coming to think of it, this isn’t the first time Lee Ho-yeol and Jesse Heinness have met, is it? Why, during the Count Ascura raid, too. Together they added up to…….”

But that was a topic that shouldn’t have been touched.

Who are Lee Ho-yeol and Jesse Heinness?

Two of the most popular players in the game.

Even the media loves a sensational story.

Considering the backlash, they are untouchable.

-Get out of the way.

-Their patience is limited.

-There’s nothing formal about this.

Especially Lee Ho-yeol!

Before viewers could bombard the board.

The moderator urgently began his defense.

“This is Dr. Hwang’s very personal opinion. VBC, including myself, would like to state that we do not agree with Dr. Hwang’s opinion in the slightest.”

“……Yes? No, wait, I misspoke!”

Besides.

There seemed to be a clear reason for it, speculation aside.

And then, out of thin air, the magic of elemental.

Under the influence of the Aesthetics stat.

A spectacular sight began to unfold.

“I never thought elemental magic could be so brilliant……!”

“It’s like looking at a painting.”

“The spawned statue grabbed the Demon Corps Leader’s leg?!”

I think it’s beautiful even on the screen.

Can you imagine watching something like that in front of you?

-…… Jesse, that magic nerd deserves some attention.

-Her eyes weren’t twinkling for nothing.

-Is this a new skill? You’ve grown up again?!

-You don’t know if it’s just hidden? Hahahaha

-It’s just that she didn’t have to use it until now.

Its appearance was not unusual.

I don’t think I need to explain the power.

Ho Yeol was orchestrating the battlefield with magic.

It was a scene that could hardly be called a hunt.

It was a one-sided slaughter.

The time it took for the five corps leaders’ wings to break.

It was only ten minutes.

“…… It’s over, everyone.”

As dumbfounded as the cast was.

The audience didn’t have much to say.

-Just like Gentleman.

This brings the total number of Demon Corps Leaders killed by Ho Yeol’s side to six.

According to a further update on…….

there were only four left.

-At least they’ll take out four of them, right?

-The Shining and the Heavenly Unification will be killing them one by one.

-I assume the rest of us will hunt together?

So how is the situation with the other guilds?

Curious, the viewers tuned in.

Some of them couldn’t help but frown.

On the other side.

A completely unexpected development was unfolding.

A single player standing alone against a demonic corps leader.

Viewers in South Korea were stunned by the identity.

“……, isn’t that Nam Tae-min?!”

*sigh

Nam Tae-min was dumbfounded.

“A class quest……? All of a sudden?

Barbarian class ranked #1.

Nam Tae-min had been searching for the class quest through all kinds of rumors and quests.

When he finally found it, he couldn’t even find a single clue.

In this situation, a class quest suddenly popped into his head.

Tae-min was a little excited.

“I might be able to do something with …….

Frost in crisis.

With the rewards of the Class Quest, growth was guaranteed.

He might be able to contribute to the recapture of Frost.

With that thought, Nam Tae-min checked the quest window.

[Class Quest: Proof of Wildness]

The boss has died.

Young, new boss.

Prove your true wildness.

“……!”

And you realized.

Why the class quest had come to him.

A boss.

It spoke of the strongest barbarian warrior.

“……Cairn.”

Back when Arcana was a game.

Cairn was an NPC who lived in the forests near Frost and helped players transition to Barbarian.

But Nam Tae-min knew.

Arcana was no longer just a game.

Cairn was no longer an NPC, but a human like himself, an Arkanian.

“Cairn was taken by the demons.

Suddenly, he remembered the conversation he’d had with Cairn.

-Barbarian’s secret? Is that what you want?

I was looking for information about a class quest.

I had asked Cairn about it, too.

At the time, Cairn had laughed heartily and replied.

-You’re so eager to play games, you weakling!

……I shrugged it off at the time.

Now I realize what he meant.

-It will all come naturally to you in time, brother.

It did.

A Barbarian’s secret weapon is only given to the ‘boss’.

The boss, Cairn, is dead.

Nam Tae-min was reminded of a class quest.

So when you say you remembered a class quest, you mean…….

“…… means that Cairn was alive until just now.”

Chew on that, demon bastards!

Bam!

Blood sprouted in Nam Tae-min’s muscles.

Nam Tae-min was truly furious.

From his brother, Nam Cheol-min, to Cairn, who was like a half-brother.

He had been beaten by demonic spawn.

Wu Zhigeng─

The thick handle of the greatsword began to crack under Nam Tae-min’s force.

It was then.

The Demon Corps Leader, Horikan, appeared before Nam Tae-min’s eyes.

A half-man, half-banjo armed with a spear.

Horikan looked at Nam Tae-min and shook his head.

He looked at the blood on the tip of the spear and opened his beak.

“Strange,” he said, “I must have killed him with this spear, stabbing him in the side.”

“……?”

“Why is there a beast here that smells exactly the same?”

“!!!”

Beastmen.

A barbarian warrior, a label for a barbarian.

Nam Tae-min recognized it immediately.

This is it.

This was the one who had killed Cairn.

As if to prove it, his brother’s voice rang in his ears.

“Hey, Tae-min, wake up! He’s at least level 500!

Level 500.

He’s only level 374.

Of course he can’t win.

His brother was right to run away.

But his heart was racing.

Thump-thump.

Harder than he’d ever felt before.

Run away. I can’t win, the level gap is too great.

The voice of reason that was constantly shouting at him gradually became blurred.

The muscles in his entire body began to twitch even more violently.

I could feel my stamina draining just from the beating of my body.

“Heh, heh, heh.”

Nam Tae-min breathed heavily.

It was then.

pisisig─

Steam began to rise from Nam Tae-min’s body.

At the same time, a message appeared in front of him.

[You have fulfilled the conditions].

[The reward will be paid].

[You have acquired the class unique skill, ‘Call of the Wild’].

[You have met the requirements].

[Class unique skill, ‘Call of the Wild’, will be activated].

Uzi Strap─!

──────

Call of the Wild: Awakens your true wildness, granting you a massive boost in Wildness.

──────

[Wildness].

Barbarian’s class-specific stats.

It is the Wildness stat that allows Barbarians to unleash their explosive power.

That Wildness stat is going up.

A massive increase.

Not to mention the improvement in his physical abilities.

Kwaji-jik-!

The handle of the greatsword that Nam Tae-min was holding was completely crushed.

But he didn’t care.

Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

Nam Tae-min threw the greatsword at Horikan.

The speed emanating from that strength was beyond imagination.

Even the winged Horikan was completely unable to dodge it.

Kukka-kukka-kukka!

He quickly raised his spear to block the greatsword.

The impact was enough to knock the Horikan back several dozen meters.

If he hadn’t used his wings to offset the force.

He would have landed in a pile of collapsed buildings.

Burrrr, Horikan quickly brushed his hair off his face.

“I don’t know what happened to you, but you are indeed a beast. Your strength is impressive, but a beast is a beast. I will hunt you down slowly.”

Flutter─!

Horikan spread his wings and took flight.

“You don’t have to fight me on the ground.

That was a lesson he’d learned from dealing with another beast.

Horikan had almost gotten himself into trouble when he folded his wings, thinking Cairn was a dying man.

But in Horikan’s eyes, Nam Tae Min and Cairn were different.

“They look alike, but they smell different.

It’s like the difference between a beast and a beast cub.

A cub is not afraid to hunt on its own.

Horikan was overconfident.

Uji-string-!

“!”

He felt a pain in his ankle.

It was because Nam Tae-min had grabbed Horikan’s leg and was hanging on.

[Demon Corps Leader, Horikan suffers a ‘bone fracture’].

“How dare you……!!!”

Horikan swiftly swung his spear.

Nam Tae-min was stabbed in the forearm and fell straight down.

However, there was no impact.

He landed gracefully upon his four limbs.

The wildness that had risen so much had made him move like an animal.

Bam!

Nam Tae-min leaped off the building once again.

“Beast!”

Horikan desperately tried to close the distance, but it was no use.

Thud.

Rather, Horikan was caught in the wings.

Nam Tae-min’s forearms twitched.

Aaahhhhhh!

He tore off Horikan’s wings.

[Demon Legion Leader, Horikan is ‘bleeding’].

Horikan lost his balance and crashed to the ground.

Nam Tae-min didn’t let go of the Horikan.

Kwadak─!

He grabbed Horikan’s long neck and started twisting it.

“……keww!”

Horikan didn’t understand.

Not him, not this one.

They weren’t like normal humans.

But he was no ordinary bird either.

“I am a human bird, not like Kupikan……!

He may have lost his wings, but he has arms and legs.

Horikan raised his spear as he fell.

He pointed it at the Nam Tae Min who had captured him.

It wasn’t to attack.

It was to shake him off.

“You’ll have to let go to avoid it.”

But.

Plop.

Nam Tae-min was still holding onto Horikan’s neck.

There was definitely a stabbing sensation……?

For a moment, Horikan thought of Cairn.

Dozens of days of nonstop fighting.

Even when he was covered in blood and every bone in his body was shattered.

The beast had refused to give in until the last possible moment.

“Damn……!

Horikan realized.

‘This beast is the same!’

Yes, the beasts had no reason.

If words didn’t work, threats would.

Horikan flailed with his only wing.

Had it worked?

“!”

The grip on his throat was gradually loosening.

“Heh heh heh heh…….”

The [Call of the Wild] requires extreme physical strength.

With his stamina drained, the [Call of the Wild] was released.

Nam Tae-min’s sanity had returned.

Of course, the reason didn’t matter to Horikan.

Kudangtang─!

Nam Tae-min crashed to the ground with a loud bang.

Horikan approached him.

“You ignorant brute. You’re the same to your miserable end.”

A miserable end?

Hell no.

He wanted to laugh at him, but he didn’t have the stamina.

Nam laughed to himself.

“…… I think I get it now.

Why, what Mr. Ho Yeol was talking about, the pride in his heart.

Yes, it was pride that drove Nam Tae-min.

The pride of Cairn that he wanted to protect.

And his own pride that he couldn’t turn away from.

So there were no regrets.

“How foolish of you beasts,” he said, “to think that I, Horikan, would be defeated by a mere mortal, when even a beast would run with its tail between its legs. A wretch.”

A brute.

Yeah, he threw down his greatsword and hopped around on all fours limbs…….

That’s what it must have looked like to anyone else.

Nam Tae-min wanted to ask him if he could.

“Did I look like an animal to you, too?” he asked playfully.

playfully.

Why, if the testament is serious.

Only those left behind are sad.

Of course, the moment of the crash.

I couldn’t hear my brother’s voice with my earphones shattered.

But.

Again.

The answer came back loud and clear.

“You’re an animal, speaking without knowing the subject.”

Ironically.

“But I understand, lowly devil.”

From Ho-Yeol.

“!”

Through his blurring vision, Ho Yeol saw him.

And he saw his guildmates running toward him.

Nam Tae-min could feel it in his gut.

“……?

Nam Chul-min, the one who had relayed the situation to his guildmates.

Tae-min was stunned for a moment.

” ……, did you also see him running around on his four limbs?

Ho Yeol was a man who valued formality above all else.

There was nothing less formal than that.

He was an animal in his own mind.

But it was a futile worry.

“For he knows no pride, and fights for it.”

“……!”

“Something your inferior race of demons will never understand.”

Ho-yeol, as usual, spoke with his usual calmness.

Nam Tae-min was thrilled and Horikan was baffled.

“Why?

The silver-haired man reeked of danger.

……The smell of the blood of the six Demon Corps leaders, including Kupikan!

Horikan recognized it instinctively.

He realized that this man was his nemesis……!

“‘I must flee.’

His wings were still intact, but they had been torn off.

Horikan twitched his beak.

‘Yes, I’ll dazzle him with words and take advantage of the opening…….’

“Aaah, kweeeeeeek!”

But Horikan couldn’t even open his beak.

Huh-uh-uh-uh!

An instant of searching, interference, and manifestation.

Flames leapt from its beak.

It writhed in pain for a moment.

“I do not speak to my prey.”

A cold voice rang in Horikan’s ears.

“Shut up, hybrid.”

* https://pindangscans.com

AAU Korea Chapter.

“……I don’t believe it.”

They stared at Ho-yeol on the monitor in disbelief.

In the middle of it all.

Tada, tada, tada, tada!

Yoon Soo-gyeom, who was tapping away at the keyboard, spoke up.

“I think I know ……, Hyun-joon, what kind of demon he is!”

“Ji, is it true, senior?!”

“Yeah. 99.9 percent sure.”

It was finally time to pay for the meal.

Besides, this was information that would help Ho-yeol more than anyone else.