I Woke Up as the Villain

Chapter 114

An orc was a monster with green skin, blue blood like a demon, and a curved back. Adult men could look down at the orcs when the orcs were hunched over but when they were upright, they were over two meters in height. There were three main features of the orcs: humongous strength, ferocity to handle all opponents, and massive numbers due to a great breeding rate!

It was such a well-known story that, as soon as hunters entered the Orc Village, they became obsessed with hunting. They lost their minds. As a result, opinions regarding the Orc Village dungeon were naturally divided into two sides. One side thought it was the ideal dungeon to raise one’s level, thanks to the influx of orcs. The others said that it was a perfect dungeon to die of exhaustion fighting with the orcs. In fact, the Orc Village was famous for the highest number of deaths per year out of all dungeons.

Choi Yu-Seong and Bernard Yoo naturally showed off their skills as soon as they entered the dungeon. As Choi Yu-Seong's spear cut through the air, sweeping the surroundings, the four orcs running from all directions were beheaded at the same time. As Bernard Yoo punched forward, his fast movement left an afterimage behind. He easily penetrated the two or three orcs standing in front of him at the same time.

Then, to not be defeated, Choi Yu-Seong passed through the gaps between the orcs that flocked after Bernard Yoo with impressive footwork, thrust his spear into the back of their necks, quickly retrieved it, and moved forward to the next targets.

There was a sense of wonder and admiration in the eyes of the reporters who were filming them through dozens of drones scattered in the dungeon.

"Wow, they're both incredible," said Kim Jin-Young.

Park Jin-Hwan nodded in admiration. He said, "They’ve long since gone beyond the D rank in terms of ability. They're monsters.”

Previously, there had been clear limitations to the Korean hunter industry, with reaching the top 10 in the world being the best possible scenario. Korea would not have been able to hold a candle to the world ranking without Cheok Jun-Hui, Korea's Swordmaster. Kim Do-Jin, the super rookie that had appeared recently, was expected to enter the top five if he got lucky. However, the gap between Korea and the U.S., which was the world's top ranker, was too wide. In fact, it was confirmed that Korea was within the top 5 countries in the World Player Association.

‘If those two are added to the list with Kim Do-Jin and the Swordmaster Cheok Jun-Hui in the lead…’

Next to Park Jin-Hwan and Jin-Young Kim, who were both there as they had been hired by Choi Yu-Seong, all the reporters sponsored by the Comet Group and the Cheon-Ji Group had a common thought.

‘Maybe we could even beat China…’

China was the overwhelming second place in the world rankings. Reporters even imagined going beyond China, which was regarded as the only country comparable to the United States in the hunter industry.

The reporters soon approached this particular job from a different angle. They had been asked to be here by their sponsors in order to make bad comments about their opponents. The problem was that, just by looking at the two people rushing back and forth from each other in the Orc Village, they felt guilty for gossiping about the opponent. No matter how much reporters valued their incomes, they had a conscience.

“If we blast them on our media channels, we might be shooting ourselves in the foot,” said one of the reporters from the Cheon-Ji Group carefully.

"Doesn’t matter that it’s our job to badmouth them, this is crossing the line,” responded a reporter from the Comet Group while nodding.

Until now, the reporters had not even been looking at each other, even though they were in the same space and so close to each other. Park Jin-Hwan, who was stuck in the center of it, smiled.

"You guys know the answer anyway, don't you? Rather than denigrating them, we should compliment the hunter who belongs to the group we are getting paid by.”

“If someone crosses the line and stabs the rest of us in the back, that person should quit their job. What do you think?" said Kim Jin-Young with a smile, pushing Park Jin-Hwan's proposal even further.

Fortunately, neither side had any major complaints.

"Seriously, we’re going to catch the backstabber and force him to quit.”

“That's what I'm saying.” Park Jin-Hwan shrugged as he listened to the conversation between the reporters representing the Comet Group and the Cheon-Ji Group.

‘We’ve got a good sponsor for sure.’?

Everything he did was a scoop. Now Park Jin-Hwan admitted that Choi Yu-Seong didn’t just look amazing, but also extremely lovely.

***

After running hectically around and killing the orcs coming at them from the entrance of the dungeon, Choi Yu-Seong’s level had risen twice. He clicked his tongue as he watched Bernard Yoo, who was secretly getting ahead little by little.

‘As expected, Bernard Yoo is strong. After all, he was Kim Do-Jin's closest colleague in the original novel.’?

Bernard Yoo was a Physical-type hunter who specialized in reinforcement. It was said that the most common Physical type was the Reinforcement type, but there were two special things about Bernard Yoo.

First of all, as expected from the main supporting character, he had tremendous combat instinct. As it could be seen from the case of Choi Yu-Seong and Kim Do-Jin, even if they had the same skills, their ability to use them and achieve great results was extremely different. In addition to that, Bernard Yoo’s skill palette consisted of skills that far surpassed general reinforcement ones.

‘He has overwhelming power, great stamina, and the skill Eye of the Beast…’

It was unusual to have such skills, which were the advanced versions of Strength Reinforcement, Stamina Reinforcement, and Vision Reinforcement. Moreover, he even had the special skill ‘Descent of the Great Power King.’ On top of that, this special skill, which was strong just by itself, also explosively increased all of the physical abilities.

In addition, there was one more cheat-like skill that earned Bernard Yoo the title ‘Fast Star’. Explosion Shot, as its name suggested, was the ability to fire off explosions. Bernard Yoo was a Physical-type hunter, so he could not use them to blast apart things in the distance. Instead, he trained to make the explosions to cover the surface of his body, and this allowed him to do something simple.

'Gaining acceleration the moment he uses the explosion.’

A typical hunter’s body would be ruined, as it couldn't withstand the explosions, but Bernard Yoo had a powerful physical buff that allowed him to easily endure it and he could even absorb the force for later use.

Among these skills of Bernard Yoo, Choi Yu-Seong naturally stole the Eye of the Beast by using his Eye of Replication.

『Copied Skill, Eye of the Beast D-.

Can be used for Fusion.

When used, the user can easily look at the world wider and farther.

Copy penalty is applied, changing Persistent skill -> Activation skill.

Copy penalty limits the number of uses to ten times.

Copy penalty reduces the effect of the skill to 70%.』

'Now I only have two more uses of Insight left.'?

When he was left with one last trial, Yu-Seong was planning to merge it with the Eye of the Beast. After several experiments with Fusion, he had already confirmed that the better the base, the higher the probability of excellent skills coming up after the merging.

There was no reason to reject a good base, the Eye of the Beast, in a situation where it could not be delayed any longer.

In the meantime, Bernard Yoo broke through. He shot forward using his Explosion Shot skill, punching the air and showing extreme coolness.

‘Yet, he can only do it once.’

In the near future, Bernard Yoo would be able to use the Explosion Shot skill two or three times in a row, leaving behind only a silvery stream like a meteor. In fact, if he did his best now, he was able to break a big rock in a single blow. Thus, after using Explosion Shot, he could punch a big hole through a giant monster that even a missile could not pierce through.

Choi Yu-Seong was hunting the fiercely attacking orcs using his Wind Control skill while chasing after Bernard but he didn’t think the gap that was increasing between them could be narrowed.

'In the first place, my movements are too simple.’?

As Stylish was activated, Yu-Seong’s condition was getting better and better. However, no matter how hard he tried, the distance was somehow maintained. However, it was not a big concern at the moment.

‘Once we reach the elite monster section, there will be a chance to turn the tables.’?

Choi Yu-Seong's prediction was not wrong. About an hour after the start of the dungeon race, Bernard Yoo's fist was blocked for the first time when he reached deep inside the Orc Village dungeon and met the elite monster.

Kreeeaaa-!

The Orc elite monster, the Orc Warrior, howled, shaking the entire area. Hearing the distant cry, about a minute away from him, Choi Yu-Seong shook off the group of Orcs rushing toward him and exhaled loudly.

At the same time, he remembered the skill he had copied from the person he had recruited during the last preparation period.

『Copied Skill, Acceleration D-.

Can be used for Fusion.

The user’s movement speeds up momentarily.

Copy penalty limits the number of uses to ten times.

Copy penalty reduces effect to 70%. 』

This skill, which sped up instantaneous movement, was quite valuable. Even the common acceleration skill could be achieved after some training. Although possibly limited by his rank, Choi Yu-Seong liked this acceleration skill enough to fill one of his skill spaces.

‘If I can read how Bernard Yoo uses his Explosion Shot skill, I might also use it.’

When Choi Yu-Seong shook the spear and spun it around, the rushing Orcs faltered and made an opening for him to strike.

‘Execute Eye of the Beast.’?

With a single glance, Choi Yu-Seong found the small opening with his overlapping Vision Reinforcement skill. Then, he spun and thrust his spear straight ahead. At the same time, he activated two more skills.

'Acceleration, Wind Control.'?

Those two skills maximized movement speed.

As he kicked the ground, Yu-Seong became like a ray of light shooting forward, only leaving behind a flash. This was a combat formation used in the Middle Ages, by knights on horseback, to collapse the opponent's shield formation in one blow. Thus, of course, its power was also great.

‘Lance charging!’

As Choi Yu-Seong used his skills to fire himself off like a cannonball, about twenty massive Orcs pushed themselves into the gap he was aiming for. They ended up being torn like paper, falling dead without even a single scream. In that way, Choi Yu-Seong quickly caught up to Bernard Yoo.

At the moment, Bernard Yoo was fighting with the Orc Warrior. Yu-Seong screamed and complained inwardly because of the extreme physical pain that he was experiencing.

‘Goodness, the Orcs. Why are they so tough?!’?

Lance charging itself was a powerful lance formation that originally used horses, spears, and the weight of armor. Of course, Yu-Seong was partially prepared for the rebound effect when going up against the Orcs, which had tough physiques. However, the rebound he felt was more than he expected.

‘I can't do this twice in a row.’?

It could be possible if a Support-type player or a Psychic-type player supported him from the back, but Yu-Seong could not dare to try it again by himself. Yu-Seong smiled as he instinctively tripped the Orcs and pierced his spear through their heads one by one.

- Your level has risen.

With the following message, Yu-Seong’s physical pain disappeared due to the healing effect of the level-up.

‘As expected, leveling up is the best.’

Choi Yu-Seong looked back at Bernard Yoo, who looked surprised.