[You did not run from the Medusius Serpent!]
[Confronting Medusius Serpent!]
The moment I chose to face the [Medusius Serpent] instead of running away.
[Hidden objective unlocked!]
[Additional reward unlocked!]
The hidden quest was newly updated.
◆ Additional Objectives
─[Fight the Medusius Serpent and buy time until the soldiers retreat.]
─[Ensure the survival of as many soldiers as possible.]
◆ Additional Rewards
─[Silver Medal of Honor]
─[Eighth Supply Base Item Selection Ticket]x3
The updated hidden quest required a conditional battle where I had to buy time against the boss until the surrounding NPCs escaped.
‘This is where it really begins.’
Facing the Goblin Riders at level 1 was difficult enough for most users, but fighting a defensive battle against the [Medusius Serpent] was an even harder challenge.
From this point on, it was a hidden quest meant for true experts.
BWAAAAAAH─!
The sound of a horn rang loudly across the battlefield sky. The Human Army’s retreat signal had sounded once more.
The soldiers were fleeing in complete disarray, looking exactly like routed troops.
“BrrrrRRrryhhhaaaaaaAaaaAAAA─!!!!”
At that moment, the [Medusius Serpent], glaring at the fleeing soldiers, let out a grotesque cry and once again gathered poison-laced breath in its mouth.
It was the casting motion for the poison breath that had reduced the soldiers to ash earlier.
“I-it’s coming!”
“The breath is coming!”
The frightened soldiers’ screams rang out again.
The first cast had been part of a cutscene, so leaving it alone did not carry any particular penalty. But if I left this second attack alone, soldiers would be sacrificed and the hidden quest’s completion rate would drop.
That said, the [Medusius Serpent]’s breath was not an attack I could block from the front in my current state.
That could not be parried.
This second breath was an area-of-effect attack meant to annihilate the routed soldiers all at once. Its charge time was far longer than the first attack, but in exchange, its range was wide enough to sweep away the entire surrounding area.
If I stepped forward and tried to block it clumsily, the moment I touched the breath, I would turn into a heap of ash and disappear just like the NPCs, then restart from the Goblin Rider section.
The one fortunate thing was that this second breath had a fairly long interval before firing.
So what should I do?
‘Block it.’
Not with a frontal parry. I had to use the gimmick and block it somehow.
TAP-TAP!
I left the mud dirtied by blood and monster fluids and ran toward solid ground.
The method for blocking the [Medusius Serpent]’s breath in this hidden quest was quite complicated.
First, I was level 1. Even the adjusted stats from obtaining the event weapon were mostly related to attack and defense, so there were limits to my movement.
Even if I recklessly attacked the [Medusius Serpent] to distort the firing angle of its breath, a level 1 character’s jumping power could not properly reach its head.
That meant I needed considerable understanding of this battle in order to stop the [Medusius Serpent]’s attack.
‘I see them.’
As I advanced across the battlefield while approaching the [Medusius Serpent], I saw wrecked chariots, piles of corpses, and other debris collapsed all over the battlefield.
Every one of them was a usable gimmick. As long as they were used in the correct order, they were pieces of terrain useful for attacking the [Medusius Serpent].
‘Was it 1, 1, 3, 3, or 1, 1, 3, 1? Damn, I’m mixing them up.’
While measuring the timing, I realized my memory was vague. I only vaguely remembered that this part was difficult. Well, there was no helping that.
‘I’ll have to feel it out with pure reflexes.’
TAP!
With the rest left to instinct, I kicked off the ground and leaped.
The first landing point was a mound of corpses. I stepped on the backplate of a corpse’s armor at the very top.
TAP!
Then came another leap. This time, I landed on the remains of a fallen chariot on slightly higher ground. And when I moved on to the next jump.
‘Is it now?’
“GRaaaA!!”
“GrrrrRRR!!!!”
Two armed goblins leaped at me from right beside me.
SLASH! SLAAAASH!
I spun my body in midair and, using that momentum, cut down the goblins that had leaped in.
‘Three. Next!’
The next landing point was the corpse of an Orc Warrior collapsed on top of soldiers’ bodies.
The Orc Warrior’s fallen head. I remembered that the steel helmet with a horn on only one side made a perfect foothold for a jump.
THUMP!
Just as I stepped on the Orc Warrior’s helmet and was about to leap again.
WHOOOOOSH─!!
A club huge enough to cover almost my entire field of vision ambushed me from the front.
‘Ah, right.’
Only then did I remember why the rhythm had confused me.
Back when I first challenged this hidden quest, I had relaxed my guard here and been taken out by that club when it suddenly popped out.
But that was only when I had challenged this hidden quest carelessly.
Now, after gaining more experience since then and even reaching ranker level, it was an attack I could deal with well enough.
‘Hup......!’
The moment I moved my sword almost reflexively and struck the club away at an angle.
CLAAAAANG─!!
Once again, a parry judged as a Great Success scattered sparks.
‘It’d be a waste to just knock it away here.’
Right after the parry, I thrust my sword straight into the club and clung to it.
RUSTLE......!
Before long, the stopped club moved while shaking off dust. The owner of the club, having recovered from the aftermath of the parry, had begun pulling back its weapon.
“Grrrr......?”
As I clung to the moving club and looked to the side, I saw the club’s owner, an Orc Warrior, tilting its head.
At a glance, it was a gigantic individual over five meters tall.
That Orc Warrior had swung a club as large as its own body. There was a reason I had once made a single mistake and died instantly.
If I could check the monster’s name, I was sure it would have a modifier like Gigantes attached in front.
“Grrrrr.”
The Orc Warrior, having lost track of me, tilted its head for a moment before giving up on pursuing me and snorting. Then it slung the club over its shoulder and tried to move after the remaining soldiers.
Without realizing that I was clinging to the club.
CRUNCH!
I roughly pulled out the sword I had been using as a handle, then jumped down from the club. I landed near the Orc Warrior’s trapezius.
“Grr?”
The Orc Warrior noticed the strange sensation on its shoulder, reacted, and opened its eyes wide.
That, rather, was the Orc Warrior’s blunder.
I thrust my sword straight out and stabbed the Orc Warrior’s eye.
SQUELCH!
“GRRrrrRRRRRRRRAAAAAA───!!”
The Orc Warrior, stabbed in a vital point, writhed in agony. It swung its club wildly, and with its remaining hand, it tried to claw away at me for stabbing its eye.
SQUELCH!
I quickly drove the sword in even deeper. Then, while gripping the sword, I fled to the back of the Orc Warrior’s neck and hung on.
The Orc Warrior could not grab either the sword lodged in its eye or me, and began thrashing like mad.
“GRRRAAAAAAAaaaaaAAA!!!”
BOOM! KABOOOOM!
As the heavily wounded Orc Warrior began smashing even fellow monsters indiscriminately and turning the area around it into a mess.
‘Hm, the position’s off?’
I felt the situation starting to turn a little bad.
According to my memory, I was supposed to cut off the Orc Warrior’s head here, ride its falling body, and leap off to strike the [Medusius Serpent]’s head, but.......
‘It’s moving farther away.’
The Orc Warrior, writhing in pain, was actually moving away from the [Medusius Serpent]. Though thanks to it harming the surrounding monsters indiscriminately, the soldiers were becoming safer.
SHAAAAAA─!!
As for the [Medusius Serpent], the breath gathered in its mouth was flashing as if it would soon reach its peak.
I had to do something.
‘Come to think of it, could you sometimes guide a monster’s movement after climbing on top of it?’
Since my class was in the Swordsman line, it was not a technique I had used much, but other classes used it quite often.
‘Let’s try it.’
If things continued like this, the quest completion rate was obviously going to fall. I boldly put the idea into action.
Specifically, I drove the sword stabbed into the Orc Warrior’s eye even deeper, then grabbed and yanked hard on the Orc Warrior’s hair protruding from under its helmet.
Then,
“GRRRRRRAAAAAaaAAAAAAA──!!!!!!”
the Orc Warrior, writhing in pain, began moving in the opposite direction from the hair I had pulled!
[Tutorial]
[Entered Mounted State.]
[When attacking from atop certain monsters, you can enter Mounted State.]
[While mounted, the monster enters a panic state and its movements slow.]
[While mounted, you can use skills to control the monster or unleash a powerful Mounted Finisher.]
‘It popped up!’
When I moved according to my memory, the game system tutorial appeared in front of me.
This mounting system was one of the basic systems for attacking boss monsters in Elysium.
In this state, you could forcibly control a monster writhing in pain and make it attack other monsters, or pour major skills into the thrashing monster to deal massive burst damage.
‘Well, right now I don’t have any skills, so I can’t do it properly.’
Of course, since this was the tutorial, it was impossible to pour out major skills.
Therefore, what I was aiming for was controlling the movements of a panicking monster according to my own intentions.
‘Now, if I pull this way......’
I twisted and gripped the Orc Warrior’s coarse hair, pressed against the back of its neck with my legs, and pulled hard.
“GRRAAAAAA─!!!!!!”
Then the Orc Warrior screamed and staggered in the direction I guided it.
A Great Success.
“GRaaaaAAAAAaaAA─AA─!!!!!!!”
BOOM! KABOOM! CRAAAAAACK!
On top of that, changing the Orc Warrior’s direction brought about an unexpected result.
“KEEEkk!”
“Grahak!”
The surrounding monsters began dying in droves to the berserk Orc Warrior’s fists, kicks, and swinging club.
BOOM! KABOOOM! CRUNCH!
“KharHak!”
“GrraaHaaak!”
As I approached the [Medusius Serpent] while beating down all the surrounding goblin soldiers and small- to medium-sized monsters.
“Aaak! The O-Orc Warrior!”
“H-h-huh?”
“Look closely! Behind its head!”
“W-who is that?!”
I heard the shock of soldiers who had been near the monsters getting swept away. Maybe because dealing with the Orc Warrior had taken too long, there were still soldiers left who had not managed to escape.
“Don’t dawdle! Hurry up and run!”
“T-thank you!”
When I shouted to hurry them along, the soldiers expressed their thanks and began fleeing with all their strength.
Elysium Online was an old game, but because it had been made around the time interactive artificial intelligence was being introduced, simple interactions like this with NPCs were possible.
‘Hm, at this rate, I should get a pretty high completion rate for rescuing the soldiers.’
From what I saw out of the corner of my eye, the soldiers I had just urged to flee were the ones at the very rear.
All that remained was stopping the [Medusius Serpent]’s breath. And after making it this far, that method was very simple.
Just ram it straight in.
“GRRRAAAAAA──!!!”
KABOOOOOM!
The Orc Warrior, writhing in pain, got caught by my guidance and slammed straight into the [Medusius Serpent].
A head-on collision with an enormous Orc Warrior over five meters tall. The impact was more than enough to break the posture of the [Medusius Serpent], which had been preparing an attack that would sweep away the surroundings.
“BrRrHhak??!!!!!”
SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
With its posture broken, the [Medusius Serpent] ended up spewing out the breath it had gathered. Not toward the human soldiers it had originally targeted, but toward the sky.
FWOOOOOSH─!!
The green breath spewed by the [Medusius Serpent] shot up into the sky and split the clouds. The entire sky flashed with green breath.
Then, as the [Medusius Serpent] failed to steady its body, the stream of breath slowly descended toward the ground.
‘Not yet.’
Until the breath finished firing, I could not let the [Medusius Serpent]’s snout turn toward the soldiers.
SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SQUELCH! SLASH!
“Grahak!!!”
I pulled out the sword that had been stabbed into the Orc Warrior’s eye, stabbed it several more times in succession, then pulled it out completely.
Then I kicked off the back of the Orc Warrior’s neck as a foothold and leaped toward the [Medusius Serpent]’s neck.
“Hup!”
SLAAAASH─!
The slash cut into the [Medusius Serpent]’s neck.
The [Medusius Serpent] was originally a boss that a level 1 character’s attack power would have struggled to even scratch.
But the [Sword of the Lost Battlefield] was an event item for this hidden quest. Because of that, a “special attack power correction” was added only during this quest.
Therefore, the attack power of the [Sword of the Lost Battlefield] was,
CRUNCH!
more than enough to cut through the [Medusius Serpent]’s scales.
SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLAAAASH!!!!
The slash severed the [Medusius Serpent]’s neck just like that.
After finishing the slash and landing nearby, the [Medusius Serpent]’s gigantic head fell to the ground a beat later and shook the earth.
THUUUD!
[Legendary Achievement!]
[Defeated the Medusius Serpent!]
[Hidden objective completed!]
[Reward added!]
‘Nice!’
With that, I had completed all the objectives.
I had made a slight mistake and the timing had been close because I was hanging onto the Orc Warrior, but it seemed to have ended well.
Was all that remained cleaning up the Orc Warrior and going to collect the rewards?
“Graaa......!”
Thinking that, I checked the Orc Warrior’s condition and saw that it was already near death, staggering around the area.
Just as I was about to deliver the final blow.
RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE.......
“Hm.”
The decapitated [Medusius Serpent]’s corpse slowly collapsed toward me. I sensibly moved away from the spot where the [Medusius Serpent] would fall.
But the Orc Warrior, already near death, had no time to do that.......
THUUUUD!
It was crushed under the falling [Medusius Serpent]’s corpse just like that.
[Heroic Achievement!]
[Defeated the Gigantes Orc Warrior!]
[Hidden objective completed!]
[Reward added!]
‘Huh?’
So the Orc Warrior I had just fought had been a hidden achievement too.
I had not known that.
In the past, I had not made a mistake, so I had simply ignored the Orc Warrior there and killed the [Medusius Serpent] right away.......
‘Mistakes are worth making too, huh.’
There were things you could gain from mistakes. That was one of the good things about games.
SHAAAAA.......
“Hm.”
As I was catching my breath for a moment, green rain began falling from the sky.
It was not ordinary rain. The [Medusius Serpent]’s breath that had flown into the sky earlier had mixed with the clouds and fallen as rain.
If I stood in this acid rain, I would die of poisoning before I could even receive the quest reward. It could not be dodged either. What could be more pointless than trying to avoid rain pouring from the sky?
However, the solution was simpler than expected.
‘That should do.’
Among the battlefield debris where weapons and corpses lay scattered, I quickly picked up a usable round shield. Then I used the shield as an umbrella to block the acid rain.
SHAAAAK─!
Smoke rose from all over the battlefield where the acid rain poured down. The acid rain, filled with the dissolved poison of the [Medusius Serpent], was turning everything to ash.
SHAAAAAAA.......
The acid rain poured down indiscriminately on friend and foe alike.
“GRaa! gRaaa!!!”
“KR, KRgHwa!!!”
The monsters, unable to withstand the acid rain, also stopped pursuing the routed soldiers and began retreating despite their overwhelming advantage.
The battle had completely stopped.
From this point on, I only had to move comfortably to the next destination. Before the shield I was using as an umbrella melted completely, that was.
BWOOOOOO.......
Mixed in with the noise of the acid rain, I heard a faint sound. It was the Human Army’s retreat signal.
BWOOOOOO.......
Following that small sound, which seemed as if it would be buried under the demonfolk’s retreat signal and the noise of the acid rain, I walked through the rain.
How long had I pushed through the acid rain like that?
“Th-there!”
“A survivor!”
“He’s walking over from there!”
“Hey! This way!”
The first completion point of the hidden quest.
When I reached the front gate of the Eighth Supply Base, soldiers who had opened the gate and were waiting for any possible survivors greeted me.
‘Looks like the acid rain zone is about over too.’
The rain area ended just in time. I dropped the shield I had been using as an umbrella onto the ground.
Then.
“Wait, that face.......”
“That’s the warrior who stopped the Orc Warrior earlier......?”
“The Orc Warrior? No! That warrior is the one who faced the [Medusius Serpent]!”
“No! I remember his face clearly! He’s the one who stopped the Orc Warrior!”
The soldiers began causing a commotion after recognizing my face.
“I saw his face too! He’s definitely the warrior who faced the [Medusius Serpent] at the end!”
“No, what are you talking about?”
“Then.......”
“Are you saying that man faced the Orc Warrior and the [Medusius Serpent] alone, then returned......?”
“And completely stopped the battle on this lost battlefield?”
The clamoring soldiers soon realized that I was the one who had killed both the Orc Warrior and the [Medusius Serpent], and stopped the battle.
As a result.
“O-ohhhh!”
“Ohhhh!”
“The hero! The hero has returned!”
“Waaaaaaaah!”
“Hero! Hero! Hero!”
A thunderous cheer.
When the hero who had saved them from a disastrous defeat returned, all the soldiers shouted in celebration.
[You held off the Medusius Serpent until all soldiers retreated!]
[All NPCs at the Eighth Supply Base revere you as the ‘hero who saved their lives’!]
[Reputation greatly increased!]
[Hero of the Battlefield!]
[Completed all objectives of the hidden quest!]
[Hidden objective completed!]
With this, the first tutorial was over.
[Quest completion rewards will be granted!]
Now it was time to receive the rewards.