The Duke's Son :Re-Chapter 243

Chapter 243
An S-grade gate was not necessarily filled with high-level monsters, as when there was a challenging quest or powerful boss monster, the level of the other inhabitants in the gate was sometimes lower than what was found even in A-grade gates.
Of course, the reverse was also true; when the quest or boss monster was relatively easy, the gate's inhabitants would often be higher level.
In Jae-Hyeok’s view, the Twilight Kingdom was an example of the latter.
An entire village of Twilgiht Orcs was simply absurd.
Daruchan alone had reached a level where it could compete with a National Treasure, while if Jae-Hyeok had to guess, the rest of them were all at least level 100.
Are all the orcs living in the other villages like this? The System refers to this gate as “Twilight Kingdom,” so there must be at least a dozen villages...
Jae-Hyeok’s eyes twitched at the imagined sight of a dozen Daruchans, each leading a squad of kin.
In fact, earlier Jae-Hyeok had spotted three other villages in this area alone. The more he thought about it, the less confident he felt that the Twilight Kingdom constituted
only
a rough dozen villages.
As of current, Jae-Hyeok couldn’t know for sure if the other villages were on par with that of Darachan’s, but if they were, then clearing the Twilight Kingdom’s mission could take considerable time even with the full cooperation of Korea’s top guilds.
Well, the good news is that there doesn’t seem to be much interaction between the villages.
The Chinese players had set Daruchan’s village on fire, with huge plumes of smoke rising into the sky, but the nearby villages had shown no reaction. At the very least, if the nearby villages were also filled with orcs, then Jae-Hyeok expected he would’ve heard something by now.
Maybe the villages are in competition with each other.
Jae-Hyeok felt that made sense. If existences on par with Daruchan headed the other villages, and they all cooperated together, then the System would not have rated the Twilight Kingdom as S-grade but rather SS.
Among Earth’s players and governments, the SS-grade was aptly known as the Continental-grade because such gates required cooperation from the best players across the continent to clear.
Having arrived at that thought, Jae-Hyeok relaxed.
Right. This is an S-grade gate—so long as the relationship between the villages is troubled, clearing this gate by myself is doable.
Twilight Orcs were high-level monsters, and they indeed posed a threat to Jae-Hyeok. But that was just it: the gate’s challenge lay in navigating the environment; comparatively, the gate’s clearance quest likely wouldn’t demand anything too difficult or complicated.
Since the crux of this gate is clear. I’m certain I won’t need the Chinese players’ help later on.
Although Jae-Hyeok thought as much, he still intended to keep Jiang Lei alive.
Jiang Lei belonged to the Black Dragon Guild—the guildmaster of which was none other than the one who’d injured his father during the Gate Talks those years ago. Jae-Hyeok had no intention of letting Jiang Lei die before he got the information he wanted.
But beyond that, Jae-Hyeok also wasn’t sure that Jiang Lei deserved to die.
Jiang Lei’s speech outside had been critical of Jang Beak-San and harsh on Korea—and had Do-Jin been present, he certainly would’ve earned Do-Jin’s curses. However, it was also true that Jiang Lei had not hesitated to attack when the ogre had threatened the lives of citizens.
That said, Jiang Lei
had
hesitated for quite some time before saving his subordinates from Daruchan...
Ultimately, Jae-Hyeok found Jiang Lei’s nature hard to read with what he’d seen so far.
I need to watch him a bit longer. For now, defeating Daruchan is the top priority
.
Clang!
Clang!
The force behind Daruchan’s two-handed swings made its earlier throwing axes seem playful.
[The Unbroken One Level 2.
Type: Passive
Every time you fight an enemy with a higher level than you, all stats are increased by 15%.]
This passive had always been a great help to Jae-Hyeok when fighting higher-level opponents. But despite it being active, Daruchan still surpassed Jae-Hyeok in strength, speed, and endurance.
The only area where Jae-Hyeok had the upper hand was technique, which so far had made for an even match.
“Kuock!”
Every time the sword and axe collided, Jae-Hyeok taxed his stamina and focus to come out on top. He brought Iyarugt snaking down the shaft of Daruchan’s great axe, lashing at its hand and wrist. The wounds he dealt were shallow, but they grew deeper and wider with each of Jae-Hyeok's successive strikes.
“Kuock!”
Finally, Daruchan groaned.
[You have struck the same area five times, creating a weak point. Striking a weak point guarantees critical hits.]
[You have struck the same area five times...]
After some time, Daruchan’s right hand, large enough to grip a watermelon, had as many as five gaping wounds—two on the back of its hand, two on its knuckles, and one on its wrist. All of them were weak points.
Jae-Hyeok’s sword danced between the wounds, triggering critical hits and dealing damage that was hard to ignore.
“You!”
Daruchan met Jae-Hyeok’s tactics with a simple solution: he switched his grip on the axe handle, such that his untouched hand was leading. He was originally ambidextrous, so this didn’t affect his strength at all.
On the contrary, Daruchan’s sudden switch to a left-handed stance threw Jae-Hyeok off, as Daruchan’s cleaves abruptly changed from attacking his left to attacking his right.
Jae-Hyeok leaned back a step too slow, and the edge of Daruchan’s axe opened up a large wound on Jae-Hyeok’s shoulder. Blood sprayed from Jae-Hyeok’s arm, and he collapsed onto the dirt path.
“Kuhaha! How long did you think your pathetic tricks would work?
In the end, the strong will win!”
In the short time Daruchan was laughing, the wounds on its right hand shrank at a rate visible to the naked eye.
[Twilight Orc Daruchan’s weak point has disappeared.]
[Twilight Orc Daruchan’s weak point has disappeared.]
......
......
Jae-Hyeok spat blood.
This big guy is stupid but strong.
Compared to the dark elves, which were another inhabitant of an S-grade gate that Jae-Hyeok had faced, the orc Daruchan gave him a completely different feeling.
The dark elves used the forest terrain to their strategic advantage and were skilled in archery and magic, giving Jae-Hyeok an impression of master combatants. Meanwhile, Daruchan swung its limbs and waved its axe around like a gangster in an alleyway.
Far from being a master, Daruchan had all the technique of a third-rate henchman in a comic book. However, what it lacked in form it made up for with its tyrannical physique and preposterous strength.
The gray, rock-like skin of the Twilight Orcs was highly resistant to blades. And Daruchan’s skin in particular seemed nearly invincible to swords; the proof lay in that even Iyarugt, a legendary sword said to cut steel as easily as if it were cloth, had only left minor wounds with each pass against Daruchan’s wrist.
The Chinese onlookers could also see what was going on.
Having an advantage in technique is useless in the face of that orc’s resilient skin.
Tsk. All that work stacking up minor wounds, and for what? A single glancing blow knocked that Korean kid right on his ass.
The Chinese players believed it was only a matter of time before exhaustion wore on Jae-Hyeok. Once he grew sluggish, a gruesome end wouldn’t be far off.
Moreover, Jae-Hyeok had already taken a serious wound to his arm. He might be a player, but players were still human—unlike monsters, Jae-Hyeok had no health bar to buffer the severity of his wounds. Every cup of blood lost was as serious as it seemed, so it remained to be seen whether Jae-Hyeok could even find his feet again.
In fact, the Chinese players had expected this end from the beginning. Jae-Hyeok was ultimately just a minor. While he was one of Korea’s National Treasure candidates, Korea was a backwater country after all.
The Chinese players estimated that Jae-Hyeok’s level and stats were hardly anything exceptional by China’s standards.
They all shared the same thought.
He’s going to die.
Some even sneered.
Good. We’d planned on killing him anyway. At least this way, he helped wear down that orc.
“
Cough!
Get back! The orc is mine!”
Just then, Jiang Lei picked himself off the ground. His face was smudged with dirt and his hair was disheveled, but he seemed otherwise unharmed as he charged into he fray for a second time.
The faces of the Chinese players lit up. Once Jiang Lei killed Daruchan, the levels he’d gain would surely make clearing the rest of the gate much easier.
Jiang Lei ran his sword through Daruchan’s back while it had been distracted taunting Jae-Hyeok.
“You... despicable bastard!”
Daruchan roared in fury, but Jiang Lei only sneered.
“It’s your fault for being careless. How dare you ignore me? Me!
Heheh
. You’ll pay for that.”
“......!”
The Chinese players had been cheering for Jiang Lei in their hearts, only for their expressions to freeze as a dark crimson energy erupted from Jiang Lei’s sword.
“That’s blood energy!”[1]
“No way... Jiang Lei is a member of the Blood Church?”
The Blood Church was a fanatical organization whose members worshiped vampires as gods. The organization had a particularly strong presence in China, where its antics and conduct had earned it a horrible reputation among the players there.
It was unbelievable that one of China’s National Treasures held ties to the Blood Church. The players felt like they had learned a secret they shouldn’t know.
Among Jiang Lei’s subordinates, the middle-aged man with the ponytail was the only one who was calm. He had been Jiang Lei’s closest aide for a long time, unlike the others, who were only accompanying Jiang Lei temporarily under orders from the Black Dragon Guild or the Communist Party. He spun his spear around to point at the necks of his teammates.
“What should I do?”
“Hik!”
The players were shocked by the pony-tailed man's actions. Before they could think to say anything, Jiang Lei replied to the pony-tailed man’s question, “That depends on what they choose.” Then, Jiang Lei addressed the others in a gentle tone, “If you swear loyalty to me here, you will gain immense rewards and return home safely.”
Among the players, a man glanced at the pony-tailed man’s spear before replying with a question of his own.
“Are you talking about a blood contract? We’ve all heard about the notoriety of the Blood Church’s blood contracts! Hmph. I, for one, will never agree to that.”
A blood contract would leave them forever subordinate to the contractee. The Blood Church was famous for using this very contract to recruit new, “loyal” members.
“Then you should die.”
By the time Jiang Lei finished speaking, the man with the ponytail had already thrust his spear into the other man’s neck, whose eyes widened in shock.
The man had clearly raised his sword in time, but the pony-tailed man’s spear had bypassed his guard as if it were a mirage before plunging through his neck.
This was the power of the Execution Skill, which nullified the target’s defense for a single strike.
“What about the rest of you? Now that it’s come to this, I would prefer it if you all showed some flexibility and made the right choice.”
Originally, Jiang Lei had planned to naturally win over his subordinates’ trust, hence why he’d stepped forward to save them in the first place. But he had misjudged Daruchan’s strength, following which Jae-Hyeok had taken advantage of an opening to get involved. One thing had led to another, and before Jiang Lei knew it, the area was filled with the iron scent of Jae-Hyeok’s and Daruchan’s blood.
As a new member of the Blood Church, Jiang Lei had yet to master his blood energy, which had reacted instinctively to the bloodshed.
Even now, the crimson aura thickened around Jiang Lei and resonated with the blood spurting from the man speared in the neck. The blood floated in droplets toward Jiang Lei before circulating around him.
The players’ expressions betrayed their revulsion. And in a moment of emotion, one player blurted, “M-monster...”
Upon hearing that word, Jiang Lei’s face twisted, and then he sighed.
“What a shame. Spare Lou Xin, we still need a magician. Kill the rest.”
“Yes.”
The pony-tailed man nodded without hesitation and aimed his spear at the next in line to die.
“I will ask you one thing.”
Jae-Hyeok suddenly staggered up, blood still gushing from his shoulder. He looked at the blood energy gathered around Jiang Lei.
“This blood energy... it responds to blood, and you can’t control it, is that right?”
Jiang Lei glanced at Jae-Hyeok and showed a thin smile. “So? You’ll be dead soon. Why ask about unnecessary things?”
Did he think we would just let him go? Dumb kid.
The man with the ponytail also chuckled at Jae-Hyeok’s nonsensical question.
Meanwhile, Jae-Hyeok nodded.
“Okay. That answer is enough.”
Jae-Hyeok realized why Jiang Lei had saved those citizens from the orc outside the gate. It had nothing to do with the citizens themselves; rather, Jiang Lei had worried that too much carnage would cause his energies to run wild, thereby exposing his ties with the Blood Church.
Jae-Hyeok felt relieved after learning the truth.
“So you really are scum. Now that I know, that makes things simple.”
Jae-Hyeok relaxed his neck as the bleeding from his shoulder stopped. Jae-Hyeok relaxed his grip on his shoulder, allowing the fragments of the potion vial to fall away.
“Scum? I don’t think you realize your situation.”
Jiang Lei’s blood energy surged, blasting Daruchan off his sword.
The big orc landed right next to Jae-Hyeok, who sighed.
It’s too bad I hesitated earlier. I could’ve wiped them both out when Jiang Lei was talking... Hah. I can only blame it on my good heart.
Jae-Hyeok activated Hell Sword.
Iyarugt let out a cry, and the pressure it released caused the ground to depress around Jae-Hyeok, following which countless threads of sword energy bloomed outward, crawling through the air in every direction.
Daruchan, who had just risen to its hands and knees, was quietly reduced to a mound of finely diced flesh.
The light of a level up descended on Jae-Hyeok, who was still grumbling to himself. “I wasted a potion for nothing.”
After stacking successive hits on Daruchan, Jae-Hyeok had gained a charge of Hell Sword and had been waiting to use it ever since. Ideally, Jiang Lei would’ve revealed his true nature without Jae-Hyeok needing to prod him, whereupon he would’ve used Hell Sword to clean up Daruchan and severely wound Jiang Lei. Unfortunately, Jae-Hyeok had forgone that opportunity in exchange for confirming Jiang Lei’s nature.
It’s unfortunate that I missed such a good opportunity, but it’s better to miss it than to risk harming a potentially innocent person.
Thinking as much, Jae-Hyeok’s dim mood improved slightly.
Meanwhile...
“W-what?”
Jiang Lei, along with the other Chinese players and all the Twilight Orcs, looked dumbfounded.
1. In the past, the Blood Church’s red aura was described as “mana” with a life-leech attribute. Now, however, we see it’s largely described as “blood
energy
.” The difference between the terms “mana” and “energy” is not quite clear. But after some thought, I'm going to loosely distinguish them as follows: "mana" is the more basic of the two and comes in various elemental forms (i.e., lightning- or fire attribute mana), whereas "energy" is mana that has gone through extra steps; it's derrived from either
converting mana
—e.g., to produce blood energy—or
manipulating mana
—e.g., to produce sword energy (which I think of as mana that has been condensed again and again to make razor-sharp threads). ☜