A Display of Power

“Awakener-nim. Uh, so, that is.”

Ilai, who was clasping his hands together, looked at me with an anxious expression and then haltingly opened his mouth.

“…A-are you leaving?”

I knew he had been watching me since the moment I entered the village.
Because our eyes would meet whenever I turned my head.

“I’m sorry to have brought an Awakener-nim to such a humble place. If you were offended in any way, please forgive me…”

“No, not at all. Thank you for letting me help.”

I smiled brightly at the anxious-looking Ilai.
I meant it.
To be able to do such a small quest without the interference of the Observers.
It really felt like I had returned to being a ‘player,’ and I felt like I could do anything.

“I’m not leaving yet, I was just going to get some food. It seems you can’t go hunting because of the heavy snow.”

“No. We, always, …hunt every day. But…”

Ilai bit his lip hard and fidgeted.
He opened and closed his mouth like a parishioner who had come for his first confession.

“Uh, uh, Awakener-nim…”

“Hey! Ilai!”

Just as the man was about to open his mouth, a large figure appeared from beyond the long bushes.

‘Oh, is it a Nemea?’
At the canines protruding from the corner of its mouth, I almost approached it cheerfully.
Because I was a few Nemean claws short.

“Ilai, you didn’t even show up at the meeting place today. What are you doing?”

But on closer inspection, it wasn’t a Nemea.
It didn’t have the characteristic burning beard or hair, and the canines that grew like icicles were twice as long as a Nemea’s.

[White Urf Tribe: An ancient saber-toothed tiger-type monster. A variant that inhabits the snowy mountain regions. Its huge canines have evolved to skewer prey like a skewer and move it easily at once.]

‘Right. There was a monster like that, wasn’t there.’
I remembered being fooled a few times while hunting because the Nemea and that long canine looked similar.

But unlike the Nemea, which was annoying to deal with because it had the same fire main attribute as me, the Urf was attribute-less.
It had no weaknesses or strengths, which meant I just had to overpower it with damage.

“Y-you’re here already? The tribute day is, tomorrow…”

“There have been a lot of banquets lately. Hand over what you’ve collected so far.”

So there was no need to be scared at all, but the situation seemed different for Ilai, who was standing next to me.
The corners of his eyes, slender and slanted like a fox’s, trembled.

“Do you know each other?”

“Th-that is…”

“Heh! What do you mean, know each other!”

‘You scared me.’
‘He has good ears.’
I had whispered to Ilai, but the bastard had overheard and shouted.

“He’s just the warehouse key keeper who brings us food!”

‘Ah.’
I immediately understood the situation.
‘So that’s why they had so little food, and the village was in such a mess.’

I looked back and forth between the pale-faced Ilai and the saber-toothed beast-kin who was grinning, his mouth open wide enough to show his molars.

“And what are you, human? …Ho. No. An Awakener. What brings a representative of the gods to this remote place.”

At his sarcastic tone, Ilai flinched and glanced at me, but I asked back with sparkling eyes.

“Am, am I, do I look like an Awakener?”

“…You must have been abandoned by your pack for being a simpleton. Well, if you were in your right mind, you wouldn’t crawl to a land abandoned by the gods.”

The Urf looked me up and down as if I were a crazy woman, and then, as if having lost interest, turned his head away.

“Ilai! What are you standing there for, I told you to bring the food!”

“Can’t you get it yourselves? You guys look like you’re good at hunting.”

“Why should I, when I have a perfectly good food s*ave? Move. How dare a human interfere in the affairs of beast-kin?”

The Urf tribe tried to ignore me and pass by, but I summoned my Leviathan and blocked his path with a thud.
His gray eyebrows twitched fiercely.

“Are you trying to fight? You don’t seem to have any comrades around? Are you trying to fight with that weakling?”

“I don’t usually have comrades.”

“Hmph, but I do.”

The man, who was puffing out his chin, clicked his canines together, and Urf tribe members appeared from all over.

They were so big they could have been mistaken for bears, and they were quite intimidating, but the protruding upper canines made them look strangely ridiculous.
Since their upper lips were lifted, they all had a smiling expression.

“Are you laughing?!”

‘He’s kind of cute.’
Forgetting the situation, I let out a small laugh, and the Urf who was confronting me got angry and growled.

“How dare you laugh at my kin?! You damned wench!”

“I wasn’t laughing! It was because you’re cute…!”

“‘Cuuute’?! How dare you give such a terrible insult…! Boys! Show this insolent b*tch a lesson!”

‘Ah. Is calling a beast-kin cute an insult?’

‘Oh no.’
‘I called Tegen and Mashak cute all the time.’
‘What if they misunderstood.’

“Die, you arrogant wench!”

As I was suddenly thinking of the Varg, I was startled by the huge bodies running straight at me, thud, thud, thud!

“Ack…! Hey, attacking while I’m thinking is against the rules…!”

I was flustered and raised my Leviathan horizontally.
Crash!
A loud collision sound erupted.

“Kuhuk!”

I had expected to be thrown backward by the inertia, but the opponent was the one who was sent flying.

[<Stigma Theory> – Varg’s <Indomitable> passive skill is activated. (※ You will not be pushed back by the enemy’s attack.)]

“Wh-what, is that power?”

“To block the chief’s charge…”

The guy who had rolled on the ground like a drunkard who had tried to pass through a subway turnstile by pushing it with his stomach looked at me with a stupid face.
The surrounding Urf were also murmuring in confusion.
Perhaps embarrassed by that, the fuming guy got up and drew his sword.

“…Hmph, but do you think you can face all of us with that cumbersome spear?!”

I looked at the Urf guy who was striding towards me.
Normally, I would have struck first, one way or another, but if I were to lose, the Fox tribe would suffer retaliation, so I had to be careful.

As I was contemplating which skill to use to face him, a tooth sword flew at me.

“Ack! Leviathan!”

As I shouted instinctively, like someone shouting ‘mom’ when they’re surprised, the fork-like spear flew towards me, and by chance, it got stuck in the thigh of the guy who was about to slice me up like sashimi.

Zzzzt!
With a sound like an electric fly swatter being activated, a spark like black ink flashed.

“Kraaah!”

Following that, sparks flashed here and there, and an echoing scream was heard.

[Death Transmission: Upon hitting a target, it transmits black lightning to the surroundings, hitting multiple targets.]

The passive option on my weapon had been triggered.

‘Legacyth Chronicle’ encouraged the use of various skill builds.
The reason for the constant nerfing and buffing was to prevent things from becoming stagnant and to encourage the use of various skills.

My preferred build was the ‘Chain Transmission’ build.
Fire and lightning skills have a trait called ‘transmission.’
If you hit one person, the skill automatically spreads to those around them.
The power is halved with each transmission, but since the damage stacks, it was theoretically the strongest skill build if used well.

However, the damage stack would be reset the moment the transmission combo was broken, so it was annoying and difficult to use properly.
So I didn’t use it much unless I was in a state with a speed buff or on a mount.

[Skill currently being plundered through <Stigma Theory> – Due to the <Varg: God-Devouring Wolf> passive, movement speed is increased by 300 percent.]

But right now, I was faster than most mounts.
Because I had a broken passive!

I swung my Leviathan with gusto and beat up the Urf.
Crash!
Boom!
Every time the fork-like spear was swung, lightning struck, and the lightning reflected off the Urf’s iron armor and scattered in all directions.

“Inheritance of Heavenly Punishment!”

In the middle of the fight, I threw my spear into the sky, and the Urf were terrified and prostrated themselves.
But when nothing happened, they got up, giggling, and held up their tooth swords.

“Kekeke! The magic must have failed!”

And then, crash!
They were crisply fried by the lightning that struck a beat late.

[Awakener ‘Shinbi’ has cast <Inheritance of Heavenly Punishment>.]

‘…This one has a terribly long pre-delay.’1)

I looked reluctantly at the rain of lightning that fell after a whopping 23 seconds.
‘All these fancy skills are like this.’
‘But it’s pretty, so it’s fine.’

“Now, are you still going to fight?”

As I spread my arms and asked, with the falling pink lightning at my back, they shook their heads, pale-faced.
Some of them even threw down their weapons, as if they had lost the will to fight.

However, the Urf who was presumed to be the chief was still pouting his lips and glaring at me.

“Are you go-ing to fight.”

“…N-no. We surrender.”

His reluctant attitude of surrender was subtly annoying.

‘Should I just kill him?’
I thought, but seeing the young Foxes clinging to the rafters and watching, I thought it would be bad for their emotional development and changed my direction.

“Then swear that you will never bother the Fox tribe again. And from now on, you will bring them food every day, just as you have been doing.”

“……”

“Inheritance of Heavenly…”

“We will! We will not bother them, and we will offer food!”

As I raised my Leviathan again, the terrified guy finally prostrated himself, saying he surrendered.
The weapons and armor they were carrying, and the food that was taken out from their pockets one by one, were piled up next to the Fox tribe’s well.

“Awakener-nim! You’re really, really strong! How could you defeat such ruffians in an instant…!”

“No, this is nothing.”

“To think you’re so humble, you’re so cool!”

‘Ha, well.’
‘It’s really nothing.’
I felt good as I smiled shyly, surrounded by the Foxes.

‘…Right, it was a feeling like this.’

I was actually strong.
My basic stats weren’t bad for a ‘Plunderer,’ who was called a corpse except for plundering because of all the nerfs, and I also had my soul partner, the Leviathan.

If it weren’t for the Observer, who would rush out like a dog that had heard the sound of a walk at the mere use of any skill, I would have become the overlord of this ‘Legacyth Continent’ long ago.

If that had been the case, I probably wouldn’t have thought of going back and would have just lived here happily, without a care in the world.

Because in this world without the Observer, there was nothing to be afraid of.

“Shinbi-nim! You’re so amazing.”

“…Yes, she is quite an amazing woman.”

‘No. That’s not right.’
‘There is something scary.’

I immediately retracted my thoughts as I saw the man with the cool eyes who had appeared in front of me.

[Footnote Collection]

1. Pre-delay: The time it takes for a skill to be cast after the command is given.