Chapter 52

­ Lucky Drop (3)

The best way to become famous was to defeat someone famous .

This was a fact that applied almost everywhere in life .

Almost everyone who played Warlord wanted to become famous in some way . They wanted their names to appear on YouTube or Google results, and they wanted any video they uploaded to appear on top of the trending feed . Although they tried many different things to achieve this goal, only a few succeeded . The ones who failed bet everything they had for a chance to overturn their status .

They became a Fame Hunter .

“My name is Quiyote! Hahoe Mask Hyrkan, I challenge you to a duel!”

When one became famous, he had to prepare himself to fight off the pesky hyenas .

Hyrkan had also resolved himself to such things . As such, he wasn’t too surprised by the sudden challenge .

Hyrkan rubbed his index finger and thumb together .

How much?

Realizing the gesture Hyrkan was making, Quiyote answered with a stiff expression .

“I’ll give you 1,000 gold!”

Hyrkan stopped the gesture he was making and waved his hand as if to say he should just go hunt the Sword Monkeys nearby .

“How much do you want?”

Quiyote asked .

This wasn’t an uncommon sight . The condition or price of a duel wasn’t determined by the challenger, but the champion . It was only right for the challenger to pay some sort of price to the one who was accepting his challenge . Of course, most opted to go for a PK rather than to pay this price .

Hyrkan opened his hand and put out five fingers . Quiyote frowned . The ones who responded were his friends .

“5,000 gold?”

“Isn’t that too much? He’s hot and all recently, but 5,000 gold to fight a rookie is too much . ”

“He just doesn’t want to fight . ”

“Quiyote, are you really doing this? Why not use that money to go to a club or something?”

However, his friends’ advice didn’t enter Quiyote’s ears . After contemplating for a bit, Quiyote gave his reply .

“I’ll give you 5,000 gold!”

His friends made a surprised expression .

They knew Quiyote was rich . The White Mamba set he was wearing was proof of it . The level 70 full set sold for above 60,000 gold . In the past, the specially made White Mamba set was traded for 50,000 gold, but now, it was even more expensive .

For someone like Quiyote who could wear such an item set right after becoming level 70, 5,000 gold wasn’t such a large amount . Even so, he couldn’t spend it as if it was nothing either .

‘You’re really going to spend that much?’

That was what his friends’ eyes were saying .

At their gaze, Quiyote added a condition .

“But only if you win!”

Only then did his friends relax .

‘That makes more sense . ’

‘Right . 5,000 is just too much . ’

At the same time, Hyrkan covered his mouth with his hand and lowered his head . Like Rodin’s The Thinker, Hyrkan seemed to be agonizing over something . Although it was weird his shoulders were jumping up and down, Quiyote and his friends didn’t put much meaning behind it .

Eventually, Hyrkan let out a sigh and gestured at Quiyote to come over .

Quiyote smiled .

★★★

‘The chance is finally here . ’

Seeing the Armor Monkey Skeleton Warrior through the gap in his helmet, Quiyote gripped the sword in his hand tightly .

He was now level 71 . Since he started Warlord, there wasn’t a single time he was troubled .

It was because he had money . As such, he could always have the best items for his level . Because he didn’t work, he had plenty of time in his day to invest into Warlord .

Moreover, he really enjoyed games . He didn’t hesitate to spend money . As a result, he was always among the best in online games .

However, it was different in Warlord . Although he hadn’t run into any troubles, he wasn’t famous either .

In other games, his name was known across the server or the entire game . Yet, in Warlord, he was just an average player without a nickname .

Although he had uploaded videos to YouTube before, it wasn’t well accepted . Although he paid money to a firm to get his views up, that was it .

To him, Hyrkan was the most enticing prey .

‘If I win against you, I can spread my name . ’

Hyrkan was indeed a very enticing prey . He didn’t have any background . Since he wasn’t part of any guild, there wouldn’t be any trouble afterwards . Plus, he traveled alone . He could be pushed over with sheer number . Even so, he was quite famous . Although it wasn’t as much as Rankers, his speed or process of gaining fame was different than all the others .

If Quiyote defeated him, he would be able to gain some attention to himself .

Of course, the most important thing was whether Quiyote could defeat Hyrkan .

However, Quiyote was confident in this aspect .

‘First of all, I’m at least 10 levels higher . ’

Kiyote was level 71 . Although Hyrkan’s level was never announced to the public, Quiyote could tell that Hyrkan was undoubtedly in level 50s from his videos .

‘It looks like he got some decent items… but it can’t be better than mine . ’

Quiyote had the White Mamba set . It came with one of the top bonus options available amongst level 70 item sets .

Finally, Quiyote was confident in his ability . He believed the only reason he hadn’t made a name for himself was because he was unlucky, not because he lacked the skill .

‘There’s no way I’d lose to him . ’

But when the fight began, Quiyote couldn’t help but change his mind .

The fight began without any warning, and a flashy battle broke out in an instant .

Quiyote was the first to attack . To get a taste of his opponent, Quiyote first attacked a Skeleton Warrior with a basic attack . The Skeleton Warrior dodged Quiyote’s attack easily .

‘They were this good?’

He knew how well Hyrkan’s Skeleton Warriors fought from his videos .

However, he was certain it was a result of expert editing and directing . With the right editing and directing, even an average player could look like experts .

After clashing with one personally, Quiyote realized he was wrong . The Skeleton Warrior’s movements were much quicker and refined than he had expected .

It was thanks to Hyrkan’s training .

As Hyrkan put all points from leveling up into strength, his Skeleton Warriors had long grown accustomed to such attacks . There was no way they would be hit by Quiyote’s basic attacks .

In fact, they even counterattacked from time to time .

Clang!

The sound of the Skeleton Warrior’s mace hitting Quiyote’s armor rang out to the surrounding .

After being struck, Quiyote stepped backwards . Without chasing him, the Skeleton Warriors maintained their positions . Seeing the Skeleton Warriors actions, Quiyote lightly touched the left hip where he was just struck by the mace .

There was no physical damage . If he was injured with just that much, there would have been no point in spending so much money to buy the White Mamba set .

However, the mental damage was there .

‘This skeleton . ’

Quiyote wanted to fight slowly and attacked to get a feel for his opponent . What answered him was humiliation .

‘Fine . ’

Quiyote threw away his plan for a slow fight .

‘I’ll end this quick!’

It was in an instant .

In a situation where both sides had kept their distance of about 3 meters…

“Charge!”

Quiyote used his skill, Charge . He kicked the ground as he launched himself forward like a missile .

The distance between him and the Skeleton Warrior closed in an instant .

“Booster!”

Then, Quiyote followed up with a sword slash .

Charge and Booster .

It was the swordsman class players’ 18th combo . When this combo hit, its target would be defeated ten out of ten times .

It was the same for the Skeleton Warrior . Although it tried to dodge its opponent’s sudden attack by swaying its body backwards…

Crack!

Quiyote’s sword reached the Skeleton Warrior first and cut his body . Although it avoided being split in half thanks to Bone Armor, it couldn’t prevent its body from being pushed back like a puppet that has its strings cut . The Skeleton Warrior disappeared .

In other words, the obstacle between Hyrkan and Quiyote was now gone .

‘This is it!’

Quiyote didn’t stop . With his Charge skill ready, he ran towards Hyrkan with full force .

Booster was off cooldown as well . If he could close the distance, it would be impossible for Hyrkan to dodge his sword . He could either get hit or block it . Regardless of which, the damage Hyrkan would take wouldn’t be small .

Quiyote activated his skill, and Hyrkan responded to Quiyote’s confident charge in a strange manner .

‘Huh?’

He lied face down on the ground .

‘What?’

Quiyote couldn’t help but be taken aback seeing Hyrkan disappear from his line of sight .

What made him even more flustered was…

Smack!

That he tripped on Hyrkan’s body and fell down .

Watching this from afar, Quiyote’s friends couldn’t help but frown .

‘No way . ’

‘He stopped the Charge like that?’

The Charge skill made its user unable to control his body during the duration .

Because of it, accidents sometimes happened while using the Charge skill . In forests, players sometimes ran into trees . In caves, players sometimes ran into the wall . If one typed Charge Fails on YouTube, there were many funny videos to see .

However, dodging the Charge skill by lying face down on the ground was… for lack of a better word, absurd .

But its effect was clear . After falling down, Quiyote rolled on the ground like a wheel . It would have been better to just fall and stop .

‘Kuu!’

As he rolled on the ground, so did the world around him . As a result, he felt slightly dizzy .

When Quiyote stopped and staggered himself up .

“Careful!”

The shout of his friends entered his ears . Quiyote turned towards the direction of the sound .

At that instant, Hyrkan stabbed his sword through the gap between Quiyote’s helmet and armor .

Crack!

Like threading a string through a needle-hole, Hyrkan’s sword dug through the smallest gap .

Thanks to the chainmail covering his skin, Quiyote was able to stop the sword from penetrating his neck .

However, the power of an all-strength necromancer wasn’t something an inner-armor like a chainmail could block perfectly .

Hyrkan’s sword pierced through the chainmail and damaged Quiyote .

It only went in about a finger deep . It wasn’t a fatal blow at all .

However…

[You have fallen under the Slow Curse . ]

[You have fallen under the Demon Curse . ]

Curses affected Quiyote .

‘Shit!’

Realizing what had happened, Quiyote immediately tried to use his skill .

‘I need to use Shout…’

Level 60 swordsman skill, Shout!

It cleared the user’s debuffs depending on his level and the skill’s skill rank . Although the cooldown time was long, it was a useful skill to use in an emergency situations .

It was easy to use as well .

Haaat!

He just had to shout clearly .

“Uuu…”

Quiyote wanted to shout…

‘Hm?’

But when he tried, the sky suddenly entered his eyes . His body was dropping backwards .

Hyrkan . Immediately after he stabbed with his sword, he tackled Quiyote’s body and threw him backwards . It didn’t take longer than a second for him to make his next move . To Quiyote who was on the receiving end, it felt like he was fighting against two Hyrkans . One who stabbed him and the other who tackled him .

Thud!

“Huk!”

What came out of his mouth wasn’t a shout, but a sound of surprise .

The sword remained stabbed .

Then, Hyrkan sprinkled dirt between the gaps in Quiyote’s helmet .

‘What?’

Those who had experienced PKs knew what it was like to have a sword trying to pierce one’s eyes . But what about dirt? Surprisingly, not many had such an experience . Monsters, especially, never did such things .

Lack of experience led to panic, and it gave the opponent a chance .

2 seconds .

Hyrkan didn’t waste the 2 seconds his opponent gave him .

Kwak!

Hyrkan stepped on Quiyote’s chest to ensure he wouldn’t get up easily . Then he pulled out the sword stuck on his neck and stabbed down again .

Stab, stab!

Every time Hyrkan stabbed with his sword, it went in deeper . If it went on for longer, Hyrkan’s sword would go through Quiyote’s neck and touch the ground .

‘T-This is dangerous!’

With his life at risk, Quiyote struggled to live . He tossed and turned roughly . After throwing off Hyrkan’s foot from his chest, he rolled to the side with all the strength he could muster .

After barely getting away from Hyrkan’s grasp, Quiyote got up as quickly as he could .

“Hey! Behind you!”

His friends once again warned him . However, just like before, it was a little bit too late .

Clang!

Before Quiyote could even turn around and look, a mace struck him on the back . Like a ringing of a bell, a metallic ringing sounded as a Skeleton Warrior missing its left arm and half of its body swung its mace .

Quiyote staggered once again .

‘Shit, what’s…’

He was in a daze . He didn’t have the time to process what was happening . Even so, he narrowly opened his eyes to look for Hyrkan . That much showed that he was quite experienced in fighting .

However, his opponent was just better .

‘Where is he?’

Hyrkan had disappeared from his sight . He had, since long, gone into Quiyote’s blind spot . To avoid his line of sight, Hyrkan had lowered his body as he approached Quiyote .

Then, he tackled Quiyote again .

Thud!

Quiyote fell backwards . Then, Hyrkan once again…

Pat!

Threw dirt in his helmet . It was a much greater amount than before . Quiyote’s sight turned dark .

‘FUCK!’

Dejavu . No, it wasn’t a dejavu .

Clang!

This time, a Skeleton Warrior was there as well . The Skeleton Warrior happily smashed its mace down on Quiyote’s helmet .

Clang!

Every time the mace hit Quiyote’s helmet, the dirt inside the helmet swirled around it .

If there was hell, this would surely be it .

‘This is absurd!’

In the end, Quiyote couldn’t help but shout out .

“I, I surrender!”

With Quiyote’s surrender, Hyrkan snapped his fingers once . The Skeleton Warrior stopped . The tension died down, and a sense of emptiness came down on Quiyote .

In this sense of emptiness…

“Leave the 5,000 gold and your watch . ”

Hyrkan threw out a few words .

Quiyote . This was his first conversation with Hyrkan .