Chapter 24 - Orcrox Warriors 3

The orc warriors passed through the giant door, which led into a deep tunnel.

The true dungeon raid started.

The first enemies they met was a group of skeletons at the very beginning of the tunnel. Bones were scattered here and there. There were skulls embedded in the walls, rib bones on the ground, thigh bones, and various other bones strewn about. The orcs passed them without thinking.

However, soon the sound of bones moving could be heard.

The orcs warily looked around. The bones were moving by themselves and assembling together. Dark magic power appeared between the bones to hold the dead bodies together. They became bony skeleton warriors. They were the poor undead who died, but couldn't rest and became the dolls of a necromancer.

Ian raised his greatsword. The skeletons holding weapons started to walk forward. However, something else caught Ian's eyes. The other orcs became silent as they noticed it as well. Their hands were shaking. Ian also had a death grip on his greatsword.

Those bones. They were revived orc skeletons. Among the human skeleton soldiers, orc skeleton soldiers approached with axes and halberds, their fragmented helmets sticking to their skulls. It was a miserable appearance without any honor.

The furious orc warriors rushed out at the same time. The majestic magic of the shamans echoed throughout the cave.

Ian also wielded his greatsword. The movements of the bony warriors were bizarre, but their strength and speed were fearsome. His sword bounced off the ribs of a human skeleton soldier while the skeleton soldier's sword aimed at Ian's neck.

Ian ducked and swung his sword again. It hit with a loud clang, causing no damage to his opponent. At that moment, an unknown power nestled in Ian's body and his greatsword shone with a blue light.

A shaman's blessing! If this was the case, his attacks would now work.

The blade slammed into the skeleton soldier and its arm was broken. The skeleton soldier reached out to Ian with its remaining hand. Ian stretched out his hand and grabbed it, his greatsword striking its skull.

The skull cracked into pieces and its strength disappearing from the skeleton's hand. All contact between bones was lost as the skeleton soldier collapsed.

One skeleton was taken care of. Ian wanted time to breathe, but another attack flew towards him.

It was an orc skeleton soldier with its huge axe aimed at Ian's head. He ducked forward and narrowed the gap.

Ian shouted as he swung his greatsword. The orc skeleton soldier avoided his attack and their weapons collided with each other. Ian wasn't a match when it came to a battle of strength. The muscular strength of the skeletons soldiers was of a different caliber, due to the dark magic. Ian couldn't push him away and was instead pushed back.

In the moment that Ian was about to give up the battle of strength...

'Rest...' Someone whispered.

Ian raised his gaze.

'Give me rest...'

It was a faint whisper, like the wind. He didn't know if he actually heard it with his ears or if it was inside his head, but it gave him a ray of hope. The eyes of the orc skeleton soldier turned towards Ian. Something was staring at him from the dark hollow where the eyes should've been.

The orc skeleton soldier twisted his body, the axe tearing past Ian's arm. Blood splattered all over.

"Ugh!"

Red blood covered the face of the orc skeleton soldier.

'Warrior, for me, honorable rest...'

Ian's blood ran down the skull of the orc skeleton soldier. His blood, which fell on the orbital bones, was like the blood of the orc skeleton soldier.

Ian nodded. Unknown emotions coursed through him.

Ian didn't know much about Elder Lord. He didn't know what type of system it was, nor did he know the reality of Elder Lord. He didn't know about the artificial intelligence that caused their emotions to resemble humans.

But to Ian, Elder Lord was another world. Everything that he encountered in Elder Lord seemed like it was living in reality.

The orc warriors around him roared as they fought. Lenox's voice in the front encouraged the warriors. The solemn shamans recited spells for the undead orc warriors.

In front of Ian, the orc skeleton soldier shed bitter tears as he asked for a honorable rest. If this wasn't real, then what was reality?

Ian swung his greatsword. He had to cut down this shame of the orcs. The shaman's spell was nestled in his blade, casting a blue glow over the face of the orc skeleton soldier.

Lenox's shout rang through the tunnel.

"An honorable rest──────!"

"Rest!"

Ian and all the orcs shouted at the same time. Ian and the orc skeleton soldier collided.

°°°

"Team Leader-nim, the system is locked."

"What, again!?"

"It is in Protect Mode."

"What is it this time?"

"This is a new situation. It says that access is temporarily unavailable due to system synchronization."

"Dammit!"

Park Jujin threw away the documents that he had been reading.

He looked at the huge white structure floating in the centre of the system control room. It was a smooth surface with no cracks or openings. This white sphere controlled all of the systems. No, that wasn't right.

It was 'Elder Lord'. That sphere was the world of Elder Lord itself. To be precise, it was the main core system, 'Albino', that computed and controlled everything in Elder Lord.

Elder Lord was run by the core system Albino. Nobody knew what logic it operated on, what programs were built into it, and what exactly it was.

This was all the legacy of the genius scientist Yoo Jaehan. However, he disappeared. Today, there was no one who knew exactly what Albino was. Park Jujin, who inherited control as the genius after Yoo Jaehan, just watched everything as the manager, not the controller.

Those who were called operators and the affiliate of the Myeongsong Group called Elder Saga Corporation didn't understand what controlled Elder Lord. They could only use some surface cosmetic features.

"Yoo Jaehan, that bastard..."

Jujin muttered the name of the man he was always following behind. It was no longer envy or jealousy.

"What did you do...?"

Nobody knew how Elder Lord had achieved such a perfect virtual reality. The roughness of the previous generations of virtual reality games had all disappeared from Elder Lord. Even Park Jujin couldn't distinguish if it was the world real or virtual when he first connected. He couldn't fathom how it was created.

The whole world was going crazy over Elder Lord, but the reality was that it was a mystery.

"Albino."

Park Jujin said. Albino didn't answer.

"Albino, what is this situation?"

Albino was the system, but it wasn't under their control. Albino usually ignored their questions and only occasionally answered when it thought that they needed it. Albino stayed silent.

"Dammit..."

Park Jujin grabbed his head. It was at that moment.

-It is temporarily unavailable due to system user synchronization.

Then Albino opened its mouth. Her voice was heard. Park Jujin looked at Albino's white body. The white system core replied with a distinctive female voice.

-A user's assimilation rate has temporarily exceeded 90%. For both the system and the user's protection, system access is temporarily blocked.

Park Jujin's mouth dropped open.

"What...?"

Park Jujin fixed his glasses., confusion flashing across his eyes. Albino didn't say anything else.

Park Jujin shouted, "Okay, everybody get off the system and start monitoring!"

"Y-Yes?"

"Check out any user who has this ability! Find the user with an assimilation rate of over 90%. 90%!"

"The number of personnel is lacking..."

"Look for them! The high level kids! Rankers! The ones who originally have a high assimilation rate! Find out if any of them are fighting or are in an urgent situation!"

"Y-Yes!"

"Now find them!"

At Park Jujin's shout, all of the people in the control room jumped up and ran out. Now only Albino and Park Jujin were left in the room.

Park Jujin looked up at Albino. It was a white spherical machine. The system Albino was once again silent. As always, she seemed to be inside her own world.

Park Jujin sighed and picked up the papers that he had thrown away earlier. The contents of the document entered his eyes.

[Request form]

[The above VIP requests detailed information on whether this person is playing Elder Lord and what character he is playing...]

Park Jujin threw away the paper again.

"We can't do that..."

°°°

The orcs descended into the depths of the dungeon. All of them were reduced to silence. Among the various undead revived by the forces of darkness, such as zombies and dullahans, orcs were occasionally included.

For orcs, the most important thing was 'life'. Their very greeting involved the topic of life, and their motto, 'Bul'tar', was also about life. For that reason, death was even more sacred to them. Their lives had to be completed by their deaths.

Now their dead brethren were being insulted by an evil magician. Cold anger filled the hearts of the orcs. Laughter subsided from the orcs' face and a sharp momentum filled them. The orcs thoroughly crushed the undead in order to give rest to their brethren.

There were occasional injuries among the orc warriors.

"Kuooh..."

An orc warrior who had his arm cut off by an undead mantis sat down and groaned.

The other warriors sprinkled potions on him and fixed the cut section. Finally, the shamans cast a spell of recovery. The wounded area was corrupted, so it was unknown as to how it would heal. Maybe he wouldn't be able to use his arm again.

Lenox approached.

"Arctar, are you okay?"

"I'm okay Lenox."

"Go back to the entrance and wait with the other warriors."

"I can still fight! I will keep fighting, even if I die here!"

"Arctar."

Lenox grabbed his shoulder.

"This isn't where you will die."

"..."

"Like you always said, it should be in a fair fight against a dragon."

"...Kulkulkul. That's right."

"Believe in us and wait."

"I understand. I'm sorry Lenox."

The wounded orc hugged Lenox and walked towards the entrance of the dungeon. The orcs who couldn't fight anymore would wait at the entrance where the death knight had been killed. There weren't any dead orcs yet, but their fighting power had already decreased by a third.

"M-Me too..."

"...?"

Grom reached out to Lenox, showing off his injury. It wasn't a severe wound. Lenox's eyebrows went up.

"You are still able to fight."

"Well..."

"Apprentice, believe in yourself."

"Y-Yes..."

Grom crumpled and returned.

Ian asked Grom, "Are you okay?"

"Ah, yes. Yes."

"I saw you fighting well. Go until the end."

"Yes..."

Ian cocked his head.

As this dungeon raid progressed, Grom was acting strangely depressed. At first Ian thought that he was just scared of the death knight, but the death knight had been beaten up by the orcs. His mind just seemed to be elsewhere.

Grom followed behind the orc warriors. Ian walked alongside Grom.

Hoyt spoke from where he was standing in the front with Lenox, "Gather your strength. There isn't much left."

The dungeon capture had just reached the final stage. They arrived at the end of the tunnel, coming before a huge, spooky door.

There were three death knights standing in front of the door. They were different from the death knight at the entrance. A black haze was visible around them and dark energy was being exuded from them. The entire tunnel shook due to the dark power.

"Fooooooooooooolish ooooooooooooooooooorcs...."

It was obvious that they were much stronger than the previous death knight. The eerie whispers of two voices overlapped and spread out. The noise was loud enough to cause them to forget what they were thinking and gave them goosebumps.

The death knights picked up their swords. Only three death knights!

However, just one of them gave off an incomparable pressure. Ian forcibly controlled his muscles and headed to the frontline. The orc warriors also raised their weapons, while the shamans started to chant spells.

The death knights walked forward. Their legs moved, but with a strange gait, like their legs were slipping along the ground. They narrowed the distance in an instant thanks to that. The death knights' swords clashed with the orc warriors.

The orcs were simultaneously thrown back.

Ian avoided the body of an orc warrior and firmly grasped his greatsword, swinging it at a death knight. Strangely, his body was really light. The enemy's attack became really clear.

At that moment, Ian didn't need anyone else's support. Ian's greatsword shot towards the death knight.