Chapter 15: About Life (2)

Civilians always tried to avoid running into Derek. Everyone knew about the infamous loan shark who controlled the alleyways of Anail.

Yi-An glanced at his surroundings. There was no opening for him to flee. Two of Derek’s men hovered around Yi-An and prevented any chance of retreat.

Yi-An’s eyes sank as he wondered what to do. Derek had five subordinates with him. Yi-An was more than enough to handle the subordinates, but Derek was way stronger than all of them combined. The best tactic was to not fight.

“Derek, even if we fight, there’s nothing for you to gain from it.”

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

“Why do you think so?”

“Are you confident you can ward off Hoyt’s wrath?” Yi-An mentioned Hoyt because he was the reason Derek was unable to inflict harm on Thompson’s family.

Yet, contrary to Yi-An’s expectations, Derek smiled quietly.

Yi-An felt uneasy. Derek’s smile and laidback behavior were the opposite of what Yi-An had imagined him to be like. Yi-An had expected Derek to be a vulgar loan shark, but he was closer to a tycoon. Even his military exceeded most armed forces, and his aura, sharp like a blade, was something Yi-An had not experienced before.

The situation was out of Yi-An’s control. Everything was a gamble now.

Derek raised his sword. “It’s not something for you to worry about.”

Then, imitating what Yi-An had said, Derek muttered, “Young lad, even if you resist, there’s nothing for you to gain from it.”

Yi-An could feel Ray’s trembling hand on his waist. He tried to request for Stella’s help as she dwelled in Anail, but she was not online. Yi-An was in a dilemma.

Nevertheless, he pulled out his greatsword. To him, the most important thing now was Ray’s safety. It was better to retreat for the sake of survival than to fight and lose.

Yi-An whispered to Ray, “Hold onto my neck.”

“Huh...?”

Grabbing the boy by the nape, Yi-An lifted Ray up onto his back. Ray fumbled at first, but as soon as he had managed to grab Yi-An’s neck, Yi-An dashed out. He charged in the opposite direction of where Derek was standing, but Derek’s underlings flocked toward the direction that Yi-An had taken. Yi-An had to get rid of one of them before they all converged.

However, Derek’s subordinates were different from the player killers that Yi-An had overpowered previously. They calmly swung their swords to slow Yi-An down. As Yi-An stopped, they assessed the distance between them and Yi-An and then waited for their crew members.

Yi-An was soon surrounded again. The distance between them had decreased, and Derek began to approach him from afar.

“Even if you struggle, the result is the same,” Derek said.

Yi-An decided to at least buy some time. “Even though you are a filthy loan shark, this is too unfair.”

“Unfair?”

“Yeah. Derek, let’s have a fair one-on-one fight,” suggested Yi-An.

Derek’s subordinates erupted in laughter. “Hahaha, what are you saying, you orc? Derek is a thoroughly practical person. Do you think he will listen to that nonsense? Fight one-on-one in Heaven with your friends.”

Derek’s mouth curved upwards. “...Hmmm.”

Yi-An ignored the subordinates and spoke to Derek, “Are you perhaps scared of fighting one-on-one?”

“You are funny,” replied Derek.

Yi-An didn’t expect anything to come out of it because it was such a blatant provocation.

However, Derek nodded. “Sounds good.”

His subordinates’ eyes widened in surprise. “Sir...?”

“Why, are you afraid?” Derek asked his subordinates.

“Me, sir?”

“Yeah.” Derek raised his sword to his subordinate’s neck. “A servant of mine can’t possibly be scared of an orc, right...?”

“N-No, sir!”

“Then fight him, alone.”

“Y-Yes!” His subordinate nodded enthusiastically under Derek’s glare.

The subordinate immediately pulled out his sword and stepped forward.

Yi-An tried to shake off the ominous feeling and put Ray down.

He said, “Ray, stand back. If there’s an opening, just run.”

“Ahjussi...”

“Don’t worry about me. Don’t you trust orc warriors?” Yi-An grinned.

Ray began to tear up. It was a familiar scene to him.

“Ray, don’t you trust your father?”

His father, Thompson, had said the same words with the same expression before he left, and he still had yet to return.

Ray wanted to cling to Yi-An, but Yi-An had already stepped forward. He and Derek’s subordinate had their swords aimed at each other.

“Ahjussi...”

The fight began. Yi-An took the lead and attacked first to bring his opponent closer, but his opponent stepped back and retreated to the side. His opponent was intent on not getting overpowered by the orc’s brute strength.

Yi-An was relieved as the best he could do was buy some time. He just hoped that Hoyt would hear the news and come running toward them.

Yi-An continued to swing his sword into empty space. He was on the offensive, but his attack had no weight, and Derek’s subordinate continued to dodge the attacks.

Derek’s expression hardened upon seeing the sloppy match.

“Boring,” he muttered.

As soon as the subordinate heard Derek’s mutter, his expression changed.

While charging at Yi-An, the subordinate shouted, “Ahhhhhhh!”

Yi-An took a step back and retreated. Although they had swapped defense and offense positions, the situation was still the same.

Derek burst out in laughter. “Young orc lad, I understand your intentions, but shouldn’t you be considerate of those playing along?”

He raised his chin at his subordinates, who raised their weapons in unison.

Then he said, “If you don’t fight properly, this game has to end.”

Yi-An took a moment to catch his breath. His plan had been foiled. Now, he only had one option left—struggle on the battlefield. Yi-An’s muscles swelled up.

“Buuuul’taaaar!” he yelled while charging at his opponent.

His greatsword struck with a force enough to split his opponent apart, but his opponent was able to avoid the attack by twisting his body. Yi-An chased him down and directed a horizontal slash at him.

“Ugh,” the opponent uttered as he blocked Yi-An again.

Their swords clashed, and it shifted into a power struggle.

Yi-An pressed down on his opponent, who kicked him in the stomach. “Aargh!”

“Die, you filthy orc!” Derek’s subordinate aimed for Yi-An’s throat.

Yi-An lost his balance while trying to avoid the attack and rolled to the ground, losing hold of his greatsword. Then, a blade came at Yi-An’s fallen body. It was a close call, but Yi-An was able to avoid it by rolling on the ground left and right.

He clenched his teeth and gave a shout as he got up and charged. Yi-An didn’t care that his opponent was holding a sword. His shoulder was torn by the blade, but he continued to press against his opponent. They became tangled together and dropped to the ground.

Yi-An seemed to have the upper hand as he mounted his opponent, but there was still a sword between them. Yi-An only had a split second. Before his enemy came to his senses, Yi-An swung his fist.

“Ahhhhhhh!” Derek’s subordinate screamed.

The orc’s fist had struck his face, which became a bloody mess as the onslaught of punches continued. When Derek’s subordinate began to slump down from losing consciousness, Yi-An stopped.

There was suddenly a knife at Yi-An’s throat. It was another one of Derek’s subordinates.

“Stop. I can’t let you kill my underling,” Derek said.

Yi-An stood up hesitantly.

“Is he alive?” asked Derek.

“Yes, he’s still breathing,” replied the subordinate.

“Pathetic,” said Derek. He stepped on the unconscious underling’s head. “He couldn’t even handle this inexperienced orc...”

Yi-An withdrew and picked up his sword. There were still four subordinates remaining.

He grinned. “Who’s next?”

***

Yi-An took a deep breath. His body was wrecked.

[Orc’s Recovery (Uncommon) has been activated.]

[Your bleeding is severe. You need to seek treatment.]

[Your right arm is not moving. Your movements will be limited.]

The third subordinate dropped to his knees with a pierced abdomen. Now there were two left, followed by Derek.

Yi-An forcefully raised his drooping head. He wanted to collapse onto the ground and rest though. He began to wonder if it would be better simply to die since this was just a game, but he had to protect Ray. Even though it was just a game to him,

Elder Lord

was reality for Ray, an AI NPC. An NPC’s life depended on him right now.

Yi-An grinned. He could hear Lenox’s voice ringing in his ear,

“Raise your head! It’s supposed to be hard! You aren’t doing this to become comfortable! No one cares that you are struggling!”

Lenox’s words were correct. Yi-An’s enemy won’t let him off the hook. His enemies didn’t care about his circumstances or that he was struggling to keep his eyes open. Rather, they would consume his despair, gain strength, and trample him.

“Who is next?!” screamed Yi-An.

Civilians were watching the fight from their windows and alleyways. They saw a single orc struggling against the notorious Derek. The orc didn’t give up even as he bled profusely and accumulated injuries.

“Come! I will take you on!” Yi-An continued to scream.

“Impressive,” Derek nodded. “You... are surely Hoyt’s friend. I believe you.”

“Derek, will you come forward?”

“The fun is over, young lad.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s time to get to work after all of the fun.” Derek raised his chin.

A subordinate who had been hovering behind Yi-An grabbed Ray. Ray struggled desperately, but he was unable to resist an adult’s strength. Yi-An tried to run to him, but Derek approached Yi-An and landed a punch in his stomach before he even knew what was happening.

“Aarghh...!”

Derek was strong. Yi-An’s vision turned white. He dropped to his knees and struggled to catch his breath.

Derek spoke above Yi-An in an amused voice, “It’s almost time for him to come.”

He grabbed and lifted Yi-An’s head. Then Yi-An saw someone. An orc was running toward him. The orc had a threatening face covered in scars and tattoos, and he had only one eye. It was Hoyt.