NOVEL WEB Chapter 21
Of course.
Yor was live-streaming while facing the Owlbear.
Even though he was dying in real-time from injuries, there was no reason to turn off the stream.
Thanks to this, she and her viewers could watch Yor fight from start to finish.
When Yor first confronted the Owlbear, the viewers were certainly worried.
They knew he was strong, but they were up against a level 107 monster, after all.
It was a beast that even dozens of high-level players couldn’t handle.
It’s only natural to be worried about an attractive NPC that you haven’t seen in a while.
[What’s that guy doing? ㄷㄷ]
[No, just run away!]
[Don’t die! You can’t die!]
Because of this, the early chat was mostly filled with messages of concern for him.
Unlike players who could respawn after dying, NPCs were finished once they were dead.
[But isn’t he kinda relaxed..?]
However, that worry gradually diminished as the fight progressed.
The first gasp of astonishment was when Yor dodged the Owlbear’s claws.
He stylishly evaded the faster-than-the-eye Owlbear’s attack with utter ease.
[Oh]
[Wow, how did he dodge that?]
[He’s so fast, but he dodged it smoothly ㄷㄷ]
Even Kim Mari’s party’s fastest archer couldn’t pull that off.
The second was when Yor’s spear ripped through the Owlbear’s flesh.
His spear looked like a toy compared to the beast’s massive size, yet it cut through its tough skin.
[No way, lol]
[WTF, that counterattack was so natural!]
[Was that a feather being cut?]
[Brother, what are you?!]
This was something even the most powerful mage in her party had never succeeded in.
The third gasp of amazement was when Yor prepared to thrust his spear.
No, could it even be called amazement? It was closer to sheer shock.
The first two events were somewhat understandable.
An NPC thought to be strong dodging a powerful monster’s attack and countering was something the viewers could roughly anticipate and expect.
But the final thrust? That was something else entirely.
From the very beginning of the preparation pose, it was something that exceeded the audience’s expectations.
Woom—
As he assumed the thrusting stance, an unusual energy began to swirl around him.
Mana rippled from the surroundings, infusing him with vitality.
His muscles bulged, scattering refined killing intent around him.
Even the spearhead became enveloped in a blue hue.
At this point, Kim Mari’s eyes widened.
Then came the thrust.
Swoosh-!
The spear flew straight, ripping apart the Owlbear’s body.
It didn’t just penetrate; it obliterated the flesh around the area where the spear passed through.
Although the spear was smaller than a fist, the hole, if exaggerated, could fit a soccer ball.
It was a level of power unimaginable to current players.
It was expected for the viewers watching the stream to be in an uproar.
[???]
[?????]
[What the hell did I just see?]
[Wow, seriously, does that even make sense????]
Shock, confusion, amazement—countless emotions swelled through the chat.
The speed at which the messages piled up was steep. The chat became a sea of question marks.
Normally, she might have put a chat limit in place to calm down the burning chat.
But right now, even she was dazed by that blow.
What on earth was that?
Beating the Owlbear—okay, that was understandable.
In fact, she had more or less anticipated that.
She wasn’t foolish enough to disregard an NPC living in a high-level zone.
There must be a reason they survived. She thought.
But taking it out in one shot?
Defeating the Owlbear is one thing; knocking it out in a single shot is another.
An overwhelming difference in skill was required to accomplish that.
He obliterated that tough skin, quite literally.
There was one more surprising thing.
It was the blue aura that surrounded Yor’s spear.
Most viewers seemed to have missed it, but she, being somewhat knowledgeable about combat, recognized it.
She muttered to herself.
‘Is that… sword energy?’
Sword energy.
A privilege of the strong, a dividing line between the ordinary and the talented.
It was a technique that knights would take years on the battlefield to finally use.
Such a high-level technique and currently, there were no users among the players who could unleash sword energy at all.
Yet here, out of the blue, was an NPC using it.
This left Kim Mari’s mind in a total mess.
‘What kind of person is he…?’
Was he someone who fought on the battlefield and then retired?
No, he looked younger than her, for sure.
So, does everyone who lives in this forest somehow know how to unleash sword energy? Who knows?
Various thoughts popped in and out of her head.
As she sat there dazed, Yor began to approach her.
With an air of nonchalance, as if the earlier majesty was nothing.
Perhaps because of that earlier overwhelming presence, his thin short-sleeved shirt and shorts didn’t even register with her.
Finally, he squatted down in front of Kim Mari like a delinquent and said to her:
“You caused my neighbor’s death.”
“…Yeah, what?”
Naturally, Mari was confused and tilted her head.
Of course, Yor didn’t bother explaining that his neighbor was the Owlbear, as it would make him sound like a lunatic.
After a short silence, Mari opened her mouth.
“I don’t know what I did, but… I’m sorry. And thank you. I almost got killed by the Owlbear.”
“…Well, yeah.”
Yor just nodded slightly.
Truthfully, he had already shed a tear for our dear Owlbear, so no apology was necessary.
He noticed her physical state and said something.
“You’re hurt pretty badly.”
“…Yeah.”
Her body was in complete disarray.
She was dying from severe blood loss in real time.
Still, she had dulled the pain somewhat, but her mind was growing more and more hazy.
The signs of dying and logging out were starting to kick in.
“Do you have any potions?”
“Yeah, there was a priest in the party.”
Mari’s tone had become quite polite by then.
Honestly, she looked older, but she found it hard to drop her honorifics in front of someone so strong.
She clicked her tongue inwardly.
Damn, why didn’t I bring a potion? If I had, I might have been able to hang on to life.
“Hm…”
Then it happened.
Yor, who had been watching her all along, handed her something.
“Try eating this.”
It was a bright red fruit.
Different from an apple, yet not comparable to other fruits—it resembled a peculiar type of game-exclusive delicacy.
No way…
Feeling a glimmer of hope, she asked him.
“Is it a recovery item?”
“No? I just gave it to you because it’s tasty.”
He casually added that it would look better than dying while eating something bland.
Hearing this, she was utterly dumbfounded. What the hell was he saying?
The chat was no different.
[Excuse me, but are you crazy?]
[Oh, what’s with calling Yor ‘that’?]
[Aha! Just give something delicious to someone who’s about to die?]
Various reactions flooded the chat.
Still, since he was offering it, she accepted it, albeit bewildered.
“Ah… thank you.”
“Thank me for what?”
Yor smiled as he thought.
After all, if she died, all the items she dropped would be up for him to loot.
A single fruit wasn’t much of a loss.
So she took a bite of the fruit.
Crunch—
Maybe it was because of the lowest affinity, but she didn’t taste anything special.
With that unremarkable bite, her life came to an end.
Using her increasingly blurred vision, she checked her viewer count one last time.
The last number she saw was 15,000.
The stream itself was a tremendous success.
Kim Mari’s stream concluded with great success.
Though all her party members perished and much of her gear was lost,
at the very least, she had shown the users that the Forbidden Forest was not a place they could conquer yet.
The field monsters roamed above level 100.
Considering most users hadn’t even reached level 60, it was truly an overwhelming difference in levels.
Moreover, the community was finally able to confirm Yor’s strength, which they had long speculated about.
It quickly spread through the player base like wildfire.
+
[This is just absurd.]
How high does your level have to be to take down an Owlbear in one hit?
I can’t even imagine, being a total weakling like me;
+
[Rewatching the stream, his expression was so chill ㅋㅋㅋ]
[All those who looked down on him are now eating crow.]
[I can’t believe I didn’t trust him; I’m sorry..]
[I promise I won’t mess around again..]
+
[And we, the otherworlders, are incredibly weak.]
What can we even defeat? ㅋㅋㅋ
We get sliced by knights, decapitated by monsters, and even lower-tier mercenaries have to risk their lives to win.
At this rate, we’re going to lose to the neighborhood mutt, too.
+
[We’re the weakest in the world, wwww]
Even the top-ranked players are barely scraping the bottom of A-rank mercenaries—what can we hope for..]
[Eh~ Somehow, time will pass and we’ll level up~]
+
[By the way, what was he mumbling in the video?]
I’ve been watching the fight over and over, but Kim Mari is so far away that I can’t hear Yor’s voice.
Does anyone know how to Breathe Whisper?
What was he saying?
+
[What? No way, he’s really moving his lips.]
[How many times did you rewind to notice that?]
[So what was he saying?]
[“Dear Owlbear, I’m truly saddened by this situation…”]
[No way???]
[He’s actually chatting with a monster; this lunatic ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[My brother… is a bit off, isn’t he?]
[Nah, he’s handsome though ㅋㅋ]
The community was buzzing with excitement.
Although it was chaos in a small well called ‘악갤 (Evil Gallery)’,
it was like a hurricane-like commotion within that well.
What Yor showed this time was shock beyond measure.
Of course.
“Wow, no way…”
Among those watching the post was Yoo Chaerin as well.