“Grwarrr! Humans, I’ll take care of you at once!”

Ellos issued orders quickly, “Tankers, go take its aggro! Miss Shuna, stand by so you can take their place at any time!”

“Orc Lord you bastard, it won’t be so easy this time!”

“I-I’ll do my best!”

“Everyone else, start taking care of the other orcs!”

“Even if you don’t say that, Mister Kang Shin’s on his fourth orc!”

The battle this time was much smoother, likely because we already had experience working together. Paul wielded his shield proficiently and blocked the Orc Lord while the rest of us took care of the other orcs more quickly than before.

“Grwaaaaarrrrrr!”

[Orc Lord used Warcry! It has cleansed itself of all negative status effects. Because there are no orc minions in range, Orc Lord’s attack power has increased by 100% and its defense has lowered by 50%. It has temporarily become super-armored.]

“Paul!”

“I know, I can take it!”

Even though Orc Lord used Warcry again, Paul was prepared this time and did not die immediately. He skillfully dodged its attacks and pushed it back with his shield. Palludia also kept her wits about her as she furiously cast heal after heal. 

“We’ll sweep from the left!”

“There’s an orc archer!”

“It’s shooting!”

“Oppa, your side is open!”

“Just pay attention to that glaive coming at you from behind.”

We communicated to each other continuously as we defeated the orcs one by one. As a result of our hard-fought effort, we were able to take care of all fourteen orcs without a single casualty. Fortunately, by the time we finished, Paul was also still holding his ground against the Orc Lord.

“Alright! We’ll start going after the Orc Lord now!”

Just like we had planned before, we took turns to attack the Orc Lord. Although the Orc Lord always immediately directed its attention to the person who last dealt it a blow, we made sure to have the attacker quickly weave out and have Paul redraw its aggro with his shield blow. This method of safely juggling aggro was exactly the same as the one I used in the online games I played with my friends. 

“Haap!”

“Gwarrr!”

“Ugh, Mister Kang Shin, your attacks are so strong that it’s hard to retake the Orc Lord’s focus!”

“S-Sorry, I’ll be lighter next time.”

“Hmph, as expected, Orc is no good!”

““Miss Palludia, just focus on your healing!””

“Ahhh…”

Because the other party members took the initiative to keep Palludia quiet whenever she lashed out at me, she could only swallow her words and focus on healing. Serves you right!

A while after we started attacking the Orc Lord, it suddenly let out an eerie shriek right when we thought it was about to be defeated.

“GRWAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!”

[Orc Lord used Warcry! It has cleansed itself of all negative status effects. Because there are no orc minions in range, Orc Lord’s attack power has increased by 100% and its defense has lowered by 50%. It has temporarily become super-armored.]

“What!?”

Everyone fell back. Only Paul was capable of blocking the Orc Lord’s attack at its baseline. With its attack power doubled, it was possible that even he wouldn’t be able to tank it.

“I will kill all of you, humans!”

At this moment, the Orc Lord charged its strength into its weapon. In that instant, I saw a black aura gathering on the glaive’s blade. It looked similar to some of the skills the other party members used. Could that be mana? So that must be qi! Although I knew how dangerous it was to get worked up, I couldn’t help it.

“It’s dangerous! Everyone, fall back!”

“It’s useless! Guaaaaaa!”

It held its glaive horizontally and cleaved through the air. To my surprise, the mana gathered on the glaive followed the glaive’s trajectory and shot forward. It was like a game character using a sword blast.

“You’ll die if you get hit! Everyone, run!”

“AHHHHHHHH!”

Everyone scattered frantically. Although I wanted to run as well, I caught sight of Palludia who was standing frozen in place.

“What are you doing? Run!”

“M-My feet won’t move…”

“You won’t really die anyways! What are you afraid of!?”

“T-Then it’s fine if I die!”

“What!? Last time, you said something about a week being important!”

Ugh, there was no time to argue! I quickly dashed towards her, unceremoniously swooped her up, and flung my body sideways. Right after that, I sensed my hairs being pulled as I fell to the ground with Palludia in my arms. Dust filled my mouth and I felt a strong sense of disgust.

“Mister Kang Shin, Miss Palludia! Are you okay!?”

The girl stammered, “W-We’re alive!”

“Cough cough…”

Because it was still dangerous, I got up in a hurry. As I ran back as fast as I could, I held Palludia the entire way. The Orc Lord let out a blood curdling cry as it chased after us.

“Now!”

“Got it!”

The two archers aimed at the Orc Lord’s eyes. Although one had missed, the other accurately pierced an arrow through the Orc Lord’s right eye, making the Orc Lord cry out miserably while it covered its wounded eye.

“Grwaaaaaarrr!”

“H-How long are you going to hug me for, Orc?!”

“I’m not hugging you because I want to!”

With the Orc Lord’s cry in the background, I threw Palludia down to the ground. Despite all my efforts in saving her, she still hadn’t even said a single thank you to me. Her bottom hit the ground and she glared at me with tears in her eyes. Pure, unadulterated satisfaction blossomed inside of me. Who cares if you’re pretty? I wouldn’t want a truck-load of irritating brats like you!

“Orc, you meanie!”

“Shut it, you mean bit…person.”

I seriously considered calling her a b*tch, but it seemed wrong to curse at a girl, so I toned it down. Even so, she seemed to be shocked by my response. Just as a fight was about to break out between us, Ellos shouted at us from afar.

“It’s not the time to have a lover’s quarrel! We have to quickly finish it off!”

We simultaneously retorted, “It’s not a lover’s quarrel!”

We glared at each other one last time and then split. I went toward the Orc Lord, while she went toward the safer backline to focus on her healing. Although the Orc Lord used its sword blast move again, we were able to dodge it after experiencing it once. In fact, I noticed that right after it used the sword blast move, it left itself wide open for attack.

In the end, the Orc Lord fell with its throat pierced by the spear I had put all my strength into.

“Humph, strong humans…good…fight…”

“This bastard’s acting cool at the end.”

The Ord Lord’s last words annoyed me immensely, so I kicked its head, causing it to lose consciousness before it could manage to finish what it was saying. Everyone clapped and told me I did a great job. Immediately afterwards, flashes of light surged out from our bodies. This was the fifth time I had experienced the level-up phenomenon.

[You have reached level 6. You obtained the qualification to enter the 6th floor.]

[You have obtained 5 bonus stats.]

[You have obtained 1,000 gold. It has been distributed evenly amongst party members. You have received 100 gold.]

[Rewards will be distributed in order of contribution.]

[Kang Shin-nim’s contribution is the highest. Choose your reward.]

Ah, I see. Similar to the games I had played before boss monsters here also dropped several items upon defeat. Additionally, because my contribution was the highest in the group, I was the first one to choose a reward. A boss fight really was different.

Before I looked at the list of rewards, I eyed the other party members. Everyone simply nodded in agreement.

“We acknowledge your contribution. You should rightly be the first one to choose!”

“It would indeed have been hard without you. I can’t believe they expect anyone to beat this thing. I now understand why some people have been stuck on this floor for over 10 years.”

“Everyone worked hard, but you worked the hardest. You dealt the most damage too.”

“Agreed. You were cool, oppa.”

… Eh, why did I feel like crying? How long has it been since anyone last complimented me? My father rarely praised me when we trained. Furthermore, before I added stat points to my intelligence, my grades at school weren’t good, so my teachers never complimented me either.

My mother only acknowledged me as her son because my face looked like her, but she duly ignored the rest of my body. Even my sister acted awkward around me. I suddenly felt the urge to cry, but I desperately held it in.

“T-Then I will…”

Because this felt like Palludia’s time to interrupt, I glanced at her, but she simply gave a light humph and said nothing. A grin appeared on my face as I looked at the list of rewards.

[ 1. Orc Lord’s Glaive

2. Power Earring

3. Rescue Balm

4. Power Potion

5. Steel Boots

6. Steel Shield

7. 200 Gold

8. Muscle Compressing Elixir

9. Fireball Magic Book

10. Mana Potion]

On initial glance, only the first one, the Orc Lord’s Glaive, seemed to be a rare item. Considering its sheer size, it could easily be considered a spear. The weapon did tempt me, but…

8. Muscle Compressing Elixir

The moment I saw it, I reached out and touched it. A small, black pill immediately appeared in my hands. I instinctively examined its detailed information using the system’s commands.

[Muscle Compressing Elixir (Rare)

When consumed, the body’s muscles will be compressed to be strong and appealing. The size of the muscles will decrease, but their strength and dexterity will increase. It is the ideal item for a warrior. However, if one does not have enough muscles, it will have little effect. In fact, it may deal permanent damage to the body.]

“T-This is it.”

I muttered unconsciously. Although Ellos, who was 2nd in contribution, stared at me with a confused look on his face when he saw that the best item was still on the list, I did not care. Muscle Compressing Elixir! This was it!

“Thank you, God!”

I finally found a way to put these overly grown muscles to rest! I thanked God I never paid attention to the jeers and whispers in the past as I cried tears of joy. Everyone else in the group was currently staring at me like I was crazy.

Well, although I had expected it to some extent, just eating one elixir didn’t make me slender and trim. However, I did feel that I had become a bit thinner. At the same time, an alert popped up in front of my eyes.

[Your muscles have become compressed, making them more powerful and dexterous. Both your strength and dexterity stat permanently increase by 1.]

“Great, great.”

Unlike the saying you couldn’t be content after one cup of beer, I was very content. I had finally found a way to reduce the size of my overgrown muscles.

I’ll first climb to the 10th floor and obtain a mana cultivation method. Then, I’ll just go around looking for more Muscle Compressing Elixirs!