Max stared wordlessly at his class tab.

  “For hundreds of years, the Demon Army has plundered our fields, destroyed our cities and slaughtered our people! Their malevolence and greed know no bounds – even today, they brazenly expand further into our territory, hell-bent on invading our lands and stealing our resources.”

  Surely this couldn’t be real. Had the devs made a mistake? For the class to be boosted this much... Even before the update, he’d been able to take down other players with only a single headshot.

  “But no more! Much like the golden sunrise you descry before you, the arrival of heroes heralds a new era! With your help, we will purge all facets of evil from this world, overthrowing the monsters and reclaiming our rightful territory!

  No... even if it wasn’t a mistake, it shouldn’t make any difference. With his damage being boosted to such a large degree, his class was now obscenely strong. The developers would likely realise this during the upcoming battle and scramble to roll back the changes, if not for all archers, then at least for him.

  “The goddess smiles upon those who protect the weak; for the orcs who terrorise Novus Forest, killing our people and destroying livelihoods, we shall grant them no quarter! Raise your weapons! For today is the day of humanity’s renascence!”

  Regardless, this was a great opportunity. Since his damage was boosted, he would be able to show a better performance in battle. If he fought well enough, he might even be able to make a name for himself among the players. Currently, he was only known as ‘Lemonade’s archer friend’ – hardly an illustrious title. In order to gain recognition, he would need to act quickly at the start of battle; it would be a missed opportunity if the orcs were killed off by other players before he could showcase his abilities.

  Virtus unsheathed his sword and raised it in the air. “All heroes, charge!!!

  ‘Wha-?!’ Max was taken off-guard. Although he had been half-listening to Virtus’s speech, he didn’t expect a sudden order to charge at the enemy compound. ‘Ah, then the battle is already starting!’

  A sea of players began rushing eagerly toward the compound, but Max opted to make some preparations before joining them. Opening his mail tab, he collected the EXP boosters he’d received as compensation from the registration lockout bug. Although there was an option to claim username and avatar change tokens, he didn’t really care much for those – they were only vanity items and he would much rather the boosters, which gave him tangible benefits by allowing him to level up faster. Also... the ‘Gun’ username had actually grown on him now, despite its accidental inception.

  After immediately activating the boosters, Max proceeded onto his second preparation – the main dish! Unequipping Lemonade’s storage ring, he tossed it into inventory and rubbed his hands together.

  ‘Now if this works as expected...’

  Max tried moving all of his arrows into the ring through the inventory interface. To his satisfaction, the hundreds of arrows disappeared from his inventory, indicating that the transfer was successful. Placing the ring back on his finger, he tried taking two arrows out to confirm. The arrows instantly appeared in his hand, causing his lips to curve up.

  “Virtus,” Lemonade addressed the prince, “should we charge in with them, or stay with you?”

  “For now, I suggest waiting here with me. In siege warfare, the first stage is always the deadliest, since soldiers need to assault a well-defended structure while under a relentless bombardment of ranged attacks. Personally, I plan to enter only after the palisade is breached.”

  “You’re going to join the battle?” Lemonade was surprised.

  “Of course. A leader who orders his subordinates to lay down their lives while refusing to risk his own is naught but a coward. Such is not my style.”

  “I see... Then I will stay here for now.”

  “I will join the assault.” Max suddenly declared, prompting both Virtus and Lemonade to regard him with surprise. “Siege warfare is an area of confidence for me. With your permission, I will take down the enemy archers.”

  “Hoh? You seem quite assured of yourself.” Virtus smiled. “Alright then, show me what you’re capable of, Gun. I will observe your bow skills from here.”

  Max tipped his hat in respect, before taking off at full sprint to join the other players.

  Zzzooooomm.

  ‘?!’ Virtus’s lips parted in surprise.

  ‘W-what?!’ Lemonade watched Max’s departure with shock. ‘Why’s he so fast?! Isn’t he level 9?’

  ...

  Thanks to his titles, which, when combined, gave a 70% boost to core stats such as agility, Max easily caught up to the other players. Although he could overtake them if he wanted to, he refrained from doing so, instead electing to hang slightly behind the leading players and sharply monitor the orc compound while running.

  —Damn he’s fast

  —POV: her parents aren’t home

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  —I like how as soon as the prince emphasizes how dangerous it is, he charges in lol

  —‘Of course it will be deadly – I’m here, after all’

  —Why isn’t he overtaking ppl if he can run this fast?

  When the players came within a half kilometre of the compound, Max’s eyes flashed and he pulled back, putting distance between himself and the front line of players. Tearing his gaze from the compound, he looked up into the clouds, which had been tinged a pleasant gold by the rising sun.

  —Seriously what is he doing lol

  —Bro literally has his head in the clouds

  A few seconds later, a broad section of sky became speckled with black dots, which rapidly transformed into lines as a dense storm of arrows rained down on the players.

  Shik-shik-shik-shik-shik.

  “Ahhh! Arrows!!”

  “Whh?!!”

  “An arrow barrage! We’re under attack!”

  “F-from that far away??”

  “Ah, no, I’m too young to die! I still need to marry Princess Sophia!”

  A few dozen players were impaled and became particle dust.

  “OH F*CK IT’S A 1-SHOT!!!”

  “WTFF??”

  Although several dozen players had died, about half of the arrows had fallen harmlessly in front of the vanguard. This was because orcs typically aimed their attacks at the closest enemies. Of course, the other players were not aware of this, and Max had no intention of divulging, since nobody would be willing to lead the charge after knowing. Instead, he gave alternate advice: “Everybody spread out! Move to the flanks!”

  “RAHHH!!”

  “Onwards, men! Let the enemy taste our violence!”

  Although some players had perished, there were still thousands more, so the momentum of the rush was not curtailed.

  Shik-shik-shik-shik-shik-shik-shik.

  Announcing itself with a loud chorus of whistles, a second barrage came five seconds after the first and shredded another wave of players.

  —Woah, this is brutal

  —Did the devs buff enemy archers as well?

  Max did a quick calculation. By the orc’s current rate of fire and the movement speed of the players, there would be about five more arrow barrages before the players reached the palisade. With this casualty rate, about 15% of players would be struck down in that time.

  Another torrent of arrows rained down on the players, this time killing over a hundred.

  ‘...Huh? That’s strange.’

  Something struck Max as odd. Although the players were now fully aware that the arrows were coming, even more died this time.

  ‘They’re not trying to dodge?’

  If it were only a case of some people having poor reaction speed, he would be able to understand, but that wasn’t the case. Almost nobody was evading the arrows, despite being able to see them falling right down at them.

  ‘Is it because it’s a game, they can’t even be bothered?’ Max briefly considered this possibility. ‘...No, that’s ridiculous, they wouldn’t just let themselves be killed for no reason.’

  A thin dot entered Max’s vision. Immediately, he twisted his shoulder, causing the stray arrow to land in the grass behind him.

  Thunk.

  ‘Then are they just really slow?’ Max continued pondering. ‘But this is so basic; you couldn’t even make it into HoL’s mid-game without being able to do this much.’

  Not understanding, he decided to shelf this question for later; the middle of battle was not a good time for contemplation.

  —How did he dodge that?! :O

  —Neo? Is that you? Neo? Is that you?

  —THAT WAS AWESOME!!!

  After gauging the distance to the palisade with a quick glance, Max scanned the clouds through one more arrow barrage before kicking to a halt and raising his bow. “Alright, this should be close enough.”

  —???

  —Close enough? For what?

  —LOL he’s too scared to go any closer

  In one smooth motion, Max summoned an arrow from his ring, nocked, drew, aimed and released, with all these processes adding up to no more than a second. Due to the overwhelming effects of his [Successive Speed] skill, the arrow seemed to disappear into the air upon leaving his bow.

  Almost at the same time, an orc archer that had been preparing to shoot suddenly staggered back and dropped out of view.

  —Woah, he shot so fast

  —Haha an orc fell off the wall

  Max shot another arrow with an identical motion, and a second orc fell from the battlements.

  —Wait...

  And a third.

  —Why isn’t he losing his speed boost...?

  It wasn’t until the fourth instance, where an orc was killed while leaning over the palisade, that the viewers started to catch on.

  —????

  —No way

  —All hits??

  Max stood in one place and continued to shoot the enemy archers, only moving to avoid players who rushed by. Due to the fact that orcs prioritised attacking the closest enemies, he was practically invisible to them at this distance.

  —This is insane

  —Is... Is this real? He’s like a hundred yards away

  —He’s not actually killing the orcs with one shot, right?

  —Mom, I’m scared

  The players began to reach the foot of the palisade, but it was several metres high and did not offer any solid gripholds, so they were unable to climb it. Almost unanimously, they decided to pull back and assist the players who were carrying siege ladders.

  Max noticed a wagon roll past to his side, carrying a large wooden log suspended by rope.

  “Good, they’ll ram the gate soon.”

  Shifting his aim, Max started picking off the archers close to the compound’s front gate to alleviate the pressure on the ramming team. The viewers, however, did not choose this as their focus.

  —WTF

  —One shot, one second, one kill... he’s actually a Gun?

  —WHY HASNT HE MISSED ONCE

  —HE’S LIKE A F*CKING SENTRY TURRET??

  —???????????

  Noticing an orc target a player who was climbing a siege ladder, Max flicked his aim over and swiftly eliminated it. The player reached the top of the ladder, only to have his head cleaved off by a war axe.

  “Seems like they have melee troops on the wall, too.” Max watched the severed head as it dropped into the crowd of players below. “Regardless, this is really painful to watch.”

  Players were fighting each other over who got to climb the ladders first, knocking each other off and even going so far as PK. Virtus would definitely be grimacing from wherever he was watching.

  “Well, there’s still hope.” Max directed his gaze to the battering ram, which was nearing the compound’s main entrance. “Even if we can’t take the wall, we can just pour in through the-”

  Suddenly, the main gate flew open, and a horde of orc warriors rushed out, brandishing long swords, axes and spears.

  A player scoffed. “Ha! The idiots came out! Everyone, let’s get eu- AAHHH!”

  The vocal player had his arm chopped off by an axe. The waraxe then returned to strike under his chin, dividing his head into two vertical halves. Players with gore settings enabled flinched at the gruesome sight.

  Like a natural disaster, the orc warriors blitzed through the weak players. It was clear to anyone watching that there was not only a huge level difference, but also an incredible skill disparity between the two forces.

  “What the heck... those players are getting steamrolled.”

  Max watched the ongoing carnage with amazement. While he didn’t expect that the average player would be capable of beating an orc in single combat, losing in this sort of group situation was inexcusable. The orcs here were surrounded and outnumbered; there were less than a hundred orcs and more than a thousand players; defeating them here should be a cinch.

  “Damn, I can’t get a clear shot!”

  Too many players were blocking Max’s line of sight, preventing him from offering support. Every time a small gap presented itself, he would have no time to aim, only managing to witness brief snippets of player slaughter. He pushed through the crowd to get closer while grasping the situation. The orcs seemed to be moving with purpose, following a tall leader with a black metal mask. Their objective...

  “Sh*t.” Max swore. “Everyone! DEFEND THE BATTERING RAM!!”

  Although he called out, Max knew it was too late – the cart carrying the ram was too close to the gate to have any chance of salvation. These fears were confirmed moments later as orcs swarmed around it, slashing the ropes that kept the ram suspended. Receiving a powerful kick from their leader, the cart was sent hurtling back down the mountain slope.

  “Good work boys! Now, back to the gate!”

  Having accomplished their goal, the orc warriors immediately began withdrawing, cutting down the players in their path. Racing back into the compound, they hurled the gate shut behind them.

  Slam!