Praise the Orc!

Hoyt reminisced about the first time he met Crockta.

He was an apprentice warrior, inexperienced but with a steadfast spirit. He had the quality that was most essential to a warrior.

Back then, even after hearing Hoyt and Thompson's situation, Crockta extended his fist without a moment's hesitation.

‘So, young orc, will you help me?’

‘Yes. I will do my best to help.’

Maybe Hoyt sensed something at that moment.

That was why he imparted the most crucial wisdom he knew.

That wisdom was the supreme technique, forged through endless repetition and combat, unreachable by any ingenious attack or dazzling skill. A perfect stroke that was only granted to warriors who have honed themselves through struggle.

A miracle born from tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of repetitions.

"Reach the extreme. Then, surpass me."

And today, Crockta responded to that day's request with his entire being.

Beyond the extremes, beyond heroism, Crockta's greatsword swung in a beautiful arc toward the War God, reaching a realm untouched by anyone else.

It was a dazzling trajectory.

"It’s beautiful."

Even though the flames of the War God were bearing down, Hoyt smiled.

At the end of the day, everyone dies.

Everything born ultimately descends toward death.

Therefore, warriors choose to leap toward death in order to eternally preserve their lives. The wills of great warriors never faded.

"Immortalized."

Hoyt could see it.

Above Crockta, the visage of a great warrior he knew well flickered.

And it wasn’t just the one; the forms of countless warriors overlaid upon Crockta. His weapon was a greatsword, an axe, a halberd, a hammer, all at the same time. Their undying will was manifested through Crockta's grasp.

A single trajectory cleaved through the flames.

With a single blow, the flames of the War God were extinguished. All the powers of space and time he wielded faded away.

The war flames of the War God, which were said to never extinguish, went out.

Crockta's strikes continued without stopping.

The colossal form of the War-God-incarnate on earth was split into two.

The War God fell.

"Ah...!"

"No way...!"

"Impossible!"

The gods stirred. The expedition force dropped their weapons.

They saw it as clear as day.

The War God's upper and lower body split and crumbled to the ground.

His colossal form collapsed to the ground. The Colosseum evaporated. The flames of the War God that seemed to burn the world flickered out.

His form, once ablaze, gradually shrank back to the size of a human that it was before.

"Kuhhhhh..."

The War God who had returned to the form of Arcran had suffered severe damage. He attempted to heal his wounds, but the power within God Slayer was still tearing him down.

"Keughh... This cannot be..."

Even the War God himself could not comprehend what had happened.

He had called upon a part of his own divine power, set aside to sustain the world, with the intention to fully obliterate Crockta.

It was a strike filled with earnest intent.

Yet, he was instead defeated by Crockta's attack and fell. The wound in his chest affected his main body residing in Olympus, his divine form split and bled.

"Huff, huff..."

The War God propped himself up on the ground.

He looked up at Crockta from his seated position. Crockta now looked down at the War God from the victor's stance.

A god, especially one governing all wars and conflicts, was defeated by a mortal.

It was a humiliation never to be forgotten until the end of the world.

"Congratulations, Crockta."

However, he wished to be honorable in defeat, almost to the point of looking arrogant.

He was the War God, aware of the honor of dueling.

For the loser, there was an honor fitting of one.

"Now kill me."

The War God threw his weapon aside, lifted his head, and bared his neck.

"I have lost. Conclude the duel."

It was a defeat he had never experienced before. He had once been defeated by the Ashen God, but that battle was not a duel like this one. That made this loss all the more painful.

He opened his eyes wide to remember the face of his opponent.

"War God," Crockta spoke.

Crockta was not in good shape either. His body was battered with wounds and injuries. He limped toward the War God and stood in front of him.

"War God. Do you acknowledge your defeat?"

"I acknowledge it."

"I see."

Crockta slowly lifted God Slayer.

If Crockta delivered the final blow with God Slayer, the War God would have to seclude himself for a long time to recover his divinity. Perhaps some of it would never be recovered.

The War God clenched his eyes shut.

"..."

But.

Nothing happened.

Eventually, the War God opened his eyes again.

The God Slayer, which should have been swinging down toward him, was now resting on Crockta's shoulder.

"What are you doing?" The War God asked.

"Let me teach you something," Crockta grinned as he spoke.

His voice resonated loudly across the halted battlefield.

"A warrior does not attack those who have laid down their weapons."

A war of an unprecedented scale, triggered by an oracle. A conflict where the expedition force and gods united to annihilate the orcs.

That war was now concluded by Crockta.

* * *

Elder Lord community user, nicknamed "Evening Game."

He was the person who had previously posted claiming that Crockta was a user.

"Definitely suspicious..."

He was still trying hard to prove his theory. It was almost like a sixth sense. He could just feel that Crockta was indeed a user.

So, he closely watched during the battle to see if Crockta's steel helmet would fly off.

However, it was only half shattered and still stayed on his head, failing to reveal his forehead.

"Aw, man... How does that thing still stay on... What a shame."

Then, the War God made his final strike.

Transforming into a colossal form, his descent with a flaming sword toward Crockta was akin to the King of Hell arriving to annihilate the world.

That was when Evening Game believed that Crockta would die, and the fact that he was a user would be revealed to the world as his body turned into white ash,

But Crockta overcame that.

He split the War God's strike.

"......!"

It was a moment so dazzling that it left him speechless for a while.

It was just a simple swing toward the flames, yet the sequence of motions was more beautiful than anything he had ever seen. That simple motion encapsulated everything about Crockta, the warrior.

Anyone seeing that moment could understand who Crockta was and what kind of warrior he was, even if they knew nothing of Elder Lord.

It was truly a magnificent strike.

He muttered.

"Damn... I guess he really wasn’t a user..."

He grasped his head.

Even as a persistent conspiracy theorist, after witnessing such a scene, he could not argue anymore that Crockta was a user.

What human could do that?

On the screen, Crockta declared to the defeated god.

[A warrior does not attack those who have laid down their weapons.]

The epitome of a hero.

To preach the warrior's code to the opponent who fought to annihilate him.

Who was truly the god, and who was truly the mortal?

The orcs raised their weapons and roared on the screen.

The orc army that appeared in the latter half of the fight knelt on one knee toward him in respect.

Even the gods and the expedition force paid their respects.

Evening Game stood still for a while, watching the spectacle, then shook his head.

"I guess it’s about time I stop doing this..."

But as he was murmuring to himself. fre(e)novelkiss.com

His phone screen erupted with notifications.

"Huh...?"

He had been keeping the ranker information window provided by Elder Saga Corporation open on his phone to check on the ranker named 'Mystery,' whom he presumed to be Crockta.

After the fall of Heaven and Earth, Choi Hansung’s momentum had waned, and Mystery had risen to rank one. At some point, Mystery's level showed as MAX, no longer increasing, with only his incredible achievement score continually updating to new heights.

And the moment Crockta defeated the War God and secured victory.

'Mystery's' achievement score surged to an unbelievable figure.

It was greater than the total of all his achievements accumulated so far. It soared two-fold, three-fold, several times over until the number of digits changed and even the achievement score reached MAX.

Anonymous user. Level MAX. Achievement score MAX.

"Uh... Uh..."

A phenomenon he had never seen before.

He clenched his fist.

"I knew it... Crockta is...!"

Crockta defeated a god. If Mystery really was Crockta, such a reward might naturally be justified.

"Mystery is definitely Crockta. I have to get this out to the people quickly..."

He pondered for a moment whether to post it on the community or sell it as an exclusive to the Under Games channel or broadcast media.

While he shivered with the thrill of the scene he had witnessed and the future he pondered.

The 'Total Achievement Score' displayed at the top of the ranker information window also indicated MAX.

The 'Total Achievement Score' had been shown since Elder Lord's launch, summing up all users' achievement scores. While some users questioned why this was displayed, no one knew the answer.

And now it had reached its peak.

"My god. This is..."

He was about to take a screenshot when the ranker information window turned off.

"W-what happened?"

He fiddled with his phone.

The phone's connection was fine. Everything else worked as usual except for the ranker information window.

Then, gradually, the entire Elder Lord statistics webpage provided by Elder Saga Corporation went down. He refreshed the page several times, but the stats did not return.

He exploded with frustration.

"What the hell is going on, shit!"

The connection attempts continued to fail.

The Elder Saga Corporation had never experienced a server issue despite its immense number of users until now. Had their server management finally reached its limit?

After fuming in place for a while, he glanced at the Elder Lord connection capsule in the corner of his room.

"Crockta is..."

He looked back at the broadcast screen.

Crockta, having ended the war, was talking to the War God.

".. still connected."

Coincidentally, his character was near Orcrox. He had placed his character there thinking he might find evidence that Crockta was a user while watching the war. He had realized the danger of participating in the war given his character's strength and had given up, but now it seemed safe.

"I gotta go ask him myself."

Surely Crockta wouldn't kill him.

Just like that, he entered the Elder Lord capsule.

Thus, he made a decision he would regret for a long, long time.

* * *

After Crockta and the War God's duel concluded, the war finally came to an end.

Some continued to watch the post-war coverage, but users impressed by Crockta and the orcs' valiant resistance hurried back to their capsules.

The Orc Users Brotherhood, members of Praise the Orc, those who had participated in the war, and even those who hadn't, all logged into Elder Lord to celebrate the victory.

Those who had logged off to spectate the war re-entered the world of Elder Lord to continue their quests.

Even those who were never interested in the war to begin with, continued logging their hours in Elder Lord.

And suddenly, all those connected to Elder Lord for various reasons encountered the same message from the system.

[Thank you all for your hard work thus far.]

In the free city of Apalanchia, located at the continent's center, there was a place known as the user market, where users gathered to exchange information and trade.

Even now, numerous users were selling equipment, forming parties, or simply enjoying their time in Elder Lord.

Then, unexpectedly, they all saw the same system message and looked up.

“‘Thank you for your hard work’? Am I the only one seeing this?"

"I see it too. What is this?"

"Is this a public announcement to all users? Like that achievement score frenzy from before?"

There had been a special event, known colloquially as the "frenzy," where skills were distributed based on a user’s achievement scores. Though it had ended a while ago, the benefits from that time were big enough for people to be still talking about them.

Users waited in anticipation for the next message.

[The total achievement score has surpassed the final goal.] fr(e)ewebn(o)vel

[It's all thanks to your participation. Elder Lord's prosperity is all thanks to you, the users. We extend our deepest gratitude to all users who have loved Elder Lord up to now.]

The message released so far was similar to the one during the previous frenzy, and users began to get excited.

But the following message left the users bewildered.

[This marks the end of your adventure in the world of Elder Lord.]

[The virtual reality game Elder Lord will be terminating its service.]

[We express our deep gratitude once again to all users who have loved Elder Lord up until now.]

[All users, please disconnect.]

[We repeat.]

[All users, please disconnect.]

[Warning.]

[All users, please disconnect.]

[This is the end of the message.]

A message instructing users to disconnect from Elder Lord.

It was an unexpected and bizarre announcement from the system.

Elder Lord had become the supreme form of entertainment influencing the entire planet. The revenue Elder Saga Corporation generated was enormous. Elder Lord's popularity knew no bounds and continued to rise, enjoying its peak prosperity.

But out of nowhere, the game was to be terminated.

Without a single word of warning.

The users' faces twisted in confusion.

"What, is ElSa Co. crazy?"

"Bullshit! Who would quit the game?"

"What are these assholes saying?"

"There’s no way, is this a joke?"

The users shouted in frustration.

However, there was no further response from the system message.

Instead, what appeared above their field of vision was...

[01:00]

...a timer.

[00:59]

[00:58]

[00:57]

Just like that, the timer counted down until '00:00'.

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