Everyone Except Me is a Newbie - Chapter 22

Trolls Can’t Hide Their Stupidity!

In South Korea, if one friend started attending a private academy, the entire class would soon follow suit. The fear of falling behind in competition was stronger than death for these people. This characteristic extended to games as well, and perhaps even more so. There was a time when the country seemed to be obsessed with games, to the point that most people in their 20s and 30s had experienced a gaming phase. Even now, in this world where Mana Sword has become a reality, there were no survivors among those who had no gaming experience.

“Hey, I used to beat you at StarCraft, remember?”

“Yeah, 3 to 0.”

“You’re just a Bronze in League.”

“What? You son of a—!”

They were all middle and high school students from South Korea who once fought over such topics.

Now, they had all grown up, and the world had become a game.

And they were now watching Kim I-seo clear a quest.

“Tell us too!”

“Me too! Me too!”

So it was only natural for their eyes to light up at the sight of a quest.

‘Now the game is reality…’

‘If you fall behind just once, it’s over!’

The world where they could fight and then reconcile with “Why are you getting worked up over a game?” had vanished.

This was no mere game.

This was life.
* * *

“Please teach me too!”

“Move aside! Get in line!”

The lobby of the city hall, where the quest NPC Thomas was located, was filled with the excited voices of people.

Weplug was quickly surrounded by a crowd.

‘Good. Good.’

Kim I-seo had to clench his jaw to hide his excitement. It would be problematic if his smile became too obvious.

‘It’s working better than I thought.’

He had anticipated a lukewarm response, but the outcome was a huge success.

‘Stay calm. I need to look like I don’t want to share too much.’

Contrary to his inner thoughts, he spoke in a dismissive tone, pretending to be reluctant.

“I get it by catching Fire Monkeys.”

“Fire Monkeys? How many?”

“Are your mouths just for show? Ask him yourself.”

He answered as if he was revealing a very valuable secret, acting like he didn’t want to share the information. This only made the people around him more curious.

‘How good must this quest be?’

‘This must be a really great item!’

The more he acted annoyed, the more their eyes sparkled with interest.

‘How simple-minded.’

Kim I-seo’s job was to exploit these sheep while planning a game that would fleece their wallets.

For someone like him, stirring them up was a piece of cake. In fact, it was almost amusing how well they were responding to his intentions.

‘Just for a pendant? I’ll be kicking myself under the blanket later thinking about this.’

Of course, Thomas’s pendant wasn’t bad. Increasing all skill levels by 1 was a great option. But it wasn’t worth getting so worked up over. The real value lay in the follow-up quests that would come after this side quest from Thomas.

‘While they’re busy looking for non-existent Fire Monkeys, I’ll progress with the next quest.’

It would take them some time to realize they needed to buy monkey tails. At first, they’d be too reluctant to spend money.

“Alright, we’re off now! We’ve told you everything!”

Kim Iseo put on a bored expression again and pushed his way through the crowd, leaving city hall.

* * *

As they left city hall and moved to the next location, Lee Haewon asked a question.

“But, aren’t there still monkeys left in the mountains?”

“How are they going to catch them?”

The thought of Fire Monkeys rampaging in a forest full of trees was terrifying. Even Weplug had to endure all sorts of hardships to barely manage to catch them. It was impossible for those people, who knew nothing about Mana Sword, to handle it. They would eventually have to buy monkey tails from Weplug.

“We’ll just focus on gaining experience points.”

With that, Kim I-seo pointed to a certain area. There were a few monsters wandering on the streets. This time, they weren’t fire monkeys. In fact, the monkeys were practically extinct now.

**[Troll ★★★]**

It was a troll, a staple in any fantasy world.

“Whew…”

“That’s a 3-star monster…”

Just like Choi Seoyeon worried, the troll was a 3-star monster. That’s why no other users were anywhere near it.

“And that’s exactly why we’re going to do it.”

Kim Iseo was confident. And he had every right to be. Out of the five of them, he had the strongest combat power.

Bang!

He enlarged his pocket-sized sword into a greatsword.

“We’ll go with the same formation we used against the monkeys. I’ll go in first and draw its attention.”

There were only three trolls in sight. Even though they were 3-star monsters, Weplug’s five members should be able to take them down.

‘We don’t have anything else to do for now anyway.’

The follow-up quest from Thomas was still unavailable.

There wasn’t enough time to do other side quests, and it felt wasteful to just sit around.

‘I also need to evolve their swords.’

A little more hunting, and everyone’s Mana Sword should evolve, making hunting even easier. Weplug’s skills were high-quality, but they were lagging in experience points since they had been focusing on quests rather than grinding. Kim Iseo had already quickly advanced to 2-stars because he had evolution stones.

‘This is the right way.’

Even if it meant a slightly slower evolution, this method was correct. He was sure of it because he had already cleared this game once.

‘Grinding has its limits. That’s how I designed it.’

In Mana Sword, continuously hunting the same monster would eventually stop increasing your skill levels. Using the same tactics repeatedly would also halt progress, and the reactions from the constellations wouldn’t be favorable. There were many disadvantages. The only upside was that your sword’s evolution would speed up, but that didn’t matter much if the evolution only resulted in a mediocre longsword.

“Team leader! Come quick!!”

Kim Iseo was snapped out of his thoughts by Choi Seoyeon’s scream.

“Groooaaaarrr!”

A troll had spotted Kim I-seo and began to move its massive body forward.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

It was an absurd size, standing four times taller than a person. It felt like a three-story building was coming at him.

Crunch.

Kim I-seo gripped the sword’s handle tightly.

‘I’m the one who killed the Queen.’

If it had been someone else, they might have been overwhelmed by the troll’s size, but Kim I-seo was different. He had defeated the colossal boss mob, the Queen, during the prologue.

[Skill: Wind Blade. Activating!]

[Blue Mana -2]

Boom!

As soon as he stepped forward, the wind hit his ears.

‘No need to hesitate.’

After all, Kim I-seo’s role was as the aggro damage dealer. What he had to do was clear: deal as much damage as possible, and when his HP dropped, tank with his available rage skills and growth skills.

Slash!

The unnecessarily large great sword slashed the troll’s side.

“GRAAAAH…?”

The relatively slow-moving troll was caught off guard by Kim I-seo’s lightning-fast Wind Blade.

[Skill: Hyper Speed. Usable]

A unique ability of the blue mana type: once a certain speed threshold was surpassed, “Light Speed” could be activated.

[Entering Hyper Speed.]

[Lasts for 15 seconds.]

[You can use ‘Blink’.]

‘Increased from 10 seconds to 15 seconds.’

Originally, Hyper Speed lasted for 10 seconds when he was 1-star. Now it was 15 seconds.

A 5-second difference was enormous. He could use Blink two more times.

“Grooooaaaarrrr!!”

The troll swung its massive fist. If it hit Kim Iseo, he would be reduced to a bloody pulp.

Pop!

Kim I-seo’s body vanished into thin air. Blink had activated.

Boom!

The troll’s fist struck the ground instead, pulverizing the asphalt and flipping it over. The raw destructive power was incredible, like a three-story building crashing down.

Kim I-seo appeared behind the troll.

His sword severed the troll’s left arm, eliminating one of its threatening punches.

“GRAAAAH!”

The troll writhed in pain. Kim I-seo’s eyes sparkled.

‘I have to kill it now.’

If given a chance, the troll would recover immediately. Now that it had lost its left arm, this was the opportunity.

“Won moo!”

“Okay!”

Heo Won-moo charged forward, boasting a physique as large as the troll’s.

“HAH!”

[Skill: Earthquake. Activating!]

Boom.

As he slammed his sword into the ground, the earth shook, causing the troll’s body to lift off the ground.

“I’ll take care of it. Finishing blow!”

The finishing blow wasn’t Kim I-seo’s job. He immediately used Blink to draw the attention of the other trolls.

During that moment, Choi Seoyeon dashed in and unleashed a spinning slash.

Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash!

A crimson electric storm formed as she spun, tearing the troll apart completely, leaving it no chance to recover.

Thud.

Thus, the first troll fell.

“Huff… Huff…”

The next troll was being handled by Ji Hotae and Kim Iseo.

“Grrrr…!”

As Ji Hotae took the damage head-on, Lee Haewon rushed in to create a healing zone.

During this time, Kim I-seo used Blink to dart between the two trolls, taunting them and severing their limbs.

The final blow came from Choi Seoyeon, who had the highest base attack power after Kim Iseo.

Slash!

Her perfect kick split the weakened troll’s massive body in two. It was a critical hit with a flawless strike. Clearly, Choi Seo-yeon was the best at wielding a sword.

Now only one troll remained.

That troll gave up fighting and raised its head. Then it let out a bizarre howl.

“HAO-O-O-O-O-O!!”

It was a howl calling for its companions.

* * *

Damn, a troll calling for its allies? Kim I-seo had never heard of such a thing.

“What, what is this?”

He glared at Heo Won-moo, who was responsible for the monster design. Heo Won-moo scratched his head, looking flustered.

“Ah… I don’t know either. I just borrowed the source from another game to save money…”

“So that game’s setting has been implemented, huh?”

What a ridiculous setting. Not only goblins but trolls roaming together? It was a nightmare.

Rumble!

From three directions, trolls began to swarm in.

[Event Quest: Troll Swarm]

[Would you like to proceed?]

To make matters worse, an event quest appeared. It was an announcement that things were about to get seriously hardcore.

The initial plan to just warm up and level up some skills had suddenly taken a drastic turn.

“What should we do? Run?”

Even in this situation, Heo Wonmu pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

On the other hand, Kim Iseo fell into deep thought. Even now, his mental calculator was running non-stop.

‘Should I try it?’

It was worth a shot.

It wasn’t about ambition or arrogance. Kim Iseo wasn’t someone who let such things cloud his judgment. Besides, the enemy was trolls. A whole swarm of them.

Yet, the reason he was considering taking on this challenge?

The chat window.

[Colorless / 9930: Wow! Amazing! LOL]

[Colorless / 88101: I heard there’s a hilarious stream here~]

[Red / Indomitable Fighter: If he beats all of them, he’ll draw another card.]

[Blue / Strategic Thinker: It’s better to run. Don’t do anything crazy, old man. LOL]

Crazy?

Kim Iseo shook his head.

Earlier, when fighting the trolls, he noticed something. They were quite stupid creatures. Unlike goblins or monkeys, they weren’t cunning at all—they were straightforward creatures.

Hit them, and their aggro shifted accordingly.

For someone like Kim Iseo, who had precise damage calculations, they were monsters that were easy to toy with.

He immediately accepted the quest.

[You are the first to accept the quest.]

[Pioneer benefits will be provided.]

Ding.

[Event Quest: Troll Swarm]
▻ Quest Difficulty: C-
▻ Objective: Annihilate all 150 incoming trolls!
▻ Completion Reward: Kanzel’s Boots
▻ Failure Penalty: Death

‘Kanzel’s Boots…’

The reward was a heroic-grade item.

‘It lets you use Flame Footsteps.’

An item with a skill option that created flames wherever you stepped.

Perfect for evading aggro and escaping.

It was an item for aggro-focused DPS players.

At this point, Kim Iseo’s mental calculator stopped.

There was no need for further calculations.

‘Deal.’

The red constellation promised support, followed by a heroic item reward.

If he hesitated here, he couldn’t call himself a gamer. No, he couldn’t even call himself human.

“Hey, form a formation.”

Thunk.

His massive sword pointed at the trolls.

What lay before him was a vast fork in the road, filled with a massive horde of trolls charging forward.

“Is this really going to work??”

Even Choi Seo-yeon, who had been the most proactive recently, was scared. The sight before them was incomparable to anything they had seen with goblins.

“If we can’t evolve the swords, we’re just dead.”

“Whaaaat?!”

“Why are we doing this? Let’s just run away, Team Leader!”

Ji Ho-tae nearly cried out.

In response to his pitiful shout, Kim I-seo simply replied.

“Why? Because we can.”

Kim I-seo pulled out one of the miscellaneous items he had taken from the guild members.

It was a rope.

‘With unconventional swordsmanship, this will work.’

He tied the rope securely to the hole in the lower part of his sword’s handle.

[Skill. Thunderstrike Sword. Activated!]

His sword was soon enveloped in red electricity.

Swish, swish, swish!

He began to spin the electrified sword in circles.

‘If the trolls’ intelligence has been implemented…’

Whoosh!

Kim Iseo’s arm extended forward, and the sword, tied to the rope, flew toward the trolls.

“Grr?”

“Huh?”

The trolls tilted their heads, seemingly puzzled by the sword. Then, a strange noise began to emanate from where the sword had embedded itself in the ground.

Crackle…

The Thunderstrike Sword fully charged, and then a powerful explosion swept through the area.

Boom!

Around eight trolls were instantly incinerated.

▻ Remaining Trolls: 142

It was quite an achievement, but far from enough to handle all 150 trolls.

[Red / Indomitable Fighter: Hmm… It’s strong, but how long will it take to kill all of them with that?]

[Colorless / 904: He must have a plan, right?]

Of course, this wasn’t the end of Kim Iseo’s strategy.

“Grrr!”

In the next moment, surprisingly, the surviving trolls began to punch Kim I-seo’s unnecessarily large great sword.

They were retaliating against the sword for attacking them. Naturally, it was their fists that took the damage.

[Red / Indomitable Fighter: Wow! Look at these trolls! LOL]

[Colorless / 44943: LOL!]

[Colorless / 904: The trolls are trolling! LOL]

* * *

[Beginner Tip: In Mana Sword Online, each monster has clear vulnerabilities.]They have distinct weaknesses or some sort of deficiency. Exploiting these can lead to surprisingly easy clears.]