The Second Life of a Legendary Necromancer

Chapter 3: Tutorial Challenge (2)

[You have entered the tutorial.]

The first thing Yeonwol encountered upon connecting to Elthera World for the first time, as did all 3 billion players, was the tutorial.

Here, beginners were given the opportunity to select their weapons and armor.

Most players starting out would choose a longsword or a spear.

This was because they were weapons with long range and were easy to attack with.

Additionally, most would use either a kite shield or a heater shield, as these shields offered wide body protection.

Given that most users who fared the longest against the Tutorial Boss Khazaram used these shields, they could be considered the most efficient equipment.

However, Yeonwol chose a dagger and a buckler.

‘Spears and swords. Universal weapons. But they’re useless against the tutorial boss.’

The buckler was small, about the size of a pot lid, but it was made of metal, offering the highest defense among beginner shields.

[You have selected your equipment.]

[You are entering the tutorial.]

Unlike other games that teach controls during the tutorial—what button triggers what skill and how to move—this game had none of that.

Instead, a swordsman wielding a blade would simply appear and stab the beginner.

[The boss, Khazaram, has appeared.]

—…Hmm!

A man dressed in light, oriental-style clothing appeared.

He drew a beautiful sword painted with blue waves and then rushed at Yeonwol without hesitation.

Swish!

An attack so fast it was nearly invisible to the naked eye!

90% of beginners worldwide would die here without even realizing what had killed them.

But Yeonwol reacted to the movement and swung his buckler.

Clang!

—…!

Khazaram’s sword, moving at the speed of light, bounced backward, forcing him into an unsteady posture.

Not missing this opportunity, Yeonwol thrust his dagger into Khazaram’s abdomen.

Squelch!

[A critical hit! 4.9x damage!]

One of the unique traits of daggers: their critical hit damage was significantly higher than that of other weapons.

However, the condition for critical hits was that the enemy either had to be unaware of the attack or in a debilitated state, a limitation Yeonwol felt confident he could overcome.

‘Even if I can’t see it, I can feel the attack.’

Was it because of the countless times he had responded to unseen attacks in his past life?

Khazaram’s attacks, which were only fast, were relatively easy to counter.

How had it gone in his past life?

Did he fight well against Khazaram?

Not at all.

Back then, he hadn’t even adjusted to moving with two healthy legs and had died instantly to Khazaram’s initial strike.

‘I’m different now. I’m not the same as I was.’

—…

Perhaps surprised that his attack had been deflected, Khazaram furrowed his brows and attacked again, only for it to be repelled once more.

Clang!!

Squelch!

[A critical hit! 4.5x damage!]

Though the damage was slightly weaker this time, it was still more than enough. Yeonwol jumped back, creating distance between them.

‘If I keep my distance, he’ll focus on his charge skills. Those are simple and predictable.’

This was called pattern induction.

As expected, the stunned Khazaram closed the gap with another charge, only to be deflected just as easily.

Clang! Squelch!

Repeating this process a few more times, Khazaram’s HP quickly dropped below 90%.

At that moment, Khazaram’s stance changed, and an effect resembling waves rising in the blue sea appeared.

This was the sign of Khazaram’s pattern change once his HP reached a certain threshold!

Sliding through the air like he was surfing, Khazaram approached Yeonwol.

‘Phase 2 has begun.’

Reaching this point was already a feat that earned challengers the title of expert. Nearly all players died here.

But once again, Yeonwol demonstrated unbelievable skill.

When Khazaram charged like lightning, Yeonwol rolled out of the way and countered by stabbing his dagger into Khazaram’s side.

Not every move relied on the shield. Sometimes he rolled on the ground, sometimes he sidestepped, and other times he turned and sprinted away.

However, if a blockable slash came his way, he never missed the opportunity to swing his shield.

Clang!!

A high-level technique called parrying—redirecting the force of the opponent’s swing to disrupt their stance—required skill far beyond what most martial artists could achieve.

‘This shield is starting to feel familiar.’

Sweating profusely, Yeonwol licked his lips.

Although he had hardly used shields in his past life, after a few tries, he felt like he had mastered the feel of it.

He became even bolder.

When Khazaram thrust his sword forward, Yeonwol directly blocked the path with his buckler, twisting its trajectory before plunging his dagger into Khazaram’s chest.

Sometimes, he swung the shield outright, smashing it against Khazaram’s head!

Finally, Khazaram’s eyes narrowed, and he spoke.

—For countless battles, I’ve been trapped here, facing billions of players. But I’ve never encountered a master like you.

“I’m discovering a side of me I didn’t know existed, and it’s exhilarating.”

—I will fight you in earnest!

However, even after Khazaram declared he was serious, Yeonwol didn’t allow a single attack to land.

Dodging blade tips by the slimmest of margins, Yeonwol simultaneously countered perfectly with every move.

Yet, as the battle dragged on, it became harder.

Once Khazaram’s HP fell below 50%, he began employing another sword technique.

‘This… this is no joke!’

From this point onward, even attempting a single attack became a challenge.

Khazaram’s strikes were so swift that Yeonwol could barely focus on evasion.

Occasionally, when Yeonwol managed to land an attack, Khazaram’s HP would decrease by a mere 5%.

From here on, it was a test of focus.

The attack patterns were already clear.

‘The moment I lose my focus, I die.’

Yeonwol glared at Khazaram with unyielding intensity. It felt as if nothing else existed in the world but the two of them.

The enemy before him was everything, and Khazaram’s sword existed solely to erase him.

Yeonwol predicted its path a step ahead.

And blocked it!

Clang—!

Khazaram’s sword seemed to cling to the edge of the buckler. It was a sign that Yeonwol had successfully deflected an invisible attack.

‘This is it.’

Even for a moment, letting his guard down would mean death.

The thrill and excitement made Yeonwol’s heart pound uncontrollably.

He couldn’t even feel the passage of time.

He had no idea how many times he had swung the buckler or the dagger.

Yeonwol was utterly immersed in the moment, the only time he could shed the heavy burden of thoughts and beliefs weighing on his shoulders.

In this moment, where he and his opponent fought a desperate battle of life and death, there was no need to think about anything else!

And so, after a long 34 minutes and 39 seconds…

[Tutorial Boss Khazaram has been defeated in 34 minutes and 39 seconds.]

[World Record Achieved!]

[You have achieved the incredible feat of “Overcoming the Impossible”! The title ‘Conqueror of the Impossible’ is awarded!]

[You are the first in the world to clear the Royal Challenge! The title ‘First Great Challenger’ is awarded!]

Finally, Khazaram knelt.

Blood flowed freely from his abdomen, yet Khazaram did not even try to stop it.

For the first time, he smiled—not the bored smile he had shown to countless challengers, but one of genuine joy and happiness!

—You… possess greater will and strength than any challenger I’ve ever faced.

—Thanks to you, I can finally escape this eternal cycle and find peace.

—To the one who broke my shackles, I will grant my sword and swordsmanship as a reward!

[You have acquired the epic item ‘Blue Sea Blade.’]

[You have acquired the S-rank skill ‘Blue Wave Ascension Blade.’]

[Khazaram, known for his unparalleled quick swordsmanship, was cursed by the gods to eternally face Earthlings in battle.]

[He expresses his deepest gratitude to you, his defeater, as he finally finds eternal rest.]

—

World Record.

In the game, when someone performed an extraordinary feat or set a record, a “World Message” would announce it to everyone.

[World Record! The Tutorial Boss Khazaram has been defeated for the first time!]

[Player ‘Yeonwol’ has cleared the Royal Challenge, a world-first achievement!]

“What? A world record?”

“The… the Royal Challenge was cleared?”

Even while logged into the game, players in neutral cities or towns could access internet forums and post messages.

When they started posting at lightning speed, the news of “Tutorial Boss Khazaram” began flooding the internet, reaching people living their daily lives.

[Author: Did you see this??? I heard the tutorial boss got killed?!]

└ [User1: Saw it like 100 times already.]

[Author: How did this even happen?]

└ [User5: If we knew, we’d have beaten him ourselves.]

In Elthera Online’s official global community, Edit, search rankings were instantly dominated by “Khazaram.”

──Search Rankings──
1. Tutorial Boss Khazaram
2. Tutorial Boss
3. Khazaram Clear
4. Khazaram First Clear
5. Khazaram…
──────────

Not just Edit, but the entire global social media space was flooded with discussions about this event.

Elthera Online had become a game integrated into the lives of most people worldwide.

Achieving something no one else could was bound to bring fame and admiration!

Even in real life, legendary entrepreneurs and scientists rarely received such universal praise.

The news was plastered with headlines about “Khazaram,” dominating broadcasts and internet shows alike.

Shortly after the World Message appeared, curious netizens searching the game-linked video platform Eltube stumbled across a specific video.

[Tutorial Boss Khazaram Kill]

A simple title.

The video was a staggering 35 minutes long.

People clicked on it with skepticism, only to be utterly shocked.

“This… this is real.”

Within a minute, the video spread across Edit and global communities, and within an hour, almost every gamer knew about it.

By now, people had only one question.

Who was the person behind the video that set the world ablaze?

‘Yeonwol.’

A Korean nickname.

Some users, realizing this, clicked their tongues in amazement.

[Anonymous: What? He’s Korean?]

The buzz grew even more intense.

Korea, which had once been known as a “gaming powerhouse,” had lost its reputation in Elthera Online.

For two years, global communities had mocked Koreans as being weak in virtual reality games requiring physical movement.

And now, a newbie from Korea had suddenly appeared to defeat the tutorial boss!

[Tutorial Boss Khazaram Kill]

[Views: 10,617,369]

In less than an hour, the video had already surpassed 10 million views, leaving viewers in awe.

This practically guaranteed the player’s rise to fame.

In Eltube, subscribers, views, and likes directly influenced in-game reputation.

NPCs recognized players with high stats in these areas as celebrities and often granted them special benefits, such as hidden classes and quests.

While various genres like food reviews and talk shows gained popularity, battle videos were the most captivating in this RPG-centric game.

When rankers organized raids, news outlets would rush to cover them, and their videos easily amassed billions of views.

Even for such rankers, it took exceptional battles to achieve billions of views.

Yet here was a level 1 newbie surpassing 10 million views in under an hour!

Curiously, Yeonwol, the person in the video, chose to hide his face, adding to the air of mystery.

But no one cared about that—the content of the video was just too shocking.

[User15: Wait, you can deflect those attacks???]

[User103: This doesn’t make sense.]

In the video, Yeonwol deflected all of Khazaram’s attacks, even those invisible in slow-motion playback.

[A critical hit! 5x damage!]

Every strike Yeonwol landed was a critical hit, often maxing out at 5x damage.

Naturally, this raised a pressing question.

[User679: Is this a hack? ♡79,713]

The “hack suspicion” comment received over 80,000 likes, climbing to the top of the thread as viewers couldn’t help but be skeptical.

Some experts argued it wasn’t a hack, sparking heated debates.

Meanwhile, Yeonwol’s seemingly bug-like performance continued for tens of minutes.

He didn’t take a single hit while landing mostly critical strikes.

It was like watching a breathtaking action movie.

But not everyone could relate to such extraordinary gameplay.

Soon, rumors of hack usage began to spread like wildfire.

Communities exploded with threads like [First Hacker in Elthera Online].