Chapter 9 – My Axe Crave For Blood! [1]

Max's vision changed once again once he passed through a thin layer of light at the entrance of the stable area. He had expected this to happen, so he wasn't that surprised.

He appeared at the top of a mountain, behind a cover of a bush. The sky was already dark; night had arrived. It was the perfect time for a scouting mission.

The ground was uneven, and he almost tripped when he took a step forward. 

Thankfully, Max was able to stop tripping and regain his footing by holding the tree near him.

"I guess I am in the Ratcor Ner mountain now." He muttered as he looked around the surrounding area.

Max was standing on a rather steep slope facing an animal trail and forest. He was now wearing a dark cloak instead of full-plate armor. His axe was still slung over his back in an easy-to-reach manner. 

There were signs of light from torches in the distance, moving around held by two people.

Beyond the forest was an opening in the wall, looking similar to a cave entrance. Max was able to see barbarians guarding the entrance through the trees. 

"Two barbarians guarding the entrance, huh? Can I count this as completing the quest already?"

— Are you joking? There should be mission progress!

— Check your quest tab. There must be new information.

— Knight's Journey won't be called a challenging game if it's that easy. 

— Screw reconnaissance. If they died, the mission would finish nonetheless.

— Blood! I crave blood!

— My axe wants blood… I can't… I need blood!

The viewers provided some useful information, while some were crazy for blood.

"I see. Let me see the mission progress."

Following the viewers' information, he opened the mission page, and a blue window appeared in front of him.

[Last Tutorial!]

[Scout for the barbarian army in the west of Ratsack City! They are hiding around Ratcor Ner mountains.]

[Progress: 2/?? Barbarians found]

Indeed, there was a new progress bar. Max couldn't see how many barbarians there were due to the progress having ?? instead of a real number. But he knew that he needed to find all of them to finish the mission.

Also, some of the viewers had a good idea to kill them all.

"Is it possible to kill them, though?"

— It should be.

— Are we going to see blood?

— Behead them!

"Chill, guys. I don't want to get a warning from Punch!"

Max needed to stop them from saying blood too much. He was worried that a warning from Punch would be issued for him.

Also… while he agreed with the chat, he didn't want to complicate this mission and would like to progress to the main story because he couldn't play for too long due to his current condition.

So he explained it to his viewers.

"I don't think we will see blood. This is a reconnaissance mission, after all. So I should–"

[AxeLover has started a mission.]

[Stream Mission: Kill all the barbarians instead of hiding around.]

[Reward: 5,000 diamonds.]

"– Kill them all! Let's gooo!! There will be no blood because I turned off gore content, so let's do this!! Those barbarians are dead! Hahahaha!"

Before Max finished his explanation of the mission, someone interrupted him with a stream mission, and he immediately changed his sentence as he accepted the mission in less than a second.

This changed his plan. The donation was more important than advancing the story! It was money!

— The power of money!

— Damn! Good job.

— lol

— He changed his attitude so quickly.

— No one can refuse money! Money for blood. Blood for money!!

Who would refuse such a juicy mission?

There was no difference between finding all barbarians and killing all of them. What Max should do was swing his axe to kill them instead of counting them with his finger.

He just needed to find them all and kill them!

The viewers got excited with him as he moved down the slope and entered the forest.

— It's blood time, baby!

— Axe! Axe! Swing the axe! Kill them all!

— Axe! Axe! Axe! 

— Axe! Axe! Swing the axe! Leave no one alive!

— My axe wants barbarians' blood!

They began to chant axe until a bell sound interrupted, and a glowing chat appeared.

Ding!

[LovelyOtter has donated 200 diamonds!]

[The first different mission, and he's already looking for the kill… Take these diamonds and kill them all!]

Max stopped inside the forest from the sudden notification and smiled widely.

"Thank you for 200 diamonds, LovelyOtter. I will do my best to kill them all!"

He advanced through the forest stealthily, lowering his stance as much as he could so the people guarding the entrance wouldn't see him.

Thankfully, he made no noise and could approach them silently because he didn't wear metallic armor. He hid behind the bush while looking around once more.

'There is only one entrance, and 2 barbarians guard it. Their weapons seem to be the sword on their waist. That will be good to use inside this small cave. But that will be boring. I guess I will stay with my axe for now.'

The entrance of the cave was only around 2 to 3 meters wide. It also had a ragged edge, meaning the wall wasn't smooth and could be climbed.

There was probably another entrance from above the cliff or something, but Max's time was limited, and it wasn't worth the effort.

So, his choice was simple. Just storm from the front and kill everyone trying to stop him.

Max grabbed his axe and prepared himself. 

The barbarians were lowering their guard, thinking that tonight would be peaceful like the other nights. They didn't even guard the entrance seriously as they yawned.

Leaves swayed gently, and the sound of bugs resounded in the area. The flame of the torch was the only illumination in the dark night, and both guards were bored because they were left for duty while their friends were playing inside the hideout.

They just wanted the night to pass sooner so they could sleep.

That was why.

Thud!

When an axe flew and got embedded in one of the barbarians' heads, the other one couldn't react properly. He only stood there, looking at his friend's corpse with widened eyes.

"A-Aaah!"

"Ssh! Don't make a noise."

Before the barbarian could speak, Max was already in front of him and grabbed his sword, unsheathing it, and slit his throat in one fluid movement.

Understanding the game's mechanics, Max could utilize all his specializations, including running from 0 to top speed in less than a second. 

Covering 3 meters distance was nothing for him.

After killing both guards, Max picked up his axe again and grinned. He casually strode inside the cave while the chat exploded.

— Holy shit, axe throw!

— Headshot!

— Wohooo, that's the blood we want to see!

— Damn, he's so good! Breeze!

— His movement makes no noise, like a breeze!

Some viewers watched him from the Knighted Lobby. They joined a new thread created when Breeze started streaming earlier, and it was filled with many curious people who came from the clickbaity title.

[Breeze's Livestream Knight's Journey new route. He's killing the barbarians in a breeze!]

[AttachedLink]

— This guy is a real newbie, right?

— That movement! He's able to move quietly and throw the axe with precision!

— Come and see! He's a badass!

— [AttachedVideo.mp4] Look at this! He got a new mission and came to decimate the barbarians!

└ Woah?! Does he throw his weapon? And it landed on the barbarian's head!

└ I need to watch him. I will see whether it's real or not!

└ His Punch link is above. He's currently Livestreaming!

This thread attracted many people who were curious about the title. They all watched the attached video and were surprised.

As a result, many curious viewers came to his livestream, only to see more absurd things Breeze did in the Knight's Journey.