𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟑𝟓
“Are you really sure about this?”
“It’s fine, so we can start.”
The next day, I moved to the Guild Castle to proceed with the guild quest. Looking at the guild members, including Aizen, with only about 700-800 people gathered, I spoke as if there was no problem.
However, the expressions of the guild members were all gloomy.
It’s not like we’re going to a funeral.
Since the guild quest we were about to undertake was B+ rank, it wasn’t that I couldn’t understand, but the thought of fighting alongside guild members with such expressions felt somehow wrong.
‘Should I just go and fight alone?’
The reason I suggested doing the guild quest at this time was because I thought it was possible even alone.
“Phew, then let’s begin.”
[Guild Master ‘Aizen’-nim has requested a guild quest.]
[The requested guild quest rank is B+.]
[All Emperor Guild members who received this message can participate in the guild quest.]
[Will you participate?]
“Participate.”
[Moving to the guild quest location.]
Fwoosh!━
Anyway, as soon as I participated in the requested guild quest, the space I was in began to shift, and soon I could see a huge wall appear along with thousands of soldiers.
“……”
But there are a lot more than I expected.
Perhaps because it was a B+ rank, the wall boasted a tremendous height of over 30 meters, and the deployed soldiers were also armed with reasonably good-looking equipment.
At first glance, it felt more difficult than the previous C+ guild quest, but now that it had already started, there was no turning back.
“There should be roughly 10,000.”
“10,000? Ah, come to think of it, how did you clear the B rank?”
This guild quest proceeds in stages: defense, all-out war, and finally, siege.
If we were to proceed with the next A- rank guild quest, it would be defense, then all-out war, and finally, the A+ rank would be a siege like this, they said.
Moreover, since Aizen had progressed to B rank, it also meant he had gone through defense and all-out war.
“It wasn’t difficult. Actually, defense and all-out war only require the capabilities of the guild members.”
Aizen, who already possessed dozens of dungeons, claimed to be stronger than existing players.
Well, isn’t he right?
My friend Jaehoon is also enjoying his day-to-day growth.
“Then what’s the victory condition?”
After briefly hearing about the previous guild quest from Aizen, I moved on to the next question and asked about the victory condition of this siege.
To put it bluntly, it couldn’t be that the victory condition was to kill all 10,000 troops.
The C+ rank guild quest was completed by killing the commander, so I thought there would be a similar condition this time as well. I asked about the victory condition, and Aizen answered simply.
“You have to enter the castle and kill the king.”
“The king? Not the commander?”
“It seems the content has changed because the rank has gone up.”
Either way, it’s B+ rank, huh?
Anyway, since it’s unlikely for a secret passage to exist in this kind of guild quest, we had no choice but to break through head-on.
However, since it was a much better condition than facing all 10,000 troops, I nodded in understanding and decided to go alone, leaving the guild members behind.
“Focus on defense. You never know when they’ll come down and attack.”
“What are you planning to do, Rudin-nim?”
“The victory condition is to catch the king, right? I have to go and catch him.”
As soon as I finished that answer, I immediately ran forward.
“Jayer’s Guardian Shield.”
[S-rank skill, Jayer’s Guardian Shield is activated.]
In addition, thanks to my agility, which was much higher than before, and the movement speed attached to my shoes, the distance to the wall closed in an instant.
Naturally, someone who spotted me belatedly shot arrows or magic, but unfortunately, my running speed was faster than the incoming attacks, so not a single attack reached me.
Boom!- Kaboom!━
Explosions could be faintly heard from behind.
It was probably magic used to hit me, but without paying attention to that, I looked up at the wall, and with the thought that it would be within reach, I used Phantom Shift.
“Elsyke’s Phantom Shift.”
Whoosh!━
Since Phantom Shift allowed me to move about 50 meters, I was sure I could reach it somehow. As expected, I moved to the edge of the wall, then hooked the edge of the wall with my hand and pulled myself up, landing on the wall. At the same time, I could see all the nearby soldiers looking at me with surprised expressions.
“Wh-what are you all doing! Attack him!”
“Elsyke’s Phantom Shift.”
As if startled by someone’s command, the soldiers seemed to come to their senses, but I used Phantom Shift once again to go over the wall and found my way inside……
‘Oh, crap.’
Why is the door closed?
There was no need to search for the way inside, as it was clearly visible right in front, but it was closed with a heavy iron gate.
It seemed like I had to find a way to open it or break it down.
“This b*stard dares to try to cross over here alone!”
While I was briefly looking at the closed door and wondering what to do, the NPCs who appeared to be knights all rushed in to attack me. Fortunately, the attacks themselves felt slow.
Perhaps it was due to the increased dynamic vision from my agility.
Thanks to that, I was able to easily dodge the knights’ attacks by stepping back and moving my upper body. I decided to try breaking down the iron gate first.
“Giant’s Sprint!”
Crack! Crash! Bang!━
Then, with the red storm, I was about to charge towards the door when I saw the knights blocking me and smiled inwardly.
Kwaaang!!━
“Ugh!”
‘Just as I thought.’
Jayer’s Guardian Shield and Giant’s Sprint.
With these two skills in use, my strength exceeded 4,000, so I thought there was no way the knights here could stop me, and just as I thought, I could see the knights being flung in all directions.
After repelling the knights, I reached the door in an instant. I think my movement speed at that time must have exceeded 8,000.
Kwaaang!!━
[Skill Damage! 20,536.]
“……?”
Does this thing have defense too?
The damage from Giant’s Sprint was less than I expected.
Thinking that the iron gate probably had defense as well, I saw that the damage was being dealt and the gate was slightly dented, so I decided to continue attacking.
“Thunder Strike!”
Kwang! Kwaang!!━
“D-damn it! Block him! What are the mages doing!?”
If there were no marks on the door even after attacking, I was going to find another way.
In Twilight, usually houses, trees, and such things were set up so that they couldn’t be destroyed. No matter how much I attacked, they wouldn’t even leave a scratch, so I thought this door might be the same.
However, this door I just attacked left a mark along with the damage, so I kept attacking, believing it would definitely break. However, the NPCs weren’t just going to stand by and watch.
‘Should I ignore them and keep attacking?’
Thanks to the effect of Jayer’s Guardian Shield, I could ignore all magic attacks with damage below 6,000, but it wouldn’t be strange for a B+ rank mage to cast magic attacks with damage exceeding that.
Kwaaang!!- Kwakwakwang!!━
[You have taken damage! -1,692.]
[You have taken damage……]
‘As expected.’
I could manage somehow, but the damage being dealt was at a level that might be a bit difficult for the guild members.
After checking the damage I had taken, I continued the attack for a simple reason.
Kwaaang!!━
[Skill Damage! 19,843.]
[Your Health is restored by 2,501.]
My health was being restored even when I hit the door.
Furthermore, with the effect of Eternal Life, Arua, my health was restored by an additional 30%, and it was recovering at a rate of 600 per second, so even if my health was depleted, it was quickly being restored.
Kwaaang!!━
“Phew.”
After pounding on it for a while while enduring the mage’s magic attacks, I finally let out a small breath as I looked at the broken door.
Counting the number of times I hit it, it seemed like the door’s durability was around 500,000.
‘What kind of door is this sturdy?’
Anyway, it seemed like its high durability had finally run out, as the door was broken and torn apart, and I ran towards the passage that appeared inside.
“Catch him! Don’t let him escape!”
I didn’t know the NPC’s intentions, but they probably planned to have the mages knock me down from the door.
Otherwise, they would have killed me before the door broke.
Unfortunately for them, I ran inside with all my might, and in just a few seconds, I could see an NPC sitting on a huge throne, along with about 10 knights armed in golden armor and two mages waiting.
“Is it just you, the intruder?”
“What if it is?”
“Ha, this is absurd. To think that Kamar Castle, known as the Iron Fortress, would be breached like this.”
The NPC, presumably the king, continued speaking while making direct eye contact with me.
“And by just one person, no less.”
“Iron Fortress, my foot……”
Only the door was sturdy.
“You may be impressive, but I cannot allow a blemish to remain. Kill him.”
I don’t know if they considered it still defended if they killed me here, but at that command, the knights and mages began to move all at once.
However, the more time I wasted, the more troublesome it would become.
Since I had rushed here at high speed, it would take some time for the pursuing troops to arrive, and I felt like I had to deal with the king sitting there before those troops joined the fight.
“Elsyke’s Phantom Shift.”
So, I tried to approach using Phantom Shift and attack, but strangely, my body didn’t move.
[Movement skills cannot be used due to the King’s Barrier.]
‘King’s Barrier?’
Did someone else try to assassinate the king using movement skills before me?
The problem was that I didn’t have time to worry about that, as the knights and mages were attacking me.
Whoosh!━
Certainly, as the knights positioned at the very end, their speed was incredibly fast, incomparable to the other knights, and the mages at the back were also using appropriate magic for the situation.
[Archmage ‘Daon’ uses Full Body Bind.]
[You completely resist due to the related stat ‘Fighting Spirit’.]
‘It’s a good thing my Fighting Spirit stat was high.’
Anyway, looking at the situation, it seemed like I had to deal with the mages rather than the knights, but I decided to target the king first.
If I could just eliminate the sitting king, this guild quest would be over.
Since I had a way to end the battle in an instant, I didn’t want to waste time with the knights and mages. I took the blow from the knight’s sword with my body and ran straight towards the king.
[You have taken damage……]
“However, your judgment is poor.”
‘What?’
Kwaaang!━
I felt something strange about the king’s attitude, who didn’t even flinch despite being attacked, so I immediately swung Roar of the Thunder Dragon, and I could see a transparent barrier appear and block it.
‘So this is what he was relying on.’
However, unlike when I broke the door, no damage was displayed.
Thinking there must be some kind of device, I countered the attacks from the knights and mages and looked around, but there was nothing special that caught my eye.
‘Should I use the Gem-Eating Snake?’
Alternatively, I could kill the knights and mages and take my time searching, but the troops outside would be arriving soon.
“……Summon.”
[Summoning Ust, Swallowing the Bitter Cold.]
Therefore, I had no choice but to summon Ust and entrust him with dealing with the nearby NPCs. I immediately took out the Gem-Eating Snake.
[Gem consumed.]
[A-rank skill, Wave of Exploration (LV6) is activated.]
Kiaaak!
‘Find it.’
As if my wish had been granted, a light emerged from behind the throne where the king was sitting, and I could see a display case and a sphere placed on top of it.
It seemed like that sphere was the cause of the barrier.
‘Got it!’
“Stop him quickly!”
Perhaps they didn’t expect me to find it so quickly, the king’s flustered appearance, which I hadn’t seen until now, was visible, but breaking the sphere was more important than that.
Fortunately, the summoned Ust was swinging his thick branches around, sending the knights flying, so the only one who could stop me was the mage next to the king.
Of course, there was no way those mages could stop me.
“Giant’s Sprint!”
Kwaaang!!━
The mage also realized I was targeting him and tried to cast magic immediately, but my sprinting speed was overwhelmingly faster.
After sending the mage flying backward, I broke the sphere before the other mage could use magic.
“Thunder Strike!”
Crack!━
[The King’s Barrier is deactivated.]
It seemed like this King’s Barrier included both movement speed and a protective shield.
“How dare you!”
How dare you, what?
Perhaps because the barrier was broken, the king stood up and glared at me with an angry expression, but I didn’t respond at all and landed the second attack of Thunder Strike.
Kwaaang!!━
[Skill Damage! 38,118.]
“Cough!”
‘Huh?’
Even though it wasn’t the third strike that could send enemies flying, the king, who was hit by my shield, flew far away and collapsed without moving.
[Congratulations! You have successfully completed the B+ Guild Quest.]
[Guild rank will increase to B+.]
[Would you like to return to your original location?]
‘Huh? Did it end in one hit?’
Fortunately, it seemed like the king didn’t have any special abilities like the knights or mages.
I don’t know if it was because the king died or because the guild quest was successful, but the knights and mages started to disappear gradually, and after seeing the message once again, I knew it was truly over.
‘Well, it was fun anyway.’
In addition, I was able to see the power of legendary-grade items.
Wouldn’t it have been a slightly more difficult battle if I didn’t have them?
I would have been bound and all that.
“Return.”
[Returning to your original location.]
Anyway, since the guild quest was over, I decided there was nothing more to see and returned to the original location, the Guild Castle. Upon returning, I could see Aizen and the guild members, who must have returned earlier.
“……You really succeeded.”
“I told you, we wouldn’t need a lot of people.”
I answered like that and turned my head towards the strangely quiet guild members. For some reason, they were all looking at me with an unfathomable look of awe.
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