𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟕𝟎
“Huh? It’s already solved?”
After meeting with Yua and having a brief conversation, I came to Illia’s house without looking back and got straight to the point without wasting any time.
“Can you connect now?”
“I can connect, but…… Tell me what’s going on first.”
Illia, perhaps noticing something was wrong after seeing my face, quickly changed her expression and asked me about it.
However, I don’t plan on telling her.
It’s not something I can talk about.
“And who’s behind you?”
‘Behind?’
Turning my head at Illia’s sudden words pointing behind me, I couldn’t help but be surprised.
It was only natural, because Yua was standing behind me.
“Yua?”
“Ah, that’s…… I thought you were going to fight. I followed you because I was worried. But……”
Yua, stammering as if she felt sorry, looked back and forth between me and Illia next to me with a confused expression. Seeing this, Illia sighed and spoke first.
“Come in first. It’s not good to talk out here.”
Indeed, it would be rude to the neighbors to chatter here, so I nodded and entered Illia’s house. Yua also hesitated for a moment, then followed me inside.
“Now, tell me what’s going on.”
As soon as Yua and I entered, Illia sat in her usual spot and spoke first.
And with Yua’s unexpected appearance calming me down a bit, I thought it would be difficult to ask for Illia’s cooperation without telling her the story, so I decided to explain it briefly.
“I found out the purpose of the guy who attacked the Emperor Guild. So I’m going to fight him properly.”
“His purpose is Rudin-nim?”
“……Yes.”
“Hmm, you’ve contacted the Emperor Guild, right?”
“……”
Of course, I couldn’t find their cafe or website, so I couldn’t contact them.
Besides, it wasn’t something I could hide, so I answered honestly.
“I haven’t been able to contact them.”
“You said his purpose is Rudin-nim? Then you’ll be attacked as soon as you log in. You’re going to connect so recklessly?”
“With my health and defense, I can hold out for a few seconds, and if I can hold out, I can escape safely.”
“Hold out? You’ll be lucky if you don’t die from the explosion attack.”
Realistically, as Illia said, there was a high chance I would be attacked, but there was no 100% certainty.
But what would happen if I died again?
It was already a difficult fight to win.
If I died one more time here, even the remaining possibility might disappear.
‘I should find a way to contact Aizen.’
Until now, I was so excited that I tried to log in without thinking, but now that I had calmed down a bit, I realized how foolish that was.
So, as I was thinking about a way to contact Aizen, Yua, who had been listening to our conversation quietly, spoke up as if she had been waiting.
“Um, but why did Kiwon-ssi come here?”
‘Oh right, Yua was here too.’
Should I send her back?
It would be difficult to talk about Intuition with Yua here.
Well, it wasn’t a situation where Intuition would be needed, but this place, filled with various machines, was suspicious enough to anyone, so it wouldn’t be strange no matter what Yua thought.
“The capsule is here.”
“Yes? Don’t tell me Kiwon-ssi’s house…… Did you sell your capsule?”
“That’s not it.”
As expected, there was a feeling that things were getting stuck from the beginning.
How should I explain the capsule?
Fortunately, before these worries could continue, Illia next to me stepped forward. She avoided Yua’s question by changing the subject.
“Wait a moment. I think I have his contact information.”
“Contact information?”
“Our Guild Master’s contact information. We get one when we become an executive.”
“……”
Why am I the only one who doesn’t have that contact information?
Anyway, it seemed like she received the contact information as an email address, as she was looking for it on her computer. Soon after, Illia wrote down a number that seemed to be Aizen’s and handed it to me.
“Try contacting him.”
“Me?”
“Then who else would contact him? It’s Rudin-nim’s matter.”
That’s true.
Unable to refute, I tried contacting the number Illia gave me. From Aizen’s perspective, it was an unknown number, so I kept in mind the possibility that he might not answer, but thankfully, that didn’t happen.
━Who is this?
“It’s me, Rudin.”
━Is that Rudin-nim? How did you get my contact information……
Did this guy intentionally not tell me?
“I got it from Illia, who I have a personal relationship with. More importantly, I have a favor to ask……”
Putting the contact information issue aside, I started talking about the most urgent matter.
It was basically asking him to help me log in. After hearing that, Aizen remained silent for a moment, then said,
━I understand. But what do you plan to do after logging in?
“I have to take care of them all, one by one. That summoner is the only difficult one, the rest are no problem.”
━You mean you’ll handle them alone.
That’s what it comes down to, but I didn’t plan on doing it all alone until the end.
If I keep clearing out the enemies in the Guild Castle, the Emperor Guild will be able to log in again, and then I might be able to fight that summoner again.
━You’ll probably have a hard time alone.
“Why?”
━The Skeleton Knights are more of a problem than the players. I don’t know how it happened, but it felt like he was summoning them without any restrictions.
“So even if I eliminate the players, the summoned creatures will replace them?”
━You can interpret it that way.
“Since they’re summoned creatures, wouldn’t they have a duration? They’ll disappear if I wait.”
At least the S-rank summoning skill I acquired had a duration, so I naturally thought the Skeleton Knights he summoned would also have a duration.
But Aizen’s answer was negative.
━They probably don’t. From what I remember from fighting him before, some of the summoned creatures didn’t disappear until the very end.
‘……Was that so?’
Come to think of it, Aizen had fought him for 3 hours straight before.
If he had kept an eye on some of the summoned creatures and confirmed that they didn’t disappear until the end, then Aizen’s words weren’t just empty talk. Thinking that I might have to modify my plan a bit, I pondered.
“What do you think?”
━We need to retreat as soon as we log in and seek help from the outside. Originally, I was going to do that, but…… I think it might work if I go with Rudin-nim.
“You want to go too?”
━It’s my guild.
“……”
Of course, Aizen would be angry too.
It would be strange if he wasn’t angry that some unknown guy invaded and took over his Guild Castle.
So, I could understand Aizen wanting to log in as well. I agreed with him and decided to log in together, but I couldn’t agree to act together.
“Alright. But let’s act separately. It’s not like asking for help will be any easier just because I’m there.”
Frankly, just having me there wouldn’t be much help in asking for help.
Even if I went, I would just be standing there like a folding screen.
So, it might be better to act separately in many ways.
━You’re thinking of fighting alone?
“I’ll try as much as I can.”
━……Thinking about it now, Rudin-nim has always shown results beyond expectations. Yes, I’ll trust you this time too.
“Thank you. So when can I log in?”
━I’ve had people on standby since yesterday. If you want, we can do it right now.
His answer showed the effort he had put in to prepare since losing the Guild Castle.
“Then let’s start right away.”
━Yes, please log in in 5 minutes.
After ending the call, I checked the time for a moment.
It was past 2 PM. Considering it was a weekday, I didn’t think there would be a huge number of people.
“See? It’s resolved immediately when you contact him.”
“You’re right. I’m grateful.”
“Rather than that gratitude…… I want to tell you about the results I finally completed yesterday.”
Illia trailed off, looking at Yua.
The results seemed to be related to the connection issue.
The problem was that Yua, who still didn’t know anything, was next to me. Yua was looking at me with a puzzled expression, but it wasn’t something I could easily talk about.
“Why don’t you tell her?”
“Huh?”
“You’re worried, aren’t you? And following you all the way here means she thinks about Rudin-nim more than just an ordinary acquaintance.”
“……”
Actually, I had similar thoughts.
Since I told Illia, wouldn’t it be okay to tell Yua too?
Considering Yua’s personality so far, she wouldn’t tell anyone else, so the concerns I had wouldn’t happen even if I told her, but for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
Then.
“If it’s difficult to tell me, you don’t have to.”
“Huh?”
“Please tell me next time you feel like it.”
Seeing me struggling, Yua said it was okay and postponed my answer, perhaps understanding what I was thinking.
“……”
Consideration…… right?
Feeling sorry for her kindness, I was lost in thought again when Illia’s voice interrupted my thoughts.
“It’s time.”
“Ah, already?”
“Yes, if you don’t want to kill the guild members who logged in first meaninglessly, it’s better to log in quickly.”
As she said, it was better to log in as quickly as possible for the sake of the guild members who logged in first, so I nodded and got up from my seat, entering the capsule.
“I should use the existing helmet to log in, right?”
“Yes, and when you think you’ve escaped to a safe place, come out quickly.”
It seemed like the connection time issue hadn’t been resolved yet.
Thinking that, I left a reply saying I understood and immediately attempted to log in. Soon, my vision darkened and a new background appeared.
[May you find what you desire in the streets illuminated by Twilight……]
Boom!━
However, before my vision could properly focus, explosions and someone’s furious shouts could be heard from the surroundings.
Then, as my vision cleared, I could see players…… no, guild members fighting chaotically around the 1st floor hall of the Guild Castle, and they were being swept away by the explosions of the Skeleton Knights deployed around them.
[You have taken damage……]
‘I see that I’ve taken damage too.’
I had lost about 20,000 HP from being hit by several explosion attacks during the brief moment of vulnerability while logging in.
“Absolute Recovery.”
Flash!━
The cooldown was 12 hours, but I didn’t have time to worry about that.
Besides, I had no intention of backing down, so I immediately used Absolute Recovery and decided to take care of the players attacking the guild members alongside the Skeleton Knights before escaping.
“Blink, Thunder Strike.”
Boom!━
As soon as I confirmed their location, I moved with Phantom Shift and immediately blasted the guy next to me with Thunder Strike.
Whether I was lucky or not, I killed the enemy player with a single blow and didn’t stop moving, taking care of the next one right away. After attacking a total of three people, I slammed my shield onto the ground.
Kwaaang!!━
And as if waiting for it, shockwaves spread out in all directions.
Having eliminated at least 5 players in just 2-3 seconds, I pressed on, slaughtering the nearby enemies.
But at the same time, the floor started to turn black.
[An unknown energy is seeping into your body……]
‘Ah, damn it.’
Is it already here?
Checking, I saw that my HP wasn’t recovering.
Even the S-rank skill on the Legendary ring wasn’t working.
“Vice Guild Master! Escape quickly!”
“The Guild Master has already escaped!”
Suddenly, I heard shouts from the few remaining guild members behind me.
Did Aizen already escape?
I was the one who suggested acting separately, but seeing him take such direct action made me feel a bit flustered.
Of course, I didn’t stop killing the nearby players.
‘But I should probably get out of here soon, right?’
“Giant’s Sprint!”
It was right to escape now, even if it was just to harass them as much as possible.
Moreover, I couldn’t fight the summoner in this confined space, so I had no choice but to retreat. I used Giant’s Sprint and ran towards the entrance.
“Out of the way!”
Kwaaang!!━
“It’s Rudin! Catch him!”
“Blink.”
Perhaps they received word, as players immediately blocked the entrance, but I blasted them all away with Giant’s Sprint and escaped the Guild Castle. Then, I used Phantom Shift to easily avoid the numerous players rushing towards me.
As expected, there was no one who could catch me when I was determined to escape.
I escaped the Emperor Territory with ease, but I didn’t stop running. After running for a long time until I reached a deserted place, I finally slowed down and took a deep breath.
‘For now, the objective is accomplished, right?’
Since I escaped safely, I decided to change helmets and log in again. I immediately logged out.
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