𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟕𝟒
Yesterday, after hunting three raid bosses and raising two skills to the Transcendence Stage, I immediately contacted Aizen.
It was to let him know that the preparations were complete.
Although we couldn’t gather many people, I thought there was no other way and told Aizen the truth. Aizen said it was okay and suggested we attack today if possible.
Of course, there was no reason to refuse, so I accepted.
‘Besides……’
Looking at the clock and confirming that the appointed time was approaching, I turned my head again and looked at the capsule.
‘Should I change helmets and connect?’
I’m not ignoring the two skills that have entered the Transcendence Stage.
I expect a 50~60% chance of winning.
However, I couldn’t ignore the possibility of being defeated by him, so to reduce that, I might need to change helmets and restore my senses.
“……”
I hesitated because of the side effects, but I didn’t think the battle would last long enough to cause a problem, so I replaced the helmet.
‘Maybe this is the last time.’
Once this battle is over, I won’t be connecting with this helmet again.
Unless Illia solves everything.
Anyway, thinking this would be the last time, I cleared my mind, entered the capsule, and tried to connect.
[May you find what you desire in the streets illuminated by Twilight……]
Fortunately, I had logged out after moving to the location we agreed on yesterday, so I didn’t need to move unnecessarily.
And there were already many players gathered around. While looking around, I soon spotted Aizen and Jeokseong standing apart in the front and moved towards them.
“Rudin-nim, you’ve arrived.”
“I’m not late, am I?”
“No. You’ve arrived at the right time.”
Next to Aizen, who answered as usual, were two players I had never seen before, besides Jeokseong.
“These are the Thunder Hawk Guild Master and the Iron Blood Knights Guild Master who will help us.”
“I’m Macheon.”
“Edin. This is the first time I’ve seen you in person.”
Macheon, the Thunder Hawk Guild Master, greeted me casually, but Edin, the Iron Blood Knights Guild Master, was looking at me with an intrigued expression.
“You don’t have to worry too much. I’ll take care of that Jerak guy.”
“……?”
What did he just say?
“Can you eliminate Jerak?”
I spoke informally first, but he came all the way here to help, so I didn’t want to be rude.
I was just curious about his confident attitude.
Then I remembered Aizen saying that Jerak was perceived as weak because of my performance yesterday.
‘Could this guy be the one?’
“He’s just a guy that even someone who quit the game three months ago couldn’t properly catch.”
I knew he was referring to me when he mentioned the person who quit three months ago, but I didn’t say anything.
I just thought.
‘This guy won’t be helpful.’
So, can I only rely on Macheon and Jeokseong?
It felt like our power had decreased before we even started, but the thought didn’t last long due to my throbbing headache.
“Let’s depart. Jerak is currently at the Guild Castle, according to reports.”
Suddenly, at Aizen’s words, the three Guild Masters, excluding me, nodded and started moving. As a result, I also started moving and spoke to Aizen.
“What’s the plan? Are we just going to barge in?”
“Originally, we were thinking of a siege. If Jerak uses the walls to fight, we were planning to secretly infiltrate Rudin-nim and clear out the enemies inside the Guild Castle.”
“Guild Castle…… Ah, to lure the guild members in?”
“Yes. But Jerak seems to want to fight inside the Guild Castle.”
“Is that so?”
But there’s something strange about what I’m hearing.
Aizen was speaking under the assumption that Jerak was prepared for the attack.
Feeling doubtful about this, I spoke without hesitation.
“You mean Jerak knows we’re coming like this?”
“The timing of the first attack was strange. There’s probably someone leaking information within the guild.”
Indeed, as Aizen said, Jerak attacked when the key members of the guild went on a raid.
So I blocked him, but ultimately failed.
Following that, Aizen, who barely arrived, attacked, but also failed, and we lost the Guild Castle.
“Come to think of it, that means there’s a spy? You’re just going to leave it be?”
“There are so many members. Besides, there’s no guarantee there’s only one or two.”
‘Well, that’s true.’
How could we find them with so many guild members?
We might be able to find out if we investigate the surviving guild members, but it would take a considerable amount of time.
Moreover, complaints are currently emerging among the guild members who can’t log in.
Catching Jerak first might be one way to deal with the spy situation.
“As Aizen-nim said, if he’s in the Guild Castle, our numbers might be meaningless.”
These were Jeokseong’s words.
‘Come to think of it, it would be difficult for all of us to enter.’
In a way, it might be more difficult than fighting using the walls.
Once we enter the Guild Castle, we’ll be surrounded.
Thinking about it that way, I thought it might be better to act alone, but there was a way.
‘If I want, I can fight there.’
Rather, if I use the Guild Castle system, that place might be better.
“Aizen, set the access to all rooms in the Guild Castle to only me.”
“Understood.”
Originally, there were free spaces that could be accessed separately from guild members, but Aizen understood what I meant and immediately manipulated the access settings.
“What a pointless thing to do.”
It seemed like Edin muttered something at that sight, but I didn’t pay attention and continued moving towards the Emperor Territory. The meeting place we initially gathered at wasn’t that far away, so we arrived quickly.
“Ha, there’s really no one here.”
“Let’s go.”
We arrived at the Emperor Territory, but there were hardly any players with hostility marks above their heads.
We only found a few, and even those few ran straight to the Guild Castle after spotting us, so it was practically the same as having no one there.
‘Still, it feels uneasy to go in.’
It was true that I was hesitant because it was obvious that there would be all sorts of attacks and traps inside.
Eventually, I, Aizen, and the three Guild Masters arrived at the Guild Castle and looked at the entrance for a while. Meanwhile, Edin, still with his confident attitude, stepped forward and started moving.
It seemed that what he said on the way here wasn’t just empty words.
“Then watch and learn.”
Since his attitude was so full of confidence, it was hard to say anything, so I just watched silently as Edin began to prepare something using his guild members.
“Now, throw it!”
With the command to throw, the guild members behind him threw something like pouches towards the entrance of the Guild Castle.
What is that?
Not knowing what it was, I just watched as black smoke started to rise. Anyone could tell that it wasn’t smoke with good effects.
“What is that?”
“It’s a special poison that only our guild can make. It probably won’t be easy to detoxify.”
‘Hard to detoxify?’
Well, I think I understand the intention anyway.
It seems the goal is to lure the opponents out by spreading poison inside the Guild Castle.
But will they really come out just because of poison?
“What are you doing? Keep throwing!”
Anyway, Edin continued to give the order to throw, and following his command, his guild members continued to throw pouches that spread poison fog, but the rest of the Guild Masters, including me, didn’t have high expectations.
It wasn’t a direct attack, after all.
Even if it was a hard-to-detoxify poison as Edin said, they could recover by taking time. And since Jerak’s main force, the Skeleton Knights, weren’t affected by poison, it was natural not to expect much.
“Alright, we’re going in!”
‘Huh?’
I thought the plan was to lure Jerak out by spreading poison, but contrary to my expectations, Edin was attempting to enter the Guild Castle directly, leading his guild members.
But if they go in like that, they’ll be attacked.
Moreover, I was hesitant to follow in because of the poison that Edin had spread.
My health wasn’t regenerating due to the Death Zone effect, so what would happen if I got poisoned too?
I didn’t know for sure, but I thought it would be difficult in many ways.
Bang!- Boom!━
At the same time, explosions started to sound from inside the Guild Castle.
Hearing the explosions, I felt a bit uneasy and spoke to Aizen.
“Is it okay to wait like this?”
“Attacking recklessly is dangerous, but…… waiting like this won’t lead to any other solution. I’ll go in.”
“Then I’ll go first.”
As soon as the decision was made, I nodded and entered the Guild Castle first.
“……?”
However, as I entered the Guild Castle, an unexpected sight came into view.
I thought I would see the Iron Blood Knights, who had entered while throwing poison pouches, fighting fiercely, but contrary to my expectations, I saw the Messenger of Revenge guild members and the Iron Blood Knights guild members surrounding me.
Moreover, on the stairs, on the second floor, Jerak and Edin, who had entered so bravely earlier, were standing there with a smug smile. It took me a while to understand the scene.
“Wow, what the f*ck.”
So that’s why they spread the poison.
The poison fog was thick, and I couldn’t see inside, but I still entered after hearing the explosions.
And this is the result?
The poison that Edin had spread was also quite potent.
[You have been poisoned by the Black Fog of the Witch Alzur.]
[100 Magic Power decreases per second.]
[20% chance of skill use failure.]
“Rudin-nim.”
“Why did you come in? We need to get out of here.”
The quick-witted Aizen couldn’t have misunderstood this situation.
Therefore, we should retreat, but Aizen shook his head and replied.
“We’re already surrounded. It seems they were hiding inside the building.”
“Still, get out. We need to make a path if necessary.”
“What are you going to do, Rudin-nim?”
“I’ll hold them off for a while and then escape. Since things have turned out like this.”
At my words, Aizen nodded and went back outside with the two Guild Masters. I let out a small sigh at this messed-up situation and spoke to Edin, not Jerak.
“You, are you confident you won’t regret this?”
“Regret? Well, if you have the skills, try it.”
“……”
Well, there’s no need for a long conversation.
Why he betrayed us, when he started betraying us, what does it matter?
The only important thing is that he’s my enemy now.
But I’m also human, so I couldn’t help but feel angry about this situation. Instead of expressing those emotions, I decided to focus on the upcoming battle.
[Beep!- You have declared hostility towards the ‘Iron Blood Knights’ guild.]
[From now on, you will be hostile towards the ‘Iron Blood Knights’ guild.]
‘Good.’
I didn’t tell him to declare hostility, but as expected of Aizen.
He probably meant to kill at least that damn b*stard, right?
Thanks to that, a hostility mark appeared above Edin’s head, including Jerak’s, but it would be the same for him.
“I was going to declare hostility first…… Well, whatever. Consider yourself unlucky.”
However, I was more concerned about Jerak next to him than Edin.
What was he doing, not attacking?
So, I watched him carefully and saw that he was continuously summoning Skeleton Knights and sending them to the second-floor hallway.
“Attack!”
“Blink.”
But I couldn’t just watch forever.
Seeing the players attacking me, I immediately used Phantom Shift to move forward, and at the same time, the phantom I created designated one direction and immediately unleashed Giant’s Sprint.
Kwaaaang!!━
“Blink.”
Of course, I continued to create phantoms while doing so, and every single phantom I created used Giant’s Sprint without exception, tearing everything around them apart.
And.
“Phantom Explosion.”
Kaboom!- Kaboom!!━
It’s not that there weren’t people who attacked me while I was creating phantoms, but I dodged them appropriately using Phantom Shift each time, so I was able to attack everything around me without taking much damage. And finally, with the Phantom Explosion I unleashed, I was able to eliminate dozens of players.
This is the power of Phantom Shift, raised to the Transcendence Stage.
With just this Phantom Shift, I eliminated over 100 players in less than a minute and looked at Jerak and Edin, who were still on the second floor.
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