Chapter 132

Chapter 132 – On the Eve (3)

6 .

[You level has increased . ]

When he succeeded in leveling up, Hyrkan reached into the small pouch hanging from his waist . He took out 5 Skeleton Fragments, and he threw it over his back . The Skeleton Fragments rolled across the floor like acorns, and they immediately changed into Skeleton Magicians wearing gray robes .

After the Skeleton Magicians formed, they gathered their hands . An emaciated flame started to form between their hands . The Skeleton Magicians moved their hands as if they were caressing it . As if to reward their attention, the fireballs started to expand . The fireballs, which had been the size of a child’s fist, was suddenly the size of a man’s head . At that moment, the Skeleton Magicians immediately threw their fireballs .

Hwah-roo-rooh!

The five fireballs flew in an arc . At the end of the arc, there was a battle going on .

Ggah-ahng, kah-ahng!

The sound of steel striking was endless . It was very easy to differentiate between the two groups that was fighting . The contrast was stark .

One side was composed of Skeleton Warriors with horns on their head . They were wearing an armor that was made out of black colored barks . On the other side, one could see adequately armored humanoid lizards that had black feathers coming off their hides . They were the Black Grooming Lizard Warriors

The battle between the Skeleton Warriors and the Grooming Lizards were fierce and closely contested . The two groups were so close to each other that a mumble could be heard by the other side .

Five enormous fireball fell into the battlefield . Of course, the fireballs didn’t differentiate between enemies and allies .

Puh-uhng, puh-uhng .

The five consecutive sound of explosions swept across the battlefield . The black feathers of the Grooming Lizards started to burn, and the Skeleton Warriors started to let out black colored blood .

[Black Grooming Lizard Warriors were affected by the Black Sap . ]

The Black Tree set’s effect had been activated .

At the same time, the Skeleton Warriors immediately regained their original form . They regained their original imposing form, and one couldn’t see any trace of magical damage on them .

On the other hand, the Grooming Lizard Warriors looked unseemly from the effects of the magical attack . Their feathers were burning, and the Black Sap clinging to them were quickly diminishing their HP .

Sha-ah! Shah-ah!

The bloody cry came out out of the Grooming Lizards’ mouth . It wasn’t a threatening cry . It was most definitely a cry filled with pain . Even this didn’t last long . A Skeleton Knight appeared with the Black Cobalt King’s sword in front of it, and its presence shut the mouths of the Grooming Lizards . The Grooming Lizards were so tense that they didn’t even attempt to quench the flame sticking to their hide .

The Skeleton Knight didn’t let out any sound . It just opened its mouth wide, and it pointed its sword towards the Grooming Lizard Warriors once . It let out a silent roar as it charged .

The explosions caused by the magic had created a state of lull on the battlefield, but the Skeleton Knight once again turned the stage into a pandemonium .

At that moment, Hyrkan wasn’t looking at this sight . Hyrkan’s gaze was to the left . In the distance, there was a User observing at Hyrkan .

“Where’s the next location?”

The User immediately answered Hyrkan’s question .

“We’ve already prepared it!”

This was the Black Grooming Lizard’s nest . This was the exclusive hunting ground of the Red Bulls guild .

Warlord had level up support teams .

It was a very absurd concept . However, the 30 great guilds, the Underfoot guilds and any large guilds possessed level up support teams . Even some individuals possessed a personal level up team . The First One Sulwoo, who was ranked number 1 in Warlord’s Level Ranking, was a prime example .

Of course, the role of a level up support team was to help a User increase their level .

The basic procedure was for the team to give material support . In truth, most decent sized guilds participated in doing this . They designated a fixed region as their main hunting ground, and the guild provided Items to guild members as needed as they hunted . By extension, there were also Buff teams that casted only Buff and Healing magic . Then there were the Gathering teams that rounded up the monsters .

“I knew he was a monster, but I never knew what kind of a monster he was . ”

Bower was the team leader of the Red Bulls guild’s level up support team . He was basically the hidden trainer of the Red Bulls guild, and he was very experienced . At the same time, he was very close to Chev in real life .

He was a User affiliated with the Red Bulls, but he had realized he had no talent for this game early on . This was why he had helped out the Red Bulls with extrinsic matters, and this was how he was able to rise to his current position .

Currently, he was assisting the Hahoe Mask in leveling up .

– His hunting speed is amazing . It would take 5 minutes for a 3 man party to clear it, yet he is doing it in 3 minutes by himself . If we just talk in terms of efficiency, his hunting speed is about 5 times faster .

Of course, Bower wasn’t the only one helping the Hahoe Mask .

The owner of the voice that had responded to Bower was named Ricky . He was a young 20 year old, who liked Warlord . It had only been two month, since they started to work together, so he was a beginner to all of this .

“He isn’t really 5 times faster, but his speed seems to on par with the First One . ”

Ricky was a younger cousin of one of the Red Bulls guild’s officers . His work on the Support team was a temporary job he was doing to make some money on the side . He was also a big fan of the First One .

– Is he really comparable to the First One?

“In my opinion, he is faster than the First One . ”

– What? No way .

This happened from time to time . Ricky had parachuted into the level up support team through his background, so he didn’t hesitate to disagree with his superior .

– The First One powered through level 220 yesterday . He now has a 15 level difference between the top 100! In truth, if you compare him to the Hahoe Mask, it is an insult to the First One .

Bower couldn’t help, but let out a bitter laugh at Ricky’s response .

‘If someone saw this, one would think he is my superior . ’

Of course, he didn’t like Ricky’s reaction .

On the other hand, he understood Ricky’s reaction . If one looked at Ricky’s word from a normal User’s perspective, he wasn’t wrong .

First One was a speed demon at leveling up . No, he was something more than that . The proof was in his ranking .

Every Ranker within the top 100 tried to level up as if it was a life and death task . A single level difference was like a difference of 1 second in a 100 meter sprint . It was a very big difference .

Yet the First One was steadily creating a distance between the level 100 Ranked User and him .

Of course, Bower knew about this .

Bower had led the Red Bulls’ level up support team from an early point in time . One of his duties was to find faster ways to level up, so he had researched the know hows of the Rankers . This was why Bower was much more knowledgeable about the First One than Ricky .

“All right . I spoke in error . ”

Of course, he wasn’t going to argue with Ricky right now . He’ll just secretly talk to Chev . He’ll just tell Chev that Ricky is an asshole . Then Chev will handle the situation .

– The First One is the best .

Ricky had no idea about his fate, so he stubbornly restated his opinion . However, his tantrum didn’t enter Bower’s ears . Bower once again looked at the Hahoe Mask’s battle footage .

In truth, he didn’t need to assist the Hahoe Mask in leveling up . Bower wasn’t just some simple trainer . He was like the the Daddy Long Legs of the primary raid team members in the Red Bulls guild . He had been supporting them since they were around level 20~30 . Bower was like a big brother to all the experienced Users of the Red Bulls .

Even with such a status, he was given this task, because he was assigned to steal all of the Hahoe Mask’s know how . He was tasked in stealing the Hahoe Mask’s ridiculous hunting method, battle method and any other information that made him special .

‘He’s faster than the First One . ’

This was why he was confident in his answer . The Hahoe Mask’s hunting speed was faster than the First One when the First One was at the same level as the Hahoe Mask .

‘However, the fights are too tight . He doesn’t let up . ’

At the same time, he could see the weakness of the Hahoe Mask . The Hahoe Mask fought urgently once he entered into a battle . He had to stay focused throughout in order to finish the battle as fast as possible . This was a clear difference from the First One .

The First One varied the pace of a battle even during a battle . If he wanted to work fast, he could catch it in 5 minutes . However, he didn’t overwork himself to catch it in 5 minutes . Instead, he hunted slowly to catch it in 10 minutes . It was a method used to delay the fatigue and loss of concentration that developed in battles . The First One used this method to notch an unprecedented amount of play time . He held the record .

His philosophy was the one who runs the longest beats the sprinter . He was the proof of this philosophy .

Basically, the Hahoe Mask was a mutation .

‘He’s dangerous . ’

This was why it was dangerous . The Hahoe Mask had gone against the traditional method . He was using his method to narrow the distance between the First One and the high level Rankers .

It didn’t matter if it was a small change or a big change . If the Hahoe Mask was able to rise into the level ranking, there will be a change in how things work . The Red Bulls was currently on the top of this existing order, so this change might work against them .

Bower was deep in his thought, and his face continued to harden .

– The Hahoe Mask requested for the Last Spot . He wants to know the region with the most monsters .

When Bower heard the voice of a manager helping out next to the Hahoe Mask, he relaxed his hardened expression .

7 .

[Hyrkan]

– Level : 179

– Class : Necromancer

– Title : 144

– Stats : Strength(2192)/Stamina(1132)/Intelligence(1327)/Magic Power(1601)

Ahn-jaehyun was checking the Hahoe Mask’s Character . There was a half empty pouch of a jelly drink hanging from his mouth . It was a drink with a difficult name . It was called the Smart Pouch .

Slurp!

Ahn-jaehyun quickly sucked the jelly out again, and the pouch shriveled up . He sucked on it until not a single drop of liquid was coming out . Ahn-jaehyun furrowed his brows .

‘I only sucked on it couple times, yet it’s all gone?’

Ahn-jaehyun took the pouch out of his mouth, and he haphazardly tossed it on top of the table . There were three emaciated packs on the table . If one looked a little to the side, there was a black bag with countless emaciated pouches placed in it .

It was a meal replacement jelly made for patients, who were having a hard time digesting food . This was Ahn-jaehyun’s main meal .

‘It is really expensive, tasteless and small in quantity… . Shit . What the hell am I doing?’

After the Argardo Raid, Ahn-jaehyun’s insides hadn’t calmed down, and he was still in a bad state .

He had went to the hospital, and a gastroscopy was done . The doctor told him there wasn’t any big problems with him, but he may be suffering from a digestive problem . As a precaution, he was told to refrain from foods that may act as triggers . He was told to lessen his stress, and he was ordered to do physical activities on a regular schedule .

Of course, the only advice Ahn-jaehyun followed was to avoid eating food that triggered his condition . That was the only one .

Instead, Ahn-jaehyun played on a more tighter schedule than usual . He had no choice .

‘I just need to jump one more level to reach level 180 . ’

He had negotiated with the Red Bulls . To be precise, he blackmailed them .

He sent a one-sided message saying he won’t participate in the Immoral Prince Raid until he reached level 180 . The Red Bulls had used the Hahoe Mask’s name to sell commercial spots in the live broadcast, so they couldn’t just overlook his message .

In the end, Red Bulls had to reveal a spot that wasn’t even revealed to the masses yet . They allowed Ahn-jaehyun to use the Black Grooming Lizard’s nest as his hunting ground . They even attached a level up support team to him . This was why everything else other than the actual act of hunting was all provided for by the Red Bulls . They didn’t hesitate to provide him with consumable Items .

This was a chance that might never come again . His insides were hurting, but he couldn’t pass by this opportunity .

‘After I finish my level up, I’ll be going into the Immoral Prince Raid immediately . I have to raise my conditioning as much as possible before that occurs . ’

Since he was given this opportunity, Ahn-jaehyun had to be at the top of his game in the Immoral Prince Raid after he reaches level 180 . It was probably too much to expect his insides to get better when he considered the various stress he was under .

‘Still, the events are coming along quite well . ’

Fortunately, there hadn’t been much chaos created by the Immoral Prince Raid yet . It wasn’t as if no one had tried to defeat it . The normal users possessing the Battle Tokens allied with each other . They put together the hints given on the Battle Tokens to find the secret location where the Immoral Prince was hiding . Two attempts had been made on the Raid .

The result of these two attempts were very bleak .

[The Immoral Prince is unassailable! If the group doesn’t achieve victory, the group is wiped out!]

[The strongest boss monster in history has appeared . What can be done to clear it?]

Wiped out!

If one was able to earn a Battle Token, one was a pretty skilled User in Warlord . However, these Users weren’t able to have an active role against the Immoral Prince . None of them were even able to have a decent fight with the Immoral Prince .

This was how strong the Immoral Prince was . The footages of the battle with Immoral Prince was released . Even the Hydra, Stormhunters and Red Bulls guild didn’t dare to attempt the Immoral Prince Raid rashly .

What more explanation was needed?

This was also the reason why the Red Bulls was helping the Hahoe Mask level up without any complaints . The participation of the Hahoe Mask in the Immoral Prince wasn’t optional anymore . It was a necessity .

This didn’t mean Ahn-jaehyun was thrilled with the situation .

‘This won’t be easy . ’

Before he returned to the past, he never experienced fighting the Immoral Prince . He hadn’t dared to fight it . This was the first time he was contemplating a potential fight with the Immoral Prince after seeing the video . The fact that this would be his first experience made a chill run up his spine .

In truth, the clear method was very simple .

The Immoral Prince was strong because of the Power of Corruption . It was an ancient power that had been left behind by the Fallen Kingdom . Moreover, relics emitting this ancient power were hidden around the Immoral Prince . Of course, the Immoral Prince would lose significant amount of power every time one of these relics were destroyed .

In the end, the Immoral Prince Raid was about blocking the Immoral Prince, so it couldn’t interfere with the Relic Destruction Team .

The content was simple . However, it was hard to carry it out the plan .

‘It is much faster than expected . ’

The biggest problem was its speed .

Up until now in Warlord, speed had been a User’s weapon . However, the speed showcased by the Immoral Prince was faster than any User .

Moreover, the type of skills used by the Immoral Prince was troublesome . His trigonal symbol represented Wisdom, Might and Mission . As someone that represented a symbol with these 3 meanings behind it, the Immoral Prince was able to use skills that was similar to the main skills of the Swordsman class and the Magician class .

In fact, the Immoral Prince’s skills were significantly more powerful than the skills used by the Users .

‘The Skills were strengthen using the Fallen Kingdom’s power . Of course, normal skills can’t hold a candle to it . ’

The Skills used by the Immoral Prince was part of the new contents the Users would face once they reached the third part of the Main Scenario Quest . It was the Fallen Kingdom episode .

Anyways,, the Immoral Prince was a monster that possessed every advantage that a User had . This shouldn’t be seen as facing a Raid opponent . One had to think of it as a PVP battle . This was why the Immoral Prince Raid needed multiple skilled Users . One needed experts that could last at least one minute with the Immoral Prince .

‘In the end, we have to use our numeric superiority . ’

There was the Hydra guild’s Sohank, Red Bull’s Chev, Stormhunter’s Shir and the Hahoe Mask Hyrkan .

These 4 people would decide whether the Raid would be a success or a bust .

“Hoo-ooh . ”

An automatic sigh came out of Ahn-jaehyun’s mouth when he thought about it . Including himself, there were four people who he knew were skilled enough . On the other hand, will the four Users, who were overflowing with personalities, be able to work together?

‘I hope the crazy bitch doesn’t fight the crazy bastards . ’

Even the thought of it made his insides hurt . Ahn-jaehyun picked up a jelly pouch to calm his stomach . He clamped his mouth over it .

‘Huh?’

At that moment, Ahn-jaehyun saw an icon indicating the arrival of an email on his Tablet PC . Ahn-jaehyun lightly touched it with his finger .

It was sent by Chev .

‘What can this be?’

The content was… .

‘In the end, that crazy bitch did something reckless!’

The Stormhunters guild had gone rogue .

8 .

‘No matter how I see it, this is crazy . ’

Hatch was putting the consumable items into the pockets that was present all over his body . He stopped his movements for a brief moment, and he shook his head from side to side .

‘She wants to do the Immoral Prince Raid by ourselves… . ’

When the Immoral Prince Raid was failed twice, the Immoral Prince moved to a different location .

Clues that notified one of the location of the Immoral Prince was given through the Battle Tokens . The Stormhunters guild used their information network, and they were able to find the location immediately . Everything up until that point was business as usual .

However, when the location was discerned, a special order came down mobilizing the Raid teams on standby for the Immoral Prince Raid .

She wanted to attempt the Immoral Prince Raid with only the Stormhunters!

‘The Queen has completely lost her mind . ’

This decision couldn’t have come from a rational and logical mind .

If other words, this was evidence that Shir was idescribably angry .

‘Well, she had been treated like a complete third wheel up until now . If one considered the Queen’s personality, it is a miracle that she had lasted until now . ’

Shir had always received the best spotlights . She had always been in the top spot, yet no one was paying attention to her recently . This lack of interest was a humiliation that was hard for her to endure .

Moreover, the Hahoe Mask’s fame was piercing through the sky, and without her realizing it, the Red Bulls were being considered the best of the 30 great guilds . This was a definite problem, and she wouldn’t stand for it .

If one messed with Shir, it was basically pushing a button that made a bomb explode .

‘This isn’t the right move . ’

At that moment, Hatch mustered up his courage .

The Stormhunters was Hatch’s place of employment . Warlord was a part of his life now . The cost of a failed raid would be enormous . He was well aware of this fact . If this was inevitable, he had to blunt the damage . When a leader decides to do something reckless, the subordinate had to stop the bleeding .

‘In the end, the Queen won’t listen to me if I speak… I have no choice, but to inform the Hydra and Red Bulls . ’

Hatch was determined to see this through .

‘Uh-whew . I have to quickly get out of this guild . If I stay here, I don’t think I’ll live a full life . The hospital said they saw some bleeding from my GI tract . I was told not to avoid eating trigger foods, and to avoid stress… . . ’