Chapter 21 – Noblesse Guild (2)

An underground area was prepared by the Association.

This is where the guild battles will take place.

The participating Awakened moved to the center, and the ground slowly sank down, bringing us towards the underground space.

Those not participating from both guilds, such as myself, could see from the floor above.

The floor that was made of glass became transparent enough to see through, revealing a guild war zone the size of half a soccer field.

The building was constructed of refined blood stone so that it would not collapse under most magic spells and attack skills.

It was a material hastily developed after the terrorism 6 years ago at the ‘central plant center’ and was used as construction material currently for important government structures.

Each side consisted of 27 members.

Each guild’s composition showed their differences clearly.

Noblesse

A defensive composition.

Empire

On the other hand, an offensive composition.

Those that entered in the guild pvp were the top 5% of the Awakened, so necromancers, witch doctors, voodoo users’ debuff could not affect them very much and was not found in either guilds as participants.

Everyone wore the vest prepared by association.

It was a vest that showed your vitality, allowing the association to monitor you just in case you were about to die. A vest that only the association was allowed to use.

Guild wars were not allowed to start without the vests, since any Awakened could be treated as long as they were still alive with the skill ‘Status Negation’.

Also the association forbade murder, so if anyone did perish, the guild was given a massive penalty. Guild pvp was a fight without the loss of life, but a fight for pride.

Separating to the east and west, everyone hastily cast buffs and began discussing strategies.

The bards’ music echoed throughout the underground, highlighting the difference between each guild.

‘Guardian’s Armor’ was used by the Noblesse guild to raise their defense, while Empire used ‘Horn of the Advance Party’ to attack swiftly, both had amazing momentum with their own strategies.

To obtain greater information, I went next to Sangmin and his party.

“Hello hyung.”

“Ah, hasn’t it been awhile, Min-Cheol? Aren’t you very busy nowadays?”

“Yeah, I’m dying trying to both hunt and go to school.”

“Take it easy, since our bodies are our fortune.”

After the short greeting, the announcement for the guild pvp began, and the guild war started.

“Test, test. ‘Noblesse’ vs ‘Empire’ guild pvp will begin.

5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Start!”

“Hyung, what’s the average level of the participants?”

“Hm….. Despite both our guilds being a mid-tier guild, only 150~170-ish.”

‘What, their levels don’t seem that high? I was able to hit level 79 in a little over two months…..’

Of course I was leveling at a speed tens of times faster than others, but I was kind of disappointed at how the levels aren’t that high if Awakenees have been around for 40 years.

“Why are the levels so low if monsters have appeared since 40 years ago?”

“It’s because our guild isn’t that big. High ranking guilds have 300~350, some beyond that.”

“Ah, do you know the level of our guild master then?”

“Master? If I recall, wasn’t she level 210? Why do you ask?”

“Just curious is all…..”

I couldn’t help but be concerned about Park Hyun. For the unknown, just in case…..

From underground, great roars of destruction echoed.

I couldn’t help but be glued to the scene below.

At the west, the Noblesse tanks covered the magicians and healers, while at the east, the Empire’s assassins and ranger looked for gaps in between.

Each of the guild’s warriors was in fierce combat at the front, and the most noticeable was Park Hyun’s secretary who delivered the sword to my house.

With outstanding moves, the enemies’ shields were easily knocked off.

“That’s ‘Whirlwind,’ a rank A warrior skill!”

Sangmin-hyung who was next to me explained with excitement akin to a child looking at cotton candy.

With incredible rotational force, the shields of the enemies were mowed down, and then was followed up with Piercing Sword.

“That’s something even I know. Piercing Sword, right?”

“Yes. But that’s not your regular Piercing Sword. An awakened Piercing Sword.”

“Awakened? Is there something that changes when a skill is awakened?”

“Of course! When a skill level becomes 100, the skill can be awakened.”

“What, is there another separate skill book?”

“No. You have to obtain ‘awakening essence’ in order for it to be possible. You can raise your awakened skill to level 100 again. All you have to do is consume the essence and choose the skill you want to use it on, but while it is easy to say, to get an awakening essence is like catching a star in the sky…..”

‘Oho…..’

I understood the basics about awakening skills, but I thought I had obtained some good information.

Focusing again, I looked back at the guild pvp and noticed each magician used weak attacks against another.

The magician did not use any AoE spells but used single target instead.

Since they were high ranking Awakened of their guilds, I was thinking that I would see spells like ‘Meteor Call’ or ‘Magma Pool’ levels of magic I heard about from Jong Ho-hyung.

“Aren’t the magicians kind of weak?”

“They’re keeping an eye on each other.”

“Keeping an eye on each other?”

“A magician is limited in how much mana they have, right? Due to that, the usage of their skill is greatly limited. That’s why they wait until the tanks and healers run out of mana, when all the buffs and shields fall off. It’s obvious since they use all their mana in one go, right?”

“Aha…..”

It was then.

“So it begins. To think that they started off with a meteor strike.”

Looking at where Sangmin pointed, I saw how Empire, who had the greater number of mages, had casted ‘Meteor Call’ first.

From the roof of the underground, or beneath my feet, a massive comet was forming, bellowing red flames.

At the same time, all tankers and healers near the mage began to form up a defense.

I couldn’t tell the exact amount of time that was required to cast, but it looked like it took some time.

Seeing this, a magician of Noblesse also casted a spell.

“If a meteor was used, ‘Ice Bug’ should come out.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s an ice spell that counters Meteor Call. If both skill levels are similar, both spells cancel each other out. Looking at the Awakened of each side, the level difference would be 10 at best? It’s a spell that uses up pretty much all your mana, so there’s no way it isn’t a high ranking skill, right? Both are A ranking spells and polar opposites of one another.”

Soon as he finished explaining, a 3m ice spike came out from the ground.

The casting was timed to hit the meteor at the center perfectly as the meteor descended.

With massive amounts of steam forming, both spells disappeared as if not existing in the first place.

‘Each skill has a counter. But with awakening the skill and enough levels, seems you can win? Good to know.’

After 10 minutes, you could tell who won and loss on the battlefield.

Both sides had magicians, healers, and tanks still alive. However, Empire had lost all warriors and assassins, as they were deemed unable to continue by the referee and was summoned outside.

The person responsible for this situation was Park Hyun’s intern secretary.

Wearing black sunglasses and with an emotionless expression, the secretary had completely annihilated the opponents.

It seemed both sides acknowledged who the winner and loser was, as they began to take of the vests and began to walk to the center.

“Seems it’s over now, so let go out to eat!”

“Going out to eat? Do I have to go?”

“Maybe not on other days, but you have to come if it’s after a guild war.”

‘Damn it! My precious time! As soon as I pay off the gratitude for the sword, I’m quitting.’ was the thought filling my head.

But by attending to the guild war today, I’ve learned information I haven’t even thought about.

Skill awakening, the essence needed to do so, and skill counters. Learning about these three made it so that giving up a day for hunting didn’t seem so wasteful.

“Ah….. All right, I’ll go.”

With a sudden vibration, I looked at my phone.