Ian, who flew up to the sky of the battlefield and used Pin’s AoE buff-slash-debuff skill, began to give out commands quickly through the guild chat.

• Ian: It’s now, everybody. Once the crossing gate goes down 20 seconds from now, the troops of the DarkRuna Guild will gather in the middle. At that moment, please pour out your AoE attacks first.

Meanwhile, the Archers of the DarkRuna Guild, who had discovered Ian flying in the air, simultaneously shot arrows towards Ian.

However, as it was a situation that he had already predicted, Ian wasn’t taken aback and flew up quickly.

He had shot up so that he was outside of the range of the Archers.

Ian internally counted to himself.

‘5… 4… 3…’

As Ian looked down while being so high up, he could see the location of his opponents all at once, and his eyes shone.

This was because the troops of the DarkRuna Guild were displaying movements that were over 90% accurate with his predictions.

‘2… 1… Now!’

As soon as Ian finished counting, the crossing gates on either side of the fortress went down while letting out a heavy sound.

Thud- Thu-ud-!

On behalf of that, the fortress gate of the second defensive wall let out a boom as it began to open up.

Keu-keuk- Keu-keu-keuk-!

Someone, who had discovered that, shouted loudly.

“We’ve succeeded in opening the door! Everybody, advance forward to the inside!”

“Ahhh!”

Truthfully, the one that had shouted loudly towards the DarkRuna Guild members was none other than Herz.

The Lotus Guild had tactically opened the fortress gate to lure in their opponents, but through Herz’s shout, they would have mistakenly thought that one of the guild members of the DarkRuna Guild had gotten over the rampart and opened the door.

The influential power of this one phrase was bigger than expected.

In a situation where thousands of people were engaged in a dogfight, not one person was able to think that Herz’s words were planned to throw them into confusion, and as the fortress gate opened, the troops of the DarkRuna Guild began to run towards the fortress gate like a wave.

Ian, who was watching that scene in the air, wore a smile of satisfaction.

‘Okay, they bought it better than expected.’

Far from the ground, Ian suddenly began to chant a summon incantation from the air.

“Bbakbbak, Summon!”

As he did so, a white light violently swirled in the air as Bbakbbak, who had a giant build, was summoned.

Of course, Bbakbbak began to drop towards the ground, and he wore a flustered expression.

• Own, owner! Are you intending on killing me!

Of course, Ian had an idea.

“Don’t worry, since there’s a plan.”

However, Bbakbbak continued to wear a nervous expression.

But then again, the location where Ian dropped Bbakbbak was an incredibly high place to the point that people just looked like black dots.

On top of that, Bbakbbak was incredibly large, and he was that heavy.

Even if Bbakbbak had outrageous Defensive Power and Vitality, if he fell from this height, he wouldn’t be able to escape instantaneous death.

And Ian was counting the time that Bbakbbak took to fall.

‘A little… A little more!’

Meanwhile, the users and soldiers of DarkRuna, who were on the ground, wore appalled expressions after discovering the giant shadow that hung above them from the air.

“Euak!”

“What, what the hell is that?!”

“Avoid it!”

At that exact moment.

Ian invoked Bbakbbak’s inherent ability.

“Bbakbbak, Absolute Defense!”

This was exactly what Ian was aiming for.

If Absolute Defense was invoked, for 10 seconds, Bbakbbak wouldn’t receive any damage, and he would become immune to all status conditions.

For the duration of Absolute Defense, he couldn’t move at all, but that was no problem.

Since with the damage that Bbakbbak would deal from dropping, he would turn the whole vicinity into ashes.

Whoong-!

As Absolute Defense was invoked, Bbakbbak’s whole body was wrapped in a current of gold light while a giant shield was created, and as soon as his inherent ability was invoked, Bbakbbak’s four legs lodged into the ground.

Baang-!

Along with the rising cloud of dust coming up in all directions, a loud boom rang out.

At that moment, system messages popped up one after another in front of Ian’s eyes.

• Familiar ‘Bbakbbak’ has dealt 759,840 damage to the ‘Desert Warrior’ of the DarkRuna Guild.

• The ‘Desert Warrior’ has been killed.

• You have obtained 879,899 EXP.

• You have obtained 1500 Fame.

• You have obtained 350 Specialty Points.

• The ‘Desert Warrior’ has been killed.

• The ‘Desert Warrior’ has been killed.

• DarkRuna Guild User ‘Hanjoon’ has been killed.

• DarkRuna Guild User ‘Rutan’ has been killed.

The spot that Bbakbbak had dropped down to was right in front of the fortress gate where the troops of the DarkRuna Guild were gathered, and thanks to that, dozens of troops turned into a grey light and it was game over for them.

As at least 500 thousand damage went through at once, there was no way an organism that could outlast that existed.

Amongst them, a considerable number of high-level DarkRuna Guild Users, who were over lv 140, were included.

On top of the pile of bodies that were a grey light, Bbakbbak stood while putting on an air of elegance much like a golden statue.

And following Bbakbbak, who dropped down before anybody realized, to a lower altitude, Ian let out a command to Pin.

“Pin, Crush!”

Kku-ruk- Kku-ru-ruk-!

The users of DarkRuna, who had been frightened to death along with Bbakbbak’s appearance, weren’t able to avoid Pin’s AoE skill and received it as is.

On top of that, that wasn’t the end.

The users of the Lotus Guild, who were hiding their bodies above the fortress of the second defensive wall, showed themselves.

They began to pour out their attack skills towards the DarkRuna users who were concentrated into an area.

Bang- Ba-bang-!

With that as the trigger, the full-fledged battle between the DarkRuna Guild and the Lotus Guild finally began.

Ian also summoned all of his Familiars, and he began to go full-out and stir around the battleground.

“Magicians, snipe the Archers mainly first! You need to deal as much damage onto them before they regain their senses!”

Following Ian’s command, the Lotus Guild members moved quickly and accurately, and Fiolan, who had become the Lord of the Pyro Domain, began to direct the soldiers that had been produced on the Domain.

‘Good, for now, it looks like we could say that we almost succeeded in today’s defensive battle…’

Behind the second defensive wall, the third defensive fortress, which could be considered the last fort, held up strongly.

However, if the second defensive wall dealt this much damage, he felt as though there was no need to show the third defensive fortress to the opponents.

Clang- Cl-clang-!

The sound of metal clashing together rang out endlessly from every direction.

While looking at the soldiers of the Lotus Guild that inversely poured out from the opened fortress gate, Ilahan gritted his teeth.

‘Damn it, how exactly were they able to construct this much Defensive Power? Is this a part that is possible with the funds of a guild only in the top 100?’

Truthfully, funds weren’t the only problem.

With Ilahan’s common sense, even if they had infinite funds, based on time, it looked like it was impossible to make as many forts and defensive towers as this no matter what.

‘Did they receive funds from the Luspel Empire level? What exactly is it?’

So long as they didn’t know of the existence of the Holy Grail that Ian had, for Ilahan, these thoughts couldn’t be helped.

“Sollin, focus all firepower towards the fortress gate. There’s no other method besides frontal breakthrough.”

“Yes, understood, Master.”

Ilahan added on another word towards Sollin, who unsheathed her sword and went forward.

“Sollin, the sword that I gave you last time, you still have it, right?”

Sollin, who thought about it for a moment, nodded her head.

“Yes, Master.”

“Once you reach the front of the fortress gates, use the summoning magic that’s enchanted onto the sword.”

“Understood.”

Ilahan, who finished speaking, sheathed the twin swords that he had been swinging around until now onto either sides of his waist, and unsheathed the greatsword that he had on his back.

Seu-reu-reung-!

And with a loud voice, he delivered an impassioned speech.

“We’ve received a lot more damage than expected as we failed in figuring out the fighting power of the opponents, but to lose to a guild on the frontier whose name we DarkRuna has never even heard of is something that cannot happen!”

As Ilahan threw his greatsword into the air, a blue light began to shine out from the sword.

“If we just get over that fortress gate, I expect that seizing the inside will not be hard! From now on, I’m going to take the lead, so we’re going with a frontal breakthrough!”

Ilahan, who finished speaking, spread his hand out in front of him and the greatsword began to spin in circles, and it began to fly in the direction that Ilahan pointed to while ripping through the air.

Swaeek-!

And at the end there, Bbakbbak, who was shining a gold light, was situated.

“Die!”

Ilahan considered eliminating Bbakbbak, who firmly guarded the front of the fortress gate, as the top priority, and because of that, he invoked the strongest long-distance hitting skill that he had.

For Bbakbbak, who was as slow as he was big-bodied, it was a situation where he would be directly hit by the skill without having even moved an inch.

However, just then, Ian, who flew around while riding his Griffin right above, quickly spread his hand out towards Bbakbbak.

“Bbookbbook, Curtain of Water!”

Bboo-bbook-!

He had invoked Bbookbbook’s inherent ability, Curtain of Water, that was attached to the ‘Turtle Spirit’ item.

As Ian shouted while spreading out his hand, a stream of water poured out from Bbookbbook’s mouth…

Kwaaah-!

The stream of water flew out to land right in front of Bbakbbak and it formed a giant curtain.

And the greatsword of Ilahan that flew in at the same time clashed with the front of the curtain.

Pu-ung-!

Along with a loud boom that rang through the eardrums, Ilahan’s greatsword bounced off into the air, and the Curtain of Water that safely carried out its role also dropped to the ground shortly after.

Swaah-

While looking at the water that sunk and permeated into the sand on the ground, Ilahan wore a flustered expression.

‘What, what the hell?’

As it was simply something that had happened in an instant moment, it was to the point that even Ilahan, who casted the skill, didn’t properly understand the situation.

It was a part where one could find out how fast Ian’s reflexes were.

And the soldiers and users of the Lotus Guild, who moved into high gear, began to challenge the DarkRuna Guild.

“Aaah!”

Getting a head start in battle was important.

It could be considered the same context as the fighting spirit of the soldiers in war being important as well.

With that meaning, the spirit right now brought an effect that puffed up the fighting power the Lotus Guild by double.

“Damn it, what are we doing? I’m telling you, there are a ton of guys that aren’t even at lv 130 amongst them as well!”

Just like what that person of the DarkRuna Guild shouted, most of the members of the Lotus Guild were composed of lv 120s.

On the other hand, the DarkRuna Guild was lined up with many rankers that were around lv 140.

However, based on the spirit of battle, as they were completely intimidated, they began to helplessly collapse at the Lotus Guild’s attack.

And as the battle condition continued onto a dogfight, Ian’s battleground controlling abilities began to shine even more.

“Ly, attack the opponents that don’t have much Vitality left first and kick them out!”

• Understood, Owner!

Before they realized, the sky began to turn dusky, and as the moon, which had gathered strength, began to hang above the battleground, Ly began to leap around like a fish that met water.

• Familiar ‘Ly’ has dealt critical damage to the DarkRuna Guild affiliated ‘Desert Warrior’.

• The ‘Desert Warrior’s Vitality has decreased by 21,640.

• The ‘Desert Warrior’ has been killed.

And Paulean, who had perfectly adjusted to battle with Ian, also let out thunderbolts in all directions as he began to crush his opponents.

Bang- Ba-ba-bang-!

Paulean’s exploding thunderbolts scorched the users of the DarkRuna Guild, who charged towards him without a clue, black.

• Retainer ‘Paulean’ has dealt critical damage to DarkRuna Guild Member ‘Halibo’.

• ‘Halibo’s Vitality has been reduced by 29,980.

• ‘Halibo’ has been killed.

Paulean, who was almost at lv 180, and Kaizar, who was close to lv 250, had stronger fighting powers than anybody in the DarkRuna Guild.

Let alone, as it was an advantageous battle where their spirit had gone up this much, there was nothing to talk about when it came to how exceptional their active roles were.

Just then, Ian, who had discovered Ilahan, asked Kaizar for a favour.

“Retainer, you see that guy over there, right? Can’t you face that guy, please?”

As expected of the 1st place ranker in the unofficial server rankings, Ilahan slaughtered numerous soldiers of the Lotus Guild as he showed his presence.

Ian poked Kaizar’s side.

“I’m absolutely not asking you for a favour because I feel like I’m going to lose…”

Despite Ian’s pathetic request, Kaizar spun his head around before he threw his body towards a different battleground.

While looking at Kaizar, who didn’t even reply, Ian let out a deep sigh.

‘Argh, damn it, then do I need to double up on that monster-like dude with Paulean and then catch him?’

While looking at Ilahan, who spun his fearsome sword in all directions, Ian gulped audibly.

He couldn’t figure out why exactly, but based on his feeling, Ilahan even looked stronger than Paulean, who was in the second half of the lv 170 range.

‘The soldiers dying off are a little bit of a waste, but there’s a need to understand the dude’s skill pattern.’

Ian got on Halli’s back and faced easy opponents nearby while he continuously kept an eye on Ilahan’s movements.

However, just then, a giant wave of energy gushed out from the front of the fortress gate.

Whoong-!

Most gazes, including Ian’s, turned towards the fortress gate.

‘What the hell… Is that?’

After checking the giant shadow that hung in front there, Ian’s eyes widened.