Chapter 29 - Count's Quest (1)
The Gamez.
It was the biggest cable channel dedicated to video games.
The Gamez had recently created a show dedicated to Asrian Online, but despite the game's success, the show had a low audience.
Since it was an RPG game, there weren't any tournaments. Also, it didn't have a lot of content that made users compete with each other.
For the person in charge of the show about Asrian, that uproar was as welcome as rain in the middle of a drought.
The Count's quest!
Not only were South Korea's biggest guilds involved, but there were also famous guilds from all over the world participating. Even the Darkness Guild was going to take part in it.
There was no way they were going to let such a good opportunity go, so even all the employees stayed to prepare for broadcasting.
The show was also being broadcasted through different internet platforms; only one of them had more than fifty thousand viewers.
"Hi, I'm commentator Im SeongJun!"
"I'm co-commentator Kim SooYong."
Those two, whom the viewers were familiar with, began talking in a cheerful voice.
The commentator Im SeongJun was a veteran who had previously worked for more than ten years commenting on another game.
The co-commentator Kim SooYong was a professional gamer who had been playing a MOBA and had recently switched to Asrian Online.
Just by seeing that those two were in charge of the show, you could see how interested The Gamez was in Asrian Online.
- Is a match about to start? LOL.
- SeongJun is working hard.
Even those writing in the chat seemed happy to see familiar faces.
Just like always, Im SeongJun smoothly began to host the program.
"Yes, so there's a lot to talk about the Count's quest. Isn't this the first time the so-called Nero guilds have gathered in one place?"
"Yes, it's the first time indeed. Even though it's been only two months since the servers opened, that doesn't change the fact that this is the first time."
"South Korea's Hwarang and Myth Guild, and other guilds from foreign countries. You've heard about the Darkness Guild, right? They're currently in the number 1 position, and they have traveled all the way there to take part in the quest."
"That's right. There's a system in Asrian Online that decides where you will start based on your IP address. There aren't more guilds from foreign countries because Count Allan's territory is where Korean players begin the game. Of course, players from other places could come, but to do that, they would have to spend a lot of money to teleport."
"Oh, I see, so even in Asrian Online, there are borders? Of course, it's not a real border. You don't need to bring your passport, after all."
Since there was still some time left before the quest began, the presenters were lightly joking around or talking about information related to Asrian Online that they knew about.
"Oh, the truth is that we have another piece of exclusive information!"
Im SeongJun, just as expected from an experienced broadcaster, picked the right moment to talk about hot news.
"The person next to me, player Kim SooYong! No, at the moment, co-commentator Kim SooYong, was one of the first persons who heard about this quest."
"Who told you that...?"
"But the most incredible thing is that after receiving the quest, he decided to give up on it. Co-commentator Kim SooYong, is that rumor true?!"
Question marks plastered the chat. Kim SooYong smiled awkwardly.
"Hmm... It's true. Our Guild discovered this quest first by pure coincidence."
As evidence, a screenshot that Stardust had provided was posted on the screen.
In that screenshot, you could see the details of a quest.
Even though the rewards differed slightly, the quest's mission was the same.
"Woah, so it's true! I thought that you were joking! Can you tell me why you decided to pass on a quest with such good rewards?"
"It's a shame, but we concluded that the quest was too dangerous, so we decided to give up on it."
Im SeongJun wanted to ask another thing, but Kim SooYong quickly changed the topic of the discussion.
"Don't ask me the reason. I won't comment anymore in regards to this topic."
"Too bad, I won't dig anymore on this… But if another Guild clears this quest today, you'll probably regret it a lot, right?"
"If that happens, I probably won't be able to sleep."
After checking out the time, Im SeongJun began the show officially.
It was the order in which Im SeongJun was thinking of presenting the program.
First, he would start talking about the guilds participating in the quest.
Then, he would talk about what made the Darkness Guild so strong.
And as the quest progressed, he would talk about conflicts among the guilds.
In such a place, there would be for sure conflict among guilds. They would probably kill each other because of how the rewards worked, so he wanted to talk about the guild's strategies regarding that.
"Then, should we start talking about South Korea's Rank 3 guild, the Myth Guild? Co-commentator Kim SooYong, what kind of guild is Myth Guild?"
"Yeah, so Myth Guild is basically..."
The incident happened when Kim SooYong was about to start talking about his research and analysis of the guilds.
Someone who was captured on the screen had just ignored the barrier placed by the quest and entered the ruin.
And a few seconds later…
Fwoosh! One user was melted down. He died instantly.
"Wh-what happened?!"
"Did the conflict among guilds escalate into a fight already?"
While the commentators were confused and didn't know what to say, it became midnight.
At the same time, a blue light pillar rose from inside the ruin, and that was the signal for the start of the war.
Translator - Daniel Shin
Proofreader - ilafy
* * *
The bowstring drawn to its breaking point snapped.
Whir-!
A blue aura leaked out from Ain's body from the moment the battle had started.
«Powerless Wave».
—It was Hyun's skill that lowered the defense of the opponents near them.
"Kill her!"
The members of the Myth Guild, who had just lost their vice-commander and were blinded by rage, charged toward Ain.
The members of the Myth Guild thought that Ain was someone from a rival guild.
They thought that someone from another guild had killed their vice-commander to weaken them.
In fact, things like that had happened until a few hours prior, so they didn't suspect Ain's identity.
Fwoosh, Fwoosh!
Ain covered her hands in fire and scratched the opponents twice.
The two members of Myth Guild that were charging toward Ain became ash.
No, they turned into light and scattered away.
Hyun, who was whispering, laughed in disbelief.
「Why are they making things easier for you...?」
Ain kept killing members of Myth Guild with a blank expression on her face.
She was doing PVP, the thing she enjoyed the most, but she didn't seem to be having fun.
Hyun knew the reason.
「Aren't these guys the type of players you hate the most?」
That's right. The players Ain had just defeated had expensive items, but their skills were disappointing.
Just seeing their party formation and how they reacted was enough to know that they didn't care about control.
In fact, one couldn't join Myth Guild without having a lot of money, but there was no way Hyun and Ain knew about that.
「If they're all at this level, I won't have to do anything.」
Hyun kept watching the fight from inside Ain.
From a distance, arrows flew toward Ain, but she easily brushed them away with her hand.
The attacks were slow enough to make one yawn.
All of the arrows that Ain had brushed off fell to the ground.
"What... Does she have immunity to physical attacks?"
「Haha, he's asking if you have immunity to physical attacks.」
Hyun laughed at what the Thief had said.
But what was even funnier was that the head of the Myth Guild had reached the same conclusion.
"Don't use physical attacks! Magicians, begin casting!"
At his orders, the Magicians began casting their spells.
The Myth guild had eight members per party, meaning Ain currently only had to deal with that one party,
It seemed like they'd brought as many people as possible, but they weren't a menace to Hyun and Ain.
"How stupid..."
Ain seemed disappointed after seeing the Magicians casting their spells.
It didn't matter if there were eight or even eighty. A Magician standing still while casting was as dangerous as a scarecrow for Ain.
Whish-
Ain penetrated their formation.
As she moved in a zigzag pattern, fire flashed as if it were lightning.
"Damn! Don't attack me!"
"Tanker, what is our tanker doing!"
From time to time, members of the Myth Guild ended up attacking each other.
It was a common mistake in less skillful guilds when there were a lot of different parties involved.
Fwoosh! Flames ran across the land as a gale, turning two people into light and scattering them away.
As Ain's fire-covered hands drew a half-moon, all the opponents' bodies in the trajectory of her attack melted down.
Just touching the fire was enough to kill them!
That was because Magicians had low HP.
"Boring..."
Ain charged again and burned another two opponents.
She then hit the ground, ran up the wall, and melted an opponent's head.
All of it happened in just a few seconds.
However, even while fighting like that, she wasn't feeling the thrill people would usually feel while dueling.
She had more fun fighting the party of four from a few days ago.
「The difference between their stat balance is too big.」
Hyun accurately pinpointed the problem.
There were many members of the Myth Guild there, but no one had a skill useful for a fight against another user.
It was the same in terms of stats.
Is it that they didn’t know the importance of agility while fighting?
「They raised their characters to make hunting monsters of that level easy...」
—Skills that were slow but strong.
—Skills that had a long casting time.
Those types of skills were useless while fighting against another player.
If they had a little bit of understanding of the game, they would have known what stats were important and what skills were useful.
"Ugh... Come on, look at me!"
A Warrior holding a shield was using a provocation skill.
Hyun burst into laughter.
The Warrior's provocation skill was only useful against monsters. Why would he use it there...?
'Don't tell me... Do they think that Ain is a humanoid monster?'
Ain didn't fall for the Warrior's provocation and moved freely through the front and back of the enemy's formation.
In the Myth Guild, there was no one capable of stopping Ain.
There wasn't anyone who had good enough specs to catch up to her. Not only that, but there wasn't anyone as skillful as her.
All abnormal status skills that required aim were missing her.
Ain looked like a wolf going through a flock of sheep.
"We can't keep doing this! Everyone, attack her all at once! Even if she's resistant to physical attacks, if we keep attacking her, maybe she'll die!"
Was it because he was having a hard time looking at his fellow guild members die? The head of the Myth Guild gave a ridiculous order.
At that moment, all Warriors and Thieves charged toward her.
There were approximately 10 players.
「Hmm... I think too many players are charging against us at one time...」
More than fighting, Hyun was interested in the opponent's strategy.
How were they planning to attack in such a narrow place all at once? Hyun decided to look carefully.
If they used a strategy he hadn't thought of, he would have been impressed.
But what was happening in front of him was just as he expected.
Fwoosh-
Ain backed off a little bit and swung her arm.
Two people died from that simple attack that wasn't even fast.
To avoid being hit with a swing, you had to move backward.
But they had no space to move because there were allies behind them.
And just like that, two users had been neutralized.
「They didn't die.」
The two people who had their arms cut off were falling down.
They hadn't died, but since they couldn't fight anymore, it didn't really matter.
Ain didn't stop moving.
Immediately, a sword came in her direction while targeting her forehead.
Ain brushed the sword with one hand and, with the other one, hit him while rotating it.
Critical Hit!
As Ain's hands covered in fire ripped apart the opponent's head, he turned into light and exploded.
The one she had killed was a heavily armed tanker.
But it really didn't matter who it was. By taking advantage of the body defect system, anyone could be killed by just one hit.
"Don't attack her individually! Do it all together!"
Even though he was starting to panic, the head of the guild kept ordering the other members.
But Ain's specialty was psychological warfare.
The moment the opponents tried to back off, she charged toward them.
All humans become flustered at the unexpected.
Suppose you suddenly change your fight style from one based on counter-attacking to an aggressive one. In that case, the opponent would probably be surprised and start to panic.
That was the current state of the members of the Myth Guild.
Stab-!
Ain, who rushed like a flash, used her hands to penetrate the Warrior's chest.
Ain targeted his heart. The moment she landed a critical hit, she activated the body defect system.
Ain rotated the hand she had used to stab the opponent.
She looked like fireworks dancing in the night air!
Two more enemies that were in her way turned into light and scattered away.
Ain, who had just killed three people, didn't rest and leaped once more.
That time she was targeting the head of the Myth Guild, who was standing safely behind the rest.
Among the members of the Myth Guild, no one could catch up to Ain. After all, her agility was 80. On top of that, you had to add the bonus given by my «Assimilation».
She reached the head of the guild before the rest could understand what she was trying to do.
"D-Damn...!"
Surprised, he tried to take a defensive posture.
Fwoosh- Fwoosh- Flames flew in all directions.
It was impossible for him to stop all the flames in the first place.
While going around the guild leader, she landed five attacks on him.
"What? Damn... Damn!"
Still, he was the leader of the Myth Guild—famous for being rich.
After receiving five hits and cursing, he turned into light and disappeared.
The head of the guild had died.
And just like that, the Myth Guild began to crumble.
