Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Chapter 22: Party Play (6)
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To the northwest of the old Kairot Kingdom lay the city of Timar, enclosed by modest outer walls that weren’t particularly large.
The walls had been built without any moat in mind, simple and straightforward.
As a result, Timar Castle was ill-suited for sieges in both size and structure.
It was one of the regions that had fallen all too easily when the Kairot Kingdom perished in the past.
The Ain race had vanished from Timar Castle, and with the proliferation of Meseo, it had formed a massive contaminated area colony.
One day, as the monsters that had taken root there devoured each other to swell their numbers,
A brilliant burst of light erupted near Timar Castle around the time the dim sky began to brighten.
It was a large-scale personnel transfer spell usable from the forward base.
Before the eyes of the players who had teleported via that spell popped up identical system windows.
RELIGION MISSION - PALAO
[Contaminated Area Purification ★★★★(06-2333)]
Exterminate all enemies within a designated range and destroy the Meseo.
• Meseo (0/18)
Recover the sacred relics of the Palao Order lost in the contaminated area.
• Sacred Relic - Gilon's Staff (0/1)
[Rewards]
Participation Reward: Choose one of the following.
• Mana 120, Fame 6
• Attribute Mana 60, Fame 12
Ranking Reward: Rewards distributed based on ranking (1st to 10th place).
• Random Box ?
• Achievement ?
* Rankings are tallied based on contribution to the mission.
[Will you participate in the mission? (Y/N)]
Joseph calmly pressed the Yes button, unfazed by the unfamiliar procedure.
The others seemed to do the same, as numbers soon began appearing at the top of the mission window.
It appeared to be recording the number of players joining the mission.
The sharply rising count stalled after a few minutes, settling at around two hundred.
About one-fifth of the order’s members had responded to the assembly order.
‘More showed up than I expected.’
He’d personally anticipated around a hundred.
Perhaps because it was the first order mission, participation was higher than thought.
Confirming the player count, Joseph slowly scanned the mission details.
‘Relics, rankings, random boxes...’
To get a random box, he’d need to place in the top ranks.
‘Competition’s no joke.’
Top ten out of two hundred?
Joseph clicked his tongue at the cutthroat odds that felt downright brutal.
Not that he planned to fall behind just because it was tough.
Joseph and the other players slowly warmed up their mana in preparation for the imminent battle.
Around then, as if signaling the mission’s start, a post went up on the order’s homepage.
「Title: Bicheta RELIGION MISSION - PALAO (06-2333) Progress Update - Author: Francesco
Content: This post will update the battle situation in real time. Participating players, please refer to it.
- No idle chatter
- Abuse of comments will result in unannounced deletion
- Spreading false info will lead to blacklist (future order point accrual rate increased 5x)」
Comments flooded in almost immediately after the post.
- Jane Austen: Info, 6th scout team found a hole in the east side of Timar Castle.
- Foie Gras: Info, 2nd scout team discovered large Meseo colony south of Timar Castle.
These were the scout team leaders who had begun reconnoitering Timar Castle the moment they arrived.
The pre-designated assault team leaders from the previous night joined the comment thread.
- Millionaire: Status, 1st-3rd assault teams advancing south.
- Foie Gras: Info, 2nd scout team spotted evolved species south of Timar Castle. Estimated 300.
- Chess King: Status, 10th-11th assault teams advancing south.
- Onion Soup: Status, 17th-20th assault teams advancing south.
- Conan Doyle: Info, 1st scout team engaging east of Timar Castle.
- Jjuggumi: Status, 9th assault team heading east for support.
- Olive: Status, support team deployed. Blocking external evolved species and monsters from entering.
Those with slow growth, no attribute mana, or skills were assigned to hunt monsters from other contaminated areas outside, preventing external threats from breaching inward.
The mission proceeded smoothly from each assigned position.
‘Looking good.’
Joseph decided to stay calm until info on his position—north of Timar Castle—came in.
He had countless hunts in contaminated areas under his belt, but tension was inevitable.
The spot he stood in now was more than enough to heighten it.
The monster numbers resembled a standard 2-star mission, but their caliber was worlds apart.
‘All two thousand of those are evolved species?’
Ones even one was too much for him alone.
That’s why they were tackling it in assault teams.
As Joseph secretly swallowed dryly, the comment he’d been waiting for appeared.
- K: Info, Meseo colony discovered in northwest residential district of Timar Castle.
- K: Info, Evolved species spotted near north gate. Estimated 200.
- K: Status, 0th assault team securing north entry route.
K, the sole player assigned their own assault team.
Not only fighting solo but volunteering for scouting too.
Judging by the activity range, K was the biggest threat in the ranking race this mission.
Moments after the comments, an explosion rocked near the north gate—proof.
‘Fireball.’
A mere rank-2 basic elemental spell, but its power varied wildly with mana input.
Watching the roaring flames, he couldn’t help but whistle in admiration.
‘I couldn’t even imitate that.’
He had fire-attribute mana too, but with his reserves, half that power was a stretch.
“Starting hot. He’s pulling aggro to let us in, right?”
Kirishi, standing beside him, whistled in awe.
Regardless, Nadia—the rep for the north assault teams—spoke in a steady tone.
“K’s securing the entry. Let’s move.”
Soon after, comments registered that the 15th and 16th assault teams were entering north.
Other nearby assault teams posted their entry comments simultaneously.
“Form up! Fire mages first, then wind in order—prepare elemental spells!”
As they prepped magic per Nadia’s lead shout,
A flashing light leaked from beyond the gate, door blasted off, interior fully visible.
The closer they got, the brighter it grew.
Spotting the source, Joseph stuck out his tongue.
‘He’s flying, literally.’
K was indeed soaring over the ground swarming with evolved species.
Stepping briskly on red barriers conjured midair.
‘No one else around here can split barriers like that.’
K was the only one who could.
The mesmerizing sight always stole his gaze.
Watching K, the spear thrusts flashed so brightly it hurt his eyes.
He was soloing evolved species that would take four decent players to herd.
Multiple at once.
He might not be racking up kills, but he was holding their ankles, pulling aggro.
Joseph knew K could spar with the order’s holy knights.
But seeing it firsthand hit different.
‘The more I watch, the more unreal the guy seems.’
Joseph had walked an elite path himself.
Studied at a top U.S. university, landed a job at the country’s premier law firm.
Rarely bested in competition his whole life.
So why did he always lag behind K?
A faint frustration welled as he eyed K’s spear tip, then raised his sword, gritting his teeth.
‘Can’t lose.’
Just then, K—surrounded by three evolved species—swept his spear shaft horizontally wide.
Two hit by it flew back; the last got a spear through the eye.
“Kieeeek!”
Flames then swirled around K in a vortex.
A rank-3 spell using fire- and wind-attribute mana: Flame Storm.
The windswept blaze engulfed the evolved species in one gulp.
Seizing the gap, Joseph and the players breached into the castle.
Then the head-on clash began.
“Roast ‘em all!”
“Don’t take any solo!”
Assault teams swung weapons, bellowing from their spots.
Joseph too swung his flame-wreathed sword downward in a vertical slash.
Clang-!
A hook-like monster arm blocked his blade.
“Hup!”
Kirishi, tight on his heels, slammed his hammer into the monster’s side.
Crunch—the hide crumpled visibly.
“Kreuk!”
The evolved species staggered.
“Stab now!”
“I got it!”
Joseph pinned the arm; Kirishi broke its stance; another player circled back and plunged a sword into its back.
“Kieeeek!”
A regular monster would’ve been gutted.
Sadly, 4-star evolved species had tougher, thicker hides.
Average players needed materialized mana concentration to pierce.
Only K and three or four others could do it.
Thus, the sword pierced back hide but not the heart fully.
No big issue, though.
That’s what assault teams were for—to cover weaknesses.
As the back-stabbed monster thrashed, a gap opened; Joseph shoved his flaming sword in.
It slid straight into the screaming maw, piercing the palate deep.
Shuddering, the evolved species collapsed.
‘Got one!’
Confidence surged from the successful hunt amid chaos.
“Support at 8 o’clock!”
“More at 3 o’clock! Tanks, hold!”
Players steadily felled evolved species via coordinated strikes.
Then, a distant rumble—like something crumbling.
The ground quaked too; must’ve been a wall down in another battle zone.
‘South side, probably.’
That flank had elite tank lines.
Sure enough, the order homepage showed south assault teams treating walls as obstacles and clearing them.
Joseph tsked at their aggressive early play.
He could see why south players pushed so hard.
‘Gunning for top ranks from the jump?’
Competition for random boxes was fiercer than expected.
To snag one, no slacking.
Gripping his sword tighter, mana surging—
“Huh? Why’d the Meseo count drop already?”
“What?”
Kirishi muttered after smashing an evolved species skull with his hammer.
Joseph opened his mission window in shock, eyes widening.
Only then did he notice K’s flashing lights had vanished from sight.
He scanned frantically, but K was gone.
With the assault team safely inside sans interference, no need to stick around, apparently.
Realizing that, the mission window updated again.
• Meseo (2/18)
Another gone in a blink.
With battles raging around walls, who could reach and smash a Meseo?
Only one came to Joseph’s mind.
‘That bastard?’
Fury rising at the familiar face, he yelled.
“Hey, you prick, share some!”
Sadly, the target wasn’t there to hear.
* * *
The battle that started yesterday morning dragged through the night, ending only at dawn today.
When the mission cleared, I held five random boxes and 100 achievements.
Rewards exclusive to 1st place; from 2nd, achievements and boxes dwindled.
Boxes were uniform one each from 5th to 10th, differing only in achievements.
‘Really stingy.’
For a two-hundred-player mission, the rewards soured his mood.
From 4-star up, spoils inside the castle—and side rewards—would outweigh mission ones.
‘But there’s a dedicated handler anyway.’
Order missions had separate loot distributors.
Admin roles to collect, sort castle spoils, and divvy fairly.
‘System measures contribution, so minimal gripes.’
Loot allocation would use the same contribution metric for rankings, done in days.
No need to linger post-clear message.
I returned straight to Bicheta Castle, encountering shrine maidens at the gate awaiting player returns.
Damn System