Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: A Guild Master Can't Get By on Games Alone
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As the front lines were reduced to scorched earth and the allied forces hesitated, the civilians who had been getting pushed back vanished into the rear in the blink of an eye.
["What, what the hell?!"]
An enormous number of European allied troops were struck down in an instant.
Before the allies could even react, a single figure shot out from the enemy lines like a beam of light, charging straight into the densest cluster of allied forces.
Boom!
A skill erupted in a flash of light.
The ground trembled, throwing all the hunters in the area off balance, and in that moment, a sword at invisible speeds slashed through the entire zone.
Slash—!!
A second wave claimed a significant number of hunters, turning the allied formation into utter chaos in seconds.
The attacker was definitely a hunter.
Boom! Kwaboom!!
Whether buffed or not, this hunter with unnatural destructive power devastated the allies, dodged the barrage of incoming skill blasts with a swift evade, and immediately retreated back to their lines.
Assassin class, maybe? Their face was completely covered, making identification impossible.
["What the hell is going on?!"]
["Did the Chinese forces sneak in behind our backs or something?!"]
["Of the 24 at the front lines, 18 are dead. The six with high defense barely survived and got emergency heals. This level of power is beyond anything we've seen from the Chinese forces."]
["But the movements are too coordinated for regular hunter skills."]
They seemed to be on the same side.
'Central forces' was the new nickname given based on the guess that the civilians in the forest were military dispatched from some central command.
Of course, that wasn't true.
The King muttered.
"Green mana bullets? No way..."
The name that came to mind immediately was because that person was the hunter the King respected most.
After the flawless victory in the 'city war' that had set hunters and the public worldwide ablaze, the green mana bullets had become that hunter's signature trademark.
"Kaisha?"
Intense ranged attacks began pouring in from the front.
* * *
Using an area-of-effect ambush to fire gunshot skills that paralyzed the enemy and allow the civilians to escape, I watched as Abyss, buffed up, charged into the enemy lines and lightly swept through them.
The civilians glanced warily at Offen beside me as they hurried past.
In this world, Offen's silver hair and blue eyes—symbols of the divine—marked me unequivocally as an 'ally' just by his presence.
Offen glanced at me with complicated eyes, so I asked.
"Why?"
"...Nothing."
"Prepare for full assault. The moment Abyss returns, we go all-in on the battle."
I issued the orders, then turned to Offen.
"Don't go out there. It's dangerous."
At my words, Offen scowled, looking offended.
"Why? You think I'm way weaker than you and just a liability?"
"Th-that's not it..."
I'd wondered why he'd been giving me those complicated looks earlier. Turns out he thought he was stronger than me, but realizing otherwise had shocked him.
He must have sensed the brainpower I used for my skills earlier, or the amplified attack output from it.
No way I'd go all-out against civilians I was supposed to protect.
I sighed and said.
"You're plenty strong."
"Bullshit."
"It's true. When I first saw you, I wanted to recruit you into my guild."
"..."
Feeling my sincerity, Offen's expression softened a bit.
Who could deny it? True to being of divine blood in this world, Offen's power was undeniably ranker-level. I'd grant him that.
Boom! Kwaboom!!
Abyss returned, and the battle kicked off.
Melee DPS unleashed sword and fist skills from the front, while ranged DPS and civilians combined forces from the rear, unleashing a torrent of attacks.
Offen stared at the fierce battlefield and said.
"Then why tell me not to fight?"
"I didn't say don't fight at all. Your life matters, so stay here and do ranged attacks instead of rushing into danger. Even if we die here, we don't stay dead."
"What?"
"There are exceptions, but for now, even if we die, we get a chance to respawn in our world."
Offen's face showed massive shock at my words.
"...What?"
"Told you, we're gods."
It was one key reason even Midgard's NPCs had no choice but to acknowledge users as gods.
Gods don't die.
Users always came back after dying, so to NPCs, that made them gods, right?
"..."
Offen stared at me blankly, unable to continue for a moment. My words had clearly scrambled his head.
The chat lit up.
["Guild master, it's Whale. Sensing something weird from the forest center. Doesn't feel like it's just me."]
Kim Whale was the nervous type, which sharpened his senses exceptionally.
Non-bard users like me saw it as one of the various phenomena that emerged as brainpower developed.
"Bad vibes?"
["Yeah. Really bad. Like something eerie, whirring and clicking..."]
Couldn't ignore Whale's intuition.
The forest center was just one flank encircling the enemy lines. No issue relocating there immediately.
"Bring all friendly forces there now."
["Got it."]
Offen asked me.
"What's up?"
"Guild members sensed something suspicious from the forest center."
"!"
I'd been thinking of checking Kim Whale's position myself and started to turn, but paused and looked back at Offen.
That reaction was too intense to brush off.
"Why? Ring any bells?"
"Like machinery?"
I replayed what Kim Whale had told me in response to Offen's question.
Eerie, whirring and clicking.
"Close enough."
"!!"
Offen suddenly grabbed my arm.
It was startling enough that this touch-averse guy grabbed me, but Offen's already pale face went ghostly white.
Offen shouted loudly.
"Withdraw now! Lenox's army is coming! Everyone scatter to base! Hurry! Hurry!!"
The civilians fighting alongside us jumped in fright and fled like the tide receding.
"You too—"
Offen tried to drag me, but I shook him off and sprinted to the front lines.
Our ranged DPS was too far back.
I threw up an area shield in front of the guild members and hero melee heroes scrambling in the sudden chaos and yelled.
"Everyone fall back! Shields up!!"
The mages followed my lead with defensive barriers, while melee hung skills on their weapons and retreated swiftly.
Kim Whale's intuition was spot on.
Now even my skin prickled as something intensely powerful closed in on us.
"Run!"
At my command, the guild members bolted in unison.
Kwakwakwa-boom!
To keep the enemy from pursuing right away, I sensory-cast Dynamite to blast the front, then spun around—Helcannon was right there, grabbing my hand.
Elfer, who had been holding the line at range with her bow watching the enemy, confirmed I was safe and turned to run.
Yugeon and Messiah got away fine too, right?
One of our hero allies must have cast it—an area speed buff enveloped the zone.
"..."
I glanced back.
The pursuing enemies hesitated, conferring with command as if wondering what was happening.
Ziiing—
Shwaaaa!
Something vibrated with head-splitting intensity, followed by a massive red laser beam piercing right through where we'd been.
"!"
Over a dozen enemies in that area vanished like they'd evaporated.
* * *
Military bio-lab.
Rows of capsules held the various lifeforms the military had created, awaiting the day they'd awaken.
Then, a man stormed in, fuming.
The scientists bowed their heads.
"Everyone out."
Yutia, who had been inspecting something with the military scientists, waved them off, and they withdrew quickly.
The newcomer, Kshan, flopped onto the sofa and unleashed his pent-up rage.
"Goddamn Lenox! That bastard just dispatched android troops to the forest and notified us he's tightening regulations on our experiments!"
A threat and a warning.
The 'Central Republic' in the forest heart was a nation formed by survivors after the world's end.
It started as a genuine republic, but now it was a one-man dictatorship run by a perfect machine system, making the name laughable.
Excessive power concentration inevitably led to schism.
The military, complicit in the dictatorship, sought centralization but failed miserably against opposition from the sacred house of Linoxa, centered on Lenox.
Now, they bided their time to eliminate Lenox—practically a god in the center—and seize the control system.
In truth, 'Central' and 'Military' were separate factions in the forest.
At Kshan's words, Yutia, master of the military lab, gave a look of genuine pity.
"Oh dear. My poor livestock."
Central's slaughter of the forest residents—escaped bio-weapons from the military lab—was a blatant warning to the military.
The military's human weapons were far inferior to Central's android army.
Of course, the military's real goal was crafting bio-weapons strong enough to defeat Central's forces in secret.
Yutia said.
"Looks like the pretext of Lenox's 'twins' fleeing to the forest and the leaked 'power' has run its course."
The existence of the children born to the twins 'Lea'—created alongside Lenox by the sacred house—had justified the military's intensified bio-experiments.
With Lenox's twin Lea fleeing to the forest, 'divine blood' and 'power' leaked out, and her grown children joining the 'livestock' made forest management a hassle.
In exchange, the military used it as cover to ramp up bio-experiments and weapon development unchecked.
But apparently, no more.
The military's true aim was seizing the central system monopolized by Lenox.
Kshan snapped irritably.
"Might as well hope Lenox wipes out Lea and her spawn for good this time."
If Kshan were Lenox, he'd have done it ages ago.
Divine blood.
Sacred skin, platinum hair that shimmered, blue eyes no one could fail to admire.
Plus power transcending humanity.
"Damn it. What a waste. We were so close to weaponizing that lineage against Central!"
Ignoring Kshan's fury, Yutia rose and surveyed the bio-weapon capsules.
Step. Step.
Inside the capsules, all manner of lifeforms created under various pretexts grew vigorously.
Originally, these experiments began to boost human survivability.
Crafting diverse human races adapted to a world fouled by radiation, UV, and pollutants.
Efforts extended to restoring plants and animals to this land.
But over time, the results weren't for world restoration—they became tools to control and dominate Central's populace more effectively.
Successful bloodline enhancements already let modern humans survive outside the forest genetically.
Instead of sharing that, Central unleashed monsters to make the outside deadlier and tightened control over its citizens.
In the end, this world's science didn't save humanity—it doomed the world and imprisoned survivors.
Like children handed dangerous weapons by unchecked tech progress, never learning harmony.
Surveying the bio-weapons, Yutia paused at one spot.
Bubble bubble.
In three capsules, fully grown human bodies intertwined deeply with machinery breathed steadily.
"...What are those?"
At Kshan's question, Yutia replied.
"Our latest successful bio-weapons. They're complete."
"!"
Kshan shot up and rushed to the capsules.
Black hair with a faint silvery sheen—grayish, but hinting at its lineage's identity.
"Finally!"
At Kshan's thrilled awe, Yutia smiled faintly and operated the controls.
Groooar—
In the capsules, the three newly completed bio-weapons opened their eyes simultaneously.
『Error code detected. If this entity takes physical damage in this field, recovery is impossible.』
『Error code detected. If this entity takes physical damage in this field, recovery is impossible.』
『Error code detected. If this entity takes physical damage in this field, recovery is impossible.』