Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: Duel of the Guild Masters
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Eastern battlefield.
With the Fullminak reinforcements, led by Space King and Hyunwoo, joining the fray, the Korean forces surged forward unstoppable.
Then.
["Reinforcements spotted at the rear of the enemy lines. Around ten of them."]
Given that the American military was likely engaged with another major power to the north, the additional support didn't look like much at first glance.
As soon as Soap confirmed the enemy position, he immediately messaged Dart one-on-one.
["Dart."]
"What."
["Looks like the guy you've been waiting for has finally shown up."]
"!"
That bastard.
The guild master of America Saurs, the guild packed with America's top rankers in an unbalanced cluster.
Lugh.
Named after the god of light, Lugh Lamhfhata.
Dart's lips curled upward.
Lugh was America's strongest hunter, a living hero who had already captured the world's attention with his various exploits.
One of the few opponents Dart secretly wanted to fight.
Even with the American hunters' forces dispersed, it was clear they were battling some other powerhouse elsewhere.
Yet America's top dog had chosen this spot.
"Naturally."
Dart muttered as he soared high and overlooked the enemy lines.
Gazing down in the same virtual reality game character avatar from the Midgard days, his eyes were unmistakably those of the northern demon god Dart himself.
The enemy commanders looked up at Dart with fervent eyes.
In truth, to players worldwide watching from viewer mode, the Korean rankers were far more famous than they realized.
Godgold's stellar broadcast editing, multi-language subtitles, and the heart-pounding live siege warfare so thrilling it made saliva drip unknowingly had driven global viewer-mode players insane.
The America Saurs hunters who had come as reinforcements from the Russian front buzzed with excitement.
"Whoa."
"It's really Dart."
"Just like in the videos."
"Feels like meeting a baseball star I idolized as a kid. Though he'd probably kill me if I asked for an autograph."
"He'd fry me with electricity for sure."
"I'm jealous, Lugh. I wanted a shot at him too."
The vice guild master of Black Fox, who had lost their guild master to Dart's hand, glared sullenly at Lugh and the reinforcements.
"......"
As expected from the top guild. They were at war over mining rights, yet here they were, totally at ease.
Rumble—
Oblivious to the enemy troops gawking at him like he was a movie star, Dart unleashed flashy effects and bared his blatant hostility.
The American reinforcements, lost in fanboy fervor, showered him with "Cool! Amazing! Awesome!" while clapping.
Clap clap clap!
Even with auto-translation to Korean, anyone could understand the exclamations and praise.
Only then did Dart realize something was off, furrowing his brow, but the situation unfolded just as he hoped.
A challenge arrived.
[Lugh-nim has challenged you to a duel.]
[Accept?]
Dart accepted instantly. Lugh flew up in front of him, face brimming with what seemed like delight, and opened his mouth.
"Hey—"
Whoosh!
Dart shot forward like lightning, unleashing a skill in one go and shredding the spot where Lugh had stood.
Boom—bang!
The explosion echoed across the ground, and Dart's eyes gleamed blue.
Clear killing intent.
Lugh, barely dodging the attack, tensed and activated his skill.
But even faster, without glancing at his skill window, Dart unleashed a follow-up strike.
Kaboom!!
"?!"
It defied understanding, but there was no time to dwell.
Dart's signature wide-area electron cannon blasted out in monstrous thickness, scorching the area.
"Urk?!"
Lugh, caught off guard, clutched his electrified arm and chugged a potion.
He hurriedly pulled out his shield.
Bang—!!
Dart's sword clashed with Lugh's skill, erupting in an explosion.
He'd felt it watching videos, but Dart's speed was on another level from America's rankers.
Swift and precise.
Lugh's face turned serious as he stowed his shield and drew his spear.
The symbol of America's strongest, Lugh—the most famous mythic item from American channels, the divine spear 'Gungnir.'
"!"
Dart, charging with sword raised, flinched and pulled back sharply.
He threw up a shield in haste.
The brain force of America's top hunter prickled intensely over his entire body.
Kaboom kaboom kaboom!
Light burst from the spear, exploding in a massive area-of-effect blast so huge that no one in the vicinity could see straight.
Dart dove low to evade, and allies showered him with heals and buffs.
Whoosh! Swoosh! Whoosh!
Then, a straight, razor-sharp beam hurtled toward Dart.
Boom—bang!!
Mindful of his allies below, Dart threw up a high-density defense shield to block it head-on. In that instant, Lugh, who had launched the spear skill, closed in right before him.
Short blond hair whipped in the wind.
Unlike before, his expression was cold and mechanical, utterly emotionless. His sharply crackling eyes were heterochromatic—blue and red.
That was why Lugh's skill manifestations were purple.
Dart raised his sword.
Boom—bang!
"!"
Lugh's eyes widened. This time, he saw it clearly.
Dart had been inconsistent with using the skill window, but this time, he definitely cast without it.
Korean Vipa players' skill-casting techniques were legendary.
The seamless motion connections that made you wonder "when did he press it?" and the piano-like sequencing of multi-skills with one hand were practically art. Players worldwide studied Korean broadcasts to learn them.
But.
"Dart, can you seriously cast skills without the skill window?"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Lugh, stunned, asked Dart amid the impacts, but whether drowned out by the sword-and-spear clashes or ignored on purpose, no answer came.
Sizing up the situation and sensing a disadvantage in close quarters, Lugh unleashed a high-explosive skill.
Boom—bang!!
Even in that split-second incoming attack, Lugh grimaced.
"Urk!"
As the explosion forced distance, Dart amplified a straight-line sword skill and fired it, glaring steadily at Lugh.
Annoying.
So, scared now?
The method of casting without the skill window had been discovered first by Kaisha.
No way to patent an intangible technique, so Korean hunters kept it hush-hush, sharing only among rankers.
They'd suspected exposure since the city war, figuring other hunters would catch on eventually, but leaks abroad grated.
Even mastering it perfectly, that guy wouldn't touch Kaisha—or even Dart's toes.
As Dart and Lugh ramped up their brain force for another clash—
A warning popped up.
『Warning!』
『Error code (error code: 77_⑆) detected. Physical damage to this entity in this field cannot be recovered.』
Dart, Lugh, and every hunter on the battlefield froze.
Hyunwoo and Mura, who had joined Space King as Fullminak reinforcements, flinched hard and glanced at each other.
Soap bellowed.
"Max out defense buffs and ready shields!"
Space King, having heard in advance from Dart about the error code Fullminak had encountered, immediately went on alert.
The error code appeared, but with nothing visible, guild members grew uneasy.
"Where is it?"
"It's an error—why the hell is it invisible like some ghost?"
"Watch your necks! Death means game over!"
"Doesn't it feel creepy?"
"I get that too, but probably just the no-recovery warning messing with us."
"......Nah."
It grew creepier by the second.
Dart and Lugh, halted by the sudden alert, looked to the same spot.
Even with poor senses, anyone could detect the overwhelming presence—it was that intense.
8 o'clock, high in the sky.
Descending.
Without hesitation, both shot toward it, unleashing skills.
Kaboom—!!
As the guild masters charged the error code and began battling, troops on both sides tensed, swallowing dryly.
"M-monster......"
"Are they insane? How do you even fight that thing?"
Some hands trembled faintly.
The gut-churning pressure reached even here.
The unidentified plane presumed to have dropped the error code vanished into the distance.
With the unidentified terror that could crush humans like insects came a black, depressive emotion surging relentlessly in their chests.
Sudden, unpleasant, frightening—yet somehow familiar.
Soap snapped out of it, jolted by the same overwhelming aura and vague negativity as the error code.
"Get it together!"
Space King's guild members, uncharacteristic for war demons, groaned and backed away shakily before flinching at Soap.
Soap roared.
"What are you doing, Nix! Reposition defenses to the 4 o'clock! Mages, focus heals and buffs with ranged support fire! Move now!!"
As befitting the veteran-of-veterans, war maniac haven that was Space King, the members reacted to orders over fear, moving in perfect unison.
The terror was near impossible to overcome, but above all, their guild master Dart was leading the charge.
As Space King's members reformed lines toward 4 o'clock and assumed combat stance, the American hunters swiftly followed suit.
Rapid rear support kicked off.
Boom! Kaboom! Kaboom kaboom!!
The two guild masters hammered the error code that had appeared smack in the battlefield's center with ultimate DPS, coordinating their assault.
* * *
The moment we reached the building housing the military lab, Yugeon, who had been quietly nestled in Helcannon's arms, called to me.
"Kaisha noona!"
"?"
Yugeon reached desperately toward me, so I picked him up.
The military building, hit by the bomb, was wrecked as expected, but being so massive, surprisingly many parts remained intact.
The issue was we couldn't just stroll in.
Kaizen said,
"Android soldiers are swarming, so we'll use the secret passage."
Our group—mixed guild members and a few residents—followed Kaizen quickly to a specific side of the building.
Yugeon, quiet in my arms, glanced at the others and whispered,
"Something's up."
His voice was tense.
I sensed it too and tensed, but his next words relaxed me.
"Show me more affection. It's almost at 10 percent already. I'm sure of it—you've got a real talent for this."
Right. I'd filled his affection gauge just by smooching like breathing.
[Name: Yugeon
Affinity: 11%
Energy: 9.7%
Description: Potential weapon enjoying happy days loved by its new master]
Description changed.
Anyway, it was stuff I did tons with Messiah—no extra effort needed, and no weird stares from guild members made it easy.
Smack.
Aww, our cute little Yugeon.
With a face just like Messiah's, small and adorable, it forced kisses out of me.
Smack smack.
Yugeon peeked up at my affectionate eyes, then turned away bashfully, mumbling,
"This human doesn't look the type, but she's weirdly full of love."
Affection alerts had pinged nonstop from the start, but Yugeon had eyed me warily for a while, unsure of my feelings.
Once he knew it was real, he melted instantly.
Grinning, I asked,
"So, you hate it?"
"......As if. By the way, your concubine is staring at me with such envy—poor thing, what to do."
Total brag mode.
Concubine?
I turned, and Helcannon, eyes meeting mine, flinched and whipped her face away.