Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Guild Master Isn't Enough with Just the Game
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Kwaaang—!
Mura-nim charged ahead, batting away the NPCs and throwing himself in front of the hero who had nearly died.
Once the tank had blocked the attack, the players behind him showered buffs and swiftly summoned specialized healer heroes.
["Ha, my hero kid almost bit the dust. Thank you. Thank you."]
One of Goldbunker's players rushed out and retrieved the bound hero who had been in danger.
The sudden crisis was resolved for now.
But the alliance players who had been waiting on deck swarmed over to watch the spectacle. Even as enemies, Hellcannon's performance made for quite the show.
Gilgamesh, who had been spectating the fierce clash, suddenly glanced at my face and clicked his tongue.
"You're facing the enemy—sure that's okay?"
"What'd I do."
"Drool's practically dripping from your eyes."
"...Must be honey."
"Too shady for honey."
"......"
Guilty as charged.
I quietly pulled a pair of pitch-black sunglasses from my inventory and slipped them on. Gilgamesh burst out laughing beside me, saying it was like some comedy skit.
Someone on deck muttered.
"How'd Spaceking dig up such a genius NPC anyway?"
Regular Viva players didn't pay much attention to the personal histories of NPC heroes unless they were bound to them.
But Midgard's strongest NPC hero was obviously the exception.
"They say Hellcannon's direct royalty from Avrilia. Eastern NPCs are just built different, y'know? With Lowguard right next door."
"Right? East is crawling with monsters."
"And he's got that royal bloodline—they say he's been raiding non-stop for top talent."
"That area's special unless they've got some prodigy. Usually, they pick a strong inland prince who can fight and bring him in as a husband for the princess on the throne."
"Genetics don't lie."
Goldbunker and Fullminak guildmates waiting atop the combined fleet unpacked their trivia.
Hellcannon was an NPC hero who hadn't appeared until pretty late in the siege wars.
One player piped up.
"So Spaceking didn't slaughter the Avrilia royals? I remember around Lopelta, he started a policy of wiping out royalty."
"Didn't he kill them all?"
"Beheaded the king and firstborn princess, hung 'em up. Kept the rest alive in underground dungeons, from what I hear."
"Ah......"
"Hostage play."
"King Trash strikes again."
Curses aimed at Spaceking echoed from all around.
King Trash was a mashup of Spaceking and trash. Sometimes shortened to Kingrag.
Whoever coined it deserved an award.
Spaceking had ruled NPC civilizations with extreme terror politics from the game's early days.
Over time, his infamy grew, stiffening resistance from NPC rulers every time he seized land.
Eventually, he started outright killing key rulers in new territories.
Then he'd prop up puppet royalty they raised themselves and run separate ops to clear the karma from NPC massacres.
NPCs had emotions too—you could chat with them, but it got messy.
Anyway, bunch of lunatics.
* * *
Dart stood on deck with arms crossed, overlooking the Weizen warzone.
[Black Fleet in the Sky]
A massive command warship for wartime use. The quirks: floating high in the sky, and pitch black.
Colors marked factions.
Black for Spaceking, yellow for Goldbunker, red for Fullminak.
Weekday morning.
Spaceking's main members had synced schedules and were mostly logged in.
In Weizen Castle, Nix and Shiva commanded Spaceking's NPC forces.
Even if Fullminak and Goldbunker allied for a surprise attack, they couldn't match Spaceking's total NPC might and logged-in player count.
Binu glanced at Dart.
"Looks pretty stabilized."
Spaceking aimed to seize Iscarya before war mode kicked in, leveraging surprise logins and NPC numbers.
Binu was handling the Iscarya push in this raid.
Dart asked.
"Iscarya defenses?"
"Surprisingly dug in decently."
"Troops needed."
"Two legions."
Defenses or not, it was an empty house raid.
Once they hit Iscarya proper, Goldbunker would swarm with heroes in tow.
Send two legions first; reinforce if needed.
Timing wasn't perfect yet anyway.
Spaceking assigned 6,000 NPCs and 30 heroes per legion. Roughly five players per legion.
Dragging 30 heroes to smash it wasn't peanuts.
Dart tacked on two more.
"Take four legions."
"Why?"
"Logins overflowing."
Weizen Castle had capacity limits. Plus, surprise raid meant heroes mattered more than players.
So plenty of players were bored stiff.
An expedition would kill the tedium.
Dart pulled up the Spaceking roster and pinged Hela privately.
"Fullminak's Wirentia natives—3rd Legion incoming Weizen. Throw in three more legions. Overflow—no entering the castle, hit from outside."
["Got it."]
A woman's voice replied.
Hela was a female char, presumed real woman player, but her in-game hobbies were so brutal and filthy no one messed with her—Spaceking main.
Dart didn't care if she tore and ate NPCs or fried them.
Game NPCs weren't real people.
Skill mattered.
That's why Dart trusted Hela plenty.
Ruthless hands, quick mind—matched his style.
After ordering Hela to sortie from Weizen, Dart eyed Binu.
"You head out too."
"Righto."
Binu saluted with a playful grin and formal bow, then left. Now Dart was the only main left on the warship.
Dart sank into the [Demon King's Throne].
Thud.
Legs crossed naturally.
Time to properly spectate Kaisha. Videos were fine, but live was way better.
Sucks war mode hadn't started—no flashy action from Kaisha.
"......"
The Challenger specialness.
That sparked the interest.
Analyzing her power via footage, he got hooked.
Dart had been immovable Rank 1 since launch.
Rank 2 Abyss ghosted for solo play; Rank 3 Hyunwoo was too far behind to bother.
Then boom—7th place Kaisha flipped the board overnight.
And a girl char, too.
"Netkama bastard anyway."
Dart muttered.
Still, he kept summoning Hellcannon on the off chance she was a real girl—shallow curiosity.
Hela, who Dart pegged as a woman, loved pretty boys; maybe Kaisha too.
'Whatever if she is.'
Dart snorted at the idle thought.
He preferred fictional chars over celeb reals.
Society otaku-shamed them, but he didn't hide it.
Fun watching varied stares of shock.
Truth was, Kaisha started as 'virtual char' interest in that vein.
But.
Dart scowled.
"Who's not dragging off that Gilgamesh punk."
Hated his target char stuck with a sleazy guy.
Especially when the sleaze looked so damn pleased.
Dart's lip curled.
Kid. Let's see you laugh after Iscarya gets wrecked.
* * *
I took off the sunglasses.
"Dart's moving, looks like."
"Huh? How'd you know?"
"No Bishnu glued to him like gum."
When'd he vanish?
Bishnu was Binu's original nick before guild rule shortened to two letters.
Mid-siege, Spaceking mandated two-letter nicks for war comms.
Most guilds followed; everyone shortened to two-three letters.
Ours too.
Gilgamesh kept his four out of pride or whatever, but Goldbunker unified short too.
I stowed the sunglasses and told Gilgamesh.
"Get your guildies ready."
Warn Iscarya crew ahead; tell Weizen fighters to prep on contact.
Gilgamesh asked, flustered.
"What about Weizen?"
"Don't sweat it. We got this solo."
Truth: Goldbunker's force was deadweight without mains.
Even now, leaving war to our guildies while they broadcasted—out of sight, less annoying.
Gilgamesh, clueless to my real thoughts, looked shocked and touched.
I smiled, feigning kindness.
"Grateful? Up the settlement cut."
"There it is."
I ignored his shattered感动 face and scanned the ground.
Naked eye: no Spaceking NPC movement. But not my first Viva rodeo—illusion magic fooled that easy.
Pulled up chat list.
Opened command chat with legion leads, mic on.
"Suspect Spaceking reinforcements to Weizen. If pushing, likely 9 o'clock flank. Expecting Spaceking Iscarya invasion—Goldbunker splitting force."
["Oh my god! Our 3rd still en route?!"
]
"Almost there."
["Ah, thank god."]
3rd Legion: Midgard southwest tip, Wirentia-Ambrais NPCs.
Our guild's home turf—packed with ace NPC healers, mages, paladins galore.
But trek from far southwest to east took time.
Bound heroes all yanked, plus standout unbound NPCs we raised—big power boost.
Gilgamesh busied himself beside me.
Using special alliance perms from him, I peeked Goldbunker command voice.
Gilgamesh's voice hit quick.
["Kaisha says Spaceking sent troops to Iscarya. Binu bastard's probably on it."]
["Ha. That sunny psycho—scares me how many of our NPCs he'll slaughter."]
Voice: likely Goldbunker's submaster Credit.
["3rd Legion halt at Iscarya. Suspend Weizen move."]
Their western force just arrived.
["Iscarya lead Roto here. Prepping Spaceking assault defense. Cameras set. Merging with 3rd, repositioning troops."]
Goldbunker counted cams as war prep.
Our voice chat lit up.
["Kaisha-nim. 3rd Legion arriving."]
Alliance support.
"Good work."
Eyes off incoming southern Wirentia 3rd, to north.
Seemed Spaceking forces static. But they were entering anti-illusion range.
As predicted: 9 o'clock north flank—Spaceking NPCs emerged.
Opened Weizen total assault command voice.
"As warned: Spaceking southbound. Roughly three legions. Lead:"
Focused neural sight—view zoomed like scope. Flame-red long hair whipped like fire.
Flame specialist top dog.
"Hela."
["Ah."]
["Shit."]
["What the fuck."]
Guildies groaned.
["Raid surprise, but prep mages for potential clash."]
["Got it."]
["NPC-napping mid-this? Nah?"]
["Whoa, Kali hyung. Viva'd enough Hela kidnappings? Drop sane hopes or your mentality cracks."]
["They say give up and it's easy."]
["Why're our guildies so sharp. Gotta step up."]
Hyunwoo-nim took Mino's cue; Kali steeled up. Chat settled.
Mages reshuffled for Hela rampage prep. Fresh Wirentia forces trisected, merged fast.