Chapter 33
Chapter 33
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Guild Master Isn't Enough with Just the Game
-----------------------------------------------------------------
As expected, once the all-out assault from the Fullminak-Goldbunker alliance began alongside the repeated use of Kaisha's ultimate skill as their final weapon, Calba's shield shattered in no time.
Kukwaaaaang—!!!
[system:]
[Calba's defensive barrier has been deactivated.]
Waaaaah—!!
The alliance cheered wildly.
["Whoa, insane speed."]
["I don't think we've ever broken a shield this easily."]
["Break through before Dart logs back in!"]
At Kalliga's shout, the Fullminak and Gentle Knights guild members swiftly cleared a path.
The respawn timer after death was 10 minutes.
Spaceking guild members who had died early in the Iscasha battle kept logging back in one after another.
With Goldbunker supporting Fullminak in exchange for Iscasha, Kaisha and the Fullminak members scaled the walls far more easily than they had in the Weizen siege.
Tap.
Tatataatatat—!!
Abyss, with her sky-high agility, was the first to set foot on the wall, dashing forward at wind-like speed.
Sharp gaze.
Fluid, precise movements.
Layers of skill activation lights burst forth as her swift blade sliced through the air.
Puk, pook!
Chwaaaaak—!!
After sinking the healers in the rear, Abyss immediately launched a stealth attack toward Binu in the sky above.
Tatatatang—
Her attack was blocked by layer upon layer of magical barriers.
As ridiculous ranged DPS poured down on her from afar, Abyss quickly retreated toward where Mura was charging in.
Spaceking's skills swarmed toward Fullminak's tank, Mura, in an instant.
Tatat!
Kaisha, who had been sprinting forward, leaped high into the air.
A skill activated.
She pulled her left arm back in a deep fist, then unleashed it fully in a sweeping motion.
Chwaaaaak—
Green light poured from Kaisha's body, forming countless magical formulas that enveloped the area, clashing with the enemy skills and causing explosions.
Kukwaaaang—!!
Kwaang!! Kwakwakwakwaang—!!
The ultimate area shield perfectly repelled the attacks before vanishing in a flash.
Kaisha burst through from within it.
[Superwide Thunder that Burns Light]
Green light formed lightning that crackled fiercely.
The faces of the Spaceking guild members in the forward airspace twisted in unison.
"Shit!!"
Shiva, who had been charging at Kaisha, spat curses and raised both arms to cast a shield skill.
As if mocking Spaceking, whose guild master had logged out upon death, Kaisha unleashed the same lightning area skill that Dart had used in his recent PK.
Flaaash!
Kukwakwakwakwakwang—!!!
Green lightning swept across Calba's skies once.
True to his title as grand archmage, Binu, who had been commanding the Calba battle from the rearmost position, looked down with a dumbfounded expression.
"Ha, crazy...."
Binu hurriedly cast shields to protect the guild members in the air, but the ground was left in ruins, with countless members dead.
While Spaceking floundered in chaos, Fullminak and Goldbunker pressed forward relentlessly.
Kaisha's lightning had breached the front lines.
As the alliance began climbing onto Calba's high, sturdy walls in droves, Binu lost his composure and inwardly screamed in frustration.
'I knew this would happen!'
With Kaisha, Gilgamesh, Abyss, and Hyunwoo all on the same side, defending Calba without Dart was an impossible gamble from the start.
'Damn it, what do I do.'
The genius grand archmage Binu was too perfect a ranged DPS for frontline combat.
Which meant he had virtually no defense.
With his swords and shields all pushed to the front, Binu grew deeply uneasy.
Getting killed by the enemy was instinctively loathsome, of course—but more than that, as Spaceking's leader, he had a duty to stay alive.
And with Kaisha right in front of him, his life hung by a thread.
The walls had fallen.
No matter how he thought about it, from here on, it was just meaningless death.
If Spaceking retreated to Terev, Fullminak would occupy Calba, activate the shield, and regroup—then the Goldbunker-Fullminak alliance might fizzle out around then.
"...Retreat to Terev?"
["..."]
Binu cautiously asked Dart via one-on-one voice chat, but there was no reply.
Tacit approval.
Binu let out a sigh of relief.
He immediately issued the command to his guild members via group chat.
"Flee to Terev!"
* * *
Calba's central audience chamber.
[system:]
[Calba has been annexed by guild Fullminak.]
The annexation of Calba proceeded smoothly.
The only odd thing was that the territory system didn't say a word—but feeling a tiny hesitation right at the final acceptance might be overimmersion.
They decided to activate the shield slowly, with alliance guild members around.
"Seriously, this was record-breaking fast."
"I don't think we've ever had an enemy this easy after the late stages of a siege."
"And against Spaceking, no less."
The guild members chatted leisurely.
Gilgamesh, ever the culture buff, wandered around admiring the interior of Calba's audience chamber before approaching me.
"What're you planning to do now?"
"Dart should be logging back in soon anyway, so let's rest here for a bit first."
10 minutes were almost up.
"With this momentum, why not push all the way to Avrilia? I'll take on that Dart bastard once, so you handle smashing the shield."
I looked at Gilgamesh in surprise at the unexpected proposal, and he grinned like what was so shocking.
"You said give you full command of the alliance until the siege ends."
"True, but..."
The 'alliance' of guilds with different flag colors in the Bipa siege was awfully shallow.
Backstabs on top of backstabs were practically a virtue.
I'd thought Gilgamesh would say that helping with Iscasha and now Calba meant we were square.
Gilgamesh said,
"Hey, I've got a conscience. After all the help in this siege. Plus, your popularity made the live game streams explode."
"..."
Come to think of it, this guy was profiting big by selling me out on his streams.
I was letting it slide at 30% cut.
"And right now, our guild members are at peak loyalty to you. Use it while it's hot."
I could definitely feel that vibe from the Goldbunker members, so finally, I was convinced he was serious.
I glanced at my message window.
[00:04:11]
It seemed to be visible only on my system window.
It was an occasional event format, so nothing strange. An alert would pop for all users when the countdown ended.
"Looks like an event's coming up soon."
Uwaaaak—!!
"!"
A sudden commotion made everyone in Calba's audience chamber turn their heads.
Guild chat lit up.
["Waaak! Waaak!! Big trouble, Shiva!! Aaaah!! Hellcannon appeared in the underground shelter!!"]
["How the hell did it get in?!"]
["The DPS is insane!! It burst in out of nowhere and hit us with ultimates the second it saw us!!"]
["Aaaah!! This NPC is ridiculously strong!!"]
Gilgamesh, sharing the chat via alliance privileges, looked at me with a baffled face.
"What the hell. Even if it's Hellcannon, come on. You're telling me your guild members are getting wrecked by a single NPC? For real?"
["Aargh!! Can't we just kill this bastard?!"]
"Aaaah!! Absolutely not!! I'm coming!! Hold on!!"
"..."
At the freakout over not killing it, Gilgamesh next to me eyed me suspiciously.
Ignoring his gaze, I bolted toward the underground shelter.
* * *
Fullminak guild members who had come down to the basement searching for the royals surrounded the cornered Hellcannon warily.
Its eyes glared at the users with extreme tension.
The Hellcannon that had appeared out of nowhere, rampaging madly while attacking users, had unleashed every attack skill and ultimate it had before going quiet for a moment.
Its red eyes blazed like flames, poised to unleash its ultimate again as soon as cooldowns ended.
The startled users finally calmed down a bit.
"Damn. Ha. I knew Hellcannon was strong, but not like this."
"This guy's eyes are bloodshot."
"How the hell did it get in? It's Avrilia's royalty—does it know Calba's emergency passages?"
"Maybe Dart snuck it in to screw us over?"
"That guy's still... ah, he should be logging in around now."
Mino, Enker, and Kalliga chattered.
The huge commotion drew nearby guild members one by one.
The more crowded it got, the more tense Hellcannon became.
The dim underground shelter's walls were grotesquely splattered with blood from users hit by Hellcannon and scorch marks from skill casts.
Precisely, right in front of the shelter door.
The Fullminak members had come to fetch the royals and NPCs who had surely evacuated to the basement.
The area in front of the door fell briefly silent.
"...Why the hell is it acting like that? Guarding like it's Calba's gatekeeper or something."
"Isn't that Avrilia's royalty?"
"You talk to it."
"This is guild master's job. She just bosses everyone around and skimps on duties."
"What'd you say, punk?"
As a small argument was about to break out.
Enker glanced back and lit up.
"She's here."
Just as Kaisha burst into the underground shelter, the door behind Hellcannon cracked open slightly, and someone peeked out.
A kid?
"Get inside—!!"
Hellcannon, who had been blocking the users, and everyone else there widened their eyes.
What the hell was this?
Users who had heard Hellcannon's voice for the first time upon the raid looked at it in shock.
The door closed, then opened again.
The wary child peeked out, then dashed forward and clung to Hellcannon's waist.
"..."
Hellcannon, who had been gritting its teeth, dropped its sword and hugged the child, kneeling down.
Clang!
Its eyes pleading for its life burned with desperate affection.
Quick-witted Kalliga sighed.
"Ah, damn. Those shameless Spaceking bastards didn't..."
"Huh? What?"
"Looks like Avrilia's royalty."
In other words, Hellcannon's little sibling.
Spaceking must have brought in Avrilia's young royal and propped it up as a puppet king in Calba.
Judging by the status of Spaceking's star hero Hellcannon, they'd probably done this as a show of 'favor,' but it was utterly stupid.
Way too young.
The users, roughly grasping the background of Hellcannon's sudden appearance, sheathed their weapons one by one and looked to Kaisha.
Kalliga tipped her off.
"Seems like Hellcannon's sibling."
Gilgamesh, who had followed Kaisha, glanced at the scene and said from behind,
"It's scared. The only ones who celebrate victories by chopping royal heads for commemorative parties are Spaceking, but Dart's pet? Might as well kill it now."
"Wanna die by my hand?"
"..."
At Kaisha's sharp retort, Gilgamesh muttered low like he'd expected as much.
Leaving Gilgamesh behind with his arms crossed in dissatisfaction, Kaisha slowly approached, and a desperate pair of eyes looked up at her.
Hellcannon had never once reciprocated the blatant goodwill Kaisha had shown it before.
But not today.
It was desperately clinging to that kindness.
"!"
At that moment, a magic circle formed beneath Hellcannon's feet.
Dart's summon.
10 minutes up—Dart had logged back in.
It was a forced summon circle for a user calling their annexed hero, but as Hellcannon resisted instead of vanishing immediately, the users buzzed in surprise.
"Whoa. That's even possible?"
The commotion made Hellcannon's expression grow urgent.
Gilgamesh was right.
At this critical juncture, Dart's summon circle the moment he respawned clearly marked Hellcannon as Fullminak's enemy.
Hellcannon endured and cried out desperately.
"If you wish, take my life! But this child—"
"I won't kill it."
"..."
"Even if you're there, I'll definitely win."
Kaisha walked up to Hellcannon, who had frozen at her words, and knelt on one knee.
Then extended her hand.
With a gentle smile, the child hopped into Kaisha's arms.
"!"
Hellcannon's eyes went wide.
Kaisha had seen this child bolt out the door the instant their eyes met.
Must have heard from the nanny or something.
She'd schemed hard even in Weizen, and for a place like Calba right above with active exchanges, her fame would spread easily.
Especially with black hair and green eyes being so rare.
Kaisha easily lifted the seven-ish-looking child and looked down at Hellcannon.
Calba's NPCs would return safely to their places.
That was Fullminak's way.
"Stop resisting and go. I'll take good care of your precious sibling and Calba's people."
"..."
The red-haired man of Avrilian royalty stared blankly up at Kaisha, then slipped into the summon circle like a weight had been lifted from his soul.