Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Guild Master Can't Rely on Games Alone
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Shasha-shak—
As the monsters swiftly vanished into the darkness, the guild members looked around in confusion.
“W-what is this?”
“The monsters are gone!”
“Why did the rank suddenly change?!”
[Gate entry personnel exceeded. Difficulty level changing.]
[F-rank]
[Changing...]
[An error has occurred.]
The moment the error notification appeared, a bad feeling washed over them.
[S-rank]
“!!”
Everyone gasped in shock at the absurd rank change.
“S-rank?! Are you kidding me?!”
“Entry personnel exceeded? What kind of bullshit is this?! Did Goldbunker and Spaceking follow us in?!”
“Uwaaak! Save the newbie!!”
“We have to get out of here right now!”
[Warning!]
[Gate door closing.]
[You cannot exit.]
Kali, furious at the alert window, yelled with veins bulging in her neck.
“Are you insane—!!”
In the sudden crisis, their hearts pounded rapidly.
Instinct told them this much.
This rank was far too dangerous for low-level players like them.
With the rank change, the inside of the gate warped grotesquely, and an ominous energy began to flow out.
“Stay calm! There has to be a way!”
As if responding to my words, an alert window soon appeared.
Ding!
[An error occurs due to interference from Midgard!]
Midgard?
[Warning!]
[The current participants' levels cannot handle this rank.]
[Babel Tower emergency login...]
Babel Tower login had been a quest, but now it was suddenly just logging in.
[Login failed.]
“Damn.”
Hyunwoo-nim looked troubled.
It felt like the system was trying to save them somehow.
Even though it had failed.
Midgard had interfered.
If that world was real, and it had a will of its own, maybe it was seizing this moment to do something.
“…….”
Amid the flurry of alert windows, I gripped my weapon tightly.
The tension thickened to the point of suffocation.
Scratch-scratch-scratch,
Growl—
The gate's monsters began to reveal their presence bit by bit, then charged straight at us.
[Slash lv4]
Shwaaak—!!
I swung my sword and shouted at the top of my lungs.
“Battle formation!”
Even in their panic, the guild members moved on ingrained habit.
Just like in the game, they arranged their inventory, skill windows, and voice chat, then began to fight.
[Slash lv4]
[Thrust lv3]
Shk! Shwaaak!!
Red blood from the beast-type monsters—not insects—splattered everywhere.
I shouted once more, louder.
“Max out your mental power!! We absolutely cannot fall back—!!”
Maya, who had been frozen behind me, trembling, finally cast her blessing while shaking.
I said to Maya.
“It's okay. Even if someone dies, it'll be me first.”
“Sob. Don't die.”
“No, I mean, I'll tank properly.”
“Don't die!”
Maya cried and snapped at me.
“O-okay.”
It was meant to reassure the mage specialist ranged dealer, but it clearly didn't comfort her at all.
[“We can do this!”]
[“Our levels are low, so HP is too thin— we really have to dodge attacks as much as possible!”]
“I'll throw in periodic AoE heals!”
Growl!
Among the genetically modified beast-type monsters, these were top-tier.
If my eyes weren't deceiving me, these were the monsters from Lowguard that even rankers barely managed to enter.
I had no idea what criteria the system used for gate rank notation, but these were definitely not monsters we could handle.
Frontline tanking and melee DPS.
Ranged DPS from the back.
Regular buffs and AoE heals coming in.
Kwa-kwa-kwang—!!
Kali, Mura-nim, Hyunwoo-nim, and I tanked up front, while Abyss zipped through the front lines efficiently landing killing blows.
[“These are Lowguard mobs, right?”]
“Seems like it.”
[“Just like in the game, barely any loot but levels shooting up.”]
Enker was right.
[Congratulations. Level increased to lv4.]
[Congratulations. Level increased to lv5.]
[Congratulations. Level increased to lv6.]
As expected from an S-rank gate, the EXP was high, and our levels—including mine—were rising rapidly.
Skill levels too.
[Slash lv7]
Shwaaak—!!
With level-ups came status recovery, so mana wasn't an issue yet.
For now.
“……Kuh.”
The problem was that even though I was holding, the battle line was becoming precarious fast.
Heals allowed quick recovery from wounds, but the monsters' attack speed and power were too overwhelming, making heals struggle to keep up.
Plus, with all guild members being low-level, monsters were dying slower than expected.
The frontline, in dire straits, clenched their jaws in tension.
The backline noticed too.
[“Gasp.”]
[“Ah, shit……”]
At this rate, someone would be in danger.
My mind raced frantically, head throbbing.
What to do.
Everyone had strong mental power for high attack, but with tiny HP pools, one wrong hit could kill.
A groan escaped me.
“Kuh, damn. If only we had one tank-specialized hero……”
Terra or something, Terra or—
Ding!
[Babel Tower permits dimensional interference as emergency measure.]
[Error occurred!]
[Tutorial participants do not meet Babel Tower access conditions, permitting reverse connection.]
[Dimensional overlap in progress...]
[Reverse connection successful!]
[Summon aides from the other world immediately!]
My eyes widened.
“!”
The instant I saw the message, I instinctively shouted.
“Terra—!!”
Then, like a miracle, a magic circle drew itself on the ground, emitting light.
* * *
Fullminak had entered the gate.
The other two guilds, hearing the news late, rushed over in a hurry.
The result.
“Fuck.”
Sa-hyeok spat out a double curse.
Kwon Ho-seong, who had ended up traveling with Spaceking, grimaced too.
“You're not the only one pissed.”
As the saying goes, enemies meet on a single log bridge—exactly this.
Spaceking and Goldbunker members eyed each other warily as they poured into the gate.
Kwon Ho-seong glanced at the girl walking beside Dart.
“Your guild has a cute little kid? Who's she?”
Not a civilian, obviously.
Ho-seong had been too busy with broadcasting deals lately to catch up on the latest Godgold videos piling up.
He would've recognized her instantly if he had.
“Hella.”
At Sa-hyeok's curt reply, Ho-seong looked at the girl like he'd been slapped.
“He-Hella?”
“High schooler. Don't creep on her like a pedo.”
“This bastard, what do you take me for.”
Even if creeping, he'd pass.
Rumors said Hella was a girl, but seeing the actual cute, childlike kid.
As Ho-seong stared awkwardly, she shyly hid behind Sa-hyeok.
“…….”
In Ho-seong's mind flashed an image of a child innocently smiling while tearing off dragonfly wings.
Pure evil incarnate.
Where did they gather all these Spaceking-like freaks.
“Eyes off.”
“Got it, man.”
At Sa-hyeok's sharp warning, Ho-seong obediently turned away.
Since when were you so nice.
With Hella being Spaceking's lone flower, the guild members all doted on her specially.
Ho-seong shook his head as if he'd seen something gross and bizarre, then shifted his gaze inside the gate.
Step-step.
As expected, the gate interior was nearly empty.
“Fullminak swept it clean.”
“No respawns?”
Goldbunker members holding cameras or phones looked disappointed.
“Nothing to film.”
Then, suddenly surprised.
“Huh? Phones not working?”
“Cameras are off!”
With filming disrupted, Goldbunker members buzzed.
“No system recording function?”
“Oh, there is.”
“Turned it on, but no Wi-Fi means no live stream.”
“Ah, but other countries haven't entered gates yet, so hold back on leaking national power even if filming.”
“Does it work that way?”
Ho-seong, already in deals with broadcasting, stared wide-eyed at his guild members.
“What? Regular cameras don't work? This is advantageous for broadcast exclusivity—”
[Warning!]
[Gate rank changing!]
The warning popped up.
[Gate entry personnel exceeded. Difficulty level changing.]
[F-rank]
[Changing...]
[An error has occurred.]
“What? Difficulty changing due to excess entry personnel?”
“No such thing!”
People grew noisy at the impossible game scenario.
Ho-seong and Sa-hyeok were flustered too.
“Too many entering is bad?”
“Ridiculous.”
The changed gate rank was.
[S-rank]
“……What?”
Shock settled on the awakeners' faces inside the gate.
[Warning!]
[Gate door closing.]
[You cannot exit.]
Soon after the gate closure message, the atmosphere turned to crisis.
“What's going on!”
“Shooting a horror flick?!”
Ding!
[An error occurs due to interference from Midgard!]
“Midgard? Why Midgard here?”
[The current participants' levels cannot handle this rank.]
[Babel Tower emergency login...]
[Login failed.]
Something felt gravely off.
As the gate rank shifted, monsters began revealing themselves, as if granting their wish.
Goldbunker's sub-guild master Credit ordered the members.
“Prepare battle formation!”
Still early entrance, so not many monsters.
Sa-hyeok calmly scanned around, glancing deeper into the gate.
As if voicing Sa-hyeok's thoughts, Spaceking's sub-guild master Binu muttered lowly.
“Fullminak's in deep shit.”
Even for S-rank, this was the entrance.
Dungeons usually ramped up inward, so real gates probably similar.
Spaceking and Goldbunker formed lines together.
“No way that guy dies easy. Let's break through quick and meet up.”
Ho-seong drew his sword and stepped to the frontline.
Shing.
Binu's eyes widened.
“Wow. Katana too?”
Beside him, Nix couldn't look away from the high-end real item.
What Ho-seong held was clearly expensive at a glance, blade perfectly honed.
No idea how he procured it in the meantime.
Sharpening blades was illegal anyway.
Sa-hyeok raised a hand, firing a fire arrow into the cave.
“Begin.”
Roooar—
Pang!
Kiyaaak!!
Monsters and awakeners charged at each other.
The two guilds, having teamed once in the first raid, showed high proficiency.
Especially Spaceking, full of real athletes.
Strong-physique frontline tanking.
Backline DPS with excellent mental power boosts and dense output.
Guild masters commanding front and back.
No pushback.
But guild members' expressions weren't great.
Unsure if only they felt the gravity, they occasionally glanced at each other.
Ho-seong spoke.
“……Fullminak guys are alive, right?”
Entrance this tough meant interior monsters stronger. And with only their first string, Fullminak's numbers were half this.
Ding!
[Babel Tower permits dimensional interference as emergency measure.]
[Error occurred!]
Fighting guild members checked status windows in renewed panic.
“What now?”
“Just stay still for once.”
“Something serious happening with Fullminak, huh.”
[Tutorial participants do not meet Babel Tower access conditions, permitting reverse connection.]
[Dimensional overlap in progress...]
[Reverse connection successful!]
[Summon aides from the other world immediately!]
“Aides from another world?”
Bewildered, one backline member said.
“Means call heroes?”
“OP if it works.”
“So Midgard otherworld stuff real?!”
“Berid!”
As someone called a hero's name, a magic circle appeared on the gate floor.
From the light rose a burly warrior-type NPC hero, charging monsters immediately.
“It actually works?!”
And stronger than awakeners.
Seeing it, guild members frantically summoned their own bound heroes.
“Jellion!”
“Yen Julius!”
“Shuri! Tan! Aslenn!”
One by one, then more.
“Phew. We're good.”
Ho-seong sighed in relief.
Gate floor completely covered in summon circles.
Some summoned six at once—max bound heroes per user.
Watching, Sa-hyeok tried summoning his.
“……Hellcannon.”
Flash!
A real summon circle appeared.
Then, suddenly, one Spaceking member screamed.
“Uwaaak!”
Onlookers were horrified.
“W-what!”
“Did the bound hero just attack its owner...?”
One summoned bound hero struck not a monster, but its master with its sword.
Heroes whipped their heads around.
Exchanging glances, their eyes turned dangerously on the awakeners.