Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Guild Master Isn't Enough with Just the Game
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I signaled to the guild members who had frozen behind me just like I had, and Mino and Enkar rushed straight in to finish off the heroes' lives.
The hunters holding the front were buzzing with excitement.
“Camen.”
“I’m converting to the Kaisha Church starting today. For real.”
“Kaisha-nim, how on earth did you pull off that ultra-wide area lightning? Huh? Tell me too!”
Ultra-wide area lightning was a ninth-tier ultimate mage skill.
Everyone knew I hadn’t reached that level to acquire the skill and use it.
Someone shouted out.
“This isn’t the time to rest! Help the rear!”
“Ah, um, hold on a sec. Guild Master-nim, maybe because the gate rank changed so suddenly, but monsters keep pushing from front and back.”
I whipped my head around to look behind us.
“Dart! Gilgamesh!!”
A few hunters who had witnessed the front-line situation gaped in shock, but the people in the rear were too busy tending to the wounded and fending off monsters to notice.
Gilgamesh and Dart turned at my call, flinching with dazed expressions.
They seemed stunned to see the front had suddenly cleared.
“Monsters keep respawning! Hurry and heal the wounded, gather them up, and let’s move! We’re gonna punch straight through the front and charge!”
At my shout, Dart and Gilgamesh glanced at each other.
They sprang into action right away.
“Help the rear!”
As I gave the order and gestured, everyone from the front line rushed over, blocking the monsters and assisting with the injured.
[“Rear cleanup site here. Thought we were totally wiped out earlier, but luckily almost everyone’s still alive.”]
[“I was in the back too—barely hung on chugging potions.”]
[“We’ve got casualties...”]
The voice chat fell silent at the shocking news.
The conversation picked back up soon enough.
[“Gasp! What do we do? Whale-nim’s passed out. Anyone with high strength stats?”]
[“I’ll carry him.”]
Even with healing available, mental panic was something they couldn’t fix.
I checked my inventory and status window.
That one strike had completely drained my mana bar, and I only had one potion left.
After a brief hesitation, I spoke up.
“...Anyone got some mana potions to spare?”
In a situation this dire, they were practically lifelines.
I felt bad asking, but I tossed the question into the guild chat anyway—and items started flooding the guild chat window.
[“I’ve got two left, but take them right now!”]
No, that’s...
[“Take mine!”]
[“I got some high-grade ones earlier from killing monsters up front! Take these, Guild Master-nim!!”]
Potions lined up in the guild’s shared item window.
Hold on.
This could work.
Bipa’s chat system was built for war games, making it incredibly quick and easy to share items through the guild chat.
“Everyone keep at least three for yourselves minimum, and just put up one or two for anyone in urgent need.”
The window filled up in a flash.
[Mino registered an item.]
[Enkar registered an item.]
[Mino registered an item.]
[Mino registered an item.]
...
“?”
No wonder Mino and Enkar had been grinding monsters so hard at the vanguard earlier.
After taking down the enemy heroes up front to farm monsters and snag usable drops, Mino and Enkar dumped a pile of decent high-grade potions and assorted misc items.
Not a huge haul, but they were rays of light in this crisis.
[“True to Lowguard beasts, they don’t drop jack, but we scraped these together.”]
[“Anyone who needs ’em, go for it.”]
“Kids. I officially recognize you as our guild’s true quartermasters.”
[“Hehe. Thank you.”]
I grabbed a solid handful of potions and scanned the situation.
A ton of wounded.
Gilgamesh shuffled over from that side, his steps looking drained.
“We poured heals like crazy, but one ended up dying. Their HP was too low—basically insta-killed, no way to save them.”
“...”
“Still, the ones who survived that ultimate barrage are the real deal. SpaceKing’s first-stringers aren’t your average humans. Total war nuts, war nuts.”
Gilgamesh rambled on about SpaceKing, trying to lighten the mood.
My heart plummeted, but I kept a straight face and asked.
“...Was it that one?”
“Yeah. The guy who got gut-stabbed earlier. He barely recovered, but panic slowed him down, and he couldn’t dodge the incoming skills.”
“...”
The news hit hard—I clenched my fist without thinking.
Even with heals, our hunters’ low levels meant their HP dropped way too fast under heavy fire, rendering heals useless.
It’d be the same for direct hits to vitals like the heart or head.
I glanced at Dart, but he showed no real grief over the guild member’s death—he was too busy tending to the surviving wounded.
Gilgamesh spoke up.
“Well, only one dead in a mess like that? That’s a damn miracle.”
“...Yeah.”
He had a point.
The hunters and remaining heroes kept battling the monsters while the rear handled the wounded.
Gilgamesh peeked back at the situation, then straightened up.
“It’s just the entrance now, but deeper in? Way more hopeless. A bunch of our allied heroes died fighting too, so our forces are seriously depleted.”
Of course, even if deeper was riskier, we had to push through.
The gate entrance was sealed anyway—sticking around here just meant we’d all get dogpiled and die by monsters.
I turned to Gilgamesh, who’d busted his ass holding the rear.
“Good work.”
“You too—worked your ass off. Knew you’d pull it off, though.”
We shared a quiet smile.
Maybe because we’d clasped hands once during that last siege, but guild masters just got each other.
I saw Gilgamesh in a new light today.
A different kind of responsibility from when it was just a game.
Gilgamesh asked.
“Anyway, how the hell’d you do that? The gate cave’s toast.”
I glanced back—the monsters were mostly cleared, and rear cleanup seemed about done.
“We’ll talk while we move.”
The moment I answered, Dart sidled up beside me and Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh let out a sigh.
“How’re we breaking that again?”
Monsters were massing up ahead once more, swarming thick.
I bellowed.
“Everyone, get ready to run!”
“Huh?”
“We can’t take ’em one by one. We’re punching through fast and booking it.”
“Works for me, but how?”
Instead of answering Gilgamesh’s question, I summoned the sensation of my skills.
My skill window glowed.
I recalled the feel of ‘Dynamite Racing Through the Sky,’ the skill I’d spammed relentlessly in that recent Lowguard battle.
Shhh.
No sound reached my ears, but I felt the mana unfurl across my skin.
I spread it thin and long, driving it deep.
Then—boom.
“Dynamite!”
KABOOM—!!!
My radius calc for the mana explosion nailed it—only the front monsters blew apart, leaving the gate completely intact.
Not every monster died, so the skill’s damage output must’ve taken a hit.
I looked to the side—Gilgamesh and the others were standing there with mouths agape.
Don’t just stand there gaping,
“Run!”
Monsters surged in.
The hunters’ desperate sprint for survival kicked off, their breathless footsteps echoing through the gate.
We ran for a good while before Gilgamesh shot me a look.
“How’d you do it?!”
“Broke the skill mold. Recall the exact sensation of a familiar skill and cast it that way. But mana cost is insane, so be careful—”
ZZZCRACK—
BOOM!!
“Careful, damn it!”
Pissed at the wasted mana, I glared—Dart looked away sheepishly.
The front cleared again.
Right after my explanation, Dart had compressed his signature AOE lightning and blasted the front.
Should’ve let more monsters clump first to make the AOE count.
I bellowed.
“Run faster! Keep the rear wounded safe!”
“Hey, hold up. I’ve got zero clue what that even means? Recall skill sensation?”
“You try it later.”
“What the hell’s a skill sensation? Can I even do it?”
Seeing Gilgamesh get all anxious made me wonder—not everyone could pull it off just from hearing me explain.
Dart nailing it perfectly on the first go suddenly stood out.
In-game, he’d been the first in Bipa to adapt an existing skill like that, so maybe it made sense.
Truth was, even among rankers, barely anyone could improvise skills.
Someone yelled from the back.
“Monsters catching up fast!”
I glanced back mid-stride.
Rear heroes were layering buffs and shields.
We’d hit a new section inside the gate already—the front teemed with monsters different from the entrance.
Damn.
Felt like midway, but the path was already clogged.
“Combat formation!”
“No AOE?”
“Monsters too quick. Gotta clear ’em once before they hit the rear. You practice your skill here.”
“Got it.”
I left Dart and Gilgamesh at the vanguard and fell back to the rear.
Abyss stuck right with me.
Hyunwoo-nim, covering the rearmost, called out in a relieved voice.
“Kaisha-nim!”
Next to Hyunwoo-nim, Mura-nim—mask off—was piggybacking the passed-out Whale-nim.
“Mura-nim, you holding up okay?”
“Yes. Doing fine.”
A reassuring answer.
I’d overheard someone recognize Mura-nim earlier.
Supposed to be a legendary pro baseball player who peaked hard before retiring due to injury.
With his stats-boosted physique, Mura-nim looked totally unfazed sprinting full-tilt with an injured guy on his back.
I pointed my sword tip at the monsters and addressed the rear hunters.
“You saw my skill earlier—I found a way to cast skills not unlocked in the skill window.”
The hunters’ eyes bulged.
“No way, for real?!”
“How?!”
“I’ll show you how, so everyone try it right here.”
If Hyunwoo-nim and Mura-nim could pull off even one skill each, the rear would be ironclad.
I spread energy along my sword.
“Recall the sensation of using a skill in-game. The feel of mana spreading, amplified by your brainpower.”
AOEs guzzled mana, so I picked a basic low-tier swordsman skill to test.
The skill window was just a crutch to help us.
Brainpower was the real force.
As I channeled energy, the blade took on a faint green glow.
This time, no skill name called—I cast purely from recalled sensation and slammed the ground.
BOOM!!
The mana loaded into the sword went wild, chewing deeper into the underground than the surface ahead.
“...”
Ah, screw-up.
Without a skill’s built-in presets, I had to micromanage finer, or this happened.
Some monsters died, but damage was underwhelming for the power.
Anyway, the hunters who’d seen my demo started trying to recreate their own original skills.
“N-nope, nothing for me!”
“Getting halfway!”
“Uwaaah?!”
Somehow, someone’s backfired skill slammed into the hunters.
BOOM!!
“?!”
I hastily cast a heal.
Misfired skills were clashing into each other everywhere, injuring hunters left and right.
Total chaos.
“What the...”
This is a disaster.
Casting without the skill window’s framework was *this* tough?
Dart had aced it so cleanly after one explanation that I’d assumed others could manage somewhat.
That’s when—
A splash hit my ears.
SPLASH!!
A spiraling jet of water blasted the front monsters, shoving them back hard.
“...”
I turned to look behind.
Soap-nim, SpaceKing’s famous archmage and vice guild master.
“S-sorry.”
The poorly controlled jet splashed water everywhere—every nearby hunter got drenched.
Me included.
Meanwhile, the monsters it hit staggered up without dying and charged us.
If even Soap-nim could only manage this, there was no hope.
Soaked to the skin, water dripping from my hair, I calmly brushed my locks back.
“...Let’s stop. Just fight normally, please.”
At this rate, we’d lose more to friendly-fire misfires than actual monster attacks.