Chapter 99
Chapter 99
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Shocking Death Risk
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As the shocking permanent death risk popped up, the guild members erupted in an uproar.
"What the—? Permanent death?"
"How are we supposed to check for error codes? You said there'd be no death risk, so why stab us in the back right at the start?"
"Ah, déjà vu..."
"It feels just like when the gate's rank changed inside, and it's making me really uneasy."
"Me too."
"Damn it. Hope no one ends up dying again."
"As long as it's not those error code intruders, dying in this channel won't mean permanent death anyway."
Having already gone through a gate rank change, everyone was somewhat resigned.
I listened to the guild members' chatter while staring at the warning alert for a moment, then closed the window and looked around.
Just as it had appeared from afar, it was a utterly barren wasteland.
As expected, the Goldbunker and Spaceking guild members had also group-teleported here alongside us, to this spot that was clearly visible from Highguard.
I walked up to the pillar of pure white light descending like a column.
"Is that the territory system for this channel?"
Gilgamesh, who had arrived first, answered with conviction to my question.
"The gem shape confirms it—100%."
A transparent gem floated inside the beam of white light.
It was the very picture of a standard territory system, though smaller than the one in Midgard and lacking any unique color.
At that moment, the colorless gem suddenly turned red. With it, the white light pillar also took on a red hue.
Gilgamesh had manipulated the territory system to claim it.
Gilgamesh muttered.
"Korea gets red, huh."
Seeing the light beam change color, Maya, who had arrived late, looked disappointed.
"Aw! Too bad. Missed the system conquest."
"It's basically the same as the territory system."
No sooner had I said that than a map appeared in front of every guild member.
The land we were on was marked red.
I touched the spot estimated to be the gem's location, and the scenery where we stood came up.
Adjusting the camera angle upward revealed more land expanding out from the light pillar at the center, but there was a limit to how high it could go.
This let you roughly scout around the territory system.
I heard footsteps and turned to see Dart.
"......"
He seemed to be subtly watching my reaction, so I naturally looked away.
Sure, it felt a bit unfair that I'd had to beg him so much before he'd summon Helcannon, but I had no intention of bringing it up in this situation.
Gilgamesh looked at us and spoke.
"After clashing nonstop in siege wars, ending up on the same side feels fresh. Never imagined the day we'd team up like this."
Couldn't agree more.
Gilgamesh raised his hand, so I gave him a light high-five, then naturally extended mine toward Dart for one too.
Dart flinched but raised his hand.
Clap.
Gilgamesh's gaze lingered on us briefly before dropping.
"No point dawdling here. We're a team now, so let's share any useful info straight up."
I nodded, turned, and addressed the nearby Fullminak executives.
"Let's move out."
* * *
The Gotgold casters, having seen the life-or-death Babel Tower warning, flew into a rage.
["Permanent death? What the hell?!"]
["These fucking bastards! Argh! Are they insane?! Why do they keep screwing us over with lives on the line since the gate?!"]
["Man, I'm really worried. Hope no one dies this time."]
["As the nightmare of the gate and city war revives, our proud Korean hunters march on silently."]
["We salute you."]
The Korean hunters, split precisely into three groups, began carving their path.
["Fullminak, Goldbunker, Spaceking. Looks like they're going with separate guild advances. From the current map..."]
["Babel Tower's shaping up for one hell of a world war."]
["Did they arrange the placements like this on purpose?"]
["You'd hope not, but who knows."]
It was an intriguing national lineup.
Surprisingly, while the hunters' maps didn't show it, the casters' system windows displayed the full national distribution across Channel 1004.
It was the Babel Tower spectator system that Nokhyeon had arranged by sending someone over.
Originally meant for Nokhyeon's third faction to monitor inside the tower, he'd decided to share it with Gotgold.
Nokhyeon belonged to Fullminak but aimed to nurture Korean hunters evenly, so it was a natural choice.
Of course, granting this privilege came with a condition: fair distribution ratios.
Invisible cameras inside the channel moved at the camera team's command, cycling through scenes.
["Oh. It's actually working."]
["Fucking awesome."]
["Fullminak heading straight central, Goldbunker westbound, Spaceking pushing north—there you have it."]
["Looks like they've recovered a bunch of basic job skills. Speed buffs and they're flying."]
["Heard you can restore most standard job skills by visiting the quest NPCs from Highguard."]
["Ooh."]
Since Bipa was a war and army management game, Haste could be applied to entire armies.
Their movement speed was incredibly fast.
["The guild colors really stand out. Spaceking's browsing weapon shops on Coinmarket, and Goldbunker's sniffing out money by checking land conditions along the way."]
["Puhahaha! For real?!"]
["Insider scoop: Goldbunker does have specialists for digging up land value."]
["Yeah, we've got dedicated folks for that. But do they have rankers among those experts?"]
["Think so. Oh, something's showing up."]
["Already?"]
["Fullminak, heading central, hits the monster zone first."]
The screen, which had been showing all three guilds' situations at once, zoomed in and filled with Fullminak's.
* * *
We pushed straight ahead, claiming a few territories visible on the central path. We hadn't encountered hunters from other countries yet.
The forest was far off, so I'd let my guard down briefly.
While running with Yugeon slung over my back, I spotted a monster horde ahead and shouted.
"Abyss!"
Abyss, matching my pace, nodded and shot forward like he'd activated boosters.
Man, it's been a while since I last saw male Abyss.
Boom—!!
Abyss swept the area in a flash and returned, yelling.
"Phase 6!"
Midgard's monster ranking system.
Phase 6 was roughly manageable for level 70s, and considering our 3rd Army was in the 60s, it wasn't a huge threat.
The problem was—
Kali beside me exclaimed in shock.
"Phase 6 right off the bat?!"
Exactly this.
In Lowguard, max level folks toyed with phase 8, rankers did 9-10, and top rankers 11.
With even our 1st Army not at max yet, starting like this was trouble.
After roughly counting the monsters ahead, I activated voice chat and issued orders to the guild.
"Loosen up with free-for-all attacks and gauge our strength. Helcannon."
"Yes."
"You fight too."
"Got it."
I let the guild members scatter and handle the monsters on their own, while I dashed around the clustered foes to scout the area.
Checking for traps or burrowing monsters—
"!"
I spotted humanoid monsters—impossible to tell if human or beast—tearing into a perfectly normal person and immediately cast a skill.
[Lightning lv99]
KABOOM!!
The humanoid monsters scattered in panic from the lightning striking from a clear sky, dropping the human and looking around.
Abyss, who'd been following me, lunged in an instant to attack them.
Slash!
Leaving Abyss to it, I hurriedly freed the near-devoured person.
Looked like a civilian.
Up close, he seemed much younger than expected. His hair was incredibly long, so I'd thought girl at first, but it was a guy.
"You okay?"
He was like a pearl in the mud—totally out of place here.
The young man, with an ambiguous look between teen and adult, stared blankly up at me with no hint of tears, then suddenly started sobbing silently, gasping for breath.
His whole body shook in convulsive terror of death.
Kali's voice rang out.
"Huh? Whoa. Already rescued a civilian? Dart was right?"
"If this guy's alone against monsters, probably not a residential area nearby."
"Yeah. Deeper in, maybe."
I cast Heal on the presumed civilian, and minor wounds vanished as a faint spark returned to his eyes.
White hair, blue eyes.
Eyes rolled back and a total mess now, but cleaned up, it'd be a strikingly pretty palette overall.
Skin that white in this blazing sun—how'd he survive?
Evolutionarily weird.
I silently pulled a water bottle from my inventory and offered it. The white-haired youth flinched and looked up at me.
"?"
Wondering if he suspected me, I twisted off the cap and took a sip first.
"Here, drink. It's safe."
Not sure if he understood, the youth, who'd been staring blankly, reached out and took the bottle.
He chugged it down.
[Nickname 'Kaisha Coin Wallet' sheds tears of emotion and sponsors 200 coins.]
[Other participants complain that 'Kaisha Coin Wallet' is cheapening coin spam from the start to grab attention.]
[Nickname 'Kaisha Fanclub President' sends a message.]
The windows vanished before I could finish reading.
"?"
What was that about?
Abyss, finishing off the monsters quick, returned to me.
"First time seeing humanoid monsters."
Kali chimed in.
"Probably orcs, ogres, that sort. Rare in Midgard."
"Eating people? Gross."
Abyss spat in disgust.
Then chat lit up.
["Kaisha."]
"Yeah, Maya. What's up?"
["Found and claimed a territory system. Check the map."]
"Got it. Nice work."
I checked the camera for the newly claimed territory.
Instead of Kali here, Hyunwoo was overseeing the guild's combat there.
Looking at Kali, I asked.
"Kali, why aren't you fighting?"
"Huh? I'm basically max level already. Yielding XP, haha!"
"......Yeah, good job."
While Kali was clearing Midgard dungeons, I'd been swamped with guild work, so I still had a ways to max.
Maybe too complacent relying on brainpower.
Opening the map showed the Korean alliance's territory claims and real-time movements at a glance.
Dart had already tangled with foreign hunters up north—mixed with new colors—and Gilgamesh was still charging ahead.
I closed the window.
The white-haired youth had stood up and was staring at me.
I smiled, lips curving up.
"Hi. What's your name?"
"......Efn."
Efn answered my question, glancing at the Yugeon on my back.
Words connected, at least.
"Efn? Efwen?"
Efn nodded.
The 'f' had a bit of wind, tricky to pronounce.
Then my intro.
"I'm Kaisha."
"......Kaisha. Thank you so much for saving me."
Fluent Korean.
I wondered if this channel used Korean like Midgard, but the Babel Tower alert that followed proved otherwise.
『Translation system active.』
I looked away from the alert and smiled softly at Efn.
"It's only natural to save someone in danger. If it's not too rude, mind telling me more about this place?"
At my question, Efn hesitated, glancing anxiously between me and Kali.