Chapter 180
Chapter 180
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 180
Chapter Title: Black Crown Assault
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Black Crown—they were definitely different from ordinary players.
Park Dong-wook had only been a player for a short time, but he'd crammed in a ton of info and seen plenty.
-Entry prep complete.
Players, guilds, associations.
None of them.
-Entering.
Showed this kind of precision and flawless coordination.
Kwaang!
Even players weren't like soldiers.
They were people who'd lived ordinary lives until they Awakened by chance and jumped in.
Most Awakened in their mid-to-late twenties, too.
Tata-tat!
You could train player skills, but instilling a sense of duty or desperation in them was damn near impossible.
But Black Crown was different.
"What the hell...!"
"It's Black Crown."
They shattered the ironclad truth that players couldn't be controlled.
"Huh, Black Crown? Why are they...?"
"Kneel."
Park Dong-wook felt a strange thrum in his chest at their crisp efficiency.
'Does the System work on Black Crown?'
Was that Go Yohan's doing?
With Korea's player System paralyzed right now, how could they wield that kind of power?
Smashing through walls, moving at blinding speed.
And then.
Taang!
A gunshot rang out.
"......!"
With the player System temporarily down, guns were naturally the most powerful weapons.
"Hup!"
Park Dong-wook unwittingly gasped.
He'd suspected the System might work on Black Crown, but that was it.
Their movements were unmistakably off, and he hadn't seen any skills.
If they'd lost the System too...
Tatatatatang!
This gunfire would rack up dozens of casualties in seconds.
Pssst.
The building filled with smoke from the blasts.
And then.
"If you don't comply with orders, we'll use force."
A Black Crown member emerged from the smoke, completely unscathed.
A barrier glowing blue.
'An item?'
No, that was player power.
"Mana!"
Black Crown was using mana without the System.
Tata-tat!
Footsteps, bodies shifting.
Clothes rustling as they staggered.
"Kuh."
Screams like death rattles.
Thud, thud.
Marionettes with cut strings collapsing limply, the sounds echoing.
"First floor clear."
It took less than two minutes to subdue the dozens of Onda Guild members waiting on the first floor of their house.
Step, step.
"Entering second floor."
Not a hint of hesitation in their movements.
Park Dong-wook's mind spun in a whirlwind.
'What the hell?'
What were they?
That's when it hit.
Twitch.
Some bizarre resonance rippled through him, and an absurd certainty bloomed in his head.
"It's not the System...?"
He had no idea why he'd think that.
No skills used, but wielding mana should scream System to any player.
But earlier, and now...
"......"
It just didn't feel like Black Crown was using the player System.
Not a hunch—a gut certainty.
And what he couldn't grasp was...
'How do I know?'
The fact that he'd noticed and was sure of it.
"You've got a talent for it."
That's when Go Yohan clapped his shoulder and spoke.
It made no sense.
But...
"......"
It was the same pounding in his chest.
Kwaaang!
An explosion rocked the second floor.
Blue flames mixed with white.
"......No!"
Park Dong-wook shouted without thinking.
He knew those flames.
"Vice Guild Master! Onda's vice, Cheon Gu-suk's Azure-White Flame!"
One of Onda's top fighters—Cheon Gu-suk's fire.
*
*
*
As the flames tried to swallow from the second floor down to the first, Kang In stepped up.
Shaaek.
A sharp swing of his arm whipped up wind that shoved back Cheon Gu-suk's Azure-White Flame.
"......!"
That alone was astonishing.
Onda Guild was mid-tier in Korea, but their rank-and-file were utter trash.
Park Dong-wook knew best—he'd been one of their bottom-rung grunts.
The first-floor members who'd been swept away? They might've been stronger just holding guns.
What let trash like Onda hold mid-tier status...
Hwaaaak!
Was their rock-solid cadre of officers, strong enough to ignore the dregs entirely.
Cheon Gu-suk's Azure-White Flame recoiled, then surged back at Kang In.
Drip.
Like most guild houses, built to withstand monster attacks—but the walls were melting.
"Hup."
Even Kang In fell back a step.
Onda's Cheon Gu-suk was a ranker.
And the question that arose...
'How?'
Could Cheon Gu-suk use player power?
But there was no time to dwell.
Hwaruk!
The intensifying flames of Cheon Gu-suk were about to engulf Kang In completely.
"No...!"
Park Dong-wook lunged instinctively.
Onda was his enemy, but he feared Black Crown might die pointlessly.
"Stay put."
Go Yohan grabbed his shoulder.
"He's not someone you need to worry about over something like this."
"What do you...!"
It was Cheon Gu-suk!
A Korean ranker.
And the power on display was even vaster and fiercer than what Cheon Gu-suk had shown before.
"Indeed."
The flames were dying down.
No.
Whoooosh!
They swirled into Kang In's body like they were being sucked in.
"Looks like demon power."
Kang In spoke casually from within the inferno.
No way.
'He's tanking it?'
Cheon Gu-suk's Azure-White Flame, said to reduce even an ogre to ash in one hit?
"Yeah. Weird form, but traces remain."
Go Yohan said it like this was all perfectly normal.
"Even Yoo Se-hwa missing it makes sense."
"We'll stay sharper."
"No need to overdo it."
That's when.
Wung... wung...
Cheon Gu-suk's Azure-White Flame compressed in Kang In's grip into a glowing orb.
The polished, shining mass looked like a gem, captivating anyone who saw it.
And then.
"Subduing."
Kang In spoke.
Paat!
He thrust out his fist.
Cheon Gu-suk's Azure-White Flame devoured friend and foe alike.
A sure-kill technique too unwieldy to use freely, despite its devastating power.
Onda Guild Master On Wi-seong's words to Cheon Gu-suk suddenly flashed in Park Dong-wook's mind.
-Cheon Gu-suk, master your Azure-White Flame perfectly, and you could aim for the top in this little country.
Cheon Gu-suk's reply came too.
-I can't just control a skill however I want. A pipe dream.
But now.
Kwaaaang!
The uncontrollable flames condensed, refined—and shot out.
Shooo.
A sliver of light seeped in.
It had pierced straight through the ceiling of Onda Guild House.
*
*
*
The second floor was already done.
Kang In had fired the Azure-White Flame orb right through the man who looked like Cheon Gu-suk.
His body burned like it was aflame, yet...
Fuuung.
His heaving chest suggested he was still breathing.
"......"
It was so shocking Park Dong-wook couldn't speak.
And that wasn't all.
"Kuh... "
"Ugh!"
Dozens of players sprawled across the second floor.
Onda's elites—the core of the guild.
Clouds Park Dong-wook, on the bottom rung, could never even glance at.
If he'd raided gates with them...
'Ah.'
Monsters he'd doubt were even human.
"S-spare..."
"Quiet."
Now they lay scattered like garbage, rolling on the floor.
Black Crown.
Against Onda's elites, their only damage was singed clothes or minor cuts.
Even more shocking...
"They'll be moved to the Magic Tower."
"Understood."
Go Yohan and Kang In treated it like the most natural thing.
In that moment, his initial thirst for revenge had faded a lot.
Who could say who was victim and perpetrator, seeing them groan so pitifully?
"We owe you thanks, Player Park Dong-wook."
Kang In's voice cut in.
"Huh? For what...?"
"Thanks to you, I got to hunt with the Captain after so long."
Hunt—to them, this was just a hunt.
"And."
Swipe.
Kang In and Go Yohan's gazes turned somewhere.
"We got to see the Captain's skills up close again. Truly grateful."
Third floor.
Guild houses scaled by size.
Onda's top was three stories.
"Perimeter fully secured."
That's where Onda Guild Master On Wi-seong would be.
"Barrier's already up..."
Kang In's long explanation boiled down to one thing.
"Hunt at ease."
On Wi-seong couldn't escape, nor even surrender.
All he could do was flail.
That's when.
Kwaaang!
The ceiling caved, and something massive dropped down.
"Gaaah-!"
A grotesquely warped voice.
Bloated body covered in scale-like growths—no longer remotely human.
"On Wi-seong!"
But Park Dong-wook knew it was him instantly.
The head still in place matched the On Wi-seong who'd mocked him before.
"Go Yohan-!"
The moment the now-monstrous On Wi-seong charged at Go Yohan.
"A modified version of Demon Seed?"
As Go Yohan regarded him and spoke.
Puhwaaak!
On Wi-seong's body split in half.