Field War (1)

With the final boss dead, the dungeon was over.

The walls that had split the battlefield restored themselves. The savage monsters crumbled into dust and vanished. Even my body, which had been bleeding out, flooded back with life. If they were going to restore my health anyway, they could have fixed my gear durability while they were at it. Judging by the tattered rags still hanging off me, they had no intention of mending the clothes.

"Wh-what? It's over? Why?"

Why? Because I won, that's why.

SojuBread, mid-leap with her greatsword raised, had clearly lost her target. Her landing was an awkward stumble, and the way she flailed the second her feet hit the ground was pretty funny. I let out a little snicker, and she looked away.

The only remaining trace of the battle was Father's corpse. No longer needing to sit on it, I sprawled out on the floor like a discarded rag. The drained, emptied-out exhaustion settled into a pleasant heaviness, and I closed my eyes for a moment.

Footsteps approached. SojuBread's heavy tramp, Elderin's sharp click of heels, MountainBird's light padding. I could tell them apart without looking now.

When the sounds stopped and I opened my eyes, three faces were looking down at me. Elderin's expression was particularly complicated.

"Did you… want to say something?"

"No. You did great. That's our Daeun — incredible, as always."

"Heh."

Praise always felt good. Elderin looked like she'd swallowed something she wanted to say, but if she wasn't going to say it, there was nothing I could do about it. For now, I was allowed to enjoy this little stretch of calm.

After killing a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠boss, you always check the loot. How many pillars of radiant light had gone up? The item names alone were enough to fill the entire screen. For someone who'd claimed there was nothing here, Father had been sitting on quite the treasure hoard.

Party-based distribution had its own established rules, so that part wasn't complicated. But buried in the middle of that cascade of system messages was something that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠needed proper attention — the unlocking of this region's Siege War.

It almost felt redundant to say it, but a Siege War split into two sides: offense and defense. The defending side was usually the guild that held ownership of the territory. For the defenders, simply preventing the fortress from falling within the time limit counted as a win. You didn't need to eliminate every rival — just avoid a decisive loss. The attacking side, by contrast, had almost no restrictions on participation. In extreme cases, dozens of guilds would pile into the offensive camp. The trade-off was that claiming the castle meant outlasting every single competitor.

Which meant joining as the defending side was an enormous advantage — provided the guild could survive until siege day.

SojuBread spoke with a stiff expression.

"For now, it looks like only our name went up. That's a relief. Serin, anything pop up on your end?"

"It says we need to confirm participation within the deadline. We can join as an allied force too."

"Then stall as long as you can and come in late."

"Got it, oppa."

The moment you set foot in a Siege War, hostile guilds were a given. War always started long before the blades came out. From the field onward, the fighting began — to force the enemy to abandon the siege entirely, or failing that, to stunt their growth and drive members into leaving. There wasn't much time. Guilds were already running the numbers. If the conclusion came back as "doable," a declaration of war would land on SojuBread's guild before the day was out.

TheClink had originally been a mercenary guild that handled one corner of siege warfare. Were they prepared for the brutal field battles that came with it?

I asked SojuBread.

"You're going to need to make a decision fast. My price tag is a lot higher than you think. Got the money to pay?"

"I…"

The new continent. Zephyrion's fields operated on pure survival of the fittest. Monsters weren't the only thing you had to watch for here.

Back on the main continent, unless you were a siege guild with a long list of enemies, the default reaction to spotting another player was "they're just passing through." On the new continent, anyone who wasn't an ally had to be classified as a provisional enemy. No — even allies couldn't be trusted lightly. Unless the friendship had been forged back on the main continent, getting stabbed in the back was an everyday occurrence. Personal disputes escalating into full guild-scale conflicts was common enough to stop being surprising.

"Yes, hyung. One mage, one archer, and two warriors. The support is a priestess."

Right on cue — the attack dogs of a predatory guild. These were the types who'd made field warfare their profession since the main continent days. With this patch, the old siege powers had lost a lot of their control. Small-scale conflicts had multiplied exponentially, but the kind of major incidents that actually required hiring attack dogs had dwindled. Under normal circumstances, they might have been looking at unemployment…

But where were they now? Zephyrion — a newly opened frontier built around PVP. To attack dogs with time on their hands, every human walking this continent looked like a walking coin purse.

Funny how that worked out. I felt the same way.

"Got it. Taking the shot."

High in a tree with a clear line of sight, a sniper who'd made every preparation fired the opening round. A cold gunshot rang out, and a few seconds later, a priestess mid-hunt in the distance sprayed red blood and collapsed. Clean hit. The bloodstain left on her head suggested a successful headshot.

"…Priestess down."

The sniper, TorchOfAnnihilation, grinned. It was a slimy kind of smile that sent a slight chill up my spine. I hadn't seen that look when we'd met during party hunts before. Birds of a feather, I supposed — he'd picked up some bad habits hanging around the wrong crowd.

Unable to contain my sorrow, I pinned both his arms as if pulling him into an embrace. For the sake of mutual respect, I rested a dagger against the front of his throat.

"Long time no see. You remember me, right? I've gotten so famous lately, everyone seems to recognize me."

"Uh… n-noona? What are you doing here?"

"What do you think? Pass this along to DongjakStation for me. Your bounties have stacked up nicely, so I came to collect. Die quietly and I won't come after you for a while."

"We're talking this out, righ—"

Trying something, were we? The second I caught him shifting the gun barrel, I drove the dagger in. I carved through his Adam's apple and windpipe in one stroke, leaving a long, clean wound for good measure. Not wanting blood on my clothes, I kicked Torch's body away. It hit the ground with a thud, twitched a few times, and went limp.

"Wonder if the message got through properly."

Well, if it didn't, that was just too bad. With a party member dead, they'd at least figure out something had gone wrong, right?

A little late, but — I slipped between the leaves and moved toward my prey.

The wind was especially fresh today. It smelled like money.