Ancient Kingdom Siege (4)
The siege that had drawn such feverish attention was finally underway.
Ordinarily, a battlefield like this would never have heated up to this degree. But with a population far exceeding the scale of the castle itself pouring in, hell had opened its gates.
"Whoa. The firepower on both sides is no joke. The moment a supporter's shield drops, the spear knights just melt. For now, the Crusaders look a little stronger."
Overall, the attacking side was gradually seizing the advantage. Sulbbang's guild had always been outmatched in sheer weight class, and they were slightly outnumbered as well. That the fight was even this close — and that so many guilds had piled into the defending side — was a testament to Ga-wol's influence.
"Everyone's looking for Ga-wol, right? Let's find her together."
Ga-wol was currently the hottest topic in the game. Whether that held true worldwide was hard to say, but in Korea, at least, it was absolute. Anyone with even one foot in a pro team, like Wanderer, couldn't possibly be unaware of her.
In short… a woman whose very existence is an issue.
Wanderer clarified the thought in his mind. She herself didn't seem to fully grasp it, but every time Ga-wol made an appearance, pro team staff went rigid with tension.
The old Ga-wol had been nothing more than a nuisance to streamers. A disaster you were bound to run into once you started focusing on PvP — but every game had its share of vicious snipers. In this one, that sniper just happened to be called Ga-wol. That was all she had been.
Until she abruptly won the Arena, and everything changed.
No one in the world had seen it coming.
An S-tier Assassin player was something every team coveted. Given the enormous investment required to develop one, no team let them go easily. And yet here was such a prospect, having grown entirely on her own and suddenly revealing herself to the world.
Around the time Ga-wol defeated Ripper, the scouts from every team started getting torn apart. How long had Ga-wol been active, and not a single offer had been made?
There had been plenty of excuses back then. Too many bad controversies surrounding her. Team play was different from one-on-one. They'd already floated a trainee offer, and so on.
Then Ga-wol took a set off Kelberos. And on the day she finally claimed the championship as a Sword Dancer, every one of those stories was reduced to nothing but excuses.
Team tactics and knowledge could be taught. Combat sense, though — without the player's own talent to support it, you couldn't cultivate that. And at her level of skill, she would be an immediate asset on any roster. No — an ace.
In short: an S-tier free agent that every team would welcome with open arms was floating around in the open sky. If Sigma or Q Prime signed her, domestic dominance was a foregone conclusion. If a foreign team snatched her up instead — it would be a catastrophe for the Korean league.
It would have been one thing if she'd stayed out of sight like before. But first it was Sulbbang, then Elderin, and recently she'd been posting on community boards by herself, flaunting her presence. Naturally, staff at every team were on edge — waiting for the day an "official" announcement dropped saying she'd joined some roster.
Especially now, with rumors of Traveler's overseas transfer circulating. If that became reality, an even darker age for Korea was a certainty. Quiet murmurs had already begun that Ga-wol's recruitment was their only remaining hope.
And what was the woman herself doing in the middle of all this?
"Ah… clean work. That Fighter's specs look insanely high, but her fist just barely missed. That was razor-close."
A bloodied Assassin tumbled across the ground — along with a massive man. There had clearly been a fierce fight. The corpses strewn about, the sniper's bullet scars, the throng of evil spirits vanishing as a Spirit Summoner was force-recalled — all of it told the story at a glance.
Dodging the Fighter's fist, using his arm as a fulcrum to vault over his body — that alone was worth a gasp of admiration. And the chain work, deft enough to bind his arms in a single motion? The skill to subdue a Fighter with vastly superior specs — that was the Ga-wol Wanderer knew.
But… it was still a little indecent.
"Hahh, I really almost died this time. Last time you talked like you wanted a one-on-one, and then you call this many friends?"
"That's because you started it first, Ga-wol—"
"Shut up. Fighters are all the same."
"What does that have to do with—"
"Tsk. Keep quiet while I'm still using polite speech with you."
She buried the man's face against her lower abdomen and clamped her legs around his neck, crossing his arms and working the chains. The physical disparity was enormous — every time the Fighter thrashed, Ga-wol's body rocked violently. Her already tattered clothes tore further as they scraped the dirt, and her fine silver hair swayed this way and that.
"I'd prefer if you stopped thrashing. Ugh, disgusting. Don't get anything on my stomach."
Even as she said she hated it, a faint smile touched her face. Her hands tightened hard around the solid chains.
How long did she choke the Fighter like that? At last, as if deciding it was over, Ga-wol released the hold and stood. The part of her abdomen that had been pressed against the Fighter's face was slightly damp. She tried to peel the fabric away in disgust, then gave up and simply downed a potion while still wet.
Clothes torn in places, wounds still visible. Blood streaked across pale skin — the kind of sight that stirred something primal.
Watching in spectator mode, Wanderer spoke in a distinctly awkward tone.
"Uh, should we go check how the other fronts are doing?"
An hour in, and the main force had been pushed back hard. Sieges in Infinity Black ran for three hours. Looking at the time remaining, the outlook was far from hopeful.
Even the snatches of comms traffic I caught were packed with bad news. The defenders had their advantages, but the experience gap between the two sides was dragging us down. Cross might be a toothless tiger now, but they'd once stood at the absolute peak. The qualitative difference between them and Sulbbang — who'd spent his career bouncing around siege boards as a plain mercenary — was real. That we were holding on at all was probably thanks to how many of Cross's enemies had piled in on our side.
"I'll go. Not sure how much I can shake them up alone, but."
Sulbbang's gratitude landed a little too warmly. Thank me? I was just earning my pay.
Even thinking that, I couldn't help the small smile that tugged at my mouth.
In the last war, I'd had to run myself ragged. If the other side had more regular forces, we had to make full use of our asymmetric assets. With almost no one who could beat me one-on-one, I had to be the battlefield's fire brigade.
I swept the area — destroying cannons, cutting down loners who'd wandered off for XP, assassinating supply officers, cleaning up scout teams sniffing around the walls. Anything hostile that entered my sight, I killed on sight.
I was nearly at the east gate when Sulbbang's voice came through, urgent.
"Don't rush me. I'm almost there."
Impatient as always. Even I couldn't arrive that fast. From the wooded outskirts of the siege zone to the east gate — even taking the shortest route, the distance was considerable. There was a narrow canyon in the middle that made it fairly dangerous, but right now I had no choice but to take it.
"Weird report? What kind. Give me details so I can actually understand."
"…I've fought her before. But a current first-string player is jumping into a siege board?"
Camellia's face surfaced in my mind. At the same time, a cold prickle ran through me.
Of all places, the east gate was where the firepower was concentrated — and she showed up at this exact moment? The path around me was a narrow canyon. One road, no side trails to circle around.
And then I saw what I was going to see.
"Found her. She's here. Camellia."
"I'll handle her here. Something like that running wild on the battlefield is a headache. Sorry, but you'll need to ask someone else for the east gate."
A woman clad in pure white silk robes and light armor. The first time I'd seen her, she'd given off the air of a lofty enemy general — but when I'd watched her again on video, her eyes had been full of something closer to obsession. And now I thought I knew who that obsession was fixed on.
A familiar silhouette appeared at the far end of the canyon. The sunlight shifted for a moment, the shadows peeled away, and her gaze locked onto me with perfect precision.
No words needed. Just like the first time we met — conversation was unnecessary.