Eclipse (1)
Hey, you walking corpses of Teore. Newbie season's about to hit hard, so I'm rewriting the guide for the infamous first gate — the Eclipse.
Read this before you ask anything.
Instead of posting garbage like "Why do I keep dying" or "How do I keep the heroines alive," just read the damn guide.
* This only applies to certain western fiefs. If that isn't you, skip this. But nobody's dumb enough to not start in the west, right?
1. Basic Mechanics:
The Eclipse event's difficulty (monster volume and grade) scales with your fief level.
Don't get it twisted — a low fief level does NOT make this easy. Even a Lv.1 fief will vomit out more than you can handle alone, so quit whining.
Let your guard down and your fief gets wiped. Character-delete ending.
For the record: "relatively fewer" does not mean "easy."
Out of a hundred newbies, ninety-nine of you aren't stopping this.
What kind of game is this, you ask?
What are you supposed to do?
...
Just endure it, lol.
You picked this game.
2. Basic Strategy:
So how do you clear it?
Simple answer.
Strengthen your fief.
During the prologue period (before the Eclipse), grind your fief into the ground — raise defenses, secure troops.
Anyone flirting around with heroines during this window is already dead.
Always remember: Teore is a dark fantasy, not a dating sim.
The best way to power up is through Heroes. This game is unwinnable without them. Secure at least two 3-star or higher heroes, level them, and gear them up — that's the core. Upgrade defenses in order: wooden palisade → stone wall → magic barrier, and lay down plenty of traps (spike traps, oil traps, etc.). Do just that well and you might hold a normal monster wave at the cost of a few civilians or heroes.
3. Wave Bosses
If you're running a scrub fief (3-star or below), no boss mobs spawn.
But once you pass 3-star, stronger ones start showing up. Don't dump everything into the monster waves — save your strength. These things are usually huge or visually distinctive monsters.
They're pretty tough. Still killable if you're willing to crack a few skulls doing it.
4. Warning: 'Aberrations'
This is the real problem. Once your fief gets strong enough (roughly 5-star or higher?), special monsters called Aberrations start appearing between normal waves — boss-tier threats.
These things are not ordinary monsters. The variety is insane.
- Ones that understand human speech and even speak it fluently.
- Ones that use unknown powers distinct from magic (curses, mental corruption, etc.).
- Ones that attack the human mind directly, inducing hallucinations and terror.
- Ones that ignore physical defenses or deal damage in unpredictable ways.
The problem is there are so many types of Aberration, each with completely different patterns, that there's no clean one-size-fits-all strategy. Dozens of species have been documented, and new ones keep getting reported. Some are weak to specific items, some require particular hero skill combos… you'll have to figure that out the hard way.
There is one universal piece of advice, though. Keep your mental fortitude locked down tight. These things dig into a player's weak points, feed you false information, and even try to sow discord. If an NPC starts talking weird, block them first and stay suspicious.
P.S.: No commenting "How do I kill XXX Aberration?" Figure it out yourself.
P.S.2: To that Seorigol-starting newbie who posted a question recently… just reroll. Seriously.
Pitch-black darkness swallowed the world whole.
The sun that had been blazing only moments before was gone without a trace. Not a single star, not even a sliver of moonlight, remained in the sky.
A hazy, ash-gray dark. A cold that bit into the skin. And an ominous silence that seemed to devour every sound.
The only things still burning within that silence were the torches lit throughout Seorigol.
Crack. Snap.
The orange flames sputtered dryly, dancing on the edge of collapse in the dark. Every time the wind stirred, the wavering firelight and the long shadows it cast looked almost beautiful against this grotesque blackness.
— Hoot! Hoot!
From far off, somewhere in the forest drowned in darkness, a belated owl's cry drifted over. Startled by the upheaval of day and night, the call sounded especially forlorn.
But on the faces of the people standing here, there was only pale terror and shock.
Seorigol's main gate.
Beneath the old earthen wall, Caelen and his soldiers — the same men who had been mocking me moments ago — stood with vacant expressions. The swords and spears in their hands trembled uneasily.
"……."
I looked around. Elara, who had been crouched behind a rock, and Anya, who had been hiding behind a tree, were nowhere to be seen.
They ran.
A bitter smile tugged at my mouth.
Good call. I'd trained them in the first place to give them even a slightly better chance of surviving a hellscape like this. An old woman and a child. Escaping under cover of darkness was wiser than staying here. I hoped they made it.
"…How did you know."
From the distance, the howls of monsters were beginning to rise. Caelen muttered over them in a voice loud enough to drown them out.
"The world goes black and monsters come pouring in… How did you know something this absurd was going to happen. Everyone laughed at you. The second daughter, the eldest son, the head of the house, even the sage — all of them!"
Yeah. I knew that better than anyone.
I'd been the one on the receiving end of all that contempt and scorn.
But his reaction was all wrong. If I'd so brilliantly predicted the future, the least he could do was show a little respect. Why was he just standing there grumbling?
"Did you make a deal with a witch somewhere? Or — or did you sell your soul to a demon?"
"Sir Caelen."
At my voice, his shoulders flinched. His gaze stayed locked forward, toward the direction of the monster cries.
"It's not too late. If you're scared, feel free to run."
My jab twisted Caelen's face with rage. He clenched his teeth and answered.
"…Don't be ridiculous!!"
He was clearly trembling where no one could see, but he was forcing the momentum out of himself.
"I am a knight of Darkest! On a knight's honor, I will not flee!"
"Ohh. For my sake?"
"Don't flatter yourself!" Caelen snarled.
"It is not for the likes of you! It is for our honor — for the pride of being knights of House Darkest. That pride will shine brighter than this darkness ever could!"
At his cry, the soldiers stirred and adjusted their grips on their swords. Fear still lived in their eyes, but over it they had forced a layer of honor and pride.
…Idiots.
I snorted inwardly.
Just as expected.
On any ordinary day, these men wouldn't have lifted a finger to help me. They would have enjoyed watching me in danger.
But this was different.
Their hunger for honor and their pride — that was the bait I had set. Running from this catastrophe would be a stain on the very "noble honor" they prized so highly.
— Grrrrrk… Guooooooh!
Right then, a shrieking roar tore through the far side of the darkness. At the same time, the ground began to tremble faintly.
"They're coming…!"
Caelen's and the soldiers' faces went white again. I tightened my grip on my sword and stared into the direction where the dark began.
"Grrrk…!"
"Grk, grk!"
The first things to emerge from the darkness were a pack of small green-skinned monsters — goblins.
I adjusted my sword and stepped forward.
Caelen sneered.
"Young master's pathetic form hasn't improved one bit."
"You talk like you were my instructor."
"I watched, at least. With form like that, you'll struggle against a single goblin."
He wasn't wrong.
Despite a full year of training, my swordsmanship was still garbage.
Thwack!
I barely managed to bat aside a club swung by one of the goblins.
My arm went numb.
I'm going to die like this.
Damn it.
Feeling the threat of death from the very first exchange.
The monsters pouring in felt overwhelmingly hopeless — even after a year of training without missing a single day.
I hadn't paid for proper lessons. Everything I knew came from books and watching over other people's shoulders, so maybe it was inevitable. I'd even tried begging the family to teach me the sword, and all I'd gotten was ignored.
I knew, of course.
That even this much was a decent result for a complete amateur.
But surviving the monsters flooding toward us required something far better.
"Put a little more weight on your lead foot."
Caelen offered the tip like he was doing me a favor.
I quickly drove power into my left foot and caught a goblin's sideways chop.
— Kaaaaang!
Better than before.
"You could have told me this stuff earlier!"
"Who would teach a bastard the sword. It would put them out of favor with the head of the house."
"Then why tell me now?"
"If young master can pull even a tenth of his weight, my odds of surviving go up. And since you're going to die here anyway, there's no need to worry about the consequences later."
Tch.
This damn family.
The surge of heat gave me the strength to keep fighting.
Keeping Caelen's advice in mind, I focused on shifting my center of gravity.
Kang!
When the enemy struck down, I lowered my stance and held.
Krrrsssh!
When they cut in from the side, I twisted my weight and let the blade glance off.
It looked pathetic by any standard, but scraping by against a single goblin, batting its weapon aside and staying alive — that was the full extent of what I could do.
"Not bad, for young master."
"If you've got time to sneer, help me!"
"I already told you. I fight for honor. Young master should fight for honor as well."
That's just another way of telling me to drop dead!
Damn honor!
This wretched House Darkest!
In that instant—
"Kegeh-geh-gek!"
A particularly slit-eyed goblin latched onto me.
Whoa! Stay back!
I was already locked in a fair one-on-one with another one!
No matter how hard I tried to shake off the slit-eyed bastard while dealing with my SSS-rank goblin opponent (it was just a normal one), it was impossible.
The slit-eyed one closed in slowly.
One step. Another step.
As if it meant to savor the sight of me drowning in terror.
— Krrrssshhh!
I was barely holding the blade of the goblin in front of me over my head.
Whoosh.
The other one's sword came in like slow motion, aimed straight at my gut.
"Hup!"
I clenched my teeth and twisted away.
A sharp pain seared across my side.
Something warm began to run down my ribs.
Please don't let it be my organs.
And in that moment—
You have accessed the first sword wound.
▶ Memory Fragment Basic Swordsmanship (Lv.1) acquired.
Maybe because I'd just clawed my way back from the edge of death, my vision snapped into focus.
The neck of the one that had slashed my side.
It had swung so hard it left itself completely open.
Fighting down the urge to clutch my ribs, I clenched my teeth and swung.
The goblin stared blankly down at its own throat.
— Seok!
Its head hit the ground.
Oh. So it does come off.
Beyond the hollow space where the goblin's head had been, I caught sight of Caelen standing there with his mouth hanging wide open.
"Close your mouth, mister. You're going to catch flies. Or blood."