The Calamity's Tide

For a split second, the members of the Midas Guild had a fleeting thought: Is this Kim Tae-hyun's doing?

It was a deeply rooted instinct that had lingered since the days of the Guild Alliance!

If something seems suspicious, suspect Kim Tae-hyun. You'll be right more than ninety percent of the time.

But no matter how they looked at it, this wasn't something Kim Tae-hyun could pull off. If he could orchestrate something of this scale intentionally, he wouldn't be a player—he'd be a god!

"If that's the case..."

"The number of monsters will probably skyrocket, and they'll get stronger!"

"Isn't that a good thing? Think of how lucrative field mob-herding is."

While some masochistic players leveled up solely by chasing legendary quests, that was an extremely rare case. Legendary quests weren't common street dogs; how could anyone keep finding them?

The standard path was simple: Class Quests + Dungeon Hunting!

You obtained skills through class quests to strengthen your build, and accumulated experience by repeatedly clearing high-quality dungeons.

The problem was that competition for these high-quality dungeons was already cutthroat. If a dungeon was known to have good drops, a few major guilds would inevitably show up and basically say, "Haha, get lost."

Above all, as your level increased, you had to constantly search for new dungeons.

Why do you think the Demon Realm was so popular among high-level players? The difficulty was brutal, but the monster density and levels were so high that you could level up just by wandering around the fields without even entering a dungeon.

But now, monsters were starting to overflow in the fields.

For players who loved mob-herding, this was fantastic news.

"I should call my friends and form a party. We need to raise our levels by at least a few..."

"You idiot!"

"?"

"If it were that easy, would a system message like that have popped up? Summon the guild members! This is no ordinary event!"

Hearing his guildmate's fuss, the other player wondered why he was overreacting so much. However, his guildmate's prediction was spot on. This was indeed no ordinary event.

Mountain Gray Wolf. Level 80.

Wolf Tamer Tribe Warrior. Level 85.

The mountain paths where these wolves and their tamers appeared were popular hunting grounds for players around levels 70 to 80.

It was a safe hunting ground where nothing dangerous happened unless a massive pack of wolves occasionally swarmed you.

But suddenly, werewolves—monsters that had never been seen here before—appeared, and the number of wolves began to multiply exponentially as they grew stronger.

This was the power of the [Calamity]!

Novice players watched the army of wolves swarming down from the mountain in sheer bewilderment.

"What is that?"

"I have no idea. Surely they aren't coming this way, right?"

"For now, let's head inside the fortress..."

"?!?!"

In an instant, the entire area was crawling with monsters, and their escape routes were completely cut off. The players panicked.

"Th-this is a bit much, isn't it?!"

"Call your friends! We can't handle this on our own!"

"Can your friend even stop this?"

"Hey, he's a Level 150 Mage! He can easily sweep through something like this!"

Before long, the friend arrived.

"Did you wait long? Step aside! I'll sweep them all away!"

"Ohhh! So reliable!"

"As expected of a Level 150!"

"That's not a level just anyone can reach!"

And one minute later.

"Aaaack! Run! Run!"

"You crazy bastard! You said you could handle them!"

"Who knew they'd keep coming like this?! Just run!"

The Level 150 ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Mage friend had fired off a few spells, only to lose his mind in terror and flee. Killing a few dozen wolves did absolutely nothing. In the blink of an eye, werewolves would appear leading even more wolves to fill the gap. He had done nothing but draw aggro!

"A monster wave?"

Tae-hyun, who had been contemplating how to thoroughly torment Cain, looked at the system message in confusion.

"Isn't this no big deal? Just some Pan-On event..."

"No. If it were a friendly event, it wouldn't tell people to flee into cities and castles. Hmm..."

Tae-hyun fell into thought. Actually, this kind of event didn't mean much to top-tier rankers. Honestly, no matter how many monsters there were and how strong they became, if a ranker died from being surrounded by monsters in the field, they didn't deserve to be called a ranker. Once you reached ranker status, even if you couldn't kill them all, you'd at least have the skills to escape on your own!

However, Tae-hyun was the King of the Atali Kingdom.

The [Calamity] was affecting not just the players, but the NPCs as well! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If left unchecked, there was no telling how severe the damage would become. At the very least, the Atali Kingdom had to subjugate the monsters.

"It can't be helped. I'll have to temporarily halt my class quest and respond to the [Calamity]."

At Tae-hyun's words, everyone nodded. They all agreed. They had to protect the Atali Kingdom!

"Wow. I feel like it's been forever since I did any mob-herding."

"How do you even hunt normally in the fields? I can't even remember."

Come to think of it, they had been playing in a seriously abnormal way all this time!

"Both of you, shut up."

After silencing Choi Sang-yun and Jeong Su-hyeok, Tae-hyun continued.

"First, let's assess our available forces. The Silver Sword Knights."

The knights extorted... no, received from the Erangs Kingdom! Since they specialized in dealing with demons and undead, their combat power was formidable.

"Let's deploy them mainly to areas where undead appear."

"The players are going to love that."

Whenever the knights appeared, the players' eyes would light up as they rushed over. It was a golden opportunity to clear quests and build rapport with the knights!

"Next are the Capital Knights... but they need to defend the capital. Then we have the Archisus Holy Knights and the priesthood."

"Should we have them accompany you, Tae-hyun?"

"No. I can hunt just fine on my own. Let's have them move independently as well."

The best way to counter a massive wave of monsters was to meet them with sheer numbers. However, Tae-hyun didn't possess a massive guild of players like the Guild Alliance, nor did he have a mountain of Orc NPCs like Kim Tae-san. But Tae-hyun possessed a unique and powerful legion of elite NPCs that no other player had.

...Carbanog. I was already counting the Archisus Church among the elites.

In the past, he would have thought, If I let the Archisus Holy Knights roam around on their own, won't those precious paladin NPCs end up slaughtered? But not anymore. Now, both the Holy Knights and the priesthood were powerful NPCs capable of holding their own!

I never thought the day would come when I'd think this... but the Archisus Holy Knights are actually quite strong now.

"Let's also mobilize the Archisus's Flame Unit. And deploy the Death Knight Knights as well."

The fire mage NPCs established after the acquisition of the Fire Magic Tower, the Archisus's Flame Unit. The Death Knights, former knights of the Atali Kingdom discovered in the underground mines of the Auston Kingdom. Both were incredibly powerful NPC units!

"All of them?!"

"It doesn't matter."

Normally, players who ruled territories or had subordinates preferred to drag them along directly. Why else would they pay expensive gold to hire NPCs? To benefit themselves! They would have the NPCs herd the monsters, and then monopolize all the experience. This kind of mob-herding was extremely convenient for leveling up. There was a reason everyone paid hefty sums of gold to hire mercenary NPCs.

However...

Tae-hyun cleanly gave up on that and dispatched these powerful NPCs to various corners of the Atali Kingdom.

"Let's have the Marchetti County Knights and the Ernesto County Warriors patrol as well."

"What about the Blood Archipelago Knights?"

"Ah... those guys are a bit..."

Tae-hyun fell into a dilemma. The Blood Archipelago... meaning the vampires!

"Well, we can't afford to be picky right now. As long as they don't clash with the [Calamity], it should be fine. Tell them to come as well."

"Understood."

"Also, send an order to the Power Warrior Guild to move in groups. It'll be dangerous if they wander around scattered."

Tae-hyun swiftly completed the preparations. Then, he prepared to head out with his companions. It had been a truly long time since they had done field mob-herding!

Crack—

Tae-hyun rolled his shoulders and said, "Alright. Let's do some serious, thorough hunting for once in a long time."

"For once in a long time?"

"Serious??"

"Thorough????"

His companions gasped in horror at Tae-hyun's words. Hey, then what the hell have we been doing all this time?!

"Now! Let's go!"

"Wait... Senior..."

"Tae-hyun! Let's not overdo it!"

They had preferred it when they were only tormenting Cain, but now that Tae-hyun was about to torment them as well, their faces darkened. The start of a hellish hunt!

"Whoa... Whoaaa!"

The players, who had been getting relentlessly beaten and cornered, gasped in surprise at the sudden appearance. Knights!

"Rejoice, adventurers! Our great King of Atali Kingdom has sent us!"

"Praise him! Praise him! The honorable Silver Sword Knights invite the adventurers to join them in battle..."

And there was even a quest! The atmosphere among the terrified, fleeing players shifted in an instant. Normally, if there was no focal point to rally around, even a massive crowd of people would inevitably scatter. In that sense, Tae-hyun's response was practically perfect. He had cast aside any thoughts of monopolizing the mob-herding for his own gain and made a grand, generous decision for the players of his kingdom!

Of course, Tae-hyun himself was thinking something entirely different.

If they rely on NPCs to herd mobs for them, their skills will deteriorate.

If his companions behind him had heard this, they would have instantly screamed, You crazy bastard! What was wrong with taking it a bit easy? Why did he have to raise the difficulty even in a situation like this...!

Regardless, Tae-hyun had made the best decision. However, not everyone made the best decisions. People were far more selfish than one might think. In fact, that was only natural.

Other guilds weren't particularly different. Everyone was thinking along the same lines. Let's extract as much profit as possible from this [Calamity]! My guild executives and my guild members come first!

However, they were making a grave mistake. Even if they prioritized their own guilds, in a situation like this, they should have at least pretended to care about others! Unless people were complete fools, there was no way they wouldn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠notice what the guilds were up to.