Kill the Mortals!
“Kill the mortals!”
“Wipe out the mortals!”
The demonic beasts and Holy Knights of the Sadiq Church burst out with terrifying momentum, charging forward as they attacked anything in sight.
The ones who suffered the worst were the players waiting close to the Valley.
Before they even had time to react, large monsters and Sadiq Holy Knights had come pouring out of the Valley and begun slaughtering everything they saw.
The players who had come to clear the quest with others despite being a bit low-level were trampled under demonic beasts or skewered by the Holy Knights’ lance charges, logging out on the spot.
“Kahahahaha!”
“Long live Sadiq! Kneel before the great Sadiq!”
The Sadiq Holy Knights shouted in exhilaration.
Burford, who was among them, got caught up in the mood and shouted along with them.
“Long live Sadiq!”
From the very beginning, the Sadiq Church had never intended to stay inside the Valley and defend.
When it came to rotten tempers and a love of fighting, the Sadiq Church was one of the worst on the continent.
There was no way they were going to sit still and watch all those adventurers swarming outside.
“Let’s strike first!”
“Those adventurer bastards dared come here—we have to show them how terrifying Sadiq is!”
As the Holy Knights of the Sadiq Church shouted, one of the Church’s cardinals raised his staff and cried out.
“Good! Let us teach those fools the majesty of Sadiq!”
Thanks to the party that had entered the Valley only to be utterly crushed, the Sadiq Church was brimming with confidence.
“Charge! Advance!”
The giant demonic beasts thundered forward first, turning the area where the players were gathered into complete chaos, while the Sadiq Holy Knights followed behind them.
Their momentum was so overwhelming it looked as though the battle would be over in an instant, with victory going entirely to the Sadiq Church.
But that wasn’t what happened.
The players and religious orders gathered here were not so easy to crush.
“What? A surprise attack?”
“Are they insane? Against this many people?”
The players who heard the news began murmuring among themselves.
No matter how fearless or battle-crazy they were, launching the first attack against this many enemies was madness.
“They came out of the Valley? Perfect! Let’s kill them!”
“I’m going too!”
“Hey! Call everyone! The Sadiq bastards came out!”
The players closest to the Valley had all been logged out before they could even do anything, but the others were still alive and kicking.
They got ready in an instant and prepared to attack.
“Chain Flame Rain!”
“Surging Wave of Rock!”
As crushing magic rained down, the charging demonic beasts screamed.
“Kraaaang!”
“Kraaaaah!”
“Let’s go! Time to farm contribution points!”
“Every Sadiq Holy Knight you kill gives you a ton of contribution!”
To the players, the Sadiq Church’s beasts and Holy Knights outside the Valley weren’t terrifying enemies.
They were loot packages full of contribution points.
The players who found the Church’s beasts and Holy Knights too difficult to deal with were either already dead or had retreated to the rear.
The ones charging in now were all either highly skilled or very confident in their abilities.
“Hey! That’s ranker Yohansson!”
A huge Orc warrior rampaged through the battlefield with an axe in hand.
It was Yohansson, famous as a warrior ranker.
“Boiling Wall of Lava!”
“That’s Crawford the Pyromancer!”
Since this was a large-scale quest, it wasn’t just high-level players here—rankers renowned across the continent had shown up too.
People were currently estimating that top-rankers among rankers, like Lee Se-yeon and Smith, had already surpassed Level 120.
These players weren’t quite at that level, but still—if you wanted to walk around openly saying, “I’m a ranker,” you generally had to be over Level 100.
Of course, level wasn’t the only requirement to be considered a ranker.
There were plenty of players with lower levels who were stronger thanks to their stats, skills, or class.
That was just the general rule.
Production-class players and artistic-class players were often treated like rankers even at much lower levels.
For the other players, seeing rankers they usually only watched on broadcasts was fascinating enough.
And it wasn’t just the rankers. High-level players were also charging around all over the place, eager to rack up contribution points.
On top of that, there were more than just players here.
The Holy Knights and priests sent by the various religious orders moved quickly as well.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAAANG!
Holy bombardment magic rained down on the Sadiq Church’s beasts and Holy Knights rampaging near the Valley.
Each time a dazzling pillar of light crashed down, another giant beast screamed and collapsed.
It was a scene so grand it looked like something straight out of a movie.
The players livestreaming the fight shouted excitedly.
“I just killed a Sadiq Holy Knight! You see that thing burning over there, right? Right now this is—whoaaa! I’ll explain in a second!”
At that point, the Sadiq Church’s original plan had already fallen apart.
They had meant to launch a sudden nighttime strike, throw the enemy into confusion, and wipe them all out.
But the adventurers gathered here were stronger than expected.
A dead-even clash.
With the Valley entrance between them, the Sadiq Church and the assembled adventurers fought fiercely.
For the players, it was a perfect opportunity to grind contribution points.
“Get all the guild members over here now! We’re taking down that beast!”
“Party members! Run! We’re going after that group of Sadiq Holy Knights over there!”
“Huh? What the hell? They’re already fighting?”
Taking the long route through the mountain range, Tae-hyun had been checking in from time to time to see how the quest was progressing.
This was a quest with a huge number of participants.
Building up contribution points mattered, sure—but what mattered most was earning more than everyone else.
To put it bluntly, even 10,000 contribution points would be enough... if he could make sure everyone else ended with zero.
Tae-hyun was circling over the mountain range to force the knights into total submission.
Which meant he was bound to join later than everyone else.
I thought it’d move a little slower since all the parties going in kept getting wiped...
Party after party had been dying, so he’d figured the whole thing might drag out a bit.
But watching the footage now, the two sides were openly throwing themselves into battle.
The scale of the fighting was almost enough to call it a war.
The Sadiq Church had sent out the demonic beasts it controlled, along with its Holy Knights and priests.
The Holy Knights and priests had always been strong, but the Church’s demonic beasts were far beyond expectations.
Each time one of the flying monstrosities swooped down, it would snatch a player and hurl them into the air.
If those claws got hold of you, you were dead more often than not.
The other demonic beasts were no less dangerous or troublesome.
They spewed fire, overturned the ground, and drove entire groups of players into confusion.
But the players fighting them were no pushovers either.
Backed by the support of allied Holy Knights and priests from other orders, they were throwing themselves into battle, trying to bring down the demonic beasts one by one.
“Hey! A horned beast just spawned over there! Let’s kill that one!”
“Okay!”
The easier-to-hunt beasts were drawing competition between parties.
Everyone was desperate to rack up contribution points.
Pausing the video, Tae-hyun smacked his lips bitterly.
“This changes the math...”
“Why do you say that, sir?”
“The quest’s progressing faster than I expected. Why the hell did the Sadiq Church come outside to fight?”
Tae-hyun grumbled.
What the Sadiq Church had done looked tactically stupid.
They had secured a good position inside the Valley, and then marched out to attack the enemy.
Sure, they had enough weapons and power that the fight was still evenly matched even after coming out—but if it had been Tae-hyun, he would’ve just hunkered down inside.
A move worse than doing nothing.
“Let’s move. Before we miss the whole quest.”
“Yes, sir!”
As Tae-hyun hurried the others and the knights along, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Wait. If the Sadiq Church is fighting the assembled players outside the Valley right now... doesn’t that mean the inside is empty?
No matter how strong the Sadiq Church was, it was hard to imagine they’d left many troops behind inside while confronting all those players outside.
The battle was already evenly matched as it was. If they had reserves inside, they would’ve committed them by now and crushed the enemy.
Which meant the Valley interior was probably almost undefended.
The instant that thought clicked into place, Tae-hyun’s mind began spinning rapidly.
The Valley of Despair and Sorrow was enormous, and its paths were complicated.
The main entrance connected directly to the plains.
That was where the first party had gone in, been ambushed, and died—and where the Church’s Holy Knights had now come out with the demonic beasts to clash with the other players.
There were other ways into the Valley too.
You could come down from the massive mountain range stretching behind it.
But that mountain range was packed with monsters, and the paths were rough and narrow, so the other players had no reason to go that way.
Even if they did, they’d be spotted too easily.
And once they were spotted, it would be absurdly easy for the Sadiq Church to block them.
It was the mountains—hard to escape, hard to maneuver.
Even a small party trying to sneak in that way wouldn’t accomplish much.
The Valley interior had been crawling with the Sadiq Church’s forces.
They’d obviously just get surrounded and killed.
There was always a reason other people avoided a route.
But now, Tae-hyun and his group had broken through the mountain range and arrived above the Valley.
“Hmm...”
Hidden among the trees, the group looked down below.
They could see a few scattered Sadiq Holy Knights moving around.
They were standing watch just in case.
“There aren’t many. We can take care of them.”
“I’ll do it!”
Cain spoke up eagerly.
Right now, he had barely survived with his life.
His position was hanging by a thread.
If he wanted to secure it, he had to get back into Tae-hyun’s good graces.
“What?”
“We just need to kill them before they realize what’s going on, right? I’ll go handle it!”
“No. I’ve got a better idea than that.”
“...?”
“Here’s what we’ll do...”
Tae-hyun gave Cain his instructions.
As Cain listened, his face turned deathly pale.
“Th-this is really...”
“Hang in there, Cain. And don’t forget that I and the knights are waiting right behind you. If you try anything funny, I’ll kill you before this even starts.”
A blunt, shameless threat.
Swallowing his misery, Cain dashed forward.
Unarmed.
He’d even set down his greatsword and was running in completely barehanded.
Tae-hyun’s instructions had been simple.
In short, he was being used as bait.
Sensing something deeply ominous in Tae-hyun’s voice, Cain had tearfully accepted the proposal.
“Ugh... sob...”
Cain came to a stop in the open and started dancing.
The Sadiq Holy Knights standing watch in the distance stared at him in utter disbelief.
“What the hell is that guy doing?”
“Is he insane?”
“You there! Stop!”
The Sadiq Holy Knights have issued you a warning.
If you flee without permission, you may be attacked.
“He’s really got a natural talent for bait work,” Tae-hyun muttered from a distance with a yawn.
The others looked thoroughly disgusted.
What kind of utterly cold-blooded strategy was this?
If the Holy Knights had just killed Cain outright, Tae-hyun would obviously have stayed hidden and run away, leaving Cain behind.
Still, Tae-hyun’s trick worked.
Four Sadiq Holy Knights started walking toward Cain.
They weren’t especially wary, nor did they raise their weapons.
That was how harmless Cain looked.
“Attack!”
PAPAPAPAPAK!
At that instant, the knights revealed themselves and hurled their spears without mercy.
“Kyaaaagh!”
“Kuhek!”
The knights’ attack was brutal.
The Holy Knights were riddled through in an instant and collapsed like pincushions.