Buy Me Some Time!
The HolyKnightSizeKing guild master raised his shield as he watched the guild member behind him get stopped by Cain.
He had a Heroic-grade Holy Knight class. If he put his mind to turtling up, he could hold out for a surprisingly long time.
That guy looks the most dangerous...
The one who felt most threatening to him was Yang Sung-gyu.
Lee Da-bi might have been the Power Warrior guild master, but honestly, her own abilities didn’t look all that impressive, and Kim Tae-hyun didn’t seem like much at a glance either.
Boom!
In the end, the one he decided to keep in check was Yang Sung-gyu.
A wave of light burst from his sword and shot straight at Yang Sung-gyu.
At that, Lee Da-bi and Kim Tae-hyun lunged in.
The guild master blocked Lee Da-bi’s attack with his shield and tried to tank Kim Tae-hyun’s attack with his body.
But that wasn’t the kind of attack you could just take head-on and endure.
Kim Tae-hyun smirked.
To be that openly defenseless.
If that was how it was, then no matter how tanky a Holy Knight was, no matter how much health he had, Kim Tae-hyun could end it in one go.
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pak!
A crazed skill combo slammed in.
You have suffered damage your current HP cannot withstand. Entering Stun.
Your equipment durability has decreased.
You cannot move.
“?!?!?!”
Before he even had time to be shocked, the next attack came in.
The guild master stared in horror. Was Lee Da-bi really this strong?
No way...
But Lee Da-bi was striking his shield.
Only then did the guild master realize where the damage had really come from.
“Y-you, who are y—”
HP has fallen to 0.
You have been eliminated from the arena.
Lee Da-bi looked at Kim Tae-hyun in surprise.
They had been attacking him three-on-one, sure, but that had been way too fast.
Yang Sung-gyu hadn’t attacked just then, which meant the guild master had died purely from Kim Tae-hyun’s damage.
Who... is this guy?
A player this strong was almost guaranteed to be famous.
And yet she had never seen Kim Tae-hyun’s face before.
Her thoughts raced.
Then their eyes met, and she flinched.
“Why? Feeling like you should attack me right now?”
“W-what are you talking about? I never thought that. Not even a little. We’re friends, right?”
Kim Tae-hyun’s strength naturally inspired friendship!
Lee Da-bi lowered her weapon and tried her best to show she had absolutely no hostility.
“Haha. Really?”
“Of course. Friends, friends! Want to register each other as friends too?”
“No need to go that far.”
While the two exchanged their fake, overly polite conversation, Yang Sung-gyu charged the Holy Knight Cain was dealing with and took him down with ease.
“So what now? Looks like the four of us are being treated as one team now.”
Yang Sung-gyu was right.
Once the four of them had moved together, there was no way anyone would see them as anything but a single team.
But no one was trying to keep them in check.
Because everyone else was too busy fighting among themselves.
Kwakwakwang!
Kwang!
Tukwak!
“Strike of the Soul!”
“Triple Slash Combo!”
“Power Shot!”
The Suning Guild and the Crying Hammer Guild were openly brawling now.
It had started with one or two people clashing, but once the fight escalated in earnest, the other players hiding nearby revealed themselves and joined in.
Those two guilds sent the most people.
Four against five.
Together, the two guilds had brought nine people into the arena.
You could tell just how heavily they’d invested in this.
“Good thing the biggest bastards are busy fighting each other... let’s take out the leftovers.”
“That is an excellent idea.”
“?!”
The remaining solo players, who had been watching the two guilds fight like it was somebody else’s problem, went pale at the words of the four-man group.
“W-wait...!”
“The guilds! The guilds are fighting over there! We’re not with any gu—!”
But Kim Tae-hyun’s group was nowhere near kind enough to listen.
The solo players hastily tried to band together and fight back, but it was too late.
Before they could organize, the four of them picked them off one by one in rapid succession.
“So now we just take out whoever wins between those guilds?”
“That’s right.”
“What about jumping in now?”
“No reason to. Why turn it into a three-way fight when they’re already deadlocked? We can just wait.”
“Feels like it’s already a three-way fight. They stopped too.”
The chaos of the opening had faded, and the arena had mostly settled into shape.
The Suning Guild and the Crying Hammer Guild were still fighting, and everyone else had already been eliminated.
Because of that, both guilds had paused for a moment and were staring at Kim Tae-hyun’s group.
They had realized that if they kept fighting much longer, they might be the ones to get jumped.
Kim Tae-hyun sighed and shrugged.
“Should I deal with it now?”
Yang Sung-gyu asked, puzzled.
“Who? Suning? Crying Hammer?”
“No. You, mister.”
Thud!
A critical hit has been triggered!
At the same time, Cain’s strike slammed viciously into Yang Sung-gyu’s back.
“You little bastard!”
“You were gonna stab us in the back too, old man. Don’t even try to deny it!”
“Yeah, but I was going to do it after everything was over!”
Yang Sung-gyu cursed and tried to get away.
He needed distance if he wanted time to use the items he had.
But Kim Tae-hyun knew Yang Sung-gyu too well to give him that chance.
- That old guy whales like crazy, so don’t give him an opening! Hit him now!
- Okay!
Working in sync with Cain, Kim Tae-hyun dumped burst damage into Yang Sung-gyu.
Yang Sung-gyu resisted desperately, but the opening ambush had hit too hard.
His eyes flashed with resolve.
“You brats!!!!!”
“?!”
“This bastard is Kim Tae-hyun!!!!”
“...Damn it!”
With that final shout, Yang Sung-gyu was eliminated from the arena.
The spectators watching with excitement recoiled in shock at his words.
“Kim Tae-hyun?”
“But his face is different...”
“Did he use an item?”
- Hey. What do we do?
- What do you mean, what do we do? Too late now.
Fortunately, the Suning Guild and the Crying Hammer Guild were too busy fighting to care.
The moment Kim Tae-hyun attacked Yang Sung-gyu, they had resumed fighting each other.
Exactly as Kim Tae-hyun had intended.
Even if they had stopped, it only took the slightest nudge to get them brawling again.
“It was really Kim Tae-hyun????”
With trembling fingers, Lee Da-bi pointed at Cain.
Cain replied as if he couldn’t believe her stupidity.
“Not me. That bastard.”
“Oh. So it was him. He looked so ordinary...”
“That was the whole point of the disguise.”
As he said that, Kim Tae-hyun took one step forward.
Lee Da-bi instinctively sensed danger and took two steps back.
“Why’re you backing up?”
“Uh... just because?”
“We’re friends. You should stay close.”
“...Are you going to attack me?”
“Yep.”
“W-wouldn’t you rather call it a draw?”
Instead of answering, Kim Tae-hyun raised his sword.
Lee Da-bi frantically waved both hands.
She had had a plan for winning the whole thing—but this was Kim Tae-hyun.
New objective: survival.
“Fine! I’ll give up on winning, so let’s negotiate, negotiate!”
“I like the negotiation where I win and you get eliminated.”
“Not that kind of negotiation! The kind that involves money! If you give me gold, I’ll do whatever you say—”
“Oh no, behind you! Suning guild master!”
“?!”
Lee Da-bi whipped around in panic.
At that instant—
Pu-pu-pu-pu-puk!
Cain attacked alongside Kim Tae-hyun, then averted his eyes in embarrassment.
This bastard’s a ranker, so why does he fight so dirty?!
He was more than skilled enough to fight head-on. Cain genuinely couldn’t understand why Kim Tae-hyun insisted on pulling tricks like this.
“You...!”
- Curse of Melted Gold!
“?!”
Because of the guild name Power Warrior and Lee Da-bi’s gear, everyone had assumed she was a Warrior.
But that was not a Warrior skill.
A powerful curse that pierced even Kim Tae-hyun’s evasion.
You have been afflicted by Curse of Melted Gold.
You cannot move.
It dealt no damage, but the fact that it completely bound his feet made it a far more impressive skill than it first seemed.
Lee Da-bi intended to pin Kim Tae-hyun in place and force a negotiation.
Since things had already come this far, she was determined to wring something out of him.
In a situation where every second mattered, a curse like this was devastating.
Breathing hard, Lee Da-bi shouted.
Her HP had been shredded far more than she expected.
Kim Tae-hyun’s attack power was on a whole different level.
What level is he, exactly?!
“Hand over the gold! Give me gold and I’ll release you!”
“Feels like I can just kill you instead.”
“It won’t come off by itself, you know?!”
“Then I’ll kill you first and think about it after!”
But there was one thing Lee Da-bi had overlooked.
Kim Tae-hyun was the kind of man who returned threats double.
- Cain, shove her over here.
When Cain knocked Lee Da-bi back, she stumbled into Kim Tae-hyun’s range.
“You really are such a brute—ahhh!”
Lee Da-bi logged out too.
But the Curse of Melted Gold did not fade.
Kim Tae-hyun looked down at the golden hand still gripping his ankle.
- What now?!
- We fight like this. I can still dodge even with this, so...
...By the way, what class was that? Didn’t look like a Warrior.
- Is that really what you’re worrying about right now? The Suning Guild won! They’ve still got three people left!
- Don’t worry. I’ve got a way.
The Suning Guild had overturned the disadvantage of four against five and still had three survivors.
Kim Tae-hyun and Cain had only two.
And on top of that, Kim Tae-hyun’s foot was still bound.
No matter how you looked at it, they were at a disadvantage.
But when Kim Tae-hyun spoke with such confidence, Cain felt a little reassured.
Kim Tae-hyun wasn’t the type to bluff in a spot like this.
- Go in first and attack.
- What? Wouldn’t it be better to fight from here?
- No. Go in first and attack. And don’t worry about defending yourself. Just attack, no matter what. Focus only on shaving down their HP.
- Why?
- Just do what I said, you bastard.
- ...Would it kill you to explain?!
Grumbling, Cain charged anyway.
The Suning Guild members, who had been watching Kim Tae-hyun and Cain warily, ran forward to meet him the moment he rushed in alone.
“He came out alone! Finish him first, then we deal with Kim Tae-hyun!”
Now that they knew it really was Kim Tae-hyun, Suning had no intention of letting their guard down.
The plan was simple: kill Cain fast, then use the three-on-one advantage against Kim Tae-hyun.
And Cain had obligingly rushed out by himself.
Kwakwakwang!
Charge of Blood and Rage
Boiling Crimson Blood
Battle Cry
Price of Blood
Cain committed fully to the attack, trusting Kim Tae-hyun.
The Suning Guild members were thrown off by his aura.
Did this idiot eat something weird?!
If Cain died, Kim Tae-hyun would be left alone.
And Kim Tae-hyun needed time for the curse binding him to wear off.
Yet this lunatic seemed to have abandoned defense completely and was throwing himself into nonstop offense.
A dangerous gamble—one that could get him killed on the spot.
But the surprise worked perfectly.
Alarmed by Cain’s aggression, the Suning Guild members instinctively shifted into a defensive formation.
Just block for now. His momentum will drop soon enough!
“Hold out! Looks like he’s using HP-draining skills!”
They knew all too well how those self-buffing, self-doping skills worked.
They were explosive in the short term, but they always fell off if the fight dragged out.
- Rising Blades!
“Gahhh?!”
“What the hell is this?!”
“Kim Tae-hyun! It really is Kim Tae-hyun! That’s Mechanical Engineering!”
When blades suddenly sprang out of Cain’s armor, the crowd erupted.
“Kim Tae-hyun! Kim Tae-hyun!”
“I’m the one fighting here, you know?!”
Cain shouted bitterly.
He was the one teetering on the edge of death here, scraping away his HP to fight—
“Got him!”
“Tch... Rocket Launch!”
Tukwang!
“What kind of insane armor is this?!”
The guild member who had gotten behind Cain was blasted backward by the sudden attack and ground his teeth.
- Goblin-Style Laser Cannon! Spinning Blade Horn!
“What the hell does that madman even have stuffed into that armor?!”
“Surround him and beat him down! Surround him!”
Between Cain’s momentum and the completely unexpected skill set, the Suning Guild members were thrown into confusion.
But even that had its limits.
Even while taking hits, the Suning Guild formed a triangle and surrounded Cain.
- Hey! I’m in danger now! What do I do?!
- Good job.
- I know I did a good job! I said what do I do?!
- You can just stand still now.
- ?
Instead of answering, Kim Tae-hyun activated his skill.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwang!