The Guild Master Really Was a Guild Master
The guild master really was a guild master.
Cain carved through the Orcs as if he were splitting a current. Of course, he was loaded up with every buff under the sun—priestly blessings, attacks and support from the mages, the whole package—but even so, he stood out.
And watching him from a distance was Kim Tae-hyun.
"Wow. He's fighting pretty well."
"Is this really the time to be admiring him? We might have to fight him later."
"What, you don't think we can win?"
"Maybe if it were just that bastard. But how are we supposed to deal with all those guild members and the mercenaries he hired too?"
"Relax. We've got backing too. Still... those Orcs are stronger than I expected, aren't they? Good thing we didn't charge in head-on."
Tae-hyun knew his own limits better than anyone.
His absurd Luck stat let him dodge most ordinary attacks. But even that had weaknesses. If he kept getting attacked nonstop. If he went up against classes with high accuracy. If he got hit with curses from mages. Or if he ate an undodgeable skill...
There was no such thing as a perfect character in Fantasy Online. Every build had a weakness.
That was exactly why Tae-hyun had been able to take down other rankers as a blacksmith back in Fantasy Online 1.
He had no intention of doing something stupid like charging in alone just because he trusted his Luck.
If he had...
The Orcs would've played with me.
He might have managed something against the warriors. But with shamans mixed in, there was no way he could have dodged everything. He would have been stopped in the middle of breaking through, then killed.
"Oh, they broke through!"
"Yeah. I can see that."
Cain led his guild members and smashed through the second palisade too.
The Orcs around it hastily fell back. Raising his greatsword overhead, Cain shouted,
"I! Have! Arrived! Follow me!"
On a broadcast, it looked cool.
But Tae-hyun and Choi Sang-yun muttered without mercy,
"He's posing like hell. Look at him worrying about his angle."
"What's with the Orc archers? That was when one of them should've put an arrow through his throat."
"..."
Whatever the two of them thought, the battle was tilting in Red Zone Guild's favor.
The palisades protecting the Orc village were breaking down layer by layer, and the guild members, clustered around their guild master Cain, were pushing inward.
"UOOOOOOH!"
As the guild members and mercenaries entered the village, the Orc elite warriors locked shoulders and formed ranks.
Behind them stood the Orc archers. Behind them, the Orc shamans held their ground.
Their presence was anything but ordinary.
Even the guild members who had been casually attacking whatever Orcs they saw faltered at the sight.
"Mages! Magic!"
"We're still preparing it!"
"Damn it... then at least have the archers fire!"
At Cain's order, the archers let loose.
Because they were using skills, the arrows were flashy enough—some wrapped in blue aura, others blazing with fire.
But Orc elite warriors weren't called elite for nothing.
Crash! Boom!Crash!
They used skills too.
Their aura-wreathed axes smashed the arrows aside and shattered them.
Seeing that, Tae-hyun muttered,
"And those bastards told me to deal with things like that on my own? What a bunch of trash..."
Tae-hyun, Cain down below, the Red Zone Guild members...
Everyone here was mistaken.
About the difficulty of this Orc tribe quest.
It couldn't be helped.
Who could possibly have known that this was the prelude to a massive continent-wide quest?
No one could have known.
And without knowing any of that, Cain shouted excitedly,
"Wipe out every last one of these filthy Orcs!"
"Chwik, that won't happen, human!"
The Orc elite warriors collided with the guild members.
The guild members who had rushed in with such force were startled by how strong the Orc elite warriors actually were.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
"Y-you damn Orc...?"
"Chwik, die, human!"
"Triple Slash!"
Realizing the Orc elite warrior wasn't going to go down easily, the guild member immediately activated a skill.
It was a three-point slashing attack, and combined with his weapon options, it normally meant the target started the fight already bleeding from at least one wound.
Slash!
Skill successful! The target has been afflicted with the status condition Bleeding.
Skill proficiency has increased.
"Ha! Let's see how you li—huh?"
The guild member, who had been about to sneer at the Orc he'd slashed deeply across the leg and stomach, froze in confusion.
The Orc raised its axe and brought it down on his shoulder with all its strength.
Crunch!
It had never intended to dodge in the first place.
Even if it got slashed or stabbed, it would still strike back.
The very spirit of the Orc!
You have suffered a Critical Hit!
You have been afflicted with the status condition Shock due to heavy impact!
"T-this is impossible..."
The Orc in front of him collapsed, but another Orc from behind let out a roar and lunged.
You have died.
"What the hell?!"
After swinging his greatsword and cutting down an Orc elite warrior, Cain quickly looked around.
The Orcs were stronger than expected.
And his guild members were being pushed back.
The guild members here were in the level 50 to 60 range. They shouldn't have been getting pushed around by some tiny Orc tribe like this.
Wasn't this supposed to be a quest level 30s or 40s could clear without trouble?!
That was exactly the level of the players who came to this area.
So Cain had judged the Orc tribe accordingly.
And that judgment had seemed perfectly correct.
Right up until they entered the village and came face-to-face with the Orc elite warriors standing beside the chieftain.
Watching them fight, they were practically on the same level as his guild members.
"W-what the... what is this..."
In the meantime, another guild member went down and turned gray.
The Orc elite warriors were terrifyingly ferocious.
They were throwing away their lives as they fought, hurling themselves in like beasts. They didn't care how many times they were stabbed, so long as they could land one solid blow.
And if they did land one hit, even a tank-built warrior was in danger.
Because the moment he got tagged, the other Orc warriors would pile on.
"Fall back! Fall back!"
They had already broken all the village palisades. Now all they had to do was seize the area where the chieftain stood.
But Cain ordered a retreat.
His instincts were screaming at him that this was dangerous.
Breaking through those mad Orcs as they were now was too risky.
The guild members were confused, but they retreated anyway, following their guild master's orders.
"Pulling back there... that's more impressive than I expected."
"Well, that's probably why he's the guild master."
Most people would have gotten greedy and tried to force it to the end.
And then they would've paid for it dearly.
Tae-hyun scratched at his chin, deep in thought.
Those Orcs were seriously strange.
And the stranger they seemed, the more irritated he became with the Salz Kingdom for handing him a quest to wipe them all out and come back.
These people, seriously...
He honestly felt like turning around right now, grabbing someone by the collar, and demanding answers.
While the three of them lay low and talked, Red Zone Guild was reorganizing its formation again.
"Don't worry! There's only a handful of them left anyway! The palisades are all destroyed, and all that's left are the ones cowering in there!"
Of course, even as he said that, Cain had no intention of leading his guild members in personally again.
The tribe chieftain still hadn't even shown himself.
And if the Orc elite warriors were this strong, then he needed to revise his assumptions about the chieftain too.
He might be even stronger than I thought.
If that was the case, then it was dangerous.
This was a live broadcast.
Even the fact that he'd already retreated once had dinged his pride a little.
But if he got pushed back by the chieftain too—or barely managed to beat him after a struggle...
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes!"
"Good. Send the mercenaries in first!"
The mercenary NPCs he'd hired for a steep price surged forward in a wave.
"Unload the magic!"
The Orc shamans still inside might be tough, but the mages gathered here were stronger.
If they kept bombarding them, the Orcs would eventually be forced to rush out. He planned to use the mercenaries as a wall to stop them, then keep blasting away.
Rumble! Boom!
Fireballs exploded. Lightning crashed down from above.
The Orc shamans tried to defend and counterattack, but they were outnumbered.
"Chwik, it hurts! It hurts!"
"Chwik! Kill the human mages!"
"They're coming out! Prepare to attack!"
The Orc elite warriors, their eyes red with rage, charged out. The archers took careful aim at them.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A few arrows weren't enough to bring the Orc elite warriors down. The mercenaries met them head-on, shouting battle cries as they rushed forward.
Just as both sides raised their blades and were about to collide—
Magic poured down from above.
BOOM!BOOM! BOOM!
"?!"
"What are you doing?!"
Affinity with the mercenary company Keltaz has plummeted.
Affinity with the mercenary company Three Horses has plummeted.
You have attacked an ally.
Your Reputation has decreased.
Your Infamy has increased.
You may now be attacked by mercenaries.
Status windows flashed up in a dizzying stream.
Cain ignored them.
They were mercenaries, not royal soldiers. Even if they held a grudge, it wasn't a big deal.
Use the mercenaries as bait, draw the Orcs out, and then rain magic down on top of them.
He thought it was a damn good plan.
He'd spent a lot of money hiring them, sure—but money would come back in. Besides, if the mercenary companies got wiped out, he wouldn't have to pay the rest of what was owed.
"You son of a bitch! You think you'll get away with this?!"
"Stop this right now!"
The mercenaries cursed him out, but they couldn't run backward.
The Orc elite warriors were charging at them from the front, eyes blazing.
Magic was falling from above. Orcs were rushing from the front.
It was hell.
"The tribe chieftain is coming out!"
"Yeah? You prepared for that, right?"
Three mages nodded.
They specialized in curse-type magic. The reason Cain had kept them in reserve until now was precisely for the Orc tribe chieftain.
Thud. Thud.
The Orc tribe chieftain, Kazak, let out a roar, a massive axe clutched in each hand.
Orc tribe chieftain Kazak lets out a battle roar!
You have been afflicted with the status condition Paralysis.
The Orcs' morale rises.
The Orcs recover a small amount of HP.
"Now! Hit him!"
"Ring of Darkness!"
"Curse of Bone Weakening!"
"Mana Curse!"
"Mental Torture!"
One curse after another detonated in succession.
The Orc shamans were too busy dealing with the other mages to block them. Chieftain Kazak endured them head-on.
But his skin turned a dark bluish black.
The curses had landed.
"It worked!"
"Good. He's mine!"
Cain, flushed with confidence, lifted his sword and started to charge forward.
Then a voice rang out from behind him.
"Halt!"
"???"
Soldiers were glaring at him with fierce eyes. Judging by how well they were equipped, they were clearly troops from some other kingdom.
"What is this?"
"That's him, Centurion! That's the one! He's the one who harassed me!"
"???"
The Centurion stepped forward and glared at Cain.
"You dare extort money from a Tyrum Hunter of our kingdom?"
"What? Wait..."
Cain's eyes darted around as he tried to make sense of the situation.
But it didn't come together fast enough.
"Sob, sob, and that wasn't all! He took all my items and sold them, made me sign a contract saying I had to hand over everything I earned from now on, insulted the Salz Kingdom by saying it was a place only barbarians would go, and said the Tyrum Hunters were idiots who couldn't even use bows properly!"
"Y-you despicable bastard! Come with us to the fortress immediately!"
The infamy you have earned by extorting money from people around Aden Fortress has grown.
The commander of the fortress, having heard of your infamy, has issued an order for your arrest.
If you do not wish to be arrested, persuade him.
🎁 Reward: ?
"What kind of bullshit is this?! Can't you see those Orcs right there? Stop getting in the way!"
"Lower your weapon. If you do not, we will attack."
The guild members looked at Cain in confusion.
He was the one who had to make the decision now.
What exactly should he do?
Ignore them and fight these soldiers?
Cain turned to look behind him.
The Orc tribe chieftain and the remaining Orcs were still raging.
And the mercenaries he'd brought were getting destroyed.
Compared to that, the soldiers in front of him were in excellent condition.
"$&(*!($*@#(!!"