A Gathering of Foes

It was a powerful recovery skill. A recovery skill that, without question or hesitation, reverted the target's state back to a specific point in time! If used correctly, it was a potent ability that could even nullify penalties like the death penalty!

"......It's a skill like this!"

"Yeah. I get what kind of skill it is, but why did that of all things come out?!"

Tae-hyun let out a furious shout, but no one paid him any mind. Why on earth was that copied instead of the skill?!

"Wait, can't I just use that on myself again?"

"Huh? Kim Chul-soo just used it, so it must be on cooldown."

"What if I use it on myself?"

"To use the skill, you have to designate the target time first... but since that would be a time before you even acquired the skill, wouldn't that be impossible?"

While Tae-hyun was fuming, the situation around them was progressing rapidly. The players hit by the shockwave of Galgral, who had transformed into his third phase, were instantly healed by Kim Chul-soo's skill. Even after taking such a massive area-of-effect attack, not a single player was logged out! Kim Chul-soo was demonstrating exactly what was possible when a high-ranking Priest was on the field.

Gooooooo-

With a bizarre, low rumble, Galgral finished his transformation and stood up. He looked different from before, when he had been howling like a wild beast. He was eerily quiet.

Normally, he would have unleashed an attack immediately, but everyone hesitated. Something felt ominous. Taking advantage of the brief lull, Tae-hyun asked Lee Se-yeon.

"Does that Authority skill have some kind of hidden attribute? Like, 'cannot be used by others'?"

"Huh? That? That's not an Authority skill."

"......What?"

"It's a Necromancer Arcane skill."

"But you said it was an Authority skill!"

"When did I ever say that?!"

Lee Se-yeon stared at Tae-hyun as if he had lost his mind. Indeed, not everything on the internet was true. Tae-hyun had absolutely nothing to say in his defense. He couldn't even explain the details, because doing so would expose his true intentions to Lee Se-yeon!

Gnash. Tae-hyun ground his teeth and walked back to Lee Da-bi.

"What's wrong?"

"I got tricked by some video someone posted online and took a loss."

"What video?"

"The one where some bastard claimed Lee Se-yeon's skill was an Authority skill. If I ever catch him, he's dead."

"......!"

"Why that face?"

"M-me? What about me?"

"You look like you know something. Do you know who it is?"

"W-well, who knows?"

Tae-hyun wanted to press Lee ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Da-bi further, but before he could, Galgral moved.

Whoosh-

Leaping as lightly as a butterfly, Galgral lunged forward, thrusting a flaming fist. Naturally, his target was Tae-hyun.

"Damn it! He's not falling for any more tricks!"

Tae-hyun successfully evaded the physical strike, but every time he did, the flames blazing around Galgral surged toward him. An unavoidable, guaranteed-hit attack! Fortunately, he countered it with his skill, but if things continued like this, he would eventually start taking damage. For Tae-hyun, whose stats were high but whose low level made his HP a major weakness, this kind of war of attrition was highly dangerous. He could die in an instant.

Until now, he had usually ended fights by cutting his opponent's throat before they could deal any damage, but Galgral was an opponent against whom that tactic wouldn't work!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Every time Galgral swung his fists, afterimages formed alongside the sound of tearing air.

—The Blazing Phantom Fists!

Swish, swish, swish, swish!

Despite his massive size, Galgral's attacks were the fastest of any enemy Tae-hyun had faced so far. It seemed to be related to his transformation.

'Damn it. I'd rather he unleash wide-range attacks and deliver heavy, single blows like before.'

Earlier, Galgral had attacked by pouring out wide-range skills and striking with heavy, individual blows—the typical combat style of a giant boss monster. Of course, even if those attacks were delivered one by one, they weren't slow. In fact, Cain and the other players had been on the verge of death after fighting him for just a short while. However, for Tae-hyun, attacks of that level were easy enough to read and evade.

But now, Galgral was coming at him with a completely different style. The damage of each individual strike was much weaker, but he was focusing entirely on Tae-hyun, pouring out attacks at ultra-high speed! Even Tae-hyun, who usually dodged normal attacks just by reading the opponent's tells the moment they started, was being pushed back. That was how fast the attacks were.

Tae-hyun blocked, dodged, deflected, and redirected the strikes using the Circle of Counterattack. The surrounding players forgot about the situation and stared at the battle. There were some fights that overwhelmed you just by watching. This was exactly one of those fights!

"......"

The "amazing battle videos" commonly uploaded to the Pan-On forums were mostly similar. A feast of flashy skills! People's interest varied depending on how many cool and powerful skills were used. But right now, Tae-hyun was proving that he could capture everyone's attention without using any special skills at all.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The two of them pushed each other to the limit, leaving no time to cast other skills! Tae-hyun ground his teeth and yelled.

"Aren't you bastards going to help?!"

"A-ah!"

"We're coming!"

As the other players snapped out of it and rushed in, Tae-hyun finally caught his breath.

"Argh! Aaaah! Hey! I'm dying! Heal! Heal me quickly! Kim Chul-soo! Heal! Heal!!"

"......I am!"

Even Kim Chul-soo was flustered by Cain's rapid-fire screaming. But Cain couldn't help it. His HP was literally melting away! Even though Cain was a tank-class player, holding the boss off for just a few seconds brought his HP down below one-third. And that was with his defensive skills active, not even taking direct hits!

'How on earth was Kim Tae-hyun fighting this guy alone?'

Tae-hyun had managed to survive through sheer control, dodging by a hair's breadth, but such a feat wasn't possible for ordinary players. In the end, they had to tank it with their bodies. If your control is bad, your body suffers!

The one suffering even more was Kim Chul-soo, who was supporting them. His heart leaped into his throat every time he saw players' HP drop to 5% the moment he lost focus for even a second. It was the ultimate extreme job! If he let his guard down for even a moment, players would start dropping like flies.

—Curse of the Dead, Echoes of Eternal Pain, Throne of Ruin!

Lee Se-yeon skillfully landed several curses on Galgral. With each curse, Galgral's movements slowed slightly, allowing the frontline players to catch their breath.

"You bastard! Try doing that again!"

The returned Chairman Yoo quickly bound Galgral with his fishing line. The demons that had been beneath Galgral had long since disappeared—either killed in the earlier battle, absorbed by Galgral, or used as bombs by Tae-hyun.

The players were gradually cornering Galgral. Galgral's attacks were certainly fast and threatening, but when facing a large number of opponents, there was a limit to what he could do. Moreover, with solid support from the rear, the players weren't dying easily.

Thud! Thud-thud-thud!

More and more attacks began to land on Galgral. Lee Se-yeon looked at Tae-hyun and said,

"It might just be my imagination, but I find it highly suspicious that you asked about my skill earlier."

"What do you mean?"

"You're not the type of person to ask me about something like that."

"I can ask. We're a team, aren't we? We should know our teammates better."

"Hearing you say that only makes me more certain that you're up to something."

"......Let's just focus on Galgral!"

At that moment, a voice echoed from outside the half-destroyed fortress.

"Kim Tae-hyun! My logged-out guild members! My destroyed territory! They demand justice! Come out! You coward! Come out and face judgment!"

"???"

"What's that?"

"......Is that Su Ning?"

Gladiator Mike. Battle Shaman Kawahara. Assassin Alcott. High Paladin Gonzalez. Ancient Martial Artist Lin Yao. Archer Suana. Barbarian Warrior McPhil. Ice Mage Liu Song.

Every single one of them was a famous ranker whose name alone commanded respect in Pan-On. And they had one more thing in common: they were all rankers belonging to large guilds! Of course, those guilds were part of a massive alliance. Rankers of the Guild Alliance! They were currently gathered outside the fortress along with their respective guild members.

"......Wow, you really have a lot of enemies!"

Even Lee Se-yeon was shocked by the sudden appearance of these rankers. No matter how many people hated Tae-hyun, to think they would gather this many top-tier rankers! In Pan-On, rankers rarely crossed paths. They were far too busy raising their own levels and training their skills. When rankers clashed, they stood to lose much more than they could gain. The only ones who enjoyed it were the other rankers watching from the sidelines! Tae-hyun, who made a habit of hunting rankers, was the anomaly; normal rankers usually avoided unnecessary conflict.

"The guys over there probably hate you too, don't they?"

"What are you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠talking about? Unlike you, I don't make enemies like that. In fact, I'm actually close with a few of the rankers over there. If we talk it out, who knows what might happen."

Lee Se-yeon said this as she scanned the rankers outside the fortress. Then, she shouted,

"Gonzalez! I assume you didn't come here knowing I was here. What is the meaning of this?"

No answer came. Tae-hyun smirked. A silent smirk was a far more effective provocation than any blatant insult! He could see Lee Se-yeon's grip tightening on her staff.

"Gonzalez! Are you looking for a fight?!"

"That's right, Lee Se-yeon! If we can take you down as well while we're at it, it'll be killing two birds with one stone!"

"......"

"......"

An awkward silence fell between Tae-hyun and Lee Se-yeon.

"......Yeah. You guys seem real close."

"Shut up."

Rankers were, by nature, competitors. Even if they got along, the moment an opportunity to keep each other in check arose, they would take it without hesitation. Since Lee Se-yeon would have done the same given the chance, she couldn't really blame Gonzalez.

The real question was how they had managed to gather all these rankers in one place. Even if they belonged to large guilds, rankers didn't actively participate in guild affairs unless it benefited them directly. From the guild's perspective, they couldn't treat rankers like ordinary members either. Unlike regular players, rankers could simply leave the guild if they were unhappy. There was no shortage of guilds eager to recruit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them. Therefore, seeing this many rankers gathered in one place was an extremely rare sight.

What on earth had been promised to bring them all here? Even for large guilds, mobilizing this many rankers must have cost an astronomical amount.

"Is this what you were talking about?"

"Something like that. Though I didn't expect it to go this well. It's all thanks to Kim Tae-hyun digging his own grave. He claimed he was going to hunt Galgral, but instead, he's been running around laying waste to the surrounding area with him."

Su Ning and Jekas watched the gathered rankers with pleased expressions. While Tae-hyun was running amok with Galgral's army (which mostly consisted of Su Ning's guild territory), Su Ning and Jekas had gone around persuading the other large guilds.

—"Kim Tae-hyun has joined forces with Galgral's army to lay waste to the Auston Kingdom!"

—"Look! Even without Galgral, he's completely overrun a fortress using nothing but those demons!"

—"Kim Tae-hyun did the exact same thing in the Espa Kingdom! Back then, he did it with even fewer demons, but now he has Galgral with him! If we leave him be, he will become a disaster!"