A Change of Plans
When Su Ning flared with anger, the other players subtly avoided his gaze. Still, he was the one who had come to help them, after all!
"Still, it's great that Su Ning came!"
"Right, right!"
"There's even a fan of yours here, Su Ning!"
"I've been a fan of yours, Su Ning!"
No matter how one looked at it, their sudden declarations of fandom felt incredibly shallow!
"Cut it out, you bastards. Stop playing cheap tricks and listen to me. If you get in the way of my strategy, I won't forgive you."
"..."
As Su Ning glared at them, the players shrank back like mice before a snake. Even though the Guild Alliance was doing incredibly well lately, Su Ning had a reputation for being a pushover who constantly got scammed, so they had looked down on him a bit... but facing him in person, his pressure was immense.
When did this guy change so much?
A player who had met Su Ning once before was astonished. He had been the leader of a large guild back then too, but he had never exerted this kind of pressure.
I guess 'seeing someone in a whole new light' is a real thing!
To think a person could change so much in the time they hadn't seen him!
"Su-hyeok. Sweep them away."
"Yes, sir!"
- You two help him out as well!
- Understood, Master.
- Master... being next to that mage is a bit scary...
Heuk-heuk grimaced as he looked at Jeong Su-hyeok. As a dragon and a master of magic, Heuk-heuk knew exactly what kind of mage Jeong Su-hyeok was. A mage whose spells might hit his own allies if they were unlucky!
- Shut it.
- Heuk...
Tae-hyun ignored him and placed Yong-yong and Heuk-heuk next to Su-hyeok. Right now, Cain and Lee Da-bi were struggling to fight trash mobs, and Choi Sang-yun and Tae-hyun were burst-damage dealers with few AoE skills. Therefore, clearing the trash mobs had to be done by Jeong Su-hyeok and the dragons.
Gulp. Jeong Su-hyeok gripped his staff with a tense face. He felt the pressure of Tae-hyun's expectations.
"Keep your cool. This isn't the tournament anyway, so we're just testing if this strategy works. If it doesn't, we'll try something else, so don't worry."
"Yes, sir!"
Hearing Tae-hyun's gentle words, Su-hyeok felt his courage surge again.
Cain, who was carrying the luggage in the back, grumbled. "I swear, that bastard is nice to everyone except me."
"I think you just bring it upon yourself, though..."
Jeong Su-hyeok's rapid-fire magic quickly swept away the dwarf warriors appearing in the corridor. Kahladan's Lightning itself was powerful, but combined with his passive skills and the magical support of the two dragons from behind, its destructive power was amplified even further.
- Kahladan's Lightning! Kahladan's Lightning! Kahladan's Lightning!
- Mist of Mana Amplification!
- Sadiq's Flame Eruption!
"?"
- ?
- ??
Yong-yong was coordinating his support magic to match Jeong Su-hyeok's spells, but Heuk-heuk was casting offensive magic all on his own!
Jeong Su-hyeok waved his hand at Heuk-heuk as if to say it was fine. "Ah, no. It's alright."
- Isn't that a bit off?
- Can't... can't I use offensive magic too...?!
Heuk-heuk spoke hurriedly, keeping an eye on Tae-hyun's reaction.
- Do a good job, Heuk-heuk.
- Yes, Master...
Heuk-heuk drooped his wings, looking dejected. His magic being focused on offensive spells was Sadiq's fault, not his!
Well, it's working out fine anyway.
After that, the group quickly broke through the second floor. The dungeon's normal monsters were swiftly swept away by the power of Jeong Su-hyeok and the two divine and demonic beasts, and when they faced boss monsters, they unloaded their siege equipment and burst them down. It felt like they were establishing a proper, standard strategy.
By the way, aren't those guys coming?
They should have heard something from the first-floor entrance by now, but since no one was coming, it made him a bit anxious.
"Mmph! Mmmph! (Don't leave me behind, Kim Tae-hyun! Let's fight again fair and square!)"
He thought he heard a faint, muffled shouting from afar, but Tae-hyun ignored it. If he died with the traps, that was fine; if he didn't, Tae-hyun planned to drag him along and use him again. He had no intention of showing them their practice run!
Greetings, players of Pangaea Online. We would like to make an announcement regarding the Dungeon Conquest Tournament.
"!"
"!!"
A rare message directly from the Pangaea Online developers! Unlike the previous tournament, this one was being hosted directly by the developers themselves.
Are the details finally being announced?
Only the general concept and schedule of the Pangaea Online Dungeon Conquest Tournament had been released so far; the specifics were still unknown.
The final tournament of the Dungeon Conquest Tournament will feature a total of 32 teams. These teams will be determined by their clear-time rankings of the designated dungeons by the end of the qualifiers.
In other words, a team had to be in the top 32 of the clear-time rankings to participate! This meant that, unlike the professional leagues, amateur teams could freely participate.
The pro teams are going to shed some tears.
In a tournament like this, variables could crop up anywhere. Of course, pro teams who did nothing but play games all day would have a massive advantage over amateur teams with limited practice time, but still...
Entrances to these dungeons will appear near every city on the Central Continent. Upon entry, these dungeons will not overlap with other parties, and they can be used infinitely. There are various types of dungeons, and the dungeons for the final tournament will be selected from among them.
"Huh?"
"What?"
Tae-hyun's party, who had been hunting diligently, looked at each other after reading the message.
If they were providing unlimited access to the dungeons like this...
There was no need to steal someone else's dungeon to practice, was there? They could just go into those dungeons and prepare their strategies!
"..."
"...Well, I mean, this was still good practice in its own way... We actually came up with a great strategy just now!"
"..."
Only Lee Da-bi tried her best to break the awkward silence!
The tournament details that followed were summarized as follows:
• Basically a 5-player dungeon.
• Time limit is 1 hour. Two teams enter simultaneously (they do not meet inside the dungeon), and the team that clears even a second faster wins.
• The 32 teams in the finals will compete in a tournament format.
• Players can resurrect inside the dungeon if they die. However, each death incurs a time penalty.
• The clear condition is defeating all boss monsters in the dungeon. However, a certain number of normal monsters must also be defeated to reach a target score.
• There are no restrictions on equippable gear, but level scaling will be applied inside the dungeon. Consumables and other items are limited to what can fit in the inventory.
Most of it was as expected. The only surprise was that they couldn't just rush the bosses; they had to clear a certain number of normal monsters too.
Level scaling made sense. Otherwise, raw level would dominate, and the top teams would be entirely made up of high-ranking players.
Since gear is kept as is...
They didn't need to strip down completely like in last year's arena tournament.
One thing was for sure...
"We need to go right now."
They had to record their times in the designated dungeons to pass the qualifiers, and since the final tournament dungeons would be chosen from these, players practicing in other dungeons would definitely flock to them.
The tournament is going to be much tighter than I thought.
Instead of giving them a random dungeon on the spot, they were announcing the dungeons beforehand and giving them time to practice! All sorts of optimized routes and strategies would definitely emerge.
"Ah! Someone's coming out!"
While waiting in formation outside, the ambushers were startled when Tae-hyun suddenly emerged.
"Hey!"
"?"
"They're giving out Legendary dungeons for free now, so we're heading out. Shall we make peace?"
"..."
So... all this chaos was just because they wanted to practice in someone else's dungeon?
"Die, you bastard!!!!"
"You son of a bitch!!!!"
"Hmm. That's a unique way of saying no."
Tae-hyun stepped back inside. The others asked with curious faces.
"What did they say?"
"They said no."
"Geez. How petty."
"..."
Meanwhile, Lee Da-bi gathered information from the Power Warrior guild members. Her expression grew serious as she listened to the reports.
"Tae-hyun. Something's weird about this..."
"?"
The news was that the players gathered outside were wearing matching gear and forming an orderly blockade!
"It's probably nothing, right?"
"No. It feels a bit different from usual."
Normally, he would have thought, Ah, a few fearless guilds must have banded together, but Tae-hyun felt an uneasy sensation. It wasn't uncommon for a guild to match their gear and set up a tight blockade. But...
"The materials of the gear they're wearing look unusual. What is that?"
"It looks like rubber... Ah."
"It has explosion resistance options. They didn't just rush over here on a whim."
Tae-hyun realized it immediately. These weren't guild members who had rushed over in a hurry; they were explicitly targeting him!
What is this? Did someone raise specialized players just to target me? No way, who would do that...? ...Actually, maybe someone would?
As Tae-hyun thought about it, it seemed entirely plausible. So he shared his theory with the others and asked.
"...So that's what I think. What do you guys think?"
"That's highly possible!"
"I would've done the same!"
"I think so too, senior!"
"Thanks, you jerks."
Tae-hyun smacked his lips.
Their levels don't seem that high... which makes it even more unsettling.
Usually, players who relied on their high levels to charge in weren't scary. It was the ones with relatively low levels who came prepared with a grim determination that were terrifying. It meant they had run the calculations!
Fortunately, the enemies knew they would die instantly if they charged inside, so they didn't enter and only maintained the blockade.
We could just stall, but that would be a waste of time.
Everyone would be heading to the legendary dungeons near the cities to clear them, so there was no reason for Tae-hyun's group to stay here.
The answer was to break through! The question was how.
Since the enemy knew Tae-hyun's usual strategies and had prepared for them, he had to use a strategy he rarely used...
- Ahem. Tae-hyun.
- ?
As Tae-hyun was seriously racking his brain, a whisper arrived. It was the Orc Ahjussis, Kim Tae-san's friends.
- What is it? I'm busy right now.
- Well... you know. That outstanding NPC in your territory...
- ?
Tae-hyun was momentarily puzzled. Did he have an outstanding NPC in his territory?
- Ah. Galakpad?
Galakpad was a bit unhinged, but he could still be considered an outstanding NPC.
- No, not him.
- The McCraney Merchant Group NPCs? The mercenaries?
- No, not them either.
- Ah, I'm busy, so just get to the point!
He inherited his father's temper exactly...
The Ahjussis grumbled inwardly but held it in. Tae-hyun held all the cards right now!
- You know, that friend who's good at cooking.
- ?????
- Ah, don't play dumb! That goblin chef, Stau, who's said to be the greatest cook among them!
- Uh... well... I mean, he is outstanding, but...
- Right! Could you perhaps lend him to our territory?
Knowing it was a big favor, the Ahjussis' voices were cautious. From a territory management perspective, an outstanding NPC was a treasure in itself. Such an NPC could completely change the development of a territory, and players would visit just to see them.
- Why him?
- Yes, we understand if you don't want to lend such an outstanding NPC.
- No, that's not it...
Tae-hyun was genuinely curious about the reason!
- But Tae-hyun! We are incredibly serious about this!
- ...
Tae-hyun just gave up. In any case, using Stau to keep other chefs in check had failed, and players were already learning Abnormal Cooking... so nothing would really change even if Stau went somewhere else for a bit.
I should just squeeze a hefty price out of them.
He didn't know what they wanted him for, but when the other party was desperate, it was time to milk them for all they were worth!
With that thought, Tae-hyun spoke.
- Alright. If you do me a favor, I'll lend him to you.
- Really!?
- Seriously?!
- Thank you! We'll never forget this favor!
- If we make some good Weird Food here in Uruk, I'll send you a whole pack of it!
- ...Uh, yeah. Sure.
Tae-hyun decided that if any gifts arrived, he would feed them to Cain. It would be good for his health, at least.