A Declaration of War and a Swimming Golem

Crash!

"Huh?" Tae-hyun and his party looked over, bewildered by the sudden commotion. What are those guys doing?

"Out of the way, you pests!"

"How dare you!"

"That's our line!"

Fighting in a densely packed crowd of players was entirely different from fighting anywhere else. It was nearly impossible to dodge, there was no room to cast skills, and dozens of attacks rained down in the blink of an eye...

"I said, move!"

One of the bounty hunters, who was taking a beating, unleashed an AoE skill.

—Sword Aura Burst!

He intended to scare the players away, but it backfired spectacularly.

"Did that bastard just hit me?!"

"You're dead!"

Even the players who had just been standing around watching the show grew furious after getting caught in the blast. They had been holding back to avoid infamy and city penalties, but now that they had been struck first, they had no reason to show restraint. Besides, we've got them outnumbered. Might as well join in!

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

"No, wait, move—argh! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Get out of the way! We don't want to fight you guys!"

"That's your problem!"

"We just want to beat you to a pulp!"

Unable to break through the tidal wave of players, the bounty hunters fell one by one. The bounty hunters, who had foolishly thought, With this many people around, we can just land one hit and run, were now desperately looking for an escape route. But even that was impossible. There were simply too many people surrounding them.

What finally saved them was the arrival of the guards.

"Halt!"

"Everyone, halt!"

An undead knight—the signature guard of the Asbian Empire's nobility—came rushing over at the head of a squad of guards. At their appearance, the brawling players froze. No matter how bold they were, they couldn't completely ignore the NPCs inside a city.

The bounty hunters cried out, tears welling in their eyes.

"It's them! They started it!"

"That's right! We just wanted to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠land one innocent little hit, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but they suddenly swarmed us and started beating us to death...!"

However, the undead knight completely ignored them, turning instead to look at Tae-hyun.

"Are you not Lord Kim Tae-hyun, recognized by our great Emperor Uipoatl himself?!"

"I am," Tae-hyun replied smoothly. "And those bastards over there were trying to attack me."

"!!!"

The blue flames flickering in the undead knight's eyes flared up instantly.

"W-wait, no! We didn't hit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him! Not yet!"

"The mere intent to strike is a grave sin! Arrest them!"

"But these guys actually attacked us!"

The bounty hunters tried to drag everyone else down with them; they had no intention of going down alone. But the knight was cold and unyielding.

"They had every right to!"

"?!"

"Anyone who dares threaten a noble deserves to be preemptively struck! Take them all away!"

The players who had been happily brawling were left dumbfounded. They had initiated the attack, yet they weren't being arrested!

"Whoa!"

"Thank you, Lord Tae-hyun!"

"No, thank you," Tae-hyun replied.

The players were deeply moved by his simple words. How can he be so warm-hearted?!

Watching this unfold, Cain was utterly flabbergasted.

"Does it make any sense for them to be so happy they look like their hearts might stop, all over a single sentence?"

"It makes perfect sense."

"Honestly, yeah."

"Even you do that, Cain."

"When did I ever do that?!"

"I feel like you do it all the time..."

Meanwhile, the players began bombarding Tae-hyun with questions. He was a superstar they rarely got to see in person. If they didn't ask now, when would they ever get the chance?

"Tae-hyun! Where are you doing your next quest? I want to go watch!"

"Kim Tae-hyun! Are you really dating Lee Se-yeon?"

"Tae-hyun-hyung! There's a war going on in the Auston Kingdom right now. Do you plan on going?"

Tae-hyun ignored the difficult questions and selectively answered the easy ones.

"Actually, I'm on my way to the Auston Kingdom right now..."

"!"

"!!!!"

"!!!!!!!!!"

Kim Tae-hyun was going to the Auston Kingdom! The impact of those words was colossal. Instantly, the crowd of players erupted into a frenzy of whispers.

"R-really?"

"But the Black Dragon Hakkaras is there?!"

"It's Kim Tae-hyun! He's obviously planning to slay it!"

"Whoa, can he actually kill it?! How?!"

"Based on Kim Tae-hyun's skills, it's practically a proven academic theory that his class is dragon-related..."

Tae-hyun had left a powerful impression on players during several high-profile quests. Among them were quests where he had summoned Yong-yong and Heuk-heuk to blast enemies with their dragon breath. Because of this, a popular theory still circulated among players: Kim Tae-hyun's class is definitely dragon-related! Otherwise, there was no logical explanation for how he could carry around two baby dragons!

What made it so difficult to guess Tae-hyun's class was his absurdly miscellaneous assortment of skills. It was a class that defied all categorization!

Before the shocked players could even process this, Tae-hyun drove the final nail in the coffin.

"And I'm not the only one!"

"...?"

"Smith is going too!"

"!!!"

"And so is Lee Se-yeon!"

"!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Tae-hyun was kind enough to sell out his two rivals' names as well.

When Hakkaras first appeared, the Guild Alliance had been absolutely confident of their victory. The moment anyone in the Auston Kingdom laid eyes on a Black Dragon, they would bow their heads and flee in terror! Fear was a powerful weapon, after all.

But things did not unfold as the Guild Alliance had anticipated. This time, Kim Tae-san and his middle-aged guildmates were thoroughly gritting their teeth.

"Do you think we've forgotten the grudge of being driven out of the Auston Kingdom?!"

"Our territory was contaminated by plague!"

"Wait, but wasn't that because you uncles..."

"Shut up!"

They had absolutely no intention of backing down easily.

In truth, Kim Tae-san had prepared himself for a situation like this when he first set out for the Auston Kingdom. Given the sheer number of rankers in the Guild Alliance, it was only natural that they would have powerful players on their side. The only unexpected variable was the Black Dragon.

Kim Tae-san immediately adjusted his strategy.

"We're giving up on a head-on clash. We're going guerrilla. Everyone, scatter! Instead of gathering to siege castles or cities, we'll disperse and raid small outposts and villages!"

No matter how strong Hakkaras was, he was still just one dragon. And in Kim Tae-san's mind, there was no way such a powerful dragon would personally fly around hunting down every single scattered player. As long as we avoid him and keep looting, we'll still come out on top.

"Boss, our guild members and the Orc tribes are still holding strong, but the other players seem to be getting cold feet."

Kim Tae-san and his Orc tribes weren't the only ones running rampant in the Auston Kingdom. More than half of the forces were independent players who had flocked to the region after hearing the rumors. They were multi-purpose players seeking banditry, settling grudges with the Guild Alliance, farming EXP, or chasing skill rewards. Upon hearing the news of Hakkaras, they were beginning to hesitate: Uh... is it time to bail?

Kim Tae-san dealt with this issue with simple pragmatism.

"Put bounties on everything! Gold moves people! Gold for attacking an outpost, gold for raiding a village, gold for killing a Guild Alliance member..."

"But the total payout is going to be astronomical."

"I don't care!"

"The Amalan Fortress over here is too close to where Hakkaras appeared, so no one wants to go near it."

"Double the bounty!"

"Even so, it's a bit..."

"Then quadruple it!"

"!"

"Seriously, that bastard!"

Lee Se-yeon fumed as she flew through the air. She had wondered what was going on when the community boards exploded and her guild members started making a fuss... and it turned out Tae-hyun had completely locked her in.

Of course, both Lee Se-yeon and Smith were incredibly prominent, famous players, so rumors of them heading to the Auston Kingdom would have spread eventually anyway. But there was a massive difference between rumors naturally circulating and Tae-hyun outright declaring, "These guys are going too!"

"?"

Lee Se-yeon tilted her head in confusion at the sudden whisper. Who is this?

With that, Lee Se-yeon blocked the whisper. She had already intended to fight them anyway, but because the other party had selectively chosen the most annoying things to say, she was now determined to fight even harder. This was practically an official declaration of war!

Ugh, I should have kept my cool. It's all because of Kim Tae-hyun...

The Guild Alliance executives asked anxiously, "What did Lee Se-yeon say?"

"S-she declared war."

"What?!"

"No, that proposal was a win-win for Lee Se-yeon too!"

The executives couldn't understand it at all. In the tournament scheduled for later this year, Lee Se-yeon and Kim Tae-hyun were definitely rivals. If Kim Tae-hyun died and suffered a penalty, it would be incredibly advantageous for Lee Se-yeon! So why did she refuse?

"Maybe they really are dating?"

"That actually makes sense...!"

They were saying things that would make Lee Se-yeon kill them twice over if she ever found out.

"Did you get in touch with Smith?"

"Uh... he said he's sorry."

"Whew. Thank goodness."

At least they had stopped Smith! It seemed the rumor about Smith coming was just a baseless lie. However, one should always listen to a sentence until the very end.

"He said, 'I'm sorry, but I'll be fighting you guys just this once, so please don't take it personally'..."

"How is that an apology?!"

"...He can't board the ship?"

"He's already wrecked five ships."

Tae-hyun stared at the Adamantium Golem. The golem avoided his gaze.

"How are we supposed to transport that thing?"

"Let's freeze it," Tae-hyun offered a simple solution.

—Kwooooh!

The golem panicked. Freeze it? That was unthinkable.

"What if it dies?"

"If it dies, the adamantium will... Ah, right. It's fine, it won't die. Look at how much HP it has."

—Kwoo...

The golem stared at Tae-hyun with deep suspicion.

"You look cold, so I'll engrave Sadiq's Flame on your body first."

—Kwo, kwo.

Once the flame rune was engraved and the warm fire washed over its body, the golem nodded in satisfaction. Seizing the opportunity, Tae-hyun said,

"With this, don't you think it's fine if you get frozen?"

—Kwooooh!

A flat refusal!

"What a pain. We have to set off now... Choose one of the two."

—?

"Do you want to swim, or do you want to freeze?"

—...

Splash!

"...That guy is really something else."

Tae-hyun stared at the front of the ship, utterly dumbfounded. The golem was currently tied to the ship, swimming forward. Apparently, the ocean water was far preferable to being frozen solid! Thanks to Sadiq's Flame Rune that Tae-hyun had engraved, it seemed capable of enduring the cold sea.

Honestly, Tae-hyun had expected it to just choose being frozen. But the golem really, truly hated ice.

Sssssss!

Every time the golem swam forward, the surrounding seawater boiled instantly, turning into steam.

"Unbelievable. Just unbelievable."

Although their vision was completely obscured, Tae-hyun didn't pay it much mind. No powerful monsters spawned in this area anyway.