Caught in the Act

The Guild Alliance was shocked. Jukenen was shocked too.

How on earth had they been found out?!

Naturally, Jukenen had no way of knowing. He didn't know that a spy embedded deep within the Guild Alliance was feeding information directly to the other side.

Spy → Lee Da-bi → Tae-hyun → Power Warrior Guild members in Marchetti County → Count Marchetti's soldiers → Count Marchetti!

This was exactly how the intelligence had reached the Count's ears.

"Count Marchetti! Demons are approaching through the secret passage beneath the castle!"

"Do not speak such utter nonsense. How could such a thing even exist?"

"I will stake my life on it! If I am wrong, you may chop off my head!"

"What did you say?"

For a Power Warrior Guild member who lacked skills and had low Reputation stats, staking their own head was the only way to make the NPC believe them.

"Hey, are you insane?!"

"Staking your head is way too much! He'll actually chop it off!"

The other players mocked him.

"There goes another attention seeker."

"There's always someone trying to suck up to noble NPCs, completely oblivious to their own standing."

Among the players who hadn't been playing Pan-On for very long, there were always those who didn't know their place and tried to act friendly with noble NPCs. Of course, the result was always harsh punishment! Noble NPCs treated players without proper qualifications, such as Reputation or titles, with absolute coldness. There was a reason people said you had to clear dozens of chain quests just to catch a glimpse of a lord's face.

But this guild member was confident.

There was no way the information Kim Tae-hyun gave them could be wrong!

"Very well! If you are wrong, I shall have your head!" Count Marchetti said, his face contorting in displeasure.

This was the default personality of noble NPCs! Considering their temperament, if the information turned out to be false, his head would truly roll.

The watching players were all snickering at the foolish guild member...

"The demons have appeared!"

"Demons have appeared! There really was a secret passage in the basement!"

"What?!" Count Marchetti gasped in shock.

To think there was a secret passage even he didn't know about! And that demons were invading through it!

"Summon the knights immediately! We must defend the secret passage! To think they would launch such a cowardly surprise attack! Even a band of brigands would have more honor than this!"

Furious, Count Marchetti summoned his knights.

Fully armored and heavily buffed by priests, the knights rushed toward the secret passage with fire in their eyes.

A narrow castle basement with no escape, combined with knights, mercenaries, and players charging in from all directions! It was turning into a high-difficulty dungeon that even Tae-hyun would look at and think, Wow, that's a bit much, isn't it?

"For a lowly peasant, you are quite capable! What is your name?"

"I am Choi Min-soo!"

"I hereby appoint you as my page!"

A page. If it were Tae-hyun or a high-ranking player, they would have scoffed, Why should I be happy about becoming a page at my level? and refused. But Choi Min-soo was not one of those prominent players.

He was a weed-like player of the Power Warrior Guild whose motto was "live thin and long"! Rather than clearing quests himself, Choi Min-soo was perfectly content with just following Tae-hyun around and picking up the crumbs that fell from his table.

Look at this! His personal stream, which used to be watched by absolutely no one except a few supportive Power Warrior Guild members, was now proudly listed among the popular streams.

The viewers cheering him on!

The people watching Choi Min-soo's stream didn't really care about him clearing great quests in a cool way. What mattered was how much Choi Min-soo got wrecked and how funny he was! And occasionally, the high-level information he dropped that only someone close to Tae-hyun could know!

"Oh, thank you so much!"

Choi Min-soo bowed flat on his face as he accepted. His hands were already rubbing together in a sycophantic gesture.

"Follow me and attend to my needs!"

"Yes, sir!"

Choi Min-soo eagerly followed behind the Count. To think he was allowed to tag along like this!

The other guild members were already green with envy.

"I should have spoken up...!"

"Ugh! I'm so jealous!"

"But I heard the Count has a terrible personality..."

"Who cares about his personality! As long as the gold keeps rolling in, that's all that matters!"

"This is all because of you!!" Jukenen roared fiercely.

He wasn't entirely sure if it was actually the Guild Alliance's fault, but Jukenen was a demon. In a situation like this, a demon's first instinct ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was always to blame the other party! Unaware of this demonic trait, the Guild Alliance was thrown into a panic.

Knights were swarming in front of the passage, and from behind them, they could hear the echoing shouts of more reinforcements: "We're coming to support you! Hold on!"

They were already losing their minds, and Jukenen's sudden outburst only added to their confusion.

"No! We were extremely thorough..."

"Joining hands with scum like you was my mistake! Damn it! How could a great demon like me make such a blunder..."

"Demon? Wait. What demon?"

"Wasn't it because of you that we got caught?"

The Guild Alliance players weren't exactly pushovers when it came to temper! They might have acted like gentle lambs in front of Tae-hyun, but they were like lions in front of anyone else.

"The guys you're dragging around look highly suspicious!"

"Exactly! What's with those shady grins... and they're literally shouting 'demon' out there! You guys are definitely the ones who blew our cover!"

The guild members immediately drew their weapons, threatening Jukenen and his subordinates. They were already anxious and irritated, so this was a perfect outlet!

But that was a mistake. Even if Jukenen was a demon, this was a moment where they should have coaxed him and used him to their advantage! If it had been Tae-hyun, he would have said, Yes, yes, my mistake! Let's fight together! while using them as arrow fodder.

Faced with such threats, Jukenen, who was already a demon, instantly made up his mind. He would use the Guild Alliance as a decoy and run away!

"Hmph! How dare you lowly insects!"

Jukenen quickly waved his hand. Instantly, glowing runes etched themselves across the narrow underground passage, and low-to-mid-grade demons began pouring out in rapid succession. They were at a level that wouldn't even scratch the elites of the Guild Alliance!

*Slash!*

Indeed, the guild members cleared them out with a single swing of their swords or a single skill activation. With every sweep of a weapon, several demons were obliterated.

"Is this all you've got?"

"Get over here, you bastard!"

The guild members glared at Jukenen with furious expressions.

However, Jukenen hadn't summoned these low-to-mid-grade demons out of stupidity. He wasn't one of Edaor's top subordinates for nothing! What Jukenen needed was just a brief moment of time. The brief moment the guild members spent clearing out the demons!

"Hmph. Fools!"

"Demonic Mana Explosion!"

*Boom! Boom! Crash!*

As Jukenen unleashed his wicked magic, the nearby demons and their corpses began to swell before violently exploding. It was a powerful blast, enough to blow apart a small kitchen!

Jukenen cackled with laughter.

"Miserable fools! Did you really think you could stand against the great Jukenen?!"

Having said his piece, Jukenen turned to leap back into the underground passage.

"You son of a..."

"Wh-What?!"

Jukenen gasped in horror.

Despite taking the explosion head-on, most of the Guild Alliance members were completely fine. They had sustained some damage and their equipment was slightly scuffed, but they were otherwise virtually unscathed!

How on earth?!

"Do you think you're Kim Tae-hyun? Trying to pull a cheap trick like that... Get over here! I'm going to murder you!"

Because they had been tormented so much by Kim Tae-hyun, these guild members basically walked around wearing gear with options that reduced explosion damage. Of course, it wasn't nearly enough to block Tae-hyun's suffocatingly high explosion damage, but it was more than enough to withstand Jukenen's surprise attack.

"Block them, my minions!"

Genuinely panicked now, Jukenen threw his necromancers and followers forward as shields and bolted down the passage.

The guild members gnashed their teeth, determined to hunt him down and tear him apart. You are dead meat!

But they didn't have the luxury to give chase. With the wall destroyed, knights and soldiers began pouring into the basement from all directions.

"They are demon worshippers! Capture them!"

"A wicked cabal colluding with demons!"

"We must avenge the blood of Count Bolone!"

"???"

"What Count?"

"Wait, the guy who died when the gate collapsed? That was because of those mechanical engineering blacksmiths!"

The Guild Alliance members were utterly baffled. They knew Count Bolone had died because they had watched the video, but no matter how they looked at it, that was the fault of the mechanical engineering blacksmiths! Who else would blow things up with bombs like that?!

"How... How dare you insult the late Count! Kill these shameless bastards!"

"!!!"

"Stop using buffs, you crazy bastards!"

The Guild Alliance rankers were horrified. Precisely because they were rankers, they understood exactly how dangerous their current situation was.

Knight NPCs were already formidable on their own, but now they were stacked with buffs, and the Guild Alliance was being ambushed in an extremely disadvantageous position. It was the absolute worst-case scenario! If you wanted to fight a knight order, you had to do so from an advantageous position. Fighting them under these conditions was suicide.

In an instant, a single word flashed through their minds.

Wipeout!

"We have to run!"

"Run to the passage! The passage is narrow, so if we block it, they won't be able to pursue us!"

*Rumble!*

What was that sound?

The Guild Alliance realized it immediately. Jukenen, who had entered first, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had collapsed the passage behind him out of pure spite.

"?!"

"Ah, that crazy demon bastard, seriously!!"

"If I catch him, I am going to rip him apart!!"

Why did they ever team up with a guy like that! Only now did the Guild Alliance regret their choices. No matter how desperate or cornered they were, they should never have joined hands with such a creature...!

"Break through!"

"Follow me!"

"?!"

The guild members were shocked. The rankers had actually stepped up to lead the charge. To think they were telling everyone to follow them. They weren't usually the type to do that!

"Just stay right behind me! I'll break us through. Let's go!"

"No! Follow me!"

But if one knew what the rankers were actually thinking, it made perfect sense. If there was no escape and they had to force their way through, the one who brought the most people along had the advantage. Because in a worst-case scenario, they could use the others as decoys and make a run for it!

Regardless, the guild members were slightly touched by this rare display of leadership from the rankers.

"We're right behind you! Let's go!"

"Guild Alliance! Charge!"

It felt as though their camaraderie, which had hit rock bottom, was experiencing a tiny revival.

Leaving Bolone County aside for the moment, Tae-hyun had entered Marchetti County leading a massive host of his subordinates.

Sorry, Guild Alliance! Since things have turned out this way, I'll have to take you down!

The Guild Alliance would probably scream betrayal and release the video of their contract, but Tae-hyun didn't care in the slightest. If he were the type of person to worry about things like that, he wouldn't have behaved the way he did in Pan-On 1! More than that, it was crucial not to arouse suspicion among the other nobles.

Shut up.

Leading the Archisus Artillery, his knights, and his warriors, Tae-hyun's military might was terrifying. Knowing this, the noble warriors whispered beside him.

"Your Holiness. Let us use this force to strike the arrogant Count Marchetti. Show him your supreme majesty."

These noble warriors were urging him to go all out since it wasn't their own skin on the line! They were truly worthy of being from the Asbian Empire.

"Tae-hyun! I think the fight has already started!"

"We must hurry!"

Hearing that the Guild Alliance had already passed through the passage and arrived in the basement, Tae-hyun quickened his pace. At this rate, it would all be over before they even arrived!

"The entrance to the passage was over there, right? Let's go!"

Tae-hyun planned to sweep up the Guild Alliance as they came rushing out of the secret passage's entrance. Unless the Guild Alliance was completely stupid, they would definitely exit through the same secret passage they had entered.

*Flash!*

Sure enough, a figure came bursting out of the entrance.

"See? I told you they'd come out."

"?"

"...Wait, that doesn't look like the Guild Alliance?"

The one who had emerged from the entrance was Jukenen.

-...?

Our captive demon, Gusion, narrowed his eyes.

Isn't that guy a demon?