The Party Leader Has Been Logged Out

"..."

"..."

The atmosphere suddenly turned ice-cold! The climate of this abandoned land was violent and unpredictable. Though Tae-hyun and his companions didn't know it, for those without the Grace of Archisus, this place was genuinely life-threatening! Suana hadn't been making a fuss over nothing when she insisted they prepare. Even a high-level ranker could be killed or left on the brink of death by a single bolt of lightning.

The guild members, having just lost their guild leader, were terrified. Gripped by sheer panic, they stammered out a question.

"D-did you just blast us with lightning because we tried to build a new fortress?"

"?"

"???"

Tae-hyun's party was dumbfounded. Jeong Su-hyeok was especially bewildered, as the guild members were pointing directly at him and whispering among themselves!

"How could I have possibly done this..."

"You did it?!"

"No, I mean, lightning magic is my specialty, but..."

"It's your specialty?!"

"...Indeed!"

Jeong Su-hyeok had grown as well. If there was one thing he had learned from watching Tae-hyun, it was how to ride the wave of a misunderstanding!

"My lightning magic has evolved to a whole new level, reaching this very height!"

"T-that's impossible! No matter how skilled you are!"

"Did he raise his lightning magic to the Highest rank? N-no way... Don't tell me he reached the Legendary rank?!"

Instead of answering, Jeong Su-hyeok simply swung his staff.

"Aaaaargh!"

The guild members screamed and tumbled backward in a panic.

Th-this is so much fun!

Su-hyeok finally understood why Tae-hyun always carried fake bombs around to threaten people. It was incredibly thrilling!

"Take this! And this!"

"Su-hyeok. Get a grip..."

"I-I'm sorry, Senior."

By the time Jeong Su-hyeok snapped out of it, the guild members had already scattered and fled. It was a complete coincidence, but rumors of this incident spread like wildfire.

Information about the Archisus Church had spread quite a bit, so people knew a thing or two about it. When luck occasionally triggered, it was truly terrifying!

In the end, those in desperate need were the ones who had to bow. Having barely managed to reach the vicinity of the fortress, not many guild members were willing to risk their lives doing something dangerous. If their leaders forced them to build a fortress anyway, the members were ready to stage an immediate mutiny!

The guild members who had threatened them, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and those who had blustered, "Do you know who we are?" all held hands amicably and walked into Tae-hyun's fortress.

"???"

Tae-hyun, who had been agonizing over how to transport the ancient heroes of the church, was dumbfounded by the message window popping up in front of him.

What is this?

It wasn't that he couldn't understand the content. In Pan-On, there were largely two ways to become a lord. One was to join a kingdom, perform meritorious deeds, receive land from a noble, and be granted a title. The other was to build a new village or fortress from scratch, grow it past a certain scale, and then declare, "I am the master of this place!"

Naturally, the former was far better than the latter. In the case of the latter, one had to do absolutely everything by themselves. Looking at the cases of large guilds fiercely fighting over empty plots of land in the collapsing Auston Kingdom to claim a village or fortress and try their hand at being a lord, there was very little to show for it.

Since there were no blacksmiths or shops, they had to build everything, which cost an astronomical amount of gold. And because there were no defenses, they had to pour even more gold into that... Furthermore, if they ended up in a territorial war with a neighboring guild's village and lost? They would lose everything, unable to even recoup their initial investment!

If you received a title from a kingdom, you could at least expect some support from them, but if you grew it on your own, you had no such backing.

The fact that the Guild Alliance was the only large guild that managed to break even in the Auston Kingdom proved this. The other large guilds had shed tears of blood and migrated to other kingdoms, or dissolved entirely, unable to bear the losses. There was a reason why whenever the Guild Alliance was mentioned on the forums, comments like "Death to the Guild Alliance!!!" flooded the threads. In truth, the Guild Alliance had accumulated almost as much resentment as Tae-hyun himself!

Anyway, with so many failed investors serving as cautionary tales, almost no one in Pan-On tried to grow a village on their own to become a lord anymore. The only recent success story was perhaps Kim Tae-san and his Orc tribes.

Tae-hyun, of course, had absolutely no interest in doing so. He was already struggling to manage the Atali Kingdom properly; why on earth would he want a new village?

However...

I know, right?

The location! The location was simply too enticing. Right now, wasn't this the only outpost in the Demon Realm where players could come and go? Tae-hyun knew all too well how lucrative such a monopoly could be.

This is the ultimate prime real estate...!

The difficulty of developing it was absolute hell, but the rewards of success were so sweet that he couldn't bring himself to give up!

But why did this place suddenly develop? Is there even anything here to develop?

Tae-hyun had only received reports that they had accepted the large guild expedition; he hadn't heard the details of how they were successfully squeezing money out of them.

I suppose that makes sense. Anyone who can make it all the way here must be high-level... But are they throwing money around like water? How on earth did the economic status rise to C+?

A C+ grade was by no means low. It was above average! Honestly, it wouldn't have been surprising if the fortress was at a D-, or even an F grade. There were no NPCs to spend money on, so how could there even be a grade? Yet, it was C+. Just how many expedition players had come, and how much money had they spent...?

At that moment, posts like these were popping up on the community boards.

The vanguard players had already completely adapted to the Outpost. Whenever latecomers tried to protest, shouting, "How does this make any sense!", the veterans would grab their ankles and drag them down like water ghosts. The world always kept spinning warmly thanks to people armed with the spirit of "I won't be the only one suffering"!

Unaware of this, Tae-hyun clicked his tongue, thinking, Sigh, why are these guys throwing their money around like water?

"Seriously, rankers have no idea how precious gold is. Back in my day, I used to carry every single piece of junk loot with me..."

"...Let's not attack me with facts."

The real reason Tae-hyun carried all sorts of items with him was that he had so many enemies that going to a town would immediately result in him being ambushed.

"Ugh... Young man. What should we do?"

"Ah, yes. You can just sit back and rest."

"Ahem! How can we just stand by and watch a young man work so hard? We shall help you!"

"Indeed! Besides, aren't we seniors of the same church? As your seniors, we cannot simply idle away!"

The good-natured, diligent, and highly responsible heroes of the church! They weren't called heroes for nothing. However, Tae-hyun only felt a deep sense of unease. From them...

He could smell the distinct scent of the Archisus Church.

...I have a bad feeling about this.

Did NPCs with that kind of personality naturally gravitate toward the Archisus Church, or did normal NPCs change once they joined? Strangely, whenever "Archisus" was prefixed to something, it became highly suspicious. Just like these heroes right now!

"I sense a wicked power from that cold spirit! I shall teach it a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lesson with my Divine Smite! Argh, my back..."

"Hold on a moment. I shall cast a blessing on you. Blessing of the Earth..."

"..."

Listening from the side, Tae-hyun was taken aback by the skill names. They sounded incredibly familiar. Weren't those...

Skills from the Phytos Church and the Demer Church?

"...That was an absolutely magnificent skill!"

Clap, clap, clap!

At Tae-hyun's applause, the heroes looked bashful.

"Haha, it is nothing special, yet you praise us so highly, young man."

"I wish to see your other skills as well! As expected of my seniors! I can feel the very soul and spirit of the Archisus Church in you!"

"Oh... ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hearing you say that, it does feel that way..."

"Indeed, our church was originally one of great heritage and deep roots. Yes, indeed."

The heroes nodded in satisfaction and began to show off their entire repertoires, one by one.

Why are new skills suddenly being added to the church?

Lee Da-bi stared at the message window in bewilderment. Holding a Heroic class and a high position within the church, she couldn't help but be flustered as notifications of "New skill added!" kept spamming her screen.

"Cain keeps staring at me. It's making me uncomfortable."

"Don't look back. If we get caught, we're in big trouble."

As the expedition players flooded in, Cain had no choice but to stand blankly in a corner of the fortress, pretending to be an NPC. It was so lonely and depressing!

Sob... I miss the days when we used to play together...

Even though he had been scolded and pushed around, those days were still better! Right now, he felt completely left out.

"Whoa, is that knight the famous Black Knight? The one who was born into the Erance royalty, but because his father eloped for love, he was never properly recognized and wandered as a mercenary, eventually mastering his swordsmanship to reach the Master rank?"

"That's him. Isn't he incredible?"

"...?????"

"It's Kim Tae-hyun's pet! He must have sent him!"

Who are you calling a pet!

Heuk-heuk was furious, but he held it in. He was here to do a job, after all.

The rankers cheered, practically jumping with joy.

"We've been waiting for you! So, what did Kim Tae-hyun say we should do?"

In response to that question, Heuk-heuk gave a very simple answer.

Fwoooooosh!

"Aaaaargh! My eyes!"

"Ah, hot! It's hot!"