Chapter 206: 38th Floor: The Giant Guild Party
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 206: 38th Floor: The Giant Guild Party
“Allahu Akbar!!!!”
“Allahu Akbar!!!!”
“Allahu Akbar!!!!”
“Allahu Akbar!!!!”
The crazed fanatics charged, their eyes gleaming.
“Aaaah!! You crazy bastards!”
Faced with a terrifying sight that could trigger PTSD, Lee Do-hee's party scattered like a disorganized mob.
In the chaos, Dotamuk shoved Lee Woo-sik toward the fanatics, and I tripped Dotamuk.
"You're the tank, block them... ugh!"
"Fuck, and you call yourself his brother!"
"This bitch pushed me!"
"Don't run, you idiot, block them!"
A battlefield rife with all sorts of curses and betrayals.
Ilbon-do and I abandoned the fallen ones and ran.
For the record, that Ilbon-do guy had bolted the second it started. He's got uselessly sharp instincts.
BOOOOOM!!!
"Oh..."
After quickly getting to a safe distance, I was leisurely listening to the sound of the explosion when a victory message popped up.
[The winner is Squad 3.]
Shwing!
*
In the waiting room, two burly men were staring at me with mournful faces. They hadn't died, thanks to Lee Woo-sik's defense skill and the Divine Shield I'd cast on him as I fled, but getting caught in the explosion must have hurt quite a bit.
"Uhh... sorry. Haha..."
"......I-It's fine."
"Ahem, don't do that again. If you do, I'll pull on your tits."
"That's a bit..."
- He's forgiving her for this.
- It's because just looking at her boobs calms the mind and body.
- Apology sex when?
- Apologize with your pussy! Ura! Ura!
- Dotamuk, in times like these, you're supposed to do it first and talk later.
- Hmm... true dat.
- This bitch is wearing that outfit on purpose...
In any case, we had safely advanced to the semifinals.
Before the match was decided, I had used my remaining divine power to cast buffs on myself, stacking them up to four levels.
As for the other teams, just as expected, the Giant Guild party and Damian Oswald's party advanced with incredible ease.
And so, the rotation came back around to our turn.
The semifinals, no less.
Our battle against the Giant Guild party was just around the corner.
"It's starting. Stay sharp."
"Of course."
"Phew, this is intense!"
"My sword will taste blood for the first time in a long while."
It's finally starting.
I will not lose this time.
[The match between Squad 3 and Squad 6 will now begin.]
Shwing!
*
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
In the Giant Guilds' situation room.
Having invested quite a lot into the Lee Do-hee brainwashing project, the Giant Guilds had set up an integrated command center to issue orders in real-time.
All the Giant Guild masters were present, watching the events unfold, while the top minds from each guild issued commands.
They watched the feed through a private Pantheon TV broadcast and communicated in real-time using special equipment. This place was the very foundation of the Giant Guilds' power.
Everyone here was an agent who had monitored Lee Do-hee's combat footage, skills, and items countless times.
Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will win a hundred battles. They were in the middle of a final review of their plan to defeat Lee Do-hee with the best possible strategy.
The Giant Guild masters watched the scene and chatted leisurely. Their expressions were full of confidence, certain they would not lose.
The first to speak was the master of the Five Star Guild.
"Our Han-jun has unlocked my sword, I see. That requires the sword's acknowledgment, so that's good. But why did that bastard get sent flying after one hit?"
The "bastard" he was referring to was the greatsword warrior who had been struck by Kazaha's greatsword and sent crashing upside down into the arena floor.
His name was Baek Seung-chan.
He was none other than the direct disciple of the Steel Alliance Guild Master.
"Ahem, he was careless. If your Han-jun had been the first to clash, he would have been sent flying just the same. That orc fellow was an unexpected dark horse. Don't worry, there will be no problem taking down Lee Do-hee's party. Besides, wasn't it that redhead who couldn't do anything from the back?"
The Steel Alliance Guild Master skillfully passed the buck to the next person.
Here, "redhead" didn't mean a communist, but simply the red-haired fire mage.
His name was Park Kang-seok.
He, too, was a direct disciple of the Magic Tower Guild Master, as well as the one who served him at night.
The Magic Tower Guild Master, wearing a red dress with a plunging neckline, replied nonchalantly.
"He was obviously hiding his strength. There's nothing to be gained from revealing our full power, is there?"
"Hmm, that's true."
"Th-that's right. Our Seung-chan must have made the opponent completely lower their guard."
"That bastard just got careless and was sent flying..."
The heads of the Giant Guilds chattered away, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.
And sitting among them, Baek Do-hyeon let out a faint, relaxed smile as he sipped a crimson drink.
*
[The match will now begin.]
Shwing!
I quickly opened my eyes.
The map was a ruined city.
All around were the skeletal frames of apartment buildings and half-collapsed structures.
"First, let's secure our positions. Move in pairs of two."
Following my command, Dotamuk nimbly climbed onto a building, with Ilbon-do following him.
It'd be foolish not to use the terrain to our advantage.
The two of us would draw their attention from below, while Dotamuk would snipe and take out the mages in the backline.
If they sent someone to deal with Dotamuk, Ilbon-do would launch a surprise counterattack. It was a textbook strategy.
"Woo-sik. You have to hold on. Dotamuk, you stick to the plan. Follow my plan to the letter. Okay?"
I had ordered him not to reveal himself until both mages showed themselves.
"Yep!"
"Of course."
After confirming Dotamuk's position, the two of us began to move slowly.
I tried spreading my aura, but they must have prepared for this, as I couldn't feel a thing.
In the quiet city, we walked, making only the faintest of footsteps, as Lee Woo-sik and I scanned our surroundings.
Since watching my broadcast would reveal our entire strategy, I'd already switched my stream to a third-person, front-facing view a while ago. The viewers were a little inconvenienced, but most of them seemed to understand.
Step... step...
The gloomy, ruined city was covered in dark clouds.
Even though it was daytime, it was dark enough for ghosts to appear.
A surprise attack is bound to come. Hmm?
The moment I felt something, the wall of the building next to me shattered, and the guy with the greatsword rushed right in front of me in the blink of an eye.
Fwhoosh!!
He closed the distance in an instant and swung his greatsword.
But that wasn't all.
Up in the sky, the fire mage Baek Kang-seok had already conjured a Flame Spear and was aiming it at me.
And it didn't end there.
The wall of another building in a different direction burst open, and Kwon Han-jun charged out, crashing into Lee Woo-sik.
A surprise attack, launched simultaneously as if they had been waiting for this moment.
First, the greatsword fell before my eyes.
I thrust my spear forward.
A fast, heavy greatsword already at maximum velocity versus a spear that had just begun to move.
At a glance, it seemed like an unwinnable contest, but...
[Shattering Flow]
Wooooong~~!!
Instead, the greatsword was pushed back as if it had been repelled.
You wouldn't know unless you've been hit by it.
I know from being hit by Irene countless times, but the second form, Shattering Flow, is a force that truly twists the laws of physics. It consumes a corresponding amount of divine power, but for me, with over ten thousand divine power, it was nothing.
The greatsword that touched the tip of my spear was lifted upwards with a dull thud, exposing his chest completely.
"What...!"
His eyes widened, struck by an unknown force.
Crack!
Without hesitation, I pierced his neck. I succeeded in driving my spear precisely into the gap where he had no armor.
"Guh!"
Not yet.
I immediately fell back.
BOOM!!
A Flame Spear slammed into the spot where I had been standing, causing a massive explosion.
Dodging one wasn't the end of it.
More spears of fire rained down from the sky. He was casting magic without any delay, as if he hadn't shown even half of his true power when fighting the orc.
Like falling missiles, the Flame Spears plummeted to the ground at high speed and exploded.
Shiiiiiik—! BOOM!
Hoo... Something like this is nothing!
I spread my aura and entrusted my body to my senses.
I could feel the fireballs falling from the sky without even looking.
I weaved in a zigzag pattern, evading the bombardment.
"You little rat!!"
Baek Kang-seok grew angry at the sight of Lee Do-hee, who looked like she was wiggling her ass left and right as she fled.
He tried launching them in curves and firing several at once, but Lee Do-hee found the safe zones and dodged like a ghost.
I once spent a week dodging the bombardment of a space battleship. For me, this level of shelling was easy.
Even if I got caught in the explosions a little, I just had to endure it.
My body was so durable that the shock alone didn't cause any significant damage.
I could have avoided it completely by going inside a building, but I didn't.
My role in this battle is to be the bait.
There was no one who knew the enemy as well as I did, or who could react to changing situations as well as I could.
Dotamuk and Ilbon-do's strength was more than enough to kill the enemies.
Now... when will you show yourself?
*
Meanwhile,
In the Giant Guilds' situation room.
"Lee Do-hee... she's not moving according to plan!"
"Why isn't she throwing her spear?"
"When should we send Seung-chan back in?"
The plan was for Lee Do-hee to throw her spear at the fire mage Baek Kang-seok, who would then teleport away, allowing Baek Seung-chan, hidden in the flames, to ambush her. But after her initial counterattack, Lee Do-hee simply kept dodging without attacking.
And she was doing it with ease.
Baek Seung-chan pretending to die was part of the plan.
The greatsword warrior, Baek Seung-chan, whose neck had been pierced, was still alive through some method. He was supposed to aim for the small opening created when she threw her spear, but Lee Do-hee wouldn't let go of her weapon, even when she had the chance.
"What about Dotamuk and Ilbon-do?"
"Ivan is currently tracking them."
"Still?"
"That bitch hasn't used her buffs, right? Keep attacking and make her use them!"
"No, send Seung-chan in before his buff runs out!!!"
Things were already getting a little tangled right from the start.
Watching this unfold, Baek Do-hyeon anxiously ran a hand through his hair.
*
Woo-sik... I believe in you.
Meanwhile, Lee Woo-sik had been caught by Kwon Han-jun and was now fighting him one-on-one inside a building.
With my buffs, Woo-sik should be able to hold his own against Kwon Han-jun for a while.
In the meantime, I would draw out their key skills.
A Flame Spear landed right in front of me, as if to block my path.
The reason I didn't attack that mage and left him alone was because I knew exactly what they were thinking.
The greatsword warrior will revive and come after me, and if I throw my spear, the mage will teleport away.
The mage was wearing none other than Baek Do-hyeon's shoes.
It was a ridiculously overpowered item that allowed the user to cast Fly and short-range Teleport magic infinitely without any delay, as long as they had mana.
And finally, the greatsword warrior burst out from the flames, swinging his sword.
"Where do you think you're going, you bitch!!!"
The appearance of a man they thought was dead.
The viewers were surprised, but I had known this would happen.
<Ring of the Undying>
When you receive a fatal attack, your physical abilities increase dramatically for 1 minute, and you cannot die during this time. (Cooldown: 7 days)
A ring I gave to the healer, Baek A-yeon, as a gift in the past. She had now become the head of the evil White Night Society Guild, but back then, she was a kind healer.
I didn't need it since my body regenerated anyway, so I gave it away, but I had seen this greatsword-wielding guy wearing it.
Since he was pretending to be dead, I deliberately avoided him.
He was fated to come out within the one-minute duration anyway, so I wasn't the one feeling pressured.
"Die!!!!"
The greatsword before me was fast and powerful.
But it was familiar.
[Mountain Cleaver]
An immense amount of energy gathered in front of me.
It was a technique that seemed to require dodging far backward, but surprisingly, it was one you had to dodge by moving to the right or left of its direct path.
CRACK-CRASH!!
The asphalt road behind me completely shattered and shot into the air. An eight-story building in the line of fire collapsed.
This guy... is he that man's disciple?
He couldn't hide his surprise when he saw that I had dodged it unscathed. Flustered, he used several more techniques in quick succession.
Techniques that overcame the greatsword's weaknesses.
A fighting style that restricted my escape routes.
[Severing Ten Thousand Mountains]
I easily dodged the wide, horizontal slash with a jump.
The buildings behind me were all sliced apart and collapsed.
[Soul Pierce]
A high-speed thrust that was impossible to avoid if you had jumped into the air to dodge Severing Ten Thousand Mountains.
As if I had expected it, I created a foothold panel using my shoes' special skill and dodged it with a light backflip.
His technique pierced through the innocent dark clouds, and a single ray of bright light shone down.
"You bitch... how!!"
Familiar swordsmanship.
Familiar skills and techniques.
Feeling a strange mix of nostalgia and rising anger, I responded with ease.
His stats were nearly three times higher than mine, but he couldn't touch me.
Based on his preparatory motions, his gaze, and an analysis of his previous techniques, my responses were practically precognitive.
They were techniques I was familiar with from countless sparring sessions with him in my past life. In fact, I was the one who taught him most of those combos.
If he had been more accustomed to controlling his own power, it might have been different, but the awkwardness between his movements also helped me dodge with ease.
He tried using various techniques, and even just swinging wildly, but I dodged or deflected them all.
The one minute should be about up.
"Just die already!!"
He was currently attacking me while completely disregarding his own defense, trusting only in his immortality skill.
This is my chance.
His armor, necklace, and greatsword.
I had to kill him in one blow before his troublesome skills could activate.
Fwhoooosh!!!
Another huge technique was coming.
[Mountain Cleaver]
I dodged forward, moving inside the range of the brutally swinging greatsword.
"I've got you, die!!"
Of course, my past self had also prepared a technique to kill an enemy who tried to exploit the opening after a technique was countered.
[Reverse Mountain Slash]
Using Mountain Cleaver inevitably embeds the sword in the ground. Reverse Mountain Slash is a technique that attacks by lifting the sword back up. If an opponent enters the greatsword's range to dodge Mountain Cleaver, this technique is absolutely unavoidable.
However, that's only if you can use the skill.
"Farewell."
[Straight Heart One Spear]
"Huh...?"
The moment he tried to use Reverse Mountain Slash, the one minute was up, and the immortality effect ended precisely on time. His stats dropped, and his body stiffened for a brief moment.
My spear once again pierced through his neck.
Crack!
*
The greatsword warrior, Baek Seung-chan.
He had done his best to make up for getting careless and being sent flying by an orc in the first match.
He felt like he could take down Lee Do-hee if he just pushed a little more.
She had dodged his attacks with absurd movements, but she had finally fallen for his trap.
You may have caught me off guard the first time, but did you really think the same trick would work again?!
An order came from the situation room to use the armor skill <Guardian's Last Stand>, which would instantly increase his defense and cause an explosion around him, but...
Lee Do-hee was right in front of him.
At a distance where he could kill her with just an upward swing of his greatsword.
There was no doubt.
Judging by her expression, she had made a mistake and given him the opening.
If I take her down here... I'll be praised by everyone. The grudge from the round of 16... Master, your disciple will bring glory to your name!!!
Excited for a moment, he decided to disobey the order just this once and swung his sword, but...
"Huh?"
As the duration of the Ring of the Undying's skill ended, his stats were readjusted, and his body froze for a fraction of a second. And that brief moment was more than enough to decide the match.
A pink spear was gleaming before his eyes.
He could see Lee Do-hee's face, no longer panicked but mocking, and her bouncing chest.
Ah...
Shwack!!!
And that was the last thing he ever saw.
*
"Idiot."
Isn't psychological warfare common sense in a fight?
To fall for it so easily meant he never had what it takes to be a high-ranking Awakener in the first place.
I made sure he had turned to dust and been eliminated, then leisurely dodged the Flame Spears that came flying at me again.
It might have looked simple, but tricking an opponent with stats three times higher than your own through psychological warfare and staking everything on a one-minute countdown instinctively calculated in the middle of a life-or-death battle was no ordinary feat.
Lee Do-hee might look like a big-breasted idiot, but once a battle started, she was the type to fight quite cleverly.
Of course, this was only possible because two of the enemies were out of the picture.
The black mage, Ivan, couldn't come out because he was busy trying to locate and guard against Dotamuk and Ilbon-do, while Kwon Han-jun was fighting Lee Woo-sik.
The one remaining was a fire mage whose main strength was area-of-effect skills. He couldn't touch me for fear of harming his own teammates.
If they'd had time to coordinate, it might have been different, but since they were a team hastily assembled with only strong individuals, they had obediently waited after being told by the situation room to conserve mana.
"Damn you!!"
The fire mage cast a massive spell and quickly retreated.
[Hellfire]
It was a high-tier spell, but due to the nature of Hellfire, the flames rose from the ground, making it very easy to dodge with a jump.
Tap!
I kicked off a building wall and pursued the mage.
"D-don't come any closer!!"
Now, it was time for the hunter and the hunted to switch roles.