Dragon Slayer (2)

"It was just an idea that popped into my head... but damn, it worked out perfectly? Guess I really am a gaming genius, huh?"

A smile crept across my lips as I replayed what had happened earlier with Tu Mertus. After that sudden encounter with Kaiser, I'd tested out my newly tamed pets, and every single one slotted into place perfectly, like I'd rehearsed it a hundred times beforehand. All verified.

"And on top of that, I even picked up an unexpected ally... Now the raid success rate's gotta be at least 70%—no, 75%?"

The dragon—the most powerful boss monster in existence. For a raid on something like that, this was a success rate so high that anyone else would wave it off as impossible. But to me, it still felt woefully short.

I couldn't afford to die even once thanks to my penalty, so anything less than near-100% success meant I shouldn't even attempt it. Sure, I had confidence I could survive a raid wipe to some extent, but my guildmates? Not so much.

What I needed was a surefire weapon to push that success rate way up—ideally to 100%, but even significantly closer would do. And the final piece of that puzzle was with Hellfire, right here in Dumein Castle.

"Welcome, Sandro. We've been waiting."

"You must've ridden hard all night until dawn, Hellfire? Congrats again on becoming the master of a 7-star castle!"

The reason I'd come to see him so late was simple. No doubt he'd been grinding with his guild all night until dawn.

"Haha! Remember how I said we could only survive with a three-kingdom system? Looks like that backfired hilariously. Thanks to you, we've grown tremendously in just two months. I owe you big time, Sandro."

Three-kingdom system? Oh right, he said that once.

Now that Phoenix was surging ahead, overtaking Taesung with overwhelming momentum, that strategy had lost most of its relevance. Phoenix was getting constant applications from top talent every day, and with more dedicated hunting grounds, their members' power levels were skyrocketing.

Taesung, on the other hand, had lost a castle because of me and was starting to loosen control over their hunting zones. The tables had turned completely. It was only natural that titan counts would decide siege outcomes going forward. A few more months like this, and Phoenix would surpass the undisputed top dog Taesung to claim the number one spot.

"Before I collect the promised reward, I have one small favor to ask... Mind if I do?"

"Of course, Sandro—anything. We're solid allies who help each other out, right?"

"Thanks for saying that. It's about Jiwel Castle, the one you just took... Could our guild borrow some of the NPC soldiers there?"

"NPC soldiers? What do you need those useless things for? They're not for PK, and they're high-level, so they won't give you any EXP if you use them for hunting."

"Got a few ideas I want to test out. But I don't have a castle right now, so I had to ask."

It wasn't that I didn't trust Hellfire. This raid was in a far-off field against an insanely dangerous target—any interference midway could spell real disaster. But as the master of a 7-star castle, Hellfire was under constant watch from rival players and hidden spies.

I desperately wanted him in on this raid—he was reliable and I owed him—but for safety's sake, it had to stay secret. He'd basically jumped from 4-star to 7-star master thanks to me anyway, so I was already doing plenty for him.

"Ah, got it. No problem at all. We're allies—we did a joint siege just yesterday. I'll set the permissions specifically. You only need Jiwel Castle's soldiers, right?"

"Yes, thank you. Jiwel Castle alone is plenty."

People really should rack up as much experience as possible. If I hadn't been a castle lord myself, I wouldn't have known allied guilds could requisition NPCs.

Allied guilds had all sorts of shared permissions, probably because sieges were a core theme. Things like opening the main castle gates or requisitioning NPC soldiers—and you could even limit it to specific users within the alliance.

Of course, requisition limits were tight, so most guilds didn't hand out those permissions lest they need them themselves. And no guild liked allies popping in and out freely, so unless it was someone they deeply trusted, it was rare.

"Should I hand over the success reward first? Here are the three sapphire rings I promised."

"Thanks as always, Hellfire."

"No big deal for us. Let's keep crushing sieges together, Sandro."

The reward for helping with Jiwel Castle yesterday was, predictably, these sapphire rings. To me, they were worth two or three legendaries easy, so I'd joined gladly.

That means three more enhancement attempts. What if I end up with +9 legendaries like Darius?

Just imagining it put me in a great mood. Two at +9 would give 7.4% mana absorption—better than wearing an extra ring, since +2 was already 4.4%.

With the reward secured, we headed to Jiwel Castle to set the NPC requisition permissions.

The 300,000 guild achievement points from becoming Kaljen Castle's lord. Since I was ditching them anyway, I blew them on experiments left and right.

Without that experience, I never would've dreamed up a dragon raid plan.

Why ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was I confident about this dragon raid? Sure, more titans helped, but the real key was mastering the 'escort knight' system during my month as castle lord.

[Elite Knight Squadron (Sword)]

[Elite Knight Squadron (Spear)]

[Elite Knight Squadron (Bow)]

…………

[Regular Soldier (Sword)]

[Regular Soldier (Spear)]

[Regular Soldier (Bow)]

Vice-knight captains and named NPC knights were guild master and officer exclusives—no dice for allies. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠But that was fine.

I didn't want named knights anyway; I needed the regular soldiers.

Achievement points deducted, and an elite soldier in Jiwel Castle's signature light armor appeared before me. The blank NPC face, but as an elite, he wielded a crossbow unlike regular archers—looked plenty tough.

Yes! As expected from Jiwel Castle, the most recently conquered—highest level elites!

Checking his specs blew past expectations.

From the highest-level zone, ironically higher-leveled than Kaljen's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠vice-knight captain Lanford. But raw stats were half of Lanford's at best—pathetic compared to same-level players.

What mattered to me wasn't stats, but the soldier's level.

Level 375...? That's 10 higher than I expected. And unlike Kaljen's archers, Jiwel's have Bow Mastery! This is a jackpot I never saw coming.

Against a dragon over level 400, a level 375 soldier's attacks would land better than Ferari at 350. A loophole in mob-on-mob combat that didn't apply to players!

And as elites, they had a skill—perfectly, Bow Mastery for accuracy and base attack boosts.

Weak individual damage meant one or two NPCs wouldn't dent it. But ten or twenty times that many? Way higher DPS than players whiffing with their high-attack skills.

Last checks done—preparations complete. Now just grind levels until D-Day and dive into the raid.

4:30 a.m. Peak off-hours for player logins—we'd timed it perfectly for the historic dragon raid launch.

Over the past ten days, Burning Star had grinded like mad—hell training didn't cover it. No regrets meant skipping meals and bathroom breaks for levels.

Only possible because we were all hardcore no-lifers without day jobs. Result? Hyunjung and I both hit 360 side by side.

-I'm never losing to you, got it?

-In your dreams, dude—you already lost. You were low 300s when I restarted at level 10, and I already caught up?

I kept teasing Hyunjung as he fumed, but it was impressive. My character's a busted EXP hog with insane DPS, but he's just a standard holy knight.

Yet without any special support, as a solo player, he'd closed to within 10 levels of a ranker. Accounting for my freak case, insane leveling speed.

Impossible without the underground city in the magic era. That growth fueled my raid confidence.

As if to boost it further, posts from our powerhouse new recruits—the ultimate duo—piled in.

Top solo rankers, duo-only no-guild legends, Tayen's best. They heard the raid plan, joined Burning Star temporarily per my suggestion.

They hesitated on guild-joining, but needed it to requisition elite archers as escorts.

Whoosh!

My signal dropped, and sleepy Huford Village square bustled. Guildmates and 30 elite archers from Jiwel teleported to the teleporter NPC.

"No hesitation—move out now!"

This many people moving together was conspicuous, but Huford being closest to Gartwell Mountains was a godsend. Still the ghost town players avoided, like when I used it for my level reset.

I'd scouted first to confirm no players, then called everyone.

We flowed out like the tide, moving as one.

Outside, I stealthed ahead to lead. Requisition limits per castle were fixed—30 elite archers max. As main DPS and raid leader, I couldn't micromanage them anyway, so I skipped any for myself.

Let me scout paths to avoid players.

High-level zone, but not player-free. Rugged mountains let us detour if spotted early.

Players vanished soon—only near safe village entrances, apparently.

Ten minutes later, past Wyvern Nest peak, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we hit a massive tree cliff. We'd reached Silence Forest, made of thousands of giant trees.