Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Sowing Discord (4)
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‘They’re fighting well.’
Kang Hyun-soo watched the two groups slashing at each other with deadly intent, a smile spreading across his face.
‘It’s evenly matched.’
The Zhonghua Guild and the Cabal Guild.
Massive guilds representing China and the UK, respectively.
Their skill levels were impressively high, as expected.
‘There might even be rankers among them.’
But none of that mattered now.
Most of them would die right here anyway.
‘Perimeter’s secured.’
This was Zhonghua Guild territory.
If the battle dragged on, reinforcements from the Zhonghua Guild were likely to swarm in.
Kang Hyun-soo had lured the two groups to this remote spot.
But you never knew.
To prepare for any contingencies, he’d deployed his summons to block other players from approaching.
‘Still, gotta stay alert. The Zhonghua Guild guys might fire off a signal flare.’
It’d be nice if the Cabal Guild handled it themselves.
But in the heat of this fierce fight, they might miss it.
As Kang Hyun-soo watched the battle with a relaxed mind.
“Aaagh!”
The first casualty appeared.
‘The Zhonghua Guild guys got too complacent.’
The first to fall was from the Zhonghua Guild.
The unexpected death of their comrade.
The Zhonghua Guild’s level 700 players flew into a rage and charged even more aggressively.
In the midst of it.
Fwoooosh!
A streak of flame shot into the sky.
‘Now they fire the signal flare when things are turning against them.’
Boom!
Before Kang Hyun-soo could intervene, a Cabal Guild player snuffed out the flare.
But the price was steep.
Slash!
He’d blocked the flare—at the cost of his own life.
For Kang Hyun-soo, it was a stroke of luck.
He’d planned a way to destroy the flare without revealing himself.
‘But avoiding suspicion altogether is the best approach.’
Both guilds had now lost one member each.
Perhaps because of that.
The two groups charged at each other even more ferociously, desperate to kill.
* * *
‘Why the hell aren’t they coming?’
The leader of the Zhonghua Guild’s level 700 players was growing increasingly anxious.
Five of them had already died.
The silver lining was that the Cabal Guild had lost five as well.
‘At this rate, it’ll be mutual destruction.’
At first, he hadn’t fired the signal flare, hoping to hog all the credit.
But the Cabal Guild’s skills were no joke.
Cowardly braggarts.
That was the Zhonghua Guild’s view of Cabal.
The leader of these level 700 players thought the same.
So he’d underestimated them.
But Cabal’s prowess exceeded expectations.
Was it complacency?
They’d lost a party member far too easily.
He’d fired the flare too late.
Only for Cabal’s quick response to block it.
They kept fighting, waiting for main force backup.
Two parties of level 700 players clashing.
Even in this remote area.
He figured there’d be players hunting nearby.
If they witnessed the fight?
And reported it to the main force?
They’d survive.
But.
‘Why aren’t they coming?’
No matter how long they waited.
No reinforcements arrived.
‘Should we call for backup ourselves?’
He wanted to spare one party member to request aid from the main force.
But there was no opening.
In this situation, losing even one would shatter the delicate balance.
They’d be dead meat.
‘And no guarantee the request would even get through.’
The enemy wouldn’t just sit idly by after killing them.
They’d chase down anyone trying to call for help and slaughter them.
‘To survive, we have to wipe them out here.’
He’d abandoned any thought of subduing them.
For survival, he had to kill them all.
The battle dragged on.
Zhonghua Guild and Cabal Guild level 700 players fell one by one.
In the end, only the two leaders remained.
‘I’ll kill him.’
The Zhonghua Guild level 700 leader’s eyes flashed.
His cherished party members were all dead.
For their vengeful spirits, he had to kill this bastard right here.
The two fought fiercely.
However.
Their skills were a hair’s breadth apart, with the Cabal Guild level 700 leader holding the edge.
‘Am I dying like this?’
The Zhonghua Guild level 700 leader gritted his teeth, shedding bloody tears from his battered body.
Thud thud thud thud!
Then, rough footsteps echoed from afar.
The ground vibrations suggested at least several dozen.
“Tch!”
At that moment, the Cabal Guild level 700 leader let out a short grunt, face hardening as he dodged away.
“You bastard!”
The Zhonghua Guild level 700 leader wanted to grab him right then.
But his body was in no shape for it.
‘Why’d they take so damn long?’
The Zhonghua Guild level 700 leader vowed not to let these late arrivals off easy.
That was when.
Grrrrr!
A monster’s low growl rumbled.
‘Not reinforcements?’
The source of the footsteps was a monster horde.
‘Lucky break.’
The Cabal Guild level 700 leader had dodged, assuming Zhonghua reinforcements.
But it wasn’t.
Monsters.
‘I need to get out too.’
His body was wrecked.
In top shape, he could handle dozens or hundreds of level 500 monsters with ease.
But now, he couldn’t manage ten.
‘I’ll remember this.’
He’d report back to the main force.
Then Cabal would face bloody retribution.
The Zhonghua Guild level 700 leader fled without even grabbing his comrades’ loot.
In the spot where the Zhonghua and Cabal Guild level 700 leaders had departed.
Grrrrr!
Over a hundred monsters gathered.
Step step.
Kang Hyun-soo emerged, parting the monsters.
‘Went exactly according to plan.’
The Zhonghua and Cabal Guild level 700 players had misunderstood each other.
And fought to the death.
The result.
‘Eighteen dead.’
He could’ve killed those two leaders easily too.
But Kang Hyun-soo didn’t.
‘For a bigger war, they need to survive and report the truth to their mains.’
That’s why he’d used monster-type summons to let the Zhonghua leader escape.
‘Jackpot.’
A feast of A-Rank items.
B-Rank ones were rare as hen’s teeth.
Heh.
A bright smile bloomed on Kang Hyun-soo’s lips.
‘Devour them.’
Shiiiing!
Kang Hyun-soo infused mana into the Sword of Gluttony.
In that instant, the sword indiscriminately devoured the items.
[The Sword of Gluttony (A-Rank) has grown.]
[The Sword of Gluttony (A-Rank) has grown.]
[The Sword of Gluttony (A-Rank) has grown.]
……(omitted)……
‘Close, but no cigar.’
Despite consuming plenty of A- to B-Rank items.
It hadn’t reached S-Rank.
‘S-Rank’s a whole different league.’
About what he’d expected.
Now Kang Hyun-soo turned to the other spoils.
‘Some decent skill books too.’
Kang Hyun-soo collected the skill books thriftily.
But these were just bonuses.
‘The real prizes are elsewhere.’
Kang Hyun-soo aimed at the spots where the Zhonghua and Cabal Guild level 700 players had died.
And activated Platoon Composition.
Shwaaaaa!
Vast stats drained out like a tide.
And moments later.
Eighteen summons born from level 700 players appeared.
A bright smile bloomed on Kang Hyun-soo’s lips.
At that moment.
[One-Man Platoon - D-Rank has grown into One-Man Battalion - C-Rank.]
The biggest gift arrived for Kang Hyun-soo.
‘Finally.’
The job that had languished at D-Rank for so long had finally hit C-Rank.
‘Just a tiny step up, but worlds apart.’
One-Man Platoon handled a mere 150 summons.
One-Man Battalion commanded a whopping 600.
The number of deployable summons had quadrupled.
And that wasn’t all.
‘Finally got my hands on this skill.’
With this skill.
He could command absolute loyalty from players under him.
Plus, a new skill he hadn’t known about.
‘What’s this one?’
[Commander’s Blessing - F-Rank]
- Active Skill
- Consumes stats to boost squad members’ base stats by 1%.
- Skill rank cannot exceed job rank.
- Personnel Limit: 0/10
- Cooldown: 24 hours
‘No wonder. My summons always felt weaker compared to the ones he commanded pre-regression.’
The pre-regression One-Man Legion commanded 3,000 summons.
Each one was formidable.
Especially the top five.
They rivaled named players in combat power.
‘So that’s why he didn’t exceed 3,000 summons.’
Quantity mattered, but so did quality.
Summons were weaker than their base monsters or players.
At mid-to-low levels, numbers could compensate.
‘But at top levels? No chance.’
Even these new ones Kang Hyun-soo made were the same.
Born from top-tier level 700 players.
But against actual top-tier level 700s?
‘They’d shatter in seconds.’
However.
Commander’s Blessing overcame that limit.
‘F-Rank gives a solid 1%.’
If Commander’s Blessing ranked up?
It’d exceed 1%, up to 45% boost.
‘No more wasting stats.’
Before, even with spare stats, he’d dissolve old summons and make new ones to rank up Platoon Composition.
Then bank the excess via stat fixation and skill enhancement.
Inefficient.
More spare stats would’ve meant more accumulation.
But no choice.
One-Man Platoon only grew via Platoon Composition and Platoon Dissolution.
Now, with Commander’s Blessing.
‘I’ll fill 600 summons to level 600+.’
Then enhance them with Commander’s Blessing.
It’d guzzle stats, but.
Kang Hyun-soo had a way to recharge infinitely.
‘The issue’s sourcing level 600+ bases.’
One problem.
All level 600+ hunting grounds were.
‘Controlled by each nation’s royals.’
Even massive guilds had to pay and get permission to hunt there.
They didn’t dare claim ownership.
‘Crazy bastards.’
Monsters were the vanguard of the Demon King’s invasion.
Yet nations managed them systematically.
For one reason.
‘To control top players and rankers.’
They nurtured the obedient ones and stripped the defiant of hunting opportunities altogether.