Chapter 65
Chapter 65
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Blade King Kyung Wi-gang (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“G-Guild Master is here!”
“We’re saved now!”
“Woooo! We won!”
The Zhonghua Guild players, whose morale had hit rock bottom, erupted in massive cheers.
Guild Master Blade King Kyung Wi-gang.
He was the living symbol of the Zhonghua Guild and its absolute sovereign.
Just catching sight of him was enough to make the Zhonghua Guild players act as if they’d already won the battle.
‘He’s here.’
Flame Knight Jamie’s eyes flashed as he spotted Blade King Kyung Wi-gang.
He’d been planning to seek him out himself.
But as the enemy’s situation grew dire, he’d come on his own.
Jamie had worried he might flee if the tide turned too far against him.
Fortunately, he’d shown himself.
‘I’ll take out Blade King Kyung Wi-gang right here.’
With himself and the three who’d undergone forced awakening?
He was confident they could eliminate him.
The only wildcard left?
‘Just that guy.’
Demon-Slaying Spear Jin Gu-pyeong.
With two rankers and one named player already down.
Take him out, and there’d be no more variables.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Flame Knight Jamie unleashed a ferocious assault on Demon-Slaying Spear Jin Gu-pyeong alongside the three players.
Pung! Pung!
Jin Gu-pyeong, barely holding on thanks to the buffs from the bloodsuck field, quickly found himself overwhelmed.
Slash! Slash!
His armor tore like paper, bones and flesh sliced open.
But Jin Gu-pyeong gritted his teeth and endured.
The Guild Master had arrived.
Hold on just a little longer?
He could survive.
That was when it happened.
The power surging through his body suddenly drained away in an instant.
The bloodsuck field’s duration had ended.
‘Damn it all.’
Puuung!
Demon-Slaying Spear Jin Gu-pyeong’s right shoulder exploded.
Swoosh!
A blade followed, aiming straight for his heart.
Pajijijik!
In that moment, a bolt of lightning streaked toward Flame Knight Jamie and the three players.
‘So close.’
He wanted to ignore it.
But the mana riding that lightning was no joke.
Flame Knight Jamie and the three players had no choice but to pull back.
Kwaaaang!
A massive explosion turned the strike zone to rubble.
“Keuheok!”
Demon-Slaying Spear Jin Gu-pyeong, saved by a hair’s breadth, was thrown back by the blast.
“Tsk tsk tsk, you fool.”
A middle-aged man with a bear-like hulking build appeared beside Jin Gu-pyeong, clicking his tongue.
“G-Guild Master.”
“You damn idiot. You should’ve just conserved your strength and stayed quiet. You started trouble before I even got back from the great expedition?”
“I’m sorry.”
“We’ll deal with you later.”
Blade King Kyung Wi-gang hoisted the battered Demon-Slaying Spear Jin Gu-pyeong and tossed him to the surviving Zhonghua Guild players.
“You lot dare attack the great Zhonghua Guild?”
Flame Knight Jamie let out a scoff at Blade King Kyung Wi-gang’s question.
“And what will you do about it?”
“What do you think? Kill you all, obviously.”
“You think you can?”
Flame Knight Jamie brimmed with confidence.
Compared to the wrecked Zhonghua Guild.
Cabal Guild had taken some losses, sure.
But their forces were still intact.
Flame Knight Jamie himself, plus the three players who’d undergone forced descent.
One named player and one ranker.
Plus hundreds of Cabal Guild’s elite players.
The arrival of just Blade King Kyung Wi-gang wouldn’t change the board.
Until moments ago, he couldn’t figure out why a powerhouse like Blade King Kyung Wi-gang had opted for a sneak attack on an empty house instead of facing them head-on.
But the exchange between Blade King Kyung Wi-gang and Demon-Slaying Spear Jin Gu-pyeong had cleared it up.
‘Blade King Kyung Wi-gang just returned from the great expedition.’
The odd part?
‘Then who wiped out our rankers before? Who’s attacking the guild house right now?’
Flame Knight Jamie had assumed it was Blade King Kyung Wi-gang.
Apparently not.
‘Probably tied to those weird bastards.’
The ones who’d vanished like smoke.
Their handiwork, no doubt.
‘We’ll squeeze the info out of him after we take down Blade King.’
Right now, the priority was killing Blade King Kyung Wi-gang here.
‘You should’ve run and bided your time.’
Now that he’d shown himself so boldly.
Blade King Kyung Wi-gang couldn’t escape death.
“You think it’s plenty possible, don’t you?”
Blade King Kyung Wi-gang’s relaxed expression briefly twisted Flame Knight Jamie’s features.
‘Bluffing.’
It had to be.
If the whole Zhonghua Guild was intact, maybe.
But most of their forces were gone.
And that wasn’t all.
Excluding Demon-Slaying Spear Jin Gu-pyeong, every named player and ranker who’d stayed behind instead of joining the great expedition was dead.
‘He’s stalling for sure.’
Zhonghua Guild still had three rankers out on the great expedition.
He was definitely waiting for them.
“Then prove it!”
With those words, Flame Knight Jamie charged at Blade King Kyung Wi-gang.
Quick and decisive.
He planned to end him as fast as possible.
‘Drag it out, and variables pop up.’
The three Zhonghua Guild rankers from the expedition.
Demon-Slaying Spear Jin Gu-pyeong, critically wounded but possibly recoverable.
Truth be told, Flame Knight Jamie didn’t think even they could turn the tide.
But.
‘You never know.’
Miracles happened.
‘Better nip it in the bud.’
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Flame Knight Jamie, wreathed in red aura, led the three players in a rush toward Blade King Kyung Wi-gang.
Kwaaaang!
Their full-powered strikes landed on Blade King Kyung Wi-gang.
‘It’s over.’
If he’d dodged, maybe.
But a direct hit? No surviving that.
Then.
Swoosh!
A blade infused with lightning hurtled toward Flame Knight Jamie’s throat.
“Urk!”
Flame Knight Jamie barely twisted away.
Even so, the lightning scorched his skin black.
“You want proof? I’ll give it to you!”
Shrouded in murky gray clouds, Blade King Kyung Wi-gang unleashed a barrage on Flame Knight Jamie and the three players.
Kwaaaang! Kwaaaang! Kwaaaang!
Flame Knight Jamie and the three were sent flying helplessly.
The gray clouds weren’t real clouds.
Just aura layered so densely it looked like one.
On top of that, Blade King Kyung Wi-gang wielded an aura skill laced with lightning.
Even without direct hits, paralysis kept striking their bodies.
‘This madman!’
Flame Knight Jamie was stunned.
Players with a king’s title were stronger than regular named players, sure.
But he figured the gap with him wasn’t that big.
No, he thought he had the edge.
Flame Knight Jamie had been hiding the power from his demonization.
Reveal that, and a king’s title was a joke—he could snag an emperor’s easily.
Plus, his demonizing body was far tougher than human flesh.
He’d stayed quiet prepping the descent ritual, missing out on king or emperor titles.
He’d never once thought his skills fell short of Blade King Kyung Wi-gang’s.
Add the three players who’d gained similar power via forced descent.
Together, four of them could crush Blade King Kyung Wi-gang easily, he’d thought.
Wrong.
Even four-on-one, they were struggling.
“Kill him!”
Flame Knight Jamie ordered the Cabal Guild players to attack.
Rankers and high-level players rushed in.
Not all made it, though.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
“Fight us first!”
The surviving Zhonghua Guild players clung desperately, turning it into a brawl.
‘This is enough.’
Flame Knight Jamie regained his confidence seeing the swarm of rankers and high-level players.
That instant.
Rumble!
Thunder roared like the sky itself was splitting, as murky gray clouds blanketed the battlefield.
Pajijik!
Lightning crashed down.
“Aaaack!”
“Keuk!”
The high-level players who’d charged at Blade King Kyung Wi-gang per Jamie’s order turned into charred husks.
Even rotten fish had some bite—the rankers survived.
But that.
“T-This can’t be!”
Gave Flame Knight Jamie no comfort.
* * *
‘No way this is all they’ve got?’
Kang Hyun-soo stared at Flame Knight Jamie in disbelief.
He’d hit Zhonghua Guild so boldly.
Didn’t flinch at Blade King Kyung Wi-gang’s arrival.
Figured he had an ace up his sleeve.
Nope.
‘He just didn’t grasp Blade King Kyung Wi-gang’s true power.’
Blade King Kyung Wi-gang.
A monster who’d held the named player spot for nearly twenty years.
‘And he’ll hold it for over thirty more.’
Sure, later he’d become a has-been, mocked as the Wraith King instead of Blade King.
But he kept the named spot regardless.
‘Future aside, right now, Blade King Kyung Wi-gang is the real deal.’
The top powerhouse who proudly bore the king title.
That was Blade King Kyung Wi-gang.
‘Similar levels don’t mean equal.’
Base stats varied by titles earned and rank.
Skills and gear types and ranks made power levels all over the map.
And that wasn’t all.
Even identical specs? Who wields them and how made combat power worlds apart.
Take an AOS game: same character, level, items—bronze controlling it versus challenger? Night and day.
‘Flame Knight Jamie’s diamond tier at best.’
Generous estimate: low master.
Blade King Kyung Wi-gang? Peak potential unleashed, top pro gamer level.
With vastly superior base stats and skill ranks.
So no way could Flame Knight Jamie—basically a kid grown strong fast on demon power—plus three like him match him.
‘Huh?’
Something shifted then.
‘So he did have a trump card.’
Kang Hyun-soo’s eyes gleamed.
‘Mutual destruction would be perfect.’
Then he could swoop in for the漁夫之利.
* * *
‘This is the end if it keeps up.’
Flame Knight Jamie felt acute danger.
‘Guess it’s that method after all.’
All Cabal Guild players had demon contracts.
The contract was both a secrecy lock and an emergency power tap from demons.
Guild Master Flame Knight Jamie had contracted a high demon with a count’s rank.
‘Borrowing the count’s power will get me out of this.’
But there was a catch.
To borrow a contracted demon’s power required equivalent payment.
Usual price: live sacrifices.
Inefficient, though.
No matter how many, it was just a brief boost.
Plus, leaking demon energy screamed “demon minion.”
That’s why they pursued eternal power via descent rituals for demonization.
But in this desperate spot.
Even if inefficient.
Even if it exposed him as a demon’s pawn.
Survival first.
‘Then I can plan for later.’
Problem was, mid-battle, no time to round up live sacrifices.
Except one method.
‘Only way to survive.’
Flame Knight Jamie gritted his teeth.
And pleaded with his contracted demon count.
‘Take the blood and flesh of my subordinates and lend me your power.’
Cabal Guild players, contracted half by choice, half by force.
They were candidates for demonization—and instant live sacrifices in a pinch.
-Very well, granted.
With the demon count’s reply.
Immense demonic energy flooded Flame Knight Jamie’s body.