Retribution (2)

"Th-this is insane..."

"How can he even do that?"

"Is something like that actually possible?"

"To think a single Player could hold this much power..."

The guild masters of the traitor guilds who had retreated and then come slinking back—the American Alliance, Alsani, Nibaal, Kuzo, Ivan, and the rest—could not hide their shock. They had known, at least, that they were throwing their weight around and forcing an unreasonable claim.

They had simply assumed that the overwhelming gap in strength meant it would never come to a real fight. And even if it did, they had told themselves it would end with only a handful of guild members sacrificed.

A sickening crunch.

"Aaaagh!"

A thunderous blast.

"Ghk—!"

The sacrifices snowballed. The guild masters of Yellow Dragon and Minamoto, the ones who had led the whole affair, were already dead.

"Eek! Stay back! I said stay back!"

Next in line, the guild master of the American Alliance fled in blind panic.

We don't have a chance.

We got greedy for nothing.

I never thought it would be this bad...

The guild masters who had turned traitor were already regretting the choice. They had been blinded by the spoils the Out-of-Spec Monster, the Bone Dragon, had vomited up. The absurd claim that they had bled for it and therefore deserved a fitting reward had swayed them.

We've already lost the will to fight.

Players are fleeing without orders, one after another.

After the American Alliance's guild master, it's our turn.

Yellow Dragon and Minamoto, bereft of their masters, were as good as dissolved. The moment their members broke and ran, the members of the other guilds—who had been doing nothing but watching the wind—abandoned the field without a single order from their officers.

It was hard to blame them.

A Bone Dragon with a body black as obsidian and another white as marble were rampaging across the field.

And that was hardly all.

Hundreds of summons, shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of members from Daehan Guild, Ollihi Guild, and Upendo Guild, were doggedly driving thousands of Players back.

We should never have touched that man.

Greed brought this disaster down on us.

If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we want to live, we have to run. Now.

Watching Jin-soo tear through the battle while cycling through the skills of one class after another, the traitor guild masters felt a fear that sank into the bone.

"Retreat! Every Ivan Guild member, fall back!"

The guild master of Ivan was the first to open his mouth and give the order.

"That bastard!"

"Jumping the gun like a coward?"

The other traitor masters glared at him. He was already gone from the field.

"Alsani Guild is retreating too! Fall back!"

"Kuzo Guild retreats as well!"

Once Ivan's master stole the first move, the very men who had been cursing him snapped out retreat orders of their own. They had realized that the later you ran, the more it cost you.

"Waaaaah!"

"We won!"

Members of Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo erupted in a victory roar.

A clean slash.

"Aaaaagh!"

In that same moment, the guild master of the American Alliance died in Jin-soo's hands.

Sly bastards.

Jin-soo watched the other guild masters flee.

I can let the rest go. The guild masters, I can't.

Yellow Dragon and Minamoto may have led it, but the masters of the other guilds, the American Alliance among them, had gone along. They had coveted the Bone Dragon's spoils, tried to dig out Jin-soo's secrets, and the instant the fighting started they had drawn steel and come running to kill him.

The ringleaders had to be cut out clean, root and all.

"Let's go."

Jin-soo swung up onto the back of the Bone Dragon gleaming like obsidian.

"Jin-soo! I'm coming with you!"

Shin Sua, who had been supporting from the rear, raised her voice.

"Climb on over here!"

At his word, she mounted the Bone Dragon as well.

A rush of wind. The two Bone Dragons took Jin-soo, Shin Sua, the Shadow Summons, the Dragon Tooth Soldiers, and the Army Summons onto their backs, beat their wings, and climbed into the sky.

The bowstring shrieked as Jin-soo drew.

Shaft after shaft screamed down, fire-attribute packed to the brim, a storm of arrows aimed at the Ivan guild master who had fled first.

Explosions chained across the ground, one booming detonation after another.

Realizing their master was the target, the Ivan members scattered as one and put distance between themselves and him.

"You bastards! Where do you think you're going?! Protect me!"

The Ivan guild master screamed himself hoarse. The members who had already broken apart had no intention of dying at his side.

Jin-soo laid the curses over the Ivan guild master, blinding his eyes and binding his feet. A healer could have answered with a dispel or a purification, but no one remained at the man's side.

The wind howled. The Bone Dragon stooped like a hawk snatching prey, and its talons punched clean through the guild master's torso.

"Aaaagh! It hurts! It hurts! I said it hurts!"

He sprayed skills in a wild struggle. Nicks and gashes opened along the Bone Dragon's talons. That was all he managed.

"Ghk—!"

The breath of the man who had been thrashing so hard finally snapped. At Jin-soo's command, the Bone Dragon beat its way back into the sky to hunt the next target.

They've already all run.

If the fight had broken out anywhere but a city, he could have taken every last one of them.

But the battle with the Bone Dragon had been fought on the city walls. The traitors had already ducked into buildings wrapped in safe zones where PK was impossible.

If they'd fled to a guild house, I could just smash the whole thing down.

Those who had run into buildings owned by NPCs, inns and the like, were beyond even Jin-soo's reach. Turn on a building like that and he might end up hostile to the NPCs whether he meant to or not.

Running now doesn't make this over.

The rest he could set aside. The guild masters—the ones who could fairly be called the ringleaders—he had no intention of forgiving.

Cleanup first.

He turned the Bone Dragons back toward the site of the raid.

The impact of their landing shook the ground.

Jin-soo dropped from a dragon's back to the earth.

Members of Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo watched him with taut faces.

Thanks to him, they would keep their share. He was an ally who had fought beside them. And still, power that overwhelming stirred fear all by itself.

They knew he was not an enemy. Even so, the members ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo edged back a step without meaning to, shoulders twitching.

"We were a breath away from losing everything. Thank you for the help. And I'm sorry we joined the fight so late."

Kim Young-cheol stepped forward and bowed his head low.

"We're truly sorry!"

"We're sorry!"

The moment he moved first, the guild masters of Ollihi and Upendo ducked their heads in a hurry behind him.

"Not at all. Thank you for joining us, even late."

Jin-soo accepted the apologies without a ripple.

"Please take these."

Kim Young-cheol held out several treasure pouches that, at a glance, were plainly high-level.

"What are these?"

When Jin-soo asked, puzzled, Kim Young-cheol launched straight into an explanation.

"The Bone Dragon spoils Daehan Guild secured, and the items the traitors were carrying. If we hadn't had your help, everything we held would have been taken anyway. I mean to give you all of it as thanks, so please, accept them."

"Daehan's own share is in there too. You're saying you'll give that up?"

"For Daehan Guild, keeping the feat, the title, and the items the System distributed automatically is more than enough."

"Thank you for the consideration. I'll accept them gladly."

At those words Jin-soo smiled and took the pouches. The guild masters of Ollihi and Upendo, watching Kim Young-cheol and Jin-soo, went pale with urgency.

What? Nobody said anything about this.

He's stabbing us ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in the back like this?

Ollihi and Upendo had not the slightest intention of handing their shares to Jin-soo. But Kim Young-cheol's move had sent the mood of the moment sliding somewhere strange.

Damn it. Stand here and do nothing, and we become the shameless ones.

Without his help the traitors would have taken it all, sure, but it still hurts to give it up.

The two masters turned to read the situation, met each other's eyes, and both flinched.

Wh-why'd he jump? Don't tell me...

Is he about to copy Daehan?

If Ollihi makes the same choice and Upendo just stands here...

And if those Upendo bastards pull the same stunt as Daehan?

Both masters startled and moved at once. They gathered the spoils they had already claimed as their own.

"These are the spoils Upendo Guild secured. They're a token of our thanks. Please accept them."

Upendo offered first.

"We are truly grateful that you saved Ollihi Guild from disaster. Please, accept these."

Ollihi followed, presenting their spoils as well.

"I'll accept them with thanks."

Jin-soo's face stayed calm as he took the pouches from Upendo and Ollihi in turn.

A grin.

Kim Young-cheol, watching, lifted the corner of his mouth and smiled at Jin-soo.

Quietly sly, that one.

If Kim Young-cheol had not moved first, the masters of Ollihi and Upendo would never have handed their spoils over.

But he and Daehan had stolen the opening, and the two masters who had been watching each other moved almost in the same breath. All it earned them was the look of men copying Kim Young-cheol and Daehan Guild.

The credit, inevitably, belonged most of all to Kim Young-cheol and Daehan.

Still, I didn't see that coming.

Wanting to score points with Jin-soo was one thing. Kim Young-cheol actually surrendering Daehan's share of the spoils was something else entirely. Just as strange was the way the hesitant masters of Ollihi and Upendo had fallen in behind him.

If they had not offered of their own accord, Jin-soo was no bandit; he would not have taken it by force. Put plainly, if they had simply been shameless enough, they could have let the moment pass.

All three of them must be the righteous, conscientious sort.

Kim Young-cheol, at least, had always been that way.

"I have a few favors to ask of the three of you."

Jin-soo looked from Kim Young-cheol to the masters of Ollihi and Upendo.

"Yes. Please, go ahead."

"What sort of favor?"

"We'll do everything we can."

They answered like raw recruits with the discipline beaten into them, and for a moment Jin-soo was almost at a loss. For the request he was about to make, though, that attitude was exactly what he wanted.

"I intend to punish the guild masters of the traitor guilds hiding in the safe zones where PK is forbidden. I'd like your help with that."

Kim Young-cheol spoke before the words had even finished leaving Jin-soo's mouth.

"Ah. Of course. Those men are enemies of Daehan Guild as well. I'll mobilize every Daehan member and watch them to the last. They can't stay buried in a PK-forbidden safe zone forever. Sooner or later they'll have to crawl out."

The instant he finished, the masters of Ollihi and Upendo spoke up too.

"Not only the guild masters. We'll watch so tightly that no one belonging to a traitor guild can slip out of this city at all. Do that, and the infighting will start on its own."

"We won't even let them show their faces outside their lodgings, never mind the city."

If the masters of Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo put their strength together, it was more than possible.

We've got the justification and the strength. That's enough to see the retribution through.

Jin-soo was satisfied with the three answers.

"Then I'll leave it in your hands. I'm going to get some rest. If you need me, contact me anytime."

With that he dismissed his summons and left.

Time to rest.

The Bone Dragon raid and the fight with the traitors that followed it had piled up no small amount of fatigue. Jin-soo departed with Shin Sua to recover.

"H-he's gone. He's gone."

Bodies hit the ground.

"Haaaaah!"

The moment Jin-soo was out of sight, the members of Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo—who had been holding formation at rigid attention—let the tension break. Sighs of relief spilled out of them as they dropped where they stood, and then, faces tangled with dread and fear, their mouths started running.

"I thought I was going to die of fright."

"I nearly pissed myself, I'm telling you."

"Two Bone Dragons staring us down. My guts went cold."

"And the other summons weren't any better."

"Summons aside, the man himself might as well be an Out-of-Spec Monster! He wiped out the Luciano Party like he was swatting a swarm of flies!"

"The Luciano Party? The other top-tier parties were the same."

"How does one person even end up with power like that?"

"I was terrified he was going to turn around and fight us next."

"Good thing the guild masters handled it."

Kim Young-cheol and the masters of Ollihi and Upendo looked at the members chattering now that the tension had broken, and let out hollow laughs.

"Hey, Kim Young-cheol. Feel good, stealing the first move all by yourself?"

The Ollihi guild master glared at him as he spoke.

"I didn't have a choice. You never know, right? There's always a what-if. You want to live a long ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time, you learn to crawl on your own."

"Sly bastard."

The Upendo guild master stared at Kim Young-cheol as if the sight of him itched.

"If we'd joined the fight right away, we wouldn't have had to go this far. But we hung back, reading the room, and only jumped in after we saw the battle flip. How petty and distasteful do you think we looked in that man's eyes?"

"That's true enough."

"If he'd decided to hold a grudge against us..."

At Kim Young-cheol's excuse, the masters of Ollihi and Upendo nodded along and shuddered.

The reason Kim Young-cheol had gathered the spoils on his own, and the reason the other two had read the room and moved, was that fear of Jin-soo had been branded deep into their heads. The members of Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo had obeyed their masters without a word of complaint for the very same reason.

"Anyway, we earned his favor. This is a good chance."

At Kim Young-cheol's words, the masters of Ollihi and Upendo nodded.

"The justification is solid. This time, we smash the other mega-guilds to pieces."

"Truth is, Floor 100 had far too many mega-guilds. Three is plenty."

Kim Young-cheol and the masters of Ollihi and Upendo looked at one another and smiled. Then, without pause, they mobilized their guilds and began throwing up a massive encirclement.