Shattering the Mold
『When raiding, proper control of team size is essential. Too few members and you may fail to clear the gate. Too many, and the gate may adjust its difficulty accordingly.』
— GM Loading Screen Tip
Sanwang Kim Jong-phil watched the other teams falter through his spirits and let out a hearty laugh.
“Looks like quite a bit of time has passed if even the basics have been forgotten.”
Time ceaselessly advances the world.
From the era when a single telephone sat in every household, to handheld phones, and now to smartphones. People can now search the world’s information from the comfort of their seats and communicate with those on the opposite side of the globe using nothing but a palm-sized device.
Such progress naturally changes people.
Those who once memorized family numbers, neighbors’ numbers, and even their friends’ numbers now struggle to recall them without a contact list. This is not a matter of right or wrong. It simply means that what once felt utterly natural fades or becomes unnecessary as time flows on.
The same phenomenon appears in raids.
Twenty years ago, raids were wild.
Hunters were warriors who protected humanity and pioneers who drove its advancement. In an age when that consciousness was taken for granted, raids were desperate and combative.
But in the modern era, raids have changed.
Perhaps because it is an age of efficiency and cutting-edge technology, contemporary raids have become highly specialized. Orders are given based on calculated damage output, specifying exactly how many attacks a monster requires.
This incident was merely an extension of that trend.
In an era where gate teams are assembled according to systems and efficiency, it is rare for an excessive number of people to enter a gate. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that many do not know the fact that the more raiders there are, the higher the gate’s difficulty becomes.
Why? Because they have never experienced it!
“Even if they knew, they probably never imagined it would be to this extent.”
Optimally efficient, if one speaks kindly. Weakened, if one speaks harshly.
Kim Jong-phil could only agree with Lee Shin’s words that the Bureau had revived the competitive raid format precisely to guard against such weakness.
Among the hunters entering the gate now, how many truly step inside prepared to stake their lives? Sense of duty? The nobility of being a hunter? None of it.
Without a doubt, more than half of them are thinking, “It’s just work.” The remaining half are probably already planning what they will do once the raid ends.
Whenever Kim Jong-phil felt the weight of the current situation, he was always filled with regret and guilt.
Because.
“Heh heh, it’s my fault.”
Efficiency and speed. Thorough manuals and positioning.
The one who had grotesquely lowered the difficulty of raids was none other than Sanwang Kim Jong-phil himself.
He had even heard such words from that insolent brat during a drinking session.
What was it again……
— “You’re right. Your problem, Elder, is that you’re too competent. How perfectly did you make those manuals that all the kids end up doing the exact same thing? I thought they were all fish-shaped buns.”
— “Well, fish-shaped buns are delicious, so that’s fine, but there should still be some moderation. Cream, jam, pizza—up to there, okay. But mint chocolate is just inhumane…… What’s with that face? Was Dong-ha hyung a mint chocolate guy?”
Fish-shaped buns stamped from the same mold.
Only the fillings changed; the mold itself never did. The mold Sanwang had created.
And then came Lee Shin’s next words, which sent Sanwang into a panic.
— “Want to hear an interesting story? You know how Korea’s been struggling in international matches lately? Did you realize this period is almost identical to the time when you were still flying instead of running?”
At some point, he had chosen to ride on Vita’s back or fly rather than run. It consumed less stamina and was more efficient, so he had picked that path.
And from that moment on, Kirin Guild had been blocked by China and Japan, unable to break through the Asia League.
— “Even you, Elder, had grown stagnant.”
Even Sanwang had grown stagnant with age.
As his body slowed, he sought convenience. As his fiery passion cooled, he settled into comfort.
That day, Kim Jong-phil reflected on himself. As an adult, he should have been leading others, yet he too had used his aging body as an excuse to stagnate.
— “Elder, you are someone special to me. That is why I have done everything I could for you. I gave you a weapon and restored your youth.”
— “Now it is your turn to show me something.”
A new drama written by a new Sanwang.
Sanwang swept his hair back. The moment his thick black hair fell behind him, vines began coiling up from beneath his feet. His loose white robes transformed into combat attire.
Soon, the golden laurel wreath upon his head began to shine, and his once-calm presence shifted.
“Raid team, are you ready?”
At Sanwang’s murmur, the fully armed raid team took their positions behind him.
After confirming this, Sanwang nodded.
“We begin the raid.”
Kwaaaaarrr—!!
The moment the words left his mouth, the ground surged upward.
A hill tangled with stumps and vines shot into the sky. Their destination: the tropical rainforest.
— “This is the mold you created, Elder. Smash it with sheer willpower and grit.”
The brat was right.
* * *
Faced with the wave of giant insects surging like a breaking dam, the Mir raid team responded with an even fiercer counterattack.
“Out of the way, you bas— I mean, you bug bastards!”
“Noona!”
“We’re going together!!”
“Don’t stop me, ughyagyagak!”
Kang Malsuk smashed a giant ant’s head with her mace after deflecting it with her shield. The dual shields guarding her flanks pushed the front line forward with powerful charges, and the melee dealers joined in to carve through the monsters.
Normally, the moment the frontline tanks held the line, melee dealers would support from the second line or flank around like a hammer and anvil to strike the sides or rear.
But the Mir raid team’s battle style was different now.
The three tanks, possessing overwhelming mass and powerful defense, were advancing.
As if they had no interest in line coordination, they simply charged forward relentlessly, and the melee dealers supported this tank formation.
Only forward. Never anything but forward.
Thus the raid team crossed the tropical rainforest where the insect wave raged.
In truth, this was madness.
Charging straight ahead sounded good in words, but it was no different from walking straight into the enemy’s jaws. The battlefield was truly a scene of endless insect waves trying to devour the Mir raid team.
Yet the destructive offensives unfolding on both flanks prevented the main force from being surrounded.
Fire, water, wind, earth, and magical bombardments rained down. Through the rising dust appeared Sanwang.
Like a charging beast, Sanwang tore the head off a ladybug the moment he shot forward. The trees filling the forest stretched like a Ruyi Jingu Bang, turning everything around them into pulp.
“Vita!!”
As the complete Vita shone with her more magnificent horns, the sky warped and thousands of wind spirits descended upon the ground.
While such an offensive led by Sanwang and Vita unfolded on the right, the opposite side was no less intense.
“Hoo……”
At the vanguard stood the monster Park Su-bin.
Contrary to the calm mana waves flowing around his mink coat, the upper body of the milky giant was half in a rampaging state.
Kwaang—! Kwaaang—! Kwaang!!
He slammed his fists wildly into the ground. With each swing, two or three insects burst apart.
And then.
Shwaaak——!
Through the bisected beetles, sky-blue eyes gleamed. Baek Yeon-woo scattered sword energy, carving through the front.
He delivered the most lethal strike to the weakest points. Under his free-flowing movements, heads, chests, abdomens, and fragments of insect bodies fell freely.
Park Su-bin and Baek Yeon-woo.
Monster and Genius.
With the two of them leading and a rain of arrows, javelins, and artillery supporting from behind, how could mere insects possibly hold?
Center, right flank, left flank.
A new offensive surging from every direction.
It was completely different from the traditional formation of tanks in the first line, dealers in the second, and supporters in the third.
Stability was lower. Positioning was chaotic. It was a formation where risk control itself was impossible.
It was starkly different from Sanwang’s preferred style of orderly battlefields.
However.
“Healing! Don’t worry and keep advancing.”
“Princess, raise your shield!!”
“Aaaagh!! The representative is dying!!”
“Hahahahaha.”
They compensated for the lack of safety with healers running alongside the tanks.
“Shin Yong-jae, get healed and come back! Vibration detected on the left! Sand worms are about to emerge! Watch the wave! Kang Malsuk, shift the advance direction right. Lee Jang-su and Kang Tae-seok, move left and prepare to block the wave! Left formation, rejoin the main force quickly!”
The chaotic positioning was covered by Sanwang’s near-divine intellect.
And finally, the insufficient risk was offset by even higher returns.
How?
With the overflowing talent in this team!
“Park Su-bin! Baek Yeon-woo! They’re coming!!”
Kaaaaa——!!
A sand worm burst upward as if to shatter the sky.
In that moment, Park Su-bin and Baek Yeon-woo exchanged glances.
‘Let’s go.’
‘Yeah.’
No words were needed.
The milky giant gathered both hands, and Baek Yeon-woo lightly stepped onto them. At that instant, the giant hurled Baek Yeon-woo with all his strength while the light sphere carrying Park Su-bin shot forward like a bullet.
The moment they reached the sand worm’s head in one leap.
─────!
Baek Yeon-woo’s sword energy severed the sand worm’s snout. Meanwhile, Park Su-bin clapped his hands together, and dozens of light spheres swirled to create footholds.
Stepping on the timely created footholds, Baek Yeon-woo reversed direction and sliced off the sand worm’s antennae. As the creature tried to spew acid, the giant’s fist drove into its snout.
If Baek Yeon-woo had cooked the sand worm with his piercing insight into its essence, Park Su-bin had suppressed it with overwhelming physicality.
This was it. This was the answer Sanwang had presented, and the words Lee Shin had so desperately wanted to convey to him.
‘We are overflowing with talent.’
Until now, Sanwang had done everything himself.
He controlled every detail and dominated the battlefield. He filled the gaps left by erased individuality with solid teamwork.
He had believed that was correct. He still believed it was correct.
Yet even so, Sanwang was trying to change.
‘How they shine.’
Look at that light that makes one lose their senses just watching. As you can see, isn’t it too brilliant?
More colorful than the King of All. More intense than the King of Fighters.
He could not confine that overwhelming light, which made even past shining talents seem faded, within a mere manual.
Kwoong——!
Right on cue, the sand worm drew its last breath under Park Su-bin and Baek Yeon-woo’s breathtaking combination attack. Its flashy entrance ended pathetically as it collapsed to the ground.
As the sand worm scattered into mana and the two returned to the left flank, the formation was restored once more.
‘They shine so brightly. I must make them shine even brighter than those kids.’
That was an adult’s duty, was it not?
Sanwang let out a hearty laugh.
“No one’s tired, right? We keep going.”
Thus the Mir raid team continued their raid.
Before they knew it, the sunset was painting the horizon.
* * *
The forest under falling darkness.
In a time that should have been quiet, the sounds of sword clashes and impacts rang out.
“Block it!! Block them!”
“Park Gwang-seob, calm down!!”
“Damn it!!”
The Baekgeom Guild and the Sword Master were in the middle of hunting the mid-boss, the ‘Shaman Mantis.’
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say they were being hunted instead of hunting.
Normally, it was common sense not to continue raiding at night.
First, securing visibility was difficult. Second, one never knew what variables might appear.
Moreover, this ‘Insect Hell’ field was a tropical rainforest.
There was no hunter who did not know that nighttime forests were dangerous.
However, the Baekgeom Guild had not known that the gate’s difficulty would change depending on the number of raiders.
They had wasted too much time in the early stages and were ultimately forced to take the risky measure of night raiding.
After that…… well, as you can see.
While recklessly trying to hunt the mid-boss, two sand worms appeared simultaneously and they took a direct hit from the monster wave.
Still, true to the Baekgeom Guild’s reputation, they somehow managed to defeat the two sand worms and plug the hole from which the wave was emerging. However, in exchange, the mid-boss ‘Shaman Mantis’ was still in peak condition, swinging its flame-covered forelegs.
“This won’t work! Gwang-seob, let’s go.”
“Absolutely not!!”
It was dangerous to continue like this.
Guisal, the raid leader, wanted to retreat no matter what. But Sword Master Park Gwang-seob could not do that.
‘If we do this, my reputation!!’
How many times had they retreated already?
According to reconnaissance, the Mir Guild was performing well on another side, yet they were barely managing to chase after them.
If things continued this way, defeat was obvious. In fact, the raid leader Guimyeol was subtly hinting at aiming for second place.
But Park Gwang-seob could not accept that.
‘There was already that controversy. If we lose here, what happens to my reputation then!’
Park Gwang-seob’s bloodshot eyes locked onto the Shaman Mantis.
He would hunt it no matter what. He had to hunt that thing.
He pulled a syringe from his pocket and jabbed it into his neck.
“Park Gwang-seob!!”
“Shut up!!”
As the stimulant’s energy circulated, his mana explosively pumped.
Park Gwang-seob grabbed the hilt of Nene-kirimaru at his waist.
The Sword Master’s will and Nene-kirimaru’s devouring instinct resonated. A greenish-purple glow shone brilliantly.
A situation remarkably similar to a few days ago.
‘This time, for sure.’
He would kill it in one strike!
The moment he tried to draw his sword.
That was when it happened. A bullet flew from somewhere and exploded, scattering a flash of light.
Beeeeep————
While the Sword Master turned his head from the sudden flash, an ominous sound reached his ears.
The sound of a shield being slammed down.
The sound of shells exploding.
The sound of a giant tree being crushed.
The sound of something heavy striking down.
And finally.
Pook——!!
The sound of a sword stabbing.
True to being the Sword Master, Park Gwang-seob understood the sound the moment he heard it.
That sound was…… the sound of a sword piercing through a head.
Cheolpeok—!
Covered in the burst bodily fluids, Park Gwang-seob creaked like a broken doll as he turned his head.
And when his vision recovered.
The ‘Shaman Mantis’ lay on the ground as if it were a lie.
And standing atop its head was……
“We meet again, sunbae-nim.”
Baek Yeon-woo was smiling, baring his fangs.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!!”