Shelter Plunder Battle (4)
A fortress loomed before us.
Kim Jin-cheol and Kang Hyuk crouched behind the trees.
Luckily, we had reached this far without any meaningful contact with the enemy.
“Hah, Ssaem. Can we really do this well?”
“Yeah. We can. Don’t worry.”
It was a massive mission for the assault team.
Since we had never faced humans before, tension was inevitable.
Parada dadak.
The poisonous fairy moved in front of them.
It darted around as if to reassure them, calming their nerves.
“Ssaem is watching, right?”
The fairy spun in a circle at Jin-cheol’s words.
It was clearly focused on them.
“Min-seong-ah. Could you scout the inside of the fairy once?”
Jin-cheol nodded.
The fairy soared upward to survey the shelter’s interior.
While the fairy was away, they decided to wait here and observe the situation.
“Kang Hyuk Ssaem.”
“Hm?”
“Are you scared, Ssaem?”
“Scared?”
“Honestly, I’m still not used to it. Killing monsters, fighting people like this.”
Jin-cheol’s reaction was typical of most ordinary people.
The world had flipped overnight.
People who had lived ordinary lives found it hard to adapt.
Of course, there were exceptions.
“I feel the same. If I weren’t scared, I’d be lying.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. But what can we do about a world that’s already changed? We have to adapt and endure.”
Kang Hyuk paused to catch his breath and continued.
“I see this phenomenon like dinosaurs going extinct in the old days.”
“Dinosaurs?”
“The dinosaurs that couldn’t adapt to the changed world and died. If we don’t adapt to this situation, we’ll all perish.”
Of course, it wasn’t exactly the same as the dinosaur extinction.
But in the given environment—
Whether we could survive without dying in this cruel world.
“Is surviving the best thing? I still don’t know. I even wonder if it would have been better to die on the first day this happened.”
The first day of this horrific event.
Dead friends.
Monsters bursting out.
We had fought monsters desperately until now, somehow surviving—
But now it was people plundering each other, this endless killing.
It was natural that such a thing defied ordinary common sense.
It made one think maybe it would be easier to just die than to keep living like this.
“Moreover, our parents are gone too. I can’t hold on anymore.”
In this damned situation, Jin-hwan’s parents had been tragically killed.
Kang Hyuk placed his hand lightly on Jin-cheol’s shoulder.
“That’s the same for me.”
Just one sentence.
Yet Jin-cheol lowered his head deeply.
Kang Hyuk was in the same situation as Jin-cheol.
When Kang Hyuk reached his home, that tragic scene.
Kang Hyuk’s parents had been brutally killed by goblins.
Jin-cheol still vividly remembered the sight of Kang Hyuk tearing apart the goblins in his house while sobbing for his parents.
Kang Hyuk probably thought of his parents for a moment.
His eyes grew slightly moist.
“But we have to survive, right? At least we have someone beside us now.”
Jin-cheol nodded silently.
He realized his situation was far better than most others.
Having reliable comrades to rely on.
Just that alone made him feel how crucial it was in the current chaos.
“So, let’s survive somehow. Even if the world has changed, if we keep living, good days will come.”
“Yes, Ssaem. Thank you.”
“Yeah. Ah, there—the fairy’s coming.”
The fairy returned from scouting the shelter.
It gestured for them to follow.
It seemed they had secured a hidden passage to sneak in.
“Let’s go. Jin-cheol-ah.”
“Yes, Ssaem.”
Before moving, Kang Hyuk used his buff cards.
Thanks to them, Jin-cheol and Kang Hyuk grew much stronger.
Jin-cheol, gripping the newly acquired M16, scanned the surroundings and swiftly followed the fairy’s path.
Kang Hyuk moved behind, keeping watch.
They had gone a bit deeper.
Three people stood gathered in front of the flag.
Jin-cheol and Kang Hyuk cautiously hid behind the wall, planning how to steal the flag.
The enemy didn’t seem to know their position yet.
If that was the case, they could wipe them out instantly with Jin-cheol’s M16.
“Hoo.”
Jin-cheol carefully aimed the gun muzzle at the enemies.
It felt a bit hesitant to point a gun at people, but these opponents were the kind who killed for items.
In a situation where their own lives were threatened, there was no room for hesitation.
Moreover, if they took the shelter, who knew what would happen.
After switching to semi-automatic, he took a stable stance and placed his finger on the trigger.
[Burst Fire]
※ Fires bullets toward the front enemies.
※ Recoil is reduced and attack power increases by 20%.
Tu-tu-tu-tu-tu.
Fire erupted from the muzzle, bullets pouring out.
In just a few seconds, dozens of rounds were fired.
“At least it’s a fatal shot.”
Bullets facing them without any preparation.
The chance of avoiding them was clearly low.
But Jin-cheol couldn’t believe his eyes.
The enemies stood unharmed.
They hadn’t taken any damage from the gunfire.
“What the hell?”
“No damage at all?”
And the enemies stood motionless.
Jin-cheol and Kang Hyuk sensed something strange at the same time.
Kang Hyuk hurled a card at them.
Whoosh!
The fast-flying card seemed to strike their bodies but passed straight through.
“Welcome! Quickly check the surroundings!”
The enemies hadn’t been harmed because they weren’t real people.
“Kuhahaha. Did you notice? Well, it’s already too late!”
Suddenly, a large man wielding a double-bladed axe appeared and immediately rushed at Jin-cheol and Kang Hyuk.
The man closed in in an instant.
Whoosh!
Jin-cheol hurriedly threw a yellow card at him.
[Card of Stun effect activated.]
※ Stun effect for 3 seconds
The double-axe man’s body froze from the card’s effect.
Jin-cheol seized the moment and tried to attack.
He aimed the gun muzzle again and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
But at that moment.
Whoosh!
The axe man vanished.
There was clearly someone else with another ability.
“Damn it, now we’re at a disadvantage.”
“What should we do?”
The ambush had failed.
They had no choice but to face the enemies head-on.
But the enemies’ abilities were too tricky.
“Damn it, they don’t show their true forms.”
People hiding somewhere, watching this situation—excluding the axe man.
The situation had turned slightly unfavorable.
“Kuhahaha. This is quite entertaining.”
The double-axe man appeared again.
He spun his double-bladed axe swiftly and closed in on Jin-cheol and Kang Hyuk at high speed.
Jin-cheol threw a card at the guy.
But the card passed straight through his body.
“Welcome to you too!”
It was hard to tell which was real and which was illusion.
“Ssaem. Let’s just grab the flag and get out. It seems impossible to fight like this.”
“But how? If I move too recklessly, I might get hit.”
“I have this.”
What Jin-cheol pulled from his pocket was a smoke grenade.
It was an item from the copper box found while studying the map.
It wasn’t a particularly strong item, but in this situation, it would be effective for escaping with just the flag.
He threw the smoke grenade forward.
Chiiik~
White smoke began to billow out, quickly obscuring the surroundings.
At the same time, Jin-cheol and Kang Hyuk sprinted toward the flag.
After all, this was a flag-stealing game.
There was no need to fight if they didn’t want to.
Apparently, the enemies couldn’t attack because their vision was blocked.
In that gap, Kang Hyuk reached the flag and pulled it out.
“Let’s get out immediately.”
“Yes, Ssaem.”
Now, if they safely brought this flag to the red team, they would win.
Quickly holding the flag, they hid their bodies again and planned their escape strategy.
“You guys! You can’t escape from here!”
The double-axe man appeared again.
Was that guy an illusion?
Or real?
First, the moment Jin-cheol aimed the gun muzzle quickly at the guy.
The double-axe man suddenly multiplied into several figures.
It seemed to have made it hard to find the real body by creating illusions.
“Kuhahaha!”
“Kuhahaha!”
“Kuhahaha!”
The guy’s laughter spread across the surroundings.
At the same time, countless double-axe men began charging toward the direction of Kang Hyuk and Jin-cheol.
“Damn it! Who’s the real one!”
Bang! Bang!
Because of the rapid ammo reload, Jin-cheol couldn’t fire continuously.
He shot at the approaching single-axe men but couldn’t find the real body.
The double-axe men closed in in an instant.
If only he could find the real body, he could handle it—but there was no way to locate it.
But then.
Shu shu shu shu!
The illusions suddenly began to vanish.
At the same time, the double-axe man whose true form was fully revealed.
“What? You guys aren’t doing it right?”
The double-axe man looked around in confusion.
What the hell had happened?
Parada dadak.
At that moment, the poisonous fairy flew in from the sky.
I wondered where it had gone, but it seemed to have eliminated the other hidden enemies.
“Damn it!”
Was it sensing danger?
The double-axe man hurriedly pulled a scroll from his inventory and tore it apart.
Whoosh!
At the same time, the double-axe man disappeared.
Jin-cheol and Kang Hyuk saw the double-axe man vanish and immediately grabbed the flag, heading toward the red formation.
***
“OK. Flag obtained.”
Watching the situation on the screen, both fists clenched tightly.
Now, if they brought the flag only to this side, they would win.
‘But where did the other person go?’
The shelter had only three people.
The first two seemed to have dropped out of this plunder battle, but the whereabouts of the remaining one was mysterious.
But after a short while.
“Ssaem! Big trouble!”
Arra and Jin-ri came running urgently toward their location.
“Why? What happened?”
“The flag disappeared in an instant. It was right in front of me, but it vanished like it became transparent.”
“What?”
At the moment he heard that.
A figure flashed through his mind.
‘That guy.’
The person who had made the car transparent, so no sound or shape was visible.
He could probably make his own body transparent too.
“Damn it. Now it’s a race against time.”
The situation where both sides had obtained the flag.
It had become a contest of who could deliver it to their shelter faster.
‘Just a little more and we can make it.’
From the poisonous fairy’s perspective, Jin-cheol and Kang Hyuk were almost at the shelter.
‘Wait, what’s that?’
When they reached the shelter, something caught his eye.
It was their team’s red flag.
The flag they thought was lost was simply stuck near the shelter.
‘What? Why didn’t they take it?’
Did they just give up on this plunder battle?
With a bit of doubt.
Jin-cheol and Kang Hyuk arrived at their shelter carrying the blue flag.
-BEEP!
At the same time, the siren sounded.
-The red team successfully stole the blue team’s flag.
-Red team victory. The plunder by Cheonhatongil guild failed.
-A penalty will be added to the Cheonhatongil guild that failed the plunder.
-The defense-successful World’s Strongest guild will receive 100 guild points.
[Event text]
Red team successfully stole the blue team’s flag.
Red team victory. The plunder by Cheonhatongil guild failed.
A penalty will be added to the Cheonhatongil guild that failed the plunder.
The defense-successful World’s Strongest guild will receive 100 guild points.