Chapter 272
Chapter 272
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 272
>Chapter Title: Descent of the Masters
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>Chapter 272
People say that when faced with an insurmountable wall, one loses their reason or something.
‘R, run away.’
‘What am I doing right now? Fighting those kinds of monsters?’
‘I, I can’t.’
They no longer had any pride or sense of superiority left.
Like frogs standing before a snake, they had even lost the will to fight.
By the time the thought even crossed their minds that maybe they shouldn’t have messed with them in the first place.
“Huh? Isn’t that the bastard who cursed earlier? Perfect timing.”
“Hiiik!”
His eyes met those of the Empress, who had been slashing indiscriminately at anything in her path.
His face turned ghastly pale as he freaked out and stumbled backward, but he was one step too late.
By the time she addressed him, her sword was already swinging down.
‘Who swings before even talking…!’
As he inwardly cried out in injustice and squeezed his eyes shut.
Shwaaak—Kang!
Something shot toward him like a bolt of lightning, deflecting the Empress’s sword right in front of his throat.
A razor-sharp wind chilled his skin.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Ravaon, fuming with rage.
And it wasn’t just Ravaon.
“Hup!”
“Oh?”
Right after that, Marphad charged forward ferociously with his shield thrust out, and the Empress rushed to meet him with an amused grin.
But charging was Marphad’s greatest specialty.
No tank could match the sheer power of his charge, so there was no way the Empress—who had clashed hastily without even using a skill—could block it.
Kwaaaang!
The Empress, sensing herself being shoved sideways, immediately launched her body into the air to minimize the impact.
The guild members’ eyes went wide at the sight of the Empress—who they had viewed only as a monster—being halted for the first time.
“What are you all doing!! Snap out of it!?”
“If Demian-nim saw this, he’d be real proud.”
Ravaon bellowed furiously while Marphad clicked his tongue in utter disappointment.
“Ah.”
“What have I done….”
“We lost our minds for a moment. Sorry, Vice Master-nim.”
At the mention of Demian, the guild members jolted back to their senses.
With their minds cleared, they could finally see the situation properly.
“Even so, it’s just two of them. Can’t handle two and still call yourselves Leone’s lions?”
One-man army? Delrock’s God?
Who the hell cared about any of that.
In the end, they were just users who stopped moving once their HP hit zero.
Meanwhile, they still had over seventy left on their side.
“We’re here. As long as we’re here, defeat is impossible.”
And that wasn’t all. They had two reliable commanders.
Vice Masters from the Top 10 Guilds—figures that even most large guild masters couldn’t hold a candle to.
With them taking the lead, there was nothing to fear.
“Just one guy. You just need to take down one. If you can’t even do that, you don’t qualify as officers—so get ready to hand over your badges, got it!?”
“Yes! Understood!!”
It wasn’t for nothing that morale was called the most important thing in any legion—their eyes changed.
They no longer retreated or hesitated, closing in boldly to tighten the encirclement.
Aegis Guild’s tanks took the front line, while Leone Guild’s dealers hung back just a bit, their eyes gleaming sharply.
“Now it’s starting to look decent. Should’ve been like this from the start.”
Only then did Ravaon’s scowl ease as he casually rested the flat of his blade on his shoulder.
Confidence filled his face.
Of course it did.
The number two of the strongest tank guild, Aegis—Marphad—and himself, Leone’s number two from the renowned dealer guild, had joined forces.
‘This lineup wouldn’t go down easy even against other Top 10 Guild masters.’
He was self-assured with such a high-level tank-dealer combo.
Ravaon gave a nod as the signal, and the guild members surrounded Kaiser.
‘While she’s busy with the Empress, the guild members finish off Kaiser and regroup with us.’
A truly flawless strategy.
Ravaon smirked and gripped his sword sideways, a gentle breeze rustling to lighten his body.
He planned to harass her with his superior speed while Marphad held her at bay.
“Well, well?”
Was his thinking that obvious?
The Empress lifted the corner of her mouth in amusement and stepped forward instead of retreating.
Her face, now much closer, flashed with murderous intent.
Her eyes reeked of danger, yet her fatally alluring beauty made even that seem enchanting.
“You know that saying, right?”
Now right up in his face, she parted her small lips.
The words that tumbled from her cherry-like lips were crude beyond belief.
“Everyone has a plan ‘til they get punched in the mouth.”
“…What?”
With that, her crimson eyes gleamed as she charged straight at him.
“Marphad!”
“Got it.”
Marphad stepped forward once more.
It looked like the same setup as before, but what unfolded next was entirely different.
The Empress closed the gap in a mad rush to negate the charge’s momentum, then burrowed right into his guard to force ultra-close-quarters combat.
Kwang!
“…Kuhk.”
His vision spun.
Her elbow had smashed into his jaw, whipping his head around.
A nonstop barrage poured from unseen angles—punches, kicks, even the sword hilt—all of it one-sided pummeling.
No matter how he shoved his shield forward, she ghosted right into his openings and hammered away.
‘C-can’t… see it.’
Once it turned into ultra-close range, her petite frame became this threatening.
He had to crane his neck down to spot her, but his head kept getting turned, and attacks flew from his blind spots.
“You damn gnat…!”
Finally at his limit, Marphad tried to stomp the ground hard with his foot.
It was the activation condition for his legendary skill, ‘Earthquake Wave.’
A massive area-of-effect destruction skill that sent powerful vibrations rippling outward with just a heavy stomp, crumbling balance around him.
A highly useful skill even in this kind of bind—but the Empress wasn’t about to let him pull it off.
Tap.
“…Scabbard?”
She’d blocked his foot from stomping the ground with the scabbard gripped in her left hand.
It was completely unexpected.
He’d clearly seen her gleefully swinging her sword with her right hand just moments ago, yet she’d countered perfectly.
‘…She reacted? In that split second?’
Just how insane were her reflexes?
“Told you. Everyone’s got a plan ‘til they get punched.”
“Ah….”
Marphad rolled his eyes in stunned panic.
His gaze shot toward Ravaon in protest: What the hell are you doing not helping?
He learned why soon enough.
Grooo—Grooo—
Kaaang! Kang!
“The undead legion and Charlie aren’t pushovers.”
“Kaiser? Where’d Kaiser go!”
“There! He’s heading for Ravaon-nim. Block him!”
“W-what. He’s coming back… Huh? He’s going again!”
Over a dozen undead—summoned who-knows-when—were wreaking havoc everywhere.
And taking advantage of the slightly loosened encirclement, Kaiser zipped around freely.
Not some Hong Gildong tale, but scattering blue lightning as he flitted east and west, throwing everything into chaos.
“Damn…!”
The guild members were reduced to dogs chasing a chicken, and even Ravaon’s feet were tied down.
Whenever he tried to help Marphad, Kaiser would lightning-teleport in like a ghost to harass him, and if guild members piled on, he’d pull back for hit-and-run.
[Exposed to frost aura: movement speed reduced.]
[Prolonged exposure greatly amplifies the slow effect and increases frostbite risk.]
“This frost aura for real? Why’s the range like this?”
“Hit-and-run, lightning teleport, frost aura… Even a mage would rage—this guy’s a swordsman? Where’s your conscience?”
“Argh, I’m gonna lose it.”
Not only that, but he was sprinkling frost aura all over the place.
Just when they’d snag an opening, Charlie would butt in or Eliza would spit webbing to bind their feet—frustrating them to the brink of madness.
The Empress peeked out and grinned.
“As expected of our tank. Nice aggro control.”
“…Tank?”
…That thing?
Pulling aggro, dropping wide CC, dodging anything that might land solidly, while dishing out vicious damage—and that’s supposed to be a tank?
If that’s a tank, does that make him a goddamn scarecrow?
‘…The Top 10 Guild alliance getting done like this by just two people?’
Sure, they weren’t at full strength either, but they still had over a hundred troops.
Their comp was better too—no disadvantages.
So why this mess?
The Empress stronger than expected? Failed to coordinate their joint attack?
All true. All of it. But the real core reason was something else.
‘…Kaiser.’
He’d read their plan to pin him down and gang up on the Empress—then turned it around, binding the seventy-man group and Ravaon instead.
In a way no one could’ve imagined.
He’d conceived the absolute best counter he could manage and executed it to perfection.
‘What kind of lunatic could pull this off?’
No doubt, only he could.
“Time to wrap this up. Gotta check on the old man too… Wait, hold up. How many’d you rack up? Look at you sweeping like a sneaky bastard while I’m fighting.”
“All skill, baby. Jealous? Should’ve pulled their eyes yourself.”
“Argh!”
Even in the middle of all this, watching the two banter leisurely, Marphad nodded to himself.
He’d realized it.
He was someone who couldn’t even draw out their seriousness.
There was an uncrossable wall between him and them.
Overwhelmed by the same crushing helplessness he’d felt the first time he laid eyes on his master, Marphad hung his head.
‘Sorry, Master….’
Was he really qualified to be vice master?
Doubts creeping in, he slowly closed his eyes as the Empress’s sword came down at him, blotting out the sun.
Shwaaa—Pang!
A shield flew in from behind like a boomerang, smacking her sword aside.
At the same time, a powerful vibration rumbled through the ground.
[Legendary skill, ‘Earthquake Wave,’ has been activated.]
[Lose balance and fall: enter abnormal status ‘Groggy.’]
[Caution! Terrain deformation possible.]
-Eh?
-Li, Liz!?
-Ugh…!
Snap, clack. Grooo—
The ground shook like an actual earthquake, causing Jihad and Charlie to halt their fight and crouch low.
The highly intelligent Pain and Outlaws followed suit, but the relatively dim-witted undead were slow on the uptake and sprawled out pitifully.
The guardians didn’t fall per se, but they were plastered flat to the ground, unable to do a thing.
Retired in an instant.
“No way, this is…!?”
“Ahh….”
On the other hand, the guild members seemed utterly unaffected by the quake as they rose one by one, their eyes lighting up like a people glimpsing hope on the brink of doom.
And their gazes were fixed toward the sun.
Even with the blinding glare, a hazy silhouette was visible beyond it in their vision.
[Legendary skill, ‘Meteor Fall,’ has been activated.]
----!!
In that instant, a flash—followed by a devastating strike plunging down.
An ear-shattering explosion rang out, forcing everyone—Jihad and guild members alike—to clamp their hands over their ears.
As the dust settled like a thick sandstorm, what emerged was a crater of enormous size.
From its center, as if a real meteor had crashed, a man was walking out.
“Unbelievable. You were actually getting your asses handed to you?”
The disbelieving tone was answered from behind.
The massive, muscle-bound white man caught his returning boomerang shield and tsked his tongue.
“Disappointing. Variables or not… this is a bit much, don’t you think?”
As the dust fully cleared, his revealed face was ice-cold.
His frame towered over two meters, exuding intimidation on its own.
“Tell me about it. This your idea of Top 10 Guilds? Rip those badges off, you punks.”
In contrast, the man who’d fallen like a comet gripped his sword in gleaming plate armor. His ruggedly masculine face carried a faint thuggish edge somewhere.
Despite the pair’s biting disses, Ravaon and Marphad didn’t bristle—instead, they straightened their postures.
“Ma, Master….”
“Sorry. We have no face left.”
Of course they didn’t.
To them, these arrivals were no different from kings.
The hulking man glanced at the tense pair before shifting his gaze.
“What’re you staring at?”
“…”
After frowning at the Empress, his eyes locked onto Do-hyun and stared in silence.
Do-hyun met his gaze squarely.
No words passed between them, but Do-hyun was certain.
‘This bastard. The real culprit behind all this chaos.’
Demian Alexander.
That man was the center of it all.