Chapter 188
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 188
Chapter Title: Siege War's Historic First Place
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Hoyoung Guild.
Under Yeo Sun-woo's command, they managed to barely defend the castle during the siege war.
"Wings are retreating!"
"Good!"
They had successfully held the castle that Jeong Hoon had absolutely needed them to defend while he was capturing others.
Whisper: Hoon - Sunwoo: We've captured Dokjeon's main castle. On top of that, we've also taken Payst Guild's castle and Gladin Guild's castle.
Just then, a whisper arrived from Jeong Hoon.
"Haha... This can't be real."
Yeo Sun-woo could hardly believe it.
They had only defended one castle, yet that meant seven more were added.
With this, Hoyoung now possessed a whopping ten castles from the siege war.
Whisper: Sunwoo - Hoon: You worked so hard! Thank you!
Whisper: Hoon - Sunwoo: What about Wings?
Whisper: Sunwoo - Hoon: We successfully drove them off!
Whisper: Hoon - Sunwoo: That's a relief.
Jeong Hoon's hard carry had made first place in the siege war a certainty.
The siege war is ending.
And with that, the siege war came to a close.
Ranks are being tallied.
Guild points will be awarded based on rank.
Siege war points will be awarded based on rank.
Siege wars tallied ranks immediately upon conclusion.
Since all guilds could check the overall rankings, they would reference the low ranks for the next siege war preparations.
Rank tallying complete.
Ranks are now public.
Soon after, all the rankings were revealed.
Yeo Sun-woo's eyes twitched as he checked them.
-1st Place: Hoyoung
Hoyoung had achieved first place in a siege war for the very first time.
Even as a named guild, they had barely scraped into the top ten in previous siege wars.
They had considered second place in the last one a miracle, but they never dreamed an even greater miracle would come.
Yeo Sun-woo's eyes began to redden.
"Dad!"
At that moment, Yeo Min-ji, who had been resting at the base of the castle wall, came rushing over.
"Min-ji..."
"We got first! First place!"
"Yeah... You did it perfectly..."
Siege wars were fundamentally team plays.
It was incredibly hard to carry with individual play.
And yet, Jeong Hoon had pulled it off.
"As expected of big bro!"
"Hoon did it!"
Kim Bong-gu and Jang Ha-jin high-fived each other in joy.
Lee Na-yeon, who had demonstrated perfect marksmanship to keep Wings at bay, simply wore a quiet, pleased smile.
At that time.
Jeong Hoon was in the white room where he had made the bet with Ling Ling.
"Did you pass out again...?"
"Right on the money."
Ling Ling nodded.
"I see."
"Hya... Are you really human, nyang?"
"Doesn't it look obvious that I'm not?"
Overwhelming first place.
As per the bet, Jeong Hoon had dominated the siege war for first place.
One guild holding ten castles.
It was a rare feat even across all servers.
Ling Ling had watched the entire siege war unfold from above.
And she had no choice but to acknowledge Jeong Hoon.
"No, I've seen countless humans, but you're the first to stimulate me like this, nyang."
It had been quite the enjoyable spectacle, as Ling Ling's face was flushed with excitement.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it."
He had lost the bet, so at least the viewing had been fun.
"As promised, I'll erase the penalty no matter what it takes, nyang."
"Thank you."
"But... that just means no penalty. I can't stop the extraordinary events that follow, nyang."
"Extraordinary events?"
Jeong Hoon feigned ignorance.
"I can't tell you that, nyang."
"I see?"
"Oh, if you give up the Heavenly Energy instead, I could tell you, nyang?"
Ling Ling offered to reveal the extraordinary details if he forfeited the Heavenly Energy.
"No thanks."
Of course, Jeong Hoon had no intention of accepting.
He knew better than anyone what was coming.
"Really? What a shame, nyang."
"Then please fill up the Heavenly Energy quickly."
"Got it, nyang."
You have acquired 75 Heavenly Energy.
Heavenly Energy has reached Max.
You qualify to obtain the Power of the Heavens.
75 Heavenly Energy.
This brought his Heavenly Energy to 100 in an instant.
'Insane...'
He had thought it would take at least another 1-2 years to gather it to 100.
Even after fulfilling the third advancement for the Legendary class and gaining access to Heavenly Energy, collecting it was an incredibly arduous task.
"Thank you."
"Hehe, do you know how to use the Heavenly Energy, nyang?"
"Will you tell me if I ask?"
"Of course! But you'll have to accept the penalty in exchange, nyang!"
Her obsession with the penalty was something else.
Jeong Hoon gave a wry smile and shook his head.
"No thanks."
Her lips pouted at his instant refusal without a second's hesitation.
"What's so hard about taking one penalty, nyang? Just take it..."
"What's the penalty?"
"Um... It's kinda hard to tell you that, nyang."
"Yes. That's exactly why I don't want that troublesome penalty."
"...Smartass, nyang."
"It's not smarts; it's common sense. I'm not that clever."
"You're hilarious, nyang."
Jeong Hoon chuckled.
"The bet's over, so I'll be going."
"Wait!"
As he turned to leave, Ling Ling stopped him.
"What else is there?"
"...The countdown is about to start soon, nyang."
Countdown.
Jeong Hoon's expression hardened.
It was impossible to prevent the realization.
It was an inevitable future, but the tension was unavoidable.
"Countdown?"
"Well, you'll find out naturally when the time comes, nyang."
"Is there a way to stop it?"
"Unfortunately, I can't interfere with that part either, nyang."
"I see. Then I'll head back."
"Huh? You're not gonna ask more?"
Ling Ling tilted her head.
Normally, after hearing that much, curiosity would explode, and they'd pry for details.
But Jeong Hoon turned away without a shred of lingering interest.
"You wouldn't tell me even if I asked anyway."
"I could if you paid the price..."
"It's fine."
"...Well, if you don't want to, no helping it, nyang. See you next time, nyang."
Ling Ling snapped her fingers with a face full of regret.
Jeong Hoon's vision went dark.
Bang!
"Shit!"
Sa Jae-hyeok threw down the sword he was holding.
Shinwa Guild, which had claimed first place in Korea server siege wars more than any other.
And yet Shinwa had failed to capture even a single castle and been eliminated.
'It's all that bastard's fault... Everything went wrong the moment that fucker showed up!'
A level 226 Martial Artist.
That damned bastard using the nickname Hoon.
He never imagined they'd all get wiped by that one guy.
'I should have poured out all my skills from the start.'
Honestly, he had let his guard down at first.
He, over level 400, never dreamed he'd lose to a level 226 Martial Artist.
If he had focused fire on him with all skills from the beginning, the outcome would have been different.
His strongest skill required that preparation time, after all.
"Guild Master...!"
Just then, one of the executives entered the guild master's office.
He glanced at the trashed room and quickly bowed his head.
"What is it."
"The siege war results are out."
"Results? You wanna die by my hand?"
Sa Jae-hyeok felt his insides boiling with rage.
With Shinwa eliminated early, he had zero interest in the siege war results.
"I'm sorry... But I thought you needed to know..."
"...Hoo, you know what happens if it's useless info?"
Sa Jae-hyeok drew his Black Dragon Sword and pointed it at the executive's neck.
The executive gulped and nodded frantically.
"O-Of course!"
"Speak."
"Hoyoung took first place in the siege war."
"That's it?"
"No...! Turns out Hoyoung snatched three castles from Dokjeon!"
"Hah, those bastards lost theirs too?"
Sa Jae-hyeok pictured Min Jin-ho's arrogant face.
The coward who assassinated with poison in secret yet looked down on weapon users with contempt.
No way he could feel any fondness.
"Yes... All to that Martial Artist."
"Hah, is that so?"
That wasn't bad news.
Not just him, but even Min Jin-ho, whom he'd love to tear apart, had fallen to the guy.
"Because of that, Dokjeon got pushed outside the top ten."
Losing their key castle and left with two trash ones, it was obvious they'd drop out of top ten.
Sa Jae-hyeok couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.
"Puhaha, now that's satisfying."
"..."
The executive couldn't continue.
Dokjeon had fallen outside top ten, but Shinwa had thrown everything at taking Hoyoung's castle and gotten eliminated early.
Among named guilds, they were essentially last place, barely matching mid-to-upper mid-tier guilds in a pathetic showing.
"So you disturbed me just for that?"
Sa Jae-hyeok's eyes flashed murderously.
Killing intent rose from his body.
He had riled him up for this?
"Hah, there's one more."
"Speak."
"You, you need to check the homepage."
"Homepage?"
Sa Jae-hyeok returned to his seat and logged into the New World homepage.
The New World homepage, accessible even while logged in.
A new notice was posted there.
From New World.
-Hello! This is the New World development team.
It's been seven years since New World launched.
Short if short, long if long.
Did you all have fun?
You'd better have.
This New World is about to become your lifeline.
(Details omitted)
We, the developers, judge that we've given Earthlings sufficient time.
Thus, we are entering the main game.
A countdown will start without warning, so please take note.
-New World Development Team
"Huh? What the hell is this?"
This notice was utterly incomprehensible.
"Weird... Not even beta testing, but 'main game'?"
"...How are others interpreting this?"
"No one understands it."
"What about Earth Korea?"
"Earth Korea seems clueless too. They had no idea."
"Fuck, what the hell is it?"
Sa Jae-hyeok scowled.
At that time.
Jeong Hoon checked the notice as well.
"It's up after all..."
Now the bastards were starting to move in earnest.
120 hours.
The countdown that began on the New World homepage shortly after the notice.
That time was a mere 120 hours.
Then, Yeo Sun-woo approached Jeong Hoon.
"Jeong Hoon!"
"Yes."
"Thank you so much! I will definitely repay this favor!"
A chuckle escaped him.
He hadn't done it expecting anything from Hoyoung.
If anything, he felt grateful.
'Penalty deletion and 100 Heavenly Energy.'
To obtain those, Hoyoung had to defend the castle, and they had succeeded.
That was enough.
He wanted nothing more.
"It's fine. I didn't do it for rewards."
"No! Taking first place is all thanks to you. So please, let us give you proper compensation. Accept it!"
But Yeo Sun-woo showed no sign of backing down.
Siege war first place finish.
They had earned hefty guild points, and Hoyoung climbed a rank in the standings.
Compensating Jeong Hoon was only right.
"...Then let's put it on hold for now."
"On hold?"
"Yes. I don't need anything right now. I'll think it over and let you know."
"Understood! Tell me anytime you need something!"
"Yes."
Contrary to his words, now wasn't the time to think about rewards.
Jeong Hoon's focus was entirely elsewhere.
'I need to advance to the next stage before the countdown ends.'
100 Heavenly Energy.
Meaning he qualified to obtain the Power of the Heavens.
He hadn't gained the power yet.
Jeong Hoon's next plan was to seize the Power of the Heavens.