Chapter 170: The 11th Quad’s Early Rush
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 170: The 11th Quad’s Early Rush
After taking a moment to organize his thoughts, Seo-un looked at Jin Long.
"Senior Brother, please go farm outside the castle walls with Sa-gwang."
"Outside?"
The castle where Seo-un’s Quad had landed was hemmed in by a cliff at the rear and a vast lake at the front. While there was a strip of land before the gates, it could hardly be described as spacious.
Jin Long looked puzzled for a moment but eventually nodded. "I'll head out for now."
-Sa-gwang. Go farm the exterior with Senior Brother.
After giving the order, Seo-un began walking slowly through the inner castle to farm, his gaze deepening.
The game's rules and progression were quite different from what he had imagined when he first heard the term 'Siege Warfare.' Even as he scouted the inner castle, not a single teammate reported finding anything of value.
-Hyung, this is a bit strange. It’s a castle, but nothing is dropping.
At the sound of Gi-chan’s voice, Seo-un turned around and issued a new order.
-Everyone except Senior Brother and Sa-gwang, gather at the inner castle entrance.
Once the team had assembled, Seo-un threw himself out of a fourth-floor window, landing in front of the entrance in a single, fluid bound.
"Hyung! Did you find anything?"
Seo-un shook his head at Gi-chan’s question. "I don't think we'll find anything even if we keep searching."
The teammates' expressions stiffened. Among them, the Ice Empress and Neung Seong-a showed the most visible concern.
Compared to the others, their experience with Cloyd was brief, so they didn't know Seo-un’s track record well. However, they knew the rules of survival through sheer experience. They were well aware of how detrimental it was to miss out on early farming and waste precious time.
Seeing their expressions, Seo-un continued. "I can't be certain that every empty castle is completely bare, but the situation is likely similar for most."
Juriel and Gi-chan, being quick-witted, let out exclamations of realization.
"Ah!"
"So that's how it is!"
The Ice Empress and Neung Seong-a turned their gazes toward the two. Feeling their eyes on her, Juriel spoke first.
"An 'Empty Castle.' It literally meant the castle was empty. It didn't just mean it was unclaimed by players."
Gi-chan finished her thought. "The Red Castles must be filled with loot since they have owners, but you'd have to accept the risk of a siege to take them."
"Exactly."
With Seo-un’s confirmation, the Ice Empress and Neung Seong-a frowned, lost in thought. Just then, Jin Long’s voice crackled through the communication line.
-Junior Brother! You need to come out here!
-These enemies are... peculiar.
When even Nam Sa-gwang spoke up, the teammates used their Lightness Skills to scale the stairs to the top of the wall and leaped over the battlements in an instant.
Not far away, Nam Sa-gwang and Jin Long were facing enemies that were, as described, truly peculiar.
They were soldiers that looked as if they had been molded from wet clay. These yellowish-brown Earth Soldiers were surrounding the two, radiating a dull hostility.
The movements of the Earth Soldiers, crafted with such detail they looked hand-sculpted, were so fluid they were almost indistinguishable from humans.
Thirty Earth Soldiers, wearing breastplates and open-faced helmets while wielding spears or swords, had completely surrounded the duo. The moment the circle closed, they lunged.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Crunch!
Though their movements were as agile as human soldiers, thirty of them weren't enough to suppress two master martial artists.
Jin Long spun, drawing his sword and sending sword qi in all directions, while Sa-gwang used the nature aura from his hands to instantly shatter the spearmen. The two watched as the Earth Soldiers crumbled into dry clods.
"Do you know anything about these monsters?" Seo-un asked, looking at Juriel.
"No. They're too sophisticated to be called golems, and they don't look like human remains, so they aren't zombies or ghouls."
Seo-un’s eyes sparkled. Just as he was about to approach the shattered remains, a mysterious sight unfolded.
The crumbled and broken Earth Soldiers began to recover rapidly, the clay knitting back together to regain their original forms.
"Ho."
"Interesting, isn't it?"
Seo-un and Dump watched the regenerating Earth Soldiers with curiosity. In contrast, Juriel spoke with a serious expression.
"Something is wrong. I don't feel any mana fluctuations. This isn't a magical phenomenon."
At those words, Li Lingwei scanned the surroundings. "Are we caught in a formation?"
Neung Seong-a shook her head. "If it were a formation, the Ice Empress would have noticed."
Watching his teammates prepare for battle with grim faces, Seo-un walked calmly toward the recovering Earth Soldiers.
"There's no need to be so serious."
Seo-un wasn't particularly surprised; he had suspected something like this from the moment he first saw the situation. To him, information was more important than the threat.
"Did any notifications pop up?" Seo-un asked as he stood beside Jin Long.
Jin Long shook his head. "None."
The Earth Soldiers were now almost fully recovered, leveling their weapons once more. As the final crack on the face of the lead spearman vanished, the soldiers charged again.
"Hold back your internal power and let's see what they've got."
Jin Long and Nam Sa-gwang, who were about to shatter them again, quickly withdrew their energy and began to engage them in close combat.
"Dump!"
As soon as Seo-un called his name, Dump set aside his shield and leaped into the fray with only his sword. Dump loved this kind of battlefield combat more than anyone—the moment of swinging a weapon amidst the chaos of clashing steel, where it was hard to distinguish friend from foe, sweating and bleeding.
Clang!
Crunch!
However, the Earth Soldiers were far too weak for Dump to truly lose himself in the fight.
"How's their skill level?" Seo-un asked. He had just crushed the heads of five soldiers in an instant, and he turned to Dump as the latter sliced the final soldier in half.
"Weak."
"How weak exactly? Compared to actual soldiers."
Seeing Seo-un’s detailed inquiry, Dump shifted his gaze to the Earth Soldiers, who were already beginning to recover again.
"Well... they're much weaker than regular soldiers, but slightly better than raw conscripts? At the very least, they don't seem to fear death, and they don't seem to get tired."
Seo-un nodded. "About that level, then. Got it. From now on, keep smashing them as soon as they get up—no, keep smashing them even before they can stand."
After giving the order, Seo-un retreated to where the rest of the group stood, their worried expressions unchanged, and fell back into thought.
"Hyung, should we split up and try farming other areas?" Gi-chan asked. He had grasped the situation and Seo-un’s intent. Looking into his eyes, it was clear he had realized the pattern.
"Yeah. Move with Lyle and the two from the Ice Empress Castle. There might be something near the lake—maybe new monsters. Gather as much information as possible. If more Earth Soldiers appear, suppress them as quickly as possible, farm them, and brief me."
"Yes, sir!"
As the order was given, Lyle followed Gi-chan, but the Ice Empress and Neung Seong-a seemed to hesitate. They were clearly still bothered by the Earth Soldiers that kept resurrecting.
Lyle took the Ice Empress’s hand and led her along, looking up at her with a grin. "If Seo-un hyung says it's okay, it's okay."
Seeing Lyle’s bright blue eyes and his cheerful smile, the Ice Empress smiled back and nodded. "Let's go."
"Yes," Neung Seong-a answered, following behind.
As Gi-chan’s group moved toward the opposite side, away from the ongoing battle, the number of resurrecting soldiers began to dwindle.
Eventually, when Jin Long used a kicking technique to completely pulverize the last remaining spearman from head to toe, the debris of the Earth Soldiers vanished. In their place, a single yellowish-brown orb appeared.
As soon as he picked up the orb, a notification rang out.
[Ding! You have obtained Infantry (300). (Spear 150, Sword 150.)]
[Obtained soldiers can only be used after being registered at a castle.]
[If there are no provisions, the number of soldiers will decrease by 10% per day.]
Juriel approached Seo-un, who was examining the orb.
"What kind of item is it?"
"Soldiers. Troops that can be used to defend a castle, take a castle, or conduct a siege."
"Soldiers?!"
It wasn't just Juriel who was surprised. All the teammates, who hadn't even considered the possibility of farming Earth Soldiers as items to use as troops, were shocked.
Since these types of strategy games had existed for a long time on Earth, Seo-un wasn't particularly surprised. Gi-chan was the same, which was why he could pivot to farming so quickly.
"Collecting soldiers like this to defend a castle... then..."
As Juriel trailed off, Seo-un finished her sentence. "Right. You can probably farm various types of soldiers and most of the items needed for a siege this way. Or you could attack other castles to plunder their resources."
"Map!"
As soon as Seo-un finished speaking, Juriel activated the map. She began strategically weighing the position of their castle, which was the only one isolated from the complex clusters of castles in other regions.
"I think we've secured a good location."
Seo-un shook his head as he examined the map with her. "No. If I had known these were the rules, it would have been better to take the largest castle in the center. There are plenty of red, player-owned castles nearby, and the farming grounds are vast. It would have been easier to farm quickly, attack surrounding castles to stockpile resources, and build a front line. Choosing this castle because it seemed easy to defend was a mistake."
She nodded. While it was good that the castle was safe from invasion, having to cross a bridge to go outside for farming was inconvenient and inefficient.
Li Lingwei, who had been listening, looked at the map. "For now, since the Force Field activates every midnight, it would be best to secure the castle's defenses and focus on farming to build up our internal strength for a while."
Seo-un twisted his lips and shook his head again.
"That's a poor move. Since we have a geographical advantage, no fools are going to rush to take our castle early on. Do you know what the most important thing in a strategy simulation is?"
"W-what is it?" Li Lingwei asked, seeing Seo-un’s face full of confidence.
Seo-un’s smile deepened. "The Early Rush."
"Early Rush?"
"Yeah. The fact that we aren't fully prepared means the enemies who started with us are in the same boat. In times like this, it's important to strike first and overwhelm them. If the game is like this, it's definitely worth a shot."
Juriel spoke with a worried expression. "Our numbers are overwhelmingly small compared to other teams. Dividing into a defense team and a siege team might make our lack of manpower even worse..."
Seo-un looked at Juriel, fully understanding her concern. "We can fill the numbers with Earth Soldiers anyway. In this game, a single powerful commander is a much greater asset than raw numbers. Every single member of our Quad is a Crown-grade warrior capable of taking on a hundred men. There's no need to worry."
When Seo-un said that and stared intently at the map, Juriel didn't express any more concern. Seo-un, with that look on his face, had always rewarded his teammates with successful plays. Now that their past experiences had solidified into powerful trust, they simply followed when he spoke. They had even crossed dimensions because they were drawn to his leadership.
"Alright. Let's finish farming here quickly."
Seo-un split the team into pairs to speed up the process. After a brief observation, he had judged that nothing in this area—which was essentially the castle's front yard—could threaten his teammates.
The game, which had started in the morning, was moving into the afternoon as the farming concluded.
"Everyone, brief me on what you've farmed."
Dump and Rimin were the first to speak. "We got 200 Cavalry and 1,000 Provisions."
Next, Nam Sa-gwang spoke. "I got 10 Mana Explosion Carts."
"Mana Explosion Carts?"
When Seo-un asked about the unique name, Nam Sa-gwang read the item description. "An item for attacking castle gates; requires the sacrifice of one soldier per cart. The Mana Explosion Cart, controlled by a soldier, rushes into the enemy's gate and explodes. That's what it says."
"Not bad."
Next, the Ice Empress and Neung Seong-a spoke. "We farmed Watchtower Reinforcement Stones and Watchtower Installation Stones."
Seo-un nodded at the intuitive names. Li Lingwei and Juriel shook their heads with disappointed expressions. "We didn't really farm any items."
The pair of Jin Long and Gi-chan smiled as they showed their haul. "Soldier Recovery Scrolls. Three scrolls that can heal 100 wounded soldiers, and a Soldier Reinforcement Stone. It says it can upgrade 100 soldiers by one tier."
As the expected items appeared, Seo-un’s lips curled up.
"And finally, Lyle and I secured 5,000 Provisions. This brings our total provisions to 6,000. We have 300 Infantry and 200 Cavalry, a total of 500 soldiers. We can maintain these troops for 12 days."
"Not bad for the first day. We can breathe a sigh of relief for today," Jin Long remarked with a smile.
Seo-un shook his head. "No. The game starts now. If you look at the map, you see the castle across the bridge, a short distance away? It wasn't very large, but it was definitely green when the game started. Now, as you can see, it's blue. That means a player has taken control of it. We're going to attack that castle now."
Except for the teammates who had already heard about the Early Rush, everyone looked at him in shock.
"A-already? Junior Brother, you must think carefully."
"That's right. You seem to have forgotten, but it'll be evening soon. A night battle? If we can't make it back by midnight, we'll be finished inside the Force Field!"
Seo-un’s smile deepened at Neung Seong-a’s words. "We just have to finish before then. There's no way I'd forget such an important rule."
Neung Seong-a was about to voice more opposition but stopped and looked around. All the teammates who had looked surprised, including Jin Long, were now preparing for battle without a word, waiting for Seo-un’s orders.
'W-what is this...'
The atmosphere was so natural that she couldn't open her mouth again. The Ice Empress, having already read the room, was looking at Seo-un with a smile and an amused glint in her eyes.
"Alright. Juriel, Senior Brother, Gi-chan, and Li Lingwei will move as the Siege Squad. Sa-gwang, Lyle, Rimin, Dump, and the two from the Ice Empress Castle will make up the Defense Squad."
"What about the soldiers?" the Ice Empress asked.
Seo-un smiled. "The Defense Squad will have to protect the castle without any soldiers."
At Seo-un’s words, Neung Seong-a shouted in shock. "You're taking all the soldiers with you?!"
Nodding, Seo-un turned toward the castle to register the troops.