Chapter 48: Duo-Quad. Surprise Attack
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 48: Duo-Quad. Surprise Attack
Four figures moved with lethal speed, pursuing the mage who had appeared out of nowhere to launch a sudden strike.
The martial artists among them were particularly agile, kicking off the forest trees to widen their formation and encircle their target.
Seo-un sprinted toward the village, firing Ice Lances at precise intervals to keep his pursuers at bay.
Gi-chan’s voice echoed in his mind, and Seo-un’s smirk deepened.
Moments after Gi-chan finished speaking, the dense forest gave way to a two-story house and the village perimeter fence.
Suddenly sensing a sharp surge of killing intent from behind, Seo-un rolled to the side. As he sprang back up, he thrust his fist toward a man lunging at him with a spear.
It wasn't the heavy magic lance of a knight or a crudely oversized pike; it was a thin metal shaft with a sharp tip that flexed and whipped with fluid grace. The spearhead quivered as it lunged, seemingly targeting multiple vital points at once, making it impossible to discern its true trajectory.
The hand holding the spear doesn't change that much, anyway.
This was a core principle of the Boundless Fist that had been drilled into him.
No matter how flashy or deceptive a technique might be, there were physical limits to how much one could alter the movement of the hand, the arm, and the shoulder connecting them to the body. The manual stated that if one possessed the ocular prowess to remain unfazed and observe the opponent’s core—shoulders, arms, and hands—most feints could be deciphered.
The heart!
The moment the thought crossed his mind, the quivering spearhead lunged toward his chest.
Spinning Strike.
And... Electric Shock!
When his Spinning Strike accurately parried the spear, a look of pure bewilderment crossed the martial artist’s eyes.
As an experienced player, he had suspected that magic wasn't Seo-un's only trick while watching him flee, but he never dreamed he would be countered by a martial art he had never seen or heard of before.
Normally, he would have quickly retracted his spear to prevent the opponent from closing in, maintaining his distance to keep the pressure on. However, the sudden jolt of electricity that surged up the shaft and numbed his arm left him utterly paralyzed with shock.
In a fight between martial artists, there is no such thing as a "moment." A single mistake always returns with fatal consequences.
Realizing this as he saw his opponent close the distance by two steps to throw a punch, the man grit his teeth and twisted his body to protect his vitals.
—Thud!
The moment Seo-un’s fist slammed into his shoulder, a stinging pain radiated through his entire body. Even in that state, the man’s decision to use the force of the punch to leap backward was a testament to his skill.
Seo-un, rather than giving chase, quickly distanced himself from the other enemies rushing in with their weapons drawn.
Come out already.
The moment a wave of mana erupted from the house behind him, the players pursuing Seo-un hesitated and dropped into defensive stances.
“He has allies! Everyone, be careful!”
At the shout from a woman wielding a graceful sword style, the group moved quickly to tighten their formation and protect their mages.
Two mages clad in robes appeared on the roof of the two-story house. One held a small flame in both hands as if cradling it, while the other had a tiny whirlwind spinning above his palm. Then, a massive knight fully encased in armor and a martial artist who looked agile by comparison—trailing a whip on the ground—emerged over the fence.
The sword-wielding woman’s expression shifted rapidly at the appearance of these four new players. She glared at Seo-un, her brow furrowing deeply.
She realized they had been lured into a trap.
Just as the woman was about to speak, Seo-un turned and fled, pushing his internal power to its limit without looking back. Even as they watched him retreat at a speed incomparable to when he was being "chased," no one in the area dared to move hastily.
Seo-un spoke to Gi-chan as he continued to run, maintaining his pace by circulating his internal power.
Seo-un reached the top of a tree after a swift climb and spoke aloud. “How’s it looking?”
“They’re still testing each other with light skirmishes. They keep glancing around, probably worried about getting flanked.”
“No one followed me from a distance?”
“No. I checked as far as my vision allows, but there was nothing unusual. But do you think they’ll fight to the death here? Looking at them, it seems like they might just back off after a bit of fighting.”
“I don't know. They probably aren't that smart. They’ll be greedy for each other's items, too.”
“It’s the first day of the game. Would they really overextend?”
“They’d want to overextend because it’s the first day. Those guys must have scouted the other players who dropped in this area. If they think their backs are safe, wouldn't they want to devour each other to grow?”
As soon as Seo-un finished speaking, the battle between the players visible through the trees intensified. The trees blocking their view were smashed and toppled one by one, gradually clearing the line of sight for the two observers.
“Whoa. One side is going to get completely wrecked.”
“They should. I went through all that trouble acting as bait. Let’s get ready.”
The two descended from the tree to approach the site of the fierce battle, marking their map.
“Let’s get this close first and watch how it unfolds.”
“Right. Do you think the remaining Quad might approach?”
“Maybe, since they’re making such a racket. But not many players would risk giving up early farming to jump into a fight.”
After Seo-un finished speaking and leaped down, Gi-chan scanned the surroundings one last time to ensure they weren't being followed before running down the hill.
As they moved quickly, various scenarios flashed through their minds while they predicted the outcome via team voice chat.
Gi-chan nodded, and Seo-un moved further ahead, stepping lightly across the branches.
The battlefield was reaching its climax; the word "fierce" was an understatement. Eight figures moved busily, completely ignoring the surroundings that had been reduced to ruins.
In particular, the three martial artists were aggressively lunging to take down the two opposing mages at any cost. However, the knight and the other martial artist were doing a notable job of blocking them despite being outnumbered.
The skill of the man holding a sword in one hand and a whip in the other to keep the opponents at bay was especially striking. While the two men held off the martial artists, one mage would attack with devastating magic, while the other harassed the enemy mages from the rear. Consequently, the martial artists were leading the attack but failing to gain any real ground.
On the other hand, the side with two mages was actually pushing the martial artists back as the mages took turns unleashing spells.
—Rumble!
The ground flipped over in a straight line, catching up to the spear-wielding warrior who was retreating, and eventually spat out a massive boulder at him. The warrior blocked the boulder with his spear shaft but ended up coughing blood and falling backward.
A bird of scorching flames flew toward him, growing in size as it prepared to swallow him whole. If a snake-shaped ice spell hadn't flown in from behind just in time, the spearman would have been finished.
The warrior stood up with a pale face and tried to retreat quickly, but the opponent with the sword and whip had no intention of letting him go. The spearman grit his teeth as the enemy pursued him, clearly intending to deny him any time to heal. He couldn't retreat any further, thinking of his mage allies behind him.
Even as they watched the clash, the two martial artists who were pinned down by the single knight couldn't decide whether to retreat or continue their assault.
One team decided to break through the knight in a 2-on-1 to kill the two mages beyond, while the other team, trusting their knight, aimed to finish off the wounded enemy and take down the mages to decide the match.
The outcome depended on who could take down their opponent faster.
A smile spread across the lips of the martial artist who parried the quivering spear with his sword. The opponent's internal injuries were deep; there was no weight behind the spear tip.
—Slash!
The moment it seemed the sword-wielding martial artist had merely brushed past, a fountain of blood erupted from the spearman's neck. Raising his sword, the martial artist charged straight toward the mage firing spells at him and swung horizontally.
—Creeeeeak!
With a sound like a giant tree twisting, the head of the Ice Snake fired by the mage was severed. A massive explosion of cold air created a white mist, but the martial artist, whose body was partially frozen white, burst through the frost and brought his sword down on the mage.
The moment the mage saw the shimmering haze rising from the blade, a long hammer appeared in his hand instead of a staff. The martial artist’s lips curled as he saw the mage pull out a weapon that looked like a hammer attached to the end of a long pole.
—Clang!
A sharp, ear-piercing sound rang out as the mage blocked the sword, his face contorting. The force behind the sword must have vibrated through the mage’s hands, as the hand holding the hammer trembled violently.
Just as the martial artist began a finishing technique, swinging his sword in a wide arc toward the stumbling mage, his expression froze.
—Agh!
A scream erupted from behind him. His knight had held out quite long against two martial artists by himself, but he had finally reached his limit.
—Skreeee, thud!
The martial artist’s sword grazed the hammer, sparking before finally burying itself in the mage’s neck. As the sword was pulled out and the mage collapsed, his hood fell back, revealing blond hair.
The urgency in the martial artist’s heart was evident in his legs as he sprinted away without even glancing at the fallen mage. The situation was now 3-on-2, but if they lost both mages, they had no chance of winning.
The two martial artists grit their teeth and pushed through the onslaught of magic. In the process, the one in the black breastplate took a direct hit from a spell, shattering his right shoulder, but he continued forward regardless.
The moment they pushed right up to the mages and raised their weapons, longswords appeared in the hands of both mages.
—Clang, clang!
Despair spread across the sword-wielding woman’s face. The skill of the mages she was clashing with was not shallow enough to be suppressed quickly.
—Hu-ki!!!
Along with the sound of air being torn, a sharp pain radiated through her entire body from her back. Exposing her back to the enemy behind her—the one with a sword in one hand and a whip in the other—had resulted in a fatal wound.
Her back stiffened as paralysis spread through her body. Simultaneously with the notification that she had been poisoned with a paralytic toxin, her head was severed.
The martial artist in the breastplate, who was left alone and fought desperately until the end, also fell before long. As he collapsed, the four corpses vanished, and wooden boxes appeared in their place.
“Save the knight first!”
The martial artist said this to the mage who was reaching for a box, then pulled out a scroll and prepared to tear it.
—Squeltch!
If he hadn't seen the fist protruding through his chest, he wouldn't have understood the situation at all.
“Guh...”
He opened his mouth to speak, but blood surged up, blocking his words.
The mage, who had been reaching toward the knight while emitting a faint light, also collapsed as a dagger buried itself in the back of his neck the moment the martial artist died.
The lone remaining mage, who had been storing magic in his staff, saw the situation unfold in an instant and bolted without looking back. A powerful bolt of electricity flew and struck the back of the mage, who possessed decent lightness skills.
—Zzzzzzt!
The moment he faltered, his body convulsing from the electrocution, his head was smashed. Seo-un, who had been slightly delayed while absorbing vitality, had rushed over and crushed the man's skull.
“Finish the farming quickly.”
Even before the words were out, Gi-chan was already opening boxes and looting items.
“In the end, this is about all that’s useful.”
Seo-un nodded as he looked at the items Gi-chan had gathered.
There were some other minor weapons and recovery scrolls, but surprisingly few useful secret manuals or grimoires had dropped.
“You learn all the magic books for now. And if you don't need the manuals, just shove them in the subspace.”
“But there are sword and spear techniques here. You're not going to learn them?”
“They don't seem stronger than the martial arts I already know. It’s a shame no movement techniques dropped. Let’s move.”
“Yes.”
The two moved to the partially looted village and began farming. As they finished looting a house that the previous players had left half-done to fight, Gi-chan asked.
There was no way Seo-un didn't know he was referring to the guys they had fought tooth and nail against on Earth.
After finishing their farming quickly, the two met at the entrance of the village.
“Get anything good?”
“Beef jerky and scrolls. I got a deployable mana explosion and one intermediate recovery.”
“Same here. I got an Impact Orb and an Eye of Distortion.”
Gi-chan’s eyes lit up at the mention of the Eye of Distortion. “How many hours is it for?”
“It says three hours, but to use this...”
Hearing that, Gi-chan pulled a crystal ball out of his subspace.
“You were carrying one of those?”
“Of course.”
Seo-un pulled a small orb about half the size of a fist from his subspace and tossed it to Gi-chan. Gi-chan then held the small orb, the Eye of Distortion, against the crystal ball, which was slightly smaller than a bowling ball.
—Hummm.
After a brief vibration and a flash of light from the Eye of Distortion, it returned to normal.
“Three hours should be plenty.”
“Man, there really are all sorts of items.”
“It makes scouting so much easier, thanks to this.”
Gi-chan put the two orbs back into his subspace and pulled up the map.
“There are three villages left. Where are we going?”
“Starting with this small village. One Quad probably dropped here, so they’ve likely finished farming by now and headed to the next village or toward the mine. Let’s clear this small village and keep an eye on the remaining Quad’s movements.”
“Yes.”
Gi-chan felt a sense of reassurance as he watched Seo-un quickly plan their route. He had experience in duos and hadn't skipped out on regular Quads, but finding a player he could trust and follow this much was incredibly difficult.
In Quads, especially, once opinions diverged, just planning a route could eat up a lot of time, and it wasn't uncommon to waste emotional energy on teammates over every little thing. Unless someone was exceptionally strong or brilliant, mental energy was drained over every minor decision.
Until now, Gi-chan had usually been the one making the decisions rather than following. He had a lot of play experience, and because his own play was so outstanding, teammates would naturally come to rely on him over time.
But since he started playing with Seo-un, he didn't feel the need to do that. From planning the route in an instant by looking at the map to predicting enemy movements, there was nothing to object to. Above all, his charisma within Cloyd was overwhelming.
Had he ever felt this kind of peace of mind inside Cloyd?
Am I really in the middle of a survival game right now?
As the tension unique to Cloyd faded, his mind became at ease.
“Don't relax too much. This is a place where anything can happen at any time.”
Seeing Seo-un say that, as if he had read his mind, Gi-chan’s trust in him deepened even further.
“Yes.”