Chapter 70: 20-Man Squad. What Koreans are Good At
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 70: 20-Man Squad. What Koreans are Good At
Quantity didn't always equal quality. With such a large group, it was an inevitable fact that their mobility would suffer.
While the speed of clearing the village was fast, the time it took to travel to the next location had increased excessively.
"This is getting a bit frustrating," Gi-chan remarked.
Seo-un nodded in agreement. "We've roughly identified the players dropping nearby, so it should be fine to pick up the pace a bit."
Juriel was about to respond to Seo-un, but Kite cut in first.
"This is where the lack of experience really shows. Just because we’re a large Squad doesn’t mean we have to huddle together. Normally, you’d split off a small group with a Scouter to run guerrilla tactics over a wide radius. It’s a headache if you get tangled up with guys like that for no reason."
The hearing of every player present was sharp enough to catch even the slightest sound. Despite that, Seo-un knew exactly why Kite was blustering so loudly for everyone to hear.
How cute. So he’s finally making his move?
Seo-un had spent years playing the notorious AOS team-based game, League of Red—a game so toxic people joked that if you could survive its "politics," you could get elected to the National Assembly. To him, this level of provocation was child’s play.
Juriel, sensing Seo-un’s gaze as he watched Kite—who was clearly measuring the right moment to snatch the Sub-Leader position—quickly jumped into the conversation.
"We don't have any Archers or Assassins, so it's difficult for us to run guerrilla tactics. We only have two Scouters as it is. If they get picked off by an enemy guerrilla unit, the team might fall apart. We have to be careful."
"I see. Since this is my first time in a regular Squad, I wasn't aware of those circumstances," Seo-un admitted lightly.
Seeing him concede so easily, the other players' interest waned. They had been watching closely, wondering if a power struggle was about to break out between the Main Shielder and the Sub-Leader.
After glancing at the other players, Seo-un shot a quick look at Kite, who wore a triumphant expression.
Stealing my kill earlier wasn't an accident either, was it? You made a mistake.
Seo-un gave Gi-chan a look, and Gi-chan subtly stepped back, injecting mana into his necklace.
"That big oaf is going to keep playing politics the whole time," Gi-chan whispered.
"Looks like he wants to take the Sub-Leader spot."
"Probably. If he can, he'll likely try to incite the others and take the Main Leader spot too."
"Let's show him the political prowess of a Korean," Gi-chan said.
Seo-un smiled at Gi-chan's words. Juriel squeezed in between the two of them.
Sticking close within the range of the Silence spell, she said with twitching cheeks, "It's not good to keep casting Silence and talking just between the two of you."
"Ah, we just like silly jokes. It's just small talk."
"Still, you should build rapport and trust with the other players."
Seo-un nodded with a smile, but it was hard to truly agree. If there were players he clicked with, that would be one thing, but finding such people was no easy task. How could one build rapport and trust in an instant just because they were on the same team as players they'd never met before?
As he walked with those thoughts, Seo-un's eyes suddenly sharpened.
— Master! I feel a filthy gaze.
Direction?
— The forest to the left and the riverbank to the right.
As soon as he confirmed the locations, he opened the Team Voice Chat.
— Enemies in the forest to the left and the riverbank to the right. Everyone...
He intentionally dragged out the briefing, dangling the bait.
A few quick-witted players maintained natural expressions while moving, but there were also those who grew visibly tense and scanned their surroundings. It was a natural reaction for players accustomed to Cloyd.
And Kite bit the hook, line, and sinker.
"There's no way there are enemies the Scouters didn't find—"
Before he could finish, Seo-un silenced him with a murderous glare.
At the same time, Seo-un pulled out his bow and fired a Pyeonjeon toward the riverbank.
Boom!
The exploding arrow, inspired by Jurokuana's techniques, slammed into the riverbank. The moment it hit, a figure clad in a black leather hood leaped out and began to flee rapidly.
"Damn it!"
Seo-un kicked off the ground, putting on an exaggerated show of frustration.
The Scouters stopped in their tracks, and everyone began preparing for combat. A few players tried to pursue the fleeing enemy, but Juriel quickly stopped them.
"Don't follow! It might be a trap!"
While everyone looked around tensely, Seo-un turned a burning gaze toward Kite and spoke up.
"No, I mean, seriously! Why would you shout that out loud instead of using the Team Voice Chat?! Everyone else was keeping quiet and acting like they didn't notice!"
The players who had unconsciously grown tense and looked around kept their mouths shut, nodding at Seo-un's words as they turned their eyes toward Kite.
Feeling the pressure of their collective gaze—mostly born from their own relief at not being the target—Kite opened his mouth to protest.
"W-Well, if you hadn't fired that arrow in the first place..."
"No, so you're saying we should have just let them run away? If we had moved quietly and then attacked, we could have easily taken out two of them... Sigh."
Watching Seo-un let out an exaggerated sigh of frustration, all the players found themselves nodding.
Rule number one of politics: start every sentence with "No, I mean..."
Following Seo-un's lead, Gi-chan also chipped in.
"That's a shame. Maybe not the guy in the forest, but we definitely could have caught the one on the riverbank."
"Exactly. It's not like we didn't know guerrillas existed, and since we could detect them in advance, it should have been an easy fight."
"I agree. It's a real shame in many ways."
As players began to voice their thoughts one by one, Kite felt like he was going crazy.
Of course, he admitted he made a mistake. But how could he have imagined that Seo-un, who was way in the back, would sense an enemy presence that even the Scouters up front had missed? He had simply thought Seo-un was talking nonsense out of a desperate desire to make up for being embarrassed earlier. That was his mistake.
Damn it! If he's that good, why didn't he just take the Scouter role!
His gaze naturally shifted to the Scouters in front.
"I just didn't think the Scouters would miss an enemy's presence..."
As soon as those words left his mouth, the expressions of the two Scouters crumpled.
"No, is this really the time to be blaming others? The two people who took the Scouter role did so voluntarily, accepting the disadvantage of not being able to farm items."
At those words, the two Scouters sent Seo-un looks of intense gratitude. The surrounding players also shot Kite looks of contempt at his blatant attempt to shift blame.
Stupid guy. When you make a mistake, apologizing immediately is the shortcut to not getting 'politicked.'
No matter how outstanding their abilities or how long they'd survived in Cloyd, players were still human at their core. Everyone wants to be recognized. When such people gather, it's only natural for factions to form. To occupy the high ground within that social structure, there are two paths: gain recognition through overwhelming skill, or draw the majority to your side.
Kite had failed at both.
The one who saved Kite—who was huffing with a red face, unable to offer any further rebuttal—was Juriel. Stepping forward and placing a hand on Seo-un's shoulder as if to say that was enough, she spoke.
"At any rate, we drove them off without being swayed by the guerrilla attack, so that's enough. We didn't suffer any damage, so let's wrap this up here. We don't have time for a post-mortem."
At her words, the Scouters began to move again, and the group resumed their march. Kite glared at Seo-un with resentment, but even that only earned him dirty looks from the other players.
Idiot. What kind of politics did you think you could play with that brain?
Seo-un thought that if he badgered him a few more times, he could make Kite behave.
Having experienced a guerrilla ambush once, the Scouters began to move with even more caution. Seo-un approached them and spoke.
"I might not know about traps, but I can pick up most presences fairly well, so it should be okay to pick up the speed a bit."
The Scouters nodded. All the players glanced at Seo-un with curiosity. He had clearly stated his magic was only at the 4th Circle, so everyone was dying to ask how he had detected the enemy before the Scouters.
However, asking about a skill someone hadn't disclosed was a taboo. Asking about a teammate's skills or items could lead to suspicion regarding one's intentions, so everyone kept their mouths shut.
Reading the team's atmosphere, Juriel cautiously broached the subject.
"You have great instincts."
Seeing her ask so vaguely, Seo-un replied nonchalantly.
"Yeah, I guess."
Since he only gave that much of an answer, Juriel couldn't pry any further.
As the Scouters picked up the pace, the main body naturally sped up as well, and before long, a small village appeared. It was a humble village, smaller than the previous one, with a fence made of woven bush clover separating the houses from the fields.
The moment a Scouter hopped over the fence and entered, an explosion erupted, and the bush clover fence was swept away in an instant.
K-Boom!
Because the distance from the Scouter was significant, Hamit hadn't been able to detect the Mana Explosion trap in time. The incident happened in a split second.
As the Scouter was sent tumbling violently across the ground by the blast, a wave of mana surged, and seven spells were unleashed toward him simultaneously.
The first to move was Seo-un, who held the Sub-Leader authority. The moment he sensed the explosion, he sprinted toward the Scouter. Just as Seo-un reached the Scouter, whose body was trembling slightly, the enemy's spells were closing in.
Kaier's Barrier.
No sooner had he raised the barrier than dozens of sharp stone pillars erupted from the ground. If he had been even a moment later in pulling the Scouter away, the man's body would have been shredded like a rag.
Grabbing the scruff of the man's neck—his breath faint—Seo-un retreated while repeatedly swinging his free hand through the air.
Crash!
The chunks of ice filling his vision were shattered in mid-air by the Fist Qi Seo-un unleashed.
Slash!
Simultaneously, blades of wind swept over him, tearing his clothes. He had bolstered his defense with internal power, but the dozens of wind blades were enough to leave small cuts all over his body.
6th Circle...
Having gained significant experience in tanking magic with his body while relying on his magic resistance, he had reached a point where he could roughly guess the circle of a spell just by being hit.
Even as he stood firm in front of the severely injured Scouter, two Flame Birds flew toward them. He thrust his fist out once more toward the incoming firebirds. The birds were split from head to tail in an instant, but though they shrank slightly in size, they reformed their bodies and continued to dive toward Seo-un and the Scouter.
Whoosh!
He was engulfed in flames in an instant. As the second Flame Bird joined in, his entire body grew searingly hot, and intense pain flared. Nevertheless, Seo-un endured, circulating his internal power.
Now!
The moment Seo-un, who had gathered his internal power into his fist, struck out again, a boulder the size of a house came flying with violent momentum, only to be smashed into pieces.
Patter-patter-patter!
Countless rock fragments pelted Seo-un's flame-engulfed body as they passed. By the time he blocked all that and retreated, the Scouter, who had been on the verge of death, had stopped breathing.
He laid the charred corpse down in front of his teammates and pointed directly at one of the Mages.
"Resurrect him, quickly!"
The players, who had been dazed by the sight of Seo-un taking the brunt of a sudden ambush and ultimately bringing back the body, snapped out of it and moved quickly.
Juriel also issued orders rapidly.
"Shielders, further forward! Remaining Scouter, watch the rear more closely! Guerrillas might be attached. Martial Artists, don't spread out too much!"
As she gave the orders and stared straight ahead, the space that had been empty seemed to shatter, revealing a group of players clustered in the middle of the village.
"Mirror Illumination!"
She gritted her teeth, seemingly frustrated at being caught by a spell she was familiar with. In the meantime, Gi-chan provided a briefing.
— Sixteen! Four are missing. Not sure if they were eliminated or if they're out as guerrillas.
Both sides remained wary of each other, unable to move hastily. And for good reason. The side that had been ambushed was wary of other traps and couldn't step into the battlefield the enemy had prepared. The other side, despite launching a decisive surprise attack, hadn't managed to take down a single player, so they couldn't afford to attack recklessly.
In a group battle, momentum was more important than anything else.
As they sized each other up, the resurrected Scouter stepped forward, gnashing his teeth. It was Seo-un who blocked him. Seo-un, who was healing the burns all over his body by tearing a recovery scroll, shook his head at him. Only then did the Scouter calm down.
"I'll handle the initiation," Seo-un said.
"Does Jin Seo-un really have to be the one to open the battle..."
Juriel's voice trailed off as she tried to stop him. What Seo-un had just done—taking a barrage of magic by himself—was something impossible for someone with ordinary magic resistance.
As long as they were wary of each other from a distance, Seo-un was currently the only player who could start a melee and shake the enemy's formation. More accurately, Seo-un was the only player willing to take on such a high-risk task without a word of complaint.