Chapter 87: 8-Quad. Battle Above the Clouds
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 87: 8-Quad. Battle Above the Clouds
“Is that even possible?”
Seo-un answered Gi-chan’s skeptical question with absolute conviction.
“It’s impossible—unless eight overwhelming players are gathered in one place.”
“And what is your standard for ‘overwhelming’?” Li Lingwei asked provocatively, as if piqued by his statement.
“Somewhere above Ye Haoran, but below Nam Sa-gwang, I suppose.”
Both were experts renowned throughout the Gangho. One was a rising star hailed as the strongest of all time, and the other was a master of Rejuvenation who seemed to have stepped out of a legend.
As the bar was raised to an absurd height, Jin Long cut in. “Then what is the best play we can make?”
“There are two main options: whether to go to the Main Island or not. Our playstyle will change depending on that choice.”
The one who understood his meaning the fastest was, as expected, Juriel. “So, it’s a question of whether we challenge the upper ranks or not.”
As Seo-un nodded at the core point she raised, the simple-minded Dump spoke his thoughts exactly as they came to him. “We have to challenge them, of course. Just surviving will only rack up our round count without any real progress.”
“That’s true, but this game is a bit different,” Rimin pointed out. “If a squad that fulfills the clear conditions appears, this is a game where you can enter the reward bracket just by defending a single Seondong Stone well.”
Before Dump could respond, Seo-un spoke up. “Everyone understands the rules, so let’s take a quick vote. Raise your hand if you’re in favor of taking the risk and playing aggressively for the top spots.”
The players glanced at each other for a moment. Then, starting with Dump, they all raised their hands one by one. When even Rimin, who had been raising negative points, raised his hand, the corners of Seo-un’s mouth curled up.
Regardless of their concerns, these were players who had tasted the rewards of the upper ranks. As expected of high-ranking players, they had a strong tendency to push forward rather than just play it safe.
“Then how shall we be aggressive? Let’s get specific. There are two ways: the first is to move around the auxiliary islands and target Seondong Stones, and the second is to go directly to the Main Island and secure a position.”
“In my opinion, the latter isn’t good,” Jin Long argued. “If we have to go to the Main Island anyway, is there a need to jump in from the very beginning?”
“I agree.”
When Juriel agreed with Jin Long, everyone else nodded.
“Very well. Then we’ll set our direction toward farming and activating Seondong Stones, focusing on the auxiliary islands. Now, for the last thing…” Seo-un paused for a moment, looking around at the players before continuing with a heavy gaze. “Let’s discuss whether we should split the squad.”
At those words, everyone’s expression stiffened.
“Are you talking about a survival party?”
Seo-un nodded at Jin Long’s question. “It’s a question of whether we should have a survival party and designated sacrifice members who will defend the auxiliary islands—or perish if necessary.”
If this squad had met for the first time today, or if their level of mutual trust wasn't high, it would have been difficult to bring up such a topic. However, Seo-un trusted his teammates and didn't hesitate to initiate the difficult conversation.
“I agree with keeping a survival party in mind,” Juriel said. “However, I’m against having a separate team to defend an auxiliary island, as that would only be a loss of combat power. We don’t necessarily need to clear the main objective, do we?”
Several teammates nodded. Being left alone or in a small group on an auxiliary island was a heavy burden; it was a natural reaction.
“We don’t know how the situation might change, so I think it’s better to decide who will be left behind in advance,” Rimin countered. “Rather than wasting precious time deciding when the situation actually hits, deciding now and reacting quickly will increase our chances of victory.”
At Rimin’s words, Lyle stepped forward and raised his voice. “I-I’ll do it! I’ll stay behind. If it comes to that.”
Was he provoked by the young Lyle stepping up? Dump ruffled the hair of the boy, who was half his size, and spoke. “What are you talking about? Defending is entirely my role. Who else but me, the one who protects the mages and the team, would take on such a role?”
“I’ll volunteer as well,” Li Lingwei added. “If such a situation arises, I’ll stay too.”
When even Li Lingwei stepped forward, Seo-un nodded. “Very well. Dump, Li Lingwei, and Lyle. The three of you will be the ones to guard the team’s rear and perish if necessary. Depending on the situation, you will defend the Seondong Stone and hold out against the magnetic field and enemies until the very end for the team’s victory!”
Juriel and Jin Long looked dissatisfied, but seeing how cold and firm Seo-un appeared, they didn't object. They knew all too well that respecting the authority of the Main Order was a fundamental of a squad. Above all, it was possible because they had absolute trust in Seo-un.
“Then, finally. What shall we do about the Seondongun? Nothing is certain yet, but do you have any opinions on the progress of the Main Quest?”
“If we’re playing with a focus on the auxiliary islands, I think it’s best to reduce the number of Seondongun as much as possible,” Juriel suggested.
“I think so too,” Li Lingwei agreed. “There are 800 players, but only 400 Seondongun have been released. I don’t know how many people can ride a single Seondongun, but if the capacity is one, the struggle for them will be intense. The more we reduce the Seondongun, the fiercer the fighting between players will become.”
As everyone nodded, Seo-un finalized the plan. “Then the plan is set. We play focusing on the auxiliary islands and reduce the number of Seondongun.”
Everyone nodded, visualizing the upcoming play in their heads.
“What about the survival party?”
“That…” Juriel interrupted Seo-un and answered for him. “I think it would be best if the three of you—the Main Order Jin Seo-un, Kang Gi-chan, and Jin Long—formed it, considering balance and various other factors. If the worst-case scenario comes, we focus on keeping these three alive.”
Juriel had appropriately spoken the words that were difficult for Seo-un to say himself. As expected, no teammate came forward to object. It was a rational judgment by anyone’s standards.
“Then, let’s begin.”
After finishing his sentence, Seo-un placed his hand on the Seondong Stone once more. All the teammates naturally grew tense as they watched the stone.
[Activating the Seondong Stone. Do not take your hand off the stone.]
Clank! Clank!
With a heavy metallic sound, the grey dragon carved onto the blue sphere began to writhe. Soon, the dragon, which had been moving vividly around the sphere, let out a roar.
— Roaaaaaar!
As the creature opened its mouth wide, the sphere began to glow.
Vweeeee!
At the same time, accompanied by an unpleasant drone, monsters began to appear around the sphere. The entire squad grew tense as they looked at the blue dokkaebi—creatures just over a meter tall with horns on their heads.
“Damn it! It must be a trap!” Dump, who had pulled out his shield to block the front of his teammates, looked around at the dokkaebi surrounding them and furrowed his brow. “There are too many of them.”
Jin Long also drew his sword and stood on guard.
[Ding! All guardians of the Seondong Stone have been summoned.]
If it hadn't been for the notification, Dump, with his hasty personality, might have lunged toward the side with the fewest dokkaebi to try and break through.
“These strange things are…”
“They seem to be guardians protecting our Seondong Stone.”
The teammates looked dazed as they watched the hundred dokkaebi, carrying large hammers or axes on their shoulders, wandering around the Seondong Stone.
“No way. Was activating the Seondong Stone a way to summon monsters like this?”
At Rimin’s words, Seo-un spoke with a stiff expression. “We haven't seen any items or farming spots on this island so far.”
“Could it be…” Gi-chan seemed to get a hunch and let his voice trail off.
“The hunch was right. Farming here is monster hunting. Specifically, it seems we have to hunt the guardian mobs of other squads’ Seondong Stones.”
“And they give us a Main Quest to destroy the Seondongun, while the Seondongun themselves are only half the number of players to begin with.”
“Whoever designed this is vicious.”
Seo-un also looked at the dokkaebi with a sunken gaze. Difficulty: Medium-High, huh…
The thought suddenly crossed his mind: had the difficulty of the Cloyd games so far, which enforced cold survival rules, actually been easy? Finding an empty house, going inside, and growing quickly with the items placed there—that was simple. It wasn't just Seo-un who felt that the difficulty of the game had suddenly skyrocketed.
Clap!
Seo-un clapped his hands to focus his teammates. “Let’s move for now. Our task is set.”
As he pushed through the dokkaebi and moved forward, his teammates followed. Seo-un turned on the map, pinged the eastern side of the island, and ran quickly. Jin Long, who was following, asked:
— Main Order. There’s still one squad left on this island. Is it okay to move right away?
— Yes. What’s important right now is securing a Seondongun. We must at least avoid being trapped on the island because we don't have one.
Having finished his assessment, Seo-un believed that securing a Seondongun was the most important priority. Arriving at the eastern end of the island, the teammates’ mouths fell open.
“Whoa!”
Dump, who looked down at the ground from the edge of the island, recoiled in a way that didn't match his large frame. The height was so great that the mountain peaks piercing through the clouds looked smaller than ants.
“Even if it weren't for the game system, you’d definitely die if you fell.”
Everyone nodded. Just then, Seo-un, who was turning his head while looking at the setting sun, spoke. “I suppose that’s what they call a Seondongun.”
— Ukki-ha!
A monkey with a horn on its head was frolicking as if excited, riding a cloud and cutting through the air outside the island.
“Don't tell me we have to steal that and ride it?”
“That’s absolutely impossible!” Dump backed away, terrified.
Stealing a cloud that was moving quickly through the air meant that a single failure would lead to falling to one's death.
The difficulty shouldn't be that high.
While he was lost in thought, his reverie was broken by Gi-chan’s shout. “Watch out!”
Snapping back to reality, he saw the monkey creature flying toward the squad, spinning a red staff it had pulled from somewhere.
Whoosh! Ki-haaaa!
As Seo-un lowered his body to dodge, he felt a cool breeze over the crown of his head. The creature, having passed by after targeting the teammates once, soared upward and cackled as if it were having the time of its life.
Snap.
He felt his blood pressure rise. The speed of the creature, which was flying back toward them while spinning its staff in a large arc, was no joke.
— Ki-haaaa!
The moment the creature’s staff, aimed accurately at Seo-un, was about to strike his head, its expression changed completely. The moment it thought it had surely hit, its enemy vanished like a mirage. Even a monkey couldn't help but be surprised.
— Ukki! Pop!
As Seo-un lunged in front of the creature and thrust out his Blood Bone Claw, the creature’s form vanished into smoke like a lie. And the Seondongun came to a dead stop.
“So, in the end, a Seondongun is…”
As Gi-chan’s voice trailed off while looking at the stationary cloud, which was a little over three square meters in size, Seo-un’s mouth twisted into a smirk as he stepped onto it.
“Somersault Cloud!”
— Shooooo!
Just by thinking it, the Seondongun reacted and moved. A smile curved Seo-un’s lips as he rode the cloud, cutting through the air. As he was crossing over the island, the Seondongun suddenly came to a halt.
[Ding! You can no longer enter the interior of the island while riding a Seondongun.]
“So that’s how it works.”
Only the outer quarter of the island was the limit for the Seondongun. Returning to where his teammates were in an instant, Seo-un looked at them.
“I’ll scout the surroundings and bring back other Seondongun for now.”
“Main Order! Be careful.”
Answering Jin Long’s concern with a smile, he moved the Seondongun. Looking down at the dizzying ground below, he cut through the wind. He moved the Seondongun when he saw a group of them flying together in the distance.
As Seo-un threw a punch toward the monkeys, who were flying through the sky while swinging red staves and beating a giant shark, Fist Qi was fired.
— Ukki-ah! Ki-ak!
The group of monkeys, who easily dodged his Fist Qi, flew toward Seo-un as if enraged. He immediately turned the Seondongun and fled toward his teammates, starting the briefing.
— I’m bringing five of them. Get ready to catch them.
At his briefing, the teammates didn't panic. They waited, firmly prepared for the attack. The moment the five monkeys pursuing Seo-un passed over the teammates, attacks were unleashed upon them all at once.
Bam-bam-bam-bam-pop!
“Catching them isn't that difficult, is it?”
At the words of Gi-chan, who had taken down three monkeys at once with Chain Lightning, Seo-un nodded.
“They’re just the means to move the Seondongun. They’re only at the level of monsters that don't give a single item, so they wouldn't be that threatening.”
Gi-chan, who had climbed onto a Seondongun, moved the cloud here and there, his eyes wide with wonder. “This is amazing!”
“We don't have time to be surprised. We’re busy if we want to preempt the surrounding Seondongun.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Seo-un took Gi-chan with him to hunt the next Seondongun.
— The rest of you, keep a lookout nearby!
“Yee-haw!” Gi-chan shouted while spinning around, imitating a scene from an anime. Seo-un followed closely behind him.
“You’ll fall to a dog’s death if you keep that up.”
“Strangely, my feet don't come off even if I hang upside down! It moves exactly as I think!”
Seo-un smiled as he watched Gi-chan enjoying himself. He thought about nagging him more, but come to think of it, Gi-chan was only a high school student.
After luring another group of monkeys and taking their clouds, three Seondongun were left over.
“How do we destroy them?”
While everyone was pondering, Hamit spoke up for the first time in a while.
— I feel a core at the front of the cloud. —
At those words, Seo-un reached out toward an empty Seondongun while manifesting the Blood Bone Claw.
Crack!
Watching the Seondongun scatter with the sound of a glass marble breaking, Seo-un spoke. “There’s a core at the front. Once that core is destroyed, that’s the end of it.”
[Ding! You have destroyed a Seondongun.]
[Remaining Seondongun: 389/400]
Seeing the number of remaining Seondongun, the teammates felt a sense of urgency.
“There are other players riding Seondongun besides us.”
“The sun is already setting. It’s surprising that only 11 have been destroyed so far.”
“Let’s move to the next island for now. And as we go, if we see any Seondongun, let’s destroy them on sight.”
After finishing his sentence, Seo-un flew off in the lead, and his teammates followed close behind.
— The positions are the same. If a variable arises, react accordingly, but keep the basics the same.
They had been flying for a while. Just as the sun had completely set and darkness began to fall, Seo-un raised his hand and stopped in his tracks.
— Enemies!
The enemies riding Seondongun, who appeared small in the distance, had also spotted Seo-un and were standing still, looking their way.
— They’re coming! Get ready!
The first to react to the enemies approaching through the wind was Gi-chan. Instead of a barrier, he fired a Thunder Ball to open the engagement and check the enemies’ barriers. The barrier of the martial artist approaching in the lead was shattered.
As Juriel and Lyle followed up by firing magic, Seo-un’s Seondongun shot forward, watching the enemies dodge the magic while breaking their formation. Jin Long and Rimin followed closely behind him, maintaining a triangular formation.
— Let’s split into three directions. I’ll try to break through the center. You two, circle around to the sides and target the mages!
In Seo-un’s hand was Hamit, who had already transformed into a chainsword. It seemed that while riding a Seondongun, a chainsword with a long reach would be better than being empty-handed, even if he wasn't as used to it. He poured his overflowing internal power into the weapon and swung.
The moment Seo-un swung the extended chainsword and entered the enemies’ formation, the two following him began to veer off sharply.
Boom!
Seo-un, who had endured the concentrated magic and attacks by cutting through them with his chainsword, broke through the enemies just like that. If they had been on the ground, it wouldn't have been easy without killing the enemies blocking the way, but as he broke through them in an instant while controlling the Seondongun, the flustered mages tried to scatter.
“Don't scatter! Stick to us!” The enemy leader shouted, but it was too late.
One of the four mages was surrounded by Seo-un and the other two and fell helplessly. A beat later, the enemies’ attacks poured in toward Seo-un’s back. In particular, the charge of a knight aiming a lance was unusual.
Clang!
As soon as he blocked the heavy, yellow-glowing spear by raising his chainsword, his Seondongun was pushed far back. The power contained in the lance of a charging mount was formidable. If he had been on the ground, he wouldn't have been pushed back this much, but since he was mounted on a Seondongun, being pushed back by a charging attack was unavoidable.
Clang-clang-clang!
Jin Long and Rimin also swung their swords, parrying the attacks pouring toward Seo-un.
— Concentrate on the mage on the right!
At Juriel’s sub-order, Lyle and Gi-chan hurriedly fired magic at the mage on the right who had scattered. While the three of them jumped into the enemy formation, drawing their attention and disrupting it, Li Lingwei and Dump stood in front of their own mages, preparing for any enemies that might attack.
In contrast to Seo-un's three mages who were concentrating on their spells, the enemies’ mages couldn't focus, so the fight became almost one-sided. When one more mage died, the six remaining enemies began to scatter in all directions and flee.
In the meantime, Seo-un, who had killed two more enemies by firing pyeonjeon, gave an order.
— Don't pursue them any further!
If they had pursued them to the end, they could have killed all four remaining enemies, but there was something more urgent than reducing the number of enemies right now. Seeing the boxes placed neatly on top of the Seondongun, Seo-un shouted.
“Let’s start by farming first.”