Chapter 93: The Twelve Zodiac Signs?!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 93: The Twelve Zodiac Signs?!
More than two hours had passed since they retreated to the island to avoid the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven.
After the guild that had boldly challenged the Great Sage was annihilated, no more players had been hunted by the creature.
"Everyone’s avoiding him by now, aren't they?"
"Any player who has dealt with Epic Monsters frequently would. Especially those that appear after specific conditions are met—they aren't designed to be hunted."
As soon as Seo-un finished speaking, a notification chimed.
[Ding! A buff monster, the Guardian of the Seondong Stone, has been summoned to the Island of Ja.]
Hearing the alert, Seo-un activated his map and confirmed the buff mob icon on the first island.
"It looks like a squad moved while that monkey was circling the map."
"In that case, maybe it's better to just capture one Seondong Stone and defend it..."
Seo-un cut Dump off with a firm shake of his head, his eyes gleaming.
"Don't second-guess the decisions we've made based on our experience. We predicted that many players would flock to the Central Island, and that some would even play there without worrying about the Seondongun. Conquering the Central Island won't be easy. Don't get anxious; we have to play our own game."
Jin Long nodded in support of Seo-un’s leadership, which helped stabilize the team’s wavering hearts.
"I shall follow the Priest’s judgment entirely regarding the gameplay."
"But if the Great Sage starts intruding onto the islands to speed up the game, when do you think that will happen?"
Seo-un was contemplating the same thing while staring at the map. As he studied it, his expression shifted as if a realization had struck him. The team’s attention immediately focused on him.
"Could it be...?"
"What is it?"
At the question, Seo-un spoke cautiously.
"It might be too simple a pattern, or it might just be a coincidence. But if you look at him strictly as an Epic Monster, he’s just circling the outer edge of the Central Island along the Cloud Path."
"T-That’s true."
As Gi-chan answered nervously, every player except Dump intuitively realized what Seo-un was trying to say.
"Are you saying something happens every time he completes a lap?" Dump asked bluntly, unable to stand the suspense.
"This is just a baseless prediction for now, but his range of activity might expand every time he finishes a circuit."
"..."
The team fell silent.
Currently, it took the creature less than half a day to complete one circuit of the map. From now on, any player using a Seondongun would surely avoid him unless they were insane, which meant the creature's speed in traversing the map would likely increase.
Coincidentally, the creature was passing the 11th island, nearly completing its circuit. Naturally, the eyes of all the guild members were glued to the map, tracking his movement without blinking.
With everyone’s gaze concentrated on the purple dot representing the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, it passed the point where it had first appeared, completing the lap.
[Ding! The Island of Ja loses its resistance to the Epic Monster, the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven. The game moves to Chapter 3.]
The team didn't need an explanation to know what kind of changes Chapter 3 would bring.
"We have to move. Now."
As soon as he finished speaking, Seo-un began to run as if every second counted.
"W-Wait for us!"
The entire team, including Gi-chan, followed close behind Seo-un with grim expressions.
Seo-un answered without looking back.
Seo-un hesitated for a moment at Jin Long’s follow-up question.
Gi-chan had deduced that much using the island names and the clue of the "ninth island." Seo-un nodded at his words.
As the faces of the team members from other worlds clouded with confusion over the concept of the Twelve Zodiac Signs, Seo-un began to explain.
Hearing the explanation, the team members felt a potential correlation, yet they also felt the frustration of a missing link. Knowing exactly how they felt, Seo-un added more.
Leaping onto the Cloud Path, Seo-un summoned his Seondongun and surged forward. Behind him, the seven team members threw themselves onto their own Seondongun.
Even as he cut through the night sky and pierced through the mist, Seo-un checked the map incessantly. The speed of the Great Sage’s Somersault Cloud was incomparable to something like a Seondongun. One mistake or misjudgment would mean an immediate game over.
As the night deepened and the moon began to set, Gi-chan gave a briefing.
Immediately upon hearing the report, Seo-un’s gaze returned to the active map. For some reason, the creature hadn't moved after completing its lap, but it was finally starting now.
Their current position was exactly halfway between islands. It was time to decide whether to land safely on the next island to avoid the creature or to risk crossing one more.
The words of Gi-chan and Li Lingwei made Seo-un’s choice easy.
Passing one island, Seo-un checked the distance to the Great Sage trailing behind them. He felt relieved, thinking they were in the safe zone. After flying for about twenty more minutes, Hamit issued a warning at the same time a mana surge erupted.
If it hadn't been for the flames that flew rapidly and exploded in front of them, engulfing their barriers, Seo-un wouldn't have felt so rushed. Even as the barriers were being shattered, Seo-un, at the front of the flames, checked the map first.
"Dammit!"
Of all places, they had encountered enemies exactly in the middle of two islands.
As Seo-un gave the order and burst through the flames, he saw eight players ahead of them throwing off their cloaks. The players, who had been hidden by Cloaks of Stealth amidst the thick dark clouds, revealed themselves and attacked with magic. However, Seo-un’s squad didn't fight back; they focused on defending as much as possible to pass them.
"You think we'll let you go?!"
A knight in heavy armor charged at them, leading with his body. Seo-un frowned as he lightly dodged the man charging with a small shield and a long, conical lance.
No sooner had he dodged the man than an Ice Snake tore through the sky right in front of him, lunging at his throat. He shredded the massive Ice Snake with his Blood Bone Claw to break through, but parts of his body were frozen stiff.
The frozen pieces of his clothing shattered just from his light movements. Led by Seo-un, they pushed through while absorbing the enemies' attacks, but the other squad was persistent.
"You crazy bastards! If we fight here, we're all going to die!" Gi-chan shouted while blocking magic, but the enemies only sneered.
"An Epic Monster like that? You just have to stay out of its range."
If it were a monster they could simply avoid by staying out of a marked aggro range, they wouldn't have put so much effort into avoiding it. But these people, wherever they had come from, seemed to think nothing of the Epic Monster.
Unwillingly forced into a chase, Seo-un moved to the rear to block as many of their attacks as possible.
With various spells, sword qi, and even javelins flying at them, Seo-un couldn't block every attack alone. Naturally, dodging and blocking the enemies' attacks slowed the squad down.
Seo-un’s expression hardened as he looked at the map.
‘It's tight.’
They should have been able to avoid the creature with plenty of room, but with their speed dropped, the Great Sage was closing the distance rapidly. The situation was grim, but there was no clever solution. They would surely win if they fought, but there simply wasn't enough time to kill them all and then move on.
On the map, the Great Sage was closing in, almost catching up, when Gi-chan’s magic flew toward the enemies. His specialty, Chain Lightning, was infused with his pure rage. Surprised by Gi-chan’s sudden spell passing him, Seo-un looked toward him and saw that Gi-chan had already landed on the island. Not only him, but the other team members were landing one by one and preparing for battle.
By the time Seo-un landed on the island, his clothes were reduced to rags. In the distance, he could see the Great Sage, eyes gleaming with madness, relentlessly pursuing the enemy squad.
The enemy squad, horrified to see the Great Sage tailing them as if he had targeted them from outside his aggro range, also barely managed to land on the island and let out sighs of relief. They looked terrified by the Great Sage, who had brushed past them, even as they remained wary of Seo-un’s squad.
"Whew. That was dangerous."
The knight, who had been mockingly throwing spears and chasing them, stepped forward and spoke. Seo-un stepped out to face him.
"You think the danger has passed?"
Thinking Seo-un was just blustering, the knight continued to run his mouth, completely failing to read the room.
"You couldn't do anything in the air; you think you can do something on the ground? You shouldn't have let us land on the island so easily. That was your only chance."
Hearing the knight’s misplaced confidence, Seo-un pulled off his scorched hood, radiating murderous intent.
Recognizing Seo-un’s face once the hood was off, a few of the enemies turned pale, but the knight twisted his lips into a smirk and charged toward the approaching Seo-un.
Contrary to the grand sound, only a small part of the spear tip was covered in red flames. It was such a small amount that it looked like he was just playing with fire for fun.
‘He's relying on just that...?’
Seo-un’s patience snapped for the first time in a long while. The time he had spent trembling in anxiety because of these fools was more than enough to ignite his fury.
The knight used a dash skill and shook his spear to create afterimages as he attacked. But he was no match for Seo-un, who shifted his body to create clones. Panic filled the knight’s pupils as he saw Seo-un suddenly split into three, lunging at him from three directions.
Amidst the explosions of magic clashing all around them, the sound of thick plate armor breaking rang out too loudly in the knight’s ears. The only thing that saved his life was activating his ultimate defense skill a moment too late.
Seeing the man turn golden to repel the Blood Bone Claw, Seo-un’s lips curled into a sneer at the skill he knew all too well. It was a skill similar to the one Dump used whenever he was in danger. And Seo-un had broken that very skill the last time he fought Dump.
As if reading the knight’s thoughts, Seo-un, who had now multiplied to twelve, surrounded the man and spoke simultaneously. The knight, who was about to retreat at the eerie harmony of voices, stiffened. It was impossible to tell which of the enemies surrounding him was the real body.
Soon, the twelve Seo-uns lunged at the knight at once.
The thick plate armor protecting his back was smashed, and Seo-un’s Blood Bone Claw tore through the armor at his side, finally drawing the knight’s blood.
"Gah!"
Starting from the side, Seo-un began to shred the thick armor. By the time his hands stopped, the knight, covered in blood, was kneeling with a vacant expression.
With one final blow that crushed the man’s head, the knight’s body, which had been so arrogant moments ago, slumped forward.
The enemies, who were already being pushed back by Seo-un’s squad as they unleashed their fury, tried to summon their Seondongun and flee once their leader died without putting up a fight. But Seo-un wasn't about to let that happen.
By the time the mages in the rear, who had been firing spells, summoned their Seondongun, Seo-un had already moved behind them.
-
The head of the mage who was just about to board his Seondongun was shattered effortlessly. Having lost their rear, they were easily annihilated by Seo-un’s squad.
Dump, who had stepped on the last enemy’s chest and severed his neck with his massive shield, spoke while huffing, his anger still not fully subsided.
"Worthless trash!"
Rimin patted Dump’s shoulder to calm him down.
"Calm down. Anyway, we're past the danger. My heart felt like it was going to drop, but the result isn't bad."
"Everyone, farm quickly!"
Seo-un was already some distance away, keeping watch as he gave orders to the team.
"Obtaining eight Cloaks of Stealth is quite a haul, isn't it?"
As Rimin said, getting a pile of Cloaks of Stealth was a stroke of luck. As they had just experienced, there was no better item for an ambush. The team members, who had secretly envied Seo-un for moving around while erasing his presence with a Cloak of Stealth, brightened up.
After farming the items and finishing the inventory by distributing useful items among themselves, Dump spoke.
"Do you think there are enemies on this island?"
"It's better to play assuming there are. We're on the outskirts, but we had a big fight, so there's a high chance we drew attention. Don't let your guard down."
Saying that, Seo-un led the team toward the Seondong Stone. Inwardly, he prayed fervently that the Seondong Stone here was already active.
‘That item needs to come from here.’
Clinging to one slim hope, Seo-un hurried his steps.