"Are you okay?"
"Huh?"
I had been blankly staring at the screen, completely spaced out, when I snapped back to my senses at Yuchae's voice.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. I just killed the last remaining mage."
"Oh, nice!"
"Damn, that timing was insane."
"That was risky, but good job."
Hearing my update, Muljom, Haerun, and Ssesese each chimed in with a comment. As I listened, I turned my gaze to the enemy mage who still hadn't moved to the resurrection zone and remained there as a corpse.
'He was waiting to see if I'd get killed by the spearman, huh. This bastard.'
When you die during the prelims, a system window pops up asking if you want to go to the resurrection zone. The fact that he didn't click it and just stayed dead was pretty obvious.
Unbelievable. I scoffed at him, then tilted my head after seeing the mage's nickname.
'aoko?'
It looked familiar. I searched my memory and soon realized—this guy was one of the alt mages I killed on the day they lost their staff.
Back then, the nickname was definitely "aoko1." He just slapped a number on his main account's name to make the alt.
[All] jeojolryeoyo: lol hey
[All] jeojolryeoyo: You're that trash mage who got wrecked by me last time, right?
[All] aoko: ?
[All] jeojolryeoyo: If you're gonna be toxic, at least put some effort into your alt's name lol
[All] jeojolryeoyo: Slapping on a lazy '1' or '2' is why you're getting humiliated like this~
[All] jeojolryeoyo: How does it feel getting your main and alt both wrecked by the same guy?
[All] aoko: lol you're so proud, dumbass
[All] jeojolryeoyo: Then what does that make you, getting wrecked by this dumbass?
The mage fell silent after seeing my messages, then disappeared. He must have finally clicked the resurrection button and gone to the respawn zone. Boring.
After confirming that both the mage and spearman from Favor were gone, I sent a whisper to Yuchae.
[Whisper] jeojolryeoyo: How did you get here so fast?
I hadn't expected to get help from Yuchae, so asking over voice chat with everyone else there felt awkward. Maybe understanding that, Yuchae replied in a whisper too.
[Whisper] Yuchae: How could I not know where you are, hyung?
[Whisper] Yuchae: Of course I know everything, hehe~
[Whisper] jeojolryeoyo: ?;;
This guy, always slipping past things like this.
[Whisper] Yuchae: Hyung, by the way...
[Whisper] Yuchae: That staff… that's the one I gave you, right?
[Whisper] Yuchae: Did you get it back?
"Ah."
I glanced at the staff my character was holding. Right, I should probably explain that.
"I got the staff back."
"Huh? Really?"
"I thought you hadn't retrieved it yet since you were busy stopping the mage's ult."
"I had a good talk with a newbie from Favor who had the staff… It's a long story. I'll explain later."
After wrapping that up, I messaged Yuchae separately.
[Whisper] jeojolryeoyo: Some stuff happened here and there,
[Whisper] jeojolryeoyo: but yeah, I got it back.
[Whisper] jeojolryeoyo: It's the one you gave me.
[Whisper] Yuchae: hehehehe
[Whisper] Yuchae: That's a relief hehehehe
"...?"
What the heck, why does he sound so happy? Ignoring Yuchae's cheery tone, I turned my attention to the prelims gauge.
Right now, our guild had filled 70% while Favor was at 63%. If I had failed and the elemental mage's ultimate—Meteor—had landed on the West Gate where 40 people were gathered, that 63% would've probably jumped over 90% instantly.
'Hmm? Wait a second.'
Watching how quickly the gauge was filling, a brilliant idea popped into my head. If this works, we're in for quite a show. And even if it fails, we lose nothing.
I quickly ran through the possibilities and smiled.
"Muljom noona."
"Huh?"
"I have a good idea. Want to hear it?"
"A good idea? What is it?"
"First, tell the guild members to slow down the gauge a bit."
Leaning back in my chair, I continued explaining leisurely.
"Let's call Manaoring over to the West Gate."
＊＊＊
[Guild] aoko: No, seriously, this is f***ing ridiculous.
[Guild] aoko: How the hell did we fail to protect that? lol
[Guild] aoko: At least pair me with someone competent.
[Guild] RareHunter: lol ;;
[Guild] RareHunter: Why do you have to talk like such a prick tho ㄷㄷ
[Guild] aoko: ?
[Guild] aoko: And you're trash at this game.
[Guild] RareHunter: I clearly told you to get in position and use your ult quickly.
[Guild] RareHunter: You're the one who dragged your feet.
[Guild] Sangdanghan: Ugh, quit whining already.
[Guild] Sangdanghan: Both of you suck anyway.
MelodyCode, watching the pathetic guild chat, turned his gaze to the West Gate, where the battle was still raging.
According to Favor Guild's original plan, the three elemental mages who had snuck into the West Gate were supposed to drop their ultimates—Meteors—causing utter chaos. But contrary to expectations, Chojeonyeok's quick response had kept the prelims going.
"Can't believe they actually stopped it."
When he had secretly leaked the plan to a member of Chojeonyeok, he hadn't expected them to actually pull it off. Honestly, the outcome of the prelims didn't matter much to him anyway.
He had already achieved his goal: getting rid of that annoying staff and picking up a good excuse in the process.
[Guild] aoko: And that f***er got the staff back too
[Guild] aoko: There's so many brain-dead idiots
[Guild] aoko: I told you I should've kept it
[Guild] Danbok: lol
[Guild] Danbok: This is what happens when you hand that stuff to a newbie
[Guild] Danbok: They just lose it instantly, haha;
[Guild] Sangdanghan: Dropping the staff
[Guild] Sangdanghan: was kinda pathetic tho
[Guild] aoko: If you can't protect it
[Guild] aoko: then don't take it into battle, seriously
"F**ing idiots..."*
They were the ones who forced the staff on him in the first place, and now they were acting like this? The hypocrisy made his blood boil. But lashing out now would only hurt him.
Birds of a feather flock together—they were all deranged in this guild. While cursing them inwardly, MelodyCode typed out a message with not an ounce of sincerity.
[Guild] MelodyCode: Sorryㅠ
[Guild] MelodyCode: I didn't expect to drop the staff that quickly
[Guild] MelodyCode: My bad, my bad
[Guild] aoko: Of course~ lol
[Guild] aoko: Like you'd know anything
[Guild] MelodyCode: hehe..
[Guild] Sangdanghan: He said he's sorry
[Guild] Sangdanghan: Let it go~
[Guild] Sangdanghan: It's fine
[Guild] Sangdanghan: I'll get the staff back myself, hehe
[Guild] Sangdanghan: Just wait
"What a load of bull."
The player from the other guild that MelodyCode had handed the staff to was way stronger than Sangdanghan.
MelodyCode prided himself on having a good eye for the game, and he was certain that Sangdanghan couldn't beat that player even if he died and came back to life.
Once the prelims ended, he'd leave this garbage guild right away. In fact, he'd passed the staff off to someone else precisely so he could quit. If he left while still holding it, they'd just start rumors about him being some kind of queen bee or harass him endlessly.
[jeojolryeoyo: Hey]
Just then, a message arrived from the Chojeonyeok guild member who had friended him earlier.
[MelodyCode: ?]
[ImSleepy: From now on, don't stay near the gate.]
[ImSleepy: Fall back, as far as you can.]
[MelodyCode: Why?]
[ImSleepy: I gave you the warning.]
[ImSleepy: I said fall back.]
[ImSleepy: Make an excuse that you don't have a weapon if you have to, just get back.]
[MelodyCode: ??]
That was the last message from the opposing team player named ImSleepy.
Not that it really mattered to MelodyCode—he was just half-heartedly playing and hadn't even strayed far from the respawn zone, so he didn't need to back off. Still, he was curious why the guy suddenly said something like that.
[Guild] LittleJumper: These damn fruit flies are weak as hell, huh?
[Guild] LittleJumper: We've almost caught up in gauge now.
[Guild] aoko: Yeah, I told you they're garbage lol
[Guild] LifeforChants: Their gauge charge rate is slow as hell lmaoo
[Guild] LifeforChants: They're showing their true colors now, huh?
[Guild] dodory: They're just bad, that's all.
[Guild] Danbok: I think we should push in right now.
[Guild] Sangdangan: Yeah.
[Guild] Sangdangan: Let's go, follow me.
[Guild] aoko: Man, if I'd known it'd be this easy…
[Guild] aoko: Should've just gone straight to the north gate instead of messing around.
[Guild] Danbok: For real lololol
[Guild] Danbok: If we'd just smashed through, we probably would've filled the gauge by now lmao
[Guild] aoko: Damn it, ffs lololol
Sure enough, the gauge for the guild Chojaejeok was filling much slower than before. Just 30 minutes ago, Chojaejeok was at 77%, and Fever was at 65%. Now, they were at 81% and 76%, respectively. The gap had narrowed from 12% to just 5%.
Following the message from their guild master, Sangdangan, members of Fever who had been loitering near the respawn zone started flocking toward the west gate. MelodyCode, sensing something was off, stayed put, remembering ImSleepy's warning.
RUMMMMBLE!
As Sangdangan led the charge and most of the nearby Fever guild members gathered at the west gate, dark clouds began swirling in the sky and the ground shook violently.
"What the hell—"
Only then did MelodyCode understand why he was told not to go near the gate and to stay back. Amid the thunder rumbling through the stormy clouds, a giant meteor, wreathed in flames, was plummeting toward the earth.
Those maniacs had executed Fever's very own plan against them.
The Fever guild members, realizing a moment too late that it was the Elemental Mage's ultimate skill, scattered in panic—but it was already too late.
BOOOOM—!
The meteor struck directly in front of the west gate. The ground shook violently, and a wave of flames exploded outward.
Chojaejeok Guild has gained 10 points!
Chojaejeok Guild has gained 10 points!
Chojaejeok Guild has gained 10 points!
Chojaejeok Guild has gained 10 points!
Chojaejeok Guild has gained 10 points!
Chojaejeok Guild has gained 10 points!
The kill log exploded, and Chojaejeok's gauge surged to 99% in an instant.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "shinchan1920" : https://ko-fi.com/shinchan1920