Chapter 28 : Chaos in the Sands

Even as the chat was rapidly flooding with black circles, one message caught the eye.

“Haha, ki-killing them? Such scary words…”

ㅡ mocha: Literally killing them.

ㅡ nomind: Rest in peace…

ㅡ Eldyd: After living as slaves in the Luxi Forest, I’m quitting the game.

ㅡ 4_day: But if it’s their type, couldn’t they find and kill them in real life too?

ㅡ ham6787: LOL real-life death would be hilarious kekekeke

“Hahaha, no way! The world’s largest and most prestigious guild, the Brown Bear Guild, is not going to waste time hunting down some lowly streamer like me!”

Duduk duduk duduk duduk duduk

Then, from afar, a cloud of sand dust rose!

Like an advertisement, over a hundred people appeared, waving the Brown Bear Guild’s banner, spreading wide as if to encircle Hell Desert.

“… Ugh… hahaha! Well, then, I’ll end the broadcast here!”

After finally regaining his composure, he tried to end the stream.

Krrrrr—

ㅡ nomind: What’s this? What’s this?

ㅡ Eldyd: Hey hey hey don’t turn off the stream!! What’s going on?!

Including Huka’s viewers, all eyes in Hell Desert turned skyward.

From the opposite sky where the Brown Bear Guild’s reinforcements appeared, a blue magic circle emerged.

Kwaaaang!!

Within the flash descending from the shining magic circle, dozens of silhouettes shimmered.

Whooosh—

The sand whipped violently due to the magic’s powerful wave.

“Cough—cough—ugh, the dust…”

And from within that sandstorm, the master of Hell Desert, King Hwang Jaeho, appeared.

“Huh? What’s going on here?”

The first thing that caught his eye was the intimidating crowd filled with fierce momentum.

“Hyuk, you’ve finally arrived, Red!!!”

At that moment, someone in the opposing group recognized Red, who was standing behind Jaeho, and shouted.

“Red?”

Jaeho turned around, and the mages who came along with Red were already exchanging meaningful glances, silently asking for explanations.

“Those clueless bastards!!!”

Who the hell thought this was a joke?!

The situation was a bit tangled, but this was the quest given by Runior.

Maybe it would even lead to a promotion!

Was this camaraderie with guild members?

Or was it about his own growth?!

“What’re you waiting for, Red?! Help us quickly!! If you join us, we can sweep these elf bastards away!!!”

“What?”

“How dare humans?!”

Hearing that, the Elves rolled up their sleeves…

And Red made a firm decision.

Wasn’t there a lot said about the Elves’ combat capabilities?

Besides, the vanguard had already been beaten badly, he’d heard.

And…

“Luxi Royalty… too scary!!!”

Swoosh—

Red pressed his large wizard’s hat even deeper down.

Then, in a voice filled with fury, he shouted.

Lowering his tone to the maximum.

“How dare you commit such atrocities here!! The Red Mage Tower will never let this go!”

“What? That crazy bastard?!!!”

Of course, no Brown Bear Guild players were fooled.

“Damn you, Red! The guild will discipline you!!!”

“Enough! First, we have to capture the Luxi Royalty! No matter what, catch that bastard and hang him from the gates of the Brown Bear Kingdom… cough!”

[Due to a powerful strike, you are critically wounded.]

“???”

The player who opened his mouth was too shocked to understand what had just happened.

Just one strike!

He didn’t even know what attack hit him.

Even though his opponent was a fragile mage class, he was still a high-level player.

Could it make sense that someone like him, without noticing anything, vomited blood and collapsed?!

“Human bastards…”

The one who showcased the absurd attack was an Elf, and the weapon in his hand was none other than a bow!

When thinking of Elves, bows were the first weapon that came to mind, but until now, even Jaeho had never seen an Elf’s archery skills.

Click—

It was instinctively clear that this weapon was only drawn when the Elf intended to kill the opponent.

“How dare you speak such blasphemy…!!”

“We can endure insults to ourselves, but to humiliate Lady Alicia is absolutely unforgivable!!”

“Hm?”

Although he sensed that the Elf’s threat was strange, Jaeho partially agreed.

To threaten to slit someone’s throat out of nowhere upon first meeting meant no one cared to analyze or question the situation—they were ready to kill.

“Alicia!”

“Calm down!”

“Please make them pay!!!”

The Elves growled like dogs on a leash!

Nod—

Finally, Jaeho’s execution order was given.

Zap zap zap!

Arrows shot from the crossbows pierced through the Brown Bear Guild players mercilessly.

“Kuhk—?!”

“Wait!!!”

“Counterattack!!!”

“<Dance of Flames>!”

“<Whirlwind Charge>!!”

To prove he wasn’t to be underestimated, he used area magic and various evasion skills.

Boom-boom-boom—

But the Elf arrows never missed.

“Kyaaaagh!”

“No! If I die now, my quest… com!”

Screams erupted from all directions.

“<Summon Mirage Soldiers>!!”

Jaeho also activated a skill embedded in the sand hourglass.

“I wish I could summon a Golem too.”

Unfortunately, with Jaeho’s current level and mana, he could not yet use the Golden Golem Summon skill.

Zwaaah—

Sand gathered and from it appeared a dozen people.

“What? They were summons?!!”

“Damn! If they’re hapils, that’s the worst…?”

“Hmm???”

Those opposing players were stunned when they saw the summoned soldiers.

They looked more like farmers than soldiers.

“What is this?”

But the summoned soldiers were just as baffled.

Their name was Soldier, but all they did was tend flower beds.

“Just fight!”

A simple order.

“Noooo!!”

Since these beings did not actually die, there was no fear.

Wielding hoes and shovels, they were not especially threatening but enough to throw off the opponents’ focus.

Meanwhile, the Elves’ arrows flew straight for vital points.

“Aaah, no!”

“This is impossible!!”

“NPCs this overwhelmingly strong?!”

“ damn it!!!”

Regret came too late, but nothing changed.

The over one hundred Brown Bear Guild players turned into red mist.

Tremble tremble tremble tremble—

Watching the brutal slaughter live via broadcast, Huka forgot what he had intended to do.

And that his broadcast was climbing beyond rank 1, heading for the sky.

***

“This is… unexpected. I didn’t think the gap would be this big…”

Taylor, the Brown Bear Guild’s assassin ranked among the top, hid quietly in the sand of the desert, looking at his comrades full of holes and unable to bring himself out.

He had expected the Elves to be strong in battle, but this overwhelming defeat was crushing.

“We fought well against NPCs in the Ederan Castle Siege, so maybe we got cocky.”

They weren’t a castle to defend, just Elves living on an empty plain, so they thought they could easily suppress them.

But reality was that they were facing near annihilation.

“Considering the Elves dominated even in a disadvantaged formation, their combat power is beyond normal. Also, the timing of reinforcements arriving was perfect. To strike directly at the command through spatial movement…”

It was a blessing the Elves had hidden their true strength until now.

He had prepared a backup plan for the worst.

Kidnapping the Luxi Royalty!

Simply killing him would be easy.

But after seeing the main force lose and realizing the Elves’ power exceeded imagination, he could not guarantee the success of two or three assassination attempts.

That’s why they aimed for kidnapping.

Shadow Infiltration

The stealth of a ranked assassin made it impossible even for named NPCs to detect him.

Especially in this chaos.

Under the scorching sun, the shadow drawn more clearly as he approached behind Jaeho smiled.

Having come this far, failure was not an option.

“<The Villian’s Snare>!”

Taylor could confidently say he specialized in kidnapping thanks to the legendary skill .

[Your infamy causes opponents to feel fear.]

[If your infamy is higher than the opponent’s, they become 100% unable to act for 3 seconds.]

An absurdly broken skill!

Assassins were a class notorious for shady behavior.

Naturally, their infamy far exceeded that of ordinary users, and Taylor, as a ranker, had especially high infamy.

Using this never-betrayed skill to subdue the Luxi Royalty and then simply use a Scroll of Return would complete the mission…

[The target’s potential infamy is too high.]

“?”

Taylor froze.

[Due to skill failure backlash, you are unable to act for 1.5 seconds.]

“??????”

[Your appearance has been revealed due to inability to act.]

“?”

This time, Taylor was not the one the notification referred to.

It was Jaeho and the Elves around him.

[<Spirit of Vitality> says ‘What is this?’]

“I don’t know either!”

Bang—!!

Jaeho’s massive punch landed squarely on Taylor’s face.

***

“Ah… this is too cruel! Even the biggest event since New World opened, the Ederan Castle Siege, wasn’t like this.”

After barely holding himself together, Huka continued in a trembling voice.

ㅡ nomind: Crazy, what the hell is happening?

ㅡ dkshk: What about Brown Bear Guild? They’re getting completely wrecked.

ㅡ OMGN: Hello. This is New World’s professional broadcast station. We’ve sent a message about purchasing the recorded footage from today’s broadcast and simultaneous streaming of live content.

ㅡ bbibbo: Whoa? OMGN is here!!!

“Huh?”

Huka immediately confirmed the message and signed the contract without hesitation, dazzled by the amount.

Because of that, the broadcast also started on TV, and OMGN deployed New World experts on standby.

ㅡ Did you see? I told you!! It’s the Luxi Royalty! It’s really him!!

ㅡ Ahem… Is that important now?! As viewers can see, the Elves’ combat power is surprisingly strong. Of course, the hundreds of Brown Bear Guild members getting beaten aren’t exactly elite, but they’re not weak.

ㅡ I disagree. Their target was not the Elves but the existence called Luxi Royalty. And Brown Bear Guild’s top assassin Taylor moved to capture him!

ㅡ Ah, that part interests me too. The now somewhat famous skill is said to be affected by the user’s infamy. But the target not only resisted but reversed the effect on Taylor. Maybe the Luxi Royalty has some sort of counter skill.

ㅡ I think it might be the penalty of the skill that no one knew about until now. Its performance was actually over the top. Maybe the target’s infamy is even higher…

ㅡ Pfft— You said the same last time and now you’re making ridiculous guesses again!

ㅡ No, what’s ridiculous? Today’s event proves I’m right!

Though there were guesses that unknowingly approached the truth, they were again dismissed.

While the two hosts argued, Jaeho was busily pounding Taylor’s face.

“Ugh! I can’t counterattack…”

Thanks to the Elves’ concentrated attacks targeting weak points!

If the warriors tried to endure the Elves’ attacks (although their health was gradually melting), the assassin used agility and evasion skills to barely hold on.

Any lapse in concentration could lead to a critical hit, so counterattacking was impossible.

Moreover…

That Luxi Royalty bastard… He’s definitely mocking me!!

Otherwise, his weak attacks wouldn’t be doing any good.

Especially the occasional damage of ‘1’!

Clearly a novelty item.

Hands trembling with rage—

A wounded pride and shaking fingers.

“You bastard!!!! !”

“ <Rapid Mutation Growth>!”

“Hyuk?!!”

Taylor tensed up as Jaeho used the skill for the first time.

“An impossible skill name… hmm?”

Gwa-ddeu-deuk—

A gigantic root burst from the desert sand and grabbed Taylor’s ankle.

Kwachak—!

In an instant, the creeping root restrained even his arm.

He became an utterly awkward figure!

Gwang! Gwang! Gwang!

“Kuhk! Kk! Kk!!”

A relentless series of brutal punches pummeled him until the sand dust settled thickly.