Chapter 13: The Grasslands Dogpile

Chapter 13
[Party] Proposal: WTF? Dead??? Is this guy insane

Maybe he was genuinely dumbfounded, because Proposal stayed silent for a while.

[Party] Happy: Looks like we’re the winners? Right?

[Party] Ro: Seems so, haha

[Party] Proposal: Winners? Who??

[Party] Ro: The person who kept picking fights with us and following us around last season, haha

[Party] Happy: Complete nutjob

[Party] Proposal: Ah, I think I heard about that before

[Party] Proposal: But can they curse us out so openly like this? Won’t they get punished??

Of course they will. If you take a screenshot and report them, they get chat banned.

But since Season 16 just started, all previous warnings have been reset, so at most a report would only get them a day-long mute.

“And even then, it doesn’t matter because of voice chat anyway.”

[Party] Proposal: Wow, I let my guard down since this game has so many old dudes, but even then, you get people like that cussing you out??

[Party] Proposal: Could that guy be young??

“Hmm... judging by how he acts, he’s definitely immature, but his control is about the same as the old guys, so...”

Of course, being young doesn’t guarantee gaming skills.

“I mean, it’s not like this game requires super high-level control anyway, right?”

Anyway, looking at the situation, it’s clear we did a ‘steal.’

Ro and Proposal flanked both sides with me in the center as we moved.

It just so happened that our route overlapped with Hana Guild’s party, and some of our attacks must have hit them.

Usually, that kind of thing ends with a simple apology.

But the fact that they followed us, attacked first, and then cussed us out? That’s a hundred percent intentional.

[Party] Ro: Now that Karma and Hana have set up their parties, I bet they want us gone

[Party] Proposal: But didn’t the admin tell everyone not to PK for a while?

[Party] Proposal: Shouldn’t we argue this?

It’s useless.

Just like Ro said, the rivalry between the two big guilds has been set.

Karma and Hana. Each fixed their party with the right classes and similar numbers. Now, even if we’re gone, they can bash each other to their heart’s content.

It’s the kind of balance the devs want, and really, it’s how Another server is supposed to work.

So the admins won’t get involved.

It sucks, but that’s the rotten reality of a dying game.

[Party] Ro: Anyway, get ready

No sooner had he spoken than five people came rushing in from the other direction.

Pineapple, Gomae, Shinyeong, Inspector, and Mushin—the ones we ran into in the desert.

Just looking at Hope lying on the ground, spamming ‘ㅋㅋㅋㅋ’, it was obvious what their intentions were.

[Party] Proposal: Inspector is a debuffer

No need to ask who’d move first—everyone’s brains kicked into high gear.

Even if he looked like a nobody not on the rankings, a debuffer’s interference is trouble.

Proposal noticed right away, and an attack followed instantly.

[Pineapple used Blazing Flames.]

[Mushin used Blazing Flames.]

Even as attacks rained down from all sides, Ro and Proposal charged at them. First, they focused all fire on Inspector, who was caught in the middle.

Maybe he really was a nobody, because Inspector died instantly after taking their single-target skills.

Meanwhile, I started my Grim Steps toward the tank Gomae, and the dealers Pineapple, Mushin, and Shinyeong, one by one.

[Mushin used Infernal Flames.]

[Pineapple used Blazing Flames.]

[Shinyeong used Infernal Flames.]

Shinyeong was a beat late but joined in to attack me.

All three of them were in the top 10 in the rankings, so I got chills for a moment.

But I got lucky—their attacks didn’t hit all at once.

Thanks to the slow I’d quickly cast.

So as soon as Mushin hit me, I chugged a potion. Then again after Pineapple and Shinyeong’s attacks, drinking with a gap between each.

Ah, and Pineapple was dumb enough to use an AoE, so it hurt less. Single-targets always hurt more than AoEs anyway.

“Whoa, that was close.”

I unconsciously leaned forward to the monitor, shoulders tense from the surprise.

Ro and Proposal were both taunted hard by the tank, Gomae.

“Ah, am I getting ganged up on first?”

From their perspective, it made sense, but it still stung to get beat up.

About twenty seconds passed like that.

I kept using Grim Steps to slow them and run them in circles, and managed to hold off three by myself.

I got the hang of it after a while, and when it started to actually feel kind of fun—

Ro and Proposal finally broke free from the strong taunt.

The two immediately focused all fire on Pineapple, like they’d agreed on it beforehand.

With his defense down because of me, Pineapple didn’t last long and died.

“Nice!”

Cheering, I cast Crumbling Skin on the remaining ones.

Meanwhile, Shinyeong went down, and Mushin tried to run away alone but got chased down and killed in a remote corner.

All that was left was Gomae, the tank.

I threw every debuff I had at him, but killing a tank is never easy.

[Party] Proposal: Man, this tank is solid

[Party] Proposal: Sorry, sorry, if only I were stronger ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] Ro: Mob death, let’s go

Ro and Proposal stopped attacking.

Mobs kept gathering from all directions, so we sidled up next to Gomae and started kiting them over.

Once enough mobs were clustered around Gomae, Ro and Proposal suddenly broke away and focused him again.

Gomae clung on for a few more seconds, but then gave up on potions and collapsed.

[Party] Proposal: Damn, used up so many potions

[Party] Happy: Want some??

[Party] Proposal: Please, some HP pots ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] Proposal: Even though I put all my points in HP, being a lowbie still hurts ㅠㅠ

Truth is, Proposal isn’t a lowbie.

Ever since he started running with us, his rank shot up to 12.

He’s just lower than me and Ro, who are tied at 5th and 6th.

[Party] Happy: Wait, it was 3v5 and we won?

[Party] Ro: Would’ve been tough if Inspector was there

[Party] Proposal: Gotta take Inspector out first, no matter what

[Party] Proposal: Watching Happy, debuffers are totally broken

[Party] Happy: Haha, if they had a buffer too, we’d have been in trouble

[Party] Happy: The longer it goes, the worse it is for us

[Party] Proposal: Can’t we find a buffer somewhere?

Buffers make a huge difference in PK, but most people avoid the class since it’s boring aside from handing out buffs.

More than that, there are ways to buff from the safe zone outside the battlefield, so level and stats aren’t that important.

So you rarely see buffers in the top ranks.

[Party] Proposal: But why are they just lying there?

[Party] Ro: Probably chatting on voice, haha

[Party] Ro: Let’s get back to leveling up

It all blew over like nothing happened, but after that, it got real annoying.

From then on, Hana Guild started going all out to attack us whenever they saw us.

[Party] Proposal: Oh, missed Inspector

[Party] Ro: Go for Apple first

Inspector must have prepped hard as a debuffer, because this time he survived even against both of them. But leaving Inspector alive is a problem for me, too.

“Ah, forget it!”

While Ro and Proposal went after Pineapple—now debuffed into oblivion—I chased Inspector.

Shinyeong, Mushin, and Gomae all followed after.

“First, gotta keep Gomae from using skills...!”

Right now, my rank is similar to Gomae’s.

Unlucky Song landed in just two tries, and the trailing Gomae froze like a dummy.

Even with the two crazy mages chasing and attacking, I held out and finally caught up with Inspector.

He’d been hiding offscreen from Ro and Proposal, but as soon as he saw me, he freaked out and cast Grim Steps.

“Oh, got hit with Slow...”

Annoying, but it was fine. I hit him with Unlucky Song at the same time.

Now that he was unable to use skills, Inspector ran for it again. He tried Unlucky Song on me too, but since I’m a higher level, it probably didn’t land.

So he must have gone for Slow...

I double-checked the two mages chasing after me and tilted my head.

“Huh? If they’d hit me with Crumbling Skin, I’d be dead by now?”

I didn’t get it, but whatever. I’ll take it.

“What? You guys already finished up?”

Just as I was about to head back down, Ro and Proposal came up, dragging Gomae with them.

I cast Unlucky Song on Gomae again, and gave the remaining Shinyeong and Mushin the full debuff treatment.

[Party] Happy: Where’s Hope?

[Party] Proposal: Died with Apple

[Party] Proposal: Total scrub—seriously

[Party] Happy: Hahahahahaha

Next, Mushin and Shinyeong went down one after another.

Inspector must have run back to town, because he was nowhere to be seen, and Gomae got toyed with by Ro and Proposal before fleeing off to the other side.

[Party] Proposal: Is this for real??

[Party] Proposal: 3v5 but feels like 3v3?

[Party] Proposal: Pineapple’s the only one doing any damage

[Party] Proposal: Mushin and Gomae can take a beating

[Party] Proposal: The rest might as well not be there

Proposal kept making it obvious how ridiculous he found it, saying it was too easy to even feel like winning.

After that, it was just rinse and repeat.

Then, by pure coincidence, we ended up clashing with Karma Guild’s party on the same screen.

It happened in the middle of the plains, while Hana Guild and us were in the middle of a brawl.

Maybe just our bad luck, but the Karma Guild party was passing nearby and got caught up in the fight.

“Uh-oh. That’s not good...”

Just as I’d worried, things went south fast.

Karma, once dragged into the fight, didn’t hold back.

[INFP used Infernal Flames.]

[Cheonjon used Blazing Flames.]

[Woong used Piercing Will.]

[Chief Go used Rampage.]

Of course, they didn’t hold back against Hana Guild either.

“Wow. That’s fair, at least.”

With Karma Guild joining in, the plains turned into total chaos in an instant.

Six from Karma, six from Hana, and three of us.

Fifteen people, all originally here to level up, now focused entirely on PK.

Three parties clashing on one screen became a regular sight.

[Cheonjon used Blazing Flames.]

[Hope used Strike.]

[Inspector used Unlucky Song.]

[Chief Go used Rampage.]

“Wait, hold on! I can’t survive this! Run! Run!”

Just like me, Ro and Proposal were scrambling to handle attacks coming from both sides.

We fought desperately to survive, but...

[You were killed by Cheonjon.]

“Ah, for real—!”

Nobody survives a dogpile.

[Party] Proposal: Hahahahaha what a mess

[Party] Ro: Haha

Proposal and Ro welcomed me as they died right after.

Getting wiped out left my mind blank for a moment.

But we still had a chance.

Karma and Hana were eternal enemies.

Even after we died, the two guilds kept beating the crap out of each other.

We took advantage of that, sticking together as much as possible and picking off stragglers one by one.

The two guilds must’ve found us super annoying, but maybe because of their intense rivalry, Karma and Hana just wouldn’t team up against us.

Thanks to that, the three-way battle went on for a long time.

Karma, Hana, and us—all focused more on PK than leveling.

That made it tough to keep our schedules tight.

Well, the solution to that was simple.

[Party] Happy: Let’s make a group chat