Chapter 39: A True Victory for Humanity

[Guild] Taki: Why did that even succeed???

Seriously.

I was so focused that I didn’t notice, but while I was attempting Undying, the guild chat was apparently flooded with ‘ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ’.

Scrolling up through the chat log, I even saw some people betting on whether it would work or not.

—What, did you try like a hundred times? It’s pure luck it landed at all. Everyone, a round of applause for Happy’s determination……

[Guild] Chief Go: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Blue: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Proposal: They must have freaked out, too.

[Guild] Grim Reaper: A true victory for humanity…

[Guild] Taki: That grit is insane.

Everyone had a right to be impressed.

Even though I’m ranked 4th, the stat gap between me and Musin, who’s 1st, is enormous. In other words, the chance of landing Undying on Musin is basically zero.

If it had been a regular field, trying that would’ve gotten me flamed for being an idiot… But this was a guild war, and the stage was perfectly set.

With enough time and the right conditions, at least I could try it while chugging potions.

“The Hana Guild guys must’ve lost it too, right? They probably mocked me to death while laughing the whole time.”

I bet they never even imagined it’d actually work.

“What are they saying now, I wonder?”

Suddenly, I was curious about their reaction.

But after the last incident, Haema had held off on his live spying reports.

Plus, he was busy at Central right now.

[Guild] Taki: Wow, so it doesn’t never work after all?

[Guild] Taki: Only problem is you have to try like a hundred timesㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Bambi: Ugh, the efficiency…ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Chief Go: Happy’s the first one to actually try that in a real fight……

[Guild] Blue: And it’s hilarious how not a single Hana Guild member came in while Happy was casting Undyingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Celestial: That’s because they’d get killed by me if they did.^^

[Guild] Haema: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Great work, Happy-nim~

[Guild] Taki: I bet Musin’s sweating nowㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Gadfly: Let’s go again later ㄱㄱㄱㄱㄱ

Everyone cheered me on, saying I did great.

But I really don’t want to do it again. Even I think it was a legendary display of foolishness.

“Good thing I had potion supply right next to me and the others didn’t dare attack because of Celestial, otherwise I’d have been—seriously…”

When I remembered how my HP dropped to about 40% during Musin and the boss’s attacks while I was casting Undying, I shuddered.

—Alright. Calm down, everyone, and focus on the boss. Musin will be coming in soon.

Musin wasn’t dead yet.

Right after Undying landed, he ran off in a flash and was currently waiting outside.

“Huh, the debuff’s gone? But why hasn’t he come back in? Is he waiting to launch a full assault when his team arrives?”

The boss at Central already had over half its HP chipped away.

And there was still plenty of time left on the clock.

Well, it made sense. Everyone had been grinding like maniacs for a week straight…

[Guild] Chief Go: They say the boss’s HP scales up with the players’ level, right?

[Guild] Chief Go: At this rate, it’s gonna get deleted instantly next weekㄷㄷ

[Guild] Hungry: ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Good thing we’ve got way more points anyway~ㅋㅋ

But we couldn’t let our guard down.

“That jelly, the potential troll, still worries me.”

If he had any sense, he’d never cross the line. But every now and then, he just had to make a scene.

“He could just hide and poke at the boss to score decently. Why does he keep acting out for attention?”

Thinking back on his antics made my blood boil for a moment.

If he was just bad at the game, I could understand, but someone who knows better pulling that kind of move? There’s no way to see that in a good light.

“And I can’t even ask anyone outright what his deal is…”

—Musin’s back. Everyone be careful.

While I was brooding, Musin came sprinting to Central, diving in right on cue. The Hana DPS followed right behind.

[Guild] Assassin: Tsk, heh.

[Guild] Chief Go: That flame AoE is stupidly long.

[Guild] Bambi: Ugh, dead againㅠㅠㅠ

The ones who couldn’t hold out got swept away all at once. Among them were Proposal and INFP.

Hana Guild’s side was also wiped out by Celestial and Ro’s skills in the same way.

Right after that, the boss went down.

[The Guardian of the Crystal withdraws.]

[Hana Guild: 8,250 points]

[Karma Guild: 11,950 points]

[Guild] Taki: Yes!!

[Guild] Chief Go: Good~

[Guild] Chief Go: Let’s keep this upㅋㅋㅋㅋ

—Hmm, but Hana Guild’s score is higher than I expected. Compared to last time…

[Party] Ro: Is it because Musin soloed the boss earlier?

[Party] Celestial: ㅇㅇ I think so.

[Party] Proposal: Whoa, is his damage really that high??

[Guild] Chief Go: Musin’s impact is seriously hugeㅠ

—It’s down to just Musin and Goma again.

[Guild] Grim Reaper: Celestial-nim, Haema-nim, and Happy-nim are really working hardㅎㅎ

[Guild] Blue: But today it feels like everyone’s playing it safe?ㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Chief Go: Just like Musin is untouchable on our side,

[Guild] Chief Go: Celestial’s just as untouchable on theirsㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Taki: No one wants to run in and die for no reasonㅋㅋ

[Guild] Gadfly: Yeah, that’d just give them more killsㅡ ㅡㅋ

“Still, it’d be more fun if everyone rushed in and made a mess once in a while.”

[Party] Proposal: Kinda boring todayㅡ ㅡ

[Party] Celestial: ㅋㅋㅋ Guess everyone’s playing too safe

[Party] Ro: Want to go again?

[Party] INFP: Hmm, not gonna be easy this time

While people were discussing what to do, I suddenly got a pretty good idea.

[Party] Happy: I’ll be the bait

[Party] Happy: I’ll try to draw attention with Undying like last time

[Party] Ariel: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Party] Celestial: Will your fingers survive that?

[Party] Ariel: File for worker’s compㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Party] INFP: ㅠㅠ

[Party] Ro: Happy, dispatch!

[Party] Proposal: Hang in there, Happy-za

[Party] Happy: ㅇㅋㅇㅋ Ariel-nim, buff me please

[Guild] Happy: Blue-nim, please keep supplying me with Red and Blue potions

After asking for buffs and supplies, I stepped back onto the stage(?).

S kept pretending not to notice and continued the one-on-one with Musin, while I blatantly moved closer and started trying Undying again like before.

By about the twentieth attempt, INFP, who’d been waiting for a good moment, signaled.

[Party] INFP: ㄱㄱㄱㄱㄱ

Mages burst out from all sides, rushing at Musin.

But Musin responded instantly with a massive AoE.

As if he’d been watching and waiting, he unleashed an explosion of shattering earth with incredible reflexes.

—Ah, crap…

With INFP’s frustrated voice, two mage characters collapsed.

“Ugh, we’re screwed.”

[Guild] Taki: Holy crap

The ones who died were INFP and Ro.

I felt chills all over.

Ro, ranked third, was our top DPS after Celestial.

The moment Ro died, Hana Guild members came charging in like crazy.

[Musin-nim used Blazing Inferno.]

[Pineapple-nim used Blazing Inferno.]

[Shinyeong-i-nim used Blazing Inferno.]

[Inspector-nim used Crumbling Skin.]

[Musin-nim used Blazing Inferno.]

[Hope-nim used Frenzy.]

[Pineapple-nim used Blazing Inferno.]

“Wow, shit!”

They all targeted me in perfect unison.

I barely escaped to Celestial’s side, avoiding getting mobbed… but that damn defense debuff from Inspector was a real problem.

[You have been killed by Musin-nim.]

“Ah……”

—Noooo! Happy-nim died!

—Help! Heeelp!

The moment I died, a strange voice rang out in my headset.

Sounded too young to be INFP.

—Celestial, Celestial, save me! Nana’s dying!

—Kyaaaaaaah!

“Ah, must be S-nim.”

[Guild] Taki: Goddamn

[Guild] Hungry: FFSㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Assassin: Hahahaha

[Guild] Blue: We’re doomed

[Guild] Woong: ㅡ ㅡ Ah, damn

—Wait, was that a wipe?

[Party] Ariel: It’s chaos out there

[Guild] Celestial: I’m dead too^^

Before I knew it, Central was full of Hana Guild.

Their score was shooting up, too.

[Guild] Taki: Ah, we lost Centralㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Bambi: So Happy-nim was the baitㅠㅠ

—We failed. Sorry.

[Guild] Assassin: Was this some psychological warfare?ㅎㅎㅎ

[Guild] Green: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ We got baited by Musin

[Guild] Taki: But if Musin gets baited by us again, he’s certified dumbㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Chuckling, I started to move. The other guild members who died soon popped up one after another.

As soon as we saw each other, we broke out laughing and started sprinting like maniacs.

At a glance, it looked like Hana Guild was holding Central in triumph.

They easily had at least ten more people than us, and just as I was wowed by their numbers, Celestial, who arrived first, jumped in and started knocking them all down.

Most of Hana Guild got mowed down like dominos by just one of Celestial’s skills.

Again, only Musin and Goma were left.

The gap with the 1st and 2nd place was just too big; nothing we could do about it.

Well, who really has time to grind for 24 hours straight anyway?

“Ah, this won’t do.”

[Guild] Happy: Can I get another supply drop?

[Guild] Blue: Whoa, again? ㄷㄷㄷ

It was a hassle, but there was still hope.

If we wanted to beat Musin and win, we had to try whenever the conditions were right.

“Yeah. The pain is only temporary. As long as I suffer a little, it’ll work out…”

With a deep breath, I started the process(?) again.

But maybe because Hana Guild had already been burned by us once, they seemed a lot warier.

I figured they’d be too scared of Celestial to try anything reckless.

Then, out of nowhere, Goma took a few steps toward our side and yanked Celestial in.

Suddenly, the main DPS like Pineapple and Shinyeong-i jumped out from Hana’s side.

They took positions out of Celestial’s range and immediately started targeting me.

“Whoa, shit!”

I freaked out and sprinted inside.

Ro, Proposal, INFP, and Chief Go jumped out to cover me.

Thanks to them, I barely survived, and by the time my middle finger was going numb from all the left-clicking,

Undying finally landed.

“Aaagh!”

I almost threw my mouse across the room.

Did that take about a hundred and thirty tries this time?

I’m glad it worked, but this is pure torture…

[Guild] Blue: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Taki: It’s party time!

—Alright, let’s go!

Oblivious to my suffering, the guildmates went wild as the slaughter began anew.

Once Musin died and the screen cleared, Karma Guild filled Central again.

[Guild] Chief Go: Wow, so this is the new meta?

[Guild] Happy: ……

[Guild] Bambi: ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Happy-nim dislikes this postㅠㅠ

[Guild] Taki: As long as Happy-nim holds out, we can keep doing thisㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Gadfly: So this is the new guild war strategy, huhㅡ ㅡㅋ

[Guild] Taki: It’s a bit of a pain, but totally doableㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Proposal: Thanks, Happy-za!

While my excited guildmates kept chattering, I just emptied my mind.

Yeah, this is for the greater good.

For the greater good…

My fingers don’t matter…

[Guild] Green: What the heck

[Guild] Green: Why aren’t they coming back in, just waiting out thereㅡ ㅡㅋ

Just as I was about to cry, the mood shifted.

Hana Guild had all gathered at the three o’clock spot, refusing to budge.

Most importantly, Musin, their key player, was missing.

“Bathroom? Taking a break? It’s already been five minutes, why isn’t he back? Are they trying to make us drop our guard and hit us with a surprise attack?”

As the absence dragged on and questions piled up, it finally happened.

[Guild] Haema: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Haema: Musin rage-logged outㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ