Chapter 19: The Crystal Quarry War

The long-awaited Saturday.

We hunted nonstop until dawn, only getting to sleep around sunrise and then returning to work by lunchtime.

The Guild War was set to begin at 9 p.m.

I thought it would start in the early evening, but maybe for the sake of players’ game-life balance(?), they picked nine o’clock, the hour with the highest number of users online.

That meant we were stuck on the prairie until at least eight o’clock.

“Let’s just grab a quick meal first.”

We filled up with some makeshift convenience food, loaded up on snacks, and settled back in front of our monitors.

Just like me, everyone else was waiting for the Guild War.

[Guild] Haema: Ah~ I wish the Guild War would start already, lol

[Guild] Haema: Even winning on the prairie nonstop is getting boring, ㅠㅠ

It was an obvious provocation for any spies hiding among us.

But as Haema said, we were all exhausted from the endless victories.

It was about time for a change of pace.

“Maybe because we’ve been stomping the prairie so long, I don’t even feel it anymore.”

Still, there were moments that made us laugh.

[Marius Prairie ― All] Hope: ㅅㅂ potion

Hope, ever the victor, would occasionally curse out loud.

Usually, it happened after a ridiculous death.

He’d always whine about something absurd—honestly, he was just a laughingstock to us.

At first, it got a rise out of us, but after a few times, it lost its impact.

Now, we almost pitied Hope.

[Marius Prairie ― All] Hungry: hahahahahahahaha

[Marius Prairie ― All] Hungry: It’s always something with you~~

When Hope repeated his nonsense and sighs began to build, Hungry subtly took a shot at him.

But thanks to strict warnings from Cheonjon and Woong, arguments never broke out.

“Aw, just when I was bored, I thought there’d be some drama…”

Feeling a bit disappointed, I checked the time again.

It was finally getting close to eight p.m.

And by fifteen past, the members of Hana Guild began disappearing one by one, likely to prepare for the Guild War.

So we returned as well, getting ready in earnest.

“But, this is my first Guild War. Is that going to be okay?”

(Bae Hojun)
[Is that so?? I did a few back on the main server, but it’s been a while, so my memory’s fuzzy]

(Jung Jiho)
[I did Guild Wars on the main server up until last year—nothing’s changed, I think]

Hearing from the two with some experience, I hurriedly searched NewTube.

I’d heard a little about it, but didn’t know how it actually worked.

But MonWorld was such an old game, and its main player base was a generation that didn’t care about video guides… No useful info came up, even after searching.

The only thing available was some ancient official video on the homepage.

The problem was, both the image and audio quality were terrible.

“Well… better than nothing, I guess.”

Leaving the video running, I crammed for a while.

“The guild master applies for entry on the day of the war… We move to the map via portal from inside the guild tower. It runs for one hour, with up to four guilds participating? There should be only Karma and Hana here, so…”

Participating guilds are randomly assigned north, south, east, or west bases.

Each base has a shop, so you can buy potions.

The goal is to take over the map’s central Crystal Zone.

The longer you hold out there, the more guild points you earn.

“And mobs spawn outside the base areas, random monsters you can kill for a few bonus points. The boss can appear at the center, and whichever guild deals the most damage to it gets 5,000 points…!”

Didn’t sound too complicated from the info.

But you never really know until you try, so I waited, more nervous than I expected.

And at half past eight…

[Guild] Manager Go: Everyone~~ The first Guild War of Season 16 starts at 9 o’clock!

[Guild] Manager Go: Everyone~~ The first Guild War of Season 16 starts at 9 o’clock!

[Guild] Manager Go: Everyone~~ The first Guild War of Season 16 starts at 9 o’clock!

As the time approached, Manager Go started spamming announcements to gather the guild members.

[Guild] Manager Go: If you can’t participate, please let us know in advance~!

PVP is a must in MonWorld.

So what that message really meant was, he’d be tracking participation and kicking anyone who was too inactive.

Thankfully, there were responses.

Besides, with us dominating the highest-level map, the prairie, Karma’s stock was rising fast.

Maybe that sense of pride and belonging was why even the usually silent newcomers—no, our fellow applicants—started making themselves known.

[Guild] Bambi: I’ve never done a Guild War before

[Guild] Bambi: Should I just follow along?

[Guild] Assassin: Me too……

[Guild] Trauma: I played a bit in season 13

[Guild] Trauma: Is it still the same? Hehehe

[Guild] Blue: Wow, I’m such a noob. Should I just stand there? Lololol

“Wow… It’s been nearly a week since I joined, and I’ve never seen any of these usernames.”

I found myself looking over these names, realizing I hadn’t noticed them before. Suddenly, it occurred to me that one of them could be a spy from Hana Guild.

“Who could it be…?”

I suspiciously scanned the usernames, then set about preparing my gear for the Guild War.

And then, fifteen minutes before the start—

[Guild] Manager Go: ############# Voice chat room title 15Karma / password 4512

[Guild] Manager Go: Anyone who can join, please do so!!

[Guild] Blue: I don’t have a mic—can I just listen?

[Guild] Manager Go: Yes, that’s fine! For Guild Wars, I recommend joining even just to listen!

It wasn’t exactly a demand, but a few people hesitated.

Then Blue, Grim Reaper, and Raccoon all stepped up to join.

Same for us.

On the day we joined, we’d asked about voice chat requirements and said we’d just listen, so we had no choice.

“Where’s my headset?”

I put on my expensive headset—the one I’d bought for reasons like this—launched the voice chat app, and joined the guild’s channel.

No sooner had I entered than unfamiliar voices filled my ears.

—There’s a ton of buffers over there. Can’t handle it.

—Then we gotta take out the buffers first.

—They’re all low-level, we’ll clear them fast.

—Woong’s character should snipe from the back, yeah.

—Are there any characters left over?

—Wait, why’d Warrior suddenly get so strong?

Most of the regulars seemed to be in; it sounded like a channel that ran nonstop.

As I got a feel for the atmosphere, my fellow applicants, Ro and Proposal, entered one after another.

Through the headset, the chatter was even louder than in the chat window.

“Must be a strategy meeting, but I have no idea who’s who.”

Everyone’s mic volume and quality were all over the place, and my ears hurt.

I fiddled with the individual settings until things quieted down a bit.

Already drained, I let out a sigh and refocused on my screen.

It was still early in the season, so most players were gathering around the guild tower.

(Bae Hojun)
[Whoa, look at all these people]

[It’s packed, lol]

[Even the newbie guilds are here to watch]

(Jung Jiho)
[There’ll be even more in a week or two, hehe]

[This season’s lineup is legendary]

[Probably more people will migrate here from the main server]

We continued chatting separately in our group DM.

Along with some idle talk, we got advice from Jiho, the most recent veteran.

(Jung Jiho)
[The center is the most important, but]

[The boss gives a huge score, so focus on it whenever it spawns]

[The ones holding center are always rankers]

[As long as we coordinate and focus fire, we can take them down one by one]

“So the key is to survive as long as possible, huh?”

After a few more questions, nine o’clock sharp arrived.

[Crystal Conquest has begun.]

[You can now move to the mining grounds.]

[Guild] Woong: GOGOGOGOGOGOGO

As soon as the alert popped up, the players gathered inside the guild tower vanished in a flash.

I quickly clicked on the NPC and moved to the special map.

“Whoa…”

It was a dazzling place, unlike any regular hunting map.

The Crystal Quarry, true to its name, was a vast map filled with heaps of silver crystal shards.

I almost lost myself in the dreamlike atmosphere, but there was no time for that.

“We’ve got the north base.”

—Go, go!

—Let’s head for the center!

As I checked the mini-map, rowdy voices erupted from my headset.

I hurriedly clicked my mouse to join the swarm of moving characters.

Once we left our base, monsters popped up as if on cue.

They were weak, about on par with those between the Ruined Temple and the No-Return Desert.

There were a lot, but the leading rankers mowed them down like melting snow.

[Karma Guild: 1,500 points]

“Oh, you really do get points for killing mobs. But weren’t there around twenty of us? Feels like someone’s missing…”

As I wondered about the odd absence, we were already near the center.

As befitting the central zone, a mountain of crystal chunks sat right in the middle.

The ground around it shimmered softly, marking the area where points were earned.

I remembered from the NPC’s speech bubbles that this crystal was MonWorld’s most expensive mineral—so, this battle was basically a resource war.

—They’re here, they’re here! Push! Push them out!

—Hey, hey. Watch out for Warrior. That one hits like a truck.

—Haema! Hurry up and block them!

Right on cue, Hana Guild came charging in from three o’clock.

They seemed to have gathered as many people as possible—unfortunately, they outnumbered us.

—Clear out their buffers!

—Once they take it, it’s hard to get back, you know?

With urgent shouts, the top rankers dived into the center.

At the same time, Hana Guild, arriving at the zone, clashed with us.

[Warrior has used Shattering Earth.]

[Nu has used Blazing Flame.]

[First Snow has used Unlucky Song.]

[Warrior has used Shattering Earth.]

“Damn!”

The damage was insane—my HP dropped like a rock.

We’d never taken this kind of hit on the prairie; we were all caught off guard.

—Hey, what the hell? What did Warrior do? Why’s he so strong?

—I told you something was off earlier.

—Did they change their stats?

—Probably saved up points and dumped them all at once?

—Wow. That bastard.

—Yeah, he did seem weaker on the prairie, now that you mention it.

Even on voice chat, startled voices filled my ears.

As we floundered in confusion, someone tried to cast Immortality on me.

Luckily, the rank difference caused it to fizzle, and I quickly retreated a few steps.

With Warrior having turned into a beast, it was tough to survive in this kind of mass brawl.

“I need to play it safe for now…”

I targeted the nearest enemy guild member.

I cast Slow on charging tanks and overconfident mages first.

Their goal was our mid- to low-level players.

Even if we took center, they wanted to eliminate our point-earners in advance to sabotage us.

Likewise, our own Inpipi and Gadfly were out hunting Hana Guild’s mid- and low-levels.

—Lowbies, hide further back!

—Cheonjon, hold out a bit longer.

—Noona, noona. First Snow and Pineapple are coming in from bottom right!

While first and second place duked it out in the center, rankers who couldn’t withstand the hits began circling the outskirts.

But Woong was way in the back now, supporting Cheonjon.

The Crystal Zone was pretty big, so Woong was quite far off.

He probably wouldn’t make it in time.

“Wait, did we move because of Warrior? If that’s the case…”

I was the only one close enough to make a move.