Chapter 32: The Moving Shot

"I survived!"

It was a moment when the guild members, who still felt awkward around each other, suddenly seemed like old friends.

[Dangfly has invited you to the party.]

As soon as I made my entrance, a party invitation popped up. While I hit enter, Ariel the buffer stuck close to my side, circling around me.

Ranking 12th, INFP swung around in an instant, keeping a watchful eye on everyone except Mushin and Pineapple.

That was when Cheonjon’s character charged into the heart of the battlefield.

[Ariel has used Sacred Absolution.]

With a relieving cleansing skill, the slow cast on First Snow was lifted.

"Ah! I feel alive again!"

Unlike me, who was now freed from shackles, the enemy party was still loaded with debuffs. They struggled to unleash their skills, each one coming out with painstaking slowness.

But they couldn’t withstand the barrage of skills unleashed while Cheonjon was closing in on Mushin.

Soon, First Snow, Yongho, and Hannari all went down together, and Pineapple veered off desperately to survive.

INFP, who had been blocking ahead in advance, cut in and obstructed Pineapple.

With the path blocked, Pineapple was instantly melted by the ‘Infernal Flames’ Cheonjon tossed over his shoulder as he passed by.

"Wow, a complete wipe in an instant..."

As always, only Mushin remained standing.

Ariel, Dangfly, and I watched their one-on-one from outside Mushin’s attack range.

Of course, we didn’t just watch idly—we intervened now and then to cast fresh debuffs.

INFP also assisted Cheonjon by attacking from a distance.

But honestly, it didn’t seem like Cheonjon needed the support.

"Huh? This feels different from when the main or sub account users play, doesn’t it?"

In MonWorld, where skill variety is limited, the standard is to use only single-target, area-of-effect, and main attack skills.

Even Cheonjon’s main and sub account users played that way.

But ‘S’ was different.

Just like Jiho used to, S cast Crimson Mark.

Crimson Mark is a mage-only debuff that temporarily lowers the enemy’s resistance to fire magic.

It’s a skill usually used when mages fight other mages, but on Another server, it’s more efficient to use another attack skill instead of this mere 3-second debuff.

Even Jiho rarely uses it these days.

But S was timing it perfectly and using it right now.

"Wow. Are they predicting when a critical hit will land? Somehow..."

Both of them kept chugging red potions, their HP bars battling fiercely.

S waited until Mushin’s HP was nearly depleted, then threw Crimson Mark to maximize the critical hit.

Above all—

"Wait, is that a moving shot?"

Monster World has skill use animations.

Most class skills are simple, so it’s not particularly bothersome for gameplay.

In fact, if there were no animations, you could use skills faster, which would be a good thing.

But in a combat-focused game, no skill animation would make things less fun. The flashier the animation, the more visually satisfying and exhilarating it feels.

Of course, with MonWorld’s infamous shoddy graphics, that doesn’t really apply.

Players obsessed with PK have been experimenting for ages to increase attack speed.

The result? The moving shot.

From what I’ve heard, if you left-click at a specific timing when using a skill, your character will move while casting, making skills come out faster. I’ve tried it a few times myself, but I just can’t get it.

Even Jiho, when talking to Proposal, says he can’t always pull it off either.

It depends on your computer specs and timing. The activation requirements are so strict, it’s hard to get the hang of it—but right now, S was showing it off pretty convincingly.

I was so focused on checking it out several times that I didn’t even notice the slow Mushin had on me wore off.

Just as I was about to move my right hand to reapply the debuff, I got curious about Mushin’s response and paused.

"Oh, with Mushin’s slow gone, the difference is even clearer."

The number of attacks each character could make was totally different.

That meant the HP was dropping at totally different speeds too, and I couldn’t help but marvel.

I wanted to watch more, but since Mushin was still debuffed and INFP was supporting nearby, he couldn’t fight Cheonjon for much longer.

---

[Guild] Dangfly: LOL Janghoon, nice shot

[Guild] Cheonjon: Whew

[Guild] Dangfly: By the way, Happy, why did you come to the desert alone?

[Guild] Happy: I meant to click on the grasslands but pressed the wrong thingㅠ

[Guild] Happy: Thought I’d just try fighting instead of running awayㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] INFP: We’ve been waiting for someone like you, Happy

[Guild] Dangfly: LOL It couldn’t have been easy holding out against Mushin and Apple, but you did well

[Guild] INFP: Wait?

[Guild] Cheonjon: OK OK

---

But even after five minutes, Mushin’s party didn’t come back.

Seems like they were hesitating to try again since they didn’t have enough people.

We had no reason to wait either, so we moved to the grasslands and started hunting right away.

The repetitive grind began again, but I couldn’t forget what I’d just seen, so I struck up a conversation.

---

[Guild] Happy: By the way, S, you’re amazing at fighting

[Guild] Dangfly: LOL

[Guild] Cheonjon: Ah, it’s just luckㅠㅠ

[Guild] Cheonjon: You too, Happyㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Cheonjon: I heard from the hyung and noona, but seeing you hold out against Mushinㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Happy: I’m just good at running awayㅋㅋ

[Guild] INFP: What’s this

[Guild] INFP: Why does it feel like experts humbly praising each other

[Guild] INFP: Ptooey

[Guild] Ariel: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Dangfly: Janghoon’s been around forever on the main server, so he’s a PK pro nowㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Dangfly: Quite a few ranked players have learned control from himㅋㅋㅋ

---

With Dangfly naturally offering up info, I grew curious about S’s main server ID... but held myself back.

"I don’t even have a main server character—kind of rude to pry into someone’s info."

Awkward, I just let the moment pass. Before I knew it, it was already past eleven.

As lunchtime came, Chorok logged in.

Chorok, noisy as ever, promptly joined the slacker assassin, Bambi’s party.

---

[Guild] Chorok: By the way, Assassin, you’ve really been going hard latelyㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Chorok: I checked the rankings before logging in and you shot way upㅡ ㅡㅋ

[Guild] INFP: With that speed, I guess this isn’t your first time on Another?

[Guild] Assassin: Yeahㅎㅎ I just take it easy, one season a yearㅎㅎ

[Guild] Assassin: I’ve done the grasslands the most, so I can get to the desert pretty quicklyㅎㅎ

[Guild] Chorok: LOL Cheering for the rare single-target DPS archer

[Guild] INFP: Looking forward to your performance in the next guild warㅎㅎㅎㅎ

[Guild] Assassin: Aw, thanksㅋㅋ

---

Maybe it was because we’d kicked out Nogul, the suspected spy, but my usually quiet peers seemed to be chatting much more openly now.

Even the existing Karma guild members, who until now didn’t seem to care much about the new recruits except for us, appeared to have dropped their guard.

---

[Guild] Cheonjon: Chorok hyung, you should work hard tooㅠㅠ

[Guild] Cheonjon: The other guys are rallying all their reinforcementsㅠㅠ

[Guild] Cheonjon: They’re even contacting people on break, ordering them to come support Anotherㅠㅠ

[Guild] Ariel: Seriously gross

[Guild] INFP: Hmm, so is this just to tip the numbers in the upper map?

---

"Yeah, that could be it."

Anyone with experience could reach the desert within one or two weeks.

And from the desert to the grasslands is a quick trip. At this point, a desert hunting party is mid-low level.

If the mid-low levels increase, they’ll have the advantage in the guild war, so if they can just grab the guild dungeon, it’s nothing to expand their power.

---

[Guild] Dangfly: Wow, they’re really thinking ahead, huh?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Cheonjon: As if we don’t think at all

[Guild] Dangfly: Well, we kind of don’tㅡ ㅡㅋ

[Guild] INFP: So let’s not slack off and keep grinding

[Guild] Chorok: I’m meeting Baekopa laterㅡ ㅡㅋ

[Guild] INFP: Going out at that level?

[Guild] Cheonjon: Meet after clearing the grasslands...

[Guild] Ariel: We’re all going to meet up eventually anyway, right?ㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Bambi: For real? That sounds fun!

[Guild] Chorok: Isn’t it better to get close by meeting ahead of time since we’re nearby anywayㅡ ㅡㅋ

[Guild] Dangfly: Are you two dating? Why are you meeting separately?ㅡ ㅡ^

[Guild] Bambi: When’s the meetup?ㅋㅋ

[Guild] INFP: Probably at the end of the season, somewhere in Seoul or halfway

[Guild] Assassin: Can I come too?ㅎㅎㅎ

[Guild] INFP: Of course, you’re welcome

[Guild] Bambi: Are we having meat?

[Guild] INFP: Standard beef set, but all meats available

[Guild] INFP: Guild master pays

[Guild] Bambi: Please take me with youㅠㅠ

---

"Wow, do they hold regular meetups too?"

Well, they probably have since the main server days, so they must be close enough to meet up. Judging by their talk, they don’t even live that far apart.

I mean, I’ve gamed enough in the past to know about those meetups, but it’s always fascinating to see people so naturally talk about meeting offline.

"Players who are a bit older really do build close bonds."

---

[Guild] Chorok: Should we invite Shigi too? He’s in the neighborhood, three blocks awayㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Chorok: Should we bug him to play this season?ㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] INFP: Actually a neighbor?

[Guild] Chorok: Yeah, met him once

[Guild] Chorok: Had to go to his area for a bit last year, so we had coffee togetherㅋㅋ

[Guild] Ariel: ?? I thought you both like alcohol, so why have coffee?

[Guild] Chorok: It was awkwardㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Dangfly: Are you dating or whatㅡ ㅡ

[Guild] INFP: Shigi’s a bad guy

[Guild] INFP: He lets someone visit his town and doesn’t even treat them to a meal

[Guild] Ariel: So stingy

[Guild] Cheonjon: Must be Swedish

[Guild] Bambi: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Ariel: Oh my godㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Dangfly: What’s so funny, let me in on the jokeㅡ ㅡㅋ

[Guild] Chorok: What are you talking about? He’s Koreanㅡ ㅡ;;

[Guild] INFP: Just a joke

[Guild] Chorok: Joke? Coffee?

[Guild] Chorok: We just had caramel lattes, though?

[Guild] Ariel: ㅡ ㅡ

[Guild] Bambi: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ큐ㅠㅠㅠ

[Guild] Cheonjon: Ha

[Guild] INFP: Old man, just go grind

---

"Ah, I almost laughed."

Watching the chat scroll up, I unconsciously rubbed at the corner of my mouth.

Before I knew it, my hand hovered over the ‘ㅋ’ key on the keyboard.

I’d already chatted quite a bit today. Was I just swept up in the loosened atmosphere, or did I maybe want to fit in with them, deep down?

I almost crossed the line I’d drawn for myself.

"No, not yet. Get a grip, Aran."

Just then, as I was reminding myself to stay vigilant for ‘Poongma’ who might show up again someday—

---

[Guild] Taki: hihihi

[Guild] Taki: Hey, there’s an announcement

[Guild] Taki: They say there’s a new item update mmmmm

[Guild] INFP: For real?

[Guild] Ariel: What item?

---

My eyes widened at the news that came with Taki’s appearance.

Now that I thought about it, I remembered some player talking about a new item or something last season...

---

[Guild] Taki: First, four-piece armor sets will be tested

[Guild] Taki: New rarity called ‘Epic’ with set bonuses

[Guild] Taki: There’ll be attack sets, defense sets, hunting sets, and PvP sets

[Guild] Dangfly: Attack set and defense set?

[Guild] Cheonjon: MonWorld is actually getting an update ㄷㄷㄷ

[Guild] Taki: Eh, Cheonjon hyung is online at this hour

[Guild] Cheonjon: It’s me, Janghoonㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Ariel: Are they trying to make a quick buck before shutting the server down for good this year?ㅋㅋ

[Guild] INFP: Is this the item that was supposed to be released at launch but got shelved because the devs quit?

[Guild] Taki: Yup, by the way, attack and defense sets give a 30% increase effect

---

"An actual new update after nearly 10 years... Wait. Then how many pieces in each set? Most people will go for PvP sets, and the drop rate’ll be low, so the competition will be intense..."

As I did the math, my jaw naturally dropped open.

It seemed a real bloodbath was about to descend on Another server.