Chapter 6: From Enemies to Recruitment

[Party] Ku: Good, let's go ㄱㄱ

As expected, Ku agreed.

Feeling relieved at the straightforward answer, I immediately opened my Status window.

Then I dumped all the stat points I'd saved from leveling up into Vitality.

Next, I opened my inventory and equipment window, and hastily switched out my gear for items that focused on Vitality.

I’d brought them along just in case during the pre-entry prep time, but I didn’t think they’d actually be this useful.

“Winner, you bastard, I’ll definitely take you down.”

[Party] Mir: I’ll try baiting Vitamin first, and if I can hold out, I’ll mark the Winner right away.

[Party] Mir: If the full set lands, let’s just finish them off.

[Party] Mir: Oh, I’ll only slow Vitamin and keep up the Rejuvenate buff.

[Party] Ku: Okay, okay.

Honestly, I was worried because I didn’t know how strong Vitamin would be.

But it didn’t matter.

Better to die to Vitamin than be killed by the Winner.

After quickly wrapping up our preparations, we dove back into the Deep Labyrinth.

Maybe because of the ‘Hana’ guild’s rampage, all the regular players who’d come for the EXP event had already cleared out.

[Party] Ku: Upwards.

[Party] Ku: Stick to the wall and wait.

Ku guided us to cover.

The terrain here made it impossible to just rush straight in from the entrance, and since we were right at the edge of the screen from the entry point, our IDs wouldn’t be visible first, either.

Usually, a character’s ID floats above their head.

So we waited, just our feet showing.

Two minutes later, the Winner, desperate to catch us, entered the Deep Labyrinth with Vitamin.

Maybe they were trying to get a feel for the map right after coming in, because both characters paused for a moment.

I shot out like a bullet, heading straight for Vitamin with my Ominous Step skill.

Luckily, the debuff landed on the first try, and Vitamin instantly slowed to a turtle’s crawl.

Afraid Vitamin might try to attack, I darted away from him and set my sights on the Winner.

[Winner has used Blazing Inferno.]

[Winner has used Shattering Earth.]

The Winner launched a hurried attack, but I just snorted.

“What’s this? It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought. Is this guy really a ranker?”

Thanks to the Vitality boost and new equipment, the Winner’s attacks just tickled.

Not missing my chance, I cast Ominous Step on the Winner.

It missed once, and the Winner, realizing what was happening, quickly turned to run back toward the entrance.

“Hey, no you don’t!”

If that jerk escaped, all our effort would go to waste.

Panicking, I quickly moved my fingers and pressed my hotkeys.

Instead of a debuff, what I cast was the debuffer’s only attack skill—“Requiem of Pain.”

[You cannot move during combat.]

The Winner was probably cursing at the message.

In Monster World, when you attack or are attacked by another player, you enter “combat mode.”

The rule is that during combat mode, you can’t move—if you want to move, you have to spend at least five seconds without attacking or being attacked.

I’d used that to block the Winner’s escape.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I immediately stuck to the Winner’s side, alternating between Ominous Step, Crumbling Skin, and Requiem of Pain.

The debuffs landed perfectly, one after another, and just then I spotted Ku sprinting towards us, so I set my sights on Vitamin again.

A tank’s skill range is short.

Remembering that weakness, I dashed towards the approaching Vitamin and hammered my mouse’s right button like mad.

All a tank needs is a single “Song of Misfortune”—nothing else matters.

“Please, land…!”

Ku had just started beating on the debuffed Winner.

If Vitamin used a strong taunt here to pull us in, we’d be in trouble, so I clicked desperately, putting my hopes into every click.

Click, click, click—Vitamin kept getting closer, but Song of Misfortune kept missing.

“What level is this guy, seriously?”

Just as I was getting flustered and yelling, the Song of Misfortune finally landed.

Vitamin, who’d been charging at us, suddenly stopped and began spinning around in place.

Having blocked Vitamin’s approach, I turned back toward Ku.

I didn’t have time to use Song of Misfortune again, but maybe because the Winner was so bad at controls, even the slowed attack speed from Ominous Step was enough for Ku.

It took a bit because of the level gap, but Ku, who knew how to use the mage’s skills well, easily took down the Winner.

The Winner collapsed to the ground, and I cheered and clapped like a dolphin.

[Deep Labyrinth—Normal] Winner: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Either he didn’t get the situation, or he was just doing it on purpose.

The Winner laughed nonstop in general chat.

I frowned, but there was still one more left, so I pretended not to notice.

[Party] Mir: Should we just ignore him, since we can’t catch him anyway?

Even as I said that, my hands kept alternating between Ominous Step and Cursed Misfortune.

Ku, now closer, also tried out Shattering Earth, his area-of-effect spell, to see how it worked.

[Party] Ku: Must be a tank—his defense is insanely highㅎㅎ

I wondered if we should just let him go.

Just then, monsters that had spawned nearby started closing in.

[Ku has given you 1 Purple Potion.]

“Ah!”

A huge grin split my face.

The “Purple Potion” Ku just handed me is a stealth potion that lets you hide from monsters’ sight for a certain amount of time.

It has many uses, but early on it’s a rare item, hard to come by.

“Whoa. You’ve got something even better than a Return Scroll?”

[Party] Ku: Let’s let the mobs kill himㅎㅎ

Crazy, ruthless—Ku muttered all sorts of things, but I followed his lead.

First, I hindered Vitamin’s movement speed with Ominous Step.

While Ku rounded up the mobs, I used Crumbling Skin to lower Vitamin’s defense.

I didn’t forget to keep applying Song of Misfortune, which disables skill use.

[Party] Ku: Potion as soon as 1’s gone ㄱㄱ

Ku herded nearly a truckload of close-range mobs this time, along with a flock of ranged Firebirds.

By now, monsters had respawned properly near the entrance.

Nearly half the screen was filled with mobs, and Ku and I were barely holding on with red potions.

Vitamin was completely surrounded by mobs, and with his tank traits, was holding out for now.

[Party] Ku: 1

As soon as the chat bubble vanished from the screen, I double-clicked the Purple Potion Ku had given me.

[The effect of Purple Potion is applied.]

The Firebird mobs that had been attacking Ku and me all instantly turned on Vitamin.

With every mob on the screen attacking him, Vitamin’s HP gauge dropped at a terrifying rate.

Even a ranker tank can’t survive with those annoying debuffs stacked.

His health was dropping faster than he could chug red potions, so Vitamin finally gave up and let go.

He lasted less than a minute before collapsing—utterly satisfying.

I was nearly gasping from laughter.

That’s when the Winner, who’d died and respawned back in town, came in again.

I wanted to curse his persistence, but the timing was almost impressive.

[Party] Ku: Downwards

In Monster World, when you reconnect or re-enter, you’re invincible for three seconds.

Ku and I still had the Purple Potion’s effect, so the Winner, startled by the entrance packed with mobs, kept running back and forth through the portal in confusion.

But he couldn’t get out instantly either, with the three-second invincibility timer.

Then, I suddenly remembered a debuff I’d forgotten—Sneaky Trick.

Gnawing Poison.

It’s one of the debuffer’s skills, dealing small HP damage every second.

It’s a typical poison debuff, but also works as an attack skill.

If you use a skill while stealthed from the Purple Potion, your stealth breaks.

But Gnawing Poison, being classified as a debuff, doesn’t break stealth when used.

…Or so I read a long time ago.

Of course, I wasn’t sure.

There was a fuss about it being unfair back in the day, so it might have been patched.

Even so, I took a chance.

As soon as the Winner’s three-second invincibility wore off, I quickly used the debuff.

“Knew it!”

Amazingly, it worked.

The lazy dev team didn’t disappoint me.

The Winner was forced into combat mode from Gnawing Poison, while I stayed stealthed.

Surrounded by mobs, the Winner couldn’t even get out.

A pitiful mage, and a bad one at that—how could he survive?

The outcome was obvious.

[Party] Ku: Wow, Mir, that was sharpㅎㅎ

[Party] Mir: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

The Winner died again without being able to do anything as soon as he entered, and we burst into laughter.

Around then, our stealth started to wear off.

Ku finished off all the mobs in the area without a second thought.

When the map was finally cleared, all that was left inside were random loot drops and the corpses of Vitamin and the Winner.

Just like they’d done before, we wandered around the Winner’s corpse.

Thinking of how annoyed he’d be seeing that sent shivers through my whole body.

[Party] Ku: Let’s head back to town ㄱㄱ

The Winner would definitely bring someone else, knowing two weren’t enough.

There was no need to let ourselves be killed by them again, so Ku and I cleanly returned to town.

[Party] Ku: Should we just take it slow at the temple?

[Party] Mir: Sure, that’s fineㅋㅋㅋ

We’d killed the Winner twice without dying, so I felt thoroughly refreshed.

With easy hearts, we headed to the Ruined Temple.

* * *

[Whisper] Vitamin: Mir

The temple was packed with people, and I was running around in a heated grind.

Suddenly, a black box with blue text popped up in the chat.

I’d been spacing out, so the sudden whisper startled me.

“Wh-what is this?”

I completely forgot Ku was busy hunting mobs and just stood there, staring blankly at the chat window.

It wasn’t like I’d done anything wrong, but maybe because of what happened earlier with Vitamin getting mobbed, my hands started trembling for no reason.

But Vitamin, who’d called me, didn’t say anything more.

Seemed like he was waiting for me to reply.

[Party] Mir: Ku, hang on a sec.

[Whisper] Mir > Vitamin: Yes?

A few seconds later, a response came.

[Whisper] Vitamin: ^^

[Whisper] Vitamin: Hello. This is the Hana Guild.

[Whisper] Vitamin: Are you interested in joining our guild?

What the heck was this now?

Well, strictly speaking, it wasn’t that strange.

On the Another Server, there are always a few new players joining, and if you settle in well, after graduating from the newbie guild you’ll choose a guild.

Right now, there are two main factions on Another Server.

The Hana Guild and the Karma Guild.

Both originated from the main server and have been competing for dominance since the start.

The guild names change every season, so it can get a bit confusing, but underneath, they’re always the same bunch—so if you’ve played on Another Server for a while, you’ll recognize them right away.

The two factions are rivals even on the main server.

That’s why they keep fighting even here, on this event server.

But this season, the Karma Guild started late, so they’re weaker than Hana Guild.

Still, no one knows what will happen in the future.

That’s why the Hana Guild’s officers keep an eye on promising newbies and scout them.

“Oh… what’s this? Am I getting scouted right now?”

I let out a disbelieving laugh.

A guy I’d been fighting tooth and nail just a few hours ago.

Even got him mob-killed—yet here he was, inviting me to join his guild with a smile.

[Party] Ku: Got a whisper from Vitamin, huh?ㅎㅎ