CHAPTER 88
8 Squad. Stealing and Being Stolen.
After finishing the farming, Seowoon stopped Kichan from destroying the remaining Seondongun and began to speak.
"The three people in the Sacrifice Squad, go ahead and destroy all the Seondongun that appear from now on. Since you're taking on a difficult role, you should at least gain something. Though I'm not sure if you'll reach 100."
"I'll yield to the two of you. I've already monopolized plenty of items."
Lyle also stepped in after Dump spoke.
"I'll yield to Sister Lilingwi, too. She gave me all her mana stones."
"Then I'll gladly accept."
With a smile, Lilingwi destroyed four Seondongun, and Juriel briefly glanced at her with envy.
"If we're done, let's hurry to the next island. There's not much time left."
Maybe it was because the moon had risen higher? Its size felt especially large.
Cutting across the giant full moon, the eight players flying on clouds looked completely surreal.
Thud.
Seowoon was the first to leap off the Seondongun and land on the ground. As he looked troubled, Dump spoke.
"Someone should probably stay behind to guard this, right?"
Leaving the Seondongun unattended made them easy targets for the enemy to steal or destroy.
"Hmm… Should I try storing it in subspace?"
As he finished speaking and touched the Seondongun, Kichan's Seondongun vanished on the spot.
"Whoa!"
"You can store it in subspace? Then there's no need to destroy it!"
Surprised by his own discovery, Kichan tried storing another one.
Ding!
Only one Seondongun per person can be stored in subspace.
"Ah! Only one per person."
"Still, that means we don't have to worry about them being stolen or destroyed."
Dump also put his Seondongun into subspace.
Everyone stored theirs and activated the map.
Seeing the blue dot in the center, the teammates started to speak.
"Did it activate?"
"If the guys riding the Seondongun earlier came from this island, then probably."
"We don't know how many enemies landed on that island, so let's not make assumptions. Let's move quickly for now."
Though the night was deep, no one complained as they followed Seowoon without rest.
Watching Seowoon rush ahead, everyone instinctively realized how critical this moment was.
Even as he sprinted ahead as the scout, Seowoon stayed alert to his surroundings.
Hammit only detected hostile intent, so if the enemy hadn't noticed them yet, there was a chance he could miss them.
—Hold up.
After a long run, Lilingwi stopped and brought the team to a halt.
As everyone turned to her, she pointed and started moving in that direction.
There, white fog was rising under the moonlight.
She released Blood Poison into the area and then used a potion to hide their scent. With a satisfied smile, she rejoined the others, and the team continued moving.
Though the process delayed them a bit—she had poisoned three different ponds along the way—no one voiced a single complaint.
On the contrary, everyone was eager to see how big this snowball might grow.
They were lucky not to encounter any enemies while running across the island.
Eventually, Seowoon stopped and looked ahead. His eyes caught the sight of blue goblins swarming around the Seondong Stone.
—Jumping straight into the fight would be risky.
Lilingwi's concern was valid.
"I know. I'm not eager to fight without knowing what those oversized bags of crap are capable of."
"If the squad we clashed with earlier activated this island's Seondong Stone, then maybe there aren't other enemies nearby… But that's a slim chance."
Juriel, as always, had quick judgment.
If that squad had activated the Seondong Stone, there should've been other enemies targeting it by now.
As they debated what to do, a notification rang in everyone's ears.
Ding!
You've survived your first day in Sanggye. All base stats +1. Stay strong, players surviving in this harsh land.
"Ah…"
Kichan couldn't even finish his sentence, left with his mouth agape.
"This changes the game," Seowoon said, and everyone nodded in agreement.
"This game lasts 500 days total. So theoretically, base stats can increase by up to 500?"
Kichan responded to Jinryung's remark.
"In theory, yeah… But getting that far won't be easy."
"If you're aiming for stats, you'll have to play passively and focus on survival. But if you're aiming to dominate and win, you'll need to challenge the clear conditions. To secure those, you need to stay constantly active, and in the process, you'll be competing against wolves trying to claim the Seondongun and the main prize. This game's been set up to be maddeningly complex."
Everyone nodded in agreement at what Riringwi had said.
As the players each fell into silent thought, another notification rang out in their ears.
-Ding! The activated Agitation Stone is under attack.
-Already?!
Before Limin could finish her shocked exclamation, Seowoon suddenly sprang to her feet.
"Let's go too. We can't farm without taking down the goblins anyway."
At her words, and with her bow already in hand, the players rose without protest.
The team hadn't fully finished their discussion yet, but since Seowoon was the main shot-caller, they had no choice but to follow her lead.
"For now, Kichan and I will draw aggro and handle the enemies. Sabu-hyung, please quickly reactivate the Agitation Stone."
"Understood."
"The remaining five, stay alert and guard against any ambushes until I give further orders."
As everyone nodded in agreement, Kichan and Seowoon dashed forward.
Kichan's Chain Lightning and Seowoon's quick arrows flew simultaneously, drawing the attention of dozens of goblins who swarmed toward them.
"Let's pull even more!"
Rather than retreating, Seowoon and Kichan pushed deeper into the goblin horde.
Kichan rode his airboard while Seowoon dashed alongside him using light footwork techniques. They moved as one, attacking the goblin mob in sync.
As they circled the mob, drawing the goblins' full attention, nearly all of them chased after the two.
Meanwhile, Jinryung reached the Agitation Stone and placed his hand on it.
-Ding! You cannot reactivate the Agitation Stone without defeating all guardians.
-Damn! We have to kill the monsters first.
At Jinryung's shout, Seowoon smashed a goblin's head and yelled back:
"Kichan! Can you do it?"
"My mana's good to go!"
-Juriel! Stick close to Kichan!
As Seowoon shouted the order and charged into the goblin mob, she successfully pulled the aggro completely.
Diving into the swarm of a hundred goblins, she swung her chainsword in a wide arc, forcing a clear space around her.
With brute goblins pressing in, Seowoon kept swinging her chainsword, perfectly reading their battle patterns.
'Just a bunch of dumb tanks.'
The goblins swinging axes and hammers weren't particularly strong in attack, nor were they agile.
-CRASH!
Spinning once with her elongated chainsword, Seowoon created space and launched herself at a goblin coming from behind.
-THWACK!
Before the goblin's axe could land, its face caved in, and it was sent flying over 10 meters.
But the goblin didn't die—shaking its head, it staggered for a moment before rushing Seowoon again.
After holding the aggro for about five minutes, Seowoon heard the team's voice chat and drove her chainsword into the ground.
Luckily, the cloud-like terrain allowed the sword to sink deep.
-We're ready!
-Fire now!
At the signal, Juriel cast Chain Lightning.
The lightning shot from her staff and spread rapidly across the goblin horde.
-ZAAAAAAP!
Unlike normal lightning, it continuously pulsed from her staff, eventually electrocuting all 100 goblins.
As some goblins' blue skin began to burn, Kichan's golden staff glowed.
His staff resonated with Juriel's, and a massive bolt of lightning struck from the sky, merging with her Chain Lightning.
The goblins, who had been twitching slightly, froze completely.
Some even began to smolder from the electric surge.
"RAAAHH!"
Naturally, Seowoon, caught within the mob, was also hit.
Still channeling the electricity through her sword, she let out a roar, pulled her blade free, and swung it.
She directed the electric force into her blade with every strike, looking like a thunder god in battle.
-THUD THUD THUD!
Goblin heads flew around her in all directions.
Her repeated real-world training with absorbing and redirecting lightning via swordplay had clearly paid off.
-Sabu-hyung!
Gasping from mana depletion, Juriel withdrew her staff while Kichan unleashed Ice Snake and Flame Burst in different directions.
Seowoon called out to Jinryung.
As if waiting for the cue, Jinlung joined the fight with a blade slash, and the damaged goblins fell one after another.
-Zzzzzzzzz…
Once the Chain Lightning and Call Lightning combo ended, the Agitation Stone began to vibrate, and the nearby goblins started rapidly recovering.
By the time their numbers dropped to around 30, the remaining ones had already fully healed.
Still, with Kichan, Seowoon, and Jinryung, taking down 30 goblins wasn't a problem.
-Come on, loot up.
After crushing the final goblin's skull, Seowoon placed her hand on the Agitation Stone.
-Activating the Agitation Stone. Do not remove your hand.
While the rest of the team scrambled to pick up the 100 dropped items, the activation completed, and new goblins appeared.
These were at least 20 centimeters taller than the blue ones and had fierce tusks jutting out of their mouths.
Just as they tilted their heads in confusion, a new notification rang out.
-Ding! Stage 2 Guardian of the Agitation Stone has been summoned.
"Ah!"
It was now obvious—activating two Agitation Stones increases the Guardian's level.
At that moment, along with the sound of a notification, the red goblins' sizes shrank and they transformed into blue goblins.
The authority of Seondongseok has been transferred to another squad.
It seemed that Seondongseok, who had been under attack, had been completely taken away.
"Let go of that! Hey!"
As Dump pushed aside the goblin that was not moving after stepping on the sword that had fallen to the ground and picked it up, he glared at the goblin that refused to move. The goblin scratched its head and tilted its head in confusion with a blank stare.
"What's the point of talking to you?"
After finishing item farming, the team gathered, and Seowoon explained the Guardian System they had learned. Everyone nodded in understanding.
"So, that means there are also stages 3 and 4, right?"
"Yes. In other words, by observing only the guardian goblins, you can infer the game progress stage of other squads and interfere with them."
"Then, depending on the situation, it might be more important to take Seondongseok away rather than fighting the enemy."
At Juri'el's words, Seowoon nodded.
"On the other hand, that means it's easier to be monitored, too."
"Anyway, we're done here. Let's move right away."
At Jinlung's words, Seowoon nodded.
Without a break, they moved quickly, and while leaving the island, the team exchanged necessary items with each other.
They were now in a race against time, both moving and distributing items at the same time.
Just as they were about to leave the island and retrieve Seondongun, Seowoon shouted.
Enemies!
Seeing enemies flying toward them on Seondongun from afar, Seowoon stepped back.
"Move out of the range where Seondongun can't reach!"
As soon as the enemy was spotted, Seowoon immediately moved back, taking a black cloak from the space and draping it over himself.
Though the bright moonlight illuminated the area, Seowoon's body blended into the darkness, gradually erasing his presence.
The enemies charging toward them from Seondongun showed no sign of retreating. Instead, they kept their momentum and rushed toward Seowoon's squad.
"They're all knights! Sword Emperor is among them!"
Seeing the squad made up entirely of knights, Kichan shouted loudly.
With Juriel's mana not fully restored yet, she cast a relatively mana-efficient spell, while Kichan and Ryle fired off the spells they had stored in their staffs.
Crash!
The enemy squad, seemingly confident in their magic resistance, attempted to break through with the Sword Emperor at the center, even as their barriers shattered and they took the hits with their bodies.
We can't fall back!
If they lost ground once and their formation broke, the mages would be in danger.
At the moment the knight in compact silvery-white armor holding a sword blazing with green fire reached his peak, a spear of light flew at him like a rain of arrows.
Even while charging forward, the knight quickly reacted to the spear of light by swinging his sword to deflect it.
Boom!
The moment the sword made contact, an explosion occurred with a burst of red flame.
And through that flame, without slowing down at all, the knight kept charging forward.
Seeing this scene, Seowoon frowned and put his bow back into the space.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]