Chapter 0: Prologue.

In the MMORPG game ‘Archlord,’ there exists a variety of PVP content.

Field PVP, which can be enjoyed anywhere through the PVP mode activation setting, arena battles fought in parties, free duel arenas with open entry and exit, faction wars where sides are divided, and finally, guild wars, known as the flower of PVP.

In particular, these guild wars were the most intense and fiercely competitive PVP content, as each guild’s pride was at stake. Fights between famous guilds often garnered significant attention.

[Team B is all gathered.]

[Make sure to position the healer and buffer well.]

Listening to the guild members’ voices coming from the headset, I lightly stretched my hands together.

Having enjoyed Archlord for two years, I was the guild master of the ‘Sunday’ guild. As the number one guild on the server, it was quite large and had many capable guild members.

And there was one more guild that had similar skills to our guild. It was the ‘Another’ guild, visible right in front of us.

Truly the greatest rival in Archlord, the Another guild had clashed and fought with us whenever the opportunity arose, from its inception a year ago until now.

[Ah, I’m nervous.]

[Starting now.]

While taking a sip of the energy drink I had prepared in advance, a red system message appeared in the center of the screen.

Guild War will begin soon! Get ready!

Now it was starting. I put my hands on the keyboard and opened my mouth.

“Kill the opponent’s healer or buffer first. If it’s hard to kill them, call me or give a briefing.”

[Roger.]

[Got it!]

The Another guild members, who were waiting for the war to start just like our guild, were visible on the opposite side. Among them, the user standing at the forefront like me caught my eye.

Sky blue hair, oriental-style clothing, and a longsword with a blue ornament hanging from the waist. The clear blue light shimmering from the longsword proved it was an end-game item.

[All] heunjeok: Hehe

[All] heunjeok: (Emoticon)

As if noticing I was watching, the opponent displayed an emotion emoticon, waving his hand slightly.

‘Seriously, this crazy bastard.’

How could a guild master greet the opposing guild master like that right before a guild war?

Heunjeok, the guild master of Another, was so famous for being crazy, and I knew it well from experience, but it was still impressive every time.

[Guild] MovieSucks: lololol

[Guild] MovieSucks: Sunday, Heunjeok is greeting you?

[Guild] MovieSucks: Why aren’t you accepting it?ㅠㅠ

[Guild] OurTeamInseongIsJoInseong: Don’t accept itㅡㅡ

[Guild] OurTeamInseongIsJoInseong: Sunday is dead without her chicnessㅡㅡ

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: Stfu

[Guild] YeoYeoRang: Wow, chic;

[Guild] RyuPe: lololololol

I was now used to such teasing because Heunjeok always talked to me like that whenever he saw me.

The dignity of the guild master had long been reduced to dust, so it wasn’t particularly unpleasant, but the fact that the cause of the teasing was the guild master of Another was a bit annoying.

Guild War will begin!

5

4

3

2

1

Acquire kill points and seize victory!

The war had officially begun. As soon as the system message disappeared, two gauges appeared at the top. The side that killed more of the opposing guild members and obtained 100 points first could win the war.

[How many Holy Knights did they place at the front? There are no healers or buffers in the 7 o’clock direction.]

[One healer in the 5 o’clock direction! The buffer isn’t visible yet.]

‘Maha,’ the representative of Team A and the vice-guild master, and ‘GoodWeather,’ the representative of Team B, gave briefings in succession.

Seeing that the buffer wasn’t visible in front of the guild members clashing, it seemed they had placed them at the very back. Since healers and buffers were the most important roles in a group PVP, it wasn’t a bad strategy.

I pushed back the rushing enemies and quickly moved toward the center. If a regular guild member defeated the guild master, 15 points were awarded at once, and if the guild master defeated the enemy guild master, 20 points were awarded. I looked up and checked the speed at which the gauge was filling.

Perhaps because 40 people were clashing, the gauge was filling much faster than usual. In this case, the side that scored more points was at an advantage. And I couldn’t have been the only one thinking this.

‘As expected.’

When I arrived at the center, I saw Heunjeok, who had arrived before me. After defeating the guys blocking his path, he typed a message as if he had been waiting for me to arrive.

[All] heunjeok: (Emoticon)

It was the same emotion emoticon as before. The emoticon of a brightly smiling and waving hand was quite obnoxious. It wasn’t like he was teasing someone.

Instead of replying, I used an enhancement skill that strengthened attack speed and attack power. My character took a stance, swinging the staff it was holding greatly. Seeing that, Heunjeok also raised the tip of his sword upwards. He had activated a buff skill following my lead.

The first move was mine. I linked a dash skill and an attack skill to quickly close the distance, then swung the staff horizontally.

Clang! A sharp noise echoed as the staff and sword collided. Heunjeok’s blue sword, focused on attack speed, and my red staff, focused on attack power, clashed properly.

‘A. Then Z, X. So the skill I’ll use this time is W or Q.’

Knowing everything from Heunjeok’s job as a Blade to his skills and attack patterns, I created distance in advance. W was the Blade’s representative counter skill, and Q was dodging the opponent’s attack. Either way, it wasn’t a good skill for me, so it was better to skip a turn.

As soon as I retreated, Heunjeok came at me using his dash skill without hesitation. It was a movement that anticipated I would back off at this timing. Just like me, Heunjeok also knew the skills of the staff user class and my attack patterns.

Heunjeok, who came like flowing water, swung his sword nimbly. Instead of using a long cooldown evasion skill, I blocked the attack with a defense skill, but my health decreased much more than expected. The previous attack had landed a critical hit.

‘Lucky bastard.’

With that one hit, the situation immediately became unfavorable. I clicked my tongue and increased the speed of the skill link. The character’s actions became faster according to the speed at which I tapped the keyboard.

Since Heunjeok had used up a turn, it was my turn this time. I used a movement skill that could change position and two attack skills in succession.

The character stuck the staff into the ground and spun half a circle, putting its body into it. When my character, who had moved behind Heunjeok, succeeded in attacking in succession, his character floated into the air due to the recoil. Since no counterattack or evasion skill could be used while floating, I used an ultimate skill at this opportunity.

My character, emitting red energy from its whole body, jumped up and strongly slammed Heunjeok into the ground with the staff. Kwang! The ground shook greatly with the sound effect, and the floor cracked. Fortunately, I also landed a critical hit, and Heunjeok’s health was greatly reduced.

Heunjeok’s health, which had been hit by the ultimate skill with the strongest damage as a critical, fell below half. At that time, the kill point gauge visible on the screen had just passed 80%.

The person who survived between me and Heunjeok was the winner of the war. My health was a little more than half, so I was at an advantage for now, but I couldn’t relax. From now on, I had to endure Heunjeok’s ultimate skill somehow.

Heunjeok, who had gotten up immediately after being hit by my ultimate, disappeared in an instant, likely because he used his ultimate skill. I swallowed dry saliva and hastily turned the mouse with a coldly chilled hand to grasp Heunjeok’s location.

The Blade’s ultimate skill allowed him to teleport three times in succession within a 5m radius. Attack power and attack speed also increased to an extent that couldn’t be compared to buff skills. Instead, the skill duration was very short, so I only had to endure a little.

“Ah.”

As soon as I thought that, a hit effect flashed on the screen, and my blood drained away. My character tumbled to the ground from Heunjeok’s attack, who was already next to me. Following that, I received a second attack while still unable to get up due to the stiffness.

My health became similar to Heunjeok’s. If I received the last ultimate skill attack in this state, it was highly likely that I would lose.

I can’t be defeated easily. Narrowing my eyes and raising my concentration, I tapped the keyboard with the feeling of grasping at the last straw. I used the evasion skill that I had been saving all along and pressed the hidden skill that had a counterattack effect.

Clang!

A pure white light flashed in the center of the screen. I couldn’t hide the surprised emotion at the revealed sight.

Heunjeok’s last ultimate skill attack was perfectly blocked, and the remaining health of Heunjeok’s character disappeared at once. He had taken the damage that I should have received instead due to the counter effect.

Heunjeok collapsed, bleeding. At the same time, a fanfare rang out, and a guild war victory message appeared.

Guild War has ended! Winning Guild: Sunday

Congratulations! You have won the Guild War!

[Oh, nice!]

[Everyone worked hard.]

[Guild] RyuPe: Yessssssssss

[Guild] AsTaroT: Wow, this is crazy Yesssssss

[Guild] CanYouTurnOnTheLight: You worked hard~~

[Guild] rxrx78: Good job good game good

[Guild] MovieSucks: Good

“Hoo…….”

Only then did I realize that I had won, and I let out a long sigh of relief.

‘I can’t believe I won this.’

The conditions for activating the staff user’s hidden skill were so demanding that it was almost non-existent, so I didn’t have high expectations even while using it.

It was amazing and pleasant. It was like overturning an almost losing fight with one counterattack.

[All] heunjeok: Oops

Heunjeok typed a message while dead in front of me. Although he was disappointed by the defeat, he didn’t seem particularly upset or resentful.

Well, having done 15 wars so far, we had repeated winning and losing, so there was no need to get angry. I won today, but Heunjeok could win in the next war.

Still, it was a hard-won victory, so it would be disappointing to just pass it over quietly. I typed on the keyboard with a thick smile.

[All] TodayIsSunday: Hehe

[All] TodayIsSunday: (Emoticon)

[All] heunjeok: ?

[All] heunjeok: lololololol

When I exactly followed the emotion expression and chat that Heunjeok had done earlier, Heunjeok laughed as if he was dumbfounded.

You’re annoyed, aren’t you, you bastard. I am the victor today. I relished the joy of victory filling my heart.

A week had passed since the 15th war with the Another guild, where we had won.

As soon as I finished my part-time job and returned home, I turned on the computer. Perhaps because we had won the guild war, I was enjoying playing the game these days.

Should I gather the guild members and go on a raid today? I hummed a tune and logged into the game.

[Guild] RyuPe: Hihi

[Guild] OurTeamInseongIsJoInseong: Sunday, hello

[Guild] Maha: Hi

[Guild] YeoYeoRang: Guild master hi~

[Guild] rxrx78: No, but is this even possible?

[Guild] GoodWeather: It’s absurd lol

[Guild] IHave6000Won: The fact that he was hacked is a bit..

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: Hi

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: What’s up?

[Guild] GoodWeather: Um….

Being puzzled by the somewhat chaotic guild atmosphere, I asked, and GoodWeather hesitated as if embarrassed before explaining.

[Guild] GoodWeather: Another’s guild master has disappeared

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: ??

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: Suddenly? Why?

[Guild] GoodWeather: It seems the guild master has disappeared

[Guild] Maha: It seems Heunjeok deleted his account altogether

[Guild] Maha: He’s not even in the personal PVP rankings now

[Guild] Maha: For now, Another’s guild member posted on the free board that he suddenly disappeared

“What?”

I, who had been looking at the guild chat without any thoughts, frowned at the unexpected content.