Episode 25
[Combat] You took 3,237 damage from Retake’s damage-over-time effect.
[Combat] You took 9,684(-4,455) damage from Manju’s Ferocious Assault.
[Combat] You recovered 18,675 HP from Conch Shell’s Foresight effect.
[Combat] You took 7,118(-3,275) damage from The Sleep Manual’s Smack to the Back of the Head.
[Combat] You took 6,250(-2,875) damage from Manju’s Vein Slash.
[Combat] You resisted the Bleed effect thanks to Conch Shell’s Immunity Boost effect.
[Combat] Retake recovered 10,900 HP from Healing Formula IX’s effect.
[Combat] Retake recovered 6,071 HP from the Chief God’s Wisdom effect.
[Combat] Retake recovered 12,898 HP from Forbidden Mercy’s effect.
[Combat] You took 2,903(-1,336) damage from Retake’s Corner Strike.
[Combat] You resisted the Bleed effect thanks to Conch Shell’s Immunity Boost effect.
[Combat] Retake’s Research Virus XXI mutated, resetting its duration.
I couldn’t even think straight. The combat log was flying up in an instant, and I couldn’t tell whether what was coming in was damage or healing. Maybe I should’ve just quietly sent it by mail and ended it there. For a very brief moment, I even regretted it.
Still, I was fighting with the thought, “I’ve already started, so I might as well win,” but… to be honest, I wasn’t sure I would definitely win. No matter how much I hit him, no matter how much I pulled aggro so our damage dealers could deal damage to Retake and took the hits in their place, Retake’s HP had never even dropped to half. Not once.
I knew very well why. It was because the enemy healers knew Retake was being marked—and even if they didn’t, because he was Retake—and were focusing their heals on him. Then should we bite down on the enemy healers first and kill them? If Retake hadn’t been in this war, of course we would have, but right now, there was no chance.
A party with Retake in it survived until Retake died. He calculated when and how much damage would come in, then kept everyone alive with the most suitable distribution of heals.
Of course, even his healing had limits, so casualties did occur, but he restored the party so efficiently and meticulously that it made me wonder if even that was all part of his plan. Even now, the other butterfly-race mass PvP parties were dying one after another, reviving at the base, and having to run back, but the raid group with Retake in it alone was holding firm without needing to do that.
Ceylon Tea, who had tried to slip into the backline of such a party and assassinate someone, only to miss one Priest Destroyer and die because of Retake’s quick cover, grumbled.
[Party] Ceylon Tea: Aaaah fuuuuuck, he would’ve died in one more hit, a`!~!~!~!~!
[Party] Ceylon Tea: No but ffs wow~~~ seriously, this is disgusting;
My thoughts exactly.
Agreeing with Ceylon Tea, I interrupted one of Retake’s healing skills. In the meantime, Massacre, who was running back here after reviving at the base, chimed in.
[Party] Massacre: This looks hopeless
[Party] Ceylon Tea: fr
[Party] Massacre: Looking at the base too, because of the time, there aren’t any players around to come support the mass PvP
[Party] Massacre: Might be better to just give up and say you’ll get him the video while doing solo PvP;
[Party] Ceylon Tea: fr fr
Even though the fight was dragging on, the enemy showed no sign of collapsing, so everyone seemed exhausted. I was the same, but… after going this far, it felt like too much of a shame to give up and turn back now. The war I had started would end in defeat. On top of that, I’d even bought and used a domain skill with a week’s worth of Fame points.
…But that didn’t mean I could coax the party members well enough to keep the fight going. As Massacre said, our race was in no position to receive any more reinforcements, while on Retake’s side, the broadcast’s influence was huge, so their numbers were gradually increasing. In other words, there was no guarantee we would definitely win even if we kept fighting here.
Should we give up on killing Retake in this mass PvP as Massacre said and retreat? But doing that made me feel like I was backing down.
Pulling out like this would hurt my pride, dying would hurt my pride, and winning was difficult. In that case, I wanted to bet on the difficult side—the one where my pride might not be hurt, the one where there was a chance I wouldn’t lose.
While blocking the attacks pouring down on me as much as possible, I racked my brain. Wasn’t there any way to win? If I used an Avatar skill like I had when I killed Retake yesterday, I’d be able to seize the advantage a little more. However, because I had used a domain skill, I couldn’t use Avatar while this skill lasted. Even if I could, Retake would undoubtedly use Avatar as well, and in the first place, starting a war and beating Retake with Avatar felt kind of unsatisfying….
Wait. Avatar?
Something flashed through my mind, and I checked the ranks of the butterfly-race players around me. Among the rank titles attached like modifiers to the left of their nicknames, only two people, including Retake, had Commander-in-Chief or Grand Commander.
By contrast, we had as many as five Commander-in-Chief and Grand Commander players who could become Avatars immediately.
[Party] Honey Bun: Guys
Instead of blocking attacks for a moment, I stood still and typed in chat. The rate at which my HP was falling sped up, but I trusted Conch Shell.
[Party] Ceylon Tea: Wha
[Party] Ceylon Tea: Run?
[Party] Honey Bun: Pop Avatar
[Party] Massacre: ?
[Party] SayJeonAndIFryJeon: ?
[Party] Ceylon Tea: Huh?
[Party] AllNamesAreTaken: ??
Question marks that implied, “What kind of bullshit are you saying?” came up all at once. Conch Shell, who was working hard to heal me, probably had the same question mark floating in his head even if he couldn’t type in chat.
[Party] Honey Bun: First hit
[Party] Honey Bun: Guarantees victory^^!
[Party] AllNamesAreTaken: There’s a war
[Party] AllNamesAreTaken: This evening
[Party] Ceylon Tea: Has he gone nuts because he doesn’t wanna lose to Retake?
[Party] AllNamesAreTaken: And you’re telling us to use Avatar???
Every Thursday, on patch day, an evening mass PvP war was guaranteed to open, so the rule was to save Avatar skills on that day. But aside from us, there were five more Commander-in-Chief and Grand Commander players, including me. In the first place, this rule wasn’t something that absolutely had to be followed. It was only a consideration from the rankers, like, It’d be good to use it during the war, so I’ll save it until then!
And to me, beating Retake was more important than the evening war.
[Party] Honey Bun: If you use Avatar
[Party] Honey Bun: 200
200. For convenience, we left off the ten-thousand unit at the end, but if written out properly, it meant 2,000,000 Amber (*the unit of game currency in Dusk).
The moment I typed 200 into chat, a new notification appeared in the race chat tab.
[Race] Commander-in-Chief Ceylon Tea has descended as the Avatar of True Night at the Cliff of the Last Breath.
[Race] Angel: ?
[Race] Commander-in-Chief AllNamesAreTaken has descended as the Avatar of True Night at the Cliff of the Last Breath.
[Race] HyungLetsBreakUp: ?
[Race] Angel: ??
[Race] Cutemix: What are you guys doing?
It was a notification saying Ceylon Tea and AllNamesAreTaken, who had immediately understood what I meant, had descended as Avatars.
Then, in party chat, Jeon and Massacre asked again.
[Party] SayJeonAndIFryJeon: 200?? 2 mil?????
[Party] Massacre: ??????
[Party] Massacre: fr?
[Party] Honey Bun: Yeah
[Race] Commander-in-Chief SayJeonAndIFryJeon has descended as the Avatar of True Night at the Cliff of the Last Breath.
[Race] Cutemix: No, seriously, what is this???? Did something happen??????
[Race] Angel: Calm down; why are there three of them?
Once even Jeon activated Avatar, the butterfly-race players near me stopped attacking. They seemed bewildered by the current situation.
Retake must have been flustered too, because he first tried to run to the opposite side. It was obvious he intended to move somewhere safe where attacks couldn’t reach him for the time being and assess the situation.
Not a chance. I prepared this for you. Muttering inwardly, I used Capture to grab Retake as he tried to run and pulled him back. The other butterfly-race players were busy putting distance between themselves and us, but Retake alone was caught by me and couldn’t move an inch.
[Party] Honey Bun: I’ll kill Retake
[Party] Honey Bun: If Retake dies
[Party] Honey Bun: I’ll add 50 more
[Party] Massacre: Ah, screw itㅋㅋㅋ Dunno anymore~
[Race] Massacre: sry I gotta earn 2.5 million lol
[Race] Commander-in-Chief Massacre has descended as the Avatar of True Night at the Cliff of the Last Breath.
[Race] ThisIsAShellGame: Ah, what is this, seriously what is thisㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Race] Pollock Roe Conan: Someone said they’d give 2.5 mil if they used Avatar? Did those butterfly bastards throw money at them??
[Race] ByeBye: No, what bastard pays enemy officers 250,000 won each just to win the evening war?
[Race] Honey Bun: sry it’s me
[Race] ByeBye: ??
[Race] SoundOfMoppingWater: 250???
[Race] Pollock Roe Conan: ?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Race] Rock Paper Scissors: He said 250, insaneㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Race] Grand Commander Conch Shell has descended as the Avatar of True Night at the Cliff of the Last Breath.
[Race] PoppinSmash: LEGEND
Even Conch Shell, who had silently been taking care of me, used Avatar. Near me, there were five rankers waiting with their wings spread, showing off their majesty. It was extremely satisfying.
[General] Retake: ?
[General] Retake: ?
[General] Retake: ?
[General] Retake: >?
While continuing to suppress and drag back Retake, who was desperately struggling with all kinds of self-defense skills and movement techniques to get away from me, I quickly moved my fingers.
[Party] Honey Bun: So I can kill Retake
[Party] Honey Bun: Wreck them all for me^^
[Party] Ceylon Tea: ^^7
[Party] SayJeonAndIFryJeon: ^^7
[Party] Massacre: ^^7
[Party] AllNamesAreTaken: ^^7
[Party] Conch Shell: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ^^7
After the saluting emoticons came up, every party member chased after the butterfly-race players who were running away for dear life. The sight of them spreading their wings, charging in, killing them one by one, and easily wiping out parties that attacked in an organized manner as if conducting a raid was nothing more than seal-clubbing (*slaughtering opponents with overwhelming skill). Considering it took at least two or three parties’ worth of people to suppress one Avatar, it was only natural.
And so, only the two of us were left nearby.