Episode 9. Ted's Siege (4)
The
Chalsu had planned two objectives for them.
1. When the outer wall was breached, to help the soldiers break through the castle walls from the very front lines alongside Tenichi.
2. To ultimately infiltrate the heart of the Great Plains and take down high-level rankers. Objective 2 was only possible because of
This was because she possessed an extremely rare
However, once they actually breached the outer wall and entered the Great Plains, they forgot about objective 2.
They had never intended to side with the Paprika Commando Unit in the first place.
Their sole purpose was to confirm with their own two eyes whether Ted existed. Nothing more.
"Unni, unni! Isn't this Lord Ted?"
"Hmm. I think you're right."
That was why they hadn't even logged in when the siege began.
In reality, they checked information posted on internet communities by users who had died during the siege.
But among them was a piece of information that struck a chord with their instincts.
It was precisely a story about the lightning that had poured down from Count Sauron's territory.
"That lightning... it's not magic. It's similar, but the shape of that electrical current can only be seen in Charged Lightning."
Recording footage during a siege was impossible.
However, images could be retained in very limited ways.
Among the community posts, musketeer
He had immediately realized the identity of that skill.
"Is it true...? I looked it up, and it's supposed to be a D-rank skill called Charged Lightning... Is an attack like that possible with a D-rank skill...?"
The tanker of Tesamo,
"Right. Honestly, I can't believe it either. But that person defeated me, a level 550, at level 150. He definitely possesses something beyond just his level."
With Roan's last words, the guild members logged into the game. This was because Chalsu had called for them.
"Now, what you all need to do from here on is—!"
"Yes, yes."
They pretended to listen to Chalsu and advanced into the Great Plains inside the outer wall alongside Tenichi.
"He is here."
"He should be around here somewhere."
Until the all-out battle in the Great Plains began, they repeatedly searched their surroundings.
If someone were to be hit by a bullet of abnormally high attack power?
Then the one who attacked them would be none other than Ted.
But then.
"Ugh...!"
Suddenly,
"A bullet...!" Kon exclaimed, startled by the ambush.
"Unni!" At the same time, Tedheart called for Uyuri.
"I know.
Uyuri immediately used a
They relocated to the ruins of the broken wall and hid their presence.
It was truly terrifying damage. Enough to kill the Korean ranker
That attack. That damage. There was only one person capable of it.
"Uyuri unni. Kon oppa. This is definitely what Uncle Roan was talking about. Lord Ted's abnormally high attack power!"
"Th-then... it is an honorable death...."
"Indeed. From now on, we move toward where the bullet was fired. Find the user wearing the bear doll mask."
After a brief mourning for Roan, they began to move.
"The bullet was fired from Sector B on the count's army side. So run that way.
Uyuri cast mass stealth magic and acceleration magic on the group.
An A-rank skill that granted stealth only in bright places.
It was fourth-tier stealth. Relying on that advanced skill, they quickly moved toward the count's side.
"Halt, you bastards!"
It was then.
Those blocking them at the place presumed to be where Ted was:
They were four third-job-advancement NPCs, including a Musketeer and a Law Mage.
'Gasp, we're completely surrounded. What do we do, unni? Oppa?'
'Uyuri noona....'
'Don't worry. If this place is the command center, then we've actually come to a good place.'
Chasing Ted's trail had led them near the count's army command center.
No matter how high-tier their fourth-tier stealth was, moving so openly near the enemy leadership meant they couldn't avoid being detected by the high-level NPCs.
"Impudent outsiders. How dare you crawl into the heart of enemy territory!"
Raiden aimed his gun at Uyuri.
But at that moment, Uyuri tore off the
"We surrender."
"What?"
"Please spare us. We will become swords for the Count's territory."
Their first objective: confirming Ted's existence.
That was confirmed.
Now was the time to initiate their second plan. To find Ted from Ted's own side.
The surrender was successful. Although the penalties were not small. After briefly meeting Count Sauron under heavy guard, they obtained a sub-quest through the
"Unni, you're a genius! This means we can find Lord Ted without having to fight him?"
"Noona... you're really amazing. Did you plan this from the very beginning...?"
Tedheart and Kon praised her. However, Uyuri began walking without much of a reply.
"Enough, let's hurry up and find Lord Ted."
Uyuri said indifferently with an expressionless face.
Thump, thump....
Yet right now, her heart felt as though it would burst.
'I can see Lord Ted.'
* * *
It was a message that appeared for Chalsu, who had plunged into the all-out battle.
"Wh-what, what did you say!?"
Chalsu felt a nauseating sensation in that moment.
Withdrawing from a faction.
It was an act of immense risk.
Those who unilaterally withdrew from their faction during a siege would receive the
Until they cleared the title through multiple quests, fatal system penalties would apply to them: a 5% decrease in all stats, a 3-year ban from participating in sieges, reduced experience gain for 60 days, a massive increase in crime stats, and so on.
And yet they had withdrawn despite knowing all that?
"Roan, Nam Yun-ho, you fucking bastard! Just what kind of people did you bring here?"
Chalsu urgently searched for Roan. But he only received news that Roan had died.
Chalsu nearly burst with rage. He barely suppressed his fury.
Now it was a full-scale all-out battle. The loss of troops was fatal, but he somehow had to carry out the plans that followed.
"I'm going too."
Chalsu himself was one of the third-job-advancement users. He began running directly into the Great Plains.
* * *
With the outer walls collapsing, the situation flowed into an undeniable all-out battle.
The Sauron side had laid numerous traps in preparation for them entering the Great Plains.
But immediately before the all-out battle began, all of them were neutralized in an instant.
The reason was none other than
"Mr.
Ruri had lost track of Ted's movements.
She had used all manner of sorcery to search for Ted's trail for a while, but soon gave up.
Regarding where Ted was, she felt she roughly knew his general location. However, the condition for her sorcery was exact positional coordinates. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't figure that out.
'...I suppose it can't be helped. Then I must focus on the all-out battle for now.'
Using most of her mana, she forcibly triggered the traps at the Great Plains entrance with various sorceries.
As a result, bombs exploded from empty ground, and carefully concealed holes in the earth caved in deeply.
It was a specialist's skill utilization befitting a siege expert.
Ruri spoke to Tenichi via a
Before the all-out battle began, Ruri had requested a 1:1 against
She hadn't been hoping for much. She merely wanted him to inform her of
However, Tenichi, who laughed foolishly every day, was actually a man of great pride and audacity.
Because of this, despite participating in numerous sieges with Ruri, his castle capture count was low. Whenever he met a strong opponent, he would always show off and end up dying.
'Hmm, shall I watch this once? Fool vs. Monster... this will be fun.'
Ruri simply decided to watch Tenichi and respond according to how the situation flowed.
* * *
A battle exclusively between third-job-advancement users began at the center of the Great Plains, (12 vs. 8 + Tenichi).
It began as an evenly matched battle. Tenichi had been contributing the strength of three or more people.
But when Ted sniped three from a distance, the situation began to tilt in the count's territory's favor.
Level 500+ users wouldn't die in one hit if they were tankers.
This was because they possessed HP, defense, bullet resistance, and so on.
Black and White also had defense ignore attached. However, depending on the connection rate of the Six Stellar Thrones, the current defense ignore rate was approximately 24.3%. Therefore, he had to pay attention to defense as well.
'Against most guys, a headshot should be a one-hit kill.'
Just as Ted had killed Roan with his opening shot.
Unless they were a tanker, aiming for a headshot usually resulted in an instant kill.
Of course, this was by no means easy. Third-job-advancement users boasted incredibly agile movements, and they fought while accurately understanding each other's positions and covering their weaknesses.
'I have to kill them unconditionally in one shot.'
If it wasn't a one-shot kill, Ted's own position would be revealed to the Sorcery Sage Ruri.
She had definitely cast
For this reason, Ted didn't target Tenichi.
Bang!
After firing a single shot, Ted urgently used
This was also to escape Ruri's detection.
'It can't be helped in order to play it safe.'
Dying to the Sorcery Sage for some unforeseen reason would be a loss.
It was better to be slow but safe than to waste time in the underworld.
And so, Ted steadily sniped them one by one.
Yet despite the frustratingly slow battle, Ted felt rather satisfied.
This was because of the tremendous experience gained from killing third-job-advancement users.
Ted's level was 275.
His opponents were third-job-advancement users, so they were at least level 500.
In such a situation, the experience gained from killing one person was nearly 90% or more of his experience bar.
It was practically one level up per person!
'If I catch all the third-job-advancement users, the siege will be over.'
Ted exhaled and placed his eye to the scope again.
But then.
"Where are you!"
The third-job-advancement tanker clad in blue heavy armor. It was
He had briefly left and returned; upon his return, he immediately began running toward where Ted was, as if searching for someone.
'What the, what's he doing?'
By then, through several snipes, Ted had come quite a distance from the command center. It was the opposite direction from the Sauron Plains, but it was a place overgrown with trees just like the Sauron Plains.
'This is troublesome. He's looking for me.'
Until then, he had only considered Ruri. But to think that tanker would suddenly push in like this.
Ted quickly finished his assessment and used
"What, above the tree?
But then.
Swish—!
Tenichi unleashed sword qi precisely in the direction Ted was moving. Sharp blue mana drew the shape of a crescent moon and flew toward Ted.
Startled, Ted twisted his body to evade the attack.
'Did the tanker figure out my position while I'm stealthed?'
Tankers didn't have specific detection magic.
And it was unlikely that a character made solely for tanking had advanced into a dual class as a Law Mage or Hunter.
Ted's doubts were resolved the moment he saw his sword.
'A skill orb is glowing.'
Two skill orbs were inserted into the slots of his massive bastard sword. But one of them was emitting light.
'A detection-type skill orb. He has money to burn, attaching all sorts of things.'
In that moment, Ted ran deep into the thicket.
This was something of a trap.
If Ted became too preoccupied with the guy and revealed his specific position, then information about that location would reach the Sorcery Sage far away.
There was only one answer: to distance himself as much as possible from the Great Plains so the information couldn't reach the Sorcery Sage.
Fortunately,
"Ahaha! Running is useless!
He activated the skill orb's magic and began running toward Ted's position.
His speed was much faster than Ted's.
"
Then, three arcs of sword qi stretched out with timed delays and shot toward Ted.
'Ugh!'
Two veered off in different directions and missed.
But the last one grazed Ted's back.
Soon after, Ted's stealth was dispelled.
"There you are! You sure can run? Hahahaha!"
But while he laughed, Ted began running once more, even farther from the Great Plains.
His HP had not decreased.
The
It was an attack that inflicted
Getting stunned in a 1:1 fight against a tanker was fatal for Ted, a ranged damage dealer.
'He's faster than me. Running isn't the answer. I have to fight. How many bullets do I need to feed him to win?'
Ted ran the numbers in his head.
'A critical hit should deal between 20% to 25% damage per shot. If I calculate abilities and support skills... I probably need to land 6 shots if I only aim for the head.'
Six headshots against an opponent faster and stronger than himself.
It wouldn't be easy.
'Think, Ted!'
Just as Ted was racking his brains desperately.
"
Therefore, Tenichi used it continuously with a short cooldown.
This time, the direction was poor and it missed far away.
'Tenichi shows an opening after casting that skill.'
Ted carefully analyzed his every motion as he launched the attack.
Perhaps due to the skill penalty of Triwheel Binding Sword Qi, he seemed to suffer from the abnormal status
After that, he used a footwork skill to close the gap.
He was repeating this pattern.
'I have to dodge the three sword qi with timed delays while simultaneously attacking him. That will be the first bullet.'
Having made his judgment on the first attack, Ted pressed the musket close to the front of his chest.
He then turned around, hiding the musket behind his back.
The long musket was completely hidden by Ted's back and head.
Before even a second passed, Tenichi, who had been running from dozens of meters away, instantly closed the distance to Ted.
"Huh, so you're going to face me head-on?
Distance: 10m.
Tenichi unleashed his skill.
Three arcs of sword qi flew toward Ted in order, with timed delays.
'
At that moment, having fulfilled the 5-second condition, Ted used Thousand Li Stride to evade the first sword qi.
But at the spot he dodged to, the second sword qi attack was aiming for Ted.
'
Ted used Skywalk at that moment to kick off the air and leap up. The second sword qi narrowly missed.
The third and final sword qi remained.
"Did I get you!"
Tenichi shouted as he unleashed the third sword qi.
But then.
Ted pulled out the musket he had hidden behind his back.
Thick, yellow lightning was gathered upon the musket.
From the moment he hid it on his body. The skill Ted had been casting.
"
Upon the skill's activation, Ted's body was flung nearly 2 meters backward.
The powerful recoil of Charged Lightning had pushed Ted's body.
That 2 meters was enough distance to avoid the final attack of the Triwheel Sword Qi.
At the same time.
The fired Charged Lightning flew precisely toward Tenichi's head.
Tenichi was startled but couldn't move to avoid it.
"Uh-uh-uh?"
In that brief moment of less than a second, yellow light of lightning enveloped and spread across his body.
The shadow spreading from the other side of that light covered the forest.