Episode 15. Hunting the Turncoats (1)
It was when Ted was riding high, leading countless territorial wars to victory.
Ninety-nine percent of users belonging to Caron rejoiced over the
But as was always the case in this world, nothing was ever one hundred percent.
The remaining one percent of users were feeling a great sense of crisis at the changed situation.
“Ah, f*ck… Aren’t we totally f*cked?”
They were the
“At this rate, isn’t Caron really going to drive out Pixi? The number of territories Caron has reclaimed over the past few days isn’t just one or two, you know.”
“Exactly thirty-seven territories have been recovered in just one week. That’s faster than when Pixi devoured Caron. It’s absolutely insane, I’m telling you.”
The turncoat guild,
Being an elite few, they currently found themselves in a very unpleasant situation.
The moment the Pixi Kingdom’s army had swarmed in and devoured their territories, they had changed their nationality to the Pixi Kingdom.
In their own way, they had read the flow of the war. Staying in the declining Caron Kingdom was foolish. Jumping on a new bandwagon even a moment faster than others was to their benefit.
A fat guild member of
“At this rate, isn’t Caron really going to drive out Pixi and become independent?”
“Hey, you want to talk nonsense? F*ck… That’s bad luck.”
“No, but it’s true. The momentum of the kingdom’s reclamation is incredibly fast. And I heard that
“You little sh*t, what kind of dog-sh*t nonsense are you spewing now! You want to get hit?”
The needle-eyed guild member grabbed the fatty by the collar.
Then, a dry voice rang out.
“Don’t be so tense, you bastards.”
“Guild Master hyung…….”
“Hyung, do you have some kind of plan?”
A tall, lanky man. He was the guild master of
“You lot. Don’t you know about the bounty placed on Ted’s head by the Pixi side recently?”
“They put one up.”
“But who’s going to catch that Ted…? I looked into it, and if you use a detection skill on him, his level comes out as 400. But they say it’s all manipulated. They say he used something like a spell scroll to fake it. So people are estimating Ted’s real level to be in the mid-700s… How exactly are we supposed to catch him?”
The fatty was right.
According to rumors spreading through the world, Ted’s level was in the mid-700s.
They believed he was currently using some method to conceal this.
“Bastard. Of course it is. Mid-700s is basically a world ranker, so it’s hard for us to catch him. Not just us—even if a thousand pigs like you rushed him, you probably wouldn’t be a match, would you?”
At those words, Needle Eyes and the guild master, Duple, cackled.
He was right. Currently, level 750 would place one within the world’s top 50 rankings. Top 50 among 1.5 billion users. It was impossible for them to defeat such a user.
“Then what are you going to do, Guild Master hyung? Did you bring this up because you have a plan?”
The fatty asked with a wounded expression.
“Listen well, you lot. We’re very lucky.”
Duple shared the bounty status window with them.
It was the status window updated that morning.
“What, if it’s this, we don’t necessarily have to kill Ted ourselves?”
Needle Eyes glared at the status window.
The bounty placed on Ted’s head was 100,000 gold. In other words, 1 billion won in cash. That much was the same as before.
However, whereas the previous official document read
“Who puts up 100,000 gold for one user’s head?”
Though they didn’t know it, Ted was currently under the cooldown of a
If Ted were killed now, he wouldn’t be able to log into the game for several tens of days. Then, the tides of war would turn.
In such a situation, the 100,000 gold on Ted’s head could actually be called a very small amount of money.
At any rate, looking at them, the guild master, Duple, opened his mouth again.
“Hey, like I said, we’re very lucky. If you calculate the direction the First Special Unit is coming from, Ted will soon arrive at this territory… We can make a big score now and leave Pixi and Caron behind to cross over to the neutral zone. Now, listen to my plan.”
Duple, having explained the plan, grinned widely with a mouth that looked torn.
Soon, Needle Eyes and the fatty, having heard the plan, smiled similarly. It was a very simple and splendid operation.
“Phew. I’m really still here because of you, hyung. You’re a genius!”
“Wow… if everything goes according to Guild Master hyung’s plan, can we eat beef this time?”
A luxurious spell scroll clutched in their hands glimmered.
* * *
For the past few days, Ted had been reclaiming various territories without rest alongside the militia.
In that way, in just one week, the number of territories Ted had reclaimed was nineteen.
The number of conquered territories corresponded to one-fifth of the kingdom’s total territories, and the speed of conquest was one that could be recorded in the world record books.
‘Phew, I’m tired. But I can’t stop!’
During this time, Ted’s level had reached 439. In addition, the proficiency of
‘The proficiency isn’t rising as much as I thought…’
If things had gone as expected, Charged Lightning should have already risen to B-rank.
However, perhaps there was a brake on rapid growth; after passing 90%, each 1% was rising slower than before.
At any rate, Ted, the First Special Unit, and the militia were woven into a single force, continuously driving out the Pixi Kingdom’s army.
While they were breaking through from the Caron Kingdom’s frontier territories to the capital territory and reclaiming them, militias that had risen up in other places were also cooperating with the
At this rate, it was a situation where Caron’s liberation might be realized before long.
But a minor problem had arisen.
‘The next territory… it’ll be really hard to break through.’
The next territory the First Special Unit faced was a unique territory called the
There was one problem with the Special Unit reclaiming that place.
‘I believe the gate was made of exploding rock?’
On the continent of Face, there was a rock called the
A gate that Pixi had spent the last 40 days constructing.
It was a gate made with the intention of destroying the territory rather than letting it be taken back.
‘It’ll be troublesome if that explodes.’
The problem was that Pokyu Stones exploded in the direction opposite to where the shock was received.
In other words, if Ted struck the gate with Charged Lightning, the gate would explode inward into the
“If Sir Ted’s skill makes contact, calculations suggest that perhaps half the territory would be blown away……”
It was the words of an analyst staff officer.
‘This is a predicament.’
No matter how much of a madman Ted was as a user, he wasn’t such an utter madman that he would blow away half a territory without even planning a method.
For that reason, the First Special Unit was currently unable to attack the
“Please think of some method.”
“That won’t do. A week is too long to take one territory.”
“That won’t do either. Honestly, even five days is too long.”
‘What do you expect us to do…!’
As Ted and several staff officers were burning the midnight oil, devising various strategies through meetings,
“Ah, hello.”
A few users had come to find them.
* * *
“You said there is a way to capture the territory?”
“Yes. We are users who were earnestly participating in the independence movement over at the
Three users had come there.
One fat user. One user with sharp, ripped eyes. And finally, a user named
“Ah, I see. First, please help with identity verification for these people.”
“Yes.”
Identity verification was something that had to be done as a formality. However, the staff officers, who had recently been reclaiming various territories easily thanks to the help of militias, did not harbor much hostility toward the appearance of the three.
‘With this, even the fastidious Sir Ted will be pleased!’
‘Sigh, I can finally see an angle to untangle this mess.’
A user who was a guard used a simple
“Hmm, they are affiliated with the Caron nation. No guild. No criminal tendencies either. It seems true that you carried out militia activities.”
But something seemed puzzling; the guard examined the ambiguously popped-up status window.
Meanwhile, the simply excited staff officers called the three into the conference room.
“Yes, yes. This is truly fortunate. Then, please allow us to escort you three this way.”
“Ah, thank you.”
They and the staff officers entered the conference room.
And Ted, who unconditionally attended every meeting, also entered there.
‘Huk, so that’s the Ted, Guild Master hyung. Seeing him in person is f*cking intimidating…….’
‘Shut up and stay still.’
The strongest musketeer, whom they had only encountered through YouTube videos.
Seeing such a person right before their eyes, the fatty couldn’t help but feel cold sweat running down his back.
“So what is it? A strategy to capture the Gwollern Fortress Territory?”
“Ah, yes. I shall explain now.”
Soon, the user named Duple told the staff officers about the method to capture the territory.
“I was a user who acted as a militia member in the
The listening staff officers nodded.
Because it was impossible to enter or exit a castle under siege.
“As you know, the Gwollern fortress walls run up along the mountain. However, I know of a dog hole. That is the reason I was able to come here.”
“A dog hole?”
“Oh, is that true?”
It wasn’t that it didn’t make sense.
Having gained a favorable response, Duple excitedly continued the story.
About one or two people could enter through the dog hole.
If one entered, they could get inside the territory through a long underground passage.
Duple logically unraveled such a story and persuaded the staff officers.
“Hm, I shall go verify the truth of this.”
A staff officer who was a user logged out to confirm the facts.
Having soon contacted another user inside the
“It’s true.”
Duple’s words were true.
According to the staff officer, the user had discovered an underground passage marked as an
At the staff officer’s words, the corner of Duple’s mouth briefly rose, then soon fell.
“Then there is no reason to hesitate. We shall depart at once. Please attach just two Assassin users who have undergone their third class advancement.”
“Yes!”
Ted, whose insides had been itching from having nothing but meetings all day without any countermeasures, moved immediately.
Soon, two assassin-class rankers in the early level 500s followed him, heading to the cave alongside Ted.
The operation was simple.
Enter the Gwollern Fortress Territory and blow the gate open from the opposite side. Then, the Special Unit waiting from afar would enter and mop things up.
Having easily conquered territories in succession, Ted, thinking this would be easy again, headed toward the
Even then, Ted dug into the dog hole without a second thought.
The dog hole was a well-made place for an underground passage. First, light magic was attached here and there, so it was fairly bright.
It was large enough for a person to stand and walk, and the metal pillars supporting it looked sturdy enough that there was no worry of collapse.
But when they arrived about midway through the dog hole, a wide space was revealed.
In that space, as wide as a museum, several pillars descended here and there.
‘Hm?’
It was around then that Ted sensed something strange.
‘What is it?’
He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what this feeling was.
However, something was being caught by Ted’s developed
‘I hear strange sounds… And there are strange traces…….’
It was when Ted was feeling strange and tensing up.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwah—!
In an instant, all kinds of weapons sprang out from behind the surrounding pillars in various places.
‘Ugh!’
The startled Ted reflexively unfolded
“Kurk! Sir Ted!”
“Uuaaark!”
As the surprised Ted clung to a pillar and looked at them, several NPCs sprang out from each pillar and attacked the assassin rankers in succession.
Sharp longswords stabbed them, and axes struck them down.
During that time, Ted silently observed the situation. Rather than attacking recklessly, he was grasping the unfolding situation.
‘Who are these guys?’
The status window floating above their heads was strange.
Ted examined them carefully, feeling puzzled.
There were nine of them. NPCs all with close-range tank-type jobs. Moreover, their levels all appeared to be above 500. No, perhaps there were some above 600.
The level of their items, including weapons, was quite high. Most had items of Rare grade or higher, and there were some with Epic-grade weapons.
But there was one thing. There was something strange about their bodies.
‘But their eyes are orange? Where have I seen that orange before. Hmm, where was it……. But why are these guys here?’
When he still couldn’t fully grasp the situation,
Duple, the fatty, and Needle Eyes, who were standing outside the NPCs’ attack range, began to flee to the far opposite side of the cave.
“Hey, we’ve done what we needed to do, run!”
“Ihi-hik! To think it would succeed so easily! It’s 500 million! 500 million!”
Chattering such words excitedly.
‘They deceived me…….’
And at that moment, Ted, who had organized the entire situation clearly in his head, hung his head.
Because surging anger was welling up.
He had been completely fooled. By such an awkward trio’s wordplay.
It was a clumsy deception, yet one with a certain degree of cunning.
“Let us kill him…….”
“He is the target…….”
Soon, the orange-eyed NPCs began to charge at Ted, brandishing their weapons.
During that time, a voice was heard in Ted’s ears, who had been vacillating over using
And that voice coincided with Ted’s will.
‘
The moment white horns, sharpened like famed swords, sprouted from Ted’s head.
ZZZZT—!!
A massive bolt of lightning began to burst forth toward the backs of the trio fleeing to the opposite side of the dog hole.