Chapter 241
"Hey, Seojun, can you just stop for a second? I said stop! Do you want to break off our friendship? Really?"
"It does feel a bit off this time, I'll admit. Why don't you just rest a moment and then tap it, like Taewoo said?"
"Oh? Then I'd better tap it."
[Gentle Breeze Ring] [Legendary]
[+9]
[Additional Effect: Attack and Movement Speed]
"Oh. It succeeded. It's definitely around 20%..."
A shriek cut Seojun off.
"KYAAAARGH! YAH! I told you not to tap it! I somehow felt it was going to work this time!"
"Why are you getting so annoyed? You thoroughly enjoyed it when I failed before."
This was the fourth attempt at +9 for the ring.
Whenever he had some spare time, he'd do a bit of crafting to kill time, and each time he ended up with two +8 rings, he'd attempt +9. That was attempt number four.
And it succeeded.
"Hmph. From the perspective of Taewoo, who barely managed to get four +7 rings, this must be heartbreaking, but I'll congratulate you!"
"Thanks, Dangso. Nice to see you've come back to your senses for the first time in a while. Let's hope this lucid state lasts at least an hour today."
"What?!"
"Oh, there you go again, already back to your usual self."
"Ha!"
Dangso kept squawking something, but Seojun nonchalantly ignored her and addressed his viewers.
"Barely managed to prepare with just four +9 rings on the day. What a relief."
- Keuk!
- Shhh
- That's some pretty good luck
- Meanwhile Taewoo, who's still stuck at four +7 rings, is sobbing his eyes out lololololololololol
"No. Since it succeeded, let's just go for +10 instead. Huh? I said let's go for +10. Hurry!"
He still had one +8 ring left, so he tried enhancing that too, but it shattered.
Since an item can't be sold once it's been enhanced even once, he'd planned to try for +10 on the remaining one, as Taewoo had suggested, but it didn't work out.
"I said hurry up and try for +10! I'm crushed! I won't be able to perform well today, I tell you!"
"Then I'll just leave the forge."
Leaving Dangso who was still scolding him and Taewoo who was already frantically buying new accessories so he could attempt +8 himself, Seojun stepped out of the forge.
The first person he ran into was the guild master of Mion, the guild ranked 3rd.
Mion was the guild that had agreed to do a guild war alongside Geomsindan.
It wasn't because they were 3rd in the rankings.
Nor was it because their guild master was a fan of Seojun and got all flustered every time they met.
Honestly, that was the case with other guilds too.
'Guess we just clicked well, that's all.'
"Hello, Broadcaster!"
"Yes. Have all your guild members arrived?"
"Yes, yes! All 50 are present! What about Geomsindan?"
"Same here."
They hadn't managed to get all 50 together during practice, but this time they were all there.
For the Mion guild, that was only to be expected.
Top-ranking guilds only accept members whose goal is guild war from the very start.
The rewards of joining a guild?
The atmosphere of wanting to play together?
A gathering of top rankers?
No, it's none of that, only guild war.
So of course they all logged on to participate.
"As expected! The Broadcaster's fans are really something special!"
But that applied to Mion, not Geomsindan. The wonder was that even so, everyone had shown up.
"I don't think that's the case at all."
- Ugh
- Say we're special too!
- Jin Mo Streamer: In this world, the only cool and special one is myself
- But if you don't show up, you get kicked lolololololololol
"Alright, let's get ready. Mion GM."
As a side note, the guild master of Mion's nickname was Miongilma.
"Yep! Broadcaster! The guild chat says everyone's ready too!"
- 1 minute left until the guild war starts!
- Let's go!
- Lolololololololol he keeps calling him Broadcaster, just change your nickname to Geomsin Mion lolololololololol
"No, everyone, Geomsin Mion is a bit... That's taking it too far. He's not Kim Taewoo, you know."
Taewoo's nickname was Geomsin Kim Taewoo.
"Oh. That's actually a good one? Why didn't I change it sooner?"
- Geompyeong lolololololol meaning the Geomsindan average
- So that's the average for the Broadcaster's fans lololololol
- Geomsindan = Kim Taewoo? That's kind of infuriating, you know? If that's how it is, I won't be a fan of the Broadcaster anymore!
30 seconds.
20 seconds.
10 seconds.
"Then let's get ready to queue right away."
The moment the guild war button became active.
Seojun added Mion to the participating guild and submitted a challenge to Goemul.
They waited a moment.
They had to give the opponents time to form parties within their own guilds.
"Hmm, but what if you guys try to run away now? Seeing the level of Goemul..."
Finally, he threw out a taunt aimed at Goemul, who would be watching the stream.
He didn't actually think they would run.
It'd be foolish not to do a little shaking up like this before it starts.
[Union: Siege War]
[Game Matched]
[Mion, Geomsindan vs Jijongunjoo, Goemul]
[Participants: 200]
[Countdown: 5]
- Lolololololololol
- Were they actually watching the stream? Got matched right away
- Let's go!
- Broadcaster, I won't see you for a while, bye
[4]
[3]
[2]
[1]
Fwoosh!
The moment the guild war started, the chat window and other external programs instantly vanished from Seojun's sight.
This applied to everyone participating in the guild war, so being a streamer gave him neither an advantage nor a disadvantage.
The background shifted.
They were summoned to a yellow plain with sparse patches of grass.
The only things visible were the large fortress directly ahead and the siege weapon beside it.
That siege weapon was the core of the early round.
[3 minutes remaining until capture begins.]
"Aah. Can everyone hear me okay?"
[Yes!]
[Don't answer. Everyone, mute yourselves unless you're on reconnaissance.]
[Why aren't you muting?]
[I'm on recon. So hurry up and mute.]
[Yeah, I'm on recon too. Anyway, now shh!]
"I'll take that as 'no problems'."
The moment they entered, the system connected all 50 people via voice chat.
The guild members had turned off their mics to avoid chaos, and after checking the test, Seojun verified the connection with the Mion guild.
Communication with other guilds was only possible between guild masters.
Similar to a walkie-talkie, he changed his mic channel and spoke.
By the way, sound is heard regardless of which channel the mic is on.
"Can you hear me?"
[Yes. Mr. Seojun, I hear you loud and clear. Shall we confirm positions first?]
"Okay. Scanning the terrain around us, we're on the north side."
Seojun spoke after looking around briefly.
[Is that so? We're on the south side. We've been summoned in a cross formation then.]
The fortress was square-shaped, with four gates in total.
East, West, South, North.
And the four guilds start the match summoned at one of these four directions.
Their primary objective was to charge the nearby siege weapon, punch a hole in the barrier surrounding the fortress, and be the first to enter and capture it.
Once any guild completes the capture, the next round begins. Then the capturing side defends, and the side that failed to capture attacks.
If the attacking side succeeds in capturing, the roles switch again and they fight.
Ultimately, the guild that successfully defends and takes the fortress is the winner.
"In a cross formation, who will take the east side?"
[We'll take it. Then Geomsindan takes the west?]
"Understood."
Currently, they were positioned top and bottom, while the opponents flanked the sides.
With this start, realistically sending reinforcements to each other would be difficult.
They could only decide which side's enemy they'd each harass.
[Will you be going with the plan we practiced?]
"That's the way, yes."
[Good luck to you! A shame I can't watch right now. I'll have to catch the VOD later, tsk.]
He wondered what that was about.
A strong premonition hit Seojun that the viewers had just laughed at that exchange.
"Uh..., well. Fighting!"
Seojun promptly switched his mic channel back.
[2 minutes 28 seconds remaining until capture begins.]
After 2 minutes 28 seconds, the barrier that surrounded them and restricted movement would disappear, and the guild members would take on four roles.
First. The role of a battery charging the siege weapon, Apollon.
To fire the siege weapon, people had to stay near it without doing anything else.
The more people idling nearby, the faster it charged, and this charging speed would decide the first capture.
They would fire the siege weapon and race into the fortress first to capture it.
The second role was that of an assault trooper, going in to disrupt the enemy and cause chaos.
If an enemy guild member was near the siege weapon, the charging would stop.
Even if 50 people were charging, a single enemy nearby would halt it.
So if these assault troopers did their job well, the opponent could never capture it first.
Therefore, the assault troopers had to be stopped.
And the third role was that of a scout, moving ahead and waiting at the watchtowers on the map to see if enemy assault troopers were coming.
The fourth role was that of a defender, who would go to intercept the enemy far from the siege weapon if they were spotted approaching while charging.
Given the cross formation now, to cover enemy approaches, two scouts were needed on each side—left and right—so four scouts total.
There were cases where you'd just pray the enemy came straight down the fastest central path and send only one scout.
"Are the four of you ready?"
[Yes.]
[Broadcaster, I love you.]
[Yes.]
[The one who said 'I love you,' let's boot him next time. He talks too much. Ah, I'm the one talking too much? Yes! Sorry!]
In case those four died, the fifth and sixth scouts were also ready to fill in.
The same went for the assault troopers and defenders.
[Which guild are you hoping is on the west side, Broadcaster?]
Until they met them directly, there was no way to know which of the two enemy guilds was positioned where.
"Hmm. Doesn't really matter, does it?"
Goemul, Jijongunjoo, Mion.
At the top ranks, their combat power was considered roughly equal. The score differences were very marginal.
If you wanted to be strict, maybe the Bloodletter types were a bit higher level due to their force, items, and experience—something like that.
'Still, Mion says they themselves don't get pushed back.'
Each side would handle the check on one guild.
Even if two guilds teamed up to annihilate the one on the east side, if the remaining west-side guild who hadn't diverted people to defense captured the fortress, it would all be over. So having each side check one guild was an inevitable start.
But the flow of battle wouldn't be that simple. What mattered was the result of the ensuing fights.
Depending on those results, they would have to calculate how many batteries they had already spent or would need to spend—on their side, their allies, and the enemies—as they deployed their troops, and at some point, a decisive choice would have to be made.
But that was something to see a bit later.
Right now, the only thing to think about was going in and winning the fight.
"Let's go for now. Assault troopers? Are you all ready?"
All 50 people who heard Seojun's voice chuckled.
The reason was simple.
[Let's go! Deploy the tactical nuke!]
[Broadcaster, fighting!]
[Ah. The Broadcaster who's never lost even alone is the real asymmetric force!]
[Let's win first, then think.]
Because, up to now, there had only ever been one assault trooper charging in from the very start.
For some reason, the soldiers' morale seemed sky-high.
[5 seconds remaining until capture begins.]
* * *
At the one-quarter and three-quarter points along the straight path from west to north, there were watchtowers on both sides.
The scout who had secured the one-quarter point belonged to the Goemul guild.
From atop the watchtower, you could cover up to halfway down the straight road.
So when the enemy was about halfway, they were able to know.
[It doesn't seem like our targets are crossing each other. Enemy incoming from the north!]
The Goemul guild had taken the task of checking the north, Jijongunjoo the south, and Goemul had chosen a strategy of not sending an immediate assault.
They planned to charge up as much as possible with the 46 members, excluding the four scouts, then check how many were coming and counterattack with superior numbers.
[The enemy is one person! Geomsin 1!]
If their targets had crossed, things might have gotten a bit tangled, but they hadn't, and the enemy was Geomsindan's Geomsin.
"Ha."
Goemul, the guild master, who had been standing with his arms crossed by the siege weapon, let out a scoff.
"Everyone, I'm sending five assault troopers as planned. Good thing we're up against Geomsindan."
Those assault troopers included a supporter. A wholly different level of force compared to the previous 3-on-1.
[Umm, but what about sending ten instead of five?]
Nevertheless, one of the guild members briefly opened his mic and spoke.
He was wearing a rabbit mask.
"Forget it. We'll stick to what was already discussed."
Goemul flatly refused.
And five minutes later.
In order to stop the gradually approaching asymmetric force, they dispatched an additional ten assault troopers from their camp.