Duo SQuad. Surprise Assault.
Four elite players quickly moved in pursuit of the mage who had launched a surprise attack.
The way the martial artists sprang off trees to widen their formation and surround him showed they weren't ordinary.
Seowoon fired off Ice Lances at just the right moments to hold them back as he dashed toward the village.
"About 600 meters ahead, there's a house the enemies went into to loot!"
Kichan's voice rang in his head, bringing a deeper smile to Seowoon's face.
Not long after Kichan finished speaking, the forest ended, revealing a two-story house and the fence of the village.
Sensing a sharp murderous intent from behind, Seowoon rolled to the side. As he rose, he punched at the man lunging at him with a spear.
It wasn't one of those oversized or crude knight lances Seowoon had seen before, but a slim metal shaft with a sharp, flexible tip that whipped toward him.
The spearhead vibrated unnervingly as it aimed for vital points across his body—it was hard to predict its target.
"The hand holding the spear doesn't change much anyway."
That was what the fist technique constantly emphasized.
No matter how flashy or deceptive a feint or fake was, the hand gripping the weapon, the arm moving it, and the shoulder connecting it to the body—these three body parts couldn't disguise their intentions as easily.
If you weren't distracted by the showy movements and could read the hand, arm, and shoulder well enough, you could see through most attacks.
"Heart!"
The moment he thought that, the trembling tip of the spear shot toward his heart.
Counter.
"And Electric Shock!"
As Seowoon's counter struck and knocked the spear aside, clear confusion flashed in the martial artist's eyes.
Though he was a seasoned player who had suspected Seowoon wasn't just relying on magic, he hadn't expected to be met with an unknown martial technique like this.
Normally, he would've quickly recovered his spear and kept the opponent at bay, forcing the fight into his preferred range.
But the sudden electric shock that traveled up his spear and numbed his arm threw him completely off.
Among martial artists, there's no such thing as a "split second."
One small mistake is always fatal.
Seeing Seowoon close the gap in two steps and punch at him, the man clenched his teeth and twisted his body to protect his organs.
Thud!
Seowoon's fist slammed into his shoulder, and a jolt of pain spread through his body.
Still, he accepted the impact and launched himself backward—a martial artist's instinct.
Seowoon didn't press the attack. Instead, he quickly increased distance from the enemies charging in with weapons drawn.
"Time to show yourself."
At that moment, a mana pulse surged from a house behind him. The players chasing Seowoon stopped, wary.
"He's got teammates! Everyone, be careful!"
At the woman's warning—she'd been using elegant swordsmanship—the others quickly reformed into a defensive formation around their mage.
Two robed mages appeared on the roof of the two-story house.
One held a small flame between both hands, and the other conjured a tiny tornado above their palm.
Then, over the village fence, two more figures emerged: a heavily armored knight with a massive build, and a martial artist trailing a whip across the ground, his form lighter and more agile by comparison.
At the arrival of these four new opponents, the expression of the sword-wielding woman shifted rapidly.
She seemed to have realized she'd fallen for a diversion.
Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Seowoon poured all his inner energy into his body and bolted, not looking back.
He moved far faster than he had while being chased, yet no one dared pursue him recklessly.
"Anyone following?"
"Nope, Seowoon. They took the bait. I can't believe they fell for such a simple trick."
Still sprinting and pushing his energy to the limit, Seowoon spoke to Kichan.
"They say the biggest CC (crowd control) is low HP. A lone player running away like that? Of course they'd go berserk."
Seowoon jumped and kicked off a tree, reaching the canopy before speaking again.
"What's the situation?"
"They're still testing each other out. They keep glancing around nervously—probably worried about being flanked."
"No one followed me from afar?"
"Nope. I checked all visible areas. Nothing unusual. But do you think they'll really fight to the death? Looks like they'll back off after a bit."
"I doubt they're that smart. They're probably eyeing each other's loot."
"But it's day one of the game. Would they really risk it?"
"Exactly why they would. It's day one. They probably scoped out the players in this area already. If their backs are clear, wouldn't they want to wipe each other out and grow stronger?"
No sooner had Seowoon spoken than the battle visible through the trees intensified.
Trees were crashing down and shattering, opening up the view for the two observers.
"Whoa. One side's about to get completely wrecked."
"Good. I did all that baiting for a reason. Let's start preparing."
They climbed down and marked their map as they moved closer to the ongoing battle.
"Let's approach up to this point and observe."
"Got it. Think the other Duo sQuads might come too?"
"Hard to say. With that much noise, maybe. But most players won't skip early looting just to pick a fight."
After Seowoon jumped down, Kichan checked the surroundings for any tailers before following him down the hill.
"Who do you think will win?"
"Probably the Duo sQuad with the two mages—they've got the advantage."
As they continued to move swiftly and communicate through team voice chat, countless strategies flashed through their minds.
"Keep watch here in case anyone else intervenes. I'll move in closer."
Kichan nodded, and Seowoon stepped deeper into the shadows of the trees.
The battlefield was reaching its peak intensity.
What was once a forest now resembled a wasteland, and eight high-level players were engaged in a chaotic clash.
Three martial artists, desperate to take out the opposing mages, dove in relentlessly, but the knight and whip-wielding martial artist—despite being outnumbered—held them back impressively.
The whip-wielder, who switched fluidly between sword and whip to control the battlefield, stood out in particular.
While the two men briefly held off the martial artists, they struck back with astonishingly powerful magic. One of the mages harassed the enemy mage in the rear, preventing the martial artists from gaining any meaningful advantage despite their aggressive attacks.
In contrast, the side with two mages had the upper hand. They took turns casting spells, driving the martial artists back.
–KWA-KWA-KWANG!
The ground split open in a straight line and caught up with a retreating martial artist with a spear, ultimately spewing a massive boulder at him.
The martial artist barely blocked it with his spear shaft, but ended up coughing blood and crashing backward.
Just as he staggered, a fiery bird flew toward him, growing larger and attempting to engulf him whole.
Had an ice spell shaped like a snake not flown in at that moment, the spearman would have been finished.
With a pale face, the martial artist stood and tried to retreat, but the enemy armed with a sword and whip wasn't going to let him escape.
Relentlessly pressing in, the attacker gave him no chance to recover. Gritting his teeth, the spearman stood his ground, unwilling to back off and leave his fellow mage behind.
Even as they watched the duel, the other two martial artists were hesitating—unsure whether to retreat or press on, still stuck fighting a single knight.
"Get ready. This is where it'll be decided."
One side aimed to break through the knight in a 2-on-1 and take out the two mages beyond. The other trusted in the knight to finish off the injured enemy and take down the mages to seal the win.
The outcome depended on which side eliminated their opponents faster.
A smile crept onto the swordsman's lips as he knocked aside the trembling spear tip with his blade.
It seemed the spearman's internal injuries were severe—he had no strength left in his thrusts.
–Slash!
The moment the swordsman seemed to just pass by, blood gushed from the spearman's neck like a fountain.
Without stopping, the swordsman dashed toward the mage preparing to cast a spell and swung his sword.
–CRACK!
With the sound of a giant tree twisting, the Ice Snake launched by the mage was severed cleanly at the neck.
A blast of cold erupted, covering the area in a white frost. But the swordsman, now partially frozen, cut through the mist and slashed at the mage.
At the sight of heat shimmering from the sword blade, the mage swapped his staff for a long hammer.
Seeing this new weapon—like a hammer affixed to the end of a spear—the swordsman's lips twisted into a smirk.
–CLANG!
A piercing clash rang out. The mage managed to block the sword, but grimaced.
The force behind the blade had numbed his hands. The hammer trembled as his grip faltered.
The swordsman spun his blade wide for a finishing move as the mage staggered back—but his expression suddenly froze.
–KRAAGH!
A scream rang out from behind.
Honestly, lasting this long against two martial artists alone had already been impressive.
–SHNK!
The swordsman's blade grazed the hammer, sparking as it cut through—and buried itself into the mage's neck.
As the sword was pulled free and the mage collapsed, his hood fell off, revealing golden hair.
Without even glancing at the fallen mage, the swordsman sprinted forward, urgency in every step.
The current count was 3 vs 2, but losing both mages would eliminate any chance of victory.
Through the hail of spells, the two martial artists charged with gritted teeth.
One of them, clad in black armor, took a direct hit to the shoulder, shattering it—but still he did not retreat.
They had just reached the mages, weapons raised, when swords suddenly appeared in the mages' hands.
–CLANG!
Despair spread across the woman mage's face.
Her opponent's sword skills weren't shallow enough to be quickly overwhelmed.
"Hu–Kichan!!!"
With a sharp sonic boom, pain ripped through her back and spread through her body.
She had exposed her back to the enemy wielding a sword and whip—an opening that cost her dearly.
Paralyzed, her body froze up as a message indicated she was poisoned.
And then her head was severed.
The last remaining martial artist in black armor fought valiantly to the end but eventually collapsed.
As he fell, the four corpses vanished and wooden chests appeared in their place.
"Revive the knight first!"
Just as one of the mages reached toward the chest, the martial artist shouted and pulled out a scroll to tear it.
–SQUELCH!
He never saw the fist that pierced his chest—and couldn't comprehend what was happening.
"Guh…"
He opened his mouth to speak, but blood surged out and choked his words.
At the same time, the mage who was reaching out to heal the knight was struck from behind—his neck stabbed with a dagger. He collapsed immediately.
The last remaining mage, who had been storing magic into his staff, saw what had happened and fled without looking back.
He was quick on his feet, but a bolt of lightning surged toward his back and struck him.
–ZAP!
His body convulsed from the shock, and the next moment, his head was crushed.
It was Seowoon, who had arrived just a bit late due to draining life force, and finished the job.
"Loot everything—quickly."
Even before Seowoon finished speaking, Kichan had already opened the chest and was collecting the loot.
"Looks like this is all that's worth taking."
As Kichan spoke, Seowoon looked over the items and nodded.
"Dokabu's Tongue. It can be used like a whip and poisons the target with paralysis venom when struck."
"Hwajung Sword Technique. The introductory sword technique of the Hwajung Sword School."
"Gyeonghwa Jinbo. The movement technique of the Jinryeong School."
"Gu Yuchang Technique. The poisonous spear technique created by Ji Hwa Cheon."
"Bird Flame Magic Book. A 5th-circle magic book for fire-type magic. It shoots out a fire phoenix that grows larger by adding flames as it flies toward the target."
"Earth Wave. A 5th-circle magic book that flips the earth and shoots a powerful magical stone at the target."
In addition, there were a few small weapons and recovery scrolls, but surprisingly, not many useful secret techniques and magic books dropped.
"Take all the magic books for now. And if there's no secret technique you need, just toss them in the space inventory."
"But there are sword and spear techniques as well, aren't you going to learn them?"
"They don't seem stronger than the martial arts I've already learned. It's a shame I didn't get a movement technique. Let's move."
"Yes."
The two of them moved to a partially looted village and began farming.
While farming, Seowoon and Kichan, distracted by the enemy, finished looting the house they hadn't fully cleared, and Kichan asked:
"Hyung, do you think the remaining ones are from the same squad?"
There was no way they wouldn't know the enemies who had fought fiercely back on Earth.
"Not sure. But that's fine. If they're nearby, we'll meet them anyway."
After quickly finishing the farming, the two gathered at the village entrance.
"Find anything?"
"Beef jerky and scrolls. A deployable magic explosion and a mid-tier recovery one."
"Similar. I got an Impact Orb and an Eye of Distortion."
At the mention of the Eye of Distortion, Kichan's eyes lit up.
"How many hours is it?"
"Three hours, but to use it..."
At that point, Kichan took a crystal orb from his space inventory.
"You've been carrying this around?"
"Of course."
He took a crystal orb the size of a fist out of the inventory and tossed it to Kichan, who placed the smaller orb, the Eye of Distortion, on top of it.
"Wooooo."
There was a slight hum, and for a moment, the Eye of Distortion glowed before returning to normal.
"A three-hour one should be useful."
"There really are all kinds of items."
"Thanks to these, it's become easier to scout."
Kichan, who put the two orbs back in the space inventory, pulled up the map.
"Now there are three villages left. Where do you want to go?"
"Let's start with the small village here. Probably, one squad fell around here, so they should be done farming by now and either attacking the nearby village or heading toward the mines. Let's loot this small village and check the movements of the remaining squad."
"Yes."
Seeing Seowoon quickly plan their path, Kichan felt reassured.
With their duo experience, they'd done basic squads before, but finding a player to trust and follow like this was quite rare.
Especially in a squad, once opinions diverged, just planning the route could eat up a lot of time, and there were many occasions where emotions with teammates were drained over little things.
If no one was particularly strong or outstanding, every small decision became a mental strain.
Until now, Kichan was usually the one making decisions, not following them, due to his extensive playing experience and exceptional skills, so teammates would naturally rely on him over time, making him used to being the one to decide.
But after starting to play with Seowoon, he didn't feel like doing that.
From quickly planning their path to anticipating the enemy's movements, there was no room for objection.
Above all, Seowoon's charisma inside the Cloyd was immense.
Had he ever felt such reassurance inside the Cloyd?
'Am I really in survival mode right now?'
The usual tension of Cloyd was absent, and his heart felt at ease.
"Don't let your guard down too much. Anything could happen here."
Seowoon, who seemed to see through his thoughts, spoke, deepening Kichan's trust in him.
"Yes."
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]