Sol Squad. Surrounded on All Sides.
Seowoon read the unspoken concern on Jinryung's face and calmly began explaining.
"As I said before, our biggest advantage is mobility. We're short on numbers compared to other squads, and to make things worse, our main force consists of martial artists. Neither of us is particularly proficient in magic."
Calling himself a 4th Circle mage was almost embarrassing—Seowoon only knew two 1st Circle spells and one 4th Circle spell. Jinryung, meanwhile, had learned nothing but a single 3rd Circle barrier. He had no grounds to argue otherwise.
"That's true, but with so many players bound to gather around the buff monster, do we really need to jump into the inner circle with them? We've worked hard to pull back toward the rear. We're already close to the destination we planned for—re-entering the inner circle now doesn't seem very efficient."
Jinryung's point was reasonable.
They'd taken risks for half a day, moving along the outskirts, anticipating other players' moves. Doubling back now could easily look like they were being swayed by the situation.
"Think of it as adaptive play. We're not being swept around by variables—we're using those variables by leveraging our mobility."
Seowoon's knack for phrasing things persuasively in Korean worked well on the straightforward Jinryung, who was easily convinced.
What once felt like being tossed around by chaos now felt like proactive, tactical adaptation—and Jinryung's agreement wasn't just naivety. Seowoon simply made sense.
"So, are we circling back into the inner zone?"
"Not quite. We need to be cautious this time. I doubt anyone's crazy enough to willingly approach Wonyoungshin. If we detour far from the buff monster's path and approach from around Wonyoungshin's side, it should be much safer."
Once the decision was made, they acted quickly.
They scavenged consumables and any useful items, then shifted their path.
They traveled by night and laid low during the day in spots with good visibility to avoid encounters.
That plan worked well—they hadn't run into another player in several days.
During the day, while taking turns resting, Seowoon always watched Wonyoungshin's movements on the map, analyzing its patterns.
Three days after the seal was broken, no more players had been hunted by Wonyoungshin.
'Looks like people finally realized he's unkillable.'
It was pathetic that it took them three days to figure that out—but now, no one would dare go near him again.
'All we need to do is stick close without aggroing him.'
At their current pace, they could reach visual contact range of the epic monster within a week.
As Jinryung finished meditating and fell asleep, Seowoon took watch, monitoring Wonyoungshin's behavior. Something moved in the distance.
–Senior brother, we've got company.
Jinryung snapped awake and surveyed the area.
–Direction?
–330 degrees.
Roughly a kilometer away, two players in black clothing moved cautiously through the forest, scanning their surroundings.
–Scouts?
–Safest assumption.
–Then the main group should show soon. What's the plan?
Jinryung, now used to deferring to Seowoon's leadership, waited for his call. Seowoon responded quickly.
–Let's move in to around 200 paces and get a better look.
That would put them right at the edge of their forest.
Seowoon pulled out a monocular and studied the two figures carefully. His eyes narrowed.
Clad in black gear, wearing modern military helmets and carrying black assault rifles—these were clearly players from Earth.
After scouting for a while, the two advanced, and eight more players followed from behind, keeping distance.
Jinryung, narrowing his eyes, handed the monocular back to Seowoon.
–They look connected to the ones who ambushed us from afar before.
–Yes. Most likely the same squad. Looks like more of them survived than we thought. I expected them to be wiped by now.
–Their pathing must have worked out well. Planning to engage?
To Jinryung's surprise, Seowoon shook his head.
For someone who seemed obsessed with racking up kills, this was unexpected.
–We might be able to ambush them in the forest, but on open ground? That's impossible. Sure, we could try to outrun and intercept them, but it's not worth the risk.
Jinryung nodded, slightly impressed.
–Cold, calculated judgment.
He said what he thought, honestly and without hesitation. He respected how Seowoon always analyzed things objectively and acted with speed and clarity.
Had it been Jinryung, he might've attacked just to settle the score—but Seowoon was governed by reason, not emotion.
–The goal of this game is survival.
After confirming the squad had moved on, the two returned to their spot and resumed resting in shifts.
Survivors:
1098 / 2000
.
.
.
Zhou Ren → Xingharts (Killed with energy strike.)
As they resumed travel and Seowoon checked the survivor list, he tilted his head.
'The player count isn't dropping like I expected.'
No one had hunted the buff monster. And strangely, player deaths had nearly stopped.
'Namsagwang was obsessed with that buff mob and rushed off like a maniac…'
The lack of deaths meant no battles were occurring. And with the zone constantly shrinking, that made no sense.
And yet Namsagwang—normally brimming with confidence—was still lingering near the buff mob?
'Could Wonyoungshin's presence have spooked the whole field?'
That seemed like the most likely explanation.
After ten days of evading enemies, Seowoon and Jinryung finally spotted Wonyoungshin in the distance.
Through the monocular, Seowoon saw an aged figure with a long beard reaching his dantian.
Though humanoid in shape, Wonyoungshin radiated a bluish light too intense to seem human.
Even his clothes and staff were indistinguishable from his glowing form, as though he was carved from light.
"Said to be formed from celestial energy… and he lives up to the name."
He walked aimlessly, hands behind his back, occasionally gazing at the sky or sitting quietly and staring at the ground like an old man out for a stroll.
Seowoon turned his monocular as he felt a mana surge—far off, a full squad was charging toward them.
Mages on airboards, knights charging through dust, all heading their way.
Seowoon tucked the monocular away.
"How did they find us?"
"Probably Carmen's Eye. Annoying spell."
As they sprinted toward Wonyoungshin, their expressions calm, the enemy squad—recognizing the risk—came to a halt, their faces hardening.
The area of effect for Wonyoungshin as seen on the map was roughly 800 meters.
When Seowoon and Jinryung stopped at a distance of about 1 kilometer from the monster, the players who had been pursuing them hesitated, eyes narrowed as they deliberated.
"What do you think of their mobility?"
Understanding the intent of the question, Jinryung smiled.
"With my light footwork, I can shake them off anytime."
As their pursuers continued to hesitate, Seowoon began firing enchanted arrows at them.
He was down to just ten, and by the third shot, the enemy squad had no choice but to retreat.
With Wonyoungshin looming behind, trying to catch just two players wasn't worth the risk—especially when the epic monster could spring to life at any moment.
Half a day after the two began playing near Wonyoungshin's proximity, imitators started appearing.
It began with a lone player who cautiously took position in the opposite direction from them.
That was followed by a three-man squad and then a two-man squad—all settling at the cardinal points around Wonyoungshin, claiming north, south, east, and west.
Though they eyed one another warily, a kind of unspoken camaraderie formed as fellow survivors in the same boat.
Watching them relax, Seowoon curled his lips into a slight smirk.
"Didn't expect it to play out like this."
"Neither did I."
The first to make a move were Seowoon and Jinryung, targeting the closest two-man squad.
The enemy players, lounging around, were caught completely off guard when Seowoon and Jinryung suddenly charged.
They barely resisted before being wiped out and game-overed.
'They forgot the golden rule—that no one can step into Wonyoungshin's aggro range. Idiots.'
With the illusion of camaraderie shattered, the remaining squads tensed and started watching each other more cautiously.
The solo players and the trio from the three-man squad could only watch anxiously as Seowoon and Jinryung calmly looted the bodies.
The two then continued circling clockwise, heading toward a lone mage.
With the three-man squad blocking his escape and no way to shake off Seowoon and Jinryung, the mage hesitated, uncertain of what to do—and was quickly eliminated.
Realizing they stood no chance, the three-man squad immediately turned and ran with their backs to Wonyoungshin.
But before they could reach the distant forest, they were ambushed by the squad that had originally pursued Seowoon and Jinryung—a full team.
They wiped out the fleeing players and turned toward Seowoon and Jinryung with satisfied expressions.
–Now it begins.
Jinryung nodded solemnly, face hard as stone as he watched the twenty players approach.
Seowoon clenched his fists as they closed the distance.
'Closer… just a bit more…'
At about thirty meters, one of them stepped forward—a knight who looked to be the leader.
With a twisted smile, he mocked:
"It's obvious now. You two can't approach the epic mob either."
Just as the enemies finished preparing to attack, Seowoon and Jinryung abruptly broke into a run—in opposite directions.
–Swoooosh! Clang!
Amidst the confusion, Seowoon fired a chi blast directly at the peacefully seated Wonyoungshin.
That alone was enough to terrify the approaching squad.
They looked from the fleeing Jinryung to the oncoming Seowoon in stunned confusion—Seowoon, meanwhile, was surprised himself.
Wonyoungshin moved faster than expected.
–Clang!
Seowoon, still at full speed using Gale Steps, crashed into the frontline knight with Bloodbone Staff in hand.
Despite the magic and attacks coming from all directions, he didn't slow down.
The overwhelming, terrifying energy closing in behind him made it clear—if he got caught, he was dead.
Pain seared across his ribs and back, but he burst through the enemy formation and sprinted ahead.
From behind, he heard panicked voices:
"M-Maintain formation!"
"Where are the mages?! Blast everything!"
–Boom! Whoosh!
–Splat! Screeech!
Screams and violent crashes rang out behind him, but Seowoon didn't dare look back.
By the time he reunited with Jinryung and turned his attention to Wonyoungshin, all they saw was the epic monster casually swinging his glowing staff and cleaving the last mage in two.
"Whew, thank goodness he dropped aggro."
They had planned the strategy around the assumption that aggression would fade if the attacker left Wonyoungshin's range—something they had tested during the fight with Kutrafa.
It was a risky gamble, but it had paid off.
Breathing in relief, the two sat down beside a loot chest, watching Wonyoungshin gaze up at the sky.
'Come on… move already.'
But Wonyoungshin, gazing at the clouds with serene eyes, had no intention of doing anything.
Days passed with them camping near Wonyoungshin.
Though two more squads tried to eliminate them, all were massacred by Wonyoungshin in the same fashion.
Now, Seowoon and Jinryung were so used to the pattern that one would rest under a tent pitched safely outside his range, while the other watched him in shifts.
That's when a new variable entered the field.
–Disciple! Come out, now!
Seowoon, thinking Wonyoungshin had suddenly started one of his "walks" again, leapt out of the tent and returned it to cube form—only to see a swarm of players gathering in the distance.
So many were arriving that it was hard to count.
Easily over a hundred.
Jinryung stepped up beside him.
"Are they…?"
"Yeah. I think it's them."
Seowoon responded before Jinryung could finish, looking stunned.
The enemy players were drinking potions, releasing waves of mana, clearly preparing for a large-scale assault.
Seowoon narrowed his eyes as he used the monocular.
"It's that guild. The ones who've been chasing us."
Matching tattoos on hands and forearms confirmed their identity—and Jinryung's expression hardened.
Then, another group of players appeared, approaching from a different direction.
This group wasn't small either.
As Seowoon focused on the young man at the front, his expression twisted in disgust.
"Namsagwang!"
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]
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