8th Squad. Game Rules.
Kuaaaah!
Just as the three martial artists who landed first were getting surrounded, Kichan's Ice Snake descended upon the players falling from the sky.
Crash!
A knight charged forward, taking the brunt of the Ice Snake's attack with his shoulder, shattering the creature to pieces as it broke through the barrier.
As the knight, who had endured the freezing cold, began to move again, the ice that had formed over his armor cracked and fell off with a sharp, splintering sound.
While attention was momentarily drawn to the tough knight loosening his neck as if to warm up, magic rained down on teammates approaching on air boards.
Unable to advance further, the teams began exchanging fire, and a magical skirmish broke out between the two squads. The three trapped in the unfavorable situation could no longer play offensively.
Ding ding ding!
"That woman uses poison, be careful!"
At the cry of a martial artist who had blocked the flying needle with a barrier, Lilingwei frowned deeply.
At that very moment, Seowoon and Dumph dropped down beside the three.
The enemy players visibly faltered as they recognized Seowoon's face after he landed, already in combat stance.
No one said it outright, but they clearly recognized who he was.
Dumph was the first to move.
With brute force, he charged toward the knight who had blocked the Ice Snake with his shoulder. At the same time, all the close-combat martial artists began to move.
"Overwhelm them at once!"
Seowoon, charging forward with his neck stretched and arms twisted in an unnatural angle, had the eyes of a beast locking onto its prey.
"Prepare to retreat! Don't counter too hard!"
Just as the enemy squad's main order gave the command, the knight caught in Seowoon's grasp dropped his dented shield and backed off.
They weren't fighting directly anymore, just retreating, and even Seowoon couldn't force a method to handle that.
Chasing them could mean being sucked into the enemy formation.
Jinryung, Limin, and Lilingwei also stopped and stood beside Seowoon instead of continuing the chase.
Kichan! Hold them somehow!
As the enemies began retreating while focusing more on defense than casting spells, Seowoon gave an order to Kichan and suddenly shot forward, channeling all his energy into his legs.
Other martial artists flinched at his solo charge into enemy lines, but couldn't follow due to Seowoon's prior command to hold position.
Seeing Seowoon charging into an 8-on-1, the enemies chose to concentrate all their fire on him rather than retreating.
Just as expected, a torrent of magic and weapon attacks rained down.
In that moment, Seowoon's figure split into twelve.
He blocked nearly all the attacks using his clones and broke through the enemy squad's formation.
Passing them and reaching their rear, Seowoon shouted:
"Now!"
Blocking the enemies' retreat with bloodstained hands, Seowoon began summoning his deadly Bloodbone Palm technique. Just then, the mage with five holes in his head collapsed.
Seowoon had obviously not overlooked the mage, whose barrier and shield had broken when he broke through their formation.
"Scatter and run!"
Seowoon thought the enemy's main caller was surprisingly fast and accurate in judgment.
Outmatched in momentum and actual capability, and now even cut off from retreat, that was the only way to increase their survival odds, even if just by 1%.
'They shouldn't have overextended in the first place.'
Although smaller compared to the central island, each cloud island was still massive.
Only three squads had landed on this island, yet picking a fight this early had been a premature gamble.
The strategy to lure enemies in and collapse their formation was good, but the fatal mistake was initiating a fight without any prior intel on the enemy.
'That's why they fell apart when a Crown-tier player suddenly appeared.'
Whoosh! Boom!
Seowoon's last thrown spear exploded against the back of the retreating enemy, sending the player tumbling roughly across the clouds.
Jinryung, who had been pursuing him, seized the moment to cleanly behead the enemy.
"Whew. That was easier than expected," said Kichan.
Juriel replied, "Things really turned when Jin Seowoon landed. They weren't a weak squad by any means."
That's how group combat worked.
Victory wasn't decided solely by combat power—variables played a huge role in team battles.
'Just look at AOS games—so many unfavorable matches get flipped by a single teamfight.'
Recalling his favorite AOS games, Seowoon thought that way.
An unfavorable game meant the enemy was stronger and had scaled faster. Yet the weaker team could still win, showing how decisive teamfights could be.
Seowoon understood that better than anyone, which is why he could finish off the enemy so efficiently.
"I felt this before too, but that guy's combat sense is on another level. Even in chaotic battles, he instinctively knows how to turn things to his favor—and he doesn't hesitate."
Everyone who had played with Seowoon nodded at Lilingwei's remark.
He wasn't lacking in individual skill, but he also didn't possess overwhelming power like Yeohaoran or Namsagwang.
Yet his playstyle always stood out and led his team to victory.
'Don't underestimate someone who crawled from Bronze all the way to Master.'
Seowoon gave a bitter smile but couldn't bring himself to say that aloud.
He couldn't exactly admit that his positioning and situational awareness had been honed through playing AOS games.
"Alright! Let's loot quickly and get moving. As you can see, this terrain… we need to learn the looting layout."
The cloud island was hard and flat, but all that could be seen were white hills and plains—no houses, no villages in sight.
And it had looked the same when they scanned it from above before the drop.
In the end, it seemed that farming on this Cloud Island map might not necessarily involve looting houses while progressing.
Compared to the previous game, the speed of item farming was incredibly fast.
Because everyone had already built strong camaraderie as teammates, there was no need to waste unnecessary time on dividing items.
"A manual for Iron-type Sword Techniques dropped. Want it?"
Holding up the manual, Lilingyu asked. Seowoon shook his head.
Seeing that, Limin looked on enviously, and Lilingyu tossed the manual to him.
"I need martial arts focused on hidden weapons or poison techniques."
Limin nodded enthusiastically.
"If I find something similar, I'll bring it to you right away."
The situation was similar for the mage group.
"Hyung! This is an Electric Magic Tome. It's a 4th Circle spell, but want to learn it?"
Knowing well that Kichan specialized in electric magic, Lyle held out the tome with his tiny hands. Kichan smiled and accepted it.
"Electric Shot, huh? Thanks."
While everyone quickly farmed and shared items, only Dumph let out an awkward laugh.
Perhaps because he had monopolized the loot from two knights, his appearance had changed noticeably after just the first battle.
"Guess I'm the only one hogging the loot here."
"Take it. No worries."
Seeing his absurdly thick plate armor, Seowoon waved his hand as if to say it was fine.
Wearing such heavy armor was impossible unless you were a knight specialized in strength.
After finishing the looting and activating the map, Seowoon's gaze naturally shifted to a blue dot at the center of the island.
"I don't know what it is, but it looks really important."
"Could it be a boss monster unique to each island?"
To Kichan's question, Seowoon shook his head.
"If it were, the monster's range would've been marked too. It's suspicious that it's just a marker without any other info."
JinRyung spoke while looking at the map.
"If it's important, wouldn't it be best to secure it first? Only one squad remains on this island. Let's beat them to it."
Agreeing with that, Seowoon made a decision.
"Let's do that. If there is a monster, well… the risk is there, but no matter how I look at it, that marker feels like key info. Getting there first could give us a huge advantage."
As quick as the decision was, their actions followed just as fast.
Eight players dashed across the endless expanse of white cloud islands.
About 100 meters ahead of the rest, Seowoon came to a sudden stop, startled.
"Everyone stop!"
At his command, the players halted and readied themselves in combat stances.
"Enemies?"
"No. The terrain…"
After pausing briefly, Seowoon carefully stepped forward, scanning his surroundings.
Unlike elsewhere, a white mist rose up to shin height from the ground here, creating a strange sense of unease.
Seowoon slowly stretched his foot over it, but startled as it sank in with a strange sensation, and quickly pulled back.
The teammates who had followed closely behind peered ahead.
"Is this a death fall zone?"
At Kichan's words, Seowoon pushed his leg deeper.
As it sank further, his foot finally hit something solid with a damp sensation.
"Feels more like a pond."
Stepping in with both feet, the mist rose to his waist.
"This is amazing!"
Lyle's eyes sparkled as he exclaimed, and Seowoon smiled seeing his excitement.
When they had first met, Lyle hadn't acted or looked like a child, but now he seemed much more like one.
"It might've been designed as a water source."
At Limin's comment, Seowoon nodded in agreement.
"If there are several places like this, they'd be perfect for ambushes. From now on, if we see misty terrain like this, we attack first."
"Wouldn't it be better to poison it entirely?"
Seowoon's eyes lit up at Lilingyu's suggestion.
"Do you have enough poison for that?"
They had plenty of water, so that wasn't a concern.
Lilingyu nodded with a smile.
"Step out."
As she pulled Lyle out of the mist, she lightly nicked her fingertip with a dagger and let a few drops of blood fall into the cloud pond.
The mist rippled briefly, then turned red, and a heavy toxic presence began to rise just from standing nearby.
Seeing this, JinRyung instinctively grimaced.
It was an instinctive rejection — the reaction of an orthodox martial artist witnessing a dark arts technique.
"That's a bit too obvious, though. Kinda defeats the purpose."
In response, Lilingyu smiled wider and pulled out a small vial.
As she uncorked it and added a few more drops of the liquid inside, the poison's presence disappeared, and the mist returned to its original color.
"This is a scent-neutralizer for poison blood. It's not completely odorless or invisible, but unless someone has a heightened sense of smell, it's hard to detect."
"That's amazing."
As Seowoon leaned in to sniff the mist, she grabbed his hand and yanked him back.
"Careful! My poison blood isn't exactly lethal, but it does cause internal energy disruption. If you get poisoned, you won't be able to circulate your energy for about two hours."
At the word 'internal energy disruption', Seowoon recoiled in shock.
"Of course, a top-tier martial artist like you could probably endure it. But there's no need to take that risk, right?"
It was a sound point.
For a martial artist, losing access to inner energy was one of the most dangerous things imaginable.
Having assessed the new terrain, the squad resumed their run toward the destination.
While charging ahead, Lilingyu spoke up again.
"It seems like you have some complaints with me."
At her sharp words, Jin Seowoon turned his head and looked at her.
"Ah, don't mind me. It's just that I haven't adjusted yet, and I don't particularly have any complaints against you. Although Jindokgok is a mafia, I know they haven't betrayed their alliances."
The wrinkle in LiLingyu's brow relaxed at his relatively polite words.
She felt her previously sour mood lift upon being acknowledged by a martial artist from Yugo.
Noticing her change in expression, Jin Seowoon continued.
"My master has had some favors from the previous head of Jindokgok. We in the Yugo Sect have no personal grudge against Jindokgok."
Hearing about an anecdote she wasn't aware of sparked curiosity in her expression, but she couldn't quite show it.
Seowoon, having stopped in front of a blue orb ahead, halted.
Staring at the orb floating in mid-air for a while, Seowoon ordered.
"I'll check it out for now, so don't let your guard down."
After giving the order, she cautiously approached, and the shape of the mysteriously glowing orb became clearer.
The large, boulder-sized blue orb, when seen from afar, resembled a globe, but upon closer inspection, it was intricately carved with a gray dragon.
The details of the gray dragon winding around the orb were so lifelike that they gave off a subtle sense of intimidation. As Seowoon stared at it blankly, Juriel asked.
"Jin Seowoon, are you okay?"
"Ah, yes. It looks like everyone can come closer."
The team members who rushed over to the orb all had similar reactions to Seowoon's.
"What is this exactly?"
"Is it a key item?"
As Seowoon stepped closer and placed her hand on the orb, an alert tone sounded.
"Ding! You have discovered a Seondongseok ( virtuous east stone)."
"Ding! Here are the rules for the Sky Map. This map consists of twelve auxiliary islands and one central main island. Each island can be accessed by a Seondongun mount. There are 400 Seondonguns on the map, which can be destroyed. There are a total of 13 Seondongseoks, including the one on the main island. If a squad activates a Seondongseok, they will gain a chance to survive. If one squad activates four Seondongseoks, including the main island's Seondongseok, the game ends, and that squad wins. Other squads can also activate Seondongseoks that have already been triggered by another squad."
The team members' expressions became complicated as they processed the alert.
"So… if we capture three auxiliary islands and activate the Seondongseok on the main island, the game ends, right?"
"And if the survivors aren't reduced to under 300… the game will end?"
"That means squads that don't activate any Seondongseoks are eliminated, right?"
After Seowoon answered, Juriel furrowed her brow as she calculated the situation.
"That's brutal. If that's the case, not 300 people but only 104 will survive."
Seowoon nodded at her words.
"No wonder the difficulty level is mid-high, but the survival threshold is so high."
Struggling to think through the situation, Kichan finally spoke up.
"So, we just need to protect the Seondongseok, right?"
At those words, Seowoon gave a subtle expression before responding.
"Well, if we just defend it, we'll survive, but we won't make it into the top ranks. Eventually, the islands will fall into their own gravitational pull, and once they're all under it, everyone will lose in the end."
"So the Seondongseok on the main island…?"
This time, Limin shook his head and interrupted.
"Many players will be fighting for control of the Seondongseok on the main island, free from gravitational influence, so it's not a safe play. If you're pushed off the main island, you're out."
Juriel nodded as she looked at the map.
"Plus, activating the Seondongseok means the squad that touches it last takes it. So it's not just about activating it; there will be a lot of squad rivalry."
Before her words could end, Kichan shouted.
"Oh! Without the Seondongun, we'd be trapped on the auxiliary islands!"
"And the main quest is to destroy more than 200 Seondonguns."
"That's why I thought the quest was strange…"
"The best play is to destroy all the Seondonguns and monopolize the remaining ones, then activate the Seondongseok. And…"
"Take the Seondongseok on the main island."
Seowoon completed Juriel's sentence.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]