Chapter 320 – A Hair’s Breadth (2)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“What? Retreat?”

Myth Guild Raid Leader.

Kim Hyun-seok furrowed his brow nervously. Following Gaon, Myth was solidifying its position as the runner-up guild in South Korea. However, looking from the world’s perspective, they were frogs in a well, at a level where even staying in the top 100 was precarious.

Even so, there was a limit to everything.

“No, Analyst Nam. I admit our raid team’s skills are lacking. Especially compared to Gaon, Myth would look even more pathetic. I admit that too. But still, aren’t you underestimating us too much?”

Gaon and Myth had been cooperating since the reconstruction of Yusra.

Gaon was far ahead of Myth as a guild, but Myth was also able to provide help regarding group management as a conglomerate to Gaon, which had expanded its size into a massive alliance.

As someone had said, the giving and receiving were clear.

Putting aside their bad history, they were thorough in business.

Gaon’s Chief Analyst.

The fact that Nam Cheol-min was communicating with Myth showed just that.

Therefore, it was hard to understand.

─”I am not ignoring Myth.”

“Then please tell me the reason at least. I’m saying this because I can’t understand it. Even looking like this, our average level is 450. Wouldn’t we be able to put up a good fight here? CEO Baek will also be joining soon……”

─”That’s not it. An unexpected incident occurred.”

“Excuse me? An incident?”

Kim Hyun-seok calmed his excitement at the urgent voice.

Now that he noticed it, he could hear the continuous sound of typing behind the voice.

Only then did Kim Hyun-seok grasp the situation.

“……Did something happen up above by any chance?”

Zero Mountain Range.

As vast and high as it was.

Since it was updated in reality, incidents and accidents never ceased in the mountain range. A dragon staying at the very top was basic. The place where Ho-yeol, the Shadow Mercenary Corps, and the Great Evil had fought was also somewhere in the Zero Mountain Range.

Kim Hyun-seok smacked his lips and continued.

“Still, wouldn’t the lower part be okay? Of course, we should avoid unnecessary damage, but. Isn’t this the lowlands?”

He wasn’t wrong.

The vastness of the Zero Mountain Range didn’t only apply negatively. Even if an incident broke out in the upper part, the probability of it affecting the lower part was extremely slim.

However, this time was an exception.

─”Crazy.”

Tap, tap.

Did the frantically moving fingers stop?

The moment the typing sound that sounded like background noise stopped.

Nam Cheol-min’s shout followed.

─”Leader Kim Hyun-seok. Your side is not safe right now either. The Zero Mountain Range is flowing backward! High-level monsters inhabiting the upper part are invading the area and coming down to the lowlands!”

“……?!”

What did he say?

It was a statement completely denying Arcana’s common sense.

However, he couldn’t hold questions.

[A ‘Bloodthirsty Mountain Wolf’ appears in the area.]

“L-Leader Kim?!”

Bloodthirsty Mountain Wolf……!

Because a monster they couldn’t not know had appeared.

He didn’t know what listeners would think, but Kim Hyun-seok had considered Nam Tae-min a rival. Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat. Realizing his own level painfully every day, he had steadily watched Nam Tae-min’s battles through videos to know his enemy.

That was a monster that even the great Nam Tae-min had a hard time hunting.

[Bloodthirsty Mountain Wolf: Lv.685]

“Damn it!”

─”Leader? Don’t tell me they’ve already come down there?”

“……It’s a Bloodthirsty Mountain Wolf.”

Kim Hyun-seok looked back at the Myth Guild’s power.

“……Tsk.”

Currently, Master Baek I-seol had not joined.

If everyone fought risking their lives……

They might somehow be able to handle that one wolf.

However.

‘Their true value is pack hunting.’

It meant it was a mob with a tricky pattern of moving systematically with a named monster acting as the alpha. Even when Gaon defeated them, Nam Tae-min had bitten the alpha to death, and then secured victory by wiping out the pack that had lost their will to fight.

Kim Hyun-seok gritted his teeth.

‘I am not Nam Tae-min, and Myth is not Gaon.’

If it went on like this, it would be annihilation.

A despairing estimate came to his mind.

However, Kim Hyun-seok and Myth were forgetting one thing.

The fact that Gaon’s brain was with them.

─”Leader. Please relay this to the mages of the Myth Guild, and players with an agility stat of 400 or higher. Tell them to inflict a wound on themselves enough to cause the [Bleeding] status effect.”

“……!”

─”They have a habit of attacking the opponent’s weakness, the injured, first. With an agility stat of 400 or higher, you can narrowly escape their pursuit. Mages know this, right? Please use teleportation at your discretion within the limits allowed by your mana to widen the distance.”

This, they were still far from catching up to Gaon.

Kim Hyun-seok immediately gave commands according to Nam Cheol-min’s words.

Guild members scattered quickly.

“Phew.”

Nam Cheol-min, who received reports up to that point, breathed a sigh of relief for now.

At this rate, all of Myth would be able to escape safely from the mountain wolves.

However.

“Eh?”

The position of the Myth Guild updating on the monitor was unusual.

Why was that?

For they were not retreating backward but rather moving in the opposite direction.

“Excuse me. Leader Kim. Can you hear me?”

─”……”

“Hey. Myth Guild Leader Kim Hyun-seok!”

Rustle─

Rustle, rustle─

The sound of pushing through bushes continued to be heard.

Communication wasn’t cut off, nor had anything unusual happened to their persons.

Nam Cheol-min agonized and then click─ moved his mouse.

“……Please understand as it is an emergency situation.”

Gaon and Myth were strictly in a proper cooperative relationship.

Monitoring via drones was not included in the cooperation details.

Nam Cheol-min muttered as if rationalizing.

“It’s a situation that even the General Commander would understand.”

But wasn’t the situation urgent? Nam Cheol-min moved one of Gaon’s drones spread out across the Zero Mountain Range to illuminate the Myth Guild’s location. Thanks to that quick judgment, he witnessed it.

“That is……?”

The seven Akshan Demon Hunters.

And.

Slice─!

“Wh-Wh-What?!”

The sight of them attacking the players.

──────

Squirt!

Blood splattered in all directions.

An unpleasant stickiness touching the skin.

She opened her tightly closed eyes.

‘……It was not my blood.’

Gremory touched her neck with trembling hands.

It was attached.

It was perfectly fine.

Only after checking did the player who had collapsed on the ground enter her sight.

Gremory laughed smoothly with a trembling voice.

“Hah…… Hahaha…… Haha!!”

This was truly authority.

These foolish human bastards were better than the Demon King’s army.

No, weren’t they better than the Demon Legion Commanders?

“How dare they to my Queen……!”

If it had been a weak demon, they would have lost their will to fight seeing their allies fall miserably. But look at these stupid adventurers. Aren’t they protecting her desperately?

‘With authority, I can do it.’

Gremory grasped the situation.

‘If it’s a world where these negative emotions fluctuate……!’

A third world that was neither the Demon Realm nor the Arcana Continent.

Since the time she had stayed was extremely short, it was natural that the information she knew was also extremely little. But if you see one, you know ten. Surging negative emotions do not lie.

“Hehe.”

The corners of Gremory’s mouth went up as high as they could.

She still hadn’t shaken off her fear of the natural enemy.

Gremory found a way out.

“That triumphant look won’t last long either.”

To think the day would come when I would provoke Akshan, the natural enemy.

‘I will forgive you, lustful bastard.’

She liked the unfamiliar blood circulating inside her body more and more.

However, the arrogant bastards still didn’t seem to want to mix words.

Thud.

Clack─

Thud.

Seven Demon Hunters moved simultaneously.

Bolts reloaded into crossbows.

Gremory hiccupped from behind the players surrounding her.

She was terrified, yet she didn’t forget to sneer, resulting in a bizarre sound.

“What would Akshan’s dogs know? How human lives are treated in this land! I don’t know what’s wrong with humans killing each other, but the important thing is that you bastards killed such humans!”

Humans valuing trivial lives.

This land, the Arcana Continent, or the Seorn Continent already swallowed by the Demon Realm.

In fact, they were all the same.

“It means you’ve committed an act no different from a demon!”

But as she said, this land.

The world of adventurers was full of contradictions.

Guys who were already not human were calling themselves humans.

─“Supernova? A guy no different from that demon?”

─“That is correct, my Queen.”

─“It’s a funny world that such trash is called a hero.”

A demon capable of piercing through humans’ negative emotions.

It was a contradiction she could notice because it was her.

Of course, it was good news for Gremory.

‘You bastards will take all the blame.’

In this world, the situation would spread quickly through strange machines.

The reality was that human bastards intoxicated by her authority had thrown away their lives on their own, but from the perspective of trivial humans…… The corners of Gremory’s mouth went up bizarrely.

“You’re not Demon Hunters but human hunters, aren’t you?”

That was right!

It would only look like those Akshan bastards committed a massacre.

Gremory racked her brain.

‘To think not avoiding the battle would be an advantage.’

The things she would gain through this battle were considerable.

Not to mention properly confirming the power of the authority.

A more important achievement than that.

‘It’s an opportunity to deny Akshan.’

Like the Holy War that happened on the Arcana Continent in the past.

To push back the resurrected Akshan in reverse.

She caught an opportunity to trample that sprout.

Dash!

“Pfft, you’re full of anger.”

At that moment, the Demon Hunters rushed in.

‘Disgustingly persistent.’

Gremory ground her teeth even while smiling.

Even though it was a newly born body.

The fear imprinted as prey had still not faded.

The reverse seemed to be the same.

‘It’s sickening.’

Even when they were pushed to a cliff.

Akshan paid no mind and thrust their daggers.

As expected, guys with no blood, tears, or emotions.

Thwack─!

The fired crossbow bolt accelerated.

Swish─!

Like gripping the leash of a well-trained hunting dog.

Swoosh─!

As they pulled the silver thread connected to the bolt.

Slither─!

The crossbow bolt began to bend in unpredictable directions.

Gremory shouted urgently.

“Protect me……!”

At first, she definitely thought they were aiming for her, surrounded by adventurers.

But the madmen of Akshan exceeded imagination.

Thrust!

“Ugh?!”

The reason they bent the crossbow bolt bizarrely was simple.

It was just for the adventurers to target the joints and weaknesses of the armor.

“Ugh……!!”

Thud─

Not satisfied with one adventurer collapsing while grabbing his neck.

It was to immediately present a bolt to the adventurer next to him.

Thrust!

Thrust!

Thrust!

“Ugh?!”

“Gah!”

“Gasp!”

The adventurers collapsed, spitting out death throes.

“……You’re properly crazy.”

Gremory could not understand.

As she said, the current situation was not bad.

Her body felt sick at Akshan’s madness.

“You mean you don’t mind killing as many humans as it takes to hunt me? You are crazy bastards as I heard, Akshan. Now I see why the Great Evils of the Arcana Continent shuddered at you bastards……!”

Gremory realized once again.

Akshan, those guys were dangerous.

When she could trample the sprout.

She must pull them out by the roots so they could never raise their heads again.

In that sense, it was a good opportunity for her too.

They were not natural enemies for nothing.

While acknowledging Akshan, she didn’t forget her ace in the hole.

“But this is not the Arcana Continent.”

If it’s for hunting demons.

The method of Akshan, who chose any means necessary.

It means it’s a world where it cannot be tolerated.

Glance.

Gremory’s gaze headed toward the players.

She heard that the tiny machine attached to the armor—the body camera—acted like a Demon Eye. Surely, it must be widely spreading the atrocities of the Akshan madmen.

Gremory looked straight at her natural enemies.

“Just like on the Arcana Continent, you bastards won’t be understood in this land either, Akshan. Do you know why? Because humans are born that way. Everyone harbors evil inside.”

“……”

As expected, uninterestingly, there was no answer.

“Whatever.”

If so, Gremory also had no intention of wasting any more time.

Yes, now was exactly the time to break the tedious food chain.

Gremory drew up the power of the Demon King, Great Evil, and mixed blood.

“Rise. My soldiers.”

……Twitch.

Then the collapsed players flinched.

Gremory smiled with satisfaction.

‘The newly born me is no longer prey.’

However.

……Twitch.

Gremory had overlooked something.

Akshan’s second iron rule.

“While [Exorcism Ritual] is active.

A Demon Hunter’s attack.

Only inflicts damage on demons.”

……Twitch!

“……Gasp!”

The player who had collapsed on the ground with a fatal wound let out a rough breath.

Then he touched his neck that had been pierced.

There was no wound, bleeding, or pain.

Yes, there was only one thing visible.

A flickering message.

[The status effect, ‘Enchantment’, is removed.]

“?!”

At the same time, Gremory’s pupils shook violently.

She realized belatedly.

That what she had been holding back all along wasn’t simple fear.

“Ugh……?!”

Blegh!

Blood surged from Gremory’s throat.

……How?

Why were the human bastards perfectly fine?

Her throat had clearly been pierced.

This is unreasonable.

It doesn’t make sense.

I cannot accept this.

Why me, who holds the power of a Demon King and a Great Evil simultaneously.

Why must I vomit blood like this.

I cannot admit it……

Never……!!

At this moment.

The hundreds of emotions Gremory felt.

Could be explained in just one sentence.

‘……R-Run away!’

That they were natural enemies who could absolutely not be opposed.