Chapter 349: Spectacular Recapture

South Korea had successfully recaptured Berdk, the largest attack base in the Continent Cloud! The thing that made the commentators from both the Chinese side and the Korean side shocked was the fact that they only took less than 13 minutes to take over.

After getting over the shock, the Korean commentators shouted excitedly...

[Th…they have successfully recaptured the largest attack base under Player Minhyuk’s lead!!!]

[My goodness!!! Something incredible just happened in front of my eyes. Did you see that?! Berdk opened their gates by themselves!]

[What the hell! I don’t even have the slightest clue about what’s going on right now!]

It was only natural that the whole world was shocked and dazed by the events that unfolded.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk led the other players inside Berdk with a small smile hanging on his lips. They had controlled the supply of food to Berdk by blocking the supply routes. This made the Kharamis soldiers suffer from hunger. The Chinese players had no choice but to fight against the Korean players to get through the supply routes.

However, while they were busy trying to pierce through the supply routes, the Koreans were already seducing the Kharamis soldiers with their lunch boxes. The most important part of this strategy was slowly reducing the amount of food that they sent over every time. If the amount of food in their lunch boxes decreased over time, the Kharamis soldiers would still remain hungry. In fact, they would feel even worse than not eating anything at all.

The note that Minhyuk sent to the Kharamis soldiers informed them to open Berdk’s gate and attack the Chinese players with their siege weapons if they wanted to help them. This was because Minhyuk had predicted that the Chinese players would chase after the Korean players.

‘There’s no way that they’ll give this opportunity up.’

If the players from Asgan Continent ran to Berdk, the Chinese players believed that the Koreans would be attacked with Berdk’s siege weapons. Once the players of Cairon Continent gave chase and hit them from behind, then the Chinese would be able to kill everyone in one fell swoop. But, what if the tables had turned?

‘We can gain a complete victory.’

Minhyuk advanced with the rest of the Korean rankers. Soldiers with their heads bowed lined up in the streets and greeted them. They were the Berdk soldiers that decided to side with Minhyuk. This sight brought infinite shock to the Korean rankers that were walking with Minhyuk.

‘How did this happen…’?

Alicia thought. She had always been slightly skeptical of Minhyuk’s plans. After all, no matter how hungry the soldiers were, would they willingly give up their castle just like that? What more if they asked the soldiers to be on their side? Seeing this, Alicia felt that Minhyuk’s back looked very wide and reliable after seeing everything that he planned come to fruition.

Minhyuk, together with the people that came with him, began to drive out the Chinese players that were stationed inside the base.

***

“Load!” The Centurion shouted loudly as the Kharamis soldiers began to load their siege weapons.

These siege weapons were magical tools! These weapons were created by Blacksmith Ruka, a blacksmith known to have a transcendental power. At the same time, he was an accomplished mage, and was known to be the best at creating siege weapons among the blacksmiths that existed during his time. However, there was one problem. The siege weapons that Ruka had created were very difficult to activate. Only the Kharamis soldiers, who had devoted themselves to Berdk’s defense at a young age, were able to learn how to activate and use Ruka’s siege weapons.

“Fire!“

Puhaaaaaaa—

Huge stones, loaded with Ruka’s magic, were fired from the catapults, one after the other. The stones grew larger as blazing flames covered their surfaces, before falling in the midst of the enemies.

Baaaaaaaang—

And that was not the end of it. Twenty soldiers groaned as they loaded what seemed to be a gigantic spear into the siege weapon. There were around twenty volleys of these gigantic spears, that had as much power as an AOE magic skill of quite a few rankers.

Shwooooooooooooosh—

The Kharamis soldiers loaded the spears and fired them all at the same time.

Shwaaaaaaaa—

The huge spears flew sharply through the air, before landing in the middle of the enemy camp.

Rip, rip, rip, rip—

“Euaaaaaack!”

“Keheok!”

“Urk!”

Instead of stabbing the enemies, the spears launched from Berdk’s siege weapons would tear and rip apart the enemies. A single shot of this spear laid dozens of their enemies to waste.

***

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

Gigantic spears flew towards the area where the majority of the troops from Cairon Continent had gathered, effectively ripping the soldiers’ bodies into pieces as screams rang loudly in the area.

Airen, the current strategic commander, could not understand the situation. He thought,

‘Berdk was recaptured…?’

Even the Kharamis soldiers stationed in Berdk were targeting them with the siege weapons mounted on the walls of the base. The Chinese might have chased after the Koreans from behind, but they were now being overwhelmed in terms of firepower. Arohan also told them that their enemies were coming to kill him in the alliance chat.

‘W…we’re in trouble.’

Berdk, located in the center of the Continent Cloud, was both a key offensive and strategic base. What would happen if their enemies took over that place? The future might be dark for them.

However, the question now was whether they could break through Berdk’s siege weapons to recapture the base. Airen concluded that it was impossible. Perhaps, it would be possible if all of the Chinese players present in the Continent Cloud joined forces. But that was impossible. Even the four thousand troops that they brought along had already dispersed. It was obvious that they would be wiped out even before they could step foot through the gates of Berdk castle.

“R… retreat!!!”

“Retreat!”

Airen was one of the unofficial rankers in China, standing strong at Level 561. He had long finished transferring into a High Class and was very confident of his strength. Airen was sure that the Chinese people would definitely cheer as long as they killed and annihilated the Korean rankers. However, the situation that they were facing right now was completely different.

Airen was now wondering how much of his troops could get away safely. The moment he issued his orders, the Chinese players immediately dispersed and ran back to where they came from.

Unfortunately, the route that they had taken safely previously was altered by Smooth, the Poison Master, and Roadol, the Trap Specialist. They were lying in wait for the players of Cairon Continent to pass through so they could trigger the huge amount of explosives and poison that they had set up. The worst part about this was the fact that Smooth and Roadol had collaborated! Just like that, the retreating Cairon Continent players were engulfed in a huge explosion the moment they stepped on their path of retreat!

Baaaaaaaaang—!

A huge mushroom of smoke bloomed in the sky. To the horror of the troops of Cairon Continent, the smoke was green.

“…!”

Airen quickly turned to look at the situation. There were around 2,900 Chinese players remaining. He thought that he should at least save 2,500 out of that number, but a huge explosion suddenly engulfed them!

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

The players of Cairon Continent stepped on Roadol’s planted mines one after the other, triggering a series of explosions.

There was a player lying in ambush, and he muttered, “Wind.”

The wind blew strongly and carried the green smoke brought about by the huge explosion through the air, and entered the lungs of the unsuspecting players of Cairon Continent.

[You have inhaled the poison of a Poison Master.]

[You will experience a 40% decrease in AGI, and a 30% decrease in magical defense and physical defense.]

[Your mind is starting to waver and lose focus from the extreme poison.]

[Your HP drops by 0.8% every second due to the effects of the extreme poison.]

“Keheok!”

“Urkkkk!”

The players of Cairon Continent grabbed their throats as they desperately tried to cough out the poison that entered their systems. Their speed dramatically decreased as they continued to run away. Some even drank their antidotes in a hurry.

However, even if they drank the antidotes, the poison still floated in the air, which turned their vision hazy. Then, someone used Wind again, helping the poison infiltrate the Cairon players’ systems more deeply.

The player that used Wind was none other than Black Mage Ali, who was sitting on top of the gigantic Predatory Snake! When he transferred classes and became the descendant of the Great Mage Moldoron, he gained the Predatory Snake as his subordinate, as well as a new spell, called

‘Snake’s Amusement’.

[Snake’s Amusement]

[Hundreds of snakes will appear and bite your enemies, consuming their HP to convert into your own HP and MP.]

[If the snakes succeeds in biting ten consecutive enemies, the cooldown for all of your magic spells will be reduced by 1%.]

[A 70% decrease in physical defense and magical defense, as well as a 50% decrease in HP will be incurred as a penalty.]

Snake’s Amusement was a very valuable and useful skill during a large-scale war. It was somewhat similar to Mana Drain, a skill that could take away the enemy’s mana. The difference was that while Mana Drain was a skill that would only target a single person, Snake’s Amusement was a skill that would release hundreds of snakes, which meant that it could target hundreds of enemies.

Ali swung his staff wildly, each swing accompanied by dozens of snakes. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of snakes slithered around in search of prey.

“Chwiiiiik—!”

“Chwiiiiiik—!”

Bite!

Bite!

The snakes swiftly crawled on the ground, biting the thighs, calves, sides, and even the faces of the Cairon troops that bent down to wash away the poison from their bodies.

[Converting your enemy’s HP to your MP.]

[Your snakes have successfully bitten ten enemies, cooldown has been decreased by 1%.]

The cooldown for Ali’s spells was already significantly shorter than other mage players, and with this, he could easily go on a rampage with his magic spells. So, he went wild.

“Hell Fire!!!!”

Each of Ali’s hands held and created a hell fire that he immediately sent towards the fleeing Cairon Continent players.

Baaaaaaaaang—

Baaaaaaang—!

The huge hell fire engulfed the Chinese players and wiped them out. However, Ali’s attacks never stopped.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

The battlefield was rife with the desperate shrieks of the players from Cairon Continent! Airen, who watched this scene, was caught in a dilemma. Right in front of them were huge siege weapons, while behind them was Black Mage Ali, mines and poisons. However, worthy of being a strategic commander, Airen quickly collected himself.

“Summoners! Summon your weakest monsters and make them march forward to clear a path to retreat!”

“Yes!”

Summoners were players that could summon monsters. Whenever there was a large gap between the levels of the summoners and their monsters, there would be a significant decrease in the MP consumption, which could allow them to increase the number of summons.

The summoners immediately summoned the gremlins! They might be at the bottom of the food chain, but they were still quick with their feet. Hundreds of this monster appeared and ran towards the Cairon players’ path of retreat.

“Kiyeeeeeeck!”

“Kyahaaaaack!”

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Airen’s plan was simple. He wanted to remove the land mines by using the monster summons. Just like he expected, the hundreds of gremlins triggered countless land mines and helped them reopen a path for their retreat.

“Archers, mages. Focus on Black Mage Ali!”

“Yes!!!”

The archers fired more than five hundred arrows, while the mages created countless magic spells, enough to cover the sky.

“Shield! Shield! Shield! Shield! Shield!” Black Mage Ali shouted, quickly super-imposing the shields that he had created. However, the assault of the arrows and the magics made the small snakes disappear one after the other.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

The arrows and magical attack spells kept on crashing into Ali’s shields. Even the skills of the talented archers and stronger mages had been added to the mix.

It did not matter how strong Black Mage Ali was, it would still be too much for him to block all of those attacks. Besides, his HP had decreased by fifty percent, and his physical and magical defenses were lowered by seventy percent, from the Snake’s Amusement penalty. He was a mage with a significantly lower HP and now, his HP was even further reduced. Just allowing one or two attacks to land on his body would result in death.

Crack!

Just as the rain of arrows and magical attacks were about to land on Ali after his shield broke…

“Kuhaaaaaaaaak!”

…the gigantic Predatory Snake opened his mouth widely and swallowed Ali. The rain of arrows and spells landed on the Predatory Snake’s body.

“Kieeeeeeeeeck!” Predatory Snake shrieked as he writhed all over the place, his body bleeding. However, he only let Ali outside after the baptism of arrows and spells had been over.

Ali immediately crouched down to check on Predatory Snake’s condition. He had formed a strong friendship with Predatory Snake to the point that he also had the mark of a friend on his back. As a sign of his love and care for Predatory Snake, Ali even gave him a name…

“C… Cupid-chan!!!”

Cupid. This was Predatory Snake’s new name.

“…”

Predatory Snake looked at Ali helplessly wondering if this was the time for him to call out such a cringy and ticklish name. It was the shame that brought him endless pain, not the wounds on his body!

“Cupid-chan… You’ve worked hard…” Ali lamented as he hugged Predatory Snake before sending him to the summoning room. When he turned around, another baptism of arrows and spells were waiting for him.

Airen smiled. Even the Chinese commentators sighed in relief.

[We finally found a way out.]

[It’s truly a relief. Thankfully, Airen’s excellent commanding skills have helped us overcome this crisis.]

[We still have more than 2,000 troops alive. We have to make plans for our future moves.]

At that moment, Ali did something strange. People in China were unaware that Black Mage Ali was an otaku among all other otakus!

Black Mage Ali raised his left hand and shouted, “Frieeeeeeeeeeeeeend!”

And the place where he was looking… was where his friend was, flying over to save him. That was right. He was literally flying.

[Wh…what’s that?!]

[There’re, there’re wings!!!]

The camera panned over the ramparts to show a guy with a pair of white wings flapping behind his back. This man was none other than Minhyuk. He flew swiftly before stopping in front of Ali. Then, he took out his mixer and bowl and began to stir it.

[…?]

[…?]

“…???”

All of the players and commentators looked at Minhyuk in doubt. The man with angel wings was whipping something in a mixing bowl while in the midst of the battle? But then…

Shwaaaaaaaa—

…the hundreds of magic spells and skills disappeared in an instant.

[…?]

[…?]

“…?”

“…?”

The situation was so absurd that everyone on the scene became speechless.

‘If you take out a mixer and bowl and mix something, the spells and skills will be dispelled?’

While everyone was looking at the scene in a daze and confusion…

Swoosh!

“Frieeeeeeeeeend!!!” Minhyuk shouted as he raised his left hand and flapped his wings vigorously.

“Y…you’re so cool, Minhyuk,” Ali said excitedly as Minhyuk flew up in the sky.

Minhyuk’s sword, which was already raised high up in the sky, was radiating an immense amount of energy. Sparks began to appear all over his sword.

“Sword like Lightning.”

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

Sword lights that looked to be shrouded in lightning, their length fifty meters each, covered the sky above and fell down on the players of Cairon Continent.