Chapter 373: Turning the Tide of War

Berdk Attack Base.

Genie and the remaining players all turned white in fear after seeing cracks appear on the ramparts.

[Hundreds of Vormon’s Subordinates are attacking Berdk Attack Base.]

[Cracks have started appearing on the walls! Even the players are getting frustrated after using all of their skills to stop their attacks but failing to deal heavy damage. They are further helpless due to the advent of their skill cooldown and the exhaustion of their MP.]

[Once the ramparts collapse, there will be more than 30,000 enemy troops and hundreds of Vormon’s Subordinates waiting for them.]

[In comparison, there’s only 1/10th of the troops remaining in Berdk.]

They were in a very dire situation. The ramparts were collapsing while most of the troops remaining in Berdk could not use their skills. Even the number of enemies that they needed to face were more than ten times their number. In other words, the future ahead of them was dark and bleak.

‘However, we can’t just give up here.’

Genie immediately ordered, “Get some rest for a moment and prepare for the battle that will unfold once the ramparts collapse.”

They did not have any other methods to protect Berdk. The members of Let’s Eat Sect Guild and the other rankers all moved to restore the HP and MP that they had consumed earlier. Even if they did so, they were aware that they would only be able to fill a third before the wall collapsed.

Baaaaaaaaaang—

Crack—

Not long after Genie ordered them to take a break, the small cracks that appeared on the walls began to spread uniformly. All of them gathered in front of Berdk’s main gate. They were sure that the enemies would push forward the moment the walls collapsed. Unlike their walls, Berdk Attack Base was not that strong and durable. They knew that it was only a matter of time before it collapsed. So, it was better for them to make their stand in front of the main gate.

“Let’s hold out for as long as we can.”

Genie grabbed her whip tightly as Khan, Ascar, and Ace nodded in agreement. Along with her words, a loud bang rang out.

Baaaaaaaaaaaang—

The magnificent ramparts that surrounded Berdk collapsed and kicked up a dense cloud of dust that covered the surroundings in a haze. And in that haze, what greeted them was none other than the marching Cairon Continent players and Vormon’s Subordinates.

“Arrows!!!”

The remaining Kharamis soldiers mounted their bows with arrows and shot at the enemies.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh—

“Keuaaaaaaack!!!”

“Ugh… aaaaaaaaack!!!”

The rushing players shrieked.

“Mages!”

“Yes!”

The mages cast their strongest and highest-tiered magic spells that they had prepared earlier from recovering their MP.

“Fire Field!”

“Fire Storm!”

“Fire Ball!!!”

“Wind Storm!!!”

“Ice Rain!!!”

“Lightning Sword!!!”

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

“Keuaaaaack!”

“Keheok!”

“Urk!”

Screams and shrieks rang loudly. However, just like the soldiers running out of ammunition, the players of Asgan Continent also ran out of skills to use. In shows or movies, the characters would usually be pushing on with sheer will, their passion and sense of justice burning brightly. Just like that, Genie clenched her hand, holding her whip tightly as she ran forward. Khan, Ace, and Ascar also followed behind her.

Thwack—

Genie’s whip crackled and slapped one of the players that were rushing in front of her.

“Urk!”

Hundreds of players that were rushing behind that player also flew back from the impact. Khan was in a similar situation. Even though he had exhausted his MP, he was a fighter that specialized in fighting close combat. Just a simple jump and a knee to the face of one of the enemy players caused that player, as well as those rushing behind him, to collapse.

Ace also used the last of his strength.

“Fire Fist!”

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

A huge pillar of flame stretched out from Ace’s fist which directly drove away the enemies that threatened Genie. The elites that remained in Berdk began to move. Although all they did was to strike their enemies directly without any skills, their attacks still packed a punch. After all, they were Korea’s top rankers.

Khan swiftly punched the enemies that flocked in front of him. However, one of the melee fighter’s skills slammed into him, which made him fly back.

“Ugh!”

The enemies flocked to where Khan was the moment he collapsed. Ascar’s dual swords swung in a beautiful arc, as she covered for Khan and blocked the incoming enemies.

Shwaaaaaaaaaa—

The enemies fell helplessly under the onslaught of her sword strikes. However, she could not hold out any longer than that.

“Urk!!!”

“Keuk!!!”

Khan, Ace, and Ascar all screamed in pain as they shielded Genie.

“Why, why…!!!”

“Shouldn’t we protect our Vice Guild Master?”

Even though their guild master was clearly Minhyuk, their leadership remained unchanged and they still followed the orders of Genie, the former Legend Guild master. At the very least, they did not want to hear from their enemies that they could not even protect their leader. Besides, she was their spiritual pillar of support. She had to survive longer than them.

“Kyaaaaaaack!”

Ascar threw herself directly in front of Genie to block the magic attack aimed towards her. From the looks of it, it seemed like her HP had dropped significantly, which made her movements dull and labored.

“Ugh!”

Khan, who was left alone to block hundreds of enemies, eventually fell down on one of his knees. Then, the enemies’ deadly attacks came!

Baaaaaaaang—

Khan rolled on the floor after receiving a direct kick to his face. In the end, even Ace stood in front of Genie and blocked the enemies in front of her.

“Justice! If this is my justice, then I will willingly give my life to protect this princess!!!” Ace proudly declared a line from some animation that he had watched before, as he blocked the attacks aimed at Genie.

“Urk!”

However, even though his voice sounded domineering and imposing, his body collapsed just a few seconds after. Genie, whose face was covered with dirt and grime, supported herself on one knee as she looked at her surroundings. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. The enemies continued to cut them down as they advanced forward. Only 100 of their own troops were left and they had all gathered around Genie to protect her.

‘I didn’t live my life in vain.’

Genie smiled as she held her whip tightly in preparation. Then, she swung her arm forward with the remaining strength in her body.

This was the end.

Spurt—

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The right side of her chest was pierced, as she grabbed the blade of the sword in her enemy’s hand.

“Haa…” Genie sighed lightly. She knew that her fate of being forced to log out was just around the corner.

“It’s Genie!!!”

“Berdk’s commander, Genie, has been caught!!!”

“Why, why isn’t this coming out?!” The player that stabbed her in the chest tried to pull away his sword, but he could not do so. However, even if she stopped this player, there were already hundreds of players rushing to where she was.

Genie smiled wryly and said, “Thank you, everyone.”

Today, Genie found out that there were a lot of people around her that cared for her and protected her. This fact was far more valuable than their victory. But at that moment…

“Sword Manipulation.”

Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!

A single sword flew swiftly through the air, as it slashed and swept away the incoming enemies. There, amidst the clouds of dust, was a man flying in the air, while wearing an armor that looked strangely like the scales of a dragon and a pair of dragon wings spread out from his shoulder blades.

***

PD Hu Wei of TBC Broadcasting Station, one of China’s top gaming broadcasting stations, burst out in laughter, “Keuhahahahahaha! These f*cking Korean bastards are so pathetic!!!”

The Korean players were fighting a desperate and uphill battle, amidst the thick clouds of dust. However, what could they even do against the throngs of Chinese players and Vormon’s Subordinates? They fought desperately and did not want to surrender, but in the end, they fell one after the other. It was a complete landslide victory for the Chinese.

Of course, the situation in Atlas was completely different. Black Mage Ali, Locke and Kaistra were all literally flying around and slaughtering the Chinese players after having a bite of Minhyuk’s food. They had already massacred 4,000 Chinese players, all by themselves. This was a disgrace to China.

However, Berdk was on the other end of the spectrum. In Berdk, the Chinese were trampling the Koreans.

‘These uncivilized Koreans…’

What were their ratings like? As China’s top broadcasting station, they had already reached around 38% in viewer ratings. The ratings especially reached an all-time high during the process where the Korean players were being swept away by the Chinese.

“Now, once Genie gets killed then…”

After fighting until the end, Genie had finally collapsed. Hundreds of players took this opportunity to flock towards her. Hu Wei’s hands were covered in sweat. All they needed to do was to cut her neck off and Berdk’s recapture would be practically over.

“PD!!!”

“What?! Can’t you see that this is a very important scene?!”

Hu Wei had a hot temper that went along with his high prestige. He frowned at the sudden call, but everyone around him began to call his name.

“PD Hu!!!”

“PD Hu! You have to see this!!!”

“…?”

“It’s on Camera 4! Camera 4!!!”

Hu Wei turned his gaze accordingly. From camera 4, camera 6, camera 8 and so on. Several cameras were trained on something. The figure was none other than a man swiftly descending down from the sky with black wings on his back.

“What, what the hell?! That man…?!”

The man had a pair of gigantic black wings, a black sword, and a body covered with black scales, which made him look like he was wearing Iron Man’s suit. Strangely, he looked like a beacon of light amidst the pandemonium that was wreaking havoc on the ground.

Hu Wei immediately turned to focus on cameras 9 and 10, the cameras that were showing the current situation in Berdk. The man that had suddenly appeared released his sword.

Sword Manipulation. It was a sword technique that could only be used by those that had reached the highest level in martial arts! The Sword Manipulation skill was triggered, which swept away the hundreds of players that flocked towards Genie. But that was not the end of it.

“PD… PD Hu Wei.”

“There’s… there’s something strange in the sky…”

“There’s something strange in the sky?”

Coincidentally, their viewership ratings reached another peak.

“The ratings have broken through 45%!!!”

“The ratings have broken through 46%!!!”

This meant that almost half of the Chinese TV viewers were currently watching their broadcast. At that moment, Hu Wei turned to look at the camera that was trained on the sky.

“What, what in the world are those?! A murder of crows?”

There seemed to be beings that strangely looked like crows wandering around the sky above Berdk. Then…

.

“The ratings have broken through 50%!!!”

The Chinese viewers were definitely waiting for the final scene where they cut off Genie’s head. However, as their viewership rating reached 50%, what the viewers saw was not that scene, but a scene where a man all clad in black appeared.

One of the Chinese mages used

‘Wind’

to blow the dust covering the scene away. That was when a clear image was shown on the screen. All of the cameras zoomed in on the man for a second.

As the cameras closed up on the man, what they saw was more than 300 players forced to log out by Sword Manipulation, and blazing black flames from the man’s sword.

“…!”

Hu Wei was shocked.

‘Who the hell is that man…?’

Hu Wei and the viewers that contributed to their 50% ratings all watched the man with bated breaths. Then, the man opened his mouth…

[Fufufufufufu…]

It was a gloomy, dark, and ominous laugh! Hu Wei fell in a daze for a moment.

‘Doesn’t, doesn’t he sound cool…?’

Hu Wei knew that the man had great taste. As someone with the same chuunibyou tendencies, he felt like he was enchanted by the man.

[Aaaaaaaaaah! My Dragon Tear Sword has brought tears as it killed my enemies.]

‘Did, did he just say Dragon Tear Sword? My goodness. So, there really is an artifact that has such a beautiful and artistic name…?’

Hu Wei became more enchanted.

[And what is this warmth in my chest? Aaaaaah! I’m facing tens of thousands of enemy troops. but my heart is burning in flames!!!]

Then, the man stepped forward. The faces of the Chinese players present looked like they had been forced to eat shit, just by listening to the man’s childish and cringy lines!

However, contrary to their disgust, Hu Wei watched the man in admiration. Then, the man spoke again.

[It’s time to awaken those that slumber in front of these ten thousand strong enemies.]

The man raised his hands high up in the sky and..

[Kiyeeeeeeeeeeeeck!!!]

[Kyaahaaaaaaaaack!!!]

[Kieeeeeeeeeee!!!]

The black crows that covered the skies, no, the beings that they thought were black crows, swiftly descended to the ground. Then, they reached the place where the camera could finally recognize their figure. Upon closer inspection, they saw that the creatures were covered with dragon scales and had a pair of dragon wings on their back. However, they were able to walk on their two feet and carried dazzling weapons like spears and swords. They numbered around 4,000. All of them landed and knelt down on one knee in front of the man as they declared loudly…

[Oh great one! Please give us your orders!!!]

[Oh great one! Please give us your orders!!!]

[Oh great one! Please give us your orders!!!]

The voices of these thousands of unidentified beings rang loudly. Then, the man in front of them lifted his

‘Dragon Tear Sword’?

and shouted…

[My passionate comrades, let’s show the world what our blazing chant is!!!]

[The being in my right hand is going to go berserk!!!]

[The being in my right hand is going to go berserk!!!]

[The being in my right hand is going to go berserk!!!]

Hu Wei shuddered as he thought,

‘That’s so cool…!’

The man, with his domineering and cold voice, said…

[Heed my orders.]

The mysterious man glared coldly at the incoming enemies.

[Slaughter them.]