Chapter 49: The Wild Forest (6)

There was a large clearing in the eastern part of the forest. It had transformed into a developed outpost. The two entrances were shabby, but there were wooden fences and four guards on each side. There was a large blaze that was reminiscent of a campfire, and there were over 80 Players milling about, eating a late dinner.

“Slurp.” Seo Jun-Ho was eating cup ramen for dinner. He ate a hearty meal with kimchi he had brought in his inventory and looked around when he finished.

‘There are 80 people here. And there are 72 ?Players that are gathering in the north and south.’

152 in total. It was the same number of Players that were currently inside the Gate. Surprisingly, they had all decided to join him.

‘But the situation doesn’t look too good.’

48 people had died on the first night. They’d lost a fourth of their manpower, and it was starting to weigh on the survivors.

‘…It’s good that they’re as angry as they are nervous though.’

They’d lost friends, sunbaes, hubaes, and lovers. The Players who’d lost their loved ones were sharpening the knife of vengeance. Even if he told them to launch a full-scale offensive when morning came, they would probably listen without a word.

Seo Jun-Ho calmed himself and organized his thoughts.

‘Right now, I’m level 24.’

He had killed 78 dark elves and Woldogs up until now, which was less than he had expected because he dispatched other Players to clean them up. On top of that, he hadn’t had time to fight much because he prioritized rescuing other Players.

‘The remaining number of enemies is around 560.’

All the Players here who had entered through the Gate could easily hunt four dark elves each. But that was only if they went ‘hunting.’

‘Tomorrow will be like a war.’

After he saved the last survivor, the Bravo party’s maknae, Seo Jun-Ho set up the outpost. He hadn’t encountered a dark elf since then.

‘They’re starting to feel the losses.’

The tribe chief was smart, so he wouldn’t act rashly. He would probably lock down their stronghold and focus on naval forces. The Players had to make the first move.

‘The problem is…’

Seo Jun-Ho looked at each Player who was eating. They came from all different races, nationalities, Guilds, and parties. Some of them were even non-combatants like Seo Mi-Rae.

‘Compared to the dark elves who move under their leader’s orders, we just seem like a mob.’

They were obedient for now because they were thirsty for vengeance, but he didn’t know how long that would last. This wasn’t the only problem, though.

“We have to hurry up and clear this Gate!”

“I get what you’re saying, but we can’t just sacrifice ourselves for one person.” Seo Jun-Ho’s attention turned to the two groups that were arguing.

“Dammit…we can’t treat this without a medical specialist from a hospital.”

The Bravo party’s maknae was on the edge of death from being poisoned by the dark elf. Choi Jin-Pyo and other healers tried to help him, but their abilities were useless against the poison.

“What are you so scared of? If we combine with the other Players, there’ll be 150 of us! 150!”

“Watch what you’re saying. Who said I was scared?”

“...Ugh.”

Seo Jun-Ho facepalmed. They were already disorganized, and now there was even infighting.

‘It’ll be impossible to lead them and clear the Gate by normal means…’

One of the Players watching the arguing noticed him staring. “Jun-Ho-nim, what do you think?”

“Well, there’s pros and cons to either option. But…” As he spoke, dozens of Players looked at him. “If possible, it would be best to clear this Gate quickly.”

“I knew it!” The Bravo party members’ faces brightened, and the other group looked disappointed. Seo Jun-Ho quickly continued. “Of course, it’s not simply for the sake of one person.” It was the conclusion he had come to after pondering for a long time. He knew how large the dark elves’ forces were through the memories, but the others didn’t.

“First of all, I believe that the number of dark elves left is around the number that attacked us the first night.”

“...May I ask why you think that?”

“We thought there would be around 200 at most.”

“Of course. You probably came to that conclusion after thinking about how dark elves act.” They were extremely selfish and individualistic by nature. These Players weren’t beginners, so that had been the first thing they considered. ‘But we’re not dealing with normal dark elves.’

The leader of the Black Moss tribe was extremely intelligent. His overwhelming power had united the self-centered dark elves. This became apparent from the unexpected attack on the first night. As Seo Jun-Ho explained this, the other Players slowly started to nod.

“That makes sense…the dark elves in this forest were very different from what I knew about them.”

“Their coordinated attack means they’re an organized group. As you said, this is likely thanks to their leader.”

“It reminds me of what Specter said in the past. You can study for college exams with a textbook, but you shouldn’t do that for hunting.”

“He probably said that with these kinds of situations in mind.”

“Gates are always unpredictable.” The Players quickly started to agree with Seo Jun-Ho’s opinion. Even though he was the lowest level Player, he had shown them the most.

‘That’s why they say Players only care about performance.’

Just as Seo Jun-Ho was smiling proudly, one of the Players spoke to him. “So assuming that there are 500 elves...how about the Woldogs?”

“There are no more left.”

“Huh?!” The Players blinked, confused by his confidence. He wasn’t some fortuneteller, after all.

“Think about the last Player we saved.”

“Are you talking about our maknae?” A member of the Bravo party quietly raised their hand. Seo Jun-Ho nodded.

“What was chasing them?”

“Um…there were dozens of Woldogs. The dark elves had released them.”

“Correct. And those Woldogs were just pups.” They hadn’t been large enough for the dark elves to ride.

“The fact that they were using young Woldogs in a pursuit means that they had lost all their fully grown ones during the first attack.”

“Ohh…..”

“That’s right!” The Players slapped their knees as they finally understood. At the same time, they were also impressed. While they got distracted by the battle, Seo Jun-Ho didn’t miss a single detail.

“Right now, the dark elves are probably locking down their stronghold and focusing on naval forces.” Seo Jun-Ho spoke without hesitation. “However, if this drags on longer, it won't be them but us, who'll be at a disadvantage.” He was talking about the chronic problems of Players. “We have limited rations, so we can’t fully rest, or our numbers will dwindle.”

The enemy numbered over 500. The tribe chief wouldn’t move for now, but that would change once he understood the Players’ situation.

“They’re going to keep ambushing us. There probably won’t be any more large-scale surprise attacks like the first night…”

“But they’ll probably attack us every night with those poisoned arrows and run away.”

“We’ll become more exhausted as the days goes on because we can’t rest…”

“And once they think they can win, they’ll collapse on us like water from a waterfall.”

It was good that these people caught on quickly. They started to understand the situation and what Seo Jun-Ho meant by his words.

“That makes sense.”

“Now that you say that, I think clearing the Gate as quickly as possible would be the best option.”

As their opinions started to change, the hostility between the Players dissipated.

“I’m sorry about before. Our lives are also at risk here…”

“No, I apologize. We were thinking too much about ourselves.”

Seo Jun-Ho changed the subject as the mood became somber. “I’ve sent scout Players to do reconnaissance. It’ll be nice once we have information about their village.” Seo Jun-Ho wasn’t worried.

‘They’ll find it tomorrow morning at the latest.’

He had purposely set up an outpost in the east because it was near the dark elves’ village.

“Rest up, everyone.” Having said that, Seo Jun-Ho glanced at Seo Mi-Rae, hinting her to follow him. He led her to a quiet area.

“Why did you call me away?” Seo Mi-Rae tilted her head.

“Can you use your foresight skill now?”

“Um…yes. Would you like me to look?”

“Yes.” Seo Jun-Ho nodded. Having received an answer, Seo Mi-Rae stared at him with her piercing eyes. A moment later, she shook her head in amazement. “Wow, they found the village! We’re going to fight them tomorrow around lunchtime.”

“What else?”

“There’s a ton of them. Like you said, I didn’t see any Woldogs, but there are around 600 dark elves?”

“And?”

Tremble

“And…”

She shivered and made an exaggerated expression as she hugged her arms.

“There’s a dark elf with a gloomy air around him…there are five other elves around him that are bigger than the others.”

He knew about them.

‘The attendant dark elven knights.’

But this wasn’t what Seo Jun-Ho wanted to know. He already knew this all from reading the dead’s memories. He wanted to know more about his own story.

“And lastly…” She looked at Seo Jun-Ho with suspicion. “You’re using something that looks like it’s made of ice….is it an artifact?”

“...” Seo Jun-Ho kept a straight face, but inside, he was disturbed.

‘…Is the leader that strong? Strong enough that I have to use Frost?’

The reason he asked her to look into his future was that he wanted to avoid revealing his Frost skill to the public.

“Thank you for your help. Please don’t tell the other Players what you saw.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Seo Jun-Ho was locked deep in thought as Seo Mi-Rae walked away.

***

As the sun rose, the reconnaissance team returned. There was good news and bad news.

“We found the village!”

“It’s not very far. It’s about two hours to the east if we walk.”

“Ooh, the Spoiler was right.”

That was the good news.

“...But their numbers are much bigger than we thought.”

“We only watched from afar, but there’s at least 500 of them.”

“It’s gonna be a hard battle.”

That was the bad news.

But Seo Jun-Ho had expected this and told the other Players about it earlier, so they weren’t surprised. In fact, they were impressed by Seo Jun-Ho again as his suspicions were confirmed.

The Players in the north and south were also starting to gather.

“Black cow party, 7 people. Present.”

“Iron cane party, 4 people. Here.”

At around lunchtime, all the Players in the Gate had gathered in one area. It was a rare sight to behold.

“All the Players in a large-scale Gate, gathered together…”

“It’s the first time we’ve all been together since we first entered.”

“...It’s truly amazing. So many people have gathered thanks to one person.”

They all looked to Seo Jun-Ho, who was in black armor and was preparing for battle. He had helped them more times than they could count. There were many people who wouldn’t be standing here without him.

Ignoring their stares, Seo Jun-Ho twisted his waist and stretched.

“Are the preparations complete?” The question was directed at none other than the smiling Cha Min-Woo. He had been the party leader when they first entered, but at some point, he started acting as a sort of deputy. Despite that, he seemed to be enjoying it.

“There are three people that are out of commission. Two non-combatants have been assigned to protect them. Excluding them, all 147 people are here. We’re ready.”

“Then let’s go.” As Seo Jun-Ho spoke, the scouts scattered in all four directions. Seo Jun-Ho followed suit with 100 Players trailing behind him.