Chapter 170: The Hero Emerges (2)

Cra-craack!

Kai’s longsword sliced through the gate as effortlessly as cutting tofu.

[You have destroyed an Easy Gate.]

[You have earned 500 contribution points for destroying the Easy Gate.]

[Your total contribution points are now 700.]

Each monster that emerged from the Easy Gates awarded 1 contribution point. Since he had killed two hundred monsters, earning 200 points, and destroyed the Gate for an additional 500 points, Kai now had a total of 700 contribution points.

And I also got to test out the power of my skill.

Kai smiled in satisfaction as he recalled the sight of five hundred arrows tearing through the sky. It was a powerful skill that had wiped out both monsters and Crimson Sunset guild members alike, without discrimination.

It was a skill that only the top-tier ranker Wizards who had mastered arrow-type skills to an advanced level could hope to replicate—something that would be impossible for an ordinary player, no matter how hard they tried.

"Closing the Gate is simple enough."

All he had to do was attack and destroy the Gate—it was that easy.

Alright. That’s the end of the tutorial I guess.

Having gotten a clear sense of what to do now, Kai headed for Glendale without hesitation.

***

Baden was the name of the castle tormented by two Hard Gates opening at the same time.

Dang. I even set up a shop in Castle Baden...

If the city falls... it’s all over!

But with the current forces, we don’t stand a chance.

Easy Gates spawned monsters with an average level of 50, and Medium Gates brought monsters around level 150. So, what about the Hard Gates? Without a doubt, they spewed out monsters averaging level 250.

Crraaaack!

"

Roooaaarrr!

"

"

Screeeech!

"

Regardless of size, level, and race, the monsters emerging from the Hard Gate seemed to share some kind of collective consciousness, showing no signs of hostility toward one another. Their only enemy was clearly the humans, as they relentlessly and mindlessly assaulted Castle Baden!

Razley, the sub-master of the Pray guild, stood atop Castle Baden’s sturdy walls and said to Minerva, “Master, there’s more bad news.”

“

Ugh

.”

Minerva watched the flood of monsters crawling over the plains like cockroaches with a face filled with horror. She turned her head. “Go ahead and tell me. How could it possibly get worse?”

“Unfortunately, it can. If we don’t destroy the Gates within a certain time, it seems they’ll start spawning boss monsters as well.”

“...What did you say?!” Minerva, usually calm and composed, let out a shriek. “I thought we were just supposed to defend the castle... and now boss monsters will come too?”

“Yes. The timing seems random, but the boss monsters are much stronger than we anticipated.”

When Razley shared the community feed with her, Minerva furrowed her brows as she watched the footage.

“

Sigh

.” After viewing the entire video, Minerva rubbed her forehead with her small hand. “Sure enough... it’s extremely strong for a boss from a Medium Gate.”

“The ones from the Hard Gates will be even stronger.”

“If two of them appear at once...”

Minerva’s expression darkened.

The death of a guild member directly weakens the guild’s overall power. That’s why I planned to avoid direct combat as much as possible...

At least until Kai arrived, Minerva had intended to focus solely on defense. But if two boss monsters appeared, the situation would change drastically.

Even for us, the Pray Guild, there’s no way we can stop that.

After the Black Bee guild fell from having its wings torn by Kai, the top ten guilds' reputations had tarnished. However, the power of being part of the top ten guilds was still formidable—in other words, their strength remained undeniable.

“

Ugh.

Prepare for a full-scale battle right away.”

“...The losses could be significant. We’re already facing four hundred monsters just from the two Gates.”

That number of monsters wasn’t something even a guild could typically handle in a mass hunt. Most rankers wanted to level up quickly, but none were willing to take the risk of death.

“Even so, Baden is finished if two boss monsters emerge.”

It was a choice between two options. Abandon Castle Baden and retreat, or stay and fight the monsters emerging from the Gate.

Normally, we’d have no choice but to abandon Castle Baden, but...

But this time, that wasn’t an option because they hadn’t come here by their own will.

That bear-like fox!

[1]

Who knows what he’ll do if we disobey his orders.

If Kai applied pressure through the Church, the title of a top ten guild could be stripped away in an instant.

In her short life, Minerva had never experienced a year as intense and busy as the past one.

MID Online is no longer just a game for me.

It had become her very life itself!

Having made her decision, Minerva nodded. “Even if we suffer losses, we must defend Castle Baden.”

The warmth usually present in Minerva’s eyes was gone, replaced by the gaze of a warrior preparing for battle.

***

Crunch!

“Shit! Hey! Are we supposed to be happy about this?!”

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

“We’ve always wanted to mass-hunt these ogres, right?”

“

Huff, huff.

Sure, you idiot

.

”

Party players or those from small-scale guilds were desperately fighting off the monsters emerging from the Gates on the plains of Castle Baden.

There are more players than monsters. However...

The difference in power is ridiculous!

Castle Baden had now become a rather complicated place to call the frontlines. The monsters in the surrounding hunting grounds were around level 210, so while skilled players could be found, rankers were rare.

However, Castle Baden was a massive metropolis. As a result, numerous guilds had established their houses in this city, and many merchant guilds run by players had also set up their trading companies here.

“We must hold the line! We can’t let them through no matter what!”

“Damn it! How does it make sense that it’s taking three players to hold down a single ogre?!”

The players fighting on the plains were motivated by their desire to protect the city, but their enemies simply overpowered them.

Crunch!

Every time an ogre swung the massive tree trunk it carried, three or four players were sent flying through the air.

“Darn, don’t get hit by that smash attack!”

“Ogres are just strong, but they’re not skilled! We just need to figure out their attack patterns!”

“That’s a strategy for taking down one ogre! There are ogres everywhere—when are we supposed to have time to figure out their patterns?!”

The players became severely stressed when things did not go well. Normally, dying in

MID Online

while playing would cause only minor frustration, but in this battle, losing would literally mean the loss of their home base! Naturally, the stress the players were experiencing was far greater than usual.

“Adventurers, hold on a little longer! Reinforcements will surely arrive!”

Of course, it wasn’t just the players fighting. Soldiers, knights, and wizards from Castle Baden had also taken up arms, without hesitation, to protect their lord, families, and the people of their land. However, not everything could be solved by sheer will alone.

“What’s going on? Only their reinforcements are coming.”

“Why haven’t our reinforcements come yet?”

“Those big guild jerks who always act so high and mighty are nowhere to be seen when it matters.”

“

Ugh

, I just want to see my mom again...”

More monsters poured out of the Gate and arrived at the battlefield.

Staring at the scene in shock, the players and Castle Baden's army, all wore expressions of devastation.

“This is bad...”

Even the captain of the knights lowered his sword, his gaze trembling.

Is this really the end for Baden...?

Retreating to fortify their defenses would buy them time. However, there seemed to be no way to deal with the overwhelming number of monsters.

We need to minimize losses for now.

The moment the knights’ captain raised his sword to issue the retreat order, a clever gray troll hurled the wooden club it had been holding at the captain.

“

Kaaaahh!

”

The club flew through the air, aimed directly at the captain. Even if he dismounted, he wouldn't be able to avoid isolation on the battlefield!

At that moment, Sacred Barrier materialized in front of the captain and blocked the attack.

Clang!

“

Krrrk?

”

“W-what...?”

Before either the gray troll or the captain could understand what had happened, the tightly shut gates of Castle Baden began to forcefully open, and out rushed hundreds of Paladins.

“Blessing of the Saint, Blessing of the Battlefield.”

Woooooom!

As a woman standing behind them raised her hand and murmured, light enveloped the Paladins. At the same time, the speed of the charging forces increased significantly.

“Charge! Slay the monsters and close the Gates—that is our mission!”

“First, break their formation! Orders one through three, hit the left. Squadrons four through six, take the right!”

Hundreds of Paladins charged fearlessly at the ogres, trolls, and stone golems.

“T-that’s reckless...”

“Are you stupid? Reckless, my ass! Do you not see their emblem?”

“Emblem?”

At that, the nearby players quickly turned to check the guild emblems on their armor. There was only one guild in

MID Online

that used the white-painted emblem of the Solarian Church!

“P-Prray...”

“It’s the Pray guild!”

“One of the world’s top ten guilds has arrived as reinforcements!”

“Yes! I knew the Pray guys would come through!”

“Of course! They’re different from places like Black Bee or Titan!”

At the arrival of reinforcements from one of the world’s top ten guilds, the players erupted into cheers.

Then, Minerva approached the players and gave orders in a charismatic voice, “Fight without worry! The Pray guild’s Clerics will provide support from the rear!”

“I never thought I’d live to see the day I’d be supported by the Pray guild!”

“Looks like we’re not doomed after all!”

“I’ll definitely subscribe to your guild’s MewTube channel after this battle is over!”

“We are truly grateful for your support. I’ll make sure to report this to the Count!”

With high spirits, players and NPCs charged forward once more!

“Now, let us join the fight as well.”

Led by Minerva of the Saintess class, the clerics of the Pray guild began chanting their spells.

“Heal!”

“Mass Cure!”

“Touch of Healing!”

Hundreds of clerics held the rear line, continuously healing both players and NPCs. However, what surprised the players even more was something else.

“Oh no, the Haste spell duration is...”

“Haste!”

“

Argh,

the shield broke...”

“Sacred Barrier!”

With eagle eyes on the battlefield, they renewed buffs with ghost-like precision the moment they ran out! And that wasn’t all.

“Razley, enemies to the northeast!”

“Criden, a group of hobgoblins in the southwest are loading poison arrows.”

Information was relayed constantly to the Paladins assigned to specific sectors! The details covered enemy attacks and patterns the Paladins hadn’t noticed, providing precise briefings.

Players who witnessed this scene up close couldn’t help but swallow, utterly amazed.

Wizards may be the flowers of battle...

But Clerics are the flowers of war.

Who knew Clerics could be this terrifying?

With skilled Clerics supporting them, the tide of battle quickly balanced out. At this, the players wore expressions of relief, but Minerva remained concerned.

Even with our guild’s help, we’re only at a stalemate... This isn’t good.

If there had been only one Gate near Castle Baden, victory would have been easily within reach. However, there were two Gates.

According to information on the community, bosses are summoned randomly six hours after the Gate opens.

The two Gates near Castle Baden had opened seven and eight hours ago.

It wouldn’t be strange for a boss monster to appear at any moment.

It was a mystery why ominous thoughts always came true.

“Master! We’ve received a report from the scout team!”

“A boss monster has appeared from the left Gate!”

“It’s a level 278 Troll Hero!”

“

Argh

...!”

As Minerva frowned, preparing to order an increase in the tempo of battle, another report quickly followed.

“A-addditional report from the scouts!”

“No way...”

Minerva quickly turned her head toward the guild member delivering the report.

With a trembling voice and teary eyes, the female scout stated, “Another boss has appeared... from the right Gate as well.”

“Details?”

“L-level 310... It’s a Triple-Headed Ogre.”

Minerva wondered how ominous thoughts could come true twice in a row.

“...What is the Solarian God even doing right now?”

Though Minerva had no way to know it, the Solarian God was probably enjoying the candy Kai had left behind.

1. A Korean phrase to describe a fanatic who will do anything to make people listen to them. An uncommon of uncommon usage of 곰 같은 여우 - bear pretending to be a fox ☜