Siege warfare and defensive battles focused on attacking and defending castles, so although the gods that appeared varied each time, the patterns remained consistent. In other words, there was a standardized strategy, like a guidebook. And Sa-yoon had the most reliable ally by his side.
Oath: I’ll explain briefly.
“Yes.”
It was a remark as precise as a top-tier tutor.
Oath: During the defensive battle, the commander will attract aggro five times—when entering the central island and then when their HP drops to 98%, 75%, 50%, and 25%.
If the siege was about subjugating the War God Ares, then the defensive battle was about fending off the Furious War God Ares, enraged from having his treasure vault plundered.
Oath: And once the HP drops below 5%, the commander remains the fixed target. The key is to endure this phase.
Unlike the siege, where the focus was on attacking, in the defensive battle, the commander must not die. Just like in chess, where the game is lost if the king falls regardless of how many pieces remain, the same principle applies here.
Either the commander died, or the War God did.
The defensive battle had no time attack. It was a pure kill-or-be-killed fight.
Oath: The commander has access to two skills. One is a ‘Barrier’ that nullifies all incoming attacks for 10 seconds. The other is ‘Revival,’ which fully restores HP when it drops below 10%.
“The timing of the commander’s skills is crucial, then.”
Unlike the siege battle, where players had to collect stone slates from four different islands, the defensive battle started with the commander already in possession of the slates. Naturally, with the changed pattern, the timing of using these slates was different as well.
Sa-yoon skimmed his notes, reviewing Oath’s explanation.
Oath: In my case, during the defensive battle, I usually use the slates like this…
There was a reason people preferred experienced players. Oath, who had extensive experience as a commander in the main server, delivered an engaging and concise lecture. Thanks to that, within just ten minutes of the defensive battle meeting, Sa-yoon had already grasped the commander-exclusive skills and responsibilities.
Oath: So, you’ve got the pattern down, right?
“Yes, thanks to you explaining it so well, Oath-nim.”
Oath: Nah, Chasa-nim, you’ve got great instincts. You’ll do just fine.
“Thank you.”
Gamers naturally felt drawn to those who played well—except for outliers like Killer.
As they exchanged compliments, Sa-yoon found himself thinking: Maybe all those lonely, grueling years of gaming had led him to meet people like this.
On top of that, Oath readily shared information that Sa-yoon would never have learned on his own. The biggest downside was that he was only a temporary guild member.
Killer was ridiculously lucky. How did he end up with guildmates like these? When he returned to Reaper guild, maybe he could leave Oath behind. Sharing his character customization settings wasn’t an option, but if he just offered to tweak it a little…
He was in the middle of this morally questionable train of thought when:
[Guild] Killer: ?
[Guild] Killer: ?
[Guild] Killer: ?
[Guild] Killer: I said defensive strategy meeting, not a goddamn blind date.
[Guild] Shokrates: LOOOOOL but tbh…
[Guild] Shokrates: There was a bit of a pinkish aura between you two just now.
[Guild] Killer: ?
[Guild] Shokrates: I’m gonna write a 15-line poem about this. ^_^
[Guild] Furple: Bro’s trying so hard, lmao.
[Guild] Freedeal: That’s a stretch.
It was a recurring situation. Killer always showed up to throw a wrench into things whenever Sa-yoon got even slightly friendly with the guild members. Typical territorial behavior.
Ignoring the chat, Sa-yoon turned back to Oath.
“I’m relieved that you’ll be taking on the role of vice-commander, Oath-nim.”
Oath: Ah… Chasa-nim, about that…
The hesitation in his voice already felt ominous.
Oath: Inseong-nim is actually going to be vice-commander instead of me.
“…What?”
What the hell kind of nonsense was this? It was so out of nowhere that all Sa-yoon could do was stammer, “Huh? What? Huh?” in sheer disbelief.
And then, from the corner of his screen, Killer popped up.
Right now, Sa-yoon was taking advantage of the defensive strategy meeting to do some quiet fishing at a secluded lake. While guild members could see each other’s general location, it was only limited to rough map names. But old habits die hard—Killer’s stalking skills had been improving at an alarming rate.
“I told you to stop following me.”
[‘Killer’ makes a flower pose, saying, ‘Just trust me!’]
Threatening to block him had long since lost its impact. Talking sense into him was impossible. And to make matters worse, this damn game kept handing out new emotes every season like candy.
[Guild] Killer: I’ll protect you ><
What the hell was a DPS going to protect?
Sa-yoon muttered under his breath, and Killer immediately followed up with another message.
[Guild] Killer: If you want, I’ll roll a healer.
“Cut the crap before I block you.”
[Guild] Killer: ㅜㅜ
“You can’t even use voice chat because your mic is broken. How do you expect to command?”
[Guild] Killer: I can do it even without a mic.
[Guild] Killer: I swear.
“Yeah, yeah. Tell me that again when you actually buy a new headset. I don’t do raids with people who can’t use voice chat.”
At that, Killer finally went silent.
Had he… actually gotten rid of him? For real this time?
Just as that hopeful thought crossed Sa-yoon’s mind—
[Guild] Shokrates: Did Inseong-nim go buy a mic or what?
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Every time I see Inseong-nim getting leash trained, it feels like a dream.
[You have been logged in for 31 hours. Please take a break!]
[Guild] Killer: I ordered a headset ^^
How the hell had he ended up stuck with this guy…
[Guild] Killer: Why aren’t you doing it?
[Guild] Killer: Your skill setup.
Oath: Ah, the main issue now is how to survive the 2% phase… Do you have any skills in mind?
The top-tier instructor had now transformed into a full-fledged career counselor. What an incredible service.
Sa-yoon took the question seriously and opened his skill window. They had already pushed through 98%—failing the defensive battle because the commander couldn’t survive the final 2%? That would be a tragedy.
Oath: This is actually my first time seeing a Warlock as the commander. Honestly, if you get hit even once in a robe, you might just insta-die…
Oath trailed off, clearly uneasy about having a glass-cannon commander with the defensive capability of wet tissue paper.
“I’ll take Decoy for now.”
Decoy was a lifeline in large-scale battles—it transferred lethal damage from the Summoner to their demon instead. It was practically a godsend in a situation like this.
Sa-yoon quickly picked out a few must-have skills: Decoy, Confusion, and Intimidation. Those three were non-negotiable.
Oath: If you stack defensive buffs and damage reduction to the max, it might work. I just checked—skills like Angra’s Eye, which nullifies attacks outright, or Abaddon’s Resolve seem like must-haves.
[Guild] Killer: Resolve won’t work.
“To equip Resolve, you have to max out all the prerequisite skills first, so the efficiency isn’t great. Angra’s Eye also has a pretty complicated activation condition.”
Oath: Ah… then Resolve is out.
Oath: Wait a second. Ah, Angra’s Eye is going to be tough too.
Divine-class skills unlocked at a rate of 10 up to level 20, then one every three levels after that. At max level, an additional five skills were unlocked, bringing the total to 32 available skills.
[Guild] Killer: Decoy, Ronove’s Temptation, Zagan’s Confusion, Crocell’s Betrayal, Intimidation, Katara’s Curse, Calamity, Misfortune, Scream, Tears.
[Guild] Killer: Tank the first hit with Barrier + Decoy, use potions and heals in between to maintain the cycle.
[Guild] Killer: If a one-shot attack comes in, pop Veil.
[Guild] Killer: Rest should be attack skills.
Killer rattled off the skill setup effortlessly. Every single one was a defensive skill specific to Warlocks, as if he’d thought this through long before now.
Oath: But Betrayal and Intimidation won’t cycle in a single cooldown.
[Guild] Killer: Stack cast speed reduction to max 7%, and it’s doable.
Oath: Hmm… at 7%, it might work.
[Guild] Shokrates: Sooo, if the three of you are just gonna have your own little meeting, can I ask why the rest of us are even here? T_T
[Guild] Freedeal: Hate to agree with the latecomer, but… same. T_T
[Guild] Furple: Can I go to bed now? T_T
Oath: Honestly, aside from Killer-nim, no one else even looked at the Warlock skill list, which is a shame. If you had, everyone could’ve contributed. Maybe for the next meeting, I should share the topic in advance and make pre-study mandatory?
[Guild] Shokrates: No offense, but you sound kinda… old-fashioned? T_T
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Bro sounds like a manager asking for ‘innovative’ marketing ideas in a brainstorming session. T_T
While the guild members kept chatting, Sa-yoon clicked through each of the skills Killer had listed, then spoke with a reluctant tone.
“…That setup would… actually work.”
No, work was an understatement. The skill cycle was flawless, with every buff duration meticulously accounted for. There wasn’t a single wasted action.
This wasn’t just someone who liked Warlocks—there was no way he could know the class this well without having mained one himself.
Had he actually played a Warlock as his main and then quit?
That old suspicion, buried for a while, started creeping back up.
