“I’ll take care of Oath, so you handle Shock.”
Sa-yoon naturally took the lead in strategizing. Since their server had a low population and he had spent every failed job attempt grinding on the battlefield, most of the enemies they encountered were familiar faces. Explaining opponents to his teammates had become second nature, and before he knew it, he was the one calling the shots.
The plan was simple. While Chasa kept Oath occupied, Killer would take down Shokrates.
“Do you know anything about Oath’s patterns?”
As he swapped out his armor, Sa-yoon asked Killer for intel.
This felt a little unfamiliar. He was usually the one sharing enemy information, but this time, their roles had flipped. Shokrates was bound to come as an electric mage, but he was curious about how Oath had built his skills.
“He might mix invincibility skills with damage reduction for tanking. Or maybe he’ll go for a surprise attack and come in with a full offense build?”
For a Warlock, whose main strength was damage-over-time effects, a Guardian was as tricky an opponent as a nimble Hunter with high evasion.
“Oath is just too good. I don’t know if I can even pressure him properly.”
Sa-yoon winced at the thought of Oath’s impeccable defense and massive health pool. When they were on the same team, it was reassuring—but as an enemy, it was terrifying.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him use an offense build… Wait, no. Some people deliberately make their gear look identical to throw others off.”
Battlefields were all about strategy. If you frequently faced the same opponents, you could often gauge their build just by looking at their armor. Some players took advantage of this by keeping their gear appearance unchanged, making it harder for others to predict their stats.
Of course, Sa-yoon preferred variety over efficiency. The phrase “one outfit for life” didn’t exist in his gaming vocabulary.
As he ran through possible strategies in the short remaining queue time, he suddenly felt something was off. Now that he thought about it, Killer had gone silent at some point.
“Killer?”
What the hell? Where’d he go?
Chasa stepped closer to Killer and repeatedly equipped and unequipped his staff. The weapon effect flickered on and off, creating a flashy display, while the sound of equipping and unequipping rang out rapidly—dokk, dokk, dokk.
It was a common trick to wake up someone who had gone AFK or dozed off.
[Party] Killer: Hyung, why are you so interested in Oath?
“What?”
Why? Obviously, because winning was the goal. Know your enemy, know yourself, and you will never be defeated—there was a reason that saying existed.
“Why are you suddenly typing instead of talking?”
[Party] Killer: Oath isn’t even that good.
That came out of nowhere. He’d been behaving for the past few days, and now this? What the hell had set him off again? It was obvious he was pissed about something and had muted his mic to rage in chat. I should’ve added No raging during battles as one of our conditions.
“Haaah…”
Sa-yoon let out a deep sigh. A string of curses pressed against the back of his throat, but he swallowed them down. Arguing with his duo right before a fight would do more harm than good. Three moments of patience bring a lifetime of victory.
Just as he successfully got his emotions under control, the countdown timer neared its end.
“If you weren’t good at this game, you’d be so screwed, man.”
At that moment, a majestic war horn rang out.
[The battle has begun!]
[May Athena’s blessing be upon you.]
But this wasn’t the end of their group project from hell. As soon as the waiting room doors opened, they were met with nothing but thick, orange smoke. The distant growls of beasts beyond the haze made the atmosphere even more ominous.
The battlefield was Sulfur Hills, a map where toxic gas vents erupted unpredictably from the ground, and minor monsters roamed freely.
“Of course we get the most annoying map.”
It was a newly released battleground that had debuted alongside this match mode, and Chasa and Killer had only played on it once before.
[Battle] In response to the Contractor ‘Chasa’s’ call, the high-ranking demon Hagenti has been summoned.
Instead of charging forward immediately after summoning his familiar, Chasa stuck close to Killer.
“Let’s wait for them to come to us.”
The dense smoke severely limited visibility. Charging in recklessly could end with them aggroing mobs and putting themselves at a disadvantage. It was smarter to hold their ground and let the enemy come to them.
[Party] Killer: No
[Party] Killer: Dragging this out puts us at a disadvantage.
But Killer had a different opinion. Sa-yoon narrowed his eyes, trying to gauge whether this was just Killer’s usual contrarian streak or if he actually had a point.
At that moment, the scoreboard in the upper-right corner changed. The enemy team’s score, which had been at zero, had just jumped to 200.
Victory in this battleground was determined by points, and there were multiple ways to earn them besides killing enemies—hunting field monsters, mining ores, gathering crops, or destroying certain structures.
And Sulfur Hills was a map that offered a lot of those extra point opportunities.
The enemy had figured out they were waiting and were taking full advantage of it. The mindset of a tank-DPS duo and a DPS-DPS duo when it came to hunting was completely different. In this case, Killer was right—dragging things out would only put them at a disadvantage.
[Party] Killer: We need to start farming points too.
As if to drive the point home, the enemy’s score jumped again, this time to 400. The available bonus points on the battlefield were limited. If they didn’t start moving now, they’d fall too far behind.
“Watch out for the craters.”
As they finally moved out, the area around their characters lit up as if they were carrying lanterns.
But the visibility radius wasn’t very wide. Within that small, illuminated zone, Sa-yoon could see irregularly erupting gas vents and scattered pools of liquid. Both were hazards that inflicted continuous damage upon contact.
—Grrrrng.
“Shit, we aggroed something.”
A few steps further in, a group of monsters that had been lurking behind the rocks suddenly burst out. The fight began immediately.
[You have defeated Sulfur Kalros.]
[You have gained 200 points.]
“Huh?”
Sa-yoon, who had been checking the scoreboard from behind, made a puzzled noise. The enemy’s score had stopped at 600.
Why weren’t their points increasing anymore? When did they stop gaining them?
A bad feeling crept up his spine just as a dark silhouette flickered through the mist behind the monsters.
“Front!”
[Battle] Enemy ‘Shokrates’ has created a massive ice wall.
The moment the warning appeared, an enormous wall of ice surged up, separating Killer, Hagenti, and Chasa.
[Battle] Enemy ‘Oath’s Vow’ has used Indomitable Shield.
Wait—so he didn’t go with an electric build, but an ice one?
Before Sa-yoon could even think about countering the unexpected move, a shield suddenly slammed into his side. Oath had used a charge skill, sending Sa-yoon’s frail Warlock body flying with no chance to defend himself.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
“Ah!”
Had Oath planned this from the start?
The ground beneath him rumbled just as he landed, and from the cracked earth, massive claws burst forth.
It was the ambush point of the Sulfur Kalros, hyena-like monsters. Dust cascaded from their shaking heads as they let out guttural howls.
One, two, three—Oath in front, monsters behind.
In the blink of an eye, his enemies had multiplied to four. The creatures bared their razor-sharp teeth, saliva dripping as they lunged straight for Chasa.
Killer, the only possible backup, was still stuck on the other side of the wall.
Just like they had planned earlier—he really had ended up facing Oath alone.
Sa-yoon took a deep breath, steadying himself before charging at his approaching enemies.
[Battle] Casting Teleportation. Moving forward 10m.
Using a movement skill, Chasa instantly appeared behind Oath and bolted forward without looking back.
Sometimes, the best option was just to run.
***
This is way harder than it should be.
Hiding behind a boulder, Sa-yoon quickly sidestepped just in time—an enormous lance speared into the ground where he had been standing.
A lance. Not a spear—an actual lance. Who the hell throws a lance?!
First thing after this match, he was definitely filing a complaint demanding a Guardian nerf.
He had managed to shake off the monsters, but the situation was still stacked against him. Summoning a demon required 1.5 seconds, and a skilled opponent like Oath wasn’t giving him any room to cast. It was like being herded by a damn sheepdog.
“Damn it, I’m actually gonna die.”
He had been pushed back to the edge of a cliff. Well, not a cliff exactly—more like a steep drop-off—but with his HP now below 10% from all the hits he had taken while fleeing, falling from here would mean instant death from fall damage.
[Battle] Using Whisper of Despair.
[Battle] The opponent has resisted.
His last-ditch effort to immobilize Oath was utterly useless. Just how high had he stacked his resistance stats? The guy was practically immune to everything.
With his attacks failing to land, he had no way to apply his signature damage-over-time effects. For a Warlock, this was a complete nightmare.
[Battle] Enemy ‘Oath’s Vow’ has used Indomitable Will.
Oath’s lance gleamed pure white as he prepared for the final blow.
I couldn’t even last 30 seconds against a tank with resistance gear.
Sa-yoon clicked his tongue as he glanced at his skill bar—half of his abilities were grayed out, unusable because he hadn’t managed to summon his demon in time.
This was it. No tanking summons, no movement skills to escape.
If magic wouldn’t work, he’d go for a physical attack instead. Tightening his grip on his staff with both hands, Chasa braced himself, ready to swing at the incoming enemy.
The massive tank lunged at its cornered prey.
[Enemy ‘Shokrates’ has been slain.]
[You have gained 300 points.]
Just as Oath’s lance was about to pierce through the frail Warlock’s body, just as Chasa was about to smash his staff in pure desperation—an unexpected notification popped up, and suddenly, his entire body was enveloped in a radiant glow.
A new buff appeared beneath his health bar.
[Battle] ‘Killer’ has used Self-Sacrifice on ‘Chasa.’ Incoming damage will be redirected for 30 seconds.
At the same time, the previously silent party chat suddenly lit up.
[Party] Killer: Hyung.
[Party] Killer: I’m here.
A message of salvation.
