Chapter 230

Chapter 230

[The entrance to the ‘Dewinged Angel Statue’ is opening.]

A desolate field appeared. All the grass was dried up, and a bone dry wind blew through the field. The wind carried grains of sand that left a dusty feeling in the mouth.

A little ways ahead lay an abandoned sculpture with dried trails of bloody tears.

There was also a voice.

[I was discarded.]

[They cut off my wings.]

Ruuuumble–

The plains rumbled, as if a weak earthquake were shaking the field.

[They robbed me of my freedom.]

Salvatore took the lead.

“I think that angel statue is speaking. I have a notetaking skill, so please stay quiet, everyone.”

The meaning behind those words was simple—don’t interrupt me. All the archers here were outstanding Players. They understood exactly what Salvatore meant and remained totally silent.

Whoosh–

The dusty, grainy wind continued to blow.

[My wings disappeared.]

[I thought to myself.]

[For what reason do I, who was deprived of life, exist?]

Hyukjin was already familiar with this scenario. This Dewinged Angel Statue was enraged. Enraged at the fellow angels that had cut off its wings.

[I am furious.]

[At the fellow angels who snatched away my freedom.]

The angel statue’s head began to move like a broken ball-jointed doll, creaking.

‘That’s creepy.’

The head turned grotesquely to stare at the Players. Fresh lines of bloody tears began to ooze down the dried trails.

Brrr–

The Dewinged Angel Statue convulsed, dust falling off with every spasm.

[Kin of the Ground.]

[Won’t you oppose my Kin of the Sky with me?]

It was exactly as Hyukjin remembered.

‘The Dewinged Angel Statue.’

It was enraged at its kin.

‘It’s similar to the ones I saw.’

There was a high chance it was had a similar ability to the angel statues he had seen in the Wind Temple.

Sure enough, a ‘red gem’ appeared on the Dewinged Angel Statue’s forehead. It looked exactly the same as the ones Hyukjin had seen on the statues in the Wind Temple.

‘But… not one, but two?’

The statues in the Wind Temple each had one red gem on their foreheads, but this one had two.

Hyukjin could tell.

‘One is for attack, the other is for defense.’

He still remembered the terrifying beam those gems had produced. It was a tool specialized for killing. But this angel statue seemed to possess the power to protect as well.

Hyukjin recalled Pietro’s record of the ill-fated raid.

–At first, ‘that’ showed a shocking power to protect us. Every time the red gem on its forehead flashed, we were shielded from an extremely dangerous attack.

It was the same as before. Sitting on your thumbs when you knew what was going to happen was the act of a fool. If you knew the lottery numbers, you should use them.

Hyukjin stopped next to Salvatore.

“Party Leader. May I speak to the angel statue?”

Salvatore was technically the party leader. Hyukjin asked him for permission to keep up appearances.

“Go ahead.”

Hyukjin walked towards the angel statue. Its gaze moved to Hyukjin.

[Kin of the Ground.]

[Will you cooperate with me?]

The red gem began to glow faintly with light.

[If you do not…]

[Only destruction awaits you.]

Hyukjin stopped in place. “I can give you the wings you want.”

The Players were supposed to fight the angels descending from the sky with this angel statue. That fight would result in the victory of the ‘Kin of the Ground’, the Players.

But at the last moment, the final angel made a proposal. “Kill them all, and I will take off my wings and give them to you.” In the end, the angel statue accepted the proposal and betrayed the Players.

‘That’s the scenario I know.’

That was the overall progression of this gate. Hyukjin wanted to throw a variable into the scenario.

“What you want most are wings. In your terms, that’s freedom, correct?”

Dust continued falling from the angel statue’s face. The mouth moved stiffly, producing a voice that was no longer a notice.

“You have… wings?”

“Of course.”

Hyukjin took out an item from his Inventory—the ‘Angel Statue’s Wings’ he had acquired from the Wind Temple. The person who had given it to him, Hyun Junghwa, started in surprise.

‘That’s the item I gave him.’

She had given it to him because she believed he was the rightful owner.

‘When you look at Kim Hyukjin’s actions…’

It was like he had predicted and created this situation from the beginning. If so, that would mean he already foresaw this ‘Dewinged Angel Statue’ when they were in the Wind Temple.

‘What kind of crazy Playstyle is that?’

It was almost… like he was a seer who knew the future. The Korean Player Hyun Junghwa felt as though she was experiencing the ‘Korean Playstyle’ spoken of overseas in the flesh.

Hyukjin took another few steps forward.

“This is what you want, right?”

“Yes.”

That moment, a powerful wave of mana billowed from the angel statue’s red gem. It wasn’t visible to the physical eye, but Hyukjin’s Eye of Perception picked up on it.

“If you’re thinking about attacking me and stealing the wings, I suggest you give up on the idea.” Hyukjin smiled wide. “How do you think we cut these wings off?”

The mana building in the red gems rapidly dissipated.

“How did you get that?”

“There were some guys that attacked me first. They were protecting a temple.”

“What happened to them?”

“They were destroyed.”

“I see.”

Hyukjin stowed the Angel Statue’s Wings in his Inventory.

“Let me return the proposal to you. Help us punish the People of the Sky.”

The angel statue making a proposal and fighting the angels with the Players, vs. the Players making a proposal and having the angel statue fight. The two might seem the same based on just the result, but the process was different.

‘If my prediction is right… you can get way more contribution with the latter.’

The System was geared to prefer active Playing over passive Playing. A short period of silence followed, injecting a moment of downtime that the Guardians used to send a flurry of messages.

[The ‘Nameless Observer’ is observing.]

[The ‘Whispering Devil’ is having fun.]

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ is bored.]

[The ‘Barrier of Blue Light’ is impressed.]

[The ‘Night of Shooting Stars’ continues to focus.]

Hyukjin spread out his hands.

“How about it? Will you cooperate with us?”

* * *

Translator – Lei

Proofreader – Ash

* * *

Hyukjin remembered Pietro saying this afterwards:

–The reason half of us were able to survive at all was because the angel statue was in terrible condition.

The Dewinged Angel Statue almost completely spent itself in the war against the ‘Sky’, allowing the Players to destroy it and escape.

–At that time, we couldn’t comprehend the angel statue’s final words.

[Still, I did love you.]

The words didn’t seem fitting for the betrayed angel statue. There was something weird and illogical about them. Pietro said this in retrospect:

–Those words were basically the final notice stating it would become our enemy. I think those words are to be understood as a declaration of war.

The next moment, the Players began to hear singing from the sky.

‘A hymn?’

It sounded like sacred music produced by a beautiful harmony of countless singers, like the chorusing of a choir.

A massive gate appeared in the sky. The angel statue spoke.

“They… are descending.”

[The ‘War Between Sky and Ground’ is beginning.]

The gate opened, and from it appeared angel statues with two wings behind their backs. However, they weren’t the beautiful angels one normally imagined. They were day and night from Senia. Their faces were horrific, dominated by mouths that took up two-thirds of the face and were filled with sharp teeth. Pus oozed from their skin, making the angels appear as if they were melting.

“I shall guard you.”

Light glowed from the red gem. Hyukjin looked around.

‘This…’

A shield, also called a barrier, was deployed.

‘…is a shield that allows attacks from the inside but blocks attacks from the outside.’

Salvatore also instantly realized that fact.

“Prepare to fight.”

As expected of a sovereign, Salvatore assigned each archer a number and put them in squads. The Players were divided into six regular squads and one special squad that included Salvatore, with each squad having a leader. He accomplished that in a matter of minutes.

“Pointer.”

A red light flickered onto one of the six angels that had appeared.

“This is a technique I have called Pointer. It sets a target.”

Everyone understood.

“Squads 1 and 2 will handle that one. Move seven steps to the right and set up an attack formation.”

He used Pointer again, this time on another angel.

“Squads 3 and 4 will take this one. Maintain your current position.”

His eyes moved to another angel. Salvatore could tell it would get attacked by the angel statue on the ground, so he skipped it. It would hurt their DPS if they attacked the same target as the angel statue.

“I’ll leave this one to Squad 5. It appears to have lower defense compared to the others.”

That was why he only assigned one team to it.

“Squad 6 will handle that one.”

And finally—

“Our squad will handle the last one.”

“Our squad” referred to the special squad consisting of Salvatore, Vela, Kim Hyukjin, Mark, and Hyun Junghwa.

The six angel statues that had appeared were distributed precisely among the raid members. The leader of Squad 1, Schultz, asked a question.

“Should we fire?”

“Stand by a little longer.”

They needed to come a little closer, just a little closer.

That moment, one of the flying angel statues fired a red beam.

Salvatore flinched. Kim Hyukjin said quietly, “Hold.”

Hyukjin wanted him to stay in place. Despite recognizing the destructive force imbued in that red beam, at this moment, Salvatore trusted Hyukjin.

“Everyone, hold your positions.”

The red beam shot towards them, and at the same time, the ‘ground’ angel statue spoke.

“I shall protect you.”

The red beam collided into the shield. Like a laser reflected by a mirror, the beam bounced off at a different angle.

Salvatore heard a notice from a new Guardian.

[The ‘Barrier of Blue Light’ greatly respects your decision.]

Just like how Guardians from foreign servers became interested in the Korean server because of Kim Hyukjin, Guardians from the Korean server were starting to gain an interest in foreign server Players, once again because of Kim Hyukjin.

Hyukjin murmured again, “Wait a little longer. Their weakness is the red gem on their foreheads.”

Salvatore was of the same intent. Three seconds longer. Once the enemies drew closer for just three seconds, they would begin their attack.

Salvatore aimed for the perfect timing.

“Now.”

The six teams began their attack in unison, matching up perfectly with the attack of the ‘ground’ angel statue.

One angel statue, the one that had fired the red beam, was destroyed. Through that, the Players realized on their own that the angel statues were weakest directly after attacking.

Thanks to the Players’ great teamwork, the ‘ground’ angel statue also seemed to have plenty of stamina left.

Hyukjin stared at the remaining five angel statues in the sky.

‘It’s different from the past.’

They might be facing the same foes, but the difficulty could vary widely depending on how you handled them. One angel statue was already eliminated, and taking care of the remaining five wouldn’t be very difficult. The Players were performing extremely well.

Time passed. Because it wasn’t tired, the ‘ground’ angel statue was able to block the incoming red beams, and the Players were able to destroy all five flying angel statues.

Pietro nearly laughed in astonishment.

‘It’s this… easy?’

No. This wasn’t easy. It was absolutely not an easy challenge.

The key was that ‘special squad’. They were firing exactly at the right time and place to prevent the ‘ground’ angel statue from taking damage. It was because they preserved the ‘ground’ angel statue’s stamina that the shield could be deployed when needed, allowing the Players to hunt down the other angel statues with ease. And at the center of this well-greased operation was Kim Hyukjin. Salvatore might be the official leader, but the true core was Kim Hyukjin.

It was going well. Too well, in fact, that a notice rang out.

[The war is being concluded too quickly.]

Senia appeared. As always, she drew scattered cries of admiration. Hyukjin was so used to the reaction that he took it as a matter of course.

“The war is being concluded too quickly in comparison to the System’s arrangement.” She quickly continued in a very un-Senia-like fashion. “If many Guardians offer their support, the gate’s difficulty can be raised.”

Hyukjin realized that this might look like a part of her stream, but it wasn’t actually. She was using a legal method to relay information to him, a Player.

‘What’s going on?’

She could have just appeared and spoken using the language only Guardians and Intermediate Administrators could understand, but she streamed in front of Hyukjin using a language he could understand.

“Many Guardians have offered their support.”

The support of Guardians was, in other words, Coins. Hyukjin was sure that not just one, but many Guardians had contributed.

‘Which means, they’ll increase the difficulty by investing a shit ton of Coins.’

The Sky Gate began to expand. The ‘ground’ angel statue’s voice trembled.

“He… is descending.”

The red gems encrusted on the angel statue’s forehead dimmed in fear. At that moment, the entire field turned dark red, and an overwhelming aura began seeping from the Sky Gate.

A variable had occurred.

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