CH 240

Back at the Adventurer Guild.

[Guild Registration Form]

[Guild Name: Head Crusher Guild]

[Guild Master: Siegfried van Proa]

[Vice Guild Master: Seung-Gu]

[Guild Officials: N/A (1 official can be named per 100 members)]

[Current Member Count: 1,986]

[Guild Headquarters: Completed]

The guild master mentioned above has registered his guild with the Adventurer Guild.

Guild Master

Siegfried van Proa (sign)

Siegfried submitted the registration form along with the guild emblem. Surprisingly, the guild’s emblem was extremely cool, unlike its name, which sounded honestly cheap.

The guild’s emblem depicted a hammer smashing a round object, and it perfectly matched the Head Crusher Guild’s name. It was a masterpiece that was drawn on the spot by the genius artist, Gringore.

“The guild registration has been approved. May you kindly choose the artifact to emblazon your guild’s emblem with while we are waiting for the guild’s flag?” the clerk asked before passing a catalog to Siegfried.

The catalog contained many different artifacts, such as badges, bracelets, earrings, capes, etc.

It didn’t take Siegfried that long to decide.

“Please make it a ring. The badges are going to make us look like the Yakuzas…” he said. The Japanese gangsters known as Yakuzas were known to wear badges around, just like the Genesis Guild.

“Yakuzas…? I apologize, but I have no idea what that is…” the clerk muttered, seemingly confused.

“It’s nothing, please don’t mind me. Anyway, please make it a ring, please,” Siegfried replied

An hour later, the clerk came back with a blue flag and a dimensional pouch. “The pouch contains the rings and flag emblazoned with the Head Crusher Guild’s emblem.”

“Thank you very much,” Siegfried received the Head Crusher Guild’s flag and badges.

Ding!

Then, a message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Alert: You have successfully established a guild!]

[Alert: You are now the Guild Master of the Head Crusher Guild!]

[Alert: The Adventurer Guild wishes to see you lead your guild to a path of righteousness!]

The guild status screen popped up in front of him.

[Head Crusher Guild]

[Guild Master: Siegfried van Proa]

[Vice Guild Master: Seung-Gu]

[Guild Officials: N/A]

[Current Member Count: 1,986]

[Guild Level: 1]

[Guild Bonus: All stats +3%, All skill level +1, Additional 3% Experience when hunting with guild members, +3% rare item drop chance when hunting with guild members.]

Guild members would enjoy stat bonuses, while the guild master would enjoy more than that.

[Guild Master Bonus: All stats +5%, All skill level +2]

This was a privilege only available to the guild master, but that wasn’t the end of it.

[Alert: You have gained new skills!]

Siegfried gained new skills after becoming the guild master.

[Guild Skill: Command]

[Type: Active]

[The guild master can issue a command to a guild member. The guild member may not refuse the order, and a hefty penalty will be applied should they forcefully refuse the order three times.]

[Guild Skill: Dominate]

[Type: Active]

[The guild master will dominate the guild members. Affected guild members will receive increased damage from the guild master, and it will be extremely difficult for the guild members to defeat the guild master.]

The skills Command and Dominate were necessary skills for the guild master to prevent the guild members from committing mutiny. However, it didn’t mean that the guild masters could simply abuse this skill, as their guild members would simply leave the guild.

It was more like a stick to be used at the right time coupled with carrots.

“Hmm… I’m done with the guild, so…” Siegfried muttered. He left the Guild Registration office and headed straight for the office with the word Dispute written on it.

He called out to the clerk sleeping on the counter.

“Excuse me?”

“Snore…! Snore…!”

“EXCUSE ME!”

“Huh? What’s up? Yawn…!” 

The clerk woke up while rubbing his eyes.

“I am the guild master of the Head Crusher Guild,” Siegfried introduced himself.

“H-Head Crusher Guild? So what about it…?” the clerk asked, seemingly confused.

“I wish to officially declare war against the Genesis Guild.”

“What?!”

“Here is the declaration form,” Siegfried said and passed the form to the clerk.

[Declaration of War]

[Applying Guild: Head Crusher Guild]

[Target: Genesis Guild]

[Reason for Declaration: We don’t like them.]

The declaration form was written quite half-heartedly and without an ounce of sincerity, but it was more than enough to convey the message that it was supposed to convey.

War.

All hell was about to break loose between the two guilds the moment the form was accepted.

“B-But… The ink on your guild registration form hasn’t even dried yet…?” the clerk stammered.

“So? Is there a problem with that?” Siegfried retorted.

“No, there’s no problem, but… It’s just that you’re declaring war against one of the top ten guilds on the continent five minutes after you’ve established your guild, so…”

“Please hurry up and approve it,” Siegfried curtly said.

‘From which hole did this madman crawl out…?’ the clerk wondered before stamping on the declaration form.

A string of messages popped up in front of Siegfried.

Ding!

[Alert: You have successfully declared war against the Genesis Guild!]

[Alert: War has broken out between the Head Crusher Guild and the Genesis Guild!]

[Alert: The war will continue until one side loses or until both sides have agreed to a ceasefire!]

[Alert: PVP Zones are highlighted in red. Anyone caught fighting in zones highlighted in blue will be subjected to a hefty penalty from the Adventurer Guild!]

The words In War popped up in the upper right corner of Siegfried‘s vision.

‘It’s all or nothing from now on. I’m going to make sure that you’ll have nothing to return to by the time you come back to the game.’ Siegfried gnashed his teeth and clenched his fists.

Chae Hyung-Seok would return in less than a month, so Siegfried knew that he had to do whatever it would take to crush the Genesis Guild before the former’s return.

***

[Alert: War has broken out between the Head Crusher Guild and the Genesis Guild!]

The declaration of war popped up in front of the Genesis Guild member’s eyes.

“Has that bastard finally lost it? He actually dared to wage war on us when it hasn’t even been a day since his guild was established?”

To be more accurate, the guild was five minutes old rather than a day old, but there was no way Min-Woo would nitpick such details.

Min-Woo immediately called Chae Hyung-Seok.

“Hyung, that bastard just declared war on us.”

—That crazy bastard…

Chae Hyung-Seok’s voice over the phone sounded extremely cold yet furious.

—Looks like his arrogance had gotten into his head, and he finally lost it.

“I think so too, hyung.”

—Still, don’t let your guard down in case he pulls another stunt. And don’t forget that a lot of other guilds are prowling around us right now.

Chae Hyung-Seok was warning Min-Woo that there were numerous guilds vying for a spot in the top ten guild rankings. In other words, Chae Hyung-Seok was not worried about Siegfried at all. He was worried about the other possible challengers.

“All right, I got it.”

—Call Queen Bee and ask her what’s going on. You already paid her, so she should hold up her end of the deal, right?

The Queen Bee he was referring to was none other than the spy, SingSingHighschoolGirl.

“Don’t worry. We will hit him first if he tries to pull anything this time,” Min-Woo replied.

—Alright, call me if anything happens. And tell our guild members that I will be back very soon.

“Okay, rest well, hyung.”

Min-Woo immediately called SingSingHighschoolGirl after ending the call with Chae Hyung-Seok, and he easily got in touch with her because she was not in the game at the moment.

“Noona, that bastard declared war on us. We have no idea what that guy is up to, so please keep an eye on him.”

—Don’t worry~ I’ll let you know immediately if something happens~

“Alright, thanks, noona.”

Min-Woo decided to wait for any information from SingSingHischoolGirl before reacting to the declaration of war from the Head Crusher Guild.

Why?

He knew very well that the Genesis Guild would end up as a laughingstock if they reacted to a war declared by a guild that was not even a day old. After all, there was a reason they became one of the top ten guilds.

***

Meanwhile, at the Head Crusher Guild’s headquarters…

“It’s here,” Siegfried pointed at a certain point on the map.

The Genesis Guild had many businesses throughout the continent, but the most profitable one among them was their vineyard.

They were cultivating tons of grapes from their land, which was technically land that they had rented from a kingdom, and they were producing wine and champagne.

The Genesis Guild’s distillery was also armed with the latest technology and veteran winemakers, so the wine that they were producing was quite expensive.

Siegfried was confident that he could deal a massive blow to the Genesis Guild’s finances if he laid waste to their vineyard.

However, attacking the vineyard was not as easy as it sounded.

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Why?

The vineyard was being protected by an ancient spell, and there was no way to enter it without passing through the four entrances located north, east, south, and west of it. It was impossible to bombard the vineyard through an air raid or warp into it with a teleportation spell.

‘Four entrances around the vineyard, and there are at least fifty high-level Genesis Guild members stationed at each entrance. The entire Genesis Guild is going to come swarming if we make a wrong move… How are we supposed to destroy this place?’ 

Siegfried wondered.

The vineyard was so important to the Genesis Guild that it was basically a beehive that could summon swarms of their guild members if one poked it.

‘Hmm… I should pretend to attack this place before…’ Siegfried started to draw up plans to pretend to attack the second-most important business of the Genesis Guild—their medicinal plant field—before attacking and laying waste to the vineyard.

***

“Really? That bastard is after our medicinal plant field?” Min-Woo was surprised after receiving a tip-off from the Queen Bee.

The medicinal plant field of the Genesis Guild was where a wide variety of medicinal plants used to make potions were being cultivated, and there were even rare and mysterious kinds of plants being grown there.

The revenue the medicinal plant field was bringing in was only second to the vineyard, so losing the medicinal plant field would deal a significant blow to the Genesis Guild.

—Yeah, they’re planning to attack the medicinal plant field and loot the produce tomorrow early morning.

SingSingHighschoolGirl relayed the Head Crusher Guild’s plans to Min-Woo.

“Thank you, noona. I will make good use of the information you gave me, and I will call you again later.”

Min-Woo ended the call and immediately proceeded to station around fifty percent of the guild’s manpower at the medicinal plant field.

He waited for the Head Crusher Guild’s appearance.

Min-Woo and the Genesis Guild stayed hidden to ambush the Head Crusher Guild, and they had been waiting for five hours now.

“Why aren’t they coming…?” Min-Woo tilted his head in confusion when they saw not a single Head Crusher Guild member, even though it would be daybreak soon. There was something strange here. The Head Crusher Guild was supposed to be here hours ago, judging from SingSingHighschoolGirl’s information.

“Did they cancel their plan?”

Min-Woo’s badge on his chest started vibrating.

Bzzt!

Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! 

The badges of the other Genesis Guild members lying in ambush alongside Min-Woo started vibrating as well, and there was only one reason for this simultaneous vibration.

‘Don’t tell me…? No way…’ Min-Woo thought.

He instinctively looked in a certain direction.

Fwaaaah! Fwaaaaah!

Smoke was rising up from the vineyard five kilometers away from them, and the vineyard seemed to have been engulfed in a powerful blaze.