CH 183

Baphomet was a demon mentioned in the books of Christianity. Information about it could easily be obtained, whether it was in Athenae or in reality. It was commonly known to be a bipedal, black sheep. Of course, Crone did not know the exact strength of the Baphomet that Pharaoh could summon. So, he asked, “How much?” 

“Are you asking about how strong he is?” 

Pharaoh looked at Crone and continued to say, “You’ve heard about the five incarnations right? As long as those five are not involved, then it can be considered as the strongest among the current monsters that can be summoned.”

Crone grinned wickedly when he heard his words. He thought, ‘Legend will definitely be trampled on by us!’ 

Suddenly, Crone frowned.

‘I can’t reach Kaistra.’ 

He had lost contact with Kaistra since that day. Even Lark had disappeared with him. However, it did not even cross Crone’s mind that the two would betray Black Stone. After all, betraying Black Stone meant that they would betray Calauhel. And Crone knew that Kaistra and Lark were aware of how scary that man’s wrath was.

***

Fire Fist Ace and Bounty Hunter Crow were moving together to hunt for a bounty.

“So, why did you join me on my bounty hunt?”

Ace had suddenly joined Crow’s bounty hunt saying that he thought that he would need a lot of money. He said, “I need to raise money for my wedding.”

“Huh?”

Crow looked at him in confusion.

“If I marry my ideal person later, isn't it right that we start with an apartment that’s at least 200 sqm? I also have to prepare step by step from now on so I can raise my kids well. I don’t want to bother my children once I grow old.”

“...”

Crow was speechless. Ace was only 13 years old, it was too young for him to think of these messy things. Crow shook his head helplessly and thought, ‘Kids these days.’

The two of them were going to Pellion Territory in Batro Kingdom to hunt the player named Coron. This territory was home and refuge for people that had bounty on their heads. Bounties were not only for NPCs, players could also be charged with a bounty.

Coron was a player with a bounty on his head. He was wanted for attacking a merchant association. He killed all of the NPCs and plundered everything that he could. From what Crow knew, Coron was a Level 400 high-leveled player and his bounty reached as high as ten platinum. Such a high bounty was proof of his cruel and wicked ways.

The two of them were finally able to arrive at the secret place where Coron was hiding. It was a little village far away from the bustling town center. Most of the famous chaotic players would usually hide in a similar manner, since there would be plenty of reward posters all over the territory. Just in time, they saw Coron coming out of his hiding place.

Ace and Crow’s eyes made contact.

“Coron!”

“...!”

Coron’s eyes widened in shock.

“Goddamn!”

Crow, the Bounty Hunter, was also known as the devil among the chaotic players, so it was only normal for Coron to flee. Just as Coron was about to run away...

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

Blazing flames shot up from Ace’s body and when he reached forward, a chain made of fire latched onto Coron’s ankle.

Crackle!

“Keuaaaack! Wh…why are you guys doing this to me?! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

At that moment, Ace heard a weird and incomprehensible notification.

‘What the hell?’

[You have committed an act of poor etiquette.] 

[Player Ace is in a temporary chaotic state.] 

[If the other party initiates an attack, the other party will not receive any penalty.] 

“You don’t know what you did wrong?” 

Crow walked grimly towards Coron. He was someone that did evil things by killing only NPCs. He did not even dare try to kill players. For players like them, NPCs were just artificial intelligence. However, their lives were limited unlike theirs. And as a result, there were a lot of people that cared about these NPCs. Coron’s actions were extremely detestable and condemnable.

At that moment, Coron’s body suddenly went limp. Along with that, Ace was suddenly notified.

[You have forced the other party to log out.]

[You have become a Chaotic player.]

[Various penalties will be applied to you.]

[Killing one of the members of Bachran Guild can cause friction with Bachran Guild.]

“...!” 

Crow was also flustered when Coron suddenly died in front of them. Then, he looked back at Ace.

“Ace, that skill just now... Does it have a lot of damage?”

“No. It’s just a continuous 2% damage effect.” 

Crow suddenly had a bad feeling. He thought, ‘It feels like Coron deliberately shaved off his HP.’ 

Just then, Ace said, “Crow.”

“Yeah?”

“That bastard, is he a person from Bachran Guild.” 

“...What are you saying? Coron is not part of any guild. You also know that I only move against people without guilds.” 

“But when this bastard died, it said that he was a Bachran Guild member. Not only that, I’m in a chaotic state now.” 

“...!” 

Crow’s eyes widened. Bachran Guild was ranked eighth in the local guild rankings. It was a guild that was famous for gathering chaotic players.

‘Ace became Chaotic?’

This meant that Coron had resolved his chaotic state. There were only two ways to resolve the chaotic state. He could go to the priest to repent. However, this method would use an incredible amount of gold. The second method was through hunting and quests. Every time he hunted a monster, his chaotic level would drop little by little. Another way to immediately drop the chaotic level was by doing a preceding quest.

‘Right now, I think they tried to make Ace chaotic. Why?’

The cost of repentance would depend on the chaotic level and it was extremely expensive.

‘Why would Coron do such a thing? And Bachran Guild?’

“Ace.”

“Yeah?”

“Something bad is going to happen.”

***

One of the Thousand Heavenly Spear Masters, Zank, had finally arrived at Valkyrie Kingdom’s capital after being freed from his server lessons. A simple glimpse of his figure had dozens of people talking.

“Wow. Who is that person?”

“You can tell that he’s a high-leveled NPC, right?”

“So cool...”

The players were all in awe. 

The Heavenly Spear Masters were a group of prestigious NPCs that were well-versed in the way of the spear. Some of them were a part of the Thousand, while the rarer few were part of the Hundred Heavenly Spear Masters.

The Thousand Heavenly Spear Masters’ strength and the Hundred Heavenly Spear Masters’ strength had varying degrees. The Hundred Heavenly Spear Masters were enough to match against 3,000 of the Thousand Heavenly Masters. Furthermore, most of the members of the Hundred Heavenly Spear Masters were at Level 450-460, while the Thousand Heavenly Spear Masters were at the Level 410-440 range.

Right now, two of the Hundred Heavenly Spear Masters and eight of the Thousand Heavenly Spear Masters had gathered together. All of these people had either learned spearmanship under Ben, or grew up listening to Ben’s legends. Each of them was sitting in various positions including a knight commander, a noble escort, a baronet and even a baron.

“You’re late, Zank!”

“How is the legend doing now?”

“I’m taking care of him well. If we hurry along and ride a carriage, we can arrive there in half a day,” Zank said. His words brought both trepidation and excitement to the faces of the spear masters.

“Back in the days, when I was still just starting out, I had heard that the legend had hunted the Ouroboros. When I heard that, I felt my blood boil in excitement.”

“Hahaha. So did I!”

They were on their way to greet the legend, ‘Ben’.

Meanwhile, a man suddenly asked, “Anyway, Zank, what kind of work are you doing while helping the legend these days?”

“...”

Zank’s mouth could not open for quite some time. It seemed like he could not explain what his situation was.

***

[Minhyuk: Genie.]

[Genie: Yo. Isn’t this the Elephant General?!]

Genie was wondering why Minhyuk suddenly sent her a whisper instead of sending a message in the guild chat. Then, she realized that she had not seen Minhyuk for some time since the day that they watched him log out to go and see his father.

[Minhyuk: I think I will have to take action against Bachran Guild.]

[Genie: Huh? Bachran Guild? What are you talking about?]

Genie’s expression turned solemn. Bachran Guild? It was the worst chaotic guild in the country, but to think that Minhyuk wanted to move against this kind of guild? Not long after, Minhyuk explained his reasons. Genie’s mouth dropped after hearing his reason.

‘Minhyuk really deserves to be angry.’ 

Even though this was just a game, his father was still PKed. Everyone knew that he and his father were very close. Furthermore, Minhyuk himself was clearly targeted and had almost suffered when he was in Ructo’s Tomb.

However, as a guild master, it was a matter that she needed to take into great consideration. If they fought against each other now, would Bachran Guild win against them? Or was that reason already enough to start a fight? She also needed to take into consideration the various concerns, including the agreement of the other guild members, if they were willing to join such a fight.

[Minhyuk: I’ll leave the guild for a while.]

[Genie: ...Huh?]

Genie’s eyes widened. After pondering for a bit, she realized his reasons.

‘Ah... ‘

If Minhyuk went against Bachran Guild at this very moment, then it would not be a simple matter of personal affairs anymore. Legend and Bachran would have to fight against each other. However, if Minhyuk removed his connection with Legend Guild then, it would be a different matter.

Besides, Minhyuk was already a viscount and was the owner of Valhalla Territory. He was also the master of Deputy Lord Ben. So, it was not that unreasonable for him to leave the guild for a while, and join them again once things were done on his end.

However, she wondered if that really was the right thing to do. When she thought about it, the first to go against them was Bachran Guild. Although Genie knew that she had to ask the other guild members, she still had a strong desire to help Minhyuk. Just then…

[Guild Chat | Crow: GM, I think we got caught in a trap.]

[Guild Chat | Ace: Ah, what’s wrong with these Bachran Guild bastards?!]

‘Bachran Guild again?’

Genie frowned and talked to the two of them separately.

‘They induced a PK? This is a very old-fashioned method that is usually done in Versal.’

Several PK guilds that existed in the past used this method against guilds that were weaker than them. They induced PK and created a justification that would take away their momentum in the war. Eventually, such players got caught and the ploys were revealed.

‘You’re going to get cursed anyway. Why? You want to take a look first? Are you an idiot or what?’ 

No, more than that. Could Bachran Guild afford to fight them? Legend Guild was a small group. If they began the war with blunt and loud words, then Legend Guild would start a silent war. 

There was only one way for them to win this war, they had to massacre Bachran Guild silently. Bachran Guild would have no way to fight against Legend Guild’s twenty people, unless they gathered more than a hundred people. So, in the end, Legend Guild would still be the one that would gain victory. 

‘Things would change if they brought a huge number of people. However, to get that number, someone had to be willing to support Bachran Guild. However, would anyone support scum like them? What a joke,” Genie thought, although she frowned as she realized the potential complications of the situation. Then… 

[Crone: Hello. I’m Bachran Guild’s Guild Master, Crone. This time we are asking your guild members Crow and Ace for an apology for ‘PK’ing one of our guild members, Coron for no reason at all.]

“What the hell, this m***erf***er?” Genie cursed loudly as she laughed in disbelief. |

‘Why are they trying to do something that wouldn’t work? Are they that reckless?’ Genie just ignored the message. After about 20 minutes…

[Crone: Ah, as expected, you really wouldn’t apologize? ^^ Then, it will be a guild war.]

Genie laughed. She was dumbfounded by his absurd words. Then, Crone sent her another whisper.

[Crone: We’re almost there anyway. Let’s get started.]

“...?” 

Genie tilted her head in confusion. Then...

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

…huge explosions shook the whole town.