CH 271

“Hoo…… Is that really true?”

“That’s right. By now, commander Burke will be leading the army towards Marching Plains.”

Leeha reported what happened in Dike Beach. Granville nodded his head with an impressed expression. 

“Not only defending Dike Beach but also making strategic decisions…. You are indeed the captain of Byeolcho Special Force.”

“You’re overpraising me. Even if I hadn’t told him, commander Burke would have still done it. He seemed very close to the commander-in-chief.”

As Leeha smiled wryly, Granville understood his meaning. If they were not close enough, how could someone make fun of the commander-in-chief and call him old man? And what was the relationship between the two NPCs?

“Okay. Then we will retreat further as soon as the sun rises.”

“Yes. Perhaps the enemy intended to follow us with troops from Faust and Crowley and Marching Plain. Now it’s the opposite. With them in the middle, Burke and our army could do a pincer attack.”

Of course, there was a problem with the marching time, but Leeha believed in Burke.

Burke won’t run out of time, even if it’s a night march. They will definitely be here in two days, maybe three days at the latest.

“It was hard. Let everyone go back and rest.”

Granville nodded and let everyone leave.

Except for a few NPCs, all the users came out and gave Leeha a word of thanks.

The truce signed with Kraven certainly had a different weight than the Rising Sun or Hwahong vs Byeolcho Alliance. The guild masters of the large guilds who participated in this war also looked at the text clearly.

Besides, what did they look like?

As soon as they saw the phrase, the gold dragon turned around! In fact, the presence of the person who made Alexander, the number one in the ranking, give up was clearly engraved.

“To be truce agreement deputy, I was genuinely surprised.”

“Aigoo, it was nothing. I was just lucky.”

“If you don’t have a guild yet, come join our rush-”

“W-what are you talking about, Ron-nim! Leeha-hyung is actually a member of Byeolcho!”

Ron secretly suggested Leeha to join their guild, but he smiled and stroked his mustache.

“It’s a joke, it’s a joke.”

However, he couldn’t hide the sad exexpression on his face. At the end of the greetings, a black-haired man covered in darkness approached Leeha.

“How are you going to take responsibility?”

“Huh? What? What are you talking about, Lee Jiwon-ssi?”

“How are you going to take responsibility? I missed Alexander because of you!”

“B-because of me? Didn’t he come and leave?”

“What! I used the ‘method’ that Leeha-nim taught me! Anyway, I was able to get it! I was able to do it! What will you do when he shows up again!”

“Ah…”

He caught a glimpse of it in the midst of the chaos. Fibiel’s elites joined forces to stop Alexander.

To borrow Kijeong’s words, a ‘Bif Frog’ bit the gold dragon’s chest, and at that point, Leeha’s truce notice was displayed, and Alexander was said to have turned his tail and fled.

And Leeha could roughly guess what that ‘Big Frog’ is.

‘Soul Mate. He used the Soul Link skill. Anything to neutralize the gold dragon would be huge. No, that’s not the problem. The problem is…”

Most of them thought that Alexander turned back because of Leeha’s performance, but Leeha did not see it that way. He must have retreated because Lee Jiwon’s attack was truly fatal.

Therefore, he knew why Lee Jiwon was making a fuss. It was a skill that could not be used consecutively.

“How many hours do you have left?”

“How many hours! I can’t use the skill for a while! There are 22 hours left!”

Its cooldown was 24 hours. Until tomorrow evening? What if Alexander appeared before them?

‘As expected, according to Kijeong ‘it was a fight between a human and ants’, is it possible to stop that Alexander?’

It’s not possible.

Lee Jiwon made a fuss with a sullen expression. It was also one of the secret moves that he had been hiding. Even if the cooldown ends, Alexander and the gold dragon Bailephus were unlikely to get caught again.

“Does Alexander know?”

“How could that arrogant bastard know? But that dragonfly bastard beside him should have told him that was nothing more than a cheat. After all, it is a real cheat.”

Lee Jiwon sighed.

How regretful was he that he missed his long-awaited chance to kill Alexander? However, compared to his usual words and deeds, Lee Jiwon’s murmuring at Leeha was very weak.

‘Tsk, I’m sure this person is great. Maybe there’s another way.’

It is because, in Lee Jiwon’s eyes, Leeha’s performances were beyond imagination. The agreement with Kraven was unimaginable even for him.

Although he did not participate in the war, he was busy running all over the country to catch Alexander’s tail. It was a place mixed with confusion and desire.

Someone had effectively ‘closed’ one of those campaigns!

‘Soul Link skill too, it appears like he is someone who has a lot to hide.’

Perhaps if someone else had interfered with Lee Jiwon’s ‘final strike’, they would not have been able to survive. That person would have been killed on the spot.

After hearing Lee Jiwon’s story, Leeha looked around and asked Kijeong as if he suddenly remembered something.

“Kijeong-ah, what did you say earlier?”

“What?”

“Alexander and the gold dragon had something to say to Granville and the elite users. Even if he could kill them, he wouldn’t.”

It was a story before Lee Jiwon arrived. Kijeong clapped his hands! He answered with a clap.

“Ah, yes. Even Kidd-nim knew about it-”

Step, step, step.

The sound of footsteps could be heard over the Byeolcho members. With his hat brim pressed deeply, Kidd appeared just in time as if he had been listening from somewhere.

“Have you met Alexander?”

“Me? No.”

“At that point, he certainly had the power to kill us all, but he didn’t.”

“Hmmm……. Why?”

“He talked about the unity of mankind. There was a deep nuance that we had to work together with everyone.”

“Human Alliance? So suddenly?”

As Leeha tilted his head, Kidd shrugged.

“I don’t know as well. but… … . He has someone deeply involved in this worldview, so I can only guess that he knows something.”

“……Gold Dragon.”

Leeha made an assumption.

‘Even Lee Jiwon could only grit his teeth and call it a scam. What if he could provide information about Middle Earth in combat abilities and general information as well? In effect, it means that he is using something similar to Madam Ju. No, it means that he can ride that Madam Ju and take advantage of it 24 hours a day. If so, information that has not been revealed yet, what kind of quest would it be related to?’

Leeha almost laughed for a moment at the thought of riding Madam Ju, but that was what it meant in direct comparison. And if the gold dragon had that kind of ability, it basically meant the same.

‘It’s really a scam.’

Madam Ju only knows information about the human world, but the gold dragon knows about the entire worldview of Middle Earth.

“The wisest dragon. The leader of the metal dragons, the executioner of justice who protects the good…”

“Huh? What is it?”

“It refers to the gold dragon. It is much higher than general raid dragons. If is such an existence, it is only natural if it knows something that users don’t know yet.”

“Hmmm……. So, are we safe?”

Kijeong butted in, but neither Kidd, Leeha, nor Lee Jiwon agreed.

If the gold dragon is really trying to keep them alive, in a way they have one more life in this war. Except for Alexander, there was no one who could threaten Fibiel’s elites.

‘But it can’t be-‘

“There’s no way. That hat guy has a point, but things have changed completely from before.”

Lee Jiwon’s words were faster than Leeha’s thoughts.

Kidd’s eyebrows twitched for a moment when he got called a hat guy, but even Kidd couldn’t say anything.

“I’m the best! Perfect! I used to be able to say that cheeky remark before, but it is different now. I almost fell behind, and here, Ha Leeha-nim signed a truce with Kraven. Besides, he even teleported across the entire battlefield. Well, maybe you didn’t know when you came- but Alexander must have felt a little intimidating, right?”

The accurate analysis came out one after another but it was from someone who looked childish that it didn’t fit the words.

Kijeong nodded his head and said, “As expected, the second place in the rankings is different.”

He exchanged whispers with Tale. Leeha thought the same thing. Lee Jiwon’s words ignited Leeha’s thoughts.

“Lee Jiwon is right. Besides, there’s a schemer that weaves the entire Middle Earth world on their side. What would she do if she heard about the truce between Fibiel and Kraven.”

There was a time when her identity was unknown.

A person who can also connect to a huge information network. If she did, she would quickly predict how the Fibiel forces across Dike Beach would move.

So what would she do?

Leeha’s lowered eyes suddenly enlarged. He didn’t have time to be like this!

“Night attack! Wake everyone up right now! Don’t just retreat! Kijeong-ah, report to the commander-in-chief Granville and prepare for battle!”

Night attack.

The attack will begin with Alexander in the lead!

“We couldn’t see, where are we going to retreat?”

“I don’t know. Are you telling us to recklessly go to Marching Plains, how could we go in the middle of the night?”

“Hey, it’s better than getting burned to death. Have you seen Alexander? He was great.”

“Is he that great?! I’d rather log out before joining the Minis campaign. He was that strong. I can’t vainly die.”

“Still, you have recovered a lot of your contribution, right? Now, just by surviving, you also get a contribution.”

“Damn it, if it wasn’t for that quest, I would have already left.”

Fibiel’s users grumbled as they walked through the dark night. In the previous battle, the numbers of both Fibiel and Minis’ troops decreased considerably, but they still had a large army of over 1 million.

With the Minis’ capital on the horizon, Granville gave a quest different from usual. Instead of attacking for a few days or killing people, they have been rewarded contributions by surviving every day!

It was a mouth-watering reward system for users who had negative contribution points due to several failed quests. In addition, the time in real life and the time in Middle Earth are different, so the longer they log in, the more they could reduce the negative contribution.

In other words, logging out was unthinkable. Of course, all of this was Middle Earth’s way of creating a grand and epic battlefield… 

As expected, Middle Earth was well-versed in how to deal with users.

And the elite users who formed the raid were hiding in various places in the Fibiel Formation, retreating to the Marching Plains.

Alexander was not an enemy that moved on the ground. Being vigilant would not catch his movement.

“Is he really coming, hyung?”

“Yes. Certainly. There’s also the attempt to assassinate the commander, Granville. There’s no way someone who thought like that would let the opportunity pass.”

“Well, I guess you’re right.”

“Why? Are you afraid?”

“Me, scared? H-Hyung, you haven’t met Alexander, have you?”

“Not yet.”

“He’s scary…. Can I say it’s scary??”

Kijeong unconsciously put strength into the hand holding his shield. Seeing his dongsaeng’s different state of tension than usual, Leeha also felt a chill in his back.

All the Byeolcho members around Kijeong agreed with his words, even Biyemi.

“The really scary thing is that the fear was taken for granted.”

“What?”

“The thought that I was terrified, that he was stronger than me, and that I was going to die so naturally that I didn’t have the heart to resist. I mean.”

“Are you really Kijeong?”

A tank that always blocks the enemy’s attacks in front. It meant that even Kijeong, who has raised his shield facing countless enemies in the past, felt uncontrollable fear.

“……But it’s okay. Because I experienced it once. Flame strike, well, it’s not a big deal. I can block up to three shots.”

“Kiskis, of the fifteen magic shots.”

Biyemi smiled at Kijeong’s words. It was what he saw anyway.

The gold dragon Bailephus would be able to cast 15 flame strikes 20 times in a row.

The mood brightened for a moment by mixing Biyemi’s jokes with Kijeong’s self-assuring words.

“Aw, hey, isn’t it really scary for Byeolcho Special force to say things like that?”

“Huhuk, it’s okay. Eong-ah doesn’t need to worry about it.”

Kijeong paused for a moment and looked down.

“Isn’t hyung going to do something again? Isn’t that what you talked about with commander-in-chief Granville, Kidd, and Lee Jiwon?”

“Oh, well……. We talked about the strategy, but-”

“Okay, then. Even if I die, I will protect you.”

“Kijeong-ah…”

Kijeong’s words were simple. However, Leeha understood because they were family. The weight of his resolve.

“Isn’t that the mission originally given to Byeolcho Special force, Leeha-kun? If Alexander came over there, Leeha-kun came to us. This time, I won’t be hit as recklessly as before.”

“Kiskis, whatever Halihali-nim does, I will have to run with you in my arms. Because you’re still slower than me, who is a magician.”

Their belief in Leeha was buried in Tale and Biyemi’s words

The mission of the Byeolcho Special force was to protect Leeha.

He felt that heavy expectations were being put on him, so he felt burdened, but he wasn’t tactless enough to show it.

‘To the point that people say… Alexander is great.”

No other thoughts were needed. Most importantly, he needed to think. It’s his job to figure out a way to deal with that person.

The sniper only looks at the target.

(To be continued…)