âHow many?â Kwon Rang said angrily.
âWe canât know for sure, but it looks like there are at least 100,000 of them,â his subordinate carefully said.
âWhat? Are they crazy!?â Kwon Rang yelled.
His startled subordinate shrank away and kept his mouth shut.
âMm.â Kwon Rang furrowed his brow and bit on a finger. â100,000, huhâŠâ Then, he stared at his subordinate once more.
âHow many do we have?â
âWe called all of our forces here. We have 10,000 total.â
â10,000. 10,000, huh⊠It sounds doable.â
âThe people coming in are just rabble. Moreover, 100,000 people canât enter the Albation Nest all at once. We can win if we just take out Kang Oh and a few others. And if we win⊠thereâs a lot that we can gain.â
Kwon Rangâs eyes lit up with greed. What if he used this opportunity to show the world just how powerful the Swift Steed Guild was?
The 4 great guilds could become the 5 great guilds once more. Of course, the new guild wouldnât be the fallen Hercules Guild, but the âSwift Steedâ Guild.
âWhere are my commanders?â
The Swift Steed Guild had eight squads, each with their own commander.
âTheyâre all gathered in one place.â
Opportunities are found in times of crisis.
All that he was thinking about was âHow shall I deal with Kang Oh and that rabble of 100,000 strong?â.
Although the Albation Nest was huge, it wasnât large enough to fit 100,000 players all at once.
âAnyone focused on support, please stand off to the side.â
A ton of players left the main army. These players consisted of Blacksmiths, Alchemists, etc. Production classes that werenât focused on combat.
âThe rest of you, please buy whatever you need from them, or prepare yourselves for the battle ahead.â
âAnyone whoâs between level 300 and 400 with a combat class, step forward,â Kang Oh yelled.
Thousands of players stepped forward.
Kang Oh looked them over. He saw some renowned rankers amongst them. Even those he didnât recognize looked quite confident.
âYouâre in charge of the first corps.â
They responded simply or nodded their heads.
After that, Kang Oh, with the help of his companions, formed nine squads of 10,000 each.
Those with wide-scale Command skills were given commander or vice-commander roles.
âThe first, second, and third corps will enter the dungeon. When the battle begins, the remaining corps will trickle in one at a time.â
If they incurred losses in the first, second, or third corps, then the remaining troops would fill in.
Kang Oh smiled satisfyingly, and extended his right hand, which held the blue armband.
âFirst, second, and third corps, advance!â
Kang Oh was able to enter the soul dungeon without any interference.
As soon as he entered, however, a powerful barrage of magic came flying at him.
ââŠFlames of death!â
ââŠForce of the earth!â
ââŠThousand Chain Lightning!â
It was the mages in Swift Steedâs Owl Squad.
Giant flames surged, the ground cracked, and lightning bolts branched out a thousand times.
The low-level players melted instantaneously.
âHedgehog Squad! Attack!â
Swift Steedâs Hedgehog Squad was made up of archers. He supposed that their name was representative of how their enemies would look after they were done with them.
Whizz, whizz, whizz, whizz!
âProtect yourselves!â
âRaise your shields!â
âDonât just sit there! Fight back!â
The Liberation Armyâs commanders yelled.
Frontline fighters raised their shields, while the mages began to chant. The archers hid behind their shield-bearers and notched arrows.
Their most skilled players rushed forward. They avoided the spells and deflected any arrows that came their way.
Of course, Kang Oh was part of this force. He held Ubist and Sarahoff in his hands.
âItâs time to feast.â
In total, the Swift Steed Guild had 10,000 members. To Kang Oh, that was nothing more than a buffet.
âHohoho.â Tasha was excited too. She gathered red energy in her hands, and shot it everywhere.
The two armiesâ vanguards clashed.
Kang Oh swung his demon swords one after another.
Swish, slash, swish, slash!
He repeatedly unleashed sharp, powerful attacks!
There were very few who could stop him. It was only natural. Not only was he a Master Demonic Swordsman, but his demon swords were overpowered, heâd stolen a ton of stats so his stats were way higher than anyone elseâs, and he also had his Hyper Intuition to boot!
He was worth a hundred warriors.
âItâs Kang Oh! Kang Ohâs over here!â
âCatch him! Iâll give whoever catches him a huge reward and a high post!â Kwon Rang yelled. Then, Swift Steedâs rankers stepped forward.
âWho do you think youâre attacking!?â Tashaâs eyes lit up with rage. She stood right beside Kang Oh.
Tasha began unleashing powerful blood attacks one after another.
Bart, Helena, and Sephiro began to take things seriously too.
Helena used her specialty, Double Casting! Powerful spells repeatedly shot out of her fingertips or her staff.
Bart was a jack of all trades. He cut through anyone who attacked him, and dealt with the long-range damage dealers with long-range spells or skills of his own.
Meanwhile, Sephiro shot arrows at his enemies with perfect accuracy, and Waryong flew around, spewing flames at their enemies.
The Liberation Armyâs first corps, which consisted of their very best players, was doing work.
The middle ranker, Bravo, swung his giant axe, killing a member of the Swift Steed Guild. A female assassin, Chocolate Candy, who wasnât known or recognized on the ranking board, had already killed more than ten of them.
âHahaha, these guys are so weak!â
The second and third corps were indeed rabble. They were getting completely destroyed by their enemies.
In exchange, the second and third corps fought bravely. They were all freedom fighters that fought under the banner of âDungeon Liberationâ.
âIâll die after I get one more hit in.â
âHey, attack him while Iâm keeping him busy!â
The second and third corps engaged in an intense dogfight. Though their HP was at the brink, they grabbed onto their enemiesâ hair or ankles while gritting their teeth.
That allowed their companions to attack their enemies unimpeded.
âDonât fight back. Just die!â
âLetâs die together!â
âDungeon Liberation!â
The intense battle continued. However, the quality of their troops was beginning to show.
The second and third corps dwindled quickly. However, there was no despair painted on their faces.
âIâll be going ahead. Iâll be waiting for you!â
âIâll catch up to you soon!â
âIâll leave the rest to you!â
Their faith was rewarded.
The fourth and fifth corps had entered the soul dungeon. There were 20,000 of them. And they still had the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth corps left.
It was said that you couldnât compete with sheer numbers.
There were some exceptions, but they were right most of the time. This instance counted as part of the majority.
âYou persistent bastards!â
âThere are too many of them!â
The Swift Steed Guild was slowly crumbling.
Kwon Rangâs assessment had been right on the money. The Liberation Army was indeed filled with rabble.
On the other hand, the Swift Steed Guild was filled with countless skilled warriors thatâd overcome adversity time after time.
No matter how many there were, they should win ten times out of ten.
Moreover, the dungeon was too small for them to take advantage of their sheer numbers. After all, it couldnât fit all 100,000 of them at once. In other words, they only had to fight a small portion of the Liberation Army at a time!
There was no reason they should lose!
âSo why!?â Kwon Rang bit his lip.
It was as if he could hear his loss approaching.
âWhy!? Why!? Why!? Why is this happening?â
Honestly, he knew the answer already. It was due to Kang Oh, Bart, and Helena! They were killing all of his rankers.
It was like a scene out of the Three Kingdoms! It was as if Xu Chu, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei were killing enemy commanders.
Each of them were worth a hundred, no, a thousand warriors!
They completely overwhelmed his forces, so much so that he couldnât help but think this.
If you wanted to deal with Kang Oh, Bart, and Helena, then you needed people that were on the same level as them, or defeat them using overwhelming numbers.
However, the Swift Steed Guild didnât have the numerical advantage, and no one on their side was skilled enough to deal with Kang Oh, Bart, and Helena.
Kwon Rang had mistakenly believed that if several rankers attacked them simultaneously, then his men would win. Even he, a high ranker, would have trouble dealing with five or six rankers at a time.
But no matter how many rankers came at them, the results would remain the same.
The gap between them was too wide.
With no other choice available to him, Kwon Rang and his elite guard attacked Bart. However, he had accomplished nothing but getting his elite guard killed.
The Albation Queen had been defeated long ago by Helenaâs magic bombardment.
He was absolutely speechless.
Kang Oh had already killed four of the commanders that they were so proud of. He couldnât even count how many of their rankers had died by his hand. There were just too many of them.
He was way too strong. So much so that he couldnât even begin to comprehend it.
âWas there always such a huge difference between a Master and a regular player?â
Kang Oh finally appeared before Kwon Rang. There had been no one that could stop him.
âYou have a nice item equipped.â Kang Ohâs eyes lit up with greed. Jet-black energy rose from his body. He had already used Gluttony, which tripled his abilities.
Kwon Rang raised his fist.
Normally, he went around comparing himself to the Spear King, Hernandez, calling himself the Fist King. But at this moment, his fists felt much too small.
âWhatever, I donât care anymore!â
âDie!â Kwon Rang desperately yelled, and rushed at Kang Oh.
However, the miracle he was hoping for didnât happen.
Demon Sword Sarahoffâs long, purple blade pierced through Kwon Rangâs heart.
âUgh.â Kwon Rang grimaced in pain.
âSee you later,â Kang Oh whispered.
Once he pulled out Sarahoff, Kwon Rangâs face turned gray, and his body fell to the floor.
âWe won!â Kang Oh yelled.
âUwaaaah!â the Liberation Army cheered.
âKang Oh! Kang Oh! Kang Oh!â
Victory was always so sweet.
Kang Oh was given the soul stone by the Albation Queen. But because Kwon Rang didnât accept the Sacred Duel and surrendered, he was immediately given ownership of the soul stone.
âBrothers, we have liberated the Albation Nest.â Kang Oh raised his right hand into the air, and the Liberation Army followed suit. Their blue armbands fluttered in the air.
âSo how are you going to deal with the soul dungeon?â Sephiro asked. He had promised to ask this question beforehand.
âThatâs a good question. Since everyone worked together to liberate this dungeon, it doesnât feel right that I take ownership of it.â
âThen?â someone in the crowd said.
âMr. Man Bok, please come out.â
A chubby man with a good-natured face came out of the crowd.
âOh? Itâs Mr. Man Bok!â
âUwaah, itâs Mr. Man Bok!â
The people relished in his appearance, and waved their hands at him.
Man Bok was famous for his personality and his reputation. He was the type of person that youâd think of if you said âa good merchantâ or a âgood-natured merchantâ.
âIâll leave the Albation Nest with Mr. Man Bok. Iâll remain as the proxy for the Sacred Duel. Mr. Man Bok, please tell people how youâre going to manage the soul dungeon.â
âHello, everyone. You did something truly amazing here today. The Albation Nest belongs to you all, so Iâll put all of the rewards into improving the dungeon.â
âWhat does that mean?â someone asked.
âI will buy the materials that come out of the dungeon. Iâll use that money and the money that naturally comes out of the dungeon to increase the respawn rate of the monsters, increase the quality of the loot they drop, and increase the proficiency/experience they give. Iâll use the repel points to strengthen the guardian and expand the dungeon. Of course, all of this information will be revealed to the world.â
âIn other words, the Albation Nest will slowly become a better hunting ground. Of course, anyone can use it as they please,â Kang Oh added.
Their cheers resounded throughout the nest.
There were some that screamed Kang Oh and Man Bokâs names at the top of their lungs.
Kang Oh raised his hand and slowly calmed them down.
âThank you for your cheers. However⊠The Swift Steed Guild still has three other soul dungeons. I canât liberate them by myself. So please help me again.â
Kang Oh planned on going all the way. He had to.
âIf I want things to go according to plan, that is.â