“So… Are you saying that you will help us?”
A moonlit night where the darkness deepened, and the quiet barracks that was on the outskirts of the camp of the Kaimon Empire’s Allied Forces.
Inside there, a couple of people were sitting in a circle and were sharing a conversation.
An unusual point was that while the rest of the people were wearing cloaks with the Kaimon Empire’s design embroidered onto it, one man wore black clothes with no kind of decoration.
The man in black clothes opened his mouth.
“That’s right. To be specific, we’re not helping you.”
“Hmm…?”
“It should be called a ‘deal’ for it to be a more accurate expression.”
“A deal, huh…”
The man that was sitting across from the man in black clothes lightly rubbed his temple as he opened his mouth.
“If it is a deal, then that means that your side has something that you want from us as well, so what is that?”
At that question, the man in black clothes slowly opened his mouth.
“The thing that we want is for you to open up the Tower of War for about a week to us.”
“…!”
At his words, without any exceptions made, the expressions of all of the men inside of the barracks hardened.
“That… Ahem…”
As they showed hesitation, the man in black continued his words again.
“It shouldn’t be an offer that’s a great loss on your side, though? We’re just saying that we’ll use the Specialty Points that we had collected up until now. In return, you’ll be able to get through the 2nd line of defense easily…”
However, nobody was able to respond easily, and the man’s words continued again.
“If you look at the recent war situation, it looked like it would be hard for the Allied Forces to get through the 2nd defensive wall without my help. Are you planning on confronting them this ignorantly, while consuming troops and resources up without any sort of promise?”
With those words as the end, he closed his mouth, and for quite a long time, the silence continued.
And the silence that continued like that was broken as one man stood up from his spot.
“That offer, we will accept it.”
* * *
Amongst the bases in the central zone of even the central continent that were interlocked in the power of the two empires, there was almost no place that was properly developed despite having a guild flag standing up.
This was because they didn’t know when the siege warfare would break out, and they also didn’t know when the owner of the base would change either.
As that was the case, the users affiliated with the Kaimon Empire that were hunting in the vicinity of the central zone didn’t have a place to rest.
“Ha, seriously, the EXP in the central continent is awesome, items also drop well, and everything else is great, but there’s no domain or village good enough to go to after hunting to repair our equipment.”
“I know, right? I feel like even when I’m selling random items, I’m being ripped off, so it’s annoying.”
However, the users in the Luspel Empire were different.
This was because the Pyro Domain, the only giant domain within the zone that had gotten their base level to a Great Domain, was firmly guarding the middle of the central zone.
As that was the case, most of the users and NPCs that were affiliated with the Luspel Empire couldn’t help but use the Pyro Domain, and that became an incredible driving force to the growth of the Pyro Domain.
“Hyah, how exactly is the Pyro Domain’s development this fast in the middle of this battleground?”
“I know, right? Soon now, they might get much better than the decent domains of the northern continent.”
On top of that, at this point, where the siege warfare had been proceeding for a couple days now, the inside of the Pyro Domain was crowded with users.
Truthfully, because if they felt the domain would fall to the enemy, they could just log out or use a return stone and evacuate to a different place, so there also wasn’t a big risk.
The return stone could be used whenever as long as you weren’t in the middle of a battle.
Whiiing-.
• As the siege warfare will start soon, for users that are on the outskirts of the domain, please shelter yourselves quickly.
As the sun rose to the middle of the sky, the siege warfare began again without doubt, and the users that were on the outskirts of the domain moved to the core of the domain.
“It starts again today.”
“I know, right? Will they be able to last today as well?”
“Probably, no? The 2nd defensive wall hasn’t even been broken yet. From what I know, they even have a 3rd defensive wall.”
The users murmured and shared a conversation as they moved their feet.
However, while all of the users were going into the domain, one man moved the opposite way towards the outside of the domain.
The man wore a black uniform and even covered his face with a bandana and mask.
It was Limlong, who was inside of the Lotus Domain beforehand.
‘It has started. Speaking of which, I truly had no idea that I would have to go as far and use this method…’
Limlong moved as unnoticeably as possible and headed to the outer rampart of the domain.
And as soon as he arrived at the rampart, he used his Hide skill.
Seu-reu-reuk-.
His body disappeared from the air like a bandit.
With proficient movements, he quickly began to climb up the wall.
‘Let’s see… I just needed to move this way from here, right?’
Limlong spread open a map from his chest and swiftly checked his location once.
The result of having infiltrated multiple times and drawn a map, the map of the Pyro Domain was drawn almost completely accurately within his hands.
‘Down here, there was a detecting tower…’
Limlong narrowly moved along the outskirts of the visual field of the detecting tower as he dug around the inside of the fortress.
And as he moved around like that for about ten minutes, a clamorous sound could start to be heard from the front.
‘Huhu, I’ve found it. Now, if I just get over that, I’ll be able to approach the fortress gate.’
Limlong, who finished grasping the route perfectly, placed the map inside his chest and while jumping lightly, he approached the vicinity of the 2nddefensive wall.
And having arrived right into point-blank range, he hid his body into a place where the gazes of the Lotus Guild users didn’t reach.
‘It’s easier than I thought. Is it because everybody’s attention is on the siege warfare?’
Despite there being a lot of intervals where his movements could be revealed in between, Limlong was able to move to the location he was aiming for easily.
It was possible because all of the defensive troops’ minds were distracted by the Allied Forces that were attacking.
While hiding his body, Limlong waited for an opportunity.
‘There are too many eyes that are watching right now. I should start when the gazes are dispersed the most.’
With slow and careful movements, he pulled out his wind and fire wheels from his chest and held them.
And as if he was a plaster figure, he didn’t budge even an inch and stood still.
Had about ten minutes passed like that?
Limlong’s body jumped up quickly to the point it could be questioned if he was the same person that was as still as a rock.
Ta-tat-!
The blade of the wind and fire wheels held a bright red light. And the purple current that blazed around that began to embroider the air.
“Heub!”
With the shortest breath possible, Limlong got rid of the two Lotus soldiers that were standing in front of the management office of the 2nd defensive wall.
Chwaak-!
At Limlong’s blades that dug into the backs of their necks along with clean movements that had no unnecessities, the security guards that were around lv 130 went limp without being able to even resist against him once, and Limlong was able to quickly enter the management office.
‘Huhu, success.’
With big strides, Limlong moved his feet and approached the lever that was inside of the management office.
And after placing his hand on top of the handle, he pulled it without hesitation.
Deu-reu-reuk-!
Shortly after the handle let out a light sound as it dropped down, a roar began to ring out from the whole defensive wall.
Kwaaah-!
After checking the outside of the management office once, Limlong wore a satisfied smile.
“This should be enough.”
He lifted his wind and fire wheels and swung it quickly towards the lever.
Crunch-.
The rope was cut cleanly, and while mumbling, Limlong moved his feet towards the outside of the management office.
“They probably won’t be able to close the door again now.”
* * *
The main chatroom of the official Kailan community.
Truthfully, starting from a couple days ago, it had been a while since this place had turned into a real-time discussion page for the viewers that were watching the siege warfare of the Pyro Domain.
This was because all of the users that were watching the siege warfare video that was played back live on the main screen of the community were gathered in the main chatroom.
This was because with battle videos, it was fun just watching them, but it was more exciting to watch while sharing trivial stories with someone else.
• Kya, even today, the spirit hasn’t gone down even a little.
• I know, right? Will the Pyro Domain protect the 2nd defensive wall today as well?
• Their Defensive Power is seriously insane. Those elemental towers are so strong that climbing the wall itself is impossible, but the space is too narrow to crumble the wall with catapults.
• I agree with the person above. Even if I was an executive member of the Allied Forces of Kaimon, I seriously have no solution for that.
• No, still, their numbers are that high, so then why aren’t they able to get through that?
• Dude. You’ll be able to sense it if you watch the screen, but the fortress design itself is done too well. If they somehow succeed in climbing up that wall, the door opens from the bottom and the defending army runs out and slaughters everybody.
• Still, the defending army that does come out all dies, so if they keep on reducing the Lotus troops like this, I feel like the Allied Forces, who are superior in numbers, will eventually win, no?
• I also think like that. It’s amazing that they lasted this far alone, but soon, the Pyro Domain will be short on numbers and their resources will be completely depleted, and they’ll eventually fall to the enemy.
Out of excitement, the users were arguing back and forth about the siege warfare.
However, just then, someone seemed to be flustered, as they began to type rapidly.
• Guys! Look at Channel A right now!
• Huh? Why? Is there something there?
• Hurry, everybody, change to Channel A! It’s seriously crazy! Why is that like that right now?
• What is it, what is it?! Channel B was fun for some time now, though. Since you’re acting like that, I feel like I should go and see!
The battleground where the siege warfare was being held was incredibly wide.
As that was the case, even on the official community, they put up filming crystals in multiple places, and because of that, there were a total of five channels where the siege warfare’s video was being broadcasted on.
Even amongst them, the Channel A filming crystal was the filming crystal that was shooting the central zone where the siege warfare largest in size along the 2nd defensive wall was.
• Wow, this crazy! Why is that opening up right now?
• What the hell? Did the Allied Forces succeed in infiltrating into the fortress?
• No, if that opens up right now, what will happen? Oh my god!
The reason the users were flustered was nothing different.
As the largest fortress gate, which was right in the middle of the 2nddefensive wall of the Pyro Domain, was slowly going up, the gate was opening.
And as if they were waiting for it, a ton of the troops of the Allied Forces ran towards the door like crazy.
There were even users that were being killed off by elemental towers and long-ranged attacks, but it seemed that they thought they needed to enter the inside first, as the Kaimon Empire users didn’t stop and continued to continuously flood through the main gates.
• Wow, damn, what exactly is this? If this is the case, the 2nd defensive wall will be broken through just like this today!
• This is insanity, seriously. I never even imagined that the main gates would open up!
• Hul… Guys, by any chance, are you sure there wasn’t a spy on the inside? Where maybe a user affiliated with the Kaimon Empire made an alt and infiltrated the Lotus Guild or something like that…
• Person above, are you an idiot? Where are alts in a virtual reality game?
• Well, if that’s not it, they could have wound them up with money as well.
While tons of speculations went rampant, the siege warfare within the video rushed towards an unknown direction more and more.
* * *
“What exactly happened?”
Ian, who was in the middle of directing the peak of the battleground, was surprised out of his wits at the unexpected situation.
The main gates of the defensive wall, which should be firmly shut, were opening up on their own accord.
• If there is a guild member that is closest to the management office, please pull up the lever quickly and shut the door! The main door is opening up right now!
Ian urgently let out a command, but the reply that returned to him through the guild chatroom shortly after was incredibly despairing.
• Ian! The lever is broken, so it’s a situation where the door cannot be shut! It looks like someone intentionally opened the door and broke the lever!
• Huh?
As Ian was so flustered, he was at a loss for words.
However, Ian, who pulled himself together soon after, quickly began to deliver commands.
• Guild members in each position, aside from about 20%, please all come to support the middle side!
If the main gates were to open up either way, their enemies wouldn’t overdo it and try to climb up the rampart.
If that was the case, they needed to deploy as much military strength in front of the opened middle door and block off the opposing troops that were flooding through.
‘Damn it, who exactly was the dude that did this?’
However, figuring out the culprit was not important right now.
The most important thing was getting rid of the urgent fire right now.
• The support troops at the rear, head to the 3rd defensive wall quickly and start preparing to defend! As quickly as possible!
The defending army, who thought that there would be no problems protecting the 2nd defensive wall for a while, had not made any defensive preparations on the 3d defending wall.
‘If they flood through to the 3rd defensive wall just like this, the defensive facility over there will be destroyed without being used once.’
They just needed to prevent that case no matter what it took, and Ian desperately moved his body.
‘Damn it, I will protect it no matter what!’
Including Kaizar, Ian gathered all of his retainers and high-level users.
While slightly glancing at the rear unit that was urgently heading towards the 3rd defensive wall, Ian clenched his fist tightly.
‘One hour, we just need to last one hour.’
