Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
The five thousand Sunbin Guild elite soldiers and I slowly marched for Busan. We had first thought of ambushing them, since we were technically at a disadvantage, but we decided against it because of me. To be more specific, it was because of the friends I had called over.
And so, we slowly marched, as if telling our enemies that no matter what they did, we were going to win. Their ninety thousand soldiers were no match for us.
Although we moved at a comfortable pace, the elite army managed to pass Gyeonggi and North Chuncheong Province in record time, and soon arrived at Daegu. We could have entered Yung Gong’s territory within a few hours, but decided to stop at Daegu. We took it easy all this time, so there was no reason to rush into it now.
“We’ll stop here for the day. We face the enemy tomorrow!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Sunbin had already made preparations in the city for the army’s lodgings. Leave it to Sunbin to be that prepared. I attended a last minute battle prep meeting before heading to bed.
The Yung Gong Guild’s headquarters…
“Son of a bitch!” Shin Changil, the guild master of the Yung Gong Guild, slammed his fist on his desk hard. “This is how they react? With just five thousand soldiers? Those bastards are looking down on us too much!”
Up until now, it seemed that his guild would win. The more the Sunbin Guild hesitated and the more time went on, the more people believed that he and his allies would actually defeat the Sunbin Guild. Several smaller guilds had even joined his side, believing that their attacks against the powerful Sunbin Guild were actually working.
But now, all that trust was gone, and all the attention had shifted to the Sunbin Guild when they attacked the Yung Gong Guild with an insult of their own.
Shin Changil looked around at his soldiers with ire in his eyes. “As I said yesterday, we must exterminate all of their soldiers! Don’t leave a single one of them alive, and make sure we take minimal losses!”
“But if we do that, Sunbin might actually…” one of the officers began carefully, but was quickly cut off by Shin Changil.
“You idiot! If they had any intention in the first place, they wouldn’t have put on this show at all!”
“My… my apologies!” the officer cried out, bowing his head as low as he could.
“Get it together, all of you! This is a battle with our pride on the line now! They’re only bringing five thousand soldiers down here! If we lose, it’s over! We’ll never be able to show our faces in public ever again!”
“Yes sir! We understand!” the officers answered together.
Shin Changil then turned to face the captains of the support teams from Cheng Long and Nayuta. “It seems we’re now in desperate need of your help.”
“Don’t worry. That’s why we are here.”
The meeting was ended there, and preparations for the Yung Gong’s allied army to face the Sunbin army were underway. Just because they had more people on their side, they didn’t have the luxury of taking it easy, as many eyes were on them.
The Cheng Long Guild’s base in China…
“So that’s what they decided?”
“Ye,s sir.”
“Hmm…” Wai Chung kept calm when he heard about the Sunbin Guild’s response, but in reality, he was shocked. He didn’t expect Sunbin to react the way it had. He and his Intelligence Division believed there was a good chance Sunbin would parley instead. That would have been enough for Wai Chung. He knew the damage a small crack in a dam could do over time. He may have had a slight advantage over Sunbin right now, but he couldn’t face them head on.
“Ha… it seems overthrowing Sunbin is still an impossible task.” It was supposed to be the perfect plan. That was why he had allied himself with the filthy Nayuta Guild. “Very well. Deal with Sunbin’s army for now, then retreat. There’s nothing more to gain, so there’s no reason to stay there any longer.”
“Yes sir. Understood.”
Wai Chung’s orders were soon delivered to the Cheng Long Guild members who under the guise of mercenaries. The same had happened to the Nayuta Guild, as well.
“Alright! Let’s go!”
“Yes sir!”
After a hearty breakfast, the Sunbin Guild headed out once more. A crowd had gathered around in the distance last night, but no one paid them any heed. We had already expected them to come, anyway. I marched in front of the army, alongside Song Myungsoo and the other commanders, so that everyone could see me.
“Jiwon, from the report I received last night, it seems our enemies are scrambling through their last minute preparations to meet us.”
“That makes sense. They bet everything they had on provoking us.”
“You don’t seem to care, do you? About the ninety thousand soldiers waiting for us. Then again, probably only about seventy thousand of them will actually fight.”
“I’m starting to feel the pressure, too. But… we still have our secret weapons that haven’t revealed themselves yet.”
Song Myungsoo chuckled at my response.
After about two hours of marching, we finally saw came face to face with the ninety thousand-strong army. There were many rookies and fresh devas among them, but nevertheless, the soldiers stood proudly.
Just then, someone stepped forward. It was Shin Changil. He was the bastard who had countless devas and their families kidnapped and turned into slaves. Everything he did was for the sake of himself, his family, and his guild. If you weren’t part of his guild, you were fair game and anything could happen to you, as long as he got what he wanted. That was probably why he was lauded as the best guild master by his own guild, but to everyone else, he was the lowest piece of shit the world had crapped out. That was the Yung Gong Guild I had known in the past, and nothing had changed now.
I didn’t pay attention to Shin Changil, however, and scanned the soldiers behind him for Lee Kangchan. It was good that Lee Kangchan had the misfortune to join the Yung Gong Guild; I could kill two birds with one stone now.
-Found you!-
I remembered his face clearly, and I soon pinpointed him within the giant army.
I couldn’t help but smile. I was happy and excited; happier than when I found my mother.
-I’ll see you soon.-
Just then, Shin Changil’s echoing voice broke me away from my thoughts. “As strong as the Sunbin Guild is, don’t you think it’s stupid to come with only five thousand soldiers?”
“Hahaha. Only five thousand… but I think five thousand is still too much,” Song Myungsoo said as he stepped forward.
“I’m beginning to think you’re losing your sense of reality.”
“Maybe. But I’m sure I’m saner than you, who decided it was a good idea to annoy the Sunbin Guild.”
Shin Changil glowered at what Song Myungsoo said and had an expression as if he had just been fed something horrid. “All I’ve done was to try to negotiate with a fellow large guild. This is all because you’ve been asking for it!”
“Oh, was that supposed to be a negotiation? I had no idea. Well, you have nothing to worry about. You will have our answer soon enough.” Song Myungsoo then turned his back as if telling Shin Changil he had nothing more to say.
It was now time for me to appear. I might not run a large guild like Yung Gong or Sunbin, but there was practically no one out there who did not know my name or my strength. When I took Song Myungsoo’s place, no one, even Yung Gong, seemed to find it strange that I was there.
“It’s good to finally meet you, guild master Shin Changil.”
“Duck…Duck…” Shin Changil’s face grew purple when I greeted him.
“I have a name, you know. You can’t just call me Duck Duck like that. Oh, and it’s good to see Shin Hyuk again, as well. It really was unfair for him that day. I even felt bad for him,” I said as I turned to Shin Hyuk, who was standing behind his father.
Furious at the way I was speaking to him nonchalantly, Shin Changil retorted, “I don’t care how well you’ve been doing these days, but I know you won’t have an easy time against my army.”
“Well, we can find that out once we actually fight. I just want my reward first.” I took out the bounty poster the Yung Gong Guild had posted that I had picked up some time ago.
[Duck Duck
Bringing in Duck Duck or any information related to Duck Duck to the Yung Gong Guild will be rewarded with 10,000,000 golden rings.]
The poster had a picture of me with the Duck Duck shirt-mask on. “10,000,000 golden rings…Well, since I’m here myself, I should get the reward, right? But 10,000,000…is that all Shin Hyuk is worth to the Yung Gong Guild?”
“Say something that fits the situation around you, damn it!” Shin Changil roared.
I could see how furious he was, as his whole body was trembling. That was the reaction I wanted to get out of him, so that I could shift attention on to me. “Fair enough. You can always give the reward to me after the battle.” I returned to my original spot. That was enough to tell them that we had no intention to negotiate, and that the only way this would end was through battle.
“Grr! Yung Gong, listen up!”
“Sir!”
“Don’t show them any mercy! Crush Lee Jiwon’s and Sunbin’s arrogance for good!”
“Yes sir!” The Yung Gong soldiers, the foreign mercenaries, and the soldiers of the smaller guilds roared in response.
“Sunbin, prepare for battle! Show these fools what true power is!”
“Yes sir!”
“Mana Conversion – Fire. Warrior’s Brave Spirit. Howl of the Wolf.”
==[Mana Conversion – Fire Level 2 has been activated.]==
==[Warrior’s Brave Spirit Level 1 has been activated.]==
==[Howl of the Wolf has been activated.
AGI increased by 20% for one hour.
You may now use Razor Fang.]==
I activated my normal battle skills, including the Howl of the Wolf I had received from the Werewolf Clan. I decided it would be best to save the more powerful skills like Judge’s Gavel and Altered Equality for the stronger opponents, like Shin Hyuk.
“All soldiers, attack Lee Jiwon and Sunbin! Leave none of them alive!”
“Sunbin, attack!”
90,000 vs 5,000. The battle that many believed the Sunbin Guild would lose finally began.
“Die!”
“Hey, dumbass! Do you really think Cheng Long and Nayuta will always be your allies? They’ll stab in you in the back once they have the chance!”
“Cut your bullshit!”
“Flame Pillar!”
“Razor Wind!”
“Iron Wall!”
“Breathe of Destruction!”
“Unbreakable Will!”
“Boggy Earth!”
“No!”
Shouts and cries echoed through the large battlefield as the two armies collided. Pieces of earth flew around as craters formed, and bolts of fire and ice flew through the air as mages cast their spells.
“Focus your attacks on Lee Jiwon!”
“Don’t leave him alone. We have the manpower to keep him occupied! We just need to tire him out!”
“Support Jiwon!”
“Earth Armor, Fatal Blows, Roar of Rage!”
“Brilliant Blessing!”
I had ten of my own healers and supporters, and there were forty other Sunbin devas tasked to keep them alive.
I felt my body overflow with energy as the buffs took effect. I raised my spear and slashed and stabbed at the charging enemies, regardless of where they were from. I did make sure to avoid Lee Kangchan, however. He had to see how strong I was so that I could see him tremble in fear once this battle was over.
I laughed to myself for a moment. In the end, I was doing all this just for Lee Kangchan. But showing him the difference in our strength was the best way to have revenge. It was unfortunate that Lee Kangchan didn’t know me like I knew him. He wouldn’t know why I had it out for him, but the same went for me in the past. I’d had no idea why he focused on me that much, so I would make him feel the same pain I felt then. If he felt it unfair…then he should return to the past like I did.
“Fuck! Why the hell does Lee Jiwon have to be here?!”
“Shut up and fight! He’s a deva like us and we outnumber them!”
“Half of us will fight him upfront and the rest of us will target his supporters behind him! Depend on your comrades and don’t foolishly charge in!”
With all of the buffs I had, I could now kill a single soldier in less than three hits, but there was still a limit to what I could do. I didn’t have any AoE damage skills, like Lagus and his Psychokinesis abilities. I was powerful, but I had more burst damage skills. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about that now.
I was too busy to worry about it, anyway. I just had to fulfill my duty as best as I could. I cut down as many as I could before me, but thirty minutes into the battle, things weren’t looking good for us. We definitely made it difficult for our enemies, and it was amazing that we managed to last this long. Our enemies couldn’t believe it themselves as well, even though they were winning. However, the Sunbin Guild and I were here for only one thing and one thing only; absolute victory.
It was then that they appeared. They showed up like knights on white horses, leading the reinforcements that would turn the tide of the battle.
