Chapter 155: Isolation, and a Crisis (1)

“Prepare for battle! Hurry and call all of the guild members that aren’t logged on, quickly!”

At Ian’s urgent shouts, the guild’s chat room began to light up like it was on fire.

It was no wonder, though, as the number of Desert Warriors looked to be quite high.

‘If it was after base occupation, it’s a fighting power that we would be able to face without a lot of difficulty, but to have to protect that while fighting…’

At the place that Ian’s gaze landed on, there was a shining giant crystal that was letting out a blue light floating.

That was the ‘Blue Crystal’, which could be called the heart of the base.

In order to occupy a base, the process of engraving the guild’s pattern into the Blue Crystal was required, but despite having shortened the time using the Holy Grail, it was a situation where they still needed 5 more hours.

While looking at the Desert Warriors that were approaching, Ian summoned all of his Familiars.

“Ly, Halli, Pin, summon!”

And Celia, who approached from him from behind, also summoned Ddukdae and her Blue Wyvern.

Ly, who was summoned, stretched as he opened his mouth.

• Owner, is it a battle?

At Ly’s question, Ian nodded his head as he replied.

“Yeah, you see them swarming over here, right?”

While looking at the approaching Desert Warriors, Ly growled lowly.

• It looks like it will be a fun battle for the first time in a while.

At Ly’s words, Bbakbbak, who was standing next to him, spoke as if he was dumbfounded.

• You haven’t already forgotten the vicious fight that you were just in a little while ago, right?

Ly nodded his head.

• Of course. However, we’ve rested a whopping 3 hours. To have rested this long aside from when we sleep, this is something that shouldn’t have happened. My body is itching.

• …

Ly let out a remark that was expected of a Familiar that had been with Ian the longest.

No wonder Bbookbbook was staring at Ly with a pitiful expression, while on the other hand, Ian was wearing an incredibly pleased expression.

‘I’ve truly raised Ly alone really well.’

And shortly after, as the leading group of the Desert Warriors were close to the base, Ian began to let out commands.

“Yoohyun, firstly, lead the Knight-class people that are logged on right now and pull aggro please!”

“Okay.”

And he turned his gaze towards Bbakbbak.

“Bbakbbak, it looks like you’ll have to stand your ground at the very front.”

• Understood, Owner. I will do that.

Thud- Thud-.

As Bbakbbak moved his heavy build and went out to the front, Celia also let out a command to Ddukdae and made him follow him.

And Ian began to bang on the giant war drum that had the Lotus Guild’s symbol drawn on it.

The loud sound of a drum rang out through the air.

Thud- Thud- Thud-!

And shortly after, all of the Lotus Guild users were buffed.

• The War Drum of Courage has rung out.

• The fighting spirit of all soldiers affiliated with the Lotus Guild has increased by 20%.

• The combat abilities of all users affiliated with the Lotus Guild have increased by 15% for 20 minutes.

Ian, who had invoked everything including the guild buff, now began to move his Familiars around busily.

Of course, invoking all of the buffs he held was first on his list.

Since the larger the scale of the battle, the bigger the effect an AoE buff had in battle.

“Pin, Roar of the King!”

As soon as Ian’s command dropped, Pin, who surged quickly up into the air, cried out loudly towards the sky.

Kyaaoh-!

• Familiar ‘Pin’s Inherent Ability ‘Roar of the King’ has been invoked.

• The Agility of all allies within a 50-metre range will increase by 30% for 10 minutes.

• The movement speed of all enemies within a 50-metre range will decrease by 30% for 10 minutes.

With Pin’s roar as a reference point, the literal dogfight began.

Rather than running into battle in person, Ian continuously looked at the progress of the battle as he began to conduct the battleground.

‘The damage received must be minimized. Since just blocking them off doesn’t mean it’s the end.’

In comparison, the Desert Warriors had a simple battle pattern, but as their levels alone were 20 levels higher than the general fighting power of the Lotus Guild, the condition of the battle was progressing incredibly tightly.

Clang- Claang-!

Riding on horses, the Desert Warriors swung their scimitars that shone white here and there.

Whoong-!

How dangerous their destructive power was could be heard just from hearing the sound, and the Lotus guild members faced their opponents in their tensest state.

“Fiolan, please support the front to the right!”

“Alright!”

“Carwin, keep your position, and Kroban hyung, please block them so that they can’t get close to the crystal!”

“Okay!”

Still, it seems thanks to the buffs that were granted on top of one another and Ian’s fast and accurate command, the Lotus Guild was blocking off the Desert Warriors quite magnificently.

And even through this dogfight, Ian’s Familiars were outstandingly playing an active part.

Especially, the abilities of Bbakbbak, who was newly recruited, was to the point they were shocking.

• Familiar ‘Bbakbbak’s Inherent Ability Guardian of the Desert skill has been invoked.

• Familiar ‘Bbakbbak’ has created a protective film that can absorb damage of up to 30% of his maximum Vitality for 20 seconds.

As a matter of fact, the Vitality of Bbakbbak, on top of boasting an outrageous amount of Defensive Power that was close to 5 thousand when including his buffs, hardly went down as he even created a protective film through his passive skill.

• Familiar ‘Bbakbbak’ has dealt critical damage to the Desert Warrior.

• The ‘Desert Warrior’s Vitality has decreased by 9870.

However, it wasn’t like his Offensive Power was weak either.

He was indeed a splendid dealer-slash-tanker.

With a satisfied expression, Ian watched Bbakbbak’s performance.

‘It may be because his level is high as well as his rank, but he definitely lasts much better in comparison to Ddukdae.’

On top of that, thanks to the ‘Blessing of the Turtle Dragon’ ability that receives damage in place of a designated target, Ly was also flying around the middle of the battlefield.

• Familiar ‘Bbakbbak’ has used Inherent Ability ‘Blessing of the Turtle Dragon’ on Familiar ‘Ly’.

• For 2 minutes, ‘Bbakbbak’ will instead receive ‘Ly’s damage (‘Bbakbbak’ will receive 150% of the original damage, and if his Vitality drops below 10%, the skill will automatically be cleared).

Ian shouted towards Ly.

“Ly, go deeper inside and stir it up even more!”

• Understood, Owner.

Despite Ian’s active engagement, there couldn’t help but be continuous damage in the beginning of the battle.

This was because the users, who hadn’t been in the central continent long ever since arriving, seemed to not have been fully accustomed as they ran about in confusion.

However, as the battle proceeded, the users of the Lotus Guild began to find stability more and more, and the number of Desert Warriors began to shrink one by one.

However, just then, Ian heard a familiar voice.

“Blessing of the Goddess!”

• Guild member ‘Harin’ has used skill ‘Blessing of the Goddess’.

• All level of immunity has increased by 20%.

At that voice, Ian slightly turned his head.

And in that spot, there was Harin.

Ian slightly wore a taken aback expression.

“Huh? Harin, you were here as well?”

This was because Harin’s level was too low to come to the central continent.

That’s why he told Harin to stay at the Lotus Domain, and he thought she would only be there for sure.

While looking at a surprised Ian, Harin puffed out both her cheeks.

“Hey, if I don’t follow when all the guild members are moving, would there have been a way for me to come here? Then I would have at least have had to gamed alone boringly for several weeks.”

Ian scratched the back of his head as he mumbled.

“Still, it’s dangerous…”

Harin hit Ian’s back with the staff that she was holding as she spoke.

“Forget it, I’ll take care of myself, so focus on the battle quickly instead. Carwin’s in a bit of danger over there right now.”

At Harin’s words, Ian reflexively moved, and he gave a command to Halli and Ly, and Carwin, whose Vitality had almost hit zero, barely saved himself.

While looking at Ian, who was now instead on Halli’s back and was running around the battleground crazily, Harin shook her head.

“Ha, how nice it would be if he invested even a quarter of the energy he uses in gaming into me.”

While looking at Harin, who was mumbling, Fiolan, who was casting magic next to her, smirked.

“Aren’t you being a little too greedy, Harin?”

At her words, Harin had daggers in her eyes.

“No, not even half, but a quarter is being greedy? Is this how you’re going to be as well, Fiolan?”

While looking at Harin’s tearful face, Fiolan burst out into laughter.

“It looks like almost 100% of Ian’s life is gaming, but a quarter of that is 25%. At that rate, that is being greedy.”

At Fiolan’s reasoning that was quite persuasive(?), Harin couldn’t help but become speechless for a moment.

“Is, is that so?”

There was a small disturbance(?), but either way, at the end of the battle that lasted about 1 hour, the Lotus Guild succeeded in blocking the Desert Warriors without taking a lot of damage.

They did lose a lot of soldiers, but the number of guild members that died were only about thirty, and that much damage was a much favourable amount in comparison to what was initially expected.

And as the battle ended, while looking at the purple rays that were sucked in from the corpses, Ian’s two eyes slightly grew.

‘Huh? Ever since the territory war, there was never a case when purple rays were made like this.’

Ian hurriedly opened his inventory and checked the information of Karceus’ Egg for the first time in a while.

• Karceus’ Egg

Hatching Rate: 57%

And his two eyes rounded.

“…!”

This was because, just when he checked a couple days ago, the hatching rate, which was just below 40%, had gone up close to 20%.

‘What exactly is the criteria? What kind of battle do I need to do in order for the hatching rate to go up quickly?’

While looking at God Dragon’s Egg that was shining brightly, Ian felt his heart pound.

‘If this one just hatches… I could probably actually face top-ranking players now.’

Ian, who momentarily set aside his anticipation towards the god dragon, began to straighten out the grounds after putting the egg back into his inventory.

As it was a battle big enough that even Ian could count into a handful of large-scale battles ever since coming into the central continent, the spoils of the war were also quite big.

Lastly, Ian, who checked the state of the Blue Crystal, mumbled to himself.

‘Speaking of which, the time is passing by really slowly. To still have over 4 hours left…’

While hoping that there are no other hitches until the base was completed, Ian began to heal his Familiars.

* * *

Battlegrounds here and there, which were quiet for a while even after the central continent opened up, finally started to have large-scale battles.

This was because all of the follow-up troops of the armies of either empire were gathered in the central continent, and high-ranking guilds that were decent enough had also entered.

Thanks to that, the main page of the community was plastered with articles that were related to the battle results of the central continent everyday.

• The DarkRuna Guild lead by Magic Swordsman ‘Ilahan’ is letting out a crushing force.

• Mark of Magellan, dispute over the balance-breaking item.

• Luspel Imperial Army’s line of defense, countdown until it collapses.

Jinsung, who was sitting in front of his computer while eating cereal, mumbled as he looked through the community.

“Hmm… The imperial army’s line of defense can’t collapse.”

Even after they blocked off the Desert Warriors that attacked on a large-scale, there were invasions of small monsters, but the Lotus Guild was eventually able to succeed in occupying the base.

However, as expected, the major reason for the base occupation was Holdream’s Holy Grail.

If it wasn’t for the Holy Grail, they would have been attacked by the Kaimon Imperial Army before they even succeeded in occupying the base.

Jinsung, who continued to read down the article, mumbled again.

“Should I now leave the base defense to Yoohyun, and go out to the front lines and help defend the defensive line…”

As mentioned in the main community article, the Kaimon Empire’s fighting power was showing overwhelming superiority.

And in that background, there was an item called the ‘Mark of Magellan’ that Ilahan possessed.

The Mark of Magellan made the Desert Warriors, which were neutral NPCs, stand with the Kaimon Empire’s side, and due to them spreading out a guerilla tactic in battlegrounds here and there, the Luspel Imperial Army began to lose every battle that they fought.

The fighting power of the Desert Warriors were much lower in comparison to the fighting power of the Luspel Imperial Army, but as the fighting power of the Luspel and the Kaimon Imperial Army were evenly matched to the point it was tight, the addition tilted the weight.

‘The base defense can only be spoken about when the line of defense hasn’t collapsed, if the line of defense collapses and we’re isolated in the middle of the enemy camp, then there will definitely be no solution then.’

Ian, who quickly ate all of his cereal, hurriedly went into his capsule.

He had no intentions of helplessly losing the base he worked so hard to get.

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