7.

What makes a party great at clearing dungeons and raids? There are countless criteria, but the most important is rapport. It's the one element that cannot be emphasized enough. Factors like levels and class combinations become almost meaningless depending on how well a party synchronizes. A party raid isn't just a gathering of players; it's a system capable of creating a synergistic effect greater than the sum of its parts.

When everyone moves as one, their attacks come from all directions, naturally confusing their enemy. It's not for nothing that martial arts masters in novels go through the trouble of forming complex battle formations.

Efficiency. The miracle of four people doing the work of ten. Of course, it's not easy.

"Aargh!"

"These things are too cunning!"

If they were ordinary monsters acting on pure instinct, it would be simple. One player could draw aggro while the others attacked, landing critical hits before seamlessly switching to a defensive stance. But the game changes when monsters can think and strategize. That logic doesn't just apply to players.

When two groups clash, it doesn't matter who is human and who is a monster. What matters is which side has better rapport, which side moves more organically. That is what has the most profound impact on the battle's outcome.

In that sense, the ten teams had breathed a sigh of relief when the defense match was chosen, and those who drew good defensive positions had cheered. They had all assumed the incoming monsters would be far below their level.

They were wrong. The monsters were smart. They were cunning and moved in coordinated packs, relentlessly exploiting weaknesses and demolishing any position that wasn't perfectly defended.

And this was only the first round. For the players, it was a catastrophe.

"Seriously, is the first round supposed to be this hard?"

It went without saying that no team was complacent. To a Korean, the words 'bonus points' transformed the first round into a golden opportunity that had to be flawlessly executed. But for teams that had been planning how to slaughter monsters most efficiently, the onslaught of intelligent, vicious attacks was nothing short of hell.

What was even more surprising was that the monsters' actual stats weren't that high. The only difference was that they were smart. Combined with their overwhelming numbers, it meant that a momentary lapse in coordination, the slightest gap, would be paid for with one's life.

"Wow, these monster bastards fight dirty."

A flood of comments poured in, which was just another way of saying they fought incredibly well.

For the seven surviving teams, the relief of making it through the first round was a luxury they couldn't afford. Any player with a brain knew what was coming.

"How are we going to survive the next round?"

After a first round this brutal, it was unlikely the second would be a surprise bonus stage with easy-to-kill monsters for racking up points. The happy dilemma of how to find and exploit hidden bonus criteria was gone. Bonus points were just that—a bonus. The most important thing was the round score earned through survival. If you could just last one more round than the other teams, you would win, even with fewer kills.

The mindset of the remaining teams shifted. They made wise adjustments, creating new formations and class distributions geared for survival. It was a sight worthy of players from major guilds.

[Time remaining until the next round: 5 hours]

As the seven teams fortified their defenses and took a much-needed break, a change began to ripple through the arena.

It started with the Jeong Cheol Guild. Having defended their position cleanly despite the poor conditions, they didn't bother reorganizing. Instead, they began to move, scattering in all directions and leaving the sorry excuse for a defense point behind.

And they found them.

"As expected of a gamer, she's scouting the map first," Kim Buja remarked.

Led by Jeong Seora, who he thought only ever handled guild administration, the team began gathering hidden supplies—food, combat items, and materials to fortify their base—and bringing them back to their shabby position.

Next was SJ. After getting the situation under control and resting, a few of their members began to move and find things as well. It was a change that came two hours later, but it wasn't too late. There was still enough time to search the surroundings.

Two more teams followed suit, finding the map's hidden bonuses before the next round began.

"The rest are going to be eliminated."

It wasn't just Buja's keen eye. Any spectator could have guessed the same. It wasn't simply because they had failed to find a minor trigger. A skilled team wouldn't necessarily need the help of such trivial items. The problem was that these weren't just simple bonuses.

—Whoa, what are those? Those traps look super useful.

—The defense point is trash, but does that mean there are better items to compensate?

—I don't know, other spots have them too. Seems like it's just luck.

—It's probably about how thoroughly you search. I bet this is all part of the bonus points.

It was like a hidden achievement—not one you could skip, but one you couldn't clear the stage without.

The result was clear when three teams were immediately swept away by the next flood of monsters. The other four teams also collapsed in an instant, unable to thin the overwhelming horde with the items they had found.

The progression was swift. The wait time for the third round was reduced to three hours, short enough that it could begin before the monsters from the previous wave were even fully cleared.

By the time they reached the fifth round, only two teams remained: SJ and Jeong Cheol.

—I guess the best are still the best.

—Can you even compare a dedicated guild unit with a bunch of mercenaries who just wear a guild tag? I knew it would turn out like this.

[Round 6 will now begin.]

[Time remaining until the next round: 11 minutes]

Now, a countless horde of monsters poured out, each with stats more than double that of a normalized player. This was the moment of truth. Just making it to the fifth round was an incredible feat. The monsters that hadn't been killed in previous rounds had piled up, and the numbers showed no sign of decreasing. They had been fighting for nearly three hours without a moment's rest.

They could collapse at any moment. The instant any one of the twenty players let their guard down would determine first and second place. Who would fall first?

—It looks like they're just holding on with sheer willpower now.

—Both guilds are amazing.

—Are they for real? They're just gritting their teeth and enduring.

One minute, two minutes. The movements of the players on both teams visibly slowed. These were monsters that would normally require twenty players to raid a much smaller group. Being surrounded and attacked by them, this was the natural result.

Slowly, players on both sides began to fall. Even in death, they chose positions that wouldn't break their team's formation.

—They don't just die; they die well.

—Seriously, no matter which team wins, this year's international competition is going to be fun.

Then, the Jeong Cheol Guild made its move.

Led by Jeong Cheol himself, they advanced step by step, creating an opening. Forging a path through a sea of powerful monsters was no easy task.

When they finally broke through the encirclement, only eight remained. With SJ still fighting with fifteen members, the outcome seemed decided.

But what erupted from the spectators was not sighs of defeat, but gasps of admiration.

"They held onto an item like that?" Kim Buja was impressed.

He had expected something like this. If even the viewers could predict the end, what about the players fighting for their lives, feeling their own condition in real-time? They couldn't see the other team's situation, but they had few options to drag out the clock.

One was to scatter and flee. It was a clear sign of giving up on hunting, but considering the time left, it was a viable option. However, Kim Buja was skeptical. The monsters were too numerous, too fast, and too strong to simply turn your back on.

Still, they must have judged that running was better than fighting to the last, so he watched to see what they would do.

The result was brilliant.

They had held onto a few items they found while scouting. A few members used them to flee to distant locations. Others went into stealth. In a situation where every second counted, the drawback of an imperfect effect was irrelevant.

[Round 7 will now begin.]

[Time remaining until the next round: 5 minutes]

As the hologram announced the final moments, the SJ Guild also collapsed. Shin Hyeseong, who had fought dazzlingly with a greatsword, determined to avenge his loss in the individual match, could no longer hold out against the overwhelming tide. He fell amidst the wave of monsters, unable to even attempt to break through and buy more time.

The same went for the Jeong Cheol Guild. Monsters were everywhere. Switching the spectator camera to the few remaining players, none could be seen.

—What? Who won?

The hologram announcing the result didn't appear, causing confusion. But it didn't take long for that confusion to clear.

[Round 8 will now begin.]

As the round began, a giant boss monster appeared and began to roam, devouring the piles of monster corpses as if absorbing them.

[All participants have died. The 'Team Match (Provisional)' will now end.]

An explanation appeared, confirming that the lack of a result was not an error.

[Calculating acquired points for participating teams.]

1. Jeong Cheol 20 points (12,492 points)

2. SJ 15 points (10,441 points)

…

[Spectating will now end.]

[Ownership of the 'Team Match (Provisional)' video will be given to the 1st place team's MVP. The MVP obtains the right to distribute the videos of each round.]

Even without the final holograms, people had already seen it. They saw the announcement for Round 8 appear only on the Jeong Cheol Guild's screen. They saw that Jeong Seora's point-of-view camera was still active.

And through her first-person view, they saw a gruesome landscape of monster viscera and finally understood.

—Did she hide inside a monster corpse?

—That's insane.

In the chaos, she had used a stealth item and, during its short duration, had hidden not far from the battlefield—inside one of the many piles of monster corpses.

A split-second decision and a bold action had created this outcome.

—The national representative for South Korea has been decided.

It was the birth of a new champion.

* * *

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