The Emergence of Uninvited Guests

With Seoyoon and Tori in the lineup, Bollards were no longer a threat. Whenever a battle was fought, the undead army was significantly reduced, but with the help of the two, Bollards became so easy to hunt.

Weed’s power more than doubled in level.

‘No tough guys eh? Even though the scale of the undead grows, the power available to concentrate on battle is limited.’

Weed ordered the last bastion of Ghouls, Zombies and Skeleton Knights to simply follow because they were not of much practical help.

‘Rather I would have preferred Skeleton Mages for an increase in ranged attacks.’

With Seoyoon and Tori capable of overpowering the monsters, it was better to increase the number of support troops.

Every time they fought with Bollards, the number of undead consumed shrunk and the army led by Weed also increased in quality.

‘The incoming experience and loot, not bad.’

Since half the Bollards were handled by Seoyoon, the experience decreased but the hunting sped up quite a bit.

The number of items that sprang up increased as well, garnering no apparent complaints from Weed.

“Hold!”

There was even an independently operated Ghoul unit carrying loot as they followed along.

Hunting back and forth near the area of the Sculptor’s Legacy was extremely fast.

In Las Phalanx, Weed raised his level 10 times.

If he continued hunting with Seoyoon, he could quickly and reliably raise his level.

‘But skill proficiency won’t increase much …….’

You gain nothing if you lose, that is the law!

Weed wanted to continue staying in this place hunting Bollards and Tair Badgers, but there was a need to move elsewhere.

‘Should we move towards the unfreezing river? Or look towards the 7 peaks for the quest about the annihilated Armenian Pirates?’

He challenged the Chaos Warriors four times with undead in order to hunt them, only to lose and run away beaten.

Now with the addition of Seoyoon and Tori who would be of great help in battle, the situation changed somewhat.

Due to the partic.i.p.ation of the two, he had to change the configuration of the undead army to find optimal efficiency.

The Chaos Warriors fought in such a way that even when they were trapped in the gaps between the undead, they couldn’t be stopped.

“Chaos Warriors will be a fairly difficult fight ……. hunt for a day or two more. Also have to teach Seoyoon and Tori how to fight the Chaos Warriors.”

Weed did not know in the slightest how worried Seoyoon was for him, she hoped Weed would not die.Hunting the Chaos Warriors was entirely due to Weed’s quest. She did not want him to suffer from feelings of guilt or sorrow if she was killed en route.

“For now I want to go back to the place where I landed, over there are more monsters than here. Hunting nearby, come okay?”

Seoyoon nodded her head to give consent to the proposal.

Weed was hunting with Seoyoon for a while, when he came back to the unfreezing river, far away there was the Haven Kingdom’s fleet.

“Even here that many boats come?”

From the center of the continent to Las Phalanx is an extremely great distance.

However, the s.h.i.+ps were wearing the flag of the Haven Kingdom.

Dozens of accomplished s.h.i.+p admirals were approaching.

Weed was busy hunting lately so he did not know about the surrounding circ.u.mstances.

To command a large number of undead, he needed to turn off the staggering amounts of whispers and guild chat.

Weed still felt there was a problem.

“Well I can’t just wait around here.”

The approaching fleet of the Haven Kingdom would take notice if he brought the undead army to hunt. Ordinary users recognized undead armies as monsters.

“Let’s go back to hunting at the place we originally were at.”

In his hideout cave he pulled out loot and items from severe cracks in the land and went toward the area near the Sculptor’s Legacy.

***

“Ooooo, were finally here at Las Phalanx. At the end of the north, one of the continent’s 10 restricted zones!”

Many users in the Haven Kingdom’s fleet marveled at the sight of Las Phalanx.

In Versailles Continent, there is publicly disclosed information on several combinations of monster types, arduous terrain, distance etc.

Specifically the 10 restricted zones. Countless powerful people challenged the restricted zones!

Just getting there filled them with pride.

In Las Phalanx not a single tree existed and black volcanoes gave off acrid smoke, occasionally, crimson lava flowed as well.

The brutality of the roaming monsters was to the extent that it was not an exaggeration to say it was beyond dangerous.

Regular users with low fighting spirit, just viewing the high level monsters from a distance and they were already atrophied with their strength and agility stats declining.

In particular, the state of fear caused skill mastery to drop by a few steps.

“Undead army!”

“Up front, there’s a tremendous concentration of undead.”

Even before landing scouts were tracking the movements of the undead.

“Undead army led by Weed? Meeting the army faster than expected. Zombies, Ghouls, Death Knights, Witches, Skeletons, until now first time seeing such a variety.”

“Indeed Weed. Fully adapted to Las Phalanx and hunting, that’s all the evidence we need.”

“Even as a necromancer … how can he control that many monsters? Does he have the ability to command each monster army individually?”

“Hopefully it’s true for us. If it’s Weed it’s possible!”

Users in the Haven Kingdom’s fleet were glad to have discovered the undead.

The senior officials of Hermes guild kept their feelings of resentment for Weed restrained to the extent that others did not notice those inhuman abnormalities.

They chased after Weed to as far as Las Phalanx despite not knowing his whereabouts. Some users considered the center of the continent where countless power struggles occurred more important.

Nevertheless, many users had to follow guild policy.

They were Weed’s enemies, regardless of personal feelings.

Still, the idea of possibly hunting Weed in Las Phalanx filled them with pure delight.

“Nice.”

After arriving at Las Phalanx, Drinfeld felt a little bit of the burden lessened.

“Once we have landed, we must take control of the region.”

He was greedy for dungeons, items and levels. In addition, he had members of the fleet to hunt with.

Even if the pursuit of Weed was delayed a bit, it seemed fine to him.

“There you are ghost s.h.i.+p.”

Waiting for Weed, they ghost s.h.i.+p was docked at the unfrozen river.

“Without going through here again, Weed will not be able to go back to the center of the continent.”

Drinfeld ordered 3 large vessels to lure out the ghost s.h.i.+p and take it over.

The lieutenant asked.

“There are a lot of high level users aboard North Star, do you want me to mobilize?”

“Better off not, don’t know what it could do.”

“I firmly believe mobilizing North Star will make taking over the ghost s.h.i.+p a piece of cake.”

High level users gathered en ma.s.se at the main axis of the s.h.i.+p North Star of the Haven Kingdom’s fleet.

“But they also want to land in Las Phalanx. Wouldn’t they complain?”

“First have North Star occupy the ghost s.h.i.+p. Afterwards have the NPC soldiers and knights secure it.”

“I shall take action then.”

Kkwagw.a.n.g!

Kwaahahahang!

Shortly after, a bombardment between the Haven Kingdom’s s.h.i.+p and the ghost s.h.i.+p was initiated.

The ghost s.h.i.+p’s aiming ability was poor and soon received a blow to the bow of the s.h.i.+p, followed by an unrelenting a.s.sault.

It took longer than expected but the enemies finally stepped down. Users from North Star and navy knights then proceeded to cross over to the ghost s.h.i.+p and without much difficulty took control.

“Those Haven Kingdom guys are landing.”

Pirate King Griffith’s subordinates secretly followed Drinfeld.

The scouts’ report came to him.

“Landing in Las Phalanx … quite brave.”

Having been left behind, Griffith had no idea about the situation up front. On the other hand, the undead could not discover them either.

Thanks to the Mad Sharks of Becky Ninh, they were able to move quietly while avoiding the undead up to this point.

“Weed has already landed in Las Gigolo right?”

“Seems like it.”

Vice-Captain Corum replied.

Prior to this, the Griffith Pirates 2nd in command, the Vice-Captain had reached a compromise with a lieutenant of the Haven Kingdom’s fleet.

“What should we do now?”

“Currently, we can only wait I’m afraid.”

“Come to think of it …….”

Griffith was given a commission for Weed’s death.

Originally before an attack, pirates usually waited in rivers or seas.

But Griffith, different from any other pirate could not wait.

“Drinfeld has given us permission to land.”

“We have a hostile relations.h.i.+p with the Haven Kingdom’s fleet. Would they not attack?”

The kingdom’s navy fought with pirates whenever they met at sea.

As navy, catching pirates was the best method to quickly earn experience and achievements. Likewise, pirates also stormed Navy wars.h.i.+ps to acquire treasures and rewards.

In the first place, shortening the distance between navy and pirates was extremely difficult.

The number of users in the Haven Kingdom’s 2nd fleet was predominant over the number of pirates, albeit the lower overall quality.

Without even knowing the result of a battle on the seas, it would be difficult to fight and win against the users and soldiers of the Haven Kingdom on land.

“It’s okay for now. BardRay made the commission, if we use his name, they won’t attack us. Still, just to make sure, I’ll contact Hermes Guild on the side.”

After getting in touch with Hermes guild and obtaining approval, the Griffith Pirates were ready to land on Las Phalanx.

“We came all the way here, should at least hunt some strong monsters.”

***

Weed clicked his tongue at the Haven Kingdom.

The single ghost s.h.i.+p that brought him was incomparable to the enormous expedition.

“Is that the flag of Hermes Guild’s 2nd fleet?”

He was surprised not only at the power of Hermes Guild but also that they could afford to send their armed forces all the way to Las Phalanx.

It was practically the first time he encountered the notorious and acclaimed Hermes Guild.

“Why of all things have they all come here now? I just want to live and eat in peace. Things are going to get worst now.”

Returning to the area around the Sculptor’s Legacy, he felt quite a bit nervous.

He did not know the fact that Haven Kingdom’s fleet was hostile to him. However, hoping for good results in front of that many users was difficult.

“What in the world, are they even going to steal beans overflowing on the side to eat?”

He arrived at the place with the crack in the land, where Seoyoon was staring at a distant volcano. His heart flickered for a moment at the beauty that seemed to be waiting for him.

Weed’s favorite, her hair blowing in the wind, like a scene out of a movie.

“Ahem.”

As a result, Weed stood beside her.

In accordance with his undead state, the posture he held gave off a horrifying atmosphere.

Weed stood there quietly as wind brushed by his head.

As a skeleton, his hair was nonexistent!

To outsiders, this would look like an evil undead threatening the beauty of the century, Seoyoon.

Given the spontaneously emerging atmosphere, the scene s.h.i.+fted to look like Seoyoon, duty bound, preparing to eradicate Weed who had modified his appearance into a skeleton.

“Keuheum, time to hunt again.”

Weed took the undead army to attract Bollards.

The monsters gave savory experience as well as a lot of leather.

With the addition of Seoyoon, he could use curses and corpse explosion without discretion.

The hunting speed was very rapid due to Seoyoon"s Berserker characteristic that aggroed most of the monsters toward her first.

Using the total offensive of the undead, Necromancer’s curse and corpse explosion along with Seoyoon"s support changed the hunting pattern.

‘Necromancers usually don’t get along with other jobs, now with a Berserker, sounds about right.’

The Berserker job was also quite rare.

Just acquiring the job was difficult. After that, you have to hunt alone for long periods of time in dangerous areas to increase stats and skills and properly grow the job.

It was not a job available to those that wanted colleagues.

“In any case, we are going to continue hunting so irrelevant.”

After hunting in the area with the severe cracks in the land for so long, all composure was abandoned.

The biggest advantage of undead armies was the frantic hunting speed and loot.

“In order to hunt Chaos Warriors, we have to leave here and go to another place.”

Around the volcano crater, there was a dungeon.

At the large crack in the land, beneath the cliff terrain, lava flow occurred. In the middle of all that lay the dungeon.

He was about to descend down the created ladder to enter the dungeon when.

“No, no dungeons.”

As the first discoverer, he would reap the week long benefits of 2x experience and item drop rate.

But dungeon monsters are usually at higher levels than the roaming field monsters of the area by one, sometimes even two steps.

In Las Phalanx, given that the land counterpart monsters were already overwhelming, you couldn’t recklessly enter dungeon.

“If we entered the dungeon as intended and it was a narrow cave or labyrinth, I wouldn’t be able to drag the undead army and have to collapse it.”

Either way, there was not much choice for Weed.

“Short break. I need to make rice for my sister … regroup in a little while.”

It was time to eat dinner so along with Seoyoon, they logged out to rest for an hour.

Dinner was gangdoenjang, bibimbap and lukewarm bean sprout soup.

After sautéing the rice in the pot and eating dinner with his sister, Lee Hyun turned on the computer.

“Since there’s a list of new items, determining the price won’t be easy.”

The newer items were the ones obtained while hunting in Las Phalanx.

When you sew leather directly and create clothes, the price is set in accordance with the manufactured goods. The market price for jewelry also rose depending on color saturation and brilliance and yet many undiscovered items were revealed to be useless while there were numerous kinds of complex loot.

“If there’s an opportunity, I must sell or trade the goods.”

Loot was never sold, but you had to find a buyer for the items. He never sold to stores because dealing with them wouldn’t allow him to get a reasonable price.

“When I dispose of loot through Mapan, definitely have to find out the item prices.”

In addition, he profited from the items he made while working as a tailor or blacksmith.

To receive a good price, you need to sell to the people who need, find the overall job orientation in Royal Road and understand the inner workings and situation of the current kingdom or village.

Originally a trader, Lee Hyun used surefire ways to collect money.

Items obtained from Las Phalanx were clearly organized and written into the household account book followed by information gathering.

Item prices were not fixed so depending on the situation, you had to be careful.

In order to earn lots of money, when hunting monsters, you had to concern yourself with the amount of experience as well as what types of loot to obtain and how many of each.

To gather information about items, he took a few moments to access the Royal Road forums.

With one click, Lee Hyun’s story came out.

“How do they know I’m in Las Phalanx?”

Weed was always on an immense quest, so wondering what kind of adventure he was on was common.

Transforming into a Lich was beyond imagination, wouldn’t you think?

Many comments followed the post.

On the Royal Road forums, the main story became about Las Phalanx.

Many users have fantasies about the adventures.

Setting foot on new lands with good hunting grounds scattered in abundance, the corresponding loot and experience as well as overcoming risk and adversity to acquire quest rewards!

Whenever legends and mysteries of Versailles Continent were to be revealed, users grew so enthusiastic that they rapidly posted on the forums to the point where you couldn’t read any articles.

For now, one of the 10 restricted zones, Las Phalanx, Weed, the Haven Kingdom’s fleet and the Griffith Pirates stood at the heart of those topics.

Many stories about Weed’s adventures were written. However, stories about Haven Kingdom’s fleet and pirates emerged.

Users a.n.a.lyzed the posts and tirelessly occupied the forums with their speculations.

BardRay and Drinfeld, along with the Hermes Guild did not expect it would grow up to this point.

That sinking the ghost s.h.i.+p at sea and possibly killing Weed would lead to such a big commotion.

However, it was in the land of new adventure called Las Phalanx, the issue of the Haven Kingdom’s fleet and pirates chasing after Weed brought suspicion to other users.

No secret is eternal, that is law.

Posts came up that gradually revealed the truth about the Haven Kingdom’s fleet and the pirates.

Lee Hyun’s eyes convulsed with rage as he read the forum.

“Why me …….”

He wondered why of the many people in the world did they target him who was barely sc.r.a.ping by just to feed a mouth and live with the bare essentials.

Hermes Guild, the center of the continent’s most prestigious guild known for their atrocities, it was best to avoid them.

Initially, Weed made his character in Rosenheim Kingdom. In the center of the continent, due to site taxes, it was difficult to even obtain a hunting ground.

The tax even extended to wheels and so forth, tyranny of prestigious guilds!

Frankly, Lee Hyun’s nerves were spent.

Hermes Guild formed the greatest force on the Versailles Continent, holding enormous influence in the Haven Kingdom.

In hunting grounds, they killed those who were eyesores and acted indulgently under the signboard “Part of Hermes Guilds”.

Backed by influence and power, high-level users were accepted as guild members, growing the guild.

When Weed first saw Haven Kingdom’s fleet at Las Phalanx, even though it was greatly inconvenient, he was forced to concede the hunting grounds to avoid them.

“Did you really chase me all the way here just to try and kill me?”

If it’s limited to the degree of the commissioned, you can’t steal the quest, so the only thing left is to impede its success.

In accordance with the ridiculous reason of s.n.a.t.c.hing a quest, they sailed to the distant Las Phalanx.

If the blade swung quickly covers with rust, discard it.

Guilds must make good use of their power and fear, maintain the system of compet.i.tion and be able to suppress the provocation of other guilds.

They wanted to sacrifice Weed. Hermes Guild’s ulterior motive was easily predictable.

“If we could avoid fighting, that would be nice.”

Contrary to his words, his forehead was distorting, to Lee Hyun, there was no other option.

The opponent chased him all the way to Las Phalanx to fight him, because of that, he couldn’t just go saying goodbye and leaving like that.

“If so, then the fight’s unavoidable.”

Lee Hyun riffled through information on the Dark Gamers Union’s forum.

“Know thy enemy. Even if I get injured, I need an escape plan.”

Many Dark Gamers have been dying under the tyranny of the Hermes Guild.

As Lee Hyun read the materials, he was put into deep thought.

***

“Lower the base supplies.”

“Come on, move without ceasing. We must create the barrier by the end of the day."

Users and soldiers of Haven Kingdom’s fleet busily moved.

Information about Las Phalanx was in a darkened state.

They knew nothing about the monster or terrain.

Generally, an adventurer party of individual wanders around. To that extent, monsters don’t react significantly.

However, monsters are sensitive to large-scale landings of humans and attack in droves. Under no circ.u.mstances could there not be a boundary.

“Construct a base on the hill near the landing area and explore Las Phalanx.

Drinfeld and the senior part of the fleet in order to maximize the contrast between relaxation and exploitation, tried to create a fortress for maintenance as soon as possible.

You need to ensure a comfortable night’s sleep to quickly restore morale and stamina.

When you put a barrier around the hill, even against monster attacks, just considering the materials used to build the barrier, it is much safer than simple awning tents.

It was for the Haven Kingdom’s fleet’s main force of users rather than the NPC sailors, soldiers, etc.

For the users belonging to the fleet, it was not easy coping with the tedious voyage exceeding 1 month.

As seaman, it was normal for most of them to own their own s.h.i.+p. But when on a boat ride for a long time, due to the decrease in morale, all sorts of things tend to break out.

There were quite a few possible headaches such as rebellion, riots, homesickness, etc.

Commanding the soldiers and Navy knights, Drinfled had to pay special attention to morale and fatigue.

“We’re short on wood Captain!”

“Captain, I can’t get wood.”

Trees could not grow in the barren, unmatched environment of Las Phalanx.

Leaving the distantly visible monsters, Drinfled replied.

“To create the barrier, dismantle a s.h.i.+p and obtain a number of stones to pile up.”

“Yes sir.”

Users and the crew squatted down to carry the rocks.

Due to the distant voyage, extreme fatigue acc.u.mulated, but even in that state, they did not have the time to relax in order to make camp.

Carrying the heavy stone blocks and busily establis.h.i.+ng the wall decreased stamina.

“Scouts, make observations on the surroundings.”

Drinfeld sent out the scouts to thoroughly prepare.

Five scouts quickly went around the vicinity to determine the quant.i.ty of monsters and the extent of their range before returning back.

“Special danger signs are visible.”

“The monsters roaming around seem to be under control of an intelligent boss cla.s.s monster.”

The news put Drinfeld in a good mood. If it was just a ma.s.sive raid of monsters, to some extent it brought your mind to rest.

“How is the terrain?”

“The terrain is very bad. Because most of the area is steep rock, it seems it will be difficult to move during a raid.”

As the battle goes on, it gets more difficult to fight systematically in the rugged rocky area.

Furthermore, for the Haven Kingdom’s crew, they were more accustomed the sea rather than the land.

“When monsters move around to bypa.s.s, it seems like it will take a lot of time. And even with scouts constantly on watch, I’m curious … is this place really safe?”

Part of the scouts could not be sure.

Nearby one of the volcanoes gave off black smoke and the land was shaken a little. Through the cracks of the cleft earth, lava flowed.

“Well, since Weed arrived much earlier than us, there’s no way it can be safe.”

“You’re absolutely right.”

The crew was committed to creating the walls well into the night.

Haven Kingdom’s 2nd fleet’s crew are said to be at least 250 in level.

But on average, the majority of the users were in the late 200s to early 300s.

Users were only 46 people, the soldiers numbered 590 people.

With tents and the barrier, they created a strong shelter as a place to rest.

Needless to say, they did not forget to establish appropriate alternating lookouts.

In the meantime, Griffith Pirates made contact with the leaders of Hermes Guild to land.

- Absolutely not allowed. Haven Kingdom’s fleet is more than enough to hunt Weed.

Persistent Hermes Guild was unmatched.

When the fleet landed in Las Phalanx, they did not feel pleasant at the thought of the pirates exploiting the hunting grounds or unearthing relics in their area.

Griffith came up with a concession.

-I will prohibit pirates from conducting hostilities on all Hermes Guild s.h.i.+ps.

- Not allowed.

-Willing to concede 3 treasures excavated from dungeons.

-Las Phalanx is obviously a unique area of our Hermes Guild.

Having first landed just a few hours ago, Hermes Guild shamelessly claimed the vested rights!

The prestigious guild of the center of the continent, however, the word shameless was horribly insufficient for the Hermes Guilds.

Unfortunately for Griffith’s side, he learned he could not enter into negotiations as desired and would continue to be dragged around.

Griffith sent a final ultimatum.

-To save face, Hermes guild may take as much as 30% of the treasure. We are pirates of the sea. We are not afraid of Haven Kingdom’s 2nd fleet. Think about our concessions, I look forward to your sincere response.

Leaders of Hermes Guild unfortunately had to give permission.

Haven Kingdom’s 2nd fleet landed in Las Phalanx. After landing, the defense of the s.h.i.+ps became weakened. If something as extreme as a pirate attack happened, it would be a big problem.

After getting landing permission, late at night the pirates put their first step on Las Phalanx.

“Pirate King-nim, shall we set up base?”

“We don’t have the time. Today we are obliged to stay on the other side.”

Around the fortress built by the Haven Kingdom’s fleet, the Griffith Pirates enclosed their bodies with thin blankets.