Emperor of Solo Play - Chapter 123

Chapter 123 – Power of Wealth (1)

1.

There used to be a saying in the great battle that said the tail had the best flavor. If the best tasting part of a fish was its head, the best tasting part of the great battle was the tail.

When the Corrupted army went into Siege mode, the Corrupted army became very reckless.  They charged forward no matter what.  Even if outside interference arrived, the monsters that were directly affected would be the only ones to react.  The rest of the monsters didn't stop their charge.

Even the monsters that had reacted returned to their charge as soon as their aggro was reset in a short order. If a Tanker succeeded in drawing aggro, the monster would start attacking, then suddenly it would just run past the Tanker to charge the castle.

This special characteristic was put in, so that the Users couldn't break up the Corrupted army using the Aggro system.  However, every advantage also had its disadvantage.  The Gnawing method was a strategy that turned the advantage of the Corrupted army into a disadvantage.  One was able to approach the Corrupted army from the side, and the monsters were picked off one by one.

This was where the expression the tail has the best flavor originated.  After the know how to the Gnawing method was revealed, all the Users started to pound the Corrupted army from the side.  In many cases, there were more Users dispatched to the side than the front. Naturally, the competition in Gnawing the Corrupted army became fierce.

At that moment, several Users had an idea.

‘Hey.  Instead of the side, how about eating them from the rear?’

‘All right.’

There were no spots open from the sides. If one took position in the front, there was the danger of being run over by the Corrupt army.

Let's attack the tail!

The result was a jackpot.

The biggest advantage of Eating the Tail was the fact that there was a very low probability of the Corrupted army coming to a stop and surrounding the Users.  If one faced the Corrupted army head on, it didn't matter if one could be surrounded.  A simple lapse in concentration would result in one being trampled.  

The Gnawing from the side had a lower chance of being surrounded compared to the front, but it wasn't as if it didn't happen.

However, it was impossible to be surrounded using the Eat the Tail method.  It couldn't happen unless one throws one's body into the midst of the Corrupted army.

‘I've laid out all my cards now.’

In other words, Hyrkan had no more tips to give after the Eat the Tail method.  He had given away the Congestion method, Street Battle strategy, Gnawing method and now the Eat the Tail method.  There might be some very mysterious and marvelous method to attack the Corrupted army, but Hyrkan's brain couldn't come up with any.

Since he already revealed the Eat the Tail method, Hyrkan had to do something monumental.

‘I'll finish this great battle using any means possible by myself.’

There would be nothing more monumental than winning this battle.

‘After I end this, I have to encourage the 30 great guilds to participate….’

When Hyrkan ruminated over his plan, Hyrkan suddenly started kicking at the ground like a crazy person.

“Ooh-ah-ah-ah!”

Even a bizarre sound escaped from Hyrkan's mouth.  No matter who saw this they would think he had lost his mind.

‘Why do I have to spend so much money because of those 30 great guilds? Why do I have to do such bullshit…’

Of course, it was an understandable reaction to the situation.

If Hyrkan's plan ended in success, the ones who'll benefit would be the 30 great guilds.  The goal of his plan was to push the 30 great guilds into participating in the great battle.

There was no other way to do this.  The activities of the Underfoot guilds, and the know how revealed by Hyrkan made the situation a little bit better.  However, they couldn't completely turn the tide of the war.  Moreover, the defending of the castles wasn't the only task they had to accomplish.  They had to take back the castles they had lost.

If Hyrkan had 30 bodies then it wouldn't be a problem.  However, there was a limit on what he could do himself.

“Shit!”

Still, he couldn't help, but get mad.

Hyrkan had been busy abusing the ground, and an unlucky rock got caught in one of his kicks. The large rock was as big as a fist of a grown man, and it flew high into the air.  It flew in a large arc, and it impacted hard against the helmet worn by a monster in the rear of the Corrupted army.

The sudden impact of the rock made the monster look around its surrounding before it kept on charging with its comrades.

When Hyrkan saw this, he couldn't help laughing.  Hyrkan turned his gaze on the Skeleton Warriors holding big sacks.

2.

[There's 1 hour 59 minutes 59 seconds before the Corrupted army arrives at the Shezga castle.]

When the announcement alerting the appearance of the Corrupted army was put up, the 1000 Users in the Shezga castle started to move busily.

“Let's move to our assigned districts!”

“Take all your Items and don't get confused on which district you are supposed to be in!”

The Centurions and the groups that were assigned to them moved towards the assigned districts.  This was a tactic that had been popularized recently in the great battle.  The Users realized it was useless to create a battle line with all the Tankers standing side by side. It was better to create a group of 100, and these groups could defend an assigned region.

This made more sense since the Users here wasn't planning on defending the castle.

“Let's catch a lot of them today!”

“Dont' over do it.  We just need to gain some EXP. We just have to catch the monsters that come into the the castle.”

All the Users here had gathered to take advantage of the hunting ground that would give a good amount of EXP.  That was no other reasons for being here.

While the groups were busily moving to their assigned sectors, Big K stood on top of the the castle wall.  He was watching something far away instead of going to his sector. A fellow Red Bulls guild member named Yangchio saw Big K standing on top of the castle wall.  He approached Big K as Yangchio asked him a question.

“What are you looking at?  We have to move.”

“Hahoe Mask.”

Yangchio was surprised by Big K's sudden answer, so he followed Big K's gaze.

“Where is the Hahoe Mask?”

However, he couldn't see anything at the location where Big K was staring at. No, there was something there. It was pretty far away, but a cloud of dust and birds were rising above the treetops.

The trees were being overturned by the advance of the Corrupted Army.  The wild animals that had used the trees as their home were running away, and they were causing a chaotic scene.

Of course, the Hahoe Mask still couldn't be seen. Moreover, the distance was too far to see the Hahoe Mask with the naked eye.

“Where are you looking at?  Where's the Hahoe Mask?”

Yangchio spoke in a sullen manner.  He thought Big K had duped him.

However, Big K wasn't trying to deceive Yangchio at all. Big K couldn't see him, but he couldn't deduce where the Hahoe Mask was located at.

“Look at the rear.”

“Rear?”

“He is behind the advancing Corrupted army. The Hahoe Mask does not go back on his words. He'll be where he said he'll be.”

Yangchio clicked his tongue at Big K's answer.  He couldn't understand Big K's behavior. They didn't have any reason to worry about the Hahoe Mask now.  Wasn't it more important to pay attention to the task at hand?

Big K understood the Yangchio’s reaction, but he didn’t refused to change the topic.  He continued on speaking.

“What if the Hahoe Mask does what he said he would do?  What would happen if he engineered a victory in this great battle?”

“Poo-hah-ha!”

Instead of an answer, Yangchio let out an explosive laugh.  His laughter was a more sure answer than his words.  

“You don't have to worry about such a thing happening, Big K.  The Hahoe Mask is a nutjob.  The nutjob has nothing to do with us.  Moreover, even if Hahoe Mask is amazing, what can he do by himself?  Victory? That isn’t even funny.  There is no way the Users gathered here could defend the castle.”

Yangchio patted Big K's shoulder.  It was a nonverbal signal asking Big K to stop speaking of such nonsense.

Big K closed his mouth after receiving the signal.  However, he continued to look towards a location beyond the Corrupted army.

‘Hahoe Mask's plan was simple.’

The plan spoken by the Hahoe Mask wasn’t difficult to comprehend.  While the Hahoe Mask focused on the tail of the Corrupted army, the rest of the Users gathered here would fight with the castle wall in front of them. Then a portion of their forces would attempt the Gnawing method.  This was the entirety of the plan revealed by the Hahoe Mask.

The Corrupted army would become congested as it tried to squeeze through a small door.  While this phenomenon was happening, the Users would surround the Corrupted army, and they would chip away at the horde.

‘The plan proposed by the Hahoe Mask can be done.’

It wouldn't be too difficult. He didn’t know if it would result in victory, but  he could carry out the plan.  However, there was no good reason to follow the Hahoe Mask’s word right now.

No Users would follow the plan just because the Hahoe Mask came up with it.

Most of the Users would resent Hyrkan for ordering them around.

If the Hahoe Mask really wanted to do things his way, he need to develop an aura that drew people in through his deeds. This aura was what allowed Fighters guild’s Whistling Pitbull to be able to lead others into victory.

This part was what worried Big K about the Hahoe Mask.

There were many things said about the Hahoe Mask, but no one denied the Hahoe Mask had a great aura.

Was he willing to bet that the Hahoe Mask would be able to reveal such an aura here?

‘Should I really just ignore the Hahoe Mask?  Is that the right answer?  What if we can really defend the castle?  Was following the Hahoe Mask the right answer?’

It happened when Big K was deep within his thoughts.

Kwahng!

The battle started as a sound of an explosion was heard from the rear of the Corrupted army.

3.

The Corrupted army had entered into its Siege mode.  Hyrkan was tailing them, and Hyrkan saw a pretty awesome sight in front of him.

Various monsters were in full armor, and they were marching in line as they advanced.  They looked dignified, and every time they took a step the ground shook.  They unhesitatingly trampled any vegetation in their way as they left behind traces of their passage.

This was something that couldn't be seen anywhere else. It was a magnificent sight that could only be seen in the great battle.

He was going to do something to this magnificent sight.  It almost felt like he was throwing muddy water at a famous painting.

However, he didn't hesitate as he threw the muddy water at the magnificent sight.  He threw something that was akin to throwing a huge amount of muddy water.

Kwahng!

A Bone Explosive was thrown by Hyrkan, and a big explosion occurred when it impacted on the helm of a Corrupted Armor Troll. The power of the blast was considerable.  It was strong enough to dent the Corrupted Armor Troll's helmet.  On top of that, the fragments from the Bone Explosive splattered onto the surrounding monsters.

However, the only one displaying hostility towards Hyrkan was the one that had received the direct attack.

Koo-uh-uh!

It jumped out from the horde as it started charging after Hyrkan. Hyrkan didn't try to dodge its charge. Instead, he threw more Bone Explosives.  He hadn't just thrown one.

Kwah-ahng, kwah-gwah, kwahng!

He threw a handful.

To be precise, he had thrown four Bone Explosives at once.  The simultaneous explosion of the four explosives generated considerable amount of force.  The Corrupted Armor Troll stopped in its track for a moment, and one could see several places on the armor where it had take significant damage.  If this were normal times, he would have tried Armor Breaking first, then he would have used the Bone Explosives to do the damage dealing.

He could still use that method right now.  It was still an efficient way to defeat a monster.  

However, he had a method where he could destroy the armor much faster.

The problem was money!

If he used his Bone Explosives this way, he would never gain any profits.  He wouldn't even have to worry about profits.  Every monster he caught would put him in the negative.

‘Ooh ooh.  My money…….’

Of course, this style of attack had a bigger impact on Hyrkan more so than than the monster being attacked. He had already thrown five Bone Explosives, and it made Hyrkan shudder.

However, Hyrkan gritted his teeth as his body shuddered, and he threw another Bone Explosive.

‘I can't take more than 2 minutes to catch one monster.’

He had to decrease the time it took to kill the monsters.

If Hyrkan did an Armor Breaking against the Corrupted Monster and he battled the Corrupted Monster with the Skeleton Warriors and Knights, it would take him about 3 to 5 minutes to take one down.  It was an incredible feat.  He was taking it down faster than what a 5 man party could do.

The problem arose when he did the math.  At the very least, it would take him 300 minutes to catch 100 Corrupted Monsters.  It'll take over 5 hours.

He couldn't fight like that.  He didn't have the time.  Moreover, it was impossible for him to maintain his concentration for so long. In Hyrkan's case, he would have to perform the Eat the Tail method to start off the war then he would have to fight in battle in earnest.  Afterwards, he might also have to fight in the street battles too.

This was why Hyrkan was trying to lessen the time he spent here using money.  He had brought a large amount of Bone Explosives.  The two Skeletons had been carrying the bags, and it was filled with Bone Explosives.

He hadn't calculated the cost yet. If he knew the figure, Hyrkan felt like his heart would have crumbled.

However, this wasn’t the end.

“Ughh.”

Hyrkan let out a moan as he flicked his finger.  As if the Skeleton Warriors had  been on standby, they ran in towards the Troll.  Every one of the Skeleton Warriors held a hammer.

He'll damage the armor with the Bone Explosives, and the hammers would be used to destroy the armor!

Hyrkan had purchased these new Items to pull off this tactic.  The amount he had spent wasn't small.

Ggah-ahng, ggah-ahng!

This method did the job in no uncertain terms. As soon as the combat started, the Skeleton Warriors tirelessly bashed their hammers against the Troll's armor. Unlike the Skeleton Warriors, the club swung by the Troll didn't hit anything.

The Troll's armors were crushed in a horrible fashion, and at some point, the armor parts started falling to the ground one after another.

However, Hyrkan wasn't watching this sight anymore.  Hyrkan was already chasing after the Corrupted army, which had traveled a fair distance away from him.  When he closed in on them, he threw a Bone Explosive at a new target.

If he wanted to catch them quickly, he had to kill several at a time.  However, he had to attack each individual monsters to draw their aggro.  If put in terms Hyrkan could understand, it meant he had to spend more money.

Hyrkan bit his lip hard.

At the same time, Hyrkan squeezed his fist.  Sparkling liquid started dripping from his clenched fist to the ground.

When the liquid started to pool, the ground started to shift, and an enormous wolf appeared.  It was a striking looking wolf with four knife-like canines.  It was a Blade Wolf.

It was a level 140 mid-sized monster.  It was rated as being one of the strongest  amongst the Boss Monsters with similar size and level.  At the same time, it was a very expensive monster.  He had used the gem from a monster of that caliber as a sacrifice for the Clay Play.  

However, the Wolf Golem that had appeared was worth its price.  It didn't even bother with Armor Breaking.  It immediately pounced on the Corrupted Armor Orc, and it bit off flesh and armor in a flash.  The Corrupted Armor Orc counter-attacked, and it was able to wound the Wolf Golem.  However, the Golem's wound was immediately patched up using Hyrkan's Magic Power.

Hyrkan didn't pay attention to the battle.  Hyrkan once again threw a Bone Explosive towards the third target.

This time the Skeleton Knight stepped forward.  At a glance, one could tell the Skeleton Knight was equipped with expensive defensive gears. When the Bone Armor was summoned, its body became several times larger. The Madness Helm was the finishing touch.

After receiving all the Buffs, the Skeleton Knight started to move in a frenzy.  

It almost made one feel sorry for the Corrupted Lizardman, who was facing off against the Skeleton Knight.

Once again Hyrkan couldn't stay to see the battle.

Hyrkan reached to the big bag by his side, and he took out a Bone Explosive.  He threw it towards the 4th target. During all of this, the Skeleton Warriors had finished their battle, and they had arrived near the vicinity of Hyrkan.  They waited for Hyrkan's attack order, and the appearance of a new prey.

Blitzkrieg!

Hyrkan was quickly reducing the number of monsters in the Corrupted Army with surprising speed.

At the same time…

“Ooh haha! Eat these money bombs!”

The threads holding together his sanity was slowly being eaten away.