Emperor of Solo Play - Chapter 127

Chapter 127 – Argardo Raid (2) 

5.

Through the sacrifice of an unknown magician, the Cursed castle had been sealed in its appalling state. The castle regained its light through the actions of four heroes.  Afterwards, those equipped with fancy Items filled up the castle.  A flower had bloomed, and it was named Havanz castle.

However, the elegant castle was now stained alongside the White-eyed Knight.  The Havanz castle's appearance turned more horrifying in appearance than the time it was called the Cursed Castle. A worse sense of despair filled the castle.

To fight against this despair, stars instead of fancy flowers started to gather.

Users that numbered easily over a thousand was positioned at a location where they could see the Havanz castle.  This wasn't a village.  There was no barricades formed here. If one insisted on making a comparison, this was like a massive camping ground or something similar to one.  In the normal logic of Warlord, this was a dangerous thing to be doing.  They were basically defenseless against the attacks of monsters.

However, none of the Users here were worried.  The monsters that appeared near Havanz castle was like pocket change or an ice cream dessert that cleansed their palate.    

Currently, beings that would freak out even these Users had just appeared.

“It's been awhile.”

A star amongst stars had appeared.  In fact, there was more than one.  Two stars had appeared.

“I’m talking to you. Isn't it normal for a person to at least nod their head? Why do you have to behave so coldly towards me?”

“What business do you have with me?”

It was Shir and Chev.

Users of great skill and renown had appeared in front of the Havanz castle for the Argardo Raid.  However, they paled in comparison to these two. These Users were no longer qualified to play a leading role or a supporting role. They had been turned into spectators in front of these two.

The Users focused their attention on the meeting happening between these two.

These two were stars amongst stars.  Shir and Chev wasn't bother by all the gazes focused on them as they revealed their true colors. Shir was treating Chev in a very cold manner.  There was no need to act as if they were on good terms.  Moreover, there was a good reason why they weren't on good terms.

“I'm not here for anything too important.  I checked your number, and you guys are going after us.  So I decided to greet you.”

Shir's expression crumpled at Chev's words.

This was the reason why their already bad relationship had worsened.

“You are here to provoke me.”

“No way.”

Anyone could see that the Argardo Raid was like an exclamation point to the great battle.  This was why everyone competed with each other to participate in the Argardo Raid.  The order had been determined through lottery. The Stormhunters were going right after the Red Bulls.

Of course, it soured Shir's mood.

‘If it was any other guild than the Red Bulls….’

The Stormhunters guild was pretty far down the queue.  Including the Red Bulls, there were a total of four guilds from the 30 great guilds in front of her.

However, only the Red Bulls was a thorn in her eyes. If other guilds succeed in the Argardo Raid, it would be considered a miracle.  However, this could be an easy win for the Red Bulls.  This was how highly she thought of the Red Bulls.

On top of it all, Chev had come to check up on the situation himself even though their turn wasn’t up yet.

This wasn’t an attempt by the Red Bulls to use a hot topic to sell more live tickets.  His actions was meant to say he was going to attempt this as if everything was on the line.

Shir was here for similar reasons as Chev.

Chev had come close to provoking Shir on purpose for similar reasons too.

They weren't competitors that were fighting head to head against each other.  The two of them had their arrows aimed at the same target. There was no way a cordial atmosphere could blossom in this situation. Instead, sparks were flying between them.

Everyone gossiped as they saw this sight.

“I guess one of those two guilds will succeed.”

“Don't you think Red Bulls have the higher probability to kill it?”

“It's the opposite.  If the Red Bulls reveal most of their strategy in the Raid, Storm Hunter's success rate would rise significantly.”

“It is a matter of if one will eat first or eat off the floor.”

There was someone, who was viewing these two Users, with very sharp eyes.

‘In the end, the Hahoe Mask made it possible for those two to take flight.  He did something very troublesome.’

Sinclair was with the V&V guild.  He was here as a the member of the Raid party.  They were going to attempt the Argardo raid in several hours.  He let out a bitter when he saw the Storm Queen and the Matador appear.

However, there was someone observing Sinclair with sharp eyes.

‘What is that bastard here?’

This User was wearing a blandly designed steel armor. His helmet covered his whole face, and he wore a cape. He looked like a typical Swordsman Class type User that one could see everywhere in Warlord.  

When Hyrkan discovered Sinclair, his heart sank.

‘This is going sideways again. Why the hell is that bastard here with the V&V logo on his chest?’

Hyrkan wasn't here to participate in the Argardo Raid by himself.

Argardo dropped incredible Items. The Argardo Armor set was a level 180 Chronicle Unique Rank Item. The Crying Sword was a level 180 Chronicle Epic Item. The two Items could be used until mid level 200s. The weapon was a very good one.

However, it would be difficult for Hyrkan to gain this weapon.

‘Shit. It won't be easy to join as the third wheel.’

The Argardo Raid couldn't be soloed. If he only had to fight Argardo, Hyrkan would have attempted the Raid already. Of course, his chances wouldn’t be great.

The problem with the Argardo Raid was the fact that this wasn’t a simple Boss Raid.  This was a Raid happening in the framework of the great battle.

First, one had to defeat the Corrupted army defending the Havanz castle.  Then one had to climb the castle wall.  One had to win the siege of the Havanz castle to be able to acquire a ticket to fight Argardo.  However, this was impossible for Hyrkan to do by himself.

This was why Hyrkan had planned on making a deal. He had planned on joining a decent Underfoot guild that was an ace card short of winning this Raid.  From their perspective, there was no reason why they would refuse the deal.

At the very least, it wouldn’t prevent others especially the 30 great guilds from killing Argardo.  The deal would be much better than sucking their thumbs as others killed Argardo.

However, Sinclair had appeared as the member of V&V guild.  Sinclair was a User that already tried to kill Hyrkan. There had been no discernable reason behind it.  He thoughtlessly attempted a PK on Hyrkan.

‘If I talk about the Watchman style once again in front of him, I bet he'll try to find my house and beat me up.’

If Hyrkan was in Sinclair's shoes, his eyes would roll back in anger once he spotted him.

‘Shit.  It seems I'll have to change my plan.’

Hyrkan once again swallowed the bitter words.  At that moment, Sinclair turned his head slightly to look at Hyrkan.  Sinclair had felt Hyrkan looking at him. At that moment, Hyrkan was freaking out, but  he didn’t show any outward signs.  If he looked away or turned his gaze away, it would make Sinclair suspicious.

Sinclair tilted his head in confusion when he saw Hyrkan.

‘Who is that?  Is he looking at me?  Am I tripping?’

That was the extent of this thoughts.

“Ah.  They are moving.”

“What were they talking about?”

Shir and Chev had finished their conversation.  They turned their backs, and they walked away from each other.  The gazes that had been on the two split as they went in different directions.  When they disappeared from the stage, the Users were filled with  curiosity.  They started talking to each other privately.

In such a restless atmosphere, Sinclair and Hyrkan was nowhere to be seen.

6.

“Give up! Give up on it!”

When that shout was heard, the Argardo Raid’s message board became noisy.

– They admitted defeat!  They couldn't even get over the castle wall!

– Mediocre Users were gathered to increase the headcount.  This was to be expected.

– I got a 1.05 times return.  Thank you for the meal.

– ㄴ I flagged you for illegal betting before I leave.

The Users gathered to make the Kill the Knight Team to run the Argardo Raid. However, this team had just gave up on the Raid.

The Kill the Knight was a team created by 1,200 Users. This team couldn't even climb the castle wall that had been crushed by the Raid Teams before them.  Of course, the Cement Worms were working on repairing the fallen castle wall, so it was only somewhat patched up.  The Kill the Knight team wanted to take advantage of this fact, yet their battle was conducted in a very sloppy manner.

The critical blow came when the castle wall fell.  The Users rushed in to enter the castle when the entrance became congested.  This congestion allowed the enemies to use AOE attacks to cause Game Over to a lot of Users.

This was why retaking the castles were scary.  It was as it was revealed in the Hahoe Mask’s know-how video.  The attack on the congestion assured a certain victory in the defense of the castles.  However, the congestion was now morphed into an obstacle for the Users.  This method of attack assured certain victory, and it wasn’t easy to come up with a method to counter it.

In truth, no one had expected the Kill the Knight team to succeed.  One needed incredible amount of magical firepower to clear away the monsters like the Sweepers guild, or one needed a peerless heavyweight that could make split-second decisions within a battle.  It was meaningless to have only a high number of Users.

– Too bad about the V&V guild.  They were able to reach the battle with Argardo, but they had to retreat eventually.

– Since we are talking about the V&V guild, there was a User that was incredibly skilled User that was killing the monsters.  Why didn’t that User step up to fight Argardo?

– ㄴ I'm also curious.  He fought better than the Users that actually fought Argard.  However, he was missing.

The Warlord fans were excited about the 3 teams that would be attempting the Raid after the Kill the Knight team.

– Anyways, this 3 consecutive battles will settle it.

– That's true.

It was set up in such a way that three guilds in the 30 great guilds were attempting the Argardo Raid one after another.  

– So the order is Big Smiles, Red Bulls and Stormhunter?

In terms of conducting Raids, these two guilds were opined to being the best in Warlord.  This fact was why everyone had high expectations.  They were overflowing with anticipation. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that if these two guilds failed, no one could think of any other guilds that would be able to succeed in the Raid.

Of course, there was also the guild that became the butt of the joke.

– Even if Big Smiles will be the card that will be discarded, Red Bulls and the Stormhunter will end this.

– ㄴ Why is the Big Smiles the card that is being thrown away?  They are the strongest guild in China. If we compare the Big Smiles to the other two guilds, there is no reason why Big Smiles should be put on a lower standing.

– ㄴ Strongest in China = Weakest in the world.

– ㄴ They only know how to move in big numbers.  What else are they good at?

– ㄴ They move in swarms, and they get beat a lot.  They are very good at that.

– ㄴ I’ll give you a 1 thumbs up.

The Big Smiles were put in the a conversation alongside the other two guilds, and they were being roasted mercilessly.

The result of these opinions appeared in the amount of live tickets that was sold.  The Big Smile’s Argardo Raid only sold 290,000 live tickets.  Even if one took into account of having only one day to sell the ticket, Big Smiles had the largest pool of fans from China.  From Big Smiles’ perspective, this hurt their pride.

“Shit. They want me to stay as rear support doing the useless tasks. They are completely treating me like trash.  How dare they!”

He didn't really care about this Raid, but he was put in rear support even though he was an officer.  If he wanted to describe the situation with a Korean expression, he had joined in this Raid as a side dish.  It was a big hit to Apollo's pride.

Chiroro was once again put next to Apollo to appease him.  His pride was hurt in a big way too, and it was twisting everything he felt.

‘You are trash.’

Apollo wasn't qualified to participate in a Raid of this level. He wasn't short on Items and levels, but his personal skills were very lacking. If this Raid had a cap on how many people could participate in it, Apollo's name wouldn't even have made it onto the reserve list. This was the opposite situation where there were no constraints on how many Users the guild could bring.  This was the reason why Apollo was able to participate in the Argardo Raid.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason.

‘If you hadn't paid off Brooks, no one would choose a trash like you.’

Brooks was an officer of the Big Smiles, and he had helped Apollo get in on the Raid.  In simple terms, Brooks had been bribed.

‘I wonder how much he is getting?’

This was obvious, but everything Apollo did was possible, because he had given Brooks a lot of money.

From Chiroro’s perspective, he didn’t like the current situation at all.  He didn’t like attending Apollo.  On top of it all, he had no expectation regarding the Argardo Raid.

‘Our guild is hanging by a thread.  Why are we doing this Raid?  It isn’t as if we brought our main force.’

The Big Smiles was attempting the Argardo Raid since it was a hot topic right now.  It seemed they were just thinking about selling some live tickets. Of course, there was a reason behind this.  Big Smiles guild had been one of the nine guilds that announced their nonparticipation.  They probably wouldn’t have done this if they hadn’t announced their nonparticipation.

It was a fact.  They had no chance of winning.

The details of the plan hasn’t come out yet, but Chiroro could tell what would happen.  They’ll get past the castle wall, and they’ll get to see Argardo’s face.  After tangling with Argardo, they’ll leave after the requisite time was filled.  Since they’ve sold the live tickets, they would have to maintain the battle for an hour.  That was how long a normal Raid took.

When his thoughts reached that point, Chiroro’s face unconsciously twisted to reveal his true feelings.  He was about to lose control over his expression.

It happened at that moment…

“Aren't you Chiroro-nim?”

Someone was calling out Chiroro’s name as he was approaching him. Chiroro's expression immediately changed when he saw the him.

“Sinclair-nim?”

The identity of this Users was Sinclair, who had participated the Argardo raid as a member of the V&V guild.  He had finished participating in the Argardo Raid, yet he was back once again after only a short amount of time had passed.

Of course, he wasn't here to meet Chiroro.  He wanted to check on the progress of the Stormhunters and Red Bulls. Still, it was a bit awkward for him to stand there by himself, since the V&V guild had already left. Sinclair decided to greet Chiroro, who was close to being an officer in the Big Smiles guild.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was about to pass by after I assess the situation, and I caught sight of Chiroro-nim.  I came here to greet you.”

“I'm not at a level where I should be greeted by you. I'm honored.”

The two of them weren't that close.  Sinclair had helped out the Big Smiles guild several times, and Chiroro had been present during such an event.

On the other hand, Apollo didn't have any connections to Sinclair.  From Apollo's perspective, he suddenly felt listless.

Apollo was impatient as he opened his mouth.

“Who is this?”

Chiroro's expression crumpled slightly at the question. However, Apollo was an officer, so he couldn't just brush him off. Chiroro introduced Sinclar to Apollo.  After introductions, the two Users shook hands.

At that moment, two Users located not too far away were also shaking hand.  They were standing in a  very secluded location where no one could see them.

7.

A Raid was like a game of Go.

An opponent always moved in a pattern. One had to analyze this pattern, and one had to come up with a way to deal with this pattern. One had to try to read the opponent's move, and the opponent would react accordingly. Raid was only a several degree different from Go.

It wasn't easy to come up with a plan for a Raid assault. With regards to coming up with a plan, there was a strategist that was known to be very good working for the Red Bulls, and he had come up with a plan for the Argardo raid.

However, the plan that was made by the strategist Nunum was scrapped.

“Are we really going to do this?”

It was an order from Chev.

He suddenly requested a sudden change in the plan.

“Is it possible?”

“I can do it, but do you really want to do this?”

The reason behind this move was too surprising. This was why Nunum was asking the question again. However, Chev answered the question with a smile.  However, the smile didn't explain anything, so he still had a silly expression on his face. Finally, Chev explained his decision.

“In any case, our chance for victory isn't that high. If that is the case, I would rather make this more fun. We have to take our viewers into account.  At the very least, our viewers won't be disappointed if we use this method.”

At those words, Nunum put on an awkward smile as he thought about it.

‘They won't be a disappointed.  It'll be a jackpot no matter the result.’