Chapter 189 - Golden Time (2)

There were three skills he hadn't seen before.

He gulped and started to read them.

[«Wind of Purification» Lv.3]

- You have an 80% chance to resist a harmful debuff!

- All negative effects are removed on use!

(Cooldown Time: 3 minutes)

[«Stepping on Air» Lv.2]

- Step on the air and leap forward!

(Mana Used: 3% of maximum)

[«Ascension» Lv.0]

- You do not have enough Demonic Energy to use this skill!

(Demonic Energy required: 500K ~ 10M)

(Limit: Once per Possession)

Hyun's eyes shone while he read over the skills .

There was one to dismiss debuffs and one that was a better version of «Wind Barrier», and he couldn't even see the description of the other skill.

It seemed like it was going to unlock once his maximum amount of Demonic Energy surpassed 500K.

'It's quite good!'

In reality, he'd obtained two extra skills.

As soon as he read the descriptions, Hyun knew how to use them.

[You've resisted «Vine Restraint»!]

[You've resisted «Ankle Frostbite»!]

…

Numerous debuffs were launched toward Hyun before he could land.

The members of the Darkness Guild reacted after noticing that a woman with an abnormal atmosphere was approaching.

The 'Blessing of Darkness' naturally made Heavens users afraid.

Except for Mayday and a few other people, most Darkness Guild players belonged to the Heavens, which was why Hyun was bombarded with attacks that didn’t have much effect.

'To think I'd already use the debuff release skill.'

Hyun let them use debuffs skills even after he landed.

Among the countless debuffs, there were some that got lucky and ended up affecting him, but there were only five that got through, and they weren’t able to overlap the maximum amount of five.

«Wind of Purification»!

Pang-!

Even those three ended up vanishing.

「Can I do it?」Ain asked in an excited voice while surrounded by about a hundred opponents.

「Yes. I think it's going to be good practice for you,」Hyun answered while smirking.

「Practice?」

「You have a wind skill tree. Since you're an Elemental Berserker, you might have to use those in the future, so there's nothing bad about practicing beforehand.」

Ain wasn't that good at using Louise's wind skills, but he still didn’t think she’d lose if he used the correct buffs on her.

Whir Whir-

After eliminating all the debuffs, he started applying buffs on her.

«Powerless Wave», «Impact Amplification».

Darkness, who had appeared in front of users thanks to «Possession», was receiving protection from her Shadow.

Boom! On top of that, there was Ain's «Latent Potential Increase»!

The tips of Ain’s mouth went up when she saw the opponents get anxious because of all the buffs being stacked up, and giant claws appeared on her hands.

Thanks to her physique becoming bigger after transforming into Louise, Ain's body seemed slightly more stable.

«Black Wind»!

Whoom- A typhoon was added on top of the flames as she used Louise’s technique.

Strong wind surrounded her body, and flames began pouring in all directions.

It was as if Ain had become a giant fireball. Ain smiled while looking at the opponents making horrified expressions.

Next, a red typhoon hit the enemy formations.

* * *

The number one guild, Darkness, had 500 members.

They were bigger than a mid-sized corporation. Thanks to that, they were able to make a huge contract.

[Research Institute Protection Contract]

To put it simply, they were hired as mercenaries.

They wanted to use the strength of the Darkness Guild to stop users from getting close to Demonia Gorge.

'It's all going according to plan.'

XL had proposed the contract to the research institutes.

He was also sensitive to what happened outside of the game and had discovered that they were planning to build research institutes inside Asrian and that Demonia Gorge was a place of interest for them.

'We're the only big guild targeting Demonia Gorge!'

According to their information network, there wasn't another big guild that could become a competitor for the gorge.

A Sacred Stone might sound attractive to an individual user, but it was a bit lacking to a big guild with many members, especially to a guild with hundreds of members. For them, being able to monopolize a good hunting ground was more effective.

'This means no one has read what was happening outside the game!'

Even the most dangerous guild, 'Returners,' had chosen another target.

They were users of the previous game, so they were sensitive to the information inside the game, and that was probably why they hadn't been able to see what was happening outside the game.

Thanks to that, the leader of the Darkness Guild was able to monopolize a huge honeypot.

"We've figured out Lattice's position! He's in the north!"

"Okay. We can also cross that variable off."

Still, they couldn’t relax.

They were certain of what most of the big guilds were doing, but there were some unexpected variables among users that couldn't be called guilds.

'What are they doing?'

Hyun and Ain…

They couldn't guess how strong those two were because they didn't know how effective «Assimilation» was.

"What are the chances of Hyun's movements overlapping with ours?"

"Less than 1%!"

Someone in the guild had reached that conclusion.

It was a number they reached after calculating how many areas more valuable than the Demonia Gorge there were, how risky each one was, and when taking into consideration that Hyun made decisions based on what was the most effective.

One percent… If that analysis was right, the chances of that happening were close to 0.

'But if it's Hyun…'

That was a conclusion they reached after calculating only the in-game variables.

It was hard for a user to figure out the intention of big corporations, but that didn't mean it was impossible.

'What if Hyun knows that information?'

XL changed the question and asked again.

"What if he learned about what the institutions are planning?

"If he knows about that… There's a 100% chance he'll go to Demonia Gorge. Isn't it a contract worth a huge sum of money? Of course, there's no way he'll be able to manage it alone, but just by saying he's not going to interfere, he should already be able to get a lot of money."

If they added information about the real world, the value of Demonia Gorge would greatly increase.

That's why, from Hyun's point of view, there was no reason not to choose Demonia Gorge.

He would be able to mess with their plans if he wanted, even if it was just through guerilla warfare.

If that happened, he would be able to obtain a portion of the earnings.

"Do we need to worry that much? There's no way an individual would know about confidential corporate information."

"Hyun won’t be aware…?"

"That's most likely the case."

But the words 'most likely' weren’t enough to calm XL.

He thought of the worst possible outcome.

What if Hyun knew that information? What if he faced the Darkness Guild while knowing that?

In that case, what should he do as the leader of the guild?

"Don't worry too much. I'm sure everything will be okay."

"Reina is right. I don't think those two are interested in things that happen outside of the game."

The executives were saying that he was being worried about pointless things, and he wasn't sure why, but he couldn't calm down.

That's why he couldn't help but become cautious when he heard that a 'suspicious carriage' was going through the forest and rushing toward Demonia Gorge.

「How many people are inside?」XL asked again.

「We believe there are around five or six.」

「Are they users?」

「We aren't sure, but they don't look like NPCs. Judging by how they're dressed, they're most likely users.」

To protect and control the forest, the Darkness Guild had made a contract with other guilds; that was why they couldn't get a grasp of what was going on in many places.

After the patch was over, a group of five or six users rushed toward the forest as if they'd been waiting for it to be over. Were Hyun and Ain among them?

「 There are many users… so I'm sure it's not them.」

While Reina said that, they began to receive more reports.

「It seems like the carriage is heading from the Northwest!」

「The Northwest? Isn't there a cliff there?」

XL looked in the direction that the report indicated.

While everyone was holding their breath, a carriage flew off the cliff, but it didn't fall. The carriage started to ascend and stopped in mid-air.

'Descending magic…!'

XL calmed down after seeing a user jump out of the carriage by herself because it was the first time he'd seen her face.

「Is she a user?」

「She's a user! She just checked her status window!」

「If she's strong enough to go through the forest, she should be a ranker… but has anyone seen her face among the rankers?」

「There's a chance she's a ranker that hasn't registered herself in the Hall of Fame. If she isn't Hyun or Ain, it's okay. Let's get rid of her.」

The conversation that happened between the executives was forwarded to the unit leaders and then to the subordinates.

It was at that moment when the Darkness Guild members felt that something was wrong.

Whir- Whir Skill effects that were familiar to them surged around the woman’s body.

When «Powerless Wave» and «Impact Amplification» spread from her feet, everyone asked the same question.

‘Where have I seen that skill? I'm sure it was pretty recent.’

'Ah…!'

The expressions of those that realized became pale.

It was the passive skill that appeared in Ain's strategy video!

It was also a skill that created numerous debates in the communities because no one knew what it did.

Why did that appear there?

After that, fwoosh! An explosion blasted from her fingers, and «Efreet's Claws» wrapped around her hands.

It was then that the Darkness Guild members realized that something had gone wrong.

"It's Ain's skill!"

"Ain? But she looks completely different…?"

There were many there that had fought against Ain before.

The Darkness Guild suffered a major loss in the Count’s Quest, after all, which was the first time they had lost since the guild was born.

"Did she change her appearance…?"

"No. Her physical features are too different!"

You could change your physical features slightly through magic, but you couldn't completely modify it.

The woman in front of them was clearly an adult. Ain shouldn't be able to obtain such a body, even if she invested tons of gold.

'Is she 'Hyun'?'

Hyun's existence wasn't known by those that weren't executives of the guild, so there were many people who'd guessed that.

Some people have talked about a skill that allowed you to change your body.

That was possible if that funny theory was actually real.

'So it wasn't a joke that Hyun's a woman…?!'

At that moment…

Pang!

The air exploded, and the guild members saw the Magicians in the rear being torn apart in the blink of an eye.

'From behind?'

'When…?!'

"Everyone, use your survival skills!"

After three people died instantly, they began using their defensive skills.

'It's too dangerous!'

Pang! Pang!

Explosions continued to go off.

Every time they heard an explosion, fire swept out in all directions.

A few users that weren't used to such fast movements just looked around in confusion and ended up being melted by the fire.

"What speed…!"

"We cannot land an attack!"

"Ah, it stopped! This is our chance…"

Reina was about to give an order when she suddenly felt a chill.

Her eyes met with the woman’s, and the woman had a smile on her face… The unknown woman was stretching out both her arms.

She had flames in one hand and wind in the other.

«Efreet's Claws» mixed with «Black Wind».

The moment the scorching heat was blown forward by the wind, it became an AOE attack.

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