HFS 23

[Party] Ittorang: But there aren’t many people in the field.

Regular Brawl had less interest compared to ranking matches, so there weren’t many people looking for PK. Cheong-hyeon was looking around the empty field and had just taken a few steps away from the group to find users doing daily quests nearby when…

[You have been kicked from the party.]

[General] Ittorang: ???

He was typing to ask for an invite back, thinking it might have been an accidental kick. Seo Hee-won pulled out a weapon Cheong-hyeon had never seen before and aimed it at him. Before he could understand what was happening, a circular area appeared beneath Cheong-hyeon’s feet.

It was the priest’s main attack skill [Holy Ray]. Cheong-hyeon quickly moved the directional keys to escape the area but was grazed by the pillar of light falling from above.

[General] Seohee1: lololololololololol

[General] Seohee1: Try to dodge well^^

After that, Seo Hee-won’s attacks poured down relentlessly. Whatever weapon Seo Hee-won was wielding, each hit caused Cheong-hyeon’s health to drop painfully. Of course, this was partly because Cheong-hyeon’s health and defense were significantly lower than usual.

To think this was how PvP practice was conducted. He was stunned by the malicious intent of being reassured with a party invite only to be backstabbed as soon as they entered the field. While Cheong-hyeon struggled to dodge, barely able to gather his wits in time, Seo Hee-won seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself.

[General] Ittorang: This

[General] Ittorang: is;

[General] Ittorang: emotion

[General] Ittorang: Damn

[General] Ittorang: it

[General] Seohee1: Attack instead of chatting.

[General] Seohee1: Don’t you want to win?

[General] Seohee1: Are you actually a spy sent from Seven?

Irritated by Seo Hee-won’s provocation, Cheong-hyeon quickly approached while dodging attacks. When he used a dark sword skill on Seo Hee-won, who was standing still, most of Seo Hee-won’s health was instantly depleted. It was thanks to the new equipment he had purchased with the gold he had received from Seo Hee-won.

I’m definitely going to get him!

Though Cheong-hyeon didn’t have much health left either, if he could dodge Seo Hee-won’s attacks and land just one more hit, victory would be his.

Cheong-hyeon rolled forward, simultaneously dodging Seo Hee-won’s attack and drawing closer to him. Just as he was about to use an attack skill, sensing victory on the horizon, Tiramisush provided healing and Jimni even cast a shield, allowing Seo Hee-won to survive Cheong-hyeon’s direct hit.

[General] Ittorang: F

[General] Ittorang: That’s unfair.

[General] Seohee1: lololololololololol

[General] Tiramisush: Sorry ㅠㅅㅠ

[General] Jimni: Wow, but Ittorang’s damage is really strong.

[General] Jimni: If my shield had been a little late, you would have died, right?

[General] Seohee1: This much damage is necessary.

[General] Seohee1: How much money did you spend?

Cheong-hyeon tried to attack again while Seo Hee-won was typing, but Seo Hee-won immediately stopped typing and used teleport to dodge, resulting in failure. It was an insanely fast reaction time.

[General] Seohee1: Lol.

[General] Seohee1: Being sneaky is good^^

[General] Seohee1: Do that in the real battle too.

[General] Ittorang: Sure^^

[General] Ittorang: Seohee1, always watch your back^^

Having failed his critical attack, Cheong-hyeon gritted his teeth tightly. If he could kill Seo Hee-won even once, he wouldn’t mind being called sneaky a hundred times.

Cheong-hyeon was in the middle of typing additional chat messages to annoy Seo Hee-won. Hee-won cast the Holy Ray skill precisely in the center of where Cheong-hyeon was standing. He tried to get out of the way quickly, but his reaction was delayed because he was in the middle of typing. Experiencing exactly the same tactic he had attempted just 10 seconds earlier, Cheong-hyeon could only helplessly watch his character become a cold corpse.

[General] Seohee1: Worry about yourself since you can’t even see what’s in front of you.

[General] Seohee1: Resurrect and come back.

[General] Seohee1: We’ll be practicing dodging and hitting for a week.

Cheong-hyeon, trembling with rage boiling up from within, resurrected in town and immediately rushed back to the field.

And so, the PvP practice began in earnest. While Cheong-hyeon died again and again, persevering through sheer determination, Seo Hee-won never died once thanks to his flawless control skills, strong support from party members, and his character that used others as shields in emergencies.

This one-sided beating disguised as practice continued for an entire week as Seo Hee-won had said, and thanks to guild members who brought their alt characters, Cheong-hyeon was able to learn how to deal with various classes by getting beaten by most of them.

[General] Seohee1: Hmm…

[General] Seohee1: At this level, you won’t just go around getting beaten up.

[General] Heekkom: Ittorang really dodges well now. It’s hard to hit him.

[General] Jimni: Honestly, I was worried about doing Holy War with a doom assassin.

[General] Jimni: But Ittorang might even carry us.

[General] Ittorang: Haha…

[General] Tiramisush: ㅇㅅㅇ Tired?

[General] Ittorang: Haha…

Since he had grown considerably in the PvP aspect that was most concerning, they decided to practice fighting bosses and coordinating with guild members during actual Holy War gameplay. Although the atmosphere seemed to be flowing smoothly with signs of hope, objectively, the road to first place in the Holy Wars was long and treacherous.

First, they needed to pass the preliminaries to advance to the main tournament. They needed to accumulate many points by playing as many matches as possible to pass the preliminaries, but the Normal People Guild had fewer members compared to larger guilds, making it harder to accumulate points.

The only solution to this problem was…simply grinding Holy War day and night to fill up their points.

[Holy War will begin shortly]

A system message appeared in the center of the screen, and the game began. In the Holy Wars, all skills were locked and everyone’s level was set to 1.

During the game, players could level up to a maximum of level 30. As they leveled up, the restricted character abilities would unlock, and at level 30, the character could be used at its original performance level.

Cheong-hyeon  unlocked [Dark Swordsmanship] with the basic skill points provided at the start. He had played the Holy Wars so much by now that he could allocate his skill points with his eyes closed.

The gates hidden by thick fog were soon revealed.

As the hidden gates were revealed, all team members rushed inside the castle. The opposing guild would be rushing in from the opposite gate. The path led to the main hall, where defeating the boss monster “Guardian Sane” that spawned in the center of the large map would reward them and allow them to proceed to the next stage.

The boss monster’s health was shared between both teams, with rewards given to the team that landed the final hit. Upon arriving at the main hall with the group, Cheong-hyeon slipped into a narrow corridor to target the enemy team from behind, with Seo Hee-won following him.

They needed to move quickly before the opposing team noticed that one dealer and one healer from Cheong-hyeon’s team were missing. Hiding behind a pillar, Cheong-hyeon spotted an enemy priest positioned at the rear and quickly approached. At low levels with limited skill options, priests usually took healing skills first, making it difficult for them to dodge attacks without teleportation at their fingertips.

Cheong-hyeon landed a basic attack on the enemy priest from behind, then used his Dark Swordsmanship skill. With a lucky ambush, he could usually kill healers, but without an ambush like now, he had to survive somehow until his skill cooldown reset.

An enemy archer who noticed the situation joined in to attack Cheong-hyeon. Once Seo Hee-won confirmed that the enemy dealer had used their skills, he joined the battle, making it a 2v2 situation. After taking out the already heavily damaged healer, they approached the enemy archer who was keeping his distance to eliminate the dealer as well.

The enemy dealer, having already used their skills, fired arrows continuously—the archer’s basic attack skill. Dodging between the arrows, Cheong-hyeon quickly closed in and used Dark Swordsmanship as its cooldown ended. Thanks to Seo Hee-won’s supporting attacks from a distance, they were able to take out the archer in one go.

[Match] JumongDescendant: Wow lolololololol

[Match] JumongDescendant: This is ridiculous!

[Match] JumongDescendant: How did you dodge all that?

[Match] Hamstar: Jumong…

[Match] Hamstar: If you lose to a doom assassin, just shut up and play. It’s embarrassing.

[Match] JumongDescendant: But;;;;

[Match] JumongDescendant: An assassin is charging at me head-on.

[Match] JumongDescendant: Don’t you know what assassination means????

Cheong-hyeon felt proud seeing JumongDescendant’s indignation. In games, the more the opponent feels cheated or angry, the better you’re playing.

Thanks to Cheong-hyeon’s guild gaining momentum from the start, the game flowed easily. Having secured two kills, they were at a higher level than the enemy team, and since the boss pattern in round 1 wasn’t particularly difficult, Guardian Sane would be the Normal People Guild’s if they continued to maintain this sort of momentum in the game.