CH 337

"Fufu. It has finally begun, Saturn."

"Indeed, the moment has arrived. It's for today we had thrown ourselves into the fiery pit of hardcore training. Each second we have spent there is just to defeat Brave!"

Looking at the countdown on the screen, Jilong turned to his leader, Saturn, next to him who, too, tightly clenched his fist and responded with a fervor.

"It will be Brave downfall if he thinks we are going to be the same inferior self! We have a renewed battle power. Both our motivation and muscles are at max!"

Tom, who was standing next to Saturn, spoke with equal fervor while displaying the muscles of his both arms.

"This Venerable and all has become even more mightier. Indeed, it might not have been possible to win against ‹Eden› with just ourselves, however we are now surrounded with our reliable comrades!"

Wearing a certain mantle, Helck flapped it with a swift motion and glanced back at him.

Their comrades stood there, their eyes glazed with a glaringly envious gaze.

To be honest, Quartet were slightly scared. A significant chunk of them were Saturn's seniors, possessing levels higher than them.

Nevertheless they lost against the Quartet. They were seniors in all aspects, and yet, they lost against them.

This world is all about the 'survival of the fittest'. Weak become subordinate.

Sure, they had all assembled under the banner of ‹Best of the Best, the Great Star›, resonating with their goal to 'overthrow Brave'; however determining who would take the lead was a whole different story.

Thus, Saturn, his fellow classmates and the upperclassmen waged a battle and despite upperclassmen having upper hand whether it was level, experience or academic year, Saturn and company scored the win easily.

Actually, it was the fruit of their labor in the Brave's bootcamp and hard training whom they are claiming to overthrow. Zephyr's spartan teaching proved to be efficient in the end.

Although the people themselves aren't eager to admit it, through the training of Brave, they have acquired enough strength to proudly uphold the title of one of the top three guilds in their grade literally.

"Kuh!"

A vexed expression appeared on Saturn's face recalling that.

The very fact that they were trained by none other Brave whom they were trying to bring down to his knees had deeply affected Saturn's pride.

However, Saturn's pride was not a glasswork. Even if it were to be broken, it would quickly grow back.

Within seconds, the vexed expression faded from Saturn's face, re-assuming its former demeanor.

He glanced at the countdown on the screen and turned to the members.

"I see you all are in position! The time is nigh to overthrow that Brave! It was for this day we had endured that gruesome and tough training! We have even been captured by the imperial guards! The night we spent shivering in the student's guidance room is forever etched in our mind! Lately, we also have to endure the gaze from the surroundings! We have no choice but to win this battle at any cost! If we win, our words are the law! That's all we need! Everyone, are you all ready!"

" " " "Oooooooooooooooh!!!" " " "

"Let's put an end to Brave's debauchery———!"

The screen buzzed, signaling the start of the guild battle.

First step.

A very important aspect of the guild battle Zephyr always keeps saying to be mindful of. Of course, he has taught the same to Saturn and others.

The first step was everything. The outcome of the battle largely depended on how smoothly and flawlessly they executed their initial strategy.

Saturn and company had suffered a crushing defeat by the hand of Zephyr and his team in a previous guild battle. To put it simply, they were made to eat the dust and they couldn’t even make a counterattack.

It's because they had prior experience that Satrun and others had changed like a newborn leaf. In their pursuit of victory against Zephyr, they studied numerous guild battles.

Getting to the basics of it, being selected for the class-1 means Saturn and other three already possessed high enough abilities. It was because they inherently had talent that they turned arrogant. Their competitive spirit also led them to furiously cram the strategies of guild battle in their head.

Furthermore, they even swallowed their pride and bowed to Mukai-sensei to guide them as well.

The accumulation of all that was the extremely well-thought strategy behind their first step.

"We're going to target the center of the arena!"

The ‹Six Star› field had unique terrain with a big castle in the center. As a result, interference was meaningless. The guild that reached the castle first would gain an advantage.

However, simply arriving early wasn't enough. The castle was defended by powerful monsters, and even had massive HP.

Being too slow meant being taken away by the opponent. Even if they were attacking, it was only natural for the enemy to intercept and take it away.

In short, ‹Central Big Castle› is where luck plays an important role and the big castle goes to the side lady luck is smiling upon. It was an absolutely indispensable factor to win against ‹Eden› who is superior in skills than them.

But, relying on luck can't be called strategy. Saturn naturally has devised a plan. It was a 10 man assault team.

As the first step, they will divide into two teams. A 10-man team who will fight for ‹Central Big castle›, and a 5-man team that will target ‹Southwest Big Castle›.

They aren't going to reach ‹Southeast Big Castle› for the time being. Even taking the distance into account, he concluded Eden shouldn't be able to snatch it immediately either.

The 10-man team planned to advance north after capturing the ‹Central Big Castle›, and target the remaining ‹Northeast Big Castle› and ‹Northwest Big Castle› if they were still available.

No matter how much luck influences the battle, it wouldn't be a problem as long as they take the castle down with numbers. This was the strategy Saturn and the three had come up with.

Zephyr might even lavish them with praises if he learned about it upon learning about their growth. No, maybe perplexing might get the better of him?

Back to the present, showing a surprisingly smooth beginning just as they planned, the 10-man team of ‹Best of the Best, the Great Star› went after ‹Central Big Castle›.

Albeit, ‹Eden› won in the contest of speed.

"Kuh, they have already reached!?"

Saturn, confirming that ‹Eden› has already reached the ‹Central Big Castle› when they have 3 squares left, makes a bitter face.

"They're quick on their feet as ever huh. However, no need to be anxious, everyone. Everything is according to the plan. It would be impossible to bring that big castle soon with that number, We still have enough time to intervene."

"Yes. ——Everyone, match your timing!"

" "Yesss!!" "

Moving in a 10-man team means they will also be slow on their feet. It was within their expectation for ‹Eden› to reach their first. Saturn consoled himself with these words and gave instructions to everyone.

The number of people from ‹Eden› side that reached ‹Central Big Castle› are 3. They can also see 3 more people running behind them and based on timing, they would be one step faster than ‹Eden›. They will have enough time to join the fray in the middle.

The guardian monsters were hunted by ‹Eden› and they have already begun their attack on castle but just as one could estimate, it was a time consuming task with just 3 team. The 3 member of ‹Eden› rushing to them did join, but not before ‹Best of the Best, the Great Star›. They possess the firepower of 10 people, so there was a high chance that the ‹Central Big Castle› would lean toward ‹Best of the Best, the Great Star› in a 6 vs 10 battle.

Furthermore, the 10 people in that team were someone he was quite assured of their strength among other members of his guild.

In addition to ‹Great Sorcerer› ‹Sword Saint› ‹Barbarian› ‹Knight› and ‹Holy› that boasted high levels among first years; there were second year students ‹Punching Magician› ‹Runaway Wizard› ‹Dangerous Monk› that specialize solely in power. Furthermore, there were also two of the 3rd years, ‹Dual Swordsman› ‹Hunter›, who have surpassed Lv60, a gathering of competent people indeed.

Their prospect of victory is high if they just decided to simultaneously attack.

The three backup members of ‹Eden› joined in the fray. However he wasn't sure if he was imagining things, but the opponent's movement looked dangerous. They didn't attack the big castle.

A trap? No, Saturn's eye gleamed realizing it was their chance. Finally, they secured an adjacent position to the castle. Even from the neighboring square, the castle could be attacked.

Then Saturn shouted.

"3! 2! 1! Attack—! ‹Flare Burst›! ‹Gren Storm›!"

"‹Void Sky Slash›!"

"‹Anger Axe›!"

"‹Aura of Swords›!"

And thus began an all-out assault.

The skills Saturn etc used were ‹Magic› and ‹Skill› from 3rd order skill tree, and in anticipation of today they desperately trained their muscles and reached Lv40.

It was a perfectly timed onslaught by the 10 members. ‹Eden› also initiated their attack, but the ‹Best of the Best, the Great Star› was faster.

"We are winning! We are going to take down this castle!"

A simultaneous barrage of attacks was the basics when it came to devise strategy on taking down big castles. It's difficult to interfere in the synced attacks.

To ensure no interference from the opponent, the ideal approach was to swiftly and decisively bring down the castle within an extremely short timeframe. In other words, the first strike held a significant advantage.

——Thud! Boom! Snap! thud-thud-thud!

The first attack to touch the ‹Central Big Castle› was ‹Best of the Bet, the Great Star›.

Its HP was lowering at a visible pace under their synchronized attack.

How will the situation further unfold? Will it be the victory of ‹Best of the Best, the Great Stat›, or maybe ‹Eden›?

Just as the HP of the big castle had dropped to 30%, it happened.

——Accompanied with the sound of an explosion 'Boom!', the remaining 30% of the castle's HP was instantly obliterated.

"......What?"

Big castle fell into the protection period as a barrier enveloping it, which reflected back the attacks of Saturn and his team.

This indicates the one who hitched it was ‹Eden›.

This sudden turn of events utterly bewildered Saturn, as he stood on his spot, frozen.