Vol. 5 - Ch. 270 - End of the Guild Battle. Opponent's Destination - «Loser's Room»

"Look, Western Big Castle is still standing tall! It's our chance, Zephyr!""Hmm, it seems like they're having trouble taking it down."

"So say Lana-sama, Zephyr-dono. Shall we follow her?"

After our take down of Northern Big Castle, we also took down Eastern Big Castle the same way and safely got two Big Castles in our bag. “Let's take down the Western Big Castle too”, was what Lana chimed in after she saw the live feedback of the opposite side on the screen.

As of now, our first strategy was a success and our next strategy was supposed to take down the small castles around the strategic location but that changed if there was the possibility of taking down the Western Big Castle before our opponent.

"Change in plan! Let's take it down!"

"Yay."

"Roger!"

As we speak, Tom-kun, Helck-kun and Misato are busy shaving off the HP of Western Big Castle. Whether we can steal the chance was a race against time.

I responded briefly to everyone and then headed for the West alongside everyone.

The one in the lead was, naturally, mine and Karua's two-man cell.

Karua could have stepped up her speed even more with the myriads of movement speed up skills she possessed if she was solo but a pity she couldn't since ‹Capture the Castle› has a rule that one side can only attack a place adjacent to the squares of their camp.

Besides, it was only Tom-kun who was dealing most of the damage to the Western Big Castle as far as I could see from the live feedback. ‹Sage› Misato has very little offensive magic since her job wasn't combat oriented while Helck-kun was mainly a tank.

It's because of their mismatched team that they're taking so much time.

I wasn't sure if we would be able to make it in time or not but that was also a practice so as to say. There's not any problem even if we don't contend for the Western Big Castle with two Big Castles already in our grasp, it's just our victory would almost be certain if we manage to take it.

Albeit, someone appeared to block mine and Karua's advancement just as we had arrived near the central square.

"Don't even think about taking a step more from here, Zephyr!"

"Fufu. I judged taking over the central part and stopping you guys from passing through here would be the best based on my calculation. We're not letting you go past here!"

I didn't expect them to return to the central part and then seize the strategic location we had acquired. It was a nice decision.

Taking back the places our opponent had snatched is the real thrilling part of ‹Capture the Castle›. However it seemed like the protection period has ended already.

I assume they had already taken over this location when we're aiming for the Eastern Big Castle. I thought they were stunned silly but it was great to see they had properly gone over the next course of action.

After all, taking over the strategic location means one could stop their opponents' advancement like now. It was possible to take a detour if one doesn't like PvP battles but in that scenario, there was a chance Western Big Castle would already be taken over by the opponent.

So I assume stopping us here was the winning strategy of Saturn-kun and party. Except, don't they know they're missing the crucial point to pull off this strategy?

"Hn, easy."

"‹Mega Flare›! Damn it! Why isn't it hitting!"

Err, wasn't the reason your poor aim, Saturn-kun?

Besides,

"Fufu, I'm here! ‹Powe一一›"

"‹Sonic Sword›!"

"I, Impossible! Guooo!"

There was just too much gulf in between our speed. Saturn-kun's aim was poor as usual, there's no way any of his attacks could land at Karua.

Jilong-kun was preparing to take me but I easily dodged it with a sonic sword. I'm not bored enough to jump on the enemy who was lying in wait for me.

I avoided Jilong-kun's attack range, swung my sword to stop him as I ran past him.

The missing piece was that they don't have enough PvP experience.

Monsters would actively seek to attack their opponents in sight but they forget that human opponents could also avoid their attack like this.

Strategy was spot on but their lack of ability to pin down their opponent rendered it useless. I would have borrowed the might of items had I been in their shoes.

To begin with, pulling off PvP battles successfully was a tough nut to crack. It was obvious to flee if the situation looked grim or to push through our way if it was being hindered.

PvP battle was a risk ridden option. That's why if someone could pull it off well, that would heat up the situation and make it even more interesting.

"Ho, hold on!"

"Fufu. Unexpectedly. I didn't expect them to slip past us so easily!"

As soon as Karua and I blitzed past Saturn-kun and Jilong-kun, we turned to the Western Big Castle and resumed our advancement. I may not have mentioned it but one of the squares had still belonged to our team so we were able to take over the square of south-west.

Good grief, their plan has so many holes. If they're going to block their opponent's path, they should have done it properly by taking back all the squares, else they would run the risk of letting their opponents run away like we have escaped. Oh well, it's their first guild battle so I will overlook this newbie mistake.

We were able to break through their blockade almost instantly but it seemed like we're still one step late.

We were just one square away from reaching the Western Big Castle when Tom-kun took it down with another of his strike.

"Aah. We lost the chance huh."

"Hn, a pity."

Oh well, they had been giving their all for the whole five minutes so that was unavoidable.

"Hoho! You must be disappointed, right, Zephyr! The one to take down this Big Castle was me!"

Tom-kun said it with a triumphant expression while carrying a huge two-handed axe.

I couldn't deny I wasn't disappointed but we also have two Big Castle on our side so why are you looking so prideful, Tom-kun? Sᴇaʀᴄh the NovᴇlFɪre .ɴᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

"Woah! There's so much gap in our points! Our team is completely on the losing front!"

"What did you say!"

"What the hell were Saturn-kun and Jilong-kun doing?"

Aah, I see. They weren't paying attention to our side huh.

It wasn't until Misato had let out a yelp seeing the point difference on the screen that Tom-kun said Helck-kun came to know about the situation albeit a bit late. No longer was there any sign of smugness from earlier on their stunned expression.

"Hey, our team would lose if we don't do anything! Let's hurry up to our next target!"

"You're right, we didn't have time to take it slow!"

"Stop, this venerable has just come up with an ingenious idea."

Tom-kun regained his composure at Misato's voice. But Helck-kun suddenly stopped them while looking at me for some reason.

"... What a coincidence, I was also thinking the same thing."

Tom-kun, looking at where Helck-kun was looking, continued.

Liar, I'm absolutely sure you hadn't even thought about the same thing but it wasn't time to make a retort.

"Huh, what're you talking about?"

"Hmph, it's easy. What I'm saying is it would be our victory as long as we take down Zephyr here."

You know just how wrong you're? Guild battle victory was point based.

There doesn't exist any such rule like taking down the opponent team's leader would net them victory.

Misato shouted in shock when she heard Tom-kun's reply to her query.

"No, no, no, we're talking about that ‹Brave›-kun here you know!? There's no way we can defeat him!"

"Fret not, leave the fighting to us! However, do take over the healing. 一一Let's begin, Tom!"

"I'm ready! I will make you pay for all the humiliation I have to bear!"

These guys, just how serious they're? But indeed, thinning down the number of opponents was a popular strategy.

If you think back about our E-rank exam details, it would be clear as day just how easier it becomes to win with the difference in numbers.

Their actions themselves weren't wrong. What was wrong was一一

"Take it! ‹Break Sword› frooooom ‹Knight's Pride›!"

"This is the strongest power, ‹Accelaratorrrrrr›!"

"ーー‹Shine Lightning›!"

" "Gyaaaaa!" "

ーーtheir strength analysis.

I was already at Lv55. In contrast, they hadn't even reached Lv30. There was just an abysmal difference between us.

My single attack scrapped off the 60% HP of Tom-kun while Helck-kun was a tank so he only lost a bit over 30% of his HP but they withstood nevertheless.

But that wasn't the end of my attack.

"‹Lightning Burst›!"

" "Gyaaaaa!" "

"Oh my~ that's why I warned them... I didn't even have the time to heal..."

Misato said so in exasperation as she looked at their sorry state.

Might of the 3rd order tree skill ‹Lightning Burst› wasn't something to be scoffed at, even Helck-kun didn't manage to survive the wipeout. Sure enough, they were unable to withstand the strike with that much difference in level.

This eliminated two members of the opposing team.

I wasn't clear about its principle behind but a teleportation circle had appeared under the feet of Tom-kun and Helck-kun and they disappeared in a flash.

If I'm not wrong, teleportation destination was the spectator's room of the arena? ‹Dungeon Activity› players used to call that place ‹Loser's Room›. Eliminated characters would then watch the guild battle from there until it's over.

Just what one could expect from a game. It comes with such a convenient function.

"Kyaaーー!"

"Hnn?"

Misato's scream echoed just as I was watching them disappear. I turned around to look for the reason and saw Misato's HP completely down.

Huh? I didn't do anything though?

"V"

"Ah, so it's Karua's doing."

Apparently, her attention was completely directed towards me and she didn't notice Karua's movement. Karua had creeped behind Misato taking advantage of her lack of attention and took her down in a snap.

"Aah! It's game over huh~. Aww, you really didn't show any pity, Karua-chan."

"Huhu. 'No sympathy in the game', Zephyr had said."

"I see. Ah well, I was also at fault for letting down my guard there. Ah, it seems I'm about to teleport, see you later!"

"Yeah, see you later."

Another teleportation circle appeared underneath Misato who couldn't fight anymore and disappeared in a flash.

How should I say, she was quite a candid girl, wasn't she?

Immediately after, a buzzer echoed from the screen. Wait, isn't that sound...?

"Hn, winner ‹Eden›."

"Ah~. Complete annihilation of the opponent team~"

This was what had written on Eden when I looked at the screenーー

**«「White 4400P」vs「Red 2210P」»

«Time Left - 23 minutes, 22 seconds»

«Match Over Due to the Full Wipeout of Red Team»

Winner - «White Team : Eden»**