Chapter 160 – Skirmish (3)
Smash. Smash.
Hyun emptied his mind and once again became the Heavens users’ worst nightmare.
Ain occasionally said she would take control, so it seemed like she had woken up a bit.
「Hyun, 9 o’clock!」
When Hyun eliminated more Heavens users, Ain suddenly shouted.
「The other side of the town got noisy.」
「Don’t tell me… Has it already been pierced?」
Hyun quickly returned to the town.
Just like Ain said, something had definitely happened on the other side.
‘It’s been pierced!’
An entire castle wall had disappeared.
‘Did NPCs already appear…?!’
Hyun thought that for a while, but he soon discovered he was wrong.
Although the wall had disappeared, the defensive line had yet to crumble.
「What, it was her?」
Many people were staring at a user.
The girl protecting her place from the countless enemies charging toward her was someone very famous. Not only that, but they’d met her numerous times.
If you ask people who the most famous female user was, other than Ain, her name would be one of the most mentioned.
She was part of the Darkness Guild and was 2nd in the Hall of Fame.
Mayday had decided to participate in the quest as a user and was blocking the Heavens users from advancing.
* * *
Psychokinesis Sorcerer…
It was a job that was known to be good in the hands of someone who could leverage its advantages.
Since it wasn’t a hidden job, anyone could use it, but for some reason, it wasn’t very popular. Why was that?
It had very few AOE skills!
Horde hunting wasn’t very effective. Not only that, but it was hard for someone with that job to play a big role in a large-scale war. That was why only a few Magicians chose the Psychokinesis Sorcerer while doing their job ascensions.
But… that was only among normal Magicians.
If you had better specs than other people and you were skillful enough to use those specs, it wasn’t impossible to use techniques that were similar to AOE magics.
—Just like Mayday was doing.
[«Air Restraint» Lv. 5]
– Hold all entities within 5 meters in the air.
– The higher your [Magical Power] is, the better the restraining ability becomes.
The moment Mayday raised her hand toward the sky, the world stopped.
All of the attacks flying toward her halted in mid-air.
A halted fireball that continued to burn in the air showed that time hadn’t truly stopped.
‘AOE magic?’
Mayday flicked her finger.
Ain’s skills didn’t need to be cast, but the average Magician’s skills often had to be activated like that.
‘If it sweeps everyone away at once, that’s AOE magic!’
[«Reverse Track» Lv. 2]
– 3 seconds after casting, make all objects being restrained with «Air Restraint» move in the opposite direction.
Zoom- The air trembled.
Hundreds of attacks began flying in the opposite direction.
The Heavens users saw the attacks they’d used against Mayday coming back at them.
It was «Air Restraint»’s linked skill, «Reverse Track».
“B-be careful…!”
“Is that an ultimate attack…?”
The overwhelming sight left the users mesmerized.
«Air Restraint» and «Reverse Track» consumed a lot of mana, but they weren’t ultimate attacks.
Mayday’s normal attacks could deal damage similar to an ultimate attack due to her high magical power.
Boom!
The attacks that were flying toward Mayday poured down on the Heavens users like rain.
«Mana Return.»
Although Mayday had used incredible attacks, her mana levels weren’t different from before she’d used them.
Sometimes, light and electricity attacks were able to break through «Air Restraint», but a defensive barrier blocked them.
If she got the timing of her cooldowns right, she could keep that up forever, so it was disheartening for the Heavens users.
‘Seeing this, the Psychokinesis Sorcerer doesn’t seem to be a bad job for PvP…’
Multitudes of different magics that flew toward her again were stopped in the air.
After «Air Restraint», «Reverse Track» activated a second time, and the screams of the Heavens users spread over the area.
‘Wouldn’t I be able to win against most users like this?’
Mayday fell into thought.
Translator – Daniel Shin
Proofreader – ilafy
* * *
While practicing, hunting, or even when fighting against numerous users, she couldn’t forget that day when she’d fought against Ain.
‘I’ve practiced a lot since that day… I guess I can be a bit more confident.’
The title of 2nd place in the Hall of Fame or trying to become one felt pointless.
One day, she began caring more about Ain than Lattice—the person whose name was above hers.
After the battle in Lava City, she rewatched the video numerous times, intending to find out why she’d lost.
‘I can’t counter her with simple skill mechanisms. Unless I change my style, I’m always going to lose.’
Thankfully, Ain had a YouTube channel.
Her moves, psychological warfare, skill usage, etc… After seeing her videos every day, she felt she should be able to imitate her.
“An opportunity! Die!”
A cracking voice forced Mayday to return to her senses.
A warrior-type user that was in the top thousand was charging toward her.
She realized something after checking her status window…
‘Ah… I don’t have mana.’
Were they aiming for that? After all, a Magician without mana was useless in close-range combat.
But Mayday didn’t have the expression of someone who’d been caught off guard.
‘If it was back then, I might have lost…’
The giant sword was about to destroy her head.
Mayday raised her hand.
By adjusting her rhythm, she hit the greatsword and slightly changed the trajectory of the sword.
When a pushing force was applied, the trajectory of the greatsword changed, and it fell to the ground.
That resembled the technique Ain had used to brush off Latice’s attack.
[ «Repulsion Field» Lv. 0]
– Increase pushing strength.
She’d received help from a skill, so it was a technique that was easier than the one Ain had used.
Although even doing that took her quite a lot of practice.
‘The good thing is that this skill doesn’t use a lot of mana.’
She’d only used two skill points and obtained a way to counter close-range attacks.
“H-how—?!”
The Heavens ranker disappeared before he could ask how she’d been able to block his attack.
Mayday had used «Mana Return», and then she used «Metal Edge» to stun the opponent.
‘This is also something she showed.’
Fufu. Mayday smiled after looking at her palm.
The things she’d practiced so much were working, so she was starting to gain more confidence.
‘The next time we meet, I won’t lose so easily!’
The first time, during the Count’s Quest… she was completely defeated.
Then the second time, although she had an advantage, she still lost.
The next time would be the third; she wasn’t going to lose so easily.
But that third time came faster than Mayday thought.
“Huh…?”
Mayday rubbed her eyes when she saw a black silhouette that appeared in front of her.
It was a devil that looked like a shadow. When Mayday saw it, she thought of someone’s face.
“Ain…?”
Had her head gone bad because of how conscious she was of Ain?
To think that she would think of her after seeing a devil. Especially… the face. How could it be so similar?
Vampire… No, she wasn’t sure what kind of devil it was. Mayday stared at her, surprised.
“What are you looking at…?”
At that moment, Mayday became so surprised that her heart almost stopped.
The moment the devil opened her mouth, a voice she wouldn’t ever be able to forget came out.
“Th-the voice is also the same?! No, that’s not it…!”
An alarm rang in Mayday’s head.
“The real Ain…!”
It wasn’t a devil who looked like Ain—she was Ain!
Ain was part of the Heavens.
Heavens and Abyss users had to kill each other in the quest.
Then was Ain there to kill her?
‘If I fight her, I’ll die…!’
Although she’d sounded so confident before, all that confidence disappeared after she saw Ain.
The ‘Dark Ain,’ who had a chilling aura, seemed like someone she wouldn’t be able to win against.
‘I need to escape!’
Mayday tried to use a return scroll.
Once she started to look inside her inventory, Hyun understood the situation and spoke.
“Wait.”
“Hmm…?”
“You don’t need to be so surprised.”
Slash!
Hyun cut a Heavens user with «Efreet’s Claw» and calmed Mayday.
Mayday began thinking as Ain cut through the numerous Heavens users charging toward them.
‘Not the enemy…?’
Ain was annihilating Heavens users at that moment.
Also, Ain looked like a devil.
‘Ah, she changed forces!’
Unlike NPCs, users often changed the force they belonged to.
Even if you started as a Heavens user, you didn’t necessarily have to be one forever.
“Are you also of the Abyss?”
“Yes.”
Mayday calmed down after hearing Hyun’s positive answer.
Yes. Although they’d only met as enemies before, they were on the same side at the moment. There was no need for her to escape.
“…”
Even if that was the case, the atmosphere wasn’t good.
Just because they were part of the same force didn’t mean they had to get along.
Mayday was part of the Darkness Guild—an organization that didn’t have a good relationship with Ain.
Hyun, Ain, and Mayday knew that, so they just silently looked at each other.
The atmosphere was awkward, so Hyun opened his mouth first.
“Is the Darkness Guild participating in this quest?”
Mayday answered Hyun’s question.
“Our guild? No, I’m alone.”
“You’re alone…?”
“Of course. Except for me, most of them belong to the Heavens, and there wasn’t anyone who wanted to fight me.”
From what Mayday said, it seemed like she’d decided to participate in the quest for personal reasons.
That probably meant that they were allies since the quest was a fight between forces.
‘We won’t have to fight her.’
They didn’t need to be wary about Mayday if that was true.
She’d fight Heavens users even if they left her alone.
Since he was sure NPCs would get involved, she was a very good asset for the Abyss.
‘This…!’
Mayday’s thoughts weren’t so different from Hyun’s.
‘This could be a great opportunity to improve our relationship with Ain…!’
A few days before, they’d reached a conclusion…
Even if they weren’t going to be able to make Hyun and Ain join them, they would try to have the best possible relationship with them.
That was the order XL had given them. Mayday and all the other executives of the Darkness Guild agreed with him.
‘Good. This could be the perfect opportunity to correct the mistake Pias made!’
Hyun opened his mouth when Mayday was thinking that.
“You better be careful.”
Mayday’s eyes widened after hearing Hyun’s words. A bit late, she asked.
“Careful of what…?”
“This attack won’t be the end.”
It was what Hyun had concluded after many years of experience in Asra and what he’d learned while doing Asrian’s main quest.
“…!”
“Don’t overdo yourself yet.”
Hyun had to keep as many Abyss forces alive as possible for the quest.
He advised Mayday because she was part of the Abyss.
“Even if you and I are here… the Abyss is in danger?”
“Yes.”
Hyun looked around.
Suddenly, Heaven’s users stopped appearing. The Abyss users were shouting as if they’d won.
The quests weren’t over yet.
[Remaining time before the road that leads to the Ruins of Darkness opens: 1 hour 40 minutes]
‘They’re coming soon…!’
Hyun became more nervous than ever while everyone else was relaxing.
Ssss. The moment the fog became lightest, the safety zone that connected both worlds completely opened.
If the Heavens were planning to enter the Symmetrical World, right then was probably the best possible time.
Hyun held his breath while he waited for what was about to happen.
