I came to my senses belatedly while watching the Bound Guild members being swept away by the chain.
This wasn't the time to stand around. It was the perfect chance to test the enhanced staff's damage.
First, I used an evasive skill to close the distance to the nearest Infighter and tried out a basic combo. Infighters were damage dealers with decent health and defense, making them perfect for damage testing.
After pressing the D key to lay down a slowing field and using the E-W-Q-R skills in sequence, the Infighter's HP dropped by about one-third.
"The damage definitely hits harder than before."
If a basic combo could shave off that much of an Infighter's HP, then it was quite decent. With a good weapon upgrade and enhancements, fighting was finally starting to feel satisfying.
Just as I was about to chase after the Infighter who had retreated due to poor health management, I saw a character approaching from the enemy camp—someone with long black hair tied up in a high ponytail.
It was a female character wearing a one-piece leather suit and a mask that covered half her face. She held short daggers in both hands, glowing purple, likely from an activated buff skill.
"...?"
At that moment, the character in front of me suddenly vanished. At the same time, TheHunter, who had been fighting beside me, had his HP drop in one blow and died on the spot.
The Bound Guild has gained 10 points!
[Guild] TheHunter: ?
[Guild] TheHunter: Are you kidding me
[Guild] TheHunter: Just got killed by Sword Princess;
[Guild] Staeric: That person's from the North Gate? Are you sure?
Sword Princess? Then was that the character I just saw? It happened so fast I didn't catch the nickname.
Since TheHunter, who was right beside me, had died, the enemy had to still be nearby. Just as I was scanning the screen with that in mind, I noticed an unfamiliar visual effect flying in from the right and quickly hit the evade skill.
Zzzt!—Along with the dagger impact sound effect, the screen flashed red. Even though I dodged, the hit still landed, and I lost 70% of my HP in an instant. A bleeding debuff caused my HP to keep draining.
"Ha, damn."
So this was the infamous assassin's ambush. Judging by the insane speed, she had definitely enhanced her gear for movement speed.
[Guild] Sleepyhead: Confirmed Sword Princess
[Guild] Staeric: Confirmed
[Guild] Yoo Chae: Confirmed
[Guild] Haeren: Confirmed
[Guild] DrinkWaterPlz: You good?
[Guild] TheHunter: Should be fine since Guild Leader's here
[Guild] Haeren: She hasn't come in this far yet
[Guild] DrinkWaterPlz: Let us know if you're getting pushed
[Guild] DrinkWaterPlz: I'll send Lahi
[Guild] MocaBread: As long as Hunter doesn't die again, we should win lol
[Guild] TheHunter: lol shhh
[Guild] TheHunter: I died from shock
[Guild] HuntCrazy: Sleepy dodged it right away. Why didn't you? ;;
[Guild] Staeric: Even a newbie survived the attack but a veteran didn't?
[Guild] Staeric: Hmm… That's kinda sad 😭
I moved toward the healing zone Haeren had laid down while keeping close watch on Sword Princess's location. She seemed flustered to see I was still alive and hesitated for a moment, then immediately threw her dagger.
It was one of the Reaper's non-targeted skills. I dodged the three or four daggers that embedded themselves into the ground and checked my HP.
The bleeding debuff had worn off, but my condition was still terrible—I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold out.
"This is tricky."
Dying wasn't that big of a deal since I'd respawn at the revival zone anyway, but the issue was my proximity to Haeren, the healer. If I died without doing anything, the healer would follow in less than ten seconds.
[Guild] Sleepyhead: Kim Yoo Chae
After calling out to Yoo Chae in the guild chat, I barely managed to dodge Sword Princess's next presumed targeted skill with my evasive move, which had just come off cooldown.
Yoo Chae saw my call and immediately understood what I meant, replying right away.
[Guild] Yoo Chae: Hyung
[Guild] Yoo Chae: Where are you?
[Guild] Sleepyhead: 5 o'clock.
Now I just had to hold out until Yoo Chae arrived… but since I'd already used my evade skill, that seemed unlikely.
Tsk…
I clicked my tongue and raised my staff toward the charging Sword Princess. It couldn't be helped. If I was going to die anyway, I might as well do some damage before going down…
[All] TheHunter: Sword Princess!!
[All] TheHunter: Gyaaaahhh
[All] Sword Princess: ?
[All] Sleepyhead: ?
"…What the?"
Just as I had braced myself for death, TheHunter suddenly jumped in front of me.
Thanks to that, he took Sword Princess's attack in my place—despite having just respawned, he lost 60% of his HP instantly.
[All] Haeren: My eyes…
[All] Haeren: I saw something cursed;;
[All] Sleepyhead: Me too;
[All] Sword Princess: Using your guildmate as a meat shield?
[All] Sleepyhead: ??
[All] Sleepyhead: What are you talking about?
[All] Sleepyhead: He jumped in on his own, clearly
Yoo Chae, who arrived a little late, saw TheHunter take the hit in my place and frowned with visible disgust.
[All] Yoo Chae: What the hell's with that guy, acting like he's protecting you?
[All] Yoo Chae: That's gross…
[All] Haeren: Honestly amazed anyone would see that as 'protecting';
Bleeding from the debuff, TheHunter called out to Sword Princess with excitement.
[All] TheHunter: Hello Sword Princess!
[All] TheHunter: I'm a fan!!
[All] Sword Princess: Thx
[All] TheHunter: Can I add you as a friend??
Sword Princess replied coolly with just a "Thanks" and completely ignored the friend request, slashing her daggers again.
Too pitiful to even watch, TheHunter didn't even get healed by Haeren and ended up dying again less than a minute after respawning.
The Bound Guild has gained 10 points!
[Guild] Haeren: Hunter
[Guild] Haeren: keeps trolling smh
[Guild] Sleepyhead: Congrats on becoming a traitor
[Guild] TheHunter: What do you mean traitor;;
[Guild] TheHunter: I was just happy to meet Sword Princess
[Guild] DrinkWaterPlz: Sigh… Staeric
[Guild] DrinkWaterPlz: Please keep him in check
[Guild] Staeric: On it...
So Staeric was responsible for TheHunter. I looked at Yoo Chae and Sword Princess now locked in battle in place of TheHunter and asked the guild,
[Guild] Sleepyhead: If Reaper is that good of a class,
[Guild] Sleepyhead: and Staeric's one of the top-ranked Reapers,
[Guild] Sleepyhead: why aren't you a fan of Staeric?
[Guild] TheHunter: Well obviously,
[Guild] TheHunter: because Staeric's a guy.
[Guild] Staeric: Are you discriminating against men now?
[Guild] TheHunter: Yes, I am.
[Guild] HuntCrazy: Damn that was brutally honest LOL
So Sword Princess was a female player—this was the first I'd learned of it. But honestly, TheHunter's reply was more shocking.
Right. Normally, that's how male players react with each other, huh? I must've been unconsciously confused because of Yoo Chae always following me around calling me "hyung" and showing me way too much affection.
Luckily, Staeric wasn't far away and showed up around the same time as the recently revived TheHunter. Seeing them arrive, Yoo Chae dodged Sword Princess's attacks with practiced ease and naturally passed the turn to Staeric.
[Whisper] Sleepyhead: You sure about this?
Unaware that Yoo Chae had deliberately stepped back, Sword Princess now began battling Staeric and TheHunter. Watching this unfold, I walked up to Yoo Chae and whispered the question, and he replied in his usual laid-back tone.
[Whisper] Yoo Chae: What?
[Whisper] Yoo Chae: If it were just one of them, maybe. But there's two of them, plus a healer behind. They won't go down that easily.
[Whisper] Sleepyhead: Still, the positioning sucks. Shouldn't you be the one holding her off?
[Whisper] Yoo Chae: The other guild master is taking time to get through two players and kill other guild members.
[Whisper] Yoo Chae: So it doesn't matter since I'm killing people at random way faster.
Yoo Chae, who had just reactivated her damage-boosting buff skill, spun her chain around with a sigh emote.
[Whisper] Yoo Chae: If I don't want to get divorced...
[Whisper] Yoo Chae: I have to win the preliminaries
[Whisper] Yoo Chae: I just need to kill half more.
Hearing that, I finally checked the gauge and was a bit shocked. The preliminaries had only just started, but our guild's gauge had already passed the halfway mark by far.
Considering our opponent was the second-ranked guild, the speed was insane. That just meant Yoo Chae had been killing tons of their guild members.
[Whisper] Yoo Chae: A game isn't all about mechanics, you know.
With that, Yoo Chae scoffed and dashed off, clearly mocking Sword Princess, who was still seriously fighting Staeric and The Hunter, completely unaware she'd been played.
Not long after, the kill log started to flood in.
Twilight Guild has gained 10 points!
Twilight Guild has gained 10 points!
Twilight Guild has gained 10 points!
Twilight Guild has gained 10 points!
"What a ridiculous girl."
I let out a breathless laugh as I watched the endless kill log roll in.
To think someone could be this serious about a marriage in a game. In many ways, it was impressive.
'But still…'
Strangely enough, instead of being annoyed or frustrated, I just found it funny. That over-the-top behavior actually made me start looking forward to the wedding, which I hadn't thought much of before.
Yeah. She's that into it, so I might as well go along. Yoo Chae following right behind me all the time didn't feel as annoying as it used to.
As the victory gauge steadily rose, I started using my skills on other Bound guild members too.
Marriage takes two, after all. I couldn't just leave it all to Yoo Chae. I followed after her and began cutting down enemies just as fast.
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