Paladin Corr had a meaningful smile on his face. A farmer named Bardan had approached him, saying that his hair suddenly grew. Even the foreigners that visited Valhalla Territory after seeing this strange phenomenon all said the same thing.

“Huh? It’s Talmor Fati!!!”

“Ddiddiddi~ Ddiddiddi~ Talmor Fati~”

Paladin Corr thought of a great idea. He would ask them to call him ‘Talmor’ and require a monthly grain tribute from them, which he would dedicate to Lord Minhyuk. After all, he surmised that this must be something that was brought about by the effects of the Frightening Instrument and his skill Athenae’s Prayer.

“Ahem, ahem.”

Just then, the Deputy Lord, Grandpa Ben approached him.

“Oh, will the Deputy Lord join us too?”

“Sure. What should I shout?”

“Talmor Fati!!”

“Then… Talmor Fati! Ddiddiddiddiddi!”

“Hahahahaha!”

Paladin Corr smiled cheerfully. At that moment… Corr saw that the ground where he planted the seeds was shaking. He quickly left behind the people that gathered to check on it. He saw that something had already begun to grow there, and was left in shock.

‘What the hell? A weapon?’ 

Something clearly grew out of the ground. There were hilts of swords, or perhaps maybe the end of the spears. There was even a top of a shield, and a tip of a helmet. In the midst of them all, a seed grew faster than the others. When Corr looked at it closely, he was taken aback by surprise.

The existence that came out of the seed which grew higher than any other seed had a pair of eyes, a nose and a mouth. In other words, it was a face.

“A…a face?”

It was clearly a face made out of stone, but even though its eyes were closed, it was most definitely a human head.

Corr did not have a bad head on his shoulders, so he could easily deduce some things. He had heard about Elvenheim and the demons’ invasion. Now, there was also this seed that was said to be dropped by an Ancient Monarch that was cursed by Verus. He knew that this seed possessed great power.

‘Th…the troops will definitely…!’ Corr thought, eyes widening in surprise.

***

Lev, one of Iris Guild’s attack leaders, was widely recognized as one of the top three talented players under the warrior classes in the country. Currently, he was moving together with an elite group formed from the Ares Guild’s and Iris Guild’s 1st attack teams.

[Guild Chatting Rody: This is the 2nd Attack Team's leader, Rody. We haven’t found an entrance to the Elven Forest yet.]

Lev shook his head. The Iris and Ares Guild had maintained their alliance after they successfully captured the largest city, rising to the top of the invasion war together. However, even though it was not explicitly said, the attack teams were all competing against each other, over obtaining the honor of being the first team to penetrate through the Elven Forest.

Currently, the Elf King, Gorn, arrived at Elvenheim yesterday and had taken his position as the commander-in-chief. He was extremely exhausted and fatigued when he arrived in Elvenheim. He had told the foreigners that all the entrances and exits to the Elven Forest had been blocked.

In short, what they needed to do was to pierce through the Elven Forest. Iris Guild was trying to squeeze through the cracks and gaps to recapture and take over the Elven Forest, the heart of the event.

As they continued to march forward, the troops entered a small cave.

“Don’t let your guard down!”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

It was said that the Elven Forest was now rife with more powerful demons, compared to those present in Elvenheim. A thick smile was plastered on Lev’s face as he entered the small cave.

‘Fi…finally…!’

A faint and feeble light was shining at the end of the cave.

‘Once we reach that light, we will be able to reach the Elven Forest!’

Lev was leading thirty elite, well-built men. As soon as he entered the cave, notifications went off.

[You are the first to step foot in the Elven Forest.]

[You have received 300,000 Contribution Points as a reward for being the first to reach the Elven Forest.]

[Guild Master Callian, the Guild Master of Iris Guild, the guild that you are affiliated with has received 100,000 Contribution Points.]

[Iris Guild Members have received 30,000 Contribution Points.]

[The Elven Artifact Treasure Chest (S) will be rewarded to the first player that stepped foot in the Elven Forest.]

Lev did not hesitate, immediately checking the Elven Artifact Treasure Box.

[You have acquired the Ancient Elf’s Faded Sword.]

He proceeded to access the information about the artifact. Upon discovering that the item he received was a legendary artifact, he could not help but feel delighted.

Callian, together with Ares Guild’s Guild Master, had decided not to partake in the rewards that were directly obtained by the players, which meant that this Elf’s Sword literally belonged to Lev!

Then, at that moment…

“It seems like some rat got in here.”

…he heard a low-pitched voice somewhere near him. The source of the voice was a demon with a horn, and it stood taller than any other demon that Lev had ever seen.

At the same time, the notifications rang out.

[The Commander-in-Chief, the Alchemist, Count Rufel has appeared!]

[Dark Demonic Energy has constricted your breath.]

[You are experiencing difficulty in breathing due to an abnormal state.]

[Your breathing has become unstable.]

“Keoheok!”

“Keuaaack!”

The players felt that their breaths were running out, as if something was squeezing their necks.

‘Commander-in-chief Rufel!’

He had never shown himself so far. As far as they heard, Commander-in-Chief Rufel was the highest-ranked noble in Elvenheim, as well as the most powerful demon present above ground currently.

“Get to your positions!” Lev hurriedly gave his orders. Then, he lifted his newly acquired Ancient Elf’s Faded Sword.

However, the extremely huge Rufel, who stood at two meters, just walked nonchalantly and said, “You would do for my experiments.”

“Kihaaaaack!”

“Kieeeeeeeck!”

As if on cue, strange, unidentified cries emanated from deep within the darkness behind Rufel. Not long after, the beings emerged.

Simply put, the creatures that appeared looked like giant dogs. However, they only resembled dogs, beyond that, their shape and form were horribly melted, so much so that they looked like they were spilling out of their bodies.

“Hellhound…?”

The hellhound was one of Hell’s demonic beasts and they were considered to be rare presences in the Rank A areas. However, the creatures in front of them felt a bit different from the hellhounds that they knew of.

Then…

Dash—

…the hellhounds dashed towards them.

“Grooooowl!”

“Grrrrrrr!”

The hellhounds rushing at them were faster than the normal hellhounds that they had seen before. Lev quickly lifted the sword up high.

[Lethal Sword.]

[The tip of the sword will stab straight at five vital points.]

Pipippipi—

His sword moved in a flurry, creating afterimages. With every sweep of his sword, holes would appear all over the bodies of the hellhounds that tried to rush at them in all directions.

Baaaaang!

One of the hellhounds exploded.

“It’s not that big of a deal, isn’t it?”

“What the hell. This much is nothing.”

“I got scared for no reason!!”

Everyone shouted after being scared off by Commander Rufel. However, something extraordinary happened not long after they shouted their words of confidence.

Flaaaash—

Green gas rose and scattered from the body of the exploded hellhound. It was akin to a bomb exploding and it was so sudden that they did not have any time to avoid it.

[Abnormal State. You have inhaled the ‘Demonic Beast’s Gas’.]

[All abilities and skills will fall by 15%.]

[The probability of your attack failure has increased by 30%.]

“…Gasp?!”

“Wh…what the hell?!”

Lev wasn't the only one affected. Killing off just one hellhound had inflicted debuffs to all seven of them who attacked, and the debuff was even extremely potent. Their capabilities had decreased by 15% and their chances of attacks failing had increased by 30%.

Just then, another one rushed in, while Rufel just looked at them from the rear, with his hands behind his back as if he was watching something interesting.

“Fire arrow! Fire arrow! Fire arrow!”

The mage, Batarin, released all the fire arrows that he had saved before.

Bang!

[Your attack has failed.]

Unfortunately, the first magical attack had become useless. It bounced off of the body of the hellhound. However, the second attack exploded which was followed immediately by the third.

Baaaaaaang—

Just like before, the gas erupted and scattered once more.

Splurt!

“Keuaaaack!”

“Ugh. Aaaaaargh!”

The players shrieked.

[Abnormal State. You have inhaled the ‘Demonic Beast’s Gas’.]

[Your HP will drop at a rapid rate of 1% per second.]

[A terrible poison will start to melt your skin.]

“…!”

It was only then that Lev realized something.

‘Th…this…’ 

They were the suicide squad. Whatever the future would bring was dependent on Lev and his team right now. Almost 90% of the villages in the Rank A region had already been recaptured by the players. If the passage was opened in this state, the players would be able to enter through it. However, as it turned out, Rufel had laid a trap that could wipe them out easily. Their situation right now was akin to a ‘suicide squad’.

“Grrrrrrr.”

“Groooooowl.”

Suddenly, hundreds of giant hellhounds appeared behind Rufel. No, perhaps there were still more to come.

Not long after, dozens of hellhounds stormed into the fray.

Bang!

[Abnormal State. You have inhaled the ‘Demonic Beast’s Gas’.]

[Your sight has temporarily turned blurred and hazy.]

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

[Demonic Beast Explosion.]

[A powerful explosion will devour and engulf the surrounding area.]

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

There were many players that got swept in the explosion and exploded together with the gas. In just an instant, his troops of 30 elites had been wiped out.

Then, Rufel moved his sword…

Slash—

Plop.

…and the remaining person, Lev, was easily decapitated under his hands. After killing Lev, Rufel moved outside the cave and was met with the sight of Allentian. He said, “After doing some maintenance, I’ll sweep right over there.”

***

A notification rang for all the players present in Elvenheim’s Rank A zones.

[Commander-in-Chief Rufel is preparing to attack.]

[A full-scale aerial strike will shortly take place in Elvenheim’s Rank A zones.]

[You can earn 1.5x Contribution Points during the attack period.]

Along with those notifications, an unidentified video popped out in front of the players. It was the video showing Commander Rufel as he muttered to himself while looking at Allentian. Then, information about Rufel appeared.

[Rufel. Alchemist and Commander-in-Chief.]

[He who successfully hunts Rufel will be rewarded with enormous Contribution Points and rewards.]

That was when the players realized that Rufel’s first point of attack was none other than ‘Allentian’. It was the largest city that was ever recaptured by players. It was even recaptured by two of the largest guilds in the country, Ares and Iris Guilds. This was also the place where the strongest defenses were being created by forming alliances with each other.

***

Callian and Ares were both delighted. The Commander-in-Chief of the demons was personally coming. If they successfully hunted this important character, they would reap enormous Contribution Points and rewards.

What the two of them did was simple. They had already acquired four cities, so they decided to gather and concentrate all of their troops in Allentian, leaving only 20% to protect their other cities. Their intentions were obvious.

“If we completely stop the attack here, then we’ll be able to hog all of the Contribution Points and rewards.”

“Fufufufu. That would be great.”

There were currently more than 300 guilds present in Elvenheim. This number included small, medium and large guilds. Among all of the guilds, most of the contents were under the ‘monopoly’ of Ares and Iris Guild, with support from their ‘allied’ guilds.

The total number that gathered for him alone was 800. What was more was that the individual players from Iris Guild had earned 30,000 Contribution Points each as a reward for being the first to reach the Elven Forest. Iris Guild even purchased something special from the Elven Shop. It was none other than the ‘Blood Sticking Alliance’. This alliance would allow the other guilds allied to them to purchase goods from their Elven Shop, which meant they were all heavily armed with elven artifacts.

Simply put, they were very confident with their current strength.

“They are starting to move. It seems like the invasion is about to begin.”

“I heard that the beings that Rufel had unleashed committed suicide and caused debuffs and explosions.”

“Our plan is simple. From what I heard, just a slight attack will cause those beings to explode. Let’s bring forward those that can attack from afar and let the mages prepare for an AOE attack magic. We’ll start with the suicide squad tactic once they come in and kill them in one fell swoop.”

After all, the two of them planned the operation. As for the suicide squad tactic? They believed that as long as they did not let them near them, that was all that mattered.

There were plenty of bandits and assassins that set up countless traps in the city with the help of Robi, a player with the hidden class, Master of Traps. Once their enemies reached the range of their traps and got caught in them, the traps would trigger and exert a stronger power than any other attacks.

Even Twilight Chef Black began to distribute his most cherished buffed dishes to the best of the elites. It was a tremendous amount of preparation for the upcoming battle.

Along with those preparations, the network started broadcasting about them.

[‘Callian’, the alliance of guilds in Elvenheim Area A, is now fully prepared.]

[There are plenty of troops currently waiting in Allentian right now. I think there are at least 30 of the top rankers in our country present in the area too.]

[All of the players are watching in anticipation. It seems like Rufel’s camp is starting to make its move. Will Callian be able to successfully defend the city?]

Boom— Boom— Boom—

The magnificent sound of drums began to ring loudly. Then, a huge cloud of black mass covered the sky and scattered down on the ground. The falling black mass slowly turned into hundreds of creatures. It was none other than the hellhounds.

“Kiheeeeeek!”

“Kyaaaaahaaaack?!”

“Graaaaaaaack!”

Hundreds of hellhounds suddenly appeared! There were even three beings standing in front!

[The Deputy Commanders seem to be in the Elven Forest. The beings that appeared right now are Commander-in-Chief Rufel’s loyal men.]

[They are Commander Rufel’s Slayers: Kenny, the Slayer of Anguish. Rhond, the Slayer of Death. And Conir, the Slayer of Frustration. According to the information released, the Slayers are around Level 500~550 or even higher. They were even said to be among the most powerful in the Demon World to the point that they can dominate the creatures in there!]

At that very moment…

Vwooooooooooo—

…the horns blared loudly as the hellhounds dashed forward.

Callian and Ares, who were standing in front of their troops, watched hundreds of fierce animals rushing towards them.

***

Meanwhile, the members of Legend Guild all climbed up to the highest point of their newly acquired village, Philip to watch the battle.

Not long after, Ascar mumbled, “If Allentian is breached…”

She turned her head to look at Genie, whose face stiffened as she raised her head.

“…our Legend Guild will be smashed.”