Chapter 71

The rules for running a Territorial War were simple. Lower-ranked bosses sent challenge tokens to bosses above them, and if a higher-ranked boss accepted the challenge, a Territorial War was declared. A temporary enemy encampment would appear in the challenged boss’s territory, and the turf-grab would begin.

The one who had sent a challenge to Ord this time was Jezenia, a boss that lived on the coastal cliffs in western Ratteon. If Jezenia won the fight against Ord, Ord would fall under Jezenia’s control.

Anyone who sided with the defeated Ord would lose every buff they gained in Cottonflower Hills—experience boosts from the zone, increased trade benefits through the region, the doubled gathering yield across the area, and so on.

To take over an opponent’s territory, you either stormed the faction until the boss declared surrender, or you found and destroyed the boss’s crystal hidden somewhere in the zone. Because smashing a boss crystal was easiest with inside information, the Intelligence role was indispensable when facing a lower-ranked boss.

Outside the tents, most players stood staring into empty air—probably watching the timer. Not far off, Theo could see Father and Holanghee.

The first to move weren’t the players but the monsters: the Ord-controlled beasts that lived in Cottonflower Hills. Most of them were animal-shaped, and the sight of them funneling between players toward the faction gate made for quite a spectacle.

The monsters posted at the entrance all turned and stared back at something. Players who’d been watching the timer finally tore their eyes away and followed the creatures’ gaze; from the rear of the faction, Ord himself was walking out.

Each ripple of his magnificent silver fur made a soft, rustling sound. Ord padded to the center of the field, lifted his head, let out a long howl—and at the same time the timer hit zero.

As if answering Ord’s call, every monster roared and bolted out of the zone, and the players poured out behind them.

Stepping outside triggered an automatic switch to Murderer Mode. In the distance the enemy lines were a smear on the horizon, and the approaching tide of monsters and players looked like an ant swarm. Each enemy player wore Jezenia’s blue color, and their monsters took the forms of jellyfish, crabs, and mermen—sea creatures through and through.

Theo paused amid the flow of allies and drew his bow. He notched an arrow and began picking off enemies one by one. Standing his ground without taking a single step, he fired with an unruffled rhythm—every shot found its mark.

The battlefield instantly turned into chaos. Standing unmoving in the thick of the fight and raining arrows down, Theo made for an excellent target.

An enemy charged at him with a shield, trying to block his arrows. Theo lightly dodged the attacker’s strike, stepped onto the player’s shoulder, and sprang up. With extraordinary jumping ability, he shot up into the air and, not wasting a second of hang time, lashed out arrows in every direction.

Monsters around Theo fell helplessly, and roars of anger erupted as comrades watched their foes and allies topple.

Theo touched down without so much as a footstep, and a massive monster that looked like a hulking helmeted crab lunged at him. He didn’t flinch—sliding into the creature’s blind spot at its feet, he avoided the strike, slipped out to its rear, and brought it down.

Killing one didn’t stop the onslaught. Jellyfish-like things reached their legs toward him from both sides, and while Theo hesitated at the sudden ambush, something crashed in from behind with furious force.

It was a direwolf. The direwolf spun, wrapped itself around Theo, and with a sweep of its tail sheared the jellyfish legs clean off. The sliced creatures shrieked like ultrasonic alarms and slithered away, and the direwolf darted after them.

Just as Theo caught his breath, a deafening blast shook the air behind him—enough to whip a gale across his back. He turned to see thrown explosives arcing through the sky; when they detonated, fragments rained everywhere and enemy screams cut through the chaos.

They looked like allies’ grenades. Relieved, Theo turned his gaze forward—only to have something slam into the ground right in front of him: a massive starfish-like monster plastered with barnacles. Father dropped down from the air after it, followed by two or three more monsters hurtling through.

Father nimbly avoided a tangled, rolling clump of monsters that had collided with each other and called back to Theo,

“More are coming.”

When Theo glanced behind to check, he froze—an endless line of monsters trailed on and on.

“Did you herd these mobs?” he asked in disbelief.

Father just waved and laughed, leaving a single instruction before moving on.

“Handle it.”

Watching Father’s back recede with an almost absurd expression, Theo had no choice but to unleash his Actions on the monsters. There were simply too many.

Clucking at the fact that not even half had fallen, Theo grabbed a string of monsters and ran toward the faction gate. En route, enemy monsters and players kept springing at him without pause.

Breaking through light attacks and dodging past them, he reached the entrance to find the gate a total madhouse—support players struggling to hold the surge. Among the crowd, Theo quickly spotted Blaine.

Normally Blaine would’ve noticed Theo immediately, but he seemed overwhelmed and fully absorbed in fending off the monsters.

Theo watched a moment, then when Blaine cast a gravity spell, Theo dove straight into its field. Monsters and players caught in the gravity froze, and Theo poured Actions down on them like rain.

“Hyung?”

As Theo breathed a sigh watching the fallen enemies, a familiar voice came from behind him. When he turned, Blaine stood there with worry written all over his face.

Theo walked up to him and asked, “You holding up okay?”

“Huh? Y-yeah… It’s a bit chaotic, but—why did you come back? Is something wrong?”

“No, I came because I needed your gravity magic. You saved me.”

Blaine’s eyes widened at Theo’s words, then a shy, delighted smile spread across his face.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’ll head back—keep at it.”

“Okay, and you be careful too.”

Blaine waved with an excited grin, and Theo returned the wave warmly before throwing himself back into the fight.

He caught a passing direwolf and hopped onto its back. The direwolf glanced over its shoulder at him, pawed the earth, and bolted. Thanks to the direwolf, Theo reached the front lines in no time and quickly sized up the situation. Fortunately, the tide hadn’t turned—after all, Father was tearing through the field; defeat wasn’t likely.

Theo jumped down from the direwolf, patted its flank twice in thanks, and the beast snorted before charging off at a nearby enemy. Father, who’d been scanning the battlefield nervously and looking for Theo, saw him arrive on the direwolf and relaxed inwardly.

With that minor worry gone, Father readied herself to fight again—but then her expression shifted as if she’d seen something strange, and she froze.

Ahead, among the intermixed monsters of both factions, one player was standing out—using Theo’s style: wielding a bow like a cudgel and firing arrows like daggers. But the user wasn’t Theo. Father stepped forward as if entranced and squinted.

When she finally made out the opponent’s face, she went dumbstruck. “You’ve got to be—”

The one imitating Theo was none other than Jurz.

They weren’t the only ones stunned by Jurz; Noquia stood a short distance behind him, staring dead ahead. She wore blue light armor, and her gaze was locked on Jurz.

Noquia and Father glanced at each other, exchanged a silent wordless message, then looked at Theo. Theo hadn’t noticed Jurz yet.

Father let out a hollow laugh, pulled a smoke bomb from her inventory, and hurled it toward Jurz before charging.

Through the rising haze of sand, Father located Jurz in an instant and aimed a khopesh at his throat with narrowed eyes.

Before the khopesh could land, two pairs of daggers flashed out of the dust and blocked the blade. Father blinked in surprise and looked down to see both hands gripping the daggers. As the dust slowly cleared, Noquia stepped forward—she’d intercepted Father’s khopesh and smiled almost apologetically.

“Come on, this isn’t right.”

She flicked Father’s khopesh aside and then delivered a kick to Father’s abdomen, sending her flying.