Chapter 72

Father, who’d been pushed back in a burst of dust from the sudden attack, didn’t even bother to regain her stance. She simply thrust her épée forward and charged.

The triangular point of the blade came flying with terrifying speed. Noquia’s easygoing expression vanished in an instant as she hurriedly crossed her daggers to block. The clash rang sharp—and Father, as if she’d been waiting for that opening, swung her khopesh at Noquia’s exposed side.

Noquia barely had time to react. The blade tore through her flank, and she swallowed her scream, knocking the épée aside before staggering backward, clutching her bleeding side.

“Ugh, seriously! Longswords and daggers are just the worst matchup!”

“Who told you to use daggers?”

Father swung her khopesh downward as if brushing away dust and kept closing in. Noquia backed away, shouting in frustration.

“Let’s call it even, come on!”

But Father didn’t stop. She knew full well Noquia was an informant hiding inside enemy lines—but there were too many eyes watching. And honestly, she wanted to hit her a few more times anyway.

The tense standoff might have continued, if not for someone stepping in between them with a yell.

“I’ll hold her off! Go!”

“……”

It was Jurz.

Noquia looked baffled—her face practically saying, what the hell is this guy doing? but Jurz didn’t seem to notice. Holding his bow like a club, he stood in front of Father, full of misplaced courage and confidence.

Father glanced at Jurz once, then at Noquia. Noquia met her gaze. Both of them exchanged a silent look… then turned their eyes toward Theo.

Theo was fighting not far away—firing arrows, swinging his bow staff, and using bolts like daggers in a quick, dazzling rhythm. The sight made both of them momentarily speechless. That damn copycat.

Father’s heel lifted slightly as she put power into her legs. In a blink, she dashed forward and closed the distance between herself and Jurz.

A sharp hiss sliced through the air. The tip of her épée lunged straight for Jurz’s heart.

He barely had time to react, choking down a startled grunt as he raised his bow to guard his chest. The épée pierced the weapon dead center—followed by a clean, cracking sound like splitting a ripe watermelon.

Jurz flinched at the vibration running through his hands and the shrill metallic echo that followed. He looked down to check his weapon—but before he could, a sharp pain exploded in his side, wrenching a scream from him.

When he turned in disbelief, clutching his ribs, he saw who had kicked him.

Noquia.

And judging by the steel plate on her boot, it wasn’t a light hit.

“Who the hell told you to butt in, dumbass?”

Noquia spat the words and, still not satisfied, kicked his shin hard. Jurz collapsed without even managing a scream, writhing in agony.

Meanwhile, Father swung her épée once more, slicing the bow clean in two.

In the blink of an eye, the two had taken care of Theo’s poor copycat. They looked down at Jurz crawling on the ground, clutching his shin, and dusted off their hands with matching satisfaction before walking back toward Ord’s camp.

To them, it was just a “tap tap” of their boots—but to everyone else, it looked like a brutal, terrifying duel.

Theo, meanwhile, had been handling the swarming monsters and enemy players without much trouble, methodically clearing the area. When he finally got a breather, he straightened his back and scanned his surroundings.

Amid the heap of monster corpses and exhausted players sprawled across the ground, one figure slowly rose, limping.

Theo blinked. The face looked familiar. Jurz.

His upper clothes were torn, revealing a streak of blue. Jurz also noticed Theo. He froze for a moment, then nervously began glancing around—as if searching for something.

Then, spotting whatever it was, he quickly limped over and tried to cover it with his foot.

Theo frowned. He lowered his gaze.

Between Jurz’s legs lay a bow—split neatly in half.

Theo’s eyes lifted slowly, scanning the weapons on Jurz’s body: twin longswords on his back, a whip at his waist, and what looked like a dagger in his hand. But Theo could tell at a glance—it wasn’t a dagger. It was an arrow, sharpened like a blade.

He stared at Jurz with an unimpressed look. Then he swung his bow, manifesting a crescent-shaped Sword Aura in the air.

Jurz’s face went pale.

He stumbled backward in panic, then turned and bolted. Theo didn’t even hesitate—he launched the Sword Aura forward, hitting Jurz squarely in the back.

A strangled scream tore from Jurz as he fell, completely exhausted.

Theo stepped right on the fallen man’s back for good measure, then continued on toward Jezenia’s camp.

The closer he got to Jezenia’s base, the more chaotic everything became—shouts and screams, steel clashing, explosions, beasts howling, dust swirling, smoke rising, and the sharp stench of something burning.

And ahead—the entrance to Jezenia’s camp, moments away from being overrun.

Theo silently took in the scene, then sprinted forward.

Thanks to his movement speed boost, no player or monster could easily keep up.

Reaching the chaotic entrance, Theo jumped. He soared over everyone’s heads and landed smoothly inside Jezenia’s camp.

All fighting stopped for a heartbeat.

Jezenia’s players stared up at him in disbelief, mouths agape, while Ord’s players raised their hands and roared in triumph.

Theo had made it in.

But that was only the beginning.

Inside the camp, security was even tighter. Monsters roamed everywhere, and powerful players guarded the boss.

Taking down Jezenia’s camp alone was impossible. But Theo hadn’t entered their base to win by force—he was there to activate the boss crystal.

Once he summoned the crystal and set up a veil, all he’d need to do was bring Noquia over and destroy it. That would secure an easy victory.

To reveal the boss crystal, he had to capture and activate five totems hidden around the camp, all while avoiding the boss, monsters, and guards.

A long, blaring horn sounded overhead—an alarm signaling an intruder. The camp immediately stirred into chaos. Theo used the tents and supply crates around him as cover, moving swiftly and quietly through the confusion.

He didn’t know how long he’d been sneaking around before something caught his eye: a blue structure about two meters tall, made of tangled coral, shells, and conch.
It was Jezenia’s Totem of the Deep Sea.

After carefully scanning the area, Theo darted toward it. He pressed his hand against the totem and poured all his mana into it. The blue glow shifted to silver, and a silver pillar of light burst skyward.

Jezenia’s first totem had been captured.

Soon, the camp’s monsters would come rushing. Theo quickly drank a mana potion and hurried off to find the next totem.

At the entrance of Ord’s camp, Blaine was locked in a fierce battle when he noticed a silver light beam rise from far away.

Moments later, other support players also saw it, their voices lifting in excitement.

“The totem’s been triggered!”

The shout made the Jezenia players falter and turn around. When they saw the silver pillar rising from their own camp, disbelief spread across their faces.

But it was only one totem. Just one.

After a brief moment of hesitation, they regrouped and pressed the attack. They needed to break through Ord’s gate before any more of their totems were captured. Once they took control of Ord’s totem, the rest would follow easily.

The fighting resumed, fiercer than ever—and soon, Jezenia’s forces managed to breach the entrance.

Among the players defending the collapsing gate were Father and Noquia.

Inside the camp, Father struck down every enemy she could see, her khopesh flashing as she cut through the swarming players like an exterminator through ants. But there were too many. No matter how many she felled, more came pouring in.

Something about Jezenia’s side felt unusually persistent today.

Pushed, pulled, dodging and countering in the crush of bodies, Father barely noticed when the crowd thinned. Exhausted players, friend and foe alike, lay collapsed everywhere. Those who could still move had already fled.

She brushed her hair back over her shoulder and exhaled, realizing—

“…Noquia?”

A quick look around told her Noquia was nowhere to be seen. Father frowned but didn’t worry much.

She’s probably gone to secure a totem.

The informant could pretend to be “protecting” one, after all. If Noquia successfully defended even a single Ord totem, it would delay Jezenia’s boss crystal activation.

And if Theo managed to activate Jezenia’s crystal first, victory would be theirs.

For now, Father focused on the immediate problem—cleaning up the exhausted enemies and reorganizing defenses before another wave arrived.

She glanced around to get a sense of the situation. Not far away, she spotted Blaine catching his breath with a few other players, drinking mana potions.

“Blaine.”

He looked up mid-sip, then quickly approached when he saw her.

“Doing all right?”

Father’s tone was unusually gentle. Blaine gave a sheepish smile.

“Yes, ma’am. Everyone’s working well together.”

“That so? Good. Let’s clear the bodies and resecure the entrance.”

She gave his head an approving pat and gestured around them. Blaine nodded.

“Yes, just let me finish—”

He didn’t finish the sentence. Blaine suddenly clutched his mouth, staggering before collapsing to his knees.

“?”

Father blinked in shock, rushing forward.

“What’s wrong? Hey, talk to me—what’s—”

Before she could finish, the other nearby players began doing the same—clutching their mouths, choking, then dropping to the ground one by one.

Father froze, staring as the color drained from Blaine’s face—turning pale, then faintly blue.

“What the—poison?”

She muttered in confusion before her own throat burned. Her vision blurred green around the edges.

Poisoned.

Father fell to one knee, hand over her mouth, forcing her fading eyes to scan the surroundings.

When did it start? When did we get poisoned…?