Chapter 46

­ Bad Move (2)

– The Corrupt Count raid is different from any of the raids so far .

– Can you be a little more specific?

– The Corrupt Count isn’t a strong monster, but a man of authority that exists in the Warlord world . It’s not just because he is human . So far, raids have been against middle or large sized monsters . This time, it’s against an NPC . This difference is what makes this raid different from all the other raids .

– Is there a reason the date for the Corrupt Count raid is set to be a week before Warlord’s 1st anniversary? Many say that it would have been better to wait one week until the anniversary . Do you have any plans to delay the raid for a week?

– Upon much consideration, we decided that now was the time . The most important thing is to increase the chances of success . Even 1% helps . Everything after that is secondary .

– That was the last question . Do you have anything you’d like to say?

– We will be the only ones who meet with the Corrupt Count .

That was the opening of the Corrupt Count raid broadcast .

An Jaehyun watched the video, holding his tablet PC in his left hand, while his right hand was dropping glucose candies into his coffee . After filling his coffee to the point it was about to overflow, An Jaehyun finally took a sip . The bitter taste of the coffee and the glucose candy’s cheap sugary taste made the drink taste like a medicine .

Thinking about the live broadcast’s ticket he paid for, An Jaehyun couldn’t help but wonder .

‘With a price like this, they couldn’t have sold more than 500,000 won . ’

Before An Jaehyun returned to the past, the Hydra Guild’s Corrupt Count live ticket cost was 15,000 won, and 1,960,000 tickets were sold . It was a new record at the time, and the Hydra Guild pulled in over 10,000,000,000 won .

The reason they were able to do so well was that they took their time . The raid date was as one would expect, and the tickets were sold over three days as well . This time, on the other hand, the tickets were expensive and sold for only one day .

As long as the Hydra Guild wasn’t stupid, there was no way they didn’t know they were losing out . With that in mind, since they were going this far, it could only mean that the situation was urgent .

Taking a sip from his coffee again, An Jaehyun made a glum face .

‘The chance of them failing… is greater than 90% . Yeah, there’s no way . ’

An Jaehyun reminisced .

‘Well, they failed in the past, so they would have failed this time anyhow . ’

In the past, the Hydra Guild had failed their first Corrupt Count raid .

They fought well and defeated the Corrupt Count . However, when the Corrupt Count’s HP dropped to 0, a new phase activated and the Corrupt Count ran away . It was similar to how the Golden Skeleton ran away . In the end, the Hydra Guild failed to catch the Corrupt Count they defeated, and it took them another month before they succeeded .

‘The fact that he runs away is a pain . ’

When the Corrupt Count ran away, a new quest appeared to chase after the Corrupt Count . That was why it took so long to capture him again . If he didn’t run and stayed in a single place, it wouldn’t have taken longer than 10 days to catch him again . Even so, it was amazing that it could last 10 days with all of the Top 30 Guilds waiting in line 24/7 to go into the Corrupt Count raid .

This was the reason An Jaehyun tipped all 29 guilds .

‘If I sold the information, I would have been swimming in Wagyu steak all year . ’

Of course, he felt like it was a waste .

If he sold the information on the Corrupt Count’s identity, he would have made an enormous profit .

However, it wasn’t smart to do so . If An Jaehyun received the money on his bank account, people would be able to trace him no matter what he did . It wouldn’t be so bad if it just ended there . The problem was that people would grow suspicious of him . If someone who started Warlord 3 months ago knew the identity of the Corrupt Count, it would be Tobot Soft that would come looking for him, not the Top 30 Guilds .

If An Jaehyun had an amazing plan in mind or the connections to back him up, he would have been able to sell it, but An Jaehyun didn’t have such an ability . This was something An Jaehyun knew better than anyone else .

However, he didn’t want to let this end as a freebee .

‘Whatever . ’

Because of his last tip, his future tips would hold credibility . If An Jaehyun became a Ranker class player, then there would be no problem selling information openly . After all, it was common for guilds not part of the Top 30 Guilds to sell them information regarding the main scenario quest .

‘I’ll think of it as my business card . ’

Of course, An Jaehyun had no intention of selling any information .

After all, everything would be his in the future .

★★★

Storm Queen Shir and Matador Chev .

Two guild masters representing two of Warlord’s Top 30 Guilds met in the middle of a forest .

It wasn’t just the two of them . Ten players they brought encircled the table they were sitting around . They were also Warlord’s Ranker class players .

It was a scene that would send chills down the spine of any Warlord fan .

It was in this stage that their conversation started .

“It seems the Hydra Guild just went into the Corrupt Count’s castle . ”

The first to speak was Storm Queen Shir .

“I’ve heard . ”

“What do you think is going to happen? What do you think is the chance of them succeeding on the First Kill . ”

“Half-half? They’ll either succeed or fail . ”

“What a lazy reply for someone who’s 9th in Rankings . ”

At Shir’s harsh tone, Chev went further into detail .

“I’m sure they prepared to an extent, but they started much quicker than their D-Day . Even if they were ready material-wise, it can’t be said that they are mentally prepared . Moreover, the pressure on them to succeed on the First Kill is big . In terms of percentage…”

Before Chev could even finish his thought, Shir spoke out .

“I’ll bet 1,000,000 gold on them failing . You?”

Chev didn’t flinch in the slightest at Shir’s words, and immediately replied .

“I have no interest in betting . ”

“Weak . ”

“I have no interest in getting the short end of such an obvious bet . ”

At the phrase ‘obvious bet’, Shir chuckled . At such an open laugh, the Red Bulls players behind Chev bursted out in anger . In response, the Stormhunter Guild members also twisted their neck, as if they were warming up for battle .

Of course, a fight did not break out . It wasn’t a meeting arranged for such a purpose .

In fact, it was the opposite .

“Let’s stop fooling around and cut to the chase . There’s no point in either of us trying to get the upper hand when we’re here to join hands . ”

It was arranged for them to join hands .

The Stormhunters and Red Bulls . These two guilds obtained the qualifications to participate in the Corrupt Count raid after the Hydra Guild .

For boss monster raids, challengers received the qualification in the order that they came . It was the unwritten rule of Warlord . Since the Hydra Guild was the first to claim the Corrupt Count’s castle, they were first . Then came the Red Bulls Guild and the Stormhunter Guild .

In reality, this was a rare occasion . When guilds joined hands to participate in a raid, it was usually the case that the guild further down the raid order made offers to the guild higher on the raid order . It was never the case that guilds 2nd and 3rd in order joined hands, especially when they were usually fierce competitors .

The fact that this meeting happened nonetheless spoke to how important this raid was .

It was easy to tell how valuable the Corrupt Count raid was . It was more important than any of the other raids up to this point . Furthermore, this was their only chance . If they failed, the Corrupt Count raid would end before they would have the chance to try again . As such, they needed to make sure they succeeded on their first try .

Plus…

“So? How much did your tip say?”

“Probably as much as yours . ”

“You didn’t succeed in contacting the sender, did you?”

“We tried using the address he sent the tip from to contact him . We saw that he read our message, but he didn’t reply . How about you?”

“No comment . ”

There was a story behind this Corrupt Count raid .

All 29 guilds received an anonymous tip regarding the identity of the Corrupt Count .

At first, they thought it was done by an insider from the Hydra Guild . However, the tip used as bait was just too valuable for that to be true . Plus, if the sender’s goal was to sell the information, he would have contacted a few guilds . Contacting all 29 lacked common sense .

Another possibility they considered was that the sender had a personal grudge against the Hydra Guild and was doing this to get revenge . However, this possibility was quickly struck down . They knew that the Hydra Guild’s management wasn’t so poor .

They couldn’t help but be curious about the identity and intention of the sender . The only thing they knew for sure was that the sender had a motive for doing so .

In other words, if the Corrupt Count raid was dragged on, there was a huge chance that he would make a move again .

In that case, it was to the two guild’s advantage to sort out the situation before the sender made his move .

As such, there was a clear reason for the two guilds to join hands .

Talking about various things now was nothing more than pointless small talk . That was the reason the two guild masters were acting so bluntly . They already had their answer, and what they talked about at this point would not change it .

“I’m not really a fan of all this official business stuff . ”

“We have to at least look the role . ”

“I think we’ve done a good enough job . ”

With that, Shir put her hand out, and Chev took her hand in response .

“Come to think of it, this is the first time we’re shaking hands . ”

“I haven’t shaken hands with any other guild masters, you know?”

“What an interesting turn of events . ”

“Agreed . ”

The Stormhunters and Red Bulls officially joined hands .

★★★

4 hours into the Corrupt Count raid .

-How is the current situation?

– Not good . But we still have a chance .

Boom!

Watching the flashy effects and thunderous roars of various skills, An Jaehyun took off his glasses and turned off his tablet PC .

An Jaehyun blinked to water his dry eyes as he knitted his brows .

“Tsk, tsk . ”

An Jaehyun audibly clicked his tongue .

‘That was a raid unfit for the Hydra Guild’s name . ’

The one on its receiving end was obviously the Hydra Guild .

‘From 1 to 10, there was not a single good thing . A raid specialist guild that’s not part of the Top 30 Guilds would have done much better . ’

The Hydra Guild’s Corrupt Count raid was simply the worst .

It was fine up to the point of meeting the Corrupt Count . The process of revealing all the facts and making the Corrupt Count reveal his identity on his own was perfect . It was enough to make An Jaehyun applaud at how their preparations and quest progressed .

The problem arose after the Corrupt Count summoned his corrupted monsters . The Corrupt Count ran away and the battle broke out .

There were seven monsters he summoned . Tankers aggroed the monsters and split the battlefield into seven fronts . It was perfect up to this point . However, the Hydra Guild lost in three of these seven battles .

‘This isn’t the Hydra Guild I know . It’s not that they were lacking in ability . It’s just that they couldn’t bring it out to the fullest . ’

Just like that, the Hydra Guild was forced to fight the Corrupt Count when they didn’t have some of their forces . They didn’t have much of a choice . At that point, it was either do or die .

Immediately afterwards, the Corrupt Count awakened his Power of Corruption .

Then, the main battle broke out .

Here, the Hydra Guild made yet another mistake .

‘In a do or die situation, you have to go all in . Why is the second head sitting in the back?’

The Hydra Guild’s second head, Sohank, was said to be the strongest in fighting .

However, he joined the fight only after 5 minute had already passed .

It was a huge mistake .

Although it was fine when fighting large-sized monsters, when fighting human-form monsters, the ace card had to draw the aggro without holding back . Because of the unknown anonymous tip, the Hydra Guild took too much precaution and held their ace back .

‘To think they forgot about such a basic concept . They must have had a mental breakdown . ’

In the first place, if the ace card didn’t work, the raid was bound to fail .

Of course, it was okay to save the ace card until later . It’s not something to be used willy-nilly, but that was before fighting the boss monster . When fighting the boss monster, one had to go all or nothing .

As a result of Sohank holding back, the Hydra Guild failed to hold the Corrupt Count’s aggro, and he changed his target to the magicians and the priests in the back . In an instant, three magicians and two priests were killed, and such a loss in a situation where they were already lacking in manpower was devastating .

It was the death sentence .

That’s when An Jaehyun stopped watching .

‘No need to waste my time and watch them die . The live broadcast will probably end soon with an apology interview . ’

He knew the broadcast would end soon .

In any case, what was important to An Jaehyun was that the Hydra Guild failed without having properly caught the Corrupt Count .

‘The next one’s going to need to succeed . ’

It wasn’t a good news to An Jaehyun either . After all, An Jaehyun wanted the Corrupt Count to die as soon as possible . For that reason, An Jaehyun wanted the next challenger to succeed .

If the Corrupt Count didn’t die within the next 25 days, there would have been no sense in him giving out such a valuable information .

‘I’ve done so much for you all, so someone kill it please . I don’t care who… though it’d hurt my soul if the Stormhunters get it . ’

An Jaehyun made a wry smile .

To be honest, he wasn’t in a good mood . There was no way he would be when he was on the losing end of the trade . It seemed things would stay that way for a while as well .

‘I’m probably going to have to share the Immoral Prince too . ’

The second main scenario quest after the Corrupt Count, the Immoral Prince .

It was unlikely for An Jaehyun to be the main character in the Immoral Prince scenario quest . To gain something, one had to pay the price . In the end, he would probably have to share it .

It was painful for someone as greedy as An Jaehyun .

But it would just be until then .

‘But in the Ruined Kingdom…’

In the third stage, he had no intention of sharing anything with anyone .

‘I’ll take it all . ’

The Top 30 Guilds will have to fight over An Jaehyun’s leftovers . That was An Jaehyun’s goal . If he couldn’t achieve it, then there would be no meaning in him going through so much trouble to solo play .

An Jaehyun got up from his seat .

‘Alright, time to go play with my skellies again . I can’t forget to educate them . ’

It was time to start gaming again .