Chapter 74

Chapter 74 – Battlefield (1)

1 .

[Battlefield]

– Quest Rank : Rare

– Quest Level Range : Over 80, Equal or below level 100 .

– Quest Content : Battlefield . Please get rid of all the monsters across the Terube castle walls .

– Quest Reward : The Reward changes depending on the number of monsters killed .

Hyrkan had a queer expression on his face as he looked at the content of the Quest .

‘I never expected to have the opportunity to run a Battlefield in this fashion . ’

Battlefield .

The hunting content that exemplified Warlord after the the Boss Monster Raid was the Battlefield .

The Battlefield was a stage where the monsters would be crawling all over the place . Ordinarily, there was a standard castle wall, and the field across it was the stage for the Battlefield . Only the skilled users acknowledged by the Subjugation Association was able to go into a Battlefield . Hyrkan had received the Battlefield Admission Pass from Ahimbree, and it was a form of a ticket .

‘It is a hellhole overflowing with money . ’

The Battlefield's regen system was turned up higher compared to a normal Dungeon or a field hunting ground . There were a lot more monsters, and they appeared at a faster rate . The monsters were endless even if one kept killing them . Moreover, only the users who satisfied a prerequisite condition could go in .

It was basically a land overflowing with monsters .

Of course, it was dangerous . However, the danger came with great EXP, and the reward was quite good .

If one performed well on the Battlefield, the Subjugation Association would acknowledge the player publicly . The public notoriety one could gain wasn't comparable to the one gained through the Quests given by the Subjugation Association . Once one build one's reputation from the Subjugation Association, one could gather further titles, and later on one could gain authority within Warlord . It wasn't a reward that could be ignored .

However, the fact that there was a lot of monsters wasn't why this hunting content was the most popular one after the Raids . There was always an Event Quest attached to the Battlefield Quest .

The content of the Event Quest was usually about catching a certain monster . If one was able to catch this specific monster, the Reward was quite significant .

'The jackpot Rewards appeared at a Battlefield for users over level 200 . . . . It ranged from one thousand gold to the appearance of a Unique Item . It was unexpectedly big time . '

On top of this, the Event Quest was given to multiple parties, and it happened simultaneously .

Naturally, there was a competition to catch the Boss Monster .

This was why this event was fun . Usually, one had to wait one's turn when a Boss Monster appeared . That was the etiquette . However, this concept was useless on the Battlefield . One had to use every ways and means to kill the target monster on the Battlefield! Basically, that was the rule .

It was a form of chaos allowed by Warlord .

Some users enjoyed the Battlefield fights more than the Boss Monster Raids .

This was a stage that suited Hyrkan's style . Unexpectedly, Hyrkan hadn't participated much on the Battlefield stage . One had to gain a reputation, complete tasks, and be acknowledged for one's skill by the Subjugation Association . Only then would one be able to gain a pass into the Battlefield . The Hahoe Mask Guild had mainly focused on Boss Monster Raids, so of course, he didn't have much opportunity to do this .

‘This will be fun . ’

This was the reason why Hyrkan had a queer expression on his face .

This would be fun, However, he also knew that he hadn't been able to do this in the past, because he hadn’t been in a situation where he could compete in this battle .

Of course, this wasn't a stage for users, who soloed . The basic party structures numbered between 5 to 7 members on the Battlefield . On the very large Battlefield stage, one could create a party up to 30 members . Of course, that was an exception to the rule .

Basically, Hyrkan had to go up against 7 member parties . It wouldn't be easy .

As mentioned before, the Battlefield didn't have any rules . It was quite common to see PKs .

If it was the old Hyrkan, he would have dispassionately made a decision, and he would have ripped the Battlefield Admission Ticket into pieces .

However, the current Hyrkan was different .

‘Below level 100 . . . ’

Hyrkan would enter a Battlefield where the users would be between level 80 and level 100 .

‘At least, there won’t be a lot of users here, who went through the 1st Promotion . ’

It says up to level 100, so there might be some users who went through the promotion already . They'll be hard to deal with, but the users below that level won't be too hard to deal with if he was being honest . Moreover, he had earned the proof of the Secret Society . Hyrkan's battle capability was amazing .

‘It won't be easy, but it isn't impossible . ’

Moreover, Warlord users were romantics .

The act of soloing a Boss Raid Monster, or soloing the Battlefield also fell into this sense of romanticism .

Of course, if the outcome was favorable, one could also expect a tidy profit from the footage .

‘Anyways, I can't immediately go to the Urugal mountain range right now, and I need more money . ’

It wasn't too hard for Hyrkan to make his decision .

2 .

“You want me to get rid of the Hahoe Mask?”

A greasy, slow and inarticulate voice flowed into Heh-bibin's ear .

– Yes . I beg of you .

The main character of the voice was Apollo's guild master, Apollo . His voice made Heh-bibin feel uncomfortable .

“The Hahoe Mask…… What's the reason?”

– He insulted our guild .

Heh-bibin, who had been listening to Apollo's story, had to stop himself from laughing at Apollo in ridicule .

‘Insulted? What a joke . ’

Apollo guild was the one disgracing the Apollo guild . They were doing it to themselves . They put strength above all else, and they basically acted with poor manner . How could such a guild be insulted any further? That was the real question here .

However, Heh-bibin only showed his true feeling through his expression . He didn't say it out loud .

‘I guess I've gone as far as I can go . ’

Normally,when Apollo brought such requests, he would give various reasons or no reason at all when he firmly turned down Apollo .

Big Smile Guild was one of the 30 great guild, and Heh-bibin was one of the officers in that guild . If he personally helped out the Apollo Guild, wouldn't he be inviting trouble by doing so?

The problem right now was the current situation .

‘I can't believe I have to think about this right now . ’

Big Smile wasn't in a good state right now .

From Heh-bibin's perspective, he couldn't ignore the money given by Apollo, but it wasn't enough to put his life on the line . The important element here was Apollo's father . He needed a closer tie to Apollo's father . His father wasn't that amazing, but he possessed enough wealth to easily drop a sponsor contract worth a million dollar .

Moreover, his father ran a company that was well-known within China . Truthfully, the name of the company was more important than the money . If they could get a sponsorship from that company, the guild would get recognition, and trust .

‘The Hahoe Mask…… . ’

If it was a reasonable request, he would have accepted the request .

If only the mark wasn't the Hahoe mask .

‘It'll be difficult . ’

Currently, all the relevant people in the 30 great guilds knew about the Hahoe Mask . He was that hot right now . If he could make a cameo in a broadcast, one could easily get a million viewers . Of course, it was possible to get more than that . The 30 great guilds, and the rest of the guilds was trying hard to contact him .

If Apollo Guild took care of him by accepting the request of the Apollo guild, the Big Smile Guild wouldn't receive any good publicity . Big Smile already had a negative public impression, and they didn't need to pour gasoline on top of it .

Heh-bibin thought hard on it once again .

Then he gave his answer .

'I can't afford to move any of our forces to catch the Hahoe Mask . '

If he wanted to track down and kill the Hahoe mask, he would need a significant amount of manpower and effort to succeed . If he made it the business of the Big Smile guild, it would be child's play . However, that option wasn't possible . In the end, Heh-bibin had to move his personal troops and his personal guards, but they were woefully inadequate for this task . It was easy to kill him, but the finding the Hahoe Mask was the hard part .

Heh-bibin opened his mouth .

“I'm sorry . The guild is in a tough place right now . Moreover, I can’t do anything unless I know the the exact location of the Hahoe Mask . ”

Refusal .

– Please I beg of you . Big Smile doesn't have to put their name out there . If you can catch that bastard, I will pay you what the task is worth .

However, Apollo didn't stop . He kept up his entreaties . At his request, Heh-bibin eventually came to a compromise .

“Big Smile can't move to capture the Hahoe Masked . However, I can use various individuals to look for the Hahoe Mask . We'll talk again once I find him . ”

Even as he spoke, Heh-bibin thought there was a very low probability he'll be able to find the Hahoe-mask . If it was easy to meet the Hahoe Mask, the 30 great guild wouldn't have to go all over looking for him .

However, it didn't take him too long to change his mind .

3 .

The high castle walls made one think about a modern building . It stretched out to the sides, and it was hard to see the end with the naked eye . Hyrkan's expression hardened when he saw the existence of the castle wall from afar .

‘This is the first time I'm visiting the Terube castle walls . ’

The wall he was looking at was named Terube . It was located north of the Bangtz castle, which Hyrkan had visited earlier . It was like a Maginot line that blocked the group of monsters from moving towards the south .

On top of that, no one had broke ground above the castle walls . There was a Block Field formed over it .

This was why there was a lot of interest in this place . What was the method to break the Block Field? If the Block field was broken and the monsters were killed, what was across this place?

‘If I remember correctly, the Frozen Kingdom is across this place?’

Of course, Hyrkan knew about it .

Across this castle wall, there was a frozen kingdom if one kept traveling that way . It was a stage set up for users over level 200 . Hyrkan had nothing to do with that stage in the past .

‘The Stormhunter bastards took everything from the Frozen Kingdom . . . . Shit . . . ’

When he thought about the memories regarding the Frozen Kingdom, he fought down the bitter smile that formed on his face . Hyrkan swallowed his bitter memory . He moved towards the keeper's office, one had to always visit, if one wanted to go across the castle walls .

The keeper's office already had a lot of visitors . Numerous users were gathered there . Of course, most of them were around level 80 .

“Mmm?”

“Uh?”

The users recognized Hyrkan's style of clothes . They realized the presence of Hyrkan by his Shadow Dog leather set and the Hahoe Mask he wore .

“Is that the Hahoe Mask?”

“Really?”

“Wasn't the Hahoe Mask at the Parung Forest? Why would a person, who was at the Parung Forest, come north to the Terube castle walls? Doesn’t it take a very long time to make the round trip?”

The atmosphere was becoming unsettled .

“Why else do you think he came here? He came to run the Battlefield . ”

The unsettled atmosphere soon turned to nervousness . There was only one reason why a user would come here .

The Battlefield!

There was no other reasons . The only users capable of crossing the castle walls were those, who had received the Battlefield Pass . Normal users could do nothing here, and not even the merchants came to this place .

If Hyrkan was here, he was probably at this location for the same reason as them .

He came here to run the Battlefield, and it would start soon .

“A really incredible competitor has shown up . ”

“Is he going to run it by himself?”

“He caught the Bear Warrior by himself, so it's quite possible he might solo the Battlefield . ”

“Remember when he caught the Golden Skeleton? The Hahoe Mask will be a very formidable competitor . ”

It basically meant an incredible competitor had appeared . This was the cause of their nervousness .

The users' expression changed . It was the expression made when looking at a rival . Their expression wasn't that great as they stared at the very difficult competitor . They frowned as their eyes narrowed . Some even expressed their displeasure .

Hyrkan put on a slight smile as he looked at their expressions .

‘This will be fun . . ’

Hyrkan used to feel such feelings of wariness dierected at him everyday .

This level of wariness was laughable . When he was with the Stormhunters, he had gone head to head with the 30 great guilds . If he was someone, who would become afraid from seeing users of similar level put up their guard, he wouldn't have started a war in the first place .

Of course, not everyone was looking at Hyrkan that way . Several users greeted Hyrkan, who was famous in Warlord .

“Aren't you the Hahoe Mask?”

“Yes . ”

“I've enjoyed looking at your videos . ”

“Thank you . ”

“Are you here to run the Battlefield?”

“Yes . ”

“Do you think I can take a photo with you?”

“Of course . ”

People stuck to Hyrkan to take a evidence photo . Not all people played this game by devoting their whole life to it . There were more users playing this game for fun than those who put their lives on the line . For these people, it was a fun experience where they were able to meet a famous player like Hyrkan .

However, there was a gaze looking at Hyrkan that fell into a third category .

‘Why is the guy Heh-bibin hyung-nim was talking about at this location?’

The user stealthily covered the round smiley face mark on his chest .

This man was in the third category unlike the people in the other two categories .

4 .

Hyrkan was about to take his 5th evidence photo when a short man wearing large armor appeared .

“Attention!”

The armor looked burdensome on the man . The man was the captain keeper of the Terube castle walls . His name was Bagel .

He appeared as he spoke in a loud voice . The man continued to speak without taking the stock of the mood around him .

“I won't give you a long speech . ”

The words he spat out was stiff, yet his voice was slight and beautiful . It was as if a sweet boy was trying to put on a serious front . Several female users had a queer smile on their face . It seemed Bagel was their type .

However, none of the users acted out of turn at Bagel's words . No one did' anything strange . Nothing good would come from antagonizing a NPC in Warlord . These users were over level 80, so they were well aware of this fact .

Bagel continued to speak without any difficulty .

“Each of the warriors here have been acknowledged by the Subjugation Association . At the same time, we recruited you here, so you can use your abilities to your heart's content . This is why I will open the castle gate for you guys . "

Everyone nodded their head, and Bagel continued his speech .

“The castle gates will open 144 hours later after it is opened once . During that time, all you have to do is fight . Kill the monsters . There is nothing else . The more you kill the more befitting the reward will be . ”

Reward!

It was a sweet word, but none of the users reacted to that word . Instead, everyone waited for Bagel's next words .

‘I don't want to know that . Tell us the other part . ’

‘Tell us the event . ’

Everyone gathered here already knew about the reward . They wanted something else .

“Also, there is a monster tormenting the keepers of castle wall . The person, who’s able to kill it, will receive a personal reward from me . ”

It happened when Bagel spat out those words .

[Event Quest 'Blue Giant' is starting]

The new quest was starting .

The users finally let out a smile . Everyone had come here to receive this quest . They had come to the Battlefield for this reason .

“Each of you are responsible for your own lives . ”

Bagel let those words linger, and he turned his back towards the group . The moment Bagle turned his back, everyone predictably looked at the watch on their left wrist .

Everyone reacted at the same time .

“Uh?”

“Huh!”

“Wa!”

Hyrkan also let out a yell .

“Wow . ”

The reason for the reaction was . . .

‘The Quest Reward is a Unique Skill Book? Crazy!’

This battlefield had a jackpot item on the line .