Emperor of Solo Play Chapter 179

Chapter 179 - Hero Slaughterer (2)

5.

Heaven helps those who helps themselves.

‘As expected, the surest way to accomplish something is to have the heavens on my side.’

This idiom was like an immutable truth to Heh-bibin, and he felt the meaning of the words in his bones.

‘I never expected this to work out so well.’

The Big Smiles guild members attacked and killed Whistling, who had been hunting inside the Highwood Forest.  

It was done openly, so no one could deny it had happened.  They were very thorough in eliminating the Pitbull.

If one looked at it form a gains and losses perspective, one would have a hard time saying the Big Smiles guild had gained anything from this.

The immediate concern for the guild was to come up with a method to deal with the Hydra guild.  It would be great if it ended in a war of words, but if the problem worsened, they might have to prepare for a war.  The act of killing Pitbull had angered the Hydra guild.  Nothing profitable would come from facing a red-faced opponent.

However, a significant number of Big Smiles guild members were supportive of the Users, who had cost the bottomline of Big Smiles guild.  They had cheered at learning the decision, action and the execution that had went into killing Pitbull.

Moreover, the ones that participated in the hunt of Pitbull didn't hide their actions.  They were  unapologetic.

“Whistling hunted in a Big Smiles guild territory without our permission.  He is basically a thief.  I just chased out a thief from my house.”

“We'd rather have people curse at Big Smiles guild rather than the guild being the butt of everyone's joke."

“We willingly accept any punishment from the guild.  However, we don't think we did anything wrong.”

There had been 11 of them.

Eleven members had participated in the Pitbull hunt, and they had achieved hero status for their actions amongst the normal Big Smiles guild members.

'Still, I never expected the discontent amongst the members to be this high.’

Basically, the discontent within the guild had reached a boiling point.

After Sinclair's exploits, the Big Smiles guild's standing kept increasing.  When they started out at the Black Continent, the Five Stars threatened the name of Top Three.  The Big Smiles guild was one of the pillars of this organization.

At the time, Big Smiles' live channel increased in viewership, and they had reached new highs in terms of profits from the sponsors.  It was the proof of their success.

However, after Hahoe Mask's Anugas Raid, Big Smiles guild's standing started to drop.  Now their standings wasn't so different from what it was before they joined the Five Stars guild.  

This damaging result accelerated when the Highwood Forest, which was the main hunting ground of the Big Smiles guild, was allowed to become the playground of the Hahoe Mask.

There had been side effects to the Hahoe Mask's actions.  It was getting harder to control their hunting ground.  Other Users were starting to follow after the Hahoe Mask's actions.  The Big Smiles guild started becoming an entity no one feared.

‘The only thing left is to see what the Hydra guild chooses to do.’

The discontent was simmering to a boiling point.

Depending on what the Hydra guild chose to do, this could be an explosive situation.  It'll come to a head at some point.

If the situation becomes explosive, the ones in charge of the guild would suffer heavy damages.  In recent days, Heh-bibin didn't have a voice in how the guild was being run.  

Of course, this situation wouldn't cause Heh-bibin any headaches.

‘This is the best.’

Of course, he was forgetting about the irresistible force called the Hahoe Mask….

6.

Normally, a 10 man party was formed for a Wood Devil hunt.  There was an odd quirk to these parties.  Over half of the 10 man party was either a Striker or a Swordsman.

At the lowest, there were five Swordsman in the 10 man party.  At most, one could see seven Swordsman in a party.

There were two big reasons why this was the case.

It was impossible for Tankers to block the Wood Devil.

The Wood Devil's attack pattern was simple.   It swung its arm like a whip or it brought down it arm like a hammer.  The attack pattern was simple, yet the power behind the attacks was terrifying.  Even if the highest level Tanker with decent equipments and buffs tried to block the attack, one wouldn't be able to withstand a direct hit from the Wood Devil.

The Tankers wouldn't be able to use their usual methods to block the attacks.

So what could one do against the Wood Devil?

One had to defeat the Wood Devil at its own game.  The only thing a Tanker could do was to lure and dodge attacks in front of the Wood Devil.

“Chen is down！”

“Shit!  I'll pull the Aggro.”

“Then I'll save Chen.”

Accidents always happened, so the party had to have a contingency plan. The Tanker was needed as a pinch-hitter.  

This was the Tanker's only role.  This was why there were so many Swordsman or Strikers compared to the other classes.

“Stop attacking!  Stop the attack Cicadas!”

The other reason for having so many Strikers was the method in which damage was given to the Wood Devil.

The Wood Devil had a high magical defence.  If one wanted to lower the magical defense, Armor Breaking was needed.   The Wood Devil did not wear any defensive gear.  It also didn't have any skin or bark, which could act as an armor.  The Wood Devil's enormous body was just a mixture of rocks, dirt and trees.  

This was why the Strikers were needed to dislodge these rocks, and this was akin to Armor Breaking work.  Since one needed a lot of work to pull off this Armor Break, one needed more Users working on the project.  This was why Strikers were more desired than the Magicians or Tankers.  These Strikers were nicknamed as the Cicadas.

The singing of the Cicadas came to an end.  They couldn't attack until the Aggro landed on the Tanker.

Koohng!

The Cicadas started to move once again when the Wood Devil was lured by the new Tanker.  The Wood Devil was bring down both its arm in an attempt to crush the Tanker with one blow.

“All right.  The pinch-hitter was successful.”

“Start it up again, Cicadas!”

The Strikers once again latched onto the Wood Devil's body, and they started excavating the stones.

During all of this, the Priests healed anyone at death's door with Healing Skill.  At the same time, the Users with their Buffs expired came to get a full tank of gas again.  The Priests worked to restore the Buffs.

Everything was somewhat going to plan when an unexpected variable butted in.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

The question came out of nowhere towards the Priest, who was calculating his Buff Skill Cooldown.  The Priest turned his head.  There wasn't a single ounce of suspicion inside the Priest's head.

“What question?  Speak.”

The Priest thought the question had been asked by a comrade.  It would be strange if it was someone other than his comrade especially in this situation.  Anyone in his shoes would have made the same assumption.

“Ah.  It isn't a difficult question.”

When the Priest turned his head, he became frightened at what he saw.

‘Huhk！’

He was so surprised that sound refused to come out of this throat.

The User, who had asked him a question, wore a Hahoe Mask.  It was the scariest mask in Warlord, and the User in armor spoke in a friendly manner.

“My friend was PKed here by fucking assholes.  I'm here for revenge, and I'm looking for the culprits.”

“Ha…ha…Hahoe…."

The Priest was so shocked that words weren't coming out of his mouth.  Hyrkan continued to speak.

“I'm sorry for interfering with your hunt, but I'm in a hurry.  Anyways, let me show you what my friend looks like.  He's the one who was PKed.”

As he spoke, Hyrkan took out a sheet of paper, and he raised it in front of the Priest's nose.  It wasn't a drawing of a person.  It was a picture of a famous fighting dog called a Pitbull Terrier.  

“He's not the type to be pushed around.  However, in a bout of bad luck, he was beaten and killed.  He couldn’t do anything, since his opponents roamed in a party that numbered  around ten Users.  This is why I'm trying to hunt them down with my group.”

Hyrkan turned to look backwards.  There were 30 Skeleton Warriors a good distance away.  They looked like they were ready to rush their enemies.  Hyrkan turned back to look at the Priest.

“Anyways, I'm looking for the bastards, who attacked my friend.  I don't know their identities nor do I know what they look like.  My friend is prideful, so he won't tell me what I want to know.  Ah!!”

At that moment, Hyrkan acted as if he had an epiphany.  He lightly poked at the Priest's left chest with his finger.  The Priest backed up in fright.   

Hyrkan spoke to the Priest as he laughed.

“For your information, those bastards had the same emblem as the one on your chest.  They had that ridiculous smiley face on them.  So do you think will be able to tell me their identities?  You look like someone, who might know the answer.”

“It's the Hahoe Mask!”

At that moment, the name Hahoe Mask swept through the battlefield.  The name was spoken not by the Priest in front of Hyrkan.  It was the other Priest.  When his name was spoken, everyone turned their gazes towards him.

“Hahoe Mask?”

“Crazy……!”

The ones, who had the luxury of being able to turn their attention away from the battle, focused on the Hahoe Mask.

“What? What's going on?”

“Did you say it was the Hahoe Mask?  We are being attacked by him right now?”

The Users, who couldn't afford to look away, asked questions as they felt a bout of anxiety.

Moreover, they weren't the only ones, who reacted to the name of the Hahoe Mask.

– Hahoe Mask? Hahoe Mask made an appearance there? 

– Support! Send support!

– Where?

The Level Up support team was helping this party, so they were receiving a live update.  When the Level Up support team received the information, they were taken aback.

He kept looking at the frozen Priest as he spoke.

“I just wanted to question you in a quiet manner.  I'm sorry for intruding on your hunt.  I'm really sorry.”

Of course, there wasn't an ounce of contrition behind his words.  Hyrkan's words sounded playful, but his lips didn't even twitch upwards.

“I guess you are too busy with the hunt to talk.  I'll return after you finish your hunt.”

Even now the guild members didn’t dare to surround Hyrkan.  They didn't even attempt it.

Hyrkan turned his head to look at the battlefield.  The Wood Devil was causing a big ruckus, but the Big Smiles guild members just stared at him.  When he turned to look at them again, they flinched in surprise.

Hyrkan held the piece of paper in his hand, and he showed them the drawing of a Pitbull Terrier.

“This is my friend.  If you know, who PKed my friend, you should tell me….”

Koo-oohng, kooh-oohng!

“Ooh-ahk.  Shit!”

At that moment, a Tanker fell.  The User was nailed to the ground by the Wood Devil's fist.  The User let out a scream for help.

However, his guild mates ignored his cry for help as they kept staring at Hyrkan.

Hyrkan spoke to them.

“You can give those bastards a message.  I'll put all of you guys into the slaughter house.”

It was a declaration of war.

Four Golems appeared.  They were of Earth, Fire, Ice and Steel.  They were imposing, and they were sent towards the 10 Big Smiles guild members.

As if he wasn't satisfied with this, the Skeleton Warriors appeared from between the enormous legs of the Golems.  They attacked the Users.

Of course, the Users fought back.

“Mega Flare!”

The Magician attacked the Golem with a powerful magical spell.

“Shield Crush！”

Gwah-ahng!

The Tankers used their Shields to send the Skeleton Warriors flying.

Kah-ahng, kah-ahng!

The Strikers fought a fierce battle with the Skeleton Warriors.  Weapons clashed, and damage started to appear on armors on both sides.

“Buff!  Buff!”

“Wait a minute!”

The Priest's desperately tried to douse the fire.

It was a bedlam.  Outside of this pandemonium, a private battle was occurring.

A man  was wearing a tattered armor with the Big Smiles guild logo.  He had lost his helmet, and his face was revealed.  His face was marked with wounds from a sword.

The User looked to be in rough shape as he lay spread eagle on the floor.  A pillar-like leg was pressing down on the User's chest, so he was unable to get up.  He was completely subdued.

“Cheap bastard.  You threw sand in a one on one battle!”

The User's mouth was the only thing he was able to flap.

“When did I say I won't spray sand?  I said I won't use any Skills.  Anyways, aren't you going to force a logout??”

At the User's words, Hyrkan replied in a composed manner.

“You son of a bitch.  We wouldn't have killed Pitbull if we weren't prepared to face you.”

Hyrkan smiled instead of getting mad.

“So why didn't you guys attack me?  Huh?  Were you guys scared of me?  Did you guys attack Pitbull because he was less scary?”

“You provoked us first!”

“If someone heard you, one would think our relationship soured only recently.”

Hyrkan spoke as he stabbed at the User's chest with his sword.  The sword slipped in deep between the already crumbling armor.  The User didn't scream, since he felt no pain.

“Weren't we on bad terms even before we crossed the Urugal mountain range?  Now that I think about it, you guys tried fuck me over in the Anugas Raid.  Did you participate in that?”

“I'll get my revenge soon.  We'll do to you what we did to Pitbull.”

At those words, Hyrkan pull out the sword, and he stabbed down again.  The repeated stab made the User's HP drop to zero.  After finishing his work, he turned to look at his Golems, Skeleton Warriors and the Big Smiles guild members.

At that moment, Hyrkan gave an order.  The Golems and the Skeleton Warriors, who were relentlessly attacking, stopped.

“What?”

“What's going on?”

A clap needed two palms to strike each other.  When the Skeleton Warriors and Golems stopped their attack, the Big Smiles guild members also stopped their attack.  

When this sudden peace arrived, Hyrkan walked as he spoke.

“I'm sorry for interrupting your hunt.  A User, who was in your hunting party, was killed by me.  It was a personal matter.  The rest of you can continue your hunt.  Please enjoy yourselves, and I wish you luck on gaining good drops.”

As he spoke, Hyrkan spoke with the most contemptible and nasty smile full of ridicule on his face.

Hyrkan had started his work to catch the big giant.

Chapter end