Chapter 103 - Guerrillas (3)

“How did you guys pull it off?”

There was no butting heads. It wasn't as if there had been some nefarious plot. In the end, they had lost in a fair fight.

Instead of being angered, they were curious. The team with Hyrkan as the centerpiece had pulled off a perfect raid. They had been singing their own praise. However, another party had caught the Evil Eye with a better time? They couldn't believe it.

However, no one gave a straight answer to the question.

“Well, we were just lucky.”

That was it. No one elaborated any further. It was as if they had come to an agreement beforehand. Instead of carrying on the conversation, the members of the party kept eyeing a particular User intermittently as they spoke.

The members with the Hahoe Mask's team observed how the Noopy Family acted. They had a rough idea on what was going on, so they started eyeing the User too.

‘Who is he?’

‘Those Items look extraordinary. What kind of Items are those?’

However, Hyrkan didn't cast side-glances at the User. He outright stared at the User.

‘If it's the Greenstone Imoogi set... The level 150 Evil Eye would have been child's play.’

Hyrkan knew about the worth and Option of the other User's Items. Hyrkan immediately pieced together what had happened.

With the Greenstone Imoogi set's effect, Evil Eye wouldn't even be strong as a level 150 mid-boss monster. It would be like an average level 130 boss monster.

Moreover, the Users gathered here all had serious fire power. If they received such a boon, Hyrkan could see how they had killed the Evil Eye faster than his team.

It would have been hilarious and sad if they had been slower than his team.

‘If I can equip my Skeleton with one of those....’

Hyrkan coveted the Greenstone Imoogi Set.

The Greenstone Imoogi set's special characteristic was its curse, which activated when a critical hit happened. This would be perfect for a Skeleton Warrior. He could create a Skeleton using low level monster's bones as ingredients. Then he could equip this set on the Skeleton and use it to specifically cast Curses. It would be very effective. It was no wonder why Hyrkan coveted it.

However, his thoughts regarding the Item ended there.

He was curious as to who his opponent was. He had lost the incredibly valuable Sarabo's Sword, because of him. It made his stomach hurt so much that he felt like dying. He was also dying to have the Greenstone Imoogi set, yet Hyrkan couldn't do anything about it.

It wasn't possible, so that's that.

Moreover, this was the first time Hyrkan had met this User, but it wasn't as if the User was friendly towards him.

If that man was really interested in Hyrkan, he would have approached Hyrkan as a helper. Instead, he had decided to go to Hyrkan's competitor.

‘That bastard came here to ** me over.’

Hyrkan saw through to the core issue.

If that User wearing the Greenstone Imoogi set wanted to talk, trade or negotiate with Hyrkan, he would have come to Hyrkan first.

However, the User had done the opposite. It was obvious to everyone that he had secretly aligned against Hyrkan. He had basically **ed over Hyrkan, and it meant he had no plans on striking up a friendly relationship with Hyrkan.

‘Since the Quest is done, I have no reason to stick around here.’

The right thing to do was to leave this stage before unnecessary conflict started.

As if it had read Hyrkan's inner thoughts, Sarabo appeared.

“All of you are marvelous. Good job.”

The distribution of the reward for the Quest started. Sarabo's Sword was given to the Noopy Family.

“Please show us its Option!”

“Wow. Is it a rare? Or is it a Unique?”

“What's the level restriction?”

The Users became unsettled. The members of the Noopy Family smiled as they acquired the Item. An amicable yet disordered atmosphere formed inside the Cursed Castle.

However, Hyrkan wasn't part of this atmosphere.

Moreover, the Greenstone Imoogi swordsman Sinclair was gone too.

After leaving the Cursed Castle, Hyrkan ran at full speed. However, his tail closed the distance quickly. A tail had attached himself right after he had left the castle. Hyrkan couldn't shake his tail no matter what. The distance between them kept shrinking.

They were at the center of a forest. The blue fog had receded a little bit, and the person Hyrkan expected appeared.

It was the User, who had been wearing the Green Imoogi set.

‘What the hell?’

……or not.

‘Bat Marauder set?’

It was an armor made out of reddish black leather. The User was wearing a helmet that made him look like Batman.

‘Amongst the level 100s sets, those Items have the greatest speed Option....’

Bat Marauder set.

It's official name was the Giant Blood Bat set. The Giant Blood Bat was a level 140 rare monster. One had to catch the Giant Blood Bat to be able to make this set, and it had numerous Options regarding to movement speed. Basically, it was an upgraded version of the Shadow Hunting Dog set he had worn before.

Of course, the price and the options wasn't even comparable to the Shadow Hunting Dog set. If the Shadow Hunting Dog set was a Sonata, the Giant Blood Bat set was a Ferrari.

Moreover, the design was similar to Batman's suit, so its nickname was the Bat Marauder set. Basically, it was the Batman set.

‘He has the Greenstone Imoogi and the Bat Maurauder set. The last remaining slot is probably filled with something of similar rank…….’

A Warlord User could fill a total of three slots. This User's two slots were filled with incredible Items, so the last slot was probably filled with something similar. At the very least, he probably filled it with a level 140 Unique Item set.

‘Tsk.’

At that moment, Hyrkan had come to a decision. He opened his mouth.

“Do you have some kind of business with me?”

“Are you the Hahoe Mask?”

“If I said no, will you believe me?”

At that moment, his opponent manipulated his wrist watch. He had changed his Item Slot. Sinclair had activated his third Item Slot. The look he unveiled was an armor made out of black steel. It looked very sleek, and the helm had the shape of a wolf.

‘He even had the Black Steel Wolf set.’

Black Steel Wolf Set.

Amongst the countless number of Set Items in existence, this was one of the top 10 Items in existence right now.

It was especially famous for its high defense. Amongst the highest level Items, it was famous for its surest defense. It wasn't an exaggeration to say almost no weapon held an advantage over the Black Steel Wolf set.

“I have no personal enmity towards you.”

Hyrkan didn't mince words when his opponent spoke.

“All right. I, the Hahoe Mask, doesn't shy away from fights that come my way.”

Sinclair had come to catch Hyrkan, so he smiled at Hyrkan's words.

‘He is unexpectedly prideful. The probability of him running away isn't high.’

Catch Hyrkan.

This was the order given by the organization Sinclair was part of. Moreover, there was also a bounty on his head.

‘Currently, the Hahoe Mask has a bounty of 50 thousand dollars.’

Hyrkan had a 50 thousand dollar bounty on his head.

This wasn't reality. It was a game, and he had an overwhelming advantage in terms of Spec. He would be earning a lot of money just by killing a User, who was 30 levels below him.

‘The Items that comes out from his Watch is mine.’

Moreover, there would be additional profit he would gain after killing Hyrkan. It had been agreed that any Items that could be stolen from the Hahoe Mask's wrist watch was his to keep. If his research was correct, Hyrkan was an incredibly rich person, and it was known that he didn't spare any costs in acquiring Items.

‘I lost a lot of time, but it seems I'll gain a huge profit here.’

Sinclair started to have happy thoughts.

As if he was trying to break Sinclair's revery, Hyrkan spoke in a very solemn manner.

“Shall we do the battle off the record? Let us keep no records or footage. How about we bury this battle in our hearts after this?”

At those words, Sinclair stopped his imagination from running away from him. It seemed Hyrkan wanted to talk to him a little bit more.

“I'll be thankful if we did that.”

Sinclair decided to humor him.

“Since we are to fight, let's put our lives on the line in no uncertain terms.”

‘Put our lives on the in no uncertain terms?’

Sinclair was suspicious as to what he was saying, but Hyrkan took off his glove and he cut his wrist with his sword.

Kwahk!

Ivan's Sword immediately sliced deep into Hyrkan's wrist. If he did had brought down the sword about half a dozen times harder, it would have been enough to cut off his own wrist.

Sinclair's expression hardened when he saw the sight.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“What the hell am I doing? Do you not know about the Watchman Style?”

“Watchman?”

Kwahjeek!

He once again brought down his sword on his wrist. A smile could be seen below the Hahoe Mask, and he continued to speak.

“We'll give each others our watch. It is a life and death battle that one cannot avoid. You don't know about it?”

Sinclair thought about it for a brief moment. The Watchman battle wasn't conducted like this to his knowledge. However, this wasn't something unusual. Warlord was game that catered its service to the world. Depending on where the User was from, the battle styles and trends varied.

It wasn't as if Sinclair knew about everything.

“You sliced your own wrist to give your watch to your enemy. This isn't even funny.”

There was simple reason why one would cut one's wrist to extract a watch. In Warlord, the owner couldn't release one's wrist watch even as the owner. There was only one way to release it. One had to take it off after cutting the watch off the wrist.

It was horrifying, but it made a perverse sense.

He was going to give the watch to his enemy then fight. It was a gesture expressing his will. He was basically saying he'll fight his enemy until he'll be able to recover his watch.

Moreover, he was cutting off his own wrist!

‘It seems he is really determined to go through with this.’

Sinclair looked on in silence as he watched Hyrkan cut his own wrist. It was known that the Hahoe Mask had never experienced his wrist being cut before.

Hyrkan finally severed his wrist, and he took off the watch. He used Body Glue to reattach his wrist. With his reattached hand, he threw his watch.

“Since you don't know about the Watchman Style, it can't be helped. You keep it for now. It'll be mine once again after a couple of minute. It is inevitable.”

After he received the watch, Sinclair's expression hardened. Something twitched within Sinclair's heart.

‘Fuck.’

From the time he had started Warlord to now, Sinclair had always been the best. However, his situation didn't allow him to reveal the fact that he was the best.

If he revealed himself right now, he could become more famous than the guild masters of the 30 great guilds.

In fact, Sinclair was treated like a VVIP by the 30 great guilds. The 30 great guild masters requested communication with him. They asked him for help, and at times, they tried to recruit him.

He was someone of that stature, yet the Hahoe Mask was acting as if killing Sinclair would be easy.

“It reattaches pretty well since it's a game.”

Hyrkan once again spoke to Sinclair.

“Ah! You chased after me with such fervor, yet you are trying to run away with my watch?”

It was a provocation.

“The items in there is only worth a pittance to me. If you run away, it would be unsatisfactory... Well, all right. I promised this will be off the record, so I won't spread any rumors. However, the memory of you running away with your tail behind your leg will remain in my memories.”

After saying his provocation, Hyrkan sneered below his Hahoe Mask.

When Sinclair heard the provocation, he took his glove off before he thought about what he was doing. Then he raised his sword.

It was a smile that he wanted to knock right off Hyrkan’s face.

He planned on cutting his wrist.

“Watchman Style. What a fun concept.”

When Hyrkan saw what he was doing, the smile around Hyrkan's mouth disappeared. It was Sinclair's turn to smirk.

Finally, his wrist had been cut, and Sinclair tossed his wrist watch towards Hyrkan.

Hyrkan wordlessly stared at the watch thrown at his feet. As all of this was going on, Sinclair used the Body Glue to reattach his wrist like Hyrkan.

The expression on their faces had changed. Hyrkan's expression had hardened, and Sinclair had a mocking smile on his face.

“I'll remember the Watchman Style.”

At Sinclair's words, Hyrkan answered by kicking the watch near his feet in a frustrated manner.

It was evidence that Hyrkan was angry.

Sinclair smirked as he laughed.

‘The content of my investigation was all wrong. He's the really prideful type. He gets easily riled up by provocations. He probably never experienced hardship in this game. He probably played the game thinking he is better than everyone.’

It looked as if Hyrkan was filled with rage. He took out numerous Skeleton Fragments, and he scattered it on the ground.

At the same time, he summoned his Golem.

Koo koo koo!

The Golem appeared, and the Skeleton Fragments morphed into Warriors. Hyrkan yelled out in the midst of an unsettled situation.

“I don't know who you are, but you'll pay dearly for challenging me!”

He yelled out with a voice full of anger. Sinclair raised his sword, and he started casting his Buff skills.

At the same time, Sinclair started drawing up a plan inside his head.

‘There is a limit as to how many Skeletons he can summon. In the end, I'll be at an advantage if I fight him head on.’

Sinclair had devised a method to take down the Hahoe Mask, and it was quite simple.

He would eliminate all of Hyrkan's summoned familiars, then he would take down Hyrkan!

Normally, he would ignore the familiars, and he would try to take out the summoner as soon as possible. However, this was actually the more dangerous plan. Hyrkan's personal battle prowess was better than an average Striker. He wasn't someone that could be eliminated in a short amount of time. While fighting Hyrkan, one would be in the worst position if one was surrounded by Hyrkan's underlings.

Moreover, the Skeleton Fragments and the Golem summon consumed a lot of Magic Power. Those skills most definitely had a cool down.

Of course, the course of action chosen by Sinclair required him to destroy the fearsome Skeleton Warriors, Skeleton Knight and Golem. They were difficult opponents as some people even considered them as being glitch in the system. However, Sinclair didn't feel any sense of threat from them.

‘I'll destroy them completely.’

After finishing casting his Buffs, Sinclair immediately used the Charge skill. As he used the Charge skill, he swung his sword imbued with the Booster skill.

Shweeeek!

He combined the Charge and Booster skill. Both were Rank A skills. The sword swung by combining these two skills were so fast that the Skeleton Warriors had no chance of dodging it.

Moreover, Sinclair was able to control his body, which was on overdrive through the Charge skill.

A single use of the Charge skill allowed him to cross path with three Skeleton Warriors, and he hit all three of them with a single blow.

He was like a car that couldn't use its break to control its speed. However, he was able to cleanly change directions or it looked as if he was doing it.

The power of the strike was that much more terrifying. The strike looked as if it just brushed by the Skeletons, but all the Items equipped by the Armament skill were destroyed.

During all of this was going on, the Golem had taken shape, and it was bring down its massive arm towards Sinclair.

The enormous hunk of rock was falling towards Sinclair's head.

However, the attack was laughably slow for Sinclair. Moreover, the Clay Play skill hadn't been used, so this was a normal Golem. The chance of the Golem's attack hitting Sinclair was the same as being hit by lightning.

Koooohng!

The evidence of his composure was shown when he lightly avoided the attack, and he immediately jumped onto the Golem's fist, which had impacted the ground.

At the same time, he swung his sword.

Shweeeek!

A crescent sword energy was emitted from his swung sword, and it headed quickly towards the Golem's shoulder joint.

Poo-hwaht!

One strike.

He had severed the Golem's shoulder with one attack, and the arm fell away to the floor.

Koooohng!

The arm fell to the ground as it let out a lot of noise.

During all of this, the Skeleton Knight had been moving. Sinclair swung his sword towards the Skeleton Knight's body.

Kah-ahng!

It was the Skeleton Knight pitted against Sinclair. They exchanged blows atop the detached fist of the Golem.

Ggee-reek, ggee-reek!

Then the battle between power vs power was initiated.

Of course, the winner was Sinclair. Sinclair's sword easily pushed away the Skeleton Knight's sword.

At that moment, Sinclair foot pushed against the Skeleton Knight. The Skeleton Knight was inferior in terms of strength, so it started taking steps backwards.

The Skeleton Knight fell backwards.

The surface atop the Golem's fist was uneven. The act of regaining one's balance was outside of the skill possessed by the Skeleton Knight.

Sinclair raised his sword high as he shifted towards the fallen Skeleton Knight.

“Thunder!”

Accompanying a short shout of invocation, Sinclair's sword descended.

The sword immediately fell like thunder.

Gwah-roong!

Then he called for real thunder. A single thread of thunder fell towards the sword right before it impacted.

Thunder!

This was a level 160 Rare Fighter Skill. Amongst the currently discovered Fighter Skills, this was the strongest one!

A specific feature of the Thunder skill was being used now against a lower level opponent. It had the Option of ignoring the opponent's defense. Hyrkan was at least 30 level below Sinclair. Basically, the Skeleton Knight summoned by his had no defense against his attack.

The result was terrifying.

It was only one Skill, but the Skeleton Knight had been burnt to a black crisp. It was such a critical blow that the Skeleton Knight was down for the count.

‘This was easy.’

Sinclair had a triumphant expression on his face. At the same time, Sinclair looked for Hyrkan.

Hyrkan had been so confident that his attitude had been arrogant. Sinclair was curious to see what kind of expression he had on his face. He wanted to remember the devastated and crushed look on Hyrkan’s face.

‘Mmmm?’

However, he wasn't...

“Uh?”

He really wasn't....

“I...it can't be?”

Hahoe Mask was nowhere to be seen.

‘Ooh wah…… Look at speed at which my Magic is being consumed. His damage dealing is incredible.’

As he was running, Hyrkan clicked his tongue as he watched his Magic decrease with incredible speed.

‘Does this mean he was over level 160? He most definitely has his name up in the Rankings.’

At that moment, Hyrkan had a thin smile as he looked at the watch grasped in his hand.

‘Greestone Imoogi, Bat Marauder and the Black Steel Wolf... I could give one to the Skeleton Knight.’

He had been speaking out of the both side of his mouth.

When he mentioned the word Watchman, Hyrkan had never considered fighting with Sinclair.

The case against not fighting was overwhelming.

His opponent had researched about Hyrkan. Sinclair was a very skilled player, and he had come prepared for the fight.

On the other hand, Hyrkan had zero information on his opponent.

He hadn’t plan on fighting.

In the first place, Hyrkan never fought a hopeless battle.

‘Still, I never expected him to fall for my bull**...’

He had acted pretty convincingly as he brought up the non-existent Watchman style. He even cut off his wrist, and gave his watch to Sinclair. He had been planning on using his watch as a sacrifice as he attempted to run away.

He hadn’t been trying to get his opponent's watch. His aim was to make his opponent believe that he was going to battle no matter what. If he gave away his watch, it made this deception more believable. At the very least, if his opponent received Hyrkan's watch, he would think it less likely that Hyrkan would run away.

Of course, if his deception worked and he was able to run away, he would have suffered a huge monetary loss. Still, it would be better than suffering a 48hrs penalty on top of losing his Items. It was important to note that the most important Items equipped by Hyrkan like the Secret Society Ring, Ivan's Sword and the Corrupted Accessories couldn't be lost. These Items would always revert to him.

This meant his scheme had brought in a jackpot.

However, his happiness ended there.

He put the watch into his pocket, and he looked at his Magic. He gritted his teeth when he saw only 20% of his Magic left.

‘If I fought him, it would have been horrible for me..’

It meant Sinclair had killed his summoned familiars at an incredible speed. If he fought Sinclair head on, he couldn't guarantee his victory.

It wasn't good news.

‘Why the hell is a bastard like that aiming for me?’

At the very least, Hyrkan was now aware that a big fish was gunning for Hyrkan.

Hyrkan gritted his teeth once again.