CHAPTER 87: DEFEND, DON’T FALL!

The attackers appeared out of the blue.

The passage they had used for accessing the tower wasn’t yet pinpointed, however there were some speculations around the officials of the association.

That did not change anything though.

There were simply too many of them around the forest, the valleys had things worse with the assailants using beasts that were corrupted as if they had tamed them.

The creatures weren’t actually tamed, the assailants did not have a class either. Yet the beasts were listening to these people... or it was better to say both of them were helping each other out as if they were under the control of the same higher order being.

They were still strong though.

These assailants, as if to have a single mind of their own, were fighting the players as if their deaths were the only thing that mattered to them.

They were bloodthirsty. The usual criminal PKers weren’t like this. They played with their opponents. They cut them piece by piece and savored the moments until they were done with them.

This wasn’t what these people were doing though.

They were in a group right now. The groups weren’t as unorganized as they usually are with the usual PKers.

They were in a systematic party that enhanced their danger levels. They were dangerous beings, the ones who could pose a threat to even the player parties of higher levels.

[ "We are being pushed back!" ]

[ "Party 3 needs assistance! Party 2! Move and help them! Aggro the ones you’re fighting and drag them there!" ]

[ "It doesn’t work, Vice-captain! They won’t interfere in the other group’s matters! Party 5 tried this a while back and failed! These people are maintaining a clear distance between each other!" ]

[ "Professor has compiled a map of their movement restrictions! They are taking up the entire floor by a zone that divides the floor equally into 100 parts! The map should be online soon! Follow the map and wait for your party captain’s instructions!" ]

Zyon was fighting these corrupted people who were no better than beasts at this point.

They didn’t seem like humans either.

They had their intelligence as humans, they were aware of their surroundings and how to use their skills but they didn’t care about their own bodies.

As he had seen firsthand, these people would sacrifice their bodies and a limb if it meant killing just one more of their opponents.

It was crazy... it was almost like they were possessed by something and had become a killing machine.

As far as he knew, corruption alone didn’t do something like this to someone. This was something more.

There was something about this situation that he did not know about, and the only person he knew that might know about this was out of reach at the moment.

’Where the hell are they?!’

The opponents he was fighting right now were a group of six.

The team, or what seemed like a team of the assailants, consisted of two with a sword, two that can use magic, and two muscular giants that had giant hammers and acted like the shields.

They took on the majority of their physical attacks and even with their giant bodies, they were quick on their feet.

-Swiiiiiiiiish!

They needed to use more force to deal with them than they needed for a (Level-25) creature. Which wasn’t a good thing.

Keeping up with them was no easy task, but the party that he was leading consisted of those he had fought with during the 1st floor Hell goat mission!

"Kydon! Flank the left! Ozon! Follow up with the freezing winds!"

The ice mage that had been a great contributor in the final battle on the first floor, as well as the assassin that was faster than him with his movement skill, Ozon and Kydon were ones that he could now trust his back to.

Both were younger than him so they looked up to him, even considering a hero and big brother. And as the older one, he needed to look after them as well.

-Ooooooooooooooong!

"Defend! Don’t fall, everyone!"

But then again, they were also members of the association with skills that were on par with anyone on the level of a party leader.

They had potential as well, but even when they had the chance to make their own parties, they chose to follow him, just like the many who were following him right now.

"Haaa. Haaa... it was difficult."

They weren’t sparing these corrupted people anymore. The association had concluded there was no need to capture many of them, killing them was the best option since the level of corruption they showed was not something they could examine much less try to cure.

-Slurrrr...

Zyon slashed his sword and cleared the blood on the blade.

Then, without wasting even a second, he ordered his group to move to the next location.

"Everyone! We will–...!"

Once again, just as he was about to speak up, a message window popped up before him. And this time, he was the only one that had received this message.

"...?!"

And the message was dreadful.

"Everyone! Move northwest! Now!"

Just up ahead, there was a group of 9 assalinets that were fighting a group of powerful players from a big guild.

The guild people were holding their own against the attackers, but out of the blue, as the report said, two of the corrupted attackers seemed to have fused into one... becoming something like a two-headed zombie!

-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!

The party had just lost the advantage they had and were being massacred by the attackers. A third of them were already dead... there was no time!

-Swiiiiiiiiiish!

[ "Captain! Go forward! We will catch up soon!" ]

The party members could see the urgency of the situation. The way Zyon was worried did not seem good in any way.

They were also aware that he was moving slowly because of the rest of them, but once he received the party’s message, he rushed forward after a nod to the rest of the party, leaving the party to Kydon and Ozon.

The two of them would guide them to him soon, so he moved forward with his {Gale steps}.

-Swooooooooooooon!

He was standing before the open area surrounded by bloodied tree trunks, a stench of blood saturating the area.

There were bodies on the ground, their limbs torn, cut down in pieces, their eyes covered in utter agony.

There were no tears sliding down these eyes, only blood.

The tree trunks were covered in signs of struggle... and these signs were increasing with each passing moment even still.

"Aghhhhhhh!"

"You damnnnnnnn!"

"Why! Why!!! WHY!"

The guild members seemed to have lost it. The way they were fighting wasn’t organized anymore.

There weren’t many of them left.

The dead bodies, the intact dead bodies that Zyon could count right now alone numbered 15. The ones that weren’t recognizable anymore were in such a condition that it was impossible to distinguish them from the piles of blood and gore scattered around this area.

The corruption was turning the blood and bodies into a disgusting pile of mess that would corrupt this entire area soon.

Anything that would touch this corrupted area would get corrupted as well, resulting in something similar to or worse than the two-headed monster of a thing that he was seeing right now.

-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!

Something inside of his heart was crunching once again... he was reminded of why he stopped playing the game, again.

The feeling was as disgusting as it could get. It was a feeling he did not want to experience again...

-Swish!

He would have dwelled in despair had all of them died, but there were many left to protect. So, he moved first, the holy sword in his hands.

-Zaaaaaaaaa!

Using his Aura-covered holy sword, he first cut down the ones at the very back, the magic users, as well as the ranged damage dealers.

Following that, he engaged in a close battle with those wielding the weapons, pulling the aggro of the twin-headed corrupt ’humans’ from the guild party.

"Evacuate!"

"But!"

"Hurry!"

-Clank!

Fighting the weapon user that somehow withstood his Aura, he instructed the rest of the living guild members to get away from there.

They needed to get out of there and save themselves first. He would make sure the remains of their partners survive the mess of the corruption in the area.

"Ghaaaaaa!"

The creatures ran up to him and he sliced them off with his sword. Holy power may be the best against demonic power but that was not the case for corruption.

They needed someone who had Purity.

But the one person he knew with that stat wasn’t anywhere to be seen...

’Are they fine?’

He wanted to worry about them and think about whether they were safe or not.

But he did not have the luxury of thoughts like that.

-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!

The opponents weren’t something a few swings of his sword could defeat. He wasn’t strong enough for something like that.

Or, perhaps, it was better to say that the opponents this time were simply too powerful for him...