In the case of the Korean server, comparing the Devils and the Humans, the Humans surely had a very clear advantage. Rankers and skills, the power of the Lotus Guild and the Titan Guild were way too overwhelming. However, it wasn’t the case for all the servers. If one looked at the US server, the Devils were much more powerful than the Humans. That was the difference between the 1st ranker Kai and the 2nd ranker Ralph. The difference in Kai and Ralph was just one rank, but the difference in their combat power was huge. And right then… Ian, who had faced swords with Ralph, could feel the difference. ‘Strong. This guy is really…!’
When he was against Ralph, Ian could feel that his power was pushing the enemy. And right now, of course, that was obvious. Ian, without active skills apart from the sword, was going against a Warrior class—Kai—without the help of any summons to win. He had to exert everything he had to win. But for Ian, who went against many Warrior classes in the past, the new thing was a strange experience. ‘I never fought completely with Shakran till now… but to feel this? No. This guy is surely stronger.’ Right now, Ian’s summons were facing Ryu Chen with Hoonie. Hoonie had less vitality compared to Ryu Chen, which was why Ian had sent all his summons over there. Ian’s original plan was to eliminate Kai in a one-on-one while Hoonie went against Ryu Chen along with Ian’s summons. After taking down Kai, he was planning to help Hoonie kill Ryu Chen for a clean victory.
But Kai’s combat power turned out to be much more troublesome. It wasn’t the time to be feeling content with how the way things were going. ‘I need to change the plan.’ Kang-! Ian, who was smashing swords with Kai, jumped back using the force that their attack had created. Using the space distortion, he once again changed position with Pin, who was flying in the air. “…!” Kai was flustered because of Ian’s sudden retreat. He didn’t expect Ian to back out suddenly since their fighting equally just now. “Where are you running to!?”
Kai, who turned in the direction of Ian, jumped straight into the air. Kai turned black and was sucked somewhere. In order to chase Ian, he reflexively triggered Ghost Step. However, it was an unreasonable act for him to do since Ian was using Space Distortion. It was because Ian’s position, which had just changed, was high in the air. Ian, who just got teleported into the sky, summoned Hargasus. Kiiing-! Ian took out the fire bow. Ping-! Ping-!
‘I need to get that Ryu Chen with a surprise.’ Unlike Kai, who was capable of tanking, the defense and vitality of the Warlock Ryu Chen were like a paper. And if Ian could ambush Ryu Chen, then Ian could take him out. For Ian’s ambush to be successful, the guards, who were covering Ryu Chen, had to be destroyed at once. ‘How can we combine a skill that would completely penetrate that line?’ At the moment while he descended with Hargasus, dozens of ideas were quickly going through Ian’s head. And the next moment… ‘Yeah, if that would be…!’ Ian, who thought of something, raised his right hand. And as usual, Ian never liked the whole party play thing.
Except for the times when he needed to attack a dungeon or take part in wars, he felt that they were less efficient compared to going solo. However, there was one person who Ian preferred partying with. It was Hoonie. Among all the users in Kailan, the best fit for Ian was Hoonie, and it was because their classes were compatible. That was the very reason why Ian joined the final battle; it was because the Defensive Captain was none other than Hoonie. “Hoon-ah! Wind it up!” “Okay!” In the urgent battles that were going on, they couldn’t afford to give out specific battle orders. However, Ian and Hoonie did it by just glancing and gesturing at each other. With just a few words, they could understand what the other person was relaying. They communicated like that regardless if they were faced with a simple or complicated situation.
[The Defense Captain ‘KanjiHoonie’ has cast ‘Darkness Clockwork’.] Darkness Clockwork was a magic that randomly controlled the ‘time’ of a particular target. This magic allowed one to control the time of a target in proportion to the caster’s casting time. The caster could wind up the time up to 10 seconds, and once all the winding was done, then the subject’s time would go back to 5 seconds. Darkness Clockwork was generally used as a kind of survival skill. He could rewind the time of an ally just before that ally was about to die and save this ally from death. Ian wasn’t trying to use Darkness Clockwork for himself. Ryu Chen’s defense was with tremendous endurance; they were intended to be broken at once. ‘9… 8… 7… now!!’
Ian was measuring the time that Hoonie needed for casting the skill, and the spell got summoned. Woong-! As soon as Ian’s magic was triggered, a giant figure appeared. Kung-! It was summoned into the battle at once; Ian’s secret weapon, Thor! Thor got summoned into the battlefield, and he raised the huge hammer that he was holding. Kwaah-! [Summon ‘Thor’, unique ability ‘Hammer of Destruction’ has been activated.] [The defense of Thor has been temporarily increased by 200%.] An intense golden wave started to get sucked inside Thor’s hammer.
Na Ji-chan slightly wiped his sweat as he was looking at the screen while his eyes narrowed. ‘What? How is this going to turn out to?’ In his view, Ian was obviously trying to destroy the defense with the ‘Hammer of Destruction’. The defense was made of ‘non-living’ types of materials such as walls, which would add to the extra crushing damage on the destruction. The Hammer of Destruction inflicted 50 to 500% additional damage on targets such as walls, defense towers, or non-invasive shields. In paper, this was great for Ian. However, there was a problem. ‘You have already failed on the first attempt.’
In the early stages of the battle, Ian had already tried a similar strategy. He also succeeded in inflicting strong damage to the defenders in there just as he had intended. The problem was that the defense couldn’t be broken with just one shot of the hammer. In other words… Ian summoned Thor to his death. ‘But to try this again… is this a gamble?’ The additional damage inflicted by the Hammer of Destruction, as mentioned earlier, would range from 50% to 500%. The limit factor would go close to 500%, and it might be able to break the defense this time. The reason Na Ji-chan thought Ian’s move was a gamble was because Ian was hoping for the attack to have a high coefficient. ‘This kind of strategy isn’t Ian’s style…’ But Na Ji-chan, no matter how much he had thought of it, couldn’t understand what was going to happen.
That was why he was focusing on the screen with eyes filled with curiosity. Five seconds after the end of the charging, he was wondering what was going to happen. After a while. Kwang-! Along with a massive sound, the hammer of Thor fell toward the line of defense, And Na Ji-chan, who confirmed it, had a bitter smile in his mouth. Tremendous damage was dealt to the defense, but it wasn’t going to collapse. ‘Surely, this is a failed attempt. What will happen now…?’ However, his disappointment didn’t last for long.
“…!” The fallen hammer of Thor got lifted again. Kuung-! Subsequently, the hammer fell toward the defense. Kukung-! “What is…!” Na Ji-chan was shocked. * * * Thor needed 5 seconds to charge his hammer and produce maximum power. And Hoonie’s clockwork could rewind the state of anything to 5 seconds ago.
That was Ian’s plan. ‘If the time is wound up, then the hammer would fall twice in a row.’ If the hammer fell and was reset to its form 5 seconds ago, then Thor’s hammer would be ready even without charging it. That would ignore the 15-minute cooldown, and two hammers could fall one after the other. Kwang-! Ian’s strategy succeeded. Creak-! Shhrk-! The shields, which were guarding Ryu Chen’s surroundings, exploded like mines. Ian didn’t miss that opportunity and jumped on Hargasus’ back. Ian began attacking with his bow.
To cast the defense line once again, Ryu Chen cut off the magic he was casting. Ping-! Piping-! A black unicorn flew quickly in Ian’s direction while he was moving to the ground. Prrrng-! The Wings of Darkness weren’t just a ranged skill; it was something that could also help Ian move for a long-distance. Ian got on Blackie and rushed toward Ryu Chen. Swak-! Behind Ian was Karceus, who had his wings spread wide along with Bbookbbook. Kwaah-!
Kyaah-! The two giant dragons opened their mouths! Kwa-! Both were breathing forward, and the illusion beasts that were trying to block Ian were pushed and melted. Thanks to that, Ian arrived right in front of Ryu Chen without any interruption, and he pulled out the sword he had. Kwang-! And with the gears engaged. The linked play of Ian fit the picture! It was impossible for Ryu Chen to stop Ian’s perfect attack. “Keuk…!”
Ryu Chen was pierced three times with the ego weapons and had to go out of the battlefield. [The Defensive Captain of the Devil camp ‘Ryu Chen’ has been inflicted with devastating damage!] [The vitality of user ‘Ryu Chen’ has been exhausted.] [User ‘Ryu Chen’ has been summoned outside the battlefield!] In the end, Ian made the kill that seemed impossible. [Celestial camp, ‘Ian’ earned a kill point.] ‘I did it…!’ Ian clenched his fists without realizing it. The thrill of executing a theoretically possible solution rushed through Ian’s body. But all that was just for a while.
In front of Ian’s eyes had come the system messages. [User ‘Kai’, the High General of the Devil camp, has defeated the Defense General ‘KanjiHoonie’.] [User ‘KanjiHoonie’ has been summoned outside the battlefield.] [The High General of the Devil camp ‘Kai’ has earned a kill point.]