Jewel murmured in a cold voice. In fact, Jewel’s goal in making Duke film the video wasn’t just to scare away users from Lancel. Jewel knew that Ark wasn’t in Lancel. That was the main reason why Jewel made the video. If Ark saw the video then he would return to Lancel village. If Ark lost his store and Lancel village than it would be a big blow to him, so he would come rushing back. And that was what drove Jewel’s strategy.
“But other users seeing the video is different from Ark seeing it. While users wouldn’t have any reaction to the rumours, Ark would move to save the NPCs of that village. Because that fellow cooperates with NPCs a lot. He could also possible pull in other troops from different areas.”
“You still don’t understand? That is the reason why the video was posted 18 hours beforehand. Even if they were in the closest city, Ark would be able to move troops in 18 hours. He has no time to bring in reinforcements. That is why he is tying up out ankles with this illusion.”
“I guess so.”
“Besides, in the video you only commanded 200 troops. Even if Ark called in reinforcements, it would only be enough to deal with 200 troops. But there are actually 500 of us. If that Ark saw us than he would be upset and not know what to do.”
Yes, there was a few reasons why Jewel circulated the information on the internet. One was to seal off the users’ intervention in the war. Secondly, it was to call Ark back to Lancel. The third reason was to make Ark think that only 200 people were going to attack Lancel. It was a psychological war with three different effects from just one video! However, Jewel was unaware that the psychological war was destroyed by Shambala’s eavesdropping. Anyway, they were tricked and received considerable damage from the illusion but Jewel still didn’t doubt his victory.
“When we escaped from the village didn’t the illusions also increase? It is because he grasped the number of our troops too late. That fellow is intimidated. If we just manage to find the village than Ark will be finished.”
“……We just need to find it.”
Duke kicked the wreckage of a trap which activated a short while ago with frustration.
“Damn, why is there this sweet music when I am already annoyed?”
“Sweet music?”
“What? You can’t hear it? A while ago the background music became rather sweet.”
Jewel’s eyes narrowed at Duke’s answer. In fact, Jewel always had the habit of turning on music in his room while playing the game. In order to find inspiration during this fight, he had turned on a grand marching tune. So he couldn’t hear the low music that Duke was talking about.
‘What’s with the music? Perhaps…..?’
Jewel considered something before turning off his music and listening. Then Jewel could hear the soft sound of a harp in his ear. In New World the background music would change depending on the situation. But the music right now was somewhat strange. Jewel suddenly realized something and shouted.
“That’s it, I get it now!”
“What?”
“The reason why I don’t see any traces of mana. Damn, we were tricked. The village we saw wasn’t an illusion. It is a hallucination! Stupid! That’s why I couldn’t detect any mana.”
“What do you mean? Hallucination?”
“The Minstrel. We’ve been seeing hallucinations thanks to the Minstrel’s music. Damn, there was a Minstrel who followed Ark in Lancel. It is certainly her work!”
Jewel was truly a pioneer as he figured out the entire situation from a small clue. Once he knew the skill of the opponent, it wasn’t difficult coming up with a way to handle it.
“Hearing Paralysis!”
Hearing Paralysis was a magic to stop being affected by monsters who used sound attacks like Sirens. If even one person used Hearing Paralysis then they could confirm if the village was a hallucination.
When the music was blocked off, the lights in the forest started flickering and gradually disappeared. It seemed like all the villages in the forest were hallucinations. Since he couldn’t see any villages with the hallucinations turned off, it meant that Lancel had turned off its lights and was hiding. In this situation Jewel didn’t know the exact location of the village but he just laughed.
‘Now that I know what trick he is using, it isn’t a problem to find the location.’
It was a Minstrel’s skill that was causing the hallucinations. And wherever the music reached was the skill range of the Minstrel.
‘The hallucinations began as soon as we entered the forest. And the welcoming lights appeared all over the place. If I apply the scope of the effects then it is obvious that amplification magic has been used. The range of amplification magic is a 500 metres radius. In other words, it is a 1 kilometre diameter.’
Once he grasped that then the real location of Lancel village was clear. He determined the two villages that were most distant from each other. The source of the music had to be somewhere in the centre between those two villages.
“There. There is no doubt!”
Jewel soon found the location of Lancel village. Once he figured out the place, there was no reason to rush and run into the traps. It was obvious that Lancel village was prepared for an attack. On the other hand, the suicide squad members had received quite a bit of damage before the battle even began.
“Scouts, search for traps and secure the path. The remaining members should check their equipment and recover in the meantime. Once the scouts secure the path then we will immediately attack Lancel.”
They had already made enough mistakes. No more mistakes would be tolerated.
-I understand.
Since Jewel had used Hearing Paralysis, the members answered using hand signals. Anyway, Jewel carefully rearranged the formation before finally moving through the forest. How much time had passed? Soon they passed through the dense forest and wide, flat ground appeared. There was a village situation at the top of the plains. The village looked pitch black….. Yes, it was Lancel village! They had finally found Lancel village 2 hours after entering the forest.
“We found it!”
Jewel and Duke’s eyes lit up as they looked at Lancel village. Then someone suddenly walked forward from the village. Despite the considerable distance, Jewel could still recognize the opponent. It was a wolf with a black mane flying, none other than Ark who was disguised as Dark Wolf. But there was something V shaped sticking out from his head. It was like an insect’s antennae. After seeing the antennae of an insect on a wolf, Jewel just laughed.
“Hmm, you found us faster than I thought.”
But Jewel couldn’t hear since he was deaf. Jewel released Hearing Paralysis and clenched his teeth together.
“You bastard, I’m going to start attacking now!”
“Don’t you remember I’m a lot more powerful than you?”
“Shut up, I don’t know how you knew and returned to Lancel to play such a trick but our bad relationship ends here. Lancel will die with you!”
Jewel shouted furiously. Ark just looked at Jewel and sighed before shaking his head.
“Hah, why are you so persistent that you even came this far?”
“W-w-w-what? You dare say something like that? After collecting 4,000 gold and a rare item from selling Silvana and interfering with our Seutandal conquest plan, you dare ask why I’m so persistent? What did you just say?”
“I don’t understand the meaning of your words.”
Ark looked at him with a pitiful look and clicked his tongue.
“While you have a somewhat spicy taste, you’re not worthy of being my opponent. Yet you couldn’t grasp this and still attacked? Do you want to give me even more money? Do you even have anything left to give? I’m thankful but my heart is quite troubled by it. Why don’t you just leave peacefully this time while you can?”
“W-what? This bastard…..! Talking like that……”
Ark’s words caused Jewel’s blood pressure to ruse. But after a moment, he clenched his teeth and shouted orders.
“Attack! Kill, kill! Do whatever it takes to defeat him!”
“Wah ah ah ah!”
The 500 suicide squad members raised their weapons and rushed forward. Then Ark turned back and shouted.
“Standby!”
The lights in Lancel village turned on at Ark’s voice. When the lights turned on, Lancel village became so bright it was like broad daylight. Jewel’s eyes which had been adapted to the darkness winced from the sudden light.
Chwa, chwa, chwa, chwa, chwa, chwa!
Smalls screens abruptly rose in front of Ark. Inside the village surrounded by stone ways, 15 screens shot up in every direction. Ark laughed at the suicide squad members and laughed pleasantly before shouting.
“The system has signalled a green light. Action!”
“Wah ah ah ah!”
It was at that time. All of a sudden, here was a thundering shout and warriors hiding behind the stone wall stood up. Jewel’s face was dyed with confusion at the troops. The soldiers which appeared from behind the stone wall weren’t residents of Lancel. The hundreds of warriors were all users!
“Huk, this is……”
Jewel hesitated with a perplexed expression. The secret society members had only posted the video of them attacking users 18 hours ago. It was natural for the users to become scared and leave Lancel. But what was up with all the users?
“It was quite a good idea making that video and distributing it.”
Ark laughed at his expression and muttered.
“But it’s nothing compared to the game being broadcasted.”
“B-broadcasted?”
Jewel’s face caught from different angles then appeared on the 15 split screens.
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