NoveLight ™
Time passed by like it had grown wings.
After leaving that recorded greeting, I didn’t post anything else on the community forums.
It wasn’t really necessary anymore—my mind felt content without it.
But there was another reason… my image had taken on some strange turns.
[Search results: Gawol]
[Title + content]
How did things get to this point?
It was really insulting.
Calling someone’s voice “lewd” like that.
It’s not like I chose this voice—I have to live with it for the rest of my life.
...But is it really that suggestive?
If so many people are saying the same thing, maybe I should question whether I’m the one who's wrong.
“Hmm, ahem. Ah-ah. Aeiou…”
I still didn’t get it.
I’d lived with this voice for a long time—it didn’t feel any different to me.
Anyway, the reason I wasn’t posting much lately was because the siege date had arrived.
Plus, I was waiting anxiously for the result of my suspension.
I asked about it nervously, and it looked like the decision would come two days after the siege ended.
The only person who knew this was Elderen.
There was no need to tell Soolbbang since our contract was technically over.
There’s no reason to make people worry before an important battle.
If I needed help later, I could ask then.
For now, it was better to clear my head, so I took a cold shower.
Before, I would’ve craved the warmth of the water, but that didn’t seem necessary anymore.
Attention, even from strangers, was still attention.
The loneliness had disappeared, and that gave me some peace of mind.
[Alarm: Siege Preparation – 08:00 PM]
[Current Time – 07:32 PM]
As the cool water washed over me, all the various emotions I’d been feeling over the past few days started to fade away.
The excitement, the shapeless anxieties, and even the mild anticipation before battle—they all vanished, leaving my mind clear.
I didn’t know if I would stay as Gawol in the future.
But if this were to be Gawol’s last fight…
I didn’t want to end my time in the spotlight with a defeat.
I dried my thoroughly scrubbed body with a towel.
The light scent of body wash lingered faintly.
I put on my pajamas, took a deep breath, and entered the connection pod.
[Launching Infinity Black.]
[Zephyrion’s 1st Regular Siege]
[Location: Ruins of the Ancient Kingdom]
[Defenders: Gambang and 9 other guilds]
[Attackers: Cross and 12 other guilds]
[Guild member ‘Yoru’ has requested to activate the ‘Operator’ function...]
People moved efficiently around the towering walls of the fortress.
Archers and mages filled the watchtowers, while knights with shields gathered behind the walls.
Infinity Black may have a flashy fantasy setting, but the basic structure of battle wasn’t much different from the medieval period.
The core of it all was still the formation warfare of armies.
Arrows, carried by the wind, shot fiercely into the air.
The sunlight glinted off the arrowheads as they flew toward the sky, and in an instant, a rain of wind-imbued arrows fell from above.
The warriors scrambled to take cover behind their shields or pressed themselves against the wall, seeking blind spots.
They’re putting a lot of trust in me.
Can’t let them down.
As an assassin, it was difficult to make a huge impact in these kinds of large-scale battles.
It was wiser to leave the main action at the gates or battlefield to others.
What I needed to focus on were the enemy’s artillery units.
Cannons in the game didn’t deal much damage to players.
But they could cause significant damage to structures, especially those supporting healing, supplies, and communications.
If left unchecked, they could cripple our guild’s infrastructure.
“Have you found the cannon location?”
I slipped out of the fortress under the cover of confusion.
Someone was already tailing me, just as I expected.
They were trying to be stealthy, even using concealment, but their footsteps were too sloppy.
They managed to suppress most of the sound, so they weren’t total amateurs.
There were two of them… no, three now.
It’d be too risky to engage both the artillery team and these pursuers at the same time.
I’d have to deal with them here.
[You are now under the effect of ‘Whisper of the Black Moon.’]
[All attack power, movement speed, and counterattack timing are enhanced.]
[Certain skills are also enhanced...]
The fact that they found me so quickly meant these guys were specifically assigned to hunt me down.
They must’ve been hand-picked from their alliance.
There was no need to waste time or draw things out.
As the branches around me rustled slightly, I spun around and launched my attack.
“Welcome.”
“...!”
My knee collided with one of their jaws, breaking their concealment.
As expected, it was an assassin.
Cocky rookie.
The moment one of them was exposed, their plan fell apart.
The other two immediately threw their weapons at me.
I had to step back, but now I knew exactly where they were.
I parried the throwing knives and shuriken in sequence, then kicked the assassin again in the head.
The group was made up of an assassin, a shinobi, and a tracker?
The tracker looked familiar.
Maybe they changed their costume, or something. The other two were new to me.
“Obsessed fans are a bit of a problem.”
“Who’s a fan of yours?”
“Well, whatever. Fans have been growing lately, so I got my hopes up.”
I had a pretty good idea what was going on.
They started following me the moment I left the fortress.
It wasn’t something just anyone could do without a skilled tracker.
Like in most games, once you reach the top, you keep running into the same people.
Not that I had any special memories with this one—we weren’t exactly in a friendly industry.
The tracker charged at me with a fierce swing of his sword.
It was fast and sharp, but too basic.
That’s what happens when you rely too much on physical power for swordsmanship.
I parried with my dagger, pushing the blade away and throwing a concealed knife toward his neck.
It hit just below the collarbone.
“Tch!”
“You haven’t changed a bit, have you?”
“You’re the one who’s changed so much I barely recognize you.”
“Well, yeah, I guess that’s true.”
I’d heard that this guy had trained as a professional gamer at one point.
This kind of thing was common in siege battles.
Not everyone who’s skilled becomes a pro.
In a world where the gap between pros and regular players keeps growing, it’s more true than ever.
For every victor, there’s always a loser.
Someone has to fail at becoming a pro and end up falling back into regular life.
Those who fail aren’t that different from me.
It’s not easy for someone who aimed for the pros to suddenly start a new life.
In the end, they find themselves wandering into siege battles like these.
That’s why a lot of pros hate siege battles.
They see it as a place for losers.
It’s infamous enough to be treated almost like a taboo.
“So, how many friends did you bring today? Don’t tell me you think you can kill me with just three of you?”
“Do you think I’d tell you?”
“Of course not. I only asked to piss you off.”
“You should’ve grown out of that by now.”
Anyway, these guys weren’t your average players who just geared up.
They were undoubtedly getting reinforcements.
I couldn’t afford to waste too much time here.
At the very least, I had to finish off the assassin before they could regroup.
I knocked the tracker away and lunged forward again.
As I moved to stab the assassin’s neck, they disappeared.
They must’ve used a shadow skill, but they forgot one thing.
I was the one who deflected your weapon.
Of course, I had a counter prepared.
“How…?”
“Simple.”
This is why battles between players of the same class are pure tests of skill.
We have the same skills, so the dynamics don’t change much.
I blended into the shadows alongside my opponent.
When we emerged, the situation was exactly the same as before.
The only difference was that this time, the assassin had no escape skills left.
My dagger pierced through their throat, and blood spilled out.
With one hand gripping their arm, I mounted them.
Even if I had to take a hit to my back, I made sure to finish them off.
[‘Gawol’ has killed ‘DontUseChainSickle.’]
Now, two more to go.
Let’s finish this in two minutes.
“Don’t worry about it. If things go too smoothly, it wouldn’t be as fun in this world.”
“Oh.”
I had a pretty good guess.
There was one person who had begged to fight me but never got the chance.
And sure enough, standing in front of the cannon was someone I wasn’t exactly happy to see.
LoinclothManiac.
The grappler in his ridiculous outfit charged at me without a word.
[You have entered the special zone ‘Shadowy Midnight Banquet.’]
[All debuffs from spirit-based summons are increased by 30%.]
[Caster: Imaemangryang]
He had some terrifying backup on his side.