Hyper Luck

“My friend responded.”

It looked almost hazy beyond the dock of the SkyLord traveling through the scattering clouds at a high speed. Khea was the first to break the silence with the situation from nothing but the sound of heavy mechanical sounds.

“The situation is taking a bad turn, it seems.”

Everyone looked at the crystal ball at her words. A large number of players were gathered in one place in the vast reed field in the crystal ball viewed from high in the sky.

“It looks like they’re seriously arguing with each other.”

As Swordsman said, the players' situation didn't look very good. People seemed to be in chaos, seemingly at a loss for what to do.

"L-look over there…!"

Guile, who was observing the players' movements, pointed to one side of the crystal ball and opened his trembling lips. We couldn’t help but widen our eyes as we moved our gaze towards the direction his finger was pointing at.

Dark shadows were spreading at a terrible speed over the field.

As the shadows approached the players, even Kaiser's view floating in the sky trembled unsteadily through the crystal ball's screen.

"If this continues, all players will die!"

"In the news, I saw before logging in, I heard that the death toll of players and the natives who helped them had already exceeded 100,000…!"

"There was a prediction that if the third temple collapsed, you would be out of access for at least two months upon death."

Sharan and the party looked at each other with serious expressions as they talked. It almost felt like the seeds of anxiety that had blossomed in almost an instant among the 13th party members would already take root and even twinkle its leaves.

Watching such a scene, I silently covered the crystal ball with my palm. Then everyone looked at me.

"We will definitely put a stop to it. I promise."

Honestly, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t have the confidence that I would be able to successfully put a stop to it. But that doesn’t mean I could just watch.

The countless wars Khea went through in this world, I listened to all of them with both ears and pondered them many times inside.

And I, too, had decided to wage my own war here.

A ‘virtual reality' game. However, the extreme sense of reality cannot be dismissed as fake. Perhaps it is due to that reason why my choices are never determined solely by the standards of good and evil in this world.

I was determined to fight against Lidornn just as I made up my mind after the talk I had with Khea.

The decisiveness, fate, and regret I learned from Lairo. And the method on how to decide what is good or evil for yourself, which I learned from the little hunchback Firli and Swordsman.

Using all of these,

I will stop Lidornn.

As if they all saw such a thought pass through my eyes, all of the 13th party members kept their determined expressions as they looked at me. And not long after that heavy silence passed,

[We will arrive at our destination shortly. Mose, I'm a nymph of the woods, so I can hear the voices of those who are rooted in the ground. But in the field presented in front of me, I can't hear a single sound.]

Elsha's trembling voice filled the room.

[Master, captain of this old ship, there only lies sorrowful stompings and the trampled earth ahead of us.]

With these words, Elsha's sad voice stopped.

[There is a way to prevent the fate of countless deaths determined ahead of us, at our destination.]

Her firm voice followed after a while. Soon Elsha appeared before us.

[This SkyLord is the first ‘probe ship' built to pioneer the sky civilization ‘Skya’. Since it was built for exploration and pioneering purposes, not as warships, it was not heavily armed.]

As she glided through the air with her smoke, stepped out in front of us and stretched her arms outwards.

[We do have ‘Light Shower' and ‘Grape of Aelail', which are drilling rigs equipped for the purpose of excavating the ruins and for a minimal armament. Although it was not developed for the purpose of war and destruction, its firepower cannot be underestimated.]

"Either way, we must stop the slaughter that is about to unfold!"

“Mose, what do you think?”

Sharan and Swordsman rushed me to make a decision in a hurry. No matter the length of their discussion, only my opinion and decision were valid since I held the right to command Elsha.

“We have to stop them, for sure. Sacrifice is inevitable.”

Biting my lower lip as I made up my mind, I turned to look at Elsha.

[The SkyLord is a floating ship that employs ‘Injectable Mana crystal, so it requires pure mana. Unfortunately, there is no mana left on this ship right now, so I am unable to open the gunports for ‘Light Shower’.]

"Isn't it okay to use our mana?"

[My apologies. Only pure mana with the ability of ‘property transformation' can open the gunports of this ship. Mose, your mana is too hard and adamant. The same goes for Khea.]

Sharan and others eagerly requested, but Elsha shook her head. Then, Elsha suddenly opened her eyes up so wide that her expression was clearly visible even with her smoky state of appearance.

[There is someone that possesses mana with the ability of ‘property transformation’ nearby!]

With those words, Elsha disappeared into smoke once again. And sudden vibrations and thundering noises from all over the ship shook us.

Fragmented clouds hanging from the window were no longer visible. And the sudden movement of the ship descending vertically made us all feel uncomfortable from the inside.

Elsha's voice resounded throughout the ship.

[Maximum targets: 1,817. ‘Light Shower’ discharged. You cannot expect definitive lethality. I wish you the best of luck.]

A moment later, a bright light burst out from all the windows of the SkyLord. Several thin pillars of light sprayed down like beams and struck the ground from countless gun ports located on both sides of the ship. 

Before I could even finish checking out the entire scene, I took out Attoria's heavy armor from my inventory and put it on my body.

Although this item is classified as heavy armor, the armor itself was actually as light as cloth armor. Then I began to accept the powerful strength that entered my body without any difficulty.

The party members also finished all their maintenance.

Sharan held the bow that seemed pretty high quality with an arrow firmly hung on it as she put one of her fingers on it. Swordsman held the shield and one-handed sword worn on his back as he steadily stood in front of us. And Guile was holding a bell with a feather and a book in both hands while murmuring to himself. As they finished their preparations, they surrounded me in a circle.

"It’s only just a game we play to enjoy, but when it comes to a moment like this, I get nervous like crazy."

Swordsman took a firm hold of the shield once more and spoke softly in a joking manner.

“You’re talking like a Harlier warrior if you can enjoy a situation like this."

Khea smiled with small laughter.

She stood next to me and pulled out the rapier from her waist belt. An exit portal created by Elsha appeared in front of us along with a huge commotion from outside. We ran towards it without any hesitation.

The boat was slightly floating from the ground, so we all had to jump from a high place.

The field was ruined with fires lit up in several places, spitting out black smoke from the ground.

The scorched earth was the blank music sheet and the cries and screams all over the battlefield became the notes. It was truly a brutal ensemble. 

***

The rays of light dropped by the SkyLord completely revealed the terrain. The cavalry that was rushing toward the players had their formation disintegrated and most of them were knocked off the horse.

Some of the soldiers who were directly hit were shouting in pain. Players did not miss this chance and they charged in.

However, the cavalry was no less than a formidable opponent.

The lead of the cavalry, which charged at the speed that even the Light Shower from the SkyLord could not catch up to, pierced the center of the players' defenses, and the players there collapsed without even being able to scream before death.

On this intense battlefield, we hurriedly moved in order to go forward.

Even though I was experienced in battles against individuals or numerous amount of monsters at once, it was almost impossible to get a hold of the situation in the midst of this intense chaos,

on the battlefield where countless amounts of fighters clashed against each other.

Sharan and the others were already in panic before I could notice, and I too poked around the battlefield with lost focus. Khea, on the other hand, quickly turned her head as she took her lead.

“Over there!”

Then Khea pointed out her rapier and shouted. Soon from the direction she was pointing, dozens of cavalry came charging at a great speed.

The cavalry at incredible speed trampled all players in the path and finally came close to where we were standing.

Khea crouched down for her signature spring-like leap, and I, too, grabbed my sword in both hands and put strength into my calves in order to unleash my stats.

And at that very moment, a blue flash of light suddenly appeared in front of Khea, and a man walked out of the blue sphere that appeared in the middle of the flash.

The man spread his palms toward the approaching cavalry and uttered his spell in an echoing voice.

“Atra, Cage, Ronno!”

Boom!

Pure white energy erupted from his palm, and he knocked down all the cavalry who were running toward him.

"Thank you so much! It’s all thanks to you that we avoided dying.”

The man withdrew his staff and shouted his appreciation as he looked at Khea.

"You better say that to Mose, not me!"

Khea tilted her head and looked at me. Kellion hurriedly turned his gaze toward me, and approached me with a tired smile on his exhausted face.

"I never even could dream that there would be a player with such a giant floating boat in this world. My name is Kellion."

“My name is Mose. Nice to meet…”

“I don’t think this is the time for you two to be greeting each other like that!”

Before an earnest conversation with Kellion could even begin, a beautiful beast called us out. The black-armored soldiers who had been slaughtering other players suddenly turned to charge at us.

“Let us talk more later!”

I bowed my head in a slight motion as I hurriedly ran towards the direction Khea was in. Then we straight up clashed against the black-armored soldiers who were charging at us.

As I parried the spear that was thrust by the frontmost soldier, I almost let go of the hilt of the sword due to the formidable force of the spear.

I quickly retrieved the sword and tried to swing it at him, but the soldier quickly retrieved the spear and thrust it at my chest again. I had to jump back to avoid the blade of the spear.

I had to let out a sigh since I couldn't even cut through the first opponent, and as a result, I was confronted with several soldiers surrounding me.

They are strong.

Every single one of the soldiers was a war machine that must have been completed through intense training and real combat experiences.

Just thinking about how they were able to produce this much impact even after fighting with a countless amount of players made me feel exhausted.

I shut my mouth and activated the Attoria’s swordsmanship, which mainly consists of large circular slashes much like the shape of a full moon.

Golden circular sector shaped waves I created from swinging my sword were drawn around my body, and they grazed through the gray armored soldiers who rushed at me.

Some of them were blocked by black armor, and some pierced through their armor.

Drops of sweat already began to stream down my face.

Even the huge stat difference between me and them seemed to be offset to some extent with the buff from their formation, not to mention every strike from them within the formation was extremely hard to tank.

Every time I blocked their attacks, I could feel the bones in my entire body creak and scream.

Shhhw- Thwok!

A soldier rushing at me was pierced by an arrow from somewhere and fell to the floor.

I looked in the direction the arrow was shot from and saw Sharan crouching on the floor in a shooting position. The soldiers began to attack Sharan.

The tank, Swordsman, quickly jumped in front of her to block and skillfully received the attacks with his shield.

"Mose! Look ahead! We'll take care of ourselves!"

The steady shout was heard from Swordsman.

“Hyung! Don’t ever look back! I don’t want to be a burden!”

Even the timid Guile screamed with blood flowing down on his forehead unknown when he was injured.

I raised my strength as much as I could with a frown, fixed my grip on the sword, and poured out all of my sword techniques toward the soldiers running forward at me.

Surrounded and pushed back and forth by attacks from all directions by the soldiers, I eventually ended up running into Khea’s back.

“Khea, are you okay?”

I checked Khea's condition in a hurry. Fortunately, there were no wounds, only small drops of sweat,  and heavy breathing.

“Black Griffins, I’ve only heard stories of them. I never even imagined I’d see the day to fight them myself…!”

I felt like I had a big piece of an apple stuck in my throat.

She is from this world. She was not a player, she was never free from death in this world.

“Khea!”

I shouted at her without thinking.

“Survive, please! I’ll protect you!”

I sensed a small tremor in her back at my words.

After a moment she looked back at me with a girl on her signature playful face.

Her green eyes twinkled.

“How about you take care of yourself first?”

Soon after, Khea jumped up with her body pressed against the floor like a wildcat, accurately pierced the throats of three soldiers in front of her with the rapier in her hand, and landed on the floor with ease.

“I will protect myself! So!”

Then she jumped up again and defeated the swords of the soldiers who followed her.

“You protect yourself too! Mose!”

Khea, along with her twinkling eyes, vanished beyond the soldiers' spears and blades. I, too, burned my fighting spirit and continued to activate my sword techniques.

When the fatigue accumulating on my shoulders grew as huge as the mountains of Langeru, I managed to force the soldiers that surrounded me to stick to the floor.

My body felt like it was going to explode. But still, I moved my head and looked around.

In the midst of endless clashes between the players and Black Griffin soldiers, there was this single person who showed off his unique presence in the middle of all this chaos.

I realized the screams of players began to grow louder and louder. A man in gray armor walked toward me at a slow pace, slicing the charging players in two with a pure white sword.

The moment our eyes met, I began to hear a piece of piano music ringing in my ears. The sound of trembling strings and the sad aria of a woman followed.

The aria in the music ran into a high-pitched voice, almost like a choking scream.

In the meantime, the man in dark armor was approaching me, mercilessly cutting down players who were charging toward him.

Finally, he stopped in front of me. The man took off his helmet in an elegant movement.

His fluttering blonde hair occasionally sparkled like the sand on the beach, and his blue eyes which reminisced the blue sky on a sunny day were filled with the lava of hatred.

<Lv. 144 Lidornn>

The expression on his face as he looked at me with a burning red name floating above his head was not complicated at all.

There was only a straight line of anger and hatred. I slowly fixed the grip on my sword and walked towards him. He also approached me slowly.

Flash!

At some point, both Lidornn and I kicked the earth as we both charged at each other.

I took a large swing with my blade with both my hands and he swung his broadsword which he held high in one hand.

Our blades clashed.

And,

Screech! Bam!

“Cough!”

I coughed up blood. An intense throbbing from within struck me. After exchanging a strike with him, I was pushed to the floor by his monstrous force.

He walked slowly towards me in my hazy vision.

A health bar indicating the remaining life of Lidornn began to appear.

Just as the ‘White Wolf of Logis’ walked towards me, a man stood in front of him and blocked him.

A shield on one hand, and a sword on the other.

My hazy vision started to clear up thanks to the health regeneration effect of the Polorun’s Star.

Swordsman held up his shield tactlessly and faced Lidornn. Lidornn stopped his stroll as he saw Swordsman.

“How ignorant. You who dare to look nowhere but only straight with my presence in front of you.”

The prince raised one of his hands.

“Do you know why I possess the alias, the ‘White Wolf of Logis’?

Lidornn dropped his hand toward Swordsman who only gripped the shield more firmly in response with silence.

“Because those who stood in my way always ended up crushed to death by the fang of the White Wolf.”

As soon as he finished his words, a sword appeared with black smoke behind Swordsman.

The sword swiftly pierced through Swordsman's back and even the shield he was holding, before reaching the palm of Lidornn.

Swordsman desperately tried to stop himself from coughing up blood from his chest as he kneeled down to the ground and looked at me with a bitter expression on his face.

And whispered softly with a smile. His expression was so clearly visible to me.

“Got one shot, huh… It hurts like shit… Damn it, I guess I’m off first.”

Swordsman collapsed to the ground after his words.

“No!!!”

I shouted for the collapsed Swordsman so loudly with a crack in my voice.

He was a player. A player in this virtual reality game. However, this dreadful realism made my heart ache, scream out of my mouth, and tears fall from my eyes.

The anger and sadness began to bind and clump together, twisting my insides.

I slammed my face into the mud with my teeth clenched. Then I stood up to face Lidornn.

“Lidornn, I will now try my absolute best to defeat you!”

It was the anger in this virtual reality game that I tasted for the first time. In my eyes full of anger, a single notification window suddenly appeared.

[ Attoria set effect activated ]

[ Active skill: ‘Solar Rampage’ is now available for use. ]