Chapter 157: Isolation, and a Crisis (3)

The all-time largest war in size in Kailan.

No, this was not just simply in Kailan, but it could be considered the largest war in scale even including the history of all VR games.

Just counting the number of soldiers on either empire's side, there were about 30 thousand on each side.

On top of the number of knights being close to a thousand on each side, there were even over thousands of users that were participating in the war.

And a scene with a scale this large when counting the number of people could easily be called a grand spectacle.

"Cut down all Kaimon Empire people!"

"There is no retreat! Raise the dignity of the Luspel warriors!"

"Whooo!"

The users that were participating in the battle were feeling the utmost thrill inside the large-scale battle that was materialized perfectly to the point it was realistic.

"It really feels like I'm participating in war!"

"No kidding. It's more tiring than hunting in the field, but there's a completely different nervousness from hunting as well!"

The position of the users in this battleground could be considered the middle of the soldiers and the knights.

This was because the levels of the soldiers were around 110-130, while the levels of the knights were around 150-180.

Of course, there were also users that were a lower level than the soldiers, but they died out immediately and couldn't help but be reduced to ashes.

Baaang-!

• You have been directly hit by the sword attack of the Kaimon Empire Knight, and have received critical damage.

• Your Vitality has been reduced by 36,478.

• As your Vitality has been completely exhausted, you have died. You have left the battleground.

Especially in the case of Magicians or Archers, which were classes with low Defensive Power, even if they just got hit once by a high-level knight, they couldn't help but face game over just like that.

However, even if they were hit by the same attack, depending on the Defensive Power of the person that was hit, that force was different in an infinite number of ways.

• Familiar 'Bbakbbak' has received damage from the Kaimon Empire Knight's Inherent Ability, Soul Penetration.

• Familiar 'Bbakbbak's Vitality has been reduced by 5768.

The greatness of Bbakbbak, whose Defensive Power was close to 4 thousand, was showing.

Looking at the fact that only about 5 thousand damage came through even though he was hit with not just a normal attack, but a skill attack, Ian wore a pleased expression.

'I should attach a Vitality regeneration option no matter what on the talisman that I'll be giving to Bbakbbak. Although it doesn't appear often, that is.'

If he gave Bbakbbak, whose Defensive Power and Vitality were overwhelmingly high, a talisman that had the high-ranking regeneration option attached to it, it was obvious that the effectiveness of it will be incredible.

Because he even formed a protective film once every minute thanks to his passive skill, if he had a good regeneration option, he felt like he could even recover all of the Vitality he lost for the duration of the protective film.

'Once the battle ends, I should just grind talismans for a couple hours.'

Because he didn't rest from producing talismans whenever he got the chance up until now, now he could even make talismans that were over Heroic-ranks as well.

He had even equipped an item onto Bbakbbak that was decent enough amongst the talismans he had made up until now, but it wasn't at a satisfying level.

Ian, who was riding on top of Bbakbbak's wide back, let out a command.

"Bbakbbak, use Blessing of the Turtle Dragon on Ly!"

• Understood, Owner.

And the golden current of light that spurted out from Bbakbbak's body shot out towards Ly as it dyed the air yellow.

• Familiar 'Bbakbbak' has used Inherent Ability 'Blessing of the Turtle Dragon' on Familiar 'Ly'.

• For 2 minutes, 'Bbakbbak' will receive 'Ly's damage instead ('Bbakbbak' will receive 150% of the original damage, and if his Vitality drops below 10%, the skill will automatically be cleared).

Ian, who checked that the skill was invoked, turned around and let out a command to Celia.

"Celia, have Ddukdae step back a little, and please focus the Familiar Recovery skill onto Bbakbbak!"

"Yes, Lord!"

Even if it was Bbakbbak, because his Vitality dropped in an instant if he was to receive the damage that Ly received instead, for the duration that the Blessing of the Turtle Dragon skill was invoked at least, they needed to focus the recovery skill on Bbakbbak.

And even though Ian didn't command him, Ly charged into the battlefield and began to slaughter the enemies.

• Familiar 'Ly' has dealt critical damage to the Kaimon Empire Soldier.

• The Kaimon Empire Soldier's Vitality has been reduced by 27,638.

• You have successfully killed the Kaimon Empire Soldier!

• You have obtained 198,079 EXP.

• You have obtained 3000 Fame.

• You have obtained 500 Contributions towards the Imperial Family of the Luspel Empire.

Ian, who slightly checked the overloading amount of system messages that popped up whenever Ly killed a soldier, turned his head again and looked around at the battleground.

'It's important that we catch a lot, but since the most important thing is leading the battle itself to victory no matter what!'

As the biggest purpose for Ian participating in the battle was to maintain the front lines, Ian focused more on the flow of the whole battleground.

And from afar, a familiar backside caught Ian's eyes.

'Ugh, why is he over there again? He should listen a little to what I say!'

The main character of that backside was none other than Kaizar.

Kaizar was in the battlefield that Ian was participating in with him, but as he just did as he pleased, he didn't listen to Ian's commands at all.

Since it was to the point that if Ian told him to move towards the east, he purposely moved to the west.

It was to the point that he felt like the common empire knights that Ian had high Affinity with listened to Ian's words better than Kaizar instead.

'Ah, I don't know. Still, since all of the EXP and Fame is coming in, I should just be satisfied with that.'

He felt as if even Kaizar was inserted into the west front lines, which were slowly collapsing, the balance would return again, but Kaizar was excitedly fighting the knights in the central front line.

'I should adjust to Kaizar's movements instead and move accordingly.'

Ian called over Pin, who was spreading out his Crush skill towards the soldiers.

"Pin, come over here!"

Kku-ruk- Kku-ruk-!

At Ian's command, Pin approached him at lightning speed.

After Ian petted Pin's head for some time, he got on Pin's back with skilled movements.

"Celia, I'll leave it up to you here. Try to last while healing Bbakbbak and Ddukdae well. Halli will also help."

"Yes, Lord, just leave it to me!"

Ian also let out a simple command to Paulean, who was diligently fighting at the front.

"Paulean, since protecting this line is the most important, don't go in too deep to dig through the front and just maintain the line."

Paulean nodded his head energetically as he replied.

"Yes, Lord, understood!"

Ian, who left the battleground up to his reliable retainers, flew up into the air on Pin's back like an arrow.

Kkyaaooh-!

As expected of the emperor of the blue sky, Pin cried out with a resounding voice.

Ian looked down at the battleground as he began to diligently spray Magic Spheres and Current Proliferation.

'As expected, I don't think there's any AoE status condition skill that's as effective as Current Proliferation in a large-scale battle. On top of that, if it's a dogfight like this, it's better!'

Like that, Ian began to direct the whole battleground effectively.

He wasn't directly letting out commands to the NPCs or users, but while he sprayed debuff skills or status condition attack skills to the right man in the right place, he began to grab the battlefield in an indirect way.

And the ones that felt threatened by Ian's form first were the users of the Kaimon Empire.

"What is that? Was there even a NPC riding a Griffin amongst Luspel Empire's combat-type NPCs?"

"What the hell, this is my first time seeing that too. There really is a Griffin Rider?"

Users who didn't really know about Ian thought that Ian, who went around the air and disturbed the battle little by little, was an NPC, but there were also users amongst them that knew him.

"That user, it's Ian! I've watched a video of him riding a Griffin and spraying lightning!"

"It's the truth! If you get hit by those purple spheres, it hurts quite a bit, so everybody, avoid them!"

Pung-!

The effect that the fighting power of one user has on this big of a battleground couldn't help but honestly be meager, but no matter who saw, Ian exerted a great amount of effect onto the overall battle.

Ian properly used his strong allies, and he skillfully isolated threatening enemies and made it difficult for them to display their full strength.

As the battle proceeded like that, the battleground slowly began to lean towards the Luspel Empire's side.

It seemed that the users affiliated with Luspel that were still alive and were diligently fighting felt that as well, as they began to chatter out of excitement.

"Wow, are we finally going to win for once as well?"

"I know, right? I feel like we're really going to win today!"

"I heard that we just lost three days in a row since the war started, but how exactly did we win today?"

"Do you not see that Griffin rider over there? I think that person is really great. Thanks to that person, I survived twice earlier."

"What do you mean that person? That person is Ian, who is 1st place in rankings for Summoners. I told you that I saw a combat video before. He's freaking awesome. If I'm still alive by the end of the battle, I'm thinking of even getting an autograph at least."

"Oh, really? That person is that Ian you were talking about?"

The users looked at Ian, who sometimes rode on Pin and flew in the air or other times rode Halli and went around the battleground, with jealous gazes.

"Yo, if I look at that Ian person, I think that the Summoner class is actually a cheat class, but then why whiners always whining in the Summoner bulletin board?"

At one user's word, a Knight user, who seemed to be his friend, shook his head as he replied.

"You, does that play look easy to you right now? As Familiars themselves have AIs, they do fight up to an extent even if you just leave them alone, but unless you consistently give them commands, then you can't get that much control. That Ian person is amazing. I've been watching him for a while now, but he doesn't have one Familiar that is just muddling around. On top of that, I even think the ranks of his Familiars are at least Heroic-rank."

Like that, after Ian poured out all of his concentration without rest and went around the battleground, Luspel Empire was in the end able to perfectly claim victory.

The fact that the Desert Warriors that had contributed quite a bit in the victories of Kaimon Empire up until now hadn't showed up could be considered luck, but despite that, it wasn't like Ian's active role faded away.

"Hooray! I never thought that I would still be alive by the end of the battle!"

"Jackpot! I also survived, hahaha!"

"Yo, you're not even lv 120. How were you able to survive up until now?"

"Hehehe, well, I just followed behind Ian. Ian saved me three times! God Ian!"

The number of Luspel Empire users that survived at the end of the battle was only about 900, which was about 30% of the 3 thousand that participated in the battle in the beginning, but to be honest, that was also an incredible standard.

Since even if it was the victorious camp, up until now, there was never a case when over 10% of the users survived.

In other words, today's battle could be considered a great victory.

'How far could we push in with today's battle?'

Ian opened his map and after checking the newly formed front confrontation line and the distance between that and the base, Ian let out a sigh of relief.

If in the case they had lost today as well, the base would have really been in danger.

'Alright, if we can just win continuously the next two days or so, it looks like our base could avoid the danger zone.'

After Ian checked the fact that his abilities displayed a bigger effect than expected even in a large-scale battle, he was incredibly pleased.

'The EXP is terrific as well. I should run as a mercenary in the front lines for a couple days.'

However, Ian's plans, which just looked smooth, couldn't help but be immediately shattered the next day.

* * *

• Ian: What? The base was attacked?

• Herz: That's what I'm telling you. While you were gone, the Desert Warriors came and attacked. The scale was smaller than last time, but it seemed because you were gone, the damage was quite big.

• Ian: No, how is that possible? With today's battle, we increased the distance from the front lines by over 3 kilometres, so then how were the Desert Warriors able to invade us?

• Fiolan: By the looks of it, it seems like the DarkRuna Guild personally moved the Desert Warriors. Or, the Mark of Magellan has some sort of special ability...

• Ian: Special ability? What kind...?

• Fiolan: For example, something like summoning Desert Warriors within a certain distance to a specific place...?

• Ian: Ah, this is beyond my expectations. Then starting tomorrow, I should also return to the base.

• Herz: By the looks of it, I think that would be best. Since whether you're here or not, the difference is quite big.

The expression of Ian, who went into the chatroom in order to boast about the victory in battle and instead heard unexpected news, hardened.

"Ah... The Mark of Magellan or whatever, is there no way to see the details of what kind of item that is? I'm going crazy."

The central continent base of the Lotus guild was currently raising buildings quickly and was in the middle of development.

The resources and goods that were needed in raising those buildings were, of course, things that were supplied through the War Trading Post.

'If attacks continuously come in, it looks like we'll have to build a defense tower first, not the production buildings. We'll have to invest a lot more in the labour force as well...'

But then again, as it was too big of a waste to cancel the production buildings that were being built, they needed to supply additional resources from somewhere.

Ian's head began to become incredibly complicated as he closed the chat window and headed towards the base.

'If it's like this, in the end, it means that we'll need to pull resources from the northern continent...'

Ian, who momentarily organized his thoughts, sent a personal message to someone.

• Ian: Professor, it's Jinsung. By any chance, are you finishing up the thing that I asked as a favour from you before now?