5 versus 5. Party PVP.
As with any team game, the difference in team composition played a significant role in this setup.
The bandits on the other side were composed of one brawler, two warriors, and two bow rogues.
Our team consisted of one commander, two knights, one sniper, and one mage.
The most significant difference between the two sides?
Wusssshhhhh!
Of course, it was the presence of a mage!
The massive wave summoned by Junior swept the bandits away. In truth, that move had already sealed the game.
Caught in the current, the bandits stumbled and fell without even getting a chance to fight back.
"Ugh, I’m feeling faint..."
Junior grabbed his forehead and wobbled after casting the spell. What was the point of eating health food then?
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
Then, the cheerful sound of footsteps was heard, and there was Kuilan, narrowly escaping the wave’s range.
Kuilan looked at his subordinates floating in the wave and exploded with frustration.
"Damn! Having a mage is cheating!"
What’s cheating about it? Do you know how much I spent to hire Junior? Isn’t selecting and utilizing strategic weaponry a skill?
Regardless, Kuilan, living up to his title as a Bandit King, broke through the magic and charged forward. I reached out.
"We have to capture that one alive. Take him down gently."
As soon as my words fell, Damien took aim with his magic gun.
Uh... Damien? Didn’t I say to capture him alive?
"...Too slow."
With those brief but arrogant words from Damien, the magical bullet was fired.
Thump-!
The shot was aimed at Kuilan’s leg. It wasn’t a bad idea to injure the leg to subdue him, but,
Screech!
The problem was that the opponent was a brawler class.
Kuilan swirled magic around his hands and drew a large, round circle.
The magical bullet was sucked into Kuilan’s magic-infused hands, and it took a strange trajectory, spinning inside his hand before bouncing back.
Kuilan’s passive skill, [Leaf Drift]!
Brawlers commonly have parrying skills that nullify an opponent’s attack.
But Kuilan’s passive skill went one step further.
It ’countered’ the enemy’s attack!
"Whaaat?!"
Seeing the magical bullet return on the exact path it was fired, Damien was startled.
This skill not only nullified all kinds of attacks regardless of their power but also returned them to the enemy. It was practically an overpowered skill.
’It’s true that without such an overpowered skill, how would a brawling class stand on the battlefield!’
Although the skill had a relatively long cooldown making consecutive usage impossible,
How could it reflect Black Queen’s magical bullet?
Damien hastily fired another shot from Black Queen to intercept the returning magical bullet.
Thump-!
The returning magical bullet collided with the newly fired one and exploded in mid-air.
"Damn! Calm down, Olorb...! Stop misbehaving!"
Whether it was the aftereffect of firing two consecutive shots, Black Queen spewed a sinister aura and trembled.
Damien struggled to calm his magical gun.
In the meantime, Evangeline charged forward, her green eyes narrowed and a sly smile on her face.
"It’s okay if you get hurt a little, right, Mr. Bandit?"
"I return those words back to you, Lady Knight."
Kuilan let out a low chuckle, spreading his legs and lowering his stance, his hand snapping forward.
"You think you won’t get hurt? More than anything, today-"
Beneath the X-shaped scar on his forehead, Kuilan’s tiger-like eyes flashed.
"I’m incredibly lucky!"
Kuilan’s fist stretched out like a flash of lightning towards the charging Evangeline, who naturally raised her shield to block the attack.
That’s when it happened. Red energy wound around Kuilan’s fists. I swallowed hard.
"Hmm."
I already knew all about Kuilan’s skill set, but I had decided not to advise my party members.
With our current party’s level, I thought we could win even without knowing our enemy. Facing an unknown enemy could be a learning experience.
But that skill was something I felt I needed to warn them about. I yelled to Evangeline.
"Don’t defend against that attack, Evangeline! You have to evade!"
"Huh? What? What’s that-"
But Kuilan’s gauntlet-clad fist had already touched Evangeline’s shield.
Thump-!
A loud sound echoed, and Evangeline’s arm armor shattered without any damage to the shield itself.
Evangeline’s eyes widened in disbelief.
"What, what-what-what?!"
It was Kuilan’s first skill, [Leaf Crush].
The moment the fist makes contact, the skill infiltrates the magic power inside the opponent’s armor, bypassing it to deal direct damage.
Perhaps it’s akin to what’s referred to in martial arts novels as the principle of Inner Fist, using penetration force.
In a world filled with plate armor and defensive magic, it’s undoubtedly a handy technique for a mad brawler job that relies on his two fists on the battlefield.
Stunned, Evangeline was defenseless as Kuilan leaped at her side.
With a grace and smoothness inconceivable for his massive size exceeding 2 meters, he lunged.
Swish-!
Kuilan’s fists thrust forward simultaneously after he effortlessly closed the distance, the red energy from the already applied [Leaf Crush] flickering like flames.
Panicking, Evangeline blocked with her shield again,
Boom-!
[Leaf Crush] passed through the shield to strike Evangeline’s body.
Shockwaves spread in all directions, and Kuilan’s long hair flew back.
"Ugh-agh!"
Evangeline was sent flying like a kite with its string cut, letting out a strange scream. Her body reacted on instinct to block, rather than evade. The fate of a shield knight...
"Hoo-."
Regaining his composure, Kuilan turned his body, taking a martial arts stance. His muscles, clinging to him like chainmail, writhed.
"Next?"
Lucas was already charging at Kuilan like a beast.
With a violent rush, Lucas swung his greatsword recklessly.
There was no trace of his usual neat swordplay, only the movements of a wild animal, eager to rip its prey apart. Apparently, he was still under the effects of his beastly state.
Tszkaaak!
But the power was undeniable.
The greatsword, sparking with crimson sparks, slashed through Kuilan’s gauntlet. Kuilan clicked his tongue and shook off the shattered gauntlet.
"This guy doesn’t seem like a knight but more like a beast, huh?"
"Shut your mouth, bandit."
Flames erupted from the longsword in Lucas’s hand. It was the aura of [Karma Eater].
"How dare you kidnap my lord, a hundred times should you bear the punishment!"
No, we were supposed to capture him. Don’t kill him.
"If he’s that precious to you, you should have protected him properly..."
Kuilan, who deftly dodged Lucas’s sword strike, kicked flashily.
"It’s not my fault you drop things in the street and a villain like me steals them!"
A red energy swirled from the tips of his metallic boots. Lucas twisted his body and leaned his upper body back, narrowly avoiding the kick.
Quickly creating distance, Kuilan caught his breath, and his body began to shimmer with red energy.
Kuilan’s second skill, [Leaf Rise].
A self-buff skill, it increases the speed of all actions and adds extra damage.
"Shall we play, Sir Knight!"
Kuilan shouted cheerfully and charged at Lucas, who growled low like a beast and rushed to meet him.
Lucas’s beast-like sword strikes were powerful but lacked precision.
Kuilan, sped up by his self-buff, dodged all the sword strikes by a hair’s breadth, continuously pounding Lucas’s armor with his bare hands.
Bang! Crack-Boom!
The sound was like fireworks exploding.
Kuilan had lost his gauntlet weapon, so his attack power was greatly reduced. However, a fighter can still deal blows with bare hands.
As the damage accumulated over the armor, Lucas’s face gradually twisted.
"..."
Hmm.
Everyone seems to be struggling more than expected. I guess I can’t help it. Maybe it’s time for me to step in.
That’s when it happened. Someone rushed towards the two men, exchanging sword and fist.
It was Evangeline.
"Lucas, Sir!"
Evangeline screamed.
"Catch him!"
"…!"
Lucas threw his longsword aside, lowered his stance, and tackled Kuilan, who was about to kick.
"Gah?!"
Kuilan, not expecting Lucas to discard his sword and engage in hand-to-hand combat, was caught. He stumbled and stammered.
"Wh-what? Wait, wait a minute-!"
Evangeline swung what she held towards the back of Kuilan’s head.
"Raaaahhh-!"
It was a shield.
Bang!
"…"
Hit squarely on the back of his head with the shield, blood spurted from Kuilan’s nose.
"It’s strange... my luck wasn’t bad today..."
Kuilan mumbled and his eyes glazed over, and he collapsed with a thud.
"Uh...?"
Evangeline looked down at Kuilan, knocked down with a single blow, rather bewildered.
"What, what’s this? This bandit guy is... really weak."
I nodded my head. Yes, she finally realized it.
Though he looked like a muscular giant over 2 meters tall and easily deceived by his appearance, Kuilan was actually an agility-all-in fighter.
Agile and with decent damage, but it wouldn’t make sense if he also had high stamina. His stamina stat was at rock bottom.
A decent blow would take him down. It’s hard to land a hit on an agility type character, though.
’They all fall for it at first because of how he looks...’
With muscles bulging and enormous, yet as fragile as glass, the fighter was an extreme character, even in <Protect the Empire>. The class of fighter itself was a high-risk job, hardly used in the game, but Kuilan was especially notorious for his bizarre balance.
’Though fighters are inherently a high-risk job class, and rarely used in the game, this guy Kuilan has an especially weird balance.’
Yet, with the right equipment and proper training direction, he could be useful.
I shouted to the knights who were tightly tying up the bandit king and his elite troops, binding them like fish.
"Tie them gently! Don’t hurt the kids. If they get hurt, we can’t properly use them later."
It sounded like something a wicked slave trader might say.
Capturing a wild bandit monster, it’s somewhat similar, right?
The east began to brighten. The refugee camp was bathed in morning sunlight, and from there, I could see a knight in a maid’s uniform running towards us.
"Your Majesty!"
It was Elize.
She seemed to be alone, but behind her, the rest of the bandits were being dragged along, tied up. She had apparently subdued the rest by herself. Impressive.
The knights and soldiers who had been captured with me were all released, helping to arrest the bandits and refugees of the camp.
By the time the morning sun was fully up, the suppression of the camp was complete.
Both the bandits and the refugees were all strung up like dried fish, sitting with blank expressions on their faces.
Just yesterday, when I was brought here, I was the one bound, and they were the ones dragging me. But overnight, the situation had reversed completely.
"Now, shall we head back?" I said with a grin, mounting a horse along with my party members.
"To Crossroad, the fortress city of dreams and hope!"
With the bandits trailing behind, their faces filled with frustration and despair, we began our journey back to Crossroad.
--TL Notes--
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