The Healing Solaris Cleric

Chapter 132: Natural Enemy (2)

“What’s the situation?” Seol Eun-Yeong asked with a tired expression.

“Uh... a white lie or the heavy truth. Which would you prefer?”

When Boyd asked with a troubled look, she sharply replied, “The heavy one.”

“Sigh... this battle looks really tough.”

Boyd didn’t look very pleased either. Seeing his robe scorched in places and covered in dust, he had struggled a lot.

Quietly staring at his appearance, Seol Eun-Yeong cautiously asked, “...What about Unknown?”

“He doesn’t even answer your calls, so do you think he’ll answer mine? I really didn’t see him like that...”

As Boyd swallowed his words while watching Seol Eun-Yeong’s reaction, her delicate brow furrowed.

Did I misjudge him?

Unknown suddenly going no contact significantly shocked both her and Cheonhwa.

In fact, the Black Bee guild started targeting Cheonhwa the moment they recruited Unknown.

Of course, the contract did state he could hunt whenever he wanted...

Who would have thought he wouldn’t step in until the main base was completely wiped out!

While Seol Eun-Yeong held her throbbing head, players from the Liberation Army approached and shouted, “The Black Bee bastards are rapidly tightening their encirclement!”

“There’s nowhere to go! The estimated time until complete encirclement is about fifteen minutes!”

“At this rate, we’ll all die here!”

“Give us orders quickly!”

Seol Eun-Yeong bit her lower lip as she felt the gazes of those looking at her like baby birds looking at their mother.

I did everything I could.

She commanded brilliantly and struck the Black Bees in the back of the head several times with tactics, but unfortunately, there was a fundamental difference in specs.

The power of one of the world’s top ten guilds is indeed impressive.

Even the elite attack team of Cheonhwa, supposedly the best talent, had to acknowledge the Black Bees' elite.

However, she couldn’t die here.

With a sharp gaze, she shouted, “We’re breaking through to the left! We’ll use the waterfall terrain in the forest there for our final defense...”

[Go to the right.]

“What?”

Seol Eun-Yeong quickly checked the voice talk program at the sudden voice ringing in her ear.

Unknown?!

She had sent her voice talk address through messaging, but he hadn’t shown up for a week and now suddenly called.

[What are you doing? You appear after a week and suddenly...]

[There’s no time. Take everyone and run east on the map immediately. Check the coordinates in the message.]

[Why?]

[I’ll break the encirclement there.]

[...See you in the east then.]

The call ended, and the situation remained hopeless. However, a faint glimmer of hope began to rise in Seol Eun-Yeong’s eyes.

“We’re breaking through to the east! Follow me!”

“What? To the east? But there...”

“If we break through there, we can advance to the central area of the forest, so the encirclement would be the strongest there. The Black Bees will never allow us to break through. We should reconsider...”

“No, we’re going east,” Seol Eun-Yeong finished her words in a voice filled with certainty.

If my judgment is wrong, then this is the end for me.

She always liked making bold decisions and once she set her mind, she never backed down and pushed through to the end, and this time was no different.

If Unknown had intended to deceive me or backstab me from the beginning... then my judgment of trusting him was wrong.

She didn't particularly trust Unknown himself. Instead, she firmly believed in her own judgment, having observed and chosen him. That was the kind of person she was.

***

Trees and vines quickly faded into the background as Ka sprinted through the forest. He spotted a new target.

Two.

The moment he identified the enemies ahead, he began to evaluate them.

A long staff with Blue Marine, a Scholar's Breedman Robe, and a purple-tinged laurel wreath...

Kai didn’t know every item that existed in MID Online. However, his eye for gear, honed to Intermediate Lv. 9 by repeatedly grinding in the Crimson Tower with his Poison Master skill, allowed him to instantly assess the equipment requirements of most items.

Around level 215 and 220, respectively.

The moment he assessed them, Kai darted across the ground like a sliding shadow.

“Huh? What’s that sound...?”

As one Wizard turned his head, a sharp sword pierced his neck. “Grrk...!”

“Damon?!”

The other Wizard, though bewildered, was also highly skilled! He immediately jumped back and began casting a spell.

“Unknown! I’ve been waiting for you! Ice Field!”

White frost shot from the Wizard’s fingertips, freezing the ground as it surged toward Kai. It was a binding skill designed to freeze the target’s feet and immobilize them!

The next combo will likely be those.

Crackle, fwoosh!

The Wizard simultaneously cast his most powerful fire and lightning skills! That was the blessing known as double casting, granted to only a few Wizards.

I’ll crush him.

However, his resolve was brief as he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Whoop.”

Unknown walked toward him, ignoring the Ice Field!

“W-what? How?!”

“If you lack camaraderie, this is what happens.”

Kai pointed behind him with his thumb. There, the Wizard pierced by Kai’s sword was frozen in place instead of Kai.

Did he just use Damon as a shield in that brief moment the ice spread...?

That was surely an astonishing reflex! However, there was no time to be impressed.

Kai charged at the Wizard.

“Argh! Even if Ice Field missed...”

At this close range, the next two attack skills wouldn’t miss! Confident, the Wizard quickly fired Fireball and Lightning Spear.

And the moment Kai saw the two skills flying toward him, his mind began to race.

Lightning Spear is faster than Fireball. In that case...

Kai instantly twisted his body to alter his trajectory.

Whoosh!

Thanks to that, the Lightning Spear barely missed his body!

However, he couldn’t perform such a miraculous move twice in a row.

There’s no need to dodge all skills!

At the same time, he cast Flood of Blades!

The Fireball cast by the Wizard was shredded by his rotating blade.

“Th-that’s impossible...!” the Wizard stepped back, dumbfounded.

Lightning Spear was made of literal lightning. Of course, being man-made, it wasn’t as fast as real light, but it also wasn’t a speed that could be dodged so naturally.

One might consider it luck once, but...

How could one explain what happened to the Fireball?

Of course, the speed and accuracy of a spell depends on the caster’s level, but...

His Fireball was as fast as a major league pitcher’s fastball. That meant it was a powerful spell exceeding 120 kilometers per hour!

How could he just slice through that with a sword?

Unknown was much more of a monster than the rumors said! The moment the Wizard realized that, he desperately fought to survive.

Damn it, if I die here, my level and items will all be at risk...

Struggling to survive the oncoming death was nothing less than the instinct of a high-level player.

And Kai understood that instinct better than anyone and knew how to exploit it.

He’s lost his determination. He’ll try and use Blink to escape.

Instead of attacking immediately, Kai straightened his back to elevate his line of sight. At the same time, he prepared his left hand to launch in any direction at any moment. This was the result of all that he experienced over the past few hours of hunting Wizards.

As expected, the Wizard used Blink to reappear far away. “Blink!”

Simultaneously, Kai flicked his left hand.

“Holy Chains!”

The chains shot out instantly, never losing the target he targeted. It was Kai's monstrous concentration and relentless practice that created his overwhelming skill control!

“W-what is this!”

The Wizard unleashed every skill to shake off the chains wrapped around his ankle, but that was useless.

It’s not a Rare skill for nothing.

In the next moment, Kai pulled the chains, thrusting his sword into the Wizard's heart as he was dragged in.

“Join your comrade.”

After finishing off the Wizard who had been frozen, Kai gathered the loot and spread out his map.

“Phew, I guess the eastern encirclement is more or less cleared.”

As a result of his relentless efforts over the past two hours, he had managed to take down over fifty Wizards. It was to the point where he could almost say he single-handedly dismantled the entire eastern, northeastern, and southeastern encirclements!

There was a surprising moment though...

Sometimes, the Black Bee Wizards had laid traps and waited for him.

Well, thanks to Skin of Magical Resistance and Tyrant of the Sea, it wasn’t too dangerous.

There were only two things Kai was aiming for now. One was to help Cheonhwa and the Liberation Army escape through the eastern encirclement he had broken. And the other...

Is to destroy Black Bee.

Kai's lips curled into a grin as he clenched his fist.

A week ago, during the sparring match with Boyd, he had realized his shortcomings. The moment he recognized them, Kai had left the Elven forest to hunt.

Kai quietly opened his stat window.

[Kai]

Class: Solaris Cleric

Level: 151

Title: Envoy of God

HP: 34,100

Holy Power: 59,400

Stats

Strength: 600 Stamina: 341

Intelligence: 248 Agility: 256

Holiness: 594 Dignity: 185

Benevolence: 163

Poison Resistance: +30

Magic Resistance: +70%

All Attack Power: +6%

All Speed: +6%

Kai appeared after a week, having raised his level by a whopping 28 levels! He had the 105 remaining stat points from before, and gained 140 new stat points from leveling up, and all of those points were invested in his Strength and Holiness stats.

Thanks to that, my Strength stat is finally 600!

Unless someone was wealthy enough to cover Stamina and Agility stats with equipment, most Warriors typically invested 2-3 stat points into Strength with each level up, instead of going all-in on strength. In other words, Kai's current strength stat was on par with that of a pure Warrior over level 200!

And the biggest gain from this hunt isn’t my growth.

As he finished thinking that, a group approached him.

“How was your journey here?”

They were the remaining members of the Cheonhwa guild and the Liberation Army. Their combined number barely reached around one hundred.

Seol Eun-Yeong replied, “It was chaotic. The encirclement tightened so quickly... By the way, what about the eastern encirclement?”

“It's cleared. It’s safe now.”

At Kai’s words, not only Seol Eun-Yeong but everyone who heard him was stunned.

He broke the eastern encirclement by himself?

Is he bluffing?

But we really didn’t encounter any enemies on the way here...

Was Unknown really this skilled?

Various looks were directed at Kai. Most were filled with respect, admiration, and astonishment!

“Now that we’re together, we should discuss the next part of our plan.”

At Seol Eun-Yeong’s words, Kai softly chuckled.

“No. Since the members of Cheonhwa and the Liberation Army have fought hard until now, I’ll take care of it from here.”

“What? You’re not serious, are you?”

“Enhanced Summon.”

Snap, snap!

When Kai snapped his fingers twice, his pets were summoned.

As always, the imposing Blizzard appeared.

And...

Kai's eyes curved into a crescent moon as he smiled. What caught his attention was one of the greatest rewards from this hunt. It was Mimic.