Hard Carry Support

Chapter 28 - A Suspicious Old Man's Commission (4)

The community exploded.

The views on the thread very quickly surpassed a hundred thousand, and it soon became the most popular thread.

The experience and gold the quest gave were amazing, but people went crazy because it was the first time a quest that gave skill points as a reward had appeared in Asrian Online.

- Is this a hidden quest?

- Since Count Allan has posted it as an official document, I don't think so. It seems like a large-scale quest in which many different parties can participate.

- Everyone that can do this should do it. Getting one skill point is like a free level up.

- All the top users are going crazy, lol.

- You can't participate if you aren't level 50? F this game.

- But there are a lot of people that are over level 50… According to the hall of fame, at least 10,000 users have surpassed that level.

- Aren't those ten thousand people in a league of their own? I mean, there are more than a hundred million players.

In the thread, there were more than a thousand comments. All of the new posts on the boards were mostly related to the quest.

- Everyone is freaking out about the skill points, but check out the details of the Sword of the Sun. The specs are amazing!

- Myth Guild is going to take control of the quest. People who don't want to die, please refrain from coming and keep hunting as you usually do.

- LOL, I'm sure you'll be able to control the quest.

- South Korea's number 2 guild, White Lotus, will not participate in this quest. We're located too far from the location. If we don't enter among the top three, just the cost of teleporting everyone will be higher than the reward.

Asrian had become a god-tier game that would definitely be remembered as one of the greatest of all time.

Just in South Korea, there were more than two million players. If you took into consideration the rest of the world, that number became way bigger than that!

Not only that, but because the game had opened recently, the number of players was growing each day.

Despite all that, the users had a complaint. Even though two months had already passed since the servers opened, there hadn't been any kind of event.

'What is NFM doing? Aren't they going to run the game?'

If Asrian didn't have so much content already, people would have probably complained more.

Even if it didn't have events, Asrian was still a god game.

But everyone was kind of let down because of that.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was an event that everyone could talk about?

And then, suddenly, the count's quest came out.

Users were excited.

Especially those who liked to comment on the community boards or those who liked to watch streamers, they were getting ready to order some fried chicken.

It didn't matter if they couldn't participate in the event because of their low level.

They were excited because the top rankers would probably stream the fight in real-time.

- This was posted on Reddit too!

The count's quest surpassed the borders of the Korean communities and started to spread through the rest of the world.

The news that they were going to give away free skill points had a massive ripple effect.

- Woah, this is crazy. The Darkness Guild has announced they're going to participate.

- (Information) To those that aren't aware. Darkness Guild has the current number 2, 7, and 9 rankers. It's by far the current strongest guild.

- This quest's rewards are so great that even top rank guilds are joining in.

- Will Lattice come? I know he's a solo player, but still…

- I'm not sure. He can choose to either participate or not… But if it were me, I wouldn't.

- That's true. Most guilds will bring tens of players, so I guess that if you play as a solo, you will feel pressured…

- It seems like after Darkness Guild announced they'd participate, most medium-sized guilds announced that they wouldn't take part in the quest. But there are also a lot of guilds going for the 2nd, or even 3rd place. If you're not aiming for the top, I think that it's better to give up.

- lol, I'm going to grab some popcorn. This is going to be interesting.

- I'm in the town that's in front of the place where the quest is going to take place, and there are a lot of people, hahaha.

- It seems like everyone went there to take a closer look.

The Darkness Guild moved especially fast.

Only a few hours had passed since the thread was posted, but they were already in the middle of the Calafer mountain.

After hearing that, South Korea's number 1 guild, Hwarang, and the 3rd one, Myth, tried to gather as many members as possible, but all the good spots had already been taken by members of Darkness.

Translator - Daniel Shin

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

"Can't we enter the place where the quest is going to take place? If there's a boss monster inside, I want to hunt it down before it starts," asked the leader of the Darkness Guild, XL.

A guild member answered him.

"It's impossible because it's sealed. Someone tried to move first by using flight magic…"

"And what happened next?"

"He was hit with lightning and disappeared without leaving any trace…"

"Then we should wait…"

The leader of the Darkness Guild looked at the entrance of the ruins.

It was rather narrow. Its width was 10 meters.

XL, who was a graduate of an Ivy League University, concluded something.

"If it's this narrow, all the parties won't be able to fight simultaneously."

"That means…?"

"I think that we should let another guild fight first."

The guild members were surprised by XL's decision.

According to the quest description, the ranking was decided by how much they had contributed.

Everyone knew that letting someone else take the lead would result in the % of their contribution going down.

"But… What if someone takes the 1st ranking from us…"

"That won't happen," XL answered with confidence.

"If we think that there's a possibility of that happening, we can just wipe out both sides simultaneously. Also…"

"There's something I felt while playing this game… Great rewards are often accompanied by danger. I don't think that a quest that rewards five skill points is going to be solved easily."

"That means… You think that the quest is going to be very hard…?"

"Yes. I think that we're probably the only ones that can beat this quest."

"Woah…"

"That's why we should move later on. If we're in a situation where we could lose the 1st position, we can always flip-flop, but everything will be decided based on the circumstances."

* * *

Hyun and Ain hunted until midnight, and then they finished the preparations.

After learning their ultimate attacks, their hunting speed had increased a lot.

Even though hunting named monsters wasn't effective in terms of experience gained, Hyun and Ain were already at level 65.

If you considered only the level, they would barely be able to enter the top 100, but if you looked closely, the truth was different.

Hyun (Lv. 65)

HP: 1560/1560

Mana: 590/590

Job: Support (Hidden)

[Strength: 2] [Agility: 56] [Vitality: 24] [Magical Power: 59] [Empathy: 156]

<Skill List>

[«One Second Absorption» Lv.8] - <+Open>

[«Shield» Lv.0] - <+Open>

[«Powerless Wave» Lv.2] - <Open>

<Awakening Skill>

[«Assimilation» Lv.0] - <Open>

[※ You have 2 unused skill points!]

Ain (Lv.65)

<Player 'Hyun's soul is assimilating!>

HP: 3120/3120

Mana: 2660/2660

Job: Close Range Magician (Hidden)

[Strength: 23] [Agility: 80(+5)] [Vitality: 46(+2)] [Magical Power: 167(+99)]

<Skill List>

[«Flame Claws» Lv.5(+1)] - <+Open>

<Awakening Skill>

[«Prepared for Extinction» Lv.0] - <+Open>

[※ You have 40 unused skill points!]

<Titles>

[Deceiver] - <+Open>

Hyun and Ain were both at level 65, But their stats were those of someone at level 120. However, If you took into consideration the bonus of «Assimilation», it was at the level of someone that was at 180.

That was all thanks to the achievements obtained by being the first ones to kill named monsters.

According to their experience in Asra Online, as the game progressed to the latter half, stats became more important than levels.

There hadn't been many changes except that Hyun had learned «Vision Sword».

The reason was that Hyun lacked skill points, and Ain couldn't find any useful skills except for «Flame Claws».

'I'll learn another skill later on. After all, I have Hyun… So I think that I'm okay for now.'

That's what Ain answered when he asked her about skills.

Was she saving them for when she can change jobs at level 100?

Just like she said, maybe it would be best to save up the skill points if everything was going well.

—Fourth day of the quest.

While they were finishing the preparations, night came to the city.

There were still 20 minutes left until midnight.

There wasn't much time left, but Hyun wasn't feeling pressured.

By Assimilating to Ain, they would be able to reach the middle of the mountain very quickly.

"Why are there so many people?"

"It seems like there's a festival around here."

Hyun and Ain hadn't left the capsule since the afternoon, so they weren't aware of what was going on in the communities.

"This place is usually a quiet hunting place…"

Around the Calafer mountain, there were many users hunting.

They looked like the crowd that flocked to a popular restaurant.

"This place shouldn't be effective in terms of experience gained. Why is it that there are so many people?"

There were so many people that Hyun was starting to get annoyed.

Hyun immediately used «Assimilation» and entered Ain's body.

"It's better inside me, right?" Said Ain with a mischievous smile. Then, while stepping between the tree branches, she began to run.

People that were hunting turned around in surprise, but Ain's 85 agility was so fast that she quickly disappeared from their sight.

They arrived at the ruins a few minutes before the quest began.

In front of the ruins entrance, many people were waiting for midnight to come.

As soon as the gate opened, the guilds would begin competing for who would get to move first.

While everyone kept their eyes open so they wouldn't be left behind by other guilds, they saw a girl crossing the entrance.

It was something obvious, but Hyun and Ain, who were the targets of the quest, weren't affected by the limits placed around the ruins.

"Hmm?"

"What happened?"

Suddenly, all the users focused their attention on the entrance.

As the girl casually passed through the ruin's entrance, everyone sitting around stood up in surprise.

"What…? Did the seal break?"

"We can now enter!"

"Really? Then we… Ugh. Argg-!"

Zapp- Someone ran towards the entrance and soon began shaking as if he was electrocuted—he soon turned into light and scattered away.

After seeing someone die, everyone stopped in their steps.

They'd discovered that they would also die in vain if they ran towards the entrance right then.

"Kid, how did you enter the ruins?" A man that looked middle-aged asked Ain carefully.

That man was the vice-commander of the Myth Guild, the third biggest in South Korea.

Ain looked up.

"Who…?"

Ain looked at him with sharp eyes as if she were staring at an enemy.

Ain had a slight smile on her face, but sharp knives were hidden behind that smile.

But Myth Guild's vice-commander couldn't see her expression since she was covering herself with a robe.

"Haha, if you're an NPC, you probably won't know… Who I am? Have you heard about the Myth Guild? It's South Korea's number 3 guild, and I'm the—"

"Are you trying to pass through the door?" Ain interrupted the man.

The vice-commander thought that the girl had bad manners, but soon changed his opinion.

‘Yes, she's probably a foreigner. Maybe the auto-translate option broke… Or perhaps she's an NPC, so she doesn't know about things like manners.’

The important thing was learning how to pass through the ruin's entrance.

"Yes. Do you know how to enter? If so…"

At that moment…

Fwoosh-!

Ain's hands were covered in fire and hit the man in the waist.

The sight of his upper and lower half getting cut in half by melting would have been too cruel if it weren't a game.

Everyone was horrified because it had all happened in just an instant.

"Hmm… But you aren't allowed to enter here…"

"Wh-what…!"

Surprised, the Myth Guild members took out their weapons and aimed them toward the girl who murdered their vice-commander.

Ain didn't seem to mind the hostility directed toward her. She kept talking with a smile on her face.

"It seems like everyone wants to enter here."

Fwoosh-.

As soon as Ain finished talking, a blue light beam rose to the sky from behind her.

Electricity came out from the light pillars that reached space while making noise.

[There are 60 minutes left before the quest ends!]

[Defend the entrance of the ruin!]

"Of course, no one will be able to enter."

12:00 am. Midnight.

The last hour of the hidden quest had begun.