MAX 19

Han Jiho glanced at the nicknames of his teammates scattered in the distance and began killing the monsters closest to him. His hunting speed had noticeably increased thanks to the effects of the legendary gauntlets he had acquired earlier.

As a result, the mobs fell in an instant. Blue shards and ammo dropped across the floor.

After collecting the items with a light roll, Han Jiho scanned his surroundings and leaped toward higher ground. He was trying to figure out how to get to the other islands.

Just then, 1Jiho’s explanation followed.

【1Jiho】 [Ah, 98-nim. To get to the other islands, you can take a wire or just jump over!]

Now that he knew how, his task from here on was to kill monsters and collect shards until the altar opened. Perhaps the other teammates were working hard as well, as the total number of shards possessed by the team was rising non-stop.

There were about 20 seconds left until the altar opened.

Han Jiho continued to kill monsters and collect shards during that time, and in the process, he learned that he could only hold a maximum of 20 shards at once.

‘No wonder I couldn’t pick them up.’

He looked at the shards left on the ground with a face full of regret, then kept moving toward the altar that was about to open. The other teammates had also collected 20 shards a while ago and were simply waiting for the altar to open.

‘At this rate, we can gather 100 immediately and summon it.’

Just as he was about to hop onto a wire connected to a neighboring island, a message popped up saying that powerful enemies had begun to appear simultaneously with the opening of the altar.

They were special monsters with health pools so sturdy and strength so great that they were incomparable to the trash mobs he had been killing until now.

“Wow, that hurts way too much.”

He had only taken a few hits, but his health was cut in half in an instant. On the other hand, the monsters were perfectly fine, with their health not even having dropped by half.

【1Jiho】 [Agh!]

1Jiho’s death rattle was heard. Along with it, his health bar turned gray, and the number of shards he possessed suddenly turned to zero. He was dead.

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [Good grief.]

【1Jiho】 [What am I supposed to do when they swarm me in a pack? It was so scary.]

1Jiho made a whining sound as JunkCollectionMaster sighed. However, JunkCollectionMaster’s health was also nearly half-depleted from monster attacks, and it was the same for the other teammates.

Observing his teammates’ conditions, Han Jiho first cast a healing skill on himself. The cooldown for the healing skill was now 18 seconds. The 20-second cooldown had been reduced by 2 seconds thanks to the legendary gauntlets.

Taking advantage of that window, he quickly ran toward where JunkCollectionMaster was. Right now, preserving shards by keeping teammates alive was a higher priority than killing mobs. Regardless, the victory condition was to collect shards quickly and summon the boss.

In the midst of that, WrigglingDdorak died for the second time.

It took 10 seconds to respawn. He had to hurry and offer his shards to the altar before he died as well.

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: sry

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: This seriously hurts like hell

【1Jiho】 [Doesn’t it feel even more painful today?]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [Probably because your skills have regressed.]

【1Jiho】 [WTF. How mean.]

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: lolololololol

Soon after arriving at the island where JunkCollectionMaster was, Han Jiho checked that there were 5 seconds left on his healing skill’s cooldown and threw a grenade toward the area where the mobs were swarming. Because the respawn rate was faster than the kill rate, JunkCollectionMaster was getting ganged up on by the mobs.

Bang, bang!

While the mobs hit by the grenade were staggered, Han Jiho landed beside JunkCollectionMaster and immediately cast his healing skill. The latter’s health had been at less than 10 percent.

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [Ah, thanks. I almost died for real.]

【1Jiho】 [Probably because your skills have regressed.]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [You’re gonna get it.]

【Hansum】 [Get to the center, fast.]

After confirming that JunkCollectionMaster’s health was fully restored, Han Jiho began running toward the altar while dodging monster attacks. Checking the HUD at the top, he saw that the enemy team had already offered 35 shards.

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: 98-nim, hurry to the altar gogogo

[Party] HanJiHo98: ok ok

Soon, he saw Hansum’s nickname heading toward the center. His health was also nearly half-depleted, but perhaps because he was a tanker, he was holding out well.

【Hansum】 [98-nim. Give me some cover.]

Following Hansum’s call, Han Jiho turned and followed behind him. At the center, respawned mobs were pushing in endlessly.

Taking a position on high ground near the altar, Han Jiho began killing the nearest mobs and covered Hansum as he offered shards to the altar. Hansum’s health, which had been depleted, was filling up bit by bit every time a critical hit landed. This was also thanks to the gauntlets’ options.

【Hansum】 [Thank you.]

The score changed rapidly.

20 to 38.

The enemies had only managed to offer 3 shards in the meantime. Han Jiho watched Hansum kill the surrounding mobs and jumped down. Now it was his turn to offer the shards he had collected.

From then on, the game continued fiercely.

Han Jiho, along with his teammates, fended off the waves of monster attacks while collecting shards to offer to the altar, and they opened the rift gate by killing the elite monster that appeared once the shard count was met.

As if waiting for that exact moment, Hansum crossed over to the enemy camp and showed off his prowess by pulling off an all-kill. Meanwhile, Han Jiho protected his allies by killing the enemy who had crossed through the rift.

The current score was 78 to 61.

Han Jiho had 12 shards, and the other teammates each had at least 5. If they offered all of them, they would be in a position to summon the boss immediately.

《 A rift has been discovered. 》

《 Prepare for an enemy invasion. 》

A warning message announcing an enemy invasion appeared at the top of the screen. This was because the enemy team’s score had just surpassed 60.

【1Jiho】 [Ah, that electric floor is seriously painful.]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [Watch your head.]

As if by agreement, the teammates quickly scattered and hid, and Han Jiho also lowered his stance and aimed his gun to find the enemy.

He held his breath and listened to the audio in his headset. Amidst the cries of the monsters and the chaotic noise, he heard the pitter-patter of moving footsteps. It was to his back left.

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [Oh, looks like they went toward 98-nim? Watch your back.]

Listening to JunkCollectionMaster’s timely warning, Han Jiho quickly spun around. And the moment he faced the enemy rushing to kill him—

Rat-tat-tat!

The bullets fired in an instant pierced the enemy’s head. It was a clean headshot without a single error.

【1Jiho】 [Good good. As expected of 98-nim.]

In the meantime, WrigglingDdorak and Hansum offered their shards, widening the score to 91 to 65, and an elite monster appeared once more. It was the last chance to cross over to the enemy camp.

Han Jiho applied a ‘Mark of the Sanctuary’ to the mob and poured out his attacks so that Hansum could quickly cross over to the enemy side.

Thanks to that, the elite monster melted away as soon as it appeared, and the rift opened, but…

The problem was that Hansum, who was supposed to cross to the enemy side, was suddenly ganged up on by a swarm of mobs and died.

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [Heol.]

【Hansum】 [Ah, sorry. Really sorry.]

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: Ah, seriously what a f*cking troll —

【1Jiho】 [I think Sum-hyung is a bigger troll than me.]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [For now, someone just cross over quickly. Except for No. 1.]

【1Jiho】 [Ah, why? I’m good at this, you know?]

In the midst of this, the person closest to the rift was Han Jiho. This was because he had been clearing the path ahead of time for Hansum.

Should I give it a try? With that thought, he tapped the keyboard.

[Party] HanJiHo98: I’ll go

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: Oh

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: gogogogogo

【1Jiho】 [98-nim, be careful!]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [You be careful.]

【Hansum】 [Fighting.]

Receiving his teammates’ cheers, he crossed over to the enemy camp. The time allowed for an invasion was only 30 seconds. He had to kill as many enemies as possible within that time.

Han Jiho let out a short breath and adjusted his grip on the mouse. Then, switching to the sniper rifle he had prepared just in case, he hid behind cover and aimed at the enemies who were wandering around in confusion searching for him. They were moving in all directions, trying their best to dodge attacks, but to Han Jiho’s eyes, it was just a simple pattern.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

As such, all he needed were four bullets to kill them all.

The enemies were wiped out by headshots.

As the achievement unlocked, Han Jiho returned to the ally camp. It seemed the system automatically returned the player once all enemies were dead or the time limit expired.

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: Oh~~~~~~~

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: Nice nice nice

【Hansum】 [Wow, are you sure this is really your first time playing?]

【1Jiho】 [I told you our 98-nim is insane!]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [No matter how I look at it, you’re a veteran from some other game.]

Just as JunkCollectionMaster said, he was more than a veteran—he was a fossils-level expert—but Han Jiho just laughed. It felt a bit silly to bring up the fact that he used to play Genoforce now.

The game concluded smoothly after that. The result was, naturally, an ally victory.

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: 98-nim’s carry was insane

[Party] HanJiHo98: hhh thank you

[Party] 1Jiho: Sum-hyung’s trolling was crazy

[Party] HanJiHo98: lololololol

[Party] Hansum: ?

【Hansum】 [Hey. You wanna die?]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [To be honest, you were a total troll. Didn’t you die on purpose?]

【Hansum】 […Ah. I really want to kick all of you.]

Watching the teammates tease Hansum, Han Jiho leaned back in his chair feeling a sense of exhaustion. His mental state had been completely drained due to the earlier ‘Han Jiho’ issue.

So, even though the game was very fun, he was about to type in chat that he would stop here for today.

Ding-dong.

Along with a short notification sound, a voice that was familiar and, at the same time, one he did not want to hear, reached him.

【Chaehyun】 [What’s everyone up to.]

It was Chaehyun.