Emperor of Solo Play - Chapter 186

Chapter 186

Chapter 186 – Barbarian King (3)

8 .

[The 31st Barbarian Raid attempt has failed!]

[Barbarian King Event .  Will things turn out fine?]

[The 31st Barbarian King Raid team gave a team briefing .  ‘We know the clear method .  However, we couldn’t execute it . ’]

When the Barbarian King appeared for the first time, the Users had welcomed it .  They thought the existence of the Barbarian King would bring life into Warlord, which had started to become a bit boring .  This view was shared by many .

Sixteen of the 30 great guilds had pulled out from the Barbarian King Event, and the Users had welcomed the news .

Recently, there had been historic events that had unfolded in Warlord .  This included the Frozen Kingdom episode, Blaze Slime Dragon Raid and the Anugas Raid .  However, most normal Users hadn’t been able to enjoy these contents .  They were playing the same game, yet it felt as if they were a world apart .

This was why the normal Users hadn’t been worried when the 30 great guilds announced their non-participation .  They didn’t question the actions of the 30 great guilds .

“Finally, we get to enjoy something . ”

“This is a completely different scenario from the Immoral Prince raid .  There are no restrictions .  Everyone can participate in it!”

“This is different from the great battle .  All Users can fight .  This will be easy .  The ones to benefit will be the people, who kill it first!”

This was why everyone thought it was their chance to shine .  They wanted to become the protagonists of this enormous event

“If I catch the Barbarian King, I’ll become the second coming of the Hahoe Mask!”

“I’ll guarantee it .  The killing of the Barbarian King would bring in more money than winning a lottery ticket . ”

The Hahoe Mask had gained money and fame through playing Warlord .  

This was a chance for someone to become the next Hahoe Mask .

This was what people thought, and they started acting accordingly .

Then they realized something .

They realized how foolish they had been .  The Barbarian King ruthlessly crushed the expectations and hopes of the Users .

– Isn’t the difficulty for the Barbarian King Raid too high?

– The average level of the monsters nearby are over Level 220… .   They number in the thousands .  If we grade this as if it was a hunting ground, this might be considered to be a level 270 hunting ground .

The Barbarian King was powerful .  It had several thousand monsters under its command, and they had an average level of 220 .

– How about the method used during the great battle?  What about the Eat the Tail method?

– ㄴ It doesn’t work .

The underlings of the Barbarian King was different from the Corrupted monsters from the great battle .  They were smarter .  They also possessed their original battle instincts, yet they were able to move in perfect order as a group .

– No, the problem isn’t really about killing the miscellaneous monsters .  We can take care of them through large scale magical bombardment .  However, the problem is the Barbarian King!

– The 1st Phase isn’t easy .

– ㄴ Isn’t it just destroying the Protection Gems?  

– ㄴ Two to three Strikers are killed when destroying just one Gem .

However, the biggest conundrum was the Barbarian King itself .

The Barbarian King was strong .  While the Gems on its armor was active, magical and physical attacks had no effect .

Basically, the first button that had to be opened was to destroy the 31 Gems embedded on the Barbarian King’s armor .  The destruction of the Gem couldn’t be done through magic .  It had to be done through physical attacks .

Moreover, it couldn’t be destroyed with one powerful blow .  

Twice!

It didn’t matter how strong one’s attack was .  It took two powerful attacks to destroy a single Gem .

– The Barbarian King’s battle capability is too high .  Aggro management with this bastard is useless .

– ㄴ This is the crux of the problem .  The Barbarian King’s difficulty level is out of our league .

– ㄴ The skilled Strikers can’t last against the Barbarian King .

When a User stuck close to the Barbarian King’s body, it reacted immediately .  If a User tried to stick to the body, it immediately reacted by stepping on the Users with its enormous feet .    It also used its long arms to dislodge the Users .

When caught by the hands of the Barbarian King, the Users were crushed .

In the past 31 attempts at the Barbarian King Raid, no Users had survived being caught by the Barbarian King’s hands!  

– The destruction of the Protection Gem is at least doable .  The problem is the 2nd Phase .

– The Storm Judgement Mode is messed up .

However, the worst and the most ridiculous part occurred when it entered into the 2nd Phase .

When all the Protection Gems were destroyed, the Barbarian King’s golden armor lost its power .  It was possible to stab the Barbarian King, and magical spells could harm it .  However, at the same time, the Barbarian King carried out the Dragon’s Judgement .

Dark clouds started to fill the sky,  and a random User nearby was struck down by the Judgement .  The Judgement was so powerful that a Tanker fully equipped with Lightning Resistant set suffered a Game Over by being hit once .  Even if one was able to survive it, the Stun Effect would last for 10 minutes, so one would basically be a living corpse .  No Skill could undo the Stun .

– Its healing ability is more messed up than the Storm Judgement Mode .

– ㄴ This is the biggest problem .  Who cares if magical and physical attack works?  It just recovers from everything .

As the Users faced these tribulations, the Barbarian King displayed an almost unlimited healing ability .  It was a monster amongst monsters .  The idea of facing such a Boss monster was almost unimaginable .

At a certain point, the Users gave up .

Everyone now wanted someone else to catch the Barbarian King .  They left it alone as they harbored such expectations .

However, the tyranny of the Barbarian King didn’t end there .

[The monsters are moving with the Barbarian King?]

[Please investigate the regen rate by comparing the region before and after the Barbarian King appears . ]

[It’s confirmed .  The regen rate of the monster decreases sharply after the Barbarian King passes by!]

The the Barbarian King passed by a region, and it pulled the nearby monsters .  No monsters were left behind .

In some ways, this was the biggest blow to the Users .

When the Iron Lion Road was discovered, the Users no longer had to be stalled by the Voodook’s Tunnel .  They started crossing the Urugal mountain range using a wide road .

This was why a significant number of Users over level 200 had stepped onto the Black Continent .  Naturally, there was a shortage of monsters .  

While this shortage was ongoing, the appearance of the Barbarian King dropped the regen rate .

To top it off, a half a dozen Users had to compete with each other for a single monster .  It was a scene that reminded one of the early days of Warlord .  The situation now repeated with Users over level 200 .

To make things worse, the Five Stars and the 30 great guilds had already taken over the decent hunting grounds .  They had taken advantage of their early arrival at the Black Continent .

Of course, they didn’t allow the normal Users to hunt in their hunting grounds .

The normal Users couldn’t even properly express their dissatisfaction .  The normal Users weren’t the Hahoe Mask .

– Shouldn’t the 30 great guilds step forward?

– Didn’t they announce their nonparticipation?

– ㄴ Isn’t this a dereliction of duty if they do nothing?

– ㄴ Didn’t the normal Users commend them for not participating?

– ㄴ Still, this is too much!  We can’t even play the game! We can’t even hunt!  It has been 5 hours, since I’ve logged on .  I only caught nine monster!

– The hamsters of Tobot Soft… . Please spread the monsters!

In the end, the key to the start and end of the event was being held by the 30 great guilds .

The normal Users wanted them to use this key to end the Barbarian King event .

However, the 30 guilds didn’t move .  

Several guilds tried to move, but they were interfered by other guilds .

However, the silence by the Five Stars and the Stormhunters guild hurt the most, since they possessed the most influence on the Black Continent .

In the end, the Users gave up .  A portion of the Users returned to the other side of the Urugal mountain range .  The Black Continent was slowly reverting back to what it was before it was found .

– The Hahoe Mask wants to catch the Barbarian King?

In such turbulent times, a hero started to move .

The Hahoe Mask had kept his silence up until that point .  He was north of the Red Desert .  He had been catching the Tattoo Scorpions in the Red Wildland, but now a rumor started to gain traction .

– Even the Hahoe Mask wouldn’t be able to catch the Barbarian King by himself .

– ㄴ I agree .

– ㄴ Even the Hahoe Mask can’t do this .

The Users were pessimistic about the rumor .  The Hahoe Mask was an extraordinary gamer, but the Barbarian King was too big to taken down by himself .

– That is why the Hahoe Mask is gathering Users to fight with him .

–  He is gathering Users?

– ㄴ From what I hear, he’ll take a screenshot with everyone, who participates .

– ㄴ Really?  

– ㄴ He will also give out Hahoe Masks made by him!

In such a situation, a new rumor gained steam .

Afterwards, Hahoe Mask spoke through a youtube video .  He addressed the rumor .

“I’ll battle the Barbarian King .  Please open a way for me .  If you set up the stage and occupy the monsters, I’ll defeat the Barbarian King .  The stage will be at the Bizma Plains .  I’ll battle the Barbarian King there .  Please I need all your help . ”

It was no longer a rumor .  Hahoe Mask started his recruitment pitch .

“It doesn’t matter, who you are .  Everyone is welcome to join .  Moreover, I’ll be handing out a Hahoe Mask to anyone who joins . ”

The Event started for real .

9 .

“Please don’t get too close to me .  It’ll look too friendly . ”

“What?”

“I’m kidding .  Please get closer to me . ”

There was a long line .  At the front of the line, a User wearing a shoddy Hahoe Mask was taking a picture with the Hahoe Mask .  Every User in line either had a Hahoe Mask on their face or they were holding one in their hand .

While the Users were waiting, 50 Skeletons were dancing off to the side .  The group of Skeletons were doing a dance from Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video .  They were dancing without music, and it caused the Users to burst out in laughter instead of clapping .

“The Skeletons are cute .  I want to keep one as a pet . ”

“You want to make it your pet?  I bet it is stronger than you . ”

“If the Hahoe Mask flicks his fingers twice, this place will turn into hell . ”

Then there was a large Bone Dragon, which was 20 meters in length, lying off to the side .  Users climbed atop it to start taking pictures .  Some even got on the back to make it look like they were riding the Dragon .

“I’m a Dragon Rider!”

“Hey .  I want you to take a good picture of me!”

In a different corner, a 10 meter tall Earth Golem was standing still .  The Users were conducting a climbing competition .

It was an event set up for Strikers, who wanted to show off their climbing skill .  In a flash, the Strikers climbed to the the head of Golem .

Some Users clapped their hands when they saw this .

On the other hand, no Users were climbing up the Iron Golem .  The Iron Golem was too slick to climb .  Instead, the Iron Golem was being used as a surface where the Users could graffitti on it .

This was the Hahoe Mask theme park!

Couple days ago, this place was where the Users fought desperately against the monsters .  However, the Bizma Plain held a festive atmosphere right now .

‘Whatever . ’

Of course, Hyrkan had to do all of this for free, so it was driving him nuts .

Hyrkan gritted his teeth when he couldn’t see the end of the line .

“Hahoe Mask-nim .  Cheese!  Cheese!”

At Hyrkan’s expression, the User demanded a smile for his screenshot .

“Cheese . ”

Hyrkan yelled out cheese .

The User seemed satisfied by the result, so the User distanced himself from the Hahoe Mask to check the screenshot .  Then a new User sidled up next to Hyrkan .

“Say cheese . ”

The User immediately asked for him to say cheese, and Hyrkan couldn’t turn down the request .

‘Yes, I’ll laugh . ’

Tomorrow these Users, who were demanding him to say cheese, would fight the Barbarian King’s underlings with their lives on the line .

At that moment, Hyrkan thought about what happened couple days ago .

Whistling told Hyrkan of his plan to spread the rumor that the Hahoe Mask would be participating in the Barbarian King Raid .

First, the rumor was disseminated .  When the rumor became ripe, Hahoe Mask used his youtube page to gather the Users .  Afterwards, Hahoe Mask made a theme park at the Bizma Plain .  This was where the battle would take place .

In truth, they hadn’t planned on putting up the Hahoe Mask theme park .  Hyrkan had planned on giving a speech to the gathered Users .

He would have said they were the only ones that could stop the Barbarian King .  He would have warned them about the consequences that would result if they failed .  The Black Continent would be turned into an inhospitable land .  He had wanted to warn the Users about the dangers again .

He wanted to make an resistance army .

However, everyone had ignored his idea .

“Who’ll come if you do that?”

“I agree .  No one wants to play the game under such a heavy cloud .  We are playing to have fun . ”

Who would want to come if he did that?

Most Users just wanted to enjoy this game .  They didn’t want to play under such a heavy atmosphere .  Not many people wanted to play as if they were under a gun .

This was why Users avoided such desperate struggles .

No one wanted to throw their bodies into a dangerous battle under such circumstances especially when it was almost a given that they’ll suffer a 48 hour break .

On the other hand, the Users wouldn’t mind giving up 48 hours if the task turned out to be interesting and fun .  They would invest their time if it was a task they liked .

“How about we make a theme park?  It’ll be a theme park where Users will be able touch Hahoe Mask-nim’s familiars!”

“That sounds great .  What has gotten into you?  How could you come up with this plan?”

“Yes .  Of course, you would never be able to come up with such an idea . ”

“What? Are you trying to pick a fight with me?”

This was how the plan for a Hahoe Mask theme park came into being .  They had expected a strong resistance from the Hyrkan, but he was receptive to the idea .  This surprised everyone .  Whistling became the representative of the surprised group, and he asked the question in everyone’s mind .

“Are you really fine with this?”

At the question, Hyrkan gave an answer .

“They are willing to die for me, so at the very least, I should do this for them .  Moreover, Yojori is right .  People play this game to have fun .  If it isn’t fun, who would want to play this game?”

Hyrkan recalled the answer he had given before .

‘Yes .  They are here to die for me, so I should smile for them . ’

“Cheese . ”

10 .

From the beginning, Warlord’s days were numbered .  To be precise, an order was given to the M . I . by the Tobot Soft after the M . I . created Warlord .

It was told to create a Quest that could be carried out by the Users .  Three Main Scenario Quests were made, and the game’s setting could be changed as it progressed .  Each Main Scenario Quest had to have contents that would last a year .   The wanted a game they could produce and run for 3 years .

The command they had given was a test parameter .

It was a test to see if the M . I . could produce and run the game correctly .

Then Tobot Soft wanted to check how well their orders was being completed .

This was why they picked capable and competent testers to check out the Virtual Reality .

If thing went according to plan, this test would last for two years .

However, two variables occurred afterwards .

The first variable was the fact the Warlord’s degree of completion was beyond imagination .

The second variable occurred when Tobot Soft ran into financial troubles .  They were developing various project simultaneously using artificial intelligence .  They were producing virtual reality content, yet they didn’t have a business model to gain revenue .  The investors started to hound them .

In the end, they had to make revenue any way they could .  They had to satisfy the investors, so Warlord was immediately put into service .  This immediately turned Tobot Soft in the new leader of the VR contents market .

At that time, Toby Gwynn had made calculations .  He figured out how much money they would rake in from delaying the Main Scenario Quest by one year .  Then he calculated the time he would need to come up with another content that would put them on the top again .  At that moment, Tobi Gwynn gathered the original testers, and he offered them a new contract .

This was when the Hands guild was formed .

At first, the Hands guild directed events from the shadows .  They slowed down the consumption of the game content .  It wasn’t too hard .  The content called the Main Scenario quest was consumed the fastest by the 30 great guilds .  So they just had to control the 30 great guilds .

However, a User had appeared one day, and he was better than the 30 great guilds .  Moreover, it was impossible to bargain with or recruit this User .  All the tactics used by the Hands guild didn’t work on him .  In the end, they had to send out a member named Horus as an agent .  He was sent out to dominate the 30 great guilds, and he would forcefully change the flow of events in Warlord .  Of course, this plan also failed .

However, the important point here was the fact that not all the members of the Hands guild were exposed to the sun .

They formed a powerful group within the shadows as preparation .  These skilled Users would be able to do the dirty work, since the faces of these Users wasn’t known .

“It is finally our turn . ”

“I never expected the Hahoe Mask to move . ”

“We’ve waited for this day, and we even have the chance to become the victors of this game . ”

They had been waiting for this day .

“Let’s go over our plan again .  Our goal is to interfere with the Hahoe Mask, who is trying to hunt down the Barbarian King .  When the Hahoe Mask suffers a Game Over, he has no choice, but to be summoned back to the Heard Fortress ruin town .  Once he is revived there, the Five Stars will get in his way .  We’ll kill the Hahoe Mask every time he respawns . ”

They would permanently erase the source of their troubles .

“I want you guys to infiltrate the crowd that’ll help him .  We’ll help the Hahoe Mask .  However, when he enters the 2nd Phase after he successfully destroys the Gems… . .  We’ll interrupt the Hahoe Mask at that moment .  Any questions?”

“None . ”

“I have none . ”

“All right .  It is time for our revenge .  We have to make sure our stock options kick in . ”

This desire caused them to move .