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152
“The broad outline is as follows.”
Hanbit laid out the major framework of the battle with the Snow Drake as he explained.
He included everything without omission — the creature’s characteristics, behavioral patterns, and weaknesses, as well as its threatening techniques and phases.
With a battle having been revealed during the episode, and being vanguards accustomed to subjugations, understanding came quickly.
Now what mattered was the content regarding individuals and teams.
“I’ll be assigning each of you a number. It’s for ease of command, so please bear with it. For reference, the numbers follow the order in which you applied to the raid.”
Hanbit sent individual instruction materials to the 28 vanguards, including Luna and Raphina, via message.
A number displayed beside the name.
Below that, which personnel made up each subteam, and what each individual’s role was, were listed in full.
“……You wrote all this?”
“How is it this detailed?”
The vanguards examined their individual materials with expressions mixing surprise and bewilderment.
Everyone had come here knowing what kind of person Black Dragon was — but only to the extent of recognizing someone deeply knowledgeable about this world.
No one had anticipated an analytical ability and battle strategy this seasoned.
There were even some who thought they were targeting some kind of opportunity by borrowing Luna’s name.
“There’s quite some time left, so I’ll explain each of you in detail. In particular, please listen carefully — the five who came with Raphina.”
Materials finished writing from evening through to dawn.
The names of the five vanguards Raphina had reached out to were received late in the morning.
Having organized the content from that point on, there was a little content to add directly.
“For efficiency, formalities will be omitted. Let’s start with number 1, Luna. She will belong to Squad 1, which will serve as the detached unit, and the basic position is from behind the Snow Drake…….”
A briefing that began with Luna.
Considerably specific content was included — role, position, effective skills by situation, and points of caution.
The explanation that continued like that went well into the night.
There was no avoiding the length, given the many questions and answers interspersed throughout.
“I can use my skill this way. What about this method then?”
“Wouldn’t it be better to put in some damage when pattern 3 and 5 are telegraphing?”
“Looking at the previous battle, the tank didn’t seem to have much meaning. What if we concentrate everyone who can dodge attacks into one team?”
Someone putting forward a different opinion on Hanbit’s interpretation of their skill.
Someone drawing on experience to think through efficient attack timing.
Someone suggesting a change in raid composition while recalling the Snow Drake from the episode.
The attitude of those who had initially held doubts changed as the briefing progressed.
None of it was a negative gaze — they were all finding what was optimal for the subjugation.
Reading that will, Hanbit answered each point and persuaded them one by one.
“Then I’ll summarize it this way. We’ll read the situation on the ground for the rest. We’ll move to the fortress in 30 minutes, so please finish your preparations.”
Having concluded the explanation, Hanbit stepped down from the podium-like spot.
Right after, the vanguards naturally began finding and gathering with their teams.
“So we’re all together like this.”
“Isn’t this our first time since becoming vanguards?”
“Save the emotional reunion for later. I’m thinking of using this when the left-wing pattern triggers — what do you think?”
Moving as frontliners they were — but actual cooperation was not something they did all that often.
Because large-scale coordinated clears gathering elites were also rare to see.
It was because each was the other’s most threatening competitor rather than a comrade.
“Black Dragon-nim.”
Just then, someone approached Hanbit while he was checking his inventory.
Turning around, a man with a kind-looking face was standing there.
“Ah, Odin.”
Raid member number 19, Odin.
He had seen the face through video material — but actually having a conversation was the first time.
“Is there something you’d like to ask?”
“No, I just came to greet you for a moment. The content of the explanation was astonishingly detailed — I couldn’t help but be impressed.”
“……Thank you for thinking well of it.”
Not even a trace of affectation could be felt in the praise Odin offered.
As he had sensed from the interview article too — a person of a strangely transparent and guileless nature.
“First of all, I’d like to thank you for sharing the restricted area information. Without that walkthrough, I might still be fighting the Guardian Golem now.”
“You would have finished it before long even without me. The word going around is that you have tremendous talent.”
“I am a little embarrassed — but I am aware that I have an aptitude for games. Still, I never reached the level of shaking RP’s ecosystem the way Black Dragon-nim did.”
Odin acknowledged his own talent while clearly distinguishing the difference from Black Dragon.
Hanbit too was well aware of having shaken up RP’s ecosystem quite thoroughly.
“I think I was a little lucky. I knew this world before others did.”
“Ah — you mean the original novel. I’d very much like to read it myself, but…… I believe Black Dragon-nim’s strength lies beyond that knowledge. How many people could there be who could persuade all those resolute vanguards?”
The vanguards carrying out active discussions within their teams.
It was a reviewing and confirming procedure based on the materials Hanbit had provided.
“It is certainly a strange sight. They’re each in a position where they lead a team.”
At that point, Luna stepped close and said.
Only 10,000 vanguards in the entire world.
‘Mid-tier’ generally meant within the top 6,000.
By numbers alone, they were bound to all be in the position of a leader somewhere.
“I wouldn’t have expected you to recruit raid members on someone’s behalf, Luna-nim.”
One thing that many players including Odin had found remarkable.
Luna, who was difficult to even catch a glimpse of, posting a recruitment notice on Astra for Black Dragon.
“There was an article once, wasn’t there? The headline was something like — ‘Chaebol vanguard who would rather die than get entangled with ordinary people’? Something like that.”
Luna had a rough sense of how people saw her.
No amount of talk had ever made her feel the slightest worth giving it a shred of attention though.
“My creed is to do as I please. With Black Dragon — we’re also in a secret dealings sort of relationship.”
“……Secret dealings?”
“Something like that.”
Luna, smiling and mixing truth with playfulness.
Odin, face serious, began to speculate — but her relationship with him had been formed in the information exchange that started with the auction.
Whatever grand thing he might imagine, arriving at the right answer would be difficult.
“Either way — with trust given, I’ll do my best too. First thing first — this.”
Shhk—
Hanbit opened his inventory and took out a black box, a bell, and a horn.
Then, without hesitation, he placed the two items inside the box.
Ding—
[Bell of Awakening Resonance confirmed.]
[Soul Horn confirmed.]
[Would you like to begin crafting Chaos and Disorder? (Yes / No)]
The message carried an atmosphere closer to a warning than a notice.
“Is this the tool for crafting the buff item you mentioned in the briefing?”
Odin asked, recalling what he had heard.
Whether hearing that voice, the vanguards’ gazes began to gather here one by one.
“It was a random crafting tool, you said?”
“What happens if it fails? Do you have to obtain new ones?”
Questions from people arriving one by one.
But Hanbit already knew what result would come out.
The materials given to the raid members had also been thought out with the approximate buff effect in mind.
“I’ll craft it for now.”
Click—
Pressing ‘Yes,’ the message disappeared.
The change in the box was immediate.
Whoosh—
The black box floating into the air began spinning in place.
It kept on continuing.
Swoosh—!
Whoosh—!
The box rotating with increasing speed.
The vanguards in the room focused on the curious spectacle.
And when that random rotation had continued for about a minute, a message appeared.
Ding—
[A distinct light has been found amid chaos and disorder.]
[Great success in crafting.]
[Orb of Transcendent Sound (Rank 6 — Epic) obtained.]
‘Rank 6…… Epic.’
The anticipated name and an item grade that was difficult to anticipate.
Hanbit immediately checked the contents.
[Orb of Transcendent Sound]
Rank: 6
Grade: Epic
Description: A rare object that appeared from chaos and disorder. When the orb is shattered, it bestows a blessing upon all players within range. Players receive the effect of sharpened senses, and all stats increase by 50%. This effect is maintained for 30 minutes.
‘This should be sufficient.’
Excluding the quantified parts, the orb’s effect was identical to his memory.
Hanbit shared the item information with everyone.
“……All stats 50%?”
“And for 30 minutes?”
“A buff item like this comes out.”
The vanguards first showed interest in the numerically expressed performance.
And other reactions followed immediately.
“But what’s the sharpened senses effect? Is it different from stats?”
“Isn’t it about consciousness?”
“Ah, there’s something like that. It would probably be like a danger-detection feeling.”
An expression that didn’t often appear in ordinary items.
There was also a vanguard who had the answer to it.
Hanbit gave a nod and added a supplemental explanation.
“Think of it as the part stats can’t fill. It’s raising the senses that respond to danger.”
The orbs used in other worlds had genuinely combined effects like these.
Heightening all five senses to sharply detect an enemy’s threat — something like that.
In actual combat, it was a force directly connected to survival.
“It’s about time.”
In the midst of the small talk and questions going back and forth, the 48-hour grace period was at its end.
Hanbit looked at the vanguards and said:
“Let’s move to the fortress entrance now.”
***
Crunch—
On a snowy mountainside blanketed in white.
Leaving footprints as they walked, Black Dragon’s raid came to a stand before newly revealed terrain.
A location that looked to any eye like the passageway leading to the fortress.
“We’ll go up to the gate.”
Hanbit, having looked around, stepped out in front again and moved forward.
Other players visible from the very entrance.
The deeper they went, the more the numbers grew.
-There’s a ton of people;
-Practically a public gathering point.
-I’m there too……
-Me too haha……
-Only an idiot would miss this.
-Agreed.
A stream that had started since leaving Ifrit.
With word of the raid having spread so widely, crowds gathering was only natural.
And that number multiplied dozens of times at the fortress entrance.
“They’re here!”
“Wow, Black Dragon actually put that raid together?”
“Get your facts straight. Didn’t everyone gather because they saw Luna’s name anyway?”
A crowd so dense it was difficult to find footing.
Many emotions were felt in the gazes focused here.
The envy, jealousy, and doubts were understandable too.
To these ordinary players, the vanguards were people whose faces they could barely hope to see.
“More packed than I expected.”
“Being a subjugation that would draw public interest, it seems unavoidable.”
Luna and Odin too thought the crowd was beyond the expected range.
Honestly it made no difference either way.
“But — won’t Haemu-nim be coming?”
Raphina, looking around, cautiously spoke up.
Haemu, who had not appeared until the briefing ended.
Even among all these people, the figure was nowhere to be seen.
That was when it happened.
Shhk—
A faint mist suddenly forming before the fortress entrance.
It spread rapidly, consuming the space.
“Oh?”
“What is this?”
“Is it the content-opening cinematic?”
Players looked around in curious reaction.
Time remaining until the Snow Drake content opened — 10 minutes.
It wasn’t strange if the cinematic appeared earlier than that.
But the vanguards’ reactions were different.
“This is…….”
“That person, isn’t it?”
“I thought they were participating in the raid.”
Those who identified the mist’s nature at a glance spoke in bewildered voices.
Shhk—
In the meantime, the mist growing denser.
If the fortress gate opened like this, it would be enough to affect the interior space.
“This is Haemu’s mist.”
Luna, who had been beside him, said in a small voice.
Hanbit gave a nod and lightly reached out to brush through the mist.
“What are they trying to do?”
“Think of it as hide-and-seek.”
Just then, Odin, who had come from behind, answered in his place.
“Hide-and-seek?”
“Yes. It’s a method Haemu uses on rare occasion to gauge someone’s ability. For reference — I didn’t succeed.”
-?
-Haemu?
-Haemu, did you say?
-An upper-tier vanguard came here?
-Just what is Black Dragon……
-But hide-and-seek sounds brutal;
-How do you find someone in that?
-Should we just try setting the place on fire?
When the name Haemu came out, the chat fell into chaos.
Korea’s most well-known upper-tier vanguard — the impact was bound to be that significant.
“This…… if time passes and it can’t be found, will it disappear?”
Raphina, who had been edging closer bit by bit, looked at the mist and asked.
Odin shook his head and answered:
“When it was done to me, I was kept inside the mist for a full day. The problem is the mist will only get worse over time…….”
Shhk—
The mist writhing before those words could even finish.
Before anyone noticed, the people who had been nearby had split into dozens of fragments scattered throughout.
‘Ability is considerable — as the information said.’
Haemu’s mist skill didn’t stop at blocking vision.
Scattering light to create illusions and plunging the controlled area into chaos.
That was also its true purpose.
‘Hide-and-seek…….’
Haemu’s own method of gauging ability — one that even Odin had failed.
Certainly a difficult thing for someone unfamiliar with the skill.
But Hanbit was different.
Vahan — the originator of the mist skill.
Because Hanbit had lived that person’s life firsthand.
“This…… until when……”
“Haemu…… skill…… where……”
“The sounds……”
The anger-mixed voices of ordinary players heard from around them.
With even sounds being distorted, everyone’s confusion deepened.
‘5 minutes left.’
Not long until the Snow Drake content opened.
Being late to enter would pose no problem — but there was a need to have a proper conversation with Haemu.
Shhk—
Hanbit carefully observed the fragmented scenery around him.
The most important thing in grasping this technique was the density of the mist.
The mist created from mana had a tendency to concentrate ever so slightly around the user.
From that, a very fine undulation formed — and that was something Hanbit could detect.
Whoosh—
Wind quickly gathering around the legs.
Looking up to the sky, Hanbit kicked off right then.
Thump—!
The body that shot up in one burst reached a high vantage point on the wall face.
A newly obtained skill — Wind Leap.
Crack—
Hanbit, having gripped a protruding rock, looked down.
Haemu’s mist still thickly settled on the ground.
An enormous range covered even at a height far exceeding a person’s height.
So upper-tier vanguards really were different.
Shhk—
Hanbit focused on the mist’s movement.
The influence from players flailing about inside had to be excluded.
Likewise, the natural wind blowing through this space had to be excluded.
Shhk—
Just then, the mist in a spot far from the center wavered almost imperceptibly.
An undulation that was a little softer than artificial change.
Certain of the answer, Hanbit loaded a slightly denser wind into the legs planted against the wall.
And then.
Bang—!
Kicking off powerfully, he surged in a straight line.
Whoosh—!
The body launched with force and wind combined picked up tremendous speed.
Reaching the target point was, quite literally, instantaneous.
Crack—!
Before landing, Hanbit reached out and gripped something hard inside the dense mist.
The tough texture of leather felt through the skin.
Despite the enormous force that must have been applied, the grabbed target didn’t waver in the slightest.
“Didn’t expect to be found this quickly.”
A man’s voice coming from inside the mist.
Whoosh—!
The shimmering mist swept upward and cleared in one burst.
And when the view had completely cleared, a white-haired man was standing before him.
The upper-tier vanguard, Haemu.
Shhk—
Haemu, briefly glancing down at the collar of his own clothes held in Hanbit’s grip.
He wore a satisfied expression and said:
“You pass, Black Dragon. I’ll play along to your tune today.”
