Emperor of Solo Play

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.