Chapter 26

“Line up! Form parties as instructed earlier!”

The soldiers sprang to action at his command.

“You’ll see the word ‘party’ on the left side of your screen! Press that and…”

Two knights who had already acquired their classes and were well-versed with the system paired up the soldiers accordingly.

“You’ll notice numbers from two through five displayed there. The senior member should touch the number five icon and invite the predetermined members as party mates…”

As expected of Revenge, developed by SoloPlay Inc., even this MMORPG featured a party system. While the guild system wasn’t accessible until level twenty, players could form parties starting at level one.

Although, forming parties at low levels is quite rare.

Low-level players should focus on quests instead of parties, right?

However, since Ardenian soldiers couldn’t level up through quests or events, they absolutely needed to utilize the party system.

“What does this ‘distribution method’ mean? It mentions manual, random, and sequential options.”

“He said you don’t need to worry about that for now.”

The concept of item ownership, known as “Attribution” in Revenge, didn’t apply here, so there wouldn’t be any disputes over loot. After all, everything would be collected and used as supplies anyway, rendering questions of ownership moot.

But experience points were another matter entirely.

Experience points were awarded based on who dealt the first hit, percentage of damage inflicted, and last blow. If there was no party system, shield wielders, who bore the brunt of danger, would never level up while infantrymen wielding spears would skyrocket in levels.

To prevent this imbalance, jae-yeon formed parties consisting of one shield wielder, three close-combat soldiers, and one archer. Although they operated at considerable distances from each other, which made it questionable to call them parties, as long as they were hunting in the same area, experience points were distributed evenly among them.

Seriously, though—this is genius, isn’t it? The system allows high-level players to take low-level ones into their hunting grounds for rapid leveling.

In essence, this was an exploit, so how did Revenge prevent abuse?

Surprisingly and ingeniously, Revenge didn’t block this loophole.

Seriously.

The game developers simply didn’t care if Players exploited it. After all, levels were just numbers. A character’s strength was determined by their class, equipment, collections, etc., not their level.

To prevent players from repeatedly reincarnating to farm for legendary or myth-class characters using Advanced Class Summoning Stones after reaching level forty, there was a rule that issued five warnings before banning accounts caught farming specific hunting grounds excessively.

In other words, while they discouraged reincarnation farming, they implicitly encouraged exploiting the level system.

“Store your arrows in your inventory and load only your weapons onto the carriage!”

“Once everyone is ready, move to your positions!”

Preparations moved swiftly as they had been underway for several days already.

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

The five-hundred-strong army began its march. Thanks to their increased physical abilities and each soldier being equipped with fifty kilograms worth of inventory items, morale was sky-high. They were well-rested, well-fed, and adequately trained, making them battle-ready at peak performance.

“Humans! Humans coming this way!”

“How can they look so healthy? Why is that? Aren’t they hungry?”

“They eat meat every day! Meat, meat, meat!”

“But forget that—they’re trying to escape! Stop them! Block their path!”

“You go stop them, you!”

As the human army approached, the goblins forming a distant encirclement screeched and rushed toward jae-yeon’s troops.

Despite their disorganized appearance, they were formidable opponents. They possessed surprising physical abilities for their size and fought without regard for self-preservation. And though they appeared foolish, they had enough cunning to catch enemies off guard with malicious intent.

The Red X Baron family, who considered themselves powerful despite being stationed on the outskirts of the kingdom, didn’t fall easily.

However…

“My soldiers…”

These goblins would soon face an army unlike any other they’d encountered before.

“Advance.”

Stomp! Stomp!

As the shield bearers marched in unison, the earth reverberated beneath them. With their large shields towering over six feet high, it was like watching a giant castle wall trudge forward, blocking out everything ahead.

“Huh? Huh-huh? Wh-what?”

“Wait! Wait, wait, wait!”

“What is this? Armored beasts?”

The goblins, who had been running fiercely forward, were startled by the advance of these heavy shields and hesitated.

“Charge! Just bite them! Bite!”

A few of them screamed and clung to the shields, but…

Crack! Pop!

The bone swords swung like blunt instruments between the large shields, smashing their heads. This was possible because the swordsmen stood slightly behind and staggered from the shield wielders, providing support.

Moreover,

“Pierce!”

“Pierce it!”

Shunk! Shunk! Shunk!

The spears thrust by the infantrymen emerged between the gaps in the shields, creating holes in the goblins’ necks.

Pop! Pop! Crack!

“Push hard! Knock them over!”

“Pierce!”

“Bash their skulls!”

The battle was one-sided. Unlike before, it remained so even though I didn’t jump in to avoid any confusion.

‘Good. From the beginning, the goblins’ attacks don’t properly work.’

All my soldiers were equipped with steel breastplates and boots, as well as thick leather coats covering their heads. Of course, this meant they were quickly consuming stamina.

Ping! Ping! Ping!

Level up effects erupted all over the battlefield. Although the experience points from ordinary goblins were negligible, my soldiers started at level 1. It was enough for them to level up despite sharing the experience points within a party.

As their levels rose, their stamina and mana recovered, while their permanent recovery speed and mana regeneration increased.

As their strength increased with each fight, the soldiers became more enthusiastic and slaughtered the goblins even more brutally.

“It is amazing…” Smile observed the battlefield beside me and murmured softly. “No matter how much their physical abilities have improved, this battle is so one-sided.”

“I armed them for fighting against goblins. In simple combat, physical ability means a lot.”

However, improving physical ability wasn’t always good. If there was a discrepancy between perceived capabilities and actual specs, it could lead to missteps during battles. Against opponents with refined combat skills, heightened specifications might even put their lives at risk.

However, combat on a battlefield was different from martial arts sparring. When enemies attacked, soldiers simply raised their shields to block; when there was enough distance between them and the enemy, they hurled spears. If foes rushed at them, soldiers smashed their heads or withstood their onslaughts until reinforcements arrived. In this kind of fight, brute strength reigned supreme.

Although jae-yeon couldn’t immediately utilize his enhanced physical abilities to their fullest potential, he would gradually adapt through actual battles.

“Keep advancing!”

“Don’t run! Maintain your ranks!”

Whenever goblins clustered too closely together, two knights leaped forward and mowed them down. As aura wielders, it was unclear whether their skills had improved due to recent battles or because of their increased stats, but either way, their level of mastery had noticeably grown. The blue aura emanating from their swords stood out as they swung them around.

“Humans are strong! Too strong!”

“I will go and deliver the message! I am the herald!”

“No, I’ll be the herald!”

“I’ll deliver it, me!”

Eventually, the goblins couldn’t hold on any longer and began to retreat. As before, the most casualties occurred during the pursuit of retreating enemies.

Ping! Ping! Ping!

Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!

Level up effects burst out from all directions.

“A great victory, Lordship.”

“Any casualties?” At my question, Smile closed his eyes and recited several spells. Then he opened his eyes again and reported.

“Twenty-five wounded and four dead.”

“From among the elite soldiers?”

“Yes, they were elite soldiers. They became too agitated and strayed from formation or… died with paralysis imprinted on their faces.”

I sighed at his words.

‘Even with all these preparations, death is inevitable.’

However, this wasn’t entirely unexpected, so I continued questioning him.

“Anything unusual?”

“Their bodies remain intact. We confirmed that items from their inventories spilled around them, but… unfortunately, no class cards were found.”

“It’s not unfortunate.”

“Pardon me? Oh… yes, you’re right. It could have been problematic.”

What if a soldier granted a class card died and it dropped?

From that moment on, my soldiers would become prey to humans.

‘Greed can make people lose their rationality.’

The class-enhanced soldiers were formidable opponents but not invincible powerhouses. If others could kill them and obtain class cards, every damn fool would rush to slay my troops. Some of my subjects might even attempt assassination.

“First, gather the bodies separately and observe them for a few days before cremation. Ensure that throughout this process, at least five soldiers are always present, and make it open to all villagers.”

“Yes, Lordship.”

As Smile closed his eyes again, I turned my gaze away from him to survey the battlefield.

With only four casualties out of five hundred soldiers, we achieved a decisive victory against over a thousand enemies. Such overwhelming results could only be accomplished when fighting terrified civilians rather than ferocious monsters.

But what if our army consisted of ordinary humans instead? Even with such a lopsided win, it would still count as a loss for them.

Because monsters respawn.

It’s not as swift as Revenge’s regeneration, but I estimate they return within at least a day. While I’m unsure about rare monsters’ exact respawn times, considering Hamlon the Orc Berserker’s case, even conservatively, it wouldn’t take more than a week for their resurgence.

In essence, every human death in battles against monsters is a net loss for humanity.

What about supplies lost during war? Food? The economic loss due to young men being unable to work because they’re fighting on the front lines?

Of course, monsters dropped items, including gold, when killed, but that couldn’t replace fallen soldiers.

Both the Empire and Alliance will crumble. If any powers survive…it would be those located at the edges of the game board.

In particular, territories situated near Windbreak Plateau, approximately 100 kilometers north from here, might even thrive amidst the chaos. High-altitude wild boars (regular) were certainly dangerous predators, but they were still just animals. Additionally, they dropped wild boar ham (ingredient) and wild boar hide (material).

In other words, Windbreak Plateau provided clothing and food, two of the three basic necessities for human survival! Plus, it also yielded weapons and shields; there was no monster more beneficial than this in Ardenia. That’s why I had game characters toil away at Windbreak Plateau without hesitation.

‘After completing Dungeon Clear and Siege Warfare quests at Red X Territory, we’ll head north to White Mountain Territory.’

I couldn’t sustain the territory alone forever. As the number of subjects continued to grow, even with automated hunting, there would come a point where it became unmanageable. Therefore, capturing White Mountain Territory, teeming with various beasts including the Highland Boar (Ordinary), was crucial.

“The post-battle cleanup is complete, Lordship.”

“We’re moving fast.”

“It’s because there hasn’t been much resistance,” Smile explained.

I nodded at his observation. “We’ll rest for about an hour before heading east. We’ll kill more goblins over there and then have lunch.”

“You mean we won’t go north but instead circle around?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

As I mentioned earlier, losing even one human soldier to monsters would be detrimental since they can’t respawn.

But my army is different.

With each battle, my army only grew stronger thanks to experience points.

“We’ll exterminate all nearby goblins until every elite soldier reaches level twenty. Pass on this order.”

“As you wish, Lordship.”

After observing Smile close his eyes, I turned my attention back to my soldiers. It was time to form a guild.