SRPG | Chapter 1.3

Lee Hwanyoung didn’t miss the opportunity to chain his skills.

<Shadow Thorn!>

Thorns sprouted from the shadow glued to the ground. Lee Hwanyoung continued pressing his combo.

<Shadow Fog!>

<Vampire Bat!>

<Shadow Throw!>

‘Definitely a new character. The Shadow Sorcerer has much better combos than the magician.’

Gudok didn’t just take it lying down. He cast Doll Transformation, the only defensive skill among the magician’s first job change skills, and hurled cards, roses, and knives at Lee Hwanyoung.

“Man, this is intense…”

Both sides were using only first job change skills, so the effects weren’t very flashy. But since both characters were loaded with non-target skills, they had to be on high alert to dodge and land hits.

The heart raced. Lee Hwanyoung felt a slight heat on his body and moved his mouse with more arousal than usual.

Gudok: Wow
Gudok: Why are you so good?

Why are you so good? Well, it’s because I’m a veteran. Lee Hwanyoung only answered in his mind as he busily moved his fingers and eyes.

The sinister vampire and the adorable raccoon beastman approached and retreated from each other as if they were dancing. Lee Hwanyoung meticulously observed Gudok’s movements, calculating the timing for his ultimate skill.

‘The ult stack is full. Just need to catch the right moment.’

By now, Gudok’s first ultimate must also be fully charged. Just like Hwanyoung, he must be pondering when and where to insert his ultimate in the combo.

At such times, you can’t give them an angle. You have to push aggressively and quickly.

‘The cooldown for my ranged skills has reset. The combo skill has 3 seconds left. Now’s the perfect time.’

Lee Hwanyoung did not hesitate to cast his ultimate.

<Mud Pool!>

Beneath Gudok’s feet, a mud pool formed. The muddy pool wriggled as it sucked in Gudok’s character.

Gudok: Ah
Gudok: First ult new char
Gudok: Speed debuff
Gudok: Lol
Gudok: ?

Gudok’s character, which had been moving quickly, now struggled through the mud pool, noticeably slower than before. It was more of a splatter than a run.

Lee Hwanyoung seized the moment Gudok couldn’t dodge and poured out all his off-cooldown non-target skills.

Gudok: Ah, strats for new chars
Gudok: Didn’t read
Gudok: ㅠscrewed

At this point, seemingly out of options, Gudok also unleashed his stored ultimate. The raccoon beastman pulled a giant surprise box from his bosom and tossed it high into the air.

<Surprise Box, bring forth the cards of fortune!>

The magician’s first ultimate skill could throw a sequence of seven cards. The effects of the cards were generated randomly. Sometimes the cards were trash, and other times, there was a 0.3% chance of pulling an instant-death card.

Lee Hwanyoung prayed. Please, please, let them be trash cards.

While the instant-death card could be physically dodged, the invisible card could not because the caster of the ultimate became unseen.

Gudok: ㅠㅠ

Fortunately, the cards Gudok drew were just ordinary magic damage cards.

Gudok: Aeer
Gudok: Luck sucks in this game
Gudok: Sobbing

If that’s the case, there’s no need to dodge from afar. If you see the cards, just dodge them.

Lee Hwanyoung immediately transformed into a bat. He planned to dodge the cards thrown by Gudok and stick close, the same strategy he used when he deployed the blood spear.

‘Combo cooldowns are back up.’

Just then, the screen filled with a dusty yellow hue. The view was obscured. Nothing could be seen except Lee Hwanyoung’s character.

“Ah, sandstorm.”

Sandstorm here? Just when closing in and firing combos could secure a win?

No choice. Can’t see anything, so might as well make a tactical retreat.

Lee Hwanyoung flew about as a bat, hoping the blindly thrown cards would miss his character.

Flap. Flap.

The sound of bat wings flowed through the speakers, followed by a thunk!

The bat, which had been zigzagging through the air, wobbled.

“Got hit?” The cards thrown by Gudok had reduced his health.

No, it’s the same for both of us blinded by the sandstorm. Why did it hit?

‘Lucky hit?’

This time, Lee Hwanyoung kept his character still in one spot.

But.

Thunk.

He got hit by a second card. Gudok had accurately pinpointed Lee Hwanyoung’s location to throw the cards.

How is that possible? The sandstorm was still blowing, and both Lee Hwanyoung and Gudok should be blinded just the same.

How?

“…What?”

Did some unknown skill get updated? Could it be that they added a sandstorm option just for this?

Desperate, Lee Hwanyoung moved his bat-formed character erratically.

Thunk! The sound of the third card hitting came simultaneously with the flapping of bat wings.

At that moment, Lee Hwanyoung realized why Gudok could accurately aim his cards at his character.

“Sound play.”

Sound Play. A strategy of pinpointing locations by sound.

Gudok had located Lee Hwanyoung’s bat by listening to the flapping wings.

“Ah… didn’t realize that.” Some of Aeer’s movement skills are audible to the opponent. It’s usually a penalty attached to ‘invisibility movement skills.’

‘I didn’t think the bat transformation was one of those. Thought the flapping sound was only audible to me.’

As this was Lee Hwanyoung’s first PvP as a Shadow Sorcerer, he didn’t know that the sound of bat wings could be heard by the opponent.

Lee Hwanyoung quickly canceled his bat form. The moment his character returned to its slim and dark vampire form.

Thunk! Suddenly, the seventh and last card hit Lee Hwanyoung.

His vampire character dissolved into dust in mid-air.

<Battle Manager: A winner has been decided!>

<Battle Manager: The loser should congratulate the winner, and the winner should graciously accept the loser’s respect.>

“That’s too bad.” Lost by just a tick. The decisive reason for the defeat was Lee Hwanyoung’s lack of expertise.

Can’t help it. It was expected anyway.

Before he knew it, the map had switched back to the battle arena lobby. A boy character with cute raccoon ears popping through his wheat-colored hair approached the vampire, wagging his plump tail.

Gudok: Gudok won!! (✧∇✧)
lIlllIIl: Yes, Master

Lee Hwanyoung immediately replied. The loser must congratulate the winner.

lIlllIIl: The master has won
lIlllIIl: From today onwards, I am your slave

Well… I’ll probably release myself on Liberation Day. That’s about a month away. I could live as a media-seeker’s slave for about a month.

‘Actually, this was what I was aiming for from the start.’

With that thought, Lee Hwanyoung confidently typed out his next line.

lIlllIIl: So, Master
lIlllIIl: Could you help me with my vampire’s second class change dungeon?

***

The dungeon for vampire promotions was called “Yuto’s Multiface Mirror.” True to its name, it was a place where monsters swarmed in droves.

However, Lee Hwanyoung had unfortunately chosen the “Shadow Sorcerer,” an assassin-type character. Moreover, most of his skills were geared towards one-on-one combat.

“Yuto’s Multiface Mirror,” being a dungeon for vampire secondary promotions, was terribly inefficient for solo play. It took too much time and effort.

So, Lee Hwanyoung had strategized accordingly.

1. First, somehow make the slave bread with Gudok work.
2-1. If Lee Hwanyoung wins the slave bread, he orders Gudok to clear the second promotion dungeon.
2-2. If Lee Hwanyoung loses to Gudok, he begs, “Master, please clear the vampire promotion dungeon for your day-one slave.”

Of course, Gudok could just refuse both options. But Gudok was an attention-seeker.

Somehow, if Lee Hwanyoung pleaded with talk of masters and slaves, it seemed like Gudok would do as asked. “Not that I’d lose anything if he didn’t.”

What could a newbie, who hadn’t been playing for long, really lose? Thus, Lee Hwanyoung had thrown the bait to Gudok.

Luckily, Gudok took the bait seriously. At Lee Hwanyoung’s request, Gudok willingly followed into the Multiface Mirror dungeon. Once Lee Hwanyoung confirmed Gudok had joined the party, he used the dungeon entry item.

[Party] lIlllIIl: Going in.

<System: You have entered Yuto’s Multiface Mirror dungeon.>

[Party] Gudok: (/ω＼)
[Party] Gudok: First date
[Party] Gudok: with slave-nim!!!

Lee Hwanyoung casually ignored Gudok’s nonsense.

“He’s catching on better than I thought….”

Though he had come along to the dungeon, Gudok, contrary to Lee Hwanyoung’s worry of him being lackadaisical, was quite diligent and passionate in defeating the dungeon’s monsters.

Gudok used the Surprise Box combo to gather lots of monsters and then unleashed a flurry of blades and a barrage of Card Throwing skills to take them down all at once.

From behind, Lee Hwanyoung lazily threw shadows and when the monsters gathered sufficiently, he’d use his ultimate skill, Mud Pool, to bind them together.

[Party] Gudok: Slave-nim
[Party] Gudok: Your binding timing is cool! (๑ᵔ⩊ᵔ๑)
[Party] lIlllIIl: Thank you, Master.
[Party] Gudok: Gudok’s heart also
[Party] Gudok: goes bam! and gets mesmerized and bam! and bound!
[Party] Gudok: (/ω＼)
[Party] lIlllIIl: ㅗ
[Party] lIlllIIl: Ah, typo. Sorry, Master.

Gudok was a master who didn’t skimp on praising his slave.

He drove the bus well and was generous with his compliments. Undoubtedly the best master one could not even begin to compare with others.

“It’s nice.”

How long had it been since someone else drove the bus?

In his previous guild, Lee Hwanyoung was squeezed dry like fruit in a juicer. Muttering to himself, Gudok ended up running the Multiface Mirror dungeon a total of seven times.

[Party] Gudok: Ugh (›´-‹ )
[Party] Gudok: Slave-nim
[Party] Gudok: We’re in trouble
[Party] lIlllIIl: What’s wrong?
[Party] Gudok: Gudok is tired (›´-‹ )

Gudok whined. Oh no, we still had 13 more runs to go. Lee Hwanyoung tried to soothe Gudok.

[Party] lIlllIIl: Master, we’ve only done 7 runs
[Party] lIlllIIl: 13 more to go
[Party] Gudok: (›´-‹ )……… [Party] lIlllIIl: You can’t give up now, Master [Party] lIlllIIl: Aren’t you the Protector of Aeer? [Party] Gudok: Ah.. right… [Party] Gudok: Ma… Majya… [Party] Gudok: Gudok is a protector… (›´-‹ )
[Party] lIlllIIl: Protectors always look out for Aeer’s newbies
[Party] lIlllIIl: That’s the mission bestowed upon you
[Party] Gudok: Ugh………..
[Party] lIlllIIl: Dream, hope, strength, and effort
[Party] lIlllIIl: All of Aeer depends on the Protector
[Party] lIlllIIl: I’m not asking for much
[Party] lIlllIIl: Just 13 more times
[Party] lIlllIIl: Just muster strength 13 more times

Usually, when such nonsense was spouted, most would lose their mind and fall for it. Lee Hwanyoung squinted his eyes and stared at the chat window.

[Party] Gudok: Slave-nim…
[Party] lIlllIIl: Yes

But Gudok was different from ordinary people.

In response to Lee Hwanyoung’s nonsense, Gudok answered with his own nonsense.

[Party] Gudok: Actually Gudok is not a protector
[Party] Gudok: but was a supoja¹….

“……?”

Math talk now? Here? During a vampire second promotion dungeon?

[Party] Gudok: Gudok is great at soldering
[Party] Gudok: but failed Linear Algebra three times (›´-‹ )
[Party] Gudok: Gudok is not a protector
[Party] Gudok: but a supoja……
[Party] Gudok: (›´-‹ )

That was the most original nonsense Lee Hwanyoung had ever heard.

[Party] lIlllIIl: Ah….
[Party] lIlllIIl: It’s okay, hang in there, Master
[Party] lIlllIIl: You can recover your grades
[Party] lIlllIIl: And I heard that as long as engineering students have over a 3.0 GPA, there’s no big disadvantage when getting a job
[Party] lIlllIIl: My friends also barely got a 3.0 but they’re all working at big companies

Somehow, Lee Hwanyoung got wrapped up in comforting Gudok with his nonsense.