The D-Rank Guild Master of the No. 1 Guild

During the Midpoint of the Zombie Battle.

“Say that again. What did you say?”

The girl’s red eyes trembled as she communicated with the deputy guild leader.

“Rudel’s already dead? Who, who killed her?”

She stuttered in shock, her face turning bright red.

“…What? A rhino zombie? Are you kidding me? So, you’re saying I’m worse than an animal? A zombie that I couldn’t even kill Rudel?”

The deputy guild leader, the Slaughterer, would have bowed his head if Yudirei had been in front of him. 

But that wouldn’t bring Rudel back. Re-entry was forbidden in the seventh round of the zombie battle.

Yudirei violently ended the communication, almost breaking the state window in anger. She exhaled furiously, running her hand through her hair.

t that moment, a pink-feathered vulture with minimized wing flaps appeared overhead.

The vulture switch, Siakan, deputy guild leader of Anawing, had momentarily left the guild to scout the geography and players of Island 6.

Exhausted from long flight, Siakan landed to rest his wings.

Unfortunately, he landed where the murderous Yudirei, who had just lost Rudel to a rhino, was fuming.

The girl soon spotted the pink vulture. Her blood-red eyes gleamed ominously.

“I hate animals. Damn switch types.”

Even as the girl moved towards him with the quiet precision of a grim reaper, the vulture remained oblivious.

‘…!’

Screeeech-!

The vulture’s death cry echoed across the island.

“Too noisy.”

Slash-! Without flinching, the girl, now covered in blood, approached the vulture.

“Ugh.”

As the vulture was about to die, mist obscured Yudirei’s vision. Siakan, his face contorted in pain, tried to flee limping.

But perhaps due to his long pink hair, his hair was tightly grabbed by a small hand. Siakan was pulled back and fell.

“Give me the stone and die.”

As the stone was taken from his neck, a hatchet plunged into his body. Siakan’s eyes rolled back.

His body soon vanished as the “fortress return” was activated.

Guild members nearby ran to Yudirei. They were no longer surprised to see their guild leader covered in blood.

However, the sight of pink feathers scattered around puzzled them.

“Yudirei, who did you kill to get the stone?”

At that moment, from the opposite side of the forest, a figure came running madly at the sound of a short scream from her man.

“Siakan!”

It was Lesia, the guild leader of Anawing.

She came flying down the forest path with a face pale as a sheet. Her guild members followed a few steps behind.

Siakan was nowhere to be seen, and a girl, drenched in blood, stood nonchalantly holding a hatchet.

The two guilds, Anawing and the Slaughterers, faced each other head-on.

Lesia, at the forefront, instantly grasped the situation. Sweat trickled down her exposed forehead.

Her eyes soon hardened with resolve.

“…Siakan’s scream still lingers in the wind.”

She murmured in a flat tone, gripping a dazzling golden weapon.

It was a fencing sword, a rapier, slicing through the air. This was the first time Lesia’s sub-weapon had appeared in any round.

Until now, she had never had a reason to seriously attack someone with the intent to kill.

Similarly, Yudirei sensed the murderous intent of the opposing guild leader and grinned, her bloodstained lips curling.

“Ahhh! Our guild leader has lost it!”

“So has ours!”

Though the players belonged to different guilds, in this moment, they were united in their understanding.

“Everyone back off! Get 500 meters away from Guild Leader Lesia!”

“Anyone who gets team-killed by Yudirei is at fault! Expect to be hung in disgrace at the top of the Skull Fortress!”

The empty beach now held only the fierce auras of the two women, which seemed to crush the surrounding zombies.

“Kid, I told you during the first round qualifiers to know your place.”

Lesia growled ferociously.

Back then, she had said it to a bloodied little girl who had come charging at her with a smile, but now it carried a far heavier weight.

Yudirei let out a laugh equally weighty.

“Tall one, you said it’s a game. So, shouldn’t we enjoy it? Why the face like a dog needing to pee?”

The two rushed at each other, meeting in the middle.

Clang! The dazzling rapier and the cold hatchet collided.

The ferocity of the ‘wind’ and the oppressive force of ‘gravity’ clashed, creating a jarring energy shock.

The fight was intense enough that even guild members from the same side had to move off the island.

But little did anyone know, a spectator was nearby, watching the fierce battle between the two women.

‘…’

Recklessly sprawled on a tree branch, a man sniffed at a caramel-colored popcorn next to him. Being in a ghost state, he could only smell the popcorn, not eat it.

Despite the storm whipped up by Lesia and Yudirei’s battle tearing leaves from the trees, not a hair on his head moved.

Blance, with his specter ability, was the fortunate one in this 7th round.

The glowing mark that appeared when holding a Stone of Aspiration was invisible to others when he was in ghost form.

As the guild leader of Blue Monday, he had gathered a decent amount of Stones and then told his guild members to do as they wished for the rest of the round.

As long as he stayed hidden, they were guaranteed a mid-tier finish in the guild wars, and his calculations never failed.

This 7th round, according to the viewers, was an absolute “golden opportunity” for him.

When Blance was born in the first round of the qualifiers, his awakening line was:

[“My voice will reach the afterlife.”]

This line expressed his rare unique ability.

As per his line, he used his unique ability actively in the round. In many cases, the specter ability served as a “trick.”

He was as strategic as Rudel but differed in that he didn’t strive for higher positions once a mid-tier ranking was secured.

Thanks to his excellent looks and visuals, he easily gained celestial sponsorships without doing much.

He was a lukewarm player who settled for survival rather than ambition.

Thus, Blance’s most diligent activity in the 7th round was watching the fierce battle on Island 6.

‘Indeed… Lesia’s ability is the hardest to find a flaw in among the existing pure nature abilities.’

Blance’s dull irises lost their bored glint when analyzing opponents. His pupils moved like a black snake coiling in his eyes.

Lesia’s wind was sharp, powerful, and had no directional gaps.

While others might rank Aleon’s ice or Gio’s earth as the top abilities, Blance placed Lesia’s wind at the top.

Lesia’s wind was the strongest in terms of stability.

Such a power, driven by the fury of seeing her man painfully killed, raged like a catastrophe, sweeping even the small but vicious slayer in its path.

The long battle was neck and neck, but eventually, the loser was Yudirei.

…Or was Yudirei truly the loser? At least, Blance didn’t think so according to his values.

Just before the end, Yudirei didn’t avoid Lesia’s rapier. She took a fatal wound but dove in deeply.

“…!”

Her small hand reached Lesia’s neck.

This manic slayer chose to destroy the Stones of Aspiration, the game’s items, instead of stabbing her opponent in a fit of madness.

“I decided to play the game, not just slaughter. You old hag.”

These were the bitter words Yudirei left at Lesia’s ear.

And with that, Yudirei vanished. Not through fortress return, but a tactical retreat while still alive.

She must have pre-arranged this with her guild members.

The Slaughterer guild had a guild member with a soul-based ‘instant teleportation’ ability.

Thus, the slayer demonstrated growth in her strategic thinking, collaborating with her guild for overall success in the 7th round.

Lesia, left alone, glanced at her golden rapier stained with Yudirei’s blood, clicking her tongue.

“A draw.”

Though Lesia was the clear victor and Yudirei acknowledged that her axe did not best the rapier, Lesia still called it a draw.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the largest island, Island 1, another significant event was unfolding.

“Ah, Aleon! Save us—!”

Aleon arrived belatedly, only to find several guild members already killed by super zombies.

Aleon was too late. He had failed to protect his guild members.

He faced the terrified eyes of those being torn apart by zombies.

His outstretched hand turned pale. His eyes and hair quivered in pallor.

‘I failed to protect them. From inhuman creatures, I couldn’t save them—.’

His distorted face lit up with a flash. His icy blue eyes gleamed brightly.

“Do you think I’ll stand by after you’ve harmed my people—!!”

The holy blue hair of the saint surged like a storm. His roar, filled with rage, spread a fierce chill over several kilometers.

Crack—!

As a result of the rampage by the blue saint, the entire archipelago was transformed into an Antarctic wasteland.

Glaciers formed, and the water temperature dropped lethally low.

Zombies remaining in the water froze solid, never resurfacing.

Most impressively, despite this extensive attack, Aleon did not harm a single ‘player.’

The sharp ice moved smoothly past both allies and enemies if they were human, like a gentle water stream.

He obliterated an entire zombie-filled island without depleting his energy.

Reviewing users noted that Aleon’s destruction of the archipelago marked a turning point, altering the dynamics of the zombie battle.