Second World Online

Using the skill [Wind Walk], I manipulated the air currents beneath the soles of my white combat boots, transforming a deadly free fall into a controlled and graceful glide.

My snow-white military mantle cape fluttered aggressively in the air, reflecting the light from hundreds of torches and magic explosions below. Like an angel of death descending from the sky, I landed smoothly at the end of the wide stone bridge that crossed the defensive moat of Ironhold Castle. No dust clung to me, no hard impact sound. Only the light tap of my boot heels.

In front of me, the rear ranks of the Vanguard squad led by Arthur were desperately trying to hold back the onslaught.

Unlike the player-versus-player battles on the valley plain earlier, the obstacle on this bridge came from the castle's automatic defenses. Atop the twenty-meter-high gray walls, rows of heavily armored NPC Iron Guards continuously fired a rain of arrows and ballista projectiles at the Knights of the Round forces.

"Raise your shields! Leave no gaps! Healers, focus on the front line!" Arthur's thunderous baritone voice rang out from behind the steel shield wall of the foremost ranks.

The Guild Master stood at the very front, swinging his greatsword to deflect a giant ballista arrow that nearly pierced one of his comrades. His silver armor was covered in scratches, yet his fighting spirit had not dimmed in the slightest.

I walked casually through the ranks of Knights of the Round players. Because I was joined in the alliance party with the status [Elite Mercenary], my name icon glowed bright blue in their eyes, marking me as an ally.

Several players who turned toward me were instantly stunned. They saw an extraordinarily beautiful Albino Elf clad in a pure white tactical military uniform that stood in stark contrast to this muddy battlefield. My pleated mini skirt and white thigh-high stockings gave a deceptive feminine impression, yet the giant mechanical bow on my back and the ice-cold gaze of my eyes immediately silenced any impure thoughts.

"Is that… the cliff shooter from earlier?" one Mage whispered in awe, realizing I was the one behind the sulfur bomb rain that had opened their path.

"Syl!" Arthur finally noticed my presence. He signaled his vice-commander to temporarily take over the front line, then stepped back toward me. Arthur's eyes widened slightly as he looked me over from head to toe.

He struck his own chest plate while laughing amid the rain of arrows. "Hahaha! You look like an Imperial General who took a wrong turn into a muddy battlefield, Syl! Don't tell me you spent three whole days just designing this luxurious outfit?"

"This is a masterpiece from my favorite Tailor," I replied flatly, stroking my high collar. "Epic-tier Arachne silk. Resistant to punctures and repels dirt. Besides, if I have to destroy someone else's property, I prefer to do it with style. What's the situation with the gate?"

Arthur's laughter faded, replaced by the frustrated expression of a general. He pointed to the end of the stone bridge, right beneath the giant wall.

"The main gate is a disaster. It's not ordinary iron-reinforced wood. It's pure one-meter-thick Enchanted Black Steel," Arthur growled. "My Vanguard team has been hammering it with the Battering Ram for the last five minutes, but the damage going through only ranges from 10 to 50 points per hit. The gate's total HP is five hundred thousand, Syl! And Ouroboros back there is already starting to reform their ranks. They'll catch up to us in less than ten minutes!"

I narrowed my eyes, using [Eagle Eye] to analyze the jet-black giant gate. Arthur's guild's wooden battering ram was nearly shattered to pieces every time it struck the surface.

In conventional MMORPG standards, bringing down a castle gate in a Siege event was indeed designed to take hours a test of endurance between the attackers' Damage Per Second versus the defenders' Healers or repairs.

However, Second World Online prided itself on a realistic physics system. And under the laws of physics, no material was immune to absolute heat pressure focused on a single point.

"Tell your men to pull back from the gate, Art. Retract that scrap wooden ram," I ordered casually. I reached behind my belt and unclipped three dense, heavy black steel cylinder tubes.

[Titan's Roar: Breaching Charge].

Arthur stared at the three adult-arm-sized steel tubes in my hands. He remembered my design from a few days ago, but this was the first time he had seen their physical form directly.

"Are you sure bombs that small can bring down one-meter-thick steel?" Arthur asked with a hint of doubt. "Even your sulfur bombs that wiped out an entire company earlier wouldn't scratch that black steel."

"My sulfur bombs explode outward for Area of Effect," I explained, stepping forward past Arthur. "These don't explode in every direction. They channel their entire energy into a single focal point. Follow my instructions, Guild Master. Pull your troops back twenty meters from the gate, form a full shield wall, and cover your ears."

Arthur did not argue. He turned and roared with a voice that overpowered the chaos of war. "ALL TROOPS! RETRACT THE RAM! FALL BACK TWENTY METERS! FORM A DEFENSIVE PHALANX FORMATION! PROTECT OUR ALCHEMIST!"

The Knights of the Round forces moved with extraordinary military discipline. They pulled back the severely damaged battering ram, clearing the area in front of the giant gate. Several Knights lined up behind me, raising their tower shields to deflect arrows from the castle walls that occasionally tried to target me.

I walked calmly up the short steps toward the Ironhold gate. The air here felt cold from the defensive magic aura radiating from the black steel.

Utilizing my Advanced Blacksmith knowledge, I ran my hand over the cold metal surface. I searched for its structural weakness. A gate this large could not possibly be made from a single solid steel plate; it was assembled, joined, and locked by giant hinges on the inside. The center point where the two door leaves met was the most vulnerable to shear pressure.

"Here," I whispered.

I attached the first Breaching Charge precisely on the center line of the gate, at chest height. The alchemical magnetic lock on the base of the tube immediately stuck firmly to the black steel.

Then, I attached the second tube to the lower left hinge, and the third tube to the lower right hinge.

The principle of a Shaped Charge is to manipulate the shape of the explosive. Inside these black steel tubes, I had placed an inverted copper cone. When the high-grade gunpowder behind the cone detonated, the shockwave would transform the solid copper cone into a jet of liquid metal at thousands of degrees Celsius. This plasma jet moved at hypersonic speed, cutting and melting any material that stood in its way, no matter how thick the armor.

I twisted the timer levers on the end of each tube.

Click. Click. Click.

"Countdown, ten seconds," I hissed.

I turned around and walked away from the gate with calm yet quick steps. My long cape fluttered behind me.

"Shield formation, lock it tight!" I shouted as I passed the front ranks of the Knights of the Round. I myself hid behind Arthur's giant shield, covering my Elf ears tightly and slightly lowering my body.

"Seven… Six… Five…" I counted in a soft voice nearly swallowed by the battlefield noise.

The players around me stared tensely at the steel gate. Atop the walls, the NPC Iron Guards seemed unaware of the danger from the three small tubes attached to their gate.

"Two… One… Zero."

DZZZIIIING!! KABOOOOOOOMMMM!!

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The sound was not like an ordinary bomb explosion. It was a combination of an ear-splitting roar and the hiss of extremely high-pressure molten metal. The air around the gate seemed to be sucked inward for a fraction of a millisecond before spewing out a transparent shockwave.

[-15,000 True Penetration Damage!] [-15,000 True Penetration Damage!] [-15,000 True Penetration Damage!] [Structural Integrity (Durability) Depleted!]

The damage numbers that appeared might not have been enough to mathematically deplete the gate's 500,000 HP. However, Second World Online obeyed the laws of physics as manipulated by the system.

The plasma jets from the three Breaching Charges punched through the one-meter-thick magic-sealed steel like a hot needle through butter. The locking point in the center of the gate melted instantly, leaving a gaping hole whose edges glowed bright orange from the extreme heat. The two main lower hinges were completely destroyed into liquid iron.

Without supporting hinges and without the central locking bar, the giant black steel gate weighing tens of tons groaned pitifully. The screech of bending metal was heard, followed by a rumble that shook the earth.

BRUAAAKKK!

Both leaves of the black steel gate collapsed inward into the castle courtyard, crushing dust and rocks and creating a thick cloud of dirt.

Silence instantly fell over the entire Ironhold valley. The barrage of arrows from the castle walls ceased. Players from Ouroboros and Black Wolf who were still fighting far behind stopped their weapon swings upon hearing that terrifying roar.

Giant golden text appeared floating in the air, visible to the entire server.

[EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: THE MAIN GATE OF IRONHOLD CASTLE HAS BEEN BREACHED!

[The path to the Castle Core is now open!]

Arthur's jaw dropped. The eyes of the Knights of the Round players nearly popped out of their sockets as they saw the defensive wall that was believed impossible to destroy in less than an hour now standing wide open like a highway in just ten seconds.

Arthur turned to look at me as I casually stood brushing dust from the sleeve of my white military uniform.

"Y-you… you actually did it, Syl," Arthur whispered in awe, his tone filled with absolute respect. "You erased the best gate in this game from existence."

"I already told you, physics is the strongest magic in the universe, Art," my crooked smile formed. I drew the Titan's Ironbark Compound Bow from my back, pulled out a steel-tipped armor-piercing arrow, and positioned myself in a combat stance. "What are you waiting for? Ouroboros will smell blood soon. Take this castle."

Arthur instantly snapped back to awareness. The light in his eyes sharpened, the aura of a king once again enveloping him. He raised his greatsword high into the air, reflecting the light from the still-melting metal of the gate.

"KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND! THE GATE IS OPEN! FOR THE GLORY OF THE ROUND TABLE! CHAAARRRGEE!"

"HHOOOOOAAARRRGGGHHH!"

Two thousand silver-armored players roared in unison. Killing intent exploded into the air. Their shield formation was dismantled and replaced by a triangular assault formation. They charged across the stone bridge in droves, trampling the hot steel gate ruins, and stormed into the Ironhold courtyard.

I was in the rear ranks of Arthur's vanguard squad. The moment we entered the vast castle courtyard, the second phase of battle erupted immediately.

Hundreds of NPC Elite Iron Guards lined up forming a defensive wall in front of the entrance to the Keep where the Castle Core was located. They were Level 40 humanoid monsters with thick plate armor that was extremely difficult to penetrate with conventional weapons.

"Their defense is too tight! Warriors, use Smash skills! Break their shield wall!" Arthur's vice-commander shouted commands.

I leaped onto one of the ruined stone gargoyle statues in the courtyard. The higher vantage point gave me absolute control over the battlefield. My snow-white uniform made me an extremely conspicuous target, yet my 152 DEX agility rendered me untouchable by enemy projectiles.

"Heavy plate formation? A boring toy," I hissed.

I no longer thought about ammunition or material costs. Tonight, I had come to vent my frustration at the GMs and prove the title "Mad Alchemist" before the entire server.

I activated the Sub-Skill [Rapid Shot]. My hand yanked sharp [Steel Bodkin] arrows that had already been coated with ordinary poison for a weakening effect. Half-draw, release. Draw, release.

DZHANG-DZHANG-DZHANG-DZHANG!

Arrows shot forth like a high-precision meteor shower from the statue where I stood. With Rapid Shot, I sacrificed some destructive power, but I aimed for the gaps in helmets, knee joints, and the base of the necks of the Iron Guards that were not protected by their thick shields.

[-1,800 Critical Hit!] [-1,750 Critical Hit!] [-2,000 Critical Hit!]

Every arrow I fired broke the enemy's attack momentum, causing the Level 40 NPCs to stumble or lose balance (Stagger). Every time they lost balance, Knights of the Round players advanced and finished them off. A perfect collaboration between precision artillery and frontline infantry.

While I was busy sweeping the NPC ranks, my Eagle Eye caught massive movement at the end of the moat bridge behind us.

The black sea of Ouroboros and Black Wolf had finally managed to push past Arthur's rear ranks that had been holding them. Thousands of enemy players were now charging into the castle courtyard through the gate I had opened, intending to stab our forces from behind and seize the Castle Core that was already within reach.

"ARTHUR!" I shouted, my voice piercing through the uproar. I pointed toward the breached gate with the tip of my bow. "Uninvited guests are coming from the rear!"

Arthur turned, his face hardening as he saw the enemy wave whose numbers were many times greater than his own forces. "Damn it! We're sandwiched between elite NPCs and them! Left Wing, turn around! Form a shield formation at the gate! Don't let them into the courtyard!"

But Arthur knew that two thousand people would not be able to hold back a wave of ten thousand players from two raging giant Guilds.

I snorted coldly. I drew the single [Venom-Fang Injector Arrow] containing the Epic+ Empress's Malice poison from my secret tube, but immediately put it back. No, this permanent armor-destroying arrow was too precious to waste on ordinary rank-and-file players. I was saving it for their commanders.

Instead, I pulled out five Rare-tier [Ironfang Siege Grenades] from my inventory. These were the remaining high-explosive bombs I had not yet handed over to Arthur.

"You just take care of the path to the Castle Core, my King," I muttered to myself. "Let me be the greeter at the back door."

I activated Wind Walk, leaped from the gargoyle statue, and shot through the air toward the swarm of Ouroboros and Black Wolf players beginning to flood the courtyard.