Chapter 88: Their own circumstances

“Damn it. Half of the screen is filled with bouncing breasts or glowing lights, what do you expect us to see? Not everyone has eyesight as good as yours. People without supernatural vision like you must feel miserable.”

The girl, or elf, or whatever was filming, kept focusing on the Saintess’ chest, so all that could be seen were her breasts.

What are they supposed to do with that?

It’s ridiculous.

If they’re so upset about only seeing her chest, they should just explain things properly.

“If you look closely, you can see further in.”

“What, her boobs?”

That’s actually a bit interesting.

Some of the guild masters perked up their ears, but the woman quickly changed the subject with her next statement.

“No, not that. There’s a clip where someone captured the important part. Look.”

When they checked the part she clipped, before the camera zoomed in on her chest, they could see massive, sea-like monsters approaching in the distance.

“Wait a minute, are all those things monsters?”

“They’re undead, but because the broadcast focused on her chest at first, it didn’t show this. Before I even contacted you, the viewers watching the battle saw the entire wave of monsters.”

The woman showed other clips captured by viewers.

And sure enough, there were countless monsters.

An overwhelming number of skull-headed creatures were charging in like a massive wave.

“What the hell did the scouts see? The Saintess wasn’t wrong about anything, was she?”

“No, with that many of them, it wouldn’t matter whether it was speculation or not. If they entered Seoul, it would be a disaster.”

Indeed, the sheer number of them was terrifying.

The Saintess had been wiping out wave after wave of them.

If those things had infiltrated Seoul unnoticed, the consequences would’ve been catastrophic.

The defense hunters would’ve died on the spot, and by the time reinforcements were ready, the undead would’ve already swarmed the city.

“Wait a second. Do you think they’ll really enter Seoul?”

“Are you an idiot? Have you never seen a gate before? Whether the Saintess interfered or not, they would’ve poured out either today or tonight.”

With that many, it was clear they were already prepped and ready to surge out.

Perhaps, in hindsight, they were just lucky until now.

Or, maybe if they had underestimated the situation, they would’ve failed at their extermination efforts tomorrow.

“That’s true.”

“The problem is, it’s not over yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Saintess’ abilities are undeniable. She’s strong.”

The guild masters, who had only heard rumors about the Saintess until now, were beginning to acknowledge her power.

There was no denying it.

Each swing of her weapon unleashed incredible force.

“And her breasts are huge, too.”

Yeah, her chest is indeed large.

The screen still showed her bouncing chest and the light filling the screen.

Occasionally, waves of monsters appeared.

All of this reinforced the notion that the Saintess was truly remarkable.

“But the real issue isn’t her. It’s the public opinion. The Saintess is single-handedly wiping out these countless monsters. Meanwhile, we’ve been busy fighting over our interests, only now deciding to unite and meet tomorrow.”

It’s truly the worst-case scenario.

Maybe they need to start preparing for the worst outcome.

“In other words, people will start thinking the returning Saintess is more competent than the hunters?”

“Exactly. And they’ll think that we’re only in it for ourselves, which makes it even worse.”

“Tsk.”

Because of the Saintess’ actions, they found themselves in a difficult situation.

But they couldn’t physically restrain her.

Several guilds had already tried and failed.

Even if they could defeat the Saintess, the public would vilify them for attacking someone who saved the city from the southern gate threat.

Plus, they had to consider the potential damage to their guild’s reputation.

“Then shouldn’t we go there right now?”

If public opinion is that bad, maybe it’s better to go and assist her as soon as possible.

At that moment, the Saintess, who was dominating the screen with her overwhelming presence, continued speaking.

[But fortunately, I have some allies here. We split into three groups and went down three different paths.]

Three paths?

The southern gate has three paths?

The hunters with scouting abilities hadn’t noticed that.

They only knew that the paths were somewhat winding.

There was no way to know the actual structure of the southern gate.

Could the Saintess’ team have someone with scouting abilities beyond the hunters?

“The path the Saintess took has three branches?”

“Are you serious? Then what about the other paths?”

If the area the Saintess is heading to is that bad, how bad could the other paths be?

Even if most of the monsters were gathered on the Saintess’ side, considering the sheer number, the other paths wouldn’t be easy either.

And given that the Saintess is a returnee, it’s highly likely her companions are returnees too.

If that’s the case…

“Her companions must be just as strong.”

The path the Saintess is handling is already a disaster.

What about the others?

“Wait. If what that girl says is true, isn’t the public opinion completely wrecked?”

“That’s exactly it.”

“It’s worse than that. Damn it. Look at the chat, a few people are already stirring up hate against the hunters. And they’re attacking our allied forces too.”

Some people were openly insulting the hunters in the chat or praising the Kanora sect.

There were some accounts that seemed to belong to hunters, but they were being drowned out by others.

Above all, since it was the Saintess’ broadcast, many people were siding with her just because of her visual appeal.

If this goes on, the hunters’ image could take an even bigger hit.

“Oh, by the way, what’s that Kanora sect?”

“What the heck is the Kanora sect?”

The Kanora sect mentioned in the chat seemed to be something unusual.

One thing was clear: it wasn’t just a regular church.

It had to be something entirely different.

“Who knows? Maybe it’s a religion that worships breasts.”

“Can you stop with the chest jokes already?”

Unlike the other guild masters, the woman was worried about public opinion.

The situation was dangerous, no matter how you looked at it.

“Hey, it doesn’t concern you, so you’re fine.”

“What’s important right now is whether we stop the Saintess or help her.”

Helping her would be beneficial, but not helping could lead to disaster.

“To be precise, whether we stop her or help her, it’s all about protecting our guilds.”

“Well, we can’t exactly stop her.”

“But what if we try helping?”

At that moment, the guild masters noticed a chat message.

[Heavelnlykingtaeyeon: LOL The alliance hunters must be freaking out right now. If they come running, they’ll just look like petty cowards. They’re probably more worried about losing their turf to the Saintess than saving people.]

[Waveofagitation: LOL LOL LOL]

Comments like this were directly mocking the alliance’s guild masters.

Even if they went to help now, they’d still get ridiculed.

Isn’t this a truly dangerous situation?

“Damn it. It’s a lose-lose situation.”

“After that chat, even if we go help the Saintess, we’ll still get called idiots.”

“Isn’t it better to be an idiot who helps than an idiot who does nothing?”

Since they’d be called idiots either way, it seemed slightly better to be the kind that helped.

Eventually, the guild masters agreed.

“Yeah, that’s probably the best option.”

“Why don’t we just throw some scapegoats under the bus and say the guild masters had no idea?”

Honestly, even the guild masters had some justification this time.

They always thought the gate would be manageable, even if it was a tough one.

But then, the Saintess exposed it, and it turned out to be far worse than the alliance had anticipated.

It wasn’t like they were only concerned about their own interests.

“Hmm, that’s not entirely wrong. I honestly didn’t know anything.”

“Let’s gather a list of scapegoats for the public, then set off with the guild masters leading the way. That should minimize the backlash.”

“That’s probably our best bet.”

And so, the guild masters of the alliance decided… to become the idiots who went to help the Saintess.

***

In the Kanora Guild, the revolutionary leader was laughing heartily.

He couldn’t help but laugh.

After all, his propaganda had worked perfectly in the Saintess’ broadcast.

“Ha! It’s all on fire. The whole situation’s burning.”

“What’s up with you, agitator?”

Naphire, the unemployed angel who had been gaming, couldn’t help but be curious about the agitator, who was laughing unnecessarily nearby.

“Look at this. Isn’t it perfect?”

The agitator leader showed the laptop to Naipire.

At first, Naipire thought it was a streaming platform, assuming it was related to the “Wave of Freedom” and broadcast freedom, but it wasn’t.

“What? Is the Saintess streaming too?”

“Looks like she just started. She’s doing it to mess with the hunters, leaking the Southern Gate raid strategy publicly.”

That angel Saintess is pretty sharp.

Who would’ve thought she’d come up with a way to mess with the other hunters from her very first day of action?

“What’s this ‘burning’ thing about? Look at it.”

“Does it burn well? How does it look?”

“Oh. Anti-hunter chat messages are already popping up.”

Sure enough, there were plenty of such messages in the broadcast chat.

“Right? Perfect timing.”

“But, damn, what’s this? Half the screen is just showing her chest. Who’s the one filming this?”

Upon closer inspection, the camera angle was focused on her chest.

Half the screen was chest, almost half was light, and in the corner were countless skulls.

Man, it looks like people are tuning in just to see her chest.

“It’s alternating between the elf and the young girl. When the girl films, it feels like the chest gets most of the screen due to her height.”

“This has to be intentional.”

No matter how you looked at it, this was clearly deliberate.

“Either way, it looks like this is working pretty well already.”

“Who’s this Heavelnlykingtaeyeon?”

Heavelnlykingtaeyeon kept stirring things up.

Heaping praise on the Saintess to an extreme degree.

It was unbearable to watch.

“I’m guessing it’s Jeon Taeyeon, the master of the Heavenly King Guild.”

It was obvious just by looking at it.

“Making such an obvious nickname. What’s she up to?”

“No idea. Maybe she’s close to the Saintess?”

The slime that had been playing with its liquid body muttered to itself.

“How does she have such a wide network?”

“Right? It’s pretty diverse.”

She spoke as if it were nothing, but the Ice Queen couldn’t ignore it.

After all, she was one of the top awakeners in South Korea.

And that Ice Queen gave up her guild and handed it over?

This wasn’t just a casual relationship.

They had to be really close.

“I heard they were close even before the Cataclysm, so maybe that’s why?”

“I wonder what their relationship was like.”

“Yeah. Honestly, for the top-tier Ice Queen to give up her guild like that, she must’ve been prepared to take all the criticism.”

In the hunter community, people would find the Ice Queen’s actions strange, but they would also criticize her heavily.

Her entire authority, built up over the years, would be ruined.

Was she really doing all this just for the Saintess?

“Anyway, something about this feels suspicious.”

“Their relationship? Why would an unemployed person like you know anything?”

Why was this unemployed angel, who did nothing but play games all day, so curious?

“Do you want to die again?”

At some point, a spear made of lightning had formed in the angel’s hand.

Just a single wrong word, and Naipire would end up with that spear in his mouth.

The revolutionary leader was feeling like death.

This constant threat.

How could that be considered angelic?

“Damn it. Can’t you stop threatening me with that lightning spear? I’m the one managing the entire server!”

Sizzle

The revolutionary leader couldn’t even finish his sentence.