"10 Squad. This time, it's the sea."
Thank you for participating in Cloyd Survival.
1,000 users connected. Starting Cloyd Survival.
Language sync rate… 73%… 90%… 100% complete.
The game will now begin. Difficulty: Upper-Mid. Please rank within the Top 400. In the current lobby, attacks between players are disabled.
The designated map is Sea of Plunder. Rewards are given from the Top 100 and up on a tiered basis.
This game will run for 200 days, and each day the map available for play will be limited.
The boundary fields restricting maps will grow stronger day by day, so please be careful not to suffer outside the field.
If you submerge into deep sea areas on this map, it will result in Game Over, so please be careful.
This game is version 10 Squad. You may look at a player of your choice and request to form a squad.
The game continues until only one final squad remains. Players who are eliminated or when the game ends will return to their original world.
If you fail to rank within the Top 400, you will never be able to access Cloyd Survival again. The total number of participants is 1,000.
We wish all players success.
Please find teammates to proceed with the game. Time limit: 100 minutes. If you do not form a team within that time, you will continue the game as a solo player.
"Haah. First the sky, now the sea?"
With a sigh, Seowoon looked out at the endless ocean, calm and without a single wave. Then he heard a familiar clear voice.
"Hyung!"
As expected, as soon as the summoning ended, Lyle came running and jumped into Seowoon's arms first.
He pushed past Juriel and Lilingwi, who had been approaching Seowoon, making them both hesitate and miss their timing.
As always, Seowoon roughly tousled Lyle's hair, who looked up at him with big, round eyes.
"Hyung, did the guild war go well? I got all the items you sent me!"
"Yeah. Wrapped it up cleanly without a scratch."
Just as Seowoon was detaching Lyle, the two women approached him—but in that moment, Seowoon's gaze completely changed.
"Focus on the game. We're on a battlefield where survival is at stake."
His sudden change in expression made the two women flinch and take a step back.
This was a stark contrast from Seowoon's usual laid-back and slightly clumsy demeanor, which made Kichan smirk knowingly.
'He flipped the switch.'
That was how Kichan, who had seen Seowoon up close, described it.
It was like flipping a switch—the way Seowoon transformed. In a way, it resembled the behavior of heavy gamers, whose personalities could shift between online and offline modes.
"Priest. Are we going with a full squad? Or sticking with this?"
"It would be good to fill the last spot with a Knight, Warrior, or Witch. Let's scout around."
Players who hadn't found a team yet still had the ranking symbol floating above their heads and were busily roaming around.
Teams that had already formed were shouting out to recruit final members.
A subtle competition began among solo players, checking out different squads like they were shopping.
Just as Seowoon was about to look for one more teammate, a familiar woman approached him.
"Would you accept me into your team?"
Her stiff tone and cold expression didn't quite match her appearance. Wearing a familiar black suit, Jung Suhwa's presence made Seowoon raise an eyebrow.
"You got pulled into this game too?"
"It seems so."
"Your main class?"
"Hybrid: Warrior and Witch."
"Witch?"
The unexpected choice made Seowoon tilt his head.
In response, she pulled a crystal orb from her subspace and answered:
"I have a wide-area debuff, a synchronized curse on targets, and I can also apply regional and item-based curses. My martial arts are about what you'd expect."
She understood all too well the intensity in Seowoon's gaze—as if he were peering straight into her essence.
Looking at the wine-colored orb she pulled out, Juriel spoke:
"You can gauge a witch's level based on their crystal orb. The deeper the crimson from a once-transparent orb, the higher the witch's rank. Unlike mages, witches aren't graded in clear circles, so their crystal color is a good indicator."
Lyle followed up with a clear voice:
"My teacher said that high-level witches can disguise their dark, murky orbs to appear clear, but not the other way around."
From the combined information, it seemed Jung Suhwa was just beyond the beginner level as a witch.
"You can use magic too, right?"
"About 3rd Circle level."
Third Circle was, frankly, nearly negligible in this game.
"Still, having a witch is always helpful."
With that, Seowoon accepted Jung Suhwa into his squad.
"Thank you."
Now with a full squad, Seowoon's team sat down right on the white sand to begin a strategy meeting.
As Kichan quickly cast a silence barrier around them, Seowoon opened his mouth to speak.
"We'll need to play with deeper strategy from now on."
At Seowoon's words, a few team members seemed to feel something and gave small nods.
Of course, there were also people like Dump and Namsagwang who looked confused, as if asking, What are you talking about?
Jeong Suhwa, who had been standing awkwardly and hadn't even had a chance to greet the team due to the sudden strategy meeting, quietly took a seat.
"When have our strategies ever been shallow?"
Dump's comment was picked up by Namsagwang.
"Strategy and all that… it's just tricks used by the powerless. Real power doesn't fall for a schemer's ploys."
Seowoon ignored the two cleanly and asked,
"Before we begin planning, has anyone here ever experienced this map or something similar?"
While everyone stared blankly at each other, Jeong Suhwa hesitantly raised her hand.
Naturally, all eyes turned to her.
Even Seowoon looked at her, and she quickly stood up and began to speak.
"I experienced a similar map in the previous round. Though the name was different. The map I played on was called Sea of Death."
"How did the game play out?"
"It was a four-squad game. We were given small boats and started the game by sailing between many islands, looting as we went. Battles took place as naval combat when squads encountered each other on the sea."
She paused briefly, pulled a magic canteen from subspace, took a sip, and looked around the open sea surrounding them before continuing.
"As you can see, on calm days with no wind, you could see enemies far in the distance, so when naval battles broke out, it was common for others to interfere. That's why many chose to stay on their islands and not venture out."
"So there was hardly any melee combat?"
In response to Seowoon's question, she shook her head.
"Not exactly. Some items like water boards or magical water wheels gave players high mobility, and some used those to rush enemies and take them out."
"What happened next?"
"While we were looting the islands, a squad finished looting one called Island of Death, and then an epic monster called Curse of the Sea appeared. After that, the pace of the game sped up drastically. A giant octopus, like something out of a movie, appeared and wiped out most of the players. That's how the game ended."
The team members who had been listening to her story began to look grim, as if something had clicked.
Dump, of course, was the exception.
"Island of Death, huh? Must've been full of great loot."
Thinking if he's this simple, I guess I have to let it go, Seowoon ignored Dump and spoke.
"If you combine what we know from previous games with what she just told us, you'll notice a common thread."
"Epic monsters."
Even Namsagwang picked up on it and muttered heavily.
"Exactly. Especially in the last game, the situation was designed to guarantee the summoning of an epic monster. As a result, the game ended in just two weeks."
Looking troubled, Dump finally spoke.
"Then are you saying something similar will happen in this game too, because of an epic monster?"
"We can't say for sure yet. But what we can say is that from now on, we need to always factor in epic monsters as variables in our strategy."
Everyone nodded at Seowoon's words.
It was true—the influence of epic monsters on the game had been growing for some time now.
"But even if we know that, how can we prepare for something we haven't experienced yet?"
Jinryung's question was reasonable.
"That's why we need to make predictions. More importantly, we must be careful with the main quests. If a main quest affects the game itself, we have to think hard before taking it on."
"Predictions, huh? How exactly do we do that?"
This time, Juriel asked.
"We can't make specific predictions. That would likely just backfire. All we can do is share what we know about similar maps and try to infer the conditions under which epic monsters appear."
"Ah!"
Limin suddenly gasped in realization.
"It's the greed and the name of the map!"
At Limin's words, Seowoon smiled and nodded.
Hearing that, Juriel and kichan also nodded in agreement, while Dump, frustrated, complained.
"Would someone please clue me in?"
Giving in to his whining, Limin began explaining it in a way everyone could understand.
"So far, every epic monster we've met has been connected to the name of the map."
Only then did Dump clap his hands in realization.
Clap!
"Right! That's it! The Wraith of Kutrapa, that was tied to the name. And the thing called Wonyoungshin had something to do with immortals, and even that monkey guy was related to Earth's celestial realm or something."
"Yeah. And the triggers that awakened them were deeply tied to the players' greed. Except for Kutrapa, maybe."
"Even Kutrapa might have been summoned because someone fulfilled a hidden condition."
When Seowoon added that, the team members who'd experienced that game nodded.
"Come to think of it, the seal on Wonyoungshin was broken by a squad that was obsessed with epic monsters."
Namsagwang also nodded as he muttered.
"Then ultimately, it's safe to assume that an epic monster related to this 'Sea of Plunder' map will appear."
"Yes."
As the strategy meeting moved forward rapidly, Jeong Suhwa was in shock.
In a squad game, a strategy meeting like this is to be expected.
But she had never seen such a detailed meeting that analyzed the entire game at this level in any other squad.
"He's not just some lucky player."
He had good luck, got good items, and made it to the top ranks.
Naturally, with more coin rewards than others, he secured a major advantage in the next game.
Within that positive cycle, he rose to a dominant position through luck.
It was true that, deep down, she had judged Seowoon that way.
Especially since she knew Cloyd Survival was a game with a significant element of luck.
But less than 30 minutes after joining a squad with him, that prejudice crumbled into pieces.
They used every minute of the 100-minute prep time down to the last second, wrapping up a meticulous strategy meeting—just as a notification chimed.
– The game is about to begin. Here are the main prizes of this round.
[Right to Leave the World] [Player's Right to Revival] [Bracelet of the Whole Body] [Azure Dragon's Lost Dragon Pearl] [Dice of Unstable Movement]
At the game-start notification and the announcement of the main prizes, the players began to stir.
– Announcing the main quest. Drrrrrrrrr. Ding! Find the Treasure Island hidden somewhere in the Sea of Plunder and claim its treasure.
At the cryptic quest, Seowoon and his team grimaced.
Before they could even figure out the intent of the quest, the next notification followed immediately.
– You will soon share a vision through the Eye of Argas. By using Argas's view, which scans the skies, you can say "descend" at the location of your choice to land safely. We hope you acquire many items from your chosen spot. If you don't descend by the end, you will automatically land at the final point. Please be careful.
– Preparing to start the game…
At the same time, a familiar sensation came over them and their vision shifted.
A countless number of islands, scattered like stars in the night sky, floated above the vast ocean.
– Ding! When the squad leader descends, all team members will be forcibly brought down together.
At that alert, Seowoon calmly scanned for a place to land, as if he had already expected it.
As the game began, about twenty squads that had lost the initial mind game dropped rapidly.
– Twenty-three squads descending.
With kichan's briefing, Seowoon spotted a fairly large island surrounded by smaller ones and shouted:
"Descend!"
Unlike usual, Seowoon's squad descended as a single massive fireball.
As expected, they were dropping together with a sizable sailing ship.
– One squad descending below us. Two squads above!
At kichan's report, Seowoon gave the order:
"Everyone, prepare for combat!"
As mana waves pulsed through the air, mages stored spells in their staves, and the team smoothly assumed the positions they had planned during the strategy meeting.
– Poooaang!
With a loud splash, the ship landed on the sea, throwing up a massive spray of water.
– Fwoooosh!
Suddenly, a searing-hot red boulder flew through the air, engulfed in flames, heading straight for the ship's mast.
"I'll take it!"
Pushing aside the mages setting up barriers, Namsagwang jumped forward.
Apparently, he judged that the spell wasn't something a barrier could stop.
– Ssschh!
With a swift slice, the boulder split in half. It barely grazed Namsagwang, but thanks to his intervention, the mast remained intact.
He quickly waved his arms, extinguishing the flames clinging to them.
"Brother!"
At that call, Jinryung reacted instantly. Together with Seowoon, he leapt forward to deflect the two falling halves of the boulder that were about to crash onto the deck.
– Sssszzzhhh.
With a hiss, the pieces dropped into the sea and sank beneath the waves.
– Poooom.
– Poooom.
At that moment, two more ships dropped down on either side of them.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]