The Hero’s Party Members Treat Me Well for Some Reason chapter 19

19 – Strategy for the Stronghold of Chung-Hoe (1)

Opening the door to Chung-Hoe’s stronghold was not a difficult task.

It wasn’t a tightly closed door to begin with, and there was a tremendous expert on picking locks on this side.

“That damn bastard. He put some cheap black magic on the door.”

Adel held a huge lock and quietly broke it open.

The black magic on the royal door probably wasn’t that easy… She handled it quickly.

Indeed, she was a thief of the warrior party. She could dismantle most traps and alarms, you see.

– Kugukung!

As we entered the stronghold, all sorts of insects greeted us.

Spiders, flies, cockroaches, and more.

As light came in through the crack in the door, countless insects scattered in all directions.

Our party members shivered as if they were revolted by seeing that.

“Insane… I want to burn them all.”

“Sigh…”

“This reminds me of the old days when we lived in caves…”

Lily cursed, Camilla sighed, and Adel reminisced about a past unpleasant experience.

Indeed, just the sight of this place filled with insects made an unfavorable impression.

The problem is, we have to stay here for at least a few days.

I thought as I smelled the stench of the stuffy air inside the fortress.

“There are two main ways to attack King Chung.”

Surprise attacks and growth.

The first method, assassination through a surprise attack, was the most traditional and popular way to assassinate the king.

It involved swiftly eliminating the target before bugs gathered at King Chung’s residence in Alhyeonsil.

The main body, King Balkan himself, was relatively weak, making this method quite effective.

During my gamer days, I often used this method when I grew tired of attempting to conquer King Chung. It was easy to execute and had a fairly high success rate.

One just had to quietly hide for a few days, then sprint at full speed toward Alhyeonsil when the time was right. Of course, if you were caught before you reached your target, you might find yourself in a precarious situation with enemies both in front and behind, but that’s something that can be avoided with caution.

Next was the second strategy: growth.

In contrast to the surprise approach aimed at breaking through in the shortest time, the second strategy followed the exact opposite direction.

It involved slowly progressing by encircling the outskirts.

While this royal palace was not a suitable place for human habitation, it was, on the other hand, the optimal hunting ground with abundant venomous insects and monsters. So, by focusing on hunting monsters for a few months, one could strive for substantial growth.

If the surprise method relied on catching the opponent off guard, growth was more like building a tower slowly and challenging the opponent fairly.

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And I was going to use the first method. No, I had no choice but to use it.

“Honestly, the second method is the most stable, but…”

There probably weren’t many who would agree with the second method.

There was a significant problem here, and it was the utterly ordinary problem of “stress.”

As I mentioned earlier, this place was uninhabitable. The interior of the fortress was covered in mold, and the air was thick with the dust of insect corpses and moisture.

Bugs crawled everywhere in real-time, and there was barely a place to wash oneself cleanly.

You had to spend several months in such conditions. Rationally, it might seem like an acceptable method, but emotionally, it was hard to accept.

Especially among our party members, Saint Yulris had an extreme aversion to insects…

“Still, I should bring it up.”

I decided to discuss both methods. We needed to be aware of the options.

“Well, everyone, let’s have a meeting.”

“Hmph, as if we weren’t going to do that anyway.”

And so, I gathered the party members and began the discussion.

I became thoroughly discredited following the previous Minotaur incident. Although no one directly confronted me after the Saint spoke clearly about it, I couldn’t help but feel that my words were being ignored.

So, there probably wouldn’t be anyone who would listen carefully to what I have to say.

But it’s okay.

Isn’t rhetoric meant to be used in situations like this?

“How would you all like to tackle this?”

Instead of presenting a strategy myself, I make them think.

Since people’s thoughts are already the same, a strategy will quickly come up.

“What are you asking? Of course, we should immediately rush in and take out Balkan! I want to get out of this annoying place right away.”

“Calm down, Lily. What if we get surrounded by the bugs? It would be better to slowly attack from the outskirts…”

I subtly support the argument that has formed.

“That’s a good idea. Sneak up and quietly get as close to the King as possible, then attack all at once. He won’t be able to help but panic.”

“Miss Adele’s suggestion is correct. We don’t know how many monsters are in this castle… but it would be great if we can grow stronger.”

Every time, my party members’ eyes grow deeper.

I gently attach flesh to the framework.

“That’s a good plan. So, to summarize, there are two options. First, we quickly break through and defeat a complacent King. And second, slowly take out the monsters starting from the outskirts…”

While presenting the two options, I think to myself.

“Saint will probably step in at this point.”

And then she will blindly shout out the first option.

Because she hates bugs to the extreme and would want to escape this castle as fast as possible.

In the game as well, whenever the second option came up, she always opposed it without a second thought. Simply because she hated bugs.

Choosing the second option requires persistent and stubborn persuasion.

That’s why, being currently unable to persuade anyone due to the curse, I had no choice but to opt for the first option…

“Second! Let’s go with the second option!”

“?”

The Saint unexpectedly started supporting the second option.

“Huh?”

This was unexpected.

Ah, did I mistake the order by any chance?

Thinking that could be the case, I said to her with the feeling of looking at a slightly lacking student.

“Just in case, the first is the surprise attack, and the second is growth…”

“I already know that?! I knew and chose the second one!”

Then, I was able to see the sight of the irritated saint for the first time in a while.

I tilted my head in confusion.

She knew and still chose it?

‘Just why?’

I couldn’t help but feel pleased inside, but I couldn’t understand it.

“Really? I just want to let you know that the second method requires at least a few months of living here. But still?”

“What does it matter if it takes a few months? In my opinion, the second method is definitely the right one. You should always pursue stability, shouldn’t you?”

It was such a reasonable statement that I could only nod my head.

The problem is that the one saying those words is the saint.

Originally, it should have been me, in the position to persuade, who brings up those words.

‘Just what happened?’

I really don’t know.

The game got too tangled up from the early stages.

The saint, who hates bugs, became completely focused on catching them, and the game became too difficult with too many variables.

“Dammit, now I don’t even know.”

Anyway, it was a good thing for me, so this time I decided not to think about it. Good things are good, after all.

“I also agree with Yuris’ words. Our father always said that impatience always ruins the plan.”

“I will follow the majority decision this time too.”

“What? I have to stay here for how many months? Sigh, my motivation is already dropping…”

Once one person agreed, it was easy to obtain the consent of the rest.

I nodded my head, satisfied inwardly.

“Thank goodness.”

I thought it would be the first.

This is a happy variable. We were already trying to find a hunting ground for growth, and now we can fight in a suitable hunting ground.

As I said before, the first boss, Chongwang, is tougher than any of the Four Heavenly Kings in the early stages.

He has countless poisonous insects and combat bugs, while we are still in a state where we haven’t even properly adjusted our specs.

Even now, the world’s difficulty level is much higher than the original game difficulty. It was difficult to even estimate how much of a monster Balkan had become at this point.

Even if we were to ambush him while he’s off guard, it’s uncertain if we would have a chance of victory.

It’s better to spend a few months growing and challenging him fair and square.

And I had faith.

‘Tianwu Body (천무지체).’

I will use this skill to maximize my growth.

Furthermore, I plan to help my teammates grow to some extent.

I briefly turned on the system to check their levels.

＜71＞

＜72＞

＜75＞

＜74＞

These were the levels of Yulris, Lily, Adel, and Camilla.

Considering my own level is 74, the party’s levels are distributed quite evenly.

Surprisingly, Adel, the Dark Elf Rogue, had the highest level. Of course, as a support character, her actual combat abilities are similar, but…

Anyway, this was the overall level of the party.

I looked at the party with satisfaction after a long time.

They are still full of growth potential.

I thought as I looked at them.

Follow me silently.

‘I will boost you up.’

About 2 levels.