《Tales of Magic Swordsman》 Chapter 1 Be "Do we really need to do this?" Auron asked to a big burly man in front of him. "Why? Are you afraid?" The man answered. "Ha ha ha. Darius can''t you see the Two Worlds'' player ranking? It has been 8 years since you are ranked no. 2. Do you think I, ranked no. 1, will afraid of you? There will be a big update next week, I just want to spend this week peacefully. But, since you want this to do this then let''s get it on". Darius smirked and handed a contract to Auron. "Then you just need to sign this contract with Two Worlds'' god as the witness". Auron read the contract and started. "Darius, are you insane?!". The contract was about a 1 vs 1 duel between Auron and Darius in front of their guild mate today at 8 pm. What make Auron started was the loser had to disband their guild and permanently deleted their character. It had been 10 years since Two Worlds, a VRMMORPG, was released. To this date, almost 95% population in the world played this game. Two Worlds became an effective advertising tools for many companies. By advertising in Two Worlds, their company''s sales could be boosted over 50%. There was even some company which claimed they made a 80% increase in the sales. Of course, this could be achieved if they invested in the correct place. And, Heaven, the no 1 guild, with Auron, the no. 1 ranked player, as their guild leader would be more attractive for these company. "Ha ha ha. For 8 years, my Character, Raging Bull, always ranked behind yours, God Of Sword and this also happen to Red Storm, my guild. For 8 years, I am always behind you, if I lose this battle then I don''t need to play this games anymore," Darius laughed. "We both are maxed character and next week the level cap will be double up to lv 1000. we will have start over again to achieve maxed level. Even if you lose this battle you can still raise your level and challenge me again. Don''t you realize how hard for us to achieve lv 500?" Auron tried to persuade. Darius looked calm and smiled. "Enough with the talk, do you dare or not?". Auron wanted to spend week before a big update peacefully. However, he can''t imagine what will happen to his and Heaven''s honor, if he decline this bet. Auron gritted his teeth and signed the contract, "Fine, if you want to delete your character, let us do this tonight 8 pm at the arena". Darius smirked evilly and parted ways with Auron. Soon, news about a bet between ranked no. 1 and no. 2 become a big event for all Two Worlds'' user. Forum''s discussion started to boom. Many predictions about who gonna win with some reason and speculation flew around. Haters from both side started to mock each other. Even some broadcasting companies started to empty their 8 pm schedule to live broadcast the duel. --------------------------------------------------- Heaven''s guild mansion. A female with white robe elegantly walked to Auron''s office. This is Cold Candle, Heaven''s vice guild leader. She joined the guild since 4 years ago and actively doing guild activity. With high contribution to the guild and an easy going character, she became vice guild leader since two months ago because the last vice guild leader was expelled due to corruption and intended to dethrone Auron. Cold Candle contributed the most in collecting proof about last vice guild leader''s suspicious behavior. Due to these reason, she unanimously win the voting to become the next guild vice leader. "Guild leader, do we really need to do this? I think there is something suspicious with Raging Bull''s behavior," Cold Candle asked. "Yeah, I also have the same opinion with you, I have known Raging Bull for 8 years, even if he is brave but he isn''t someone who brave enough to bet something this big without 100% confidence. I feel suspicious but I can''t figure it out," Auron answered. "But, well, I don''t need to think about this. For 8 years, I always beat him. We both are maxed character, what makes us different is our skills and our equipment. Even if he can raise his skill to my level, his equipment still behind me. I don''t think he can found legendary rated item". In Two Worlds, items are rated into different grade. From lowest to highest, common, uncommon, rare, epic, king, and legendary. These item can be identified by their name''s color, white, green, blue, purple, orange, and yellow. To these dates, there are few king grade item and none of legendary grade item. There are some rumor which said, a legendary grade item could make a level 100 character fight on par with level 500 character. This could represented how overpowered and how hard to get legendary rated item. "Correct, if Darius get a legendary rated item, with our big intelligence network we should get the hang of it. But just in case, you should still be careful," Cold Candle advised him. "I will, help me to prepare everything for tonight''s duel, investigate all of Darius recent activity, get all information about his teammate and his sponsor, we still need to find out what makes him so confident," Auron commanded. "Oh, also, have you compile information for next update? When I win this duel, we still need to prepare for the next update, I don''t want to get behind from other big guilds because of this event." "Relax, here is the information for the next update, we just need to pay attention to several things. I think it is better for you to focus on your upcoming duel. You don''t want to tarnish your guild reputation right?" Cold Candle handed over a pile of document containing information about next update. When she was prepared to leave the room, she brought out some item out of her inventory and put it on the floor, "Our guild''s expedition team has come back from worlds'' expedition and here are the spoil for you to distribute to our guild member, maybe there are some useful item that you can use for upcoming duel. I see there is a good potion which can temporally increase you strength". "Thank you, I will sort it out." Auron answered. Chapter 2 New Update Just as its names, Two worlds, comprises of two worlds, Gaia and Regalia. Each person can only make one character and they would always start as a citizen of Gaia. Because of this, Gaia comprise of 90% player and 10% NPC, on the other hand Regalia comprise 100% NPC. So, it could be said Two Worlds is a game between player versus NPC. In game, There are two types of expedition, guild''s expedition and world''s expedition. The latter would give better reward, but it is more dangerous than the previous and could only be issued by the world''s supreme ruler. The expedition team''s needed to go to other world and finished an expedition quest. The quest could be destroying other''s world city, snatching resource, even killing other world royal families. This time, Heaven, sent one of their elites'' team to the expedition. Fortunately, they get a rather easy quest with low chance of dying and Cold Candle have brought all the reward they get for Auron to distribute it. Auron walk over to the pile of item and started to sort it out. [Abyssal''s Dagger] (King grade equipment) Type: Dagger Requirement: 70 Strength, 86 Agility Class: Swordsman, Thief, Merchant Attack: 232 - 532 Strength + 15 Agility + 10 Effect: no effect "This is a bad king grade equipment, There are some good epic grade equipment better than this king grade. Forget it, I can still give it to Roan," Auron though. After sorting everything out, Auron get 1 king grade equipment, 12 epic grade equipment, 30 rare grade equipment, and many miscellaneous item which include, potion, alchemy ingredients, forging ingredients, and many more. [Giant''s Strength Potion] (Epic Item) Type: Potion Class: All Class Effect: Increase 30% all attribute for 30 seconds "I think this is the potion Cold Candle mentioned before. What a wonderful potion. With this potion, I can defeat Raging Bull easily. I will use this potion in duel to give more security," Auron though. After distributing all the item to the expedition team, the leftover item were putted in guild''s warehouse and could be exchanged with guild''s contribution point. Auron sat back on his chair and started to read a pile of document about the new update. "Cold Candle really can be trusted, she even give suggestion for further action." New Update Key Point: - Maximal Character level doubled to lv 1000 - Skill level Capped increased to 70 - New Item grade: Mythical (Gold colored). Item will be rated above Legendary with 0.1% drop rate through world''s expedition and 0.05% through guild expedition or hunting. - Legendary rated item drop rate increase to 1% through world''s expedition and 0.5% through guild expedition or hunting. - Kingdom military opened to Player: Player can now joined the world''s military and get contribution through war with enemy from Regalia. Player will start from soldier rank and needs to get more contribution to occupy higher position. Player can also exchange contribution point with item. With Higher position, player also can get more benefit even meeting the king. Restriction: Player can only solely serve the kingdom and can''t join player''s guild. - Noble Title: Player needs nobility point to upgrade their noble title. Nobility point can be earned through quest given by royalty member or important army member. - Guild now can be measured by Nobility point: All active member Nobility point will be added to guild''s nobility point. More guild''s nobility point, more benefit the guild can get. For example, exchanging item with royal family treasure room, request to issued world''s expedition, getting more slot for world''s expedition and many more. - NPC level adjusted accordingly. ..... Note: We can forget about Kingdom military since we are in guild, instead we should focus on obtaining Noble Title. I think the royal family treasure room will have a legendary rated item and maybe even mythical rated item. We should form an elite group to farming noble quest. From what I see, there is no update about new hunting grounds which mean above level 500 we can only depend on quest, expedition and hunting other world''s troop. Next step, ... "This damn company, there''s still no player that have legendary rated items yet they already add mythical rated items," Auron cursed. "Based on the suggestion from Cold Candle, looks like we need to hold audition to form a new elite group. Let me think it over later." Suddenly, door to Auron''s office opened. A fat man wearing a white robe run into the room. While panting he said "Auron! why you accept such insane bet?". This fat man named Roan, he is Auron''s best friend. They were classmate since they were in school. At age 15, when Two Worlds first launched, they started to play together. Roan played as a merchant while Auron choose swordman. One year later, both of them founded Heaven. Both of them dedicated all of their time to develop Heaven. As time pass by, Roan rise slowly which made him fell behind other guilds member. To avoid becoming a burden for Auron. Roan decided to moved to Heaven''s first branch guild and helped the main guild in terms of funds. With Roan talent in trade and financing, Heaven''s first branch become the no. 1 source of funds for the main guild. Unfortunately, to help the guild fund, Roan has to keep moving around between city and ignore hunting which was why until today he still level 432. He said "There is always something need to be sacrificed". Although, Roan was okay with his condition, Auron still felt guilty which was why sometimes he provide some high graded equipment and item to Roan. Because of this, many main guild member looked down on Roan but they kept it in their heart since Roan was their guild leader''s best friend and one of the Heaven''s founder. "Brother, I also don''t want to do this, but Raging Bull keep pushing me. I can''t harm our guild''s honor. I have to do this," Auron said with warm tone. "Bu... but I still feel it is not okay to do this, what if you lose? This is your hard work for 10 years." Tear started to fill Roan eyes "I can''t imagine if you lose, what will happen to me?" "Relax, I know Raging Bull seems suspicious, but he can''t beat me. Although, he has a hidden card, I also have my own hidden cards." Auron smiled. Chapter 3 Duel Start 1 "Really?" Roan still feel insecure with the bet. "Yes, just believe in me. I have my own plan." Auron assured. "Brother, look at this dagger. I think this dagger suitable for you," Auron handed over King''s level dagger to Roan. "Remember, this dagger is for you to use, so don''t sell it. Even though this is a bad king''s level equipment, it is still king''s level after all. It can boost your fighting power." knock.. knock.. Cold Candle walk into the office bringing a pile of paper, "Guild leader, Am I disturbing your meeting?". "No, it is okay. I am leaving," Roan walk to the door turning his head. "Be careful, bro". "What a kind brother," Cold Candle handing pile of the paper, "Here is what you asked me to investigate. I see there is no suspicious movement from Raging Bull and Red Storm. I still cannot figure out what makes him confidence". "Thank you Cold Candle you always can be relied on. I will read this first, call me when the time comes," Auron replied. At 7 pm. "That''s weird, I can''t find anything weird from this report," Auron looked confused. "The only thing that possible is this thing. He got a new fund from his sponsor but he doesn''t seems spend that much money." Knock.. Knock.. Cold Candle walk into the room. "Guild leader, do you find anything weird?" "No. One thing that bothering me is, recently, his gives him a new funding, but he doesn''t seems spend that much money. It is really not like Raging Bull. I know he is the type of guy who will spend almost all of his money just to show off his might," Auron pondering. "Cold Candle, do you know something about this?" "I heard he request that fund just to defeat you. He promise to his sponsor that he will defeat you so that he can become ranked no. 1 player, that way his value will rise and it benefiting his sponsor, that''s why his sponsor agreed to give that. I also heard that if he lose this battle his sponsor will pull all of their sponsor to his guild. I think that is also why he willing to raise the stake very high," Cold Candle handed out a piece of information. "I also got the latest rumor, that he actually spend a lot of his money to change all of his equipment to King''s level. He carefully selected the equipment attribute so it can maximize his fighting power. He also bought some items that can temporally boost his fighting power. The rumor also said that, right now, his equipment actually beats your equipment." "Why I don''t see that piece of information in the document you handed me first time?" Auron furrowed his brows. "He keeps all of the his spending information tightly. I just got this news before I come here. This is just a rumor, but I think I still need to give you this information so you can be prepared for it," Cold Candle said. Auron solemnly look at Cold Candle, "Cold Candle, in your opinion, between me and Raging Bull, who''s stronger?" Cold Candle cross her arm and pondered deeply, "I think you are stronger since your skill level and your equipment stronger than Raging Bull. However, if we include all the information we just gathered, and if the information are all true, then your equipment will we slightly lower than Raging Bull, but your skill will still stronger than him. However, this advantage can be overcome by consuming buff potion". Cold Candle continued, "With your difference right now, Raging Bull needs to consume epic buff potion or higher to defeat you. What I don''t know is whether he has that potion or not. Calculating by his money, I think he could afford epic buff potion but for higher grade, I don''t think he has the money for it." Auron asked, "If all what you said are true, then how do you think I can win?" After thought for a while Cold Candle answered, "I assumed that all the information are true and he has an epic buff potion also since there is no news about him raising his skill level, then I assumed he can''t raise it yet. Based on all of this, I think your way to win is to consume a buff potion. It don''t have to be epic buff potion, if it is uncommon buff potion then you will be on par with him and all will go to your way of fighting. if it is rare buff potion then you can slightly defeat him as long as you don''t make any mistake. I remember that there''s a buff potion in the pile I give you last time, do you find it? what grade is it?" Auron smiled and showed over [Giant''s Strength potion], "I found it, it is an epic grade buff potion and it is a pretty decent one." "Great, with this potion you can easily defeat Raging Bull, you should bring it. Keep it first, if all the rumor are true and Raging Bull has a buff potion, then you can consume this to assured our chances for winning." Cold Candle excitedly advised Auron. "Ha ha ha. Great, it is time to move, get all of our brothers to the arena and let us how Red Storm disbanded" Auron laughed. --------------------------------------------------- Arena "Boss, are you sure we can win this bet?" Red Storm''s vice guild leader asked nervously. "Yes, just trust me, I have my own plan, you just need to record all of this and make sure it is spread widely" Raging Bull smiled. "Today, I shall defeat God Of Sword then become no. 1 ranked player and our guild will become no. 1 ranked guild". A few moments later, a group of people came into the arena. They all released a mighty killing intent. Their combined killing intent could even make a corpse rose from the dead and ran away. "I guess you are not running away from our bet." Raging Bull laughed disdainfully. Auron furrowed his brows, "Why should I run away from a weaker player? Can you see our ranked?" "Ha ha ha. All will ends today. Prepared to delete your character, oh and if you start over again, look for me, I can help you" Raging Bull smiled evilly. Chapter 4 Duel Start 2 "Don''t you think I should be the one who said that?" Auron refuted. "Are you still dreaming? Well, it is time for a baby to go sleep. Unfortunately, we still have a bet to conclude. Guys, can you help me look for her mom and wake him up he has a bet to conclude?" Auron said to his guild mate, followed by huge laughter. Raging Bull started to get angry, he raised his tone, "Auron, do you think you can beat me by making me angry?" Cold Candle, who stand beside Auron, whispered to him, "Guild leader, look at his equipment, looks like the rumor are true. His equipment are changed and slightly better than yours. You need to be careful. We still don''t know whether he has a buff potion or not." Auron observed Raging Bull in front of him. From top to bottom, Raging Bull equipment changed and he looked more mighty and muscular than before. "Darius, do you think I am afraid with your new equipment? It look dazzling, but that''s it nothing special with it? Don''t you forget your skill level are lower than mine? I think it still hard for you to raise your skill level with all of the money you sponsored." Auron smiled. Darius didn''t surprised to hear him know about the sponsored money, He maintained his posture, "We all know how hard to raise our skill level, even you the ranked no. 1 still can''t surpass level 50, even my skill level are lower than your but the difference is not too far." In Two Worlds, there is no restriction on how many skill a player can learn, as long as the requirement were fulfilled. There are only two requirement which were, player could only learned skill based on his class and to learn a skill or raised it, player needed a skill book and the amount is varied depending on the skill level. To raise a skill, player needed to use skill book of respective skill double amount of the next skill level and every 10 level player needed to use a higher grade skill book. To raise from level 0 to level 1, player needed 2 common skill book, from level 1 to level 2, they needed 4 common skill book, from level 2 to level 3, they needed 6 common skill book, and so on. When player get to level 10, the skill book needed raise by one grade. From level 10 to level 11, they needed 22 uncommon skill book. From level 11 to level 12, they needed 24 uncommon skill book, and so on. This goes on until player''s skill reach level 30, when a player want to raise his skill to level 31, he only need 1 epic skill book. From 31 to 32, they needed 2 epic skill book, and so on. Although the amount seems reduced, the truth is the difficulty to raise it still high even more difficult than before. Skill book from rare and below can be traded between player, but starting from epic grade, the skill book couldn''t be traded because it was bound to the player who take it. Moreover, the skill book drop rate very low. The drop rate for common grade skill book almost the same as the drop rate of rare grade equipment or item. That''s why, in Two World, even after ran for 10 years, common grade skill book still pretty expensive. Fortunately, for epic grade skill book and higher, Two Worlds gave a chance to exchange bounded skill book they grade. Player could exchange 10 epic grade skill book regardless of the class to 1 epic grade skill book of their choice. When player learn about this news, player started to make a service which was skill book''s hunting service. The one who want to use this service will paid some amount of money to a group of player and made a party, then they went to hunt whether it was an expedition or grinding monster or even invading other worlds. When an epic skill book dropped, it will went to the one who use this service. Of course, it was very expensive to use this service, but still, many rich people used this service. Also, in Two Worlds, although one has the same class, one could be stronger than other. This can be looked from their skill level, their equipment, and their character''s attribute. Raging Bull and God Of Sword, both of them, have the same class which was swordsman. So, this bet can actually be called duel of the two top swordsman. Although their class was same, however they built their character differently. Auron gave his attribute equally between strength and agility. On the other hand, Darius gave almost all of his attributes to strength. Auron looked calm and smiled, "Enough of the talk, let us start our duel now". Raging Bull and God Of Sword, both, stepped on the arena stage at the same time. Darius then handed over the signed contract to an NPC officer. "Both of you, have signed this contract and agreed to this. After this battle over, the loser will has 3 days time to execute the penalty. If he don''t execute it in time, he will receive a severe penalty". The one who neglected to execute penalty from the contract will got his attribute permanently reduced by 99%, all of his skill level will be gone, and all of his equipment, money, and item will be gone. The penalty received actually almost the same as deleting a character. But, because the stake of the bet right now was very high, there was no different between the stake of bet and penalty. "Let the battle begin in 10, 9, 8, 7,.. 3, 2, 1, begin" NPC officer started the duel. When the battle started, Auron directly use his movement skill. Added with his agility attribute, his speed rose. He swung his sword directly to Darius'' head. "Bang" Darius parried Auron sword with his axe. Darius was strength very high, because of the collision, Auron flew back. He spun once and landed smoothly on his first spot. Darius laughed, "Why are you so impatient?". "I am just testing the water." Auron also laughed. "Let''s get serious" Chapter 5 Epic Buff Potion The weapon Auron used is a black broadsword. This broadsword actually longer and heavier than ordinary broadsword which mean Auron range are longer than ordinary broadsword. This was a high king grade''s weapon that had accompany Auron for one year. He got this sword from participating in a World''s expedition. At that time, he and his party attacked one of the enemy camp in other world. And one of the enemy general got surprised by the sudden attack and couldn''t properly prepared.Even after the enemy got surprised by the sudden attack, they were still in large quantities, which made Auron loss 80% of his party. At the end, the enemy general died and drop this sword which Auron picked and used until now. Although he had to pay a heavy price, he still satisfied with the sword. Although this sword was strong, there was still a stronger sword in the game. However, this sword was classified as the number 1 sword in player''s possession. This can be shown by comparing his sword and Raging Bull''s axe. Axe can be considered as one of the weapon with high damages and sword''s damage couldn''t be compared with the axe''s damage. But, Auron sword only has slightly lower damage than Raging Bull''s new axe. A purple mist started to enveloped Auron broadsword completely. This purple mist it one of the swordsman''s skill, [Weapon''s Aura]. This skill could enveloped any weapon and made the weapon stronger in collision and added the weapon''s damage. Seeing Auron used [Weapon''s Aura], Darius also used the same skill. A purple mist enveloping his axe. Auron started to move toward Darius slowly. Not waiting for Auron to come, Darius used [Charge]. [Charge] was a charging skill, it increased user''s speed and charged toward the target. The weakness of this skill was it made the user moved in a straight line. With high reflex, Auron moved to the side and swung his sword. A damage float above Darius'' head. After getting hit, Darius not stood still, instead he also swung back his axe to Auron and it connected. A damage also shown above Auron''s head. Thanks to Darius strength, he dealt almost twice of what Auron dealt. Auron started to move away from Darius. Auron thought, "I will lost if we exchange damage, I need to maintained some distance". Auron started to use his advantages in agility. He circled Darius and keep use a combination of his skill and basic attack. This was the same strategy that an out-fighter boxer fight against an in-fighter boxer. Darius maintained his position and focus his concentration. He swung his axe several times, some connected, but there were also which missed the target. Darius slowly moved toward Auron, he started to lead Auron toward the corner of the arena stage. Knowing Darius'' intention, Auron started to move against Darius'' wishes. However, Darius was not some amateur, he was player ranked no 2 after all, Auron started got leaded to one of the stage''s corner. To escape from this predicament, Auron decided to use [Charge]. He charged to Darius. Seeing this, Darius prepared to accept the strength battle. He swung his axe horizontally. Surprisingly, Auron started to jump. He used his sword to parry Darius'' axe. His sword collided with Darius'' axe and he used the collision force to make him jumped higher. Auron jumped over Darius'' head spun once and tried to land on the other side of the arena. However, since Auron get increased speed from using [Charge], he actually missed the jumped timing, so he fell down and get some damage. He quickly got up and prepared to act against Darius'' next move. Surprisingly, Darius only stood still and watched Auron got up. "Ha ha ha. What a move, unfortunately you are lucky. A ranked number one player fell down so miserably" Darius laughed. Using this moment, Auron maintain his calm composure and started to observe the situation. From the exchange before, Auron actually chipped away more than 50% of Darius health, while his health was still over 70%. "Can you see your health?" Auron replied, "Your health is below 50%. Do you have any other move? If this is all what you have, then I am going to win." "What if this is all I''ve got? What if it isn''t? I am 100% percent sure you are going to lose." Darius declared confidently. Auron replied, "Is there any missing screw in your head? Can you learn and calculate?" "I think he is crazy" "Darius is such a newbie, he can''t even calculate. Do you want my kid to teach you?" ... Some of the crowd belonging to Auron''s guild started to shout and mock Darius. Darius'' guild member in the crowd also completely baffled by Darius'' behavior. They feel ashamed and couldn''t refuted the opposing mocking. They could only maintain their calm behavior and thought, "Is our guild leader really crazy?" "He can calculate can''t he? Does he have a hidden move?" ... Auron observed Darius and the situation. Darius looked very calm, it was liked he was in advatage. Seeing Darius'' guild memberlook calm, Auron got misunderstand, "Seeing his guild member calm behavior, I am 100% sure if he has a buff potion. The question is what grade is the buff potion he has." Darius smiled and slowly retrieved an item from his inventory. He showed it to Auron and the crowd. "An epic grade buff potion", One of the crowd shouted. All of Darius'' guild member started to get excited from this development. Meanwhile, Auron''s guild memberlooked solemnly. Auron''s guild member shouted, "You are cheating, This is an one on one duel, how can you use a buff potion." "What cheating?! You just some poor kid go beg to you mother." Darius''s guild member replied. On Stage, Darius smiled, "Sorry Auron, with this, today you are going to lose". He then looked at the crowd, "What cheating? There is no rules stated in the contract that buff potion is prohibited. You are just a loser. He can also use one if he has it". Darius consumed the buff potion. "What a surprised, he actually has an epic buff potion. I can''t imagine how much he spend for it." Seeing Darius consumed the buff potion. Auron smiled and lifted his hand, an epic item was in his hand, "What a surprised, coincidentally, I also have an epic buff potion." Chapter 6 Something Wrong "What a surprised, coincidentally, I also have an epic buff potion." The epic buff potion Auron showed, made other people reacted differently, Darius and his guild member looked surprised and felt pressured while Auron guild member looked brightened and excited. Auron started to consumed the buff potion. "Damn it." Darius cursed in his heart. Seeing Auron consumed his buff potion, Darius charged to Auron and tried to caught Auron by surprise. Unfortunately, Auron quickly consumed his buff potion and had prepared to take on Darius attack. "Bang", the sound of an axe and sword collided rang loudly. Darius pushed Auron back. Because of the potion, Darius can only manage to push Auron back several meter and couldn''t make Auron flew like the first clash. Auron moved sideways and maintained his distance with Darius. "Damn it, how can this be. How can he has an epic buff potion and I can''t get the news?" Darius cursed. He looked at his guild member. All Darius'' guild member in the crowd felt dejected. Darius pondered, "Is there a spy in my guild? How can I not know the news about this?" "Where are you looking at Darius? We still have a battle to concluded. Don''t run away" Auron smiled evilly. He started to launch his attack. He used some of his skill combined with his agility and his basic attack get managed to chip away 30% of Darius health. "Damn it, I can only defended his attack and try to look for opportunity" Darius tried so hard to fight against Auron, with his high strength he only managed to reduce 10% of Auron health. "Damn it, because of the buff potion he moved faster than before, many of my attack are missed." Darius started feeling nervous. "Relax, maintain my calm, I can still beat him. He is still a human, he can make a mistake. Focus, Focus, Focus" With his mind calmed down Darius started to defend. Darius could actually improved his performance. From ten exchange he can defend 9 of the attack. This boosted Darius confidence. Another ten moved he actually managed to defend all of it and not getting damage. "That is weird, Darius started to get faster" Auron pondered seriously. "Is he stealthily consumed another buff potion? I don''t think he prepared another potion. From the looks of his behavior when he first showed his buff potion, he really confident that I will fell for his scheme. So, he must only prepared one buff potion." "Forget it, I think he just got lucky, I need to get focus. If I manage to hit him again, I think he will get panic and he can make a mistake. I need to varied my attack and boost my speed", Auron thinking strategically. Auron started to varied his move pattern, he moved zig zag toward Darius. Auron swung his sword. Darius prepared his axe to block the sword. Suddenly, midways, Auron stop his attack moved to the side and swung another attack. Darius taken by surprise tried very hard to defend. He, reflexively, turn his body to the side and moved his hand. "Bang" Darius axe manage to block Auron sword. Auron taken by surprised, he use his movement skill to move away from Darius. A look of surprised can be seen in his face. "Whew, so lucky," Darius felt relieved. "I don''t know how can I block that, am I getting stronger? Forget it, I need to maintain this advantages". Darius laughed loudly, "Ha ha ha. Surprised? Already feeling lose?" Auron face got ugly, "You are just lucky! Try to block this one". Auron using [Charge] and moved toward Darius. Darius become serious he swung his axe toward the charging Auron. "Bang" Auron flew away because of the collision. Taken by surprised, Auron couldn''t land properly and fell down. "How can I fly away? Before, he can only push me back. There is something weird going on. I need to be careful" Auron felt strange. He got up and charging toward Darius. This time, he didn''t use any skill and only used combination of his footwork and basic attack. Auron used all of his moved. He moved zig zag, attacking from the side, tried to circled around and more. Auron tried to varied his attack pattern. However, Darius managed to block all of his attack, he even manage to counter attack Auron and chip some of Auron health. "There must be something going on, I need to maintain calm and be more observant." Auron thought. He looked at his health, there''s only 42% left. While Darius still have 18% of his health left. While Auron was occupied by his thought, Darius used [Charge] and swung his axe toward Auron. Taken by surprised, Auron moved his sword to in front of his chest and tried to block Darius'' attack. "Bang" "What!!!!" Auron''s guild member in the crowd looked very surprised. What made them very surprised was, in this collision, Auron actually flew farther than the collision before. Auron tried to get up. He couldn''t hide his surprised face. "Darius, yo... you are shameless. you actually used two buff potion for this duel" Auron shouted. Auron was 100% sure that Darius prepared two buff potion. Auron started to get angry, his expression change from surprised to angered. "What are you talking about? How can you accuse me?" Darius felt wronged. "I know you are incompetent, but I don''t know it is to this extent. You are weak, I am stronger. You have to accept the fact," Darius proudly refuted. Actually, Darius also very surprised, but he managed to maintain his calm composure. "Forget it, I actually super lucky, he made many mistake. I can win this," Darius thought. He started to smile widely, "You are always weak, you have to thanked me for all of this time I played with you, now play time is over". Auron not believed by what Darius said. He knew all of this time Darius not playing with him. Suddenly, Auron got enlightened, he opened his attributes panel. He got surprised, all of his attributes got reduced a lot. He read his description status. [Player inflicted by an epic curse, attribute temporally reduced. Every 10 seconds, attribute will be reduced by 10% of the current attribute for 6 hours or until player is dead] "An epic curse, damn it" Chapter 7 Cursed "An epic curse, damn it" Auron cursed. "How can I get inflicted by this curse?" "Ha ha ha. You only have 25% of you health left. Let''s finish all of this," While Auron daze in thought, Darius laughed loudly and started to attack Auron. Auron reflexively moved to the side. He succeeded in dodge the attack. However, he still thinking about the epic curse. So, instead of counter attacking, he move away from Darius and make some distance. "Don''t you run away! What a shame, player ranked number 1 is running away so miserably! You don''t deserve the title. Let me take that title today!" Darius mocked Auron and started to charging toward Auron. "Damn this curse! Looking at my attribute right now, I still have 70% of chance to win this match. However, in the next 10 secs, my chance of win reduced to 60%. Another next 10 secs and it will go down to 50%.Another 10 secs and it will be almost impossible for me to win this match" Auron calculated in his mind. "I need to finish this before 30 secs mark," Auron made up his mind. He started to attack aggressively. Auron attacked Darius like he was possessed by a madman. Auron swung his sword, whether the sword connected or blocked by Darius, he immediately moved circled Darius and launched another attack. This strategy actually succeeded. Auron managed to reduce another 9% of Darius health, but he also left with 12% health. "He is so defensive before, why he attack aggressively right now?" Darius shocked by this sudden changed. "He tried to finish me quick. He must had a reason to fight this aggressively. I need to prolong this battle" Darius enlightened. He started to move defensively. "Whoa.. why are you so aggressive. Be calm please. Do you need to take a pee?" Darius taunted Auron. It had been 20 secs, Auron felt more pressured. He used his movement skill and charge recklessly toward Darius. Darius not stood still, he swung his axe. Auron tried to dodge the attack. However, because of the cursed, even after using his movement skill, his speed greatly reduced. He couldn''t dodge in time and got hit by the axe. Auron flew back and crashed on the ground. He only had a sliver of health left. "I lost" Auron had given up. "Where I got the curse?" Auron still didn''t know where he got the curse from. "And it is even an epic curse. Wait... epic curse, I only consumed an epic buff potion. Both of them are epic item. [Joker''s Trick]!!" Auron suddenly enlightened. [Joker''s Trick] was an item used to change an item''s description and appearance. It could change an item''s description and appearance of the same grade for 24 hours. After the item changed, player could not identify it unless they used an identification skill or waited for the item''s duration went off. When Two Worlds began, It was a very popular item to trick another player. A player used it to change the item into something mighty and sold it with high price to another player. Although they couldn''t change the item grade, many player still tricked. Just imagined, A low level common equipment could be changed into another common equipment with an attack the same as uncommon equipment or even higher than that. Because of this, many people filed a complain to Black Eagle, the company behind Two Worlds. Finally, in the second year, the company give an updated to all player. They give all player an identification skill as soon as they create a new character. Although it had been updated, some player still got deceived. However, slow but surely, with the help of many newbie''s guide in the forum, only a careless player got deceived by this trick. When Two Worlds entered the fifth year, almost none of the player got tricked. Because of this, the [Joker''s Trick]''s popularity went down. Some people still used this tricked but on below rare grade equipment since the one who could afford bought an epic item or higher must had played the game for long time which made them couldn''t fall to this trick. "Why am I so careless" Auron mocked his carelessness. "Ha ha ha. Prepare to lose!" Darius charged to Auron. Auron just laid on the ground and not tried to dodge the attack. A few second later, "Darius win the match. Since Auron has lost, he has 3 days time to fulfill his obligation as the loser or he will suffered severe penalty," The NPC offficer declared. Because of this was just an arena fight, after the fight, the player health will completely healed. However, instead of got up, Auron just laid on the ground and lost in his thought, "Who put that potion there? Is there any spy in the elite''s team?" "Wait... Cold Candle is the one who''s hinting me that there is a good potion among the pile, she is also the one who brought the pile over. She also know that with the potion I can win against Darius easily." Auron suddenly got up, he looked back to the crowd behind him. Auron saw a crowd of his guild member feeling dejected. They all lowered their head, even there was some member who cried. In the middle of the crowd, a woman with white robe elegantly stood. She wore a calm expression as if she had know the outcome of this battle before the battle even begin. Seeing Auron gazed her, she mocked him by making a shocked expression and then smiled evilly. "Damn, that woman" Auron felt furious he wanted to charge toward her. But before he could done it, a hand grabbed his shoulder. "Ha ha ha. You have lost. Even after using an epic buff potion, you still lost" Darius laughed mockingly to Auron, behind him all of his guild member laughed out loud. "This guy... he must have worked together with Cold Candle. If not, how can the timing so precise. F*** this guy! F*** Cold Candle!" Auron gazed furiously at Darius and gritted his teeth. "Hey, ranked number 2 player, why don''t you kneel before me the ranked no 1. Oh wait, he will not ranked number 2 anymore since he will deleted his character." Darius continuously mocked Auron. "Enjoy your 3 days, don''t forget to delete your character. Actually, I don''t care whether you delete your character or not since you will suffered severe penalty if not." Darius laughed loudly and went back with his guild member out of the arena. "Wow, this is such a breaking news" "I can''t believe God Of Sword lost" ... Many of the media broadcasting started move back to their headquarter quickly to make a headline news. At the end, only Auron and his dejected guild member left behind at the arena. Chapter 8 Ism Done Only Auron and his dejected guild member left behind at the arena. "What will we gonna do now?" "Are we really disbanding?" "Why all of this must happen? ... Many of Auron''s guild member wailing desperately. Suddenly, Cold Candle elegantly approached him. "Guild Leader, Darius must be cheated. There is something weird about this, we will need to investigate this," Cold Candle pretended she didn''t know anything. "Before that, you should leave all of your item and equipment to us. After that you can create a new character and start over again. We will help you to level up, after you got to this level again, we will give back all of your item. We will challenge them and get our revenge!" "Yeah, guild leader we will exact our revenge to them" "I will help you to level up" ... Many of his guild member agreed to Cold Candle. Auron stood still. He out of focus. All of the event happen today shocked him. From a shockingly huge bet to the joy of knowing all of his plan working well until feeling betrayed by his guild''s vice leader. Auron gazed furiously at Cold Candle, "You...!!!".He wanted to beat her up, but he looked at all of his guild member behind her. "Although I know how all of this happen, I actually don''t have any concrete proof. What will happen if I accuse Cold Candle colluding with Raging Bull without proof? Will all of my guild member believe in me?" Auron have some thought. "Forget it, this is all because of my carelessness. If I really accuse Cold Candle without proof, the others will really looked down on me. They will say that I can''t accept any lose and blindly scapegoat the one who support me. This will only harm me." After some thought, Auron got rid of the plan. Auron suddenly felt very tired. He looked up to the sky, then a stream of tears can be seen washing through his face. The more he thought about all of this, the more he felt regret. All of his hard work for 10 years. All of his effort to build the guild. All of his effort to reach the peak. All of his life. If he didn''t accept this bet before, If he listened to his best friend, All of this will not happen. He will not lose his character. He will not lose a guild he build with his best friend. All of this is gone. Silently, Auron logged his character out. Cold Candle and Auron''s guild member shocked because Auron just logged of without saying anything. However, they somewhat know what his guild leader feel and they will also do the same if they was in Auron''s place. They started to dispersed and go back to their routine. Some of them even logged off too. Cold Candle stood still in the arena smiled. All of her plan worked, now she just need to wait for the reward to be reaped. However, she suddenly shocked. --------------------------------------------------- Auron''s Room Auron opened his eyes. He was inside a game capsule. He very lost in thought. He couldn''t think straight. He blamed himself. He blamed his stupidity. He just wanted to run away from reality. He thought he started to get crazy. He closed his eyes again and opened the game settings. He looked at his character. [God Of Sword] Level: 500 (maximum level) Class: Swordsman Ranked: 2 Attributes: .... Skills: .... Equipment: .... Auron looked at his character with teary eyes. He move his hand and press a button. [Are you sure want to permanently delete your character?] "Yes" [Warning!!! All of your equipment and item will also be permanently deleted. Please enter your character''s name to confirm!] Auron not moving. He stood still lost in thought. A few seconds later, he gritted his teeth and started to make a move. "God Of Sword" Auron then pressed confirm button. [Your character has been sucessfully deleted. Do you want to make a new character?] "No" Auron opened his eyes. He then exited the game capsule and lied on his bed. "I''m done" Auron still couldn''t believe of what he had been throught today. It felt like a dream. Feeling very tired, Auron started to close his eyes and slowly his consciousness went in to dreamland. --------------------------------------------------- [Your guild leader has gone. As the vice guild leader, you will become the new guild leader. Congratulations!] "Damn guild leader, He already deleted his character without sparing his equipment and items. Such pity, I can''t get his sword." Cold Candle silently cursed Auron. "Well, forget it, I can move my plan to the next step." The other guild member also received same news and the guild went uproar. The news of Auron deleted his character started to spread like a wildfire. Many player looked at the player''s ranking and they couldn''t found God Of Sword in the ranking. "He really deleted his character this quick?" This question was what inthe mind of other''s player. This huge news actually make the event before become more bigger. It was like pouring oil to a flame. Many high leveled player confirm that their ranked went up by 1. They felt excited as well as pity. They pity Auron. Such a high skilled player has gone in one day. Many high leveled guild started to call Auron. They tried to befriending him and encourage him to play again. Of course, all of them ask Auron to play for their guild. They started to make a list of benefit they could offer to Auron. Some of them offered an important position in the guild. Some of them used money to enticed Auron. There was even a guild offered guild leader position as long as Auron willingly to marry his daughter. They keep calling Auron but the call was not picked up. They tried over and over again. There was some guild tried to contact Auron''s friend to make them persuade Auron to join their guild. However, Auron, source of all of this event, didn''t aware at all since he has already entering deep slumber and went into dreamland Chapter 9 Misfortune 1 At around 8 am next morning. Auron woke up from his sleep. A trace of tears could be seen in his cheek. He sat up on his bed and sighed, "I wish yesterday was a dream". He got up from his bed and grab his phone on the table. When he checked his phone, he was surprised. There were so many missed calls and message on his phone. He scanned through his phone. He realized almost 40% of the calls and message were from his best friend, Roan. He felt sad and warm. He looked at the last message Roan sent, "I am coming over to your place right now". It was sent an hour ago. "Ding.. Dong..." Suddenly, there''s a bell ringing. Auron went downstairs and opened the door. It was fatty Roan. "Good morning bro, I am bringing you some breakfast," Roan smiled widely and lifted a bag of plastic containing food. "Good morning Roan, I just get up from sleep. Come in," Auron replied flatly. "Whoa... such a lazy bum, go get ready. I will prepared the food." Roan commanded Auron. Auron felt akward. He couldn''t face Roan. Their hard work, their guild, is now gone. Auron could only followed what Roan wanted. So, he dejectedly went upstairs to take a bath. 15 minutes later, Auron went to dining room. In the dining room, he found Roan sat nicely waiting for him. In front of him, there were so many food prepared by Roan. "Whoa... Bro, you bring so many food, Both of us can''t finish all of this, We can died from eating this many food." Auron tried to cheer up the situation but sadness could be seen on his face. "Don''t worry bro, can you see my body? Also if we really can''t finish this food you can just save it for lunch. Come on let us eat." Roan replied. Auron sat down and both of them went to eat. The atmosphere were very quiet. Only sound of chopstick could be heard. It was an awkwardly atmosphere. "Bro..." Suddenly, Roan said. Before Roan could finish what he want to say, Auron intercepted in the middle and said, "Let us finish our eating first". The atmosphere went quiet once more. After they finished eating they sat on a sofa. "I am sorry Roan, I am not listening to your advice and now everything is gone." Auron apologized. Roan started to feel sad, "Forget it bro, as long as you are okay, I don''t care about the guild. Let''s start over again, I will help you to leveled up and we will get our revenge." "Sorry, but I don''t want to play anymore. I feel tired." Auron dejectedly said. "What bro, then what will happen to me? What should I do?" Roan tried to persuade Auron. "I am really sorry Roan, but..." Before Auron could finished his word, a sound of bell was heard. Auron went to get the door. When he opened the door, a group of black suited man with a black glasses stand outside of the door. One of them said threatenly, "We are here just to inform you, since you have broke out contract agreement, we have already confiscated all of your asset including your bank''s account and it still not enough, you still owe us five hundred thousand dollars". Then he continued, "If you can''t pay it in 3 days, we will have to take you to the court to finish all of this." These men were the representative of Heaven''s sponsor. Since, Heaven, was disband, they have tried to contact Cold Candle as the new guild leader to ask about their sponsorship agreement''s penalty. Unfortunately, Cold Candle as the new guild leader decline to accept the penalty and blame Auron, "Our previous guild leader has left us without saying anything, He also the one who signed the contract using his name. So, you can look for him. All of this is not related to us. Good bye, I still have many matter at my hand". That was the reason how this situation could happen. When he signed the contract he really couldn''t imagine all of this will happen, that was why he felt secured when he signed a very long term contract under his name. Even with all of Auron''s wealth, as the number 1 player and guild leader of number 1 guild, he collected before, the contract''s penalty enough to make him go down being poor again. "You don''t have to wait for 3 days, I will pay the rest today!" Roan heard and had already guessed why all of this happen. He picked up his phone and started to transfer his money. "Done. Come see this." Roan showed his phone to the representative. "Well then, thank you. Hope we can still maintain our relationship" The black suited man from before said and he left followed by other representative. Auron looked at Roan, "Thank you, I will pay all of this to you later." "We are brothers. Although all of my money is gone, we are still brothers." Roan smiled and pat on Auron''s shoulder. "No, I will pay to you later" Auron felt warm, he felt grateful to Roan. He suddenly remembered, "Roan, I didn''t see representative from your father''s company. I also breach your father''s company contract and should pay up for the penalty." Not long after he said that, Auron''s phone was ringing. Auron picked up his phone and see it was a call from Roan''s father. "It comes" Auron thought. "Calm down, if he try to make you pay, I will throw tantrum to him. He pampered me so much, he will make way for you." Roan tried to calmed Auron down. Auron gritted his teeth and answered the phone, "Uncle..." "I am sorry Auron. I am here to tell you about our sponsorship agreement. I have tried very hard for you to not pay this penalty. However, the board of directors pressured me so hard. I can only help you by pending your due date. The board of directors agreed you need to pay one billion dollars at the latest ten years from now. I am really sorry Auron, this is all what I can do" Chapter 10 Misfortune 2 Right now, Auron and Roan are childhood friend as well as a very best friend. However, before long, Auron''s father and Roan''s father were actually also a best friend. Auron''s father always help Roan''s father no matter what happen. This made Roan''s father very grateful and promised to repay all of this one day. When Auron was 7 years old, Auron''s parent went to go to a business trip. Since Auron still need to go to school, Auron''s parent left Auron to Roan''s family. Unfortunately, when Auron''s parent went back from the business trip, the plane they used, crashed and all of the passenger were dead. After this event, Roan''s father adopted Auron and treated him as if Auron was his own child. When Auron and Roan started to make a guild and in need of sponsorship. Roan''s father was the first one to jump in. With his company he started invested in Heaven. So, it could be said that Roan''s father''s company was the first sponsor to Heaven. When Heaven started to rising up, income started to come, because Auron didn''t want to become a burden to Roan''s family, he decided to leave Roan''s house and rented a house. Roan''s father could only reluctantly agreed to Auron''s request. Although Auron had move out, Roan and his family still frequently come to Auron''s place to eat together. At the beginning, Roan''s father''s company was only a small sized company. When Heaven started to get famous, Roan''s father''s company also expanding. From a small sized company to a medium sized company, and now, Roan''s father''s company was one of the top ten largest company in Asia. Because of this fact and history with Auron, Roan''s father successfully persuade the board of directors to make some leniency to Auron. They agreed to postponed the due date to ten years later. "It is okay uncle. It really helps me a lot." Auron thanked Roan''s father. "If you need my help, just tell me. Why don''t you come back and live with us again?"Roan''s father asked. "I will think about it. Thank you so much for your help." Auron replied. Auron hung up the phone call and sighed. "Who''s calling?" Roan asked. "It is your dad. He''s calling to talk about the penalty from his company." Auron told Roan, his conversation with Roan''s father. "What?! It still insane to collect that much money in ten years. I am going to talk to my dad. He''s the owner, he should do something" Roan started to get angered. "It is okay Roan, don''t make things difficult for your father. You don''t know how complicated a company''s politics can be. This is more than enough." Auron calmed Roan. "I will look for a way to make it somehow." "By the way bro, how can you lost to Raging Bull. He must has cheated right? I knew it, there was something fishy with the bet." Roan asked. "Yeah, I can''t imagine Raging Bull can persuade Cold Candle to do such thing. He..." Auron told everything he knows to Roan. "That b****" Cursed Roan. "How dare she does something like that. I will help you brother, we will our some revenge back." "Why don''t you play again brother. We can revenge Raging Bull and Cold Candle. Oh yeah, don''t you remember, there''s also the reward from completing the game. With this we can get revenge as well as pay your debt." Roan persuaded Auron once more. On the first day of Two Worlds launching, Black Sheep declared that their income from this game will be separated. 90% will be used for the company fund, and 10% will be keep as a reward for whoever completing this game. Although 10% seems small, over ten years, the accumulation couldn''t be considered small. Moreover, right now, 95% of the population played this game. Over ten years, the reward money already more than five billion dollars. Based on what Black Sheep told, there were two ways of game completion. First, Gaia successfully defeated and ruled over Regalia. Regalia''s supreme ruler must be killed to achieve this. The reward will be distributed to the player based on their contribution on defeating Regalia. Second, Regalia defeated Gaia and Gaia''s supreme ruler was killed. If the latter happened, then the reward money will be gifted to the company. This declaration attracted interest from many people. However, there were also some people who doubt the company fairness, after all, the company could get the reward for themselves. Knowing this, Black Sheep declared that there was a hidden feature that could help players to defeat this game and it was true. Until now, there was no player had found it. In the fifth years since Two Worlds launched, there was a moment where Gaia successfully pushed Regalia to its last base. Because of this, the player''s greed started to grow they reduced their participation and waited for the last moment to killed the supreme ruler. There was even some player who killed other player to fight over contribution. This made Gaia in chaos. Using this opportunity, Regalia united their power and successfully pushed back Gaia to equilibrium. Based on this incident, many people started to believe the company''s fairness and many more people started to play this game. After that incident, the NPC''s intelligence could be seen. The Regalia''s supreme ruler started to make changes. They solidify their foundation and started to adopt dictatorship. By changing to dictatorship, they became united. All of the player''s tactics used before was analyzed by the NPC and they prevented it to happen again. That''s why after that incident it really hard for Gaia to pushed Regalia again. "Can you see it just a lie to make the game more attractive? Don''t you see the new update? The NPC''s level will be adjusted. At first, I thought, we can overpowered them by level, but I think it can''t be done." Auron pessimistically said. "But, there still the hidden feature. We can do this." Roan was still trying to persuade Auron. "It has been 10 years and there is no one who found it. Even there is no a little clue pointing to the hidden feature. I believe it was just another lie the company make to assured us." Auron said. "Forget it, Roan. Right now, I need some time alone." "Bu... but..." Roan sighed, "Okay bro, I will not giving up. In the mean time, just think about all of this. See you bro, if you need my help just tell me." "I will think about it later. Thank you for coming, Roan" Auron smiled weakly. Chapter 11 Surprised Over the past three days, Roan keep coming to Auron''s place to persuade and accompany Auron. And, Auron always declined Roan''s persuasion by saying "I will think about it later". However, Roan still not giving up, he kept telling Auron how big the reward was, How they could get their revenge, etc. Roan even gave Auron some called at night. One hour before the update begun, "Okay, okay, I will played again after the game updated." Auron finally giving up, "Please stop saying the same thing over and over again, I will have a nightmare. Be safe on your way back." Auron said to the leaving Roan. "Really? Don''t you lie to me, I will wait for you after the update. I have a big surprise for you. See you later brother" Roan said excitedly. "Hah." Auron sighed, "I am really grateful to have such a caring brother." Auron felt warm and thankful for the past three days, he wasn''t lonely. When he was stressing thinking about all of his debt, Roan called and cheered him up. "Without Roan, I might have suicide." Auron thought, "Well, there''s still one hour before the game updated, I might just make a new character." Auron started to move into his room. He sat on his bed and thinking what class he will make. Should he play over a new class or should he choose his class before, swordsman. "Well, I will just make swordsman since I am very familiar with this class." Auron decided. He started to move into the game capsule and entered into the game. [Welcome player, it looks like you don''t have a character yet. Want to make a new character?] "Yes" Auron choose. Then, Auron warped into a circular space. In the middle of the space there was a girl with bunny''s ear sitting on a strange machine. This was Aurelia. She was NPC assigned for player. She helped the player in character creation and some basic control for the game. Even if you deleted your character, you still will meet her when you create a new character. Auron walked to the middle of the space to meet Aurelia. "Hey Aurelia." Auron greet her. "Oh hey Auron, you want to make a new character right? Do you want to start over from questionnaires or you have chosen your class?" Aurelia asked. There are six class in Two Worlds, Swordsman, a melee class with all around characteristic. Mage, a magic class using spell and curse as it''s attack. Cleric, the healer class, it is usually act as support. Archer, a ranged class using bow as their weapon. And the last was Thief, a melee class with inclination to it''s speed and stealth. Every time a player wanted to create a new character, they could took a questionnaires. They will answer some question listed from the game. From their answer, the game will give a class recommendation to them whether they took it or not, it was left to the player. When Auron made a character for the first time, he used this questionnaires. He was recommended to take swordsman and he took it. Along his journey, sometimes, he felt jealous to other class. He wanted to attack from ranged like archer. He wanted to have heal skill to reduce his spending for healing potion. He wanted to use curse magic. But, in the end, he still played his chosen class up until to becoming the number one player in Two Worlds. However, this time, Auron had made up his mind to choose swordsman. He only played because of Roan''s persistence. Because of this, he didn''t want to take it seriously and only played to farm for money to pay his debt. So, he choose the class he knows best, swordsman. If he choose another class, then he need to learn over again and it will wasting his time. "No need, I will choose swordsman as my class." Auron replied Aurelia. "Okay. Then, what is your character''s name?" Aurelia asked another question. Auron pondered for a minute, "Should I use my previous name?". "No. Let bygones be bygones." Auron decided. "Sword of Life will be my character''s name". "Sword of Life", inputted the information Auron provided. "Do you want to enter training camp and learn the basic again?" "No, skip it over." Auron answered. "Okay, I will now create the character" Aurelia started to type and clicking on his computer. In Two Worlds, player''s character''s appearance will be the same as the player. They couldn''t change any feature of their body and face. So, if they were ugly in their real life, their character will also take the same characteristic. Because of that, many ugly people, who feel not confidence, will use cloak to hide their appearance. What player could do was to choose whether they will got rid of their body scar, if they had any. Two Worlds only made some exception for disabled person. They could designed their part of body which was maimed or missing. Although Auron was not a handsome man, but he was also not bad. "Hmm..." Aurelia mumbled. "Congratulations Auron, you met all requirement to received a hidden present". "Huh..." Auron felt confused and surprised. "What requirement?" "There were several requirement need to be fulfilled. First, there is only one chance to get this present, so you must be the first one to get this. And, you are the first one to met the requirement. Second, you need to permanently delete your character and start over again. Third, The deleted character need to be maxed leveled. And the last was your deleted character need to be ranked in the top 3." Aurelia explained. "You met all the requirement. You are so lucky, if you made your character after the update you will not get any of this since the maxed level is raised." "However, since your character previously only ranked 2, the prized level will be lowered," Aurelia felt pity. "Don''t worry the prized still unique. It will only get reduced effect." "You can checked it when you enter the game. I will putted it in your inventory. Be ready to enter the game in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." Aurelia didn''t care about the shocked Auron and continued to transfer Auron into the game. Surprised and confused could be seen on Auron''s face, but he could not care about it since suddenly his vision turned black. Chapter 12 Awesome When Auron''s vision turned bright once more, he was inside an inn. This was the standard''s procedure. When a player started the game, they will be teleported to one of the room in Beauty Rest. This was the biggest inn in Miderian, Gaia''s one and only kingdom where the supreme ruler was resided. This inn was ran by the royal family, so no one dared to mess in this place. Auron blinked his eyes. The he directly opened his inventory, to check the reward. Each starting player will got a beginner''s dagger and beginner''s clothes in their inventory. However, surprisingly, in Auron''s inventory there was a third item. It looked like a doll. [Mighty Clone] (Legendary item) Type: Miscellaneous Class: All Class Effect: The user can create a permanent clone. This clone will be treated the same as a player and linked to the user''s character. The user can only control one character at a time. When a user control a character, the other character will be controlled by the system based on the user command''s setting. There are... There was a long description about the item''s effect. As Auron read the description, he grinned more and more excitedly. From what Auron''s read, there were some weakness of this item, but compared to the advantage, overall, it was an awesome item. Based on what he read, Auron conclude the following: - User could only control one character at a time, the other character will be controlled by the system. - The cloned character and main character will be treated as a different player - The clone will have the same level as the main character. - Clone could choose the different class as the main character. - Clone and the user will share the same experience pool, attribute, inventory bag, and skill pool. - The user needed four times more experience point to level up. - Each time leveled up the user will got doubled attribute point, which was ten attribute point. - Clone will have its own equipment and can only use equipment available for its class. - When the main character died, the player level will got reduced by two level which was double than other player''s penalty. - When the clone character died, it will be forever gone. Its equipped equipment will be permanently gone. The user will keep all its existing attributes and skills. The experience needed will be the same but the attribute and penalty the player get will be reverted to normal. - When the main character logged out, then the cloned will be treated as a logged out character. "So, basically, My clone and I will be treated as a different entity. But, we will share the same attributes, skills and inventory. Although, I need four times more experience, I will get double attribute point. It is worth the effort." Auron thought. "The penalty for dead was pretty harsh, when I died, the penalty will be doubled. It is normal considering the advantage I get. However, when my clone die, almost all of this item effect will be gone. Although I still retain the skill and attribute, but when the clone die it can''t grow anymore. I need to be careful, so I don''t die on early level." "The sooner I use this item the better. Although I need longer time to level up, but my growth will be double than others. Fortunately, My clone and I share the same experience pool, this can reduced my burden" "Hold on, this is just the second ranked prize, won''t the first ranked prize will be more awesome." Auron suddenly thought. What Auron thought was correct, although the different between the items were only in the growth speed of the character. The first ranked prize, when used, the user, will need three times more experience point to get triple attribute point. All others effect will be the same as the second ranked prize. "Forget it, I need to be grateful for getting this item. I think I really need to thank Raging Bull and Cold Candle for doing this. If I didn''t do the betting, I don''t think I am willing to delete my character. Oh, I also need to thank for Roan''s persevering persuasion." Auron smiled, "Let''s use this item". Auron used the item on his inventory. [You have used Mighty Clone (Legendary item)] [Clone will be created, please adjust the clone appearance!] "Wow, I could adjust its appearance, I though it will used the same appearance as mine. It is better this way, I don''t need to make my character hide behind the cloak." Auron started to adjust the clone appearance. He designed the clone to make it very different than Auron and more handsome than him. The clone''s body was slim with a little bit of muscle, His face was made handsome, his skin was white and very smooth. If others see the clone they will not relate it to Auron, instead they will think if it was some artist playing the game. After satisfied with the clone''s appearance, Auron continued. [Please select the clone''s class!] "What class should I choose?" Auron thought hard. "What swordsman lacked was ranged attack, I think I will choose one of the ranged class." "Hunter is not compatible, since to use the hunter skill, I need to use bow and arrow. So, it will be between cleric and mage." After thinking so hard, Auron decided, "I think I will choose mage, although cleric heal is pretty good, with my footwork I can dodged most attack. It is better to defeat the opponent quickly and mage with many magic spell and curse can compliment my swordsman class." "I choose mage" [Please enter clone''s name!] "Smiling Wizard" [Clone creation is in progress! Please wait for a moment] Suddenly, beside Auron, A light shone and a character emerged. A handsome male with red robe and slightly taller than Auron. This was Smiling Wizard. If others saw him, they wouldn''t think that the handsome male in front of them was just a clone character. "Wow, you are so handsome, if I was a girl, I will fall in love with you." Auron praised the clone appearance. [Please choose the system''s setting for controlling the clone] Chapter 13 Stay Low [Please choose the system''s setting for controlling the clone] A screen appear in front of Auron. There were three choices written in the screen, free, moderate, and strict, with some description below it. Free, system will control the character just like any other NPC, it will freely acted and made decision according to the situation based on system''s judgement. Moderate, system will freely acted and made decision for small matter and will notify the player to make judgement for larger matter for example, matter that could affect the player''s fate, affect the kingdom, etc. Strict, player will be notified for every decision need to be made. There was also a note at the bottom of the screen, "Player can also command the system to do specific things for example, hunting, making potion, standing still, etc. This way, player can restrict controlled character''s movement and prevent it from doing something unwanted." "Hmm... although the system''s AI level is high, I can''t feel safe if I don''t know what other character doing." Auron thought, "I think it will be better if I choose moderate". After choosing moderate, the system started to work, Smiling Wizard smilingly said, "Hey, main body, how do you do." Auron replied, "How do you do". "Because I can also control him, it feels weird to do this conversation. It feels like talking to myself with different appearance," Auron thought. "With this clone, my future will be more promising as long as my clone and I don''t die" Auron pondered for a minute, "I need a plan to make this happen. All my enemy from before will surely try to hinder my progress especially Cold Candle and Raging Bull. I need to stay low." Auron said to his clone, "We need to stay low and pretend to not know each other. You should call me by my name and stay low. To be safe, you should go and enter the army. I believe at the army you chance of dying will be low since they have their own rules. Remember, stay low and don''t provoke anyone." "Roger that, Sword Of Life." Replied Smiling Wizard. "Oh, one more thing, try to befriend with your superior there. I think it will help us in the future. If you need to make a big decision you should contact me as soon as possible. For smaller things, you could make your own decision. Okay, let''s start" After briefing his clone, Auron walked to the door of the room. When he wanted to open the door, suddenly a system''s notification rang out. [In 5 minutes, Two Worlds will be undergoing update maintenance for approximately 24 hours. All players should find a safe place and log out. You can visit the forum for more details] "Oh well, we just get out of this building and separate our own ways." Auron looked back at Smiling Wizard. Auron and his clone started to get out of the room. When they was outside the inn, they went to separate ways as they don''t know each others. After walked a bit, Auron logged out the game. Auron opened the game capsule and walked out of his room smiling, "This is truly a blessing in disguise. I really need to thank Raging Bull and Cold Candle." However when he though about skills and equipment he needed to supply, he sighed, "It costs a lot to fulfill one character skills and equipment, but now I need to provide skills and equipment for two characters. Moreover, one of which is a mage." Mage class was very famous for it''s expenditure. Although mage''s equipment didn''t cost a lot, but mage''s skills really squeezed a lot of money. Mage had four element that they could raised, Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. Each element consist as many as other class'' skill. So, in short, if you wanted to raise all four element, then it was the same as you raised skills for four character. Of course, when you had a lot of skill you would be more superior than others. However, even the top ranked number 1 mage right now, had only raised two element and from the rumor goes around, after the update he would beginning to start the third one. For 10 years playing, he could only raised all skill from two elements to the highest level possible, king''s level, since legendary''s skill was like its name ''legend''. From all of this, you could imagine how hard it was to raise all four elements. That was why, many mage actually didn''t cared about the element they raised as long as they had a skill they needed they would automatically pull all effort to raise that skill. There was advantage and disadvantage by doing this. The advantages was they would had a lot of skill quickly and didn''t have to wait for all skill in specific element to be maxed. However, the disadvantages was they would have to spend money a lot more than focusing on one element. Moreover, when you focus on specific element you would get more familiar to all your skill from that element and could made more combination and chain skill. "Right now, I only have ten thousand dollars in me and no more savings. After deducting costs for living for three months, I only have a thousand dollars left. If it was converted to Two Worlds'' currency, I will only get 1 silver," Auron sighed more. "1 silver probably will be enough until I get level 10. I really need to look for a way to get more money and reduce my expenditure." There were three type of currency in Two Worlds, copper, silver and gold. 1 Gold equivalent to 100 silver. 1 silver equivalent to 100 copper. The current exchange rate when you want to convert real world money to Two Worlds'' money was 10 dollar for 1 copper. On the contrary, 1 copper coin only could be converted to 9 dollar since there was a ten percent tax in the exchange. "At first, I will buy all the basic skill for mage, then I will think about it afterwards" Auron thought of his plan. Chapter 14 Shameless After arranging all his though and satisfied with all of his plan, Auron started made some dinner. After dinner, he smilingly went to bed. The next morning, "Bang... Bang..." A loud knocking could be heard on Auron''s place door. "Auron... Auron... wake up quickly." Fatty Roan''s voice could be heard. Auron half wake got up from his bed and walked to the door. He opened the door and furiously said, "What!! Don''t you know it still early in the morning? What makes you act like this?" "Early my ass, It is almost 9 am right now. Quick you need to see this." Roan get into the house and quickly turned on the television and looked for specific channel. Since there was an update, there was no one could logged in. That was why, many television station used this chances to make some exclusive news about the update. Also some station even tried to make some exclusive interview with the top ranker or guild. On the television screen, Auron could see an announcement about what next will be showed by the station. "What''s next - 9 am - exclusive interview with Cold Candle and Raging Bull, former ranked number 1 guild and new ranked number 1 guild" This was what made Roan''s acted like before. "So, you wake me up early in the morning for me to see the interview?" Auron frowned. "I don''t care about what they will say in the interview." "Auron, why are you so stupid? If you want to take some revenge you should know what your enemy up to." Roan replied. "It is still early, I should hide my secret first. If you want to successfully deceive your enemy, you should successfully deceive your friend first." Auron thought. "Who says I want to take revenge? After long thinking and your persuasion, I will play the game to look for money to pay my debt. I don''t care about the revenge anymore. I will just play to pay my debt." Roan frowned and shrugged his shoulder, "Well then, just watch, after all you have awake" "Okay, fine" Auron acted helplessly. Auron and Roan started to watched the television. The interview had just began. It started with the host introducing Raging Bull and Cold Candle and he started to delve into the topic. "So, Heaven are disbanded now. What will you do afterward?" The host asked Cold Candle. Cold Candle wanted to say something but Raging Bull interrupted it, "Ha ha ha. That''s what you got for challenging me." Cold Candle frowned a little and quickly went smiling, "It is a pity, that we lose against some unruly barbarian. Afterwards, we have to keep our promise and disbanded. However, many of the old member actually can''t accept this and want some revenge. So, they talked to me and persuade me to make a new guild. At first, I also wanted to do what they wanted and tried to contact our guild leader." "Sadly, before I even can contact our guild leader, he had left without any message. He even delete his character without sparing his equipment. I can''t left my guild mate hanging. I told them what happen. Surprisingly, they nominate me as the new guild leader. Although, I still want our guild leader to lead us, but I can''t just refuse my guild mate''s opinion. So, I accept their offer" Cold Candle talked like she bring justice to her guild mate and made Auron the bad guy. "After the update we will made a guild ''New Heaven''. We will start from the bottom. I have contacted several of our sponsor before and had secured some contract. With the sponsor and our experience, I believe our guild will soar quickly. This is also the first time I made this announcement publicly. We will accept anyone as long as they passed our guild''s entrance test. Even for newcomer. I hope you guys don''t miss this opportunity." Cold Candle calmly advertised the new guild. "Ha ha ha. You can always come to us anytime. Just don''t become desperate after losing." Raging Bull loudly laughed. The host continued with several more question regarding the new guild and others matter. Cold Candle calmly answered all of the question asked. When there were some question relating to Auron, she didn''t forget to emphasis how disappointed she was and how bad Auron was. At the end, she would always said that they had already forgave Auron and New Heaven will always welcomed her former guild leader anytime. Near the end of the show, the hosts started to ask specifically about Auron, "Any of you have any news from God Of Swords?" "Nope, I think he was desperate right now. Poor him, but what could I say, it is the consequence from challenging me," Raging Bull proudly answer. "I have contact him several time, however there were no reply from him. Sadly, I can only give up and give him some time. I think he just need some time alone. I have tell his best friend, who was also one of the founder, about all of this. We just need to wait for his reply. Hopefully, he can get back up from the fall," Cold Candle answered. The host said, "At last, before we end this, any message for God Of Swords?" "Ha ha ha. Hey, mate I know you are desperate. Forgive me, If you play again contact me, I will help you level up" Raging Bull sarcastically said. "For our former guild leader, we will wait for you for comeback. Please contact us as soon as you play again. Oh yeah, don''t forget for all other player after the update we will start to recruit for our new guild." Cold Candle said sadly and didn''t forget to advertise the recruitment. "That''s all guys for the exclusive interview. Thank you for watching and keep watching for other amazing show on our channel. See you again" The host ended the interview. "How Shameless of them. They still pretended like enemy when they actually working together. Cold Candle even made a lie about contacting me," Auron furiously cursed. "Did she really contact you?" "That damn witch, after she disbanded the guild, she didn''t say anything to me and there is no news since then. I thought that everyone need time to processed all of this. If I don''t watch this interview, I will not know anything," Roan cursed more furiously. "Actually, even if I know about it, I don''t care, since I know what has she done to you." Chapter 15 Trading "So, what are you going to do right now?" Auron asked Roan. "I have some loyal friend from back when I was in the first branch. When they know, I will help you to start over again, they said that they want to help," Roan said. "However, all of us are merchant and there was no one who has maxed level. So, we think to do what we are strong at, trading. That''s why we are gonna make a trading company to support you." "Although we can''t help you because our level difference are too large. We can still support you by providing you some item," Roan smiled. In Two Worlds, a party could only hold ten persons and the level difference between the lowest leveled and the highest leveled player no more than ten level. So, if a person want to join a party, that player need to be at least ten level below the highest leveled player in the party or no more than ten level above the lowest leveled player in the party. Auron felt touched by what Roan planned to do. However, since he had to keep his secret, he somehow felt a little bit guilty for not telling his best friend this secret, but he just shook his mind and gritted his teeth, "Thank very much, bro." "Don''t need to think much of it. Oh right, I still have a gift for you but, I will keep it secret for now. You will know it tomorrow when we meet in the game." Roan smiled mysteriously. "How about you? what are you planning to do since you are not going on your revenge?" "Hmm..." Auron made a serious face and pretended to think deeply. "Since you are going to make a trading company, I think I will join your trading company. You know, a trading company, if it is successful, I can make money as easily as fish swimming in the water. Maybe, I can pay my debt quicker and lessen your dad''s burden." "You are right. However, you also know how hard it is to make a trading company. Moreover, it has been 10 years since the game opened." Roan wavered a bit. At first, he only wanted to make a trading company to support his brother, Auron. Then after Auron high leveled enough, Roan intended to persuade Auron to make a new guild with him and take revenge. Roan still can''t forgive Raging Bull and Cold Candle for doing such thing to his brother. After he know what his brother wanted to do, Roan started to feel nervous. He felt pessimistically toward the idea of making a serious trading company, but he didn''t want to dismiss Auron''s idea since he was afraid Auron would felt dejected and not played the game anymore. "Don''t worry brother, we can make it. You know how hard we make Heaven become ranked number 1 guild right, but at the end, we still manage to do it right?" Auron reassured Roan, "I believe we can do the same with trading company." "Yes, you are correct. I will encourage my friend to do a more thorough research about this. We will make our trading company become number 1 trading company in all Gaia Worlds. We will rule all over Gaia through trading." Roan started to feel spirited. "We need to make a serious plan about this." Roan thought deeply. "I will go back and talk this to my friends. For now, you just need to level a bit." Auron said, "Yeah, let us put it to the side first. Right now let''s look for lunch, I am very hungry." "Oh sorry, I forget you haven''t eat anything since morning. You go take a bath first I will wait and let us go eat somewhere nearby." Roan agreed. Auron went to take a bath. After 10 minutes, Auron and Roan started to leave for lunch. After lunch, Auron and Roan decided to separate and went back to home. "Let us meet up in the game later. Don''t forget to contact me." Roan waved his hand to say goodbye. After that, Auron went back to his place. He started to make his own detailed plan regarding his two character. "I will make smiling wizard entered the military and reap contribution point there. It will be safe for mage since they will only be placed behind." Auron thought, "For me, I think I will need to stay low in the trading company first. Hopefully, I don''t attracted my enemy''s attention." After dinner, Auron started to entered into his game capsule. When he tried to logged in, There''s a notification in the screen. [We will need to prolong the maintenance time until tomorrow at 6 am. Sorry for the inconvenience] Auron opened the game capsule and sighed, "What a pity. Well, it doesn''t matter to wait for another hours. I better researched up for the requirement to enter the military". Auron started to look the information from the official site and the forums. However, the official site didn''t give detailed specific information regarding this. They only told some general information such as the benefit and the military structure in Gaia. However, they didn''t mention anything regarding the requirement to enter except for the rules for the player only solely to serve the kingdom, which they couldn''t join any other organisation beside military, including guild, adventure''s guild, or even trading company. So, if a player wanted to join the military they had to abandon their organisation. The site mentioned that the player could know what the specific requirement by coming to the military booth in the central plaza of Miderian. Meanwhile, in the forum, there are many post regarding the military. However, most of them were only knowledge which had been stated in the site and the rest of it were speculation. Many wild speculation regarding this such as, only the swordsman class could enter the military or military was a place for male so a female could not enter the military. The most wild one stated you could only entered the military when you were level 1000 or in other words, a max leveled. After spending most of his time and not found anything useful, Auron decided to take a rest, so he can wake up early tomorrow. Before going to sleep, he looked up his message and there was a message from Roan that said how furious him for the prolonged maintenance. Auron replied the message saying to meet up after lunch since he had something to do in the morning. After replying Roan''s message, Auron fell asleep. Chapter 16 Recruitmen The next morning, Auron woke up at 5.30 am. After that, he took a bath and prepared for his breakfast. After eating his breakfast, he directly went into his game capsule. [Welcome to Two Worlds] A notification came as soon as he login into the game. He was outside the Beauty Rest. He directly set his character''s level and equipment to be hidden from other player. Then, he issued some command to the AI system controlling his clone. "System, walked Smiling Wizard to the city plaza and just stayed there until I controlled the character." Auron talked to the system through his mind. "I need to level up a bit before I looked for the military recruitment." Auron thought. Auron controlled Sword Of Life and went to outside of the city. On the outskirt of the city, he found some rabbit monster. [Crazy Bunny] (common monster) Level: 1 HP: 30/30 MP: 0/0 Skills: None Description: A common rabbit monster. Beware, it is crazy. This was a low level monster and suitable for the new player to grind. Auron moved closer to the rabbit and started to attack. He stab his dagger to the rabbit''s body. -3. A string of damage appear above the monster. The monster looked at Auron and started to retaliate. However, since this was a low level monster, for Auron it was an easy feat to dodge its attack. Auron dodged the monster''s attack and launched another attack. After around eleven hits the monster died. A blue light appeared from the monster corpse and directly went into Auron''s body. As soon as the blue light entered Auron''s body, his experience went up. In the ground, the monster corpse slowly faded until its gone and some item suddenly appear. [Rabbit''s Meat] (common item) Type: Miscellaneous Description: Inedible! Need to be processed before being eaten. Auron picked it up and continued his hunt. After killing 40 rabbit, a glowing yellow light could be seen from Auron body. He leveled up to level 2. "Whoa, others need only to kill 10 rabbits before leveling up to level 2 but I need to kill 40 rabbits." Auron started to realize how hard it was, "I thought four times experience will mean nothing. I guess I underestimate its difficulty." Auron continued his hunting process and continued to grind the rabbit. Two hours later, Auron reached level 5. "System, grind the nearby monster, if necessary, move to the higher leveled monster . I will switch to my clone." Auron issued another command to the system and switched into his clone. After that, it took 3 seconds before Auron switched into his clone. When Auron regained his vision, Auron looked around. He was already in the city''s plaza. The city''s plaza was a big place. There were many merchant''s stall selling various item. People bursting around in the city''s plaza visiting one stall to another. Occasionally, a group of city''s patrol guard could be seen patrolling the plaza and maintained safety. In the middle of the plaza, there was a big fountain of water. Beside the fountain, there were a crowd gathering on a stall near the fountain. This was the military''s recruitment stall. Usually, near the fountain was a restricted place for anyone to make a stall. However, since this was the military stall, they could build it and occupied a pretty large space beside the fountain. There were a line of people in front of a desk. These was the players wanted to register for the military. Behind the desk, four seated men could be seen recording and questioning the player and behind these four men a big burly men could be seen supervising these four men. After a long wait, Auron arrived at the desk. "Do you want to register into the army?" The man in front of Auron asked. "Yes. What are the requirements? Is there any restriction on the class?" Auron answered. "There are no restriction on the class as long as you fulfill the requirement. Show me your level!" The man replied. Auron show his level to the man and it was level 6. His main character was still grinding for monster and managed to successfully grinded enough monster to leveled up to level 6. After seeing Auron''s level, the man furrowed his brows and furiously shouted, "Do you think military was some joke? You need a minimum level of 100 to enter the lowest military camp! Go back again when you reached level 100." The man voice drew attention from nearby player and other examiner even the supervisor. Many player started to laugh with contempt seeing Auron''s level. "Ha ha ha, a baby want to go to war? how funny it is?" "Level 6? A new player? Why don''t you go to you mommy and asked some milk?" ... The others examiner also shocked and felt angry because of Auron''s doing. They only had onethough in their mind, "Do you think military was a place for children? What a joke!" Auron felt embarrassed and started to think how naive he was. However, he thought that this was not his faults since there was no information at all. "I know I was to naive to think a level 6 could enter the military. However, this is not my fault there is no information about it and they should not humiliated me because of this." Auron felt furious. He started to glared the laughing players and the examiner. His killing intent could be seen. However, for these player, a level 6 could not kill them so they were not afraid of Auron''s glare and continued to humiliated him. When one of the examiner want to dismiss him, the burly supervisor shouted, "Silent!" This burly supervisor started to emit a frightening aura. Although this man was just an NPC however, the aura was so frightening it made the surrounding become quiet. His aura even made one of the examiner felt nervous and started to sweat a lot. This burly supervisor looked at the glaring Auron and said, "What a fierce mage. Although mage always stayed at the back, there are many times when mage can''t get any protection from the melee and need to fight a close combat. Mage''s body are weak, you will just become a burden!" "I will prevent for that situation to happen. Even if that situation occur, I can guarantee that I will not become a burden!" Auron replied with high tone, his killing intent started to rising because of the humiliation. "What a confidence! I like it! There is still a way to enter the military before level 100" the man smilingly said. Chapter 17 Academy This man was Blood Axe, a prodigious military''s lieutenant. His talent was so high and he already become the military''s next rising star. In war zone, He always led his troops and charge into the middle of the enemy despite losing in quantity. He was so strong he almost wiped out half of the enemy by himself. Although, it seems amazing, many other military official and his friend regard his action are a suicide action. Because of this, he earned a title, crazy killing machine. His bravery were paid off, He gained a lot of contribution and even the king give him a weapon. His superior all regarded him as the rising star and believed soon he will become a great general. His value was so high that there was some people afraid of him taking their position. So, when there was a recruitment position opened, they suggested for Blood Axe to supervise the recruitment. By doing this, they could hinder Blood Axe from racking up his contribution and somehow buy some time for them to raise their contribution. Although, Blood Axe didn''t like this boring job, he didn''t want to defy orders. So, he carried it out. Who knows he met someone this interesting that piqued some of his interest. "Before level 100, there was only one way to enter military, which is through military academy." Blood Axe started to explain. "However, to enter the academy, you still need to get into level 10 and the application closed at 3 pm today. You still have 4 hours to level up 4 level and apply. The academy is located near the military camp beside Bloody Swamp." Blood Axe toss a badge to Auron, "Here, take this badge when you apply. Don''t forget to get to level 10 in 4 hours. Now, please go, there still many player need to be examined." Catching the badge, Auron stood up from his chair, nodded to Blood Axe and went away from the recruitment place. After went away for a little, he started to examined the badge and a quest notification appeared in front of him. [You are forced to accept a quest] [Blood Axe''s Acceptance Proof] Countdown: 3 hours 57 minutes 33 seconds Description: Bring this badge to the military''s academy before the countdown is up. Quest Clear Condition: Reach level 10 and apply to the academy before the countdown is up. Quest Clear Rewards: You will enlisted in the military''s academy Quest Failure Punishment: affinity with Blood Axe -50. Reputation in Gaia -10. "To gain 4 level in 4 hours is easy for ordinary player. But, for me, I need four times more experience than others. It will be challenging for me." Auron gritted his teeth and promised, "However, I will take this challenge and beat this." He looked a his experience bar, it was filled by 43%. He needs 57% more to reach level 7. Because the time was short, he didn''t dare to stay idle for too long. He need to hunt with both of his character. "I need to familiarize with mage spells and their way of hunting. I think it is pretty safe to leave the system control my main character. I will use this character to hunt" Auron decided. Before he went hunting, Auron needs to buy some of basic spells. Because his money was very limited, he exchanged his real money and get a silver from it. He spent some of it to buy 4 basic spells skills book for all element, [Fire Bolt], [Ice Bolt], [Earth Spike], and [Wind Bolt], two for each element. He spent the rest of his money to buy some basic potion. After that, He directly use all of the skills book he bought, and get the respective skill to level 1. He swiftly went to nearby hunting grounds near the city. After a while he arrived near a hill. This hill was the lair of goblin so many players called this [Goblin''s Hill]. In the hill, you could see many goblin wandering around. Afraid of alerting all of the goblin, Auron went to the outskirt of the hill and found a single goblin wandering alone. [Mace Goblin] (common monster) Level: 6 HP: 200/200 MP: 10/10 Skills: Heavy Strike Description: One of the goblin types. It is using mace as its weapon. Auron started to chant [Fire Bolt]. A progress bar shown in Auron''s vision. A red bar could be seen moved along the progress bar. From its moving speed, Auron calculated that it needs about 3 seconds, before the skills ready. After 3 seconds, A fire bolt started to emerged from his staff and hit the goblin. -15. "What! only 15? It supposed to be not this low. Am I doing it wrong?" Auron shocked and confused by the low damage. The goblin looked over to Auron and start to charge towards Auron. Auron took several step backs and started to chant another spell, [Ice Bolt]. However, to chant a spell Auron can''t move or his spell will be canceled. The goblin charge toward Auron, when it was close enough to Auron, it swing his mace. However, before the mace reached Auron, his [Ice Bolt] was ready. A bolt of ice emerged from his staff and hit the goblin. The goblin took the hit and flinched a bit but his mace continued moved closer to Auron. It finally hit Auron. -12. A damage appear above the goblin. -10. Auron got hit by the mace and his health reduced. However, compared to Auron''s full health, 200, it didn''t mean much. Auron frowned confusedly by the low damage, because the goblin closed enough to him he couldn''t chant his spell. So, he hit the goblin using his staff. -25. A damage higher than the spell''s damage appear above the goblin. "What?!" Auron confused because his staff damage apparently higher that the spell damage. Putting it to the side, Auron focused his mind to defeat this goblin first before searching for the answer. Auron moved swiftly dodged the incoming attack. He didn''t forget to launch a counter attacked. After several hit and dodged, the goblin died and give some item and experience to Auron. "What is wrong with my spell? Why my damage was so low?" Since this is his first time using a mage, Auron felt confused. "I didn''t know it was this hard to use a mage. Is there some sort of secret to know in using a mage?" Auron pondered seriously, he started to examine his equipment. He looked at his beginner''s staff and there was nothing strange with it. After a few minutes looking, Auron finally found the answer. "Oh damn! I forgot to raise my attribute point" Chapter 18 Attribute [Smiling Wizard] Level: 6 Exp: 61% Hp: 100 Mp: 50 Strength: 1 Agility: 1 Vitality: 1 Intelligence: 1 Dexterity: 1 Luck: 1 Attribute point: 50 Strength could increase melee weapon damage. Agility could increase movement speed as well as attack speed. Vitality increase a character''s health and its physical defense. Intelligence increase magic damage and character''s magical defense. Dexterity would increase ranged weapon damage and increase how well a character''s using his skill or magic spell. Lastly, luck would increase the chances of doing a critical attack whether it was physical attack or magic attack. Every time a character leveled up, they would got 5 attribute points to spend as they wished. Other than leveling up, they could used a buff potion to temporally increased their attribute or through quest reward to get an attribute book which could gave the user 1 bonus attribute point. However, to get a quest which rewarded an attribute book was very rare. It was like looking to find a needle in a haystack. Moreover, when they found one, it was still unknown whether they could finished the quest or not. Because of the [Mighty Clone], Auron got double attribute point than other player which was 10 points. However, because the incident in the military''s recruitment and how he rushed to leveled up to level 10, he forgot to allocated his attribute point. In the end, his magic damage was low because of his low intelligence attribute. "How should I allocated my point?" Auron pondered deeply. Previously, when he still played God Of Sword, he allocated his attribute to keep his strength agility ratio of 1:1. Occasionally, he increase his vitality and luck to keep up with his strength and agility. However, he never increase his intelligence at all. If he applied this allocation ration to his character now, it would kill his clone character. Well, he could still use staff and fighting in melee combat, but by doing this, it would reduce his clone character''s value. His magic spell would produced lower damage than his melee damage. That''s why, right now, he think deeply how to allocate his point so it would accommodate both of his character instead of ruining one of them. Finally, Auron make a decision, "I will allocated 2 in strength, 2 in agility, 2 in intelligence, 2 points in dexterity, and 1 point both in vitality and luck. This way, I will not ruin one of my character" Auron thinking the best way to accommodate both of his character was to keep all his important attribute in same ratio. Because Auron still loved his previous character build, he chooses strength and agility for his swordsman character and intelligence and dexterity for his mage character. Although dexterity not to important for melee character, since it only affected his control over skill, however for a magic user, dexterity will allow them to reduce their magic spell''s casting time. Auron decided to keep his strength, agility, intelligence, and dexterity attribute in 1:1:1:1 ratio. Auron started to allocate all of his attribute point using the ratio he has decided on. Then he looked over his character''s attribute once more. [Smiling Wizard] Level: 6 Exp: 63% Hp: 115 Mp: 80 Strength: 11 Agility: 11 Vitality: 6 Intelligence: 11 Dexterity: 11 Luck: 6 Attribute point: 0 After raising his attribute, his magic point almost the same as his health point. However, this was normal since he raise his intelligence twice from his vitality. Although, it was weird for melee class to have low health, it was still in an understandable range. In Auron previous character, his health also low compared other melee class, however he cover it using his movement speed and damage. Right now, he intended to do the same, since he was using the same class as before, swordsman, he could use the same strategy from before. Moreover, right now, he could use magic spells, though he still in the phase of learning on how to combine his swords and magic attack. "Now, I need to test this out." Auron started to looked another monster. Soon, he found another goblin. [Shield Goblin] (common monster) Level: 6 HP: 500/500 MP: 10/10 Skills: Shield Bash Description: One of the goblin types. It is using shield as its weapon. -113. A fire bolt hit the goblin. "Now, this is what I am talking about." Auron satisfied by the damage. He took a several step back and cast another spell. After repeat it for twice the goblin now left with less than 40% of its health. However, the goblin managed to approach Auron, its directly used his skill, shield bash. Auron dodged the shield and could only fight in close combat. After several hit, the goblin collapsed and dead. "Well, it is hard to use a mage. There are many restriction in using the spell. I can''t move or get hit when casting the spell." Auron realized the difficulty of casting a spell. "How can I utilize my speed when I can''t move. Should I raise my dexterity so I can instant cast my spell?" Auron soon put the idea out of his mind, "No, I can''t change the ratio or it will ruin my character. There must be some way to do moving casting." Auron had seen many high leveled mage could cast their spell while moving, there was even some mage who could double casting their spell. Of course, there were difference in the quality of the spell. There was some mage who could only chant a basic spell while moving. Others could chant a slightly higher spell while moving. From all of this, Auron conclude that there must be a way to do it and it could be learned and trained. "Should I use my spell more frequently?" Auron concluded that he lack the knowledge of mage. He needs to use his spell more frequently. Auron started to hunt more and more goblin. After killing more than dozens of goblin, Auron leveled up to level 7. "I still can''t get any idea how to cast while moving." Auron thought. Then, he looked at his quest. [Blood Axe''s Acceptance Proof] Countdown: 2 hours 43 minutes 53 seconds ... Auron gritted his teeth, "I need to increase my speed, let''s put the matter of casting while moving to the side. I need to get 3 level under 2 hours and 45 minutes." Chapter 19 Hunting 1 Auron raised his attribute then he signaled the system to bring his main character over. After a few moments later, Sword Of Life arrived at his location. "Let us party. I will go over and control that character. Meanwhile, you control this character and support me from behind." Auron commanded the AI system. After partying up, both of the character went to the inner region of goblin''s hill. In the inner region, one could see a pair of goblin walked around, there was even some goblin who patrolled in group of 3 or 4. If one not careful, when they hit one group of goblin, they could alerted the other group. And, if they could not finish them in time, more and more goblin will swarm over them until they all wiped out. Back then, this hunting ground was very popular. Many party come over here to hunt, even there was a time when the monster''s spawn rate could not keep up the killing rate of all the player. However, right now, there was no other player could be seen around. All of them were high leveled enough and busy trying to become the first one to get level 1000. This was why, in all surrounding of the goblin''s hill only Auron and his clone could be seen. When hunting in a party, all party''s member need to hunt close one to each other because, when a monster died, they will only give experience points to the party''s members who were in 30 meters radius from the monster''s corpse. The experience point will be divided up equally according to the number of player in the 30 meters radius. So, to say, when there was a monster died and gave a 100 experience point and there were 4 party member''s in the radius of 30 meters from the corpse, each player would get 25 experience point. However, if there was only two member then each player would get 50 experience point. Although it seems the player would get reduced experience point, the hunting speed will increased. So, in the end, the experience point a player would get almost the same as when they hunting alone, there was even a chance that the experience point they got would be higher than hunting alone. For Auron, this actually a benefit for him because when he and his clone share the same experience pool. That was why when a monster died, although by system, the experience was divided by two, actually the experience when to the same player. So, Auron still would get 100% experience point from the monster while his hunting speed became faster. "I need to look up for a place safe for my clone to cast a spell." Auron lead his clone to look for a cliff nearby. Then he finally saw, a place suitable for hunt. There were two high cliff and in between there was a small space enough for 5 people. In entry, could only fit for 2 goblins, at most 3 goblins at the same time. This would make it easier for Auron controlled the mobs and prevent the mobs moved closer to his clone. "You will attack from inside the space, and I will fight near the entry point. Attack the monster that I attacked." Auron told his clone. Although he could deal with 3 goblins at a time and cover his clone, he didn''t want to take a risk any risk and slow down his hunting speed. After all, what he need the most right now was speed. After settling his clone inside the space, Auron started to mob over a group of goblin over. A group of 3 goblin came over. Auron started to hit one of the goblin while dodging the incoming attack from the other goblin. Meanwhile, his clone safely cast a spell over and over to the goblin which Auron attacked. It was a pity that all the basic spell a mage could learn were only a single targeted spell. They could only learn an AOE spell when they had reach level 100. It could be seen that the hunting speed and experience gained faster than when hunting alone. When all of the goblin had died, Auron would quickly looked for another group and brought them to the cliff. Sometimes, there was a group of goblin got alerted and came over to the cliff on its own. Auron could not be bothered to pick up the item. He left all of it to his clone. When he gone out to look for another group of goblin, his clone would pick up the item scattered on the ground. When Auron brought over a group of goblin, his clone would go back to his position and support Auron from behind. The hunting efficiency increased, after almost 2 hours hunting, Auron already reached leveled 9 with 39% experience. Auron brought over a pair of goblins over. When there was one goblin left, a group of goblin could be seen coming over to his place. There was 6 goblins, with one goblin had body slightly bigger than the other goblin. Auron sped up his killing on the last goblin. After the last goblin died, he directly looked over to the coming group of goblins. [Goblin''s Leader] (common boss monster) Level: 13 HP: 3000/3000 MP: 300/300 Skills: Summon guards, Goblin''s Roar Description: Goblin''s Leader, it has 5 guards. It can summon guards. Beware of its roar. [Goblin Leader''s Guard] (common monster) Level: 10 HP: 1000/1000 MP: 100/100 Skills: Heavy Strength Description: Goblin Leader''s guard. Its sole purpose is to protect its leader. "A boss monster coming. Luckily, it is just goblin''s leader. I could defeat him." Before the group of goblin arrived at the cliff, Auron took the initiative and charged to the group. He attacked one of the guard. -60. The defense of the goblin was higher than any other goblin, so his damage was rather low. Moreover, he still used his beginner''s dagger. Auron dodged the attack from other goblin. -125. A wind bolt hit the goblin leader''s guard. The goblin flinched a bit, then continued to attack Sword Of Life. The duo continued to killed the goblin leader''s guard one by one while ignoring the boss. When the last guard had only a sliver of his health left, Auron stabbed his dagger to the guard. At the same time, the goblin''s leader also launched an attacked to Auron. -56. The last guard fell down and died. -100. The boss''s attack finally hit Auron. It reduced Auron''s health to under 20%. Quickly, Auron step back and took some health recovery potion. +50. Auron moved back to the cliff''s entrance. The boss chased Auron. When the boss arrived near the entrance, it stops then let out a roar. "Goblin''s Roar" Auron murmured. Chapter 20 Hunting 2 A boss monster would always had a minimum of two skills. They were a summoning skill and a roar skill. Just like its name, summoning skill would summon guard to protect them. The number of guard and the quality of guard depend on the boss grade. The other skill was a roar. A roar skill would reduced speed and strength of the nearby player and increased the attribute of his guards for an amount of time. The boss would used both of this skill randomly. The lower the grade of the boss, the lower the intelligence. So, it could be said that lower grade boss would used their skill very random. While the higher grade boss would use their skill based on the situation and they could even made a strategy using his guards. "Lucky me, all the guards has been dead" Auron felt relieved. After the boss used his roar skill, he started to charge toward Auron. Seeing the boss charge toward him, Auron took another health recovery potion, and prepared to dodge the incoming attack. The boss launched an attack to Auron. Although, his speed was reduced, Auron was a former ranked number 1 player. He could even dodge many high leveled player attack, let alone a lower grade boss monster. Auron dodged the attack smoothly. And launched a counter attack. -50. The boss defense was higher than his guard, so Auron damage got reduced more. -80. A spell hit the boss. Smiling Wizard not forget to support Auron from behind. He continuously, cast a spell after another. When his mana point was low, he would took mana recovery potion and cast another spell. When the boss'' health was slightly over 80%, he used his summoning skill. Five goblin leader''s guard emerged. Auron and his clone stopped attacking the boss and focusing on wiping out the guards. When the guards was wiped out, they would focused back on attacking the boss. This cycle continued over. When the boss'' health reached 50%, he used another roar skill. He, immediately, summon his guards. Auron and his clone would shifted their target to the guards. Because of the roar, it took a slightly longer time to finish the guards. However, the difference not too much. Auron''s experience point could also be seen rising up as he killed the guard over and over again. Right now, his experience point had surpassed 50%. "Maybe, after I killed this boss I will gain a level." Auron smiled at the thought of reaching level 10. When there was only 10% of the boss'' health left. It used his summoning skill and immediately, use his roar skill. Auron speed and strength reduced. However, there was a different situation compared to the other situation before. The guards got a buff because of the roar. Their speed and strength got buffed. "Damn it, I need to be more focused." Auron determined and became more focused. "What a pity, I haven''t buy any swordsman skill''s book." Auron gritted his teeth, while attacking and dodging all of the guards and the boss attacks. He could only rely on his clone to deal damage to the goblin. He successfully dodge all of the attack and sometimes launched a counter attack. However, a dangerous situation rise up when there was only two guards left. Because the guards got buffed up, Auron had to spent more energy to dodge the guards and the boss attacks. That was why his attack rate dropped a bit. -113. An earth spike hit the goblin leader''s guard who was their target. The goblin leader''s guard who got hit flinched and looked over to Smiling Wizard. Then, he charged toward Smiling Wizard. "Damn!" Auron chased along the goblin he desperately launched an attack. Smiling Wizard moved over and tried to run away. However, because the space was small, it was hard to maintain distance. -100. A damage float above Smiling Wizard''s head. Smiling Wizard moved back and took some health recovery potion, while Auron kept hitting the goblin and dodging the other goblin and boss attack. After two hit from Auron the goblin who chased Smiling Wizard died, Auron focused back to the boss and the last guards. Right now, they were inside the space, it was very small, so it gave more difficulties for Auron to dodge. Luckily, the debuff from the boss'' roar ended. He gain his speed and strength back, while the goblin leader''s guard became more weak. Auron and his clone started to bombarded the last guard with their attack. Soon, the last guard died. The duo directly bombarded the boss. Not long after that, the boss collapsed and died. A yellow light shown indicating Auron leveled up to level 10. He looked over his experience it was already filled for 5%. Suppressed his happiness, Auron looked over the boss'' loot. There was an equipment and a necklace [Leather''s Boots] (common grade equipment) Type: Shoes Requirement: 10 Strength, 5 Agility Class: Swordsman, Thief, Merchant, Mage, Cleric, Archer Defend: 13 Effect: no effect [Silver Necklace] (common grade equipment) Type: Accessories Requirement:5 Strength, 5 Agility Class: Swordsman, Thief, Merchant, Mage, Cleric, Archer Defend: 5 Intelligence +5 Effect: no effect "A pretty good loot" Auron could not contained his joy and smiled. He gave the necklace to Smiling Wizard and equipped the boots to Sword Of Life. The battle with the boss last for 30 minutes. Auron checked his quest. There was still around 15 minutes left to report for the quest. Then, Auron allocated his attribute points and switched over to Smiling Wizard. "I will need to report the quest. So, not to waste any time better for you to hunt on the safer zone near the city." Auron commanded the system. He was afraid that the system could not dodged like what he do, so he told the system to hunt on the safer zone instead in the goblin''s hill. Auron didn''t want to take any risk. He could not imagine when he arrived at the academy only to find his leveled went down by 2 because his character died. After giving command, Auron and Sword Of Life started went separate way. While he went to report the quest, Sword Of Life would hunting a lower leveled monster near the city. This way, he would not waste any time. Chapter 21 Humiliated After 5 minutes, Auron arrived in front of the military''s academy. He directly went to the inside. However, he was stopped by the guards in the front gate. "Stop! This is military''s area. Unauthorized personnel are not permitted." One of the guards shouted. "I want to apply to become a student in the academy." Auron replied. "The public registration has over a month ago. Right now, you can only apply when you have recommendation from one of the military''s higher up." The guards still didn''t permit Auron to enter. As the guard said, the public registration had over a month ago. Then, for a month after that, the academy opened up a special registration. In a public registration, with a minimum of level 10, the applicant needed to take a test. The test actually pretty hard for an ordinary level 10. After they passed the test, they could only be considered academy''s student. However, in the special registration, one only needed to get into the minimum level of 10 and got a recommendation proof from military''s personnel ranked lieutenant and above. Many of the noble children were accepted through this special registration. Although, their family needed to pay a huge amount of resource to the military''s personnel to get a recommendation proof, they still willing to pay. After all, each military''s personnel could only issued a recommendation proof for one person. So, if a family want to make application for his two children they needed to get proof from two different person. You could imagine how high a family needed to pay to get a proof. And, Auron got it for free, but none of the guard knew about this matter. Considering Auron''s level and equipment, the guards could only stopped him. They couldn''t think that Auron was from a noble family or had a rich family. After all, every applicant who used the special registration process had an average of level 150. Even the lowest was at level 80. Their equipment also sparkling. One could determined how expensive the equipment they wore just by seeing the appearance. Right now, the young man in front of him only had level 10 and the equipment was so ragged. Auron could see the guards'' frowned expression, but he could not bothered with it. After all, if Auron was in their stead, Auron would do the same as what they do right now. Auron calmly smiled and showed the proof. "Is this the recommendation proof you are referring to?" One of the guard take it from Auron''s hand and examined it. After he carefully examined it, this was really a genuine proof. However, he still could not believe someone like Auron could get this proof. He even showed it to the other guards and the other guard also shocked and couldn''t believe it either. However, because this proof is genuine, they could only comply as the rule. "This is really the proof. I am sorry for being rude. Here, take you proof back. You got under than 10 minutes left before the registration closed. You better hurried up" The guard handed over the proof back to Auron and apologized. "It is okay. You just doing you work." Auron could not be bothered by this little incident and smiled. He took the proof and went inside to register. Auron directly went to the registration place and successfully registered. A notification appeared in front of him. [Quest "Blood Axe''s Acceptance Proof" completed] "What a pity I don''t get any other reward except being accepted into the military''s academy." Auron thought. "Here is your academy''s rule book, read and memorize it. Tomorrow is your first day. In the morning gather up in the academy''s main hall." The receptionist began explaining about what Auron needed to know for his first day. "Go to the dormitory to get your room key." After the explanation, Auron went to the back of the academy towards the dormitory. Arriving in front of the dormitory, he could see an old man was sitting in the dormitory''s reception desk. The old man was so old that when he exhale his breath, he looks like exhaling his last breath. "New student?" An old voice could be heard. "Yes" Auron replied. The old man frowned, he examined Auron for a bit and shook his head. He took a key and give it to Auron. "Here is your key, you will have to share room with other student." Auron took the key. He thanked the old man and went to look for his room. Entering the room, he could see a large sized room with four beds in it. There were already three others student chatting inside. When Auron entered the room, the other student looked at Auron and frowned. "Hey, are you not come into the wrong room?" One of the student said to Auron. "Nope, this is the correct room number. So, where is the empty bed at?" Auron replied. The biggest student asked Auron, "Which noble family are you coming from? How rich is your family?" "I am not from any noble family and not from any rich family either. I am just an ordinary man. So, is that my bed?" Auron pointed at the emptied bed. Auron walked to the emptied bed and tried to lay on the bed. Before he could do it, the other student stopped him. "Get out! This is not your place!" Shouted the biggest student. Auron got shocked and frowned, "The old man gave this room key to me. So, this should be my place" Anger started to build up inside Auron. The other student started to take action to him. They took Auron''s room key and pushed Auron to the outside. Auron tried to resist. However, he could not do it since he was only leveled 10. Although he could not see the other student''s level because they hide it, Auron could feel that they were somewhere between level 90 to 100 and the biggest student was somewhere between 130 to 150. The other student pushed Auron to the outside easily. After Auron pushed to outside, they slammed and closed the door. Then, they locked it. "Look at your level. You are not worthy to be in a same room with us. Get back to your mommy!" A shout could be heard from the inside and a laughter followed. Auron felt humiliated Chapter 22 Roommate Angered boiled inside Auron. However, he took a long breath and blew it out, "Stay calm... Stay calm..." Auron gritted his teeth, he went back to the old man on the receptionist. Seeing Auron, the old man could only sighed as if he know that this will happened. Actually, the old man, same like the guards, very shocked to see Auron got into the academy through special registration process with such a low level and ragged equipment. However, he thought positively and gave a room key the same as other special registered student. "From the first time I see you, I am very shocked you could get into the academy through special way. Although your level are low and your equipment are ragged, I am still positively think you have a huge background. That was why I gave you the same room as the special registered student." The old man explained. "However, from think it could be seen that I am wrong. I don''t know how you can get into the academy using the special way. It is better for you to hide your level since many noble kid pampered by their family, they become a bully for the lower status student." "Here I give you a room key the same as public registered student. Hopefully, they would not bully you. With your appearance, they somehow could relate to you." The old man handed over another key to Auron. Auron could not refuted at the old man''s words. He also knew the matter of noble bully a lower status person. However, he could not imagined it was to this extent. He gritted his teeth and swore, "Wait until I high leveled enough, I will take my revenge on them." Auron went to his new room. Before entering, he hide his level. However, he could not do anything to his equipment. When Auron entered the room, a voice could be heard, "Wow, what a handsome roommate." "I could not believe he is a man." "If I am a woman, I surely will fall in love with him. What a pity, I am straight man." The room was small sized. With four bed inside, there was barely a space. Inside, there were three man sitting three bed each and one empty bed. When Auron entered, each of them commented on Auron. "Is that the empty bed?" Auron looked over to the empty bed. "Yes, that is your place." One of them answered. Auron went to his bed and sat on it. He could feel his roommate were friendly enough and tried to befriend each of them "Hi, I am Smiling Wizard. I am a mage." It was true that all of them were friendly. They started to introduce themselves. After their introduction, Auron felt they somehow bizarre. Feather Slice, a plump guy who loved to eat. His class was a thief. Deadly Tower, a short man who become an archer. And, Black Bull, a skinny man with glasses who become a merchant. Auron thought in his mind, "There was even a merchant in military. How could he pass the test?" Their class, and appearance could not related to each other. Auron could not help and asked. They started to explain their history and motivation to get into the military. "I was skinny back then. After I got into accident, I could not moved for a month. At that time, what I could do was only eating. After several days, I loved eating so much. When I realized, my body has already become this big. However, I could not stop eating because I loved it so much. My Father puts me into the military, hoping my eating habit could be reduced and I become normal like before" Feather Slice told his story while opening a snack he brought into the dorm. "For me, my dad was an archer and I am his only son. I idolized him so much. When I was still a kid, my parents died. My father always told his friend that his wish was for me to become the greatest archer better than him. After he died, one of his friend told me this and after that I decided to become archer. But who knows, when I reached my current height, I stopped growing. I can''t just abandon my father''s wish because of my height. This is also my reason to enter the army, to make my name spread wide." Deadly Tower followed. "I am from a merchant family. However, because I am the youngest and I don''t have any talent in trading, my family don''t have much hope in me. They focused on my brothers. It makes me sad. I decided to enter the army, since no merchant had ever entered the army. If I can dominate the army I believe I could put my family in regret. With my intellectual, I believe I can do it." Black Bull told Auron. "What was the test? How could you guys passed the test?" Auron confusedly asked. This was also one of Auron''s concern. "Didn''t you also take the test? Are you got through the special registration?" Feather Slice asked and could not believe Auron took the special way. Auron felt complicated and didn''t know how to explained. Finally, he told them how he got to meet Blood Axe and told them honestly about his level and how could he moved to this room. After the story, Black Bull patted Auron''s shoulder, "How lucky you are to get into the academy through that way" Deadly Tower sighed, "Everyone has their own luck." After knowing Auron''s story, the three of them feeling sympathetically for Auron. They began to tell Auron the test and how the passed. The test was to bring back a loot from a level 50 or above monster before the registration''s deadline. The loot had to be brought back through killing the monster and could not be bought. The examiner had a way to differentiate a loot brought back from killing or buying it. Feather Slice was actually very lucky, he saw another person fighting a level 55 monster. When the monster died and the person was going to take the loot, a boss monster appeared and attacked that person. That person could not help but run away, but the boss chased him. After the boss chased that person far enough, Feather Slice took the chance to get the loot and submit it to the examiner. Deadly Tower used his own strength, because he was short, he climbed a tree and snipped a boar type monster from above. He moved between trees and snipped the boar. After a hundred hits the boar finally died and he took the loot. Meanwhile, Black Bull was smart. He deceived one of his brothers into killing the monster. He mocked his brother saying that he could not kill the monster. In rage, his brother proved by killing the monster alone. Black Bull acted like he was very shocked. His brother looked at Black Bull disdainfully and left him with the corpse and loot of the monster. After his brother left, Black Bull easily took the loot and submitted it. When his brother knew he was being used, he flew into rage. However, Black Bull had long gone into the academy''s dormitory. Chapter 23 Friends Auron and his roommate continued to talk. After 2 hours talk, it was almost dinner time. In the dormitory, they only provide food for lunch. For breakfast and dinner they should look it for themselves. Their roommate invite him to have dinner together. Auron agreed to them. He had long realized that all of his roommate were NPC. So, when they asked Auron to go to have dinner with them, He directly logout from the game. Coming out from the game capsule, Auron thought, "If I want to catch up with the higher ranked player, I can''t waste any time to make food and dinner. I need to buy a nutrient solution." A person could attached a nutrient solution to their game capsule, by doing this they didn''t need to logout to have take breakfast, lunch, or dinner. A solution could fulfilled a person''s nutrient for 24 hours. This way, they could hunting almost 24 hours. After that, they needed to exchange the nutrient solution. Also, the more expensive the game capsule''s model, the more they could hold the nutrient solution. Auron''s game capsule was the most expensive game capsule and it could hold 10 nutrient solutions. Previously, Auron also using this way to become the ranked number 1 player. He commanded his guild almost 24 hours. Only one year ago, he started to not use this method again. He believed at Cold Candle way of doing things, so he could felt relieved when he was not online. But, who knows, that all of this would happen. "I only had enough money to last for the next 2 months. With one month expenditure, I could buy 10 nutrient solutions. If, in 10 days, I can''t make the same amount of money, I will go back to do things the slow way and it will hinder my progress." Auron thought He gritted his teeth and make decision, "I am a former ranked number 1 player. Before, I could easily make money that much. If I can do it once, then I can do it many times more." He went to check his phone, and there was a message from Roan asking why he still not contacted him yet. Auron just remembered that he had a promise with Roan. He replied that he would contact him after dinner. He also asked Roan to help him bought 10 nutrient solutions and he transferred the money to him. After eating his dinner, Auron directly login into the game. When he regained his vision, he was in the body of Smiling Wizard in the academy''s dormitory and his roommate were chattering about the dinner before. When a player logout or login, it will not affect the NPC''s behavior. It was as if the NPC''s memory tampered with fake memory. That was why, his roommate was talking with him as if he was eating dinner with them, when actually he was not. Auron directly went over to his main character and told the system to just made his clone stayed in his room. The first thing he did was opened up his character''s info. He saw that his experience had building up until 80%. He was short 20% from reaching level 11. Then, he went into the city and started to contact Roan. Since he know Roan character''s name, he directly message him. Not long after, Roan replied Auron''s message and named a place for them to meet. After confirming the meeting place, he went to the meeting place to meet Roan. After walking a few minutes, Auron arrived in front of a building at the most northeastern part of Miderian. A high building could be seen on his line of sight. On top of the building there was an image of a scale which was the symbol of the building. This building was trading guild''s headquarter. It was ran by the one of the prince. Its function was to supervise all of the trading company who run their business in all of Gaia. One who want to create a new trading company should submit their application at the headquarter. Then, the headquarter would evaluated their trading company requirement. If the managed to fulfill all the requirements, then they could start doing their business in Gaia. The trading guild also offered the trading companies some help by providing a low rate loan and if the trading company could reach certain level, they could rent some land in the business district of Miderian. Auron could see a big fat guy in front of the building waiting patiently. Beside him, there were 3 other guy. The fat guy was Meatball, Roan''s character. Auron quickly walked to them and over his greet. "Hey, bro!" Seeing Auron coming over, Roan hugged him and said, "Hey, bro! you finally arrived." "Ha ha ha. Finally, this day is come. Back then, you always bully me with your level. But now, I could defeat you with a blow from my mouth." Roan teasing Auron. Auron smiled, "Just you wait, I will catch you up and let us have some duel. By the way, would you introduce me to your friend?" "Oh yeah, This were all my friends from the first branch back then. This is Rejan" Roan pointed to a huge guy who hold a note on his hand. "This one is Red Pepper" Roan pointed to another guy who was almost as fat as him. "And last but not least, Jedi which also is his real name" Roan pointed to the last guy who use his real name as his character''s name. Except his name, what make this last guy more standing out was his appearance. He wear a glasses and has a skinny body which was very contrast to the other three guy. It look like all of his fat was absorbed and distributed by the other three. "Nice to meet you, Sword of Life" Rejan patted Auron''s shoulder. "Hey, former guild leader and former ranked number 1 swordsman, I never think I would meet you in a situation like this." Red Pepper said frankly. "Hmm... just as I predicted, you create swordsman character. Based on what I analyzed, you have 90% chance to create another swordsman character, other 6% you would create a mage character. 3% for creating an Archer character. As the rest, the chance are so small, that it will be considered as a miracle if you choose to create the other class." Jedi crossed his arm in front of his chest while observing Auron''s character. Chapter 24 Vow Back in the Heaven''s first branch guild, These four guys were the key people who were responsible for managing the main guild''s supply. Without them, the first branch could not keeping up with the main guild supply''s demand. At first, they didn''t know each other. However, because of continuous interaction within the guild they become very close and loyal to each other. Cold Candle''s knew these three and valued them highly. So, when she intended to create a new guild, she directly proposed them to maintain the guild supply. She promised many things to persuade them. They actually enticed by Cold Candle''s offer. At the end, they asked about would Roan also joining with them. Hearing their question, Cold Candle sighed and shook her head saying that Roan already rejected her offer. Hearing that, these three guys felt dejected. They want to accept the offer but they didn''t want if there was one of them missing. So, all of them postponed their answer. Then, they tried to persuade Roan to join them. When persuading Roan, they know the truth that Cold Candle actually never contact Roan and talked about joining them. Furious, they confronted Cold Candle and decline her offer. Then, they asked Roan about his future plan. At that time, Roan still didn''t know what he want to do. So, he just said that he would help Auron to create his new character. When hearing this, Jedi voiced his plan to create a trading company and it was all started from here that they continued to sharpen their plan. Although all of them were merchant class and their level were almost the same on to each other, in the first branch back then, all of them had different role in term of business. Roan was the head as well as the one who give the new idea. Rejan was the one who collect all information like collecting the price of all various product throughout all of Gaia, information about who was in need of specific material, etc. Red Pepper was the one who execute the plan, He was the one who negotiate to all the supplier for lower price and to high leveled business partner for higher price. While Jedi, was the one who analyze all of the information collected by Rejan and helped Roan and Red Pepper to make a decision. Their teamwork had been tested back then in the first branch and had already passed it. Seeing them, Auron could not help to think how wonderful to have these four guys. "Thank you for your help back then. And also thank you for helping me now" Auron bowed and thanked them. Feeling embarrassed, Roan quickly said, "What are you doing? This is just small matter. You are my brother so of course, I will help you." "Yeah, yeah, you are Meatball''s brother. So, you can be considered as our brothers as well." The other three quickly agreed with Roan. "Here is the skill book for swordsman My brother and I had collected through this morning." Feeling awkward, Roan quickly changed the subject and hand over a bunch of swordsman''s skill book to Auron. "For the nutrient solution, I have ordered 20 of it and it will arrived at tomorrow morning." Because of this, Auron felt touched by their actions and vowed in his heart that he will not let them down. Since he was in his path for his revenge, Auron quickly accepted all of this. "I will sure to pay it back to you guys." "Never mind of it, just level up quickly so we can play together" Roan replied. "Right now, we could only provided this for you. For the epic level and higher we have to wait until you are high leveled enough. Auron directly used all of the skill book provided by Roan and the others. All of his swordsman''s skill raised until level 30. After using it, Auron could not help but felt more touched, he even felt that a tear was welling up in his eyes. Auron calculated that to buy all of this using the current market price they would spend a huge amount of money. If it was converted into real life money, It was as huge as 5 years expenditure of a small company. In Two Worlds, when you had money you could just buy all of the skill books needed and use it directly. So, you could have a level 1 character with a high leveled skill as long as you could afford the skill book. Up until level 30, you could just buy the skill book. However, for level 31 and higher, you need to use the skill book''s hunting service. It already cost a lot to use the skill book''s hunting service and if you want to get level 31 and higher as a low leveled player, you need to spend more to hire a bodyguard service to keep you safe because the place where the skill book dropped was in high leveled area. Auron could deduced that Roan was the one who afford the money to buy all of this. He also believed that Roan already used all of his entire 10 years saving just for all of this. Auron looked warmly at Roan, "No, this is enough. This helps me a lot. With this I could hunt a lot faster." "You guys have sacrificed a lot. I will never forget about this and repay you guys when I am stronger." Auron vowed, "From now on, you guys are my brothers. If you want me to suicide, I will not think twice to do it." Roan and the others shocked by Auron sudden vow, they could not help to feel warm. Not waiting for each other, they directly vowed. "You guys are my brothers from now and forever...." "I vow, from now on, you guys are my brothers...." "I also vow, from now on, you guys are my brothers...." "I vow, we are brothers...." After vowing, they looked at each other and laughed out loud. They felt satisfied and warmed because of their actions. They smiled at each other and continued to laugh. If others people saw this, they would think that these guys found a jackpot or they just crazy. "So, now let us talk about our trading company and out future plans," Roan interjected their laughed. Chapter 25 Dragons Den "What do you think we should name our trading company?" Roan asked. "How about Secret?" Rejan suggested. "I suggest we should use Money Talk" Red Pepper suggested another name. "Why you guys suggest a childish name, we should use something like dragon or tiger to symbolize our power," Jedi shook his head. While fixing his glasses, he said, "Dragon''s Den, we are as strong as dragon" Roan nodded his head hearing Jedi suggestion. Auron also agreed with Jedi suggestion. Meanwhile, Rejan and Red Pepper felt embarrassed by their name suggestion. "Hence, from now on, our trading company will be Dragon''s Den," Roan declared. "Now, who should be our leader? I suggested Sword Of Life to become our leader" Jedi shook his head again, "No, I think it is better if you become our leader. If Sword Of Life become our leader right now, it will bring us harmed than benefit." "Don''t you remember there are many enemies of him? Even if not all of them will come seek revenge, there will be someone who will seek revenge." "Right now, we are still weak, we are only consist 5 people. Moreover, 4 of us are merchant and not a fighting class. Even one of Sword Of Life''s enemy can crush us easily." "I think it is better for him not to join us first and focus on raising his level. Meanwhile, we can just support him from outside. By doing this, we can show to the others that Sword Of Life just a mere customer to our trading company. It will solve a lot of our problem." After hearing Jedi''s explanation, Auron nodded, He was strongly agree with Jedi''s explanation. "Let us just do what Jedi has suggested. Just think of me as one of your customer." Roan felt conflicted, "Umm.... Well, if you all agree then let us do it that way." "Okay let''s do it that way" Rejan and Red Pepper agreed. They felt grateful for not voicing their opinion or else they would felt more embarrassed. They could never thought as deeply as what Jedi had thought. All of them walked inside into the building. They walked over to the receptionist desk. "Good evening, what could I do to help you?" The receptionist warmly greeted them. "We would like to create a trading company." Roan answered. "Please fill this form first." The receptionist handed over a sheet of paper to be filled. After filling all the question in the form, Roan handed back the form to the receptionist. "Okay, from now on you are temporary trading company. Here is your badge. It will record all information necessary for your trading company to passed the test and upgrade into the copper trading company." The receptionist handed over a badge to Roan. "Would you like to hear explanation about how trading company works?" The receptionist asked. "Although, we have seen how trading company works, our knowledge are still on the surface of it. Please explain it to us." Roan answered. After a long explanation, they had better knowledge regarding how trading company worked in Gaia. Trading company could be divided into 5 different rank, copper, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. To raise the rank, one need to fulfill certain requirement to promote. For example, to raise from a copper to bronze, they need to get an approval from a noble NPC. There was one trading company which was ranked platinum, Royal Trading Company, which was a trading company owned by one of the princess. Right now, the highest ranked player''s trading company was in gold rank. They said that to promote to platinum they need to get an approval from the supreme ruler of Gaia which made it very difficult because they never had any interaction with the ruler. With the new update, they hoped they could get an interaction with the king and got promoted to platinum rank. Creating a trading company was easy. One only needs a minimum of 2 members for applying to create a new trading company. However, they were still not an official trading company, but rather a temporary one. Although copper rank was the lowest, there was a lower one which was a temporary trading company. The could get rid of their status as temporary by passing the test which was making a 100 gold profit in 6 months. If they failed the test, they need to wait for another month for applying a new application. If they could passed the test they would be promoted into a copper rank trading company which was could be called the official trading company. Although, getting 100 gold profit seems easy, it was actually rather difficult. What counted towards the goal was only a profit from the result of trading with NPC. Whether it was a noble NPC or ordinary NPC. So, it could be said that the requirements for the profit to be counted were it had to be a trade and it should be trading with NPC. Outside from this, it would not be counted towards the goals. Another thing was, the one which was counted was the profit from the trade and not the selling price. For example, you had a product with a base price of 5 copper and you sold it to NPC for 10 copper. Only 5 copper will be counted since you only gained a 5 copper profit. After passing the test they could applied a promotion to copper rank. A different ranked trading company would get different treatment and benefit. A gold ranked could build their shop in Miderian and also got discount when buying a goods. This way, many trading company was racing to promote their trading company. However, it was easier said than done. The difficulty rise as they went up in the ranking. "A profit of 100 gold in 6 months. It was quite easy," Red Pepper said. The others except Auron agreed to what Red Pepper said. After all, when they was in the early days in first branch , 80% of their profit was by selling to the NPC or buying a goods in a village in low price and sell it in another village or town for higher price. Right now, with their knowledge and information also connection to several NPC, this goals was not a difficult one. "Yeah, Sword Of Life you should went hunting and wait for us to officially promote to copper rank" Roan said smilingly. At first he was surprised that there was a test to make an official trading company. However, after hearing what the test was about, he was relaxed. Chapter 26 Dark Mansion Auron felt confused. He thought 100 golds profit was very hard to achieve since, back then, he never done this before because the first branch always supplied it for him. However, after seeing his friends confidence he felt reassured. "Okay then, I will quickly leveled up" As what they had discussed before, everyone, except Auron, got a badge showing their identity as Dragon''s Den Trading Company''s member. Quickly, they went into discussion mode to determine which goods should they sold first. However, Auron could not get into the discussion since this was not his expertise. He could only forbade them a farewell and leave into another hunting. Auron walked outside of the city. However, this time, he didn''t went into the goblin''s hill, instead he went the opposite direction of goblin''s hill. After walking for a several minutes, he could see a big area surrounded by big hill around it which acted as natural fence enclosing that area. There was only one way to enter or exit that area which was through a ''small gap'' in the hill. Although it was said ''small gap'', actually the entry was like a small cave as big as an ordinary house. Inside the area, there was an abandoned village. With the silent of the night, the spooky aura could be felt when one step into the village. All the building inside the village had became ruin and there was no sign of living creature inside. It added more to the spookiness of this area. Auron walked inside the cave. There was several bat creature looming inside the cave. They aggressively attacked Auron. However, these bat creature are just a weak creature. They even weaker that ordinary goblin in goblin''s hill. So, with several attack, Auron could easily got rid of the bat. It not take too long before Auron arrived at the end of the cave. He could see the abandoned village. The chilling wind could be felt on his skin. The silent and darkness of the night added more eerie feeling. Not too far from him, he could see a moving object moved slowly around. [Zombie] (common monster) Level: 13 HP: 2000/2000 MP: 0/0 Skills: None Description: A dead creature. It is said it was raised from the dead. Although it is a bit durable, Its movement speed was slow. This place was Dark Mansion. In history book, it story start when a kind and rich noble looked for a place to build his mansion. After long search, he finally found this place and fell in love with this place because of the natural fence formed here. He build his mansion on the innermost of the area. Although he built a very large mansion, as big as 8 ordinary house combined into 1, the area surrounding it was still large. So, he gave some of the land to his subordinate and his maids. As time went by, the subordinate and maids built building around the area and it become more lively. Traveler and merchant often come around this place to make business and trade with the noble and the people here. One day, a merchant come and enchanted by the noble''s wife beauty. The merchant decided to live here, he told the noble about his desired to live in this place. However, the noble know the merchant''s intention, so he politely decline the merchant''s offer. The merchant felt offended and he hired many mercenary to attack this place and kidnap the noble''s wife. With the meticulous plan and the careless of the noble, the merchant successfully invaded the area and wreck havoc. However, noble still a noble, he got reinforcements from the kingdom and successfully defended the area and killed the merchant and all the mercenary. Sadly, his wife also died in the attack. After the incident, the noble getting sad and more sad each day. Until one day, who knows how, the noble got his hand on a black magic. He want to use the black magic to resurrect his wife. He sacrifice all the villager inside the area to see his wife again. At last, he finally saw his wife. However, it was only his wife body, inside of her body was a demon soul. The demon took over his wife body and killed the noble. The demon cast a cursed on this land and made this area as a land of undead. This was why, a zombie and undead could be seen walking through the area. The demon tried to conquer the surrounding area. However, he was failed because of the kingdom''s army. Since then, he made a pact with the supreme ruler that he will only operate in the inside of the hill and not step outside of it. Although it had spooky and sad history, this was a favorite hunting place back then. The reason was the unlimited undead and the slow movement speed undead. That way, it was easier to hunt these undead. Aside from that, this place was actively operated in night than in days. In night time, the undead spawn here was three times faster and it gave more experience point than in the day time. Beside that, back when Two Worlds launched, there are still many people not played Two Worlds fully and still took a job in real life. So, at day time they worked and when night came they started played. Since they played at night and this place gave more experience point when night, this place was very popular back then. With faster spawn rate, there was no worry they would run out of monster to kill. Right now, because there was no player hunting here anymore, Auron could see many undead monster walked around aimlessly here. If one looked from above, it looked like a swarm of ant filling all over the place until there was little space left. Auron quickly start his hunting session. He attack the nearby zombie with [Charge]. -250. A damage float above the zombie''s head. The zombie attacked started to look at Auron and tried to attack him. Not only that, other surrounding zombie attracted by the noise and they started to walk in the direction of the fight. Chapter 27 Undead 1 Auron quickly dodged the attack from the zombie. Relying on his speed, Auron moved around and calmly attacked the zombie. However, the longer the battle took, the other zombie had moved almost close to him that left him with more little space to dodge. When the first zombie he attacked died, a dozens of zombie had moved closed enough to attack him, followed by another dozens of zombie behind. It looked like a wave of zombie approached. Auron quickly used his [Whirlwind Slash], a swordsman''s skill which damage an area around the user. A series of damage float around Auron. But, he not just stood still. He quickly followed his attack with another AOE skill, [Twister]. Another series of damage float. After that he used another AOE skill. After several AOE skill, all the surrounding zombie died and a lot of blue light went to him. Although his intelligence was pretty high for a level 10 swordsman, After using the series of AOE skill his mana point depleted and empty. Auron not waited until the following zombie''s wave come close to him. He ignored the loot on the ground and quickly charged back to the village''s entrance. "Thanks to Roan giving me skill''s book, I could survive the zombie''s wave" Auron thought. Actually, Auron just wanted to test the water since he never hunting here with so many undead around and alone. He was startled by the fact that many zombies attracted by his fight first time. Luckily, he had all of his AOE''s skill. If not, he had to fight the zombie one by one and he was sure that he could not fight for long until the zombie swarmed upon him. He looked at his emptied mana and shook his head. "Luckily, I raise my intelligence status and it gives me more mana. If not, I am sure I can''t launched that series of AOE''s skills." Auron took mana potion from his inventory and use it. His emptied mana now restore for a bit. He used another mana potion until his mana point was back to full. He looked over at his experience point. It was raise to 8%. So, from that one waved he raise 3% of his experience. Although it seems small, in fact, it was pretty high since Auron needed four time more experience that others player. Auron sighed, "It only raised 3% of my experience. I emptied my mana pool and it only raised 3%. If I keep doing this way, who knows how many mana potion I needed to raised my level. It will cost me a lot." Right now, Auron don''t have many money and he could not afford to keep buying mana potion since he still had other things he needed to buy. Thinking to this point, Auron discarded the way of his fight before. "I need to move fight carefully. I think I will pull the zombie to the entrance and attacking it in front of the entrance. This way I can avoid being surrounded by the zombie and I can easily run away when I am in danger." Auron thought. Keeping his plan in mind, Auron started to pull the zombie to the entrance of the village. Although, there still many undead attracted, Auron could fight safely than before. He used his skill and sometimes he just killed the undead using his basic attack and dodging technique. This way, he could save more potion. After seeing the zombie seems thin out, Auron carefully moved from the entrance to deeper inside. When moving, he always keeping in his mind that he had to be carefully and looking for a way to reduce his usage of potion. Sometimes, he fight with a wall or ruin behind his back. He also moved to the place with few zombie. With his careful fight and skill, Auron could successfully went deeper into the area. He also could already saw the mansion the noble built before. After a pretty long and tiring fight and moving, Auron could found a resting place beside a ruin of house in the most right corner of the area. With a ruin surrounding him and few zombie looming around the place, Auron took his time and took a little rest. Although, while resting, some zombie still managed to found his place, there was no danger involved and Auron easily got rid of the zombie without attracting another zombie. He looked over at his experience and status. He was at level 11 with 10% experience While moving around he actually managed to gain a level. "Huft... I managed to arrived here thanks to the high leveled skill I have." Auron thought. With his high leveled skill, he could produced higher damage. He imagined if not for Roan raised his skill level to level 30 and he only had a lower leveled skill, it would be impossible to arrived to his place right now. "What should I do? Should I continue or go back?" Auron thought deeply. He looked at his inventory, there was some potion left on his inventory and there was also a return scroll. There were also quite many loot from the undead he killed before. Although there were no equipment, but the miscellaneous item he got still could gave him around 1 silver in the NPC shop. Auron looked into the direction of the mansion. He was still halfway to the mansion and there were many undead monster on the way. The undead also got stronger the closer one to the mansion. [Ghoul] (common monster) Level: 18 HP: 3200/3200 MP: 0/0 Skills: None Description: A dead creature. It is said it was raised from the dead. Although it is a bit durable, Its movement speed was slow. Stronger and faster than zombie [Skeleton] (common monster) Level: 15 HP: 2300/2300 MP: 0/0 Skills: None Description: A walking skeleton. It has normal movement speed. [Skeleton Archer] (common monster) Level: 15 HP: 1800/1800 MP: 0/0 Skills: None Description: A walking skeleton. It has normal movement speed. Beware it attacked from far away! Auron pondered deeply, "As I remember before, when one got into the mansion, although the monster stronger inside, there were few monster inside and many space to move around. Also, the experience point higher inside the mansion" "Should I take the risk?". Auron decided, "I can do this, my skill''s level are higher than other player when they were hunt here back then. I have my advantage, also I believe with my fighting technique and skill I could defeat the monster inside. I will move slowly and carefully just like before." Chapter 28 Undead 2 Auron started to pull monster one by one to his hideout. After killing the monster pulled, he tried to pull another monster. Sometimes, he tried to pull two monster at the same time. However, after 30 minutes killing the monster, Auron realized that he could not move an inch from his current hideout. "After 30 minutes killing this undead, I can not move away from here. The spawn rate was faster than my killing rate." Auron thought. After Auron killed the monster he pulled and pulling another monster, a new monster appeared at the empty spot. So, he could only turtled inside his hideout. "At this rate, I could only stayed here. Who knows if I could went to the mansion or not." Auron pondered while looking for a way to move into the mansion. After looking for a while he found a way, 30 meters from his place he could see another place with few monster around. Then, 40 meters north west from that place there was another ruin with few monster. And from that last place, there were only a distance of 50 meters to the mansion. "Using this way, I could reach the mansion. However, it is still hard to move to each place." Auron looked at his inventory. "There were still 50 health potions left in my inventory. I think I can try to reach the mansion" After made up his mind, Auron started to move outside of his hideout. However, he didn''t go straight to the next place. He made a detour by moving to the nearest big hill and moved along with it. There were few monster near the hill. So, Auron could moved safely. After moving and killing undead for 5 minutes, Auron arrived near his first destinations. From his place, he just need to move straight and charged to the entrance of the ruin. His first destination was a ruined house. The roof of the house wrecked and fell down inside the house. Although the roof was wrecked, the four wall of the house still stand strong. This was why Auron chose this house for his destination. Luckily, the entrance of the house was facing Auron. He could just charging straight and went inside. After preparing his mind, Auron used all of his movement speed''s skill and charged straight into the house. There were many undead alerted by Auron sudden movements and started to chase Auron. However, because the undead had slow movement speed, they lost track of Auron. When Auron arrived near the house entrance, an arrow dashed out and successfully hit Auron. -25. A red damage float above Auron''s head. Auron gritted his teeth, ignoring the damage, he keep charging into the house. Another three arrows was move toward Auron. However, Auron had successfully went inside the building. Quickly, he sidestepped and take cover behind the house wall. The arrows missed the target and hitted the wall. The nearby undead alerted by Auron started to charged into the house. However, the entrance of the house was small and could only afford one undead at a time, so Auron could easily killed the undead one by one. Because there were many undead alerted Auron he could only killed them one by one. Auron spent all his effort to kill the monster. The monster outside the house could be seen reduced from Auron effort. Although the undead could only enter the house one at a time, Auron still maintained his vigilance because sometimes there were arrows aimed at him. When there was and arrow coming, Auron could only took cover behind the wall. When he was taking cover behind the wall, some of the undead could went inside the building. When that happens, Auron used his high leveled skill and kill the undead quickly. Then, he prevented another undead from entering the house. After killing all the undead chasing him, he looked at his status and inventory. He only need 12% more experience to level up. "I can level up when I went to the next destination." Auron thought, "I still had 32 health potions left. It is enough to go to the next destination." While in rest, Auron looked at his next destination. He tried to look for the most feasible way to reach that place. He had two ways to reach his next destination. He could use his method before to reach this place by walking alongside the hill or he could just charged for 40m to the north west of his place. If he used his method before, he needs to spent more energy since the distance will be farther. He also needed to charge farther than before to reach his next destination. If the chose to charged directly to the next destination, the distance he had to go through were shorter however it was more dangerous since along the way to the next destination were packed with monster. "This is getting more difficult. What should I do?" Auron pondered deeply since this was his first time to be in the middle of monster alone. Usually, he would have his guild mate hunting with him, so whenever he was in trouble he could escape by relying his guild mate. He observed his surrounding carefully. A place, 50 meters north from his current place, draw his attention. A ruined huge three storey building. There were only a wrecked wall surrounding the third floor. One, from the outside, could saw what was inside. There were five skeleton archers on top while on the first floor there were a dozen of undead monster. Auron could also saw, from the croaked wall, a bunch of undead monster roaming on the second floor Auron suddenly got an idea. If he could went into that building and went to the third floor, then from the third floor he would use all of his acceleration skill and jumped up in the direction of the mansion. With the accelerate speed and momentum, he could jumped and landed directly around 10 meters near the mansion entrance. From there he could just run to the mansion while dodging the undead. Although he would get damage from jumping that high, however he could minimize the damage by using skill and rolling on the ground. "This is it, This is the only way. I have to do this." Auron made up his mind. Chapter 29 Undead 3 Auron checked all of his preparations. He looked at the path to the three storey building. There were so many undead roaming around. He unsheathe his sword and started to move toward the building. He charged at the nearest zombie. -263. A damage float above the zombie. As soon as the damage float, many undead around the zombie started to look at the commotion. The melee monster started to move close to them and the ranged monster started to take aim. Luckily, there were only few of ranged monster. A ghoul slash Auron. However, Auron blocked it with his sword and kept moving forward ignoring the ghoul. While keeping his vigilance toward his surrounding, Auron started to use [Dash]. [Dash] (Swordsman''s skill) Level: 30 MP: 30 Type: Active Target: Self Cool down: 10 minutes Prerequisites: None Description: Raise user''s movement speed by 50% for 5 seconds. [Dash] increase Auron''s movement speed by half. Although, it was only for 5 seconds, it is still could help Auron to reach his destination faster. The difference between [Charge] and [Dash] were, while [Charge] also increasing movement speed one could only moved on straight line and could not change direction. Meanwhile, [Dash] could raise the user'' movement speed for a short time. However, the downside of [Dash] was its cool down time. Because of this, many swordsman used charge to attack while dash to escape or defense. With his movement speed increased, Auron easily dodged the undead''s attack. Sometimes, he launched and attack the undead in front of him and made them stumbled or flinched for a second. This way, he could open a path in front of him and easily passed them. After 5 seconds, the [Dash]''s effect faded out. His speed went back to normal. However, he only still half way towards his destination. He used another [Charge] to increased his speed. Although Auron could dodged almost all of the undead''s attack, he still took a bunch of damage since there were so many undead monster around. He could only gritted his teeth and took a health potion to keep his health above half. After moving for a while, the building entrance could be seen in Auron''s line of sight. However, around the entrance there were some monster roaming around and also inside the building, Auron could see a bunch of ghoul and skeleton. Auron could only used another [Charge] and went inside the building. Many undead monster followed him inside the building, however not all of them could fit the entrance. So, the monster could only went inside in turn. Taking this chance, after Auron arriving inside the building, he directly unleashed all of his wide area skill. He didn''t care whether his skill hit an enemy or not, he just unleashed all of it until his mana drained out. -250. -300. -600. -120. -400. -370. - 323... Many red number floated above the monster''s head. If this was ordinary MMORPG, one could only see a red number covering his monitor. Luckily, this was a VRMMORPG, so this red number didn''t disturb anything. A wide area swordsman skill''s damage were variate depending on the distance between the user of the skill and the enemy. The closer one to the user, the higher the damage they would receive. After unleashing all of his wide area skill, there were some monster stumbled and fell down. There were some monster took some critical damage. There also some monster who were close to Auron died in the process. Although, there were some monster who were dead, the stream of monster keep coming from outside, also the monster who were fell down started to stand and chase again. Auron could not relaxed for a second, he consume both health potion and mana potion then went to the stair ignoring the loot. He quickly went to the second floor of the building. Although there were some monster on the second floor, but it was fewer than on the first floor. However, he didn''t stop on the second floor and directly went to the third floor. On the third floor, there even fewer monster. Auron quickly used his single target skill and killed all of the monster on the third floor. After all of the monster on the third floor dead, he went to the stair lead to the second floor. On the stair he could see a bunch monster tried to go upstairs. However, since the stair was narrow, it filtered out the monster quantity. With his high level skill, Auron defended the stair easily. After a few minutes, the monster on the stair started to thin out. After killing a few monster more, all of the monster downstairs were dead. Auron finally could take a breath. He slump down near a ruined wall. Auron inspected his status, he was level 12 with 43% experience points. After killing that many monster, it was not weird for him to gain a level. After allocating his attribute point, he could see that his mana point, with the help of silver necklace, almost overtake his health point. He also looked at his inventory, there were only 3 health potion and 40 mana potion left. He needed to resupply his potion. However, since the first time he arrived at this place, he was surrounded and could not bothered with the loot, so he only had few miscellaneous item to sell. He suddenly remembered that he hadn''t pick the loot from the monster on the second floor. Quickly, he went down to second floor to loot up some item. Luckily, there were so many monster before, although some loot had vanished because it littered around so long, there still many loot to take, there was even some equipment dropped. However, he could only equipped it once he was level 15. "It was so hard to hunt alone with no money." Auron could only sighed. Because he was short of health potion, he could not continue his hunting or only dead that waiting for him. He could only switch to his clone character while commanding the AI to keep his main character safe. Chapter 30 Undead 4 Regaining his consciousness in his clone character, Smiling Wizard, Auron could only see the rooftop. He looked around and could not find his roommate around. "It looks like they are looking for some air outside." Auron thought. Ignoring them, he went to the academy''s receptionist to ask for permission to leave the academy. After walking for several moment, he arrived at the receptionist and quickly asked for permission to leave. "Uhm... I want to apply for permission to leave the academy." Auron asked carefully. "It is past the dinner''s time. You could only leave for 30 minutes. Don''t be late or bear the consequence yourself." The receptionist glanced at Auron and warned him. Handing out the temporary leave pass to Auron, she warned him once again "Remember don''t be late. Don''t say I didn''t warn you!" "Thank you." Auron replied. He quickly took the pass and went outside. He knew how heavy the punishment he would get if he didn''t heed the advice. Although it was an academy, however it was still a military one. So, the academy placed the importance of discipline to their student. Actually, the punishment for being late was varied depending on the situation. Even, there were some occasion with no punishment at all for being late. However, that situation only happened to some prodigious talent in the academy, which Auron could not get right now. Although Auron had already admitted and got a dormitory''s room, he wasn''t an official student yet. He would become an official student in the ceremony tomorrow morning. Auron knew how strict the academy with their rules. Moreover, he was nobody with no background at all. If he broke just one small rule, the lightest punishment would be a month labor worked in the academy. However, the heaviest punishment could make him left the academy forever. After working so hard to get admitted into the academy, he didn''t want to get kicked out because of something small like this. If he was get kicked out for something like this, then it was the same as him slapping the face of Bloody Axe, the one who gave him recommendation. If it was really happened, then Bloody Axe''s enemy would not let this chance slipped away. They would fan out the flame. Auron still didn''t know Bloody Axe''s character well enough, so he just wanted to play safe. What would happened if Bloody Axe had a vengeful character and he take out all his resentment to Auron. With Bloody Axe huge background and many supporter, he could killed Auron easily. Auron didn''t want to take the risk of making a big enemy, not at his current level. Auron directly went to the nearest weapon and armor shop to sell some of his equipment gained from the undead. He was in need of money. He left some equipment that could be used either by his main character or clone character and sold the remaining equipment. After that, he went to medicine store to sold his miscellaneous item. After selling all of his need item. He purchased all the money he got to potion''s supply. All he got was 100 health potion and 50 mana potion. The miscellaneous item and equipment actually sold at low price in the NPC store. If he sold to player, the price could be 50% higher even up to 400%. However, selling to player would waste his time and time was essential for him right now. "I only got this few potion from hunting the undead that long." Auron sighed sadly. However, he quickly regain his composure. "I will not go down because of this. I have greater mission and not will fell down because of this insignificant matter." Auron reassured himself. What Auron didn''t know was, what he got could be considered as high considering he was hunting alone in such a crowded monster. If ordinary player got in Auron situation, they would long become a corpse. After buying all the potion he become broke once more with no money at all. Placing all of the potion he bought in the inventory, he walked back to the academy. Arriving at the academy he return the pass to the receptionist and went back to his room. He still could not find his roommate anywhere. All it took for him to sell and bought all the potion was only 10 minutes. He could not be bothered with his roommate because his main character was in a place full of monster. He lied down on his bed and switch to his main character. With his consciousness in his main character, he started to look at his surrounding. From all of the rest, his mana already fulled. He looked around and started to formulate a detailed plan to get into the mansion. "Okay, let''s do this!" After a minutes, he was ready. He started to move further back until he was at the corner. Then, he used all of his skill that raised his agility attribute and movement speed. He started to run toward his destination. When he arrived at the other end, he jumped with all his might. Because of the speed, it could be seen he was flying in the air. However, it didn''t take long before he started to descend. He could see a ghoul at his landing place. Before he landed on the ground and collided with the ghoul, he unleashed his [Weapon''s Aura] and placed his sword in front of him. With a quick speed, Auron collided with the ghoul. -90. A red damage float above Auron''s head. He got a pretty high damage because of the collision and his speed. Meanwhile, the ghoul also took some damage and fell down. Not waiting for long, Auron quickly took some action. he rolled over and quickly stood up. He directly used potion to replenish his health and mana. All of the undead monster around took notice of this and started to swarm toward Auron. However, Auron didn''t stood still and waited for them, he looked at the mansion entrance. With the speed, he was only 8 meters from the entrance, however, he didn''t have any skill that raised his movement speed available anymore. "This is it, I have to take the gamble" Auron started to run with all of his might toward the entrance. He dodged and blocked the incoming attack. When his health was under 50%, he would took a health potion. Auron reached the entrance. There was a ghoul blocking his way, straight from his place. The ghoul also sensed Auron and launched an attacked toward him. Auron ducked down to dodge the attack and moved toward the entrance. A confirmation notification popped up. Didn''t care with the message, Auron confirmed the notification. Then, his vision went dark for a seconds. When he regained his vision, he was inside the mansion. He could see a grand and luxurious staircase in front of him. A sound rang on his ear and a notification popped out in front of him. Chapter 31 Evil Mistresss Dungeon 1 [You have entered Evil Mistress'' Dungeon.] [Kill the Noble] Maximum Players: 10 Dungeon Cooldown: 1 days Description: Kill the Noble Rick to clear the dungeon. Quest Clear Condition: Kill Noble Rick (0/1) Quest Clear Rewards: Experience +10.000, Silver +1 Quest Failure Condition: All player in the party die Quest Failure Punishment: Dungeon will be in cool down for 2 days. [You have activated a Hidden Boss. Beware an evil spirit aware of your presence! Quest Updated] [Destroy the Evil Spirit] Maximum Players: 10 Dungeon Cooldown: 1 days Description: Eliminate evil spirit haunting the mansion to clear the dungeon. Quest Clear Condition: Kill Noble Rick (0/1), Kill Evil Mistress (0/1) Quest Clear Rewards: Experience +50.000, Silver+5 Quest Failure Condition: All player in the party die Quest Failure Punishment: Dungeon will be in cool down for 4 days. Dark Mansion actually the first dungeon for the player. The mansion was the entrance for the dungeon which was the deceased noble built. This was a 10-player dungeon. A maximum of 10 players in a team could entered this dungeon. In Two Worlds, there was no minimum player for entering the dungeon. Whenever a player felt strong enough to clear the dungeon, they could entered the dungeon alone. To clear the dungeon, a player needed to complete the dungeon''s quest. There were different quest for each dungeon. Mostly, the quest was to eliminate the boss to clear a dungeon. The reward of completing a dungeon was all the player in the party would received experience point, money, and the dungeon cooldown would not be prolonged. If one failure to complete the dungeon quest, the cooldown for that dungeon, for all the player in the party, would be prolonged depending on the dungeon''s difficulty. When a player dead or logged out, then they would be resurrected outside the dungeon and they would be considered as dead. So, when a player entered a dungeon they could not stopped halfway, there was only success or failure. Whenever a party entered a dungeon, they had a slight chance of activating a hidden mission in the dungeon. The chances of activating the hidden mission would fluctuate depending on the dungeon''s situation. When there were many party entering the dungeon, then the chance would went down drastically. A hidden mission could only be activated by one party. So, when a party got the hidden mission, then there would be no other party that could activate the hidden mission. The other party could only got their chance when the involved party failed their quest. However, if the involved party successfully cleared the quest, then there would be no more hidden mission for that dungeon for 2 days. When activating a hidden mission, their quest would be updated and their clear rewards would raised a lot. However, with the increase in rewards, the difficulty of the quest also increased significantly. For ordinary team, a hidden mission could be a nightmare for them. Meanwhile, for a team of experts, a hidden mission could be considered as blessing from heaven. This was why, there were some guild fighting each other for the hidden mission right. However, since now all the player was high leveled enough, the could not be bothered with a low leveled dungeon. Because of this, when Auron entered the dungeon, he automatically activated the hidden mission. Auron actually knew that he would activated the hidden mission, but he still went into the dungeon because he believed in his strength. Actually, for Auron, hunting inside the dungeon was easier that hunting outside because the monster in the dungeon could not re-spawned. So, if one was careful enough, they could eliminate all of the monster before fighting the boss. This way, they would only face the boss and their guards. Luckily, this was a low leveled dungeon, so the monster inside would only moved inside their designated place. In a higher leveled dungeon, the monster actually moved around all the area in the dungeon. So, if a party was not careful enough, they could be ambushed by another monster. There was even a dungeon where the boss roamed around the dungeon and always summoned his guards to roamed with them. When Auron regained his vision, 2 skeleton guards already waited for him. The skeleton guards automatically moved to attack Auron, when he regained his vision. [Skeleton Guard] (common monster) Level: 17 HP: 2800/2800 MP: 30/30 Skills: Shield Bash Description: A walking skeleton with a shield and sword. It has normal movement speed. Auron held his sword in his hand tightly. One of the skeleton slice towards Auron. But, Auron successfully dodged the attack. He circled around the skeleton and launched a slash toward the guard. -103. Auron managed to hit one of the skeleton guards. he continued his attack. He turned his slash into a chop. However, the chop was blocked by the skeleton guards. The other skeleton guard also started to swing his sword. Although the skeleton guard was stronger than most of the monster outside, for Auron, these two skeleton guard was an easy prey. They could not compared when Auron had to fight with a bunch of monster outside. Auron took his time to kill the skeleton guards. After around two minutes fighting, both of the skeleton guard died. "Should I cleared all the monster before fighting the boss or just directly faced the boss?" Auron pondered while picking the loot dropped by the skeleton guards. Because this was just a low leveled dungeon, a party could just directly went and faced the boss went they knew the way to the boss. In this dungeon, one just need to went up through the stairs and move into the hall to fight with the Noble Rick. "I should just used this chances to quickly raise my level. I need to swept all of the monster for experience point and the loot." Auron quickly dismissed the idea of directly faced the boss. He was in need of experience point and money, and this low leveled dungeon was like a gold mine for him. Right now, he was in the first floor, there were three ways he could choose, left, right, or move forward toward the stairs. Since, he had decided to swept all the monster first, he dismissed the third option. "Left or Right don''t matter since I will swept both of them. Let''s sweep the monster on the left first." Auron decided. Chapter 32 Evil Mistresss Dungeon 2 Auron started to walked toward the left way. From the entrance he could see a hallway filled with undead monster. At the end of the hall, there was a door leading to another room. That room was Auron''s destination. He started to pull the monster in the hall one by one. With Auron high leveled skill and his footwork, he easily defeated the monster. He arrived at the entrance to the room. It took 5 minutes for him to clear the monster in the hallway. He opened and entered the room. Upon entering, He could see a bookshelf neatly arranged along the wall of the room. There was a window on the left of the room. One could see the outside through the window. In the middle of the room, there was a desk and a chair. He could also saw a big painting of a man hanging on the wall across him. The man in the painting exuded a noble aura. This man was Noble Rick painting when he was still young and this room was Rick''s study room. In his life, he would used this room to study and worked. He would arranged all his business strategy here and directed all of his subordinates from here. There were many book when he was still alive, however, right now, there were only few book left here. Moreover, the book was in a very bad condition. Although you could hold and opened the book, you could not decipher the content of the book since the words almost gone. There were even a torn page and page with dried blood on it. Although the room was not very large, however, it could hold 40 people with all the furniture inside. When entering the room Auron could see a bunch of undead monster on it. There were 5 skeleton guards, 3 skeleton archers, 4 ghoul, and 5 skeleton. The monster inside sensed Auron''s presence. They immediately turn facing the door. When they saw a human, they started to roar and attacked the human. The skeleton guards leading the mob attacking Auron, with skeleton behind them and ghoul at the rear since ghoul had the slowest speed. The skeleton archers also started held their bow and took aim toward Auron. Seeing the monster''s reaction, Auron didn''t stay silent. He activated his [Weapon''s Aura] and slashed horizontally to the incoming skeleton guards. A wind blade coming out of his weapon and flying toward the skeleton guards. -432. -498. -523. -482. -398. All the skeleton guards in the front took some damage from the wind blade. This was one of the swordsman''s skill they could learned after they learned [Weapon''s Aura]. [Wind Slash] (Swordsman''s skill) Level: 30 MP: 30 Type: Active Target: Area in front of user Cool down: 3 minutes Prerequisites: [Weapon''s Aura] Description: Dealing 130% of user''s attack as a damage to the enemy in front of the user. This skill was named, [Wind Slash]. It could only damage the enemy in front of the user. Although this skill could be considered as an area skill, however, the area covered by this skill was only the front of the user. Also, the wind blade was not large enough to cover the side. However, this skill could make the enemy''s halt their movement for a seconds if the enemy took the damage from the front. This was what happened to the skeleton guards. Since, they were the one took the initiative to charge towards Auron, they could not dodged the [Wind Slash] and took the full damage from the front which stopped their movement for a second. In battle, a second could turn the tide of the battle. As an expert, Auron didn''t miss the opportunity, he side stepped to the right and used [Charge] toward the skeleton archers at the back. A ranged monster usually had fewer health that the melee monster. However, because they could attacked from far away, this made them very annoying, especially if there was another monster tanking for them. This was what made Auron aiming to eliminate the skeleton archers first. With the sudden increase in movement, Auron arrived at the nearest skeleton archers. The skeleton archers had just shot their arrows toward Auron''s previous spot which resulted in a big miss. Because they just shot their arrows, the nearest skeleton archer to Auron didn''t have enough time to reload his arrows. Taking this advantages, Auron used a single targeted skill to the monster, [Bash]. [Bash] (Swordsman''s skill) Level: 30 MP: 20 Type: Active Target: Single Target Cool down: 2 minutes Prerequisites: None Description: Dealing 180% of user''s attack as a damage to a single enemy. There was a chance inflicting stun to the target for 2 seconds. -640. A red damage floated above the skeleton archer''s head. There was also a dizzy animation above the monster''s head. The monster had been stunned. While damaging the skeleton archer, the others monster had come closed enough to Auron. Auron directly used his wide area skill. A bunch of red text floated above the monster. However, the monster not affected by the damage, the nearby ghoul started to launched their attack toward Auron. No time to dodge, Auron took a defensive method. He used [Aura''s barrier]. [Aura''s Barrier] (Swordsman''s skill) Level: 30 MP: 20 Type: Active Target: Self Cool down: 10 minutes Prerequisites: Weapon''s Aura Description: An Aura will enveloped the user and will act as a barrier. The incoming damage will be reduced by 50%. The barrier will last for 10 seconds or until it took 10.000 damage. -20. -18. -21. -30. A series of damage floated above Auron''s head. He directly consumed another health potion and mana potion. His health rises once again to full health. Also, his mana which was depleted after using series of skill filled again. He launched another AOE skill again and again. With the [Aura''s Barrier]''s effect, in 10 seconds, Auron had killed half of the monster. Meanwhile, the other half only had a sliver of their health, with the most had 13% of their health. After a few second more, Auron finally managed to kill all the monster inside the room. He consumed another health potion and mana potion. After that, he took all the loot on the ground. He looked at his status. His experience point raised to 61%. From this battle, Auron had already consumed 10 health potion and 5 mana potion. "It was worth it." Auron thought. Chapter 33 Evil Mistresss Dungeon 3 Auron came back to the entrance of the dungeon. This time, he took the right path. He could saw the identical hallway as the left one. The decoration filled the hallway was the same as the left path and also, the monster filled and place were the same as well. He cleared his way toward the end of the hallway. At the end of the hallway, he saw an exit lead to the back of the mansion. He exited the mansion and arrived outdoor. A barrage of arrow greeted Auron. He directly went back inside and took cover by the wall. Most of the arrow were missed and hitted the wall. However, because of the sudden attack and there were many arrows, Auron took some damage. Although, the damage was not critical it was enough to make Auron health dropped below half. "Dammit, I forget about the arrow''s barrage." Auron cursed while taking a health potion to replenish his health. Because this dungeon was the first dungeon player would encountered, so it had been a long time since Auron finished this dungeon. Luckily, the arrow''s barrage didn''t kill him. With his quick reaction speed, he could dodged most of the arrow. If he was one step slower, he would already became a corpse. "Next time I go to low leveled dungeon, I will looked at the guide first." Auron said. Heaven''s actually had a completed guide covered all the dungeon in Two Worlds. The guide had been compiled from the knowledge of many guild member''s experience in the dungeon. If one followed this guide properly, he could easily finished the dungeon. However, Auron didn''t even have one copy of it. When Auron was still the Heaven''s guild leader, he never thought that he would run a low leveled dungeon again, so he didn''t make a copy of the guide. "Maybe, Roan has a copy of it. I will asked him the next time we met." Auron thought. "Well, it actually doesn''t matter whether I use the guild''s guide or I look for the online one." Since Two Worlds had been running for 10 years, it was easy to look for a dungeon''s guide online. Although, the guide was not as complete as a high ranked guild''s guide, but it was enough. What Auron needed was some key points about the dungeon, so the online guide was enough for him. "Let me finish this dungeon first and think about the guide later." Auron thought in his mind. He had to think how he should dealt with the arrows'' barrage. When a group of player run through here, they would made the swordsman to tank the arrows while the cleric heal the swordsman from behind. However, right now, Auron was alone and he had no healer beside him. He could not rely on his health potion because of there was one second cool down when he used the potion. Even if he was somehow succeed and could killed all the monster, he must had used a lot of potion. "What could I do, without a healer it will cost me a lot of potion. Let''s just leave this place and continue upstairs." Auron abandon his intention to clear all the monster and went back to the entrance. He directly went to upstairs. Arriving at the second floor, Auron was greeted with a huge door in front of him. This door lead to the main hall used by the noble to held a party for his guest or a celebration party. This place was also where the boss of the dungeon, Noble Rick, was located. Meanwhile on the left and right side of the hall, there were a path lead to the back of the hall which were the room for the noble''s family resided. There were also room for the guest. Right now, the room was filled with monster and along the way there were some undead monster guarding the path. For a party that only looked to clear the dungeon, they would ignored the path and directly challenged the boss in the main hall. However, for Auron, the monster was practically an experience point and a gold mine for him. With his high leveled skill and his fighting techniques, it would be easy for him to kill all the monster. Since, he needed four times more experience point than ordinary player to level up. He would not ignored these monster. Moreover, he also in need of money, the monster would also dropped some loot that could be sold. Although it could be considered like a little drop in a bucket, however, a little drop could also filled the bucket full given some time. Auron didn''t want to missed this chance, he took the left path. He focused all of his though in hunting as he wanted to minimize the use of his potion. He tried to dodged or blocked all of the enemy attack. He also only used his basic attack to attack the enemy. This way, although, he needed more time to clear the monster, he could save a lot of money for buying potion. Auron took his time to kill the monster safely. He went to a bunch of monster and clear it first before went to the next group of monster. He also would got inside the room one by one. When the battle was ended he would took his time to rest to replenish his health. Sometimes, he would used his skill when he had no other choice. It was better to spend some money rather than tried to save it and died. After 20 minutes, trying to clear all the monster on the second floor as cheap as possible, Auron finally managed to clear all the monster and he was back at the entrance of the main hall. From clearing all of the monster on the second floor, he managed to raise his level to level 13 with 62%. As usual, he allocated his attribute as he had planned before. After raising his attribute, he found out that his mana, with the help of silver necklace, already surpassed his health. "After this dungeon, I need to take some loan again to Roan. I need to have some decent equipment or I would always have a hard time finishing a low level dungeon." Auron sighed. He didn''t want become burden to his friend, but he was also had a hard time because he didn''t have proper equipment. Auron could only sighed. He opened the door to the main hall and entered to face the boss. Chapter 34 Noble Rick Auron entered the main hall. Although he already know how big the hall was, he still could not help but awed at the size of the hall. It was almost as big as his living place. The hall was decorated magnificently and extravagantly. The floor and the wall was coated with gold and one could find a diamond installed on the wall. There were also diamond on the two huge pillar in the middle of the hall. The decoration could make a player''s greed rise up. A player once tried to take the diamond from the wall, however, Once he took out one diamond, the boss become invincible. No physical damage or magical damage could hurt the boss also his damage become ten times than normal damage. However, when one putted back the stolen diamond, the boss'' attributes become normal again. A player once tried to store the diamond in his inventory and let the boss killed him. However, his plan was a big failure. Not only, his dead punishment become twice more severe than normal, but the diamond also dropped on the ground when he died. After this news spread out, many player stopped thinking on how to take the diamond out for their own wealth. Until now, there were no player had tried to attempt to take the diamond again. Well, there were occasionally some first timer player tried to, but soon they could only regretted their actions. Insides, there were a big stage. On top of the stage there were a chair that was no less magnificent and extravagant than the wall and floor. When one entered the room, they directly imagine that they had entered a king''s hall in upper class kingdom. Auron could see a middle age man sitting on the chair. With a black haired and expensive royal robe, the man sitting comfortably on the chair. When the man saw Auron entered the hall, the man frowned and stood up from his chair. "Who are you?" The man asked. However, before Auron said anything, the man actually continued his sentence as if he already got an answer from Auron. "You are not invited to the party. Guards! Bring this man out and execute him!" The man howled. Not long after the man shouted, 4 skeleton guards showed from behind Auron and 2 skeleton archers showed beside the middle aged man. This man was actually the boss of this dungeon, Noble Rick. [Noble Rick] (common boss monster) Level: 20 HP: 7500/7500 MP: 500/500 Skills: Summon guards, Noble''s Scream Description: An insane undead noble. It can summon 4 skeleton guards and 2 skeleton archers. Beware of its scream. After the guards showed up, the boss appearance started to changed. Before, it was a black haired middle aged man with an expensive royal robe, right now, the black hair was missing. The boss became the same as his guard, a skeleton. Although there were some difference between the boss and the guard which was the expensive royal robe. The boss took a sword from beside his seat, unsheathed it and as if Auron was some intruder that gave resistance, he howled, "Killed him right now! Execute him on the spot! Don''t let him leave alive!" The boss and his guards started to attack Auron. From Auron entered the hall until the boss attacked him, it only last for 5 seconds. However, Auron was not surprised by this, because he already knew that this was only the scenario played by the game system. The skeleton guards behind him attack Auron. However, Auron already prepared, he dodged the attack easily. He first ran to the middle of the hall and hide behind the hall to dodge the skeleton archer''s arrow. The skeleton guards chased behind him and the boss, Noble Rick, also moved slowly toward Auron. When the skeleton guards was closed enough with him, Auron started to use his skill to kill the skeleton guards. He could easily killed the skeleton guards. When the boss arrived near Auron, all of the skeleton guards already dead. Auron took this chance to attack the boss. However, after Auron''s attack landed on the boss. The boss directly used his summon guards again. Four skeleton guards appear beside the boss, and two new skeleton archers also appear beside the old skeleton archers. Auron frowned and thought, "Since the boss used his skill very randomly, this could happen. If I don''t killed the skeleton archers behind, it will only stack up until it was hard to dodge. I need to kill them first" Auron dodged the skeleton guards and used [Charged] to the skeleton archers beside the chair. While charging, he also took some damage from the skeleton archers and the nearby skeleton guards. However, he ignored it and just took a health potion. With close combat fight, the skeleton archers could not fight back and quickly all of the skeleton archers already eliminated. Auron quickly focused his attention on the remaining skeleton guards. Although, there were 4 skeleton guards and 1 boss, Noble Rick, without the pressure from skeleton archers, Auron could easily defeated the skeleton guards with his high leveled skill. After 30 seconds into the battle, there was only the boss left alone. Auron attack the boss and reduced his health slowly while preserving his potion. He know that there were still the hidden boss after this. He didn''t want to take the risk, so he preserve his potion. Although the boss sometimes used the combo which was using the summon guards skill followed by the roar skill, Auron still could easily defeated them. All of this thanks to the skill given by Roan. Auron felt that this battle actually was easier rather than when he was fighting against the goblin''s leader with his clone. "I am sorry my wife, I cannot accompany you anymore." A shouted was heard. After 10 minutes of fighting, the boss finally gave his life and fell down to the ground. Auron quickly swept all the loot without inspected it. Although the boss was dead, Auron quickly adjusted his mind because he knew there still was the hidden boss left. A notification appeared in front of Auron. [Quest Updated] [Destroy the Evil Spirit] Maximum Players: 10 Dungeon Cooldown: 1 days Description: Eliminate evil spirit haunting the mansion to clear the dungeon. Quest Clear Condition: Kill Noble Rick (1/1), Kill Evil Mistress (0/1) Quest Clear Rewards: Experience +50.000, Silver+5 Quest Failure Condition: All player in the party die Quest Failure Punishment: Dungeon will be in cool down for 4 days. The dungeon''s quest was updated because Auron already kill the Noble Rick. Not long after the notification appeared. A beautiful woman appeared from the entrance and ran towards Auron. Chapter 35 Evil Mistress 1 Not long after the notification appeared. A beautiful woman appeared from the hall''s entrance and ran towards Auron. She wore a thin almost transparent white night gown. Her night gown made her body curve more stood out. Her beauty combined with her appearance could surely seduced a man. A stream of tears could be seen running through her face. She wore a sad as well as worried expression on her face. She ran toward Auron while shouting pitifully, "What have you done to my husband?" It looked like she had lost her whole world and there was nothing more in this world that could made her happy. She was like a frail beautiful woman letting out her anger to the killer of her husband. Moreover, because of her frail appearance, one could not help to feel pity on her. When she only two step away from Auron, she wore a wide sinister smiled. Her claw suddenly grew longer. It was long enough for her to claw Auron from her position. She clawed towards Auron and aimed at his vital spot. Clang. Auron blocked her claw and he kicked the woman. Kicked by Auron, the woman staggered backward. However, despite her frail appearance and force from a man, the woman didn''t wore any painful expression. On the contrary, the woman laughed loudly like a crazy woman. She suddenly float a little bit above the ground. Her expression become more sinister and bloody. She looked like a psychopath which had cold bloodily killed many human without any regrets. A wind suddenly come onto the room and surround her. Baam. The hall''s entrance door closed hard. The wind was so hard flew around her that one could even saw the wind with their naked eyes. A dark aura started to seep out from the woman and mixed with the wind around her. The aura was so dark that whoever touched it without protection could become crazy and cold blooded. The effect last for about 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, the wind around the woman started to faded out. The woman appearance changed. Before, she was a frail and beautiful woman, but right now, she was like a strong devil that had enough strength to conquer the world. The floated woman landed slowly to the ground. A very strong dark aura could be seen with naked eyes surrounding her. She wore a sinister smiled and then she pointed her finger toward Auron. A dark rays coming out from her finger and attacked Auron. Auron easily dodged the rays and took step back maintaining his distance with the woman. This woman was the hidden boss of the dungeon, Evil Mistress. All of the scene from her running toward Auron and she shot a dark rays from her finger was actually a scenario that always played every time player fight with the hidden boss. [Evil Mistress] (uncommon boss monster) Level: 25 HP: 15000/15000 MP: 2500/2500 Skills: Summon undeads, Evils'' Scream, Dark Rays Description: A devil possessed the body of noble Rick''s wife. Be careful, she is strong and sinister. After the Noble Rick was killed, a woman frail and beautiful woman would appeared and crying his husband''s death. With her pitiful appearance, if one didn''t know about the scenario they would left their guard down. At that time, the boss would launched her claw toward all of the player. If her attack was a success, then it would guaranteed a critical hit and dealt a huge damage toward the player. After she clawed toward the player, she would took a step back and transform to her true form like the scene played before. When she was transforming, the player could do nothing because the wind and dark aura protected her. So, the player could only wait until her transformation ended. However, when the transformation ended, the boss would shot a dark rays from her finger just like what she had did before towards Auron. There was once a group of leveled 18 player with strong equipment met the hidden boss for their first time and they let their guards down. Just from the scenario played, that group lost all of their tank and melee player. Left with ranged and magic player only, they could not killed the boss and wiped out. However, because Auron knew about all of this, he could be prepared and dodged the attacked so he didn''t take any damage. The hidden boss started to summon her guards. 6 skeleton guards, 2 skeleton archers, and 2 ghouls appeared at her summon. She commanded her guards to attack Auron while she stayed on her spot. Although Auron forgot about the skeleton archers on the right way on the first floor, however, he knew all about this hidden boss information. The boss has a high damage, however, she also had two weakness. The first was after using her Dark Rays skill, she could not move for 1 minutes. She could only used her other skill than Dark Rays, or attack with her basic attack which was the claw. Although the claw was longer than usual claw, however it still was categorized as a melee attack, it ranged was as far as an ordinary sword. So, after the boss used her Dark Rays, the player could attack the boss using ranged attack and be safe because the boss could not fight back. Her second weakness was unlike other boss that had regeneration rate of their health. This boss didn''t have any regeneration so she could not regenerate their health when attacked. However, this boss could recover some health by consuming his summoned undead. The boss would summoned 6 skeleton guards, 2 skeleton archers, and 2 ghouls for 5 minutes. If in 5 minutes, there were some of her guards still had their health left, she would consumed all of her guards and recover her health in proportion of the consumed summoned undead''s health. As it had said before, the boss would used their skill based on their intelligence which corresponded with the boss grade. Although this boss'' grade was slightly higher than the other monster''s grades, uncommon was still considered as low grade and their intelligence could be classified as low. "I need to clear out all of the summoned undeads." Auron though up his plan. Chapter 36 Evil Mistress 2 Auron started to take actions against the boss'' guards. Since the boss could not move after using Dark Rays, the pressured Auron felt was lessen. First, he moved back and lured the guards away from the boss. After far enough from the boss, Auron used his [Weapon''s Aura]. He brandished his sword toward the nearby ghoul. -350. The ghoul took some damage and faltered back. Meanwhile, the other ghoul attacked Auron. However, Auron managed to dodged the attack. Auron didn''t stop at his place, he quickly moved away again since the skeleton guards'' attack followed afterwards. While dodging, Auron also kept his vigilance toward the skeleton archers at the back. Auron could not fight back because of the series of attack by the boss'' guards. If he braved his self to accept the attack, although he could survive the damage, but it will cost him a lot to heal himself and putted him in danger. Moreover, the boss'' health was still at full. If Auron wasted all his potion in defeating the guards, he could not be sure that he could survive the boss. Moreover, the boss would unleashed her skill randomly. A randomly skill would not as scary as a planned skill, however, it also had its own danger. The player could not read what the boss moved. So, if the player not careful enough to maintain his vigilant, a random skill could blasted him off and turn the battle tide over. "I cannot kept things moved this way. The boss still could not moved, I must take this chance to reduce the guards to lessen the pressure over me." Auron thought He started to formulate a plan in his mind. Auron lured the group of monster towards one of the pillar on the middle. The group of mobs would followed Auron closed the pillar. While the melee monster chased Auron closely, the ranged monster would stood at the back and took aim at Auron. When nearing the pillar, Auron started to circled the pillar and lured the melee monster pillar while the pillar also served as a blocker to the ranged monster. The pillar was big enough. It had a diameter of 2 meters. Auron moved from one side of the pillar and circled the pillar. He and the melee monster which chased after him was gone behind the pillar. Not long after that, Auron showed up at the opposite part from which he gone behind the pillar. After he showed, Auron didn''t hesitate to use his [Charge] to aim toward the skeleton archers at the back. With the sudden increased in his speed, Auron managed to left behind the melee monster chasing behind him while he closed the ranged monster. Since, it was a low level intelligence monster, they didn''t had any emotion. So, when Auron''s speed increased suddenly, the ranged monster didn''t had any sign of panicking, instead they took the posture of aiming the bow and aimed toward the incoming Auron. However, Auron speed had increased several fold, so, before the skeleton archers managed to unleash their arrows, Auron used his wide area skill. The skill successfully hit all the skeleton archers. The skeleton archers could not unleashed the arrow, instead they seems lost their momentum to attack. The skeleton archers started to re aiming their attack to Auron. However, Auron didn''t let it happened, he followed his attack. Auron used [Bash] to one of the skeleton archers and managed to stunning the skeleton archers. Auron even used his basic attack to chipped away the health of the skeleton archers. However, before Auron manged to kill any of the skeleton archers, the melee monster chasing him had moved closed enough to him so Auron could only maintain his safety and moved back. He took several step back and lured the monster toward the pillar again. Auron wanted to use the same strategy to kill of the skeleton archers behind. Because the monster grade was low, they could not learn from their previous mistake. The melee monster just blindly followed Auron toward the pillar once again, while the ranged monster stayed at the back and shot some arrows which was easily dodged by Auron. After using the previous tactic Auron once again, Auron manged to kill one of the skeleton archers behind. Then, he would used the same tactic to kill the rest of the skeleton archers. When the ranged monster already dead, Auron focused toward the ghoul and skeleton guards. With no cooperation between the monster and Auron''s vigilance, he could easily defeated the guard one by one. There were 1 ghoul and 1 skeleton guard left. Auron brandished his sword toward the ghoul. Suddenly, he felt a sharp attack coming from his behind. Auron quickly stopped his attack and dodged the attack coming from behind him. The boss'' immobile time had already over, and she launched an attack toward Auron. That sharp attack was done by the boss. With no support from ranged attack, Auron could maintain to dodge the attack from 3 melee monster. Auron easily killed the leftover ghoul and skeleton guard before the boss consuming the guards. Left alone with the boss, Auron''s pressure was lessen a lot. He chipped away the boss health however he still kept his vigilance toward the boss'' sharp claw. The boss'' attack was sharp and fast but not as fast as the higher level monster Auron had already fought before. When the boss'' health was at 83%, she used her roar skill and reduced Auron''s attribute. However, Auron still managed to dodge all the boss'' attack. However because of the reduced attribute, Auron could only fought passively. He could only dodged and blocked the attack. He didn''t dare to launch the counter attack because he was afraid when he was counter attacking the boss would attack him. The boss had high damage plus with the lack of Auron''s equipment, Auron afraid that the boss could one shot him. After the roar debuff was gone, Auron started to fight actively again, he swung his sword toward the boss, sometimes he would use his single target skill. The boss'' health dropped slowly, but since the boss could not recover her health, so her health kept dropping down. Meanwhile, with Auron''s cautious actions, he had not suffered any damage from the boss. Auron only occasionally gulp down his mana potion since he still used his skill. "The boss'' health was at 76%, there was still a long way to go, but I can do this." Auron excitedly though in his mind while being cautious. Chapter 37 Evil Mistress 3 Up to this point, the boss'' health was reduced to 76%. To reach this point, Auron already spent some of his bought potion before. Although, he didn''t consumed much health potion, however, he still consumed a lot of mana potion. He still had 75 health potion left while his mana potion already consumed until there was only 15 left. The boss attacked Auron relentlessly. However, with Auron''s experience of 10 years playing the Two Worlds, a small boss like this was nothing. Auron kept chipped away the boss'' health while maintaining his vigilant state. 75%, 74%, ... , 68%. After some minutes passed by Auron managed to reduce 8% of the boss'' health. For that amount of time, Auron didn''t take any damage at all. Although his lack of decent equipment, he still managed to reduced 8% of the boss'' health without taking damage. This showed how easy for Auron to fight the boss. The boss suddenly raised her finger toward Auron. Seeing this, Auron took several steps back and maintained some distance from the boss. He focused out all of his attention to the finger pointing at him. This stance was a sign from the boss that she would used Dark Rays skill. The boss would pointed out her finger and not long after that a dark rays would shot out from her finger. The process from pointing the finger until the rays shot was short. So, sometimes, if the player not cautious enough to realize the stance, he would be late to dodge. The closer one to the finger the higher the damage. Also, when one close enough to the pointed finger, the chance for them to dodge the rays also reduced a lot. That was why when Auron realized the boss pointing her finger toward Auron, he immediately took several steps back. Surely, not long after the finger pointed at Auron, a dark rays shot out from the finger towards Auron. Seeing the rays, Auron immediately took a sidestep to dodge the rays. The rays walked straight, hit the chair behind Auron and destroyed the upper half of the chair. Meanwhile, Auron who took a sidestep didn''t take any damage at all. After the boss used the skill, the boss immediately suffered the aftereffect of her action. She could not moved at all. "This is my chance." Auron thought. Without any guards around the boss, Auron went straight to the boss. The boss could only rooted at her place and swing his claw to attack Auron. Although, Auron had his magic skill, he didn''t used it at all. The reason was he only had a little mana on him. Moreover, a magic skill needed a lot of mana potion while he only had few mana potion left. One magic skill needed 80% of his current maximum mana. Although, there was still leftover mana, however, the leftover mana could not be used to launch another magic skill. So, it could be said that every time he want used his magic skill, he need to consume one mana potion. This was why instead of maintaining the distance and attacked the boss from distance, he engaged the boss in close combat. Moreover, he had abundant experience in close combat battle as he was the ranked number one swordsman for eight years straight. The boss clawed toward the incoming Auron. However, Auron dodged the claw using his sword and directly went to the side of the boss. The boss needed time to turn her body to face Auron again. When the boss already turned and faced him, Auron already launched an attacked. Because the boss turned her body and she was rooted at her place, the boss could not block the attack nor moved to dodge the attack. The attack chipped her health. Although, it the damage was little compared to her maximum health, slowly but surely the boss health went down. Moreover, the boss didn''t have any regeneration rate, so she could not recover her health over time. Auron kept launched his attack. He would moved to the boss side and launched an attack while the boss turned her body. This continued until the boss immobile time was over. When the boss could moved again her health already reduced until there was only 40% left. The boss used her summon guards skill and a bunch of guards was showed up and immediately attacked Auron. With the guards and boss attacking Auron at the same time, the pressure Auron felt immediately went up significantly. However, Auron still could maintained to calm his mind and not panicking. He didn''t attack the boss, instead he attacked the guards and killed it one by one. He didn''t want the boss to recover her health and made all of his effort turned into dust. He used his wide area skill and combined it with basic attack and single target skill. When the summoned guard almost ended, Auron managed to kill all of the boss'' summoned guard. The boss could not replenished her health. Instead, the boss'' health reduced become 35% because she took damage from Auron using his wide area skill. This time, however, Auron not left out unscathed. With the pressure, he could not help but took some damage from the guards. However, he quickly consumed a health potion and kept maintaining his health above 80%. He also used some mana potion left on him. For the rest of the boss'' health, the boss didn''t used any more skill. So, Auron easily defeated her. When the boss was at her last moment, she cried loudly and a dark aura could be seen flew out of the woman body and dissipated in the air. Meanwhile, the woman''s body already turned into a pile of bone and slowly the bone turned into dust and scattered into the air. Auron relieved that all of this was over. A notification was popped up in front of his. [Quest ''Destroy the Evil Spirit'' was completed. Experience +50.000, Silver +5] A yellow light showed around Auron, the reward made Auron leveled up to level 14 and boosted up his experience to 8%. After allocating his attribute point, he walked toward the spot the hidden boss was dead. It was time to collect the boss'' loot. Chapter 38 Dungeons Loo When a dungeon finished, a portal to exit the dungeon would be formed. A player would had two options, to use the portal to exit or used a return scroll. If the player chose the former, they would be teleported to the dungeon entrance, which in this case was the outside of the mansion. If they chose the latter, they would needed to spend a return scroll. The player only had 5 minutes after the dungeon finished to choose one of the options. If not, they would be forced to exit through the dungeon portal. Although a return scroll was not expensive, however, there was a case when a player forget to replenish their return scroll stock. There was also a player who like to lived frugal, so they would chose to exit through the portal to save for the return scroll. Auron would surely not chose the portal options because outside of the dungeon was filled with monster. He had already spent a lot of effort to go into the dungeon, he surely would not spare another effort just to save the cost of one return scroll. He also just bought the return scroll and hadn''t used that item yet, so he still had some return scroll to used. After picking up the boss'' loot, Auron used his return scroll. A blue light warped Auron and a progress showed up in front of Auron. When the progress bar was full, Auron disappeared from his previous place. Not long after, he showed up on the teleportation point in Miderian. A return scroll would bring the user to the save point he had chose before. Miderian would be automatically selected as the save point for new players. Later, if they not set another save point, when they used their return scroll, they would return to Miderian. Auron walked exited the teleportation point and went to the medicine store to replenish his potion. After finishing the dungeon, Auron got 5 silver as the dungeon rewards. This 5 silver was helpful for Auron. He spent his money to buy another 300 health potion and 200 mana potion and he saved the rest of his money. After resupplying, Auron started to check his loot gained from the boss. [Skeletal Sword] (common grade equipment) Type: One Handed Sword Requirement: 15 Strength, 5 Agility, level 13 Class: Swordsman, Thief, Merchant Attack: 30 - 50 Strength +1 Effect: no effect [Mistress'' Ring] (common grade equipment) Type: Accessories Requirement: 10 Strength, 5 Dexterity, Intelligence 8 Class: Swordsman, Thief, Merchant, Mage, Cleric, Archer Defend: 3 Effect: Increase 1% damage against undead. [Chain mail] (common grade equipment) Type: Body - Upper Requirement: 25 Strength Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defend: 19 Vitality +1 Effect: no effect After inspecting the loot gained from the boss, he could see there were three equipment that he could used immediately. So, he directly changed his equipment to the new one while he would sold the old one to the NPC store. With the addition of the new gear, Auron felt stronger than before. he quickly found a place to log out. Auron went to the inn and logged out. Auron opened his game capsule. He looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. Tomorrow, he would needed to login before 8 o''clock. At 8 o''clock, there would be a ceremony held for the freshman at the military academy. He would needed to control Smiling Wizard and be there. "Ah, I just go directly to sleep" Auron quickly went to his bed and tried to sleep. At around 6 a.m, for some reason, Auron woke up from his sleep. There was a bell rang at his place. With tired and grumpy face, Auron walked downstairs to open the door. "Who is visiting this early in the morning, I am so tired" Auron grumpily walked downstairs. "Coming!" Auron shouted from inside because the bell kept ringing. Auron opened the door. In front of him stood two men with uniform. In the uniform, there was a logo of black sheep. One of the men handing Auron a paper for Auron to sign. "Good morning Mr. Auron, we are from Black Sheep. We come here to deliver your nutrient solution. Please sign here and here." One of the man introduced himself and pointed at the paper for the place Auron needed to sign. Auron''s face started to change. Before, he was grumpy and tired, but right now, his become excited. He already forgot that he asked Roan''s help to buy nutrient solution. Auron quickly signed the paper needed. After Auron signed the paper, the two men started to bring the nutrient solution inside. There was 5 box of nutrient solution with each box contains 4 nutrient solution. "Please, bring it upstairs. Put it beside the game capsules." Auron said. The two men brought the box upstairs and putted it beside the game capsules as Auron''s wish. After all done, they left Auron''s place. "Thank you Mr. Auron. We hope you enjoy playing Two Worlds and don''t forget to change your nutrient solution." One of the men bade farewell to Auron. After the men left, Auron went upstairs. He was so excited that he forgot he was grumpy because the disruption of his sleep. 20 nutrient solutions would last him for 20 days. In 20 days, he needed to get enough money to buy another nutrient solution. He also needed to get money enough to pay his rent. "Hah... I still had a lot to do." Auron sighed at the thought of money. "Forget it, Better focus on what I can do rather than what I can''t do!" Auron kept his mind positive. He opened the nutrient solution''s box and putted 10 nutrient solution in the game capsules. After that, he went inside the game capsules and login. [Welcome to Two Worlds] [We detected the presence of 10 nutrient solution. With nutrient solution you could play for 24 hours a day. We will warned you when the nutrient solution almost ran out. You could also look at the game options to check your nutrient solution. Enjoy the game!] Auron stood at the place where he logged out the previous days. "What to do?" Auron excitedly thinking what he should do since he was login very early. Chapter 39 Academys Class Since Auron login very early, he was confused on what he supposed to do now. "There were still a lot of time, should I go hunt and raise my level?" Auron thought. However, soon, Auron dismissed the idea of hunting because when he was hunting, he would forget about time and the chance of him late was high. "Maybe, I should go over to Smiling Wizard and read information about how the academy works." Auron decided, "That''s it, I am going over to Smiling Wizard now". Although, Auron already accepted into the academy and got the handbook, however, up until now he still never read it. After deciding what he gonna do, he prepared first for his main character. He went to the medicine store and bought another batch of potion. Buying another batch of potion made him only got 1 silver on his pocket. He didn''t want to spend all of his money and kept it for emergency use. Auron commanded the system to went over to the Dark Mansion''s area once again and told it to hunt there until all of his potion ran out. Auron also made the system only hunt the monster near the entrance, so the level of danger was much much lower and the system could easily ran away. Because it was morning and he made the system to hunt in the entrance, Auron felt safe to leave his main character to the system. As soon as he finished issuing his command, he switched over to his clone character, Smiling Wizard. He looked at his surrounding. He could see Feather Slice still asleep and snoring. He saw Black Bull was awake and doing something, but he could not find Deadly Tower anywhere in the room. "Good morning." Auron greeted Black Bull. "Oh you are awake, good morning." Black Bull nodded and replied. "What are you doing? and where is Deadly Tower?" Auron asked. "I am calculating my asset. This was very important step for me to survive in the academy." Black Bull replied with serious tone and concentrating on calculating his asset. "About Deadly Tower, He woke earlier than me. When I woke up, I could not find him anywhere, so I went outside and found him exercising and practicing his archery." "He must really eager to make his dad in heaven proud of him. Because of him, I also become motivated and that is why I am also preparing myself for the academy. Go out if you want to meet Deadly Tower." "Wow, he practiced very hard. I cannot lose to him. I am intending to read about the academy''s handbook first. I haven''t read it before." Auron told Black Bull. "Sure, I will not bother you anymore. As an advice, read the academy''s point part and memorize it." Black Bull giving advice to Auron and directly went back to calculate his assets. Auron thank him and brought out his academy''s handbook. He read it carefully so he not missed a single word. When he didn''t understand about something, he would read it many times until he understand what it meant about. After 1 hour reading the book, he finished reading it and closed the book. The book was very detailed especially the academy''s point part. Based on what he read, for the first 3 months he needed to attend two type of lesson, the general lesson and the class specific lesson. As it named, the general lesson would teach about everything in general, like how to raise one rank or how to fight in the war, what they needed to do when they were in danger, etc. Meanwhile, the class specific lesson would teach the way of that class, which in this case was mage, on fighting in war. The general lesson would be divided into two class, the noble class and the commoner class. Of course, they would be treated differently. The book said that the treatment for noble class would be better, their practice tool also more expensive than the commoner class. Because of this, there was one time that one of the commoner raised a protest to the academy. However, his protest was quickly dismissed by one sentence, "Military needs money, war needs money, rather than protest about the unfair treatment, why don''t you raise your contribution point and become noble." For the class specific lesson, there would only be one class for each specific class regardless of their status. The class would be a mixed of noble and commoner. From the book, Auron also learned that this class would teach them about how their class would contributed to war. Even the merchant class also had their own important role. In general, Swordsman would be the vanguards so they would learned everything they needed for close combat. Thief would learned on how to assassinate their enemy in the chaos of war or spying into the enemy camp. Archer would learned to snipe the enemy from far away and supported the close combat class. Mage would learned on how to cast their magic efficiently also they would learned on what they needed to do when they were trapped in close combat. Cleric would learned on the timing to heal and buff to support the other class. Meanwhile, merchant would learned on how to distribute the logistics and defend themselves and their carried goods from their enemy. As it mentioned before, they would learned all of it in 3 months everyday without break even on Sunday. After 3 months, they would be released from any guidance and they free to choose what are they gonna do. Although, they were free to choose on what they gonna do, they still needed to achieved a certain amount of academic''s point each month. If they could not achieved it, they would be punished by sent to the war zone for a month before they could get back to the academy. They would continued doing this until they were graduated. They would graduated 9 months later. So, it could be said that they would learned in the academy for 1 year. After 1 year, they would be sent to war zone as a soldier of Gaia and they could started to raised their military''s contribution point to raise their ranks. Chapter 40 Academys Poin After the learning period of 3 months over, there would be 9 months of internship in the military. To produce a good quality soldier, the military decided to put some pressure on the students. During the 9 months of internship, the student would be ranked based on their point gained. Their point would decided their fate in the academy. They could gained point through many ways. From a safe ways to the most dangerous ways. They could gained point through helping the teacher in a task, collecting certain resource task, killing monster, patrolling in a town and many more. The more dangerous a task the more point it would gifted. To put more pressure to the students, at the end of each months, there would be an evaluation to evaluate their performance. The students needed to collect certain amount of academy''s point, else they would get punished. The amount would increased each month, so the student needed to select more appropriate task to keep on the safe zone. After each month, the point would be reset back to 0 and they would need collect it again from scratch. The highest point, which was collected on the previous month, would be the safety limit for the next month. This would ensure the student to keep certain standard and keep moving forward. The top 10 students on the ranking would get a reward. The reward consists of money and equipment. The point they got would be converted to money with 1:1 ratio. 1 point would be converted to 1 copper. The more they collected the point, the more money they would get. However, the one who could get this privilege were the top 10 students on the ranking who already passed the safety limit. The rest, their point would just reset back to 0 and they would get nothing. Also, the top 5 students could get additional reward which was an equipment of their choice. The ranked 5 student would get a random common equipment of their class. The ranked 4 student would get two random common equipment of their class. The ranked 3 student would get one random uncommon equipment of their class. The ranked 2 student would get two random uncommon equipment of their class. And, the top student would get a rare equipment of their choice. This rewards was given to motivate the competitiveness of the students. Although the top student would only get 1 piece of equipment, however the equipment''s quality was rare and it could not be compared to 2 uncommon equipment. Moreover, the top student could choose their desired equipment. The money and the equipment given could ensure the competitiveness and quality of the student because the student would try to get as many points as possible to get to ranked 1 and get the rewards. After that month, the highest point would become the safety line for the next month. With this, the student need to achieve more and more point as the time passed. From history, from each batch, 90% of the student would get punished because they could not keep up with the safety limit or they just choose the safe task to get point. When a student could not reach the amount of point needed, they would be sent to the war zone for a month. Although they would only get an easy job like transporting supply, patrolling in the outer of war zone, however, it was still called war zone and the danger still high. Many case, the student who was sent to the war zone because of the punishment died under sudden assault or they were not careful enough and get killed. Even for the noble student, this punishment was very scary. The reason was, in war zone, their influence, money, or noble title means nothing. The war zone was under a strict supervision by the king and the crown prince. When they tried to do something bad such as bribery, they could implicate their family and it could lead to the eradication of their family. Moreover, the survival rate for the punished student was as low as 30%. This was due to the danger in the war zone, lack of experience, and also their level. Usually, the student in the academy would only leveled around 150-200 where as their enemy would leveled around 300-500. Also, this was the case before the update. After the update, their enemy level could get around 300-1000. However, based on the data collected through during the academy was built, There would be only 1 out of 100 noble that get punishment. It was due to their status and influence in the academy. Almost all of the punished student was from the commoner student. That was why many of the commoner student would licked the boots of the noble student to maintain their safety. When one point could increased, there were also ways for the point to decrease. Some of the task taken, needed them to pay some point for deposit. When they succeed the task, they would get the reward and their deposited point. However, when they were failure then, they would get nothing and they would also lost their deposited point. They could also bet their point in a duel or a fight. The winner would take all the point and the loser would lost their point. The duel content could be anything, from fighting until the fastest to collect certain things. Many of the student wanted to collect their point through this method. However, it was very difficult to search for opponent who would agreed to their duel content. Usually, only the confident one would agree to their opponent''s duel request. For starter, after the student past 3 months of learning period, each student would get 10 point for their use. Also, in the first month, there would no penalty because there was no target point needed or it could be said that the target point they needed to reach was 0. As long as, they kept their 10 points given, they would be safe. Chapter 41 Ceremony 1 Auron kept his academy''s handbook back to his inventory. He stretched his body a bit then looked around. He saw Black Bull still focused on counting his assets. Sweat could be seen on Black Bull''s forehead. Auron thought, "Is he really has that much money? It has been 1 hour and he still counting?" Not long after that, Black Bull suddenly lifted both of his arm in the air and shouted, "Done!!!" "Finally, I am done preparing." Black Bull wiped the sweat on his forehead. Quickly, he tidied up his things and kept it on his pocket. He looked around and found Auron looking at him. Auron looked at him and smiled. "Wow, you must have so many money that it needs 1 hour to sort it out." Auron started a conversation. "Ck ck ck." Black Bull waved his index finger to left and right. "No, it is not about the money. It is about how you use your money wisely. If you just give your money blindly without calculating it, you would just waste your money without getting the best outcome possible." "All things about money is complicated." Black Bull talked seriously. "You need to consider many things when allocating your money. If someone would helped you with just 50 copper, why would you give him 1 silver? If you give him 1 silver, will his work really worth 1 silver? Instead of money, could I give him another things or favor?" "Also you need to choose whom you gifted your money. That person''s personality and condition could affect the counting. Will he really help you with all of his strength? Is he a sly person? Should I go to another person? and many more things to consider." Black Bull explained. Black Bull added, "You are lucky to enter the academy using your way. But, you could not depend on luck forever." "What time is it guys?" Because of the conversation''s sound, Feather Slice who has been sleeping all the time, woke up. "Why are you guys so noisy in the morning? I need some more sleep." Feather Slice said and putted his head under his pillow. Suddenly, the room''s door opened. A short man entered the room with bow on his hand. Sweat covered all of the man''s body. A tired look could be seen on his face. "Hey guys, you all awake." Deadly Tower greeted his roommate. He sat on his bed and putted the bow beside him. He grabbed his towel and wiped all of the sweat on his body. "So, what are you guys talking about?" He asked. "I am just lecturing Smiling Wizard on how to use money wisely. He really is ignorant on how to manage his money." Black Bull shook his head. Auron could not help and smiled wryly, "You practices very early." "Yes, this is my routines everyday. I could not leave it, I need to become stronger." Deadly Tower shrugged his shoulder. "Are you guys ready? In a minutes, we need to gather in the field to attend the ceremony." Black Bull kicked Feather Slice''s bed, "Wake up you pig! Go prepared! we need to go in a few minutes. Can''t you follow Deadly Tower''s example?" "Huh... Okay, okay." Feather Slice answered half awake. After they finished preparing, They all went to the field to attend the ceremony. When they arrived at the field. There was so many student already gathered on the field. There some student who chatted to each other. There was also some student who just do nothing and waited patiently. There was some student who observed other carefully. Two large group could be seen on the student gathered. One group consist of people who wore a nice and expensive clothes, while the other just wore ordinary clothes. The group who wore nice and expensive clothes was the noble group, while the other was the commoner group. There was an invisible line which separate this two group. The noble chattering among the other and make new friends while boasting their position and family''s wealth. While there was some commoner student who observed the noble group and trying to choose which noble they would follow to ensure their safety. Auron''s group arrived at the field and joined the commoner group. When he arrived, Auron observed his surrounding. There was around a thousand student in this batch. Around 90% of the student was the commoner and the rest was the noble. Although, the noble number was fewer than the commoner, however their aura and presence suppressed the commoner. Many commoner awed at the noble''s group. Auron observed the noble''s group. Many nobles talked to each other. There was some low level nobles who flatter the higher level noble intending to join their group. There was also some noble forced to laugh at the higher level noble''s joke. Among the group, Auron could saw three people that absorbing many noble''s attention. The first one was a handsome and majestic guy stood in the middle of a circle. He always smiled and answered all of other nobles flattery surrounding him. The second one was a well built guy with a cold face. He always wore a cold face like he would ate you alive. He also stood quietly and ignored all the other nobles flattery like they were not exist. The last one was a big and muscular guy that laughed and seems enjoyed other nobles'' flattery. He throws a joke which was not funny but the other nobles would forced to laugh at his joke. His voice also was very loud so almost all the student in the field could hear what he was talking. Auron looked at him and he recognized the man. He was the guy who drove Auron away on his first room. Anger started to build inside Auron. He wanted revenge and throw away the humiliation back at the guy. However, he quickly suppressed the urge. He still weak. If he insisted on revenge right now, it would just like throwing himself to death. "Just you wait, I will take my revenge back on you!" Auron swore in his mind while looking at the muscular man murderously. Chapter 42 Ceremony 2 Auron look at the muscular guy with much anger and hatred. If gaze could kill someone, that guy had already died many times over. Killing intent could be seen accidentally seeped out from his body. Auron quickly maintain his composure and retracted his killing intent. Although, the killing intent only showed out for a brief, however, it quickly attracted all of the other students'' attention. All of the student looked over to the source of the aura. They followed Auron line of sight and saw the guy in the noble''s group. All of them had many thought on their mind. Some of them scared, some of them frowned thinking why this guy showing his killing intent to the noble''s group, some of them smirked while cursing and mocking Auron thinking why this guy seeking death. Even, a shock expression could be shown on Auron''s roommate. They looked over to Auron and followed his line of sight. When they saw who was the one that attracted their roommate, they understood. With their knowledge about Auron''s problem, they come closer to Auron. The student in the noble''s group also looked over at Auron and they could saw Auron looking at their group. When they followed Auron''s gaze, they could saw the muscular guy frowned. Many thought also appeared on each of their mind about the guy background and how come he could be brave enough to show their killing intent to them who had a noble status. When other people could felt the killing intent, how could the muscular guy, the target of the killing intent, not felt it. He frowned and looked back at Auron. He could not remember who this guy was and why he shown his killing intent. He felt confused at this guy. This guy stand at the commoner''s group and showing such killing intent and hatred gaze to him. "Is this guy had a big background showing such killing intent to noble group while standing in the commoner group?" The big guy thought in his mind. He didn''t dare to act rash when he still not sure about the guy background. This place was military''s academy. Although, not many officer in the academy who could be bribed, there still few of them who could make his life hard. Moreover, despite his family was in the top 3 noble''s family in the academy right now, he was still the lowest among the three. Also, his family was only ranked 3 in this student''s batch, there were still a lot of noble''s family with higher status than him outside the academy. He already decided to make an apology if this guy background was higher than him. While he had a big and muscular body, his courage was actually not so high. He only liked to bully others who were lower and weaker than him. He could not afforded to offend someone with unknown status or he would only brought disaster to himself. While he was frowning and trying to remember who was this guy and why he was showing such hatred gaze, one of his roommate and his henchmen recognized Auron. He also frowning and whispered to the muscular guy. When the muscular guy heard from his henchmen, he suddenly remembered and a shocked expression could be seen. However, the shocked not last for long, it quickly changed to an evil smirked and anger. The big guy walked over to Auron''s direction followed by his follower and flatterer. Around 10 student could be seen walked over to Auron''s group. The commoner who was closer to the big guy''s group didn''t dare to blocked their path afraid if they could become the black sheep. They quickly departed and make way for the big guy''s group. When the big guy arrived at Auron''s group, he smiled, "Why are you looking at me with that gaze?" The big guy talked kindly and with noble''s way of talking as if he was confused and didn''t know the reason Auron shown such gaze. Auron only stared silently. "Hmm... Are you deaf and mute? Hey brother can''t you at least tell me my mistake?" He looked behind his back and shrugged his shoulder. He asked his henchmen behind him with a loud voice, "Hey, Pollack do you know why this guy angry at me?" The henchmen behind him named Pollack took the hint from the big guy and answered it with a loud voice, "I think I remember this guy. He seems like the student who you chased from the room yesterday." "Really? Did I really chased someone out? I don''t think I would do something that cruel without any reason. Do you know the reason why I chased him?" The big guy still maintain his confused looked and continued his act with Pollack. "He entered the wrong room. He said that he got our room''s key, the noble room''s key, however, looked at his appearance. Everything ordinary and shown no noble''s sign. When we asked him about his background, it turns out he was a commoner with no background. Can you imagine? How could a commoner got noble''s room key?" Pollack shouted with mocking voice and emphasize his word on the noble and commoner status . "I thought at first, he stole a key from a noble student. But, look at his level and strength, I don''t think there would be any noble weak enough that could be defeated by him. Unless..."Pollack stopped for a while like he got a sudden revelation, "He was a gigolo and was hired by some noble woman so he could get his recommendation proof. With his handsome face I was sure it was because this reason he could get a noble room''s key." Pollack said with a mocking tone followed by laughter by other the big guy and people around him. "You....!!!!" Feather Slice could not endured what Pollack said and instantly rage erupted from inside him like a volcano. Deadly Tower and also Black Bull also showed anger face. The three of them quickly brought out their weapon and ready to fight. Chapter 43 Ceremony 3 When the others student know Auron''s background, some of them shook their head in pity of Auron, some others wore an excited expression waiting for a show to play in front of them. Meanwhile, all of the nobles frowned and a little anger could be seen on each one of their face. They were angry because there was a commoner braved enough to face the noble. Auron''s action like slapping their face. However, they didn''t act because they knew Auron was weak and the big guy was enough to deal with Auron. Seeing Auron''s roommate released their weapon. The big guy''s henchmen also went up to the front and unleashed all of their weapon. A tense atmosphere could be felt in the field. However, before any of them could moved, suddenly a huge pressure press down on Auron''s roommate and the big guy''s henchmen. The pressure was so huge that they could not continue standing and fell down. The pressure then spread out to all of the other student in the field. Didn''t matter whether they were commoner or noble all of them felt the pressure and fell down, Auron included. Because of the pressure all of the student laid down on the ground. The stronger only laid down with minor injuries, while the weaker felt as a huge boulder was placed behind their back. Auron belonged to the latter group. Moreover, because Auron was the weakest among all of the student, blood could be seen on his lips. However, the pressure was not meant to kill only to restrict their movement, so the casualty was not high. Not long after that, a middle aged man walked from the inner building. The man wore a green uniform. A star could be seen on his uniform which represent his status in the military. From the star on his uniform, the man rank in the military was colonel. He put his hand behind his back and walked slowly into the field. The man was only slightly muscular, however, each step he took was very firm and heavy, like a huge beast walking slowly over to the scared prey. Behind him, there were 20 others uniformed men followed him. Each of them was ranked lower than him. When he arrived in front of the crowd who was still laid down the ground, he spoke casually, however, the voice could be heard to all of the people in the field. "What do you think this place are?" "This is military''s academy, there are rules to follow. Not a playground. Since this is the first time, I will let it slide. However, if this is ever happened again, prepared to be sent to the war zone. Now, stand up and make 50 line!" Although the voice was not loud, it still could be heard by all of them. Not only that, the voice seems to contain some sort of mystical power that give chill to all of them who heard it. Everyone on the ground who heard it got a goosebumps. After the man spoke, the pressure suddenly lifted. When the pressure lifted, all of the student struggle to stand up. The weaker student and Auron could felt their legs trembling because of the aftereffect. However, they didn''t care about it and quickly walked to get into the line. Because of the pressure before, the student didn''t dare to dilly dally. It took 3 minutes for 50 line to be formed. Many of them afraid to be punished more harsh. Some of them even stood up in line while their legs still shaking. Seeing the line already formed, the man with the highest rank smiled widely, and with a soft voice said, "I am Brock. Your chief training officer. I will oversee all of your training while you were in the academy. Behind me were 20 officer which will also become your mentor. Enough for the introduction, let us start the ceremony." The ceremony didn''t take long. It only took around 30 minutes until the ceremony reach to the end. Actually, what so called ceremony was only a gathering for the student to hear the rules of the academy and also what was important. The content of it was actually recorded in the student''s handbook given when they coming for the first time. Once a student read the handbook, he would recognized all of the content given during the ceremony. However, the academy deliberately doing this because they want to emphasize how important the rules were. "Before we end this, there was one important announcement I would make." Brock announced with a serious tone. Brock smiled sinister, "You guys are special. This batch are special. Your lesson period will last only for one month. After that, 11 months of practical period will follow." "However, don''t you worry, we will still give you all the knowledge same as the previous batch. Since your lesson period will become shorter, we would arranged your lesson schedule tightly." "All of you would start your lesson today. After this, we would divided you into twenty groups. When the officer behind me called your name go and make line in front of them." After that, all of the twenty officer called the student name one by one. When a student heard their name was called, they directly went to the front of the officer and make line. Not long after, all of the student already assigned to their own officer. Despite there were twenty line, the separation still could be seen. 5 line was containing only noble student while the rest was containing only commoner student. Auron was called last and he was joining the commoner group. He was separated from his roommate. When his name was called, all of the other student attention focused on him. Many of the commoner student trying to avoid him as if he were a calamity. On the other hand, the noble student all smirked mockingly, especially the big guy and his henchmen. "Now, go a followed your own officer and start your lesson!" Brock commanded. All of the officer turned back and saluted Brock before went their separate ways followed by the student which they had called previously. From the start he gaze the big guy until now, he was silent with cold face all the time. He swallowed all the humiliation and only clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. "This is the beginning. I will become stronger and stronger until no one can humiliate me." Auron swore by his heart. He release his clenched fist and silently followed the officer from behind. Blood could be seen on his palm. Chapter 44 First Lesson 1 An officer walked into the building followed by 25 students behind him. After following the officer for a few minute, the group was brought outside again, but this time they went outside from another door. The door led to the back of the main building. The walked through a soil path until they reached to a four story building placed remotely behind the main building. The group went inside the building. The group walked passed a set of stairs until they arrived at the highest floor on the building. When they arrived at the highest floor, they could saw a door, which was the only door on the floor. There was only one room on the highest floor. The door was full of cobweb and there was even a spider on it. The officer with cold and straight face put his hand on his pocket and brought out a key. He put they key through the keyhole and turned it out. Then, a ''click'' sounded. The officer opened the door and went inside the room followed by the student behind him. A big hall could be seen, though, it was not as big as the boss'' room in the dark mansion, but it still could be considered big. Auron predicted this hall could accommodate 200 obese adult. However, despite the hall was big, it was not maintain properly. It could be seen from the cobweb in the door. Inside the hall was also full of cobweb. The air was so humid and it stinks like corpse. The group could also saw many puddle of water on the floor which was the result from the leaking rooftop. There was also some excrement from rats. It was so dirty that it could not be considered as a place for living. The student that followed the officer felt disgusted by what they see. All of them thought that even their place was not as bad as this place. This place was actually the place where the academy built first. After some time, their student number increased, so they decided to build a new building to replace this building. When the new building was done, they all moved to the new building. The new building was the main building that they had seen before. After moving to the new building, this place was gifted for the servant in the academy for them to stay. However, because the number of the servant was not many, they only occupied the first three floor, whereas they abandoned the fourth floor. Because it was abandoned so long and it was not cleaned, the place became so dirty. Once, there was a servant that invited the other servant to clean this floor. When the servant arrived at the fourth floor and saw what it looks like, they quickly changed their mind. They thought that it would need a lot of effort to clean this place while they were not going used this place so their effort would be useless. They also thought this was a hall which could contain 200 adult which mean they would not lived here alone and all of them had their own room at the first three floor. This made the place become more abandoned and more dirty. Back in the days, when this building was used as the main building, this hall was used to for important lecture and it was opened to all student. This place also where the academy would held graduation ceremony or receive an important guest from the royalty. But now, it was just a big abandoned dirty hall. Although disgust could be seen on the student''s face, they were not brave enough to complain to the cold officer. The student followed the officer with disgust to the middle of the hall. In the middle of the hall, the officer stopped and turned around to face the student. Before, the officer was so cold that a person would be afraid just to say hello to him. However, after turning around, a wide smiled and happy expression could be seen on his face. "My name is Peter Adam. I would be responsible for your class for this month. It can be said that I am your homeroom teacher." Peter said with a friendly tone. "This place would be your learning place. All of your general class would be held here. You guys should be happy to get a learning place as big as this place. You..." "This place was big but it was so dirty" One of the student murmured slowly when he heard Peter''s speech. Bang. Suddenly, a loud sound could be heard. The student which was murmured slowly was pushed several meter back and crouched on the floor. He shouted in surprised and a pained expression could be seen on his face. He coughed out blood on the floor. The sudden loud sound take all the student''s attention. All of them turned their head around and looked behind them. They could saw the student crouched on the ground with one hand held his stomach. Although the student was not dead but from the look, the student suffered a serious injury. The student coughed out a lot of blood and still coughing. The pained expression of the student also not escape from the eyes of the other student. They all thought that they would died when they received the sudden attack. A shocked could be seen on the face of the other student. Even, some of the girls in the class shouted hysterically seeing the blood. "Silent!" A loud and sinister voice could be heard. Hearing the voice, all of the student quickly shut their mouth. The girls who was screaming quickly cease to scream anymore. A shiver ran through all of the student including Auron. This incident caught them in surprise. All of them quickly turned their head once again and looked at the officer once more. "I don''t like when there is someone interrupting in the middle of my explanation." Peter wore a wide smile and explained in a friendly tone Chapter 45 First Lesson 2 Peter was smiling widely while putting his hand on his back. If a stranger looked at him, they would thought that this man was very friendly. However, for the student here, it was nightmare. Despite only attacking once, it give the student sense of fear. What they fear most was not the power but the officer''s personality. At one time, he was smiling so friendly, but suddenly it could change 180 degree and he became brutal. After that he smiling friendly again as if what he had done was nothing big. This unpredictable personality was what made the student scared because they could not predicted this officer at all. Moreover, they could not defended themselves and fight back because of the difference in power. "Now... " Peter said while smiling. He still wore a friendly expression with his hand on his back. However, when the student hear what he said they felt like a disaster gonna come to them. Some student even had their leg trembling. For Auron, although he was shocked by the brutality and the unpredictable personality of the officer, he could still composed himself. After all, he had 10 years experience as a top ranked player in all of Gaia. He already when to the war zone many times before. "Now, can you guys line up properly?" Peter sounded very friendly like a kindergarten teacher telling his student. The student who heard this felt shiver on their body. Many thought appeared on their mind. "Is this officer crazy?" "Is this officer has a split personality?" "Will he get angry again?" "Is this just an act and he is testing us?" ... However, none of the student brave enough to voiced out what was on their mind. They hurriedly line up in front of the officer. Some even fell down because he was so nervous, but he quickly stood up ignoring the pain and quickly went to the line. The student who was attacked also quickly stood up with difficulties. Although, he was not coughing anymore, but he still held his stomach with his hand in a pained expression. He quickly joined the line. Auron also quickly joined the group without saying anything. His calm composure also shown in his face. No trembling. No fear. Only calm face, he stood up and stared to the front of him like there was nothing that could disrupted his gaze. "Ho..." Peter sensed the difference in the student in front of him. He also spotted Auron and a little bit shocked by Auron''s attitude. It only took 3 minutes for all the student to line up. When all the student already lined up, Peter raised his finger and pointed into the group. Seeing this action, a sense of fear came to all of the student once again. The trembling student trembled more even in the brink of collapse. All the student looked at the pointed finger. Some of the student relieved because the finger was not pointed to them. All of the student quickly traced the finger and trying to find out the student who was in trouble this time. The finger pointed at the back of the line. All of the student saw a handsome student with ragged clothes, such a contrast between the student''s face and the clothes he was wearing. The finger was pointing at Auron. When the student found out that Auron was the one who was pointed at, they felt pity on him. However, what followed after that shocked them. "From now on, you are the class'' captain. You will be in charge of this class." Peter said. Auron was also shocked by the news. However, before he could say anything, Peter continued, "Now, this place would be your place to study. Also you have heard before that your learning session would be on tight schedule. Let me tell you something. You can forget about your home or comfortable bed because for almost 24/7 you would be in this place or other place in the main building. So, let us begin our first lesson." "Your first lesson was to clean and fix this place. 25 of you would clean every corner of this place and also fix the hole in the rooftop." "You have to clean and fix this place before dinner. At dinner time, I will come back to check everything." "You cannot find any help from outsider. And for lunch, just think it among you guys." Peter explained. After stating that, he walked to the door with a following gaze from the student who was very scared to move. When Peter arrived at the door he turned his head and said "Oh yeah, if you guys not finished by the dinner''s time, I would be very happy to help you guys." Peter said it with a very wide smile and continued went outside. However, when the student heard it, they shuddered. All of them only thought one thing, "If they are not finished by dinner''s time, they would be dead." When Peter had left them and went downstairs, suddenly many of them felt weak on their knees and they slumped down to the ground. They could not think about the dirty and disgusting floor as they felt very weak and they even didn''t have the strength to stand up again. "Ehm..." Auron tried to break the tense atmosphere. All of the student looked at Auron. "My name was Smiling Wizard. I know you guys are in a tense mood right now. But, we had only little time to clean this big place." "How about we rest first around 10 minutes. In the meantime, let us introduce ourselves. So, we could know each other better." Auron suggested. After they went through all the incident before, they felt scared. Moreover, this guy was the class'' captain that Peter had chose. However, from the look, it looked like this guy was friendly and it was not an act like their officer. They gradually felt relaxed and calm. All of them nodded and they started to introduce themselves one by one. Chapter 46 Cleaning All of them took turns to introduced themselves. After a few minutes, all of them already introduced themselves. There were 25 students in the room. Out of the 25 students, 9 of them were woman and the rest were man. Their average level was 43, with level 51 as the highest level and level 35 as their lowest level, excluding Auron''s level. Their class were varied from swordsman to cleric. With swordsman as the class with the most number among them and cleric as the class with the least number among them. What surprising was none of them had mage class. From their story, Auron learned that the cost to become a mage class was on a different level than other class and they could not afford it. If they insisted to become a mage, without help, they could only become at most a mediocre mage. Among the commoners, mage was like a special class, only nobles and nobles'' follower, who could become a mage. Of course, it was hard to become a nobles'' follower. Their freedom also would be restricted. On top of that, not all of the nobles'' follower would be supported to become a mage. They need a to proof their talent by completing a series of test before they could get the nobles'' support. With this difficulties not many of the commoner could become a mage. However, there still many of them that dreaming to become a mage or at least befriend with a mage, so they could have a little share of the mage''s fame. When they learned that Auron was a mage, their impression of Auron went up by one level. Also, they was wondering which nobles that Auron, a commoner mage, served. To disperse their confusion and misunderstanding, Auron started to kindly told them about his story. Even more, Auron had a kind attitude towards them. This things made their impression of Auron went up by another level. Before, they only respected Auron because they were scared of Peter, but now they genuinely respected Auron from their heart. This also made the student with higher level than Auron didn''t mind to take command from him. "Okay, enough for the rest. We need to start the cleaning else we cannot make it in time." After the introduction, Auron started to urge his classmate to start the cleaning process. He divided them into four group. One group would fixed the hole in the roof. Two groups would be in charge of cleaning the room. And, the last group, which consist of the most female students, would be in charge transporting clean water from outside of the building to the fourth floor. When it was 3 p.m, they could only finished 50% of the work. The dirtiness of this place was almost in different level. They could not clean a spot in just a wipe, they needed to wipe in several attempt and with more power to clean a spot. This made them very exhausted. Also, the clean water needed was way more higher than the ordinary cleaning. The group that went to the roof to fix the hole also had their hard time. They didn''t have any tools to help them to climb up to the roof. So, they could only climbed up to the roof by themselves through the window. With a high danger looming around them, they work with more cautiously, this made their progress slowed. Moreover, up till this time, they haven''t had their lunch yet. Their energy almost depleted. In case of Auron, he doing more works than the others. When the water was nearly ran out, he quickly helped the group to bring more clean water. When the water supply was sufficient, he went to clean the room. When the roof''s group need some help, he quickly went to help them. This made the other students respected him more. Auron didn''t abuse his power, instead, he was the one who doing the most work. Also, a mage like Auron with a level lower than them, could do more work than them without exhausted, this made them encouraged to do more work. What they didn''t know was that Auron attributes was double than ordinary person''s attributes. Also, although Auron was a mage, he still invested some of his attributes point to attributes that swordsman needed. Auron looked at the time and looked at his friends, they all exhausted. Auron decided that they need to replenish their energy. So, Auron decided to use his "cheat". He commanded his swordsman character and sold some of his loot item to buy some bread and placed it in the inventory. When he finished buying it he commanded his swordsman to went back to hunt again. Auron left the room quietly, so there were no one that notice him missing. Then, he directly went back with a bunch of food. "Hey guys, I brought some food here, let us rest for 10 minutes before continuing the work." Auron shouted. When the other student heard there was a food coming, they felt grateful. 10 minutes after they ate their food, they continued their worked. They felt energized. With their energy boosted, they could finished their works more quickly. At 5.50 p.m they finished their work. All of them felt relieved and started to take rest while waiting for Peter. Meanwhile, Auron felt responsible of the group that instead of rest, he checked all over the place to look for a flaw and quickly fixed it so that Peter could not making excuse to blame them. At 6 p.m sharp, Peter walked slowly with a friendly face into the room. He said nothing and directly inspecting the place slowly. He inspected the place and didn''t even bothered to look at the student as if this place was empty. While Peter inspecting the place, the students didn''t dare to make any sound and just stood quietly. Seeing Peter way of inspecting, Auron frowned. Peter would stop at a spot for 5 minutes before moving to other place. "So thorough" Auron though in his mind. "Good." Peter finally said after around 55 minutes inspecting the place. "After this you would have your dinner in the main building, then you would get into your class specific lesson for the rest of the day. Tomorrow morning at 6 a.m you would need to gather here. Don''t be late" Peter said friendly like congratulating the student for passing a test. After saying that, he quickly went out of the room. When he was at the door, he turned around and said, "Oh yeah, one more thing, your class specific lesson would start at 7 p.m. Hurry up to take your dinner." Chapter 47 Question All of the students, including Auron, rushed out of the building and went directly to the main building. With the help of nutrient solution, Auron didn''t need to eat. So, instead of going to the dinner room, Auron went directly to the mage lesson. In the way of going to the class, Auron looked at his classmate expression and he felt pity. For Auron, eating in the game was only for the purpose of replenishing his energy point. When Auron didn''t anything in the game, his energy point would depleted which would resulted in his attributes reduces. Although it was not good, but it was better than what would happen to NPC when they were not eating. When an NPC not eat anything they could died. Auron could only sighed and prayed for his classmate safety. After a few minutes, Auron arrived at the mage lesson class. Despite rushing to the class, he still arrived late. When he entered the class, all of the other student already sit on their chair and the class already started with some introduction. "You are late! Since this is your first time, I will overlook this. However, there is no second chance. Now, take a seat." A beautiful woman scolded Auron. This woman had a white smooth skin. She was wearing an red long robe. From one look, one could recognized how expensive the robe she was wearing. Her black long hair added more to the beauty image of the woman. This woman was only slightly shorter than Auron and she seems younger than Auron. Despite her scolding, she still had a kind image on her. This woman was the mage class'' teacher. After scolding Auron, the teacher continued her teaching. Auron took his seat at the back of the classroom. The class specific lesson was a one big lesson for that specific class ignoring their social status, in this case was mage. Auron could saw there was a clear separation between the noble and the commoner. All of the nobles were sitting at the front of the class and the commoner were sitting behind them. There were 200 students in the class. Auron could saw that this class was dominated by the noble and their commoner henchmen. From the way the commoner interact with each other, Auron could count the commoner which was not related to the nobles. Including Auron, the commoner that was not related to any nobles could be counted by finger. Ignoring all of this, Auron started to pay attention to the class. Since this was the introduction lesson, it explained about the element on their spell and all other basic things. Auron already knew all of this, but he still payed attention to the lecture of the teacher. The teacher''s explanation was very clear and easy to understand. Since Auron never played as a mage before, his knowledge limited. However, with the help of the lecture now, Auron could answer some question on his mind. A big question like how a mage with the same dexterity could have different spell casting speed was also answered. As a mage, you would have an elemental understanding which could help you to cast the spell faster. However, not all of the mage could understand this. Also the higher the understanding, the higher it could reduce the casting time. After hearing this, Auron looked at his character''s status panel to checked his understanding, but he could not find anything related to this in his character''s status panel. "Could it be not recorded in the panel?" Auron thought. "No, it must be recorded. There is only one reason why I cannot find anything related to the elemental understanding. My understanding was so low that it was not recorded" What Auron thought was correct, there was no elemental understanding in his character''s status panel was because he had not understood anything related to the elemental. It could be said that his elemental understanding status was 0%. This was why he could not find anything related to the elemental understanding in his character''s status panel. Auron could already imagined how hard it was to raise his elemental understanding. Moreover, Auron never played mage before and didn''t know anything about this. And right now, he was sitting in a classroom that discussing about this. Auron could not missed this chance. Auron interrupted the teacher''s teaching by raising his hand wanting to ask a question. The teacher who saw this stopped his lesson and pointed at Auron, "Yes, you". When the teacher said this all of the others student looked at Auron including all of the nobles. Auron took this chance and told his question. "How can we get to know our elemental understanding?" Auron asked. When Auron asked this, all of the nobles laughed out loud. Some commoner also laughed along with the nobles. Some other commoner had their eyes opened wide shocked by the question. Auron was so confused by the sudden laughter. What Auron didn''t know was all of this was recorded in the basic mage books that could easily acquired even as a commoner. Also, for them, to determine one had a talent as a mage or not, they should had at least one elemental understanding. So, when they heard Auron''s question, one things appeared at their mind. "This guys didn''t had any talent and knowledge to became a mage but insisted to become a mage. Just a low level mage." There were many mage that didn''t have talent but insisted on the path of a mage. At the end, they were just a low level mage and at most a mediocre mage. However, to become a mediocre mage without talent they needed to spent a lot of resources and from the image of Auron, which was a commoner it was impossible to achieve. By asking that question, all the student especially the nobles, sneered at Auron. What all of them didn''t know, Auron was different from them all. Auron was a player not a NPC. Chapter 48 Elemental Understanding "Silent!" The teacher said. All the other student who was still mocking and laughing at Auron, quickly became silent. This was their first time meeting this teacher and they didn''t know how this teacher''s temperament. Many of the teacher here was a freak and unpredictable just like, Brook and Peter Adam. One missed step and you got the nerve of this officer or teacher, you would be in big trouble. Your family could get dragged into the mess. At first, when hearing Auron''s question, she also shocked. "How could a mage accepted into the academy, didn''t know about this?". However, she quickly changed her mind after knowing Auron was from commoner''s group. She thought, the same as the rest of the student, Auron was insisting to become a mage despite his low talent. However, she quickly shook her head and didn''t want crushed this student''s hope and effort. Seeing all of them quiet, this teacher started to explain to Auron and the rest of the student about elemental understanding. The teacher explained all basic information about elemental understanding. Since the other student already knew about what the teacher said they didn''t pay attention to what the teacher said. However, they still nodded their head as if they were listening. After listening to the teacher''s explanation, Auron get some basic knowledge regarding the elemental understanding. The same as 4 types of magic elements, there were also 4 types of elemental understanding, fire, ice, earth, and wind. The higher the elemental understanding of the respective element, the shorter the casting time all of the spell of belong to that element. In addition, higher understanding also means their spell would got power enhancement. Each power enhancement from their understanding differed one element to another element. Fire based spell would get an addition in their power and area of effect. Ice based spell would get buff on their slow effect and controlling debuff. Earth based spell would get a longer duration and the sturdiness of their spell. And, wind based spell would get enhancement on the spell traveling speed and the quantity of the spell. A person could learn all type of spell however, the spell with elemental understanding was way more powerful than the other element. Usually, someone who had talent in magic would had minimum one elemental understanding. Someone with two elemental understanding would be considered as an elite. Someone with three elemental understanding would be considered as a top grade talent. And someone with four elemental understanding would be respected by all of the people including the king. However, someone with four elemental understanding was only in the legend. These days, the highest achievement in elemental understanding was fell to the royalty. The first prince also known as the crown prince was the one who had three elemental understanding. When the king knew about this. He directly nurtured the prince and guard him very attentively. With the help by the king, the prince growth was exceptional. And now, he was named as the strongest mage in all Gaia with three peak elemental understanding. Although you get an elemental understanding of an element, it would not mean you would become strong. You would need to raise the level of your understanding. However, to raise the understanding was not an easy feat. There were many mage stuck at some level and could not raise their understanding with any possible means. They could only accept their fate. There were two ways of raising the understanding. One of the way to raise their elemental understanding was to use the spell and analyze the spell. When one analyze the spell their understanding would raise a little bit. The higher the understanding, the higher the requirement. They needed to analyze more complicated and more higher leveled spell. If he didn''t had any persistent, he would easily give up. However, persistent only was not enough, they also needed a smart brain. Once there was a mage who was persistent, he never give up to analyze the spell and keep researching it. He finally completed his research and achieved a full complete understanding of that element, however, he had spent 90 years to complete it and the next day he was died of old age and exhausted body. He didn''t get any chance to show off his skill. Another way was to encounter a lucky chance. Sometimes, a lucky encounter could give you an insight and helped you easily analyze the spell. This was also the case for the mage in NPC world to determine their magic talent. When they were born, some babies were lucky enough to be born with affinity in some element. This was what they used to determine one magic talent. However, this was not applied to player. A player would always start from zero. They didn''t have any understanding and they could only raised it by experimenting or learned from others. So, at the beginning, a mage player would always got ridiculed by the NPC. However, if that player could get to the top, many NPC would turned 180 degree and respected them, like the top number 1 mage player. "Any question?" After finishing her explanation, the teacher asked while looking at the student''s expression. Seeing no one raise another question, she concluded her lesson for that day, "If there are no more question, that''s it for today, tomorrow we will learn about the way to cast while moving. If you don''t know what that mean is you could learn first from the book at the library." When the teacher was about to left the classroom, the noble student quickly stood up from their seat and bowed toward her, "Thank you teacher Alice for the lesson!". Seeing the noble did this, the commoner including Auron followed the noble student and thanked Alice. The noble student did this was to get on the good side of the teacher so they could get a leniency when they did some mistake. Alice looked at them and nodded at them once, then she left the classroom. Chapter 49 Ridiculed After Alice left the room. The noble student looked behind them with a frowned face. "You guys should just be quiet when the lesson is on going. Don''t do something unnecessary!" One of the noble bellowed followed by nodded from other nobles. "Especially you!" He pointed at Auron. "You just a mere ant with low talent. You could dream becoming a dragon but don''t hinder us with your dream." "In reality, just stand still, we had a rule here. If you want to dream go home first and you can dream all the way you want." "If you follow the rules, at least your life will not be so miserable" All the commoner felt afraid by this situation. Some of them glanced at Auron and stared harshly as if all of this was Auron''s fault. Auron didn''t bother with his fellow commoner''s stare, instead, he looked at the noble who said this. Surprisingly, he recognized him. This noble was the big guy''s henchmen, who chased him out of the room when he first come to the academy, Pollack. "So, you think that as a commoner, I, doesn''t have the same right as you?" Auron stared at Pollack. "No no no, you are wrong! I don''t against commoner to ask a question" Pollack corrected Auron. "They have the same right as us, nobles. However, as I said before, they have to follow the rules and they have already follow the rules well." "However, you, a lowly ant dreaming to become a dragon, not only you do not follow the rules, you even made us all like an idiot by asking that question!" Pollack bellowed at Auron harshly, this time not only the nobles agreed at what he said, even some commoner nodded at what he said. He successfully change the opinion of the commoner from fear to support him and blamed all the fault at Auron. "Then, what is the rules?" Auron tried his best calm himself. "Rules? You still dared to ask about the rules? With your low talent, you don''t even qualified to know the rules. Just be quiet next time and don''t do anything. It would be better if you don''t attend the class" Pollack ridiculed him Auron looked at Pollack, he was a level 53 mage. From the equipment he wore, that boosted fire element damage, it looks like Pollack was a fire elemental mage. Auron exploded, "You scum, let''s have a bet one week from now, If I win, you would kneel and publicly apologized to me! If I lose, I would not attend the class specific lesson anymore. Do you dare?" "Bet? If you voluntary want to leave the academy then I would gladly helped you." Pollack smirked. "How should we bet?" "From the lesson before, Ms Alice said that one week from now, there would be an assessment on mage simulation tower. We will do it at that time. Whoever has the higher result will be the winner." Auron suggested. "Ha ha ha. Sure. Start packing your thing now and enjoy your one week lesson." Pollack agreed to Auron''s suggestion and felt as if he already win. After settling his bet with Auron, he left the room followed by the other nobles and some commoner. When he was about to leave the room, he instructed the other nobles and commoner to spread the news to all other student, so whoever lose didn''t reneged their bet. The other nobles left the room laughing as if they also believed that Pollack surely win the bet and they ridiculed Auron. They thought that Auron was an idiot because asking such question in the class, but now, they thought that Auron didn''t even have brain to think. Most of the commoner here were noble''s followers, so they also ridiculed Auron as if he was an idiot. While for the non noble''s followers, they felt pity toward Auron. They also thought that it was impossible for Auron to win the bet. They also believed it would be a miracle if a lowly talent mage could win against a noble mage with huge support behind their back. They patted Auron''s shoulder before they left the room. Auron was left alone in the class. What they didn''t know was Auron already calculated all of the possibilities he had and this was the bet with the highest win chances. Right now, Auron was still level 15 due to his other character keep on hunting and leveling up. He predicted that with this pace one week later his character would still level 20. if A level 20 mage fought one on one against a level 53 mage, it would be a suicide. That was why Auron didn''t even suggested that. Mage simulation tower was the right way to win the bet. From what Auron read at the handbook, the simulation tower was a place to do some fair assessment within the academy. It was fair because, all of them would get the same quality equipment and weapon. They would also get the same leveled opponent. This way, the level would not affect much on the assessment. In addition, this would ensure that the assessment only assess the participant''s skill and battle experience. If he was given enough time, Auron was sure that he could defeat Pollack easily at the end of the month, however, time was what Auron didn''t have. If he endured the ridiculed until the end of the month, he could not imagined what would happen to him during that time. Moreover, it would also hinder his progress and build stress inside him. The assessment was his only chance although he knew his skill as a mage was still low. Auron also didn''t pushed the bet to far despite he hated that guys so much. He didn''t bet with his life, instead he took a step back and only want Pollack to apologize. Also, the punishment set for him was some leeway for him. If he lose he would only lose his class specific lesson. Although, it was a loss, but he could still do something to cover that loss, such as by going to the library or asking the non noble''s followers for the lesson. Chapter 50 Library 1 Auron left the classroom. It was an hour past midnight. All of the things that happened today made him very tired. However, instead of going back to his room and rest, he went to the library. The library in the academy was opened for 24 hours. Although, it was opened for 24 hours, the student visited the library was not many. Almost all of the student that visited the library was the commoner student. Auron arrived at the library. It was just as he thought, the library was empty. Auron could only saw less than five students inside. It was not a surprised since it was past midnight time. In addition, the tight lesson''s schedule made all the student very tired. Some of the student who was planning to visit the library, canceled his plan because they were very tired. Auron come inside the library. He greeted the librarian. But, the librarian only nodded at him and didn''t bother with him. Auron walked into the library. The library was very big, with many bookshelves. There was five floors in the library. Auron was in the first floor. If you go to the higher floor, you would find there were less book than the floor below it. However, the quality of the book was better than the previous floor. But, not all of the student could go to the higher floor, they needed to fulfill certain requirements. The first floor was opened to all students and it contained only basic book and few of the advanced book. Basically, the second floor also opened for all of the students after they finished their learning period. However, if they wanted to enter during their learning period, there was an additional requirement. All of the nobles student could show their identity as a nobles and enter the second floor easily. However, for the commoner student to enter the second floor, the student needed to proof they were excelled in their lesson. And to proof that, if the commoner students felt that he was excelled, they could asked one of the teacher to give them an approval. For the third and fourth floor, the student needed an entry pass to enter. To obtain the entry pass, they could got their entry pass by exchanging their academy point later on. Which mean, they needed to wait until the learning period over and entered the practical period to obtain the point. Luckily, for Auron''s batch they only had one months of learning period, so they could obtain the point longer. The entry pass was divided into 24 types. Each types corresponding to how many hours they could enter inside. The entry pass was a one time used item. When the time limit was passed they needed to putted back their books into the shelves and left the floor in at most 10 minutes after the time limit passed. If not, they would get punished. For the first time punishment, they only barred to enterthe library for one day. The second time, they barred to enter the library for one month. And, the third time, they barred to enter the library for the rest of their time in the academy. Needed to be noted that this was barred to enter the library which mean that they could not entered even the first floor. Also, when they used the entry pass, they needed to used it in one go. After they used the entry pass, the countdown time would go on whether they were in the library or not. The entry pass also recorded the identity of the one who exchange for it. So, they could not handed it over to their fellow student to use. The entry pass could be fully reimbursed back to academy point, if they had not use the entry pass. The reimbursement process needed to be done within one week after the exchange. One week after the exchange, they could not do the reimbursement and could only used the entry pass or throw it to the trash bin. The entry pass to the third floor and fourth floor were different. For the one-hour entry pass to the third floor, the student needed to spent 100 academy points. For the two-hours entry pass, they needed to spent 200 academy points and so on. Following this pattern, the student needed to spent 2400 academy points, if they want to get the one day entry pass to the third floor. For the fourth floor''s entry pass, they needed to spent double the amount they needed to spent for the third floor. However, the entry pass was not a popular item to be exchanged. The reason was, first, 100 academy points was not easy to get. They needed to accomplished almost 10 easy task to get the equivalent point. Moreover, a 100 academy points could easily get them a high specification common equipment. Second, one hour was not enough for them to learn something from the book and they could get nothing. Meanwhile, an equipment could directly be used and give them strength as soon as the equipment used. This was also the reason that there were lesser student would attending the library. The fifth floor was special. Not only the student needed to fulfill the requirement, the academy''s teacher also needed to fulfill the entry requirement. To enter the fifth floor of the library, the student and the teacher needed one thing only which was permission from the headmaster of the academy. However, to obtain that permission was not easy, they needed to impress the headmaster. And, the so called headmaster could not be bribed. The headmaster already administered the academy from the very first the academy was built on. Up until now, there were only two people that could enter the fifth floor. One of them was Blood Axe. It was said that fifth floor was where the true skill books kept. It was also said that when you mastered one of the book kept there, you would become a master comparable to the royalty. Even if you failed to mastered it, the knowledge you get from the book could made you an individual above the rest. This was the reason the fifth floor was very enticing to many people despite the difficulty of the entry requirement Chapter 51 Library 2 Auron strolled around at the first floor of the library. There were already so many bookshelves in the first floor. Fortunately, there was a sign telling the library visitors which section they were right now. Right now, Auron was at the swordsman section. He glanced around at the bookshelves inside the section. Since he was a peak swordsman before, he could easily recognized all of the skill books here. "Bash, Whirlwind Slash, Shield Bash, ...." Auron recited the book''s title while tracing the book. There were several volumes just for each skill. The number of volumes differed from one skill to another skills. There were some skill that had 10 volumes while there were some book that had more than that number. There were even some skill that had less than that number. In Two Worlds, there were another way to learn skill beside using skill books, which was to learn manually from the library. The advantages of this way was that it required no money since it was free to enter the library. However, the downside, it was way more difficult to learn skill through this. When a person want to learn from the library, first, they needed to read from the library, then practiced according to what they read. When they practiced there was a chance that they would learned the skill. Yes, it was just a chance. The chance to learn the skill also random. It depend on the person way of doing the skill. If they done it almost the same as in the book then their chance obtaining the skill would be higher. Another thing was, one volume was not enough to raise the skill to its peak, they needed to read another volume when they done with one. When they already got the skill, they needed to keep practicing to raise their skill''s level. At some point, they would not get anything no matter how much they practices. That indicated that they should found the next volume of the skill''s book. Another issue was, in a public library, in a town, not all of the collection were complete. There were some skill that were incomplete and they needed just to give up or looked it at another town or bigger town. But, as you could imagined, to traveled around all the Gaia just to learn from a book was not worth. This was why, many despised this way of learning. However, there were some who mixed it. For the first few level of the skill, they would just learned it from the library and when they felt that they could not handle anymore they just learned it from the skill book directly. This way they could save some amount of money to buy another things. Auron took one of the volume of [Bash] skill book in front of him. Then, he took another volume from another skill. After doing this for several different skill, he realized that in the academy library, the collection were complete. When a person could not found a volume they needed then that volume must be in the floor higher. But, what you need to keep note was that there was complete collection just in one library. Moreover, there was a book that you could not found outside of the academy, even in the capital''s library, but you could found it here. "So, this was the reason why NPC''s skill was so strong. They could learned endlessly in the library. Also with more talent, they could easily learned even the difficult skills." Auron shook his helplessly. Up to this date, over 50% of the NPC were stronger than the player. The number kept fluctuating. Sometimes, there were over 60%. Sometimes, there were over 53%. But the number never went below 50%. This was one of the reason. "No wonder, most of the NPC stronger than the player had military''s background." Auron awed by the fact he just uncovered. Auron putted this matter at the back of his mind and walked toward another sections. He went to the mage sections. This was the main reason he came to the library. He remembered what Ms. Alice said before and looked for a book relating to casting while moving. Auron took all of the book about casting while moving and putted all on a table nearby. He looked at the pile of book in front of him. He smiled wryly while thought, "I could never found this book outside." You could not found casting while moving skill book outside from this place. Meanwhile, with just a few minutes he could get all the completed basic book about this skill. Although, there were still more advanced book in the above floor, but the pile of books in front of him, was enough for him to get the basic about this. This was why there were few player could do it, but it was not surprising for a NPC mage to do this. Auron could only sit down and started to read the book. He was very interested in this skills. When he was still the peak swordsman, very few player could really learn this. Many of the player just interpreting this skill wrongly. They raised their dexterity to the maximum to achieve an instant cast of a spell. But that was wrong, because doing that would made them very weak and the spell''s damage was not high. However, there some player that could really achieve the skills. There was a time, when he fought against the number one mage player in a friendly match. At that time, the mage still only learned the basic of the skills, but he already giving a headache to Auron. When Auron chased him, he cast his skill while running away. Meanwhile, while Auron don''t chased him, the mage chanted the skill from far away. Luckily, the mage''s skill was still low level which made him failed some of his spell and give Auron chances to win. At that time, Auron curiously asked that mage how he get that skill. That mage told him that he got it from a quest. When Auron asked for more information, the mage refused to told him telling that it was part of the quest to not indulge the secret or he would lose the skill. Auron chose to believe him and not asked further. In addition, he was a swordsman so he just didn''t need that skill. Chapter 52 Library 3 Auron read carefully the content of the book. However, Auron could not help to feel headache. Since, in high school, Auron didn''t like to read. And this, was his first time reading a book again after so many years passed. Auron tried his best. He read a part of the book again and again until he understood what it means. After some time, he gradually adapted to reading. His reading speed gradually increased over. After four full hours, he finished reading all the book. He still could not get the skill since he hadn''t used it. But, he got all the theory behind it. Many people thought to chant a skill while moving they needed to increase their chanted speed. This was not entirely wrong, but doing this would only do harm than good. To achieve this using that way, the person would need to spend all of his attribute to increase dexterity. This would left their other attribute lacking. Their damage would be so low that it practically looked like a tickle. Moreover, the dexterity requirement to instant cast a spell would be varied depending on the spell. However, the dexterity required to instant cast the most basic spell, [Fire Bolt], already as high as 800 dexterity. It would be the same as 160 levels. When the most basic spell already required that high, it was not a surprised when the stronger spell would need more than that number. Like the [Fire Pillar], the more advanced spell than [Fire Bolt], would need 2500 dexterity to instant cast. Moreover, when it was an AOE spell, the dexterity required would be double than the amount of the same graded single target spell. In addition, after you successfully chanted the spell, the damage was very low. That it needed two or more successfully hit spells to achieve the desired damage. Which mean, they needed more mana point to achieve the damage. That was why, there were some player that build their character to instant cast the basic spell only and allocating their attribute to intelligence to raise their damage. This way they could be considered achieved a pseudo casting spell while moving. However, a copy was not as effective as the real one. When you could do the real casting while moving, they only raised their dexterity to increased their casting speed not to achieved the instant cast. This way, they could spend their attribute point to other attribute such as intelligence to raise their damage or vitality to raise their health and defense. However, to achieve it was not easy. From what Auron read, when you got the [Walking Chanting] skills, a spell would 100% produced by the skill. However, there was a chance that the spell would exploded on the caster and damage the caster. This was what the book called a failure one. Also, when you successfully chanted a spell, the damage of the spell would be varied. It would be a random between 0% until 100% of the damage when the caster chanted the spell while not moving. When you unlucky and get the 0%, although it didn''t damage the caster, but it still a failure one. Basically you would not hurt the enemy at all. However, there was a way to reduce the failure chance and increase the chance of producing high damage. First, to reduce the failure chance, you needed more concentration and calm and quick mind when chanting the spell. When one mind was calm they could looked at their surrounding better and carefully. They could also planned what they wanted before to raise their chance of success. Also, different from not moving, when you used [Walking Chanting] you get a 1 second chance to continue your spell when you get disrupted. If the traditional way, chanting while not moving, would get cancelled when one moved or get attacked, then the [Walking Chanting] allow you to continue to chant your spell when you get disrupted by enemy''s attack or your mind not focused. However, they would only get 1 second chance after they got disrupted. If not, it would caused the spell to exploded and damage them. The damage when the spell exploded would be 100% of their magic damage. So, concentration and calm and quick mind could prevent them from getting their spell exploded and hurt themselves. Second, to increased their damage randomized, they needed a high level understanding of the spell and high level understanding of the elemental of the spell they chanted. To achieve it, they could analyzed their spell or used the spell over and over again. As a saying said, if you do something over and over again you would mastered it someday, practice makes perfect. This was also what practically they needed to do over time. If they could achieves this, their randomized damage could start from 1% or 2% or even 100% depending on their understanding. Also, a high understanding of elemental would helped them to get a higher damage. 1% from 100 would mean 1. But, 1% from 1000 would mean 10. So, basically elemental understanding would helped you to raised your damage, so when you get a low percentage of damage, you damage would still be high enough to hurt your enemy. "This was considered a must have skill for a mage. However, to get this it was not easy." Auron sighed at this new knowledge he got. But, he was not dispirited, he believed he could do this. He gradually smiled as he was imagining a swordsman fighting enemy in close combat then when he moved suddenly a fire bolt shot out from the swordsman and caught the enemy in surprise. Imagining this made Auron''s blood boiled. He was someone who like challenge. And, this was a challenge that intrigued him. The more difficult a challenge, the more excited he is. Moreover, he always imagining how amazing would the result be when he successfully defeated the challenge. "Let us see how long I need to learn this skill" Auron smiled excitedly. Chapter 53 Secre Auron closed the book he read and put it back. Then, Auron went out of the library and back to his room. It was almost 5 in the morning when he arrived at his room. He found his room was empty. "Their lesson was this long that they haven''t come back yet" Auron shocked by the fact that his roommate hadn''t finished their class but he already finished his class. Auron found nothing to do. He felt anxious about what should he do now. There was still one hour to go until he should go to the next class. He felt tired but one hour was not enough for him to sleep. Two Worlds gave a function to link your real world phone to the game. When Auron decided to play 24 hours straight, he linked his phone to his account. Auron looked at his phone and there was a message from Roan. It was a very short message, "Call me". Auron looked at the time the message was sent. It was sent 10 hours ago. Auron could not help and directly called Roan in hope he was still awake. Auron dialed Roan''s number. Luckily, after a few second, Roan answered his phone. "Hello Roan, what''s up? Why you called me?" Auron said. "Brother.... Where were you?" Roan said pitifully. "I messaged you so many time before but you did not answer any of my message." "Sorry Roan, I was so busy hunting before. So, I didn''t pay attention to any of the message I got." Auron felt guilty. "Forget it bro. Just focused on leveling up your character. By the way, what''s your character''s level now?" Roan asked Since Auron wasn''t the one who hunting, he looked at his character''s level. It was still the same as before level 15. But, the experience bar almost indicating that he could get to the next level in less than 12 hours. "Right now, I am level 15, almost leveled up to 16" Auron answered. Hearing that, Roan frowned, "How come you leveled so slow? Do you encountered any issue? Do you need my help?" When Roan bombarded Auron with many question, Auron could not help but felt guilty. He could not lied to his best friend any longer. "I.... Sorry Roan, actually I have some secret" Auron sighed and decided to tell his best friend about his secret. Auron started to tell his best friend his secret. He told Roan how he got the ''cheat'' until what situation he got right now. "That was all my story." Auron sighed apologetically, "Sorry for hiding this from you." "So, this was the reason your hunting speed was so slow." Roan felt relieved," I thought you have some problem that you not telling me. Or, you were found out by Darius and being harassed by him and you kept the fact from me." "Are you not angry?" Auron asked carefully. "Why should I become angry when my brother got a cheat that could make him the most powerful person in the game" Roan answered proudly. "So, I need to start to collect all thing related to mage" Auron hastily answered, "No, you don''t. Let us focus on my swordsman class first. Because, for some time, my swordsman was the one that will hunt for me. Moreover, if we divided our focus then we would be lacking." "This is also good for my mage character to stay low and not brought any attention. Oh yeah, how should I tell the others about my secret?" Auron asked Roan''s opinion. "You don''t have to worry about it. Let me tell them about your situation. I bet they will understand." Roan assured Auron. "Thank you, bro. How is Dragon''s Den doing?" Auron turned to ask Roan. "We are also in a slow pace. But, everything is on the right track. We are just going to start our deal with one of the village in a remote place" Roan answered. "It seems we will get this deal. I was 90% sure that we would get this deal." "However, because it was in remote place, the transportation cost was not cheap. So, after deducting our operation cost, our profit will not be as high as you imagine." Roan told Auron. "It was okay. Since, we are new to this business, we should take one step at a time. This is a good start for us." Auron cheered Roan. "It was about time, I go to the next class. See you again. Oh yeah, kept my secret carefully." Auron reminded Roan. "Relax. I will only tell our brothers and that''s it. I will not tell any other soul about this." Roan promised. Then, they hung up their phone. After that phone call, Auron felt relieved. He felt like one of his burden lifted and he felt more relaxed. For all this time, he felt burdened by the fact that he was not telling his secret and lies to his brother. But now, all of this was gone. Auron felt more relaxed and could focused on his growth more. He also felt happy with the trading company''s growth. His decision to leave the trading company to his friend was a right choice. Although, he was betrayed once by his most trusted subordinate, he felt lucky that he could still put faith on his brothers. Now, Auron can focus his mind on his next class. He felt a weird feeling on the class officer, Peter. He felt that Peter had some issue on his mind. But, he also recalled another feeling when they were in the ceremony at the field. He felt that out of all the officer come to the field, Peter was the strongest among the officer. He felt weird by the fact that Brock was the chief officer and Peter was just in charge on one of the weakest class in the batch. He could not think any reason behind it. Auron dismissed the idea an putted it at the back of his mind. Auron looked at the time. It was almost the class time. Auron went out from his room and started to walked to the hall. Chapter 54 Running 1 Auron arrived at the hall 15 minutes before the class time. When he arrived at the hall, it was empty. However, a few minutes past and one by one his classmate coming into the hall. Many of them had a baggy eyes indicating their lack of sleep. Some of them even breathed heavily because the class they went into just finished a few minutes before and they quickly ran to the hall afraid irritating their class officer, Peter. 5 minutes before the appointed time, all of the student have arrived. All of them were tired. Some of the sitting on the corner leaning on the wall. Some of them even, didn''t care about their surrounding and just laid down on the floor breathing heavily. Auron looked at them and felt pity. This was what the player advantage over the NPC. As long as the player using nutrient solution, they would never felt tired even though the hunted for 24 hours. They just need to kept their in-game energy high enough to feel refreshed. Auron, suddenly, sensed a slow step on the stairs. He know whose step it was belong to. As the class captain, he had a responsibility to take care of the class like what the officer wanted. Although, he felt pity toward his classmate because their tiredness, he could not help but woke them up. In just a few seconds, Auron and his classmate already formed a line. However, because some of them very tired and sleepy, they could not focused out and made the line become somewhat messy. Auron didn''t have enough time to fix the line as Peter already arrived at the hall on 6 a.m sharp. Seeing Peter arrived, the less tired students tensed up and stood still like a wood. Meanwhile, the sleepy and tired students could not concentrate enough, so they somewhat kept make the line looked a mess while maintaining their balance so they would not fell down. Looking at this, Peter, with his hand on his back, merely smiled. Auron and the student didn''t know if this smile was a good sign or a bad sign. "Okay kids, you all could sit down." Peter said. Hearing this, Auron and some of the student relieved and breathed out. They thought Peter forgave them and didn''t mind about the messy line. However, they quickly sit down, didn''t dare to move slowly as if they were afraid that Peter would changed his mind. "As I have told you yesterday, I am in charge of your class." Peter explained. "This class purpose was to train you to become more fit and more suitable in the war zone. Also, this class would trained your survival ability. So, if you were left out in the war zone without anyone beside you, you could still survived." "This is not easy and this class would be more harsher than your class specific lesson. But, I promised you if you could survived this class you would become above anyone else." Auron felt shivered when he heard Peter mention the word survived. He though why Peter chose the word ''survived'' instead of ''passed''. But, he just kept it in his heart. "It looks like some of you were tired. Do you want to take a rest for one hour before we move to the first lesson today?" Peter asked friendly. When the student heard about this they could not believed this. They thought they were dreaming. Is this the cruel officer that beat down the student because a small interrupted. However, because they were very tired, they could not help to feel this was like a gift from heaven. They thought that the officer felt sorry to them because he was to harsh to them yesterday and this was his way of apologizing. "Yes" One of the tired student shouted. Followed by dozen of another shouted confirming their agreement. "Do you really want to take a rest?" Peter confirming. "Yes" All the student except Auron answered in unison. Auron still felt weird by this sudden change. He could not help to feel suspicious. Peter realized Auron didn''t voiced out his answered. He asked Auron friendly, "Class captain, you didn''t answer my question before. Is there some concern in your mind?" All of the other student eyed on Auron. Seeing being the attention of the others, Auron knew his decision would determined if the other student would rest or not. "No. I also believed some of the student lack of rest and they needed to rest a bit." Auron voiced his agreement to the student''s opinion. However, his expression was still confused it was very lack of determination and uncertainty. "Okay then, you could rest for one hour. Take your time to rest. I will also wait here." Peter said still with a smiling face. He walked to the middle of the hall, sat down meditating, and closed his eyes. Seeing this, all of the student felt relieved, they unleashed their tense atmosphere and quickly lay down on the floor. Some of them fell asleep even snoring. Auron also sat down on the floor however he was not sleeping, instead he sat down across Peter and looked at him confusedly thinking what scheme was this officer doing right now. One hour later, Peter opened his eyes and stood up. When Peter stood up the student quickly stood up also and woke up the other student who was still sleeping. Auron also stood up in front of them. "Each of you take one of these and putted it in your body." Peter commanded while handing out a device to each of the student. The student accepted it and putted it on their body. "Okay, don''t lose the device because it was an important thing for today''s lesson. Oh yeah, today you would only had one lesson that you need to finish before the dinner''s time. It is an easy task. It only need your determination and your perseverance. It is not a complicated task so you don''t need to think" "And that lesson was, Running." Chapter 55 Running 2 "Follow me outside" Peter turned his back and walked outside. The students directly followed Peter outside silently. They had a thousand things in their mind right now. What were they gonna do? Is it really an easy task? Is the officer turned to a new leaf? and many other things which made them confused. When they arrived outside, Peter stopped and turned again facing the students. "As I said before, you task is running. Now, I will show you, the running path you need to take. Follow me closely." Peter said it while smiling. He turned again and start running. It was not fast also it was not slow. The student started followed Peter with their speed. At first, they just ran straight out of the academy. Up until now, it was easy for them because it was only a straight path. After a few minutes, they were outside of the academy. When they had gone outside, Peter turned left. The sudden turn didn''t surprised the students because it was in a normal speed, they followed him. After a few minutes running, they arrived at a big river with a heavy current. If you fell to the river you could died because of the current. Even if you didn''t died, you would surely suffered serious injuries. The river was very wide. It was as wide as 30 adult feet line together. Luckily, they didn''t need to crossed it by swimming. On top of the river, there were a stone lining up that could be used as a step to cross. Although, the stone was not in order and made an easy path, but if you still could cross it easily. Even a kid could crossed it if they were careful. Peter jumped up to the first stone then jump to the next stone and next until he arrived across the river. The students easily followed Peter, although they didn''t take the same stone step as Peter, all of them crossed the river safely. When Peter arrived across the river, he didn''t stop and continued his running. This time, it was running at an uphill path. The students needed to spend more energy since this was an uphill path. In addition, the path was natural-made so it was not easy to step. If you were not careful, you could slipped and rolled to the bottom. The uphill path was pretty long, it was way longer than the straight path they took from their hall to the outside of the academy. However, all of the student including Auron knew what path they took. When they started to cross the river, one thing popped out in their mind. This path was a path to the [Training Forest] behind the academy. Although, it named [Training Forest], it was not as safe as it''s name. The outskirt was safe, but the inner region was not safe. There were many monster in the inner region and the monster was not weak. Despite they could killed the monster when the group together, however it would still wasted their time. All of them sighed, "As I thought, it would not be as simple as running. We still need to fight". This was the first things that popped out on their mind. The students didn''t dare to voice out what was on their mind and blindly followed Peter. When they almost arrived at the inner region of the [Training Forest], Peter took a left turn followed by the students. Seeing this, the student relieved, "So, we are not going to the inner region. It looks like the officer really become kind man" Their running inside the forest was not easy. Although, there was no monster at the outskirt of the [Training Forest], the path that they took was not easy. There were many tree that blocked their path. Peter, who was at the front of the group, dodged the tree many times. When there was a branch, he would ducked out while running to evade the branches. When there was a big tree''s root protruding out from the ground he would jumped up. The student also followed Peter''s action. They ducked and jumped to evade the branches and roots. After a few minutes running inside the forest, they already out of the forest. What welcomed them was a long circular downhill path. Peter slowed down his speed so as the students. It was relatively easy at the downhill path and in no time they arrived at the wide river. This was the same river as before however it was not the same place they crossed before. The place they crossed now was at the back of their academy. They crossed it easily. Then, they ran straight back to their starting point, their hall. When they arrived at the starting point they stopped. From the start until the end, Peter was not talking so did the students. While the other student felt relieved on the fact that their officer changed to the new leaf, Auron didn''t think so. Inside his mind, he kept thinking what this officer''s scheme was. He didn''t believed that this officer suddenly become a kind person. On the way here, he saw his surrounding carefully and calculate in his mind. It took them around 30 minutes to finish this path. When Auron was deep in thought, Peter, who was silent all the way, suddenly talked, "That was the path you need to take. Looked at your device right now." The students looked at their device. Before, when they start, there was a number zero on their device, however, right now, that zero had changed and become one. "As what you all have think, this device will record how many laps you have finished. And just now, you have finished one lap. Remember, you could only deviate as far as 300 meters from the original path to be recorded. if you took a path deviate more than 300 meters from the path before, it will not record anything in there even if you arrived here." Peter said kindly. Chapter 56 Running 3 "As I said before, this is the only lesson you will do today. So, you will run until you fulfill the objective today" Peter explained. "You only have time until dinner''s time to fulfill this objective. If you can finish it before the dinner''s time, you will need to find me and report it to me first then you can go to have some free time" When the students heard about the chance to have free time, their expression became more brightened. They became more excited in the thought of having free time. They still thought that this was the way of Peter apologizing to them. He would give them free time, but since he still have some dignity as their class'' officer, this was the way for him to apologize to us. "Officer, how many lap should we finish today?" One of the student raised his hand and voluntary asked. Still with his thought before, he asked Peter excitedly. "Good question!" Peter wore friendly expression. "Wait, let me think first" All of the student still excitedly wait with all sort of reason they thought to justify their thought before. Some student even thought that Peter doing this was just an act and at the end, he would still give a low number to completed. "I think 5 for each of you will be enough" Peter expression became serious as this was something important to decide. Hearing this, All of the student except Auron had their thought running wild. "This officer really turned a new leaf". With the calculation from before, if each lap took them 30 minutes to finish then for 5 laps they would only needed 150 minutes or in other words 2,5 hours. Right now, there were still more than 10 hours until dinner''s time. This mean, with simple math, they would have 7.5 hours of free time. Thinking about 7.5 hours of free time, Many plans popped out at each of their mind. Smiled also surfaced on each of the students face, except Auron. However, Auron was still on state of disbelieve. How could a cruel officer like him felt wrong and apologize. This was something didn''t make sense to Auron. He kept his gaze on the officer and wore a plain expression. "But, you form such messy line this morning, if the other officer know about this, it can make me lose face. I could not help but to punish you and add another 10 laps." Peter added with a reluctant tone. Another 10 laps mean another 300 minutes or 5 hours. Their free time would be reduced to 2.5 hours. However, the students still think that it was justifiable. A messy formation of the students surely would led the other officer to think that the officer could not managed the class properly and it would make them lose some face. "Well, that''s okay. There is still 2.5 hours of free time." One of the student thought inside his mind. "When you rest before, you let your guard down. Fortunately you are just in front of me your officer. If I am your enemy, all of you can end up as a corpse. In military, your action was not good. It can lead you and your comrade to death" Peter added more, "So, I will add another 10 laps as a means to remind you to not let your guard down in any situation. All of the student''s face become pale. They quickly rethought about the chance of their officer turned a new leaf. Their expression darkened. However, Peter added more with exciting tone, "Also, you have rest for 1 hour, I bet all of you was brimming with energy that need to be unleashed. As your class'' officer, I would help all of you. Let me double your laps." Hearing this, Peter''s good image in all of their mind shattered. This was still a cruel officer. They blamed themselves how could they had such stupid thought that this officer would turned a new leaf. "Luckily" Peter still added some more, "You class'' captain was such a keen and meticulous person, when you were relaxed and let your guard down. You class'' captain despite having the lowest level among you all, he still keep his guards up. For this, I have give you all reward." At the mention of Auron, all of the students looked at him and silently thanked him. Finally, they get something good. However, what followed shattered their thought. "As a reward, the lap we went through before would be counted towards your lap." Peter smiled satisfied as he already shown a huge kindness towards them. All of the student, no longer had any hope to fulfill this. Their spirit become low and their mind was in chaos. At first they only needed to finish 5 laps then it grew to 15 laps. And it did not stopped there and grew to 25 laps. Suddenly, it quickly doubled to 50 laps. Also their rewards was only one laps. Compared to 50 laps, one lap was like a drop of water in the ocean. "Okay. That is all from me. Each of you need to finish 49 laps before dinner''s time. Remember to followed the path before and not deviate more than 300 meters from the original path or all of your effort will be useless." Peter concluded and reminded each of them. "Oh one more thing, since you are in one class, I want all of you to help each other. So, your device was equipped with a function to transfer your lap to others. However, it is up to you whether use it or not. After all, if you already finished your lap you can find me and get your free time." "I hope that all of you could finish this lesson and there is no one among of you guys fail." Peter lastly said before he left. "Good luck guys, if you fail, then..." Peter didn''t complete his sentence and just smiled sinister. He turned and left the students. Chapter 57 Taun [You are forced to accept a quest] [Peter''s Lesson] Countdown: 10 hours 08 minutes 40 seconds Description: Make the class achieve Peter''s goal. Quest Clear Condition: * Achieve 1250 class laps before the countdown is up. * Class Laps (25/1250). * Your Laps (1/50) Quest Clear Rewards: * Affinity with Peter +5. * +1 random attributes permanently for every 50 laps you have finished. Quest Failure Punishment: * Affinity with Peter -10 for every 5 class laps that are lacking. * -1 random attributes permanently for every 25 class laps that are lacking. A quest notification popped out in front of Auron. Looking at the quest''s description, Auron felt elated as well as worried. The reward for the quest was very generous. Of course what Auron mean was the random attributes reward not the affinity rewards. In Two Worlds, an item to raise attributes point was very rare. It was as rare as King grade item. Moreover, one item would only give one attributes point. But, from this quest, he could get 1 random attributes just from running. Although, he could not choose the attribute he want, it was still better than nothing. Auron believed that there were no useless attribute, but because of the limitation given by the system, he could not help but choose to raise the more important attribute for him. "No wonder NPC with military background was very strong compared to player. With a reward like this, they surely would become stronger than ordinary player." Auron thought. It was no secret in Two Worlds that the NPC would also get reward if they finished the quest. Moreover, the rewards could be doubled or even tripled depending on the completion of the quest. Of course the NPC would not get a quest notification or quest popup like player do. But, they would surely get a reward. If Auron get 1 random attributes for every 50 laps he finished, then NPC could get 1 random attributes for every 25 laps they finished or they could just get 2 random attributes for every 50 laps they finished. Which condition that they get there was no one would know, even the NPC itself. Seeing the generous rewards made Auron sighed. When there was a high rewards, there would surely a harsh punishment if they could not clear it. And it was proved by what Auron read on the quest''s punishment section. A -1 random attributes for every 25 class laps which they lacked. When he looked at his classmate, their expression was very pale. There were no one that show a happy face. Auron knew where this gloomy aura come from. They already felt that they could not succeed on the quest. With simple math they already knew that they could not fulfilled it. They need to spend 30 minutes for each laps, so it means they need 24.5 hours more to finish the remaining 49 laps. Meanwhile, the time limit for the quest was only 10 hours. As a class captain, Auron had to lift their spirit up. This was not only for them but also for himself. The quest punishment was very scary even for Auron. If he was not careful, he could made this character disabled. He didn''t want it to happened. Moreover, right now, his character was very special with a "cheat". "Come on guys, let us stop wasting our time and start running." Auron told the class. "Can you do a simple math? We will never reach the objective" One of the classmate dejectedly said followed by nodded from several other student. Auron felt pissed, they already felt lose before going to war. "Tch, no wonder you are a commoner, look at you, you don''t even have guts to take up this challenge. You already give up before you even try it." "Can you think first? It take us 30 minutes to finish a lap. But, can you remember, we only use a jogging pace before? What if we ran? Didn''t we would spend less time?" "Moreover, we can also use our skill. Officer Peter, didn''t forbid us to use our skill. Can you think a simple matter like this? You already give up before you could think something like this." Auron cursed and shouted at all of the class. "Forget it. If you want to give up, then just live your life as a commoner. I will start running." Auron felt pissed off. He ignored them and start running. However, because he still felt that the punishment was very scary, so he didn''t forget to taunt them in hope that they would get taunted and start running. His actions paid off. 80% of the students get taunted, they cursed and started chasing Auron. "What the f***, you are also a commoner!" "Damn, you think you are great because you are our class captain? I will stripped off your title" "Let us compete. Whoever lose has to become the winner slave for one week." ... Many curse launched at Auron, but he ignored it. Auron showed a indifferent attitude toward their cursed, he even looked down on them purposely. However, inside, he felt elated because his strategy worked. [Peter''s Lesson] Countdown: 5 hours 01 minutes 59 seconds Description: Make the class achieve Peter''s goal. Quest Clear Condition: * Achieve 1250 class laps before the countdown is up. * Class Laps (615/1250). * Your Laps (35/50) Quest Clear Rewards: * Affinity with Peter +5. * +1 random attributes permanently for every 50 laps you have finished. Quest Failure Punishment: * Affinity with Peter -10 for every 5 class laps that are lacking. * -1 random attributes permanently for every 25 class laps that are lacking. After five hours running, their laps was still less than half of the objectives. Auron already used all what he had. Every time his speed skill off cooldown, he would directly used it. However, looking at the number, their class laps was still lacking. While running, he didn''t forget to observe his classmate. He found out that although they were burning with rage and sped up in the first few laps but it gradually decreased over time. His classmate spirit was very high, however their body could not kept up with it. Many of them could not get enough sleep the day before and one hour rest was not enough for them. If they continued to run like this, not only their objective could not be achieved, some of the could also died of exhaustion. "This will not do. I have to change plan" Auron thought. Chapter 58 Idea 1 Auron thought hard on this matter. He doesn''t want to receive the punishment. Even if he had to receive the punishment, he tried to reduce the lacking class laps to below 25, so he would not get a permanent reduce in his attributes. He doesn''t really care with the affinity. In reality, Peter had already been rough to them, so a little more hard time doesn''t matter to him. With a simple calculation, they already filled almost half of the class laps with half countdown timer. So, if they kept this pace for another five hours, they would mostly got 1230, which was 20 laps difference below the goal. However, Auron also knew that it was almost impossible to get like what the calculation had done. When he observe his classmate, almost 90% of them was very exhausted. There were even some of them that was in the brink of fainted. As a class captain, he needed to think a way to avoid this. He decided to make a rule. He needed to convey his idea to all of his classmate, however, all of them were scattered. Auron arrived at the starting line. He founded out that there were two people lying on the ground. One of them even dragging his body to pass the starting line. Auron came to them. Seeing Auron came to them, one of the person was afraid that Auron was angry to them because they were idling. Auron was the class captain and as what Peter said, he had the right to punish them harshly. He wanted to continue to run. However, when he tried to stand up, his legs seems like didn''t have any energy to support his body. He directly collapsed to the ground. His face went pale, Auron had already arrived in front of him. He could only prayed that Auron would not killed or disabled him. However, what Auron said surprised him. "Just rest. I need you to help me. Make an announcement board, and convey this message" "I am decided to make a rule. From now on, If you were tired, you could had 30 minutes rest in the starting line. After 30 minutes, you would need to continue to run for a minimum another 30 minutes. Then, you could get another rest." "I am sorry that I had to pushed you like this. However, this was the only thing that I could do. There were still a lot of laps that we need to complete. Without the help from all of the member in the class, it was almost impossible to finish this. However, I also didn''t want you to push yourself to death. So, I could only make a this rule." "I hope that you guys don''t betray my expectation or try to find a loophole in the rule. For the difference, I will try to take all of your burden with me." After saying that, Auron still needed to continue running. So, he didn''t waste anymore time and continue to run. However, before he began, he didn''t forget to take out all of his food in his inventory and give it to the guy to distribute. Both of the guys who heard what Auron said was touched. They took note all of what Auron said and didn''t missed a single word in it. One of them quickly made an announcement board and wrote down what Auron just said. When he had finished, he planted the announcement board on the ground. He also took his time wisely to eat and rest. Both of them already charmed by Auron kindness and charisma, so they didn''t want to let Auron down. The other student started to came over to the starting line. Some of them had a hard time to dragged their body across the starting line. When they looked at the announcement board, they quickly surprised and started to stop at the starting line and rest. There was also some student that felt he still could continue so he still continue to run. Meanwhile, Auron was running across the forest. When he ran to the starting line, he could see that almost 90% of the student was resting. He could only smiled wryly. Even though, he had predicted this, but seeing the reality still made him dejected. He could only greeted to them and reminded them again on the rules and emphasize on to follow it wisely. If many of them decided to rest and ignored the rule he had made, the burden on him would be multiply. After all, he was only one person and it was already very hard for him to keep on him responsibility let alone for another 20 people. After all the running, Auron began to get used to the track and his body control. It was like the saying, ''Repetition is the mother of learning'', when you repeat one process over and over again, you would get used to it and started to efficient it. For example, when he ran across the river, he didn''t need to step on all of the stone. He could already jump over the stone and just took the stone he needed. Right now, Auron had already reduce the time it took for a lap to a third of it. He just needed 20 minutes to finish a lap without using his speed skill. If he used his speed skill then he could reduce it more to around 15 minutes. However, it was still not enough, he still needed to get faster. He pondered deeply on another way to reduce his lap''s time. He thought of the time when he was in the forest. What made it hard when running in the forest was to avoid the branches and the root from the tree. He needed to reduce his speed to dodge it. Also, it to avoid the branches and root, he needed to spend more energy. That was why, what Auron do was to avoid the direct path they took in the first lap, instead he took a detour within the 300 meters of the original path. He found a relatively easy path with less branches and roots. However, since the path was longer, it took more time. He could pushed the time until it was the same as when he took original path and of course with less energy. However, that was the limit, he could reduce the time anymore. This was what bothering Auron. Suddenly he got an idea in his mind, "What if I cut all of the branches and roots?" Chapter 59 Idea 2 Auron felt his idea was a good one. However, he was still careful when it comes to executing it. He tried to remember whether Peter already forbid them to do something like cutting branch or not. He could not remember Peter mentioned a things about this. As far as what Auron remember, Peter didn''t mentioned anything about what to do or what not to do. Auron gritted his teeth. He had decided to do it. He would bear all of the consequences if, at the end, Peter blamed them. Since Auron was in his mage character, he could not use any sword weapon. Auron could only used his spell to break down the branches. Auron used ice bolt and wind bolt to destroy the branches, while he would use earth spike to destroy the tree root. He didn''t want to use fire bolt since he was afraid that the fire would burned out all of the forest. Also, the smoke produced could suffocate and made his classmate panic. Slowly but surely, Auron advanced while destroying the branches and roots. When he was low on mana, he would gulp and mana potion to replenish his mana. It took Auron longer to finish this lap since after destroying the branches and roots, he would need to clean out the rubble so it would not hinder their progress. When Auron was doing this, occasionally, some of his classmate that still keep running saw what Auron done. They came closer to Auron to see what he was doing. From their inquiry, they knew what Auron was doing and wanted to help him. However, Auron smiled and made them to clear the branches and roots ahead while he would be the one who clean out the twig pieces. With his classmate''s helps, Auron works became easier and faster. Not long after, he already arrived at the edge of the forest. Although, this lap took longer than the lap before, there was no huge difference because of his classmate''s help. Auron arrived at the starting line. He hadn''t told his other classmate yet about what had he done in the forest, he wanted to test it out first. So, only the few classmate that help him out who knows what had already happened to the forest. He prepared himself at the starting line and prepared to use all of his speed skill in one go. He quickly went to the outside of the academy. Then, he quickly hopped on the stone path on the river. He ran on the uphill path and in no time he already arrived at the entrance of the forest. Some of his speed skill was ending, so his speed gone a little bit slower. He entered the forest and ran straight the path. It obviously looked faster, since he didn''t need to slow down his speed to duck to avoid the branches or jumped to avoid the tree''s roots. Also, when his skill was off cooldown, he would quickly used it again. He spared no effort in this lap. He wanted to know how long it took for him to finish this lap after cutting down the tree''s branches and roots. He arrived at the exit of the forest. He didn''t slow his speed and directly ran downhill path. With the momentum from going downhill, his speed increased more. He hopped on another stone path on the river and directly ran straight on to the starting line. When he arrived at the starting line, he quickly looked at the time. He managed to finish the lap under 10 minutes. It took him around 7-8 minutes to finish this lap. Auron was surprised as well as happy. What he was doing was not in vain. He managed to half the time needed to finish a lap. With this result, Auron become more optimistic in finishing the lesson today. However, he didn''t showed it on outside and just kept a calm face while he continued to run. Seeing Auron arrived at the starting line this fast, also shocked his classmate. When they were leisurely resting, they were seeing Auron comeback this fast. "Didn''t class captain just set off, how could he comeback this fast?". This sentence popped out on each of Auron''s classmate''s mind. "Our class captain was a mage. How could a mage ran faster than a swordsman or thief? Did he was not a mage?" One of his classmate speculating on how could achieved this speed. However, he quickly dismissed the idea, "No way, our class captain clearly joined the mage''s class. He would not be able to deceived the academy. But then, how?" Many of the classmate that was resting curious on how their class captain could achieved such record. They quickly stood up and started following his class captain. When they arrived at the forest, they were shocked by what they saw. No branches and no roots that hinder their speed. They could saw a straight path. They were excited and pumped they quickly ran straight and in no time arrived at the exit. When they arrived once more at the starting line, they were happy at their time. Almost all of them managed to halves their time. Seeing this, they were happy and continued to run. However, this didn''t last long, after few laps, their lack of rest quickly enveloped them again and they quickly rest once more in the starting line. When his classmate was resting, Auron kept on running. If one counted it carefully from the start, then they would find out that Auron was the only one that didn''t rest and kept on running. Some of Auron''s classmate realized this and motivated by what had Auron done, they shorten their rest time and lengthen their running time. Some of them that have some thought to break the rule, quickly dismissed the idea. They even felt shamed having such evil thought. After few more hours running, Auron and his class managed to finish achieved the objective. They even managed to finish faster. When they finish, all of Auron''s classmate could not help and looked at Auron. They felt grateful. They could finished the task that they think was impossible to finish. Chapter 60 Permanent Attributes [Peter''s Lesson] Countdown: 00 hours 05 minutes 30 seconds Description: Make the class achieve Peter''s goal. Quest Clear Condition: * Achieve 1250 class laps before the countdown is up. * Class Laps (1250/1250). * Your Laps (253/50) Quest Clear Rewards: * Affinity with Peter +5. * +1 random attributes permanently for every 50 laps you have finished. Quest Failure Punishment: * Affinity with Peter -10 for every 5 class laps that are lacking. * -1 random attributes permanently for every 25 class laps that are lacking. A quest notification popped out indicating that he finished the quest. Looking at the notification, Auron felt relieved as well as satisfied. His hard work to incite his classmate was not in vain. They managed to finished the quest even faster than the allocated time. They managed to finished it 5 minutes faster. This made Auron happy. Auron managed to finish 253 laps alone. It was a little bit more than 1/5 of the needed laps. This also helped Auron to earn respect from his classmate. 253 laps was not little. The highest student after Auron only managed to finish 120 laps. It was only half of what Auron finished. Moreover, that student was a swordsman. This also confused Auron''s classmate. How could a mage surpassed a swordsman. Did class captain was a swordsman but he disguised himself as a mage? No, that was not possible. The academy would never made that simple mistake. The academy putted class'' captain in the mage class, that means they acknowledged class'' captain as a mage. This was a mystery to them all. But, at this moment, they didn''t cared about it. They were successfully finished a task that they thought was impossible at the beginning. They would appreciate this moment, as they learned a valuable lesson. If they work very hard, they could even finished a task that seemed impossible to finish. As for how could a mage defeat a swordsman in running, they decided to putted it at the back of their mind and asked Auron at other days. What they didn''t know was Auron was not an ordinary mage. He got another class which was a swordsman. Moreover, his swordsman''s skill was a way higher above the swordsman that ranked after Auron. Since his classmate was a commoner, it was already hard for him to sustain his family living, even more to raise his skill level. In conclusion, it could be said that Auron''s swordsman class was the one that defeat the other student. However, they would never thought about it because there was never a man could had two class. "Now, it is reward time" Auron thought in his mind and smiled happily. Auron clicked at the claim reward button in front of him. Then, in front of him, a roulette appeared. The roulette had 6 sections, strength, agility, vitality, intelligence, dexterity, and luck. Each section representing an attributes. Below the roulette, there was a sentence, "Roulette chance: 5". It was the chance that Auron had to spin the roulette. Since Auron managed to finish 253 laps, based on the quest''s rewards description, he would get 5 chance. Auron pressed the spin button. The roulette began to rotate clockwise. At first, it was slow. Then, it began accelerating and become faster. The roulette spin faster and faster until the words in the roulette''s section could not be seen. The roulette kept on spinning with no sign of stopping. When the roulette reached it highest speed, a button below the roulette shine. It was the stop button. Auron pressed the stop button. The roulette that spin very fast began to slow down little by little. At the top of the roulette there was an arrow that point on the section. The section that get chosen by the arrow was the one that would Auron get. The roulette slowed down. When the roulette almost stopped, Auron''s heart began to pound very hard. After all, there were attributes that he prefer. However, when the roulette was completely stopped, Auron sighed. The arrow pointed on the luck section which mean Auron would get +1 luck. Auron could not help and began to start the second chance. When he start his third chance, Auron become anxious. He felt like he was a gambler that was addicted to gambling. This feeling continued until he used all of his chances. Luckily, this gambling could only be used for 5 chances and there was no way to use other way such as money to get another spin chance. If not, Auron would surely bet all of his money to use this chance. When he already used all of his chance, Auron calmed down. From the 5 chances, he got 1 strength, 1 agility, 2 luck and 1 vitality. Luck and vitality was attribute that Auron didn''t prefer. This could be seen by the way he allocate his attribute when he was leveled up. But luck and vitality was the one that dominated the prize. Auron sighed. But, he quickly changed his mindset. Auron tried to convince himself that there was no useless attributes. Moreover, the attributes that he got was permanent. It was very hard to get one permanent attributes, but he already got 5 permanent attributes. He convince himself to be grateful than regretful. He decided to not think about it again and putted it behind his mind. After Auron and his classmate finished the laps, all of them rested on the ground. All of them was exhausted. Since there was still 5 minutes until the time was up, they decided to rest and waited for the officer. This quest really benefited them. Not only, they learned a valuable lesson, they also become closer one to another. Auron, the class'' captain, also earned his classmate respect. This would make him easier to lead the class. After 5 minutes was up, just like before, Peter appeared out of nowhere punctually, he approached them slowly. With his hand behind his back, he was walking slowly to them. This made all of the student, including Auron, more pressured. Chapter 61 Peace All of the student quickly get up and formed a line. This time, the line formed was proper. Despite their tiredness, all of the student stood straight and properly. All of them feeling anxious. They were afraid that Peter would punished them again out of nowhere. Peter stopped in front of them and said, "Good. Although you finish it a few minutes before the time is up, but you still managed to finish it." "Better to keep this up tomorrow. See you at 6 a.m. tomorrow." Peter said his goodbye and turned his back and leaved all of the student in daze. The student felt joy in each of their heart. However, they quickly dismissed that joy. All of them remembered of what happened earlier this morning. They felt this was as strange as this morning. They still kept their vigilance up. "Usually, he will turn and tell us something that will shattered our joy." One of the student thought. Peter kept on walking slowly inside of the main building. The student kept on the vigilance and kept stood straight. When Peter already gone inside the main building, then they started to feel relieved. "This time, it seems, it was not a trap" One of the student said slowly followed by his classmate nodded. They finally let out of their joy. They smiled and laughed happily. Auron told them to calm down and went to get their food. They calmed down however their face betrayed them. A happy and smile could be seen on their face. It was like they won a lottery ticket. Auron only shook his head and went to get dinner with his classmate. While getting dinner, their smile and happy face became brighter. They could only smiled widely. After all, this was their first time having proper dinner without rushing. A sense of satisfaction appeared at their heart that made their smile gone wider and wider. After dinner''s time, they all went to their class specific lesson respectively. Auron went to the mage class lesson. He arrived at the classroom only to find half of the class already filled with student. He looked to find a seat. He decided to sit at the corner on the second row from behind. Auron sat there and waited for the class to began silently. While sitting he kept on remembering the theory he had read on the library. While Auron was pondering, more and more student coming to the class. A student came inside to the classroom followed by several other student. He saw Auron pondering silently in the corner. He smiled and walked to Auron. When he was in front of Auron, he greeted Auron. "Hey gigolo, are you reminiscing your memory with one of your client?" The student mocked Auron followed by laughter from other student behind him. The mocking disturbed Auron''s train of thought. He looked at the source of sound and found Pollack standing beside him. "Ck.. this annoying guy again." Auron despised this guy in his mind. He already knew that it would not stop only with this. He just silently stared at Pollack. Auron''s expectation came true. Not long after Auron stared at Pollack, he followed his mocking. "This lowly commoner dared to glare at me. Oh I am so scared. What should I do?" Pollack pretended to be scared. Auron just kept silent and kept on staring at him. All of the other student felt pity on Auron. However, they could only felt pity and didn''t do anything. They didn''t want what just happened to Auron also happened to them. Seeing Auron didn''t responding, Pollack became annoyed. "Why are you kept silent? Are you become a mute? This spot is not for a mute like you go away." "That was your spot" Pollack pointed at outside of the classroom. "You didn''t deserved to be here. Your place is outside." Auron still not responding. "Hey are you become mute and deaf? Quickly go away." Pollack become more annoyed. Auron kept on his silent and just smiled. This smiled made Pollack very angry. He raised his arm to hit Auron. "What happened here? Why it was so noisy?" A sound came from the classroom''s door. Alice went inside the classroom and saw Pollack and Auron. "Nothing. We are just playing." Pollack quickly pulled his arm and answered. "Sorry, if this scare you." He apologize to Auron. However, Auron knew that he didn''t mean it, so Auron just didn''t care about this and focusing his gaze on Alice as if telling Alice that he already impatient to learn today''s lesson. "You..." Pollack very angry because Auron''s behavior but he could not do anything in front of Alice. He could just kept his anger in his heart, "Just you wait". Pollack went to find his seat. The lesson started. As what Alice promised before, the lesson was about casting while moving. The lesson went on peace. The commoner and Auron listened to the lesson carefully. While the noble just pretending to listen to the listen. After all, they already get this lesson before they went into the academy. Even some of them could do it. Auron kept listened attentively on the lesson. The difference from learning from book and learning with the guidance from a teacher was seen. When learning from a teacher, sometimes, the teacher would share his experience and this way proved to be more effective that learning from book. He learned a lot from the lesson. He felt that he already grasp the theory and what he need just to put it into practice. The lesson went on peacefully. When the lesson was over, Alice urged them to practice a lot. She also didn''t forget to remind them about the assessment next week. She also said to give more motivation to her student, she would give out a price to the top 3 of the assessment. This boosted the student''s motivation. Learning from the lesson before, when Alice was went out of the class, Auron quickly followed behind. He didn''t want to be bothered by Pollack and his lackeys. Soon, 6 days passed and the day of the assessment came. Chapter 62 Mage Simulation Tower Soon, 6 days passed and the day of the assessment came. During 6 days, his schedule almost the same everyday. At the morning, he would attend Peter''s class and at night he would attend Alice''s class. After Alice''s class was over, he would either went to the library or practicing what he had learned in the class. Although, it seems boring, however, he showed a sign of improving. In Alice''s class, he got better understanding on the elemental as well as on how to cast spell while moving. For the elemental understanding, sometimes, Auron analyzed his already learnt spell and it gives Auron more knowledge. His first choice was a fire elemental spell because it was the elemental with the most powerful power than other elemental. His hard work was paid off, he already could reduce the basic fire spell casting time for 0,1 second. Although, it seems insignificant, however, if it was used in the prolonged battle of spell, this advantage could be stack and determine the outcome of the battle. For other elemental, Auron did not have enough time to analyze them. It could be seen by it took him 6 days just to reduce 0,1 second. Moreover, it was only the basic spell and not the more complicated spell. This showed how hard it was to improve the elemental understanding. However, Auron believed that after he mastered the fire spell, he could apply his knowledge that he got to other elemental which can shortened the time to raise the elemental understanding of other elements. For the casting while moving, he was very close to master the skill, [Walking Chanting]. For 6 days, he kept on practicing on the theory he learned. If he had any doubt or question he would looked it in the library or asked Alice when the class was over. This way, he could also ran away from Pollack and his lackeys'' bullying. Seeing how hard Auron practiced, Alice also began to have a good impression of Auron. She would help him with her wholehearted. Auron relentless practice paid off, although he still not learned the skill however, the barrier getting thinner. If before there was a thick wall separating him and the skill, now, it was as thick as a plywood board. Auron predicted that if he continuously doing this, in one or two week he could destroy the barrier and learn the skill. In Peter''s class, Auron got raise in affinity with Peter from the quest before. However, Auron realized that it didn''t have any effect. Peter kept on giving them almost impossible task the same as the running task before. However, Auron with the respect and trust he gained from his other classmate, it was easy for him to command and control his classmate. Because of this, he could complete all of the task given despite the difficulty. The task was difficult, but the reward was amazing. Each of Peter''s task gave Auron a permanent attribute ranging from 1 until at most 5 for each task. From the 6 days, Auron got another 10 permanent attribute which compromise of 1 strength, 2 agility, 2 intelligence, 2 vitality, 2 dexterity, and 1 luck. This rewards was huge because 10 attributes was the same as one level for Auron or 2 level for ordinary player. With the permanent attributes rewards, Auron felt stronger than before. Also, from doing Peter''s task he felt that his ability to command and make quick decision improved greatly. After 6 days passed, thanks to his swordsman character grinding. Auron, managed to achieve level 22. It was two level higher than what he predicted before. This was because he managed to achieve a good loot. So when he sold it, he could get more money. And Auron spared no effort to keep the money, instead he invested all the money he got to buy potion and equipment. This way, his swordsman hunting speed improved and this was the reason he got two level higher than what he predicted before. Auron also didn''t forget to buy a good equipment for his mage character. With all of the preparation, Auron felt he was ready for the assessment day. And today was the day of the assessment would began. Auron was in front of a huge tower. In front of the tower there was be a big board with a big staff drawn on it. The board was a symbol for mage and the huge tower in front of him was the mage simulation tower where the assessment would take place. Auron was not alone, there already all of his classmate from the class specific lesson. However, all of them still waiting for the start of the assessment. Some of them chatting with other, while some of them kept calming their mind so that they would do better in the assessment and get a higher score. At this time, Pollack came over to Auron followed by his lackeys. "Ha ha ha. Have you packed your belonging? Don''t worry, I will help you moving out of the academy." Pollack mocked Auron. He felt like he didn''t even have a chance to lose this bet. Auron looked at Pollack lazily and sneered, "Don''t you forget to kneel down and apologize in front of me." "Ha ha ha. Do you think I would lose to you? A lowly commoner." Pollack laughed loudly followed by laughter and mocking from his lackeys. Seeing this, Auron didn''t say anything, he even didn''t bother about Pollack anymore and just waiting silently for the assessment. "You..." Seeing Auron ignored him, Pollack became angry and want to give Auron a lesson. However, before he even had the chance to teach Auron a lesson, a loud voice rang, "Silent!! All of you gather at the entrance of the tower now!" Alice was shouting from the tower''s entrance and gathering the student. Hearing what Alice said. All of the student quickly went and gathered at the tower''s entrance. "This is the start" Auron thought in his heart while walking to the tower''s entrance Chapter 63 Assessment 1 Alice gathered the student at the tower''s entrance. "As you know, we are going to have an assessment. This assessment will act as a guideline for me to know your battle skill." "So, I need you all to unleashed your full skill here. As a motivation for you and to ensure you using all what you''ve got, I am going to give a reward for the top 3 student in this assessment." "The third ranked reward is going to be 2 uncommon equipment." "The second ranked reward is going to be a rare equipment." "As for the top ranked reward, I am going to give a rare equipment. In addition of that, I will also teach you one of my created spell." When the student heard the reward for first ranked, they were shocked as well as excited. Alice was a well known mage in Two Worlds. She was the disciple of the academy''s headmaster. Not only that, Alice was also crowned as the most gifted mage in all of Gaia. Her achievement was a lot. During her days in the academy, she always achieved the first ranked in all of what she did. Also, she directly become the academy''s headmaster disciple when her batch going into the practical lesson period. Her master was so proud of her and doted her a lot. Fortunately, Alice didn''t misuse the trust and doting of her master. She kept on working hard and didn''t abuse her authority. Combined with her kindness, she become a goddess in the eyes of other people. However, because she was quite strict and stubborn, it was very difficult for others to get into her eyes. When a man tried to approaches her, if that man could not get into her eyes, she would ignore him. Moreover, with her talent, she kept on getting strong and the baseline to get into her eyes kept rising up. This made her, a beautiful and talented goddess, was still alone. She didn''t care about it. However, her master, cared a lot about this. That was why, her master insisted her to teach a class in the academy. This way, she could interact with others teacher and her disciple. Maybe, it would make her realized that her standard was too high and she would lower it a bit. Auron also know a bit about Alice. He already read the biography of all the talented student throughout the academy in the library. And, Alice was one of them. Despite her kind and beautiful appearance, she was very strong. She, alone, could handle dominate all of the other student in her batch including the student from the most powerful noble lineage. When she was about to graduate, she created a new spell and this spell was recognized as one of the most powerful fire spell in all of Gaia. After she was graduated, she kept on producing a new fire spell. Up until this date, she already created 15 fire spell. Only Alice could use the 15 fire spell she had created and never a second soul ever used it even her master. There was another genius that tried to replicate Alice created spell. However, after he replicate it, it turned out only the appearance was the same however, the power and ability of the spell was completely different. When he used that spell on a big tree, the tree only got charred mark on it. However, when Alice used it, the tree was turned into ash. That genius tried to modified the spell to match Alice''s spell. However, he kept on failed time over time. One day, that genius realized that he would never can catch up to Alice and he gave up. He use the replicated spell as a basis and created another spell completely different from Alice. This was why when, the first reward was one of Alice''s spell, all of the student''s spirit got pumped up. They needed to get that spell. One of Alice spell was worth more than even an epic graded equipment. Even for the weakest from the 15, it was still worth as an epic graded equipment. Moreover, they would become the first soul that learned that rare skill beside Alice. "Now, all of you may have read the procedure on how the assessment will be going from the guidebook. But, I will still explained it to you." "As its name, you will be going enter a simulation room. The room will created a simulation world. The world will be similar as our world, however, it will take place in the chaotic era." "Although it is called world, however, keep in mind that the area will not as spacious as you think. There will be a sign to show the worlds boundary. If you step over the boundary, then the simulation will stop and also your assessment." "There will be enemy spawned and they will keep on chasing to kill you. You need to take down that enemy to earn point. When you eliminate all of enemy, after 5 minutes of rest, another batch of enemy will be spawn with more quantity and quality." "When you die or step over the boundary, that will ends the assessment. You would be ranked based on the point you earn. And, as I said before, the top 3 will get the rewards." "Also, to ensure the fair judgement and know your battle experience. All of you will get the same equipment which was the very basic equipment a mage can get. Another thing is, all of you can use all of the skill available however, that spell would only level one." "All of you also will get the same attributes and you cannot use any potion in the simulation. So, maintain your mana carefully. The first enemy spawn will be the same as your level now and will increased gradually." "Keep in mind, as a mage you will usually fight at the back and use spell to eliminate the enemy. However, you cannot always rely on that. There will be a situation that force you to fight in a close combat even without spell." Chapter 64 Assessment 2 "Any question?" Alice asked No hands were up. Seeing this Alice wanted to start the assessment, however, a student raised his hand. "Yes, Pollack?" "Ms Alice, I am not asking a question. I just want you to become a witness on my duel with other student." "Oh.." Alice became interested. Back then when she was still in the academy, she also like to duel with other student. Whenever she saw a student was bullying other student, she would stood up for that student and challenged the bully to a duel. Also, there was a time when a student was kept on chasing and pestering her and it annoyed her, so she resolved it with another duel. However, that only last for the first month she was in the academy. After that, her talent and power kept getting stronger and more and more people knew about that. At the end, because they didn''t want to duel when they knew they would lose, they avoided to make trouble in front of her. "Who are you dueling? Is there a bet included?" "I am dueling with Smiling Wizard, and there is a bet included" Pollack smiled. "Is it true?" Alice asked Auron. She was surprised to see Auron was dueling with Pollack. She knew Auron from these few days and her impression of Auron gradually increased. With no mage talent, he kept on learning and not give up. "Yes. The one who get higher score in this assessment will be the winner. And, if I win, he would kneel and publicly apologized to me. If I lose, I will not attend you class anymore." Auron said bluntly. Hearing the bet, she was shocked. Although Auron had no talent to become a mage, her impression of Auron had increased. When a student was very enthusiastic about what the teacher teaches, the teacher would also become motivated to teach more. "It is a pity that I would lose such an enthusiastic student" She sighed in her mind. She thought that Auron would lose but, she could not stop the duel. The academy believe that dueling would help the student to gain more battle experience. Thus, the academy encourage the student to duel, this could be seen from the academy way of doing. In practical period, the student could duel and bet their academy''s point. As the baseline point gradually rising up, duel was the only way to get the point needed. As long as both parties agrees to the duel willingly and it not involved death, then there was no way that duel could be stopped even by teacher or the headmaster. From the way Auron and Pollack said, Alice knew that both of them had agreed to the duel way long before and there was no pressure involved. She knew she could not stopped the duel, so she didn''t bothered to stop it though she would lose a bright student. "Okay, as you both have agreed before. I will become the witness of your duel." "Then, now, let us start our assessment. All of you get into your designated room." "Show off all of your battle''s skill. Remember, there are prize for the top 3 student." Alice reminded the student once again. The student went to their designated room including Auron. He went inside a simulation room number 20. The room was not spacious, however, there was a machine in the middle of the room. That machine was the one that going to teleport him to the simulation world. He directly went to the machine. Meanwhile, Alice was going to the monitor room to monitor all of her student assessment. With monitoring the student, she could give advice to her student so they could improved their skill. There were many monitor in the room that synchronize with the number of student in her class. Seeing all of them was ready, she will start the assessment. "Okay, seeing all of you are ready. We will begin the assessment. You will be teleported to the simulation world. After you arrived there will be 1 minute idle period before the first enemy spawned. Use that time wisely." Alice''s voice transferred to all of the student. After Alice''s voice, Auron''s vision darkened out a second before he regained his vision again. However, when he regained his vision he was not in the simulation room, instead, he was inside a forest. And, in front of him a minute countdown timer shown. Auron didn''t waste his time, he looked at all of his attribute, his health, his mana, his movement speed, casting speed as well as his spell. He got many spell that he hadn''t learn before. He quickly skimmed over all of the spell to know the mana required to cast the spell and the effective range of the spell. After gathering the information, He concluded that he could cast 10 basic spell like fire bolt, ice bolt, wind bolt, or earth spike before his mana depleting. Also, he needed to spent 5 minutes to recover his mana to full condition again. With his full mana, he could only cast the most advanced spell once and that spell would emptied his mana. The casting time also varied and it needed longer time than what he had before. Each of the student get the same equipment which was a set of the most basic mage''s equipment, a wooden staff and basic dagger. Auron equipped the staff and kept the dagger in his inventory for now. "I need to use the mana wisely" Auron thought. Auron had read about the mage spell in the library before. He also tried to remember his mage opponent move when he was still swordsman. He thought that maybe he could adopted their fighting style. Seeing the countdown nearing the end, Auron calmed his mind. After all, a calm mind will help him to make decision. "6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... 0" Auron counted down in his mind. When the number shown 0, Auron started to move out. Chapter 65 Assessment 3 A notification rang near Auron. [An enemy with level 22 had been spawn] Auron didn''t care about the notification, instead, he was analyzing the terrain. He was looking for a place to set up an ambush. With an ambush, he could catch the enemy in surprise, so Auron would spent fewer resource to defeat that enemy. This could save his mana for another enemy. While analyzing the terrain, Auron sensed a movement. He quickly stopped what he was doing and looking at the source of movement. From afar, Auron spotted the enemy. The first enemy was a swordsman. To make it fair for the participant, the enemy also got the same treatment as the participant. They got only the basic equipment for their respective class and all of the skill or spell was only at level 1. What differentiate between the enemy and the participant was the character''s level. Because the character''s level was different automatically, the enemy attribute''s also different. At first, they had the same attributes as the participant, however, gradually, the attributes would rise as the character''s level also rise. This was what the academy want to tested. They wanted to know the participant way of thinking when facing such situation. Will the participant succumb to the pressure from their enemy or they could still give a fight back. This also become the baseline on how many level difference the participant could fight. Seeing Auron, the enemy directly used [Charge] towards Auron. However, Auron didn''t stay still, he already chanted a spell. An earth spike grow from the ground and attacked the charging enemy. It successfully stopped the enemy charge and damage him. Auron quickly followed up with another spell. He didn''t stopped until there, he bombarded the enemy with the spell. Auron didn''t hold anything because he knew there was only one enemy right now. Under the bombardment of the spell, the enemy could not hold long and died. After the enemy died, another notification rang out telling Auron that he got 22 points. The participant would get points the same as the opponent''s level. This way, the participant that start with a level higher didn''t have any disadvantage. Also, another countdown timer popped out in front of Auron. A 5 minutes countdown was started. Below the countdown there was also a continue button. That button used to dismiss the countdown and directly continue to the next stage. When the timer was going, Auron could not moved. He could only stood still while waiting the countdown end or pressed the continue button to directly start another battle. The academy had calculated carefully. Each of every participant character''s was designed that 5 minutes was the time needed to fully replenish the all of character''s health and mana regardless how heavy their injuries. The debuff effect from the enemy also cleansed out during the waiting period. However, not all of the participant needed 5 minutes to fully replenish their condition. Some of them didn''t take any damage or didn''t spent many mana. So, they didn''t need 5 minutes. That was why, instead of waiting, there was the continue button for them to directly continue. After some time, Auron managed to fully replenish his mana. He didn''t stay long and pressed the continue button. As soon as Auron pressed the continue button, a notification rang out near Auron. [An enemy with level 23 had been spawn] Like what he did before, Auron didn''t look for the enemy instead he was still analyzing the terrain. While analyzing, he also kept his vigilance up. He didn''t want to be ambushed while looking for a way to ambush the enemy. A few moment later, Auron heard a sound of something slicing through the wind. Auron tried to dodge. That thing went through Auron and scratched his face before stuck in the tree in front of Auron. That thing was an arrow. "So, this time is an archer" Auron thought. Auron looked at his health. That arrow scratched him and he got some damage. Fortunately, it was only a scratch, so the damage was not too high. Auron looked at his surrounding looking for the archer. The enemy launched another arrow aimed at Auron. However, this time Auron managed to spot the enemy so he could easily dodged the arrow and didn''t take any damage at all. After unleashing the arrow the enemy quickly hide behind the tree. However, Auron already knew where the enemy was, so he quickly chanted an advanced spell and aimed at the tree. Auron wanted to destroy the tree as well as attacking the enemy behind it. However, the enemy didn''t stay still, seeing Auron chanting a high level spell he moved out and launched another attack at Auron while moving. Auron canceled his spell and dodged the incoming arrow. This was his first time battling in a long range battle. Auron could not get used to it. The enemy kept on attacking Auron. However, Auron managed to take cover behind a tree. When he was thinking what should he do, a loud sound rang toward him. He knew the enemy was using his skill. He quickly ran out and take cover behind another tree. The enemy''s skill hit the tree where Auron stood before and destroy it. The tree fell down, however, it didn''t managed to hurt Auron. Auron decided to come closer to the enemy. He used [Aqua shield]. A shield made of water was made in front of him. The enemy kept on attacking him, however, the shield managed to deflect all of the attack. When the shield time was ended, Auron managed to shorten their distance. Auron chanted a [Quagmire] at the enemy. The ground beneath the enemy turned soft and managed to slowed down the enemy. The enemy shot another arrow at Auron. However, Auron didn''t waste this chance, he chanted [Fire Bolt] towards the enemy''s arrow. The arrow was burned to dust and since the arrow was shot at straight line, the [Fire Bolt] Auron chanted went to attack the enemy. Chapter 66 Assessment 4 Bang... The [Fire Bolt] exploded when successfully hit the enemy. The archer staggered a bit but managed not to fell down. However, Auron didn''t miss this chance, he quickly chanted another spell, [Ensnare]. A vine of tree grows from the ground and snared the archer''s both legs. Being snared, the archer could not ran away, he could only launched another attack towards Auron. This time, he used [Power Shot]. The arrow shot on straight line toward Auron. By using [Power Shot], the arrow got faster and more powerful. However, no matter how fast it is, since Auron knew where the arrow coming from, he easily dodged the arrow. The archer kept on releasing his attack toward Auron. But, Auron could dodged all of the attack easily. After 3 arrow since the [Power Shot] used, the [Ensnare]''s effect had ended. Since it was only a level 1 spell, the duration also short. With the [Ensnare]''s effect went off, the archer could moved again. However, what waited for him was Auron, who had already stood in front of him. When dodging the arrow, Auron didn''t just dodge it, he also moved closer to the archer. Auron equipped his dagger provided by the academy and stabbed on the archer. The archer also changed his weapon to a dagger and tried to fight close combat with Auron. However, Auron had way more close combat experience than ranged combat experience. The archer could not hold long enough before died under the dagger. Auron looked at his points which was added by another 23 point. Another countdown timer also popped out in front of him and he waited until all of his health and mana were full before continuing. He also switched back his dagger with a staff. Another enemy popped out. This new enemy was the easiest so far. Because, the new enemy was a cleric. Despite the cleric had an attack spell, compared to a mage, the attack spell was obviously weaker. Auron barraged the cleric with a spell. But, the cleric also spammed a healing skill on himself. Under this damage and heal, the cleric''s health point went down then a few seconds later it went up. Then, it went down again and went up again. This continued until both of their mana was emptied. When the mana was emptied. Auron changed his weapon to a dagger and fight in a close combat. The enemy was also set to continue chasing the target, so he also went straight to Auron and used a dagger to try to stab Auron. Another close combat fight was started. This time, the fight didn''t last as long as when he fought close combat with his previous enemy, the archer. Before long, the cleric defeated and another 24 points added. Auron waited until his mana and health filled before continuing the assessment. [Two enemies with level 25 had been spawned] "This time it was two" Auron thought while seeing the notification. The enemies quickly appeared in his sight. Two swordsman appeared and charging out to Auron. Every time, Auron was waiting until his health full, he didn''t just lazily wait. He also read out his spell''s description and tried to formulate a plan. Seeing the enemies was two swordsman, Auron chanted an [Earth Wall]. When the enemies reached halfway to Auron, a wide wall appeared from the ground and blocked the enemies. This sudden appearance of the wall took the enemies in surprised. They could not stopped before crashing the wall. Because it was only level 1 spell, the sturdiness of the wall was low. The enemies made a hole in the shape of their body on the wall. However, their charge momentum was successfully stopped by the wall. Auron didn''t missed this chance and launched another spell. He focused out on one of the swordsman. Auron''s plan was to kill one of the swordsman first, so when he went out to fight into a close combat fight he would only fight with one enemy. After all, Auron used a mage character which was not suitable for close combat fight. He could coped up with one enemy using his experience to cover the lack of attribute. If there was two enemies, he would surely died under the enemies'' attack. Moreover, the enemies had a higher attributes than him. Auron successfully defeated one swordsman. However, the other swordsman had already arrived beside him and swung his sword towards Auron. With a quick response, Auron tried to dodge the attack but failed. Auron got hit by the sword and took some damage. But, Auron didn''t stay still, he changed his weapon to dagger and fight in close combat against the leftover swordsman. Although, Auron was in disadvantages because of the hit before, but Auron could coped up with the enemy and successfully defeated him. Another 50 points was added to his point''s pool. [Two enemies with level 26 had been spawned] He rested up before he continued with another enemies. This time it was two enemies with level 26. He could not see any enemy lurking down to him. But, Auron still kept up his vigilance. After wait up for a few minutes, suddenly, Auron felt a cold sensation behind his back. Auron dodged the attack. When dodging, he could saw a steel dagger slashed out to the place where his neck was before. A thief appeared with a dagger. Auron was successfully dodged the thief''s attack. However, when Auron want to relieved another chill sent down to his spine. A second thief appeared and attacked Auron. This time, Auron tried to dodge, but he could not dodged it in time. The dagger managed to graze his shoulder. Sensing danger, Auron ran away from the thief. Both of the time also started to chase Auron and didn''t bother to use another stealth. Since the thief had a higher level combined with the thief''s agility, their movement speed was faster than Auron. They quickly caught up with Auron. Auron felt dange Chapter 67 Assessment 5 Auron felt danger. He racked up his brain. However, he still could not find a way out. He could only continue to run. The chasing thieves had already arrived near Auron. The both brandished their dagger. Since the thieves didn''t bother to use stealth, Auron could evade both of the thief attack. However, he could not retaliate. If he tried to retaliate and attack one of the thief, the other thief would have a chance to attack him. With his mage''s character, he would certainly lose the battle. This continued for several minutes, until one of the thief stopped his action. "This was a chance" Auron thought. Using this chance he ran away and made distance from the thief that stopped. The other thief, still kept on chasing and attacking Auron. Auron knew why that thief stopped his action. That thief wanted to use stealth. To use a stealth, a thief cannot use it anytime, there was certain condition to fulfill which was, that thief needed to not engaged in battle for 5 minutes. If he had already engaged in battle, he needed to stay still and maintain certain distance from the one he engaged in battle, before the 5 minutes timer started. After 3 minutes running, Auron felt that he had already kept enough distance. so he stopped his running and turned to face the chasing thief. He engaged a one on one battle with the chasing thief. Auron stabbed his dagger toward the thief. The chasing thief was caught in surprise. He could not think that this mage would fight in a close combat. The thief tried to dodge Auron attack. At first, Auron tried to stabbed his stomach, however, the thief managed to dodge it and the dagger stabbed his left arm. The thief didn''t stay still, he also counter Auron''s attack, he stabbed the dagger in his hand. Auron had already anticipated this, with his quick reaction, he pulled his dagger from the thief''s arm and blocked the thief''s attack with his dagger. Blood flowed out from the thief''s left arm. Auron didn''t missed this chance, he continued to pressure the thief. The thief was in dire straits, however, he also tried his best to retaliate against Auron''s attack. It was obvious that the thief was trying to buy time until his teammate came. Occasionally, Auron got attacked by the thief. From the number, Auron had more attack landed successfully on the thief. However, because the mage''s strength was low, his damage was lower than the thief. With more attack landed successfully on the thief, the difference in health was not significant. Auron''s health was slightly above the thief''s health. Auron still had 50% of his health while the thief had 30% of his health. If Auron had the same strength as the thief, with the number of attack landed, the thief would already die or at most had 10% of his health. "I don''t have much more time" Auron thought. He knew the other thief had already used his stealth and already on his way here. Auron''s goals was to kill this thief so, he didn''t have to face two enemies. The fighting thief also knew that his teammate was on his way here, so he tried to buy more time. However, he kept on harassing Auron. If Auron was running away, he would chased Auron. But, if Auron was attacking him, he would defend and maintain several distance back. He would not let Auron to get away from him. If he let Auron get away, they would lose track of Auron or, worser, Auron would bombarded him with spell from distance. Seeing the defensive thief, his heart sunk. If this continue, I would be in bad situation. Auron tried to ran away. The thief continued to chase him and slowed him down. When Auron was on his way to get out of this situation. A dagger stabbed him in the back. The other thief had arrived and used [Back Stab]. Auron''s health could be seen reduced dramatically. Now, Auron had only 20% of his health. That [Back Stab] skill took out 30% of Auron''s health. Now the situation changed, Auron was the one in the dire straits. Auron could not help but ran away. Both of the thieves chased after him. Their prey, only had a little health left. "If only I already mastered [Walking Chanting], I would be not in this dire straits." Auron helplessly sighed. "No, I will not give up, I was only a step away from mastering it. Maybe, if I tried now, I would learn it." Auron didn''t want to give up. Auron ran away while tried to chant a spell. He tried to chant a fire bolt, however, it was obviously a failure. He could not concentrate on chanting the spell that result on the spell to fail. Meanwhile, both of the thieves also kept on harassing him. Because Auron tried to chant a spell, his concentration was split. He could not dodge most of the thief health. His health reduced slowly but surely. Auron tried to chant once more, suddenly, a red particle glow in the air near his hand. However, that red particle quickly disappear. It was a failure, however, he was closer to his goals. Auron felt a little ecstasy on this. However, that quickly disappear, a dagger stabbed his left arm. Auron health now reduced to 8%. Auron quickly came back to reality, he ran away from the thieves. Both of the thieves chased him once more. With the healthy thief was in front followed by the injured thief. "This is my last chance" Auron thought. He tried to chant another fire bolt. A red particle glow brighter than before. When it was at its peak, Auron aimed his hand toward his back. A fire bolt formed from his hand and shot toward the thieves. Both of the thief was caught in surprise. They could not think this mage successfully master the [Walking Chanting]. Although the healthy thief was caught in surprise he could dodge the spell, however his teammate at his back was not as lucky as him. The fire bolt hit the injured thief. It stopped the thieves in his chasing. A notification rang out beside Auron. Chapter 68 Walking Chanting [You have learn a new spell] [Walking Chanting] (Mage''s skill) Level: 1 (Cannot be leveled up) Damage: 0-100% MP: Depend on the spell chanted Type: Passive Target: Depend on the spell chanted Cool down: 0 sec Prerequisites: None Description: - Automatically used while user start to cast their spell on the move. - The damage was randomize between 0-100% of the spell magic damage. - There was a chance to fail. - If failed, the spell would explode and damage the caster for 100% of the spell damage. - User get 1 second chance to continue their spell when disrupted otherwise, it will make the spell fail and explode. "Finally, I get this skill" Auron was very happy to know that he finally learn the must have skill of a mage. "With this, I can make progress on this assessment easily" Auron thought. Auron didn''t want to be drowned in happiness, he knew he was still in dire straits. With 5% health left, anything could happen. While both of the thieves still in state of shocked, Auron quickly made a move. He ran away and made distance between him and the thieves. However, he didn''t just ran away, he properly used the skill he just learnt. Auron chanted another a basic spell, [Ice Bolt]. With high concentration, Auron successfully produced the [Ice Bolt]. The ice bolt flew out to the thieves and hit the injured thief. Auron deliberately aimed to the injured thief to finish him off so to reduce the burden on him. Unfortunately, this time Auron''s luck was bad. His randomize damage only got 1% damage of the spell. The injured thief didn''t died. On the contrary, this attack made the thieves came back to their senses. They looked at Auron and started to chase him. This time, the healthy thief chased him while the injured thief ran away and tried to use stealth. Like before, the healthy thief also tried to buy time so that his teammate could assist him with stealth. However, how could Auron let this happened. He quickly stopped ran away and fight back against the healthy thief. This time Auron became more and more aggressive. Auron combined his attack between close combat and his magic. When the enemy was close enough, Auron would attack him with his dagger. On the contrary, when the enemy tried to run away, Auron would chanted his spell while chasing the enemy. This made the enemy was in dilemma. If he come closer, Auron could attack him with dagger or magic. Moreover, it would break his goal to buy time. But, if he ran away and made distance from Auron, he would be a moving spell dummy. Although, Auron''s magic damage was not high because he was using a dagger and not so lucky in his randomize damage, however, the enemy''s health was visibly reduced every seconds. It was slow but little by little the enemy health got reduced. from 100%, 98%, 95%, 90%, 89%, to 50% and it was still reduced as the time goes by. Auron carefulness also contributed to the slow reduction pace of the enemy''s health. He only had 5% of his health left. It would be a big joke, if he got hit by the enemy''s desperate attack and died. After several minutes of harassing the enemy, Auron finally killed that thief. A notification sound rang indicating that he got a point. However, he could not be bothered by that because he knew the other thief was nearby. Although, the leftover thief had only around 5% of his health but he was in stealth mode. Auron needed to dodge one of his attack first before he could attack him. "What should I do to bait the thief out?" Auron thought. He knew that thief would be very careful since he also had a low health. It would be very hard for Auron to bait that thief came out of his stealth. He drop his guard down. Auron tried to act as if he was not aware there was a thief lurking beside him. He walked deep into the forest as if he was looking for a place to rest. At first, the thief not buying Auron''s act. However, as the thief followed Auron deep into the forest, he started to believe that Auron was not acting. Moreover, with a sliver of health left, he could killed Auron with just several combo of his skills. However, he could still resist the temptation to act. As time goes by, with Auron''s genuine act, the urge to act was rising. The temptation pressure the thief and become a burden to him. It was like there was a devil saying "Act now, and everything will be over". Could not resist no more, the thief started to act hastily. He started to move closer to Auron. However, because the thief move carelessly, he left some sign. The vigilant and observant Auron didn''t missed this sign. "Finally, can''t resist it no more?" Auron smirked. Auron still act as if he didn''t care about the whereabouts of the other thief and continued to rest. However, inside, he was formulating a plan, he was trying to predict what move will the thief made. He tried to position himself as the careless thief which seeing a prey didn''t have any of their guards up. The thief made a move at Auron. In his stealth condition, he moved to behind Auron. When he was facing Auron''s back he started to attack. However, Auron had anticipated this. From the brainstorming before, this was the move with highest chance that the thief would do, attacking from behind. The thief swung his dagger aiming at Auron''s neck and broke his stealth. Suddenly, Auron turned his back and blocked the incoming dagger with his dagger. Seeing his attack failed, the thief turned panic. He desperately bombarded Auron with his attack. However, Auron blocked it calmly. When one attack desperately, he didn''t had any time to think about defense. So, when Auron seeing a gap opened, he counter attack. The thief took some damage which made him more nervous and made more mistake. After several attack from Auron, the thief collapsed on the ground. Chapter 69 Round 6 In a room full of monitor, a lady was sitting in front of the monitor observing what was happening in the monitor. "What a pity, many of the student already failed at this time. It looks like a close combat lesson was very important." the lady pitifully sighed. The lady was Alice. She was their teacher as well as the overseer of the assessment. She also the one that chose the the combination of the enemy. "If I knew this would happen, maybe I should chose an easy enemy." This time, Alice was very disappointed. However, she cannot change what already done. The enemy needed to be inputted before the assessment started. And, because she had already inputted the enemy, she could only watched as the student failed one by one. Actually, she only inputted the enemy''s combination up until four enemy or in other words up until 12 rounds. If there was a student that could achieved up until round 13, then she would needed to inputted the enemy manually. At first, she thought that to reach round 12 with the enemy combination she inputted, would be very difficult. And, if there was a student that could reached that height, then that student surely would become a prodigy. She thought that the student would achieved until a minimum round 9. However, reality was different. Because of the enemy combination, many student already failed. Especially, when they reached round 5, the 2 thieves round. However, what''s done was done. She could only waited patiently until the assessment was over and maybe gave some encouragement to the student. "Ah, another student failed, huh..." Alice shook her head looking at one of the monitor while suddenly she was shocked. A student was chased by two thieves, when he was at his dead end, suddenly he turned back and a fire bolt was launched from hand and hit the chasing thieves. That student was Auron. "Hmm... this student was that student that worked very hard and was in bet with other student." Alice recognize Auron. "Wow, a superb close combat experience. I bet he had a ton of close combat experience to achieve at this height." Alice praised when she saw Auron fighting the thief in close combat. "What a pity he only got a sliver of health left, while his last enemy was in stealth" Alice thought that despite having a ton of close combat experience, the student still cannot defeated a thief in stealth mode. "Huh, so he chose to act like this." Alice saw what Auron was doing to lure the stealth enemy out. "Hmm... Smiling Wizard. He was the weakest student in my class" Alice saw through the student attendance and found out Auron''s information. She suddenly become interested to Auron. Before, she only got a good impression on Auron because he was hard working but now that impression changed to interest. Auron got another point from defeating the last thief. Right now, he had 171 points. However, he couldn''t know how many point the other got. The academy intentionally blocked all information relating other participant so the participant could solely focused on his fight. While Auron was resting to fully replenish his health and mana, he didn''t stay idle. He trying to understand how the new skill he got work best. He was thinking on how to split focus, how to prevent from failing, etc. Despite he was resting, his mind was working hard. Before the timer was up, he concluded what the was analyzing and switched his mind to battle mode again. [Two enemy with level 27 had been spawn] The assessment continue. Auron maintain his composure and looking for the enemies. This was the first time in the assessment Auron was actively looking for the enemies. Not long after, he saw the enemies far away. Auron move closer to the enemy. The enemies also saw Auron and move closer to Auron. However, they still maintain a safe distance between them and Auron. The AI in the simulation already learned that Auron could used [Walking Chanting]. So, that variable was added to the formula. That was why the enemies became more careful this time. The enemies Auron encounter this time was swordsman and cleric. It was a pretty good combination to fight against a solo mage. However, it means nothing to Auron. Since he had learned the [Walking Chanting], his confidence shot up. With his experience in close combat he could deviate many plan from combining it with the skill. Also, Auron was different from any other mage. When the other mage, seeing the enemies this time, they would take distance and showered them with spell. However, Auron didn''t do it like that. He come closer to the enemies and with a dagger in his hand, he fight in close combat. Of course, it was not easy to fight in close combat against two enemies. However, Auron had learn a lesson from before. He harassed the cleric and ignoring the swordsman. Occasionally, Auron used his spell to dodge from swordsman''s attack. With the harassment from Auron, the cleric could not do anything other than healing himself. When the cleric''s mana was emptied, he could do nothing and was stab to death by Auron. Meanwhile, the swordsman also depleted some of Auron''s mana till half full. However, it was enough to defeat the swordsman. Without the healing from the cleric, the swordsman could only saw his health going down little by little while his attack was dodged by Auron. The swordsman could not continue long enough before he collapsed to the ground and death. Another round was finished and point was given to Auron. While Auron replenishing his health and mana, he didn''t just stay still. He worked his head again to find a way for optimizing his spell usage in combat. He fully used the 5 minutes given by the academy. When the timer was up, he went to battle mode again. [Three enemy with level 28 had been spawn] Chapter 70 Round 7 Three enemies appeared at this round. Just like before, Auron started to move to search for the enemies. After several minutes, he found all of his enemy walking in group carefully. They consist of 2 mage and 1 archer. "So, it supposed to be a long ranged battle again." Auron realized that this round supposed to be another long ranged battle. "Unfortunately, I will not do as what it want." Auron felt that he was strong in close ranged combat even though he was a mage. Moreover, with the [Walking Chanting] he just learned, he felt a new close combat style had been found. He could combined his magic and close combat fighting style to produce way more possibilities. Auron moved out and started to move close to the enemies. The enemies sensed Auron, they quicklymaintained some distance from each other, so that they would not fell in one swoop of Auron large area spell. The archer started to shoot arrow at Auron. While one of the mage started to chant a fire spell. The last mage was in charge of their defense and creating a barrier for all of them. An arrow was shot toward Auron followed by a fire spell. Auron moved side ways and could dodged the arrow and the spell easily. The enemies continuously barraged Auron with their attack. The archer become the main attacker since the mage needed to preserve their mana. So, more and more arrow coming toward Auron. The mage didn''t stayed idle. Occasionally, their chanted a followed up spell and tried to make Auron position in danger. However, it didn''t work, so they could only watching Auron''s movement and adjusting their position according to Auron''s movement. Although, Auron could dodged all of the arrow and spell, but he could not get closer to them. If this continues, he would be forced to fight in a long ranged battle. That was why, Auron let some of the attack hit him in order to move closer. However, it was not as easy as Auron''s thought, seeing Auron move close, the enemy also moved back and maintained some distance. This frustrated Auron. "What should I do, If this continues, my health will be depleted before I reach the enemies." Auron thought. Auron took some risky move. Before, he only dodged and tried to move closer to the enemies without using any spell. However, right now, Auron tried to charged over to the enemy and also using some spell. Auron charged out to the enemies. However, he just didn''t charged blindly, he tried to analyze the enemies position and chanted a spell and aimed at the mage. This time, the enemies already knew that Auron could do [Walking Chanting], so the enemies was not caught in surprise like the enemies before. They could evade the coming spell. However, Auron''s goal for the spell was not to hit them, it just for a distraction to come close to the enemies and it works. Auron slowly close their distance between them. The enemies didn''t stay still. They also tried to buy some time with spell so they could widen their distance once more. The mage tried to chant one or two spell. However, to their surprise, Auron didn''t tried to fully dodge the spell. Auron only tried to dodge a little and let the spell grazed his body and make some damage. This plan worked. Auron managed to come closer to the enemies with the cost of his health. To come to the close combat distance, Auron had to sacrificed 80% of his health. Now, he left with 20% of his health while the enemies'' health still full. He needed to defeat all of his enemies with 20% of his health left. Seeing the situation, the archer abandon his bow and took out a dagger to become the tanker for two of the mage. One of the mage become the attacker, while the other mage supported them with some defensive spell. Another close combat fight broke out. Auron maintained the upper hands. he could fight with the archer in close combat while chanting a spell and aimed it toward the mage. Although, Auron was not so lucky with the randomize damage, however the spell was enough to distract the mage from chanting a spell. The fight continues until the archer collapsed to the ground. With the archer defeated, Auron could easily defeat the other two enemies. When he defeated the other mage, Auron only left out with 3% of his health. "This was a risky move. I sacrificed 80% of my health just to make it into close combat. I needed to find out another way when this situation happened once more" Auron felt relieved his bet was a success. Auron was resting until the countdown timer was up. When the timer was up he was ready for another battle. [Three enemy with level 29 had been spawn] Auron moved out and search for the enemies. His confidence soared up high. He knew that this continuous win will have to end because of the enemies'' attributes getting stronger and stronger while his attributes stay the same. But, he also wanted to know how far he could continue. Auron saw a movement up ahead in front of him. He saw the enemy up ahead. The enemy also saw him and took out his sword then charged over to Auron. The enemy Auron saw was a swordsman. "Huh, it is weird why only one enemy. Where is the other two enemies?" Auron also took out his dagger and he was ready to block the swordsman''s attack. But, he was confused why there was only one enemy. However, several minutes later, he found out the reason. A chill made his spine went cold and made him shivered a bit. Two dagger flashed out and aimed at Auron''s vital. He could not dodged both of the dagger completely and took some damage. "Damn it, another two thieves. Why is teacher loved thief that much? Is her lover a thief?" Auron cursed in his mind. Chapter 71 Assessments End Auron took some damage from the thieves surprise attack before. However, he quickly regained his mind and focused on the battle once more. This time, the battle was way more difficult than before. One of the thief and the swordsman kept on pressuring Auron. While the other thief got away and ready to use stealth. Auron tried his best to endure the attack while waiting a chance to counter attacked. When there was two enemies, Auron pressure go down a little bit. However, Auron knew this was only a calm before the storm. He needed to quickly finish one enemy or else he would surely dies if this continue. A sword slashed out in front of him. Auron dodged it by stepping back. However, a dagger followed out and tried to stab at his stomach. Auron blocked the dagger with his hand. Then, a fire bolt shot and aimed at the swordsman. The fire bolt hit. However, the damage was so low. Lately, Auron was not so lucky with the randomize damage. The swordsman felt like an ant bite him and didn''t bother with the damage. Moreover, the swordsman''s health was high, so a little bit damage could not make him panic. Auron tried to move away from the two of them. However, they kept on chasing and sticking to Auron. This made Auron became more and more frustrated. He could only dodge, blocked, and counter attacked with a spell that did little bit damage. This continue until the other thief managed to arrived in the battlefield in stealth mode. Like a routine, the swordsman slashed his sword. Then, Auron dodged it and a dagger followed and tried to stab him. Once again, Auron blocked the dagger with his dagger and Auron aimed his chanted spell to the swordsman. However, this time, before the spell launched towards the swordsman, another dagger came out of nowhere slashed towards Auron''s back. A damage appeared above Auron''s head. A clean hit, Auron took hit a pretty decent damage this time. The three enemies continued their pressure and attack Auron. However, Auron managed to regained his composure and blocked or dodged the attack. Seeing, their effort was not enough, One of the thief went away once more and tried to use another stealth. Auron gritted his teeth. He could do nothing to prevent the thief from using the stealth. It was already difficult for him to maintain dodging and blocking the attack. Left with two enemies once more, Auron tried to became more aggressive. He successfully landed several attack to the enemy. His spell randomize damage also got higher than before. If before, the swordsman didn''t bother to dodge, after he got a pretty high damage, the swordsman now tried to dodge the spell launched at him. This left him some opening and Auron didn''t missed the chance and used his dagger to attack the swordsman. The swordsman got hit by the dagger and staggered a bit. Using this chance, Auron tried to escape from the encirclement. However, it was futile. The thief already blocked at his planned direction. Auron still tried to escape, he fought one on one with the thief. However, not long after, the swordsman regained his composure, and joined the fight. The battle back to square one again. Left with 53% of his health, Auron felt desperate. He could not think of a way to win from this fight. The swordsman left with 60% of his health and the thief left with 80% of his health. How could 53% health defeated two enemies with health way above him. Moreover, in a minute the other thief should be arrived and joined the fight. In his desperation, Auron''s attack become more aggressive. Especially towards the swordsman who had a fewer health than the thief. When the thief attack, Auron would tried to dodge it completely. On the other hand, when the swordsman attack, Auron tried to dodge as well as counter attack the swordsman''s attack. This plan actually a little bit effect. Combined with his spell, Auron managed to reduced 40% of the swordsman health, in sacrifice of 32% of Auron''s health. This time, Auron already timed his time. So he knew that there was a stealth thief lurking out near him. Auron became more defensive on this round. And, it worked. Even though, he could not counter attack the enemies or reduce the enemies'' attack, Auron managed to block or dodge the incoming attack and preserving his health. As the battle goes on, with the pressure from his enemy, Auron''s concentration become sharper and sharper. He could reduced his preserve his health while reducing the enemies health bit by bit. Seeing their situation, the enemies became more serious. If this continues, they could only watch their dead slowly. The swordsman who had the lowest health launched a desperate attack. He disregard his health and kept on attacking as he would died any moment. This proved to be a success, from the desperate attack of the swordsman, Auron''s manage to make a mistake. Auron''s health started to reduce. Auron''s left with 10% of his health meanwhile the swordsman left with 5% of his health. Although, percentage-wise, the swordsman had a lower health, however, from the real number, their health actually the same. Auron became more defensive once more. He knew this was the time the stealth thief came. Auron didn''t bother to attack and just blocking or dodging. However, the desperate swordsman use this to his advantage, he become more aggressive with his attack and didn''t bother defending leaving a wide opening every time he attack. The stealth time came and attack. However, it didn''t manage to reduce Auron''s health. The three enemies started to pressure Auron with the swordsman desperate attack, Auron felt more pressure than before. The pressure successfully made Auron did a mistake. From this mistake, it became snowball and became bigger. Auron was in danger. Seeing the situation, it was a hopeless situation to overcome. He could not go to the next round. However, Auron didn''t want to die alone. He also aimed at the low health swordsman. Before Auron died, he manage to kill the swordsman first before dying because of the thieves''s attack. Chapter 72 Assessments Rank Auron opened his eyes and he was back at the simulation room. "The assessment was hard. It was very hard to fight against enemy with higher level and attribute" Auron sighed. He looked at his earned points. From the assessment, he got 338 points, thanks to the last enemy that die with him. If not, he would only earn 309 points. "I don''t know if this point was enough to earn top 3 of the assessment" Auron really wanted to get into top 3 for the rewards especially the first ranked rewards. It was so tempting for Auron. If he learnt just one of the spell for Ms. Alice, he would be the only player in Two Worlds to learn that spell beside Ms. Alice. Auron walked out of the simulation room and went to the simulation tower entrance. When he arrived at the entrance, there were already many student waiting at the entrance. They waited here to knew the announcement about the top 3 student for the assessment. "It was really difficult to fight with two thieves" One of the student beside Auron talked to his classmate. "I agree. I didn''t even got a chance to attack back before I died" His classmate replied Hearing the conversation, Auron silently nodded. It was also difficult for him to fight against 2 thieves. Luckily, at the end, he learnt the [Walking Chanting] skill. It boosted his fighting power and helped him to turn the tide over. Auron waited silently near the entrance of the tower. While waiting, he could hear some of his classmate''s conversation. Most of them were talking about the difficulty of this assessment. Especially, the noble students, they were really shocked at the difficulty of this assessment. Most of them managed to hire an alumni student whether from the military or other places and become their mentor. All of the mentor, always said that the first assessment was easy and they could get until a minimum of round 7. However, from the test the student just did before, they doubted if the test was difficult or they were the one that was too weak. On one side, they believed their mentor that said it was easy. However, the reality was different, they felt that the test was difficult. On the other side, they could not believed that they were weak. Their ego would not allowed it. Not long after, Pollack followed by several student walked to Auron. "Are you ready to get out of this academy?" He started to mock Auron. Pollack result was not so high. He could only get until round 5 and managed to defeat one of the thieves. At first, he was shocked, He could not believed that he would get that low result. However, as the student came out of the simulation tower and waited, he asked almost all of the student. From his inquiry, he realized that his result was not bad. His confidence soared up once again. Although, Auron took a long time finish the assessment, he could not believed that Auron reached a higher round than him. He thought that Auron must be hiding somewhere in the forest and waited patiently for his death to come. He even thought that Auron could not get into round 4. That was why he could act so cocky and mocked Auron. However, before Auron could reply, Ms. Alice came out of the tower with a paper on his hand. "I was disappointed" That was the first sentence that came out from Ms. Alice''s mouth when she came out of the tower. "I believed that all of you could reach a minimum of round 7. But, looked at your result." Ms. Alice''s voice became high. There was a rage contained in the voice. Although she said like that, she actually already predicted only several student that could get into round 7. However, it was also true that she was disappointed. She could not believed how weak her student was at close combat fight. They could not even do something and became panic when they got in close combat fight. All of the student felt down. They could not help but facing down to the ground and not braved enough to looked at Ms. Alice. They were ashamed at their result. "There was some of you that could not get into the round 4." Ms. Alice''s tone became higher. Hearing what Alice said, Pollack could not help but shook his head and looked at Auron with a mocking smile. He believed Alice was talking about Auron. "Now, I will announced the result. Your ranking will be based on your points earned. If some of you had the same point, then the one with faster time would ranked higher. If even the time you got was the same, then I would be the one that ranked you based on your performance on battle." "Ranked at the bottom, Mackey with 153 points, next ..." Alice announced the ranked one by one starting from the bottom one. Alice announced it non-stop, she announced several ranked in one breath. After mentioning several student, "Starting from this rank, you all got the same point, as I said before, you will be ranked based on your time and performances. Ranked 20, ..." Hearing the rank announcement, Pollack was smiling widely, up until ranked 10 his name was not mentioned. It means his result was higher. His confidence to get the reward soared up high. He even forget about his bet with Auron and focused on his ranked. "Now, onto the top 3, rank 3 with 325 points, Pollack" Alice announced. Hearing that Pollack had a mix feeling. He felt happy that he could get into the top 3, but he felt shocked that he only got third in the ranked, which mean there was two student that was better than him. "Rank 2 with 325 points, Kirkland" Hearing the second rank had the same point with him made Pollack even shocked. If he could get faster. "And now, the first ranked student with 338 points, Smiling Wizard" Alice declared with a loud voice. Chapter 73 Assessments Reward "The first ranked student with 338 points, Smiling Wizard" When Alice announced the first ranked student, a commotion broke out. "No, it was impossible! This must be a mistake" Pollack shout loudly. He denied the fact that Auron was ranked higher. "So, you think, I made a mistake?" Alice tone get higher. When Pollack heard Alice''s tone, he realized he made a mistake. "No, teacher. I just wondering how he can become number 1. Maybe, we can learn something from him" Pollack tried to arrange his word carefully so it didn''t offend Alice. "If he got 338 points, then, based on his level, he should get into round 7. How did he do that?" One of the student that also could not accept the result asked with careful tone. "Yes, as you mentioned, he got into round 7 and defeated one out of the three enemies in round 7" Alice confirmed the speculation going on. "All of you knew that your opponent had the same class. You also fight in the same field, the forest. The only difference was your level and your opponent''s level." Alice started to explain. "As you all can guess, Smiling Wizard defeated the opponent at round 5 that all of you find difficult to fight." "And let me tell you first my intention on this fight. I knew some of you had realized that this batch''s assessment was more difficult than the batch before. It was intentional. There was something I want to assess from this assessment. And that thing was, your close combat fight." "Why? Because my mission given from the academy was to raise your close combat capability. And to raise your close combat capability, I need to know how your capability right now." "From the data that we compiled from several years in the war zone. 90% mage was died from being forced into closed combat. Only 10% could survived from being forced into close combat. However, don''t be to happy first. From that 10%, only 10% could survived by relying on his own strength. The rest, they were lucky that they could get quick help from other people. Which mean, only 1% of the mage that could survived from relying his own strength. Luck is a strength, but we don''t want you to rely on it. That was why, we tried to raise this 1%." "And that was what the academy tasked me to do. As you know, I am one out of many mage that mainly fight in close-mid range combat. This was the reason they chose me to teach you." "And as you can guess from explanation, Smiling Wizard close combat capability was high enough to face the assessment. Although, he still also had some luck factor in it. But, I believe, his close combat capability surpass all of you here." When they heard Alice''s explanation, some of the student, that had some doubt earlier on the reason the assessment was more difficult than before, got enlightenment. They felt that their days chanting spell from back was over. They felt scared thinking they needed to get into the front and faced the enemies. "Teacher, can we see the record on how Smiling Wizard defeated his opponents?" Still could not believed the fact, one of noble student tried to ask Alice to show them the recorded video. "Well, as you know the rule, if you want to look at the record you need to asked the respective person in the video. How about it?" Alice turned and asked the silent person that become the hot topic for several minutes now. The academy had a rule that all of the student that wanted to see a recording video of the other student from the same batches needed the consent from the respective person. The reason was the academy made the student to compete one to each other. In competition, sometimes, you need a hidden card that other students could not know. If the student didn''t like his hidden card to be shown he could chose not to share any recording. The silent Auron become the target of everyone attention. From what Alice said, they knew that Auron must have a hidden card in it and he could choose not to share with them. However, to contrary of their expectation, Auron decided to share it with them. "I don''t mind sharing it to you guys" Auron broke his silent and decided to share it. "Okay, since he was willing to share, then I will show it to you guys now" Alice took out the recorded video and play it in front of them. The video played from the beginning when Auron arrived at the forest the first time. They skipped the part when Auron was resting and only played Auron''s fighting scene. After around one hour, all of the student knew how Auron got his first rank. Some of them acknowledged that Auron close combat skill was higher than them. However, there was also some of them that felt Auron only got lucky to learn [Walking Chanting] skill. They felt that Auron could past the assessment was thanks to that skill and if they also got the same skill they believed that they could also achieved what Auron achieved. "Okay since you all already looked at the video, now all of you get back to your dorm. For the top 3 that get the equipment reward, I will let you take time to choose your equipment. Tomorrow, I will asked you on what equipment you want." "Everyone except Smiling Wizard, disperse now and do what you want. For Smiling Wizard follow me" Alice declared. When everyone was about to disperse, a voice stopped them, "Wait!" "I think you guys forget about something" Auron was trying to remind them something. When Auron said that, all of the eyes of Alice and the other student instantly gaze onto Pollack. Auron walked to Pollack, pointed at him and said with a mocking tone, "Didn''t you owe me an apology?" Chapter 74 Self Created Spell Pollack''s face sunk. "Smiling Wizard, don''t push think too far!" "Whoa... Now, I am the one that was wrong here?" "You lose the bet, but didn''t want to admit your lose?" "It is as expected, the great Pollack never lose. If he lose, then his opponent are the one that in the wrong" Auron mocked Pollack. "You..." "I am sorry" Pollack apologized to Auron and turned to leave this place. However, Auron stopped him, "Wait up" "What''s more?" Pollack holding his rage that going to erupted any second. "Are you already turned into senile? From what I remember, you should apologize while kneeling down" Pollack no longer could hold his rage. His rage erupted. He started to chant a spell and aimed at Auron. He was going to attack Auron. However, before he finished his spell, a pressure came down upon him and suppressed him. The pressure interrupted his chanting. A voice followed after, "Don''t waste my time, do what you must do and leave!" Pollack looked at the source of the pressure and he could see Alice''s face turned ugly. He knew Alice must be in a super bad mood. He could not offend this teacher. Even if he brave enough to offend this teacher, his family would not. Pollack could only gritted his teeth and knelt down, "I am sorry". Then, he stand up and left without saying anything. However, the other student move away from him because they could felt Pollack''s rage and they didn''t want get into trouble. Auron could sense insincerity and rage when Pollack''s apologize to him, but he didn''t care. He just wanted a revenge. Before the assessment started, he already prepared if he was the one that going to lose. But, fate turned to be good. Instead of losing, he won. Moreover, he was first in the ranked. He could not let this slide out. That was why, he stopped Pollack and mocked him. With Pollack''s leave, the other student started to leave. Meanwhile, Auron followed Alice to Alice''s office. "You are going too far. Don''t you afraid of his revenge?" Alice asked. "You know in the academy, his family still had an influence. Moreover, he had his backing out here. You know the big guy that he always followed. That guy''s background was more terrifying than Pollack." "Well, it looks like teacher also didn''t afraid with his terrifying background" Auron smiled. "Why should I afraid with him? I have more terrifying background than him, but you?" Alice answered. "Since teacher didn''t afraid, then why should I be afraid. Moreover, we are in the academy. He would not dare to do something big or the academy would not let it slide." "I am a man, if he come with 100 then I will beat 100, If he come with 1000 then I will beat 1000" "Well said, but don''t you gone crying to me when you are being bullied" "Now, let get down into the real business. The reason I called you here is for your price, my created spell." "Now, speak up, which spell you want to learn from me?" Auron stopped for a second, before he embarrassingly said, "Ehmm. Teacher, could you tell me what created spell did you have? I don''t know what spell did you create" When Alice heard Auron''s question, she felt shocked. She was a prodigy and very famous. There was no one that didn''t know about her. Her tale about creating a spell already spread out to all of the kingdom. Even if someone didn''t know all of her created spell, they should know one of it. "So, you didn''t know about me?" Alice tried to ensure that she heard wrong. Auron shook his head, "I know you are a prodigy, but I didn''t know you created a spell" Alice felt shocked, this was the first time a person didn''t know about her created spell. She could not help but explained about his created spell to Auron. However, what Alice didn''t know was, Auron was pretending. He already knew all of Alice created spell but from book. He wanted to get explanation from the creator itself. That way, he could knew which spell suitable for him. After explaining all 15 of her created spell, she asked, "So, which spell you wanted to learn?" Auron started to pondered on which spell he wanted to learn. After hearing Alice''s explanation he get to know more about her spell, way more than just reading from book. He started to use elimination system to filter out the spell that he going to learn. From 15 spells, he reduced it to 12 spells. From 12 spells, he reduced it to 8, then to 3. When Auron was pondering on which spell he was going to pick out of the 3 spells left, Alice said, "Actually, last week I created a new spell, however, since it was new, I haven''t figured out it''s full potential." "I promised to teach you one of my spell, although it was a new spell and I haven''t figured out the full potential, I think I will explained it to you, whether you choose it or not, it''s depend on you." "So, as you know, although I can use other element spell, I am more inclined to fire spell. After using fire spell for so long, I got an idea. There were many fire spell, and each of the spell had their own characteristic. For example, [Fire Bolt] was very basic spell with ordinary power the advantages of it was it was easy to chant. Another one is [Fire Blast], it was a spell that could created a blast when hit something. What if I could combined the characteristic of [Fire Blast] to [Fire Bolt] and create an easy chanted [Fire Bolt] spell that could blast its fire when it hit. That way it could make the ordinary [Fire Bolt] become something extraordinary." "Well, that''s was the basic idea of my new created spell. But, let me tell you first, this spell is not finish yet and can still be developed. Before, when I say I created a new spell, it just mean that I already succeed once out of hundred thousands tries" Chapter 75 Fire Combination "I already succeed once out of hundred thousands tries" "I haven''t got the gist of it. So, from that once success until now, I haven''t succeed again. But, I believe, if I train more, one day I will succeed and I believe this spell will became my masterpiece and the strongest out of my other created spell" "Well, that''s all what I have got to say. Now, it is time for you to choose one of my spell" Hearing the new information, Auron pondered for a while. He was interested on the new spell. However, there was a cons on the new spell. After learning that spell, he would not be able use that spell for a long way. After all, even the creator it self still failed on using that spell. "What should I choose?" Auron pondered deeply. After a while, Auron said to Alice, "I will choose the new spell" Hearing what Auron said, Alice became shocked, "Are you sure? The spell haven''t finished yet and the requirement to use are high." Alice shocked because Auron choose the new spell, although she tell Auron about the new spell, she didn''t want Auron to choose it. She only told Auron because she wanted to tell Auron about all of her created spell, even the unfinished one. When she told Auron, she had prepared and emphasize on the detail that the spell still unfinished in hope that Auron didn''t choose it. But the fact says otherwise, Auron still chose it. "Yes, I am very sure about it." "Why? Tell me the reason" "The spell can be categorized as a spell in development phase. I believe that this spell had a lot of room of improvement. If I choose this spell now, I can improve it the way I wanted and it do not have to followed your way. Maybe, if I succeed, it can became my own created spell." "But, there is also a room of failure. What if you are fail?" "That was why, I take this gamble. If it is a failure, then you can say that I was not fated with the spell. But, if it is a success, although I use your spell as the base of it, it still could be said that it is my own created spell" Alice saw Auron''s determination on this. She sighed and could only said, "Fine then, let me ask you for the last time. Are you really sure to choose this spell?" "I am 100% sure of it" "Fine. I will teach you how to use it, whether you could use it or not, it will up to you." At the end, Alice taught Auron on how to use the new spell. The process took longer than expected. Luckily, because today was the assessment day, there would only one class and that was the assessment. Or it could be said that there was no Peter''s class for today. After five hours, a new notification rang out. Auron finally got to learn the skill. [You have learn a new skill, Fire Combination] [Fire Combination] (Mage''s skill) Level: 1 (Cannot be leveled up) Understanding: 0.01% MP: Depend on the spell chanted Type: Active Target: Depend on the spell chanted Cool down: 0 sec Prerequisites: None Description: - Combine two or more spell''s characteristic, the more quantity of spell to combine, the higher the chance to fail - The spell produced will take form of the base spell combined with the characteristic of the other spell. - This skill only combine a spell''s characteristic, not creating a new spell. - There was a chance to fail - The chance to succeed was depend on the user understanding of this skill and the spell to combine. - Works only for fire element spell. - If it was a failure, mana point spent would not be replenish. After succeed on learning the spell, Auron looked happy. Although, there was a downside on the spell, but this was a new journey for him to create his own created spell. From the description of the spell, Auron could conclude some information about this spell. First, the mana used was the mana cost of the base spell plus the average of the other spell. So, let''s say that, we want to combine three spell, the base spell cost 100 mana, the second spell cost 50 mana, and the third spell cost 150 mana, then the cost of the spell was 100 plus (50 + 150) /2 mana which would be 200 mana. Second, the spell form was the base spell used combined with the other''s spell characteristic. If the base spell was [Fire Bolt] then the spell would produced a [Fire Bolt] with some enhancement. If the base spell was [Fire Pillar] then the spell produced would also a [Fire Pillar]. Third, the success chance was depend on the [Fire Combination]''s understanding and the combined spell. The higher the understanding the higher the chance to succeed. The [Fire Combination]''s understanding would have a heavy weight on the chance of success. Fourth, as the skill''s name [Fire Combination], only worked for fire elemental spell only. If it was used with other elemental spell, it would 100% failed. "You have got your reward. Now, go back to your room." Alice instructed Auron after finishing her lesson. Auron was so happy that he went along with what Alice said. He left the room and head to his own room. He wanted to use this skill immediately. Since there was no lesson afterwards, he could try to analyze the skill or tried to use the skill to get the gist of it. When Auron already left the room, Alice sighed "I hope that spell will not discourage him or take a lot of time from him" What Auron didn''t know was Alice actually lied on her chance of success. Instead of once in hundred thousands tries, it was actually once in hundreds millions tries. She didn''t want to lose her face as a prodigy that was why she lowered the number. She thought that with hundred thousands, it was enough to discourage other people to learn it. But, who knows, Auron still chose it. Chapter 76 Mud Swamp 1 Auron left Alice''s office and directly went into the training ground in the academy. The academy''s training ground was an open field. The size of it was nearly as wide as a housing complex. On the side of it, there was three huge building. Inside the three building there was a simulation room, the same as the one that was used in the assessment. However, to use that facility, they need a teacher to watch over them. And, if they were not close enough with a teacher, usually they need to give some compensation to teacher. That was the reason why the simulation room was rarely used by the students. When Auron arrived at the training ground, there were few student still lingering around. It was because two reasons. First, it was almost night, so most of the student were stopping their practice. Second, since it was sorare for them to get opportunity like this, only attending one class, they chose to spend their free time to have some fun. Auron chose a spot near the corner of the training ground. He started to practice the [Fire Combination]. However, since he only had a limited number of fire spell, he could only chose from what he had. Auron seriously practice the skill. To no surprise, he failed. Since Alice who had a higher understanding of the spell than Auron had a difficult time to use this spell, Auron could not help but failed. He didn''t even produced produced anything. From what Alice said, there was several stage that was considered a failure. First, if you were produced nothing, that would obviously be considered as a failure. Second, when you only produced the original of your base spell without any characteristic of the other spell. Third, when you produced a spell with a weak or only half of the characteristic of the other spell. In Auron case, he didn''t produced anything, so he could be considered was in the first stage of failure. Although, he failed, Auron didn''t give up. He tried once again. Another failure was produced. He tried again and again. He even used mana potion to quickly replenish his mana. Another 5 hours passed, since his understanding of the spell was very low, Auron failed every attempt he made with no progress. Auron was exhausted, so he could only stopped training for that day and back to his room in the dorm. His room was empty. His roommate was still playing outside and haven''t got back to the room. Auron went straight to his bed and let his mage character pretending to be sleep and he directly switch on and changed to his swordsman character. When Auron had switched successfully, he felt a hit to his body. A damage appeared at the top of Auron''s head. There was a [Crazy Bull] attacked him. Auron regained his mind and fought the bull calmly. "It looks like I had to look over the other''s situation first before switched over. Luckily, what hit me just ordinary monster, what if it was a boss monster." Auron thought. After he defeated the [Crazy Bull], the first thing he did when he switched to his swordsman character was to look at his character''s inventory. There were a lot of item inside his inventory and needed to be sorted out. Auron need 30 minutes to sort out all of the item in his inventory. After sorting it out, he used a [Town Portal] and went back to his safe point in the town. He visited the shop and sold out his unused item. Then, he used the money he gained to buy some hunting supplies, he didn''t forget to buy a lot of mana potion for his mage characters. He also upgrade some of his swordsman character and his mage character. First, he used some decent equipment he gained from hunting, when he could not find any suitable equipment, he looked it at the market. Next, with the leftover money, he tried to look for a cheap skill book. Auron still needed to upgrade his skill level. The skill book was very expensive. It was cost a lot of money. After spending some of his money to buy skill book, he finished his shopping session. He looked at his money left and sighed, "It was really difficult to accommodate two characters". After the shopping session, his only got 5 silvers left. Actually, he could spend that 5 silvers, however, he chose not to and decided to save it for emergency fund. "Where should I go?" Leaving his money condition aside, Auron was tried to choose a suitable hunting ground for him. "Maybe, I should go to [Mud Swamp]" Auron decided to go to [Mud Swamp]. [Mud Swamp] was actually a hunting ground for a level 35 player. Auron was still level 22, but he was confident enough that he could defeat the opponent there. Actually, there was a reason why Auron chose [Mud Swamp], his goal was not the monster in [Mud Swamp], but the dungeon in [Mud Swamp]. The reason was for the reward. The dungeon itself was not so rewarding, but the reward for clearing the dungeon was pretty decent. It was a lucky random box. Although it was named as a box actually, the content of it was not an item, instead it was money. And, as it names, the amount was depend on the user''s luck. From what Auron''s knew the lowest amount he could get was 1 copper. Meanwhile, from Black Sheep''s confirmation the highest amount that a person could get was 10 gold. With an average amount of 10 silver. Although, it seems small, however, this was a level 35 dungeon, for a level 35 player 10 gold was enticing enough for them to go for it. After making up his mind, Auron checked his preparation once again before he set off to [Mud Swamp]. He checked his potion supplies and his equipment''s durability. When he felt that all preparation was enough, he set off and walked to [Mud Swamp] Chapter 77 Mud Swamp 2 Not long after, Auron arrived at [Mud Swamp]. When he arrived, two of monsters welcomed him. [Male Moth] (common monster) Level: 35 HP: 8300/8300 MP: 100/100 Skills: Stinger Description: A flying moth. Always followed by at least 1 [Female Moth]. [Female Moth] (common monster) Level: 38 HP: 10500/10500 MP: 300/300 Skills: Stinger, Deadly Attack Description: A flying moth. It always followed a [Male Moth]. However, it was actually stronger than him. Auron dodged the attack from the [Male Moth]. However, a [Female Moth]''s attack followed. Auron block the attack with his sword. He quickly counter attack the [Female Moth]. Auron swung his sword and used [Bash]. The [Bash] hit the [Female Moth] and damage her. However, an attack from the [Male Moth] came. Auron tried to dodge the attack, but he can''t. A damage appeared above Auron''s head. Auron quickly used his area skill, [Whirlwind Slash]. The skill hit both of the enemy and flinched them a bit. It gave Auron some time to prepare for what happen next. Since the [Male Moth] was weaker, Auron quickly focused his attack on the [Male Moth]. Auron took some damage but he managed to kill the [Male Moth]. Since, there was only [Female Moth] left alone, it was easier for Auron to dodge the attack. He took his time and slowly dwindle the [Female Moth]''s health. This time, since he only face one monster it was easier for him to handle. He only took a little bit health to defeat the [Female Moth]. "It look likes, I was overconfident with my attributes. I had a hard time to defeat the monster here." Auron thought. "Maybe, it was because of the terrain" Auron still thought positively. As a hunting ground for level 35 player, this place was not very popular back when most of the player still level 35. The reason was because the mud. As it names, [Mud Swamp], fighting in the swamp already limited their movement speed. With the addition of mud inside the swamp, the movement speed was decreased more. Moreover, all of the monster here were flying monster so they were not affected by the swamp. In addition, the monster here always came in group. Although most of the monster here came in group of 2, however, some time, there were monster that came in as a group of 3 or 4. Because of the reason above, it was difficult to hunt here. Without a party, it was already difficult to hunt here. Moreover, if the party was not proper, it would be way more difficult. Usually, the party would consist with two melee class and the rest was a range class, of course with some healer class. Although, your party''s composition was made like what stated above, however, if your melee player not good at keeping their aggro, it will have the same result, a party wipe out. With the reduction of the movement speed, more and more player cursed this place. Actually, there was a way to not get the movement speed, which was to use a flying battle mount. However, flying battle mount was introduced for level 50. So, back then, this place was not a very popular hunting ground. Although, it was not a popular hunting ground, many people still came here. Not to hunt here, but just to past here and get to the dungeon, Auron''s goal at this journey. The dungeon was very enticing. Although they needed to past a dangerous terrain, they would still cross it for the dungeon. Right now, Auron was level 22. However, because he got a "special" class, he would get twice the of attribute point for one player. So, by calculation, actually his attribute was the same as a level 44 player. Moreover, he got a bonus attribute from Peter''s task. This was the source of confident from Auron that he could fight here alone. However, reality spoke stronger, it was already difficult for him to fight with two monster in this terrain. His heart waver. He question his decision whether to continue or to give up and wait for when he was stronger. After a few minutes, Auron made up his mind to continue his journey. He walked slowly and tried to avoid the monster. The reason was, it was difficult for him to fight in this terrain and it only wasting his time and potion. When Auron saw a group of monster, he tried to look for another way. He would made a detour if there were a group of monster. He moved slowly so the monster would not notice him. However, the monster also didn''t stay idle. They would roam around the [Mud Swamp]. So, although Auron was being careful, a fight was inevitable. When he fought, Auron would tried to use all what he got and tried to finish quickly because he didn''t want the other group of monster to notice the fight and join the fight. Moreover, the deeper one into the swamp, the more monster there were. When Auron goes deeper more and more fight would occurred. Although, he was only fought one group of monster at a time, There were once that he fought a group of three monsters. He managed to defeat all of the monster, but his potion also dwindle rapidly. Auron moved deeper, he already saw the entrance of the dungeon. He was about to move when he saw a group of huge monster. [General Moth] (common boss monster) Level: 45 HP: 35000/35000 MP: 300/300 Skills: Stinger, Deadly Attack, Summon soldier, Moth''s Shout Description: A flying moth. A boss moth. Beware of his soldier Auron tried to ran away, however it was too late. The boss already looked at Auron. The boss summon his solder and started chasing Auron with his soldier. Auron tried his best to ran away. He used all of his movement skill and just straight ignoring the bunch of monster ahead. All of the other monster also started to chase Auron. From small group, it slowly snowballed into a bigger group. However, not long after the chasing, when Auron was ran away with a group of monster behind him. Up at his front, he saw a huge bird coming to him. Chapter 78 Battle Moun A huge bird was flying toward him. With a huge mob of monster behind him, Auron kept on running towards the huge bird. When he was so close to the bird, a huge flame spell shot out from the bird. The spell flew in the direction of Auron. The spell flew fast, however, it flew past Auron and hit the mob behind Auron. The flame spell hit one of the nearest mob. When it hit, the spell produced a huge explosion that engulfed the nearby monster. The explosion also produced a flame that spread in a wide area. All of the monster was inside the flame. The flame produced a damage over time to the monster. After a few seconds, all of the monster scorched to death, including the boss monster and his guards. A huge pile of loot scattered on the grounds. Seeing the condition, Auron stopped running and looked at the huge bird. On the top of the bird, Auron could see a woman. The woman had a long black hair with armor on her body. However, the armor could not hide her elegant body curve. Actually, the huge bird was a type of flying mount that a player could get. Auron knew it was a mount, so that was the reason he didn''t afraid and kept on running toward the huge bird. Auron looked at the woman and he could see the woman was younger than him. He predicted that the woman was around 3 to 4 years younger than him. Also, from the mount, Auron could recognize that this woman was not a nobody. The huge bird was a epic grade flying mount that no anyone could get. An ordinary mount was so hard to get even more a flying mount. Moreover, it was a epic grade flying mount. From just a flying mount and armor, Auron could see a lot of information about the woman. The huge bird had a minimum level to use and that was level 400. So, this means that the woman had a minimum level of 400. When Auron looked closely, the woman didn''t try to her level at all, so Auron could see her level. She was level 410. When Auron knew her level, he became more impressed by the woman. The reason was because her flying mount equipped with armor. It was indicating that her mount was a battle mount. A battle mount was special. To get a battle mount, one needed to do a special quest with her mount. They could not buy a battle mount. When one want to sell the battle mount, they needed to strip off the battle capability of their mount before they could sell it. So, when someone buy a mount, they would only get a non battle mount and they needed to complete the quest to get a battle mount. The battle mount quest was difficult. They really needed to rely on their coordination on the user and their mount. The difficulty of the quest was depend on the type of mount, the rarity of the mount, and the user level. However, the type of the mount and rarity of the mount impacted greatly on the quest''s difficulty. This was the reason why many of the average player usually completed their battle mount quest when they had more than 50 level of their mount''s minimum level. Even for the rarer grade mount, they needed to have 100 level more than their mount''s minimum level. And, the difficulty of the non flying mount quest was easier than the flying mount one. Since the woman mount was a battle mount, this means that the woman, whom Auron just met, was able to complete the battle mount quest with a 10 level difference. Moreover, it was a flying mount with epic grade. Auron could not help to become amazed. Even for Auron, back then, when he was doing his battle flying mount quest, he could only complete his quest with 20 level differences. A battle mount was very necessary in the Two Worlds. The reason was not just for the cool appearance of the mount, but also, for fighting. Although, the mount could not attack or doing anything except from moving, but having a battle mount would increase the rider''s attributes. The attributes was depend on the mount, but usually, the mount would increase all type of the rider''s attributes. The rarer the mount, the higher the attribute increase. Without a battle mount upgrade, a mount could only serve as a transportation tool that speed up the user movement. However, when they were engaged in the battle the mount immediately disappear and cannot be summoned until they were out of battle state. Also, to summon a mount they needed to wait for 5 seconds before the mount appear and ready to be use. A mount without upgrade would not increase any of the user''s attributes except their movement speed. If the mount was upgraded to a battle mount. The rider could fight on top of the mount. So, they would still have a high movement speed. On top of that, the battle mount also would increase the user''s attributes which strengthen the user. That was why, when there was a duel, usually the mount would be banned. Even if, the mount not banned, both of them needed to have a similar mount or else, the weaker one would have a lower attributes compared to the other one. When Auron was still amazed by the fact of the mount, the woman on top of the huge bird spoke confusedly, "Hmm... what a level 22 player doing here in the hunting grounds for level 35? Are you stupid?" Before Auron could answered, the woman already continued her speech, "No way, it was impossible that you are an experienced player. An experienced player must know about this place was a hunting ground for level 35. They would not come here as when they were level 22." Auron wanted to answered, but Auron could answered, the woman spoke again as if she was enlightened, "I know, you must be a new player that was lost and accidentally came here!" Chapter 79 Farming Guild "No, I am not!" Auron shouted to the woman. He felt exhausted after hearing of the woman''s conclusion without asking his opinion. "You must be lying. If you are not a new player then how you can go to this place with your level. Do you think you are strong?" Hearing the shout, the woman felt that Auron was embarrassed by the truth so he was shouting to her. "Although, I am not as strong as you. I can still fight in this place." "Then, how come I see you ran away before?" The woman pressured Auron. "There was a boss mixed in the mob. Forget it, I will still have to thank you for saving me. Now, I need to go the dungeon." Auron turned his body and walk at the direction of the dungeon. Because the enemy was died not long ago, the monster hadn''t spawn yet, so the path was empty and Auron could walk freely. Seeing Auron ignored her, the woman decided to keep tease him. She still believed that Auron was a new player and felt very embarrassed to admit it. So, the woman get down from his battle mount and walked alongside Auron. She kept on asking him and tease him. "Are you sure you want to go to the dungeon?" "Do you need my help to clear the dungeon with you?" "Do you really not want to get out of this place? I can protect you?" Auron became dizzy by every question she asked. "This woman was pretty and cheerful. However, she was really talkative." Auron kept ignoring her while the woman still talk a lot. Auron knew her goal by coming here. She was also intending to go to the dungeon. How Auron knew? He knew it because of the badge on her armor. It was a guild''s badge. 3 gold bars with a scale was drawn on the badge. It was the badge for Gold Digger, a farming guild. Farming guild was a type of guild that had one goal, to make money. They would look for a way to efficiently make money. They also would not skip a chance to make more money. For example, this woman, although she had level over 400, she still come to this place for just a level 35 dungeon. In fact, this was a very common occurrence when one joined a farming guild. They would do everything that could give them money and this level 35 dungeon was one of the favorite place. That was why, at this stage of game, usually, when you get into a low level dungeon you would trigger a hidden boss like Evil Mistress'' Dungeon, but not for this dungeon. You would really need to depend on luck to trigger the hidden boss at this dungeon. If one really could stay in the farming guild, then it would really profitable. Moreover, if the farming guild was a big farming guild, it would give its member a really lot of money. However, to stay in a farming guild was difficult, the requirement to stay was more difficult than staying in a non-farming guild. One of the requirement was, each of the member needed to pay a certain amount of money each day. If you cannot afford to pay it, usually, you would get expelled from the guild. However, the benefit to stay in the farming guild was also not little. Usually, at the end of month, the money collected from daily payment from the guild''s member would be shared to all of the member in the guild. The distribution was different and it based on each member''s contribution to the guild even the guild master itself. So, the longer and active on in the guild, the more money someone would get. Another benefit was if there were a rare item, the member could get it with a price cheaper than the market price. So, it could help a lot when upgrading the equipment. There were some characteristic for a farming guild. Their guild member usually was less than the battle-oriented guild and their member''s level usually was low because they were not chasing for level. Instead, they chased on the money. Also, the people that joined the guild had only one goal that was to convert their in-game money to real world money. And, it was their job. As it stated before, the higher the guild''s ranking, the more profit each of the member would get. So, Two Worlds made a farming guild''s ranking to make the competition heat more. When the guild was ranked in the top 100, then its member''s prosperity would be guaranteed. And, Gold Digger was in the top 100 guild. Although, it ranked near 100, despite the stricter requirement to stay, its member''s income was way more than ordinary player income. When Auron learnt that the woman was a member of farming guild, he felt shocked and confused. Although, now, he knew the reason how the woman had a pretty decent equipment, but he still confused why the woman with skill enough to compete with the elite of the high leveled guild, was in a farming guild. "Okay... okay... I believe you are not a new player" Seeing Auron ignored her, the woman felt crazy because she was talking to herself, so she gave up. Although, there were no monster, both of them was walking toward the dungeon with a normal speed and there were no desire to move faster. Both Auron and the woman didn''t spoke anymore and just walked to the dungeon. Not long after, they were about to reach the dungeon entrance. When they were almost arrived at their destination, Auron broke the silence and asked out of his curiosity, "I know you were skilled enough, but, instead of joining the elite force of a high ranked guild, you are joining a farming guild?" Hearing Auron''s question, the woman turned her head to Auron and smiled teasingly, "It''s a secret. But well, how about I tell you if you could clear this dungeon by yourself?" Chapter 80 Pirates Treasury 1 "how about I tell you if you could clear this dungeon by yourself?" The woman smiling teasingly. She believed that Auron could not finished the dungeon by himself and when he failed, she would come up as a heroine and helped him. "Okay, fine. You wait here and I will enter the dungeon" Auron asked. "No, I will enter with you as a party. But, I will just stay still and watched you fight." The woman answered. Hearing the woman suggestion, Auron frowned. His goals to enter this dungeon was not only for the gold, but also to practice his dual class. He wanted to use this opportunity to familiarize with the [Walking Chanting] skill more. If the woman come inside with him, it would expose his "cheat". Auron frowned and asked, "Do you really have to come inside?" "Of course. What if you just come inside and waited at the entrance then came out of the dungeon as you have cleared it?" The woman answered. "Well then, forget it about all of this. I don''t really want to know the reason. I am just curious. If you don''t want to tell me that''s fine." Auron rejected her proposition. Hearing Auron''s reply, the woman shocked and quickly replied, "I will tell you if you could clear the dungeon by yourself." "Well, you don''t need to trick me to challenge the dungeon, I know fully about myself, and I believe that I could clear the dungeon by myself. But, I don''t want you to come inside with me. If you insisted to come inside with me then, you could just forget it, I will not do it." "If I don''t come inside with you, what if you deceived me?" "Well, it is not my problem. If you cannot believed in me, the just pretend that I didn''t asked you the question before. As I said before, I am just curious." "Why you insisted so hard to not let me come with you?" The woman said. Hearing the question, Auron felt shocked, He though that was this woman really innocent or she only pretended to be one, "Have you never heard about trump card? I don''t know you and I don''t know if you have an evil intention on me or not. Even if you don''t have any evil intention right now. What if, inside, you know my trump card and begin to develop an evil intention to me." "You are so much stronger than me. I cannot fight you if you have any intention on my trump card and snatched it from me." "Hmph... Do you really think I will do such lowly things?" The woman started to get furious. "Well, who knows?" Auron shrugged his shoulder. "I don''t know you and I cannot believe in you." The woman started to believe that Auron really have secret on him. Although, she would not do such lowly things like snatching it from Auron, she still would become curious and pushed Auron to tell her how to get that secret. "But, what if he is lying?" The woman thought in his mind. "What if I add the reward? If you could clear the dungeon by yourself, not only I will tell you my reason, I will also give you 100 gold. What about it?" Auron didn''t care about it and just shrugged his shoulder once again, "As long as you come inside with me, I don''t care about the reward." "Hey, 100 gold is not little. Can you imagine a level 22 like you have a 100 gold in your pocket. You could buy a lot of things using that money." The woman kept on persuading Auron. With Auron consistent declined, the woman little by little becoming more curious on him. How could a level 22 player had so much confident to clear a level 35 dungeon by himself. She thought more and the more she thought the more she become curious. From the incident before, when Auron was being chased by mobs of monsters, she could recognize the boss inside the mob. It was already a surprise for her to find a level 22 player walking deep inside the [Mud Swamp] by himself. In addition, she know that the boss only spawn near the entrance of the dungeon, which mean that Auron almost arrived at the dungeon by himself. If he had a helper, why when Auron was being chased, the helper didn''t help him at all. This mean that Auron didn''t have any helper on his side. With the fact above she become more and more interested on Auron. From thinking the matter deep enough, she had concluded that Auron was not a new player. But, she still need to figure out how could a level 22 player gone so deep inside the [Mud Swamp] by himself. Even, if it was her, it would be difficult for her to achieve what Auron had achieved. Moreover, with the confidence she felt from Auron, she began to believe that Auron really thought that he could clear the dungeon by himself. This was the reason she kept on persuading Auron to let her join him inside the dungeon. Moreover, on the mention of the trump card before, she already felt that Auron had such a thing and that was the reason he could achieved what he achieved right now. She really wanted to know what was the trump card he had. Auron started to ignore the woman. He just didn''t care anymore about the reason why she join a farming guild. He even found the woman''s consistent persuasion become annoying for him. "Let us stop this unnecessary talk like this. I don''t want you to come with me and you cannot believe in me. So, let just forget about this. I have waste my time, I need to go to clear the dungeon now." Auron end the conversation, he turned around and started to walked to the dungeon. The woman chased him and kept on persuade him with more and more rewards to let her inside with him, but Auron ignored her. Chapter 81 Pirates Treasury 2 Auron ignored the woman and kept walking until he entered the dungeon. [You have entered Pirate''s Treasury.] [Kill the Pirate King Jack] Maximum Players: 10 Dungeon Cooldown: 1 days Description: Kill the Pirate King Jack to clear the dungeon. Quest Clear Condition: Kill Pirate King Jack (0/1) Quest Clear Rewards: Lucky Random box + 1 Quest Failure Condition: All player in the party die Quest Failure Punishment: Dungeon will be in cool down for 2 days. A notification for the dungeon''s quest appear and just as Auron had predicted, he didn''t get any hidden boss'' quest. Although he didn''t have much hope for the hidden boss, but when he faced the reality, he still felt a little bit disappointed. As the dungeon took place in the mud swamp, when Auron looked around, he was still standing inside a swamp filled with mud. Auron started to walk forward. Because of the mud, his movement speed was reduced. [Junior Pirate] (common monster) Level: 32 HP: 5000/5000 MP: 120/120 Skills: Bash, Wild Slash Description: A junior crew in a pirate ship. Using a saber as his weapon. After walking for a while, he spotted his first enemy. It was a [Junior Pirate]. Just like Auron, since the pirate didn''t float or using a mount, they also get reduced movement speed. Unlike the enemy outside of the dungeon, this make Auron whose level was way under the pirate, still could kept up with the pirate''s speed. Moreover, Auron attributes was little bit higher than the pirate. The pirate who spotted Auron charged toward Auron. When he was close to Auron, the pirate swung his saber to attack Auron. But, Auron easily dodge the attack and moved to the side of the pirate. Auron used [Bash] to counter attack the pirate. The pirate was hit by Auron''s attack and stumbled. The fight last for a while before the pirate died. The fight was to easy for Auron. After he looted the item dropped from the pirate, he continued forward when he spotted 2 [Junior Pirate]. This time, Auron charged first. Seeing Auron charged toward them, the pirates prepared themselves to receive Auron''s attack. Auron swung his sword toward one of the pirates. The pirate blocked Auron''s attack with his saber. Meanwhile, the other pirate swung his saber and tried to attack Auron. However, before the attack landed, an [Earth Spike] came out from the ground and pierced the attacking pirate. This was the reason Auron was very stubborn with his decision to not let the woman came with him. He wanted to practice the [Walking Chanting], if the woman came inside with him, he could not practiced it. Moreover, one of the reason Auron was confident enough to clear the dungeon was his combination between attack and magic. Auron followed up with several attack before the pierced pirate died. When facing only one pirate, it was like fighting with a kid, Auron easily killed the leftover pirate. A bunch of item appear on the ground as the last pirate died. Auron also received some huge exp. After he looted up all of the item on the ground, he looked at his experience. From killing just 3 [Junior Pirate], Auron already received 5% of his experience. This dungeon actually was famous for farming its lucky random box to get some gold. It could be seen from the dungeon''s quest that didn''t even give any experience point at all. The reason Auron could get huge experience was due to his level which was way below the average monster here. "Hmm... after fighting with only 3 monster, my mana was almost depleted" Auron thought. By using the combination of his skill and spell, the damage produced was high. Also, this could lead to way more variate of fighting style and combination. However, the disadvantages was clear. Auron''s mana could not afford it. After only few battle, his mana almost empty. "Should I invest more in my intelligence?" Auron thought of a possibility to resolve the issue. "No way, if I do that, I need to sacrifice other attributes. The only way was to resolve it through equipment. Hopefully, I could get permanent intelligence attribute from quest or item like what I get from Peter''s lesson." Auron took a mana potion and used it. When he was using a mana potion, a whistle sound rang loud. Auron looked at the source of sound and found a group of pirate appeared and moving toward him. [Pirate Watchman] (common monster) Level: 35 HP: 5000/5000 MP: 120/120 Skills: Emergency Call Description: As strong as a junior pirate. However, it could summon other pirates through its whistle. There would be 1-5 pirates summoned. The type of the pirate''s summoned was random. [Medior Pirate] (common monster) Level: 35 HP: 8000/8000 MP: 150/150 Skills: Bash, Wild Slash, Burst shot. Description: A medior crew in a pirate ship. Using a saber as his weapon. He also had rifle as his secondary weapon. [Senior Pirate] (common monster) Level: 38 HP: 10000/10000 MP: 180/180 Skills: Bash, Wild Slash, Burst shot. Description: A senior crew in a pirate ship. Using a saber as his weapon. He also had rifle as his secondary weapon. Beware!! his weapon had a higher quality than medior pirate. Actually, the group of pirate was the act of [Pirate Watchman]. It saw Auron when Auron was drinking mana potion then it use its whistle to summon a bunch of pirate. Luckily, the number of pirate summoned only 3. There were a [Junior Pirate], [Medior Pirate], and [Senior Pirate] heed the call from the [Pirate Watchman]. The group of pirate started to attack Auron. They made a formation to attack Auron. With [Junior Pirate] and [Pirate Watchmen] act as the front guard. Meanwhile, the [Medior Pirate] was slightly behind them and preparing his rifle. At the most back, was the [Senior Pirate] also preparing his rifle. The [Senior Pirate] finished preparing his rifle and from far away, he shot his rifle to Auron. With some distance and no distraction, Auron could dodge the bullet. Then, he chose not to charge the enemy, instead, he chose to move back and made some distance. Chapter 82 Pirates Treasury 3 Auron moved back several step, but he just didn''t stay idle. He used the [Walking Chanting] skill. While the group of pirates chased him, a sudden bullet of wind shot out from Auron toward the group. The [Junior Pirate] who was at the front got hit by the bullet of wind and stumbled. However, the other pirate who was behind [Junior Pirate] didn''t even care about their mate and kept on chasing Auron. The [Medior Pirate] started to shoot out bullet from his riffle alongside with the [Senior Pirate]. Auron was in full concentration mode, so it was easy for him to dodge the bullet while he kept on moving back. Auron intentionally not to charge toward them, instead, he used the group of pirates as a spell practice tool. He tried to familiarize himself with the skill. He tried to change the spell he used, from only using several basic spell to more advanced spell. When his mana was empty, he would drink a bottle of mana potion to replenish it. The fight was long because Auron only dodging and using the spell to damage the enemy while moving. He also not so lucky with the randomize damage. Sometimes, he would get 1% damage, at another time he would get 100% damage,but most of the time he would only get 40-60% damage. With the difference in the level, the damage Auron produced to them was like a ticklish. However, slowly but surely Auron started to reduce the pirates'' health bit by bit. After almost hundreds of spells, Auron managed to kill the [Junior Pirate] and [Pirate Watchman]. Although, [Junior Pirate] and [Pirate Watchman] already died, Auron didn''t reduce his awareness and become careless. Instead, he become more and more focus and immersed in practicing the spell. With less pressure from the pirates, Auron could tried several other experiment with his spell. Before, Auron only chanted a spell and throw it away at the enemy, however, now, instead of threw it away, Auron tried to target specific area at the pirate''s body. This surely was not easy. At first, Auron missed several target. He wanted to target the [Medior Pirate]''s right arm. Instead of hitting the right arm, it hit the pirate''s chest. Although, Auron missed his target, he didn''t give up. He tried several more spell. After chanting 10 spells, he only successfully made 1 spell target the spell he wanted. With more practice, the success chance increasing, from 1 out of 10, it become 2 out of 10 and kept gradually increase. When the [Medior Pirate] died, he changed his target to the [Senior Pirate]. Auron had a prolonged battle with the [Senior Pirate] since the [Senior Pirate] was stronger and could even dodged some of Auron''s attack. With the prolonged battle, Auron had more chance to chant his spell. Although, the [Senior Pirate] could dodge Auron''s attack, however, Auron could also dodge his attack. Moreover, with Auron''s battle experience in close combat and a monster''s monotonous move, Auron easily had the upper hand in the battle. [Your fire elemental understanding had raised] After several minutes of fight, Auron concluded the battle. He managed to defeat the [Senior Pirate] and took all of the loot. He also got a notification telling him that he got a fire elemental understanding. He opened his character''s status interface. There was a new line in the status interface which indicating he now had 1% fire elemental understanding. It was a surprised for Auron since he didn''t really hope to gain an elemental understanding. However, thinking back at all of his battle before, he mostly used a fire element spell. Moreover, he practice a lot for the [Fire Combination]. So, it was not really a surprised for him that he got the fire elemental understanding first. After the battle, he didn''t directly continued his journey. Instead, he tried to organize everything he had gain from the battle against the group of pirates before. First, it was easier to use basic spell like [Fire Bolt] rather than to use more advanced spell. When using the advanced spell, his chance of failure increased and his casting time also increased. Luckily, his concentration before was way higher than usual or he would fail more than what he had already. It could be seen by the damage he received. From the battle before, if he calculated all of his damage received throughout the battle, his health had already reduced for more than 300% of his maximum health. And, from that number, 240% was because the spell he chant using [Walking Chanting] was exploded and damage him. Second, he needed to expend a lot of his concentration to hit specific target area and it was not easy. His success chance before was because the pirate had monotonous move and it made Auron could deduct the opponent''s movement. When fighting with a boss or even player, it will not be as easy as he had before. Third, his mana pool was really could not afford the expenditure. From the battle before, he already used more than half of his mana potion he prepared. Based on the number of spell he chant and the mana potion he used, he would needed to use a mana potion for every 10 spell he used. Moreover, this number was only for basic spell he had now. If he decided to raise the basic spell level or use more advanced spell, then he needed to use more mana potion. Although, there were so many negative crucial things mentioned, Auron still felt satisfied by this discovery. With this, he could be more prepared in the future. Moreover, he also gain a fire elemental understanding, which mean, his fire elemental spell would become stronger and it would also helped him in the [Fire Combination] skill. After arranging all of the information he gained, he started to move again toward the inner area of the dungeon. He encountered several monster which become his moving practice doll. He continued his journey until he found a large cave. Chapter 83 Pirates Base 1 Auron arrived in front of a large cave. The cave was actually the dungeon''s main place. If one wanted to finish the dungeon they needed to come to this cave. It was because the cave was where the pirate''s base. It was where the boss resided. Although, from outside the cave seems small, however, actually when one come to the inside, the cave was large. It has several floor underground which made this cave looks small from outside, but was large inside. Inside the cave, there were 5 floor with 4 floors below the ground. The first floor was some kind of the "lobby" of this pirate''s base. Below this floor was the resident of the pirates here. The second floor was where the [Medior Pirate] and [Junior Pirate] would live. Whereas the [Senior Pirate] would stay at the third floor. Meanwhile, the fourth floor was where the Pirate fleet''s vice commander stayed. There were two vice commanders that stayed at the fourth floor. And lastly, the last floor was where the Pirate King Jack resided. Actually there was a hidden chamber at the last floor, but it could only be reached if the hidden boss was activated. Inside, the hidden chamber, there would be another boss inside which was Pirate King Mark. Actually the Pirate King Jack at the last floor was actually just a double for the Pirate King Mark. Pirate King Jack was actually just the commander of the pirate''s fleet and the actual captain of the pirate''s fleet was the Pirate King Mark. But, the player would only learnt the fact if they already activated the hidden boss. Auron went inside the cave. When he was about to enter, just like any other base, there would be a guard, Auron was welcomed by 2 [Medior Pirate] who guard the entrance. Auron quickly exterminated both of them. When both of the [Medior Pirate] died, a yellow light flashed upon Auron which indicating Auron leveled up to level 23. He allocated his attributes point before entering the cave. After swept all of the pirate in the swamp, Auron felt that he already get the gist of his skill, so he needed to raise up the difficulty. There were two ways that Auron already thought which could be done in this dungeon. First, he needed to fight against the boss and not just ordinary pirate. However, there was still a long way to go until Auron faced the boss. Second, he could raise his battle''s intensity and really combine it with his swordsmanship. The latter was what Auron doing right now, he tried to combine his magic with his swordsmanship to defeat his enemies. He also tried to raise his fighting speed. If before, he would tried to whittle the enemies'' health slowly, but now, he would raised his speed in defeating his enemies. By doing this, he would needed to be more careful in the battle. Also, with high speed battle, he also needed to think faster than before to make a correct decision. Auron arrived at the so called "lobby" of the pirate''s base. He started to quickly exterminated all of the enemies. He didn''t hold off anything and unleashed all ofhis potential. First, Auron pulled out two pirates to came up to him. Auron didn''t hold off anything, he quickly used his skill magic and sword. But, like any other first timer, Auron make small mistake here and there which lead to the enemies successfully hit him. Auron needed to take some health potion to recover from the damage. He also made some wrong decision, which made the enemies could dodge his attack or attack him before he could unleashed his attack. After the first battle, he rest up a little bit while summarizing what he gain from the battle. Then, he continued, he pulled out another two pirates. This time, he learnt from his mistake. He made less mistake than before, but he still didn''t satisfied with the result. He pulled another two pirates and fight again. This cycle continued until the sixth battle. After the sixth battle, although he still made some mistake and wrong decision but it was way more better than the first battle. He was pretty satisfied with the result. So, the next battle he pulled out the last three pirates at the floor. When battling against three opponents, he felt different kind of pressure he felt from battling against two opponents. His mistake increased and he used more potion than what he used at the sixth battle. "This was such a nostalgic feeling" Auron felt very nostalgic. The last time he felt this kind of things was when he was still low level and tried to be the best. After that moment, for 8 years, he was considered as one of the best swordsman. Slowly, he lost pressure from battling monster and slowly lost the feeling. But now, he could felt the sensation again, he felt really thrilled. When battling against three opponents, he used more swordsmanship than his spell. Slowly but surely, the opponents started to die one by one. When all of the opponents already dead, he went straight to the stairs lead to the floor underground. The opponents here mostly the same as the one at the floor above. So, he got no issues at all when battling against them. Still, he tried his best and went all out. It took no longer than 10 minutes before he cleared all of the 15 opponents in the second floor before he continued to the third floor. The third floor had less opponent than the floor before. This floor only had 10 [Senior Pirate]. Battling against the [Senior Pirate], since, the opponent was obviously stronger than the opponent he fight before, Auron battled them two at once. At this floor, Auron was also reducing the usage of mana potion, since his mana potion almost ran out. So, Auron only used basic attack, while occasionally threw one or two skill or spells. This floor took longer than before. After 30 minutes, he cleared all 10 of the [Senior Pirate]. He rest up a bit before went to the next floor. Chapter 84 Pirates Base 2 Auron arrived at the fourth floor. The floor was like a large hall. When one arrived at the hall, they could see three doors. The left and the right door had the same size and the same structure. While the door in the middle was different. It was larger and looks like a small gate. The door was chained by a chain and it was locked with two padlocks. The left and right door, each lead to a room which contains vice commanders of the Pirate''s fleet, Vice Commander Henry and Thierry. Their main weapon as different. Vice Commander Henry used rifle while Vice Commander Thierry used saber. This made their attack range were different. Vice Commander Henry was a long range monster while the other one was a short range monster. While the door that looks like a small gate leads to a room that contains a stair to downstairs. However, to enter the room, one would need two keys to open the two padlocks. And, the keys could be obtained by defeating each of the vice commander in the left and right room. Luckily, they both stayed at their own designated room. So, Auron could fight them one on one. Actually, both of the boss could be lure to outside of the room, so they could be fight at once. Usually, the higher level player, like the woman before, would use this method to fight. This way they could use area skill and save more time than fighting the boss one by one. However, with Auron''s strength right now, he would not do this. Auron chose the left room to start first. He chose it because he knew that the boss inside was Vice Commander Thierry. He chose it first because, the boss was a melee boss, so obviously, that the boss would have more health than the other boss. Auron opened the door and entered the room. He spotted the boss. [Vice Commander Thierry] (common boss monster) Level: 39 HP: 40000/40000 MP: 1000/1000 Skills: Summon pirates, Pirate''s roar Description: The second vice commander of the pirate''s fleet. Using saber as his main weapon. When Auron entered the room and spotted the boss, the boss also spotted him. Immediately, the boss went rage and using his [Pirate''s roar]. He grab his saber and charged towards Auron. The boss swung his saber at Auron. However, Auron could block the boss weapon with his sword. Auron used [Weapon''s Aura]. An purple''s aura envelop Auron''s sword. He started to counter attacked the boss. Auron would occasionally used his spell to attack the boss. With the distraction from the spell, it made the boss could not focus on Auron. Because of that, the boss'' health could be visibly seen reduced quickly. Also, with no distraction, in just 3 minutes, Auron already reduced the boss health to 90%. While, he took no damage at all. From that 3 minutes, Auron gained a lot. He know knew how to use the spell more effective than before. For example, when the boss was swinging his saber to attack, Auron coincidentally used an [Earth Spike] and hit the boss'' arms that attack. If it was before, Auron would aim at the boss body. Doing so would produced more damage with a chance to make the boss stumbled. However, by aiming at its arms, it produced lesser damage but it could disturb the boss'' attack momentum like the attack was canceled or it could slow the attack so it could be dodge easier. However, to aimed at the boss moving arms was easier said than done. With so many variables in a fight, it could not be done easily. One need more concentration to aim and withstand the pressure from the attack. When the boss had 90% of his health, it used his skill to summon a group of 4 pirates. The group contains 2 [Junior Pirate], a [Medior Pirate], and a [Senior Pirate]. The pressure Auron felt increased. He could not used his spell freely to attack the boss. But, he also needs to consider the attack from the group of pirates. With more pirates appeared, Auron decided to kill the summoned monster first. Auron changed his target. He targeted the [Junior Pirate] first. Auron focused his spell and attack at the [Junior Pirate]. With more enemies, more harder for Auron to even launched an attack. He already focused a lot on dodging and blocking the incoming attack. However, he was not a ranked number one swordsman for no reason. Auron could made use a little opening that arrived. From that little opening, he made the opening become larger and larger. After fighting for 15 minutes, both of the [Junior Pirate] and the [Medior Pirate] were died, while the [Senior Pirate] only had a sliver of his health left. Boom. A fire ball hit the [Senior Pirate] that reaped his live. Now the situation back to square one, there was only Auron and the boss. From the experience before, Auron started to fight more effectively. The boss'' health reduced quicker than before. 90%... 80%... 70%... 60%... 50%... When the boss'' health reached 50%, he summoned again the pirates. Auron could not help but change his target once more. He tried to eliminate the summoned pirate again. When the summoned pirate all dead, he focused once again to the boss. 50%... 40%... 30%... 20%... 10%... After another 30 minutes, the boss only had a sliver of his health left. Auron used the chance when the boss was swinging his saber to Auron. He aimed his spell at the boss'' arm to slow the attack while he moved to the left to dodge the boss'' attack and swung his sword. The damage from the spell and attack made the boss'' health went emptied. The boss died and a yellow light enveloped Auron once more. He went up another level. He was now level 24. "A boss surely give a lot of experience point" Auron murmured while looking at the box and a saber on the ground Chapter 85 Pirates Base 3 Auron collected the box and the saber from the ground. He also didn''t forget to pick the key for unlocking one of the padlocks. There were also several miscellaneous things mixed up from the item he picked. [Pirate''s Saber] (uncommon grade equipment) Type: One Handed Sword Requirement: 50 Strength, level 35 Class: Swordsman, Thief, Merchant Attack: 130 - 175 Strength +3 Agility +1 Effect: no effect [Lucky Random Box] (Common Item) Type: Box Class: All Class Effect: Giving a random gold with a minimum of 1 copper coins. Auron started to inspect and sorted his loot. After sorting all of the miscellaneous item. He started to look at the big gain. The [Pirate''s Saber] was a good equipment that could be used to change his current [Skeletal Sword]. Unfortunately, [Pirate''s Saber] could only be used when he was already level 35. And, it was still a long way to go for Auron. He could only save it for later. He inspected the box. This thing was the reason that made many players come here for, [Lucky Random Box]. One of the reason was because, the boss here would 100% drop this box. There were three bosses in the dungeon which means a party would get 3 boxes if they could kill all of the bosses. Moreover, if their party luckily triggered a hidden boss, then it would mean another boss. And, one more boss mean one more box. Although, 3 boxes seems little for a party, but fora single player that could soloed the dungeon it was acceptable. 3 boxes a day, in a month, it added up to 90 boxes. Moreover, if the player was very strong that they could easily cleared the dungeon under 20 minutes, then this opportunity could not be missed. Auron saved the box he got first. He planned to open it after he cleared the dungeon. Auron got out of the room and went to the next room where the other boss had wait. Auron made sure once more all of his preparation before entering the room. His problem was his mana potion almost depleted. He needed to save his potion for the last boss in the dungeon. Auron could not help but sighed, "It looks like, I need to stock way more higher grade mana potion for next time" During this journey, he realized that his consumption on the mana potion was very high. His consumption rate was like a high leveled mage with high leveled skill that needed huge mana. What made Auron worried was, a higher grade mana potion was pricey. Furthermore, mana potion above rare grade was not sold in any NPC store. They could only earn it from NPC quest or bought it from other player that had alchemist as their sub class. However to use mana potion above the rare grade was still far away in the future. For now, Auron could only put it in the back of his head. [Vice Commander Henry] (common boss monster) Level: 39 HP: 20000/20000 MP: 1000/1000 Skills: Summon pirates, Pirate''s Roar Description: The first vice commander of the pirate''s fleet. Using rifle as his main weapon. After making sure everything was okay, Auron entered the second Vice Commanders room. He spotted the boss and two [Senior Pirate] in the room. This was a ranged boss. Also, in the room, there were two [Senior Pirate] that serving as a meat shield for the boss. Fortunately, the boss health was only half of the previous boss. Moreover, as the boss was a ranged one, his defense was obviously weaker than the previous boss. Auron was confident that he could defeated this boss quicker than before. The boss started to fire his rifle at Auron while the two [Senior Pirate] charging towards Auron at the sound of gunshot. Since Auron had defeated one of the boss, he lured the boss to the hall out of the room. The [Senior Pirate] and the boss quickly chased Auron outside of the room. The reason Auron lured the boss to the hall was because the hall was bigger than the room. This could give Auron more space to dodge the attack from the boss and pirates. Using the previous strategy, Auron focused the [Senior Pirate] first. Auron managed to defeat both of the [Senior Pirate] in 15 minutes. However, it was not an easy task for Auron. Since the boss was ranged, the boss could attack from far away, it made Auron needed to move away from the boss and kept moving. The difficulty could be seen from Auron''s received damage. From just clearing two [Senior Pirate], Auron already received damage more than 200% of his maximum health. If Auron didn''t gulp on his health potion, he already death twice. When the [Senior Pirate] died, the boss was open wide. With no meat shield protecting the boss, Auron could easily reduced the boss'' health. The boss'' health reduced quickly. With only 5 minutes, Auron already reduced 20% of the boss'' health. This time, Auron was very lucky the boss used the summoning skill when his health was only 20% left. The boss summoned monster was the same as the previous boss. Like the previous strategy, Auron spent another 25 minutes to defeat the boss'' summoned monster. After clearing the pirates, Auron focused back to the boss. With the remaining 20% health of the boss, Auron defeated the boss in no time. With the boss dead, a bunch of item popped out at the ground waiting to be picked. Auron looked at the item and looted all of the item. Sadly, there was no good item came out from the boss like from the previous one. The number of the items was fewer than the previous one. "Maybe, I have used all of my luck in the battle. This make the item dropped was so bad." Auron thought. Auron felt that he was very lucky during the battle since the boss only used his summoning skill once throughout the battle and didn''t even use his roar skill which made the pressure from the fight was lighter that before. However, the item dropped was so bad. That the best thing that came out from the boss was the [Lucky Random Box] and a key which had a 100% drop rate. Chapter 86 Pirates King Jack 1 From defeating the boss, Auron''s experience point went up above 50%. He needed a little more than 40% to gain a level. Auron stored the box in his inventory and move up to the small gate in the middle of the hall. Clack. He used up the first key to opened the first padlock. Clack. The second padlock opened. Auron pushed the small gate and entered the room. Like the gate, the room was small. It was so dark in the room. Luckily, there was a small candle that lighted the room. Although the light could not cover all of the room, but it was enough to show the next path. It was a square room with only a stair in the middle of the room. The stair leads up to the floor below it. Auron walked up to the stairs and went down to the floor below. After several minutes walking through the stair, Auron arrived at the floor below. He arrived in the same room as before. A small and dark room with only a stair in the middle of the room. What makes it different with the room before was the stair. If the stair in the room before leads to the floor below, then in this room, the stairs leads to the floor above. Auron walked several step forward. He arrived in front of a small gate. He knew if he opened up this gate, then he would faced up the boss. So, before he opened up the gate, he tried to make sure that he was ready to face the boss. He rechecked all of his preparation before opening the gate. "I have allocate all of the attributes point. Next, my equipment''s durability seems okay. Next, my potion, I have more than 300 health potions and around 80 mana potions left. I guess it was enough to defeat this last boss." After he felt ready, Auron opened up the gate and entered the room. The first thing he saw after entering the room was a bed. He do a brief scanned and found out he was inside a bedroom. The room Auron entered was a bedroom for the last boss. "Who are you? You little puny thief dare to intrude my room!" An angry sound rang out in the room. It was the boss'' voice, the [Pirate''s King Jack]. [Pirate''s King Jack] (uncommon boss monster) Level: 44 HP: 68000/68000 MP: 1500/1500 Skills: Summon pirates, Pirate''s Roar, Wild Slash, Random Shoot. Description: The Pirate''s King of the pirate''s fleet. Using saber and rifle as his main weapons. He wield saber in his left hand and rifle in his right hand. The boss was coming out from a small room at the corner of the room. When the boss coming out of the room, the room directly closed and locked up as if there was an automatic lock that locked up the room. Actually the room that the boss coming out was a pathway leads to the hidden boss room. However, it will automatically locked if the entered group didn''t activated the hidden boss'' quest. Otherwise, if the hidden boss'' quest was activated, the room would not be locked and opened. The entered party could went into the pathway without defeating the [Pirate''s King Jack], but if they do that, then they would face up two boss, the hidden boss and the [Pirate''s King Jack]. For, Auron this didn''t mean anything since he didn''t activated the hidden boss, he could forget about the room. Auron focused up at the boss. When Auron turned his gaze toward the boss. The boss already charging toward him destroying everything in his path. The boss used his saber in his left hand to destroy everything that hinder his path while he used his rifle in right hand to aim at Auron and shot some bullet. Auron moved sideways and leaps up above the sofa beside the exit gate. The bullet hit the gate and left a burn mark at the gate. Also, the boss charged stopped when the boss was an inch away from the gate. When the boss stopped, he turned his faced toward Auron and walked to Auron. Actually, when the boss used his charged skill, the boss would damage himself as he destroyed every thing in his path. However, the boss would received damage up to 50% of his health. If he already received damage up to 50% of his health, he would never used the charge skill anymore. Each time the boss used the charge skill it would randomly damage the boss for 3-5% of his health. This time, the boss received 5% of his health. Auron didn''t want to stay idle. When he saw the boss walked up to him, he used up his swordsman buff skill to increase his speed. He directly went up to the left of the boss. The boss also didn''t just stay idle, he shoot several bullet from his rifle towards Auron. However, Auron managed to deflect the bullet with his sword. When Auron was close to the boss, he used [Bash] and swung his sword towards the boss. However, the boss could blocked his skill with his rifle. Then, aimed his rifle targeting Auron''s body. When his skill was blocked by the boss, Auron directly moved away from the boss. With Auron moved away, the bullet the boss had fired hit the wall in front of the boss. Auron moved several step back to the corner where the boss come out. Seeing that Auron moved away, the boss used his charging skill once more towards Auron and fired his rifle towards Auron. However, the charging skill could only charge forward and cannot turned or changed his direction. Auron moved to the side. When charging forward, the boss could not changed direction, however, his arms could still moved around freely. He saw Auron moved to his left side, so he aimed his right hand toward Auron and fired a shoot. However, from his past experience, Auron already knew that the boss capable doing something like this. So, he had already anticipated this and could deflect the bullet with his swords. Chapter 87 Pirates King Jack 2 Although the bullet that was shot from the boss didn''t manage to hit Auron, but that bullet hindered Auron from attacking the boss. Like before, the boss stopped before he hit the wall. His health reduce by another 3%. After the boss stopped, he directly turned around to face Auron. He used his summoning skill. A group of 3 [Senior Pirate] showed up at the call from the boss. Seeing the summoned pirates, Auron tried to use the strategy he used before. He changed his focus to fight the [Senior Pirate] first. He chose the nearest [Senior Pirate] to focus. Auron swung his sword to hit the pirate. The pirate failed to block Auron''s sword and got damage from Auron. While Auron successfully hit the pirate, he also got hit by the other pirates including the boss. Fortunately, with his strong attributes, he could manage to still alive. However, the boss'' damage took almost 30% of his health. In total, his health got reduced almost 40%. Auron didn''t wait for long to gulp the health potion. He gulped several health potions to fully heal his health. After gulping the health potion, Auron hopped on top of the bed and was ready to fight once more. The pirates and the boss chased Auron. While the boss was firing his rifle from the back, the 3 [Senior Pirate] chased Auron at the front and tried to hopped on the bed. Three of them jumped up to the bed. While the pirates still in the air, from the ground, a spike was formed and attack toward the pirates. The spike pierce through the side of the bed on top of it and pierce through the pirates. One of the pirates got hit from the front, while the other two pirates only got scratched by the spike. However, it managed to hinder the 3 [Senior Pirate] from attacking Auron. With the attack from the [Senior Pirate] canceled, Auron could be more focused on dodging the bullet from the boss. Auron managed to dodge the bullet. He leaped off the bed. This time, he was running to the exit. However, he didn''t just ran away passively, he also use his [Walking Chanting] while running away. Auron used [Fire Wall] and tried to blocked the pirates advances. A pillar of fire formed behind Auron who was running to the door. One of the [Senior Pirate] at the most front got hit by the [Fire Wall] and stumbled back. Since the other two pirates was at the back, they managed to avoid the [Fire Wall] and circled around the [Fire Wall] and kept on advancing. The first pirate also didn''t stayed at the ground. He quickly stood up and chased Auron once more. Since the boss was at the back, he was a little bit at behind of all the group. Auron who managed to entered the dark squared room once more, directly used the stairs and went up to the floor above. However, the pirates chasing him was so close behind that they managed to shot several bullet out of their rifle. While was running through the stairs and it was hard for him to dodge the bullet. So, he could not help but just enduring the damage from the bullet. When Auron arrived at the floor above, he turned around and made another [Fire Wall] blocking the stairs exit. It proved to be somewhat effective, the wall caught the pirates on surprise and made one out of the two pirates in the front tripped over and roll down several steps. While the other pirate gritted his teeth and break through the [Fire Wall]. Of course, the pirate took some heavy damage from the break through. Auron who was at the front had already used another health potion to recover his health and waiting for the pirates at the hall where there was two rooms that leads to pirate''s vice commander''s rooms. The pirate who break through the [Fire Wall] also arrived at the hall where Auron had already waiting. When he saw the pirate coming to the hall, Auron used [Charged] and attack the pirate. Caught at surprise, the pirate could not blocked in time and got hit by Auron. Auron didn''t leave the chance go away. He became more aggressive at attacking the pirate. He unleashed his skill and tried to kill the pirate before the other pirates and the boss arrived at the hall. Auron''s effort didn''t go in vain. When the other two [Senior Pirate] and the boss arrived at the hall, the pirate that was in the middle of the battle against Auron died. With one enemies down, the pressure, Auron felt was reduced. Arriving at the hall, the boss directly used his [Pirate''s roar]. After that, he directly used his charging skill once more. The boss charged straight to Auron. However, the charge was very easy to dodge. Auron moved sideways from the charging path. When he moved sideways, two [Senior Pirate] already waited for him. With two pirates attacking him at the same time, as well as the pirate already got buff from the boss'' roar, the pressure that Auron felt intensified. Also, the boss just didn''t stay idle while charging. He still fired up his gun from far away. Auron could dodge all of the attack, however, in return, he had no chance to launch an attack. The fight come to a stale mate. Neither of the pirates'' health nor Auron''s health reducing. Auron had already tried to use several spell on his hand. However, with the buffed pirates, the spell means nothing. They could either dodge or blocked the spell. However this state didn''t last forever. When the pirate''s buff had expired, Auron pressure''s lessen. Although, he still didn''t have the upper hand, but he already got a small chance that he could use to attack the pirates. With careful battle Auron and the large hall, Auron managed to defeat both of the [Senior Pirate] left. Meanwhile, the boss'' health already reduced to 50% from using the charge skill that failed to connect. However, it didn''t just go easily. Auron skill need to consume a lot of health potion and several mana potion. He only had 100 health potions and around 40 mana potions left to kill the boss. Chapter 88 Pirates King Jack 3 Now, there were only Auron and the boss left. Although, the [Senior Pirate] already dead, Auron could still felt the pressure. The pressure was coming from his potion''s stock. He was afraid that his potion could not support him to the end of the battle. And, it would be such a disappointment if Auron died when there was only a sliver of health left of the boss. "I need to be more careful. With the low leveled equipment that I have, it would take a huge risk to just take one hit from the boss. Fortunately, I have higher attributes than others at the same level." Auron thought. Seeing Auron didn''t moved. The boss started to attack first. However, he could not use his charging skill since his health was 50%. The boss ran towards Auron. When the boss was close to Auron, he used his skill [Wild Slash]. He swung his saber randomly at the space in front of him. Auron tried to move to the boss'' side. However, the boss quickly turned around and faced Auron once more while swinging his saber randomly. Seeing that his move would not be effective, Auron decided to wait until the duration of the [Wild Slash] to over. So, Auron moved back several steps and maintained some distance from the boss. When the boss saw Auron move away, he could not do anything other than waiting for his [Wild Slash] to over. Luckily, the duration of the skill would be over in several more seconds. When the skill''s duration was over, the boss quickly aimed his rifle at Auron and sent several shot towards him. When Auron saw the [Wild Slash]''s duration was over, at first, he wanted to charge to the boss. However, he quickly cancelled his plan because when he was about to charge to the boss, the boss already aimed his rifle towards him, he felt that it would take a huge risk to charge at the boss, so he cancelled his plan. From far away, the boss kept on shooting Auron. However, Auron decided to move zig zag to dodge the bullet, as well as to close his distance with the boss and had a close combat battle with the boss. Little by little, Auron moved closer to the boss. When he was two sword away from the boss, Auron already chanted and used [Aqua barrier]. A barrier from water formed like a ball and envelop Auron. The barrier would protect Auron from the boss'' attack. Since Auron already in the range of the boss'' saber. The boss decided to switch his attack using his saber. His saber slashed out toward Auron and hit the water barrier. It directly destroyed the barrier. [Aqua Barrier] was one of the most had to learn spell. The reason was because the barrier could take up and protect the user from several hit regardless the damage. It was like giving a state of invincibility to the user for several hit or several time. With 30 minutes cool down, the barrier was a must have spell if you were a mage. Unfortunately, for Auron, the spell level was still level 1, so he could only took up 1 hit in the duration of 3 seconds. Every level of the spell would increase the duration by 0.5 seconds and every 10 level would increased the hit it could prevent. The chance given to Auron by the [Aqua barrier] would not be wasted. Auron swung his sword while using his [Chop] skill. The sword swung down so fast and powerful toward the boss. It hit the boss hard and produced a critical hit. The boss roared painfully. However, it didn''t stop the boss from attacking. The boss aimed lifted his right hand and aimed it towards Auron. He pulled the rifle trigger. However, before he fully pulled the rifle trigger, A [Fire Blast] was shot out from Auron towards his right hand. An explosion produced at the boss right hand, it made the boss staggered a bit. However, Auron also not escaped from the explosion, he suffered some damage due to the explosion. He had to take this risk to make the boss staggered. With the boss staggered, Auron used [Bash] to hit the boss. The skill connect to the boss. A red number floated above the boss'' head. Auron also followed up with several basic attack afterward. However, the boss managed to blocked the second basic attack. With the attack being blocked, Auron decided to move back and drank a mana potion since his mana was depleted. The fight continued for 15 more minutes, before the boss only had 5% of his health left. With the boss only had 5% of his health, Auron became more aggressive. He charge up to the boss. When he was about to landed his attack, the boss used up [Random shot] and shot randomly. The attack coming so random and made Auron had a difficult time. He got several hit connected to him. It was almost a disaster, he almost died from the attack. Fortunately, he could block the last bullet that was about to approach him with his sword and quickly drank several health potions. Auron learnt his lesson, this time he became more careful on approaching the boss. With a 5% health left, Auron decimated the boss. A roar filled the hall when the boss died. Several item popped out at the ground. [Pirate''s Bracelet] (uncommon grade equipment) Type: Accessories Requirement: No Requirement. Class: All Class Defend: 5 Agility + 1 Effect: Improve user''s attack speed by 1. "I am so lucky to have the boss dropped an accessory." Auron took the bracelet and directly equipped it. This bracelet was the most precious item that could be dropped by the boss besides the [Lucky Random Box]. "It was still 3 in the morning. There was still some time before the class begin, I will continued to hunt several monster first in the [Mud Swamp]." After looting all of the item dropped by the boss, Auron moved and entered the exit portal. Chapter 89 Julia Outside of the dungeon, a young girl walking back and forth impatiently in front of the dungeon entrance. There were a hint of various feeling on the behavior of the girl. Furious, Nervous, Confused were mixed up and could be seen from the girl''s behavior. This girl was the woman that Auron met before. When Auron ignored her and entered the dungeon, she was very frustrated and angry. She entered the dungeon and unleashed her rage there. With her over leveled strength, she quickly cleared the dungeon. She only needed around 20 minutes to clear the dungeon. After unleashing her rage, she calmed down a bit. With her calming down, she thought back at Auron. She could not find out where Auron''s confident coming from. So, she decided to exit through the portal and waited for Auron at the entrance. While waiting, since Auron took so long inside, she slowly became impatient. Moreover, Auron didn''t know that the girl was waiting for him so he took his time inside by practicing his skill. This made the girl waited longer. While the girl was walking back and forth in front of the dungeon, a monster sensed her presence and started moving towards her to attack her. When the monster was neared the girl, the girls suddenly unleashed [Fire Meteor] towards the monster. A huge fire ball fell down from the sky and hit the monster. The spell made a huge blast and spread out flame in a huge circle area. All of the monster within that area was dead and left out a pile of item on the ground. The spell even left out a burning flame within the area of impact for several seconds before the flame died. "Enough... I am not waiting anymore. He must have lie to me. How stupid am I to believe him like this. He must have logged out inside of the dungeon and not coming back." The girl shouted angrily. This was actually the third time the girl spoke like this. At first, she felt that Auron would died inside the dungeon and resurrected outside of the dungeon. That way, she could mocked Auron once more since Auron ignored her. With time ticking, her patient slowly fade away. However, the first and second time she wanted to leave, she convinced herself that there would be no way that Auron lied to her. She believed in Auron''s eyes. The eyes that was full of confident, so she believed that Auron must have a secret that made him so confident. Because she was in need of something that could make her stronger, she waited for Auron. Although, she believed thatAuron''s must have a secret that made him so confident, she still could not believe Auron to clear the dungeon. After all, the difference in level was so big, it was 13 level which means a different around 65 attributes. Moreover, the equipment Auron''s wore would be under leveled. However, if Auron could made it to the vice commander room and defeat one of them it was already a proof that there was a secret could help her. If that happened, she already thought of to console Auron and teach him. Of course, in return of Auron''s secrets. However, reality was so harsh. She already waited for over than 3 hours since she finished her dungeon run and there was still no sign that Auron would come out soon. This time, she was really enrage and wanted to leave. When she was about to leave, a light shone out from the dungeon entrance and a man walked out. That was Auron coming out. She quickly went to approach him. She was ready to console him, "I know it is okay to fail sometimes, you can not unleashed your full potential, you just need to find a good teacher, Luckily..." Before she could finish her sentence, she stopped. "I am Julia. Hopefully, we can meet again next time in a more proper way." She sent a friend request towards Auron and directly left. [Paradise Spring sent you a friend Request] Auron was confused with the sudden change. "Erh... what a weird girl. Whatever." Auron accepted the friend request and wanted to hunt. The reason why Julia stopped her speech midway was because she recognized the bracelet that Auron wore. It was a dropped from the last boss which means Auron successfully killed the last boss, whether he got a hidden boss or not that was not important. What important was that that man could defeat a boss which was 13 level above him alone. If she was in Auron''s position, she 100% sure that she could not made it. This means that Auron was really succeed cleared the dungeon. She could just killed him and tried to force him to spit out the secret. However, it only worked now. What if Auron was so stubborn and didn''t want to spit it out. Two Worlds was so large that even she mustered all her guild''s force, it was still difficult to search for a player. Moreover, to make the guild''s force moved, she had to pay a lot and the success to get the secret was not 100%. Rather than made an enemies, it would be better to befriend with him. Which was why, she sent a friend request before she left and hope that his impression of her was not so bad. Maybe, one day, she could get that secret out of his mouth. "What a weird girl. Do all beautiful girls have that strange behavior? Luckily, she was beautiful, if not, I had already kicked her away several times." Auron thought. Auron was so confused by the girl''s behavior. An arrogant yet kind then become annoying fly and changed again to a kind girl. He could only shook his head and shrugged his shoulder. He putted the matter with the girl behind his head and started to walk towards the nearest monster. When he was about to attack, a ringing sound could be heard. The sound was not ordinary. It was more like an alarm sounds. [Ring... Ring... Ring...] Chapter 90 Level 25 [Your nutrient solution is ran out. For preventive measure, we will force logout you in 1 minute] The alarm sound was actually a notification from the game capsule which indicating that Auron''s nutrient solution was running out. The preventive measure which mentioned was actually to force the user to logout from the game. This was done to make the user knew that his nutrient solution was running out, so he could buy another or could arrange his schedule. "Wow, I just replenish my nutrient solutions two days ago, and now it was running out." After 1 minute, Auron was logout from the game. He opened his game capsule and get out from it. He was shocked by the fact that his nutrient solutions already running out. "This must be because of the [Walking Chanting] and intense battle that I do." What Auron thought was correct. The reason his nutrient solutions ran out so fast was because the fact that he used a lot of [Walking Chanting]. To use the skill he needed more concentration than normal. And, to supply the energy needed, the consumption rate of nutrient solution raised. Moreover, for the last two days, Auron also doing many battle that needed a lot of concentration. "I need to buy another nutrient solutions. I am broke" Auron cashed out some of his money enough to buy nutrient solutions. With that he broke once more. After cashing out some money, he quickly login to the Black Sheep''s website and ordered some nutrient solutions. Luckily, Black Sheep opened for 24 hours a day. Actually, Auron could still played the game without nutrient solutions, however he dismissed the idea. He wanted to take this chance to break from gaming and took a little rest. In the morning, the Black Sheep''s courier arrived delivering Auron''s order. After accepting the package, Auron instantly putted the nutrient solution at the game capsule and went back online. When he logged on, he spawned at the same place as before, in front of the dungeon''s entrance. As soon as he logged in, a two moths sensed his presence and quickly attacked him. With the [Male Moth] in the front, they charged towards Auron. Auron also sense their presence and he was ready. He took out his swords and blocked the [Male Moth]''s attack. Then, Auron jumped back to dodge the [Female Moth]''s attack. After training inside the dungeon, Auron''s growth was visible. He was getting used to fight with this character. A [Fire Bolt] shot out from Auron and targeted the [Male Moth] at the front. Although the damage was not so high, however, it was enough to make the [Male Moth] flinched. Auron did not missed the chance, he made used the chance to move further back from both of the moths. With the distance made, Auron could prepared more. He didn''t want to waste many nutrient solution for these small fries. After some times, Auron managed to kill both of the moths. Then, Auron went to loot the items dropped by the monster. Auron looked at his experience bar. He almost went up to the next level. After killing the last boss, it made his experience soared up until he almost went up to the next level. Then, he looked at the current time, it was around 6 am in the morning. "There''s still time until the class. It was enough to raise my level." The class that Auron talked about was the military academy''s class. However, he decided to raise his level first with the swordsman character. Auron began to lure the nearest monster from him. Since he was about to level up, he wasn''t in rush. He took his time to kill the monster. After several minutes, he could defeated several groups of moth. With that, he leveled up to level 25. He took the item from the ground. Since, he had achieved his goals, he used a return scroll to go back to town. He wanted to sell up his loot and geared up before he leaved this character to another self-hunting. After he arrived at the town, Auron directly went to the shop to sell his item. He picked some item that could be sold to player. He saved all the equipment he get and sold the miscellaneous item. After that he went up to the auction hall to sell his equipment. Although, it was a low level equipment, however, there was still someone that wanted to buy it as long as the price was made sense. Even though, the price was not as high as when the game first release, it still higher than went sold to the NPC. Auron registered all of his unused equipment. Now, he only needed to wait until the registered item sold. From the item he sold before, he get around 2 golds. It seems a lot, however with a character like Auron, 2 golds was far from enough. Seeing the money was not enough, Auron dismissed the idea to change his equipment. Instead, he bought a lot of potion supplies. This time, he didn''t want to be so stingy. He bought a lot of potion until he only got 50 silver left. Using this 50 silver, he bought a staff for his mage character. After he finished his preparation, it was time for him to change character. He went up to his mage character and waiting for the class to begin. He commanded the AI controlling his character to went up to another place, [Kobold''s Camp]. It was much safer than [Mud Swamp]. Moreover, it was a hunting ground for level 25 player, which was the same as Auron''s level now. Time passed by, more than 20 days. And now, it was the end of the months. Which mean it was the end of the learning period. Starting tomorrow, it would be the beginning of the practical period. All of the students was gathered up for a briefing at the first place they gathered, the academy''s field. Chapter 91 Practical Period 1 For the last 20 days, Auron had ensured to follow the class properly and tried to get as many free attributes as possible. However, reality was not always beautiful. At first, Peter''s class still gave some free attributes, but as the days passed by, slowly the free attributes that Peter''s class gave reduced. At the last 10 days, Peter''s class didn''t even give any free attributes. And worst, the penalty for failing the task was harsher than before. For the last 10 days, was like a hell for the student in Auron''s class. Even Auron felt worst as the task was visibly more difficult but he didn''t gain anything from it. Luckily, the Alice''s class could mend some of the bad vibe from the Peter''s class. After the class examination, Alice began gave more of her attention to Auron. Alice helped Auron in the class and outside of the class. She even gave Auron a private lesson for the [Fire Combination] spell. This surely made the others student in Alice''s class grew jealous. They tried to unleashed their rage towards Auron. Auron who already knows what their intention, avoided them. When the class was over, Auron would directly followed behind Alice. After that, he would stayed at the library or the dorm to practice and would not get out from it until the next class. With what Auron had done, his other classmate could not bully him anymore. They could only gnashed their teeth and tried it at the practical period. With his level raised, his hunting visibly gone faster than before. From the 20 days, Auron could raised his level to level 40. His level gone faster than before since he changed some of his equipment with more better. Moreover, when he was level 35 he directly equipped the [Pirate''s Saber], he got from the boss before. This helped his swordsman class to hunt faster than before. Also from the last 20 days, he stayed a lot at the library, this helped his mage character''s spell level. He gain several level for some of his spell by learning at the library. Although with the raised spell''s level, he needed to spent more on his mana potion. However, it was cheaper than to buy all of the skill books needed. Sadly, he could not raised his fire elemental understanding or got another elemental understanding from another element. Another thing was his auctioned weapon before was sold. With the money from it, he began to flourish little by little. His financial condition become better little by little. Although he still spent a lot and reserved some of his money for urgent condition. But, he had paid one fifth of his debt to Roan for buying him the nutrient solution. However, Roan didn''t want to accept it. Auron could not help but give it to the Dragon''s Den and said it was an investment from him. With his level raised and his equipment got better, he was stronger than before. Moreover with another 10 free permanent attributes from Peter''s class,He even could defeated level 65 monster. Auron believed that he even could defeat a level 50 player with decent equipment and skill or level 60 player with poor equipment and skill. However, he never actually test it out with another player since he still wanted to stay low. A crowd of students filled the academy''s field. Today was the last day of learning period for all of the students. Tomorrow, they will started to enter the practical period which made them needed to collect point, so they would not get punished. Since today was the last day of the lesson period, there would be no class and there were only briefing for the practical lesson. After that, the student could prepare themselves to face the practical lesson. The field was filled with the student and noise could be heard from there. There were several student that showing off his progress to his friend from another class. Also, there were still some low class student that boot licking to the noble student. Auron and his roommate chose to stand by the side. They didn''t want to attract unwanted attention like at the opening ceremony. Four of them chatting happily and asking each other condition. Actually, although the four of them were a roommate, it was very rare for them to meet each other at the room. The reason was because of the tight schedule. When one could came back to the room, they would have no energy to even chat and directly went to sleep. Moreover, Auron also chose to improve himself at the library rather to went to his room, so he didn''t really know how his three roommate doing. However, the disaster could not be avoided and should be faced. When four of them was chatting happily to each other, a group of student walked. A burly man was leading in front of them. Beside him, Pollack was following from behind. This was the man that drove Auron away from his room, the first time Auron came to the dormitory. "So, I heard you were so scared that you always followed behind Ms. Alice like a cat?" The burly man mocked Auron. "Amazing, no wonder he became a gigolo. He always hide behind a woman?" Pollack followed. "You... Sarden and Pollack, shut your fucking mouth!" Black Bull shouted. "Come fight me one on one. Just you and me!" Deadly Tower shouted. "Come you all. Let me defeated you with just a flick from my hand" Feather Slice was ready to launched and attack. While Black Bull, Feather Slice and Deadly Tower was in rage, Auron kept his calm demeanor. He slowly looked at Sarden. Auron could see that Sarden''s level was not improved as much as the other noble students. "Wow, your mouth become fiercer after the learning lesson. Sadly enough, your level improvement was not as fast as what your mouth learnt." "Relax, you have your turn. Don''t you know that your lovely lackey, Pollack, had already been defeated under my hand?" "And next is your turn. Just you wait for it!" Auron smiled mockingly Chapter 92 Practical Period 2 "You... damn maggot!" Pollack got furious by Auron''s mock. Meanwhile, hearing Auron''s mock, Sarden''s face distorted. He frowned his brows. It was his first time, a commoner dare to retort him even mocking him. If it was happened outside of the academy, that person would already dead. However, since this was inside the academy, he could not made any careless move. Pollack took out his staff and started to chant a spell. The other Sarden''s lackeys also took out their own weapons. Seeing the enemy took out their weapon, Auron''s side also drew out their weapon. Pollack finished chanting his spell, A fire ball flew out to Auron''s group. Black Bull, who was at the front, swung his broad axe to repel the incoming fire ball. The two sides clashed hard. Auron chanted an area spell. Before, Auron''s finished his chanted spell, a huge pressure coming out and hit all of the student in the field especially the participating parties. Auron''s parties and Sarden''s parties got down on the ground. They could not even lifted one of their finger. "What do you guys think this place are?" A loud voice coming out. A middle aged man walked out followed with several officer. The leading man frowned his brows, "It was you guys again?" "At the opening ceremony, it was you guys, and now, it was you guys again? Do you guys did not learn from before?" "It looks liked I need to give harsh punishment" "But, before that, I needed to start this first. Now, all of you make 50 line!" The pressure on Auron''s and Sarden''s parties lifted up. They stood up and form a line as instructed. They could only glared at each other before departing to their own side. They decided to choose their own side. Auron''s parties went to the left side of the line, while Sarden''s party moved to the right side of the line. "Now, I will explain what you will face tomorrow!" "I believe all of you already know from the academy''s handbook. Starting tomorrow at 12.01 a.m you could take a mission to gain point." "As I said at the opening ceremony, you guys are special. So, there will be several differences as the handbook has stated." "First, you practical period will last for 11 months starting tomorrow. You guys already knew this since I had said this at the opening ceremony." "Second, all of the mission difficulties would be raised one level higher than normal. But, don''t you guys worry, all of you could still finished the mission easily." "Third, for this practical period, duel content between student could only be fighting each other. And, you need one officer to supervise the fight. If there are any other duel content proposed, it would be automatically declined." "Fourth, usually for the first month, there will be no target score. However, since you guys are special. For the first month, you guys needed to reach a minimum of 100 score to avoid the penalty." "Fifth, you starting point will not be 10. All of you will start from 0 point" Hearing the difference for this period, all of the student started to murmuring and whispering one to each other. All of them only had one thought inside of their mind, "This batch practical period would be harder than before". All of them felt worried inside of their mind. "It seems this will be harder but the academy is fair" Brock smiled. "When there are minus, there will always be a plus" "First, there will be no task that required for you to pay some point before taking the task" "Second, you could exchange item to earn some point at the mission tower. Of course, not all of the item would be accepted. Only rare grade and above item would be accepted. The rarer the grade the higher the point. Also, a skill book will make you gain more." "Third, the one who can get money will be increased. If before only the top 10 get the money, now, it was top 50 that can get the money. Moreover, the point money conversion ratio was 1:2. So, you would get 2 copper coins for each of the point you collect" "And last but not least, all of the point you get from the mission would be doubled. It will make you guys easier to earn point. Hopefully, you guys can use this opportunity to gain more money" Brock smiled once more. The advantages that was announced gain a huge response from the student. Some of them felt delighted. And, there was some of them that felt worried. Auron was belong to the latter group. He felt worried. The reason was because, the easier one earned point this mean that the higher point they would get which mean the higher the following month''s target score. This would surely made it easier for one to get penalty and entered the war zone. "Is this a plot from the academy to get all of the student entered the war zone?" Auron could not help but thought about it. While Auron was deep in thought, Brock continued his speech, "After this, you guys could have your free time before tomorrow begin." "Oh yeah, one more thing before we dispersed, for the 10 of you who started a commotion before the ceremony begin" Brock looked at Auron''s group and Sarden''s group. Hearing they was mentioned, all of the people in Auron''s group and Sarden''s group directly stood up straight and didn''t dare to make anymore mistake. "I am still thinking about your punishment." Brock putted one of his hand on his chin. "What do you think I should do to you guys?" Brock actually said this to himself. However, since his voice was loud enough, it was as if he asked Auron''s and Sarden''s group. Black Bull immediately said with low voice to himself, "No punishment please, no punishment please..." "Okay, I have decided your punishment. All 10 of you will start with -100 points" Chapter 93 Practical Period 3 "Now, all of you dismissed!" As soon as the dismissed command was spoken, all of the student quickly disperse from the field and went back to their own plan. Meanwhile, Auron''s party also quickly left out the field. They didn''t want to meet Sarden''s party anymore. They needed to focus their mind for tomorrow since their starting point already behind the others. They decided to come back to their room in the dorm. When they were inside their room, they continued their conversation first that was cut before because of the incident with Sarden''s party. They talked a lot of things like what level they were, what had they learned and many more. "So, what are your plan for tomorrow?" Auron started to ask the other about their plan to survive in the practical period. Auron had been told them before his suspiciousness about the changes in the practical period. Auron thought that the academy wanted to force them to join the war zone. However, the academy could not just blatantly force them, which why Auron thought they made this changes. At first, they didn''t really take Auron serious. However, as Auron explained the reason behind his suspicion, they began to slowly take things serious. And, as Auron was concern about them, he asked their plan for tomorrow. "I am thinking to take the easy and rather safe route like taking mission that only took place in the academy. I didn''t really care about top 50 or what. As long as, I am safe." Black Bull sighed, "But, if what you said was true, that means, it would not as simple as that. If I was still continued with my old plan, I am absolutely sure that I will not survive this month. Moreover, we start from -100." "I still can not think what I am gonna do, this news really shocked me." While Black Bull was down because of this news, for Deadly Tower and Feather Slice, this news, didn''t made any of them panic. They already get the gist of it when the news was stated before. However, with Auron confirmation, they now 100 percent sure that what they thought was true. Not like Black Bull that chose to do thing safely, Deadly Tower and Feather Slice already decided to take riskier mission. However, they also had their own worries. Since, the point was double which mean the difficulty was raised. And, they still didn''t have that confidence they could passed the first month easily. "What about your plan?" Deadly Tower asked Auron. "As you know, I am not coming from the noble family and my knowledge about the mission was really limited based on the book I read from the library." "That was why, I don''t really have any concrete plan for tomorrow. I am thinking to go with the flow. However, because of the changes, I am also worried, I cannot survived this month points. As you guys know, my level was the lowest out of all 4 of us." Auron stated. From the 4 of them, Auron who had level 40 was the lowest out of them all. Meanwhile, Deadly Tower had the highest level with level 85. And, Feather Slice was behind him with level 80. Lastly, Black Bull had level 60 since he more focused out on his wealth and survivability than his level. "How about we taking mission as a group? Since all of us had different class, we could supported each other weakness" Auron suggested. It was allowed for the student to take mission as a group. Taking a mission as a group had it own advantages and disadvantages. The advantages was for sure, it was safer than going alone. Moreover, if you had a really trusted group member. The other was you could took more difficult mission which rewards more. The disadvantages was also obviously, if you could not really trust you group member, there could be internal fighting and it could leads to failure in the mission even death. Moreover, when you took a mission in a group, the rewards would need to be distributed among the member including the point which mean the point one would get obviously will be lower than if that person could finish the same mission alone. And, the most difficult things of all was to find reliable and right member. For example, if you have several trusted friends, however all of them was a mage. The group composition would also became a mess and it could leads to destruction. To find a reliable and correct member was hard. However, Auron''s party right now had a pretty decent party''s composition. What they lack actually was a reliable tank. After all the melee class in their party was a thief and merchant. Thief would be more suitable to become a scout. Meanwhile, although merchant could become a tank it was more inferior than swordsman. "Well, I think that was a good idea. But, we lack a tank" Feather Slice said his concern. "I also agreed" Deadly Tower said that. "Urhm..." Black Bull still thinking hard, "I like the idea, however it would likely that I am the one who will become the tank if we form a group." "Okay, well since I trusted you guys, I will change all my equipment to a more defensive one. Please, just make sure that you guys could defeat the enemies." Black Bull decided his mind. Auron actually wanted to voluntary become a tank. However, all of them would think that Auron was crazy, since a mage could not tank. However, when Black Bull had decided his mind, then Auron could only trusted on his group''s ability since if you could not trust your team member why would you even formed a group with that person. "Since all of us agreed, then let us prepared our self and met up tomorrow at 6 a.m in the mission tower" Auron said. "Okay then, it was decided. I will leave to spend all of my money to buy a defensive equipment. See you guys at the mission tower tomorrow." Black Bull quickly went out to spend all of his money. Meanwhile, the rest of them separate from each other with their own agenda. Chapter 94 Choosing Mission The day passed by. On the next day, at the designated time, Auron arrived in front of the mission tower. Although, it was called tower, actually it was more like ordinary building with 10 floors. In front of the tower there was a sign board with ''Mission Tower'' text on it. Auron went inside to the tower. It was 6 a.m in the morning, but inside the tower, there already a lot of people running around. Most of them were the new student in Auron''s batch. The mission tower had 10 floors. Each of the level corresponding to the difficulty of the mission available on that floor. The higher the floor, the higher the mission''s difficulty which means the higher the risk and the rewards. Of course, not all of the people could freely enter the designated floor. They needed to have rank in the military first to enter the floor. If one wanted to enter floor which was higher than his rank, they needed to have a written permission from their superior first before they could enter the floor. The first floor was where the easiest mission could be taken. The number of the mission was huge. And the range of the mission could be from the simplest things like finding a missing item until catching local thief. Above that, the mission would be posted on the above floor. At every floor, when one entered the floor, they would automatically saw a big black board in front of them. The board showing the ranking of military point every person had accumulated. This was done to stimulate other person to achieve higher and higher. Every month, the highest ranking person in the board would receive money and a piece of equipment. If they didn''t want the equipment they could exchange it with money. Of course, they could change the military point for something else, but that still long way to go for Auron. The academy wanted to make the school environment as similar as the real one. That was why, they conducting the practical period. Of course, the new student had separate board for themselves. The board was located at the first floor of the mission tower. The enthusiastic student had already took the mission from dawn. They immediately took the mission and cleared it as soon as possible. Till now, there was already student that finished 3 missions. The first floor still crowded with the new student. However, not all of the student was in the first floor. As Brock had said in the closing ceremony, Auron''s batch was special, that was why the academy decided that the new student in Auron''s batch could went up until the second floor. Of course, the mission in the second floor would be more difficult than the first floor. Most of the mission above the first floor had some battle element. Battling against the monster, or guarding merchant fleet from beast. Auron walked to the front of the new student''s ranking board. Almost 75% of the student already had points beside their names. While the rest had 0 point including Auron. When Auron was looking at the ranking board, suddenly, someone tap Auron''s shoulder. Auron turned around and looked back behind him. It was actually Auron''s roommate. Auron could see that Black Bull really spent a lot. Before, Black Bull equipment similar to other class who use cloth armor. However, right now, Black Bull look very sturdy. The armor was very heavy and he looked like a solid swordsman with high defense. Black Bull even huge shield that could cover almost his entire body. "Are you really fine wearing that armor?" Auron said to Black Bull since he could see that Black Bull''s movement was somehow restricted. "It''s fine. I rather wearing something like this rather than dying" Black Bull answered. "Okay then since you say so, let''s search for the appropriate mission" Auron answered. The four of them went to the clerk inside the first floor. The clerk''s jobs was to help the student in choosing their mission. They also the one that giving the rewards when the player had finished the mission. "Good morning, which mission would you like to take?" The clerk asked Auron''s group. "We would like to take a mission that suitable for a group of 4 students" The clerk immediately filtered out the mission as what Auron had asked. However, there were still a lot of mission after the filter. After that, Auron stated several more condition to filter the mission more. After several filter, there were 3 mission left for them to choose mission 32, mission 57, or mission 128." Auron and the groups looked at the filtered mission from the clerk. For mission 32, they needed to collect several item from the monster in the [Wind Valley]. The valley was pretty difficult for Auron''s group. It was a hunting ground for level 75. What made it hard was the monster had wind element which means the monster was quicker than normal. Moreover, some monster could deflected arrow attack. Auron''s group didn''t even bothered to read the item they needed to collect, they directly looked the next mission. Mission 57 needed them to kill several monster. The monster was located at the nearest city from Miderian, Grapen. It was a pretty big city, however compared to Miderian, it was still smaller. The mission targets was located at the vicinity of the city. It was actually a pretty good mission, but Auron''s group decided to chose mission 128. Mission 128 was a mission that needed Auron''s group to guard a noble son who was still 5 years old. The son wanted to celebrate his birthday with his friends at the nearby lake from Miderian. They needed Auron''s group to guard the birthday party and ensure everything was safe from the morning till evening. The reason Auron chose this mission was because the location was close to the city and the rewards was huge. The mission reward 60 points which mean each of Auron''s group would get 15 points. Usually, the first floor''s mission only rewards averagely 8 points. The highest point one could get was 15 points but, they needed to spend around 3 days until 2 weeks to finish the mission. Chapter 95 Mission 128 1 Auron and his group chose that mission and handed it over to the mission tower''s clerk. After that, the clerk called the noble who issued the mission. After several minutes, the clerk said to Auron, "The noble wanted to meet with your group first, before he agreed to take you in." "As for your information, you are the third group to went there. The previous two group were declined by the noble. However, I cannot disclosed the reason they were declined to you. I can just wish you a good luck." Auron received the location of the meeting with the noble. Actually, the location was at the noble''s house near the southern gate of Miderian. Auron and his group went to the location. Soon, they arrived at the noble''s house. Before they could went in, two guards blocked their advance. "What are your doing here?" One of the guards asked. "We are the one who will take the mission posted by the noble who lived here. Please inform the noble first." "Wait here!" The guards went in and not long after, he came out followed by a butler. "Please follow me. Our lord has waiting for your arrival." The butler asked Auron''s group to follow him inside. The butler led Auron''s group through a hallway until they arrived at the library. Inside the library, there already an old man waiting up while reading a book. When Auron''s group arrived, the man immediately stood up and welcoming them. "Hello, please have a seat!" "So, I heard that your group want to take the mission I posted" "Yes, my lord. Do you have anything to in mind?" Auron answered "No, Please just call me by my name. I am Daniel. As you know, I have posted this mission since last week. The mission was as stated, that your group needed to guard my son for his birthday party, tomorrow from morning until evening. Also, you already know thatthe invited guest was also the other noble''s son or rich merchant which mean they would also bring their own guard. So, the place will be crowded with people. I hope that your group could ensure my son''s safety despite the rowdiness. Actually, I have assigned several guards for my son but, I am still worried so that was why I posted a task in the mission tower. In simple, you will be a back up guard for my son in his birthday tomorrow." "However, before you are accepted, you need to be tested first to see are your group eligible for this task." "After this, my head guard will guide you to take the test. I wish you luck. I can even raise your rewards." The noble smiled. Not long after the noble said that, a huge burly man came inside to the building with a full armor equipped in his body. Behind the man, there were also two man with the same exact full armor. All of them saluted to the noble then face Auron''s group. Auron saw three of them. The man at the front looks like the leader out of the three of them. When Auron looked at the level, he was rather shocked because that man was level 500. Meanwhile, the two men behind that man, both of them, were level 450. This means that three of the guards were already above than most of the player. "Come, follow me to the backyard." The head guard said. All of them went to the backyard while the noble stayed at the library returning to his book. "I am the head guard here, my name is Kelial. Your test was simple. You need to defeat my assistant behind me or survived for 1 hour against him. Jackal, come forward and fight them" The right man behind Kelial came forward. "Are you guys ready?" Jackal asked. "Wait a minute, let us prepared first" Auron said. When Auron said that, Kelial frowned and shook his head. He was disappointed, how come they need time to prepare. If this was the real situation, they would not have any preparation time. But, he stayed silent and continued the test. This development was too sudden for Auron and his group. Moreover, this was their first time fight as a group. They never worked as a group before. Auron turned his body and faced his teammate. However, he didn''t say anything and only looked at their teammate''s expression. None of them was afraid or confused, Auron could not help but said in low voice, "Are you guys not afraid?" All of them shook their head. "What I was confused was, why you asked for time to prepare? If this was the real situation, the one who we supposed to protect will die" Deadly Arrow said. "Don''t be too hard with our friend here. Maybe he lacked of experience" Feather Slice said. "Okay then, let us begin" Auron said to Jackal. Auron felt satisfied with his teammate. It looked like he was worrying for nothing. All of the conversation took for less than one minute, before Auron agreed to start the fight. This piqued Kelial''s interest. He took note of this and just stayed silently. When Auron said he was ready, without any cue, Jackal directly launched an attack. Auron''s group was caught in surprise, but they immediately calmed down and focused. Auron was the nearest to Jackal. Moreover, he was a mage, so he became Jackal''s first attack target. Seeing this, Deadly Arrow directly used [Three Ways Arrows] and aimed it towards Jackal. Meanwhile, Black Bull who was agreed to become the group''s tank ran in front of Auron and raised his shield. Feather Slice also didn''t stay still, he used his [Hide] skill and went to attack the enemy. Auron raised his staff and already cast out [Aqua Barrier] for himself. Jackal didn''t even bothered with the arrow as he didn''t even bothered to dodge and received the incoming arrow. BANG... Jackal hit Black Bull''s shield with his fist. Black Bull got hit hard and went limp for a second. Jackal continued his attack with the other fist toward the limped Black Bull. This time, Auron who already finished chanted [Aqua Barrier] became the shield for Black Bull. Feather Slice launched an attack toward Jackal''s neck. Jackal dodged a bit and the dagger grazed his shoulder. Then, Jackal kicked Feather Slice which made him flew back. Chapter 96 Mission 128 2 Feather Slice crashed down on the ground. Auron immediately chanted the [Fire Wall] in front of Jackal. From behind, Deadly Tower launched [Power Shot] towards Jackal. With the [Fire Wall] in place, Jackal just stood in his place and deflected Deadly Tower''s [Power Shot] with his sword. Feather Slice stood up and gathered around with the rest of his teammate. Looking at the situation, it was worst. From the short fight before, Auron''s group almost collapsed. Feather Slice and Black Bull who got hit had their health almost depleted. Fortunately, their equipment was pretty decent that they could endure the hit. Moreover, Jackal only used his fist and kick to defeat both of them. The difference in power could be seen. With the level difference so high, it was no surprised that Auron''s group got defeated. Auron''s group was so miserable, that they clenched their fist. However, there was not even slight trace of fear or even gave up could be seen on each of their face. With [Fire Wall] dividing between the two groups, their fight froze for a while. Actually, Jackal, with his high level and high grade equipment could break through the [Fire Wall] easily and defeated Auron''s group. However, he deliberately used a weaker attack to see the group''s potential. It was also what Kelial wanted. Auron faced his group and signed at his group that he would be the one that went to the front. Hearing that, Auron''s teammate shocked and wanted to forbid Auron from doing that. However, before they could do anything, Auron already went to the front and attack Jackal. Seeing this, their group could only supported his attack. Deadly Tower used his most powerful skill that he had right now, [Explosion Arrow]. Meanwhile, Black Bull and Feather Slice charged up towards Jackal. Seeing Auron''s group action. Kelial, Jackal and the other person frowned up. All of them had one thought in their mind, "Are they already gave up?" Auron changed his weapon while he was charging towards Jackal. Auron unequipped his staff and equipped his dagger. Showing his dagger towards the enemy, Auron made a stabbing movement. Jackal who had seen the dagger, only smirked and shook his head. "Too naive. A mage wanted to fight in close combat. No wonder he showed so such basic mistake." Jackal thought. Jackal raised his left hand in attempt to stopped the dagger. Meanwhile, his right hand already in position to counter the attack. His strategy was to stopped the dagger with his left hand and launched a punch with his right hand towards Auron. A mage could never stood a hit from him. In addition, the difference in power was huge. When Auron''s dagger was so close with Jackal''s left hand, Auron already finished chanted his [Soft Earth] spell. The ground underneath Jackal become soft like a wet cement. Caught in surprise, Jackal lose his foothold and limped. Jackal''s left hand that tried to stop Auron''s dagger missed his target. Auron directly used his dagger to slice Jackal''s stomach. Auron''s dagger hit Jackal. However, Jackal wore a decent equipment that made Auron''s slice like a knife trying to cut an iron. However, Auron didn''t just stop there, a [Fire Bolt] launched toward Jackal''s face. Jackal swung his hand in front of his face to block the [Fire Bolt]. It made a little explosion. Using that explosion, Auron moved behind Jackal and launched another stab. This time, his dagger managed to hit Jackal''s hand. Actually Auron wanted to stab Jackal''s shoulder, however Jackal could dodged Auron''s attack from behind. Meanwhile, Auron''s teammate got another shocked from Auron''s performance. They shocked for a bit and managed to recover. They continued their attack and supported Auron. Jackal was a professional guard that had been trained. After taking several attack from Auron and his group, Jackal recover from the [Soft Earth] spell. He didn''t let Auron''s group to bully him. Jackal unleashed his sword and used [Whirlwind Slash]. With Jackal''s power, there was nothing that Auron''s group could do. All of them could only backed out in front of Jackal''s [Whirlwind Slash]. Auron came to regroup with his friend and made distance from Jackal. "Stop!" Kelial stopped the fight. All of the eyes went to looked at Kelial, "It was enough. The difference in power was so visible. There was no point in continuing the fight" Kelial ordered the guard behind him to invite the lord, Daniel. Meanwhile, he observed Auron''s group. On the other hand, Auron''s group expression sunk. They knew that the difference in power was so large and they could never passed the test. But, it was still depressing to know that you could not passed a test. "I have a question. Why you asked a preparation time before, but with only less than a minute you already ready for battle?" Auron step up and answered, "Actually this was my mistake. At the beginning, I was worried since this was our first time fighting together. In the end, I worried for nothing." Not long after, Daniel came to the field and went to Kelial. Seeing Daniel came, Kelial saluted to him and whispered something in Daniel''s ears. Hearing what Kelial whispered, Daniel kept nodding his head. After that, Daniel announced, "Based on my head guard''s opinions, your power was not enough" Auron''s group immediately letting out a sighed. It was so depressing, if only they could be stronger they would surely passed this test. Fate was cruel. They could only looked for another mission. "But..." Daniel continued, "my head guard''s also said that although you power was not enough, you could still be some help and be the patrolling guards around. He believe that your group could handle one opponent and stalled the time until our guards came." "However, since you will only became the patrolling guards, then the rewards would surely reduced. I can only offer you 40 points for the mission. Now, it was all up to you to accept it or to decline it." "Now, what is your group''s choice?" Chapter 97 Mission 128 3 Auron''s group looked at each other. When theirs eyes met, Auron''s teammate nodded their head. Although the rewards point was reduced, but it was still considered high considering the duration of the mission. "Okay, we accept the mission" "Great! Then, follow me to the room before and let''s make the agreement." Auron followed Daniel and Kelial back to the library. At there, Auron''s group waited for several minutes while Kelial drafting the agreement. The agreement was about the task that Auron''s group needed to fulfill before they could get the rewards. This mission would take place tomorrow from 8 a.m until 6 p.m. Auron''s group needed to gather at Blue Lake, the birthday place, at 7 a.m for briefing and meeting the other guards. As stated before, the rewards Auron''s group would get was 40 points. Also, in the agreement, there was a clause that stated if the noble, Daniel, was very satisfied with the works, he would added some more bonus points when the mission ends. For the mission to be issued, the mission''s issuer needed to paid several amount of money as a down payment to the academy. After that, for the rewards, the issuer would provide another money as the rewards. That money that was agreed on will be converted to the military point that the student would get and collect. However, the issuer could not give rewards as he like. First, his mission would be assessed by the academy and categorized based on the difficulty which also be the floor where the mission would be placed on the mission tower. Each difficulty had a minimum rewards that had to be paid as a rewards. This would ensure that the rewards was in line with the difficulty of the mission. After reading the agreement once more and making sure that there was nothing suspicious, each of the member in Auron''s group then signed the agreement. "Here is the copy of the agreement. Don''t forget to submit it to the mission tower. If not, you would work for nothing." Kelial handed the copy of the agreement and reminded Auron''s group. After receiving the agreement''s copy, Auron''s group take their leave and went back to the mission tower to hand over the copy. Seeing Auron''s group had left the house, Kelial turned over to Daniel and asked, "Is this really fine?" "I guess" Daniel shrugged his shoulder. "As you know, the mission had already been verified by the mission tower''s staff. So, it should be okay." "But, I am still worried. If the academy knows this, they would 100% furious." "Just prayed that this would not happened. After all, it will not 100% happened. What if it was another empty threat. Also, the one that they targeting is me." What Auron''s group didn''t know was that Daniel received a big secret project from the king. As the king wanted to restructure the noble. To do that, the king needed several trusted person to assessed the noble''s performance. And the king had chose 10 person to assess the other noble''s performance and Daniel was one of the person selected. Tomorrow, Daniel needed to meet with the king to present his progress so far. But, last month, Daniel received a threat letter that stated he would be killed if he went out of his house. There was no mentioned on the reason why. As a righteous noble, Daniel had actually received a lot of this kind of letter from the beginning he started became a noble. So, at first Daniel ignored the letter. However, on last week, Daniel actually received another letter. When Daniel read this letter, he changed his mind. At the beginning of the letter, it stated that the sender felt that Daniel ignored his warning. The sender mocked at Daniel ignorance and as a proof, the sender actually sent all of Daniel''s exact location for the past week. The letter even explained in detail. Where Daniel went, with whom he met, how many guards did Daniel brought with him, even what color did Daniel''s clothes is. After reading the letter, Daniel could not help but became worried. However, he was trying to not become paranoid because of the incident. After consulting with Kelial, his head guard, he agreed to stay low and stayed at his house for the past week. However, since tomorrow Daniel had a meeting with the king, Daniel had to went outside of his house that was why he asked Kelial to issued the mission on the mission tower. Also, because he was afraid with his son safety, he also issued another mission for his son''s safety since he had to brought almost 50% of his guard to guard him to make a trip to meet with the king. What Auron''s group didn''t know was, at first, Daniel issued two mission. One for his son, and one for himself. However, Daniel didn''t said anything about the threat letter on his description. The mission for Daniel was posted on 5th floor. However, Daniel felt that it was unnecessary for him, so he directly putted down mission for himself and decide brought more guard with him. He felt that since his son''s guest also a noble, there would be already a lot of guard from the other nobles'' family. In addition, to make sure everything went well, he still continued the mission and, at the end, Auron''s group was the one that got selected. "How about this, to make sure everything went well, you contact the last two group that we reject and asked them if they still wanted to join the mission. Also, hire a group from the adventurer''s guild. I bet the one who threaten me will doubt to do his action with this many guard around me and my son. Even there was something wrong we still could defend ourselves by stating that we already hired many guards so the mission difficulty should be lower." "I don''t know. I just have a bad feeling. I hope everything went well." Kelial wished. Chapter 98 Guard 1 The mission day had came, Auron prepared himself. At 7 am sharp, Auron and his friends arrived at the designated location. A huge lake could be seen on the place. The lake had a blue water that when a sunlight shone on it, a view so magnificent could be seen. Beside the lake, a huge area was occupied. Using white theme, almost all of the ornament of the party used white color. From white table cloth, white plate, until white daisy decorate the area. Around the area a short white fence was putted to mark out the boundary of the party. With a lot of balloon and a lot of servant still working on the decoration, it gives a sight of extravagant party. Not so far from the party area, on the outside of party area, a group of people was gathered around. All of them wore a white scarf on their right hand. This was the group of guard from Daniel''s side that was assigned for this party. There were a 100 guards that was assigned for this party including Auron''s group. It was considered a huge number for this small birthday party. Moreover, this number was not counting the number of each of the guest''s guards. A briefing was now going in the guards area. "I am Gerard. The head of guards for this party. As all of you know, we will split you into two groups. One group for guarding in the party area, the other group will have a responsibility to patrol around the nearby area and make sure no suspicious movement take place." Auron was paying attention to the briefing given by Gerard. Actually, when Auron saw Gerard this morning, he already recognized the person. Gerard was actually the other guard that accompany Kelial and Jackal the day before when he was tested by Kelial. "Remember, to use the white scarf on your right hand and don''t lose it. It was a sign that you was a part of the guards group. Meanwhile, the guest guards would be using a blue scarf on their hand as well." "50 guards will be assigned at the party area. Meanwhile, the rest of the guards will be split into another 5 groups compromise of 10 person each. Each group would be responsible to patrol around certain area." "Our guards will be mixed on the group and if you need anything, you could contact us through the communication device assigned to one of the guards" 5 groups was consist of 3 groups from the academy that took the mission. Meanwhile the other two groups was a hired groups from the adventurer''s guild. From Auron observation, the average level of the guards was level 300. The two groups from the adventurer''s guild also had an average of level 300. Since the groups from the academy all originated from the new batch students, they only hadaround 90 level average with Auron''s group was the group with the lowest level out of all. "Any questions?" Gerard asked. "If there was no question, then you can start to go to your designated position." It was still 15 minutes before 8 a.m before the party start, a white horse carriage arrived at the location. Then, a young boy and young woman got down from the carriage. All of the also wore a white them clothes. The boy using a white tuxedo while the woman wore a white elegant dress. They were Daniel''s son and wife that were the star of this party. They were greeted by Gerard as head of the guards. Gerard was chatted with Daniel''s wife. Meanwhile, Daniel''s son already had a happy atmosphere around him and went inside the party area happily. The guest started to arrived one by one. Each of them was greeted by Gerard and Daniel''s wife. While the children automatically went to Daniel''s son and played around. After around 1 hours, almost 80% of the guest had arrived on the party and it was the signed to start the party. An entertainer was invited to guide the party, a happy atmosphere could be felt on the area. Meanwhile, on the outside of the party, Auron''s group was patrolling around the northwest of the area. The area Auron''s group was assigned was a plain meadow area with only one street on it. The street leads to a forest nearby. However, Auron''s group was only responsible until the entrance of the forest. "Why do our lords assigned so many guards for this party?" Black Bull asked, "It was such a waste of money to assigned this many guards." In Auron''s group, 6 of them was came from Daniel''s guard. Luckily, the guards assigned was friendly and after 3 hours together, they were closer to each other. Radit, the captain assigned to Auron''s groups, answered, "I also don''t know. I also have some suspicion. It was not like our lord to waste this money without any purpose." "Maybe, he was very concerned with his son and wife''s safety." One of the guard stated. "But, still this many guards was very unnecessary. All of the guests was either from noble family or rich merchant, they must also bring their own guards." Black Bull stated his concerns. As the son of merchant family, Black Bull was very concerned about money. "I actually heard a rumor that there was a threat letter that was sent to the lords." Another guard joined. "Isn''t the lord often received such letter?" Auron could not help and asked. "Yes, but this time, it was different. It was said that the lord received a secret project from the king and the threat was involved around that project." "I felt that the lord very concerned about the threat. You must also had seen that for the past week the lord didn''t go anywhere and had a lot of talked with Kelial. They must be talking about this things." "After what you mentioned, I guess it was true. For the past week, the lords only holed in his house." "Okay, let''s stop now. We have work to do" Radit said. Chapter 99 Guard 2 The party went on smoothly. Cheering and laughter could be heard from the party. However, despite the happiness in the party, there was some part of the group that was still had a serious face. "Patrol team, how is the situation?" Gerard asked through the communication device. "There was no activity around here. Everything was safe" "No, living things here." "There was a monster here before, but we have chased it out from here." "It was safe here. There is nothing suspicious." "The entrance of the forest was safe. No, monster nor human here." This was the fifth time Gerard asked this through the entire day. In fact, he asked this same question once an hour. From this past 5 hours, the situation was seems under control. Nothing strange nor suspicious going on. Every time Gerard got the answer from his patrolling team, he put a serious face on the outside, but inside, he was relieved. What the others didn''t know was that he got a strict order from Kelial and he alongside with Jackal already knew the situation that befall on Daniel. When he first heard about it from Kelial, he immediately tensed up. Moreover, he knew it right just before he was assigned with this task. This made the pressure on Gerard higher. "Patrol team, how is the situation?" At the next hour, Gerard asked the same thing over again. "Everything under control, no suspicious movement or person in sight." "Another monster''s group in sight, we have chased it out. One person suffered light injury." "We also encountered a group of monster and had successfully kill all of it." "We sight a suspicious figure deep inside the forest, but when we tried to chase it, it ran away deeper to the forest. We decided not to chase it and raised the alert in the area." After several answer, Gerard only heard 4 answer from the patrol team when there were actually 5 teams. Gerard tensed up, and became more serious. Moreover, it seems there was heavy movement and encountered with something suspicious and the timing was almost at the same time made this became more strange. "Is this going to begin?" Gerard thought in his mind. "Everyone be alert. You and you go to the southwest and looked over the team there." Gerard commanded every guard in the party area seriously. He also commanded a group to head over to the missing team. It was actually from the one of the adventurer teams. The guards became tensed. The one who was instructed to search the missing team got ready to set out. "Reporting, we encountered a group of bandit disguised as a merchant." When they was about to got out of the party area, the missing group suddenly made a report back to Gerard. "What is the situation?" Gerard asked seriously. "We already eradicated all of the bandit, but we suffered casualties. 2 dead, 3 heavy injuries, and the rest suffered a light injuries. Right now, we took cover under the tree at coordinate 321, 923." "Okay, we will sent reinforcements and substitutes for your group." "You took your group and helped the injured" Gerard gave another command. A group of 10 people set out from the party area and went to the specified coordinate. "Get medic ready to received the injured" "Sire, Should we informed and pull our other patrol team back?" One of the guards asked Gerard. "Yes, pull them closer to us but maintain some distance for them and kept alert at the situation. You, took the horse and went to Kelial''s side. Their meeting should be over at this moment. Inform the situation here." Gerard issued another command. Meanwhile, Auron''s group also heard about the situation at the other groups and they became more alert. They went back closer to the party area. "Kept your guard up and maintain some alert" Radit command. After several minutes going, the situation seems went back to peace. No other suspicious going on. The tensed situation gradually went back to normal. 40 minutes later, the injured teams went back to the party area. A medic team immediately went over to them wanted to treat their injuries. Meanwhile, Gerard was also prepared to went over to the injured team and asked the chronology of the incident. However, when the medic team arrived at the injured team, the injured teams directly stood up and swung his sword towards the medic team. A head was flung. With the sudden changed situation, a chaos in the guards happened. Gerard became serious. Vavor, the captain of the injured team was actually a traitor. He leads his group to his companions and eradicate all of them. Then, he pretended to be fine with Gerard. A chaos started up in the guards nearby the party area. Gerard knew he was deceived by his subordinate. He also had suspected that the reinforcement team he sent before already dead. "Prepare for battle!! Protect the lord''s son and wife and all of the guest! Call all of our patrol team here!" Gerard shouted with all of his might. With Gerard shout, the enemies didn''t care about their disguised anymore. They sheathed out their sword. Meanwhile, the guests'' guards also heard that shout, they also tensed up and protect their each of their lord. A chaos also happened in the party area. The guest directly retreated the party area. A group of guards also went over to protect Daniel''s son and wife. When they wanted to retreated. From far sight, another enemies reinforcement came andcut their retreat path. A battle could not be evaded. So far, the enemies number was still fewer than the guards from Gerard''s side. The first enemies group only count around 8 person. Meanwhile, the enemies reinforcement that came counted up with 20 person inside the group. Two of the patrol team was in sight from the party area. Gerard felt some of his pressured relieved. However, before he could issued his command on the patrol team, the patrol team swung his sword at the guard on his side. Another surprised attack was came to Gerard''s side. He gritted his teeth and though one thing, "How come there''s so many traitor hidden for this long inside my subordinate". Chapter 100 Guard 3 A roar could be heard from the coming enemies. A total of little over than 15 enemies was in sight. Gerard who supervise all of this area frowned. His face turned very serious. He made all of his guards to move back while protecting Daniel''s son and wife. The situation was suddenly gone bad. The number was flipped over. Now, he was at disadvantages position. With less than 50 guards on his side, Gerard could only retreated while making sure that everyone was safe. Seeing Gerard retreated, one group of enemies immediately intercepted Gerard''s retreat path. While the other kept on "hunting" all of the guest and several fight on the guard they brought. "We need to work together to fend the enemies off" Gerard shouted in hope that he could unite all of the guest''s guards so they could work together to make everyone safe. Not everyone who heard Gerard''s shout agreed with him. They still kept on busy to safe their own master. Moreover, many of their master was still a child. When all of this happened, they turned panic and could not help but cry, including Daniel''s son. This made the guards job became more difficult. Casualties could not be evade. A series of death could be seen. With 10 deaths on the enemies side, the situation still didn''t turned good. The reason was because all of them was not unite. Some flee to the north west direction while some flee to the west direction. Meanwhile, the enemies was very united with each of their own group. Moreover, Gerard''s guard kept on dwindling down as the enemy mainly focused on his side. A group suddenly came in Gerard''s sight. At first, he was afraid that this was another enemy''s reinforcement, or another subordinate turned to be a traitor. But, heaven still didn''t forsaken him. This was group was here to help them. As the group come, they quickly helped one of the guest''s guard to fend of the enemies. This group was the one of the group that comprised of student of the academy beside Auron''s group. Gerard''s group gained a raised in spirit as the reinforcement came. They quickly went to join the coming group. They tried to kill all of the enemy as fast as they can so that they can regroup with the Daniel''s son and wife group. As the battlefield scattered all over the place, it was very hard to determine all of the guest situation. It was so difficult to determine how many of them that died or kidnapped. Meanwhile, a group was ran away from the chaser in the direction of the northwest from the party area. A loud cries could be heard from within the group. While a woman carrying a child trying to calm him down and still kept on running. With 5 guards on their side, they kept on running as if there was nightmare chasing behind them. A panic expression could be seen on the woman face while she kept on calming down his kid. Since she was running in panic, she was stumbled and felt down to the ground. As a mother, when she was felt down, an instinct to protect her son was shown, she was making sure that her son was not hurt when they hit the ground. It was already amazing for a frail woman like her to carry her son and ran away this far. When they hit the ground, her son didn''t hurt at all since she protect him with her body. Unfortunately, the same fate was not happening to her. She suffered several injuries to her body. The most severe injuries was that she sprained her leg. A sensation of pain could be felt by the woman but she doesn''t scream. She only tried to get up and wanted to run once more. But, it was impossible. It was so hurt to get up not to mention to run while carrying a child. With her stumbled down, the party march was stopped. Their chaser was very happy to see this unfortunate event. They quickly raised their speed once more. With the woman could not move, the guards beside her could only took a defense position in hope that the other group could came as fast as possible to aid them. Since the chaser priority was to hinder and stall them from running away, they only had few person in their group to maximize their speed. They knew if they wanted to kidnap the woman and the boy, they needed to kill all of the guards first, so they immediately prepared for battle. A series of metallic sound could be heard as their sword clashed out with the guards swords. With the momentum and speed they carried over when they attack, their attack was heavier than normal. This could be seen from the sight of the guards'' sword that was pushed back. When they was thinking that they was at advantages side, they could not help but became more aggressive on their attack. However, before they could managed to finished what they was doing. A series of fireball hit them which made some of them took serious injured even was on the brink of death. They looked at the source of the fireball. A group could be seen on their line of sight. They knew this was the guards reinforcement. All of them had one thought on their mind, retreat. But, before they could retreat, their line of retreat was cut off and they was in a high chance to be captured. Some of them tried to break through the encirclement, a sound of spell chanted and arrow flung could be heard. That spell and arrow aimed at the enemies that wanted to flee. It immediately took out their life. The group that was coming was Auron''s group. They felt relieved that they was not late in time to save Daniel''s son and wife group. Moreover, they managed to capture two enemies to be interrogated. Chapter 101 Hostage 1 Since Daniel''s wife still could not move, they decided to look for a hidden place nearby to rest a bit so the wife''s pain could ease a bit before they continued their runaway. Auron''s group and several others guards was assigned to guard the area. Meanwhile, Radit with 2 person decided to interrogated the captured enemies. "Who are you? Where are you guys coming from? Why you attack us? In whose order you attack us?" Radit bombarded the captured enemies with questions. One of the enemies only looked at Radit''s eyes and kept silent. There was no fear in his eyes as this was what he had always do everyday. Didn''t want to waste anymore time, Radit sheathed his sword and swung it towards the man''s neck. A head flung over with blood spurted out from the sliced part. Blood splashed towards Radit''s clothes and also the other enemies. As soon as the dead man''s body fell down to the ground, one of Radit''s guard search for his belonging in hope to find a clue. However, the search show no result. They only found weapon and two pieces of parchment with picture inside. It was a picture of Daniel''s son and wife on each of the parchment. This was also what they found on the rest of the enemies that they had killed before when they saved Daniel''s son and wife. The guard shook his head. Seeing this, Radit looked over to the other enemy''s eyes. He could see the same expression on this man''s face. His expression was calm, there was no a little bit hint of fear in his expression. Inwardly, Radit sighed, he would not be able to extract information from this man as well. Radit raised his sword and wanted to kill this man. However, before he could kill this man, the man spoke, "What will I get if I tell all about it?" Radit stopped his hand. He looked at the man and shouted furiously, "Tell us everything you know! You have no right to negotiate!" Radit punched the man''s face. Blood trickled through the man''s lips. He faced Radit and smiled, "Do you think you could get any information from searching our belonging?" "We don''t bring anything that could show who we are. If you want to know about everything, you need to read our mind and memory. But, there was no way you could do it." "Now, you have your chance" The man smiled mysteriously. Radit knew what the man said was correct. Seeing the evidence in his eyes, none of the belonging could pinpoint the enemies'' origin. Also, there was no way to read mind and memory of a person. One of the way was to hypnotize the person and asked the person to tell the truth. However, to hypnotize a person was not easy. Moreover, an assassin have their own prevention measure against such a thing. Usually, before they could hypnotize that person, a counter measure that was planted on the man''s brain would started and destroy the man mind and made the man became an idiot. As the man said, if he tell the truth than this was his only way to get all of the information he needed. "How would I know that you will tell the truth? Also, didn''t there was some kind of restriction from your employer so that you would not divulge any information?" "You are correct. However, my employer this time was such a fool. The restriction he gave to us was not so strict. We only could not tell you any information using our mouth. But, I could still write it down somewhere and just dropped the message so you could read it. As the matter how can you trust me, it was up to you to believe in me or not." Radit thought over this, if the prisoner really had a way to give such information using that way, then it was worth to try. "We would ensure we will do no harm to you, if you give us the information." If the prisoner was telling the truth then he would gain a valuable information, but if he was not telling the truth then, he would only let one defeated enemy to get away and nothing would be lose since he would also not get anything if he killed the prisoner right away. That was why Radit accepted his offer. "Okay. Then, let us do it this way. Give me a paper and pen, and I will write the information on it. However, I will not give it to you yet." "You will stay here while I will going to the forest''s entrance. I will putted the paper at the ground of the forest''s entrance. Also, to ensure that you will keep your word, I need a hostage." "As for the hostage, I want one of that four students as my hostage." "No way, what if you kill the hostage and ran away and didn''t give us any information" Radit directly objected the suggestion. "I would never let that happened." The negotiation met a stalemate. "Then, we can forget about it. Just kill me" The prisoner said. He was very sure that Radit would not kill him since he really needed the information. Seeing the firm decision of the prisoner, Radit gritted his teeth and called Auron''s group. He told everything to Auron''s group and let them decided. "If you didn''t want to become the hostage than we will not force you and just kill him." Radit whispered to Auron''s group. Auron looked at the prisoner. The prisoner level was around 300 while he was only at level 40. The prisoner could killed him easily like an ant. None from his group could survive from the man''s ability. However, Auron also didn''t want to give up the information since he knew that the information would be so valuable to Daniel and it can give him more rewards. Auron decided, he step up and said, "I will became the hostage. However, we need to adjust the procedure" Chapter 102 Hostage 2 "No way. Just kill me already!" The prisoner rebuked. "Why such rush. Hear me out first" Auron stated Without waiting for the reply, he directly explained what he had in his mind, "It was almost the same as what you want, but there''s some that had to be tweak. After all I was the hostage and I needed to ensure my safety." "For starter, it was still the same as before, you will get a paper and pen for you to write the information" "For the way the information given, it was also the same as what you want, you will need to put the paper filled with the information on the ground at the forest''s entrance." "We will also satisfy your wish to have a hostage to ensure your safety and I will be your hostage for that." "And what makes it different was that to ensure my safety, first, I want you to be put under the effect of uncommon grade [Restrict Chain]. This will halves your fighting strength to around level 150." [Restrict Chain] was a commonly item used by the guards to capture the enemy or trouble maker. Using this item, the target would had their strength halves for a certain period of time. After being used on a target the [Restrict Chain] could not be cancelled or healed. Only after it passed the time that the target''s strength would automatically went back to normal. The duration of the effect was depend on the grade of the [Restrict Chain]. A common grade will only had 1 minute duration whereas the legendary grade would have 100000 minutes duration. For the uncommon grade it effect will last for 10 minutes. "Next, calculating your reduced speed as a result from the [Restrict Chain] and the distance from here to the forest''s entrance, using your full speed, you can arrive at the forest''s entrance in 5 minutes. As a safety for you, we will add another 5 minutes for you to run away." "So, after 10 minutes, whether you have arrived at the forest''s entrance or not, our group will go to the forest entrance to secure the information. Of course, after 10 minutes, if we spotted you, we will captured you once more." "And lastly, I will use [Life Indicator] on me. If in the period of 10 minutes, my health was reduced under 75%, our group would also set out to safe me." Auron took out a a crystal white object from his bag. It was the item [Life Indicator]. It was mainly used in a group and be used if they had to split their group or used the item on their scouter. When [Life Indicator] was used on a living being, the item will represent the health of that being. The crystal would change color depend on the percentage of the target''s health. Red would mean that the target had 25% of his health left, purple means that the target only had 50% of his health left, and yellow means that the target had 75% of his health left. Hearing Auron''s proposal, the prisoner had a deep thought. He was after all only pretend and bluffed at Radit like he didn''t fear death. If he could have a chance to life he would surely took it. Auron''s proposal seems enticing for him and he also got a hostage with the lowest level out of the entire group. Even with his reduced strength, he believed that he could killed the hostage easily when things went south. With him killing the hostage, he didn''t have to worry about the information leaked out. "So, do you agree?" Auron asked. "Okay fine, I will agree with your condition. Give me pen and paper." The prisoner felt ecstatic at the chance to keep his life intact. What the prisoner didn''t knew was that he was underestimate Auron''s strength. Auron had calculated everything that the prisoner could only escape if he used all of his strength and time to escape. If he even had a slight of hesitation in running away or waste even a minute, his chance of being capture was higher. Auron also believed that if the prisoner decided to kill him, even though he could not kill the opposite, he was confident that he could get away and regroup with his group back. Radit gave out a blank paper and pen to the prisoner. Receiving the paper and pen, the prisoner went back several step and started to write on the paper. Radit didn''t afraid if the prisoner tried to run away since the prisoner right now was under the effect of [Restrict Chain]. When the first time the prisoner was captured, a [Restrict Chain] was directly used on him. With this short distance, he didn''t believe that the prisoner would be that fool to try to ran away. After several minutes of writing, the prisoner put the pen down and folded the paper and hold it in his hand. He lifted the folded paper in the air as if indicating that the information was inside. All eyes was focused out on the paper the prisoner held in the air. If there was any sudden movement from Radit''s group, the prisoner would directly destroyed the paper. Seeing no movement, he took Auron. As their agreement, Auron used another [Restrict Chain] to renew the duration time on the prisoner. [Restrict Chain]''s effect could no be stack. So, when a new [Restrict Chain] was used the old effect was replaced with the new effect if the new [Restrict Chain]''s grade was the same or higher that the old one. If the new [Restrict Chain] had a lower grade than the old one then there would be nothing happened and it would just waste a [Restrict Chain]. After that, with a folded paper and Auron, the prisoner walked slowly out of the group facing the group as he was afraid that the group would disregard the hostage''s life and captured him. Seeing there was no movement from the group, he turned back and bring Auron with him and went full speed toward the forest''s entrance Chapter 103 Hostage 3 Seeing the chance to escape with his life, the prisoner didn''t dare to waste any time. He carried Auron and went full speed toward the forest''s entrance. With his strength halved due to [Restrict Chain]''s effect, his speed obviously wast slower than normal. However his speed now still considered fast enough since as an assassin speed was important. Wind brushed Auron''s face as the prisoner moved in full speed. Auron just stayed still and didn''t dare to move or do something strange. He wished to obtained the information peacefully although he didn''t know whether the information was valid or not. Moreover, with his strength now he could only escape or stalling time from the prisoner, he could forget about defeating the prisoner with his strength now. Seeing Auron behaved well, the prisoner smirked. A good hostage was the hostage that didn''t have many requested and just comply with whatever he wanted. And as a hostage, Auron seems to fit this kind of criteria. In no time, 5 minutes passed, they arrived at the forest''s entrance. As Auron had stated before, 5 minutes was enough for them to arrived at the forest''s entrance. They stopped at the forest''s entrance. The prisoner putted down Auron. Auron immediately reached out his hand toward the prisoner hinting to hand over the information paper. "Give me the information" Auron said. The prisoner frowned. Although he didn''t want to break his promise. Auron''s asking tone made the prisoner felt that he was commanded. It was enough to make him a little bit angry. Moreover, the one who asked was obviously way far weaker than him. The prisoner was furious, but he tried to endure it since he knew the time was ticking for him to ran away. Even a minute delay would made him captured once more. However, he didn''t want to comply with Auron''s demand. "Shut up! Stay right there! I don''t have to give it to you. As the agreement before, I will put it on the ground. Why should I handed it to you?" A slight high tone could be heard from the prisoner''s sentence. "Stay right there and don''t do anything strange or I will burned this paper!" The prisoner threatened. Holding the paper in his hand, the prisoner facing Auron and walking back towards the forest''s entrance. "Okay... okay... Just make it quick. If you want to escape just put it on the ground and go away" Auron shrugged his should and said with a tone as if he didn''t care with the prisoner''s threat. The prisoner frowned deeply and his anger raised to the max. However, he still could control it. He putted the paper on the ground and sped away deep inside the forest. The prisoner could have escaped with the paper and Auron would not be able to stop him, but he didn''t want to do it. The reason was because if he ran away with the paper and broke their agreement. The noble, Daniel, would be furious and would issued an catch order for him. He would be a fugitive around all of the city. However, if he give the paper and didn''t broke the agreement, even though Daniel didn''t know whether the information was true or fake, Daniel''s anger would be pointed to the one inside the paper and maybe he would be forgotten. Seeing the prisoner ran away, Daniel sighed. He mocked the prisoner on purpose. He intended to make the prisoner furious enough to attack him. The reason was because if Auron took the initiative to attack, the prisoner would think that Auron was stalling the time to make the reinforcement came. The prisoner would use all of his effort to run away and if that happened, Auron would not be able to stop him. But, if the prisoner was furious and attacked Auron first, Auron confidently could protect himself and stalled the time. But, his plan obviously failed. Auron walked and picked the information paper, but he didn''t have any intention to open or read it. He just hold the paper in his hand and waited patiently until Radit''s came. Not long after, Radit with two people whom he had the interrogation session with, came. Radit looked at Auron and the paper in his hand. He felt relieved as Auron was safe and still got the paper information. "I tried to provoke him but it was a failure." Auron said with a sunk face. Auron actually had discussed about this plan when Auron voluntary to become the hostage. At first, of course, Radit and the other didn''t agree with him. But as Radit saw the resolute confident in Auron, in the end, he agreed to him. But still there was some worried feeling in Radit''s heart. But he had worry for nothing. Auron handed out the paper to Radit. After receiving the paper, Radit also didn''t opened it and just kept it inside his armor. "Let us go back to picked up the lord''s wife and son. Then immediately continue our journey back. We have wasted some time here." Auron nodded and he followed Radit back to the group. Since they was in hurry, The went full speed to the group. Obviously, Auron was left behind as his speed was slower compared to the other three. Since everything was already over, Auron was not worried with any danger as he only focused to chase the three. After went full speed for a few minutes, Auron could saw the sight of the place his group resided before. However, when Auron looked at it, he directly frowned and a sign of worry could be seen on his face. A commotion could be heard from his group''s place. His group was under attack. He didn''t dare to slow down instead he used his swordsman''s skill to move faster. As Auron approaching the group''s location, his heartbeart went faster. A group of enemies greeted his sight. As the enemies fought out with his group''s guard, Auron prepared to enter the battle. Chapter 104 Fight 1 The enemies numbered around 10 people. Meanwhile, Radit''s group numbered 17 people from Radit''s group plus the initial Daniel''s wife and son group. It looked like radit''s group have more people than the enemies, but, although Radit''s have more people but two of them could not fight while 5 of them was injured. So, Radit''s group comprised of 10 healthy people and 5 injured people. Meanwhile, inside the 10 healthy people there were 4 people that was a student which was Auron and his friends. With 2 people become the burden of the group, the could not fully used all of the resource they had. Because Auron was left behind, Radit commanded Auron''s friend to protect Daniel''s wife and son and left for the city. The enemies tried to surround Radit''s group, but before the enemy could do it, Radit''s with several of his subordinate blocked the enemy''s plan. Auron''s friend went directly to the Daniel''s son and wife. As the lady knew what Auron''s friend''s intention,she stood up. A pained expression could be seen on the lady face. She tried to lift her child. However, she could not. Seeing this, Black Bull immediately lift the child and put it behind his back. They urged the lady to run as fast as she could. Each time the lady stepped her foot, a pained expression could be seen on her face. However, she gritted her teeth and held the pain. Their small group detached from the main group and ran away. When they was about to run away, they saw Auron had just arrived. Black Bull quickly said, "Come with us, Captain Radit told us to protect the son and wife." As Auron wanted to help fight in the battle, hearing what Black Bull had said, he turned down his urge to battle, instead he went along with Black Bull''s group. Their destination was Miderian. Their group ran as fast as they could. But, with the wife had injuries on her ankle, their group obviously slowed down. As time goes by, the group''s speed slowed down. The wife already beared so much pained, itmade her more exhausted that usual. Their group was stopped. Auron asked the lady''s permission to let him piggybacked her. Before, the lady could answer, Auron directly went over and pulled the lady up. They continued their journey to Miderian. Without looking at behind them, they gritted their teeth and ran as fast as they could. A few minutes after Auron piggybacked the lady, Feather Slice, who was at the most back of the group spotted enemy chasing them from behind. "Enemies!!" Feather Slice shouted. With the shout from Feather Slice, Auron looked behind him, he was afraid that Radit''s group already been wiped out. However, what Auron saw was two enemy chasing them and their speed was faster than their group. If this continued, the enemies would caught to them in a few minutes. Auron knew that this would happened, with 5 people on their injuries and 6 healthy people to fight against 10 enemies was very difficult. However, seeing only two enemy chased them, the situation at Radit''s group seems not bad. Now, his group was in a dangerous situation. Both of the enemies'' level was above 200. With one of them had level 231 and the other one 213. These must be the weakest among the enemy''s group. Although they was the weakest among the enemy''s group, Auron''s group level was below level 100. Moreover, they had to protect Daniel''s wife and son. They almost reached the Miderian, but with the enemy coming faster than them, they knew they needed to fight against the enemy. Auron stopped his group. He put down the lady and told Black Bull to do the same. Auron hinted the lady with his eyes. As she was a noble''s wife, she knew what Auron wanted. She grabbed her child and both of them ran towards Miderian. Their speed was obviously slower compared when Auron''s group piggybacked them. Auron''s group took position. With Black Bull at the front, the other was behind him. Auron walked to Black Bull''s side at the front. As Auron coming to the front, the other didn''t voice any dissatisfaction, they remembered how Auron fight when Daniel tested them yesterday. Auron took out his sword and was ready to fight with the enemy. The enemy saw what Auron''s group was doing. The one with higher level hinted his companion to fight with the group while he chased Daniel''s wife and son. The companion nodded, he sped up towards Auron''s group while the higher leveled enemy split and chased towards Daniel''s wife and son. But before the higher leveled enemy went to far from the group, Black Bull blocked him. The enemy obviously looked down on Black Bull, as his level was way higher than this brat, he could easily killed him. The enemy sheathed his dagger and tried to kill Black Bull. Seeing this situation, Auron''s group was in panic, one thing was on their mind, Black Bull was going to die. They wanted to help Black Bull. But before they could went to helped Black Bull, the other enemy arrived at Auron''s group and tried to kill him. Auron, Feather Slice and Deadly Tower shifted their focus to stop the incoming attack from the enemy. Auron blocked the incoming dagger with his dagger in his hand. Auron''s strength was not enough to completely block the enemy attack, Auron was staggered. Fortunately, Auron was not alone, Feather Slice and Deadly Tower followed up with their attack. If not Auron obviously was going to die. The enemy dodged the attack from Feather Slice and Deadly Tower. Their attack missed the target but it helped to stop the enemy from attacking Auron. The enemy took some distance from Auron''s group. He smirked mocking them that showed he was playing with them. The enemy moved once more to attack them. When the enemy was about to attack them, a large explosion with several small explosion was sound loudly beside them. It was from Black Bull''s side. Auron''s group and the enemy unconsciously looked at the source of the sound. Chapter 105 Fight 2 A loud sound reverberated around the area. A trace of burning flame was spread over on ground in a large area. A wide hole on the ground was created. If nobody knew the situation, they would think that it was a result of atomic bomb. On the edge of the hole, there was a trace of human laid on the ground. His condition didn''t looked well. When one looked carefully at the human, a trace of barrier slowly faded away as the human struggled to move and stand up. That human was Black Bull. Before, Black Bull tried to stop the assassin from chasing the lady and son. Of course, his level was not enough to face the assassin. That was why, he was easily blown away by the assassin. However, he didn''t give up, when the assassin tried to continue his journey, Black Bull grabbed the assassin''s ankle and it could successfully hinder the assassin from chasing. Seeing a little ant like Black Bull tried to stop him, the assassin became annoyed, he decided to kill the ant first. He thought that since it was an ant, it would not take a long time to kill it and began chasing his target. He turned around and face Black Bull. The assassin then stabbed his dagger to the ground as Black Bull still laid on the ground. Seeing a dagger was coming, Black Bull instinctively rolled to the side and dodged the stabbed. He quickly stood up and raised his shield. The assassin had wasted more and more time, so he became serious. He shown all of his power and move towards Black Bull. This situation made fear inside Black Bull intensify. As the assassin move towards him, his fear grew more and more and made his feet cower in fear. As the fear intensified, his hand which raised the shield, slowly descend. When the assassin was in front of him, Black Bull''s defense was wide open with no any guard. The assassin grinned evillyand prepared to swung his dagger. Black Bull who was in fear, under the instinct to live, he putted his hand inside his armor and took out a square item. He immediately activated the item he took. A few seconds after he activate the item, quickly a barrier wrapped Black Bull in less than a second and a blinding light was spread all over the area followed by an explosion. [Boom Box] (Rare item) Type: Miscellaneous Class: All Class Effect: Upon activation, a barrier will be formed for the user followed by a huge explosion. Beware as explosion could not differentiate between friends and foes. Warning restricted item!! To possess the item, one needed a license. The square item that Black Bull took out was [Boom Box]. As the description mentioned, the barrier was made around Black Bull to protect him from the explosion. It made the explosion didn''t do any damage to him. However, the barrier only protect him from the explosion, but it didn''t protect him from the impact of the explosion which made him blown away and arrived at the edge of the hole. As the barrier could not protect him from the explosion''s impact, he blown several meters away. The impact also injured Black Bull which made him in pain and difficult to move. Usually, one would had to have level above 400 to use the [Boom Box] as to evade the after effect of blown away. As Black Bull was low leveled, it was no wonder that from the explosion impact would made him suffered severe injuries. Fortunately, he already upgraded his equipment to be the best he could use, if not, he would already died. [Boom Box] was a dangerous item which made it to be classified as a restricted item. As a restricted item, one need to have a license before they could possess one item of it. If one had it without a license moreover using it illegally, the user will be trialed in a military trial. Even, his family could not escape from it. Only the military could possess of the item and some rich noble and rich merchant. Actually, Black Bull stole the box from his family''s treasury and he intended to turn it back after he graduated from the academy. But, what a fate, he actually used it here. He knew a penalty was waiting for him and his family, but he could not think any of it now as his body was aching with pain all over the place. The result of the explosion was clear Black Bull under the shield of the barrier could survive although suffered severe injuries from it. Meanwhile, the assassin was dissipated without any trace. In truth, the assassin could survived the explosion if he managed to use his life saving skill. However, he was caught of guard because he didn''t think that a student could possess such an item which made him didn''t manage to activate his life saving skill. And this reaped his life. Auron, Deadly Tower, Feather Slice and the other assassin fought with them was shocked by the explosion. A different in level was clear between the two however it was a surprised to see the high leveled one was died meanwhile the low leveled one survived. Moreover, the sound of explosion also made all of this became more epic. As they was in shocked, Auron was the first one to regain himself. As he regain himself, he looked at the enemy in front of him and thought "A chance". As no one saw him, Auron used [Bash] skill with his dagger toward the enemy. Caught of guard, the enemy didn''t prepare for a surprise attack which made him could not dodge the attack and suffered an injury. As his attack was connected, he followed it up with another attack from his dagger and chanted a spell. When a commotion sounded beside them, Deadly Tower and Feather Slice regained themselves and helped Auron to kill the enemy. Chapter 106 Fight 3 Seeing Auron had the higher position against the leftover assassin, Deadly Tower and Feather Slice directly helped Auron. Feather Slice went over the back of the assassin and tried to use [Back Stab] while Deadly Tower supported him with [Ice Arrow] to slow down the enemy movement and attack speed. As the assassin was in the dire position, he desperately tried to defense and block every attack he could. At first, several attack was managed to hit him. However, as the fight continued, with the help of assassin''s level and higher equipment, the assassin slowly managed to come out from his dire position. The assassin slowly started to launched counter attack. The situation was about to be reverse. Auron and his friend had frowned and panic expression. They knew if this situation continue, they could not escape death. Despite the bad situation, Auron tried to observe his enemy calmly. He could see that his enemy had 60% of his health left. After all of the surprise attack and the teamwork from three of them, they could only reduced 40% of the opponent health. Meanwhile, Auron and his friend had drank many health potions just to keep them alive till now. And now, the assassin slowly gained upper hand on the fight. Auron felt helpless. He looked at two of his friend, despite their continues fight, they also felt helpless and could only fight until the end. Time slowly trickled, 5 minutes passed by and the assassin finally gained the upper hand. The assassin began to unleash his skill. A deadly strike launched over and over toward Auron''s group. Auron and his group tried their best to block the attack, however they could not fully block or dodge the attack. They could only manage to reduce the damage they received by blocking the attack or dodging so that the enemy''s weapon only grazed them a bit. As their expression began to turn more sour, the assassin who had wasted a lot of time tried to end all of this. The assassin used his deadliest skill to attack. With dagger in his hand, the assassin suddenly gone from their line of view. Panicking, Deadly Tower and Feather Slice turned left and right to search for the assassin whereabouts. Auron frowned. He tried to observe his surrounding but he could not find any hinted from the assassin. He knew this was before his attributes was way lower that the enemy. He could only rely on his instinct. With Auron''s signal, three of them began to move closer and tried to protect each other. At this time, the assassin showed himself near Deadly Tower. He tried to launched his highest damage skill to one hit Deadly Tower. However, as the dagger was approaching Deadly Tower, Auron who was beside him manged to detect the assassin''s presence. He blocked the dagger from the assassin. But, the assassin''s power was stronger than him, Auron was pushed back and fell down, so as Deadly Tower who was pushed by Auron fell. With only Feather Slice standing, he tried to cover his teammate. However the assassin already knew the intention, he kicked out Feather Slice which made him flew several meters back. The assassin turned back his focus to the nearest people, Auron and Deadly Tower. All of this was happened only in a minutes. Auron knew he could not evaded this anymore. As the death came near, Auron and Deadly Tower felt helpless they could only prayed and leave all of this to fate. If this was a boxing ring, Auron surely had throw a white towel and end all of this. As the assassin launched his attack to Auron and Deadly Tower, three arrow flew by towards the assassin. The arrow was not ordinary arrow, it was the result of [Power Shot]. The assassin who wanted to kill Auron and Deadly Tower felt the danger, so he stopped his attack and change to defensive mode. The assassin managed to dodge the attack. Then, he looked at the direction of the arrow came. His complexion turned sour. He immediately began to retreat. Auron who was waiting for his death, heard a galloping sound of horse behind him. He turned his head and looked behind him. fifty guards was riding a horse and coming towards them. Auron felt relieved because he knew he was saved. As the captain of the guards arrived, he commanded, "Treat the injuries and make sure they don''t run away. The rest follow me to chase the enemy away" As the last assassin escape, the guards didn''t bother to chase him, instead he directly went over to the Blue Lake. Auron and his friends began to receive some treatment from the guards. As they were treated, Auron learned the story how they could come here. The guards were coming due to the loud sound of the explosion, and as they were in the military, they immediately knew this was the sound of [Boom Box] which was a restricted item. They went to the sources of the sound to confirm it. In the way to this place, they met with Daniel''s son and wife who was also in desperate situation and condition. From the lady, the captain learned about what has happened. He told two of his guards to escort the lady back while he kept going to this place. Then, as what had happened before, they managed to save Auron who was in the hand of death. Actually, the guards didn''t want to bother saved the guards, but as the guards of the city they had the obligation to chase the enemy away. If this was just and small ordinary robbery, they would certainly ignored Daniel''s guard life. But, this was a planned attack and they had to make this as a warning for the other. As the treatment from the guards already finished, the guards who treat him ''escort'' them back to the city. Auron knew although they could escape from the hand of death, but they could not escape from the military trial Chapter 107 Military Trial The day went by, after they were escorted back to the city, they get immediate treatment to heal their injuries. After being treated, they was escorted back to the academy and they were not allowed to take one step out of the academy. Yes, they were now under house arrest as they were waiting for their military trial tomorrow. The gossip were spread out as a group of student would be trialed as they made violation. Some were pity on their misfortune, but the other happy as their rival would be reduced. This caught the attention of the higher ups in the academy as well. This was the first time, there were some student from their academy that going to be trialed before their graduation. As Auron and the other were under house arrest, some of the higher ups in the academy also began to interrogating them on the reason and to get the complete story from them. "Okay, thank you. I wish you a good luck. From my point of view, you guys can be saved but for that student, don''t have too many hope for him." This was the third person from the academy''s higher ups that was coming to ask them the story. And all three of them said the same thing. Three of them could be saved but the last person could not. Obviously, the unfortunate person was Black Bull. As he was the one that used the [Boom Box], Black Bull could not escape from this. He could be exiled to the war zone, or even get immediate death penalty. After the third person get out of the room, the room''s mood sunk. A heavy atmosphere could be felt in the room. Every one looked pity on thee Black Bull that laid on his bed right now. They could not accept this since using the [Boom Box] Black Bull managed to save their lives. As the main culprit, Black Bull could not help but sighed. He could only surrender all of this to the fate. He was just wished that his mom didn''t know about this. But, he also knew that it would be not possible for that. Amidst the heavy situations, they managed to hear a slightly better news. Gerard and the other managed to be saved. However, not all of them could be saved, from the original guards only 20 person that could be saved including Radit''s group. Sadly, from Radit''s group only half of them could survive while the other half suffered medium injuries. Meanwhile, from the guest''s group, all of the noble were saved without injuries only some traumas, however some of their guards also suffered injuries. They would surely asked some explanations to Daniel. Sadly enough, although this news was a better news than what he had heard from the higher ups, however it was not enough to make the moods in the room better. As the day went by, the morning came, it was also the time to start the military trial. "Let us now begin the trial, the usage of prohibited item!" The head judge announced the start of the trials. As the defendant, Auron and his friends became the main of the event. Also, as this was the first time happening for a student to be trialed, this became an interesting event for the military. Many of the alumni and the military attended the trial. There was even a representative from one of the prince attended the trial. "We have heard the story from Daniel''s wife about the event yesterday. Now, we want to hear it from you and your reason to use prohibited item" The head judge asked Auron''s group. Auron as the representative of the group explained the story from the start. From when he was patrolling the area until they got message from Gerard and until they were chased by the assassin. "From your explanation, you didn''t even know the item. So, let us hear it from the main defendant.From where and who you got the item?" As Auron could not explain the item source, the head judge asked the main defendant and the user of the item, Black Bull. "Your majesty, I don''t want to hide anything, I stole it from my family''s treasury." Black Bull answered with weak voice. He already left everything to the fate. The head judge looked at Black Bull''s expression and he knew that Black Bull didn''t even try to hide or defense himself. As there was nothing else to know, the head judge declared, "The trial was halt for a 30 minutes break. After that, we will announced the trial''s result and the sentence for the defendants. As the head judge and the other judges wanted to leave the court room, "Your majesty, as we are one group, we want to have the same sentence from each other" Auron said followed by nodded from Deadly Tower and Feather Slice''s nod signing they were agree with what Auron said. The head judge looked over to Auron and flatly said, "It was not you decision to make any demand. We will give the sentence as what we feel right." Then, the head judge continued to exit the court room followed by other judges. Meanwhile, the audience also left the room and Auron and his friends escorted to another room. After 30 minutes passed by, the audience and the judges went back into the court room. While Auron and his friends was escorted back to the court room, the head judge silent the audience, "Silent! The court will begin shortly for the trial''s sentence" "We, the judges, already made an agreement. Now, for Smiling Wizard, Feather Slice and Deadly Tower, as you wasn''t the user of the item and didn''t know anything about it, you will be free from all the punishment." "Meanwhile, for the main defendant, Black Bull, as you are the user of the prohibited item, your punishment will be severe. You will be expelled from the academy. Also, you have to pay 100 gold within 2 days. If you cannot pay it within 2 days, you have to do hard labor until you managed to pay it" Chapter 108 Move On Black Bull could not help but let out a sighed. His expression sunk. Although, he had prepared with the consequences, but his heart still hurt. Moreover, in his opinion, the sentence was pretty harsh. The reason was because, although, he used a prohibited item, the target for the item was not innocent civilian. Moreover, it was to save one of the noble''s family in Gaia. After the sentence was announced, whispered and murmured could be heard from audience. Some of them shocked upon the sentence because they felt that the punishment was not heavy enough. They thought that Black Bull would be sentenced for jail until the rest of his life, or got a dead punishment. But, the reality was opposite of what they thought. Some of the audience nodded as if they had known the reason why Black Bull only got this punishment. The one who nodded their head came from family with pretty high influence in the Gaia whether it was from high level nobility or rich merchant with wide connection and power. They thought that Black Bull''s family obviously intervened with the judges. What they thought was only some of the truth. What they didn''t know was actually when Black Bull''s family wanted to intervene, there was already someone else who already intervene and Black Bull''s family only reduce the sentence a little bit more. Of course, the one who intervene was Daniel. With the help from the king, Daniel managed to changed the sentence to expelling Black Bull from the academy and some money fine. They also knew that Black Bull''s family surely would not left Black Bull neglected on the street when he was expelled from the academy. Meanwhile, Black Bull''s family also got the news from Daniel''s messenger about his intervention. They thanked Daniel. At first, Black Bull''s father felt that the intervention from Daniel was enough. He knew that Black Bull could not pay the money fine of 500 golds and would came to him to ask for help. When Black Bull asked for help, he wanted to make Black Bull followed him and not goof around playing. But, Black Bull''s mother relentless complained made the father surrender. He intervened by paying up 400 golds up front so as the fine not to high for Black Bull. He didn''t want to pay up full so as to give raise the chance that his son would came back to asked for money. As Black Bull accepted the reality, Auron and his other friends could not accept this but they also could not protest to it when the main defendant already accepted it. They could only comforted Black Bull. "Silent! Now, the court dismissed!" The judges end the court and started to leave the room. After the judges left the room, Auron and the other was escorted by court''s guard to finished some administration before they could be released. "Remember! you only have 2 days to pay the fine. If in 2 days, you still haven''t pay up. You will be forcibly picked up!" The officer who managed the administration reminded him. After all of the administration processed finished, the four of them went back to the academy. After arriving, they immediately went back to their room as Black Bull needed to pack up his thing as he need to get out from the academy as he was already expelled from the academy. When Auron and the other was outside of the academy to accompany Black Bull out, Auron said, "Black Bull don''t be too disheartened. We will helped you to gain 100 golds in 2 days. What the urgent thing we must to thing is where will you go now? Will you come back to your family?" "No! Not a chance! I will not come back after this long. I will looked for a merchant guild and joined them" Black Bull rebuked. "Do you have any specific merchant guild?" Auron asked. When Black Bull told Auron, his intention, Auron remember his best friend, Roan. "Not yet, but I will find one for sure!" Black Bull felt optimistic. "Actually, I had a friend that just made an upstart merchant guild. If you want to join, I can introduced you to him" "That would be lovely, I don''t care whether it is a new merchant guild or not. As long as, it can help me to live and learn." "Okay then, come to this place and meet with my friend. I will also try to ask them to pay your fine." "Okay. I don''t need for my fine to be paid." Black Bull declined the offer. After that Black Bull set out to the designated place. Meanwhile, Auron also contact Roan and told him about the story and told him to help Black Bull. As the condition on Roan''s side, their business was growing in the good direction. As their business started to grow, they felt that they need to expand however since the manpower was not enough, the plan was postponed. When Auron introduced Black Bull to Roan, he immediately accepted it. Even though Black Bull still needed to be trained, it was better to have someone that can be trusted. Roan had already told the other about Auron''s ''cheat'', so it was not a surprise for the other that Auron introduced someone from the military academy. Roan also offered to pay up the sum, but Black Bull declined the offer. But, Roan didn''t give up as he kept on offering it saying that it was Auron''s gift and he didn''t want his member to be distracted by such things. At the end, Black Bull accepted it as a loan and will paid it back in installment. As thing already sorted out for Black Bull, Auron felt relieved. He still felt resentment that he could not help much for Black Bull, but he knew he need to move on. He focused back on his plan ahead. Auron asked Deadly Tower and Feather Slice to accompany him to collect the mission''s rewards as well as picking another mission. Chapter 109 Abundant Rewards 1 After few moment, three guys arrived in front of the mission tower. They were Auron and his two friends excluding Keiran. As they stepped inside the building, a common sight could be seen inside the mission tower. "Looking for party to collect rare ore" "Anyone want to eliminate [Fiery Rat] with me?" "Selling healing potion cheaper than NPC store" Since this was a mission tower it was also a place full of opportunity. So, it was not a surprised that there were many people looking for group to complete a mission. There were also some with side class to sell their own produced item. Auron ignored these people and went directly to the receptionist. It was the same receptionist when they accepted the quest. "I bet you are here to collect your rewards. Wait for a bit. Let me check first." Before Auron could say something, the receptionist already stopped him from doing that. "First of all, I offer my condolences to your friend. I know it is not easy to accept this, but rule is a rule after all." "So, let us get to the point, after the incident happened, the higher up decided to question the noble who posted the mission for more detail." "Since the one who issued the mission didn''t include the detail before, we have punished him because neglecting an important detail which result in the wrong ranking for the mission." "The mission''s rank was changed to fourth level mission. Since, you have participate the mission and also helped to safe the noble''s wife and son. We have decided that it was more or less you have completed the mission." "The rewards was raised from 40 points to 360 points. Also, as another punishment for neglecting important detail, the academy force the noble to give a piece of equipment as an apology for each of you." "For, Smiling Wizard, you will get [Ruby Scepter]. For Borad, [Gargantuan Bow]. And for, Keiran, you will get [Opsite Dagger]. Don''t you worry, although Keiran had been expelled from the academy and cannot claim any rewards, the noble who posted this mission told us that he already sent his gift directly to Keiran." "Lastly, the noble also wanted to meet you once again. He said that the rewards before was an official rewards from the mission through academy. And now, he wanted to give you the ''unofficial rewards'' which was why he wanted to invite you to his house to claim the rewards" "Now, for the points how do you want to divide it among you?" Shocked flashed out from Auron and his friend face. Although, he already knew that the academy will changed the mission ranked which will result in higher point, he still could not help to become surprised with the rewards he get. Moreover, when he received the piece of equipment, he became more shocked. It was a rare grade equipment. [Ruby Scepter] (Rare grade equipment) Type: Staff Requirement: 50 intelligence, level 45 Class: Mage, Cleric Attack: 30 - 80 Magic Attack: 284 - 354 Intelligence + 10 Vitality + 3 Effect: A scepter with Ruby on top of it. Ruby is a .... At this stage, a rare equipment was what he needed. It could help him to become stronger. Although the piece of equipment was for a mage, but it still increase a lot of attributes. And, this was what he needed. As his swordsman and mage character shared the same attributes which mean this addition would help his swordsman to hunt better. Regaining his mind, Auron said, "We will divide it equally". As they had discussed it before coming here, they had decided to divide the point equally. Each of them will get 120 points. However, with the minus point they had, they only left with 20 points. It was already enough for them to pass the monthly goal. As Auron and his friend conclude claiming his rewards at the mission tower, they didn''t immediately choose another mission, instead, they went to Daniel''s house to claim the ''unofficial'' reward. Arriving at Daniel''s house, they were directly escorted to Daniel''s study room to meet Daniel. Daniel greeted them warmly as they were walked inside the room. "Come here. Come here. Have a seat!" Daniel happily greeted them. After they have seated, Daniel told them why he was so happy. The fact that his son and wife was safe from the incident contributed to Daniel''s happiness right now. But, it was not all. There were other thing that made him happier which was the paper that Auron earned from the fleeing prisoner before. "Radit told me that you contribute greatly to acquiring this piece of information!" Daniel pointed to Auron. Inside the paper there were list of noble''s name that was suspected contributed to this incident. After few investigation from Daniel''s side, he knew that the reason why they do this was not because the secret mission he had with the king, instead it was just a jealousy from several noble which wanted to hinder Daniel''s progress in the kingdom. Actually inside the paper there were 20 noble''s name and only 80% of it that was the real perpetrator. The prisoner wrote as many name as he could to hide the real perpetrator as well as to buy him some time to flee as far as possible. Moreover, inside the name, the prisoner also include several name that he hated as to make Daniel became his sword to attack the noble. After the investigations, Daniel also discover this truth that not all of the name inside the paper was responsible for the attack. However, after recognizing some of the name, he decided to give this information to the king as some of the name was some noble that needed to be watched. The king gladly accepted the name as it gave him a reason to watch this several noble family that was dangerous for his royal family. This also made the king rewards Daniel. Daniel, who got rewards from the king, didn''t forget on how he could achieve this piece of information. He decided to give another rewards to Auron and his friends. Chapter 110 Abundant Rewards 2 Daniel brought out a box from his drawer. Then, he gave the box to Auron as he said, "The king rewards all of Radit''s group member for their contribution achieving the piece of information. For Auron, as you were the one volunteering become the hostage, the king give you this item inside the box. As for the others member, each of the member will be given 50 golds which you can claim at the royal bank." "For Keiran, you can claim his portion and give it to him yourself." "Lastly, I have to express my sorry and gratitude for saving my wife and son. I hope that we could still have good terms." Receiving the box, Auron and his friends thanked him back and said that they already forgave him. After all, they knew that Daniel had already done his portion of job to ensure that Keiran didn''t get any harsh punishment. Auron and his two friends left Daniel''s house. At the entrance of Daniel''s house, Auron split way with his two friends. After finishing one mission, they realized that they were still weak. If it was not because their luck, they could lose their life in the mission before. That was why, they decided to make themselves stronger instead of picking another mission. Moreover, they already had enough points to pass the first month without getting any punishment. Auron''s two friends agreed at what he said, they also wanted to raised their strength before continuing with another mission. They decided to meet again one month from now to get another mission. Reihan and Borad went to the royal bank to claim the rewards from the king and they also made sure that they would delivered Keiran''s portion to him. Meanwhile, Auron wanted to started hunt. With his swordsman character and mage character hunting, he was sure that his level would soar quicker. But, before that, he went back to his room in the academy''s dorm to open the king''s rewards. At his room, looking at the box in front of him, he was expecting a great rewards from the king. But, he didn''t want to have high hope. He opened up the box. A few moment, after he opened the box, a bright light flashed out from the box and blinded Auron for a few seconds. When Auron regained his sight again, he looked at the box once more. But, instead seeing a box, he saw another things. In front of him, at the place where the box was there before, a set of equipment was placed before him. [Esitem Robe] (rare grade equipment) Type: Body - Upper - Lower Requirement: 60 intelligence, level 50 Class: Mage, Cleric Defend: 60 Vitality +10 Intelligence + 30 Mp +100 Set Effect: 2 pieces: Mp + 100 3 pieces: Intelligence + 30, Vitality +10 4 pieces: Mp regeneration rate + 3/sec [Esitem Headband] (rare grade equipment) Type: Head Requirement: 60 intelligence, level 50 Class: Mage, Cleric Defend: 45 Vitality +5 Intelligence + 15 Mp +50 Set Effect: ... [Esitem Gauntlet] (rare grade equipment) Type: Arm Requirement: 60 intelligence, level 50 Class: Mage, Cleric Defend: 50 Vitality +8 Intelligence + 20 Mp +60 Set Effect: ... [Esitem Shoes] (rare grade equipment) Type: Footwear Requirement: 60 intelligence, level 50 Class: Mage, Cleric Defend: 50 Vitality +8 Intelligence + 15 Mp +50 Set Effect: ... There were 4 pieces of equipment in front of him. It made Auron was shocked as well as excited. The reason was he got a full set of equipment. A full set equipment was quite expensive. A common set equipment could cost 1 gold per pieces. Moreover, a rare grade set equipment, it could cost 30 gold per pieces. "With this set, although it could not solved my mana problem, but it could help." Auron smiled. Besides the attributes that the equipment raise, the set effect was very enticing for Auron. Moreover, the Mp regeneration rate could help him to solve the mana problem. But, Auron saved his excitement for later. He could only use the equipment after he level 50. Right now, he was still level 42. "8 more level, I could used this equipment." This boosted Auron''s motivation to raise his level more. He quickly kept this set of equipment somewhere safe and headed outside of the academy. With quick speed, he immediately went tothe potion''s store to replenish his supplies. This time, he bought a lot of potion. He didn''t want to repeat his mistake before. Also, this time, he decided to went hunting for one week straight before went back home. With the long hunting time in mind, Auron spent all of his money on the potion''s supply. Auron left some note to both of his friend saying that he would left hunting for a week. Then, Auron left for the teleportation gate and teleport to another town, Gancit. Gancit was a small town and compared to Miderian it was only 1/10 of Miderian''s size. However, as a small town, Gancit was bustling with people. From low level player until high level player could be seen in this town. The reason was because this town was invested by one of the richest merchant guild in all of Gaia. This made Gancit, besides Miderian, become a market town for every player. Many unique items was sold here. From a common high level equipment until king grade equipment could be found here. Auron walked over from the teleportation gate headed to the town''s entrance. In the way, Auron noticed a flyer posted at the wall. In the flyer, said that Gancit would hold an auction. It was also said that in the auction there would be something ''special''. But, it was not mention in the flyer what was the ''special'' thing in the auction. Auron looked at the date of the auction, it was coincidentally held 7 days from now. Since it was still long time in the future, Auron putted it at the back of his head. Smiled, Auron shook his head and went outside of the town with one place in mind, Orc''s camp Chapter 111 Orcs Camp 1 A man walked on a narrow path outside of Gancit. As he took his time to walk on the path, he became center of attention. All eyes around the entrance of Gancit were focused on him. It was not because the man was a high leveled player instead it was because the man was under leveled around the area. Obviously, the man was Auron. The average monster''s level around Gancit was level 90. So, it was rather eye catching when a person with half of that level was roaming around the area. Actually, it would not be so eye catching if the person was walking within a group with player above level 90. If that happened, people would think that the person was a rich person that hire a group of people to power level him. The group would wound the monster until the monster almost die while the hirer would last hit the monster. Of course, the experience point that person would get greatly reduced however since the difference in level between the one that last hit and the monster was wide, it still gave the person a huge amount of experience point. Right now, the person who became center of attention was walking alone. It was a very strange sight. Although, the person hide his personal identity, but from his equipment people could guest that he had a magic class. And, the chance that person had a mage class was high. Many people shook their head, "A novice player looking to die." "Who knows if he had a group waiting for him to power level him?" Another person said his opinions. "The chance for that to happened was pretty low. It was never heard before that a low level player visiting the party without any escort. Usually, there would be one or two player accompany the player. But, look at that person, no one escort him" While these two person gossiping, a group of 5 player coming towards Auron. "Hey, man! Do you need our party to help you power level? Our cost was pretty cheap! 50 silver per level until you reach level 50. Then, 1 gold per level until you reach level 60. 2 golds per level until you reach level 70..." "What do you think? Are you interested? Other party would cost twice the price" The leader of the group advertised his service with warm smile. Actually, the price was not cheap, it was the normal price for the service around the area. The leader of the group felt that this was a newbie, so he thought that the person must not know the market price for the service. That was why, he fabricate the truth as what he had offered was cheap in hope for that newbie to buy his lies. Auron stopped in his track and faced the leader of the group, "No, thank you. I already have my companion." "Really? Then why don''t they escort you to the designate hunting spot? Is their price was cheaper? We could lower our price" The leader didn''t want to give up since it was rare to meet a low leveled player. There occasionally a low leveled player, but it was a player that repeat his character to farm specific item in the low level area for their guild or sell it for real world money. So, that player obviously already had their own group. "No, it is fine. I can manage to get the hunting spot alone. Thank you for your offer" "Really? We will give you 50% discount! There would not be another chance to get this privilege" "Enough! It was none of your business. Just know that I already had a companion." Auron felt irritated by the continuous offer. Auron decided to continue his journey ignoring the group. "Pui! What an arrogant man! I prayed for you to die thousand time under the monster''s hand!" That leader also getting annoyed at Auron''s shouting. However, he didn''t want to seek for revenge because of some low matter like this. He could only vent his anger by shouting and cursing Auron. "See, I told you he must have his own party" One of the man which was gossiping before proudly said. "What do you know? Now, I am 100 percent sure he was a newbie that overconfident with his skill!" Auron didn''t heard these gossip around him and continued his journey leisurely. Finally, he arrived at the vicinity of the orc''s camp after walking 30 minutes. A man stood in the vicinity of the camp waiting silently. As Auron arrived, the man walked towards him. It turned out the man was waiting for Auron. The man approach Auron closer. That man was Auron''s other character. It was his swordsman character. As the two of them met, Auron nodded and looked at his other character. With both of them hunting together all of the experience point Auron get will be given to him. They would get full experience when one hunting alone while they split the burden as to two people. They would also get to collect all of the loot and not share it to other people. This was obviously a dream for all people to hunt this way. Unfortunately, they cannot. Auron''s goal right now was to get level 50, to change his mage equipment to the set that he recently get. Although, he needed four times experience point than normal people, he was sure that he could fulfill it soon. As the orc''s camp was the right place to easily fulfilled it. Auron looked at the nearest camp, two orcs was guarding the camp entrance. As he gave several command to the AI which controlling his swordsman character, Auron moved closer towards the orc''s guard. A fire bolt was appearing beside Auron and flew towards one of the orc guarding the entrance. As the fire hit the orc it explode and alarmed the other orc guarding the entrance. Both of the orc spotted the source of the fire spell and ran towards to it with the goal to killed the intruder. Chapter 112 Orcs Camp 2 Orc Camp was a hunting ground which encompassed a wide circular area. Inside, many orc camps could be seen with several [Orc''s Patrol] patrolling between each camps. There were three size of the camps, small, medium, and large. Each of the camps would have some sort of leader that running the camps. The small camps was scattered around the edge of the area. When one went deeper into the region, the camps would get bigger and bigger until finally they arrived at the one and only large orc camps in land. The leader in the small camps was a monster that was slightly stronger than the rest of the orc in the camp but it could not be considered as a boss which was why people considered it as a mini boss. Meanwhile, when one arrived at the medium size camps, the leader inside it was considered a genuine boss. It was much stronger that the monster in the area. The boss had a uncommon grade. As in the large camps, the boss was considered the big boss of all the orc''s camp. The boss was the most strongest orc in the camps. It had two grades above the ordinary orcs which was a rare grade. Each camp have their own territory. When a player stepped inside the territory it will activated a countdown timer of 10 minutes for small camps, 30 minutes for medium camps, and 1 hours for large camps, even if they misstep. Within the allocated time, they needed to raid the camps and successfully killed the leader inside it. If they could not killed the leader or ignore it, after the timer was end, all of the orcs in the camp and the neighboring camps would come out and chased the player and his group. Their objective was only to kill the leader inside the camp. They could do it by clearing all of the orcs inside or just barge in to the boss location and killed it. When a player could killed the leader within the allocated time, a gold chest could be found inside as a bonus loot. Also, the rest of the orcs in the camp would disappeared as the leader died. However, this benefit would not come out if the leader was killed passed the allocated time. An empty camp would not trigger the countdown timer. 30 minutes after the leader died, the orcs in that camp would be spawned once more. Although, there was gold chest dropped, it was not enticing enough for player. The reason was because the gold chest only contained a little amount of money. It was way lesser that the one in Pirate''s Treasury. Each gold chest could only give maximum of 1 silver. Moreover, that chest should be the one from the large camps. Despite the loots was not too good, the Orc''s camp had their own benefit, the experience points. If one could destroyed a camp alone by clearing all of the orcs inside, the experience they would get will be raised by half. The mechanism was like this. When one killed a monster, they will get a full experience point and also half of the experience point will be stored by the system. If they could cleared all of the orcs inside the camp within the allocated time, half of the experience point that was stored by the system would be given to them as a bonus. This made Orc''s camp became a great hunting ground to raise a level. Back then, this hunting ground was very popular. With huge amount of experience point given, this was a must go hunting spot. Right now, Auron was raiding a small orc''s camp. Both of the guards went up towards Auron. But before the guards could arrived and attacked him, his swordsman character which was controlled by the system went up and blocked it for him. His attributes was sufficient to make him blocked the attack from the guards. Moreover, he already had better equipment than before that boosted his power more. The swordsman blocked one of the attack from the guards with his swords and the other attacks with his body. The swordsman''s health was reduced little. Auron didn''t stayed still with a tank in front of him. He can leisurely chanted a spell. A heat surrounding Auron raised. A ball of fire was made on top of his hand. With a swayed from his hand, the ball of fire went to the orcs guard and exploded damaging both of the orcs. As the battle went out, the orc''s health slowly reduced little by little. After few seconds, both of the orcs died. Sure is the experience point was higher here, from the battle, Auron got 1% from the two orcs. Unfortunately, his swordsman character also used several health potions. "This cannot continue, I need to went up to the front instead of chanting spell from behind" Auron pained at the fact he needed to used several health potions. In orc camps, the battle will almost be the same as this, they would fight more than one orcs at a time. If he leisurely chanted spell from the battle, he would depleted his health potions supply faster. Auron changed his weapon from staff to dagger and prepared to went up in the front. Before he went to look for another group of orcs inside the camp, he looked at the countdown timer. As he looked at the countdown timer, he sighed. "I will not be able to clear all of the orcs within the allocated time. I need to kill the leader as fast as I can for this camp" Auron knew, he could not cleared all of the orcs in this camp and he didn''t want to force himself to do it. If he force and himself and he failed, only death that awaits him as flood of orcs from neighboring camps would come to him. Even if he managed to survive the incident, it would surely cost him a lot of health potions supply. Chapter 113 Orcs Camp 3 Auron observed his surrounding. He tried to find where the leader resided in. Usually, the leader of the camp would be near the biggest residence in the camp. [Ace Orc Warrior] (common boss monster) Level: 87 HP: 235000/235000 MP: 1000/1000 Skills: Summon orcs, Orc''s Roar, Ace Crush Description: The leader of a small orc camp. It is an orc warrior that joined orc''s elite squad once before In the middle of the camp, Auron spotted the biggest residence in the camp. Besides, there was the leader a slightly bigger orc than the rest of orc in the camp. This was the boss. It was an orc warrior that once before joined the elite squad that serves the king. After retiring, the orc was given a camp to manage and become the leader of the camp. The layout of each camp was different from each other. So, each time a party wanted to clear the camp they needed to analyze the camp once before spotting the leader of the camp. Moreover, after the camp cleared and respawned, the camp''s layout was also different. This was to ensure to give a challenge for the player that hunt this place. Fortunately, the leader in Auron''s camp was in the middle of the camp which mean, Auron didn''t have to clear all of the orc before reaching the leader. He mostly needed to clear half of the camp to reach the boss. [Orc Warrior] (common monster) Level: 83 HP: 100000/100000 MP: 100/100 Skills: Crush Description: An ordinary Orc Warrior. Can be found anywhere within the camp. While thinking on how to reach the boss, a group of three orcs come towards Auron. There were three orc warriors coming to him. Although, they were the same as the boss, an orc warrior, however, each of their body was way smaller than the boss. Auron, controlling his mage character, kite two of the monster to him, while he left the other one to his swordsman character. The orcs swung their club in their hands. With dagger in his hand, Auron dodge one of the club, and move once more to the side to dodge the other one. An orcs attack was very strong. It damaged hard when it connected, but the speed of the orc was slow. Auron easily dodge the attack and started to chant a spell. Firstly, he chanted [Sloth]. A layer of cold mist was spread out around Auron. Although, the area of spell was not wide but it was enough to cover the three orcs. The movement of the orcs already slow, after its touches the cold mist, their movement become slower than before. When the orc finished one of their attack, Auron could launched 4 attacks and dodge the orc''s attack. The orc''s health reduced at visible rate. Soon, one of the orcs died under his mage character. At the same time, one of the orc that attack his swordsman character also died. Then, with two character bombarded the leftover orcs, the orcs died faster than the other two. Because of the limited time, after the orc had died, Auron didn''t even picked the loot on the ground, instead he directly kite another group of orcs. Another three orcs were aggroed to him. [Orc Archer] (common monster) Level: 85 HP: 93000/930000 MP: 100/100 Skills: Double Strafe Description: An ordinary Orc Archer. Can be found anywhere within the camp. This time, it were two orc warriors with one orc archer. With the orc warrior at the front battling his mage character, Auron commanded his swordsman character to directly attack the orc archer behind. Auron could not chant [Sloth], since it was considered a rather advanced spell. Auron''s [Sloth] was still level 1, but it already depleted almost 75% of his mana point on when he use the spell before. However, the effect was noticeably great, which was why Auron didn''t mind using it over and over. Unfortunately, since it was still level 1, it had a long cool down. The spell''s was still on cool down. Auron could only chanted another spell, [Weakness]. The target of Auron spell was the orc archer behind. Auron''s line of thought was, with [Weakness], the fragile orc archer behind would become more fragile. Then, his swordsman character could finished it quicker and helped him to finished this two orc warriors. Auron''s strategy proofed to work perfectly. In less than 30 seconds, the orc archer already died under the swordsman''s attack. With his swordsman help, Auron managed to get rid of the orc warriors. Then, Auron directly kite another group of orcs. This cycle continued until Auron was left with 3 minutes in his timer. After the countdown timer hit 7 minute marks, the orc camp become more empty than when Auron first came. Almost half of the orc in the camp was missing under Auron''s two character attacks. When he was hunting the orcs before, he managed to raise one level. With the orc''s level way higher than him, the experience point he get also higher than his level supposed to get. It was not strange for him to get one level under 10 minutes. Moreover, Auron didn''t spent much on the his potion supplies. This was thanks to him partying with his another character. The experience point that was supposed to be divided evenly with the group member was absorbed fully to Auron. In addition, his burden was halves. This was a dream for every player in Two Worlds. However, the other player could only dreamed of it and thought it was such an impossible thing to achieve, yet here Auron could get what they had dreamed of. After clearing almost half of the camps, now, Auron could safely kite the boss and fight with the boss safely. Auron hit the boss. Being hit, the boss faced Auron and prepared to attack. However, Auron didn''t continue his attack, instead for more safety measure, he kite the boss toward the camp''s entrance which no other orcs was visible. The boss was running towards Auron and its speed was faster than ordinary orc warriors. While waiting for the boss to come towards him, Auron already prepared to receive the boss. He stood side by side with his swordsman character. Chapter 114 Ace Orc Warrior 1 Upon reaching Auron, the boss raised his right hand which hold a big mace. Preparing to swung down his big mace, a cold mist was visible around the area. A shiver ran out through the boss as his movement slowed down. Auron already chanted [Sloth] as his swordsman character prepared to receive the attack. After which, Auron immediately gulped a mana potion to replenish his mana point. The boss'' hand which hold big mace swung down, however the speed which his hand swung down was visibly slower than when he raised his mace. As the attack moved slowly, Auron easily dodged the attack. Auron just needed to sidestep to dodge the mace. After dodging the attack, he didn''t just stay idle. Auron bombarded the boss with attack. His swordsman character used [Bash], while his mage character chanted [Weakness]. Auron decided to made his mage character to chant several control curse spell before launching attacking spell. A red number floated above the boss'' head. The damage was not pretty high compared to the boss damage. As an orc, the boss'' defense and damage was high enough compared to other monster species. After receiving damage, the boss directly used his summon skill, [Summon orcs]. 3 [Orc Warriors] and 2 [Orc Archer] was summoned upon his call. The summoned monster immediately launched attack to Auron''s swordsman character which made Auron had to pull back from the boss. The boss and his summoned monster kept on the pressure. When Auron moved back, they went forward to chase them. Keeping his calmness, Auron told the AI controlling his swordsman character to use [Attack Potion] and so did he. This time, Auron didn''t just buy mana potion and health potion, he also bought several [Attack Potion].By using this potion, the user''s attack would raise 20% for 300 seconds. With his attack raised, Auron tried to split the monster into two groups. His mage character and swordsman character moved to different direction. The monster who chased them naturally could not let this go. The naturally split their group as well. 2 [Orc Warrior] and 1 [Orc Archer] moved to Auron''s mage character. While the rest of the orc and the boss moved to Auron''s swordsman character. The player and monster''s group split into two. Auron stopped when he felt that they had enough distance between them. The group was visibly split into two, however, the distance between them was not too far away. Auron thought that if there was something wrong, he could immediately helped as the boss was in his swordsman character''s group. A [Fire Wall] was chanted and tried to block the group who was advancing towards Auron''s mage. However, it could not stopped the orcs'' advance. As the orc warrior in front just broke through the fire wall as if it was nothing. A burned smell could be smelled as the fire burned out the orc warrior''s flesh. Of course, the orcs received some damage due to force his way to ward the fire wall. However, it seems the orcs didn''t care with his health and just kept on advancing with one thing in their mind, destroy this human. Auron chanted another spell. This time, an big earth spike was formed from the ground and thrusted the orc in the front. During his time in the academy, he patiently studied in the library. His relentless action proved to be great. He could learned some of basic spell for free, for example [Weakness]. Meanwhile, his basic spell''s level, that he had already learned, was raised. And, [Earth Spike] was one of the spell that got stronger. Before, his earth spike was only as big as an orc''s arm. This time, his [Earth Spike] was twice larger than before. Of course, a big [Earth Spike] means a higher damage and wider target. The orcs in front of Auron swung his mace and tried to crush the earth spike. It didn''t worked. The [Earth Spike] received damage from the orc''s attack but it could not made the attack to stop. When the [Earth Spike] successfully hit the orc warrior, the damage produced was lower than expected, but Auron didn''t felt dejected because of it. Instead, he stabbed his dagger to the orc while chanted another [Fire Bolt] A red flame conjured and targeted the orc''s head. With the injury in the head and stabbed in the body, the orc staggered a bit before regained back his position. An arrow passed by from behind thestabilized orc towards Auron. As Auron already raised his awareness towards the surrounding, he could detect the arrow that was coming. However, as he was just finished launched his attack, he tried his best to dodge the arrow but he could not completely dodge the incoming arrow. The arrow grazed Auron''s shoulder. Auron felt pained but he could not focus on it right now. Another orc already used his skill [Crush] to Auron. The orc swung down the mace and although the orcs was under the effect of [Sloth], the speed which he swung his mace was fast enough. Thanks to the [Sloth] it was just slightly faster that the orc normal attack speed. This time Auron could dodge the orc skill completely. After dodging, Auron didn''t moved back instead he launched another attack toward the first orc he attacked. In this situation, Auron wanted to exchange hit and quickly killed the monster. He believed that a little sacrificed was needed, in this case his health potion. In a few seconds afterward, also with the help of the [Attack Potion], Auron managed to kill the first orcs warrior. He immediately focused out on the second one. With the same strategy as before, Auron wiped out the other orc warrior and orc archer in the next few seconds. Auron already wasted one minute to cleared out the monster on his part. He quickly looked at his swordsman side. There was one orc archer and the boss left. Looking at the potion and the fight, he knew that the swordsman already spent some health potion. Didn''t want to waste anymore time, Auron controlled his mage character and targeted the orc archer that was behind the boss. Chapter 115 Ace Orc Warrior 2 An orc was pulling the bowstring very hard, preparing to unleash a powerful arrow. His target was a human in front of him that always moved left right like a monkey. Calmly aiming the arrow towards the monkey-like human without anything to be afraid since there was a big orc in front of him guarding him. The monkey-like human moved around and could not stopped. If it was a person who aimed, it would be annoyed the person, however, the orc expression didn''t care whether his arrow missed the target or not. The orc unleashed the arrow towards the human. Just as predicted, the arrow missed the target. However, there was no change in the orc''s expression. With the same expression, he took another arrow and preparing to unleashed another attack toward the human. He pulled the bowstring very hard. However, this time, before he could unleashed the arrow, a dagger slashed his arm from behind followed by, a hot fireball hit his back. The orc archer staggered to the front. He was angry. His attack was stopped by the attack. He looked behind him to find out who in the world dared to hit him from behind. When he looked behind his back, another dagger slashed across his face. Blood''s splattered as his face was bleeding. Didn''t care about his injuries, he prepared to attack the being who attack him. Pulling the bowstring, preparing to unleashed the arrow. When he was about to release the arrow, a spike was formed beneath his feet. The spike getting bigger and wider. In less than a second, the spike was formed fully and thrusted the orc''s left arm. The orc didn''t managed to dodge since he was preparing to attack. His left arm thrusted by the earth spike that was formed. A lot of blood was released from the arm. In the next second, the spike which thrusted his left arm disappeared leaving a wide hole in his arm. His attack cancelled once again. No pain in his face, only anger as his attack was cancelled once more. He was preparing to launched another attack. However, his movement was slowed down since his left arm had a wide hole. But, it didn''t stop him from pulling the bowstring. A dagger slashed his feet. Ignoring the dagger, he kept pulling the bowstring with all of his might. Suddenly, the surrounding temperature dropped. A cold thing hit his feet. He kept ignoring the things happening to him and only focused on one thing. How to kill this sneaker with his arrow. Once again it happened, before he could unleashed his arrow, he got stunned from the skill of the sneaker. It looked like a [Bash] skill from swordsman. His anger rose because, once again, he failed to launched attack when he was supposed to attack. He didn''t give up, he tried to pulled the bowstring once more. As what happened before, another attack came from the sneaker''s dagger. A stab to his body followed with a fire ball towards his face. His got hit by the fireball in his face which made his head was pushed backward. However, he quickly regained his posture back. Facing the sneaker face to face, his anger rose. Finally, he could unleashed an arrow despite all of the distraction from the sneaker. An arrow shot out from his bow towards the sneaker. With the short distance, the arrow should have hit the sneaker, however, on the contrary, the sneaker managed to dodge the arrow while making another attack. The orc didn''t feel frustrated despite his arrow didn''t hit the sneaker in close range. His anger kept on building up. He tried to launched another attack. He putted his arrow on his bow and ready to aim. Unfortunately, the sneaker slashed his face and produced a critical damage. With the help of another earth spike that manage to impale him, he felt that all of his power slowly disappear. His anger that had built up also gone. It was replaced by a weakness in all parts of his body as his eyes slowly closed. His body slowly slumped down as his eyes also slowly closed. With the world slowly turned dark, he finally accepted his body that continue went weak until all of his power had gone. All of this fight with the sneaker, he only could unleashed one and the only attack to the sneaker. When all of his body slumped down on the ground, his body disappeared and replaced by a pile of items scattered on the ground. Auron who had killed the orc that had turned into a pile of item now turned his sight toward the boss that still battled his swordsman character. The potion consumption rate was higher than he had predicted. The boss already had his health reduced by one third. However, it didn''t stopped him to keep him from attacking, instead his attack become more ferocious. Moreover, the [Sloth]''s effect already gone. The swordsman who battled with him could not help but consumed more and more health potion. Also, to reduce one third of the boss health, the swordsman needed to use a lot of skill which made him also consumed some mana potion. Auron who knew all about this could not stayed quiet. He used [Dash] and chanted a [Fire Ball] spell. With a dagger in his hand, he used [Bash] followed with his [Fire Ball]. With a sudden intrusion from a new joiner, the boss looked the new joiner. With two enemies, he felt that he needed to reduce the number of enemy quickly by killing one of the enemy. Which made him used his skill, [Ace Crush] more frequently. However, using it was easier said than done. With two enemies on his hand, it made him more difficult to focus on. When he used the [Ace Crush] on one of the enemies, the targeted enemy abandoned his attack and focused on dodging which made him missed all of the skill. Moreover, the other enemy kept on attacking him and sometimes used a skill that could produced a negative effect, like slow or stun. Chapter 116 Ace Orc Warrior 3 The boss become more furious as he desperately to hit the enemies. His health reduced more as the time passed. When he had 30% of his health left, he felt that his power risen up a bit. His speed as well as his damage rose. Auron who faced the boss also felt the pressure from the boss. With the sudden rose in the boss'' speed made it harder to dodge the boss'' attack. Once the boss managed to hit his swordsman and it reduced 80% of the swordsman''s health. Left with 20% of his health, the swordsman backed away from the boss and tried to gulp the health potion. Meanwhile, Auron controlled the mage character and took away the swordsman position and divert the boss attention towards him. When the situation happened, Auron became more and more careful. He tried to dodge first before launching another counter attack. A few seconds later, the swordsman joined back the battle. This time, as Auron had commanded the one who controlled it to become more careful. Auron chanted [Sloth] spell again. It managed to reduced the boss'' speed back to normal and reduced the pressure he felt. He knew he needed to finish the boss before the spell''s effect ended. Auron and the swordsman used another [Attack potion]. Their attack rose. He looked at the count down timer. There still less than a minute before the other orc in the neighboring camp started to hunt him down. He needed to be fast. He decided not to save any more mana and unleashed all that he could. He felt that he could not be frugal in this situation. He would rather spent a lot of money for buying potion and made this success rather than be frugal and died. [Bash], [Whirlwind Slash], [Fire Bolt], [Earth Spike], ... A series of skill launched towards the boss. When the mana had been depleted, he used a mana potion to replenish it and launched another skill. 30%... 20%... 10%... 5%... It was a success. The boss'' health reduced quicker than before. Unfortunately, to achieve this feat, his potion supply also burned much quicker than before. When the boss'' health reached 2%, the [Sloth]''s effect gone. The boss'' speed once again rose up. The swordsman went up to the front and tanked the boss and tried to dodge as many attack as he could. Meanwhile, Auron controlled his mage character and kept on attacking as well as moving around. When the swordsman moved to the left of the orc, then the mage would moved to the right of the orc. On the contrary, when the swordsman moved to the right of the orc, then the mage would moved to the left of the orc. It was like two monkeys moving around an orcs. The orcs was confused but with his speed rose, he almost could catch the damn monkeys. He kept on trying to attack while ignoring the damage produced by the monkey''s attack. His health reduced 1% more. And, at that time, he also managed to hit one of the monkey. The swordsman''s health went down more than 80% and crash to the ground. He tried to chased the swordsman as with one more hit he could kill one of the monkey. However, as he went forward, an [Earth Wall] rose up from the ground hindering his movement. He kept on moving forward and tried to crash the wall. However, from behind, a [Bash] attack hit him and stun him. As an elite, the stun last just for less than a second, but it managed to stop him from the track. When he regained his consciousness, he continue to march forward and crash the [Earth Wall]. Unfortunately, what waiting for him was not a swordsman lying on the ground, instead it was a sword slashed down from the air, as the swordsman used [Chop]. A critical damage was produced. With the critical damage from the [Chop], the boss'' health plummeted down to zero. As the boss halted in his movement, he dropped his club. Then, his body went down forward and fell to the ground. Instead of the monkey that died, it was him who breathed his last breath. After the boss died, on the ground, a pile of loots and a gold chest popped out. Auron looked at the timer, it was only 7 seconds left. He relieved. If he was late, then he would still kill the boss but he would also had the same fate as the boss. Since the boss died within the countdown timer, the other half orc that still on the village disappear. The hut and all of the thing inside of the camp also disappear. There was only a barren field with fenced around it indicating the camp area. Inside the camp area, there was only Auron, his swordsman character and a pile of loots on the ground. He looked at his potions supply. He had one third of his potion left. Sadly, he could not continue to hunt here with this supply. He needed to go back to the village and replenished his supply before continuing. With no money left, he knew that the loot more or less could not even recover his supply back to before he hunt here. But, he still hoped that he would get something good from the loot although the chance was low. Auron went forward and collected the loots on the ground. After which, he directly opened up the gold chest and got 10 copper coin. He didn''t mind with the low money. What he depend on was the loot from the boss not the gold chest. He went on searching on the loot from the boss. When Auron looked at the loot he got, he was surprised and happy. From the boss, he got 1 weapon, 3 armor, 1 skill book, and some miscellaneous item. He sorted out the miscellaneous item first. He separated the usable and non-usable item. The usable item would be kept and the non-usable item would be sold to the NPC. Chapter 117 Ganci [Heavy Club] (uncommon grade equipment) Type: Two Handed Mace Requirement: 320 Strength, level 93 Class: Swordsman, Merchant, Cleric Attack: 1320 - 1750 Strength +1 Attack Speed -5% Effect: There was 1% chance of stunning the enemy each success attack. [Padded Armor] (common grade equipment) Type: Body - Upper Requirement: 200 Strength, 120 Vitality, level 95 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defend: 190 Vitality + 30 Effect: no effect [Silk Robe] (common grade equipment) Type: Body - Upper Requirement: 100 Vitality, 80 Dexterity, level 85 Class: Mage, Cleric, Thief, Archer Defend: 90 Vitality + 10 Dexterity + 30 Effect: no effect [Steel Greaves] (common grade equipment) Type: Body - Lower Requirement: 80 Vitality, level 87 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defend: 70 Vitality + 10 Effect: no effect [Stealth] (Epic grade Skill Book) Type: Skill Book Class: Thief Effect: A skill book to raise skill level up to level 50. Need some specific quantity to raise skill to the next level. You could visit Skill Trainer Meija in Miderian for more information. Auron scanned through the expensive item he got. He smiled happily. None of the armor and weapon could he used since the level requirement for each of the equipment was way higher than his current level. Well, Auron could kept his equipment and wait until he reached the required level to use it, but Auron decided that rather than saved it and use it later, it would have been better for him to sold it and used the gold to speed up his hunting speed. These days, for equipment below level 300, the equipment with epic grade and below was not very popular. So, it was rather hard to sell it to others. However, there always some people that would accepted any equipment regardless their grade. That people were the one who had sub class as a blacksmith. They would buy the equipment not for their own used, instead they would used it to get the raw material from the equipment. Usually, they would accept equipment starting from level 100 and above. But, there were still rare case that some of them accepted equipment starting from level 50. Auron could find that person and sell the equipment he received to them. Of course, the prices the offer would not be as high as when it sold to the player for used, but it was slightly higher than when it was sold to the NPC. And Lastly, this was what made Auron very happy, the skill book. It was an epic grade skill book. It was very hard to get a common grade skill book, but here he was with an epic grade skill book in his inventory. Yes, the skill book was not the skill book he could use. But, it was still worth it. Till this date, there were still many player that didn''t have that high skill level. Moreover, there were still rich person that getting bored in playing some class which made them delete the character and playing a new class. And, they needed the skill book. However, the supply could not keep up with the demand which made some of them still required various skill book. Auron decided to keep the skill book while looking for another player that want to buy or exchange it with the skill book he could use. Well, if he could not find such a player, he could still collect skill book until he had 10 and exchange it to the NPC for a skill book he needed. A skill book was still precious whether you could use it or not. After making sure that he didn''t miss any more item on the ground. He happily left the camp. He could not continue to hunt since his potion supply was not enough to support him cleared another camp. Auron went back to Gancit. After 30 minutes walked, he arrived once again to Gancit. When he was at the entrance of Gancit, the two gossiper from before were still there. "Look, that person is back! Did he die?" One of them told the other gossiper. The other person hit the person who asked behind his head, "Are you stupid? If he die how could he come back from outside of the city?" In Two Worlds, there was no skill that could revive a player on the spot he died. Every time, a player died, they needed to resurrect at their designated resurrection point. This was also that made Two Worlds different from other games. "Then, why did he come back? It was only more than one hour before he went outside." The stupid gossiper confused. "Well, there can be many reason for it. Maybe, he was kicked out since he cannot pay the required amount. Or maybe, he decided to stop hunting." "Looking at his condition, it seems the later situations that had happened. If it was the former, then he would already died. Well, there was a chance that his companion was such a good person that he let off him go safely. After all, there were still good people out there." "Maybe, you could ask him personally." "Hmm... you seems to be correct. But, why I should ask him? I don''t care about him anyway. Do you know that female cleric before still single? Could you help me to get her? If you...." Since, he didn''t waste his time, Auron ignored the gossip and directly go to the market in Gancit. He didn''t have enough money to buy equipment. So, he needed to sold the equipment he got first. He walked forward to an intersection before turning left towards a big area. In Gancit, there was a big area that accommodates player and NPC to sell their item. This area was also the same spot when a person arrived the first time in Gancit through teleportation. When Auron arrived at the area, Auron was welcomed by a huge crowd and many stall around the area. Shouting and conversation between buyer and seller was common. If a child came here without any proper supervision, he would already lost in the crowd of people in this place. Chapter 118 Rich Man 1 "Selling King''s grade equipment.. Come here and take a look." "Selling all kind of weapons" "Buying raw materials for alchemy." "Looking for..." "Buying..." These kinds of shout was commonly heard here as the place bustling with people. A buyer was surrounded by two sellers as the sellers offered their best product to the buyer. However, the buyer kept on shaking his head indicating he didn''t want to buy any of it and kept on walking forward ignoring both of them. At another place in the market, at a weapon stall, two buyers was at a price war against each other. This situation made the seller smiled happily as he kept on prayed that the price was will be prolonged. "Can you raise it a little bit more?" Auron said. "Nope, sorry. I can only buy it for 30 silvers, no more. It was too low leveled for me." A stall owner shook his head. Meanwhile, Auron was offering his equipment to one of the stall owner. However, the stall owner offered a low price and it made Auron dissatisfied. This was the third stall owner that offered the low price. Auron knew selling these equipment was difficult. But, he could not imagine it was this difficult to get the price he wanted. Before, as a guild leader, he just needed to give the equipment he get to the guild member that managed the financial of the guild. 30 silvers was a joke for him. He knew that these equipment could be sold for 1 gold and if there were people that really needed it he could even sold it for 2 golds and more. Auron knew he had wasted so much time that he could used to raise his level. But, he could not do much as he needed money to resupply his potion. He moved again to another stall that put sign said buying any kind of equipment. Arrived at the stall, Auron immediately put forward his items, "Here, take a look. And, give your price" The stall owner receivedthe armor and weapon from Auron. He inspected it slowly and murmured while inspecting, "Hmm... pretty low level..." Hearing that, Auron was ready to be disappointed once more. However, he didn''t showed it and just waited until the stall owner give him his price. The stall owner calculate something with his hand. Then, a few seconds after that, he said, "To be frank, I don''t really needed this low level equipment, but I can still use it. How about, 3 gold for all of it?" Hope was bloomed inside Auron''s heart as this was the highest bid he get. "Erhm.. Although this was a low level equipment, but this still have some use. Why don''t you raise it 60 more silvers?" Auron negotiate the price "Nope, can''t do. I can at most raise 20 more silvers? 3 gold 20 silvers that was my last offer. Take it or leave it." "Fine, you win. 3 gold 20 silvers" Auron agreed to the offer half hearty. 80 silvers per items, it was by far the most highest offer he get. Also, it was close to 1 golds that was the normal price. If he declined the offer he didn''t know how long he could get the same offer and he would wasted more time. He would rather hunting as his first priority right now was to raise his level. Receiving the money, Auron prepared to resupply his potion and continue to another hunt. When he was about to leave the market area, a stall took his attention. A crowd of people surrounded the stall. Curious about the stall, Auron went over for a little bit and looked. At the stall, he found the reason why this stall was so overcrowded. It turned out, a man from a rich family was buying stuff for himself. As long as the price was slightly higher than normal, he would buy it without even negotiate. He even hired 5 NPC guards to kept his stall safe. In additions, there were also some high leveled player guard him beside the stall. Auron guessed that the high level player were hired to help him and managed his guild as Auron could see an unknown guild emblem on each of the player even the rich man also had one. "Next" The guard shouted. The next person in line went forward. He offered some item which the man refused. The person disappointingly leave, while the next person went forward. Auron didn''t want to let this opportunity went away, so he also stood in line. After waiting for 30 minutes, it was Auron turned to offer. Before Auron could offered anything, the man yawned and complained, "So boring, nothing precious. As I have said before, this would not worked. It will be better if he just hire an adventurer group to look it for us." The man complained to the player beside him. It was not like the man hadn''t buy anything, he had already bought several items but it was as the man said it was an ordinary item that he could easily bought. The player beside him tried to console him, "Relax, see the line. There is still a chance. How about this? we try for another 10 people if we still didn''t get anything precious we will just hire an adventurer group." "What do you got?" The player tried to exchange the topic, so he asked towards Auron. "Umm, I only got this skill book." Auron awkwardly showed the epic skill book he got before. He didn''t want to sell this book, but for his future progress he rather sold this now and hope that he could get another skill book when he hunting. As the epic skill book showed, the rich man''s eyes, who already bored and annoyed from this exhausting worked, glittered. "Ha... ha... ha... this is it. This is what I am looking for. Come... come... come closer. Let me have a look." The rich man excitedly asked Auron to come closer. Chapter 119 Rich Man 2 Auron stepped forward and gave out the epic skill book to the player beside the rich man. However, before the player could receive it, the rich man already grabbed the book first and inspecting it. "Superb, this is that I am looking for." What hemeant by that was not the [Stealth] skill but rather the high grade item. This was what his money supposed to buy. Seeing the happy face from the rich man, the player who was supposed to receive the item asked to Auron, "How much do you sell that item?" Auron thought quickly in his mind, "Since this was an epic grade skill book it would be valued around 100 golds. However, from the class the rich man have it seems he was not a thief, hence he could not use the book." Auron thinking of selling the epic skill book for 100 golds. Although, the rich man could not used the skill book, it was still and epic grade. Moreover, with the attitude of the rich man whom he observed, Auron thought that the rich man would not mind to buy this skill book for 100 golds. "How about...." However, before Auron could say anything, the rich man interrupted. "I will buy it for 150 golds, Kemdall give the money." Still looking at the skill book, the rich man commanded the player beside him to give the money to Auron. Hearing the price the rich man gave out, it surprised Auron and could not help but thought, "This is really some rich guys. He didn''t bat an eye when calling out the price." On the contrary to Auron''s expression, the player beside him, Kemdall, was not surprised as this was like a normal situation, instead he hurriedly whispered to the rich man. "150 golds is to expensive for this skill book. I bet if you give him 100 golds he would gladly accept it. Why the need to spent more money for this?" The rich man turned over his head to Kemdall, frowned, his expression started to turned ugly, and said, "Just give out the money. This was to give out the lesson for other people since they kept their precious item when I am so generous. After this, stopped the buying and continue it tomorrow. I want to talk to this man." "Why? This man is just an ordinary player that you can find anywhere. Why the need to talk to this man? He is just lucky enough to get this skill book." "You know nothing. He is ordinary? Look at his equipment, you will probably can guess his level from that. With that level, he could get this skill book. If he is a rich man, I can agree to what you say since he can hire many service. But, looked at his attitude, it was very ordinary which mean he was not rich enough to use that service." "He must get this skill book hunting by himself or with his friend. If he have a friend helping him, with such expensive item, do you think that friend will let him just bring the skill book anywhere you want without accompany him" "But, look here he is alone. This indicates, he gets this skill book alone or this man was very trusted that his friend could leave him bring this expensive item all by himself. And, it looked like he was the latter." "Don''t you think we should be friend with a trusted man. It was hard to find a man we can trust and I do not want to skip this opportunity. Just believe and leave this to me. Give him the money... no....no... no... I will be the one that give him the money. You just need to announce the price loudly so everyone can hear it and do not forget to stop this buying thing since I will meet with this friend." Kemdall was shocked to what this rich man had said, when he was first hired by this man''s father, he knew that this was just a babysitting job, he thought that he would get an easy money from the father. It turned out what he thought was wrong, this man was very hard to control and predict. It was like taking care of a naughty 5 years old kid. He was very naughty and made a lot of mess around but you could do nothing to discipline him since you would lose your this high priced job. He do what he wanted just like before he named a very high price for the skill book. At first, he thought that, "Here we go again, this mindless rich person do what he want once more". That was why he tried to persuade the rich man. But, to his surprised, from what he had told him, the rich man seems to have analyze everything in such a short time. The analysis that the rich man made was very thorough that it made Kemdall could not help but believed. However, Kemdall quickly got rid of that thought, there was no way that this man could do such thing. He just spouted what he had thought. Kemdall firmly believe this. But, he could do nothing since he was the boss, he could only comply with the command and just prepared to make a report for the man''s father. "Okay, as what you have heard before, you will get 150 golds for this epic skill book." Kemdall purposely raised his volume. "Now, as my boss is very happy, he just spent 150 golds for an epic skill book that this friend has brought. He want to give thanks to this friend since he has make him happy. That is why we will conclude today''s buying and continue tomorrow. All of you can leave this place." Kemdall once again announced loudly and intentionally pointed out the 150 golds and epic skill book. Of course, this announcement raised a lot of discussion and noised around the area. A lot of people disappointed as it was not them that get this privilege. Some of them regretted not present item more valuable. But, all of this didn''t matter to the rich man, as he walked towards Auron with a bag of money in his hand. Chapter 120 Shallow Lake 1 "Hey, here is you money. Come, let us talkfor a few minutes. I want to know you more." The rich man said that. Auron grabbed the money and furrowed his brows. After he was betrayed, he became more careful especially with this kind of approached. "There seems something fishy about this. He evens pay me more that what it should be. Now, he wanted to talk to me." Auron thought in his mind. The rich man saw Auron furrowed his brows, "Oh yes, I have not introduced myself. My name is Jaden. Nice to meet you! And, beside me is Kemdall. He was my aide assigned by my father." Jaden offered his hand offering a handshake. Seeing the hand waiting for him to accept the handshake, Auron could not help but became more careful. Ignoring the handshake, Auron said, "My name is Smiling Wizard." Auron still became careful, when Jaden introduced himself with his real life name, Auron only gave out his character name. Continuing, "Sorry, but I don''t have time to talk right now. My friends is waiting for me to continue the hunting. I just dropped by to replenish my potion supply when I saw your stall." "Whoopsie, I understand. No problem with that, maybe tomorrow we can talk a bit?" Jaden kept on pestering Auron to talk with him. [Spring of Gold sent you a friend Request] "Accepted my friend request so we can arranged it anytime." Jaden sent out a friend request. Auron accepted this friend request as he though it would be rude to decline it when he already received the money from the overpriced skill book. "Okay, I will contact you if I have time tomorrow." "No worries, just finish your business first. I just hope that you will contact me as soon as possible." Jaden assured Auron smilingly. Auron prepared to leave the area with a lot of money in his pocket. Jaden did not leave it just like that as he escorted Auron until he left the market area. [Chile Pep sent you a friend Request] Only a few step out of the market area, Auron received another friend request. Auron wanted to ignored it before the person sent him a whispered, "Hello, I am Kemdall, Jaden must have introduced you about me. Just ignored his ignorance and invitation from before. Take the money and forget everything. Oh yeah, can you accepted my friend request and tell me when he contact you?" "Interesting" One word popped out in Auron''s mind after he saw Kemdall''s message. The boss was very friendly to him while the aide was this rude to his boss and him, there must be something interesting going on here. However, Auron did not care about all of this as he decline Kemdall''s friend request. He kept on walking to the potion store as he received another friend request and message from Kemdall. Auron kept on declining the request. After three more friend request and message, finally, Kemdall gave up and just gave Auron one last message, "Do not forget to ignore Jaden''s nonsense!" [Step Heaven sent you a friend Request] [Scrooge Silk sent you a friend Request] ... A few seconds after that, a series of friend requests and messages bombarded Auron. All of them had just 1 main thing in their message, all of them know Auron just got a huge amount of money, so they offered Auron to buy their items or asked Auron to sell out his item to them and they promised that the priced would not be low. At first Auron ignore them, however as the series of friend requests and messages kept on bothering him, he started get dizzy. He decided to block all of the incoming friend requests and set his message to only received messages from his friend list. Auron continued his journey towards the potion store smiling while carrying a lot of money in his pocket. Arriving at the potion store, he did not waste any time as he started to pick a lot of potion for his supply. He even buy some higher grade [Attack Potion]. 150 reduced quickly. However, this time, he didn''t spent all of the money. He kept a few golds left as emergency. With abundant potion in his inventory, he was confident to raise his level to level 50. Before he met Jaden, he already pessimistic towards his hunting speed. Since, before, he was nearly failed to clear out the orc''s camp, he decided to seek out another nearby hunting ground first until he get to level 50, before coming back to the orc''s camp. Sadly, his equipment''s loot only sold for some few gold coins, so he could only seek out the relatively easier hunting place which did not require a lot of potion and hope to get a rare loot so he could move to a better hunting ground. However, with Jaden''s strange kindness, Auron could skip the lower hunting ground and move to better hunting ground. And, Auron already had one in his mind, Shallow Lake. Shallow Lake was quite far from Gancit. It was farther than Orc''s Camp. However, in Shallow Lake, there was not countdown thing like in the Orc''s Camp. It was rather safe for both of Auron''s character than the Orc''s camp since Auron''s firepower not yet enough to quickly killed the orc in the camp. After Auron exit the potion store, he went to where his swordsman character was waiting. Auron actually just let the swordsman character waiting him near the entrance of the city. Both of them immediately set out of the city toward their new destination, Shallow Lake. Their departure was not missed from the eyes of the two gossiper from before, "Look, that friend from before set out again. This time with a companion." "See what I told you before. He must have been abandoned by his teammate before and now he look for another companion to accompany him. From the look, his companion was around the same level as him. It looks like they are going to the lower level hunting area around Gancit." Chapter 121 Shallow Lake 2 Auron, accompanied by his swordsman character, walked forward until they arrived at an intersection. There were three roads ahead, northwest, west, and east. The northwest road leads to the orc''s camp before. While the west road leads to the destination before he met with Jaden which was easier hunting spot than where he headed right now. Since Auron decided to go to Shallow Lake, naturally, he took the east road which leads to where he wanted. Along the way Auron walked slowly and was not in rush. The distance was farther than when you went to orc''s camp. [Horrendous Rose] (common monster) Level: 58 HP: 80000/80000 MP: 5000/5000 Skills: Entangle, Life Drain Description: Beware a mutated rose!! It became frightening despite cannot move. It can sap your life and replenished its health and also it is not alone. It took Auron for 30 minutes to arrived at a certain place where he spotted his first monster from his trip. As Shallow Lake was an open field, there were no border indicating the area. So, the player decided to make the Shallow Lake''s area started from where they met the first monster. Which was where Auron was where right now. Although it was included as the Shallow Lake''s area, however, it was only considered as the outer area of the Shallow Lake. The reason was because the difference in the monster''s level was visible. The deeper one went inside the area the higher the level of the monster. There were three area of Shallow Lake, the outer area, inner area, and the core area. The monster in the outer area only ranged from 50 to 64. While the monster in the inner area ranged from 65 to 75. As the core area the monster level ranged from 76 to 89. And, Auron''s goal was, of course, the core area. Of course, all the other player, who hunted at this place, goal was the core area. The reason was because the outer and the inner area was not to good as a hunting place. There were many hunting place far better that the outer and the inner area of the Shallow Lake. The experience from the monster was not to good. But, the main reason was there were many monster that spawn as a group and the place they were spawned was very close to each other. If one not careful enough enough they could aggroed more than one group at a time that could bring disaster to the group. Moreover, the spawned time was fast. If they could not killed the group in time, another group would spawned. When they finished the group that had just spawned another, if they were slow, another group would spawned. As this continues, it would feel like they were killing the monster endlessly. Although the outer and the inner area was not so popular but many still had to come here. As if they wanted to go to the core area they needed to go through the outer and inner area. Auron spotted the monster which now he knew that he had just entered the outer area of the Shallow Lake. As it had told in the description of the monster, the monster could not move at all. So, there was a proper tank they could just passed the group without killing the monster at all. After all, like it was told in the description, the monster was not alone. Usually there would, two or three monster near that. So, a tank should be able to hold the damage from more than 3 monster at a time. As Auron''s swordsman did not have a good equipment, he could not do that. Maybe, he could hold 3 or 4 monster''s attack at a time. But, more than that it was hard. Auron decided to kill the monster as he believed that he could kill the monster easily. He also believed this was easier than if he decided to break through without killing anything. [Horrendous Lily] (common monster) Level: 60 HP: 84000/84000 MP: 8000/8000 Skills: Entangle, Life Drain Description: Beware a mutated Lily!! It became frightening despite cannot move. It can sap your life and replenished its health and also it is not alone. [Horrendous Daisy] (common monster) Level: 57 HP: 78000/78000 MP: 2000/2000 Skills: Entangle, Life Drain Description: Beware a mutated Daisy!! It became frightening despite cannot move. It can sap your life and replenished its health and also it is not alone. Auron looked at the surrounding, and he found there were two more monsters beside the first one. As the monster took form as a plant, it was hard to distinguished between the mutated monster and the real plant. Auron took out his weapon. He started to attack. Learning from before when he was at the orc''s camp, this time, he didn''t just stayed at the back instead he also went up in front. A fire was form in his hand. As a plant, fire was his nemesis. So, when the fire landed on the plant, the damage it took multiplied by 1.5 times. If the plant could talk, he would definitely shrieked. While his mage character fight with one of the monster, his swordsman character was engaging battlewith two of the monster. Auron easily took out the monster in no time. He already could defeat the orc which was way more high leveled that this plant, so of course this monster was no issue for him. Moreover, with his fire element spell, the damage he produced multiplied by a lot. Auron smoothly progressed in his journey. Slowly but sure, he went deeper through the area. The distance from one area to another area was also far which was why it took long time for him to reach the inner area. Moreover, he was being careful, so not to fight a lot of monster at the same time, so he could save his potion until he reached the core area. After another hour of walking, he arrived at the border between the outer area and the inner area. Chapter 122 Shallow Lake 3 -1099. A red damage floated above Auron''s head. Instead of running away, Auron swung down his dagger towards the enemy. Meanwhile, Auron''s swordsman character also helped by swinging down his swords. A [Fire Ball] also blasted the enemy. A series of damage floated above the enemy''s head. And, finally the [Fire Ball] managed to reap the rest of the enemy''s health. The enemy roared as he was fell down to the ground. A monster with the same form as a sabretooth tiger laid down on the ground before it disappeared and replaced by a bunch of item on the ground. Auron just defeated one of the monster in inner area [Ferocious Tiger]. A yellow light shone around Auron''s surrounding. His level raised once more. After he was arrived at the border between the outer and inner area, Auron had walked for another hour. The journey was not a peace one, instead he met with a lot of tiger like the enemy he had killed before. Luckily, although the monster was stronger than the monster in outer area, they were not spawn in a group. It made Auron and his other character didn''t have to rush when defeating a monster. They could calmly move and killed the enemy. With such calm in his mind, he save a lot of potion. The downside for the monster in the inner area was their experience. The monster was stronger than the monster in the outer area, but the experience they gave only slightly above the outer area''s monster. However, although the experience was not a lot, since Auron was under leveled that the monster in the area, he could still feel the raised in his experience. Sadly, he needed four times more experience point than normal player to get a level. Despite the experience point he needed, during the journey from the entrance of the Shallow Lake until now, Auron already raised 4 levels. Auron walked up to the tiger''s carcass, he took up the loot and putted it in his inventory. Then, he opened up his status window and allocate his attributes. [Smiling Wizard] Level: 47 Exp: 0,1% Hp: 10200/10200 Mp: 15000/15000 Strength: 96 Agility: 96 Vitality: 51 Intelligence: 100 Dexterity: 95 Luck: 50 Elemental Understanding: Fire: 1% Attribute point: 0 After Auron leveled up, his health and mana point was fully replenish. He was pretty satisfied with his attributes as he had some of his attribute from a quest which was a rare occurrence. At his low level right now, he already got 15 permanent attributes. No other player had such luxury like Auron. The average player got a permanent attribute from quest or item when they were level 300. Even for the most luckiest player, they only got 3 permanent attributes when they were at level 150. As for Auron''s character before, hegot his first permanent attribute when he was level 342 from a quest. Even thoughAuron already spent one hour in the inner area, he was still halfway through the inner area. One of the reason was, of course, because Auron took his time each time he fight with a monster. The other reason was the terrain. There were many uphill roads. Auron continued his journey to the core area. Just as he was about move, he heard a bustling sound around the bush to the northwest of his place. Auron''s interest piqued. He guessed that it was a monster. As his intention coming to this place was to level up, he could not disregards any monster he met. Auron walked up slowly to the northwest of his place. What he found surprised him, it was a huge tiger. It was bigger than any other tiger around the area. Also, it looked more ferocious than any other tiger. [Sadist Tigress] (uncommon boss monster) Level: 78 HP: 590000/590000 MP: 10000/10000 Skills: Summon tiger, Beast''s Roar, Berserk Description: A female Tigress. It is very ferocious and sadist. It has high speed, high defense, and high damage. "A boss monster!" Auron thought. Auron looked at the vicinity of the area. It was empty. A nice place to fight with the monster. Auron was afraid that his fight would attract another monster in the area. Fortunately, there was no monster in the area, so he could fight with the monster peacefully. Made up his mind, Auron went forward to fight with the monster. His swordsman went up to the front and used [Bash] to open the fight. -821. A red damage floated above the tigress'' head. The damage was lower than when he attack ordinary tiger. If he attack ordinary enemy, he would produced more than thousand damage. ROAR!! The tigress roared as she got hit by the sword. She opened his mouth and tried to bite Auron''s swordsman as a counter attack. However, before the attack succeed, a dagger grazed her body followed by [Fire Blast] to her head. The [Fire Blast] managed to deviate the tigress attack and it made her attack missed the target. Missing the target, the tigress looked once more to Auron and launched another attack. However, this time, she didn''t directly attack Auron, instead she used her high speed and tried to attack Auron who was controlling his mage character. The tigress'' speed was so fast that it was almost like the tigress'' disappeared from his sight. With Auron''s high attributes, he barely managed to deduce the location of the tigress. This was the reason that this boss was not easy to fight. Many people even considered her, as powerful asboss in the core area, even though, she was roaming around the inner area. However, she still could be defeated if her speed was taken from her. Usually, a group of player would spent all of their effort to take that speed. Using all sort of movement restriction and stun skill, they would spent all of their effort in that area. There were even many groups that assigned more two players just to do that specific things, debuff the tigress. Chapter 123 Sadist Tigress 1 Auron who was only with his swordsman character didn''t have the privilege to assign one of them to debuff the tigress. Despite knowing this, Auron didn''t back down. He believed that he could still defeat the tigress with just the two of them. The tigress attack Auron who was at the back ignoring the swordsman in front of her. She raised her paw ad ready to swung it to Auron. Knowing the intention of the tigress, Auron had already prepared. Moreover, from all this time he played in the mage character he began to familiarize himself with the way of a mage played. As a mage, he had lower defense because of the equipment that a mage could use. A cloth type equipment would always had a lower defense than a heavy type equipment. But, the bright side was, the cloth type equipment didn''t hinder his speed like the heavy type equipment. Also, as a mage had to chant first before launching a spell, he had to prepared some spell in advance. If not, it would be late and he would be fall under a dangerous situation. When he played as a swordsman, he could overcame the dangerous situation. However, right now, he was playing a mage character, it was very hard to overcame a dangerous situation once he fall under it. So, to avoid a dangerous situation, he had prepared beforehand. Like, moving place after he launched an attack or chant a debuff spell or defensive spell as soon as he already launched an attack. Moreover, sometimes he was fighting in the front, which means he should to think faster and could not let his guard down before the enemy died. Fortunately, he had [Walking Chanting] skill which helped him a lot. A defensive spell launched, [Earth Wall] was picked as the terrain was more supportive for an earth based spell. A layer of sturdy wall sprout out from the ground. The wall managed to hinder the boss speed as the boss collided with the wall. However, it could not stopped the boss fully, as the boss was strong enough to destroy the wall. The wall managed to hinder the boss for a second. And, that one second was enough for Auron to move away from his spot to another spot. He didn''t just moving passively, instead he also chanted another spell, his most powerful debuff spell he could use right now, [Sloth]. A faint cold mist spread toward the surrounding with Auron at the center of the mist. The boss'' body who touched the mist became slower. As soon as the boss became slower, Auron moved to the spot behind his swordsman and chanted another attack spell. The swordsman moved up to the front and also used his [Force Impact] skill. The skill managed to push the slowed boss several steps back. The distance between the boss and Auron''s duo widen. It enough for Auron to finish chanting his spell before the boss could reached him. Contrary to their expectation, the boss didn''t directly move forward and attack them. Instead, the boss used his roar skill, it weaken Auron''s duo attribute and strengthen the boss. Then, the boss moved zig zag toward Auron''s duo. This time, she didn''t aimed at Auron who was at the back. She aimed toward the swordsman in the front. An attack spell was launched towards her. However, as she moved zig zag, the spell missed its target. As the tigress moved closer to the swordsman. The swordsman already launched another of his skill, [Wind Slash]. He aimed it towards the tigress and it managed to hit the tigress. - 790. A red number floated above the tigress'' head. A low number since the tigress'' roar already weaken their strength. The tigress continued her marched and swiped out his paw. -2310. The swordsman suffered an enormous damage. It reaped almost a quarter of his health. A quick helped had came, as an [Earth Spike] emerged from under the tigress'' body and aim her open belly from bottom. The tigress realized the attack and moved to the side. A critical damage was produced as the [Earth Spike] managed to only graze her body. The damage was not as high as a critical damage supposed to produce as the spike only grazed her body. The swordsman gulped his health potion to be safe, and started to launch another attack with his sword. Although, Auron''s skill could be used by both of his character, however the system could not do that. Once Auron observed his swordsman fighting style and asked the system on the reason why his swordsman did not used any mage spell as he already mastered [Walking Chanting]. The system replied made Auron realized another restriction for his "cheat". [The system could only controlled the specific skill from the character''s class it controlled] Which mean, when the system controlled Auron''s swordsman, it could only used the swordsman skill. On the other side, if the system controlled Auron''s mage, it could only used the mage skill. Only Auron had the privilege to used skill from both of his class whether he played his swordsman or mage character. This saddened Auron, but he still accepted it wholeheartedly since he feel that this "cheat" he got was still a fraudulence. From the attributes point he got from leveling his level was enough for him to consider this a fraudulence. As the tigress suffered another damage, she moved several steps and stared at Auron''s duo who was ready to launch another attack. A killing aura suddenly seeped out from the tigress. Auron knew this was the result of the tigress using another skill, [Berserk]. Auron felt fear as he knew berserk would raised the tigress'' speed and damage. Moreover, the most dangerous thing about this skill was it could overlapped with the effect of [Beast''s roar]. After launching the skill, she also marched forward toward the duo. The speed it produced was twice of what she showed before despite the [Sloth] effect. The tigress once again disappeared from both of their sight. Chapter 124 Sadist Tigress 2 A shadow leaped to their left. Then, a seconds later, they found the shadow already on their right. The tigress'' speed was too fast. Auron could only saw a shadow moving closer towards them. Fortunately, inside the inner area, there were many trees around. With many trees around, the tigress'' movement space was limited. In addition, there were many small branch and dried leaves on the ground. So, when the tigress moved around, it could not avoid to step on the branch and tree which produced sound. From the sound, although Auron only saw a sliver of shadow, he could faintly deduced the position of the tigress from the sound. However, the tigress'' speed still managed to put Auron''s duo at defensive position during this moment. The swordsman put up the sword in front of him so he can react quick when the tigress attack him. Meanwhile, Auron summon an [Earth Wall] in front of them as well as summon [Fire Wall] behind them. The tigress decided to broke through their back. A [Fire Wall] could not hinder her as she came forward with full speed from behind of them. A burnt smell could be smelled in the air. However, it didn''t stop the tigress from attacking. As a damage was floated above the tigress'' head, she was close enough to Auron. She opened up her mouth showing her long and sharp teeth. She jumped and aimed at Auron''s head. Auron didn''t go panic. As the swordsman came forward and bashed as hard as he could towards the tigress head from the side. He hoped to deviate the tigress'' attack like before. However, this time it was a failure, the tigress'' head still on the right track to bite Auron''s head. Auron already timed up the tigress'' attack and chanted a spell before. As the swordsman''s attack could not deviate the tigress'' attack to the side. Auron chanted an [Earth Spike]. A timed [Earth Spike] formed in a few second and thrusted the tigress'' head from below. It successfully hit the tigress'' head and managed to close her opened mouth. However, as the distance between the tigress and Auron was so close, also with the tigress'' speed, the tigress collided with Auron as if the tigress''s intention from the start was headbutting Auron. Auron and the tigress moved several meters together. -1229. Auron suffered damage from the collision. However, he could not think about that in this time. He quickly used his [Aqua Barrier]. A water barrier formed around Auron, as the tigress already stood up and gave Auron another bite. The swordsman quickly came to aid Auron. He [Charge] toward the tigress from behind. With the collision from behind, the tigress'' body went forward a bit. Auron, who was under the tigress with all of his might, using both of his hand and feet, he pushed the tigress up. The tigress body who was lifted up with the addition of the collision impact from the swordsman from behind made the tigress thrown behind Auron. However, the thrown didn''t manage to make the tigress fell as she could controlled her body and landed with four of her limbs on the ground. Auron who was on the ground, stood up to regain his position while the swordsman went up to the front and facing the tigress. Through the exchange, Auron''s duo managed to reduce 12% of the tigress'' health. The tigress leaped forward to attack once more. However, this time, there was some changed on the tigress as her roar''s buff and the [Sloth] debuff ended. With only, the buff from her berserk skill, the speed was not as quick as before. Auron could somehow followed the tigress'' position and blocked the tigress'' attack. The tigress'' continued to attack despite being attacked. While Auron calmly assessed the battled and taking turn in defense and attack covering each other. With the teamwork from both of his character, the tigress'' health started to reduce faster than before. Moreover, when the tigress'' health was at 80%, her berserk buff was ended. This slowed the tigress'' once more. With the normal speed of the tigress, Auron continued to chip the tigress'' health slowly. However, the tigress'' had a pretty high defense with made both of Auron''s duo had to exert more effort. After 10 minutes passed, the tigress'' had 49% of her health left. Meanwhile, on Auron''s side, they still had almost full health. The swordsman had 90% of his health while the mage had 99% of his health. Of course, all of this was thanks to the continuous consuming the potion. If not, both of them already dead a long time ago. At this time, the tigress used her summon skill and summon 3 tigers. The pressure felt by Auron''s duo raised. Both of them could not focused on just the boss or killed the summoned tigers first because if they choose either option, with the tiger''s speed, it was hard to keep track all of their position. Auron''s decided to used skill that produced area damage. Both of them threw all of their skill that had area of effect. From [Whirlwind Slash], to [Twister], then [Wind Slash],... Auron with the focus to control the situation chanted several debuff and defense spells, like [Weakness], [Earth Wall], etc. Sometimes, he also launched an area attack towards the enemy. Thanks to the potion supply, they managed to launch continuous skill that used mana. After several minutes battling, the summoned tigers managed to die one by one. From 3 tigers became two and lastly became one. Not all of them died at the same time since not all of the area damage skill produced the same damage. Some of them produced damage depending on the distance between the caster and the target. Now, there was only the tigress and one summoned tiger left. The summoned tiger had 8% of his health while the tigress still had 28% of her health left. Auron''s duo gulping another health potion and mana potion. Their health went almost to full once more. They were ready for the last round of their battle. Chapter 125 Sadist Tigress 3 "Attack!" Auron commanded his swordsman. The swordsman went forward raising his sword. This time, Auron took the initiative to attack first instead of waiting for the tigress to attack them. However, the tigress didn''t stay idle. She also leaped forward. With her paws, she deflected the swordsman''s sword away. Then, she opened up he mouth and wanted to bite the swordsman''s head. The swordsman tried to dodge her bite by moving to the side. But, he was one step slower. Although the bite didn''t manage to fully hit the swordsman, but her sharp teeth grazed the side of the swordsman''s head. Blood flowed down from the wound. Seeing her bite didn''t damage the target like it was supposed to, she followed up her attack using her paws. She raised up her limb and using all of her might pounced the swordsman. The paws struck the swordsman''s body and made the swordsman lose his balance. The swordsman tried his hard to balance his body so as he not fell down. It was hard his effort showed the result, he didn''t fell down. As he regain his balance, the tigress already launched another paws at him. He tried to block the paw with his swords. When the paw was so close to him, a [Wind Bolt] hit the paw and deflected the attack. The swordsman swung his sword down as hard as he can toward the deflected paw. -1892. A critical hit as the sword hit the paw. The tigress was in pain but quickly regained her composure and summoned her beast once more. 3 tigers appeared once more as the tigress summoned her. When they was about to attack, a faint cold mist showed up at the surrounding and slowed down the tigress and her summoned creature''s speed. Auron had chanted another [Sloth]. The skill cooldown had already ended, so he could not missed the chance to used it. The speed was slowed visibly. When the boss and the summoned tiger moved, Auron could kept up with all of their movement. "Since this was the case" Auron thought. Because he could kept track all of the slowed down tigers in front of them, he decided to kill the summoned tiger first. Auron moved up with the dagger in his hand. He targeted the nearest tiger first. With combined effort from Auron''s duo the summoned tiger quickly died one after another. Moreover, the slowed speed had brought them massive advantages. It took only 8 minutes for both of them to kill all of the summoned tigers. However, it was not with a damage. They also suffered some injuries from the tigress'' attack. But, it was insignificant as they spent no effort to heal it using health potions. Now, the tigress was left alone once more. They focused back their attack toward the tigress. Right now, the tigress speed had long gone back to normal. However, it was not a problem from Auron''s duo. With their teamwork, they could pushed the tigress down. They used the strategy they used when fighting with the Ace Orc Warrior before. They taking turned to attack and supported each other. 28%... 20%... 15%... 10%... The tigress'' health reduced at high speed. From the barrage of Auron''s duo attack the 10% health that the tigress had, in just a mere second went down to 9% and its kept going down. When the tigress'' had 3% of her health, she used her beast''s roar skill. Her strength went up while Auron''s duo strength plummeted down. Alas, it was to late. With just 3% of her health left, Auron didn''t care with their injuries as long as it was not a grave injuries. They kept on attacking the tigress ignoring the injuries they suffered from the tigress. At last, after another 3 minutes, the tigress roared her last roar as she fell down to the ground dead. With her dead, Auron''s experience point soared up, sadly, it didn''t enough to give Auron a level as his experience point stopped at 93%. Auron looked at the loot. There was no good items dropped from the boss. There were only several miscellaneous item with one level 75 common grade equipment. After all, an equipment will not always popped out from the boss. Auron looked at his potion supplies. He calculated the number of the potion he spent. It was massive. From his calculation, he actually suffered a loss. The loot he get from he started hunting in the Shallow Lake up until now could not amounted to the number of potion he used. And, the battle with the tigress before contribute 20% of the expenses he produced. Although, he suffered a loss in terms of wealth, but Auron didn''t disappointed. After all, his objective was to raise his level. Up until now, he already went up 4 level and a little bit more he would gain his fifth level. Fortunately, he still have a sufficient potion supplies to continue his journey to the core area. Moreover, he still had some back up money that he could used to buy another potion supply even if he suffered a great lose in this hunting session. Made up his mind, Auron and his swordsman character restore their health first before continue their journey to the core area. Along the way, they still met up with several tiger as their distance to the core area was not short. He arrived at the border of the inner area and core area after 20 minutes walking. It was a long journey from the outer area up to this core area, but it was a rewarding journey. He gain 4 levels and now, he experience point was at 99%. Another 1% and he would gained another level. This speed of leveling was hard to achieve if one didn''t hire adventurer group to power level them. But, Auron could achieve this all by himself. Only he could achieve this. Unfortunately, he didn''t have enough fund to buy equipment else he would soar quicker. Chapter 126 Core Area 1 Auron arrived at the side of a spacious lake. The lake was so large that it was impossible to see the other end of the lake from one side. The water inside the lake was clear that one could see the bottom of the lake. Also, as its name, the lake was shallow. Auron jumped to the lake. The water only took up until a little bit below to his knees. The water slowed his movement a little. However, since it was only a water, it was not as harsh as when he was in [Mud Swamp]. [Giant Alligator] (uncommon monster) Level: 81 HP: 135000/135000 MP: 20000/20000 Skills: Crunch Description: An alligator. Its body was so large that it can eat a cattle in one gulp. Beware of its teeth! [Giant Crocodile] (uncommon monster) Level: 83 HP: 180000/180000 MP: 25000/25000 Skills: Crunch Description: A crocodile. Its body was so large that it can eat a cattle in one gulp. It is more dangerous than an alligator. Beware of its teeth! [Poisonous Frog] (uncommon monster) Level: 77 HP: 120000/120000 MP: 0/0 Skills: None Description: A poisonous frog. It use it tongue to attack from range. Beware!! There is a 5% chance its attack inflict poison status. [Poisonous Toad] (uncommon monster) Level: 78 HP: 115000/115000 MP: 0/0 Skills: None Description: A poisonous toad. It use it tongue to attack from range. Beware!! There is a 5% chance its attack inflict poison status. The lake consist of these four types of monster. With two of them were a reptile and the other two were an amphibian. The reptiles were so big and it also like to roam around the lake. Meanwhile, the amphibian rarely moved around, they could stay at one spot for an hour before moving to another place. However, the amphibian had a strong poison. When Auron jumped inside the lake, the splash of water triggered the surrounding monster. They spotted Auron and directly attack their prey. Two [Giant Alligator] were coming towards Auron''s duo. Their speed was as fast as a humans running. In no time, both of the alligators already arrived near Auron. One of the alligator jumped up and wanted to bite Auron''s swordsman while the other one tried to attack Auron''s mage. Both of them immediately lifted their weapon to block the incoming alligator''s attack. Their sword and dagger blocked the attack from the alligator, however they were pushed back a little. It was thanks to their high strength else they would already fell down to the water. With a little push they neutralized the alligator''s attack. Auron''s duo immediately took action, They used [Weapon''s aura] their own weapon. They also gulped an [Attack Potion] each. With the strengthen of their power, they confident that they could defeat the alligator easily although their level was lower. -921. A damage floated as Auron''s swordsman swung down his sword towards the alligator. Since the alligator''s body was large, it was easy to target. The alligator''s bleed but it ignored its injuries and counter attacked Auron''s swordsman. It opened again its large mouth and targeted Auron''s swordsman''s hand. Seeing this, Auron supported the swordsman from the side, he slashed out his dagger upward to the alligator''s mouth. Before the alligator could bite the hand, the dagger already landed on the alligator''s mouth and successfully change the attack''s trajectory. The alligator hit the swordsman''s body. Meanwhile, the other alligator already aimed toward Auron''s leg. [Dash]. Auron used dash to dodge the bite aiming his leg and moved away. MISS. the alligator missed the target. However, it didn''t stop there. It swung his tail towards the swordsman. The swordsman had to jump to dodge the tail. Now, the swordsman was in 2 vs 1 situation. Auron who was using [Dash] before, came back and helped the swordsman. It was no surprise as the alligator was an uncommon monster with a little bit more intelligence than a common monster. When Auron dodge the attack using the [Dash] and moved away, instead of chasing Auron, the alligator pressured the swordsman in 2 vs 1 situation. It was difficult for the swordsman to cope with the situation. In that short moment, the swordsman failed to block the other alligator''s attack as he was still in the air from dodging the other alligator''s tail. One attack from the alligator already reaped 1/7 of the swordsman''s health. It was a dangerous moment. Fortunately, the situation didn''t last long as Auron''s already came back to helped him. Auron used his [Wind Bolt] as well as [Bash] toward one of the alligator from the back. Two damages floated above the alligator, it also managed to move the alligator aggro from the swordsman to him. The swordsman gulped a health potion and continued to fight with one of the alligator. The situation turned back to one on one situations. The battle continued for another 4 minutes before one of the alligator died while the other one had a low health left. After one of the alligator died, Auron''s experience soared. However, it was not enough for him toleveled up. He needed to kill this leftover alligator to level up. With one alligator left, it was easy for them to kill it. Not long after, the [Giant Alligator] died. The large body of the alligator stopped moving and turned grey. A yellow light surrounded both of Auron''s character which showed that they were leveled up to level 48. Auron allocated his attributes point and went forward to take up the loot before they were looking for another monster. Not far from their place, Auron spotted a [Poisonous Frog] alone. As it was alone, Auron decided to move to the frog. The frog also felt Auron''s duo presence coming towards him. However, it didn''t move closer or moved away instead it waited patiently as Auron''s duo came to him. When Auron was in the attack range of the frog, the frog opened up its mouth and lengthen its tongue attacking Auron''s duo. Since it was only one attack, the swordsman went forward and blocked it with his sword easily. Chapter 127 Core Area 2 The attack was blocked by the swordsman. However, the frog didn''t bother to move as he pulled his tongue back preparing to launch second attack. Auron''s duo who managed to block the attack didn''t stay idle. They also went forward quickly using the chance when the frog was pulling its tongue to went forward safely. When the frog launched its second attack, Auron already close enough to the frog. With a little swayed to the side to dodge the tongue attack, Auron and the swordsman swung down their weapon toward the frog. The frog could be considered as a weak creatures here. The reason was because they didn''t have any initiative to dodge any incoming attack. What makes the frog dangerous was the fact that its attack have a chance to inflict poison status. Moreover, the frog attack from far away. If there was a [Giant Crocodile] or [Giant Alligator] up in front of the frog to tank it, the danger level would risen significantly. However, what Auron''s duo faced right now was a lonely frog. No danger could be felt from this one frog. Quickly, the frog died as a result from Auron''s duo bombardment. Auron''s duo didn''t even receive any damage from the frog. Auron looked again to the side and he found another two [Giant Crocodile] and went to chase them. Minutes by minutes passed by. It was already 5 hours since Auron fight against the first two [Giant Alligator] in the core area. From the 5 hours, he already raised a level to level 49. One more level and his mage character could wear the rare grade equipment set. He was excited as he continue to hunt more. His experience raised little by little closer to level 50. However, the excitement didn''t last long, he was in a dangerous situation right now. As he dived deeper to the middle of the lake, the monster quantity raised. -1230. The swordsman used [Bash] towards one of [Giant Crocodile] in front of him. The [Giant Crocodile] turned grey, dead, as a result of the skill and several item popped out from the disappearing carcass. However, Auron could not looted the item. There were still many monster surrounding the duo. At first, Auron found a [Giant Crocodile] and a [Poisonous Toad]. He believed that he could defeated both of them safely. They engaged in battle. When the [Giant Crocodile] had only halves of his health left, an unfortunate event occurred. Two [Giant Alligator] spawned near their battle. The two newly spawned [Giant Alligator] immediately went to ''help'' their friend in dire state. Both of them went to fight with Auron''s duo. Seeing two new incoming enemies, Auron''s duo quickly gulped an [Attack Potion] and quickly killed the halves health [Giant Crocodile]. It was intense battle. Auron''s duo had to face a [Giant Crocodile], and two [Giant Alligator]. Also, they needed to dodge the attack from the [Poisonous Toad] at the back. Finally, the [Giant Crocodile] died, Auron went up to the next enemy. Each one of them fight against one [Giant Alligator]. Auron dodged the alligator bite that aiming towards him. Then, he counter attack. With a dagger in his hand, Auron thrust his dagger forward. He aimed the alligator''s body. Ignoring the dagger, the alligator swipe its tail towards Auron. Jumped. Auron jumped to dodge the incoming tail. In midair, he prepared to stab down his dagger to the alligator once more. -1080. A damage float above Auron''s head. He was attacked. His balance was off. However, he managed to regain it and safely landed. He was attacked from behind. He move away several step from the alligator and went to look at the direction the attack was coming. A [Poisonous Frog] had joined the fight. And, it managed to sneak attack Auron from behind while he was dodging the alligator''s tail. -210. Another damage floated above Auron''s head. It was the damage from poison status. "Damn it, out of all this time." Auron cursed. From 5 hours of hunting, he already received the attack from [Poisonous Frog] or [Poisonous Toad] numerous times. However, no poison status inflicted. And now, when he was in an intense battle, he had to receive this poison status. There were many effect of poison status. For example, there were that damage for a fix number for a period of time. There were also that inflict negative buff on top of the damage. What Auron suffered right now was poison which damage for a fix percentage for a period of time. Auron would suffered 2% of his full health as poison damage every seconds for 1 minutes. 2% of Auron full health was 210. And, it lasts for 60 seconds which mean, if he didn''t take any antidote, he would received 12600 damage. It was enough for him to die. Luckily, from the 5 hours hunt before, some [Poisonous Frog] and [Poisonous Toad] dropped the antidote for the poison. Auron took out the antidote and immediately gulped the antidote. The poison status disappear.However, it already last 4 seconds so he already suffered 840 damage just from the poison. Now, he knew there was another [Poisonous Frog] joined the battle, he became more aware. Auron focused back towards the closest enemy, the alligator. The alligator already launched another tail swipe towards Auron. Auron jumped once more. And, just like before, the [Poisonous Frog] launched his attack with his tongue. This time, Auron released his [Fire Bolt] to repel the tongue. As he was went down from the jumped, he stabbed down his dagger to the alligator. The [Fire Bolt] repelled the tongue damage and Auron''s dagger hit the alligator''s body. However, it was not enough to kill the alligator. Auron followed up his attack with a slash toward the alligator as well as a [Wind Bolt]. It took several minutes before Auron killed his [Giant Alligator]. Auron looked up at his swordsman. The swordsman was in an okay condition. He still had 60% of his health while the [Giant Alligator] he faced, only had 10% of its health left. Chapter 128 Core Area 3 The swordsman brandished his swords towards the incoming [Giant Alligator]. Then, he kicked the [Giant Alligator] trying to push the alligator back with his feet. However, the alligator only moved back an inch. The alligator became more aggressive, opened its mouth and tried to bite the swordsman. With this short range, the swordsman need to react quick, so he chose to move away several step back. He moved back and made the alligator''s bite missed its target. Then, he raised his sword vertically in front of his chest. A long tongue aimed at his chest. However, before it hit his chest, the sword he raised before, blocked the tongue. As the tongue was pulled by the owner, the [Giant Alligator] already in front of the swordsman and tried to launched another attack. A [Fire Bolt] hit the alligator''s mouth from side. The alligator ignored the pain and opened its mouth wide wanted to eat the swordsman alive. However, the swordsman already dodged to the side and used a skill with his sword. Auron who already arrived at the scene tanked up the alligator while the swordsman took out a health potion. Auron slashed out his dagger and took up enemy''s attention. Another attack from the [Poisonous Toad] came once again. This time, the swordsman moved up and blocked the attack midway. After blocking the attack, the swordsman ignored the toad and worked together with Auron to face the alligator. In 2 vs 1 situation the alligator could not do much. In addition, with only less than 10% of its health left, the alligator quickly died under the cooperation between Auron''s duo. "All of the alligator died. Now, it is time to kill the annoying toad. Hopefully there is no monster spawn nearby." Auron thought. Then, he commanded his swordsman to kill the first [Poisonous Toad]. There was two enemies left, [Poisonous Toad] and [Poisonous Frog]. Auron decided to kill the toad first since it was closer. Just like the first frog they faced, it kept attack them, however it didn''t move anywhere as Auron''s duo came closer. The swordsman blocked the attack from the [Poisonous Frog] while Auron blocked the attack from [Poisonous Toad]. After blocking the incoming attack, both of them advanced toward their marked enemy, [Poisonous Toad]. Auron''s duo quickly killed the [Poisonous Toad] before moving onto their next target. No big effort was needed for killing the toad and the frog. Without any tanker in front of them, they were weak as long as the attack could be blocked. Collecting all of the loot from the battle before, Auron''s duo rested up a bit. The battle before was so intense that they needed to spent a lot of effort. Auron looked up his experience point, it was 30% filled. There was still a long way to go. If it was another player, this 30% was enough for them to get another level. After resting a bit, Auron looked up another monster. He needed 70% more experience point before he could equipped the set. This urged didn''t make Auron became careless, instead he became more careful, else he would face another intense battle like before. Auron moved up towards north east. Moving several steps, he saw a bunch of crocodiles and alligators several meters in front of him. "No, this can''t do" Auron could not fight with that many enemies yet. He didn''t want to waste too many health potion with a high chance to die. He shook his head and decided to look another place. He moved east from his spot. A [Giant Alligator] was in sight alone. Auron immediately went and killed that [Giant Alligator] then he looked for another enemies. Right now, he was like a bully that searching for a weaker prey to bully. If he saw a stronger group of enemies, he would avoid it and looked at another place. When he found a weaker enemy or at least as strong as him, he would grinned widely and ''bully'' them. Fortunately, when they was hunting, there was no unwanted monster spawn near them. This ensure their hunting to be safer and no such intense battle occurred. -992. A [Giant Crocodile] died as a result of Auron''s [Fire Bolt]. After several hours hunting, he was close to level up to level 50. With this last [Giant Crocodile], his experience point soared full. He was leveling up. An excitement feeling surged inside Auron. He was so excited. At last, he could threw this crappy equipment and tasted a rare grade equipment set. Auron took all of the loot from the last [Giant Crocodile]. Then, both of his characters used up a [Return Scroll]. A blue light warped Auron''s duo and a progress showed up in front of them. When the progress bar was full, they disappeared from their previous place. When they regained their consciousness, they already arrived at Miderian. "Crap! I forget to change save point." Auron cursed as he transferred back to Miderian instead of Gancit. A disappointed look showed on Auron''s face when he thought that he needed to pay sum of money to used the teleportation portal once more. But, that disappointed look didn''t last long as excitement filled his heart once more. Now, he could change his mage''s crappy equipment. Auron unequipped his equipment and quickly change to Esitem set he gained before. After changing the equipment, he felt more powerful. His appearance become more powerful as he equipped the set. There was only one thing that looked contrast from his appearance, his weapon staff. Auron rarely used staff as his weapon, so his staff''s level and grade was so low. Fortunately, his dagger was not too shabby. Auron''s duo went up to the teleportation portal and paid up money to teleport back to Gancit. "Now, with this equipment, I can challenge the Orc''s camp once more." Auron grinned. As he arrived at Gancit, he believed that he could easily clear the Orc''s small camp. He went out of the teleportation portal. The first thing he did after went out of the teleportation portal was changing his save point to Gancit. Chapter 129 Back to Orcs Camp 1 Since he was in a town, he went to sold all of his loots and replenished his potion supply. After that, he didn''t waste any more time and dashed out of the town. His destination was Orc''s Camp. They walked past the entrance of the town. After few minutes walked they arrived at the intersection before. This time, he chose the path which leads to Orc''s camp. In no time, Auron arrived at the vicinity of the orc''s camp. He didn''t waste any time as he dashed out to the nearest small orc''s camp. He was eager to test out his new equipment. Tringg.. A countdown timer popped out as he stepped inside the small orc''s camp area. This time, the camp''s layout was different from before. Before, the boss was in the middle of the camp, but this time, the boss was at the innermost part of the camp. Moreover, the layout of the camp this time was very structured. The building was designed such in a way that there was only one path. Which mean, to fight with the boss, Auron had to kill all of the orcs inside the camp. Just like before, there was two guards at the entrance of the camp. Auron''s duo immediately fight with both of the orcs. -1702. As the fire bolt Auron chanted hit one of the orc, a red damage floated above the orcs head. -802. A damage also appeared above the head of the other orc as a result of the sword from his swordsman. There was a massive difference between the damage produced by magic attack and physical attack. This was the result of the equipment. Auron''s physical damage also improved since his attributes had gone up from leveling up but the difference was not too much. Meanwhile, the magic damage was improved a lot as the result of the equipment. This was greatly contributed to the fact that the equipment was a set for magical class which raised a lot of intelligence compared to the strength. In addition the set bonus also give additional intelligence for Auron. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Auron felt ecstatic seeing the result. He believed with this new power, he could cleared out the camp. Auron took out his dagger and moved to the front while using [Walking Chanting]. As his magic damage was the stronger one, he didn''t want to waste any seconds. Both of them fight with one orc each. A series of damage floated above the orc''s head as the fight continues. Although the equipment set was intended for magical class, however, since Auron and his swordsman shared the same attributes, his swordsman also enjoyed the benefit. The swordsman''s health and mana also improved. With more health, the swordsman could do more risky thing. In no time, the orcs died. The orc who face Auron died first. Then, Auron went to help the swordsman to finish his orc. The speed they killed one orc was tripled. Since there was a countdown timer, Auron decided to do some speed run test. They immediately continue they hunting. As they went through the only path in the camp, dozens of orc''s carcass was left behind by them. It was like a massacre. Experience point by experience point continued filled Auron''s experience point pool. Auron''s duo was like a death god for the orc. Wherever, they went, several orc''s carcasses would be produced. There was no orcs strong enough to stopped them. A group of 3 orcs went fight with Auron''s duo only to die. Then, 5 orcs went up to eradicate Auron, but it was futile. They also died. Actually this sight was not new. Many of current player could also produced such sight. What made this somehow amazing was the fact that the player who done this was just level 50. Well, it was not a player but two level 50 players. But, it was still amazing. Unfortunately, no other player could know about this fact. In slightly less than 5 minutes Auron already arrived at the boss of this camp, [Ace Orc''s Warrior]. A notification also appeared in front of both of them. [Your party have cleared all the orcs except the leader in this camp. If your party could kill the camp leader before the times run out, your party will received bonus experience points] Not wasting time, Auron''s duo engaged in battle with the boss. A fire hit the boss followed by a sword attack. The boss was pushed by the sheer power of Auron''s duo. The boss roared calling out his subordinate. A group of summoned orcs spawned beside the boss. The summoned monster attack Auron''s duo. With less quantity, the pressure around Auron risen up. However, it was not much as both of them divided the responsibility. The swordsman would be up at front fighting against the boss and several summoned orcs. Meanwhile, Auron would kill the summoned monster one by one. With improved health and the help of health potion, the swordsman could endure the bombardment until Auron managed to kill all of the summoned monster. The process was quick. The boss was one step late as he used his roar''s skill. If he was quicker, the summoned orcs would also received the roar''s buff. Only the boss would enjoyed the roar''s buff while Auron''s duo suffered the debuff. However, the debuff didn''t affect much of Auron''s duo fighting capability much. As the battle continues, the boss slowly pushed. Moreover, after the roar''s buff skill ended, the boss was pushed even more. [Fire Bolt] came out from Auron moved towards the boss. Auron aimed at the boss''s head. It was a clean hit as the boss was distracted by the swordsman''s movement. -1620. -820. ROOOAARRR. The boss screamed out as he slumped to the ground dead. A gold chest and several loots popped out above the boss'' carcass. However, it was not nothing compared to the notification Auron got. [Congratulations! Your party wiped out the orc''s camp before the timer ended. Bonus experience will be divided equally to all of party''s member]. Chapter 130 Back to Orcs Camp 2 The scenery around them slowly vanished one by one as they cleared out the orc''s camp. From the boss'' carcass to the other orc''s carcasses. Then, the building followed to vanished one by one. As the orc''s camp became a barren flat land, a blue light surrounded Auron''s duo. Auron''s experience slowly went up before stopping at 39%. From the battle in the camp, after whipping out all of the monster including the boss, Auron''s duo got 25% experience point. Then, the bonus experience given by the system was half of that which means 12.5% experience point. The 12.5% experience supposed to be divided equally among the party''s member. The swordsman and Auron would get 6.25% experience point each. However, since Auron and his swordsman shared the same experience pool, Auron get all of 12.5% experience point. In total, from this raid in the orc''s small camp, Auron got a whole 37.5% experience point. It was a huge amount, considering he needed four times experience point than ordinary player. Right now, Auron is happy because of the experience not because the loot he get. However, despite the loot was not much compared to other hunting ground, he still collect all of the loot. He needed a lot of money to provide both of his characters. Moreover, he chose to hunt at the place surpass his level which means he needed more potion supplies than others. After collecting all of the loot from the boss and the gold chest, Auron looked and calculated what he got. And, as what he had expected, even if he sold all of the loot he got from this, it could not cover his potions expenses from the hunt before. No rare item or equipment he got like the one he got the first time he hunted here. It was no wonder he suffered loss in terms of gold. But, Auron was still happy. The loss was not as much as what he expected since he used new set equipment which made him stronger. Also, the experience point he got could not be measured with gold. Auron focused back on his hunting. He put all of the happiness he felt at the back of his head and focused once more. Then, he immediately went to the neighbor camp. The layout of the camp this time was different from the last one. The boss was located at the east of the camp. Auron could choose to directly went to the boss and conquered the camp. But, he choose not to. The reason was none other than the bonus experience. He became stronger thanks to the rare grade mage equipment set he wore right now. Thanks to the equipment, now, he could easily cleared out a camp even though he still used some of the potions, but he would not gone under a dangerous situation. There was no way he would missed the chance to get the bonus experience. Auron cleared out the south part of the camp since the entrance was at the southern part. Then, he purposely going to the west part of the camp first before going to the north. Lastly, he went to the east part of the camp. After ensuring that he already kill all of the orcs inside the camp beside the boss, through the system notification, he went up and challenged the boss. And, just like before, the boss could be defeated by the duo. After picking all of the loot, Auron went up to the next neighbor camp. At this new camp, the boss was waiting near the center of the camp. And, Auron chose not to fight with it until he kill all of the others orcs in the camp. Fortunately, everything going to the right way. He cleared out the other orcs until he got the system notification. Then, he challenged up the boss. After this third raid, he gained a level. It was all thanks to the bonus experience he could gained a level in such a short time. "This is it! This is why the orc''s camp was a popular hunting ground back then." After clearing the camp, Auron was excited. The bonus experience he gained right now could not be compared to when he hunted here. The reason was because, back then, he needed to be in a party of 3 up to 5 players to clear the small orcs camp which cause the experience point he got was divided. Even though, he was stronger than before thanks to the equipment set, Auron still careful on his hunting. After clearing each camp, he would checked out his potion supplies before continuing the hunt. He didn''t want to be in a situation where he ran out of potion when he really needed one. "There were still enough potion to raid another two small camps" Auron thought. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Since he could cleared out the orc''s small camp rather easy, Auron wanted to raise the difficulty. He wanted to challenged up the orc''s medium camp. Unfortunately, after checking his potion, Auron felt that the potion he had not enough to raid a medium camp. A medium camp difficulty was different from the small camp. It was more difficult since the orcs there would had higher level than the small camp. Moreover, the camp''s leader he needed to kill was not like the one in the small camp. The boss in small camp could not be compared with the boss in the medium camp. Auron didn''t want to take the risk of dying. Which was why he put down the idea to raid medium camp with his current condition. Instead, he went up to another small camp near him. With the amount of potion he had now, he still could raid two more small camp. Auron decided it that way. He would raid another two small camps before he went back to Gancit and replenished his potion supplies. After that, he would try to challenge the medium camp. Chapter 131 Preparation [Congratulations! Your party wiped out the orc''s camp before the timer ended. Bonus experience will be divided equally to all of party''s member] A massive experience point flowed to Auron''s duo. However, it was not enough for them to gain a level. Auron had already went through another two small camps. And, after clearing two camps, he still not gain enough experience to level up. Surprisingly, he still got a little bit of health potions left while he still got a fourth of his mana potions left from when he first started went to hunt here. However, the number still not enough to afford him to raid another small camps. He still could take the risk to try but he didn''t want to do it. Auron''s duo used return scroll and went back to Gancit. As his view became cleared, Auron directly went to buy some potion supplies from the NPC store. "It looks like I needed to upgrade my swordsman''s equipment." Auron thought while he was looking at his swordsman equipment. Auron looked at his swordsman''s equipment and found that the equipment was pretty old. Moreover, it was the equipment that he got from hunting. He felt that it needs an upgrade. Auron looked out at the city''s market, but he could not find any suitable equipment for his swordsman since it was pretty difficult to look for level 50 equipment at this stage of the game. In addition, Gancit was a hunting place for player above level 60. Auron decided to go to the NPC''s equipment store. Then, he bought a set common equipment for his swordsman. Of course, the quality was not a good one since it was from NPC. However, it was better that his swordsman''s equipment right now. Moreover, the set bonus gives Auron more attributes. [Carapace Mail] (common grade equipment) Type: Body - Upper Requirement: 30 Strength, 30 vitality, level 50 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defend: 80 Health + 1000 Set Effect: 2 pieces: Defense + 5 3 pieces: Strength + 5 4 pieces: Vitality + 5 5 pieces: Vitality + 5, Health + 1000 [Carapace Pant] (common grade equipment) Type: Body - Lower Requirement: 25 Strength, 20 vitality, level 50 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defend: 65 Health + 200 Set Effect: ... [Carapace Gauntlet] (common grade equipment) Type: Arm Requirement: 25 Strength, 20 vitality, level 50 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defend: 50 Health + 200 Set Effect: ... [Carapace Helm] (common grade equipment) Type: Head Requirement: 20 Strength, 30 vitality, level 50 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defend: 70 Health + 600 Set Effect: ... [Carapace Boots] (common grade equipment) Type: Footwear Requirement: 20 Strength, 35 vitality, level 50 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Defend: 75 Health + 400 Set Effect: ... Auron intentionally chose the set which gave him more durability instead of physical strength. And, his choice was the carapace set. It was a common grade but it was a popular choice for swordsman or merchant who wanted to became a tanker. The vitality boost and the health boost was the main point of this set. It boosted out the wearer health. Meanwhile, the defend for this set was not so bad. It was like the average defend from another equipment which made this set more popular. If one could not buy a better set from player, they would chose this set. The downside of this set, beside the lack of strength and physical damage, was the price. NPC''s store charged higher price for items. Moreover, a set like this. The price set for this set was enough for Auron to buy 3 up to 4 uncommon grade non-set equipment with the same level. But, for his quick growth, Auron tried to be more lax. He was left way behind the others high ranker. Moreover, the high ranker usually had support for their guild and their financial supporter which made them level quicker. Auron heard a gossip that there were several high rankers already gained 50 levels after the update. 50 levels from level 1 and 50 levels from level 500 seems there was no big different, but actually the difference was a wide as an ocean. However, Auron didn''t want this to disturb him, so he didn''t really mind with the other''s growth and focused back on himself. Auron equipped the set equipment he bought and inspected his status. [Smiling Wizard] Level: 51 Exp: 48% Defense: 550 Hp: 24400 Mp: 33060 Strength: 109 Agility: 104 Vitality: 105 Intelligence: 218 Dexterity: 103 Luck: 54 Elemental Understanding: Fire: 1% Attribute point: 0 His attribute was raised higher especially his vitality, intelligence, health and mana. It was all thanks to the esitem''s set and carapace''s set he used. With his status right now, he was far superior than ordinary player with the same level. Auron felt proud. He felt that he could now safely fight in the medium camp although the monster there were stronger than the small camps. Of course, all of this wasn''t without a sacrifice, Auron spent a lot of gold to achieve this stage for health potions and the carapace''s set. Now, he only had a little bit over 5 golds at his hands. He hoped that he could gain some precious items from the hunt later or else, his gold in hand would be spent until it depleted which would hampered his progress. After finishing all of his preparation, he started to walk towards the city''s entrance. His destination was the medium orc''s camp. Around another 30 minutes walking from the city''s entrance, Auron''s duo arrived at the vicinity of the orc''s camp. Auron needed to clear out one or two small camps first before he could went deeper to the medium camp. Auron picked out two small camps near him. He clear one small camp first before went to the other small camps.After clearing the two small camps, he went deeper into the orc''s camp. Finally, he arrived at the border between the small camps and medium camps. He looked up at the medium camp near him. The size was noticeably bigger than small camps, and also he could see 4 guards guarding the entrance instead of 2 guards. Chapter 132 Orcs Medium Camp 1 Orc''s medium camp had a bigger sized compared the small camp. However, the number of the monster inside was the same with the small camp. Of course, the quality of the monster would be higher than the small camp. But, with a bigger sized place and same amount of monster inside, there would be much more space for battle and way to avoid battle. [Orc Shield Bearer] (common monster) Level: 89 HP: 560000/560000 MP: 100/100 Skills: Sacrifice, Guard Description: Using shield as its main weapon. Its job is to protect other orcs. Out of the 4 orcs guarding the entrance, there were 3 [Orc Warrior] and 1 [Orc Shield Bearer]. The body of the [Orc Shield Bearer] was bigger than the other three orcs. It was because he had to use a very big shield. Auron stepped inside the camp. A 30 minutes countdown timer started as soon as he entered the area. Since it was medium camp, the security was higher than small camp. When Auron''s duo stepped inside the camp, the orcs guarding the entrance immediately notified of an outsider. They looked at Auron''s direction. Spotting Auron''s duo, four of them went into formation. With the [Orc Shield Bearer] in the lead carrying his big shield, the 3 [Orc Warrior] followed from behind. The shield was very big and heavy that its needed, the already big sized [Orc Shield Bearer], to be carried by both of the [Orc Shield Bearer]''s hand. Arriving at the front of Auron''s duo, the [Orc Shield Bearer] raised his shield. Although, it had been long since Auron hunted here, he still knew about the monster''s behavior, uniqueness and specialty. One of them was, [Orc Shield Bearer] could not attack. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. So, Auron''s duo ignored the [Orc Shield Bearer] in the front and immediately charged towards its back and targeted the three [Orc Warrior]. The [Orc Shield Bearer], who was ignored in the front turned toward his back and slammed down his big shield. A loud bang sound was produced when the shield slammed to the ground. It was a distinctive behavior when [Orc Shield Bearer] used his skill, [Guard]. As soon as the [Guard] skill used the [Orc Shield Bearer] could not moved an inch. A protective aura also seeped out from him and covered him. If a player looked at the orc''s health bar, there was a trace of white color on it indicating the amount of the protective aura. It covered 10% of the [Orc Shield Bearer]''s max health. At this stage, when the [Orc Shield Bearer] was attacked, it would reduced the protective aura first until it depleted before the orc''s health started to reduce. And, the protective aura could be stacked. The [Guard] skill had 1 minutes cool down. After 1 minutes, the orcs would used the skill once again. If the [Orc Shield Bearer] didn''t suffered any damage, then the second time, he used [Guard], his protective aura would cover 20% of its health. Fortunately, there was a maximum for the protective aura. It could only covered maximum 100% of its health. However, it was still a massive amount since it would double the orc''s health to above a million. Auron ignored the [Orc Shield Bearer] and directly attack the [Orc Warrior]. Auron took up one of the orc while his swordsman fight against two orcs. When Auron''s attack was about to hit the orcs in front of him, a purple aura shot of from behind him, hit the orc and covered him. Auron''s dagger connected with the orc. However, the damage was not float above the [Orc Warrior], instead, it was floated above the [Orc Shield Bearer]''s head. The purple aura was the result of the [Sacrifice] skill from the orc. It would covered up to 2 orcs maximum in range of 30 feet from the caster. When the orcs covered by this aura getting hit, the damage would transfer to the caster of this purple aura. Also, this aura would last until the [Orc Shield Bearer] died or the target of this skill was out of range. This was [Orc Shield Bearer] way of fighting. Instead of attacking, he would covering his allies using [Guard] and [Sacrifice]. [Orc Shield Bearer] was trained to only using this set of skill which was why, although, its intelligence as a common grade monster was low, he could always use this skill in battle. Since Auron''s opponent was covered by the purple aura, he looked at his swordsman''s side. On his swordsman side, there was one with purple aura and one without it. Auron chose to focus on the orc without the purple aura first. Auron''s duo focused their attack on the orc without the purple aura first. Soon, under the attack, the orc died. When the orc died, Auron''s duo focused back on each of their opponent. They each took one [Orc Warrior] as their opponent. The battle already lasted for 1 minutes, while both of their opponents didn''t suffered any injuries yet. Instead, the [Orc Shield Bearer] already had third of his health left. The [Orc Shield Bearer] raised his shield and slammed it to the ground once more which made a protective aura covered him. A few seconds later, since all of the damage suffered by [Orc Warrior] was transferred to [Orc Shield Bearer], the [Orc Shield Bearer] finally died. Without the purple aura, [Orc Warrior]''s health started to reduced bit by bit. Finally, at the end, both of the [Orc Warrior] died. Auron picked up the loot and went past the camp''s entrance inside the camp. For this camp, Auron just wanted to test the water first. So, before he entered the camp, he already decided that he would directly went to the boss as soon as he could. Auron didn''t want to force himself to clear all of the orc inside the camp and failed at the end. So, he wanted to know how much time he needed to directly cleared out the camp. Then, based on that time, he would decided his action when he raided next medium camp. Chapter 133 Orcs Medium Camp 2 Auron stepped inside the camp. He immediately looked for the boss'' location. However, since the place was bigger, he could not find the boss'' location from his line of sight. Auron opened up his mini map to look the boss. He found the boss was at the northwest from the camp''s entrance. Auron moved from the entrance. He took the path towards northwest of the camp. He found two orcs at his path. [Orc Javelin Thrower] (common monster) Level: 87 HP: 380000/380000 MP: 2000/2000 Skills: Speed Throw Description: It throw javelin to attack. One orc was [Orc Shield Bearer] and the other one was [Orc Javelin Thrower]. Auron''s duo immediately took out battle position. Meanwhile, both of the orcs already spotted Auron''s duo and charged at them. As like any other [Orc Shield Bearer] would do, the [Orc Shield Bearer] was up at the front and when he was close to Auron''s duo, he slammed his big shield and used [Sacrifice] to protect the other orc. Auron''s duo unleashed their attack towards the [Orc Shield Bearer] in the front since [Orc Javelin Thrower] was a range unit. It was better for Auron''s duo to attack the shield bearer first, since if he targeted the javelin thrower first, it was useless. The javelin thrower already enveloped by purple aura from the shield bearer which mean even though Auron''s duo targeted javelin thrower first, he would still not be able to kill it until he kill the [Orc Shield Bearer]. [Orc Javelin Thrower] was a range unit with more damage than [Orc Archer]. The damage produced by [Orc Javelin Thrower] almost half stronger than [Orc Archer]. However, its shortcoming was its attack range and attack speed. Its attack range was half than [Orc Archer]. In addition, its attack speed was slightly lower than [Orc Archer]. This made this orcs'' duo was easy to defeat since one of the orc could not attack and the other one had a slow attack speed. Auron''s duo didn''t even waste any single health potion for this orcs'' duo. Taking the loot, Auron continue went north west. Auron met with another two orc''s group. [Orc General] (uncommon boss monster) Level: 92 Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. HP: 800000/800000 MP: 20000/20000 Skills: Orc''s roar, Orc''s summon, General''s aura Description: One of the orc''s general. It uses spear and shield to leads group of orcs at the front. After defeating that two groups, Auron finally could see the camp''s leader. Its body was as huge as [Orc Shield Bearer]. However, the difference was, when [Orc Shield Bearer] need to use both of its hand to wield the shield, [Orc General] only needed one hand to wield the same shield. However, before Auron could go against the boss, there was still one group of orc before the boss. It was a group containing three orcs consist of 2 [Orc Warrior] and [Orc Javelin Thrower]. Auron kited that three orcs away from the boss first before battle against it. He didn''t want to get the boss'' attention because he fought closed to the boss. After defeating that group, Auron prepared to fight with the boss. However, he could not directly fight with the boss without preparation because there were three orcs beside him, one [Orc Shield Bearer] and two [Orc Javelin Thrower]. This was what unique about this boss, there were already orcs guarding him before he used his summoning skill. This was also the reason why this boss was way more difficult to defeat than the small camp''s leader. The boss'' strength already higher than the small camp''s boss. In addition, there was [Orc Shield Bearer]. The [Orc Shield Bearer] made it more annoying to kill the boss. If Auron was unlucky then the [Orc Shield Bearer]''s skill would protect the boss. Moreover, when the boss used his summon skill, the combination of the summoned monster was the same as the group of orcs beside him right now, one [Orc Shield Bearer] and two [Orc Javelin Thrower]. Which mean, he would have 100% chance to summon [Orc Shield Bearer]. Another thing was, the boss had a passive skill, [General''s aura]. It would raise his subordinate''s attack power by 10%. Fortunately, it only raised his subordinate attack power and not the boss'' attack power. Also, when the boss used his roar skill, the passive skill could not overlap with the roar''s buff. After all of his preparation done, Auron''s duo used [Attack Potion] to raise his attack. Then, he went towards the boss and started the battle. The boss roared and commanded his subordinate beside him to attack Auron''s duo. He also went forward towards Auron''s duo and lead his subordinate. The boss and [Orc Shield Bearer] were in the front, followed by two [Orc Javelin Thrower] at the backs. This time, Auron was the one who handled boss and [Orc Shield Bearer] at the front while his swordsman went to the back and fought with two [Orc Javelin Thrower]. Unfortunately, the [Orc Shield Bearer]''s skill protect the boss and one of the [Orc Javelin Thrower] at the back. Seeing this, Auron commanded his swordsman to target [Orc Javelin Thrower] who was not protected by the [Sacrifice] skill. Meanwhile, Auron fought with the boss and [Orc Shield Bearer]. Although there were two monsters in front of Auron, since one of the monster could not attack, it was the same as fighting against one monster, the boss. The boss thrust his spear. The thrust''s speed was fast. With his attributes, Auron barely managed to dodge the spear. As the spear thrust the space beside Auron''s head, he could feel the wind from the spear''s thrust. Seeing his thrust missed the target, the boss moved his spear horizontally towards Auron and attacked Auron using his spear''s body. However, once more, it missed the target. Auron ducked to dodge the spear. Auron tried to look for a way to counter attack however, the big shield was obstructing his sight and made Auron difficult to attack the boss. But, it didn''t make Auron gave up. Although physical attack from the front was obstructed by the shield, he could still used magic attack. Chapter 134 Orc General 1 Auron chanted [Earth Spike] which could spawned anywhere from the ground around him. A spike sprung up below the boss. The boss felt the attack. He moved to the side and dodged the spike. Then, he slammed his shield towards Auron tried to stumble him down. Auron moved backward to dodge the shield. The boss followed the shield with his spear. Another thrust targeted Auron. Auron knew he could not deflected the spear with his dagger, instead he chanted [Fire Bolt] and aimed it towards the spear''s body to deflect the attack to the side. The boss controlled his deflected spear and swiped his spear horizontally trying to hit Auron with his spear''s body. With the momentum and power from the boss, the spear moved fast horizontally. Auron kicked the boss'' shield and used the force from his kicking to dodge the spear backward. Auron dodged the spear only by a tiny margin. If the force from his kicking was not strong enough he would be grazed by the spear. Auron was pushed down by the [Orc General] strength. He could only defend and dodge. Sometimes, he tried to launch a counter attack using his [Earth Spike]. However, it was futile. The boss could dodge the spike or blocked it with his shield. When he could not dodged or blocked it, the boss would calmly take hit as the damage would be transferred towards [Orc Shield Bearer]. After 2 minutes fighting against [Orc General]''s group. The boss was still had full health. Meanwhile, the [Orc Shield Bearer] had 87% of his health left. At the back, one of the [Orc Javelin Thrower] had his health full and the other one had 20% of his health left. It was such a difficult battle. Auron''s duo gulped another [Attack Potion] since the previous potion''s effect had gone. Then, Auron used his most advanced magic, [Sloth]. A faint white mist spread out with Auron as its center. After using new equipment, [Sloth] didn''t directly depleted his mana instead he still had some leftover mana to use another skill or spell. The white mist only slowed down the boss a little bit. However, it was enough to relieve some pressure from the boss'' group. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Auron''s swordsman at the back got a huge help because of the mist. [Orc Javelin Thrower] had slow attack speed and it became slower thanks to the mist. When Auron who was fighting against the boss trying to buy some time by dodging and blocking the attack, his swordsman already killed one of the [Orc Javelin Thrower]. Now, he wasfighting against the leftover [Orc Javelin Thrower]. Of course, he could not kill the [Orc Javelin Thrower] yet, since it was covered up by sacrifice aura. Slowly, but surely, the [Orc Shield Bearer] accumulated damage. His health reduced every time Auron''s swordsman attack connected to [Orc Javelin Thrower]. Auron also helped by using some opportunities to launch counter attack against the boss. After another 2 minutes, the [Orc Shield Bearer] finally breathed his last breath. The purple aura which covered [Orc General] and [Orc Javelin Thrower] dissipated. Finally, the boss could be damage. 100%... 99%... 98%... The boss'' health went down slowly. When the boss had 96% of his health left, Auron''s swordsman managed to kill the last [Orc Javelin Thrower]. Without any hesitation, the swordsman directly teamed up with Auron to damage the boss. 96%... 90%... 84%... The boss'' health reduced faster as a result of Auron''s duo attack. Now, with the boss left alone, he used riskier move. He tried to exchange attack with the boss to fasten up battle. When he was at critical health, he would change place with his swordsman to tank up the boss while he recovered using health potions. Soon, the boss'' health reduced to 70% of his health. At that moment, the boss using his roar skill, increasing his strength and debuffing Auron''s duo. Auron''s switched strategy once more. He didn''t use any risky move and instead safely team up with his swordsman and reducing the boss'' health while waiting until the debuff ended. The boss'' health reduced slower than before. A fire ball aimed towards the orc''s head. The orc raised his big shield and blocked the fire ball. It was completely blocked by the shield. When the orc was blocking the fire ball, from behind, a sword slashed out to his back. The orc tried to dodge that slash, however he could not. -790. A damage appeared above the boss'' head. This was Auron''s strategy, one would be face up from the front, while the other one would tried to attack the boss from behind. The boss was outnumbered so he could not easily blocked every attack coming to him. He could only let the attack connected to him while he tried to counter the attack and killed the attacker. This strategy was somewhat safe for Auron. He could dodge every attack coming to him, however it was different for his swordsman. Since, the system was the one who controlled it, Auron''s swordsman still struggle to attack dodged or blocked the boss'' attack. It was because the system''s capability to control the swordsman was equal to the system''s capability which controlled a slightly talented NPC with the same level as the swordsman. Since Auron was level 51 right now, then the system would treat his character as a slightly talented NPC with level 51. If the system controlled Auron''s swordsman fight against ordinary NPC with the same level, Auron''s swordsman would win because Auron''s swordsman was treated as a slightly talented which mean it was already stronger than ordinary NPC. Moreover, Auron''s attribute and equipment also raised his character fighting capability. However, right now, the system was against a monster with higher level than him. The level suppression annihilate his attribute and equipment advantage. However, since he had a slightly higher talent over ordinary NPC, the swordsman could dodge the attack although struggling. Moreover, Auron also tried to ensure his character''s safety. For example, when his swordsman had half of his health left and the system wanted to charge towards the boss, Auron would commanded it to back down and restored some health while he would went up to the front. Chapter 135 Orc General 2 Auron continued to use his strategy. By, attacking from two different sides, it made the boss slightly confused. After several moments passed, the boss'' health reduced to below 50%. At that moment, the boss finally used his summon skill. Another three orcs popped out, [Orc Shield Bearer] and two [Orc Javelin Thrower]. As soon as the three orcs being summoned, they immediately went forward engaging Auron''s duo. Now, Auron''s duo could not use his strategy before since there were many monster around the boss. Auron could only use the strategy when he first fight against the boss. Auron went forward and fight against the boss, while his swordsman would fight against two [Orc Javelin Thrower]s at the back. Fortunately, this time, the [Orc Shield Bearer]''s sacrifice skill targeted both of the [Orc Javelin Thrower] at the back which mean, Auron could skill damage the boss. 49%... 48%... 47%... 46%... 45%... 44%... The boss health, slowly went down. Although, Auron still could reduced his health, but it went down much much slower than before. It took Auron almost 5 minutes to reduced 5%. However, the bright side was his swordsman already killed the [Orc Shield Bearer] and, now, he was in the a fight against one of the javelin thrower. One of the still had full health while the other one only had 10% of his health left. It took no much longer to finish that orc and turned towards the other javelin thrower and started to reduce its health. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. -1300. A critical hit appeared when Auron''s [Earth Spike] connected with the [Orc General]''s thigh. The orc roared a moment before returning the attack. He stabbed his spear. Auron swayed his body a bit to dodge the incoming spear. The boss became furious as he stabbed his spear multiple times. With this multiple attack, Auron could not help but swayed to the left and right, and rolled or ducked to dodge the spear. He also didn''t dare to counter attack or the consequences will be severe. The boss suddenly used his roar skill once more. A buff''s effect showed on the boss and his subordinate. Fortunately, there was only one [Orc Javelin Thrower] with 30% health left. Auron felt that his swordsman would not fall into crisis. And, it turned out to be true, although the [Orc Javelin Thrower] got buffed, his swordsman didn''t have any trouble to fight against it. Several attack was connected to his swordsman but it was still at the safe line. Soon, the [Orc Javelin Thrower] died and it made the situation went back to 2 vs 1. The boss'' health started to reduce faster. 40%... 30%... 20%... 10%... 5%... Another 5 minutes passed and the boss was near dead. Seeing the boss, was in his last breath, Auron''s duo became fiercer. They unleashed all of their power. At last, a sword slashed out the boss'' head which flung and blood spurted from it. His big body lifelessly fell to the ground and slowly disintegrated. A bunch of loots took over the boss'' carcass place. When the boss died, a yellow light also surrounded Auron''s duo. Auron got enough experience from the boss to gain a level. Unfortunately, Auron could not cleared all of the orcs here else he would gained another bonus experience. Auron took up the loot and inspected it. [Orc General''s Shield] (Uncommon grade equipment) Type: Shield Requirement: 120 Strength, 50 Vitality, level 90 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defense: 135 Vitality + 30 Health + 5000 Effect: When equipped gain a 1% physical damage reduction. There were only one equipment and it was a shield. Auron didn''t need this shield, he will keep it and sell it when he back to town later. It was long battle, Auron needed a lot of time to kill the boss. Fortunately, he already change his equipment, also he chose to directly face the boss instead trying to clear all of the orcs. If not, then he would not be able to kill the boss within time. Auron looked at his potion supplies. There were enough potion for another 3 medium camps. Then, he went to another medium camp beside his place. It was a smooth journey, just like before he looked for the camp''s leader position and directly went to face the boss. Fortunately, the boss place was near the entrance. Auron cleared out the surrounding monster near the boss. When it was cleared, he fight against the boss. Auron spent half of his time just to kill the boss. But, it was still under Auron''s calculation. However, when he went to the second medium camp, it was almost a disaster. The boss'' place was near the entrance however, because of the landscape inside the camp, Auron need to take a detour before he could arrived at the boss'' location. Because of the detour, Auron wasted more time before he could arrived at the boss. When he finally arrived at the boss, Auron looked at the timer. Auron calculated and the time left would not be enough to kill the boss if he took it slowly like before. Gritted his teeth, Auron''s duo became more and more bold. Before, Auron would dodge the boss'' attack while waiting for an opportunity to launch a counter attack. However, because of the time pressure, he would intentionally let one attack hit him so he could launch an attack. This also made, Auron to waste more health potion than what he had calculated before. Fortunately, he could finish the camp before the time runs out. However, because he waste many health potions on the second camp, he didn''t have enough potion to run over the third camp. Auron could only use his [Return Scroll] and back to Gancit. However, he still grateful with his progress. After clearing two camps, he only needed a few more experience points to gain another level. Moreover, at the second camp, he got another equipment that he could sold. Although, it was still not enough to cover his potions expenses but it was better than nothing. Chapter 136 Jaden 1 Six days passed by, Auron fully immersed in hunting during the past week. He back and forth to Gancit and Orc''s camp. After each of the hunting session, sometimes, Auron would gain a profit. However, most of the time, he would incurred a loss during each session. It was no surprise since it was so rare to get a rare item to sell. His savings slowly get depleted, but Auron didn''t feel dejected, instead, he felt ecstatic. He was level 70 right now. It was so difficult to gain that much level in 6 days. Moreover, he needed four times more experience point than normal player. It was all thanks to the fact that he hunt monster surpassed his level a lot. Also, it was to the fact that he gained 100% of the experience point despite hunting in a party of two. It helped a lot since hunting in a party give a bonus experience point. Although, it was only little but it helped Auron. Due to this fact, Auron didn''t even care how much he had loss during the past week as long as he didn''t got bankrupt. Moreover, the loss got reduced slowly as he got stronger by gaining level. Although gaining some level, Auron still didn''t have enough speed to clear out all of the orc in medium camps. Auron already timed his best speed and his worst speed when fighting against the boss. From that data, Auron felt that it was to risky to try clearing all of the orcs. So, instead of forcing himself to clear all of the orc to get bonus experience point. He would directly went to the boss and killed it. Then, he would moved to another camp and do it over again. Although, he would not gain as much as if he killed all of the orcs, but it was still enough. The boss gave more experience point and with such speedy run, he could move to other camp more quickly and killed more camp''s leader. Right now, it was in the morning on the last day before Auron went back to the academy. It was also the day for the auction took place. Auron was in dilemma on whether going to the auction or not. He was curious on the ''special'' thing mentioned, however he didn''t have enough money to participate. At first, he was going to abandon the thought of going to the auction and gone to use the time for hunting. However, his curiosity still lingering around his head. Moreover, each time he back from the hunting to supply potion, he heard some rumor about the item and it piqued his curiosity more. Today was no exception, he still heard about some rumor on the ''special'' item. Some said, it was a legendary grade skill book. Others said, it was legendary grade weapon. There were also some said it was a high grade flying battle mount. Auron wanted to see what was that ''special'' item. But, there would be zero chance for him if he didn''t have enough money. Suddenly, Auron had an idea. He remembered during the past week, Jaden, the rich man, was showing his effort on befriending Auron. He would message Auron just to ask Auron''s condition or to let Auron know that he could lent Auron some money if he needed. Also, every time he message Auron, he would express his pure intention to befriending and met with Auron. Auron never replied the message, but Jaden didn''t give up and still kept messaging Auron every day. However, Jaden still have some manner that he would only message Auron at the morning or when there was a huge happening around him especially the auction. Since, the message was not to the point of annoying and also sometimes the message contains something that still helpful about the auction, Auron didn''t block Jaden, but he just never replied it. Auron felt that Jaden was sincere enough, although he was still careful about this person, Auron decided to contact him to inquiry about the auction. Yes, at the end, Auron''s curiosity win over him. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. When Auron was about to contact Jaden, a message arrived. It was from Jaden, and also it told Auron about the auction that would be going on soon. Jaden''s message told that the auction would be divided into two events. The first event would be a small bazaar in front of the auction house. Everyone was free to trade or to make a stall there. It was like ordinary market in Gancit. It will starts at 1 p.m until 5 p.m. And, 5 p.m would be the start of the second event, the auction. It was also said that there would only be 7 items going in the auction. Also, it was said that in the first event, there would be 4 items out of 7 items that will be showcased there. And, as always, at the end of the message, Jaden expressed his good intention to befriend and met with Auron. Reading the message, Auron felt that Jaden was really kind enough to kept on doing this. Moreover, when he met with Jaden, he felt that Jaden was such a straightforward person and not the type to scheme behind. Auron decided to met with him, but still he careful around new person. So, Auron replied the message. It was just a simple message containing, a place and time. Also, Auron didn''t forget to give him warning ''no companions allowed''. Auron left for the meeting place and waited there since he decided that the meeting will begin one hour from now. At another place, in a luxurious hotel, Jaden was laying on his bed lazily, when he received a message. After he read the message, he immediately got up and preparing himself like he was going to meet his date for the first time. He didn''t want to notify Kemdall who was guarding outside of his room, so after he had done preparing, he went up to the balcony and sneaked out of his hotel through the balcony. Chapter 137 Jaden 2 Auron waited at the designated meeting place. He sat on an ordinary bench near a park. Not long after, a person came to his bench and sat down. It was Jaden. "Hello, it''s an honor to meet with you. I..." Jaden started the conversation. "Let''s get straight to the point. I need money. I want to borrow some money from you and I will owe you a favour" Auron cut Jaden''s speech and answered coldly. "Ehrm... Okay, how many do you need?" Jaden awkwardly answered. "How many do I need to join the auction?" Shocked shown in Jaden''s face, "From what I heard the minimum price for the cheapest items is 10 thousands gold and that was just the minimum bet. If you want to win the item, you will need around more than 50 thousands gold and that was for winning the cheapest items." "I cannot lend you that much. At most, I can only lend you at most 10 thousands gold." Seeing Jaden could not provided him, Auron stood up and prepared to leave. Seeing this, Jaden gritted his teeth and said, "I really can only lend you at most 10 thousands gold. Even with all of my money, I am only attending the auction to sightseeing not to participate in the auction." "Also, I really want to befriend with you." Auron stopped and looked at Jaden. He realized he was to cold to him and seeing Jaden''s face, he realize that Jaden was not the type to stab in the back. However, he still kept his cold expression and asked, "Why you insist on befriend with me? You must know that I am not high leveled player. Also, I don''t know you and you don''t know me." "Sorry, I will introduce myself once again. As you know my real name was Jaden, I am the youngest son of Ferdinand. I..." Jaden started to introduce himself once more. But before he could finish his speech, Auron cut his speech once more and colder than before "So, what the son of Ferdinand''s conglomerate group want with lowly and undeserved me?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Ferdinand was the name of one of the most richest person in the world. Their business ranged wide from property, oil, bank, and many more. And, Jaden was the youngest son of that group which mean he had the power to do anything. "Wait, it is not like what you think." Jaden hurriedly answered. "No, you must already know who I am! So, tell me straight what is your intention on befriending with me?" Auron became nervous. He was in his mage character right now, he didn''t know if his ''cheat'' already leaked or not. What he know was that there were only little people that could pressure Black Sheep and Ferdinand''s group was one of it. What Auron didn''t know was that even Black Sheep didn''t know who got the so called ''cheat''. In Black Sheep, only few with higher position knew that the existence of this ''cheat''. And, the amount was less than 5 people. Moreover, there was no alarm or sign to tell Black Sheep that the ''cheat'' already activated. One way for the people inside Black Sheep to know, was to analyzed all of the data. At first, all of 5 people still monitored the player''s development every day. However, as the game became know worldwide, the amount of data was expanded greatly, it made them didn''t care anymore about the so called ''cheat''. In addition, all 5 people already drowned in their massive wealth coming from the Two Worlds. So, right now, Auron''s secret was safe to even Black Sheep''s employee. But, still there was no safe measure that his secret would be kept forever, since who knows in the future, one out of the 5 people would be bored with their wealth and started to pay attention to the game once more. "No! I don''t know who you are! I know what you think. I truly want to befriend with you and it will be rude if I sent people to investigate about you. I didn''t do it. Moreover, if I sent people to investigate then my old man would know about it and I didn''t want that old man to know." "What I know about you is you are Smiling Wizard who was selling me an epic grade skill book. Kemdall even didn''t know about our meeting now." Jaden started to get furious as Auron kept on suspicious and maintain cold nature towards him, but he still could control his anger. "Then, why are you want to befriend with me? I know I worth nothing in your eyes. You could find way many more people out there better than me" Auron started to feel guilty, so he softened his voice. "It was because..." Since Auron softened his voice, Jaden''s anger started to dissipate. After all, he was not the one who easily angry and kept on his anger for long time. He started to tell his reason like what he had told Kemdall the day he bought the skill book from Auron. Hearing the reason and Jaden high evaluation about him, Auron felt more guilty than before, "Sorry, I have wronged you before. My name is Auron. It was just that..." "No problem, I didn''t take it to the heart. And, I know you must have your own reason to feel that suspicious" This time, Jaden cut Auron''s speech and he comforted Auron. "So, it looks like I was the same age as you. I am 26 years old this year. What about you?" After the situation warmed, Jaden tried to change the topic and spoke comfortably with Auron. "Yes, I am also 26 years old this year." Auron answered, he started to put his prejudice away. "Then, let''s be friend" Jaden offered his hand for a handshake. Auron felt hesitant. He afraid that his judgement would be wrong once again. But, at the end, he still agreed to handshake. After all, if he didn''t trust his own judgement, then who will trust his judgement. Chapter 138 Jadens Trouble "So, as I said before, I can only lend you at most 10 thousand golds. More than that, my damn old man will know and the problem will get bigger from there." Jaden said. "No, just forget it. Before, I just wanted to take advantages of you. But, after all of this, how can I still do it." Auron rejected the offer. "No. You can still keep it. Treat this as a gift for our friendship. But, don''t tell anybody that I give you money even to that Kemdall" Jaden warned Auron. Since Auron need money and Jaden insisted on giving him the money, Auron could not help but accept it and offer his gratitude. "It looks like you don''t like Kemdall and your old man?" Auron asked. "Yes, not just my old man but all of my family as well." There was a sign of furious in Jaden''s voice when he said this. "As you know, my father had 4 children, 3 sons and 1 daughter all of which already married except me. I was the youngest son as well as the youngest children. Like you know, my family was a big family with many business. My father gave out each of my siblings a business to handle except me." "However, my father still kept on meddling with the business and he still had the veto right. Moreover, my father still handled more business than all of his children''s business combined. I don''t care about it as I didn''t get any business handed to me and I like that." "With no responsibility, I got more freedom to do what I want. And, 5 years ago, I started to learn about baking. And, I love it so much. After that, I get engrossed to this path that I have choose" "More and more I get into the baking world. With the resource my father had given me, I made my own bakery. I also started to get into Two Worlds as the cooking skill in this world could help me to raise my skill as a baker" "As a baker and with a lot of money, I didn''t need to raise my level and just can keep on buying ingredients as I want. My skill raised, so as my business began to grow big." "Although, it was not as big as my old man business, but it was considered big if you compared it to other people business." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "However, one years ago, suddenly, when my old man coming back from a business trip, he brought a woman younger than me. Then, what was shocking was that he declared the woman was his daughter and told the other to treat her like his daughter." "This news shocked all of the family member. I am shocked as well, but I don''t care about it and just do what he wanted. So, I treat the girl like my younger siblings. The girl was fine and beautiful. She also was kindhearted." "Then, one week later, another shocking news was announced by my father. He wanted to retire and he would left all of his wealth and other business to one of his children." "This news shocked all of the family members. Then, my old man continued, he says that there was a test needed to be passed. The first one who can make money more than what his entire business kingdom could make, will be the winner. To be fair, my father gave me and my younger sister each a business to handle." "I rejected the offer and said that I wanted to focus on my bakery and didn''t care about this competition." "My father frowned but he didn''t force me. After all, if my bakery could make more money it was still considered valid as the winner." "With this competition going on, the family atmosphere became intense. Each of them became "Time passed by, my father like my younger sister to be the winner and he spoiled my younger sister so much that he secretly helped her to win this competition." "However, three months ago, suddenly, my younger sister left from home and never came back. She also left all of his business unattended." "This shocked my father as well as made him furious at the same time. He tell all of the people to search for his daughter" "After three days of searching, my father stopped the search and it''s my time to suffered. Without my sister, he started to push me. He told me to stop my bakery business and handle one of his business. At first, I didn''t want it, at the end, my father told me that I still could do both of my business. I accepted that offer. However, with sudden more pressured, I am stressed out." "One day, I could not accept all of this and yelled at my father asking why he do this to me. At that time, he said that he was sorry but he didn''t want his inheritance to fell on my siblings because of the in laws family." "My father said that his in laws family who was like a wolf who want to control all of his business, already contaminated my siblings to destroy the family. And, he didn''t trust them. Which was why, my father choice fell on my younger sister but without her, he could only put the burden on me." Jaden told weakly. "Hearing my father''s reason, I also didn''t like I could only accepted all of this and do as what he wanted. But, I still could not forget about my bakery. And, Two Worlds was the place for me to release my stress. Seeing I am playing Two Worlds, my father didn''t want me to stay away from the path, so he hire Kemdall to oversee me in disguise that he wanted to support me." "Fortunately, you didn''t contact me through Kemdall, or my father would also know about this meeting." Jaden laughed. "Ehrm... Is it okay for you to tell me all of this?" Auron awkwardly asked Jaden. Chapter 139 Bazaar 1 Jaden realized his mistake, "Oops, please keep this as a secret and don''t tell anyone." "Arghh.. All of this was because my father and that younger sister of mine" Jaden still could let go of his fury when he though about his family. "Forget it, it was my family problems. I will do what I can." "Wait a minute... you said that you played Two Worlds to relieve your stress. Then, what''s the need to buy all of that expensive stuff before?" Auron asked "I told my father that I wanted to create a new business inside Two Worlds. I heard that a big farming guild could earn a lot here. Moreover, with the conversion ratio between gold and real life money, it could gave a massive sum of money. So, how could the leader of a farming guildbe weaker than its subordinate. It was why, I started to raise my level also to invest some money to make my farming guild." "So, when I told him about it, he agreed to support me, but he also put Kemdall beside me." "But, he didn''t know my true objective. My real goal was to expand my bakery business here. With the situation out there, with almost all of the people in the world played this game, in addition, with the solution''s price getting cheaper each years, my bakery''s sale got reduced" "If this continued, my bakery store would go bankrupt. Before that happened, I want to expand it here. I heard that to learn high leveled cooking skill, I will need certain attribute to reach certain number. And, that was the real reason why I am starting hunting" Jaden grinned evilly as if he was happy that he fooled his father. "It had been one hour since I left my hotel. I have to get back soon, as I am afraid Kemdall would looking for me. Well, he probably already looking for me." "For your money, I didn''t bring that much money with me right now, I will sent it to you through system''s mail later. I gotta go or else Kemdall would know about this meeting. Oh and I will try to look for information about the auctioned item. See you soon" Jaden bade Auron farewell. Auron could only stood there until Jaden out of his sight. "Everyone had their own problem" Auron thought after hearing Jaden''s trouble. Not long after, Auron received system''s message about someone sending his money and he needed to redeem it through Royal bank. Auron went to Royal bank branch in Gancit and took out some of the money. Then, Auron message Jaden sending his thanks and said that he will pay it as soon as possible. A few seconds later, another message from Jaden came and it said no need to bother with it, and told Auron that he could pay it in installments when he had spare money. With some money at his hand, although he could not participate in the second event, he still could participate in the first event and there was still more than 4 hours before the first auction''s event to begin. However, Auron suddenly remember, if he convert all of this gold to real life money, then he could almost paid of his debt. "Should I pay some of my debt?" Auron thought. "Nope, there is still less 10 years left to pay my debt" Auron rejected his thought. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. With 10 thousands gold in hand, Auron began to feel that his debt was not that much. Moreover, with 10 years time, he believe he could pay it off and didn''t need to rely on reward for completing the game. Auron began to feel he was lucky enough to meet with Jaden. It was a mere coincidence. At first, he just want to scam the guy for money. What surprise him was that Jaden really had pure intention to befriend with him. Moreover, Jaden''s background shocked him even more. The more he thought about this matter, the more he realized how silly he was back then. He was shocked by the amount of debt he suddenly get, but after more deep and careful think, it was actually not a big deal. Before, his character equipment and skills worth a lot more than what his debt right now. Moreover, it didn''t include his daily expenses for consumable item. Rather than starting over once again, he throw tantrum and closed his easy way to get out of his debt. If it was not because his best friends, Roan, he would already work to dead for 24/7 and still could not pay his debt. However, Auron didn''t want to admit how silly he was and thought that it was very reasonable to throw tantrum after he lost everything he had built. If he looked around him and some news, there were even sillier person than him who suicide after broke up with his girlfriend. He thought that he was still better than them. After all, he didn''t think about suicide. With the debt matter was out of his head, he slightly more relaxed. He still didn''t forget about his revenge to Raging Bull and Cold Candle, however it was still long way to go. After all, he was still alone while both of them had guild backing their back. Moreover, their level alone was surpassed his level by a lot. His first step right now, was to chase that level first and also made some foundation for him. He decided to fully used his newly earned 10 thousands gold to help him reach that goal. He will use the money and went to the first auction''s event. Hopefully, he could find some good thing to help him level further. Since it was still more than 5 hours before the bazaar started, he decided to log out. It was because it''s been a long time since the last time he log out. Also, he needed some break after the continuous hunting. He would rather chose to log out for break so he would not consume his nutrient solution for doing nothing. Chapter 140 Bazaar 2 Auron stood up from his chair and took up the dishes. He went to wash the dishes. After that, he looked up at the clock, the bazaar had just started. Auron went up to his capsule and went inside it. After Auron regained his sight, he was at the spot before he log out before. He looked at his surroundings. There were oceans of human, NPC and players mixed among them. It was so surprising since the place he stood right now, was not where the bazaar took place. The auction already enticing enough, even the town could not support the sudden influx from visitors. With some effort, Auron arrived at the bazaar''s area. In front of the bazaar''s area, Auron could saw several guards guarding the bazaar. What surprise Auron was there were not only guards from the responsible merchant guild, but there were also a group of royal guards mixed among them. "Rare grade equipment above level 300, come here take a look!" "Selling rare grade skill book, cheap!" "Come over, a battle mount high grade!" "Young man over there, come see this weapon" Numerous shouts could be heard from each of the tenant. Each of them tried their best to get the attention from the passerby. There were even some of the tenant which offered a bundle price. However, Auron could not take this matter into his head yet since a specific place draw his attention. Auron walked over to that place. Soon, he arrived in front of a building. It was not too big, but from the look, Auron knew it was sturdy enough to defense against a quite number of high ranked skills or spells. In front of the building, there were also 4 pillars with glass box on top of it. Inside each of the glass box, there was an item. From the look, Auron could notice it was an expensive item. There were also a massive number royal guards guarding the area. If one dared to steal the item, that person certainly could not escape from the area. Auron went closer to the pillar. At certain distance, Auron was stopped by the royal guards. "Halt, that''s the limit for seeing. Don''t closer!" A guards shouted. Auron could not help but obey the rule. Fortunately, he could see the item inside the glass box. He looked at the information card placed in front of each of the glass box. The first item was a mount. It was a king''s grade mount. The mount increase the user''s physical resistance and magical resistance. It is also increase its movement speed above the average. Moreover, the mount reduce the monster aggro to the user. Auron looked at the price, the minimum bid was 10 thousands gold. Unfortunately, it was only ordinary mount and not a flying mount or else the price would be higher. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "So, this was the cheapest item" Auron thought and continued to look at the second item. The second item was a weapon. It was a king''s grade saber. There was also some information about it. The saber was no ordinary saber. It had a special effect to inflict random status ailment when successfully hit the target. However, sadly, the attributes it provided slightly below average. Auron looked at the price, the minimum bid was 15 thousands gold. The third item was a set of king''s grade equipment. It was a set equipment suitable for thief class. It need 6 items to get the full effect from the set. 5 pieces equipment and 1 piece weapon. And what it was sold was only the 5 pieces equipment. However, 5 pieces equipment already boosted the user by a huge margin. Its minimum bid was 50 thousands gold. The fourth item was another king''s grade weapon. This time, it was a staff. When Auron looked at the description, he was awed. This staff''s special effect could be considered as a top tier among the king''s grade weapon. The staff increased the user chanting speed by a 50%. It also raised all of the spell damage of any element by 20%. Sadly, the staff only gave the user average attributes. Its minimum bid was 90 thousands gold. "This was just 4 items, I wonder, how expensive the other 3 items" Auron wondered. As Auron was thinking about the other 3 items, he received a message. It was from Jaden. Auron read the message and shocked. The message contained the information about the item sold in the auction. All of the 7 items. As Auron already looked at four items, he skipped them and directly see the fifth item. The fifth item was a piece of land in Gancit. The land was placed in one of the strategic place in Gancit. Everyone who was inside Gancit would walked through the place. If one could make a store selling an enticing item, that place would be crowded with people. Moreover, there were one year tax exemption and 20 guards assigned for one year sold as a bundle with the land. The bundle was sold for a minimum bid of 150 thousands gold. The six item was a king''s grade item. However, it was not a weapon or equipment, instead it was a flying mount. It not only increase the user''s movement speed, but it also increase all of the user''s attribute for 10%. It was rare for a mount to give its user raised attributes in percentage. Usually, it would raise the attribute in fixed amount. Moreover, this was a flying mount not an ordinary mount. Auron looked at the price and its minimum bid was 200 thousands gold. Auron was sure that this would made the rich people go crazy to obtain this item. This was only the six item. So, there was only one last item. Auron was curious on what was the last and the most expensive item. He looked at it and became shocked. He agreed that this item should be the finale item. The 6 items before could not compared with this item''s rarity. Chapter 141 Blacksmith 1 Auron looked once more to make sure he didn''t look it wrong. It was a super rare item. Even Auron never found it before. The seventh and last item was a book. But, it was not a skill book rather, it was an attribute book. An attribute book was a rare item. However, it was not impossible for a player to earn it. Also, the effect of the attribute was variate among one book to another even they have the same grade. The grade only determined the minimum number of attributes it would give. Meanwhile, the attribute given would variate. There were books that give only one type of attributes. There were also other that give a number of mix attributes. And, the most expensive one was the one that give a free attributes point which player could allocated it themselves. This was the one that was on auction''s list Auron received. Moreover, it was a king grade which mean it would give a minimum of 200 free attribute points. It was a huge amount. 200 attributes mean 40 levels. For a low level player, 40 levels means nothing, but for high level player 40 levels means a lot. When a player already high level enough, it would be difficult for them to raise just one level let alone 40 levels. Auron looked at the minimum bid, it was 500 thousands gold. Auron just smiled wryly and shook his head. The minimum bid was rather low for such super rare item. But, Auron believed that this minimum bid was useless. Even, if the minimum bid was set to 0, Auron believed that the price would go spike with just one or two bid. It was no wonder that there was already many top ranked guild in the area. Auron also recognized some high leveled player from the top ranked guild. With this information, Auron already satisfied. He knew that he didn''t have any chance of winning the first item let alone the last item. It would be such wasted of time if he looked at the auction that he didn''t have chance of winning. Auron decided to forgo the auction. He turned around and tried to look at the bazaar tenant before going back to the military''s academy. Auron scanned once more. At this time, he found an interesting tenant. He moved closer to the tenant. The tenant store was a middle age man. He was very enthusiastic on promoting his items. "Come... come... this was my last items." The middle age man promoted his items. It was a set of equipment, Auron looked at the equipment. From its grade, it was actually a pretty good equipment. Although, its grade was pretty high, but the product itself only for low level player. It was a rare grade level 100 set equipment for mage. "That couple over there, come buy this set of equipment, it was cheap. You can buy it for your son or nephew!" The middle age man offered his product to a couple passing by. Then, the man looked at Auron coming to him. From one look, he knew Auron was interested in his set equipment. "Come... come young man, with this equipment you will became stronger and more handsome." Auron looked at the man, he was a level 200 merchant. It made Auron wondered, how he could get this set equipment. Was his luck that high that he would get a rare set grade equipment. "Take a look here" The man showed Auron his products. Auron inspected the equipment. Each of the equipment, have a slightly better performance than any ordinary rare equipment. In Two Worlds, two same equipment could price differently. It was because even though the equipment have same defense, appearance, and requirement. The bonus attribute from its equipment could be different. Moreover, if that equipment had a bonus effect. And, the performance ofthat man''s equipment was slightly better although it was not that big. Auron more interested after he read the last line in the equipment''s description. Made By Seeking Enlightenment It was an player made equipment. And, the name of the seller was Seeking Enlightenment which mean this was the equipment he produced himself. There were many side class that a player could take, like alchemist, miner, herbalist, blacksmith, etc. There were four major level for each side class. Junior, Medior, Senior, and Master. And, each major class would have 10 minor levels each. A player would start at level 1 Junior. When they are at level 10 Junior, they could take a test to advance to Medior. The highest level for a side class was level 10 Master. And, there were few player that could reach that level. Each player could get one side class for them self. However, the could get rid of their side class and took the new one. Of course, it would come with a consequences, the side class level would be reset back to start. For example, a level 10 Master Blacksmith decided to change into another side class. Then, after some time that player decided to get back to Blacksmith, he would have to start over from level 1 Junior once more. Although, that player would have the gist of it, they would still need to spend many resources and time to get back to their level before. Also, they still need to undergo advancement test once more. He also need to purchase and re learn a new product design to make the equipment. "You made this by yourself?" Auron asked. "Yes man, looked at the description there''s my name on it. How about it? This was my last items" That man politely persuade Auron. "What level are you?" Auron curiously asked. "I just advanced to level 1 Medior this morning. Want to buy it? I know you are interested" That man kept on persuade Auron. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "How much is this set?" Auron began to ask the price. After all, he still interested in this equipment. It was so rare for a low level equipment to be sold. Moreover, the performance for this equipment was better that any other equipment within the same grade. Chapter 142 Blacksmith 2 "Since this is my last item and I am so happy right now, I will give you a discount" "This set just cost 120 gold, no negotiation cause this already cheap" Seeking Enlightenment said. Auron thought for a bit, this was really cheap considering it was a rare grade equipment. Moreover, it was a set of 5 equipment which mean each item equipment only cost 24 golds. Usually, the cheapest price for a rare grade equipment was 30 golds and that was not for a set equipment. "Wow, it was so cheap. Don''t you lose a lot?" Auron asked. He tried to know how this equipment could cost this cheap. He knew that the material cost to forge an equipment was not cheap. For a level 100 equipment, it would cost around 1 gold up to 3 gold each. And, it was only for one try. Also, it didn''t guarantee a 100% success. Even though, it was a success on the first try, if the produced equipment was only normal grade, that player would suffer lose instead of profit. It was already hard for a player to create a normal grade let alone a rare grade equipment. Moreover, for 5 equipment. "No worries, since I was so happy let me tell you a secret" "Yes, for this set equipment, I would only gain a little profit. I failed a lot for this set." "But, today, I was so lucky. Not only, I succeed in advancing to Medior blacksmit, but I also made a mix level 150 epic set equipment with only few attempts." A set equipment could be called rare set equipment because all of the equipment needed to make a set was rare grade. Whereas, a mix set equipment was referred to a set equipment with a mixed grade in it. However, there was some rule in it which were, the other equipment could only one grade lower than the highest grade. If it was mix epic set equipment which mean, there was a minimum of 1 epic grade equipment while the other would have to have a minimum of rare grade. "Although, there was only one epic equipment in it, with only few attempts to make it, I already gained a lot from it." "Moreover, the one who buy my equipment was some big shot. He paid me more than what I want. That transaction already cover all of my loses" "And, today, I am not just selling this set. I already sold out another 2 sets before and bunch of non set equipment." "You can looked at my stall. It only left with this one. It was enough for me. I just want to sell this last piece quickly and celebrate this." Throughout the explanation, Seeking Enlightenment was smiling widely and very excited. A lucky guy. That was what passed on Auron''s mind after hearing that man''s explanation. Auron could not help but felt happy for him. "Okay, then I will buy it. Here''s the money." Auron handed over his money and exchange it with the set equipment. However, since he still could not use the equipment he would have to save it for later. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After trading with Auron, Seeking Enlightenment happily packing his tenant stall, while Auron asked, "Do you accept commission?" "Yes, I do. But, not today. If you want, you can contact me tomorrow." "Well, it is not that fast. What I want is level 200 set equipment. It was still long way for me to reach that level. I will just add you as a friend first." "Okay, sure" Seeking Enlightenment accepted Auron''s friend request while packing up his things. After that, he said few more words to Auron and left him. Auron looked out for another thing in the bazaar, but he only found few other consumable items that he bought immediately. The items sold here was way to high leveled for him right now. He could only left the bazaar and went back to the academy. Arrived at the academy, Auron could feel some weird atmosphere around the academy. There was heavy atmosphere around the academy. When Auron was arrived at the academy the first time, there was already heavy atmosphere but it was not this heavy. This time, it was ten times heavier than before. Auron entered the academy, there were officer ranked higher than him or teacher rushing like they were in a hurry. And, it was not only one. Although, not all of them were at that state, but most of them was like that. Auron met up with Alice on his way to his room and greeted her, "Hello, Teacher Alice" "Oh, hey boy, I am busy right now. Don''t forget your practice, I will check your progress when I have time. I don''t want you to sully my self created spell." Alice warned Auron "Sure. What is wrong with this heavy atmosphere in the academy?" Auron could not help but asked Alice. "Don''t mind it now. You will know about it soon. Okay, I''ve got to go. Don''t forget your practice." Auron felt weird. It was like there was some big secret hidden behind this heavy atmosphere. When he was thinking about this matter, he arrived at his room. There was no one in the room. "It looks like the other were practicing hard. Then, I can''t lack behind" Auron decided to practice what Alice had taught him. So, he went to the academy''s library. He also didn''t forget to let his swordsman hunt. He chose a rather safe hunting spot for his swordsman. Although, it could not compared to orc''s camp, but it was better rather than stayed idle. Auron also didn''t want to suddenly find out that his level had went 2 level down while he was practicing Alice''s self created skill. With all in set, Auron began immersed in his practice on the skill. Day by day passed by, soon it was almost the appointment date where Auron and his friends supposed to meet up to take another mission. Chapter 143 Operation 1 It had been more than two weeks since Auron started to study in the library. During that time, Auron only gained three levels since he focused more on studying instead of hunting. For hunting, he just let his swordsman do the hard work. Of course, for safety, he would only let his swordsman to hunt in the safe hunting spot. That was why he only gained three levels. On the bright side, he didn''t consume much money to spend for potions since it was safe. That was from hunting side, on the other hand, Auron who was studying in the library and practice what he had studied gained more that what his swordsman already gained. He get another advanced spell, [Revoke]. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. This was one of the wind advanced spell. It didn''t damage the enemy. Its used was to clear all positive buff on the targeted enemy. Although, it didn''t have much impact on low grade monster, it still had impact on high grade monster and boss monster. Moreover, against NPC and enemies player. The cool down time for the spell was brief only 10 seconds. However, the down side was, the chanting process was pretty long, also as an advanced spell, it consumed much more mana point than ordinary spell. Except gaining an advanced spell, Auron also got a raised on his elemental understanding. His fire elemental understanding raised by 1% became 2%. Unfortunately, it didn''t have many impact on his [Fire Combination] skill that he learnt from Alice. The other thing was he got a new elemental understanding, earth elemental. Earth spell was the most spell he used after fire spell, so it was no surprised that he gained earth elemental understanding first than wind elemental and water elemental. And, the last but not least was, with wide collection from the academy library, he gained a lot of level in terms of his spell. Most of his ordinary spell already reached level 25. Some spell even almost reached level 30. All of this without spending single gold on buying skill book. Which mean, Auron still had a lot left from 10 thousands gold that Jaden gave him. He intended to use the money to provide his equipment and weapon. However, it was not easy for him to search good low level equipment or weapon. Fortunately, today, he found a good dagger and sword which then he bought it. He bought level 70 rare grade dagger for 120 golds and level 70 rare grade sword for 150 golds. After buying two weapon he immediately went to the meeting point with his roommate. At the meeting place, Auron met up with two of his roommate, excluding Keiran who already been expelled from academy. Auron talked with his roommate for a few minutes. He observed that their level already went up a lot. Right now, both of them had level more than 100. Reihan was level 130 while Borad already level 140. Auron shook his head, he knew NPC would gained level faster than player, but still it was depressing. However, when Auron looked at his roommate''s equipment it was ordinary. Most of them only wore common grade equipment with some uncommon grade. With his roommate''s background it was no surprised that they didn''t have enough money to get expensive equipment. Since Auron got a lot of money left from Jaden, he tried to help them with this matter. However, he didn''t tell them where the money came from. At first, both of his friend refused Auron''s good intention. However, Auron reasoned them that if they could change their equipment better, they could picked better mission for them later. Withthat reason, Borad and Reihan gave up. They went shopping a bit to find equipment for both of them. After a few hours of shopping, both of them already geared better than before. With rare grade level 130 equipment, although it was not a set but it was better than their equipment before. After all of this, Auron lead them to the mission tower. The month already changed, so their point was reset back to 0. By doing one mission, all of them didn''t entered the top 10 ranking, they didn''t even entered top 200 ranking. However, they were still safe from the punishment since they already got point more than 100. Arrived at the mission tower, Auron felt weird. There weren''t many people on the first and second floor. However, they still went to the receptionist. "Don''t you guys heard the news yet?" The receptionist confusedly asked. Feeling weird, Auron looked at both of his roommate. Seeing their confused face, Auron knew they also didn''t knew. Auron shook his head to the receptionist. "It had been a week since no academy''s student allowed to take any mission" The receptionist explained. Auron felt awkward. Since, he was at the library immersed in his study he didn''t know the news. Moreover, when he was shopping in the city, there was no one talking about it. Meanwhile, both of his roommate just got back from hunting so they also didn''t hear any news about it. What Auron didn''t know was the news was a secret and only announced internally, so there would be no ordinary citizen knew about it. Moreover, it had been one week since the news announced. "Do you know the reason?" Auron awkwardly asked. "I don''t know the detail. What I know is this was related to some big operation that the academy would assign you to do. I don''t know the details. I just told that the details would be announced tomorrow. So, to make sure there were no student absent from the announcement tomorrow because of a mission, they banned any student from taking it since a week ago." Hearing this news, Auron thought, "Is this the reason why there was heavy atmosphere in the academy lately." Since they could not took any mission, they could only return back to the academy. The spent of their time to talking and sharing their hunting experience. A day passed by, and the day of announcement came. Chapter 144 Operation 2 A crowd were seen on the academy''s field. There were many noises and chattering around the area. Some were discussing about the operation gonna come. Some were discussing about last month ranking. And, just like few ceremony before, the crowd was divided into two big group, the noble group and commoner group. However, this time, the commoner group had less people compared to the previous ceremony. Meanwhile, at a corner on the field in the commoner''s group, three people were talking to each other. This were Auron''s group. They tried to guess on the operation''s detail. When they were in deep discussion, they heard a group of people beside them also tried to guess the operation. "I heard this operation was related to war zone" One of them stated. "Really? Don''t we had the upper hand in the bridge world?" His friends replied. "No, you guys don''t know anything." The other friend who seem to have inside story acted smart and explained. "Don''t you guys know what month is this? What usually happen during this month?" "Yes, it is the Raiding Month" "So, are we also gonna be send to a raid?" A slightly confused commoner asked. "No, you idiot! Look at our strength. If we were sent to the raid, we will 100% lose our life. And, do you forget that who were sent to the raid was only immortal people. I guess we will divided into group and sent to help on the defense as well as gaining some experience." The smart guys rebuked. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. As the game name, Two Worlds, there were two worlds which were in a constant war against each other trying to occupy the other world. And, there were two ways for a world to invade the other world. First, through the front way, the bridge world. Between the two worlds, there were a smaller world which connect the two. They named it bridge worlds. There were no direct portal for one world to get into the other worlds. They had two teleport to the bridge world and in that bridge world, there were portal to other worlds. Of course, the portal was tightly guarded by the other worlds. And, the second way was through a back door. That back door was what will happen soon. It only happened once a year during this month. Basically,there would be a random portal opened to directly let a person teleport to the other world. There were two types of portal which were going to be opened, allies portals and enemies portals. Allies portals were portal that could be used to invade to the other world and it is located near the kingdom, Miderian. Whereas enemies portals were portal that would summoned the enemies from the other world and that portal would be placed on the outer most territory of the kingdom. The number of the portal would be random each time it appear however the number between allies portal and enemies portal were same. However, both of the world could not pinpoint the exact when the portal appeared. They only knew that during this month that the portal would appear. Which was why, usually, they would prepare in advanced and guarded the affected area or attack enemies'' area. Also, the portal would only appear for 7 days. The first time Two Worlds started, since their player was still low level and the quantity was small, Gaia always suffered a huge loss on this occasion. However, throughout the time, as the player grew stronger and the quantity also gone high, Gaia gained the upper hand. This was also one of the reason that Gaia could pushed back Regalia on the fifth year since Two Worlds started. Another reason was, since the third year onward, Gaia only sent player as the raiding party. By doing this, Gaia didn''t suffered big loss. As player could not truly died and can always resurrect. Meanwhile, Regalia which only comprises of NPC can only sent NPC who could not return back to their worlds. The truth was this back door was akin to a suicide mission. The reason was you would be summoned at the most outer of the kingdom and you have to get into allies portal of the other world to get back to your real world. Since you were summoned at the outer most, to get to the allies portal located in the inner most of the territory, you would have to past many village, town, and long distance. Moreover, you have to do it in 7 days to get back else the portal would disappear and you can only get back through the bridge world. However, to get back through bridge worlds was impossible since the portal connected from the world and bridge world was located inside a big city and it was guarded heavy. There were no history that a player or NPC managed to get back after invading through the portal. Meanwhile, in Gaia, the player actually didn''t have any desire to get back. They would treat this as a hunting ground with NPC as the enemies instead of monster. They would gained more experience when killing enemies NPC also they would have higher chance to get the equipment from that NPC. So, no one wanted to miss the opportunity and get back to their original world. There was a time when a group of 10 above level 400 players gained 5 levels each through the raid and gained more that 200 equipment range from common grade to epic grade. Meanwhile when they died, they only dropped 1 level and few equipment each. Of course, this only applied to high leveled player or lucky player to encounter weak enemies when they were in enemies territory. Since a huge benefit was coming to them, many players called this as a Raiding Month and this named spread wide until NPC also used Raiding Month as a term to call this month. During this month, usually the NPC would be responsible from guarding against the enemies'' attack or pressuring the enemies in the bridge world to divide the enemy''s attention. Chapter 145 Operation 3 When Auron heard the discussion, he realized that the possibility this operation related to Raiding Month was high. Still, he had a little doubt. After all, never before academy''s student joined the defense of Raiding Month. If this operation really related to Raiding Month, then this operation would be the first time in history that academy''s student joined the Raiding Month. While Auron was lost in thought, he felt a strong presence appeared among them. He looked to the source. It was Brock, the chief training officer for this batch''s student. Behind him already stood 3 high ranked officers. When all of the student felt Brock''s presence, all of the talk quieted down. All of them immediately formed a ranked and stood in neat line. "Now, I will inform why you guys are gathered here!" Brock stated. "As some of you may have guessed, this operation was related to Raiding Month." "The royalty declared that they would launch an intense attack this time." "Now, I will tell you the detail. Just like years before, immortal people would enter the allies portal and teleport to attack their outer village." "Meanwhile, the royalty want us to raised the attack intensity at the bridge world. He wanted us to secure one of the portal led to Regalia." "It is no easy feat to do that. That''s why we need to allocate some spare soldier from the defense team to do the attacking." "Based on our prediction, this time, there would be 15 portals appeared which means 15 villages would be under attack." "Also, based on the data from one year ago, enemies would also less likely to focus on this suicide mission. Which mean, we will just allocate soldier enough to defense the villages." "15 villages means 15 teams. 14 teams would be comprise of ordinary soldier. Meanwhile, the last village would be your responsibility." "Yes, 323 students with 5 officers behind me will protect one of the village." A murmured and noises were heard from the gathered student. Many students could not believed what Brock had stated. Usually, around 100 veteran soldier with level above 350 was arranged to defend a village. Actually, the number was pretty high considering the enemies didn''t focus on this suicide mission. In fact, 60 soldier with level above 350 was already enough to make sure an entire village safe. Meanwhile, the academy''s student only numbered 323 students. Among commoners, the average level was 135. While on the nobles side, the average level was 200. And, the highest level out of them all was level 250 from the nobles side. The level could not compared to the veteran soldier with level 350 and above. This was why, the academy was intending to cover the quality with quantity. Of course, all of the students whether they was from commoners or nobles knew about this matter. That was why when Brock mention about it, all of them only had one thing in their mind, this would be a difficult operation. Some of them even thinking that this was a sacrifice operation. Many of them would be dead and they wouldn''t know how they die. "Silent!" Brock stopped the noises. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "I know you think this was a sacrifice mission. But, it is not like what you think." "First of all, I assign 3 high ranked officer behind me, each of them had level above 700." "Secondly, we will started to show our intention to capture one of the bridge world''s portal starting tomorrow. This will make them allocate more soldier to defend against our attack. Moreover, there still the matter to defend against our immortal people. They will have no choice to split their troops. I believe that they will not have many spare soldiers to attack us." "I guessed around 30-50 enemies would be allocated to each villages. With your number and your teamwork you can eliminate them all despite the huge differences in level. Also, although we can''t provide equipment to all of you, but we will provide rare grade weapon to all of you." "Lastly, we will give you rewards based on your performance in the defense. If you perform well, you could even graduate from the academy and conferred a military''s title after the defense. So, do you best." "Now, claim your weapon first and prepare well, we will set off to our designated village tonight. Dismiss!" Not all of the students happy with Brock''s ''comfort''. And, it was true for the commoner student. They had a huge chance to die, after all, although the enemies'' number will be low they still could kill one of them with one attack. Meanwhile, the nobles student were happy, not like the commoner, all of them had top tier equipment, they could protect themselves more. And, this was a chance for them to show themselves and made their name known. A contrast side could be seen, with pale face commoner students and excited noble students. However, the commoner student could not do anything. They could only moved and claimed the provided weapon. Auron also claimed his weapon. Since, he was a mage, he should be given a level 70 rare grade staff. Fortunately, the military didn''t have any level 70 rare grade staff, so they could only give Auron level 70 epic grade staff. This was Auron''s luck. This incident didn''t cause any problem since level 70 epic grade staff was means nothing in the face of level 130 rare grade staff. After claiming his weapon, Auron and his roommate went separate ways to prepare themselves. Auron stock up lot of potions. He knew there would be no potion seller in the village. Also, Auron moved his swordsman to a more rather safe hunting spot, he didn''t want for his swordsman to consume many potion. The experience point gained would be lower but Auron didn''t care after all during the operation he could not overseer his swordsman. He would rather be safe than face many trouble. Night came, all the students gathered once more in the field. In front of them, already stood 3 high ranked officer from the morning. "Depart!" One of the officer commanded Chapter 146 Raiding Month 1 After few hours walking, they arrived at the designated village at dawn. "Unload all equipment and prepare for battle" Another commanded rung out. "Evacuate all villager to the bunker" A series of command could be heard from the village. Since they could not determine the battle day, they could only be prepared for it. All of the student immediately did as the command. Some of them unload them made a barricade at surrounding the village while there was some of them made a logistic tent and command tent. All the student was assigned into several group. However, the student could not chose with whom they wanted to be with. Instead, the officer randomly chosen the group which made the group''s composition was not balance. There were a group consist of all commoner while there were group that 50% consist of noble students. There were also group that 10% of its member were nobles. Of course, it didn''t matter how few the noble''s number were, they didn''t work hard and gave all of their burden to the commoner member. Auron was included in a group of 20 people with 6 people of them were a nobles. Although there were 14 people who were a commoner, however, another 6 of them were commoners who had already became another nobles'' henchmen. So, the nobles needed to give their ''boss'' some face. With this a hierarchy was made in Auron''s group. With 6 nobles become their head who only commanded the other. While another 6 was became the one who supervise the rest. While the rest was the one who do the hard work. If Auron''s group was a company, then the nobles was the manager, while the commoner who had relation with the nobles became the supervisor. While Auron and the rest became the worker. Of course, the manager and supervisor had a double face. They still worked in front of their ''boss'', the officer. But, when there was no ''boss'' around, they delegated their task to their subordinate. Fortunately, Auron''s group''s task was not too difficult. Their task was to gather all villagers and led them to safe place near the village. Also, they needed to brief them on what to do when the battle was going on. Lastly, they needed to gave them ration weekly for them to survive. Knock... knock... A door was open by the knocking sound. "Sorry, to wake you up early in the morning, but you need to gather around in front of the village''s head''s house this instance." Auron told the woman who opened the door. The woman immediately nodded at Auron. She didn''t dare to refuse Auron''s since she already saw Auron''s military badge. She already lived at this village for almost 5 years. During the year she lived here, she already experienced twice the attack and this was the third one. So, when Auron who had his military badge knocking at her house, she knew that her village will be a battlefield. She didn''t talk much and went inside to her house to wake her husband and children and brought them to village''s head''s house. Meanwhile, Auron already left the woman house and went to her neighbor house. This continued until 74 houses in this village already been informed by Auron''s group. A crowd of people was gathered in front of village''s head''s house. From old to young could be seen at the village''s head''s house. In front of them there were 6 people, they were the nobles. They needed to put the air of kind and warm hearth nobles. "Maybe some of you already guess the reason why we gather you here." One of the nobles said. "Yes, your village will be one of the battlefield during this Raiding Month." "We gathered you here to led you to the safe place and guard you there." "Don''t worry just like the years before we will drive them out and we just want to make sure you are safe." "We hope you give us your cooperation. If you have any questions you can ask our member here. Now, will you please follow our fellow member here." The nobles told the villager to follow the commoner who will led them to the safe place. When all of the villager already gone out of their view, all of them sneered and discard all of their pretense mocking at the villager who they deemed ''low life''. Auron and the others commoner led all of the villager who was numbered around 200 people to the safe place. Actually, the safe place was just a cave nearby which distances 2 kilometers from the village. It was pretty near to their village since with the experience from years before, the enemies already didn''t care with attacking and it seems they just sent people to attack like a formalities. This reason was why the safe place was so near to their village, so when the battle was finished they could immediately went back to their village and rebuild their village which surely already devastated because of the battle. When they arrived at the safe place, the commoner''s ''supervisor'' arranged all of them. From, telling what to do until train several village male on what to do when they were left alone. Most of the adult already knew this series of formalities and just nodded their head absentmindedly. It was like a flight attendant demonstrated how to use the safety measure in a plane to the plane passenger. No one really paid attention to it especially the one who had numerous experience with this Raiding Month. After brief formalities, Auron and the other needed to go back to the village and have a meeting with the officer. So, the ''supervisor'' put up a kind and warm pretense and telling them that they needed to went back. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. When they already left several meters from the safe place, all of the supervisor who was at the front halted their steps and turned around facing the rest of the commoner members. Chapter 147 Raiding Month 2 "Now, I will assign you guys task" One of the supervisor said. "You will be responsible for the food. You will be responsible for the safety. You..." He assigned a task for each of the commoner. "Wait! Who do you think you are to assign task to us? You are just like us a commoner!" One of the commoner could not stand the behavior and rebuked the so called ''supervisor''. Without wasting any time the ''supervisor'' directly unleashed an attack toward the commoner. Being caught of guard by the sudden attack, the commoner could not manage to defend the attack. He got hit and flew backward for several meters before stopping. The other ''supervisor'' chuckled while looking at the commoner. Meanwhile, the commoner who was hit was dreaded with fear as he spurted out blood. He and his other commoner including Auron was shocked at this scene. What shocking them was the fact that the difference in power was that great. From the level difference it was not that great, so it was supposed to be the level difference from skill or equipment. Although the commoner was caught off guard by the sudden attack. He was supposed not to flew several meters back because this attack. Moreover, when they first gathered to hear about the announcement yesterday morning, the one who attack was not supposed had this much power. But, now, in just mere one day, their strength rise greatly. "Ha... ha... ha..." The one who attack laughed. "Yes, I am a commoner. But, I am not just ordinary commoner. Look at this weapon! Look at my equipment!" He showed his weapon and equipment. When everyone looked at the equipment he wore, they was shocked. It was a full epic set for his level. No wonder, the damage he dealt was so great. "H- how could you get that equipment?" The commoner stuttered asking. "It was thanks to the benevolence of Bernard''s family that I get this set" "Why? Do you want to get this too? Join under him and maybe he could gave you a set like this. However, not all people under him get this privilege. They needed to prove they are worthy." "Now, do your job properly and maybe I could give some good word about you!" Hearing this, the commoner enjoyed greatly and nodded their head like a broken toys. A set like this could greatly improve their chance for survive. It was important for them to get this set. The face of the commoner who was being beaten up, became pale. He knew he was already on the bad side of this ''supervisor''. His chance of getting these set equipment was plummeted to zero. Meanwhile, from the start to the end, didn''t even doing anything. He just stood still and observed everything. He didn''t show any sign of agreeing or disagreeing about all of this. Before, he could help the commoner who was being attack by blocking the attack, but the didn''t do it. The reason was because, there was no reason for him doing that. It would not bring him any benefit. However, he also still couldn''t agree to become someone else dog. Moreover, the person seems to be a pampered nobles who didn''t care about his subordinate and just use them as a pawn. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Now, you see this power right? Behave properly and your chance of survive will rise." "I will repeat your task once again. You will..." The ''supervisor'' repeated the task once more. "Lastly, for you. Since, you were the weakest from all of us you will do all the task, you don''t have any specific task. You will become the assistant for the others. When one task was not done properly you will also get the punishment." The ''supervisor'' telling Auron his task. There were several types of task being given, like giving the villager food, maintain the villager safety, clearing nearby monster, etc. Each task was maintain by one person each. Meanwhile, Auron would be the helper for all of the task. If the villager didn''t get enough food, Auron would be punished as well as the one who was responsible with the food task. When there were monster spotted nearby the safe shelter, the one who was responsible clearing nearby monster will get punished and so did Auron. However, Auron didn''t rebuked anything and kept silent. He didn''t even nodded. Seeing Auron didn''t even voiced anything, the ''supervisor'' couldn''t be bothered by something like this and took Auron silent as an agreement. They turned around once more and started went back to the village. Before they arrived at the village, the supervisor didn''t forget to threaten the beaten commoner to make an excuse about his wound. Arriving at the village, they immediately gathered around the military command center for a briefing. "Before the battle started, stick with your group and work with each other to do your task properly. I will not tolerate internal quarrel!" The lead officer shouted out. "When the battle start, remember to keep sticking with your group and fight properly." "Now, each of you will received this device. It is used to communicate. Also, this device will also record your battle contribution that you could exchange with many things after all of this finished." "Also, if the device alarm is ringing, then it means the portal is appearing and it indicate the start of the battle. You need to do your job properly and not let any of the enemies escape. Now dismiss" After each of them getting the device, they immediately putted the device on their body and dismiss. Three days passed by, no enemies spotted. From outside, it was very calm and peace. However, inside, the pressure getting tensed up. Many commoner looked out for shelter to one of the nobles which made thing chaotic. Meanwhile, for the commoner who didn''t want to become the noble''s dog or had already been rejected become tensed since they knew their chance of survival was very low. And, today, the device''s alarm was ringing loudly. Chapter 148 Raiding Month 3 "Look at them!" One of the commoner whispered to Auron beside him. "There were dogs gathering around, wagging their tails and licking their boss'' face. So, disgusting!" That man pointed at a group of commoner in front of him who was circled around the so called ''supervisor'' in hope they could be be put in a good word for the nobles. "Relax, all of you. Yesterday, I have told your concern to Young Noble. Although he could not fully help you, but he had agreed to give you guys some equipment." "Make line first, I will distribute the equipment" A line quickly formed and the ''supervisor'' distributed some rare equipment to them. Each of them get one piece of rare equipment. Actually, it could not help them much, but they really felt grateful and quickly bowed many times. This situation just not happen in this place only. Throughout the village, there were two or three similar gathering like this. Also, this was not the first time in happened. From several days before, a gathering like this could be seen around the village. "Tch, so disgusting. Didn''t they know that this little piece of equipment could not help them to survive." The man beside Auron mocked once again. Auron didn''t response to any of the man''s mock. He knew who was the man beside him. The man actually was like one of the dog that he had said. The first day after the device distribution, that man quickly looked for a noble for shelter. He spent a huge effort and managed to get one piece equipment. However, he get on the nerve of one of the ''supervisor'' and made the ''supervisor'' angry. With that, he lost the equipment and was banned to receive another equipment. This issue quickly spread to other ''supervisor'' and nobles which made them to banner this man to get any equipment from them. This made the man could not receive any piece of equipment anymore and here he was now, sitting and mocking at the old him. Auron kept silent and didn''t reply. He looked at the clock and it was time for him to feed the villager. He stood up and went to the supply tent to get some food. At the supply tent, he found his group mate who was assigned already there. Without any communication, both of them quickly did their job as they could read each other thought. When they were about to leave the supply tent, their device rung loudly. Portal was spotted. This mean the battle would begin. The man who was assigned with Auron paled. However, he quickly maintain his composure and quickly told Auron, "Quick, you go and gathered at the designated location. I will transfer this food to the villager." Without waiting for Auron''s reply, that man took some more supply enough for the villager to maintain for a week and with a huge load on his side, he quickly went out to the safe place. It happened quickly, Auron didn''t manage to stop him. He could only went along that man''s order and gathered at the designated location while cursing at that man. Auron knew that man used this chance to escape safely so he didn''t need to battle. What funny was that man already received a lot of equipment from the nobles but he still ran away quickly. Actually, deep inside, Auron also nervous. Although he could still revive if he died, but right now, he was using his mage character, which mean if he died, his ''cheat'' progress would stop. Moreover, it will made his future progress slower. But, he knew if he could passed this trouble safely, his reward would be great. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. This was his first time joining the defense side, usually he would joined the attacking side at the Bridge World or attacking through allies portal. From the data that was published, what the officer had said was true, the enemies was less likely focused on attacking and just did it as a formalities. In addition, what Brock had elaborated at the gathering in the academy was true. With more pressure on the Bridge World through several days, the enemies already put more personnel on the Bridge World to defense which mean they would spend fewer person on the attack. Moreover, Auron was a mage that only needed to stand at the back line of the battle. With the fact mentioned, Auron felt confidence that he could survive through this Raiding Month even though his level was low by huge margin. Auron moved to the gathering place which he found a huge crowd already gathered there, silent with no noise at all. The officer already stood in front of them. "We already received the portal''s location. Also, from our investigation, there were 6 enemies spotted at this initial attack." Since the portal would opened for 7 days, the enemies didn''t directly launched a massive attack. They would used an pioneer team to distract the enemies. And, usually the pioneer team would consisted of a group of player that already defect to the enemies side. These player were the one that already betrayed Gaia or they were players who already had huge problem with the nobles around and became a wanted person. If they didn''t have any way to resolve their problem, they will become a wanted person and chase everywhere they went. With no return place, they could only joined the Regalia side since they would be chased, if they stayed at Gaia. However, this time, just like everyone had predicted, the pioneer team number was quite low than the raid before. "Just like we had predicted, the enemies would spent little effort in this raid. Intercept the enemies and don''t let them get near the village" "Don''t be arrogant! If you find a way stronger enemies, pull back and grouped with other." "It''s time for the battle. Fight with your live for your glory! Remember the more enemies you killed, the more things you could achieved." Chapter 149 Raiding Month Begin 1 The academy students separated into three groups with each officer as their leader. Two of the groups would intercept the enemies while the last group would wait and defense at the village. Auron was belonged to one of the group who was task to intercept the enemies. Auron''s group member numbered to almost 120 people. Sathire was the name of the officer who led his groups. He had a pretty high ranked in military. Also, he was a swordsman. Right now, Sathire was arranging task for each of member. He separated the members based on their class. Swordsman was most in the group. There was no merchant class joining the battle since they were left at the village to help with the village. Meanwhile, the rest of the class had almost similar number. "Now, take your formation as what I told you and move out!" Sathire commanded loudly. The groups started to form a formation. All swordsman would go up to the front. While in the middle of the formation, there would be a bunch of cleric as well as mage. At the most back were the archers. Lastly, the thief would circled the formation. "Thief, go look at the enemies whereabouts! Maintain your distance and be careful!" As Sathire commanded, half of the thief separated themselves and spread to every area. The groups moved slowly up to the portal''s location while vigilant at their surrounding. A few minutes passed by, and there was no news from the thieves. A few minutes later, two thieves went back. "Officer, there were two enemies at 11 o''clock from this place." A few seconds later, another thief came back reporting, "We saw the other attacking groups already engaging with enemies at 2 o''clock from our place." "They were fighting with 4 enemies." "Good, 2 and 4 which mean we already had all of the enemies pioneer team''s position. Any casualties?" Sathire asked. "There are some of the thief who were not careful already got killed." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "How is the enemies'' strength?" "It looks like the enemies'' strength was average since Officer Emsire, with the help of cleric and range support, could handle three of the enemies. Meanwhile, the last enemy was handled by the joined hand from various nobles'' children in the group. There were casualties, but I cannot determine the number" "Should we send any help to their group?" Although, the enemies'' strength was average, it power still overpowered the students. Fortunately, with the equipment and number, also by the nobles'' children help they could managed to hold off the fort. "No need, Emsire was stronger than me, in few seconds, he should already kill two of the enemies. We cannot avoid casualties. Move full speed, to 10 o''clock direction. We will intercept the others enemies." Still maintaining the formation, the group moved faster to the 10 o''clock direction. After confirming the enemies'' strength, Sathire moved full speed leaving the group by distance at his back. Although Emsire was stronger than him, the difference was not that much. If Emsire could handle three enemies then he still could handle two enemies by himself. The reason he doing this was to intercept the enemies as soon as possible so the enemies could not learn the geographic area. Terrain could help one in the war. Even though, the difference in the strength of two parties was huge, with the help of terrain the weaker party could defeat the stronger one. And now, they still had this advantages, meanwhile their enemies still learning the terrain. If they let the enemies roamed around the area longer, they would learn the surrounding terrain which will dismissed their advantages. This also was one of the reason why the enemies would send pioneer team consist of players. After defecting to Regalia, the player could choose their resurrection point in Regalia world. So, when the player dead, they would resurrect in Regalia. After they died, they could still went over to attack Gaia through their allies portal as long as the portal still opened. Then, they will passed the information about the terrain to the enemies for when the enemies launched their full scale attack. This was why, Sathire and Emsire foremost task was to intercept them as soon as possible and killed them. This will hinder them to collect many information on their first try. In state of war, the players would gain 100% increased in their experience point from killing the opposite side. This was also the reason why many player like to hunt for enemies in Bridge World. However, the increased was not with downside. The penalty for death also doubled. Player will lose 2 levels from dead. Moreover, after resurrection, all of their attributes would be reduced by 10% of their maximum attribute for 1 hours. Also, the reduced attributes could be stack. If the player died twice, then, after resurrecting, that player would already lose 4 levels and that player''s attributes also reduced by 20% for 2 hours. This was done so a player could not abuse their strength of not get permanent dead. Usually, in a war state, first, the high leveled player would roam around freely and killed as they like. When they already suffered one dead, they would still immediately went back to the battlefield, but this time, they would joined the group of NPC to get some protection. Auron''s group was chasing their officer, Sathire, who was in full speed to intercept the enemies. Soon, their group spotted the enemies. Sathire immediately launched an attack toward the enemies while his group at the back still chasing him. The enemies were not weak, they could dodge Sathire first attack. However, soon, Auron''s group arrived beside Sathire and attack them together. If the enemies only fight with Sathire, then they believed they could escape. However, with Aurons'' group''snumber, they could not do it. Hence, the enemies could not help but bring down several enemies with them. A causalities was inevitable. The weak one immediately died from one attack of the enemies, while the stronger one could still managed to hold on and with the help of cleric''s heal they were safe and sound. Meanwhile, Auron at the back was relaxing chanting his spell towards the enemies. However, he knew this was only the beginning. Chapter 150 Raiding Month Begin 2 With no chance to escape, the two enemies struggle hard to live as long as they could and killed as many as they could. Even though, the enemies level was way higher than the student, it was still 2 vs 120. Moreover, with the officer presence, their pressure gone way higher. At the end, both of the enemies died under the barrage of attacks. Still, the one who does the most damage was Officer Sathire. And, next in line was the groups of nobles. Meanwhile, Auron''s group also didn''t leave unscathed, they suffered 18 casualties. All of them were from commoner groups. "Come, let''s go to Emsire''s side and look at their side" Sathire didn''t give the group even one second to rest or mourned the fallen comrade, he immediately issued another commanded. Auron''s groups could only do as what they commanded. They went to Emsire''s side with full speed. Fortunately, when they arrived at Emsire''s side the battle had just finished so they didn''t need to went into another battle. Emsire''s group suffered more casualties that Sathire''s group. In his group, there were 39 casualties. With 3 of them were nobles'' children. Sathire and Emsire talked about what their next plan. At the meantime, all of the student was exhausted from battling and pressure from their enemies. After seeing their friend died under only one attack from the enemies, their fear intensified. It puts more pressure to them and weary them a lot. Some of them even had a thought of deserting the battle. However, they quickly dismissed the idea, since they were dreaming to get high point from the enemies. With their number advantages, they thought that as long as they were careful enough they could get a piece of the pie. Moreover, with the officer battling at the front and lessen their pressure a lot, their hope of collecting point rise. And, after the battle finished, when they looked at their collected point on their device. Some of them cheered while some of them also felt dejected. However, the student joy and sorrow could not caught the eyes of the officer, since they wore a serious expression while discussing. "Damn! Just as I thought! Our battle standard too low. Look at our casualties just to deal with 6 enemies." Emsire cursed. "This is just the beginning. There would be a lot more casualties" "What can we do? We cannot abandon this operation or the village will get destroy and they could get deeper to our area." Sathire tried to calm Emsire down. "We can only hope that everything goes like we had calculated before." "I hope that the enemies will slow down their attack, so our boys can mature a bit before their final attack" Sathire silently looked at their student. Since, the difference in level was a lot, the experience their student will get also high. It was enough for some of them who dealt high damage to gain a level even two levels. If the student could kill the enemies alone they would not only gain just one or two level, they could even get 20 levels at once. However, since the experience point they gained diluted to more that 100 students, they only left with little bit. Moreover, the officer took a lot of the experience point since they dealt the highest damage. This could be seen from Emsire''s group of student who dealt with leftover enemies. That group of nobles who put up the fight at front dealt most damage among the student. Some of them gained 5 level from killing that enemy while they were already at above level 240. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. If they could repeat this several times more, they could raised their student level quicker. However, they also sighed at the sight of the casualties. "What should we do now?" Sathire asked Emsire. After long talk, Sathire and Emsire decided to join together and immediately depart to the portal''s location. They hoped that if they joined their group, then they could killed the enemies quicker so they could avoid more casualties. They also didn''t forget to send one of the student back to the village to gave the information about the battle they just did. One hour passed when they arrived near the portal. In war, the enemies didn''t dare to be reckless, so the enemy''s player also didn''t dare to be reckless. They waited until their reduced attribute to recover for one hour. However, there were occasionally enemy''s player who were hot blooded. One of the player died under Emsire''s nobles went immediately after he resurrect. He tried to seek a chance to infiltrate passed the defensive group. Unfortunately, he met with Sathire and Emsire big group on the way. With reduced attributes, he was weaker. This time, he didn''t even manage to kill any student before he died once again. After that dead, he didn''t dare to be reckless and waited until he recovered his reduced attributes. Meanwhile Sathire and Emsire group arrived at the portal''s location. However, they could not destroy the portal since it was made invulnerable to any kind of damage. They could not even damage it let alone destroyed it. Usually, the defensive''s group would camped out the portal. So, when the enemies was teleport here, they could not go anywhere and had to win over them first before they could go anywhere. However, Sathire and Emsire group didn''t camped out at the portal, instead they were at some hidden place nearby and waited for a chance to ambush. Sathire and Emsire didn''t want to sacrifice a lot of the student. If they camped out and the enemies decided to launch a huge scale attack then, their student could be wiped out instantly. So, they chose to camped nearby and prepared to ambush the enemies. Their plan works out. Several times, the enemy''s player successfully got ambushed. However, after several attempt the enemies became more careful. Moreover, higher leveled enemies started to be seen although they still had low number in their group. Chapter 151 Raiding Month Begin 3 Six days passed by, during the past six days, the enemies'' attack starting to get harsher each day. Although, from the second day the number of enemy''s player reduced, but the number of enemy''s NPC increased. It was no surprised since the enemy''s player died a lot and they needed to recover their lost level to join the last huge wave. The enemy''s player started to hunt to recover their level. What fortunate for them was the fact the enemy''s had agreed to support them to recover their level. Bit by bit, the number of student also reduced. From 323 students, they went down to 264 students after the first days. Thankfully, started on the second day after they employed the ambushed strategy, their casualties went down. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Only, 10 students died on after second day. However, the enemy also didn''t stay still. After several attempt, they started to get the gist of the ambush strategy and they came up with the counter strategy. They started to randomly invaded Gaia. Moreover, each invasion with huge number of enemies. This made each time the ambush took place, not only the enemies took heavy blow, but the academy also took heavy blow. This continued for two days, which made the officer in field furious and could not hold anymore and took out their rage at the academy and military to request for help. At first, the request was immediately declined, however, the dead count started to build up which made the academy increased their pressured to the military. Moreover, during the two days, several student already showed sign to desert the battlefield. Especially the nobles who was pampered. The nobles somehow managed to get through their family although the communication already cut. This made the several nobles family also started to pressure the military to send reinforcements. They berated the military and academy for stupidly sending their child to battlefield. Even the family from the deceased nobles student asked for a tremendous remuneration. With a potential internal conflict rise up, the military higher management commanded to agree to the request. However, they could not withdraw the student from battlefield. With all sort of excuses made up, the manage to let the student stayed in the battlefield. In exchange the military send another 10 soldiers to their place. Also, the reason the nobles agreed was because the military agreed to let them send their own guards to the battlefield. Each of the family could send 3 guards. However, not all of the nobles send their guards. There were several nobles that didn''t send their guard instead they send their guard to the Bridge World to gain more popularity and achievement. There were several reasons for this. But, most of it was because the children who was at the battlefield was their least favorite child or just a child from their concubine. With this more than 100 guards was gathered to the battlefield near the portal. The groups was brimming with people. The quantity of the group was way more than the other defense party at others portal. At the end of the fourth day, the group consisted of 3 officers, 10 soldiers, 101 guards, and 164 students. From 164 students, 67 from it was a nobles family, meanwhile the rest was just a commoner. With this huge group the officer decided to camp the portal and left a little, 5 soldiers at the village. The condition gradually improved. However, there still some student who was died since the guards that was sent by the nobles only defended their young master. The groups seems strong, however, the enemy''s didn''t just let it slide. When they knew, the group increased, it piqued the enemy''s high leveled player. At first, the value was low since the level of the student was low. However, with the soldiers and guards, the value of the groups increased. There were even some enemy''s player that already battled in the Bridge World, when they heard the news, they went to this portal instead. Huge quantity of enemies started to appear in the portal. Casualties started to appear once more. There were even some casualties in the soldiers and guards group. Of course, during the six days, it was not with improvement. All of the students that survived until the end already gained several tens level. There were even, some who had gained hundreds levels. Auron also gained more than 50 levels during the war. Right now, he was level 127. This was because he was very careful during the war and looked some place safe at the back. This cause his experience to raise slowly. Moreover, with the four times experience needed than normal, his progress was slower than others. It look likes he gained a lot but it was because he started low. Gaining 50 level from level 70 was different from gaining 50 level at level 130. However, Auron still brimming with happiness. With this one war, he already gained a lot compared to his days hunting alone. Now, the seventh day started to begin. Today, was also the day when the portal would close up. With the groups camped out the portal, they took turn to observe the portal. When there were slightly changed in the portal, they would immediately rung the bell to inform the other that the enemies coming. And, today was Auron''s turn to observe the portal with several other commoner. During the war, Auron kept on silent and just fight passively from the back. Moreover, he was in the commoner''s group. So, most of them didn''t care about him. "We are lucky to survive until this point." One of the commoner beside Auron who was in duty said. That man was also a mage and throughout the war, he already gained more than hundreds level and his level already at 309. "Today is the last day, if we could survive today, we can exchange our huge contribution point" That man smiledwidely. "What will you change it for? I would..." Before that man could finished up his sentence, a movement in the portal was detected. 10 students in duty, including Auron, immediately rung the bell to inform the others. However, before the bell could rung, 3 heads flew up in the air followed by blood splattered. Chapter 152 Last Day 1 DONG.... DONG... A bell''s sound loudly rung in the air. Everyone in the camp who heard the bell directly suit up and gathered at the portal armed. However, a hectic and commotion already took place in the camp. A shriek could be heard mixed up with the bell sound. Meanwhile, after3 heads flew up in the air followed by blood splattered, several shrieks and blood splattered could be seen. Auron who was close to the portal also could not escape from the nightmare. A shadow passed by near Auron coming closer to him. With a silver glint, a dagger covered with red aura tried to slice him up. Auron reacted quickly, he tried to block the incoming dagger with his dagger. However, he knew it was impossible. No time to chant [Aqua Barrier] or use any other spell. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. So, he had no choice to activate his swordsman skill. He tried to dash away behind. Unfortunately, he was few second late, he could not dodge the dagger completely . He used all of his swordsman defensive skill including [Aura''s Barrier]. Upon impact, the dagger which missed the vital point could only grazed Auron. However, with the difference in power between Auron and the perpetrator, Auron still suffered huge damage even it only grazed him. Fortunately for him, with the change in his equipment, his health soared high. Moreover, he gained 50 more level during the war which increase his health by some amount. But, still, even with the increased health, Auron''s health plummet down to critical condition. Also, with the attack, Auron flew back several meters and fell down. The perpetrator ignored Auron since he thought that with that one impact Auron would died. Because of that, the perpetrator immediately attack the man beside Auron who was just minutes ago had conversation with Auron. Meanwhile, the next target was shocked to extent that he believed all that was going now was a dream. His leg was shaking so hard that made him hard to stand. He slumped down due to fear. Fortunately, because he slumped down, the perpetrator''s dagger missed his neck. He survived one attack. However, this just made the perpetrator more furious. With a dagger in hand, the perpetrator used his skill to kill the man which was not necessary. The perpetrator reaped the man life and gone to next target beside him. Auron who was at the ground, was in dilemma. He wanted to get up and ran away but it would attract the attention of the attacker. However, if he didn''t do anything, with his low health a slight impact would make him death. He chose to silently drank health potions without getting up. While he was drinking the potions, one of the attacker realized Auron was still alive. He immediately launched his ranged skill to kill Auron. Seeing this, Auron get up and tried to dodge the skill. However, the skill was so quick that with the time he had, he could not dodge it. Fortunately, before the skill could reached him, a shadow arrived in front of him and blocked the skill for him. It was Officer Molke who was staying at the village on the first day. "Quick, get back and recover!" Officer Molke shouted to Auron. Auron ran away to the back and use several health potions to recover his health. Although, it was surprising for him to find a mage still alive despite the chaotic situation here, however he could not think about it. Right now, he had more urgent situation to handle. Officer Molke looked at the situation. The situation was grim. In this last attack, the enemies send huge number of soldier exceeding from their prediction. With the situation at the Bridge World and attacked from the portal, they thought that the enemy would send 30-40 soldiers, 50 at most. The fact was the enemies send over 100 soldiers. Looking at the grim situation, Officer Molke shouted, "Fall back to the village! All soldiers and guards cover the student! Ask for reinforcement from the headquarter!" Fighting head to head was a difficult option for him with this soldier. Meanwhile, running away was also a nightmare. The student would not be able escape the chase. However, he felt escaping was the most appropriate choice in this situation. With this command, all of the student immediately dropped their weapon and ran back to the village as fast as they can. The enemies could not let this slide. They aimed at the student who was running away for their life. A slaughter was happened with the slowest student would died. However, it was not a one side massacre, the officers, soldiers, and guards also took this chance to kill several enemies who was aiming at the student while also went back to the village covering the students. Halfway through to the village, a huge casualties occur at both sides with Auron''s side suffered more casualties. The battle continued on, a huge groups of the student was running away behind them were a groups of chaser and a defense group consisted of the officers, soldiers, and guards. However, the number of the defense group was lesser because they suffered casualties when they were caught in surprise. When they were near the village, several enemies detached from the big group and spread out. Molke knew their reason. They wanted to infiltrate inside the kingdom, however he could not do anything about it since he still in an intense fight against the enemies. With the enemies numbered going down, the pressure lessen a bit. Some of the student took up their courage and help the officer from behind. Auron''s side slowly gaining the upper hand. When there were only 20 enemies left, they decided to retreat back to the portal. Molke and the other officers decided not to chase the enemies, they were afraid of ambushed since after they were move far from the portal, they didn''t know how many more enemies arrived. They decided to mend the wounded while waiting for the reinforcement from the headquarter before attacking. Chapter 153 Last Day 2 Inside a large tent in Miderian, several men stood around a table. Various expression could be seen on each of their face, from agitated, furious, confused, even shocked. They could not even uttered a word which made this tent void of sound. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Near the entrance of the tent, several soldier were kneeling down waiting for a response from these several men. When suddenly, one soldier entered the tent. "Sir, Officer Molke request for reinforcements" When the news was brought into the tent, the several men who stood around the table didn''t even gave slight of response to the news as if they didn''t care about the news. After few minutes of silent, one of the man broke the silence, "How can they do this? How can they have so many soldier to send? Based on our calculation, their number could not sent this many soldier" These questions were the questions which circulated among all of the men''s mind. "What should we do? Should we take back some troop from Bridge World to defense?" One of the men stated his opinions. "No, from what I heard, we have the upper hand in Bridge World. If we recall some troop our situation could be reverse." "How many spare troops we have?" "We don''t have any spare troop. You know the operation this time was so big that we didn''t spare any troop." "We only have the royal troops and the few guards which guarding the various city left." "However, we don''t have the authority to command the royal troops and if we force ourselves to deployed the guards in the various city, the city would be left with no security at all. What if a rebellion occurred" Hearing the concern about the situation, one of the man who had the most highest authority in the tent gritted his teeth, "Informed the royalty about our situation and asked the permission to borrow some of the royal troops." With that command, a messenger was sent to the royalty. The atmosphere inside the tent become more intense. All of them was hoping that the royalty would lend them hand. After several minutes of waiting, a young man entered the tent. The young man entered the tent with charisma. Majestic aura could be felt around the man. Despite the charisma and majestic aura, from his appearance, he was around 19-20 years old. He walked to the table inside the tent, behind him two scary and strong bodyguards followed him. When the young man walked, the kneeling soldiers and men immediately gave a way for him. The several men around the table who saw the young man immediately bowed down and greeted him, "Greetings to Your Highness." The man with the highest authority took up his courage and said, "Apologize for this lowly one to make Your Highness travel to here. As you can see, we are not in a good situation. We ...." However, before he could finish his speech, the young man waved his hand, "I already know the situation. Royal Father, send me here to assist the situation." The young man was the royal prince. He was the fourth prince and the youngest prince out all of the prince out there. He was sent by the king to resolve the situation. Of course, the king didn''t leave him alone, before the prince left, the king already gave out several suggestion for him based on the situation stated from the messenger. "What''s the situation in the attacked village, right now?" The fourth Prince asked. He tried to be careful enough about the situation, so he felt thathe know the situation on the field right now. "Some of the retreated to the village and barricade themselves inside it, while the other manage to stopped the enemy halfway. However, they already lost control of the situation on the portal." "Also, the enemy seems pulled back and wait at the portal for some unknown reason. Our officer believed that the enemy was mustering their troop as many as they can until the portal was close and attack us at the same time." "Although, not all of the attacked village was in dire strait, however, most of them was in dire situation. However, seeing the enemy mustering their troop, all of our officer already asked for reinforcements to hold the village." "Moreover, from the enemy movement, some of the enemy, already split out into several little groups to infiltrated inside the kingdom and act as a spy. We believed that if we deploy guard inside the various city, the spy would take this chance to run a havoc or to create a rebellion." "One thing that we didn''t know was how can they muster that many troops. Based on calculation, it would not be possible" "Forget with the calculation thing! You can see the fact here that you calculation were proved to be wrong. You don''t need to know how can you calculate wrongly right now. There is more urgent situation, which is to save the villages!" The fourth prince berated the man who insisted on his calculation which made him silent immediately. "I agreed with your speculation, I believed that the enemy would muster their troop as many as they can before the portal closed. Then, they would attacked all of the villages at the same time." "Heed my words, pull back all of our troop to the village. We will defense there. Also, make the various city guards to stricken their guard. Check every identity of every person who came or out the city. If there were no urgent or important business forbid them to enter or out the city. If it is necessary close down the gate until all of this was over!" "Next, I brought 450 royal troops here. Split them and send them to all of the village immediately. Don''t move until the portal close. When the portal close, if they are not attacking then we will attack them. However, I doubt that they will not attack us." Chapter 154 Last Day 3 Although, the reinforcement number was not much but the quality of the royal troops was different compared to ordinary soldiers. An ordinary royal troop''s strength was almost the same with an officer, even slightly higher. With this reinforcement, he believed it was enough for them to fight with the enemy, even if the enemy had more numbers. "I heard the academy''s student is in the battlefield as well and they suffered a lot?" The fourth Prince asked. "Yes, Your Highness, it was inevitable to avoid casualties. However, through this we can have a more capable student with high quality to join us in the armies." The man with the highest authority below the prince spoke. "However, since we have suffered a lot, their noble parents was pressuring us to withdraw their child. I am afraid that if we didn''t solve this problem immediately, they will defy the order and create a chaos." Another man chipped in to give more information. "No worries, this was also why I am here. I will personally go to the student''s village and defense the village with them. This should be qualms their worries." Although, the fourth prince was still 19 - 20 years old, but his strength was not ordinary. With theroyalty blood and royal resource, his strength soared. Right now, the Fourth Prince''s strength was comparable to a high leveled royal troops. It was believed that if the Fourth Prince given 10 or 20 more years, he would have surpassed his father''s strength, the current king, by huge margin. Which was why, the Fourth Prince was crowned as a talented man despite his young age. Moreover, his character was good. He didn''t want to struggle for throne. When the king wanted to crowned him as the crown prince, the fourth prince rejected it and advice his father to give it to the current crown prince, the First Prince. Furthermore, the fourth prince had a good relationship with all of his siblings. Also, he liked to help the commoners who was in need. This was also the reason why the fourth prince was not only famous in the royalty but also in the eyes of commoners. Fourth Prince''s sense of justice was also so high that he was the first one who resisted the idea of making the academy''s student to fight in the battlefield regardless of the reason. However, since the others had already agreed to the idea, his resistance met a dead end. Which was why the idea was executed. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Also, if the noble still insisted to send a reinforcement, then tell them to send it to various city to strengthen the security or send them to Bridge World to help my first brother." "Prepare everything quickly, we will departed from here in 10 minutes." "Meanwhile, you lot prepare a plan to eradicate the enemies that already infiltrate inside the region. We will immediately executed it after the defense done. Don''t forget to keep track and find the whereabouts of the infiltrator." The Fourth Prince faced all the men in the tent and commanded them. "As you wish Your Highness!" All of the men inside the tent said in unison while the fourth prince exit the tent. --------------------------------------------- "Remember, your first task was to evacuate the villagers away from the villages and maintain the order in the village." The fourth prince remind the other royal troops. Just as scheduled, 10 minutes later, the royal troops spread to their designated village and help to defense. The fourth prince company also went to one of the village, the village where Auron was there. --------------------------------------------- Although, they race fast to the village, it still took a lot of time to arrive at the village. When the fourth prince arrived at the village, it was already evening. Meanwhile, at the village, all of the officer and the student, as well as the noble''s guard were shocked to find that the fourth prince came personally to their place. All of them immediately stopped what they were doing and knelled down and greeted, "Greeting, Your Highness!" The fourth prince gave them permission to stand, then he immediately called up all of the officer in charge to the tent. Meanwhile, the mood in the village became better with the fourth prince''s presence. Inside the tent, the fourth prince asked the situation in the village to the officer, "What''s the situation here?" "We was in dire state. Our side had lost many student from our original number. This gave huge pressure to the student. Moreover, at the last battle, we had lost more student and guards. Right now, we only had less than 80 students, 3 officers, 4 soldiers, and less than 40 guards." "However, the students had low spirit. Meanwhile, the 40 guards only cared about their young master and it hinders a lot. Fortunately, Your Highness come to this place. It lifted up the mood here and I believed the guards would not dare to defy Your Highness'' orders." "With that said, please punish us for our incompetency!" "No need, you have done what you can. Now, I will take command here. During this time, what the enemy''s movement?" "We dare not to track too far from the village, so we can only know what is happening around the village. During this time, the enemies launched several mini scale attack. However, no casualties on either side. It was like they were waiting for the right time to attack also to probe our strength." "However, I also believe that they knew we were waiting for reinforcements. So, what made me confused was why they didn''t attack us before the reinforcement came instead waited until the reinforcement come." Officer Molke explained their situation. "It is indeed strange. However, we could not take that to deep since soon or later we will know the answer." "Now, my first order was to evacuate the villager farther from the village. I intended to make the village as the battlefield." "Second, after the first order executed, gather all of the student and the guards" Chapter 155 Defense Battle 1 A series of command immediately sounded from the three officers. A depressed village turned into motion. Lively atmosphere started to fill the place again. With rush, several student regardless of noble or commoner started to move. The fourth prince''s presence really brought back the place to live. Auron also could feel the change in the mood. While he was tasked to evacuate the villager further away, he felt it was easy to move them under the name of fourth prince''s order. Moreover, when the villager was escorted, there were no one that put a disappointed face or dejected face even though, they knew that their village will be destroyed as a result from the war. It took one hour for Auron and his teams to move the villager away and back to the village. When he arrived back at the village, a command to gather around was issued. With that command, everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered outside the military tent. "As everyone have already known, soon, we will face an attack from the enemies. And, we will face it with all the member here." The fourth prince started his speech. "Before the fight began, I want to give you a chance. A chance to run away and save your life. I will not blame you and no punishment will be given if you run away right now." "Take this chance if you are afraid. Later, there will be no more chance to run away since deserter will be executed on the spot or be trialed in the military trial." "However, if you are a brave man, take this chance to make your name known and fight with me here." "Yes, defense the village with me here and let your contribution known to others." "I will count to 10. If you want to back down, this is your last chance" "10... 9... 8..." The prince started to count down. Several seconds passed by, however, no one back down even made a slight movement. For the noble, this was a chance for them. If they can take this chance to make some contribution, their status in their family surely would rise up. Meanwhile, for the commoner, this was a rare chance to fight in equal status with the prince. Usually, in war, the commoner with low status would be sent at front as a pawn for the noble. But, not in this battle. "5... 4... 3..." There were still not movement from all of the students. As for the noble''s guards, if their young master didn''t move, then they would not dare to move or make their own decision even if they were afraid. When there were only two seconds left, one person knelt down with head facing down. With that one person''s movement, several other person followed. Soon, the prince finished his counting. There were 8 person who were knelt down with all of their head facing down. "This is what you guys have choose. For the eight of you stand up, and move away. You have to protect your life yourself as we will not escort you back." The 8 person who knelt down directly stood up without sound but they didn''t dare to look up. Then, all of them left the village and move on their own. All eight of them were commoner, they were tempted at the glory to fight with a prince, however their fear of death took over their decision. Of course, they not left just like that. When they were leaving, several contempt look and gaze shot out from the other nobles and some commoner student. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. When the eight people could not be seen anymore, the prince continued humbly, "Thank you for choosing to fight with me. It is a pleasure to fight with you guys here. Now, prepare yourself for the battle!" With all that said, all of them disperse and went on their own. The nobles went with other nobles and their guards. Meanwhile, the commoner tried to make a group on their own. Time passed slowly, there were still long way until midnight, the time when the portal would close. During the time, the enemies still send several men to harass them or sent a group to infiltrate inside the kingdom. At first, there were no casualties at the skirmish. Moreover, they knew that there were only several student that guarding the village. This situation made the enemies became braver. They didn''t only harass them but they also blatantly sent a group to infiltrate inside the kingdom while there were another group that observe the troop''s movement inside the village. When they knew this, the prince sent several royal troops to execute the infiltrator. A casualties began to shown in the enemies'' side. This made the enemy''s attacking general furious. They sent half of their force to intimidate the enemies and if there were chance to annihilate them since they still didn''t know how many reinforcement their enemies sent. A huge crowd of enemies was showed up outside the village. Moreover, there were also some of the high leveled general there. However, before they could launch their attack, the fourth prince showed which made the enemies backed down and retreated. This made the troops inside the village cheered up and praised the fourth prince since they could drive out the enemies easily without fighting. Amidst the cheering and praising, the fourth prince frowned. He immediately called up all of the officer and all of the royal troops to discuss. What made the fourth prince frowned was not the fact that the enemy retreated without fighting but it was because the enemies'' number was surpassed their calculation by lot. Moreover, the quality of their enemy was not like the wars before. Although, he still felt that he could win the battle, but he knew this would not be an easy battle. A series of heated discussion issued up inside the tent. Some strategy needed to be revised. Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours. Finally, the midnight had arrived, it was the sign of a huge battle coming. Chapter 156 Defense Battle 2 A silent engulfed the village. Everyone inside the village, regardless of noble nor commoner, focused out their attention at road up ahead. Sound of breathing mixed up with insect''s sound was heard across the village. As time ticked by, the atmosphere surrounding the village became heavier. Nervous, Fear, Hope were mixed up inside all of the student. Although, they didn''t run away when given a chance, it didn''t mean they didn''t afraid. Cold sweat started to form on the student''s forehead with weaker mentality. The pressure made them almost lost their mind, however they kept holding on. Minute by minutes passed by with no movement around the area. Half an hour passed, no attack was coming. The student''s mentality was different with the trained soldier. Under the pressure, the student became exhausted. One hour passed, and there was still no attack. The student with weaker mentality started to relax to release the pressure. Moreover, with no movement around the area, they believe they could take a little rest. However, when they started to relax, the Fourth Prince yelled at them, "Don''t relax! Keep your guards up!" With the Fourth Prince yell, the relaxed student became aware of the condition and kept their guards up, didn''t dare to relax anymore. Few minutes later, there was still no sign of enemies attacking, the Fourth Prince frowned his brows while Officer Molke came to him and asked, "Your Highness, there were no movement yet, should we prepare to attack?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "No, not yet, wait for another 10 minutes. If there''s still no movement, then prepare to attack." "Yes, Your Highness" Not long after Officer Molke said that, a movement spotted at the northeast of the village. All eyes immediately looked at that direction. Then, another sound was heard at the northwest of the village. After that, series of movement was spotted. "This is the time! Hold your position! For Gaia''s glory! For your glory!" Officer Molke shouted out. Royal troop''s mage launched a series of fireball toward the movement''s sound under the Fourth Prince''s command. However, it missed the target, instead, some hit the trees which burned the trees or hit the ground and died out. A shadow could be seen when the target was dodging the fireball. The shadow kept on moving fast closing to the village. At the entrance of the village, royal troops already waited at their position. Behind them, the melee attacker from the combination of students and guards. Behind them, the range attacker was ready at their position to support. The shadow who was obviously a thief came closer to the village. When they was about to arrive at the range of the melee attacker, they stopped their movement, and moved back. This made the student in the village confused, how could the enemies backed out without even attacking. "Don''t chase them!" The Fourth Prince command. The battlefield back to silent once more. 10 minutes later, another movement was spotted. It was the same as before, several movement from a thief spotted. And, just like before, when they was about to reach the melee attacker range, they backed out once again. Then, 20 minutes later, another fake attack was launched again. And, just as expected they backed out. 30 minutes later, movement from the enemies was spotted once again. The student kept on their guards like before. And, just like the two attacks before, they backed out once again. Seeing this, the student smiled and relaxed their guards waiting for the enemy next fake attack. "Don''t relax yet! Keep your guards up!" Seeing the student put down their guards, the Fourth Prince yelled at them once more. The enemies who was still at halfway of their journey back suddenly turned around and attack faster than before. This time, they are not alone. Behind them, the full force of the enemies was spotted. The enemies outnumbered them by half. However, that was just a number from the quantity of the enemies. In truth, one enemies out there could compared to two or three students. Thankfully, they had the help of the royal troops. Although the royal troops number was not a lot, but a royal troops could compared to two or three enemies. Moreover, with the help of terrain and village that had been set up before, they believed that they still win this battle. Also, thank to the Fourth Prince yelled before, the student kept on their guards up. When the enemies suddenly turned around, they already been prepared. The range attacker like mage and archer, started to launch their attack. Although, their attack was dodge or blocked by the enemies, it could slowed down the march. Enemies'' thieves leads the attack, with their fast movement, for weaker people, they could not kept up the movement. The thieves'' knew that they were not a match for the royals troop, so they didn''t care to attack the royal troops. They tried to attack the weaker guards and student to reduce the enemies'' number as well as created havoc. However, the royal troops was not a statue. Moreover, the royal troops was strong enough to know the thieves'' movement. They stopped the thieves'' advance. Thanks to that, the thief could not reaped the weak guards or students'' life. The thieves'' employed a hit and run tactics, they tried their best to pass the royal guards while they waiting for the main force to come. However, it was futile, the royal troop was strong enough to stop them. Actually, they were the one suffered. There were 5 thieves which died under the royal troops. However, they could not do anything except became more careful. Under the strength of royal troops and the barrage of spell and arrow, the enemies'' thieves casualties started to pile up. From 5 to 10 then to 15. Fortunately for the enemies, this thief sacrifice didn''t continue long. Their main force already arrived and they immediately clashed out with the royal troops. With the cleric behind them, the enemies also didn''t easily beaten. When the royal troops became busy at their battle, the thief who was suppressed before, became free and they showed their fangs and aimed toward the weak. Chapter 157 Defense Battle 3 "Beware! The enemy main troops are coming!" Officer Molke shouted to remind all of the soldiers and students. Splassh... A blood gushed out from nearby noble student''s arm. When the enemy thief tried to follow up his attack, that noble''s guard intercept the attack. Meanwhile, a warm light covered the injured noble student healing him. Although, there were huge level disparity between the student and the enemies, however the remaining student already proved their own strength. They were not a pushover. They could still maintain to receive one hit from the enemies. Moreover, with the help of teamwork and cleric they could stand up against one enemy. Seeing his attack was failing, the thief retreat a bit, then looked out for another weak and unprotected target. They also looked for an opportunity to strike at the cleric. However, it was very difficult since the cleric was protected from all side. An enemy thief aimed at nearby commoner student. Pulling out his knife, he activated his movement skill and move fast towards the unaware student. Before the knife could slashed the student vital point, a [Wind Slash] stopped his advance. A noble student launched that attack to him. Although, the [Wind Slash] could stop his advance but it didn''t enough to stop his attack. The thief moved out still targeting the same commoner student disregarding the noble student who already stopped his advance. The thief tried to use [Vital Strike], a deadly skill for thief that 100% produce a critical attack and 100% stun the target for 1 second. Although, the stun was only last for 1 second, however for a thief who was aiming kill the target in short time, that 1 second enough to link it with another skill and kill the target. At first, the commoner student didn''t aware that a thief targeting him, however, after the noble student manage to stop the thief advance, the commoner student aware of this. He recognized the thief tried to use [Vital Strike] to him. He tried to dodge however, it was late to dodge. The student tried to block the attack although he knew that blocking didn''t mean anything. He raised his swords to block it. With fast speed, the thief dagger also coming towards the student. However, before the dagger and sword could connect, a [Fire Bolt] hit the thief moving hand which held the dagger. The [Fire Bolt] managed to deflect the attack of the thief. The thief gnashed his teeth knowing his chance was gone. He retreated back and looked at the direction where the [Fire Bolt] came. There stood a male mage looking back at him, then the mage looked at another direction where another battle took place. That mage was Auron. Every time Auron launched a spell, the enemy was attack was stopped or failed. Although, the damage from his spell was not that great, but the timing of his spell was precise. It managed to come at crucial moment and saving lives. It was thanks to his position as a mage that positioned at the back, he manage to calmly calculated the enemy attack and launched a counter attack at precise moment. However, in a crowded and intense battle, this behavior was difficult to recognize. Moreover, with a weak damage it didn''t raise any attention. - 120... Boom... Auron saved another noble student from the hand of the enemy thief. The noble student retreated closer to Auron with several other commoner student. This was the group which Auron joined. It consist of 2 noble student and 8 commoner student including Auron. The 2 noble student actually didn''t want to join the group. However, since they didn''t have any guard assigned to them, they could not help but join the group. The 2 noble student still grumbled and felt that it was a difficult fight. However, what they didn''t knew was that the fact that their group was the only group that didn''t suffer any casualties until now. Their fighting tactic contribute to it. They only tried to fight with the enemy behind the front line. Although, the danger level was not that great, but there was still a huge danger level from the thief. However, out all of the attack the thief didn''t manage to reap a single live from their group thanks to Auron. Meanwhile, the other group already suffered several casualties from the thief. However, they also manage to kill several enemies. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. With the disadvantages of quantity, Auron''s side had a difficult time fighting. However, thanks to the royal troops they manage to hold the enemy off. The enemies suffered many casualties compared to Auron''s side. Moreover, with the Fourth Prince, the fighting capability was raised several time. As a prince, although his level was almost the same as the royal troops, but his resource was different. Hence, the fighting capability the Fourth Prince showed could be compared to two or three royal troops. Furthermore, as a prince, he got an aura skill that can raised the fighting capability of the other soldiers near him. This was a unique skill which everyone could gain including player when they already achieved at certain nobility rank or military rank. With this, the enemy''s number almost means nothing. The enemies number slowly dwindled little by little. With less enemy, the pressure at the front line reduced a lot. Moreover, thanks to the Fourth Prince''s presence, their teamwork gone spike. No noble dared to voice out their complaint even if the prince ordered them to protect a commoner. With unity, their fighting became a lot easier. However, there were still casualties among them. 1 royal troops, 15 guards, and less than 10 student died at the hand of the enemies at front line or because the thief that lurking out. However, the enemies suffered more casualties than them. They suffered twice almost thrice the number. With less pressure on the front line, the Fourth Prince ordered 2 royals troop to withdraw from the front line and joined the back line to wipe out the thief lurking aiming at their cleric, mage or archer. Chapter 158 Plan 1 With the addition of 2 royal troops, the thief lurking out became more careful. They already suffered several casualties since the royal troops joined to fight against them. Now, they numbered less than 15. Meanwhile, the cleric, archer and mage became more calm and could attack as they will. The enemies'' front line suffered because the reduced pressure on the cleric, archer, and mage. Slowly, the enemies number started to reduce bit by bit. The enemies'' number started at more than twice Auron''s side, it slowly dwindled down to one half of Auron''s side. Then, it still going down until they had almost the same number. With the victory was in front of their eyes, Auron''s side became more ferocious and aggressive. Meanwhile, the enemies started to feel fear creeping out from within their mind. However, they could not backed out since they were in army and the army had their own rules. However, this rules didn''t apply to the enemies'' player. Although their number was low, but, they still had some number in the enemies'' side. With the situation slowly turned out worst for the enemies, the enemies'' player slowly detached from the force and tried to desert. One player moved back from the front line then slowly but surely moving towards the back line. However, before that player could arrived at the back line, One enemies'' player killed attack him. With this sudden attack, that player who was trying to back out immediately raised his weapon to block the attack. Clang. A sound of metal collided rang out in the middle of the enemies'' force. "What are you doing?!" The player who was attacked furiously said. "Shouldn''t it be me that ask that question?" The attacking player return the question. "Can you see we cannot win this battle, the royal troops are to strong! Rather than dying pointlessly in this losing battle, I prefer to went hunting alone and ambushed the enemies low level" "Do you forget you had signed the agreement and received some benefit from the king?" "Why you stick to that stupid agreement? Moreover, we are the player we could resurrect endlessly, how could a mere NPC could hinder us." In fact, all enemies'' player that participate in this battle already signed some sort of agreement with the enemies'' king. They would receive some equipment or skill even some status. In turn, they would help and cooperate in this attack. At first, the player felt skeptical about this agreement. After all, although, they will receive some benefit, why would they need to die in a battle that 100% they will lose. However, as they saw at the agreement, they became surprised. The punishment was light, it could even be considered very light compared to the benefit they will received. It was said in the agreement that if they backed out or ran away, they would need only to give back all of the thing they received before. If they could not give it back, they could exchange it with money. Moreover, if they didn''t back out until the end and the attack was succeed they could keep the benefit they received. However, that player who was running away felt that as the situation right now, he knew the attack would be a failure. So, instead of just killing himself, why not benefiting a little by hunting the enemies'' NPC with the equipment he had received. Although, at the end he still need to return the equipment, he could still kill some enemies and gain several loot. However, that plan was stopped as he was attacked by another player from his side. "You know the agreement right? If you want to run away, then give back the equipment you receive!" The attacking player demanded. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Could you just let me through this one time? After all, at the end, I will still return this equipment" That man tried to persuade the player. However, the attacking player didn''t comprise with the demand. He kept on sternly looked at the player. Knowing this, the player gave up on persuading the player and decided to give back the equipment. Time was essence, if he want to run away from the battle, he need to be quick before all of the NPC in the front line wiped out. If he was late, then he didn''t have any time to detach from the group and got slaughtered as well. He quickly gave back the equipment and said, "Happy? Now, let me go through" That man gave back all of the equipment he received and use his initial equipment. Then, he started to walk passed the attacking player. However, before he could move further, several attacks aimed at him. The several attack reaped his life, as he was dying he looked at the man before and asked weakly, "Why?" "Deserter are not allowed to life!" That man said. This commotion was surely attracted attention. All NPC and players looked at the commotion. When the NPC looked at how the situation turned out, they didn''t bothered a bit. They knew who was that man. That man was the player''s representative who was selected by the king himself. He was also the strongest player out of all player in the groups. They even knew that that man was stronger than the Fourth Prince out there. It was all thanks to the support from the king. Also, he was an important piece for their plan which was why although he was strong, he didn''t go to the front line. However, when the other players looked at how the situation turned out, some frowned displease however they didn''t voice out their dissatisfaction. While the player who knew who was this man felt it was an expected outcome and didn''t feel any bit of dissatisfaction, instead they scorned at the running player. The man looked at the equipment that the running man dropped out. Then, he laughed mockingly at the equipment as if it was a trash rather than picking it out. With hand in his back, he observed the front line once more. Chapter 159 Plan 2 Although Auron''s side had fewer number, however they managed to push the enemies front line back. But, they didn''t go to far from the village. After pushing, the enemies attack back for 1 kilometers from the village, they didn''t chase the enemies, instead they maintain their position and took care of the injured. This was what Fourth Prince had ordered. They feared the sudden ambushed if they had went to far. Since they didn''t know the situation out there, they didn''t want to play at the palm of their enemies hand. That was why the Fourth Prince only ordered them to push as far as 1 kilometers from the village. Seeing Auron''s side didn''t chase them out of 1 kilometer, the enemies felt confused as well as relieved. Moreover, the enemies upper high didn''t gave any command, so they didn''t dare to backed out and attacked once more. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Because of this, the front line became like a game. The enemies pushed Auron''s side until they almost arrived at the village''s entrance. Then, Auron''s side will turned the situation and began chased back the enemies. If the enemies managed to run until 1 kilometer from the village, they were saved, if not they would died. This game continued for another 3 times more. Obviously, casualties could not be avoided. However, Auron''s side had the advantages at the count of casualties. When it was the third time, casualties started to appear in the royal troops side. 5 royals troops died because they were exhausted and not careful. When the front line was about to do this game for another round, the enemies'' player who killed the deserter before raised his hand. It was a sign, a sign to stop what they were doing. All of the enemies know what this sign was and they stopped to chase. However, Auron''s side, just like before, had already backed out until at the village''s entrance. They already prepared to received the enemies attack only to find out the enemies didn''t chase them. The Fourth Prince who was the strategist in this war didn''t surprised at all at this sudden change. Instead, he observed the enemies to know what they will do next, so he could come up with a counterattack plan. The fight became stalemate. The enemies didn''t move neither Auron''s side. It was like there was a wide thick wall between them. Although the enemies front line didn''t move, however at the back line there was a huge commotion. All of the enemies general circled the player who raised his hand before. "What will we do? We have suffered a lot." One of the general spoke. "It looks like the rumor about the genius Fourth Prince was true" The other general followed. Yes, just as what Fourth Prince had predicted, the enemies already prepared an ambush for them. So, when the enemies already moved out far away from the village, the prepared ambushed troops would attack from their back and circled them. With this, they would cut their retreat path and wiped out Fourth Prince. However, all of this was for naught, the Fourth Prince didn''t take the bait even though they had sacrifice to do this strategy three times to make an illusion that there was no such ambush like what they had thought. Because of the Fourth Prince didn''t even take the bait, that player stopped that strategy. With calmed face, wave his hand. With that wave of hand, the endless talk between the general immediately stopped. Although this man was a player, however he had the highest authority at this place. He was actually the leader of all the player in Regalia. Of course, to be the leader of all player in Regalia, he could not just self claimed that title. That title actually was given to him by the Regalia''s Kings. With the support from the king, strength-wise, he was the strongest player in all of Regalia. Meanwhile, on authority-wise, as he already served the king very long, he had a high authority in Regalia. His position in Regalia, his authority only beneath the king. Only the Regalia''s king can command him. For the other who had similar authority as him, they could only provide him some suggestion, whether he would take the suggestion or not it was up to him. This player was here at this place was because of the command of the Regalia''s King. No, actually, it was because he volunteered to come to this place. Their plan was to give all out on attacking while gave all out their best at defense in the Bridge World. However, with limited troops, to gave an all out attack they need to sacrifice their defense on the portal. Yes, Regalia, didn''t even defense portal and let their outskirt village be destroyed. The reason they want to give their all in attacking was because they had a secret weapon. They found out an ancient ruin at the world. Inside, they excavate several ancient weapon there. And, this was their secret weapon at defeating Gaia. Of course, they already calculated that this strategy would meet a retaliation from Gaia, that was why at the last day, they didn''t attack instead they hold their power while spying who the enemies sent out for reinforcement. And, at last they will wiped out the all of the enemies all at one wave of attack. This player was supposed to be at Bridge World to lead the troops there. However, surprisingly, Gaia, sent out their Fourth Prince here. This was a chance to deal a huge blow to the enemies. This was why this player volunteered to lead the attack here. They also believed with the secret weapon they found at the ancient ruin they could kill the Fourth Prince. Even without the Fourth Prince, they believed that they could already gain what they lost from the destroyed village. Furthermore, if they succeed on killing the Fourth Prince, their gain would be even larger. This player knew the importance of the Fourth Prince dead, that was why he volunteered to lead the attack even though he know he would died at the end. They could not missed this chance. Chapter 160 Plan 3 "Prepare to launch full attack!" The enemies player leader commanded. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Pull two third troops from each ambushed group to join us launch the full attack!" "Let the rest of them scatter around and seek an opportunity to slip through behind their back!" Since their ambush strategy was obviously failed, they had to change their strategy. If they could not let their enemies came to their trap, then they should force their enemies went to their trap instead. With the quantity advantages at their hand, it would be difficult for Auron''s side to fight against endless enemies. The enemies general started to do as what they had been commanded. Several commands were being sent across the battlefield. Several minutes later, two groups of enemies came to their side from each of their left and right. Meanwhile, as the battlefield was in a stalemate and the enemies didn''t came attacking like before, Auron''s side stood tensely and watched enemies side movement. When the hidden enemies came out from their hiding and joined their main group, it made the student and guards shuddered. Before, they were confused as to why they had to come back when they reached the 1 kilometer marks instead of chasing and killing all of the enemies. Although they were confused, however, they could not and would not dare to defy the Fourth Prince''s command. But, now, they know the answer. With the sudden influx of enemies coming from their left and right side, even someone who had little knowledge in strategy, should know where these enemies coming from. Yes, they were the troops prepared to ambush them. If they ignored the Fourth Prince command, then they would already be dead. With this fact, most of the student and guards sighed with relief. However, it was different with Fourth Prince, he still looked at the enemies'' side seriously. Then, he gave commanded to the officers beside him and the leader of royal troops. "It seems the enemies will launch an attack to us soon" Fourth Prince said followed by nodded from the officers. "Tell all of our troops, this time, we will defend at the village, don''t chase the enemies far from 500 meters from the village." "Spread out the royal troops but don''t spread too much, also send the several thief to monitor the side of the enemies'' group. I believe they don''t pull out all of their ambushed troop and will look a chance to infiltrate the village through our backs" "Also, enhance the defense near the village''s wall and entrance. Make a blockade through the side of the way, so the enemies would be funnel down to the entrance. Since, we were at disadvantage in term of number, we should make use of the terrain." Several command also issued at Auron''s side. Blockade began to be made at the village''s entrance. They use big rock, wood, even house furniture to serve as a blocker. Although, the enemies still could choose to trample upon this things, but they would be obviously slowed down. The enemies'' also saw what Auron''s side was doing. Seeing Auron''s side scattered around, and position several thief to watch the left and right side, the enemy player''s leader knew it would be difficult to circled his opponent. He took a deep breathed and thought to himself, "It seems I have to sacrifice a lot". Then, he issued another command to pull out all of the troops. Yes, he changed the strategy to full scale attack with all of their troops. His target was the Fourth Prince, he knew if he didn''t do this, the Fourth Prince would not join the fight and would be only at the backs. While Auron''s side was still preparing at their end, the enemies began the attack. They rushed out towards Auron''s side. Seeing this, Auron''s side who was still carrying stone, wood, and other things, immediately stopped. They put what they were doing right now, and pulled out their weapon prepared to received the enemies attack. With the speed from the enemies, a few seconds later, the clash was happened. Just like, before the royal troops leading at the front. While the guard and the student supported them from behind. "It seems, they don''t have any more tricks" Fourth Prince who was observing the battlefield felt that the enemies didn''t have any more trick. "It comes down to the troops quality and number." The Fourth Prince said softly only the officers and leader of royal troops beside him could hear this. The Fourth Prince still felt confidence at their winning chance. It could be seen from the front line, the enemies casualties started to rise. Although, his side was lose in number, it was only a matter of time before they had the same number again. With situation starting to turned at their side, the Fourth Prince and the officers also joined the fray. The officers kept on following the Fourth Prince wherever he went. They still had their responsibility to protect the prince. Seeing the Fourth Prince joined the fight, the enemy player leader smirked and commanded, "The target had joined the fight, go form group of elites, we will kill him" Soon, the groups was formed, with that player lead the group. The group consist of 12 people excluding the leading player. The group was the elite that they could find in this battlefield. All of the enemies'' general joined at this group. Then, they immediately march as fast as they could to the Fourth Prince''s position. They went straight to the Fourth Prince''s position and cutting through their ways. This movement caught the attention from Auron''s side. Since, they knew the enemies went straight to the Fourth Prince, several royal troops tried to protect the Fourth Prince, however they was stopped by the Fourth Prince. "No! don''t leave your position. The enemies still far away" "It was enough with the group here!" The Fourth Prince shouted. Beside him, there were the three officers, the royal troops'' leader and two royal troops. He felt it was enough with this group to fight against the enemies. Chapter 161 - Chaotic Death (1) Slash... Fourth Prince''s sword hacked one of the enemies troops dead. An equipment popped out from the dead enemy, however, the Fourth Prince didn''t bother with the equipment. On battlefield, numerous amount of equipment scattered across the battlefield. However, none of the people here cared about the free equipment. It was because, a slight mistake could take their life here. It was not worth to exchange their life with several piece of equipment. During this short moment, the Fourth Prince already killed several enemies. He was unbeatable here. This was also thanks to the fact that there were no enemies that banded together to fight with him. The most number that fight the Fourth Prince was three people. It was no because the enemies hate each other that they didn''t want to band as a group. However, there were several royal troops and the officers that force them to separate no matter what. A dust hovered far northwestern from the Fourth Prince''s place and it was coming towards him. Obviously, this sight caught the attention of several people near there. This was the group that the enemies'' leader player lead to slaughter the prince. "Protect the prince!" The leader of the royal troops shouted as loudly as he could. However, before any royal troops could move close the prince, the prince shouted, "No need, keep on doing and tried to protect the student by killing as many as enemies you can!" "I can fight with them with the three officers by our own!" The Fourth Prince felt confidence at his power at the sight of this group. Based on what the enemies'' strength he had fight up to now, he felt that there were no danger around here as long as he was not surrounded and overwhelm by enemies'' number. The officers also felt proud as the Fourth Prince trusted their power. They became more aggressive and furious. However, it was different with the leader of the royal troops. As main job was to protect the royal family, they obviously needed to have some preventive measure so that the worst not happened. "Your Highness, we could not dare to leave you around unprotected. Please, at least, take the protection here. Moreover, I looked over at the group and recognized some of them." "The group consist of several enemies'' general there. I believe despite the number, that was their group of elites. We cannot gamble on your safety. Please, consider our concerns!" The leader of royal troops pleaded towards the Fourth Prince. The Fourth Prince was a kind man, so he didn''t get offended by this, instead he felt grateful and felt that he was too arrogant for a bit. "Fine, you and another two royal troops will stay with me and the officers to fight at that group. We should killed them as fast as we can, so we can shake their mental off by killing their leader and put close this war as soon as possible!" "Thank you, Your Highness!" The royal troops'' leader asked another two royal troops to accompany him protected the Fourth Prince. The seven of them waited the group of enemies to come. The enemies consist of 13 people. Although, they had lesser number, however, it didn''t made they shrunk down. The Fourth Prince was waiting the enemy patiently. The enemies'' group ran quick and cut through the battlefield. In no time, they already close to the Fourth Prince''s place. As the enemy was near them, The Fourth Prince raised his hand as a signal. With the signal from the Fourth Prince, several ranged skill spun out from all of the Fourth Prince''s group member. All the skill aimed at the enemy at the front. This sudden released of skill caught the enemy off guard. The one in front who could see the trajectory of the skill could dodge the incoming skill. However, when he dodge to the side, the one behind him was not ready and got hit by the skill. Although, the enemy was not weak, however, the skill was also from someone who was stronger than them. Moreover, it was not only one skill, there were 7 skills. Caught off guard, the enemy who got hit by the combined skill died. However, it not stopped the advanced from the group. Another combined skill coming again, and it met with the weakest from the enemy. So, it was not a surprised that another enemy died. Fortunately for the enemy, that was the last time Fourth Prince''s group could do something like this since their distance was already close enough to fight in close combat range. The Fourth Prince''s group raised their weapon and prepared to fight with them. The three officers and the royal troops leader each fight against two opponents. While the two royal troops each fight against one enemy. The Fourth Prince fight against the enemies'' leader player. He knew about this man. As the man was trusted aide of the Regalia''s King. That man often fight at the Bridge World. Although, the Fourth Prince rarely fight in Bridge World, however he kept on his sight on the situation at the Bridge World through record and report. So, although the Fourth Prince never met with this man before, he recognized the man. When the Fourth Prince saw the man, he turned serious and didn''t dare to underestimate him. The Fourth Prince knew this man was a player, so he had some restriction on level before. Before, he believed that he was stronger that this man and could win if they fight due to the level restriction. However, because of the newest update, that level restriction was loosen up. He didn''t know how strong this man was right now. But, he believed that this man progressed would not be slow since he had the support of the enemy''s king. "So, it is the famous Chaotic Death coming to this battlefield. It is my honor to fight against you" The Fourth Prince greeted his enemy. "I don''t care about your honor. But, I will gladly accept your life!" Chaotic Death replied. Chapter 162 - Chaotic Death (2) Chaotic Death sprung forward towards the Prince. He sheathed his dagger and prepared to slashed it out towards the Prince. Yes, Chaotic Death''s class was a thief. As a thief, his agility was high which made his movement speed fast. In no time, he already moved in front of the Prince and slashed out his dagger in his right hand. He used his [Power Attack] skill to enhance his slashing power. DANG... A dagger and a sword collided. Although, Chaotic Death''s speed was high, the Fourth Prince also not a weak person. He still could kept up with the speed despite he could only see shadow blur. When the dagger and sword collided, the Fourth Prince''s sword was pushed back because of the sheer power from the dagger. Despite a thief, Chaotic Death didn''t forget to raise his strength attribute. Moreover, he got a bunch of high rated equipment from the Regalia''s King. Combined with the effect of [Power Attack], his strength could contest with the Fourth Prince''s power as a swordsman. After the attack blocked, Chaotic Death didn''t stood still. He followed up his attack. His left hand swung out towards the Fourth Prince. From that left hand, Chaotic Death threw [Sand Attack] to blind out the Fourth Prince''s eyes. The Fourth Prince also raised his hand to blocked the sand attack. He also closed his eyes to make sure the sand didn''t enter his eyes. Then, the Fourth Prince kicked out his right leg towards the enemies. Chaotic Death blocked the kick with his elbow. But, he still got pushed from the kick a bit. However, the kick could not make him stumbled down. Regaining his foothold, Chaotic Death dashed out and attack once more. Both Chaotic Death and the Fourth Prince exchanged blow for several more times. In such short times, they already exchanged more than 20 blow. Despite that many attack, there were no one from them that managed to gain the upper hand. The Fourth Prince''s hand gripped his sword more firmly as he unleashed a skill. The [Weapon''s Aura] on the Fourth Prince''s sword began to fluctuate. The aura surrounding the swords began to move toward the tip of the sword. From the tip of the sword, the aura condense and shot out from the tip of the sword and shot at Chaotic Death. This was [Weapon''s Burst]. It was one of the strongest ranged skill that a swordsman could have. However, not many of the swordsman player could use this skill. The reason was because this skill was the skill could not be learnt through skill book. They needed to complete a quest from instructor NPC first. And, the prerequisite to have a conversation with that instructor NPC was that person had to have a minimum of level 600. Since the maximum level for a player before the update was 500, that was why no player could learn this skill and could only drooled when the NPC used this skill. However, because of this new update, the player could learn this skill as long as they met the prerequisite requirement and completed the quest from the instructor NPC. The condensed aura which was shot from the sword sliced through the air so fast that it reached Chaotic Death in no time. Chaotic Death raised his dagger and blocked the aura. The dagger blocked the attack completely, however, the force from the aura pushed Chaotic Death backward. Chaotic Death stumbled back and tried to regain his position back. However, the Fourth Prince didn''t miss this chance, he moved forward and used [Royal Bash]. This skill was an enhanced skill from the common [Bash]. It was stronger than ordinary bash and the chance to produce stun effect was higher. However, as its name implied, this was a skill that could only be learn by royalty. The Fourth Prince swung down his sword with full power. Chaotic Death tried to block the attack however, his body position made it difficult for him to block the attack. Nonetheless, the bash successfully connect with Chaotic Death. Chaotic Death crashed down and hit the ground. However, he didn''t immerse in his pain, instead he rolled over to the side and tried to stand back up. The Fourth Prince didn''t leave him alone. He chased Chaotic Death. Chaotic Death who was cornered, threw an item towards the prince. The prince cut the item into two. From the cut item, a dense of smoke was released. Seeing this smoke, the prince backed out and closed his nose. This smoke contained poison. This was one of the hidden weapon that a thief could have. With the help of the poisonous smoke, Chaotic Death could move from his cornered position and got back up. Although, Chaotic Death could escape from a dangerous position, but he didn''t happy instead he was gnashing his teeth in anger. He felt really furious. He was stronger than the Fourth Prince, however, he was cornered by him, how could he not be angry. "Okay, let''s get serious!" Chaotic Death who was underestimate the Fourth Prince before, didn''t like how the situation progressed. He declared angrily and became serious. The Fourth Prince didn''t tried to rebuke Chaotic Death''s declaration, he kept his calm and focused out at Chaotic Death''s movements. Chaotic Death drank a potion. This potion enhance his fighting strength by 30% for an hour. He also used another item, a scroll. The scroll''s function was to forbid any use of escape item 1 kilometers from him for an hour. Yes, he use the scroll to prevent the Fourth Prince from running away. This scroll and potion was given by the Regalia''s King to increase the chance of killing the Fourth Prince. He knew every royal member should have some item to help them ran away when they were in dangerous situation and this scroll will prevent it as long as the distance between him and Fourth Prince not more than 1 kilometers. At first, the king gave him the potion for him to use so he could get rid of the Fourth Prince as well as his bodyguard or chase him when he was running away. However, as he was cornered by the Fourth Prince despite he was being stronger, he didn''t want to save this potion anymore. Chapter 163 - Chaotic Death (3) As expected, as a royalty, the Fourth Prince had safety measure given to him by his Royal Father. Unfortunately, the scroll activated by Chaotic Death made this safety measure useless. He didn''t panic at all. From the encounter before, the Fourth Prince felt that although Chaotic Death was stronger than him, he still could handle him. Moreover, he still winning the last encounter. So, a useless safety measure didn''t affect him too much. However, when Chaotic Death used the potion, the Fourth Prince became serious and frowned his brows. 30% increased in fighting capability seems not too much. However, if the user was high leveled, then 30% means a lot. A wind of nervousness entered the Fourth Prince. He didn''t dare to be careless. He glanced at his comrade. The one of the two royal troops already killed his enemy and, right now, he was helping his royal troops friend to kill his enemy. Meanwhile, the 3 officers and the royal troops leader faced 8 enemies. Out of that 8 enemies, 2 of them already dead. But, the royal troops leader had been wounded by the enemies. Although, the wound was not serious it was also not light. From 3 of the officers, Officer Sathire was in dire state, although he had only suffered light wounded, but he obviously in need of help. If the situation continues to going this way, soon or later he would be wounded more seriously, he even could be killed. Officer Molke''s strength, who was the strongest out of the three officers, proven to be true. He already killed one of the enemies he faced and he didn''t suffered any injuries at all. Looking at the situation, he tried to kill his enemy as fast as he can. Moreover, he saw the Fourth Prince was not in a good situation. The Fourth Prince tried to seek for help, however, he knew the other also had their own problem. He didn''t want to waste this item. But, he didn''t want to die either. So, out of option, he took out an item from his armor. It was a scroll. Obviously, this was not an escape scroll as all means of using escape scroll already rendered useless by Chaotic Death''s scroll before. As the Fourth Prince took out the scroll, he immediately used the scroll. The scroll tore out into two. From the tore part, a blinding light was formed and it shot towards Chaotic Death. [Great Weakness Scroll] (Epic Item) Type: Scroll Target: Single Target/Multiple target Class: All Class Effect: Decrease all enemy''s attribute for one enemy by 50% for 1 hour or decrease 5 random enemies'' attribute within 1 kilometer from the caster by 10% in 1 hour duration. This scroll used was to weaken the enemy''s attribute. It had two mode that the user could choose. The first that it was to decrease enemy''s attribute by 50% for single enemy. The second choice was to decrease 5 random enemies within one kilometer from the caster by 10%. The Fourth Prince felt that the officer and the royal troops could defeat their own enemies with their own time. It was only a matter of time. So, the Fourth Prince decided to choose the first option to decrease a single enemy''s attribute by 50%. The target of this scroll was his enemy he faced, Chaotic Death. The blinding light hit Chaotic Death. The increased attribute of Chaotic Death felt down much more than before. Seeing his attribute getting down, it was Chaotic Death''s turn to frown his brows. He took out another scroll and used it to the Fourth Prince. It was a similar scroll by what the Fourth Prince had used before a scroll to weaken the enemy''s strength. However, Chaotic Death''s scroll was not as strong as what the Fourth Prince had used. It only weaken the Fourth Prince strength by 30%. After these series of scroll using, their situation was came back to stalemate once more. He faced the Fourth Prince furiously, he gritted his teeth and he charged toward the Fourth Prince. The Fourth Prince stood at his place with his sword at his hand prepared to receive the attack. A shadowy blur moved fast toward the Fourth Prince. The Fourth Prince focused out his attention to the shadowy blur tried not to miss the shadow''s movement. 50 meters... 40 meters... 30 meters... 20 meters... When there was still 20 meters distance between Chaotic Death and the Fourth Prince, Chaotic Death suddenly turned to his left. He went to the royal troops. Chaotic Death was changing his strategy. He knew with the Fourth Prince''s nature he would not left his companion if it was not his last option. The Fourth Prince caught off guard with the sudden event. He chased Chaotic Death from behind and tried to shout out as loudly as he could to warn his companions. But, it was too late. The two royal troops had just killed the enemy, when they began to turn around and tried to help the other, a shadow attack them. One of them got wounded by this sudden attack. And, Chaotic Death didn''t missed his chance. As a thief specialize in assassination, he should know how to kill stronger enemy quickly without the enemy''s could retaliate. Moreover, the target he faced now was weaker than him. In no time, one of the royal troops died. After the royal troop died, Chaotic Death began to change his target to the remaining royal troop. However, he didn''t manage to kill this royal troop only injury him as the Fourth Prince already caught up with him. Facing two enemies, Chaotic Death backed out. However, the Fourth Prince stick to him and didn''t let him get away. He smirked evilly. This was what his target, to make the Fourth Prince chased him instead he chased the Fourth Prince. To make this camouflage better, he still kept on pretending to back out and went to the officers'' battleground. The Fourth Prince was still chasing behind his back and the wounded royal troop slowly followed behind the Fourth Prince as he was injured. Chapter 164 - Escape (1) "Watch your back!" The Fourth Prince shouted to remind the three officers. With fast speed, Chaotic Death hurriedly shot towards the three officers. Meanwhile, the three officers was busy facing their own enemies. They only had one enemy left each. Their fight was almost over with their winning. Slash... Officer Molke killed the last remaining enemy he had. Hearing the Fourth Prince''s shout, instead of helping the other officer killed their enemy, he went forward at the Chaotic Death''s charge. Preparing to receive Chaotic Death''s attack, he raised his sword. Chaotic Death still charging fast towards them. With the Fourth Prince and one of royal troop followed behind Chaotic Death, Chaotic Death was in the middle of pincer attack. However, he didn''t even feel scared, instead he still calm and tried to hide his calmness behind a serious act. The distance between Chaotic Death and Officer Molke became closer. When they was almost clashed, suddenly, Chaotic Death turned 180 degrees and dashed forward. With dagger in his hand, he launched an attack towards the Fourth Prince. Didn''t anticipate this sudden situation, the Fourth Prince tried to block the attack, however he was failed. He could not completely dodge the attack. Chaotic Death''s dagger slashed out the Fourth Prince''s right arm deeply. The wound in Fourth Prince''s arm was deep. Blood flowing out from the wound. In a matter of second, blood already covered almost every part of the Fourth Prince''s right arm. Chaotic Death didn''t want to miss this chance, he followed his attack. This time, it was towards the Fourth Prince''s neck. Although, the Fourth Prince''s right arm was wounded, in a danger situation, he could not think about his wound. The Fourth Prince raised his right arm to block the incoming attack. The sword in his right arm successfully blocked the incoming dagger. However, as the right arm was injured, the Fourth Prince didn''t have many power in his right arm. Although he could blocked the incoming dagger, he could not pushed the dagger, instead he was pushed by Chaotic Death''s attack power. The Fourth Prince fell down to the ground. Chaotic Death followed another strike towards the Fourth Prince in the ground. Fortunately, the royal troop who was followed behind the Fourth Prince already arrived and also attack towards Chaotic Death''s head. Also, Officer Molke, who was also surprised at this sudden event, moved forward and tried to block Chaotic Death''s attack. This time, Chaotic Death''s dagger met with Officer Molke''s sword. Chaotic Death gnashed his teeth as he could not finished the Fourth Prince, he also turned his body 360 degrees fast enough to block the royal troop''s attack. Then, Chaotic Death moved away from the Fourth Prince''s place as the other two officers and the royal troop leader already coming towards them. He looked at the situation, he managed to injure the Fourth Prince''s right arm, but he didn''t manage to kill him. He was furious as he think that this chance could not come twice. The other who were coming with him to attack the Fourth Prince''s group, all of them already dead. He knew it would be difficult to get a chance like this. However, he didn''t want to give up. He looked around. There were 6 enemies in front of him including the injured Fourth Prince. He pondered over a way to break through this group and assassinate the Fourth Prince. As he was pondered over on the way, the royal troop''s leader, and the other royal troop attack Chaotic Death. They were filled with rage as they thought their incompetence to make the Fourth Prince''s injured. "Ran away with the Fourth Prince, I will stop him!" The royal troop''s leader shouted at the other officer. Yes, he was trying to buy some time so the Fourth Prince could run away. He knew he was no match against Chaotic Death, however he still could buy some time for the Fourth Prince to run away. This was his way to amend his mistake. The Fourth Prince wanted to shout, however he backed down. He knew why the royal troop''s leader behave that way. Even if he was not dead, his Royal Father would not forgive this mistake, only dead what wait for him. If all of the choices would leads to dead, he would choose the best option out of them all. This was what he choose to attack Chaotic Death and buy times, so the Fourth Prince could live. This way, although he would be dead at the end, however, at least, his family would be saved from punishment. "Protect the Prince! I will help them to buy some time" Officer Sathire said with heavy breath. At the battle before, although he could killed all of his enemies, he also suffered injured because of his carelessness. He thought with three person, they could buy more time for the Fourth Prince to run away. Officer Molke and Emsire gritted his teeth at his comrade''s sacrifice. However, they also know the Fourth Prince was in dire strait. They needed to look for the nearest cleric and stopped the wound first. The situation was beginning to turn south for both sides. At the Fourth Prince''s side, the most important person in the battlefield was injured. Meanwhile, for the Chaotic Death''s side. Their number going down sharply as his troop getting killed because of the royal troops. With the royal troop''s leader, the other royal troop, and Office Sathire, coming at him, Chaotic Death backed out and rang a siren. As the siren''s sound was rung around the battlefield, all of the player on Chaotic Death''s side quickly used a scroll as the shield was formed after the scroll was used. Meanwhile, all of the NPC in Chaotic Death''s side also took out a scroll. They tore the scroll. With the scroll tore down, their body began to slowly vanish. In a matter of seconds, they vanished completely. When the body already vanished completely, a huge energy burst out from place where they vanished. A second later, many huge explosion sounded around them. Chapter 165 - Escape (2) "Watch your 11 o''clock! Don''t go too far!" Auron shouted while chanting a spell. A noble student in his group aware that Auron was talking about him. He looked at his 11 o''clock. There was an arrow coming towards him fast. Clang... He managed to block the arrow with his saber. Thanks to Auron''s shout he was saved from hidden arrow. Then, he went back reunite with his groups since he had gone too far. Auron''s group of ten was actively participated in the war. If the point of every member in the group were sum and ranked, then Auron''s group would be rank at the fifth position, only lost to other four noble''s group. It was a high ranking considering the fact that his group consist of 8 commoners and only 2 nobles. Of course, two nobles in his group was meant a lot compared to the full commoners group. But, the highest contributor in the group was Auron. It was not because Auron killed a lot, rather it was because his support and command skill. With his observation skill in the field, he could effectively support his other group''s member and save his group''s member. Although, in Auron''s group, one of the noble student was the leader. But, he was only leader in name. His leadership skill was only so so. Moreover, he was chosen as the leader because of his background and he forcefully pressure the commoners in the group. At first, the noble shouted out a lot of command as he was in charge. However, when the battle turned south, he lost his calm mind and wanted to run away. At that time, Auron gave out several command and thanks to that the group didn''t suffered any casualties up until now. Slowly but surely, the group, unconsciously, believed at Auron and took all of his command without complaint. Auron became like a shadow leader. It was good for Auron since he would not need to fight internally also he could kept on his identity hidden. Yes, Auron didn''t show all of his skill. He only act as a mage and show only mage''s spell. With this, Auron didn''t need to move in front and save his identity. Also, he didn''t need to move in front and danger his life with his low level, but he still rake a lot of experience from his group. From this war, he already rake a lot experience. He had already raised a lot of level. Right now, he was level 199. One more level and he would arrived at level 200. If Auron used a power leveling service to raise his level until his current level right now, he would already spent a lot of money. But, right now, he arrived at his current level for free. Auron shot out his spell out at one of the enemy his group''s member was facing. It cleanly hit the enemy and reaped his life. With this enemy dead, a yellow light surrounded Auron. He gained another level. Auron smiled while allocating his attributes. After he finished allocating his attribute, he looked at another enemy his group''s member facing. When suddenly, that enemy took out a scroll and tore it open. A shield was formed surrounding the enemy. As soon as the shield was formed, several explosion explode near him and all over the place. The enemies used [Sacrifice Scroll]. It was a scroll to sacrifice the user remaining health and made it into an area attack as a magic damage. The area attack would cover 100 meters from the user and the damage it produced was the user''s remaining health. The downside of this scroll was it sacrifice the user. Also, it could not distinguish between friend and foes, so all of the living things inside the area would suffered the same damage. Fortunately, since the damage was produced a magic damage, it could be reduced by the user''s magic defense up to 90%. If the affected magic defense was high, then they would only get 10% of the damage. Several explosion took place around the battlefield. It swept all the battlefield. If it was only one person that used it, then it would not had much impact. However, since the one that used not only one but almost 60 users, the impact was huge. All of the royals troop and everyone who was at the front line swept because of the explosion. All of them died with no one left. Even there even some enemies'' player that was late using their protective scroll also could not escape from this fate. Meanwhile on the back line, although they suffered no damage, since it was an explosion there would be huge wind blows towards the back line. Their stance was blown by the huge wind produced by many explosion. Even, the Fourth Prince who was running away could not escape from the wind and blown to the ground several meters. A few seconds later, the battlefield was dead silent. The aftermath was huge, on Auron''s side, all of the front line died including all of the royals troop in the front. Auron''s side only left with several dozens student who was a mage or cleric at the back line, two officers who was with the Fourth Prince and also the Fourth Prince. Meanwhile, the enemies also suffered casualties by this sacrifice. All of their NPC died because of the sacrifice and left only with several players. They only had 20 players left including Chaotic Death. All of them also not in their best condition as they already suffered injuries. Although, the royal troop''s leader, another royal troop and Officer Sathire who was chasing Chaotic Death was saved, they also flabbergasted at how the situation turned. They looked at each other in shocked. And then, all of them nodded as if they could communicate with their eyes. Instead of chasing Chaotic Death, they changed their target to the remaining enemies player. They knew they need to reduce the enemies'' number. Although their side had more number but most of them were student which had fragile mentality, they would not stand even one minute in front of this war loved player. Chapter 166 - Escape (3) Officer Sathire and his companions worked fast. They ignored everything even the Fourth Prince, and went up to the nearest enemy''s player. In no time, 1 enemy went down. They wanted to continue forward. However, they could not have done so easily as the first time they move, in a few seconds afterward Chaotic Death realized their intentions. Although, he didn''t care about this player''s live but they had their own use to fulfill his goal. So, he could not let they died in vain. Unfortunately, he still went behind a few seconds late which made one player died vainly. "Beware! this three are aiming at you!" Chaotic Death could not help but shouted to remind the others. "Form a formation and worked together to kill this three!" Chaotic Death issued another command. As the enemies'' rank was in chaos because of Officer Sathire and his companions, the Fourth Prince already arrived at the nearest cleric player. There still 8 clerics left. However, all of them were students so they were still not strong enough. They could only stopped the blood from pouring out with all of them worked together. It was difficult but it was enough to stabilize the Fourth Prince''s condition. They need to go back to the capital to get treatment. The royalty''s cleric could heal the Fourth Prince''s right arm back to new as if he never receive the injuries. Before, the Fourth Prince''s mind gradually became hazy as he loss a lot of blood due to his injuries. However, right now, because the blood already stopped, and the cleric kept on healing him, his condition gradually improved. However, his right arm still could not be used. He still could lift the sword with his right arm but he could not freely moved in around. It was as if his swordsmanship had gone. The blurry sight from the Fourth Prince gradually improved. When his sight regained, he stood up and looked around. Just as he thought, their side lost a lot. No royal troops was in his sight. There wasn''t even any noble''s guard that assigned could be seen. He could only see Officer Emshire and Officer Molke, with several dozens academy''s students. Moreover, the student were only the one that was weak in close combat. There were 8 clerics who healed him, 10 mages including Auron, 6 archers, and 2 thieves. It was truly a sad sight. If this was not a war, the Fourth Prince would already cried out loud and shouted as loud as he could. But, he could not do it or it will impacted the student''s mentality. Right now, he even could see fear in the student''s eyes. He gritted his teeth and announced, "Prepare to escape! Officers please protect the rear!" He could not bother with saving the village anymore, he had more important things to save right now, his life and the students'' life. He could only hope that the situation in other village was not as bad as the village where he was right now. Fortunately, he already evacuated the villagers to the nearest cities else there would be civilians casualties among them. The preparation went fast. In a matter of seconds, they already ready to escape. When they was about to escape, a sound halt them, "Not so fast Your Highness! Why you leave so fast? Things are just started!" It was Chaotic Death. He already finished Officer Sathire and his companions. The Fourth Prince looked at the direction of Chaotic Death. At behind, he could see the body of Officer Sathire and the royal troops. Officer Sathire and his companions'' sacrificed was not in vain. They managed to bring four enemies more with them. There were left 15 enemies. Meanwhile, at Auron''s side, there was still 29 people including the Fourth Prince. "Quick! Escape as soon as you can Your Highness!" Officer Molke commanded. "Two thieves protect His Highness and open path for him! The rest went with me to stop the enemies!" The Fourth Prince felt reluctant, but he knew all of this was for him to escape. If he could not escape, then all of their effort would be meaningless. The Fourth Prince eyed the two thieves and directly escape with them. Seeing this, Chaotic Death didn''t let them went easily, "Two people go with me to chase the Fourth Prince! The others, wiped out all of this useless maggots!" Chaotic Death separated himself with two of his subordinates. Officer Molke knew this was a disaster if he let Chaotic Death chased the Fourth Prince. He launched a range skill towards Chaotic Death. However, Chaotic Death blocked it. But, it was enough to hinder Chaotic Death''s progression and bought some time for the Fourth Prince to distance himself from Chaotic Death and used the safety measure the royalty had. "Idiots!!!!!" Chaotic Death furiously shouted to his subordinates. He ignored Officer Molke and chased the Fourth Prince. Officer Molke and Officer Emshire tried to launched another skill. However, Chaotic Death shouted before had woken up his subordinates. After the shout, they already went forward and slaughter their path towards Auron''s side. Four enemies went to stop the officers. Then, another four also went to stop the officer as a reinforcement. Meanwhile, the rest of the enemies slaughter their way at the students. The student was like a flock of lamb waiting to be slaughtered. 1 student... 2 students... 5 students... In no time, 5 students already dead. Since, all of the remaining student was ranged attacker, in a close combat battle, they panic. It was easy for the enemies to kill the student. When the sixth student was about to die, a pained shout rung across the battlefield. One of the enemies crying in pain, a seconds later, he was stabbed to death by a series of [Earth Spike]. "Don''t panic!! Follow my lead!" It was Auron who shouted. He organized all of the mage and let them chanted [Earth Spike] and aim one enemy. Auron chanted a [Fire Bolt] and launched it secretly. When the enemy caught off guard and get hit by the [Fire Bolt] and went down, Auron gave out the sign. On his sign, series of [Earth Spike] stabbed the fallen enemy and killed him. Chapter 167 - Clearing Out (1) Then, a few seconds later, another pained shout was heard. Yes, another victim had fallen from Auron and his mage companions focused attack. This sudden development caught the rest enemies who was killing the student off guard. However, quickly, they regained their mind and one of them shouted, "Kill that man, he is the one giving command!" That man was pointing at Auron. The enemies believed that Auron was the source of problem. If they get rid of Auron, then the student would go back to the flock of lamb who was crying in fear. Facing two enemies was not an easy feat, but still Auron still shouted out, "Four clerics went to the officers and support them! The rest come quick with me and support me!" Auron still could not forget the officers since they were the savior that could save them. Fortunately, seeing this formation, not all two enemies went to Auron. Instead, only one of them went to Auron, while the other one, tried to kill the clerics. Auron could not help to think about the life of the clerics, instead he could only hasten the killing of this one enemy. Auron pulled out his dagger and went forward to the charging enemy. The enemy slashed out his dagger, however Auron didn''t meet the enemy''s dagger, instead he moved to the side and slashed out his dagger. It managed to scratch the enemy''s arm but it was only light. Moving around, Auron raised his hand. As he was raising his hand to the air, another series of [Earth Spike] was formed under the enemy he faced. This time, the enemy already prepared beforehand. He could dodge several [Earth spike]. However, it was still difficult to dodge all of them, and he still took some damage from one or two [Earth Spike]. The enemy was deeply furious by this [Earth Spike], he prepared to charge out at the mage''s group. However, Auron went to his front and stopped him. Auron stabbed out his dagger towards the man''s stomach. The man blocked Auron''s attack with his dagger. But, suddenly, a [Fire Ball] was launched from Auron''s left hand. He was caught off guard as he didn''t believed that a student could learn [Walking Chanting]. He got hit by the [Fire Ball] in his face and limped over and fell to the ground. Seeing this chance, Auron gave out another signed for the mage. A series of [Earth Spike] was sprung out from the ground. However, it was a split second late. The reason was because when the enemy wanted to went to their group before, the mage was shuddered and made them shrunk down. This made their fear of death overcame them. Which made their spell late by split second. Luckily, the enemy could only dodge several first [Earth Spike] and got clean hit at the rest of it. Getting stabbed by that many [Earth Spike] still didn''t manage to finish him off. And it was Auron''s worked who finished him. Auron went to the man and stabbed his dagger multiple times to the man with ended his life. Auron looked behind his back to search the other enemy. He found that the enemy already finished all of the four clerics also several archers that was tasked to support Auron''s group and he went to the mage''s group. Auron went out and used his swordsman''s movement skill to intercept him while shouted, "Use your control spell. Throw everything at him and slow him down!" While Auron went to intercept the other enemy, he also didn''t forget to chant his own spell for use. The mage''s group throw all of their control spell. But, in the face of death, they throw their spell aimlessly and just throw it like they were throwing some garbage. The enemy dodged several spell effortless since the spell was not aimed at him. In no time, the enemy arrived at the nearest mage and slashed out his dagger. He quickly killed the mage. After killing the first mage and was about to went to the second mage, a [Fire Bolt] went hit him. It was Auron''s [Fire Bolt] that was launched from several meters away. This sudden [Fire Bolt] woke up his companions, they quickly throw their attack spell and aimed it properly to the enemy. The enemy took several spell, but it was not enough to kill him. He slashed out his dagger and killed the second mage. Then, another mage went down by his dagger. When he was about to kill the fourth one, Auron arrived at the location and blocked his attack. Another battle sprung out between Auron and the mage versus the enemy. This time, the enemy was more prepared than the last enemy. He could fight with Auron longer than the other. He even manage to inflict light wound to Auron. However, since Auron had controlled the situation and went up as a tanker for the other mage, the other mage became calm down. And, with that, they could chant their spell more calmly. Under the barrage of 6 mages, 2 archers, and Auron''s harassment, the enemy finally died. At his last moment, he still could not believed that a mage could fight equally with him in close combat. After killing the enemy, Auron didn''t have time to rest. He rounded up his companions that still alive and led them to support the officers. Although, with the help of four clerics, the officers was in dire strait. When the enemy found out there were clerics helping them, the enemies split out their group and targeted at the clerics. During this time, Officer Molke and Officer Emshire managed to kill two enemies who targeted the clerics. However, the clerics also could not escape. Two of them also died. When the group was about to aim at the rest of the clerics. Auron''s group already arrived and covered the clerics. With this, Officer Molke and Officer Emshire''s burden was lessen. The enemies who was split up became a target for Officer Molke and Officer Emshire. Moreover, with the help of clerics and Auron''s group, the enemies could not kept up. At the end, they were wiped out. Chapter 168 - Clearing Out (2) "Thank you young man!" Officer Emshire thanks Auron. He looked at the group Auron brought. There were 7 mages including Auron and 2 archers. Combine with his group, they had 7 mages, 2 archers, 2 clerics, and 2 swordsman, the officers. Despite having low number in the group, the enemy also had low on number. With the enemy they faced already dead, they left with 3 enemies including Chaotic Death who was chasing the Fourth Prince. "Quick, we need to save the Fourth Prince!" Officer Molke reminded them. All of them quickly left and chased after the Fourth Prince. They didn''t even have any luxury to healed their injuries first. "Damn, I''m out of mana potion. Can you guys gave some for me?" One of the cleric shouted and asked the others while running. "Nope, I am also out of mana potion" The other cleric responded him. "Me, neither. I didn''t brought a lot of mana potion. But, I still had 2 health potions if anybody need it!" One of the archers said. The group was almost out of their potion supplies. While they were chasing, they also distributed the potion they had left on them. Since, there were still a lot of red potion, they quickly healed their health easily. Unfortunately, for the mana potion, the supplies didn''t enough for all of them. Moreover, there were 9 magic class, 7 mages and 2 clerics. The officers even had to give their mana potion supplies, but it still could not satisfy the demand. At this time, Auron said, "Don''t worry! I still had mana potions left! Here you go!" Auron distributed his mana potions supplies. Actually, he also almost emptied his mana potions supplies. But, before the enemies used their [Sacrifice Scroll], Auron had commanded his swordsman character to buy him some supplies. Luckily, this initiative from him saved them from mana potion trouble. "Quickly, I am afraid the Fourth Prince was in trouble!" Officer Molke was nervous since he was afraid that the Fourth Prince would be in trouble. A few minutes after they running towards the direction the Fourth Prince escaped to, they heard a battle sound. With this sound, both of the officers became more agitated. They quickly used their movement speed and zoomed out to the battle place. Auron actually wanted to do the same, but he couldn''t do it since he had to lead this little group. If not, Auron believed they would run away or deserted and it would reduced their chance to save the Fourth Prince. He could see some nervous and afraid on some of the member''s face. With the officers left them out, some of them even had the thought of running away to save their life. But, before they could do it, Auron said, "Quick, we need to chase the officers. We have gone this far, if we could save the Fourth Prince, the king would gave us an abundant rewards, not only point, we even could get high grade equipment!" Auron deliberately shouted this to entice the one who was thinking of running away with some rewards. Although this strategy was not too effective, but this could put out their thought of running away. When there is no one who made the first move, then there would be less chance for the other to run away. A minute later, they got nearer. Although the still a little far from the battle place, the battle was at their sight. They could see the officer already arrived at the Fourth Prince''s place and already in battle with Chaotic Death and the his two subordinate. Two thief who was accompany the Fourth Prince also dead near the battle. Their corpse was miserable. Meanwhile, Auron also saw that the Fourth Prince was injured once more. This time, it was not only his right arm, but his left leg also injured which made the Fourth Prince was lying on the ground. "Quick!" Auron urged his group. When they were closer, Auron said, "Clerics! go and heal the Fourth Prince! The others follow me to help the officers. Wait for my sign and act like before!" Both of the cleric obeyed Auron''s command and went to the Fourth Prince who was lying on the ground. Meanwhile, Auron led the rest to help the officer who fighting against the enemy. While Officer Molke fought against Chaotic Death, Officer Emshire fight against the other pursuers. Officer Emshire blocked the attack of one of the pursuer. But, another attack came from his back from the other pursuer. Fortunately, he managed to block the attack in the last seconds. However, another attack already come at him. This time, he was late by split second, the attack connect with him. It was difficult for him to fight against two players who know how to work together. Moreover, the players used strategy to attack him from the front and his back. Injured, Officer Emshire limped over almost fell down. However, he could not let that happen, he tried his hard to stay still and face the incoming attack. Several attacks coming at him almost continuously and simultaneously. He tried his best to block what he could. Unfortunately, it was not easy. He successfully blocked several attacks, but he there were more that he failed to block. On the brink of death, several [Earth Spike] and [Fire Ball] launched at his enemies which made them had to stop their attacks. A figure leaped out beside the officer who was about met the maker. He took out a health potion and pour it onto the officer''s mouth. That figure was Auron. He knew that one potion still not enough to save the officer''s life but it was enough to bring him out of dying state. Auron quickly put the officer at his shoulder and brought him away to the clerics. He left out the officer with one of the cleric while the other one still heal the Fourth Prince. Meanwhile, after delivering the officer to the cleric, Auron looked up and saw the battlefield. Chapter 169 - Clearing Out (3) A chaotic scene was played in front of his eyes. Although, it was less chaotic than before since the battle scale was not as big as before, but it still gave a sense for someone that this was the aftermath of a huge battle. Auron looked at the two pursuers he saved whom he saved Officer Emshire from. They were agitated as the mages and archers in Auron''s group kept on launching their attack on them. 8 ranged attackers against 2 melee attackers. It would not a surprised for the 2 melee attackers to have their disadvantages, they dodged around and blocked as hard as they could. Nonetheless, it was difficult for them to dodge or block all of the attack. An attack connect with one of the pursuer. A low number floated above his head. When the enemy who got hit saw this, he immediately shouted at his other friend, "The enemy''s attack is weak. Go attack them don''t mind the damage" In war or chaotic battle, they could not just looked at their enemies appearance to decide their enemy was weak or strong. However, they could also not let him receive their enemies attack to determine the enemy''s strength. What if the enemies attacking was strong enough that it could kill you or critical you in one attack and you let them attack you freely. It could result in their death. This was why, the enemy didn''t dare to ignore the attack of these 8 members of Auron''s group. But, when a low number shown as a result of the attack, the enemies became calm and more courage. They directly went out at these 8. They still tried their best to block and dodge but they didn''t really care about the attack if it hit them. Dang.. another damage floated again as another spell connected to the enemies. However, this time the damage was above the one before although it was not a lot, but it could be considered as a mediocre damage in this war. This made the enemy stopped for a bit before continuing once more. Yes, this was not a strategy but only just luck. From the survivor on Auron''s side, out of the 8, seven were nobles and one were commoner. This one commoner had his own luck to actually survive until this stage of battle. Before, the low number was a result from him attacking. Although, he already gained a lot of level during this war, but he could not change his equipment which made him produced such low damage. However, thanks to this, it made the enemies went up to the disregarding the attack. When the enemy received another attack from the nobles and produced way more damage than the commoner, this made the enemies confused and hesitated. This slight hesitation was what made the enemy stopped for a bit before continuing to attack. Before, Auron left the group to save the officer. He felt that his action could lead the group to doom. However, he still got to do it since the officer could change the tide of the battle. That was why Auron tried to save the officer as fast as he could so he could save his group from doom. Without a tanker up in the front, a weak archer and mage would definitely died quickly. Fortunately, the slight hesitation from the enemies caused by the damage could buy him more time to reach his group. Auron arrived at his group before the enemy killed their way through to the group. When he arrived at the group, he immediately looked at them for a brief and nodded at them. As they had worked together before, they immediately understand the sign. Auron moved forward and faced the two enemies. With his group behind his back kept on launched their attack non stop, Auron went sheathed out his dagger out while also chanting another spell [Sloth]. With such huge support behind him, he don''t even need to damage them to kill them. He just need to hinder them a bit so his friend''s attack could successfully connect and kill their enemies. Auron''s went and slashed his dagger out towards the enemy in the front. Such a frontal attack could be easily block. And, it''s true, the enemy blocked the attack. But, this was not Auron''s intention, instead the [Sloth]. The enemy suffered slowed in their movement and attacking speed because of the spell. With the slowed speed, the enemies still was way faster than Auron, however Auron used his swordsman movement skill to raise his speed. All movement skill when used was not giving a huge special effect. So, it was hard for them to know if they used a movement skill or not. With the movement skill, Auron could kept up with the enemies'' speed. However, he knew this movement speed would not last long. He needed to kill the enemy fast. Auron moved out quick and raised his hand. A sign was on. The group who before threw their spells at the enemies without thinking anything, now with Auron''s sign they launched a concentrated attack toward the enemy in the front. The enemy in the front who was caught off guard by the sudden concentrated attack, shocked. He was in the middle of attacking Auron, but this attack had to change from attacking to defend. It was late, the attack passed the defend and connect with him. Auron didn''t let this chance move away from him. He, immediately, attack continuously with the support from his group that man died. Meanwhile, the other enemy who was left alone didn''t back out. He attack Auron. Auron who had his movement skill''s time ended, felt slowed down. This time, he had a hard time to follow the enemy attack. Auron moved back closer to his group for help. With the help of his group and Auron who was trying his best to tank for the group manage to kill the last enemy with difficulty. Auron heaved a heavy sight after killing the last enemy. He took out health potion to recover his health. Before, he could gulp the potion, a deafening sound was heard from Officer Molke direction. Chapter 170 - Devils Pill (1) A deafening sound was heard at the Officer Molke''s side. A thick smoke was seen on that side. Auron could not see anything beside the smoke. In truth, the deafening sound not only get Auron''s attention was everyone else including Officer Emshire who was on treat. Nobody could see what was happening inside the smoke. Auron knew whatever happened inside the smoke would be not a good thing. He moved closer to the smoke. Before he could reach the smoke, a figure came out from the smoke fast. That figure went directly to the Fourth Prince. It was Chaotic Death who was coming out from the smoke. He headed to where the Fourth Prince was receiving his treatment. "Not good" Auron went to chase Chaotic Death, he also gave a signal to his groups. Seeing the signal, the group poured out their spell towards the dashing figure, but that figure was too fast. All of the spell were late by split second. Auron knew this would be the result. But, he still needed to hope that at least one spell could hinder Chaotic Death''s progression. But, not all what we hope would come true. Chaotic Death went to Fourth Prince''s place fast with Auron chasing behind him. Officer Emshire also knew this situation, he tried to get up but it was hard. His injuries not small. After the treatment by the cleric, some of his injuries were healed, but it was not enough for him to walk or act freely like he had no injuries. Moreover, the cleric''s level was lower than him which made the healing not too effective. The Fourth Prince also knew he was the targeted. He had been treated long enough compared to Officer Emshire, also his injuries was not as bad as Officer Emshire. Right now, his condition was half from his full condition. The Fourth Prince stood up and raised his weapon. While the cleric besides him kept on healing him to raise his condition even it was just a bit. In few seconds later, Chaotic Death arrived at the scene. The first thing he did was not to attack the Fourth Prince, instead, he went and attack the cleric. He unleashed his full power towards the little and pitiful cleric. The cleric could not escape her death and died immediately. When the cleric died, Chaotic Death directly changed his target, the Fourth Prince. Clang... the dagger met with the Fourth Prince''s sword. As the Fourth Prince not at his peak condition, his lost in the power struggle. He moved backward a bit. Chaotic Death continuously barraged the Fourth Prince with his attack in full power. The Fourth Prince tried his best to block the attack. Although, he was pushed by Chaotic Death sheer power, he still kept up and block all of the attack. Dang... At the end, the Fourth Prince''s sword broke in half as a result from the collision between the sword and daggers. Panic seep across the Fourth Prince''s face. He tried to run away. But, an attack already came at him. Before, the attacks arrived, a swords repel the attack. It was Officer Emshire. With heavy breath and death pale face trying to hold the pain, Officer Emshire arrived in time to block the attack. "Quick, get away from here Your Highness!" Officer Emshire shouted with difficulty. "Tch" Chaotic Death felt furious, he missed another chance. Actually, he also had difficulty if the situation kept on developing this way. Before, when he fight against Officer Molke, he had the upper hand in the battle. But, he didn''t know why he seems could not get Officer Molke out of his way not matter what he tried. He already tried his best to throw this officer but he couldn''t The officer was like glued to him and he could not get rid of him no matter what. With no chance, he used the last thing that the Regalia''s King given to him for use in dangerous situation, a pill. The pill could not be found anywhere in Gaia, so there was no way Gaia''s people could obtain it. However, could not obtaining it, didn''t mean they didn''t know if it was not exist. This pill had shown in the Bridge World war several times. The people in Regalia called it [Devil''s Pill]. It was a secretive pill that even the people in Regalia didn''t know how to make it or how did such pill exist. What they knew was that the only one who could make this pill was their king. Moreover, it was by a low amount each time he made it. [Devil''s Pill] was a deadly pill for those who used it. In exchange, the user would gained an overpowered strength. The user would not feel pain, they could not be slowed down by controlled magic such as [Sloth] or mental skill. They would also gained power comparable to the current percentage of the user''s health. If the user had 50% of their health left, then their attack power and speed would raised by 50%. If they only had 10% then their attack power and speed would only raised by 10%. Chaotic Death who had 80% of his health left, gained another 80% boost in his attack power and speed. However, there was a reason why it was called [Devil''s Pill]. The user''s would lose 1% of his health every 6 seconds. Which mean 10% every minute. As Chaotic Death had 80% of his health left, he had 8 minutes left to kill the Fourth Prince and complete his mission. That was why he was furious when he knew he missed his chance to kill the Fourth Prince because the near death man. Time was not on his side after all. With a swiped from his dagger, he blew officer Emshire who was protecting the prince away. Auron who was almost arrived, saw the situation was no good. He used his swordsman movement skill which was off cool down while chanting an [Earth Wall] spell tried to buy him some time. Chapter 171 - Devils Pill (2) Wall made of earth coming out from the ground between Chaotic Death and the Fourth Prince. The wall quickly formed up. However, the wall didn''t have any capability to fight against the powered up Chaotic Death. Three minutes have passed by since Chaotic Death first used the [Devil''s Pill]. His health already went down for another 30% which mean his powered up already went down for another 30%. Right now, his power only powered by 50%. He had to be quick. This was one of the downside of [Devil''s Pill]. His health would gone down by 1% every 6 seconds. So, at most the user of [Devil''s Pill] would only had 10 minutes to kill all of their enemies before they died. Yes, the user would unconditionally died regardless they killed all of their enemies or not. This was the shortcoming of the pill. Usually, this item would be given to the squad with a suicide mission to reduce the Gaia''s man resource. Usually, it would be more effective if it was used for player since they would not suffered permanent death. However, since Regalia had few players in it, then it would be very difficult for them to look for worthy player. Moreover, the player had to be trustworthy or else they would waste this pill. It was because the material to make this pill was not cheap. To make one pill they needed to gather a material worth with one epic graded equipment. In addition, the chance of successfully creating this pill was only 50%. That was why they had to be picky on to whom they would given this pill. They also needed to make sure the player would want to use the pill because of the other shortcoming. For player who used this pill, after they had died, they will suffered another consequences. First, their death penalty would be double from normal. In this condition, Chaotic Death who had used this pill would suffered double the penalty. Moreover, it was a war against other world which mean the penalty already double from normal. So, at the end, Chaotic Death would suffer 4 times the penalty than normal. Second, after the player resurrected from their death, all of their attributes would temporary gone to 0. Then, they will slowly gained back their attribute by 10% for every week. So, to regain their full capability back they would need 2.5 months. Moreover, they still had to recover their lost level from dying. But, after all this consequences still better than suffering permanent death like a NPC. Chaotic Death as a trusted right hand man of the Regalia''s King surely would not betrayed his king''s intentions. Although he knew the consequences of the pill, however he knew for sure that if he could kill the Fourth Prince, then he would gained more than what he lost. 50%... 49%... 48%... His health kept on going down every 6 seconds. He looked up at the Fourth Prince in front of him. Beside the Fourth Prince was Officer Emshire who tried to stand up. He ignore the officer and went to the Fourth Prince. Chaotic Death launched an attack. Auron was coming but he still need a little more time to arrive. The Fourth Prince tried his best to lift his broken sword to block the attack. He manage to change the course of the attack. At first the attack was aiming at his forehead, however because he deflected the attack, the attack cut his left ear. Blood coming out from his left ear. Pain scoured through the Fourth Prince''s body. He tried his hard to stay on consciousness when another attack was coming toward him. When the attack was about to come, Auron who was close used [Charge]. With the added speed, he move fast and bump with Chaotic Death. - 13. A low damage floated above Chaotic Death as a result of the collision with Auron. The damage was sloppy, but Auron managed to make Chaotic Death limped over. It could not make Chaotic Death fell down but it was enough to make Chaotic Death''s missed the target. "Tch" Chaotic Death furious another fly, he kicked Auron hard. It was enough to blew Auron several meters away. He looked over to the Fourth Prince once more. Raised his dagger, he prepared to attack once more. Before he could launched it several spell and arrows struck him. It did him several low damage but it managed to distract his attention. He looked over to the source of the spell and arrows only to find 8 young men stood several distance away. Chaotic Death looked at them. When Chaotic Death looked at them, fear immediately induced in every of the 8 young men. They cower in fear. There were even some of them who fell on their butt and piss at their pant. Chaotic Death thought that he would kill all of them after he killed the Fourth Prince. He looked over again at the Fourth Prince. He slashed out his dagger. The Fourth Prince who was on the ground suffering pain from his left ear already surrender his life. Meanwhile, Officer Emshire could not even stand up and could only screamed. Auron who was blew several meters away had stood back up but with the distance and speed he could not reach in time. And, his groups was useless since all of them was cowered in fear and could not think straight. Auron didn''t want to give up although he knew he could not reach in time he still ran as fast as he could. The dagger coming to reap the Fourth Prince''s life. Clang... it was the sound of metal collision. Auron looked at the situation. A bloodied man stood up and block the attack for Fourth Prince. On his chest, a huge bloody cross mark could be seen. After blocking the attack, with all of his might, he unleashed all of his strength left and attack Chaotic Death. The attack was blocked by Chaotic Death, but he was pushed one meters back. Auron looked at the bloodied man and he recognized the man. This bloodied man was Officer Molke. Chapter 172 - Devils Pill (3) "F***!" Chaotic Death cursed out. "These little flies kept on coming again and again!" Chaotic Death cursed out. Officer Molke could come and block this crucial attack was thanks to the cleric who tends to Officer Emshire''s injuries. After Officer Emshire stood up to protect the prince, he told the cleric to go over to the Officer Molke''s place and tend to his wound if Officer Molke not died yet. Although frightened by the situation, the cleric still do her job properly. She went to the Officer Molke''s place. With Chaotic Death was filled his attention to the Fourth Prince. This little cleric could easily escaped his attention and safely arrived at Officer Molke''s place. Fortunately, when she arrived at the place, she saw that Officer Molke still had his life on despite the heavy injuries. She immediately tends his injuries as best as she can. As time slowly went on, the injuries was healed little by little. But, it was not enough, the heal was too weak. However, the situation also grim, Officer Molke knew he could not wait until he fully healed or the prince would already death. That''s why he tried to stand up and went to Chaotic Death with difficulty. The cleric kept on accompany him as they went slowly to Chaotic Death place and kept healing him. However, the situation was worst that what he thought. When Auron blocked Chaotic Death''s attack, Officer Molke knew he had to be there. So, he ignore his injuries and left out the cleric alone and went over to Chaotic Death. Fortunately, his decision was correct. He arrived in time to block the attack. He even use all of his might to push Chaotic Death one meters back. With Chaotic Death''s pushed one meters back, Officer Molke knew he needed to use this chance to push Chaotic Death away from the Fourth Prince, so, he went forward despite his injuries. At first, he could gain the upper hand in the several moves. However, his injuries prevented him to do more. Chaotic Death kicked him away. "F*** YOU MAGGOTS!" Chaotic Death cursed Officer Molke while kicking him hard. "Wait for your turn! I will kill you right after I kill your Dearly Your Highness!" Chaotic Death only had 20% of his health left and it still counting down as the time passed. He needed to be quick. He looked over to the Fourth Prince and walked towards him. After one step forwards, the surrounding area atmosphere suddenly changed. The wind blew for several seconds. The heavy atmosphere before lifted a bit and vanished. "Not good!" Chaotic Death cursed. He knew what this changes meant. His scroll to prevent the Fourth Prince from escaping before had ended. Officer Emshire who also felt this knew what he thought was right after looking at Chaotic Death''s expression, he screamed out, "Your Highness quickly escape with the pendant!" With half conscious, the Fourth Prince tried to regain his mind back as he was dizzy when suddenly, he felt the changes in the atmosphere. However, he could not know what it means since he could not thought straight due to the blood loss and dizziness. He heard a shouted about the pendant, "Oh right... the pendant" The Fourth Prince head kept on spinning and he tried his hard to stay conscious. He just reminded the pendant by the shout. He didn''t even know who was shouting. He even forget that he was lock down by the scroll used by Chaotic Death and prevented to use the pendant to escape. He just like a robot who did what he had told. As he took out the pendant he immediately used it without second thinking. A white light began to slowly wrapped the Fourth Prince. There were 5 seconds of channeling after using the pendant. If within 5 seconds, the Fourth Prince moved from his spot or attacked, the channeling would be cancelled and his escaped would be failed. Chaotic Death who was seeing the scene knew about this. It was late if he need to wait until he close with the Fourth Prince, so he used one of the thief ranged skill that a thief would got when they were level 450, [Death Shot]. It convert the death power that a thief could gather when they were above level 400, and shot it like a beam towards the target. What good about this skill was it was a range skill and if the skill collided with an obstacle and after the collision the skill still had power it would pushed through obstacle and continued its journey until all of the power gone. With this, Chaotic Death was sure that this time the Fourth Prince would be death. He grinned over, when he saw Auron moved at the path of the skill intending to block the attack. His grinned more widely and thought, "It was useless" When the beam was close towards Auron, a water formed out and wrapped around Auron completely. The beam hit the aqua ball surrounding Auron and vanished. As the water surrounding Auron vanished, he pushed over and fell down to the ground. At that time, the Fourth Prince also vanished from his place. "F***!" Chaotic Death cursed once more. He forgets that Auron was a mage and mage had that one invincible skill, [Aqua''s Barrier]. Chaotic Death was furious, his time was nearing the end. He only had less than 30 seconds before he died. But, he still could not accept this as he cursed all the time. He took out an item from his inventory. It was a short stick with a weird ball head. He stick it at the ground as he kept on cursing out until he died. When the stick was on the ground, the weird ball head suddenly had an eye opened wide and demonic aura was spread wide around 5 kilometers of the area. The two officers who was on the brink of their death knew this was not a good sign, Officer Molke shouted out, "Quick you guys leave this place! Run as fast as you can!" Everyone also knew this situation was grim, however they could know how they could leave the area, they didn''t have teleportation scroll as the military prevented them to bring it since they was afraid they will desert. Auron quickly stood up and shouted, "Quick! Come here, I have enough teleportation scroll!" Auron took out several [Teleportation Scroll] in his hand. He distributed it to each of them and used it. He even helped Officer Molke and Officer Emshire who had heavy injuries. One by one all of the survivors left the area. When all of them already gone, the stick suddenly vibrated heavily and from its eye, a figure came out from it. Then, the eye closed once more and stopped vibrating. The demonic aura lessen a bit but there still demonic aura spreading from the stick it just way more thinner than before. The figure who was coming out from the stick had a two pointy horn coming out of his head. He looked at his surrounding, however he found nothing, so he left the place in the village direction and continued on until he disappeared to the forest. Chapter 173 - New Update (2) Auron opened his eyes inside his game capsule. A sudden new update caught him off guard. It delayed his plan to told Keiran about what had happened. However, Auron could do nothing to stop the game from updating. He could only blame his bad luck. Because the sudden announcement, Auron still didn''t have any plan about what he''s gonna do. So, he decided to check out the forum. He opened the forum, there was a pinned message at the top of the forum titled, "Demonic Monster Update". Auron know that post would telling what would change after the update was complete. He clicked on the posted. Sadly, the content didn''t like what he had thought. A big ''Coming Soon'' text was written on his screen. Disappointed, Auron looked at another post. Several hundreds new post was posted in the forum. All of them had one common, a negative vibe, for example demanding a compensation, threaten to file a law suit, until cursing the company. Auron clicked on several post and skimmed through the content. After several post he get the gist of the problem. Basically, since the update was so sudden, many players didn''t anticipated update at such time. So, they went into dungeons. Then, there came the update notification and they had to logout without completing their on going dungeons. When they looked at the forum they could not find the answer they wanted. Because of that, they started to post on the forum and demand some explanation. There were even some players that call the Black Sheep''s customer service, but the call didn''t manage to get through. ------------------------------------------ Meanwhile, at a room in some place, ten people sat out in a round table having a meeting. In the middle of the table, there were five hologram screens. There was one person''s silhouette in each of the screen. "How is the damage?" One of the person in the screen asked. "Massive! Lot of complaints came from out player and they demanded some compensations." A woman from customer satisfaction division, answered. What all of the players all over the world didn''t know was that there were two type of updates in the game, a manual updates and automatic updates. Even, inside the Black Sheep only a bunch of higher position people knew about this update types. A manual update was an update that the company made and done to the game just like the increase in max level or creating a new skill. However, this type of update had a lot of restriction. For example, they could not create the third world, or added a new classes to the game. Their created skill or new item also had limitation, the skill had to have some drawback or else their created skill would be rejected by the game system. This restriction was coming from the game system and even the higher ups didn''t have any hand on how to bypass this restriction. However, just like the types of update, there were not many people in Black Sheep knew about this restriction. The higher ups already came up with several answers when there were some low level engineer propose this idea for the update. They would say, and use excuses like ''to maintain the originality of the game'' or ''for the sake of balance''. Because of this, many people praised Black Sheep for their excellent in creating a balanced game and not siding with one class even though, each class had their own fan base. However, what the others didn''t know was not because Black Sheep was excellent but it was because the game system was excellent in preventing an imbalanced changes. On the other hand, an automatic update would be automatically launched when a trigger happened. However, the people on Black Sheep didn''t know what was the trigger, or how and when the trigger would happened and they could not stop it from happening, just like this demonic monster update. Fortunately, the automatic update happened once before also it was when the number of players playing the Two World only less that 10 millions. After giving some compensation, everything went back to normal. But now, another automatic update happened and this time it impacted more than 10 millions users. It came so sudden that even the higher ups had a headache on how to compensate the player with this scale hence the meeting was held. "If we had to give compensation in terms of golds how much it will cost?" Another figure on the screen asked. "From the calculation and analysis from the data, to fairly compensate every player who was affected then the compensation we would need to gave out totaled to 10 billion golds." Answered the higher ups from the finance division. "If that 10 billions gold are to be converted to money then..." The higher ups didn''t continue. All of them knew the amount would be massive. Although the compensation they would gave out was some sort of virtual money, however the players could convert that virtual money into real life money. With the conversion rate of 1 copper to 9 dollars, then 1 gold would cost 90 thousands dollars. If all of the golds given as compensation were converted to real life money then they would need to give 900 trillion dollars. Even with the wealth they acc.u.mulated over years, to suddenly gave 900 trillion dollars would shaken their company''s financial status. Moreover, they still had to consider other expenses like electricity, staff salaries, and many more. They could not prevent the player from cashing out their gold, however they could change the exchange rates. But, if they do that, then another massive complaint would come, this time it could even lead to boycotting the game and their good name would undoubtedly impacted. "First, we need to give an apology statement. Then, we would announce the compensation to mute these massive complaints." The first figure in the screen answered. "But sir, if we do that our financial could be shaken when all the gold are withdrawn and we can''t prevented them for doing so" The financial division man tried to remind "Yes, we can''t prevented them for withdrawing the gold. If we cannot do that, then why not make them spent the gold in the game." Chapter 173 - New Update (1) A white light shone at a room somewhere. When the light was gone, a figure was laying down on the ground could not move. With body full of blood, that figure''s consciousness had gone. That figure was the Fourth Prince. As that light was shone inside the room, several guards knew what that light indicated, a royalty activated his safety measure which mean previously they were in dangerous situation that needed them to escape. The guards immediately called up the doctor and went with them inside the room. A ruckus was heard inside the royal palace. When the doctor and guards came inside the room, a panic shout and more ruckus could be heard from the room. -------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, Auron and the rest also came back at the teleportation point at Gancit. When they arrived, a commotion also broke out because of their state especially the officers'' condition. Auron quickly yelled, "Cleric, heal both of the officers! Quick!" At first, several clerics nearby were dazed out, but they quickly snapped out as Auron yelled at them. They regained their mind and quickly dashed to heal the officers. Since Gancit had more high leveled cleric than the survivor cleric in their groups and also with the fact there were several of them working together, the officers quickly healed. Although, they still needed some treatment but they could already walked on their own and easily lifted their hand. Officer Molke who already regained his vigor said to the several cleric healed him, "Thank you, but I have some urgent matter right now. I have memorize all of your face, after all of this are over, you could go to the military to claim your rewards" After that, he turned towards Officer Emshire and said, "I''m sure there will be a commotion broke at the royal palace, I need to went there and explain the situation to the king. As you, Officer Emshire, you need to go to the academy and explain all the situation to the principal and worked together with him on how to explain to the nobles who had their children died in the battle." "For you guys," Officer Molke said to Auron and the other survivors, "You can go back to the academy or your family for some rest, but don''t mention anything about the situation and tell them to wait for the official statement from the principal! Tomorrow morning, you would need to gather back at the academy." Then, everyone dispersed and went to their own destination. For Auron, he decided to go to the academy. When he arrived at his room, suddenly he felt tired. All of the tensed before build up inside of him, but he didn''t dare to waver or he would died. Now, when all of the tensed had over, all of the tiredness surge all over his body. It was even difficult for him to move to the bed. With some difficulty, he lay on the bed. He put his right arm on top of his face covering his eyes. Then, suddenly, a water came out from his eyes. Slowly, the water coming out from his eyes became faster. Yes, Auron was crying. Not because, he was saved in the war since he was a player and could resurrected, but it was because his other roommates, Reihan and Borad. They were died in the war before. With the intense battle, he could not cry on the battlefield. So, right now when all of this was over, he cried like a baby. He was thinking hard on how he would tell the news to Keiran. He thought back to their journey together. When both of the deceased along with Keiran doing the group mission. When they support him and fight for him. All the good memories came out to him. And, he let loose of the memories allowing it to engulf his mind. -------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, at the royal palace, a huge commotion took place in all over the place. The news of the Fourth Prince heavily injured was spread quickly until it reached the king. When the king heard the news, he was so shocked as well as furious. Since, he knew that his son went to the place where the academy''s student went, he also knew who''s the one in charge of that place. He furiously shouted several commands. From, calling the three officers who was in charge, calling the royal troops commander who took charge in assigning a group for his son, shutting down the palace and city, until calling out every best clerics in town. He walking back and forth in the meeting hall waiting for a news about all of this things. He was so nervous because the Fourth Prince was his youngest and favorite son. But, know this favorite son was heavily injured an he didn''t know how and who was the one responsible for it. He was so anxious when a commander came to the hall and asked to meet with him. The commander went to the king and whispered something to the king''s ears. This whispered made the king became more furious, however before he could unleash his rage another announcement came out telling that Officer Molke seeks an audience with him. He hold his rage and quickly invite Officer Molke to meet with him. -------------------------------------------- Auron cried for half an hour until he made his resolved. He had arranged his words on how to tell to Keiran. He sent some message to Keiran however there were no reply. So, Auron sent a private message to Roan and told him that he wanted to meet with Keiran. He decided to leave the room and went to the meeting place and waited Keiran there. When he was about to leave the room, a game notification appeared out in front of him. [Demonic Monster updates will be commence in 5 minutes. This updates will take 24 hours. Please make sure you log out at a save place. You can look for the update''s information in the forum or asked the information NPC after the update] Chapter 174 - New Update (2) Auron opened his eyes inside his game capsule. A sudden new update caught him off guard. It delayed his plan to told Keiran about what had happened. However, Auron could do nothing to stop the game from updating. He could only blame his bad luck. Because the sudden announcement, Auron still didn''t have any plan about what he''s gonna do. So, he decided to check out the forum. He opened the forum, there was a pinned message at the top of the forum titled, "Demonic Monster Update". Auron know that post would telling what would change after the update was complete. He clicked on the posted. Sadly, the content didn''t like what he had thought. A big ''Coming Soon'' text was written on his screen. Disappointed, Auron looked at another post. Several hundreds new post was posted in the forum. All of them had one common, a negative vibe, for example demanding a compensation, threaten to file a law suit, until cursing the company. Auron clicked on several post and skimmed through the content. After several post he get the gist of the problem. Basically, since the update was so sudden, many players didn''t anticipated update at such time. So, they went into dungeons. Then, there came the update notification and they had to logout without completing their on going dungeons. When they looked at the forum they could not find the answer they wanted. Because of that, they started to post on the forum and demand some explanation. There were even some players that call the Black Sheep''s customer service, but the call didn''t manage to get through. ------------------------------------------ Meanwhile, at a room in some place, ten people sat out in a round table having a meeting. In the middle of the table, there were five hologram screens. There was one person''s silhouette in each of the screen. "How is the damage?" One of the person in the screen asked. "Massive! Lot of complaints came from out player and they demanded some compensations." A woman from customer satisfaction division, answered. What all of the players all over the world didn''t know was that there were two type of updates in the game, a manual updates and automatic updates. Even, inside the Black Sheep only a bunch of higher position people knew about this update types. A manual update was an update that the company made and done to the game just like the increase in max level or creating a new skill. However, this type of update had a lot of restriction. For example, they could not create the third world, or added a new classes to the game. Their created skill or new item also had limitation, the skill had to have some drawback or else their created skill would be rejected by the game system. This restriction was coming from the game system and even the higher ups didn''t have any hand on how to bypass this restriction. However, just like the types of update, there were not many people in Black Sheep knew about this restriction. The higher ups already came up with several answers when there were some low level engineer propose this idea for the update. They would say, and use excuses like ''to maintain the originality of the game'' or ''for the sake of balance''. Because of this, many people praised Black Sheep for their excellent in creating a balanced game and not siding with one class even though, each class had their own fan base. However, what the others didn''t know was not because Black Sheep was excellent but it was because the game system was excellent in preventing an imbalanced changes. On the other hand, an automatic update would be automatically launched when a trigger happened. However, the people on Black Sheep didn''t know what was the trigger, or how and when the trigger would happened and they could not stop it from happening, just like this demonic monster update. Fortunately, the automatic update happened once before also it was when the number of players playing the Two World only less that 10 millions. After giving some compensation, everything went back to normal. But now, another automatic update happened and this time it impacted more than 10 millions users. It came so sudden that even the higher ups had a headache on how to compensate the player with this scale hence the meeting was held. "If we had to give compensation in terms of golds how much it will cost?" Another figure on the screen asked. "From the calculation and analysis from the data, to fairly compensate every player who was affected then the compensation we would need to gave out totaled to 10 billion golds." Answered the higher ups from the finance division. "If that 10 billions gold are to be converted to money then..." The higher ups didn''t continue. All of them knew the amount would be massive. Although the compensation they would gave out was some sort of virtual money, however the players could convert that virtual money into real life money. With the conversion rate of 1 copper to 9 dollars, then 1 gold would cost 90 thousands dollars. If all of the golds given as compensation were converted to real life money then they would need to give 900 trillion dollars. Even with the wealth they acc.u.mulated over years, to suddenly gave 900 trillion dollars would shaken their company''s financial status. Moreover, they still had to consider other expenses like electricity, staff salaries, and many more. They could not prevent the player from cashing out their gold, however they could change the exchange rates. But, if they do that, then another massive complaint would come, this time it could even lead to boycotting the game and their good name would undoubtedly impacted. "First, we need to give an apology statement. Then, we would announce the compensation to mute these massive complaints." The first figure in the screen answered. "But sir, if we do that our financial could be shaken when all the gold are withdrawn and we can''t prevented them for doing so" The financial division man tried to remind "Yes, we can''t prevented them for withdrawing the gold. If we cannot do that, then why not make them spent the gold in the game." Chapter 175 - Demonic Monster (1) "Do you mean we are going to create some event?" "Yes, create an event that make them have to spent their gold inside." "Okay, we have some event that we intend to save later, we have to make some slight change to the event to make them spend more gold. We can also move the event forward" Usually, a game would make an event to make them spent some real life money for the game. However, right now, they had to make an event to spend money in game. It was relatively easy. "Have we get what are gonna changes?" The silhouette continued. "Yes, we have get the list" Another man from the game division answered. When there was automatic update, the game system would notify what the changes were. The higher ups from the games division would intercept the information and compiled it before releasing it as to make it like the update was what they had done intentionally. The report about the automatic update was found by the admin staff then it get escalated to the higher ups. When the higher ups get the news about it, they immediately moved fast as if they had anticipated this. They announced to their employee that the updates was intentional and the reason why it was unannounced to all the player or employee was to prevent a leakage about the update since it was a huge updates. They also tell the public relation division to create the ''coming soon'' forum post. Although they would get criticized by the unannounced update, however they would get a positive review and hopeful thought by the secrecy. It just gave more mysterious vibe to the new update. Furthermore, they just need to give some compensation to pacify the negative vibe. "Announced it along with the compensation announcement. Also, don''t forget to point that we would have a follow up event along with the new update. We can announce the event rules later along with the distribution of the compensation." "Try your best to make them spend many golds in the game. After all of this end, I want a full report on everything!" "That''s all for this meeting! Good bye!" The hologram screen turned off one by one. When all of the screen turned off, the 10 people inside the room heaved a heavy sighed. They went up and went outside the room to get back to their work. ----------------------------------------- Since there was nothing Auron could do in the forum, he closed the forum and went down to the first floor. Although he was not hungry he was also not full and after playing in the game for so long time, he missed the taste of real life food. Auron went downstairs and wanted to eat some instant noodle. He looked at his refrigerator and it was empty. Auron had no choice but to went to the nearest grocery store to buy some instant noodle. Along the way to the store, Auron heard lot of talk about the new updates. Many of them tried to guess on what the update would be about. After few minutes, Auron arrived at the grocery store, he took some instant noodle and brought it to the cashier. The store clerk scanned the instant noodle while asked, "Bro, do you know what happened? Suddenly, there was a lot of customer here" The store clerk knew that this could only happened due to something happened in Two Worlds. If not, how could there was sudden fluke in customer at his store. Although the store clerk also played Two Worlds, but he was not a hardcore gamer and he still had a real life work. He played when he was not in shift. Unfortunately, the update happened when he was in shift which was why he asked Auron. "There''s an update going on in Two Worlds right now. It was about demonic monster. You can find it on the forum although it was still hidden when I take a look before. Here''s the money!" Auron explained the clerk while handing out his money. Auron''s financial condition still not too good. He could only spent to buy what necessary from him since he still need to fund his character in game. However, by looking at his these several months, he believed sooner or later his financial condition would be better. At home, Auron started to cook the instant noodle and ate it. Just as he had finished doing the dishes, his best friend, Roan, called him. "Hey bro, look at the Black Sheep''s website! They streamed their press conference!" Roan told Auron. Quickly, Auron went update to his television and connected it with his phone, so he could saw it in a bigger screen. After it connected, Auron saw the public relation staff from Black Sheep was holding a press conference. "Firstly, we wanted to apologize about the sudden update. We didn''t announce it before because it was intentional, we wanted to try something new here by giving a huge surprise and whole new experience to the players." "However, it looks like the reception was not too good for the players. So, we decided to give out some compensation to all of the players who was in the middle of dungeon or something important and cannot be delayed." "Last but not least, to commemorate the new update, we will hold an event. You can find the detail for the event and compensation and the later date. Meanwhile, you can look at the forum for the new update''s change log" Auron shook his head. Although, he was not affected like the players who were in the middle of the dungeon, he still find this sudden update weird. He could only agree to the comment cursed the company that question how can a big company like Black Sheep could not predict that their sudden unannounced update like this would invites protest from the players. However, what had past let be past. Moreover, Auron was not impacted by the sudden unannounced updates. He just needed to postponed his meeting with Keiran. Chapter 176 - Demonic Monster (2) Auron checked the forum once more. The post already updated. This time, he could find all of the information about the update here instead of a ''coming soon'' text. He read through the updates carefully. It had been more than 3 years since he read the updates by himself. Previously, he would read the report made by his vice guild leader about the updates. After several minutes reading, he knew the gist of the updates. Demonic monster was just the same as other monster. When you killed them, you would get a bunch of experiences and item drops. One of the thing that made them differences were, their strength and intelligence. Demonic monster would have stronger strength and intelligence than ordinary monster. If other monster had grade classification from common to legendary, then demonic monster didn''t have that classification. Their strength and intelligence would depend on their levels. The higher their level, the higher their strength and intelligence. Yes, demonic monster could gain level. Ordinary monster when spawned had their level randomly generated from a set of minimum and maximum value depending on the monster. After they spawned then their level would stuck or rather they would not get any experience at all. However, it was not the case for demonic monster. A demonic monster could gain level after they spawned. Fortunately, they could not gain level by killing ordinary monster. They could only gain experience by killing players, NPC, or other demonic monster. If they killed an ordinary monster like the orcs, Auron face before, they would not get any experience. Another thing that differentiate demonic monster with ordinary monster was the ability to breed. By sacrificing some level, the demonic monster could breed to a new demonic monster and that new demonic monster would be loyal to who gave birth to them. When breeding, half of the sacrificed level would become the level of the newly born demonic monster. So, let say a demonic monster had sacrificed 50 levels then, the newly born demonic monster would have 25 as his level. Fortunately, not all of the demonic monster had these breeding ability. Only the original demonic monster would have these ability. Meanwhile, a demonic monster would have a maximum level of 1000 just like a players. However, they would gain double the experience a player would get when killing others. Moreover, the original demonic monster would also gained a little portion of experience when his subordinate demonic monster killed the others. In the post also stated that demonic monster was a tribal creature. They would gather together with others who were the same as them and would fight demonic monster from other tribe. Their tribe leader would be the original demonic monster who had the ability to breed. Like this, if you killed the demonic monster tribe leader, then they would lose the ability to reproduce. Without the ability to reproduce they would only waited for the day they died before their tribe became forgotten. However, to kill a demonic monster tribe leader was not simple. They would use all means to protect their leader, by sacrificing themselves or even allying with another demonic tribe. The post also stated that, after the update, there would be 13 types of demonic monster which mean there would be 13 demonic monster tribe in Gaia. Since the demonic monster could reproduce then they would need to quickly eradicate this demonic monster if they didn''t want to be overwhelm by the demonic monster. "A huge trouble come to Gaia" Auron sighed after reading the updates. He didn''t know how this updates would affect Gaia, however he knew that it would not have a good impact on them. "After the war, then comes the demonic monster." Auron thought about what would happen to Gaia. "Hopefully, we have a good result in the war." Auron felt dejected. After what happened in his war, the Fourth Prince suffered heavy injuries, they lose the village, only less than 10 survivors. All of this would make others felt dejected. He knew the result of his battle was not good, but he didn''t know the result about other battle. He could just hope that the other battle would not turned out as bad as his battle. Nothing to do, Auron called Roan to say hi and talking about many things. In the game, they rarely contact each other since they busy with their own business. He wanted to know how the Dragon''s Den progressed as well as asking about Keiran current condition. They talked until late night before going to bed. The next morning, more comment and speculation spouted out in the forum. Some said about demonic monster, some comment on the Black Sheep strange behavior and many others. Soon, the game would finish its update and Auron could finally played again. However, when there was about one hour left, a shocking news appeared on the forum. A post quickly going up because of the reply in the post until the forum administrator decided to pinned the message. The post was not about the new update or some speculation about Black Sheep, rather it was about some players. And, it just not the average players but the ranked player in each of their class. In the post, the current first ranked player from thief, cleric, mage, and archer had stated that they would defect to Regalia and also asked the forgiveness from others. Many comment spouted out in the forum. Some cursed them because they defected to the enemy, some express their willingness to follow them. Some question why the swordsman and merchant not included in the list which was replied by Raging Bull, the current first ranked in swordsman class, that he got the offer but he already declined the offer and he didn''t forget to curse and mock the defected member. The current first ranked merchant also stated the same answer as Raging Bull without the cursing. A huge controversial, but for current Auron he didn''t really care about all of that. He just wanted to be kept updated about the current news. Then, when the update time had passed, Auron went on to his game capsule and login into the game. Chapter 177 - Bad News (1) When Auron regained his sight, he was in front of his dorm''s room. He was preparing to contact Keiran. However, before he could contact Keiran, he received a message from Keiran. "I know why you wanted to meet me, but I don''t think, we have to meet" Keiran started on his message. "You don''t have to blame yourself for their death. When they chose to enter the military, they should already know that they could be dead at any moment." "So, you don''t have to be sad, instead you have to be grateful that you still survive the war when even the Fourth Prince was in his deathbed" "I don''t want to meet you or else you will feel guilty. What I want you to do was to turn that sad or guilty feeling you feel became your motivation to get to the top and make sure that you revenge and destroy that Regalia''s sc.u.m." "Lastly, I know someday you can compete in the rank. Be strong!" Keiran ended his message. Auron stood still for a few minutes after reading the message. He didn''t know what to do. He felt stupid after reading Keiran''s message. Well, feeling sad because of an NPC was already stupid in the first place. Auron didn''t reply to Keiran''s message. Instead, he was preparing to go for another hunting. Although he gained a lot of levels from the war, he was still weak compared to another player. Auron looked at his status. [Smiling Wizard] Level: 203 Exp: 24% Hp: 54800 Mp: 78660 Strength: 413 Agility: 408 Vitality: 257 Intelligence: 522 Dexterity: 407 Luck: 206 Elemental Understanding: Fire: 3% Earth: 1% Water: 1% Attribute point: 0 Auron felt that his status was somewhat okay compared to anyone who was at the same level as him. He even felt that he was slightly stronger compared to the average level 230 player. What hinders his strength right now was his equipment. Although, the Esitem''s set equipment was good but it was for level 50. Meanwhile, his swordsman set equipment only so so. If he could find stronger equipment he believes he could contend against level 300 player with average combat skill. However, he didn''t have to worry much about the equipment since he joined the war, he got a lot of contribution points. From what he heard, the contribution point could be exchanged with equipment from the military. And, that was what he needed right now. He just has to wait until the point exchange time. After looking at his status, Auron setting off to the hunting place. However, he was stopped at the dormitory''s receptionist''s desk. "You are Smiling Wizard right?" Asked the receptionist. "Yes, I am" Auron answered. "The principal told me to tell you that he was waiting for you in his office." "Ehrm... okay thank you for the news" Auron was shocked because the principal waiting for him, but still he thanked the receptionist lady. Auron changed his direction, instead of going out of the academy, he went to the principal''s office. Along the way, he still thinking about the reason why the principal asking him. He didn''t make any mistake, so in the end, he concluded that this must be have something to do with the latest war before. The highest probability was it was the time for exchanging points for rewards. With that in mind, Auron became excited. When you in urgent need of something, and that something unexpectedly coming to you by itself, surely would make you happy and anticipated forward to it. Knock... Knock... Auron knocked at the principal office''s door. "Come in!" There was a voice from inside the room permitting him to go in. Auron opened the door and went into the room. Inside, Auron saw there were ten chairs inside with one of the chairs were taken. He recognized the man who sat on the chair. It was also one of the survivors, the commoner archer. Seeing him here, made Auron felt that his guess was true, this was the time for rewards distribution. Auron could not help but automatically smiled. "Come take a seat" The principal saw Auron coming inside and invite Auron to take a seat. "We still have to wait for the other. While waiting, just relax, okay" The principal voice was warmed and comfortable. Auron greeted the principal and also the commoner archer before taking the seat. ----------------------------------------------- "And, so that was the story" Officer Molke finished his story. During the past minutes, he already told the story carefully. He didn''t want to miss any detail for the people in the room. Inside the meeting room, beside the king, there were several other people and if you look at their status, they were way above Officer Molke. Not to mention, the King''s bodyguard, there was even the king himself in front of him. If he didn''t heed and giving some misled he could end death. Moreover, the king already in a bad mood due to the Fourth Prince in critical condition. Although the Fourth Prince was now in stable condition, he still haven''t regained his consciousness. With this grave matter, the king put on a high importance on this matter. When he knew it was due to the Raiding Month, he conduct a closed meeting to get to know about the detail of the story. He also didn''t forget to invite several other important players. So, he invites all of his royal son and daughter to attend the meeting, he also invites the highest-ranked person in his military who already followed him since his father still in reign, General Elbert. When all of the invitees including prince and princesses received the invitation, they quickly dropped all that they were doing and went to the meeting. This was a shocking matter for them to invite all together at the same time. So, they know how important this meeting was. Moreover, this meeting was after the raiding month and after the news that the Fourth Prince came back in near-death state. They knew only bad news that going to wait for them. Chapter 178 - Bad News (2) BANG... the meeting table was broken into pieces due to the punch by the king. He was so furious after hearing the news from Officer Molke. This raiding month was supposed to be another win just like the previous raiding month. They had prepared everything to conquer the Bridge World. However, the result was not only not as they expected, but it was way gone too far from what they had expected. They failed to conquer the Bridge World. Furthermore, his fourth and youngest son got injured so badly. With all of the things that happened so far, how could the king not be furious? Moreover, he received another bad news which was a danger lurking out at their kingdom vicinity. "The enemy sends Chaotic Death to deal with younger brother. This means they put a lot of effort to deal with this!" The Second Prince said. "No, from Officer Molke had said, it looked like the enemy made changed in their plan at last minute. I believe when they gathered their strength on the last day, they spotted younger brother in one of the villages which made them put a lot of effort to assassinate him." The oldest princess analyzed. "Then, why we still failed at conquering the Bridge World?" The King asked with a high tone. "I am sorry Father. It was because I am incompetence" The First Prince answered. It was just like the had king said, he felt shame. He knew to conquer the Bridge World was their goal in this plan, however, he failed to achieve that goal. Moreover, with such bad news happening, he felt the weight of his failure became heavier. "No, it was not the first brother''s fault. From the news I gained, the enemy deliberately ignored our attack and not defended the outer village at all. It looked like they allocated the troops that supposed to defend their village to attack. This was why they can amass large troops despite the pressure in the Bridge World." The Second Princess answered. "Moreover, although the result was not as we expected, but they also sacrificed a lot of troops to defend the Bridge World from our attack." Regalia''s casualties in this war also not little. Not to mention, the casualties from attacking the village in Gaia, they also sacrifice a lot to be able to defend in Bridge World. Moreover, they also suffered from Gaia''s attack. "From what I heard, not only all of the outer villages were destroyed, but we also destroyed 3 towns. It could be said that we were drawn." The Third princess added. "If we look from the number of casualties and destroyed territories, it could have been true. But, I guess it is not that simple" General Elbert who was silent throughout the conversation, spoke. "From what I heard, the enemy took out a weird stick. When they stuck it to the ground, an intense demonic aura was coming out from it. And, a strong demonic creature was coming out from it. I believed this is what their goal all along" "This could be proved by their action pouring a lot of resources in attacking which they never did previously." "How''s the investigation on the stick?" The king asked. Like General Elbert had said, Regalia''s true goal was to unleashed this stick at Gaia''s World. One day, some explorers found an ancient ruin in Regalia. Then, they reported their discovery to the Regalia''s royalty. Hearing there''s an ancient ruin, Regalia put important attention to this matter. They sent an elite team to explore the ruin. Like any other ancient ruin, the exploration was dangerous. Some of their elite team was wiped out. Fortunately, in the end, they found treasure boxes. The treasure boxes contained a lot of things inside. Some of which was the tool that they used to reduce the idle times after using the teleportation gate which made them able to launch a surprise attack and gained the upper hand. However, the most precious thing they found was not that tool, instead, it was 15 boxes with 20 centimeters long each. Inside each of the boxes, they found that demonic stick. At first, they didn''t know the function of this stick, until they tried to stick one of that demonic stick to the ground. What happened next was the same as what happened when Chaotic Death used the stick previously. An aura of death loomed the place then a humanoid figure with two horns on its head coming out from the stick. As soon as the humanoid figure coming out, he immediately attacks everything around him. This attack induced another high casualties to Regalia''s troops. Fortunately, they already anticipated everything by stationing a lot of high leveled troops as they believed that something from an ancient ruin would be extraordinary. In the end, they managed to slay the humanoid figure before he ran away. From this experience, they began to develop a plan to unleash this disaster to their enemy''s territories, Gaia. Which was what already happened. They brought out the 14 sticks left to this attack. And, they managed to successfully plant 13 sticks out of 14 sticks they brought. Yes, one of the attacking groups failed to use the stick which made Gaia gained the stick for investigation. A historian brought out a big book and started to explain, "From the ancient history book we discovered, this stick was used to summon a demonic monster. Also from the book, the demonic monster was ..." As they were an NPC, the system already provided the answer for them. The historian started to explain everything just like what the forum had explained. From the demonic monster''s intelligence until how they could gain level and could reproduce. However, there was one thing that the forum didn''t explain. ".... Lastly, just like you know the stick would summon a demonic monster. After this, it will go hibernate for 10 days. However, if after 10 days and it is still not destroyed, then another demonic monster will emerge from it." Chapter 179 - Exchanging Point (1) Several gasps were heard in the room. Almost one day already passed after the war. They only had a little over 9 days to destroy 13 sticks else the situation will become worse. Panic was seen in the face of the princes and princesses. With the current situation, they still had a lot of things to do. From calming the public due to the lost in war and a lot of casualties, Maintaining the situation in the Bridge World, and eliminating the enemy''s spies that slipped through the raiding month''s portal. Moreover, due to the destruction of 14 villages, they had to make a temporary residence for the refugees. Each of the prince and princesses had their assignments and task. The princes would be allocated at the warlike environment, like leading the war or maintaining security in each of the cities, towns, or villages. Meanwhile, the princesses would be allocated to place that less warlike, like running the bank or trade company, social things, building facilities and resolving the problem from the citizen. Due to this raiding month, all of the sector was damage. Moreover, they had lost the war which made their burden became heavier. And now, the news about a chance of another demonic monster would emerge if it was not destroyed in 9 days. "Silence!" The king shouted. "General Elbert with Officer Molke will lead the attack to destroy the sticks. Third Prince will support the accommodation." "After which, General Elbert and Officer Molke will support the Third Prince to eliminate the spy within the territories." "As for the First and Second Prince, you will stabilize the situation in the Bridge World. Maintain the casualties out there and tried to minimize the casualties." "For the princesses, you know what to do" "Yes, Your Majesty!" All of them answered in unison. --------------------------------------------------- Auron waited for half an hour before the other survivors from the noble family came inside the room. They entered one by one to the principal''s office. The last noble entered the room along with Officer Emshire. "Well, since all of you have arrived here. Then, let''s begin" The principal started. "Maybe some of you have noticed why you are called here. Yes, it is because of the contribution matter. Today will be the day for you to use the contribution and exchange it for the reward of your choice." "However, before we began the exchange, I want to firstly say a few words." "First, we deeply regretted to send you guys out there for battle which resulted in this little survivor. But, we will not ask for forgiveness from you guys. As you know this is the military academy, your goal was to enter the military." "And, in the military, you have to befriend with death. Hence, we regretted what happened, but we still believe that this was a necessary thing to do." "But, regret is still a regret. So, out of our regret feeling, we have given the compensation for the fallen student in the war before." "And, for you guys, you will also get your rewards for being able to stay alive." "First, the rewards from the academy, I will give out for each of you, your graduation certificate from this academy." "Yes, just like you have heard, you will graduate from this academy early, which means you could immediately entered the military. Also, as you already have your experience in war, you could apply to become a teacher here in the academy." "You can claim your graduation certificate after this meeting over." "Next, as you have graduate we will convert your academy point into contribution point that you can exchange after this." "Third, as the military also have some share in this incident, they will also give out compensation. As soon as you enrolled in the military you will immediately become senior private. Also, you will get 200 golds from the military which you can claim later." There were 7 ranks in the military, from lowest to highest, private, corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, major, colonel, and general. Each of the ranks divided into three levels, junior, intermediate, senior. Your rank in the military will determine the monthly salary you received, as well as your command degree. As a senior private, their salary surely will be higher than junior private, also they will be chosen as the leader among the group of privates. To raise in rank also not easy. When you want to raise your level from junior to intermediate or senior, you will need to gain some amount of military point that could be obtained from all sort of things in war, like killing enemies, eliminating spies, or provide useful information. The point needed was not small. Moreover, you need to fight in a war which means you have a high chance exposed to death. Meanwhile, if you want to raise in rank, not only you will need more military point but you will also need to have power. When you have enough points, you can exchange it with a challenge chance. You will challenge the junior level from the above ranks. For example a private wanted to become a corporal, then as a senior private, you will have to defeat junior corporal. Moreover, you will have to defeat 5 of them with only one chance. If you lose, then you will have to gain the same amount of military point before you can be issued another challenge and you could not challenge the same person. This means, to raise in level you need points, meanwhile, to raise in rank, one needs points and power. At first, Auron didn''t even have a bit thought about compensation. So, when Auron heard that he would immediately become senior private, he felt pleased. To directly became a senior private, it already saved him a lot of military points which he could use for equipment or skill books. "So, It''s time for you to exchange your point. Here''s the device, you could find your point and the item''s catalog in it. Remember, you only have time until 6 a.m tomorrow to exchange." Chapter 180 - Exchanging Point (2) Everyone disperse from the room and went to their destinations with their device. Before the meeting, Auron wanted to go hunting, however, since he had the opportunity to exchange his point, he decided to exchange his point first. Before they could leave the room, the principal added, "Oh yeah, two more things, you have to use all of your contribution points or it will be expired. Also, you don''t need to return the device. Instead, bring that device to the military when you re-register." "That device also will be used for your military point and your exchange method. Lastly, here is your graduation certificate." The principal handed out a paper to each of the participants including Auron. After receiving the certificate, Auron went back to his dorm. He took out his device and started to look at it. On its screen, there were two buttons and a clock showing the current time. The first button was used to check his contribution points balance and the history from which he got the points. Meanwhile, the second button was used to enter the store to exchange the points. Auron pressed the button showing his current balance first. The device''s screen changed. On the top part of his screen, there was a huge number showing his current balance. Meanwhile, on the bottom of it, there was a long list of his point mutations. Auron had 15283 points. It was the result of his war contribution points and his academy point converted to contribution points. For Auron, it was not a lot because if he was stronger, he could get more points. However, he could not a complaint since he was so weak at the war that it was a lucky thing that he still got some points. He looked at his point mutations list, his academy point contributed around two thousands to his current points. When he continued to look at his mutations, there was a mutation that catches his eyes. That mutation informed him that he got another two thousand points. A single mutation gives him a huge contribution point while the other only gave him a single or two digits point. Thanks to that, It was not surprising that this mutation caught Auron''s attention. Auron looked at the mutation''s detail. That mutation comes from the fact that he fights against Chaotic Death. His contribution when fighting Chaotic Death was proved to be worth it. It was also thanks to the fact that Chaotic Death was so famous as Regalia''s king right hand for enemy players that his ''price'' spike up. Finished looking at his points, Auron went back to the home screen and pressed the rewards button. After the screen changed, Auron was greeted by a huge list of items. From equipment, accessory, skill books, until consumable items. Also, each of the items was ranging from common grade up to rare grade with several epic grade consumable items. A huge list made Auron dizzy. Even for one category, there were many variations among them. For example, when Auron looked for level 200 equipment, there was equipment that focuses more on one specific attribute. There were also set equipment. Then, the variation among the grade. Also, there was a level slightly higher level of equipment but priced cheaper. Moreover, the bonus options from the equipment gave more variations for him. It was like he was shopping in a mall, there were many choices to pick. Fortunately, there were filters and advanced filter functions in the catalog. First, Auron filtered out equipment below level 180 and higher than level 250. Then, he inputted the requirement criteria that he wanted. Since he wanted to choose equipment for his swordsman first, then he showed out equipment that swordsman could use. After that, he began to input several specific criteria, like the equipment should minimum gave 50 strength, or 50 vitality, or 50 agility and gave out a minimum 10 dexterity or 10 luck. A list of equipment showed up. Auron looked at it and chose from it. However, he didn''t immediately buy it, instead, he took note at the price and the attribute it gave, then he changed out some criteria and began searching once again. This continued until he found several candidates for his swordsman''s equipment. After that, he changed out the criteria to mage and inputted another attribute criteria for it. Then, he did the same as what he did when he choosing for his swordsman''s equipment. From a minute to one hour until it passed several hours until the clock showed 5 a.m. It was almost the deadline time. A huge time was spent on this shopping. Auron looked at his note, there were many lists of equipment, accessory, skill books, and consumable items on it. Several names were crossed out since Auron found a better replacement for the items. Sadly, he had little points and little time which made his shopping became more difficult. Auron began looked at his list, he gave out a tick for a must-buy item, then he gave out question mark for item that he still had doubt. Then, he gritted his teeth and crossed out several other names. Doing this for several times, Auron''s list became shorter and shorter. Finally, at last, he had the final list to spent his points. Since Auron already took note of the item''s name, he immediately inputted the item''s name on the search box and began to buy one by one. At last, he already bought out all the items he had to buy. Right now, his feelings between satisfied and unsatisfied. There were some that he had to take out since he had to buy other items. But, well all the item has already been bought and he could not refund it, so Auron could only accept it. Auron had 8 points left. Since 8 points could not get him any items he wanted, so he could only exchange it with gold. He got 8 golds since 1 point worth for 1 gold. Chapter 181 - New Equipment (1) After spending all of his points, Auron just had to wait. The item bought will be delivered to the address in 30 minutes. Since Auron''s address was his dorm, so the items would be delivered to the dorm. Knock... Knock... A knock was heard at his dorm''s room. Auron opened the door and found the delivery courier already arrived in front of his room. Normally, the delivery courier could not go inside the academy to deliver the package. However, since the delivery service was from the military, they had their right to go inside the academy''s dorm. Of course, they still need to give out their identity cards for security purposes. Auron signed some paperwork and received the package. After receiving the package, he closed the door and went to his bed. He was already impatient to open the package. Auron cut opened the package''s wrapper, then opened the package quickly. A bunch of item was inside the package. He checked the item carefully so that all the item he ordered was there else he could file a complaint for refund. [Skeral Robe] (rare grade equipment) Type: Body - Upper - Lower Requirement: 390 intelligence, level 200 Class: Mage, Cleric Defend: 250 Vitality +50 Intelligence + 50 Set Effect: 2 pieces: Mp + 3000 3 pieces: Intelligence + 50 4 pieces: Magic Attack +20% [Skeral Headband] (rare grade equipment) Type: Head Requirement: 390 intelligence, level 200 Class: Mage, Cleric Defend: 270 Vitality +30 Intelligence + 60 Set Effect: ... [Skeral Gauntlet] (rare grade equipment) Type: Arm Requirement: 390 intelligence, level 200 Class: Mage, Cleric Defend: 250 Vitality +18 Intelligence + 40 Set Effect: ... [Skeral Shoes] (rare grade equipment) Type: Footwear Requirement: 390 intelligence, level 200 Class: Mage, Cleric Defend: 250 Vitality +15 Intelligence + 35 Set Effect: ... He looked at his newly mage set, Skeral''s set equipment. Each of equipment''s piece had a fiery red color which made it so eye-catching. Although the equipment didn''t gave any mana points besides the bonus set effect, however, the intelligence it is given was high enough that it was enough to cover the lack of mana point attribute. Moreover, there was a boost of 20% in the magic attack which would enhance his attack furthermore. Auron quickly changed all of his mage''s equipment. This set gave him a huge boost of confidence. He believes that if he used this set to the war before, then he would damage Chaotic Death for more or less 300 health points. Although the number was not too high compared to Chaotic Death''s health, but if we compared it to Auron damage before, it was more than 15 times than before. Satisfied with his mage''s equipment, Auron continued over to look at another item he bought, a staff to complete his mage''s transformation. [Feul''s Scepter] (Common grade weapon) Type: Staff Requirement: 400 intelligence, level 200 Class: Mage, Cleric Attack: 150 - 200 Magic Attack: 928- 1120 Intelligence + 80 Vitality + 50 Dexterity + 20 Fire Magic damage + 20% Effect: Feul was a fire expert mage from Regalia who died under Gaia''s soldier. Her scepter was custom made for her. Unfortunately, compared to its high attributes, it had low grades. The reason Auron chose this staff was his points. After calculating all expenses, Auron decided to spend less on weapons and focus more on equipment and other things. Fortunately, he could find this common grade weapon. Although this weapon only had common grade, however, the weapon''s performance was great. It gave a huge 20% fire elemental magic damage. So, if the user of the staff used a fire elemental magic, the damage it produced could be compared to the damage if the user using uncommon grade staff. Plus, the price it cost was equal to a high-level common grade weapon. [Wrath''s Skill Book] (common grade skill book) Type: Skill Book Requirement: level 150, Wrath''s skill level below 10 Class: Mage, Effect: Increase Wrath''s skill level by 1. It can only raise Wrath''s skill level to 10. [Guard Bracelet] (common grade accessories) Type: Accessories Requirement: Level 200 Class: Swordsman, Thief, Merchant, Mage, Cleric, Archer Defend: 0 Effect: Provide guard skill which creates a barrier from any kind of damage equal to 5% of the user''s max health last for 30 seconds with 6 hours cooldown. Auron went over to the next items, a skill book, and an accessory. These two items were the one which made Auron decided to reduce his weapon''s budget. Although the bracelet only had 0 defense, Auron didn''t mind about it since he was looking for the skill from the bracelet. Another barrier equal to 5% of his max health. The only downside was its long cooldown. There were many skill books in the list. However, this one skill books catch Auron''s attention. Not many mages learn this skill, however, Auron believes that he should learn these skills. Auron immediately used the skill book and inspect the newly learned spell. [Wrath] (Mage''s skill) Level: 1 MP: 10000 Type: Active Target: Self, other players or NPCs. Cooldown: 1 hours Prerequisites: - Description: Raise the target''s keen sense for 3 seconds. Increase 5% of the target''s melee damage, attack speed, and movement speed. After the duration ends, the user''s movement speed and attack speed will be reduced by 10% for another 3 seconds. One of the mage''s buff spell. For a mage, this spell could only be used for others or when they want to try to escape since there only little mage that have close combat skill. However, for Auron, this was an opportunity. It could raise his fighting skills if used properly. The only downside was its level was too low which reduced this skill for Auron. However, Auron still chose this skill because of its rarity. After all, a skill book was difficult enough to get without proper money. Moreover, if the skill was used properly, combined with the bracelet he just bought, it could become another live savings skill. Finished inspecting all of the mage''s items he bought, Auron continued and looked at a bunch of equipment and swords. It was his swordsman''s equipment and weapon. Chapter 182 - New Equipment (2) [Padded Armor] (rare grade equipment) Type: Body - Upper Requirement: 300 Strength, 120 vitality, level 200 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defend: 1200 Strength + 10 Vitality + 30 [Keen Pant] (rare grade equipment) Type: Body - Lower Requirement: 250 Strength, 200 vitality, 100 dexterity, level 180 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defend: 975 Vitality + 10 Dexterity + 15 [Quirky Vambrace] (rare grade equipment) Type: Arm Requirement: 250 Strength, 200 vitality, level 187 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defend: 750 Strength + 10 Agility + 10 [Ankh Barbute] (rare grade equipment) Type: Head Requirement: 200 Strength, 200 vitality, level 200 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defend: 1050 Health + 10000 Vitality + 10 [Sturdy Greaves] (rare grade equipment) Type: Footwear Requirement: 200 Strength, 180 vitality, 180 agility, level 195 Class: Swordsman, Merchant Defend: 1125 Vitality + 10 Agility + 10 [Blessing Great Sword] (Common grade weapon) Type: Greatsword Requirement: 400 Strength, level 200 Class: Swordsman Attack: 1100 - 1872 Strength + 80 Luck + 10 Dexterity + 20 Agility - 30 Critical chance + 1% Effect: A blessed huge great sword. It was so heavy that it reduces the user''s agility. However, the blessing give it luck attribute and critical chance. Use it at your own risk! Auron began inspecting his swordsman equipment one by one. Unfortunately, his swordsman''s equipment was not a set since he could not afford it. However, he still satisfied since his swordsman''s equipment was rare grade. 5 equipments was laid on top of his bed with a great sword. What catches one''s attention from looking at these 6 pieces of equipment was the item''s color. The color was varied among the equipment with none of the equipment had the same color. The headwear''s color was shiny silver while the armor''s color was green. Then, the armband''s color was black. Onto the bottom equipment, the pant''s color was bright red. Meanwhile, the greaves'' color was dark blue. Finally, the great sword''s handle color was gold. However, it was not made of pure gold, it was just painted gold. Auron could not imagine what would happen if he looked at his self in the mirror when wearing this equipment. Shaking his head, Auron threw away the absurd thinking. He began to keep his item one by one to his inventory and passed it to his swordsman character. He believes that this equipment was only temporary since his goal was to raise his level to level 500 as quickly as possible. There were reasons why he chose level 500 as his near goal. The first reason was because it was the last level he achieved. He had been through a lot to achieve that level. Although he forget some detail, but he still could remember the general hunting spot to achieve that level. Secondly, level 500 was the max level before the max level cap double to 1000. That was why 500 also the starting point for the new world after level 500. If he could not arrive at the starting point, then how can he went over past the others. Right now, many players already raised around 100 or more levels, especially the guild players. They competed to achieve the current highest level as soon as possible. That was why they poured out their resources to several selected individuals in the guild. With the help of their guildmate, the selected individual''s level quickly raised that almost none of the non-guild players could compete with them. There were still selected non-guild players that could compete with them with the help of their backing. For example, Chaotic Death with the backing of Regalia''s king. Auron finally finished all his matters regarding his point. He had already told his swordsman to equipped the new equipment and sold the old equipment to the NPC''s store. With the new equipment in place, Auron took a look at his status once more. [Smiling Wizard] Level: 203 Military Rank: Senior Private (unclaimed) Exp: 24% Defense: 6120 Hp: 95800 Mp: 112050 Strength: 507 Agility: 398 Vitality: 429 Intelligence: 727 Dexterity: 452 Luck: 216 Critical chance + 1% Elemental Understanding: Fire: 3% Earth: 1% Water: 1% Attribute point: 0 Auron smiled slightly after looking at his equipment. It was because he was satisfied with his status. This status was not any other level 200 players could get. His status almost the same as level 250 players with extraordinary equipment. After taking a closer look at his status screen, one part of it took his attention. It was the military rank section. His unofficial rank right now was senior private due to the ''regret'' gift from the military. However, there was an unclaimed part of it. Just like what it said, it was because Auron hadn''t gone to the military and claimed the gift yet. It claimed it was simple. He just needed to re-register at the military camp and be assigned to his groups. Right now, it was almost 7 in the morning, the registration was opened at 7 o''clock. With the distance from here to the military camp, he will arrive at the military camp at 7. Since his matter with equipment was already finished, now, it was time for him to claim the military rank. Auron left the room casually. He wanted to whistle to show how happy and relaxed he was. Sadly, he could not whistle, so he could put a smiled on his face to show how happy he was. Soon, Auron arrived at the dorm''s reception office. "Wait!" When he was about to leave, the receptionist called him. "I heard that you already graduated and could join the military, right?" The receptionist asked "Yep, you are correct." Auron smiled widely "Okay then, fill this paper and return your dorm key to me before you leave" The receptionist didn''t bother with Auron''s smile and handed a piece of paper. "You need to leave the dorm. Since you already joined the military, then the military will provide your lodging if you didn''t have any." The receptionist smiled. Since Auron was the only one left in his room, he was the one holding the key. Auron could only smile awkwardly because of this sudden situation. He returned to his room and packed his belongings before giving the key to the receptionist and left the military academy with his belongings. Chapter 183 - Military Base (1) "Freeze! Don''t move closer! This area is of your limit" A soldier took out his swords and aimed it at Auron. Auron paused his step. He had arrived at the military base when one of the soldiers guarding the military base stops him. "Wait, I mean no harm. I am a new graduate from the academy military. I am here to re-register at the camp." "Identify yourself!" The soldier shouted. "I am Smiling Wizard" Auron showed out his information. The soldier''s friend who had received Auron''s name began reporting to the base for a check. Not long after, he received a confirmation from the base and gave a green light signal to the soldier who was guarding against Auron. Seeing the green light signal from his friend, the soldier began to loosen his guard and made way for Auron. The soldier just doing his job, so Auron didn''t get offended by his actions. Auron walked past the soldier inside the military area. Past the entrance, what greeted Auron was not a building, instead, it was an open space with only one pathway. On the left and right of the pathway was a thick forest. The tree had a huge trunk with heavy foliage. When one looked at the direction of the forest, they hardly knew what was inside the forest since the huge tree blocked their view. They needed to go inside the forest to know what was happening inside the forest. Meanwhile, there was only one pathway which leads to another checkpoint. Auron passed the second checkpoint smoothly, since the soldier who guarded at the front already informed what was happening. Auron also didn''t hide his name which made the soldier at the second checkpoint allowed him to move. After passing the second checkpoint, Auron continued following the pathway until he arrived at the third and last checkpoint. At this checkpoint, the guard was heavier and there was even steel fence with electric wire on it. Auron also passed this checkpoint smoothly. He had calculated if one walked slowly from the entrance at the front up to this third checkpoint with normal human walking speed, they would need around 30 minutes to arrive at this third checkpoint. The soldier at the third checkpoint opened up the gate for Auron and made way for him. Auron walked passed the gate and saw for the first time since he arrived at the military entrance, a flood of humans. There were a lot of soldiers at this place. This huge and wide place even looked small compared to the amount of soldiers gathered here. Auron could see some soldiers talking to each other while some other soldier doing some stretching for warming up. This huge gathering of soldiers even made Auron difficult to move past the crowd. He was like a lost little kid in a crowded market. Auron was shocked and confused looking at the situation. He knew that as a military base, a lot of soldier gathering was a normal thing. However, this huge amount of soldiers made no sense. Auron even began thinking that there would be another important war. Auron shocked and confused looked was no escape from the attention of the others around him. Some of them giggled to this newbie while others ignored him and continued what they were doing. "Hey, you must be a new recruited!" One of the guys called up to him. "Ehm.. yes" Auron answered the guy "I knew it. Your confused looks show it. Come here, let me help you. What do you need?" The guy kindly offered Auron help. "I need to go to re-register. Do you know where the place I need to go for registration?" "Of course, new guy. It''s been a long time since I registered. How long it was, like 3 or 4 years ago, time flies quickly." The guy reminisced his past. "Don''t you worry, although it is been a long time since I went to that place, I still remember the way to that place like my own house." "So, you see that building" The guy pointing out at the building to the northeast from his place. "You go inside that building, then go ..." "Thank you, pal!" Auron thanked the guy. "No problem, mate! Hopefully, you will be assigned to my squad" That kind guy waved his goodbye to Auron. Auron walked into the building which the guy before showed. Inside the building, Auron followed the guidance and arrived at an office with the door opened. Then, Auron knocked on the door to tell people inside about his presence and went inside the office. The office was big enough to accommodate 10 people inside. However, right now, there were only 3 people who were busy enough with their doings. So, when Auron went inside they still didn''t notice him. It took them a minute before one of them noticed Auron and said, "Sorry, we are so busy right now because of the upcoming situation! What do you need?" "I am here for registration," Auron told them that he was here for registration. "Oh okay, fill up this form first, there!" The woman handed out a paper to Auron then pointed at a small desk near the entrance. Auron began to fill the form. During filling the form, Auron sometimes stealing glances at them and noticed how rushed they were. At halfway filling the form, two of the woman''s colleagues left the room with a bunch of paper on their hands. After the woman''s colleagues left the room, the situation seems back to normal except the exhausted look at the woman''s face. That woman just sat exhaustively at her chair and closed both of her eyes. It took him around 10 minutes to fill the form. After that, he handed back the form while asked, "It looks like you guys are so busy" The woman opened her eyes and looked at Auron with exhausted eyes. She took Auron''s paperwork from his hand and sighed, "Yes, as you can see..." Chapter 184 - Military Base (2) The woman began to confide her stories. The woman and her colleagues before was from the personnel division. All of this was started last night when they received the news that there were several important things will take place. Then, a huge amount of soldiers was flooding this military camp whom they needed to provide as it was their responsibility as staff from personnel division. Like flood of soldier was not enough, next they received news that several high ranking soldiers was also coming. As a high ranking soldier, they got a more luxurious service like they got private staff from personnel division that could maintain their needs immediately. These high ranking soldiers made the personnel division lacked for people. And, they still needed to prepare other things for the upcoming event. Auron knew there would be something going on looking at the crowded soldier outside. And, from the woman, he knew that his guess was correct. He asked, "What was happening?" The woman hesitated before answering Auron because it was an important matter that she could not divulge without authorization. But, the woman suddenly remembers something and murmured to herself softly, "Well, it doesn''t matter since the announcement told to use every resource they could provide." With that thought in mind, the woman began telling Auron the matter. There would be an incoming operation to eliminate some demonic sticks. The danger''s level was unknown however, it was predicted that it was very dangerous. And to make things worse, there was another operation that overlaps this operation which was to stabilize the situation in Bridge World since the enemy began forcing their way. Since there were two overlapped operations, it resulted in a lack of soldiers to use. They need to call up some soldiers defending the town and city and gathered here for brief. The soldier who was called from town and city surely didn''t have any place to sleep here which was why they were gathered outside the building. And, as staff from the personnel division although they could not provide a better place for sleep, they need to not make it worse. So, they used all of their means to provide a good place for the soldier''s well being. Lastly, they also need to arrange the squad for the soldiers and presented it to the higher-ranked soldier, which was why they were so busy when Auron saw them before. "Well, that was the reason why we were so busy. After you heard the story, I believe you know what will happen to you now." "Although this is the first day since you officially joined the military, as we were lack in man, you have to partake with this operation." The woman declared. "I know you must be shocked on how quick things progressed. But, you have to get used to it. After all, I believe the first reason for you to join the military was to take part in this kind of operation right?" Without waiting for Auron''s response, the woman continued, "Now, let me record your data first. After that, you can claim your badge. Then, we can start to assign you to a squad." The woman started to input Auron''s data. When she inputted Auron''s name, the woman stopped, "It is weird, your name is already in our database. Let us see." "Oh wow, you are one of the survivors in the last Raiding Month''s defense team. A Senior Private." "I know about this. Then, I can just fill out the missing details. Less work." The woman started to type in the missing details. It only took around two minutes since many of the details already filled out, "I believe you bring the device which the academy''s principal gave to you right?" Auron nodded and took out the device from his inventory. Then, he put the device on top of the woman''s table. The woman took the device and started to do something with the device. 5 minutes later, the woman gave back the device to Auron. "Keep it with you all the time, the device will record your military points when you went to war or other military operation like now." The woman smiled. "Just like what you did with the contribution point before, you can exchange the military points with various items using the device. The item you exchange will be delivered to your place in 30 minutes at most 1 hour." "I believe, since you don''t have any place to stay, you will live in this military base, right? I have inputted your lodging''s number." "You can claim your lodging''s key after this operation. Bring this paper to the room on the opposite side of the building. Then, handed it over to one of my colleagues you see before. They will know what to do. Well then, good luck!" The woman smiled and gave Auron a piece of paper with Auron''s data on it. Then, she rushed Auron out as if she drove Auron away with a smile. Auron got out of the room blankly. He felt wronged by this sudden turn of event. But, he could not help and just complied with the situation. He brought the paper and went to the opposite side of the building. In no time, Auron arrived at the mentioned room. From outside, Auron could already hear the heated situation inside the room. He just stood still and thought back how fast things took place. He just survived from the last bloody Raiding Month. When he thought that he could finally take some time for rest, he already faced with this situation. He could escape, but this was military. If he defied an order without proper reason, he could be hunted down as a traitor. Being hunted down was no issue for him. After all, this was just a clone character, he could still play his main character. But, Auron didn''t want to lose his advantages at such an early time. Auron sighed a heavy breath. Then, he knocked on the door. Chapter 185 - Assignment (1) "No way!! You only give me this many soldiers?" A senior sergeant furiously shouted. "There is no way this many soldiers can complete this operation. Look at their strength! I request for more" "Based on what we know, although the demonic stick could do nothing, we don''t know how strong the demonic monster was. From the recent report, there already several villages destroyed under their attacks. There was even 1 town that was destroyed. And, all of that happened in just one night." The other sergeants nodded their heads, agreed to what that senior sergeants had said. "But, we can not spare any more soldiers. There were many of them were focused out on cleaning the spy and stabilize the situation at Bridge World." One of the personnel division''s staff trying to explain the situation. "Especially, the Bridge World, the enemy there had already gone mad. They increase their attack''s power. We are lack of manpower right now. Please understand!" The other personnel division''s staff added. Inside the room, there were 16 people, 1 senior lieutenant, 13 sergeants, and 2 personnel division''s staff. Out of 13 sergeants in the room, there were 1 senior sergeant, 8 intermediate sergeants, and 4 junior sergeants. When the personnel division''s staff divided the soldiers, there were rejections from several sergeants. However, not all of the sergeants wanted to voice their disagreement since they still respected the leader of this operation, the lieutenant. However, not all of them were kind enough to give the lieutenant some face. When they heard how many soldiers each of them got, a senior sergeant immediately shouted out and didn''t wait for the lieutenant to voice out his opinions. This action was slapped in the face to the lieutenant. If the lieutenant were offended, they could be trialed because of offending a higher-ranked officer. However, that senior sergeant didn''t afraid of that since he already had his backing. That senior sergeant deliberately did that action. Inside the military, there were many factions. Although the royalty, the king and the princes still commanded and conquered the top of the pyramid. However, at a lower level, such disputes commonly happened. That was why some ranked soldiers tried to look for backing from higher-ranked soldiers. By joining a faction, they would get their backing and safeguard from the upper level. They would also get a huge amount of resources and prizes if they could contribute to their faction''s leader. This practice was commonly happened inside the military. However, not all of them had the same thinking, a small group of people were still didn''t join any faction. There were many reasons like they didn''t want to serve anyone except the royalty, or they felt that the faction only going to destroy Gaia. Some didn''t want to join the several factions war. Of course, the one that didn''t have any faction had their hard time in the military. They didn''t get the full amount of their resources, or they were bullied by their peers who had their backing and they didn''t even dare to fight back else their consequence would be more severe. Also, most of them would have a hard time to raise their ranks. So, most of them would have low rank and stuck at the sergeant level. However, an anomaly suddenly emerged and disrupt these pyramids and ongoing traditions that already last for several years. A rising star emerge and paved up his way to the top very quickly. When the various factions, heard about what was going on, they already extended their invitation to that star. In the end, all of their invitations were declined and that star stayed factionless. Of course, like any other factionless soldier, he was getting attack by the one in the factions. However, they didn''t know how, but that star repelled their attack and still could rising, broke the norm and became a lieutenant. Just recently, that star was promoted to become a senior lieutenant and was the leader of this operation. From that 13 sergeants, 12 of them were members of a faction including that senior sergeants. That senior sergeant was put here under the order of his faction. His goal was to show how incompetence the lieutenant was throughout this operation. That was why that senior sergeant harshly rebuked the personnel division''s staff to show his stance. He also wanted to see how this lieutenant resolved this problem. Fortunately, from 12 sergeants who had their faction as a backing, not all of them were making the lieutenant time hard. Several factions employed a friendly approach so they could invite gain the favor of the lieutenant. Some sergeants were told by their faction to ridicule the lieutenant but they refused to do so because the lieutenant had help and saved their lives. The situation heated by that senior sergeant''s action trying to mess up the situation. The personnel division''s staff also could not do anything and they could only look at the leader of this operation, the lieutenant, signaling for help using their eyes. The lieutenant kept his calm and was about to say something when suddenly, a knock was heard by the door. Then, the door was opened and a man was coming inside the room with a piece of paper in his hands. That man was Auron. Auron looked at the situation. It was awkwardly silent. All of the eyes inside the room were focusing on him. He felt that he entered at the wrong time. Auron didn''t say anything and went to one of the personnel division''s staff and handed out the paper in his hands. Then, stood beside the personnel division''s staff, waited for any order. Auron finally had his time to look at all of the faces inside the room. Surprisingly, out of 16 people that were already inside the room before Auron came, He knew 3 of them. Two people were the personnel division''s staffs and the last one was the one who gave him the chance to join the academy, Kajo. Chapter 186 - Assignment (2) The personnel division''s staff who received Auron paper looked at the doc.u.ment then looked back at Auron. After looking at the doc.u.ment and Auron twice, that staff announced, "Sorry for the interruption, the personnel division sent this man." "He is a new registrant here and brought here to get his assignment to a squad." "Tch, what is the use of a newbie here. It will not change anything." The senior sergeant mocked. "Wait, from his profile, although he just register today, he was a senior private." The other personnel division''s staff added. All of them who heard Auron was a senior private on the first day he joined, shocked. Some of them sneered, "So, whose noble''s kid is this, and what did he use to get into the senior private rank directly?" "So, it was just another rich kid using his parent''s influence. And, he directly assigned to this operation. I wonder who was the one backing him in the military." The senior sergeant kept on mocking. He also looked at the lieutenant mockingly as if saying that this kid must use the lieutenant''s power to come to this place directly. He was trying to probe the lieutenant''s reaction. If the lieutenant got offended, then he could accuse the lieutenant did some dirty work behind their back to immediately gave Auron a high rank. However, the personnel division''s staff was the one that answered the senior sergeant''s question instead of Lieutenant Kajo. "Let me check first. He was a recent graduate from the academy. Then, the academy''s principal gives him the rank, and General Elbert has already agreed to it." When the senior sergeant heard the name of General Elbert, his face became ashen. He knew he had done something terrible. No one in the military didn''t know who General Elbert was. He was the highest-ranked person in the military. Although looking at the status ranking in the military, his rank was still below the princes, but even the princes'' father, the current king, had respected him. If the General Elbert already agreed to it, then it would have a high chance that the king had also approved of this. So, the senior sergeant''s action before had indirectly slapped the face of General Elbert and even the king. "It looks like it was because of his previous contribution in the Raiding Month. He was one of the survivors in the Fourth Prince''s defense group." The personnel division''s staff added. "No wonder, he get this rank. Just by surviving alone was difficult enough; even the Fourth Prince came back heavily injured." The other personnel division''s staff murmured. One of the intermediate sergeant asked, "If you survived the last Raiding Month, you should be able to know how strong was the demonic monster, right?" After knowing who Auron was, all of the sergeant''s attitude immediately changed. Although they didn''t flatter him, but they also didn''t mock him. Becoming the center of attention, Auron felt nervous, but he still answered truthfully. He said that he didn''t know since he didn''t directly see the demonic monster. But, from the demonic''s aura he felt from the stick, he knew that the demonic monster would be stronger than an ordinary monster. Auron also told them what he knows from the forum, like the demonic monster''s ability to reproduce and leveled up. He poured out all of what he knew from the forum, which was a useless thing to do since the NPC already knew it beforehand. "That''s all that I know about the demonic monster" After more than 5 minutes explaining, Auron already told everything that he knew. "The information he provided already the same with what we knew." The senior sergeant said. His attitude changed 180 degrees. He didn''t mock Auron, but as a soldier with a higher ranking than Auron, he had his right to act more superior to Auron. "Okay, thank you. You can leave the room and wait outside with the others. Later on, we will announce which squad will you join in." The personnel division''s staff warmly told Auron to leave the room so that they could continue the matter. After Auron walked out of the room, the senior sergeant continued his grumbling, "What is the use of one senior private? It didn''t change the fact that we still lack human resources to complete this operation successfully." "So, you said that with your current amount of soldiers, you could not complete this task?" Kajo, who was silent throughout the meeting, finally spoke. Kajo''s action shown his charisma and might, and It unconsciously affected the other sergeants. They became restless. However, the senior sergeant gritted his teeth and managed to endure this, and he answered, "Yes, If we continued this operation, although we can win, but the casualties will be high." After hearing the answer from the senior sergeant, Kajo looked at the other sergeant and asked, "Are all of you agreed to what he said?" The other sergeant was not as brave as the senior sergeant; they only silent acted like they were deep in thought. One of them timidly said, "I believe if I could get several more soldiers, I can complete this operation successfully." This operation''s goal was to destroy the demonic stick, which they know was not harmful. But, the sergeants still had to be aware of the sudden attack from demonic monster whom they didn''t know how strong it was. They believed that the current amount of soldiers was enough for them to complete the operation. But, they also wanted to be more safe with more subordinates. Some of them hesitated, in the end, all of them nodded, and they agreed what that timid sergeant had said. Looking at the direction of the talk, the personnel division''s staff interrupted, "But, Lieutenant Kajo, we could not give out more soldiers. We still had to station some soldiers in various towns and cities lest when the enemies spies tried to infiltrate, we can prevent it." "We also still need to...." Before the personnel division''s staff could finish her sentence, Lieutenant Kajo raised his hand, indicating for her to stop. Chapter 187 - Assignment (3) Kajo stopped the personnel division''s staff from finishing her speech. Then, he looked back at the senior sergeant''s face and asked, "You said before that you could win if you got more soldiers. If you didn''t get more soldiers, you could still win but with a huge casualty, right?" "Right. And, I believe you cannot imagine how huge those casualties are. So, I suggest you to either ask for more soldiers or abort this suicide operation." The senior sergeant answered annoyingly. He knew that if Lieutenant Kajo decided to ask for more soldiers, which was impossible to get, the higher-ups would reduce his value in their eyes. And, if he chose to abort this operation, his reputation would be damaged more severe. If he chose to continue this operation and if the action was failed or produce massive casualties, the senior sergeant would have a reason to blame all of this to the Lieutenant Kajo. On the other hand, if he chose to continue this operation and resulted in a success, the senior sergeant could have fabricated the truth like how they supposed to fail, but because of his superb command ability, he could overcome all of that and complete the operation. The senior sergeant had thought of all the scenarios he could consider. And, all of it would lead to Lieutenant Kajo''s reputation smeared. Out of all the possible scenarios, he would prefer Lieutenant Kajo to abort the operation since this way would result in the most severe damage out of all the possible scenarios he had thought. Lieutenant Kajo looked back at all of them, "So if I could give each of you some private squads, how many do you need to achieve victory?" Hearing the question, all of the sergeant began to think deeply. In truth, they didn''t need more soldiers. They just wanted to give the Lieutenant a difficult time. However, from the flow of conversation, it looked like the lieutenant was very confident in providing them some private squads. They didn''t need it, but if the lieutenant decided to gift them, then they would take the gifts. With that in mind, one of the intermediate sergeant shouted out, "I can take five more private squads." "I need four more squads." "I need 5." "I just need 3." "2 more squads enough for me." ... With one of the sergeants taking the lead in answering, the others followed suit. They began to shout their numbers. Some didn''t dare to ask too many, while some didn''t care and requested more. When all of the sergeants, except the senior sergeant, finished saying their number. The amount totaled to 40 private squads with the highest from them asked five. Meanwhile, the senior sergeant felt odd about this progress. He began to think hard about what the lieutenant''s plan was. However, he could not find what it was, so he could only comply with it. "I want ten more," The senior sergeant shouted. He didn''t forget his goal here, to make things difficult for the lieutenant. A sudden silent permeated the room; anyone would know that the senior sergeant was making things difficult for the lieutenant. But, to ask ten private squads was so absurd. It doubles the number from the highest amount they asked. However, the other sergeant didn''t dare to reprimand that senior sergeant. The senior sergeant shamelessly acted normal as if his request was not absurd. Lieutenant Kajo ignored the senior sergeant''s absurd request and asked him, "Out of all the sergeants here, you are the one with the highest-ranked here. I believe you are stronger than them. If I take some of your soldiers, you can still complete this operation, right?" "Absurd!!" The senior sergeant furiously berated when he heard the lieutenant''s question. "Wait, are you going to..." The senior sergeant suddenly had an idea what the lieutenant''s plan was. "You are going to allocate my soldiers to them? Do you want to kill me? I don''t have grudge with you why you tried to kill me." Ten privates made into a private squad. Meanwhile, one corporal could maintain at most ten private squads, and one sergeant could keep ten corporals. One lieutenant could maintain at most ten sergeants. However, Lieutenant Kajo''s case here was different. The higher-ups trusted him with 13 sergeants under him. This action showed how highly regarded his superior for his talent. A sergeant could maintain at most ten corporal, which means they would get 100 private squads under them. Forty private squads mean 40% of their force power would be taken from them. That was why the senior sergeant thought Lieutenant Kajo''s plan was absurd. He believed no one could achieve this feat. "So, you mean you cannot do it?" The lieutenant ignored the senior sergeant, grumbling and kept on asking. "No one can do it! You are insane!" "Okay then, here is my command!" Lieutenant Kajo arrived at his conclusion. "As the senior sergeant said he could not do it. I deemed he is unsuitable for this operation, and I will dismiss him from this operation. In exchange, I will take his place of command and command his soldiers!" "As the matter of soldiers, the other sergeants will get the amount of the private squads they requested. Take it from my soldiers." "That is all for this meeting! You are all dismissed!" Kajo stood up and began to walk to the door. On Kajo''s way to the door, the senior sergeant kept on venting his anger saying that Kajo would regret his decision, or he would lead his soldier to their dooms. But, Kajo ignored it as he kept on walking to the door. When Kajo was about to exit the room, he stopped and looked back, "Remember, I have given your request on your excuses. If you still failed this operation, I will not be kind enough to comfort you." Then, Kajo looked at the personnel division''s staff and said, "Oh, one more thing, I want that newbie kid from before in my rank!" Chapter 188 - Assignment (4) Auron joined the other soldiers outside the building. He looked to his left and right, didn''t know what to do. He also didn''t recognize anyone. He walked to the left side of the building and waited there. Five minutes passed, but there are still no announcements or whatsoever. Auron decided to move to his swordsman character. However, when he was about to move to his swordsman character, someone called his name, "Hey, you are Smiling Wizard, right? I thought I recognized the wrong person." The newcomer was the commoner archer who was also one of the survivors and the only commoner survivor from his Raiding Month''s group. He was not alone. There was someone beside him, a big burly man. The muscle was bulging out like a typical bodybuilder. "Thank God, I meet you. Finally, I meet with someone who has worked together with me before." "Here, let me introduce you to this man. He is Spike. He is one of the guards stationed in my town." The commoner archer introduced the man beside him. "He is Smiling Wizard. The one I told you before." The commoner archer introduced Auron to Spike. "Hello, I am Spike. I heard your story from this guy here. Nice to meet you. I hope we can work together." Spike warmly greeted Auron and offered a handshake. With this introduction, Auron had something to do to kill his time. The three of them began to talk about their experience in the Raiding Month. Auron also asked several things about living in the military. At first, the conversation flow smoothly. However, as the conversation last longer, the conversation met a wall. It ran out of topics. An awkward silent took on. Auron tried to break the ice, so he asked, "Do you know about the other?" What Auron mean were the nobles who also joined with them in the Raiding Month. The commoner archer answered, "No, I haven''t met them yet." Auron confused with the answer, "It is weird. Are they didn''t register yet?" "Well, who knows what was inside the nobles'' mind," The commoner archer shrugged his shoulders. Spike knew what they were talking about, so he joined the conversation, "You don''t have to wait for them nor look for them. They will not come." "What? Really? Why is that?" The commoner archer looked at this big burly friend of him. "Look around you! A lot of soldiers gathered here. Even a stupid person knows there must be something going on." "As a noble, it will not be that hard to know what is happening right now, or what this operation''s risk level. An operation at this scale surely will not be a safe task. The danger level must be above average." "Do you think a noble would let their son or daughter to participate in this operation? If they have a choice, they will not do it. Moreover, they already had a strong, reasonable excuses." "Without the order from someone in the top position, the noble will wait until all of this end. Unless the noble wants to participate in this operation." "Make sense!" Auron thought in his mind on Spike''s explanation. It was a logical explanation. However, in truth, Auron didn''t care whether the nobles were going to participate in this operation or not. He just wanted to strike a new topic and avoid the awkward silence. Auron surely could didn''t care about the nobles, but it was different from the commoner archer. His first reaction was cursing the nobles, "Spineless cowards!" "They wasted resources to hide in safety. It will be better to give that amount of resource to us." Auron and Spike looked at each other. Then, they looked at the commoner archer and laughed. They both find it rather funny at this guy''s innocence. The commoner archer, who being laughed on, became confused about the reason why both of them were laughing. But, before he could ask the reason, a group of three people came out of the building. It was Lieutenant Kajo. Behind him were the two personnel division''s staffs that Auron met in the meeting room. The three of them went forward to the middle of the crowd, followed by all of the crowds'' eyes. When they arrived in the middle of the groups, Lieutenant Kajo began his speech. "I am Lieutenant Kajo and this operation''s leader. I bet some of you already know the reason why we gather all of you here." "I will not beat around the bush and go straight to the point. You are gathered here to destroy some demonic sticks that already summoned demonic monster each." "There were a total of 13 demonic sticks, and this operation''s goal was to destroy all of them. The danger level was unknown since we don''t know whether the demonic monster will protect the demonic sticks or not. But, based on our calculation, the danger level will be around 6 or 7 out of 10." "All of you will be divided into 13 groups with one sergeant as your leader. And we will depart tomorrow morning. So you will have time until tomorrow to prepare everything or to bid farewell with your family." "But, before we let you leave, we will let you know your groups first. These two personnel division''s staff behind me will help you. That is all from me. I will leave the both of you." Lieutenant Kajo left the area and gave the sticks to both of the personnel division''s staff. "Okay, as you have heard from Lieutenant Kajo, we will let you know where your group belong." "Please look at your device. There will be a number indicating your group''s number." "After that, we will tell you a place, so that you can meet with your colonel and sergeant." All of the soldiers began to look at their device, and just as the staff said, they found their group''s number. "Okay, now we will tell you where you have to go. Group number one, you will go to..." Chapter 189 - Group 13 (1) Auron went inside the forest between the second and the last checkpoint. He went deep inside the forest. Near him, several other soldiers went in the same direction as him. However, they didn''t make any conversation with each other. Before coming here, Auron looked at his device, and the number thirteen was shown on its screen, indicating he belonged to group thirteen. Then, he waited as the personnel division''s staff began to mention the way to reach each of the group meeting point. The staff gave the other group a specific place like the armory, the canteen, etc. However, when it comes to Auron''s group, the staff didn''t provide a particular area. Instead, she gave them a direction to reach somewhere. Based on the direction given by the personnel division''s staff, they need to went outside of the military''s entrance. After that, they need to go to the right immediately and kept walking until they met a dead end. And, here they were walking through inside the forest. Five minutes passed since the first time they entered the forest. They kept on going deep. Until a minute later, they arrived near a ravine. The ravine was bottomless, and it was so steep. From above, you could not look at the bottom of the abyss. Beside the ravine, there already waiting Lieutenant Kajo and ten other people behind him. Looking at them, Auron was confused. So was the other. It was not because of the ten people behind Lieutenant Kajo, but it was because Lieutenant Kajo itself. "I know you were shocked to see me here." Lieutenant Kajo started. "Unfortunately, your assigned sergeant felt sick and could not make it for this operation. So, I made my initiative to replace him and took his place. Yes, I will become your group''s leader as well as this operation''s leader." "Behind me were ten colonels who will be going to be your squad''s leader. Based on the information I received from the personnel division''s staff, there are 600 of you here." "I will divide you into several private squads consist of 10 people within each group. Then, each colonel will lead six private squads." "Before you know which group you belonged to, I will explain several things about his operation. First, as I mentioned before, there were 13 demonic sticks, and you will have the responsibility to destroy one of them." "Each of that demonic sticks already summoned a demonic monster whom we don''t know how strong they are. And, based on the intelligence we gathered, if we don''t destroy that stick within ten days, each of that demonic sticks will rerelease another demonic monster." "We cannot let that happen. So, now you know the importance of this operation. We cannot fail or else a catastrophe will loom over Gaia, and it will not only affect us but your family as well." "Second, as I said before, we still don''t know how strong the demonic monster or will they protect the sticks. What we know is that they were far more intelligent than the ordinary monster. And, they could reproduce and become stronger." "So, to say, except to destroy the demonic sticks, we also have a secondary mission which is to kill the so-called demonic monster." "One more thing, since Regalia''s agent released these sticks, there was a chance that they will interfere in this eliminating process. So, please be aware of Regalia''s agent, who is still lurking in the area." "I will not hide anything from you. As you can see around you, we lack in human resources. That is why there must be some of you who once guards stationed in the various villages, towns, and cities, are called to be part of this operation. However, I believe that with this number of men, we can still complete this operation." "Next is our destinations. Our destinations is one of the villages at the outer of the kingdom bordered with the forest..." When Auron heard about the destination''s descriptions, he knew it. Their destination this time was the same village where Auron went before during the Raiding Month. Auron didn''t know if this was a coincidence, or it was because of the Lieutenant assignment. "We have less than ten days to complete this operation. That is all I have to say. Next, your designated colonel will divide you into smaller squads. Then, follow your colonel''s instructions. After that, you can leave back to your family or called them before we depart for this mission tomorrow morning." "Also, during that time, please prepare well for your supplies and weapon. That is all from me. I will leave to the colonel in charge." The military will give them some supplies. However, if they felt that the amounts provided were not enough for them, then they could buy additional supplies with their own money. Of course, several items were prohibited like [Return Scroll] that can be used to desert After saying that, Lieutenant Kajo moved several steps back, followed by all of the colonels went forward to the front. Then, from the most left colonel, he started to call several names. After calling 60 privates, the colonel, along with the requested private, moved to a place near there. Then, the next colonel in line began to call several names once again. Just like before, after calling 60 privates, the colonel, along with the requested private, moved somewhere near there. This action continues until all of the ten colonels finished calling each of the names. The first colonel didn''t call his name, as well as the second colonel. Auron was waiting for his turn up until the sixth colonel. When it was the seventh colonel''s turn, Auron was the first name he called, which showed he belonged to that colonel''s squads. After that colonel finished calling 60 names, Auron, along with the other private who had their name called, followed the colonel to a place near there under a big tree. Then, the colonel began to divide them into six private squads consist of 10 people each. Chapter 190 - Group 13 (2) Auron walked up along with his group to a nearby big tree. He looked nervous and serious while the other acted more relaxed than him. Some were talking to each other while the other spoke about their experience, but not Auron. Since Auron was new, he knew that he didn''t know anyone here. His last comrade, the commoner archer, was belonged to another group. Meanwhile, his newly recognized friend, who was also the commoner archer''s friend, Spike, also belonged to the same group as the commoner archer and left Auron alone. Well, he could not blame anyone since it was not their decision to left him. After a few seconds, Auron and his group arrived under the big tree. Auron tried to look at his surroundings. Fortunately, amid 60 people, Auron found someone he recognized. He was the man who was kind enough to tell Auron the direction to re-register. However, the man was talking to another man and didn''t look back at Auron, so he didn''t know that Auron was in the same group as him. Auron wanted to greet him first and thanked him for helping him earlier. Unfortunately, before Auron could move to the guy, the colonel up in front of them, cough to get their attention, with that cough, the colonel got what he wanted, the focus. All of the privates, including Auron, paid their attention to him. "My name is Scud. I am your colonel, and you can call me Colonel Scud." Colonel Scud introduced himself. Then, Colonel Scud looked at the paper he brought at his hand. All of the privates'' name in his group, was written in the doc.u.ment. He only looked at it briefly before saying, "First of all, I want you to form six lines in front of me now!" With that command, the scattered privates began to move busily. They quickly tried to form a line and get into position. Before a minute passed, six lines already form. Auron got into the middle of the third line. Then, Colonel Scud continued, "I don''t want to make this long. You have already heard what Lieutenant Kajo had said before. That was your mission. I don''t want to get you hope rise. As you have heard before, we didn''t know how dangerous this mission is. So, you better had anticipation if something happened to you guys." With the last sentence from the colonel, the silent atmosphere began to become denser. Auron and the others knew what the Colonel Scud mean about the anticipation. "But we will give our best, and we will try our best to come back alive!" Colonel Scud continued, followed by the face of determination in all of the privates'' face. "You will be divided into six squads which already done. Yes, what you think was correct. Each line will become a group. They will become your squad members. You will protect each other and help each other." All of the privates began to look at their line to see who will be one group with them. Auron also didn''t miss this chance to get a glimpse of look at his soon to be squad''s member. However, before Auron could see the squad''s member clearly, the colonel continued his speech. "That''s all that I am going to say. Before I dismissed you guys, I want you guys to know each other. As they will become your comrade, I believe knowing them beforehand will come in handy." "Each group will have two tasks to be completed before I dismissed you. First, each of you have to introduce yourself to each other. To make this quick, you will only need to give them the necessary information about you. Your name, your level, your class, your current rank, and your last assignment." "Next, you have to pick a leader. What I mean is you have to pick your leader if there are more than two people with the highest rank in your squad. If not, you can follow the military rule and chose the person with the highest rank in your squad. Now, get going!" With that, many shouts were heard all over the area, "Squad one, come here.". A man waved his hand and asked the other to come to him. Beside him, a woman also shouts to gather the member from squad two. Meanwhile, Auron also looks for the other from squad three. From behind where he stood, Auron heard a shout, "Squad three, come here." Auron looked behind him, a man over thirty years old, almost going to his forty waved his hand. However, despite his age, the man waved his hand enthusiastically as if he was 20 years younger. Auron and the other in the squad three began to move slowly toward the man. While walking, from behind Auron, another man clung his arm to Auron''s neck, "Hey pal, we are in the same group." It was the kind man who showed him direction before. It turned out they were in the same squad. Auron smiled awkwardly and prayed inside his heart after Auron knew that the highest rank among them would be the one lead the team many thought flood inside his mind. He knew as all of them were private, then the one who will lead his squad was a senior private. And, he was a senior private. With someone who knew he was a newbie in the same group as him, this would make things more complicated. Just imagined, a man had worked for two years, and suddenly, a newbie had a higher rank than him and became his superior, what would the man felt. Auron knew it would not be a good thing. So, he hoped that there would be someone among the group that had the same rank as him so that one could lead the squad instead of him. With that hope in mind, Auron, along with the kind man who had his arm clung to Auron''s neck, walked toward the squad meeting place. Chapter 191 - Group 13 (3) Auron arrived at the squad meeting place. In that short walk, he had known the man beside him, the kind man. It turned out; the kind man was an extroverted and friendly guy. He liked to talk about a lot of things and didn''t shy when making new friends. Just like before, when Auron looked at him talking to another guy, it turned out that they just met each other for the first time. Meanwhile, as the kind man knew that Auron was a newbie, in that short walk, the man kept on cheering Auron up and tried to calm Auron down as he knew this would be Auron''s first assignment after he registered in the military. Auron and the other in the squad three sat in a circle so they could look at each other quickly. Auron looked around him. In their squad number three, there were six men, including Auron and four women. All of them were varied, but no one among them had a big burly body. While Auron looked around him, the other in the group also did the same. Meanwhile, the kind man sat beside Auron and kept on smiling like this was some camping. The man who gathered them before started, "So, let''s start the introduction: your name, your level, your class, your current rank, and your last assignment. As we sat in circles, let the one sat next to the current speaker be the next one. So, who wants to be the first one to introduce himself?" Someone raised his hand enthusiastically. It was the kind man who was sitting beside Auron, he started, "My name is Yonta. Currently, I am level 382. My class is a swordsman. I am an intermediate private And, my last assignment is a town guard. I was a guard at a town for two years before I am coming here." With that, Yonta finished his introduction, and then he looked at Auron, indicating that Auron should go next. However, contrary to his expectation, Auron kept on looking down and didn''t make any sound. Looking at Auron, Yonta said, "Don''t be such a nervous, pal. We will not bite you." "Sorry, guys, my friend, here is a total newbie." Yonta apologized to others, followed by a laughed by the other. Then, the woman who also sat next to Yonta said, "Let me go next. My name is Celline. I am a level 359 cleric. Currently, I am an intermediate private. My last assignment was in the nearby military practice camp." After that, the introduction kept ongoing one by one. "I am Kirky, a level 320 archer. I just joined last year, so I am still a junior private. I was helping to fend off a monster near one of the towns." "I am Billy, also a junior private. I am a level 313 archer. My last assignment was to kill a fugitive inside in one of the cities. "I am Adelina, a level 353 swordswoman. I am an intermediate private. I was also one of the guards in a town for a few months. Then, it was the man who gathered them here, turn. "I am Firze, a level 440 swordsman. I am also an intermediate private. My last assignment was to guard a merchant caravan to Miderian." Next, was another man who was silent throughout the conversation, he also seems uninterested and didn''t care about this introduction, "Lisk. 402. Thief. Intermediate private. Scouting one of the enemy''s base in Bridge World." It was a short and quick introduction also without an emotion. Firze wanted to ask him to elaborate more. However, he saw that Lisk already looked to the woman beside him as if he wanted to end this introduction session as quickly as possible, so he didn''t say anymore. The woman beside Lisk also caught by the short introduction and the changed in the mood. She became serious and made an almost angry expression. "I am a senior private!" She said with a serious tone nearly angry, which garnered the attention of the others privates. Auron, who kept looking down the whole time, began to look up and saw the woman. His prayer finally answered. However, when he was about to pay more attention, the woman smiled and continued, "Just kidding! You don''t have to be so serious, tried to have some fun." The woman reprimanded Lisk, who didn''t care about her reprimanded. The woman tried to reprimand Lisk. But, instead of Lisk, who took the attack, it was Auron who was going gloomy once more. "I am Patricia, a level 390 mage. In truth, I am an intermediate private. I was tasked by the military to find an ancient ruin from a little piece of clue in a group." "And, let me tell you a secret" The woman lower her tone as if she was whispering. "We found a valid lead to the ancient ruin. We almost find it. Unfortunately, this assignment came in priority, so we have to abandon the search and went here. Isn''t that right, Felice?" Patricia asked the last woman, who sat beside her. The woman who was called Felice answered, "Yep, that''s true. Hi all, I am Felice. A level 385 cleric. I am also an intermediate private. Just like Patricia had said, I was in the same group as her tasked to find the ancient ruin." With Felice finished her introduction, finally, it was the inevitable moment for Auron. It was his turn to introduce himself. With no other senior private in this squad, he will be the one who will lead them. After all of the other private introduced themselves, Auron knew his position. He had the lowest level among all of them and also the least serving time in the military. However, he was the one with the highest rank among them. "Come on, newbie! Don''t be nervous. It is your turn to introduce yourself." Yonta tried to console Auron with a smile. Auron could not run away from this. He braved himself and started, "I am a senior private." Chapter 192 - Group 13 (4) Auron braves himself and started, "I am a senior private" When Auron said that sentence, the other looked at him. However, as they had known that Auron was a newbie, they were waiting for the next sentence, just like what Patricia already did before. All of them Auron was trying what Patricia already did before. "My name is Smiling Wizard. A level 203 mage. As you have heard before, I am a newbie. So, I didn''t have any last assignment with the military. Oh well, there was one before I joined the military. I was part of the Raiding Month defense team." "Well done, newbie!" Felice tapped on Auron''s shoulder. "Patricia, look at him! That is what you supposed to do when you want to prank the others, going all out." "He didn''t even bat an eye when he tells us about him. And, look, he even made his level look miserable. He brings the prank to another level." Felice smiled at Auron then at Patricia. Patricia only looked at Auron, admiring him. All of the others'' eyes still looked at Auron, waiting for him to reveal that it was a prank. Auron, who was being the center of the attention, didn''t know what to do. So he continued, "That is all about me." Yonta hurriedly said, "Whoa, wait, pal. You cannot finish your introduction yet. You haven''t said the magic word." The other agreed to what Yonta had said, even the silent Lisk also agreed. All of them nodded their heads. "It was not a prank like what you think. I know it sounds weird and shocking, but I am telling you the truth. Even though I am a newbie, I am a senior private. Here look at the proof." Auron took out his device. Then, he changed the interface of the device to show his profile. On the screen, there was his name, his level, his rank, and his military point. When the other saw it, all of them became shocked once more. The others didn''t want to believe it. But, the device had it all. They could not manipulate the device to show false information. With a senior private was written on it, then Auron had proofed his word to be true. "NO!! this is not fair!!!" Patricia wailed and palmed her face. Firze, who had the highest level among them, also get shocked until he became speechless. The others also had their reactions. Meanwhile, Yonta, who sat beside Auron, also became speechless. He could not utter a word and still believed that this was a prank. However, as the proof had showed otherwise, he quickly regained his mind. With his extrovert and friendly personality, he said to Auron, "Come on, pal. Share the tips on how to bribe the higher-ups. It has been more than two years, and I am still an intermediate private. But, you who just joined a few hours ago had risen through the rank and surpass me." The other was also eager to hear what Auron was about to say. If they could also know what Auron''s trick, then they could also arise through the rank, with a higher rank, they could get more benefits. Nobody didn''t want a free lunch. Auron knew what they were thinking, so he explained, "I also didn''t want this to happen. Just like you guys, I also wanted to rise through the rank step by step normally. I was a graduate of the military academy. Then, in the Raiding Month, I joined..." Auron began to tell his story. From when not just him but also all of the students in his batch were assigned to join one of the Raiding Month''s defense teams until when they were getting help by the Fourth Prince. Then, when they were almost getting wiped out and saved at the end. In the end, he said that he got the rank because of the compensation from the military, and it was not just him, but all the other survivors. As they were in the military, the story about massive casualties in Raiding Month already spread. They also knew that the Fourth Prince was come back heavily injured due to participating in the Raiding Month. What they didn''t know was the detail. When they first heard that the Fourth Prince came back heavily injured because of the Raiding Month, they mocked and cursed the Fourth Prince''s guard. Many of them thought that if it were them that guard the Fourth Prince, then none of this would happen. However, after hearing Auron''s story, they began to change their opinion. When they knew that it was a setup by the enemy, until the appearance of Chaotic Death, all of them knew who was Chaotic Death. He was the enemy''s king right-hand man and also a rising star just like their Lieutenant. They began to pity Auron and accepted the fact that he had a higher rank than them. "That was the end of the introduction part. Let us begin choosing the leader." Firze awkwardly said. "As the rule of the military, the one with the highest rank will be our squad''s leader. So, I guess you will be our leader." Firze said. Although all of them already accepted the fact that Auron had a higher rank than them, however, it was difficult to accept the fact that a newbie was going who just joined a few hours ago going to be their leader. Auron knew what they were thinking about and quickly said, "I know we have to go by the rule. However, I can be the leader in name and let the other take the lead. How about it?" Auron also didn''t want to miss the opportunity to lead a squad. However, his level was too low. If he insisted on leading, he was afraid that the other would defy his order, and it would be dangerous to the others. With what Auron had just said, all of them felt relieved. In the end, they chose Firze, who had the highest level among them to become their shadow leader. Chapter 193 - Group 13 (5) However, Firze, the one who the others had agreed as the shadow leader, refused, "No! Can''t do it! If we get caught, all of us will get a severe punishment." "We have to follow the rule. As Smiling Wizard was the one with the highest rank, let him became the leader." "Although he had the lowest level out of us, it doesn''t mean he cannot lead us." "What if this situation happens to you? What are you going to feel?" "If you don''t want others to treat you like that, just do your best to not treat others like that?" "Let him try. You need to trust him for a bit more." Auron felt surprised by Firze''s statement. It was not like he didn''t want to lead the squad. However, he also knew that if he insisted on leading the squad without agreement from the others, it would lead the squad to its doom. That was why he didn''t want to push the things and comply with the others. Moreover, when they had known that Auron was supposed to be the leader since he had the highest rank, all of their faces showing an awkward expression, including Firze. But, contrary to his expectation, Firze, was also the one who rejects the idea and push Auron forward. Auron felt doubt and became careful with Firze. As he had betrayed experience, he had been more cautious for someone else. Moreover, what Firze had said was a cliche sentence that every politician would say to gain support from others. Auron thought hard for a bit, and he found another reason that could be Firze''s reason to reject the offer. A squad''s leader had more responsibility. However, they also got more benefits than others. As a soldier in the military, they will get a monthly salary depending on their rank. Also, each time they finished a mission from the military, they could claim rewards. And, when they became the leader in said mission, they will also get another bonus. If they went with their plan before, Auron became the named leader, and Firze became the shadow leader. The bonus will be given to Auron as he was the registered leader in the squad, but Firze would have more responsibility. Firze could get the bonus if Auron agreed to give it to him. However, they had to do it secretly, and also, if later on, Auron backed his word, then Firze could do nothing. If he protested to the military, he would not get the money instead of his squad, and he would get punished since they dare to defy the rule and even lie at their superiors. There were two reasons that Auron came to his mind. However, he still believed that the former reason had more influence than the latter. Auron became wary of Firze, but he didn''t say anything and wait for the outcome while Firze asked, "I believe Smiling Wizard can lead us. Whose with me?" Firze''s statement slapped the face of the others. They didn''t have doubts like Auron. Instead, they believed entirely in Firze''s statement. Moreover, Firze was the one who had the highest level out of them all had said something like this. All they had in their mind was that they would like to evade the chance of being lead by a newbie who had a lower level than them. They chose Firze as he had the highest level out of them, and they also believed that it would be better if they were the ones that lead the squad instead of Auron. However, all of their thoughts quickly washed away with Firze''s statement. Firze''s statement made them felt guilty. Yonta felt guilty, and he apologized to Auron, "Sorry, bro. I know that you got this rank not because you idling at home, and instead, it was also the result of your effort to survive. Before, my pride cloud my judgement. Let me apologize to you." Then, he said to Firze, "I am with you!" Lisk, who was a man with few words, still kept being quiet. However, through his actions and expression, one could find out that he also felt guilty because of this matter. He only said one word to Firze, "Me!" Although Adelina was a swordswoman, but she had a soft heart. She took Firze words to her heart and thought what if she was the one in Auron''s position, which made her felt more guilty than the others. She also apologizes and supports Firze''s idea. With Yonta, Lisk, and Adelina turned over, the others, one by one, started to follow. Although not all of them apologized to Auron, however, all of them stated they would follow Firze''s decision and support Auron to be the leader. Auron throughout the conversation only kept silent and wait on how things would turn out. As Auron had predicted, Firze''s statement had some charming effect, which made all of them agreed. Firze concluded, "Okay then, that''s the end of our leader''s choosing session." "Congratulations, pal!" Firze patted Auron''s shoulder and congratulated him. Auron didn''t utter a single word and protested the results; he just nodded at Firze''s congratulatory and thanked him. "Thank you all for your trust. I will give my best to be a good leader!" Auron also didn''t make any long speeches and just said what he wanted to say. With the agreement on their new leader, they had completed their tasks from their colonel. Auron, as the named leader, reported it to the colonel. The colonel looked at Auron''s report. He checked if there was something that didn''t conform with the rule. When the colonel found nothing weird with the news, then, he told Auron to dismiss his squad. However, Auron had to stay and attend for another briefing as he was the squad''s leader. Auron walked back to his squad and told them, "You can leave and go prepare, and you have to gather back here tomorrow at dawn. I have to wait here for further instructions." Chapter 194 - First Encounter (1) Auron waited until the other squad had finished their introduction. A few minutes passed, one by one each squad''s leader giving their report to Colonel Scud. Soon, all of them already finished their introduction and dismissed their squad. Now, there were only seven people left, including Auron, Colonel Scud, Auron, and five other private squad''s leaders. Colonel Scud moved to the front and faced Auron and the other private squad''s leaders. "Now, I will tell you what your squad''s task for tomorrow." "From our scout''s report, there is no living activity near the demonic stick. Also, it seems the demonic stick was very vulnerable without any protection or some sort." "However, to be safe, we want to set a perimeter around the area. So, the Lieutenant already divide us into several groups. Four colonels and their groups will in charge of the northern, eastern, western, and southern parts of the perimeter. Meanwhile, the other six colonels will be the ones responsible for destroying the demonic sticks." "And our group belong to the latter group. Yes, we are the attacking team. We will work together with the other groups to destroy the demonic stick as quick as possible." "We don''t want any mishap or unpredictable situation due to interference from the enemy''s spies or the demonic creature. That is the reason we put many groups on the attacking team to take it down as fast as possible." "However, the Lieutenant doesn''t want you to be careless and focus on just attacking without paying attention to the defense. That is why your task as the leader is to make sure everything goes as planned." "You will have to survey your surroundings, so there will be no enemy''s spies that could make any surprise attack us." "Not only that, after we destroy the demonic sticks, we plan to scour the area for the possibility of the demonic monster or any of the enemy''s spies." "To give you a news ahead, when we scouring the area for demonic monster or enemy''s spies, we will go on our own as a group. So, I want your cooperation in commanding each of your groups." "That is all from me. I want you to prepare your squad well following these two tasks. Before I dismissed you guys, any questions?" Colonel Scud gave a chance to ask questions. However, none of the squad leaders seem to want to ask a question. Because of that, Colonel Scud decided to dismiss them, "If there are no questions, then you can leave. Don''t forget to prepare well since there were many unknown variables in this operation. I hope you prepare well. Dismissed!" All of the squad''s leaders dismissed and went on their destinations. Meanwhile, Auron thought on what to prepare. Just like what Colonel Scud had said, there was little information about the demonic sticks. They didn''t even know how to destroy the demonic stick. Should the soldiers pull it up or should they burn it or attack it. There was also no information in the update changelog given from Black Sheep. However, since this was a game, Auron thought that it would not be as simple as pull it out from the ground. He felt that they had to destroy it. So, he thought it would be the same as when he went hunting. Only the difficulty will be more serious. With that in mind, Auron began to prepare everything he needed. Buying potion was a must. So, Auron went to the potions shop first and bought a bulk of potions. He also didn''t forget to buy a reserve for stock for an emergency. After purchasing the potions, he moved to buy other necessities. Finished his preparations, Auron looked at the time. He still had a lot of time before the designated time tomorrow. However, since his mage character could not leave the town in preparation for the operation, he decided to move on to his swordsman character. He also made his mage character went back to the academy and stayed there until the designated time. Auron regained his consciousness in his swordsman character. He was in the wilderness since he commanded his swordsman character to go hunting. He wanted to continue hunting when a worldwide notification rang up to all players in Gaia. [The Gaia''s military has announced recruitment! For all of you who wanted to apply or look for more information, you can go to the military office in Miderian or its branch in every town] Auron read the notification. It was about military recruitment. Auron didn''t have any interest in participating in such activity since he had already joined another military operation. He didn''t want to risk the death of his swordsman. Although he would not lose his character permanently like his mage character, his level would go down by 2. Two levels were a considerable number. Moreover, he needed more experience to level up. Auron ignored the notification and controlled his swordsman to move to another location. However, before he could move far. He spotted a boss monster. [Gremlin mage] (common boss monster) Level: 230 HP: 1982345/2000000 MP: 5000000/5000000 Skills: Summon gremlin, Gremlin''s Roar, Slow, Haste, Lightning Strike, Paralyze Description: A gremlin who learns to use mage. It is made to be a support. It has a 90% chance of using summon gremlin skills when there is no guard around him. Auron commands his swordsman character to hunt in a low-level area to be safe. He also made several additional commands such as, to avoid a boss, or to avoid fighting against more than two enemies at the same time. Due to that additional command, his swordsman character was when hunting alone; however, the leveling speed noticeably slower. Right now, he spotted a boss. However, he also noticed the boss was in the middle of a battle. Auron looked at the boss''s opponents, and it was an eight-man group. From the look on the boss'' hp, it seems the battle had just begun several minutes ago. He wanted to join the fight, so he slowly approach the battle. Chapter 195 - First Encounter (2) "Cleric, don''t stop your healing." "Mage, use your single target spell." The leader of the party commanded the members. He arranged all of his party''s members'' positions. In the middle of the fighting, the leader saw a man approaching them. He became wary. "Hold right there!" He stopped the man. A kill stealer was somewhat common in a game. And, he felt that this man would be one of them. Auron, who was stopped by the party''s leader, didn''t advance any further. He asked, "Can I join your raid?" "Sorry, pal, we are full," The leader said to Auron. "Please leave at once." "Pay attention to the boss'' skills!" The leader turned at his parties and commanded them once more. "Wait! Can I join just for the experience point? I don''t need the loot!" Auron tried to negotiate with the party''s leader. The leader''s halt his step. He thought for a brief second and asked Auron to wait while he asked his party''s members. It took only a few seconds before Auron got his answer. They still didn''t let Auron to join the party. Auron looked at the boss'' situation. The boss''s health already went down to 75%. It was so quick. Auron concluded that this party consisted of high leveled players, maybe around level 300. If Auron tried to kill steal this boss, he would not be able to escape from this group''s chase. With nothing to do, Auron just shrugged his shoulder and left the scene. He began to fight against nearby gremlin. One, two, three gremlins began to die under Auron''s sword. However, the experience he gained was like a drop in the ocean. When Auron began to fight with his fourth gremlins, he heard a shout, "Careful! The boss has 30% of his health left." It was the previous party he met. Just like he thought, they were strong just like Auron had predicted. In no time, the boss almost died. However, Auron did not think much and focused back on his gremlin. "What is that thing?" One of them raised an immediate question, followed by a huge roar. ROAAR¡­. "BE CAREFUL!!! DODGE THAT!!" There was another shout from the party. It was like a desperate shout from the party. Auron knew the previous roar was not the roar from the gremlin''s boss. And because from the follow-up shout, Auron knew there was something weird going on. He quickly killed the gremlin he was facing. Then, he went to look at the party''s situation. When Auron arrived at the location, what Auron saw was chaos. From the original eight members, two of them already dead while the other six were on their critical condition. Meanwhile, the gremlin''s boss, who had less than 30% of his health left, was getting ignored by the party. All of the party only looked at one direction scared. Auron moved over his sight to where the others looked on. Auron found a creature stood still. No, it was not an ordinary creature; instead, it had a humanoid shaped and held with two feet like a human. However, besides, it stood like a human, the creature has two long ears and a short bunny tail. Suddenly, It pounced at the other party''s member. The attack from that creature immediately eradicated another three members of the party. The creature was so weird and fast. Auron knew danger was coming soon. When eight players who leveled more than 300 died so quickly, then what he means nothing at the face of the creature. Auron didn''t care to know more; he turned back and quickly fled the scene. The creature attack once more and killed the rest of the party''s members. After it killed all of the party''s members instantly, it roared as if it was laughing happily. Then, it looked at the gremlin''s boss, who had little health left. Being looked on, the gremlin''s boss shivered in fear. However, the gremlin''s boss didn''t dare to attack or run away. Instead, the gremlin''s boss only waited in tremble as if it had already left his life to the creature. The creature looked at the trembled gremlin''s boss, and then it left the trembling monster disdainfully. The creature looked at his front. It turned out; the creature had sharp eyesight; he found Auron, who was running away. The creature yelled once more and began to chase at Auron''s direction. The speed of the creature was so quick. It quickly shortens the distance between Auron and the creature. However, since Auron had moved first, there was still quite far distance between them. Auron looked back and saw the creature chasing him at a quick speed. He began to feel nervous. Aura of death began to seep into Auron. He began to use all of his movement''s speed skills. Auron''s speed boosted. The creature who saw Auron suddenly increased his speed, yelled once more. However, it didn''t raise his pace as if it gave a free advantage for Auron. The creature kept on chasing Auron with its current speed. The distance began slowly widen once more. However, Auron knew it would not be for too long. When his buff ended, he would lose his speed. A few minutes in the chasing, Auron saw a sight of a small town up in front of him. Auron quickly went into the town. He passed the town''s gate and immediately shouted, "Enemies attack!!!" With Auron''s shout, a commotion began to spread out from the town''s gate up to inside of the town. The town''s guard quickly closed the gate and sounded the emergency''s bell. The bell began to yell. With that bell, the town''s people began to come inside their home. Meanwhile, the player looked at the opportunity. An attack means a chance to earn more. They began to flood the town''s gate. Auron, who had already come inside the town, still running non stop at the direction of the town''s head''s place. When he arrived at the town''s head''s home, Auron saw several people outside the building looking at the situation. Chapter 196 - First Encounter (3) Since it was the town''s head''s place, then one of them must be the town''s head. However, Auron didn''t know who it was, so he just shouted, "Enemy is coming!" "How many are the enemies?" One of the elderly asked Auron. "There was only one. However, I believe that this enemy is the rumored demonic monster," Auron answered. When they heard that the enemy''s coming was the demonic monster, all of them shuddered. Then, all of the elderly looked at one man who was way younger than them. "We should evacuate people!" One of them advised the young man. Auron could guess that the young man was the town''s head, and the elder was the elderly council who was helping the town''s head. "Quick, make your decision. If not, all of the people here will be dead!" Auron urged the town''s head to make a decision. Although Auron knew there were several high-level guards stationed here who was stronger than the eight-man party''s members, however, he believed that it was not enough for them to stop the demonic monster. Fortunately, as a basic town, they would have a teleportation gate since it was the minimum requirement to be promoted from a village to a town. Auron advised once more, "Evacuate your townsfolk using the teleportation portal!" When the elderly council and the town''s head heard Auron advised, their faces darkened. The quiet town''s head began to speak, "We are just starting our teleportation portal''s upgrade, and it will finish in 1 hour." For a town, the teleportation portal was crucial. It was one of the requirements for a town to be upgraded. For example, the requirement to advance from basic town to intermediate town, they should have a level 5 teleportation portal. When upgrading the teleportation portal, each upgrade would take one hour. During the update, the player and the NPC could not use the teleportation gate. It could not receive or send people. Also, if the town''s head decided to cancel the upgrade, then it would damage the teleportation portal, and it needs 6 hours to recover before they can use the portal once more. So, when upgrading the teleportation portal, they would choose the right time. Usually, there would be no problem for the town to upgrade anytime if it was outside of the wartime. However, bad luck surely happened. It was like gambling, and you had a 99% chance to win and a 1% chance to lose. Unfortunately, you got the 1%. It was just like this town. Bad luck happened to the town. Auron suddenly felt guilty. He felt like he was the bad luck charm for this town. However, everything had happened; they had no choice but to keep moving on. The town''s head made a quick decision, "Evacuate all the people throughout the back gate. Now!" The elderly council began to take some guards to help them evacuate. When the elderly council left the scene, a woman who was followed by another two women behind her, came to the town''s head''s place. Auron knew who the leading woman was. The woman was Julia, the one who he met when he was at Mud Swamp and also the pirate''s dungeon. Julia also recognized Auron, "You! What are you doing here?" However, before Auron could answer, one of the women behind Julia asked the town''s head, "What happened here?" The town''s head had a sad expression and started to explain what had happened. From the town''s head story, Auron also knew that these three women had something to do with the teleportation portal''s upgrade. In the end, the town''s head said, "Can you help us to prevent the monster until all the people safely evacuated?" After the town''s head said that, all the players in the town received a forced quest, including Auron and Julia. The quest was to hold the demonic monster with the guards for 3 hours. Each of the players received a participation token indicating they participate in the quest. Whether they successfully hold the demonic monster for 3 hours or the demonic monster killed all the townsfolk, they could exchange the token with a reward. Of course, the system would reduce the compensation if they failed their quest. Also, there were more conditions. They would lose their token if they leave the town and could not get back to the town within 10 minutes. They would also lose their token if they logged out for more than 10 minutes during the quest. If the players were died and resurrected in another town, they would have to get back to the town in 10 minutes. However, it would be difficult since there was no teleportation portal, so they would need to go back to the town on foot. There were around 1500 players in the town. All of them received the quest, and they were happy. A quest means more rewards. Moreover, this was the first event or quest related to the new update, the demonic monster. It would be a unique experience for them. Many of them went to the resurrection point in the town, so they could resurrect in the town and not lose their participation right to claim the rewards. However, none of them knew how dangerous the demonic monster except Auron, who had already seen the monster with his own eyes. From what Auron saw, it needed a level 500 player with high geared equipment to contend with the monster one by one if the player had a high fighting skill. However, it was just a guess from a brief encounter. The error rate in his deduction was high. Meanwhile, the two women who were with Julia happily accepted the quest and said to the town''s head, "Okay, we will help you to hold the monster. Quickly leave the place!" Then, the two women left Julia and went to the town''s gate. Meanwhile, the town''s head also left Julia and Auron alone to help evacuate the townsfolk. Julia, who was left alone with Auron, asked once again, "What are you doing here?" Chapter 197 - Defend the Town (1) It''s been over a month since Auron and Julia last met. Both of them looked at each other. They knew that each of them grew stronger since the last time they met. Both of them could understand it from the equipment they wore. It was a rare coincidence that the two of them could meet here. What surprise Julia more was the fact that she met with Auron in front of the town''s head''s place. There was chaos in the town right now, which means one place that knew the answer should be the town''s head''s place. And, he met Auron at that place. Julia deduced that all of this had something to do with Auron. Before Auron could answer Julia''s question, a noisy sound began to sound in the direction of the town''s gate. The players threw many spells and ranged attacks outside of the town. Then, the town''s shield began to be activated and slowly circled the town. Not long after, there was a huge, loud sound produced as a result of the demonic monster attacked the shield. The attack was so strong that it took one-hundredth of the town''s shield''s durability immediately. Another 99 attacks with the same weight would make the protection crumbled down. Julia, who was waiting for Auron to answer, immediately shifted her focus to the town''s gate. She didn''t wait for Auron''s answer and began to set out in the direction of the town''s entrance. Auron, who was left alone, also didn''t want to stay idle. He also followed Julia from behind. However, as their level differences and equipment were significant, Auron''s speed could not keep up with Julia, who had already used her movement speed. Auron could not help but continue going in the direction of the town''s gate at his own pace. During his journey to the town''s gate, Auron could see the townsfolk was walking in a line following an elderly who led them towards the town''s back''s gate. They walked in an orderly manner. It was like they had already trained when there was a situation like this. However, a hint of nervousness and fear on each of their faces could not escape from Auron''s eyes. He also could see some kids were crying because they didn''t want to leave their home, or they didn''t want to let go of their toys. Auron pitied them. However, he could not let that feeling clouded him. Instead, he wished that they could move faster so they will have more than to escape safely, and all of this could over as soon as possible. Auron arrived at the town''s gate. And, he could see a massive amount of players and guards at the entrance, and all of them looked in one direction. They followed the movement of a single creature outside the town''s shield. They were not just standing there and doing nothing. All of the players kept on throwing their spells and range attacks toward that creature, which was the demonic monster. Meanwhile, the demonic monster agilely dodge all of the incoming attack with minimal effort. The demonic monster could successfully dodged some of the attacks, but not all of it. However, even if the attack landed on the demonic monster, the damage it produced was in a hundred. With the highest out of them, it was around a thousand. When the demonic monster had way more health, the hundred and thousand were nothing to it. It was like a mosquito bite to the monster. With all of its might, the demonic monster began to charge once again to the shield. Just like before, they could hear a huge, loud sound in the area. This sound was already the tenth time since Auron heard it for the first time. However, all of the players kept on using their attack. Some of them attacked while cursing at the demonic monster. Meanwhile, some of them also cursed but not to the demonic monster. Instead, they were cursing at the Black Sheep for giving them such an overpowered monster. When the demonic monster was about to launch the eleventh attack, a spell hit him. A huge five thousands floated above the monster''s head. The monster who got hit also staggered a bit and failed to launch its attack. That huge number also made the players who were throwing their attack searched the owner of the attack. Finally, they found the one who was responsible for that damage, and it was Julia. As this was a town, most of the players here low leveled and leveled around 300 up to 400. Their damage to the demonic monster only reduced the demonic monster''s health for around a hundred up to five hundred. One of the women who followed Julia before had her attack ranged from four hundred up to more than seven hundred, and it already garnered a lot of attention since the one who attacks was a cleric. And now, there was someone who produced a huge five thousand to the demonic monster. All of the players were surprised as well as became more motivated in exterminating the monster. With a wand in its hand, Julia chanted another spell and launched it toward the demonic monster. That spell landed on the demonic monster once again, a four thousand damage almost five thousand produced by that spell. It was not a fluke. With that spell, the players began intensively launched their attack. Meanwhile, the monster who had its advanced halt by that massive attack roared. It moved back several meters away. A few seconds later, the demonic monster began its attack on the shield once more. However, this time, the monster charged carefully. It began by dodging several attacks. The demonic monster moved agilely and avoided all of the attack entirely. It slowly moved closer to the shield while none of the attacks hit it. It jumped to its right side to dodge the incoming arrow. And, moved once more to its left to avoid the incoming spells. When it was close enough with the shield, the demonic monster sprinted towards the shield. However, when it was about to begin its acceleration, a spell hit its body. And, the owner of the spell was none other than Julia. Chapter 198 - Defend the Town (2) When the monster got hit by Julia once again, all of the players and the guards cheered off. They were happy. If this situation continued, then they could complete the quest, maybe even killing the demonic monster. As it was a newly introduced monster, they were waiting to knows what it would drop. There might be a considerable chance that a legendary graded equipment would drop from this rare monster. A greed though surfaced at their mind, which boosted their attack intensity even though the attack was not connected. Meanwhile, the demonic monster who got hit by Julia for the third time began to look serious. It moved back once again outside of the attack range. It stood with its two feet and pointed in the direction of the gate and kept on roaring. It was as if it was furious and was reprimanding its attacker. The yelling continued for several seconds, almost a minute. It even stomping its feet to the ground. Then, it pointed in the direction of the players and made a gesture with thumb down. After that, the demonic monster unleashed its power. The power showed immediately made the low-level players and guards shuddered under the power''s might, including Auron, who was only level 203 at the moment. Julia knitted her brows and became serious as well. She knew the monster underwent a massive change at the moment. The demonic monster smiled widely and moved. When it started to move, the speed was so fast that the players and guards had a difficult time to monitor its movement. As time goes, the speed became faster until it disappeared. Julia, who was the highest level among the player here, also had a difficult time to follow the demonic monster''s Meanwhile, the low-level players and guards who could see nothing but a blur began to panic. They throw out their attack aimlessly and just wished that it could hit the demonic monster by luck. The town''s shield was getting attack once more. However, this time, the damage to the shield was lower than before by halves. If before one attack could take one-hundredth of the shield''s health, then this time, each attack only took one-two hundredth of the shield''s health. Unfortunately, although the damage was lower than before, the intensity of the attack increased. Two attacks hit the shield in the span of the time it took for an attack to land previously. In the end, the damage it produced was the same as before the change. The town''s shield began to drop quickly. The players became panic once more. Auron and the other players who had melee attacks could only wait in silence until the shield destroyed. Well, Auron could use his mage''s spell thanks to the "cheat" he had. However, if he did that, then his secret would no longer be a secret. Auron could only wait while the mage and other ranged players like archer desperately attack the demonic monster. "Use your debuff spell!" Julia shouted and chanted [Sloth]. With Julia''s shout, the mages began to launch their debuff spell, [Weakness], [Pain Amplify], and a lot more. Unfortunately, the demonic monster had negated most of the debuff spell since it has a lot of magic resistance. However, some debuff spell still managed to successfully affect the demonic monster, including Julia''s [Sloth]. The demonic monster''s speed noticeably became slower. With the slowed speed, they began to harras the demonic monster once more. The demonic monster had a more difficult time to dodge the incoming attack. It had to spend more effort to avoid the attack. With that, the attack intensity on the shield lessens. However, this didn''t last long. When the debuff''s effect ended, the demonic monster regains its speed once more. The players had to debuff it once more before continuing to attack it once more. This debuff and attack period lasted for several minutes. However, they could not stop the demonic monster from destroying the town''s shield. Fifty minutes after the townsfolk began evacuated, the town''s shield destroyed. The townsfolk had already left the town from the town''s back gate. However, they still needed to arrive safely at the nearest town and report their town''s condition to the authority before the player''s quest could judge as complete. During the time the demonic monster was destroying the town''s shield up until it destroyed the shield, the players and the guards could only reduce 15% of the demonic monster''s health. Moreover, it was with a painstaking effort. With the town''s shield destroyed, there was no more wall between the demonic monster and the players and guards. The melee players who could do nothing before went up to the front and attack the monster. The differences in strength could noticeably seen between the demonic monster and the players in this town. With one swing from the demonic monster, several players had their health went down by halves. Meanwhile, the lower leveled player or the one who had worse equipment had their life hanging by a thread. Some players even immediately died because of the demonic monster''s attack. Fortunately, unlike when the demonic monster faces the eight men party before, this time, it had to face around 1500 players plus some NPC guards. Moreover, the players had already seen the demonic monster''s power, and they didn''t underestimate the monster''s might anymore. With several hundred clerics among the players, the injured player began to get healed and restored their health to full. They could safely continue their attack towards the demonic monster. The demonic monster also tried to target the weaker players at the back first. However, the player up in the front had already blocked his way, which made the demonic monster had a difficult time to reach the players at the back. Julia also maintained her distance at the back. Moreover, with more than five hundred players up in the front act as her shield, she could safely chanted her spell and attacked the demonic monster from the back. Chapter 199 - Defend the Town (3) Auron was watching the scene where the monster had dodged the attack from several players and still could attack the town''s shield. He also saw how skillful Julia when she was chanting her spell and attack the monster. This view was such a new experience for Auron. With his low level, there was nothing he could nothing which made him had a lot of time to observe the situation. He learned a lot by learning the demonic monster movement and way of surviving the bombard through a lot of players. Of course, most of it was thanks to the enormous health pool of the demonic monster and its high defense, but Auron could still learn one or two things from this. Crumble. The town''s shield began to crumble due to the demonic monster''s intense attack. The demonic monster directly went inside the town and tried to punish everyone who had already bullied it before. However, before he could go to the one who bullied him, many swordsman players already blocked his pathway. Of course, Auron was not inside the mass. He still kept on observed from far way and maintained his distance. The demonic monster attack once more. However, just like before, there were no player casualties. With many clerics at the place, the swordsman''s health up in the front kept at 100%. The demonic monster became frustrated as it hadn''t killed anyone since it destroyed the town''s shield and entered the town. The demonic monster roared. The roared produced a shockwave that staggered the nearby players. However, the players quickly regained their composure and attacked the demonic monster once more. The demonic monster attack once more. The players up in the front ignored the strike since they had cleric backing behind them and continued attacking the demonic monster. However, this time, the attack was exceeding their imagination. With that one attack, the one who still had sliver health left before, could not handle this attack and died. The one who had halves of their health back then, with this single attack, they had a sliver of their health left. This change shocked the players and the guards. Suddenly, the demonic monster''s damage rises, caught them off guard. They confused how could this happened. The players up in the front became panic with the enormous damage. The clerics at the back also panic because they could do nothing to the player who got one hit kill by the demonic monster. After a few more attacks, the high level and more experienced players realized a fact. Although, the demonic monster''s damage went up by a considerable margin, however, his speed noticeably became slower than before. "Be careful! The monster could switch to damage mode or speed mode!" One of the high-level players who notice the change in the demonic monster warned the other. However, it was too late. The demonic monster already wreaked havoc at the frontline. A lot of melee players and the guards at the front died ¡ª Player''s equipment scattered at the ground. If one could take all of the scattered equipment on the ground and sold all of it with halves of the market price, they could gain more than 500 golds in one swoop. However, none of the players had time to do that. The demonic monster continued his attacks. With every attack, the frontline began thinner and thinner. When the frontline had few players left, the demonic monster charged to the players at the back. Fortunately, its speed had become slower than before. So the players at the back had time to react to the attack. Some of them dodge. Some of them chanted several spells like [Earth Wall] to hinder the demonic monster''s advancement. It had successfully slowed the demonic monster''s progress. Then, several players who had died before had already resurrected and joined the fight once more. Right now, they became more careful. Since they knew the demonic monster was in the damage mode, they tried to dodge the attack. Because of that, the number of casualties lessens. Time kept on ticking, the fight continued. With each time a player died, they would be resurrected at the town''s resurrection point and joined the fight once more. However, this multiple died also cause the player who suffered from it became stressed out. There still halfway before the quest was complete, and they had already died four or five times. It made them stressed out. Moreover, they didn''t know if the quest''s reward would be worthed enough with their sacrifice. Each time they died, they would lose a level and one equipment. The players could recover the equipment by looting it back since they resurrected near the equipment dropped. However, it would be difficult for them to recover the lost level. Some of them became desperate and didn''t want to continue this quest anymore. Instead of resurrecting, the players immediately logged out of the game and wait until the quest was over in the real world, or they just went idle and hid inside the town. From the original 1500 players, it dwindles to 1400 and 1300, and it continued going down as the quest time progressed. As time goes on, the players slowly became desperate and felt that killing the demonic monster was an impossible mission. So, instead of joining the fight or logging out of the game, they went hiding. With one player doing a freeloading action, several players followed suit. Auron was also one of the players that went hiding. Julia, who has still had a fighting spirit, also could not help but followed the majority since she could not kill the demonic monster alone. She went on hiding and worked together with two women who followed her here. Fortunately, the demonic monster already ignored chasing the villager. Instead, he focused on finding and killing the players inside the towns. Since all of the NPC guards already died, the first intense battle with the demonic monster slowly changes into a game of hide and seek battle between the demonic monster and the players. Chapter 200 - Hide an Seek (1) Auron was hiding at one of the corners in the town. He hid behind a high building. It was 30 minutes away until the quest complete. From the first time, the demonic monster came inside the town up until now. The demonic monster didn''t even look from him. What Auron didn''t know was that the demonic monster was picky. He could sense whether the enemy had a high level or not. Although it was not always correct, but it could help him to determine whether the enemy was worth fighting or not. That was why, although the demonic monster knew where Auron''s was, but he didn''t get to Auron''s place since he felt that Auron was too weak. The demonic monster thought a weak enemy means little experience for him. Moreover, there were still many other choices in the town. The demonic monster didn''t know why the players kept hiding in the town after he killed them and not running away. But, he didn''t care about the reason since it was a heaven for him. It was a freeway for him to get stronger. He would not refuse free food coming to him anyways. The monster felt that this place was like heaven. With his ability to sense the enemy''s presence and might, he could find the enemy quickly. That was why several players kept on getting killed wherever they hid. For the players, it was frustrating enough that they didn''t want to play this game of hide and seek anymore. Some of them even already lose ten levels. Some players believed the rewards for this quest would be unimaginable great, which made them refuse to quit this quest even though they already died more than eight times. The equipment they wore had already long gone. When the players picked up a piece of equipment and died, all of their picked items in 5 minutes would drop plus the additional piece of equipment as the death penalty. If they didn''t wear any equipment, then any random equipment from their inventory would be selected as the death penalty. So, it would be useless to unequip their equipment and save it in the inventory since the system would select a piece of equipment from their inventory. One way that could make them avoided to drop equipment was to have no equipment at all, whether in their inventory or their equipped equipment. These situations made some of the low leveled players who were ignored by the demonic monster, tried to take advantage of the situation. Since the demonic monster ignoring them, they could pick the scattered equipment then hid for more than 5 minutes. Which made the equipment belong to them. If they died after 5 minutes, they would only drop a single piece of equipment. If they could gain ten pieces of equipment and hid for 5 minutes, then they would earn nine pieces of equipment even when they died. It was still a surplus. Moreover, some of the equipment they would gain will be more valuable than their current equipment. Auron also had the same thought. However, he still didn''t know the reason why the demonic monster ignored him. What if when he moved to pick the equipment, the demonic monster would no longer ignore him and attack him. That was why Auron waited for the others to test the theory first. Currently, there were still more than 500 players in the town. There must be more than ten players that greedy enough to have the same thought as Auron. Soon, Auron''s theory proved to be correct. Several low-level players began to move and collect the scattered equipment. One equipment, two equipment, however, when they were about to collect the third equipment, the demonic monster no longer ignored them. It began to chase the players and killed them. With their low level, the demonic monster spent almost no effort to kill them. Sadly, instead of gaining equipment, they lose a level and a piece of equipment. Auron and some others who had the same thought of Auron relieved. They felt relieved that they were careful enough and wait for others to test their theory. Meanwhile, some of the players didn''t want to give up quickly. They reduced the amount of their picked equipment. They only picked one piece of equipment and went hiding. After 5 minutes passed, they would move once again and took another piece of equipment. At first, this tactic worked perfectly. However, when the players went out once again, the demonic monster killed them. They thought that since they had already gained two or three pieces and lost one. It was still a surplus. They waited until the situation calmed a bit and began this tactic once more. Unfortunately, it was like gambling. There were times that the demonic monster killed them the first time they set out. There were also times that the demonic monster ignore them after they picked two pieces of equipment. Some suffered a loss while the other gained a profit through this so-called "gambling" game. Some of the players chose to quit after getting some gains and hid themselves. However, some of them didn''t want to stop even after they suffered some loss. When this situation was playing out, the high leveled players who could escape from the demonic monster began to employ the same tactic. They also took some equipment, and since they could escape from the demonic monster''s clutch, they gained something. Unfortunately, it was more difficult for them since they had a high level, the demonic monster could not ignore a tremendous amount of experience point coming from their hiding place, the demonic monster chased them even when they wanted to take their first piece of equipment. Some players create a party to support each other. Soon enough, the scattered equipment became reduced and reduced until there was nothing left. The number of players who still wanted to continue the quest also kept on going down as time goes by. From the original 1500 players, it went down to 800 players, and now there were less than 500 players still stayed in the town. Chapter 201 - Hide an Seek (2) Since scattered equipment had gone, there was nothing to do anymore, so the players went to hide once more. They waited until some players died and dropped a piece of their equipment. However, since the one who was still inside the town had a high level or had a means of escape from the demonic monster, the number of equipment dropped became few. Moreover, the demonic monster ignored the low-level player who still resided inside the town. Since the demonic monster killed many players in the town over and over again, the demonic monster also grew stronger as it leveled up. Some players who could escape it for the first time had a difficult time to survive now. With the current development, the player began to slowly hid once again and waited until the quest timer finished before logging out or got out of the town. There were 15 minutes more before the quest completed. And, currently, there were around 400 players still inside the town waiting for the quest to be completed. However, not all of the players were the players who received the quest in the first place. When this quest started, some players contacted their guild or their friend list and told the situation here. Unfortunately, since there was no teleportation gate to quickly arrived at the town, these new players had to go to the town on foot. Some players were close to the town and went inside the town. Unfortunately, they didn''t get any quest or participation token like the 1500 players, so they could not participate in the quest. However, they still could waited in the town and joined the hide and seek game; it just they would gain nothing. Some of them refused to leave, although they could not participate in the quest. Instead, the players joined the fray to pick up the dropped equipment. Of course, the players should be high leveled enough to safely getting the equipment. Meanwhile, Julia and her two fellow women kept on being together for everywhere they went. Since she was the most reliable player out of all the players here, she could freely walk around. Moreover, with the help of the two fellow women who kept on following her anywhere, she could even escape the demonic monster easily. At first, the demonic monster chased her since she dealt a lot of damage before, and the demonic monster bore a grudge against her. However, with Julia''s high level and high-grade equipment, although she could not kill the demonic monster, but she still could escape from dying under the demonic monster. Although Julia could not escape from the demonic monster''s hand, but she could make the chase endless. Moreover, she had help from her two fellow guildmates. The demonic monster who chased her also felt frustrated since he could not kill help. So, he changed his target to an easier target but still gave a lot of experience points. Julia, who was safe right now, also didn''t want to be left out from the equipment picking time. She and her two fellow guildmates also picked up the scattered equipment on the ground. She gained a lot from picking the equipment. However, that only happened in the first few hours. The demonic monster also gained experience point from killing several players, which made him getting stronger as time goes by. Every time they had a chance, the demonic monster would fight against the three women. But when the fight would going endless, the demonic monster changed his target and killed the other players, and it happened several times. And, each time, the demonic monster faced the three women. Although the three women still could escape and fight back, but the fight was more difficult each time they met. Moreover, some high leveled players made a mistake and died under the demonic monster''s hand. The players gave the demonic monster a massive amount of experience made him faster to level up. As the demonic monster''s level increased, not only his strength increased but also his intelligence. The demonic monster started to read the player''s escape pattern and fighting pattern. He also employed some deceiving tactics. Less and fewer players could escape from the demonic monster, which made them gone to hide. As the demonic monster''s intelligence increased, the demonic monster also began to have the ability to talk in human speech. Before, the demonic monster''s laugh would be like a roar, but now its laugh was the same as a human''s laugh. The demonic monster also began to learn some human words. When there was five more minutes before the quest ended, the demonic monster started to kill all of the players randomly. Even the low leveled player who was ignored by him before also could not escape from his massacre. The one who was still save was the one who could escape from him. With the demonic monster started to kill low-level players, Auron and the other low leveled player who was hiding became nervous. Auron wished that the time would go on faster. He didn''t want to die since the death penalty for him was twice the amount of ordinary player''s death penalty. The demonic monster started to wreak havoc. It killed a low-level player who was hiding in one of the corners in the town. And, the corner where that player hiding was in the opposite direction of Auron''s hiding place. Auron prayed that the demonic monster would go on in the other direction. However, the god didn''t answer Auron''s prayer; the demonic monster was looking at his hiding place. Auron became panicked. When the demonic monster set out to Auron''s direction, Auron didn''t want to stay idle and wait for his death. So Auron went out from his hiding and went to escape. The demonic monster knew Auron went out from his hiding place; he changed his direction and wanted to intercept Auron. Auron didn''t know that the demonic monster wanted to intercept his way. Fortunately for Auron, during the demonic monster way to Auron, the demonic monster met Julia and her two fellow guildmates who were out for another equipment picking. Chapter 202 - Hide an Seek (3) The demonic monster who saw Julia and her two fellow guildmates immediately became infuriated. He had failed several times to kill these three women over and over again. However, he also knew that it was only a matter of time. As he killed several players in the area, slowly but surely, he felt stronger. If this continues smoothly, soon he could kill these three annoying women. After killing several players, the demonic monster gained another level. After gaining several levels, the demonic monster also became more intelligent. The demonic monster began to know the reason why these players didn''t run away after getting killed over and over again. They were buying time for the townsfolk to run away. However, the demonic monster also knew that it was already too late for chasing the townsfolk. Moreover, it had already been that long the demonic monster fought in this town. The enemies surely would call a reinforcement. That thought immediately surfaced in the demonic monster''s mind. His time was limited. That was also the reason why the demonic monster began to kill the low leveled player who he ignored all this time. He needed to run away before the enemies'' reinforcement came. As the demonic monster became intelligent, he became afraid of the unknown. He didn''t know about the reinforcement''s strength and also their number. This unknown information made him afraid to stay for long in this town. The demonic monster had already decided to kill several more players before going out of the town and looked for another prey. However, fate played out well. When he was chasing a low leveled player, he met with his irritating enemies, the three women. The three women were coming out to pick another equipment since the demonic monster had made several casualties. They knew soon all of this would be over. However, they didn''t know if there were another chance to gain this much wealth. That was why they began to pick the scattered equipment. Unfortunately, along the way, they met with the demonic monster. With his current level and strength, the demonic monster believed that he could defeat these three women and the chances came on their own. Grudge filled the demonic monster''s mind. He already forgot his previous prey, Auron. "You. Will. Die. here." The demonic monster declared robotically. Immediately, the demonic monster attacks the three women. The three women who had been being targeted by the demonic monster also didn''t stay idle. They even knew that this battle would not be an easy battle since every time they met, the demonic monster had become stronger. However, they could only blame to their greedy nature. The three women began to take their position. One of the women who was a swordswoman came to the front and received the demonic monster attack. Meanwhile, Julia, a mage and the other woman, a cleric, moved to the back and supported the swordswoman. The demonic monster had faced them several times before, and every time he met the three women, these were the position that they took. The demonic monster knew that the swordswoman''s job at the front was only to hinder him so he could not get to the mage and cleric. He already tried several ways to get passed the swordswoman. However, it was a futile effort. The swordswoman was tough to get passed by. It was like the woman had been trained only to be a blocker up in the front. The demonic monster also already tried to change to the speed mode and tried to pass the swordswoman. However, the three of them were like one mind. When the demonic monster changed into the speed mode, the three women also turned their formation. They stick close together and protect the cleric. With the cleric protected, as long as they didn''t die in one attack, which was also the case, the cleric would be able to heal them back to full. As the demonic monster changed into the speed mode, his damage became halved, and it was difficult to kill them in one shot. Moreover, there was Julia, who was a mage that could chant several spells that could debuff him or made an obstacle like [Earth Wall]. With their teamwork, the demonic monster had a difficult time to kill them. That was why, during the past encounter, the demonic monster could not kill even one of the three women. However, things were different now. His strength had risen; he believed he could kill them right now. The swordswoman blocked the demonic monster''s attack. However, the power was not a joke. The swordswoman got pushed back by the sheer power. A few moments after that, a white-yellowish light covered the swordswoman and brought the swordswoman''s health full once again. The swordswoman gritted teeth and prepared to receive the next attack. Meanwhile, Julia already chanted her spell [Fire Lance]. It was the upgraded version of [Fire Bolt]. However, the demonic monster dodged the incoming [Fire Lance] and attacked the swordswoman once more. The swordswoman was pushed once more by the attack power. Meanwhile, a yellow barrier covered the swordswoman as a result of the cleric''s spell, [Holy Shield]. It used to reduce the incoming damage by 10% and act as a safety measure. Julia chanted another spell. The swordswoman used [Bash]. The [Bash] skill caught the demonic monster off guard and successfully hit the demonic monster, and fortunately, it produced a little over 700 damage and stunned the demonic monster. Usually, the stun effect from the [Bash] would stun the monster for 3 seconds. However, the demonic monster only got stunned for less than one second. However, that mini stun was enough for Julia''s spell to connect with the demonic monster. A damage little bit over four thousand floated above the demonic monster''s head. It also made the demonic monster staggered a bit before quickly regaining his posture back. The demonic monster got enraged by this combination attack. The demonic monster attacked the swordswoman once more and pushed her back. This time, the demonic monster didn''t stay idle after the attack and followed the attack with several other attacks. Chapter 203 - Quest Completed (1) The demonic monster punched the swordswoman while the woman blocked the punch with her sword. However, the sheer power from the punch made her pushed back and almost fell backward. She tried to keep her balance. However, another attack was already coming to her. This time, the demonic monster swept its claw from her left to her right, which she had blocked in time. Although she managed to prevent the attack, her body swayed to her right due to the power. Another claw was coming from her right. She tried her best to raise the sword in her hand. Clang. The sword managed to block the incoming claw. The power from the claw was the same as before. She swayed back to her left due to this claw. The upgraded power from the demonic monster made the women''s team shocked. They knew that the monster would be stronger than before, but they did not expect it will be this strong. The swordswoman in the front was swaying left and right as she was a toy for the demonic monster. Fortunately, she had the cleric in her team who kept on healing her. If not, she would have been already long dead. The swordswoman struggled her best to keep up with the demonic monster''s attack. Her task here was to delay the demonic monster. Soon, the quest would finish. The swordswoman needed to make sure her teammate well protected and immediately leave when the quest completed. Her body was pushed left and right. Meanwhile, the demonic monster kept on attacking the swordswoman and didn''t change his target. From his experience before, the swordswoman was so annoying. The swordswoman kept on blocking his way to attack the mage and the cleric at the back, and he could not get rid of her. That was why, this time, when he was stronger, he tried to attack the swordswoman once more. And, just like what he had thought, his power could overwhelm the swordswoman. The swordswoman''s body had proved it. The swordswoman was swaying like a fragile leaf blown by the wind. It was only thanks to the cleric that the swordswoman still could keep her life. The demonic monster didn''t want to let go of this condition. That was why he kept on attacking the swordswoman. The swordswoman was not the only one who was struggling. Her teammate, the cleric, also had her time difficult. Due to the demonic monster''s increased power, she could not heal relaxedly. There were many types of healing spells that a cleric had. First, the instant heal types, the spell would immediately healed the target when used. Second, the kind that needed to be chanted first for a few seconds before the user could use the skill on the target. Third, a spell that after being used on the target, it would not immediately heal the target, but gave the target a healing buff which would heal the target''s health over some time. And, lastly, was the area heal which would heal a particular area. Before this fight, the cleric only needed to use only the first three types of heal spells. And, she could even make one or two mistakes, and the swordswoman still would be doing fine. However, right now, she could not do that. One slight mistake, and the swordswoman would be going to a critical condition. The cleric also had to choose the right timing on using the spell. If she had chosen the wrong spell, the swordswoman would be in danger. Fortunately, there was Julia, who also assisted her. However, she still had to be careful. Moreover, right now, she even had to use the area to heal a single swordswoman. But, she had no choice, or else the swordswoman would be dead. Julia, who was behind the swordswoman, also assisted them. She used her debuff spell multiple times. However, it was futile, the demonic monster''s aggro kept on locked at the swordswoman. She thought that if the demonic monster had changed his aggro to her just for a bit, it would give the swordswoman and the cleric a little bit of spare time to regain their position back. However, the reality was different from what she had thought. The demonic monster kept on attacking the swordswoman as if Julia and the cleric was invisible. Julia had been trying to use her most powerful spell or harassed the demonic monster with annoying debuff, but all of it was useless. Well, it was not entirely useless, since the demonic monster''s health was reduced slowly like really slow. From this fight, Julia and her two teammates had reduced the demonic monster''s health for 1%. If they could continue to fight with this condition steadily, the three of them could kill the demonic monster. Julia chanted her most potent spell once again since it was off cooldown. Boom. The attack produced a critical hit. The demonic monster who got hit by the critical attack staggered a little. He looked at Julia and furiously angry, "YOU!!!!" Finally, the demonic monster changed his target to Julia for a bit. Her teammates didn''t miss this opportunity, the swordswoman who limped over almost falling used her sword to prevent that. Meanwhile, the cleric''s burden also lessens a little. She had one or two seconds for her heal''s cooldown. The demonic monster changed his target and attack Julia. However, just like before, the swordswoman blocked his path. The demonic monster kicked the swordswoman before continuing his advanced to Julia. However, the swordswoman was pushed back by the kick. Then, she quickly moved over to block the demonic monster once again. With the swordswoman kept on hindering his progress, Julia had enough time to move over and went behind the swordswoman for protection. She also kept on using her spells, whether it was a debuff spell or attack spells. Suddenly, a notification sounded off to all of the players inside the town, including the three women. [The Quest ''Protect the Townsfolk'' has completed. You can claim your rewards at the town''s head by showing your participation token] Chapter 204 - Quest Completed (2) As soon as all of the players received the notification, they quickly went out of their hideout. All of them immediately rejoiced inside their hearts and quickly left the town, ignoring the demonic monster. In less than 3 minutes, almost all of the players inside the town already left. There were only around 30 players still reside inside the town. It was not that they didn''t want to go, but it was because their hideout was far from the town''s entrance. Some of them also saw the demonic monster fighting with the three women, so they decided to take a detour, which lengthens their leave time. Some of them didn''t think long and decided to log out of the game. Auron was also one of the players who immediately went to the town''s entrance as soon as they received the notification. However, he quickly changed his mind and tried to log out of the game. There were several rules for logging out. First, they should be out of the combat state. Second, there would be a 10 seconds delay before he could log out. During the 10 seconds delay, they could not move and attack or used any spell or items, or they would cancel their logged out process. Third, there should not be any battle going on around 10 meters from the logged out place, or they would need to look for another place to log out. 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... When the logged out timer was about to go to 5, a commotion was heard near his logged out place. It was the demonic monster and the three women. The three women tried to get away from the demonic monster, but the demonic monster still chased them. Bang. The demonic monster successfully hit one of the three women. The woman who was hit by the demonic monster''s attack flew several meters and hit the ground. The woman''s companion screamed, horrified, and tried to help the woman. However, the demonic monster got near the woman first. He immediately kicked the woman who was still at the ground at the stomach. The woman tried to block the kick, but it was too late, the kick landed first. Auron, who was nervously waiting for the timer, gritted his teeth. He got a feeling that his death was near. Because of the kick, the woman flew back several meters and arrived near Auron, who was still waiting for his logged out timer went off. His feeling turned out to be accurate. The woman landed near him, which means it canceled his logged out process. He wanted to blame the woman, but he could not. In the end, he could only blame his bad luck. Since Auron''s chance was gone, now, he got two choices. First, he got out of the place and looked out another safe place to log out or immediately ran away to the town''s entrance. Second, he could help the woman and tried to look for another way with them. It was a difficult choice for Auron. Auron thought the first option would be doable. However, there was also a high chance that the demonic monster would kill him first, and he could do nothing to escape. Since killing him was a piece of cake for the demonic monster, there would be a high chance that the demonic monster would kill him first. In the end, Auron chose the second option. His reason was that with him helping the woman, the group of women would owe him a favor. Moreover, he felt that there would be a higher chance of survivability if he chose the second option. Looking at the battle that took place before, the three women could almost fight with the demonic monster to a standstill. If he joined into the fight, then he believed that even though his level was low, but he still could use his consumable items to help. To prepare with this, he had already commanded his mage character to go and waited outside an NPC''s shop. Moreover, he had seen one of the women before, Julia. Auron believed that Julia would not forget his help, and maybe if he died, Julia would give him something to repay the favor. After all, he had seen Julia before, and from that, he felt that Julia was a decent woman. There was another reason which was he already met with Julia once before. If Auron decided to abandon Julia''s group, then she surely would hate him. She even could put a bounty on his head and made his life harder. After all, no one likes an abandonment when in dire state. The demonic monster still chased the woman. He wanted to kill this woman off. It was the first step to repay his grudge by killing one of the women. After that, he would kill the other women to accompany this woman. However, before the demonic monster could kill the woman, her other companions had already arrived. The swordswoman immediately used charged towards the demonic monster and crashed out with the demonic monster, which made the demonic monster''s chance to kill the laying woman gone. Auron took this chance to go over to the woman who was still lying on the ground. When he was close to the woman, he was shocked. It turned out that the woman on the ground was Julia. He took out some health potions and gave a sign to the cleric to focus on healing the swordswoman. Then, Auron feeds on the health potions to Julia. She was in a critical condition. Fortunately, her companion arrived at the right time. With five potions from Auron, she already out of her critical condition, but she was still far away from full health. Julia had enough strength to stand up. Auron still kept on giving her a bunch of potions, which she immediately took. After taking some health potions, Julia wanted to express her gratitude to Auron. However, she didn''t have time for that. Her companions were having a difficult time fighting with the demonic monste Chapter 205 - Bleamen (1) Just like before, the swordswoman had a difficult time because of the demonic monster''s raw power. However, thanks to the cleric, she still could live. Julia, who had already regained back some of her strength, began to help. Julia began chanted several debuff spells. The debuff could not stop the demonic monster''s ferociousness. However, it could help lessens the swordswoman''s burden. With the help of Julia, the swordswoman began to have spare time to take a breath. The demonic monster, who had the advantages before, became more angry. Its benefits were gone. A little bit more before the demonic monster could kill Julia, but that chance had now gone. How could he not be furious? The demonic monster''s attack became more aggressive; he tried to change his way of attack and combined more patterns. He hoped by doing that. He could confuse the swordswoman and made her made a mistake that he could use to kill her. However, what the demonic monster hardly to be happened. Since Julia was injured, almost facing the death god, the swordswoman became more focused. She exerted more strength than before. Her focused mind made her became better than the previous encounter. Unfortunately, she was still at a slight disadvantage. The players inside the town became little, the longer the three women fight against the demonic monster. Right now, there were only less than ten players inside the town. Auron, who was thinking of helping the three women before, had a conflict inside his heart. He began to rethink his choice. After looking closer, he could do nothing to help the three women fighting against the demonic monster. Since he was using his swordsman character, he had to go to fight in close combat battle if he didn''t want to expose his mage''s ability. However, if he went to the front, he would die by a simple attack from the demonic monster. Well, he was a little bit stronger than an ordinary player, so maybe it would take two attacks instead of one. Because of that, Auron had a conflict inside his heart. He wanted to run away and left the women. He thought that maybe the women would forgive him since Julia would probably know his level. Auron had stayed beside Julia, who was busy chanting her spells. Auron looked at Julia and saw her struggle in helping her companions. He gritted his teeth and started to turn away from her. He wanted to leave. He just hoped that she would forgive him. When Auron was about to leave, a notification sound to all of the players. All of those who were still inside the town, including Auron, received the notification. [The town''s head has reported the situation in the town to the military. The military has decided to send reinforcements. A new quest ''Hold Bleamen!'' has been generated ] [Hold Bleamen!] Countdown before the reinforcements arrive : 29 minutes 59 seconds Description : The town''s head has reported the situation in the town to the military. The military has decided to send reinforcements. The Third Prince leads a troop to kill Bleamen. Hold Bleamen until the reinforcements arrive in 30 minutes! Then, work together with the military to execute Bleamen. Quest Clear Conditions: Sub Quest 1 - Hold Bleamen: 1. Hold Bleamen until the Third Prince, and his troops arrived in 30 minutes. 2. The Third Prince has to see Bleamen 3. Players have to be in a maximum of 10 meters from Bleamen when the Third Prince saw Bleamen to be eligible for the rewards. Sub Quest 2 - Kill Bleamen: 1. Fight Bleamen along with the Third Prince and his troops 2. Bleamen''s death. 3. Players have to be in a maximum of 10 meters from Bleamen when Bleamen dies to be eligible for the rewards. Quest Clear Rewards: Sub Quest 1 - Hold Bleamen: 1. Level + 1 2. Attribute Book (common grade) Sub Quest 2 - Kill Bleamen: 1. Level + 5 2. Attribute Book (rare grade) 3. A reward from the King. Quest Failure Punishment: None. Auron, who was about to go, halt his steps. He scanned the quest''s descriptions and found that this quest had only benefit. He also found out that the demonic monster had a name. Bleamen was the name of this demonic monster. The quest had two sub-quests. Although the second sub-quest was difficult since it needed to kill Bleamen who Auron knew how strong he was, but the first sub-quest was easier. They only needed to hold Bleamen for 30 minutes until the Third Prince saw Bleamen, and they would clear the first sub-quest. As stated in the quest''s clear''s condition, they needed to be in a maximum of 10 meters when that happened to be eligible for the rewards. The rewards were tempting even for him. He didn''t need to fight up in the front and support the three women from the back with his consumable items. Auron, who had decided to leave before, undid his action and decided to stay. Auron turned back again and faced the three women who were fighting against Bleamen. He thought genuinely about what he could do and how he could ensure that they at least could complete the first sub-quest. Fortunately, Julia was too focused on the battle and didn''t see that Auron had tried to abandon them else; she would be disappointed in him. The three women also received the quest. However, they could not read the quest since they could not be distracted from Bleamen even for just a few seconds. They didn''t even know what the notification''s content. Julia and her teammate kept on battling against Bleamen and still tried to look for a way to escape. This time, they needed to plan their escape plan thoroughly, or else they would suffer like the previous escape, which almost resulted in Julia''s death. Suddenly, Auron had an idea about what he could do. He commanded his mage''s character to go to a consumable shop and waited there for his next command. He was ready to go broke this time. Then, Auron took out an item from his inventory. Chapter 206 - Bleamen (2) Bleamen aggressively attacked the swordswoman at the front. He was furious and wanted to kill at least one of the three women. He even ignored almost every enemies'' attacks. Even Julia''s strike, which had caused the most significant damage, had been ignored by him. Because of that action, Bleamen''s health reduced more swiftly. However, he still had a lot of health left. There was still 75% of his health remaining. The swordswoman who received Bleamen''s attack firsthand became more troubled. "I almost used all of my mana potions!" The cleric suddenly announced. The three women just had finished their quest to help the town to upgrade the town''s teleportation gate. After they went back to the town and reported it to the town''s head, the town''s chief threw them a party. After that, they went to take a rest; they decided to restock tomorrow when they were about to leave the town. What they didn''t know was that several hours later, there was this incident. Bleamen attacked the town. The town''s head even evacuate all of the townsfolk. As a result, the cleric, as well as Julia, hadn''t had an opportunity to restock her potion''s supplies. Fortunately, Julia still had a reserve stock that she could share. She was about to give the cleric the mana potion when Auron moved closer to the cleric. He kept on the item he took before and took out several mana potions. The mana potions had a lower quality compared to the potion that the cleric usually used. However, since the amount of potions Auron gave was huge, it was not a problem for her. It just that she had to take the potions more often. Julia, who had a tense expression, began to lessen a bit. She had tremendous stress because of the fight with Bleamen. The burden was not small. Moreover, she had almost died before. As a high-level player, losing a level was disastrous but not as devastating as losing a high-level piece of equipment. Fortunately, her loot when they played ''hide and seek'' with Bleamen could cover the loss. However, it still gave a heartache when you lose a piece of equipment. Moreover, if that piece of equipment was rare enough to find, it was like having a lot of money but could not buy what you want because no one sold that item. Auron''s action gave a sense of reassurance. It was Julia who felt that she got a new teammate. Although Auron could not fight in a battle due to his low level, at least, he still had the initiative to help. Julia began to focus back on Bleamen. In a minute, several spells already landed on Bleamen. However, it could not make him flinched or afraid. Instead, it made him more aggressive. Bleamen''s health reduced to 74%. From 26% of Bleamen''s health that he had loss, Julia contribute almost 8% from it. The rest of the damage spread to nearly 1500 players who fought with Bleamen before. That 8% had guaranteed Julia as the one who gave the most damage to Bleamen. Sadly, it was not an event that worthy of being celebrated since Bleamen still far away from his death. With her mana potion''s stock refilled, the cleric had more confidence in using her healing spell. A sudden improved mood made the battle''s situation seems better. However, suddenly, the swordswoman made a slip in blocking Bleamen''s attack. She had failed to prevent Bleamen''s attack. As a result, she was pushed and almost fell to the ground. Bleamen didn''t let this chance went away. He followed up his attack on the swordswoman. He focused his might on this one strike and launched it at the swordswoman. Since the swordswoman was off her balance, she had a difficult time to block the attack. Another failure occurred. However, this time, the crash was more severe. Since Bleamen used most of his might in the previous attack, the sheer power it generated was not a child''s play. That attack swept made the swordswoman flew away to her left for several meters, almost 5 meters away. Since the swordswoman flew away, their defense opened wide. There was nothing more blocking Bleamen path to Julia or the cleric. A sudden panic enveloped the three women. Bleamen used this opportunity to attack the cleric since she was closer to him. The swordswoman who has flown away also didn''t just lay on the ground, she immediately got up and tried to block the attack. However, the distance was far away, and the swordswoman could not cover such distance in a short time. The cleric also tried to run away and made some distance. However, Bleamen''s reaction was fast. When he managed to blow away the swordswoman, he immediately when to the cleric. Almost in no time, he had already arrived in front of the cleric and threw an attack. The cleric''s reaction was a little bit late. The attack from Bleamen was coming, and it was a 100% guaranteed chance that the cleric could not dodge. However, when the attack almost landed on the cleric, Bleamen''s movement stopped for a bit before continuing again. The stopped was not long; it was only for half a second. However, it happened not just one, but three times. Because of the sudden mini stop from Bleamen, the cleric managed to dodge the attack and quickly made a distance from Bleamen. Meanwhile, the swordswoman already back at the business and ready to fight with him once more. Escape from the near-death situation, the cleric sweat profusely. However, she still didn''t forget her duty and healed the swordswoman. Bleamen furiously roared since he missed another big opportunity. He looked at his right and saw Auron, who was holding an item in his hand. It turned out that the mini stop was a result of Auron''s action. Auron used an item, and it made such a mini stun effect. There were several white talismans in his hand. He saved the cleric using that item and made the grim battle situation turned brighter. Chapter 207 - Bleamen (3) [Sticky Talisman] (Uncommon Item) Type: Consumable Item Class: All Class Effect: Stop targetted movement for 15 seconds. It can be used on other players, NPC, and monster. It cannot be used on a boss monster. If the target is considered stronger than this item, the effect will be reduced, even repelled. The effect cannot be stacked and renewed every time the item was used on the same target. If used on a player who was on the same side, then it will be considered as an attack and brand the user as a player''s attacker. The user''s level needs to be below 250. The talisman in Auron''s hand was a [Sticky Talisman]. It was a consumable item and sold in the NPC''s shop. However, this item''s price was not low. Each talisman cost 50 silvers. In the beginning, there was no level requirement to use this item. Every player who had the money could buy a massive amount of this item. It was supposed to be a helping tool for the players to hunt. However, as time passed, the item was abused. When a rich player didn''t like someone, he or she would buy this item and hire a group of thugs to kill that player. With a bunch of these items in the rich player''s possession, the targetted player could not escape. From that point, this item''s function became deviated from its original purpose. That was why the game''s developer decided to rework this item. They raised the item''s price, and also they gave a level limitation to use this item. For uncommon grade, the level limitation would be level 250. Only the user below the level requirement could use this item. The higher-grade would have different levels of restriction. For rare grade, only user below level 300 could use this item and so on. Unfortunately, only the common and uncommon grade that were sold in the NPC''s shop. For a higher-grade talisman, players needed to get it from the monster''s loot with a low chance. Also, as prevention, if the user of this item targetted another player on the same side, it will be considered as an attack. It would mean the user would be brand as a player''s attacker. The brand would have a different effect, depending on how severe the brand was. If it was only a light one, the player would be questioned when they met with a guard. They would also have a slight disadvantage when they argue with an NPC or someone with a higher reputation. The more severe the brand, the penalty would be harsher. They could even become a fugitive and had a bounty on their head. With such bounty on their heads, they could not get inside towns or cities. Fortunately, for Auron, this item could be used on the demonic monster. In the beginning, he didn''t know whether this item could work on the demonic monster or not since there was no explanation about it. That was why, before, he was ready to use it to try it first. Unfortunately, the cleric had an urgent need for mana potions. He decided to delay the experiment and gave the mana potions first. After that, he tried to use one talisman first, and it worked. Bleamen had a slight stopped. However, since it was so short, Bleamen didn''t realize it until now. Fortunately, Auron had paid his full attention to Bleamen when he used this item so he could find the slight stop in Bleamen. With that in mind, Auron''s mind became more ease. Before, he was afraid that he could do nothing to help the three women, but now, he had a chance to help them. He didn''t care if he went broke because of this. He still believed by doing this, he would get more benefit. Auron was not talking about the quest''s rewards since he had already known the quest''s prizes and the value of it. What Auron means was he would gain Julia''s trust. He didn''t know why, but since the first time he saw Julia, Auron had been absorbed by Julia''s image. However, since their meeting was a brief before, Julia''s image slowly gone from Auron''s mind. But now, he had met her again. Because of that, the sudden buried image of Julia slowly resurfaced once again. However, Auron didn''t think it too deeply. He felt this way was because Julia was a beauty. He had already met some beauty before, and he also had the same feeling as he had felt right now. But, to gain trust from such beauty was not bad. Moreover, she was one of the upper management of top a farming guild. Maybe, if he needed money, he could look for her to borrow some. Bleamen, who was disturbed by Auron''s talisman, became furious at him. Bleamen changed his target. He was targetting Auron. Auron, who realized that he was the target, now became panic. However, he tried to calm himself. He took a bunch of talisman and used it on Bleamen. Bleamen, who was dashing to Auron, suffered a mini stun, which hindered his advanced to Auron. Because of that, the swordswoman had spare time to go and block the attack. With the swordswoman back in action, the battle was back to square one. Auron went back and maintained his distance to Bleamen while holding the talisman, ready to use it when necessary. Auron was prepared to go broke to buy this item. Unfortunately, he didn''t have unlimited money, so he could only use the item frugally and tried to use it at the appropriate time. With Auron''s help, Julia had less burden, she could even peek at the quest they had received before. After reading the quest for a brief, Julia began to change her fighting style. Previously, she would attack and tried to attract Bleamen''s attention. However, right now, Julia only used her debuff spell and just helped the swordswoman to stall the time. She knew there would be a reinforcement coming for them. Chapter 208 - Bleamen (4) The fight continued. However, with Auron''s help, it was not as intense as before. The swordswoman and cleric burden lessens. Julia also helped them a lot with the debuff. The fight continued until there were 10 minutes left in the quest''s countdown timer. During this time, Auron could see several other players who were hiding not far from the battle. Auron knew their intentions. Since the fight was going well, they felt that they could get another free reward. They hid until the Third Prince was near, then they would go out from their hideout and went to Bleamen''s ten metes mark to be eligible for the quest rewards. After that, they would decide on whether to continue the quest or not based on the upcoming situations. Julia didn''t mind about the freeloader as long as they were safe. Moreover, Julia''s action and Auron''s help had reduced the team''s burden. Furthermore, she was a freeloader once a long time ago when she was still a low level. Meanwhile, Auron, who saw the freeloader, didn''t complain, or rather he could not complain. After all, he was a low level, and he could be considered as a freeloader as well. Moreover, Julia and her teammate, who was doing the most work, didn''t complaint. As the fight''s pace became milder, Bleamen, who kept on getting furious when an unprecedented situation happened, started to calm down slowly. His rage quelled down. When that happened, he began to feel something wrong with the current situation. However, he still didn''t know what was wrong with the situation right now. He began to think deeply. He began to think from when the three women were running away from him. The three women didn''t want to fight with him; that was the reason why they ran away. Then, he managed to chase the three women and injured one of them. A great turned of event for him. Then, they engaged in another fight. This time, they fought to defend their life since they were afraid the same situation would happen if they escaped once again. Then, they made a mistake in which he exploited it. Unfortunately, it didn''t go well for him. He failed to kill one of the women because of the newcomer. Starting from that point, the man who helped them fought with them. With the man joined the fight, Bleamen felt that it was more difficult for him to find a mistake. Even if there was a mistake, they could still cover it. A weird feeling surged inside Bleamen. Then, a question popped out inside his mind; why didn''t they used this chance to escape? After the man helped them, Bleamen could see that the swordswoman''s burden lessen. Moreover, the annoying mage started to change her way of attack. Instead of using an attack spells, she used a debuff spells. They should have a great chance to escape, but they didn''t use it. A sudden thought resurfaced, "What if they didn''t run away, and instead, they kept him busy to stall the time." "But Why?" Another question popped out in Bleamen''s mind. A few seconds later, another answer popped in Bleamen''s mind, "Reinforcements!" Bleamen stopped his attack to the swordswoman. Then, he began to move backward and looked at his surroundings. He saw several other players hiding from him. Why didn''t they help the three women? The hiding player''s action further confirmed his suspicion. There must be a reinforcement coming here. He needed to escape, that critical thought was the only thing in his mind right now. However, he didn''t immediately run away. Instead, he chose to charge towards one of the players who was hiding near him. Julia and her teammate, as well as Auron, caught off guard when Bleamen moved backward and looked at his surroundings. They wondered whether Bleamen knew their intention. They hurriedly chased Bleamen, afraid that he understood their plan and tried to escape. Soon, the Third Prince would arrive, if Bleamen escaped now, then their hard work would be gone. However, when they saw that Bleamen charged to one of the players who was hiding around them, they started to relax. They felt that Bleamen didn''t know their intention and just trying to vent off his anger to someone else since he could not kill them. Bleamen, who charged to one of the players hiding, looked back and saw that Julia and her teammate chased him. Now, he was 100% sure that a reinforcement was coming to this place. The hiding player who was being targetted by Bleamen, shocked. He never thought that Bleamen would focus on him since he saw that Bleamen was busy with his fight. Meanwhile, the other player also began panic; however, when they realized that they were not Bleamen''s target, they felt relieved. But, to be safe, they maintained their distance away from Bleamen. The player who was Bleamen''s target became panic. He had already been killed four times by Bleamen. If he died once again, then it would become his fifth death. He began to run away. Bleamen chased him from behind. He used all of his might and skill to run away as he became more panic. Then, in panic mode, he looked behind him to see how far Bleamen from him. What he saw shocked him once more. Bleamen, who was chasing him, made a sudden turn. He turned right and went to the town''s gate direction, ignoring him. Bleamen''s swift action caught everyone off guard, including Julia and her teammate. Auron tried to use his [Sticky Talisman] to hold Bleamen so they could surround him. Unfortunately, he was too far from Bleamen and could not use the talisman on Bleamen. The one who chased before became the chase target. The three women and Auron, as well as the other hiding player, tried their best to follow Bleamen. Unfortunately, Bleamen''s sudden action gave him a slight advantage over them. He was already far away from them. Bleamen arrived at the town''s gate successfully. Chapter 209 - Bleamen (5) Bleamen, who successfully arrived at the town''s gate safely, looked back at his chaser. They were still chasing him. However, Bleamen didn''t give them the chance to surround him, and he immediately escaped from the town in the direction of a nearby forest. Bleamen was at the forest''s vicinity when he looked back at the town. There was a legion of soldiers marching to it from the kingdom''s direction. Luckily, he escaped at the right time, or else, the soldiers would surround him, and it would be too late for him to escape. After a minute, Bleamen thought back on his experience. It was not too good but also not too bad. He learned a lot from his experience in this short journey. Then, he went inside the forest and looked for a remote cave inside the forest. Finally, he found an empty dark cave placed remote away from the forest''s entrance. There was one most important thing that he learned from this short adventure. It was difficult to fight alone. He went inside the cave. A few minutes later, a demonic aura surged out from inside the cave before gone in just a few seconds later. Right now, inside the cave, Bleamen felt weak after the sudden released of the aura. However, there was not only Bleamen inside the cave, but there was another humanoid figure beside him knelt. The humanoid figure had almost the same appearance as Bleamen, a long ear, and a short bunny tail. He was missing several details that Bleamen had. He was also weaker than the previous Bleamen in a considerable margin. Meanwhile, inside the town, there were only eight players left, including Auron, Julia, and Julia''s teammate. All of them only felt regret and disappointed since they failed to complete their quest. A little bit more, and they would complete the quest. However, what could they do, everything had over. All of them gathered at the town''s gate, where Bleamen used to escape. Auron looked into the aftermath. It was such a heartfelt sight. Many buildings destroyed, some buildings also needed to be repaired. There were only a few building that left intact. The teleportation portal, which was in the middle of upgrading, also could not avoid the destruction. The fight destroyed it into pieces. A few minutes later, the players heard a marching sound. All of them looked outside the town and found a legion of soldiers marching to their way. It was the Third Prince''s troops. With the Third Prince at the front leading the soldiers, they arrived quickly at the town''s entrance, where they met with the players. "Where is the demonic monster?" The Third Prince asked. Julia answered dejectedly, "Escape!" She pointed out the forest. The Third Prince also heaved a massive sight. He was too late. However, he didn''t give up and commanded a group of soldiers to search the area. The Third Prince talked for a while with the players, before going out to the forest. With their business here done, the players had nothing to do. So, they dispersed and went in their direction. Auron also wanted to leave the town to claim his prize for the first quest. Auron was about to leave when he saw Julia, and her teammate also wanted to leave. He decided to went over and said goodbye, "So, where are you going now?" "We don''t know yet. Maybe, we will come back to our guild first before claiming the quest prize. I am so tired," The swordswoman answered. "Okay. I will go to claim my rewards first. See you," Auron said his goodbye and leave. Before he could leave, Julia stopped him and said, "Thank you" The swordswoman and the cleric followed Julia''s action by showing their gratitude. Auron felt awkward since he didn''t do much; he could only say, "No problem." Then, he leaves the town while Julia and her teammate went in the other direction. Auron had to go to the nearby cities to claim his quest rewards. However, since the town''s teleportation portal destroyed, he could not help but to walk to the neighboring city. Fortunately, he had a skill that increased his movement speeds. He kept on using the skills as soon as the skill''s cooldown went off. In an hour, he arrived in the city. He didn''t want to waste his time anymore, so he immediately went to the town''s head and claimed his rewards. The quest''s reward was not that good considering what they had to experience. It was only a level and five golds for each of the players. The players who lose more than one level felt regret. If they knew that the quest''s reward would be this little, then they would not sacrifice their life. However, what could they do, they could only accept it and went on. Auron didn''t mind with the rewards since he didn''t do much. Moreover, he didn''t suffer any death. He only suffered a gold loss, since he had been using a bunch of [Sticky Talisman] that costs over five golds. However, Auron also gained some. He gained experience in fighting a demonic monster. Although it was not a pleasant experience, but it was a valuable lesson. Moreover, soon, his mage character will go to a military operation that related to the demonic monster. Auron learned some lessons from this quest since he knew that [Sticky Talisman had some effect on the demonic monster, he decided to use the five golds rewards to buy a bunch of [Sticky Talisman]. Although he still didn''t know whether he will meet with a demonic monster or not, he bought it for countermeasure. Auron knew the talisman could not guarantee 100% worked if he met with another demonic monster, but he still bought it. After all, he better prepare well if they didn''t want to regret later on. With all of his business was over, Auron looked at the time. There were still some hours left before the appointed time, so he decided to go to a place. Chapter 210 - Blacksmith Insignia (1) Auron arrived in front of a building with a big hammer on its board. This building was the blacksmith guild. However, this was just a blacksmith guild''s branch. Since it was only a branch, the building was not too big, but it was comparable to a first-class house in the city. Auron went inside the building and directly went to the front counter. He went ahead and said to the employee in the table, "I want to apply for the blacksmith entrance test." The employee who was working didn''t surprise with Auron''s confrontation. She often saw people like this. She took out a piece of paper and gave it to Auron. Before starting over, Auron had blacksmith as his side class and already reach an intermediate level. He was so busy with the guild''s management and neglected his side class, which was why he stopped at the intermediate level. Auron, who had the experience before, already knew what he had to do with the paper. He quickly filled the form and gave the test''s fee. Auron only needed to pay for ten silvers to took the entrance test. After receiving Auron''s identity paper and the entrance''s test fee, the employee sent a message to one of her colleagues. Then, the employee lead Auron to the exam''s place, who Auron followed the employee from behind. Auron didn''t need the employee to guide him. Since the building layout of all blacksmith guild''s branches was the same, Auron could smoothly go to the exam room without the employee''s guidance. But, he decided to let the employee lead him. Soon, Auron followed the employee to a room. Inside the bedroom, there was already another employee. However, this employee not just an ordinary staff; he was an intermediate blacksmith and also the examiner for Auron''s test. The intermediate blacksmith was busy preparing for Auron''s test. He brought out a big bunch of materials needed for Auron''s exam. The female employee who leads Auron went to the intermediate blacksmith and handed him Auron''s paper. Then, the female employee went back to Auron and said, "He is your examiner, follow what he tells you to do. After you finish your examination, go back to the front to receive your score." After saying that, the female employee left the room and left Auron with the intermediate Blacksmith alone. Then, the intermediate blacksmith went to Auron and asked him, "Do you know the test''s procedure?" Before Auron could answer him, the intermediate blacksmith interrupted him, "Forget it, I will explain it to you." "Look at the table over there. On top of it, there are several materials needed to make a sword, from the sword hilt, the iron, etc." "Your task is to craft a sword. I will observe the process from the start until the end. I will score you based on your activity during the test and the sword you make." "There is a three hours time limit. You only had one chance to do this. If you failed, you have to wait for 6 hours before you can reattempt the test." "Before we start, do you have any questions?" The intermediate blacksmith asked once more, which, followed by Auron, shook his head. "Great! Then, let us start the examination. Three hours starts now!" The intermediate blacksmith began the test. As soon as the test began, Auron moved to the material''s table and looked over it. During a crafting process, there were two crucial steps needed. First, was the material selection and second, was the making process. The material selection phase was also vital because it could determine the item you were making. The material you used will define the item''s attributes. If you used a common grade material, then the item''s attributes obviously would be lower compared if you used higher-grade materials. When making an item, one needed a minimum of five materials, and more if they made a higher grade item. There was also one most important item when one was crafting an item, which was the blueprint. If the other materials determine the item''s attributes, then the blueprint will determine the item''s max grade. It also would determine the item''s material''s minimum grade and the crafting''s difficulty. When one used a common grade blueprint, then they could use materials with common grade up to legendary, even mythic grade. However, the item could only have a common grade even though if you used legendary or mythic grade materials. On the other hand, if one used a rare grade blueprint, then they needed to provide material with a minimum of rare grade up to mythic grade. If the blacksmiths used a higher grade material, their chance to get the max grade, which in this case was rare grade, would increase. Since a blueprint was necessary when making an item, the price of it was not low. Fortunately, the blacksmith''s guild sold the blueprint, and the one with blacksmith insignia could buy it with a discount. However, the blacksmith''s guild only sold a common grade blueprint up to epic grade blueprint. For the above grade, one needed to buy it from another player or looted it from the monster. On top of the table, there were several blueprints, and there was not only the common grade blueprint, but there was also a rare grade blueprint. For someone to pass the test, they only need to create a common grade sword. These blueprints were deliberately left there to check whether the test taker knew which blueprint to use. If the test taker accidentally selects the rare grade blueprint, they would fail since the other material could not support a rare grade blueprint. That was why the material selection phase was essential and complex. Even among the same grade materials, they could give different results when used. Auron carefully select the materials. There were around 100 types of materials on top of the table. However, since Auron was an intermediate blacksmith before, he could easily discern which blueprint to use. Auron immediately took the common grade blueprint and the other materials. This test was to easy for him as one who had the experience of intermediate blacksmith. Chapter 211 - Blacksmith Insignia (2) Auron took several materials from the table and also the correct blueprint. It only took him 5 minutes to complete all of the material selection process. He brought the things he needed to the working table and started to work on the sword. The examiner who saw Auron quick advanced began to scribble something on the assessment form. It was not a surprise when someone had a fast progress like Auron. When a player decided to change their side class, they had to delete their current side class'' progress. However, in the future, they could retake the removed side class once again. Of course, they had to do it by following the same procedure from the beginning, retaking the entrance examination. When a player deleted their side class, they only lose their side class and that side class-related skill. However, their experience and their ability was their own. So, if said player decided to retake the side class once more, they could use their expertise before to pass the entrance examination. Auron was the same. Since he had his previous experience as an intermediate blacksmith, this entrance examination was like a child''s play for him. Meanwhile, the examiner had not only began to exam this one test, but he also had a long experience to oversee the entrance exam. So, he didn''t surprise at all with Auron''s quick progress. He just took note of Auron and put it in his assessment. Auron brought the materials to the working table and put all of it on top of the table. Then, he began to heat the furnace and waited for it to be hot before starting the blacksmithing process. The blacksmithing process was not complicated as one could imagine. Since this was a game, and also this was for a side class, Black Sheep decided to make things easy for this part. So when it came to side class, the way they produced things was just like playing a game. After they played the game, the result item would depend on their gained score. It was like a mini-game inside the game, and this not only applied to blacksmith side class but to all other side classes as well. For blacksmithing, it was similar to a combination of clicker game on a smartphone and whack-a-mole game. However, instead of clicking, the blacksmith needed to hammer the materials. In the beginning, the blacksmith would bring out their chosen materials and the blueprint. Then, the game would magically transform their materials and blueprint into an iron mold. This iron mold was what they needed to hammer. Then, the mini-game would begin. Just like an ordinary monster, the iron mold would have its health bar. The mini-game would last for different time depending on their provided blueprint. As Auron provided a common blueprint, this mini-game would last for a maximum of 1 hour. With a higher grade blueprint, the mini-game would also last longer. The iron mold''s health bar would depend on the materials provided. Each material would have three different things that affect the iron mold''s status, which was health, attributes given, and damage''s taken. The health would affect how big the iron mold''s health. As for attributes given would provide the result item an additional attribute. Meanwhile, the damage''s taken would affect the damage the iron mold would take each time the blacksmith hammer hit them. These three things were essential to guarantee the blacksmith''s success and their resulted item. That was why the materials selection was crucial. Fortunately, to discern the material''s attribute, the player would get [Blacksmith''s eyes] skill. Of course, they needed to increase the skill level to see a higher grade material''s attributes. However, the skill only given when they had blacksmith as their side class. Before having blacksmith as their side class, they had to depend on their luck, intuition, and observation ability to discern the attribute of the material. Actually, each material would have a different distinction between each other, even if both of them had the same grade or were the same item. However, to see the differences was challenging. Without careful observation or past experience, they would have difficulty to see which material better. Fortunately, Auron had his previous experience as a blacksmith. Although he could not know the exact number that each material give. Still, he could depend on his intuition and observation to know that from a bunch of material, which one was better than the others. Of course, he could be wrong, but he believed that it was enough for him to pass this entrance examination. The material''s attribute was vital because it could make the blacksmithing processed easier or harder. For example, the five given material''s attribute as below: [Material 1] Health: 100 Attribute given: strength +1 Damage taken: 1 [Material 2] Health: 120 Attribute given: inteligence+1 Damage taken: 1 [Material 3] Health: 150 Attribute given: - Damage taken: 1 [Material 4] Health: 300 Attribute given: vitality + 1 Damage taken: 3 [Material 5] Health: 1000 Attribute given: strength +3 Damage taken: 3 These five items would transform into an iron mold that had the combined attributes from all of the materials. The iron mold would have 1670 health and took 9 damage every time it was struck by a hammer. Meanwhile, the resulted product from this iron mold would have 4 additional strength, 1 additional vitality, and 1 additional intelligence. With these attributes, the blacksmith needed to hammer the iron mold for 186 times. For a common blueprint, a player needed only to provide five materials with a minimum of common grade for each material. Meanwhile, for higher grade blueprints, the players needed to provide materials in different amounts and grades. For an uncommon blueprint, a player needed to provide six materials with a minimum of uncommon grade. A rare blueprint would need seven materials with a minimum of rare grade. Meanwhile, an epic blueprint would need eight materials with a minimum of epic grade and so on up until the mythic grade. Chapter 212 - Blacksmith Insignia (3) Auron kept on heating the furnace. When it was hot enough, Auron began his works. He brought the iron mold and cooked it inside the furnace. During the hammering process, two things were affecting the process. First, the blacksmiths'' attributes. Three attributes affect the hammering process, strength, agility, and luck. All of the blacksmiths would have the same initial hammering speed. To increased the hammering speed, they needed to depend on their strength and agility. Their strength and agility attributes would be added and divided by two. Then, from the average of their strength and agility, each 100 points of it would increase 1% of their hammering speed. For example, a player had 100 points on strength and 50 points on agility. Then, the average of his strength and agility would be 75, which means he would not get any increase in his hammering speed. Meanwhile, if his strength was 300 points and his agility was 500, then he would have a 4% increase in his hammering speed. Due to his strength and agility attributes, Auron would get a 4% increase in his hammering speed. It was little, but it was enough for him to pass this test. Auron was currently in the middle of heating the iron mold. Right now, the iron mold''s health bar was still in full health because Auron didn''t hammer it even once. Besides the health bar, there was also another bar, which was the temperature bar. As Auron heat the iron mold inside the furnace, the iron mold''s temperature bar kept on rising. 30%... 40%... 50%... The temperature bar kept on growing. When the temperature bar passed 75%, on the iron mold, there were several white light that kept on appearing and disappearing randomly. Auron didn''t bother with this white light and kept on heating it inside the furnace. When the iron mold''s temperature reached 100%, Auron took the iron mold out of the furnace and put it on the anvil. As soon as the iron mold was out of the furnace and put on the anvil, the iron mold''s temperature bar began to drop slowly. 99.9%... 99.8%... 99.7%... The temperature kept on going down. Meanwhile, on the iron mold''s surface, there were still several white light on top of it that kept on appearing for a brief before disappearing again. Auron started to wield his hammer and began to hammer the iron mold. A 15 red number floated above the iron mold when he hit it with his hammer. Then, he kept on beating the iron mold. Two more 15 red number damage floated above the iron mold. When a white light was appearing on the iron mold, Auron quickly hammer on the white light spot. A 15.3 damage appeared after Auron hit the spot. As soon as the white light was getting hit, it disappears. Then, it appears in another place. It was like whack a mole game. However, instead of a mole, the player needed to hit this white light spot. The white light would only appear for a brief until the player hit it or after some time passed. The white light was a particular spot. When the blacksmith hit the place, the iron mold would take increased damage. The increased damage depended on the blacksmith''s luck attributes. Just like the strength and agility attributes, each 100 points on luck would increase the blacksmith''s damage by 1%. As Auron had a little over 200 luck attribute, then he got 2% increased damage. The white light would only appear when the iron mold''s temperature bar passed over 75%. If not, the white light would not appear at all. As the temperature bar kept on going down when the iron mold was out of the furnace, the player would need to put back the iron mold inside the furnace to raise its temperature once again. There were three conditions for this mini-game to over which were the time limit was over, all of the iron mold''s health bar already emptied, and the player chose to quit. Just like the number of material and grade it needed, the blueprint''s grade also determined the mini-game time limit and the iron mold''s health bar. For a common grade blueprint, the time limit would be one hour, and the iron mold would only have one health bar. Meanwhile, for the uncommon grade blueprint, the time limit would be two hours, and the iron mold would have two health bars. A rare grade blueprint would give the blacksmith three hours and three health bars. As for the epic grade blueprint, it would give the player four hours time limit and four health bars and so on. The number of health bars also showed the grade of the resulted item. When a player emptied one of the iron mold''s health bar, then the produced item would be a common grade equipment. If said player took two of the iron mold''s health bars, then the resulted item would be an uncommon grade equipment. Unfortunately, if a player could not empty even one of the iron mold''s health bar, then the system would consider the blacksmithing process as a failure. No item produced, but the materials and blueprint used in the blacksmithing process would be gone. Auron kept on hammering the iron mold on the anvil. He would try his best to hit the white light that appeared randomly. When the iron mold''s temperature bar dropped below 75%, Auron would put the iron mold inside the furnace to heat it again. This hammering and heating of the iron mold were repeated over and over again. Until more than 30 minutes later, the iron mold''s health dropped to 3%. There was still 30 minutes before the time limit was over, and there was only 3% of the iron mold''s health left. There was no way Auron would fail to make this sword. And, it turned out to be true. A few minutes later, Auron finished his hammering and successfully made the sword. Chapter 213 - Blacksmith Insignia (4) Dang. Dang. Dang. A hammering sound resounded in the examination room. Auron was still on the process of hammering the iron mold. A little bit more, and he would finish beating the iron mold. Sure enough, after 5 minutes, he finished emptying the iron mold''s health bar. As soon as the iron''s mold health bar hit zero, a blinding light shone from the iron mold. It was just for a short moment before the light disappeared. When the light had gone entirely, the iron mold had gone, and nobody could not see the trace of iron mold. In return, at the place where the iron mold should be, there was another item that took its place. It was a sword. When the hammering process had ended, the iron mold who had ''died'' would magically transform into an equipment the same as the blueprint. If the blueprint were a sword, then the iron mold would turn into a sword. If it were an armor, then the iron mold would become an armor. [Common Sword] (Common grade weapon) Type: Sword Requirement: level 5 Class: Swordsman Attack: 5 - 10 Effect: Don''t have high hope! It just an ordinary sword!! Created by Sword Of Life. Auron took the sword and scrutinized it. At the bottom of the sword''s description, there was his character name printed on it. Then, he looked at the other information. Since he was using a common grade blueprint, He would get a common grade item as a result. It was no surprise for him. For a piece of crafted equipment, the basic attribute and requirement of the equipment would be the same as a piece of ordinary equipment with the same grade. If said equipment needed a player to reach level five, then the crafted equipment would also have the same requirement. What made it different from the ordinary equipment was the additional attributes you could gain through the material. However, to obtain the additional attributes for a crafted equipment was easier said than done. The blacksmith would gain an additional attribute for his equipment depending on the ratio between the iron mold''s health the blacksmith depleted with the maximum health bar an iron mold with the highest grade could possess. Since the highest grade equipment right now was a mythic, then the iron mold would have seven health bars. Meanwhile, the additional attribute a crafted piece of equipment would receive was depending on the ratio of the iron mold''s health that gone and seven health bars. For example, all of the material''s attributes combined gave an iron mold that would give 50 strength and 30 vitality. If a blacksmith could empty three and a half health bars during the hammering process, then the crafted equipment would receive 350% divided with 700%, which equals 0.5 of the attributes given. Then, the resulted piece of equipment would only get half of the iron mold''s additional attributes, which equivalent to 25 strength and 15 vitality. An important thing to note was the blueprint used would limit the crafted equipment''s max grade. Which means a common blueprint would only give 0.14 of the iron mold''s additional attributes. Auron looked at the sword he crafted. Sure enough, the sword didn''t have any additional attributes. Before, he only got an iron mold that gave three strength and one vitality. If both numbers were multiplied by 0.14, then it would result in 0.42 strength and 0.14 vitality. Since the numbers were not in integers, then the system would round down the number to the nearest integer. After rounding down to the nearest integers, the previous iron mold''s Auron worked on would give him 0 strength and 0 vitality. Hence, he would not get any additional attributes in this work. It was not surprising to not get an additional attribute when working with a common grade blueprint. It was because a common grade blueprint would only give a low percentage number for the extra attributes. If the blacksmith wanted to, he could achieve an additional attribute when creating using a common grade blueprint. But, to accomplish that, he should use higher-grade materials only to gain a little portion from it. There would be no one who wanted to use a higher-grade material for a common grade blueprint. That was why there was no common grade crafted equipment that would give additional attributes since it would only be a waste. Auron took his crafted sword and gave it to the examiner. The examiner had already seen Auron''s process of making it. And, he knew that Auron had the experience, so he didn''t need to examine the sword and directly nodded. Then, he gave Auron the sword and a piece of paper that contained his exam result. Auron bade the examiner a goodbye and went back to the receptionist before to get his blacksmith insignia. After getting his blacksmith insignia, a notification appeared for Auron. [Congratulations! You have passed the test and get Blacksmith as your side class. Now, you are a Beginner Blacksmith] [You have received Blacksmith''s eyes skill and portable crafting equipment] Auron gained a [Blacksmith''s eyes] ability and his portable crafting equipment. As mentioned before, the [Blacksmith''s eyes] skill''s function was to see the material''s attributes. Auron also got mobile crafting equipment. The mobile crafting equipment consisted of furnace, hammer, and anvil. Auron could use the portable crafting equipment to craft anywhere. Of course, if he crafted in the middle of a dungeon and got attacked by the monster, it would cancel his crafting process and immediately failed. The blacksmith insignia was bound to Auron. He could not trade it or dropped it, but he could choose to destroy it. However, if Auron destroyed the insignia, he would lose his blacksmith side class and had to start over from the start. The blacksmith insignia was also a tool to differentiate between a blacksmith and the others. The blacksmith could use the insignia to get a discount when buying in all of the blacksmith guild. As a beginner blacksmith, Auron would get a 10% discount when he was purchasing material or blueprint in the blacksmith guild Chapter 214 - Blacksmith Insignia (5) [Sword of Life''s Blacksmith Insignia] (non-grade item) Type: License Level: Beginner Blacksmith (0/1000) Crafting Point: 0 Class: All Class Description: A proof that Sword of Life deserves to be a blacksmith. Show this badge for a 10% discount for all items in Blacksmith''s guild''s store and its branches. Bound to Sword of Life After becoming a blacksmith, there were two important things to note which were Blacksmith''s crafting point and Blacksmith''s experience point. The blacksmith insignia recorded these two things, and anyone could see it in the description. The blacksmith could use the blacksmith''s crafting point to buy material or blueprint in the blacksmith guild''s store. So, instead of gold currency, the blacksmith guild''s store only accepted crafting points. For the blacksmith''s experience point, it was a must if they wanted to upgrade their level. There was an experience bar that they needed to fill. When the blacksmith already filled the experience bar, they could apply for an advancement examination. When a blacksmith successfully craft an item, the system would reward them with crafting points and experience points. The point they earned would depend on the item''s grade they managed to make. A common grade item would reward the blacksmith with one experience point and one crafting point. An uncommon grade item would give them two experience points and two crafting points. For a rare grade item, it would provide the blacksmith three experience points and three crafting points and so on. When the blacksmiths already filled all the experience point he needed, they would not get any experience point. However, they would still get the crafting points. To gain the experience point again, they needed to empty the experience point. And, there was only one way to empty the experience point, which was to advance to the next level. When they advance to the next level, they could gain experience once more. And also, the advanced blacksmith would get more benefits such as they could buy more items in the blacksmith guild''s store. They also got a -10% of the iron mold''s health buff. A higher level also was one of the requirements to upgrade the [Blacksmith''s eyes] skill. Unfortunately, they could not always craft a common grade item to gain the points. When they advance to the next level, the experience point and the crafting point they won will decrease by one. So, when a blacksmith advanced to the intermediate blacksmith level, they would gain nothing from crafting a common grade equipment. They needed to craft a minimum of uncommon grade items successfully. The blacksmith could still craft the common grade equipment; it just that they would not get any experience and crafting point from it. However, they still got the equipment they craft and could sell it for money. The system implemented this rule to ensure that the blacksmith would strive to surpass their limits. Auron took out an item from his inventory and tried out the [Blacksmith''s eyes] skill. He could only use the [Blacksmith''s eyes] skill on a miscellaneous type item. When he looked out the item without using the ability, there was only a description of the item. However, when he used the skill on the item, he could see additional information in it. There was additional info about the three attributes that the item provide. However, right now, Auron could only inspect a common grade item using the skill. He needed to upgrade the skill first before he could see the additional info on the higher grade item. And, to enhance the skill, Auron required to buy the skill book for it. Fortunately, he could buy the skill book in the blacksmith''s guild''s store using the crafting points. Moreover, the blacksmith''s guild''s store sold the skill book up to mythic grade level. Of course, it was not cheap. To upgrade the skill, Auron needed to follow the rule when he improved ordinary skill. So, from level one to ten, he would need a common grade skill book with the correct number. Then, from level 11 to 20, he would need uncommon skill books, and so on. Auron kept his insignia inside his inventory. He already finished what he needed to do with the blacksmith guild. However, there was still one thing left to do. The main reason he took another chance to get the side class was to see how his ''cheat'' could help him. Auron controlled his swordsman character and went to his mage character''s place. When he had arrived, he moved to his mage character and commanded the swordsman to start crafting the equipment. When he managed to pass the entrance exam, the guild gave him ten common grade blueprints as rewards and first ration. The swordsman started to craft the item. Meanwhile, Auron, who was in his mage character, observed his swordsman''s doing. The swordsman continued to craft equipment. One by one, the swordsman successfully created the equipment. After ten tries, Auron concluded several things. The AI actually could success in all of the attempts. It was because the crafting process was simple. Moreover, it was only a common grade blueprint. Unfortunately, Auron dissatisfied with the AI''s performance in the material selection phase. The AI could not pick the best material and randomly chose the material. It made the making process was not stable. Some were fast, but some near the time limit. Auron didn''t know whether this was a prevention of his exploitation intended by the system. Or, it was just because his level was low, which made the AI''s intelligence low. However, he was satisfied with the overall performance, so he went out and bought several common blueprints for the AI to craft again. A common grade blueprint was cheap because its goal was to attract more blacksmith. One crafting points could buy three common grade blueprints. After buying all the stuff, Auron finished all of his swordsman preparation. Now, he checked his mage''s preparation for the operation. When Auron was satisfied with all of the preparation, he went out to the meeting point and left his swordsman with the crafting. Chapter 215 - Demonic Stick (1) Auron arrived at the meeting point, and there was still no one came yet. He looked at the time. There were still 30 minutes before the scheduled time. Since there was nothing to do, Auron decided to wait. During his wait, Auron began tried to remember the battle before. As this operation was about the demonic stick, he believed there was a high chance that a demonic monster would involve in this operation. He sat down and began to close both of his eyes. Auron tried to remember how Julia''s and her teammate fight Bleamen. He also tried to replicate how Julia''s way of handling her spells. The time kept on ticking. One by one, the members from his squad and other squads came. Auron was in a meditative state when a sudden shout woke him up, "Good morning, leader!!" It was none other than Yonta. He was very bright and cheerful like he didn''t have a burden in his life. Auron, who was waking from his meditative state, could not help but reply to the greetings, "Good morning." After replying to Yonta''s greeting, Auron looked at his surroundings. And, it turned out, all of his team members already came. When the members arrived, they also wanted to greet Auron. However, when they saw Auron was closing his eyes, they thought that Auron was sleeping. They didn''t want to disturb Auron''s sleeping and waited until the scheduled time before waking him up. However, Yonta, who was the last to come, was insensitive enough to no thinking like what the others were thinking. When Yonta arrived and saw Auron, he immediately walked towards Auron cheerfully and greeted him in a high spirit. Since Auron had woke up, the others began to salute him one by one. All of them except one person, Lisk. The silent thief acted like he used to operate. He just stood there and looking at the crowds who surrounds Auron. When Auron finished replying to the others'' greetings, he found out that Lisk was not one of them. Auron looked out to find where Lisk was. Then, he found Lisk not far from there looking at him. Lisk, who saw Auron was looking at him, nodded his head. Auron, who was about to come to Lisk, saw Lisk''s nodded. So, he stopped his track and replied, Lisk''s nodded with another nodded. He knew there were many types of people in this world. Some people were outgoing like Yonta. But, there was also the opposite type, like Lisk. Auron didn''t take it to his heart. He began to do his duty as the leader. He checked his squad members'' belonging one by one and distributed the ransom that the military had already provide. He checked the member''s belonging to confiscated the prohibited item for a military operation, such as [Return Scroll]. Auron checked the member''s belonging thoroughly. Fortunately, he found nothing prohibited, so he didn''t have to do anything. Then, he told his members to group together and distributed the military''s ransom one by one. When he finished all of that, Lieutenant Kajo, alongside the colonels, arrived at the scene. Without any command from the Lieutenant, all of the colonels spread out and found a place. The others knew what this means as they began to walk to their assigned colonel. Auron and the other squad''s leader began to walk to Colonel Scud and began reporting. When Colonel Scud found nothing amiss, it was his turned to check the leader''s belonging. The colonel also found nothing wrong, and he finished his checking session and reported back to the Lieutenant. One by one, the colonel began to report back to the Lieutenant about their respective teams. When all of the colonels finished their reports, Lieutenant Kajo started to talk. He briefed all of them briefly. When Lieutenant Kajo had done with all of the briefing, he commanded all of the troops, "Okay, let us set out to destroy the demonic stick! Go!" With that command, all of the teams began to walk in an orderly manner. They walked without destroying the formation. Their speed was not fast but also not slow. Their destination was the village where Auron fought the Fourth Prince. All of them teleport using the teleportation gate. As the troops'' destination''s village had no teleportation gate, they could not teleport directly to the village. That was why Lieutenant Kajo chose the nearest town to their destination village. From that town, Lieutenant Kajo, alongside his troops, began to walk to the village on foot. This entire journey took them about 5 hours. Fortunately, during their trip, there was no attack from the Regalia''s spy or the nearby monster. After around 5 hours of walk, they arrived in the vicinity of the demonic sticks. There were still quite some distances between their place and the village. The location of the demonic sticks was not inside the village but outside the village. It was because when Chaotic Death used the demonic stick, he was in his way chasing the Fourth Prince. The troops could feel the demonic aura kept on coming from the sticks. The demonic aura caused the area several meters from the stick void of life. The demonic aura caused the plant to wither and the soil to dry. It also kept nearby monsters from coming near the demonic sticks. However, Auron felt that the demonic aura which was coming out from the sticks somewhat weaker than the demonic aura coming from Bleamen. He knew that the demonic aura would not stay this thin all the time. With enough time, the demonic aura would grow stronger. And, when the aura was strong enough, it would summon a new demonic monster. Lieutenant Kajo began to observe the area. Beside him were the ten colonels. There was nothing wrong with the field except the demonic aura. There were no enemies spotted, no monster spotted, and there was only one demonic stick. However, he didn''t know how dangerous was this little single demonic stick was. Chapter 216 - Demonic Stick (2) There was no movement from the enemy''s spies as well as the demonic stick. However, the armies didn''t dare to move without Lieutenant Kajo''s command. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Kajo kept on observing the demonic stick and found nothing weird about it, except the demonic aura. He didn''t know what would the demonic aura do to them. However, Lieutenant Kajo could not keep on staying like this forever. He needed to make a move. After all, they could not destroy the stick by just looking at it. "Secure the perimeter!" Lieutenant Kajo began his command. Several colonels followed the command and led their group circled the area, outside the demonic aura range. They secure the north, west, east, and south location from the demonic stick. "Attack team, prepare to move. Advance slowly!" Lieutenant Kajo began the attack. Six colonels began to lead their group and slowly advanced while maintaining their alerts. And, Auron belonged to this group. They slowly moved that it took them three minutes to arrive at the demonic aura border. They didn''t know what the demonic aura would do to them. However, they braved themselves and moved on. When Auron got in contact with the demonic aura, a notification appeared. [You are under the effect of demonic''s aura] [Your resistance is insufficient, failed to resist.] [All of your attributes decreased by 30%] Auron began to feel weak due to the demonic aura. His attributes dropped by 30% from their original state. It was better than what had they imagined. At first, the armies thought that the demonic aura would damage them over time, like a poisoned status. However, compared to a poisoned state, this was better. What they didn''t know was the demonic aura still thin, so their attributes only dropped by 30%. If the demonic aura was denser, they could lose up to 90% of their attributes. When they got in contact with the demonic aura, there was still no sign of movement from the demonic stick. Colonel Scud, who was up at the front, looked back and saw Lieutenant Kajo. He signed Lieutenant Kajo and waited for his confirmation. Lieutenant Kajo nodded and gave his acceptance. Then, Colonel Scud eyeing the other and communicate using their eyes. The other colonels nodded their heads and began to spread. There was still no movement from the demonic stick. If not because of the demonic aura coming out from it, then they would think that it was just an ordinary weird stick. The advanced armies maintained their alerts. They moved closer and closer to the demonic stick. As the armies were closer to the demonic stick, they raised their vigilance towards the rod. However, to their contrary, the demonic stick didn''t do anything to them and just kept on releasing the demonic aura. All of them were confused, but they still did their job correctly and kept on advancing. It took the armies ten minutes to arrive at the demonic stick location. During that time, the demonic stick didn''t launch any attack at them. Colonel Scud, who took the lead, raised his hand and told the armies to stop. He looked back at Lieutenant Kajo, who replied to him with a nodded. Colonel Scud was eyeing to the squad''s leader next to Auron. The squad''s leader nodded and took his team and moved to the demonic stick. They whispered to each other and took formation. The healer at the back and the others prepared to attack. Before the squad attack, the squad''s leader looked once more to Colonel Scud. Colonel Scud looked at the other colonels as well as other squad''s leader in his group and told them to prepare their support when there was something wrong. All of the other teams had begun to prepare themselves, including Auron''s. Auron arranged his squad the same, just like the other squads. The healer and ranged damage dealer were at the back while the melee damage dealer at the front. When all of the squads had already finished their preparation, Colonel Scud looked back at the assigned squad to begin his attack. The squad''s leader began to count down and wanted to launch their attack at the same time. All of the other soldiers'' eyes were looked at them, including the soldiers who were stationed at the perimeter. When the assigned squad''s leader finished counting down, they immediately launched their attack at the same time. Several attacks were poured down at the demonic stick. The focused enough that it made as if the attack moved very slowly. Boom. Boom. Several damage floated above the demonic sticks. Then, a health bar showed above the demonic stick. The health bar was not full. Instead, it only had 99% of its bar filled. After the attack stopped, they looked at the demonic stick. Still, there was no sign of movement or retaliation from the demonic stick. Because of that, the armies began another series of attacks at the demonic stick. The six colonels began to attack the sticks. The attack kept on coming and at the demonic stick. But, the health bar went down slowly. However, since there was no counter-attack from the demonic stick, they kept on attacking. Several seconds passed by, there was no sign of anything weird with the demonic stick. With the combined attack of the six colonels and their group, the demonic sticks had 98% of its health. And, there was still no changed to the demonic sticks. Another minute passed by, they began to feel changes. However, it was not a bad thing that happened. Instead, it was better. The surrounding demonic aura began to go thinner and thinner, which made their attribute oppression became weaker. With the armies regained some of their attributes back, their attack became stronger than before. These changes lifted their spirit, they began to pour out their all-out attacks. The demonic stick''s health began to reduced quicker. However, their fun had to come to an end. When the demonic aura had thinned enough, the demonic stick began to make a move and used a shield that surrounds it. Chapter 217 - Demonic Stick (3) A dark reddish protective shield began to envelop the demonic stick. The guard was so red as if it was made of blood. Below the demonic stick''s health bar, there was another green bar showed up. It was the bar shield bar. The armies had to empty this green bar first before they could start reducing the health bar once again. Fortunately, the demonic aura had thinned enough. Although it was not gone, but the demonic aura only reduced 10% of their attributes. "Keep on attacking!" Colonel Scud commanded the army. The demonic stick''s shield didn''t really surprise the colonel. There were a lot of monsters out there that had the same ability to produce a shield. Although the demonic stick used a shield, it still didn''t launch any other attack at the army. The army began to launch their attack at the shield. As time passed by, the protection reduced at high speed. However, because the shield''s health was a lot, and it also reduced incoming damage by 10%, the shield still stood up looking strong. Lieutenant Kajo, who oversaw the condition on the battlefield, began to move. As he didn''t see any movement or danger from the stick and the surrounding, he moved quickly. He joined the attacking team to attack the shield together. With Lieutenant Kajo''s strength, the shield dropped faster. Five minutes after the shield was up, the shield''s bar only had 10% of its health left. Sure enough, after several seconds, the demonic stick''s shield crumbled, and its health began to reduce. With Lieutenant Kajo''s help, the demonic stick''s health began to decrease quickly. Right now, the demonic monster has 90% of its health left, and it is still going down. After another five minutes passed, the demonic monster had 85% of its health. But before it could go down another percent, the demonic stick used up its shield ability once more. Lieutenant Kajo, who saw this immediately, shouted, "Keep on going, we will destroy this shield once more!" The shield bar began to deplete instead of the health bar. However, before this situation could go long enough, the ground started to shake. Although the shake was not strong, but all of the people in the area could feel it. Lieutenant Kajo began to frown. Sure enough, everything would not always go as they wanted. He commanded, "Enemies incoming! Perimeter team, prepare to receive them!" "The others kept on attacking this damn stick." Lieutenant Kajo shouted while brandishing his ax towards the sticks. The perimeter team who was idling before began to move out and prepared to receive the incoming attack. The ground-shaking became stronger than before, which mean the enemy was close. "Kept on going!" Colonel Scud and the other colonels commanded their own teams. The demonic stick''s shield crumbled once more. Its health began to reduce. Just several seconds after the shield crumbled, a shocking situation occurred to them. Ordinary monster began coming from all of the directions and stomped their way towards the demonic sticks. The armies who were between the incoming monster and the stick could not help and put up their weapon and started to defend themselves. Not all of the incoming monster was strong. The monsters had a variate level among them. And, they also had different grade among them. But, one thing for sure was that all of the incoming monster was from the surrounding area. What they didn''t know was that this wave of monsters was the result of the demonic stick''s ability. It had already used its two skills as soon as it got attacked. The first skill was the shield that everyone had seen. The shield reduced the incoming damage by 10% and also had 100 times of its max health. However, it was not the strong point about this shield ability. What made this shield skill different from the other was the cooldown time. The shield lasted for 10 minutes, and it also had 10 minutes cooldown. In other words, the demonic stick could use the shield as soon as the time was up. If the attacking team could not destroy the protection under 10 minutes, then the demonic stick was unbeatable. Furthermore, there was its second skill. When the demonic monster got attacked, outside the shield, it also unleashed a scent. For humans, they could not distinguish the smell from the other scents. However, for monsters, the scent was like some kind of aphrodisiacs to them. When they smelled the scent, it would drive them unrest. And made the monsters, who inhaled it, went nuts. The smell made them wanted to find the source and pounced on it. Fortunately, the smell could not go as far as 10 kilometers from the sticks. Although the demonic stick could not attack, but with these two abilities, it could protect its life. Its purpose was to prolong its life using the shield and drive the enemies away using the monsters. And, that was what happened here. Although the monster''s strength was not an issue for the armies, their quantity made it looked terrible. The perimeter team began to fight with their full power. They could slay the monster quick enough. However, the monster kept on coming like an endless wave. The quantity overwhelms them. Lieutenant Kajo began to instruct two colonels who were attacking the demonic sticks to help the perimeter teams. With reduced manpower, the demonic stick''s health decreased slowly. The demonic stick''s health stuck at 83% before it used its shield once again. The shield reduced slowly, and by calculation, the shield would not go down in 10 minutes. Sure enough, after 10 minutes, the demonic stick''s shield renewed and went back to full. They failed to reduce the demonic stick''s health this time. Meanwhile, the perimeter teams also had difficulty facing the endless wave of monsters. Some of the monsters even managed to pass them and disturbed the attacking team. The situation turned worse. Lieutenant Kajo was thinking hard to solve this situation, or else this situation would go endless. It would also tire them out. Chapter 218 - Demonic Stick (4) "Ignore the stick! All troops attack the incoming monster!" Lieutenant Kajo decided to ignore the stick. The armies lacked firepower. They could not even pass the shield protection. So, it would be a waste of time to try to destroy the demonic stick. The soldiers changed their target to the incoming monster. With these new helps, the armies managed to secure order. They slew a lot of monsters and kept them from trespassing them. Time ticking by, no monster could get through them. There were several bunches of loots scattered around the area. Each second passed by, several blue light would emerge from the monster''s carcasses. Then, it would split into several smaller blue light and go to several different individuals. Unfortunately, the experience point Auron gained was not that much. Some strong monsters gave a tremendous amount of experience to the armies. However, most of the monsters was a weak monster. Moreover, the experience point Auron gained would be split among his squads. Not to mention, if there was another squad involve in killing the monsters. The experience point from that monster would be divided into the two teams and spread to each of its members. However, just like the proverb, a penny saved is a penny earned. Slowly but surely, the amount of experience Auron gained enough for him to achieve a level. Lieutenant Kajo led the troops to slay the incoming monsters. Lieutenant Kajo and the colonels performed amazingly. The amount of monsters killed by them was slightly less than the number of monsters killed by the other soldiers combined. If there was a rank on the number of monster kill, then Lieutenant Kajo would top the chart. Each time he swung his ax, several monsters had a critical condition, even death. And, that was just from the result of several basic attacks. When he used his skill, the area damage he produced would wipe out all of the monsters in the area. All of the colonels also had their own contribution to the battle, especially Colonel Scud. Although his kill count was the least among the other colonels, the monsters he killed was a lot better than others in terms of quality. Colonel Scud would select his target carefully and killed them. Many of his victims were the strong monster or the boss grade monster. The number of casualties on the monster side kept on rising. At the same time, the number of casualties in the armies was only a single digit. As time ticks by, the massacre continues. The kill count on the monster kept on rising until, at some point, the number of monsters seems reduced. Before, when they killed a monster, then another monster would pop out and filled the spot. However, right now, after they killed a monster, it took several seconds before another monster filled the place. This thing showed that the number of the monster could not keep up with the massacre. In other words, the spawn rate of the monster could not keep up with the killings. "Keep going! The monster''s number becomes scarce," Lieutenant Kajo shouted. And, just like what Lieutenant Kajo had said, after several minutes, the monster''s number had gone back to normal. There were still monsters that kept on coming at them, but the number was few. It looked like as soon as the game spawn them, they immediately went to the stick. "Leave the monster to the perimeter team! The other team came back to hit the stick once more!" Lieutenant Kajo gave another command. Since the number of monsters had become few, Lieutenant Kajo felt that the perimeter team could handle them. So, he reverted his strategy to the previous one and started attacking the demonic stick once more. Lieutenant Kajo went back to the stick. When he arrived at the stick and saw it, he immediately whispered, "Just as I thought!" Lieutenant Kajo saw the shield was in full health. However, that was not the thing that made him whispered previously. Instead, it was because of the demonic stick''s health. When Lieutenant Kajo commanded his soldiers to ignore the stick, he saw that the demonic stick only had 83% of his health left. However, right now, the demonic stick had 98% of its health. Sure enough, it was because of the regeneration capability of the demonic stick. It was not a surprise since Lieutenant Kajo had already deduced it from the combination of skills it had. However, facing it in reality still made him annoyed. "Quick! Attack it immediately!" Lieutenant Kajo commanded quickly. With that one command, the attack teams started to unleash their attack once more. The demonic stick''s shield started to shake once more because of the attack. When the demonic stick''s shied destroyed, they maximized their damage and tried to reduce the health as quickly as possible. However, there was no significant difference compared with their previous speed. Each time the shield crumbled, they could reduce 5 - 8% of the demonic stick''s health before it renewed the protection. One different thing was the fact that there was no outsider monster interfere with their progress. With no interference, they could safely attack the demonic stick. However, they still maintained their vigilance. From time to time, Lieutenant Kajo kept on reminding them to keep their alert. He didn''t want to be caught off guard when they were attacking the demonic stick. With a timely reminder, the armies watched on the lookout while reducing the demonic stick''s health. Five seconds... Thirty seconds... One minute... Five minutes. The time kept on going as they kept on attacking the stick. The shield didn''t even could keep them from attacking. Soon, the demonic stick had 30% of its health left. It kept on got beaten without retaliating. The demonic stick kept on renewing its shield before being destroyed. And, its aphrodisiacs scent could only attract a few monsters. It could only wait for its death. In a forest near the battle, a pair of eyes looked at the fight that was going on. Chapter 219 - Demonic Stick (5) "Keep on going! 18% more!" Colonel Scud shouted. The soldiers were in high spirits. They were happy that this mission would end soon. It was not as dangerous as it seems. Previously, they were nervous when ordinary monsters surrounded them. However, after they managed to drive the monster away, everything seems back to normal. And, soon, the mission would be over. How could the soldiers were not happy? 18%... 17%... 16%... "Maintain your vigilance!!" Lieutenant Kajo still reminded them. When the demonic stick had 12% of its health, it renewed its shield once more. However, it did not stop the soldiers'' happiness. Instead, it drove the soldiers madly to finish as soon as possible. It didn''t take that long for the shield to crumble. With the colonel and Lieutenant Kajo helping the damage, the protection quickly crumbled. Without its shield, the demonic stick''s health began to decrease once more. This time, the soldiers were quite lucky. Many of them produced critical damage, which quickly chunk some part of the demonic stick''s health. With 4% of its health left, the demonic stick used its shield ability once more. By calculation, this should be its last time to use the shield. After this shield crumbled, the demonic stick should be death, and the mission would be over. The shield''s health bar began to decrease. "Don''t stop! Obliterate this stick!" One of the colonels shouted. And, the fated time for the demonic stick had come. Its last shield crumbled. "Now! Use your full power!" The same colonel encouraged the others to hurry up. "Huh? What''s that?" The colonel, who was assigned to the perimeter team at the northern side, wondered. From far away, the colonel saw a silhouette that was coming to his direction. At first, the silhouette was walking with its two feet. Then, in the next second, the silhouette began running with high speed. It was so fast that the silhouette looked like teleporting. "Enemy''s spy! Prepare to receive the attack!" The colonel warned his teams. When the soldiers heard their colonel speaking, they began to shift their sight and looked at the silhouette. It was just a single silhouette. They looked out at the surroundings and found no one helping this silhouette. One thing appeared in many of the soldier''s thoughts, ''A suicidal person.'' However, contrary to what they were thinking, the silhouette gave them a surprise. Its speed was so quick that in no time, the silhouette already arrived at the soldier in the front line. The soldier was still busy fighting against a monster. As soon as the silhouette arrived, it didn''t give a chance for the soldier to run or put up a fight. The silhouette immediately launched his attack and penetrating both the monster and the soldier. The monster instantly died due to the attack. Fortunately, the soldier didn''t die since the monster had reduced the attack. However, he still in critical condition. "Argghh!!" The soldier who was attacked shouted in pain. However, the attacker didn''t give time to the soldier to beg. The attacker directly launched another attack and finished the soldier. After the soldier died, the attacker smiled widely and began to move to another soldier. The pained shout from the soldier garnered everyone''s attention. They looked at the attacker, and a weird feeling surfaced inside them. What they saw was not a human despite it stood on its two feet. The soldiers saw a creature with a horn on its head. It also had a round head with most of it was covered in fur. Moreover, it also had a long tail that wagging around. It jumped actively to the left and right as if it was excited. "Stop that thing!" The colonel shouted. The colonel''s shout snapped the soldier from their shocked. However, it was too late. The soldier who was being targetted next by the creature could not react in time and suffered a miserable death. "Fight in a formation! Don''t fight alone!" The colonel shouted a command. The creature was too quick. After killing a soldier, it moved to another soldier. A series of shout began to be heard in the area. After twelve soldiers'' death, that the situation started under control. The soldiers already formed a formation and made the creature hard to assassinate them. Since the creature had a difficult time to kill the soldier in this end, it looked at another place, the demonic stick''s spot. Then, it widely grinned and zoomed to that place. Fortunately, the colonel had already read the creature''s mind. The first time the creature looked away from them, the colonel had began to move to block the creature. And, it turned out the colonel''s decision was correct. He could manage to prevent the creature from advancing. The soldiers who were a step late could also regain their place because of the colonel''s decisive decision. They surrounded the creature who was trying to getaway. Its power was not a joke. Fortunately, the soldiers were also not weak. With the equipment provided by the kingdom and their formation training, the soldiers managed to block the creature''s advancement. The soldier''s training bore fruit. When the attacked soldier was attacked and blown several meters back, the other soldiers immediately covered the spot. They didn''t let the creature killed the soldier. The creature tried to get away from its left, a group of soldiers blocked him. Then, it tried to get away through its back. However, it was futile, another group of soldiers blocked him. The creature tried hard to escape this cage. "Quick! It moves to your way! Blocked it!" A squad''s leader shouted. "It moves to your place! Don''t let it get away," Another squad''s leader shouted. "Heal the injured!" Meanwhile, at the demonic stick''s spot, Lieutenant Kajo and the attacking team still attacking the demonic stick. It only had a sliver of its health left. The commotion that took place at their northern side began to slip into their attention. Lieutenant Kajo and the colonels looked at the confusion and found the creature. Chapter 220 - Monchi (1) Lieutenant Kajo saw the creature. A horn on its head with fur covered all over its body and face. The creature was so weird that it was the first time Lieutenant Kajo saw a creature like this. He frowned. This creature''s appearance was so similar to a human. What made it different from ordinary humans were it had a long tail and furs covered all over its body. There was also a horned between its round ear. This creature was so unique that Lieutenant Kajo assumed this was the said demonic monster. However, he didn''t immediately chase the monster. Instead, he shouted a command, "Keep attacking! A little bit more!" Lieutenant Kajo didn''t forget his first goal to destroy the demonic stick. So, instead of attacking the demonic monster, Lieutenant Kajo ordered his troops to demolish the stick first. Meanwhile, the demonic monster, who was surrounded by the soldiers, looked grim. He thought that it would be easy for him to pick off some of the humans here while they were busy fending off the other monster. It turned out what the demonic monster had thought, proved to be wrong. The demonic monster was trapped. From far away, it saw the demonic stick was also on its deathbed. When the demonic stick died, it would be its turn, if it could not escape. The demonic stick''s aphrodisiac''s scent didn''t have any effect on the demonic monster. If ordinary monsters breathed it in, then they would lose their minds and go crazy. However, the demonic monster still kept its sanity, which was why the demonic monster tried to escape. The demonic monster tried to escape the encirclement before the demonic stick died. However, it was not easy to run away. The soldiers kept their full attention to him. When he tried to escape from the left side, there would be soldiers who blocked him. He tried several ways to escape. However, all of his effort was futile. With no other way to run away, the demonic monster used his trump card. A sudden flux of demonic aura emerged from its body. The soldiers who surrounded him became nervous. Meanwhile, Auron, who was at the demonic stick, launched [Flame Lance] spell on the demonic stick. Severals other spells and attacks also launched at the demonic stick by other soldiers. With that wave of attack, the demonic stick started to crack. A crack appeared on its ball pointed eye-like head, and that crack went further to the bottom of the stick. Then, the demonic stick split into two and fell. Finally, the demonic stick met died. Auron looked over, and there was no loot appearing. On the ground, there was only a stick that had been split into two, which slowly fade away. As soon as the demonic stick died out, the surrounding demonic aura slowly fade away. The oppressed feeling also fades away with the disappearance of the demonic aura. The ordinary monster who went crazy because of the aphrodisiacs also regained their sanity back. Unfortunately for some of them, they regained their sanity when they were closed to the soldiers. As soon as they regained their sanity again, the soldiers already launched their attack on them and killed them. Meanwhile, the fortunate one, fleed as soon as they regained their sanity back. The armies had achieved their goals. However, it was not over yet. Since Lieutenant Kajo spotted the demonic monster, he directly looked at the demonic monster as soon as the demonic stick died. Then, he pointed and shouted another command, "Everyone! Don''t let that demonic monster escape!" The other soldiers looked in the direction where Lieutenant Kajo pointed at. Since they were so focused on their task, only a few of them managed to notice the strange creature''s presence. When the oblivious soldiers saw that creature, they had the same shock expression as the other soldiers. However, their shock didn''t last long. Lieutenant Kajo and the colonels had already gone over to the demonic monster''s place. The soldiers put away their shock feeling and chase the lieutenant. All of the soldiers immediately went to the demonic monster. Since the west, south, and east perimeter team had finished killing the monsters at their place, they also quickly followed the Lieutenant to the demonic monster''s location. Around 600 soldiers went to the demonic monster''s location. Auron saw the demonic monster as well. He found out that the demonic monster this time was different from Bleamen. This demonic monster was more human compared to Bleamen. Moreover, its height was taller than Bleamen. "A new demonic monster has appeared." Auron thought. Based on the forums, there were 13 types of demonic monsters, and Auron had seen two of them in two days. "This demonic monster should have different skills and power compared to Bleamen, right?" Auron could not help but had this thought. As soon as Lieutenant Kajo went over to the demonic monster, a quest notification appeared for Auron. [You are forced to accept ''Wanted: Monchi, Dead or Alive!'' quest] Just like what happened when he faced Bleamen, Auron was forced to accept a quest. [Wanted: Monchi, Dead or Alive!] Description: Lieutenant Kajo spotted Monchi. Since he already finish his goal coming here, he would not let this opportunity go away. Help Lieutenant Kajo to kill or capture Monchi. Note: since you are in the military, you have to follow your superior''s order no matter what. If your superiors feel you were neglecting their order or let Monchi escape on purpose, you will face a penalty. Quest Clear Conditions: Monchi is captured or killed. Quest Clear Rewards: Level + 1. If you manage to land the last hit or the one who captures Monchi, you will get bonuses, level + 3, reputation within military rise, and military contribution point + 5000. Quest Failure Punishment: None. But if your superior feel you do not follow their order or let Monchi getaway, you will receive punishment based on your actions. The punishment ranged from reduced in affinity with your superior up to expelled from the military. Chapter 221 - Monchi (2) After reading the quest description, Auron learned that Monchi was the name of the demonic monster. The quest required Auron to help Lieutenant Kajo to capture or kill Monchi. However, Auron knew that this would not be an easy quest. The quest''s rewards were pretty good. Auron would get 1 level directly as soon as the quest was completed. Moreover, there were also bonuses when he was the one who captured or landed the last hit on Monchi. Auron would get an additional three levels. So, in total, Auron would get four levels if he managed to claim the bonuses. He also would get reputation and military contribution points. Furthermore, the situation was different from when he was doing the Bleamen''s quest. Right now, he was not facing Monchi alone. There were around 600 soldiers that were fighting Monchi with him. And, they could not defy their superior''s order, or they would get punished. Moreover, as all of them were from the military, their equipment was decent. When Auron was facing Bleamen, there were many players in the area. However, each of them had their agenda, which made their cooperation worse. Their equipment and level were also worse than the soldiers here. With all of them following the lieutenant''s order, this time, Auron''s teammate was more reliable than when he faced Bleamen. Auron led his team and followed the step of Lieutenant Kajo. Demonic aura was spreading in the area. However, this demonic aura not from the demonic stick since it had already died. Instead, the demonic aura was from Monchi, who was using his trump card. This demonic aura was also different from the demonic aura released from the demonic stick. The demonic aura from the demonic stick had some kind of suppressed aura that reduced the surroundings soldiers'' attributes. However, this demonic aura had a different kind of aura that induced fear to the surroundings. This aura made the surroundings soldiers flinched. But, in a few seconds afterward, they managed to regain their composure. The soldiers began started to attack. As soon as they attack, the demonic aura shrouded Monchi and hid him inside it. A second later, the demonic aura dispersed. And, three shadows spread out from the dispersing demonic aura. The shadow''s speed was faster than Monchi, which made the soldiers at the front caught off guard by the three shadows. Fortunately, the soldiers at the back could see the shadow and tried to block it. Three groups each went to the shadow and stopped it. When they figured out what the shadow was, they were stunned. Each of the shadow had Monchi''s appearance. The same exact Monchi''s appearance. One thing popped out at the soldier''s mind, illusion. Some monsters could use illusion skills. But, usually, the illusions produced by the ability had weaker attributes than the original. However, this copy of Monchi had a faster speed than the original. Each of the shadows halted by the groups of soldiers. However, it quickly found another way to escape. The shadows'' destination was the forest nearby. The stunned soldiers tried to block the shadows'' way once more. However, it was too late. With the enhanced speed of the shadows, the soldiers who were one step late could not block the shadow. All of the Monchi''s managed to escape to the forest. Lieutenant Kajo saw the situation and immediately ordered, "Chase it! Don''t let it escape!" The soldiers turned their direction in the direction of the forest. The north perimeter team, who was the closest team to Monchi, was the first team to arrive at the forest. They entered the forest. Not long after, the other soldiers also arrived at the forest. It was challenging to search for a single creature inside this big forest. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. That was why Lieutenant Kajo ordered to divide into smaller groups and spread out. Each squad spread out and went to their own. Auron led his group''s members to the northwest from the place they came in. Auron and his group went inside the forest carefully. When they were deep enough, a sudden scream was heard. The scream was coming from the east of Auron''s group. Then, Auron quickly led his group in the direction of the scream. They rushed to the source of the scream. However, before they could arrive at the scream''s source, another cry was heard. This time, it was from the left direction of the group. Auron and his group changed their path once again. Then, another scream was heard at the south from his group. Auron was confused about how could the demonic monster moved so fast. Auron and his group went to the south part. Another scream sounded from their east. However, this time, Auron didn''t change his direction. He led his group and continued went to the south. Not long after, he finally met with another group who was also nervous. A tired expression could be seen on their faces. Auron asked them what was going on. Finally, he found the answer. One member from the group that Auron met was missing and found dead not long after. And, the culprit was Monchi. It turned out Monchi went to a group of soldiers stealthily. Then, it kidnapped or killed one of the members before ran away. The process was so quick that the group didn''t have any time to react. Due to this, the group maintained their alert to the maximum. However, it was not easy to keep their alert. Moreover, with the pressure from Monchi, it made the group tired quicker. Hence, their tired faces. Auron thought for a bit before a sudden rustle sound was heard nearby. Both Auron''s group and the group he met immediately looked at the source of the sound. They didn''t find anything before another scream was heard. Auron and his group looked at the source of the sound. They saw Monchi was hanging upside down on the tree''s branch using his long tail. In its hand was another soldier from the group Auron met. The soldier''s chest was pierced by Monchi''s hand. Chapter 222 - Monchi (3) Blood dripping from the soldier''s chest wound. Undoubtedly, the soldier already dead. Monchi smiled wide until its full teeth could be seen. Then, it threw away the dead soldier in its hand and using its tail to swing to another tree and escape. Monchi swung to several trees and disappeared from Auron''s group. Auron felt a strange feeling in his heart after seeing this scene. The sense of becoming prey. The members of Auron''s group also feeling nervous. From the start, until Monchi killed one of them, they could not sense anything. Meanwhile, the other members of the other group felt fear. This was the second time that one of their group members was kidnapped and killed. Some of them became more and more scared that the thought of abandoning this mission surfaced in their minds. However, their squad''s leader tried to convince them to stay. The squad''s leader also asked Auron to walk along with their group. With Auron''s agreement, the thought of deserting began to be buried deep inside their minds. Screams were heard several more times at several different locations. This was the result of Monchi''s actions, fear spread all over the forest. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Kajo and the colonels also felt fear and nervousness inside their hearts. However, as a veteran, they could maintain their calm. The situation was not good for them. As they heard several screams, they also knew the number of cries equivalent to the numbers of the victims. At one part inside of the forest, two squads had a meeting with their colonel. These two squads and the colonel were the ones from the north perimeter team. They had already experience fighting with Monchi before. "What happened?" The colonel asked the squads'' leader. It was not without reason that the colonel asked this question. The colonel saw that both of the squad were in a dire state. One of the squad had 3 people missing, while the other one had half of them missing. The one who still stayed alive also didn''t have good expression. The colonel even could see a slight fear in the squad''s leader expression. "Colonel, it was too dangerous here! We should leave immediately!" The squad''s leader, who had half of his squad''s members, left hurriedly stated. "Calm down! Explain yourself!" The colonel tried to calm the anxious squad''s leader. The other squad''s leader explained, "It was because of the demonic monster." "That demonic monster used guerilla tactics and hunted us one by one. The feeling of being hunt put us under heavy pressure!" "You are a soldier! You should handle this much pressure! Your two groups should join hand and resist the demonic monster" The colonel rebuked. "We already did colonel!" Feeling wronged, the squad''s leader raised his tone. "We had joined hand half an hour ago. But, that demonic monster still could kill 3 of us." "It was weird. The demonic monster felt much stronger compared to when we fight outside the forest." "Nonsense! I already saw how the demonic monster fight before. Don''t you dare to deceive me! How could that monster become stronger in such shorts time." The colonel still didn''t believe what his subordinate had said. "How about this, you guys search for other squads and join hand with them. When the demonic monster appears, hold it for several minutes, and I will come and help you with the others!" In the end, the colonel tried to be friendly with his squads and look for a way out. Both of the squads'' leaders could not say much more and complied with the colonel''s command. After all, there was a hierarchy in the military. They could not just defy their superior''s order because they were scared. The colonel departed away and tried to look for the demonic monster. However, before he could move far away, a scream was heard from behind him. Monchi already had held another victim in his hand. The colonel, who saw this, shuddered. He didn''t sense anything at all. However, he still kept the positivity in his mind, it was because of him occupied in full thought. The colonel immediately attack Monchi. However, before the attack could land on Monchi, the demonic monster already swung to another branch and dodged the attack. Monchi smiled widely and used the tree as a springboard to launch a counterattack. The colonel was a veteran, he quickly raised up his weapon to defend. To his surprise, Monchi''s attack pushed him back. Monchi immediately followed up with another attack. The colonel tried his best to block the attack. However, the attack speed was fast. Several first attack could be blocked by the colonel. However, he had difficulty in preventing the next few strikes. Fortunately, the colonel was not alone. There were around 15 soldiers near him. Although the soldiers were in a fear state, however, they were trained well. They could not let their superior harmed. The soldiers help the colonel to escape his death. Monchi, who could not kill the colonel, didn''t get upset. He still smiles widely before leaving the groups. Monchi was swinging from branches to branches using his long tail. The colonel who just escaped death breathed a relieved sigh. Sweat dripping from his forehead. He looked at his subordinate. It turned out what his subordinate had said about the demonic monster became stronger was true. The colonel felt sorry for his subordinate. However, the colonel also knew that it was not the time for this. It was not just them, but all of the soldiers in this operation was in danger. So, the colonel only gave a quick apology and gave them another command. "Quick! We have to stick together and find Lieutenant Kajo to informed him about the situation!" The colonel urged the two squads to depart immediately. Felt the horror of the demonic monster, both of the squads didn''t dare to dilly dally. Both the two teams and the colonel merged into one group and went to find Lieutenant Kajo. Chapter 223 - Monchi (4) Lieutenant Kajo arrived at the scene where the last scream was heard. Finally, he met with Monchi, who was hanging on the tree with its tail. Monchi, who saw Lieutenant Kajo arrived, dropped the corpse on its hands. The corpse thud on the ground, almost hitting another soldier who was shivering on the ground. The soldier was the last member of his team. And, the corpse was his squad''s leader. Cold sweat running down from the man''s face. He opened and closed his mouth, but no sound was coming out of it. The soldier was watching Monchi as it was his worst nightmare. Monchi swung from the tree, rolling three times in the air before landing with its two feet. As Monchi landed on the ground safely, the shivering soldier shuddered. He wanted to run, but his feet prevented him from doing it. Monchi walked towards Lieutenant Kajo. He didn''t even look towards the shivering soldier. Lieutenant Kajo readied his ax and also strolled towards Monchi. Monchi took a step forward slowly and kept his sight on Lieutenant Kajo. One step at a time. When Monchi arrived beside the shivering soldier, he suddenly smiled widely. Monchi''s long tail wrapped the shivering soldier''s neck tightly. The soldier could not breathe. He tried to break free using both of his arms, but it was futile. The grip was too tight. Very quickly, the soldier almost ran out of his breath. However, before the soldier run out of his breath, Monchi swung his tail backward and threw the soldier behind him. The soldier flew high and hit the big tree behind Monchi with its head first. The tree destroys his head, and the soldier died immediately. This happened so quickly that Lieutenant Kajo didn''t have time to react. When he finally responded and tried to help the soldier, Monchi already threw the soldier behind him. Lieutenant Kajo saw the soldier''s death. He was sad, but it was not the time to drifting in sadness. Lieutenant Kajo changed his course of attack and went to Monchi. Monchi saw the attack coming to him. However, he didn''t raise his arm to block it. Instead, Monchi turned back and climbed a tree near him. Then, just like before, he used his long tail and swung from branches to branches and escape. Lieutenant Kajo was left there alone. He was furious as the demonic monster apparently didn''t dare to fight against him. Finally, Lieutenant Kajo left the scene furiously and chased the damn demonic monster. In a nearby place, Auron was walking with his group and one other group. They maintained their alerts as they didn''t want to be kidnapped by the demonic monster. A sudden, rustling sound was heard behind them. All of them immediately looked behind them and raised all of their weapons. Several mages were already ready to cast their spells, including Auron. All of the groups saw behind them, a bush was moving, and a shadow was moving between the trees. The mages and archers immediately launched their attacks. While the swordsman and thieves moved forward to face the shadow. Boom... Several attacks went to the bush and also the shadow between the trees. The swordsman at the front was also releasing their attack. The swordsman hit their target savagely. However, they were surprised when they saw what they hit. It was not the demonic monster; instead, it was just a low-level monster who was roaming around the forest. Whether it was the bush or the shadow between the tree, both were a zonk. None of the places had the demonic monster. The swordsman at the front immediately went back to the group. They didn''t want to be kidnapped by the demonic monster when they were far away from their group. From far away, the swordsman crossed his arm in the air and shooked his head. They walked back to the group. When they were walking back, one of the swordsman looked at the group and roared, "Be careful! Behind you!" Auron, who was unleashing his spells with several other mages, sighed when the swordsman crossed his arm in the air. It was the wrong target. Then, he heard the swordsman roared. When Auron heard the swordsman roared, he wanted to look behind him. However, he didn''t get the chance. A long-tail already circled his neck, and in the next second, the tail tightens its grip and choking Auron. Auron was choked. He was lifted up to the air. His hand, which held his staff loosened. Auron dropped his weapon. The other mages who sighed before also went into action. They released several spells towards Monchi. Monchi, who was facing the attack, didn''t panic. Like before, using his tail, Monchi lifted Auron and threw him behind him. Auron was flown in the air at high speed. His destination was a big tree. If Auron hit the tree, there was no doubt that he would die. Auron chanted a spell in mid-air. He used [Aqua Barrier]. Auron hit the big tree, but the [Aqua Barrier] managed to save his life. Auron fell down to the ground from a high height. The impact on the tree already destroy his [Aqua Barrier]. So, when he fell down from the high height, Auron took some damage. The damage from falling down was not as severe as when he hit the tree. Moreover, Auron had high health compared to the other at his own level. However, the impact of falling down from such height also didn''t small. Auron''s health immediately went down 80%. He nearly died. Fortunately, he reacted quick and chanted [Aqua Barrier], his lifesaving skill. Auron tried to stand up. He drank up his health potion attempted to recover some of his health. Auron looked at the situation. He saw Monchi was standing on one of the tree branches in front of him with its back facing Auron. Auron teammate also didn''t stay idle, they went to attack the demonic monster. Some of them saw that Auron was saved, so they split into two groups. One went to attack the demonic monster while the other one tried to go to Auron. Chapter 224 - Monchi (5) Firze and Felice went over to Auron''s spot. They tried to help Auron while the other attacking the demonic monster. Several attacks launched at Monchi. They tried to get Monchi''s attention. However, it was not easy to gather Monchi''s full attention. These several attacks were not enough. Monchi, who stood on top of the branches, saw Firze and Felice detached themselves from the big group. This small group was the one that garnered Monchi''s attention. Monchi saw the direction where the small group went. He looked behind him and saw Auron. Monchi saw Auron, who was supposed to be dead but still stayed alive. Monchi roared. However, it was not a furious roar. Instead, it was a happy roar. Monchi excitedly yelled as if he got a toy that didn''t easily break. Ignoring the attacks that were still coming to him, Monchi turned back and bent his knees. Then, it used the branch as a springboard and charged towards Auron at high speed. Auron was drinking his health potion. However, he didn''t neglect to watch Monchi''s movement. When Monchi was bending his knees, Auron knew it was not a good sign. He immediately dashed over at the direction of the group. True enough, in a short second after Monchi bending his knees, he charged over to Auron''s previous spot at high speed. Boom... Monchi arrived at Auron''s former location. Fortunately, Auron had moved, or else he would definitely die from the impact. Auron still kept on dashing over to reunite with at least Firze and Felicia. However, suddenly, Auron was tripped over and fell down to the ground. Auron looked over at his feet and found Monchi''s tail was the one that tripped him down. The long tail gripped Auron''s ankle and tried to pull Auron. Auron didn''t let that happen. He used his [Fire Lance] spell and aimed it at the Monchi''s tail. Then, he followed up the spell with [Sloth]. Both of the spells connected successfully with the target. The [Fire Lance] hit Monchi''s tail and let loose the grip. Meanwhile, the [Sloth] also landed on Monchi and slowed him down. However, Monchi''s was too quick. The [Sloth]''s effect reduced Monchi''s speed, but Monchi''s speed still fast. In no time, Monchi already arrived at Auron''s place and preparing to attack Auron with his claws. Yes, Monchi''s method of attack was from his sharp claw and his long tail as a support. Monchi''s claw was not only sharp but sturdy as well. The claw could even destroy a stone. It could easily penetrate a human body even if the body was covered with several layers of clothes. Auron felt danger. He immediately rolled over to his left and managed to avoid Monchi''s claw thrust. A hole was formed at the place where Monchi''s claw thrust. Monchi, who missed his target, looked over to Auron and launched another thrust. However, before the thrust could hit Auron, several attacks landed on Monchi. Just like with Bleamen, the offense didn''t really have any effect on Monchi. But, the attack was enough to disturb Monchi''s attention from attacking Auron. Auron saw a chance to escape. He scotched over and kicked hard at Monchi''s abdomen. Auron tried to make some distance between him and Monchi to increase his chance of surviving. However, Monchi''s tail caught Auron''s leg midway. Then, Monchi lifted Auron with his tail while blocking several incoming attacks with his hand. Auron was lifted upside down. Monchi already prepared his claw to thrust Auron once more. Before that could happen, a yellow light covered Auron''s body and a sword attack Monchi''s tail. It was Firze and Felicia who finally arrived. Firze''s attack made Monchi let go of Auron. The other soldiers also arrived at the scene and helped Firze and Felice. The sudden increased pressure made Monchi could not face it directly like before. Monchi gave up on killing Auron and jumped back. "Are you okay?" Firze asked Auron. "More or less," Auron answered. Fortunately, his teammate was so reliable. He was saved. The situation was back to square one. This time, Monchi didn''t manage to kill anyone. Just like the previous encounters, Monchi tried to escape. He already spent a long time in this encounter. Previously, he would only need 1 or 2 minutes and managed to kill the enemy then ran away. However, this time, Monchi already spent more than two minutes. He had no choice but to run away without killing anyone. Monchi looked at the nearby tree and tried to climb the tree. When he wanted to climb the tree, an ax was swung towards him. The ax was coming from the opposite side of the tree. The ax cut the tree and still continue to attack Monchi. With that ax coming towards him, Monchi canceled his plan to escape. If he insisted on continuing escaping, he would suffer a severe injury. Of course, that ax was Lieutenant Kajo''s ax. He already arrived at the scene and prevented Monchi from escaping. Monchi, who had failed to escape, became anxious. Previously, he could still have a cheerful and playful expression. However, this time, there was not even a slight smile on Monchi''s face. Monchi''s expression was grave. Lieutenant Kajo didn''t stay idle. He didn''t want to let Monchi escape from him again. Lieutenant Kajo swung his ax repeatedly. He tried to pressure Monchi, so the demonic monster could not have a chance of escaping. Lieutenant Kajo''s presence, who arrived at the scene, also affects the soldier''s morale. Their spirit rose up and immediately went to help the lieutenant. However, the lieutenant stopped them. "Melee units, don''t come here. Make a perimeter and surround the demonic monster. Cut off all the nearby trees! Don''t let it escape!" "Range units, prepare your firepower, and assist me!" Lieutenant Kajo shouted several ordered while fighting against Monchi. Lieutenant Kajo knew that Monchi easily escaped by climbing the trees and swinging from one tree to another. That was why he ordered the melee units to cut off the nearby trees to prevent Monchi from escaping. Chapter 225 - Monchi (6) The melee units began to do as ordered. Although it would take a long time for them to cut down a tree using a basic attack, but they could use their skills to bring it down. Moreover, the tree''s trunk was not too thick. After several minutes the nearby trees were already going down one by one. When a tree was cut down, the upper part was not falling down. Instead, as a part of the game, the upper part immediately disappeared. Meanwhile, the mage surrounding the demonic monster and Lieutenant Kajo began to use their spells. A barricade of [Earth Wall] emerged and surrounded both of them, blocking all ways of escape. The [Earth Wall] circled the demonic monster and Lieutenant Kajo and made it looked like a duel arena. There were only Lieutenant Kajo and Monchi inside the stage. Monchi''s expression turned grim. He looked at the surroundings. The trees began to disappear one by one, and there was also the [Earth Wall]. It made him more difficult to escape. Monchi''s advantage was that he could move between the trees. Meanwhile, the soldiers would have a difficult time to chase him if they were on the ground. However, that advantage was now gone. Although Monchi still could escape from the ground, it would be more challenging to make the enemy lost his track. Monchi felt danger from the enemy in front of him. He believed that he still could contend the enemy in front of him, but it would cost him significantly. Monchi looked around him and only found [Earth Wall]. Monchi began to make a move. However, he didn''t attack Lieutenant Kajo. Instead, he went behind him and trying to destroy the [Earth Wall] behind him. Lieutenant Kajo would not let that happened. He chased Monchi. Rumble... Monchi successfully destroy the [Earth Wall]. The [Earth Wall] could not last long under Monchi''s power. However, the [Earth Wall] still could delay Monchi for several seconds. That short delay made Lieutenant Kajo could chase Monchi and attack at him. Then, the mage also began to cast a new [Earth Wall] to close the hole that Monchi had made. Monchi avoided Lieutenant Kajo''s attack and made a hole to the left of him. However, just like before, another [Earth Wall] emerged and closed the gap. Monchi became frustrated. With no choice left, he faced Lieutenant Kajo, who still kept on attacking him. An ax was swung vertically towards Monchi. Monchi dodged to the left and used his claw to counterattack. However, Lieutenant Kajo had anticipated it. With one arm, Lieutenant Kajo changed the ax course and swung to his right. Monchi tried to block the ax with his hand. He successfully blocked the attack, but Lieutenant Kajo''s power pushed him back. Monchi hit the [Earth Wall] and made a hole in it. But, quickly, several [Fire Ball] attacked him from the back and pushed him inside the wall. Then, a follow up [Earth Wall] blocked the hole. Lieutenant Kajo moved forwards and chopped Monchi. However, Monchi rolled over to the left, stood up, and made some distance from Lieutenant Kajo. Lieutenant Kajo''s attack missed the target. However, he immediately chased Monchi. Seeing Lieutenant Kajo dashed towards him, Monchi began to raise up his defense. After several exchanges between Lieutenant Kajo and Monchi, Lieutenant Kajo had the upper hand. His power could push Monchi back. However, this didn''t last long, Monchi who knew he lost in term of powers, began to use his speed. Lieutenant Kajo had a difficult time to follow Monchi''s pace. His attack began to miss the target. But, it didn''t make Lieutenant Kajo disheartened. Instead, Lieutenant Kajo began to attack more savagely. Monchi, who was already custom to Lieutenant Kajo''s speed, slowly began to gain the upper hand. Lieutenant Kajo could not touch Monchi anymore and slowly getting counterattack. The [Earth Wall] not only block Monchi''s way of escape, but it also prevented the cleric''s view. Without knowing the condition, the cleric could not heal Lieutenant Kajo. The lieutenant''s state began worsened. However, he didn''t give up. Lieutenant Kajo began used [Charge] and aiming towards Monchi. Monchi already knew what he should do. His long tail slipped on the ground and caught the charging Lieutenant Kajo''s leg. Then, with a quick swing, Monchi threw Lieutenant Kajo to the side. The lieutenant was thrown away and hit the [Earth Wall]. A hole was made because of the lieutenant and Monchi didn''t let this chance slipped. Monchi turned back and destroyed the [Earth Wall] at the opposite side from Lieutenant Kajo''s hole. The surrounding mage began to cast another [Earth Wall]. However, Monchi, who didn''t get any distraction anymore, could destroy it quickly. At last, Monchi could escape from the wall. When he was out of the wall, Monchi could see that the surrounding trees several meters from his place had gone. But, it didn''t stop him from escaping. He didn''t forget to unleash his rage to the surrounding soldier. Six soldiers died when Monchi was fleeing. However, Monchi could not run far enough before, the other soldiers began coming in his direction. The commotion at this place attracted the attention of the other group who was scattered throughout the forest. They began to went to this place. Fortunately, when they arrived at this place, they saw Monchi was escaping, which made them immediately blocked Monchi. The north perimeter team''s colonel also arrived near Lieutenant Kajo. He quickly said, "Sir, we cannot let him escape. If not, he will get stronger." Then, the colonel began reiterated his experience fighting the demonic monster and how the demonic monster felt stronger compared to his first fight. At first, the colonel wanted to suggest for the Lieutenant to escape from here. However, after arriving at this place, he saw that the demonic monster was on the losing side, so he changed his thinking and suggested otherwise. Lieutenant Kajo, who already got healed by the nearby cleric, stood up and declared, "We will not let that thing escape!" Chapter 226 - Monchi (7) The other squads began to arrive at the battle''s area. Then, they began to surround Monchi. They didn''t want to let Monchi escape like last time. Meanwhile, the corporals walked over to Lieutenant Kajo and asked for further instructions. Lieutenant Kajo gave out several orders and went over to join the fight. Monchi had a difficult time to face this many enemies at once. Moreover, the mages kept on debuffed him and made his power weaker. There were also clerics among the enemies. If he could not kill the enemy in one shot, then he could not kill them at all. The enemies he faced also had a good teamwork. Although there were some like Auron who just joined the army and never got the formation training, but most of them had joined the military for more than 1 month. An anxious feeling began to bloom inside Monchi''s heart. Then, he kept on getting more anxious as the enemies'' number began to rise. A bad feeling began to surface. When Monchi was struggling to escape, he saw Lieutenant Kajo, whom he faced before began to move. The pressured suddenly increased by twofold. He didn''t have any more time. If Lieutenant Kajo joined the fight, he would be in a disastrous situation. Monchi could not help and used his escape method as before. Demonic aura began to seep out from Monchi. The demonic aura made the nearby soldiers began to feel fear and dread. It made their movement dull and stopped for a moment. However, the more experienced soldier immediately regained their calm and overcame the fear. But, it took more than one second for them to overcome their fear. It was enough time for Monchi to complete his skill. Lieutenant Kajo and the corporals saw that Monchi using some weird skill. They knew it was the same skill as before. Lieutenant Kajo gave sign to some of the corporals with his eyes. After that sign, 8 corporals detached themselves from the group. Four of them went to the right of the lieutenant while the other four went to the lieutenant''s left. The rest of the corporals followed Lieutenant Kajo and went to the demonic monster''s spot. The demonic aura began to slowly getting thinner until it completely disappeared. When the demonic aura disappeared, just like before, several shadows went out from the previous demonic monster''s location. The soldiers had anticipated this since they already saw what had happened previously. They spread out and tried to block all of the shadows. However, to their surprise, the number of shadows appeared was different from before. Previously, three shadows coming out. That was also the reason why Lieutenant Kajo divided the corporals into three groups. However, this time, eight shadows were coming out from the demonic monster''s spot. The eight Monchis began to spread in all directions. Each of the Monchi took one of the cardinal points and went on a separate path. Although they were surprised, the soldiers immediately went into action. They tried their hard to chase and block the Monchi''s illusions. However, the soldiers also didn''t act recklessly. They still act prudently. Monchi''s skill was still unknown to them. What they knew was that it was some sort of illusion. Moreover, the illusion produced was not weaker than the original. Instead, it was more powerful. It was proofed by the fact that the illusion''s speed was double the initial speed. They believed that this was not all for the skill. Since this was not like ordinary illusion skill, the soldiers didn''t think that it would only raise the illusion''s power. Moreover, they had little knowledge about the skill''s detail, like how long the illusion would last, or it is only raised the illusion''s power. In fact, the soldiers only got half right about the skill. Monchi''s ability was not creating an illusion. Instead, it was splitting Monchi into several identical Monchi. The number of Monchi generated would be determined by the Monchi. Monchi could choose to split into three Monchis or eight Monchis even a hundred Monchis at once. When Monchi decided to divide into eight, then each of the Monchis would have 1/8 of its original health and power. After splitting, the enemies should kill all of the Monchi. If even there was still one Monchi that still alive, then the Monchi would not be considered dying. Moreover, Monchi could choose to merge anytime he wished. When he joined back into one, then he would get back his original power and health. However, Monchi had to be careful to determine the number he wished to split into. It was because there were some repercussions if he was not careful. When Monchi split, although all of the Monchis would get a double speed from the original, but their strength and health would also be divided. If there were 100 Monchi, then outside of its double speed, each Monchi would have 1/100 of its health and power. With 1/100 of its original health and strength, if he faced a strong enemy, he could easily one-shot the split Monchi. Also, when one of the Monchi died, then it would mean that Monchi would temporary lose that part power and strength. For example, when Monchi split into 8 and 3 of them died, although Monchi still considered alive, but its strength was weaker. When Monchi merged back into one, he would temporarily have 5/8 of his original power and strength. Although it as not a permanent loss, however, to recover that lost power, Monchi should wait for one month. During his wait, he could only gain less experience when killing a player or NPC. He would only receive 5/8 of the experience point he should get for one month. This would hinder his progress. Moreover, this was only the case if Monchi loss 3/8 of his power, what if Monchi loss 7/8 of his power or 99/100 of his power. That was why, when using this skill, there were many things that Monchi should consider. Chapter 227 - Monchi (8) "Quick! Block it!" "Don''t let it escape!" "Be careful!" Several shouts were heard from the soldiers in the area. Each of them directly chased the nearest Monchi to them. The soldier still had a deliberate action towards Monchi. Although Monchi''s power had been split into eight after he used the skill, however, none of the soldiers knew about it. The separated corporals and Lieutenant caught off guard by Monchi, who split into eight. They immediately divided themselves into smaller units to chase Monchi. One of the Monchi was blocked by a group of soldiers. The Monchi, who was blocked, didn''t stop. Instead, he quickly took an attack stance. The soldiers who saw this shouted, "Be careful! It is going to attack!" The clerics were getting ready to heal the one at the front in case he was getting struck. Meanwhile, the swordsman at the front tried to confuse Monchi so he could avoid the attack and counterattack. The soldiers still getting wary of Monchi''s doubled power. However, to their surprise, instead of attacking, Monchi kept on escaping. The soldiers were caught off guard with Monchi''s action. They reacted late and that Monchi managed to escape their encirclement. At the same time, Lieutenant Kajo and the corporals each managed to block 5 Monchi. Each of the Monchi also did the same as the other Monchi, taking an attacking stance. However, this time, their enemy was the lieutenant and the corporals who were stronger than the soldier. The lieutenant and the corporals didn''t feel afraid and faced Monchi''s attack. The Monchi who were facing the lieutenant and the corporals tried to escape. However, since the lieutenant and the corporals didn''t feel afraid and chased them, that Monchi could not escape. Lieutenant Kajo was the first one to land an attack on one of the Monchi. Bang... A considerable damage was floated above that Monchi. Lieutenant Kajo surprised. His damage was more significant compared to when he was fighting the Monchi inside the arena. Moreover, with that huge number got rid of a chunk of the Monchi''s health bar. Lieutenant Kajo''s quick mind, immediately knew there was something wrong. He concluded that aside from its speed, the Monchi actually was weaker. He immediately shouted to tell the other about this discovery. The north perimeter team''s corporal also felt the same way. He was the only corporal that had the experience fighting the demonic monster. So, he could also felt the differences. Furthermore, the lieutenant''s shout added his confidence. In no time, the weak Monchi who were facing the corporals and the lieutenant died. Out of eight Monchi, 5 of them already faced their death. Meanwhile, the group of soldiers before that let one of the Monchi escaped tried to chase it. However, they were a second behind the escaping Monchi. Since Monchi''s speed also doubled, that Monchi quickly escaped. Two of the Monchis left also escaped. Fortunately, another group of soldiers manages to block one of the two escaping Monchi. That group of soldiers already heard what the lieutenant had shouted. So, they didn''t feel afraid when the Monchi tried to attack. The most potent soldier out of them went up to the front and blocked the attack while the others kept the supporting role and cut off all the way of escaping. The Monchi could not escape. However, it didn''t give up and still kept trying to escape. Unfortunately, the effort was useless. After several seconds blocked by the soldiers, the other soldiers began to gather around this one Monchi. It made Monchi had a more difficult time to escape. Moreover, after another several seconds, the lieutenant and the corporals had finished their enemies. They went to this last Monchi available to them since the other two had escaped far enough. With the addition of Lieutenant Kajo and the corporals, this last Monchi means of escaping had gone. No matter how hard it struggles to escape, this last Monchi could not escape. However, the lieutenant didn''t plan to kill this Monchi. Instead, he planned to capture this Monchi. "Maim it! Capture it!" Lieutenant Kajo ordered. With the combined effort of many mages, this last Monchi could not struggle again. The lieutenant immediately took out a shackles to capture the Monchi. It was a shackle that was given for every operation in case they had to catch their enemies. When the lieutenant tried to shackle the Monchi, the Monchi suddenly had a pained reaction. It was rolling left to the right in pain. The soldiers who were next to it got back a bit. However, the lieutenant kept on going forward and tried to shackle it. The Monchi got a pained reaction for 5 seconds. After 5 seconds had elapsed, that Monchi suddenly exploded. It was not a big explosion like a bomb. Instead, it was only a small explosion from Monchi''s inside. That explosion didn''t harm anyone near the Monchi. However, it was enough to end the Monchi''s life. Actually, this was also one part of the safety measurement given to the skill in case it was captured. It could detonate and kill any Monchi as he wished. So, it will prevent anything terrible happened to the captured Monchi. Of course, this was a loss to the Monchi since his power would be degraded. However, it was better than being caught. After all, whether Monchi lost one or a hundred part of him, his recovery time still lasted for a month. Of course, he would not be using this safety measure if the captured on was the only Monchi left, or else it would count as a suicidal action. Meanwhile, the escaped Monchi had merged back into one. However, the strength coming from that merged Monchi was not as powerful as the first time he attacked the armies. 6 of them had died, which means Monchi only had 2/8 of his powers and strength. There was no smile or cheerful expression on that last Monchi''s face. He gritted his teeth and went deep inside the forest. He had to hide for at least a month until his power recovered. Chapter 228 - Conclusion (1) Finally, all of the battles came to an end. There was some gain and also some loss. They completed their primary goal coming into here, to destroy the demonic stick. However, they even lose some soldiers in progress. Monchi had to hide in a remote place and recover for a month. Meanwhile, the army also suffered some casualties. Around one-fourth of the original military had died in this battle. What made it an urgent matter was that when they were attacking the demonic stick, they didn''t suffer any casualty. Only when the army chased the demonic monster deep inside the forest that they suffered tremendous injuries. Lieutenant Kajo bore a huge responsibility from all of this. After all, he was the one who told the army to chase the demonic monster inside the forest. Maybe, if he didn''t give that order, the casualties would not amount this much. But, what was done had already been done. The soldiers could not turn back time and could only move on. Lieutenant Kajo looked at the tired face of his soldiers. He sighed and ordered them to prepare for coming back. After a few minutes, Lieutenant Kajo and the army started their journey. The mood was not too good, but it was also not too bad. Although they suffered some casualties and almost captured the demonic monster, their primary goal had already been completed. The army went along the way the same way as they went to this village. They went to the nearest town. Then, they took the teleportation portal to the nearest city. From that city, they took another teleportation portal to Miderian. After arriving at Miderian, all of them immediately went to the military camp and waited there. There were already the staff waiting for them. The corporals waited with the soldier while Lieutenant Kajo walked inside the building, followed by some staff. The staff began reporting at this operation. The number of casualties and what happened to the other groups. Finally, Lieutenant Kajo arrived at the same meeting room where they convened their strategy meeting. Inside the room, there were eight sergeants already waiting for him. When Lieutenant Kajo went inside the room, the eight sergeants inside the room saluted at him and sat on their chair. They didn''t wait for anyone more and started the meeting. Each of the sergeant reported what happened at their battlefield. Although the staff had briefed Lieutenant Kajo for a bit, but it was still better to hear it directly from the source. After all of the sergeants taking turns and told their story, it was Lieutenant Kajo''s turn. Although Lieutenant Kajo was their superior and didn''t have to say to them about his expedition, but he insisted on doing it. At first, they were surprised to hear that Lieutenant Kajo''s army had to face with the demonic monster. All of the other sergeants felt that they were fortunate enough not to experience that. Moreover, the Lieutenant who was stronger than them still had a difficult time to face the demonic monster. If it were them that faced the demonic monster, they would surely die. The staff didn''t forget to take note of Lieutenant Kajo''s story. It was a vast matter that they knew some of the demonic monster''s abilities. After Lieutenant Kajo finishing his story, the other sergeants began to whisper to each other. All of the sergeants were not stupid people. They had come up to their position with their own power. Hence, they at least have some intelligence. The sergeants who were joining the faction that opposing Lieutenant Kajo didn''t let this opportunity went away. Each of them had prepared a story about how stupid was Lieutenant Kajo''s decision to chase the demonic monster. They had come up with different stories. However, all of them had one common thing which to emphasize Lieutenant Kajo''s order to chase the demonic monster and the casualty he suffered. Later, they all will report it back to their own faction''s leader. After Lieutenant Kajo finished his story, he wanted to dismiss the meeting. However, another staff came into the meeting room and reported something. "Sorry to interrupt Lieutenant, there was some news from the other sergeant that haven''t come back. Two of them suffered huge casualties and have to stop at the nearest town to heal before coming back to Miderian." "Meanwhile, we haven''t heard anything about the other two teams, sir." The staff finished her report. "Send some healer to help the two sergeants. And, send a team to find out what happened to the other two." Lieutenant Kajo gave his order to the staff. After that, Lieutenant Kajo dismissed the meeting. Then, his supervisor and reported back the operation to the higher-level. He also didn''t forget to reiterate his experience in fighting the demonic monster. After telling what he had known, Lieutenant Kajo was dismissed and told to come back tomorrow morning. With that, Lieutenant Kajo also told his army to rest and waited for further instructions. As a squad''s leader, Auron was eligible to get an extra reward for this operation. However, when he went to the staff to claim his awards, he was told that he could not claim it. He had to wait until tomorrow morning to claim his rewards. Auron was tired. He had faced two different demonic monsters in such a short time. There would be no one that had the same experience as him. In the end, Auron decided not to do something heavy. He still needed to wait for tomorrow before he could receive his rewards for this operation. With that in mind, Auron went back to his swordsman''s character and checked his swordsman''s side class''s progress. His swordsman''s blacksmith class''s progress was pretty good. During the time Auron joined the operation, his swordsman made 40 pieces of weapon. Auron went to the blacksmith guild and exchanged some of his points with another blueprint. After that, he looked at his materials stock. He almost ran out of materials. Moreover, he also ran out of his money. Chapter 229 - Conclusion (2) All of the finished equipment that he already made were only a piece of common grade equipment. As a common grade equipment, no matter how high the produced equipment level, the price of that piece of equipment would not cover the expenses. However, Auron still brought all of the equipment he made to the NPC''s shop and sold it. Although it was not much, but with that new fund, Auron could buy some material to use. After selling all of his equipment, Auron still lacked funds. He tried to search what item he could sell to make money. Auron felt that after joining the military, he burnt more money than usual. Auron thought for a bit. Didn''t he suppose to be supported by the army and not wasting that much money? In the end, Auron didn''t think much about it. After all, joining the military made his progress much faster than hunting alone. It was shown when he joined the operation during the Raiding Month. His level progress so quickly. And, that operation took place when he was still in the military academy. What Auron didn''t know was the fact that his path was different from the others. When someone joined the military, they would get a monthly salary and also a bonus fee every time they joined an operation. Moreover, if they had a prominent position or had a massive contribution to the operation, then they would receive another bonus. Just like Auron, who was a squad''s leader in the last service. However, Auron never tasted all of that since he just joined the military shortly a few days ago. Moreover, he had yet claim the rewards for this operation. In the end, Auron could only go with the flow. He sorted some of his unused item and sold it to the NPC. Then, he used all of the money he got and used it to buy some materials. After buying all of the materials he needed, Auron began to create equipment. As he had said before, fighting made him tired. Hence, Auron chose blacksmithing as a way to relieve his stress. The reason was because he lack of money. He could not even buy uncommon grade material. Because of that, the equipment''s grade that he could create was limited. That was why he didn''t have to give focus too much to create a piece of equipment since the result would only be a common grade equipment. Moreover, the way of blacksmithing in Two Worlds was like a game. Because of that, Auron felt that blacksmithing could relieve his stress. He had proofed before when he was taking the entrance exam for blacksmith. He didn''t need to give all out to successfully create a piece of equipment. He could relax and just enjoy the game. With that in mind, Auron began his blacksmithing. He took his time since he wasn''t in a hurry. Moreover, he needed to take his time since there were still a few hours before morning. ------------------------------------------- Then, the morning came. Lieutenant Kajo walked to meet the higher-ups once more. He went inside a room. To his surprise, there were already a lot of people inside the room. Moreover, General Elbert was present in the room, along with several other generals from various factions. "Okay, since the lieutenant has come. Let us begin!" General Elbert declared. The meeting began with a staff summarize what had happened, "For this operation, we send 13 groups to 13 different locations." "In the end, from 13 groups, only 9 groups that come back safely and successfully completed their goals, including Lieutenant Kajo''s groups." "It turned out, two of the groups encountered Regalia''s spies. They could kill all of the spies that went to them as well as completing their duty to destroy the demonic stick. However, they also suffered severe injuries." "Both of the groups lost more than two-thirds of their groups. They decided to slow down their pace and stayed at the nearest town." "Meanwhile, for the last two groups, we could not contact them. Which was why the lieutenant decided to send a team to search for them." "And, that team just arrived before this meeting, bringing some news." "From the report and evidence at the location, they found out that both of the groups met with a demonic monster and getting wiped out. No survivor could be seen." "The search team also found out that both of the teams could not destroy the demonic stick before getting wiped out." After the staff told the report, whispered was heard around the room. It was so surprising to know the result of demonic monster taking actions. Two full teams were wiped out. It was equivalent to two thousand soldiers. Moreover, Lieutenant Kajo also had given some of his soldiers to that group, which means it was more than two thousand soldiers. Before they could continue, one of the general that opposing Lieutenant Kajo sneered, "Just as I thought, he was too young to lead the operation. Look at his mess! Two thousand soldiers were wiped out." "If only he would not act rash and prepare everything well enough, we would not lose this two thousand soldiers." "Moreover, he also danger his own soldier. If he didn''t act mindlessly by chasing that demonic monster, he would not lose one-fourth of his soldiers." "He should take responsibility for this loss" That general kept on ranting and showed how incapable Lieutenant Kajo. With one of the general braved himself, the other generals who also didn''t like Lieutenant Kajo began to join the mocking. Each of them emphasizes more and more about the lieutenant''s wrongdoings. Throughout the meeting, Lieutenant Kajo kept his silent and never rebuked any of the mocking he received. The discussion continued from discussing about the operation to blaming Lieutenant Kajo. Not all of the general blame Lieutenant Kajo, some still defend him. However, the number that protected him was fewer than the number of people that were blaming him. In the end, the one who helped Lieutenant Kajo lose and kept his silence. Chapter 230 - Conclusion (3) General Elbert, who was watching the entire show, didn''t leave any comment. He just raised his hand. As soon as General Elbert raised his hand, the whole room quiet down. Although General Elbert had the same military rank as the other generals, however, he was like a legend in the military. He was the previous king''s general and trusted aide. Even the current king would not dare to fight the general''s statement without solid reasoning. Within the military, even though General Elbert had a general position, however, it had been a long time since the last time he went into war. Right now, he worked more as a counselor and strategist for the current king. Inside the military, General Elbert''s influence had rooted deep. Many veteran soldiers gave up their position just to serve under General Elbert. If he wanted, he could start a coup d''etat. Fortunately, General Elbert had been a loyal person. Since the previous king had died, many evil whispers urged to start a coup d''etat. However, General Elbert ignored all of those. He even killed the one that tried to coax him and eradicate the family from Gaia. Some people knew that General Elbert already old. In severals year, he would face his death. His fighting power must have gone dull. Numerous people even believed that if General Elbert were fighting a one on one duel with the other general, most of the other generals would win the contest. However, none of the generals dared to fight against General Elbert. The older generations had their way of fighting. They had numerous connections and experiences. Without knowing all of that, nobody would dare to go against General Elbert lest they would face imminent death. General Elbert put down his raised hand and asked Lieutenant Kajo, "I heard you also fight against a demonic monster. Please do tell us about your experience!" Lieutenant Kajo immediately told all of the experiences he had faced against the demonic monster. From the weird appearance until the strange skill that it possessed. He also didn''t forget to add some detail about its way of fighting and its power. All of what Lieutenant Kajo had already been written in the report. Each of the generals had received that report and read them. The other generals also believed that General Elbert had received the same report and read it. So, it was weird for General Elbert to ask about it. However, none of them dared to voice their opinion. Just as they thought, what Lieutenant Kajo said was the same as what he had wrote in the report. Not a single difference. It was as if Lieutenant Kajo read the report that he had written. When Lieutenant Kajo finished telling his experience, the room went silent once more. This silence lasts for several seconds until one of the neutral general asked a question. "Do you think that the other demonic monster will have the same strength as what you have told?" It was an essential question since two of their teams had been wiped out by two different demonic monsters. Lieutenant Kajo frowned and thought. Then, he voiced out his opinion, "In my opinion, they would have more or less the same strength. However, I don''t think they would have the same skill." "Also, the important thing was that the demonic monster can become stronger. If we don''t kill the demonic monsters as soon as possible when their power still low, I believe it will be more difficult for us to kill them in the future." All of the generals'' faces sunk. They already knew that much information. However, it was also not easy to locate the demonic monster in this vast Gaia. Moreover, to kill the demonic monster, they had to assign a lot of soldiers. This huge soldiers would easily catch the demonic monster''s attention. What if the demonic monsters didn''t want to come out after seeing a massive amount of soldiers. They would just waste so much time. Moreover, although the Bridge World situation had been stabilized, but constant friction still happened there. Rather than sending their soldiers to waste time, it would be better to send them to conquer the Bridge World. "Yes, it will be a disaster if that happens," General Elbert suddenly joined the conversation. "However, we have more near disaster, the two demonic sticks that were failed to be destroyed." The two teams were supposed to destroy the demonic sticks. However, an unfortunate event happened to them, they were wiped out by the demonic monsters. This event left a huge trouble if not handled quickly. There were less than 6 days before the demonic sticks would release another demonic monster. The military had to make sure that didn''t happen. When General Elbert reminded them about the imminent disaster, all of the other generals nodded agreeing. One of the generals who opposed Lieutenant Kajo said, "General Elbert, I volunteered to take care of this young arrogant lieutenant''s mess. I will show him an example of how to correctly lead the troops." That general stopped for a bit and looked at Lieutenant Kajo, who was standing in front of him. Then, he continued while sneering. "However, we also cannot forget to punish the one who makes this mess, or else he will think that the military is just a playground. What do you think, General Elbert?" It was weird for a general to ask permission from another general. General Elbert replied flatly, "That is good. If you want to take care of it, I will allow you." "Also, you are correct. We need to punish the lieutenant since he had made the wrong decision. Let me see which punishment suits him." "Oh, I get it. How about this. General Kelvin wants to take care of this mess. However, there were two demonic sticks left. Let General Kelvin handled one. Then, as a punishment, let this Lieutenant Kajo handled the other one." "What do you guys think?" General Elbert casually asked the other generals'' opinions. Chapter 231 - New Assignment (1) When the other generals heard General Elbert''s question, all of them frowned. The generals who were opposing Lieutenant Kajo even frowned more. The punishment was so light that it could not be considered as a punishment. Outside of wartime, after a soldier completed an operation, they would get two or three days off. Then, three days later, they would get a new mission if there''s any. Asking Lieutenant Kajo, who just finished his assignment, immediately could be considered as a punishment. However, it was too light. Although General Elbert asked them politely, however, none of them dared to argue back. All of them just maintained their silence. They didn''t express their agreement nor their disagreement. Since no one answered him, General Elbert concluded, "Okay, since no one disagreed. Let the lieutenant take this punishment." General Elbert asked the staff seriously, "Don''t let Lieutenant Kajo off from this punishment, or else I will have to give a punishment to you as well." The staff didn''t know how to answer this. The staff also knew that Lieutenant Kajo would not dare to disobey. Moreover, the punishment was too light compared to other penalties. Besides, Lieutenant Kajo was a reasonable person. As long as it was a rational order, he would not go against it. Then, General Elbert looked at Lieutenant Kajo and said, "Reflect on this kid! Make sure you don''t make the same mistake!" "Oh, don''t forget to ask for some advice from General Kelvin. He is already kind enough willing to teach you." "Yes, general. Thank you for your kindness!" Lieutenant Kajo also didn''t polite. With so many force trying to suppress him, he blatantly thanked General Elbert. "Then, the meeting dismissed!" General Elbert stood up and left the room. The generals, who were trying to suppress Lieutenant Kajo, furious. However, they could not defy General Elbert''s orders. They could only keep it inside them and left the room furiously. Meanwhile, the neutral general or the one who tried to befriend with Lieutenant Kajo also sigh and patted Lieutenant Kajo''s shoulder and left the room. There was a reason why General Elbert gave this punishment. As someone who had vast experience in the military, he knew what Lieutenant Kajo did, was not a mistake. It was shown by the fact that Lieutenant Kajo almost captured the demonic monster. Although, in the end, he failed to capture or killed it, but, at least now, they knew a demonic monster''s strength. Moreover, he only lost one-fourth of his troops when fighting against the demonic monster when two teams had been wiped out. This fact proved that either Lieutenant Kajo was a fortunate guy or he was powerful enough. As a veteran in the military, General Elbert thought that sometimes a sacrifice was needed. That was why he didn''t give heavy punishment to Lieutenant Kajo. The staff began to prepare everything. The staff had already discussed it with Lieutenant Kajo and decided to take from the same troops as he had before. One hour later, the soldiers had been agreed. Lieutenant Kajo selected 4 sergeants, 40 corporals, and 4000 privates with him. At the same time, General Kelvin also submitted his troop''s list. He looked at Lieutenant Kajo''s list and sneered. In fact, General Kelvin only took half of the amount that Lieutenant Kajo took. With that concluded, now, both of them needed to brief their soldiers once more. General Kelvin and Lieutenant Kajo went separately. In fact, they just needed to wait since the staff would be the ones that busy gathering all of the soldiers. Auron was finishing the last blueprint he had. After a few seconds, Auron put down his hammer and threw the finished product inside his inventory. Then, he went and sold all of the equipment he had made during the last night. However, he didn''t use the money to buy materials. Instead, he used the money to buy a bunch of potions. Since Auron was lack in cash, he decided to let his swordsman hunted instead of creating equipment. Finishing all of the preparation he needed, Auron went over to his mage character and commanded the Ai to let his swordsman went hunting. Auron woke up in his room. The room that the military provided for him. He didn''t waste any time and immediately left his room. Auron had made some schedule on what he had to do today. He already read that after soldiers completed a mission, they would get a day off. So, after claiming his rewards, he intended to go to the military library and saw some training materials for a mage. Auron went to the mission''s place and talked to the staff there, "I want to collect the rewards for my last mission." "What''s your name?" The staff asked. "Smiling Wizard," Auron answered. "Okay, wait a minute," The staff immediately replied and began looking. After a minute searching, the staff turned back to Auron and said, "This is your reward." Auron accepted the reward. He got 10 golds from the previous operation. It was a considerable sum considering an ordinary mission would only worth one or two golds. However, the last mission was critical; that was why the mission worth 8 golds. Then, as Auron was a squad''s leader, he got two more golds as his incentive. Auron excitedly accepted the gold. However, he didn''t have any thought of spending it immediately. Auron wanted to left the mission''s place as soon as possible and went to the library. However, before he could step out of the room, the staff stopped him. "Wait up!" The staff stopped him. Then, she smiled widely and said, "Congratulations! You have been selected for a new mission. Please gather at the training field in two hours!" The staff said it like Auron had just won a lottery. Auron knew although the staff said it playfully, in truth, she was serious. Auron was astonished and wanted to rebuke. However, he knew he could not. In the end, he could only accept it. Chapter 232 - New Assignment (2) Auron frowned. When the staff saw Auron was frowning, she immediately said thoughtfully, "I know what you have been thinking. But I am serious." "You have been selected for a new mission. Please go to the training field for the detail!" Outside of the wartime, there were few cases when someone immediately assigned to a new mission after finishing one. Auron knew this was a genuine order from the military, and he could not refuse the request. Although he didn''t dare to defy the request, but he had the right to know the reason. Auron tried to probe the staff, "What happened? I know there must something going on when there is a continuous mission like this?" "What?! Don''t look at me like that. I also don''t know the reason. I was informed this morning as well." "Moreover, the one that informed me was in a rush, and I could not ask for the reason. But, don''t you worry, we would not mistreat you." The staff explained. Auron was still frowning because he didn''t get the answer he wanted. Seeing Auron''s frowning expression, the staff thought that Auron was frowning because of her congratulatory joke before. The staff tried to justify her congratulatory actions, "Don''t you get it? More mission means more money and more military contribution points. Don''t you want to promote quickly or buy that expensive equipment." "Is this a joke?" Auron thought. However, he didn''t dare to say it loud. Auron knew that more mission means more money and more military contribution points. But, more mission also means more danger. After all, the military''s missions were not playing things. Without preparation, even a higher level could get killed. In the end, Auron could only sigh and found out the reason later on. In the end, Auron went out of the room and immediately went to the library. He had only less than two hours to visit the library. Auron used these two hours wisely. Two hours later, Auron arrived in the training field, as the staff had mentioned before. In the training field, there were already some crowds. Auron already recognized most of the people in the area. There was even his squad before. So, Auron went to his squad''s members and asked them the reason for their gathering. It turned out that the others were as shocked as him. They also didn''t know the cause and could only wait until someone explained it to them. Fortunately, not long after, Lieutenant Kajo walked in with four sergeants behind him. When Auron and the others saw that Lieutenant Kajo went to their front, immediately, most of them knew that this was related to the last mission. Actually, some of the soldiers already realized that there was something wrong with the last missions. Some of the soldiers had friends at the squad that didn''t manage to come back. Because of that, they went to ask the staff about the team. However, the staff didn''t answer truthfully. Part of it was because they still didn''t know the truth at that time. The staff dodged the question and asked them to wait until the formal announcement from the military. Now, that soldier who asked the staff previously already felt suspicious by the staff''s behavior. Moreover, there this gathering took place. From the soldiers that gathered here, all of them were part of the last expedition. Also, Lieutenant Kajo showed up. If this gathering was not related to the last expedition, then there would be no reason for Lieutenant Kajo to show up. Moreover, with 4 generals behind him and this huge crowd. Two of the four sergeants that followed Lieutenant Kajo was part of the last mission. But, for the other two, they were not part of the previous mission. Unlike the previous operation where Lieutenant Kajo could not choose his own subordinate, this time, he could choose someone he wanted. So, he picked two sergeants that were part of the neutral faction or the one from the faction that tried to befriend him. Meanwhile, the other two sergeants were some newly promoted sergeant that still didn''t have any faction. As for the Corporal and the Private, Lieutenant Kajo didn''t have any preference for this lower position. So, he just told the staff to randomly picked some of the people from the previous mission. And, Auron was one of the soldiers that had been chosen for this new operation. After Lieutenant Kajo showed up, murmured and whispered began to be heard around the area. Most of them actually were ignorant of the fact that two of the squads didn''t manage to come back from the last operation. They tried to speculate on what would happen this time. "What happen? Why were called here?" "Didn''t the last mission was successful?" "Maybe the lieutenant wants to reward us?" Some of these thoughts were what filled everyone''s mind. Some of them decided to stay silent and wait until the lieutenant spoke up. "Some of you..." Without dilly dally, Lieutenant Kajo directly spoke. When he spoke, the murmured and whispered immediately quieted down. "Some of you may have guessed. This new operation was related to the previous operation." "I believed you deserved the truth, so I will be frank. Previously, we have sent 13 groups to take down all of the demonic sticks." "Unfortunately, not all of the groups manage to come back safely." "Although most of the group managed to come back, but four of the groups suffered an incident." "Two of which were encountering the enemy''s spies. Although they managed to fend off the enemies and destroy the demonic sticks, but they also suffer huge casualties. Both of the groups reduced to less than halves of their original number." "Meanwhile, the other two groups encountered the demonic monsters and were wiped out. None of them survived from the demonic monster''s massacre." "Although most of us were coming back safely, but the fact that there were two of the demonic sticks left make the last operation could not be considered as a success." Chapter 233 - New Assignment (3) "Hence, the higher-ups decided to give this new mission to take down the rest of the demonic sticks." "And, you guys were selected because of your previous experience in eliminating the demonic sticks." "This time, we will not take both of the demonic sticks down. We would only destroy one of them while General Kelvin''s troops will take care of the other one." "We will not discuss General Kelvin''s troops so that I will skip that part." "Some of you may have thought that destroying one demonic stick with this many troops as an overkill. But, let me tell you, it is not." "As the previous team had encountered a demonic monster, we are very confident that we will encounter the same demonic monster." "And, to tell you the truth, the demonic monster is not weak. You could ask my previous team that had also encountered the creature. Although we managed to chase the monster away, however, it was not a pleasant experience." "Moreover, the higher-ups considered this mission as a vital mission. No failure could be tolerated. "Behind me are the sergeants who are going to help me with this operation. Each of you will be assigned to one of the sergeants." "We will depart this night. Prepare yourself well! Dismiss!" After Lieutenant Kajo''s long explanation, the sergeants who were behind him began to call out the name of the corporal under him. Each of them taking turned to call 10 Corporal''s name. In the end, Corporal Scud belonged to Sergeant Richard''s troops. Usually, the soldiers would have a different team for each operation. After they joined a new mission, their teammate could be changed with some new people. This way, it could prevent the superior from hindering the progress of his subordinate that he didn''t like. However, for this operation, except for the teams that had casualties in the last mission, the team''s member was the same. This was done because they needed to depart as soon as possible. There was no time for the members to familiarize themselves with each other. Just like this, Auron was assigned to the same squad as he was before. With the same 10 members, Auron naturally became the squad''s leader once more. And also, Auron''s squad was assigned to the same corporal as before, Corporal Scud. This means Auron''s team was assigned to Sergeant Richard. As they had the same members, Auron''s squad didn''t undergo any introduction session anymore. They just greeted each other and do some small talk. What else could be said, after all, they only met less than 24 hours ago. After 10 minutes of talking and joking, Auron decided to dismiss the group for preparations. Auron went up and reported back to Corporal Scud, who reminded him once more to prepare well. Auron nodded and passed the message to his group before he went into separate ways. Since Auron''s group was one of the groups that had fought against the demonic monster, they didn''t actually need the reminder. All of them had experienced the horror of the demonic monster, especially Auron, who almost died under the demonic monster twice. Although they still didn''t know whether they were going to meet one, but they prepared for it. Meanwhile, Auron also didn''t have much to prepare. He only replenished his potion''s stock. It was not because he had already given up, but instead, he didn''t know what to buy. His money was not enough for him to purchase new equipment. Moreover, he didn''t have much time to go shopping. Also, he had bought a lot of [Sticky Talisman] but didn''t use any of it for the last mission. Auron didn''t have any idea on what to buy and still thought over it. For now, he just replenished his potion''s stock. Auron also still considering what to do with his swordsman character when he went for this operation. Should he made, his swordsman went hunting or raised his blacksmith skill or just made it stayed idle. Everything had pros and cons. Auron could not raise his blacksmith skill since it would burn his money rapidly. He wanted his swordsman to go hunting; however, he could not oversee his swordsman when he was in the operation what if the swordsman met a dangerous situation. Made his swordsman idle was one of the right options so he would not waste any money or could get into a dangerous situation. However, it would spend his time and advantages. In the end, Auron chose to make his swordsman went farming instead of hunting. Auron chose a low-level hunting spot compared to his level. He also bought more potions in case something happened. He could not buy [Return Scroll] yet. Since both of his character''s inventory were linked, if he purchased the [Return Scroll] now, then it would be confiscated when the inspection later on. But, he put the [Return Scroll] on a must-buy item list before he went to the operation later on. There was still some time before the gathering time. Auron decided to use his time to go to the military''s library. Maybe, before the start of the operation, he could gain a new skill or raised his current skill level. Soon, the gathering time was near. Auron stopped on what he had doing and prepared to go to the gathering place. Unfortunately, Auron didn''t manage to raise his skill level. However, his effort was not gone wasted. During the time in his library, he was reading about the elemental properties in the Two Worlds. That new knowledge deepened Auron''s knowledge of how elemental works. This new knowledge increased his elemental understanding of the four elements. Auron felt his fire elemental understanding had improved. It was proved in the character''s attributes. He gained a 1% increase to all of his elemental understanding. Auron was excited by this 1% increased. Although it was not a lot, but Auron felt that he was closer to one of his short term goals, to master Alice''s spell. Chapter 234 - New Assignment (4) It was already more than 2 months from the last time Auron used Alice''s self-created spell. He knew that it was just a waste of time if he insisted on using the spell. He lacked the necessary knowledge as a mage. However, Auron didn''t forget about it. Instead, he put it as one of his short term goals. Auron knew that he needed to increase his understanding of elemental first, especially the fire element, before he could proficiently use the spell. There was still a long way to go before he could achieve that, though. However, Auron already excited before he was one step closer. But that excited feeling only lasted for a brief. Auron immediately shifted back his mind to the nearest one, the new assignment. Auron sighed. He was still weak, but he had to meet with stronger opponents continuously. And, it was way stronger than him. If not for his ''cheat'' that he could receive twice the attribute''s amount than the others, Auron felt that he could not survive the past two encounters. Auron also felt lucky. From the past two encounters, there was a stronger companion that distract the attention of the demonic monster. When he faced Bleamen, there were Julian and her friends. Also, when he met Monchi, there were higher-level companions and Lieutenant Kajo. Auron knew luck would not last forever. He had to get stronger. But, it was easier said than done. Auron needed four times more experience point than regular character. Moreover, he had no backup like a big guild or the kingdom. Fortunately, thanks to him joining the military, he could achieve a pretty good amount of experience point. Also, he could survive through the danger that came with it. In the end, Auron could only hold on and faced the challenges one by one. Soon, he would need to face another challenge. Auron went to the gathering point while pondering about which demonic monster he would meet. Is it Bleamen or Monchi, or a new kind of demonic monster. Although Auron was not 100% sure that he would meet a demonic monster in this mission, he believed that he had a 90% chance of encountering one. After several minutes walked, Auron arrived at the gathering point. A huge crowd already present at the place. There was a little bit over four thousand soldiers in the area. It would be challenging to look for a person inside. Fortunately, the staff had put a sign and divide the area into four smaller areas. Each area was corresponding to one of the sergeants. Auron went over to Sergeant Richard''s area and tried to find his group''s members. After two minutes, he finally found his group''s members. Auron immediately went over there. When he arrived, the members began to greet him. Auron also didn''t forget to greet them back. Yonta, who was always cheerful and excited, grabbed Auron in the shoulder and made a joke with him. The atmosphere in the groups was pleasant even though they just experience facing a demonic monster. Moreover, they had to go to another expedition that had a high chance of meeting with another demonic monster. Auron also talked to several of the girls. He also didn''t forget to speak with Lisk, who passively replied to him. Auron could not help but showed a bitter smile. Well, at least, he had tried, and Lisk also responded to him. Auron also talked to Firze, the most stronger member of the group. Auron still had some suspicion of Firze due to him giving up the leader''s position. However, that suspicion feeling lessens a bit. After all, Firze was one of the members that bravely went forward to help him after Auron was thrown by Monchi. Finally, Lieutenant Kajo arrived at the scene, followed by the sergeants and the corporals behind them. After the big shot entered the scene, the disorder soldiers began to make lines. The sergeants and the corporals also went to their respective places. With the sign from the sergeants, the corporals began to instruct the squad''s leader to check the group''s belongings. It was a routine check every time they went to an operation. After all, a deserter would not only reduce their number, but it would also destroy their minds. After the squad finished their check, it was the corporal''s turn to check the squad''s leader. After that, it was the corporal''s turn to be check by the sergeant. In the end, Lieutenant Kajo checked the sergeant''s belonging. With Lieutenant Kajo finished his checking session, then it would mean it was time to give a general briefing about the tactic to the soldiers. The corporals called up every squad''s leader in their respective teams and began to brief them. Meanwhile, the sergeants and the lieutenant also discussed to perfect their plan. They were also preparing a way out in case there was something wrong happening. The corporals gave tried their best to provide the plan''s content as detail as possible. This mission was deemed relevant by the higher-ups, and failure was not an option. They didn''t want because of their mistake in briefing made the mission failed. Corporal Scud even brief the mission''s content twice to Auron and the other squad''s leader in his team. Since it was already night, the army planned to move at moderate speed. They didn''t want to attract unwanted attention, but they also didn''t want to take a long time to arrive at the destinations. After the briefing, Auron was commanding his swordsman character to buy the [Return Scroll]. After that, he put his swordsman in some low-level hunting spot that he had chosen. Auron hoped that there was no dangerous situation, and he could gain a little bit of money from this farming. With all of that in mind, the army was ready to depart. The corporal and the sergeants do the last check before leaving. The sergeants nodded to the lieutenant, indicating that they were prepared. Lieutenant Kajo replied with a nod and initiated the departure. Chapter 235 - Dawn Attack (1) The army began to depart from the city. They went to the nearest town from their destination and walked from there. Since they used the teleportation portal to reach the town, so it didn''t take much time for them to arrive at the nearest town. However, it was a different matter for the army to walk to their destination. Moreover, it was in the middle of the night. This time, the army''s destination was far remote. There was still a long way of distance between the nearest town to the destination village. They needed to walk twice the mile from their previous operation. The reason was because they had to make a detour. The army could choose to went straight, but they needed to go inside the forest along the way. Although Lieutenant Kajo didn''t afraid of the forest, but he still had a slightly bad experience with the forest in the previous mission. He also didn''t want to make his troops too tired. If they chose to go inside the forest, they would need to increase their awareness. It was an exhausting act. Although making a detour also exhaust them a little, but it would not drain their mind too much. Moreover, it was in the middle of the night. In the night, their vision was limited. If they chose to go through the forest, it would be difficult to resist a surprise attack from the enemy. To increase their safety, Lieutenant Kajo and his army walked at moderate speed. They didn''t rush nor taking their time. During their journey, the sergeants and Lieutenant Kajo kept on talking and discussing. It looked like the previous result really affects Lieutenant Kajo. He didn''t want to repeat the same mistake anymore. It was already 3 in the morning, and the army had covered 70% of their journey. During their trip, there was no worth mentioning incidents along the way. The military only encountered several ordinary monsters that they could handle easily. The sergeants and Lieutenant Kajo still kept in their discussion. They discussed how they would handle when they met a demonic monster until their escape plan. They also formulated an escape plan along the way, using their observation during their journey. It was a long and exhausting discussion. After several minutes more, Lieutenant Kajo began to feel tired. He also noticed his sergeants'' exhausted expression. He decided to stop the debate and just walked peacefully. The result from the lengthy discussion was not bad. Lieutenant Kajo and the sergeants had 3 alternative plans if none of the original ideas were worked out. Although it was not a foolproof plan, but at least it was better rather than not having any plan at all. After several minutes more walking, one of the corporal went over to the lieutenant and the sergeants'' position. It was the corporal who was assigned to scout the area ahead. "Report! We spot some trace of humans ahead, and it is still new!" The corporal began to report what his group found. When hearing the report, the lieutenant and the sergeants looked over and became alert. It was so weird because there was not supposed to be a human out here. The villager had been evacuated. Also, all of the soldiers from the previous group had been reported death. "Could it be the report was wrong, and there was a survivor?" The lieutenant thought inside his mind. He needed to check it out. Then, the lieutenant giving a stopped command. The group stopped their journey. Lieutenant Kajo, along with two of the sergeants, began to go over with the corporal. They needed to check it first. Meanwhile, the other two sergeants were left to maintain the troops and the surrounding. Lieutenant Kajo and two of the sergeants followed the corporal. And, they really found a trace of humans. However, the trail was not really apparent. It looked like the humans tried to cover their tracks. Unfortunately, an expert could easily detect their trace. Fortunately, one of the sergeants that came along with Lieutenant Kajo was an expert in tracking. He quickly found the trace and figured out that it was still fresh. He estimated that it was probably one or two hours ago since the humans had left. With this new information, Lieutenant Kajo decided to scour the trace first before continuing. However, this time, he didn''t bring along a big army. Instead, he just went along with the two sergeants. He even told the corporal to go back to the big group to relay his message to the other two sergeants. With the tracking expert sergeant in the lead, Lieutenant Kajo and one other sergeant began to follow the trace. After several minutes following the trail, they had to stop. It was because, from the path, the humans went inside the forest. Lieutenant Kajo had to decide to stop the tracking and went back or continue. He asked the opinions of the two sergeants. Both of the sergeants also felt strange with this human''s trace. What if it was really a survivor, do they really had to abandon them. In the end, Lieutenant Kajo and the sergeants made a decision. They would continue. But, they would go carefully, and if they found something wrong, they would immediately go back. With the decision in place, the three of them began to go inside the forest. They began to walk slowly and carefully. After several minutes of walking, they began to feel something. Although there was no light or smell, they could feel some presence up ahead. And, it was not just one presence, but there were several of them. The three of them began to increase their alert. If it was really a survivor that it would be a piece of good news, but what if it was not. What if it was a demonic monster that could disgust as a human. After walking a bit more, the lieutenant and the sergeants began to see something. Fortunately, what the three of them found was really human and not a demonic monster that disguised as a human. Chapter 236 - Dawn Attack (2) There was still a quite distance between Lieutenant Kajo''s group of three and the humans. From far away, Lieutenant Kajo counted. The group consisted of 9 people. Five of them were sleeping while the other four stayed awaked and guarded them. However, Lieutenant Kajo didn''t make a move. Instead, he stopped the other two sergeants and looked at them. It was because Lieutenant Kajo could identify the group''s identity. It turned out that the group were not survivors or the villagers. Instead, it was a group of the enemy''s spies. Lieutenant Kajo looked at the sergeants behind him. They whispered whether they should attack them or not. After all, It was an opportunity. Moreover, the group''s members were not that high-leveled. Lieutenant Kajo could identify that three people had strength at the same level as the two sergeants. Fortunately, two of them belonged to the group that was sleeping. The rest of them way weaker than the other three. The difference between the three people and the other were far. If the three people had a combat capability of 10, then the rest of the group only had a combat capability of 3 and at most 5. Moreover, the group''s equipment was not that good. There were scratched everywhere on their equipment. And, the soldiers who were on guard had a tired expression. It seems that they had a rough day. Lieutenant Kajo calculated that they had around 60% of chance to win the fight. However, if they could immediately kill the two people who were sleeping, their winning chance would increase to 100%. Lieutenant Kajo was confident that he could win the battle. However, he still asked the other two sergeant''s opinion. They needed to make a decision as soon as possible. The longer they stayed here, the higher the chance that the enemy would spot them. Moreover, the morning almost came. When the morning had come, it would be more difficult for Lieutenant Kajo and the two sergeants to kill all of the enemies. The sergeants also knew that this was a great opportunity. They didn''t want to waste it. So, the two of them immediately agreed. Four of the soldiers who were on guards also could not resist the sleepiness that came to them. However, they tried their best to fight it. The four soldiers were split into two smaller groups, with each group consisting of two people. The first group was guarding the front while the second group was defending at the back. In between, there were 5 of their teammate that were sleeping. Lieutenant Kajo and the sergeants discussed a bit on how to attack them. Their first goal was to eliminate the two people that were sleeping. Yes, their targets were the two people who were as strong as the sergeants. They had to ignore the soldiers who were on guard and then immediately charged and killed their target. If they had to fight against one of the two groups that were guarding, it would waste their time. Moreover, it would also alert the enemy. With only three of them, it would be too risky to defeat nine enemies without any injuries. Moreover, among the enemy, there was a cleric. Fortunately, the cleric was also sleeping. So, they had more time to kill the enemy before the enemy ready to give support. After a minute, Lieutenant Kajo and the sergeants had come up with a plan. They would breakthrough through the back. It was because the group guarding the back was weaker than the front one. Lieutenant Kajo and the sergeants would not engage in battle with the guarding soldier and immediately charged to their target. Also, to ensure their killing chance, the three of them would joint-attack one of the targets. Then, a second later, Lieutenant Kajo and the sergeants began to initiate their plan. They detour to the back of the enemy''s group. After they arrived behind the group, the three of them immediately charged. The soldiers who were guarding had a tired and sleepy face. However, they tried to resist the sleepiness by talking to each other in a low voice. At first, it was effective. However, as time goes by, the drowsiness began to attack them once again. "I am so tired. How long before the rolling time?" One of the soldiers asked the other. The other soldier yawned before answering, "Yawn... So am I. In 10 minutes, we need to wake them. After that, we need to move to another location first before we can go to sleep." When they were talking, suddenly, three silhouettes charged at them. This sudden attack surprised them. They could not react in time. "Enemies attack!!!!" One of the soldiers shouted as loud as he could. However, when he shouted, the three silhouettes already moved past them. The enemies also surprised by the sudden shout. However, they reacted as swift as they could. The soldiers who were guarding the front went to help. Meanwhile, the soldiers who were sleeping also awakened because of the shout. However, it was too late. Lieutenant Kajo and the two sergeants already arrived at their target. They immediately launched their full attack towards the target. Before the target could react, the attack already came at him. Without any retaliation, the target easily killed by Lieutenant Kajo and the sergeants. However, the three of them didn''t stay idle after killing the target, they still had one more target. The three of them directly changed their target. Unfortunately, although the target could not block Lieutenant Kajo''s attack, but he could prevent the two sergeants'' attack. Moreover, the enemy''s cleric also already ready to give support. With a heal, the target''s health back to full again. A crisis came to Lieutenant Kajo''s group of three. Fortunately, they reacted quick. After they failed the attack, they directly turned back and breakthroughs from the direction they were coming. Thanks to their quick reaction, they could escape before the enemies surround them. Lieutenant Kajo and the two sergeants also made some distance between them and the enemies. Chapter 237 - Dawn Attack (3) Lieutenant Kajo and the two sergeants were facing eight enemies. It was challenging to face eight enemies without a cleric. Moreover, the enemy had a cleric at their side. Lieutenant Kajo and the two sergeants using a quick eye sign had agreed to retreat. Their surprise attack had failed. If they braved themselves and tried to fight against the enemy, it would be challenging to win against them. Even if they could win, they would not escape without any injuries. However, their enemies were not some ordinary people or a villager, they were trained soldiers. As soon as Lieutenant Kajo and the two sergeants showed a sign to escape, they immediately chased them. They spread out. However, the distance between each of the enemies was not too far. So, in case, Lieutenant Kajo and the sergeants tried to ambush them, the others could quickly support each other. Unfortunately, there was a mage among the enemies. Moreover, it was the one who Lieutenant Kajo and the two sergeants failed to kill. The mage began to cast an [Earth Wall] to block the escape route. It was proved to be effective. Although the wall quickly destroyed, it hindered the escape of Lieutenant Kajo''s group and shortened the distance between them. The mage followed up the spell with a slow spell and targeted one of the sergeants who was the slowest among the three. The sergeant, who was the slowest, became slower as the spell hit him. There was still quite some distance between them, but the gap was getting shorter and shorter. The three of them had already tried to use each of their movement speed skill. Lieutenant Kajo and the other sergeant could leave. However, the sergeant who was hit by the slow spell would be left behind. They could not leave this one sergeant behind. If the sergeant was left, it would be no doubt that he would be killed easily. Moreover, that sergeant was an archer. It would not take that much time to kill an archer with eight people. Lieutenant Kajo had to make a decision. If he left behind the sergeant, the two of them could escape. However, if they did that, they would lose the sergeant. The sergeant''s death would be no doubt degrade the army''s morale. With low morale, what if they had to face the demonic monster. Surely, most of the soldiers would have a shadow in their hearts and tried to desert. If there were only a few soldiers that decided to abandon, he could still control it. However, if most of the soldier desert from the battle, he could do nothing to prevent that. Lieutenant Kajo looked at the other sergeant and nodded. The other sergeant knew what Lieutenant Kajo means. Lieutenant Kajo would stay behind and tried to buy them some time while he had to run back to the army and brought some reinforcements. Lieutenant Kajo stopped his escape. He turned back and faced the enemies behind him. Then, he charged passed the archer who was nearly getting captured. Lieutenant Kajo swung his big ax and used his area skill. The enemies already seen what Lieutenant Kajo''s movement. So, they could stop and dodge Lieutenant Kajo''s area skill. The area skill didn''t hit any of the enemies. However, it could prevent them from capturing the archer. The archer sergeant also saw the situation. Lieutenant Kajo had tried to save him and let the other sergeant ran away. Since he was a sergeant, he knew what this situation means. They had to buy some time until the reinforcement came. The archer sergeant stopped his escape and turned back. He drew out his bow and launched his attack to the enemies. Meanwhile, after unleashing his area skill, Lieutenant Kajo didn''t stop, he immediately followed up the attack. Lieutenant Kajo could not let the enemies gain their momentum back. He had to keep attacking to prevent the enemies from gaining the upper hand again. However, it was tough to do that with just two people. Moreover, the enemies were eight trained soldiers. At first, it was going to what Lieutenant Kajo''s had wanted. However, with the cleric and the two strongest soldiers among the enemies, the enemies were slowly gaining their advantages back. Actually, the enemies had already seen that one of the enemies had escaped. From this situation, they could also deduce something. Two people tried to fight against the eight of them while the other one was running away, calling a reinforcement. Surely, there were other groups near their place. They had wanted to block that one enemy from calling the reinforcement. However, Lieutenant Kajo''s area skill had prevented them from doing that. Now, the enemies knew that they didn''t have any time before the enemy''s reinforcement came. They had two choices. First, to ignore Lieutenant Kajo and the archer sergeant and escape. Second, they had to kill both of them and escape quickly. Each of the choices had its own advantages and disadvantages. After calculating the odds, the enemies had decided to pick the second option. They could not believe that the eight of them could not kill these two enemies quickly. The enemies began to increase their pressure. They began to attack more aggressively. Lieutenant Kajo had tried to prevent the enemy''s from surrounding them. With the help of the archer, they could stop them from doing that. However, the enemy''s number was four times than them. Lieutenant Kajo and the archer sergeant could not help but began to feel pressured. Slowly but surely, the enemies started to surround them. Lieutenant Kajo was also slowly getting some injuries acc.u.mulated. The archer sergeant also tried his best to maintain some distance and support Lieutenant Kajo from far away. He also was making sure that Lieutenant Kajo always had a route to fall back slowly. At first, the archer sergeant could support Lieutenant Kajo. However, the enemies began to divide their attacks. Six of them were focusing on Lieutenant Kajo while the other two were aiming at him. The two of the enemies were trying to force the archer sergeant to go into close combat battle. Chapter 238 - Dawn Attack (4) The archer sergeant began to have difficulty to support Lieutenant Kajo. He was struggling against the two enemies stuck to him. If the sergeant tried to support Lieutenant Kajo, then the enemies would shorten their distance and danger his life. Otherwise, if he tried to block the enemies'' advance, then Lieutenant Kajo would have a difficult time facing his enemies. Neither of the choices was better than the other one. Although Lieutenant Kajo was powerful than his six enemies, however, it was difficult to fight against six enemies at once. Moreover, there was cleric among the enemy. Slowly but surely, Lieutenant Kajo''s health began to decrease. His health already reduced to 90%. However, Lieutenant Kajo proved to be convincing. It already took several minutes for the enemy to reduce 10% of Lieutenant Kajo''s health. Although he could not kill any of the enemies, his goal to buy time seems going in the right direction. Lieutenant Kajo''s enemies also began to feel pressured. They had to kill Lieutenant Kajo quickly. However, they had already taken several minutes and only could reduce 10% of Lieutenant Kajo''s health. Meanwhile, the archer sergeant began struggling. The enemies had come close to him. He was forced to a close combat battle. As a sergeant, he could fight in close combat even though he was an archer. However, his fighting capability surely would not match against the pure close combat soldier. And, it was proved correct. The two enemies that the sergeant fought began to gain the upper hand in the battle. The archer sergeant had tried hard to dodge and attack. However, cut injuries started to show on the sergeant. Lieutenant Kajo saw his subordinate''s state. However, he could do nothing. His hand already full fighting against these six enemies. Lieutenant Kajo and the enemies were nervous. The enemies were worried that they could not kill this man before the reinforcement came. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Kajo feared that his subordinate would die before the support came. Both sides were nervous because of two different reasons. However, there was one thing that linked both of their worries. It was the reinforcement. Auron was waiting with the other soldiers. At first, their alertness was high. However, as the time gone by, slowly, they became bored. A soldier whispered to the soldier beside him. When that happened, several other whisper and murmur began to be heard in the group. The corporal could not help but began to rebuke at the talking soldiers. The situation went silent once again. However, since there was nothing to do, the whisper and murmur began to sound once again. The corporal once again began to stop the soldier and kept their alert up. However, the two sergeants that were left to maintain the big group also could not help but became worried. It was already a long time, and there was no news or sign of Lieutenant Kajo''s presence. However, they still waited patiently. Then, the third time the whispers and murmur happened again, a commotion started to break in front of the groups. All of the sergeants and the corporals immediately went to the front of the group. When they arrived at the front, they saw a silhouette of a man coming out from their front. That silhouette was dashing. The shadow approached the big groups at high speed. Slowly they became closer. When the silhouette was close enough, they started to become alert and raised their weapon. However, it turned out that the silhouette was Sergeant Richard. When they recognized Sergeant Richard, they immediately put down their weapon. "What happen?" One of the sergeants asked Sergeant Richard. However, Sergeant Richard didn''t answer him. Instead, with a hurried tone, he pointed at two corporals in the very front and ordered, "You and you. Bring your troops and follow me! Hurry!" After giving his instructions, Sergeant Richard turned back and went back to where he was coming. Yes, Sergeant Richard was the sergeant that went along with the lieutenant. He also was the one that Lieutenant Kajo told to call for reinforcement. The corporals who were pointed by Sergeant Richard also didn''t dare to delay. They had already seen the hurried expression in the sergeant''s face. They immediately called their troops and followed the sergeant. Meanwhile, the sergeants who was asking a question and ignored also didn''t get offended. He knew there must be something urgent going on. They didn''t get angry and started to calm down the unrest soldiers. Both of them could only pray that there was nothing serious happen to the lieutenant and the other sergeant. One of the two corporals that were chosen were Corporal Scud. So, Auron, who belonged to Corporal Scud''s troops, also departed and followed Sergeant Richard''s step. "Quick! Increase your speed!" Sergeant Richard hurriedly ordered. With Sergeant Richard''s order, the troops began to increase their speed. After several minutes of following Sergeant Richard. Auron started could hear a fighting sound. The sound of weapons clashed and spells launched. With that sound, all of the troops began to know something had gone wrong. All of them immediately took out their weapons and prepared to battle. Auron also didn''t forget to follow. He took out his staff and prepared to fight. The troops increased their speed again. In several seconds after, the soldiers arrived at the battle scene. And it was a disaster. Auron could see many wound on Lieutenant Kajo''s body. His armor also appear to be damaged. Auron saw that Lieutenant Kajo had a battle against six enemies and only had 40% of his health left. Then, Auron looked at the other side of the battle scene. It was more horrifying. The archer sergeant''s body had full of injuries. Blood almost covered all of the sergeant''s body. And, he only had a sliver of his health left. The sergeant still could move. However, it looked like the sergeant could move because of his will to live. The instinct had controlled the body and tried his best to run. Chapter 239 - Dawn Attack (5) Lieutenant Kajo saw the reinforcement had arrived. He immediately shouted, "Quick! Help Sergeant Kali!" At the same time, the enemies also saw that the reinforcement had arrived. They knew it was over. They could not kill this man despite fighting him with six people. However, the enemies didn''t want to leave empty-handed. The enemies'' leader also shouted, "Kill that man, quickly! Then, leave!" Although the enemies could not kill Lieutenant Kajo, but the archer sergeant, Sergeant Kali, was dying. The enemies'' leader decided to kill Sergeant Kali first and leave the scene. The enemies that fought against Lieutenant Kajo started to leave. Lieutenant Kajo, who saw this, didn''t let this happen. He chased them and tried to block them. The other corporal, besides Corporal Scud, also helped Lieutenant Kajo to chase the enemies. Meanwhile, Sergeant Richard and Corporal Scud went to help Sergeant Kali. The two enemies that fought against Sergeant Kali began to kill the sergeant hurriedly. They became more aggressive in their attack. Both of them saw that Sergeant Kali had only sliver of health left, so they unleashed their most potent offense. Then, they immediately left the scene didn''t bother to check Sergeant Kali. Sergeant Richard chased the escaped enemies. Corporal Scud, who saw this picked three Private Squads to tend the sergeant''s wound and instructed the other squads to spread the area and block the enemies'' escape route. Auron belonged to the chasing group. With Corporal Scud''s instruction, his group went northwest from Sergeant Kali''s place. Auron instructed Lisk and Firze to went ahead and spread out. He also told if they found an enemy, then they had to send a signal and tried to buy time as much as possible. With that, a thief and a swordsman detached from Auron''s group and went separately. Meanwhile, at Lieutenant Kajo''s side, Lieutenant Kajo managed to catch one of the fleeing enemy. He didn''t show any mercy and immediately killed that enemy. However, because of finding this one enemy, the other five enemies managed to escape from Lieutenant Kajo''s sight. "Scour the area! I want all of them dead or alive!" Lieutenant Kajo ordered. The corporal began to give some instructions and spread out his troops. Lieutenant Kajo also didn''t stay idle. He also scoured the area and tried his best to find the enemy. At least, that was that he could do to redeem his mistake. Lieutenant Kajo still felt quilty when seeing Sergeant Kali''s last state. The situation was worse than he could imagine. If only he didn''t recklessly attack the enemy, then all of this would not happen. He had to pay off for his overconfident. Right now, he still didn''t know whether Sergeant Kali''s condition. Did Sergeant Kali already dead or not? He could only hope that the sergeant hadn''t died. Now, he could only kill all of the enemies to pay off his mistake. Lieutenant Kajo was actively moving despite his injuries. However, the enemies had made some distance when he killed that one last enemy. He could not see any sign of the enemies. After several minutes of looking in the area, he finally found an enemy hiding. Fortunately, this was one of the two strongest among the enemies group. Lieutenant Kajo immediately chased that enemy. A chase happened inside the forest. The enemy tried to lose Lieutenant Kajo by moving between the trees. However, it was futile. Lieutenant Kajo was like a homing missile that already locked onto the target. The enemy began to panic. To increase their escaping chances, the enemies had decided to went in a separate way. So, there was no one near him. Unfortunately, this enemy was so unlucky. He had already met an enemy. Moreover, the one that found him was the toughest one. The enemy could not escape from Lieutenant Kajo''s clutch. As the distance between them became shorter and shorter, the enemy finally gave up on escaping. The reason was that Lieutenant Kajo had around 40% of his health left. The enemy thought that since he had full health, the battle would not be a quick one. During the fight, he would look for an opportunity to give a massive blow to maim the lieutenant. Then, he would escape once again. Although the difference in health was massive, the enemy was not confident enough that he could kill Lieutenant Kajo. Before, when they were six people and attacking this man, it already took much time to decrease the man''s health to his current condition. And now, he was alone. It would take forever for him to kill this man. The other reason that the enemy braved enough to face the furious Lieutenant Kajo was because there were no other soldiers accompany Lieutenant Kajo. With both reasons mentioned, the enemy braced himself and turned around. Then, he launched a sneak attack. Lieutenant Kajo also saw that the enemy had turned over and tried to fight against him. He saw the incoming attack from the enemy and ignore it. Instead, he launched his attack on the enemy. The enemy was in surprise that Lieutenant Kajo wanted to exchange blows. If this happened, he would be the one on the losing side. However, the attack had been launched, and he could not retract it quickly. Baam... Both of the attacks connect to each other. The enemy''s sword sliced Lieutenant Kajo''s bulky right arm. Meanwhile, the enemy also received a massive blow from Lieutenant Kajo''s ax. Fortunately, the enemy had taken out one other sword and block Lieutenant Kajo''s ax with that sword, or else he would be slice into two pieces. However, the impact of the blow was not a joke. Lieutenant Kajo had used his full force into that one attack. The enemy who received the attack flew sideways and crashed a tree. He lost the sword that managed to slash Lieutenant Kajo''s right arm. He used the other sword in his hand to stand up. It was difficult to stand up even with the sword''s help. The enemy began to feel dreaded. Chapter 240 - Dawn Attack (6) The enemy stood up with difficulty. In front of him, Lieutenant Kajo just stood there and stared at him. Lieutenant Kajo''s right arm was bleeding due to the enemy''s sword. However, he didn''t feel any pain nor showed a pained expression. This way, the pressure that the enemy felt doubled even tripled. The fear intensified as Lieutenant Kajo took one step forward. The enemy''s leg began shaking. Fortunately, the enemy still had the support of the sword; if not, he would already slumped to the ground. Lieutenant Kajo moved one step at a time slowly. It was like a predator coming closer to its prey while thinking about what he should do to the prey. Should he eat it from the leg or the head? In truth, Lieutenant Kajo was thinking. However, it was not about how he should eat this soldier. Instead, he tried to calm his anger and rationalize his thought. He wanted to kill the enemy to appease his wrath quickly. But, the other side of him wanted to capture and interrogate the enemy. Lieutenant Kajo wanted to interrogate the enemy because of their presence in this remote place. As the Raiding Month had ended, there were two types of goals that the enemies'' spies would do. First, to escape from Gaia and back to Regalia. To do that, the spy had to use the portal that connected the Bridge World from Gaia. Then, they had to walk across the Bridge World to arrive at their campsite. Second, the spy would usually disguise themselves as a citizen. Then, they would infiltrate to various towns or cities and create havoc from inside. There were multiple kinds of chaos that they could create. For example, they could kidnap and kill citizens inside towns or cities. Or, they could destroy the town head, or they could initiate a rebellion. However, this group of spies that Lieutenant Kajo had met did neither of the goals. There must be a hidden agenda that Gaia didn''t know. Moreover, they were in this remote village. It only added the suspicion to the group. Lieutenant Kajo took a step at a time. The enemy had already dreaded out that he didn''t have the energy to run away or fought back. As Lieutenant Kajo came closer, the enemy''s fear doubled. He could collapse anytime. When Lieutenant Kajo was close enough to the enemy, he raised his fist and punched the enemy. He hit the enemy brutally until the enemy passed out. Yes, in the end, Lieutenant Kajo chose to capture and interrogate the enemy. After the enemy passed out, a private squad arrived at the battle scene. They wanted to give their respect to Lieutenant Kajo. However, Lieutenant Kajo stopped them. Instead, he ordered them to tie this enemy and bring back to the big group and don''t let him escape. The arrival of this private squad was on time. With the group''s presence, Lieutenant Kajo didn''t have to waste time to tie up the enemy. Instead, he immediately went inside the forest and looked for another enemy. The private squad quickly did as ordered. They carried out the unconscious enemy back to the big group. Meanwhile, Auron was walking with his group when suddenly they heard a sound of battle beside them. They hurriedly came over to the source of sound. When Auron and his group arrived, they saw that Firze was fighting against one of the enemy in close combat. Immediately, Auron''s group took their position. The enemy who saw Auron''s group came to the scene also hurriedly tried to escape. However, Firze was quick enough to block the enemy from escaping. Failing to escape, the enemy had no choice but to fight. At first, when the enemy still fought one on one with Firze, he still could win the fight. He even injured Firze''s left arm and right leg. Fortunately, Auron and his group arrived at the scene quickly. With Auron and his group arrived at the battle scene, the enemy got distracted by the arriving group. Firze, who was losing, didn''t miss this chance. When the enemy got distracted by Auron''s presence and tried to escape, Firze directly launched his attack. The attack hit the enemy''s right leg, which slowed down the enemy. Auron, who saw the enemy, tried to escape also didn''t stay idle. He immediately cast his spell. Yonta and Adelina also went over and blocked the enemy escape route. Auron''s group blocked the enemy''s escape route. With the escape route gone, the enemy still tried to defend himself. However, with nine against one, the enemy could do nothing much. Very quickly, Auron''s group managed to immobilize the enemy. Auron decided not to kill the enemy since he felt that capturing the enemy was more worthwhile. After tying the enemy, Auron''s group brought him back to where Sergeant Kali was left. When Auron arrived at that place, there were still the private squads who were ordered to treat the sergeant. Not long after Auron''s arrival, Sergeant Richard and Corporal Scud also arrived with an enemy''s corpse in their possession. When Sergeant Richard arrived, he saw Auron''s group had a prisoner. So, Sergeant Richard gave a sign to Corporal Scud, who immediately took the corpse and went to Auron''s group to take the prisoner. Meanwhile, Sergeant Richard went over to the group that treating Sergeant Kali and asked, "How is the sergeant''s condition?" "Fortunately, we arrived on time. The sergeant still had his last breath left when we started treating him." "We managed to stabilize and heal his physical injuries. However, we believe that he had internal injuries. For now, the injuries were not life-threatening." "However, it seems that the sergeant could not participate in this operation anymore since a battle would worsen his condition." "If we are not careful, the injury could become worse, even reaped the sergeant''s life." One of the cleric answer Sergeant Richard''s question. Sergeant Richard had a serious face when asking the question. However, when he heard the answer, his expression became more relaxed. Chapter 241 - Ancient Ruin (1) Sergeant Richard felt relaxed a bit. As long as Sergeant Kali did not die, the repercussion would not as heavy as if Sergeant Kali dead. "Do what you can to help him." In the end, Sergeant Richard ordered the cleric to take of the sergeant. However, the cleric asked, "Yes, Sir! Actually, we should bring Sergeant Kali back as soon as possible. The environment here is not suitable for recovery." Sergeant Richard also knew that the environment here was not suitable for the recovery. However, he was not the one who make the decision here. He could only wait until Lieutenant Kajo came back and explained the situation to him. "We should wait for Lieutenant Kajo to make the decision. For now, let us bring the unconscious sergeant outside of this forest." With that concluded, Sergeant Richard''s troops began to prepare to bring Sergeant Kali. Then, they lifted Sergeant Kali''s body and exited the forest carefully. It took a long time before they could come back and joined the group again. When Sergeant Richard''s troops had arrived back, he didn''t have to give a long explanation to the other two sergeants. It was because the soldiers that had been ordered to bring back the prisoner had arrived. Sergeant Richard only gave the missing details to the other two sergeants and told them about Sergeant Kali''s condition. Not long after Sergeant Richard''s troops arrived, Lieutenant Kajo and his soldiers also came back. They brought back another two prisoners. So, in total, they had four prisoners. One prisoner was the one that Lieutenant Kajo captured himself and delivered first. Then, Another one was the one that Auron''s group caught. Lastly, the other two were the new prisoner that Lieutenant Kajo had brought back. As soon as he arrived, the first thing that Lieutenant Kajo did was to ask about Sergeant Kali''s condition. Sergeant Richard began to explain the situation to the lieutenant. He also requested the cleric who healed Sergeant Kali to help him tell the situation. "That is all about Sergeant Kali''s condition. Oh, one more thing. The sergeant''s condition had been stabilized. I believe that he will wake up pretty soon." The cleric added. And it was true. Not long after, Sergeant Kali was weakly moving his part of bodies. Then, the unconscious Sergeant Kali started to open his eyes. He tried to raise his body, but he could not do it. When Lieutenant Kajo saw this, he immediately said, "Rest a bit. Your body is weak. After this, I will order four corporals to bring you back." After saying that, Lieutenant Kajo directly pointed to four corporals that belonged to Sergeant''s Kali''s troops. Then, he commanded them to escort Sergeant Kali''s safely. Meanwhile, the rest of Sergeant Kali''s forces were divided equally and were assigned to the other sergeants. After that, the group didn''t immediately continue their journey. Instead, they took some rest first after all of the suspense that happened. At some part of the big groups, the rest of the sergeants and Lieutenant Kajo were gathered together. In front of them, there were four prisoners. Two were unconscious, and the other two were conscious. With a sign from Lieutenant Kajo, one of the sergeants went forward and threw a bucket of water to the two unconscious prisoners. The cold water woke the two unconscious prisoners. They were confused and furious. However, they slowly understood their situation. Among the prisoners, one of them was the one that was as strong as a sergeant. Lieutenant Kajo knew that he should be the one that knew more compared the other three. So, Lieutenant Kajo went forward and looked at the man. "What are you doing here? What is your mission?" Lieutenant Kajo grabbed the man''s face and asked him. Instead of answering, the man spit at Lieutenant Kajo''s face. Lieutenant Kajo returned the man''s spit with a punch to his face. Then, he grabbed the man''s head and asked once again, "What is your mission?" Blood was pouring from the man''s nose. He looked at Lieutenant Kajo''s face with a pained expression. However, once more, he didn''t answer Lieutenant Kajo''s question and laughed loudly. Lieutenant Kajo, who saw this, immediately took out his knife and slit the man''s throat. Then, he moved out to the next prisoner. He asked the same question. However, the man also did what the previous prisoner did. Lieutenant Kajo directly killed the man without mercy and went up to the third prisoner. The third prisoner tried to negotiate with Lieutenant Kajo, who answered him, "You are in no position to negotiate with me! Answer me or die!" The man still tried to bargain by saying, "You will get nothing if you kill me. Just let me say the deal first, and from that point, we can start our negotiation." However, Lieutenant Kajo didn''t waste any time. He answered the man with a stab to the man''s stomach and killed the man. Lieutenant Kajo was a lieutenant. He would be ruthless if needed. Moving to the fourth and last prisoner, Lieutenant Kajo''s got darkened. Fortunately, the fourth and last prisoner was a weak-willed person. Before Lieutenant Kajo could ask him a question, the man already begs, "Don''t kill me! I will tell you everything that I know! Just don''t kill me!" The man began to tell everything that he knew. As the man was only had a lower position, he didn''t know much. However, he knew the general detail about their mission. Just like what Lieutenant Kajo and the others had thought, the enemy''s mission was not to create havoc. Their mission goal was to search for an ancient ruins. Then, they had to obtain something from inside the ruins. It was said that if they could get the thing from the ancient ruins, then Regalia would have an absolute advantage over Gaia. However, the man didn''t know what that thing was or where the ruin was. Actually, Regalia also didn''t know the exact location of the ancient ruin. What they knew was that the ruin was located underground. Chapter 242 - Ancient Ruin (2) "Are you lying to me?" Lieutenant Kajo intimidated the prisoner. "No. I don''t dare. I told you the truth. That was why Regalia sent a lot of troops this time." "They even use their trump card, the demonic stick, to give you a misdirection." "Didn''t you realize that although a lot of Regalia''s spies infiltrate your territory but only a few of them that created a disturbance?" The prisoner tried to convince Lieutenant Kajo. "We really didn''t know where the ancient ruin located. That was why we sent a lot of people to search for it. And my team was in charge of this area." Lieutenant Kajo began to ponder on the prisoner''s words. If he really thought about it for a while, what the prisoner said was correct. There were a lot of enemies that infiltrate during the Raiding Month, but no disturbance was happening inside the area. No rebellion in cities or towns. Even the other village seems to be in peace. It was so different than the previous Raiding Month. Rather than enemies'' spies or players, the one that caused the most impact was the demonic monster. When Lieutenant Kajo thought more about the prisoner''s words, he realized that the prisoner''s words seem genuine. Even though many of the enemies infiltrate the territory, the most visible action that the enemies'' spies had done was the attack on the two teams from the previous operation. That attack made both of the teams lost halves of their soldiers. Although Lieutenant Kajo began to believe what the prisoner had said, but he didn''t show it. Instead, his face became darkened and acted like he was furious. "Keep on lying!" Lieutenant Kajo acted furiously. "NO! I am not lying! No! Please! Don''t kill me!" The prisoner begged for his life. "If all that you said was the truth, then it can be considered as a suicide mission!" Lieutenant Kajo gave more pressure on the prisoner. "Why a coward like you willing to take this suicide mission. How could I believe in you!" Lieutenant Kajo threw his reason. "It was because the promised the higher-ups had made. The higher-ups had said that this was an easy mission." "We just need to stay low while searching the ancient ruin for at least a year. When the next Raiding Month started next year, the higher-ups said that they would send massive troops bigger than this year." "At that time, we just need to pass on the information of the ancient ruin to the one in charge." "He also said that as long as we gave correct information about the ancient ruin or even obtained the things inside the ruin, coming back from Gaia is a simple matter." "Moreover, after we offer that thing and come back from Gaia, we will gain a massive promotion." The prisoner gave out every information he knew. What the prisoner had said was the truth. It was actually an easy mission as long as one stay low and didn''t do anything messy. However, there was one thing that they had predicted wrong. It was the fact that Gaia entered the highest alert state when they knew that there were a lot of the enemies infiltrate their world. Moreover, the demonic monster''s threat also made the security became more tightened. The security tightened in each town and city made the spies didn''t even have the chance to supply their food from any town or city. They could only hunt for food or go to the remote village that still didn''t have tight security measures. This raised the mission''s difficulty exponentially. Most of the enemies'' spies even regretted their choice. They had decided that they would demand a benefit increase when they had successfully completed the mission. Lieutenant Kajo continued asking, "And, you believe in all of that promises?" "Yes. In fact, we only had to avoid the demonic monster and the Gaia''s military. As long as we stay hidden, it is not that difficult to stay for a year." "Moreover, the higher-ups showed us the letter from the king himself complete with the royal stamp about the benefits." "However, my group was so unfortunate, we were assigned to this remote place. There was a demonic monster''s nest near here. And, that limits our movement options." The prisoner tried to sound miserable. However, Lieutenant Kajo didn''t care about the miserable tone. Instead, he was more curious about the demonic monster''s nest. He asked about the location of the prisoner who cooperated well. Lieutenant Kajo didn''t intend to charge to the demonic monster''s nest. After all, looking at his troops'' condition right now, it would be impossible to kill the demonic monster. The troops'' morale had been low since Sergeant Kali was injured. However, that information was still useful for this operation and for the future. "Okay, since you had cooperated well. I will not kill you." In the end, Lieutenant Kajo said. "However, we could not let you go. We have to bring you back. You better behave properly, or else I will not be this polite to you anymore." Lieutenant Kajo threatened the prisoner. "Yes. Yes. I will behave properly. Thank you very much!" The prisoner didn''t feel threatened. Instead, he felt relieved and thanked Lieutenant Kajo over and over. The prisoner was like a crazy person since he thanked the enemy''s lieutenant over and over again. Lieutenant Kajo had to order someone to shut him and watched over him. He didn''t order them to kill the prisoner since he knew that the prisoner was useful. From the interaction before, the prisoner had been scared that he blurted out everything he knew. He would bring this prisoner back and gave him to the military. The military could interrogate him to know about the enemy''s military power. With everything had been resolved, Lieutenant Kajo had to focus back. He had to complete the goal that made him went all the way here, destroying the demonic stick. Lieutenant Kajo raised his arm and gave an advance command. Chapter 243 - Infighting? (1) The army continued its journey to destroy the demonic stick. There was still less than one hour walking from their place to arrive at their destination. After the spies'' incident, the morale of the troops was pretty low. It was because General Kali was injured and could not continue the mission. However, gradually, the troops'' morale began to improve due to the peaceful journey. Although the journey was peaceful, the sergeant and the corporal kept on reminding them during the trip. The soldiers still maintained their alertness. However, there really was nothing that happened. They didn''t even meet any monster or found any trace of monsters around the area. Because of that, the army''s advance speed increased. With no obstacle, their marching speed began to rise. Moreover, morning almost came. In no time, they arrived near the demonic stick''s location. The army had cut down their journey time. It only took 30 minutes for them to come to this location. It was almost half from their original estimation. When the army arrived, just like before, Lieutenant Kajo called the sergeants and the corporals to the front. Then, he started to give them a last brief before they began to attack. After 10 minutes, Lieutenant Kajo finished his briefing and asked, "Any question?" Lieutenant Kajo looked at his subordinate''s face. None of them showed any confused expression. The reason was most of them had joined the previous expedition. So, all of them knew what to do. Moreover, there were more soldiers in this mission. Out of all of the soldiers'' presence here, only two people that didn''t join the last expedition. They were Sergeant Richard and another sergeant. However, they already did their homework. When they heard that Lieutenant Kajo had asked them to help him, they already began to search for information about the last expedition. From the demonic monster''s power, the demonic stick''s behavior until the area''s terrain. So, although the sergeants didn''t join the previous mission, they already had enough knowledge to know what to do. Moreover, both of the sergeants had previously intensively discussed with Lieutenant Kajo. With sufficient knowledge, both of the sergeants shooked their heads, followed by the other sergeants and the corporals. Lieutenant Kajo nodded his head and said, "Good, soon we will begin the attack! Start your preparations." With that command, the sergeants and the corporals went back to their group and began instructing. Several commands and explanations were heard from the sergeants and the corporals. After several minutes, the preparations were finished. With that, Lieutenant Kajo began to initiate the attack officially. Each of the sergeants started moving with their own troops and took their position. Initially, each of the sergeants should guard one position from the north, east, south, and west from the demonic stick. However, since Sergeant Kali was injured and could not participate in the mission, they had to change their plans. However, it was not a massive change in their plan. Now, the three sergeants had to cover four sides. They had to divide the area carefully, so there was no loophole from it. Sergeant Richard was in charge of the north area. Within Sergeant Richard''s troop, Corporal Scud was in charge of preventing the monster''s horde. Yes, this time, Auron didn''t have the chance to attack the demonic stick. His troop was assigned to deal with the incoming monster. With everything was settled, it was time to commence the attack. Lieutenant Kajo led the attack. The sergeants didn''t participate in the attacking party. Instead, their main job was to prevent the monster''s horde from passing their blockade. They just had to send several of their troops to help Lieutenant Kajo''s attack. Like the previous time, when the soldiers entered the demonic stick''s area, their attributes was decreased due to the demonic aura. However, it didn''t stop them. Lieutenant Kajo moved forward. In less than a minute, Lieutenant Kajo had arrived beside the demonic stick. He immediately used his powerful skill and attacked the demonic stick. Baam... The damage was enormous. With that one attack, the demonic stick began to use both of its skills. The battle had begun. Lieutenant Kajo and the soldiers started to attack the shield. Meanwhile, the defense teams still waiting for the monster''s horde to arrive. They looked at the area around them. Nothing was strange. With more soldiers attacking the shield, it didn''t take a long time before the protection crumbled. When the shield destroyed, the demonic stick''s health began to reduce slowly. Several seconds later, the first monster had arrived around the area. Soon, more and more monsters arrived in the area. The monsters were coming from every direction. However, the soldiers didn''t go panic or caught in surprise. This time, they had already knew what was happening to them. Calmly, the defense teams began to take the incoming monster. With more soldiers than the previous expedition, the monsters were quickly wiped out. There were even some high spirited soldiers that complaint they didn''t get any target to attack. In no time, the demonic monster had already lost 20% of its health. It was swift compared to the previous mission. The demonic stick''s shield could only extend its life for several minutes before destroyed. Very quickly, the amount of monster gradually decreases as the spawn rate could not keep up with the dying monster. With fewer monsters, the sergeants ordered some of the squad to help attacking the demonic stick. Soon, the demonic stick''s health dropped to 50%. "Keep up the good work!" Lieutenant Kajo praised his soldiers for increasing the troop''s morale. However, as soon as he said that, a loud roar was heard from inside the forest. Lieutenant Kajo and the sergeants looked in the direction where the cry was coming from. Then, their expression darkened, and they began to feel nervous. The reason was because of the roar''s direction. Based on what the enemy''s spy had said previously, the cry was coming from the direction of a demonic monster''s nest. Chapter 244 - Infighting? (2) "Hurry up!" The sergeants shouted out. With fewer monsters coming, the sergeants decided to help the attacking team. All of them moved out and began attacking the demonic stick. Lieutenant Kajo also felt nervous. He wanted to stop the sergeants. But he could not. In the end, Lieutenant Kajo didn''t stop the sergeants and focused out on the demonic stick. The demonic stick''s health dropped fast. 50%... 49%... 48%... And it continued to go down at a visible rate. Auron led his squad to stop the monsters horde. As there was fewer monster, Auron and his team didn''t have anything much to do. He had heard the previous roar and knew that it was a demonic monster''s roar. Not just Auron, but everyone who was participating in the last operation also knew. There was a demonic monster nearby. Unconsciously, all of the soldiers gripped their weapon tighter. They had mixed feelings, including Auron. Fear seeped into their hearts. However, not just fear, there was also a feeling of furious and anger. They wanted to kill the demonic monster to appease their fury. Moreover, the soldiers who had friends that had been killed by the demonic monster. Their anger even suppressed their fear. However, they still could calm themselves and not crazily chase the demonic monster. The army heard another roar, followed by the second roar. Lieutenant Kajo and the sergeants became more nervous. They could not back down now since there was only 40% of the demonic stick''s health left. If they ran away soon, then all of their efforts were in vain. When Lieutenant Kajo and his subordinate still could calm themselves, the enemy''s spy could not. Although he was a prisoner, Lieutenant Kajo could not waste any effort to escort him back first. That was why the enemy''s spy was just tied up and brought into the battlefield. When the prisoner heard the first roar, his face became pale. He was scared. However, he could do nothing since he was a prisoner. If he tried to run away, then there would be no doubt that he would die immediately. However, if he stayed, he was afraid that the demonic monster would wipe them out, including him. Although he never witnesses the demonic monster''s strength directly, he had heard the rumor that already spread among the Regalia''s soldiers. When the second and third roar sound, respectively, the prisoner became more panicked. However, he could not run away. In the end, he shouted, "Hey! The demonic monster is nearby! Quick, let us escape before it came to us!" However, none of the soldiers answered him. All of them ignoring him. There were even some soldiers that want to shut him up, but without their superior''s order, they didn''t dare to do it. Seeing he was getting ignored, the prisoner kept on shouting. He even shouted and cried louder. In the end, Sergeant Richard could not stand with the prisoner''s cries. He moved to the prisoner and punched his face. "Shut up! Your cries didn''t change anything, so just shut up!" Sergeant Richard reprimanded the prisoner. With that one punch, the prisoner became silent. However, he felt that he was mistreated. "If you guys didn''t want to run, then just let me run away." The prisoner thought in his mind and didn''t dare to say it out loud. Sergeant Richard ignored the prisoner''s anger and went back to attacking the demonic stick. However, before he was gone, he reminded the prisoner once more, "Shut your mouth okay or else I will feed you to the demonic monster." It was a childish threat. However, it worked. The prisoner didn''t dare to make a sound and just grumbled. The demonic stick''s health was dropped to 30% before a shield went up. The soldiers began to attack the guard and destroy it. Another roar sound. This time it was several continuous roar followed by a sound of battle. Lieutenant Kajo heard there was a sound of battle and immediately thought, "Huh, is there any troops that fight against the demonic monster?" His thought began to point at General Kelvin. It was weird since General Kelvin''s target was supposed to be far away from here. However, Lieutenant Kajo didn''t think it for too long. He had to complete his goal first before thinking about other things. After all, everything was possible to happen. What if General Kelvin and his troops saw the demonic monster and chased it up to this place or maybe the Third Prince''s soldiers that supposed was the one that engaged in battle. Lieutenant Kajo shouted out and pushed his soldiers once more, "Quick! This mission almost over, and we all can go home!" 30%... 20%... 10%... When the demonic stick''s health was going down to 10%, the roars sound continuously. This roar made all of the soldiers increase their firepower. "5% more!" Lieutenant Kajo shouted. When the demonic stick''s health reached 3%, another shield sprung up and covered the demonic stick. "This is the last shield! 3% more!" Lieutenant Kajo shouted once again. After this shield went down, the demonic stick supposed to go down afterward. The troops'' morale went high. In no time, the guard destroyed. When the army destroyed the shield, a shadow moved out of the forest. Lieutenant Kajo had continuously monitored the forest. So, when this shadow was coming out of it, Lieutenant Kajo immediately reacted. Lieutenant Kajo moved up and took the front position. He was ready to fight against the demonic monster. "Keep on attacking!" Lieutenant Kajo ordered the other to stick on the mission. There was still quite some distance between the shadow and Lieutenant Kajo and his troops. Just as they had predicted, the shadow was a demonic monster. It moved swiftly to Lieutenant Kajo''s position. Lieutenant Kajo looked at the demonic monster and found that there was blood on its body. Besides, there were also a few injuries on its body. "The monster must have a tough battle." Lieutenant Kajo thought. He prepared to receive the demonic monster''s attack. Chapter 245 - Infighting? (3) The coming demonic monster had a ferocious appearance. It had sharp claws on each of its fingers. Besides, it also had sharp teeth. There was also blood all over its body, which made the demonic monster appeared to be scarier. The demonic monster''s body appeared to be slim. However, don''t underestimate the demonic monster. Although its body was thin, it was also sturdy. If an ordinary a.d.u.l.t without enough strength punch its body, the man''s hand would be broken. "Prepare to defend!" Lieutenant Kajo shouted out. The soldiers near Lieutenant Kajo prepared to receive the demonic monster''s attack. However, not long after the bloody demonic monster came out from the forest, another demonic monster appeared behind it. It seems the newcomer was chasing the bloody demonic monster. And it was not alone. From behind, there were two more demonic monsters followed the newcomer. The three newcomers were different from the bloody demonic monster. The three newcomers had the same appearance. Each of them had a big body and fat bellies. When you looked at the arms and legs, it was big. However, it was not because of muscles. Instead, it was because of fat. Although the newcomers'' body was big and full of fat, they didn''t move slowly. They appeared to be agile. They were not as quick as the bloody demonic monster, but they did not lack too far behind the demonic monster. The soldiers who saw this were shocked. They became more nervous. So did Lieutenant Kajo. It was already difficult to handle one demonic monster, but now, they had met two new demonic monsters type. Moreover, they were totaled to four demonic monsters. Lieutenant Kajo began to thinking hard. He wanted to immediately ordered a retreat. However, deep inside his mind, there was a feeling of reluctance. A little bit more, and they could finish their mission. When Lieutenant Kajo was thinking which options to choose, the leading big fat demonic monster squatted down and jumped. The big demonic monster jumped diagonally to the front and not vertically. The fat on his legs acted as a spring and sprung him high in the sky. It was so quick. The big demonic monster flew a little bit overpassed, the bloody demonic monster who was still running away. Then, with its fat bellies facing the ground, the big demonic monster dropped down in the path in front of the bloody demonic monster. Boom... The fat demonic monster fell to the ground and made a shallow hole on the ground. Upon impact, it also produced a shockwave around the area. The shockwave could even blow a little kid away. Unfortunately, the bloody demonic monster, who was the target, had dodged in time. It moved to the side and avoided the big demonic monster. However, the shockwave still impacted it a bit, and it made the bloody demonic monster staggered a bit. However, it was better than getting flat under the big demonic monster. The bloody demonic monster had lost its momentum to run away because of it. Meanwhile, the two big demonic monsters who were following their leader didn''t miss this chance. They surrounded the bloody demonic monster and blocked all means of escape. The big demonic monster''s leader also stood up and faced the bloody demonic monster. Lieutenant Kajo and the soldiers suddenly became a spectator. All of them breathed a sighed of relief inside their mind. Lieutenant Kajo, still with a serious face, though, "It looked like they had a little fight." Lieutenant Kajo raised his hand and ordered the troops to slowly went back. If they had a fight, then let them fight among themselves. Gradually, the distance between the soldiers and the demonic monster became wider and wider. However, Lieutenant Kajo still didn''t put down his guard yet. Lieutenant Kajo looked behind him to see the situation at the demonic stick. There was still 1% left on its health. Soon, their mission would be completed. Meanwhile, the situation at the demonic monster''s place was heated. The bloody demonic monster tried to look for an escape. However, it was difficult. The bloody demonic monster attempted to punch the big demonic monster''s belly. Upon impact, the big demonic monster felt the punch. However, the damage was not as severe as it was supposed to be. Most of the damage was absorbed by the fat surrounding the belly. It rendered the bloody demonic monster''s attack useless. However, the bloody demonic monster didn''t give up easily. This time, it aimed for the head. But, the big demonic monster was not stupid. It already prepared for the attack and raised his big arm and blocked it. The attack made the big demonic monster went back for a bit, but he didn''t feel any pain. The bloody demonic monster tried to escape using this chance. However, the big demonic monster''s leader had blocked the path. It used his big bellies to do a body slam that pushed the bloody demonic monster''s back. The bloody demonic monster felt frustrated. This already happened several times inside the forest. The three big demonic monsters did a body slam and the same time. They tried to press this bloody demonic monster flat from three directions. However, the bloody demonic monster didn''t let it happen. The bloody demonic monster used most of his power to break through the encirclement by aiming the weakest among his enemies. With his strength, he pushed back the weakest enemy and avoided getting pressed by the other two. However, it was only for a split second before he was getting surrounded once more. With the big body of the demonic monster, it already took a lot of space. Moreover, there were three of them, there was only a little space left for the bloody demonic monster. Several of the soldiers also saw this infighting between demonic monster. Deep inside, they felt rejoice because of this, including Auron. It was like watching an action movie. When they were relaxedly watching the show, the three sergeants went beside Lieutenant Kajo. They had completed the mission. Chapter 246 - Infighting? (4) Lieutenant Kajo didn''t stay for long. As soon as the three sergeants told him that they had completed the mission, he ordered a retreat. He didn''t care about the result of the fight among the demonic monster. Lieutenant Kajo had already made a grave mistake. Although Lieutenant Kajo, Sergeant Richard, and Sergeant Kali had previously agreed on the surprise attack, as the leader of this mission, he was the one who responsible for the tragedies. Fortunately, he had finished his mission. What happened if he wasn''t? There would be no doubt that he would be punished even demoted to lower ranks. When Lieutenant Kajo ordered a retreat, one of the sergeants voiced out his disagreement. He wanted to wait for the demonic monster''s fight to over. Then, strike them as soon as the battle had over. The sergeant believed that they could reap the benefit from the fight. However, Lieutenant Kajo stick to his thought and quickly rejected the sergeant''s proposal. He didn''t want to make a risky move again. Lieutenant Kajo didn''t want to increase his mistake. What if the demonic monsters dislike having any spectator during their fight and decided to kill them first, then it would be too late for them to escape. Although they had a more significant number than the previous mission, there were also more than one demonic monsters this time. There were even four demonic monsters. Although the sergeant still didn''t want to retreat, however, he could do nothing as Lieutenant Kajo was the leader of this mission. He could not go against Lieutenant Kajo''s order, or it would be the same as defying the superior''s order. With the matter settled, the troops retreated slowly and orderly. They didn''t want to catch the attention of the demonic monsters. From the most back soldiers, they fled one by one, followed by the other soldiers. Lieutenant Kajo and the sergeants were the last ones who left the place. Thankfully, the demonic monsters were occupied with the fight and didn''t bother them leaving. The troops went slowly and didn''t make any significant movement. As the distances between the demonic monsters and the troops widen, the soldiers began to increase their marching speed and left the place quickly. Auron breathed a sighed of relief. He thought that they would have to fight against a demonic monster again. He was already fed up with fighting against the demonic monster. If he had a high strength, then it would be a different story. However, he was still weak right now. It was already difficult for him to defend himself even more to slay the demonic monster. The troops had already far away and went back safely to the nearest town with accomplished mission at hand. Meanwhile, the demonic monster still had an intense fight. The three big demonic monsters attacked brutally. They didn''t give the bloody demonic monster a chance to escape. The bloody demonic monster tried his best to hang on and find a way to avoid it. Deep inside, the bloody demonic monster regretted what he already did. It turned out that the bloody demonic monster was a ruthless monster. He didn''t care about anything and killed everyone weaker than him. He already massacred quite a significant number of villages. The bloody demonic monster also didn''t let the merchant peddler to escape. If he found a weak merchant peddler, he would even kill them. He would spare no effort to get experience points to make him stronger. Previously, before the fight happened, the bloody demonic monster was walking to hunt. And, he found a weak demonic monster nearby. He knew that killing this demonic monster would give more experience points compared to his other victims. The demonic monster he found belonged to one of the big demonic monster''s tribe. As the bloody demonic monster didn''t know that his prey''s nest was near, he quickly sneaked up to his victim. Moreover, the weak big demonic monster was alone. The bloody demonic monster began his assassination. And it was easy. His prey quickly died and let out a sad wailing. Unfortunately, what he didn''t know was that the big demonic monster''s leader was on his way to pick up the weak demonic monster. When he saw that his tribe''s member getting assassinated, he was furious. The big demonic monster roared furiously and chased the bloody demonic monster. The sudden arrival of the leader stunned the bloody demonic monster. The bloody demonic monster quickly escaped. However, he was chased by the leader. Moreover, the leader''s cries were also heard by two other members in the nest. The two of them joined hands with the leader to get revenge. The big demonic monster had surrounded the bloody demonic monster twice. However, each time, the bloody demonic monster managed to escape their encirclement. And, right now, was the third. They would not let this chance slipped away once more. The bloody demonic monster was in a dangerous state. He still had a chance to escape by using his trump card. However, he didn''t want to do it. There were repercussions if he used it. If he could not use it, he rather didn''t use it. However, the big demonic monster also attacked brutally. The bloody demonic monster began to bleed. The blood on his body was his prey''s blood, but now, it was mixed with his blood. The bloody demonic monster could not hold any longer. In the end, he decided to use his trump card. Boom... A massive explosion was heard. Dust was flying around the area and blurred the vision. When the dust settled, there were only three demonic monsters at the scene. All of the were the big demonic monster. However, two of them were still healthy while the other one gravely injured. And, there was no sign of the bloody demonic monster at the scene. Knowing his enemy escape, the leader roared furiously for several minutes. Meanwhile, the other demonic monster helped the one who was injured and bring him back to the nest. Chapter 247 - Devils Nest (1) Lieutenant Kajo and his troops arrived at the military base. When they arrived, it was already dark. Lieutenant Kajo dismissed the soldiers, including the sergeants, and went to report the mission. "Okay, we have heard and noted your report. Thank you for your hard work!" The military staff who tasked for reporting said. Lieutenant Kajo wanted to go out and visited Sergeant Kali. However, before he could do that, the staff called him over, "Lieutenant, please visit the main building tomorrow at 8 in the morning. There will be a hearing." Lieutenant Kajo stopped his walk and sighed. Then, he looked over to the staff and said, "Okay." The staff didn''t say any details about the hearing or the reason for the hearing. However, Lieutenant Kajo already knew why. There could only be one reason, Sergeant Kali''s injuries. However, he could do nothing about it. What already happened had already happened, Lieutenant Kajo could not change it. He could only face everything coming his way. With that, Lieutenant Kajo went out of the building and went to the military''s hospital. He asked Sergeant Kali''s room and immediately went over there. Meanwhile, Auron was stood inside his room. Just like before, he could not immediately claim his mission''s rewards and could only claim it tomorrow morning. He was thinking about what he should do. Without any options to do, Auron could only do the most natural thing that came up to his mind, leveling. He didn''t go over to his swordsman character. Instead, he intended to hunt with his mage character and let his swordsman character hunt alone. This way, he could earn multiple experience points at once. As a soldier, usually, they would have free time at night if they were not in a guard mission. Moreover, Auron was still new in the military. It was still around three days since he joined the army. So, he had not been assigned to any duty yet. Auron exited his room and went out of the military base. He had to look for the right hunting spot. He walked to the teleportation gate while thinking where he should go. It was 10 pm in the night, almost midnight. However, there were still quite a lot of people roaming around the street. Most of the NPC had gone to sleep or just staying inside their house. But, there were still many players that wandering around the road. Some players were talking with his friend. Some others were preparing his equipment to go leveling. After walking for several minutes, Auron finally arrived at the teleportation gate. When suddenly, someone called him. "Hey, you over there. Do you want to go to a dungeon with us? We lack one more person." A player called over Auron. Auron looked over and saw a woman was standing in front of him. The woman was a beauty. However, what strange was, Auron didn''t have any attraction to the woman. Auron asked the woman, "Which dungeon?" "Devil''s Nest. Just to make sure your level is over 200, right?" The woman asked Auron. Devil''s Nest was a dungeon for level 250 and above players. However, a player with a level of more than 200 could go inside the dungeon. It was an 8 men dungeon. So, there must be another 6 players beside him and the woman. "Okay, when do we go?" Auron asked once again. "Great! Soon. Follow me, I will introduce you to our team''s members." The woman went to the nearby pub, followed by Auron. Inside the pub, there were already another 6 players who were sitting circling a table. The woman and Auron went over to the table. When both of them arrived at the table, all of the people looked at them. And, the woman started to introduce Auron to them. Then, the woman introduced the other team members to Auron. There was nothing strange or weird during the introduction. All of the members were nice and quite friendly. Auron looked at them and recognized that the party was composed of level 250 players and above. There were only two people that were below level 250. Auron was one of them. The other one was a man who saw at the edge. Although his level was below 250, however, it was not that far to that number, unlike Auron, who still had a long way to go. The Devil''s Nest dungeon had a pretty high difficulty level. It had a 7 stars difficulty out of 10. However, with good teams and great teamwork, it would not be that difficult to complete. After the introduction, it turned out the leader of the party was not the woman. Instead, it was a man with glasses on his eyes. The leader said to Auron, "You don''t need to be nervous, mate. All of us were experienced players." After the leader had said that, Auron looked over at all of the members. Several seconds later, he knew what the leader means. All of them had the same guild''s badge on their chest. It means that all of them belonged to the same guild. However, it was not all, the guild that the badge represents was pretty famous. It was a farming guild. And, it was a top 300 farming guild. So, this means that all of these players had a low level, not because they were a newbie. But, they had reset their character intentionally to farm. "But we have to agree on one thing first! All of the loots will belong to us. If you can agree to this, we will accept you to the team. If not, then we can only look for another person." The leader said to Auron. Auron needed the loot as well. However, he lacked experience points more. With an experienced team''s members, Auron didn''t have to work hard and just leech the experience point. Auron would not let this chance slipped away. Auron nodded and agreed, "That''s fine, I have no problem with that." Chapter 248 - Devils Nest (2) "We all set then." The leader concluded. "Do you have any business? If not, we will get going." The leader asked Auron. Auron shook his head. "Let us get going!" The leader stood up, followed by the other members. After that, Auron was invited to the party, and they all went to the teleportation gate. Not long after, Auron''s party arrived in front of their destination, the Devil''s Nest. There were eight members inside the party, including Auron. Their party consisted of two swordsmen, one clerics, two archers, two mages, and surprisingly, a merchant. Moreover, the merchant was the glasses party''s leader. "Are you all ready?" The leader asked the group''s members. All of them nodded, including Auron. With the members'' confirmation, the party''s leader opened the dungeon. Then, all of the members vanished from in front of the dungeon. A few seconds later, all of the members were already inside the dungeon. Auron regained his vision back, and several system notifications greeted him. [Your party''s leader has set the loot distribution to leader only] [You have entered Devil''s Nest'' Dungeon] [Eliminate the source of disaster] Maximum Players: 8 Dungeon Cooldown: 1 day Description: Investigate and eliminate the cause of the disaster that happens in the area. Quest Clear Condition: Eliminate the source of disaster (0/1) Quest Clear Rewards: Experience +1.000.000, Gold +1 Quest Failure Condition: All players in the party die Quest Failure Punishment: Dungeon will be in cooldown for 2 days. The glasses merchant had already set the loot distribution to the leader only. This way, all of the members still could loot the item dropped. However, all of the items would automatically go to the leader''s inventory. Later on, the party''s leader should be the one who was responsible for distributing the loot. However, for this dungeon run, since Auron had made an agreement with the leader, so he would not get any loot. He would only receive his portion for completing the dungeon''s quest. Although this dungeon name was Devil''s Nest, it didn''t really have any relation to the real devil. It was named this because of the dungeon''s background story. This dungeon''s setting was taking place in a remote village far from the city. At first, the villagers were living in peace and harmony. They often went to the big city to sell their goods and buying supplies for the village. With all of the villagers'' effort, slowly, the village became bigger and bigger. More and more merchants were coming to the village. And, the original small village was upgraded and became a town. All of this started after the village upgraded and became a town. One day, a man was missing. Everyone put their best effort into searching for the man, but he could not be found. The wife became worried since the man never say anything before he was missing. Since it was already dark, the villager put a stop to the searching and decided to continue tomorrow. The man''s neighbors tried to console the wife and said something comforting. However, the wife''s worries could not go because this was the first time that her husband went out missing without leaving any message. It was a sleepless night for the wife. She could not sleep at all. When the morning came, the wife hoped that his husband returned home or at least be found. However, just like her bad feelings, her husband didn''t return home. The villager began their searching once again from the morning. However, the search didn''t have any results. Not even a trace of the man could be found. This continued until the third day. On the third day, another man was missing. Starting from that day, a villager began to disappear each upcoming day. There were some patterns on the missing person. It didn''t care about gender, but all the ones who had been missing were healthy people and still in the working age. The village''s head had already reported this missing case to the city and kingdom''s authorities. The kingdom had also already sent their troops to the village. They were tasked to help for the search and guarding the village until this case was solved. However, the troops sent by the kingdom started to go missing one by one. When the victims count reached more than a hundred, the kingdom took this case seriously. They sent more troops with stronger strength. Finally, the military found a clue on the missing people. They traced the hint until it led to the mountain nearby. Inside that mountain, they found a small old house. When the soldiers went inside the house, what they found was shocking. The small old house seems normal when they first came inside the house. There was no person found inside the home, and all of the furniture was old. However, the soldiers found a hidden stair that led to the underground. When they went downstairs, they found an excellent place full of high technology inside. It was very different than the small old house upstairs. The soldiers scoured the area and found out that it was a laboratory. Inside the laboratory, they found out the crazy man who was responsible for all of this. When they want to make an arrest, the insane man resisted. In the end, the soldier shot and killed the man. It turned out that the crazy man was the one who kidnapped all of the missing people and made them into a rat lab. Inside the laboratory, the soldiers also found several corpses that were a result of failed experiments. The corpse''s appearance had changed far from humans. It could not even be categorized as a human''s corpse. To not let this news spread, the military burned all of the corpses and destroyed the laboratory. They also spread the rumor that this incident was because of a devil, and this place was the Devil''s Nest. They also said that although they had eliminated the devil, however, they could not prevent the site from curse and forbid anyone to go around this area. Chapter 249 - Devils Nest (3) Auron and his party were inside the underground facility. This was the starting point for the dungeon. From the background story, anyone could already guess the dungeon''s objective. It was to kill the crazy researcher who used humans as a rat lab. The dungeon challenger would become the kingdom''s soldiers who were tasked to investigate the matter. Of course, not all of the background story was implemented as it was. There would be some change to give the players a little bit of difficulty to clear the dungeon. For example, the real laboratory was not as big as the dungeon''s size. Another example was, in the story, it was said that there was no success experiment. However, the monsters who roamed inside the dungeon were the mutant who was made from the research. "You can stand till and do nothing. Or, you can attack the marked monster. It is up to you, but do not create chaos or I will kick you out from the party! Oh yeah, one more thing, regardless of your choice, you need to follow us to the boss'' room." The glasses merchant who was also the party''s leader spoke to Auron. Auron didn''t take any offense from the party''s leader''s speech. He knew that he was actually not needed in this dungeon run. With or without him in the party, there would be no impact at all to this run success. The party began to move out and arrived at a big hall full of monsters. The party finally met with the dungeon''s monster. [Mutant type 1] (common monster) Level: 247 HP: 50000000/50000000 MP: 30000/30000 Skills: Increase Speed Description: The first type of mutant who walks with its hand and feet. It is a mutant with high movement and attack speed. [Mutant type 2] (common monster) Level: 253 HP: 60000000/60000000 MP: 30000/30000 Skills: Heavy Strength Description: The second type of mutant who walks with two feet. It is a mutant with considerable damages. Be careful of its attack! There were two types of mutants in front of the party. One with high mobility and the other one with a powerful attack. There was something that would attract anyone''s attention. The monster''s had high health points. It was actually not because of this dungeon was special or anything. Instead, it was because the developer did it intentionally. When the first few years after the launch, the monster only had 10% of its current health point. However, because of the low health point, many of the stronger players could easily solo the monster without any challenges. When Black Sheep saw this, they thought of a way to raise the difficulty. They wanted to encourage the player to play in a group more. They enhanced the monster''s attributes. Although it was only a 1% increase in the attack and defense of the monster, however, there was a massive change in the health and mana point of the monster. This dungeon was the first dungeon for players with level 200 or more. The Black Sheep decided to make this dungeon was the starting point. There was a qualitative change in the monster''s attributes, s All of the monsters would get a 1% increase in attack and defense. Also, their health and mana points would be multiplied by 10. There was a huge controversy when this update was implemented. However, Black Sheep still stayed with their decision. Changes began to take place in the games. Black Sheep''s objective was achieved. The players who could solo the monster started to make a party and not solo the dungeon. However, the number of dungeon''s raid also drastically went down. All of the players changed their hunting way and went for ordinary monsters outside of the dungeon. Black Sheep, who saw this data, began to implement another patch. The level 300 and more monsters would gain the same attributes increased. Also, the monster below level 300 would get a decrease of 10% in their experience point. Once again, a controversy happened. A lot of players left the game because it was more challenging to raise the level. However, there were also a lot of new players who like a challenge to play the game. After a few months of running the latest update, the game began to stabilize. There were no more complaints about the increase in the monster''s attributes or the decrease in the experience point. Moreover, as the game increase in fame, many players began to flock to the game once more. Some of them were returning players who left the game before. Auron''s party was proved to be professional. They quickly killed all of the enemies without leaving anything behind. After that, they promptly went to the next place. It was too easy for the party. It just took a little bit more time because of the monster''s high health points. After several minutes, Auron and his party arrived at the boss'' room. They saw the last boss, the crazy researcher. As soon as Auron''s party entered the room, the boss immediately took action. Actually, the boss was weak and could not attack, the boss would summon his mutant and let it attack the party. Each time a wave of mutant summoned by the boss died, the boss'' health would be reduced. This way, whether the players attack the boss or just killing the mutant, the boss would die in the end. Also, the boss would immediately summon another wave of mutant when the previous wave was cleared. The number of the player in the boss'' room would determine the number of mutants that the boss summoned. This was also why Auron was invited to the party, although the party didn''t need him. It was only for this last room. After all, more monsters mean more loots. As the party''s objective was for farming, the party didn''t attack the boss at all. After several waves of mutant, the boss died, and they cleared the dungeon. This was the first time, after starting over, Auron gained easy experience points with no danger at all. Chapter 250 - Hearing (1) Slash... The swordsman at the front killed the last mutant from the wave. With that mutant died, the boss howled painfully. After that last mutant was dead, the boss got some damage and died. "Okay, we are done!" The glasses merchant said while picking up the boss'' loot. With the boss died, the party had finished their dungeon. It took long enough than normal dungeon run since they did it on purpose. Usually, a normal run would keep one mutant from the first wave alive. Then, they would attack the boss until he died. However, this party didn''t do this strategy. They wiped out waves after wave and let the boss took the damage because of the clearance of the mobs. Every wave cleared, the boss would suffer fixed damage. His health would be reduced by 5% every wave cleared. This means there were only at most 20 waves, and each wave would consist of 8 monsters. In total, the party had removed 160 of the boss''s mutant guards. Of course, the loot gained from it also not little. Several level 250 and above equipment were dropped by the boss'' guards. Unfortunately, all of this equipment would go to the party''s leader. However, Auron didn''t complain. He had his own benefits. Throughout the dungeon, he didn''t do anything at all. He just followed the party from behind. Occasionally, he would warn the group if there was a mutant launching a sneak attack. But, it only happened less than 3 times from the entire run. This showed how experience the party running this dungeon. Auron and his party exit the dungeon through the gate. Outside of the dungeon, the glasses merchant approached Auron, "So, that''s it. Thank you for your cooperation!" "Let me add you to my friend list. Maybe, if we need some extras, I will contact you." The glasses merchant offered. "Sure. If I am free, I will gladly help." Auron smiled while accepting the friend invitation. There was no reason to decline such a good offer. From this run, Auron almost gained a level while doing nothing. Well, he had to sacrifice some of his time since the dungeon run was so long. But it didn''t matter. Even during the dungeon run, Auron had gone over to his swordsman character two times. After saying that, Auron and the glasses merchant''s party went separately. Since there was still a long time before he could claim his rewards, Auron decided to go hunting. Several hours later, the morning came. Lieutenant Kajo woke up from his slumber. He was in Sergeant Kali''s medical room. He looked at the time, it was near the hearing time. Sergeant Kali was still asleep due to the medicine''s effect. Lieutenant Kajo didn''t want to wake him up, so he moved slowly to the door. Before he exited the room, he looked at Sergeant Kali once more and sighed. Lieutenant Kajo went up to the hearing room. Inside, there were already a lot of higher-ups. It was bustling with discussion and laughter. When Lieutenant Kajo went inside, all of the people''s eyes looked at him. Some smirked happily while the others looked at him with pity. Not long after Lieutenant Kajo went inside, General Elbert arrived at the room. Behind him, there was General Kelvin following him into the room. General Elbert looked at Lieutenant Kajo and didn''t say anything or make any expression. He directly went to his seat. Meanwhile, General Kelvin, who was behind him, looked at Lieutenant Kajo arrogantly. "Let us not waste any more time and start this hearing." General Elbert declared. "Let us start by hearing the report from Lieutenant Kajo and General Kelvin." After that sentence from General Elbert, General Kelvin went up to the front. He immediately told all of his experiences. He didn''t forget to say that the mission was too easy and no danger involves at all. Fortunately, General Kelvin didn''t meet with any danger throughout his mission. He didn''t encounter any enemies'' spies or demonic monsters. With his strong capability, his troops didn''t suffer any injuries at all. This clean sheet of no injuries made General Kelvin arrogant. He bragged about how he skillfully led the troops. In the end, General Elbert had to stop General Kelvin and let Lieutenant Kajo told his experiences. Just like before, Lieutenant Kajo said every detail of his mission. From meeting the enemies'' spies until he saw two different kinds of demonic monsters fighting against each other. Lieutenant Kajo also didn''t try to hide how Sergeant Kali got injured under his order. In the end, he closed his speech by telling how he captured one of the enemies'' spies and got some info about the enemies'' objectives. General Kelvin sneered at Lieutenant Kajo. After Lieutenant Kajo finished his story, General Kelvin wanted to mock and emphasize on how Lieutenant Kajo had made an enormous mistake. However, before he could say anything, General Elbert stopped him. "You have made a grave mistake this time." General Elbert said softly. General Elbert knew that Lieutenant Kajo had made a grave mistake. If it was an inevitable situation that resulted in Sergeant Kali''s injuries, then he could save Lieutenant Kajo. However, this time, it was actually an evitable situation. Without further ado, General Elbert directly made the verdict, "As a punishment, you will have to take a test. You have to spend your time in the Bridge World for 3 months. During those three months, you need to kill at least 3 enemies with Lieutenant or above ranks." "Also, in achieving that goal, you could not sacrifice a lot of soldiers. If you could not achieve that, we have no choice but to demote you." "Any objection?" General Elbert asked the other generals. General Kelvin was actually dissatisfied with the punishment. He wanted Lieutenant Kajo to be demoted to lower rank directly. However, he could not voice it out and could only agree to what General Elbert had said. The other generals also quickly agreed with the suggestion without voicing any concerns. Chapter 251 - Hearing (2) "Okay, then. If no one object, then we are done." General Elbert tried to end the hearing. "Ehm... I have a question." General Kelvin finally took action. "Yes?" General Elbert looked at General Kelvin. "Didn''t Sergeant Kali got grave injuries because of Lieutenant Kajo''s order?" "So, it seems that he cannot be a lieutenant." General Kelvin tried to hint General Elbert about Lieutenant Kajo''s mistake. "So, what do you suggest?" General Elbert directly asked the point. "I believe that it was a huge mistake, and we have to demote him instead of testing him." General Kelvin suggested his thought. "First of all, Lieutenant Kajo didn''t do this on purpose." General Elbert started to explain. "I believe that he could be a lieutenant and a leader''s capability. Maybe, he was too excited to be promoted to become lieutenant and become careless." With this sentence, General Elbert also hinted at the others about his side in this case. "However, I do agree that he had made a huge mistake. That was why I give him a test to make sure I am not wrong. If he could not finish the test, then he would be demoted for sure! Don''t you agree?" With the last sentence, General Kelvin could not do anything again to blow up the case. If he chased the mistake relentlessly, then General Elbert could make him as an enemy. With that happened, it would be difficult for him to raise in rank even gained the king''s trust. Didn''t dare to voice out his concerns anymore, General Kelvin said, "I agree. I believe that the test would surely determine his leading capability." "Great! Then, all of us already agree! Then, this hearing is over." General Elbert ended the hearing. All of the generals left as well as Lieutenant Kajo who was felt grateful because of this chance. He swore that he would not make the same mistake again. In the end, General Kelvin could do nothing to Lieutenant Kajo. He could only wait until Lieutenant Kajo failed the test. Auron was still hunting when he saw that it was time to claim his rewards. He quickly stopped his hunting and used a [Return Scroll]. After the dungeon run, his experience point almost filled to full. And, with this hunt, he managed to raise his level. When he arrived in the town, he immediately went to the military base and claimed his rewards. Although this mission was considered important, however, this mission was regarded as a follow-up task. Moreover, the number of soldiers assigned for this mission was quite significant for a mission. After claiming his rewards, when he was about to leave the room, Auron was called by the staff. Then, the staff gave him some schedule. Because Auron was still new, he never got some basic military training. That was why the schedule was his schedule for one month. Fortunately, he was not trained alone. There was a batch of newly joined soldiers. Auron would be assigned to that group and follow the training schedule together. However, the bad news was that he would not be trained in the military camp in Miderian. Instead, he would be assigned to a remote military camp, far from the capital. There were still 3 days more before he was assigned for the training. Auron knew his level was quite low. That was why he intended to raise his level before the exercise. Auron immediately left for another hunting. Three days had gone quickly. During those three days, Auron spent all of his time hunting. He didn''t even go back to his dorm or took some rest. The only time Auron was resting was when he restocked his potion''s supplies. Except that time, he would hunt madly. This time, both of his characters hunting together. This way, Auron could save some money from buying potion. He could get a full experience point with half efforts. Fortunately, during these three days, the glasses merchant really didn''t forget about Auron. Every time the dungeon''s chance reset, he would call Auron for farming in the Devil''s nest. And, just like before, Auron only get the experience points in exchange for doing nothing. Well, Auron still got the dungeon''s run rewards. Auron bought a lot of things to speed up his hunting progress, such as attack potions and buff potions. However, most of his money still spent on health and mana potions. During this time, he really longed for his mage character to get the alchemist as his side class. However, Auron still didn''t have any free time to do it. In the end, he could only frugally spent his money and picked potions that really needed. Fortunately, the dungeon''s run rewards could help him finance his need. Moreover, Auron still had some money left from the mission''s rewards. Auron had tried to search for a dungeon party. However, it was pretty challenging to find one. Most of the parties were a farming party. Moreover, they only had one spot left. However, Auron still joined the parties that didn''t require him to do anything and leeched the experience points. With Auron hunting madly, his level also went quite a lot. During these three days, Auron had gained 10 more levels. All of it was thanks to the farming parties that allowed him to leech the high-level dungeons. Although his level was still low, it was better than before. 10 levels was quite a lot. If not for the farming parties, he would surely get less than 10 levels. Auron''s time was up, and he was preparing to leave for the training''s place. Auron already looked at the schedule, and most of it was a regular physical training schedule. Moreover, the first week was full of physical training like when he was training in Peter''s class in the academy. Auron checked his preparation and belongings the last time before he went to the training. After checking everything and making sure there was nothing left behind, Auron departed to the training''s place. Chapter 252 - Bandit Alliance The meeting place was at the village where the training held. This village was picked because of a particular reason. It was because the village was far too remote to the nearest city or town. Moreover, near the village, there was the one and only bandit alliance in Gaia. Although there was only one bandit alliance, this bandit alliance was a joint group by the four most prominent bandit groups in the entire Gaia. At first, the bandit group was operated on their own. They created havoc all over Gaia. From pillaging a village, until extorting the noble. The royalty and the military began to feel uncomfortable with the bandit group''s presence. They announced a purge operation and recruited a lot of players. With the help of players, the purge started. One by one, the bandit group destroyed. After several months of purging, from more than two hundred bandit groups, there was only less than halves of it left. Throughout the entire Gaia, there were four most prominent bandit groups. They were Spring Bandit, Summer Bandit, Fall Bandit, and Winter Bandit. These four bandit groups felt disturbed by the kingdom''s purge. Feeling threatened by the condition, these four groups held an important meeting. And, from that meeting, they announced their alliance with these four groups as the leaders. Before these groups created an alliance, each of the groups already huge on their own. When they joined the coalition, it evidently became bigger. The kingdom''s purge threatened the smaller bandit groups. They wanted to seek shelter for the alliance. However, from the meeting, these four groups already created a rule. If other bandit groups wanted to join their union, they had to become the subordinate of one of the leaders. The small size bandit groups didn''t really care about it. However, the medium size bandit groups ultimately rejected the idea. They didn''t want to become someone else subordinate. However, the purge still continued, and it began to become a threat to the position of the medium size bandit. In the end, some of the bandit groups gave up and agreed with the rule. When the other bandit groups started to join the alliance, it began to become bigger and bigger. The kingdom could not help but begin to take this matter more seriously. The kingdom poured out more and more resources to hunt the bandit as well as strengthen their defense in various cities and towns. Unfortunately, because of the limited resources and many places to defend, not all of the locations could be protected completely, such as remote villages. Although the kingdom still tried their best to give help in defending the place, however, the number was limited. That was why there were still many villages that were raided. The military turned to think hard how to diffuse this matter when they heard a rumor. The rumor said that the bandit alliance''s headquarter was located near the area where the village that become Auron''s training destination this time. The military began to pay attention to the rumor. Several investigations started to take place. The result was that they believed the news was a truth. Several reasons supported their belief. First, the place a too remote that it was a correct choice for this shady alliance. The next reason was that from the data there collected, most cases were originated from this area. Although the military still didn''t find any evidence or the headquarter exact location, they already sure the headquarter was located in this area. The military began to concentrate their military power to this area. However, the bandit also realized this change. They started to spread out their operation and reduce the activity in this area. Once the four bandit''s leaders felt they were strong enough to fight against the military. However, they proved to be wrong. They suffered a serious defeat. Fortunately for the bandit, that most of their important assets and information were safe With that incident, the bandit''s leader also decided to stay low and just let their subordinate group took the credits. Without the big fish taking any action, the bandit activity slowly became normal. The military also began to shift their resources to another place. However, they still didn''t forget about this place and taking their time to investigate. Assigning a training session in this area was one of their effort to locate the bandit''s headquarter. The military most wanted target was the four bandit groups that led the alliance. They believe that if they could take down just one of the four, the alliance would crumble by itself since the balance was broken. However, to do that was not easy. Each of these four bandit groups was strong. They could even destroy a town and small city on their own. However, they didn''t do that because the bandit groups still tried to create a solid foundation first. Moreover, the way each of the groups operated was different. The Spring bandit group attacks by using a concrete and precise plan. They would let their men infiltrated their town target, and from inside, they would destroy their target. The Summer bandit group was more frontal. They attack their target directly without using a sly tactic. However, they already picked their target carefully. They would only attack a target that was weaker than them or had a lack of security. The Fall bandit group used a slow attack method. They would harras their target little by little. They put pressure on their target and tried to break their mentality. This bandit group would slowly destroy their target. Meanwhile, the Winter bandit group used every sly tactic they could. They would use extortion, kidnapping the family member of the person in charge, until blackmailing or induced a rebellion. Each of these four groups were professional in their own methods. That was why they could rise up to their position right now. This time, the military also hoped that the training batch had some fortunate members that could find the bandit''s headquarter. Chapter 253 - Arrived Auron finally arrived at the training place. It was a village named Skemvil. The village was a small village. It was because the village got harassed continuously by the bandit around the area. So, there were only a few villagers that wanted to stay here. The kingdom had sent several guards to station here. Those guards managed to create a little peace in the area. However, it was only on the surface. Another problem rose up. The villager needed to sell their goods to continue living. And they also needed to buy some supplies. However, when they tried to go to the nearest town, they would be raid by the bandits on the way. The guards could not divide themselves. In the end, the villager could only make a transaction with the big merchant caravan. However, that merchant''s goods were not cheap either. The price had already gone spike up because of the distance and the danger level. However, there were still some villager that staying in the village despite all of the difficulties. And, when the villager knew that their village was going to be the training''s ground for these newcomer soldiers, they were so happy. When Auron arrived, the villagers were so welcoming to him. Although they could not give a welcoming party, they treat Auron very warmly. They guided Auron to the meeting''s place. Along the way, they also introduced the village. Since the training lasted for a month, the soldiers had to stay in the village. Some of the villagers voluntarily let their house to become a resting place for the soldiers. With the help of the kind villager, Auron arrived at the meeting place quickly. There were already several other soldiers who came. However, they were still waiting until all of the soldiers arrived. An hour later, all of the training participants had already arrived. Auron saw that there were 50 soldiers, including him. 50 soldiers were quite a significant number for this village. It was because there were only around 30 villagers in this village. With the addition of 51 people, the village was full of people. With all of the training participants already arrived, the briefing started. However, it was not only the soldiers that presence here, but there were also the villagers. Although they could only watch from the sideline, they wanted to join this rare occasion. The training sergeant came forward, followed by the village''s head behind him. The training sergeant began his speech, "Welcome! I am your training sergeant. My name is Jack. I am a senior corporal." "As you all have already known. For a month, we will stay in this village together with the villager." When Corporal Jack said that sentence, the excited villagers immediately clapped their hands, welcoming them. "I hope that we can live together and help each other with the villager. Now, all of you have received your schedule. I want you to give your best for this training." "Why? Because I can give and take your military points." "If you showed great progression and ability, I can give you a handful of points." "However, if you are slacking off, I can also give you minus points." "If you feel that these points things were stupid, then, believe me, it is not." "As you progress in the ranks, you will realize how important these points are." "So, you better pay attention to your behavior during this training session." "One more thing, if you already looked at the schedule, there actually nothing dangerous activity there. However, you might have already know the rumor. There should be a bandit''s headquarter around the area." "So, you better be careful. If you feel that you cannot win against the bandit, do not hesitate to run away immediately." "However, if you can find the exact location of the bandit''s headquarter, you will be rewarded tremendously by the kingdom." "That is all that I want to say. Any questions?" Corporal Jack finished his briefing. None of the training participants raising their hands. So, Corporal Jack continued, "Okay, then. If you have no question, before I dismiss all of you, let us hear a word from the village''s head." With that, Corporal Jack let the village''s head came forward. The village''s chief said, "Thank you, corporal! I will not give a long speech. First of all, I want to welcome you for coming to this village." "I hope your stay in this village will be comfortable. If you have any concerns or need something, you can find the villager or me and ask for help. We will try our best to fulfill all of your needs." "That is all I am going to say. I hope you will give your best in your training and get the best result." With that, the village''s head gave back the place to Corporal Jack. "Thank you, village''s head. Now, you can dismiss. You can spend your free time as you like." The soldiers disperse to their own destinations. However, many of them went to their assigned house, including Auron. They already spend a lot of time to reach this village, and they were tired. Each of the houses housed 10 soldiers inside. Auron saw his housemate and tried to get acquainted with them. At least, he knew each of their names. Unfortunately, none of the other soldiers were interested in this. That was why they only did as simple as saying their names, and that was it. None of them want to talk a bit further. Without nothing to do, Auron went outside of the house. He wanted to look for something to do. In the end, Auron decided to get to know his surroundings and the villagers. Auron wandered around the village. He also didn''t forget to greet all of the villagers. They were all kind and excited. All of them introduced themselves enthusiastically. Since there were only 30 villagers in the town. In a short time, Auron already knew most of the villagers who resided here. Chapter 254 - Exposed (1) Nothing to do, Auron decided to go outside of the village. Before going out, he went to Corporal Jack to inform his intentions. Although there were no restrictions on going out, but Auron had to let the person in charge knew where he went. At least, Corporal Jack knew Auron went out, or else he would think that Auron was running away from the training. "Okay, no problem. Just remember, you have a training tomorrow. Don''t play too hard and get injured. You need some rest!" Corporal Jack warned Auron. Then, Corporal Jack continued his conversation with the village''s head. With Corporal Jack''s permission, Auron went outside of the village. He wandered around a bit around the village. The monsters around the area were weak. Nothing extraordinary about it. Auron also inspected the terrain around the village. It was a flat ground with no place to hide. It was neither good nor bad. No place to hide means it would have less problem from the enemy trying to use the terrain to hide. However, it also meant that there were no natural blockade for the enemies. It would be more dangerous for this village since it was only a small village. The fences that guarded the village were only made of wood. Fortunately, the bandits around the area didn''t dare to attack recklessly. Although the defense on the village was very scarce, the bandits were afraid that they would induce the kingdom''s wrath once again. Moreover, this was a small village. The bandits would only gain a little benefit from raiding this small village. They didn''t want to induce the kingdom''s wrath for just a small profit. It was not worthed. Auron went further and further away from the village. The further he went from the village, the stronger the monster he encountered. However, it was still not worth Auron''s time to kill all of the monsters he met. So, he just ignored the monster and continued his journey. Several minutes later, Auron arrived at a place where the monsters had decent levels. The monsters around the area had a similar level to Auron. They had a level range of 190 until 220. As he had nothing to do, Auron began to attack the monsters. Auron was using his mage character. Ordinary mage character should have a difficult time to fight against the monsters alone. However, it was not happening in Auron''s case. Auron could fight against the monster in close combat. Moreover, he had the [Walking Chanting] skill that allowed him to cast a spell while walking. Since there was no one around the area, Auron used his dagger to fight. He also used some of his swordsman skills using the knife. Unfortunately, not all of the swordsman skill could be used using a dagger. So, Auron could only use a limited set of skills using his dagger. One by one, a monster died under Auron''s hands. It was not easy nor difficult to do this hunting. Auron had the help of his equipment and attributes. So, fighting against a similar level monster was a simple matter for him. An hour later, a group of bandits were wandering around the area. They were a ten people group. All of them were excited since they had a huge gain. It could be seen from the bulging bag that they carried. The bandits were chattering and joking among each other when suddenly the group''s leader stop them. The leader also told them to quiet down. From far away, the bandits saw a young man who was fighting against the monster alone. What surprised them was the fact that the young man was a mage. It was so rare to encounter a mage who could fight against the monster alone. Moreover, it was a close combat battle. "A new delicious target!" One of the bandits talked in low volume, followed by grinned by the other bandits. "Sshh... Look first!" The bandit''s leader rebuked his teammate. The bandit''s leader was the only one among the group who could think critically. Although he could not recognize the man''s level. However, he knew that the monster the man was fighting was around level 200. This bandit group was actually weak. Their average level was level 150. The strongest among them all was level 180, which was the leader. So, to fight against that monster, the group actually had to fight as a group. However, that young man could fight against that monster by himself. It showed that the man was stronger than them, and it was not just slightly stronger. Moreover, the man was a mage. A mage who could fight in close combat should be skillful. And yes, the man who the bandits saw was Auron. Auron was immersed in battling the monster that he had no idea there was a group of bandits watching him. Auron used his [Bash] skill to the monster. A stun debuff was applied to the monster. Auron continued attacking the monster. The bandit''s leader, who saw that Auron using a [Bash] skill, shocked. He didn''t believe his eyes. He started to doubt whether Auron was a mage or a swordsman. However, he was sure that Auron was a mage since he used several magic skills. But, just now, that man was using a swordsman skill. To make sure he was not hallucinating, the bandit''s leader asked his teammate. The other bandit began to look at Auron carefully. Auron used a [Bash] skill once again. All of the bandits were shocked. They knew it was impossible to use this skill as a mage. That man must have a huge secret. The bandit''s leader calmed his teammate. He knew that they could not defeat the man by themselves. However, they could tell this incident to their boss. If they gave it to their boss, they would at least get a promotion and other rewards. It was better rather than trying to act strong and just getting killed at the end. All of them decided to report it to their boss. Chapter 255 - Exposed (2) The bandit group was getting ready to escape. They turned back from they were coming from and ran away. Auron was still fighting against the monster. He didn''t realize there were spectators. Only after the bandit group started to escape did Auron realized the bandit group''s presence. In a sudden split second, a thought flashed in Auron''s mind, "F***, My secret exposed!" There were actually many possibilities that could happen. However, the one that came to Auron''s mind was the worst possibilities. If Auron''s secret was exposed, then there would be no doubt that he would be dead. Auron would be chased all over the place. Also, if the news was spread to others, then many enemies would pursue him. He needed to stop the bandit. Auron immediately ignored the monster he was fighting against and chased the bandit. Auron increased his speed using skills. The monster still followed behind Auron. However, the distance getting farther and farther away. Moreover, the monster''s speed was not too fast. Meanwhile, the bandit was rushing. They saw Auron was chasing them, and it made them more nervous. The enemy was too strong. He could face the monster alone with no difficulty. At the same time, they needed to fight in a group of ten facing the same monster. Moreover, the enemy''s fighting capability was a weird one. To win against such an enemy, the bandit group didn''t have any confidence at all. Auron had a higher level than the bandit group, which means his base movement speed was quite faster. Moreover, Auron gained double the amount of attributes than regular character. Although the bandit group also had a quite high movement speed, but the distance between Auron and the bandit group slowly became closer and closer. Moreover, Auron had used his movement skills. The bandits also quickly used their movement skills. Their speed increased. However, they could not distance themselves from Auron. They could only make their distance remained the same. "Damn, quicker! He is close!" One of the bandit cursed when he knew Auron was near them. The bandit could curse anytime he liked. However, it would not change the current situation. It made Auron and the bandits in stalemate. When Auron''s skill was on cooldown, his speed became closer, and the bandits could increase their distance. However, it was not long since the bandits'' ability also went cooldown. When Auron could use his skill once again, their distance became shorter. The bandits had to use their skills once again. This situation repeated like a cycle. The bandits also could not go to their boss yet since if they went there, then their headquarter would be exposed. They had no choice but to go around and tried to shake Auron off. The bandit''s leader raked his brain hard. If this situation continued, it would only tire them. In the end, the bandit''s leader asked the other''s opinion while escaping. The bandit''s leader actually wanted to bring Auron back to their headquarter, and with the other bandits in the headquarter, they would capture Auron. However, they had to bait Auron carefully. If Auron realized he was being baited, then it would only make their headquarter exposed and no benefit to them. In the end, the bandits decided to take the risk and baited Auron. However, as soon as they made their decision, an [Earth Wall] appeared in front of them. The sudden appearance of the [Earth Wall] shocked the escaping bandits. Most of them could not quickly halt their step and crashed the [Earth Wall]. Meanwhile, only two of them could have the time to dodge the sudden [Earth Wall]. The [Earth Wall] destroyed by the bandit''s body. Halves of the bandits fell down. The other halves could control their body and avoid falling to the ground. Of course, the one who cast the [Earth Wall] was Auron. He managed to close their distance close enough for him to be able to cast [Earth Wall] in front of them. And, it succeeds. The [Earth Wall] forced all of the bandits stopped their escapes. Meanwhile, Auron immediately targets one of the falling bandits. Auron launched several attacks using his dagger and spells. Since the enemies already knew his secret, he didn''t have to hide it anymore. He unleashed several attacks that managed to reap that bandit''s life. With this incident happened, each of the bandits fell into a dilemma. If they ran away, then their friends would die. Meanwhile, if they were not running away, then they had to face an impossible to win fight. In the end, all of them had their own choice. Some of the bandits chose to run away. While the other tried to team up and fight against Auron. Fortunately, only two bandits decided to run away. Moreover, the two of them were the weakest among the bandits. Auron had to act quickly. He had to contain the news. Immediately, Auron aimed the other weak bandits. He tried to kill the bandits one by one starting from the weakest. However, since the two weakest bandits ran away, Auron could only aim the next weakest bandit. With Auron''s quick action, the bandits had no choice but to fight. Auron was so fierce. He didn''t give any mercy to his enemies. Besides, Auron also used his full power to attack the enemies. With the differences in level, Auron managed to kill his enemies quickly. The bandit''s leader was among the ones who didn''t run away and chose to fight. However, he also could not stop Auron from killing his teammate. In the end, he also had to die under Auron''s hands. Auron stood up after killing all of the bandits. Eight items were drops on the grounds as a result of the bandit''s death. Auron collected all of the things quickly and faced in the direction where the other two bandits ran away. Auron had to kill these two bandits to contain the news about his secret. He began to move out and chase the two bandits. Chapter 256 - Exposed (3) Auron went in the direction of the two escaping bandits'' course. He was in a great hurry. It was because it had been several minutes since the two bandits escape. Right now, Auron could not even see the escaping bandit''s shadow. He could only go in the same direction as them. After several minutes of chasing, Auron found a forest nearby. Auron thought, "That forest should be where the bandits escaped." With that in mind, Auron went inside the forest. Fortunately, his guess was correct. At the entrance of the forest, Auron found a trace of footprints. And it was still new. Auron''s confidence rose up. With high confidence, he followed the footprints and went inside the forest. Inside the forest, Auron kept on pursuing the footprints until, at a certain point, the prints split into two directions. Auron didn''t have the luxury to choose which footprints he would follow. Time was ticking, he quickly chose one of the footsteps. A minute later, he began to hear a panting sound. Finally, Auron could catch up with one of the bandits. He quickly raised his movement speed. With the increased speed, Auron saw the back of the escaping bandit. The bandit looked back, and he became panic. In a hurry, he tried to increase his speed. However, he could not escape from Auron''s clutch. Auron managed to cast an [Earth Spike] and aimed at the enemy''s head. However, the bandit realized it and tried to dodge it. The bandit avoided the [Earth Spike]. However, he could not prevent it completely. The [Earth Spike] thrust the bandit''s lower calf. The bandit screamed in pain. In a split second, blood gushed out of from the bandit''s lower calf. The bandit was rolling on the ground, holding his calf. He knew that his death was near. But, the bandit didn''t want to die yet. Using all of his effort, he tried to stand up. The bandit tried to run away limping. Unfortunately, all of his effort was in vain. Auron arrived beside him and stabbed his dagger towards the bandit''s stomach. Auron also cast a [Fire Bolt] and aimed at the bandit''s head. In no time, the bandit died. Auron deliberately attack fiercely since he still had one more bandit to chase. Auron retraced back the path up to where the footprints split. Then, he took the other route and followed the footprints once again. This footprint''s owner had more time to escape. Several times, Auron had increased his speed. However, he could not see the silhouette of the bandit. Auron began to panic. If he could not kill the last bandit, then there would be a high chance that his secret would be exposed. Auron kept following the footprints. In the end, Auron arrived at the side of a river inside the forest. The footprints stopped at the river bank. The river''s current was not too heavy. So, the bandit must be crossing this river. Auron crossed the river quickly. It was not too challenging to cross this river. The river he had to pass when he still in the academy was more challenging than this river. After crossing this river, Auron continued his search. He began to go deeper and deeper inside the forest. But, there still was no trace on the escaping bandit. However, Auron didn''t give up. He still kept on searching when suddenly he heard a bustling sound near him. He went to the source of the sound. When he arrived near the source of sound, Auron finally saw the bandit who was running towards a cliff. Auron felt confused. Why would someone escape to a dead end? Although Auron felt confused, but it was different with the bandit. He found out that Auron had already near him. He became more panicked. Quickly, he ran as fast as he could to the cliff. The cliff was very steep and full of vines. Moreover, the cliff also very high that you could not see the top from the bottom. When the bandit arrived at the cliff, he hit several places on the cliffs. After five hits, the cliff shook. Then, from the seemingly rocky cliff full of vines, a part of the cliff which, as big as two a.d.u.l.t humans, automatically moved. In front of the bandit, a passageway was formed. The bandit quickly went inside the passageway and tried to close the passageway. However, since it used an old mechanism, the speed it closed was slow. The pace was just like when he opened the passage. Auron, who saw this, didn''t stay still. He chased the bandit into the passageway. The bandit kept on pushing the button to close the passage. However, it was futile. The closing speed didn''t get faster or slower. He did that just because he was panicked. When the passage was halves closed, Auron had already arrived in front of the passage door. The bandit who saw Auron was near him, ignored the closing button and ran away inside. Auron quickly went inside the passage and chased the bandit. He slashed his dagger towards the bandit''s back. The bandit didn''t try to avoid the attack. His mind only full of a wanted to escape thought. He also ignored the pain in his back and kept on running. Auron launched his second blow. With this second attack, the bandit fell down. The bandit was in fear of death. He cried and begging Auron while, at the same time, also tried to run away. However, Auron could not have any mercy on him. He immediately launched several attacks and killed the bandit. With the bandit died, Auron''s secret should be safe. Now, it was time to get out of this unfamiliar place. Auron went to where he was coming. However, he found out that the passage door was fully closed. Clang... Auron tried to used his dagger to break the door. However, it was futile. The door didn''t even have any scratch on it. He also tried to use his spells. In the end, it also didn''t work. There was something that nullifies Auron''s spells. Oh no, he was trapped. Chapter 257 - Fortress (1) When Auron threw his spell towards the door, a glowing rune was appearing in the door. The glowing rune quickly disappeared afterward. Meanwhile, the spell that Auron launched also vanished at the same time as the disappearance of the glowing rune. Auron cursed, "F***, a nullify formation." It was not a strange thing to find a nullify formation in a big city or in the kingdom. However, it was weird to see a nullify formation deep inside the forest. Moreover, it was a high grade one. A nullify formation was divided into three grades. A low grade could only cancel weak damage spells. If the spells were too strong, then the formation would be broken. At the same time, a medium grade almost the same as the low-grade formation. The difference was in the damage limit that it could hold. Meanwhile, the high-grade formation could block a spell completely. In truth, it was not that invincible. There still a damage limit that it could hold. However, up to this date, no mage could singlehandedly achieve that considerable damage. That was why the high-grade formation could be said invincible right now. Maybe up to a point, there was a mage that could singlehandedly achieve that significant damage. However, there was another way to destroy the formation, which was to attack it using a physical attack. The nullify formation only prevented spell damage, and it would ignore physical damage. This means if one could destroy the medium, where the formation was being cast, using physical attack, then the nullify formation would also be destroyed. However, in Auron''s case, the nullify formation was used on a steel door. Auron would not be able to destroy it using his dagger. If he were to use his swordsman character, there might be a way for him to destroy it. But, with his mage character combined with the nullify formation, there would be no way for him to destroy this door. A second later, Auron heard many footsteps coming towards him. The steps were followed by a shouted, "A corpse! Our brother had been killed! Quick informed the others!" Followed that shout, a sirene was rung around, and the area became active. In the next second, A group of bandit was arrived at the scene. They also saw Auron, who was at the steel door. Auron also saw the group of bandits. When Auron saw them, he immediately knew that he was somewhere near the bandit''s place. And, the place that had this many bandits could only be a bandit''s base, or maybe even the rumored bandit''s headquarter. The bandit that gathered here were weak. He knew that if he fought against this group of bandits one on one, he would come out victorious. However, he also knew that this group of bandits would not let him did that. The bandits were cautious. They raised their weapons against Auron, who also knew he was in a dangerous situation. They were in a stalemate. If Auron insisted on breaking through the blockade, then the enemies would label him as a danger and would obviously eliminate him. Moreover, he was in an unknown place. After he managed to break through successfully, what would he do? This stalemate situation lasted for several minutes until a group of five bandits arrived. From the look, those new five bandits had a high position. When they came, the other bandits immediately gave them way respectfully. Auron was cornered with a steel door behind his back and a massive crowd of bandit in front of him. One of the five high positioned bandits who seems to be the leader of the five asked, "Who are you?" That bandit didn''t need to ask how Auron could find this place. He knew from the corpse that Auron must be chasing the guys to this place. He also didn''t care about the body since that bandit''s action invited an intruder to their base. Leaking the whereabouts of their headquarter was a grave mistake and should be punished with death. So, if Auron didn''t kill that bandit, then they were the ones that would kill him. Before Auron could answer, the other high position bandit said, "Looked at that uniform! He was from the military." As soon as that bandit finished his sentence, the other bandits tensed up. "Should we kill him?" The third high positioned bandit asked the first bandit who asked Auron. That first bandit furrowed his brows and fell into deep thought. A few seconds later, he said, "No! Capture him first and send him to prison! Let the boss decided his fate! However, if he retaliates, then kill him!" That first bandit purposely said the sentence loud enough so Auron could hear what he had said. He intended to let Auron chose to die quicker or live longer. Auron, who heard the bandit''s decision over him, breathed a sighed of relief. At least, the enemies didn''t kill him immediately. This way, he could get more time to seek a chance to escape. Auron didn''t retaliate at all when the bandits tried to capture him. The bandits tied Auron''s hands and shackled his legs with a steel ball. Auron could still move. However, his movement was restricted due to the weight of the steel ball. Then, Auron was led by the bandits to cross over the passageway. When Auron got out of the passageway, he was surprised. What Auron saw was unbelievable. After the passageway, there was a slope with a lot of fences. There were several wooden fences as well as stone and trees. At the end of the hill, Auron saw a huge building. It would be better to call it a fortress. This slope became a natural defense for the fortress. The attacker would have a difficult time to try to reach the forest, and it would make it easier to defend from the fort. There were also a lot of bandits along the way. Auron believed that this place was really the bandit''s headquarter. Chapter 258 - Fortress (2) Auron, with his hands tied, was guided into the fortress. The bandits were cautious. They assigned twenty bandits to oversee Auron. And also, they blindfold Auron''s eyes. Moreover, to confuse Auron, they deliberately circle the fortress several times. Left, right, upstairs, downstairs, upstairs again, turning back, and so forth. It took them almost thirty minutes to take Auron to the underground jail. Auron had tried to memorize the path he took. However, it didn''t work. Halfway remembering the way, Auron became confused. One of the reasons was because the bandits kept on talking loudly besides Auron. They also hit Auron several times and tripped him on purpose. Auron had to fell and stand up again several times. They even pushed Auron when they were at the stairs. Auron''s body was hurt in pain. However, he didn''t scream or curse. He was in silent mode and tried to memorize the path. When he had already failed to memorize the path, he was so furious that finally, he fight back when the enemies pushed him. Of course, the enemies didn''t let Auron did as he like. The twenty bandits immediately restrained Auron. Meanwhile, another five bandits also arrived to help. After Auron was under their control, they continued their journey to the underground jail again. When Auron arrived at the underground jail, he felt the differences. The air here was so humid. And, the stench was awful. Although Auron was using a blindfold, but he could sense the difference. The first time he arrived at the underground jail, it was darker compared to the place before. The passageway was narrow. Auron could feel that the walls beside him were close. Clang... The bandits opened up a cell. Then, one of the bandits opened up Auron''s blindfold. Auron''s sight was a little bit blurry. Moreover, it was dark here. There was only one source of light that was the torch that the bandit brought behind him. When Auron regained his sight, he saw his shadow on the wall inside the cell. The cell was small. It only sized to 2 x 2 meters. With that size, it was only enough for one person. Moreover, there was nothing inside the cell. No beds, no windows, no toilet, and, more importantly, no light. "Quick! Go inside!" One of the bandits pushed Auron. With so many bandits around, Auron could not resist. Moreover, his hands were tied, and his feet were shackled to a steel ball. After Auron went inside the jail, the bandits immediately close the cell''s door and locked it. Their task was finished. With the completion of their task, they had no reason to be here. The bandits went outside of the underground jail. They also brought the torch. With the bandits gone, so did with the only source of light. The cell went pitch black. In darkness, Auron carefully sit down on the ground. Auron''s body was aching due to the falling and hit from the bandits. He tried to calm his mind to ease the pain. After several minutes inside the jail, Auron''s eyes were used to the darkness. Although it was still not clear, but he began could see in the dark. He could see the cell''s bar in front of him. Auron looked around. With little difficulty, Auron could identify six cells, including his cell. However, he didn''t know if the cell was empty or there were other prisoners. Suddenly, Auron heard a rustling sound in front of him. "Ah... so noisy!" A man grumbled in the dark. "Hey, newcomer. Who are you?" The man asked Auron. Auron didn''t want to answer, so he kept his silence. "Don''t want to talk? Okay, it is up to you." The underground jail became utterly void of sound once again. However, the man broke the silence, "Are you a man or a woman?" But, Auron still didn''t answer him. "Hey... hey... If you didn''t want to tell me who you are, that is fine. However, at least tell me, are you a man or a woman!" "Man." Auron only said that one word and went to silence once again. With Auron answering the question, the man asked again, "Why are you here?" However, it was met with Auron''s silence. The jail became silent once again. But, after a few minutes of silence, the man could not hold still and kept on asking Auron. The questions like ''How did you came up here?'' ''What did you do before coming here?'', ''Are you from the military?'' were asked to Auron, only to meet with Auron''s silence. "Damn, can''t you tell me anything?" The man cursed. "When I finally have someone here. But, that man was such a mute." The man sighed. The room went to silence. Several seconds later, a voice broke the silence. However, it was not the man, but it was Auron who broke the silence, "Why should I tell you? Tell me about yourself first. Then, maybe I would consider answering your questions." The man became excited, "Okay, let me tell you. I have nothing to hide." "I was from the military. I was assigned to infiltrate the bandit''s group. Several men besides me also had the same assignment." "Each of us uses our own methods to infiltrate the bandit. For me, I disguised myself as a thug and kept on creating trouble in some remote village." "The nearby bandit''s group noticed me and knew that I was alone. So, they invited me to join their group. I played hard to get, so I refused." "But, they kept on offering me. In the end, I accept the group''s offer. And, that was my first step towards completing my mission." "Then, we did what we did as a bandit. We pillage a village, rob a merchant caravan, etc. However, I didn''t allow them to kill mindlessly. I gave them a reason because killing would waste time when the target already surrender in fear." "I became famous and famous. The bandit''s group that took me also regarded me as an important asset." Chapter 259 - Fortress (3) The man continued, "I got a high position in my group to ensure that I would not leave the group." "A month after my promotion, I got another promotion and became the group''s vice leader. When I achieve that position, I started to do my mission slowly." "I persuade smaller bandit groups to join us and made us bigger and bigger. My influence in the group became wider and wider. I started to have my own supporters." "There were several times an invitation from a bigger bandit groups came to me. They tried to poach me with incredible benefits. However, I refused all of the invitation and stuck to my current group." "When the others knew about it, they became grateful that I didn''t leave them. My roots in the groups were becoming more solid." "My influence in the bandit''s world became bigger to smaller bandit groups. Each day, there would be one or two bandits that wanted to join the group because of me." "Because of this, the bandit''s group''s current leader became wary of my influence. With his trusted aide, they started to pressure me. However, it was too late. My foundation was already solid in the group." "Because of this, the group split into two. One of them followed the old leader, while the other followed me. However, the old leader didn''t want to let this go. He blamed me for the discordance of the group." "In the end, he challenged me to a life and death duel. I accepted his challenge. However, I was just only talking. I didn''t have any slight intention to fight against him." "I was planning to let the military captured him. I started to make a plan with the military to capture him secretly." "In the end, everything went as it was planned. The old leader and all of his aide was captured. And, I had made the impression that I managed to escape." "After that incident, everything went back to normal. Now, I have my own bandit groups and became the leader. As I have more power, I started to give some gifts to the military." "I presented them, several weak bandits. However, I occasionally gave a big shot to them. It was not that I didn''t want to give them. But, to trap the big shots, I have to make a meticulous plan, so I will not be exposed." "One day, an invitation letter came to me. It was from one of the bigger bandit groups. This group was so big, and they were a direct subordinate of one of the big four." "I was so excited thinking that I was one step closer to capture these big shots. I was invited to this place." "As I am becoming more famous, I thought that they wanted to recruit me or cooperate with me. However, I was wrong." "When I arrived here, I was suspicious because of the unfriendly atmosphere. Moreover, when I arrived, my fellow spy mate who infiltrate the other group also present." "I knew there was something wrong. I tried to run away. However, it was too late. My fellow spy mate and I were captured. Then, they sent me to this jail." "I don''t know how long I have been here. But, I guess that it was already over three months from the first time I was here." "During that time, the bandits tortured us and tried to get information from us. But, they could not get any information from us." "In the end, they started to bring one of us out of jail. However, my fellow mate never came back that day." "A week after, they brought another one of us, and that mate also never came back. This continued every week until I was left here alone." "I believed that all of my friends had already died. Now, I am just spending my time and wait for the execution." "Calculating by the past experience, my execution time should be near." "That is all about my story. I hate to admit it, but I have already given up and just waiting to be executed. So, before I died, give me a good story. Will you?" The man concluded his story. However, after the man gave such a long and sad story about his journey, he only met with another silence. The man tried to be patient and wait for Auron''s story. However, after waiting for long enough, the man could not hold his patience anymore. He started to get irritated, "I had already told a long story about how I end up here. But, you only replied with your silence." "Such an ungrateful man. From your voice, it seems that you were still young. This is why I hate younger generations. They didn''t have any respect at all." The man grumbled. "Okay, fine. Just go on with your silence. I hope you will get silent forever and never talk." The man swore to Auron. "I have wasted so much time to try to talk with you. Don''t talk to me anymore. I will go to sleep again." The man went to sleep, complaining. The jail became silent once again. In darkness, Auron was thinking about how to escape from here. He also tried to organize his memories about the path to come here. Time was ticking slowly. A second became minute. One hour after the man ended his story and grumbled. A footstep was heard. Auron immediately woke up from his thought. Clang... the door of the underground prison was opened. Several people coming inside and arrived in front of Auron''s cell. They opened Auron''s cell and blindfolded Auron''s eyes once again. Then, they quickly brought Auron out of his cell. They brought Auron outside the prison. With his eyes covered, Auron could hear the voice of the man cursing at him and wished him to die. One of the bandits who escorted Auron sneered, "It looked like, in such a short time, you have already made another enemy." Chapter 260 - Fillia Blindfolded, Auron was escorted by several bandits to a big room. Just like before, they didn''t directly go to the room. Instead, they take several detours and circled around the fortress. After 30 minutes of walking, they arrived in the room. The bandits immediately opened up Auron''s eyes covers. The room was bright. So, when Auron''s eyes covers were opened, he was dazzled by the bright room. His sight became blurry before it adapted to the light. When Auron regained his sight, he was inside a spacious room. The room was luxurious. It was more correct to call it a hotel''s room instead of an ordinary room. Insides, the decorations were luxurious and expensive. Inside the room, Auron saw a woman was standing up facing the outside view through a window. Four bandit bodyguards were standing beside him. When Auron arrived inside the room, the woman turned back and saw Auron. "Is she the leader?" Auron thought when he saw the woman''s face. The woman was in her forties, but she still looked pretty and had fair skin. The bandit who escorted Auron dragged him inside. They also forced Auron down and made him knelt on the floor. The woman started to walk. She was not in a hurry or slow. She walked at a moderate speed. However, her destination was not Auron. Instead, she went to the nearby fridge. She took out a bottle of wine from the refrigerator. From the first time she moved, the four bandit bodyguards already followed her behind closely. The woman took out a bottle of wine and handed it to one of the bodyguards. The bodyguard, who received the bottle, opened it for her and gave it back. Meanwhile, another bodyguard went forward and presented her with a wine glass. She poured out the wine to the wine glass. After the wine completely filled the glass, she exchanged the bottle in her hand with the wine glass. After that, with a glass of wine in her hand, she started to move to Auron. Over time, Auron only saw the woman''s elegant movement. It was so weird that a woman this elegant would be connected to a bandit. The woman looked more like a noblewoman than a bandit''s leader. The woman arrived in front of Auron. She took a sip of the wine and said to Auron with a kind voice, "Sorry, but we have to search you first." Then, she looked at the bandit besides Auron and said, "Can you guys please search this guy? Kindly, please." It was so weird to find such a woman here. Even when she wanted to do a body search, she politely told Auron. The bandits beside Auron did a body search to Auron. They already confiscated Auron''s dagger and staff when the first time they capture Auron. So, now, they do more a thorough search. However, they didn''t find anything. The bandits only found a badge. It was a badge that showed Auron''s was a senior private. The bandits gave the badge to the woman. The woman looked at it and carefully sizing up Auron. "A senior private." The woman said. "You are so young, and you are already a senior private. Amazing!" The woman exclaimed. Actually, what the woman said was wrong. Although to achieve a senior private rank was not easy, there already many senior privates out there. Moreover, they were younger than Auron. The woman deliberately praised Auron. However, Auron didn''t buy it. He only kept his silence and just looked in front of him like a mindless doll. The woman continued, "So, how can a senior private like you found our hideout? You are so amazing." Once again, her question met with Auron''s silence. One of the woman bodyguards went forward and slapped Auron, "Quick! Answer her!" "No! Please don''t do that." The woman scolded the bodyguard. However, rather than a scolding, it was more like a pretentious act. The woman faced Auron and said, "Sorry about that. Please forgive my bodyguard. He only did his job." The woman continued to ask Auron several more questions, "How can you find this place? Are you alone?" "Why are you so silent? I have no bad intention." The woman started to ask about Auron''s silence. However, just like before, Auron didn''t answer her. Then, the woman continued, "Oh, I know! I haven''t introduced myself yet. My name is Fillia, I am the one who is in charge of this place." Her act was useless. Auron still kept his silence. Feeling ignored, Fillia started to get furious. She always acted elegantly and kind, but her tone raised, "Please answer my question, or I will have no choice but to hurt you. You know I don''t want to do that." Fillia tried to ask several more questions like, "How many of you stationed around here?", "Do the military already know about this place," and so on. However, she didn''t get the answer that she wanted. Fillia''s patience began to run out. She moved closer to Auron and poured out the wine in her glass to Auron''s head. Then, she smashed the empty glass to the area near Auron. She apologized, "Sorry, my hand slipped." "Looks like you are tired since you just arrived here a few hours ago. I will ask you again tomorrow. Please take some rest so you can answer my questions tomorrow. I hope that after your rest, you will answer my question. I mean no harm to you." Then, she looked at the bandits who escorted Auron here and said, "Gentlemen, please escort this guy back. Gently please!" The bandits blindfolded Auron once again and pulled Auron up. Then, they pushed Auron and ''gently'' escort him back. When they arrived at Auron''s cell, they didn''t immediately opened Auron''s eyes covers. But, they launched several punches and kicks to Auron''s body. Fortunately, they only aimed at Auron''s upper body. They deliberately didn''t punch or kick at other places. After an hour of torturing Auron, they took off Auron''s eyes covers and locked Auron''s cell. Chapter 261 - Escape Plan (1) Auron crouched on the ground in pain. He held his stomach. However, this was just a game. Not long afterward, the pain gone. Auron knelt on the ground and sighed. He still thinking about how to escape. This was such an impossible task. Silence permeated the underground prison. Auron was thinking deeply while the only other prisoner was also silent. Auron didn''t know what he was doing since it was too dark. Several minutes thinking of a way to escape, Auron could not find any. Slowly Auron began depressed. Did he really have to let go of this mage character? Such a fantastic ''cheat.'' It was such a shame to lose it early in the game. Auron didn''t want to give up. He continued to think of a way to escape. However, it was impossible. Auron didn''t even know the layout of this place. He also didn''t know how many bandits were here. The most important thing, he could not get out of this prison. Time continued to tick. Auron began to fell into despair. At that time, the door to the underground prison was opened. Three bandits went in, bringing a torch. Two of the bandits had a tray on their hands. First, they arrived in front of the other prisoner''s cell and gave his portion of food. Then, the bandits continued on to Auron''s cell. At Auron''s cell, the bandit handed over the food tray to Auron. They didn''t stay for long and directly leave after giving Auron food. However, before leaving, the bandit, who brought the torch, said to Auron, "You have to be grateful. Because of Lady Fillia''s kindness, she decided to give you a luxurious dinner tonight. Enjoy it!" The three bandits then left the underground prison. As soon as the three bandits left, the other prisoner talked, "Oh... this is the legendary last supper. You are such an unfortunate young man to have to leave so soon." "It looked like I have to wait for you first." The man sighed and went into silence. Auron could not help but ask, "What do you mean by that?" But, this time, the man didn''t reply to Auron. He was munching his bread and ignoring Auron. "Such a petty person," Auron thought in his mind. He didn''t feel offended and continued asking just like what the man had wanted. After asking five more times, the man finally opened his mouth, "How was it feel to be ignored? I bet you didn''t like it, right?" "You are so fortunate that I was such a kind person. Next time, don''t do what you did again, okay?" The man reprimanded Auron. "For your question, I will be frank. You will be dead. All of my spy mates got the same treatment as you. They got a luxurious dinner one night. The next day, they never came back again." "Now, you got the same treatment. I bet you will never come back after tomorrow." "Quick! You should escape while you can." The man teased Auron. After the man said that, a quest was generated for Auron. [Escape or Executed!] Countdown before the execution time: 20 hours 23 minutes 50 seconds Description: Escape from the fortress before the execution time! If you cannot escape, then pray, there will be a natural disaster that will destroy the fortress. Hint: The other prisoner might have a way to help you escape. Quest Clear Conditions: Avoid being executed. Quest Clear Rewards: None. Quest Failure Punishment: Smiling Wizard will be permanently deleted. Auron gravely looked at the quest''s description. There were no rewards for clearing this quest. However, he needed to finish this quest, or else the punishment would be grave. Auron''s eyes became brighter when he saw there was a hint. However, when he saw the hint content, he frowned. He needed to ask that petty man. Although Auron didn''t really like the man, but he swallowed his pride. This ''cheat'' was so important to him. He didn''t want to lose it. He would use every possible means to complete this quest. Auron began to start a small talk with the man. At first, the man was passively answering Auron''s question. However, as their interaction increase, the man became more active in the conversation. Moreover, the man was actually a talkative person. "So, you have been here for that long? I bet you have a way to escape this prison?" Auron tried to find out. "Not just escaping this prison. I have a grand plan to escape this fortress." The man proudly answered. But, as soon as the man said that, he directly became dejected, "However, it was an impossible plan to execute. I am missing a crucial element. If not, how can I gave up to escape." "Why? What happened?" Auron asked. "There were too many bandits here. If there is no something big happening, then we will be captured again after we escape this prison. There has to be a big commotion, and it should be huge." Indeed, something big was not a common thing to happen. "How big it should be?" Auron could not help but ask. "It could not be only as big as a birthday celebration or your execution tomorrow. It had to be bigger! Like a war!" "If war is happening, then all of the bandits would be concentrated on the war. We could use the chance to escape." "However, it was impossible to create a war, right?" The man dejectedly asked Auron. A war was no something that easy to create. Moreover, both Auron and the man were in a remote place where only the bandits knew. Although the man knew where the fortress was, but he was inside the prison. He didn''t have a way to inform the outside world about this fortress. Although the man could not inform his whereabout to the outside world, but it was not the case for Auron. "I might have the way to create the commotion you needed. How sure are you that your plan will going to work?" Chapter 262 - Escape Plan (2) When someone went into a prison or some sort of detainment place like that, they would not be able to send a message outside. Even for players, they could not send any message out from in-game. When a player was captured, there were some restrictions on them. Their private message function would be disabled for a moment. They also could not delete their character until they were freed from the prison. However, there was still a way for a player to spread the news outside. They could log out of the game and told their friends about the story. Then, their friends would log in to the game and spreads the news. But, by doing this, there were some disadvantages. It would take some time for the news to spread. If your friend had a significant influence or position inside the game, then it would be easy for the NPC or other players to believe them. However, if they were not, then it would be challenging to make the NPC believe them. Moreover, they could even be capture because of spreading a hoax news. When a player was in prison and logged out from the game, then their character would stay inside the game until the time they were freed. This could be a benefit for the people who were only had light punishment. They could log out of the game and avoid wasting their time inside the prison and doing nothing. When the player''s punishment time almost finished, they could log in back to the game and continued their activities as usual. However, if they did something substantial, then there would be a chance that it would be harmful to them. For example, if another player was in Auron''s place right now. He could choose to log out. However, his character still stayed in the game, and all of the process continued as usual. The player could choose to come back when the punishment almost finished. However, he would never know what would happen during the time he was not in the game. There could be some event that made the punishment accelerated. There was also a chance that there would be another trial to redetermine their punishment. However, since there was no one to control the character, then the character could not say anything at all. They could not speak their defense. This could lead to an unpredictable end. Mostly, it would lead to the worse one. Auron''s mage character still got the same restrictions as the other players. He had already tried to send a private message to Roan, but it was useless. There was a notification that the game blocked the message function until he was freed. When the other players could only have one way, which was to tell their friends outside the game, this was not the case for Auron. He could switch to his swordsman character. Auron had tried it before. That was why when the man was telling his story, Auron was mute previously. After switching to his swordsman character, Auron could just do what he wanted. He could go and tell the military about this place. If it was other players, they had to rely on their friend''s information to lead the army to this place. However, this was not the case for Auron. He could directly lead the military to this place. "Really? But I don''t believe you." The other prisoner said. "Even if you really can create a commotion. How big the commotion that you can create from inside the prison? It has to be big enough, or else the plan will not be working." "I can lead the military to this place!" Auron said confidently. When the other man heard what Auron had said, his eyes became bright, "Really?" "Yes, I am 100% confident that I can lead the military here. However, I can just lead the soldiers here and cannot guarantee that the military would bring a lot of people here." "If they decided to bring only a few people, then we still should rely on ourselves to escape. However, I believe the commotion created because of the few military people knew this place, would create a huge commotion you needed." Just like Auron had said, he could lead the military here. However, it would be difficult for him to ensure that the military would bring a lot of their soldiers here. The army had to be careful about the false news. If not, they would be lured into a trap. That was why, usually, the military would send a few people to verify the news first. Then, after that, they would hold a meeting to decide their plan. It took a long time for them. Moreover, for this important news about the bandit''s headquarters. They would even be more careful when they heard about this news. However, Auron didn''t have that much time. He only had slightly more than 20 hours. He also could not urge the military, or they would feel suspicious. "How many soldiers can you bring here? If it was only one or two, then you better forget about it!" The man said. Auron was pondering, "Can''t we use your name? To make them send more people?" "No, it will only bring the opposite effect. The army should already believe that I was dead because I haven''t sent them any news at all." "Then, it will be difficult. How many soldiers do we need to create the commotion you needed?" "From my calculations based on what I know, you will need at least 100 soldiers. To be safe, give another 100 soldiers. So, you will need around 200 soldiers here. However, the more soldiers you can bring the better." "Although they could not trample this headquarter, at least, they can create the commotion we needed." Two hundred soldiers was not an easy task. If it was only 50 soldiers, then he could still do that. However, it was four times that number. Auron began to think about how to persuade the military. Chapter 263 - Escape Plan (3) "So, can you do it?" The man asked Auron. "Yes, I must!" Auron firmly answered. "But, can you tell me how we can get out from here?" "Not yet. When you really can do it, I will guide you. You need to follow me closely!" The man refused to tell Auron the detail of his plan. "Trust me! I will not lie to you!" The man tried to convince Auron. "I wanted to. But, I cannot if you could not prove it? What if you leave me alone as soon as I finish my task?" "I served the military for more than 20 years. How can you not believe me who had been protecting the country since you were still a kid." "Nope, I don''t believe you. I cannot even verify your story before." "Then, how can I make you believe in me?" "Tell me about your plan!" Auron kept insisting on inquiring about the plan''s detail. However, the man continued to refuse to tell Auron the detail about the plan, "No! What if I tell you my escape plan, and you exchanged it for your freedom." The two of them could not trust each other. Well, it was not a surprise. Auron and the man were just met here for the first time moreover because the prison was so dark that Auron and the man have not even seen each other''s faces. The negotiation was in stalemate. Neither of Auron and the man wanted to back down. "Fine, then! If you refuse this cooperation, there is nothing I can do." The man closed the conversation. "You can wait for your execution tomorrow! I don''t care anymore! Giving such a false hope!" The man grumbled. Auron knew that if he continued like this, he would lose his mage character. At least, he had to try the chance. Whether the man deceived him or not, he would think about it later. Gritted his teeth, Auron started the conversation again, "Okay! You win! I will try to look for a way to create the commotion!" "But don''t you have to share a little bit detail about your plan? How about telling me how to escape from this underground prison?" Auron still didn''t want to give up. He tried his last chance. The man went into silence. A few seconds later, he grumbled, "Fine! Fine! I still want to live if I have the chance. You have taken one step back. So, I will also take a step back." The man began to tell Auron how to escape from this underground prison, "To escape from this underground prison was not that difficult. I only need your cooperation." "When we will execute our plan, you will pretend to be in pain. I don''t care what excuse you use as long as you act like you are experiencing a painful death." "The guards would enter this prison. I believe there should be three guards. At most, five guards will check your condition. They have to open your cell to check your condition. At that time, we need to kill them all and take the keys." "That is all that I can tell you. Simple, right?" Auron frowned, "Are you kidding me? I am shackled. I could not even use my spells to attack them, how can I kill the guards. Moreover, there are five of them!" "It looks like you played me. That is why I ask first. You want to haste my death. Fortunately, I ask you to tell me first." It was Auron''s turn to grumble. "Hey! Hey! What are you angry at?" "Don''t you get it? It is your idiotic plan!" Auron was furious. Auron wanted to kill that man now. However, before he could do that, a sound of keys unlocked was heard. Auron, who was furious, immediately shut his mouth and stopped all of his movement. If the bandits knew that they were discussing on how to escape, then they would be dead. All of their plan would be useless. Auron heard the sound of doors opening. Auron was very nervous. A few seconds later, Auron realized something. It was strange. There was no light. If the bandit were coming in, they would bring a torch with them. It would not be this dark. When Auron was thinking about it, he heard another clicking sound. It was the sound of Auron''s cell door unlocked. Then, in the dark, he saw a man went inside his cell. "Who said that I need you to kill them! I will be the one who kills them! You need to be the lure." "Youngsters these days! They didn''t have any respect for their elder. Now, they also have such a short-tempered." The man grumbled while he got out and locked back Auron''s cell. He didn''t wait for the shocked Auron before locking back Auron''s cell. Then, he went back to his cell and also locked the cell again. "How could you open the cell? If you can open the cell, why didn''t you run away?" The shocked Auron asked the man, confusedly. "This cell was an old model cell. Opening this cell was easy. However, it was not the case for the underground prison''s door. It used a new and secure model. I could try to open it, but it was difficult." "Moreover, there will always be guards standing by the door. If they heard me trying to pick the lock, they would kill me immediately." "Besides, now I have you. It will be quicker to let you become the decoy, and I kill the guards. Then, we could easily use the guards'' keys." "Also, I have said this before. Although I could escape the prison, if there is no big commotion happening in the fortress, then it would be nearly impossible for me to escape this fortress." "So, now you know about this. I have done my part to prove to you. Now, it was your turn. I will ask you one more time. Can you make a big commotion?" Chapter 264 - Alices help (1) The man had already shown that he was competent enough to get them out of prison. Now, it was Auron''s turn to show that he could invite the military to this base. He needed to bring at least 200 soldiers to this place. "Yes. Although I don''t have the confidence to bring 200 soldiers, but I will try it first." Auron answered. "Okay, then, we will continue the talk after you can bring them out here!" The man said to Auron. "Fine! I will try my best now. One more thing, during the process, I might be mute and could not talk at all." Auron explained to the man. "Tch... I don''t care as long as you do your part well. After all, you already ignored me once before." A few seconds later, Auron went over to his swordsman character. He was in the middle of his hunting place. Auron didn''t waste his time and immediately went back to the town. Right now, time was not his friend. He only had less than twenty hours. Auron took the teleportation portal to the Miderian. He knew that if there was one place that could save him, it was the military in Miderian. He was afraid that if he reported it to the military branch, then it would take a long time before they said it to the primary office. As soon as Auron arrived at Miderian, he went directly to the military base. In the military base, there was a place where the citizen could report their problem. Auron went to that place. "Hello, how may I help you?" The staff received Auron. However, she was yawning since it was already night. "I want to report something important. Can I see your superior?" Auron asked. He wanted to meet with the one who had the authority immediately. "Sorry, but you can''t. You can report it to me. Then, I will tell them." The staff still answered Auron kindly. "I can tell you. However, you have to promise me that you will tell your superior immediately!" "Okay. No problem. You can talk to me." During her career life here, the staff had already seen a lot of people like Auron, who urged everything and tried to meet with the superior. They always claimed that they had an urgent matter. However, when they told their thing, it was only so so. Nothing extraordinary or urgent as what they already claimed. And, Auron also had the same claim. The staff had previously thought that Auron was probably the same as the other. Auron moved closer to the staff and whispered to her, "I have a piece of information about the bandit''s headquarter!" "Okay... Where do you find the headquarter at?" The staff asked calmly. "It was at XXXX near Skemvil village. From Skemvil, you need to go to XXXX. Then, you will find a forest nearby. Go to that forest..." Auron explained the detail to the staff who took note of everything that Auron had said. After Auron finished his explanation, the staff said, "Okay, thank you for your report. We will send a team to check the place tomorrow. You can go back now!" "Huh?!" Auron was confused by the staff''s reaction. She was so calm. Finding the bandit''s headquarter was an important task. How could she delay the matter? It was like what Auron had thought. Finding the bandit''s headquarter was important. It was shown by the huge rewards for anyone that could give a piece of verified information about it. However, because of the rewards. Many people wanted to get that rewards. They started to mention several places and made up a story. They just hoped that they would be lucky enough to get the rewards. This was why the military had to verify the information first before making a huge commotion. Auron was stunned by the staff''s response. However, he didn''t give up. If the military verified the information tomorrow, then it would take them another hour to come back and bring the full force. Auron didn''t have that much time. Auron decided to urge the staff. "See, this was why I want to meet with your superior directly! This is an urgent matter. We don''t have that much time! Call your superior, I will talk to him." "Sorry, sir! But you can''t! You don''t have to worry, I will tell my superior tomorrow. And I promised you, he will take your information seriously. So, just come back for now." The staff tried to calm Auron down. "No, this is crucial matters. I don''t have time until tomorrow. You need to check it first!" "Yes, we will check it tomorrow, sir. Please calm down and go back for now. Don''t you make any ruckus like this in the middle of the night." "No! Where is your superior I need to meet with him!" Auron didn''t want to give up. "Stop, sir! If you continue to act like this, I have no choice but to call the guards!" The staff started to threaten Auron to leave. However, this was really important for Auron. So, he continued to urge the staff. In the end, the staff could not hold it anymore. She pushed a button, and several guards come inside the place. They escorted Auron out. Auron was thrown outside of the place. He could not help but stop his action. He knew if he continued to do it this way, then it would not only one or two guards that stopped him. He could even make the whole military his enemies. In the end, Auron had to stop what he had been doing and began to think for another way. However, it was easier said than done. He had no connection inside the military. Auron had been thinking for almost an hour. However, he could not find any other way to escalate the matter. When he was thinking, he saw Alice coming out of the military academy. She bade farewell to the guards who were on duty. Chapter 265 - Alices help (2) "Goodbye!" Alice bade farewell to the guards. "Have a nice rest!" The guards replied. "Thank you!" Alice went out of the academy. Alice was not in a rush. So, she walked at an average speed. However, during the walk, she felt something strange. It was as if someone monitored her. Someone must have followed her from behind. However, Alice didn''t look back. She pretended that she didn''t know and just acted usually. A few minutes of walking, Alice still felt a strange feeling. She wanted to look back; however, she tried her best to stop it. In the end, she increased her walking speed. Suddenly, a hand was touched her left shoulder from behind. She immediately turned back and grabbed the hand with both of her hands. Then, she twisted the hand to the person''s back. Alice also kicked the man''s knee joint from the back. The man knelt. Alice didn''t stop there. She grabbed the man''s hair and pulled it back until she saw the man''s face. The man was in pain because of his hand twisted. Then, the suffering continued when his hair was pulled back. "AH! Ouch! Wait, I didn''t want to harm you." The man spoke in pain. It turned out the man was Auron''s swordsman character. He was in a big headache thinking a way to escalate his report. When he saw Alice, he knew he had to ask for Alice''s help. That was why he followed Alice. When Alice increased her speed, he called her. However, he didn''t know that he would end up like this. Although Auron knew who Alice was, but Alice didn''t know who Auron was. Auron was in his swordsman character, and Alice didn''t know who it was. Well, nobody knew about this Auron''s secret. "Tch! You follow me from behind sneakily, and you said you mean no harm? All of the stalker always said that!" Alice furiously said to Auron. "Wa... Wait! I mean no harm to you. I want to ask for your help!" Auron told his intention. Alice frowned, "Why should I help you? I didn''t know you!" She also twisted Auron''s arm harder. "Ouch!" Auron let a pained sound. "I mean no harm! I am your apprentice''s friend!" Auron said. "Apprentice? I don''t have an apprentice." Alice defy Auron''s statement. "Huh?! But, he said that he was your apprentice. You taught him your self made skill. And, he said that you only taught it to him." Auron pretended. He also began to tell Alice his mage character''s appearance. Auron knew that there was no apprentice since he was the one who learned the skill. It was only a reward and not because of the apprenticeship. Alice tried to remember. A few seconds later, she realized who was the one that Auron mentioned. She only taught her skills to one guy. "Oh, you mean that guy! He is not my apprentice. I taught him the skill because it was a reward I had promised." "How dare he claimed to be my apprentice! I have to teach him a lesson for using my name." Alice became furious. Auron shuddered. However, he put it at the back of his head since there was more urgent matter. "Yes, that guy! I am his friend." "Okay, you knew someone I know. But, it still doesn''t mean I have to help you!" "Wait! Hear my request first. But, can you please let go of me first." Auron pleaded. Alice just realized that she still twisted Auron''s arm. She saw that Auron didn''t have any bad intentions. So, she let go of Auron''s arm. Auron got up while holding his hurt arm. His arm was hurt. However, he could not think about it. He immediately said, "Your apprentice... I mean, my friend was in danger! I need your help to help him." "What happened?" Although Alice was furious because Auron''s using his name for his benefit, but she still a teacher. As a teacher, when her student was in danger, she had the responsibility to help him. "It was like this..." Auron told her the story. Of course, he twisted some truth. Auron said that He and his friend was captured by the bandits and were brought to a remote place. What surprised them was the fact that there was a hidden machination that could open a secret area. He believed that it was the bandit''s headquarter. Fortunately, when the bandits were off guard, he escaped. However, his friend could not run away. In the end, he could only report it to the military. However, the staff that he reportedly said that they would need to wait until tomorrow before they check the place. "So, you want me to escalate your report?" Alice asked. "Yes, I bet as a teacher at the academy, you have your connection in the military, right?" "If we have to wait until tomorrow, I am afraid that my friend will be..." Auron showed a pained and sad expression. Alice said, "I do have the ability to do it. However, I still need evidence. Do you have that?" Auron shook his head, "No, but I can lead you to the place." Alice was in deep thought. She didn''t know who this man was. Alice had to be careful. What if she fell to a trap? However, what the man said was so detail that only she and Auron''s mage character should know. He even knew the exact date and place when she taught Auron. She was in a dilemma. What if what the man said was true. Then, it would mean that his student was in danger. As a teacher, she could not ignore that. Should she bring a helper? Alice looked at Auron''s eyes. It was not the eyes of a liar. She decided to believe what the man had said. In the end, Alice could not help but agreed to Auron, "Okay, lead me to that place! If what you said was true, then I can be your witness to escalate the matter." Chapter 266 - Alices help (3) "Let us go!" Both Auron and Alice went to the Skemvil. They used the teleportation gate to the nearest town and went to the village on foot. As they were rushing, in only less than two hours, they arrived at the village. Alice wanted to go to Skemvil first before going to their destinations. Auron had already urged her to immediately went to the bandit''s location. However, she refused. Alice insisted on going to the village first. She promised Auron that it would be only a short trip. In the end, Auron had no choice but to give in. It was already a good thing for Alice wanted to come here. What if Auron annoyed her and she became angry, she could cancel her intention to helping Auron. Actually, the reason why Alice wanted to come to the village first was because of Auron''s story. Auron had told her that her apprentice came to the village because he had to join the training. Since there was a free time today, her apprentice decided to go hunting. However, he didn''t want to hunt alone, so he called Auron to join. Then, at that time, the bandits captured them. Alice wanted to verify the story first. Both Alice and Auron arrived at the village. Because it was already night, there were no people on the street. Auron and Alice went to the village''s head house and asked about where the corporal resided. Then, they immediately went to the house where the corporal stayed. Knock... Knock... Alice knocked at the door. Not long after, the door opened, and the corporal went out. However, as soon as the corporal saw Alice, he saluted her respectfully. "Ms. Alice, why are you here?" Corporal Jack was shocked to see Alice here. He asked her politely. Alice looked at Auron and hinted him to stay outside. Meanwhile, Alice and Corporal Jack went inside the house to talk. Auron had no choice but to wait when Alice and Corporal Jack went inside the house. However, what confused him was the fact that the corporal was so polite to Alice. He knew that Alice was a strong mage. But, the corporal''s act showed that there was something else besides being respectful to the stronger people. However, Auron didn''t know about it. "I want to ask you something!" Alice started. "Please tell Ms. Alice, I will try my best to help you!" Corporal Jack politely answered. Yes, Auron''s suspicion was right on point. Alice was famous among the military. Even though she was only a major, she was recognized for being a strong fire mage. Moreover, she was among one of the few mages that could fight in close combat. However, there was something else that made her famous. It was because she was General Elbert''s granddaughter. Although Alice didn''t say it herself, but it was already spread among the soldiers. It became an open secret. Alice started to ask her question, "Do you know this soldier?" "Yes, I know about him. Is there something wrong with him? Did he offend you?" "Where is he now?" Alice didn''t answer Corporal Jack''s question and asked another question. "Before, he asked to go out hunting. I didn''t check on him. But, he should be already back. Let me check with his housemate." The two of them went out, and together with Auron, they went to the house where Auron''s supposed to stay. However, they found out that Auron never came back. "This kid... Doesn''t he know that the training starts tomorrow? Instead of resting, he went out playing and didn''t come back at this late." Corporal Jack became mad. "Don''t worry Ms. Alice, I will punish him greatly for this!" However, Alice stopped him, "No, you don''t need to!" Alice started to tell Corporal Jack about the reason why she was here. She also told him about the bandit''s location and introduced Auron''s swordsman character briefly. Corporal Jack''s expression turned serious, he wanted to come along, "I will come with you to investigate." However, Alice refused his goodwill, "No, just stay here. I only come here to verify the news. From what I see, there might be a high chance what that guy said was true. If it is true, in the morning, there will be a big operation. You can join us at that time!" Then, Alice looked at Auron and said, "Let''s go!" Alice had verified what she needed. It turned out what Auron said was true. So, there was a high chance that her student was really kidnapped. She had to act quickly. During the investigation in the village, Auron was mute. He didn''t say a single word at all. However, inwardly, he felt fortunate that he asked the corporal''s permission before leaving. This way, he had an indirect witness. Auron and Alice went out to the location where Auron started to chase the bandits who spotted his secret. From that point, he traced back his memory and followed the path to the cliff. In less than half an hour, Alice and Auron arrived at the cliff. They hid behind a tree nearby. Alice was confused about why they were here when Auron said, "This is the place where I ran away." "Before, the bandits taps several times to the cliff over there. Then, the door was opened. However, I forgot the place where the exact place." Auron and Alice went closer to the cliff. Alice saw the cliff and tried to find something. However, she was confused. "From the looks, this was an ordinary cliff. There was nothing special about it. However, if what this guy said was true, then there should be a hidden mechanism." Alice thought in her mind. "Should I try to open the door?" Alice wanted to try to open it. However, she immediately put that thought back, "No, if it was really the bandit''s headquarter, then there would be a trap or something. If someone tried to open it using the incorrect way, it would trigger the trap." Chapter 267 - Alices help (4) "Wait up, let me try to remember it," Auron said to Alice. But, Alice stopped him, "No! You don''t need to. If you make a mistake, I am afraid that you will trigger a trap or something worse." Alice''s word woke Auron. Fortunately, he was not in a rush, so Alice could stop him. He looked at Alice and asked, "Then, what should we do? Should we come back? I believe you have verified what I had said." "Yes, but it is not enough. Halves of what you said had been verified. However, the other halves haven''t" "I believe that my student had been kidnapped by the bandit. However, I still didn''t know about the bandit''s headquarter. Is this place really the bandit''s headquarter or not?" "Moreover, if this is really the bandit''s headquarter. At least, we need to find a way to go inside. Else, there would be no meaning for us to bring many soldiers here." "This woman! She was so strange. She still didn''t believe this place was the bandit''s headquarter, but she was afraid of the trap." Auron cursed inside his mind. However, he could not say it loudly. Instead, he asked, "Then, what should we do? Just let me try it. If it triggers the trap, then you knew what I am saying before is correct." "No!" This was the third time Alice said no. "If you trigger the trap, then the enemy would know that we are here. After all, they know that you had escaped. So, you must have to look for help!" "Oh, man!" Auron forgot that he made up a story. He could bravely try to open the door even though it will trigger a trap because the enemy would never know who triggered the trap. The enemies would only think that there was some monster who mistakenly hit the cliff and trigger the trap. Or, they could consider one of their subordinate carelessly made a mistake and trigger the trap. However, Auron had made up a story about how he escaped if he were positioned himself according to the story, then what Alice said was correct. "But, still, my friend didn''t have that much time. I am afraid they already tortured him or even wanted to execute him." Auron acted according to the made-up story. He even spouted some nonsense like torture or execution. "No way, this is night time. Moreover, this still the first day he was captured. They could be torturing him, but they would not execute him this soon." "What should we do?" Alice was pondering hard. Auron was also thinking hard on how to urge Alice. When Alice and Auron were pondering on their own thought, Alice sensed something. She quickly grabbed Auron and dragged him behind the trees. She also closed Auron''s mouth with her hand. Auron was shocked, so he was struggling a little before he saw Alice''s face. When Auron saw Alice''s serious face, he immediately know something was up. So he stopped struggling and calmed down. Alice, who saw Auron, had already calmed down, let go of Auron. But, she still hinted Auron to be quiet. A few minutes later, a group of ten bandits were coming. They were chatting excitedly. Most of them brought a bag of gold with them except the two bandits at the very end. Each of the two bandits who were at the back dragged a teenage girl with them. The teenage girls were struggling and crying. They tried to escape. However, the bandit''s strength overwhelm them so they could not escape. As they arrived at the cliff, the leader among them went forward and tapped several places at the cliff. Just like before went Auron was chasing the bandit, the cliff shook, and a door slowly revealed. When the door already opened wide enough, all of the bandits went inside along with the two teenage girls. A few seconds later, the door slowly closed. Auron looked at Alice and said, "You have seen it, right? Come, let us get back quickly!" Auron was urging Alice to come back, but once more, Alice said no. Then, she went up to the cliff and put a mark beside the place where the bandit tapped. After doing that, she turned back, "Now, it is done. Let''s go back!" Auron knew what Alice was doing. She put a mark, so the next time they were here, they could open the passageway. With that was done, Auron and Alice decided to head back. Heading back was easier than arrived here. Both Auron and Alice used [Return Scroll] and arrived immediately at Miderian. It was already past midnight when Auron and Alice arrived back at the military base. Alice didn''t want to use his identity, so she accompanies Auron to the place where he reported the case. It was still the same staff who received Auron before. There were only a few citizens that reported a problem when night time. So, when Auron came inside, the staff immediately recognized Auron. "You again! I have said before, wait up until tomorrow!" The staff was mad. "This time, I brought a witness," Auron said. The staff looked at Alice and said, "It was useless to bring your old girlfriend here to pretend. I have seen countless people brought a fake witness." The staff actually didn''t know about Alice''s identity. She was only an operational staff. While the gossip about Alice''s identity was famous in the military, but among the operational staff, it was not. If she knew Alice''s identity, the staff would have shocked to death. Alice frowned when she heard what the staff had said. ''Old girlfriend,'' these two words that prick Alice''s nerves. Alice wanted to strangle the staff to death. However, she still tried to calm down and joined the conversation, "What this young man said was true! You had to escalate the report to your superior as soon as possible. I will take the responsibility if there is something wrong happened." Chapter 268 - Alices help (5) "What? You will take the responsibility?" The staff mocked Alice. "I didn''t hear wrong, right?" "Old lady! Who do you think you are?" "Calm... Calm... Calm..." Alice was trying to calm her mind down. However, Auron was the one who answered the staff, "She is one of the teachers at the military''s academy!" "Tch... Only a teacher, not a big deal. Get out! Or I will call the guards!" The staff didn''t bother with Alice''s identity as a teacher and threatened them to leave. Yes, a teacher at the military academy should have a background or experience in the military. However, since the staff didn''t know Alice''s identity, she assumed that Alice should only have at most a senior private rank before becoming a teacher. Although a senior private rank was high in the eye of a commoner, however, the staff was more afraid to her superior. Her superior was an intermediate corporal. It was two ranks above senior private. Moreover, it was past midnight already. Her superior must have already fallen asleep. If she bothered her superior''s sleep just because a senior private that had become a teacher, her superior would go mad at her. That was why the staff still stuck to her decision to wait until tomorrow morning. With the staff mocked Alice, Auron began to think, "Is it really that a teacher would mean nothing in the eyes of a part-time staff?" Auron began to waver. However, it was only just for a few seconds before he shook the matter off, "No way! The teacher was strong. There is no way that she means nothing. Moreover, Alice could create a skill on her own. Only a few people who could do that." Auron demanded the staff, "Call your superior at this instant! Or, you will regret it if you delay this matter!" "You...! You dare to threaten me? Although I am a part-time staff, I was part of the military staff. You threaten me was the same as threatening the military!" "Before I get angry! I will give you one chance. Take your old girlfriend and leave immediately!" The staff gave a last warning. Auron wanted to respond to the staff. However, before he could do that, a ball of fire was flown to the staff. Fortunately, there was glass reinforced with nullifies formation. The ball of fire dissolved before hitting the glass. It was Alice who threw the ball of fire. She was really furious and could not hold it anymore. She was in an urgent matter, but the staff''s word prick her nerves. She said, ''Old girlfriend'' not just once but twice. Although the ball of fire didn''t destroy anything, however, it was enough to shock the staff. She was in a state of great fear. She quickly pushed the button to call the guards and shouted, "You are so dead! Trying to attack military staff. I will make sure you are dead!" Auron was a little bit panic because Alice took the first initiative to attack. However, he looked that Alice didn''t care about the guards. There was only an angry expression on her face. In less than a minute, the guards had arrived at the scene. The staff immediately said, "Arrest them! They are attacking me!" The guards didn''t say anything and captured Auron and Alice. Auron did struggle a little. However, Alice didn''t struggle at all. She was trying to organize her breath since she was so angry. A while later, the guard''s leader arrived at the scene. It was just in short hours, but there were already two incidents that happened. He saw Auron, "So, he was the one who cause the ruckus." Then, he looked at the woman beside him and shocked. The guard''s leader was a senior private. Moreover, he had a senior who joined one of the factions inside. So, he knew one or two things. When the guard''s leader saw Alice, he recognized Alice. "Quick! Release her!" The guard''s leader hurriedly said. He realized he was in some deep shit. "Call the one who is in charge here!" Alice knew the guard''s leader knew her identity. So, she only said that one sentence. With that command, the guard''s leader hurriedly call the staff''s superior. He even did it on his own. The corporal who was in charge was sleeping deeply. However, as he was in the military, he had to be ready with all emergency situations. So, when there was a call, he answered it. "Hello, who is this?" The corporal answered it with a sleepy tone. "Oh, you! Yes, what is the situation?" Slowly the corporal tried to wake up. "What? A ruckus in the citizen''s help counter? Just arrest them! Why you wake me up for this!" After hearing the problem, the corporal wanted to reprimand the caller for waking him up. However, before he could do this, the caller had already told him about Alice. When the corporal heard of Alice''s involvement in this incident, he immediately jumped off his bed. He took his proper clothes and went away while changing his clothes. The corporal was so quick. In less than 5 minutes, he already arrived at the scene. The corporal didn''t even greet or ask the guard''s leader or the staff responsible for this incident. He immediately went to Alice and received her politely while apologizing to her. Then, he escorted Alice and Auron to a different place. Meanwhile, this sudden turn of events shocked the guard, who made the arrest and the staff in charge. They could only open their mouth widely by this event. However, the guard''s leader voice woke them up, "All right, leave this place and go back to work! Pretends nothing has happened!" With the command from the guard''s leader, all of the guard who was on the scene left the citizen''s help counter and went back to their position. The guard''s leader also left the place. However, before he left the scene, he looked at the staff pitifully. Chapter 269 - Alices Help (6) "Please be seated. Sorry for making you wait, Ms. Alice, anything I could help with?" The corporal apologized to Alice while let Auron and Alice took the seat. "This young man had made a report, and I want you to escalate it quickly. I can be the witness." Alice pointed her finger to Auron. The corporal looked at Auron and asked, "What''s your name?" Auron said his name. The corporal had wanted to look for the case reported by Auron. However, he thought that it will take a long time. So, he asked Auron to reiterate the report to him. Auron nodded and explained the incident once more. After he finished his story, the corporal looked at him with a serious face. Then, he looked at Alice''s face. Then, the corporal looked back at Auron and said, "Okay, since Ms. Alice also had become your witness, I will escalate this matter to my superior." "Thank you," Auron thanked the corporal. Inwardly, the corporal thought, "What to thank me for? With Ms. Alice as your witness, everything will go smoothly." However, the corporal didn''t say that thought and just smiled at Auron. Then, he went outside and made a call to his superior. While waiting, Auron and Alice didn''t say any words. Alice knew the process to escalate a case. It was long and took several calls. She had a major rank; however, because of her status as a teacher, she could not mobilize any troops in the military. If not, she would have already assembled the necessary forces. In the end, she had to rely on her identity once more to make things go the right way. After waiting for 10 minutes, the corporal went back inside and said, "Okay, all the necessary permission had been granted. We only need around 30 minutes to gather the soldiers." "We have decided to get 500 veteran soldiers. Is that enough?" The corporal didn''t know how big this operation would be. The one who had the authority hurriedly assigned 500 veteran soldiers when he knew that Alice was involved in this case. A soldier called veteran when they had a corporal rank. So, this means that the 500 soldiers assigned to this mission would have at least a junior corporal rank. Alice, who heard the number, knew that with her involvement in this case, the higher up would exaggerate everything. She thought that 500 was too many. Moreover, they were veteran soldiers. Alice wanted to reduce the soldier''s number. However, before she could do that, Auron had already thanked the corporal. Auron was surprised at the fact that he could get 500 soldiers. He only needed 200 soldiers, but he could get 500 soldiers. It would be a 100% mission success. What Auron didn''t know was that his terms of veteran soldiers were different from the one used in the military. In the military, veteran soldiers were the ones who had at least a junior corporal rank. However, what Auron thought to be a veteran soldier was someone who had at least 5 years of experience in the military. 5 years of experience in the military could get someone to the corporal rank. However, it was not that easy. From the data, the soldiers who had 5 years of experience in the military only had a 40% chance to become a corporal. With Auron thanking the corporal, Alice, who wanted to reduce the soldier''s number, canceled her action. Alice actually didn''t really care about the number of soldiers assigned to this mission. Moreover, it was not her that asked that number. Alice nodded and said, "Okay, we had to be quick! I hope in 30 minutes we could immediately depart! Also, I will be joining this mission." "Oh, no!" The corporal shocked when knowing that Alice would be joining the mission. That five hundred soldiers was only for the fact that Alice had become the witness. Moreover, there was some kind of incident. So, they tried to appease Alice by assigning that many numbers. "If Ms. Alice wanted to join the mission, should I ask for more soldiers for her safety?" The corporal thought in his mind. However, he didn''t dare to decide this matter on his own. So, he wanted to ask his superior. From the conflicted expression on the corporal''s face, Alice knew what he had thought. She stopped him, "You can report it, but we don''t need more soldiers. We have enough. If there are more soldiers, it would only slow us down. Moreover, it would be easier for the enemy to spot our movement." In the end, the corporal could do what Alice had said. Auron, who had been here all the time also shocked by the conversation. "He could get more soldiers as simple as saying that Alice will be joining the mission." He thought Auron didn''t know that his teacher would have a deep influence inside the military. He inevitably hit the jackpot. The corporal reported it to his superior. Just as he thought, his superior wanted to assign another hundred soldier for Alice''s safety. However, he reminded his superior about what Alice had said. In the end, the superior canceled his thought. But, he still knew this was a vast matter. If he handled this matter carelessly, his career would end. So, he decided to join the mission as well and changed the soldier''s composition. At first, most of the troops would comprise of junior corporals. However, after the corporal''s report, the composition changed. Now, the forces mostly made by senior corporals. In the next thirty minutes, all of the arrangements had been completed. The corporal''s superior, a lieutenant, also had arrived and said, "Ms. Alice, you can take the lead." "No need, you lead this troop. I will only be a guest." Alice rejected the offer. With that said, the lieutenant was making sure the arrangements had been completed for the last time. After 5 minutes, the lieutenant commanded the troops to depart in the middle of the night. Chapter 270 - Escape (1) With the reinforcements issue had been settled, Auron went back to his mage character, who was still inside the underground prison. Once again, Auron met with the darkness of the prison. "Psstt... Hey..." Auron called the man. However, there was no reply. Auron called the man once again, "Hey... Are you sleeping?" "Ehmm... Are you done?" The man, with a sleepy tone, replied Auron At first, the man had waited for Auron patiently. However, he had nothing to do while waiting. Moreover, he didn''t know how long it would take for Auron to complete his task. In the end, he fell asleep when waiting for Auron. "Yes, I am done," Auron answered excitedly. In his sleepy tone, the man asked again, "How many soldiers could you bring here? 100? 200?" The man had asked the soldier''s number because he had to adjust the plan according to the soldier''s showed up. "500 veteran soldiers!" Auron answered proudly. Although it was because of Alice''s help, however, he still took some part in it. "Okay, 500 soldiers! Then, it looked like I have to revise the plan. We have to use this..." The man started to murmur about changing his plan. "Wait! 500? You didn''t say it wrongly, right?" The man realized that Auron said 500, and it was more than what he had been asking for. "No! It is 500 veteran soldiers." "Huh, it is also veteran soldiers? How can you achieve it?" As the man was from the military, he knew what veteran soldiers mean. The man started to question Auron''s identity. Moreover, the method Auron used to inform the military from inside the prison. "It is a trade secret," Auron replied mysteriously. "I believe this number of soldiers was enough, right?" Auron ensured that the soldier''s number was enough from them to escape. "It is more than enough. You brought 500 soldiers. On top of it, all of them are veteran soldiers. Not to mention escaping, we could even destroy this bandit''s fortress with that number." "You are not deceiving me, right?" The man still could not believe what Auron had said. "Well, I don''t care you believe me or not. But, you should, at least, tell me your plan if you don''t believe me. I need to escape." "Okay... Okay... I will believe you this time. Wait, I need to adjust the plan. How long until the soldiers arrived?" "It should be around two or three hours more." "Perfect! It is still dawn in two or three hours more. We can do a surprise attack." "Now, can you tell me about your plan?" Auron tried to find out the full plan. "Chill out, young man! We have an agreement. Just do your job properly and follow me." The man still didn''t tell Auron his plan yet. Well, at least, Auron had tried to find out. "Okay, this will do." Several minutes later, the man had revised his plan. "When the time is near, tell me! We will execute the first part of the plan!" The man said, and the place went silent once again. The first part of the plan was the part where Auron faked sickness and let the guard opened the underground prison. Then, with the help of the man, Auron would get rid of the guards. Just like the man, Auron waited for the time to come. Two hours later, Auron had checked the reinforcement''s progression. And, they almost arrived at their destination. However, Alice stopped the troops first and sent a soldier as a messenger to Skemvil. A few minutes later, the messenger came back with a bunch of soldiers behind his back. Corporal Jack went and greeted the lieutenant and Alice. After a few greeting, Corporal Jack went back to his soldier and arranged them properly. Alice had arranged for them to join this operation as a spectator. This mission would be a pleasant experience for them. Alice didn''t want the newbie to experience a quick death. So, she arranged them at the back and grouped them as one. This way, they would not hinder the leading troops. Corporal Jack briefed the newbie soldiers for a bit. The newbie was nervous. They were supposed to be doing physical and formation training. But, suddenly, they were getting into a dangerous mission like this. However, there was nothing they could do. After all of the preparation completed, the troops started to march again. This time, they tried their best not to make any sound so they could launch a surprise attack. Meanwhile, Auron told the man, "Hey, it is the time!" The man replied, "Okay!" Then, the man opened up the lock of his cell. After that, just like they had planned, Auron acted as if he was in pain. The man also did his part. He shouted out and called the guards. Two guards went inside of the prison. Then, they locked the door once again from inside. They hurriedly went to Auron''s cell. When they arrived at Auron''s cell, they found Auron had already lying on the ground, crouching and holding his stomach. "What happened?" The guards confused. However, Auron didn''t answer, he just shouted in pain. One of the guards frowned, "Is it food poisoning?" "I don''t know. Anyway, let us call the doctor!" The other guard suggested. When they turned over, there was already a man waiting for them and immediately attacked them. The guards were caught in surprise. They failed to defend the attack. Auron also helped the man by pinning down one of the guards with his power. However, Auron had a hard time to move because of the shackles. Fortunately, the man was strong enough to beat down the two guards. After the man beat down the guards, he took a key from the guards and opened his shackles and Auron''s shackles. Auron felt free after the shackles were gone. He jumped several times and moved around. "Hey, stop moving around like a monkey! We need to move!" The man reminded Auron. Chapter 271 - Escape (2) Auron and the man moved to the underground prison''s door. The man took the key and opened the lock. Click... After opening the lock, the man signaled Auron to be ready. Then, Auron opened the door. "Are you done? What happened inside?" Two guards were stationed to look out for the door. They thought that their friends were the ones who came out of prison. However, they were wrong. As soon as the door opened, the man immediately attacked the guards. The guards were caught in surprise and could not avoid the attack. They fell as a result of the impact. The man took one of the guard''s weapon and used it to finish the guards. It was quick. The guards wanted to scream, but they could not. The man already killed them. After killing the guards, the man took the other guard''s sword and threw it to Auron. "Can you use it?" He asked Auron. As Auron was in his mage character, he could not use the swords. "No, I am a mage," Auron revealed his class. The man looked at Auron in surprise. Although he hadn''t look at the way of Auron''s fight, he could sense that Auron was proficient in close combat fight. So, when Auron revealed his class, he was shocked as close combat mage was rare. However, the man could not think about it for too long and just accepted the fact. They were in a hurry to escape. The man exchanged the dagger in his hand with the swords in Auron''s hand. After going out of the prison, it was also the first time Auron saw the man''s appearance. The man had a shabby look. Maybe, it was the result of staying in prison. Auron estimated the man was in his late forties. However, Auron could only look for a bit before the man started to continue. Because Auron didn''t know the plan, Auron could not help but follow him. Both Auron and the man went upstairs and arrived on the fortress''s first floor. The situation was still normal. There was no uproar since the military hadn''t come yet. Auron could see a bandit was patrolling around the first floor. However, they were already yawning as their shift time almost over. One of the bandits who were patrolling stretched his body as he said to his friend, "Ah, I am so sleepy. After this, I will go to sleep. What will you do?" "Me, too. I haven''t had a good sleep these days. I am thinking of applying for..." Before the bandit could finish his sentence, a sirene rang loudly. All of the people inside the fortress could clearly hear it. It was an emergency sirene that rang all over the place. As soon as the sirene rang, the commotion started to take place inside the fortress. Many of the bandits came down from the fort and confused about what happened. However, they didn''t dare to stay still and went as they had been trained. All of the bandits went outside and left the door to the outside wide opened. The man and Auron knew that the military already launched their attack. This was why the man needed a commotion to be created. It wasn''t easy to open the door on the first floor. There was an automatic lock and camera. If it was a bandit that got close to the door, then the door would be unlocked automatically. Otherwise, the door would be locked. The man and Auron could not carry a dead bandit''s body since it would draw attention. However, if there was a military attacking, then all of the bandits would be deployed to the battle. The door would be left wide open to make it easier for the bandit''s movement. This was the man''s goal. However, there was one thing that foiled the man''s plan. The number of bandits inside the fortress was way over that what he had predicted. Bandits kept on pouring out. If they went out right now, they would get caught. The man went back to the underground prison with confused Auron following from behind. After that, the man said to Auron, "Quick, disguised yourself as a bandit." The man''s plan was for him and Auron to take the bandit''s equipment and clothes and disguised as the bandit. Auron could only follow the man''s order and started to disguise as a bandit. Auron felt uncomfortable because the bandit''s clothes size was not fit for him. Fortunately, it didn''t draw attention too much. After finished disguising, the man reminded Auron, "Remember, acted like you were in a rush!" The man and Auron ran back to the first floor and towards the door leading to outside. The bandits were in a hurry that they could not know there were prisoners among them. The managed to go out of the fortress smoothly. However, there was still a long way from the fort to the exit passage. Since the fortress was on top of a hill, Auron could see the battle that was going on. The military''s soldiers were pushing until midway before they encountered a vast number of bandits. They could not advance more and had to fight there. Meanwhile, Auron followed the man and went down the hill to where the fight took place. Indeed, everything would not go as smoothly as they had already planned. Auron and the man had only covered one-fourth of the hill went a bandit near them suspicious to them, "Hey, who are you? State your identity!" The bandit was recognized Auron''s face, but he still wasn''t confident enough, so he asked. However, the man and Auron pretend not to hear what the bandit had said. Unfortunately, the bandit didn''t give up, he went to Auron and patted Auron''s shoulder while asking, "State your identity!" The man gave up all of the pretentious act and immediately attacked the bandit. The bandit was aware of the attack and could avoid it. Then, he immediately shouted, "Prisoners escape!!!" Chapter 272 - Escape (3) With that one shout, all of the nearby bandit''s attention turned to Auron and the man. The nearby bandits started to circle Auron and the man. Auron and the man knew they could not stop. If they stopped right now, then they would be surrounded. "Quick!" The man urged Auron. Both Auron and the man fled to the military''s soldiers'' direction while fighting. Auron showed his capability in close combat fight. He used the dagger in his hand, and combined with the spell, he could nullify several of the enemies'' attacks. Meanwhile, the man was more powerful than Auron. A single slash from the man, made at least two bandits flew away. Combined with the man''s agile footwork, the bandits could do nothing to overpower him. However, as the commotion started to attract the other bandit''s attention, a surging tide of bandits began to swarm around them. This significant amount of bandits was exceeding the man''s expectations. He thought that with 200 soldiers would be enough for them to overpowered this fortress. But, seeing from the situation, it looked like they needed double the amount of those soldiers. Fortunately, Auron had brought 500 soldiers, or else they would only send the soldiers to their doom. The bandits still kept on pouring out from the fortress to the field. Some of them went to the military''s soldiers while the other went to Auron. The situation at the military''s soldiers was not that worse. However, the situation at Auron''s side was grim. Auron''s team only had two people while the bandits kept on pouring out. Right now, Auron and the man had to face against 50 bandits. Fortunately, the space was so tight that not all of the 50 bandits could attack immediately at the same time. However, both Auron and the man could no longer continue their escape. If this kept on, then it would only be a matter of time before their stamina depleted. The commotion also didn''t escape from the military''s soldiers'' eye. A small fight happened near them. However, they also could not have the luxury to help them. The bandits kept on pushing them roughly. The newbie soldiers also had a difficult time to adjust to the battlefield. Although they were placed at the rear back, however, they even could not escape from the bandits. In the end, they had to fight to live. Unfortunately, all of the newbie soldiers were too nervous and scared, so they kept on making a mistake here and there. The error was not that big, but on a battlefield, that small mistake was enough for the enemy to take advantage. Alice had no choice but to tell the lieutenant to assign some veteran soldiers to help the newbie soldiers. With the experienced soldiers'' help, Corporal Jack, who was responsible for the newbie''s safety, had someone to share his burden. With the newbie''s problem had been resolved, Alice could focus once more to her fight. She scanned the battlefield and saw the small fight nearby them. She wanted to help them. However, the soldiers still had difficulty clearing bandits in their way. She predicted that they would need around 15-30 minutes to clear the way to help the small team. Alice just hoped that the small group could hold on for another 30 minutes. Alice wanted to focus back on the enemy in front of her, but she caught a glimpse of the member of the small team. After that one short glance, her eyes widened. Then, she immediately shouted, "Help that team!!" The lieutenant, who was the leader of the troops wanted to do so. However, his hand and all of the soldiers were full. Alice also knew that she was the one who had to act. "I need 5 soldiers! Quickly follow me!" Five soldiers immediately gathered beside her, and they departed to the small team''s location. With Alice leading the five soldiers, they quickly rushed to the small group. Alice was possessed, she became ruthless and didn''t spare any effort at all. Alice used her full power from the start and killed all of the bandits in their way. With Alice''s power and viciousness, in no time, they arrived at the small team''s location. The bandits, who had surrounded Auron and the man, were caught in surprise with the immediate reinforcements. The encirclement was broke. Auron and the man, along with Alice''s team, slowly pulling back to the significant troops. With Alice''s help, Auron and the man had been saved. However, it was not the time to be happy for their successful rescue. They still had many enemies in front of them. After joining the military''s troops, the man only said one sentence, "We can raze this fortress down." Alice nodded her head and went out full power. There was a hidden excitement in her eyes. With the man''s and Alice''s power, the troops were slowly gaining the upper hand. The bandits only had many numbers on them. Slowly, the troops pushed their way to the fortress. They didn''t forget to kill all of the bandits they met. Meanwhile, for the bandits who were surrendered, they were tied up, and their weapons were confiscated. Soon, the military''s troops had cleaned the fortress down. Unfortunately, the bandit''s higher up could not be found, including the one who the bandits called the Lady. The military found a hidden passageway that had been used for the higher-ups to escape. However, Alice didn''t tell them to chase. Instead, she said to the soldiers to block the passageway. After the battle, they were tallying up the numbers. The bandits who surrendered, the number of soldiers who suffered injuries and all of the precious things that could be found inside the fortress were counted. The military soldiers still assigned some soldiers here while the man, Alice, and several soldiers brought the captured bandits back to the military base. Meanwhile, Auron and newbie soldiers still could not come back. They had to continue their training. Fortunately, they had one day off due to this incident. Chapter 273 - General Aston (1) Back in the kingdom, inside a room, two people come inside the room. One of them was the man who Auron met back then in the underground prison. The other man was General Elbert. The man wanted to say something, but General Elbert stopped him. "Wait until His Majesty comes!" Not long after, another man came inside the room in a hurry. As soon as this man entered the room, both the man and General Elbert immediately knelt on the ground. The man who just came was the king himself. "Quick! Stand up! Please, take a seat!" The king told them to take a seat. "So, what happened, Aston?" The king asked the man who Auron met in the underground prison. "Report! Your Majesty, I don''t know the details. Everything went smoothly for the first time. I managed to climb to the top and became quite a big fish. However, one day, I got an invitation to come to the fortress." "I thought that I finally got one step closer. However, I was wrong." "It was a trap. All of the spies that we sent had been gathered there, including me. In one big swoop, all of us were captured." "What more surprising was the fact that we were handpicked by the bandits. It was as if the bandits had inside information." "We cannot escape at all and imprison in the underground prison. For two months, we were tortured, and the bandits tried to extract the information out of us." "Fortunately, I was the highest-ranked out of the captured soldiers. They thought that I have a lot of information to extract. So, I was saved for the last." "As for the others, all of them were executed with no mercy!" "Your Majesty, I also deliberately leaked out several small information about our power to the bandits to prolong my life. Please, punish me!" General Aston was deliberately told the bandits about one or two small pieces of information to help him buy some time. And, it turned the action was correct. He got extra time compared to the other captured spies. "Your Majesty! I believe there was a betrayer among us!" General Aston continued. The king got a headache thinking about it. A betrayer was more challenging to fight against the enemy they could face directly. However, the king didn''t say anything and looked at General Elbert. "What about the fortress? Is it really the headquarter?" The king asked General Elbert. "No, Your Majesty." General Elbert answered. "We have interrogated the surrendered bandits. Although the lower-ranked bandits didn''t know anything about the fortress. But, we managed to capture some medium-ranked bandits. And, they knew one or two things about the fortress." "At first, the bandit''s headquarter was really at that fortress. However, because the rumor was spread, the bandits hurriedly relocated their headquarter to another hidden place." "Then, they deliberately left the headquarter as it is to trap us. I believe that when the bandits invited General Aston and the other spies, they had finished their relocation." "Ah... What should we do to the fortress?" The king dejectedly asked. "There was no use to keep it. I believe we should destroy it rather than stationed our man there." "Yes, I also agreed with you. Destroy it immediately!" "And Aston, you know what you have to do as the leader of the military''s intelligence division, right?" The king asked General Aston. Inside the military, there was an intelligence division inside. The division was separated into two, an intelligence-gathering division and spying division. And, there was nobody knew who led this big division. They only knew that this division was led by a mysterious person. They assumed that the mysterious person was either the king himself or General Elbert. However, they were wrong. The other only knew that General Aston was one of General Elbert''s trusted aide that also work in the intelligence division. However, what they didn''t realize was that the mysterious person who led the intelligence division was also General Aston. Only the three people inside the room previously knew about it. Plus, another person, Alice. Unfortunately, General Aston was captured, and there was no news from him. So, the military assumed he was dead. To not cause any commotion, General Elbert secretly took the leading role. "Yes, Your Majesty!" "Okay, then I will not hinder you for too long. I know both of you have a lot to talk to. So, I will excuse myself." Then, the king left General Elbert and General Aston inside the room. "With you came back, I can give back the mysterious leader role to you." General Elbert felt relieved. "The betrayer must have already known you came back alive. They will be more careful. Act more secretly so not to alert them." General Elbert advice General Aston who nodded agreeing. "Now, go! Alice missed you a lot! When she knew there was no news about you, she caused a ruckus. She deliberately acts dangerously at the battlefield." "To protect her, I had to send her to teach at the military academy to calm her down. She must hate me so much for doing this to her." "Now, with you came back alive, I believe she could calm down a little bit. Spend your time with her before finding the betrayer! She worries you a lot." "And I hope you don''t spoil her too much. She is a major in the military. She had to reason in every situation. She needed to grow up. How can she acted like a little kid when she is almost 30." General Elbert reminded. "You need to teach her how to act properly in every situation! I want her to have a strong mentality." "Okay, then! I have another task to do. Goodbye!" General Elbert walked to the door. "Be more careful next time! But I am glad you come back alive." General Elbert casually said that while exiting the room. General Aston stood, bowed towards General Elbert, and said, "Thank you, father!" Chapter 274 - General Aston (2) General Aston exited the room. Outside the room, Alice had been waiting for him. As soon as General Aston got out of the room, Alice ran towards him and hugged him. Alice cried, "I am glad... I am glad you are still alive! Don''t you go away again!" If Auron could see this incident, he would be baffled. The evil and mighty Alice cried like a baby in front of her father. It was such a rare sight. "Okay... Okay... That is enough. Hold your tears." General Aston calmed her down. "Let us go back first! I haven''t been able to take a bath for more than a month, I really smelly right now." General Aston invited her to come back home. Alice nodded, obeying, and followed General Aston back. Alice was excitedly prepared a dish for her father. It was the first time she cooks again after a long time. After a few minutes, she finished making the dish. Alice brought the dish to the dining table and arranged it neatly on one side. At that time, her father just came out of the bathroom. He sniffed a fragrant and delicious smell. "Wow, my daughter was really a good cook! Her future husband must be happy." General Aston teased his daughter. Alice shyly punched her father, then she sat in front of her father. They ate the dish together while Alice told her father many stories. It was such a happy atmosphere for the father and the daughter. "How do you find the place?" General Aston started to talk about the recent mission. "I didn''t know. I just got to know about it from my student''s friend. He told me that his friend, my student, was kidnapped and asked me to rescue him." "Moreover, he said that that place was the bandit headquarter. That was why, as a teacher, I have the responsibility to save my students. Surprisingly, I also meet you there!" Alice explained. "Oh, so that rude young man was your student?" General Aston didn''t forget about Auron''s behavior. "What!!! What did he do? Tell me! I will punish him, harshly!" Alice was furious when she knew Auron was rude to her father. "No, forget it! It was not important. Oh, so which one was his friend? Was it the swordsman?" General Aston asked Alice. It was easy for General Aston to guess since only Auron''s swordsman who didn''t have any military gesture. "Yes, it is." Alice said, "What happened? Did you know him? Did he also act rudely towards you?" Alice was so overprotective towards her father since she had thought that her father had died. When she found out that her father was still alive, she unconsciously developed a protective nature because she didn''t want to lose him anymore. "Ho..." General Aston pondered quietly. He had something on his mind that he could not say yet. He only thought it for a few seconds, then diverted the conversation, "I heard you became a teacher in the academy? How was it? Are you enjoying it?" "No way! It was so boring..." Alice started to blurt everything inside her heart. General Aston was patiently listening to her story. Peace was going on for a full month. Well, it was not entirely peaceful, but there was nothing significant going on. During that one month, Auron only focused on his during and didn''t do anything weird. Since the other soldiers was a newbie, they were nothing compared to Auron. It made Auron became shining among the others. Unfortunately, Auron didn''t gain anything except for military points. Although earning the military points was not bad, but he would rather get a permanent attribute than the military points. Corporal Jack had reported to the completion of the training to the main base. Then, He faced the newbie soldiers and congratulated them, "Congratulation to you all! You have completed the training. However, don''t be too excited, this is just the beginning!" "With the completion of this training, you get one day off. The day after tomorrow, you have to report to the military back to get your assignment!" "Now, you can be dismissed." Corporal Jack dismissed the soldiers. Then, he pointed at Auron and said, "You! Follow me!" Auron, who was going to get back to his room, stopped his track. He looked at Corporal Jack confusedly. Did he do something wrong? No, he should be the talented one among the batch. It had to be a reward rather than a punishment. Auron could not help but follow Corporal Jack. Both Corporal Jack and Auron moved towards a room. When they had arrived in front of the room, Corporal Jack said, "General, I have brought the soldier!" "Thank you, corporal! You can head back. Smiling Wizard, you can come in!" From inside the room, a voice was heard. Corporal Jack bowed and left the place. Auron was confused. A general summoned him? He thought that this must be because of his superb track record. One of the general''s factions must notice him and wanted to recruit him. Auron was thinking, what should he do? Should he accepted the offer to join or not. He was pondering hard when the same voice was heard once again, "Don''t you want to come in?" Auron woke up from his pondering and immediately went inside the room. What Auron found inside the room shocked him. Inside the room, there were only three people. However, what shocked him was not the number of people; instead, it was the status of the people inside. The first person was the man that Auron met inside the prison. Auron had predicted that the man had a high position inside the military; however, he never thought that it was as high as a general. The second person was General Elbert. Auron had heard the rumor about this man, and he also knew how important this man was. However, what shocked Auron the most was the third person. It was the king himself. Chapter 275 - Intelligence Division (1) The king was present in the room. This should be the second interaction between Auron and the king. Although the previous one, Auron didn''t get the chance to meet directly with the king, this time, he got to see the king. Auron was baffled and could not talk. He didn''t know what to say. Auron thought hard was there anything that could make the king came here to meet him. When Auron saw General Aston grinned towards him, he realized he was in trouble. This should be the revenge of the old man. "So, that old man was someone who had a deep connection that the king himself help him," Auron thought. Auron started to sweat profusely. He was thinking about how to resolve the issue with the old man nicely. "So, he was the man?" The king started to talk. He opened the conversation and asked General Aston. "Yes, he was." General Aston answered him. Auron became scared. Would he be locked up? Or did he had to pay some fine? Meanwhile, the king and General Elbert scanned Auron from top to bottom. They could not find anything special about the man in front of them. "Do you really wanted to do it?" General Elbert asked. "Of course! I will do it even when he refused! But, does he really had the gall to refuse this when you and the king present in the room." General Aston grinned evilly. Auron was speechless. He could only think in his mind, "Yeah, you win! How could I have the gall to refuse when there was the king in this place." "Okay fine. Hey, you! Do you want to transfer to the intelligence division?" General Elbert asked Auron. "Huh?! Transfer to intelligence division? Didn''t the old man want to get his revenge on me? Why the sudden transfer?" Auron was so shocked that he unconsciously spoke loudly. General Aston, who heard it, had some vein popped out on his head. He knew that the old man Auron said was referred to him. He wanted to punch Auron on the face, but he composed himself. Meanwhile, Auron realized that he said it loud enough to be heard. He became scared of whether the old man would directly jump on him. However, he looked at the situation, and it seems that there was no issue about it. General Aston, who was the one Auron mentioned, composed himself and asked Auron once again, "Yes. Do you want to transfer to the intelligence division?" "Huh? Intelligence division, what did they do? Isn''t it just waiting for the citizen to give some intelligence report?" Auron asked. "That is some responsibility that our division does. However, that is not all. You still remembered my story back in prison, right?" General Aston started to explain. "Spying is also one of our jobs. We deploy some spies to investigate or find any evidence related to some matters." "Of course, not everyone who is in the intelligence division can become the spy. They have to take some tests to prove their qualifications. And, you have passed that test!" "Passed? But, when? And why me?" Auron still didn''t get the reason why he was selected. "The first reason is that you are strong enough. You are a mage, and you can fight in close combat. Don''t you know that it is rare to find a mage that can fight in close combat?" "You have also mastered the [Walking Chanting]. It is one of the most important skills that you should master to become a close combat mage. You have some potential young man!" General Elbert and the king startled when they heard about Auron was a close combat mage. Admittedly, not all mage could fight in close combat. "Before I explain the second reason, let me ask you first. How do you be able to tell the outside world about our location?" With that one question, Auron realized what the second reason General Aston talked about was. It was his ability as a player that no NPC could replicate. "Huh? He was the one that tells the location? Didn''t the report said that his friend manages to escape from the enemy and reported it to the military?" The king asked. General Elbert and the king didn''t know about the real story, so they believe what the report had said. "No! It was impossible. Although it was true that his friend made a report, however, it was not because he could escape from the enemy. But, it was because this young man managed to send him a message about our location." Auron wanted to say something. However, General Aston stopped him, "Okay, you don''t have to answer my question since it was a secret. However, you don''t have to make another excuse." "Whatever reason you make, I will not believe it at all. Do you think that with your friend''s strength, he really could escape from the bandits?" General Aston had seen the way Auron''s swordsman character fight. He deemed that it was way weaker than Auron''s mage character. So, when General Aston knew the story from Alice, he didn''t believe it at all. "And, that is the second reason. Your ability to deliver a message secretly to the outside world from a locked place." Such ability really fits the best for spies'' work. However, in reality, it was nothing unusual for Auron. Many other players could also do it. Fortunately, Auron had the chance to show it to someone who had influence in the military. Moreover, the players could join the military just recently. General Elbert and the king also nodded agreeing. If what General Aston said was true, that this man really could become a spy. With that ability, he could infiltrate to the enemy base and deliver the message. "So, do you accept it?" General Aston asked again. Auron sighed. He could not deny it anymore. In the end, he asked, "What benefit will I get if I join the intelligence division?" Chapter 276 - Intelligence Division (2) General Aston became furious because Auron dared to ask for more benefits, "You dare to ask for more benefits? Moreover, in front of the king?" Auron forgot that there was the king present in the room. He hurriedly said, "I was joking. How could I ask more benefit when serving the kingdom was my goal." Auron hoped that the king would not take any offense from his words. Fortunately, the king didn''t take any offense. He just laughed when Auron said the words. "Good for you! If you dared to joke like that once more, I would skin you alive!" General Aston threatened. "Then, let me explain how the intelligence division works." General Aston wanted to start explaining when General Elbert said, "You will get your own house in Miderian. Also, take this. When you show this to the military branch anywhere in the kingdom, they will immediately prepare a lodging for you." General Elbert handed over a coin with a strange emblem on it. The coin had a different patterns on each side. Two dragons were holding a big globe at one side while a young man was wielding a sword on the other side. [You get General Elbert''s coin] [General Elbert''s coin] (Rare item) Type: Special Class: All Class Description: A special coin by General Elbert. If you show this coin to any of the military branches in the kingdom, you will get a special benefit. This coin was equipped with a disguised feature. You can disguise it as an ordinary coin. Be careful, though, not to use it for shopping! Just like the description of the item, the coin''s appearance could be changed to the commonly used currency. Fortunately, as a player, Auron didn''t have to be afraid that he mistakenly used the coin to pay something. It was because of the system regarded the coin as a special item. A special item was almost the same as a quest item. The item could not be used or obtained freely. What made it the two types difference was that a quest item correlated to a quest. However, a special item was not. A special item correlated to a particular incident happened. And, in Auron''s case was he joining the intelligence division. If he left the intelligence division, the special item would automatically be lost. "If General Elbert gives you something, then I should also give you something. Here take this!" The king said. Auron received a piece of small lousy parchment with a poem on it. However, when one used a unique identification skill on it, you would find a royalty emblem imprint on the parchment. To use this parchment, Auron had to go to any of the royalty associated shops and said the keywords. Then, 10% of what he spent there would be borne to the royalty. Auron was satisfied with the progress. He got two special items that really helped him. Then, he looked at General Aston. Seeing Auron''s gaze, General Aston knew what Auron wanted, "If both the king and General Elbert gave you their present, then I cannot be missed out." "As a good elder, I will give you something extraordinary that you needed. I will give you a proper lesson on how to respect your elders for free!" General Aston scoffed. Auron was thinking in his mind, "Really, such a vengeful old man!" "Since you are really grateful for my present, then let me continue my explanation. Follow me." General Aston said. General Aston led Auron and exit the room and left both the king and General Elbert inside the room. Their destination was where the intelligence division resided. Along the way, General Aston introduced Auron about the intelligence division. The intelligence division had one primary and most critical job, which was to gain intelligence. They had to any hidden intel about their enemies or obtained evidence of some corrupt noble. In doing so, they had two ways. The first was the passive way, to wait for any report from the citizen. And, the second was the proactive way, to send a spy to infiltrate or investigating for something. And, Auron was doing the latter one. "As a spy, you will need a second identity to be used for your daily activities." General Aston said. "You can think about it later. And, here take this." Auron received a necklace. This was a basic item that would be given when someone had joined the spy unit. The necklace can be used to change the face and voice of the wearer. Although it could not completely change the look and sound, a slight change was enough to deceive the enemy. A few minutes later, Auron and General Aston arrived at a remote place inside the military base. There was a big and old building. Before entering the building, General Aston said, "Go and use the necklace!" With that, Auron and General Aston used the necklace power and change his appearance slightly. Then, they went inside the building. Although outside of the building, no one person was passing by, however, inside the building, it was full of people. This building was the core of the intelligence division. All of the intelligence gathered from all over the branches was placed here and sorted out. "This is the intelligence division''s place. All of the information is gathered and sorted out here. All of the people here had used the necklace and changed their appearance. This is to ensure our identity kept hidden. Also, don''t mention anything about the spy division because it was a secret." "Nobody in the military knew about it, except the higher-ups and the spies themselves." General Aston whispered. "Come, let me introduced you to them." Clap... Clap... Clap... General Aston clapped his hand to get the attention. "Everyone, let me introduced you to our new member here." All of the people looked at General Aston and Auron for a bit. However, they were not interested in it. After a few seconds looking at Auron and General Aston, they focused back on their previous work. Chapter 277 - First Spys Assignment (1) Auron was a little bit frustrated by the people uninterested behavior. However, General Aston calmed Auron down and brought him to a small room. Inside the building, there were several small rooms used for many things. It could be used for a meeting to sort out overlapped evidence. Or, it could be used to hand out a spy mission like Auron right now. However, before General Aston handed out the mission. He explained several rules about how these spy things work. General Aston and Auron entered the room. "Let me explain how our spies work. First, of course, you have to keep your identity and our secret hidden. Second, you can use any necessary means to get to your goal. However, keep in mind, don''t do anything mean to someone who you unsure of their involvement. In short, don''t do anything mean to innocent people." "Third, you have to send messages about your mission regularly. You can send it at least once a month. However, it is best to send it once every two weeks. You can send more than that number. But, make sure that it will not make the target suspicious." "If you feel that you will go for a long time and is cut off any communication, try your best to inform us beforehand with an estimation of the time." "If we didn''t receive any information about you in three months, we will assume you are dead. Just like what happened to me in prison." "However, don''t you worry if you have been assumed dead, but you came back. The military will take care of anything necessary. Moreover, if after you came back and you brought valuable information, you can receive a huge reward for it. So, do your best, even you cannot send any message for more than three months." "So, you must get a lot of benefit after the last mission." Auron unconsciously blurted out what was on his mind. "Not really. I already have a high enough position. So, only a few things that could be considered as a benefit for me." "Oh yeah, you already had a general rank. I wonder who is the leader of this spy intelligence if you, as a subordinate, already that high. Is it the king himself?" Auron murmured. "Now, I will give your first assignment as a spy!" General Aston pretended not to hear it and change the topic. "From our findings, there were some reports about the situation in the northwestern part of the kingdom." "There was a town named Mischelvin. It is a first-rate town in that area and almost advanced to a city." "The reports said that the head of the town secretly amasses a huge amount of funds. Then, he used said funds to train a group of secret soldiers. It was said that he would use that soldiers to conquer nearby towns and cities secretly. He intends to create an army to rebel." "If it is true, then it will be an imminent disaster to the kingdom. We have to stop before it''s too late. However, we cannot act rashly without any evidence." "Your first task is to gather enough evidence that showed he gathers a huge of funds secretly and uses that funds to create an army." "Tomorrow, there will be a merchant caravan that will go to that town. They will recruit a bunch of mercenaries to protect them until they safely arrived at the town." "You can go to the recruitment place tomorrow and try to join the caravan. Or, you can just find your way inside on your own. It is up to your choice as long as you get your job done." "Oh, one more important thing to note! There was no military branch inside the town. The nearest military branch was in another town. We will give you something so you can inform use without going to the military branch." "However, we only have a limited resource for this item. So, during each mission, each spy will only get three of these items. Please, use it moderately, and if you can each time you report, please do so through the military branch." "Now, let us talk about your benefit. All of it mostly the same. You will still get your monthly salary according to your current rank. Then, every time you went to a mission, you will get additional bonuses and military points." "What makes it different is this. As a spy, every time you gave us valuable information, you will also get another bonus of gold and military points depending on how helpful the information is. However, if you give us false information, you will be fined and punished. And, the heaviest punishment is a death sentence. So, don''t just blindly report any information you get and verify every info you received. " "That is all. Now, you can go and prepare for your mission." General Aston stood up and left the room, followed by Auron. As soon as he joined the intelligence division, Auron immediately assigned to his first mission. This was Auron''s first spy''s assignment. He never had any experience about spying. In the end, Auron just followed what General Aston had said. Auron would try to join the merchant caravan and tried to adjust according to the situation from that point. Since Auron had nothing to do, he surveyed the place where the recruitment would take place tomorrow. At that place, Auron really found a banner that said about the recruitment. Unfortunately, he could not find any information about how the recruitment process was. Without any choice, Auron went back and prepared for the hiring. Auron had a lot to prepare. He had to prepare for the recruitment that took place tomorrow. Besides, he also needed to prepare his swordsman character to go hunting. Up until now, Auron only got two levels from his swordsman one-month hunting and another level from the fight in the bandit''s fortress. Then, the next day came. It was the recruitment day, and Auron nervously went to the recruitment place. Chapter 278 - First Spys Assignment (2) "Why do you want to join this job?" A man asked. "Currently, I am unemployed, and I need money. Then, I saw the flier for this job and the pay was good. So, I applied for this job." A man with a long scar on his cheek answered the question. The interviewer frowned, then he followed up with another question, "Do you have any experience in this kind of job?" "Yes, once, I have been a guard for a noble''s son party." The man with the scar then explained his duty. Then, the interviewer asked several more questions in which the man with scar answered confidently. "Well, then. You have passed the interview process. You can go to the next test. In truth, we don''t really need a mage, but who knows if the leader changed his mind. Here, take the proof for passing the interview! Next!" The interviewer handed a paper with passed stamp and called out for the next applicant. The man with the scar was Auron. Using the tool that the intelligence division provided, he altered his face and voice for a bit. He gave a long injury across his cheek. Then, he also made his voice huskier. Auron had come to the recruitment for the merchant caravan''s guards. And, there were actually two tests each of the applicants had to pass. The first one was the interview test, which Auron just passed. The second one was a skill test. Auron was waiting for his turn to be called to take the test. After waiting for several minutes, his name was called, "Savage Sickle, come take the test!" In the intelligence division, there was a tool to change the character''s name. However, the device could not be carried outside of the intelligence division. Which was why every time the spy would go out for a mission, they would change their character''s name once. Then, they would assume the identity given throughout the entire mission. After the spies finished their task, they would come back and changed their names again. Savage Sickle was what Auron chose among the identity provided by the intelligence division. Since he was called, Auron stood up and went to the test site. There was another fierce-looking man at the test site. He was the leader of this merchant caravan''s guard and also the examiner for the test. Auron handed over the paper with the passed stamp to the leader. On the doc.u.ment, there was also Auron''s identity written on it. The leader read the doc.u.ment carefully. However, he frowned when he saw that Auron''s class was a mage. "Mage..." The leader softly spoke. "We don''t need a mage so you can come back to where you are." The leader immediately rejected Auron. Auron was panicked at the sudden rejection. He asked with a high voice, "You reject me without testing me?" "Yes, We already have five mages, and we don''t need more mages." The leader didn''t hide the reason for his rejection. Usually, for a merchant caravan, they didn''t need a lot of mages. Five mages were already considered a lot. So, the leader didn''t want to add more mages. "Really?" Auron looked at where the mages resided. Then, he scoffed at them, "Weak." Auron looked back at the leader and said, "You will regret it later. You just missed a stronger mage than what you have now." After saying that, Auron started to walk out of the test site. The leader began pondering on what Auron''s had said. He thought that he had to change the way he tests the applicant. Then, he stopped Auron, "Wait!" "What you said had opened my eyes." The leader said. Then, the leader announced, "Starting from now, the class who had the spot filled will have to prove their skill by challenging one of the accepted. And, if they win, they could take the spot. However, you only have one chance to challenge." "The one who had been rejected without taking any test before can participate in this process once. To make this fair, after one person being challenged, the applicant cannot select that person until two rounds of challenge." The rejected one immediately cheer on the new announcement. However, that was not the case for the accepted one. They resent Auron, but they could not do anything and just accepted what the leader had said. The leader said to Auron, "You go first! Pick your opponent from that four mages." Auron could choose his opponent from one of the four mages. He knew what the leader''s mean. That one mage who could not be selected must be among the original members of the leader. Auron didn''t care about it since he only needed one spot. Then, Auron pointed at one of the mages, "I want him!" Among the four, the mages that Auron selects was not the weakest nor the strongest. He was in the middle and should be a little bit stronger than Auron. However, Auron still confident of winning against that mage. After a few arrangements from the leader, a duel arena was made. It was a 6x6 meter arena. There were only two rules, defeat your opponent inside the stage, and if you get out of the specified stage, you would be the disqualified. Auron and the opponent he selected went up to the arena. A bunch of spectators was gathered around the stage. They consisted of the passerby or the other applicant who wait for their turn. "You made two mistakes just now." Auron''s opponent said. "First, because of you, I have to undergo another test. And, your second mistake is you choose me as your opponent!" Still maintaining his arrogant attitude, Auron scoffed, "Oh, I am so scared..." "Enough with the talk. Show me what you got!" Auron said. The leader looked at Auron and his opponent. Then, he asked, "Ready?" Both Auron and his opponent nodded, showing they were ready. "Then, let the battle begin!" The leader started the match. Chapter 279 - First Spys Assignment (3) Auron didn''t want to waste more time, so he immediately went forward closing the enemy. The enemy had the same thought as Auron. However, what he did was completely different from what Auron did. The enemy cast his spell. Meanwhile, Auron had already gone closing him. The enemy was completely surprised by Auron''s move. He never thought that Auron would move close to him. Fortunately, the enemy was cautious. He only cast a lower-level spell, so it didn''t require a long time to chant. Auron was only 10 steps from the enemy when the enemy had finished casting his spell. A [Fire Bolt] was coming out from the mage''s staff and went towards Auron. However, Auron didn''t move to the side to dodge the [Fire Bolt]. Instead, he shot out his own [Fire Bolt]. During moving forwards, Auron also didn''t idle. Accidentally, he had also chosen the same spell as the enemy, [Fire Bolt]. Auron had decided to show his full capability as a mage in this recruitment. So, he didn''t hold anything back from his capability to fight in close combat until his [Walking Chanting] skills. A [Fire Bolt] shot from Auron and went into the enemy. The two [Fire Bolt] met midway and produced a mini-explosion. The dust scattered because of the explosion. From within, Auron emerged with a little bit of injury. It turned out that the enemy focuses on the mage''s attributes, intelligence, and dexterity. And, the enemy inclined more towards the intelligence attributes. So, the enemy''s [Fire Bolt] was more powerful than Auron. However, thanks to Auron''s [Fire Bolt]. The enemy''s [Fire Bolt] was reduced significantly. With the enemy''s spell''s power reduced, Auron only suffered a minor injury. Auron marching speed didn''t reduce because of the spell. He had arrived in front of his enemy and stabbed his dagger in the stomach. The enemy could not prepare well for the attack. In the end, his stomach was stabbed by the dagger. However, Auron didn''t stop there. He pulled the dagger then Auron turned 360 degrees clockwise with a quick speed. With the dagger in his hand, Auron intended to slash the enemy''s neck. The enemy could not catch up with the quick battle phase. He was a mage that never fought in close combat. Usually, there would be guards assigned to protect him. So, when he fought in close combat, he was fl.u.s.tered. A dagger coming towards his neck. However, he could not react in time. Time seems to move slowly for the enemy. Surprisingly, Auron stopped his dagger right when it was about to connect to the enemy''s neck. The dagger grazed the enemy''s neck''s skin a little bit. Blood seeped out from the injury and flew down from his neck. However, it was not a fatal injury. His stomach''s injury was more severe than his neck. Auron turned over and looked at the merchant caravan''s guard''s leader, "I am the winner, right?" Auron''s enemy had a cold sweat poured out. After Auron''s question, he slumped down weakly. Then, the pain from his stomach''s injury kicked in. He screamed in pain. Auron''s question also snapped the spectator and the leader. The spectator and the leader were actually caught in surprise as well. They never thought that the duel would progress like this. The leader immediately announced the winner, "Savage Sickle is the winner!" Then, he hinted at the cleric team to heal the losing mage. The spectators were cheering loudly as the battle was so entertaining for them. While the spectators were entertained by the duel, the mages who were not selected by Auron was relieved that it was not them. Moreover, the mage who was originally a member of the leader''s team. He sighed relief and thought that it was so fortunate that he didn''t have to fight against Auron. Then, the leader called up the next applicant. And, it continued until all of the applicants had their turns. There was no duel that was as entertaining as Auron''s duel. Besides, after Auron showing off his prowess, there was no other challenger that dared to fight against him even though the enemy had a higher level than Auron. They didn''t confident to fight in close combat as a mage. When the recruitment was finished, the leader gathered all of the passed applicants and said, "Congratulations! You have passed the test and become one of the members of the guards. Prepare well, we will depart tomorrow morning!" "Please gather here at 5 tomorrow morning!" The leader finished his speech and dismissed all of the members. The leader looked at the dispersing member and caught of Auron in his sight. He smiled and happy that he got such a capable member. The leader looked behind him and saw the mage who was the original member, "You are lucky that you cannot be challenged by that guy." "Yes, brother. Although I have a higher level than him, I don''t have the confidence to win against him. We get a capable member." The mage was actually the leader''s younger sibling. He didn''t have the confidence to win against Auron. Fortunately, he had the privilege of could not being challenged. "Be good to him. If you can, you should get a favor from him. If not, just don''t make him an enemy. I believe he will soar high." The leader advised his brother. "Yes, big brother!" The mage nodded obeying. Auron had successfully get the opportunity to enter the caravan. He went back and report it first to the military. Actually, Auron didn''t have to report it. However, since this was the Auron''s first mission, he felt that he had to report almost everything to the military. After that, Auron researched everything. He learned about the geography of the destination and the road he would take. He also tried to search which path was filled with dangerous monsters or bandits. Auron also bought a map of Mischelvin and tried to create an escape plan in case something wrong happened. Then, at 5 am the next day, Auron had gathered at the designated place. Chapter 280 - Dark Cave (1) Three big carts were moving in a slow, steady row. On top of each of the carriages, a big bulky of luggage was loaded on it. The luggage was entirely covered with three layers of cloth. There was no way anyone could know what inside without opening the cover. A horse was assigned to each of the carts to pull the wagon. Beside each of the carriages, there were at least 10 guards. And, Auron was one of them. Keeping his disguise as Savage Sickle, Auron was strolling at the front of the middle cart. Due to his performance in the recruitment, Auron was considered as a strong fighter despite being a mage. The leader gave a high valuation to Auron. He wanted to provide him with a group''s leader''s position despite the fact that he was an outsider. However, not all of the members agreed with him. Since the leader didn''t want to start a conflict because of this small matter, the leader decided to take a step back. He let the other took the group''s leader''s position. However, he still pushed Auron and gave him the vice position. When Auron knew that he was chosen as the group''s vice leader, he wasn''t that excited. Auron still kept his cold act and accepted it. Thanks to that act, Auron was labeled as an arrogant person. However, Auron didn''t care about it. Insanity Gang was the name of this group of guards. Auron just knew about it from the leader when he introduced it. Insanity Gang was known as a group of mercenaries. Although they were not that big, however, they were well widely known in the merchant caravan guard''s industry. The group had more than three years of history in this industry. They specialize in transporting goods. The group was famous for their meticulous action. They would select their mission carefully, and their fee was not that cheap. Transporting goods was not that easy. They could not use the teleportation portal to carry the products since they had to pay really expensive. If it was only a small-sized good, then they could still hide it from the inspector. However, if it was a big sized good like this time, it would attract a lot of attention. Then, to get through the teleportation gate with the products, they had to pay a massive sum of money. That was why many merchants or people that wished to transport their goods would hire a group of mercenaries to transport them. The group had 12 permanent members, including the leader, and the rest was recruited just like Auron. Just like the other mission, the leader had prepared very well for this mission. He had selected the routes and informed the other when they were about to enter a dangerous path. However, there was one difference between this mission and the other mission they had gone through. It was the absence of the goods'' owner. Usually, the owner of the goods would follow the group. But, it was not like that this time. The group only had the responsibility to transfer the goods to the destination, and they were paid very well. The leader hurriedly accepted this when he knew that there was nothing wrong with the route. This was already the third time they transport goods from the same place and to the same destination. So, they were confident about this. Moreover, the fee was more than average. Without the owner of the goods joined the group, the difficulty would lessen a bit. It was because, usually, the owner of the products was someone who was weak and could not fight at all. When there was something wrong happened, the owner would become a burden to the group. However, for this mission, the owner would not join the convoy, so they had a lesser burden. "On your guard! We will enter the Dark Cave!" The leader shouted to remind the group. Dark Cave was a vast and confusing cave. For a first-timer, if he didn''t have a guide or maps to follow, he could be lost inside the cave. Moreover, the monster inside was pretty ferocious and not friendly at all. This Dark Cave was also a shortcut to their destination. If they went through this Dark Cave smoothly, they could arrive three days faster. However, Dark Cave was also not a safe place. They would need at least twelve hours of moving non-stop to get through this Dark Cave. Moreover, this time they had to protect a huge amount of goods. The leader had discussed it with his original group''s members, and they chose this path confidently. It was because they had used this cave more than ten times in the past. With their experience, they had high confidence that they could get out of this cave safely despite guarding three big carts. Just like its name, it was dark inside the cave. Several of the guards lit up torches, so they could see the pathway. Inside the cave, Auron could see many stalagmites above them. Also, many regular bats were hanging on the cave''s roof. Auron started to remember his past. It was already more than 5 years when the last time he went through this cave. Back then, he was hunting in this cave with Roan. He had a higher level back then and had a difficult time to fight in this dark cave. However, compared to the current Auron, he was stronger right now. It was because of his ''cheat'' and also his existing equipment. Auron was following the speed of the convoy. Suddenly, Auron moved his hands and raised his staff. A [Fire Bolt] flew out from his staff and hit something above them. Screeeeeeech... A yell of a monster halted the group''s advance. All of the convoy''s members looked at where the [Fire Bolt] hit the target. All of them found a monster flying backward due to the impact of the [Fire Bolt]. The leader immediately shouted, "Enemies!!! Prepare to fight!!!" Chapter 281 - Dark Cave (2) [Human Faced Bats] (common monster) Level: 295 HP: 3491753/3500000 MP: 2000000/2000000 Skills: Supersonic, Vampiric Bites Description: A bat with a human face. It sized is more significant than ordinary bats to support its large head. This is granny faced bats. The group encountered one of the common types in the Dark Cave, [Human Faced Bats]. The bats had a bigger body than an ordinary bat to support its large head. Since the bats had a human face, with the dark surrounding, the first-timer here would be confused and tricked by this. Although it was already long since the last time, Auron came here, but it was not that hard to distinguish between the bat''s face or real human''s face. There were only 8 types of faces that the bats had. It was a child''s face, a teen''s face, a middle-aged''s face, and an elderly''s face. Besides, each face would have the male form and female form. If someone had the experience hunting here, they would instantly recognize which face belonged to the bats. Moreover, what Auron encountered previously was the granny face bat. There would be no doubt that it belonged to the bats since there was no granny in Auron''s convoy. The bat staggered backward because of Auron''s [Fire Bolt]. However, it didn''t last long before the bat charged towards the group once more with a loud screech. This type of monsters was the one who would not travel alone. And, it was proofed by many screeches followed along with the first bat. A huge group of bats already charged towards the convoy as well. The leader of the guards had already warned everyone. So, when the bat''s group appeared, they were not surprised. There were almost twenty bats that target the people. Since it was a flying monster, the melee type guards had a difficult time to fight with them. The melee guards could only use their weapon to block the bats when they were attacked. They left the duty to attack the bats to the ranged and magic guards. There were 5 archers and 5 mages in the groups. They had to work hard to kill all of the twenty bats. Fortunately, with the help of the clerics and the melee guards, they had a relatively easy time to kill the bats. It was because they didn''t have to bother with their defense. In no time, all of the bats died. In this battle, Auron''s contribution was only so so. Although he was the one who figured out the bats, his contribution to the fight was not that much. Because of this, the original guard''s members were very sure that their decision to reject Auron to become one of the group''s leader was a correct one. However, Auron didn''t know what they were thinking. Actually, if Auron knew it, he would not care about it at all. He really didn''t show anything superb or fantastic. It was just him casually hunting the bat within a big group. Of course, the bat''s loot goes to the leader. It was already stated in the contract that the leader got all the spoils. After taking all of the loots, the group continued their journey again. The cave was vast and had many routes that could be taken. The leader led the convoy to the shortest path that he knew. Sadly, the convoy could not rush because they had to take care of the goods. So, the convoy''s marching speed was pretty slow. But, for Auron, this was a good thing. It was because Auron got free protection. He didn''t have to waste many pots to gain experience, and he also got the help of clerics to heal and take care of his safety. They encountered several more bats along the way. Auron''s experience point increased slowly after each battle. Auron wished that they could do this long enough for him to get several levels. However, it was impossible. They had to keep moving forward, and, in the end, they would exit the cave. After several battles with the groups of bats, the convoy arrived at a spacious place inside the cave. There was nothing special about the place except a big and wide river that led to a big waterfall inside the cave. The river was pretty deep. The water''s level reached the height of an a.d.u.l.t''s knee. It was not a problem for the guards. However, it was a problem for the goods cart. The horses could cross the river finely, but the cart''s wheel would be stuck in the river. Fortunately, there was a naturally formed bridge that could be used to cross the river. However, the bridge was only enough for a cart at a time. The cart takes turns to cross the bridge under the leader''s supervision. Everything went well until it was the last cart''s turn to cross the bridge. When the last cart started to cross, a group of [Blind Hyena] was coming from their front and their back. The convoy was surrounded by a pack of [Blind Hyena]. Although the hyenas were blind, they had an enhanced sense of smell and hearing. So, despite they could not see where the convoy was, but they could hear and smell them. A battle was started between the guards and the hyenas. They had to buy some time until the cart crossed the bridge. Just like with the bats, this battle was not that difficult to solve. The problem with the hyena was their large number. However, the melee guards could participate in this battle actively. With the support of 6 clerics, the battle continued until the last hyena was killed. However, when they were about to continue their journey, another pack of hyenas arrived at the scene once more. Another battle occurred. Halfway through the second battle, another pack of hyenas arrived. However, it was not an ordinary pack, since there was a bigger hyena in the newly arrived group. The convoy encountered the hyena''s boss. Chapter 282 - Blind Hyena (1) ROAR... The hyena''s leader roared. The sound was so loud that the water''s surface shook because of that. Meanwhile, all of the other hyenas also made a sound as if they replied to the leader''s roar. Although the guards were stronger than the hyena, they were outnumbered by the hyenas. Moreover, they had to cover the carts. This was not a good sign. "GO INTO FORMATION!!!!!" The guard''s leader shouted. Fortunately, the last cart had crossed the bridge safely. With the bridge behind the convoy''s back, the convoy gathered all of the wagons into one place. Then, they made a perimeter to protect the carts. After making sure everything was in place, the leader didn''t wait until the hyenas attack first. He made the first move. His target was the hyena''s boss. As the leader of the mercenaries and had crossed this cave numerous times, the leader surely had enough experience to deal with this kind of situation. The other members also had the same experience and knew what the strategy gonna used. The leader''s going to stall the time while the other members gonna kill all of the other hyenas. After all of the hyenas died, all of them would kill the hyena''s leader together. With the support of a cleric and an archer, the leader came forward and attacked the hyena''s leader. Meanwhile, the other original members of Insanity Gang also led the guards to attack nearby hyenas. Auron could not help but had to expend some effort. He was a group''s vice leader. If he didn''t participate actively in this situation, the other members could make his life more difficult. Although Auron wanted to participate actively, he also didn''t want to spend too much effort. So, Auron still didn''t go to fight in close combat and just stood at his spot and cast more spells. A hyena avoided Auron''s [Earth Spike]. The hyena had reflexes better than ordinary monster. It would be difficult for a ranged attack to hit the hyena. It didn''t only happen to Auron, the other mages and archer also had a low hit rate. Most of the damage dealt was done by the melee attacker. However, a low hit rate didn''t mean no attack connected to the hyena. Auron''s [Fire Bolt] successfully hit a hyena when it was going to jump to a cleric. The impact made the hyena flew away from the cleric. Several minutes already gone, the guards managed to kill one-tenth of the hyenas without suffering any injuries. It was all thanks to the 6 clerics working so hard. The guard''s leader had a pretty hard time to fight against the hyena''s leader. The hyena''s leader had higher agility compared to the ordinary hyena. Meanwhile, the guard''s leader was a tank-type swordsman. He had higher vitality compared to other attributes. However, the leader''s goal was not to kill the hyena; instead, it was to buy some time. Fortunately, the hyena could only do some physical damage type. High vitality attributes mean strong physical defense. So, the damage from the hyena''s leader didn''t mean much to the guard''s leader. Moreover, with the support of a cleric, the leader had no worries about his health. What the guard''s leader worried about was to pin down the hyena''s leader. It would be difficult for him to pin the hyena''s leader since its movement speed was higher than him. Right now, it was not a problem since the hyena''s leader aggro still on him. However, he could not promise that it would last for long. The situation was not that favorable for the guard''s leader. He could not help but calling another teammate to help him pinning down the hyena''s leader. With the help of another teammate, they could give the hyena''s leader a hard time. However, the burden on the cleric increased. For now, it was still affordable. Half of the hyenas had already died. However, injuries also appeared since there was no way 6 clerics could keep all of the guards safe. Moreover, the enemies had outnumbered them and quick movements. Some of the hyenas also went towards the goods cart. But, it was not to destroy them. Instead, the hyenas wanted to jump on top of the cart to attack. However, the guards didn''t let that happened. They didn''t know what inside the carriages. What if when the hyena stood on top of it, and it broke the luggage inside. Up until this moment, the guards already suffered injuries. Two guards suffered severe injuries, 15 guards suffered minor injuries, and one guards death. The most unfortunate out of the convoy were the horses. All of them were dead. When there was about one-third of the hyenas left, the hyena''s leader shifted his focus to the battlefield. "Be careful!" The guard''s leader tried his best to block the hyena and gathered its attention back. However, his effort didn''t show any good results. The hyena''s leader moved away from the guard''s leader. It immediately jumped over to the nearest guards. With its quick movement, in no time, the hyena''s leader had arrived in front of its target. Unfortunately, the hyena''s leader''s target was a cleric. The cleric was in the middle of casting an area heal spell when suddenly, the hyena''s leader showed up in front of her. The cleric caught off guard and could not avoid the hyena''s leader attack. The attack canceled the area heal spell and also blew the cleric away. The hyena''s leader didn''t let the cleric go, it followed the flying cleric and bit her arms. Then, with its paws, the hyena''s leader stomped at the cleric''s body and took another bite at the cleric''s neck. The cleric didn''t give up. She tried to use an instant heal to herself. However, the stomped at her body stopped her from healing herself. Then, the bite at the cleric''s neck reaped her life. Blood splattered from the neck. With blood dripping from its fang, the hyena''s leader looked more ferocious than the first time it appeared here. Chapter 283 - Blind Hyena (2) The guard''s leader had arrived in to face the hyena''s leader once more. He looked at the corpse of the cleric. However, it was not the time to mourn the cleric''s death. He had to stall the hyena''s leader. Just a little bit more until all of the other hyenas died. Unfortunately, the hyena''s leader didn''t fall under the same trick twice. It knew that the opponent in front of him was just there to stall the time. So, it ignored the man and moved to chase another target. As if the hyena''s leader knew who was the weak one, it showed up in front of a mage. The targetted mage had seen the ruckus when the hyena''s leader killed the previous cleric. When the mage saw the hyena''s leader looked at him, he immediately prepared everything to receive the attack. Then, the mage saw that the guard''s leader went up at the front and faced the hyena''s leader. He immediately changed and cast a spell to attack. However, to his surprise, the hyena''s leader ignored the guard''s leader and went directly to him. He canceled his cast. But, it was too late to cast another defensive spell. The hyena''s leader already arrived in front of him. Opening its big mouth, the hyena''s leader jumped to the mage and wanted to pounce on him. The mage panicked. He didn''t have enough time to cast a defensive spell, so he jumped to his left. However, the mage a step late. The hyena''s leader managed to bite the mage''s right arm. Since his right arm was inside the hyena''s mouth, the mage was carried away several meters. He screamed in pain. The hyena''s chew off the mage''s arm. A sense of pain immediately spread all over the mage''s body. He was screaming loudly. However, the hyena didn''t care about the scream and wanted to bite the mage''s head. The hyena''s leader already opened its big mouth once again. However, before he could chew the mage''s head. An [Earth Spike] came out from its right and pierced the hyena''s body. The hyena''s leader''s body was stronger than ordinary hyena. So, when the [Earth Spike] hit its body, the [Earth Spike] destroyed. However, that [Earth Spike] was not useless. The impact it gave managed to lift the hyena''s leader''s big body a bit. The hyena''s leader managed to regain its balance not long after. However, that sudden lift made the hyena''s leader lost its momentum to bite the mage''s head. The mage was still screaming in pain on the ground holding the place where his right arm should be. The hyena''s leader ignored the one who cast the [Earth Spike] and tried to finish what he had started. However, a [Fire Ball] followed up after the [Earth Spike]. The [Fire Ball] was aimed towards the hyena''s leader''s head. Sensing danger, the hyena''s leader stopped his action and dodged the [Fire Ball]. The hyena''s leader roared furiously and looked to look for the one who was responsible. The hyena''s leader found a man not that far from where he stood. The man was Auron. Auron was already casting another spell when the hyena''s leader saw Auron from faraway. The hyena''s leader was angry and wanted to kill the man. However, when the hyena''s leader was about to attack the man, from behind, another attack was coming. It was the guard''s leader who was ignored by the hyena. The guard''s leader had learned his lesson. This time, he didn''t passively block the hyena''s leader, but he acted more actively. He took the initiative to attack the hyena''s leader. Distracted by Auron''s action, the hyena''s leader didn''t even dodge the guard''s leader attack. Its body was grazed by the guard''s leader''s swords. It looked behind to see the attacker. But, a [Fire Lance] hit its body cleanly. It even produced a critical hit. The hyena''s leader felt a little bit of pain due to the [Fire Lance]. The hyena''s leader kicked the guard''s leader and used its summoning skill to summon 6 hyenas. However, the guard''s leader could block the kick with his sword. Six hyenas appeared beside the hyena''s leader. The newly emerged hyenas were different from the other hyenas. Its body was bigger than ordinary hyena but smalled than the hyena''s leader. They were [Elite Blind Hyena]. The appearance of the [Elite Blind Hyena] didn''t surprise Auron and the guard''s leader. They knew that sooner or later, the hyena''s leader would use its summoning skill. Unfortunately, the hyena''s leader used its summoning skill a little bit too late. All of the other hyenas had already decimated by the guards. Now, there was only the hyena''s leader, and six [Elite Blind Hyena] left. All of the guards immediately went to face the hyena''s leader. A situation where seven hyenas versus more than twenty guards appeared. The guard''s leader initiated the attack and was followed by the other guards. A battle took place. However, since the hyena''s was outnumbered, they quickly lose the upper hand. Moreover, on the guard''s side, 5 clerics were ready to support the others. In several minutes, all of the [Elite Blind Hyena] died and left the hyena''s leader alone. The hyena''s leader tried its best to kill as many as it could. However, its effort was futile. With the cover of five clerics, the hyena''s leader could not kill anyone unless it one shot its target. There was no way that the hyena''s leader could survive that situation. Soon afterward, the hyena''s leader roared its last roar and died. The guards tally up the injured guard and the gained. Fortunately, only four guards died under the previous battle, and three others were losing a limb. The guard''s leader also checked the goods'' condition and found no loss or damage to the good. He breathed a sighed of relief. However, the problem did not end like that. There was another problem surfaced. They had to think about how to carry the goods when all of the horses dead. Chapter 284 - Death Stinger (1) The leader commanded several swordsmen who had more strength to pull the cart. There were two swordsmen to pull each of the goods carts. Obviously, this would slow them down. Besides, this also would reduce the group''s fighting capability. Although when the battle started, the swordsmen still could join the battle, there would be some delay before they could really enter the battle. However, the guard''s leader didn''t have any choice. They could not abandon the goods carts since it was their mission. "Let''s get moving!" After assigning two swordsmen to each of the carts, the convoy started moving once again. Along the way, the leader thought about something. He sensed something wrong about this journey. The monster in the cave became more aggressive. During several times of experience doing the guarding job, there were no others that could be compared with this journey. The number they encountered monsters were very high during this mission. From the [Human Faced Bats] until the [Blind Hyena], they encountered a lot of them. It was as if the monsters attracted to them. What unfortunate was that they met the [Blind Hyena]''s boss with so many [Blind Hyena] left. "Is it the goods?" The leader thought in his head. He looked at the goods cart behind him. "Should he opened it?" In the end, the leader shook his head. It was just them that was unlucky. If they blamed it on the goods every time they had an unfortunate encounter, they would have long gone out of business. The convoy''s speed reduced a lot after the horses'' death. Moreover, they encountered several packs of [Blind Hyena] along the way. Fortunately, there was no another [Blind Hyena]''s boss since they had killed one back then. One hour later, the convoy had passed the [Blind Hyena]''s territories. "Be more cautious! We have entered the [Death Stinger]''s territories." The guard''s leader reminded the team. [Death Stinger] was a poisonous monster. It had a form of a scorpion. However, its size was not as small as an ordinary scorpion. It was at least as big as a dog. The poison was gathered at the tip of its stinger. Although it was poisonous, the poison still could be cured by a cleric or an antidote. But, they had to be treated as soon as they were infected by the poison, or it would be too late to save them. Of course, the leader had prepared a bunch of antidotes when they knew that they would pass this place. However, the number was still limited, and they still had to rely on the clerics. Unfortunately, one of the clerics had died at the [Blind Hyena]''s territories. And, the one that they talked about had come. Three [Death Stinger] arrived in front of the convoy, welcoming them. [Death Stinger] (common monster) Level: 299 HP: 3300000/3300000 MP: 200000/200000 Skills: Stinger Jab. Description: A scorpion who is as big as a dog. It had a strong carapace, which makes the monster''s defense stronger. Beware! Each of their attacks is poisonous!! The team immediately took battle position. The swordsmen, who were assigned to pull the cart, also parked their cart at a safe place. After they parked their cart at a safe place, they joined the battle. Then, the battle started when the guard''s leader took the initiative to attack first. The guard''s leader dodged the attack from the scorpion''s pincher. He also avoided the tail attack. When he was close enough to the scorpion, the leader swung his sword towards the scorpion''s body. Clang... a number floated above the [Death Stinger]. However, the number was too low. It only produced three digits number. This was the result of the [Death Stinger]''s carapace. It reduced most of the damage from physical attacks. The guard''s leader''s younger brother, who was a mage, also help his older brother. He aimed a [Fire Ball] to the scorpion. A number higher than twenty thousand appeared above the scorpion''s head. Although the scorpion had a high physical defense, it lacked magical defense. The magical damage produced would not be reduced by the scorpion''s defense, which explained the high magic damage. Auron had to work harder this time. There were only five mages, and he was one of them. If he didn''t spend any effort just like when he fought against the bats, then they would waste a lot of time here. Also, if they spent a lot of time here, it would raise their chance of danger. A prolonged battle would raise their chance of getting surrounded. In the end, Auron spent some effort to kill the scorpions. Fortunately, there were a lot of swordsmen at the frontline. Although they could not produce significant damage, they still could be used to distract the scorpion''s attention. This way, the mages could safely cast their spell without any worries. The caravan''s guards were not a group of newbie. All of them had their own experience. [Death Stinger] was a relatively easy opponent compared to the other monsters here. If the guards could carefully dodge the tail attack, then they would not face any danger. It just that the monster had a high physical defense. A [Fire Ball] burnt down a scorpion to a crisp. There were two scorpions with low health left. It took them less than five minutes to kill the two scorpions. With all of the scorpions died, the convoy continued their journey once more. They went deeper into the [Death Stinger]''s territories. During their trip, several [Death Stinger] appeared and fought with them. However, the battle was an easy one. Auron also gained a level due to frequent fights. Unfortunately, he didn''t get any loot. If he could get all the loot, he would get some money to spend. When the group was crossing the [Death Stinger]''s territories, a call for help was heard, "Help us!" Auron looked over and saw five players were surrounded by 8 [Death Stinger]. Moreover, all of the five players were a physical damage dealer. Chapter 285 - Death Stinger (2) The guard''s leader could not refuse to help the players. He raised his hand and gave a hand signal to help the players. With that one hand signal, the other guards immediately attack the scorpions. However, not all of the guards help the players. Only some guards were commanded to help the players. The guard''s leader''s younger brother cast an [Earth Spike]. A spike was formed under one of the scorpions. Then, the next second, the spike threw the scorpion up in the air before disappearing. The flying scorpion fell and crashed to the ground. The scorpion suffered some damage, but it was not severe damage. Then, it stood up and saw Auron''s convoy. Seeing the convoy, the scorpion was furious. It made some sound in its language. The other scorpions quickly noticed Auron''s group and turned to face them. Five of the scorpions changed their target to the convoy. All of the mages in the group, including Auron, had prepared this situation. As soon as the scorpions changed their target, all of the mages began casting their spells. There was quite some distance between the five players'' group and the convoy. During the way to the convoy, the scorpions were bombarded by the mages. Unfortunately, there were only five mages with one of the mage missing his limb. They could not kill even one of the scorpions. Although the mages could not kill the scorpions even one, they had reduced some of the scorpions'' health. When the scorpions arrived at the convoy, they didn''t even have half of their health left. In no time, the five incoming scorpions were quickly exterminated by the convoy easily. Meanwhile, since the scorpions surrounding them had reduced from eight to fives, the five players had their burden lessen. Although the five players still could not kill the scorpions, they could avoid the attack and maintain their safety. When the five scorpions died, the mages began to attack the three scorpions left. In the end, all of the scorpions had been killed. A cleric went over and healed the injuries. "Thank you!" One of the five player''s representatives thanked the guard''s leader. It turned out the five players were a first-timer in this place. They had created a decent group of ten people before. At first, everything was going well. Then, after several hours of hunting here, a dispute occurred. The cleric and his friend, a mage, were feeling unsatisfied by the loot''s distribution. They raised their concern to the group. The group tried to resolve the situation by giving what the cleric wanted. However, the cleric became greedy and created a fuss every time a good loot appeared. This situation made the other group''s members also felt unjustified. A debate occurred inside the group. However, they had only two people who side with them. Because of it, they lost their power and gave up at the loot. Then, the five player''s group continued hunting again like before. They arrived at this place, the [Death Stinger] territories. Another conflict started again between the mage, who was the cleric''s friend, and another mage about a piece of mage''s equipment. The leader had tried to resolve the situation fairly. Just like before, the situation fixed with the other mage got the piece of equipment. Then, an unfortunate event happened. When the group was hunting in this place, a scorpion managed to sneak to the back of the group. The magic and range players were panicking. The melee players, who were at the front, still handling three scorpions. In the end, they separated themselves. One of the melee players went to the back and help the magic and range players. Unfortunately, another scorpion came one by one. The lonely swordsman at the back could not handle it correctly, even with the support of a cleric and died. Then, the magic and range players started to be killed one by one. The cleric and the mage turned out, still holding their grudges. So, when they died, they immediately left the group. As two members left the group, the others started to follow suit. In the end, there were only five of the players who were still alive and trapped here. The players managed to hold their live using potion, but the scorpions keep coming one by one until the situation where Auron saw occurred. Fortunately, the convoy appeared and helped them. "Do you want to go with us to the exit or get back using [Return Scroll]?" The guard''s leader asked. Four of the players besides the player''s representative decided to close the day and got back. Meanwhile, only one player chose to follow the convoy. "Okay, you can follow us to the exit, but there are some rules you have to follow..." The guard''s leader explained the rules briefly. The convoy was accepting this swordsman because they required manpower. They were still halfway through the cave, and they had suffered some death before. Although this one player was not enough, it was better than nothing. The player introduced himself. His character''s name was Sleight Hand, and he was a level 302 thief. Then, he was assigned to Auron''s group. Sleight Hand immediately found out that Auron was a player the same as him. However, what he saw was not Auron''s real identity; instead, it was Auron''s disguised appearance, Savage Sickle. The thief was such a friendly and easy-going person. He greeted Auron and was about to talk about a lot of things before another group of scorpions appeared. Sleight Hand could not help but delay the conversation and prepare to battle. The battle was going smoothly, but they had to fight a lot. The thief could not even have spare time to ask about Auron''s name and the reason he joined this guarding mission. In the end, the thief had to wait until the situation calmed down before he could ask. With numerous battles going on, they were busy. Until one and a half-hour later, the convoy managed to pass the [Death Stinger]''s territories safely. Chapter 286 - Fiery Buffalo (1) "Let''s take a break for 15 minutes!" The guard''s leader announced. "Finally, time to rest." Sleight Hand relieved. He sat down beside Auron. Before, Sleight Hand didn''t have a chance to talk a lot of things with Auron. Now, with the resting time, he could finally speak with Auron. "Hey, how long have you join this mercenary''s group?" Sleight Hand started. Auron looked at Sleight Hand and answered, "Just recently." "Are you a new player?" Sleight Hand asked once again because he saw Auron''s level was low. "Yes." Auron lied. "Do you have any questions or concerns? I was a mage before I create a thief. Maybe, I can help you." Sleight Hand offered his help "No," Auron answered shortly. The atmosphere became awkward since Auron answered shortly. It seems Auron was creating a barrier between himself and Sleight Hand. With no choice, Sleight Hand became quiet. However, Sleight Hand was not someone who could stay still. Since he could not talk to Auron, then he spoke to the others. "Hey, I am a new thief. Can you teach me about it?" He asked a nearby thief NPC. Five minutes after the convoy started to take a break, a monster appeared near them. The group could no longer take a break anymore. They immediately stood up and took out their weapon. This area was the territory of [Fiery Buffalo]. Its appearance was just like ordinary buffalo. What made it different was at the tip of its horn. At the tip of the buffalo''s horns, there was a small fire. Besides, its body color was a little bit reddish. The buffalo saw the convoy and immediately charged at the caravan. When charging, the fire in [Fiery Buffalo]''s horn would become bigger and shroud its body in the fire. An [Ice Bolt] shot towards the charging buffalo. Since the buffalo had a fire element, then a fire elemental attacks would not work on it. A water-based attack would work effectively against it. Of course, one [Ice Bolt] means nothing to the buffalo. It could not stop the buffalo''s charge. The swordsmen tried to stop the buffalo''s assault. However, it was not an easy thing to do. The guard''s leader went up to the front and tried to stop the buffalo. As the buffalo was shrouded in flame, the guard''s leader had to endure the burn effect coming from the fire. Fortunately, he had clerics by his side. The buffalo hit the target, a swordsman. The swordsman flew up in the air because of the impact. And, that was not all, the fire that shrouded the buffalo moved and wrapped the swordsman''s body. The swordsman was flying and burning. Fortunately, a cleric had a quick reaction. She immediately used [Cure] to dismiss the burn effect and heal the swordsman upon impact. The swordsman was saved. Meanwhile, after the fire moved to the swordsman, the buffalo was not in fire anymore. So, the melee attacker could attack it without suffering any burn effect. The buffalo shook his head after the impact. It became flinched for two seconds after the charging connected successfully or stopped. After two seconds, it would look another target. The buffalo found its second target. It ignored the melee attacker nearby and charged towards its second target. "Oh, no!" The guard''s leader exclaimed when he found out the buffalo''s second target. The buffalo''s second target was one of the goods carts they had to deliver. "Stop that thing!" The guard''s leader urgently released his command. The situation became tense. All of the melee attackers also tried their best to stop the buffalo. However, it was not easy to stop the charging buffalo. The buffalo getting closer and closer to the goods cart when suddenly it flipped over and fell down on its back. With that incident, the buffalo stopped its charging. It turned out Auron was the one who stopped it. He cast an [Earth Spike] at the buffalo''s charging path. Then, with the right timing, he aimed at one of the buffalo''s leg. Fortunately, with his experience in battle and no distraction, he could concentrate and calculate precisely. The [Earth Spike] occurred at the right moment and made the buffalo flipped over. The damage was not too great, but what they needed was not the damage but to stop the buffalo. However, none of the group''s members notice it was Auron''s doing. They just felt grateful that the buffalo stopped its charge. Each of the mages thought that it must be the other mage that done it since they were not the ones who did it. The buffalo stood up once again and looked for its third target. Unfortunately, the target this time was Auron. The buffalo looked at Auron and charged at him. However, before the buffalo could charge far enough, the guard''s leader''s sword killed it. During its charging, the buffalo was vulnerable to damage. So, with this, many people focused their attack at the buffalo, its health depleted quickly. "Pack your things! We have to move on!" The guard''s leader announced after this incident. He thought that they were unfortunate because the buffalos were rarely roamed around the perimeter of their territories. But, now they found one in the border of the territories. The convoy had to move on before all of the buffalo coming here because of the sound of battles. In no time, the convoy finished their packing and left directly. As they went deeper into the buffalo''s territories, they met more and more buffalo. Fortunately, the buffalo was alone each time they met with them. With only one buffalo, they could focus their attack and killed the buffalo quickly. However, the convoy''s luck had to come to an end. In the middle of the territories, they met with three buffalos. And that was not all. One of the buffalos had a bigger body compared to others. Also, the flame at its horn was brighter and bigger than the others. The convoy had encountered the buffalo''s boss. Chapter 287 - Fiery Buffalo (2) The boss almost had twice the size of the ordinary buffalo. Moreover, the fire in the tip of the horn was bigger than the other. Besides, the color of the fire was blue. Without any notice, the buffalo''s boss already charged towards the convoy. As the fire in the tip of the horn was blue, the boss was covered with a blue flame. The guard''s leader shouted, "Prepare for battle!" He went up to the front and unsheathed his weapon. The guard''s leader also used [Charge] and went head to head with the buffalo. Clang... The guard''s leader''s sword met with the buffalo''s horn. However, the guard''s leader''s charge''s power could not stop the buffalo''s boss''s charge. The guard''s leader was pushed back by the buffalo. And that was not all. The flame that shrouded the boss'' body burned the guard''s leader. The guard''s leader lost some health every second. Fortunately, the cleric was ready. They already heal the guard''s leader when his sword met with the boss. The mage and the ranged damage dealer also help the guard''s leader to suppress the boss. Meanwhile, only one other melee that helped the leader. It was because if all of the melees suffered the burn effect, the burden of the cleric would increase. That was why they just waited near the boss and ready to attack when the boss'' flame disappeared. Moreover, there were another two buffalo that haven''t attack yet. Following the boss''s charge, the other two buffalos began to attack as well. The rest also split into two smaller groups to fight against the two buffalos. "Kill the minion first!!" The guard''s leader commanded. With that command, the archers and the mages began to shift their attack from the boss to the minion. It was easier to defeat the minion than the boss. Auron could use the previous [Earth Spike]''s trick to the minion. When Auron tried to use it on the boss previously, he failed. The boss''s body was too big and heavy. So, when Auron casts the [Earth Spike], it just lifted the boss several centimeters before destroyed. This trick worked well with the other buffalo beside the boss. Auron used this trick when he faced the other buffalo. As Auron often used this trick, the other members began to realize that Auron was the one who cast the [Earth Spike]. SIlently, they revered Auron''s capability to do something like that. The other mages had tried the same thing as Auron. Some of them even tried to ask Auron bluntly. Auron, still with his cold nature, didn''t hide how he did it. He explained how he did it. But, the theory was different from the practical. It was not easy to aim for a specific part of the target. This made the other mages revered Auron more. The one that revered Auron the most was the guard''s leader''s younger brother. Auron''s skill made the guard''s leader''s younger brother worshipped him. He secretly told his older brother about Auron''s capability. With Auron''s help, fighting the ordinary buffalo was easy. The buffalo that Auron faced died quicker than the other buffalo. It was because the melee didn''t have to worry much about the buffalo''s charge. After one of the buffalo died, the other buffalo quickly followed. With all of the minions had been killed, the guards focused back on the boss. The boss fight was horrible. The guard''s leader, who faced the boss, was in a miserable state. Fortunately, he had the support of three clerics, or else he would already die. The boss charged towards one of the clerics. However, the guard''s leader blocked the path and was blown away by the charge. The clerics immediately used [Cure] to cure the burn effect and threw some heal to recover the leader''s health. If the ordinary buffalo flinched for two seconds before attacking again, the buffalo''s boss only flinched for a second. A second later, the buffalo''s boss already prepared to attack its next target. This time, its target was Auron. The buffalo''s boss turned back and charged towards Auron. Unfortunately, the guard''s leader could not block the path since he was behind the boss. Meanwhile, some of the melees avoided the boss''s charge purposely. There were even some of them that afraid of the boss and avoided it. Auron, who became the target, calmly assessed the situation. He had two choices to receive the attack or fight against it. As Auron had invested some of his attributes into the vitality, he had more health than ordinary mages. Moreover, his equipment was pretty good. So, if Auron chose the first option, he would not die. But, Auron didn''t choose that option. He chose the second option to fight against the boss. Auron changed his staff to a dagger and prepared to receive the boss''s charge. Auron moved to the right and tried to make some distance with the boss. However, the boss was like a homing missile locked to Auron. The boss also turned in the same direction as Auron. Auron cast [Earth Wall] between him and the boss while running away. This [Earth Wall] didn''t have much effect on the boss as it quickly destroyed under the boss''s charge. Auron kept on moving and cast several spells while running away. All of it was either crushed by the boss or hit the boss but could not stop the boss. The boss''s charge speed was faster than Auron''s movement speed. So, little by little, the boss was closer towards Auron. When the boss was already closed enough with Auron, the guard''s leader had arrived and blocked the boss''s charged. Auron was not mindlessly running away. He ran away towards the guard''s leader, the only one who was brave enough to stop the boss''s charge in this group. The boss and the guard''s leader, collided. The guard''s leader managed to stop the boss''s charge. However, he was also blown away as a result. The cleric immediately threw their heal spell to the guard''s leader. Chapter 288 - Fiery Buffalo (3) The buffalo''s boss flinched for one second. It was short. But, in that brief moment, the others dared to attack the boss. The guard''s leader stood up and looked at the buffalo''s boss. Meanwhile, the buffalo''s boss shook its heads as it got out from its flinched state. The buffalo''s boss immediately looked for another target. Its next goal was a cleric behind Auron. In less than a second, the boss already charged out to the cleric. The guard''s leader was blown away by the impact and was not located near the cleric. Auron saw the surroundings. Some of the swordsmen deliberately moved away from near the boss. Auron sneered, "What a bunch of scaredy-cats!" Auron was in the boss''s charge path. If he didn''t move out, he would be run over by the boss. However, he didn''t move out. Auron cast [Earth Wall] in front of him and took out his dagger. The distance between the buffalo''s boss and Auron was short. So, in a few seconds, the boss already crashed the [Earth Wall] that Auron cast. Auron, who was behind the [Earth Wall], cast another spell [Ice Bolt]. He aimed at the buffalo''s boss''s right horn. He had heard before that the horns were the way to trounce the boss. It was said that when the boss was in charge mode, you should aim at the tip of its horn. If you could hit the tip of the boss''s horn with a single target attack, the boss''s charge would stop, and it would get flinched for a second. However, it was not easy to do that. The boss was too fast in charge mode. To aim that small target in a fast-moving target was not an easy task. Moreover, Auron never verified the correctness of the rumored gossip. Auron''s [Ice Bolt] flew to the boss''s horn. However, Auron missed the target. His [Ice Bolt] hit the boss''s back. The boss suffered some damage, but its charge was not stopped. Auron could not help but raised his dagger in front of him. The boss''s horn collided with Auron''s knife. A burn effect was applied to Auron. Auron tried to stop the boss, but his strength was not enough. He was blown away by the boss. The boss kept charging towards the cleric. However, before the boss hit the cleric, a man stepped over and raised his weapon. It was Sleight Hand. At first, the thief didn''t want to involve in this matter and just let the other protect the cleric. However, when he saw Auron, who was a mage, helped the cleric, he felt ashamed. In the end, the thief could not help but moved forward and blocked the buffalo''s boss. Surprisingly, the thief had enough strength to stop the boss. Sleight Hand had already played the game since the game had opened. Although he didn''t play full time, he spent, at least, half of the year to play the game. However, he was also an eccentric person. During the time he played the game, he unconventionally raised his character. He created a cleric, but instead of building the intelligence attributes, he increased the strength and agility. After a few months of playing, he got bored and deleted his character. Then, he created another character to play. He created a mage and invested all of his attribute points to increase his luck. And, this thief was his latest creation. He created a thief but invested all the attribute points to the strength and luck attributes. He only spent a small amount on the agility attributes. The other''s convoy members were awed by Sleight Hand''s performance. A thief who could stop the buffalo''s charge was not rare. However, a thief who could stop the assault with only several levels higher than the boss and average equipment was rare. The guard''s leader also saw the thief''s performance. He was shocked by the thief''s performance. However, he didn''t have the time to be amazed by the thief for too long, he still had a boss to kill. With the addition of Sleight Hand''s help, who was braved enough to face the boss, the guard''s leader didn''t have to work as hard as before. This incident also increased the group''s spirit. With the increased spirit, the boss''s health reduced quicker than before. After several minutes later, the boss slumped down and died. When the boss died, some of the members came to Sleight Hand to befriend him or asked him something. Sleight Hand became a celebrity among the group''s members. Meanwhile, the guard''s leader had to do his job, looting the boss''s loot. He was awed by the thief''s performance, but it was just that. The guard''s leader had more curiosity about something else. He had also noticed something unusual that the other didn''t see. It was Auron''s performance. When he saw that Auron tried to stop the boss, he thought that it was a suicide move. And, it was half right when Auron was blown away by the boss''s charge, the guard''s leader thought that Auron would die. However, Auron didn''t die. This showed that Auron had more health than ordinary mages. "Did he invest his attribute points to vitality?" The guard''s leader pondered while picking up the loot. But, the guard''s leader also noticed that Auron''s magic damage and cast''s speed was slightly better than the average mages. If he invests some points to the vitality, one of the two should have weaker performance than what Auron had shown. The guard''s leader thought about Auron''s equipment. So, he inspected Auron''s equipment. The equipment was pretty good, but it was not at the level that could boost the power that high. This strange phenomenon was what made the guard''s leader became more curious about Auron. However, he didn''t tell it to anyone else and just kept it himself. After the guard''s leader finished looting the boss''s drop, he dismissed the crowd who surrounded Sleight Hand. A few minutes later, the group continued their journey. Chapter 289 - Arena Duel (1) Finally, the group came out of the Dark Cave. It was such a long journey inside the Dark Cave. Although they were missing some original crew inside the Dark Cave, most of them were coming out alive. As a mercenary group, facing casualties in their journey was a common thing. Moreover, the one who died was not one of their original members. There was no mourning procession to comfort the deceased. It was such a cruel world. But that was how it worked. There was still a long way for the group to arrive at their destinations. Going through Dark Cave was only one-third of their journey. It only took them one hour before they arrived in the nearby town. Smilden was a town where many players gathered here. There were two reasons. First, it was the Dark Cave. Although it was a difficult place to hunt, Dark Cave was one of the popular hunting spots. It was because Dark Cave''s monster was slightly under level 300. When a monster had a level over 300 and above, their health would rise significantly. So, above level 300, it was rare to find a solo player going hunting because it was not worth the effort. The second reason was that Smilden had an arena duel. The arena duel was managed by the kingdom, and it used to lure the talent throughout the kingdom. The one that was in Smilden was one of the arena''s duel''s branches. "We will take a rest in this town for one day!" The guard''s leader said to his group''s members. "Take a rest and don''t cause any unnecessary ruckus here. Tomorrow morning, we will gather by the gate. Don''t be late!" The guard''s leader reminded the members. It was such a generous group. They had paid all of the inns here. Auron thought that this mission must be worth a lot for the group wanted to pay all of the inn''s expenses. The group arrived at Smilden in the morning. They had almost a full 24 hours to stay in this town. With that said, All of the group''s members went on their own destination. The guard''s leader and his gang moved out together and went to the nearby bar. Meanwhile, Auron''s first destination was the weapon store. He wished that he could find a weapon that was good and cheap. However, to find such a thing was not easy. After circling around the town, Auron could not find what he was looking, Right now, Auron was in front of the inn. He was thinking about what to do. Auron could not find anything that piqued his interest in the town except the arena duel. In the end, he decided to visit the arena duel. After all, the arena duel was one of the places that he had to go in the future. Several minutes later, Auron arrived in front of a vast building with a lot of people around the area. Except for participating in the arena, players could make a bet in the arena''s fight. So, a lot of gamblers also visit the arena to gamble. Arena duel was one of a place that a player must register. The reason was that there was a ranking in the arena. The higher a player climbed the ranking, the famous would he be in this kingdom. When one had arrived at the higher ranking, many offers would come to them, such as a quest or present from the town or city. There was even some real-life company that could use them as a brand ambassador. One more thing that made the arena duel was an exciting place that the participant didn''t have to use their real identities or face. The arena gave them a privilege to create a persona when they were registering the first time. That persona was attached to the player''s character. So, when the same character visited another arena duel at the other towns or cities, they would use the same persona. However, when that player deleted the character, then the persona and the record of that character would be cleared. That was what happened to Auron. Since he deleted his previous character, his last record had been removed. Auron was thinking of waiting until he levels 400 or above to register once more at the arena. However, the opportunity had come to him now. He was thinking of just, at least, registered first today. Auron looked at the current player''s ranking in the arena duel. The ranking was more or less the same as the one before he deleted his character. The raised in the level cap was the one that made this happened. A lot of players were aiming to reach level 1000 first, so they had no time to play in the arena before they reached that goal. Maybe, occasionally, they would play one or two battles in the arena, but that''s it. Auron arrived at the counter, when the man by the counter asked, "Who will you bet?" The man gave Auron the list of the battles that were scheduled for today. However, Auron said to the man, "I want to register." The man looked at Auron carefully and pointed to the nearby room, "That way!" "Thank you." Auron thanked the man and went to the room that the man had pointed out. Auron knocked at the room and went inside. There was no one except one female staff there. "May I help you?" The staff asked. "I want to register," Auron said, his intention. "Okay," The woman didn''t waste a lot of time. When she knew Auron wanted to register, she led Auron to the next room. It was a small room that had the same layout as the duel arena. What made it different from the real duel arena was the missing spectator''s seat. To join the arena duel, Auron had to participate in a test. And, this room was the test room. Soon, Auron would undergo the test. Chapter 290 - Arena Duel (2) Path of Heroes was an organization that managed the arena duel. The king created it, and now it was led by one of the princesses. Path of Heroes deliberately didn''t set the minimum level to join the arena. They only had one rule for those who wanted to join. They had to pass the test given. The test was actually simple. The participant had to fight three continuous one on one duel against the prepared staff. Each of the test staff would have a level of around 240 - 260. The participant had to win three battles at most in three hours. If they passed the time limit, then it would be deemed as they failed the test. Although the Path of Heroes didn''t set any minimum level, the test itself had already given a minimum level for the upcoming challenger. After all, it would be impossible for a level ten character to defeat three opponents who were level 240 and above. The rule for the duel was the same as the real arena duel. The participants could use any equipment and weapon they had. However, they could not change it once the fight had started. So, the management didn''t care if they borrowed their friend''s stuff to participate as long as they win. Another rule was they could not use any potion at all. A buff potion or healing potion was prohibited in the duel. Each time a person participates in the arena, they usually would wait until their health fully healed before competing. However, for the test, they could not do it. They had to immediately fight the next opponent when the previous one had been defeated. The staff took some Auron''s general data first, like his level and his character''s name. Although the arena had the real identity of the registrant, they only used that information for their own use. The kingdom needed to have an appropriate way to contact. After taking note of Auron''s name and level, the staff called three people who will be going to be Auron''s test opponent. The three people who were going to be Auron''s opponent were lined up based on their turns. There were two males and one female who would be Auron opponents. Auron''s first opponent was a male who was a level 258 thief. Both of them stepped up into the arena. Inside the arena, they could not kill each other. Of course, some injuries were unavoidable. But, when one of the participants was about to die, the arena would shield them from further damage. A few seconds later, the battle started. The thief immediately used his stealth skill. The test opponent was serious about this battle because they were paid by the company. If they could defeat their opponent, they would get a big bonus. That was why they would seriously use all of their skills. Although they faced lower-level opponents, they would not underestimate them. It was because, except for the big bonus, they never knew if their opponent had a golden spoon. It was challenging to fight against a thief who used its stealth ability. Only a cleric had a detection skill to find the stealthy thief. Auron, as a mage, could not know where the thief at. This was one of the advantages of playing as a thief in the arena duel. They could use the stealth skill as soon as the battle starts. Many of the thieves'' skills were relying on stealth skill. So, if they could not take down their opponent in one combo after they broke their stealth down, it would be difficult for them to win. Moreover, if they missed their combo chance. Auron was waiting for the thief to make a move. However, he didn''t just wait silently. Auron created an [Earth Wall] behind him. This way, the thief could only attack him from the sides and in front of him. Auron waited patiently. The thief also waited for his opportunity, but he could not find one. When his stealth time was about to over, the thief didn''t have any choice left. He had to attack. At that time, Auron looked towards his left. The thief thought, "A chance." Then, he immediately attacked Auron from his right. The thief slashed his dagger towards Auron. However, Auron was aware of the attack and used his knife to block the attack. Unfortunately, the thief was a dual dagger user. As the first dagger was stopped with the knife, the second dagger already aimed at Auron''s neck. Auron kicked the thief in the stomach. The dagger almost slashed Auron''s neck and only grazed the skin. The thief was flown backward but immediately regained his foothold. He kicked the ground and prepared to launch another attack. However, Auron moved backward and chanted a spell while marching. The thief still didn''t know that Auron had that capability, he kept chasing Auron. When he was closed towards Auron, he stabbed one of his dagger towards Auron. However, Auron also finished chanted his spell. A [Fire Bolt] came out, and cleanly hit the unaware thief. The thief was blown away by the [Fire Bolt]. Of course, the [Fire Bolt] didn''t gravely injure the thief. But, it was enough to give Auron''s some space. When a thief and a mage was having a duel in a limited space, the thief should have the advantages. However, right now, the thief was actually the one who felt the pressure. From the short encounter before, the thief knew Auron was a mage who could fight in close combat. He didn''t panic when to confront a sudden attack from his second dagger and quite good in determining which skill to use. The thief thought that it was unfortunate to meet Auron. Although not all of the mages had the capability, throughout the data, a mage who was capable of fighting in close combat usually would have a high ranking. Moreover, the one who was really skillful in the close combat fight like Auron. Chapter 291 - Arena Duel (3) The thief still thought positively. As a thief, he should still have an advantages over a mage in close combat fight. That was why, although there was much close combat mage who had high ranking, but only a few of them were in the top 30. The thief took a stance. Then, he darted over to Auron in a quick speed. He could not use his stealth skill anymore since he was already in a battle mode. Auron created an [Earth Wall] at the thief''s path. He thought that the thief should have taken a detour to attack him. However, the reality was different from what he had thought. The thief had a high jumping capability. Combined with the thief''s speed, he darted then jumped over the created [Earth Wall]. When the thief was above the [Earth Wall], he kicked the wall and used it as a foothold to do a somersault. Then, he arrived behind Auron''s back, facing Auron''s back. All of this happened in a short moment. Auron''s close combat experience using a mage was minimal. He didn''t know that the thief could jump over an [Earth Wall]. Previously, when he played as a swordsman, he never faced any similar situation like this. However, Auron didn''t let this trampled him. Although his experience playing a mage was limited, he had a lot of experience playing as a swordsman and fight in close combat fight. Auron quickly darted to his right and turned his body 90 degrees. Auron also swung his right hand, which held the dagger towards the thief. After the thief landed behind Auron''s back, the thief immediately used [Killing Blow] using both of his daggers to Auron. However, Auron moved to his right and made him missed the target. What was more surprising, Auron could launch a counterattack with his dagger. Auron''s dagger clashed with the thief''s knife. The thief''s dagger didn''t bulge at all since Auron didn''t have enough strength against the thief''s strength. Moreover, Auron''s body posture was unfavorable for him. Auron fell on the ground because of the unfavorable body posture. The thief didn''t miss this chance, he stabbed both of his dagger towards the ground. Unfortunately, before the knives could arrive at Auron''s body, a red light showed from Auron, and the surrounding heat rose. Auron had used [Fire Ball]. The thief who was the target changed his action. He crossed both of his daggers in front of him and tried to block the [Fire Ball]. Bang... The [Fire Ball] was blocked by the dagger. However, the impact of the explosion blown the thief away from Auron. Auron used this chance to stand up and made some distance with the thief. Meanwhile, the staff who saw Auron nodded his head surprisingly. She was the only one who knew about Auron''s level in this room. "A difference of 30 levels and that mage still could fight on par with a thief. Such a potential mage." The staff thought. However, what the staff thought didn''t matter at all, only the result that matters. Auron had to win against this thief and two more challengers who were waiting for their turn. Auron and the thief had back to square one. However, this time, the thief could not use his stealth skill. Auron didn''t stay still. This time, he was the one who launches the first attack. He darted towards the thief. Midway, Auron threw a [Fire Bolt] towards the thief. The thief also had prepared for Auron''s attack. He saw the [Fire Bolt] coming towards him. However, he didn''t avoid it to the left or right. Instead, he ducked below the [Fire Bolt] and took a 45 degrees stance before darted towards Auron from below. Auron saw the thief''s movement and slashed his dagger to below him. The thief blocked the dagger with one of the daggers. Meanwhile, the other dagger aimed at Auron''s stomach. Before the thief''s dagger reached Auron''s stomach, Auron had jumped backward a bit. The dagger missed Auron''s stomach. Auron launched another spell at close range. The thief had seen Auron wanted to start a spell, so he immediately crossed his daggers in front of him. However, the thief was wrong. Auron actually chanted an [Earth Spike]. The thief felt the vibration from the ground. He knew what spell what Auron had chanted. The thief tried to dodge the spell. However, he was too late to avoid it completely. The [Earth Spike] hit the thief''s left hand and made a big hole. The pain immediately coursed over all of his body. He dropped the dagger on that hand. His left hand was useless now. Auron didn''t miss this chance, He swung his dagger towards the thief. However, the thief still had his right hand, he raised his right hand to block Auron''s dagger. The thief blocked Auron''s dagger, but his position was unfavorable. From above, Auron used his left leg to kick the thief''s head. Since the thief''s left hand was maimed, he could not block the kick. His head was kicked by Auron''s left leg. Although Auron''s strength was not that high, a kick to the head made the thief became dizzy. The thief fell over to his left because of the kick. Then, Auron used this chance to widen his advantages. He stabbed his dagger towards the thief''s stomach. The thief regained his consciousness a second late. The dagger stabbed his stomach. Auron pulled the dagger and tried to stab the thief once more. Fresh blood splattered from the wound. However, before Auron could stab the second time, a force repelled Auron''s attack. This was the safety measure of the arena. With the safety measure triggered, this means the thief had lost the battle. The arena also had another function to heal the thief''s wound. Although it could not heal the wound completely, it was enough for the thief to escape critical condition. The thief also knew he had already lost the battle. Clutching his stomach, the thief bowed towards Auron and walked out of the arena in pain. Then, he disappeared from the room to look a cleric for a treatment. Chapter 292 - Arena Duel (4) Auron didn''t have any time to rest as the next opponent already entered the duel stage. It was a female. Auron''s next opponent was a swordswoman. What made it eye-catching was that the swordswoman carried out a greatsword. Usually, a swordswoman would incline more to the agility attribute that made them moved faster. However, since this woman used a greatsword, then this means that she had more strength than her agility. It was because the greatsword''s strength requirement was really high compared to other swords. Without much talking, the woman took out her greatsword and took a battle stance. Auron was more to agility type, so when fighting against someone who was inclined to the strength type, usually, he would win. However, everything was also dependent on the opponent''s skill. If the opponent had an excellent combat capability, then it would still be difficult for him to defeat them. Auron had to test the water first. He moved back and chanted [Fire Bolt]. The swordswoman didn''t let Auron did what he wanted. She used [Charge] and went straight to Auron. While charging towards Auron, the swordswoman kept her attention on him. It was because she was watching the previous battle and knew that Auron had a close combat skill. A [Fire Bolt] launched from Auron to the swordswoman. The swordswoman held the greatsword with both of her hands. Then, the swordswoman swung it in front of her to deflect the [Fire Bolt]. Auron knew it would be another close combat battle. So, he was prepared. There were still two meters between Auron and the swordswoman, but Auron had already moved to the left to avoid the swordswoman. It was because the range of greatsword was much more than an ordinary sword. Auron had to move right now, or it would be too late. And, what Auron had thought happened. As soon as Auron moved to the side, the swordswoman already slashed her greatsword towards Auron. Fortunately, Auron had moved in time, the slash missed the target. Auron didn''t back out. Instead, he moved closer towards the swordswoman. The greatsword was really heavy, there would be several milliseconds delay every time the swordswoman slashed. Although the swordswoman had already tried her best to move as quickly as possible, the gap was still clearly seen. Auron didn''t miss the chance and used it to close the swordswoman before she swung her sword again. The reason was that it would be more difficult to aim the target near her when using a greatsword. Moreover, Auron''s weapon was a dagger. He had no choice but to move closer to use the knife. The swordswoman didn''t let Auron do that. However, Auron''s movement was too quick. In no time, he already beside her ready to stab her. However, the swordswoman was not a newbie. She also already had several experiences encountering the same situation. So, she didn''t go panic. She calmly let go of the greatsword. Then, she swayed her body a little bit to avoid Auron''s dagger. Before Auron could pull his hand back, the swordswoman caught Auron''s arm using her left hand and pulled him towards her. Auron was pulled toward the swordswoman. His body limped forward. However, it was not all. The swordswoman already raised her knee. She wanted to knee Auron''s stomach. Auron, who was caught by the swordswoman in hand, struggled to get free from the swordswoman. However, the swordswoman gripped was so strong. Auron could not break free from the woman''s grip. The swordswoman''s knee already came to Auron. He was defenseless against the knee. The woman''s knee cleanly hit Auron''s stomach hard. Auron''s stomach was in pain. However, the knee was not the end. She held Auron''s head with her right hand tightly. Then, she knees once again. However, the target was not Auron''s stomach; instead, it was Auron''s face. Auron knew he was in danger if he could not escape from this situation. However, the woman''s grip really strong. Auron used his left hand to punch the swordswoman''s calf. Then, he kicked the swordswoman''s leg with his right leg really hard. Since the swordswoman had raised her leg to knee Auron before, there was only one leg left to support her body. Then, when Auron aimed that one leg, she could not support her body anymore and slumped down to the ground. Finally, Auron could escape from the swordswoman''s grip. He immediately pulled his arm back, and using his left hand, he punched the woman in her face. Right now, Auron could not care anymore about his image, whether there would be someone who would mock him because he hit a woman''s face. Blood seeped out from the swordswoman''s lips. However, Auron was merciless. Auron, who had the upper hand, stood up and just like before he wanted to stab his dagger towards the swordswoman''s stomach. Auron knew this act was evil, but he just wanted to finish the match. He also knew that the protection from the arena would prevent her from being killed. However, the swordswoman who was lying on the ground also knew what Auron gonna do. So, she slid over to Auron and kicked his balls hard. Auron focused was to stab the woman who was lying on the ground. He was really focused on his goals and was unprepared by the kick. So, he got hit on his balls. A sudden pain coursed all over his body. He staggered backward and was in deep pain. The swordswoman used this chance to stand up and picked her greatsword. Auron knew he was still in a duel, he had to hold the pain. He tried his best to ignore the pain and faced the swordswoman. The swordswoman already held her greatsword in front of her. She wiped out the blood that seeped out from her lips with her hand. Then, the swordswoman gripped her sword really tight and charged out to Auron once more. Auron began to chant a spell. He could not repeat the same mistake twice. Chapter 293 - Arena Duel (5) Auron finished chanted his spell. An [Earth Wall] appeared in front of him. This newly emerged [Earth Wall] blocked the path of the swordswoman. However, this [Earth Wall] seems not an issue for the swordswoman. With her high strength and greatsword in her hand, she swung her sword. The [Earth Wall] could not hold her power and get destroyed easily. The swordswoman got through the rubble easily. However, Auron had predicted that the swordswoman would break through the [Earth Wall] by force. So, he had chanted another spell to prepare for the swordswoman. As soon as the [Earth Wall] got destroyed. Auron had finished chanting his spell and threw it in front of him. A big [Fire Lance] shot out towards the swordswoman. The swordswoman was getting through the rubble when she realized a [Fire Lance] shot towards her. She was caught in surprise by the spell. The swordswoman quickly raised her big sword in front of her. Boom... The [Fire Lance] connected with her greatsword. The impact stopped the swordswoman''s charge and pushed her back. The swordswoman moved her greatsword, which blocked her view. When she removed the greatsword from her sight, she found Auron was not at his place. She looked at her left and found nothing. When the swordswoman was about to turn her head towards her right, Auron already at her right. He chanted another [Earth Wall]. This time, the [Earth Wall] appeared right below the swordswoman''s feet. The swordswoman was raised to the top because of the [Earth Wall]. She staggered because of her unsteady foothold. At that moment, when the swordswoman''s feet were at the same level as his hand, Auron stabbed and pulled his dagger towards one of the swordswoman''s feet. Auron''s attack hit the swordswoman''s left foot. The swordswoman, who felt the pain at her left leg, lost her balance. She fell down from the rising [Earth Wall]. Fortunately, she fell down at the opposite side of the [Earth Wall] and not at the side where Auron was. The swordswoman fell to the ground. Her left leg was bleeding profusely. Pain also spread out through her body. The swordswoman immediately tried to stand up. She used her right foot as a support. Finally, she could stand up. She limped over and tried to get away from the [Earth Wall]. However, it was difficult for the swordswoman to move fast with her injured left leg. Auron would not miss this chance. He circled the [Earth Wall] to chase the swordswoman. When he arrived at the other side of the wall, he found the swordswoman already running away with difficulty. The swordswoman used her sword as a substitute for her injured left leg. It proved to be the correct move. She moved faster. However, it still could not get her that far away. Auron saw the swordswoman tried to run away. He could not let that happened. Auron chased the swordswoman, which was slower than him. Auron chanted a [Fire Bolt] and shot it towards the swordswoman. When the swordswoman saw Auron arrived, she stopped running away and faced Auron. With that slow pace, if she ran away, then she would only become Auron''s training target. The swordswoman swung her greatsword to deflect the [Fire Bolt]. However, she also felt the pain from her left leg when she did that. A pained expression was visible on her face. However, Auron already chanted another spell. Auron deliberately didn''t move towards the swordswoman and just cast his spell from far away. The duel became one-sided with Auron just kept on chanting his spell, and the swordswoman could only defend the attack. Several minutes later, although the pain in the swordswoman''s left leg kept on intensified, she still could hold on and deflect all of Auron''s spell. However, the swordswoman still bleeding. As the blood kept pouring out, she began to feel dizzy. However, the swordswoman still holding on. Auron saw that the blood loss began to affect the swordswoman. He could continue to do this until the swordswoman collapse. But, if he did that, then he would waste much time. Auron looked at his health points. These several minutes, Auron had already recovered some of his health points due to natural health regeneration. He felt that his health was enough. However, just to be safe, Auron waited for several other minutes. After several more minutes, the swordswoman''s move was not as sharp as before. Her movement also was not as powerful as before. Auron knew this was the time. He moved forward and chanted his spell while marching. During his charge, he still paid attention to the swordswoman. The swordswoman''s vision began to blur due to the massive loss of blood. However, she still tried her best to hang on. She saw Auron charging toward her. The swordswoman already told her hand to raise the sword in front of her. However, her hand''s movement was not as quick as she imagined. Her face was ashen. Besides, she was also panting hard. The swordswoman still tried her best to raise her sword. She wanted to be ready when Auron attacked. Finally, she managed to raise her sword in front of her. However, as soon as she did that, her blurry vision began to grow dark until it went fully dark. Then, she limped over and fell. Auron, who was still charging towards the swordswoman, saw her difficulty to raise the sword in her hand. However, Auron ignored it and concentrated on the woman''s movement while chanting his spell. Auron launched his spell towards the swordswoman. When the spell was in midway towards the target, the swordswoman already blacked out and fell to the ground. The spell missed the target, and Auron stopped his track. He looked at the swordswoman who was shrouded in white light. The arena already began to heal her wound. A few seconds later, the swordswoman regained her consciousness. She looked around with her pale face and knew she was already lost. Without further ado, she stood up and also went out of the room to look for a treatment. Chapter 294 - Arena Duel (6) The next opponent went forward. "What a bad guy... You actually struck a woman really hard." A man who was going to be Auron''s next opponent said. He went up to the stage and continued, "You even wanted to stab her on the stomach. What a heartless guy!" The next opponent was a middle-aged man who was older than Auron. He deliberately mocked Auron to shake his mind. Besides, he also knew that such a gentleman would not appear in this kind of duel. If he were in Auron''s place before, he would also do the same, even the opponent was a woman. Auron ignored the man''s words and scanned this new opponent. Surprisingly, this new opponent was a merchant. However, Auron had guessed that this was not an ordinary merchant. He should be a battle merchant. Every class could be made into something that the person wanted. For example, you wanted to play a mage who could deal a high physical attack. Then, you could raise the strength attribute. The physical attack would raise. But, it would not be that high since there was only a few skill that could support the strike. In the end, that mage''s physical attack would still lose to swordswoman or thief who had proper support skills. Meanwhile, a merchant class usually would be developed to raise dexterity and luck to increase their success chance when making a piece of equipment. However, some merchants were raised as a battle merchant. This type of merchant would raise strength, agility, and vitality like what a swordsman would do. This merchant build would be more or less comparable to swordsman when only comparing their attributes and equipment. But, if the skill were added to the equation, then the swordsman still came out as the winner. However, taking a merchant as a class was not that bad. It was because there was one a must-have skill when you play as a merchant regardless of your build. That skill was [Throw Item]. [Throw Item] (Merchant''s skill) Level: 1 MP: 20 Type: Active Target: Self, other players or NPCs, Monster. Cooldown: 10 seconds Description: Throwing a consumable item to a single target. The effect of the item will increase by 10%. The thrown item would be used. Not every item could be used with [Throw Item]. It was restricted to only consumable items such as potions. Although it was limited to throwing consumable items, the effect of the thrown item would increase depending on the skill''s level. A level 1 [Throw Item] would increase the item''s effect by 10%. So if a health potion recovered 100 health points, then by using this skill, it would recover 110 health points. As the skill''s level increases, the increase in the item''s effect also increases as well. When the skill''s level was at level 40, then the item''s effect would also increase by 400%. It was a massive boost to the item. A common grade potions combined with this skill could be comparable to a rare grade potions or even better. Unfortunately, this skill was only a single target skill. If the items had an area of effect, then it would be nullified or changed to only affect a single target. If also didn''t boost the debuff effect from that items. For example, there was a flame potion. When used without the skill, the item would deal fire damage to the target and create a flame field that burns the target for several seconds. However, if that flame potion was used with this [Throw Item] potion, then it would only deal the fire damage without creating the flame field. So, although this skill could heal more a single target more than what a cleric could do, it could not do an area heal like what cleric could do. Another disadvantage of using this skill was it consumed money. The consumable items that were thrown would be gone regardless the item hit the target or not. However, this skill was still a must-have skill because, with this skill, the merchant would have a job to do instead of leeching the experience points. Auron knew that the merchant in front of him should have this particular skill. He had to be more careful. Moreover, combined with the attributes to become a battle merchant, this opponent would also not be an easy opponent. What fortunate things for Auron was that this was an arena duel. Based on the rules here, no healing potion could be used in this arena, which means the merchant could only use consumable items that could damage the opponent. As soon as the battle started, the merchant took out his hammer with his right hand. Meanwhile, he put his left hand inside a small bag that he carried. Auron knew that small bag was also the item that every merchant would receive when they did a merchant related quest. Although it was small, but that bag could hold numerous potions. Moreover, a merchant could equip at most 4 of those small bags. Unfortunately, the opponent in front of Auron had 4 of those bags. The merchant took out a light blue colored potion from one of the small bags. With his 10 years of experience playing this game, Auron had identified what that item was. That potion was a frost potion. It would deal little damage, but it slows the target for 20%. As soon as the merchant took the potion out, he immediately used this skill and threw it to Auron. The merchant''s action was quick. He was already trained to do this. Although the merchant''s action was quick, Auron had paid attention to his action. So, Auron could see the potion that was thrown to him. Of course, Auron would not let himself got hit by the potion when he could avoid it. Auron side step and move to the side. The potion''s bottle fell to the ground and broke. The liquid inside the bottle poured outside before disappearing a few seconds later. "It was a small greeting from me!" The merchant said. Chapter 295 - Arena Duel (7) Auron ignored the merchant''s mock. He began to chant a [Fire Bolt] spell. However, The merchant saw it and didn''t let Auron to chant freely. The merchant threw another potion. This time, he didn''t use the [Throw Item] skill since it was still on cooldown. Inside the potion, there was a boiling red liquid. It was a flame potion. After throwing the potion, the merchant dashed towards Auron immediately. He wielded his hammer tightly. When Auron saw a potion was thrown at him, he stopped his chanting and moved to the side to avoid the potion. After that, Auron took out his dagger and moved to the side while casting another spell. The merchant also saw Auron was moving, he changed his direction to where Auron was. Then, when his [Throw Item] skill''s cooldown had ended, he used it once more. Of course, it was tough to throw something at a moving target. Moreover, the one who threw the item also moving. The potion missed the mark. However, the merchant was really a battle merchant, he focused out his attribute points into strength and agility. The merchant''s agility attribute was higher than Auron. The merchant arrived in front of Auron and used his hammer to pound Auron''s stomach. However, before the hammer came, Auron had finished chanting his spell. An [Ice Bolt] was shot towards the merchant. Since it was released in such a short-range, the merchant could not avoid it. Instead of dodging the [Ice Bolt], the merchant chose to exchange blow with Auron. The merchant gripped the hammer tightly and maximized his power. Boom... Both of the attacks hit their target. The [Ice Bolt] hit the merchant''s body while the merchant''s hammer hit Auron''s stomach from the left side. The merchant''s attack produced more damage than Auron''s attack, so Auron thought, "If this continues, I would be the one who loses. I had to make some distance." Auron tried to move away from the merchant. However, he could not. He was surprised to find out that his character could not move. Auron looked at his character''s status. There was a notification that appeared saying that his character had been stunned for a second. This was also the result of one of the merchant''s passive skill. When the merchant used a hammer, there was a small chance to make the target stunned for one second. Unfortunately, Auron was getting stunned at the first blow exchange with the merchant. Seeing Auron getting stunned, the merchant used this chance to use [Throw Item] skill. He chose to throw the frost potion once more. The potion was thrown at Auron in a short distance. Auron could not move because of the stun effect. He could only move when the potion was about to hit him. In such a short distance and time, Auron could not avoid the potion. He got hit by the light blue colored potion. Auron received some damage. However, the damage was not that serious. Auron thought that it must be because the merchant''s skill level was low. Of course, the popular skill like this one must cost a lot. It happened not just to the merchant class but to all of the classes. The frost potion had low damage, to begin with. However, what dangerous about the frost potion was the 20% slow. There was only a few skill and item that slow the target for above 20%. This 20% slow made Auron could not react in time when the merchant threw another potion. This time, there was a green-colored liquid inside the potion bottle. An acid potion was thrown at Auron. When the acid potion hit him, the green liquid splashed onto Auron. Acid potion didn''t damage the target. However, a number was shown besides Auron for one minute. During that one minute, if Auron was hit by another acid potion, then the number would rise to two, and the duration would extend by another minute. When the number reached four, then one of Auron''s equipment would be destroyed and had to be repaired for further use. Auron kicked the merchant''s stomach, who was ready to hammer him once more. The merchant quickly blocked the kick with the hammer. However, Auron used the hammer as a foothold to jump away from the merchant. With this jump, Auron made some distance from the merchant. Fortunately, the slow duration was about to end. The frost potion had only 10 seconds slow. When Auron landed on the ground, the slow duration had ended. As soon as Auron regained his speed back, he moved further away from the merchant while casting another spell. The merchant chased Auron. However, it took some time for the merchant to reach Auron. Auron had finished casting his skill when the merchant had arrived in front of Auron. This time, Auron had learned from the previous lesson. He didn''t use any [Ice Bolt] spell. Instead, he used [Fire Lance], which had more firepower and could blast the merchant away. Just like before, the merchant wanted to exchange blow with Auron. However, when the merchant was hit by the [Fire Lance], he was pushed several meters back. Because of that, his hammer missed the target. Auron used this chance to move to another place while casting another spell, [Sloth]. White mist covered the arena duel. This time, the merchant was the one who was being slowed. With the merchant being slowed down, Auron began to gain the upper hand. Auron used the same strategy. He would move backward while chanting a spell. When the spell hit the target, he would move to another direction and made the same move. The merchant also frustrated. Because of one wrong move, the advantages he got disappeared. He had already tried to move further away from Auron to get out of the spell range. However, Auron saw that and began to move towards the merchant. At the end, when the [Sloth]''s effect was ended, the merchant had only less than 50% of his health left. Chapter 296 - Arena Duel (8) The merchant felt sour. He was losing the advantage that he had built on. The enemy in front of him was so strong. Auron had fought against two other enemies before him, but he still had 50% of his health left. It was a fantastic thing to do. Moreover, Auron was a mage. The merchant shook his head. He didn''t want these things to pollute his mind. He had defeated more than fifty mages throughout his entire time working as the test examiner here. He thought that although this mage was a little bit proficient in battling in close combat, but in the end, a mage was a mage. Moreover, the mage had a lower level than him. The merchant raised his hammer again. He had to win no matter what. A second later, he shoves his left hands inside the small bag. He took out two bottles of potions. One had a white-colored liquid inside, while the other one had a purple-colored liquid. He threw the purple-colored potion towards Auron. Then, he used the [Throw Item] skill using the white-colored liquid to himself. The purple-colored potion was a confused potion. When thrown at the enemy, it would make the enemy''s sixth sense dull for a few seconds. What made the confused potion special was that it didn''t have to hit the enemy directly. When the potion broke, it would release a purple mist around the area that still had the same effect as the potion. However, the purple mist had a small area of effect. Auron knew what that potion was. So, instead of dodging the potion, Auron shot a [Fire Bolt] at the potion midway and destroyed the potion. A purple mist spread from the potion. However, since it had only a small area of effect, the fog could not reach Auron. Meanwhile, the white-colored potion was one of the buff potions. It increased the user''s sixth sense and damage for a few seconds. As the merchant used the potion using the [Throw Item] skill, the potion''s effect increased several-fold. Auron could not prevent the merchant from using the buff potion. That was why he chose to destroy the purple potion midway instead of dodging it. After Auron destroyed the confused potion, he looked at the merchant once more. But, he could not find any trace of the merchant in front of him. The merchant had moved. Auron began to raise his awareness. He noticed something from his right side and looked towards his right side. Then, he found a silhouette moving towards him. It was already closed. Auron tried to raise his dagger to block. However, he was too late. A hammer hit Auron''s right stomach. The hit made Auron pushed back for several meters and was unbalanced. Auron created an [Earth Wall] at his right side as a countermeasure. However, it was futile. The merchant had already moved beside him and hit him once again. The second hit was more powerful than the first one. When the merchant wanted to hit Auron for the third time, Auron had used [Aqua Barrier]. The hammer hit the barrier. Then, Auron stabbed the enemy''s hand using his dagger. Fortunately, the stab was successful. Auron''s dagger penetrates the merchant''s wrist. However, the merchant seems to ignore his injuries and continued to attack Auron. Auron had no choice but to duck to avoid the hammer. Then, he stabbed his dagger again towards the merchant''s leg. The merchant tried to hammer Auron from above. "It seems the merchant had ignored his injuries," Auron thought. Auron rolled over to the side and cast a [Fire Lance]. A huge lance made of fire flew towards the merchant. The merchant blocked it using his hammer. As soon as he blocked it, the merchant immediately ran over to Auron and attacked him once again. Auron had difficulty when he fought against the merchant who had already ignored his injuries. However, Auron already had a rich close combat experience as a swordsman. Although he still had some lack, but he still could avoid some attacks. Not only that, Auron could even look for an opportunity to launch a counter-attack at the merchant. Both the merchant''s health and Auron''s health decreased bit by bit. However, Auron still the one who had advantages over the other. Fortunately, the merchant, who had been frustrated by Auron, had been blinded by his rage. At first, he tried to change several patterns from his attack and tried to attack Auron. However, as Auron still could avoid his attack, his stress began to build up. With stress and rage had taken over the merchant, Auron began to have an easier time to read the merchant''s movement and attack. Auron avoids the attack and even counter-attack the merchant. Auron began to hold the key to win this battle. As time goes by, the merchant had run out of options as he kept making the same attack over and over again. Finally, thirty minutes later, the merchant lost to Auron. With this win, Auron had completed his test to join the arena duel. The staff who brought Auron came over to Auron and began to ask Auron some questions while the cleric heal Auron. She began to fill in the needed detail like how to contact Auron, what Auron''s nickname gonna be, and many other questions. The staff also gave Auron the device to change his face. However, the device''s functionality still lost against the device in the spy department. Auron received the device, but he rejected the offer to change the name or the appearance. He chose to be this Savage Sickle as his persona in the arena duel. The staff didn''t make any fuss, as many people also used their real name and appearance. What the staff didn''t know was that this was not Auron''s original appearance and name. After finishing up everything else, Auron took the identity card given by the staff and went out of the room. As soon as Auron got out of the room, he met with the Insanity Gang''s member. Chapter 297 - Night Patrol (1) "Oh, hey, look! Isn''t he one of our hired members?" One of the Insanity Gang members recognized Auron. The Insanity Gang just had watched the arena''s duel battle when they met with Auron. Meanwhile, Auron also saw them, but he ignored them and exited the building. "Tch... What an arrogant attitude!" The same person who recognized Auron said. He didn''t like Auron''s attitude. "Fortunately, he was pretty skillful, or else I will skin his head." However, despite disliking Auron, he recognized Auron''s skill. Day passed just like that. When the morning came, Auron had already arrived at the designated place. All of the members had also arrived on time. After a day of rest, all of the fatigue was disappearing from the members'' faces. "Everyone is here?" The leader asked. He was making sure there as no one who was left behind. Then, several minutes later, "Let us go!" With that command, the convoy began to continue their journey. There were still two-third of the journey that the convoy should finish. Fortunately, the journey during their journey, everything went well. There was nothing extraordinary happened that made the journey became dull and boring. "Yawn..." One of the guards yawned. The journey was so smooth that it became boring. However, this smooth journey also had a plus. Their speed became faster. Right now, the convoy had covered half of the journey. There were only half more before they arrived at their destinations. It was almost night time now. Combined with the boring journey, the guards also became bored that many of them yawned and sleepy. They decided to stop and took some rest before continuing again tomorrow. "Prepare the fireplace!" The convoy was busily preparing the place where to stay. They didn''t forget to arrange the patrol duty. Although Auron was named as the second team''s vice leader, he didn''t have that much authority, to begin with. Combined with his arrogant attitude, many people didn''t like him. Unfortunately for Auron, the one who assigned the patrol duty this time was the same man who recognized Auron in the arena duel the previous day. Although the man didn''t hate Auron, he dislikes Auron''s arrogant attitude. He wanted to give Auron a lesson. Then, the chance came. He had the responsibility to assign the patrol duty. "This is it!" He thought. This was the time for him to give Auron a lesson for ignoring him. That man began to assign the duty to the respective person one by one. Then, it was Auron''s turn. "You and you will be assigned to the northeast of the camp. You have to protect it well since it was the place where we parked the goods cart." The man pointed at Auron and another man besides Auron. Then, the man continued, "Hmm... wait! Oh... geez... we lack of people here. You will be moved to another place." The man pointed at the man beside Auron. Then, he asked Auron, "You should be fine to patrol alone, right?" Auron was just glaring at the man. It was too obvious. The man acted was the worst. Everyone knew that the man deliberately created trouble for Auron. Before Auron could speak up, the man continued, "Since you are alone, let me change you to the northwest of the camp. As a second team''s vice leader, you should be fine with this arrangement, right?" The man grinned at Auron. The man didn''t forget to emphasize that Auron was a team''s vice leader. He acted that since Auron was a vice leader, then this arrangement was normal. However, contrary to his expectations, Auron answered, "No!" Auron honestly rejected the man''s offer. He didn''t want to be pressured. Moreover, by someone who was blatantly abusing his power. "You..." The man got furious by Auron''s rejection. A commotion began to spread throughout the camp that this convoy leader heard about it. He arrived at the scene and tried to mediate, "What happens here?" "Leader, he doesn''t want to take the patrol duty!" The man accused Auron. Auron only looked at the man and then the leader. The leader looked at Auron and said, "Is that true?" "Yes." Auron didn''t try to deny it. "Why is that?" The leader asked Auron once more. "He is deliberately making trouble for me!" Auron said. The leader looked at the man''s eyes, who was trying to explain something to him. However, the leader cut him off. He knew that the man was someone who liked to create trouble. "Stop, you will be filling the missing spot." Although the man was part of the Insanity Gang, but his position was the lowest in the group. Moreover, he liked to create any trouble. The leader had given him an ultimatum that if he could not change his attitude, then this would be his last time with the group. So, when the leader assigned him the patrol duty with Auron, he wanted to rebuke, but he could not. He could only accept it and continued with the patrol duty assignment. Auron didn''t mind at all with the fact that he would patrol with this man. Since the leader had said so, he would accept it. With everything ended, the commotion gradually disappeared, and everything went back to normal. Then, the night came. It was time for the first shift for patrolling. Since Auron was in the second team, he was assigned to the second shift. There were three shifts in total, It was the same as the number of the team. Each turn would last for three hours. Auron was resting until the time the shift changed. Three hours passed quickly. There was nothing unusual that happened during the first shift. The second shift was about to start. Auron began to stand up and walked to the assigned place for his patrol duty. It was a little bit past midnight when the second shift started. Auron met with the man who was still grumbling during his walk to the patrol''s place. The man kept on grumbling and blamed Auron for everything that had happened. However, Auron ignored him. Chapter 298 - Night Patrol (2) "Here, I am doing some patrol job when I supposed to sleep. This is because of that damn guy." The man was grumbling endlessly. He even deliberately raised his voice so Auron could hear his complaint. Of course, Auron was fed up with the complaint. He wanted to shut the man''s mouth. However, after thinking that there was not reward by doing so, Auron put the thought behind his head. Auron acted nonchalant like he didn''t hear anything that the man had said. One hour passed by, because Auron had ignored the man, the man started to complain less. However, it didn''t change the fact that the man was still complaining. When both Auron and the man were scouring the area, Auron heard something. Auron tried to identify the sound. However, because there was a man beside him that too noisy, he could not listen to it clearly. So, Auron had no choice but to shut the man, "Sshhh..." "What? You don''t like me complaining? Remember, who''s fault is this. It was all your..." The man thought that Auron finally reacted to his complaint. So, he unleashed all the rage inside him and tried to reprimand him. However, before he could continue for too long, Auron pushed him over. The man fell down, and he was so furious. He wanted to pent up his anger to Auron. However, before the man could do that, he saw a person covered in black had stabbed a dagger at his previous place. Auron had saved the man. If Auron didn''t push him, then his heart would be pierced by the dagger. "Quick, use the flare!" Auron shouted while blocking an attack. Each patrol team was equipped with a flare in case of an emergency. The man panicked out and tried to look for the flare. He took out the flare, but because he was panicking, the flare dropped to the ground. The man was so pathetic and didn''t suit his job to guard a caravan. A few seconds later, a red light shot out to the sky, followed by a loud sound. Finally, the man had used the flare. However, he was in danger. The black person, who attacked him, had come over to him and launch an attack. The man tried to dodge the attack. However, he could not avoid it completely. His left hand was stabbed by the dagger. Blood poured out, and the pain started to spread. The man screamed. Auron wanted to help the man, but his hand was already full. Auron had looked at the situation, and four people attacked them. Right now, Auron was handling two people while the other two were attacking the man. With the injury in the left hand, the man could not do anything when two people were ganging up on him. They brutally stabbed and slashed the man until he died a painful death. Auron, who was blocking two people, also saw and realized the situation. He had to escape quickly. If not, there would be four people ganging up on him. Using the fact that two of the attackers still had their focus on the man, Auron launched [Fire Ball] to the ground. His goal was to create a chance to escape. The ground was blown up. It didn''t do any damage to the two attackers. However, the dirt and mud covered the attackers'' vision for a second. Auron used this chance to quickly escape. He didn''t hide anything and used his swordsman''s movement skill to survive. With the distraction, the two attackers who attacked Auron didn''t realize the skill that Auron had used and thought that this mage''s movement speed was quick. They could not let Auron escape. So, the two attackers immediately chased Auron. Meanwhile, the other two attackers also joined when they had finished killing the other man. This situation was not just happened at Auron''s place. During the previous short encounter, Auron had seen three other flares. This means that three different locations were attacked. And, Auron assumed that it was not just three, but all of the patrol teams were attacked. Auron was escaping to the main camp. During his journey, he heard commotion took place all over the place. There was one from his right, and there was also another one coming from his left. It was chaos. Meanwhile, at the main camp, a commotion also took place there. However, it was not because the enemy was attacking that place, but because of the flares. All of the guards were getting ready for the attack and moved out to the goods cart. They still didn''t know who attack them, but by looking at the location, they knew that it had to be some of the bandit''s groups. After another minute, Auron arrived at the place where the goods carts were parked. There was already a battle broke out near that place. Auron immediately joined the team to help. A group came from the left side. Fortunately, it was not the enemy. Instead, it was the patrol team that was stationed there. With that group after group began to emerge and joined the fight. It turned out that the bandit who attacked them was not that strong. It was proved by the fact that most of the emerging group was a friend. Their attackers'' advantages were only numbers and surprise attacks. If the patrol team could suppress the attack, then they would gain the upper hand. After the battle had lasted for five minutes, whistle sound was heard. With that whistle sound, the attacking bandit immediately dropped what they did and retreat. "No! Don''t chase them!" The guard''s leader stopped the members who tried to chase the enemy. "Prioritize to guard the place and tend the wounded!" Auron also agreed to what the leader had said. Although the enemy was not that strong, but they had more numbers, so there were still some guards that were wounded. Auron looked at his surroundings and knew that this was just the calm before the storm. Chapter 299 - Crisis (1) The convoy''s leader, Semial, created an emergency meeting with the team''s leader. Auron was included since he was a team''s vice leader. "There are three deaths and two who are heavily injured. All of it came from the second team." Semial stated. Since the attack happened when the second team was on patrol duty, most of the injured came from the second team. Now, the second team had fewer people compared to the other teams. "Hah... Unfortunately, the previous thief leaves the group, or else we can use some helping hand." The third team''s leader sighed. The thief that the third team''s leader mentioned was Sleight Hand. In the previous town, the thief had decided to leave the group. Of course, none of the convoy''s members tried to stop him since it didn''t give them any benefit. However, looking at the current situation, they had wished they stopped him before. "Enough, It has happened already. We need to think forward!" Semial reprimand the third team''s leader. "We will give some of the other''s team members to the second team. Now, let us discuss what we should do." "Should we stay until morning or depart immediately?" "I believe we could stay here." The third team''s vice leader said, followed by several nodded from others. "Yes, the attackers were weak. They could injure us because of the surprise attack. I believe if we are more cautious, they could not do something like this anymore." "I agree. Moreover, there are only 4 hours left before the morning comes." Most of them agreed to stay here until the morning comes. Meanwhile, there were only a few participants who kept silent and didn''t say a word. They didn''t agree to stay. However, they also didn''t want to depart immediately. That was why they chose to keep silent. "Everyone agrees?" Since everyone most likely agree to stay, Semial tried to conclude the discussion. He asked everyone agreement while looking at the meeting''s participant. One of the meeting participants piqued Semial''s attention. It was Auron. So, Semial directly asked Auron, "Do you agree that we choose to stay?" Throughout the discussion, Auron just kept silent and didn''t voice anything. However, when the others stated the reason they had to stay, Auron frowned but didn''t say any word against it. The reason was because he had heard about the other''s Insanity Gang''s opinion about him. His ability should be on par with the team''s leader. He could be chosen as a team leader. However, the reality showed otherwise. Moreover, the other team''s leader''s attitude towards him was rude. Even more, the second team''s leader. He treated Auron, who was the vice leader like he didn''t exist. That was why Auron didn''t really care about this group. If there were troubles come, he could always escape using his ability and looking for another way for his spy mission. However, Semial saw Auron was frowning at the discussion before. But, seeing Auron didn''t voice out his opinion, Semial asked Auron. Although the other treated Auron not fair, but Semial treated him the best out of them all. So, when Semial asked him, Auron answered truthfully. But, whether they took Auron''s word or not, it was their choice. "I believe we should depart right now," Auron answered. As soon as Auron said that, it invited the other reaction upon him. They wanted to rebuke and reprimand him. However, all of that was stopped with Semial''s second question, "Oh... And why is that?" The others had waited for Auron to state his reason. However, deep inside, they were mocking Auron and would reprimand him as soon as he finished saying his reason. "This was a trap. And we had been baited. The enemies let us think that they are weak and killed us slowly." "They deliberately showed that they were weak. However, looked at the situation, the others said that we suffered casualties because of the surprise attack and their numbers." "But, if you looked at the bigger picture, then you would realize you were wrong." "If they said that it was because of the surprise attack, then why would the enemy suffered the same number of casualties as us. If we are stronger than them, we should at least caused more casualties for them." "And, looking at the others had said, it seems that the enemies had successfully launched their plan." With that, Auron went to silence once more. "What nonsense do you blurt about? It was because we are unprepared for the attack. If we were well prepared with the attack, we would kill them all." The third team''s vice leader rebuked what Auron had said. "I know! You must be a spy sent by them to break us apart!" "Leader! We should kill him immediately!" Auron kept silent and only shrugged his shoulders. Meanwhile, Semial pondered on what Auron had said. This was the time for him, as a leader, to decide. Meanwhile, the other Insanity Gang members had stood up and tried to raise their weapon at Auron. They felt that what Auron had said was nonsense. They still believe that the surprise attack was the reason why they lost the battle. "Be quiet!" Semial tried to calm the situation first while pondering what Auron had said. With that ordered, the other stand down. Displeasure was shown on everyone''s faces. They still tried to persuade Semial that what Auron had said was all nonsense, and they should banish Auron from the group. However, Semial didn''t care about what they said and thinking about what to choose. Then, a minute later, Semial looked at Auron''s face and the other''s faces. "We will depart now!" Semial made up his decision, which was followed by everyone''s disagreement. However, Semial kept on insisting that they should depart. As he was the leader, the others could not help but followed his order. They went to their own team and prepared to leave. Five minutes later, the convoy had left the place and set out. Chapter 300 - Crisis (2) Several members were confused by this immediate departure. However, they didn''t dare to ask. With sleepy faces, all of them continue their journey. Three good carts were lined up properly. However, there were fewer guards beside them since some of them were killed. Half an hour after their departure, they arrived at a path inside a shady forest. They could only saw the pathway in front of them. When they saw to their left and right, there were only trees. Semial stopped the convoy and shouted, "Prepare for battle!" The others were confused with the command. However, they didn''t dare to neglect the command. A few seconds later, some of the members began to aware of the enemies'' presence and tightened up their grip. And, Auron was one of them. The team''s leader began to give several commands. Auron also tried to provide some command to his members. However, none of them followed Auron''s commands. So, he stopped giving commands and just wait. After another minute, the convoy''s members still didn''t see the attackers yet, but they had already sensed the enemies'' presence. Another minute passed, the enemies still didn''t make any move. This situation gave a lot of pressure to the members. They started to grow impatient with this long waiting. Semial also knew about this. He had to make the first move. However, before he could make the first move, a [Fire Bolt] had already launched towards the enemies. The one who used the [Fire Bolt] was Semial''s brother. Of course, this [Fire Bolt] didn''t hit any target. With a long-distance, it was easy to avoid this [Fire Bolt]. Unfortunately, after this [Fire Bolt], the enemies still didn''t make any move. Semial gave out another command to continue their journey slowly. They had bought three horses in the previous town. Fortunately, in the little skirmish before, their horses didn''t die. The convoy started to move slowly, it was slower than an average walking speed. However, at least they were still moving and not staying in one place. When they were moving, the enemies also moved following them. Then, three arrows shot from the enemy towards the first cart''s horse. Semial, who was near the horse, blocked two arrows. While the first team''s leader blocked the last bolt. The situation also happened to the other two horses. The members were already increasing their awareness, so they could block the incoming arrows and save the horse. Meanwhile, the convoy still walking at a snail pace. Another attack was launched towards the horses. However, it was not just a simple arrow but a spell. Semial went forward, and with his sword, he blocked the spell. After several rounds of harassment that didn''t work, one of the enemies showed up in front of the convoy blocking the path. Semial stopped the journey once again and faced the enemy. "What do you want?" Semial asked. "Ha... Ha... Ha..." The enemy laughed loudly. "Are you stupid? Do you really need to ask that question?" "It is obvious. We want the goods in your cart!" "There was nothing important in the cart!" Semial tried to lie to the enemy. "Really? With this many guards and there was nothing important in the cart?" The enemy wanted to laugh at Semial''s statement. "Whatever! It didn''t matter whether there was something important or not. After all, we were paid to take the goods." Hearing the enemy''s statement, Semial suddenly asked, "Who paid you?" "I don''t know how you can be the leader. Do you really need to ask that question? Do you think we will just obediently answer the question?" With that, the enemy raised his hand. Then, he asked one more time, "Give us the goods, and you can leave safely, or you will die under our hands!" "With your weak powers?" The third team''s leader chimed in the conversation. The enemy grinned and gave the command to attack. Suddenly, the enemies started to pour out from all over the places and attacked them. The convoy''s member also responded to the attack. However, the enemies still keep pouring out and outnumber them until it was one and a half of the convoy''s members'' number. Auron was already engaged in a battle with one of the enemy. He was facing a thief. The thief, who met Auron, thought that since it was a mage, it would be easy for him to kill the mage. However, he was wrong. Auron could keep up the battle in close combat. The thief even started to lose the fight. A [Fire Ball] cleanly hit the thief and blown him away. Auron used this chance to go forward and wanted to kill the thief. However, a sword suddenly slashed from his left side. Auron had to stop his thought to kill the thief and avoid the sword attack. It was from a swordsman beside him. The swordsman had already killed his enemy and now gone to help his friend. Then, not long after, another enemy''s swordsman was joining the fight. The convoy''s members started to lose out the battle because of the numbers. Besides, it was just like what Auron had told them before, the enemies hid their power. The current enemies they facing now was stronger than before. With the addition of their number, the convoy''s members quickly lose the battle. Auron knew he had to escape now, or he would have no chance. He went forward to the newly joining swordsman. The swordsman had prepared for the attack. Meanwhile, the other swordsman also chased Auron from behind. Before Auron clashed with the swordsman in front of him, he took a side step and used his swordsman movement''s skill and darted towards the forest. And, that was not all, an [Earth Spike] showed and pierced the fallen thief''s body. The thief died while thinking he was saved. This sudden situation made both of the swordsman caught off guard. They were confused at the unexpected speed increased. However, they could not relate anything towards Auron using a swordsman''s skill and just thought that it was his lifesaving item or hidden ability. Chapter 301 - Crisis (3) Auron was running through the forest. Behind him, two swordsmen were chasing him. As Auron''s movement skill disappeared, his movement speed began to slow down. The swordsmen who saw this began to take out their weapon. The distance between Auron and the two swordsmen began to shorten. After a few seconds later, the gap was close enough for the swordsmen to use the [Wind Slash] skill. One of the swordsman immediately used that skill while the other one kept on chasing Auron. Auron looked behind him and saw the skill coming towards him. He had no choice but to avoid it by moving to his left. His clothes fluttered as the [Wind Slash] passed by him. When Auron was about to continue escaping, the other swordsman had arrived next to him. A sword was aiming towards Auron''s chest. Auron quickly took a step backward and tried to escape the slash. Fortunately, he could avoid it in time. However, the swordsman followed up with a thrust towards Auron''s stomach. Auron could not let it slide. He used his dagger to deflect the thrust and launched a [Fire Bolt] towards the enemy. The enemy saw the [Fire Bolt]. However, he was too close to avoid the spell. Boom... the swordsman staggered a bit. Auron used this chance to kick the swordsman in the stomach and move away. However, before he could move far away, the other swordsman showed at his escape path. There were two enemies at Auron front and back. Although the enemies used all-black clothes, but Auron could identify the differences between those two. In front of Auron was a middle-aged man. Auron predicted that his age was almost reached 40. The man used a longsword as a weapon. This man was also the one who used the [Wind Slash] before. Meanwhile, behind Auron was the one who Auron kicked. This swordsman was younger than the other one. Auron felt that this swordsman was around the same age as him. The younger swordsman stood up after being kicked by Auron. Right now, Auron was trapped between these two swordsmen. He looked at the surroundings and felt that he was far enough from the main group. Auron was thinking of fighting against them instead of running away. From that short encounter before, Auron felt that he could win against both of them. However, winning against two enemies was not that easy. So, Auron didn''t show it and pretended that he was in deep trouble. Auron looked back and forth like he was panicking. Since there was an enemy at his front and back, Auron chose to go to his left. The enemies had seen Auron panicking. So, when Auron escape to his left, they didn''t let him go easily. Both of them immediately went and blocked Auron''s path of escape. The older swordsman reacted first and moved to block Auron''s path of escape. He chopped at the space in front of Auron. If Auron didn''t stop his track, then he would get hit by the older swordsman''s chop. Auron had no choice but to stop. However, the older swordsman didn''t stop after his chop missed. He turned his sword''s edge and slashed diagonally upward towards Auron''s neck. Auron had to block this attack with his dagger. However, the slash''s power was pretty strong that it pushed Auron''s knife towards his neck. Fortunately, Auron could stop it in time. However, it was not the time to celebrate this. Behind Auron, the younger swordsman thrust Auron''s back. Auron already ready with this attack. He had prepared for the attack. An [Earth Spike] rose from the ground and aimed at the younger swordsman''s body. Sensing the crisis, the younger swordsman stopped his attack and changed to blocking the [Earth Spike]. He put up the sword in front of his body and blocked the [Earth Spike] with the sword. The younger swordsman was pushed a little bit before the [Earth Spike] disappeared. Auron, who was blocking the older swordsman''s attack, moved away from the older swordsman and directly went to the younger swordsman. When Auron moved, the younger swordsman was still busy with handling the [Earth Spike]. Auron changed the way he holds his dagger and stabs at the younger swordsman''s right arm. As the younger swordsman was pushed by the [Earth Spike], he was occupied by it. He could not avoid Auron''s attack, who arrived near him. Auron''s attack came when the [Earth Spike] had disappeared. Unfortunately for the younger swordsman, he could not avoid Auron''s stab to his right arm. Auron''s dagger was piece on his right arm before Auron pulled it immediately. Auron wanted to stab his dagger again. However, the older swordsman didn''t let that happened. A kick towards Auron''s right stomach made Auron could not launch his second attack. However, that was not all. The older swordsman also slashed vertically at Auron, who was staggering by the kick. Auron had to turn his body to avoid the slash. The younger swordsman was in pain. However, that didn''t stop him from attacking Auron. He moved his sword to his left hand and helped the older swordsman attacked Auron. Auron had to dodge the younger swordsman''s sword. He used his dagger to block the attack. Fortunately, the younger swordsman''s was not a left-handed. So, when the younger swordsman attacked with his left hand, the power diminished significantly. Auron, who was trapped between the two swordsmen, had been chanting [Sloth]. A white mist filled the area and slowed the two swordsmen''s movement. Auron used this chance to move backward and made some distance between him and the two swordsmen. Unfortunately, older swordsman didn''t let that to happen. He chased Auron even though he was being slowed by the [Sloth]''s effect. Auron, who still had the average speed, moved faster. However, the distance made was not that far, thanks to the older swordsman chasing him. However, it was Auron''s plan to separate the two swordsmen. Now, he had a few seconds to deal a heavy blow to the older swordsman before the younger one helped him. Chapter 302 - Crisis (4) The older swordsman raised up his sword and slashed diagonally downward. Auron, who was preparing to attack, had to dodge the attack first. He moved to the side, so the sword missed the target. After that, Auron took a step forward and stabbed his dagger to the older swordsman''s stomach. The older swordsman pulled up his sword and blocked the stab with his sword. However, Auron was not only attack with his dagger, but he also finished chanting his spell and threw it to the enemy. [Fire Bolt] thrown to the swordsman''s head. Unfortunately, the older swordsman had a quick reaction. In such short distance, he turned his body 180 degrees and moved backward to avoid the [Fire Bolt]. It was a fantastic move knowing that the older swordsman was affected with [Sloth]. "Tch... If it is the younger swordsman, he would definitely die." Auron thought. However, what had happened already happened, he had to move quickly before the younger swordsman came. Auron moved forward and closed the distance right after the older swordsman managed to dodge the [Fire Bolt]. The older swordsman also saw Auron''s movement. He turned back and faced Auron when a dagger was already coming toward him. The older swordsman blocked the incoming dagger with his swords. He was about to launch a counter-attack when Auron ducked down. Auron aimed was not this dagger attack. So when he knew the enemy had blocked the dagger, he ducked down a bit and swept the older swordsman''s leg. He aimed at the back of the swordsman''s knee joint. Caught off guard by this kick, the older swordsman could not guard the kick, and his knee got kick from behind. His knee bent a little because of the kick and lost the balance. This was what Auron''s goal. As soon as the enemy lost his balance, Auron threw the [Ice Bolt] towards the enemy''s body and a stab to the leg. The enemy tried to move his sword. Fortunately, he could move his sword in time and block the [Ice Bolt] with his sword. However, he could not prevent the stab at his leg. Auron pulled up the dagger and wanted to stab again at the same spot to widen the injury. However, a slash from his right disturbed the move. The slash was coming from the younger swordsman who already arrived at the scene. Auron moved to dodge the attack. However, he was a step late. The tip of the younger swordsman''s sword managed to graze his arm. Blood seeped out from the light injury that Auron had just received. However, Auron could not care about his injuries right now. He changed his target to the younger swordsman and attacked him. Auron moved forward to the younger swordsman and thrust his dagger towards the swordsman. He would do the same as what he had already done to the older swordsman. However, what the younger swordsman did to block the attack surprised Auron. The younger swordsman raised his right arm and blocked the thrust with his right hand. The dagger pierced the swordsman''s hand. Auron urgently pulled the knife. However, to remove the dagger, it would need more time than when the enemy blocked it with the sword. At that time, the younger swordsman used the sword in his left hand to slash Auron. Auron, who managed pulled the dagger, could not dodge the slash in time. His right arm was about to get cut when Auron moved forward and blocked the slash with his right shoulder. Although a mage had only a cloth type equipment, but it could still be used to reduce the incoming attack''s power. Auron''s right shoulder was cut pretty deep before Auron kicked the younger swordsman away. This was not what the younger swordsman wanted. What his original intent was that he would sacrifice his right arm to end Auron''s life. However, it didn''t happen as he wished. Auron moved away and created a distance between them. He held his right shoulder with his left hand. When he looked at his left hand, blood had covered his left hand. Fortunately, Auron still could move his right hand. However, it was not only Auron that was injured. The enemy also had a pretty deep injury. The younger swordsman stood up next to the older swordsman. His right arm was covered with blood from the top to the tip of his fingers. He even had a hard time controlling his right arm. Meanwhile, the older swordsman stood up. He already had a hard time to stand up because of his leg injury. However, he tried his best to stand up even though he was limping. What fortunate for the enemies, except Auron''s right shoulder got injured, was the fact that [Sloth]''s effect had disappeared. Auron''s injury was lighter than the enemies had received. He used it to his advantage. Auron started to chanting a spell from the spot where he stood. Since the older swordsman had an injury in the leg, he could not move fast enough. So, the younger swordsman had no choice and was the one who went to Auron. Auron, who saw this move, smiled. He canceled the chanting and went forwards to face the younger swordsman. The younger swordsman raised his sword and attacked Auron with his left hand. Auron also raised his dagger to block the sword attack. Clang... the dagger clashed with the sword. The dagger should be the one that loses in the clash of the weapons. However, the younger swordsman''s injury made him could not use his full power, which made the clashed of the weapon ended in an even match. Auron moved forward and used his dagger to stab the swordsman''s stomach. The swordsman had lost to much blood, which made his reaction a little bit slower. The younger swordsman was one step late to dodge the attack to his stomach and got stab. Auron didn''t stay still. He threw a [Fire Bolt] and another cut to the younger swordsman. The younger swordsman could do nothing except receiving his fate. The younger swordsman slumped down to the ground. These two attacks from Auron ended his life. Chapter 303 - Crisis (5) As the younger swordsman slumped down to the ground, the older swordsman was in danger. It was even painful for him to stand up. He saw the younger swordsman died in front of his face. With the younger swordsman''s death, the older swordsman''s fate was sealed. Moreover, the injuries on his leg was worse than he could imagine. He wanted to run away, but he could not. Auron charged forward to the older swordsman. He felt the confidence to win this fight. So, he didn''t even hold back anymore. He used the swordsman''s movement skill. Auron didn''t care whether the older swordsman suspicious or not. He could not care about dead man anyways. The boost in speed made the older swordsman shocked and could not anticipate Auron''s attack. He raised his sword in front of him to block the attack. However, Auron had moved to his right and attack from that side. The older swordsman had a difficult time to follow Auron''s movement. In the end, he could only die under Auron''s attacks. Auron stood up, facing the sky after he killed the older swordsman. With his left hand, he reached his right shoulder and pressed on the wound. He sighed relieved when suddenly he heard a calling. It was the two swordsman''s friends that looking for them. Auron snapped out from his state of mind and quickly escaped running away deeper into the forest. A few seconds later, the two swordsman''s friends found the corpse of their friends, but they could not see who the killer was. In the end, they could only bring the bodies and report it to their leader. Hearing the report, the leader didn''t really care about losing one or two subordinates and didn''t bother for a man''s search. He was more concerned about the luggage that he was told to steal. Meanwhile, Auron, who was still running away deep inside the forest, felt that he had run far away enough and stopped. He felt somewhat fortunate, as well as unfortunate. He felt fortunate that he could still manage to escape safely. However, on the other side, he also felt unfortunate. It was because he had to look for another way to complete his spy mission. Auron opened the map that he had brought and looking for a way to get to the nearest town. When he was looking for a way, from his northwest, a bustling sound was heard. From that direction, two people were running away while being chased by two other people. One of the two people who were being chased had injuries all over his body. Even blood was pouring from the slash on his forehead. He was being piggybacked by the other, who tried to save him. Behind them, there was an archer and a thief who was chasing the two of them. The archer shot out an arrow and tried to kill the escapee. Fortunately, the arrow missed the target. However, the distance between the chaser and the one being chased was getting closer and closer. The archer tried to snipe the two people once more. However, before he could unleash the arrow from the bow, an [Earth Spike] showed up from the ground and pierced his hand, holding the bow. Then, a dagger slashed his back, followed with a stab to his heart. It was Auron who took action to attack the archer. The reason was that the two people who were being chased were Semial and his brother. Semial was injured badly and had to be piggyback by his brother. As a standard mage, Semial''s brother didn''t have enough agility nor strength. It was already difficult for him to piggyback his brother, but he had to run away. That was why he was slow. Auron, who was at the scene, could not help but took action to save the two brothers. Auron would not spare the archer''s life. After stabbing through the heart, to make sure the archer really death, Auron gave several other stabs. The archers screamed painfully at his last death. The thief who heard the scream as well as Semial''s brother stopped their track and looked behind them. Both of them had different expressions, the thief had a grave feeling while Semial''s brother had a bright appearance. "Who are you?" The thief shouted while asking Auron. However, Auron didn''t bother to reply and immediately attack the thief. Seeing a reinforcement came, Semial''s brother intended to help Auron. He looked for a tree to rest his brother. Auron moved close to the thief. The thief slashed his short sword but only hit empty space. However, Auron had moved to the side and attack from the side. The thief had a quick reaction and blocked the attack with his short sword. However, a [Fire Bolt] suddenly came and targeted his leg. The thief''s leg was burned by the [Fire Bolt]. However, his suffering didn''t end there. An [Ice Bolt] from Semial''s brother hit his back. Fortunately, the thief was wearing a full light armor. However, the [Ice Bolt] still pushed him forward towards Auron, who was already waiting to attack him again. Another stab was aimed at the thief''s right hand, which was used to hold the short sword. As the dagger pierces through the thief''s arm, he lost the grip to his short sword and dropped it to the ground. Auron didn''t waste any more time and attack the thief''s neck. The thief breathed his last breath before he fell down to the ground dead. After the thief died, Auron immediately went over to Semial''s brother and gave a potion for his brother. Although Semial still unconscious, but from his condition, he had escaped death. Seeing his brother was saved, Semial''s brother thanked Auron, "Thank you for your help!" Auron only replied with a nodded and asked, "How are the goods?" Semial''s brother looked at Auron with a dejected expression and shook his head. With that, Auron knew that the goods could not be saved. It was already fortunate that the two of them could still escape from the escape. Chapter 304 - Trito (1) Semial''s brother, Remus, told the story of how they survived. His brother had already tried their best to fence off the enemies. However, the enemies were too many. Moreover, the enemies were not as weak as they had thought. The battles started to go south went Semial could not hold much more. He killed many enemies, but, at the same time, he also received many injuries. Seeing that the situation didn''t turn right, the other guards started to escape. Remus also urged his brother to escape. However, his brother was stubborn and didn''t want to leave. In the end, Remus had to make him unconscious. With the help of the injuries, Semial could not hold his brother''s surprise attack and fell unconscious. His brother swiftly piggybacked him and ran away. Fortunately, the enemies more concerned about the goods rather than them. So, the enemies only dispatched two pursuers, which Auron had killed. "So, what now?" Auron was confused at what he had to do right now. Remus also confused to find out for the answer. He tried thinking hard. However, before Remus could answer, Semial made a sound. Both Auron and Remus looked at Semial and saw that Semial was beginning to regain his consciousness. "Where is this?" A few seconds later, Semial asked weakly. "It is alright. We are somewhere safe." Remus answered his brother. "What about the goods and our members?" Semial asked. However, Remus changed the topic and said, "You need to rest to recover. Get some rest, we will talk about it after you are healed." The weak Semial fallen asleep once again. However, a stream of tears showed in both of his eyes. He was not a kid anymore, so he knew the answer from his brother''s response. A few hours later, the morning came, Semial also woke up feeling better than before. He looked at his brother and Auron. Then, although he already knew the answer, he wanted to know the full story. Remus told his brother what happened until they met Auron. In the end, Semial sighed dejectedly. He said, "I want to see the place." Semial wanted to see where they were being raid. Auron and Remus thought that it was already morning, so the bandit would not camp there and wait for them. After thinking that it was safe enough, they also agreed with Semial''s request. The three of them went back to the place where they were being raid. A trace of bloody battles could be seen here. There was blood and corpses all over the areas. All of the Insanity Gang''s members had died with no one survived. There was also no trace of the goods. There was only the horse''s corpse, which was used to pull the cart. Semial cried out loud, seeing the corpse of his comrade. Seeing such a scene, although Auron was not received well by the gang, he could feel the loss that Semial felt. A few minutes later, Semial had finished crying. He had to let go of the death. Then, with Remus help, Semial stood up and said to Auron, "Thank you for your help. But, I think this is where we have to part ways." "Here, take this! You can exchange this with the promised payment at the town." Semial gave Auron his proof so Auron could take his payment. However, Auron refused to receive the payment and gave it back to Semial. He didn''t want to hear of Semial''s rambling. So, he immediately used [Return Scroll] to go back. Meanwhile, after getting refused by Auron, Semial wanted to chase him and insisted Auron to take the payment. However, Auron ignored Semial and kept moving on. In the end, Semial gave up and kept it for himself. Then, he went to help his brother to bury Insanity Gang''s members. Auron arrived at his last save point. Right now, he had to think another way to complete his spy mission. However, after a few minutes of thinking, he could not find any. In the end, Auron decided to go to Mischelvin first. However, before going to Mischelvin, Auron didn''t forget to report his status back to the military base. He told the complete stories about how he fought inside the Dark Cave until he had to escape due to the bandit''s raid. He didn''t forget to tell that someone was paying the bandit to raid their goods. It took Auron almost an hour to report because he had to report in detail. After finishing his report, Auron was in front of the teleportation gate and ready to go to the Mischelvin. A few seconds later, Auron had arrived at Mischelvin. After stepping out from the teleportation gate, Auron heard a loud voice. An old man was angry and rampaging everything. In front of the old man, two younger men lower their heads didn''t dare to look at the man''s eyes. It was Semial and Remus. The place where they had to deliver the goods was near the teleportation gate. After the products were being stolen, Semial and Remus took the responsibility to report it to the one who gave them the mission. "Don''t you know who the owner of the goods was? I hire you because you said you were the best, but look at this!!" The old man raged. The old man was the owner of the goods. He had hired Insanity Gang to deliver the goods to him. He intended to sell the products to the others. And now, behind him, there was the buyer for the goods. However, the goods were missing. What should he say to the buyer that had been waiting? That was why the old man was very furious knowing the goods had been stolen. Moreover, he had lost face in front of the buyer. After vent out his anger at Semial and Remus, the old man was panting. Seeing angry would not solve the problem, the old man went to the buyer and said to him politely, "Sorry, town''s head, It looked like the goods were being stolen. We will compensate you fairly!" It turned out the buyer was Trito, the town''s head. Chapter 305 - Trito (2) Trito, with a darkened face, went closer to the old man. He faced the old man and furiously said, "How can you!!! I have wasted my time coming here, and you simply say that the goods were stolen?" "Also, what about my down payment?" The old man tried to appease Trito, "Sorry, town''s head. I have paid a lot to hire a reputable mercenaries." The old man looked at Semial and his brother, "Who knows it turned out to be a fake." Then, the old man turned back again and faced Trito, "How about this? I will return the down payment. Double!" Trito looked at the old man intensively. After a few seconds, he said, "Okay, fine! As you are one of my townfolks and I don''t want to celebrate upon you misfortune, I will take your offer." "Thank you... Thank you..." The old man hurriedly thanked Trito, afraid of him changing his mind. "Let''s leave," Trito commanded his guards behind him and left the place. At the door, he turned back and said to the old man, "I hope you didn''t make the same mistake." "Sure... Sure... Thank you for your graciousness." The old man kept bowing and thanked Trito. After the old man settled his business with Trito, now, it was time for him to settle his business with the root of the cause, Semial and his brother. "So, how will you compensate my loss?" The old man didn''t dilly dally and directly asked Semial and his brother. "We will compensate for all the goods as well as the down payment." Semial also directly said. Meanwhile, Remus, who heard his brother''s intentions, looked at his brother. He wanted to say something, but he canceled his thought. This would cost them a lot. It could even break them up. However, his brother had said it, and there was no turning back. "It looks like you are not a retard. Look here!" The old man took a piece of paper and began to elaborate on the cost. After elaborating on all of the expenses, he calculated all the costs and showed it to Semial. "Here, can you pay this amount?" The old man aggressively asked Semial. Looking at the numbers, Semial frowned. It was not because they could not pay the price. However, it was because the goods'' price was higher than the market''s price. Seeing Semial frowned, the old man knew what Semial had thought and only said one sentence, "At least, you have to compensate for my loss of face." Hearing that Remus triggered, he wanted to punch the old man in the face. However, Semial quickly stopped him, "Yes, that what we also thought. Here''s the money!" "Hmph... At least, you still have your conscience." The old man signed a piece of paper and gave it to Semial. Then, he left the place without even thanking Semial. Receiving the paper, Semial sighed. He looked at his brother with a dejected expression. They had spent almost all of their fortune on this. Auron had looked at how things turned out from the side. He felt pity towards Semial and Remus. However, it was not because they had been ripped off by the old man. But, it was because he knew that this was the end of Semial and Remus''s careers as mercenaries. This line of career was very harsh. They didn''t care how great you were. It only took one big mistake to destroy you. However, Auron still respect Semial''s choice. At least, he still wanted to take the responsibility. In fact, Semial had two options. He could report back to the one giving them mission and took the responsibility like they already did, or they could just leave everything and ran away. Although he had to pay a sum of fortune, at least, he still could roaming around the city and town. If he chose the latter option, they would become a fugitive and could not wander around the city or town. Right now, with the signed paper, they had settled their issues with their employee, and they could still enter the town and city. However, Auron knew although their issues had been settled, but they still lost their jobs. Nobody would trust a mercenary group that had failed miserably. But, what''s done had already been done. They could do nothing about it. Auron went closer to Semial and Remus and greeted them, "Hey, we meet again." Semial and Remus looked at the one who greeted them and found Auron, "Hey, what are you doing here?" Semial also followed with, "Do you really don''t want to accept your payment?" Auron said, "No need, I have seen what happened just now. I believe you need that money more than I do." Just like Auron had said, they really need the money, so they kept the money. They didn''t forget to thank Auron, "Thank you!" "So, what are you gonna do right now?" Auron asked. Semial and Remus looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. They didn''t have any plans yet. "I need your help!" Auron said. "Do you know someone who had been living here for long enough?" Auron directly asked Semial and Remus. However, Semial and Remus was not local here. So, they didn''t know anyone else besides their former employer, the old man. "Well... We only knew the old man. However, as you can see previously, it would rather be awkward for us to introduce you." "Yeah, you are right. Do you know where he lives? I will think of a way to start a conversation with him." Auron didn''t give up. Semial and Remus were confused. They didn''t know why Auron really need to be introduced with a local here. However, as he had helped them a lot, they told Auron the old man''s address. Semial and Remus felt awkward. They were Auron''s superior before. But, now, they became Auron''s helper. However, they didn''t mind at all. After all, without Auron''s help, they would have already been dead. Chapter 306 - Lost Goods (1) Semial told Auron where the old man''s house located. He also didn''t forget to tell Auron about the old man''s character. Although he only met the old man for not a long time, Semial could see the old man''s character. First, the old man was stingy. So, if you asked him about something that related to money, it would be tough for you to get what you wanted. Second, the old man was always bringing up other people''s mistakes. Especially if it came to negotiation, he would always bring up your past mistake to win the negotiation. Third, if he was in a bad mood, then it would last long, and everything would be impacted. So, if you wanted something, it would be better to avoid when the old man was in a bad mood. Auron took note of the top three of the old man''s worst character. Then, Auron bade Semial a farewell and went to the old man''s house. Near the old man''s house, Auron stopped and pondering. Should he asked the old man right now? The old man should be in a bad mood right now because of the last incident. However, Semial had compensated him, and it seems he was happy with the compensation. Auron was in a dilemma. He decided to move closer to the house and checked the old man''s condition first. When Auron near the old man''s house, he heard the old man''s laugh. It seems the old man was not in a bad mood. Auron tried to peek once more and saw another man was inside the house. It turned out the old man was receiving a guest in his home. Not long after, the old man''s guards spotted Auron acting suspiciously and questioned him, "What are you doing here?" "I was looking at the situation. I want to meet the old man. However, from what I heard before, he was in a bad mood. But, I think I was wrong, right?" Auron answered truthfully. "Why do you need to meet him?" The guards still wary of Auron since Auron''s appearance was not a good guy''s appearance. "I heard he was the number one businessman in this town. I have an inquiry for him." Auron was making up an excuse. The guards frowned. They felt that Auron was a liar. However, their boss had told them that any business inquiry should be treated carefully. As Auron didn''t run away or looked like have bad intentions, the guards looked at each other and nodded. One of the guards told Auron, "Wait here! I will tell the boss first!" Then, the same guards went inside the house and whispered something to the old man''s ear. The old man took a peek outside of the house and saw Auron. Then, he whispered something back to the guard and continued his conversation. The guard exited the house and told Auron, "Boss was in a deep conversation with the guest and didn''t want to be disturbed. Come back tomorrow! However, if your matter really urgent, then you can wait here until he is done." Auron frowned. He could not wait until tomorrow. Auron raked up his brain and came up with an idea, "I accidentally heard the old man''s lost his goods. I was a tracker, and I could try to find the old man''s goods for a sum of money." "Passed this message to him. If he decided to wait until tomorrow, then it is his turn to look for me, and maybe everything will not go as smoothly as today." Auron smiled. The same guard went inside the house once again. Once again, He interrupted the conversation and whispered to the old man''s ears. Hearing the message, the old man frowned. Then, he left his message to the guard and continued his conversation with the guest. The guard exited the house and invited Auron in. The old man was greedy. So, when Auron told him that he could find the lost goods, his money thought conquered his mind. He had been significantly compensated, and if he could retrieve his lost goods, then he would have a double profit. That was why he decided to invite Auron in. The guard knocked the door once again and went inside with Auron behind him. Auron went inside the house and looked at the old man. The old man introduced Auron to the guest, "Come in! Come in! Let me introduce you. This is someone I hired to look for the lost goods." Auron looked at the guest, and he was surprised. It was Trito. Hearing that Auron was a tracker, Trito frowned for a brief before he went back to his amicable appearance. "Oh, hello. What a surprise! Are you a capable tracker?" Trito asked Auron. Auron answered, "I don''t know whether I am considered capable or not since I only handle five cases so far. However, from those five cases, all the missing things were found." "Oh, only five cases so far. I thought you were an expert that had already handled more than hundreds of cases." Trito said to Auron mockingly. Auron shrugged his shoulder, "Well, even for an expert, he must have been through five cases. There is no harm to try. After all, you only pay me when the lost goods are found." Trito faced went dark. He stood up and said to the old man, "It looks like you have a more important matter right now. Let us continue our conversation next time." "You don''t need to see me out," Trito added. When he walked passed Auron, he looked at Auron and warned him, "You better be careful to not poke a hornet''s nest." Then, Trito exited the house. Auron felt confused with Trito and asked the old man, "Why did he threaten me?" The old man laughed and said to Auron, "Don''t mind him. It was already his nature when someone talked back to him impolitely." "Forget about him. Now, let us talk about our business. Do you really can find my lost goods?" Chapter 307 - Lost Goods (2) "Of course! If I am not confident, why would I come to you!" Auron stated confidently. "Great! Then, go find my goods!" The old man excitedly command. "Not so fast! Don''t we have to talk about my remunerations and other things?" "First of all, my responsibility is only limited to locate the lost goods and give the place to you. Whether you can retrieve the goods back or not, it is up to you." Auron started to stated his demand. "Second, I wanted 10% of your goods. Of course, if I fail this mission, you don''t need to pay me. Give me three days." "That''s all from my end." The old man''s frowned when he heard Auron''s demand. 10% of the goods were not small. However, he could still give it up. After all, he had made Semial and Remus paid a considerable sum of money above the market price. What became the old man''s concern was the retrieve part. To retrieve the lost goods, he had to hire another group of mercenaries. It would cost another money. Moreover, he still didn''t know the bandit''s strength. The old man pondered seriously. Should he hired Auron or not. He said to Auron, "Let me think first, can you wait?" "No problem, but you must be quick. Well, I don''t mind waiting. But I don''t think your goods can wait for you." Auron said causally. The old man went inside a room and left Auron waiting outside. Auron was so relaxed. He looked Auron the old man''s house and saw some of his photos. It was because from what he had said, Auron didn''t lose anything at all, even he failed. At most, he only wasted three days. However, if he succeeds, not only he would gain 10% of the lost goods, but he could win the old man''s favor. He believed that as a businessman and a local here, the old man would know a lot of things that happened here. Not long after, the old man got out of the room and said to Auron, "I can accept your conditions. But, I want it to be done in one and a half days instead of three days." It was Auron''s turn to ponder. Finally, he said, "Okay, fine. One and a half days. However, I need a helper. And, you are the one that is paying." Auron stated. The old man frowned once again, "Why don''t we use my guards? I have several of them that can be used." "I don''t mind using them. But, do they know who stole the goods or recognize any of the bandits?" Auron asked back to the old man. "We need to hire the one who knows about it. Since you get the report that your goods were lost, then there must be someone that reports it. We are going to hire that person. And, you are the one who will pay it." The old man frowned once again, "No way! If you succeed, then I could divide the cost 50 - 50. But, if you failed, then I didn''t want to pay anything more." Auron shrugged and said, "Okay, 50 - 50." "Let''s get started. Do you know where the person who reported the missing goods located?" Auron pretended not to know anything about Semial and Remus. The old man clapped his hands, and two guards enter the house. "Go, find the two people from before, and bring them here." Ten minutes later, the guards came back with two additional two people, Semial and Remus. Both of them came here with a darkened expression. Semial started to ask first, "What happened, old man? We have paid you, and our matters have been resolved. Why you look for us again?" "Calm down. Why don''t you listen to me first." The old man said. "I called you here because I want to hire you. Your task is to help this gentleman to track back my lost goods. Of course, I will pay you up." The old man smiled. Semial and Remus just realized the guest that the old man had mentioned. Both of them looked at the guest, and they were surprised. Before both of them could say anything, Auron stood up and said, "Hello, I am Savage Sickle. Nice to meet you!" Auron pretended not to know Semial and Remus. He also didn''t forget to wink at them to tell them to play along with him. Semial and Remus caught Auron''s wink and knew what he means. Both of them introduced themselves, "Hello, I am Semial. Nice to meet you too!" "I am Remus. Nice to meet you!" Semial and Remus didn''t know what will happen. But, since they saw Auron here, they calmed down and said back to the old man, "Why us? Didn''t we have lost your goods." Semial played dumb. The old man replied, "Actually, I also don''t want to hire you. But, as you are the only one who had seen the goods, I have no other choice but to hire you." Semial asked once again, "What will we get for helping you?" "I will pay each of you for this amount, xxxxx," The old man said. The old man mentioned quite a significant sum of money for Semial and Remus. It was considered significant because Semial and Remus had failed miserably once, and they should not get that amount of money. The old man confidently said that the amount of money since he was not the one who paid if the mission failed. Even if it was a success, he would only pay half of it. However, he didn''t mention anything about the division of the cost. Meanwhile, Auron also didn''t mind that amount of money and just stayed quiet. Seeing that Auron was quiet, the old man smiled and wait for Semial''s response. "Okay, we accept the offer." "Great!" Auron immediately interrupted the conversation before anyone could say anything more. "We will get going immediately!" Auron brought Semial and Remus outside the house and left the old man alone. Chapter 308 - Missing Clue (1) Meanwhile, at another place when Semial and Remus met Auron, a man was sitting on a chair relaxed. A few seconds later, a maid went inside and informed, "Someone is looking for you." "Let him in." The man, who was sitting on the chair, said. The maid nodded and called the guest, who was looking for the man. A scary-looking man went inside the room and directly said, "Why are you looking for me, boss?" "Where are the goods?" "We already kept it somewhere safe. We intended to keep it for another two days before we started selling it in the town." "Increase the guards for the next two days. Also, clear all the track that could lead to you." The scary-looking man frowned and asked, "What happened?" "A self-proclaimed tracker went to the goods'' owner and offered his help to track his lost goods. Just to be safe, clear all clues that can lead to us. And, if you meet with the tracker, you can kill him. Remember, don''t attract too much attention!" The man, who was sitting on the chair, warned. "Relax, our place is secure. And, I have clear all the clues that could lead to us long way before you warned us." "Just checked it one more time. I don''t want any mistake to occur and ruin our plan." The man commanded. "Fine... Fine... I will check it one more time." The scary-looking man accepted the command and left the room. After the scary-looking man left the room, the man, who was sitting on the chair, stood up. He walked to the window and looked outside with his hands clasped behind his back. If Auron was here, he would recognize this man. It was Trito, the town''s head. At Auron''s place, he just exited the old man''s house along with Semial and Remus. They walked further away from the old man''s home. "Thank you." Semial thanked Auron first. "I knew you do this to help us." Semial continued. However, Auron refused and explained, "You don''t need to thank me. I do this for my own, and coincidentally, I can help you use this chance to help you." "However, all of this would be for naught if we are failed," Auron explained, followed by Semial and Remus nodded. Auron deliberately didn''t explain that he would be the one who was going to pay them if they failed. "So, what''s our plan?" Remus asked. "First, We have to come back to where the goods were being stolen. Then, we will determine our actions from there." Auron said. "Agree. We have to move fast since we don''t have much time." Semial urged the group. With everyone agreed, the three of them went to the place where the goods were being stolen. They went to the teleportation portal and went to the nearest town where the incident took place. From that town, they walked for another 10 minutes before they arrived at the location. "Search for the clues! Any little information would help." Auron declared. The search started to begin. It was a massive place for three people. All three of them looked carefully without missing anything. It took more than two hours for the three of them to scour all of the place. Unfortunately, they didn''t find any single clue that could be used. The three of them met once again at the place where Auron saved Semial and Remus. Semial and Remus shook their heads, indicating that they found nothing. Auron sighed. He also didn''t find any single clue. "What should we do now?" Semial dejectedly said. Before Auron could answer the question, he heard a conversation going on. Immediately, Auron told Semial and Remus to hide. Three men were conversing with each other. "Why the boss told us to do this? Didn''t we have already clean the area." The first man asked. The second man shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don''t know." "Just do what we are told to do!" The third man reprimanded the other two. The three men arrived at the place where Auron saved Semial and Remus. The third man commanded, "Scour the area! Don''t let any information left behind." With that command, the three men started to scour the area and looked for anything that could become a clue. After five minutes, the three of them concluded that the area was clean. No hint that led to them could be found. "It is clean. No track of us." The first man said. "Okay, let us went back and report." The third man declared. Meanwhile, Auron, Semial, and Remus saw the entire situation that happened in front of them. It turned out that the three men in front of them belonged to the bandit''s group. Moreover, they were diligently erased all the trace that could lead to them. Auron, Semial, and Remus had the same thought. They looked at each other and nodded. Since they could not find any clue, this was their last opportunity. They had to capture at least one of them and interrogate them. When the three bandits were about to leave, Auron''s group started to attack. A [Fire Bolt] flown to one of the bandits. The surprise attack took the bandits off guard. Unfortunately, their reaction was quick. They took out their weapon and deflected the [Fire Bolt]. The three bandits immediately took a fighting position. "Who are you? Don''t be a sissy and came out! A sneak attack like this could not kill us!" The third bandit shouted. There was no response to his shouts. The third bandit looked at the other two and pointed out the direction where the [Fire Bolt] came. The three bandits moved slowly towards their destination while keeping their guards up. Unfortunately, when they arrived at their destination, they found nothing. Another [Fire Bolt] came out from another direction. Since the three bandits had kept their guards up, they quickly blocked the [Fire Bolt]. "Come out, you chicken!!!" The third bandit shouted. The other two bandits also shouted their own mocking. Chapter 309 - Missing Clue (2) The three bandits consist of two thieves and a swordsman. The third bandit, who was a swordsman, shouted, "Fight like a brave man, you coward!" The third bandit was very furious about this sneak attack. As the leader out of the three bandits, he commanded the other two, "Maintain your vigilance. Don''t let the enemy take you down!" Another [Fire Bolt] made way to the three bandits. However, as the bandits already knew they were under attack, they were very alert. It was difficult to take down an alerted enemy from far away. With no choice, Semial came out and showed himself. He was the only melee among Auron''s group. However, he was still far away from the three bandits'' location. The third bandit also saw Semial showed himself. So, he came up with a plan and whispered to the other two. He had to take a safety measure since the mage didn''t come out. The three bandits slowly move to Semial''s location while Semial just stood there waiting for the enemy to come. Another [Ice Bolt] came and deflected by the enemies easily. When the three bandits almost arrived at Semial''s location, a shadow came out from behind a tree nearby and attacked them. As soon as this shadow came out, Semial also got into action. He charged towards the three bandits. The three bandits stopped moving and raised their weapons. The third bandit who was the only swordsman faced up against Semial''s charge and blocked the attack. The shadow took out a dagger and slashed towards the nearby enemy. However, the second bandit had aware of the shadow''s action and used his dagger to block the attack. Both of the attack was blocked entirely by the third bandit and the second bandit. Meanwhile, the first bandit didn''t prevent any attack had looked at the shadow''s direction. As the shadow''s attack was blocked by the second bandit, the first bandit wanted to aid. He attacked the shadow. However, before his attack arrived at the shadow, the shadow launched a [Fire Ball] towards him in a close range. The first bandit caught off guard. He thought that the shadow was a thief. He never thought that it was a mage. With his reflexes, he quickly raised his dagger in front of him to block the spell. The spell hit his weapon. However, [Fire Ball] was an explosive spell. Moreover, it was launched in such a close range. Although the spell was blocked, the first bandit got blown by the spell. A surprised look was shown in the first bandit''s face. Although he was caught off guard, but as a professional, he would not give up that easily. He already thought of a plan to join hand with the second bandit to pressure the mage. However, before he could land appropriately on the ground, a spell hit him from behind. The impact made him fell forward. It was the spell from Remus, who was still hiding. Auron saw this and ignored the second bandit. He immediately went to the first bandit who was fallen on the ground. The second bandit was stupefied with the sudden course of action. He chased Auron. However, he was already one step behind Auron. Auron already took a posture to stab his dagger downward to the first bandit. The second bandit shouted over, "Dodge!" Auron had stabbed downward. The first bandit who was on the ground rolled over because of the second bandit''s warning. Auron''s dagger only managed to graze his arm. Meanwhile, the second bandit also slashed his dagger towards Auron. Fortunately, Remus was aware and backed Auron up. When Auron went over to the first bandit and was being chased by the second bandit, Remus already chanted his spell and aimed the second bandit. That was why when the second bandit''s attack almost reached Auron, a spell was already coming towards him. He had to choose whether to continue to attack Auron and got hit by the spell or blocked the spell and let Auron go. In such a difficult choice, the second bandit''s natural instinct chose it for him. He had to protect himself first. So, he stopped attacking Auron and went into a defensive position. He managed to block the spell in exchange of Auron got away. Auron distanced himself from the two bandits. The first bandit who was lying on the ground, had already stood up and joined the fight. Meanwhile, at Semial''s place, he was fighting intensively against the third bandit. Actually, Semial was slightly stronger than the third bandit. However, the difference was not that wide. Moreover, the third bandit showed all that he got to try to keep up with Semial. As a result, Semial had a difficult time shaking off the third bandit to help Auron and Remus. Fortunately, when he looked at Auron''s side, it seems both Auron and Remus had a better position. This made him felt relaxed and could focus more on his battle. Back at Auron''s side, he was facing two bandits in front of him. A mage against two thieves. However, the two thieves didn''t dare to act recklessly because they knew there was another mage hiding nearby. The two thieves looked at each other, and with a nodded, they moved into action. Both of the thieves split themselves and attack from Auron''s left and right side. Since the thieves could not see the hiding mage, they had no choice but to attack what was in front of them. However, they also didn''t want to attack blindly; that was why they split. Auron had no intention to wait for the enemies to gang upon him. He had to choose one of the incoming enemies. Both of the thieves almost had the same power. So, whether Auron chose the right one or the left one, there weren''t that many differences. Auron decided to choose the second bandit who was coming from his right. Seeing that Auron choose the right side, Remus didn''t stay silent. He chanted an [Earth Wall] and blocked the first bandit''s path to Auron. Chapter 310 - Missing Clue (3) [Earth Wall] rose up from the ground and blocked the first bandit''s path. He had to make a detour or break the wall. Each option had its pros and cons. If the first bandit chose to take a detour, it would take a few more steps to get to the other side. Meanwhile, if he decided to break the wall, it would take another few seconds to break the barrier. Moreover, the mage, who was hiding, could aim him when he broke the wall. Considering all of its pros and cons, in the end, he chose to make a detour. When the first bandit arrived at the other side of the wall, Auron had already gone to the other side. The first bandit didn''t have any choice but to continue chasing Auron. Meanwhile, Auron had already gone into battle against the second bandit. The second bandit had took out his dagger. In response to that, Auron also took out not only his dagger but also preparing his spell. The second bandit was the one who initiated the first attack. He took out his dagger and used a thief''s skill, [Dark Modification]. A black aura was seeped out from the dagger''s hilt and covered all over the dagger. Not only that, the black aura was actually longer than the original dagger. It was a unique thief skill that was used to surprise the enemy. It made the thief''s attack range became longer due to the black aura. The thief''s attack range became as long as a standard sword for 5 minutes. Not only that, but the black aura also gave the dagger a paralyzing effect. So, when an enemy was slashed by the dagger, even though it was only a graze, the enemy would be paralyzed for less than a second. However, the dagger had to contact with the enemy''s skin to get the paralyze effect. This was a must-have skill for a thief. Even if you had to spend an enormous amount of money, you must have this skill. Of course, it was easier said than the reality. The drop rate of the skill was very low. So, it became expensive. Unfortunately, the skill also depended on the skill''s level. A level 1 [Dark Modification] gave the thief 5 minutes durations, but it had 48 hours of cooldown. For each subsequent level, it would reduce the cooldown. This long cooldown made the skill became a secret weapon during the battle. If it used correctly, then a lower level thief could kill a higher level enemies easily. Seeing the [Dark Modification] skill, Auron didn''t back out. However, he had to change his original plan. Even though both of their weapons were a dagger. But, due to the skill, the second bandit''s dagger had a longer attack range. Auron launched the spell first and took a sharp sidestep. Using the spell as a cover, he went forward and attacked the bandit from the side. The second bandit had to deal with the spell first. Using his enhanced dagger, the bandit blocked the spell. And, with quick reflexes, he had changed his focus to Auron, who was coming from his side. Auron had arrived beside the bandit to launch the surprise attack. However, Auron''s dagger was blocked by the second bandit''s dagger. The battle continued with the Auron chanting a spell. However, before he could launch the spell, he had to dodge the second bandit''s retaliation attack first. If Auron was a swordsman or merchant who could use heavy armor, he could use his armor to receive the attack. However, Auron was using his mage character right now. A mage could only use a cloth type armor. So, against the [Dark Modification] skill, he had to avoid it since the dagger could slash through his cloth armor. The second bandit slashed vertically towards Auron with all of his might. Auron raised his dagger horizontally and blocked the incoming slash. The slash''s power was a little bit powerful that made Auron used extra power. Seeing the slash was blocked, the second bandit changed his posture and took a thrust posture. Using the enhanced dagger, he thrust his dagger to Auron. Auron saw the attack coming and made a prevention. He jumped to the side and counter-attack. However, Auron shorter range made him had to go forward a little bit before his dagger could reach the bandit. And, that step forward gave the enemy time to react. The enemy also jumped back to dodge Auron''s attack. However, Auron''s offense didn''t stop right there. He was a mage. The one that supposed to be feared was not his physical attack but his magical attack. Auron launched [Fire Bolt] in close range. The bandit raised his dagger in front of him. Unfortunately, Auron didn''t aim his body. Instead, Auron aimed at his leg who was uncovered by the dagger. The [Fire Bolt] burned the bandit''s leg. However, Auron didn''t stop right there. With the bandit took a hit, he used his dagger to push his advantages, a stab to the bandit''s lower right stomach. The pain in the bandit''s leg made his reaction a little bit dull. He could not react to Auron''s dagger in time and got stab cleanly by Auron''s dagger. Seeing that he was out of options, instead of escape, the bandit return Auron''s attack immediately without minding his injuries. Auron had been aware of the bandit''s attack. He tried his best to jump to the side to dodge the attack. However, he was too close to the bandit. Moreover, the bandit''s attack range had been enhanced by the [Dark Modification]. Auron had been grazed by the tip of the black aura. He immediately felt the paralyzed effect took place. Although it was only less than one second, but it was enough to cancel his movement. Moreover, it also made his [Walking Chanting] skill failed and damaged him. The second bandit''s attack took a little bit of Auron''s health. However, the failure of [Walking Chanting] took way more health than the bandit''s attack. Fortunately, despite the damage, Auron was still in a way better condition than the bandit. Chapter 311 - Missing Clue (4) Auron gulped a health potion and tried to attack the second bandit. However, the first bandit had arrived at the battle scene. He immediately attacked Auron. However, before the attack could land on Auron, a [Fire Bolt] hit him first. It was Remus'' [Fire Bolt]. The impact made the first bandit limped over a little bit before he could regain his balance. Auron realized this. He canceled his thought to attack the second bandit and changed to attack the first bandit. Auron moved and stabbed the first bandit. The first bandit just regained his balance when Auron''s attack was about to arrive at him. He hurriedly blocked the attack with his dagger. The attack was blocked. However, Auron also threw his spell to the first bandit. Unfortunately, the first bandit was not ready with this spell. He got hit cleanly at the face. The first bandit fell down on the ground. He held his face and rolling over in pain. He was in a lot of pain due to the spell. Auron didn''t stop right there. He wanted to finish the first bandit. Auron took a posture to stab the first bandit who was on the ground. The second bandit saw this and tried to stop Auron, but he was a step late. Auron stabbed the first bandit''s stomach. The first bandit jerked, and a few seconds later, his body twitched lifelessly. The second bandit saw the first bandit had died. However, he didn''t drown in sadness. Instead, rage and fury filled his head. He slashed Auron in full power. Auron was occupied with the thought of killing the first bandit. When the second bandit attacked him, he was a step late to dodge the attack completely. The second bandit''s attack wounded Auron''s right shoulder. A paralyzing effect immediately stopped his action for a bit. The second bandit had already ready with his second attack. Fortunately, Auron still had Remus, who helped him. Before the second bandit''s second attack could hit Auron, a spell hit the second bandit first. Auron also helped by kicking the second bandit''s leg really hard. The second bandit fell down to the ground. Auron immediately stood up and made some distance from the second bandit. At the same time, a loud shout rang out in the area. It was the third bandit''s shout who was fighting against Semial. Semial finally took the third bandit down. The third bandit had cut all over his body. Moreover, there was a big sword hole in the third bandit''s chest. It was the wound that killed him. The third bandit slumped down lifelessly. Although Semial won the battle, he also didn''t leave unscathed. He got a wound on his left arm and right leg. Due to that, he was walking limping towards Auron''s location. The second bandit also heard the shout of his leader. He looked over to find that his leader had died. With the wound he had, he knew that he could not escape death. So, before Auron and his friend could do anything to him, he committed suicide. This suicide ends the battle that had been going on. All of the bandits'' corpse immediately disappeared. And, from the second bandit''s location, there was a badge. Semial and Remus, who was an NPC, didn''t wonder about the missing corpse. It was because the game had altered their mind to find that such a disappearing body was common. Auron went over and took the badge. This was actually a quest item. As a player, he had been guided by the system through the quest. Previously, when he was in the old man''s house and stated his intention to look for the missing goods, the system created him a quest. The quest told him to go to this place and search for a clue. Surprisingly, after searching for more than half an hour, he could not find any clue. This left him confused because the quest didn''t say any exact detail. Fortunately, when he was about to left the place, he met with these three bandits. Auron immediately knew that these three bandits were related to the quest. And, just as Auron had thought, when he picked the badge, his quest was updated. The update quest told him to inquire about this badge from the adventurer association in Mischelvin. With a new lead, Auron prepared to use [Return Scroll]. He didn''t forget to give Semial and Remus a heads up about where he was going. A few seconds later, Auron, Semial, and Remus came out of the teleportation gate in Mischelvin. Since time was ticking, they didn''t dare to dilly dally and directly went to the adventurer association. The adventurer association in Mischelvin was bustling with activities. It was because Mischelvin was a first-rate town that was about to upgrade to a city. Auron arrived at the adventurer association and went to the front desk. He put the badge at the table and said, "Tell me everything you know about this insignia." Auron didn''t forget to put some money besides the insignia. The office clerk looked at the badge and the money. Then, he said, "It was not enough. You need to double the amount." Auron was shocked to hear that. Usually, a normal inquiry would only cost this much. When the amount was doubled, then it means the information was a secret or was involved in a bigger situation. However, to finish this quest, Auron didn''t negotiate at all and just took out the necessary amount. The clerk accepted the money and gave Auron a piece of paper with information inside. Taking the piece of paper, Auron and his group went outside of the adventurer association before reading the content. After reading the content, Auron was shocked by the information. It was said that the badge belonged to the one and only bandit''s group around this area. And, what shocked Auron more was there was a rumor around that the leader of the bandit''s group was Trito, the town''s head. However, there was no proof of Trito involvement with the bandit''s group. Chapter 312 - Bandits Hideout (1) Auron frowned as well as Semial and Remus. This news was very shocking to them. However, they tried to compose themselves. After all, everything was still a rumor. Auron thought for a minute, "Maybe, there is a link between the military''s suspicion with the rumor about Trito involvement with the bandit group." "No... No... No... That is too far. Right now, I should prove the rumor first. Even though there is no link with the possible rebellion, but it was enough to punish Trito." Auron looked at Semial and Remus and said, "Let''s go and check the places." Inside the piece of paper, there was also information about the possible hideout of the bandit. This hideout information was actually not a secret. You could pick a native a.d.u.l.t here and ask about this matter easily. There were several places in the piece of paper. Actually, it was just a deduction from the bandit''s operational behavior. Actually, the rumor about Trito''s involvement with the bandit group started from this matter. It was because the bandit group appeared so suddenly. It was like they came from nothing and appeared at their places. With the sudden bandit appearance, the town''s villager began to feel insecure. When the insecurity level was climbing, Trito started to act. He commanded the town''s guards to eradicate the bandit. From that expedition, the town''s guards had brought out several corpses and showed it to the villagers. They claimed that the bandits had been killed. The villagers cheered up. However, two days later, the bandit group appeared once more. The villagers started to feel insecure once again. Then, Trito stated that a new bandit group had appeared and started another expedition to clear the bandit. These incidents repeated for more than three times. At the fourth incident, a villager braved himself and reported it to the military''s branch at the nearby town. The military acted swiftly, the next day, the military had sent a group of soldiers to help the town. Unfortunately, after three days of patrolling the area and searching the places, there was no sign of any bandits at all. This sudden disappearance was really weird. Moreover, the soldiers had tried to disguise themselves as a traveling merchant, but it was futile. What made this more unbelievable was after the soldiers were pulled back, the bandit started to appear once more. From that point, the rumor about Trito''s involvement in the bandit group appeared. However, none of them dared to accuse someone without any proof. Moreover, their suspect had a higher status level than them. The military also didn''t want to let this situation. That was why they sent the military''s intelligence division to find the proof. Hence, Auron was assigned to this mission. 10 places were stated in the piece of paper. Auron, Semial, and Remus started to visit each of the locations. The first place, no sign of bandits. It was also the same for the second and third place. At the fourth location, Auron and his group met with a bandit group that was in the middle of raiding a traveling merchant. There were 8 of the bandit who was raiding a group of 5. The traveling merchant had hire 4 mercenaries to protect him. He also deliberately walked in a small group to avoid bringing any attention. However, who knows that the bandit still got to them. Fortunately, Auron and his group saw this. The three of them went and helped the traveling merchant group. They worked together with the traveling merchant''s mercenaries and fought against the bandit. At first, the bandit acted c.o.c.kily. Not only, they had stolen the merchant''s belonging, but they also bully the merchant''s group. However, Auron and his group came to the rescue. The sudden surprise attack made the bandit caught off guard. They immediately lost two of their members from the surprise attack. With the situation turned around, the bandit tried to escape. However, Auron''s group had worked together with the merchant''s mercenaries. They managed to capture three bandits, killed two bandits, and the last bandit managed to escape. Auron had wanted to interrogate the three bandits. However, shockingly, the three bandits committed suicide by killing each other using their hidden weapon. As they lost their newly found lead, Auron and his group could only continue to visit the other place. At the fifth and the sixth location, they found nothing. Auron had thought that it was because they let one bandit escape. That bandit must have told their friend and hid. Surprisingly, at the seventh location, Auron found a large group of bandits gathering at the place. Looking at the large scale group, Auron didn''t dare to come to close with only the three of them. Auron took a careful look at the group of bandits from far away. He saw that some of the bandits carried a heavy bag. Then, one of the bandits who seems to be the leader said, "Hide the goods at somewhere safe." Then, that bandit continued, "The leader has stated that there might be a tracking dog looking for these." "Also, five of you go and look at the place where we got the goods. Find those three people that I sent previously. During that time, if you meet with the dog, don''t forget to kill him. You will get great rewards!" After saying this, five of the bandits separated themselves and went away with eyes full of greed. On the other hand, Auron heard everything. Now, he was 100% confident that this was the place where the goods were kept. Auron looked at Semial, and Remus then nodded. Their task had been over. It was time to report back to the old man. Swiftly, Auron went back and reported back to the old man. However, the old man''s reaction was not as Auron had thought. The old man was shocked as well as skeptical. It was too quick. It was only half a day passed, and Auron had found the location. What if this was a trap to kill him? Chapter 313 - Bandits Hideout (2) "Are you sure you found the right location?" The old man frowned while asking Auron. After his goods being stolen, the old man became paranoid. So, he afraid that Auron was someone who was going to kidnap or kill him. "Yes, we are 100% sure. We saw it with our eyes. The goods were hidden there. Now, our task had finished. Give us the promised money." Semial was the one who answered the question. "Not so fast! Wait until I verified the location first. What if you lied to me?" The old man answered back. "Okay, fine. We will wait here." Semial said. "Whoah... You need to come with my guards. I will pay you as soon as I verify the location. Well, not all of you. But, at least him!" The old man pointed at Auron. Auron sighed. He already guessed from the conversation going on. The old man didn''t believe in him. Auron didn''t have any choice but to comply with the old man''s demand, or the old man would be more suspicious. He still needed the old man. At least, until Auron could get in touch with Trito intensively. "Okay, no problem," Auron answered. "However, I have to remind you that I have to ask for a bonus. This was not included in the agreement before," Auron stated. "I am fine with that. If you truly give the correct location, I will give you a bonus. After all, you deserve the bonus for giving the location this soon." The old man smiled. "Fine. Gather your people! Oh, I have to remind you, there were a lot of bandits at that place. You need to hire more people." Auron said. "No problem." The old man clapped his hands, and one guard came inside the room. "Go to the adventurer association and hire 100 mercenaries. You can offer them a high rate as long as they gather quick." The old man commanded his trusted guard. Auron was waiting with Semial and Remus at the old man''s house. 30 minutes later, the previous guard entered the house and said, "I have done your order." The old man peeked at Auron before saying, "Here, take this money. Go with them to the location. After you verified that the goods were there, you can give the money to him." "However, if the location was wrong, you can punish them as you wish. You wouldn''t mind, right?" The old man looked at Auron. Auron sneered and shrugged his shoulder, "As long as you believe in me." With that, Auron stood up and went along with the soldier. Meanwhile, Semial and Remus could not leave Auron alone. So, they decided to tag along with Auron even though they were not paid. 30 minutes later, Auron had led the group to the place near the bandit''s hideout. "Look at there. That''s the place." Auron said while pointing the location. "Is that the last goods?" A bandit shouted from the location. Auron and his group''s members heard that shout. Thanks to that shout, Auron didn''t have to spend any effort to explain to the old man''s guards. The old man''s guard wanted to take action. However, Auron stopped him and extended his hand. The guard knew what Auron mean. He took out the money and gave it to Auron. Then, he ignored Auron and immediately command to attack the bandits. Auron, Semial, and Remus''s work had done. They didn''t need to join the fight. It was meaningless to join the battle as they didn''t have to would only put themselves in danger without earning anything. The three of them decided to come back to the town and waited for the good news before went back to the old man. However, when the three of them were about to get out of the place, five bandits walked in their direction. It was the five bandits who were tasked to investigate the three bandits that Auron and his groups had killed earlier. The five bandits also saw Auron and the groups. They urgently took out their weapon. They had a bad feeling about this. Moreover, they had heard a battle was going nearby. "Attack! Don''t let them escape." The leader among the five bandits shouted. The five of them didn''t waste any time and immediately attacked Auron, Semial, and Remus. Auron, Semial, and Remus didn''t have any choice. They had been involved in this fight. A three versus five situation could not be avoided. Among the five bandits, there were an archer, three thieves, and one swordsman. Meanwhile, in Auron''s group, there were only Semial, who was a swordsman with two mages behind him. The bandit archer shot an arrow and directly aimed at Auron. He had seen that Auron and Remus were using a cloth armor, which means they either had a ranged class or a magic class. This was a common tactic during a fight to kill the ranged and magic class first. Moreover, the enemy had only one tank guarding them. Semial, who was at the front, blocked the arrow for Auron. He wanted to attack, but Auron stopped him, "No, let''s retreat. We cannot win." With that, Semial stopped his intention and fell back. Auron and Remus also chanted [Fire Ball] and threw it at the enemies. After that, they immediately followed Semial to retreat. The enemies'' leader saw this. He was torn between chasing Auron and his groups or helping the bandit''s hideout. The leader didn''t know the situation inside the hideout. He could only believe that the hideout was strong enough to defend the place. With a quick decision, the leader among the five bandits gritted his teeth and commanded, "Chase them! Don''t let them escape." Although he didn''t know the situation inside the hideout. At least, he had to capture these three people. Five bandits followed Auron and his groups. Seeing the bandits chasing them, Auron and his group looking for an escape way. Auron and his group didn''t know about the terrain here. So, they could only run aimlessly. Chapter 314 - Cursed City (1) "Over there!" Auron pointed out at their eleven o''clock direction. It was a big vast place with building rubble all over the areas. The place was as wide as a city. It was actually an ancient city. Long ago, the city was prosperous and magnificent. It was one of the top cities in the kingdom back then. However, one day, due to some unknown reason, the people inside the city suddenly gone. The kingdom had sent their people to investigate, but there was no clue at all. What''s more, the kingdom had sent some people to live in that city for a while. Unfortunately, the people that were sent there also gone missing. What made it weirder was that there were no screams or struggles when the people went missing. Moreover, the missing case only happened when a person stayed overnight inside the city. If someone remained outside the city, then he would be safe. That was why no one wanted to stay near the city. And, the city got a nickname, Cursed City. With no one wanted to manage the city, slowly, the city deteriorated. Moreover, an earthquake had happened in the past and destroyed the city. The building started to collapse. Of course, there wasn''t any victim since no one lives there. One year ago, the king had thought about revitalizing the city. The place was vast, but it was abandoned. It would be a massive loss for the kingdom. The first step to revitalize the city was to investigate what caused the person who stayed in that city gone missing. After a long preparation, they had decided to revitalize the city starting this month. However, due to the instability in the Bridge World and also the demonic monster appearance, the plan was postponed indefinitely. But, all of it only what the NPC all this time had known. When Auron stepped inside the city, several notifications appeared. [You have entered the Cursed City] [A dark and mysterious power watching all of your actions] [You have 06:10:20 to get out from this place] [If you don''t get out in time, you will suffer a mysterious death. The death penalty will be doubled] A countdown timer showed in front of Auron. There were 6 hours left for him to leave the city. As the notification had stated, if a player didn''t get out in time, then they would immediately die and sent back to the resurrection point. Moreover, they would lose two levels because of the death penalty. Even for high leveled players or the maxed leveled players, they would also die when they could not get out in time. At first, the players didn''t know about this and tried to experience this. However, the result, all of the players had died a mysterious death and lose two levels each. Some of the players believed that there would be a great reward for someone who could unveil the mystery. A lot of players tried to get that rewards. However, a lot of players also failed. They found nothing at all. Several guilds had sent their man and found nothing. Slowly the number of players lingering the area decreased. It was because they were only wasting their time. There were no monsters around here or anything extraordinary. All the players started to leave this place, and slowly this place became abandoned once again. Actually, the players found something. They had discovered some truth about the places. For example, the countdown was a countdown to midnight. So, the extermination would be running at midnight. The players could leave the city for a while before midnight and entered again after midnight had passed. When they entered once again, they would not get the punishment, and the countdown would show a slightly less than 24 hours. Also, some players who were experiencing the mysterious death testified that when the countdown went zero, their surroundings became dark and black as if they were in a room without any source of light. A second later, they had come back at their resurrection point and lose two levels as well as two equipment. However, when they tried to look back for their equipment, they found nothing as if the equipment vaporated. Some players had tried to inform the NPC about what they found. However, it was futile. After they finished told what they knew, the NPC''s expression went blank, and their memory had been reset. Because of that, the information only shared between the players. Semial and Remus followed Auron inside the city. They also had heard about the rumor and felt scared. However, they had no choice and trusted Auron. Meanwhile, the bandits also hesitated for a bit before the leader among them shouted, "Chase them! Don''t let them escape." The archer shot out several arrows. However, it was challenging to hit Auron and his groups. The building rubble here served as a natural defense for Auron and co. The bandit''s leader gave a sign to his other group''s members. He told them to separate and used a three-pronged attack on Auron. The bandits did as what they told. They separated into three groups with the leader and the archer in one group. Auron looked behind him and saw the bandits separated. He knew what they were gonna did. "What should I do?" Auron was thinking hard. In front of him, there was a big building. The building was located at the center of the city and stood firm amidst the building rubble. Although it was still standing, however, the condition also not that good. The roof had been missing while there were cracked everywhere on the wall. Also, the top floor was destroyed. Back then, this building was the city''s town hall. The first floor was used for city gatherings and announcements. Meanwhile, the second floor served as the city governor''s workplace as well as a meeting place with important people. Auron gave a sign to Semial and Remus to enter the building. After they entered the building, Auron immediately blocked the entrance with an [Earth Wall]. Chapter 315 - Cursed City (2) The building used to be a meeting hall for a city-wide announcement. That was why when Auron first entered the building, he was greeted by a large hall. Unfortunately, it was dark inside. There was no source of light inside. Moreover, the sun had set at the outside. They could only rely on the moon''s light. There were also many building rubble and broken furniture inside. After blocking the door with [Earth Wall], Auron, Semial, and Remus immediately moved away from the door. They wanted to go upstairs. However, the stair was broken in the middle. Auron looked beside the stair. There was a door. Without thinking it for long, they chose to go inside the room. Boom... The bandits destroyed the [Earth Wall] that was blocking the door. The archer had used [Explosion Arrow] to destroy the [Earth Wall]. The bandits went inside when the leader said, "Search inside!" There were only a few rooms inside the building. Moreover, the way that led to the room was blocked by the building''s rubble. They could not find any trace that Auron and his group passed by into the room, so they didn''t bother to check the room. "Leader, it looks like they went inside this room." One of the bandit pointed at the door beside the stair. "Let''s go in." The bandits opened the door and went forward. When they opened the door, there was only a stair going downstairs to their left. The bandits immediately took it hurriedly. They didn''t want to let Auron escape once more. Soon, they arrived downstairs, and it was a kitchen. Back then, occasionally, there would be a party at the city hall. And, this kitchen would be the place to cook the food to serve to the guest. Right now, the kitchen''s condition was messy. All of the kitchen tools were in a mess. If someone saw the state of the kitchen, he would surely not want to eat food coming out from this kitchen. "Search the place!" The bandits scattered around the kitchen. The leader opened up a door, and it led to a storage room. The foul smell of expired food ingredients immediately covered the kitchen area. The bandits quickly closed their nose and the door. Another two doors were opened by the bandits. However, they found nothing. As the kitchen was not too big, the bandits completed the search in no time. Unfortunately, they could not found Auron''s traces at all. It was as if they disappeared. "Search the place once again. Carefully!" However, it was futile. No matter how many times they searched the place, they could not find Auron anywhere. The leader pondered. Then, he realized something. How could there be food inside the storage? This place was emptied a long time ago. There should be no food left. Moreover, there was a time when many people were searching for this place for treasure. "Open that foul smelled room." The leader commanded. As one of the bandits opened the room, all of the bandits closed their nose. However, the foul smell didn''t stop them from entering. As the bandits went inside the room, they realized that there was no food at all. So, the smell didn''t come from expired food ingredients. They traced the smell and found a big hole in the wall. The smell was coming from the hole. Previously, when Auron was in this room, he also surprised by the discovery. Back then, when there was still a lot of players searching for a treasure here, there wasn''t any hole in this room. However, this hole suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Unfortunately, Auron could not ponder about the issues as he was being chased by the bandits. So, Auron and his group went inside the hole. [A strong, pungent smell affecting your mind] [Your mana point will decrease by 1 per second] [When you run out of mana, your health point will start to reduce] Auron frowned, seeing the notifications while escaping deeper into the hole. He started to feel that his mana point was decreasing each second. Fortunately, not all of the announcement was bad news. [Your body''s smell have been integrated with the pungent smell] [You escape the dark and mysterious power detection] [You have 05:59:20 to get out from this place] [You will not suffer a mysterious death even though the countdown had ended] Due to the smell, Auron and his group could escape the mysterious death effect. He didn''t have to worry about the mysterious death. Before, Auron was concerned that he could not find a way to escape this place until the timer had ended. Although Auron still had to be careful because of his mana point reduction, at least, he would suffer an immediate death because of something unknown. Auron didn''t forget to tell Semial and Remus about the loss in mana point. As Semial and Remus were an NPC, they didn''t get the notification like Auron did. So, they didn''t know that their mana point was decreasing. It was thanks to Auron''s reminder that they realize it by now. At first, Semial and Remus panicked. As a mage without any mana, he could do nothing. Meanwhile, Semial, who was a swordsman, had a little mana. Soon, his health would start to reduce. However, Auron calmed them down by showing a lot of mana and health potions. He distributed some to Semial and Remus and told them not to worry about it. They could ask more when they needed it. At least, that was what Auron said in front of them. However, deep inside, he sighed. It seemed he had to spend a lot of money again to stay alive. However, he could not escape the responsibility. He had to do it, or he would lose his mage character. If that happened, he would suffer a more significant loss. Auron had no choice but to sell all of his useless items and stationed his swordsman character in the potion''s shop. He bought some potion supplies first before focusing back on his mage character to find a way out of this predicament. Chapter 316 - Cursed City (3) The hole that Auron entered previously led into an underground tunnel. He followed the path hurriedly. Although Auron didn''t know where this tunnel end, he had no choice. Behind him, five bandits were chasing him. He just hoped that this tunnel could lead to the outside world. There seemed no end to the path that Auron took. He already moved for 15 minutes, and he still could not find the exit. He already gulped some mana potions to prevent his health from being decreased. He also didn''t forget to help Semial and Remus. Auron looked behind him. He could not see the bandits who were chasing him. However, he was already deep inside the tunnel. He had to move forward. What Auron didn''t know was the bandits were on the verge of death. As they were an NPC, just like Semial and Remus, they didn''t get any notification about they would lose a mana point each second. As they chased Auron and his group blindly, they already went deep inside the tunnel as well. The pungent smell made them didn''t realize that they lose their strength. They just realized it when one of the thieves, suddenly fell down, feeling weak. Unfortunately, they didn''t have any recovery items as they just came back from a sudden order from their superior. They tried to go back to where they came. However, they were already deep inside the tunnel. Before they could exit the tunnel, all of them already died. [The pungent smell became stronger. You will lose 2 mana points each second] [When you run out of mana, your health point will start to reduce] A notification appeared in front of Auron. The deeper Auron went inside, the stronger the pungent smell. It was really awful. However, he braced himself and continued on. If the smell became stronger, this means that he was closer to the source of the scent. Although he had the urge to turn back, however, Auron''s instinct told him something else. A suddenly appeared hole, a pungent smell that could kill, a mysterious dark power from the notification. All of these usually would only appear when there was something big going on. Five minutes later, Auron arrived at a fork. There were two paths. A path to the left and a path to the front. Without thinking for too long, Auron chose the later. It was easier to go forward rather than turning left. Semial and Remus were still in good condition thanks to Auron''s potions. Except for the discomfort in their nose because of the smell, there was nothing else that they could complain about. Another five minutes later, Auron, who was at the front, suddenly frowned and signaled Semial and Remus to slow down. It was because Auron sensed something from the front. He heard a small noise. Auron, Semial, and Remus took out their weapon just to be ready. Then, they approached slowly to the source of the weak sound. The tunnel was dark, but Auron was a mage. So, he could still light up a fire to light their way. Slowly and slowly, the weak sound became closer. Semial, as a swordsman, changed place with Auron and took the lead at the front. He raised his sword in front of him and ready to attack anytime. Several steps later, from far away, Auron and his group saw a silhouette. Moreover, it was more than one. A tense atmosphere could be felt at the place as Auron, and his group approached closer to the silhouette. There were 10 weak-looking silhouettes. Some of them sat down while panting out of breath. While the others laid weakly on the ground. Auron tried to look carefully at the silhouette, and he recognized two of them. It was Patricia and Felice. Auron immediately went forward and gave them mana potions and health potions. He also carefully helped the other eight. Since they came here with Patricia and Felice, they must be from the military as well. Felice, who had a pale face and dizzy, with Auron''s potions, her face color began to change. Some of her strength had come back. She also saw Auron, and tears fell from her eyes. She had thought that she would die here, who would have thought that she could still be alive. However, that emotional moment didn''t last long as Felice realized that she had something more important to do. She stood up and chanted the area heal spell to all of his teammates. With Felice''s help, the other also began to feel warm and regained some of their power back. Unfortunately, not all of them were lucky. It was too late for three of them as they had died long before Auron came. Slowly, the groups regained back their strength with Felice''s heal and Auron''s potion. Auron asked how they could be here. Felice briefly explained how they could be here. After the assignment with Auron''s group. She was assigned back to her previous task to look for the ancient ruin. In a group of ten, they searched meticulously. Their effort bore fruit. They found the ruin''s entrance and entered it. As they walked deeper, they smelled the pungent smell. However, they still chose to continue. Then, they came to a fork. A path to the left and right. In the end, they chose the left path and continued on. The smell became stronger, and they also realized they were closer to something. Until they arrived here and found the source of this pungent smell. As Felice said, she also pointed at the end of the tunnel. Auron looked at where Felice had pointed. Not far from where he stood, there was a strange plant that emitted this pungent smell. Auron only just realized that there was a plant here. Previously, he was so focused on helping Patricia and Felice that he didn''t realize there was a plant. Semial was about to go forwards to destroy the plant. However, Felice shouted, "Stop! Don''t attack it!" Chapter 317 - Dark Ancient Plant (1) At the end of the tunnel, there was a circular hall. The circular hall had a diameter of 16 meters. There was only one exit from the hall, which was from the path that Auron used right now. At the center of the hall, there was a plant that big enough to covered half of the circular hall. That plant was the one that emitted the pungent smell. With Felice''s shout, Semial stopped his action and looked back. Felice immediately explained what happened to them. There was a reason why they were found weak and could not do anything. Half of it was because of the pungent smell. The other half was because they insisted on fighting the plant. "There were several things that we found up to this point," Felice said. "First, it is the plant that spread this pungent smell. And, this pungent smell causes us to lose some of our mana points. Because of that, we have to rely on potions." "However, that is not all. This pungent smell also ignites a fire-based attack. Previously, Patricia had tried to use the fire spell. However, it was disastrous." "Yes, I don''t know why, but the air here ignites fire more. Previously, I used a normal [Fire Bolt]. When I produced the flame, it suddenly explodes and hurts all of us. Fortunately, it was a weak spell, so the damage was not that big." Patricia helped Felice to explain. "So, although the plant was weak too fire, we could not use a fire-based attack to attack it." Felice concluded." "Second, as soon as we entered the hall, the plant''s root would attack us immediately. And, the most important thing was that if you get hit by the plant''s root even, it was just a graze, you will be paralyzed for 1 minute." Auron looked at the plant from far away. Near the plant, he found several holes and thought, "So, that was where the plant''s root was coming out." "Can''t you cure the paralyzed effect?" Remus asked Felice. "Yes, I can. However, it is not as simple as you can think. I cannot enter the circular hall as you did. The plant''s root that appeared was equivalent to the number of the people inside the circular hall. And, each root would be assigned to one person." "I am not as agile as you guys. I cannot avoid the roots easily. Which was why, if you get hit by the root near the exit, I can cure you. However, if you get hit at the other end, then I could do nothing to help." "However, you don''t have to be worried. The plant was strange. After you get paralyzed by the root, it would not attack you or kill you. It will only drag you and throw you out to the exit. Of course, you will still the paralyzed effect until it disappeared, and also you will get some damage, but it was not deadly." "What happened, if you attack or destroy the roots?" Semial asked. "At some point, the damage acc.u.mulated would make the root withered. However, another root would appear and replace the withered root. Moreover, after some time, the withered root would recover and join in attacking you. So, you will have to face two roots." "Have you tried to attack it from the tunnel?" Auron asked. What Auron had said made sense. Because of the plant''s massive body, it covered almost half of the circular hall. This also made the distance between the plant and the hall''s exit was sufficient for a ranged attack or magic attack to hit it. However, Felice actually shuddered when she heard Auron asked that question. She answered, "Yes, we can. However, the result would be disastrous. Actually, the reason why we were laid weakly on the ground was that we tried that option." "After the attack, the plant suddenly summoned all of its roots and attacked the exit at the same time. What made it more dangerous was the fact that the paralyzed effect was enhanced to last for five minutes." "We didn''t prepare for the attack, and all of our members became the victim to the attack. Not only that, not only the attack damage us, but it also saps all of our mana points." "I advised you not to use that option," Felice said. Auron pondered on the information that he had just got. When he was pondering, a dissatisfied and furious voice rang, "Hold a second! If you want to fight against that plant, you can do it on your own. I had enough, I am out of this." A man who was at his forties said. From the way of the conversation, he could deduce that Auron wanted to fight against this creature. "Watch your tone, Erick! Is that what you said to your savior?" Patricia was furious and reprimanded the man called Erick. "Who do you think you are to reprimand me, Patricia? You are not my mother nor the leader. So, you don''t have any right to reprimand me." Just like what Erick said, the leader of the group was not Patricia. What''s more unfortunate was the leader was among the dead. "I don''t care anymore on whatever you gonna say or do. I am out of here. So, who''s with me?" Erick said to the rest of the group. The group''s members hesitated before another two people apologized and joined with Erick. "See, it was not just me who wants to back out. So, stop thinking of fighting against that plant." However, contrary to Erick''s persuasion, Patricia furiously said, "No! We are still gonna fight against that monster." Erick shrugged his shoulders and said, "Do as you wish. I am out of here." Then, Erick with the two people who joined him previously left, ignoring the furious Patricia. "You cowards!!!" Patricia furiously said. After venting his anger, Patricia was out of breath. Actually, from the start, Patricia had a fight with Erick. She was really dissatisfied with Erick''s attitude. Chapter 318 - Dark Ancient Plant (2) Erick always did what he wanted to do and didn''t care about the group. His teamwork was very poor. Not only that, he always blamed others when it was actually his fault. That was why Patricia didn''t like him. Fortunately, there was the group''s leader that tried to calm the situation down. However, now that the leader had died, no one could calm the situation. "Just go, you cowards! F***, such a sissy." Patricia explodes. Patricia kept on cursing until Erick gone from her sight. It looked like the pungent smell didn''t have any effect on her at the moment. After Erick gone from her sight, Patricia was out of breath. Fortunately, there was Felice besides her, who calmed her down. After a while, Patricia turned to the group and asked, "So, do we fight?" Patricia actually didn''t really want to fight in the first place. However, she could not stand still facing Erick''s bossy attitude. She just wanted to curse Erick. And, the chance came. Auron looked at Patricia, surprised. Not only him, but Semial and Remus were surprise as well. The only one who didn''t surprise was Felice, who knew her from a long time ago. Right now, there were 7 people in the tunnel. There was Auron, Semial, and Remus. There was also Patricia and Felice. Meanwhile, the other two were a female archer and a male thief. Patricia''s question was faced with silence. None of them dared to voice the question. Auron was pondering for a while. A few seconds later, he said, "Have you tried to attack the plant from the tunnel while there was someone inside the hall?" "The plant should not be able to distinguish between the attack that came from the tunnel or inside the hall." Auron continued. "I guess that the reason the plant attacks the tunnel was because it could not sense any presence inside the hall, which made him conclude that the attack must be coming from the tunnel. Hence, it attacked the tunnel." Hearing Auron''s reasoning, the other also pondered on what Auron had said. It made sense. The plant should have no intelligence. So, it could not distinguish an attack coming from the tunnel or inside the hall. "It seems doable. However, who wanted to try it?" The female archer said. That was the biggest concern. Who was the one who wanted to become the sacrificial lamb? Silence permeated the group once more. Since no one volunteering, Auron raised his hand, "Let me do it!" As a mage, Auron had [Aqua Barrier], the life-saving skill that could hold one attack. However, that was not the source of Auron''s confidence. The real source of Auron''s courage was his deduction. He had been playing this game for almost 10 years. From what Felice had explained, when there was someone inside the circular hall, the plant never attacked the tunnel. "Let''s try it. I will be the one who went inside the hall." Semial said. Felice and Patricia had a worried expression on their face. Not only them but the archer and the thief as well. They had experienced the nightmare of the plant''s root. Felice wanted to say something. However, after looking at Auron''s confidence''s face, she put it behind her head. Seeing everyone agreed, Auron said, "Let''s do it." Auron looked at Semial and nodded. With that, Semial went inside the circular hall. As soon as Semial stepped into the hall, the plant''s root immediately showed up from the hole and attacked Semial. Semial didn''t immediately attack the plant nor the roots. He needed to feel familiar with the roots'' speed and strength. So, he chose to run away first. It was just as what Felice had explained before. Only one root coming out and attacked Semial. After two minutes fighting against the root, Semial had become familiar with the root''s speed and strength. Now, Semial could easily avoid the attack. After feeling everything was fine, he gave a sign to Auron. Auron received the sign and looked at the other members besides him. "If you were afraid, you could back out first." However, Patricia and Felice immediately reject it, "No, we are staying here." Seeing the situation, the archer and the thief could not go away if they wanted too. So, they could only stay here. Auron started to chant a spell. It was just a simple [Wind Bolt]. After a while, the [Wind Bolt] immediately shot towards the plant. And, Auron also chanted [Aqua Barrier] just to be safe. The [Wind Bolt] flew towards the plant. After a few seconds, it hit the plant. When the [Wind Bolt] hit the plant, everyone had activated their own life-saving skill, including Auron. However, after waiting for two seconds, there was no attack coming towards them. Auron threw another spell. Not only him, but the archer and Remus also attacked the plant. And, just as Auron had thought, there was no response from the plant. The plant kept on busy attacking Semial, who busy avoiding the root. However, right now, he was not only dodging the root but also counter-attack the plant. With this, the group members'' faces became bright. Finally, they found a way to defeat the plant. Semial also became more spirited since it means he would not fight alone. Everyone became busy with their own. Patricia, Auron, and Remus, who were a mage, had their way with their spell to attack the plant. Meanwhile, the thief and the archer could use bow and arrow to attack the plant. Meanwhile, Felice, who was a cleric, supported the other. Unfortunately, they also could not attack easily. As the pungent smell reduced all of their mana points, they could not use a spell or skill easily. They also had to occasionally drank mana potion to be safe. This was more important for Felice, who was a cleric. She had to buff Semial as well as heal the other. Semial, who was inside the hall, also had to find a way to get to the tunnel. It was because Felice needed to heal and buff him. Chapter 319 - Dark Ancient Plant (3) There were actually two ways of fighting this boss. The first one was what Auron and his group had done. They used one person as a bait while the others would attack it from far away. This strategy needed a capable bait. The bait needed to focus so that he could avoid making mistakes. He needed to walk around the hall and also required to come back when his buff would end. Meanwhile, the damage dealer''s task was very simple. They just needed to attack the plant using their full force from far away. The second way was to overpower the plant. Actually, the plant boss only had 16 roots. So, if there were 17 people inside the circular hall, there would only 16 roots. So, they could just destroy the roots one by one. Each root had its own health point separate from the boss''s health. Also, the roots were actually weaker than the boss. Although it was weak, the root had it owns functionality. When the enemy got hit by the roots, it would paralyze the enemy. Then, it would throw the enemy away from the hall. However, that was not all. When the boss threw the enemy away, it actually recovered 5% of its max health. So, if the bait was not capable, the boss could recover endlessly. The fight already lasted for 15 minutes long. And, Auron and his group could only decrease 5% of its health. It was because the boss had a tremendous amount of health. Its health was over 10 million. Moreover, its defense was quite sturdy for a plant type. Auron and his groups could only damage the boss for 1000 - 5000 for each attack. This made the fight lasted for long. Not only that, but Auron had also spent quite a large sum of money. In the end, Auron had to borrow some money to Roan. He just hoped that what he got from this would worth it. Another 15 minutes went on, and the boss had 91% of its health. It was not a surprise since the boss should not meant to be defeated by 7 people. Even for 17 people, it was still pretty tricky for them to defeat the boss quickly. After 30 minutes into the fight, Semial''s movement started to become slower. He began to feel exhausted. To focus out for 30 minutes was really difficult. Fortunately, as a cleric, Felice could recover some of his fatigue. Although, it could not wholly chase the fatigue away, but it was enough for Semial to fight again. As Auron was fighting against the plant boss, at another place, a man was waiting anxiously. He walked back and forth with his arms behind his back. This man was Trito. Previously, he had sent a messenger to the bandit group. However, it was already over an hour, and he still got no response from the messenger nor the bandit group. Combined with the fact that the old man dispatching a large amount of unit made him more anxious. Trito opened the door and asked the maid at the front, "Is there any guest coming to me?" "No." The maid answered politely. Then, Trito went back inside the room while biting his fingernails. Five minutes later, he went outside once more and asked the same question to the same maid. He also got the same reply from the maid. As Trito was anxious for the news, at the bandit''s hideout, the old man''s trusted guard commanded the hired troops to sweep the bandits. However, it was not easy. Although they were called bandits, but in reality, they were a trained troop by Trito. Just as what the information had said, Trito had prepared a bunch of soldiers for his own use. He wanted to rebel. However, to make his action hidden, he told the soldiers that he trained to become bandits. This way, he could also collect funds from raiding the merchant. Unfortunately, everything could not go as he wished. The kingdom started to feel suspicious about the anomaly that happened in the area. At first, he could still escape by hiring real bandits from somewhere and sacrifice them. However, it was not for too long until the kingdom sent Auron here. Since the bandits were actually trained soldiers, it was not easy for the old man''s hired mercenaries and guards to defeat them. However, it was not impossible. As the old man''s guards and hired mercenaries launched a surprise attack, the bandits were not prepared by the attack. Some of them even didn''t hold their weapon when the enemy attacked. After half an hour fighting, the bandits started to lose their position. Some of them escaped saving their life while the other still tried their best to fend off the enemies. In the end, the bandits had to taste the bitter feel of defeated. The guards sent a messenger to the old man while the others were securing the bandit''s hideout. Inside the hideout, there was a massive amount of treasures. The hired mercenaries'' eyes were bright because of the wealth. However, they didn''t dare to take it. As mercenaries, they had their own code of conduct and waited until the old man came. The old man was happy when he came here and looked at the treasures. However, he didn''t stop there, he had to know who was the one that sent them. So, he interrogated one of the bandits. When he knew that Trito was the one behind the bandits, he was so furious. He went on a rage for several minutes until he calmed down. Suddenly, the old man laughed excitedly. He knew this was a chance for him to blackmail Trito. It had already been for long that he hate Trito. Now, he got the opportunity to pay him back. The old man only took his goods that were stolen. Then, he distributed the other treasures to the hired mercenaries and his guards equally. He came back to the town with an evil grin. Chapter 320 - Dark Ancient Plant (4) [Dark Ancient Plant] (Epic monster) Level: 330 HP: 8280100/10100000 MP: -/- Skills: Gas of Death (passive), Recover Health Description: A dark ancient plant that lived a long time ago. It supposed to be extinct and can only be found in an ancient ruin. It will always release the Gas of Death until its death. It had been one hour since the battle against the boss started. Auron and his group could only reduce almost 20% of the boss''s health. It seems pretty impressive for a team of 7 people. However, behind that impressiveness, Auron had already spent a lot of money. Although Roan had said that he would help Auron with anything, he also could not handle this spent. He still needed money to continue his business. Roan braved himself to talk to Auron. Of course, he arranged his word so it would not hurt Auron. Auron also had the same thought as him. However, he was not willing to leave the boss after spending 1 hour. He started to ponder how to make the battle became quicker. While pondering, a shout was heard. Semial had been careless and got hit by the plant''s root. He got paralyzed and fell to the ground. "Oh, no!" Auron, who saw the root started to wrap Semial, became wary. If the plant threw Semial away from the hall, then there would be no person inside the hall. The attack from the tunnel would trigger the boss''s rage. Without thinking much, Auron immediately stepped inside the hall. Another root emerged from the ground and attack Auron. Meanwhile, the other root threw Semial away and got back into the ground. Thanks to Auron''s quick reaction, there was nothing significant happened. Meanwhile, Semial''s injuries also not heavy and had been healed by Felice. One thing that really hurts from this one incident was the fact that the boss recovered 5% of its health. It took them 15 minutes to reduce that amount of health. So, now, they had to spend 15 minutes more. "Sorry, guys. I will be careful next time," Semial said while went back inside the hall. Felice already healed him completely, so he was ready for the second round. Another root emerged from the ground and attacked Semial as soon as he entered the hall. Semial wanted to tell Auron to get back to the tunnel once more. However, before he could say that, Auron said something first, "Hey, let us destroy one of this root first." Semial wanted to stop Auron since he know from Felice that it would only spawn another root and giving them more work. However, Auron already attack the root. Since Auron had led him from before and he trusted Auron, Semial followed Auron''s action and attacked the same root as the one that Auron attacked. Each root had one million health points. However, its defense was not as sturdy as the boss itself. Auron and Semial''s attack damaged the root for around 3000 to 6000 each attack. Moreover, if Semial used his skill, then it could produce 10000 damage to the root. As this was only a trial, only Auron and Semial that were attacking the root. Meanwhile, the others still attacked the boss. The damages quickly acc.u.mulated, and in one minute, the root withered. It had died under Auron and Semial attacks. Just like what Felice had said previously, as soon as the root died, another root showed up and replaced the withered root. However, Auron smiled. It was not because of the newly emerged root, but it was because the boss got his health reduced by 1% when the root died. "Use your area attacks!" Auron shouted to the group while avoiding the newly emerged root. The groups had been holding their area attack because they didn''t want to accidentally kill the root and make the bait''s burden heavier. However, the other didn''t immediately used their area attack. It was because they were confused about why Auron would told them to do something like that. "Look at the boss'' health. It reduced by about 1% as soon as the root died." Auron explained. The others confirmed this and started to use their area attack. The attack hit the boss as well as its root. With the help of the area damage, the root''s health quickly depleted. It only took 40 seconds for another root to die under the barrages of the attack. However, the fourth root already emerged and attacked Semial. Right now, the situation was still under control with two withered roots and one root for Auron and Semial each. The third root withered and replaced by the fifth root. However, the situation not always been this easy. When the fifth root emerged, the first root that withered already recovered and joining the battle. Right now, three roots attacked Semial and Auron. As the roots died and replaced with another newly emerged root, the burden on Semial and Auron started to get heavy. Although the recovered root immediately got hit by the area damage. However, it still took some time to kill it. Moreover, as the number of roots increased, Semial could not contribute to damage the root as he was busy dodging the roots. Meanwhile, Auron still had the [Walking Chanting] skill. So, he still could attack while focusing on avoiding. Soon, all 16 roots had emerged. When Auron''s group killed a root, there was no new root that replaced the die one. This sudden discovery was discovered by Remus, who was focusing on the battlefield. As he shouted this excellent news, the team''s mood started to brighten more. However, it was different for Semial and Auron. Both of them had to dodge 10 roots. 5 for each of them, and it already drained their stamina much more. So, they didn''t have the time to enjoy the good news. "Increase your output damage!!! Use your buff potion if you had any!" Auron stressed out. He was beginning to feel the difficulty in avoiding the roots. Moreover, the space had been reduced because of the many roots. Chapter 321 - Dark Ancient Plant (5) Auron and Semial felt pressured. Because of it, their stamina depleted faster. Although Auron had shouted to increased the damage output, but the others didn''t know how to do it. All through this battle, they had already used everything they got. So, there was nothing they could do to increase the damage output except for exchanging their equipment to a better one. However, in this situation, it was also impossible to get better gear. Although Auron and Semial had a difficult time. However, their hard work proved to be a success. The boss already lost more than 60% of their health in just 30 minutes. It was two times quicker than their previous way. The boss only got 25% of its health before going down. Two roots withered down due to the area damage. However, 30 seconds later, a withered root recovered. Then, another 30 seconds, another dead root also recovered. The number of roots was going up and down between 8 to 11 roots. Auron and Semial could not use the mana potion because of the roots. So, right now, the pungent smell''s effect had already decreased their health point instead of mana point. This situation made their work harder. Auron could not use any spell due to insufficient mana points. They also had to rely on Felice to recover their health. Moreover, since Auron and Semial were inside the hall, the pungent smell''s effect increased. It decreased 10 health points each second. This whopping increased from 2 to 10 made Auron wanted to curse the developer who create this monster. Unfortunately, he didn''t have that luxury right now. "Uh..." Semial almost got hit by the roots. Fortunately, he still could avoid the root by a breath. Auron also started to slow down. He wanted to use his swordsman''s movement skill, but the mana points were insufficient for him to do that. Seeing his friends were in deep trouble, the thief gritted his teeth and moved inside the hall. He hoped to help lighten the burden on Auron and Semial. As the thief stepped forward, no new roots coming up to him since it had reached its maximum capacity. As a thief, his melee damage was more severe than his ranged damage. He started to attack the root and kill one of them. Then, he moved to another root and killed another one. It happened until he killed three of the roots when the first root that he killed recovered and attacked him. As a high agility thief, it should be easy for him to dodge the attack. However, the space to move had already been limited by the plant''s big body and its roots moving everywhere. The thief killed two other roots and lessened Auron and Semial''s burden. Unfortunately, the thief was not that proficient. His movement was sluggish and made many unnecessary movements. He tried his best to hold on. However, the thief could not hold for long before he got hit by the roots. The roots threw away the thief and recovered the boss''s health by 5%. However, a new discovery happened. Previously, 5 roots targeting the thief. As soon as the thief was thrown away, all 5 roots were back to the ground. There were only 10 roots right now before a second later, a root withered, and the eleventh root emerged once more. Auron and Semial with lesser burden smiled. They could exploit this. However, their happy situation didn''t happen for long. When the boss''s health reached 10%, a notification appeared in front of Auron. [The Dark Ancient Plant health points have reached a critical end] [It felt a danger and unleashed all of his power] [All of its roots will be unleashed until it dies] [The pungent smell became stronger and affected your condition a lot. 100 health points will be reduced each second] "Stop!" Auron shouted. He stopped the thief from doing the trick. However, it was too late. The root was a step faster and threw the thief away. The boss''s health recovered by 5%. With the last heal, the boss''s health went up to 13%. Unfortunately, the trick didn''t work. All of the roots that targeted the thief separated and attacked the enemy who was closer to them. Auron and his group''s members'' health points decreased faster because of the pungent smell. Felice''s burden started to increase. "Kept ongoing, guys! A little bit more!" Auron shouted. As long as there was no one making any mistake, 13% should be enough by killing another 13 roots. However, it was easier said than done. The psychological effect of seeing your health decrease 100 points every second could not be ignored. Moreover, it was not like they had a million health points. So, 100 points every second really affect them. Felice tried her best to heal everyone. She used all of her healing spells. While she wait the healing spells'' cooldown, she would gulp a mana potions as much as she could. 13%... 12%... 11%... 10%... The boss'' health decreased by 1% every time a root died. "Arghh..." The thief made another slight mistake when the boss''s health reached 2%. The thief was paralyzed and could not move. Meanwhile, a root was already going to wrap him. If the root successfully bound him, then the boss would recover 5% of its health. Fortunately, before it could happen, Patricia and Remus simultaneously dealt a critical area damage. With two critical blows, it killed another two roots. The boss trembled greatly before it withered down. The pungent smell also started to dissipate slowly. A smile appeared on each of the members. Finally, they had killed the boss. Auron looked at the boss''s place to see what items it would drop. Surprisingly, it didn''t drop anything. When Auron was about to curse, a strong suction power showed up. It tried to suck everyone to the middle of the hall, including the one in the tunnel. All of the members could not resist the suction power and been dragged to the middle of the hall before they disappeared. Chapter 322 - Sckilemd Ruin (1) A few seconds later, Auron opened his eyes. A fantastic view was shown in front of his eyes. A garden full of plants and butterflies with a breeze. It was like he was in a different world compared to the previous place. In the tunnel, it was dark and narrow. Not only that, but there was also the pungent smell from the plant. However, in this place right now, he could not find any of that. A vast area full of green grass. There were various beautiful plants and flowers in multiple colors. Auron also could see butterflies flying everywhere in the place. Birds were chirping, and a breeze could be sensed by his senses. The smell of grass and the fragrant smell of flowers could be smelled by Auron. Auron and the others felt confused about this magnificent place. After all, it was so different from the previous site. Moreover, this place should be inside an ancient ruin, not a garden of Eden. However, Auron curiosity was answered by the system notifications. [Congratulations! You have defeated the entrance''s guardian of the ruin] [You have the right to enter Sckilemd Ruin] [You have entered the Sckilemd Ruin] "So, this ruin is Sckilemd Ruin," Auron thought inside his mind when he learned the ruin''s name. Although Auron was fascinated by the magnificent views here, however, he still had to arrange his mind first before enjoying the place here. From the previous battle with the boss, Auron gained two levels. He immediately assigned his newly acquired attribute points as usual. Then, Auron looked at his group''s members who were also as confused as Auron with this drastic change. "Where are we?" The female archer asked. Auron shrugged his shoulders, "We don''t know it yet." "How are your conditions?" Auron asked the others who replied that they were alright. "What should we do right now?" The female archer continued to ask. Auron also didn''t have the answer to that question. However, he remembered something and asked Felice and Patricia, "Do you have any information about this ancient ruin?" However, both of them shook their heads. "We just got a piece of information about an ancient ruin. However, we didn''t know anything about the ancient ruin." No one had any idea about the ruin. So, they decided to explore this place first before deciding what to do next. All of them stood up, and with Auron at the front, they began to explore the area. There was actually a stone path here. It was as if it was made to guide them. Auron and the others began to follow the stone path. They walked forward until there was a split to the left and right. However, the stone path split was not because it was a road end. Instead, it was because, at their front, there was a wide lake. The water in the lake kept on changing color according to the rainbow color. Moreover, there were various butterflies in many colors flying above the lake water. Above them, there was a bright blue sky. And, it would be unbelievable if they said this was inside a tunnel or underground. In the middle of the lake, there was an island. It was not a big island, but the island should be enough for one hundred a.d.u.l.t men. The butterflies were centered on this island. While there were still many butterflies flying around them, but at the island, there were more butterflies. It was because there was a bright red crystal floating above the island. Auron predicted that the height of the crystal reached 5 meters. There were no mysterious aura or anything special about the crystal except it was glowing red. However, the seemingly unspecial crystal attracted the butterflies to fly towards it. Auron looked at his members and nodded. Then, he led the group towards the crystal. The group didn''t have to swim to reach the crystal. Some paths led to the island. Whether choosing the left path or the right path didn''t matter because all of the paths led to the same destination, the island. Auron chose the left path and walked towards the island. It was not a long walk, it only took them 2 minutes to reach the island. There seems nothing dangerous about the crystal nor this place. Auron looked up to see the crystal''s top. The red crystal was glowing in red color. Meanwhile, butterflies kept on flying around the crystal as they were hypnotized by the glow. "What should we do with this crystal?" Felice asked. "Should we destroy it?" Semial also asked a question. However, nobody knew what they should do with this crystal. Auron looked around them. There was nothing dangerous around here since there were only butterflies and Auron''s group around the crystal. Auron also tried to look deep inside the lake''s water. However, he also could not see any movement inside the water. This strange situation made Auron felt uneasy. Auron went forward and decided to touch the crystal. As soon as Auron touched the crystal, a series of notification appeared. [You have found the ruin''s core] [The ruin''s core had identified an unrecognized object touching it] [The ruin''s core activated its self-defense mechanism] [The self-defense mechanism will be activated in 1 hour 59 minutes 59 seconds] [Destroy the core] Countdown: 1 hour 59 minutes 59 seconds Description: Destroy the ruin''s core within the limited time or face a catastrophe. Quest Clear Condition: Destroy the ruin''s core before the countdown is up. Quest Clear Rewards: Pick 5 rewards from the ancient treasure trove. Quest Failure Punishment: You will be teleported to the nearest town, and catastrophe will be coming. A quest triggered that told Auron to destroy the crystal within 2 hours. Meanwhile, the crystal started to radiate a dark red color. The color was getting darker and darker after each second passed. The butterflies around it also scattered away as if they were afraid by the crystal. "What happened?" The others started to ask the same question when they realized the change in the situation. Chapter 323 - Sckilemd Ruin (2) Auron started to explain what he knew, "We have to destroy this crystal within 2 hours, or else there will be something bad happened." [Sckilemd Ruin''s core] (Epic monster) Level: 450 HP: 100000000/100000000 MP: 100000000/100000000 Skills: Harden, Mana shield Description: Sckilemd Ruin''s core. Destroy this core to get into the ruin''s treasure trove. However, it is not as easy as you think. "Huh?! Then, we have to act quickly." As soon as the others heard there would be something terrible happened, they didn''t think anymore and started to attack. -5. -9. -2. -3. A series of numbers floated above the crystal. However, the damage was too low. It was not as high as what they had thought. The attacks only produce a single-digit number. Auron''s offense only produced 1 damage to the crystal. This shocking damage made them depressed. They could not see the crystal''s health bar decreased at all. Auron frowned. However, he knew what made the crystal''s health bar didn''t drop. It was because the crystal had a mana shield skill. What made Auron frowned was the low damage. It was comparably too small compared to the amount of crystal''s health. The crystal had 100 million health. Not to mention, the crystal also had a mana shield with 100 million mana points as well. This means they had to, at least, dealt 200 million damage to the crystal. However, seeing the low damage this would be an impossible task. "No... No... There must be something that could be exploited to increase the damage output." Auron still tried to thinking positively. The seven of them continued to attack the crystal. They also occasionally gulped the mana potion to use their skills. One hour passed, and there was nothing changed. The damage was still low and not increasing. Auron, who was a player, could see the digital number of the boss''s current health and mana. However, it only made him more depressed. The damage they produced all this long was useless. The damage didn''t even surpass the crystal''s natural mana regeneration. So, this past one hour, they didn''t do any damage at all to the crystal. The others gradually became weary and lost hope. They also felt that the crystal didn''t even bulge at all with their low damage. The morale of the group became low. However, Auron didn''t want to lose hope. He still tried to look for another way. Once, he even tried to attack the top of the crystal. He thought that maybe there would be an increased damage if he attacked the other part of the crystal. However, all of that was futile. The attack stayed the same. As the countdown timer started to grow close to zero, they had given up, including Auron. This type of monster could only be overpowered by significant damage or a high quantity of low damage. However, none of them could get those options at this moment. "What bad thing will happen?" Felice asked Auron since he was the one who said that there would be something terrible will happen. "Will we die?" The female archer asked. "I don''t know. However, we will not die for now. It is because when the countdown hit zero, we will be teleported to the nearest town. However, I don''t know what would happen next." Auron told the others. Some of them breathed a relieved sighed. At least, they didn''t immediately die. There should be still time for them to save themself or asked for help to the royalty. "What should we do right now?" Patricia asked. There were still 15 minutes left before the two hours time limit passed. "Let''s return to town and inform the kingdom or the town to prepare for the worst," Auron told them and took out a [Return Scroll]. However, when he was about to use the [Return Scroll], a notification appeared. [You cannot use this item inside an ancient ruin] Auron tried once more, but the same notification appeared. It was the same with the others. None of them successfully used the [Return Scroll]. All of them looked at each other with a confused look when Auron said, "It looks like we have to wait for the timer to end before we can exit this place." With 15 minutes left, they had decided to explore the place. However, the place was tiny. There was nothing special at this place except this small island with a floating red crystal and numerous butterflies flying around the area. In less than 10 minutes, they had finished exploring the place and could not found something extraordinary or even an exit. They had no choice but to wait near the crystal until the timer ended. The crystal was glowing darker and darker. At first, it glowed light red color, however, as time passed, the red color became darker and darker. When the countdown almost hit zero, the color even resembled black rather than red. [You have failed to destroy the ruin''s core] [You will be teleported to Mischelvin] [Teleporting began in 10... 9... 8...] In the end, Auron and his group were teleported back to Mischelvin. A white light covered the group before made the group disappeared. As soon as Auron and his group disappeared, the red crystal vibrated. Then, its color became black. Not only that, the numerous butterflies that flew around the place also flying uncontrollably before all of them fell down to the ground one by one. One second later, after the butterfly touched the ground, it shone brightly and transformed into a monster that stood with its two feet. It also had a butterfly wing behind its back. The appearance of the monster was different from each other. Some of them were thin, while the others had a bulky appearance. However, there was one thing that all of them had, which was the butterfly wing behind their back. The green grass began to wither, and the beautiful scenery turned into a dark place, resembling a graveyard. At the place where Auron first arrived at this place appeared a portal that led to outside. Chapter 324 - Destroy the core II (1) Auron and his group were teleported to Mischelvin. When he opened his eyes, there were already many people gathering at the town center. This situation garnered Auron''s attention. Auron went and took a look at the situation. It was actually the old man and Trito who were at the center of the situation. The old man brought his guards along with him and told the villager about what Trito had done. Although what the old man said was the truth, of course, Trito would dodge the accusation. He brought the town''s guards and faced the old man. Hence, the situation came to a halt. With the town villager as the spectator, the old man and Trito accused one to another. Each of them didn''t want to give in and stood at their stance. The villager split into three parts. One group sided with the old man since they had felt suspicious about Trito''s behavior. Another group joined hand with Trito and stood with him. Meanwhile, the last group stayed neutral and didn''t pick any side. "All this time, you lied to all of us! Now, it is time for you to repay your sin!" The old man shouted furiously. "What nonsense are you saying? Bullshit!! Speak the truth! You want to rebel against the kingdom, right?" Trito rebuked the old man and returned with another accusation. Felice pulled Auron''s mage robe and said, "We don''t have time for this. We have to immediately report this to the military." With Felice reminder, Auron came back to his sense. Although he wanted to help the old man, but he had something more important right now. As he was about to turn and went into the town''s portal, the place slowly turned dark. This phenomenon took everyone attention, not only Auron and his group but also the old man and Trito. Auron looked at the sky. From the ruin''s direction, he could see something flying towards them. Their number was numerous, and it closed the sun''s light. The shadow flew passed the town. As the shadow flew passed the town, something dropped down from that shadow. Bang... As the object landed on the ground, it created a huge noise and a crater inside the town. A huge two-legged shadow stood up. The shadow was very bulky, and behind its back, there was a butterfly''s wing. A few seconds later, at another place inside Mischelvin, another shadow dropped to the ground. And, one by one, several other shadows followed suit. Auron was unfamiliar with the shadow. However, as soon as he saw the butterfly''s wings behind the shadow''s back, he thought back about the butterflies inside the ruin. "Not good." Auron thought. He looked at his group and said, "We need to get out of here immediately." Auron pulled Semial and used the town''s portal to teleport to another town. Then, he made several teleports until he reached Miderian. Felice and Patricia immediately went to the military to report what they found. Auron also worried about the situation, he contacted Roan through in-game chatting. However, he could not contact Roan at all. He tried several times again, but none of it managed to reach Roan. However, a minute later, Roan contacted him while cursing. "D****, that creature! What was that thing!!" Roan cursing. "Oops, sorry, pal! What happened?" Roan asked Auron after his call connected. "What happened?" Auron said. "I don''t know, there was some strange creature dropped down from the sky and destroyed everything inside the town," Roan said. Roan told him that he just arrived at one of the towns around Mischelvin when the incident happened. He tried to run, but the creature was so quick and killed him instantly. Right now, he was back at his resurrection point in a city near Miderian. "It looks like it didn''t only happen at Mischelvin," Auron concluded. Auron hoped that the military could act swiftly and contained the situation. Five minutes later, a series of notifications appeared at every player inside Gaia, including Auron. [An ancient ruin had been opened] [Help the kingdom to contain the ruin''s power] [The kingdom had issued a quest] [You are forced to accept a kingdom''s quest] [Destroy the core II] Description: The kingdom had issued an expedition quest to stop this catastrophe. Help the kingdom to destroy the ruin''s core to prevent the disaster. Quest Clear Condition: Destroy the ruin''s core. Quest Clear Rewards: The higher your contribution, the higher the rewards. Quest Failure Punishment: None. However, that notification only appeared to Auron''s swordsman character. Meanwhile, as Auron was inside his mage character, another notification popped out. [military had issued an order] [Gather at the nearest military base within one hour] [If you failed to show up, you will be deemed as a traitor and be punished] Since Auron''s mage character had a position inside the military, he got the military''s order while his swordsman got the player''s quest. Although the kingdom could force the player to accept the quest, however, they could not force the player to participate in the quest. The kingdom could only do things that could entice the players to join, which was by giving the players huge rewards. That was why when this kingdom-wide quest was issued, Auron immediately thought to give all of his effort using his swordsman character. However, he could not stop worrying about his mage character from dying. However, Auron could not neglect his position in the military. In the end, he put that thing at the back of his mind first. Right now, he could only comply with the military''s order and went to the military base at Miderian. In the military base, Auron met once again with Felice and Patricia. He also met with the female archer and the male thief. While waiting, Auron browsed the player''s global chat channel. Many players around the area did what Roan had done. They cursed the developer for this sudden monster. However, some of them felt excited about this new, unexpected quest. Chapter 325 - Destroy the core II (2) "How could this happen?" The king asked all of the people present in the room. The king immediately held an emergency meeting after hearing the disaster. Inside the room, there were his sons and daughters as well as his trusted general, including General Elbert. One of the military higher-ups answered, "Based on what we know, this happens due to an ancient ruin that we had been investigating." "Ancient ruin?" The king''s eyes brightened when he heard about ancient ruins. Ancient ruin was not something that could be underestimated. Its presence brought disaster to the world. If they could not handle it correctly, they could have been wiped out. However, with the catastrophe coming, the treasures and wealth also followed suit. If they could handle the ancient ruin that caused this and get into the treasure troves, all of this damage would be worthed it. "Who found it?" The king asked. "It was one of my subordinates that was sent to locate the ancient ruin." One general tried to show the king his effort and gained the king''s favor. "Good... Good... How is the situation?" The king tried to know about the current condition. "Reporting, the ancient ruin sent out many unidentified troops. The troops could fly in the sky and destroy every city it passed by." "It also attacks when it felt human''s presence or other monster presence. Even the elderly and children could not escape from its attack." The king frowned when he heard that it didn''t even spare the elderly and children. Then, he continued to listen to the general''s report. "The impacted area was vast. Fortunately, we could contain the attack to a certain distance from the ancient ruin. However, within that distance with the ruin as the center was devastated. We believed no one survived." "1 city, 8 towns, and 20 villages are destroyed. Meanwhile, the number of victims was more than 30 thousand live. We are still tallying the number." "What do we know about this creature?" The first prince asked. "First, it can fly. Its power also stronger than an ordinary monster. Although it was weaker than the demonic monster, but its number was a lot." "However, the most important thing that we found was its strength was correlated with its distance with the ancient ruin. The farther it goes from the ancient ruin, the weaker its strength. That was also the reason why we could contain the monster from going further." "How about the number?" The king asked. "We still don''t know the exact number, but it seems the number surpassed one million." "Very well, then. We will contain and stabilize the situation first while preparing. After everything was ready, we will try to move closer to the ruin. Send the news that we will give a huge reward for everyone who helps us to destroy the monster." The king ordered. "Son, you lead this operation." The king said to the second prince. "As you ordered." The Second Prince stood up and accepted the order. "I want to go as well!" The Fourth Prince opened the door to the meeting room and declared. The king looked at his fourth son that was still injured. Although all of the wounds had been recovered, but it was not completely healed. However, overall, the Fourth Prince''s condition was in good shape. "Very well! You go as well." The king agreed to this fourth son''s request. "Reporting!!!!" A shout was heard behind the Fourth Prince, who was still by the door. A soldier came to the meeting room and shout. All of the eyes looked at him, including the king. "Good news, we saw one of the demonic monsters died under the mysterious monster! It had been confirmed by the soldiers." "Ha... Ha... Ha... Good news. That was really a piece of good news." With that, the king stood up and left the room while laughing happily. At least, there was a piece of good news. He felt that something amazing gonna came up from this incident. One hour passed quickly. The military base in Miderian was flooded rapidly by the soldiers who were coming because of the orders. During the past one hour, it was not like the military didn''t do anything to contain the catastrophe. They already dispatched several groups of reinforcement to various city which had been impacted. Not only that, the nearest military base to the impacted place even tried their best to hold on until the headquarter sent reinforcements. Fortunately, just like what had the general had said. The farther the monster from the ancient ruin, the weaker its get. As this was Miderian, the Second Prince came to the military base, followed by the Fourth Prince. Behind them, several generals were assigned to solve this situation. The crowded base became quiet as soon as this big shot entered. Without any orders, they immediately form a line based on their ranks and wait for their next order. As Auron was just an ordinary soldier, he was at the back of the line far from the princes'' location. The Second Prince and the Fourth Prince started to gather their team and explained what both of them had planned out. The meeting lasted for 30 minutes before everything settled out. Auron was assigned to a team under the Second Prince''s command. This new team was completely new. He never met with any of the team members. Auron immediately had an idea. With these new members, no one recognized his ability as a mage that could fight in close combat, maybe he could go to the backline and act as an ordinary mage. Then, he could go to his swordsman character and grind the reward from that character. Auron hoped that he could get huge contribution points that could give him a huge reward. However, he didn''t blindly let his mage character went loose. He had decided to play his swordsman character, but he would still hunt near his mage character''s place. "Yes, that''s the only way." Auron firmly believed in his decision. Chapter 326 - Ancient Ruin (1) A huge group of soldiers were marching towards the teleportation gate in Miderian. This parade was watched by all of the citizens in the Miderian. Not only that, but there were also some players mixed among them. The groups disappeared into the teleportation gate. As the players knew where the group headed at, many of them followed the group. And, Auron also was one of them. Previously, Auron had decided to play in his swordsman character for this huge sudden quest. The reason was obviously because of the rewards. However, he still couldn''t forget that his mage character only had one life. That was why he didn''t want to leave the mage character alone. After several teleportation, the soldiers and Auron had arrived in one of the destination town, Crager. It was one of the nearest towns to the impacted place. Crager was used to be one of the places that supplied gemstones to the kingdom as it was a miner town. However, right now, all of the citizens here had already been evacuated. The town was filled entirely with soldiers from various places in the kingdom. Not only soldiers, but some players had wanted to join the occasion. This was not a surprising thing for the soldiers. When there was a massive event like these, there would be some players who wanted to leech off the soldiers. Especially for a lone wolf or players that had no huge guild, they would participate in the event by fighting alongside with the NPCs. Auron was among the players that was also in the Crager. A few minutes later, the group of soldiers started to depart from Crager, followed by the players. Auron had left his mage character to the AI to control. He had set the AI to fight passively. Five minutes later, they had arrived at the border where the mysterious monster had been stopped. When Auron came, he could see that there were already several soldiers who had previously fought. Not only soldiers, but some players were helping the soldiers. These players came from a large and famous guild. Some players had a territory to control. For a lord, to upgrade and increase their territory size, one of the requirements required was to have high nobility points. And, participating in this quest was one of the easiest way to gain that nobility points that they needed. With the new reinforcements from the headquarter, the soldiers started to push back the monsters. At first, they pushed the monster quickly as the monster was weak. However, when they got into deeper, the monster started to get stronger. Auron was fighting against one of the ''butterflies'' monster. As a swordsman, Auron fight against the monster at close combat. He fought against the ''butterflies'' monster, who had a slim appearance. Its speed was fast. However, Auron still could match the monster''s speed. Auron could overwhelm the monster. However, when the monster was in his deathbed, the monster started to fly. As a swordsman, he had only a limited number of range attacks. So, when the monster flew, Auron had difficulty in killing the monster. BANG... A [Fire Bolt] hit the monster that was fighting flying to avoid Auron. Several spells also hit the flying monster and killed it. These spells were coming not from Auron''s mage nor the soldiers. They were coming from the other players that tried to kill steal. With the monster dead, Auron quest got updated and showed his current contribution points. Auron got 7 points from that dead monster. Each monster would give different contribution points depending on its strength. The previous monster should give Auron 10 points if he killed it by himself. However, since the other player got the last hit, his point got deducted. Such kill steal practice was common during events like these. Moreover, the chaotic environment helped to make it more challenging to locate the kill stealer. Of course, an NPC soldier would not get angry if there was someone kill-steal their monster. After all, their job was to eradicate this monster, whether it was they who killed them or other people didn''t matter. However, for players who were greedy enough to chase for the point, one kill steal could make them lose a chance to get a better reward. Of course, the player would not immediately ask for a fight. They would check their opponent first. If the kill stealer was weaker than them, they would curse even fight against them. However, if the kill stealer was stronger than them, they would shrink back and moved to another place. Auron, who got kill steal by another player, didn''t get angry. Although he felt disappointed as well, but he chose to let it go. It was because of two reasons. First, he was still thinking about his mage character. Rather than getting into meaningless conflict, he would use this chance to secure his mage character''s safety. The second reason was this was still an outer area. Auron''s goal was so that he could arrive at the ruin and saw the crystal once more. He believed that if he could contribute all the way until the crystal, he could get the necessary contribution to achieve what he wanted. Slowly, the monsters got pushed back closer and closer to the ancient ruin. Only ruin left from the cities, towns, and villages that had been destroyed. Although Auron''s mage character only joined the fight passively, but he also got some contributions. Unfortunately, Auron''s mage character and swordsman''s character contribution points were separated. It was because the contribution point that Auron''s swordsman character got was the kingdom point from the king, but the one that his mage character got was the military point. Slash... Auron killed another ''butterflies'' monster. This time, he killed the monster before it could fly away. After killing the monster, he looked at the situation near the battlefield. Thanks to the joint effort from the players and soldier, the ''butterflies'' monster started to get pushed back. Chapter 327 - Ancient Ruin (2) The Second Prince and the Fourth Prince had split into two groups. The Second Prince would go to the ruin from the entrance that Felice and her group entered. Meanwhile, the Fourth Prince would go from the Cursed City''s door. Auron, who belonged to the Second Prince''s group, went to the ruin''s entrance that Felice had used. With the Second Prince''s group in the lead, they pushed the monster quicker than the Fourth Prince. It was expected since the Second Prince was older, which means he had trained longer than the Fourth Prince. The Second Prince''s class was an archer. However, he was not like an ordinary archer. Each time the Second Prince attacked, he would shoot out three arrows from his bow. Not only that, but each arrow was also heavier than an ordinary arrow. As a prince, his safety was also ensured. Royal guards were guarding him at the front. "Spread out! Don''t let any single monster escape!" The Second Prince shouted. The area that had impacted by the monster was large. That was why they had to be really careful to sweep the area, or there would be monsters left. Fifteen minutes later, the Second Prince''s group had arrived in front of the ancient ruin''s entrance. The entrance had been changed. Previously, it was a path that led to the underground tunnel. However, right now, the path was missing, and there was a portal above it. The monsters kept on spawning from the portal endlessly. Not only that, in front of the portal, but there were also two giant ''butterflies'' monsters that guard the portal. The wings behind its back were bigger than normal monsters. When it flapped its wing, the wind it produced could blow a small chick away. The two giants only stayed at the portal without moving. However, when the Second Prince''s group arrived in front of the portal, both of the giants started moving. Each step it took, created a footprint on the ground. [Giant Papillon] (Epic Boss monster) Level: 520 HP: 1000000000/1000000000 MP: 12000000/12000000 Skills: Summon Papillon, Papillon''s Roar, Gust of Wind, Fly, Earth Slam Description: A giant ''butterflies'' monster. Guardian of the ancient ruin. Although its body is big, but its speed doesn''t decrease at all. Beware! It can fly! "One Billion!!!" Auron was surprised when he saw the guardian''s health point. As a boss, the defense would be high, so a billion health point was huge. Moreover, there were two bosses with the same health here. Fortunately, this boss could be fought with many people, as this was an open field. However, all of the thought immediately dispersed. One of the bosses directly flew to the sky and used [Earth Slam] and pounded the ground. The ground shook and vibrated significantly With this one attack, several hundred soldiers and players died. Of course, the one that died was the weaker one. However, it significantly impacted the troop''s morale. Auron also felt nervous. Cold sweat began forming on his forehead. Fortunately, he was not near the impacted place, or else he would become one of the victims. Meanwhile, at the Fourth Prince''s location, the same situation also happened. The path that led to the city hall was blocked with a portal. And, it was the same as what happened here, the portal kept on spawning monsters while there were two giants guardian that barred the portal. Fortunately, the guardians at the Fourth Prince''s location were much ''calmer'' than the one at the Second Prince''s place. It didn''t use a skill immediately and only using a simple attack. "Tanks, go tank the boss. Healer focus on the tanks!" The Second Prince shouted. The boss swung his punch, and it hit several people. Some died immediately. However, some managed to hold on. Seconds turned into minutes. After half an hour fighting against the boss, many people died. The players and soldiers had been naturally selected by the boss''s power. The weaker died while, the stronger survived. However, not all of the weaker ones died. Knowing that they could not survive against the boss, the clever one didn''t dare to go near the boss and fought against the monster at another place. Auron was one of them. As he knew that he could not survive, Auron stood at the back and saw the battle from far away. Not only that, but he also told his mage character to go to the safety. However, at first, by doing that, he was hated by his group. He was labeled as a coward. But, a few minutes later, Auron proved that his decision was correct. His group''s melee died while only the ranged soldier that survived. Seeing this, the Second Prince had commanded the weak to scatter around and waited at the back. This move managed to save some soldiers from becoming a corpse. One of the boss''s health had already decreased by 10% while the other one only had been reduced by 5%. It was thanks to the Second Prince''s attack and several large guild''s members that participated in the battle. Roar... One of the giant used the [Papillon''s Roar]. It decreased the attributes of the players and soldiers nearby while enhancing the boss''s attack. Meanwhile, the other boss also used its summoning skill. More than 20 monsters were summoned because of the summoning skill. These new monsters were more durable than the ordinary monster. Not only its speed, but its power was also more substantial. As soon as these 20 monsters summoned, they flew and scattered everywhere. The frontlines were busy fighting against the boss and didn''t have time to handle the scattered monsters. They could only leave it to the others at the backline. Auron controlled his swordsman character and blocked one of the newly summoned monsters. Not only him, but there were other players as well that tried to use this opportunity to land a hit. By doing that, they could get some of the monster''s contribution points. Auron jumped and slashed his sword towards the monster''s right leg. Chapter 328 - Giant Papillon (1) "Hah..." A swordsman rolled on the ground to avoid the boss giant, then he used his [Shield Bash]. Usually, [Shield Bash] would stun the boss for at least one or two seconds. However, this giant boss only flinched for less than a second and attacked him. The boss stomped his feet, but the swordsman raised his shield and stopped the giant''s stomp with his shield. This swordsman was one of the famous people in Two Worlds. His character name was Iron Wall. From the start, he already decided to build his swordsman as a tank. So, all this time, he poured 90% of his attribute points to vitality. The reason for Iron Wall''s famous name was because he was considered as the best tank players in the game. As a tank, he would use a shield and a one-handed sword to play the swordsman. He also brought equipment with high vitality or defend to support his role as a tank. However, Iron Wall became famous not only because of his vitality swordsman''s build or his equipment. His judgment as a tank also contributed to his renowned name. He knew the right time to use skill to block or just to avoid by moving to the side. Not only that, but he also could make the monster stick to him. It was a great skill that a tank should have. With that skill, his teammate would attack the monster with at ease. Right now, Iron Wall was level 669. As a famous tank, many big guilds tried to recruit him. However, he rejected all of the offers. It was because he was a guild leader. Although his guild was not big enough compared to the one that invited him, but his guild still managed to enter the top 100. Iron Wall was tanking one of the giant bosses alone. He was doing that because he wanted to show off his skill. At the time like this, showing off skills would become more impressive than at any other time. Moreover, there was the Second Prince nearby that become one of the spectators. Iron Wall had a connection with one of the generals under the Second Prince''s command. So, when the general was dispatched to this conquest, he naturally would be invited. When Iron Wall heard that the leader of this conquest was the Second Prince himself, he immediately commanded all of the members in his guild to participate. He hoped that even though he could not get any valuable treasure or loot from this conquest, he could gain a close connection with the Second Prince. That was why he volunteered to become one of the tanks. However, to impress, the Second Prince was not easy. Moreover, the [Giant Papillon] was difficult to control. As a main tank, he could easily survive the boss''s attack. Moreover, with all of the healer behind him that protect his health. The tricky thing was to maintain the boss''s aggro towards him. The boss''s aggro quickly changed when there was another player or soldier hit the boss. This way, Iron Wall had to exert more effort to complete his job as a main tank. Although it was difficult, but Iron Wall did a great job. It could be seen from the boss that he tanked. The boss was more ''tamed'' than the other [Giant Papillon] that already attack other players even though there were two tanks to tank the other boss. "Who is that?" The Second Prince asked one of his generals besides him. Iron Wall''s effort was not futile. The Second Prince noticed him. After getting the answer from his general, the Second Prince nodded his head several times. Then, he commanded while pointing the boss that Iron Wall fought, "Focus your attack on that boss first!" With the focused fire, Iron Wall''s difficulty in maintaining the boss''s aggro rose. However, the boss''s health also quickly reduced, as well. The boss had his health reduced by 5% in such a short time. Auron was currently fighting against the summoned monster by the boss. His slash hit the monster cleanly. The monster retaliated and attacked Auron with its claw. Auron slightly turned his body over. However, the monster''s speed was faster than he had thought. The monster''s claw grazed Auron''s front armor. The attack power was strong. There was a scratch in Auron''s armor, which was made of iron. Auron chopped his sword to cut the monster''s arm. However, the monster stopped Auron''s sword with barehanded. Then, the monster used his knee and attacked Auron''s stomach. Auron got knee by the monster. However, the monster didn''t stop there. It kicked Auron away. Auron was blown away. Fortunately, there were many players and soldiers beside him that also attack the monster, including Auron''s mage character. Sadly, although the monster was strong, it could only target a single unit and didn''t have any area attacks. In this vast battlefield, the summoned monster was useless. Moreover, there were healers all over the place. With many people attack on the summoned monster, the monster health quickly dropped to critical. The monster''s roared and increased his speed and power. However, it was useless in this chaotic place. A single target attack was almost useless in this environment. It was because the monster was not fighting a one on one fight, but it had to fight against many. A few minutes later, the monster died, and several items popped out at the monster''s corpse place. Like a hyena that saw a lump of meat, all the players nearby immediately pounced on the item. Auron didn''t want to be left out. He also joined the occasion. Unfortunately, Auron wasn''t lucky enough. He didn''t get any item, which made him felt dejected. However, he didn''t felt that for too long. After all, he didn''t really get nothing. He got several contributions points from the monster''s death. Auron and his mage character started to move to another place to look out for the other summoned monster. He hoped that he could get the contribution point from the other summoned monster. Chapter 329 - Giant Papillon (2) Auron went over to the nearby monster. However, when Auron almost arrived at the monster''s location, the monster died first. A similar sight happened. All of the players nearby pounced to the monster''s loot. Auron looked at the battlefield. However, he could not find any other monster. The nearby battle started to gone one by one. The fight began to concentrate at one location, which was the portal. As the battle took place at the portal, when the monster came out from the entrance, it immediately got hit by the area damage from the players and soldiers'' attack. Since there was no monster could escape from the portal, Auron started to move closer to the battle near the entrance. However, he still didn''t dare to be very close. Many low-level players had the same thought as him. Auron saw the [Giant Papillon] tried to chase the intruders away. However, it was also not easy for them. There were more than a million players around the portal. And, it was only the players, not including the NPC soldiers. As an epic boss, the [Giant Papillon] had a high defense and magic defense. Its intelligence was also quite high. Many of the players could only damage the boss for less than 50. Meanwhile, the top-ranked players could damage the boss for around 100 even more. The Second Prince also could not deal a severe damage to the boss. Although he was a royalty and his equipment could be considered high tiered, but still, his damage could only be compared to the top-ranked players. Maybe, slightly higher. An epic rated boss and above had a unique skill compared to the boss below that grade. The boss had a natural regeneration. Moreover, its natural recovery was not low. The boss could recover 1% of its health each minute. So, if the damage to the boss in a minute was smaller than 1% of the boss''s health, then you could put away the thought of killing the boss. The [Giant Papillon] had a little bit of intelligence. The first [Giant Papillon], who was the one that had lower health, began to look at his the other [Giant Papillon]. Meanwhile, the second [Giant Papillon] also looked back at the first one and roared. The one who tank the second [Giant Papillon] was not as proficient as Iron Wall. So, the second [Giant Papillon] still had a high chance to attack the nearby unit instead of the tanker. This made the second [Giant Papillon] killed quite a high number. After being eyed by the first [Giant Papillon], the second [Giant Papillon] spread its wing and flew to the sky. It immediately used its [Gust of Wind] skill. However, it didn''t target the players that attack it. Instead, it focused on the players that attack the first [Giant Papillon]. A strong gust of wind swept the battlefield. Compared to the other attack, the damage from the wind actually was not high. However, the hurricane that came from the wing was so intense that it made the players had a difficult time to stay on the ground. Some of the players who were caught off guard blown away and hit the other players nearby. The Second Prince also got hit by the wind. However, as a prince, the royal guards had covered him from the wind. Because of the wind, the attacks on the first [Giant Papillon] stopped. The first [Giant Papillon] used this chance to fly away and moved closer to the second [Giant Papillon]. The wind didn''t last for too long. It only last only for 10 seconds. However, during those 10 seconds, there were already so many things that happened. When the first [Giant Papillon] moved to the second one, it didn''t just move quietly. Along the way, it also launched several attacks. It also opened a path for the monster that came out from the portal. Not only that, after it moved to the second [Giant Papillon], it got shielded by the second boss. After recovered from the wind, Iron Wall tried to pull the first [Giant Papillon]. However, it failed. He gritted his teeth. As a tank, to lose his target was a humiliation. "Prepare the siege machines!" The Second Prince shouted. The king put this ancient ruin in great attention. It could be seen by the siege machines that were given for this mission. Usually, the siege machines would not be allowed to be removed from the Bridge World except for maintenance. Although the Second Prince got the siege machines, he actually didn''t want to use it. Building a siege machine was not cheap, and it was easy to be destroyed. However, he had no choice but to use it right now. The two bosses had actually work together. If they didn''t resolve this situation quickly, then their effort at this moment would be useless. With the command from the Second Prince, three giant ballista was moved and aimed towards the bosses. A few seconds later, all the three giant ballista shot at the same time. Three big iron spears flew towards the bosses at high speed. Since the second [Giant Papillon] was at the front, the javelins flew towards it. The second [Giant Papillon] was busy fighting against the other player, so it only realized the javelins when it was already closed enough. The [Giant Papillon] raised its hand and tried to block the spears. The javelins hit the boss''s palm and got stopped. Unfortunately, it failed to pierce through the boss''s palm and fell to the ground before disappearing. Although it didn''t manage to pierce through the boss''s palm, it managed to bleed the boss''s palm. A number in thousands floated three times above the boss''s head. The first [Giant Papillon] didn''t stay still. It flew above the siege machines before using [Earth Slam] again. However, before the [Giant Papillon] managed to use its skill, Iron Wall had prepared and used his aggro skill. He pulled the boss''s aggro towards him and canceled the boss''s ability. Chapter 330 - Giant Papillon (3) The [Giant Papillon] swung hit large arm towards Iron Wall. However, the fist met with Iron Wall''s shield. The [Giant Papillon] failed to destroy the ballista. The Second Prince raised his hand and gave a signal. With the Second Prince''s sign, all of the royal guards and most of the soldiers turned and surrounded the [Giant Papillon]. Several hundred attacks immediately thrown at the boss. The Second Prince also didn''t want to be left out. He used his most potent skill to attack the boss. The first [Giant Papillon]''s health started to decrease once more at a rapid speed. It already at half of his health. As the players began to come one by one, the health speed started to decrease quicker. Meanwhile, the second [Giant Papillon] tried to help his teammate. Unfortunately, with the Second Prince''s command, some of the top-ranked guild already assigned to it. Their goal was not to kill the [Giant Papillon]. They only needed to hinder the second [Giant Papillon] from helping the first one until the first [Giant Papillon] died. It was by no chance was not an easy task. However, the Second Prince already offered them a great deal. So, they would undoubtedly agree. The three ballista shot the javelin once more to the first boss. After shooting that javelins, the soldiers, which operated it, immediately moved the ballista since they were too close to the boss. They had to keep this ballista safe since it was their damage dealer. Iron Wall tried his best to control the first [Giant Papillon]. It was not easy, but with the support of the royal guards, he managed to keep the boss from charging towards the ranged damage behind them. 50%... 49%... 48%... 49%... 48%... 47%... The boss''s health decreased quickly. A minute later, the boss''s regained a portion of its health back due to the natural regeneration of the epic grade boss. Fortunately, the amount of the damage that the boss received surpassed the natural regeneration. Sadly, Auron could not even participate in this fight. He could only see the boss being beaten from far away. Although the boss was controlled properly by Iron Wall and the royal guards, but he still didn''t dare to come too close to the boss. It only took one hit from the boss to kill him. Auron had tried to use his mage character to attack from far away. He used his current most powerful attack spell to hit the boss, [Fire Lance]. Sadly, it only produced 1 damage. It was the lowest damage that could be done to a boss. When fighting against a boss, if the boss didn''t block or avoid the attack using a skill or spell, the lowest damage would be 1 instead of 0. Auron could only get the lowest damage possible. After Auron''s attack, the boss started to roar and swept the soldiers near him. Fortunately, a second later, Iron Wall took the boss''s attention. However, that short second, already made Auron sweat. What if Iron Wall didn''t manage to control the boss and the boss let loose and attack the backline. Auron could be one of the victims. This was his mage character that only had one life. He still wanted to exploit his cheat more. This small contribution to the quest was not worthed compared to the benefit of his cheat. That was why Auron decided to stay and watched everything from behind. It took another 1 hour to decrease the first boss''s health to 5%. The boss was in its deathbed. During that one hour, the boss had used his summoning skill several times. However, with the many players out here, the summoned monster could do nothing except becoming the player''s loot. Another 5 minutes and the first boss let out its last roar. A considerable amount of items popped out at the boss''s corpse. All the players immediately swept the things. Although there were many items from the boss, but there were more players. So, many players didn''t get anything except the contribution points. As a prince, the Second Prince didn''t bother with the items. After all, if they managed to clear this ruin, the ruin''s treasure would be given to them. So, these few items would be better to be given to the players. With the first boss died, the group began to change their target to the second boss. The second boss died quicker. In less than one hour, the second boss followed the step of the first boss. With all of the bosses gone, the portal started to shake. The dark red colored portal began to turn blue. When the portal had turned completed to blue, there was no monster coming out of it anymore. All of the players started to go over to the portal. They entered the portal and disappeared. However, some players exited from the entrance after entering for a few seconds. The Second Prince also went to the portal. He only brought 90% of the soldiers that were participated in the battle with him and entered the portal. Meanwhile, the rest of the soldiers would be left outside to control and maintain the situation. Auron also controlled both of his characters and stepped into the portal. A few seconds later, he arrived at a vast field with no end. In front of him, there was another portal and a message. The message said that the place they were right now was some kind of ''waiting room.'' The portal would be activated 10 minutes after the bosses at the other entrance died. The entrance that the message mentioned was the portal where the Fourth Prince was located. After the bosses at the other portal died, there would be 10 minutes before the portal activated. Before the portal activated, people could come and exit the ''waiting room'' as they like. However, after the portal activated, there would be no chance to enter or exit the ''waiting room.'' Below the message, there were two bar of health that representing the other portal''s bosses'' current health. And also, there was a warning below the health bars that only players could see. [When you die inside the ruin, your death penalty will be doubled] Chapter 331 - Challenger (1) Auron pondered deeply on the message there. This was a grave matter for him since ancient ruin was not a playground. He couldn''t know what would happen inside an ancient ruin. In the end, Auron decided to participate in this conquest using his swordsman character. He took his mage character out of the waiting room and wait outside. After all, if his swordsman character died, he could still revive, although he would suffer double the death penalty. After settling everything, Auron looked at the other portal''s boss''s info. It seems the battle would not end soon. One of the bosses already died while the other boss still had 50% of its health left. It took for another 30 minutes for the Fourth Prince''s group to defeat the boss. As soon as the boss''s defeat, a group of people arrived at the waiting room as well. It was the Fourth Prince''s group and some players. Because of this, the waiting room was crowded with people. Meanwhile, the message in front of the portal changed. Instead of the bosses'' health bar, there was a countdown now. There only a slightly less of 10 minutes on the countdown. Besides that, the message was also changed. There was a further explanation about what will happen after the portal opened. After 10 minutes, the portal to enter the ruin would open. Meanwhile, the gateway to the outside would be closed. There would be no one that could enter or exit the ruin. All of the participants would be deemed as a challenger to the ruin. There would be two ways to exit the ruin. One of them was to destroy the ruin''s core. Meanwhile, the other way was to die. If the ruin''s core was destroyed that it means that they would succeed conquering the ruin, and treasures were waiting for them. However, if they failed, then everything would be reset. The portal would spawn the monster endlessly until another batch of challengers could conquer the ancient ruin. The Fourth Prince went and met up with the Second Prince. They talked for a bit. Meanwhile, the large guild''s leader didn''t want to miss this chance. All of them also got closer to the princes and tried to befriend with the friend. Although they could not befriend with the princes, at least, they should befriend with the generals. On this conquest, each prince brought two generals under them. So, it means four generals present here. However, not every player could join the talks with the princes or the generals. Like Auron, many players joined this conquest just to experience ancient ruin. They would only stay at the corner and waiting patiently until the portal started. Time was ticking. The countdown would end soon. When the time was near, many players that were hesitating, exited the waiting room. When the countdown hit zero, the waiting room shook intensely. Not only that, but the portal to the outside world also dimmed out until it died down. The portal could not be used anymore. Everyone started the portal to the ruin. One by one, everyone disappearing into the portal. As Auron was at the back, he was waiting until the portal was not too crowded before moving and entered the portal. The world turned dark for a second before Auron regained back his sight. Auron was shocked when he looked at his surroundings. Instead of arriving at the beautiful garden with a crystal at the center, he arrived at a wasteland. The sun was scorching hot. Not only Auron, but there were other players and soldiers here. All of them were also shocked by the fact that they arrived at the wasteland. A wasteland inside a ruin was obviously a shocking matter. Auron looked in front of him and could not see anything unusual except sands. There were floating messages in front of him. [Range 201 - 300] [Time before start: 04:32] [Number of challengers: 125.623] There was another countdown for 5 minutes. Also, below the countdown, there was a number that indicated the person at this place. The countdown was actually for the players to prepare themselves. It also served as the time limit for the people in the waiting room. If until the countdown was over, there were still people in the waiting room, they would immediately die no matter how strong they were. Of course, there was no one knew about these consequences as no information about it. Soon, 5 minutes passed by. There were still some people that were ignorant and wait in the waiting room instead of entering the portal. A disaster occurred to them and killed them with no mercy. Meanwhile, 5 minutes also not a short time. The players that already when inside the wasteland didn''t have any clue or instructions. So, they roamed around the desert on their own. However, they found nothing except the fact that this place seems had no ends. When the 5 minutes countdown was over, the number of challengers at Auron''s place amount to 223.236 people. During those 5 minutes, Auron finally got the meaning of range 201-300 from the message. After analyzing the others, he found out that the people here had a level at that range regardless of whether they were players or NPCs. There was another message added below. It showed the amount of enemies. Surprisingly, the number of enemies was the same as the number of the challengers. Although some people were exploring the place on their own, but a large portion of the challengers didn''t go anywhere, including Auron. So, when the new information was added, they became wary and took out their weapons. However, there was no movement anywhere. Auron could not see the enemies in every direction. "Look, the number decreasing!" A player shouted while pointing at the messages. Auron looked at the messages and found out that the number of the challengers had decreased. Meanwhile, the amount of enemies stayed the same. "This was not a good sign," Auron thought. Chapter 332 - Challenger (2) "Where is the enemy?" Someone shouted. The players began panicking as the number of challengers kept on decreasing rapidly. Auron frowned. He could not see any enemies at his surroundings. In this vast crowd, panic began to spread. "Don''t panic! It must be the one who roamed around." Someone shouted. "We have to be prepared before the enemies come!" Just as what that player had said. The challengers that died was the one that detached themselves from the group. The enemies actually came from far away and slowly coming closer to the group. That was why if you roamed around by yourself, you would become an easy target for the enemies. Time ticking slowly, and there was still no sign of the enemies. However, the number of challengers that died stopped. It stopped when the enemies had killed around 20 thousand of the challengers. "Prepare for battle! Form the ranks!" One of the players voluntarily took command. The swordsman began to go up to the front, including Auron. Meanwhile, the thief started to use their [Stealth] skill. Thirty seconds later, dust could be seen from their place. And, it was not only coming from their front. From all over the side, they could see dust flying. They knew what this means, they were surrounded. As the enemies coming closer to the group, slowly, they began to see the enemies'' appearance. It was the same butterflies enemy like the outside. Above the enemies'' head, Auron could see a number representing their levels. All of them had the same number, 290. When the enemies entered the mage''s spell range and the archer''s attack range, the mages and archers began to throw their attacks at the enemies. Despite getting rained by spells and arrows, the enemies didn''t run away or stop. They continued to charge towards the group from every direction. Several enemies began to spread their wings and flew to the sky. The enemies'' number started to decrease. Not long after, the frontline clashed with the enemies. A massive battle in this small place began. Everyone threw their attacks desperately. Clang... Auron, who was at the frontline, blocked one of the enemies attack with his sword. He already used his [Weapon''s Aura] to help increase his attack. Although the differences between Auron''s level and the enemies'' level was huge, but with his ''cheat'' and his skill level, he could somehow hold on. Auron used his [Whirlwind Slash]. Not only that, he kept on using his area attack until everything was on cooldown. Not only him, but everyone kept on throwing their area skill. The challengers had clerics behind them. In this huge crowd, the clerics couldn''t waste any time searching the players who needed this heal the most. They could only throw their heal spells randomly. Despite the enemies had a higher number and higher levels, the players didn''t lose. They could defend against the monster. Casualty started to appear on both sides. As the challengers'' level was varied from 201 to 300, their strength also differs from one to the other. Moreover, not everyone had the proper equipment. Meanwhile, the enemies had the same level, which was 290. Because of this, the weak players started to die one by one. The players'' numbers started to get below 200 thousand. Meanwhile, the enemies had a slightly above 200 thousand. The players were actually had the upper hand. If not because of the roaming players that died first, the challengers actually killed more. Auron took the last hit of the enemy in front of him. Then, a heal spell rained upon him and recovered some of his health. The battlefield was chaotic, after killing the previous enemy, Auron could not take any breath because the other enemy already attacks him. He had fought another battle. He didn''t even have time to drink mana potions. Three fourth of the enemies had arrived and clashed with the challengers. Meanwhile, the rest of the enemies was slowly coming behind them. This one-fourth of the enemies were different because they were slow. Auron blocked the enemy''s attack when he saw at the far away a colossal monster. It was not as huge as [Giant Papillon]. However, it was bigger than the enemy he had faced. The big monster still had the butterfly wing behind their back. But, the difference was their butterfly wing was so small that it so contrast with their large body. It would be impossible for the big monster to use the wing to fly. Not only that, the big monster was slow. Its movement was very slow that it could be compared to a sloth. It took them almost 8 seconds to take a step forward. What attracts Auron''s attention was the big monster wore a belt made from a fabric around its waist. And, along the belt, there were canned objects. From the appearance, it was an object that was usually used in a wedding or party to spray confetti. Since the monster''s body was huge, there was not only one can. Each of the big monsters had 24 such can. Auron couldn''t be bothered with the big monsters yet. He was occupied with the monster in front of him. Three more attacks, and he could kill the monster in front of him. Meanwhile, one of the big monsters stopped moving. Then, slowly it reached one of the canned objects in his waist. After taking the canned objects, then it aimed at the sky in front of him. This action obviously took the players'' attention. They observed careful on what that canned object would do. Then, a huge boom blare when the canned object was used. It was like a gas explosion. Small particles from that canned object were fell from the sky. The tiny particles hit everything under it. Auron slashed his last attack towards the monster in front of him when the small particles touched him and his surroundings. Auron saw that the tiny particles didn''t do anything on him, so he ignored it. However, when he was about to change the target, he found out that the monster he fought previously didn''t die. Auron frowned. The small particles healed the enemies. Chapter 333 - Challenger (3) Auron raised his sword to block the monster''s attack that he fought previously. He looked at the monster''s health. The small particle actually healed 50% of the monster''s health. Moreover, the area of effect was vast. Not only Auron that felt dejected due to this, but the other players also felt furious. Some of them even got hit by the monster due to this unexpected healing. Bang... Bang... Bang... Three same loud sound heard once again in the area. Another three big monsters fire the canned object. Small particles filled the air and healed the monster below it. "Range unit! Target the big monster first!" One of the players shouted. Although the big monster made the battle tougher, what fortunate was the monster''s movement was slow. It took the monster 30 seconds to fire the small particles. Not only that, the skill range was not too far from the big monster. Because of that, the big monster was inside the ranged unit''s attack range. One by one, the mages and archers began to aim the big monsters. However, not all of them wanted to follow the order and attack the big monster. Some players were selfish and only thought about themselves. Those people still attacked the nearby monster, even some of them didn''t do anything and waited until the monster was low in health to kill steal. Fortunately, most of them were targeting the big monster. Sadly, the big monster also not weak. Its defense was high that when a player attacked, it only took 50% of the damage dealt to the small monster. Not only that, the big monster had more health than the small monster. Auron used another area skill to attack the monster he fought. Another three area skill from nearby players also hit the monster. Then, Auron finished the monster with another single target skill, [Bash]. [Sloth Papillon] (Epic monster) Level: 290 HP: 30000000/30000000 MP: -/- Skills: Nectar Rain (24/24) Description: A big papillon with healing ability. Despite its slowness, its healing ability affect vast area. Kill it before its too late! After killing the monster, Auron moved back a bit. Then, he looked at the big monster''s information. As it was stated, the [Sloth Papillon] only had 24 chances to use the healing ability. Fortunately, the [Sloth Papillon]''s movement was slow. However, their number was not small. Auron looked at his front and could find around 100 such monster in the crowd. That 100 number was only at Auron''s front. It didn''t include the amount at his back or his sides. Not to mention, the [Sloth Papillon] that were still at the end. A minute later, Auron saw one of the [Sloth Papillon] died under the barrages of spells and arrows. However, to achieve that result, they had to waste so much time and resources. The battle was going on intensely. More and more casualties appeared on both sides. The [Sloth Papillon] only had 24 chances to use the healing skill. When all of that chances were used, it had no choice but to go forward and attack in close combat. Actually, the [Sloth Papillon]''s damage also not small. As it had a big body, its attack could even sweep more than one enemy at once. Fortunately, because of its slow movement''s the attack was easy to dodge if one was careful enough. With the appearance of [Sloth Papillon], the pressure on the clerics also increased. The battle was going longer than it supposed to be. One hour passed by, the challengers only had less than 150 thousand. Meanwhile, the papillons had almost the same number, 150 thousand. This was thanks to the fact that the players teamed up to kill the enemy quickly. Two or three players would gang up on one enemy to kill it quickly. Not only that, the area attack from the mages, archers, or other area skill also help them kill the enemy quicker. Even though the enemies were stronger than them and had a little bit of intelligence, but a monster still a monster. Despite having a flying skill, not all of them utilize the ability. Save Not only that, all of the enemies were a melee monster. Because of that, the monster at the back had to wait for their turn before they could attack. Not to mention, the space was limited due to the enormous crowd. The challengers at this place also not weak. After the number reached 150 thousand, the challengers that still alive was not weak. The weaker or the unlucky one had already been eliminated. Auron, who had level 221, was not the one with the lowest level among the challengers. There were around 10 such people in this place with a lower level than Auron. Those 10 people survived, not because they hid at the back. But it was because they had high-end equipment. All those 10 people were coming from a large guild or had a fantastic background. All of them had spent a lot of real-life money into the game. All of their equipment was a high king grade equipment. Not only that, all of their skill level was above level 30. Each time they used their skill, with the support of the equipment, they could produce damage the same as a level 300 players with ordinary equipment. When paired beside them, Auron actually didn''t look that impressive at all. Auron could only rely on his high skill level, his top attributes, and his combat skill. Despite of that, Auron still garnered the attention of his surroundings challengers. Some of the players had thought that Auron was one of the riches people. That was why some of the high-level players tried to befriend him by helping him. Auron actually felt awkward. However, since it was given to him, then he would gladly accept it. That was why he didn''t say anything or tried to clear the misunderstanding. Another hour passed by. Finally, the challengers gained the upper hand. The challengers had a higher number than the enemies. Chapter 334 - Second Stage (1) Another hour passed by. Finally, the challengers gained the upper hand. The challengers had a higher number than the enemies. Although 30 thousand of the challengers died, but the enemies number had been reduced by 50 thousand. Right now, the challengers amounted to 120 thousand, while the enemies had less than that number. Slowly but surely, the number began to widen. As the number of enemies decreased, the pressure on the challengers started to lessen a bit. Slash... Auron killed another enemy. A white light surrounded him, showing that he leveled up. Throughout this battle, he had already gained 5 levels. So, with this newly acquired level, he already got 6 levels from this battle. Auron''s level raised quickly because of the area skill that he used. Throughout the battle, he used every area skill that he got. Because of the crowded enemies, each time Auron used his area skill, he could hit around 5 up to 10 enemies at once. When Auron had hit the enemies, he already got reserve some portion of the monster''s experience point. As long as Auron didn''t die, when the monster died, Auron would get a piece of the experience points. Moreover, Auron''s swordsman skill level was decent. So, his damage was not that low. Thanks to that, he quickly leveled up even though he needed four times experience point that the other. Of course, the other players gained more level than Auron. The monster here didn''t drop any item at all. This could be considered as a fortunate thing. Item could make players greedy. If that player decided to just loot the item without fighting at all, then it would make the other jealous. The other players would start to follow that player''s behavior because they didn''t want to lose any. This behavior could spread to all of the players on the battlefield, which would make their firepower lessened. Auron knew that not everyone here could hold against their own greed. It would be a lie if he said that he didn''t want the loot. However, he thought it was better for the monster to not drop any item at all. This way, everyone could just focus on eliminating the enemies. Time passed by, the number of challengers was still around 100 thousand while the enemies only half of that number. This was because all of the [Sloth Papillon] had died. All of the ranged units target them. So, it was not surprising that they were wiped out first. Moreover, the number of the ordinary monster was higher. With the healer on the enemies'' side had gone, killing the enemies became easier. Meanwhile, there were still many healers on the challenger''s side. With the current situation, this battle should be a winning battle. There was no chance for them to lose this battle. Auron also felt the battlefield became more spacious. When he killed a monster, another monster would immediately take the position. However, the new monster didn''t have full health because of the area attack. Each minute more than 100 monsters would die under the siege. As time goes on, the number of monsters that killed rising. After an hour and 20 minutes, all of the monster finally died. The battle had ended when all of the enemies had died. However, before they could take any break, a notification appeared in front of the challengers. [Sckilemd Ruin''s first stage range 201-300 completed] [Number of challengers: 90182] [You will be teleported to the second stage in 5 seconds] [5... 4... 3... 2... 1...] There was actually a slightly over than 90 thousand that survived. Auron, along with the other challengers, disappeared from the wasteland where the first stage took place. A second after being teleported, Auron regained his sight. He was currently at the top of a square arena. It was a 10 x 10 meters outdoor arena. The sky was blue with a bright sun and a light breeze. Although the atmosphere was great, it actually scared Auron. Auron saw at his surroundings, and he could not see the end. In fact, there was no other ground except the arena. So, the stage was the only place that he could move. Of course, if he could fly, then he still could move outside the arena. However, it was impossible. Without a flying mount, no one could fly even a mage. Auron tried to look outside the arena. There was only dark hollow, and Auron could not measure how deep the hole was. He fired a [Fire Bolt] to see how deep the hole was. However, he could not hear any sound even after 5 seconds. Ding... a bell sound was heard behind Auron''s back. He could not help but look behind. However, he didn''t find any bell at all. Instead, he saw some sort of faceless mannequin at the other end of the arena. [Defeat the mannequin three times] There was only that one single line. Auron had to kill the mannequin three times. However, he could not see the enemy''s health bar. A second later, the mannequin suddenly transformed into the standard papillon monster. A health bar appeared above its head. Not only that, the mannequin was level 280. "So, the second stage is a one on one battle." Auron thought. However, Auron believed that it wouldn''t as simple as defeating the mannequin three times. When Auron was pondering, he could see that the mannequin had moved to attack. The mannequin used its wing to slightly float above the arena and dashed towards Auron. It raised its hand and formed a fist. Auron took out his sword and blocked the fist. However, the fist power pushed Auron back. Just as Auron thought, the mannequin''s power was not the same as it should be. Its ability was slightly enhanced. However, Auron also didn''t afraid. As this was a one on one battle, he didn''t have to hide anything. An [Earth Spike] appeared from the below the mannequin and pierced the mannequin''s body. The mannequin laid down on the ground. There was a big hole in the mannequin''s body. Chapter 335 - Second Stage (2) Auron tried to stab the mannequin''s head, who was on the ground. However, before the sword could hit the mannequin''s head, the mannequin raised its arm. The sword stabbed the mannequin''s arm and stopped before it could stab the head. Then, the mannequin slowly stood up. Auron was shocked seeing this. He immediately pulled his sword and jumped back. The mannequin stood up. The big hole on its stomach was slowly closing. It Auron looked at the mannequin. Then, he frowned. The mannequin didn''t lose that much health. When the same attack hit the monster at the first stage, it produced much more damage. Moreover, the monster at the early stage had a higher level. Before the hole in the mannequin''s stomach closed completely, the mannequin already dashed forward to Auron. Clang... Auron blocked the mannequin''s attack using his sword. Unfortunately, Auron lost in the power struggle. He was pushed backward. Auron staggered. The mannequin didn''t miss this chance and pressured Auron more. Using both of its hands to attack Auron. Not only that, the mannequin even combined the attack with several kicks. Auron could only be on the defensive side while he blocked all the attacks. Fortunately, Auron was not an ordinary swordsman. Due to his cheat, he could use some mage spell. While defending, Auron threw [Fire Bolt] to the mannequin''s head. The [Fire Bolt] hit the mannequin''s head cleanly. The mannequin didn''t even bother to defend. If this situation happened to some ordinary monster or player, it would faze them a bit. However, the mannequin didn''t stop attacking. It didn''t even flinch. Moreover, the mannequin''s health only reduced a bit. Fortunately, the mannequin didn''t have any recovering ability. The mannequin''s attack was wild and intense. Auron tried his best to block or avoid the mannequin''s attack. However, as the battle kept going on, Auron started to feel overwhelmed. The mannequin threw a jab with its right hand to Auron''s face. Auron raised his sword to block the jab. However, the mannequin already threw a hook punch using its left hand. Auron swung his right hand to sway the hook punch coming. However, the attack didn''t stop there. The mannequin already attack once more using its right knee. It aimed towards Auron''s stomach. Auron tried to knock the knee using the sword''s handle. However, the mannequin suddenly headbutted Auron. Auron was caught off guard with the headbutt. He felt dizzy for a bit. However, seeing Auron dizzy, it didn''t make the mannequin felt sorry. Instead, it attacked more brutally. Several jab coming towards Auron. Fortunately, Auron had finished chanting his spell. An [Earth Wall] appeared below the mannequin and lifted it up. The jabs missed its target. However, the mannequin already jumped and launched itself towards Auron, who was below him. Fortunately, Auron already regained back his sense. He immediately moved to the side and avoided the mannequin''s charge. The mannequin hit the arena''s floor and made it cracked. Auron, who was beside the mannequin, attacked the mannequin. Since facing this type of enemy, Auron could not be passive, or he would be overwhelmed. That was why he decided to attack. Fortunately, Auron could use his potion here. When avoiding the previous attack, Auron already drank the buff potion to increase his aggression. Auron used [Bash] and aimed at the mannequin''s shoulder. Because of the buff potion, Auron''s damage was increased. However, the increase was not as what Auron had thought before. The [Bash] hit the mannequin and stunned it for a second. This one second was an excellent opportunity for Auron, who already launched his second attack. The mannequin didn''t move for a second. After one second was over, Auron''s attack already closed to its head. Surprisingly, it didn''t block Auron''s attack. Instead, it threw a hook punch towards Auron''s left face. As Auron was attacking, he could not block the hook punch. Auron moved his head to his right, following the punch''s direction. He tried to minimize the damage when the blow hit his face. And, it just what he had thought, he could not dodge the punch completely. Auron''s face got punch by the mannequin. He swayed to the right. Because Auron had moved to the right, the impact''s power was decreased a lot. Auron looked at his health. His health still in the safe zone. He still had more than 80% of his health left. Meanwhile, the mannequin also had the same health as him. Auron used his movement skills to increase his movement and attack speed. Previously, Auron was the agile type. That was why he usually would kill the enemy using more than one attack rather than killing the enemy in a single blow. With the increased speed, the mannequin could not cope with Auron''s speed. Because of this, Auron went on a rampage while the mannequin was on the defensive stance. Well, it wasn''t really a defensive stance since the mannequin didn''t even bother to defend. During this short time, Auron gained the upper hand. He tried to maximize his damage by combining his attack with his spell. Of course, by doing this, he would run out of mana. Fortunately, his decent equipment and attributes could help a little. Although it could not make Auron never run out of mana, but it was enough for Auron to reduce the mannequin''s health to 50%. Before the movement skill timer ended, Auron ran backward and made quite some distance to the mannequin. It was because he had to drink mana potion, or else he could not use any skill at all. Auron didn''t keep anything at all. He drank the higher grade mana potion to gain a lot of mana immediately. Just like before, the mannequin was like a madman who didn''t know anything besides attacking, it quickly chased Auron. Auron, who had drank the mana potion, made a serious face. He had to wait until his movement skill to be off cooldown before he could attack again. During that wait, he had to defend carefully. Chapter 336 - Second Stage (3) Auron made an [Earth Wall] in front of him. He hoped that this [Earth Wall] could buy him some time, even just a second. The mannequin, without any expression, fly up to the sky. Then, it looked at Auron''s location. Without further ado, it directly charged towards Auron. Auron gritted his teeth. His [Earth Wall] was useless. He ignored the [Earth Wall] and ran to the right. However, when the mannequin saw Auron moved to the right, it directly followed Auron. Auron swung his sword to block the mannequin''s punch. He used both of his hands to hold the mannequin''s sheer power. The mannequin turned his body in the air and kicked Auron''s head using its right leg. Auron pulled his body back to dodge the mannequin. The kicked missed the target. Immediately, the mannequin turned his body 360 degrees and attacked using the back of its left leg. Before the leg could connect with Auron, from below the ground, an [Earth Spike] sprung up and pierced the mannequin''s leg. It stopped the mannequin''s continuous attack. Auron moved away from the mannequin. Unfortunately, the mannequin regained its sense quickly. It flew up once more and charged towards Auron. The battle continued for several minutes before all of Auron''s movement skill off cooldown. When the skills off cooldown, Auron didn''t waste any more time and directly used the ability. With the skill buffs, Auron gained the upper hand. The combination of Auron''s attack and magic spell proved to be effective. Auron could reduce the mannequin''s health quickly. The mannequin''s health continued to decrease until it had only around 10% of its health left. When the mannequin''s health hit 10%, Auron''s buff had ended. He had 75% of his health left while the mannequin''s still had 10% of its health. However, Auron didn''t become impatient. He went to the defensive mode again and waited until the movement''s skill off cooldown. Several minutes later, Auron used his skill once more and finished the mannequin. The mannequin slumped down to the ground with its health bar emptied. It reverted back to its original appearance. When the mannequin died, Auron received a notification while he was drinking a health potion. [You get 3 levels for killing the mannequin] [The mannequin had died once] [In 5 seconds, it will be revived] [5... 4... 3... 2... 1...] Auron was shocked. From killing the mannequin, he received 3 levels. Although it didn''t give Auron any item, he still felt that it was such a generous reward for him. However, Auron didn''t drown in happiness. He had to make preparation to enter the next battle in five seconds. After 5 seconds, the mannequin who was on the ground slowly stood up. Then, its appearance started to change once again. It didn''t take the monster''s appearance that Auron previously defeated. Instead, the mannequin became taller. Not only that, but the arm also grew longer as well as the leg. Then, the mannequin''s muscle started to grow bulkier. Auron looked at the mannequin''s health bar, which started to be filled. He also looked at the level. It''s level raised. Now, it had level 290. Finally, after the transformation ended, the mannequin took the appearance of [Sloth Papillon]. However, Auron knew this was just like the ordinary [Sloth Papillon] that he saw at the first stage. It turned out, Auron''s conjecture was correct. The mannequin, who was taking the appearance of [Sloth Papillon], dashed to Auron. The speed it showed wasn''t as slow as the [Sloth Papillon] that appeared at the first stage. The mannequin threw its huge fist to Auron. A sword raised in front of Auron to stop the fist''s advance. However, the sword was pushed back, even almost slashing Auron''s chest. Not only that, but Auron was also pushed back several meters. "Ugh..." Auron felt his hand became sore. The mannequin''s speed was slightly slower than the previous monster''s appearance that it took form. However, the power was twice the power of the original [Sloth Papillon]. Auron chanted an [Earth Spike]. The [Earth Spike] appeared from the mannequin''s right side and hit the mannequin big arm. However, the mannequin didn''t move at all. It was as if the [Earth Spike]''s power like a mosquito''s bite. The damage also reduced a lot. "It seems the defense also improved," Auron thought when he saw the damage that the mannequin took. The mannequin threw another punch at Auron. This time, Auron didn''t dare to block the attack. Instead, he dodged the attack by jumping to the left. Surprisingly, although he could avoid the attack, Auron still felt the winds produced by the punch. Auron quickly moved away. The mannequin turned to face Auron and attacked Auron once again. Fortunately, the mannequin''s speed was slightly slower than Auron. Auron, who had higher speed dodge the continuous attack from the mannequin. However, he still didn''t forget to attack the mannequin when he had a chance. He also threw some attack spells to the mannequin whenever possible. The battle was already going for 20 minutes, and Auron could only decrease the mannequin''s health by 10%. Each minute Auron could only reduce 0.5% of the mannequin''s health. This showed how hard the mannequin''s defense. Auron had thrown dozens of skills and spells. He also tried to increase his attack power by drinking a buff potion. In the end, he could only produce such damage. Despite the low damage, Auron still fortunate. During that 20 minutes, he didn''t take any of the mannequin''s attack at all. This was the effect of Auron''s speed. What''s more fortunate was the fact that the mannequin didn''t have the canned object that could be used to heal itself. Since it could not heal itself, with the current battle condition, as long as Auron could steadily dodge the attack, he definitely will win the battle. The only question left was how long it would take to defeat the mannequin. However, Auron put everything behind his head. If he thought about that matter, it would only make him more depressed. It could affect his mental state. Chapter 337 - Second Stage (4) Bang... A crack appeared on the arena''s floor because of the mannequin''s punch. Auron had avoided the mannequin''s attack. Auron swung his sword to the mannequin''s left shoulder. Unfortunately, the wound was not deep enough. It only grazed the surface of the mannequin''s shoulder. The mannequin swung his left arm. Auron, who saw it, jumped back to dodge the attack. Then, a [Fire Bolt] appeared and flew towards the mannequin''s head. Bang... The [Fire Bolt] hit the mannequin''s head. However, it didn''t flinch. Instead, it immediately stood up and charged towards Auron. Auron, who had anticipated this, raised his sword. The mannequin pulled back his arm and prepared to punch Auron. When the two of them already closed enough, the mannequin threw its punch straight at Auron. Auron moved his body slightly to the right and ducked under the punch. Then, he swayed to the left and swung his sword upwards. Because of the mannequin''s big body, Auron''s head only reached its chest. However, this fact didn''t make Auron afraid. After swinging his sword upwards, Auron used the mannequin''s knee to jump higher and used [Bash] towards the mannequin''s head. Then, when he was descending from the air, Auron kicked the mannequin''s arm and jumped backward. Auron rolled once in the air before landing steadily on the ground. After he landed on the ground safely, Auron used [Charge] and with high-speed attack the mannequin. The mannequin was slower than Auron. That was why the mannequin just started to react when Auron had already landed on the ground. The mannequin punched towards the charging Auron. Unfortunately, the attack was very straightforward. Auron, who saw this punch, used his movement skill to increase his speed more. Auron''s speed rose significantly. Before the punch could hit Auron, he already went below the arm. Using all of his power combined with the explosiveness of the charging, Auron took a stabbing stance. He aimed at the mannequin''s stomach. Stab... The sword stab into the mannequin''s stomach. It pierced through the hard skin and muscle of the mannequin. Unfortunately, the cut was not too deep. Only 10 centimeters of the sword that managed to go inside the mannequin''s stomach. Auron had tried to push the sword deeper. However, it was futile. The sword could not go deeper anymore. Seeing this, he didn''t force anymore and pulled the sword out. If it was an ordinary monster, there should be blood coming out from the wound. However, Auron could only see the hole from the sword, and there was no blood coming out of it. Moreover, in the next second, the hole already started closing by itself. The mannequin didn''t even looked panic or shocked by the wound. Instead, it ignored the injury and attacked Auron once more. Using its left arm, it tried to hit Auron from the left. However, Auron ran forward and slide through between the mannequin''s big legs. He arrived at the mannequin''s back. Auron immediately stood up. The mannequin had started to turn his body back. However, before the mannequin could turn completely, Auron already slashed his sword two times. He didn''t forget to add an attack spell to the back of the mannequin''s head. With his speed, Auron overwhelmed the mannequin completely. Slowly time passed by, an hour had passed by. The mannequin''s health down for another 30%. The mannequin still had 60% of its health left. Auron patiently attack the mannequin while maintaining his focus. After all, he didn''t want all of his effort gone because of one mistake. More than an hour passed by. Thanks to Auron diligence, the mannequin only had 5% of its health left. Despite the mannequin''s big body, through all this time, Auron had played the mannequin. It looked like he was battling against a kid. However, this was not because of Auron''s luck. This was thanks to all the time he played his character previously. Auron also had the same agility type character. And, of course, there were more strength-wise swordsman. So, almost 50% of his PVP, he fought against this strength-wise merchant, thief, or even swordsman. Because of that experience, he could overwhelm the mannequin. Moreover, the mannequin was just a monster who was less intelligent than a player or NPC. Currently, Auron was in front of the mannequin''s big body. He slashed his sword and used [Fire Lance] to the mannequin''s stomach. It didn''t stop there. Auron slashed once more before the mannequin''s retaliate. Using his movement skill, Auron avoided the mannequin''s attack before dashing back to attack the mannequin. The mannequin could not cope up with Auron''s increased speed. It swung his left and right arm only to meet with empty air. Meanwhile, every Auron''s attacks always injure the mannequin. It was a one-sided battle. The only thing that could make the mannequin last this long was the fact that it had great health and high defense. Auron stabbed his sword towards the mannequin''s stomach. Not only that, but he also used another [Fire Lance] and aimed at the wound. The mannequin stopped moving. Then, it slowly fell down to the ground. Auron ran away before the mannequin could descend on him. Boom... Finally, after the long battle and spent more than two hours, the mannequin died. Auron won this battle. He saw the mannequin slowly revert back to the original appearance. Then, a notification also appeared in front of Auron. [You get 3 levels for killing the mannequin] Auron got 3 levels again after killing the mannequin twice. He had already received 6 levels from fighting against this mannequin. Auron felt that after he killed the mannequin once more, he would get another 3 levels. So, in total, he could get 9 levels from this second stage alone. Just like before, another notification appeared before Auron to tell him that the mannequin would be revived in 5 seconds. [The mannequin had died twice] [In 5 seconds, it will be revived] [5... 4... 3... 2... 1...] Auron maintained some distance from the mannequin while observing it. The last battle against the mannequin would begin shortly. Chapter 338 - Second Stage (5) The mannequin started to stand up slowly. Then, its appearance began to change once more. Auron was right in front of the mannequin and observing the phenomenon. The mannequin''s hand started to grow big as the [Sloth Papillon]. However, the mannequin''s body had the same size as the ordinary papillon. Not only that, but the butterfly wing behind the mannequin''s back also increased in size. The wing was much much bigger than the average size. It was almost double the original size. The color of the wing also darker than the original one. Auron saw the mannequin''s appearance and frowned. The appearance was so weird. The body had the size of ordinary papillon. However, the arms were the same size as the [Sloth Papillon]. Behind its back, there were also butterfly wings, which were twice the average size with dark color. It was like a combination of the first mannequin''s appearance and the second mannequin''s appearance. Moreover, it had upgraded butterfly wings. Not only that, Auron saw the mannequin''s level. And it was level 300. The transformation took about 2 seconds before the mannequin raised its head and faced Auron. Then, it didn''t give any sign and immediately attacked Auron. The mannequin dashed towards Auron. The mannequin''s speed shocked Auron. It was so quick that it was slightly faster than Auron''s speed. If Auron used all of his movement''s skill, he would only have a slightly better speed than the mannequin. Boom... With no time to dodge, Auron raised his sword in front of him to block the attack. "Urgh..." Auron gritted his teeth, the attack''s power was not weak either. Although it was weaker than the second mannequin''s strength, but it was better than the first mannequin''s power. Nonetheless, Auron still lose in terms of power. However, it was not as miserable as when he faced the second mannequin. Auron was pushed back for a meter before he stopped. As soon as he stopped, Auron went forward and tried to stab the mannequin''s body. However, the mannequin stopped Auron''s attack using its left hand. Auron was confused. This was the first time that the mannequin blocked Auron''s attack. For all along this time, the mannequin never block or dodge any of Auron''s attack. However, this confusion only lasted for less than a second, before Auron used [Earth Spike] to attack the mannequin from behind. Bang... the [Earth Spike] hit the mannequin''s back. The mannequin ignored Auron''s attack and already launched a one-two jab to Auron. To dodge the attack, Auron had to duck and swayed right and left. However, the offense didn''t stop there. As Auron was ducking below to avoid the attack, a kick come from Auron''s left. Auron raised his arm to block the attack. However, he was blown away by the kick''s power. Auron steadily his body and landed on the ground safely. However, his hand, which blocked the kick, had a tingling sensation. Before the tingling sensation disappeared, Auron had to move. It was because the mannequin already dashed towards him. Auron tried to move, but the mannequin was already beside him, ready for another kick. Auron faced the kick and tried to block the kick with his sword and both of his hands. However, he was blown away once again. Auron rolled on the ground. Blood seeped out from his mouth. He could not let this continue, or he would be beaten to death. [Earth Wall] appeared from the ground and tried to block the mannequin''s punch. However, it could not. The wall destroyed in just a second after it appeared. However, the wall managed to buy Auron time. Auron used his sword to attack from below and aimed at the mannequin''s throat. The mannequin opened his palm and used it to block Auron''s piercing attack. Then, it launched another punch using the other hand. However, Auron didn''t give up. He used his movement skills and moved towards the mannequin''s back. Then, he launched his attack and spell. By using his movement skills, Auron had a faster speed than the mannequin. However, it was just slightly faster. But, it was enough for Auron to land some attack on the mannequin. The battle had lasted for 10 minutes. During these 10 minutes, Auron managed to reduce the mannequin''s health by slightly more than 10%. However, during these 10 minutes, Auron also received damage equivalent to 12% of his health. These 2 % difference was not much. Moreover, Auron still could use his health potion to make up the difference. However, doing it was not as easy as being said. That 12 % was the result of Auron didn''t make any mistake. Auron didn''t make any mistake, and he still had lost 12%. It was 2% more than what the mannequin had received. Auron was afraid if he made a little mistake, then it would not only 12% but 20% or even 25%. The pressure on Auron started to increase. After he faced a rather easy battle previously against the second mannequin, now, he felt that the difficulty doubled. The mannequin kept on attacking Auron and didn''t give Auron any time to relax or drank any potions. Auron gritted his teeth. He had to overcome this crisis, or else he would be the losing one. Auron tried every way to buy him some time to drank at least one health potion. He tried to use [Earth Wall] even using [Sloth]. By using [Sloth], he managed to drink a health potion. However, the [Sloth]''s effect didn''t last long enough since it was still level 1. Moreover, the cooldown was long. The battle continued for half an hour when Auron found a chance to deliver a deathly blow towards the mannequin. The mannequin had made a mistake and opened his guard. Auron didn''t let this chance went away. He immediately used [Charge] and attacked the mannequin. However, the mannequin suddenly flapped his big wing. The wind produced halted Auron''s charge''s progression. With the slowed charge, the mannequin threw a body blow towards Auron, which hit Auron cleanly. Chapter 339 - Second Stage (6) Auron was caught off guard. The body blow hit him hard. He was blown away and crashed on the ground. Blood seeped out from his mouth. This was the first time since he fought against the mannequin that he received such damage. Auron was shocked because of this situation. He was confused about whether the mannequin deliberately trapped him, or this just was purely his mistake. However, he could not think about that for too long. The mannequin didn''t give him any time. It already dashed towards Auron. Auron raised his sword. He didn''t want to repeat the same mistake twice. However, when he raised his sword, he felt an acute pain in his ribs. Auron gritted his teeth and held the pain. Bang... Auron pushed back by the mannequin''s sheer power. He used his chance to stand up and moved away. While he ran away, he held the pain in his ribs. The mannequin didn''t let Auron got away. It already chased Auron as soon as it saw Auron stood up. Another one-two punch thrown to Auron. Holding the pain on his ribs, Auron dodged the first punch and blocked the second punch. Then, he unleashed [Fire Bolt] to the mannequin. Although he was in a dire state, but Auron could not always run away. He had to attack the mannequin to kill it. The [Fire Bolt] aimed at the mannequin''s face. Seeing the [Fire Bolt] coming to its head, the mannequin didn''t feel afraid or dodge it. Instead, it pushed its head towards the [Fire Bolt]. It was like the mannequin was headbutting the [Fire Bolt]. Auron had been prepared this time. After all this time fighting against the mannequin, he knew that the mannequin had a high chance of ignoring the attack. Although, previously, the mannequin blocked Auron''s attack. However, for a weak attack, the mannequin tended to overlook the offense and received it confidently. Auron jumped backward to dodge the mannequin''s punch. Then, he chanted another [Sloth] since it was off cooldown already. With the slowed mannequin, Auron moved away and drank several health potions. Auron already suffered a lot from the clean hit that he took previously. Now, he had a chance to restore his health. So, he would use it wisely or else he would die, and all of his effort would be gone. Just like before, the mannequin didn''t care what Auron was doing and kept attacking him. Fortunately, when the mannequin was close to Auron, he had just finished drinking the potion. So, he could ready himself to face the mannequin''s attack. After drinking the health potion, the pain on Auron''s ribs ease up a bit. He saw the mannequin''s punch. Instead of blocking the attack, Auron chose to dodge the blow. Then, he went around the mannequin''s back and chanted [Earth Spike]. However, the mannequin turned its body powerfully. The big butterfly wing slapped Auron''s [Earth Spike] that just coming out from the ground. Auron flinched a bit because of the butterfly wing. Although the wing was big, but he didn''t think that this butterfly wing would be powerful enough to disturb his attack. Auron''s momentum to attack was off because of this wing. Since he lost the momentum, he would not push this attack forward. Auron began to strategize back his way of fight. He calmly assessed the battle and fought carefully. Auron also didn''t try to do something dangerously. He fought as carefully as he could. When his health was low, he would chant [Sloth] and drank several health potions. Although Auron had lost more health than the mannequin, but thanks to the [Sloth] and health potions, he could maintain his health in the safe zone. The battle continued slowly. It was because Auron didn''t rush to kill the mannequin. He had changed his way of fighting. After all, it would be better to kill the mannequin rather than he being killed by the mannequin. Previously, Auron could reduce the mannequin''s health by 10% in 10 minutes. However, as he changed his way of fighting, now, he could only achieve the same percentage in 30 minutes. Time passed by, the mannequin had only 5% of his health left. However, it was not easy to reduce that 5%. It was because Auron felt something weird. As the mannequin''s health getting lower, Auron felt that the mannequin''s speed rose. At first, he thought that it was just his imagination. However, as the mannequin''s health kept reduced slowly, the difference in speed became clearer. Auron started to feel the difficulty of fighting against the mannequin rose. The mannequin began to have the same speed as Auron. In fact, when the mannequin''s health was at 5%, the mannequin had a faster speed than Auron. Even when Auron used [Sloth] to reduce the speed, it could only make Auron had the same speed as the mannequin. Auron looked at his health. Thanks to his strategy before, he could maintain his health at around 80%. Auron''s health was at 80%, while the mannequin''s health was at 5%. There was a difference of 75% between their health. The battle became harder for Auron. It was also harder for him to drink health potion even he had used [Sloth]. The mannequin didn''t let him do that. That was why Auron had thought to go all out when the next [Sloth] was available. He tried to exchange attacks against the mannequin. Although he knew that he would lose in terms of damage, but he believed that with the difference of 75% in their health, he could win against the mannequin. However, to achieve that, Auron had to pass this round of fight until the [Sloth] was off cooldown. He had to maintain the advantage of his health as big as he could. Auron held as hard as he could. Finally, after 30 minutes, his [Sloth] was off cooldown. However, the situation was not as great as what Auron had thought. He had 75% of his health left while the mannequin had 3.5% of his health left. Chapter 340 - Second Stage (7) However, Auron had come to this. He had to take the risk. He couldn''t prolong the battle anymore. With the mannequin''s speed increased, he could not have any chance to drink health potion anymore. So, prolonging this battle would only do harm to him. Auron gritted his teeth and used [Sloth]. Then, he raised his sword and took the initiative to attack. The mannequin also had the same idea as Auron. It charged towards Auron, ignoring the slowed speed. Auron had a low level [Sloth]. So, the [Sloth]''s duration would not be that long. That was why Auron had to reduce the mannequin''s health as many as possible during the [Sloth] still in effect. Auron brandished his sword. However, the mannequin blocked it quickly. Of course, he knew that this innocent attack would not hit the mannequin. But, he still had to do it since he felt the initiative was important. The mannequin returned Auron''s attack. It threw a straight punch that Auron avoided using [Earth Spike]. He summoned the [Earth Spike] below the straight punch and pierced upward. Although the [Earth Spike] didn''t do much damage to the mannequin, but it could change the mannequin''s punch''s course. The mannequin''s punch was blown upward by the [Earth Spike]. Then, Auron used this chance to get closer to the mannequin. Although coming closer to the mannequin was dangerous, but Auron felt that this was the only chance for him to suppress the mannequin''s attack. Auron''s idea was that since the mannequin''s arm was quite big, it would be difficult for the mannequin to attack the target, which was closer to him. Auron tried to stab the mannequin''s stomach. Unfortunately, what Auron had thought previously was wrong. When Auron came closer to the mannequin, it was true that the mannequin had a difficulty to use its arm. However, the mannequin did something else. Since Auron was closer to the mannequin, right now, the mannequin could just headbutt him. And, this was what exactly that the mannequin did. It headbutted Auron. Seeing the mannequin tried to headbutt him, Auron moved his head. Unfortunately, he didn''t have enough time to move all of his body. The mannequin''s headbutt hit Auron''s shoulder. Auron gritted his teeth. He held the pain. Then, he continued to stab the mannequin''s body. He also used [Fire Bolt] and attack the mannequin''s head. Auron had come this far and held the pain. He could not let all of his effort wasted. That was why Auron ignored the pain and kept attacking the mannequin. Auron stab then pulled the sword and stabbed again. He tried to do this in a short time before he moved away. Fortunately, during such a short time, Auron could stab three times before he went away. However, Auron could not only move away. He had to duck to walk aside since he was between two big arms. After stepping aside, Auron immediately attack the mannequin. Auron tried to maximize the [Sloth]''s effect. That was why he moved quickly. Auron threw several attacks. The mannequin did the same. The intense battle kept going on. Both of them exchanged some attacks. As time passed, the [Sloth]''s effect ended. The situation was not looked too good for Auron. His health was slightly over 55%. Meanwhile, the mannequin still had 2% of its health left. Even though Auron could only decrease 1.5% of the mannequin''s health, it was actually a lot more than what Auron had done previously. However, his health also reduced more than what it should be. Auron was still holding on and didn''t give up. He went up and used [Bash]. The mannequin blocked Auron''s [Bash] and threw a body blow using the other hand. Auron immediately pulled his sword back and dodged the body blow. Then, he slashed his sword and used another spell. This exchange of attacks continued. Auron only held on his belief that he had higher health than the mannequin. When the mannequin''s health was at 1%, Auron had 35% of his health left. Although it only had 1% of his health left, the amount was not small compared to Auron''s damage. Auron became more serious than ever. When the mannequin''s health was low, its speed increased, and Auron had a more difficult battle. The mannequin''s attack also became more aggressive in its attack. Even though Auron could not see the changes in the mannequin''s face, but he still could feel the nervousness of the mannequin through its attack. The mannequin''s attack became aggressive and hurried as if it had no tomorrow. Because of this, Auron also began to feel overwhelmed. Auron blocked the mannequin''s attack. However, he still missed preventing several attacks. Fortunately, although Auron''s hands were full with blocking the mannequin''s attack, but he still could launch an attack. It was thanks to the ''cheat'' he had. Auron could still use his spell to attack, although his hands were full. The mannequin threw its punch. Auron dodged the attack. However, there was already a kick waiting for him. Since Auron could not block this kick, he threw all his defense. Instead, he attacked the mannequin. Not only that, Auron even added a spell attack to the mannequin. Even though Auron threw more attack, but his health reduced more than the mannequin. Slash... Boom... Auron slashed the mannequin and also threw [Fire Lance]. Finally, the mannequin looked at Auron expressionless. Then, it slowly slumped down to the ground. Thankfully, Auron won the battle. He looked at his current health, and he only had 5% of his health left. Then, what he had wait finally showed, the rewards notification. [You get 3 levels for killing the mannequin] [You get a lottery chance coupon] [The mannequin had died three times] [You have completed the second stage] [You will be teleported to the main ruin in 5 seconds] [5... 4... 3... 2... 1...] Auron had completed the second stage. He was shocked that he got something from the level. However, before he could inspect the reward, he had already teleported to the main ruin. Chapter 341 - Summoning Portal (1) Auron opened his eyes. Just like the notification had said previously, he had arrived at the central ruin. The main ruin was where Auron saw the crystal previously. Auron arrived at the main ruin, and it was different from what he had remembered previously. The place had changed. A green and beautiful scenery became horrible. The grass and plant withered. No more butterflies were flying around. Besides that, the lake had been dried up. The blue sky also had turned dark. Auron frowned, looking at the scenery around him. The difference was so huge that he felt he was in the wrong place. Auron wanted to see the item that he got from killing the mannequin three times. However, he didn''t have the luxury to do that. Around him, there were already many soldiers and players. Auron was not the first one that finished the second stage. The players and soldiers around them had already fought against the enemy. The layout of the place had changed as well. Right now, the site had become square. The crystal''s location was still the same in the center of this place. However, at each corner, there was a summoning portal. Not only that, near the crystal, there were two summoning portals. So, in total, there were 6 summoning portals. Each of the summoning portal would summon a monster every 10 seconds. However, you could not underestimate the monster that was summoned. Each of the monsters summoned had a random level between 500 - 750. The place was crowded with people and monsters. The monsters tried to went to the Auron''s location to get out through the portal. Meanwhile, the players had to get to the crystal at the center of the place. Because there was only one way in and out, the players and the monsters became a roadblock for each other. That was why a battle was inevitable. At the front of the path, there was the Second Prince already here leading the high-leveled players and some royal guards. Although there were many strong players or soldiers, but not all of them managed to pass the first and second stages. Some players were too arrogant and wandered alone at the first stage. Then, they were ganged up by the monster. Also, some made many mistakes in the second stage. In truth, up to this moment, there were already 70% of the people who participated in this ruin that failed. Meanwhile, 25% of them still in progress. While the rest of them had already arrived at this place and still survived. The failure rate seems big. In truth, it was because of the fact there were many players whose battle skill was still weak and not seriously participating. Moreover, some players only wanted to try since they could resurrect when they died. The difficulty of the stage could also be seen from the number of royal guards that were survived. Among the royal guards, 90% of them survived. However, 10% of them could not make it to this place. Although the percentage who survived seems small, however, the number that survived at this place still a lot. Currently, there were around ten thousand of players and soldiers crowded at this place. However, even though the number of players and soldiers was huge, but the number of monsters also big. The monster had been acc.u.mulating through the time. Not only that, the 6 summoning portals still kept on summoning the monster. The players could survive all this long was thanks to the cleric who healed them. As for the monster''s side, they didn''t have any healers at all. Beside Auron, a light shone. Then, a silhouette coming out from the light. A player arrived from the previous stage. Just like Auron, the player seemed confused with the place. However, as soon as he saw the battle going on, his eyes brightened. He didn''t stay long and joined the fight. Another light shone beside Auron, this time, it was the Fourth Prince. Auron became confused. He was confused about why it took the prince so long to come here. Auron believed that the Fourth Prince was not weak and should be able to come quicker. But, he just arrived now. The Fourth Prince, who had just arrived, looked at his surroundings. Auron wanted to bow and greet the Fourth Prince. However, the Fourth Prince didn''t let that happened as the Fourth Prince already moved towards the battle. Auron had no choice but to follow the Fourth Prince and joined the battle as well. The Fourth Prince met up with the Second Prince, who was behind the flanks since the Second Prince was an archer. They talked briefly before nodded at each other. Then, the royal guards started to split into two groups. The Fourth Prince led one group and took the right path. Meanwhile, the Second Prince led another group and took the left way. Many players, including Auron, knew what the princes would do. Since the monster was coming from the summoning portal, then the first thing to do was to destroy the said portal. The players, with the help of the clerics, began to gain the upper hand. As the monster''s number reduced, the two groups began to split and marched forward slowly. Auron decided to join the Fourth Prince group and took the right path. Actually, he didn''t have any exact reason why he chose the Fourth Prince, but he just felt the Fourth Prince was better since their age was not that much different. Slowly, the path became more apparent. The marching speed became quicker. In the next 10 minutes, both of the groups arrived at their own summoning portals. Auron looked at the summoning portal and saw how big it was. There were still enemies near the portal that still needed to be cleared. However, they were already near the portal. A light shone at the portal and a monster coming out. An archer shot out its arrow from far away and hit the portal. As soon as it hit the portal, the portal shook violently and turned red. Chapter 342 - Summoning Portal (2) The summoning portal was glowing red. Then, one [Giant Papillon] emerged from the portal. The [Giant Papillon] was not the same as the [Giant Papillon] that they met outside. The [Giant Papillon here had a higher level compared to the previous [Giant Papillon]. Not only that, but the summoning portal also spawned the monster faster. Previously, it would summon a monster every 10 seconds. But, now, the spawning time reduced by 50%. Moreover, every 5 seconds, it would summon two monsters. The Fourth Prince led the troops and charged towards the [Giant Papillon]. However, before they could attack the [Giant Papillon], they still needed to clear the path first. There were still many monsters gathered in front of the summoning portal. Although Auron joined the Fourth Prince''s party, but he didn''t go to the front. He was on the second line from the front. It was because of Auron''s level. Auron was still level 233, but the monsters here were already above level 500. Of course, Auron could only participate in the battle passively. Not only Auron, but there were also some people that like Auron. That was why, despite the fact the number of people here pretty huge, but the number of people that could participate actively in the battle not much, especially the melee class. Actually, Auron could participate in the battle since he could use his magic spell. However, of course, he would not use it here where the place was crowded with people. Fortunately, the Fourth Prince was a compassionate man. He didn''t force people like Auron since he knew that it would be no use if they participate in the battle. Of course, he was also a fair man. The Fourth Prince took note of their contributions to the struggle. People like Auron, who passively participated in the battle, would receive lower rewards. "Clear the small fry first!" "Tanks! Make the boss busy until we cleared all of the small fries around the area!" "Block the monster from the left path!" The Fourth Prince shouted out a series of commands. His plan was to clear the small fries first around the area before killing the boss. Not only that, besides the summoning portal, there was a path that lead to the other corner of the place. Monsters were coming from that path. That was why he had to assign several people to block the monsters'' path. Auron joined in the group that attacked the portal. He looked at the crowded battle. As a swordsman, he should be battling at the front. However, because of his level, he could not. However, Auron didn''t want to participate in the battle passively. A battle like this would give a lot of experience if he could land a hit on the monster at least once. He thought hard on how to achieve that feat. A thief could use a bow to attack from far away while a merchant could use its [Throw Item] skill to participate in the battle. Meanwhile, a swordsman didn''t have that luxury. Fortunately, some of their ability, such as [Wind Slash] or [Wind Cutter], had a good range. It could be used to attack the monster in front of the user. Auron decided to use that skill. Of course, he could not participate well enough in the battle by only relying on those skills. However, it was still better than doing nothing. Auron unleashed several skills. Then, he waited until all of the skills off cooldown. And, he unleashed the skills once more. Auron did this several times. After several times, the other swordsman players who also had a level below 500 also started to notice Auron''s action. They immediately followed Auron''s action by using their skills. This way, the damage went up. Although it was not a lot, but the damage was decent. The [Giant Papillon] roared and summoned its minion. Twenty minions soared from the [Giant Papillon]''s back and immediately attacked the front line. Seeing the fast minions, Auron moved back. He had already know the power of these minions from his previous encounter. Previously, he could still manage to hold one or two attacks from the minions. However, as the [Giant Papillon] had an increased level, this means that the minions'' level also increased. Though Auron believed he still could hold one or two attacks from the minions, but he didn''t want to test it yet. In this chaotic battle, a simple attack could lead to a grave situation. Moreover, the [Giant Papillon] had an area attack. Also, the monsters from the portal started to stack up. The royal guards and the Fourth Prince kept on pushing the monster''s horde. Fortunately, the speed that the monsters died was faster than the summoning portal''s rate. This way, the number of the monsters reduced. Slowly, the path to the boss became clearer and clearer. Meanwhile, the other path that led to the other summoning portal was crowded with monsters. There were a bunch of groups that stationed there and hold the monsters. The monster''s number surpassed the people that guarding the path. However, it was still enough to hold the monsters advanced. After all, their task was only to keep the monsters until the portal destroyed. "Keep attacking the boss! Some of you go help the blocking team!" The Fourth Prince commanded some of his royal guards to help the blocking team. The battle was already going on for 10 minutes since the first time they attacked the summoning portal. After these 10 minutes, the [Giant Papillon]''s health already reduce by 3%. Because of no siege machine, the damage output surely decreased. But, there was only one [Giant Papillon], which made all of the participants here focused on it. With the small fries cleared out, the damage output on the boss surely increased a lot. However, they still needed to be careful as the boss was still powerful enough. Meanwhile, the situation at the Second Prince was better than the Fourth Prince''s place. More strong guild leaders assisted the Fourth Prince compared to the Second Prince. Chapter 343 - Summoning Portal (3) An hour passed, the battle went on quite greatly for both of the princes. Due to the healing support from the clerics, the princes'' people managed to survive up to this moment. Meanwhile, the monsters were slowly killed by the players and soldiers. Auron and several other players who were at the same level as Auron began to gain a level. Not only that, some of the players even increased more than two levels. "Keep on going!" The Fourth Prince shouted. Then, he talked to his general besides him, "Everything seems going well. Keep on surveying the situation." "Yes, Your Highness!" The general understood. This general was one of the two generals that were assigned to block the path from the other portal. As soon as he received the command, he immediately went back to the path and gave several commands. During this one hour, several other challengers that were still stuck in the second stage started to emerge from the portal. They looked at their surroundings and went to choose one of the two groups. The [Giant Papillon] at the Fourth Prince''s location had only 80% of his health left. As soon as its health reached 80%, it immediately used its [Earth Slam]. The [Giant Papillon] flew up to the sky, then it descended down quickly and slammed the ground. A large shockwave impacted the area. This time, since the area was not that wide, all of the players and soldiers around the portal got affected, including Auron. Auron already saw the [Giant Papillon] preparing to use the [Earth Slam]. That was why he already prepared himself and used his defensive skills. Not only that, but he also went back to so he would go farther from the center of the impact. This way, he could reduce the damage he received. Thanks to Auron''s quick reaction, he received minimal damage. Combined with his defensive skill and his high health, he could survive the attack. However, not everyone was as fortunate as Auron. Some of the low leveled players died. Some of them even tried to use their defensive skill, but it was futile. The attack destroyed the defensive ability and killed them. There were some players that smart enough. They immediately invested all of their recently gained attribute points to vitality to increase their health. Although, for some players, this action was not enough, but some players survived because they were doing this. Auron was fortunate enough that he could survive with less than 100 health left. He quickly drank health potions even though there were some cleric chanting areas heal spell to heal them. The monsters in the summoning portal had been cleared out. There were only [Giant Papillon] and less than 10 monsters in the summoning portal. Those 10 monsters would increase as the summoning portal summoned the monster. Meanwhile, the players and soldiers would still kill those monsters. So, in the end, the number would never go above 20 monsters. Because of the small numbers in the monsters, more and more players started to hit the [Giant Papillon]. This way, its health reduced quicker. Two hours passed. Even though the Fourth Prince had commanded the people around to kill the [Giant Papillon] first, but not all of the players would follow the command. Some of them still focusing on the ordinary monster. There were even some of the players that attack the portal. Because of this, after two hours passed, the [Giant Papillon] still at 30% of its health left. The Fourth Prince kept on giving several commands. Only the soldiers that were thoroughly followed all of the Fourth Prince''s command. Not long after, a loud roar was heard. It was from the Second Prince''s location. It turned out, the [Giant Papillon] at the Second Prince''s place died. "Charge!! Destroy the portal!" The Second Prince shouted enthusiastically. With the [Giant Papillon] at the Second Prince''s location died, the people''s morale at the Fourth Prince''s place soared up. They went on full force and attacked the [Giant Papillon]. After 40 minutes, the [Giant Papillon] at the Second Prince''s location finally died. They directly went to attack the summoning portal. Meanwhile, the summoning portal''s health at the Second Prince''s location was low. Soon, it would go down. When the Second Prince saw this, he immediately allocated some of his soldiers to clear the path to the other portals. Auron was still attacking the summoning portal. After the [Giant Papillon] died, he immediately gained another level. During this time in the main ruin, Auron already got two levels. With the level he earned from the [Giant Papillon], he got a totaled of three levels. Not only level, because Auron had last for this long, he already got a massive number of the contribution points. He could exchange his contribution points for two epic grade equipment if he wanted to. It was fortunate that he could last until this moment. Although Auron already knew that even though this was an ancient ruin, this ancient ruin would only be categorized as a low tiered ancient ruin. There were 3 tiers for an ancient ruin, low, medium, and high. And, this ancient ruin would only be deemed as a low tiered ancient ruin. However, an ancient ruin still an ancient ruin. It would give a lot of opportunities and benefits. Time went by, after the Fourth Prince destroyed the summoning portal, they immediately went to the other corner. Meanwhile, the Second Prince''s group already attacking the [Giant Papillon] at the new portal. As both of them already had experience against the summoning portal, they could employ the same strategy. In the end, both of the portal destroyed. It already eight hours since they were inside the main ruin. Now, the summoning portals at all four corners of this place already destroyed. There only two summoning portals remained that were beside the crystal. The Second Prince''s group deliberately waited until the Fourth Prince finished with his portal. Then, when everyone was ready, together, they went forward and attacked the crystal. Chapter 344 - Sckilemd Ruins Core (1) The two portal beside the crystal kept on releasing the monsters. The Second Prince and the Fourth Prince glanced at each other. They were preparing to destroy the crystal as well as the summoning portal. When they were ready, the Fourth Prince gave a sign to the Second Prince. Seeing the sign, the Fourth Prince replied with a nod. Then, he raised his hands. As soon as the hand raised, all the soldiers began to attack. The same situation also happened at the Fourth Prince side. Both of the princes'' group initiated a pronged attack from both sides. Their target was the last objective they had, the ancient ruin''s core. The players and the soldiers initiated an area attack. This way, they could damage everything at once. The crystal, two summoning portals, and the monsters spawned from the portal got hit in one attack. Both of the portals glowed red and summoned the [Giant Papillon]. When Auron first came here, the crystal still had a light red color. However, when Auron touched the crystal, its color became darker and darker until it almost became black. Right now, after it being attacked, the color still the same, but it released a mysterious aura that enshrouded the area around the dried lake. When the aura was released, Auron and all of the other players got a notification. [A mysterious aura enshrouded the area] [A poisonous substance was detected inside the aura] [Decrease 10 mana points per seconds] [When you run out of mana, your health point will start to reduce] It turned out the aura''s effect was similar to the pungent smell that was released by the [Dark Ancient Plant]. Not only that, but the aura''s effect was more potent than the pungent smell. It immediately decreased 10 mana points per second. Although the range of the aura was not as wide as the pungent smell, but it covered enough place for the crystal. The aura didn''t cover the whole place. It only wrapped the area round the dried lake. However, that area of effect was enough for the crystal. After all, to attack the crystal, they had to get inside the dried lake''s area. The soldiers who didn''t get any notification started to realize the situation when they failed to use their skills because of their lack of mana. A grim situation happened, and chaotic as well as confused feelings began to go into the NPC''s mind. However, it didn''t go for long, as the players told them what happened. They realized that their mana began to decrease. This situation occurred to both the Fourth Prince and the Second Prince''s situation. Both of the princes frowned at this situation. The princes thought that fighting against the last two summoning portals and the crystal would be easier. It was because their place was close next to each other. This way, they could release their area attack and damage everything. However, seeing the situation right now, it would be challenging to achieve that feat. After all, to use an area skill, they had to spend mana points. Unfortunately, their mana points kept on decreased each second. Moreover, they already had eight hours inside this ruin, they had spent a lot of their supplies to arrive at this point. After several minutes into the battle, although there was still no casualty, but the situation became worst. Several angry shouts were heard. Not only that, the monsters began to push back the players and the soldiers. "Can anyone give me their mana potions?" A cleric shouted. "Clerics!! Kept healing!" A tank at the front who were fighting against the monster shouted. Some of them ran out of their mana potions. Meanwhile, some clerics used their last resort mana potions. Because all of them had to use less of their mana potions, they could not use all of their skill. It led to the damage output to the monster reduced. When the monsters were not defeated in time, the summoning portal kept on summoning two monsters every 5 seconds. Moreover, there were two summoning portals here. It led to the monsters stack up here. As the number of monsters grew, combined with the low damage output, the frontline fought passively. They were pushed back by the monsters. The Second Prince and the Fourth Prince had tried their best to mend the situation. However, as some players were selfish, there were still some parts that they could not control. Moreover, they could not send supplies from outside since entry was prohibited. The Fourth Prince racked up his brain when suddenly a man came before him. Of course, that man way was blocked by his royal guards. However, the Fourth Prince looked at the man and asked, "What business did you have?" The Fourth Prince tried to be calm and warmhearted, but under this situation, he could not help but asked nonchalantly. Moreover, the man he saw had a low level compared to the players at the front line. Auron didn''t take offense on what tone that the prince used. After all, he was just a subject under his kingdom. Moreover, he still weak and didn''t have any power yet. Auron went forwards and whispered to the Fourth Prince, "I have a way out of this situation." The Fourth Prince''s eyes brightened, however, it didn''t last long before he frowned. He was afraid that this man before him would deceive him. After all, he didn''t know anything about the man and never checked his background beforehand. However, as a prince, in a situation like this, he had to use every option he had. With that in mind, he asked, "Please, do tell." "I know the situation became chaotic not because we are weak, but it was because we lack of mana potions. Moreover, we cannot replenish our supplies here." Auron didn''t immediately get to the point. Instead, he explained the situation first. The Fourth Prince kept silent as he already knew about this. He waited until Auron continued, "I have a way to transfer the mana potions from outside to here." Chapter 345 - Sckilemd Ruins Core (2) Auron was at the second front line as he saw that the ruin''s core was releasing a mysterious aura. He directly thought that it was something similar to the smell that the [Dark Ancient Plant] released. Because of that, he unconsciously closed his nose with his hand. Auron knew that it would not work, but subconsciously Auron did that. When he released his hand, he could not smell the same pungent smell. So, Auron thought that this aura was different. However, not long after, he received a notification that made him frowned. After reading the notification''s content, although the aura didn''t have any smell, but its effect was the same. Many thought immediately appeared in Auron''s minds. Auron knew this was a grim situation. Although it would not happen now, but it will come true sooner or later. After all, he knew the impact of such aura''s effect from his experience at with the [Dark Ancient Plant] back then. Several minutes later, what Auron had thought started to come true. All of the players and soldiers began to get impacted. The damage dealers could not use their skill, which made their damage lower by a lot. The tanks complained because they didn''t get any healing. They also could not keep the monster''s aggro well. Meanwhile, the cleric also complained as they wasted a lot of mana potions. Some of them even cursed as they ran out of mana potions. The monsters began to push back the frontline. Auron was in an awkward position. He could make use of his shared inventory to transfer the mana potions here. However, if he only support himself, it would have no meaning since he could not defeat this ruin alone. On the other hand, if Auron wanted to support everyone here, he didn''t have enough money to support that. Right now, he only had two choices. First, he kept on silent and let things went as the flow went on. However, by doing this, they would 100% fail this ancient ruin''s expedition, but he could keep his secret safe. The second option was to gain support from a wealthy individual here that had the money to support all of the people here. By doing this, it didn''t mean that they would 100% clear the ancient ruin. However, it would raise their success chances. The downside was that he had to give out a clue to others that he had some unique means that no one else had. Auron had to choose someone trustworthy. After all, although he could survive this expedition, but what would happen if the said person killed him outside of this expedition. After pondering for a while and weighing all of the possible options, Auron decided to choose the second option. As for the person he wanted, it was obviously the Fourth Prince. Keeping up his mind, Auron began to approach the Fourth Prince, who was also pondering on the issue. Of course, coming close to the Fourth Prince was not as simple as he meeting with a friend. When he was near the Fourth Prince, Auron was stopped by the royal guards beside the Fourth Prince. Auron''s movement caught the Fourth Prince''s interest when he was in deep thought. The Fourth Prince looked up at Auron and asked, "What business did you have?" Auron stepped forwards and said, "I have a way out of this situation." The Fourth Prince looked at Auron in disbelief. However, he kept his calm and said, "Please, do tell." Auron started to explain his thought. At the end of his speech, he said, "I have a way to transfer the mana potions from outside to here. However, I don''t have that many mana potions to support everyone here." "So, you are saying that if you have the mana potions, you can bring all of them?" The Fourth Prince carefully stated. Auron nodded, "Yes. That''s correct." The Fourth Prince went on silence and pondered once more. Meanwhile, there was only one general beside them that knew this conversation between Auron and the Fourth Prince. The said general whispered to the Fourth Prince and labeled Auron as a scammer. The Fourth Prince looked at Auron and said once more, "How can I believe you?" "This was the moment," Auron thought. He knew to convince the prince without giving any hint was difficult. However, he was betting on the Fourth Prince''s character that he had known when he fought with the Fourth Prince previously. "If Your Highness wants to believe in me, then it will happen. However, if not, then it will not happen." Auron stated that one sentence which not answering the Fourth Prince''s question explicitly. "Fine! Tell me how to do it?" The Fourth Prince asked. He didn''t have many options since he would die whether he try this method or not. He would instead try something rather than didn''t do anything. "Before I tell Your Highness, I humbly ask Your Highness to keep this as a secret," Auron said while hinting the Fourth Prince at the general beside them. "If your method succeeds, I promised, there would be no one that knows about this except the three of us. He would also keep your secret." The Fourth Prince promised. "Okay, then. Actually, the method was simple that Your Highness should only give the mana potions to my friend outside this dungeon, then he can transfer it here through me. However, with the current situation, we cannot send any message outside." "That means I could only buy the mana potions by myself. Unfortunately, I do not have that much money to support everyone here." "So, does the Fourth Prince have any way for me to get the said money to buy the mana potions?" "That''s it! What I had said was correct! Your Highness, you should not believe in him. He just wants to scam for your money!" The general beside them said furiously. The Fourth Prince frowned. He started to think that what the general had said was correct. However, if what everything that Auron said was true, then his sentence made sense. After all, they really could not send any message outside. Chapter 346 - Sckilemd Ruins Core (3) The Fourth Prince decided to trust Auron. After all, if he failed, he would die. So, if he was being scammed or not, in the end, he could not bring his money with him. Moreover, what Auron had said actually made sense, given if he was truly looked at Auron''s condition. "Give this to the bank and withdraw 500 million golds. Use all of that money to buy the mana potions." The Fourth Prince said to Auron while handing him a token. [You have received the Fourth Prince''s token] Auron received the token politely and put it inside his inventory. He commanded his mage character to go to the bank. However, the general, besides the Fourth Prince, was shocked. He looked at the Fourth Prince, then looked at Auron furiously. He was very sure that Auron would scam the prince. But, as the Fourth Prince already decided what to do, the general could not do anything. He could only help the Fourth Prince to watch over the money. "So, how long will it take for the mana potions to be delivered?" The general asked Auron. "It depends. I don''t know whether the bank''s management would act quickly upon seeing the token, or they will take their time. But, I can guarantee you, after I get the money, at most, it will only take 10 minutes." Auron said. "10 minutes? It is too long. Not to mention the time it will take for the bank to verify the token." The general said with a high tone. "I will do my best to reduce the 10 minutes, but I can''t help with the bank verification." Auron shrugged his shoulder. "Now, if you will excuse me. I need somewhere quiet." Auron started to walk to the back, outside of the dried lake. Meanwhile, the general gritted his teeth and looked at the Fourth Prince. All of this time, the Fourth Prince kept on looking at Auron. As he sensed the general seeing him, the Fourth Prince looked back at him and nodded. Then, the Fourth Prince turned around and faced the terrible battle that was still going on. Meanwhile, the general bowed to the Fourth Prince and followed behind Auron. Meanwhile, Auron already stayed at the back and went over to his mage character. When he took control of his mage character, he was already in front of the bank. Auron took a step forward and went inside the bank with charisma. He walked calmly to the bank clerk and said, "Ask your manager to come, quick!" The bank clerk was astonished with Auron''s bold action. As it was a bank, they had a standard operating procedure (SOP). They could not just call the manager for menial things, so she tried to explain to Auron. However, Auron, with his arrogant attitude, didn''t bother explaining and showed over the Fourth Prince''s token. The bank clerk saw the token and could see the royal symbol engraved in the token, she immediately stood up and went over to call the manager. Not everyone would dare to counterfeit a royal symbol since it would mean death. However, there were still people who brave enough to try this. That was why, based on the bank''s SOP, it was not the clerk''s responsibility to identify it. The manager quickly came with the previous bank clerk. Then, the manager looked at Auron and observed the token in his hand. "Who gives you this?" The manager said. "The Fourth Prince," Auron answered short. The manager frowned. He already knew about the expedition, so he knew that the Fourth Prince joined the expedition. However, he didn''t know that no one could come or exit the ruin until everyone inside died or cleared the ruin. The manager hesitated. Seeing the manager hesitated, Auron said, "I know your procedure. However, can you be quick? I was under the Fourth Prince''s order to withdraw 500 million golds. Do you dare to make the Fourth Prince wait?" Hearing Auron''s words, the manager woke up from his thought. He had already saw the token, and it was very genuine. However, he still had his doubt as he looked at Auron. The manager could not help but said politely, "We have to verify the token first to the royal family. Would you mind waiting?" Auron frowned. This was what Auron had afraid of. Although on the outside, he was arrogant and calm, but inside, he was nervous. After all, this situation was an opportunity, as well as a challenge. If he could use this chance well, he would gain the Fourth Prince''s favor. Auron threw back a question to the manager, "Yes, it was not a problem for me. However, I don''t know whether the Fourth Prince would mind waiting?" The manager knew that Auron could always use the Fourth Prince''s name to pressure him. He was in an awkward position because of Auron''s question. However, before he could say anything, Auron said, "How about if we do this, give me 10 million golds first, then I can give it first to the Fourth Prince while you are verifying the token." The manager saw hope through Auron''s words. Seeing Auron wanted to cooperate, his impression of Auron rose. "Okay, I agree with your suggestion." The manager called out another bank clerk to bring the money. Then, in no time, the money was already in front of Auron. Auron took the money and said to the manager before leaving, "I have to use this money to buy something for the Fourth Prince. If you don''t believe in me, you can ask someone to follow me so I would not escape. However, as this was a secret task by the Fourth Prince, I asked you to maintain your distance." Auron left the Fourth Prince''s token and brought the money with him. Then, he went to the potion''s store. All this time, Auron had using a disguise to prevent his identity known. However, as he bought a cheap disguise tool in the black market, it had low quality. As he left the bank, Auron''s face had revert back to his original look. Chapter 347 - Fourth Princes Order (1) Auron walked up several steps from the bank when he heard a ruckus behind him. It was the men tasked by the bank''s manager to follow Auron. As Auron had already allowed them to follow him, then the bank''s manager would use that chance. However, due to using a cheap disguise tool from the black market, Auron''s face had revert back to the original. Because of this, the pursuers became confused when they exit the bank. In the crowd of people, they could not find a man with the same face as Auron. This was why they began to panic and made a ruckus. Auron, who was walking to the potions'' store, knew the ruckus was because of him. That was why he used another cheap disguise tool once again. Fortunately, he bought several disguise tools. "Never believe in cheap things," Auron though inside his mind. The men who were tasked by the bank''s manager found Auron, who had already use the new disguise tool. Then, they immediately followed Auron. In no time, Auron arrived in front of the potions store. Before he was going in, Auron looked behind him to his pursuer and gave a sign. It was to tell them not to follow him inside. The pursuers'' leader nodded. After that, Auron went inside the store and said to the store''s manager, "Bring all of your mana potion''s stock. This was by order of the Fourth Prince!" The store''s manager astonished at the mention of the Fourth Prince''s name. However, he saw that Auron took out all 10 million money, he became calm. The manager thought that the man in front of him wanted to use the Fourth Prince''s name to extort his mana potions. However, it looked like it was not the case. The manager wanted to say something, but Auron stopped him. "I know this much money would not be enough to buy all of your mana potions. The money was still on process, so I just want to let you know not to sell any mana potions to anyone else until the Fourth Prince said so." All this time, Auron had used the Fourth Prince''s name. He knew the Fourth Prince needed everything to be quick, that was why he had no choice but to use the Fourth Prince''s name. With everything was clear, the store''s manager didn''t dare to dilly dally. Auron had showed his money. Although he used the Fourth Prince''s name, but it was only to secure the mana potions'' stock, so he didn''t really care about that matter. The store''s manager took all the money and brought back mana potions the same as much as the value. With thickskinned, Auron immediately took the mana potions given by the store''s manager. Then, before he went over to his swordsman character, he reminded the store''s manager, "This was the Fourth Prince''s business, I bet you know who should know about this." With that, he went over to his swordsman''s character. He didn''t even care about the store''s manager response, who nodded agreeing to Auron. As soon as Auron regained his control over his swordsman character, besides him, the general already stares intensely at Auron. "Why do you stare at me like that?" Auron astonished. "Here the mana potions, I can only retrieve a portion of the money first. Since to retrieve it fully, it would take some time." Auron said that while handing over the mana potions. It was the general''s turn to be shocked. The man before him honestly had a mysterious way to give them the mana potions. The general retrieved the mana potions and went over to the Fourth Prince. Auron followed him and said, "I need to see the Fourth Prince." The general nodded and let Auron followed him. They soon arrived and met with the Fourth Prince. The general whispered something to the Fourth Prince and showed the mana potions. The Fourth Prince also surprised that Auron really could do something like this. Then, he told the general to distribute it while he went over to Auron. "I cannot believe that you actually can do it. So, what do you need?" The Fourth Prince said. "First of all, I want to ask for your forgiveness, Your Highness. As you know, we are in a dire situation, so to speed things up, I have used your name." Auron said politely. "No problem. As long as you don''t use it for something else." The Fourth Prince said calmly. "One more thing, Your Highness." "Speak up!" "After this, I have to get back to get the rest of the money. I am afraid although I have your token, but, it will still not be enough to convince the bank even it will cause disruption for your royal family. Which is why I ask you to help me convince them." Auron stated his worries. Auron knew that the Fourth Prince''s token was not enough. The bank even went all the way to the royal family to prove that the token was real. Although it was real, Auron could not verify that he was under the direct order of the Fourth Prince. They could just accuse him as a thief and punish him for that. Which was why Auron needed something else to prove this. The Fourth Prince knew about this. Then, he took a letter and wrote something on it. He didn''t forget to stamp it with the royal stamp that he always brought. After that, he gave the message to Auron. "Thank you, Your Highness. Now, I have to get back to get the rest of the mana potions." Auron bowed politely as he received the letter. With everything settled for the first batch of mana potions, Auron went back to his previous spot and went over to his mage character. After coming back to his mage character, Auron didn''t waste any more time and used the disguise tool once again before he went back to the bank. When he arrived at the bank, Auron could see a massive commotion in front of the bank. Chapter 348 - Fourth Princes Order (2) In front of the bank, there were already the bank''s manager as well as the royal troops. One of the general had led the troops here when they heard that someone claimed to be under the Fourth Prince''s order. That person also brought a token that had the royal symbol engraved on it. Everything related to the royal family would be taken seriously, even though it was just a royal symbol. That was why a general was sent here. "Where is the token and the man?" The general asked the bank''s manager. As Auron had given the token to the bank''s manager for a verification, the token was in the bank''s manager''s hand. He handed over the token to the general. The general received it and looked carefully. After several minutes looking at the token, the general frowned. He thought, "This token was really genuine. However, it could not be the case since the Fourth Prince was inside an ancient ruin. So, if this thing was real, how can this be here?" The general faced the bank''s manager and asked with a high tone, "Where is the man who carried this thing?" Hearing the high tone, the bank''s manager felt amiss. "Something was wrong," He thought. Then, he answered the general timidly, "That man claimed that he was under the Fourth Prince''s order to do something secret. However, I have got some people to follow him." "Look! That''s him." The bank''s manager saw Auron was coming toward them and pointed at him. The general looked at Auron carefully. The man before him was so ordinary that it would not seems he could steal the token from the Fourth Prince. However, to accept the fact that he was under the Fourth Prince''s order was also not possible. There were much more capable man that followed the Fourth Prince to the ancient ruin. If the Fourth Prince wanted to give some secret order, why should he choose this ordinary man before him? The general was deep in thought when Auron came close to him calmly and bowed, "Greetings, general." The general asked Auron while showing the token, "Where did you get this?" "The Fourth Prince gave it to me. Before you asked me further, please read this letter." Auron handed the letter that was written by the Fourth Prince. Then, Auron looked at the bank''s manager, "Have you prepared the money?" The bank''s manager was shocked when he saw Auron''s action, who didn''t seem afraid even though there was a general here. Although Auron asked him, but he didn''t answer the question; instead, he looked at the general''s expression. The general frowned when he saw the royal stamp in front of the letter. The more he read the message, the more his expression became weird. Auron looked calm, even though he didn''t know what the letter''s content was. Auron believed the Fourth Prince that he would keep his word and would not make Auron''s jobs harder. Not long after, the general looked at the bank''s manager and said, "Gave him the money! Everyone disperses, the show was over!" As the general came here, the commotion brought a lot of attention from the resident here. After verifying the letter, he still didn''t want to believe what he read. However, the royal token and the royal stamp had more or less proofed everything. Moreover, the letter''s content was what the Fourth Prince would write. Auron bowed once more to the general, "Thank you, general!" Meanwhile, the bank''s manager hurriedly went inside the bank and retrieved the money. Soon, he brought back all 490 million golds that the Fourth Prince had requested. The general went closer to Auron and said, "With that big sum of money, let us protect you along the way." Auron looked at the general and smiled, "Okay, no problem." Auron knew that the general would do this not to protect him, but to put him under his surveillance. He didn''t mind. However, he reminded the general about the same thing that he said to the bank''s manager, "This is the Fourth Prince''s secret order. So, I hope you can maintain some distance. If you are curious about the order, you can ask the Fourth Prince directly when you meet him." The general didn''t say anything and nodded. Then, he, with his soldiers, followed behind Auron. Auron walked as if nothing happened. He didn''t rush to the potion store and just walked calmly. Fortunately, the potion store was not too far from there. In no time, he arrived at the potion store back. Before going inside, Auron looked at the general behind him and gave a sign not to follow him inside. Then, he went inside the store. Inside the store, the store''s manager was shocked by the massive crowd outside the store. He looked at the man who was coming inside the store. It turned out the same man as before. Seeing the vast crowd, the store''s manager went forward. However, before he could say anything, Auron asked, "Have you prepared the mana potions?" "Yes, as long as you have the money." The store''s manager said. "Then, prepare 490 million golds worth mana potions. Also, give me a private room and sent the potions in batches." The store''s manager became more astonished as he saw Auron could take out that much money. He immediately thought Auron''s words that he was under the Fourth Prince''s order. With that, the store''s manager immediately changed his way of treating Auron and quickly prepared the best reception. He also put this task at the topmost priority, and he even drove everyone else out. The store''s manager led Auron to the private room and waited outside the room while Auron went inside the room. Inside the room, Auron sat in chair patiently. He also used the disguise tool once more since the effect had gone. Not long after, there was a knock on the private room''s door. The first batch of mana potions had arrived. Auron let the store''s manager in. Chapter 349 - Fourth Princes Order (3) "Come in," Auron shouted from inside the room. The store''s manager went inside the private room with a bulk of mana potions in his hand. Then, he gave the mana potions to Auron and said, "Here are 100 million golds worth mana potions. We still need some time to prepare the other mana potions." The store had enough mana potions worth more than 500 million gold. However, that stocks of mana potions, obviously, would not be put in one store. They were scattered all over the store''s branches across the kingdom. And, they would need some time to retrieve the mana potions. "Okay, no problem. Put it on the table. After this, I need some time alone." "Knock the door three times. If I don''t open the door, just try again in the next 10 minutes," Auron said. Auron said that because he needed to go over to his other character to transfer the mana potions. Because of that, he could not receive the store''s manager. Even though Auron could assign the AI to do that simple task, but he didn''t want to do it. He was afraid there was something unforeseen happened. The store''s manager nodded understanding and left the room. After the store''s manager left the room, Auron began to prepare everything. He took the mana potions and stored it one by one to his inventory. Unfortunately, Auron could not bring everything in one go because of his limited inventory space. He had to do this several times. After filling his inventory, Auron went over to the other character. The general had been waiting for Auron''s return. After he distributed the last batch of mana potions, he directly went back to beside Auron. While waiting, he was carefully seeing Auron from top to bottom. It was so weird that this unimpressive person could do something like this. The general continuously guessing on Auron''s way to transfer the goods inside his mind. Not long after, the general saw Auron''s moving. He woke up from his thought and immediately went to Auron. Auron, who saw the general bowed and greeted the general, "Hello, general!" "Here is the next batch of mana potions." Auron began to give the general the mana potions he had. After he emptied his inventory, he commanded the AI controlling his mage character to store the mana potions again. This was Auron kept on taking out the mana potions as if he had a magic bag that could summon mana potions. Soon, the general''s hands were full of mana potions. He asked Auron to help him distributing the mana potions, which agreed by Auron. Auron took halves of the 100 million golds worth mana potions and began to distribute to the nearest soldiers or players. "This is from the Fourth Prince, please use it wisely!" Auron said to a mage beside him. Then, he went over to the cleric next to the mage and said the same line. Auron did this until he had distributed all of the mana potions. During spreading the mana potions, Auron more or less got the gist of the current battlefield''s condition. The previous 10 million golds worth mana potions were a lot. However, because of the mysterious aura, that much mana potions means nothing. It was like drinking water. The situation improved because of that 10 million mana potions. However, it didn''t last long. The improved condition only lasted for several minutes before beginning to decline once more. With this new batch of mana potions, the situation began to get better. And, this time, it would last longer than the previous. After settling everything, Auron went back to his last spot. Then, he went to his mage character. Auron went outside of the private room and asked the store''s manager for the next batch. Then, he went back to the mage character. Auron had to go back and forth for two or three more times before all of the money spent. It took almost an hour for Auron to went back and forth as well as distributing the mana potions. Although Auron had spent all of the money, he didn''t let the mage character went yet. He was standing by in case they needed more mana potions. After settling everything, Auron was controlling his swordsman character and looked at the battlefield situation. Thanks to the mana potions distributed, the players and soldiers had pushed back the monsters. Everyone also used their full force and area skills. The portals and the crystal''s location were close. So, with one area skill, it could damage all three of them at once. Not to mention the monster around them. With the combined force from everyone, the damage soared up and drastically reduced the monsters, portals, and crystal''s health. Both of the [Giant Papillon]s were at their end. They were low in their health. Meanwhile, the two portals were at 50% of their health while the crystal''s health still at 80%. Several minutes later, both of the [Giant Papillon]s died. With two strong bosses who died, the players became braver and more aggressive. The situation got better and better. In the next half an hour, one of the portals destroyed while the other portal had low health. A minute later, the other portal followed the first portal and destroyed. With both of the summoning portal destroyed, the players and soldiers only needed to kill all of the leftover monsters, and there would no be monsters left beside the crystal. The troops'' morale was high. Thanks to the mana potions given that turned back the situation. After every monster was killed, everyone started to focus on the crystals. Even though the crystal had high health and regeneration, with everyone attacking the crystal, its health still reduced faster. Meanwhile, with the situation under control, the Second Prince went to his younger brother, the Fourth Prince. He knew who made this situation could happen. It was thanks to the mana potions given by his younger brother. He wanted to know how could his younger brother did that. Chapter 350 - Rewards Distribution (1) "What''s your secret?" The Second Prince started the conversation with his younger brother. With everything under control, they didn''t need to attack anymore as the firepower from the other was enough. So, the Second Prince used this chance to satisfy his curiousness about how his younger brother could do such feat. The Fourth Prince answered with a mysterious smile, "I have my own secret. If I tell you then it would not be a secret anymore." "So, now you have grown up and started to keep a secret from your brother? Okay, fine with me." The Second Prince pretended to get angry. The Fourth Prince only answered with a shrugged in his shoulder before the Second Prince continued, "How much did you spend?" "Around 500 million golds." The Fourth Prince answered didn''t care. "Later, I will transfer half of that amount to your bank account." The Fourth Prince looked at his brother, shocked. Actually, it was not a problem for him to bear that number, and he didn''t ask for his brother to repay him. However, before he could say anything, the Second Prince continued, "We ventured this ancient ruin together, so it is correct that I bear half of that amount." The Fourth Prince started to admire his older brother. However, it didn''t last long before his brother said, "So, can you tell me your secret?" The Fourth Prince''s expression turned weird. He ignored his older brother and surveyed the battlefield. He knew that his older brother liked to joke like this. With the two royal brothers talked to each other, the battle started to reach its climax. There was only 40% of the crystal''s health left. Soon, it was going down. The battle went smoothly. Moreover, the crystal could not attack at all. It could only regenerate its own health and used the mysterious aura. Although it could regenerate its own health, the damage had long surpassed the amount of its health recovered, so it didn''t affect much. As there were no more dangers, Auron joined the fight. However, he also stayed cautious in case the crystal did something extraordinary. Not only that, even though Auron joined the fight, but he also didn''t use any skills at all. He only made regular attacks. The battle lasted for another hour. Finally, the crystal cracked from top to bottom. Then, it slowly descended to the ground before broke and shattered into pieces. As soon as the crystal shattered into pieces, the mysterious aura dissipated and gone. All of the players and soldiers could breathe a relieving sigh. The ancient ruin exploration had lasted for more than 10 hours, and, now, it finally came to an end. The casualties during this main stage were not small. There were almost 50 thousand players and soldier that died during this process. However, the number of players and soldiers that survived still a lot. There were still around 150 thousand that survived. As the battle had ended, now, it is the time that everyone was waiting for, the rewards time. At the crystal''s place, there was already a portal that appeared on. That portal was used to access the ruin''s treasury. There was such a great opportunity in front of them, but none of the players dared to do anything. It was because there was a royal prince here. Not just one but two. Although the players could rebel, however, they knew it only gave them a small benefit. After all, even if they could kill the prince here and seize the treasures when they exited through this ruin, they would be a fugitive. Moreover, the royalty members were actually not a stingy person. They would give everything fairly. So, why should they offend with the royal members when they were kind enough to distribute the treasures fairly. Of course, the royalty members would have the most significant portion of the treasures. But, as they were the ruler of the kingdom, it was an appropriate portion. The Second Prince looked at his surroundings. The players in a guild and the guild leaders all knew very well about the princes'' nature. So, they were not worried they didn''t get any rewards. However, for the players who were not acquainted with the princes, they were restless. But, they could do nothing since all the big players didn''t do anything. The Second Prince declared, "I, on behalf of the royal members, thanked you for your great effort that we can conquer this ancient ruin. Now, it is time for us to claim the rewards. I promise that we will not mistreat your effort." Then, the Second Prince and the Fourth Prince, along with several generals, entered the portal. Meanwhile, the players were still waiting. It was because the exit portal was inside the treasure room. They needed to wait for the princes to allow them to enter the treasure room. Not long after, a general coming back from the treasure room and declared, "I have a list of names compiled by the princes. We will let you all to enter the treasure room, one by one, to claim the rewards." Of course, the distribution of the rewards would only be given to the players. There would be a different session for the soldiers to claim their prizes. The general started to call the players'' names one by one starting from the big shot. The list was actually sorted by the players'' contributions. Time continued on. The rewards distribution was already going on for 1 hour. The number of players present, getting fewer and fewer. As Auron had low contribution because of his low level, he was at the end of the queue. Actually, if he wanted to include his contribution to transporting the mana potions, he could be at the top line. However, he didn''t want to add that since he wanted to be secret about it. And, the princes'' list showed that the Fourth Prince held to his words. As time passed by, the player''s number decreasing. Soon, it was Auron''s turn to select the rewards. Chapter 351 - Rewards Distribution (2) "Sword Of Life," The assigned officer called Auron''s swordsman character. It was Auron''s turn to pick the treasure. He went forwards to the portal and got transported to the treasure room. Not long after, Auron opened his eyes, and he already arrived at the treasure room. The treasure room was not something extraordinary. Its shape was like a plain big cube. However, inside the treasure room, there were many treasures inside. There were already many people inside. However, they were the princes and the princes'' general and also the royal guards. There was also some big guild''s leader present. However, the number was not a lot since most of them already left the place. The place was already arranged neatly. The princes and the generals were on the left side of the site. Behind them, there was a massive pile of treasures. Meanwhile, on the right side of the place, there was also a pile of treasures. However, it was not as much as the treasures behind the princes. Then, to the right of the treasures, there was the exit portal to the outside of the ruin. Auron was led by the soldiers to the treasure on the right side of this place. He walked slowly and glanced a bit at the princes'' location. Fortunately, the Fourth Prince was also glancing in his direction. Auron stopped for a bit. Then, the Fourth Prince smiled at him for a second. After that, he turned his face and continued his conversation with his older brother and the guild''s leaders. "Come on. Why do you stop? There were still some people who were waiting for their turn." The soldier who led Auron urged him to move forwards. With the soldier was urging him, Auron stop looking at the Fourth Prince''s location and continued to the treasure''s location. Auron arrived in front of the treasure''s pile. However, there was not much treasure left there. Moreover, the treasure left was not that extraordinary. Some of them were still difficult to find things outside. But, it was not one of a kind thing. There was another way to get that treasure. This situation happened because he was at the end of the queue. The princes had allocated some treasures for the players to have. Moreover, there were some great treasures mixed in them. However, of course, the one who went first would take the most priceless treasure upon the pile. As the precious or priceless treasures got picked by the other, the one at the end of the line like Auron would get the leftover. Even though Auron was feeling a little bit disappointed looking at the rewards in front of him, but he could not complain to anyone. After all, he was the one who decided to hide his way of transferring the item. Moreover, it was not like he didn''t get anything. After the crystal died, it gave everyone a tremendous amount of experience points. Because of Auron''s low level, he would get some boost because of that. The crystal alone gave him 4 levels. Combined with the experience from the monster besides the portal, he got 5 levels. So, in total, Auron got 23 levels from this ancient ruin''s expedition. Not to mention, Auron was getting acquainted with the Fourth Prince. He even felt that the Fourth Prince would remember him more than the guild leader even though his level was low. However, Auron also could not hide his disappointment for the treasure in front of him. It showed in his face. Since the leftover items were not that special to him, Auron just picked one of the treasures in from of him. Auron picked a heavy spear. It was an excellent spear for a player who was level 500. However, as level 500, was still too far for him and he also didn''t get used to using a spear, Auron decided to sell it for golds. After picking the spear, Auron walked to the exit portal. As he just stepped one step forwards, a general came to him. It was the general who knew his secret along with the Fourth Prince. The general came to him and hugged him. He also patted several times to Auron''s back. The other soldiers looked at this touching situation, all of them immediately felt the general was a magnanimous person. However, in reality, the general was not there to console Auron. The general whispered the Fourth Prince''s message to Auron. He told him to go over to a location three days later. Auron replied with a nodded and continued to the exit portal. When he was about to exit the portal, a notification appeared in front of him. [You are about to leave the Sckilemd Ruin] [The system had detected you have a lottery chance coupon] [After exiting the ruin, you will not be able to use the coupon again] [Do you want to use the coupon now?] If not because of this notification, Auron would already forget about this lottery chance coupon. Fortunately, the system would remind him for the last time to use the coupon before it would go wasted. Auron didn''t waste any more time and picked yes. After he picked the yes button, a roulette appeared in front of him. There were 32 sections on the roulette with a prize in each section. Then, the roulette started to spin over. The roulette spin quickly. Auron didn''t even have the chance to look at the prize in each section. Auron could only see a blurred image of the award in each section. However, it was not enough for him to recognize the prize. It took 10 seconds for the roulette to slow down. After several seconds later, the roulette slowed down and came to a stop. The roulette''s pointer pointed at one section. [Congratulation! You have received a ''Strengthened Elixir Recipe''] After that notification, Auron''s sight went dark, and he got disappeared into the exit portal. He could not even check what he got beforehand. Chapter 352 - Rewards Distribution (3) Auron opened his eyes and saw the rewards notification. It was an alchemy recipe. He looked at his surroundings, and he was in the cursed city. Before Auron took a look at the rewards in more detail, Auron used [Return Scroll] and returned to Miderian. If a health potion would recover the health point and mana potion would recover the mana point upon used, then the elixir potion would heal both health point and mana point. Because of that, an elixir potion would worth more than a health potion and mana potion. Even though the elixir potion''s recipe was not rare, but it was not a cheap one either. Moreover, from the notification that Auron received, it was a strengthened one. Undoubtedly, the elixir that came out from it would not be an ordinary one. Auron took a look at his inventory and tried to find the recipe. When he saw the recipe, he was astonished. It was because of the recipe was not containing only one potion formula, but it was a complete set of the strengthened elixir potions. It contained three formulas, the basic, intermediate, and advanced elixir potions. "This was such an incredible reward," Auron thought. An alchemy recipe was already a rare thing, to begin with. Moreover, with the fact that this was a strengthened one. Not only that, but this recipe also contained the complete formula from the basic level up until the advanced one. The recipe''s value, that Auron got, surpassed the heavy spear he took by a considerable margin. Auron was very excited. He even wanted to laugh out loud, but he suppressed the thought. It was because he was in a public place. If he let out all of his emotions, people would think that he was a crazy bastard. That was why a giggle came out instead of a loud laugh. Auron already forgot about his disappointment from before. He happily walked to the auction hall to place his recently got spear. Auron already used a lot of money during this expedition, starting from the bandit''s raid. He hoped that this spear would give him back all of the money he spent. After taking care of everything, Auron had nothing to do. He had already commanded his mage character to report back to the military. Unfortunately, he could not get any military point or his salary yet since it had to wait for three days for the generals to tallying the reward. Since Auron had free time, it was the time for him to look at the alchemy recipe. He read the detail of the [Strengthened Elixir Potion Recipe]. It turned out that the strengthened elixir potion had an increased effect from the ordinary one by 25%. So, if a regular elixir potion would recover 100 health points and 100 mana points, then this strengthened would recover 125 health points and mana points. The advantage of this recipe was not only that. The requirement to use this recipe actually the same as the ordinary elixir potion. The basic elixir potion would require a level 8 junior alchemist. As Auron didn''t even have any alchemist side class at all, it was time for him to take the class. His swordsman already had a blacksmith as his side class. He would not want to change that. So, he decided to make his mage character took the alchemist side class. Auron went over to his mage class. The military didn''t forbid the soldiers to take any extra work outside as long as it didn''t hinder the military''s interests. Many soldiers took a side class to get extra money. As Auron had just finished the expedition, by the military''s rule, he would get three days to break. He would use these three days to raise his alchemy level. However, the first thing he had to do was to take the alchemist side class. Auron controlled his mage character and asked for permission to leave the military base. After getting permission, Auron directly went to the alchemist''s hall. It was a big hall with an empty potion flask as its symbol. Just like the blacksmith''s hall, this alchemist''s hall was full of people. Some of them were alchemists that tried to sell their product. Meanwhile, some of them were ordinary players who wanted to sell their things to be used for potion''s ingredients. Auron ignored all these people and immediately went to the receptionist. He stated his intentions to become an alchemist. Unfortunately, the receptionist said that Auron had to wait for his turn since there were many alchemist applicants like him. The alchemist was one of the most popular side classes that many people would take. The reason was that potion was sought out by many people. It was easier to sell potions than to sell a piece of equipment. Moreover, when someone bought a piece of equipment, they would use it for the long term. Meanwhile, a potion would disappear once it was used. Although it was a one used item, nobody would dare to not bring a potion. Even though they had a cleric inside their party, they would still bring potions for safety measurement. At least, they would bring a mana potion. Because of this fact, many players tried to become an alchemist. Moreover, the higher grade potions were not sold in the NPC''s store. They needed to search for an alchemist to make it for them. Many of the big guilds even have their own alchemist''s team to keep their guild''s supplies ready. Auron took the queue number from the receptionist. It was number 5. He needed to wait for four more people before his turn. Auron waited patiently. He was calm. Although he never became an alchemist previously, he had heard the test to become an alchemist from the other. There were even some people that posted tips to pass the alchemist entrance test on the forums. After an hour waiting, Auron''s name was called. It was his turn to take the entrance test. Chapter 353 - Alchemist Test (1) Auron arrived at the test room. In front of him, there was already a desk and many empty potion flasks on it. To his right side, there was a rack full of herbs. It was the ingredient for the potion. The alchemist''s entrance exam was uncomplicated. It was to create the easiest potion from all, the basic health potion. Alchemy was different from blacksmithing. In blacksmithing, the blacksmith would need a blueprint, and that said blueprint would also be consumed. However, the alchemy was slightly different. Alchemy didn''t consume the potion recipe that was used. However, the alchemist still needed to bring the potion recipe if they wanted to create some potions. This was also one of the reasons why alchemy was more popular than blacksmithing. As long as they fulfilled the minimum alchemy''s skill level and had the recipe, they could make the potions. Actually, the basic health potion needed one to be a level 1 Junior Alchemist. However, for the sake of the examination, the alchemy''s hall already created a simpler formula from it. And, that formula was the one that was used for this entrance examination, the [Training - Basic Health Potion]. Although it was a simpler one, the difficulty was not that much different from the original [Basic Health Potion]. Auron took the recipe and went to the rack full of herbs. There were two stages in alchemy. The first stage was to prepare the ingredients. Meanwhile, the second stage was the most essential, the creation stage. Auron never had any experience at all in the alchemy field. However, from what he heard, alchemy was simple and easy. As long as you follow the steps at the potion''s formula correctly, it would result in success. Actually, what Auron heard was half right. The first few potion formulas that could be bought in the alchemy hall was truly easy. However, as the potion level raised, it also became more complicated. Hence, the difficulty increased significantly. That was also the reason many alchemists stuck at the Medior level and could not increase further. Many of them even became desperate and changed their side class. However, some of them also still satisfied with the income from that few basic potions formula and kept the class. Auron looked at the potion''s formula then at the herb''s rack to find the ingredients. The rack was full of herbs. Among them, not all of them were the herb''s used for the potion''s formula. Some were used for higher-level potions. There even an ordinary wild grass inside the rack. Even though Auron didn''t have any experience in the field of alchemy, but with his experience playing the game, he knew which herb was an alchemy ingredient and which not. Moreover, this potion''s formula was not that difficult. In no time, Auron had picked all of the ingredients he needed. Auron brought all of the ingredients he needed to the work table. Then, he started to work on the ingredients. For this kind of potion, the preparation required was not complicated. Auron only needed to cut some parts of the herbs that were not used. After that, he would need to grind the herbs until it became crushed. However, what made this difficult was the amount of the herbs that used was a lot. Not only that but the piece that needed to be cut also had to be precise. If it was cut a millimeter short, then the potion would be ruined. Auron started to take a knife and cut the herbs one by one. He separated the part that was needed and the unnecessary part. There were more than 50 kinds of herbs that he needed to prepare, even though this potion was a lower level one. Fortunately, since the herbs used was also a low grade one, there was no time limit on how long they prepared the ingredients. Some higher-grade herbs were kept inside a medicine box to prevent the herbs'' medicinal effect leaked out. So, if an alchemist was using that kind of herbs, there was a time limit for them for the potions produced to be a good one. Auron took his time carefully. He wanted to take his time calmly and used this chance to learn about the alchemy world. Auron measures a part of the herbs using his hands. Then, slowly he would use his knife to cut down the unnecessary piece. After finishing preparing a herb, he would go to the next herb. After everything being cut, some herbs needed to be crushed until it became soft. So, Auron took a grinder and crushed it until it became mush. Then, he moved to the next herb. It took Auron for almost 1 hour to prepare the ingredients needed. It was considered a long time for an alchemist to use this much time to prepare these kinds of ingredients. The examiner looked at Auron carefully. He didn''t comment on anything and just took note of his paper. He looked at the time and shook his head. The examiner felt that the time Auron used was too long. He minus some of Auron''s score. Unfortunately, for Auron, his examiner this time was somewhat strict. He would not spare even to a beginner like Auron. Although Auron''s score was reduced. But, it would not affect his passed chance as long as he could produce the potions successfully. For this alchemy''s test, the score from this test would be used to determine how much initial alchemy points would be given to him. Just like crafting points, this alchemy points would be used to buy the alchemy materials and some recipe in the alchemy hall. And, Auron had already got a reduced point because of his long time preparing the ingredients. However, Auron would not know that until he received his score later. After Auron finished grinding all of the herbs, he arranged the herbs around the alchemy pot that would be used for the second stage. Soon, he would go into the second stage of alchemy. Chapter 354 - Alchemist Test (2) After arranging every processed herb neatly, Auron began to take a position in front of the potion cauldron. During the second stage of making a potion, there were two critical things. First, the flame. Each step would need a different level of fire. Some required a high degree of flame while the other step required only a low degree of flame. The Second thing was to follow the recipe precisely. If the recipe stated to use a 5 gram of a herb, then you needed to use that same amount of the same herb. If you pour a 0.1 gram more then, it could affect the result. [Pour out 5 liters of water] [Add halves the amount of herbs A] [Raised the flame to 180 degress] [Stir until the water boiled] There were several notifications appeared in front of Auron. It was the guidance provided by the system to help the alchemy process. Since alchemy was a long process, the system provided guidance for the players to help them. With this guidance, the players didn''t need to reread the recipe during the making process. This system guidance attracted several people to become an alchemist. This system guidance ensured that the alchemist would have a 100% probability to create a potion. While this guidance gave a benefit, but it also had its own demerit. It made people became lazy and made them rely on this guidance. When an alchemist relied on this guidance, they would have a delay in their movement. There would be a slight delay between reading the guidance until they did the action. This slight would mean nothing if it only happened once. However, many steps needed to be applied when creating a potion. Slowly, this little delay would become more and affect the resulted potion. That was why, if you want to become a high-grade alchemist, even though there was system guidance, you would need to memorize the potion making steps and knew when to act. Although you could apply every step correctly, if the delay between each step was significant, then the result would not be good. Usually, an average potion concocting would result in 5 - 10 potions for each batch of ingredients. But, if there was a massive delay between each step, then the result would be lowered, even it could result in a failure. When an alchemist did it perfectly, they could get 15 potions at the end of the potion-making session. This would undoubtedly make their profit from the potion grew bigger. The true alchemist would pursuit such perfection when making a potion. As for Auron, he was still a newbie in this alchemy world. So, of course, he would rely on the system guidance. However, Auron had also read the disadvantages of relying on system guidance. But, he had no choices since he didn''t memorize the step. He could only react quickly to minimize the delay. Auron followed the steps quickly. In this potion-making session, each step would usually last for 3 - 10 seconds. The longest lasted for a minute. Auron was busy following the guidance like a robot. He tried his best from raising or lowering the flame''s degrees until putting the herbs inside the cauldron. Auron even had to stir the liquid counterclockwise. [Take out the herbs, that were floating in the cauldron''s liquid, out] [Insert herb G and herb H into the pot] [Wait for 30 seconds before pouring another 3 liters of water] Auron calculated for 30 seconds. Then, after 30 seconds, he dumped 3 liters of water into the cauldron. After that, he followed the next step. Right now, Auron had already finished 75% of the potion''s recipe. Soon, the potion would be finished. The examiner was looking at Auron carefully. As an examiner, he already memorized the steps needed to make this [Training - Basic Health Potion]. The examiner looked at Auron and scribbled something on the examination paper. Some of Auron''s movements were clumsy, so he had to deduct another point from Auron. After several more minutes, Auron was at the last step of the recipe. He put the rest of Herb A inside the cauldron. 10 seconds later, he put out the flame and waited until the mixture cool down. After the mixture cooled down, a notification appeared in front of Auron. [Congratulations! You have successfully created Training - Basic Health Potion] [You receive 5 Training - Basic Health Potion] Finally, Auron finished making the potions. He gave the potions to the examiner for him to examine. The examiner looked at the potions and smiled knowingly. Everything was just like what he had thought. Only 5 potions came out from this session. Then, the examiner scribbled something on the paper for the last time. After that, he gave the paper to Auron, "Congratulations, kid! You passed. Unfortunately, you made a lot of mistakes. So, I have to deduct some points from you. What a pity!" "Gave that paper to the reception at the front." Auron received the paper and bowed to the examiner before exiting the exam''s room. Then, he went to the receptionist to receive his alchemist badge. Along the way, Auron looked at the examiner''s writing. He noted almost everything that Auron could improve. Most of the comments were that Auron''s movement was to slow. Auron also saw the points that the examiner gave to him. It was 75. Auron smiled and thought, "It was not bad." What Auron didn''t know was that his examiner was the strict one. If he got a less strict examiner, Auron could score at least 100 points. Auron arrived at the receptionist and gave the exam''s result paper to her. The receptionist scanned the doc.u.ment. Then, she went to the back and took out the badge. "Here is your badge! Your initial point had been recorded inside. If you lose the badge, you have to quickly report it to use and ask for a new one. It will also cost you 50 golds." After 5 minutes long of explanations, Auron finally freed from the receptionist. He exited the alchemy''s hall and smiled. This was his new beginning as an alchemist. Chapter 355 - Fourth Prince (1) Three days passed by. The kingdom''s situation became peaceful once again. Although there were still some skirmishes with the demonic monster, the situation was not as grave as previously. There were even two times when the demonic monster was hurt and fled. Seeing the wound, it would take a month before the demonic monster healed utterly. All of this was thanks to the effort from everyone. The kingdom started to take seriously on finding the demonic monster whereabouts. Not only that, but the large guilds also participate more often in the battle. The situation was excellent. However, actually, it was not the most important news that happened during these three days. The biggest news that everyone had been waiting for was the ancient ruins. The story about the expedition resulted in success had spread all over the kingdom. Some people who participate in that expedition even tried to boast about their achievement and rewards that they got. Due to the success in the expedition, the kingdom decided to reward the people that participate in the expedition. As the area around the ancient ruin had been destroyed, the kingdom wanted to rebuild the area. The king decided to give some of the areas to the player to maintain. However, they only said that they wanted to give some land to the one who participates in the expedition. They didn''t mention who would get it or how vast the land that would be distributed. This news even made the players became curious. The large guild''s leaders who participated in the expedition even became anxious. They sent people to the princes and princesses to take their favor. They felt that the closer their relationship with the princes or princesses, their chance would be raised. Unfortunately, the princes and princesses had expected this kind of action. So, all of them had refused all of the direct offers. However, the players weren''t stupid. They created some ambiguous reason so that the princes and princesses could not refuse, such as helping the refugees or for military supplies in the Bridge World. During these past days, many speculations were rising up on who would get the land. Until it was yesterday that the news on who got the land rewards answered. Although there was no announcement from the royalty or the guild who received the prizes, the sight of development in the affected area could not be avoided. Players who roamed around the impacted area saw some development in the area and began to visit the area. This way, the news started to spread by word of mouth. The royal family was generous. They had given more than 15 areas to the players to manage. Of course, not all of them had the same size. Some were bigger than the others. However, the land was still land. No matter how small it was, if it was managed well, it could give them a new source of income. Most of the receivers were guilds. However, two people didn''t have any guild. Of course, they were strong independent players. Even for a big guild, they needed to spend a considerable amount of resources to hunt them. As soon as these two people receive the land, they immediately created their own guild. They knew that they would never be able to manage the land on their own. Many independent players joined their guild. Some from the small guild even left their guild to join this newly founded guild. 15 new villages were given to the players. However, 15 were not all of the villages that were built. There were another 10 villages that were created. However, it was managed by people who were selected by the princes and princesses. As soon as they got the land, the big guilds immediately focused on building their village. This decision made by the royal family to pass the land to the players was obviously correct. In just one day, the development was rapid. All of the 15 villages that were built by the players surpassed the villages that were managed by the NPCs. This surely would create new competition among the big guilds. Meanwhile, during these three days, Auron was submerging himself inside the alchemy''s hall. Since his mage character didn''t have any work to do, he hid inside the alchemy''s building and practiced his alchemy skill. With the money he got from selling the spear, he bought several potion''s ingredients. He also used some alchemy points, that he got from passing the entrance test, to purchase recipes. Since Auron still had a low level in the alchemy skill, he could only make [Basic Health Potion]. The newly created potions would be given to his swordsman character. Then, he told his swordsman character to hunt outside. Of course, these low-level potions would not be enough to cover everything in his hunting. But, it helped him a little. This way, he also raised his alchemy skill. So, he killed two birds with one stone. Auron spent all of his time in making potions. This way, his alchemy skill soared up. Combined with the fact that alchemy, in the beginning, was easy and the ingredients were cheaper than the other side class. In no time, Auron raised his alchemist rank and became Junior Alchemist level 2. When he raised his rank, he could now learn to create a new potion, [Basic Mana Potions]. With that, he focused everything on creating the mana potions. During these three days, Auron also gained one level from all the hunting. Successfully creating a potion also gave him some experience points. However, it was far too low compared to hunting a monster. It was already three days after the expedition ended. Auron began to pack all of his things. He had two things to do. First, to claim his rewards for the expedition from the military. And, the second and most important thing was he had an appointment with the Fourth Prince. After everything was done here, Auron exited the alchemy''s hall and went to the appointed place. Chapter 356 - Fourth Prince (2) Auton took two teleportations to a city on the outskirts. Although this city was located remotely, there were many streams of people here. It was because this city was known for its beauty. Near this city, there was a mountain and a beach. That was why this city became a travel destination for everyone. When a player was bored hunting in the game, they could come here and take a break here. Not only that, but some resorts could be bought here. And, the Fourth Prince had one here. Not only him, but every prince and princess had their own private place to stay here. The Fourth Prince told Auron to meet him here. Auron came here using his swordsman character. Because that was the character that the Fourth Prince had invited. Of course, Auron would not miss the chance to meet with a prince. Moreover, it was a private meeting like this. He was wondering what would the Fourth Prince did to him by inviting him here. Auron already had his own guessed. He knew that the Fourth Prince would give him something. He thought that maybe the Fourth Prince felt guilty because he was the key man but only received such rewards. Whether it was true or not, Auron didn''t really care. After all, he knew that this was an opportunity for him to give a favorable impression to the Fourth Prince. Auron arrived at the Fourth Prince''s resort. At the resort, there were already many guards stationed here. This was because the Fourth Prince had already been here for one day. Whether the Fourth Prince was here or not, this place would always be guarded. After all, this was a royal family''s asset. The difference was the number of guards. When the Fourth Prince was here, there would be more guards here. Moreover, there would be royals guards that came here as well. Auron moved to the resort''s gate. Then, he was stopped by the guards. Auron introduced himself to the guards and told them that he had an invitation from the Fourth Prince. Of course, the guards would not blindly believe what Auron said, one of them told the situation and asked their superior. Not long after, the answers came. They let Auron in. Auron walked inside, led by one of the guards. When they arrived at the resorts house, the guard left Auron. Then, a servant girl from home came outside and picked Auron up. "Welcome! Please, follow me!" The servant girl kindly said. Then, the servant girl led Auron to upstairs and went to the Fourth Prince''s room. Soon, they arrived in front of the Fourth Prince''s chamber. The servant girl knocked at the door and said, "Your guest has arrived." "Let him in," From inside the room, the Fourth Prince shouted. The servant girl opened the door to the room and led Auron inside. Auron went inside. The Fourth Prince''s room was vast. His room almost took half of the floor by itself. Inside the room, there were two guards by the door. Meanwhile, the Fourth Prince was sitting on a chair with a pile of papers on the desk. He had read some reports and signed the papers. When the Fourth Prince saw Auron came, he stopped what he was doing and stood up. The servant girl behind Auron bowed down and wanted to leave the room. However, before she could leave the room, the Fourth Prince said, "Call your father here." The servant girl nodded and bowed once again before leaving the room. The Fourth Prince came closer to Auron with hand opened wide. A friendly atmosphere was spread around the room. Then, the Fourth Prince hugged Auron. This sudden action from the Fourth Prince made Auron flabbergasted. A prince just hugged him. It was such a weird but exciting feeling. He didn''t know what this hug from the prince means. "Nice to meet you again," The Fourth Prince said to Auron. Not long after, the servant girl''s father came. It was an old man. Auron guessed that this old man was 50 years old. Even though his old age, Auron still could see the power from inside this seemingly old man. "Come, let me introduce you." The Fourth Prince led Auron and introduce the old man. "This is Uncle Welly. Uncle Welly, this is Sword of Life." Welly had already followed the Fourth Prince for a long time. He was the Fourth Prince''s butler when the Fourth Prince was still a kid. He took care and arranged every Fourth Prince''s schedule when he was a kid. When the Fourth Prince started grew up, he could take care of himself. So, several years ago, Welly was moved to take care of this resort that belonged to the Fourth Prince. He also brought his family to came here and stayed here. That was why he was so close to the Fourth Prince. "Nice to meet you," Welly bowed to Auron, who also replied with a bow. "Now, let''s get to the main point why I invited you here." The Fourth Prince said. "I was so impressed by your contribution to the ancient ruin''s expedition previously. And, I felt that rewards were not enough for your great contribution." "However, I could not show you some favor because it would make everyone questioned my actions, and it could lead to your secret leaked." "That was why I invited you here." Just as Auron had guessed, the Fourth Prince was guilty and wanted to give him something. Many thoughts came inside Auron''s head on what would the Fourth Prince give him. "I was guilty if I didn''t give you something when I took all of the credits from you." "So, here we are. I have something in my mind, but I don''t know if you want to receive it or not." "Come here." The Fourth Prince took a paper from his desk and gave it for Auron to read. Auron read the paper briefly, and another shock came. He never thought that the Fourth Prince would give him this. The Fourth Prince gave him a village. Chapter 357 - Fourth Prince (3) "Before you say anything. Let me explain first!" The Fourth Prince said quickly. "I knew what you will decline this. But let me explain first. If, after hearing my explanation, you still want to decline, then that is fine." The Fourth Prince had guessed Auron''s thought. The first thing that came up to Auron''s mind when he knew that the Fourth Prince gave him a village was his secret. It was unconsciously coming up to his mind. He had to protect his secret, so he was going to decline it. Auron was still weak. If he received this village from the Fourth Prince, it would pique everyone''s attention. They would begin to investigate Auron''s background. Although there were only a handful of people that knew Auron''s secret, he still had fear inside his heart. Moreover, Auron believed even though he was weak right now, but with his cheat, he would become stronger. Way stronger than ordinary people. At that time, Auron would obviously get a village on his own. So, instead of taking a risk here, he wanted to decline the offer. But, the Fourth Prince had something to say. Obviously, Auron would listen to him first. There was nothing wrong with listening to a prince''s explanation. "I know you will be afraid that your secret will be exposed. That was why I offered some solutions. I know that these solutions would not eliminate all the possibilities that your secret could be exposed." "I introduced you to Uncle Wang because I intended to use him as a cover for your identities. I will spread out a rumor about him being the village''s head instead of you. While the real village''s head would be you." "As Uncle Wang will be used as a cover, I will send him to help you develop the village. When you feel that you have strong enough, you can show yourself to the world." "However, I have to tell you something. Although I can lie to the whole world about your identity. I cannot lie to my family. If you accept this offer, I have to tell the truth to my family, especially my father." "I will not tell them about your secret, but I need to tell them that I gave the village to you and use Uncle Wang as your cover." "I knew they would be suspicious. But, I will try to convince them about your contribution to the expedition. I hope that they will leave the matter alone. That was why I can only help you as far as covering your identity." "As you have heard that some people who receive a village from us will get at least some resources to help them build the village. However, I cannot do that. I will not give you anything lest they will be more suspicious. Not only that, but I will also put your village in the most remote place." "That is all that I can try to help you. Now, it is your call whether to accept it or not." The Fourth Prince ended his explanation. Auron pondered for a minute. It was a difficult choice for him. The temptation from the Fourth Prince was real. However, the risk was also big. The Fourth Prince saw Auron was pondering. So, he gave Auron some time. He just stood up there and waited for Auron''s answer. Meanwhile, Uncle Wang also astonished about this news. The Fourth Prince never told him anything about this. However, as a loyal servant, Uncle Wang didn''t ask anything and stood politely behind Auron. He was also waiting for Auron''s answer. Inside his mind, Auron started to weight everything. The pros and cons always moved inside his head. He wanted to accept, but the cons made him waver. He tried to decline, but the feeling of missing a great opportunity made him dejected. Time passed by. While Auron was still fighting inside his mind, 10 minutes already passed. He already made a prince wait 10 minutes for him. This could be an achievement for him. Several seconds later, Auron woke up from his mind. He looked around and felt embarrassed when he realized the situation. Fortunately, these 10 minutes of waiting was not in vain. He already got his answer. Facing the Fourth Prince, Auron said apologetically, "Sorry, Your Highness! But I have to decline your offer." "The risk was still too big for me to shoulder. I still have no power." Auron had decided to decline the offer. It was such a shame, but he didn''t want to take the risk. Moreover, he could still receive a village in the future. It was just a matter of time. So, he decided to be more patient. The Fourth Prince was disappointed with Auron''s decision. He was guilty because Auron got a lousy reward. To mend that guilty feeling, He wanted to give Auron a village. However, now, Auron declined his offer. This means that he would still have a guilty feeling. Well, the Fourth Prince could not force Auron to accept his offer. As Auron had decided to decline, then that''s it. "Such a pity, I can''t wash this guilty feeling. Oh, well. Let me think of other rewards for you then." The Fourth Prince said truthfully. "I am sorry, Your Highness. You don''t have to repay me anything. I am already grateful for the fact that you thought so highly of me." Auron apologized once more. "Well, then. I cannot leave the village without a leader. Uncle Wang, can you help me to manage the village?" "I will do my best if you wish it, Your Highness." Uncle Wang also surprised that Auron would decline the offer. Now, he would really be the real village''s head. Of course, he would not refuse the request. "Thank you, Uncle Wang. I owe you a lot." The Fourth Prince thanked Uncle Wang with a smile. "Now, what do you think I should give you?" The Fourth Prince asked Auron. "I have one thing in my mind. I will shamelessly ask it. Do you have a way to make me stronger quicker?" Auron asked. Chapter 358 - Royal Meeting (1) In the royal palace, a wave of people running around inside the palace. These people were maids and servants inside the royal palace. It was a chaotic situation as there were no servants and maids that were idle. This was because the king suddenly announced that he would hold a royal meeting. This royal meeting was different from other casual meetings. It was because the king would present, and he would participate actively in the meeting, not just a spectator. Not only that, but every critical figure inside the kingdom was also called to attend this meeting. Every prince and princess would attend here with all of the development inside the kingdom. The important generals also would attend this to share the condition. The royal meeting''s agenda also was to discuss the recent news. And, the most important things was to discuss the recently acquired treasure in the ancient ruin. With an event as big as this, it was not a strange thing that the servants and maids would be very busy. They really took this meeting as their life and death battle. Even the chefs were called from the night before to prepare for the banquet''s meals. A stream of important figures started to be seen one by one. The First Princess came with her aides. Then, an old general came as well. The Third Prince and the Second Prince also came together while talking to each other. The First Prince came with several generals besides him. They were discussing the Bridge World''s situation while walking towards the meeting room. The Fourth Prince also would not miss such an important meeting. He already came back from his private resort to attend this meeting. As the Fourth Prince still didn''t have any vital position yet, he wasn''t as busy as the other princes and princesses. However, he still had something to report. It was because he had the ancient ruin''s achievement. Even the Second Prince had already acknowledged this achievement of him. Even though it was thanks to Auron. The Fourth Prince actually had prepared a report as soon as he finished the expedition. He was ready to present it. However, he would never have thought that he would give the report at the royal meeting. Next to the Fourth Prince, there was a general that would help him later on. If Auron was here, he would recognize this general. It was the only general that knew his secret besides the Fourth prince. Accompanied by his trusted general, the Fourth Prince went inside the meeting room. Of course, to accommodate such a huge event, the meeting room used would not be ordinary. It was a big meeting room that was prepared for such an event. This meeting room could afford more than 100 people inside. Inside the meeting room, there were already many people presents here. Every one of them was busy talking to each other while waiting for the meeting to start. There was some serious talk, there was also some casual talk to each other. Actually, the meeting''s participants had already present except the king and General Elbert. However, everyone knew that General Elbert would mostly come together with the king. Several minutes later, the meeting room''s door was opened. The king and General Elbert had already arrived at the scene. With General Elbert walked behind him, the king entered the meeting room. As soon as the king entered, the meeting room immediately quieted. Everyone also stood up to respect the king. It didn''t take long before the king arrived in front of his seats. "Please, be seated!" The king said. Besides him, General Elbert also took his seat. With the king''s command, everyone seat and waited for the king. "In recent days, we have truly experienced such a series of unprecedented events. Using this moment, I also want to thank you for all of your efforts." "I invited all of you to this meeting was to know our current situation and what you need. If you have something that needs to be helped with, speak all of it here. I will try my best to help you." "Now, let us formally start this meeting." The king''s speech took the attention of everyone. They started to speculate whether the king would begin to actively participate in the kingdom or not. During these past years, the king had already passed every authority to his sons and daughters. He didn''t even intervene anything and gave 100% authorities to them. "Would the king start to participate again?" Many of these thoughts began to surface inside every''s mind even when they received the invitation to this royal meeting. With the king ended his speech, the meeting''s participants started to present their report to this meeting. The reports were started from the external situation and the Bridge World''s situation. These reports also included the reports from their spies in the other worlds. There were four cities in the Bridge World belonged to Gaia. And, each city was maintained by a general under the First Prince''s direct order. However, the First Prince, of course, would not really know the specific situation in every city. One by one, the governed general started to present their current situation to the meeting. Three of them were still under a peace state, while one of them had prevented an attack from the enemy lately. However, overall, the situation was good. Then, the reports from the spies were also presented by one of the appointed generals. It was a report on what happened inside Regalia. One thing that took their attention the most was the news that Chaotic Death had recovered. Although it was not 100%, it was around 80% up to 90%. And, with that recovery, Chaotic Death had already started to participate in the world''s affair once more. After every report was presented by the generals, the First Prince also present some data and his viewpoint in the current situation of the Bridge World. With the First Prince''s report, it concluded every report about the external situation and Bridge World''s situation. Chapter 359 - Royal Meeting (2) The First Prince was responsible for everything that happened in the Bridge World and the spies. It was a huge burden for him because Bridge World was an important place. Meanwhile, the Second Prince was responsible for everything that happened to the internal military matter. The Second Prince was the one who managed the military base, from the soldiers'' training until the soldier''s allocation throughout the kingdom. As for the Third Prince''s responsibility was to help the Second Prince and the First Prince wherever he needed. He filled the empty spot. Actually, the task to explore the ancient ruin was supposed to be given to the Third Prince. However, the Third Prince had currently had another important task at hand. He was assigned to exterminate and fend off the demonic monster. That was why the task for exploring the ancient ruin was given to the Second Prince. Meanwhile, the Fourth Prince didn''t have any significant position. To receive the task, he had to volunteer himself to the king, just like what he did when the Raiding Month and the ancient ruin''s expedition. Fortunately, the king never rejected his request. After the report from the Bridge World had finished, the meeting continued to the matter in the military. The Second Prince stood up and moved to the center. Behind him, several generals also helped him. The Second Prince''s report was about the number of soldiers, the supplies for the military, and things related to that. He didn''t say anything about the ancient ruin''s expedition even though he joined the expedition. Then, the matter continued to the Third Prince, who reported about how his progress in the demonic monster''s matter. The Third Prince listed several territories that were destroyed during the demonic monster''s invasion. In total, it was a lot. However, from the data, the number of destroyed territories declined. Then, the Third Prince also gave a report about the demonic monster''s current condition. From 13 demonic monster that appeared. One of them was being exterminated by their own. Meanwhile, the Third Prince and his troops managed to eliminate another one. Not only that, but two demonic monsters were still hiding to recover their strength. As for the other demonic monster, their whereabouts were still unknown. At the end of his report, the Third Prince asked for help. He was afraid that the longer the demonic monster still alive, the more dangerous them for the kingdom. With the Third Prince asked for help, the discussion began to shift to discuss the matter. Some of the generals began to express their opinions as this was also related to them. The number of soldiers was limited. So, when one place wanted to get reinforcement, it means that there would be another place that got reduced. The generals tried to defend their numbers. It was not like they against the royal family''s orders. But, they had to think about their responsibility as well. None of the royal members were offended by the general''s action. This was the meeting''s goal after all, to solve problems like this. The discussion was heated and lasted for one hour. During this one hour, the king and General Elbert, as well as the First Prince, were silent. They just became a spectator. Because of this prolonged discussion, the king started to take action. He could not let this discussion going for too long without any solutions. The king decided to allocate some of the soldiers to the Third Prince. Of course, the general would not defy the order as it was the king who said it. After all, they had tried their best to defend their soldier''s amount. After the Third Prince, it was the princesses'' turn. If the princes'' responsibilities were about the military, then the princesses'' responsibilities would be about the economic and social life of the citizen. It was started with the First Princess'' report on how the gold in the royal bank. Then, it continued with some matters regarding on how to improve the citizen''s social life by using this money. Each of the princesses took a turn and gave their report and opinion about the kingdom''s economic condition. From the report, the kingdom''s economy was great. It was enough for all of the citizens for another 3 years. However, the social life of the citizen was slightly disturbed. It was due to the recent tragedies around the ancient ruin''s area, as well as the unknown danger from the demonic monster that hadn''t been resolved. The citizen''s comforts started to deteriorate because of this matter. Even though the princesses just said the report here, but, in fact, they already took action, which was to give some territories to the players for them to develop. The First Princess gave the princes and the other princesses to allocate some number of lands. This action proved to be effective. However, the First Princess still wanted to monitor the situation first before confidently said that it solved the problem completely. One by one, the princesses took a turn and said their report. After all of the princesses finished their report, it was the Fourth Prince''s turn. The Fourth Prince had already waited for this turn. Actually, this was his first time attending a royal meeting. That was why he was slightly nervous. The Fourth Prince, with the help of the general beside him, already compiled a report about the ancient ruin''s expedition. The report contained everything about what they found inside the ruin, the monster, and how they defeated the ruin. Not only that, but the Fourth Prince also presented what they gained from this ancient ruin''s expedition. He also reported on their casualties and how he allocated the resources that they earned. It was not a long report. However, it was also not a short report. No one asked a question to the Fourth Prince as the king only nodded his head when he heard the Fourth Prince''s report. It seems the Fourth Prince''s report satisfied the king. With the Fourth Prince finished his report, it was also almost the end of the royal meeting. Chapter 360 - Royal Meeting (3) The king looked around. It seemed there was no one going to talk anything about. With that, he concluded the meeting, "Thank you for everyone''s hard work." "I have prepared a banquet. You all invited to come." The king stood up and left the room, followed by General Elbert. Throughout the entire meeting, General Elbert didn''t say anything and just watched the presentation without giving any comment. Meanwhile, it looked like what everyone had thought didn''t happen. Many of the generals here thought that the king would begin to participate in the kingdom''s current affairs. However, it looked like they were wrong. After the king left the room, the people inside started to relax a bit. Some of the generals immediately crowded over some of the prince or princess to discuss something. However, some generals got out of the meeting room. Outside of the room, many servants and maids had already waiting to guide them to the banquet hall. The Fourth Prince looked around, and all of his brothers and sisters were busy with their own responsibilities. The Fourth Prince didn''t have any choice but to go to the banquet hall. He was hungry. As soon as he arrived at the banquet hall, he directly took some food and ate. Time passed by, one by one, the people began to come to the banquet hall. Not long after, the banquet hall was crowded with people. Since the Fourth Prince started first, he had finished his food. He wanted to exit the banquet hall when someone called him over. It was his big sister, the First Princess. Of course, the Fourth Prince would not ignore the call. So, he came over to where his big sister was. "How do you do, big sister?" The Fourth Prince greeted his big sister. "Come and sit here. As I was busy with work, I rarely meet with you. I want to know about your situation. Come and tell me your stories." The First Princess blatantly said what she wanted. In the royal family, the Fourth Prince was the youngest and also the most doted person. Not just the king, but even his big brothers and sisters doted him. When he was a kid, the Fourth Prince like this special treatment by his brothers and sisters. However, as he grew older, this special treatment made him awkward. Moreover, he was a man. He wanted to refuse, but he was afraid that it would hurt his brother''s and sister''s hearts. After all, they didn''t have any bad intentions. The Fourth Prince began to retell his stories inside the ancient ruin. Although the First Princess already knew the stories from the report and the other, she still listening attentively. At some point, she would ask a question or made a reaction. This happy conversation between brother and sister continued. The conversation continued to where the point where his sister asked him about the allocation of the new village. As a prince, the Fourth Prince also got his portion to promote people around him to get a land. "Are you really only giving the land to Uncle Wang? I can still give you one or two slots more if you wanted." The First Princess said. As the one who managed the process of the allocation, the First Princess knew the one that the Fourth Prince had chosen. Actually, the other princes and princesses gave to at least two people. As for the Fourth Prince, he only gave it to only one person. "Yes, I am sure of it." The Fourth Prince said. Of course, he could not say that the initial person he wanted to give had already rejected his offer. "Well, fine then. That''s up to you. Come now, tell me, do you have someone you like? I will help you." After the talk about the village over, the First Princess began to tease her younger brother. The Fourth Prince blushed. However, he knew that his sister was only joking to him. This friendly conversation continued for another hour before the First Princess had to go. Meanwhile, the Fourth Prince didn''t have anything to do. However, he suddenly remembered something. He went outside and went to find his Second Brother. The Fourth Prince knocked the door to the Second Prince''s room and told that it was him coming. From inside, his second brother''s voice let him in. The Fourth Prince went inside and greeted his big brother, who was busy with many doc.u.ments on his desk. "Wait a minute, let me finish this one doc.u.ment first." The Second Prince said while holding a doc.u.ment in his hand. The Fourth Prince nodded and took a seat near there while waiting for his second brother. Several minutes later, the Second Prince put the doc.u.ment, signed it, and then he stood up. He walked up to the Fourth Prince and said, "So, what happened?" "Actually, I am here to ask about Tower Training. Can I ask a slot for my friend to join? However, he wasn''t a soldier." The Second Prince was astonished. It was so rare that his younger brother asked something from him. Moreover, it was for his friend. The Second Prince smirked and said, "Is it a girl?" "Stop your wild thought! It was a man. I also think you have caught a glimpse of him. He was the one who distributed the mana potion inside the ancient ruin." The Fourth Prince immediately clarify things so that his big brother didn''t have much wild thought. "Oh... I think I had seen him before, but I don''t remember his face." The Second Prince said "Is he your friend?" The Fourth Prince replied with a nodded. "Okay, fine. I can give him a slot. However, since he was not a soldier, I cannot provide him with other things than the entry." "Have him come to the training place next week and bring out this identification." The Second Prince didn''t dig deeper into his younger brother''s relationship. After all, everyone had their own relationship. Receiving the token, the Fourth Prince bowed thankfully and exited the room. Chapter 361 - Promotion (1) Back to when Auron was in the Fourth Prince''s resort. After asking on the way to get stronger quickly, the Fourth Prince had promised him for one way. However, he had to wait for at most two days for the Fourth Prince to arrange the administration since Auron''s swordsman character was not in the military. Unfortunately, an hour later, a messenger from the Fourth Prince gave him news that the plan had to be postponed because of the royal meeting. The Fourth Prince would provide him with follow-up news at a later date. Initially, Auron was excited because of the Fourth Prince''s promise. However, it looked like his excitement had to be postponed as well. After finishing his schedule with the Fourth Prince, Auron still had one other thing to do for the day. He settled down his swordsman character and went to his mage character. Yes, he had to claim his expedition''s rewards. Auron regained his sense, and he was already at the military base. He just needed to go to the mission building to claim his rewards. When Auron arrived at the mission building, the place was crowded with people. It was because there was quite a large number of soldiers that participate in the expedition this time. Not only that, but almost all of them also wanted to claim the rewards as soon as possible. Currently, there were three lines of people, and Auron joined in one of them. There were still around 25 people in front of him. Auron had no choice but to wait, except if he wanted to claim his rewards the next day. Slowly, Auron''s line became shorter and shorter. Finally, it took almost 1 hour until Auron''s turn. Auron greeted the staff, "Hello." However, the staff didn''t reply to his greet. Instead, she immediately asked while facing the computer in front of her, "Name? Rank?" Auron didn''t take this staff''s rudeness to his heart. He thought positively that the staff did this to reduce the time and reduce the waiting time for the others. Auron told her his name and rank. The staff began inputting something on the computer. A second later, the staff replied, shocked, "Wow, you have acc.u.mulated quite a lot of points already than the people at the same level as yours." "Here is your money, and this is your share of treasures." The staff handed over Auron''s salary and the portion of the treasure. Of course, Auron didn''t get too many treasures because he didn''t go inside the ancient ruin and just helping at the outside of the ancient ruin. However, it was better than nothing. Auron''s salary also increased a bit because of the importance of this ancient ruin. Auron also didn''t get a lot of military points from this expedition. However, he had already acc.u.mulated a lot of points from the previous mission. He got a lot during the Raiding Month, Destroying the demonic stick''s mission, saving General Aston and his recent spy activities. The ones that contributed a lot to his point was the Raiding Month and the saving General Aston. It gave him a massive leap in points. And, Auron''s acc.u.mulated points actually was an achievement because there was no one at the same level as he had the same amount of points. "Thank you," Auron said, and he proceeded to leave. However, before he could go far enough, the staff said, "Your point was enough to promote to the next rank. So, if you didn''t want to exchange for weapons or equipment, why don''t you try to promote?" Auron stopped his walk and looked over. He pondered a bit and said, "Thank you. I will think about it." Auron left the place. Actually, previously, Auron was thinking of browsing the item''s catalog. He wanted to use his point to exchange for some things. The thought of promoting never crossed his mind. However, because of the staff''s reminder, he began to think about it. The military and its staff implicitly wanted to force its staff to promote the rank. Its purpose was to keep the competitive atmosphere within the military. So, whenever a soldier had enough points to promote, they would remind them to promote, just like what happened to Auron. Of course, everything was up to the soldiers, whether they want to promote or not. But, there was nothing wrong if they succeed in taking the promotion test. After all, if they really succeed, then their salary would rise, and they would get some more benefits. There were two types of promotion. It was the rank promotion and the level promotion. The level promotion was promoting their level within the same rank, from junior to intermediate or intermediate to senior. Meanwhile, the rank promotion means that it was promoted from a senior level to the junior level of the next rank. Between the two types of promotion, the level promotion was easier. They would need to defeat one soldier at the next level. Meanwhile, for the rank promotion, one could choose between three options. The first option was to defeat an opponent from the senior level of the next rank. The second option was to defeat two opponents from the intermediate level of the next rank. And, lastly, to defeat three opponents from the junior level of the next rank. They would fight in a one on one duel format. These three options would have a different result. If one could complete the first option, they would immediately raise to the Senior level of the next rank. As for the second option, one would become an intermediate level of the next rank. And, the third option, as well as the most taken option, one would become a junior level of the next rank. The one who took the promotion test needed to complete the test in one week after they declared to take the promotion test. If they could not, then it would result in their failure. Of course, there was some special case that could prolong their test time. With the promotion matters in mind, Auron began to walk to the promotion department. Chapter 362 - Promotion (2) The promotion department was not that far from the mission building. It didn''t take Auron much time to reach that place. As soon as Auron arrived at the place, he immediately to walk over to the staff in charge. Auron had already read over the requirement before this. To promote, one needed to pay certain points depending on the rank and level they wanted to promote. After one applied for a promotion test, they could cancel their application. However, their paid points would not be refunded. Meanwhile, if one failed their promotion test, then they would get one-fourth of their points back. On the other hand, if they completed their promotion test, then they would not get any points back, but their rank would rise. Because of that, none of the people wanted to cancel their application once they had applied. They would fail the test rather than cancel their application. After all, if they failed, they would get one-fourth of their points back. The staff in charge was still compiling some paper when Auron came and said his goal in coming here, "I want to apply for a promotion." The staff in charge who was still busy glanced at Auron and took a blank form. "Here fill this form, you can use the computer over there to search for your opponent." Auron took the form and went on to the computer. Before searching, he began to fill his information first, such as name, current rank, etc. After finishing all of that, he began to look for the enemy. Auron searched one by one from the senior level. However, just as he thought, there were no opponents around the same level as him. All of them were at least level 310. With Auron''s current status, he could manage to defeat an ordinary opponent at that level. However, he didn''t have confidence if the enemy had superior skills. Moreover, this was military, they would not wear crappy equipment. So, he had to dismiss the idea of having the equipment''s advantages. Next, he went to intermediate level soldiers. Some of them were pretty good, and Auron felt that he would have a little advantage towards them. Auron kept some of the options inside his mind. He would be weighting about his options later on. Auron went to the next section, the junior level soldiers. In this section, there were a lot of choices since there were many of them here. Auron looked carefully and in detail about some of the soldier''s profile. Not only that, but he also took note of some of the soldier''s names. He would compare that name and reduce it to only three names. At the promotion test, when there were two people at the same level, but one of them was stronger than the other, there were no extra rewards for defeating the stronger soldiers. This was why selecting a weaker opponent was the best choice. Of course, not everyone thought the same. Some people looked up to the challenge and tried to defeat the stronger soldiers for their satisfaction. Obviously, Auron would not choose the stronger opponent because it didn''t give him anything. Auron looked at his two notes. There were several names on the junior level at one of the papers, while the other paper had the names of soldiers from the intermediate level. Auron was confident that he could defeat all the names that he took note of. Auron was pondered for a bit on which level he would challenge. There were fewer names on the intermediate level. But, there were still around 8 names on it. In the end, Auron crumbled the junior level and decided to go with the intermediate level. If he completed this promotion test, he would directly go to the intermediate level. This would save some of his points that would be used when he was promoting from the junior level to the intermediate level. Auron walked to the staff in charge once more and gave back the form. The staff who received the form back began to check Auron''s opponent''s schedule. The one who was challenged here could not refuse the challenge without a proper and essential reason. So, if they had a meeting with a friend for a cup of tea or they got dating, they had to cancel it to accept the challenge, or they would be deemed forfeiting the match. Of course, for the one who was challenged, if they lose, they would get a harsh punishment. Their current points would be halved. They also needed to pay up money the same amount with six months of their salaries. Not only that, but they would also be marked. If they lose once more, then they would be demoted. Of course, if they had an important reason or maybe a military order, then the choices would be given back to the challenger. The challenger could postpone the match, or they could change their opponent. This same applied if the opponent had another match that day since there was a rule, only one fight a day. Meanwhile, if the one who was challenged won the match, they would also get a reward. They would get six months of their salaries. They would also get the three-fourth of the points spent by their challenger for taking the promotion test. From the 8 names that Auron took, he already gave two of the weakest name. The staff quickly checked the mentioned names'' schedule. Then, she also sent an invitation to the match. One of the names quickly accepted the match. Unfortunately, the other one had a military mission, and he could not take any match until next week. Auron didn''t want to postpone the match. Moreover, the third name was still someone he could handle quite easily. So, he gave the third name who accepted the match. With everything settled, Auron''s promotion application had been accepted, and he could not cancel. His match was scheduled for the next two days. One day each. Chapter 363 - First Match (1) The next day came, it was already in the afternoon when Auron walked to where the promotion test took place. He already prepared really well. Auron had researched his opponents beforehand. His opponent right now was a level 288 Mage. Auron deliberately chose this mage because he was also a mage. As a mage, even though Auron could fight in close combat, but of course, he would choose the easier option. Auron knew that his current opponent had experience in close combat as a mage. However, he believed that he still could overpower his opponent. Not only that, but Auron also had researched the most used skill from his opponent. It turned out his opponent was a specialized mage. His opponent only learned ice-type spells. Auron was waiting for his opponents. There were still 5 minutes more before the appointed time. Not long after, a commotion was heard. Auron''s opponent came. However, he was not alone. Behind Auron''s opponent, there were some people. It was his subordinate and his friends. As an intermediate corporal, he already had his trusted subordinate and friends. Meanwhile, Auron was alone. Actually, if Auron told his friend from the demonic stick''s raid, they would come and support Auron. However, Auron deliberately didn''t tell them any news. As the opponent had already come, Auron''s match would begin soon. The referee walked to the arena and declared, "You all have 5 minutes before we began the match. Killing your enemy is forbidden." "You have to make your opponent surrender or out of the arena to win. I will also monitor the fight. If I deem one of you cannot continue the fight, you will be considered lost the match." "Any question?" The referee looked at both Auron''s side and the opponent''s side. "If there is no other question, then 5 minutes start from now." Auron checked his weapon and equipment. So, he would not use any wrong equipment. He also looked into his spell''s detail once more to remember the spell''s cooldown. During the fight, the buff and healing potions were forbidden. However, one could still use an attack potion like [Fire Potion] or [Ice Potion]. Auron glanced at his opponent''s side. His opponent''s subordinates and friends had come to support. One of them even massaged his opponent''s shoulder. There was also another one that talked with his opponent. It seemed Auron''s opponent had done their homework. One of them had brought a piece of paper. Auron believed, inside that paper, there was information about him. And, just as Auron had thought, it was really information about Auron. The data was pretty complete. It contained the info starting from when Auron was still in the military academy. Soon, the 5 minutes finished quickly. The referee called each of the participants. As this was a fair match, the referee asked both of the participants, "Are you ready?" Both Auron and his opponent nodded their head. "Then, let the match start!" The referee started the match while exiting the arena. As soon as the match started, Auron''s opponent took out his dagger and went into close combat. The opponent had already known that Auron was capable of fighting in close combat. So, if it was not him that start, then it would be Auron who would come forwards. Not only that, but Auron''s opponent also cast a standard [Ice Bolt]. It seemed he wanted to probe Auron''s strength. It was apparent for a mage with close combat experience. Every one of them had learned [Walking Chanting]. It was an essential skill for a mage who wanted to fight in close combat. Auron also took out his dagger, and he faced the [Ice Bolt] with his [Fire Bolt]. Even though Auron had the basic spell from all of the elements, but he more inclined to the fire spells. He had more fire spells at his arsenal compared to the other elements. Both the [Ice Bolt] and [Fire Bolt] destroyed each other in the air and produced faint white steam. As the fog spread in the air, both Auron''s dagger and the opponent''s dagger clashed. Auron''s strength was higher than his opponent. So, Auron could stop the attack easily even pushed the opponent a little bit. However, Auron knew his opponent''s dagger was more powerful than his own. Soon, what Auron had though was proved. The opponent''s dagger lit up. While the dagger lit up, the opponent pulled the dagger and kicked Auron away. Then, he slashed empty air in front of him using his dagger towards Auron. As soon as the dagger was slashed, a wind was formed from the dagger. Then, the wind materialized into a wind cutter, and it flew towards Auron. The wind cutter was the unique effect of the dagger. Upon clashing with another object, the dagger would have a 5% probability of filling up a charge. And, the user could use that charge to summon the wind cutter just like what Auron''s opponent had already done. Unfortunately, for Auron, his opponent was so lucky that it could immediately use the special effect at the first clash. "Of course, the one who had been long enough inside the military will not have ordinary equipment." Auron thought. Just as what Auron had thought, Auron''s opponent got this dagger from exchanging his military points. Actually, Auron could do the same, but he had decided to take the promotion test instead of renewing his equipment. Auron was pushed back by the opponent''s kick. And, with the wind cutter coming towards him, Auron summoned his [Earth Wall] to block the wind cutter. Auron glanced at his opponent, and it turned out his opponent already in front of him, slashing his dagger towards Auron. Auron raised his hand and managed to block the attack with the dagger in his hand. However, the opponent had already chanted another spell, [Ice Lance] was formed beside the opponent''s head. Then, with the opponent''s command, the [Ice Lance] flew towards Auron. Auron tried his best to dodge the lance. However, it managed to graze Auron''s arm. Chapter 364 - First Match (2) Blood seeped out from Auron''s wound. However, as the injury was caused by [Ice Lance], the blood quickly freeze. Fortunately, it was just a small wound. Auron focused back on his battle. After the [Ice Lance] grazed his arm, Auron tried to create a distance between them. He looked for a way to distance themselves. However, the opponent didn''t let Auron do that. He followed up the [Ice Lance] with a stab from his dagger. Auron turned his body to avoid the attack. Then, he cast [Fire Lance]. The opponent saw this move and moved closer to Auron. The [Fire Lance] flew to the opponent. With a minimum movement, the opponent avoided the spell and returned it with [Ice Bolt]. However, before the [Ice Bolt] could finish, Auron had already slashed his dagger. The opponent didn''t have enough time to dodge the slash. But, he still tried to dodge the attack. Auron''s dagger cut the opponent''s chest and wounded the opponent''s chest. A line of blood could be seen on the opponent''s chest. However, the fight didn''t stop right there. The opponent who was wounded, would not want to leave Auron''s alone. The prepared [Ice Bolt] flew and aimed at Auron''s forehead. Auron saw this. He swept his dagger upward to block the [Ice bolt]. It managed to stop the [Ice bolt]. However, that was not what the opponent''s goal. The opponent slashed Auron''s stomach. At that moment, the opponent''s dagger lit up once more. The opponent reacted quickly. As the dagger lit up, he slashed once more, and a wind cutter flew towards Auron''s stomach. Auron was wounded by the slash. A line of blood was seen on his stomach. However, he could not relax yet. The wind cutter already flew towards him. Auron cast [Earth Wall] between the two of them. However, the [Earth Wall] was a second late. The wind cutter had already passed the [Earth Wall] when it formed. Without any choice, Auron crossed his hands in front of his stomach. Boom... The wind cutter cut Auron''s hands and blown him away. Auron was blown several meters back. The wound he got was deep. He had miscalculated the [Earth Wall]. If he used other spells, Auron would not get wounded like this. However, there was no time to remorse for his mistake. He was in the middle of the match. Auron''s opponent didn''t let this chance went away. He immediately approached Auron with a fast speed. "Urgh..." Auron was in pain because of the last attack. Auron gritted his teeth and held the pain. He raised his hands and prepared to receive the opponent''s attack. However, he didn''t wait passively. Auron tried to disturb the enemy''s rhythm using [Earth Spike]. Even though the enemy was in the upper hand, but he didn''t let his guard down. When he charged to Auron, he still paid full attention to the surrounding. So, when Auron used the [Earth Spike], the opponent had picked off the [Earth Spike]''s sign. An [Earth Spike] appeared from his right. Because of that, the opponent took a detour and moved further to the left side. It took several seconds more for the opponent to arrive at Auron''s location. This small addition of time was an excellent benefit for Auron. Previously, Auron had already stressed out because of continuous pressure from his opponent. However, these several seconds could give him a chance to breathe and calm his mind. With a calmer mind, Auron began to look at the broader picture. Previously, he was so focused on the enemy that made him difficult to react for the next two steps forwards. Even though the opponent took a detour, but he didn''t let Auron free. He already prepared his attacks. The opponent used [Sloth] to reduce Auron''s movement speed. As Auron had higher agility attributes, his movement speed and attack speed was faster than his opponent. However, the opponent had already investigated Auron. So, he knew that they would fight in a close combat fight. Because of that, the opponent bought some equipment that would increase his speed. Because of the equipment, Auron''s speed advantages were reduced. Right now, he was only slightly faster than his opponent. "Money really can make someone stronger," This sentence flashed in Auron''s mind. Auron had underestimated the deep pocket of a corporal. Moreover, this opponent of his already in the corporal rank for more than 2 years. It means he already acc.u.mulated more wealth than he had thought. The seemingly weak opponent that Auron had seen became stronger because of the equipment. This was another mistake from Auron. He didn''t think about the financial condition from his opponent when he was selecting his opponent. In return of the opponent''s [Sloth], Auron also used his [Sloth] spell. Both of the people in the arena got affected by each other''s [Sloth]. However, Auron was frowning. The opponent''s [Sloth] was one level stronger than him. So, his speed decrease more than his opponent. It also lasted longer than his [Sloth]. After using [Sloth], the opponent charged towards Auron. He stabbed Auron''s chest. Meanwhile, Auron was already ready. He prepared his dagger to block the attack. However, Auron didn''t think that the difference of the speed would be different because of that one level difference in the [Sloth] spell. Fortunately, Auron could block the attack this time. The follow-up attack from the opponent also launched. He used [Frost Bite] to try to stop Auron''s from moving. Auron used his maximum effort to dodge this [Frost Bite]. Seeing Auron''s speed had reduced a lot, the opponent became more aggressive in his attacks. Several attacks from the combination of his dagger and spells were thrown at Auron. Unfortunately, Auron could not block every attack. However, he tried to keep the damage to the minimum. At the last moment, Auron used [Earth Wall] to delay the opponent''s continuous attack. And, it worked. The sudden [Earth Wall] made the opponent had to walk around it. However, to the opponent''s surprise, Auron showed up from behind the [Earth Wall] and suddenly got a boost in his speed. Chapter 365 - First Match (3) The opponent was confused by the sudden boosted in Auron''s speed. He looked at Auron [Sloth]''s effect. It had not ended yet. Meanwhile, his [Sloth] was one level stronger than Auron. That was why his [Sloth] should not end yet. "How could he move faster?" This was what inside Auron''s opponent''s mind. It was a mystery to Auron''s opponent. However, he didn''t have the luxury to think about it right now. Auron had already arrived in front of him. Auron slashed out his dagger to the opponent''s face. The opponent saw this. He hurriedly raised his dagger in front of him to receive Auron''s attack. Clang... A clashing sound of two daggers was heard. However, the fight didn''t end there. Auron already knew that the opponent could block this attack even if he had the element of surprise. What Auron aimed at was the second attack. A [Fire Lance] stormed to Auron''s opponent''s chest. The enemy was already caught in surprise by Auron''s first attack. That was why he was one step slower. With Auron launched his second attack, the enemy could not react in time. The [Fire Lance] cleanly hit the opponent''s chest. A direct hit in such a close range made the [Fire Lance]''s power blown the opponent''s away. The opponent''s crashed to the arena''s floor. He was in pain. But, he quickly stood up. Auron would not let these advantages go away. He kept on pressuring the opponent. When the opponent stood up, Auron already arrived by the opponent''s side and ready to throw another attack. The opponent also didn''t want to be Auron''s punching bag. It returned an attack using [Ice Bolt]. In such a close range, it was usually effective to throw a quick spell such as this. It could disrupt the opponent''s rhythm if they were not ready. This was a textbook way for a mage to escape such a situation. This method could really work. However, it would only work if the opponent was alone and didn''t aware of the situation. As Auron was fully concentrated on the fight, he could saw the sign when his opponent''s creating the [Ice Bolt]. Auron quickly moved away and chanted [Earth Spike]. The enemy threw the [Ice Bolt] in panic. He hoped that this [Ice Bolt] could really hit Auron. However, it would not be that easy for such thought to happen. Moreover, with Auron completely on guard. The [Ice Bolt] completely lost its target. Meanwhile, the [Earth Spike] that Auron''s chanted already pierced from the ground and targeted the opponent''s head. Seeing the incoming [Earth Spike], the opponent moved his head to avoid the attack. Unfortunately, it was not perfect. The [Earth Spike] managed to graze the opponent''s right cheek and also hurt the opponent''s ear''s lobe. Blood came out from the wound. However, the fight didn''t over right there. Auron already coming forward to the enemy. The enemy was an experienced soldier. Such wounds were hurt, but it would not be enough to make him gave up. Auron''s opponent tried to turn the situation around. He unleashed [Frost Spike]. The [Frost Spike] was a similar spell with [Earth Spike]. What made it different was the [Earth Spike] was made of ground, while the [Frost Spike] was made of ice. It was unfortunate for the enemy. Auron already had many experiences in fighting against a mage. What made it different from his previous experiences was his class and equipment. With that many experiences, he had seen many spells. He could see the sign when a spell was about to launch. By knowing this sign, he could mostly dodge the spell. Of course, he could not achieve a 100% feat to avoid the spell even though he knew the spell. However, it was enough for him to not let the spell hit his vital point. Moreover, in this current situation, Auron was in the upper hand. Not only that the opponent''s [Sloth]''s effect had just ended. His speed increased once more. With the increased speed, dodging the [Frost Spike] was easier. Auron took a side step and dodge the [Frost Spike]. Then, he took a stabbing gesture. The opponent raised his dagger and tried to block Auron''s stab. However, suddenly, at a high speed, Auron turned his body 180 degrees and changed his attack to a horizontal slash towards the enemy''s neck. Although it was so sudden, the enemy could realize Auron''s intention and duck down. Auron slashed out thin air. However, he already prepared a quick [Fire Bolt] and immediately threw it. The opponent jumped sideways to dodge the spell, but he was one step late. The [Fire Bolt] hit the opponent''s ankle. His jump was stopped and fell to the ground. Auron stabbed his dagger to the ground. However, before the dagger could hit the opponent, he already used [Aqua Barrier]. Auron''s attack met with the barrier. It was a lifesaving spell for a mage. This means that Auron''s opponent was cornered by Auron''s relentless attack. Using this momentum, Auron''s opponent tried to regain his position back. Meanwhile, Auron who was on the offensive side suddenly became more aggressive. He knew that [Aqua Barrier] was not invincible. Even though Auron didn''t know at what level was the opponent''s [Aqua Barrier], but he could feel that it was not that high level. While maintaining his vigilance, Auron kept launching the attack. The opponent, who wanted to use this momentum to regain back his position, was also pressured. Auron didn''t give him any chance. Just as Auron had thought, Auron''s opponent''s [Aqua Barrier] didn''t last long before it was destroyed. Auron kept on attacking wildly. The opponent tried his best to maintain his current situation. However, everything went beyond what he could handle. Wound after wound kept on appearing on the opponent''s body. After several attacks more, the opponent could not dodge Auron''s last attack to its head. However, before the attack could hit the opponent''s head, the referee had blocked it for him and ended the match. Finally, Auron gained one win. Chapter 366 - First Match (4) "Urgh..." Auron''s opponent knelt down on the arena. He was devoid of energy. Not only that, but there were wounds all over his body. He had lost against Auron. All of his subordinates and friends immediately went to the arena and came closer to him. All of them already looked at the battle and worried about their friend''s conditions. Although Auron''s opponent was lost, it didn''t mean that he was weak. He had already come all the way up to this point. So, it would not mean that he was weak. It just that Auron was stronger and capable than him. By stronger, it just not seen by the level. However, it was calculated from every aspect. Strength, strategy, equipment, even luck would affect a battle''s result. Just like the current situation, Auron''s level was way lower than his opponent. However, the battle result could be seen. It was Auron''s win. Of course, everything was thanks to Auron''s overwhelming attributes compared to his peers. Also, his equipment was not that crappy either. Not only that, but Auron''s past experience fighting against a mage also helped him a lot. With the battle had over, Auron''s burden immediately lifted up. His shoulder began to relax and he breathed a relieved sigh. Even though Auron was the winner, but his current condition was not that good either. There were also wounds all over his body. However, obviously, it was still better than his opponent. The referee approached Auron and said, "Congratulations! You have one win. Take care of your body, tomorrow is the final." After giving that one congratulate speech, the referee left Auron. However, before he left the place, he looked back at Auron with a confused look. The referee saw the entire previous battle between Auron and his opponent. He was astonished at the fact that Auron could somehow fight against his opponent. However, as the battle was going on, Auron was beginning to lose the upper hand. It was not a surprising fact for the referee with his thought. However, at the crucial time, suddenly Auron gained a huge boost in speed. This increased in speed was the one that turned back the match around. The referee knew that as a mage there was [Wrath] spell that could increase the movement speed. However, that spell had a bad effect on the one who get buffed. Even though there was no sign of [Wrath] spell being cast by Auron, but the referee believed that Auron had used it. The referee only knew for such a spell that could increase the speed for a mage. However, as the battle kept on going, the negative impact from the [Wrath] spell didn''t show up. At this point, the referee began to think of the possibility that it was not [Wrath] spell. The referee could not think of any other possibilities. He had the thought that Auron was cheating. However, he could not accuse someone without concrete proof. He wanted to ask Auron, but he knew that Auron didn''t have the obligation to tell him if he didn''t want to. Everyone had their own secret and to push someone to tell them their secret was wrong. That was why the referee could only leave with a confused look. After the referee left the arena, it was Auron''s opponent''s turn to approach him. He was also one of the people that were confused by the sudden boost in speed. Just like the referee, Auron''s opponent also thought that Auron had used [Wrath]. That was why he held on Auron''s continuous attacks. He would strike when the [Wrath]''s negative side effect kicked in. However, after a long time waiting, that side effect didn''t show up. And, it was already too late, when he wanted to fight back. With big curiosity, Auron''s opponent asked Auron even though he knew Auron would not answer it. And, just as what he had thought, Auron only smiled mysteriously and didn''t give any hint of it. Without getting any answer, Auron''s opponent could only leave the arena. His wound already healed by one of his friends who was a cleric. Meanwhile, Auron also left the arena to go to the military infirmary. He had to heal his wounds. Despite the fact that Auron won the match, he was not that excited. It was because he had underestimated his opponent. The supposed to be an easy match became harder because of that. He even had to secretly use his swordsman''s movement skill. Yes, what Auron had used to increase his speed was his swordsman''s movement skill. Auron had just used one of his swordsman''s skills, but the nervousness came from it was huge. He had to try hard to calm his mind throughout the battle. Auron was afraid that he would be spotted on. Fortunately, what Auron worried seemed did not happen. However, Auron could not be careless next time. There was a risk if he kept on using that swordsman''s skill. That was why he had to be more prepared for the next battle. After coming out from the infirmary to tend his wound, Auron began to review all of his opponent''s next information. He even tried to update his opponent''s information. Auron even used some of his money from selling the spear to buy his opponent''s information. There was less than one day before the next match took place. He had to prepare well. So, after getting every information he could get, he went to his room and didn''t come out until the next day. He tried to strategize for the next battle as well as learned from today''s battle. Meanwhile, the news that Auron defeated his opponent arrived at the military. It immediately garnered a lot of attention. Not only because Auron wanted to skip a level by challenging the intermediate level, but also because it was not that long since Auron had joined the military. People were curious about how Auron could achieve such a feat. Because of that, many people anticipated Auron''s next match. It seemed there would be a lot of spectators in Auron''s next match. Chapter 367 - Second Match (1) A bright new day had come. Today was the time for Auron''s second match to be held. Auron was walking to the arena for the second match. There was still one more hour before the match started but he had come here already. When Auron came there were already some people waiting. They were the referee as well as some spectators that wanted to see the upcoming match. The spectators saw Auron came. From Auron, they could see some seriousness in his face. All of them had one thought that this man was really serious about his upcoming match. Their anticipation for Auron grew. However, contrary to everyone''s expectations, Auron indeed looked serious, but it was because he had a serious concern deep inside his mind. A piece of shocking news came to him yesterday when he was updating his opponent''s information. On the day when Auron was applying for the promotion test, he had seen this opponent''s information. From that information, he felt that this was the opponent that he could fight and put this opponent on his fight list. Then, his fight invitation was accepted. Auron thought that everything went normal. However, because of his hard-fought battle on the first day, Auron decided to update his information about this current enemy. And, what he found was shocking. Two hours before Auron was challenging the opponent, Auron''s opponent just had come back from a mission. And, Auron''s opponent''s contribution to that mission was overwhelming good. That was why, yesterday when Auron was fighting against his first opponent, the one, who was going to be Auron''s opponent today, claimed his mission''s rewards. Since Auron''s opponent''s contribution was great, he received numerous contribution points as well as a piece of an epic grade armor. Moreover, after he knew that he was challenged by Auron, he spent all of his contribution points and upgrade some of his equipment. Today, Auron''s opponent was a swordsman. Auron had picked him because he already saw the opponent''s skill and equipment. The opponent''s fighting skill was slightly above average. Meanwhile, his equipment was very ordinary. Of course, he still had his level advantages over Auron. However, Auron believed level advantages didn''t really mean much for him because of his attributes point. And then, the news about him getting a piece of epic grade armor came. Auron''s opponent also upgraded two pieces of his equipment. Previously from the 8 names on Auron''s fight list, today''s opponent should be ranked number 3 from the bottom. However, due to the change in equipment, Auron knew that this ranking was not valid anymore. He felt that the opponent had soared to the number three or two. It was even possible that today''s opponent became the number 1 from Auron''s fight list. It was such a misfortune for Auron. However, he could also not complained nor canceled his match. He had to fight to the bitter end. That was why he looked very serious today. Auron could only rely on his fighting experience and his attributes and combination of his spells. Actually, there was one fortunate thing that Auron didn''t know, his opponent had underestimated him. Yesterday, when Auron''s opponent had the chance to observe Auron''s opponent he didn''t take it. Moreover, he also didn''t do what the Auron''s first opponent did, researching about Auron''s information. Yesterday, after claiming the rewards and upgrading his equipment, Auron''s opponent went to party with his friends until night. However, since Auron didn''t know about this piece of information, he was gloomy. Auron chose to sit at one corner of the place waiting for his opponent while calming his mind. His mind had been shaken by the news that he had trouble sleeping last night. Auron closed his eyes and ignored the spectators who scanned him. There were many spectators today that came to this match. All of them had different goals to come here. Some of them were curious about the match where someone tried to jump level like what Auron did. Actually what Auron did was not that rare however it was also not that often. However, combined with Auron''s short time in the military, this news pique their curiosity. There were also some of the spectators that had the intention to recruit Auron if he was proved to be capable. There were some sergeants and lieutenants that came here. Starting from the sergeant level, one could have the privilege to choose their own subordinate. That was why there was a saying inside the military that your journey had just begin only when you reach the sergeant rank. If Auron could win this second match, he surely would get a lot of invitation from this various group. However, if he lost then it would depend on his performance. If Auron''s performance could grab their attention, then they would still keep monitoring Auron. They could even provide Auron with some help. On the other hand, if Auron''s performance was average, he would be quickly forgotten. Time was ticking by. As it was close to the match time, the spectators'' number started to increase. There were even some private that wanted to join today''s entertainment. Then, suddenly, a cheering came from the other side of the arena. Auron opened his eyes and looked at the commotion. His opponent''s today had come. One thing that immediately caught Auron''s attention was the sparkling epic grade armor that his opponent wore. With a purple light coming out from it, the armor was eye-catching. Auron stood up from his place and went forward to the arena. Then, his opponent and the referee also went up to the arena. Auron''s opponent scanned Auron from top to bottom. He wanted to see where was his opponent''s source of confidence came from. The level was low compared to him. So, it must come from the slightly above average set of armor. The opponent smiled mockingly. If it was two days ago, this set of armor would make him frowned or go serious. However, right now, his equipment was better. Chapter 368 - Second Match (2) "I will give each of you 5 minutes to prepare." The referee said. Then, both of the participants went back to their own corner. Auron cleared his mind from his worries. He needed to do that or else he would lose the match. Time ticking by, soon, 5 minutes passed. Auron opened his eyes and it was crystal clear. Even though he could not dispel all of his worries, but Auron was ready for his match. He went to the center of the arena. His opponent and the referees also did the same. Then, just like the match before, the referee began to explain what prohibited in the match. The referee was different from yesterday''s referee. However, they had the same strength. And, he was more powerful than both contenders. After a minute explaining, the referee began the match. However, different from yesterday, both Auron and his opponent didn''t immediately rush out. Auron jumped back to extend their distance while the enemy just stood at his place looking at Auron. Auron''s opponent only read brief information about Auron. He didn''t even bother to look for more detailed information about Auron. He was confident in his equipment. Slowly, Auron''s opponent took out his sword. It was a weird sword. The blade was not smooth and sharp like an ordinary sword. Instead, it looked like a saw blade. Meanwhile, Auron started to cast [Fire Bolt]. Auron''s strategy was to probe his opponent''s fighting skill level first. Although he already got some information and video about his opponent''s fighting skill, he still wanted to feel it directly. The [Fire Bolt] flew towards the opponent. However, this simple [Fire Bolt] was not challenging enough for him. The opponent swung his sword and smacked the [Fire Bolt] away. The opponent scoffed mockingly at Auron. However, Auron didn''t get persuaded easily. He still maintained his distance and threw another spell, [Ice Bolt]. Just like before, the opponent fended off the spell away with his sword. He put his sword and his shoulder and casually said, "Is this all that you can do? I guess your previous opponent was so weak that he was beaten by you." Following Auron''s opponent''s taunt was the cheering from his friends. His friends also thought the same as him. There was no way that Auron could beat his opponent. The other spectators watched the match calmly. It was still early in the match that they still had not enough data to declared Auron would lose. However, deep inside their mind, they slightly believed in what Auron''s opponent had said. However, Auron ignored the taunt and threw another spell, [Earth Spike]. He deliberately only used the most basic spell just to see what would the opponent did. Even though he knew that this basic spell could not hurt the enemy, but he still could get some information about his opponent. Like when the time he threw [Fire Bolt]. The opponent reacted late to the spell. However, because of the distance that the spell had to go, the opponent easily blocked the attack. Auron''s suspicion was proved with the [Ice Bolt] and this [Earth Spike]. From three attacks, every time, the opponents always reacted a second late. This means that the opponent could not deduce when a mage would use a spell. He could only see it when the spell had already formed. Or, it could be that the opponent deliberately showed this weakness to Auron. But, with the opponent''s arrogance, the possibility for this was low. However, Auron still kept his vigilance up in case that the opponent really acted out. After the fifth spell, Auron was more sure that his opponent didn''t fake-out. However, he still didn''t take the initiative to attack and just kept on attacking using the basic spell. After the seventh spell, the opponent''s friends began to shout, "Come on ended this match quickly! Beat him! He is weak!" Such cheering was heard from the opponent''s friend. Because of this cheering, Auron''s opponent started to take action. He began to use his movement skills as well as [Weapon''s Aura]. Auron who saw this directly used [Sloth] to slow down the enemy. This was the start of the battle. The opponent ignored the [Sloth]''s effect and charged at Auron. Wielding his sword, the opponent prepared to stab Auron. Although Auron''s [Sloth] was still level one. But, its effect still could be felt by Auron and his opponent. Auron created [Earth Wall]. Then, he jumped back several steps and created [Ice Wall]. The opponent ignored this seemingly weak wall. With his sword, the opponent crushed down the [Earth Wall]. Then, he continued and destroyed the [Ice Wall] behind it. After he destroyed the [Ice Wall], Auron''s opponent prepared to face Auron. However, from his right, an [Earth Spike] sprung out from the ground and tried to pierce him. The opponent could not help but block this [Earth Spike] first with his sword. However, there came a [Fire Lance] towards the opponent''s body. The opponent was caught unprepared by the [Fire Lance]. Boom... The [Fire Lance] hit the opponent''s armor. Although it still took the opponent''s health, it was very insignificant compared to the opponent''s health. Moreover, the impact should push the opponent several steps back. However, it didn''t happen to Auron''s opponent. The armor blocked the impact from the [Fire Lance]. Auron frowned seeing this sight. He knew that the armor was strong. But, he didn''t know it would be this strong. Actually, it was not only because of the armor, but the opponent also had a high vitality attribute as well. That was why Auron''s spell would not work as expected. Auron''s opponent was actually a tanker and a group player. So, he usually would not fight alone. However, he could still bully a weaker opponent. Seeing what the armor''s effect on the battle, Auron''s opponent became filled with confidence. He laughed loudly and charged forward to Auron. He swinging his sword like a maniac. Auron knew that this would not be an easy battle because of the armor. But, he didn''t know that it would be this tough. He could only carefully took one step at a time. Chapter 369 - Second Match (3) Auron''s opponent swung madly like a mad bull. Auron had to run away first. During his retreat, Auron also kept throwing some low-level spells. Meanwhile, Auron''s opponent kept on charging towards Auron. He also laughed maniacally. It was similar to seeing Auron facing a mad psychopath. Some of Auron''s spells were connected to his opponent''s body. However, the rest of it was deflected by his opponent''s sword. Not only that, even though the spells hit the opponent, but it only produced two digits damage. Compared to the enemy''s health point who surpassed 50 thousand. This damage means nothing. However, Auron still had the advantage. His movement speed was faster than the opponent. Despite the fact that the opponent using his movement skill and chased Auron, he could not reach Auron at all. Auron maintained his distanced. He didn''t go further away nor let his opponent approached him. Auron could do this was thanks to his agility attribute that was higher than the enemy. Moreover, the enemy was effected by [Sloth]. Actually, Auron could leave the enemy behind with the [Sloth]''s effect. However, Auron deliberately didn''t do that. He wanted to create an image that his speed was not that fast. Auron''s opponent didn''t have any bad thoughts about this as well. He thought that it was because Auron''s [Sloth] that he could not chase him. If the [Sloth]''s effect ended he would be able to hit Auron. This thought combined with the hilarious damage from Auron, he didn''t have any thought at all that Auron conned him. Time passed on, Auron''s opponent''s friends still kept on cheering and shouted their mocking. Meanwhile, Auron kept his calm and kept on maintaining a safe distance. It was already one minute since Auron''s [Sloth]''s effect was gone. Yet, the opponent still didn''t realize it. A few minutes after that, Auron''s opponent started to feel something was amiss. He realized that the [Sloth]''s effect was gone, but he still could not approach Auron. He halted his step and stopped chasing Auron. Seeing his opponent stopped, Auron also stopped fleeing. However, he still didn''t stop attacking. Throughout all this time, Auron had done around 5 % of the opponent''s health. Meanwhile, since Auron only used low-level spells, his mana didn''t reduce that much. His mana recovery also helped a bit. When the opponent stopped his chasing, Auron immediately thought that the opponent had realized. He knew that this trick would not last that long. Now, he had to prepare to do some real fight. The standing opponent deflected Auron''s spell while frowning. He looked at Auron''s expression who didn''t show any changes at all. Auron still kept his poker face and chanted spells. The opponent was angry. However, he didn''t want to angry at himself. That was why he directed his anger to Auron. "You dare...!" Auron''s opponent furiously said. However, Auron didn''t reply anything at all to his opponent and kept on minding his business. When Auron''s opponent''s friend saw this, they just realized that there was something wrong. Their cheer stopped. Meanwhile, the other spectators had long realized there was something wrong. After all, they already did their homework. They knew that Auron''s [Sloth] was only level 1 and it would not last that long. So, when Auron''s opponent could do nothing after the [Sloth]''s effect was gone, they immediately realized something was wrong. This action scored some point in the eyes of some of the recruiters. After all, a clever soldier with ordinary strength was better than a strong soldier with a stupid head. Auron''s opponent jumped then slammed his sword to the arena''s floor. He used one of the area skills that a swordsman had, [Earth Shock]. It was the same as [Wind Slash]. It only affected in a cone area in front of the user. The difference was, instead of a wind elemental attack, it was an earth elemental attack. Not only that but [Earth Shock]''s range was also not that far compared to the [Wind Slash]. Auron just stood there and didn''t avoid it at all. He had known that the [Earth Shock]''s range could not cover the distance between them. Auron didn''t know why his opponent used this skill that could not hit him. He ignored the attack and kept on attacking. Auron''s opponent also knew that the attack would not hit Auron. However, he wanted to unleash his rage. And, by slamming the arena''s floor, he could somehow unleash a little bit of his anger. After that slam, Auron''s opponent stood up and straightened his body. Auron could see the opponent''s eyes were clear. He also could sense the dangerous aura from his opponent. Auron raised his vigilance. He knew sooner or later, the enemy would charge to him. It was like a psychic, Auron guessed was right. A second later, the enemy used all of his buff skills and used [Charge] to Auron. The opponent''s speed soared that it even surpassed Auron''s speed. However, this time, Auron didn''t have the intention to flee. Auron''s opponent raised his hand high. Then, with all of his might and the charge''s speed, he jumped and slammed his sword to the ground. Such a straightforward move was easy to dodge. Auron moved to the side. However, contrary to Auron''s expectation, the opponent''s attack contained power way more than what he could imagine. As soon as the sword slammed the arena''s floor. It cracked the arena''s floor and created huge destruction. Even though Auron had dodge to the side, the debris was flying towards Auron. Auron could not dodge all of the debris and could only let his skin grazed by it. Then, the opponent followed up the attack. He slashed the sword horizontally towards Auron. Auron had prepared his dagger in front of him. The sword and dagger meet. A swordsman should have more strength than a mage. However, Auron also not lose out in terms of strength. But, with the swordsman''s buff that his opponent used, Auron was blown away. Chapter 370 - Second Match (4) Auron was lost in strength from the last encounter. However, he did not lose that miserable. He still retained his balance and not fall down from the clash. Auron looked at his enemy who was still chasing him. His opponent''s sword was already shrouded with a purple aura. He bashed his sword at Auron. Jumped... Auron jumped backward to avoid the sword. Then, he chanted a [Fire Lance]. As the fight had already progressed to become like this, he didn''t have to reserve his power anymore. The [Fire Lance] flew fast to the enemy. This [Fire Lance] was easy to dodge. With a slight step to the left, Auron''s opponent could dodge it. However, what happened was different. The enemy took the step a second late. So, he could not dodge the spell completely. Deep inside, Auron smiled. It was just like what he had thought. The enemy''s reaction to a spell was late. However, to be 100% sure, Auron thought that it would be better for him to try twice or three more times. Actually, Auron didn''t have to try anymore. The enemy really could not deduce when the spell formed. It actually happened because of the way the enemy fought all this time. Auron''s current enemy was a group player. So, his enemy was not used to fight in a one on one duel like this. Moreover, when he was fighting in a group, there would always a cleric for support. He would be the most prioritized for the heal. Combined with the fact that Auron''s opponent''s highest attribute was vitality. He didn''t even bother to dodge a harmless attack. This made his fighting sense rather dull compared to an agility type swordsman. Auron''s opponent moved a second late. Because of that, the enemy''s hand grazed by the [Fire Lance] and got a burned scar. But, it didn''t stop Auron''s opponent from attacking. Using the other hand, he used [Bash]. Auron raised his dagger and received the attack. Bang... It was heavy. Auron''s straight arm bent a bit. His knee also bent because of the impact. Auron gritted his teeth. His arm almost numb because of blocking this attack. Seeing his attack was blocked, Auron''s opponent threw a punch using his burned hand. He aimed at Auron''s unguarded stomach. Auron turned his body to dodge the blow. The punch missed the target. Auron chanted and released an [Earth Spike] from the enemy''s back. An [Earth Spike] showed from behind the enemy and attack the enemy''s back. Auron''s opponent was caught unguarded by the [Earth Spike]. The [Earth Spike] could not produce high damage but it pushed the enemy''s body forward. Auron''s opponent limped forward because of the impact. Auron already ready. He slashed his dagger in front of him. The enemy''s chest was left open. And, because his balance was off, he could not block the attack. Using this moment, Auron didn''t let the opponent regained back the upper hand. After the slash, he followed up with a punch to the opponent''s face. Then, Auron chanted another spell, [Flame Pillar]. He chanted it below the opponent''s location. Before he threw the [Flame Pillar], Auron jumped backward to avoid the [Flame Pillar] damaging himself. A flame burst out from below the opponent''s location. The opponent screamed out in pain. But, Auron didn''t leave the opponent just like that. From far away, Auron used another flame spell, [Fire Bolt]. Auron''s opponent gritted his teeth in pain. Despite the fact that the damage was low, he could not hold the intense pain from being burned. Fortunately for the enemy, there was no burn effect. So, after the flame burst out, it quickly dissipates and gone. Auron already charged once more behind the flying [Fire Bolt]. Although Auron was currently used his mage character, but both of his character shared the same attribute. His swordsman was inclined more to the strength and agility type like his previous swordsman character. That was why, Auron''s mage also as agile as his swordsman. The speed Auron showed was much faster than before when he was acting out. The opponent already knew this when he realized that Auron was acting out. However, he never thought that it would be this fast. "A weird mage." This was what popped out inside the opponent''s mind. A mage with such speed was never heard before. With Auron''s level, there would be two way, Auron invested all of his attributes to agility or he used equipment with movement speed buff. However, for the first thing, it should not be the case. Because his magic damage and strength also quite high. He could only achieve this if he had spent a lot of money to buy attributes book, so he would have a lot of attribute points. But, looking at Auron''s equipment, it was not possible to think that Auron had that lot of money. Since if that was the case, then why would he not upgrade his equipment either. Hence, only one sentence that could describe Auron, a weird mage. This also showed up in everyone''s mind. Not only the spectator but the referee as well. Actually the previous referee had warned the today''s referee to pay a special attention to Auron. However, the today''s referee didn''t heed that warning a lot. But, now, after he saw all of this, he changed his mind. Auron didn''t let the opponent regained the upper hand back. Even though, his damage was low, he kept on dealing the damage while carefully dodging or blocking the enemy''s attack. This went on for about another 10 minutes. Auron''s opponent''s health only had been reduced by 20% from this long fight. However, during those 10 minutes, Auron''s opponent was helpless. He could not damage Auron at all. In the end, Auron''s opponent who was cornered by Auron jumped out of the arena even though he still had a lot of health left. Yes, Auron''s opponent had given up. Seeing this, the referee only could announce the end of the match and the winner, Auron. Chapter 371 - Investigation (1) Although the referee announced Auron as the winner, it didn''t mean Auron would directly get promoted. It was because Auron''s opponent surrendered the match. In a promotion match, if the one who was being challenged surrendered, an investigation would be started. It was to check whether they surrendered because of bribery or other things that would bring them other benefits. The military gave very high attention to the promotion matters. It was because when someone was promoted, they would have more benefits and power. The military didn''t want to promote the wrong people. As a matter of fact, Auron''s opponent surrendering the match would make him and Auron underwent a separate investigation to prove that this match was not a setup. The referee wore a cold expression. As the one who led the match, he would also join the investigation as a witness. Even though he had a low chance to blame, but it would still take some of his time. That was why, he really didn''t like someone who surrendered, especially during his match. Moreover, the referee also could not find any reason why Auron''s opponent surrendered. Not only the referee, but the spectators and Auron also astonished because of the opponent''s resignation from the match. Auron''s opponent still had around 80% of his health left. Although he had lost the upper hand and could only take a defensive measure, there was still a long time before he lost every hope to win. Auron''s opponent was the only one who knew why he surrendered the match. He had already known the repercussion of his action. However, he didn''t care and still choose to surrender. Auron''s opponent looked at Auron and the referee with a grim expression. Then, he left the area followed by his friends who immediately asked his reason. However, Auron''s opponent didn''t say anything and kept his silence. Auron left dumbfounded by this. He didn''t know why. However, he could not help but to go along the way. Auron smirked helplessly at the referee. He wanted to show that he also didn''t know why all of this happened. But, the referee ignored Auron and left the area as well. The match ended just like this. Everyone who already came here also felt disappointed. The recruiter who had seen that Auron was worthy to recruit had to postpone their idea until the investigation over. They would not want to join the mess. Moreover, if Auron really proved to be wrong, they could avoid being seen as an accomplice. Everyone began to leave the area one by one. Auron also dejectedly left the area. However, before he could go further away, two people had come to him. It was Felice and Patricia. When they heard that Auron going to have a promotion match, Felice and Patricia immediately went here to see the match. Even though they were shocked by the fact that Auron could promote, but they still happy as they saw Auron as their friend. However, they also never thought that everything would end like this. Felice and Patricia also could do nothing except cheered Auron up. And, that was what their intention by approaching Auron right now. Auron smiled. But, deep inside, he was tired and disappointed as well. What if the military thought that he was guilty and kicked him out from the military. Or, Auron''s opponent dragged him down by slandering him. Auron didn''t do anything but the thought that he could be punished without doing anything was creeping inside his mind. He sadly thanked Felice and Patricia before going back to his room. Auron was tired and wanted to forget everything. This was more tiring that the real battle. He had to refresh his mind. Auron decided to leave his mage character doing nothing in his room and went to his swordsman character. He didn''t want to let anyone find any fault from him. At least, he would let his character doing nothing until tomorrow. In the meantime, Auron decided to fend his frustration by hunting. He wanted to unleash his rage by bashing the monster he found. Soon, Auron was drowned in his hunting. He slowly forgot his rage and raising his experience bar. Time passed by, soon the next day came. Auron was still busy hunting the monster. Fortunately, by doing this he could gain a level from hunting all night. Today, at the noon, Auron would have a trial to decide what action had to take. Of course, he had to come to defend himself. Meanwhile, the military had also ordered a team to investigate this matter. They had investigated and collecting proof all night while Auron was hunting in his swordsman character. The trial''s time was near. Auron had to move once again back to his mage character. Despite the fact that there were still rage and disappointed feeling, but it was lesser than before. Auron knew that he had to face this no matter what. He exited his room and started to go to where the trial would take place. There was still one hour left before it was the trial''s appointed time. Auron decided to wait inside the building. As he was one of the suspects, the guards didn''t stop him and let him come inside. Then, he was escorted to a small waiting room. Time passed by, one by one the judge and the investigator came. The spectators also came. Auron''s opponent''s friends, Felice, Patricia, the recruiters, as well as the opponent that Auron beat in the first match. Auron''s yesterday opponent had already arrived but he was put at a different waiting room from Auron. It was to forbid the two of them to meet and communicate. Actually, since the day before, both Auron and his opponent had already been monitored. All of their movements were recorded and could be used in this trial. "Silent! It is time to start the trial. Bring the suspects!" The judge shouted. Then, not long after, Auron and his opponent were brought inside the trial room. It was time to decide Auron''s fate. Chapter 372 - Investigation (2) The judge looked at the case file, "So, both of you were suspected of colluding together." "You should know that deliberately surrendering and took bribe were a very wrong thing. You guys could be punished heavily." The judge put down the paper and stared at both Auron and Auron''s opponent. "Well, let''s do this. If you guys confess your wrongdoings, I can reduce the punishment." "Any of you want to confess?" The judge looked and there was no response from both of the suspects, "No? Don''t be shy. Listen, a reduced sentence is a rare opportunity. If you miss this opportunity, I don''t know how harsh your punishment will be." Silence still permeated the trial room. Even the spectators didn''t dare to murmur or whisper to each other. Of course, everyone knew what the judge offered was a great opportunity. But, it could also be a double edge sword. Of course, the judge would not lie about the reduced sentence. But, it would not be that easy to get it. The judge could use some other laws to give an additional sentence. Then, both would cancel each other. Not to mention what would happen between both parties. First, it absolutely would ruin the relationship between both people. They would not trust each other or even hated each other. Second, sometimes, the investigator could not find any hard proof to punish them harshly. So, when the defendant didn''t know it and confessed, although the sentence was reduced, the punishment was still worst than if he didn''t confess. Even though there would be many disadvantages, but there were still people who would take the opportunity. After all, many people could not think straight when they were under heavy pressure. The judge often used this trick to fish out people. Sometimes this trick worked but sometimes it didn''t work. But, it was worth trying as the judge didn''t lose anything. The judge waiting for the response. While waiting, he observed both suspects'' behavior. Auron''s opponent looked calm. So, did Auron. None of them showed any weird behavior. The judge said while leaned his back to his chair relaxedly, "I am waiting." 5 minutes of silence. The suspects didn''t do anything at all and just sat facing the judge. Since he didn''t get an answer, the judge fixed his seat position once again and said, "Well, then. You miss your opportunity." "So, let us get straight to the point?" The judge said. "Why do you surrender? Did he bribed you?" The judge asked straightforward to Auron''s opponent. "No reason." Auron''s opponent said calmly. Auron shocked hearing the answer. It was weird. And, how his opponent answered the question was stupid as well. In a formal trial like this, Auron''s opponent said something like that. It was like he wanted to kill himself. Just like what everyone had thought, the judge frowned. To get on the bad side of the judge in a trial was a suicide. Everyone didn''t know what Auron''s opponent had thought even his own friends. Auron didn''t answer anything since he wasn''t the one who was being asked. "There is no action without reason. You must have your reason. Why don''t you make this easier for me and state your reason?" The judge''s voice began to rise. Auron''s opponent didn''t answer anything. Getting no answer, the judge started to move to Auron, "You! What did you give to him that made him this obedient?" "I didn''t give anything. I also didn''t know why he surrenders the fight." Auron answered. He was disappointed because he was blamed even though he didn''t do it. "Both of you make this hard for me." The judge started to read the investigation report he received. However, to his shock, the judge also could not find any result from the investigation report. He called the leader of the investigation team. Then, both of them whispered to each other about the issue. Because of this, the audiences also started to speculate on why the judge act like that. Whispered also heard among the audiences. Slowly, the whisper''s sound became loud enough and it disturbed the trial. The judge slammed his hammer and shouted, "Silence! The trial is suspended for 1 hour." "Both of you, if you want to confess, this is your last chance!" The judge said to Auron and his opponent. Then, the trial was suspended. The judge went with the investigation team, while the suspects were brought back to their waiting room. Meanwhile, the audiences were told to exit the trial room until the trial started again. Auron was back in his room. He looked at his front while thinking about what the judge''s action means. However, seeing the judge''s action, Auron knew it was a good thing for him. It seemed that the investigation team didn''t find any fault or at least a proof. This means that Auron should be free from any punishment. One hour later, Auron was called back to the trial room. As soon as the judge sat at his seat, he said, "Say it! Why do you surrender?" Auron''s opponent kept his silence. "Why are you silent? Are you afraid that the one who backed him up will kill you?" "Don''t you afraid we can protect you if you want to blurt everything out." The judge started to entice Auron''s opponent once again. However, it looked like it could not move Auron''s opponent at all. "Why are you so stubborn?" "Fine! If you want to do this. Up to you!" "Let me announce the trial''s result!" "You!" The judge pointed at Auron''s opponent, "The investigation team could not find any reason and proof. However, we, the military, don''t like the act of surrendering. Moreover, it was without any reason or at least the parties involved don''t want to say it at all. Hence, we decided to demote you one full rank." "You will become intermediate private effective starting tomorrow. Also, you will be fine with 3 months of salaries." "As for you!" The judge pointed at Auron. "We cannot blame you or accused you without any proof. However, we also cannot accept the match result. Hence, you will have another match for your promotion. After this, you can pick your opponent once again." "The trial ended here!" The judge left grumpily. Chapter 373 - Re: Second Match (1) With the judge left the scene, the trial had officially ended. All of the verdicts had been announced and waited to be executed. A pity looked could be seen among the audiences who were leaving the trial room. Meanwhile, Auron''s opponent''s friend who was also coming to the trial to watch felt disappointed. As soon as the trial had ended, they immediately surrounded Auron''s opponent. Being demoted was not a surprising fact. If it was only being demoted within the same rank, then it could still be considered a light punishment. However, he had to be demoted one full rank. It was a pretty harsh punishment. However, Auron''s opponent''s friends also could do nothing. They had already witnessed what their friend''s behavior throughout the trial. They believed that his friend would not be bribed. However, they still didn''t know the reason why he surrendered. Some of Auron''s opponent''s friends tried to cheer up while some others still frustrated at his friend''s behavior and kept on persuade him to tell them the reason. While there was a gloomy aura around Auron''s opponent''s side, at Auron''s side, although it was not a cheerful atmosphere, it was not as heavy as the other side. Patricia and Felice approached Auron. They were happy for the verdict that Auron received. Although it was tiring to have a rematch it was better than getting expelled. There were also some other people who were the trial''s audience that congratulate Auron for the verdict. Although they didn''t know each other, congratulating someone on a happy occasion was not a weird action. Auron''s first opponent also included in the list of people who congratulate Auron. While they were talking happily with Auron, an officer came to Auron. It was the promotion staff representative. He had also attended the trial. So, he knew what Auron should do. That was why his goal approaching Auron was to remind Auron. The staff said straightforwardly, "You have until tomorrow at 8 am to submit your new opponent. If you didn''t submit by 8 am, you will be considered forfeiting your promotion test. And, to be safe, it will be better if you bring more than one name in case the opponent you picked had other matters." After reminding Auron, the staff directly left the trial hall as well. Meanwhile, Auron still continued to have a conversation with the people around him. 10 minutes later, everyone had left Auron alone. With everyone left, Auron also left the trial hall. However, he didn''t come back to his room. Instead, he went to look for his opponent''s data. From 8 names that he had, he had already picked 3 of them. One of them was busy so he could not battle against him until next week. Auron had one from another one. And, the last one was the person who attended the trial with him. Until now, it was still a mystery why Auron''s last opponent surrender to him. But, Auron didn''t really think that matter too deeply. Everything had come to an end for that opponent. If he didn''t want to say anything then he could just keep it by himself. Auron didn''t care. Now, Auron had more important things to do, picking another opponent. The last two opponents that he fought brought a pretty surprising present for him. During the last two fights he almost lost, but by luck, Auron could win the battle. Even though the last match''s result he had was canceled, it could still be considered his win. Seeing his past two fights, Auron didn''t want to get another surprising present that dangerous him. That was why he wanted to use this moment to observe and collect information and pick a correct opponent. To save time, Auron had decided to pick his opponent from one of the 5 names left. Of course, after Auron updating his opponent''s information, if he felt that he could not defeat anyone from the 5, he would pick another opponent. Auron began to collect more information about every one of the 5 names he had. He spent some golds to buy information about them. Auron didn''t hold anything back. One more win and he could promote to the next rank. He had proved it was possible by defeating his first opponent. Although his second match was considered a mess, he had another opportunity to pay back what he lost. At least, he didn''t want to fail this promotion match. Auron collected every information he could get. He even kept the gossips or rumors about his opponent. Of course, he would separate that information with the information that had already been proven. It took Auron until dawn to collect the information. After he felt satisfied, Auron started to arrange every information he got. Then, he started to arrange his opponent''s ranking based on their information and their strength. Finally, at 6 am in the morning, Auron got a list of names. And, he had sort it from the weakest to the strongest. Unfortunately, there were only four names inside the list instead of five. It was because of the opponent had too much uncertainty information. Auron decided to leave the name out of the list. Auron rechecked once again. After checking it once more, Auron went to the promotion staff to register his opponent. The staff already knew what Auron wanted. He immediately asked the name which Auron gave it immediately. After receiving the name, the staff began to check the schedule and call the opponent. Fortunately, for Auron, his opponent was free. Then, the staff asked Auron once again, "It seems the person you choose is free. He had confirmed the match. He even asked back whether you want to fight today or tomorrow? So, what do you say?" Auron pondered. He was fortunate that the weakest enemy from the list was available. But, he was still considering the opponent''s question of whether to fight today or tomorrow. After 5 minutes of pondering Auron replied, "Let us do it this afternoon!" Chapter 374 - Re: Second Match (2) Auron was waiting for the match to begin. While waiting, he was looking back on the data about his current opponent. Today, Auron''s opponent was the same as the first opponent. It was a level 279 Mage. Even though Auron''s opponent today had a lower level than his first opponent, but, based on the data that Auron had collected, today''s opponent should be stronger than his first opponent. Not only that, but Auron''s opponent today was quite famous among his peers. It was because of his backing. Auron''s opponent today had a big brother whose rank was higher than him. His big brother was a lieutenant. With such backing, it was no wonder that the younger brother had quite a lot of advantages. The equipment that Auron''s opponent wore today half of it was provided by his big brother. And, the equipment was noticeably better than average. Auron had put his opponent today on the fourth rank from the bottom in his fight list. Of course, all of it was because of the equipment that his opponent wore. Fortunately, for Auron, despite his opponent got a backing, but the equipment was still okay. There was no such amazing equipment, just like what his previous opponent got through a lucky chance. His opponent today wore a rare grade set equipment for a mage. And, what made the equipment was great was the fact that it was an equipment set that raised an elemental fire attack. It was an excellent set for Auron''s opponent''s since he was a fire mage. Yes, Auron''s opponent today was a pure fire mage. He was not like Auron, who still had some low-level spell from other elemental. What Auron had to take proper attention was the fact that Auron''s opponent today was a die-hard fan of Alice. Alice, who was famous as a close combat mage, was also a pure fire mage. Using Alice as a role model, he learned almost everything that Alice did. In the end, Auron''s opponent''s fighting style practically similar to Alice''s fighting style. 10 minutes later, Auron ended his reading session. He had to prepare his mind and heart for today''s battle. Not long after, it was time for Auron to go to the arena. He exited his room and go to the appointed place. When Auron arrived at the arena place, a crowd of people was already waiting for him. One-third of them were people who had heard about Auron and wanted to recruit him. While the rest of them were people who were curious about Auron. His recent controversy had made Auron well known among the military people. People who were curious about Auron started to free their time and went to watch Auron''s current match. Hence, there were many people here. When Auron arrived at the scene, people were looking at him, and they started to whisper to each other. Auron had known that his recent controversy would bring him a lot of attention, so he didn''t mind with the people''s treatment. Not long after Auron arrived, his opponent had also arrived. Behind his opponent, Auron could see his opponent''s big brother also came along. When Auron had researched about his opponent, he could not help but also doing some little research on his opponent''s big brother. His opponent''s big brother had joined one of the general''s factions inside the military. And, as the big brother had joined a faction, the younger brother would absolutely follow his big brother''s step. However, the younger brother still could not join yet because of the level and low rank. But, there was a gossip that said as long as the younger brother could promote to a sergeant, they would accept him into the faction. And, this was also why was today''s battle was significant for Auron''s opponent. If Auron''s opponent could beat Auron, he would have enough points to take a promotion test to become a Senior Corporal. This leap undoubtedly would help him coming closer to his goal. As a big brother, he also wanted to help his younger brother to win. However, he was also a strict big brother. Even though he tried to help his younger brother, but he also wanted his younger brother to survive with his own skill. That was why he only gave enough set equipment for his younger brother and didn''t give anything else. Auron''s opponent''s big brother''s presence today was because he was also curious about Auron. If Auron was worthy enough, then he would recruit Auron. However, he also didn''t want his younger brother to lose. That was why another reason he came today was to give Auron pressure. However, contrary to his expectation, Auron didn''t seem pressured at all. As both parties had come, the referee went to the stage and called Auron and his opponent. "Are you both ready?" Auron and his opponent nodded to the referee. With both parties agreed, the referee started the match. Auron''s opponent didn''t attack immediately and jumped backward, so did Auron. Then, Auron''s opponent summoned a [Fire Ball] and threw at Auron. Auron didn''t retaliate the attack. Instead, he jumped backward once again and observed the situation. After his first [Fire Ball] was avoided, Auron''s opponent threw a [Fire Bolt]. Seeing this [Fire Bolt], Auron also threw his [Fire Bolt]. The two [Fire Bolt] met in the middle. However, Auron''s opponent''s [Fire Bolt] pierce through Auron''s [Fire Bolt] and sped up to target Auron. Auron''s [Fire Bolt] had lost in power. Part of it was because Auron''s intelligence attribute was lower than his opponent. However, most of it was because of the equipment set that his opponent wore. Auron''s opponent''s equipment, when wore in a set, gave a 10% bonus damage for elemental fire spell. And, this equipment set was great for a pure fire mage like Auron''s opponent right now. Auron, who lost in the [Fire Bolt] fight, had no choice but to move to dodge the [Fire Bolt]. Actually, Auron had known that he would lose. But, he still did this because he wanted to know how big the difference between them. Chapter 375 - Re: Second Match (3) From the last [Fire Bolt] fight, Auron had concluded that he would lose if he faced his opponent''s magic head-on with his magic. Not only that, he even felt that it would be dangerous to block the enemy''s magic with his weapon. After all, fire elemental had the strongest attack power compared to other elements. Auron took out his dagger. After seeing the power of the fire magic that his opponent had, it was time to assess his opponent''s close combat fight. Auron charged forward. Meanwhile, his opponent also ready to fight in close combat. Every mage who entered the military should have at least some close combat skills. And, if they wanted to raise further in the military rank, they had to enhance their close combat skills. Actually, not only mage but archer and cleric also had to have a close combat skill. If they didn''t have the skill they had to learn it through the pre-military training. What the training taught was actually only the basic, like what to do when their opponent approached them and how to run away. If they want to progress further they had to train by themselves. Among the mages, archers, and clerics, not everyone fond of this close combat skill. However, they had no choice to learn it. As the rank increase further high, they were expected to have a minimum level of close combat skill. This was one of the reason why it was rare to see mages, archers, or clerics at the upper military rank. And, Alice was one of those rare people. That was why, Alice was being worshipped a lot among the mage. She was also a beauty and had a great family background1. No people dared to mess with her without a proper and strong reason. Auron exchanged some moves with his opponent. And, surprisingly, he was winning in the close combat skill. It was not a surprise for him since it was already stated in the information he gathered. When Auron learned that his opponent worshipped Alice, he thought that his opponent would mimic Alice''s way of fighting. That was why Auron also began to learn about Alice''s way of fighting. And, it turned out that what he thought was correct. Almost 90% of Auron''s opponent''s fighting style was similar to Alice''s. Fortunately for Auron, his opponent really didn''t have that high level of combat skill. From the short exchange, Auron had known that the report about his opponent''s close combat level was correct. His opponent''s close combat skill was not that good. Auron''s opponent was not quick-witted enough when facing an unpredictable situation. He also easily got panic and nervous when that unpredictable situation came. He made a lot of mistakes and opening. Facing Auron who had long experience in a fight in close combat, Auron''s opponent''s close combat skill was like a teen that had just reached a puberty level. All this time, Auron''s opponent could cope up with the enemy thanks to the equipment he wore. The equipment Auron''s opponent wore really helped him a lot. Moreover, with the safety guard from his high-quality equipment, it gave Auron''s opponent some kind of comforting feeling. Auron''s opponent realized that his close combat skill was lower than Auron. He tried to distance himself from Auron. However, he didn''t give up. He still had something to rely on, his equipment and his fire magic. While jumping backward, Auron''s opponent used [Flame Pillar] to stop Auron from chasing him. Seeing the flame blasted out from the ground, Auron had no choice but to stop advancing forward. Auron had to take a detour or wait until the [Flame Pillar] gone before he could chase his opponent again. But, no matter what Auron chose, it would already be too late, except if he chose to charge forwards and didn''t care about his body. Auron would not choose the option to charge through the [Flame Pillar]. It was still early in the match and there was still a long way before the match end. He would not want to act so recklessly. With no other option, Auron canceled his advance and retreat. The gap between the two of them widened. Auron would be at a disadvantage in the battle of spells, but he still chose this option to make a plan first. With his opponent realized his disadvantages in close combat fighting, his opponent would desperately prevent them from fighting in close combat. Because of that, Auron had to make a plan for defeating his opponent in one swoop. Auron''s opponent threw several fire spells at Auron. Of course, Auron would not face the spells head-on. Instead, he moved to the side to avoid the spell. After two spells from his opponent, Auron tried to charge forward. However, his opponent already aware of that. Auron''s opponent immediately created a [Flame Pillar] to stop Auron from advancing and also widen their distance. This pull and retreat happened for several times. It was like seeing a boxing match where an out-fighter and an in-fighter boxer fight. What made its difference was wide of the arena and the distance that the out-fighter could attack from. The battle lasted for 10 minutes. The opponent began to feel the pressure. With many attacks, even though Auron could not get close to him, but he also could not hit Auron. His heartbeats started to beat faster as his nervous built up. Auron who had a huge experience facing this kind of battle was calm. He slowly advanced although his opponent always retreated. Slowly but surely, Auron led the opponent to the edge of the arena. The opponent still could escape to the side, but Auron arranged his movement so that his opponent could not escape too far. The opponent didn''t realize that he was being led by Auron as he kept on throwing his spell and maintained his distance from Auron. 5 minutes later, the opponent had realized something wrong. However, it was already too late for him. He was already cornered by Auron. Alice is General Elbert''s granddaughte Chapter 376 - Re: Second Match (4) Auron''s opponent''s expression sunk. He was in grave danger. Behind him was the outside of the arena while Auron was in front of him. Meanwhile, on his left and right sides was the outside of the arena as well. Auron''s opponent wanted to win. So, obviously, he would not escape to the back or sides since it would mean he lost the match. He only had one way which was to charge at his front and fought against Auron. However, to fight against Auron was not easy. Auron had already proved that he could beat his opponent in a close combat fight. Auron''s opponent was in a dilemma. To fight or not to fight. While thinking, Auron''s opponent kept on using his fire spells. He hoped that it would give him more time to think. He also hoped for Auron to make a mistake so he could escape this predicament. Sadly, what Auron''s opponent hoped had not come. Auron was so focused out on this battle. Every time Auron''s opponent had given a slight sign of movement that he would use a spell, Auron had already moved out to anticipate the attack. Hence, it was very difficult for Auron''s opponent to hit Auron. While dodging the enemy''s spell, Auron slowly approaching his enemy at the corner of the arena. As Auron approached slowly, his opponent began to panic. Nervousness crept on Auron''s opponent''s mind. In the end, Auron''s opponent gritted his teeth. He decided to attack Auron. Although he knew that he would lose some damage from this, it was a necessary sacrifice to come out of this predicament. Auron''s opponent moved first and taking out his dagger. He threw [Fire Lance] and using it as a cover to charge at Auron. Auron already knew this. This was his plan all along. He forced his enemy to a corner and made him had no choice except to face him. Of course, Auron had already prepared for his enemy''s escape scenario. Auron moved to the side and ignored the [Fire Lance]. His opponent had used the [Fire Lance] as a cover to break through by force. Seeing Auron moved aside, this means that there was an escape chance. Rather than fight a lost fight, it was better to use this opportunity to escape. Following behind the flying [Fire Lance], Auron''s opponent charged out to escape from Auron''s trap. However, before he could move far away, Auron used [Mud Swamp] to change the opponent''s foothold. A change in the foothold, Auron''s opponent was surprised. He was not ready and slipped. Auron''s opponent tried to control his body so he didn''t crash to the arena''s floor. With the effort he used, Auron''s opponent managed to control his body and he didn''t crash to the ground. However, to his side, a dagger already slashed out and aiming at his head. Auron''s opponent hurriedly moved his head to dodge the dagger. A strand of hair was cut by Auron''s dagger. But, his opponent escaped from a severe injury. However, that head moved was not enough to make Auron''s opponent escape from his dangerous situation. He had wanted to stand up. But, Auron could not let that happened. Another slashed coming through to the opponent''s chest. Not only that, but it was also followed by a [Fire Lance]. Auron''s opponent had to roll out on the floor to dodge every Auron''s attack. Unfortunately, that was also not enough. Auron chased him. Auron was closing his opponent tightly and didn''t want to give any chance for his opponent to escape. Finally, an attack from Auron connected to the opponent''s arm. Auron''s dagger cut deep the arm. However, the enemy had already prepared for this. He wanted to exchange an attack. By letting his arm getting cut, he chanted a [Flame Pillar] below Auron. Unfortunately, Auron already saw that move coming out from his opponent''s movement. Auron immediately used [Aqua Barrier] and ignore the [Flame Pillar]. A knee attack was launched at the enemy''s head who was kneeling on the ground. Auron''s knee hit the opponent''s nose. Blood came out from the nose. Also, it made the opponent dizzy for a few seconds. Auron didn''t let this chance go away. He followed up with another stab to the opponent''s shoulder and chanted a [Fire Bolt] to attack the opponent''s calf. With just that knee attack, Auron had already turned the table completely. He controlled the enemy by attacking left and right that his opponent could not defend. In the end, the referee decided to stop Auron and stopped the match. Auron''s opponent had lost miserably. His wounds were visible all over his body. A cleric already went up to the arena and treated Auron''s opponent''s wound. Meanwhile, Auron also received his own treatment. However, his injury was not that too many. So, his treatment was over in just a minute. After almost 8 minutes, Auron''s opponent''s treatment had ended. He sat on the arena floor looked lost. He had lost the match. Auron''s opponent looked behind him and saw his big brother. His big brother''s face was grim. He knew he already embarrassed his big brother. The referee declared Auron as the winner. With that declaration, Auron''s promotion was secured. The referee left the scene to report the result of the match. Meanwhile, on the arena, Auron was still standing up on the arena. He looked relieved with this win as if a portion of the weight on him was lifted up. On the other hand, Auron''s opponent moved down from the arena and went to his big brother dejectedly. Auron''s opponent''s big brother whispered to the person beside him. Then, he left the scene with his younger brother. As the match had ended, many people began to surround Auron. This was the limelight of a winner. Many recruiters wanted to invite him to their group. Auron who was felt relieved suddenly pressured once again because of the many invitations. He never thought that there would be this many invitations for him. Chapter 377 - Invitation "Do you want to join our team? We can help you leveled up." "Join our team! We provide daily potion supplies." "No, join our team! We will give you the equipment of your choice." These several shouts were heard from the people that surrounding Auron. A talented person that could do jumped promotion was a great asset for everyone. Moreover, they had also witnessed Auron''s capability. There were around 15 people that tried to recruit Auron here. He was overwhelmed by this many invitations. Moreover, he had just finished an intense match. What surprised Auron was there was someone from Auron''s today''s opponent big brother that also tried to recruit him. Auron needed to do something with these recruitment invitations. Although Auron didn''t really against joining a team, he needed to pick the team carefully. If the benefits were good but there were too many restrictions, it would not be good. These recruiters pushed Auron to make a decision right now. These people knew that there was only a portion of people here. So, their chance was higher if Auron could decide now. By tomorrow, no it didn''t need to wait until tomorrow. These people knew three hours later when this news spread out, then there would be more invitations coming to Auron. At that time, their chance to be picked would be lower. Moreover, if the top team decided to invite Auron, their chances could be gone. Fortunately, Auron didn''t act rash and decided carelessly. He pushed everyone around him and shouted as hard as he could, "Stop!!!!" "I will not decide now! If you really want to invite me, give me your invitation with your benefits and restrictions! I will pick the one who matches my criteria! Now, get out! Don''t surround me, I need to rest!" Auron knew that there would be some restrictions for all the benefits he got. However, these recruiters only said the good things and left out the bad things. That was why Auron also asked the restriction given for each team. After venting his anger, Auron ignored the gaze of everyone around him and left the scene. Behind him, Patricia and Felice giggled and followed Auron leaving the arena. Auron hurriedly left the scene with anger. He was tired from the match and all of those recruiters had forced him to make a decision, it made him angrier. At first, Auron had wanted to go back to his dorm. However, he saw behind him, there were Patricia and Felice following him giggling. That was why he changed his plan and decided to catch up with these two old friends. Auron invited his two friends to the military''s cafeteria. As soon as Auron''s group arrived at the cafeteria, they picked a seat at the back of the cafeteria. "Whoah, we are being treated by a famous person!" Patricia mischievously said. She was being playful. Felice nodded with smirked at Auron, "So, what do you think he will buy for us, pat?" Auron wore a helpless expression. He just wanted to eat with them and talked about their current situation. He never had the intention to treat them. However, with Patricia saying something like that, he didn''t have any choice but to treat them. Auron brought several foods. While eating, he started a conversation with them, "So, what are you busy with right now?" "Nothing," Patricia said while putting a lump of food inside her mouth. "Both of us didn''t get any assignment. Well, the mission also not that many right now." Felice added. "Maybe we will go to Tower Training next week. Don''t you get the announcement?" Felice said. "Tower Training?" Auron had read that name somewhere. However, he didn''t look into the detail. So, he didn''t really know what that was about. Actually Auron read the announcement. However, he was too busy with his alchemy and also with the promotion these days that he forgot the announcement. "Like its name, it was training in a tower," Felice explained shortly. "Usually, it was a training given to idle soldiers like us" "It will be going in a batch. All of the idle soldiers will join this training. You knew to activate that tower was not that cheap. So, they usually activated it once in three months even less." Auron became quite interested in this Tower Training. "So, we will fight in a group?" "That is up to you. You can form a group or go alone. Each option had its own advantages and disadvantages." "One thing you need to remind. Rather than training, it is better to call this a trial. If you can perform well on this trial, you will receive tremendous rewards that you can''t imagine." Patricia added Felice''s explanation. "However, if you performed badly, a punishment will wait for you. Although the punishment was not that dangerous or harsh, it is pretty annoying. You need to give up a one-year salary worth." When Auron heard about that one-year salary worth, he unconsciously said, "Can we reject the training?" "Nope." Patricia firmly said. "Well, you can reject it if you have a mission of some sort. if not, then you need to attend or you can be expelled." "Relax, to get bad remarks is not that easy. If you are not that stupid or weak, you will absolutely get a reward although the better your score, the better your rewards are." "Moreover, you can team up with others if you are not confident." With Patricia''s sentence, Auron somewhat became relax. Then, he thought about what the Fourth Prince would give him. Auron was pondering could he exchange what the Fourth Prince would give him with this Tower Training. The conversation continued with other topics, such as what their old teammates had been doing. Actually, except Patricia and Felice, Auron''s other teammates had gone to a mission and had not come back yet. When the three of them were happily chatting. A sirene was heard in the military area. It was an emergency sirene. Chapter 378 - Emergency (1) Auron, Felice, and Patricia immediately stood up from their seat. Everyone in the cafeteria stood up as well. There must be something important that made rung this emergency sirene. Auron''s group followed the other and exited the cafeteria. A stream of people greeted their view as soon as they exited the cafeteria. As this was an emergency, Auron just followed where the people headed. Fortunately, Auron was not clueless for a long time. A shout was heard. "Quick, head to the Kevad City! Don''t ask anything! There will be someone who will inform you what to do in Kevad City!" A military administration staff shouted. Without asking any question further, Auron''s group of three went as ordered. They went to the teleportation portal inside the military base and teleported to Kevad City. Auron''s group arrived at Kevad City. A bustling sound was heard. Many people running back and forth. Also, there were shouts everywhere. Kevad City was a city located near the capital of Gaia, Miderian. It was located deep inside the kingdom. So, an attack on this city was not possible. If there was really an attack coming to this city, it would not be an emergency like this. It was because the attacker had to get through several towns and villages to get here. They even had to get through two cities before they could arrive at Kevad City. Then, this emergency situation would only be meant there was something that happened in Primavera City. Bridge World was a world that connected Gaia and Regalia. To get to the other world, outside of the Raiding Month, one could only use this Bridge World. That was why Bridge World was important. In the Bridge World, there were eight cities. Four belonged to Regalia, while the other four belonged to Gaia. Each of the cities in the Bridge World would connect to one of the cities in the respective world. The connected cities in the respective world were placed in a crucial area closed to the capital kingdom. That was why when a city in the Bridge World fell to the opposite side, it could lead to a disaster. Four of the cities that belonged to Gaia were Primavera City, Estate City, Autunno City, and Inverno City. And, Kevad City, where Auron was located right now, was linked to Primavera City in the Bridge World. If Kevad City was not under attack, then this means that Primavera City was the one that was under attack. Auron''s curiosity was answered. An order was heard, "Head to Primavera City! Quick!" Kevad City was an important asset to the kingdom. That was why its city''s layout also different from the other cities. If the other cities'' teleportation portal was in the middle of the city, then at Kevad City, the portal was located near the city''s entrance. There would be an inspection at the teleportation portal and the city''s entrance whenever someone came. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the portal and entrance, there was a portal that only linked to Primavera City. Kevad City was in a state of emergency. The city''s entrance was locked down. No one could come or go out of the city. Meanwhile, the city''s teleportation portal could only receive people from the military base. This was one of the benefit from a city. Once a month, they could block or allow teleportation from the others. However, this would only last for 24 hours before the blockade would automatically be unlocked. A stream of soldiers was got out from the portal and directly headed to the opposite side of the city where the portal to Primavera City was located. There were Felice and Patricia beside Auron. The three of them walked to the portal hurriedly. If there was an emergency like this, then this means the Primavera City was not in a good state. With the Kevad City was in a state of lockdown, all of the citizens were prohibited to wander around the street and could only stay at their home. Hence, the street was empty. This made the way to the portal was crystal clear. All of the soldiers could easily reach the portal without any problem. In 3 minutes, Auron arrived at the portal to Primavera City. He looked at Felice and Patricia, then he nodded. The three of them went inside the teleportation portal with the other soldiers. A few seconds later, Auron regained his vision and he was already at the Primavera City. A sound of battle greeted him. In front of him, he could see smoke and some building burned. The city''s gate had been breached. Fortunately, they still could hold the enemy at the city''s entrance. All of the soldiers that arrived at Primavera City immediately joined the fight wherever they could. Auron and his two friends also joined a nearby fight. A team of 5 enemies was fighting against two people from his side. And, Auron came to help these two people. With the addition of Auron''s group of three, it became a 5 vs 5 situations. Auron''s side began to get the upper hand from the battle. In the end, Auron''s side could kill one of the enemies. With one of them died, the other four immediately scattered and run away. Auron told his team not to chase them. Instead, they should go to the city''s gate and fend off the enemies. All of them agreed with Auron''s suggestion and went over to the city''s entrance. At the city''s entrance, the situation was more chaotic. The gate had been destroyed and breached. However, thanks to the reinforcements, the enemies were slowly pushed outside of the city. After 30 minutes since Auron came to Primavera City, finally, the enemies were pushed out of the city. The enemies who were pushed out of the city felt that they had lost their chance. So, they retreated for a bit. Primavera City''s situation was under control. As the enemy retreated, the destroyed gate was quickly built. They knew this peace situation would not last long. Outside of the city, the enemies also amassed their soldiers. The second round of war would begin soon. Chapter 379 - Emergency (2) Primavera City, Estate City, Autunno City, and Inverno City were four cities in Bridge World that belonged to Gaia. These four cities had more or less the same blueprint. In Bridge World, these four cities were placed in a straight horizontal line. The distance between the first and the second city was the same as the distance between the second city and the third city. These four cities were located in the same order as Primavera City, Estate City, Autunno City, and Inverno City. This means that Primavera City was at the edge, and the closest city was Estate City. It took ten days to travel between Primavera City and Estate City. However, that was the amount of time it took with the normal human walking speed. One also needed to walk nonstop to cover the distance in ten days. However, as many movement skills increased speed, the amount of time one took was shortened. Unfortunately, there no transportation here as the field was not suitable for vehicles. Moreover, there was no teleportation portal to travel between each city. The First Prince had tried to build the teleportation portal and connected it to the other cities. However, no matter what he did, the teleportation portal didn''t want to connect. The teleportation portal could only link to the respective city in the Gaia world. The teleportation portal in Primavera City could only connect to Kevad City no matter how many portals the First Prince had built. Since the teleportation could only connect to the one at Kevad City, the First Prince decided to destroy the other portals and left only one portal left. This situation also happened to the other three cities. There was only one way to quickly transfer the soldiers from one city to another, which was through the city in the Gaia world. For example, one wanted to transfer from Autunno City to Primavera City. The soldiers in the Autunno city could teleport to Sugis City, the city it is connected to. Then, from Sugis City, they had to teleport to Kevad City. From Kevad City, they could teleport to Primavera City. This was a feasible way. However, it would also cost a considerable cost. The portal that connected to from Bridge World to Gaia World had different costs with the intraportal between each city in Gaia World. The portal costs four times more than the regular portal. That was why they usually would close the teleportation portal and activated it once a month or in an emergency situation like now. An emergency meeting was held inside the Primavera City''s meeting hall. The First Prince was present at the meeting. He was frowning, hearing the situation''s report from the general in charge. The First Prince had just arrived after the attack had ended. When the attack took place, he was overseeing the situation at Inverno City. "How come the gate can be breached?" The First Prince asked. The defense in all of the cities should be not that easy to be breached. So, the situation before really didn''t make any sense for him. "There was a spy inside the city." The general in charge felt guilty and lower his head. The First Prince furrowed his brows, then the general continued, "The spy create havoc inside the city, and it took all of the attention, including the guards at the city wall. The enemies used that time to come closer to our gate." "When we realized the situation, it was already too late, the enemies were already closed to the city''s entrance. We cannot prepare in time. Hence, the gate was breached." "As the situation already reached that point, I decided to activate the emergency plan." "It was a nice decision to activate the emergency plan. However, how come a spy can get through the inspection?" If a spy could reach Primavera City, this means that the spy got through two inspection place. The inspection at Kevad City and the one at Primavera City. This was difficult to be accomplished, except if there was an insider''s help. "We still don''t know yet. But we will investigate this matter." The general said. "How about the spy?" The First Prince asked. "We captured the spy, but he committed suicide, and we were too late to prevent it." "Forget about the spy then. But, you have to get down on how the spy could get through two inspections." "Now, what''s the situation here?" The First Prince started to ask the current situation. "We have the situation inside the city under control. The destroyed gate had been replaced with a temporary one. Meanwhile, outside the city, the enemy was amassing their soldiers." "What''s their chance to initiate an attack on us?" "Seeing the number of soldiers they amassing, the chances should be high." The general said seriously. The First Prince pondered quietly. Five minutes later, he commanded, "Prepare for battle! Also, send out a messenger to the other three cities. Tell them to enter the war state and checked everyone properly. I don''t want this situation to happen once more." "I will lead this war by myself. However, give me 30 minutes to report this back to the kingdom." With that, the First Prince stood up and left the meeting while the general in charge and the other soldiers bowed to send him off. After the First Prince exited the room, the general in charge quickly did as what they told. He wanted to redeem his mistake by doing properly at this time. An ordered quickly sent out throughout the Primavera City. Preparation for battle had commenced. During this state, all the teleportation would be activated nonstop. Of course, this would burn the kingdom''s resources, but this was necessary since it would lead to a disaster if the city got taken. Outside the city, the number of enemies slowly increasing. Indeed, a battle was inevitable. Everyone inside the city was nervous. They knew how important this city for Gaia World. They could not lose it. Chapter 380 - Primavera City (1) The First Prince entered the meeting hall and joined the strategic meeting. He had just arrived from the Gaia after reporting the status in the Primavera City. Not long after the First Prince arrived, a young soldier nervously entered, "Report!!" All of the people inside the meeting hall looked at this coming soldier. Being looked by everyone, the soldier trembled. He was just a messenger and to meet this high ranked people made him very nervous. There even the First Prince here. "Speak!" The First Prince as the one who had the highest authority here said to the soldier. "A message from General Selly, Estate City, had gone under the war state as ordered. She also said that she had caught a movement from the enemy''s front line. She had raised the security to the maximum in response to that. Hence, it would be difficult for her to assist the situation in Primavera City." The young soldiers delivered the message. The First Prince made a serious face. He had anticipated the enemies to attack the other cities. And, it seems he had correctly guessed what the enemy had thought. "Thank you. You may leave! Tell General Selly to protect the city with everything she had!" The First Prince lets the young soldier left, but he also gave a message for General Selly. Not long after the young soldier left, two other soldiers came, respectively. It was the messenger from Autunno City and Inverno City. The message from both soldiers more or less similar, it said both of the city could see some movements from the enemies. Although the number of enemies was fewer than the number of enemies in Estate City or Primavera City, the First Prince took this matter seriously. Although the number was fewer, he could not allow both of the cities to send their soldiers to help Primavera City. After all, what if the enemies used this situation to take control of the two cities. With a situation like now, Primavera City could only utilize the resource they had. Most of the soldiers in the Gaia had already been relocated to Primavera City. However, there was some portion of them who were distributed to the other three cities for reinforcements. While the higher-ups were strategizing in the meeting hall, all of the soldiers inside the Primavera City didn''t idle. Many of them were assigned to different tasks in preparation for the war. Primavera City could be considered a dangerous city for an ordinary citizen to live on. That was why most of the people that live in Primavera City were soldiers. There were only a handful of people that were ordinary people. These people were tasked here by the military to ensure the living condition of the soldiers, for example, chef, cleaner, and many similar profession. When Primavera City entered a war state, they had to relocate these innocent people back to Gaia. It would be difficult for them to defend the city and these people at the same time. Auron was assigned to do some jobs at the city''s entrance. As it was only a temporary gate, they had to create a barricade behind the gate. The temporary gate was not as strong as the real gate, and it would not last long. While Auron was creating the barricade with the other soldiers, suddenly, he heard the enemies'' war cry. It was so loud that it took everyone''s attention, including the First Prince in the meeting hall. The First Prince and all of the people inside the meeting hall immediately exited the hall. They looked at the situation outside. "What happened?" Asked one of the generals to the nearby soldier. "The enemies were shouting their warcry. However, there seems still no movement from them. We will keep on monitoring it." "Keep on monitoring it closely! Shall we continue, Your Highness?" The general asked the First Prince. The First Prince pondered for a few seconds and said firmly, "No need! We have made a general idea about the strategy. You better brief the soldiers properly. So, there would be no miscommunication!" "Yes, Your Highness!" The general and his men''s answered at the same time and left the First Prince alone with his royal guards. While the general went to prepare their soldiers, the First Prince went to the highest place in Primavera City to scout the enemy''s movement with his royal guards. From the highest place in Primavera City, the First Prince could see the enemies'' number still kept on increasing. It was like an army of ants that were ready to attack candies in front of them. Unfortunately, they were the candies. While looking at the enemies'' number kept on increasing, the First Prince suddenly frowned. A place at the enemy''s side took his attention. He saw something that made him frowned. However, he was still not sure whether what he saw was correct or not. The First Prince saw Chaotic Death. However, since it was from far away, he was not really sure whether it was really Chaotic Death or not. The First Prince asked the royal guard behind him. As the royal guards were tasked for the royal family''s member''s safety, they had been given information about the enemies who were dangerous and not. Chaotic Death was included in the list, so they knew Chaotic Death''s appearance. The royal guard moved forwards and tried to look carefully. Suddenly, from far away, Chaotic Death sensed someone observing him. He looked at the source and found the First Prince at the highest place in Primavera City. Chaotic Death widely smiled as if he was meeting with his lover. With that smile, the First Prince had 100% sure that it was really Chaotic Death. He hurriedly went down to find the general in charge. The First Prince knew what Chaotic Death''s presence means. This was not an ordinary attack. If Chaotic Death was present, it would mean this was a serious attack. He had to change his strategy before the enemies launched their attack hurriedly. Chapter 381 - Primavera City (2) The First Prince hurriedly went and looked for the general in charge. He saw the general in charge was briefing his subordinate. The First Prince approached the general in charge. However, before he could utter a word, the ground was shaking. Then, a bell''s sound rung following behind. The enemies attacked!! The general in charge, who still didn''t realize the First Prince was coming to his way, immediately dispatched his soldiers to the entrance''s gate. Not long after he gave that command, he saw the First Prince approaching him. The general in charge bowed politely to the First Prince and said, "I just dispatched a unit to hold off the enemies while we are preparing for the second attack. What should I order next, Your Highness?" The First Prince had previously declared he would take the control command in this war. That was why the general in charge politely asked the First Prince''s opinion. The First Prince, who previously wanted to discuss the new strategy, had to put that thought away. In the current situation, time was a luxury thing for them. "It looks like I have to improvise things," The First Prince said inside his mind. "Good! Prepare the troops! Activate the city''s shield and the city''s defensive system!" The First Prince said his first command to the general in charge. Then, the general in charge immediately followed the command. He took some troops and went to the city''s defensive tower. When a territory upgraded to a town, it would get a defensive shield to hold several attacks. Then, when the same town upgraded to a city, it could build a defensive tower. As it names implied, a defensive tower was used to attack the enemies. There were three types of defensive buildings that a city could use. The first one was the classic arrow tower. When it was activated, it would shower the enemies with a quick rapid arrow. Each time it attacked, it would throw three-volley of arrows to the enemies before it needed to recharge. Of course, it was the weakest and also the first type of defensive towers that a city could build. It could be made when a territory reached a low-grade city. The next defensive tower could be built when the territory reached a medium-grade city. It was a cannon tower. Every time it attacked, it would release a huge cannonball. Not only that, but the cannonball was also strong as well that it could fly far away. The last defensive tower was the elemental tower. This last tower could only be built in a high-grade city. Just like its name, this tower would shoot out a magic bullet at the enemies. It could also change its attack''s element to the four elements. This elemental tower was the most favorite because it was easy to use and was stronger than the other two towers. Although the attack range was not as long as the cannon tower, it was longer than the arrow tower. Moreover, to operate this tower was relatively easy. Unfortunately, the cost to use this tower was also the highest among the three types of defensive towers. Although the enemies were quite huge in number compared to Auron''s side, but Auron''s side could still win this battle. Since this was a battle to hold the city, they could use the city''s defensive towers to help them. Even though they had to bear the enormous cost of activating the city, but it was better as long as they could win this battle. A shield was formed outside the Primavera City and surrounded the city. Also, when the enemies had reached the attack range of the cannon tower, several explosion sounds were heard from the top of the city wall. It was the sound of a cannon tower. Several cannonballs were launched at the enemies and reaped a few of their lives. With the enemies were closed to each other, the cannonballs reaped some of the enemies'' life. However, compared to the enemies'' number, the casualties were not that much. "Prepare the second round of attacks!!" A high ranked soldier commanded the soldier to reload the cannon tower. Despite the fact there were casualties among them, the enemies kept on charging towards Primavera City. A rain of arrows and magic bullets flew towards them. The strong one could dodge this few attacks. However, the weaker one could only blame on their strength and misfortune. The casualties on the enemies'' side had approached a hundred thousand in this such a short minute. However, compared to the enemies'' number, which amounted to almost 3 million, it was not really much. The second round of defensive tower''s attack fired once again. But, still, it could not keep the enemies away from approaching their town. Bang... Bang... Bang... The enemies also didn''t just let Auron''s side kill them one by one without retaliating. Several enemies launched their attack only to meet the city''s shield. The city''s shield''s health bar depleted. The damage was not that serious, but the amount of the enemies'' attack made the shield quickly crumbled. In just 15 minutes from the battle, the shield''s health had been reduced to half. "Keep on firing!!! Reload the tower quicker!!!" Several shouts could be heard. All of them knew that these towers could not kill all of the enemies. However, at least, it could reduce their numbers. In another 15 minutes, the city''s shield destroyed into pieces. With the shield destroyed, the enemies'' attacks flew pass to the city wall and targeting the soldiers on top of the city walls. Casualties started to build on Auron''s side. "Prepare for ground battle!!!" The First Prince shouted his command. Soon, the enemies would reach the city''s gate. A ground battle was inevitable. All of the soldiers had been preparing to receive the enemies behind the city''s entrance. Auron was one of them. Boom... A loud sound was heard, but it was not from the city''s gate. To their shock, a portion of the west city walls crumbled and created a big hole. Chapter 382 - Primavera City (3) A panic commotion immediately surrounded the newly created hole. Enemies started to pour in from the created space. "What happened?" The First Prince also shocked by this sudden turn of events. He thought that the enemies would come in from the city''s gate. He never thought that there would be a new entrance created. "An explosion created that hole to the west!" A soldier said. "How can that explosion be created? I don''t see any siege machine on the enemy''s side?" The confused First Prince asked once more. "Report, Your Highness! It seems the enemy sacrificed some of their soldiers to do some suicide bombing." The First Prince shuddered when hearing it was a suicide bombing. It was because he never imagined that Regalia would go this far to get Primavera City. With the size of the explosion known in Two Worlds, the First Prince knew that one bomb would not be enough to create that hole on the city wall. 100 bombs with that size would be enough to make a hole in the city wall. But, it would not create such a big space on the wall. With the size of the hole, there should be around more than 1 thousand soldiers sacrificed in that explosion. While the First Prince was still digesting the situation, another explosion occurred on the east side of the city wall. Another entrance was created. The First Prince thought that sacrificing those soldiers was an inhuman act. However, the enemy thought otherwise. Those one thousand soldiers was a reasonable sacrifice for them. Moreover, the result was more than expected. Two thousand soldiers to create two new entrances and also havoc among the enemy''s rank was a good exchange. Another loud sound was heard. However, it was not coming from another explosion. Instead, it was from the temporary city''s gate that got destroyed once again. The enemy had three ways to enter Primavera City, which made Gaia had to split their troops into three groups to block the enemy. The First Prince hurriedly shouted a series of commands. Not only that, but he also took his equipment and prepared to join the join. Then, the First Prince commanded his troops and went to the city''s gate. Meanwhile, the general in charge took the west hole. As for the vice general in charge to the east side. Auron was on the west side of the city. He was near the city''s gate when the war had started, slightly close to the hole''s location on the west side. That was why, when the explosion occurred at the west side of the city wall, Auron immediately went over to that hole to block the enemy. In a chaotic war like this, the level would have little impact. A difference of 50 levels would not have any great effect on the war. Auron was using his mage character, so he was staying at the backline. He saw the enemies charged at them ferociously, which made him and the other mages started to use their spells. Meanwhile, the charging enemies were stopped by the frontline. Rain of spells poured out at the enemy''s soldiers. Battling inside Primavera City could not be avoided. The enemies spread out and created havoc. Meanwhile, Gaia''s side tried to contain the enemies so they would not spread out and destroyed the city''s building. Primavera City''s general in charge was the one who led the troops on the west side as well as the place where Auron was located. He was at the frontline and held the enemy''s frontline. Bombardment from spells and arrows thrown at the enemy''s side helped to ease the burden of the frontline. However, because of the enemy''s number, it was not for too long. Fortunately, the hole and entrance created a funnel for the enemies. It made the enemies could only enter the city ten or eleven soldiers at a time, but they had to face a lot of enemies. This made the casualties number at the enemies soared up high. But, it didn''t mean there were no casualties on Auron''s side. Several frontline soldiers were slain by the enemies. Not only that, but the enemies also desperately thrown some range of attacks to the backline. That range attacks reaped several soldiers'' life. The enemy used a sacrificing strategy. So, the soldiers at the front where the weakest soldier they had and was used as a meatshield. As the battle progressed, the enemy''s elite soldiers started to join the fight. The pressure that Gaia''s soldiers felt increased slowly. Auron was still busy throwing his spell when he heard that the east side of the city wall was on the losing side. With these three entrances, it would be difficult to guess where the enemy would focus their elite troops. And it was shown right now. The enemy attacked at their weakest link, the east side. The situation on the west side, more or less, was under control. Furthermore, the city''s gate had the First Prince and his royal guards. So, it left the east side. Chaotic Death had analyzed the situation carefully. As the chief of commander in this war, he wanted a victory. He had to repay back for his disgrace back at the Raiding Month. That was why, in this war, he didn''t hold anything back and used everything he got. From bombing squad to sacrificing strategy, all was Chaotic Death''s idea. The Regalia''s king had given him the authority to use what he had to use as long as he could bring victory. And, Chaotic Death thoroughly used the king''s full support. When Chaotic Death saw that the east side of the city wall was the weakest one from the three entrances, he immediately ordered all of the elite to breakthrough through that entrance. And, this was the result. The enemy had a breakthrough from there and spread out to the city. From there east side, the soldiers started to turn and aimed at the city''s gate. They wanted to fend off Gaia''s side from the entrance. Chapter 383 - Primavera City (4) The First Prince saw the incoming troops from the east direction. Without further ado, he directly shouted, "Fall Back!!! Protect the teleportation portal!" The First Prince had ordered a retreat. It was not because they were losing, but they had to protect the teleportation portal. The teleportation portal was the most critical asset in Primavera City. It linked to the Gaia World. If the enemy captured the portal, they could use it to create havoc and kill civilians in Kevad City. With the First Prince''s retreat order, the west side also began to slowly retreat. They could not retreat disorderly, or it would let their enemies kill them one by one. The First Prince''s troops were the closest to the east side and also the fastest one to retreat. Meanwhile, just like what the First Prince had said, the enemies had split their troops when entering Primavera City. Half of them went to cut the First Prince''s troops'' path of retreat while the other half directly went to the teleportation portal. They knew the importance of this teleportation portal. If they captured it, then they could take their time to kill all of the Gaia''s soldiers in Primavera City. Not only that, by capturing the teleportation portal, they also secured their way to intrude to Gaia World. This would give them one step ahead in conquering the Gaia World. The royal guards under the First Prince showed their capability. The Regalia''s soldiers who were tasked to cut the First Prince''s path of retreat could do nothing to them. With the First Prince''s lead, the city''s entrance troops had gone quickly back to the teleportation portal. Although they were late, it was not that long since the enemies had reached the portal. They were still in a battle with the troops that guarding the portal. Not long after, the soldiers from the west side also arrived at the portal''s vicinity. All of the Gaia''s soldiers had gathered at the teleportation portal. With the addition of the First Prince''s troops and the west side''s troops, they quickly fend off the enemies from the portal. However, the enemies didn''t go away that far. They were amassing their troops in the middle of the city. Chaotic Death entered Primavera City. The war progressed as he wanted. Right now, he was in a very dire need for achievement. His last failure had embarrassed his name. Although the Regalia''s king still trusted him, the other Regalia''s general could not. Moreover, the generals who disliked he had so much control in the military used this chance to defame him. So, through this battle, Chaotic Death wanted to get a great achievement to silent the one who disliked him. He saw that the First Prince had participated in this battle. However, the First Prince was not his goal. Primavera City was his main goal. Although killing the First Prince was tempting, but Chaotic Death remembered his failures previously. The biggest reason for his failure was because he was so adamant in killing the Fourth Prince when it was not his main goal. And, that mistake had cost him a lot. Right now, Chaotic Death would only focus on Primavera City. Killing the First Prince would be a bonus. If he could kill, then he would kill. If not, then he would forget it. Chaotic Death had to take a huge risk by using the sacrifice strategy. If he failed, it would give momentum to the people who were against him all this time. Even the Regalia''s king himself could start to reevaluate his value. Fortunately, for this war, Chaotic Death still got the Regalia''s king''s support. Hence, many of the general and soldiers in this war would heed his command. Chaotic Death was in the middle of Primavera City and looked at the teleportation portal''s direction. The frontline was still engaging in battle with Gaia''s side. It was just as his thought, Gaia''s side would not easily surrender this city. Gaia must have wait for reinforcements from their side. However, Chaotic Death had thought about that. That was why he had stationed troops at the other three cities. They would serve him as insurance. If Gaia insisted on sending their troops from the other cities, he had commanded the stationed troops to attack the empty cities. However, Chaotic Death also had to be wary with the First Prince''s counter plan. That was why he wanted to finish the fight here quickly. "Hang on!!! A little bit more, and the reinforcements will come!!" The First Prince shouted loudly. The soldiers replied the First Prince''s shout with another shouted. The Gaia''s soldiers'' fighting spirit was soared. Chaotic Death saw this, he smirked and said, "What a useless bunch!" Then, Chaotic Death said with ease, "Give more pressure! Push the enemies more!" Regalia had the number advantage. It would be easy for them to wear Gaia''s soldiers down. Chaotic Death didn''t care about the number he had to sacrifice. As long as he got Primavera City, everything would be paid off. Chaotic Death also said to the soldiers beside him, "Pick a messenger and send a message to the troops at the other three cities to prepare and watch the city''s soldiers'' movement. If there is a chance, immediately attack them." The soldier bowed at Chaotic Death and went to send the message. Meanwhile, Chaotic Death gave another command, "Aim that man! Kill him if you can!" Chaotic Death pointed and gave a death sentence to that man. However, he didn''t point at the First Prince. Instead, it was the general in charge of Primavera City. After coming this long, Chaotic Death could not wait for too long. He knew the longer he waited, the riskier it would become. That was why he wanted to hasten the process by pressuring the Gaia''s side physically and mentally. Chaotic Death knew that if he could kill the First Prince, this battle would be over. However, to do that would be difficult. Then, he thought about killing the general in charge. Even though the impact would not be as great as killing the First Prince but it would be enough for claiming Primavera City. Chapter 384 - Primavera City (5) The pressure on the general in charge''s team suddenly increased. The frontline started to get pushed back by the enemies'' elite. Meanwhile, Auron, who was also included in this general in charge''s team, also felt the same things. Enemies started to charge nonstop and fearless. As a mage who was at the back of the team, usually, he would easily felt safe when his frontline was still intact in front of him. However, right now, he could not feel safe anymore, even though the frontline in front of him was still intact. Auron tried his best to ignore his bad feeling. He kept on throwing spells while maintaining his vigilance. However, his bad feelings not gone. Instead, it grew worse than before. The soldiers in front of Auron started to get pushed back. Auron gritted his teeth and moved back as the backline had also moved back. The First Prince, who oversaw all the situations, also knew that the general in charge was being targetted. He sent some soldiers to help the general. Unfortunately, he could not send too many soldiers because he also had difficulty due to the enemies'' amount. To the east of the First Prince''s location was the vice general in charge. He was also in a difficult situation because he had many casualties at the city''s wall. The situation was not good on Gaia''s side. However, the First Prince still insisted on holding on instead of running away. Chaotic Death looked at the situation was siding on Regalia''s side. He looked calm. However, he also didn''t look happy. It had come to this, and they still hadn''t reclaimed the Primavera City. Chaotic Death began to feel impatient. The longer the war, the more unexpected situation could happen. And, he didn''t want to experience that unexpected situation. Chaotic Death shouted, "Attack!! Full force!!" This was the last command from Chaotic Death before he also went to join the fight. With that command, all of the Regalia''s soldiers who were idle before began to move out. All of the Regalia''s soldiers were marching towards Gaia''s soldiers. The pressure on the Gaia''s soldiers soared to the maximum. Not only on the general in charge''s side but also at the First Prince''s side and the vice general in charge''s side. Casualties began to rise up quickly on Gaia''s side. The First Prince gritted his teeth. He saw Chaotic Death began to take action. When the First Prince was about to take action against Chaotic Death, behind him, from the teleportation portal''s direction, a bunch of soldiers coming. And, it didn''t stop right there. The soldiers kept on coming. Finally, the reinforcements had arrived. The First Prince could release some of his burdens. He went to fight against Chaotic Death with calm. Meanwhile, Chaotic Death saw the reinforcements had come. This was what he didn''t want. However, this was still inside his expectations. That was why he gave the safety measure by stationing soldiers at the other three cities. "Finish this quickly! Kill all the enemy!!! Claim the portal!!!" Chaotic Death impatiently shouted another command. He didn''t care how many soldiers he should sacrifice. Then, Chaotic Death went to the First Prince. He already saw that the First Prince came to him. As a commander from Regalia''s side, he should be the one who faced this enemy''s prince. For all this time, Chaotic Death had seen how the First Prince led the battle and fight with his eyes. However, he never experienced fighting against the First Prince. That was why Chaotic Death wanted to test his skill against the First Prince. It would be a useful reference for his future. Moreover, the battle had been going well without him joining the slaughter. Although there were reinforcements from the enemies, the number didn''t count much compared to their number. So, it should not be a problem. Even if the number of reinforcements kept on increasing, it would be no problem. It was because it would mean there would be another city in war. Chaotic Death took his sword out from the sheath. The First Prince also did the same. Inside the First Prince''s mind was that if he could kill Chaotic Death, then he could turn the battle around. No, it had not to be as far as killing, defeating Chaotic Death was enough. Before the First Prince could reach Chaotic Death, two enemy soldiers had come to him first. However, the First Prince quickly pushed away these two soldiers away. Then, the First Prince sped up and charged towards Chaotic Death. He brandished his sword. Chaotic Death blocked the First Prince''s sword. Chaotic Death grinned and mocked the First Prince, "So, you want to die first? No problem, I will help you. Later, I will bring all of the soldiers here to accompany you." However, the First Prince ignored Chaotic Death''s provocation. Then, he used the royal secret skill, [Shining Cut]. The First Prince performed three quick sword''s slash. These three slashes added the power to each other and merged into one stronger slash. The power was as expected. Chaotic Death was pushed by the skill''s power and lost his balance. The First Prince used this chance to aim at Chaotic Death''s head. He thrust his sword to Chaotic Death''s left eye. However, from below, Chaotic Death prevented the thrust using his sword. As his attack was stopped, the First Prince continued to use another skill, [Cross Cut]. He slashed twice, horizontally, and vertically. These two slash form a cross. Chaotic Death didn''t stay idle. Seeing the power from the First Prince''s attack, he used his skill to counter the First Prince''s attack. His normal attack could not stop the First Prince''s skill''s power. The First Prince''s attack got deflected. Then, the First Prince whirled his body and used another skill, [Twister]. These series of attacks overwhelmed Chaotic Death. As he lost his balances, the First Prince kicked him away. Then, he used his deathly skill, [Penetrate]. A sharp sword-shaped aura shot out from the First Prince''s sword. Then, it flew towards Chaotic Death, who was faltering due to his balance. Chapter 385 - First Prince (1) Chaotic Death was in a dangerous situation. The First Prince''s skill could injure him severely. Moreover, he had no time to dodge the attack. The First Prince also saw this and smiled. He was happy that Chaotic Death was in this situation. Although the skill was not enough to kill Chaotic Death, it would injure him severely. However, before the First Prince''s skill could hit the target, Chaotic Death stuck out his hand and grabbed the soldier next to him. Then, he pulled the soldier in front of him to block the skill. The soldier who was being grabbed by Chaotic Death was in the middle of a battle with other soldiers from Gaia. So, he was not ready when he was being taken by Chaotic Death. The First Prince''s skill hit the soldier. It immediately killed the soldier. Then, it penetrated through the soldier and also hit Chaotic Death. However, as there was a soldier between them and Chaotic Death, the skill''s damage had reduced a lot. But, still, Chaotic Death that was blown away by the skill. What a pity for the soldier that Chaotic Death used as a meat shield. He must have never thought that he would die in the hand of his comrade, not his enemy. The First Prince saw Chaotic Death escaped the injuries. He gripped his sword tightly and charged at Chaotic Death again. Unfortunately, before he could reach Chaotic Death, several soldiers from Regalia''s side blocked the First Prince''s path. This was the scary part of Regalia''s soldiers. Even though Regalia''s soldiers were being used as a sacrifice, but they didn''t complain about anything. Instead, they still kept on protecting the one who sacrificed them. It was like Regalia''s soldiers were being brainwashed to only served the higher-ups. 10 Regalia''s soldiers immediately abandoned their individual fight and went to block the First Prince''s charge. Even though the First Prince could easily dismiss these soldiers, but it still took some of his time. This time was used by Chaotic Death to recover entirely by consuming potions. The fight between the First Prince and Chaotic Death went back to square one. When the First Prince finally arrived at Chaotic Death. However, the injured, Chaotic Death, had recovered entirely and ready to fight once more. The First Prince directly used [Quick Slash]. He wanted to catch Chaotic Death off guard. However, what he wanted could not happen, Chaotic Death had prepared against the First Prince. Chaotic Death blocked First Prince''s attack. Then, he slashed his sword to counter-attack. The First Prince dodged Chaotic Death''s attack. Then, with a small movement, the First Prince used [Bash]. He wanted to really kill this Chaotic Death. But, it was not that easy as Chaotic Death blocked the attack once again. Both the First Prince and Chaotic Death exchange their attack. Although Chaotic Death lost in terms of power, he managed to hold on for this long. Occasionally, some soldiers around them went to help them. However, none of these soldiers could really make any change in the fight between the First Prince and Chaotic Death. As the battle between the First Prince and Chaotic Death progressed, the war between the two sides also progressed. Regalia had using their numerical advantage to hold down Gaia''s resistance. However, even though they had tried to use their numerical advantage, but it could not annihilate Gaia''s soldiers. The Gaia''s side, under the general in charge''s order, had tried to slow down the war''s tempo and prolonged the fight. They had to rely on the reinforcements that came slowly. Each time the reinforcement came, the number was not that much, only around 10 - 20 people. However, the reinforcement didn''t stop. The teleportation continuously shined and bringing people into Primavera City. Auron was still on the west side of the teleportation portal under the general in charge''s team. The pressure on them still high even though the reinforcements already centered at them. The general in charge was in a dire state as well. He had overused his power. Fortunately, there were clerics behind him that supported him. If not, he would already long gone. Suddenly, a shout was heard from the enemies, "Charge!!!" With that one shout, all of the enemy''s soldiers charged at Gaia''s side. On the general in charge''s team''s location, a strange thing happened. The elite of Regalia mostly centered here because of the previous command from Chaotic Death. When the shout was heard, these Regalia''s elite soldiers also charged at the general in charge''s team. However, when these soldiers saw Gaia''s general in charge, they avoided him and went to the other soldiers. Regalia''s elite soldiers had ignored the Gaia''s general in charge. However, the confusion didn''t last long. The Regalia''s soldiers charged passed the general in charge, which made the Gaia''s soldiers retreat. However, the Gaia''s general in charge who was stressed out with the pressure could not think straight and failed to observe his surroundings. Because he was ignored, he used this chance to madly attack the Regalia''s soldier. And, in that short time, he could kill two soldiers and injuries more than 10 soldiers. After doing that, he suddenly realized how dire his location was. He was in the middle of the enemies with no path of retreat. The Regalia''s soldiers had cut his way of escape. Moreover, because of the Gaia''s frontline were being pushed back, the backline also pushed back away. Hence, the clerics'' heal could not reach the general in charge. The general in charge was blocked entirely from his subordinate. Gaia''s soldiers also realized this situation, they immediately tried their best to rescue their general. Unfortunately, the enemy would not let that happened. Moreover, the Regalia''s soldiers also began to focus back at the alone general in charge. Facing this many enemies alone and from all of his sides, the general in charge could do nothing. He tried his best to stay as long as he could, but in the end, it was not enough. After more than 1 hour passed from the start of the war, the general in charge of Primavera City had died under the enemies'' attacks. Chapter 386 - First Prince (2) Gaia''s soldiers who wanted to rescue their general in charge could do nothing. They could only see their general succ.u.mbed slowly to the ground and died. This incident triggered the Gaia''s soldiers'' rage, especially, the original Gaia soldiers who were stationed at Primavera City. As anger controlled their mind, they madly charged at the enemy and swinging their weapon like a madman. They had no fear only revenge was in their minds. A portion of Gaia''s soldiers charged like they had not tomorrow. Because of this, the soldiers'' formation on the west side of the teleportation portal become disarray. This mess was snowballing into a bigger problem. The enemies used this chance to wreak havoc through the west side. Although they also suffered some casualties because of these madmen, from the war point of view, they use this opportunity to claim their win. On the west side of the teleportation portal, the frontline was in disarray. Meanwhile, the backline also started to lose its formation. As the enemy broke through the frontline, they reached the backline and began to kill soldiers and the backline, including Auron. Although Auron had taken some distance away when the frontline started to crumble, it was not enough. The enemies had already chased him. In this chaotic war, when you could not shake your enemies off quickly, you would be surrounded. Moreover, if you were on the losing side. The will to stay alive surfaced on each of the soldiers'' minds, especially the weaker ones. Auron also had such thought. However, it was not because he afraid of dying. He was scared of losing his ''cheat''. If he was using his swordsman character right now, he would not be afraid of dying. He would even use this chance to kill some enemy''s soldiers. The First Prince glanced over the situation when he heard the commotion. He saw the soldiers'' formation was in disarray and got pushed back by the enemies. The First Prince wanted to take control and fixed the formation. However, before he could do that, a shot of sword aura marched towards him. The First Prince felt the danger and immediately avoided the sword aura. Then, he heard a voice talking to him, "Why you glance somewhere else? Let them play. Look! They are having fun together. And we can do the same." "Let us also have some fun." Chaotic Death smirked evilly and sprung with his sword in his hand. Chaotic Death would not let the First Prince resolved the chaotic situation. He had to make the First Prince busy. The battle between Chaotic Death and the First Prince continued. However, as the First Prince was not calm because of the situation, he wanted to finish this battle quickly. Because of this, the First Prince made a lot of mistakes, and opening that Chaotic Death would not let it go away. Light injuries started to show in the First Prince''s body. He tried his best to focus on his fight. However, he could not do it. His mind was clouded by the overall situation. Fortunately, this situation didn''t last long. Among the reinforcements, there was someone with a high ranked position. And, he consciously acted as a substitute. He started arranging soldiers and form the formation once again. With this man took control, the disarray formation started to hold their position. However, since this reformation didn''t happen instantly, the west side of the teleportation was pushed closer to the teleportation portal. The First Prince also saw this change, and it eased his mind. He thought that he would greatly reward that man for stepping up. Then, he was slowly focusing his mind back to his fight with Chaotic Death. Chaotic Death felt disappointed with this change. He had thought that if the previous situation continued, he had the chance to kill the First Prince. However, it seems it won''t happen right now. But, still, Chaotic Death did his work to keep the First Prince busy properly. After all, they still had the upper hand in the war. Their chance to claim Primavera City still high. With the First Prince''s mind came at ease, he fought adequately and carefully. He didn''t make any more small mistakes that could be exploited. Chaotic Death was pushed to change. However, he still could hold on. After all, his job was only to hold the First Prince not to kill him. The reinforcements kept on coming. The west side was the first destination. It was because they had to make up for the loss previously. Auron was still at the backline chanting his spells. He had used his spells effectively. When a friend was in need, a spell would appear to block the enemy''s attack or to disrupt the enemy''s movement. This way, he had saved a lot of his friends. Unfortunately, in this chaotic battle, it was difficult to know who chanted which spells. Thirty minutes after the general in charge died, the Regalia could not push further even though they had several advantages. Chaotic Death, who was fighting against the First Prince, also felt something wrong. They still had advantages. However, their positions seem to stop moving. This made Chaotic Death to feel bad premonition. Moreover, he yet had not heard any news from the other cities. This means the battle over there still not over or even didn''t start at all. Chaotic Death looked at the teleportation portal. The number of people it sent was increased a bit. However, the difference was not that much. It was only 20 - 25 people at one time. When Chaotic Death was pondering, a sword slash went over him. He had to dismiss his thought to dodge the slash. However, he still reacted late. His shoulder protector was hit by the slash. Although it didn''t hurt him, it toppled his balance off. Another chance had come to the First Prince. He would not let Chaotic Death went away this time. He had to kill Chaotic Death. The First Prince tightened his grip and launched a series of attacks. Chapter 387 - First Prince (3) A series of skills were used by the First Prince. He tried to corner Chaotic Death, so Chaotic Death made a mistake. The First Prince used [Hysteria]. He mustered up his power. Then, with a full swing, he slammed his sword towards Chaotic Death. Chaotic Death immediately raised his dagger and received the sword''s attack. Bang... When both sword and dagger collided, Chaotic Death''s knee bend. His hands, which gripped the dagger, also became sore. Losing his foothold, Chaotic Death lost his balance and fell down to the ground. However, the First Prince didn''t let Chaotic Death fell peacefully. He changed his sword''s course and made a diagonal slash towards Chaotic Death. Chaotic Death had anticipated this move from the First Prince. He followed the First Prince''s movement and put his dagger in front of him. Unfortunately, it was not enough. The First Prince''s attack destroyed Chaotic Death''s guard. Then, Chaotic Death was left open full. However, the First Prince didn''t use any single target skill. Instead, the First Prince used a wide area skill, [Twister]. He had learned from his last lesson. And, it turned out his decision was correct. When Chaotic Death was cornered, the Regalia''s soldiers near them had already moved to help Chaotic Death. These soldiers were ready to sacrifice their life just to let Chaotic Death escape. With the [Twister] that the First Prince used, these soldiers could not come closer and blown away. Then, the First Prince quickly used this chance to kill Chaotic Death. All of this happened in an instant. Chaotic Death, who was on the ground, used [Lightning Steps] to move several distances away. [Lightning Steps] was one of the thief''s movements skills. It mainly used to escape or launch a surprising attack. This skill was like a teleport skill for a thief. But, the distance was not that far, only 1 meter from the user. Moreover, using this skill left a massive burden on the user. After using [Lightning Steps], the user would have a 10% reduction in their movement speed for one hour. If within that one hour, the user used another [Lightning Steps], then their reduction in the movement speed would be added. Not only that, but the duration would also reset back. When a thief had used this 10 times, their movement speed would be depleted, and they could not move at all. That said, a thief could only use attack skill and no movement skill they could use except this [Lightning Steps]. Yes, the said thief still could use [Lightning Steps]. However, instead of reducing their movement speed, it would reduce their health. This means than in 1 hour, a thief could only use this 10 times. After that, they could not move at all. And, if they still insisted on using this skill several times, they could die. In this chaotic war, using a [Lightning Steps] could be a double edge sword. It was because there were enemies everywhere. With the short distance that this skill could produce, it was not enough to escape without any external bits of help. Moreover, with the reduced movement speed, if he was not careful, it would only do harm rather than good to the user. Chaotic Death escaped from his deathbed. However, it was not for too long. The First Prince already located his location and went to attack him. Fortunately, around him were Regalia''s soldiers instead of Gaia''s soldiers. The Regalia''s soldiers immediately took a guard stance and protected Chaotic Death. Then, to make it safer for him, Chaotic Death used [Lightning Steps] once more to move away. Then, Regalia''s soldiers began to swarm towards the First Prince. Gaia''s soldiers also went to help the First Prince. However, it was not enough to stop Chaotic Death from escaping. Another chance was blown away by the First Prince. After escaping, Chaotic Death began to recover himself. But, he still had to suffer the repercussion from [Lightning Steps]. Since he had used that skill twice, he only had 80% of his movement speed. Although Chaotic Death had his speed reduced, he didn''t order a retreat command. The war almost reached its conclusion. Unfortunately, it didn''t go as what Regalia had wanted. On the contrary, Gaia''s soldiers had slowly pushed back the Regalia''s soldiers. Chaotic Death frowned. Then, a group of people came from the teleportation portal. The group contained many people. However, what shocked Chaotic Death was not the number. Instead, a figure among those people. It was the Second Prince. The Second Prince had arrived with reinforcements. Chaotic Death had a bad omen. But, before he could figure it out, the First Prince who chased him had already arrived at his place and targetted him. Chaotic Death had to avoid the attack once more. However, he knew with the Second Prince''s arrival, there would be only a low chance to claim this Primavera City. He could only hope that the battle at the other place would end with a good result. But, Chaotic Death should think about escaping first. However, he had one thing to try before this all ended. Chaotic Death made a slight mistake when blocking the First Prince''s attack. Because of that, his arm was injured. Half of his body was damaged, and he fell to the ground with blood all over his body. The First Prince immediately took this chance up. However, before he could launch another deadly attack on Chaotic Death, five quick stabs went to the First Prince''s body from behind. The First Prince was caught off guard and could not defend these five stabs. Moreover, these five stabs aiming at the vital part of the body. Three of them missed the vital part and hit the places near it. Meanwhile, two stabs hit the stomach. This made the First Prince faltered. He was limping to the side, falling down to the ground. It turned out the perpetrator was a soldier from Gaia. The perpetrator saw this chance, and he wanted to end the First Prince''s life. Chapter 388 - First Prince (4) The perpetrator was actually a spy planted by Regalia, specifically Chaotic Death. This man was a loyal subordinate of Chaotic Death, even the other Regalia''s soldier didn''t know about this spy. Chaotic Death had planted this soldier when he was about to defect to Regalia. This man was also the one who caused the first attack at Primavera City. He helped Regalia''s spy to open the Primavera City''s gate, which caused the emergency situation previously. Chaotic Death had seen the Second Prince coming. With the Second Prince coming, he knew the chance to get Primavera City had almost gone. Moreover, with the weird situation that happened, this made claiming Primavera City almost impossible. However, Chaotic Death didn''t want to leave empty-handed. He wanted to try something before ordering a retreat command, to kill the First Prince. That was why, he requested this loyal subordinate of his to take a chance to kill the First Prince. Obviously, killing the First Prince could not be done quickly. If he blindly attacked the First Prince when he was on guard, that surprise attack would be avoided easily, and it would foil their chance. That was why, they had to make the First Prince let his guard down. To do that, Chaotic Death had made an enormous sacrifice. To claim Primavera City, Chaotic Death had sacrifice a lot number of soldiers. He also sacrificed some soldiers to prevent the First Prince from killing him at the first encounter. And, now, Chaotic Death had sacrificed himself to create this chance. Chaotic Death had deliberately to receive the First Prince''s last attack. He also created an image of a heavily injured man. This was to let the First Prince focused on killing him and let his guard down. It turned out everything had happened accordingly. The First Prince really focus out on the injured Chaotic Death. This made him lose focus on the surrounding. Using this chance, the perpetrator had launched a five deadly attack to the First Prince. The First Prince was lying on the ground with bloody wounds on his vital part. With a sword in his hands, the perpetrator had already ready to kill finish the First Prince. He stomped the First Prince''s wounded stomach. Then, he stabbed his swords downwards, aiming at the First Prince''s forehead. Before the tip of the sword reached First Prince''s forehead, an [Earth Spike] formed beside the First Prince''s location and pieced towards the perpetrator. The perpetrator was not ready with the [Earth Spike]. The [Earth Spike] pierced the perpetrator''s left arm and pierced through his shoulder. Then, a shouted followed after, "Protect the prince!!!" With that shout, the nearby Gaia''s soldier looked over and was shocked. Their prince was lying on the ground and was in danger. Nearby Gaia''s soldiers immediately ignored their enemies and went to the First Prince''s location. The royal guards who were helping the battle also felt shocked and guilty. It was their job to protect the prince. But, now, the one they had supposed to protect was lying with a wound on his stomach. The royal guards urgently used all of their might and increased their strength. Then, they went to the First Prince''s location. The pierced perpetrator was in pain. He had wasted a chance. However, he didn''t want to give up. He retook his sword and tried to kill the First Prince again. But it was already too late. A nearby soldier already arrived at the location. That soldier used his hand to block the perpetrator''s sword. Then, another soldier came to help. One by one, Gaia''s soldiers arrived, which means the perpetrator''s chance had gone. Losing his chance, the perpetrator escaped. Meanwhile, Chaotic Death, who was the scene, also escaped away. But, before he fled, he tried to identify the one who foiled his plan. Chaotic Death saw a mage not that far from the First Prince''s location. It was an ordinary soldier. However, that ordinary soldier had foiled his plan. He felt furious. Suddenly, he thought in his mind, "It seems I had seen the face somewhere before." A few seconds after that, Chaotic Death got the answer. "That soldier! Again!" Chaotic Death gritted his teeth furiously. Chaotic Death recognized the soldier from the Raiding Month. It was the same soldier who made him failed to kill the Fourth Prince. However, he didn''t know the name, but he recognized that face. Auron was the one who foiled the perpetrator''s attack. When the reinforcements kept on coming, the situation at his place became better. With a better situation, Auron began to look at the other battlefield''s situation. When looking at the other battlefield''s situation, he spotted the First Prince, who was battling against Chaotic Death. What made Auron suspicious was there was one Gaia''s soldier who was crouching behind the First Prince suspiciously instead of fighting against Regalia''s soldier. This situation made Auron approached the First Prince''s location. And, at that time, that suspicious Gaia''s soldier launched his surprise attack at the First Prince and wounded the First Prince. Auron immediately increased his speed to quickly arrived at the location. Fortunately, Auron arrived in time when the perpetrator was trying to stab his sword downward to finish the First Prince. Chaotic Death was furious at Auron. He wanted to kill Auron numerous times. However, right now, it was not possible to do that. The First Prince''s location was already full of Gaia''s soldiers. With that, Chaotic Death ordered a retreat command and escaped away. He escaped with the nearby soldiers away. Since the retreat order came out in a sudden, many of Regalia''s soldiers at the frontline was late to avoid. However, Chaotic Death didn''t care about these soldiers and continued his escape. While escaping, a soldier came and whispered to him. A few seconds later, he shouted angrily, "How come?!!!" "I have prepared a soldier there! There is also the backup soldiers! Don''t tell me all of them were failed? I have assigned many soldiers at Estate City!" Chapter 389 - First Prince (5) Outside of Primavera City, not too far away from the city, Chaotic Death was furiously shouted. He had received the news about the other cities'' progress. And, instead of good news, he got bad news. How could he not be furious? Moreover, he had already failed to take over Primavera City. The Regalia''s soldier stuttered and explained the situation to the angry Chaotic Death. While hearing the soldier''s report, Chaotic Death became even more furious. After the soldier finished his story, Chaotic Death slashed his hand. Then, a head flew away, and blood spurted out from the missing head. With that, Chaotic Death turned around and retreated back. Meanwhile, inside Primavera City, the Gaia''s soldier led by the Second Prince had chased all of the Regalia''s soldiers that late to escape. They showed no mercy and killed everyone. While the Second Prince still busy exterminating the Regalia''s soldiers that left, a crowd of people was surrounding the First Prince. Besides him, two clerics were busy healing him. Fortunately, the First Prince got treatment quickly. Although he could not recover completely, he had come out of his critical situation. However, he had to be brought back as soon as possible since he had to get further treatment. After finishing his business, the Second Prince had come over to the First Prince''s location and asked his brother''s condition. He knew his older brother had given his all in this fight. The First Prince had formulated the strategy for this battle, and he had asked the Second Prince to help him. However, the First Prince didn''t say anything to everyone about the Second Prince would come to help. It was because he was still suspicious that there was a spy among them. The First Prince only told the other general and high ranked soldiers that the military would send them reinforcements. However, they still had to hold the fort for a bit. When the Second Prince heard the strategy''s detail, he was so surprised by his older brother''s decision. He knew the enemies'' number had far surpassed the guarding soldier. So, even though they had help from the city''s shield and tower, but it would still very difficult to hold the fort for a long time. However, the Second Prince didn''t say his concerns. He knew that his older brother had assigned him a critical task. It would not be enough to rely on the soldiers from Gaia. The number of soldiers was not that much. Moreover, most of the soldier never experience the harsh of the Bridge World''s war. That was why they had to take some soldiers from other cities. However, enemies were preying in the cities. Which was why the First Prince had assigned his younger brother to lead a troop to eradicate the danger. While the First Prince was defending in Primavera City, the Second Prince led troops to Inverno City. At first, the First Prince had thought it would be a simple war. However, he never expected that Chaotic Death would participate in this war. Moreover, Chaotic Death''s strategy was so cruel. Hence, the dire state of Primavera City was a result of his miscalculation. The Second Prince led troops to Inverno City and launched a surprise attack to the enemies. The enemies who were waiting were surprised by this move. But, Chaotic Death had expected the enemy to attack. Hence, he had stationed a troop a few kilometers behind the original forces as a backup. When the battle started, Regalia''s soldiers had been smiling as they had thought that Gaia had fallen under their trap. The backup soldiers had marched forward and joined the battle. However, they never expected that the Second Prince himself, who led the troop. With the royal guards joining the action, the balanced was toppled to Gaia''s side. Although the Second Prince had also astonished by the sudden presence of the backup troops, the number was not that much compared to the soldiers he brought. That was why he could fend off the enemies easily. After fending the enemies away, the Second Prince immediately made a quick preparation and brought 70% of the Inverno City''s soldiers with him. From that 70%, he took 50% of them while the other 50% was sent to Primavera City as an initial reinforcement. Then, he used the teleportation and went to the next city, Autunno City. In this city, the Second Prince did as what he did with in the previous city. However, learning from his last war, the Second Prince knew that there would be another group of soldiers. So, instead of blindly charged, he began to make his preparation to save their energy and smoothly eradicated the enemies. It was a success. The Second Prince took 70% of the troops and just like before separate it into two. Then, he went on to Estate City. In Estate City, he faced a little problem, though. The number of enemies here was not as few as the other two cities. However, with a great strategy and teamwork, the Second Prince defeated their enemies. Then, with a quick order, he took 70% of the soldiers and together went to Primavera City. By the First Prince''s order, the soldiers that were sent to Primavera City didn''t immediately appear all. The First Prince had ordered them to send reinforcements in batch. Hence, the soldiers kept on coming in a group of 10-15 soldiers. Although it would cost them much, it would give the illusion that Gaia had squeezing hard just to get these little reinforcements. This way, the enemies could feel reassure and boosted their confidence. Initially, the First Prince wanted to do this, so the enemies would make a mistake due to their arrogance and carelessness. However, everything destroyed when Chaotic Death had used the suicide squad. The Primavera entered a dire state. Unfortunately, he could not undo the strategy and could only go with this strategy. He only hoped that his younger brother could finish his task sooner. After finishing the task, the Second Prince didn''t immediately appear in Primavera City. Instead, he waited for a while in Kevad City for a few batches. Only then, he went to Primavera City. Chapter 390 - Absurd (1) Because of the First Prince''s order, which told them to send reinforcements in batches, the cost that Gaia had to shoulder was also enormous. After calculating the cost, the teleportation portal''s cost during this short war was the same as one and a half year''s cost. But, everything was paid off with the war''s result. Primavera City was safe from the enemies. Even though there was some miscalculation in the strategy, in the end, everything went well. They could defend the Primavera City. With the war ended, the First Prince was brought back to Gaia for treatment. Meanwhile, the Second Prince took over the command at Primavera City and the other cities until his older brother recovered. Some of the soldiers also relocated back to their respective cities. Primavera City also began to call carpenters and builders to rebuild their cities again. More importantly, they had to rebuild the city''s gate. Meanwhile, Auron stayed at Primavera City. There were many casualties from the war; even the general in charge also died in the war. As Primavera City didn''t have enough people, some of the soldiers were assigned to help the rebuilding. Auron had stayed for one night in Primavera City while helping to rebuild the city. Although they were rebuilding, Primavera City and the other cities were still in a state of war. They were on alert in case Regalia decided to attack once more. It turned out that throughout the day, Regalia didn''t appear at all. The Second Prince, who was the highest commander in place of his older brother, still didn''t take down the war state. He believed that Regalia wouldn''t give up that easily. The next day, his big brother, the First Prince, had appeared at Primavera City. Despite the fact, he was still under treatment, but he insisted on coming to Primavera City. With that, the Second Prince gave back the command control to his older brother. However, he still didn''t leave Primavera City, he was worried about his big brother''s condition. With the First Prince coming back, the rebuilding progress in Primavera City increased by twofold. He had worked full time despite the fact he still not fully recovered. The First Prince promoted the vice general in charge to become the general in charge. Then, he selected a new vice general in charge. Not only that, but he also asked the war''s data. The First Prince immediately gave a command to the general in charge of every city in Bridge World to begin their inspection. As he had found a spy among them, he would not want to keep this hidden danger safely. He had to rat them out. On the night of the second day, since Auron had come to Primavera City, the First Prince had decided to send back the unrelated soldiers to Gaia World. Every possible soldier was squeezed out to Primavera City, which made the soldiers in Gaia World was not sufficient. This was the reason he had sent some of the soldiers back. Of course, he didn''t immediately send everyone back but send them in batches. Fortunately, Auron was included in the first batches. Auron went back to his room in the military base. And, what he found made him flabbergasted. His mailbox was full of invitation envelopes from many teams. There even an envelope that fell to the ground because the small mailbox could not all of the invitations. Auron was happy but also dejected at the same time. He never thought that he would get this many invitations. It would take him more than one hour to read everything out. And that was just the time for reading. He still needed to compare one with another. But, It was an opportunity for him, so he was still quite happy with the many options he had. Auron took every invitation with him and went inside his room. Then, he began to sort everything out. He made a list of the benefit he would get and the restriction. He had to follow for every team. Auron would immediately reject every invitation that didn''t state the benefit he would get and the restrictions he had to follow. After sorting everything out, he got a list of 78 names. It was still quite a number. So, Auron began to look for the information regarding the teams. If some groups tried to hide their information, Auron could cross-check it with the news that spread around. One by one, Auron checked thoroughly. It was deciding his life and fate in the military. Because it would be difficult to leave a team after joining them. It would not be as simple as giving notice. To leave a team, Auron had to pay some sum of money. And, of course, there would be some punishment as well. Not only that, but it would also smear his name if he didn''t have any good reason. There was only one way to leave unscathed, which if all your teammate died. By comparing with the recent and circulating news, Auron could narrow down the list to 20 names. Using these 20 names, Auron started to examine all 20 team''s benefits, and restriction then picked out the top 10. Then, he halved that number once again and left with only 5 names on his hand. Within these 5 names, three of them were the teams that ranked in the top 3. While the other two ranked in the top 20. Auron was pondering. Then, he crossed out a name that made him only had 4 names. After a few minutes later, he crossed one name again. When Auron had left with three options, it was difficult for him to decide. Each team had its own appeal to Auron. These three teams were ranked two, eight, and fifteen. Auron had eliminated the first and third-ranked team because he didn''t like the restriction they gave, although the benefits were very enticing for him. Fifteen minutes later, Auron had picked a name. It was Absurd, the eighth-ranked team. Chapter 391 - Absurd (2) When a soldier had become a sergeant, they had the privilege to create their own team. By creating a team, they could do some team mission. Not only that, but during some military''s mission, they could go with their own team. Of course, it was not every mission. For some mission, the military was the one who chose their subordinate like what happened during the demonic stick''s extermination mission. But, most of the time, the team could go with their own team. That was not the only benefit by creating a team. Because of the many teams formed, the military created leaderboards which showed the rank of each team. There were 5 leaderboards from the sergeant leaderboard up until the general leaderboard. The leaderboard where the team would be listed depended on the highest ranked soldier in the teams. Usually, it would be the leader. If the highest-ranked soldier was a sergeant, then they would be listed in the sergeant leaderboard. The top 10 from each leaderboard would get a reward each month. The prizes were given to keep the competitiveness within the military. Of course, not every team could be listed on the leaderboard. If a sergeant team joined a lieutenant team, they would not be listed in the sergeant team, but they would contribute to the lieutenant team in the lieutenant leaderboard. Which means every team in the sergeant leaderboard had not joined any other team. This could be because of two reasons. First, the team still could not find a compatible team. Or, the second reason, the team wanted to go high with their own strength. As a sergeant, one could get 10 corporals, and each corporal could recruit 100 private squads. So, a sergeant team could have 10 corporals and 1000 privates. Of course, the sergeant didn''t have to recruit that many. They could just fill halves the amount or even just fill the corporal''s spot. However, it was better to fill as many as he could since the ranking was calculated by the acc.u.mulation of the military point that the team''s members completed. The more member, a team, had meant the quicker they would when acc.u.mulating the point. However, they would also have to bear an enormous cost providing the team''s members. Not only that, but the rewards they got would also be divided to many people. That was why many of the top teams would not fill the quota fully, and they would be picky on who''s the one would take the spot. Absurd was one of the team. Even though it had an absurd name, but it placed on the eight ranks in the sergeant leaderboard. What made Auron interested in this team was the fact that it only had 10 members, including its leader. Auron had seen the member''s list, and except its leader, who was a sergeant, the other 9 members were corporal. And, since Auron had been promoted to a corporal, he would fill the last corporal''s spot. What awed Auron was the fact that with only 10 members, Absurd could get into the top 10 ranks. Not only that, but the benefit it offered was also different compared to other teams. Absurd only offered 2 benefits, which were monthly salary calculated from the military points you earned in that month plus a bonus based on your performance if they got into the top 10. And, the other benefit was the privilege to quit the team without any repercussion. This benefits system made Absurd stood out from other teams who offered equipment or hunting helpers. It also didn''t have many rules or restrictions except doing something wrong using the group''s names. Basically, it was a free team with benefits depended on your contribution to the team. Auron had checked about this strange benefits and restrictions. And it turned out everything was right. Many of the soldiers wanted to join this group. Unfortunately, they could only join if they got an invitation. And, to get that offer was not that easy. Auron was interested in this group''s secret. He had thought that each member of the team must be really strong if they could rank in the eight places, although they had only 10 members. For the three months, even though they only place around rank tenth up to the seventh place. But, with only 10 members, they could maintain the position in the top 10, it was such an incredible feat. And, that quitting the team without any repercussion was enticing enough for Auron to try this team. Keeping that in mind, Auron took the invitation and went forward to meet the leader of the Absurd team. He had decided to join the team. Since Auron was new to the military and he didn''t know where to find Absurd, he went to the military staff to ask for some information. The staff called the Absurd team''s leader and told Auron to wait. Not long after, a man in his late thirties walked up and picked Auron up. He introduced himself as Smite, the leader of the Absurd team. Smite excitedly walked up to Auron. He thanked the staff and brought Auron to his team''s base. He wanted to introduce Auron to the others. When Auron saw Smite for the first time, his impression was excellent. Smite gave a vibe of a kind and extrovert guy. Not only that, but the equipment he wore gave a lavish look. The more Auron looked at Smite, the more he saw that from top to bottom, Smite used costly equipment, and he didn''t bother to hide it. During their walk, Smite energetically said to Auron how excited he was when he saw Auron''s promotion match. Smite actually had seen both of Auron''s match, and he was impressed by Auron. From far away, Auron and Smite were looked like a fan who was meeting with his idol rather than a team''s leader with his team''s members. Auron, who got praised, felt awkward. He could thank Smite and said he would try his best to contribute to the team. Chapter 392 - Absurd (3) During 10 minutes of walking, Smite was the one who was always talking. Auron could only keep silent and didn''t utter any word. He silently heard when Smite was reciting Auron''s promotion match or how excited he was. Fortunately, it didn''t take any longer. Smite, and Auron arrived at the basecamp. When he came, Auron could see eight other people were sitting relaxed inside the basecamp. All of the people were chatting casually with each other. Auron looked at each of the people carefully. There were two women and six men inside the room. Smite immediately called everyone and introduced Auron, "Please welcome our new member, Smiling Wizard!" As Smite shouted, everyone''s attention looked at Auron. Then, they continued talking with each other ignoring Smite and Auron. Seeing this, Smite whispered lowly, suppressing his anger, "These people..." Smite took out his dazzling staff. A long staff coated with pure gold. On top of the staff, there was a big ruby with 5 other rare gems surrounding it. Then, he raised his expensive-looking staff. When the other saw this, they surprised and immediately stood up from their seat. Then, using a friendly face, they directly approached and surrounded Auron. Each of them took a 180 degrees change. Previously, these people didn''t care about Auron. However, now, these people bombarded Auron with questions. They didn''t even wait for Auron to answer before asking another question as if they were very interested in Auron''s life. Auron, who was being bombarded with questions, started to question his decision. Was his decision coming here wrong? There was a leader who looked like a rich fan and always talking excitedly. The other members who were seem nonchalant with Auron''s presence. Then, the members started to introduce themselves one by one to Auron. The two women were Spica and Ainsley. Spica was a junior corporal and also the only cleric within this team. Meanwhile, Ainsley was a junior corporal and a thief. Next were Axton and Bernard. They were real brothers, and both of them were archers. The older brother, Axton, was a senior corporal while the younger brother, Bernard, was an intermediate corporal. Another member was Dayton. He was an intermediate corporal and a swordsman. To his left was another swordsman, Garvin. Meanwhile, to Dayton''s right was Jeffrey, the only merchant within the team. Garvin was a junior corporal, while Jeffrey was a senior corporal. Next up was Cedric, a thief. He was a senior corporal and also the one who was the most uninterested with Auron. As everyone had introduced themselves, Smite began to introduce himself properly to Auron. He was the leader as well as a mage within the team before Auron came. He was also a senior sergeant. After Smite introduced himself, Auron began to introduce himself to the other, "I am Smiling Wizard, a mage and just got promoted to intermediate corporal recently." Although Auron still didn''t officially become a corporal because there was some administration process, he already could claim his corporal rank. It was just a matter of time. After Auron introduced himself, the other welcomed him with an unenthusiastic tone, "Nice to meet you." "Welcome." "I love meeting you." Then, Smite coughed once. Hearing the cough, everyone immediately changed their behavior and welcoming Auron with enthusiasm. Auron could only smile wryly, seeing the weird behavior of his team members. Auron asked a question, "I think we still missed a person?" "Oh yeah, there was one more girl. But, I guess she was still doing her mission right now. Well, she was really diligent. I will introduce her to you when we got some time." Smite just remembered about another member. "She was a mage and also a senior corporal. What you need to know was she just recently joined the team three months ago just like you. However, be careful with her. She was the second strongest within the team only after our leader." Cedric explained to Auron. "Don''t mess with her or you will be beaten up just like Dayton." Cedric reminded Auron. Dayton, who was being mentioned immediately, shuddered when reminiscing the event. Auron could see the fear on his face. But, Dayton wanted to protect his face, so he said, "I was careless at that time. If I was ready, I would be the one who beat her to a pulp." The others, including Smite, looked at Dayton, shocked. And, all of them had only one thought, shameless. What Auron didn''t know was that Dayton kept on talking about how he wasn''t ready, but when the other encourage him to prove it by challenging that girl once more, he gave a thousand excuses. All of them knew that Dayton was not strong enough to beat that girl no matter how many tries he took. Smite ignored Dayton''s shamelessness, and he began to explain the team''s rules and benefits once again. Meanwhile, the other had come back to their previous activity, lazying and chatting with each other. As the invitation had said, Auron would get one silver for every 5 military points he got that month. Everything would be totaled and paid on the last day of the month. Smite also explain the facility he could use, like this basecamp. Not only that, but Auron could contact Jeffrey if he wanted some help with selling an item or looking for some things. Of course, there would be some fee, but it would be a fair fee. After everything was settled, Smite let Auron do what he wanted. However, Auron chose to stay at the basecamp. He had to get along with his new team''s members first. Auron sat on an empty chair and silently listening to the other conversation. Occasionally, he would join in the discussion, but there was nothing much that he could provide. So, he went silent once again. After a few minutes going on, Auron began to get comfortable with each other. Then, he talked with Smite and started asking some questions about the teams. Chapter 393 - Meeting Once Again (1) Auron was trying to get to know about his new team''s members. After several minutes talking, Auron found out that the last member who was not present right now was a money-grubber. That last member was just like Auron, a soldier who recently joined the military. When she first came to the military, she already took Smite''s attention. However, since she was still a private, Smite didn''t invite her. Throughout the days, Smite kept on watching the progress of this girl. It turned out what Smite thought was correct. This girl was not ordinary. In less than one month, the girl had already collected enough points to promote to the next rank. Without further ado, Smite extended his invitation to this girl without thinking about the result of the promotion test. Smite didn''t care about the result, but he still believed that the girl would pass the exam easily. And, just like Smite had said, the girl passed the promotion test and directly became a senior corporal. Of course, many other teams invite that girl. However, to his surprise, the girl chose Smite''s team. It was surprising because, at that time, his team still had not entered the top 10 even his team was not in the top 100. Moreover, the top 3 teams had sent their invitation to the girl as well. Smite gladly accepted the girl without thinking much. He knew this girl would definitely be a powerhouse ranking. He didn''t care about the girl''s reason for choosing his team. Time went on, and Smite and the other team members started to get acquainted with the girl more. From their interaction with the girl, they began to guess the girl''s reason. Just recently, Smite confirmed his suspicion to the girl and what all of them had thought was correct. The girl''s motivation for joining them was because of the money he offered for contribution points. Smite could only smile wry when he heard the girl''s reason. However, he would not complain at all because the girl had also contributed a lot. The reason why their team could get into the top 10 was mainly because of this girl. This girl was very active in joining a mission. Moreover, her speed of completing the task was quick, and the result was amazing. Hence, she got a lot of contribution points. From these 3 months, it could be said that the girl contributed 80% of the team''s points. However, none of the members cared about that. The purpose of Smite paying some money in exchange for contribution point was because he wanted to enter the top 10, but he was too lazy to complete a mission. He didn''t care whether all of his money spent on one person or multiple people. Meanwhile, the other member also didn''t really care as they were not the ones paying. What they really concerned about was the girl''s health. The girls had given some advice for her to rest. However, she rejected the advice and said that she was healthy. Of course, what she said was true since she was the second strongest in the team after Smite. The girl had fought against Smite once, and she lost. However, nobody knew whether she intentionally lose or not. Thinking about her gold digger behavior, the probability of her intentionally losing the match was really high. It could be she didn''t want to embarrass the one who paid for her money. After hearing the story about this girl, Auron became more curious about this girl. Auron had guessed that this girl was a player because it was rare for an NPC to join the military late. "I am back," A shout came from outside the basecamp, and it was a girl''s voice. "Oh, she came back," Smite said to Auron. "You are fortunate. She was rarely here since she was often on a mission. Come, let me introduce you two." The mentioned girl walked through the door. When Auron saw her, he was astonished. Auron knew that face. It was Paradise Spring, Julia''s character. This means the girl they talked about before was Julia. The first thing Julia did was approaching Smite. Then, she said, "He... He... He... I have finished another mission. This time, I should get around 100 contribution points. Don''t forget to prepare the money." Smite replied, "No worries. Come, I want to introduce you to this guy. He is Smiling Wizard, our new members. He was a mage. With him, we got three mages in our team." "Oh... Hello, my name is Paradise Spring. Nice to meet you." Julia introduced herself. However, Auron still looked astonished and didn''t reply to Julia''s introduction. Smite was confused and asked Auron, "Do you know her?" However, Auron also didn''t answer Smite''s question, which made Smite asked Julia, "Do you know him?" Julia shook her head, " No. This is our first time meeting." Then, with Julia''s answered, Auron came back to his senses. "Oh yeah, what she met previously was my swordsman character. Meanwhile, right now, I am on my mage character." Auron was thinking inside his head. "Ugh... Hi, my name is Smiling Wizard. I am a mage and an intermediate corporal. Nice to met you too." Auron thought inside his mind, "Why did Julia enter the military? With her ability, it should be easy for her to join a large guild." Sadly, when Auron looked at Julia once again, she was missing. Julia had already ignored him and went passed him. She had a chit chat with the girls. Smite also joined in the conversation. Auron, who was alone, didn''t want to be left out. So, he also joined in the conversation, although he was still new. After some time conversing with each other, Smite asked Julia a question, "So, will you join the Tower Training?" "Of course! I will not miss it. Although it didn''t give a contribution point, I heard that it has amazing benefits. Of course, I cannot miss the chance." Julia said with eyes shining. Chapter 394 - Meeting Once Again (2) Tower Training was a popular event inside the military. Although it had a defined schedule, once in three months, but the schedule often changed. It was because it needed to adjust to the event that happened in Gaia. Tower Training was usually given to the unassigned soldiers. However, they allowed other soldiers who wanted to join as long as it didn''t interfere with their mission. But, they still need to register first to be allowed. When a soldier was free, he would definitely join this event. It was because the rewards were too enticing to reject. The said rewards were not things. It was a qualitative change in their body. Each soldier, who joined the Tower Training, had given testimony. They said there was a qualitative change in their body after joining the training. Hence, many soldiers had always wanted to participate in the training. "Have you register yet?" Smite asked. Since Julia was not invited, she needed to register first before she can join the training. "Relax, I have taken care of all the necessary administrative processes," Julia answered casually. "Won''t you guys joined in the training as well?" Julia asked back. She knew that her team''s members were too lazy to do some mission, so they must be told to the training. "Yes, finally, we could gather as a team," Spica said happily. It was rare for them to do some missions together. The last time they did a task together was when Julia first joined the team. "Yeah..." Smite sighed. Even though many soldiers like joining this training, Smite didn''t like it. This made Auron wondered, how could such a lazy person became the leader of this team. Moreover, he was a sergeant. "Nice, we can compete with each other." Julia continued, "Should there be a reward for the strongest, leader?" "This woman... Such money-grabber" Smite was surprised by Julia''s sentence and thought inside his mind. However, Smite also could not kick her since he was also benefited from the bonus rewards. "Ugh... No..." Smite rejected Julia''s offers. "Fine... Just saying..." Julia said with her tongue out. "Well, then. I have to get going. There was some mission waiting for me." With that, Julia left the room. Meanwhile, all of the people inside looked at each other shocked. "Why does she so hardworking?" Dayton wondered while looking at the other members. The other members shrugged their shoulders. With Julia left, the other members continued their conversation. Not long after, Auron also left the place. He had some unfinished business to take care of. Auron went back to his room. As soon as he arrived at his place, Auron immediately went to his swordsman. He had been curious about the reward. However, with the series of events happening, he had no time to check the reward. Auron directly went to the military''s base since the Fourth Prince told him so. Auron inquired the guards whether there was any message for him or not. Not long after, the soldier who checked it for Auron came back with an envelope. He gave that envelope to Auron, who received it excitedly. Auron had thought what would the Fourth Prince gave him. He had been imagining how fast would his level soared. Without further ado, Auron opened the envelope. Inside, there was a letter from the Fourth Prince. Auron read the letter. At the beginning of the message, the Fourth Prince apologized. He was apologizing because he had tried to fulfill Auron''s request. Unfortunately, the place where usually the royalty trained could not be divulged to outsiders. So, the Fourth Prince had to change the reward. Inside the letter, the Fourth Prince had also said that he had the approval for this new reward. As long as Auron agreed, he could take the reward. Auron just needed to give his consent this week at the latest. If Auron still not agreed yet, the Fourth Prince would think of another reward for him. Then, the Fourth Prince began to explain about the reward he proposed. He described it as detail as possible, what Auron would get, and also what Auron needed to do. It turned out, the reward that the Fourth Prince gave was the chance to join the Tower Training. Even though the experience it offered was not that many, but the reward it gave would definitely make him stronger. In the end, it would make him stronger, although not in the form of level. Based on the explanation from the Fourth Prince and the information he got from the military, the reward would be a qualitative change in his body. For an NPC, this might be the case, however, for a player, this reward should be in the form of attributes points. This should be similar to what Auron got when he was still in the military academy. Auron smiled. Gaining permanent attributes should be better than just raising the level. He couldn''t miss this chance. Auron folded back the letter and put in back inside the envelope. He had to bring this letter at the promised date as this letter served as proof. Then, he said to the guards to relay his approval to the Fourth Prince or at least to someone in charge. With everything resolved, Auron went back happily. Since the Tower Training would only begin in 5 days later, Auron had some spare time to do. He absolutely would not take mission like Julia, or he would be lazying like Smite. In the meantime, he had to think about what to do. There were many options, such as hunting, raising his blacksmithing skill or alchemy skill, and many others. Auron looked at his money. He still had enough to last for two or three more days hunting. With that, Auron chose to do some hunting while he made his mage character to raise the alchemy skill. He could also use some of the potions produced during the alchemy. It was like killing two birds with one stone. After choosing his hunting place, Auron controlled his swordsman and went to the hunting place. Chapter 395 - Tower Training (1) As the Tower Training scheduled had almost arrived, some fewer soldiers took missions. All of them were preparing for this Tower Training event. It has already been half a year since the last time the Tower Training held. The previous Tower Training was canceled due to unexpected conditions at that time. Fortunately, the current Tower Training was not canceled, although there was an unexpected condition in The Bridge World. Days went by, Auron had been spending his time hunting. He didn''t waste any single time. While he was in his swordsman hunting, he left the mage character to train the alchemy skill. Then, he used the potions for his hunting. It was helping his hunting process. However, in the end, his money also depleted. Fortunately, the salary and reward from defending Primavera City had come. It saved his financial status. During those 5 days of hunting, Auron had gained some levels. Combined with the level he gained when defending Primavera City, right now, he was level 260. Currently, Auron, using his swordsman, was inside a potions shop in Miderian City. He was preparing for the Tower Training that would be held soon. He bought some potion''s supplies with the last money he got. After supplying his potions, Auron directly went to the military. He had to come early, he thought there must be a lengthy verification process. When Auron arrived at the military''s base, he was stopped by the guards. Fortunately, one of the guards was the one who gave Auron the envelope from the Fourth Prince the other day. The guard had recognized Auron and directly asked for the invitation. Receiving the invitation from Auron, the guard escorted Auron inside. Actually, Auron himself knew where to go since he got the invitation for his mage character. However, he had to pretend, so nobody had any suspicion of him. What happened was contrary to what Auron had thought. Previously, he would think that there would be a lengthy verification process. But, it turned out that everything went smoothly. It took only 5 minutes before the guard had escort Auron to the Tower Training''s location. He didn''t know whether it was usually done this quick, or it was because of the Fourth Prince''s influence. The Tower Training''s location was actually on the outskirts of the military base. When Auron arrived at the site, the place was already packed with soldiers. Some soldiers were idling, waiting for the start while some other soldiers had been looking for a group. Auron''s arrival took the interest of the nearby soldiers. It was because Auron was escorted by someone. Usually, someone who was being accompanied was an important person. So, many of the soldiers thought that Auron was someone important. A military staff who was in charge of the Tower Training had received some words from the guard who escorted Auron. He also had heard the instruction from the above, so he already knew there was an outsider who came to join the Tower Training. The staff in charge welcomed Auron. Then, he gave some introduction about the Tower Training which Auron had known about it already. However, Auron listened to the staff obediently and nodded his head. After explaining everything he needed to know, the staff left Auron alone. Meanwhile, Auron looked to his left and right at the soldiers nearby. He could recognize there were some players among the soldiers. After the update, many players had gone to join the military, so it was not surprising Auron. And, most of them had gone directly to the corporal rank and above. Meanwhile, Auron had started in the military''s academy and started out as a private when joining the military. Auron had found the location of his mage character. When he was about to go to his mage, a girl blocked him and said, "Why are you here? Are you joining the training as well?" It was Julia who first recognized Auron. There were many players among the soldier right now, so Julia didn''t have any suspicion seeing Auron here. Before Auron could answer Julia''s question, she continued, "If you are alone, come and join us! The more, the merrier." Auron, who was about to answer the first question, hold his word and nodded, "Okay." It was Auron''s goal to reunite with his mage. And, he could achieve it by following Julia. If he came with Julia, Auron could keep his relationship with his mage character a secret. When Julia and Auron arrived at the Absurd team''s location, everyone had a weird look on them. "Wow, it looks like our hard-working princess didn''t forget to fill her life with some love." Dayton teased Julia. "Stop your nonsense! I just coincidentally met him, and since I recognized him, I brought him here." Julia explained the situation, but there was a slight red on her cheeks. Dayton ignored Julia''s explanation and kept on teasing her, "Welcome! I hope you can protect our princess here. You should let her rest, she had worked really hard. Look, she just came back from reporting her mission." Auron looked at Julia. However, Julia said, "Ignore his nonsense! Come, let me introduced you with the other." "This is Smite, our leader. That annoying guy is Dayton. That guy is..." Julia started to introduced the members one by one, even Auron''s mage character was introduced to Auron. Smite welcomed Auron and kindly explained, "Hello, nice to meet you! Although this Tower Training didn''t require someone to be in a group, but it would be nice if you can join one." Then, not long after, several military staff were on sight. They were distributing something to all of the soldiers one by one. Both of Auron''s character also received one each. After the distribution process, a military staff went on the podium and spoke, "We will begin the training shortly. But, before that, I have to explain what you will do inside. Although most of you have known it, there are also newbies here. So, I hope you bear with me." Chapter 396 - Tower Training (2) Although the name was Tower Training, there was no high building around. There even no building around. In truth, the training place was located underground. There was no one knew why this training had the word, tower, inside when it supposed to be underground. But, nobody really took the matter seriously. It was just a name anyway. It took 10 minutes for the military staff to explain what necessary for the newbies. There were 10 levels in this training. And, this training lasted for 10 days. The deeper they went, the more benefit they could get. As the training took place in the underground, the first level was near the surface and relatively easy. However, to get down from a level to another level was not easy. The training participant needed to do some tasks, and it was different for each level. But, the theme was the same for each level, to kill some special kind of animals breeds by the military. After explaining the training''s information, the staff officially began the training. The underground entrance was near the podium, where the staff was explaining the training''s information. So, the soldiers started to line up to the entrance led to the underground. Although there were only 10 days for 10 levels, which would mean one day for one level, none of the soldiers was in a hurry. They knew the first few levels were easy. The experienced soldier could go down 3 levels on the first day. There were more than 3 thousand soldiers who participate in this training. From that big number, 30% of it was a newbie that never participated in the Tower Training before. Auron was one of them, just like all of the players who had joined the military. It took 10 minutes before it was Auron''s and his team''s member''s turn to enter the underground. Then, Auron took the portal leading to the underground. A few seconds later, Auron arrived at an unfamiliar place. He arrived at a vast meadow field. There was even a blue sky above him even though he was underground. It was like what happened when Auron was taking the mage''s simulation tower or when he was joining the ancient ruin''s raid. The greenfield and blue sky with a soft breeze were very refreshing. However, Auron and the other could not relax yet. The training had started. Everyone who entered the underground entrance got teleported to a different place. Even Auron, who came with his team members, also separated from each other. A notification appeared in front of Auron. [Bring 100 smole''s head to the second''s floor entrance (0/100)] That was the notification explaining what Auron needed to enter the second floor. As soon as Auron closed the notification, a small black shadow leaped up to him, who was using his swordsman character. Bang... -1 floated above Auron''s head. He was unprepared and got damage by that small black shadow, which was a [Smole]. It was the monster that was specifically bred by the military to act as training monsters. They chose [Smole] because it was relatively easy to breed. Not only that, but they also trained the [Smole] to become stronger, so it could give more variant of difficulty. No matter how hard they trained [Smole], it was a relatively weak monster. That was why they made all of the soldiers wore some kind of vest on top of their armor. This vest was used to track how many times the soldiers got hit by the monster. Even though there were 10 days in the training, but the soldiers still need to be careful since they could come out earlier than that. The indicator was their vest. Each vest was equipped with a teleport and safety measure. When the user tried to unequip the vest, it would automatically teleport the user to the surface, which showed that he was disqualified. Not only that, but each vest had also been set to only hold 100 hits. When the limit was surpassed, the teleport function also would be activated. A [Smole] would damage the soldiers by one point. So, each of the training participants would only have 100 chances to get hit until the end of the training session. And, Auron had already lost 1 of that chance. When Auron was fixing his posture and prepare to fight against that one [Smole], another [Smole] leaped to him from his right. Although [Smole] was a weak monster, it also gave some pressure to the training participants. Since it was easy to breed, the number of [Smole] on each level was enormous. When there were 3 thousand training participants, the number of [Smole] at one level could surpass 30 thousand. And, that number would always be replenished in a certain period. As [Smole] was also small and agile, it would be difficult to detect it or avoid its attack. Moreover, if there were a bunch of them together. Not only that, but the restriction for each soldier that they could only get hit 100 times also gave them some pressure. Auron blocked the attack from the [Smole] that came from his right with his sword. Then, he also quickly slashed his sword to the first [Smole]. The slash decapitated the [Smole]. Auron threw another slash and cut the other [Smole] into two. Then, Auron quickly collected the two [Smole]''s head and quickly moved away from that location. That fight would attract the other [Smole]''s attention, and he didn''t want to be surrounded. From his east direction, a white beam of light flashed. It was the light to the second floor, which means there was already someone who moved to the second floor. Well, it was not really surprising for experienced soldiers to achieve such results. A second later, the second beam of light flashed again, followed by two more lights. When Auron was looking away, a [Smole] jumped and attacked him. Fortunately, this time Auron could manage to block the [Smole]''s attack and kill it. Chapter 397 - Tower Training (3) Auron had 3 [Smole]''s heads from 100 that he needed. However, he was not in a hurry; rather, he wanted to do this carefully. Right now, Auron''s goal was not to go to the next level, but he wanted to reunite with his mage character first. He was afraid that his mage would be eliminated in this kind of environment. This was still the first floor. From what Auron had heard before, there were no rewards inside the first floor. The first floor served as an elimination round to set the minimum standard for the participating soldiers. Fortunately, after 5 minutes, both of Auron''s character could meet with each other. After reunited, Auron quickly checked at his mage''s status. Currently, his mage had 10 [Smole]''s heads with 90 hit points left. Meanwhile, his swordsman had 15 [Smole]''s head with 99 hit points left. Since Auron had two characters, he needed to collect 200 [Smole]''s head so both of his characters could enter the next floor. As time passed by, more and more soldiers entered the second floor. Up until now, there was still no casualties among the training participants. However, as the number of the soldier on the first floor had reduced, this means there would be more enemies around. This could be an excellent chance to speed up their progress to the next floor. However, this also means that the soldiers needed to raise the vigilance more since the chances of them being surrounded rose. Actually, the quicker they went to the next floor, the better. Then, not long after, a sirene sound was heard all around the first floor. It was a sign that they would replenish the number of [Smole] on the first floor. Auron currently had 35 heads and 27 heads in his swordsman and mage, respectively. He had to hurry. More than half of the training participants had gone to the second floor. If he didn''t collect the requirement quickly, the chances of him being surrounded would be high. Auron increased his hunting speed. Previously, he would passively wait for the enemies. However, right now, he was the one who was looking for enemies. The number of [Smole]''s heads he collected was increasing at high speed. In 2 hours after the training starts, Auron had 80 and 78 heads, respectively, in both of his characters. A little more and he could go to the next level. Not just him, but the other people also quicken their pace, they didn''t want to be left out. The leftover soldiers started to group together with each other to hasten their progress. In the next 5 minutes, three groups of three people went over to the next level. These made the soldiers raced as they didn''t want to be the last one, or else they could be overwhelmed by the enemies. Auron also increased his output power. Fortunately, he was ahead of the others and needed a little bit more. It took Auron 30 minutes to fulfill the number required in both of his characters. As soon as Auron completed the task, he quickly went over to the portal. He was in a hurry because he heard the sirene sound. When he arrived at the portal to the next level, Auron could see a pillar next to the entrance. The pillar was as high as Auron''s stomach. On top of the pillar, there was a box to put the needed requirements inside. There was already a group ahead of Auron. So, he had no choice but to wait. However, while waiting, he also could not let go of his guard. There was no safe zone here. Even though he only had one step left, he could still be eliminated. Fortunately, the number of [Smole] around the portal was lesser than in other places. After the three men in the group ahead of Auron went to the next level, it was Auron''s turn. First, Auron let his mage character went first. The requirement was put inside the box one by one. Magically, no matter how many heads were placed inside the box, the box was not full yet. After his mage character put the 100th head, Auron''s mage character''s vest shone, which indicated that he could use the portal. With that, the mage entered the portal and vanished. Auron''s swordsman went up next. Quickly, he put the head one by one. Just like what happened to his mage, after the 100th head, his vest shone. Then, he went to the next level peacefully. When Auron arrived on the second floor, another notification came at him. It was the requirement to go up to the next level. [Bring 200 smole''s arms to the third-floor entrance (0/200)] This time Auron was tasked to bring 200 [Smole]''s arms. Fortunately, each hand was counted as one. So, from one [Smole], he could get two arms. As long as he didn''t destroy or burn the arms into ashes. Auron arrived on the second floor. On this floor, the scenery was different from the first floor. The sky was reddish dark. However, that was not the first thing that Auron noticed. Instead, it was the area''s temperature. The heat was so high that it made Auron sweated as soon as he arrived at this place. Not only that, but there were also numerous small crater in the ground that hindered one''s movements. Several medium-sized volcanoes also could be seen. And, those volcanoes were active. Randomly, those volcanoes would shoot out some hot magma out. If the soldiers were hit by the magma, they would also get 1 damage, and it could hasten their elimination progress. On this floor, the participant not only had to take care of [Smole], but they also needed to watch out against this random magma. Just like the previous floor, both of Auron''s characters were separated from each other. Auron''s first plan was to reunite with his mage character. Fortunately, Auron could control both characters, so he could jump back and forth to see their location. Chapter 398 - Volcano Field Drenched with sweat all over his body, Auron''s swordsman met with the mage character who was also sweating. Although sweating didn''t have any impact on the fighting capability, it still made Auron uncomfortable. Auron saw his mage''s condition. It turned out his mage''s vest''s life reduced by another two points and was at 88. Surprisingly, the [Smole]''s arms it got already amounted to 30. Meanwhile, Auron''s swordsman only got 10. However, Auron could not spend his time peacefully here. A group of 10 [Smole]s already went closer to them. He immediately took a battle stance and went to the front. Auron''s hand, which wielded the sword, swung. An [Smole], at the forefront, leaped to Auron. It showed its small and sharp teeth trying to gnaw Auron''s head. However, before it could do anything, Auron''s slash had cut its body into two. One down and there were 9 more to go. The dead [Smole] fell to the ground. Meanwhile, another [Smole] from Auron''s two o''clock direction attack at him. Before this [Smole] could reach Auron, a [Fire Ball] slammed its body and blown it away. Two [Smole]s jumped at Auron while one [Smole] went passed Auron to his mage character. Auron chopped one [Smole] and kicked the other one. Then, he turned his body back and stabbed his sword. Auron was aiming at the [Smole], who went to his mage character. Unfortunately, his stab missed the target. His sword stabbed at the [Smole]''s left hand. Although it didn''t kill the monster, it made the monster limped over. As the monster got sidetracked, Auron''s mage character had finish chanting his spell and threw an [Ice Bolt] to the monster, which killed it immediately. The one who Auron kicked previously got up, and like an angry bull, it charged again at Auron. When Auron was about to kill it, a big magma ball shot out at them. Auron stopped his attack and avoided the incoming magma ball. Unfortunately for the enemies, they could not avoid the coming magma ball and got incinerated. Two [Smole]s died without leaving any ash. Although the enemies died because of the magma ball, actually, Auron didn''t feel good at all. It was because the enemies got burned without leaving any ashes. This means that he could not get any mission''s progress from those two monsters. Four more [Smole]s left from the groups. An [Earth Spike] pierce one of them as all of them started to charge out. Facing three [Smole]s, Auron used [Whirlwind] to blow the monster away. The skill didn''t manage to kill them, but it left them with only a sliver of health left. Then, both of Auron''s character killed the leftover monster one by one. Auron divided the 16 arms rewards from the 8 monsters, equally to both of his characters. Then, he continued to search for other monsters. There were around 1000 soldiers on the second floor, the volcano field. Some of the soldiers had gone to the next level, while a little portion of the soldiers still on the first floor. Up to this time, there was still no one that got eliminated. However, some soldiers only had a few chances on their vests. Although the differences between the soldiers and monsters on the second floor were vast, the players'' progress was not as fast as when they were on the first floor. It was because the random volcano''s magma ball killed many of the monsters. Moreover, the monsters on this floor came in a pretty huge group, just like what Auron faced. If they could not kill the monsters quickly and seized the mission''s task, the random magma ball could destroy the corpse while they were fighting the other monster. Of course, there were still many monsters left, so there were still many people that fulfilled their requirement and went to the next floor. However, Auron still chose to do this one step at a time. He didn''t want to rush out and got careless. There was still a long way to go. Moreover, there were still 9 days left. A magma ball flew to Auron''s east. Then, it slammed on the ground and made a small crater. It also eliminated five [Smole]s who weren''t aware of the magma ball. This situation often happened in this second floor. If you looked at the sky, you could see a few red scorched ball flying around all over the place. This was also what increased the difficulty. Three hours after Auron arrived on the second floor, he had fulfilled 50% of his requirement. Currently, Auron''s swordsman''s life was at 97 while his mage''s life still at 87. What could Auron do when he was surrounded by 100 agile [Smole]s? Although he had already tried his best by unleashing all of his area skills, that number still very high. In the end, Auron could not help but get attacked. What''s more frustrating was after Auron killed all that 100 monsters, a magma ball came at his place. As the monsters'' corpse was close to each other, that magma ball destroyed 30 bodies. However, what Auron could do except continuing his hunt. He moved to another place and started to collect once more. After another two hours, Auron''s progress was at 95% in both of his characters. A little bit more, and he could go to the next floor and claim his rewards. Starting from the second floor, there was a reward when one went to the next level. Slash... A [Smole] died under Auron''s sword. This was the last [Smole] from a group of 15 that attacked him. Auron started to collect their arms. With this additional 30 arms, Auron had completed his task. Actually, Auron didn''t need all 30. He just needed 20 arms and could go on. After collecting the necessary items, both of them moved to the portal. Then, both of them taking turns in placing the required items with Auron''s mage character went first. Auron''s swordsman''s character went next and went to the next level. Chapter 399 - Frozen Field (1) [Bring 200 smole''s legs to the fourth-floor entrance (0/200)] [You got 1 attribute point for completing the second floor] Auron was greeted by these two notifications as soon as he gained control of his character. From the previous floor, he got an attribute point. Although it was only one, it was a great reward considering the higher your level, the harder, you would gain a level. Moreover, this 1 attribute point was a free choice. One could put it on any attribute he wanted. If this gained point could be sold on the market, this could be sold for more than one thousand gold. Auron was excited when he saw two free points on his status screen. Since both of his characters shared the same attributes, when his mage character got the reward, it benefited his swordsman character as well. However, Auron didn''t rush to use that free attributes yet. He quickly focused back on this current floor''s task. It was similar to the previous floor task. The difference was, this time, it was the legs instead of its arms. Auron looked at his surrounding. This place was completely different from the previous location. If the fire was the theme from the last floor, this place had the opposite. This floor''s theme was ice. The snow was pouring down from the sky. The ground was already covered in thick snow. When Auron moved one step, his foot sunk deep inside the snow. This environment made moving was really difficult. Not only that, as the weather was cold, he quickly ran out of breath. It was challenging to breathe in this cold situation. A [Smole] leaped to Auron. As the [Smole] was a small monster, the snow on the ground didn''t have any effect on it. If the human''s feet kept sinking into the snow, it didn''t happen to the monster. Auron swung his sword. From that one swing, he could feel that his movement became slower in this environment. It was like his attack speed reduced by 5% up to 10%. Due to his movement got slower, Auron had to use his skill to kill this one [Smole] else he would get hit. Auron didn''t waste any time as his vest''s life was his chance to stay in this training. The more his life was, the longer he could stay in training. He had heard that starting from the sixth floor, it would be better if he had more life and time. That was why the more experienced player immediately rushed out to get to the sixth floor as soon as possible. In this current situation, there were already people on the fifth floor. However, Auron could not care about those things yet. He had to survive this floor first. As the number of people on the third floor was not that many, the monster only had few targets. So, it was difficult for Auron to reunite with his mage character. After Auron killed one monster, another monster popped out and attacked him. This situation also happened to many other players, including Auron''s mage character. A [Smole] charged at Auron. As Auron tried to block that incoming attack, another attack came from his right side. He canceled his intention to prevent the attack and ran away. However, there were already two [Smole]s blocking his retreat path. Auron used [Twister] to blow the monsters away. Unfortunately, the skill could not kill any monster, but it opened his way of retreat. Auron used this chance to move away. However, he still could not rest. Behind him, the monsters were already chasing him. Moreover, several other nearby [Smole]s also joined the chase. Auron used his movement skill to increase his speed and moved away. However, it was difficult. The monsters were still chasing behind him. Moreover, when Auron''s movement skill had gone, the monsters got closer to him. Auron had to turn back and used another area attack. From the second area attack, Auron killed some [Smole]s. However, he could not collect their legs because there were still many other monsters nearby. At this moment, Auron decided to run away instead of thinking about his objective. Fortunately, Auron saw his mage character not too far from his place. Sadly, his mage character was also in a dangerous situation. Auron could see that the AI, which controlled his character, was not that good. When his mage character shot out a spell, from behind, a [Smole] attack his back. The spell killed the targeted monster, but he also got hit by another monster. Not only that, but another monster had already replaced the monster who got killed. So, this was like an endless fight for his mage character. Auron charged at one of the monsters surrounding his mage character. Then, he used all of his area skills simultaneously to clear the monster. Auron glanced briefly at his mage character, and the vest''s life had dropped beyond Auron''s imagination. It only had 40 health left. In just 10 minutes after they arrived at the third floor, the health had already dropped by half. This was not a good situation for Auron. However, since they had reunited, It would be safer for him. With the area skills he launched, Auron had cleared out the nearby monsters. He began to collect the legs. There were many monster''s corpses that were scattered on the ground. When Auron had just collected 40 legs, an [Smole]''s horde came from his northeast direction. There were still many corpses on the ground that he not yet collect. However, this monster horde was too many for the two of them could handle. 200 monsters were coming his way. Actually, if Auron insisted on fighting, both of them could eliminate all of the monsters. However, Auron could not imagine how many vest''s life he had to sacrifice. Moreover, his mage character only had 40 health left. It was not an ideal fight for the two of them. So, Auron decided to retreat before getting surrounded. Chapter 400 - Frozen Field (2) Afraid of being surrounded and ending his training quicker, Auron ran away. He had no choice to leave the corpse on the ground. Behind them, the [Smole]s already chasing them. Before Auron could go too far, one of the [Smole] already reached him. It was due to the environment here. While Auron''s speed and movements were affected by the snow on the ground, the snow didn''t have any effect on the [Smole]''s speed. Auron turned back and used [Wind Slash]. The attack hit the target and several others at the back. Auron didn''t care whether his previous attack killed the monster or not, he immediately turned back and continued his run. There were too many monsters around. The number of monsters that chasing Auron didn''t decrease. Instead, its number was increasing. Fortunately, not that far away from his place, Auron saw another group of soldiers. Without thinking for too long, Auron immediately went to that group. The group consists of 3 people. Surprisingly, that 3 people were coming from Auron''s new team. They were the members of the Absurd team. Those three people were Spica, the cleric, Axton, the archer and the older brother of Bernard, and lastly, Cedric, the thief. Those three also got surrounded by many [Smole]. However, they somehow managed to hold on. Unfortunately, it was too difficult for them to hold on because of the member''s composition. Spice, the cleric, didn''t have much strength, so it was difficult for her to even defeat the monster. Moreover, there were many monsters around them right now. Inside those groups of three, the damage dealer was Bernard, the archer, and Cedric, the thief. However, they were not that good in a close combat environment. Moreover, those two were the agile type, that had to use their movement. Unfortunately, the snow had reduced their fighting capability. And, with many such enemies around them, it was already amazing they could still survive. Everything was thanks to Spica. Although cleric''s heal didn''t have any impact on this training, a cleric had many other buffs. They could give a shield for others, or they could increase their attack speed. Also, a damage buff was available. But, still, the number of monsters overwhelmed them. Those three didn''t even have time to collect the legs even though there were many corpses around them. Auron shouted to grab their attention, "Hey!" The three of them took a glance at Auron, and their face sunk. It was because behind Auron, there were many monsters when there were still quite a few monsters at their side. Auron''s mage character was the first one to arrive at the group''s location, followed by Auron''s swordsman. When Auron, who was controlling his swordsman, arrived, he immediately used all of his area skills available. He didn''t care whether his ability only hit one or two monsters. Auron''s parade of skills was followed by the other member''s understanding. They tacitly knew what Auron wanted to do. Axton used his [Arrow Shower] and other area skill. While Spica immediately gave several buffs to Auron. She knew that with what Auron had done, all of the monsters aggro would come to him. Meanwhile, as a thief, Cedric had few area skills. Moreover, that skill was not that strong compared to his single target attack. So, Cedric carefully selected the near-death monster and finished them off. Auron''s mage character also began to chant his area skills. Sadly, mage''s spell was not as fast as the other skills. After all of the skill poured down on the monster, it evaporated 80% of the monsters around. However, they could not celebrate it yet. There had a finishing task to do. With the pressure had reduced by 80%, the group of 5 could quickly kill all of the monsters. After killing all of the monsters, without talking to each other, they knew what they had to do. They began to loot the monster''s legs as fast as they could, or else another wave of monsters would come. Fortunately, with the many corpses around, they could complete almost all of their required task. Each of them needed only to kill one or two [Smole] to gain the right to enter the next level. Auron advised moving to the next level''s entrance, which all of them agreed. The group of five began walking to the next level''s entrance. There was still quite some distance between them and the portal. They moved slowly and carefully. With them completed the task, they didn''t want to rush out as it would attract the [Smole]''s attention. It took two hours for them to arrive at the entrance. It was considered long because if there were no monsters along the way, they could arrive in 30 minutes using an average walking speed. However, they didn''t mind the additional time they gained as it was safer for them to move this way. When they arrived at the entrance, they didn''t immediately submit their loot. All of them decided to clear the monsters around the area first. It was not a simple task as it took them around 50 minutes to clear the monsters. The monster kept on coming when they fought, so it took longer for them to clear the area. Fortunately, after 50 minutes, there were no monsters around, and it was really safe. One by one, Auron and the other members began to submit their tasks. After submitting their tasks, they didn''t have to directly go to the next floor. They had 10 more minutes to stay until the glow on their vest subsided. If the 10 minutes limit was passed, they needed to redo their task. However, it didn''t take long for each person to submit, so 10 minutes was enough. As they were coming from the same group, they decided to stay until the end. When one submitted the task, the other was guarding him in case there was another monster''s horde coming. Fortunately, the worst didn''t come. All of them had the qualification to go to the next floor. With that, everyone took the portal and went to the next level. Chapter 401 - Wind Cliff (1) A new scenery greeted Auron. Upon seeing his surrounding, Auron could see numerous cliffs. And, those cliffs were connected by a single narrow path, that only fit for two average human body. With such a narrow path, if one not careful enough, they could fell down from the cliff and met their end. The training had progressed for more than 12 hours. On the outside, the sky had gradually turned dark. However, in this place, the sky was still blue. There was no sign that night would come soon. The teleportation function inside the vest was not used only to eliminate the participants, but it had another feature. The training participant could use it to rest. When used, the participant would be teleported to a separate room. Inside the room, they could rest or cook their own meal there. They also could stay as long as they wanted inside the room. Unfortunately, to use this function, they had to stay out of battle, or else, the feature would be disabled. At the current progress, many of the training participants had chosen to rest and saved their strength. Auron knew about this function as he had done his research about this training. However, right now, he didn''t have any intention to use this function. Auron had set his goal to clear this floor first before resting. Just like the previous floor, Auron got 2 free attributes for clearing the third floor. He also got a task notification. This floor''s task was to collect 200 [Smole]''s heart. From Auron''s research, soldiers had classified this floor as a transition floor. The first floor would serve as a limit floor as it was used to eliminate the underperformance soldiers. The second and third floors were the basic floor. It was like an introduction to this Tower Training. Meanwhile, the fourth floor, where Auron was currently located, and the fifth floor were classified as transition floors. It was served for the transitioning phase for the sixth floor and above. Meanwhile, the sixth floor and above would be the real deal. The benefits and the challenges there were different from the five-floor below. The soldiers said that one day would not be enough to complete the task required. However, those floors were still quite far away from Auron. He had to focus on this floor first. A breeze of wind blow on Auron''s skin. This was the signature of this floor. There was a breeze of wind that always blew on this floor. And, that wind would gradually grow stronger. When it reached its peaks, the wind could blow away a human body if they were not ready. After it reached its peak, it would gradually grow weaker, and it would repeat another cycle. Each cycle would take 30 minutes. So, 15 minutes was needed to make the wind reached its peak and another 15 minutes for it to reached its lowest state. The wind gave another challenge for the soldiers who participated in this training. If they were not ready, the wind could blow them away and made them crashed even fall from the cliff. If they fell from the cliff, they supposed to be dead. Fortunately, the vest they were wearing had a safety measure to prevent that. The vest would automatically teleport them to a random place. However, their vest''s life would also reduce by 5. The wind would not only affect the soldiers. Since [Smole] was small, when the wind was strong enough, it would blow away the monsters. This would hinder the soldiers from completing their task. Of course, if they were fortunate, they could kill the monster without any retaliation. Fortunately, Auron was teleported to a cliff where there were only a few [Smole]. Moreover, the [Smole] already fought against a woman. It was a 1 versus 5 [Smole]. Auron glanced at the fight, and the woman seemed didn''t have any difficulties. He decided to go to the other cliff. It was not a good practice to kill other monsters. Moreover, they all here were not competing with each other. Three paths led to other cliffs. Auron decided to choose the north path. When he was about to cross the path, he felt the wind getting stronger. As Auron had just arrived, he still didn''t know whether the wind was in the phase of getting stronger or getting weaker. Looking at the wind''s power, it was still not on its peak. It was far from its peak. It seemed the winds still in the middle stage of getting stronger. However, Auron didn''t want to take any risk. What if he was blocked in the middle of crossing, then the wind reached its peak, he could be blown away and fell from the cliff. Auron decided to wait when the wind was in the second phase. Then, he looked at his surrounding, and it seems there were no monsters around beside the ones who were fighting against the woman. Auron didn''t have anything to do. He decided to move away to his mage character. He wanted to know the situation there. When Auron regained his consciousness on his mage character, he was immediately greeted by two [Smole]s who directly attacked him. Taking out his knife, Auron slashed his knife to one of the monsters and used [Earth Spike] to the other one. Unfortunately, Auron''s reaction was a bit of late. There was a slight delay when he moved to his mage character, which made his spell came out late. Auron could fend off one of the monsters using his knife, but the other one managed to hit him first before getting pierced by the [Earth Spike]. Auron gritted his teeth and finished off the other [Smole]. Then, he checked his mage''s vest''s life. There was 39 health left. Auron felt reluctance. However, he could not do anything because that was the level of the AI that controlled his character. He could not move back and forth between each character. In the end, if he had to let his mage character eliminated from this training, then that''s not a problem as long as his swordsman managed to stay until the end. Chapter 402 - Wind Cliff (2) After eliminating the two [Smole]s, Auron collected its heart. He had been pessimistic about keeping his mage character so it could last longer during this tower training. Then, suddenly he got an idea. As he thought deeper, Auron began cursing himself, "Stupid! Why I never thought about this before!" Auron had got a brilliant idea. With the rest function that could be activated, why didn''t he taking turns on controlling his character? Of course, it would not guarantee 100% that he could succeed. However, it should be easier for him to control the risk. As a player, Auron had the advantages of time and stamina. They could play for 24 hours without resting. Meanwhile, the NPC soldiers could not do this as they needed to sleep just like now, where there were only a few people on this floor currently. Most of them were players. Auron''s idea was still raw, but he thought that was a doable idea. Auron pressed the rest function on the vest. Then, it teleported his mage character to the rest area. After making sure his mage character safe in the rest area, Auron went over to his swordsman character. Auron was still waiting for the wind to past over its peak before crossing to another cliff. He had nothing to do as there was no monster at his cliff at the moment. Meanwhile, the woman had finished her fight and started collecting the heart. After she finished collecting the heart, she immediately took the east path to another cliff. The wind was getting stronger. Auron could feel the changes. The soft breeze became more violent. Auron saw his clothes started to flutter. He looked at the woman who had started crossing to the other cliff. The woman also felt the wind''s power changes and began to panic. It was because the distance between each cliff was not short. The distance of each cliff was 5 kilometers. It would take around one hour for an average human to cover that distance. Of course, in this game, that distance could be covered in less than one hour because of the skill and attributes. The woman increased her speed while maintaining her balance. Unfortunately, her challenges didn''t stop with only the wind. Three monsters were coming from the other direction from her. She had no choice but to fight. Sadly, this was not an ideal place to fight. However, the monster didn''t move at all and just crouching down. Looking at the monster''s state, Auron could see that the monsters were also trying their best to hold on, and they were not in a state to fight. The woman also realized that. The woman could take the chance to kill the monsters. However, she decided to ignore the monster and passed them. There was still a long way before she reached the end. She didn''t know what would wait in front of them. Hence, she wanted to make sure of her safety first. The woman started to run. Then, she jumped passed the three crouching [Smole]s who were crouching on the ground, trying their best to not be blown away. After passing the first group, she found another monster who was in the same state in front of her. The wind was getting stronger. The monster who stayed still in the path started to move unwillingly to the edge. The woman hurriedly increased her speed. When she was nearing the end of the path, she started to sway because of the wind. She was pushed by the wind, her right foot closed the foothold. She gritted her teeth, with all of her might, she jumped using her left leg. Then, the wind reached its peak, which pushed the woman who was still in midair. Fortunately, she landed on the ground and rolled several meters before she hooked her hand on the ground to avoid falling. Several minutes staying on the ground, the wind grew weaker. With the wind grew weaker, she had secured her safety. Meanwhile, Auron had also felt the wind when it reached its peak. He had tried to block the wind. Unfortunately, it didn''t work 100%. He still being pushed back for some distance. Fortunately, Auron was not in a dangerous situation since he didn''t taking any risk to cross over. He had wanted to experience the wind''s power at its peak. Now, he had experienced it, he knew how far the current wind''s power from its peak. After waiting for several minutes for the wind to calm down, Auron started to move and took the north path. Although the wind had calmed down, Auron didn''t want to be trapped inside the path. So, he immediately sprinted as soon as he took the path. Just like what he had thought, after the wind reached its peak, it cleansed many monsters on this floor. Although several monsters could hold on, its number didn''t go over 10% of the original amount. Unlike the woman, Auron had an easy time crossing the path. Using his skills, it didn''t take for more than 5 minutes for Auron to cross the path. When Auron arrived at his destination, he began to search for monsters as this was his task. Unfortunately, he could only find one monster who already had its enemy. Since the wind still on its weaker phase, Auron decided to move to the other cliff. Very quickly, Auron arrived at another cliff. Finally, on this cliff, he found two monsters, and there was no one around. Auron immediately claimed the monsters. Despite the fact there still was the wind around, Auron could finish the monsters without any difficulties. However, after finishing this monster, Auron didn''t know what to do. The wind was getting stronger once again, and he had to wait as he didn''t want to take any risk. After spending 4 hours on this floor, Auron only had met with 10 monsters. It was because every time the wind reached its peak, it also killed many monsters along with it. Chapter 403 - Wind Cliff (3) It was already dark outside. However, inside the Tower Training Fourth floor, the sky was still blue. A violent storm was currently undergoing. This storm swept all of the soldiers who still on the Fourth floor. Although they could hold on if they were ready, not all of them ready. Some of them fell down the cliff and got teleported to a random place. Meanwhile, some of them were more fortunate. They were getting carried away by the wind, but instead of falling down, they crashed on the wall or trees. Auron was one of them who crashed on a big boulder at one of the cliffs. After 4 hours searching and only could find 10 monsters, Auron became tired and stressed. He became impatient as the pressure built up. That was why when the wind was on its getting stronger phase, and he found two monsters alone, Auron could not think calmly. Auron felt that he had enough time to kill the said monsters before the wind reached its peak. He took the risk and fought against the monsters. He thought that since the monsters were on their defensive stance due to the wind and could not retaliate, he could kill them quickly. Just as he had thought, Auron killed one of the monsters easily without any effort. However, when he was about to fight against the second monsters, the wind started to get stronger. Even though it still didn''t reach its peak, but the wind was enough to make the monster moved from its location. Auron was chasing the monster. However, the wind kept on getting stronger, and before he could realize, the wind reached its peak. Auron wasn''t ready and got blown away because he loses his foothold. Fortunately, he was blown in the direction of a big boulder and crashed on it. Although he still got damage on his vest due to the impact, it only took away 1 health point for his vest. Compared with falling from the cliff, this one damage was obviously better. Auron was stuck on the boulder for a few minutes. When the wind got weaker, he fell down to the ground. He sighed, relieved. Auron learned a huge lesson from this. Due to his impatience, he almost fell down from the cliff. Moreover, he also lost the monsters he fought previously due to the wind. This incident cleared up Auron''s mind. He began to build his patience once more. Of course, patience would not speed things up, but at least, it would be safer for him. Not just Auron, every soldier who was inside the fourth floor also experienced the hardness to collect the task. Some of them gave up and took this chance to rest first and renewed their spirit. Some of them still hold on patiently and collected it bit by bit. Auron was still pondering on each option. He wanted to take a break first. However, he felt reluctant since, currently, there were few people on the fourth floor. With this small amount of people, the competition was already tricky. What if they waited until tomorrow when everyone woke up, the competition would be fiercer. With this reason in mind, Auron decided to stay on and tried to finish the task one step at a time. Auron took this chance to move to another cliff. On this floor, the monster appeared randomly on each cliff. But, the amount of the cliff on this floor also numerous. There were 15 thousand cliffs with different sizes. If the number of monsters divided into each cliff equally, then two monsters would appear on each cliff. Sadly, that was not the case. It was really random. One cliff could have 10 monsters appear at a time when there were no monsters that appeared at other cliffs. It would be more efficient if they moved to two or three cliffs each time they could. This way, they could increase their completion speed rate rather than waiting on the same cliff. Of course, moving to another cliff gave some other risk. It was up to the training participant whether they would take this option or just waiting at the same cliff until the end. This floor tested the soldiers'' decision making and also their sensitiveness to the surrounding changes. After arriving at the new cliff, Auron was lucky. He found five monsters, and there were no other soldiers here. Moreover, the wind was still on its progress to its lowest state. This situation was very great for him. Without delaying any further, Auron took out his sword and immediately charged towards the monsters. The monsters sensed Auron''s presence, and they also took their battle stance. The five of them charged at Auron. Auron brandished his sword. Since there was no one around, Auron used this chance to chant his mage spell. A piece of pointy ice was formed when he used [Ice Bolt]. Then, he immediately shot that ice shard to the foremost monster. Unfortunately, Auron never played a range of characters before. He never thought that wind would have an effect on the things he shot. Although the wind had less effect on spells, with the current wind''s power, it still slightly change the ice''s trajectory. At first, Auron had aimed in the middle of the monster''s chest. However, the wind moved it a bit from its original target. Fortunately, the ice still pierced the monster''s left shoulder. Besides, the monster was weak, so even though it was far from its vital''s part, the monster still died. After shooting his spell and blocking the monster''s attack with his sword, Auron made some distance. He didn''t want to be surrounded by the monsters from all sides. By keeping all of the monsters in front of him, he could see what''s the monster''s gonna did. Two monsters leaped at Auron from the left and right side, followed by another two at the back. When he was moving away, Auron had started to chant [Lightning Chain], an advanced spell from the wind element. A bolt of light streak from one monster and jumped to another monster until it hit them all. With this one spell, Auron finished all of them in an instant. Chapter 404 - Wind Cliff (4) [Lightning Chain] was an advanced spell from the wind element. It was a strong spell. Unfortunately, it had a long cooldown and long chanting time. Not only that, but it also had a short-range attack. However, even though the spell only had a short-range attack, the spell could jump to the closest enemies up to 5 enemies. If there was an enemy in a half of meter from the original target, the spell would jump and attack that enemy. Then, it continued until it hit 5 enemies. If there was no enemy around, then the spell would stop. After killing the 5 enemies, Auron took their hearts one by one. His task progress increased by 5 points. Since there were no more enemies in this cliff, Auron quickly crossed to another cliff. Unfortunately, he could not found any monster on this new cliff. He went to another one and still could not get anything. After another two more cliffs, he had to wait for the wind to pass its stronger phase. For these two cliffs, Auron found two monsters on one of the cliffs. Unfortunately, there was already another player who claimed the monsters. Meanwhile, Auron could not find any monster on the other cliff. Time passed by. Finally, after spending more than 10 hours on this floor, Auron managed to complete his task. He went to the fifth-floor portal and handed over his quest. When Auron finished handing over his quest, Auron took the Portal and went to the fifth floor. As soon as he arrived on the fifth floor, the first thing Auron did was to use the vest''s rest function and teleported to the rest area. Then, he went over to his mage character. It was time for him to finished the quest on his mage character. Auron took 10 hours to complete his quest on his swordsman character. For this mage character, it could not only take 10 hours. Everything was so random. If he was fortunate, he could finish it less than 10 hours. Unfortunately, the chance of that happening was below 40%. The reason was that several hours later, morning would come. When the morning came, there would be more people on this floor fighting over monsters. At that time, it would be more challenging to get monsters. He would have to rely more on his luck. Auron shook his head. There were around 4 more hours before the morning came. He would try his best to collect as many [Smole]''s hearts as he could. Auron started to control his mage and moved back to the fourth floor from the rest area. He was teleported to one of the numerous cliffs. His luck was pretty good. As soon as he arrived on the fourth floor, Auron saw three monsters on the same cliff. He smiled, seeing this. This was a good start. Taking out his dagger, Auron used his swordsman''s movement skill and charged at the nearby monster. During charging, he didn''t forget to start chanting a spell. As Auron charging towards the monsters, they also did the same. The monsters made a three-pronged attack towards Auron. They all came from all sides. Auron slashed his dagger at the monster''s face. The monster didn''t have any intelligence at all. Instead of avoiding the attack, they opened their mouth widely. Auron''s dagger slashed at one of the monsters vertically. Although it didn''t kill the monster, it only had a sliver of health left; also, it stopped the monster''s attack. Meanwhile, Auron used the [Earth Spike] that he had chanted to attack the other monster who came towards him. The monsters got pierced by his [Earth Spike]. However, Auron could not be happy yet. There was still one monster''s attack left that coming towards him. Auron faced this one monster, and, using his leg, he kicked the monster from the right side. Of course, this kick would not kill the monster, but it blew away the monster. Auron didn''t stop there. He looked back at the first monster, who had been slashed by him, and approached it. Then, Auron stabbed the monster with his dagger. The kicked monster had recovered and began to attack Auron once more. However, Auron had finished off the other monsters. Facing this monster in a one on one fight, was a piece of cake for Auron. A [Fire Bolt] flew towards the jumped monster, and Auron finished it with a stab to the monster''s belly. After exterminating all of the monsters, Auron began to collect the hearts. He got another three new hearts. With the previous two hearts he had, now, he had five hearts. There was still a long way to 200 hearts. Auron looking at the situation and saw that there was still a chance left to cross to another cliff before the wind went violent. Auron moved to another cliff. However, it seemed he ran out of luck. After crossing two cliffs, he could not find anything. In the end, Auron had to wait for the wind before continuing his hunt. When the morning came, people started to make their move. Auron began to meet with other people more often. The competition was going fiercer. Auron had to spend more effort to find enemies. He had to move four to five cliffs to only see one to three monsters. Although Auron had spent more effort, in the end, he had to wait until the night time came once more to complete his quest. It took more than 16 hours for Auron to complete his quest. In total, Auron had spent more than 26 hours in this fourth floor. It was over more than one day. Auron wanted to curse. However, he could not, as he had already tired. After all, he had finished his quest. Auron didn''t waste any more time. He walked to the fifth-floor entrance and handed over his task. Auron''s vest was glowing brightly. Then, he walked over to the portal and teleported to the fifth floor. Chapter 405 - Forest Field (1) It was the third day since Tower Training had started. Auron arrived on the fifth floor. He looked at his surrounding. Right now, Auron was inside a lush green forest. Big and tall trees were scattered around him. When he looked above, only a glimpse of light from the sun could get through the tree''s leaves. All of the trees around him had a big trunk. The tree''s roots even came out from the ground. Moss covered some part of the tree''s roots and made it slippery. Auron could even feel the moist temperature on this floor. As far as Auron could see, he only saw trees and roots. He could hear the sound of fighting at another place, but he could not even see any [Smole] around. Auron looked at his task. He needed to collect 800 [Smole]''s eyes. Auron frowned, looking at his quest. The number was insanely rose from the previous floor task. 800 eyes mean Auron needed to kill at least 400 [Smole]. If it was like at the first three floors, then 400 [Smole] would be easy to find. He just needed to be careful to not get surrounded. However, Auron could not even saw any trace of [Smole] around him right now. Auron knew this fifth floor would have the same difficulty as the fourth floor. On the first three floors, the challenge was placed on the fact that the training participant could get surrounded. Besides that, the place''s weather also raised the difficulty a little bit. Meanwhile, on the fourth floor, the difficulty was placed on the fact that they had to make a correct decision also their patience in finding the enemies. Auron guessed that it would also be difficult to find any enemies on this floor. His suspicion was enhanced by the fact that he could not find any monsters around. Auron guessed was correct. On this fifth floor, the monsters were different from the previous first four floors. If on the other floor, they would actively attack the training participant, on this floor, the monsters would hide and passively engaged in battle. The monsters would choose to run away first if they could. When they were cornered, then that was the time they would fight. In this forest, there were many hiding places for small monsters like [Smole]. They could hide between the tree roots, or they could climb the tree and stay at one of the branches. Auron started to move around. Since he could not see any monster around, Auron tried to look for them. At the same time, he wanted to learn about the environment around here. He wished that he could learn something and find where the monsters would hide. When Auron took a step forward, the weather suddenly changed. Water started to drop from the sky. Then, in just a few seconds later, the rain turned torrential. The once slippery roots became more slippery due to this rain. Not only that, but this heavy rain also limited his sight. Previously, Auron could see far away. However, right now, seeing the path in front of him was already tricky. Auron could do nothing and continued to scout around the area. He took his step carefully as he didn''t want to fall down. Unfortunately, Auron was surprised by a shadow moving in front of him. The shadow moved fast and approached him. Auron could not distinguish the shadow. Auron could only recognize the shadow when that shadow was in front of him. That shadow was [Smole], the quest''s monster he had to fight. Actually, the [Smole] on this floor was not a scaredy-cat that only knew how to run. Instead, they knew when to run and when to fight. And, this rain was a good cover for them to attack as their vision was not limited by the rain. The [Smole] moved fast under the shade of rains. Auron hardly followed the [Smole]''s movement. Moreover, the trees gave the monster advantages. From his left, the monster moved to his right, then it went back to his left. Then, from his left, the monster jumped straight to Auron with its mouth open and claw ready. Fortunately, although it was hard, Auron managed to see the monster''s movement. He raised his right hand, which held the dagger to block the monster''s attack. As soon as the monster''s attack met with the dagger, Auron used his left hand and pounced on the monster''s back with all of his might. The monster fell down and crashed to the ground hard. The monster still not dead. Then, using his dagger, Auron stabbed the monster from above. After killing that monster, Auron quickly collected its eyes. This rain was an excellent cover for the [Smole]. Inside this rain, its level of danger rose significantly. Auron had wanted to back to his rest area. However, it was too late. Another [Smole] jumped from Auron''s back and hit him. Auron, who realized late, retaliated. He grabbed the monster from his back and slammed the monster to the ground. Then, with his dagger, he killed the monster. This situation happened five times more before it finally ended. As soon as no monster''s attack anymore, Auron collected five more eyes from the corpses on the ground. Then, he used the rest function on his vest. With a wet body, Auron slumped down to the ground. He looked at his vest and saw its health had gone down once again to 30. However, on the bright side, Auron had collected 18 eyes. The rain really limited his vision, which made his fighting power reduced a lot. Meanwhile, the monster was an agile type that needed to be followed everywhere it goes or else they could attack whenever they wanted. During the 5 encounters, Auron could only kill the monster after getting hit once by the monsters. This was why his vest''s health reduced a lot in such a short term. Auron had to wait until the rain stopped. Chapter 406 - Forest Field (2) At the rest area, Auron was mentally exhausted. With the health left on his mage, he might not be able to pass the fifth floor. Auron tried to remember the feeling when he was battling under the heavy rain. It was almost like battling in the dark without any light. He could not fight at all while his enemy could freely attack him from any side. Fortunately, this rain did not happen randomly. There was a scheduled time for this rain. When it rained, it would last for 3 hours before stopping. Then, one hour of the sunny day followed. Those 4 hours would make a cycle, which means in one day, there would be 6 cycles of raining and dry. When Auron arrived on this floor, he had on the last minute of the sunny day. Which was why a few minutes after Auron arrived, the rain poured down. Right now, Auron had to wait until the rain stopped, or he had to fight in such a dangerous situation. In his previous swordsman character, Auron rarely fought in such a disadvantaged position. Usually, when he was in a disadvantaged place, then his enemies would also have the same disadvantaged. During his wait, Auron was thinking a way of how he could surpass this situation. If Auron had to always wait when the rain stopped, his progress on this floor would be longer. Moreover, he had to play on two characters. When the rain stopped, the monsters would go hide. It would be difficult to find such small and agile monsters in this big forest with many places to hide. Not to mention the competition that would happen. Auron believed that there would be many others who would have the same thought as he did. All of them would start to hunt when the rain was stopped. 3 hours was up. During those three hours, Auron had racked his brain to remember how the monster fought. However, Auron could not find any idea yet. Since 3 hours had passed, the rain should have stopped. Auron went back to the fifth floor. And the rain really had stopped. However, as the rain had stopped, Auron began to see his competitors. They were also searching for the monsters. However, just like Auron, they could not find any. The monster really hid deep inside. A player found one monster that was hiding on a hole. However, as soon as the monster was found, the monster jumped out of the hole. And, with its quick speed, it bounced around trying to run away. The player, who found the monster, had used their movement skill to chase the monster. Unfortunately, that player was not an agile type. The monster quickly left the player and found another hiding place. Such a situation could be found throughout the forest. Most of the monster slipped out from the player. However, some players managed to stun or maim the monsters. With that chance, they managed to kill the monster. Unfortunately, not everyone was as fortunate as them, and Auron was one of them. He couldn''t even find any monster yet. Currently, there were more than 400 soldiers on this floor. And, almost 90% of them were the ones who put their all when the rain had stopped. So, during this time, they went searching the monsters madly as if the monster had exterminated their family. With this fierce competition, Auron didn''t make any progress at all. And, the one hour limit almost passed. Soon, it would begin raining. Auron could see many other participants had activated their rest function and teleported to the rest area. Auron was pondering whether he should go back or continue and try his fortune. He looked at his surroundings. There were only trees around, and he could not find anything extraordinary. Then, at one of the trees far from him, he saw a dark hole. From its size, a human could fit inside the tree. Auron approached the trees. And, what Auron had thought was correct, the tree had a hole that a human could fit inside. This tree was a strange one as the other tree around didn''t have such a big hole like this one. Auron went inside and looked at what was inside. Inside, Auron could not find any monster nor human. With only one entrance and exit, this could be a great place to kill the monster if he could lure the monster here. Not long after Auron went inside the hole in the tree, a drop of water came down from the sky. One drop... Two drops... Then, several drops more came down quickly, followed until it rained heavily. Inside the tree, Auron still could have an option to activate his rest function. However, he decided to wait for a few minutes before doing that. He wanted to try this. One minute... two minutes... Five minutes... There was still no monster that came to his way. However, Auron still focused out on his surrounding in front of him. At the ten minutes mark, Auron had finally seen a shadow lurking around. He focused all his vision to follow the shadow''s movement. And, it turned out the shadow was approaching him. Auron prepared his dagger and waiting for the monster. When the monster almost arrived, Auron started to chant a spell. In less than a minute later, the monster arrived at the entrance where Auron was. The monster saw Auron and tried to barge in. However, before the monster could move a step inside, A [Wind Bolt] hit the monster''s chest cleanly and reaped its life. Auron quickly collected its eyes and went back inside the hole. Unfortunately, no other monsters were coming at him. Auron began waiting once more. Ten minutes later, a shadow approached his hiding place. Using the same strategy, Auron collected two more eyes. Although Auron could not find the enemy all the time, this was better than didn''t get anything at all. Auron smiled as he had found a way to pass this floor. Chapter 407 - Forest Field (3) Although Auron did not meet with the monsters all the time, it was better than waiting passively inside the rest area. Three hours passed. During those three hours, Auron got a pretty good harvest. He killed 20 monsters and made 40 progress on his quest. As the rained had stopped, Auron could not see any monsters. So, he got out of the hole. Auron took several steps before got an idea. As this was a rare opportunity, Auron had wanted to make this place as his hunting base. When the rain started, he would have to come back to this place once again. However, with this many identical trees all around, it would be difficult to find this tree. Hence, he had to mark this tree first before leaving. With that in mind, Auron turned his body. However, what he saw surprised him. The hole was gone. He tried to search behind the tree and all the trees nearby. But, he could not find anything. This missing hole made Auron sighed. "Surely, this training would not be this easy." Auron thought inside his mind. What Auron had thought was correct. The hole was actually provided by this place. It would appear and disappear at random trees. And, the amount of that hole would only be 10% of the whole population of trees. The hole would appear 5 minutes before the rain started. So, if the training participant was fortunate enough, they could find the tree with a hole. The hole would last until 5 minutes after the rain had stopped. If the person inside the hole didn''t get out after the 5 minutes passed, then they would be forced teleport to a random place. As Auron got the initiative to get out by himself, he was not teleported. Unfortunately, Auron didn''t know about this information. That was why, when he found the hole was missing, he got panic. However, not long after, he calmed down as he pondered, "Is this the helping tool?" Actually, Auron had done his homework. He had searched for every information about the Training Tower. On this particular floor, Auron got the information that there would be a helping tool to help them finish their quest. However, what had stated in that information was not about a hole. Instead, it was a lure trap. On this floor, a randomly lure trap would appear throughout the forest. If the training participant encountered and acquired it, they could use it to attract a [Smole] from their hiding. The lure trap worked 100% effective. So, when they used that trap, at least, a monster would be attracted by the trap. This way, even when it was not raining, they could use the trap to progressed in their quest. With this information, Auron''s first objective when coming to this floor was to look for the trap that randomly appeared. However, not long after he arrived here, the rain started. So, he had to postpone his idea. Then, the rain stopped. Auron gave all of his efforts to look for the trap. However, it was futile. He could not find a single trace of the traps. At first, Auron thought that he was really unlucky. Then, he found the hole in the tree. He felt that he finally came up with a new way of completing this floor. When he saw the hole was gone, he finally realized that, right now, the helping tool was not the lure trap but the hole in the tree. Auron changed his objective from looking for the trap to looking for the hole in the tree. Since this helping tool was new, there was no information about it. So, Auron didn''t know that this hole would only appear 5 minutes before the rain started. Auron was looking for the hole. He looked at each tree carefully, so he didn''t miss out on any hole. Of course, he still didn''t forget about his mission here. He was also looking for any monsters around. Sadly, looking for a monster was really difficult. Almost one hour was up, and he could not find any trace of the monster. However, Auron was very fortunate. While he was looking for another hole, he finally found one when it was about to rain. This hole location was quite far from the previous hole he could find. As Auron found the hole, he directly went and waited inside. Not long after, the rain started to pour down on all of the forests. Auron had been on this floor for about 8 hours. He was really fortunate to quickly find the helping tool four hours after he arrived on this floor. There were around 420 soldiers on this floor. Not all of them could find the helping tool just like what Auron did. There were even some soldiers that already desperate and planned to stay at the rest area until the training was over. Auron got the chance to progress in his quest during this rains. Unfortunately, his harvest was not as good as the previous one. During these three hours, he could only get 20 eyes. Auron was disappointed, but he still thought positively as not everyone could progress as far as he could. The rain stopped, and Auron once again came out. Then, he went to look for another hole. These repeated activities happened 8 more times, which equivalent to 1 day 8 hours. Combined with the previous 8 hours, Auron had spent a total of 1 day 16 hours on this floor alone. Fortunately, that long time he spent was not futile. He finally managed to complete his quest on his mage character. Auron was happy as he got another free attribute point. When the rains were stopped, Auron went out and went to the next level''s portal. He submitted the required items before his vest was glowing, and he could use the portal. After teleporting to the next floor, Auron felt an oppressive atmosphere. However, he ignored it first as he quickly used the rest function and switched to his swordsman character. Chapter 408 - Forest Field (4) Currently, it was the fourth day and almost 5 days after the Tower Training started. There were slightly over 5 days left until the training ended. From over 3000 soldiers that participated in this training, right now, only 1500 soldiers left. This training purposed would filter the soldiers who had the fighting capability and not. Although having a high level gave some advantages to this training, but relying on the level alone was not enough. From those 1500 soldiers, most of them were on the sixth floor, one floor above where Auron''s swordsman currently located. However, there were some that still on the third and fourth floors. There were even some soldiers that already on the sixth floor. Auron opened his eyes and he was in the rest area. Currently, he was using his swordsman character. Auron immediately used the return function to go back to the fifth floor. He arrived randomly inside the forest. There was still half an hour left before the rain started. Without wasting any more time, Auron immediately went to look for the hole. Since he knew the way to clear this floor safely, Auron would not do this the hard way. He went up to every tree to find the hole. Sadly, everything would not always go as expected. During these thirty minutes, Auron did not manage to find any hole. As it was already more than one day, more and more people also began to realize the hole in the tree. The competition changed from finding the monsters into looking for the hole in the tree. As the number of the hole was few, the competition was fiercer. Auron managed to find three holes. However, all of them were already occupied. Because Auron could not find any hole during these thirty minutes, he went back to the rest area. He was waiting patiently in the rest area while resting. Although his swordsman still had a lot of health left, Auron didn''t want to take the risk. He knew the next level was more difficult than the current one. So, he wanted to use the rest of his health for the next few levels. Auron waited until the rain was over three hours later. During his wait, Auron was not idle. He was practicing for [Fire Combination]. The skill that only he, a player, had learned. During his free time, Auron would use the chance to learn this skill. However, just as he thought, it was difficult to learn this. He had thought that only went his fire elemental understanding raised to 50% that he could use this skill to combine some basic fire spell. Of course, everything was only what he thought. Auron never knew the truth since he could not use it yet. Raising fire elemental understanding was pretty difficult. Since he was starting over, his fire elemental understanding just only reached 4%. The difficulty was laid on the fact that only he, himself could raise the elemental understanding. It was no use to let the AI learned this since it would completely impossible to increase. However, Auron was not in a hurry. Right now, his priority was to raise his level first. He wanted to get to level 500 first and, now, he was halfway reaching that goal. Fortunately, during these three hours, his fire elemental understanding increased by 1%. His waiting was not futile. Auron stood up from his seat. He was getting ready to go out once again. A few seconds later, Auron arrived at a location somewhere inside the forest. When he arrived here, Auron didn''t notice anything special. Then, just like what he usually did, he began to search for the hole. However, when he was about to go looking, he noticed a strange hole. The hole''s size was only enough for a human. However, that was not the strange part of the hole. The strange part was the hole was not on the tree. Instead, it was on a cliff near him. The hole was also nearly hidden under the wild vine on the cliff. Besides, there were several trees that hid the hole as well. Auron was fortunate enough to notice this hidden hole. Auron approached the hole slowly. As this was not raining yet, there were no monsters around. So, it was safe. However, Auron still carefully approached the hole. Auron didn''t find anything special about this hole except it was hidden completely. He entered to hole carefully. Auron took the narrow path inside the hole. One step... Two steps... Auron entered a long and narrow path. It was so narrow that it was difficult for him to turn his body around. However, Auron kept on going inside. After five minutes of walking, Auron was confused. He met a dead end. At first, he thought that he found some sort of monster''s base. However, he only met a dead end. Auron tried to knock the wall. Maybe, he could find some secret door or something. After knocking several times, he could not find anything. With a dejected heart, Auron left the place. He had wasted more than 5 minutes to find nothing. Fortunately, when Auron was exiting the hole, he found a monster who was entering the hole. Auron didn''t miss this chance and immediately engaged in battle. Auron took out his sword. Then, he slashed it to the monster. The monster was caught off guard and could not block the attack. This one attack immediately reaped the monster''s life. Auron looted the eyes and went on. However, when he was not that far from the hole, he could see another monster coming towards the hole. "What''s wrong with this hole?" Auron thought. "Isn''t it just a dead end?" Auron was confused by the monster that kept on coming towards the hole when it was just a dead end. Auron blocked the monster from entering the hole. Although he was confused by this sudden situation, he also felt grateful. Usually, it would be difficult enough to find one or two monsters, but right now, he already killed five of them. Chapter 409 - Forest Field (5) An hour almost passed. Auron had waited all this time on the hole''s entrance. Although it was weird that the monsters streamed down to the hole, Auron didn''t really care. During this one hour, Auron had fought against 100 monsters. It was half of what he needed. However, the consequence was that he didn''t have any time to find any other hole on the tree. But, it was not a really big matter for Auron. He could just go to the rest area or just hid in this hole. Although he still didn''t know the reason why the monsters kept on coming here, he was sure that he could face it. It was 10 minutes before the rain poured down. Auron could not find any more monsters coming towards him. However, Auron didn''t leave the place. He had decided to wait in case there was a monster coming to this place again. 10 minutes later, it started to rain. Auron was inside the hole. Since he had nothing to do, Auron went back to inside. He was sure that there was something in this hole. If not, why would the monsters keep on coming to this dead-end? Surprisingly, when Auron went inside, he found one monster. Auron was confused. He looked behind him, and there was nothing. Auron was so sure that he didn''t let any monster passed him, so how could a monster suddenly appear inside the hole. He fought against the monster while thinking on this matter. However, no matter how hard he thought, he could not find the answer. "Well, this was a game. The monsters could have spawned anywhere in this forest field, including this hole." Auron thought. After killing the enemy, Auron continued to go deeper inside. However, not too far from where he met the first monster, he found the second monster. Then, the third monster. On the fourth monster, he even met with another two monsters. And, all of them were coming from inside, which was a dead-end. When Auron was fighting against three monsters, another monster coming towards him. Then, another one. The number kept on increasing. After killing 5 monsters, Auron decided to go away. Since the monsters kept on coming, Auron didn''t even have time to collect the eyes. He didn''t want to keep doing this meaningless act, which was why he escaped. Auron was drenched wet under the heavy rain. However, he had to escape, as there were a bunch of monsters behind him. As soon as the monsters came out of the hole, they spread out and went in every direction. Unfortunately, a portion of them still followed behind Auron. Auron kept on running. When he was far enough from the hole, Auron looked behind him. There were ten monsters behind him. 10 monsters were still a lot for him. It was not about killing all of them. However, it was more to protect his health left. Auron continued escaping for a few minutes more. Then, he looked back once more. Fortunately, the monster''s number had decreased. There were 5 monsters left. Auron gritted his teeth. He had decided to take a risk. Auron turned back, facing the monsters. He chanted an [Ice Wall]. A barrier of ice shot out from the ground. And, that wall of ice blocked the monsters'' advancement. [Smole] was a weak monster. That was why, when the wall of ice appeared and blocking the progress, they could not break through the wall. Instead, they split into two groups and attacked Auron through the side. The left group was contained with three monsters, while the rest went to the right group. Auron couldn''t see which group had fewer monsters. So, Auron just picked one randomly. He went to his right. Fortunately, Auron had picked the right group. He faced two monsters. However, he could not waste too much time since the other group coming towards him. Auron stabbed his sword towards the front monster. The aimed monster avoided the attack by leaping towards Auron. However, Auron had anticipated this. He raised his sword vertically. The jumped monster was cut into two and died. Meanwhile, the other monster had charged towards Auron from his side. Auron quickly did a diagonal slash. That slash missed the vital part of the monster. However, it managed to graze the monster''s leg and maimed it. Then, Auron finished the injured monster with a stab to its head. After killing the last monster, Auron turned his back. Three monsters had been waiting for him. They made a three-pronged attack towards Auron. An [Earth Spike] shot out from the ground and pierced the monster at Auron''s left. Then, Auron brandished his sword towards the middle monster. It killed the middle monster. However, the right monster was close to him. It opened its mouth widely. Then, it gnawed at Auron''s right shoulder. "Ugh..." Auron made a pained expression. Then, with his left hand, he grabbed the monster''s back and slammed it to the ground. With a stab on its stomach, Auron killed the monster. Auron had tried his best. But, in the end, he still got one damage from the monster. Auron quickly collected the monster''s eyes before another monster coming towards him. In this heavy rain, the monsters were moving actively. Just as Auron had thought, as soon as he finished collecting the monster''s eyes, another group of monsters had come towards him. Three hours passed. Under the heavy rain, and numerous assaults from the monsters, fortunately, Auron could hold on his vest''s health. During these three hours, Auron didn''t even have a chance to go back to the rest area since he had always facing monsters continuously. Under these continuous assaults, Auron''s health reduced by another five points. Fortunately, with the rain stopped, Auron''s torture had also ended. Auron began collecting his loot from the numerous corpse on the ground. He had completed his quest with this battle. There was even some leftover corpse on the ground. But, Auron didn''t take them. With everything completed, Auron reported his quest and went to the next floor. Chapter 410 - Gravity (1) Auron''s clothes still wet because of the rain when he arrived on the sixth floor. However, it was not for long because the clothes magically dried by itself. When Auron arrived on the sixth floor, a heavy pressure landed upon him. It was because of the gravity field. Starting from the sixth floor onwards, the scenery was the same as the five previous floors. What made it different from the previous floors was gravity. On the sixth floor and above, the gravity was three times from ordinary. Everything became heavier. Even Auron''s armor and sword became heavier than it supposed to be. This slowed down Auron''s movement. He had to put more energy just to raise the same sword. Auron took a step forward. His steps were heavier due to the weight. The sixth floor took the same scenery as the first floor, an empty field. What fortunate was the number of the monsters here was not as many as the previous floor. There were only 200 monsters each time it spawned. Due to the size of the field and the number of monsters, this made the place felt emptier. Auron looked around him and could not find anything. No monsters and no other soldiers. Auron checked his quest. It was the same as the first floor''s quest to collect the [Smole]''s head. However, the number had gone doubled. He needed to collect 200 of them. Fortunately, this floor was not as chaotic as the first floor with 30 thousand monsters. Auron walked several steps forward and found a pair of men and women fighting against five monsters. Auron saw them pretty struggling fighting against five monsters. The man was a swordsman while the woman was an archer. She took cover behind the man at the front and assisted the man. Unfortunately, the woman was still not used to the gravity. Her arrow kept on missing the target. It flew and fell to the ground, not too far from the woman. However, after several tries and putting more energy into her bow, she managed to hit once and twice. From this point, the two of them became more adept. It was fortunate that the two soldiers were in perfect sync and had great teamwork. They managed to fight against the five monsters perfectly. If not because of the gravity things, they would already kill the five monsters. Auron left the two soldiers to find a monster for himself. Not too far from where the two soldiers, Auron, found a monster. He immediately took out his sword. The speed of Auron taking his sword out was obviously slower than usual. Fortunately, the monster was also impacted by gravity. But, the effect was lesser due to its small body. To overcome this gravity issue, Auron had to take the initiative quicker than before. Which was why, when the monster charged towards Auron, he already slashed his sword. Just as he thought, his movement was slowed. Unfortunately, Auron was still not accustomed to the changed gravity. His previous slash had missed the target. Auron''s slash was too quick. So, before the enemy could arrive at him, the slash already went passed the enemy. Fortunately, Auron''s was not that far from The monster had leaped and aimed at Auron''s head. Auron, who missed the target, quickly turned his body sideways and jumped back. The monster jumped passed Auron. Auron quickly gripped his sword again and slashed towards the monster''s back. This time, he was on target. The monster, who landed on the ground, turned around only to meet with Auron''s sword. Auron pondered for a bit of his recent fighting experience. Then, he collected the monster''s head. Auron knew this one battle was not enough for him to adapt to the gravity. So, Auron walked to look for another enemy. One hour passed since he arrived at this place. During this one hour, he had fought with another four monsters. After these four battles, he more or less had adapted with the gravity on this floor. Since he had already adapted with the gravity, Auron became braver. He searched the enemy more actively. Auron even fought against two enemies at once. However, Auron still took care of his health carefully. He only fought at most with two enemies at once. If he met with more than two enemies, he would escape from them and look for other enemies. Another hour passed, Auron had killed 20 monsters. It was only 10% of his quest''s goal. Auron quickly looked for another enemy. Several hours lasted. Auron had spent more than 10 hours on this floor. Although the number of monsters not that many, the number of people on this floor also not that many. There were around 74 soldiers that were currently on this floor, including Auron. Because of this, Auron was not in any dangerous situation. But, his quest''s progress also great. Currently, Auron had collected 180 heads. 20 more heads and he could go to the next floor. It seemed this floor was not that difficult compared to the fifth floor. With 20 more heads left, Auron predicted he would need one or two more hours before he could complete his quest. If that happened, he would only need half a day to complete this floor while on the previous floor, he needed for more than one day. Thankfully, everything went as what Auron had expected. He completed his swordsman''s quest in another two hours. Auron quickly went to the next floor''s entrance and submitted his quest. Then, he went to the next level, excitedly. And, just like the second floor, A volcano scenery greeted the arrived Auron on the seventh floor. But, Auron didn''t continue to hunt. Instead, he went to the rest area and switched to his mage character. During him playing the swordsman character, Auron didn''t even use any spell from his mage. So, he didn''t really know the gravity impact on the spell. Fortunately, his mage character used a cloth armor. Auron could still move freely due to the lightweight. Chapter 411 - Gravity (2) Auron arrived on the sixth floor. Then, the weight from his equipment doubled. However, since it was just a cloth armor, the pressure was still maintainable. Before looking for any monsters, Auron tested his spell work first. He chanted a simple [Fire Bolt] and aimed at a rock on the ground in front of him. Unfortunately, the [Fire Bolt] missed the target. Although the effect on a spell was not a much as an arrow, it still had some impact on it. It landed quicker than it supposed to be. Auron walked forwards and looked for the monster. Since it was a night at the outside, the number of soldiers inside the floor was reduced. Not long after, he found two monsters. Auron chanted an [Earth Spike]. From the ground below the monsters, a spike made of the earth grew and spiked up towards the monster. Aiming this earth spike was easier compared to flying projectile like [Fire Bolt]. However, the gravity still had some effect on the [Earth Spike]. It''s forming, and piercing speed was noticeably slower than usual. Fortunately, Auron''s target was a weak monster. So, even though the speed was slower, but the monster could not dodge the [Earth Spike]. One of the monsters got pierce by the spike. Meanwhile, the other monster ignored its dead friend and jumped at Auron with its mouth opened wide. Auron took a side step, and with the back of his dagger, he hit the monster''s head hard. The monster crashed to the ground. Then, Auron swirling his dagger and stabbed at the monster''s back. Once Auron had collected the heads, he moved to look for other monsters. There was nothing on this floor. No trees, no big boulder, only flat land. Auron looked towards his west direction. There was nothing. Then, he looked at his east direction. At far away, he saw a small shadow. Auron knew that it was a monster. Without wasting any more time, Auron quickly departed to the east. It turned out the monster was not alone. There were two other monsters with it. These three monsters quickly noticed Auron''s presence and took the first action. The three monsters charged at Auron madly. Auron was calm. Previously, he would only fight against two monsters at most. However, right now, as he already had the confidence in his spell and his fighting skill, Auron took a step forward. He tried to challenge these three monsters. As the monster took the first action, Auron was taking defensive action. He summoned his [Earth Wall] and blocked the monster''s charge. Then, he went to the right. Auron thought that the monster should have split into two groups. Unfortunately, Auron was wrong. The monsters didn''t split and took the left path. Auron, who was taking the right path, didn''t find any enemies. Then, when he turned back, Auron could see these three monsters. With its small body, the monster''s movement speed was fast. They were already closed to Auron. Auron didn''t have any other options except fighting. The monster, at the foremost, jumped at Auron. It wanted to attack Auron using its claw. Meanwhile, the other two monsters already prepared to pound Auron as well. Auron raised his dagger and blocked the first monster''s attack. Then, with a sweep, he swung his right leg to sweep the other two monsters. One of the monsters got kicked. However, Auron missed the other one. The free monster bit Auron''s right leg. Auron''s free hand took the first monster and thrashed it away. Then, he used his dagger to stab the monster, which bit his right leg. The kicked monster stood up. However, Auron didn''t let it took any action. Before the monster could do anything, Auron had grabbed at the back of its neck. Then, he raised the monster up in the air. The monsters struggled at Auron''s hand. It tried to claw Auron. However, Auron took the first action, it slammed the monster to the ground. Then, Auron stomped its body before ending its life with his dagger. One monster left. Auron easily finished the last one. With that, 3 heads added to his collection. One hour passed by. Auron''s progress was quick. He already collected 25 heads in just an hour. It was already one eighth from the needed quest. Another hour passed. 25 more heads added to Auron''s quest''s progress. If everything continued with this pace, he needed 6 more hours to complete everything. Auron was satisfied with the collection speed. Because of that, Auron didn''t slow down or rush. Auron had completed his quest when the dawn came. In fact, Auron was a little bit quicker than he had predicted. Auron spent less than 6 hours to gathered the remaining [Smole]''s heads. With everything settled, Auron went to the portal and submitted his quest. Along the way, he could meet some players still trying to complete their quest. He also met with some monsters along the way that he killed. However, he didn''t collect their heads as he didn''t need it anymore. A few minutes later, Auron had submitted his quest and teleported to the next level. A scorching heat greeted him. Not only that, but a fireball also flew towards him. Auron, who just arrived on this floor, got shocked by the sudden fireball. He immediately used his movement skill and moved away to dodge the fireball. Fortunately, there was no one around, or else they would be suspicious of seeing a mage using a movement skill. After dodging the fireball, Auron didn''t immediately hunt for the enemy. He looked at his attribute first. He wanted to see the rewards he got. "It should be more than the previous 5 floors, right?" Auron thought. When Auron saw his current free attributes points, he smiled. From the previous floor, he got 4 more points. Which means each of his characters contributed two points. From this Tower Training, Auron already got 14 points. It was equivalent to one level. "This training is really superb!" Auron was so excited. Chapter 412 - Upgraded Volcano Field (1) Currently, it was the start of the seventh day since the training had started. Right now, Auron was on the seventh floor. So, everything was going as scheduled. If Auron could maintain this pace, at the end of the training, he should be on the lowest floor. However, Auron would think about that later on. He was already satisfied with what he gained until right now. Auron had no problem if the training had to end right now. However, since he still could continue, he would try as best as he could and raised his rewards. Auron used 10 points to raise attributes like what he usually did and kept the 4 points. Then, he prepared for this floor. Before Auron could walk, another fireball shot out to the air and flew towards Auron. Except for the gravity, there was one other thing that was different from the second floor, the fireball intensity. If, on the second floor, each volcano would launch a projectile every 5 minutes. Then, on this floor, each eruption would shot randomly once in 3 up to 5 minutes. This random shot would make it difficult for the soldiers on this floor to predict when the volcano would become active. Just like what happened to Auron right now, he had to keep his awareness as he didn''t know if a fireball would land on him or not. Even when he was in the middle of fighting, he still had to keep his awareness of his surroundings. After dodging the last fireball, Auron quickly moved from where he started. Not long after he was walking, Auron saw a woman who was fighting against six monsters at once. Auron recognized her, it was Julia. The number of soldiers here was fewer compared to the previous floor. Moreover, it was still dawn, so there were not many soldiers present. Julia was a strong fighter, so despite surrounded by these six monsters, she didn''t flinch. She killed one monster. However, three other monsters came. Julia was busy fighting against the eight monsters when another two monsters came at her. The number of monsters started to increase around her. Meanwhile, Auron, who was nearby, also got impacted. Three monsters, who were going to Julia, changed their target when they saw Auron. Auron prepared for battle. The number of monsters nearby started to rise up. Even though Julia had killed many monsters, but the number of monsters was not decreased; instead, it stayed on the same amount. Right now, the number of monsters around Julia was 9 monsters. Meanwhile, on Auron''s side, right now, he was also busy with 5 monsters. Auron was amazed by Julia. He had only fought with 5 monsters, and he had started to get overwhelmed. Meanwhile, Julia, currently, was fighting against 9 monsters at once, and she still could maintain her health. Although Julia''s level and equipment had an effect on the difference, Auron still could see that there was something he could learn from her. In specific, on how a mage fighting in a crowd. Auron was impressed with how Julia fought. However, right now, Auron didn''t have time to admire Julia. He focused on the five monsters in front of him. Two minutes later, Auron defeated two out of five monsters in front of him. During the fight, he got hit once. After defeating two monsters, he glanced at Julia. Auron saw that Julia''s approach was more aggressive. She attacked and ignored her defense. In the end, she killed five monsters. However, she got hit three times in return. Then, when Auron was about to focus again at his battle, Auron saw a fireball coming at Julia. He also noticed that Julia was not aware of the fireball coming at her. Auron shouted to warn Julia, "Watch out!!!" As Auron shouted, the monsters around him also attacked at unguarded Auron. His vest''s health reduced by three points. Julia heard someone shouting at her. Previously, she aware that there was someone else nearby. However, she could not see the person''s face carefully as she still occupied by the monsters around her. Hence, she didn''t recognize the person was one of her groups. Thanks to that shout, Julia began to see at her surrounding. Then, she realized the fireball was coming at her. She immediately jumped back as hard as she could. The fireball landed on Julia''s previous spot. This fireball crashed on the ground and made a small explosion. Julia, who had jumped back, was a step late. Although she successfully dodged the immediate impact, she could not avoid the blast and got blown away. Julia crashed on the ground. Meanwhile, the monsters who surrounded Julia previously died as a result of the fireball. However, the monsters that died was a small portion of the nearby monsters. As Julia laid down on the ground, the monsters who were not impacted by the fireball, approached the laying Julia. Auron, who saw this ignore the monsters near him. He immediately used his movement skill and moved to Julia''s location. Then, he jumped and used [Ground Slam]. Since Auron was using his mage character''s dagger, the damage from this skill was not that great. However, the shockwave created managed to blow the nearby enemies away. Auron didn''t stop right there. He used [Earth Wall] to block the monsters from one direction. Then, Auron looked behind him to see Julia''s condition. Julia was awake, and she knew that the man had helped her to pass this crisis. Because of that, Julia quickly stood up and started to escape with Auron. Auron also knew that the situation here was not good since it was already surrounded by many monsters. He led Julia and escaped together. Five minutes later, Auron and Julia had escaped the crisis. However, they still kept on running for a few minutes more before slowing down. Auron asked Julia, "Are you okay?" However, Julia didn''t answer Auron''s question. Instead, she looked Auron from top to bottom. Then, she asked confusedly, "You are a mage, but didn''t you just use a swordsman''s skill?" Chapter 413 - Upgraded Volcano Field (2) Auron had escaped from the monster''s encirclement. However, right now, he was in an awkward situation. During the previous situation, Auron was anxious when Julia got hit by the fireball and got surrounded by the monsters. Emotions started to take over his mind and made him did what he already did. Right now, after everything was calming down, Auron also started to wonder why he did that. If he thought it carefully, Julia was not in a perilous situation. Even if Auron didn''t do what he did, he believed that Julia could still escape the case even though she had to sacrifice some points on his vest''s health. Now, because of his actions, his secret was revealed. Although it was only to one person, this was a player. If Julia decided to leak Auron''s secret, he would be a wanted man to all of the players. Not only that, as a player, no matter how many times Auron killed Julia, but it also could not stop her from leaking Auron''s secret. Moreover, at this point, Auron could not kill Julia. Auron gasped at Julia''s question. He didn''t want to answer, but he could not escape this situation without doing anything. Meanwhile, Julia kept looking at Auron with a curious look. "I... I..." Auron stuttered. Julia had known that the mage in front of her was a player. However, she actually was not a greedy person. She knew that everyone had a secret. Even she had a secret that she kept herself. Actually, Julia was not asking Auron to say his secret, she just asked out of curiosity. If Auron decided not to answer her question, she would not pursue further. Sadly, Auron didn''t know this, though. Auron was thinking hard on how to answer this question. Should he answer truthfully, or should he evade the question? In the end, Auron answered shortly, "I just did." Then, silence permeated between those two. Auron was sweating, waiting whether Julia would press him with another question or not. Meanwhile, Julia stared at Auron. After a minute, Julia relaxed, "Okay. You have your secret. If you don''t want to answer, that''s fine. I was just curious." Hearing that sentence, Auron breathed a relieved sigh. Then, he heard Julia''s second question, "Thank you for saving me, but why do you save me? I could escape that previous situation by sacrificing 5 or 6 health." Another question that Auron could not answer. He sweated profusely. Auron''s eyes began to look around as he was thinking about the answer. He also didn''t know why he acted that way. "Ha... Ha... Ha..." Julia giggled, seeing Auron''s reaction. "Relax a bit. You don''t have to answer it if you don''t want to. Anyway, thank you for helping me." Julia thanked Auron once again. "How is your quest''s progress?" Julia asked. Auron answered, "I just arrived at this floor not too long ago and haven''t collected anything. The previous situation was the first monster that I encountered on this floor. Unfortunately, due to the fireball, I could not loot the item." Julia pondered for a bit, before saying with a smile, "I needed 5 more items to complete my quest. Let me help you after I finished. Take this as my way to thank you for your help." Seeing Julia''s smile, Auron confused. Was this really the woman that their group said was fierce. The one in front of him looked kind and angelic. Auron didn''t say anything and just nodded. With that, both of them continued to hunt together. This was really helpful considering the previous situation. Since Julia only needed 5 more, the next 5 monsters'' loot went to Julia. After that, all the following loot went to Auron''s mage. Auron''s quest''s speed increased significantly. Previously, Auron thought that he would need at least one day to finish the quest in one of his characters. Unfortunately, that was not the case right now. Julia was powerful. In only three hours since they went hunting together, Auron had completed half of the quest''s requirement. During their hunt, Julia was like a big sister that protecting her little brother. She would defend Auron as if he was weak and could not do anything. This protective action was further increased when Julia knew that Auron only had 33 healths left on his vest. Until this moment, Julia still had 83 health left on her vest. Auron was amazed by that result, considering Julia''s way of fighting. Julia''s way of fighting was more to the aggressive type. She kept on attacking and attacking. On the other side, Auron''s way of fighting was more to the calculative type. He would use the most efficient and less risky way to fight. Julia would block every enemies'' attack or clashed head-on with the attack. Meanwhile, Auron would dodge or avoid the attack if he needed to instead of exchanging attacks. Everything went smoothly. With Julia''s help, Auron completed his quest on his mage character for seven hours. "Let''s go to the next floor," Julia suggested Auron. Then, they went inside the next floor''s portal. Before parting, Auron didn''t forget to say his gratitude for helping him and said that he hoped that he could get another chance to hunt together once again. It was just small talk. Since every time they entered a new floor, they would arrive at a random location. So, it would be rare for a group of people would arrive at the same place. Moreover, Auron wasn''t going to continue using his mage character. He needed to work on his swordsman. Auron went to his swordsman character and started to collect the quest''s requirement. After finishing his swordsman character, he just realized the big difference when he hunted alone and went along with Julia. Auron''s mage character completed the quest in 7 hours with the help of Julia. Meanwhile, Auron''s swordsman character took almost 20 hours to finish his quest. With Auron''s way of fighting, he moved more carefully. This made Auron would avoid fighting against more than five opponents at once. Chapter 414 - Upgraded Frozen Field (1) Day eight. All of Auron''s characters were on the eighth floor. Everything seemed to align with the timeline. However, Auron knew that he could arrive on this floor with such a short time was due to his luck. If Auron didn''t help Julia on the seventh floor, it would take a day longer for him to arrive on this floor. Just like the volcano field, this floor, frozen field, also got upgraded. As soon as Auron arrived on this floor, he had difficulty breathing. The gravity''s pressure also landed on him. This gravity''s pressure made him sunk more on the snow below him. Auron''s feet had sunk until the snow was 10 centimeters above his ankle. Auron had to give more effort to lift his feet and took a step forward. Then, he had to move his other feet, or else he would sink once again. Not long after, Auron found a monster. He took out his sword and prepared for battle. Unfortunately, when he was about to swing his sword, his feet sunk under the snow. This made him lose balance, and his attack met empty space. The lone monster attacked Auron, who was off guard due to him losing balance. Auron, who was falling down, saw the monster coming at him. He raised his sword. Fortunately, Auron reacted quickly. The raised sword managed to block the monster attack. However, the monster didn''t stop attacking. Auron blocked the monster attack while he could not move. If he tried to move, then he could not focus on the monster''s attack. Fortunately, the monster was simple-minded. It didn''t know how to use strategy. So, the monster kept on attacking Auron from the front. Auron had blocked more than two attacks from the monster. When the monster wanted to launch its third attack, Auron saw an opening. He stabbed his sword to the monster''s stomach. The sword pierced through the monster''s stomach. Blood splattered on the snow and dyed it red. Auron raised his sword with the monster still in hanging on the sword. Blood dripping from the dead monster. Auron dropped down the monster from the sword. Then, he separated the monster''s legs from its body. After Auron took its legs, a few seconds later, the mutilated monster disappeared. Auron used this chance to get out of snow and moved once again. Not too far from Auron''s location, he noticed a big lake. However, the lake was frozen. On top of the lake, Auron saw two monsters at the edge of the frozen lake. He decided to approach them. The two monsters noticed Auron approaching them and immediately charged at Auron. However, Auron didn''t directly engage in battle with them. He was still on top of the snow. Auron wanted to fight against them on top of the frozen lake. Auron was afraid that if he fought the monster on top of the snow, he would sink once again and felt the same situation as the previous battle. The monsters charged Auron front his front. Auron had chant a spell previously. So, when the monster was close to him, he immediately launched the chanted spell, which was [Earth Wall]. Since the field here was snowy, the [Earth Wall] that appeared from the ground was made of snow. With the [Earth Wall] blocking the monster''s charge, Auron moved diagonally forward and moved to the frozen lake. When Auron stepped on top of the ice, a crack appeared. Auron''s weight, combined with the increased gravity, made him heavier. Fortunately, the crack on the lake stopped. It still could hold his weight, although his increased weight. The two monsters who lost Auron turned at their backs in the direction of the lake. Then, they charged once again at Auron. Auron, who was on top of the frozen lake, moved a little bit away from the lake''s edge. Each time he took a step, a crack appeared under his feet. Behind him, the monsters were still chasing on him. After a few steps, Auron stopped and turned back. He was ready to face the two monsters. One monster jumped up and attacked at Auron. Meanwhile, the other one still charging at Auron and wanted to bit Auron''s legs. Auron moved sideways to avoid the monster who was in the middle of the air. However, the monster didn''t give up. Using its claw, it stretched its little arm and tried to attack Auron with its claw. Sadly, Auron had moved away from the monster''s attack range. Its arm could not reach Auron. Meanwhile, the other monster had already arrived at Auron. Auron, who saw the approaching monster, bashed his sword on its back. The monster was cut in halves. The sword bashed the ice as well, which formed another crack. The jumping monster landed safely behind Auron''s back. Then, it immediately attacked Auron once again. Auron, who had finished killing one of the monsters, turned back and faced the incoming monster. He held his sword tightly, and he was ready to split this monster into half, just like the other one. However, Auron realized there was a new monster coming from his southeast. Calculating by its speed and distance, the two monsters would arrive at almost the same time. So, if Auron focused on the monster in front of him, then the other monster would hit him. Auron wanted to use one of his area skills. However, on this frozen lake, he was afraid that if he used one of his skills, then the ice would collapse and he would drown under the cold water. He still didn''t know whether that would happen or not, but Auron chose the safe path and didn''t use his skill. With the two monsters coming from a different direction, Auron fled to his west. This way, the two monsters had to change course to chase him, it would also make the two monsters coming from one direction. Now, the two monsters had come in the same direction, Auron didn''t waste any more time as he immediately slaughtered them. Then, he collected their legs. He didn''t forget the first monster''s leg that he killed. Chapter 415 - Upgraded Frozen Field (2) Time passed by, Auron had been on the eighth floor for eight hours on his swordsman character. As Auron climbed higher, the number of soldiers became more few. Hence, with the ratio of monsters and soldiers on this floor, Auron had to fight an unfavorable battle. During these eight hours, Auron had run away from more than five battles because of the ratio between soldiers and monsters. At first, Auron relaxedly fought against one or two monsters. However, suddenly, a quite of number came approaching him. Auron still tried his best to kill these monsters. However, the stream of monsters didn''t end. Auron even had to take some damage. In the end, Auron had to escape without getting anything. This made his quest''s progress halt for quite a few times. After these eight hours, Auron had only completed two-fifth of his quest. He still needed to kill around 120 monsters more. Unfortunately, the current situation was not that good. Monsters roaming around in a group of five and the distance between each group were close to each other. If Auron insisted on fighting, he would get surrounded before he could eliminate one group. Right now, Auron was waiting inside a small cave. When he was escaping the monsters, he accidentally found this cave. However, at that time, Auron could not go inside yet since he was still chased. Fortunately, using his movement speed, Auron could lose his pursuer. After losing his pursuer, Auron went back to the cave. He had to observe the situation first before continuing his quest. Inside the cave, Auron looking at the situation around him. The situation was impossible for him to continue his quest. If this continued, he would only waste his time. Auron racked his brain hard. When he was thinking, a chilling wind went inside the cave. It made the temperature on the cave dropped even further. Auron realized this weird situation. The wind blew harder as time passed by. Five minutes after Auron felt the wind the first time, the wind was unbearable. Auron had to move deeper inside the cave. Sadly, it was a small cave. Although Auron went deeper, he was still close to the cave''s entrance. A snowstorm began to blow around Auron''s location. The temperature dropped even further. Auron was shivering hard. He summoned [Fire Bolt] to warm him. However, it was no use. The fire also began to freeze. However, Auron didn''t give up. He chanted [Fire Bolt] continuously. Fortunately, the snowstorm didn''t take long. It only lasted for another five minutes before the temperature slowly went back to the average temperature on this floor. The snowstorm was one of the things that differentiate between the upgraded frozen field with the normal one. If the training participant was caught in the snowstorm, they would immediately be teleported to another place, and their health would decrease by 5 points. The fortunate thing was the snowstorm rarely appeared on this floor. It would appear every 12 hours on this floor. Hence, it would appear twice a day. Also, it would travel around to every place on this floor. After it moved to every area, it would disappear. Since it needed to cover a vast place, the snowstorm only lasted for five minutes in a location before it moved on. After the temperature went back to normal, Auron didn''t immediately go out of his cave. He stayed for another three minutes before going out. Because of this snowstorm, some part of the cave''s entrance was covered by the snow. Auron, using his sword, cleared the snow. Then, he went out of the cave. What Auron saw was devastating. Trees, branches, monster''s corpse, and rocks were shattered and scattered around. However, there was still a fortune. There were many monsters bodies around. Auron didn''t waste any more time and went to the nearby monster''s corpse. However, before he could loot it, the corpse disappeared. Not just the corpse, but the broken trees, the shattered rocks were also disappeared. Then, a few seconds later, the missing trees and rocks went back to the places it was before. Sadly, the monster''s corpse completely gone. Auron had to wait for the monster to spawn once again. After this wipeout, a second later, the monster began to spawn slowly. Auron took this chance to look for monsters before the number of monsters overwhelmed the soldiers. A monster appeared near Auron. Without wasting any more time, Auron went to the monster and killed it. Time slowly passed, Auron slowly collected his quest. In the end, Auron completed his swordsman character''s quest in 23 hours. Auron changed to his mage character and started to complete his quest. Since Auron knew the monster''s behavior here, he could shorten the collecting time. However, it still took 20 hours for him to complete. With both of his characters finished their quest in more than 20 hours, Auron could not move further as the training''s time had almost ended. When Auron finished his mage character''s quest, there was only an hour left before the training closed. With that much time, he obviously could not complete the required quest. That was why Auron decided to wait in the rest area until the time was over and enjoying all the facilities there. Auron never thought that he could achieve such a feat in this training. He was already pessimistic for his mage character when it only had 30 health left. He believed that the mage would be eliminated. But it didn''t happen. His mage character could complete the eighth floor and gained him several points. During this training, Auron got 22 free attributes points. It was equivalent to two levels for him or four levels for the ordinary players. For Auron, this was a great reward. It could shorten their distance with the upper-level players who got the backing of their guild or even noble around the kingdom. The training was over, both of Auron''s characters was summoned at the outside. There was no closing ceremony or some sort of that. They just had to give back the vest that they wore to the staff, and they could just go wherever they wanted. Chapter 416 - Gold Mine (1) It had been a day since the Tower Training had ended. Auron had got quite a good harvest from the training. He got 22 free attributes points and had used 20 of it. Meanwhile, he saved first the two leftover points. After allocating the free attribute points, Auron looked up at his character''s status. A popup window appeared and showed his character information. [Sword Of Life] Level: 260 Exp: 80% Hp: 107600 Mp: 132750 Strength: 625 Agility: 516 Vitality: 488 Intelligence: 845 Dexterity: 570 Luck: 275 Critical chance + 1% Elemental Understanding: Fire: 5% Earth: 2% Water: 2% Wind: 1% Attribute point: 2 Auron saw his status. Both of his health and mana had surpassed the 100 thousand marks. However, he was quite disappointed with his current health. Hence, Auron decided to allocate the two points to vitality. In his current situation, Auron''s mana could support his mana expense during a battle. Sadly, as a swordsman, his health was not that much compared to the other swordsman. Auron had decided for several levels onward, he would change his intelligence and vitality allocation. So, every time he leveled up, he would give two points in his vitality and one point to his intelligence. After settling everything, Auron continued his journey. Currently, he was on his way to Convid Village. Convid village was the village where the Fourth Prince''s former aide, Uncle Wang, was governing. As soon as the Tower Training had ended and Auron was about to leave the military base, an army staff had given him an envelope. Inside the envelope, there was an invitation for him. Auron read the sender, and it turned out Uncle Wang was the one who sent it for him. The kingdom had prevented any of its subordinate villages or towns or cities to attack each other even just to procure the mine or anything valuable. That was why the kingdom decided to create a competition to avoid unnecessary bloodbath. The winner would take the gold mine''s right for several years until the next competition began. This competition was not used for this gold mine. There would be a competition for every mine or resource that needed to be divided. Convid Village was invited to one of the competitions for a gold mine near it along with the other 5 villages. Among the 5 villages, one of them was managed by a player guild. Meanwhile, the others were controlled by noble or retired veteran soldiers. Despite the fact that the invitation came from Uncle Wang, but Auron knew that the Fourth Prince was behind all of this. After the Fourth Prince learned that Auron had such a mysterious secret, he had spent all of his effort to coax Auron. Unfortunately, Auron didn''t take everything for granted. Just like, when he was given a village to rule. He declined the offer, but as not to offend the Fourth Prince, he changed the request until he got the opportunity to join the Tower Training. Auron thought that everything had over. However, he never thought that the Fourth Prince still tried to rope him in by using this opportunity. However, Auron knew that the Fourth Prince had still sensible. The Fourth Prince knew that Auron didn''t like to be forced to do something. Hence, in this tournament, the Fourth Prince just hired Auron to be a fighter. In return, The Fourth Prince would not give something huge. It was just an average salary for a hired mercenary. Auron thought for a bit and accepted the offer. He felt that this was an opportunity for him. Although Auron had more than 10 years of experience, but he actually always had a thirst for battle. He liked to battle with different kinds of people. The salary that the Fourth Prince gave was a slightly above average, but it was still on the limit of the average wage. Hence, he knew that the Fourth Prince also took a step back. Since Convid Village was still a village, there was no teleportation portal. That was why Auron had to use another means of transportation. Auron chose to go using a carriage. He paid several silvers to go to this village. It was quite a bit pricey considering that the village was still new and there was still no proper road built on. It took Auron 6 hours to arrive at this village. When Auron arrived, the sun had just set. Auron decided not to bother Uncle Wang and went to the nearby inn. Since it was just a small village, there was only one inn here. That inn also merged together with a bar. The first floor was a bar while the second floor was lodging for guests. The village''s situation was not that crowded. There were only less than 40 people totaled in this village. Fortunately, when Auron arrived at the inn, there was still an empty room for him to rent. Auron quickly rent the room and paid the deposit for 1 silver. After securing his lodging, Auron went to the outside of the inns and decided to take a walk for a bit. The village''s environment was warm. People greeted each other when they met outside. Kids were playing around on the street without afraid. It was just like that the outbreak of the ancient ruins never happened. Auron passed by a man who was packing up his fruit stall. When passing by, Auron took a glance at the man''s things. At the corner of the booth, he saw something unusual. Auron approached the man''s stall and asked, "What is this?" The man was startled and turned over only to find Auron pointing at one of his fruit. He took out his knife and picked up the fruit. Then, he sliced the fruit that Auron pointed at and said, "This was our specialty here. It was sweet and sour at the same time. Here, you can try it!" Auron took the sliced fruit and tasted it. He could not help but murmured, "Interesting!" Chapter 417 - Gold Mine (2) A sweet and sour taste filled Auron''s mouth. As Auron''s chewed the fruit, he became more interested in this unique fruit. Auron never tasted this kind of flavor. Auron could not help but ask, "What is it called?" "Kalberry," The man answered. Auron looked at the man''s stall. He realized that there were still many Kalberry left on the booth. Such a great fruit, but not many people buy it. Auron was confused and asked, "Why there were still many Kalberry left? Was it not popular among the citizen?" "It could not be said not popular. This was a unique fruit that you could only find it here. But, you can see yourself, there are not many people who lived here. Travelers also still rarely passed by this small village. Moreover, almost every citizen here had their own Kalberry trees at their home." Auron immediately got an idea. Why didn''t he use this opportunity to get the distribution right of this fruit? He believed that this fruit would become famous. Auron asked, "I have a friend that would be interested in these fruits. Do you want to see him?" The man''s eyes were happy, "Really?" This man was the only one who sold fruit in this village. Hence, he also tried to sell different kinds of fruits. However, Kalberry was the one that filled up his storage. Sadly, the fruits that filled his warehouse the most were difficult to sell. When Auron offered this opportunity, the man got excited. "Sure. When will your friend come here?" "Ehm, it is already night. If he hurried, at most, he would arrive here at 10 pm. Maybe, you could leave me your address, and we will visit you tomorrow at your house. Or, we could visit you when you are selling your fruit at noon." "Sure... Sure... Thank you. You can come to visit me anytime." "Great! I will contact my friend. Can you give me the sliced fruit for my friend to taste?" Auron asked. "No problem... Here, take this and this and also this." The man was so excited that he gave many different kinds of fruits. Then, the man left Auron excitedly. Auron was left dumbfounded. His hand was full of fruits. In the end, Auron accepted everything and fled the scene. He continued to explore the village. While exploring, Auron didn''t forget his promise. He immediately called Roan and told him to come to Convid Village. As his best friend, Roan didn''t ask anything and immediately went on his way to Convid Village. He didn''t forget to invite everyone in the Dragon''s Den to come along with him. While waiting, Auron explored the village once more. He could see that the security in the village was still lacking. However, Auron knew that this village was still in development, and they would become bigger step by step. Moreover, the Fourth Prince was backing this village. At night, there were not many activities on the street, only some a.d.u.l.t men who volunteered to patrol the village. Auron went back to the inns. However, he didn''t go to sleep. Instead, he stayed on the first floor, which was the bar. The light was still on, and there were around 8 people inside the bar. It was not much, but this place was the busiest in this village during nighttime. Auron took a seat and talked with the bar owner. As Auron was talking with the bar owner, the people around him heard their conversation. They were curious and joined in the conversation. From a conversation between two people, it became a group conversation. Since it was still a small village, their relationship was tighter. Each person knew everyone around here, and they talked to each other. When the people knew that Auron was an outsider, they welcomed him enthusiastically. Moreover, when they knew that Auron was one of the participants in the gold mine competition, they respected Auron more. All of the people inside the bar gave Auron their blessings. Time passed by, the morning came. People started to leave one by one. The bar would also close soon. There was only Auron, Roan, and the people from Dragon''s Den inside the bar as well as the bar owner. Auron paid up the bill and brought his best friend to his room. Roan brought Keiran and Jedi with him since the other still busy with their own matters. "Here, taste this!" Auron took out the Kalberry. During the previous night, he was immersed in the conversation with the villagers. So, even though that Roan and the others came, he didn''t have time to bring the Kalberry out. The stall''s owner gave Auron 5 Kalberry, which means Roan and the others each got one whole fruit. Roan, Jedi, and Keiran tasted the fruits. All of them had the same reaction, just like when Auron ate it for the first time. Keiran was the one who got shocked the most. He came from a wealthy merchant family, and he had tasted many different kinds of fruits. However, this was his first time eating this kind of fruit. He had been wondering how this fruit could be still unknown. Auron didn''t have to explain his intention at all. Roan riffled Auron with questions, "Who sells this? Where does he live? How much he sells this? How many can he produce this in a day?" "Whoa... Relax, bro. Here is the address. I don''t know the detail, but you can ask him yourself. I cannot accompany you since I have to meet with Uncle Wang about the competition." "Okay," Roan took the address then, immediately grabbed Jedi and Keiran, and, without further ado, went to the address. Auron was left alone once again. In a day, he had been left out twice. The previous day, he was left alone by the fruits stall''s owner and now by his own best friend. Auron could only shake his head. He never knew inside a businessman''s mind. Auron exited his room, and he went to Uncle Wang''s residence. Chapter 418 - Gold Mine (3) Auron knocked on Uncle Wang''s residence''s door. A few seconds after that, the door opened. Uncle Wang was the one who opened the door. When Uncle Wang saw the man who knocked on his door. He immediately recognized Auron. "Good morning, Uncle Wang," Auron said. "Good morning! Please come in!" Uncle Wang said. Auron followed Uncle Wang inside his house. Inside the house, Auron met with Uncle Wang''s daughter. He nodded at Uncle Wang''s daughter and took a seat. Uncle Wang sat in front of Auron. Then, he began, "Thank you for coming. If you come, I reckon you have agreed to participate in the upcoming tournament?" Auron nodded, "Yes. But, can you explain more detail about the tournament?" However, before Uncle Wang could explain more, his daughter interrupted them and served the two of them teas. Then, she left the two of them alone. "Thank you," Auron said, followed by a smile from Uncle Wang''s daughter. Then, Uncle Wang began to explain. The gold mine competition was participated by 6 nearby villages, and Convid Village was one of them. Each of the villages would send a group of 5 people that were going to represent them. Each of them had to be under the level they had agreed upon, which was level 300. They could send their villagers, hire mercenaries, or asked help from travelers as long as their level did not pass 300. The six groups had to participate in 4 types of tournaments. Each tournament had a different theme. The number one place from each tournament would get 25% of the produced gold from the gold mine. So, if one village could win all four tournaments, they would get all the gold produced by the gold mine. Of course, getting four tournaments was not easy. The four themes of the tournaments were one on one duel, group fight, monster hunting, and herb collecting. With these different themes, some villages only focus on one of the tournaments. So, their participant was made up of specialized people at one skill. Uncle Wang, as the leader of Convid Village, wanted to grab the reward from one on one duel or group fight. "So, have you invite other people?" Auron asked. He just came here because of the invitation, so he thought that Uncle Wang had already invited other participants. However, to Auron''s surprise, Uncle Wang shook his head. "Since you have agreed to participate in the tournament, I will leave the matter of the other participant to you." "You can find your teammate by yourself. I just hoped that you could claim one win and gave us some portion of the gold mine." "Really? But what about their requirement?" Auron confused. "Don''t worry, just say it, and I will try my best to fulfill their requirement." Uncle Wang answered "But, if you could negotiate with them, please do so. I will remain forever in debt with you." Uncle Wang added with a smile. With that said, Uncle Wang concluded the conversation, "If you have any more questions, please don''t be shy to ask me." Auron exited Uncle Wang''s house. Now, he had a new mission to recruit his teammate. He only had less than three days before the first tournament starts. Sadly, his friend, Roan, and Jedi could not participate since their level was over the limit. Moreover, their character was not suitable for battle. The one that was still inside the level limit was Keiran. Unfortunately, Keiran had rejected the offer when Auron asked him the last night. Auron wanted to get back first the inns. However, on his way back, Auron arrived in front of the fruit''s seller. The fruit''s seller was in front of his house. In front of him, there were Roan, Jedi, and Keiran. All of them were smiling happily. It seemed that their business matters ends in a happy ending. Without further ado, Auron approached them. Seeing the newcomer, all of them welcomed Auron excitedly, especially the fruit''s seller. This opportunity was given to him because of Auron. So, he was really grateful to Auron. Auron did some small talk before leaving with Roan and the others. The fruit''s seller didn''t forget to leave some present for Auron and his companion to take. Auron and his friends went back to the inns. On his way, Auron asked Roan, "How was it?" "It was great!" Roan happily said. "This fruit was a masterpiece. I believed that it will sell like water. The problem was the man''s output was not that much. He said that he would ask for help from his friends and other villagers." "But, for a start, the man''s output was enough. How was your end?" Roan asked back. Auron started to explain at Roan. He also asked Roan if he had some friends to introduce to him. Sadly, Roan''s answer was just Auron had expected. He didn''t have anyone to introduce within the level limit. All of his friends were above the level limit. This was also the same with Jedi and Keiran. Auron started to get a headache. He also didn''t have any acquaintance within the level limit. Auron went back to the inns. He tried his last chance by asking the bar owner. He knew that the bar owner would have more acquaintance. But, the bar owner also didn''t have any acquaintance. With all of these depressing answers, Auron also didn''t know how to search for his teammate. Moreover, Convid Village was just a small village. There were no mercenary guilds here. In the end, Auron had to give up in trying to find his teammate. He was really hopeless. At night, Auron went back to Uncle Wang''s residence once more. Auron told Uncle Wang about his concern. He asked Uncle Wang to find him his teammate. Uncle Wang also knew about Auron''s matter. Since this was also concerning the village he leads, Uncle Wang decided to help Auron to find his teammate. He asked Auron to come back tomorrow evening to be introduced to his teammate. Chapter 419 - One on One Duel (1) Three days later, the first tournament was about to begin. Uncle Wang had kept his promise. He spent all of his effort to give Auron the best for his teammate. Uncle Wang had hired four mercenaries from four different mercenary guilds. He did this to avoid the mercenaries ganging up on Auron who was the only outsider among them. Because the four of them didn''t know each other, they also silently agreed to everything that Uncle Wang had ordered. The 4 mercenaries that Uncle Wang had hired were level 300. When Uncle Wang introduced Auron who had a lower level than them, the mercenaries didn''t show any different attitude. Even when Auron was made the leader for all of them, nobody disagreed. All of the mercenaries had thought that Auron was the young master of this village. So, despite the fact that they mocked Auron''s level, but nobody voiced their dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, Auron also kept up with Uncle Wang''s arrangement. He acted like a young master and behaved arrogantly. He knew that the mercenaries would obey him because of his connection with Uncle Wang. If they knew that Auron was also hired just like them, all of them would obviously rejected Auron as their leader. During these past three days, Auron had used the time to get to know his teammate. Just like Uncle Wang''s original target for this competition, he had wanted to at least claim a victory in the one on one duel or group fight. Because of this reason, Uncle Wang had hired mercenaries who specialize in battle. The four mercenaries'' class was cleric, mage, swordsman, and thief. This was the ideal class composition for the group fight. Uncle Wang also thinking about Auron when he was hiring. So, the swordsman that he hired was the tanker type who had high health points. Auron began training with the four of them as soon as they got to know each other. They mainly practiced on fighting as a group. As they only had a little time, they used their time wisely. As time passed by, their coordination was getting better. Unfortunately, two days were not enough to perfect their coordination. The first tournament was about to begin. The first tournament''s theme was one on one duel. Each group would send one of their members to participate in the battle. Auron as the group''s leader went to the referee to take the lottery to determine his opponent. Then, Auron got number six which means his group would face the one who got number 5. Number six also means that he would go the last during this tournament. Of course, going last would have its advantage. They could observe their opponents and also prepared longer than the first group. Auron went back to his group. As the leader of the group, Auron had the right to decide who would go to participate in this battle. Auron took a glanced at his opponent''s group''s member. He had tried to determine his opponent''s class. However, their opponent was not careless. Each of them had tried their best to disguise their class. Auron could not help but ask his teammate''s opinion. The one on one duel was the fastest among the four themes. If you lose, then you would be eliminated. No excuses allowed. Auron looked at his teammate. Then, he asked, "Who do you think should go?" Each of them looked at each other. The cleric shook his head. Obviously, he would not go in this one on one duel since he could only support. The mage also followed the cleric in opting out. He knew that there was some close combat mage that excelled in one on one duel. But, he was not a close combat mage. So, he also opted out. This left the group with the swordsman, the thief, and Auron as the options. From the start, the thief had already shown his don''t care attitude with this one on one thing. He had only come here to participate in the group fight. The thief raised his hand and said, "Not me!" Then, the swordsman had volunteered to participate in this duel. However, from the training in the last two days, he had already seen that the swordsman was really the tanking type. He didn''t have any damage. If the swordsman had to participate in the duel, he surely would not be able to kill his opponents. He would only become a punching bag for his opponent. Auron decided that he was the one who was going to participate. Of course, although the swordsman was dejected, no one objected to Auron''s decision. With that said, the tournament had begun. The first match was between a player village against an NPC village. Although the player guild who controlled the village was not within the top 100 guilds, but it was still a strong guild. The battle ended quickly with the player village win. The player village had won by a huge margin. They overwhelmed the NPC village and crushed their opponent. Then, the second match began. This second match was quite a match. It was a battle between a swordsman and a thief. The thief tried to overwhelm the swordsman with his speed. However, the swordsman turned out also the agile type. So, the battle between the two of them could be said a battle of speed. Unfortunately, the thief was faster since there were many thieves'' skills that increased speed. Seeing that he was lost in terms of speed, the swordsman changed his strategy. He didn''t throw away his speed, but he used some strategy to corner the thief. In the end, the thief still won by a small margin. With the thief win, the second match had over. It was now the time for the third match. Auron took up the stage. His opponent also took up the stage. Then, he glanced at his opponent. A man in his twenties showed up. As soon as the man showed up, he took out his weapon, a bow. Chapter 420 - One on One Duel (2) Archer was a rare choice for a one on one duel. However, an archer could win in a one on one duel. An archer could use two kinds of bows. One of them was a crossbow. The crossbow''s range was short, but it could shoot rapidly. This weapon was suitable for a close combat fight. Meanwhile, the weapon that Auron''s opponent took out was not a crossbow. It made Auron confused. The referee was about to begin the match, but Auron''s opponent didn''t have any intention to change his weapon. "Match 3, Start!" The referee starts the match. As his opponent was a range class, Auron had to close the gap. So, he went forward and charged at his opponent. However, to Auron''s surprise, the opponent didn''t do anything to avoid Auron''s attack. Then, he raised his hands and opened his mouth, "I give up!" Auron stopped his attack. This incident was unprecedented for him. It was already weird for his opponent to use his bow in a close combat battle. However, he gave up as soon as the match began. The referee looked at Auron''s opponent''s way. Then, he declared, "Match 3 over! The winner goes to Convid Village!" "We will take a 10 minutes break before we begin the next round of matches!" The referee said as he went down the stage. This kind of incident was not surprising for the referee. The referee was dispatched from the military, and he had already led many competitions like this, and this was not his first time seeing a match ended like this. Usually, the village''s goal, who gave up the match like this, was not on the fight theme tournament. This kind of team would also give up on the group fight and focused out on the last two themes, monster hunting, and herb collecting. This suspicion was increased further because of the group''s job composition. Their group consisted of 3 archers. With three archers, it was apparent that they aimed at the monster hunting. Auron went down the stage. He received this result happily. His group could advance further without doing anything. If only all of his matches like this, he would be pleased. "You are very lucky!" "You are awesome, leader!" Auron''s teammate jokingly said to Auron. Auron didn''t reply to their joke and just sneered. Then, all of them waited for the next round to begin. 10 minutes later, the referee stepped up. Since there were only three teams left, there was one team that would directly advance to the next match. And, that team was the team from the first match, the player team. Meanwhile, Auron''s team had to participate in one more match to get into the final. Just like the previous match, Auron was the one who went on the stage. Auron''s opponent was the thief who was the winner of the second match. As the two contenders were ready, the referee began the match. As soon as the match started, the thief charged towards Auron. He used the same strategy that he used when he fought the swordsman from his previous match. It was because Auron didn''t have any match before, so he could not see what kind of swordsman Auron was. What''s more unfortunate was Auron, also the agile type, and he was faster than the swordsman he fought previously. Fortunately, the thief had a level advantage. His armor also was the best rare set armor that a level 300 thief could use. With these bonus advantages, Auron''s speed was slightly lower than his opponent''s speed. However, this small difference in speed was because the thief didn''t use any of his movement''s skill. The thief was charging at Auron. Auron took out his sword and blocked the thief''s dagger. The thief had known that Auron could prevent his attack. So, as soon as Auron blocked the attack, the thief had used [Turn Back]. With this skill, the thief immediately teleported to Auron''s back. Then, he followed with [Back Stab]. Auron didn''t have any time to react to this combo. When he was about to turn around, the attack already reached his back. Fortunately, Auron''s defense was not low. Moreover, he also wore a set of swordsman equipment that increase health massively. The thief damage was not that low. However, compared to Auron''s health, it was not mean that much. Auron didn''t want to be a punching bag. It was his turn to attack. Auron brandished his sword and followed it with [Bash]. The attack was avoided by the thief. However, the [Bash] hit the thief. Moreover, the [Bash] skill stunned the thief. Two seconds stun was a great way to increase his advantages. Auron didn''t waste these two seconds. He used another skill, [Death Hack]. A series of slash was launched at the stunned thief. The thief could not do anything and just received all of the attacks. These attacks reduced 30% of the thief''s health. Actually, Auron''s damage was not that serious. However, the thief''s health was not that many, to begin with. The thief used his speed and intended to overwhelm Auron. However, Auron didn''t let that happened. He pressured his opponent to exchange attacks with him. Getting overwhelmed by Auron''s attack, the thief made several mistakes that Auron used to increase his advantages further. In the end, Auron had won the match. Although he only won with a slight margin, but a win still a win. Auron walked down from the stage. He had 10 minutes preparation before the final match began. Meanwhile, Auron glanced at his next opponent. The opponent sat relaxed. He saw Auron glanced at him, but he didn''t care. He had seen Auron''s performance, and he felt that Auron was not worthy of being his opponent. Auron''s next opponent scoffed at Auron and mocked him. He raised his thumb and turned it down at Auron. Then, he laughed at Auron. 10 minutes passed by. It was the time for the final match to begin. Auron stood up from his seat. Chapter 421 - One on One Duel (3) Auron walked up to the stage. Meanwhile, his enemy, as soon as the referee called them, he stood up and jumped to the stage. Auron''s enemy was the one who mocked him previously. He landed on the stage powerfully. A crack appeared on the stage''s floor where he landed. Auron''s opponent wanted to show off his strength. Moreover, the audience favors him more compared to Auron. With the difference in levels and power, no matter where you looked, Auron would be the one that lost. Moreover, his opponent''s body was more burly compared to Auron. Auron tried to calm his mind. He knew there was around 40 levels difference between him and his opponents. But, with the ''cheat'' he had, he should already cover the gaps in attributes. Sadly, the opponent had rather powerful backing. It was shown with the opponent''s superb equipment. It was a complete epic grade equipment set. Not only that, but the opponent also used all of his accessories slots. Auron walked up to the stage. Along his way, his opponent already tried to intimidate Auron using the audience''s cheer. To set his mind right, Auron didn''t see his opponent. Instead, he looked at the ground in front of him. One step at the moment, he took the stair led to the stage. Then, under the audience''s cheer, Auron and his opponent faced each other. At this moment, Auron looked straight at his opponent''s eyes. His opponent had the same height as him, which made Auron could see his opponent''s eyes easily. Meanwhile, Auron''s opponent kept on mocking him and making gestures to intimidate Auron. This was the last match for one on one duel tournament. Whoever wins this match would become the winner and the village which they represent would get 25% of the mine''s profit. Uncle Wang, who was seated at the VIP seat, looked calmly at the match. As the one who had the Fourth Prince''s backing, he actually didn''t really care about the mine. As the loyal servant of the Fourth Prince, he wanted to help the Fourth Prince to forge a good relationship with Auron. Auron''s opponent had the same class as him, swordsman. And, he was also a strength type swordsman. A battle between an all-rounded swordsman and strength swordsman was about to begin. Auron could be considered as an all-rounded swordsman because of his attributes. The referee looked at both contestants and asked them to be ready. Not long after, the referee blew his whistle, which indicated the start of the match. Auron''s opponent took out his great ax. A strength type swordsman usually would choose one of the three weapons with significant damage, spear, ax, and hammer. And, among those three, the ax was selected the most. A spear had the most significant damage, but its attack speed was rather slow compared to ax and hammer. Meanwhile, the hammer had the highest attack speed, but its damage was the lowest among the three. With the ax in hand, Auron''s opponent wanted to end this match as soon as possible by using his [Charge] skill at Auron. Auron had seen his opponent''s arrogant attitude and his confidence. From those two, Auron could know that this was what his opponent was going to do. Auron calmly jumped to the side. However, he didn''t launch any attack as the opponent''s madly swung his ax. Instead, Auron widened his distance with the enemy. Missing his target, the opponent charged at an empty spot. He immediately turned towards Auron and chased him. This time, Auron didn''t intend to dodge the attack. Instead, he faced the attack and blocked the ax with his sword. Bam... The high strength of Auron''s opponent could be seen with this one clashed. As Auron blocked the attack, Auron lost the clash and had to use both of his hands to stop the ax from advancing further. Auron''s opponent didn''t stop right there. He lifted his ax into the air and prepared to slam it once again. This time, Auron didn''t let the opponent did that. Auron used [Shining Cut] and unleashed three sword slashes before moving away. The opponent was taken by surprise that Auron could launch an attack after receiving his powerful strike. He was one step late to block the attack. Three sword slashes landed on his armor. Auron''s opponent looked at his health. Then, he laughed. Auron''s three attacks only reduce 2% of his health. It was all thanks to the epic grade equipment that he wore. Seeing Auron''s low damage, Auron''s opponent became more aggressive. Auron still assessed the situation calmly despite his small damage. The audience''s cheered up, vigorously seeing the intense battle. Under the riot of the audience, Auron''s opponent attacked aggressively. This situation kept on going for 5 minutes. Under the audience''s cheer, Auron''s opponent''s spirit kept on going up. His attack became more varied and deadly. In his eyes, there was only one thing, Auron. Although Auron''s opponent''s spirit was high, his teammate didn''t have the same expression as him. The current situation didn''t favor them. Under Auron''s calm and careful attack, currently, Auron''s opponent''s health was in the 50% mark. Meanwhile, Auron''s health was still at the 90% mark. What made Auron''s opponent''s teammate worried more was the fact that Auron''s opponent didn''t realize he was the one on the losing side. The leader of the team shouted to his teammate to remind him of the situation. However, the sound of five people shouting was lost to the audience''s cheers. Auron''s opponent could not hear anything at all and kept on keeping attacking Auron. At one moment, Auron''s opponent cleanly hit Auron and blown Auron away. He reduced Auron''s health by 8%. He felt strong and scoffed at Auron. Then, he looked at his teammate. At that time, he realized something. His teammate''s expression was not good. Noticing the strange situation, Auron''s opponent looked at the situation thoroughly. Then, he realized the real situation. He was on the losing side rather than the winning side. Chapter 422 - One on One Duel (4) The smug expression on Auron''s opponent vanished. He looked at Auron, who already stood up. In a fit of rage, Auron''s opponent charged at Auron. However, this time, he was being more careful. The situation didn''t favor him. He only had less than 40% of his health left. On the other hand, Auron still had around 80% of health left. Although their difference in equipment was vast, he knew to defeat Auron was not as simple as it looked. It could be seen from the fact that he could only reduce 20% of Auron''s health despite his significant damage. Auron''s opponent''s team leader sighed and shook his head. Fortunately, Auron''s opponent had realized his current situation. He thought that, after this, he should discipline this member of his. Auron had realized the change in the opponent''s movement. He knew that the enemy had understood the situation he was in right now. Auron had pretended to be weak and made his fighting style messy. He pretended to be panic in front of his enemy and let the enemy thought that he was on the winning side. However, in truth, everything was under Auron''s control. Sadly, everything didn''t go well. Even though Auron pretended to keep pretending against an enemy with quite good equipment was not easy. Auron had done well in the first five minutes. Unfortunately, everything would not go well as expected, the last blow that Auron took was pure because of his mistake. What''s more unfortunate was that the previous strike made the enemy realized the situation. With the situation changed, Auron threw away all of his pretenses and used all of his strength. Facing the charging enemy, Auron prepared to dodge. He knew if he clashed with his opponent, he would be the one that lost the clash. Auron jumped to the side to dodge the attack. Not only dodging, but Auron also unleashed his [Wind Slash]. Auron''s opponent saw the [Wind Slash] and stopped charging. He had to preserve his 40% health. Auron''s opponent also used [Wind Slash]. Both [Wind Slash] clashed and canceled each other. The clashed [Wind Slash] made a loud boom sound. Under this sound, the audience went wild. Auron''s opponent frowned. He knew that his [Wind Slash] should be stronger than Auron''s. However, everyone could see the result. It canceled each other. While frowning, Auron had already taken the chance and charged towards his opponent. Auron''s opponent saw Auron charging and blocked the attack with his ax. At that time, Auron''s opponent just realized something. A purple glow was shrouding Auron''s weapon. Yes, Auron had used [Weapon''s Aura] and increased his damage. This was why Auron''s [Wind Slash] could cancel his opponent''s [Wind Slash]. With the [Weapon''s Aura], Auron''s strength could match up with his opponent''s strength. However, he could only hold the enemy''s power and not overpowering him. Auron''s opponent''s weapon started to be shrouded with a purple aura. It was Auron''s opponent''s turn to use the [Weapon''s Aura]. With the new power from the aura, Auron''s opponent pushed Auron''s back. Auron jumped back. However, his opponent didn''t let him ran away. Auron''s opponent swung his ax, which Auron blocked using his sword. Auron was losing the clash, but he still could hang on. Meanwhile, Auron''s opponent was still barraging Auron with attacks. Auron was trying his best to block the attack despite the difference in power. After a minute under the enemy''s barrage, Auron''s weapon''s glow started to dissipate and vanished completely. Auron''s opponent swung his ax horizontally and tried to chop Auron''s in half. Obviously, Auron would not let that happened. He put his sword to block the attack. Unfortunately, the difference in power took effect. Moreover, Auron''s [Weapon''s Aura] had gone. During this last clash, Auron was blown away and almost got out of the arena. The audience went wild once more. An exciting battle stirred up their excitement. Meanwhile, at Auron''s side. His teammate shook his head. They didn''t even worry about Auron''s condition and knew that this would be the result. Only the tanky swordsman that seemed worried about Auron''s situation. Auron had to quickly get up, his opponent had already attacked him once more. Auron definitely would not want to fight the enemy by lying down on the floor. Once again, Auron was under a continuous assault from his opponent. Auron was on the defensive side. Under this barrage, Auron''s health was reduced slowly. From 80%, it decreased to 40%. Fortunately, Auron also didn''t idle. He also reduced his opponent''s health quite much. His opponent had 25% of his health left. If looking at the number, Auron still had the advantage. However, if looking at the bigger picture, if this situation continues, he would be the one that lost the battle. Auron had to change his strategy. However, he knew that it would be not easy. Moreover, he already experiences the enemy''s set equipment. Even his high attribute could not keep up with the epic grade set equipment. If only Auron was on the same level with his opponent, he believed that he would still manage to fight his opponent to a standstill despite the difference in equipment. The battle went on¡ªboth of Auron''s and his opponent''s health reducing. However, Auron''s health reduced faster. Fortunately, he had advantages at the beginning, or else he would already have no chance to win. After several minutes going on, finally, Auron''s health was the same as his opponent''s health, which was 10%. Although both of them had the same health, Auron''s opponent didn''t look panic at all and still felt confident. Meanwhile, Auron''s brain had working hard to look for a way to win this battle. Auron gritted his teeth. He had no choice but to do one last thing. He could not use his mage''s spell because it would expose his secret. However, there was one spell that he could use that would be hard to be identified even though he used that spell. Auron secretly used this spell, [Wrath]. Chapter 423 - One on One Duel (5) [Wrath] was one of few spells that mage could use to buff themselves or their comrade. This skill could be categorized as an advanced spell. However, very few of mage would use this because of the repercussion after using this spell. If they could not use this spell, then they would not do so. The duration of this skill was limited. Meanwhile, after using this spell, they would be slowed down for quite some time. Auron had some time to buy some [Wrath]''s skill book and raised it to level 3. For a level 3 [Wrath], the spell would increase the targeted melee''s damage by 3%. Meanwhile, the duration of the spell would be 30 seconds. Unfortunately, the repercussion also increased along with the raised skill level. After the spell duration ended, the targeted user''s attack speed and movement speed would be reduced by 10% for 10 seconds. Although it would only reduce 10%, don''t underestimate this 10 seconds, moreover, during an arena battle like this. This 10% could turn the direction of the fight. 30 seconds was not a short time. However, it was also not a long time. In 30 seconds, Auron had to kill his opponent, who only had 10% of his health left, or at least, he had to reduce his opponent''s health to under 3%. It was a difficult mission to achieve that. However, Auron didn''t have any choice. Fortunately, he was inside his swordsman''s character. As a swordsman who specialized in close combat battle, the [Wrath]''s 3% damage increase means a lot to him. As soon as the [Wrath]''s buff took effect, Auron immediately used everything he had. He used another [Weapon''s aura]. Then, he used his [Charge] skill and rushed out to his opponent. Auron''s opponent was aware of Auron''s movement. Even though he was confident, the battle was in a crucial state. He would not want to make any more mistakes, so he had already monitored every Auron''s movement. When Auron had charged to him, he also copied Auron''s moved. As a strength type swordsman, this type of challenged was what he was like the most. Moreover, he had already seen that Auron''s strength was not as high as him. Auron''s opponent also used [Weapon''s Aura] and [Charged]. Both Auron and his opponent charged at each other. Not long after, both of them met in the middle of the arena. The clash made the audience went wilder than before. The audience knew the winner of this clash would mostly win the battle. And, most of them believed that Auron''s opponent was the one that would come out as the winner. However, to everyone''s surprise, Auron didn''t get blown away by the clash. Instead, Auron slightly overpowered his opponent. Holding his ax, Auron''s opponent also got surprised by this result. His opponent kept on surprising him with his sudden increased strength, which he had no idea where it had come from. However, he could not think about it right now. Auron put more strength into his weapon and pushed his opponent''s weapon more. His opponent still holding on. He knew that he could not keep on doing this. He only had 30 seconds before [Wrath]''s buff ended. Auron''s opponent kept his best and put more strength into his weapon as well. He didn''t want to lose out to Auron in terms of power. However, when he put more resistance and tried to push Auron back, Auron pulled out his weapon. Auron''s opponent limped forward because of this. At this time, Auron already moved to his side and chopped his sword aiming at his opponent''s arm. Even though Auron''s opponent was losing his balance, but he was not a newbie. He swept his weapon to the side where Auron was located. Seeing this, Auron, who was moved faster, stopped his attack, then he ducked down. Auron''s opponent''s side slash missed the target, and this made him more unstable. From below, Auron thrust his sword above. With the enemy had an unstable posture, the sword drilled Auron''s opponent''s left arm. Auron quickly pulled out the sword and launched another thrust. Another thrust drilled his opponent''s right arm. Auron''s opponent was hanging on despite the severe injuries on both of his arms. However, Auron didn''t his advantage gone away. Auron quickly moved to the opponent''s back. Then, he used [Shining Cut] at the opponent''s back. Auron kept on launching several more attacks. After three more strikes, Auron''s opponent''s health had reduced by 4%. With blood dripping from both of his arms, Auron''s opponent tried his best to regain his position back. However, Auron couldn''t let that happen. He kept on pressuring his enemy. 4%... 3%... 2%... 1%... Finally, Auron''s opponent could land a hit to Auron. However, Auron also landed an attack on his opponent. Auron got blown away by the attack, but that Auron''s last strike had ended the match. Auron had bagged a win even though he got blown away at the last minute. Auron felt relieved. He stood up, and a feeling of weariness hit him. The [Wrath]''s buff had ended at that exact moment, and he had got slowed down. The healers that were already standing by beside the stage went on stage. One healer went to Auron, and the other one went to his opponent. The referee moved closer to Auron. He was amazed by Auron''s tenaciousness. He could see that Auron was at odd against his enemy, but, in the end, he was the winner. The referee invited Auron to the middle of the stage to declare him as the winner. Unfortunately, Auron declined the invitation. Auron didn''t want to show everyone that he was slowed down. The referee thought that Auron was too weary of moving, so he didn''t think much about Auron''s rejection. Then, the referee declared Auron as the winner of the tournament at that same spot. The audience went wilder and shouted more. With the match ended, it was also marked the end of the day one tournament. Chapter 424 - Herb Collecting At night after the first competition ended, Uncle Wang invited everyone to a banquet. It was to appreciate their hard work for gaining 25% of the gold mine''s profit for the village. Auron''s teammate was delightful with this banquet. After all, they didn''t even do anything to get this banquet. "Thank you for your hard work that we get a portion of the profit! Here are some bonuses for your effort! I hope you will continue your best at the group fight!" Uncle Wang thanked everyone as he gave a red pouch for each of everyone here. The eyes of Auron''s teammate became brighter in front of the red pouch. They didn''t need to do anything, and they already got a bonus. Each of them quickly snatched the red pouch since they were afraid Uncle Wang would take back his words. Auron was the only one who calmly accepted the red pouch. He took the pouch and looked inside. There were 100 golds inside. It was not a small amount, nor was it a lot. However, Auron gladly accepted it. Auron did all of this for his proficiency, and money was the second thing that was in his mind. Of course, he was grateful for this money. Auron continued to eat then head back first to his room. Auron knew that Uncle Wang did this for the Fourth Prince. Although Auron had met the Fourth Prince on many occasions, he still wary of him and didn''t trust him completely. After all, Auron didn''t know what was the motive for the Fourth Prince approached him. Was it just for his secret, or there was another hidden agenda? Although the royal family seemed peace on the outside, he didn''t know whether there was internal conflict among the princes and princesses. Auron still didn''t want to be drag into the royal family''s mess right now. With that, the first day of the match had ended. The next day, it was the time for the next tournament. On the second day, the tournament''s theme was the herb collecting. The second-day venue was the gold mine. Everyone gathered at the gold mine. As it named implies, the match was about gathering herbs that scattered around the area. The tournament time limit was 12 hours. Each village would send two members as a participant. Then, with the gold mine as its starting point, the participant could roam as far as they wanted to search for the herb. Although they could roam as far as they wanted, throughout the history of the tournament, not many people would walk too far away from the gold mine. It was because of several reasons. First, they could use their movement skill, but they could not use any means of transportation or cities and towns teleportation portal. Second, after they got the herb, they still needed to submit it back to the referee to be judged. And, the referee''s location was only near the gold mine. Which means, they needed to go all the way back to the gold mine to get the point. Third, the referee committee dispatched several clerics to be the referee and helped the participant when in danger. However, the committee obviously would not cover the entire world. They would only dispatch the clerics for 100 kilometers from the gold mine. The herb that they gathered would be submitted to the referee. After they offered the herbs, it would belong to the referee committee entirely. In return, the committee would give them a point. This point was the one that would be used to determine the winner. For this match, Auron didn''t participate. Instead, the tanky swordsman and the thief were the ones who would be going to attend. Before the match began, each of the representative''s belonging was searched and confiscated. They could only bring their weapons and equipment: no healing items, no money, and no other item they could carry. If they were injured, they could go and asked the clerics that were dispatched around the area to heal them. 10 minutes later, the match began after every participant was searched. As soon as the match started, every participant scattered around. Convid Village''s participant didn''t scatter and went as a group. At first, they were excited to participate in this tournament. As they had tasted the bonus yesterday, their vigorous spirit made them searched everywhere they went in detail. However, it was not easy to find the herb. After four hours of searching, they could only find a bunch of low-grade herbs. Another four hours of searching and they could not get what they wanted. As time went on and the result they got, they were dejected. Moreover, when they went back to the gold mine and submitted the herbs, they could see that their village''s point was the lowest among the villages. With a sad heart, both of them decided to look farther than what they had before. One hour later, they were exclaimed excitedly. The goddess of luck was blessing them. After killing a monster, they found a cave where the monster resided. And, inside it, there was a massive trove of herbs, from the low-grade up to the high-grade herbs. Greed started to cloud their minds. The thief immediately snatched everything, and he didn''t forget to persuade the swordsman and shared it with him. At first, the swordsman hesitated. However, because of the thief''s continuous persuasion and the fact that the submitted herbs would not belong to them anymore, the swordsman became greedy and agreed with the thief. After clearing the cave, both of the thief and swordsman went back to the gold mine. They acted like they were dejected and submitted the low-grade herbs and a little bit portion of the middle-grade herbs. And, they kept the rest of the herbs hidden at a place where only both of them knew about it. As a result of the greediness, Convid Village, who had the chance to win if both of them submitted everything they got, lost the match and ranked 5 out of 6. Chapter 425 - Group Fight The tanky swordsman and the thief looked dejected. They apologized to their teammate. The other teammates who didn''t know the truth, felt slightly dejected because they thought that they would not receive another bonus. But life must go on. They accepted the result. The cleric tried to cheer up the situation by making a joke. Meanwhile, Auron didn''t have any reaction to this matter. Auron knew that this team focus was on the one on one duel and group fight. So, it was no wonder that they lose this herb gathering match. Moreover, the winner of this herb gathering tournament was as predicted. The winner of the herb gathering tournament was Hunter Village. It was the village that consisted only of 5 archers and the one who admitted defeat against Auron on his first match. In the second place was the player village. Although they had superior equipment, they still could not defeat the Hunter Village, which specialized in this type of match. At night time, Uncle Wang invited the groups once again to a banquet. He told them that this banquet was to cheer them up despite their loss. The other teammate gladly accepted this banquet. The thief promised Uncle Wang that they would win the group fight and gave another portion of profit to him. Listening to the thief''s promise, Uncle Wang smiled, and he glanced at Auron to see his reaction. Auron kept on eating his food without commenting at all. He didn''t want to promise something he could not do it. From the practice before, Auron knew there was only a low chance for them to win the group fight. Although their teamwork was not that bad, however, the opponent they had to face was too strong. The next day came, it was the third day of this competition. The third day''s theme was the group fight. For this group fight, all of the members would go on stage and fight. Another critical thing to note in this 5 on 5 battle was they could not use any potion at all. They could only rely on their skill and equipment. There would be a time limit of 2 hours for each battle in the group fight. If there were no winner after the time limit had passed, then the team with the most member on stage would win the battle and advanced to the next round. Auron, as the team leader, went up to the stage to pick the drawing for their opponents. After taking the number, Auron''s team would go in the first match. Meanwhile, the player village would go for the last match. Auron''s team went on the stage. Before the battle had started, Auron didn''t forget to brief them once more and reminded them about the strategy they had practice. Auron''s team went into formation. The tanky swordsman was at the front. Behind him, was Auron who would act as secondary support. Meanwhile, the cleric and the mage would support from behind. As for the thief, his job was to roam around the stage and attack the enemy''s weak spot. Auron''s team''s opponent was the player village''s first opponent in the one on one tournament. What fortunate was that village was the weakest out of them all. On the previous day, the said village had ranked the last. As it was the weakest team, Auron''s team crushed their enemy entirely with ease. Auron''s team advanced to the next round. What''s fortunate for Auron''s team was they had gone for the first match. By going for the first match, they directly advanced to the final stage. It was really fortunate for them that they had met with the weakest village. As for the player village, their first round''s enemy was the Hunter Village. In less than 30 seconds after the match had started, the Hunter Village had admitted defeat and ended the match. Auron thought inside his head, "It seems the Hunter Village really focused out on the Herb Collecting and the Monster Hunting match. They don''t want to spend any energy at all in the one on one and group fight match." The player village had advanced to the next round and met with another NPC village. The player village was the most famous village among the 6 of them. They were also the strongest village in terms of fighting. The player village who advanced to the semifinal crushed their enemy once more. It took only 5 minutes for them to eliminate their opponent. The player village advanced to the final and met with Auron''s team. And, the result was as expected. Auron''s team was also crushed miserably by the player village. In the first minute, the player village already blew away the tanky swordsman and destroyed Auron, who act as secondary support. With no more shield in front of them, the cleric and mage could only surrender. Auron gritted his teeth. He was very furious. Actually, he had already known the result of the match since the opponent''s equipment was more superior to them. What he could not accept was the fact that Auron''s opponent in the one on one duel asked one of his teammates, and both of them played Auron with their advantages. As Auron knew no matter how hard he struggled, he would not win, he didn''t unleash his full power. However, he never knew that his previous opponent would hold a grudge at him and played him. Auron''s team got the second place at the group fight tournament. Although the second place was a good result, in this tournament, second means nothing. It was either the first or the loser. The player village left the area to rest. Before they left, Auron''s opponent looked at Auron and scoffed at him. He felt satisfied after he took revenge against Auron. And that was the end of the third day. Tomorrow would be the last day. It was also the last opportunity for every village to gain another portion of the profit from the gold mine. Chapter 426 - Monster Hunting (1) The last day came. This was the last chance for Auron to win another portion of the profit for Uncle Wang. Before they went to the tournament, Uncle Wang advised them, "Thank you for the first win. For this last tournament, please do your very best! I hope you can claim another win." Auron''s teammate exclaimed spiritedly, "Count on us, sir!" Auron nodded at Uncle Wang. Although he knew that Uncle Wang only did all of this because of the Fourth Prince, he still would do the best. Not long after, Auron and his team arrived at the gold mine. Just like the second tournament, the gold mine would become the starting point for this tournament. The Hunter Village was the most popular for this tournament. Many of the audiences favor them to win this tournament. Following behind them was the player village. Although they had superior equipment, the Hunter Village, who filled with archers, was favorable in this tournament. This Monster Hunting tournament''s rules were almost the same as the Herb Gathering. During this tournament, the referee had already prepared 75 monsters to be captured. These 75 monsters were a kind of agile and weak monsters. A level 50 character could kill that monster with a single hit, even more level 300 character. These 75 monsters were divided into two groups. The first group contained 25 monsters with a red mark. Meanwhile, the rest 50 monsters belonged to another group with a white mark. When the tournament started, these 75 monsters would be released. Then, 15 minutes later, the participants would begin the hunt. The participants needed to capture these 75 monsters who already scattered away. After obtaining the monster, they could kill it or let it alive. What they needed was to bring these monsters dead or alive back to the referee at the gold mine. After submitting the monster, the participant''s village would get the point, depending on the monster they offer. The monster with a red mark would be valued with 2 points. Meanwhile, the monster with a white mark would be valued with 1 point. So, in total, there were 100 points for this tournament. And, the village who collected the most points would be the winner. Just like the herb gathering tournament, each village needed to send 2 representatives to participate in this tournament. Meanwhile, the time limit for this tournament was eight hours. In Auron''s side, the thief and the tanky swordsman volunteered themselves once more. They said that they want to pay back for their loss in the second tournament. As the leader of the team, Auron was fair and wanted to give a chance for the mage and cleric. Although the mage and cleric declined the offer, the thief and tanky swordsman behaved differently. The thief and tanky swordsman didn''t even give a chance for the mage and cleric to respond, but they already insisted on volunteering to join the match. This kind of act made Auron suspicious. He wanted to know why they acted like this. In the third tournament, their spirit was not as high as this. Moreover, when they met the player village in the final, they already gave up before the match had started. Auron was pondering for a while. Meanwhile, both of the thief and tanky swordsman kept on persuading Auron to send them. As Auron was the leader of the team, he had the right to choose who participates. In the end, Auron chose himself and the tanky swordsman to participate in this match. The thief, who was not chosen, frowned. He persuaded Auron for the last time. However, Auron stuck with his choices and ignored the thief''s persuasion. Auron submitted the participant to the referee. Then, he went on to the checking session. All belonging were confiscated except the equipment and weapon. However, Auron was smart. He moved several things to his mage character and only kept a small portion of his things. After the checking, his mage character stored back the item to his inventory. But, still, although he had some consumable items to use, he would use it secretly. Auron didn''t have to worry. In this vast area, he would have many chances to use the item without anyone noticing. Auron also stocked some potion, which increased the movement speed. This way, he could chase the monster faster. Not long after, the tournament began. The referee released the 75 monsters who immediately scattered in every direction they wanted. Auron and the other participants had to wait for 15 minutes before they could move. After 15 minutes passed, the referee sounded the bell, which indicated that they could start to move. As soon as the bell sounded, every participant moved in every direction. Auron and the tanky swordsman moved in one direction. After several meters from the gold mine, the tanky swordsman suggested, "Let''s split up so we can catch more monster quicker." Auron agreed. Then, both of them split up. Auron kept moving forward while the tanky swordsman moved to the northeast direction. Auron was fortunate. Not long after, he separated with the tanky swordsman, Auron found two monsters at his front. One with a red mark and the other one with a white mark. Auron looked around, and there was no one around. Auron quickly used his movement skills. These two monsters were shocked by Auron''s presence and immediately ran away. As the monsters used in this tournament was the agile one, their speed was not slow. Moreover, the monsters also had a movement skill to run away. Auron didn''t want to miss this chance. He was already fortunate to meet two monsters at once, so he didn''t want to let this chance go away. Auron used the movement potion and captured both of the monsters quickly. Auron didn''t waste any more chance and killed the monster immediately. He didn''t want to allow the monster to run away. A minute later, Auron had secured both of the monster''s corpse. Now, he only needed to submit these monster''s bodies to the referee, and he would get 3 points out of 100 points. Chapter 427 - Monster Hunting (2) Auron walked around for a minute before he went back to the gold mine. As long as the monster had yet submitted, the other participant could steal your monster''s corpse. Although they could fight and take the other participant''s monster, they could not kill anyone. It was because there were many referee''s committees that dispatched around the area. There was still a chance for the other participant to die, but it was very low. When there was a battle around them, the referee would come and mediate the battle. When they thought that one of the sides could not continue, they would stop the battle and give the monster to the winner. Auron didn''t want that to happen to him, so he walked back to the gold mine. Not long after, he arrived at the submission place. He immediately gave the monster''s corpse he had. On the left side of the area, there was a score panel. After Auron submitted the monster, on the place of Convid Village, there was a number 3 shown on the board. Auron looked at the other village score. The other villages still had 0 scores on their name. It seemed Auron was really fortunate to get this score. Then, Auron went back to search for the other monster. Two hours passed by. Auron had come back for the fourth time. After that, he submitted his loot. It was just a monster with a white mark. Then, Auron looked at the score panel. Besides the Convid Village''s name, there was a number 10. After the first time that he got 3 scores, he had not been that lucky anymore. He had just found monsters with white marks several times. Fortunately, that Auron could submit more than one monster. But, still, the Convid Village led this tournament with 10 points. Behind him, the player village and the Hunter Village followed them with 9 points each. Meanwhile, the rest of the village had 8 points. In total, all of the acc.u.mulated points was 52 points. More than half of the point had been collected. Auron was about to leave the place when he saw a member from the Hunter Village came. There were two monsters on his hand¡ªone with a white mark and the other with a red mark. And, just like everyone had expected. The Hunter Village gained three points and went to the first place with 12 points. With that, the crowd who cheered on the Hunter Village cheered excitedly. The member of Hunter Village, who just submitted the monster, fisted the air as he was replying to his supporter''s cheer. Then, he turned back and saw Auron. That member recognized Auron as the leader of Convid Village. He scoffed at Auron and walked passed Auron by. Auron frowned. He looked back at the score panel and glanced at his village''s score once again. Then, Auron realized something. Almost all of the score that his village gained was the result of his works. From all of the scores that his village had gained, Auron''s teammate, the tanky swordsman, only contributed 1 score. It was so weird considering the swordsman''s level and the strength of the monster. Moreover, this was still the start of the competition. The monsters were still a lot, so it was so weird that his teammate only gave one point. Auron looked at his other team member and asking them with a gesture. The mage replied with an ''I don''t know'' posture. However, Auron looked at the thief''s expression. The thief''s expression was so dark. It was a held, furious expression. He tried to hide it, but he could not. Auron became more suspicious of the thief''s expression. The thief and the tanky swordsman had acted suspiciously since the start of this tournament. Auron decided to chase after the tanky swordsman. He used the same path as before and went to tanky swordsman''s direction. Auron kept walking forward while kept his awareness at his surroundings. He didn''t want to miss the tanky swordsman''s whereabouts. As soon as he saw the tanky swordsman, Auron would interrogate him. After walking for 10 minutes, Auron still didn''t find any clue. However, he didn''t give up. Auron kept on walking forward. Thirty minutes later, at far away, Auron saw a shadow. When Auron looked carefully at that shadow, he could see that it was the tanky swordsman. The stirred up emotion inside Auron immediately surfaced. He quickly activated his movement skill and to the tanky swordsman''s direction to chase him. Meanwhile, the tanky swordsman was not facing at Auron, so he didn''t know that Auron was behind him. The tanky swordsman was looked nervous and afraid. He was pondering something when Auron tapped at his shoulder. The tanky swordsman was shocked, and he nervously glanced behind him. When the tanky swordsman found out that it was Auron. He felt relieved. However, a second later, he became panic. The tanky swordsman tried to run away from Auron. However, Auron had firmly held him so he could not run away. "What are you doing here? Why are you act sneaky?" Auron directly interrogated the swordsman. "No...No... Nothing. I just chase a monster with red mark up to here. Unfortunately, I lost it." The tanky swordsman nervously answered. "Really?" Auron doubted the answer. He began to scan the swordsman''s condition. However, he found nothing. Then, Auron glanced behind the swordsman''s back. Auron was surprised. Behind the swordsman, Auron could find numerous herbs on the ground. Moreover, the herbs were not a low-level one. If one sold all of these herbs at the market value, he could buy a level 300 king''s grade equipment set. "Where do you get this?" Auron furiously asked the swordsman while holding the swordsman tightly. The swordsman became more panicked and said, "No, I just found it here. I don''t know who the owner is, but it was such a fortunate thing." "How about we split it between the two of us equally?" The swordsman began to persuade Auron. Chapter 428 - Internal Fighting (1) "You..." Auron became furious. Auron was furious not because the tanky swordsman tried to hide the herbs. Instead, he was mad because the tanky swordsman neglected his responsibility. His first responsibility was to win this match. But, he ignored it because of the herbs. "Where did you get this?" Auron began his interrogation. "Uhmm... I... We... I..." The tanky swordsman was nervous. Actually, the tanky swordsman was a timid person. He chose to become a tanky swordsman because he was afraid of dying. By increasing his vitality, he felt that he was unbeatable. As time passed by, the tanky swordsman became more courageous. But, it was only at the outer. Inside, he was still a timid person. That was why, when he was pressured hard, his shy personality resurfaced. Furthermore, if the tanky swordsman made a mistake and didn''t want the other person to know, he would become afraid if his mistake were known. "We??? Come on, tell the truth!!!" Auron seemed suspicious. He knew that the other person who the swordsman referred to was the thief. It was because both of them were the only people who acted weird today. "No... I can''t... I..." The swordsman still didn''t want to tell the truth. He blabbered nonsense as his stress level increased. However, Auron kept on pestering the swordsman. In the end, the swordsman could not hold any longer and told the stories from the beginning. As the swordsman told the story from the beginning, Auron became angrier. However, he tried to hold it since the swordsman had told the truth. "That is all! I swear that is all! I was only coaxed." The tanky swordsman blamed everything to the thief. The tanky swordsman glanced at Auron. Auron''s expression was so dark. Without saying anything, Auron collected all the herbs and dragged the tanky swordsman with him. He pulled the swordsman all the way back to the gold mine. Auron wanted to expose these two''s behavior. What made Auron more furious was the fact that they could win the second tournament, but they had to lose because of these two. Moreover, they pretended and covered this matter. However, he could not do anything even though he was the leader. He would leave it to Uncle Wang and let him do what he wanted. Along the way, the tanky swordsman pleaded at Auron to let him go. He would even give everything to Auron in the hope that Auron would release him. However, Auron ignored the pleading swordsman. The tanky swordsman kept on pleading. However, Auron just kept on ignoring what the tanky swordsman had said and kept on dragging him along. In midway back, the tanky swordsman gritted his teeth and tried to break free. However, Auron would not do the swordsman do as he pleased. Auron chased the swordsman, and a battle was inevitable. The swordsman took out his sword and used [Wind Slash] at Auron. Meanwhile, Auron also took out his sword and did the same as the tanky swordsman. Two [Wind Slash] met in the middle and created a loud boom. After the tanky swordsman unleashed his skill, he didn''t care about the result and ran away. Behind him, Auron was chasing after him. As Auron had a higher movement speed, in no time, Auron had come close to him. The tanky swordsman could not ignore Auron, who was chasing behind him. He turned around, and a battle erupted once again. Not long after, one of the referees came as he heard the commotion. He looked them from far away since he could not interfere with them. As he watched the two participants fought, he realized that they were both teammates. "An internal fight! Interesting!" The referee felt excited, and he watched them silently. All of his life, the tanky swordsman relied on his high endurance, so he never spends that much effort to dodge. This was why the swordsman had difficulty avoiding Auron''s attack and could only accept the attack. Although Auron''s damage was not that high because of the tanky swordsman''s defense, as time passed, the damage acc.u.mulated. On the other hand, tanky swordsman''s attack rarely hit Auron, which made this seemed like a one-sided battle. The tanky swordsman''s health kept on decreasing until it was almost depleted. Cold sweat already formed on the tanky swordsman''s forehead. Death was close to him. In the end, the tanky swordsman almost died. Auron threatened him, "Followed me quietly and confessed to everyone!" "No... no... please... no..." The tanky swordsman cried out loudly. The referee approached them, "Whoa... whoa... Slow down... What the two of you doing by fighting among yourself?" "Don''t meddle yourself in our affairs!" Auron shouted angrily. "I don''t want to meddle in your affair as long as you both don''t kill each other." The referee explained. "Fine. But, I have to drag him back with him!" Auron said. The referee only shrugged his shoulder and kept on watching the tanky swordsman disappeared as he was dragged by Auron. The referee followed behind their back for several minutes before leaving them when they were close to the gold mine. The tanky swordsman was in a messy state because he was dragged by Auron. However, Auron didn''t care about the swordsman pleading and appearance as he kept on pulling the swordsman. Meanwhile, at the gold mine, the people there were cheering loudly since one of the Hunter Village''s representatives submitted another monster with a red mark. The Hunter Village paved his position in the first place with 20 points. Following behind them was the player village with 15 points. Meanwhile, Convid Village''s position was in the last position as they didn''t increase their score. As Auron had arrived at the location, he immediately dragged everyone''s attention, including his own teammates and Uncle Wang. Everyone was confused about why Auron would pull his own teammates. Auron ignored everyone''s gaze as he kept on dragging the swordsman and approached his teammates. Then, he whispered something on Uncle Wang''s ear. After that, Uncle Wang whispered something on the head referee''s ear and left the area along with his team. Chapter 429 - Internal Fighting (2) All the spectator''s eyes were on the Convid Village''s team, who left the scene. Not long after Uncle Wang disappeared from the view, the head referee shouted, "Convid Village had resigned from the monster hunting tournament." After the head referee announced that, on the scoreboard, the Convid Village''s name greyed out. Whispered and murmured, followed speculating on why the Convid Village resigned. However, it didn''t last long before it died down. Auron dragged the tanky swordsman to an empty area near the gold mine. He was followed by his teammate, and at the most back was Uncle Wang. Auron threw the tanky swordsman on the ground. He kept on staring at the tanky swordsman with an angry expression. Meanwhile, Auron''s teammate, who followed both of them, still didn''t know what this was about, so they wore a confused look. Deep inside, the thief''s heartbeat throbbed quicker. Cold sweat slowly formed on his forehead. However, he still pretended that he didn''t know anything. "Leader, what is this about?" The cleric asked Auron. However, Auron didn''t answer and kept on staring at the tanky swordsman. Uncle Wang took the initiative and asked the tanky swordsman, "Why did you do it?" The tanky swordsman said while pointing at the thief, "I didn''t want to do it, but that thief persuaded me!" The thief, who was pointed by the tanky swordsman, gasped, "What are you talking about? How dare you accuse me?" The thief tried to act innocent. Auron, who heard that turned over and glanced at the thief. Now, everything made sense of why the thief acted like that. Auron wanted to pester the thief, but Uncle Wang continued to ask the tanky swordsman. "But, in the end, you agreed to him, right?" Uncle Wang asked calmly, ignoring the thief. Auron halted his step and looked back at the tanky swordsman and Uncle Wang. He was so embarrassed. As a leader of the team, he should prevent this kind of thing from happening, but he didn''t know anything until now. "What? What happened?" The mage and cleric who was still didn''t know kept on asking. The tanky swordsman looked down. He was so embarrassed to look at his teammate, especially Uncle Wang. At first, he didn''t want to do it. However, greed took over him. And, just like what Uncle Wang had said, in the end, he still did it. Guilt took over the tanky swordsman. He was so sad that he didn''t know what to do. "So... Sorry..." The tanky swordsman apologized. With that apologize, Auron still furious, but a little portion of it had gone with that apologize. Then, Uncle Wang looked over at the thief. He approached the thief. However, the cleric cut his path. Then, she asked, "Can you tell us what this is about? We are still confused about what this matter about." Uncle Wang stopped in his track. Auron took the initiative and explained everything to the mage and cleric. The mage and cleric who heard the story shocked. When they saw the herbs, they knew why Auron was so furious. With all of these herbs, they knew that they could with the herb gathering tournament. However, the result was they lost. The mage and cleric felt disgusted. After the mage and cleric knew the detail of the story, they stepped out and didn''t bother Uncle Wang anymore. Uncle Wang continued his step and faced the thief. Before Uncle Wang could say anything, the thief shouted, "What? Do you believe in him? I didn''t know anything." "Really?" Uncle Wang stared at the thief. Silent permeated the place. The thief and Uncle Wang were staring at each other. Auron, the mage, and the cleric was on the side and silently looking at what happened. 5 minutes later, the thief gave up. "Fine!! It was me who persuaded him. But, he still did it! What are you gonna do?" The thief acted arrogantly and continued, "You can take those herbs as my apology. See ya!" After admitted his mistake, the thief walked away without any guilt. However, when the thief walked past Uncle Wang, his path was blocked by Uncle Wang. The thief frowned, "What?!! I already apologize!! You can sell those herbs if you want. Now, get the f*** out of my face!" Now, it was Uncle Wang''s turn who frowned. Auron, who heard the thief, became furious and stepped over. As the leader, Auron felt a little bit responsible for this matter. "Look at yourself! You have done the wrong thing, but you don''t look apologetic at all. Don''t you still know how big is your mistake?" "And, now, when you are confronted by it, you get angry? Look what you did to an elder. Don''t you have any manner at all?" The thief felt annoyed by Auron, "What? What are you gonna do? Don''t you know who my backup is? Do you want to fight against an entire organization behind me?" Auron gritted his teeth. Although Auron didn''t know how big the thief''s backer, but he was not afraid of them. What Auron afraid of was that the thief''s backer would implicate Uncle Wang. A split second after the thief said that sentence, Auron was pushed to the side from behind. It was Uncle Wang who pushed him. Auron''s body swayed a bit, and when he blinked, a splash of water sprayed out at his face. Auron touched the water and saw that it was red and thick. It turned out that it was blood. Auron glanced at the thief. A red line on the thief''s neck was seen. From the wound, blood coming out from the thief''s neck. A burst of blood sprayed out from the injury and splattered on Auron''s face. Auron was flabbergasted. He looked behind him. At that moment, he saw Uncle Wang still with his calm and innocent face. Auron glanced below and could see that Uncle Wang had a small dagger on his right hand. Fresh blood kept on dripping from the dagger''s end. Chapter 430 - Internal Fighting (3) The thief grabbed his neck with his right hand while his left hand tried to reach Uncle Wang. However, it was futile. He slowly slumped down to the ground with his eyes and mouth open. This turn of events made the cleric and mage who saw it gasped. The tanky swordsman, who was still on the ground, was also shocked. Meanwhile, Auron''s eyes widened. Auron looked at Uncle Wang and realized how ridiculous what he thought was. He was afraid that he would implicate Uncle Wang? What a joke. Uncle Wang''s backer was the Fourth Prince. A mere mercenaries organization would be nothing in front of the royalty. Not only that, but Auron had also forgotten one thing. Uncle Wang was the Fourth Prince caretaker for several years. As the caretaker of a prince, he would not be an ordinary man. The royal family would not that stupid to appoint a caretaker who could not protect the prince. As the person who would be beside the prince at all times, the caretaker should have sufficient strength to protect the prince. At least, he should be able to hold the danger until reinforcement came. "You... You..." The cleric and mage were shocked by Uncle Wang''s strength. All of Auron''s teammates didn''t know anything at all about Uncle Wang. They only knew that Uncle Wang was the Convid Village''s head, and that''s it. They had never thought that Uncle Wang was someone related to the Fourth Prince. Uncle Wang walked past Auron and approached the trembling tanky swordsman. Seeing this, the tanky swordsman trembled more, he pleaded, "Spare me please!" The tanky swordsman was afraid that Uncle Wang would kill him since he was an accomplice. However, to his surprise, Uncle Wang said, "I will not kill you. At least you have some conscience inside you. However, you still have to be punished for your wrongdoings!" "O... Okay... No problem, I will follow everything you tell me to do." The tanky swordsman didn''t dare to refuse Uncle Wang. Uncle Wang turned over to the cleric and mage who flinched. They were afraid that Uncle Wang would try to find a mistake on them. After all, they didn''t get really serious about this work. Uncle Wang handed them over a portion of the herbs collected by Auron, "Here take this as your payment and leave. I will not escort you!" After the death of the thief, the cleric and the mage didn''t dare to ask for more. Moreover, with their effort in this work, this payment was more than enough to pay their level of energy. After that, Uncle Wang brought the tanky swordsman back to the Convid Village. He also didn''t forget to invite Auron over who agreed with the invitation. When the three of them arrived at Convid Village, they immediately went to Uncle Wang''s house. Uncle Wang quickly settled tanky swordsman''s punishment. The swordsman needed to guard the village for 1 year without any payment for half of the year. The swordsman gritted his teeth and could not help but to accept the condition. He was afraid that Uncle Wang would kill him as soon as he refused the offer. After that settling the punishment, Uncle Wang told the swordsman to leave and prepare for everything necessary. After the swordsman left, there were only Auron and Uncle Wang inside the house. "I am sorry," Auron took the initiative to apologize. As the leader, he could not control his teammates and made the team suffered a loss. However, Uncle Wang dismissed the thought, "No need to apologize. It was all in the past. Please, have a seat. Let us talk." Uncle Wang and Auron conversed for an hour before Auron bade goodbye to Uncle Wang. Auron was felt grateful. During the 1 hour talk, they only talk about Auron''s daily life and activities. Uncle Wang also shared his experience with Auron. During that talk, Uncle Wang never once mentioned anything about the gold mine competition or the Fourth Prince or the matter about the village. Because of that, Auron''s guilty feeling could be washed away. When Auron left Uncle Wang''s house, he was really grateful for Uncle Wang''s kindness. Although he didn''t want to become the village''s head yet, if Uncle Wang needed help, Auron would definitely come to help. With Auron left Uncle Wang''s house, this also means that his duty for the gold mine competition had ended. Although the result was somehow not cheerful, at least, Auron had managed to give Convid Village''s some portion of the gold mine profit. Uncle Wang had also promised Auron to send the payment directly to Auron''s bank account three days later. Now, it was time for Auron to continue doing his things. Auron tried to remember if there was anything that he needed to do. There was nothing urgent with his swordsman character and mage character. There was also no task yet from the military for his mage character. Auron smiled wrily. After experiencing hectic days, he felt empty when he didn''t know what to do. Should he take a break? Should he go hunt and raise his level? Should he increase his alchemy level and make some money? These options surfaced at Auron''s minds. Every option had its pros and cons, and Auron was pondering which options he should choose. Before Auron could make up his mind, he got a mail from his friend, Roan. This mail was sent by Roan from outside of the game. When Auron read the mail, he frowned and directly logged out from the game. The mail''s content was short and precise. "Something bad happened. Need your help. Come to my house." When Auron read these three sentences, he knew that his best friend needed something. Moreover, Auron also knew that his best friend would not need his help for something small. So, if his friend sent something like this, it means that it was so bad. After logging out of the game, Auron quickly changed his clothes and bolted out to Roan''s house. Chapter 431 - Debt (1) It was already past dinner time when Auron got out of his house. Then, he immediately rushed out and called a taxi. He didn''t forget to rush the taxi driver. Usually, it would take almost 1 hour for Auron to arrive at his friend''s house. However, right now, it took only 30 minutes for Auron to arrive at his friend''s house. Auron paid the taxi driver and rushed out of the taxi. Then, he rang Roan''s house''s bell and knocked at his door while shouting at Roan''s name. Not long after, the door opened. It was Roan who opened the door. He looked dejected. Roan didn''t say anything and sighed before turning and went inside, indicating Auron should follow behind him. Auron closed the door and slowly followed behind Roan without asking anything. While going inside the house, Auron could hear some conversation going on. "What should I tell him?" Auron could listen to this sentence was said with a gloomy tone. "Do you really need to do it? I mean, we can just help him pay the debt and come clean. We still have some savings." "I didn''t want to do it neither. But you are very clear about our current situation. Actually, I am going to do what you say. But, I believe he still has the right to know about this, right?" "He is here," Roan said low spiritedly. Auron could see that the conversation he heard previously was coming from Roan''s parents. Roan''s father and mother, with a bleak expression, sat on the sofa and conversing with each other. The atmosphere was gloomy when Auron saw them. When Roan''s parents saw Auron coming, they tried to cheer the situation and wore a forced smile. "Come sit here," Roan''s mother approached Auron and escorted him to the sofa. Auron became awkward in this situation even more after he heard the conversation from before. After Auron took a seat, silent permeated the house for a few seconds before Roan''s mother stood up and offered, "Do you want some snacks? Let me heat some snacks first from the fridge." Roan''s mom stood up and eyed to Roan''s father before going to the fridge. "Ehem..." Roan''s father awkwardly coughed. Auron looked at the Roan''s father. However, before Roan''s father could say anything, Auron asked first, "What happened? You can just say it to me, frankly." Auron had already known that the issue somehow related to him. If not, he would not be called here. Although Auron had said that, but Roan''s father still could not wash away his awkwardness, so he said carefully, "It is like this... How to say it... You know about your debt, right?" "The company had just convened a board meeting, and they decided to annul your compensation. They had given you one week to pay all of your debt." After Roan''s father said all of that in one go, he stopped for a moment. At the moment, Auron''s mind was chaotic. He never expected that everything turned like this. Since Auron got 10 years, Auron had tried to accommodate his character first to make it stronger before starting to save up. With his experience, 10 years was more than enough for him to pay his debt. Auron never expected this to happen. It was not even 1 year from Auron starting to start over. He wanted to say something; however, Roan''s father interrupted first, "You don''t have to worry about that. I still have some savings and could pay your debt. I just want to inform you so that you know and pay them again." Although Roan''s father comforted him, Aaron knew it was not as simple as he said. If everything that Roan''s father had said was true, then they would not make such face. Roan''s family''s assets were ample, and Auron knew that what Roan''s father had said about he could pay off his debt was true. However, Auron knew that much money was still significant for them. Auron was afraid that Roan''s family could not live after they paid his debt. Auron was in a dilemma. He had only a little bit of money left on him enough to buy the nutrient supplies. He could cash out some in-game cash. However, it would hinder his character''s progress. Auron didn''t want to use his money if he could. However, in the end, this was his debt. Auron sighed, he had to sacrifice, "I..." "Stop!" Roan''s father shook his head. "I have promised you could pay it in the next 10 years. I will keep my promise to you. So, just hold your money." Auron forced a smile, he still felt uncomfortable, "Thank you, but..." "No... no... no... Just focus on your work so you can pay off in 10 years." "Snacks are coming!" Roan''s mother knew that Auron would insist on helping, so she helped her husband to change the topic. With Roan''s mother joined the conversation, the topic started to change to discuss Auron''s condition. Roan''s mother also asked if Auron had a girlfriend yet. Obviously, Auron shook his head. Roan''s mother smiled and began to tell a list of her friend''s daughter. She tried to implicitly tell Auron that the debt issue was over. Roan''s father and Roan also joined the conversation. They teased Auron about his single status. Of course, Roan also could not escape from this girlfriend''s talks. Time passed. It was a one hour visit for Auron before he said his farewell to Roan''s family. Roan escorted Auron outside of his house. Of course, Auron could not give up just right there. He tried to dig more information from his best friend. There should be a trigger that made all of this issue rose. However, Roan''s parents had briefed Roan to keep secret. Roan only forced a smile and shook his head. Auron persuaded Roan for 10 minutes. But it was futile. In the end, Auron went back to his house. However, he would visit them tomorrow at lunchtime to ask once more. Chapter 432 - Debt (2) During the night, Auron could not sleep. However, he forced himself to sleep. Auron woke up at 9 in the morning. Auron woke up just like the other morning. He took a bath and prepared himself to go to Roan''s house. Although he came uninvited, he would not be kicked out of his best friend''s house. After preparing everything, Auron immediately went to Roan''s house. Auron arrived at Roan''s house and knocked at Roan''s house door. Roan''s mother was the one who opened the door for Auron. She was shocked by Auron''s arrival, but she still invited Auron inside. Auron went inside the house only to find that there was only Roan''s mother, who was active. Roan''s father had already gone to the company to settle everything. Meanwhile, Roan was still sleeping. However, it didn''t last long before his mother woke him up to accompany Auron. With Auron came, Roan''s mother began cooking for lunch. Roan, who was still half-awake, came and greeted Auron. "What are you doing here?" Roan asked while rubbing his right eye. "You must have a guess. I want to know the complete story about this." Auron frankly said. "Sorry, bro. My parents forbid me to tell you. You can ask them yourself." Auron nodded and asked Roan''s mother, who was still cooking. Roan''s mother took a sip to taste her cooking, answered Auron, "You don''t have to worry about that anymore. My husband had gone to settle the issue today." "About the story, I don''t know the complete story. You should ask my husband. I am afraid to tell you the wrong story." Roan''s mother dodged the question. Auron knew he faced a wall. He could only wait for Roan''s father to tell the story. Auron decided to wait for Roan''s father, who should be back around 5 in the evening. Lunchtime came. Auron, Roan, and Roan''s mother began to eat the food prepared by Roan''s mother. Auron didn''t forget to help wash the dishes while Roan was lying on the sofa with his stomach full. "I am back," Suddenly, there was a sound of a door opening followed by this sentence with a gloomy tone. The voice should have belonged to Roan''s father. "Welcome back!" Roan''s mother hurriedly approached his husband, who was weirdly coming early. When Roan''s father wanted to say something, Roan''s mother hinted that Auron was here. Roan''s father held his speech and greeted Auron, "Hi, kid. You are here." It was such a rare occurrence for Roan''s father to come home early. Moreover, with such a weary and gloomy expression. There must be something. Roan, like an innocent boy, asked his father, "Why you come back so early? Did something happened?" Roan''s father glanced at Auron and had an uncomfortable expression. "It is okay. You should say it. The reason I come here was exactly to know what happened here." Auron spoke to Roan''s father. "I am not a kid anymore. I know something is going on when the sudden debt''s deadline is shortened." Roan''s father looked at his wife, who shook her head. Roan''s father stopped for a minute before sighing. "Come sit! I will tell you everything. I have paid your debt and settled the issue after all." With a worried expression, Roan''s mother didn''t want this to happen. However, she believed in her husband''s choice. She said, "You look so exhausted. I will bring some snacks and drinks." Roan''s father, Roan, and Auron sat together in the living room. Silent permeated once more since Roan''s father''s mind was still thinking whether his decision to tell Auron was correct. "So, it is like this..." Roan''s father began to tell the story. "And, that is why your debt''s deadline suddenly got shortened." Roan''s father said with a low-spirited voice. As the founder of his company, Roan''s father had tried to persuade some board directors to prolonged Auron''s debt''s deadline. Although his company''s shares were not much, as the founder, he still had some acquaintance within the board directors. However, starting last week, there was some strange movement in the board members. They suddenly called a board meeting to discuss Auron''s debt. Within the meeting, they asked Roan''s father on why they should prolong the debt and forced him to cut off the promised. However, Roan''s father insisted on saying that he had already gone with the SOP, and it had been approved by the majority of the board members. However, some of the board members, which Roan''s father had asked previously, denied that. Since Roan''s father only asked verbally, there was no proof. And, this was used for the reason on why Auron''s debt''s deadline suddenly shortened. "And, today, I have settled your debt. But, today... hah," Roan''s father sighed once more and began to tell what happened today. The first thing that happened was the value of what Roan''s father had to pay was surpassed by the supposed amount. Since the time was short, Roan''s father could not liquidate his asset. So, Roan''s father had used his assets: 2 lands and a building to pay for Auron''s debt. If going by the market value, Roan''s father had paid enough. However, some of the board members said that was not enough. A conflict happened. However, since the majority win, Roan''s father could not help but forked another building and some cash to pay for Auron''s debt. That was not all. After paying everything, one of his close friends approached him hiddenly and said that there would be another board meeting next week. The board meeting''s agenda was to denounce Roan''s Father as the CEO and forbade him to have any involvement in the company''s management. Another agenda was to select a new CEO. With a lesson from the previous meeting, Roan''s father knew that it most likely that he would be kicked out from his CEO position. Roan''s father took an early leave to settle his mind. And, that was why he was looked so tired now. Auron frowned as the matter was bigger than what he thought. Chapter 433 - Debt (3) After paying Auron''s debt, Roan''s family condition was quite shaky. Although they didn''t go bankrupt, it was enough to destroy their previous lifestyle. Fortunately, each of Roan''s family members was not a spendthrift. Actually, what made Roan''s father sad was not because of his financial condition. Roan''s father still had some assets left. Instead, it was because of the fact that he was kicked out of his own company. Roan''s father was the founder of the company, but he was kicked out of the company. Although it still didn''t happen, it was most likely to happen. And, the thought of getting separated from his baby made him more dejected. Auron was curious about who were the next CEO candidates. So, he asked Roan''s father, "Do you know who are the next CEO candidates?" Roan''s father looked at Auron and sighed, "There are two candidates, Mr. Augusta and Mr. Scar." Auron frowned. As Roan''s father''s company was the main sponsor of Heaven, Auron knew some of the higher management. And, he knew these two names. Mr. Augusta was one of the wealthy families. He already owned a bunch of restaurants, buildings, and many businesses. He also already invested in several guilds. Sadly, it was incomparable to Heaven. Seeing Heaven guild was one of the famous guilds, he also expresses his interest in the guild. However, Auron declined the offer as the term was not favorable, and he didn''t believe in Mr. Augusta. Mr. Augusta didn''t give up. He approached Roan''s father''s company as the biggest supporter of the Heaven guild and Auron at that time. He poured out a tremendous amount of money and even made a loss. Although it was a loss, the deal agreed quickly, and he became one of the most significant shareholders in the company. Auron just knew about this Mr. Augusta joining Roan''s father''s company after the deal had been made. He could do nothing. However, after the agreement had been made, it seems that Mr. Augusta didn''t involve anything in the management and just followed everything that Roan''s father had decided. Throughout the year, Mr. Augusta was at the company, he had only requested one thing which allowed his daughter to join the Heaven guild. Auron thought that it was just a small request. Moreover, for all of this time, as one of the most significant shareholders, Mr. Augusta didn''t do anything. So, Auron accepted the request. Then, Mr. Augusta''s daughter joined the guild. And, after some time, the daughter excelled in her skills, and it proved helpful for the guild. In the end, Auron promoted Mr. Augusta''s daughter to become the vice guild leader. Yes, Mr. Augusta''s daughter was Cold Candle. Meanwhile, Mr. Scar was an old-timer. He was in the first batch of shareholders who joined the company. "Can''t we support Mr. Scar?" Auron asked. He knew that Mr. Scar was an old-timer, and he should be close to Roan''s father. However, Roan''s father shook his head. "Mr. Augusta''s influence in the company is about 30%. But, it is only in the surfaced. I know secretly that he had a lot more influence than that number. And, as far as I know, Mr. Scar was one of Mr. Augusta''s devout followers." Auron''s face darkened. So, all of this was a drama to set him up and controlled the company and the Heaven guild, which had changed its name. Knowing this, Auron''s eagerness for revenge was increasing rapidly. However, he just kept on silent and didn''t say anything. Roan was franker. When he heard about it, he shouted and cursed Mr. Augusta''s family. Unfortunately, cursing could not change anything. Roan''s mother was the savior. As the atmosphere tensed up, she brought the snack and cold drink to cool down the atmosphere. With the help of Roan''s mother, the conversation slowly shifting to other issues outside of the work. Night came, Auron had to go back to his house. He bade his farewell to Roan''s family. Along the way, Auron had promised that he would take revenge on Cold Candle. However, first thing first, Auron had to level up. He had already gone offline for almost two days. He had to chase these two days. As soon as Auron arrived at his home, Auron immediately went to his capsule and went inside the game. Auron was on his swordsman character as it was the last character he played. There was no new thing in his swordsman. Then, he went to his mage character to check the latest news. As soon as he went online in his mage character, he received a notification. A 10-minute countdown timer also started. [General Aston wants to meet you. Please go to him before the time limit ended. 00:09:59] In turned out that something was going on in the military. However, it was not from the general army. Instead, it was from the intelligence department. Auron smiled excitedly. This was what he needed. The last time he went on a mission for the intelligence department, he got quite a big benefit. He found the ancient ruin and also got close to the Fourth Prince. Auron was anticipating for this mission. He immediately went to General Aston''s place. In front of General Aston''s office, Auron knocked on the door twice. "Come in!" A voice calling him over was heard from inside the office. Auron turned the door''s knob and opened the door. "Greetings, general! Are you looking for me?" Auron went inside the room and did a military salute at the general. Then, he stayed near the door until the general let him in. General Aston was sitting on his chair while reading a newspaper. He put both of his feet relaxedly on the desk. When Auron went inside, he put down the newspaper and talked to Auron, "Ah, you came! Come here, I have a mission for you!" "Before that, I have to make a call first." With that, the General took the phone near him and called the office. Chapter 434 - Missing Person Case (1) Actually, General Aston didn''t just call once. Instead, he called 5 times. It was just a short and quick call. In each call, General Aston only said one or two words before disconnecting the call and call another number. So, it didn''t take a long time for the five calls. Auron waited inside General Aston''s office. However, it only took 5 minutes before the first person came in. It was a woman about 23 years old. She wore thick glasses and had a ponytail on her head. Behind her, there was a bulky man who only wore a sleeveless shirt. His face was wild and always looked angry. His eyes were sharp, and it gave him ferocious aura. The man should be almost 40 years old. However, from the man''s appearance, he only looked like 25 years old. Not long after that, two men and another woman came. When Auron saw the woman, he recognized her. The newly arrived woman was Alice. Alice had already resigned at the academy''s teacher. She was assigned to become a teacher because of her stress and unrestrained behaviors. The behavior was as a result of his father, General Aston, missing. Since General Aston had come back, her behavior started to get better and better. With her recovery, she was assigned back to the military. Alice was a strong combatant, and it would be a huge loss for that strong combatant to become a teacher forever. Before General Aston started to brief the quest, he introduced everyone to each other. More precisely, he introduced everyone to Auron since only Auron was the newbie here, and the other had known each other. Auron was the only newbie here not only in the intelligence department but also in the military. During the introduction, Auron was quite shocked. It was because the first woman and man were actually husband and wife. They had been married for 3 years. However, the difference in age made Auron wondered did the woman married the man for his wealth. However, Auron didn''t dare to ask and just kept the question for himself. After the introduction finished, it was time for General Aston to explain the mission. "I will now explain the mission''s detail. Take a seat. It will be a long explanation." Everyone took on their own seat. And, just like what General Aston had said, it was a long and detailed explanation. It took 2 hours for General Aston to explain the detail of the mission. Then, the other began to ask some questions about the information, and with some debates, it took another hour. The mission was started as a small case of a missing person. At first, at some remote village, there was reported a missing child case. An investigation had commenced by the local authority. However, they found nothing. They could not find the missing child''s body and a clue at all. Then, from one missing child case, it grew to many instances. The area even began wider. Some villages nearby also reported this missing child case. After two weeks passed, the missing child cases kept on growing. However, it didn''t stop there. The cases'' severity increased. An old man had been reported missing. Then, two old men and just like the lost child cases, the number multiplied. The military had dispatched a team to investigate the matter. However, when the military was involved, the number of cases died down. There was no new case for two weeks when the military was investigating this case. Without any clue and new cases, the military had no choice but to stop the investigation. As soon as the investigation had stopped, a new case was reported. A middle-aged woman was missing. The area even grew wider. From just a single village, it impacted more than 10 villages. There were even cases reported from several towns around the area. Another military investigation was conducted. This time, they were more careful and secretly dispatched an investigation team. The investigation team was dispatched to one of the villages. At first, the investigation team was careful enough. Cases kept on popping out from the nearby village. A clue was found, and the investigation moved a step forward. The team found information related to this case. The report said that it was done by a group of people and it was on a big scale. Two days passed by since the first clue was found. The investigation team found a broke through. During these two days, the number of cases still on a stable level. It didn''t increase nor decrease. These things led to the investigation team found one of the kidnappers. The investigation team created a plan to capture the kidnapper. They carefully made a plan and followed the kidnapper. And, just like what they had thought, the person they followed was related to this big case. In the end, they managed to capture that person secretly. The investigation team dragged the person to a secret place prepared by the military. They intended to interrogate this person. However, before they could question the person, the person suddenly died. He was poisoned to death. The investigation team gritted their teeth. They thought that it was an unfortunate event, and they intended to look for another case in another village. However, miraculously, after the kidnapper died, all of the cases stopped occurring, even in the other villages. Just like that, the second investigation was stopped. Instead, the military dispatched more personnel to strengthen the security of the impacted area. Two weeks passed by without new cases. The military had thought that the group was afraid and hide. However, two days ago, a new case appeared. A guard dispatched from the military was reported missing from his duty. Two similar cases were reported the next day. And, today, a group of merchants was reported missing as well. The military had decided to send another investigation team. And, this team was the one that was going to be sent. Auron was joining the third investigation team. Chapter 435 - Missing Person Case (2) As new cases appeared, the military wanted to move fast to stop this. They immediately send a pioneer team two days ago. However, since it was just a pioneer team, they were not equipped for the task. That was why the main team was created. Several people were selected in this team. The military had preferred a small team since it would be easier for them to move around. And Alice was chosen as the leader of this team and operation. Although Auron was excited about the mission, however, he frowned. This was a huge matter. He didn''t know the reason why he was selected to join this case. He was a newbie, and his level was low. General Aston seemed to know about Auron''s concern. He said while pointing at Auron, "Since this operative area was vast and included several villages around. I wanted you to disguise yourself as a merchant that operates around the area. And, you will secretly pass around the message from one agent to another agent." "You know, as this is a secret operation, we cannot bring a huge thing to a remote village. So, the communication method was limited. And, that was where you come into. You will become a bridge between each agent." Auron nodded his head. General Aston''s explanation was relevant and clear his thought. It also answered the other member''s question. They were also wondering why Auron was invited to join this operation. However, what General Aston had said was only one of the reasons why he picked him. The other reason was that General Aston thought that his ability was suitable for this task. The ability that General Aston mean was the ability that he could communicate to other places when there was a blocking signal in the communication. He believed that this ability was necessary for this task. General Aston had a feeling that this ability would be used in this operation. "Now, here is the plan..." General Aston began to explain his original plan. After several minutes explaining, General Aston ended his conversation, "Go prepare yourself for 1 hour. After that, depart to your destination by yourself. Good Luck!" "Don''t forget, you should keep this as a secret. Only the seven of us know about this mission!" General Aston reminded them Yes, just like what General Aston had said. Only the seven of them knew about this mission. Actually, the pioneer team which departed this morning was used by General Aston as a decoy. The pioneer team didn''t even know about this main team. Learning from the previous experience, this team would be a shadow team and worked secretly. Meanwhile, on the surface, the pioneer team would be the main one. Of course, both of them would work secretly. But, no one knew about the main team which Alice led. General Aston''s plan was to make the pioneer team retreated if the enemy started to become suspicious. As the leader, General Aston had given Alice the member list of the pioneer team. However, he had warned her that she should use it only if it was an emergency, as he still didn''t want the pioneer team to be aware of this team''s existence. Alice, as the leader, had divided the group into three small teams. Each team would go to a different place and use every necessary means to find a clue. The husband and wife went into one team while Auron and Alice went together as a team. Meanwhile, the two men grouped as a team. Alice and Auron met back in just 10 minutes. Auron didn''t have anything to prepare. Meanwhile, Alice had prepared since the first time she heard about her receiving a mission this morning. So, in these 10 minutes, Alice just prepared the missing things. Alice and Auron used the teleportation portal to go to the nearest town from their targeted town. From there, they would use ground transportation to the targeted town. To support their disguise, both of them had used ordinary clothes and hide their armor behind them. They didn''t forget to change their face with the tool provided by the intelligence team. Since Alice and Auron used ground transportation, it took them longer to arrived at the town. Moreover, the distance between the town quite far away. Alice and Auron arrived at the target town in the morning. They chose this town as their starting point because of the missing group of merchants this morning. This town was the merchants'' departure starting point. Alice and Auron went off transportation. Alice paid the fee while Auron took their luggage. There was quite a lot of baggage that they brought. However, inside, it was full of unnecessary things. This luggage was also a cover tool for them to perfect their disguise. While Auron was busy with their luggage, Alice took the led and walked at the front. Auron quickly followed behind her. When they were about to past the town''s gate, Alice was stopped by the town''s guard. Since there were these cases, the security check was strengthened. The guards started to ask several questions, "Only two?" "Yes," Alice answered shortly while staring at the guard. "Why do you come to this town?" "I am planning to stay and live in this town," Alice said. The guards frowned, "Why?" The guards were confused. The missing person incident had garnered quite a lot of attention. Almost everyone around the area should know about it. So, it was weird when someone was planning to live in this town. It was not like there were no other towns. Alice started to create an excuse, "We came from the village there, and you know the cases that happened these days. It was so scary, so we planned to move. Sadly, our money is limited, and we can only afford this town." Alice created a sad face then glared furiously at Auron, who was still busy arranging the luggage. The guard glanced at Auron and asked, "Who is he?" Alice answered, "My husband." Chapter 436 - Missing Person Case (3) Auron was shocked by this gimmick. Previously, they had agreed to be a brother and sister. So, when it suddenly changed to husband and wife, Auron was not ready. Auron dropped the luggage that he brought because of the shock. However, Alice glared intensely at him and it made Auron quickly composed himself. He smiled wryly at Alice and the guards. One of the guards saw this and thought, "What a sad husband. He must be tortured at home. What a poor man he is." From the way Alice treated Auron, the guard thought that Auron must be tortured at home. The guard felt relieved because even though his wife not as beautiful as Alice, but at least she was a loving person. Seeing Auron smiled wryly, Alice walked over and shouted furiously at him, "What are you doing?!!!" "Oh, my cosmetics." Alice cried out pitifully while approaching the dropped luggage on the ground. Auron quickly realized something and ducked down to take the luggage once more. Meanwhile, Alice took out a small bag of cosmetics and brought it by herself. She left the rest of the luggage to Auron. Alice went over to the guards, "Is the checking done?" The guard awoke and quickly said, "Yes. Yes, it is done. Here is your pass." Alice took the pass, "Thank you. Do you know where the inn is? I want to take a rest first before scouting the potential house." Alice was back with her cheerful and kind voice. It was so worlded apart with the voice she used when she talked with Auron previously. The guard pointed at the inn''s direction. Alice immediately went to where the guard pointed at without caring about Auron. Auron quickly followed behind Alice. Meanwhile, the guard pat Auron at his shoulder and sighed pitifully. One of the guards even said, "I also like an older woman as you do. But, I guess you chose the wrong woman." Auron could not reply and only smile wryly. Seeing Alice had gone far, Auron quickly bade the guards farewell and ran to Alice while bringing all of the luggage with him. 5 minutes later, Auron arrived in front of the inn. He walked inside carrying everything with him. The inn''s bellboy saw Auron and went to help him which Auron was grateful. When Auron arrived at the inn, Alice had already finished booking a room and got the key. Since they pretended to be a husband and wife, both of them only book one room. Alice didn''t mind sharing a room with a man. However, Auron was nervous. All of his life was spent inside the game. He rarely interacted with a woman intimately. Usually, the woman whom he had interacted with was a subordinate. Moreover, he was so focused on the game and his own strength and development. This made him didn''t have any sort of feeling towards the woman. However, right now, Auron had to share a room with Alice. He tried to calm his mind and just think this was just for the sake of the mission. Moreover, they would spend most of the day outside of the room. Auron calmed himself and followed Alice. Meanwhile, Alice already opened the room door and went inside. Auron quickly followed into the room with the inn''s bellboy behind him. Inside the room, Auron wanted to say something to Alice. However, before he could say anything, Alice had extended her hand and gave Auron 50 coppers. Auron knew what Alice had meant. This was a tip for the bellboy. Auron nodded and turned around. He approached the bellboy who was busy arranging the luggage. After everything was done, Auron gave the tips to the bell boy and saw the bellboy out of the room. Then, he closed the door and locked the door. Auron turned around only to find something shocking. Alice had already taken his top off. Auron, who was fl.u.s.tered, could not help but shouted a little, "Whoa!! Can''t you get changed in the bathroom?" Alice heard this and frowned at Auron. Then, she realized, "Oh, sorry." Alice brought her shirt and move inside the bathroom. Auron''s heart throbbing fast. He calmed himself and do what he needed. He sorted out the luggage and started to read again the information they had so far. Not long after, Alice had finished changing and she went out of the bathroom to find Auron had begun reading the information. Alice started to apologize, "I am sorry. I acted too harshly." What Alice meant was her act at the inspection on the gate previously. She felt that it was necessary. However, she still felt uncomfortable treating Auron that way so she apologizes. Auron looked at Alice, "No problem. I know all of that just for the sake of mission." "Now, put that thing aside first. We have just arrived at this place. Relax a bit. After lunch, we will begin our information gathering." Since Alice was the leader of this mission, Auron looked at Alice and agreed, "Okay." "Now, let me pay my mistake by answering all of your questions. As a former teacher, I bet I can clear all of your questions." Alice declared. Auron glanced at Alice. He was so confused about why Alice acted so close too him. Although Alice was his former teacher, they were not that close yet. However, Auron put that thing aside. He was given this rare opportunity. Just like what Alice had said she could be a teacher at the academy, moreover she was an experienced combatant. As this was Auron''s first time exploring mage class, he had so many questions on his head that he put aside for all of this time. Auron didn''t miss the chance and like a hungry wolf saw a sheep, he began rifled Alice with questions. From elemental knowledge until spells. From general question to detailed question. He didn''t forget to ask about Alice''s self-created spell. As Alice was a fire mage, Auron asked a lot about fire spells. Chapter 437 - Slum (1) "Okay, let''s stop it right now. I am hungry. Let''s go have lunch." Alice interrupted and stopped Auron. Auron, who wanted to ask another question, held his word. It was not lunchtime yet, but Alice had stopped the question session. It had only been two hours since Alice allowed him to ask the questions. Actually, during these two hours, Auron asked a lot of questions and didn''t give any break for Alice. She was more exhausted during these two hours than all of his time teaching at the academy combined. Auron''s questions were sharp and not simple at all. Although Alice could answer everything, she had to rack her brain. Auron even did some demonstration to provide an example. Alice was exhausted, and that was why she stopped the questions session and pretended to be hungry. Auron could not do anything except comply with what Alice had said. So, Auron nodded his head and prepared to go out. Although it was short, this question''s session was proofed to be useful for Auron. His elemental understanding increased by quite a lot of margin. His fire elemental understanding increased by a whopping 5%. Meanwhile, the rest of the elemental understanding increased by 2%. Auron''s understanding of Alice''s self-created spell, [Fire Combination], also increased. He felt that he finally went forward after all of this time stuck in one place. Alice went out of their room first and went downstairs while Auron hurriedly locked the door to their room. Outside of their room, both of them had to keep up their act. Auron acted like an obeyed and afraid husband, while Alice acted like a tyranny wife. Both of them went to the Paradise Restaurant. It was the most famous restaurant in this town, and it was only located beside their inn. The restaurant was packed with people even though it was not lunchtime yet. Auron and Alice chose a table at the center of the restaurant. They hoped that they could find the news about the missing person by eavesdropping, especially about the group of merchants who were still missing. Sadly, everything didn''t happen as expected. There was no one at all that was talking of the missing person case. Auron and Alice even had stayed for 2 more hours after they ate their food, but still, it was futile. Seeing there was no progress, Alice decided to actively search the news around the area. Both of them went out of the restaurant and split. They agreed to meet back before dinner time at the same restaurant. Auron walked around the area like a shopper. He looked to his right and left like a kid who came to a town for the first time. Despite there was a mysterious case where a group of merchants missing around their area, this town didn''t seem impacted by the news at all. People still like walking around the town, and no one seemed felt afraid or nervous at all. Auron went deeper into the town. The deeper he went into the town, the area slowly change. At first, it was a luxurious area. As he went further away from the town''s gate, the grand level went down. At some point, Auron arrived in front of an ordinary shop. That shop was a potion shop. However, it didn''t only sell potion, the potion shop also sold potion''s ingredients for an alchemist. Auron could not hold himself not to visit the shop. He went inside the store. "Welcome!" Inside, Auron was greeted enthusiastically by a young man who was the shop''s clerk. The young man approached Auron and asked, "What do you want to buy? Potions or the ingredients?" The young man recognized Auron as a mage. Usually, the one who became an alchemist was a mage, so the young man asked that question to Auron. "Let me see first. Do you have..." Auron mentioned several ingredients'' names of potions. It turned out, the shop had all of the ingredients mentioned by Auron, which shocked him. "How about these ingredients..." Auron said several sets of ingredients'' names. What surprised the young man said that they had all of them. It was a surprising fact that an ordinary potion shop in a small, almost remote town had the ingredients Auron had mentioned. Even a small potion shop in the capital didn''t have all of the ingredients Auron said. Auron, who was excited, began to ask the price of these ingredients. The price was relatively higher than the one in the other shop. However, it was still considered made sense because there should be a transportation expense. Auron bought a set of potion''s ingredients as his money was not enough to buy too much. Then, Auron bade the young man farewell. Outside the shop, Auron had printed the potion shop''s name in his mind. Auron continued to search for a clue. A block after the potion shop, Auron saw a small path led to a shady alley. Curious, Auron followed the path. It was a long path. Although it was still at noon, the alley was almost completely dark. Auron followed the path carefully. 5 minutes after he entered the alley, Auron finally saw the end of the path. At the end of the road, Auron could hear the cheerful sound of kids playing around. Several broken and the dilapidated building was at his sight. Shabby clothes were hanging on a thread in front of each of the houses. Kids who wore shabby clothes were running around playfully. When Auron arrived at the area, the parents of the kids immediately grabbed their own child and went to their house. The parents hid their kids inside the house while they glared at Auron like a vicious predator waiting to pounce at Auron. The cheerful sound was changed with a completely silent. The tense atmosphere could be felt. The people around the area looked at Auron without saying anything. Auron knew these people were wary of him. And, he also knew where he was. It was the town''s slum. Chapter 438 - Slum (2) Auron was standing still for a few seconds. He didn''t want to move rashly when everyone was looking at him with suspicious eyes. He was afraid that the slum''s residents would attack him. Of course, he was not scared to be killed. These slum''s residents would not have that power to kill him. Moreover, he could simply kill them and avoid getting punished. Yes, although the slum''s residents resided inside the town, they were discriminated from the other residents. Nobody would mind for a slum''s residents to be killed. However, that was not the case for Auron. He didn''t want to kill someone easily. Moreover, if they were on the same side and he still didn''t know whether they were good or bad people. The eyes'' of the residents were still focusing on Auron. When Auron was about to explain his presence, he sensed a movement behind him. Auron glanced behind him. From the dark and narrow alley, Auron could see a silhouette coming in his direction. It was a man silhouette. The silhouette was slowly approaching Auron, who was still at the entrance of the slums. When the silhouette was closer to him, Auron could begin to see the outline. It was a man with the same height as Auron. The man was slim, and he wore a long black robe. Auron could see the man was bringing something in his hands. On both of his hands, the man got a bag. As the man coming closer to Auron, he also could see Auron. The man took the initiative to greet Auron, "Oh, hello! Are you lost here?" The man could see that Auron was a newcomer in this town. Moreover, from Auron''s expression, the man could deduce that Auron was not intending to come to this place. That was why the man asked whether Auron was lost or not. The man released a kind vibe. Auron, who kept his alert on when the man was approaching him, began to loosen his guard. He could see that the man didn''t have any bad intentions. When the man was beside Auron, the slum''s residents also loosened their tense atmosphere. Then, not long after, two kids from one of the slum''s residents cheered and approached the man happily. "What do you bring? Do you bring more food?" The kids happily asked the man as she seemed to know the man in front of her. The kids began to touch the bag that the man had brought. The man giggled, "Hey, slow down. It will not run away." The parents of the kids also approached the man and tried to apologize to the man because of his kids. However, they still glanced at Auron warily. They still didn''t know about Auron''s intention coming here. The man raised his hand to calm the parents. Then, he looked at Auron and smiled before he looked back at the parents and said, "Here, take this! Distribute it properly. It should have enough for everyone!" The parents'' mood became brightened. Then, just as what the man had said, he walked away, calling everyone in the slum, and started to distribute the bread from the bag. Meanwhile, Auron saw this occasion nodded his head. He was so touched that there was still a kind man like the man in front of him. "Please forgive for their rudeness! They were very cautious against new faces." The man explained. "I bet you have lost your way to come here. My name is Patrick. What is your name?" Patrick introduced himself. Auron said his name. Then, he followed with a question, "Do you often doing this?" What Auron means was clear. It was the act of giving food for the slum''s residents. Patrick nodded, "Once a day at this time of hours for the last two months." "Ah, it has been two months. It was quite hard for the first time. The people here didn''t believe me and even thought that I brought expired food." Patrick began reminiscent the first time he did this thing. "Come. Let''s talk while walking." Patrick asked Auron to follow him inside the slum. Auron could see people gathered to receive the food here. There were around 50 a.d.u.l.ts and about 25 kids here. When Patrick and Auron arrived at the bread''s distribution''s place, the people gathered there immediately stopped what they were doing and smiled at Patrick. They also thanked Patrick wholeheartedly. Seeing this scene, Auron began to see Patrick in a different light. Patrick brought Auron to one of the elders on the slum. Patrick bowed his body to the elder. "Aiyoo... You don''t have to bow. Quickly, stand up!" Seeing the bowing Patrick, the elder hurriedly told Patrick to stand up. "Good day, elder. I have come here to tell a piece of good news." "We''ve got some more slot for the kids. And, this time, it is two slots." Patrick said with an enthusiastic tone. "Re... Really? Are you serious?" The elder smiled happily. "Yes, I am serious! The organization that supported me is delighted with the two previous kids'' performance. That was why they decided to give two more opportunities. One for a kid below 10 years old and the other one for a teenager. Please choose the appropriate people." Meanwhile, the other residents who heard the news also cheered excitedly. The slot that Patrick had said was the education slots. During these two months, Patrick had offered the slum''s resident education opportunity twice. And, this was the third time. At first, the parents were worried about the kids'' safety. However, after Patrick listed the benefit they would get and how bright the future of the kid, they relented. Moreover, with Patrick''s kindness, they had trusted him with their sons. Two weeks after the first kid was sent, another opportunity came. Patrick brought back the first kid. The first kid excitedly testified that it was a fun process, and he learned a lot. The first kid showed off everything that he learned that even his parent didn''t know. Chapter 439 - Slum (3) Auron looked at this exciting atmosphere. He knew for these people, a chance for education was what they hoped for their next generation. If their children could get an education, they hoped that their children would bring their families out of poverty. The elder calmed down the mass. Smiling, he began to gather the resident to determine whose child would be sent next. Meanwhile, Patrick moved closer to Auron with a smile on his face. "Isn''t it exciting to see these people happy?" Auron didn''t answer and just nodded. "Oh, I am distracted. You haven''t answered my first question yet. So, what are you doing here?" Patrick asked the question again. Auron began to explain how he could come to this slum area. Of course, he would not explain he was on a secret mission. Auron told Patrick that he was a newcomer in this town today. He had just moved and want to know more about this town, so he scoured the area. He was from the potion shop closed to the alley when he noticed a passage that leads here. "I see. Are you alone?" Patrick asked Auron once again. "Nope. I moved here with my wife." "Where is your wife?" Auron answered that his ''wife'', Alice, was shopping while looking for a permanent residence. When Patrick heard that, he exclaimed, "Wow, you must be such a loving husband. You must have a decent job to come here." "Not much," Auron answered. "Do you want to join my organization in helping these kinds of people?" Patrick asked. However, Auron immediately shooked his head and refused, "Sorry, but this is not my call." "No problem, everyone had their own circ.u.mstances. But you would accept my invitation to my house tomorrow, right?" Auron pondered for a second and said, "It will be my pleasure. Surely, I will come." "That''s great! Here is my address, bring your wife along. Looks like they had finish deciding! Let me take a look." Patrick approached the coming elder and began a serious conversation. Meanwhile, Auron stood still and watched them from far away. The conversation didn''t last long until Patrick went back to Auron and said, "Well, that''s it! I will leave now. Do you have something to do here?" Auron shooked his head. Of course, he had nothing to do since everything was a coincidence. He also intended to leave the area. With that, Auron and Patrick bade farewell to the slum''s residence and took the alley once more. After coming out from the alley, Patrick said, "Don''t forget tomorrow night! Bring your wife along!" "Okay, see ya!" Auron nodded and bade his farewell to Patrick. The reason why Auron agreed to the invitation was to look for information. He thought that since Patrick had been here for 2 months, he should have more information. Moreover, there was an organization behind Patrick. Maybe, the organization could help his mission somehow. Dinnertime came. Auron met with Alice at the same restaurant they ate for lunch. They casually started a conversation while looking for other information from the other guest. Alice and Auron didn''t want to talk about what they find here. They were afraid their conversation was heard by others and made them exposed. Just like in the afternoon, they got nothing from this dinnertime. Hence, they immediately went back to their room. Inside the room, it was time to have a serious talk. Alice started telling Auron what she found. She used her charm and s.e.xiness to charm the shop owner and gathered information from them. After buying several things from the owner, Alice started to probe by saying, "This town was like heaven. There are many exciting places, unlike my hometown, *** Village. It was so boring. Moreover, it was unsafe." By stating that, Alice tried to bait the owner to tell about what he knew. Some of the owners took the bait and began asking why is it unsafe, or they said that it was not much, etc. Alice would lead every conversation to discuss the missing person case and what they knew about it. From every owner that Alice had interacted with, only two of them had proper knowledge about the merchant that had gone missing, which what Alice had aimed for. From what Alice had gathered, the group had 3 members in it. That said group was commissioned by a man to buy something from a nearby village and brought it back here. And, it was in huge quantity, which means it was a huge business. The village was close. It took only around 5 hours to arrive there. And, the deal price was relatively high for that kind of thing. That was why the group accepted the task. Of course, the group of merchants would not go alone. Since it was involved a lot of money, they had hired 5 guards to protect them during the journey. However, after the appointed time, the merchant didn''t show up. Then, the man who commissioned the group reported it to the authoritative. The local authoritative looked for the group. However, there was no trace, no corpse, and no clue at all. It was like the merchants had disappeared just like that. Even the 5 guards that were hired didn''t come back to the town and vanished along with the merchants. Alice had pocketed the name of the man who commissioned the merchants. When she told Auron the name, he was shocked. The man was none other than Patrick. Auron quickly told Alice his story. From how he found the alley and arrived at the slum until he met with Patrick. Auron began to say to Alice Patrick''s appearance and his first impression. He also told Alice everything about their conversation, about Patrick giving bread every day, and the free education slot provided by the organization. In the end, Auron didn''t forget to say that Patrick had invited them over, and he had promised to come along with Alice. Alice pondered for a minute and said, "Interesting!" Chapter 440 - Patrick (1) The next day came. In the morning, Auron and Alice did precisely the same as what they did yesterday. Auron and Alice went to the same restaurant to check the latest news. As it was the biggest and the most crowded restaurant in this town, they still had some hope in this restaurant. From that restaurant, they went in a separate direction. Alice went to the other shops that she had yet visited yesterday while Auron was lurking around the town, especially the downtown and area near the slum. However, gathering information was proofed to be complicated. During the morning and the afternoon, both of them could not get anything valuable. One notable thing that happened was, at noon, Alice was being robbed by some stranger. As soon as she was getting out of one of the expensive shops, a stranger came and grabbed Alice''s belonging, including her bag. Alice was not hurt. Of course, how could a mere thief hurt Alice, who was a commander at the military? However, Alice still pretended to be hurt and fell down to the ground weakly. To kept her act, she had restrained her anger and will to hunt down the thief by herself. With Alice''s s.e.xiness and beauty, the man near the incident willingly help the beauty wholeheartedly. As soon as Alice shouted and fell down to the ground weakly, in the name of justice, three or four nearby men immediately chased down the thief. This chasing action took the guard''s attention. In the end, less than 15 minutes, the thief had been captured. Alice, as the victim, went to the station to retrieve her bag and belonging. The petty thief cried out loud and apologized to Alice. He begged Alice pardon to release him. Unfortunately, the law must be enforced. One thing that piqued Alice''s attention was the fact that the thief said he was hired to rob Alice. However, he didn''t know who hired him as he was only told by an instruction inside an envelope sent to his hiding place yesterday night. Inside the envelope, there was some money, Alice''s picture, and also a piece of paper. The piece of paper said that he was the woman''s ex-husband. So, he wanted to hire the thief to rob the woman. Meanwhile, he said that the woman liked to shop around expensive shops and areas. Controlled by greed, the thief agreed to steal Alice. And, here was him now, captured by the town''s guards. Alice had tried to know who hired the thief. Unfortunately, she could not get any name. In the end, she had to give up. But, she knew she was marked by someone. After the incident, Alice had stayed all day long inside the inns. Night came. It was time for Alice and Auron to go to Patrick''s house. They were ready and already went to Patrick''s house. Patrick''s house was near the slum area. However, what notable from Patrick was that the house was not rented. Instead, Patrick had bought the house. Auron knocked at Patrick''s house. Not long after, Patrick opened the door and welcomed them, "Please, come in!" Patrick''s house was a two-floor house. It was not a really big house. However, it was considered big for a lone man to live here alone. Auron and Alice immediately went to the dinner table, where there were various foods served above the table. It was such a luxury service for the two of them. Patrick started the conversation with small talk, "So, this beauty must be your wife, right?" Alice acted shy and said, "Thank you for your compliment." The three of them continue the conversation for a few minutes, before Patrick saying, "It was already this late, let us eat first and continue the talk later." "Sure," Alice answered. Alice and Auron, as well as Patrick, started to get some food on their plate. Auron acted as a loyal, and kind husband got some food for Alice. Alice scooped the food, and when she was about to put the food inside her mouth, she quickly threw the spoon filled food to Patrick. This sudden incident alerted Auron, who immediately faced Patrick and kept his vigilance. He had already known about Alice''s experience being robbed at broad daylight. There must be something wrong. Auron would never doubt Alice''s behavior. She would not rashly act or do something to expose her identity. However, he could never guess there was something inside Patrick''s house. The reason Alice threw the food was that there was poison inside the food. Patrick dodged the spoon that was thrown at him. Then, from the second floor, a smoke came by and filled the room. Also, several hurried steps came down to the first floor. 5 other men came down from the second floor. Along with Patrick, there were six enemies in front of Auron and Alice. "Who are you?" Auron asked. "That should be my question! Who are you guys?" Patrick threw back the question. Both of them were at a stalemate and were wary of each other. Patrick had gathered by with the 5 men around him. As a man, Auron instinctively took the front while Alice was behind him. He glanced at the exit door. Patrick noticed this, and with a sign, he ordered his people around him to attack. The five men, as well as Patrick, attacked Auron, who was at the front. They had more numbers, and it should be an easy win against a man and a woman. Patrick thought, although the man was strong, the woman should not be that strong. However, Patrick forgot one crucial detail. The one who recognized the poison inside the food was the woman, Alice. As the six of them charged at Auron and Alice, a warning from behind Auron sounded, "Duck!!!" Auron immediately ducked down, and a [Flame Burst] shot out from behind him. The enemies were not ready and got hit by the burning flame. That was not all. A shadow flew above Auron and, with a quick speed, stab at each of the enemies once. Chapter 441 - Patrick (2) The shadow that leaped over Auron was, of course, Alice. With her quick speed, she had come to each of the enemies and stabbed them once. Patrick and three others managed to dodge the incoming stab by rolling their body. However, it was not the case for the two others. Alice''s intention was not to kill them instead to maim them. So, Alice''s stab was aimed at their non-vital part like legs, shoulders, hands, other parts. She wanted to capture as many people as she could, so she had more information. Sadly, for these two people, seeing Alice tried to attack them, they reacted. Unfortunately, one of them''s reaction brought them to demise. He was targetted at his right hand. However, the target turned his body over, and the place where the right hand was supposed to be was replaced with his heart. A stab to the heart brought him an immediate death. One death, one injured, and 4 others got a burned scar. Although it was difficult, the four others quickly restored their posture and prepared to flee. However, how could Alice let them went away? Several stabs and a [Fire Bolt] were launched to bring them down. Not only that, but Auron also didn''t stand idle. He helped Alice to keep the enemies from running away. The battle was short. In just five minutes, everything was settled. Alice had to kill two other people to keep them running away. Auron was binding the other 3 people with a rope. Those three people had blood all over their bodies because Alice tried to maim them. After they failed to run away, they gave up with their head down facing the floor. Among those three that still alive, Patrick was among them. Alice had a unique dagger in her hand. It was her custom weapon that she ordered. The dagger''s blade was long, and it was almost could be considered as a short sword. Alice pressed her dagger to Patrick''s chin and lifted his head to face her. "Who are you?" With a hand tied behind his back, Patrick, who faced Alice, kept his silence. He didn''t want to answer the question. Getting a silent as an answer, Alice smacked Patrick''s cheek with the back of her dagger. Patrick fell down to the ground. Alice ignored Patrick and moved to the other person. Alice did the same as what she did with Patrick to this person. The person wavered a bit, but, in the end, he kept his silence just like Patrick. Alice punched this man''s face then moved to the last person. Before Alice could do anything, the man immediately said, "I will talk! I will talk! But you have to let me go!" Alice halted her steps. She smiled warmly, then she scoured the man''s face with the back of her dagger''s blade gently, "Relax... I promise you. If what you are about to say is true and important, I will let you go!" The man was petrified with Alice, "Okay... you have promised. I will tell you everything that I know..." "You...!" Both the other man and Patrick looked at this scared man furiously. Sadly, they could do nothing as Auron stuffed their mouth with clothes and tied it tightly. The man began to tell everything that he knew. It seemed that the man was experienced in a situation like this since his story was precise. He didn''t tell everything in detail and just said the essential element without missing anything. It was actually a long story and took more than 15 minutes for the man to tell his story. It turned out that among the five people beside him was coming from an organization. It was more precise to call it a cult rather than an organization. The cult was started from small villages, and they kidnapped people in secret. At one of the villages, this cult asked help from external. Hence, he who was a slave trader came in. He helped the cult to kidnap or did some miscellaneous work for them. For example, he was the one who hired the thief to rob Alice. The cult''s intention was to probe Alice''s strength. Unfortunately, the thief they hired was so weak that they could not probe Alice''s strength at all and this situation came out. Back to the story, the cult wanted to expand their area of work. That was why the cult sent these five people to operate in this town. Since the man was had work with them long enough, the cult decided to hire them in this town as well. Patrick was selected as the cult''s front face in this town. Meanwhile, the other would work with Patrick behind the shadow. For almost two months, they were here, they had only managed to kidnap two children. Hence, when yesterday Patrick met with Auron, he had decided to kidnap Auron. However, he had to probe Auron first or at least his wife so he could make his wife a hostage. They planned to execute the kidnapping at this dinnertime. Unfortunately, everything failed. "Since I am not their member, I only know that much. I don''t know what they did with the people they kidnapped and only know this much. Please let me go! You have promised to let me go!" The man said. However, Alice didn''t answer the man. Instead, she asked another question. "What about the group of merchants that gone missing? Was it also your doing?" "No... That was definitely not our doing. However, I am sure that it was also the cult''s work that made them gone." "How can you be sure?" Alice inquired. "Him!! He asked me to investigate them, and I was also the one who recommended the merchant''s group the place to hire the bodyguard." The man pointed at Patrick. "I told him all the story, including how many bodyguards that they hired and when they would depart!" "Was it also you who commissioned him?" "No! Definitely not! I believed it was also his doing!" The man pointed at Patrick one more. Chapter 442 - Asyaka Cult (1) Alice frowned because of the man''s story. She was so surprised by the fact that there was a cult. Several questions popped out in her mind. What did this cult want to do? How many their member was? What did they do to the kidnapped person? With so many unanswered questions, Alice went back to Patrick, who was still lying on the ground. She stomped Patrick''s body as she asked, "Where do you bring the kidnapped person? What did you do to them?" However, Patrick still kept quiet. He glared angrily at Alice. Alice ignored the glare and kept on stomping him as well as saying the questions. Sadly, Patrick was so persistent. Getting no answer from Patrick, Alice moved on to the other man. She kicked and stomped his body as well while asking the same question. But, just like Patrick, the man kept on quiet. Alice was raking her brain. She needed the information from these two people. However, if they kept silent, then she could do nothing. While thinking, a knock on the door was heard. Everyone looked at the door. Alice nodded at Auron, who immediately plastered everyone''s mouth. Auron knew the sound of the battle would not be left unheard. The newcomer must be the town''s guards. Auron went on to the door and opened it a bit. Then, he blocked the gap with his body to prevent the guest from seeing inside the house. Just like he had guessed, there were five guards at the door. "Hello, can I help you?" Auron innocently asked. "Oh, hey! You were the one who came yesterday! So, you have got a place to stay permanently!" It turned out the leader of these guards was the guard who checked Auron when he came here yesterday. "Hi, officer! Yeah, fortunately, I got this house cheap." Auron lied to them. "You are lucky! Well, we come here because there was a noise report from this house. So, we checked it! You don''t mind if we check it, right?" "Um..." Auron hesitated. Seeing Auron hesitated, the guards become suspicious. However, at that time, an angry shout came, "Hey, you stupid!!! Why do you take so long at the door? You are so bold to have an affair at our front door! Do you want to die?" Alice had shouted from inside to help Auron. Hearing the shout, Auron became awkward. However, this voice also made the guards smiled wrily. It was not their right to meddle in other''s affairs. "Sorry, officers!" Auron shyly nodded his head. "Oh, that''s fine! I guess it was a false report! We will go back. Sorry for disturbing you at this hour!" The leader of the guard turned around and said, "Let us go back!" Before leaving, the leader faced Auron once again and cheered him, "I hope you will be alright!" Auron nodded firmly as he would go to war. Then, he closed the door with a confident face. Auron looked back at Alice and the hostages. He had averted the situation. Actually, he could just expose his identity as the intelligent department''s member on a mission. However, he didn''t want to do that and still kept his mission secret. Auron was afraid that one leak would lead to another leak. Since the situation was under control, Alice continued to torture the man and Patrick. He went back and forth between the two of them. After five minutes of torturing, Patrick''s subordinate relented. "I will talk!!! Stop it!!" He said while tried to defend from Alice''s stomping. Alice halted her foot in midair. She put her feet back on the ground and glared at the man. "Talk!" "You have to promise me that you will let me go!" The man tried to save his life. "I promise!" With Alice''s promise, the man began to tell everything he knew. Although his position in the cult not as high as Patrick, he was still a true member of the cult. So, he knew more information compared to the external hire. The man said that the cult was founded long ago. It was almost 2 years long. There were three founders of the cult who were the current leader and its two vice leaders. There was a rumor that these three people had founded a way to get stronger through evil means. However, to get that power, they needed to give a blood sacrifice in a huge amount. Hence, the cult''s goal was to search for many blood sacrifices. Because of the amount of blood sacrifice they needed was huge, they started to recruit other people. They robbed a merchant, pillage a village, kidnap people, and many other bad things. They camouflage themselves as a bandit group. Only a portion of the core member knew the reason why they did this. Of course, such massive activities could not escape from the military''s radar. The military eradicated them. However, the military could only eliminate and capture the low-level member. The leaders and the core members were still free. However, after the military sweep, they always kept their profile low. After some time, they would surge again and formed a new group. This act was repeated continuously throughout two years. And, nobody knew whether the leaders had managed to get the said power or not. However, starting from four months ago, a sudden change happened within the cult. The cult still used the same strategy. However, now, they were more careful and went all out. Even the core member such himself and Patrick had to participate in the operation. Each people''s contribution was recorded by the leader. The leader said that the more they contribute, the more they would get in return. However, they still didn''t know what they would get. Their task, this time was more difficult. They needed to kidnap people alive. If it was a dead body, then it would not be counted. Other things like the target''s treasure or belonging could be taken by each of the individuals without needing to report it to the cult. Chapter 443 - Asyaka Cult (2) As they needed to kidnap people alive, the difficulty was raised. Most of the cult members changed their strategy, from kidnapping children until using powerful drugs to render their target paralyzed. Not only that, but some people also used deceived strategy like what Patrick had done. Patrick deceived the slum''s people and kidnapped their children slowly. He built their trust first and offered an opportunity to make them off guard. During these two months, everything went well. As the slum was a place that was avoided by the people in this town, Patrick''s movement was hindered. He quickly gained the trust and managed to kidnap two children. However, yesterday, something unusual happened during his daily visit. An unrecognized person went to that place, which was Auron. Usually, Patrick and his gangs would keep a tab on every new person who stayed in this town. It was in preparation in case the military had sent someone over. However, Patrick was more alert when he found Auron in the slum area. It was a rare occurrence for a newcomer to venture around to the slum area. Hence, Patrick sent someone to probe about this man and whoever comes with him. At first, his invitation''s goal was to get to know Auron better and investigate the man before him. However, it changed when he received a report that there was nothing extraordinary in Auron and Alice. Patrick intended to kidnap the two of them. There was a different value for the sacrifice. The stronger the person, the higher the point they would get. And, obviously, an a.d.u.l.t should be stronger than a bunch of children. Unfortunately, this plan led to their doom. Fortunately, Auron and Alice could stop them with only two victims. Since these two victims had been gone for more than one week, Auron could only pray that they survive even though the probability for that to happened was near zero. Auron suddenly remembered something. He moved to the man and asked, "What did you do to the two children?" The two children that Auron mentioned were the two children for the new slots. The man that told the story knew what Auron meant. He shook his head, "They had been brought away this afternoon." In operation, the cult divided the group into two categories, the bait and the executor. And, Patrick groups fell to the bait category. Patrick and his gangs'' job was to mark the target and gather every information the executor needed to kidnap them. And, the two children had been delivered to the executor this morning. Even Patrick didn''t know what their fate was. Just like what happened to the group of merchants, Patrick had provided the necessary information to the executor, and they would be the ones who executed the kidnap. Of course, the points would be shared splitter to the two of them. However, usually, the bait would get the bigger portion of the point. Auron gritted his teeth and pushed the man in his face. It had been more than 6 hours since the children were brought away. So, it would be difficult to trace them. Moreover, their survival chance was low. The man was in pain because of Auron''s punch. However, he could not hold his face since his hand was tied. He could only be rolling on the floor in pain. Now, it was time for Auron and Alice to decide what to do with these three people. Alice glanced at each of them. When Alice glanced at the external member, the man immediately pleaded and reminded Alice, "You had already promised me!" Then, Alice went to the next man who immediately said with a weird noise holding his pain, "You also had promised me!" Alice went to the last man, Patrick, who did the same as the previous two men. However, instead of pleading, Patrick threatened, "If you kill me, you will regret it a lot!" "To ensure everything was secure, every day, there would be a meeting, and every operation leader had to be there to report, including me. If I could not go to the meeting, as the protocol had said, it would be that there was something wrong with me, and every operation would be halted." "Which means, you would lose your chance," Patrick explained. Alice frowned. She looked at the other two who nodded their heads, confirming what Patrick had said. As if he won, Patrick smiled. He was saved. Tomorrow, when the meeting begins, he would seek a way to tell everyone what happened here. However, to Patrick''s surprise, that was the last smile and last thought that he had as a sharp pointy blade pierce through his forehead. Auron was surprised, so as the other two men. However, Auron quickly calmed his mind. Alice was way more experience than him, and she knew the consequences of killing Patrick. She must have a way out. Meanwhile, the two other men cried and pleaded to Alice. They didn''t want to die. Although Alice had promised them, she had didn''t have an obligation to fulfill it. But, they still hoped that Alice held her promise. "Ssshh..." As the two men cried loudly, Alice shushed them. Both of the men immediately shut their mouths. "Relax, I will keep my promise with you. I will let you go, but not now!" "If you cooperate well with me, I could even give you a present on top of letting you run away." Alice had a plan. To dig deeper into this cult, she intended to join the meeting and knew what their plan was. However, to do that, she needed these two people alive. With that, Auron and Alice sacked both of the man''s head with a black bag and tied them tightly to one of the iron tables. Then, silently, Alice called Auron over. Alice told Auron about her plan for tomorrow. Also, what he should do next. It was a long night for Auron for tomorrow''s preparation. However, he needed to do this for the success of their mission. Chapter 444 - Asyaka Cult (3) After lunchtime the next day, Auron went inside Patrick''s house. He was coming back from finishing the task that Alice gave last night. Inside the house, Alice had been waiting for him along with the two hostages. Alice was in the middle of giving these two men food, and water. All of them were about to attend the meeting, and Alice didn''t want the cult to find out about everything that happened because of the unenergized hostages. "Are you done?" Alice put the food on the table and asked Auron. "Here," Auron took out something and gave it to Alice. "Is it working perfectly?" Auron shooked, "It is working but not perfect. There is some flaw and could not reproduce the perfect sound." Last night, Alice had given Auron a tape recorder and had ordered Auron to take a device from the intelligent division. It was a voice changer device. This voice changer was more advanced than the one that was currently used inside an operation. It used the voice given and analyzed it. Then, the device would apply the same voice with the given voice. Sadly, it was still on the testing stage and wasn''t perfect yet. Auron spent almost 1 day to go back and forth from the military base and this place. Fortunately, everything was swift, and no obstacle was found. During the way, Auron also tested the device by himself. He tried using a variety of features implemented at the device. Sadly, the device had some flaws in it. It could only record one voice and could not change to another voice. Not only that, but the lifetime of the device was also short. It could only work for 1 hour. Auron had brought 2 devices from the intelligence division. However, since he tested during the way back, one of the devices only had half time remaining. Both devices had Patrick''s voice in it. This was Alice''s plan, she would pretend to be Patrick. This plan should be work since the meeting was done in virtual. Although Patrick never said it, Alice had deduced it somehow. If every day, there would be a face to face meeting with someone above, then it would be a nuisance to travel here every day. Hence, the meeting should be a virtual one. And Alice''s deduction was proven right when she searched Patrick''s corpse. On the corpse, she found a device that should be the one used for the meeting. It was the kind of device to create some kind of conference call without a video feature. Alice activated the meeting device. A bustling sound immediately heard from the device. A lot of conversation took place. These people boasted their achievements to their friends. It was 5 minutes before the meeting had started. From the conversation, Alice and Auron could only get one information. There were many small groups like Patrick''s group scattered across the area. 5 minutes later, one heavy coughing sound was heard, "Ahem!" With that one cough, every conversation immediately died down. "Now, let us do our routine. Starting from..." The leader of this meeting called out a name one by one. Each the called name immediately gave their detailed reports like how many sacrifices they got, any suspicious activity from the military, or any impediment on their mission. "Now, let us hear from Patrick''s side," After 10 names, it was Patrick''s group''s turn. "Ah... Erm... So, we delivered two yesterday, and we would like to take things slowly less the people got suspicious. Then,..." It was Patrick''s subordinate who was the cult member who said this. Alice wanted to try to not use the device if she could. So, she let the man to said the report. Of course, the man was still tied, and she put her knife on the man''s neck. "Stop! Who are you? Where''s Patrick?" The meeting''s leader cut off. "Erm... He..." The man nervously stuttered and looked at Alice. "Sorry, I am not feeling well. But, let me continued..." Auron used the device and pretended to be Patrick. Since the device was not perfect yet, the produced voice was weird. However, Auron tried to cover it as if he was sick. After Patrick, aka Auron, finished explaining, the leader asked, "What happened to you?" "You know where I get my source, right? The slum! Since they got two new slots yesterday, they were very grateful and threw me a party. Of course, I could not reject the offer lest they became suspicious." "I even went all out at the party. Sadly, my voice cracked, and I got a sore throat this morning." Auron made an excused. It seemed the leader didn''t become suspicious of him since he continued the meeting and heard the reports from the other. After several more names, it concluded the report session. Then, it was time for the leader to give an announcement if there was any. "The progress for the past few days was quite amazing. However, kept vigilance. It should be the time where the military sends someone to investigate. I also got some news that the military had indeed sent a team to investigate. However, I still could not find any detail." "Let me update you all tomorrow. Just remember! Be careful and kept up your good work!" "Oh, one more thing! The leader had decided to give out a prize for the top 10 contributors by the end of this week!" With the news of a reward, the meeting immediately became noisy with cheering and giggled. This would make the members became more proactive in gathering sacrifices. After announcing that, the meeting was over. One by one, people began to disconnect from the session. Meanwhile, Auron''s group was the last one to disconnect from the meeting. Auron and Alice frowned. The time was short. They needed to take action quickly. The essential things that they needed to know were the cult''s base''s location. Sadly, no one here knew the place. Auron began tying up the hostages once more while Alice was racking her brain. Chapter 445 - Asyaka Cult (4) The longer Auron and Alice took down the cult, the more victim would be. Not only that, but Auron also pretended to be sick because of the not yet perfect device. If every time he joined the meeting, he was ill, then it would arouse suspicion from the other. Moreover, from the previous meeting, Auron could see that the leader of the meeting was cautious in managing everything. After tying the hostages, Auron faced Alice, who was still thinking. She actually had a plan. If the plan was a success, they could infiltrate the cult secretly. However, the risk was too significant. The difficulty of making the plan was placed on the secrecy of the plan. They would need to infiltrate inside the cult at least for one day without getting exposed. Since she was still could not decide what plan to use, she decided to contact the military to report the progress as well as ask for advice. Meanwhile, Auron was ordered to collect for more information and also informed the other at the other village. Alice called up his father to ask for advice. As everyone busy with their task, the two hostages could only cry inside as they were ignored and could do nothing since they were tied. Meanwhile, Auron also called up the other member one by one to ask their findings as well as informed them about the cult''s information. Two hours later, Auron went back inside the house. He had held some information that was quite useful from the other members. When Auron went back inside, it was the same time as Alice disconnect her call. Auron immediately reported his findings to Alice. After Auron finished explaining, he asked, "So, what''s the plan?" Auron knew they were rushed by time. If they didn''t act quickly, it would be a disaster. He was also afraid that the cult would hide. Alice''s expression turned serious. She had consulted with his father about the plan. However, she still knew that the danger level was not low. The plan was to use a bait. One of them between Auron or Alice would become a bait. Then, they would pretend as Patrick and called the executor to bring the bait back. However, there were two things to keep in mind about this plan. The first thing was the bait would be in a dangerous situation. So, if the lure was not strong enough, then they would die. Not only that, but the bait would also be brought to the enemy''s den, and it would be difficult to run away. Another thing was that there was a chance that the executor would not bring the bait to the cult''s base and brought them somewhere. Considering these two things, Alice had decided to become the bait. Auron was not strong enough. If there was a dangerous situation, at least, Alice could still defend herself. While Alice became the bait, Auron would follow Alice and the executor from behind. He would act as a reinforcement when Alice was in a dangerous situation. Alice and Auron had decided to execute the plan tomorrow morning. Since the two of them would be gone, they had to prepare everything properly. If they act now, there would be little time to prepare for the plan. Moreover, soon, it would be night time. When the night came, it would be difficult for them to coordinate and act in the middle of the enemy''s base. That was why tomorrow morning would be the best choice to act. Auron went outside and began to inform the other members about their plan. Meanwhile, Alice contacted the military to take care of the hostages. Although Alice had promised to set let them go, she never mentioned when or where she would let them free. So, Alice would set them free when the military people had come tomorrow morning. If they could escape from the military''s personnel, then it would be their luck. However, if they could not, it would be their fault for the lack of skills. Time passed by, the morning came. The sun was shining so bright, and it was a great day to do something big. However, inside Patrick''s house, Auron and Alice were discussing something serious. They were discussing the plan''s detail for the last time when a knock came to their door. Auron opened the door and invited the guest inside. It was a group of five people. They were the people coming from the military to ''escort'' the two hostages back to the military for further interrogation. The two hostages had given up escaping. They were so stressed about their situation and had given up in this hopeless situation. Inside their heart, they had decided to cooperate with the military to save their life. They would give everything they knew to the military. After the military people had come, Auron and Alice immediately went out of the house to execute the plan. The previous night, they had contacted the executor to take Alice, the sacrifice early in the morning. They also decided on the transaction place, which was outside the town. The meeting place was quite far from the town, and it was in the middle of the woods, so there would be not many witnesses. 15 minutes later, Auron and Alice arrived at the place. Auron immediately tied Alice to a tree. He also covered Alice''s mouth and put her head inside a black bag. Then, Auron went hiding. He took quite some distance away from Alice in case the executor would be aware of his presence. 5 minutes later, the agreed time arrived. However, there was still no hint about the executor. Auron''s heart throbbed. Did their plan got exposed? Fortunately, Auron worried didn''t last long. 5 minutes past the agreed time, a man came slowly. He looked like still half-awake and was rushing to the meeting place. He seemed overslept and was running to this place. The executor saw a woman tied up to a tree. He quickly approached the woman. Chapter 446 - Asyaka Cult (5) When the executor saw Alice and could not find Patrick anywhere around, he already knew what to do. Sometimes, this kind of transaction was happening. Since the bait was busy with their task, they would leave the goods alone where there was no one around. The executor approached Alice quietly. When the executor touched Alice''s body, Alice immediately screamed, afraid. She pretended to be a frail woman. She was also moving around, trying to kick the executor away. Of course, Alice would not use her full strength since she needed to act as a fragile woman. As a man, the executor was stronger than an ordinary woman. He used his body''s strength to keep Alice from kicking and also closed her mouth from screaming. Alice kept on shouting. However, since his mouth was blocked, only a muffled sound was heard. The executor punched Alice at her stomach. He wanted to silence the woman. Alice deliberately didn''t defend and took the punch. As the woman had gone silent, the executor opened the black bag, which covered her head. This was the executor fetish. He liked to see other people scream and desperate faces. Moreover, the target this time was an alluring woman. Seeing Alice''s face, the executor giggled. Alice kept pretending to be scared. She shouted, "Who are you? Let me go!" However, as Alice made a desperate voice, the executor actually took a liking of this situation. "Come on! Keep on screaming!" The executor took out his dagger. Then, he played the blade with his hand playfully. When the executor took out the dagger, Auron already prepared himself. He knew that even though the executor would not kill Alice, it didn''t mean he could not hurt Alice. Alice realized how twisted this man''s brain. However, she still kept pretending to be afraid. She had said that if the man really used his dagger to attack, she would retaliate. The man kept on playing the dagger. He caressed Alice''s face with the blade. Alice felt the cold metal scouring her face line. However, suddenly, that cold metal was replaced with a wet and sticky liquid. The executor was licking her face. The man''s saliva was all over her left cheek. Alice could not hold anymore. She wanted to attack. Fortunately, she could still hold her urge to attack. The man only licked her left cheek and covered back Alice''s head with the previous black bag. Then, the executor cut the rope that tied Alice''s body to the tree. He lifted Alice, who was tied both at her hands and legs, and put her over his right shoulder. Alice, who was lifted up, pretended to be afraid. Like other normal women, she punched weakly at the man''s back while screaming and cursing the man. The man was giggling happily with Alice''s act. He ignored Alice''s attack and walked to his destinations. Of course, the man would not use the main road. It would grab everyone''s attention if he showed in the main road carrying a tied woman over his shoulder. Several minutes of walking, Alice stopped crying as if she was tired. Meanwhile, Auron was following the executor from behind. He followed them from some distance away. Suddenly, the executor stopped. Auron also stopped and thought, "Do I get exposed?" Alice also frowned inside the black bag. She immediately did her previous act once more. She cried and shouted while punching the man once again. Alice didn''t forget to add some curse, and like a crazy woman, she even tried to bite the man''s back. Fortunately, all of this was working. The man''s attention went to Alice. He found Alice''s retaliation was cute and giggling once again. Then, he slapped Alice on her butt and continued walking once more. Alice, who was slapped at the butt, gritted her teeth. She felt humiliated, but she held her anger to not kill this man. She continued her act of punching and cursing at the man for several minutes. Meanwhile, Auron also had cold sweat on his forehead. He didn''t want the plan to be foiled because of him. Fortunately, Alice acted quickly to change the man''s attention. Auron continued to follow the man once again. However, this time, he went farther than before. 15 minutes later, the executor stopped once more. Alice thought that the man suspicious once more. When she was about to act out, the man dropped Alice on the ground. Alice fell on her butt, and it was quite hurt. Auron, who was behind, saw the place where they stopped. It was not the cult''s base. There was no way the cult''s headquarters would be here. They were deep inside the forest. There was a big cliff in front of him. At the bottom of the cliff, there was a dark cave. The executor dropped Alice several meters from the cave. Then, he took out the black bag covering her head. As soon as the bag covering her face was lifted up, Alice spitted on the man''s face. Then, she was cursing and punched the man''s face. The man wiped Alice''s spit and slapped Alice hard. Then, he punched Alice on her stomach once more. Alice''s body turned because of the slap and fell down to the ground. When she was on the ground, she found the cave on the cliff. From inside the cliff, a growl was heard. As soon as the growl was heard, the executor bowed a bit and moved several meters back from Alice. Auron readied himself. From inside the cave, a shadow walk. A dread figure came out of the cave. Its body was tall. The figure''s legs took over more than half of his body. Not only that, but the figure''s arms were also long and could reach its knees. Since the legs were long, the figure step was also wide. It only took one step for the figure to cover 2 meters. Alice frowned at this mysterious figure. However, Auron knew this figure. It was a demonic monster. Chapter 447 - New Demonic Monster (1) The demonic monster approached Alice, who was tied and still on the ground. Meanwhile, the executor had stepped back farther from Alice. All along the time, the executor was bowing, looking at the ground, didn''t dare to look up. With its long leg, it didn''t take long for the demonic monster to arrive at Alice''s place. The demonic monster stood in front of Alice. Then, it tried to grab Alice, who was on the ground. However, before it could grab Alice, a [Fire Pillar] was showed below the demonic monster and tried to burn it. The demonic monster sensed danger and immediately stepped back. However, its reaction came a second late. The tip of its finger burned, but it was not a severe injury. Alice, who launched the [Fire Pillar], had freed herself from the rope binding her. She quickly stood up and took out her dagger. Then, with a quick attack, she charged through the [Fire Pillar] and slashed the demonic monster twice. The demonic monster was caught off guard by this sudden attack. It could not dodge the attack. Two knife''s slash was connected on its arms. Then, it screamed painfully. The executor who was looking below him heard the demonic monster''s crying. He immediately raised his head and realized the situation. "What!! Who are you?" The executor, confused with this sacrificed and furiously asked Alice''s identity. The executor also took out his giant thorned mace. However, before he could attack, from behind, Auron already arrived at the scene. A [Fire Bolt] hit the executor''s back and was followed with two knife stab to the executor''s two arms. The executor''s weapon fell, and he was screaming in pain. Auron kicked the executor''s weapon away from him. Then, he also stepped the executor''s two legs to maim him. He had a lot of questions to ask this executor. Meanwhile, the demonic monster kept on crying in pain as Alice overwhelmed the demonic monster. This demonic monster in front of him was so weak. Auron deduced that this demonic monster was still a cub and had had a low level. Auron felt that he even could fight the demonic monster in front of him by himself. The disparity of level between Alice and the demonic monster was seen. In no time, several more slash arrived at the demonic monster''s body. Not only that, but some [Fire Bolt] wound also seen on the demonic monster. The demonic monster was swinging its long arms randomly. It tried to attack Alice; however, it was futile. None of the attacks hit Alice. The demonic monster was in a desperate situation. It kept on screaming loudly. Meanwhile, Alice was on the winning side, but she didn''t want to kill this demonic monster. Her goal was to capture this demonic monster and bring it back to the military for investigation. So, she just dealt with some light and medium injuries. Meanwhile, Auron was capturing the executor. He had brought a rope with him. Auron dragged the injured executor to the nearest tree and tied him to the tree. Auron was about to help Alice when he heard a rustling sound from their east. He could not help but look at his right. From his right, the sound of falling trees suddenly heard. From far away, the tree fell one by one, and it was approaching his location. Not long after, a shadow emerged from the falling trees and went directly to Alice. Alice, who was still busy injuring the demonic monster, realized the shadow. She raised her dagger and blocked the shadow''s attack. The shadow launched another kick that she stopped using her arm. With that kick, she had pushed away. Auron came to Alice''s side and looked in front of them. The shadow was the same demonic monster. However, its body was taller, and its arms and legs were longer than the first one. "What are these? Were these the demonic monster everyone had saying." Although Alice had heard about the demonic monster, she never saw it in real. So, this was a new experience for her. "Yes, they are," Auron answered Alice''s question. He had seen several kinds of demonic monsters. "So, are the parent came to rescue its children?" Alice frowned while asking. Since she could not differentiate the gender, she could only assume it is the parent. Auron looked closely at the demonic monster and answered, "I don''t think so. The newcomer should be its blood brothers, I guess." The reason Auron said that was because the newcomer lacked that aura that only the parent had. A stalemate happened. The newcomer demonic monster glared furiously at Auron and Alice, while its little brother hid behind it. Meanwhile, Auron and Alice also frowned at this situation. They didn''t like the situation. However, that stalemate didn''t happen for too long as a new sound was heard from their west. Another demonic monster had arrived. However, it was not the main demonic monster since its body was between the first and second demonic monster. Three demonic monsters were facing two mages. This was an undesired situation for the two mages. Although the level''s difference was not that much, it was still tricky for two mages. Moreover, as a demonic monster, it had higher physical strength than a normal monster. Auron glanced at Alice, "What should we do?" "Fight!!!" Alice knew it was useless to try to run away. From the previous encounter, Alice had deduced that the tallest demonic monster was almost on the same strength as her. She felt that the shortest demonic monster would be afraid to take action into the battle after her bullying. With that, if she fought against the tallest and the middle demonic monster, Auron could freely kill the shortest demonic monster. After the situation became two versus two, then they could try to capture them again. With that in mind, Alice said to Auron, "Kill the shortest as quickly as possible!!" Auron nodded. Then, Alice charged over to the three demonic monsters. Alice was charging, the three demonic monsters also didn''t stay still and even charged to Alice. Chapter 448 - New Demonic Monster (2) As Alice and Auron charged towards the demonic monsters, the tallest demonic monster immediately charged at Alice. Among the three of them, only the tallest could face Alice. The demonic monster also employed almost the same tactic as Alice and Auron. The tallest demonic monster would fight against Alice. Meanwhile, the other two would eliminate Auron as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Alice would never allow that to happen. When she saw the middle demonic monster charged at Auron, she moved and intercepted the middle demonic monster. A battle was inevitable. Alice clashed with the demonic monster while Auron was attacking the shortest demonic monster. Just as Auron had predicted, the shortest demonic monster was weak compare to him. Its fighting experience was still not developed yet, so although the differences between its level and Auron was not that huge, it was still relatively easy to fight against this one. Auron stabbed his dagger and launched [Fire Bolt]. Both attacks connected at the demonic monster, and it screamed in pain. However, the demonic monster''s health was not reduced that much. It was because the demonic monster''s body was sturdy, to begin with. It was one of the characteristics of this demonic monster beside its long limbs. The demonic monster had a damage reduction skill. That was why this monster was sturdy. However, compared to other demonic monsters, the attack of this monster was not that high. It could even be considered as low among the demonic monster. To accommodate for the low damage, it had a long limb. This way, it had a longer attack range and could move faster. The shortest demonic monster was pushed back by Auron''s attack. However, Auron didn''t let it go away just like that. He immediately followed with another attack. Unfortunately, before the attack could reach the demonic monster, an attack came from Auron''s right side. Auron dropped his attack and changed it into blocking the incoming attack. The attack was coming from the middle demonic monster. It had arrived to rescue the shortest demonic monster. The middle demonic monster had almost the same level as the tallest demonic monster. So, its strength could not be underestimated. Fortunately, Auron could block it with the dagger, but he was pushed back a meter back. The battlefield was chaotic. Everything didn''t go as planned. Behind the middle demonic monster, there was Alice, who also chased the middle demonic monster. However, Alice was also busy with the tallest demonic monster. Since the demonic monster had long legs, it could cover a longer distance. So, it seemed that the monster''s speed was quick even though it was not. The long arms also helped the demonic monster to reach Alice, even though there was still quite a distance between them. Alice had never thought everything would go this way. Since this was the first time she fought against a real demonic monster, she had underestimated it. Moreover, her confidence was boosted because she bullied the shortest demonic monster before. Actually, in a one on one situation, Alice would be confident against the tallest demonic monster. However, it was a 3 versus 2 situation. If she didn''t quickly eliminate her enemy, she would be overwhelmed by the enemy''s number. In this kind of situation where everything needed to be done quickly, the demonic monster''s long limbs were so annoying. When she chased the middle demonic monster, she could not concentrate properly because the tallest demonic monster kept following her. Since everything didn''t go as planned, Alice went to Auron who was still fighting against the middle demonic monster. Then, she quickly said, "Change of plan! Kill the middle demonic monster first!" Auron nodded and quickly focused on the middle demonic monster. Meanwhile, Alice still fought against the tallest demonic monster. If she found a chance, then she would launch several attacks to the middle demonic monster. The situation had changed. This time, Auron was overwhelmed because he had to face two attacks, the shortest and the middle. However, it was not only that. Occasionally, the tallest demonic monster would also launch its attack on Auron. Thanks to Auron''s battle experience and his attributes, Auron managed to follow every attack and blocked it correctly. However, sweat could be seen on his forehead, and he had to keep focus all the time. Since their target this time was the middle demonic monster, It was noticeably stronger than the shortest one. Its fighting experience also richer than the shortest one. There were only a few attacks that could connect with the demonic monster. Auron took out his potion and used it. Then, he went back to fight again. Fortunately, Auron could use a potion, or else he would be long dead. Then, suddenly, Alice found an opening. She immediately launched [Flame Cannon]. It was one of the most potent fire spells. She aimed it towards the middle demonic monster who was focus on Auron. The demonic monster didn''t realize the spell. When it realized it was already too late. The demonic monster turned to look at the spell, but it was already close. The spell connected and pushed back the demonic monster several meters back. When it was pushed back, the middle demonic monster also hit the shortest demonic monster on its right at the time. With both monsters flinched, Auron would not miss this chance. He used [Earth Spike] and aimed at one of the shortest demonic monster''s leg. The [Earth Spike] pierced through the shortest demonic monster''s leg and grazed the middle demonic monster''s side stomach. Then, Auron stabbed his dagger at the middle demonic monster''s eyes. Blood spurted from the stab. When Auron was about to hit the other eye, the tallest demonic monster had already arrived beside Auron and kicked him away. Alice also didn''t let the tallest demonic monster free. She launched her attack at the tallest demonic monster who was and managed to stab at its stomach before the demonic monster swept his long arm and made Alice jumped back. Alice arrived beside Auron, who immediately gave her a health potion. Chapter 449 - New Demonic Monster (3) After gulping the health potion, Alice immediately charged again. The situation had turned around. She would not let this situation turned once more. Meanwhile, Auron also chanted his spell. [Sloth] was a spell that could not get missed out during a battle like this. [Sloth] was a water spell, and as a fire mage, Alice didn''t have this spell. Fortunately, there was Auron who could use this spell even though it was still low level. A faint white mist surrounded the battlefield. Meanwhile, Alice had already arrived in front of the tallest demonic monster who was trying to protect its teammate. Alice''s dagger was met with the demonic monster''s claw. The demonic monster tried to kick Alice. However, Alice had anticipated that. She quickly used [Fire Bolt] and aimed at the demonic monster''s head. The tallest demonic monster raised its long arm and tried to catch the spell. Meanwhile, the kick still continued on¡ªthe spell connected with the demonic monster''s palm while the kick connected with Alice''s right elbow. On the other hand, Auron was charging towards the shortest demonic monster. He had to kill this monster as soon as possible. The middle demonic monster, who lost one of its eyes, stood up. He launched an attack to intercept Auron. Auron didn''t block the attack; instead, he increased his speed using his swordsman skill. Auron dared to use his swordsman skill because Alice was busy fighting against the tallest demonic monster. Auron''s speed boosted, and he could dodge the incoming attack. And, in no time, he arrived in front of the shortest demonic monster. Of course, the shortest demonic monster didn''t stay still. Even though the demonic monster was surprised because of Auron''s speed, it still tried to attack Auron. Auron sidestepped and dodged the attack. Then, he brandished his dagger downward towards the demonic monster''s head. The demonic monster moved his head backward, but it was a step too late. The dagger grazed its face and created a long vertical scar from its forehead to the chin. Blood spurted from the scar, and the demonic monster howled in pain. That was not all. Auron followed his attack with a [Fire Ball]. Due to [Sloth], the movement of the enemies was slowed down. The shortest demonic monster got hit directly on its face and created a huge boom. Auron changed his dagger to a stab stance and stabbed the demonic monster''s face. However, the middle demonic monster had arrived to help the shortest demonic monster. With blood coming out from one of its eyes, the middle demonic monster thrust its long arms to Auron. Auron didn''t want to let this chance go away. The shortest demonic monster almost died. Auron had to sidestep once more to dodge that attack. However, since he didn''t want to move too far away, the middle demonic monster''s claw grazed Auron''s arms. Auron held the pain and immediately attacked the shortest demonic monster brutally. It was like he took revenge because of the attack on the shortest demonic monster. The shortest demonic monster was on the brink of his death. With low stamina and low experience in fighting, the monster had already gone panic. Moreover, there were still a few seconds left in [Sloth]''s duration. Auron used his swordsman skill to increase his attack speed. Then, he stabbed his dagger at the shortest demonic monster. All of the stabs were aimed at the head. Not only that, but Auron also used [Earth Spike] to stab the demonic monster''s body from its back. Finally, the shortest demonic monster screamed its last howl. However, Auron could not celebrate the death of the demonic monster. He still had to face an incoming attack from the middle demonic monster. The death of the shortest demonic monster raged the other two demonic monsters. They howled and attacked furiously. Fortunately, Alice, with her high leveled and experience, could hold off the continuous attacks. However, it was not like that for Auron. Although Auron had rich fighting experience, the level differences still took a bigger portion of the battle. Auron could not dodge all attacks, only around 80% of the attacks. The number was relatively high because the demonic monster had one of its eyes wounded. If the demonic monster was not injured, maybe Auron would now be able to perform this great. Auron felt into the defensive stance. He rarely counterattacked and only focused on defending. He didn''t forget to use all the potion he had. Auron was buying some time for him. He would do this until Alice finished off the tallest demonic monster. With the situation turned to 2 versus 2, Alice could concentrate entirely on the tallest demonic monster. She still tried to take some attack to launch a sneak attack at Auron''s opponent. Alice''s combat strength increased. Quickly, she overwhelmed the tallest demonic monster. Around 10 minutes after the death of the shortest demonic monster, the tallest one was on the brink of his death. With one foot on the grave, the tallest demonic monster wanted to run away. However, how could Alice let it did that? She blocked and, in another minute, killed the tallest demonic monster. Two down, one more to go. The middle demonic monster didn''t have any chance to win this battle. With Alice and Auron''s combined strength, the middle demonic monster''s health quickly depleted. In just 18 minutes after the shortest demonic monster died, every demonic monster at this place died. The battle had ended. Auron gave health potions to Alice to recover. He was happy. These three demonic monsters gave him a huge chunk of experience. From this battle, Auron had gained 10 levels alone. This tremendous experience was thanks to the fact that he delivered the killing blow to the shortest demonic monster. Also, the system evaluated him to make a considerable contribution when he blinded one of the middle demonic monster''s eyes. Auron believed that if he could kill the shortest and the middle demonic monster by himself, he could get around 50 levels, even 80 levels at once. Sadly, he couldn''t do that. Suddenly, Alice slapped her forehead, "Ah! I forget to capture one!" Chapter 450 - New Demonic Monster (4) In a place somewhere, three men entered a dark room. Inside the darkroom, there were only two sources of lights, which were two medium-sized candles that were stuck at the entrance door. The three men moved several steps forwards, then knelt down on the floor and said into the darkness, "I hear you call us?" Silence permeated for a few seconds. Then, from within the darkness, in front of these three men, two small red colors shone. A hoarse and heavy voice followed, "Yes!" "What is your order?" The leading figure out of the three men immediately said. "My youngest had been killed!" The voice stated. With that sentence, the three men shuddered. They immediately looked at each other scared. This sudden news was too impactful for them. Not long after, the voice screamed in an angry tone. "What the hell happened!!!! Another two had died!!" This sudden scream made the three men more scared. They didn''t know how it could happen, but this situation was terrible. These three men were the founder of the Asyaka Cult. They were conversing with the demonic monster''s leader that Auron and Alice had killed. In fact, Asyaka Cult had come to contact the demonic monster as soon as they learn about their presence. The three founders actually didn''t have what they called about the hidden secret or strength. What their goal when creating this cult was to rebel. They wanted to bring down the current royalty and made their own country to rule over. Of course, to do that, they need a lot of manpower. That was why the three founders gathered people to do some bad things in the name of the secret method to improve strength. Unfortunately, they kept on meeting with obstacles when they did this. The military kept on interfering with their way of work and suppressed their growth. Soon, people left them, and only their loyal followers still stay. However, when the news of the demonic monster''s presence spread, the cult saw a glimpse of hope. They had heard that the demonic monster had intelligence and could converse with a human. The three founders made a gamble. They wanted to work with the demonic monster. And their wager was paid off. The demonic monster they chose agreed to work with them. Of course, with some terms and conditions. Their agreement came into two phases, the first phase was the building phase, and the next step was the conquering phase. The building phase was where the cult helped the demonic monster to grow strong. Meanwhile, the conquering step was where the demonic monster cooperated with the cult to start attacking the city and the royal family. Currently, it was the building phase. The cult would help the demonic monster to grow. The method they chose was to kidnap some people and let the demonic monster kill it. That was why the cult needed to have their sacrifice alive to get some experience from that person. At first, the leader of the demonic monster reproduced and could create a subordinate. Then, it used this new subordinate to check the efficiency of this method. As the cult had many members, the subordinate grew quickly. The leader was delighted. So, to increase the speed of the building phase, it created several other subordinates until it had 7 subordinates, including the first one. However, by doing that, the leader noticeably grew weaker. But, the first subordinate was the one in charge of its safety. With these many subordinates to raise, the current area of operation was not wide enough. That was why the cult also increased the size of the operation and impacted several towns and villages. Everything went smoothly even though they had to operate carefully because of the military. However, today, the leader had received bad news. One of the youngest and also the weakest one had died. Not only that, 20 minutes after that, two more had died. How could it not furious because of this? Since only the cult knew the whereabouts of its subordinate, the leader had called these three founders here. "I... I don''t know what happened. But I will check it now." The leader answered shakily. The three founders began to turn around and wanted to leave to check how this situation could happen. However, before they could go too far, the leader of the demonic monster said, "Wait!!!" The three founders immediately stopped. Cold sweats already formed on their backs and foreheads. They turned around slowly. The leader of the demonic monster continued, "Do this place safe?" It was a simple question. However, the three founders felt it was not. Their heartbeat thumped faster. "Ye... Yes, this place is very safe." "Only the three of us here that knew about this place, and we never tell it to others!" The demonic monster stared at the three of them for a few seconds. Then, it said, "Very well, then I will call everyone and stay here for the moments. Meanwhile, you have to find out what happens and report it to me!" "Now, get out!" The demonic monster''s leader shouted furiously. However, it still tried to restrain itself to not kill the three men in front of it. The three founders immediately bowed and scrammed quickly. They were afraid that if they stayed a little longer, the demonic monster''s leader would change its mind and kill them. A series of orders quickly sent out from the cult''s founders. An operation suspension could not be avoided. They had to stay low at the moment. Not only that, the three founders dispatched some people to investigate the matter. The investigation would start from the area where the youngest demonic monster stayed. Of course, it took time, but everything had to be quickly finished if they didn''t want to be massacred. Meanwhile, the demonic monster''s leader also called all of his subordinates to where it stayed right now. They had to remain low until this matter investigated. But, grieves still resided inside its heart. Chapter 451 - Searching Asyaka Cult (1) Back at Auron and Alice. After they had killed the three demonic monsters, they went to the executor tied at the tree. When the executor saw Alice and Auron approached him, he was so scared. Previously, he was knocked unconscious and tied at the tree by Auron. When he woke up, the executor saw something unbelievable. Alice had killed the tallest demonic monster. Although he was confused about why there were two more demonic monsters here, he knew this was a serious matter. After the executor scanned the battlefield once more, he was stunned. The youngest demonic monster died. Then, not long after, the middle demonic monster died as well. What surprised him more was the fact that this was done by two people only. The executor never imagined there would be two people that could kill this demonic monster. What the executor didn''t know was the fact that these three demonic monsters were not that strong for a high leveled player or high leveled person. Since the demonic monster''s leader wanted to quickly raise its army, she prefers more quantity rather than quality. That was why even though there were 7 subordinates, only one of them had a high level to protect the leader. The executor was so scared since these two had managed to kill three demonic monsters. When he faced one demonic monster, the youngest, he was already so frightened that he didn''t want to take this job. But, an order was still order. He took it in fear. "No... No... Please... Don''t kill me!" The executor pleaded. Alice knew with these three demonic monsters died, their opponent would already know their presence. And, going by the experience, the probability for the cult to stay low would be high. In this big world, when someone really wanted to hide, it would be difficult to trace that person. So, Alice had to act quick. At least, she had to find the cult''s base and eradicated it. Alice took advantage of the executor''s fear and said, "If you cooperate well, I can let you live. I can even let you go. But do you want to cooperate?" "Cooperate! I will cooperate." As a human, fear of death was natural. Moreover, the executor was a scaredy-cat, to begin with. Alice directly asked where the cult''s base was. However, just like she had thought, the executor didn''t know. The cult''s way of work was secure that the executor only knew the place he should know. The executor only knew three important things. The first one was this particular demonic monster''s place. He didn''t even know where the other demonic monster''s location. The second thing was the person in charge of kidnapping the people around this area. There were five people that he knew, and one of them was Patrick. The third thing was a bar inside a town near the area. That bar was where the higher-ups would give a command to him. So, he had to be at that place at least once a day to check whether there was any new command or not. If he missed, the cult would assume that he was captured by the military and suspended every activity. Since the executor woke up late and hurriedly went to retrieve Alice, the executor hasn''t gone to the bar today. However, there was still a lot of time left before he was deemed to be missing. And that was the first thing to do. Alice forced the executor to cooperate and worked with them. She told him to bring them to the bar and report just like there was nothing happened. The executor didn''t want to do it. But, he had no choice but to do it. Before the three of them went to the location, Auron used a long-range communication device used by the military to tell the military and their respective members at the other village. Although Auron was a player and could tell the other player through an in-game message, he could not do it to the NPC. Not long after, the three of them arrived at the nearby town. It was a different town from where Patrick''s live. Quickly, they passed the town''s security check and went to the said bar. Along the way, Alice had briefed the executor on what to do or what to get. Not long after, the three of them arrived in front of the bar''s location. Of course, the bar only opened at night. However, in the morning and afternoon, they would change to a casual restaurant. Although it was two different businesses, it was a similar business. The three of them entered the restaurant at the same time. While the executor at the front, Alice and Auron followed behind him closely. But after they entered, they split. Auron and Alice took a table while the executor went to a long table at the beer corner. Just like in the previous town, Alice and Auron assumed their husband and wife''s identity. They ordered a menu and watched the executor closely. The bartender was cleaning the glass while he spotted the executor came. This bartender was also the owner of this place, as well as the cult''s messenger. The bartender recognized the executor since he was also one of the cult''s members. "How are you?" The bartender asked. He knew that the executor must come here for the daily routine. The executor naturally answered, "Fine. Any news?" The bartender shook his head, "Nothing new yet. How''s your mission this morning?" The bartender was also the one who gave the executor information where to pick the sacrifice and every information provided by the bait. The executor began to nervous. However, he composed himself and answered, "It is done. After doing this several times, I am still scared." Then, after he said that, a new cloaked person entered the restaurant and directly went to the bartender. The cloaked person said in a low voice, "This place demonic monster had died! Is there any offering on going?" The bartender shuddered. Then, he slowly turned his head to look at the executor. Chapter 452 - Searching Asyaka Cult (2) The situation turned intense. The newly arrived cloaked man turned his head and looked at the executor. He knew what the bartender meant by looking at this man in front of him. "Are you the one in charge?" The cloaked man frowned and asked. The executor had never thought that he would be put in this kind of situation. He didn''t know how the headquarter could get the news about this. Sweat already formed behind his back. He became nervous. He raked his brain hard to think for an excuse. However, no matter how hard he thought for a reason, he knew he could not escape from this situation. "Why don''t you answer my question? Are you the one in charge?" The cloaked man pressed further. Cornered, the executor launched an attack at the cloaked man. Then, it tried to run. However, the cloaked man already predicted this and blocked the attack. He moved in front of the executor to stop him from running away. This commotion garnered everyone''s attention, including Alice and Auron. They had already focus on the executor from the first time they arrived here. Then, when the cloaked man entered the restaurant, they knew this man was also from the cult. Because of this commotion, the other customers were scared and quickly ran away from the restaurant. Alice never expected this situation to happen, as well. She promptly grabbed Auron''s hand and tried to run away. Alice decided to abandon the executor. Even though she knew, by doing this, she would lose her lead to the cult, but at least, their identity was safe. Unfortunately, the executor saw Alice and Auron were getting away. He didn''t want to let them escape unscathed. The executor shouted while looking at Alice and Auron, "Hey, help me! We are friends!" The cloaked man turned around to see who the executor shouted at. Inside the crowd, the cloaked man identified two figures who were acting strangely. The cloaked man immediately left the executor and attacked these two figures. Alice and Auron were spotted. Quickly, they turned around and blocked the incoming attack. A fight could not be avoided. Soon, everyone had left the restaurant. Inside it, only a few people left, the bartender, the cloaked man, the executor, Alice, Auron, and four staff from the restaurant. However, Alice and Auron knew these four staff should also be the cult''s members. These four staff and the bartender surrounded the executor, so he didn''t run away. Meanwhile, Alice and Auron were faced with the cloaked man. One of the staff moved and closed the door to the restaurant. He also locked the door. Auron and Alice had nowhere to escape. Meanwhile, the executor felt today, his luck had gone. Misfortunes kept coming at him. Surrounded by three staff and the bartender, the executor gave up. He was tired. He knelt down on the ground with both of his hands up in the air. Alice looked at Auron. Then, she nodded at Auron. Alice charged at the cloaked man. Meanwhile, Auron separated himself and moved towards the kneeling executor. The cloaked man aware of Alice''s attack and faced her. Meanwhile, the four staff and the bartender had prepared themselves to receive Auron''s attack. However, midways, Auron suddenly turned and charged at the cloaked man. Auron and Alice knew that this cloaked man should be the strongest among these people. If they could take down this man, it would be easy to subdue the rest of them. The cloaked man who was looking at Alice sensed the attack from Auron. However, the cloaked man kept on looking at Alice and ignore Auron''s attack. Auron, who saw this, frowned. Did he just been underestimated? Alice unleashed her [Fire Bolt]. She chose to use this weak spell because it was quick to chant, and also, in a head-on clash like this, it would be easier for the enemy to dodge the spell. Just like what she had thought, the cloaked man moved zig-zag and dodge the [Fire Bolt]. Then, from under the cloak, a silvery sword swept horizontally towards Alice''s stomach. Alice changed her dagger to block the incoming sword. Clash... both weapons collided. The cloaked man''s eyes grew a little bit bigger. He thought that the woman in front of him was weak. He never thought that she could block his attack. Auron stabbed his dagger towards the cloaked man''s right arm. However, before the dagger could reach the arm, it suddenly stopped and could not move further. It was like there was some sort of transparent barrier between the dagger and the man''s clothes. Seeing his attack failed, Auron also used his [Fire Bolt]. However, the same thing happened. The [Fire Bolt] hit a hidden layer before it could connect with the man''s body and disappeared just like that. "What happened?" This was what surfaced on Auron and Alice''s mind. Meanwhile, the four staff had charged at Auron. They intended to capture Auron. The cloaked man kept on looking at Alice despite the fact there was Auron beside him. The cloaked man brandished his sword once more. Alice blocked the attack once more with her dagger. Then, below the cloaked man, a flame burst. It was Alice''s [Fire Pillar]. However, to Alice''s surprise, the cloaked man didn''t seem disturbed with the flame. It was like he didn''t know there was flame underneath him. Both Alice and Auron were astonished by this situation. Did this man didn''t take damage at all? Auron wanted to attack once more, but the other cult members had arrived before him and attack him. Alice was so confused about this situation. A thought of despair began to creep inside her mind. However, she quickly shook it, "No! It was impossible for him to not get any damage. There should be some sort of barrier protecting him right now!" "If there is some kind of barrier protecting him, I just need to destroy it!" Alice made up her mind and began to intensify her attack. Chapter 453 - Chase (1) The cloaked man''s position inside Asyaka Cult was relatively high. His position was directly under the three founders and directly reported to the three founders. He managed quite many areas on this big scale operation. When he got the news to pull out the troop and investigate the situation, he immediately departed. Although the demonic monster''s leader could sense that its subordinate died, it could not deduce the exact location where it died. However, the leader knew which subordinate which died. That was why they could figure out the area. As the one who maintained the youngest demonic monster''s area, the cloaked man was nervous. He knew if he didn''t give a good explanation, he could be killed. He spent more effort in this place. As a preventive measure, the cult had decided not to use any communication device to inform sensitive information. Moreover, after the incident had happened, the use of such tools was forbidden. The cult didn''t know whether the enemies had tapped on their meeting device or not. The cult had given three orders. The first was to stay low. Second, the affected area should spend all effort to investigate the matter. Third, to destroy the meeting device. Although the meeting device was not cheap, they could still buy a new one. Their secrecy was the top priority. Because of that, the cloaked man could only visit all his managed area one by one on foot. The cloaked man had five regions to manage. He had chosen this place first since this town was the closest to the youngest demonic monster''s hiding place. However, how could he have guessed that his choice was correct? He directly founded the perpetrator on the first visit. Now, he had to capture this man and woman dead or alive. Just like what Alice had guessed, as a higher-up in the cult, the cult gave each of their executives a device. This device was a defensive tool. It was planted inside the body. And it could be activated or deactivated. When it was activated, it would form an invisible barrier around the owner. This barrier would reduce the incoming damage by 60%, and it would absorb the reduced damage up to twice the owner''s health. When deactivated, it would recharge the barrier''s health. However, the charging speed was slow. Also, the device could only be activated when 60% of the barrier''s health left. Of course, there were only a few amounts of this impressive device. Apart from the three founders, these devices only give the executive who had the same position as him. And, inside the cult, there were 5 executives, including him. The cloaked man had used up the device and created the invisible barrier. When he was about to start the fight, he had seen Auron and Alice. From the two of them, he had deduced that Alice was the stronger one. Although the barrier was quite strong, it was still limited. Meanwhile, he didn''t know whether his foes had reinforcements or not. That was why he intended to finish the battle quickly. As the stronger one, the cloaked man would focus on Alice first before dealing with Auron. That was why the cloaked man ignored Auron''s attack. Moreover, there were his subordinates that could deal with Auron. However, to his surprise, Alice was stronger than he had thought. The cloaked man used his sword and slashed on Alice. The battle between Alice and the cloaked man was intense. Both of them avoid and counter-attack at the same time. Meanwhile, Auron, who wanted to help Alice had busy with the three staff who had been charging at him. The three staff was almost on the same level as Auron. They also cooperated wonderfully. Moreover, space around was not vast. Auron blocked an attack from one of the staff. When he was about to counter-attack, the other staff had attacked him as well. He had no choice but to block the incoming attack. This made Auron could only dodge during the battle. If this situation continued, Auron would absolutely lose the battle. He glanced at Alice''s battle. Alice was still on tried her best to defeat the cloaked man. The situation didn''t favor any of them. Time passed, 5 minutes after the start of the battle, a bang at the entrance door was heard. It was followed by a shout, "Town''s guards! Open the door!! Quick! Open the door, or we will charge inside!" It was the town''s guards. There was no way this commotion could escape the town''s guards. After the incident, there was one of the customers reported it to the town''s guards. The guards immediately gathered and went to the restaurant, and here they were. This bang made the cloaked man, and the bartender frowned. If the town''s guard entered here, it could mess up the situation. On the other hand, Alice and Auron found this was a way of a breakthrough. They had to use this chance to escape. However, the cloaked man didn''t let Alice went to the entrance door that easy. He kept blocking Alice. Meanwhile, from the outside, there was a countdown, "3... 2... 1... Charge!!!" It was the guards charging at the door. When the count down reached two, Alice had used her [Flame Cannon]. However, she didn''t aim it at the cloaked man. Instead, she aimed at the executor who was still kneeling on the ground. Everything happened so quickly. The cloaked man, the bartender, and the executor had never thought this would happen. The executor could not block the attack and die from that spell. Alice didn''t want the executor to tell the cult about them, so she had to kill him. Then, the countdown reached zero. A second later, the entrance door was opened, followed with a shout, "Don''t move!!!!" After killing the executor, Alice immediately turned around and quickly charged through the guards who were charging inside. Auron followed behind her. Both of them didn''t forget to create havoc by unleashing their spell and blasted the wall and floor. Chapter 454 - Chase (2) Alice and Auron got out of the restaurant. The town''s guards could only saw a shadow leaped over them. They tried to block these two people. However, Alice and Auron had already chanted spell over them. Although the spell was not deadly, it was enough to distract the town''s guards. This way, Auron and Alice quickly got out of the crowd. They immediately went out of the town. As there was a delay in relaying the news from the restaurant to the town''s gate, the guards at the gate were not ready to stop Alice and Auron. They managed to get away easily. However, Alice and Auron were still not safe. After the two of them ran away from the restaurant, the cloaked man followed behind them closely. While following behind Alice and Auron, the cloaked man took out a mini device. He pressed the mini device. There was a beeping red light emitting from the device. Then, the cloaked man put back the device inside his cloak while focusing on chasing Alice and Auron. Behind the three of them there were the town''s guards who chased them. However, after some distance from the town, the town''s guards decided not to pursue further and return to the town. Meanwhile, at the restaurant, the leader of the town''s guards asked the bartender who was also the owner of this place, "What happened here? Who were those three?" Then, the bartender suddenly pleaded using a frightened tone. "Oh, leader, you have to hold justice for my restaurant." "This man here was a regular customer at this restaurant," The bartender pointed at the executor''s corpse. "I never had any bad thought about this man here as he was kind and often visit us. You knew that our restaurant''s revenue was quite great. Today, the man here was asking us for a security fee." "Of course, I thought it was a joke as he was our regular customer. However, he suddenly broke a chair," The bartender explained while pointing at a broken chair. "I was quite surprised by the sudden situation. I thought he was drunk. You knew our business thrived from the alcoholic drink. So, we quite often deal with a drunken man. To anticipate that, we have hired a bodyguard to keep our place safe and to deal with drunken men." "Our bodyguard, the cloaked man, had come and tried to escort the man outside. However, that man suddenly attacked our bodyguard. A fight was inevitable." "Our bodyguard overwhelm this man. However, we never knew that this man had accomplices. The pair of woman and man was this man''s accomplice. The three of them locked down the restaurant and intended to kill us." "With the three on one situation, my staff and I had no choice but to help our bodyguard." "The situation was turning to our side. We managed to kill this one man. Moreover, you guys came at the right moment." "However, we never knew that those two had a trick. They used your arrival to escape and run away. My bodyguard had chased them. But, I am afraid they would escape successfully." "Regardless of what you said, we still have to conduct an investigation. Unfortunately, your restaurant will be closed for some time." The town''s guards'' leader said. Auron and Alice were escaping in the direction of the youngest demonic monster''s hiding place. They chose that place because it was remote from the town and they had experience fighting there. After 5 minutes of moving at full speed, the three arrived in front of the cave. Auron and Alice stopped right in the cave''s entrance and looked back at the cloaked man who had just come behind them. As soon as the cloaked man arrived, he immediately charged and launched an attack. However, this time, it was not aimed at Alice. Instead, Auron was the target. Because there was no one here that could help him fight, the cloaked man had to change his strategy. Previously, he had the help of the bartender and his staff. However, right now, he was alone. So, he had to reduce the enemy''s number first. Auron took out his dagger and blocked the cloaked man''s sword. Meanwhile, Alice already attacked the cloaked man from the side. Auron used [Sloth]. Then, he helped Alice to attack the cloaked man. The cloaked man didn''t forget to utilize his barrier. His barrier still had 80% of its health left. The barrier really frustrated Alice and Auron as their attacks didn''t reduce the cloaked man''s health at all. Moreover, the cloaked man could still block or avoid their attack, making it more difficult to destroy the shield. However, two on one situation was also a difficult situation for the cloaked man. With Auron and Alice''s teamwork, although the two of them still took some damage, it was still manageable with the help of potions. With Auron''s health potions and the cloaked man''s barrier, the battle had become a battle of attrition. However, the cloaked man was at a disadvantage since his barrier could not recover when used. 10 minutes after the battle started this place, the cloaked man''s barrier had reduced to 10%. He began to feel more pressure. Meanwhile, Alice and Auron had seen the cloaked man''s expression. They knew that the situation was not good for the cloaked man. Their spirit rose. Auron and Alice began to intensify their attack. Auron used his [Fire Bolt]. Just like the previous attack, the [Fire Bolt] stopped before it hit the cloaked man and disappeared. However, this time, the disappearance of the [Fire Bolt] was followed with a shattering sound. Finally, the cloaked man''s shield had destroyed. With his shield destroyed, the cloaked man didn''t recklessly attack anymore. He moved several steps back. The cloaked man was in a dire situation. He wore a grim expression. However, suddenly, he smiled. From the east side, a rustling sound was heard. The cloaked man knew what this sound means. It was his reinforcement. Chapter 455 - Chase (3) The mini device that the cloaked man had pressed was actually a tracker device. It was usually used when the owner was kidnapped or in a predicament situation and needed help. The device would emit a signal that could only be received by other similar devices. Meanwhile, the owner of the other devices was at the level of vice executives up to the three founders. Just as what the cloaked man had thought, the newcomers were his reinforcements. The newcomers were his two vices. Since these two was nearby, they were the one that arrived first. With this new helper arrived, the situation didn''t look good for Auron and Alice. They knew that if this man could call his cult member, then more of them would flock here. Alice took out a piece of small paper. Then, she quickly gave Auron the paper. She whispered a few words with Auron. After that, the two of them escape to the west direction. The cloaked man was not ready with this sudden development. He quickly chased the two of them, followed by the two newcomers. Not long after escaping, Auron and Alice split. They ran using their own way. While escaping, Auron took out the small piece of paper that Alice gave. There was a location given along with few rows of names. However, Auron could not read all of that. He only took note of the location and immediately saved back the piece of paper. He had to focus on escaping if he wanted to survive. Meanwhile, the cloaked man and his vices had split as well. The cloaked man went to chase Auron while the other two chased Alice. The situation had already progressed this far. To redeem this situation, the cloaked man had to offer something, and he had thought to give one of these two. He chose Auron since he knew that Auron was weaker than him and easier to capture. Since Auron started to move first, the cloaked man was left behind. The distance between Auron and the cloaked man was quite far. However, the cloaked man could still see Auron''s silhouette from far away. 5 minutes passed by since Auron and Alice had separated. Auron had tried to confuse the cloaked man by moving in zigzag. He also intentionally took a long and harsh path. However, it was futile. The cloaked man was still following behind him. Meanwhile, the cloaked man focused on Auron. He didn''t want to lose Auron''s whereabouts. However, he suddenly realized something weird. It had been 5 minutes passed. But, the distance between him and Auron didn''t decrease at all. He had to use a speed potion to increase his movement speed, but there was no effect. Their distance didn''t reduce at all. How could a swordsman like him lose in terms of movement speed against a mage? Although from the battle before, he knew Auron was a battle mage, he should be faster than the battlemage. A mage didn''t have any skill to increase movement speed. There was [Wrath] that could increase the speed, but there would be a side effect after use. On the other hand, as a swordsman, he had more than two skills to increase his movement speed. One thing came into the cloaked man, did Auron had a lot of speed potions? What the cloaked man didn''t know was, all this time, Auron didn''t use any speed potion. He had used his swordsman''s movement skill as soon as they were off cool down. That was why there was a time when the distance actually decreased, but it immediately increased once more. Another 10 minutes passed by, as they had used their maximum speed, Auron had covered a lot of distance during these 15 minutes. From far away, Auron could see a silhouette of a village up ahead. That village was his destination. It was the location that Alice had given him. The cloaked man also saw the village ahead of him. He gritted his teeth. Actually, the cloaked man didn''t want Auron to go into the village. It was because it would attract more attention to him. He had already attracted a lot of attention in the town. Thankfully, there was a cult''s branch inside the town that would take care of the problem. However, there was no one he knew at the village ahead of him. Although it was just a small village, there was still a problem. However, the cloaked man could not stop Auron as there was quite some distance between them. He had no choice but to follow Auron went to the village. Auron quickly sprinted to the village. In no time, he arrived in front of the village. Since the security was enhanced around the area, there were two guards at the village. However, as this was just a small village, the guards were weak compared to the other guards. These two guards were about the same level as Auron. "Help!! Help!! A bandit is chasing me! He wants to kill me!" Auron shouted for help. These two guards saw Auron, then they also noticed the cloaked man chasing Auron. One of the guards quickly shouted to gather the other guards. There were four guards dispatched to this small village. Two of them had the same level as Auron while the other two had a lower level. Auron quickly went inside the village and passed the guards. Meanwhile, all of the guards had taken out their weapons. The cloaked man knew he could not escape from this situation. After giving some thought, he decided to attack. One of the guards attacked forward. The cloaked man didn''t spare his energy. He unleashed his powerful attack and quickly killed the guard. Then, he followed by killing another until all of the four guards died. Auron knew that these guards could not stop the cloaked man, but he could not help but sacrifice them. And, his plan was working. The guards bought Auron some time. Auron had arrived in front of a small-sized house. Chapter 456 - Blitz Attack (1) Auron immediately knocked on the door. No, more precisely, he hurriedly banged the door. The situation was dire. After slamming the door three times, the door opened. A woman opened the door with an angry tone, "Why are you so noisy!!! Can you knock more politely?!!" Auron looked at the woman. He wanted to apologize and tried to explain the situation. However, he was shocked when he saw the woman. The woman was Julia. "You!" Julia also recognized Auron as they were coming from the same group. However, before Julia could ask further, she heard the commotion. As this village was small, what happened at the entrance could be heard in all villages. Julia asked Auron, "What happened? Who is that?" "Quick! Help me! He wanted to kill me!" Auron explained quickly. "What? Why?" Julia was confused. "No time, where is the other?" Auron asked. What Alice had given to Auron was the location of the decoy group that the military had sent. When separated, Auron was given the decoy group''s place while Alice went to the rest of the group members. "Everyone has left investigating, only I am left here alone for the moment," Julia said. This village was the first village where the missing person case occurred. That was why the decoy group was stationed here and used this village as their base operation. Julia quickly prepared to battle. Not long after, after killing the guards, the cloaked man had chased Auron to the house. The cloaked man had known that Auron came here must be looking for reinforcement. When he saw that Auron''s helper was another woman, the cloaked man felt worried. As he had fought against Alice, he didn''t dare to underestimate this woman. The cloaked man attacked Auron. However, he was still wary of Julia''s presence. Julia quickly chanted her [Wind Bolt]. The cloaked man blocked the incoming spell. Now, the cloaked man knew that Julia was also a mage. However, he could deduce that Julia was weaker than Alice. Knowing Julia''s strength, the cloaked man''s confidence rose. He unleashed his several attacks. Julia was also a close combat mage. However, she was still not proficient in a close combat fight. She preferred more to attack from far away. That was why when the cloaked man attacked, Auron moved to the front and blocked the attack for her. Meanwhile, Julia also took several steps back and used her spell to attack. Although this was the first time the two of them cooperated, they seemed had to know each other for a long time. Since his shield had been destroyed, the cloaked man was fighting more carefully. When Auron or Julia launch an attack, he had tried to dodge or block the attack instead of facing it with his body. With the cooperation between Julia and Auron, they managed to push the cloaked man into a corner. The cloaked man''s health began to decrease. However, the cloaked man still tried his best to preserve. He unleashed [Wind Slash] to block Julia''s [Wind Spear]. Then, he retrieved his sword as quickly as he could to stop Auron''s dagger. Not only that, he tried to kick Auron to make him flinched. It was to prevent Auron from aiming his spell correctly. Sometimes this method works, but sometimes it didn''t. Five minutes into the battle, the commotion started to gain the village''s resident attention. "Kyaaahh...!" A horrified scream was heard. It was a teenage girl who was screaming when she saw the guards'' corpse. People began to look at the corpse and also saw the battle. Mothers started to grab their children and locked themselves inside. Meanwhile, fathers frowned and started to take any tools that they could to use as a weapon. With half afraid, the fathers began to approach closer to the battle scene. However, Auron quickly stopped them, "Stop! You are no match and will only hinder us. Just protect your family and report this to the military to ask for help! Quick!" Auron knew that even though more than ten fathers here wanted to help, they could surely not do anything in this battle. Moreover, all of them didn''t have any military experience. They would be just a burden for Auron and Julia. So, Auron told them to report this to the military and asked for help. The cloaked man surely would not let the people do this. He began to shift his attention to the crowd, who was dispersing because of Auron. Auron saw this. So, when the cloaked man began to move back to start a massacre, Auron had chased behind him to stop him. Julia also didn''t want to be left behind, she also moved closer to them. The cloaked man and Auron engaged in battle while moving closer to the village''s entrance. Meanwhile, Julia followed the two of them closely and still gave her support for Auron. The cloaked man used his [Bash]. However, Auron blocked the attack. Unfortunately, the cloaked man had prepared for his kick to Auron''s stomach. Auron could not dodge this one. So, he moved several steps back while clutching his stomach. The cloaked man faced Auron. Then, the cloaked man seemed to remember his goal coming here and focused back on Auron. He immediately charged to Auron. Meanwhile, Julia already launched her [Wind Bolt]. The cloaked man dodged the spell while still charging towards Auron. Auron already prepared. He raised his dagger to block the attack. However, suddenly, the charging cloaked man vanished from his front. In a split of a second, Auron lost his mind. However, he quickly realized something. He looked behind him¡ªthe cloaked man already behind him and in front of Julia. The cloaked man already chopped his sword towards Julia, who was defenseless. Julia was surprised. She didn''t expect the cloaked man would suddenly appear in front of her. Julia tried her best to dodge the chop by moving back. However, her reaction was late. The tip of the cloaked man''s sword had grazed her body. Chapter 457 - Blitz Attack (2) Julia''s cloth was torn. Her spell''s chant was canceled due to the attack. The pain started to creep from her body. However, she tried to focus on the cloaked man in front of her. The cloaked man didn''t stay still. He charged once more and unleashed [Wind Slash] in a close range. Julia summoned her [Aqua''s Barrier]. Julia was a wind mage. However, she still learned some life-saving spell and debuff spell from the other element. The [Wind Slash] was nullified by the [Aqua''s Barrier]. Even though his attack was nullified, the cloaked man didn''t stop right there. He raised his sword and wanted to chop Julia. However, before he could do that, Auron had already arrived and attacked the cloaked man from behind. The cloaked man sensed Auron''s attack. So, he turned back and blocked the attack. Auron shot his [Fire Ball] and aimed at the cloaked man''s head. The cloaked man turned his head over. However, it was still not enough. Half of the [Fire Ball] grazed the side of the cloaked man''s head and burned the cloaked man''s hood. Meanwhile, from the back, Julia had slashed and kicked the cloaked man''s back. The cloaked man''s back was grazed by Julia''s dagger, and he was limping forward because of Julia''s kick. Auron glanced at Julia with worried eyes. Julia replied Auron with a nod indicating she was okay. Then, Auron glanced back to the cloaked man whose face was already exposed. Fortunately, Julia was quite proficient in handling an unexpected situation like before. It made Auron could save her from this disastrous situation. Auron was blaming himself because of this. Although Julia''s talent was superb, compared to Auron, her experience was still few. Previously, the cloaked man didn''t use any item or magic to disappear from Auron''s sight. Instead, it was one of the swordsman skills that could learn [Blitz Attack]. This skill was some kind of short teleportation that a swordsman had. The teleportation distance that this skill provided was only 1 meter. And, it was not multi-directional. The swordsman would teleport for one meter in the direction where he was facing. Meanwhile, the strategy that the cloaked man used with this skill was actually a common strategy that a swordsman would do when they faced a group. The swordsman would distract anyone who blocked him at the front by dodging and blocking while waiting for an opportunity. When an opportunity appeared, or the enemies were off guard, they would use this skill and teleport to the enemies'' back. Then, they would eliminate the long-range attacker first before dealing with the close-range attacker. The difficulty of this strategy was to get the timing right. With the short teleportation range, the swordsman had to use it when the time was right. If not, he would be sandwiched by the two enemies. Its short teleportation range also raised the difficulty of this strategy. Usually, the long-range attacker could attack from a distance of more than 1 meter. So, the chance to unleash this strategy was rare, except if you could lure the enemy to come closer. An element of surprise also an important thing to note when using this strategy. Without an element of surprise, you could not eliminate the long-range attacker quickly, and it would make you in a dire situation. Back then, Auron used this strategy quite often. However, right now, when he played a lot using his mage character, he had forgotten about the existence of this skill. And that was why Auron had blamed himself. Fortunately, the cloaked man could not eliminate Julia. It would be his turn next to be eliminated. Auron looked at the cloaked man''s face. It was the face of an old man with a lot of wrinkles on his face. It was so contrasted with the voice of the man that was energetic and young. The old man''s face was exposed. It would be a matter of time when the military could trace his origin, leading to a disaster for the cult. He gritted his teeth. He had to finish these two young man and women quickly. After that, he should eliminate all the people in this village to destroy any witnesses and trace. Auron gave a health potion to Julia. However, the old man didn''t give the two of them time to recover. When Julia was using the health potion, the old man had charged toward them. However, this time, Auron had wary of the old man. He used [Earth Wall] to block the old man''s path. The old man kept on charging and broke through the [Earth Wall]. His health reduced a bit because of this collision. However, he could not care about it right now. The old man had used another movement skill to get a boost. Clang... The old man''s sword collided with Auron''s dagger. With the swordsman''s strength and the charge speed, Auron was pushed back. He almost hit Julia, who was at his back. The health potion bottle in Julia''s hand had disappeared. Julia had already finished recovering and quickly joined into battle. From behind Auron, Julia used her [Wind Cutter]. The old man moved his sword and blocked the spell with his sword. As a result of the blocking, the old man was pushed back. Auron was already charging towards the flinched old man. Right now, Auron was not worried that the old man would use [Blitz Attack] once more. It was because the skill''s cooldown was quite long. Auron, along with Julia''s help, began to push the old man. The old man had tried several attempts to escape. However, Auron and Julia kept preventing him from doing that. In return, he suffered quite considerable damage because of his failed attempt. Slowly, the old man''s health kept decreasing. And, the battlefield had moved from inside the village to the outskirts of the village. In the end, the old man could not do anything and was defeated. When Auron wanted to tie him, the old man used an item and self-destructed. Chapter 458 - Double Trouble (1) Auron and Julia were blasted because of the old man''s self-destruction. Fortunately, they didn''t die even though they had to consume a lot of health potion. What was more fortunate, there was no other enemy, so they didn''t have to be wary to be killed because of the low health. Julia, who was still gulping a health potion, also looked weary. Although the battle was over, the previous battle had taught her a lot, especially the blitz attack that a swordsman had. It was really fortunate she had Auron protecting her. Julia knew although she had a higher level than Auron and better equipment, she was still lacking a lot compared to Auron in terms of fighting experience. Julia wanted to ask something about the situation. She approached Auron, who was relaxing his muscle and focusing on something. After the battle, Auron gained another 10 levels at once. It was thanks to the difference in level between Auron and the old man. Moreover, although Julia dealt more damage than Auron, the difference between them was not that much different. It was not like when he fought alongside Alice. The disparity damage between them was enormous. Meanwhile, Julia also gained around 8 levels. The reason she got less level was because of the level she had been now. So, even though she gained levels, she didn''t that focus like Auron. Auron allocated his attributes point directly. He wanted to grow stronger to secure his life. During these recent days, Auron was experiencing a battle with a massive difference in power. Thankfully, all this time, he had a great teammate to help him. However, Auron knew he could never rely on external strength forever. Julia approached Auron and asked, "Who is that old man? Is he the source of these missing person cases?" Auron glanced at Julia. She owed an explanation from him. Auron invited Julia to go back to the village. Because of the old man trying to run away, the battleground had shifted to the outside of the village. Right now, Auron just wanted to relax and sat for a while inside the village peacefully. Along the way, Auron explained everything that happened to Julia. Of course, he would omit some detail like Julia''s team was a decoy, and his team was the real spearhead for this operation. Auron also explained how he, along with Alice, met with Patrick and got in touch with the Asyaka Cult. Next, he explained the lure plan until Auron and Alice met with a new demonic monster. And how they killed all three of them. The story continued until Auron arrived at the bar with the executor and met with the old man. Then, he continued until he had to separate from Alice and came to this village. "And, that how I ended here," Auron ended his story. In front of him, there was a hot tea prepared by Julia. Auron and Julia had come back to the small house. It took Auron around 10 minutes to explain the story. Before Julia could ask further, a knock was heard at the door. Julia and Auron both glanced at the door. Then, Julia took the initiative to open the door and greeted the guest. The guest was the village''s head. Behind him, there were several a.d.u.l.ts. Auron and Julia knew what these people''s intentions to come here. Just like Julia, they wanted some explanation and knew whether their village was safe or not. Immediately, Auron and Julia took out their military badge. It was to calm the villager down that they were not their enemies. After that, Auron began to explain the story. Of course, he gave the village fewer detail compared to what he had told Julia. "Everything''s under control. As you can see that we had also called for reinforcements from the military. The military would replace the dead guards. So, you all can relax but still kept vigilance." Auron assured everyone at the end of his story. However, as soon as Auron said that, a shout was heard from the village''s entrance. "Run!!! Take cover!!!" Auron and Julia immediately went to the entrance, followed by the residents. The two of them had a bad feeling. "It is my team leader!" Julia, who recognized the coming person, had said to Auron, who was beside her. The said team leader''s body was bloodied. There was blood all over his body. Auron and Julia frowned. "What happened?" However, before any of the two ask that question, they already got the answer. A shrill roar was heard from outside of the village. It was not close, but it was also not far from the village. Auron immediately thought of one thing, the demonic monster had come. He stopped running and shout to the people behind him, "Quick!! Go, evacuate!!!" These people didn''t immediately disperse because of Auron''s sentence and wanted an explanation. After all, Auron had just assured them that everything was safe, but now, he told them to evacuate. Thankfully, the village''s head understood what Auron meant. The village''s head stopped these villagers from asking and led everyone to evacuate. Meanwhile, Julia had come to aid her team leader. Julia took out some health potion and gave it to the team leader. She asked, "What happened? Is it that sound that did this to you? What happened to the other?" Before the team leader could answer all of Julia''s questions, Auron had already cut her and said, "Prepare for battle!" Julia looked at Auron. Then, she looked to where Auron was looking, the village''s entrance. From outside of the village, two tall silhouettes walked calmly to the village. Auron recognized the silhouettes. It was the demonic monsters. Just like the previous demonic monster he had faced, these two also had the same features. The difference was the height of these two. The demonic monster who was at the back had the same height as the tallest demonic monster Auron had faced with Alice. Meanwhile, the front demonic monster was taller than the previous one. Chapter 459 - Double Trouble (2) Based on Auron''s previous experience facing this demonic monster, he knew the taller the demonic monster, the stronger it was. Meanwhile, the demonic monster at the front was stronger than the previous one. Auron knew that the three of them could not deal with these two demonic monsters. "Be careful! They are so strong!" Julia''s team leader warned them. Although he didn''t recognize who Auron was, he would come from the military since he was with Julia. "I know. I have fought against three of them previously along with Colonel Alice," Auron said while frowning. "And, I could not do much against them." "These demonic monster''s strength could be seen by its height and long limb. The one at the back should have the same level as Colonel Alice. Meanwhile, the one at the front should be stronger than the previous one." Auron quickly told them what he knew. Hearing this, Julia and her team leader looked at Auron. Alice''s strength was entirely known inside the military. Although she was just a Junior Colonel, to reach that rank, one should have sufficient strength. And, now, they even had to face one that was stronger than that level. Maybe, at the rank of Senior Colonel or even General level. "What should we do?" Julia began panicking. She had joined the military to train herself and tried to show her prowess to the world even though she didn''t have big backing. All this time, Julia''s decision proved to be correct. The level of the mission that the military provided had managed to stimulate her fighting skill. However, Julia still wasn''t ready yet to face a strong opponent with a vast disparity between them. When facing a battle that she could not win, Julia''s confidence began to crumble. However, Auron quickly assured the situation, "We have to hold until the reinforcements came." Auron had reminded Julia that they had called a back up previously when they fought against the old man. Julia''s team leader looked confused. He didn''t know about the old man that attacked the village before, so he didn''t know about any reinforcements. However, he didn''t ask anything and just believed with what Auron had said. The demonic monster''s leader had sent these two to help the old man. The leader wanted to know who killed its subordinates and tortured the perpetrators. On the way to this village, these two demonic monsters found Julia''s team leader and the rest of the group. These two demonic monsters would not let their prey go away. They immediately chased them. With only 4 of them, Julia''s team members could do nothing against these two. So, they had intended to save the team leader so he, along with Julia, could evacuate the villager. However, the team leader never thought that the demonic monsters would follow them this quick. The two demonic monsters were at the village''s entrance. These two looked around. And, they knew there was much food around them. The two demonic monsters spotted the team leader who escaped previously and saw the two people beside him. The two knew that the three people in front of them were the ones they had to defeat. Without further ado, the two demonic monsters immediately attacked Auron, Julia, and the team leader. The three of them immediately assumed a battle position. Auron and the team leader were at the front. Meanwhile, Julia was at the back of the two of them. The attack arrived. The team leader had received the taller demonic monster''s attack while Auron blocked the attack from the other one. Although the two of them managed to block the attack, the two of them were pushed back by the demonic monsters'' sheer strength. Julia and Auron immediately unleashed their chanted spell. Two spells aimed directly at the shorter demonic monster. Auron and Julia had the same thought. They had to quickly eliminate the weakest enemy first. That was why their attack aimed at the same monster even though they never communicated it before. The demonic monster saw the incoming spell. It tried to dodge both of the spells. But, it could only manage to dodge one of the spells. Even though it got attacked, it didn''t bother the shorter demonic monster at all. It only flinched for a sec before attacking Auron once more. Meanwhile, the battle of the taller demonic monster against Julia''s team leader also intense. The taller demonic monster was focusing on killing Julia''s team leader. On the other hand, Julia''s team leader tried his best to survive and bought some time until the reinforcements had come. Auron, Julia, and the team leader should be the winning side in these three versus two situations. However, in reality, what happened was the opposite. The battle had lasted for 5 minutes. However, the situation was bleak for Auron''s side. Auron and the team leader had a difficult time maintaining their position. The two of them kept being pushed back by the demonic monsters. Even though Julia didn''t stop supporting them, but it seemed that Julia''s attack didn''t bother the demonic monster. If the demonic monster could dodge it, they would dodge it. If it could not, then it didn''t matter, and they took the attack calmly. Slash... Julia''s team leader was clawed by the taller demonic monster. There was a deep wound across the team leader''s body. He was on the critical end. Of course, the demonic monster didn''t know about mercy. It immediately attacked the team leader who was lying on the ground. The lying team leader could not defend himself. He closed his eyes and accepted his fate. He only prayed that the other two people could survive and saved the villager. A few seconds later, the lying team leader still could feel pain. It means he didn''t die yet. He opened his eyes. The taller demonic monster in front of him was furious. However, the demonic monster didn''t saw him. It also didn''t look at Auron or Julia. The demonic monster already turned around and looked behind. Chapter 460 - Reinforcements (1) Julia''s team leader knew what this means. The reinforcements that Auron said had come. He quickly stood up and made some distance with the demonic monster. Meanwhile, Auron and Julia also saw the incoming attack that stopped the taller demonic monster from killing Julia''s team leader. Then, Auron looked at the village''s entrance. He saw two silhouettes were there. It was Alice who came with a man, the bulky husband. When Alice and Auron separated, Auron had come to this village while Alice went to the husband and wife pair team. Actually, Alice was anxious about Auron''s situation since she knew that the cloaked man was the one who chased him. Alice could hope that Auron managed to arrive at the village and got some help from Julia''s team. Fortunately, midway to the husband and wife team, Alice met with the husband and wife team, who were out of their place to hold some investigation. Seeing Alice was chased, the two people immediately helped Alice to eliminate the two vice executives. After killing the two people who chase her, Alice didn''t waste any time. She quickly explained the situation. Then, she told the wife to meet up with the other members and went to this village where Auron was. Meanwhile, Alice and the husband would go to this village first to see the situation here. Alice was surprised when she arrived here. She could not found the cloaked man here. Instead, she saw the demonic monster. Just like Auron, Alice immediately knew that the taller demonic monster was stronger than the demonic monster she had faced before. However, it didn''t shrink her confidence. After attacking the taller demonic monster, she looked at the husband and nodded. The two of them immediately attack the demonic monster. Alice went to the taller demonic monster while the husband when to the shorter demonic monster. Auron was already overwhelmed by the demonic monster''s attacks. Seeing another opponent came, the shorter demonic monster kicked and swept Auron with its long limbs. Auron was thrown away. However, he was not sad. Instead, he felt brightened since he knew that the reinforcement had come. His burden quickly lessened. However, of course, Auron still could not relax. He quickly stood up and wanted to help the other members. The battle situation had turned around. However, it was still not enough to secure the victory. Alice was still battling the taller demonic monster. As soon as she engaged in a battle against the taller demonic monster, she quickly felt the difference with the previous demonic monster. Alice had felt the pressure. She knew that she had lost in almost every aspect. However, it was still not easy to kill her despite all of the disadvantages. With the help of the husband, Auron''s side started to get stable. Alice and Julia''s team leader was facing the taller demonic monster two versus one. Meanwhile, the shorter demonic monster had to fight against three of them. Although the demonic monster was outnumbered, the demonic monster was still on the winning side. The fight became balanced after Alice, and the husband joined. Five minutes passed after Alice joining the battle. The situation still didn''t change. If this situation continued, Alice knew that they would win. Alice had called the other members, and when they came here, the balance would be toppled to their side. So, now, they had to do their best to maintain the situation and not make any mistake. It would be great to bring the situation to their favor now, but it was not a mandatory right now. Meanwhile, the taller demonic monster became more wild and brutal in its attack. It knew they were at the enemy''s place. Reinforcement could come anytime. If they didn''t finish the battle quickly, they would be surrounded. Alice also got pushed back because of the demonic monster''s intense and fierce attacks. At Auron''s side, the shorter demonic monster also got fiercer. However, unlike the taller one, the shorter demonic monster''s situation didn''t look good. With the addition of the husband''s strength, the situation got under control. Moreover, with less pressure, Julia was slowly getting calmer. Hence, her attacks became more deadly. Auron also didn''t stay idle. Although Auron''s damage was low compared to Julia and the husband, he supported the two. Cut wounds began to be seen on the shorter demonic monster''s body. The taller demonic monster had seen the situation and wanted to help. However, Alice and Julia''s team leader had blocked it from coming over. The shorter demonic monster''s health slowly to go down. If this short demonic monster died, the situation would greatly favor Auron''s side. However, the demonic monster could do nothing. Another 10 minutes passed. The shorter demonic monster''s health was already depleted by half. Auron''s side confidence was slowly rising up. Another 5 minutes passed, from the village''s entrance, a group of three people had arrived. It was the wife and the other team members. The newcomer quickly saw the scene and knew what to do. The three of them immediately walked over and separated themselves into two groups. The wife went to Auron''s side to deal with the shorter demonic monster while the rest two members went to Alice''s side. With this addition of new members, the demonic monster''s side would surely lose the battle. Auron''s side''s confidence was brimming. However, before the three of them could join the fight. A quick black shadow attacked them from behind. The shadow attacked the two members that went to help Alice. The two members quickly reacted. One of them blocked the attack. However, the other one had responded late. He got clawed by the shadow. The shadow didn''t stop there. After clawing one of the members, it quickly thrust its long arm. The thrust was deadly. It quickly penetrated the member''s stomach and made quite a big hole. Blood dripped from the hole while the attacked member tried his best to press the wound to stop the injury. However, it was futile. Chapter 461 - Reinforcements (2) That member could not save his life as he began to feel weakness took over all of his body. Then, slowly, he slumped down, could not believe that he died. The shadow that had just come was another demonic monster. When the cloaked man died, Asyaka''s founders were shocked and reported it to the demonic monster''s leader. When the leader heard about the news, even though it still believed in its superiority over humans, it still sent another subordinate. And, here was the helper had arrived at the village. The new demonic monster that had come was slightly stronger than the taller demonic monster that had arrived. Thus, it was not a surprise when it immediately killed one of the members who caught off guard. After killing that person, the demonic monster immediately attacked the other member who had blocked its attack. The scene became chaotic after this new demonic monster joined the battle. The situation that had turned to Auron''s side favor quickly turned upside down. This newcomer also took everyone''s attention, including Alice. The previous two demonic monsters had used this chance to escape from the encirclement and went to the side of this new demonic monster. Getting surrounded, the member who had survived the attack could not live for too long. He received a three-pronged onslaught from the three demonic monsters and reaped his life. Auron had never thought that two out of the three members that came directly died as soon as the reinforcement had come. A dark cloud was looming over Auron''s side. This situation was not good. They knew that they could not win against three demonic monsters with the current members even though one of them only had less than half of its health left. In the demonic monster''s side, power was everything. When the newcomer had come, even though its strength only slightly stronger, it immediately took control of the command. The shortest and middle demonic monsters looked at the tallest demonic monster to know its next decision. The tallest demonic monster knew what these two had wanted. It shook its head. However, the other two kept on pleading on the tallest. With the situation had turned over once again, the two demonic monsters wanted to take revenge on these humans and killed all of them. However, the tallest demonic monster didn''t want to do that. They were in the human''s territory. And, since the start of this chasing, they had been here for too long. The human must have taken precautions when they knew there were invaders at their place. It was proofed with the reinforcements that had come one by one. That was why the tallest demonic monster didn''t want to risk everything to stay here for longer. However, it knew their kind had their own pride. They could not take this kind of humiliation. Moreover, the persuasion of the middle demonic monster had made sense and believable to him. The middle demonic monster had said that eliminating these humans would not take that long. Moreover, with the tallest demonic monster''s strength, it would be swift to kill all of them. It gave some proof that, even with its power, these humans could not kill them in 15 minutes. In the end, the tallest demonic monster had agreed with the two demonic monsters. It changed its mind and gave command that they could do as they pleased in 10 minutes. After that, whatever the situation, they had to quickly escape from this place. With the tallest demonic monster had agreed to their plead, the two demonic monsters roared loudly. It was time for them to take revenge. As the two demonic monsters roared out loud, Auron and the others knew this was not the end. The enemies would attack soon. Of course, as a soldier, they could not run away or else all of the villagers in this village would be massacred. Also, they were not confident that they could run away from the demonic monster. Instead of running away, they should try their best to hold the demonic monster. Moreover, the true reinforcements were the military, not Alice and Auron''s team members. The two demonic monsters immediately splitter and attack. The shortest one went to Auron''s side while the middle one went back to Alice''s side. It was a rematch. However, the situation was different right now. Everyone, whether they were on Auron''s side or Alice''s side, they could not unleash their true potential. It was because they were wary with what the tallest demonic monster would do. Because of that, Auron and Alice''s side could only take some defensive stance while waiting for the reinforcements to come. One minute into the battle, the battles on each side were at a stalemate. While the demonic monsters had unleashed their real strength, it was still difficult to overwhelm the enemies who had more numbers. Meanwhile, on Auron''s side, they were wary of the tallest demonic monster''s action. So, they occasionally took note of the tallest demonic monster who was still doing nothing throughtout the battle. Another minute passed by, it was difficult to split their concentration to battle and watch at the tallest demonic monster''s action. The husband took the first blow. However, it was quickly mended by the wife, who was a cleric. Although there was no victim yet, it still proved that this situation favors the demonic monster''s side. If this situation continued, sooner or later, they would crumble. Auron''s side only hoped to eliminate the shortest demonic monster as it was the weakest among the three and only had less than half of its health left. Another minute passed by. Auron and Julia used their spells to disturb the shortest demonic monster and let the husband attack. The husband was about to attack when suddenly, the tallest demonic monster had moved. The tallest demonic monster moved a step forward. This little action had a massive impact on Auron and Alice''s side. They had to know what the tallest demonic monster would do Chapter 462 - Reinforcements (3) After moving a step forward, the tallest demonic monster looked to Auron''s side to Alice''s side. It seemed like choosing its destination. A second later, the tallest demonic monster vanished from its spot. It already dashed towards Alice''s side. Alice had been ready to receive the attack. However, to her surprise, the tallest demonic monster attacked the team leader beside her. Even though the team leader had kept an eye on the demonic monster, he was not ready when the attack happened. He tried to raise his sword to block the stab. However, the stab went through before the sword could be appropriately raised. The demonic monster''s claw made a hole on its middle chest right below the team leader''s neck: one attack, one kill. The demonic monster pulled out its arm. Then, it spatted the blood on its claw. It glanced at Alice. Upon seeing the glance, Alice shuddered. She had already a difficult time defeating the middle demonic monster even with the team leader''s help. However, now a stronger one had looked at her, she could not help but feel afraid. However, Alice still tried her best to fight. She raised up her dagger, indicating she was ready to fight. Inside, Alice had thought that she had to change her strategy. With that, Alice chanted her [Fire Wall]. Then, she turned back and ran to Auron''s side. Her strategy was to kill the shortest demonic monster. Although she knew it was difficult, at least she had tried. Alice went to the shortest demonic monster who was still engaged in battle. With Alice''s help, the battle immediately turned to Auron''s advantage. The shortest demonic monster had never thought that Alice would come here. Meanwhile, Auron and the husband had been watching over the tallest demonic monster''s movement. So, they already knew that the tallest demonic monster had killed Julia''s team leader. Then, they saw that Alice had sprinted towards them. And, they tacitly understood what Alice wanted to do. Auron and the husband had coordinated with Alice and immediately went all-out attack to the shortest demonic monster. They hoped that they could at least made the shortest demonic monster had a sliver of its health left. It would be even better if they could kill it. As Alice joined the fight, the shortest demonic monster immediately overwhelmed. It tried to run away from the battle and joined its teammate. However, Auron''s side would not let it happened. They immediately surrounded the shortest demonic monster¡ªseveral hit connected with the shortest demonic monster''s body. A chunk of its health was gone. However, it was not enough to kill the shortest demonic monster. When Auron and the others wanted to follow the attack, the other two demonic monsters arrived. Previously, when Alice had chanted the [Fire Wall] and turned around, the two immediately charged through the [Fire Wall] and chased Alice. It was fortunate for the demonic monster that they arrived before their teammate died. Meanwhile, Alice and the husband had received the attack from the two demonic monsters thrown away and crashed to the ground. Julia and Auron immediately chanted [Ice Wall] and created a separation between the two sides. Of course, these [Ice Wall]s could only hold for a few seconds before it was destroyed by the demonic monsters. Auron was the one at the front and had to face the two demonic monsters'' attacks. Auron raised his dagger and blocked the tallest demonic monster attack, but the sheer power of the attack was enough to blow him away for several meters away. Meanwhile, the middle demonic monster who had lost its target changed the target to Julia. Before the attack could reach Julia, a [Fire Pillar] sprouted at its position and stopped its attack. It was Alice who chanted the [Fire Pillar]. With the demonic monster flinched because of the spell, Julia took this chance to push the demonic monster [Wind Cannon]. Julia immediately moved away after she unleashed that spell and reunited with her teammate. The battle went to square one. However, it was apparent that Auron''s side was on the losing side. The demonic monsters were furious. It had to stop playing. However, when the demonic monster wanted to attack, the sound of soldiers marching was heard outside the village. Of course, only the demonic monsters could hear the sound as the soldiers were still quite far away from the village. These soldiers were the real reinforcements that Auron had waited for. When the tallest demonic monster heard this sound, it knew they had to escape right now. It held its attack and immediately brought its two teammates to escape. Although they didn''t know the level of the reinforcement but they knew the numbers were not small. And, it would be a nuisance to escape from that many people. Meanwhile, Auron and Alice had realized the demonic monsters tried to escape. They were confused about how the situation progressed like this. However, Auron felt relieved since he knew that they would be the loser if they continued battling like this. On the other hand, Alice had a different thought. She immediately got up and chased the demonic monster. She specifically aimed at the youngest demonic monster. From behind, she charged and attacked the demonic monster. The attack connected, and the youngest one was in pain. Then, the other two immediately helped and blasted Alice away once more. The demonic monsters didn''t kill Alice as they had more important things to do, to escape. In the end, the three demonic monsters managed to escape safely. Not long after the demonic monsters escaped, Auron and the others heard the sound of the soldiers coming. And, now, they knew why the demonic monsters ran. The leader of the soldiers went over and saw the devastated look on the village. He also recognized Alice and immediately went over to report. Alice, who was in pain because she was thrown twice in a short time, took over the command to treat the wounded and checking the villager. Chapter 463 - Enemys Base (1) The soldiers were calming the villager and also tried to explain to them on the evacuation plan. After this village got attacked, the villager would be insecure about living in this village. That was why until the military could make sure the village was safe, the military decided to evacuate the villagers first. While the soldiers were executing the evacuation plan, Alice called up her team and the reinforcement''s leader. Then, she began explaining. It turned out when Alice launched her last attack, she had put on a tracking device on the demonic monster. She got the tracking device when she had separated with Auron and met with the husband and wife pair. Fortunately, when Alice asked the pair about the tracking device, they had one. Before she was going to the village with the husband, Alice got hold of the tracking device. When Alice saw that the demonic monsters suddenly escaped, she was confused. Even though she didn''t know the reason, but she had deduced that the reinforcements had come. That was why she risked herself and put the tracking device on the demonic monsters. In return, she got another attack and blasted away. Fortunately, Alice''s deduction was correct. After kicking her away, the demonic monsters didn''t bother with her. Then, not long after, the reinforcements had come. Alice took out a small monitor. There was a dot that moved away from the middle of the screen on the monitor''s screen. Alice''s position was at the center of the screen. Meanwhile, the moving dot was the tracking device. Alice wanted to explain something. However, she could not since the dot almost left out of the monitor. If the dot out of the screen means that the tracking device had gotten out of the tracking range. With hurried, Alice asked the other to follow them. Of course, not only these several people, Alice asked several soldiers to follow her as well. Alice had started to move while the soldiers were still arranging themselves. She had to chase the demonic monsters before the demonic monsters got out of the screen. Alice moved outside of the village, followed by Auron, Julia, and the husband and wife pairs. Although they had experienced a life or death battle against the three demonic monsters, they were not afraid to chase after them. The chasing had already lasted for 10 minutes. It was a surprise that the demonic monsters didn''t go to the outer of the kingdom. Instead, it went to the center of the northern territory of the kingdom. Fortunately, the tracking device could track a long distance. The distance even made the demonic monsters that had a wide range of perception could not sense Alice and her companions. After following the demonic monsters for another 10 minutes, suddenly, the dot in the tracking monitor stopped. Alice took the lead and stopped as well. They could not go to close, afraid that the demonic monster would sense them. Auron looked around. This place was in the northern territory of the kingdom. Where they were right now were at the center of the northern region. Although it was not precisely beside a city, it was still close to a city. Auron knew there were two cities and three towns near this place. It was a surprise that there was a demonic monster in the center of the northern territory. Not long after Alice stopped the chased, the soldiers arrived behind him. Alice immediately called the leader, and she gave several commands. Alice told the leader to spread the soldiers around here. She told them to disguise themselves and secretly watching this area. Alice had a feeling that this place was the enemy''s base. Not only that, but Alice also told the leader to go to the northern territory''s military branch to get some reinforcement. Alice wanted to be safe. After Alice experiencing battling against the demonic monsters, she knew that the demonic monsters were not weak. Moreover, Alice still didn''t know their number. Up to this moment, Alice had seen six demonic monsters, and she yet didn''t know whether there were more or not. Furthermore, each time she saw the demonic monsters, they were stronger than the last one. Since this was the enemy''s base, Alice afraid that there would be more demonic monsters inside the base. And, one more important thing, the demonic monsters were not alone. There was also Asyaka Cult involved in this mess. And, Alice still didn''t know the exact number of the cult''s members. It was almost nighttime right now. Alice didn''t want to attack at this time. That was why she wanted to wait for the dawn or even the morning to attack. She could not wait for too long as she was afraid that the demonic monsters would find the tracking device and their existence exposed. After receiving the order, the leader quickly went to execute the task. It was indeed an endless night for the military. Meanwhile, Alice, Julia, Auron, and the husband and wife pairs had their task. They had to investigate how wide the enemy''s manpower. Of course, it was not easy since they had to be careful, so the demonic monster would not notice them. The five of them separated into two groups. Julia went with Auron while Alice and the husband and wife pair went into a group. Gathering information was an important thing to do when they wanted to attack the enemy''s base. Moreover, this time, they had little knowledge of their enemy. Time passed by, the information gathering was not a successful feat as the cult was careful and didn''t want to leak any information. Moreover, it was night time. It was challenging to gather information when everyone was sleeping. At 3 in the morning, the five of them gathered back on the northern territory''s military branch. The northern military managed to collect 300 soldiers in this short time. Combined with the soldiers who followed from the village, they had 350 soldiers. But, is it enough? Chapter 464 - Enemys Base (2) Alice didn''t know whether this number was enough or not to raid the enemy''s base. However, she could not wait longer. A few minutes later, a group of people went out from the military branch in batch. It was done this way so as not to take too much attention. Although it was still dawn, it was better to be more careful. Alice led the soldiers and arrived at the spot where they stopped before. Several meters in front of them, there were several tents and semi-permanent houses built. Although the enemy''s base was out in an open field like this, it was difficult to find this place. First thing first, nobody would ever think that there was a cult based in this place. Second, people rarely passed by this area because there was nothing here. Lastly, several cult members were stationed here in disguise as a traveler. These people would drive away the passerby using a soft method like spreading a rumor or acted sick. Alice then spread the soldiers to cover the entire area. She didn''t want any enemy escape. Five minutes later, every soldier was in position. They were ready to ambush the enemy''s base. Auron, Julia, and the husband and wife pair were joined in the leading group. This leading group was led by Alice personally, and it would act as a vanguard for the other groups. When Alice was about to give the order to attack, a person got out of one of the semi-permanent houses. Alice knew that someone who got out of this semi-permanent house should be had a higher rank. Alice halted the attack. She waited until the person got out of the place. Alice gave two people orders to follow the person when the person had moved far away from the base. Then, Alice gave the order to raid. As soon as she gave the order, every soldier who was stationed immediately attack the base. The cult''s members were not ready. Some of them even were still sleeping when the attack happened. When the attack happened, the enemies were panic. Some of them tried to fight back. However, of course, with fewer numbers, the resistance was quickly defused. Some of them also tried to escape. However, Alice''s net trap was proved to be working. The enemies who ran away was quickly apprehended. This ambushed was a big success. There were around 100 enemies in the base. 10% of them tried to fight back and killed, while the rest gave up any thought of running away and surrender. No death occurred on Alice''s side. There were only some soldiers that got light injuries. This big success was contributed to two things, the surprise attack at dawn and the advantages of the number. It was really fortunate that the enemy''s number was around 100. Also, there was no demonic monsters'' present here. If there were demonic monsters present here, Alice was sure that there would be a death toll. Alice was afraid that at least half of the soldiers would be killed. When the base''s situation was almost sorted out, Alice took Auron and the others and some soldiers. This was not over yet. Even though this was the cult''s base, only a few members had a higher rank in the cult. Moreover, the three founders were not yet to be found. Alice and the other followed the trace where the previous person went out. Not long after, they met with one of the soldiers who were tasked to follow the person. "Report! There was another base near here. And, the person had already got inside." The soldier reported to Alice. Alice nodded. Then, she told the soldier to go back to the enemy''s base to call for reinforcements. Since they found another base, they had to take until the root to eliminate this cult. Alice and the others went forward. Not long after, behind a bush, they met with the other soldier tasked to follow the person. The soldier saluted to Alice, and he began to explain everything. Up ahead, there was a shallow river. There were many trees and bushes around here. After crossing the river, one could find a path that was going uphill. If one followed the path going uphill for another five kilometers, they could find quite a big city at their front. It was one of the busiest cities in the northern territory. However, from what the soldier had said, the person didn''t go uphill. Instead, the person had followed the river and got out right after walking several meters forward. It was a place right beside the path going uphill. When the soldier followed the person, he found a cave covered naturally with trees and thick bushes around the area. However, the soldier decided not to explore the cave. He asked his teammate to report it back while he watched the cave for any movement. "Is this the true cult''s base?" Auron had thought inside his head. This place was more fit to be called as a base instead of the last site. These questions also popped out inside the others'' minds. Then, suddenly, Auron got enlightened, "No, this must be the demonic monster''s lair!" Auron, who was very sure about this sudden enlightenment, shared his thought to the others. The others pondered for a bit. In the end, they had agreed to what Auron had said. The probability for this to be the demonic monster''s lair was high. If this was the demonic monster''s lair, this number of people would not be enough. Alice asked the soldier to call the other and moved quickly. Alice wanted to use the fact that it was still almost 5 in the morning to raid the lairs. Meanwhile, Alice and the others replaced the soldier''s place to observe the cave. While waiting they create a strategy on how they would raid the lair. Of course, they had to take note of every situation. Not long after, the soldier had come back with 300 soldiers behind him. Chapter 465 - Enemys Base (3) Inside a dark room, there was quite a lot of presence here. More than 10 presences could be detected in this small and darkroom. Among those numbers, five of which were the demonic monsters, including the leader. The rest was the cult''s higher-ups, including the three founders. These people were discussing how they would advance from the current condition. "How is your injury?" The leader asked the injured demonic monster. The mentioned demonic monster answered politely. It said that even though it had not fully recovered yet, but it was much better than before. Meanwhile, the other demonic monsters, who also got into a battle with Auron and the others, were fully recovered since their injury was not that severe. "How is the situation right now?" With its subordinates were safe, the demonic monster''s leader turned to the three founders. The demonic monster had relied on the cult to progress in this world. It was because the cult had operated longer than the demonic monster. Of course, the last decision would still on the demonic monster''s leader hand. "We have informed all of our members to go back. Although not all of the members had gathered back, 80% of them had come back." "And, from the information we received, it was the military''s work who killed your youngest." Bam... The demonic monster''s leader punched the room''s wall. It was so furious. "Remember, you have to take revenge if you could!" "Rest assured! We will! One of our executives was also killed by the military." The leader of the cult assured the demonic monsters. "So, what is our plan now?" The demonic monster''s leader asked. "We have to move our base''s location. After the morning came, I will separate the people into several groups and dispatched them. Later, we will regroup at our new base''s location. This was also why we seek your agreement to move." The cult''s leader explained politely. The demonic monster''s leader pondered, "Okay, but we will move in a group." What the demonic monster''s leader means was that the demonic monster would go in one group. It didn''t want to be separated as it was afraid that more victims would occur. "No problem! Let us all here move in one group!" The cult''s leader said, which followed by the nodded of the cult''s executives. In the current situation, the cult''s leader knew that going with the demonic monsters was safer than going alone. "Okay. When do we move?" The demonic monster''s leader asked. "After this, I have to get back to the camp first and to sort things first. After everything is sorted, we can start to move. I predict it will take around 1 hour from now." Knock... Knock... There was a knock on the door. Then, the door opened. A man came in, and he immediately knelt on the floor. The man that had just come in was the person from the camp that Auron and the others had seen. "Report! 90% of our members had gathered. As for the rest, I have held them to hide at their own respective place and wait for further notice." This man was tasked by the cult''s leader to record the members'' location and wait at the camp. After he finished arranging everything, this man was coming here to report the situation. And, that was when the man was followed by the soldiers. "Good! Moved to the side." Then, the meeting was continued for a bit with the cult''s leader explaining the evacuation plan''s detail. "Okay, that''s all the plan. Now, please excuse me. I have to arrange for my members. After that, we can immediately depart." The demonic monster''s leader didn''t say anything. Instead, it raised its hand and ordered the shortest to escort the cult''s leader. It was to show respect to the cult''s leader as a partner. The shortest demonic monster went to the door and opened it for the cult''s leader and its executives. The executives went outside of the room first one by one. When they passed the shortest demonic monster, they nodded their head to show some respect. Although the executives were stronger than the shortest the demonic monsters, they still showed some respect because they knew there were strongest demonic monsters behind them. The three founders were the last ones to go out of the room. When the cult''s leader was passing the shortest demonic monster, he stopped. The leader frowned. After that, it approached the shortest demonic monster. This movement was seen by everyone, including the demonic monster''s leader. When the cult''s leader was close to the demonic monster, it asked for permission to look at the demonic monster''s injury at the back. The shortest demonic monster glanced at its leader. The leader nodded its head, showing its agreement. It wanted to know what the cult''s leader would do. The cult''s leader touched the demonic monster''s back injury. The demonic monster cringed a bit because of the pain. The cult''s leader groped the injury. A few seconds later, the cult''s leader took out a mini thing. The thing was the same size as an ant. The cult''s leader took that thing in front of his eyes and observed carefully. Then, it showed it to everyone present. The demonic monster''s leader stood up because of the discovery. It wanted to know what was that small thing. Even though the demonic monster''s leader was confused with that thing, it was not for the other founders. They knew what that thing was. The cult''s leader frowned and said, "This thing is a tracking device. This place is exposed! We have to get out right now!" The cult''s leader didn''t take long to decide. He knew that the enemy was going to prepare this place. However, he didn''t know how the enemies'' preparation''s progress was. But, they had to get out right now. However, as soon as the cult''s leader said that, a commotion was heard at the cave''s entrance. Several spells hit the wall, followed with a scream from the executives that went first. Chapter 466 - Raid The Base (1) Auron was waiting outside the cave across the river. Behind him, there were already 300 soldiers that surround the cave''s entrance. All of them were waiting for Alice''s sign to start the raid. It was only a matter of time before the plan was executed. All of these soldiers were approaching the cave slowly. Then, a few seconds later, Alice heard movements from inside the cave. And, the sound was slowly coming to them. Without waiting any further, Alice gave the sign to attack. All of these soldiers immediately went inside the cave with Alice as the lead. Of course, not all of the 300 soldiers could get inside the cave at once. The cave entrance was small, only two up to three soldiers could go inside at a time. Fortunately, the surprise attack was a success. Alice at the lead immediately launched her strongest spell to the enemies at the front. The enemies were not ready and took a clean hit. Then, several soldiers went passed Alice and gave another beating to the fallen enemies. In a swift, all of the cult''s executives were captured. There were only the three founders left for the cult. Alice continued to lead the troops. She knew it was a disadvantage to fight in a cave, like this. That was why she used the element of surprise on her attack to defeat the enemies. Of course, the element of surprise could be used once in a battle. That was why, after defeating the executives, Alice could not use this anymore since the enemies already knew about their presence. Two soldiers advanced forward. They spotted a door. When the soldiers were trying to see what was inside, two heads flying and with a thump, the body slumped down to the ground lifeless. The other soldiers behind these two soldiers immediately raised their weapons. However, it was too late, another two heads were flying in the air. From inside the room, the three founders walked outside. They immediately launched another attack. However, this time, Alice had already gone forward and blocked the attack. She was pushed back several meters. Heal immediately poured over Alice. Alice''s health was back to full again. The three founders kept on pushing Alice. Besides Alice, Auron, Julia, and the other soldiers also launched their attack on the three founders. These three founders were strong. They were on the same level as Alice. Moreover, when fighting together, they became a lot stronger than Alice. It was fortunate that Alice had a lot of soldiers behind her. The battle reached a stalemate, Alice and the soldiers could not advance forward, but the three founders could not push Alice back. In the middle of this push and pull, a hand grabbed at the door from inside the room. Alice was surprised to found out that there was another presence inside the room. She thought that it was just the three founders here since there was no sign of help. When she saw the hand, Alice was shocked and immediately shouted, "Back out!!!" Alice recognized the hand. It was the hand of the demonic monsters. She knew that she could not fight against the demonic monster. Moreover, the narrow place here was so small that her number advantage could not be used fully. Slowly, from the soldiers at the most back, they quickly come out of the cave. It was like an ant coming out from its home. And, just like what Alice had thought, the demonic monsters were really coming out of the room. It was not one but two of them came out of the room. Alice was nervous when she tried to escape. However, after several meters of moving back, she realized that the enemies didn''t chase them. But, she didn''t stop escaped until Alice arrived at the mouth of the cave. From the cave''s mouth, Alice could saw the two demonic monsters and the three founders stood in front of her and stared at her. Not long after, the three founders went inside the room. However, the two demonic monsters still waited outside and stared at Alice. Alice didn''t go inside to fight against the two demonic monsters. After seeing their presence and the three founders that came inside the room once again, she knew that there were more demonic monsters inside. Alice was so sure that the demonic monster''s leader was inside that room. The battle of stare between Alice and the two demonic monsters was ongoing. However, neither of the groups wanted to move first. While staring Alice said lowly to the soldiers beside her. Alice was giving the soldiers several commands. When battling inside before, Alice had observed the situation. And, she found out that there was no backdoor. So, it would mean that these demonic monsters and the three founders would charge at them to escape. Alice was waiting while giving several commands. She had to prepare until the final battle began. She knew that with this many soldiers, it was not enough to stop the demonic monsters. But, they still could give the demonic monsters and the three founders some damage. However, giving them damage was not enough, Alice wanted to stop all of these right now. One hour passed by and there was still no movement from the demonic monsters. Orders had been passed and the captured executives had been delivered to the military base. Meanwhile, Alice''s numbers had increased a little bit. It was still difficult to amass a lot of soldiers at once. Moreover, it took time for them to arrive here. A few minutes later, the three founders came out of the room once more. Behind them, there was another demonic monster that followed them. As soon as the three founders got out of the room, Alice quickly shouted, "Prepare for battle!!!" Before Alice''s shout faded away, the three founders and the three demonic monster already charged at them. Alice, Julia, Auron, and several other mages in the soldiers quickly chanted their spells. Some of them used attack spells while the rest used their wall spells. It was not to damage the enemies but to stop their charge and bought some time. Chapter 467 - Raid The Base (2) However, the rain of spells was not enough to stop these three demonic monster''s charge. Moreover, the three cult founders also took the lead with their shield activated. These three founders absorbed most of the damage. Bang... At the cave''s entrance, a collision happened and created a shockwave. Several soldiers were flying away from inside the cave. The demonic monsters and the three founders had made their way out of the cave. However, they were quickly surrounded. In this expansive space, more soldiers could join the fight. Alice took the lead and watched the battle occurred. The 6 enemies were surrounded. Although the soldiers were no match against these 6 enemies, they could hold on with the help of their number and cleric supporting them. One of the cult founders was also a cleric. He kept on using his area heal spell. He also didn''t forget to chew on the mana potion. This battle becomes a battle of attrition. The demonic monsters could not advance forward, but they could not back down as well. Meanwhile, the soldiers had used their number of advantages, according to Alice''s strategy. After getting hit, the front line soldiers would back down, and the soldiers behind them would take their spot. Then, the previous front line soldiers would recover using health potion or anything necessary. This rotation made the enemies felt like there were endless soldiers, even though only half of the soldiers joined the fight. However, even though the current situation was pretty good for Alice''s side, she didn''t want to relax. She joined the fight along with Auron and the others. With Alice and the others joined the fight, the soldiers'' burden lessens. On the other hand, the enemies'' pressure increased. The battle already lasted for 10 minutes. The three founders who used up their invisible shield had tried their best to preserve the shield''s health and killed as many as they could. However, the result was clearly not good for them. Each of the three founders'' shield''s health had gone down to below 20%. On the other hand, the total soldiers that they had killed only amounted to 50 people. Compared to 300 soldiers, 50 soldiers were only slightly above 10 percent. Moreover, they had sacrificed a lot in terms of their shield''s health. This was thanks to Alice, Auron, Julia, and the husband and wife pairs. All of them, along with some soldiers, made the demonic monsters busy. Compared to the three founders, the demonic monsters'' situation was better. As the three demonic monsters were stronger, they had killed around 30 soldiers. Not only that, but there was only little damage to them. Of course, if this situation continued, then the demonic monster''s side would be the one who lost the battle. Moreover, the reinforcements from Alice''s side were still on their way here. When everyone was focusing on their respective battle, a shadow leaped out from inside the cave. This shadow quickly helped the demonic monster who was fighting against Alice, Auron, and the others. This shadow was the strongest demonic monster here. Even the demonic monster''s leader could not compare to its strength. The demonic monster didn''t afraid that its subordinate would betray it when it was stronger. It was already programmed that its subordinate would forever become loyal to the leader. Even if the leader told them to kill themselves, they would not think twice before doing it. This strongest subordinate was supposed to be at the leader''s side. However, the situation was not looking good to them. That was why the leader had ordered its subordinate to join the fight and open the way. Meanwhile, the leader was left alone inside the cave. It observed the battle but didn''t join the fight. Its strength was the weakest here. It was even weaker compared to its youngest that Auron had killed previously. The demonic monster''s leader''s current strength was almost the same as an ordinary soldier''s strength. As the strongest demonic monster joined the fight, the death toll on Alice''s side increased significantly. In just a minute after it joined the fight, 10 soldiers could not be saved even with the help of clerics. Alice and the soldiers had to give extra effort to defend their life. But, the number advantage still helps a lot. All of the three founders'' shields had been destroyed. With their shield destroyed, their instinct to survive kicked in. They fought more carefully and also slowly shifted their battlefield and approach the demonic monster''s battlefield. On the demonic monster''s side, most of the soldiers were concentrated here. Auron and Julia were the ones that led a fight against the shortest demonic monster here. It was a continued fight from the village. When the battle started, this shortest demonic monster had only 70% of its health left. And, after more than 10 minutes of fighting, Auron and Julia along with the soldiers managed to reduce its health to 15%. This was not only because of Auron and Julia''s contribution, but there was Alice''s contribution. Alice knew that she had to reduce the demonic monster''s number. And, to achieve this, they had to focus on one demonic monster. However, if they do this, the other demonic monster would create havoc. In the end, Alice had decided to secretly send soldiers little by little to join Auron. And, she had to endure the responsibility of the soldiers that she sent over. It was not such an easy feat, but she forced herself. The shortest demonic monster also felt its death was near. However, when it tried to look for help, the other demonic monsters were also busy with their business. 15... 14... 13... 12... As the health''s percentage kept on going down, the shortest demonic monster could not help but cry for help. And, at that moment, the strongest demonic monster had joined the fight. Alice who saw this immediately took the lead to stop the strongest demonic monster. Auron also saw this and increased his firepower. Chapter 468 - Raid The Base (3) Although Alice got blown away because of the demonic monster, she dragged her body to block the demonic monster. It was fortunate that there were several clerics reserved to support her exclusively. Each time Alice was blown away, she managed to delay the strongest demonic monster for a few seconds. Meanwhile, on Auron''s side, he and Julia were on steroids. They kept on focusing their strongest attacks on the shortest demonic monster. The soldiers beside them also pouring their attacks on the shortest demonic monster. The shortest demonic monster was overwhelmed with this many attacks. It tried its best to survive. However, attacks kept on connected to its body. 10... 9... 8... 7... No matter what the shortest demonic monster did, it could not stop its health from going down. The distance between the strongest demonic monster and the shortest one was getting closer and closer. Several soldiers sacrificed their lives just to make the strongest demonic monster busy. However, in the end, all of these people including Alice could not stop the strongest demonic monster from arriving at the shortest demonic monster place. Meanwhile, the shortest demonic monster only had 2% of its health left. Auron was in hurry. Julia used [Wind Cannon] and attack the demonic monster. On the other hand, Auron approached the demonic monster and used [Fire Bolt]. The shortest demonic monster roared in pain. A little bit more and the strongest demonic monster would reach its destination. It wanted to attack Julia who was at the back. However, before it could launch an attack, Alice had come forward and used her body to block the attack trajectory. Not only that, but Alice also used [Fire Lance]. However, Alice didn''t aim for the strongest demonic monster. Instead, Alice''s [Fire Lance] was launched at the shortest demonic monster who was desperate to block all of the attacks. Auron was approaching the shortest demonic monster. He dodged the demonic monster''s left jab. Then, a [Fire Lance] hit the shortest demonic monster''s chest and made it flinched. Auron quickly moved to the demonic monster''s back. Although the demonic monster was the shortest one among all of the demonic monsters, it was still taller than Auron. After moving to the back of the demonic monster, Auron stabbed his dagger from behind its back right in the center of the demonic monster''s back. He also used [Flame Cannon] and attack the same spot where his dagger pierced. With those attacks, the shortest demonic monster''s health depleted. The shortest demonic monster slumped down and died. As soon as the demonic monster died, Auron leveled up. With his contribution, Auron managed to get 5 levels from this demonic monster. However, before he could allocate his attribute points, a body had flown and landed in front of him. A stream of heals immediately poured upon the landed body. It was Alice who had blocked the attack of the strongest demonic monster. She stood up and wiped the blood that trickled from her mouth. Although Alice was in pain, she was excited as their goal was achieved. They had managed to reduce the number of the demonic monster by one. Right now, the current situation of the battlefield was chaotic. On the enemy''s side, the three founders were still alive and quite healthy. Even though Auron had managed to kill one demonic monster but there were still 4 demonic monsters including the leader. It was fortunate that the demonic monster''s leader could not join the fight as it was too weak. On the other hand, Auron, Julia, Alice, and the husband and wife pairs had endured a lot. They used a lot of potions even though they had the support of clerics. Also, from the original 300 soldiers, there were around 160 soldiers left. Almost half of the soldiers had died. Auron and Julia quickly adjust to the current battlefield situation. They quickly moved and engaged battle with another demonic monster. Meanwhile, Alice had marked the strongest demonic monster. At the husband and wife pair, the battle was going balanced. The demonic monster who they fought had 70% of its health left. Meanwhile, the husband and wife pair had full health. It was thanks to the potion they had carried. Not only that, the demonic monster could not use any potion to recover. If the demonic monster could also drink potion like them, it would be a disaster. Although it had been more than 30 minutes and the demonic monster had only reduced by 30%, it was such an achievement. It was because the soldiers allocated to these two people were the least among everyone here. These husband and wife pair could achieve such a feat because of their teamwork. If the two of them fight alone, then their power was not that much. However, when they fought together, their power increased exponentially. After working together for such a long time, they only need to glance at their partner and they could know what their partner wanted to do. Because of this teamwork and the fact that the wife was a cleric, they could slowly dwindle the demonic monster''s health. The three cult''s founders had slowly joined the demonic monsters'' battlefield. They could achieve this because some portion of the soldiers was allocated to kill the shortest demonic monster. However, as the shortest demonic monster had died, the three founders began to feel pressured once more. However, they had joined hands with the demonic monsters. The speed of the soldier''s death increased. Slowly, the number of soldiers here also diminished. Alice had also realized the number of soldiers had slowly gone. However, she could not do anything because she had to keep up with the demonic monster or it would escape. She could only hope that the reinforcements would come quickly. Auron and Julia had shifted and faced the new demonic monster. This demonic monster was stronger than the previous one. However, they could not choose since the other options were worse. When Auron was about to start the battle, suddenly, a piece of good news had arrived, the reinforcements had come. Chapter 469 - Cults Founders (1) There were 150 soldiers in the incoming reinforcements. Although the number only half of the original number, these soldiers were more elite than the previous soldiers. It was great fresh help for them. As soon as these 150 arrived here, they immediately found a position and fill the empty spot. When the enemies saw this reinforcement, they frowned. This was what they afraid of if they didn''t get out of here immediately. There would be endless enemies coming to them. The strongest demonic monster roared. They had to change their strategy. With the three cult''s founders'' help, the enemies quickly rotated and found a new enemy for themselves. Auron and Julia, who was supposed to fight against a demonic monster, were now facing the three founders. Meanwhile, the demonic monster who was supposed to fight against Auron and Julia moved to fight against Alice. On the other hand, the strongest demonic monster had moved to block the reinforcements. Their enemy''s strategy had changed to let the strongest demonic monster reduced the enemies'' number. The strongest demonic monster immediately moved to face the reinforcements. Although these soldiers were elite, they were still weaker compared with the demonic monster. Moreover, not all of 150 soldiers could fight against the demonic monster immediately. Only around 10 soldiers that could fight against the demonic monster at once. Auron saw that the demonic monster who was supposed to be his enemy walked away. When he was about to chase the said demonic monster, three shadows came up to him and blocked him. The three founders'' class were thief, swordsman, and cleric. And the swordsman was the leader among the three. The swordsman took the lead and directly used his [Blitz Attack]. He went passed Auron and went to Julia directly. Throughout the battle, the swordsman had observed the battlefield. There were only several individuals that were stood out among Auron''s side. The leader had figured out that Julia and Auron were among those individuals. Although both Auron and Julia were mages, The cult''s leader had chosen to kill Julia first. Auron was a close combat mage, and usually, to kill a close combat mage was more difficult than killing a non-close combat mage. Moreover, the leader had a companion that he could trust the thief. He knew that the thief could distract Auron for a bit while he killed Julia. Auron had also realized the swordsman was using a [Blitz Attack]. However, before he could turn back, the thief had used his [Quick Attack] and targeted Auron. He could not help but block the thief''s attacks instead of helping Julia. Meanwhile, on Julia''s side, she had learned her lesson. When she knew that she was dealing with a swordsman, she was ready to receive this kind of surprise attack. Julia flung her body to the side. A sword stab missed her body. Then, she directly used [Wind Bolt], the quickest spell to chant to retaliate. Not only that, but the nearby soldiers also help Julia. Two soldiers came and helped her. After launching the [Wind Bolt], Julia quickly maintained some distance and left the close combat to the two soldiers. The cult''s leader was quickly surrounded by two soldiers, and another two were on their way. He knew the risk when he was doing this [Blitz Attack]. So, before the situation got worse, he turned back and attacked Auron from the back. Auron was getting a pincer attack from the front and the back. He sensed the attack from the back, but he was still busy dealing with the thief''s attacks. Julia, who was already in a safe position, didn''t let the swordsman did what he wishes. She created an [Ice Wall] between Auron and the swordsman. The swordsman''s attack met with the [Ice Wall] and created a crack on the wall before destroying it. Although the [Ice Wall] could not contain the swordsman''s attack, it was enough for Auron to dodge the attack. Auron moved to the side to dodge the swordsman''s attack. Then, he moved to the back to join back with Julia and the other. When he was backing out, the soldiers around him already moved past him and helped him. However, the three founders didn''t let them getting surrounded. The three of them had already divided their task. The thief was tasked to deal with the soldiers coming to them while the swordsman was tasked to deal with the strong individual. Meanwhile, the cleric was supporting the two of them. Auron and Julia, along with four soldiers, counterattacked. Auron led the four soldiers and charged at the swordsman. Clang... Auron''s dagger met with the leader''s sword. Then, the two soldiers beside Auron chopped at the leader. Meanwhile, the other two soldiers were trying to attack the cleric. However, they were blocked by the thief. Seeing there were attacks incoming to him, the cult''s leader used his [Aura''s barrier] and received the attack. He had to take this risk if he wanted to move forward. It was unfortunate that his shield had been destroyed, or he didn''t have to worry about this attack. After taking the damage with his barrier, the leader used [Whirlwind Slash] to drove Auron and the two soldiers away. Auron and the two soldiers had pushed away. But, the leader didn''t stop right there. He followed up on his skill. However, he didn''t target Auron. Instead, he picked one of the soldiers first. A stabbed to the soldier''s calf and followed with a slash to the soldier''s forehead. The other soldier wanted to get up. However, the cult''s leader stomped his foot and made the soldier could not get up. He pulled up his sword from the other soldiers and stabbed it into this soldier''s chest twice. To ensure that both of the soldiers had died, the leader gave them a stab to their heart once. The incident was so quick that Auron, who was near the two soldiers, reacted late. He had just stood up when the leader had given a stab to the two soldiers'' hearts. Chapter 470 - Cults Founders (2) Two out of four soldiers who helped Auron and Julia had died. However, there was no time for grief as the cult''s leader attacked Auron, who just stood up. Auron moved to the side to dodge the attack. Then, he slashed his dagger. A [Fire Bolt] also followed the dagger''s slash. The cult''s leader deflected the dagger''s slash with his sword. Then, he raised his hand and grabbed the incoming [Fire Bolt]. It was such a barbaric move. Moreover, the pain the cult''s leader had to bear was unimaginable. Although it was a barbaric move, it proved to be effective. Auron had never thought that the leader would use this kind of move when he could dodge the attack. Auron was unprepared when the cult''s leader''s sword slash coming at him. However, Auron still tried to dodge the attack. The sword slashed Auron''s right shoulder. Two heals enveloped Auron and brought his health to full once again. The same situation also happened to the cult''s leader. A heal enveloped him as well and increased his health. In this kind of war, a cleric was a crucial class. It could change the tide of battle with its support. What was fortunate, there were more clerics on Auron''s side rather than on the three founders'' side. Although the cleric on Auron''s side was weaker than one of the three founders, numbers could cover its lack of power. Julia was helping the two soldiers to fight against the thief. Everyone knew the one who eliminated the cleric first would hold the tide of the battle. That was why Julia tried to get rid of the thief who blocked the soldiers'' path to attack the cleric. Julia used her [Wind Cutter] and aimed at the thief''s body. At the same time, the two soldiers each used their skills on the thief. The thief had to face three attacks at the same time. The thief used his dagger to block one of the soldier''s attack. Then, he turned his body to dodge the other attack. At that time, the [Wind Cutter] had arrived. The thief used [Blur]. The thief''s body faded for a second, and the [Wind Cutter] went through past his body. After a second passed, his body materialized back, and he quickly used [Aim Back] to teleport to one of the soldiers'' back. When the thief arrived at the soldier''s back, he used [Back Stab] and combo it with [Deathly Stab]. Two stabs went through the soldier from its back. One pierced through the soldier''s heart while the other one stabbed the soldier''s nape. The targeted soldier experienced an immediate death. The other soldier reacted. He swung his sword and tried to slash the thief. However, the thief had already jumped back and made some distance. The sword missed the target. However, the thief didn''t stop right there. As soon as he landed on the ground, he immediately dashed forward and slashed up the soldier''s neck. Fortunately, the soldier could react well. He raised his sword in a hurry. The thief''s dagger met with the soldier''s sword. When the soldier thought that he was safe, the thief grabbed the soldier''s arm, held the sword, and pulled the soldier hard. The soldier was not ready with this pull. He limped forward. When the soldier was limping forward, the thief already pulled his dagger back and gave another stab to the soldier''s neck. This time, the soldier could not react appropriately when the dagger arrived and pierce his side neck. The thief pulled out the dagger, blood gushes out of the wound, and quickly the soldier''s body slumped down to the ground. Julia was taken back by how quickly the thief killed the two soldiers. She had tried to help the last soldier using her [Wind Bolt]. However, before the [Wind Bolt] could arrive at the thief, the thief already stabbed the soldier''s neck. The thief ignored the [Wind Bolt] and received it like it was a breeze of wind. A second after that, a heal came out on top of the thief and brought his health back to full. The thief stood up straight and gazed at Julia. Julia shuddered by the thief''s gaze. She knew she had been marked by the thief. However, of course, it would not be easy for the thief to move to her since many soldiers around them were aiming to kill the cleric behind him. Just like now, another three soldiers already came up to him and replaced the two dead soldiers'' place. On Auron''s side, he also got help from another three soldiers. The cult''s leader had to face against four people, Auron, and three soldiers. Auron had known the cult''s leader''s strategy. He would dwindle down the number of soldiers first since they were easier to kill. That was why, this time, Auron chose to act as a support. He would run help when the cult''s leader tried to kill the soldiers. Auron''s strategy was proved to be successful in preventing the soldier''s death. After 5 minutes, there were no casualties from the three soldiers. However, the swordsman''s attack also got fiercer and fiercer. He knew he had to quickly kill these soldiers or, sooner or later, he would be overwhelmed. Another two soldiers joined the fray and helped Auron. The swordsman started to lag behind in his attacks. Some attacks were connected to his body. Fortunately, the cleric was ready. Heal would be poured out when he was in a critical situation. It was difficult for the cleric to support two people at the same time. The thief tried to help the swordsman. However, he was blocked by the soldiers and also Julia. The swordsman could not take this anymore. He had to do something. He put his hand inside his cloak. The swordsman took out another sword from inside his cloak. The swordsman had changed to use a two-sword style. Just like a mage who could use [Walking Chanting], a two-sword style swordsman was rare. Chapter 471 - Cults Founders (3) [Dual Wielding] was the name of the skill needed to use two weapons on each hand. This skill could be learned by all classes. However, even someone had learned this skill, there was some exception like someone could not use two bows or use two-handed swords on each hand. However, this skill was still useful for archer or mage, or cleric, because they could use the dagger on each of their hand. Of course, to use it skillfully, one had to have an experience in close combat. There were two ways to learn a skill. The first one and the common one was through a skill book. People had to look for the skill book from the monster''s drop or get from somewhere else. The second way was learning on their own like what Auron had done in [Walking Chanting]. Of course, the second way was very difficult. Auron was very fortunate that he could learn [Walking Chanting] on his own. Also, one thing to keep in mind, Auron got some knowledge from the military''s library that helped him. Meanwhile, throughout the time Auron had played this game, there was no trace of this [Dual Wielding] skill books among the players'' possession. Not only that, for all of this time, Auron only saw several high leveled NPC that had used this skill. Actually, one didn''t need to have [Dual Wielding] skills to use two weapons on each hand. If Auron wanted, he could also use two swords right now. However, he didn''t want to do that. When one dual wield weapons, there was a penalty on the second weapon without the skill. The second weapon would only do 10% of its damage. Moreover, the player needed to learn to divide his or her attention on both hands. However, all of that penalty gone when one learned the [Dual Wielding] skill. Unfortunately, there was no trace of the [Dual Wielding] skill books. Seeing the cult''s leader use a two-swords style, Auron was confused. Why now? Did the opponent didn''t have the skill and used it on his whim. However, by doing that, he should know the penalty. If the opponent had [Dual Wielding] skill, why he just use it right now? These questions surfaced on Auron''s mind. However, he didn''t have enough time to think about the answer. The cult''s leader already used both of his swords to block and attack Auron and the four soldiers at the same time. Auron quickly raised his sword and blocked the attack. The same things happened with the four soldiers who also raised their weapons and stopped the attack. The cult''s leader''s attack was blocked. He quickly jumped back and used his skill [Wind Slash]. The skill came out from the leader''s right weapon. At the same time, his left weapon also unleashed a purple aura. The leader had also used [Aura''s slash] on his left weapon. He had used two skills at the same time. Both slashes went in different directions. When the leader had used these two different skills simultaneously, Auron knew that the leader had mastered the [Dual Wielding] skill. If one didn''t learn the [Dual Wielding] skill, they could not do this. Of course, the leader didn''t use the same skill on both of his weapons but because of the restriction. It was the cooldown restriction. When one had used a skill with one weapon, it immediately went cooldown. So, the other weapon could not use the same skill and had to use the other skills. This way, a swordsman could use multiple skills at the same time. It was similar to a mage [Dual Casting]. Of course, mana consumption would increase. However, everyone who had used [Dual Wielding] had known about this increased mana consumption for a long time. Auron faced the leader''s [Aura Slash]. Meanwhile, the four soldiers faced the [Wind Slash]. Bang... Auron received a significant impact from the attack. He was blown away several meters back. Auron was positively sure that the cult''s leader had really mastered the [Dual Wielding] skill with this attack. The strength of this attack should be the normal strength of the cult''s leader. Auron was blown away. The same thing happened to the four soldiers who face the [Wind Slash]. All of them could block the skill, but they were pushed back because of the skill''s strength. When the fours soldier wanted to counter-attack, the cult''s leader was already in front of them. The cult''s leader chopped his right sword. The targeted soldier raised his sword horizontally to block the attack. However, because this was too sudden, the soldier could not use his full power. Fortunately, the soldier could hold the attack. When the soldier blocked the cult''s leader attack, the cult''s leader stabbed at the soldier''s stomach twice using his left sword. Then, he kicked the soldier''s stomach. The soldier was pushed back because of the kick and collided with another soldier at his back. When this happened, the cult''s leader had gone to the next target, the soldier to the first soldier''s right. The soldier attacked first. He trusted his sword. The cult''s leader deflected the soldier''s attack with one sword and struck with the other sword. The cult''s leader cut the soldier''s wrist. And, he didn''t stop right there as he turned his body 180 degrees and did another chop to the soldier''s head. After killing that soldier, the cult''s leader turned back and crossed both of his swords to block an attack. It was Auron''s attack. Auron had come to a stop the cult''s leader. However, he was also surprised that the cult''s leader had already killed two out of the four soldiers in such a short time. Auron had attacked as soon as possible but he still late and two soldiers were the victims. After the cult''s leader had used two swords, his firepower immediately gone up. Auron felt pressured. He knew that this battle would not be an easy one even though they had more numbers on their end. Chapter 472 - Taking a Risk (1) Alice occasionally looked around at the battlefield when she was fighting against the demonic monster. Currently, the situation looked pretty good. The husband and wife pair''s demonic monster''s health depleted steadily while both people and the soldiers they led were in a pretty good state. On the strongest demonic monster''s side, it was still fighting against the elite soldiers. Even without any command from Alice, the elite soldiers had done pretty well. Among the 150 elite soldiers that had come, there were only two of them that died. Everything was thanks to the teamwork and cleric''s support. Meanwhile, the strongest demonic monster''s health was slowly depleted. Its current health was at 95%. On Alice''s side, she was maintaining a pretty good situation against the demonic monster. Alice had previously fought for a brief against the strongest demonic monster, so when she fought against the current demonic monster who was weaker, it was more relaxed. However, she didn''t underestimate the current demonic monster and took it seriously. With the soldiers'' help around her, Alice had managed to reduce the demonic monster''s health to 75%. Alice had seen Auron''s and Julia''s side. She knew that facing the three founders was not an easy feat. However, she thought that with the soldiers'' help around them, they could somehow manage it. But Alice was wrong. It was proved with the situation at Auron''s side. More victims were produced on Auron''s side. Moreover, the cult''s leader had changed his style to a two-swords style. Although Alice wanted to help them, she could not since she had her own enemy to deal with. Auron was slashing his sword at the cult''s leader. However, his mind was full of thought. He was thinking about how to get out of this situation. If he could not get out of this current situation, it would be a matter of time before they were massacred. Auron was racking his brain to come up with a solution. A sword slash was coming at him. He was distracted and blocked the incoming slash. Then, several attacks followed the slash. Auron tried his best to block the attack. Since the cult''s leader had two swords, the delay between each attack was quick. Auron had reacted very fast to stop the attack. If he responded late, it would be his end. For these several attacks, Auron''s mind was preoccupied with blocking the attack. Meanwhile, Julia, who was dealing with the thief, had a pretty good situation. The thief could not advance or move to help the cult''s leader because his hand was full of blocking the attacks and protecting the cleric. Four soldiers arrived and helping Auron. With these four soldiers, he was more relaxed and could think of a solution more. Actually, Auron had already an idea. However, that idea was too risky and could reap his life. So, he didn''t want to take that idea and was trying to develop a different idea. Time passed. More and more victims died under the hand of the demonic monsters and the three founders. From the time that the 150 elite soldiers had arrived until now, there were already 30 more victims. And, 10 of them were the elite soldiers that had just come. This showed how strong the strongest demonic monster here was. It still had 93% of its health, but it already killed 10 elite soldiers. By calculation, the 150 elite soldiers were enough to kill the strongest demonic monster on their own. However, it would not happen if everything that happened on the battlefield were accounted for. If the elite soldiers were preoccupied and took a long time to kill the strongest demonic monster, all the soldiers, including Auron, Julia, Alice, and the others, would die first. When it happened, it would not be only the strongest demonic monster that they had to face, but also the three founders. Everyone knew all about this. That was why they tried their best to kill their enemies as soon as possible while preserving their own life. Bang... Auron blocked the cult''s leader''s [Bash]. He staggered three steps backward. However, Auron could not launch counter-attacks since the cult''s leader attacked him using the other sword. After the cult''s leader had used the two-sword style, Auron was on the defensive stance. It was because his strength was weaker to begin with. When Auron was blocking the attack, the other soldiers helped him by attacking the cult''s leader. It was pretty helpful to release the burden, but the cleric behind the cult''s leader also didn''t idle. Auron looked around the battlefield. The current situation seemed pretty good. However, he could not be sure that the situation would not turn around in the next few minutes. Auron moved back and approached Julia, then he said, "Cover me!" After saying that sentence, Auron dashed forward. He had made a choice. Since he could not come up with another solution, he would take up the risky choice. Auron dashed forward to the cult''s leader who was busy fighting against the soldiers. While dashing Auron launched his spell to the cult''s leader. The cult''s leader already prepared with Auron attack and deflected the spell. As Auron was approaching, the cult''s leader observed Auron''s movement so he could take a measure when Auron was attacking him. However, to his surprise, Auron was charging past him. Of course, the cult''s leader didn''t idle and chased him. Auron was advancing towards the thief. The thief astonished but he was ready. The cleric behind him also ready to support the thief when something bad happened. When Auron was approaching the thief, he launched a spell at the thief. Meanwhile, Julia also helped Auron by attacking the cult''s leader behind him. Both spells were blocked by its respective target but it was enough to distract the target. The thief moved closer to the cleric so he could easily defend the cleric. When Auron was close to the thief, he suddenly used his movement skills. His speed increased, but he didn''t charge at the thief, instead, he was advancing towards the cave. Chapter 473 - Taking a Risk (2) Auron had thought for a long time, and he knew there was the demonic monster''s leader inside the cave. Although it was named ''leader'', Auron believed that the leader was not that strong. It was because the leader didn''t join the fight at all. If the demonic monster''s leader was strong, it should join the fight to break through this encirclement. However, it was not. Hence, Auron concluded that the so-called leader was weak. Moreover, even though the demonic monster''s position was scattered around but all of their position was close enough to the cave. Also, Auron caught that the strongest demonic monster glanced at the cave very often. Of course, all of this was only Auron''s observations. If it was correct, then Auron believed that this could break the current situation by attacking the leader. However, by doing this, Auron knew that the risk was too big. If Auron''s conjecture was wrong, then he would face the strong demonic monster''s leader. And, he would bring himself to a wolf''s den. On the other hand, if Auron''s conjecture was right, then the other demonic monsters would not let him approached the cave. And he would be surrounded by the demonic monsters. Although the risk was significant, Auron had no choice. If they wait, then the result would be more or less the same. Instead of waiting, Auron wanted to be more proactive. Auron was approaching the cave. Behind him, the three founders also wanted to chase him. However, the three of them were blocked by Julia and the soldiers. This made them one step behind Auron. Meanwhile, everyone, including the demonic monsters, realized that Auron was approaching the cave. The demonic monsters started to move. Of course, Alice and the others would help Auron. They immediately moved to block the demonic monsters as soon as the demonic monsters started to move. The husband and wife pair moved and blocked their demonic monster''s path. Quickly, the husband used his skill to increase his strength. With the boosted strength, the husband pushed the demonic monster back. Meanwhile, on Alice''s side, the demonic monster that was supposed to be her enemy had turned around. It prepared to chase Auron. Alice directly chanted [Fire Lance] and aimed towards the demonic monster''s leg. Bang... Before the demonic monster could move, Alice''s [Fire Lance] hit the demonic monster''s leg. It made the demonic monster staggered forward and fell down. Alice quickly approached the demonic monster who was laying on the ground. She launched several attacks on the demonic monster. The strongest demonic monster was busy attacking the soldiers around. Suddenly, it sensed that Auron was approaching the cave. It immediately dropped everything and dashed towards the cave. Unfortunately, the strongest demonic monster was far away from the cave since it went to block the reinforcement midway. Unlike Alice and the husband and wife pair, the elite soldiers, who were attacking the strongest demonic monster, were not ready by this sudden change. They let the demonic monster slipped away. However, all of them immediately adapted to the new situation. All of them dashed towards. A quarter of these elite soldiers chased the strongest demonic monster from behind. Meanwhile, the rest of them scattered and join the battlefield to help Alice and the others. Auron arrived at the cave''s entrance. There were the three cult''s founders behind him. Meanwhile, the strongest demonic monster was still quite far away. Auron didn''t waste any more time and quickly went inside the cave. Inside the cave, the demonic monster''s leader roared, "You wretched human!!! Wait until I kill you!" Auron saw the demonic monster''s leader''s appearance. Jackpot!!! The demonic monster''s leader''s appearance was not that scary at all. It looked weak compared to the other. Auron quickly dashed forward and swung his dagger. The demonic monster''s leader used its long limb to deflect the attack. "Weak!" Auron thought inside his mind. When the demonic monster''s leader deflected Auron''s attack, he felt that the strength was not that great. Auron knew that his conjecture was correct. The leader was weak. That was why it just stayed inside this cave and didn''t help at all. After deflecting Auron''s attack, the demonic monster''s leader escaped inside the room. It tried to close the door. However, before the door fully close, a shadow had gone inside. Auron using his swordsman''s movement skill and went inside the room. During this short moment, Auron had used his swordsman''s movement skill twice. Of course, there was a chance to be exposed. However, Auron believed that he could cover it in this chaotic battlefield. The first time he used the movement skill, Auron covered it as he took a movement speed potion. Actually, what Auron had taken was a health potion. Meanwhile, on this second time, since Auron at the foremost front, there was no one here except the demonic monster''s leader. With no witnesses, Auron was confident no one would find out. Auron followed the demonic monster''s leader inside the darkroom. The demonic monster''s leader had seen Auron''s shadow and knew Auron was near it. That was why the demonic monster''s leader quickly went to the nearest torch and put it out. Then, it went to the other torch. On the way to the other torch, Auron had attacked the demonic monster''s leader. The demonic monster''s leader blocked Auron''s attack. However, it didn''t counter-attack but it put out the other torch. When Auron''s attack was stopped, he already launched a stab to follow up on the previous attack. Before Auron could see the result of his stab, the torch''s light had been put out. The room became pitch black since there was no source of light. However, Auron could feel his dagger stabbed something. Auron knew that his dagger had stabbed the demonic monster''s leader. However, he didn''t know how severe his damage. While in though, Auron could feel an attack coming at him. But, before he could react, a kick had arrived at Auron''s stomach and pushed Auron back. Chapter 474 - Taking a Risk (3) Without any source of light, Auron could not see at all in this dark room. On the other hand, the demonic monster could see well in this darkness. It was proved by how the demonic monster could perceive where Auron at and attack him correctly. In the darkness, Auron could do nothing at all. He had tried to swing his dagger, but his dagger only slashed wind. Auron chanted his [Fire Bolt]. When Auron summoned the [Fire Bolt], the room lit up for a brief moment. He could see his surrounding. However, most of the room was still dark. Auron could not see any demonic monster''s location. He looked around him carefully. Auron was still at the entrance of the room, at the opposite side of the room was still dark. With a small [Fire Bolt] above his hand, Auron began to walk to the middle of the room. However, how could the demonic monster let this happened? When Auron took a step forward, he could hear a movement from the darkness. Auron tensed up and tried to be more focused. Auron still could not deduce the exact location of the demonic monster''s leader. Auron took another step. No sound was heard. When Auron took the third step, a shadow sprung to him from within the darkness. Auron threw the [Fire Bolt] towards the incoming shadow reflexively. The shadow was the demonic monster''s leader. When the [Fire Bolt] coming towards it, the demonic monster''s leader deflected it using its right arms. Then, with its left arm, it choked Auron and pushed him to the wall behind Auron. Auron was held to the wall and could not move. It was dark, and he could not even see the demonic monster''s leader right in front of him. However, he still could feel the choke at his neck. Auron chanted [Fire Ball]. A ball of fire formed in his hand. Then, it threw it in front of him. In such close range, the demonic monster''s could not dodge it and received the [Fire Ball] right on its stomach. Auron could smell the smell of a burned flesh. The demonic monster''s leader cried in pain. It released Auron and held its stomach. Auron coughed. However, he quickly regained his composure back. Auron still could not see in the dark. However, since the demonic monster''s leader was close to him, he could somehow sense the target. Auron quickly darted towards the demonic monster''s leader. Using his dagger, Auron slashed in front of him. He didn''t care whether his dagger missed the target or not. The demonic monster''s leader saw this and it quickly jumped backward and moved away while holding the pain. Auron lost his target once more. At the cave''s entrance, the three founders had arrived. However, they didn''t go inside. Instead, all three of them were fighting against Julia and the soldiers around her. Meanwhile, the strongest demonic monster was on the way to the cave. Along the way, several attacks were aimed at it. However, the demonic monster ignored it and bravely took the attack. Because of that, the strongest demonic monster could arrive quicker at the cave even though there was quite a distance between the demonic monster and the cave. As soon as the strongest demonic monster arrived at the cave''s entrance, it immediately went inside the cave and directly went to the room. Inside the room, Auron was still tried his best to defend against the demonic monster''s leader''s attacks. Learning from the previous lesson, the demonic monster''s leader did a hit and run attack inside the darkness. This way Auron could do nothing to counter-attack. Auron frowned and gritted his teeth. He thought that it would be an easy feat since the demonic monster''s leader was weaker than him. However, the demonic monster''s leader had used the darkness to torture him. In this darkness, Auron could not deduce where he was at. Even he had lost the position of the room''s door. So, even he wanted to escape, Auron didn''t know which direction he should go. Bang... When Auron was frowning and thinking about what to do, the door to the room had been blasted away. The light had shone from the outside. However, since this was deep inside the cave, only a small portion of the light could illuminate the room''s entrance. At the room''s entrance, there was a black silhouette. It was the strongest demonic monster that had arrived inside the cave. Auron''s heart throbbed fast. He was doomed. Auron had difficulty fighting against the demonic monster''s leader. And, now, the strongest among them all had come. How could Auron not panic? However, in this situation, Auron tried to calm his mind. He knew if he could persist from these two demonic monsters, he could escape. Because the strongest demonic monster had barged inside the room, Auron could know where the entrance as well as the exit from this place. The strongest demonic monster moved and approached its leader. Auron saw that the strongest demonic monster didn''t move in his directions. He thought, "A chance!" Auron also dashed towards the exit as fast as he could. He even used his swordsman movement skill. Meanwhile, the strongest demonic monster had arrived beside the leader and made sure everything was okay. The demonic monster''s leader roared and commanded to attack Auron. With that, the strongest demonic monster disappeared from the leader''s side. Currently, Auron was close to the exit. A few more steps and he could exit the room. Auron could see a glimpse of hope. He could survive from this. However, when Auron one step away from exiting the room, from behind, a shadow leaped and punched at him from behind. Auron was pushed forward and slammed the opposite wall. That shadow was obviously the strongest demonic monster. The strongest demonic monster charged towards Auron and punched at Auron''s head. Sensing the danger, Auron moved his head to the side. The demonic monster''s punch missed Auron''s head and met with the wall. A crack was formed on the wall. Chapter 475 - Survive Auron chanted [Fire Ball]. He was in almost the same situation as when he was with the demonic monster''s leader. Auron hoped that the same solution could work. Unfortunately, Auron''s hope was not happening. Before Auron could finish his chanting, the demonic monster''s knee already arrived on his stomach. It hit Auron''s stomach very hard that the wall behind Auron cracked. Auron coughed out blood. He slashed out his dagger, intending to distract the demonic monster. However, the demonic monster grabbed Auron''s wrist easily. Then, it formed another fist and punched Auron on his face. Auron quickly slanted his head. The fist that was supposed to hit Auron''s nose moved and hit Auron on his cheeks. Auron could feel the pain all over his body as well as his face. The demonic monster wanted to claw Auron using its sharp nail. Auron used [Earth Spike] and attacked the demonic monster''s from behind while holding his pain. Auron''s [Earth Spike] connected successfully to the demonic monster''s back. However, it didn''t stop the demonic monster from attacking. The demonic monster clawed Auron''s chest. Three lines of wounds formed on Auron''s chest. Blood seeped out from the injury. Auron was hopeless in this situation. These three attacks from the demonic monster had reaped more than half of Auron''s health. Two or three more attacks and Auron would die. However, at that moment, from outside of the cave, a [Wind Cannon] passed the three cult''s founders and hit the demonic monster from the side. It was Julia''s spell. Although the [Wind Cannon] didn''t do much damage, it made the demonic monster staggered and losing its balance. At this moment, Auron immediately escaped to the outside. He even used everything he could use. He had used all of his swordsman''s movement skills. Auron didn''t even care if his secret would be exposed. Auron zoomed out towards the exit. The demonic monster who had staggered had regained back its balance. Seeing Auron tried to escape, the demonic monster dashed and chased Auron. The demonic monster was faster than Auron. In no time, it was already behind Auron. It immediately threw a punch. Auron''s back was punched by the demonic monster. Because of that punch, Auron lost his balance and blown forwards towards the exit. Auron didn''t know whether he had to be happy or not for this situation. He got some speed boost from the punch. Auron flew towards the cave''s exit. He only had around 20% of his health left. Auron, who had thought that he could exit the cave safely, had to rethink. What was waiting for Auron was not the empty ground. Instead, it was one of the cult''s founders, the thief. When Auron was escaping, the commotion could not escape the three founders. They quickly readjusted their position. The swordsman took all of the soldiers while the thief moved back and received Auron. Auron had escaped from the tiger only to find that he was sent to another tiger. The thief used its skill and aimed at Auron, who was flying towards him. Auron could do nothing. He could only point out his dagger towards the thief. Obviously, the thief would not hit by such a naive attack. The thief side steps and moved to the side. Then, it slammed Auron from above. Auron, who was flying away, got hit by the thief''s attack from above. He stopped abruptly and crashed on the ground hard. Auron''s health was reduced to 10%. "Is this the end?" Auron thought. He was only about three or four more steps from exiting the cave. The thief would not let Auron laying down peacefully. He had adjusted his dagger and wanted to stab Auron from above. However, before the thief''s dagger could hit Auron, a [Fire Bolt] had gone inside the cave and hit the thief from the side. Also, a heal for Auron followed up the [Fire Bolt]. The thief flinched from the [Fire Bolt]. Auron got his hope back. He quickly stood up and dashed once again towards the exit. Finally, with that final sprint, Auron could escape from the cave. Since he was in a hurry, his balance was not perfect. When he came out of the cave, Auron rolled out on the ground several times before stopping. Auron looked ahead, and he could see Alice as well as the husband and wife pair. The [Fire Bolt] and heal that helped Auron were from Alice and the wife. Since Auron had employed the risky strategy, the battlefield had changed a lot. With the strongest demonic monster gone, the elite soldiers scattered around the battlefield. The two demonic monsters that left outside of the cave had died. Alice''s demonic monster was the first victim. Alice was the strongest among everyone on Auron''s side. With the elite soldiers'' help, it quickly killed the demonic monster who could not focus on the battle because its leader was in danger. After killing that demonic monster, Alice and the soldiers quickly help the husband and wife pairs. Overwhelmed by the number, that demonic monster was eliminated rapidly as well. With all of the demonic monsters got eliminated, Alice and the others could help Julia, who was handling the three founders. When they arrived at the cave''s entrance, they could see the commotion where Auron was chased by the strongest demonic monster. Alice and the husband and wife pair quickly helped him. And, here was the result, Auron survived even though only a sliver of his health left. Auron heaved a relieved sigh. Not only because he survived, but also because his strategy had worked. When he saw Alice, he knew everything went well, and the two demonic monsters had died. Auron stood up and moved back. A cleric came up to heal him. Alice tapped Auron''s shoulder and said, "Good work!" After saying that, Alice went ahead and helped Julia faced the three cult''s founder and the strongest demonic monster who had come out as well. Auron felt most of his burden lifted up. Chapter 476 - Turn Around (1) Auron was waiting for the cleric to fully heal him. There was only one cleric that was assigned to him. Also, this cleric was the weakest among all of the clerics dispatched here. Alice was charging over to attack the enemy''s cleric. Behind her, there was the husband from the husband and wife pair. However, before Alice could reach the cleric, the thief had already blocked her path. The strongest demonic monster also joined the fray. After losing Auron, the strongest demonic monster was so furious. It was a humiliation for him to not be able to kill a human beneath him. The cult''s leader, the thief, and the strongest demonic monster blocked the cave''s entrance. Behind them, there was the cleric that supported the two cult''s founder. They utilized the small cave entrance to filter the number of opponents they could fight at once. Alice and all of the soldiers were having a difficult time breaking through this barricade. However, they knew this was only a matter of time before the enemy''s resources were depleted. Alice''s goal right now was to complete this conquest with as minimum death as possible. If this conquest ended with their victory, but they had to shoulder many soldiers'' death, it could not be considered a win. Up to this point, there were already many casualties. However, the deaths could still be accepted since they had to eliminate two powers, the Asyaka Cult and the demonic monster. Alice moved back for a bit. Her position was replaced by the husband. The reason Alice moved back was to coordinate with the soldiers'' commander. After five minutes, Alice was back. She had already finished delegating her orders to the other soldiers. At this moment, Auron had also finished healing. He was preparing to get back. Auron had already received Alice''s command from before. He was assigned to fight against the swordsman, aka the cult''s leader, along with Julia and the soldiers. Meanwhile, the husband and wife pair was exclusively targeting the thief. On the other hand, Alice, along with the elite soldiers, will fight against the strongest demonic monster. Alice''s strategy was to grind the strongest demonic monster''s health bit by bit. The reason Alice took this strategy was because of the fact that the cleric could not heal the demonic monster. If Alice focused out on the cult''s leader and the thief, it would take some time since they could be healed. And, the demonic monster would be free to attack them. Moreover, even though the demonic monster could not be healed, but their natural regenerative ability was strong to begin with. It was thirty times stronger than a player when they were out of combat. When they were in combat their regenerative ability was ten times stronger than a player. That was why, if the demonic monster was left alone, they could be a nightmare and caused a lot of casualties. Before Auron joining the combat, he saw inside the cave. He could see the three cult''s founder and the strongest demonic monster were blocking the entrance. Meanwhile, Auron vaguely noticed the demonic monster''s leader was looking at him with a furious expression behind them. However, Auron didn''t take it to his heart. He knew that the demonic monster''s leader could do nothing in this battle. Previously, it could win against Auron because of its ability to see in darkness. If the two of them fought again outside the cave, Auron believed he would crush the demonic monster''s leader. Auron ignored the demonic monster''s gaze and moved to join the battle. He walked to the cult''s leader''s position. Auron glanced at Julia and nodded at her. Julia got the sign from Auron, and she began to use her strongest skill to distract the cult''s leader. At the same time, as Julia unleashing her strongest spell, Auron was also charged to the cult''s leader. He used Julia''s spell to give a two-pronged attack to the cult''s leader. Slash... The cult''s leader just chopped one of the soldiers attacking him when he saw Julia''s spell. He tightened the grip of both of his swords. Then, the leader used his [Aura''s blast] to deflect Julia''s spell. Meanwhile, his other sword was used to block the soldier to his right. Auron hid behind one of the soldiers. He wanted to launch a surprise attack. The cult''s leader blasted the soldier to his right. Then, from behind that soldier, Auron jumped and wanted to chop the cult''s leader. Unfortunately, the cult''s leader had already aware of Auron''s attack. So, calmly he raised his sword to block Auron''s chop. Auron had already used his strength. However, a dagger was not mean to use for chopping. So, Auron''s attack was blocked with ease. Although the cult''s leader could block the attack easily, he could see that Auron''s attack was not so simple. As a mage, the strength that Auron had shown was not the strength of an ordinary mage. Moreover, as a mage, they could only use a dagger. The cult''s leader swept Auron away. Then, using the other sword, it stabbed Auron. Auron rolled his body on the ground to dodge the stab. Then, while laying on the ground, he threw [Fire Bolt] at the cult''s leader. In such a close range, normal people would not be able to block this attack. However, the cult''s leader was not a weak person. Using one of his swords, the cult''s leader deflected the incoming [Fire Bolt]. Then, it tried to attack Auron once again. However, before he could launch his attack, the cult''s leader had sensed other spells coming towards him. The cult''s leader canceled his attack and moved to block Julia''s spell. A soldier to his left attack the cult''s leader body. However, the cult''s leader ignored the attack and focused more on Julia''s spell. The cult''s leader successfully deflected Julia''s spell. But, he also got attacked by the soldier on his left shoulder. A heal followed to the cult''s leader''s body afterward. Chapter 477 - Turn Around (2) After deflecting Julia''s spell, the cult''s leader glanced at the soldier who attacked him. He brandished his sword towards the soldier. The soldier blocked the cult''s leader attack. However, the cult''s leader had two swords. Using the other sword, the cult''s leader swept his other sword from the bottom diagonally upward. The soldier was not prepared for this attack. Moreover, the cult''s leader''s strength was not a joke. The soldier tried to move back for a bit. However, he was too late to react. The tip of the cult''s leader''s sword grazed his body. Not only that, but the soldier also lost his sword. His sword flung away before landing a meter behind him. The cult''s leader changed his posture and stabbed both of his swords to the soldier''s chest. However, before the stab could reach the soldier, Auron''s [Fire Bolt] from the side hit the sword''s blade. It changed the course of the attack and missed the soldier''s chest. The soldier quickly retreated back. However, cold sweat already filled his forehead and all over his body. He was only a step before death. Fortunately, Auron saved him. The cult''s leader gritted his teeth. He was disappointed to not be able to kill the soldier. However, he quickly dispersed that thought as he looked over at Auron and attacked him. Auron summoned an [Earth Wall]. The cult''s leader''s attack met with the [Earth Wall]. However, the [Earth Wall] got pierced through by the sheer power. Auron already anticipated this to happen. As soon as he summoned the [Earth Wall], he quickly jumped back. So, when the cult''s leader''s sword pierced through the wall, Auron already far from the sword''s reach. Meanwhile, Alice, along with two elite soldiers, were pressuring the demonic monster. Their goal was to deplete the demonic monster''s health slowly while maintaining their safety. The three of them actually were weaker than the demonic monster. However, each of them got a private cleric to support them. Moreover, there was also archer''s support from behind them. Time passed by. There were several casualties on the soldier''s side. Meanwhile, the demonic monster''s health was already decreasing over time. Currently, the demonic monster only had 30% of its health left. It was such a slow and long process to reach this point. The cult''s founders also felt more pressure as the demonic monster''s health reduced to this point. The cult''s founders knew that when the demonic monster died, then all of these soldiers in front of them would pour out at them and captured them at ease. Moreover, their resources had already low. After this long battle, the cult''s founders almost out of their potions. The same thing also happened to Auron''s side. However, Auron still could occasionally provide the soldiers with potions through his so-called ''cheat''. The cult''s leader racked his brain on how to escape this situation. While fighting, he occasionally glanced at his two teammates. However, his two teammates'' situation also not good. Another five minutes passed by. The demonic monster''s health was reduced to 28%. It was such a slow and steady process. Alice looked at the overall situation. And, everything went on as her expectation. It would be difficult to stop the cult''s founder since they had the support of the cleric. However, it was not the case for the demonic monster. The demonic monster would die sooner or later. When the demonic monster died, it was the time to deal with the three cult''s founders. Alice smiled at the current situation. However, it was not the case for the three cult''s founders. As time passed by, the three cult''s founders'' expressions sunk. The cult''s leader gritted his teeth. Then, he unleashed his two area skills using his two swords. After releasing those skills, he didn''t follow up with another skill. Instead, he shouted at his two teammates, "Follow me!!!" The cult''s leader quickly moved and broke through forcefully at the soldier''s barricade. The thief and cleric followed him closely from behind. The soldiers saw that the three founders tried to break through their encirclement, so they quickly filled the empty spot. However, the three founders moved quickly that the soldiers didn''t manage to stop them from escaping. Meanwhile, the demonic monster also saw this, and it could not react in time. Moreover, with Alice and the elite soldiers around, it could not respond quickly. The demonic monster was left by the three founders. However, the three founders never thought of escaping along with the demonic monsters, to begin with. They had left the demonic monster to divide the enemies'' attention while they were escaping. This was proved by the three founders that didn''t communicate with the demonic monster at all. Moreover, when the three founders escaped, they never looked back once. "Chase them!!!" Alice shouted. Alice could not let the three cult''s founders escape. They had reached this point. If they allowed the cult''s founders to escape, it would be a massive loss for them. Following Alice''s order, Auron, Julia, and husband and wife pairs and several soldiers chased the three founders. Meanwhile, Alice and the rest of the soldiers stayed here and fought against the demonic monster about meeting their end. The demonic monster who was left alone was so furious that it went berserk. The demonic monster''s attack power and speed increased by 50%. However, the demonic monster''s defense was also reduced by half. Not only that, but its mind had been clouded with attacking. They would only attack the enemy and disregard any incoming attack. Alice and the elite soldiers who were fighting against the demonic monster was shocked by this change. However, they quickly changed and adapted to the demonic monster. With the demonic monster''s defense reduced, the demonic monster''s health began to drop rapidly. In no time, the demonic monster had only 5% of its health left. After another minute, the demonic monster''s health dropped to zero. The demonic monster roared and glanced at its leader with teary eyes before falling to the ground, dead. Chapter 478 - Turn Around (3) Alice walked past the demonic monster''s corpse and went inside the cave. Although the demonic monster had passed away, its leader still alive. The demonic monster''s leader was standing still and didn''t move at all. Inside its mind, it thought about many things. The demonic monster''s leader could not believe what happened these past hours. It had never thought that its clan would disappear today. The demonic monster''s leader was still trying to find out at what point everything had gone wrong. Was it wrong to cooperate with the human? Or, was it wrong to spend all of his levels to create many subordinates at once? Or, was it wrong to pick this place as the hideout? When the demonic monster''s leader was still thinking, Alice approached the leader slowly. She had to be careful, afraid that the leader would attack her. At this point, Alice was thinking about how to subdue this demonic monster''s leader. She wanted to bring back this demonic monster to the military base for interrogation. All this time, the demonic monster''s leader didn''t move at all. Alice was closer and closer to the demonic monster''s leader. When Alice was several steps away from the demonic monster''s leader, the demonic monster''s leader suddenly moved. This small move alerted Alice. She raised her dagger in front of her. The demonic monster''s leader roared and laughed out loud like it had gone insane. Alice frowned. But, she still approached the demonic monster''s leader slowly. Suddenly, the demonic monster''s leader raised its limb and pierced through its brain using its claw. Yes, the demonic monster''s leader had suicided. It had never been thought to retaliate against Alice because it knew that it was only a waste of effort. Alice also never had thought that the demonic monster''s leader would go suicide. She had wanted to persuade the demonic monster''s leader to help the military to eradicate the other demonic monsters. However, now, everything had gone with suicide. Alice sighed. However, she could not change the past. Alice ordered, "Isolate this place! Bring the corpse to the military! The rest follow me!" Alice had ordered to isolate this place. She hoped to find some clue about the demonic monster''s characteristics from this place since it had been used as a demonic monster''s hideout. Alice had to chase Auron and the other, who was still chasing the three cult''s founders. She had lost the demonic monster, but she hoped she still could find some insights from the three cult''s founders. Auron was chasing the three cult''s founders. Auron was in the lead. Behind him, there were Julia, the husband and wife pairs, and the soldiers. Since the cleric had the lowest movement speed among the three, the cleric was the most back of their group. Auron had thrown some spell to the cleric while he was chasing. However, it was difficult to hit a moving target. Moreover, the distance between them was still quite far. The distance between them didn''t shorten at all. Because of that, Auron had secretly used his swordsman''s movement skill. He brought out a mana potion and disguised the movement skill as he was using a movement potion. Although it was easy to distinguish between the mana potion and the movement potion from close, there were currently on the chase. Also, the other would have a difficult time determining the potion from far away. Auron''s speed increased thanks to the swordsman movement skill. He was approaching closer to the cleric. However, he still could not stop the chase. Auron kept chasing. When the movement skill had ended, he waited for the cooldown to end and used the same trick once again. After using this strategy twice, Auron was close enough with the cleric. He calculated and used an [Earth Spike]. The [Earth Spike] missed the cleric''s legs. However, surprisingly, the spell grazed the cleric''s ankle. The cleric held the pain from his ankle. But, it still tried to run away. However, this attack was effective. The cleric''s speed slowed down. The cult''s leader and the thief realized this, and they saw that the cleric had slowed down. The cult''s leader gritted his teeth. And faced back to the front, followed by the thief. The cult''s leader and the thief had decided to leave the cleric alone. Their survival instinct had kicked in, and they could sacrifice anyone. Auron used another spell. And, it hit the cleric''s leg once more. This time, the cleric could not run away anymore as he flopped down to the ground. Auron had managed to stop the cleric. However, he didn''t slow down his movement speed and maintained his pace. In no time, Auron passed the cleric who was on the ground. Auron didn''t slow down because he had trusted his teammate behind him would take care of the cleric. Julia and the husband and wife pair had done the same thing. Several soldiers surrounded the cleric and tied him up. The chase still continued. The husband had already chased Auron and was currently on the lead along with Auron. The husband looked at Auron. He was confused with Auron. He was a swordsman, and he had given some point to the agility attribute. Although he knew that Auron was a close combat mage and should have increased his agility, he was confused on how Auron''s speed was almost the same as a swordsman. Actually, what the husband didn''t know, Auron had slowed down a bit after hitting the cleric. That was why the husband could arrive beside Auron. Auron glanced at the husband and nodded. Then, he took the real movement speed that he had saved and gave it to the husband. The husband knew what Auron means by this and nodded. The husband quickly used the potion. Combined with the swordsman''s movement skill, the husband''s speed increased a lot. The husband dashed out and like a blink it arrived behind the cult''s leader, the swordsman. The husband used his [Wind Slash]. The cult''s leader could not help but turn around and blocked the attack. Chapter 479 - Asyaka Cults Leader (1) The cult''s leader blocked the [Wind Slash], but he was pushed back several meters. Because of the husband''s attacks, the cult''s leader had to stop fleeing. Like what he did previously with the cleric, the thief only glanced back and kept fleeing, ignoring the cult''s leader. In a dire situation, the desire to live was strong enough to sacrifice a comrade. Moreover, the three cult''s founders only got together for their own benefits. Seeing this, the husband kept on moving and chased the thief. Meanwhile, Auron was left to fight against the cult''s leader. Several soldiers also stopped and helped Auron while the rest of the soldiers were chasing the thief and the husband. Of course, the wife followed the husband on chasing the thief. However, there was already a cleric assigned to Auron''s group. As soon as the cult''s leader was stopped, Auron quickly attacked the cult''s leader, along with two soldiers. He had to keep the pressure on the cult''s leader, or the cult''s leader could escape once again. Auron, along with 10 soldiers, began surrounding the cult''s leader. They could not let the cult''s leader escaped. Auron began the first attack. Auron''s attack was followed by another attack from a soldier behind the cult''s leader. The cult''s leader had no choice but to retaliate. With a sword in each of his hands, the cult''s leader began moving. He charged towards Auron. Auron''s dagger met with the cult''s leader sword. Then, the cult''s leader used the other sword to attack Auron. On his last character, Auron had once experienced fighting against a swordsman with a two-swords style. Sadly, he was fighting against an NPC as no player had obtained the skill. It was when he was on a world expedition to the other world, Regalia. At that time, Gaia had sent a separate team to the Bridge World to attack one of the enemy''s bases. And Auron was included in the group. That expedition resulted in a big failure since there was a traitor among the players. That player had leaked out the expedition''s info to the Regalia. Because of that, the regalia sent an elite team and annihilated Gaia''s expedition team. Although Auron was experiencing failure, he also experienced fighting against a swordsman using two swords. Yes, the NPC that Auron faced was among the Regalia''s ranks. Unfortunately, Auron could not get much feeling when fighting against that NPC. It was because he was panicked. After Gaia''s team got ambushed, the Gaia''s team''s formation was disordered. Everything was chaotic at that time. Auron also became panicked. He tried to calm the crowd, but it was futile. The enemy had used the right timing and attacked Gaia''s team at the right moment. Because of that, everyone, especially the Gaia''s players, was looking for a way to survive. Many of them were fleeing. Auron, who could see there was no hope, also tried to escape. When Auron was looking for a way to escape, he spotted the enemy''s commander in command. That said commander was the one that used two swords. Using his two swords, that enemy''s commander had massacred quite many Gaia''s soldiers and players. Then, the commander spotted Auron and directly attacked him. Auron, who was about to flee, had no choice but to block the attack. At first, Auron managed to follow the commander''s attack. However, after several seconds of fighting, Auron started to feel overwhelmed by the commander''s wild forays. Moreover, Auron had to deal with the enemy''s soldiers'' attacks. In the end, the commander managed to reap Auron''s life. It was such a pity that Auron only managed to fight against that commander for a short time. Although Auron had learned something, there were many things that he didn''t manage to learn. Fortunately, another chance came. It was when the cult''s leader had taken out his other sword. Auron was fighting against a swordsman with two swords once again. This time, Auron had learned a lot compared to the previous encounter. It was a brutal fight. However, Auron knew that the cult''s leader could not be compared to the Regalia''s commander that he fought previously. With this experience, Auron felt more ready to fight the cult''s leader. So, when the cult''s leader had come to him and attack him, Auron not only observing the incoming attack but also the cult''s leader''s other sword. That was why, when the cult''s leader had launched a stab to Auron''s body, he managed to react. Auron blocked the incoming stab using a [Fire Bolt]. The [Fire Bolt] was not mean to stop or block the attack, but it was just to change the attack''s course. Of course, the battle didn''t stop right there. After Auron deflected the stab with his spell, he retaliated and launched a slash with his dagger. The cult''s leader also reacted in time and blocked the attack once again. However, this time, he didn''t use the sword to attack Auron. Instead, the cult''s leader had swung the other swords behind him and attack the incoming soldier. After that, the cult''s leader stepped back and charged at the soldiers. The cult''s leader knew that although the soldiers surrounding him were weaker than him, they could not be underestimated. They were trained soldiers. These soldiers would be able to injure him. Even if it was a small injury, it would hinder the cult''s leader''s movement if there were many of them. Moreover, the soldiers had a cleric backing up them. On the other hand, the cult''s leader didn''t have any support at all. If the battle was dragged on, the soldiers that dealt against the demonic monster would arrive. In the end, he would be the one that lost the battle. The cult''s leader attacked the soldier that came to him. Not only that, but he already used his full power. With his power, the cult''s leader cleared his path. However, the soldiers also didn''t afraid. After getting thrown away, they immediately got up and filled the empty spot. Chapter 480 - Asyaka Cults Leader (2) The cult''s leader slowly moved away from his spot and tried to break through the place. He swung his swords to the left and right. It was tough. Without any cleric, the cult''s leader''s pressure improved twofold. However, he didn''t give up, or rather he could not give up. On the other hand, although they were no match against the cult''s leader alone, they somehow managed to fight on par with him on Auron''s side. Moreover, there was one cleric assigned to this small team. Although there was only one cleric, it was enough to increase the cult''s leader''s burden exponentially. The cult''s leader knew how vital this cleric''s presence was. That was why he began to break through from this place. Although it seems the cult''s leader walked aimlessly. However, in truth, he was setting up his strategy. When the cult''s leader moved to the left, all of the soldiers surrounding him also moved to the left. The cult''s leader''s expression sunk. It was more difficult than he could imagine. The reason was because of Auron''s presence. Throughout the place, Auron didn''t act as the spearhead. Instead, he let the soldier move first and fill the gap made by their position. This way, when the cult''s leader wanted to cut through the opening, he was stopped by Auron and have to face Auron. Auron didn''t have to stop the cult''s leader completely. It was enough for him to stall the cult''s leader for a few seconds until all of the other soldiers adjusted. The cult''s leader used his [Bash] and attacked the closes soldier to him. A gap was made between the soldiers. The cult''s leader quickly used the opening to escape. However, just like the previous encounter, Auron suddenly appeared and filled the gap. The cult''s leader had predicted this. He immediately brandished his sword. Auron raised his dagger and blocked the attack. Then, he quickly executed [Fire Bolt]. The cult''s leader deflected the [Fire Bolt] with his other sword. Then, he quickly attacked Auron once more before the other soldiers had adjusted their position. Auron moved to the side, and he stabbed the cult''s leader using his dagger. Suddenly, the cult''s leader had disappeared from his position. Auron''s dagger missed the target. Auron quickly turned around and dashed towards his back. He quickly brandished his dagger forward. The cult''s leader had used the [Blitz Attack]. He used the skill to approach the cleric who was behind Auron. After facing the cult''s executive previously, Auron became more vigilant, especially when he was fighting against a swordsman. Auron''s guess was correct. The cult''s leader had used [Blitz Attack] to attack the cleric. He knew if he didn''t kill the cleric, his chance of escape would be zero. Unfortunately, Auron had predicted all of this. Auron''s dagger was aimed towards the cult''s leader back. The cult''s leader had two choices. He continued to attack the cleric, or he blocked Auron''s attack. Each option had its own strengths and weaknesses. The cult''s leader racked his brain on which options he would choose. He gritted his teeth. The cult''s leader had chosen to continue his attack. His slash connected with the cleric who was not ready with this sudden encounter. A sword slash appeared on the cleric''s chest. With the other sword, the cult''s leader used [Bash]. It was fortunate that a stun mark appeared above the cleric''s head. The cleric could not complete his heal spell. The cult''s leader launched another attack. However, before the attack could arrive at the cleric, he felt pain in his back. Auron''s had stabbed his back. The pain went through all over the cult''s leader''s body. However, he held the pain and continued the attack. The cult''s leader''s attack connected with the cleric once again. One more attack and he would reap the cleric''s life. The cult''s leader swung his sword once more. However, before he could complete his attack, a [Fire Bolt] arrived behind his back. The cult''s leader still held the pain and continued his attack. However, the spell had delayed his attack for a second. And, this one second was enough to mess all of his efforts until this far. The cleric had woken up from his stun status and immediately used the instant heal. As soon as the cleric''s health rose up because of the instant heal, the cult''s leader''s attack arrived at his body. Fortunately, the cleric had used the instant heal. Although the heal was not as strong as the chanting heal, it was enough to save his life. After getting attack once more, the cleric''s health went down once more. He only had a sliver of his health left. The cleric jumped back. The other soldier quickly took his place and protect the cleric. Since his chance had gone away, the cult''s leader gritted his teeth and chose to escape. The cult''s leader bashed out the nearby soldiers and opened up a path in front of him. He directly used all of his movement speed. The cult''s leader''s speed was higher than the soldiers here including Auron, to begin with. Combined with all of his movement skills, the cult''s leader''s speed increased a lot. He blurred and disappeared from his place. All of the other soldiers saw this including Auron. They immediately used their movement skill as well and chased the cult''s leader. However, the cult''s leader''s movement skill was faster than the soldiers and Auron. Moreover, the cult''s leader had moved first. The distance between them became wider. The cult''s leader was chased by 7 people including Auron. The cleric and two other soldiers were left behind because the cleric had to heal his health first before started chasing. The other two soldiers were left behind to protect the cleric. However, no matter how they chased, the distances between the cult''s leader and the rest didn''t go shorter. Seeing this, Auron was worried. He could not let the cult''s leader escaped. Auron quickly took out the movement potion and used it. Chapter 481 - Asyaka Cults Leader (3) Auron was chasing the cult''s leader closely from behind. However, the other soldiers could not keep up with these two speeds. Auron and the cult''s leader slowly leave the group of soldiers behind. They went through between trees inside the forest. In this full speed chasing, it only took several minutes for the two to leave the group completely. Slowly, Auron and the cult''s leader was disappearing from everyone''s sight. The leading soldier stopped followed by the other soldiers. He gritted his teeth and looking around. They had completely lost the direction where Auron and the cult''s leader went. "Separate into two groups, you went that way and the rest follow me to go this way! Be very careful!" As they had lost the whereabouts of Auron and the cult''s leader, the leading soldier didn''t have any choice but to separate the group into two. Actually, based on the military rank, this soldier should be the leader even when there was Auron here. However, these soldiers didn''t know that Auron had a lower rank compared to them. They only knew that Auron was close to Alice and they knew who Alice was. Hence, they had thought that Auron must have a high rank. Moreover, the speed that Auron had shown gave them more confidence that their guess was correct. The cult''s leader ran with all of his might. He had created this chance by sacrificing some portion of his health. He didn''t want to let this sacrifice in vain. Occasionally, the cult''s leader had glanced behind his back to see his chaser. To his surprise, he could see Auron still chasing him. The cult''s leader was surprised to see a mage could chase him. He thought inside his mind, "Do he poured all of his attributes to agility?" For the cult''s leader, it didn''t make any sense for that to happen. Moreover, he had seen that Auron''s melee attack and spell power was not that weak. Inside his mind, the cult''s leader was still trying to find out whether he should fight against Auron head-on or tried to lose him. Although the cult''s leader had known that Auron was weaker than him in terms of strength, his current condition was not that ideal as well. His current health was around 43%. Not only that, he didn''t have any potions left to use. On the other hand, Auron still had full health thanks to the cleric supporting him all this time. Moreover, there was still a variable to consider like Auron''s strange power also how many Auron''s potions left. The cult''s leader had tried to shake Auron off. However, after escaping for 5 minutes, Auron still managed to follow him. Of course, during this chasing, Auron didn''t stay idle. He kept on using his spell whenever he could. Unfortunately, hitting a moving target was really difficult. Moreover, the enemy had no intention to fight against the spell. The cult''s leader was considering to fight Auron or not while escaping. He was worried that he did a mistake. Moreover, he had seen Auron''s track record from the start of this battle. He had survived against the strongest demonic monster. Although the cult''s leader also believed that he could escape against the strongest demonic monster, however, this was not the case if he had the same level and equipment as Auron. Auron''s strength was really had to be measured. He seemed weak on the outside. However, there were many occasions that he could survive and showed a strength above his level. This variable that made the cult''s leader hesitated in taking a decision. However, he could not hesitate for too long. In the end, the cult''s leader gritted his teeth and stopped. He turned around and brandished his sword to deflect Auron''s spell. Auron saw this and also stopped several distances away from the cult''s leader. When Auron and the cult''s leader had left the group, Auron was nervous. He also didn''t have that much confidence to win a fight against the cult''s leader alone. However, Auron tried his best to stay positive and believed in his power. To be more precise, he had to believe in his cheat. Auron knew that his cheat was the most effective weapon in taking down the cult''s leader. He had also known that the cult''s leader was hesitating in fighting him. This was also his hidden weapon. "You seem confident in fighting against me alone? Can''t you see that your friend had long gone?" The cult''s leader was mocking Auron. He wanted to provoke Auron so he could read Auron. However, contrary to his expectation, Auron was calm. He didn''t get provoked and stayed silent. Auron chanted his [Fire Bolt]. He had deliberately used a low and simple spell. Of course, this simple spell could not hit the cult''s leader. The cult''s leader moved a step to his left to dodge the spell. The cult''s leader didn''t attack. Instead, it still tried to provoke Auron again. He tried to probe Auron to show his strange power to analyze. Previously, during the chaotic battle, he didn''t have any time to analyze Auron. If he could see Auron used his trick once more, he believed that he could see Auron''s source of confidence. This way, his chance of winning would rise. After several attempts, the cult''s leader didn''t see any progress. Auron kept on throwing simple and weak spells. Because he was afraid that Auron calling a reinforcement, the cult''s leader didn''t have any more choice but to fight head-on. The cult''s leader dashed towards Auron. With a sword in each hand, the cult''s leader looked deadly. However, Auron wasn''t afraid. He calmly summoned [Earth Wall] in front of him. When the cult''s leader broke through the [Earth Wall], Auron had moved to the side. Auron quickly swung his dagger vertically towards the cult''s leader. The cult''s leader spun his body and blocked the dagger with his sword. Then, he counter-attacked with the other sword. Auron swayed his body and dodge the sword attack. Then, a spell coming towards the cult''s leader. Chapter 482 - Asyaka Cults Leader (4) The cult''s leader used his [Aura''s barrier] and ignore the incoming spell. He let the barrier took care of the spell. The cult''s leader swung both of his arms diagonally in turn. Auron was too close to dodge the sword. Hence, Auron raised his dagger to block the attack. He could stop the first sword. However, the second sword came and hit him. However, Auron didn''t give up. He quickly chanted another spell while backing away. Of course, the cult''s leader would not let Auron moved away. He followed Auron closely. Auron stabbed his dagger in front of him. But, the cult''s leader deflected the dagger easily. Then, the cult''s leader attacked Auron. The cult''s leader''s strategy was to keep on pressuring Auron. He knew that Auron still had some potions. So, he had to prevent Auron from using those potions. Auron felt overwhelmed by the attack. However, he had no choice but to keep defending. Auron was still looking for a chance to counter-attack. He knew with the disparity in their power, he only had one chance to turn around. If he was careless and wasted that one chance, Auron was 100% sure that he would be the one that lost. However, to find that chance was not that easy. The cult''s leader kept on attacking Auron like a madman. Left... Right... Left... Right... The cult''s leader''s sword kept on coming at Auron in turn. Auron blocked one attack but another attack coming at him. Three minutes from the start of this battle, Auron had taken more slash than what he had thought. Although all of it was a shallow wound, the number of injuries kept on increasing. Sooner or later, he would die. Moreover, he could not use any potions to recover yet. He had to do this now. That thought surfaced on Auron''s mind. If this continued, he would die first before the cult''s leader revealed an opening. Auron made up his mind. He tightened his grip on his dagger. The cult''s leader moved forward and swung his sword. Auron raised his dagger and blocked the sword. Just like the previous encounter, the cult''s leader other sword had already come towards Auron. At this time, Auron would get hit by the incoming attack. However, it was different this time. Auron used his swordsman''s movement skills and moved forward. His speed increased and gone from his original spot. The cult''s leader was not prepared for this. He had known that Auron weirdly had some high movement speed. However, he thought that all of that, thanks to the movement speed potions he had used. However, right now, Auron''s speed had increased without using any movement speed potions. The cult''s leader was taken aback. He was not ready. The cult''s leader''s attack missed the target. He quickly turned his body to face Auron once again. And, just like what he had thought, Auron was to his left. Moreover, he already jumped and ready to chop down his dagger. "You think you are strong?" The cult''s leader scoffed at Auron inside his mind. The cult''s leader crossed both of his swords above his head. He was ready to receive Auron''s attack. However, when the cult''s leader saw Auron, he was stunned. He saw that Auron''s weapon was shrouded with a purple light. He recognized that purple light. To be precise, he knew what it was. It was the [Weapon''s Aura] skill. However, the cult''s leader never had thought that a mage could use it. Auron''s attack was coming down. Bang... It was heavy. The cult''s leader''s knee bent a bit. This strength was not a mage''s strength. All of this time, the cult''s leader had never received such an attack from a mage whose level was lower than him. Moreover, a sudden movement speed increase and [Weapon''s Aura] were a mystery. Some accessory could provide the user with some ability. However, such an accessory was very rare and would be very expensive. Auron had two such skills. "Does this mean he had two such accessories?" The cult''s leader could not help but wonder. When he was deep in thought, the cult''s leader saw Auron moved to his side. Then, Auron swung his dagger once again. However, it was not an ordinary slash. Instead, Auron had used [Bash]. The cult''s leader was too deep in his thought that he reacted late. Auron''s dagger passed by the cult''s leader''s sword that he put to block the attack. Auron''s dagger finally connected with the cult''s leader''s body. The cult''s leader was in pain. But, that was not the only thing. His head was in pain and could not think straight. The cult''s leader was stunned because of Auron''s [Bash]. Auron saw this, and he immediately used this chance to widen his advantage. Auron chanted [Fire Lance]. As the spell flew towards the cult''s leader, Auron followed up the attack with a stab to the cult''s leader''s stomach. The cult''s leader got hit by the [Fire Lance]. However, when Auron''s stab was about to hit his stomach, the cult''s leader had been free from the stun. As soon as he got out of his stun status, the cult''s leader quickly raised his swords and blocked Auron''s stab. Although the cult''s leader could block the attack, he still could not find out how Auron could simultaneously use swordsman''s skill. However, he quickly got rid of that thought. He knew that he could find out about it when he defeated Auron. The cult''s leader used his movement skill to rival Auron''s movement speed. Then, he quickly swept his sword. Unfortunately, contrary to his expectation, Auron didn''t charge forward. Instead, he moved back and used his last movement buff to make some distance. After moving away, Auron directly took out his health potions and movement speed potions and used both items. Auron''s health was replenished. His speed also increased due to the movement speed. Unfortunately, he was not as quick as before since his movement skill''s buff had ended. Chapter 483 - Asyaka Cults Leader (5) The cult''s leader''s effort for all these several minutes back had gone. Auron''s health was gone back to full while his health was lower than 40%. The situation didn''t favor the cult''s leader. He was thinking of escaping once more. The variable that he had felt before was really scary. The variable that Auron had was something that the cult''s leader never imagined. A mage was using a swordsman skill. This was the first time he saw it. Maybe, it was the only one that happened in this world. Temptation, greed, curiosity, and scared were what the cult''s leader felt right now. This feeling combination was something he had never felt before. And, it made the cult''s leader hesitated in making a move. While the cult''s leader hesitated, Auron didn''t stay idle and wait for the cult''s leader to recover. He chanted a spell and attack from a long distance. Currently, he only had his movement speed buff from the potion, and it could not compare with the cult''s leader, who had a full movement speed buff from the skill. Auron''s spell woke the cult''s leader from his thought. He knew it was not the time to be distracted. The cult''s leader deflected Auron''s spell. And, he charged forward. With a full movement speed buff, the cult''s leader covered a long distance in a short time. In no time, he was already in front of Auron and slashed his sword diagonally. Auron raised his dagger to block the attack. Then, he used [Sloth]. Against an enemy who used a physical attack, this spell was the most suitable choice. Not only that, Auron pulled his dagger and stabbed his dagger. However, Auron didn''t aim at the enemy''s vital, like heart or neck. Instead, Auron tried to stab the cult''s leader''s wrist. Of course, the cult''s leader didn''t let Auron did what he wished. The cult''s leader quickly pulled back the hand that Auron had targeted. Then, using the other hand, the cult''s leader continued his attack. Auron smirked. He had predicted that the cult''s leader would do this. Actually, Auron''s previous attack was a decoy to make the cult''s leader did this. Before the cult''s leader attack could reach Auron, an [Earth Spike] sprung from the ground and targeted the cult''s leader''s elbow. The cult''s leader was surprised, but he quickly retracted back his arm. However, he was a second late. The [Earth Spike] managed to pierce his elbow. Not only that, Auron used his [Aura Slash] and advanced forward. Hold the pain, the cult''s leader used his other arm to block the [Aura Slash]. The attack was weak. It was not imbued with the [Weapon''s Aura]. Auron already knew that in such a situation, the cult''s leader had no choice but to block the [Aura Slash]. He would also do the same thing if he was in the same situation. That was why Auron deliberately use a weak attack to force the cult''s leader to block. After blocking the attack, the cult''s leader had realized that it was a decoy. However, it was too late. Auron had already in front of him. Auron used [Weapon''s Aura]. Then, he combined it with [Bash]. The cult''s leader was already a step late. He knew that it was impossible to block with his sword. That was why he quickly moved to the side. Auron''s dagger that was supposed to hit the cult''s leader forehead had missed its original target. Instead, it hit the cult''s leader''s shoulder. Because of the combination of [Weapon''s Aura] and [Bash], Auron''s attack power was high even though he only used a dagger. Auron''s dagger met with the cult''s leader''s shoulder bone. Then, it cut through the bone completely. The cult''s leader''s left arm was decapitated. Losing one arm abruptly, the cult''s leader lost his balance. He swayed to his right. In the middle of the falling, the cult''s leader tried his best to regain his balance. However, Auron didn''t let it happen. Auron moved his body and faced the falling cult''s leader. Then, he used a [Quick Slash]. His dagger cut through the cult''s leader left''s stomach. To make sure that he could kill the cult''s leader, Auron used his [Fire Ball]. The [Fire Ball] hit the cult''s leader''s body. These several attacks were so deadly that the cult''s leader died before he even could hit the ground. The cult''s leader laid on the ground motionless. Auron sighed a relieved sigh. Finally, it was over. Auron was the winner of this battle. It was not an easy battle. Auron knew he was just lucky. Without his cheat, he used swordsman skill, and he would not have any chance to win this match without his potions. Moreover, the cult''s leader had less than 50% of his health when he started the battle. Also, the cult''s leader''s barrier had depleted. Auron was lucky that the cult''s leader was absentminded when he used the swordsman skill. Auron approached the cult''s leader corpse. Then, he decapitated his head and brought it with one hand. After that, Auron turned back and went to where he came from. He had to regroup back with his group. Fortunately, Auron didn''t move for too long before seeing a group of soldiers he left behind. These soldiers saw Auron as well, and they approached Auron, who walked towards them. When they were close to Auron, they could see the cult''s leader''s head in Auron''s hand. All of them immediately felt a sense of awe to Auron. All of these soldiers quickly adjusted their behavior before Auron. They became more polite. One of them offered to bring back the head for Auron. Auron didn''t decline the offer. He gave the cult''s leader''s head to one of the soldiers and walked together with them. Several minutes later, their group met with Alice''s group. Alice saw the head and felt excited. She knew what this head means. When Alice received the cult''s leader''s head, a notification rang on Auron''s ears. [A hidden mission, eliminate Asyaka''s Cult''s Leader, completed! Calculating for rewards...] Chapter 485 - Dual Wield (2) Auron was currently at the biggest weapon shop in the Miderian. However, after searching for 10 minutes, he could not find a suitable sword for him. The reason was Auron''s lack of money. The affordable sword for Auron was of low quality. Meanwhile, the high-quality one was expensive, and Auron could not buy it. Auron sighed. Rather than buying a low-quality sword, Auron wanted to save the money first and use it to buy a high-quality sword. Auron left the weapon shop disappointed. Since he could not find any good sword, Auron was thinking of using his produced weapon. Although it was not as good as the sold weapon, it was free to use. Auron kept all weapons from his latest blacksmithing session on his inventory. Since he had produced many weapons, he intended to find the right place before sorting and picking out the best weapon he had created. "No. I cannot give up this easily," Auron shook his head. Auron was still not contended if he still had to choose a low-quality weapon. He thought of a way to get money. He looked at his inventory to find any sellable item. However, his inventory was full of consumable items that he needed and the weapon he produced. Auron could get some money by selling his weapons. However, getting the right price was not that easy. It took time. Moreover, there were a lot of items that he needed to sell. Auron thought of something. There was one last thing that he had to check the military. He just finished a big mission. Although the chance was low, Auron still hoped that the reward from that mission already been given. Auron decided to move back to his mage character to check out. He went out of his dorm''s room and went to the military''s administration office. On his way to the military''s administration office, Auron saw a commotion in the training field. Actually, a commotion in the training field was natural. However, what piqued Auron''s interest was that it was not because of any duel or training. Instead, a man was surrounded by a group of enthusiastic men. Auron approached the commotion. When he was coming to the field, he began to hear several shouts. "Come on! Let''s get started!" "Yes! What are we waiting for?" "Calm down... Calm down..." "I have been tired of waiting. We should start now!" "Be patient. There was still 10 minutes left!" These shouts were heard when Auron approached the place. While the man in the middle of the crowd was calming the mob down, the people surrounding him rushed him. Auron was confused about what was going on. So, he tapped and asked the nearest soldiers what was going on. "In 10 minutes, that soldier wanted to auction some of his equipment." The soldier explained to Auron. Auron looked at this auction with some interest. Actually, a soldier auctioning his old equipment was not a rare scene. Occasionally, there was some soldier that sold his equipment here. The military also didn''t forbid the soldiers to exchange with each other as long as both parties agreed. When a soldier was auctioning their equipment inside the military, their aim was not gold. Instead, their objective was the military points. Transaction inside the military could be paid with military contribution points. Of course, to do this, the auctioneer needed to pay someone from the administration office to supervise the auction so the item winner would have enough military point to spend. And, just like what Auron had thought, he had recognized one of the military administration staff near the commotion. It was good for Auron. This way, he didn''t need to go all the way to the office to see whether the rewards had been distributed or not. Auron approached the administration staff and asked him. The administration staff was still busy arranging the administration doc.u.ment, stopped what he did, and looked at Auron. Then, without saying anything, he nodded and started typing something on his device. And, just like what Auron had thought, the rewards from the latest mission was still not distributed yet. Auron dejectedly sighed. Then, he asked the second question about how many military points he had. "15234 points," The staff said. Auron frowned. He didn''t know whether that point was many or not. The staff saw Auron''s expression, and he asked Auron, "Do you want to join that guy''s auction?" Auron replied with a nod. "Hmm... I don''t know about the items he intends to auction. However, the item ranges from 5000 points up to 100 thousand points from what he had said. Seeing your point, I guess you could buy one or two items. You should try it." The staff said. Just like what the staff had said, there was nothing wrong with trying. Auron nodded and waited for the auction to begin. An auction like this was usually dependent on the participant''s wealth and the item. If the item was rare, but the participant was not that rich, then the prices would not rise that much. On the other hand, if the item was not that rare, but it managed to pique many participants'' interest, then the prices could rise up. That was why, usually, the one who held the auction would not disclose the number of items he would like to auction. He would throw some normal things first to see the participant''s wealth and enthusiasm. This way, if the participant was not as he had expected, he could only give three to four items to auction and keep the rest for a future auction. Auron looked at the surrounding. There were not that many people around. However, as time ticking, the commotion indeed attracted many people''s attention. Hence, the number of people steadily going up. One minute before the auction started, the number of people had gone up past 50 people. Auron wanted to try his luck on this auction. He hoped that he could get a suitable sword. Chapter 484 - Dual Wield (1) [A hidden mission, eliminate Asyaka''s Cult''s Leader, completed! Calculating for rewards...] Auron had was surprised by this sudden notification. The first time he faced the cult''s leader, there was not any quest notification. So, he thought that there was no quest related to the Asyaka''s Cult. Auron never thought that Asyaka''s Cult was a hidden mission. He was excited to know what would he get. Based on his experience, usually, a hidden mission would give him something rare. Even the lowest reward was already something pricey. [Contribution: A rank] Auron got an A rank in the contribution. He thought that he could achieve this feat was thanks to the last battle. Moreover, he was the one who did the last hit on the cult''s leader. He was waiting for his rewards notification anxiously. [Reward: Dual Wield Skill Book] Auron''s heart raced fast when he saw his reward notification. He got a rare skill book, [Dual Wield]. This skill book was a dream skill for every melee class. On his previous character, Auron only heard about this skill but he never got a chance to see the skill book. However, right now, he got the said skill book how could he not excited. Auron quickly checked his inventory and saw the skill book icon inside his inventory. He didn''t wait any longer and quickly use the skill book. Although this skill book was great for a melee user, every class could use the skill. [Dual Wield] (All Class skill) Level: 1 MP: 0 Type: Passive Target: - Cooldown: - Weapon: All weapons except bow type and two-handed type weapons. Description: Allow the user to use a weapon on each hand. The user could use different skills for each weapon. Cannot be used with bow type and two-handed type weapons. Cannot be leveled up. Auron quickly saw the skill''s description. It was just like what he had read before. This skill could be used with every weapon except bow type and two-handed type weapons. Also, just like [Walking Chanting], this skill could not be leveled up. And, one more thing to keep in mind that was not written in the skill''s description. The weapon equipped was dependent on the user''s class. A mage could not use a sword even if they had this skill. However, this skill didn''t as simple as allowing the user to wield two weapons. This skill could also help the user a lot. Although the attack of each weapon had been determined and could not be changed by this skill, however for high ranked weapons, there were weapons that increased the user attributes. If the user used two such weapons, then they could gain a double attribute. These attributes could change the course of a battle. Auron was very happy with his gain. He was so eager to test his newly acquired skill. However, he knew that it was not an appropriate time so he calmed himself down. After Auron calmed himself, he looked around him. The soldier had already finished telling Alice everything. Alice looked at Auron in awe and said, "Good job!" Then, not long after, the husband and wife pair got back along with the soldiers that he had brought. On the husband''s hand, there was the thief''s head. This means that the thief had also died in the hand of the husband. Among the three Asyaka''s Cult''s founders, the thief and the swordsman were killed while the cleric was captured. Previously, when the cleric was left behind by the other two founders, he knew that he could not escape anymore. That was why he surrendered and was captured by the soldiers. Then, the soldiers met with Alice who brought the cleric to this place. Auron could see the cleric among the group that Alice had brought here. When the cleric saw the heads of the other founders, he felt furious as well as relieved. He was furious about the fact that he was left behind while he was relieved that he was still alive. In the end, everything had ended for the Asyaka''s Cult and one tribe of the demonic monsters. It was time for reporting back to the military. Since the demonic monster was involved in this case, they also needed to report back to the royalty. After all, they had to create a preventive measure so that the demonic monster could not collude with a dark organization once more. Everyone who participated in this mission went back to the nearest town. Then, Auron, Alice, Julia, and the husband and wife pair took the teleportation portal to Miderian. Most of the soldiers here belonged to the northern region so not all of them followed Auron and the other back to the military headquarter. As soon as they arrived at Miderian, all of them went back to the military base to report. This mission could be considered a success even though the casualties were not low. Auron, Alice, Julia, and the husband and wife pair took turns to tell their stories up until how they could discover Asyaka''s Cult colluding with the demonic monster. It took them almost 6 hours to tell the complete story to General Aston. "Okay, you may leave and take a rest!" After 6 hours, General Aston let all of them take a rest. Auron went back to his dorm''s room. He wanted to try his newly acquired skill. However, before he could do that, he had to sort everything out first. Auron went inside his room. Then, he quickly changed his character to his swordsman character. Auron opened up his eyes to find out he was at a blacksmith. Previously, Auron had left his swordsman character to increase blacksmith proficiency. In front of Auron, on top of the work desk, Auron could see the various finished products. Auron never had thought that one day he would get this skill. That was why he didn''t prepare any second weapon. Of course, Auron would not use his created weapon since his blacksmith''s level was still low. It was time for Auron to look for the second sword. Time to go shopping. Chapter 486 - Unofficial Auction (1) "Okay, let us start the auction!" The man who was surrounded by the mob declared. Since this was just an unofficial auction, it lacked any extravagant service. The owner of the weapon also became the auctioneer. Meanwhile, the auction''s participant was sitting on the ground. On the other hand, the administration staff was walking and approach beside the auctioneer. When the auctioneer declared the auction had started, everyone was excited. Like the other unofficial auction, the auctioneer told them the exchange rate between the military contribution point and the gold. In this unofficial auction, the exchange rate was determined by the auctioneer themselves. Since this was an unofficial auction, everyone could come and go as they wanted. If the auctioneer raised the exchange rate too high, the participant could exit the auction. "The exchange rate for my auction is one military point to 5 silver," The auctioneer declared. The exchange rate was still within the norm. So, nobody left the place. "Let us start with the first item," The auctioneer brought out the first item. The first item was a shield. Since Auron didn''t use a shield, he was uninterested, but he still joined the auction to see the other participant''s behavior. Auron saw that the shield was not that good, but it was also not that bad. "The first item is [Mirror Shield]. The starting price is 90 silver. It should be five silver for each increase." The auctioneer said. As soon as he said that, a middle-aged man to Auron''s right raised his hand. "95 silver." The auctioneer said while pointing at the man next to Auron. "1 gold." The auctioneer pointed to another man. "1 gold five silver." Several bids began to be heard in the training field. The auctioneer kept on pointing to each of the bids in turns. After around 3 minutes, the bids began to slow down. After several more seconds, the last offer was recorded. "Sold for 2 gold 35 silvers to that young man over there," The auctioneer said. Although the increment only 5 silver, the price went up to 2 gold 35 silvers since the bids number was high. Since the bid was using money, the transaction could go directly. The auctioneer gave the shield while the bid winner paid the auctioneer. After receiving the money, the bid winner sat back down. It seemed he wanted to join the next item. "The next item is..." The auctioneer took out the second item. The auction continued with the second item. Its starting price was 1 gold and was sold for 4 gold. The auction continued for the third item. The third item was also sold for a pretty good price. It started at 1 gold and was sold for 3 gold 90 silver. Deep inside, the auctioneer was happy with the result. He thought that it seemed he could sell more items. However, just to make sure, he still took out a normal item for the fourth item. And, he was excited to find out it was sold for quite a fair price. After taking out four items, the auctioneer was ready to take out another item. He only prepared 8 items for this auction, and half of it already sold. "How many more items do you have?" Before the auctioneer could take out the fifth item, a participant shouted. There was no obligation for the auctioneer to say how many items he would sell for this unofficial auction. He could just sell three items and closed the auction when he actually prepared 9 items. "Four more," The auctioneer decided to disclose the number of items he was going to sell. After four items, some participants left the auction. However, there were more that joined the auction. The number of participants had grown to 80 people. "For the next item, I got it from an expedition to the other world. It was quite a rare piece of equipment." The auctioneer explained Then, the auctioneer took out an armor. There was a strange pattern drawn on top of the armor. "The starting price is 5 gold and 1 gold for each increase." The auctioneer said. "Can we take a closer look at it?" One of the participants asked. "Sure. You can come up and observed it from closer." The interested participants began to stand up and were taking turns observing the armor. Auron was actually interested in this armor. However, he knew that he could not waste any more funds before the sword came up. So, Auron stayed still. After 5 minutes, the auction for this armor started. The bids came out crazily. It was because one of the participants knew what that strange pattern was. And, he carelessly told everyone about it. From what the man said, the strange pattern could reduce the incoming damage by 10%. Not only that, that strange pattern also made the armor sturdier. When Auron knew about it, he also became eager to bid. However, he quickly calmed his desire down. He kept reminding himself why he had come to this auction. After several bids, the price had gone up crazily. Right now, the armor was priced for 50 golds, and it still went up. The bidding for that armor lasted for 5 minutes before it was sold for 250 golds. Auron was shocked to find out about the armor''s price. It had gone up from 5 golds to 250 golds. And, it just still the fifth item. There were three more items. He began to look at the people surrounding him. "These people were so rich," Auron thought. Auron began to worry about the capital he had. He only had around 750 gold after the conversion. He didn''t know whether it was enough or not. Auron could only hope that number was enough for him to get a sword. He looked back at the auctioneer who just finished his transaction and about to continue the auction. Then, the auctioneer took out the sixth item. It was staff. Chapter 487 - Unofficial Auction (2) The staff looked extravagant. It had a big stone on top of it. Not only that, but a combination of gold and red color also covered all of the staff''s body. However, for these soldiers, the extravagant appearance was not important. Functionality and power were more important. It showed when the auctioneer took out the staff. The participants'' expression didn''t change at all. The auctioneer already predicted this. So, he came up and said, "Anyone of you a mage? It will be better if you are a fire mage." Since the auctioneer was an archer, he could not use the staff. That was why he was inviting a mage to do some demonstration. The mages among the participants began to raise their hands. However, Auron did not. "Let''s see..." The auctioneer began to scour the raised hand. "How about you?" Surprisingly, the auctioneer picked Auron, who didn''t raise his hand. "You are a mage, right?" The auctioneer asked Auron. Auron, who was chosen, was surprised. However, he still nodded his head. Since he was chosen, Auron could not help but stood up and approached the auctioneer. "Before we start the demonstration, can you introduce yourself?" The auctioneer asked Auron. However, Auron rolled his eyes. He looked at the auctioneer. He didn''t know and was not close enough to the auctioneer. Auron felt like he was on display. So, he didn''t want to do it and glared at the auctioneer. "What mage are you?" The auctioneer caught Auron''s hate signal. So, he quickly moved on to the next question. "Fire," Auron answered short. Although Auron wanted to be an all-rounded mage proficient in all elemental, he used fire spell the most. "Great! Here use this, and use it to chant any fire spell." The auctioneer passed the staff to Auron. Although Auron never played a mage before, however, he knew a powerful staff. And, this staff was one of them. As soon as Auron touched the staff, something flowed from the staff to his body. Auron felt more powerful. He began to chant, [Fire Bolt], the most basic fire spell. It took less than one second for the [Fire Bolt] to come out from Auron''s hand. Auron threw the [Fire Bolt] to the floor in front of him. There was a burn mark on the floor. However, that was not all. The [Fire Bolt] cracked the floor in front of him. He knew his [Fire Bolt] was more powerful than before. "Good! Now, use the same spell without using the staff." The auctioneer took the staff. Auron did as he was told. He chanted another [Fire Bolt] and aimed the floor beside the first one. Although Auron''s cast was quick, he knew the first one was quicker than the second one. As soon as the [Fire Bolt] hit the floor, there was the same burn mark. However, it was fainter than the first one. The second [Fire Bolt] didn''t crack the floor like the first one. "Can you use other element spells?" The auctioneer asked Auron once again. Auron knew what the auctioneer wanted to do. So, he chanted an [Ice Bolt]. After that, he took the staff from the auctioneer and used [Ice Bolt] once again. "My casting speed becomes faster. Not only that, but my spell noticeably became more powerful. Moreover, the fire spell." "My mana regeneration seems increased as well." Auron began saying the differences he had found from using the staff. "Whoa..." The participants began to look at the staff in a new light. The mages among the participant started to feel excited. "Thank you." The auctioneer thanked for Auron''s explanation. "As you can see, the staff increase all spell for all elements. However, it increases fire elemental the most. However, that was not all." The auctioneer stopped. Then, he whispered something to Auron. A few seconds later, a faint white light shone, and a barrier was formed around Auron. After the barrier was completed, the auctioneer took out his bow and attacked Auron. However, before the arrow could hit Auron, it was stopped by the barrier. Then, the arrow flopped and fell down to the ground. "The staff also can create a barrier." The auctioneer explained. The mages became ecstatic with this new revelation. This barrier could save them from trouble. "Thank you for your help!" The auctioneer thanked Auron and took back the staff. "Now, let us start the bidding for this staff. The starting price is 20 gold, 1 gold for each increase," The auctioneer immediately started the auction. The impatient participant began to shout out their bid. The staff''s price rose quickly. In just one minute, the price already reached 180 gold. Then, in just another minute, the price soared to 350 gold. "600 gold!" From not too far from the auction''s place, a man strolled to the auction''s place. The price increase by a huge margin in just that one bid. The participants began to look at the newcomer. Auron didn''t recognize the man. However, some of the participants recognized the participants and frowned. "Any other bid?" The auctioneer asked. However, none of the participants raised the price. So, the auctioneer began to count down. "600 gold, once." "600 gold, twice." "600 gold, sold." The newcomer won the staff. Auron didn''t know who was this rich man. However, he noticed the other participants'' look when they saw this man. Auron could see annoyed, fearful, furious expression among the participants. However, none of the participants wanted to voice their concerns. The auctioneer also recognized the man. However, he acted normal, as if the man was just like any other soldier. Not long after, the auctioneer completed the transaction. He didn''t wait for too long and started the auction for the seventh item. He didn''t want the hyped to die down. After completing the transaction, the rich man didn''t go anywhere and sat down along with the other. He intended to join the auction. The seventh item was a sword. Finally, what Auron was waiting for. Chapter 488 - Unofficial Auction (3) Auron''s eyes brightened up. This was what he was waiting for. Although the auctioneer never said anything about selling a sword, Auron believed he would auction some sword. Weapons like sword and dagger were the most sought weapon. Many classes could use it. That was why in almost every auction, there would be one or two swords or daggers sold. When the auctioneer took out the sword, the auction''s participant exclaimed in awe, including Auron. His eyes became more excited. The reason was that he knew that this sword was not some low-grade weapon. The sword''s blade was longer than an ordinary sword. However, it was still could not be categorized as a longsword. When the auctioneer wave the sword, the sword''s blade was thin and flexible. If the blade was long enough, then it could move like a whip. Although the sword''s blade was thin, its endurance was remarkable. When the auctioneer stabbed the sword to the floor, that thin sword''s blade pierced through the floor as it was tofu. When the auctioneer released his grip on the sword, the sword still stood firm, stuck on the ground. Then, the auctioneer lightly slapped the sword handle. The sword swayed to left and right just as a bamboo got hit by wind. This showed how flexible the sword''s blade was. After these several demonstrations, the auction''s participant became more interested in the sword. They quickly shouted to start the auction. Auron was also eager to participate in the auction. He didn''t even think about was his point enough to buy this sword or not. Seeing the participant''s spirit, the auctioneer quickly started the auction, "The starting price is 1 gold and a minimum of 1 gold for each increase." The starting price was low. However, seeing the crowd, the auctioneer was not afraid that the sword would be sold underpriced. Moreover, there was a lot of swordsman among the participants. And, just like what the auctioneer had thought. As soon as the auction was started, several bids flew on the air. Not only that, but each bid also increased the item''s price for 5 gold. In just less than 1 minute, the item''s price had gone up to 100 golds. Auron was astonished to see this. He never thought that these soldiers were so rich that they could spend 100 golds easily. Auron suddenly felt inferior. He realized that those military points he had would not be enough for him to buy the sword. In another minute, the sword''s price rose to 350 golds. Auron smiled wrily. Using the exchange rate that the auctioneer had said, Auron only had around 750 golds. And, the sword''s current price was almost half of the budget he had. Not only that, seeing the participant''s hype, it seemed the price would not slow down that quick. Auron became dejected. Seeing the price was climbing up to 400 golds, he felt that he lost all the hope to get that sword. When Auron was lost in thought, a voice shouted, "600 golds." That voice immediately made the entire place silent. Auron woke up from his thought and saw the owner of the voice. It was the newcomer who won the previous item. Several seconds passed, and there were no other bids. Auron was confused about this newcomer''s identity. Auron wanted to bid. However, he quickly thought, what if he offended that person. Auron didn''t know who that man was. Auron looked around. No new bids come. "No new bid? Let me start the countdown. 600 golds once." The auctioneer started to count down. Although the auctioneer didn''t voice out his concern, Auron could see his expression. It was a mix of disappointment and anger. He didn''t want to sell this item for this price. However, he also could do nothing if there was no one else that bid. "600 golds twice." Auron was pondering when the auctioneer started his count down. When the countdown hit two, Auron gritted his teeth and shouted out his bid, "750 golds!" After Auron shouted that number, every participant''s eyes looked at Auron, including the auctioneer and the administration staff. Auron didn''t care about everyone''s look. He already knew about this outcome when he would go with a bid. Auron really wanted the sword. However, he was also afraid of the man''s unknown identity. In the end, Auron believed that the military would not do anything to him and just let this slide up. Moreover, if the worst had come, he had thought of using his connection with Alice, or maybe he could use his relationship with the Fourth Prince. At least, he would try to get the sword. "900 golds." The newcomer quickly said while glaring at Auron. Auron looked back at the newcomer and sighed deeply. He acted as if he was ignorant and didn''t know about the man''s identity. This was one of Auron''s safe methods. He would use the length of time he joined the military as an excuse. Auron knew that the newcomer would check his background. So, he hoped when the newcomer knew that he was a new joiner, the newcomer would somehow forgive him. The auctioneer looked at Auron. Then, he shifted his look to the crowd quickly and started to count down. The countdown finished without any obstacle. "The sword sold 900 golds." Then, the newcomer stood up to finish the transaction with the auctioneer. The next minute, the newcomer came back to sit down. He didn''t forget to give Auron his hateful glare. Auron acted like he was confused, but he didn''t say or do anything. Auron focused back on the auction. He had waste this sword and there would be only one chance left. Although he didn''t know what was the last item, Auron still kept his hope high. The auctioneer was standing still for a few seconds before he declared something shocking. "The auction had come to an end. Thank you for your cooperation until this far. I hope we can cooperate more in the future." The auctioneer declared. Chapter 489 - Zephyr (1) The auctioneer''s declaration was shocking for everyone, including Auron. From what the auctioneer had said before, there should be one last item to auction. "There should be one last item, right?" "How come you stop the auction midway?" What the auctioneer did make the audience go furious. However, of course, they could not do anything if the auctioneer firmly wanted to stop the auction. After persuading and felt angry at the auctioneer, one by one, the audience started to leave the place. If the auction was discontinued, then there was no reason for them to be here. Stopping an unofficial auction midway was not a rare occasion. However, the participant usually didn''t know how many items the auctioneer would auction. That was why, when the auctioneer stopped the auction midway, the audience could not go crazy as they didn''t even know how many items there would be. The auctioneer would also have a reason if there was someone accused him of stopping midway. Unfortunately, for this auction, the auctioneer had declared the number of items previously. Although there were no rules or punishment for stopping an unofficial auction midway, by doing this, the auctioneer also left a bad mark on his names. It would be difficult for him to gain people''s trust to join in his other auction in the future. Auron could not guess the reason why the auctioneer would do this. However, he believed that the auctioneer already knew the consequences and had a good reason for doing this. One by one, the people started to disperse from the crowd. Auron also wanted to leave. However, he saw that the rich man was seeing him like he saw an enemy. Meanwhile, some people surrounded the rich man who was trying to start a conversation with him. After glaring at Auron for a while, the rich man turned his body around and left the place, followed by the people around him. Auron could only shake his head. He knew that this matter would not stop here. However, he hoped that the rich man would not use his backing''s power, so he didn''t have to use his own card. Auron was about to leave when the auctioneer approached Auron. "Do you have some spare time for a conversation?" The auctioneer smiled at Auron. Auron felt weird. He didn''t know anything about the auctioneer. This was also his first time meeting the auctioneer. So, Auron was confused about the reason why the auctioneer would want to talk to him. Then, a sudden thought came into Auron''s mind. "Perhaps, he is...?" "No, I need to say that I am a straight man." Auron thought inside his mind. The auctioneer had guessed what was on Auron''s mind, and he quickly added, "This is related to the last item of my auction that I canceled. However, we cannot talk here. Let''s go to my room." Auron felt relieved when he heard that. Then, he nodded and followed the auctioneer to the auctioneer''s room. The room was noticeably bigger than Auron, which means the auctioneer had a higher ranking than him. Of course, Auron had already guessed it from the item that this man had auctioned. There was no way for a low-ranking soldier to sell those kinds of things. "My name is Zephyr," As soon as they went inside the room, the man introduced himself first. "Before I show you the item, let me thank you first." Auron was confused about the reason why Zephyr thanked him. Was it because he came forward to do the demonstration on the fifth item? However, Auron was wrong about it when he heard Zephyr continued, "I thank you because you raised the price on the sixth item." "I was very disappointed when the price stopped at 600 golds. But then you came and saved the day. Although it was not much, it helped lessen my disappointment." Just like what Zephyr had said. Although, by selling it for 600 golds, he still got some profit. However, he knew that the sixth item was not worth 600 golds. Unfortunately, no one wanted to raise the price anymore after that rich man had joined the bid. And, thanks to Auron, the price increased to 900 golds. Zephyr believed that if the rich man didn''t join the bid, the price could reach more than 1000 golds, even 1500 golds. However, 900 golds were still better than 600 golds. That was why Zephyr thanked Auron. "Ah... Oh... Okay... Since we are in this matter, I want to ask who is that man?" Auron knew that the man should have a big backing. "You don''t know him? Oh yeah, I forget that it was not long before you join the military." "That man was General Kurpita''s son, Karab. You know General Kurpita, right?" Zephyr asked. However, Auron shook his head. He just joined the military not long ago, and he still hasn''t fully understood the various faction in the military. "Let me explain. General Kurpita was the leader of one of the biggest factions here. It was said that if General Elbert was not here, then he should be the one that leads the military. However, that was could only be said when General Aston was not present. So, it could be said that General Kurpita was General Aston''s rival." "Although General Aston is a neutral man and never had thought about influence, the others would not think as he did. Moreover, he was General Elbert''s son. So, many other general favors General Aston rather than General Kurpita." "And, the man before you meet is his son, Karab. That man was using his father''s influences for his own benefit." "No one would want to clash with Karab. Many soldiers here are his haters, including me. Sadly, we can do nothing to change that. That was why when he joined the auction, I felt hopeless. Fortunately, there was you." "You have to take care of yourself. From what I know, Karab is a vengeful man." Chapter 490 - Zephyr (2) "Let''s put aside Karab''s problem. Now, let us discussed our important business." Zephyr said. Zephyr took out a sword. As soon as the weapon came out, it immediately took Auron''s attention. The sword''s blade was in moss green color. It was really rare to see a sword with a colorful blade. Usually, a sword''s blade had a steel color. Auron could not help and ask, "Do you paint the sword''s blade?" Just like what Auron had thought, Zephyr shook his head. "It already had that color since the first time I found this sword." "Here, you can touch it. It didn''t feel like paint." Auron touched the sword''s blade, and, just like Zephyr had claimed, the sword''s blade''s color was original. It piqued Auron''s interest more. "Just like the previous sword, I got this sword from a world expedition. However, this sword was more mysterious than the sword before, and I don''t have much information about this sword." "But, I bet this sword should be more powerful than the previous sword. However, I still leave the decision to you. I just hoped you could keep this sword a secret if you don''t intend to buy this sword until I decided to show it to the outsider. I don''t want to invite unnecessary trouble because of this mysterious sword." "Have you try the sword?" Auron asked. "Of course. However, what strange is other than its strange green color, the sword was ordinary. It was very ordinary. I could even say that this sword was weaker than an ordinary sword of the same level." "Can I take a closer look?" Auron asked. Zephyr nodded. Since Zephyr was an NPC, he could not find anything detail about the sword. To find out about the sword''s information, he had to do some experimental things. However, this was not the case for Auron. Since he was a player, Auron could just use his identification skill. [Moss Sword] (common grade equipment) (Upgradeable) Type: One-Handed Sword Requirement: 100 Strength, level 100 Class: Swordsman, Thief, Merchant Attack: 60 - 63 Effect: No effect Description: A one-handed sword with a green blade. Other than its strange color, the sword, currently, doesn''t have any effect. However, don''t underestimate this sword since this sword is upgradeable. Auron saw the sword''s information. And, just like what Zephyr had said, the sword had a weak attack compared to the same sword on the same level. To be more precise, this sword was way weaker than the same sword of the same level. However, one word took Auron''s attention, upgradeable. An upgradeable weapon. During his time playing this game, Auron never had seen any upgradeable weapon. This was his first time seeing this. "Where did you get this sword from?" Auron could not help but wonder about the sword''s origin. "When I was hiding away from the enemy, I found a cave and hid there. However, when I was inside, I felt sleepy and lost consciousness. When I woke up, magically, I was back at the wilderness in Gaia with these two swords in my possession." Auron could not believe Zephyr''s story. It was too unbelievable. Zephyr saw this and said, "I know you might now believe in my story, but trust me, I tell the truth." "Okay, let''s put that aside. How about this sword? Do you want to buy it?" Zephyr asked. "Why do you choose me? I believe it is not only because I help you against Karab." Auron was still confused about the reason why Zephyr chose him to sell this sword. Moreover, he was a mage. It was a strange sight to see a mage was buying a sword. "Yes, you are correct. Actually, I have recognized you from the start of the auction. I want you to do something for me." "Why me?" Auron still could not believe how this man wanted to choose him. "Okay... Okay... I took some interest in you. Wait, I am not interested in you in that way. " "I was one of the soldiers that joined the mission to rescue General Aston." "At that mission, I saw your fighting prowess. After that mission, I began to check your background. And my conjecture was correct. Currently, you have around 15000 military points, right?" Auron nodded. Zephyr continued, "Do you know how difficult it was to obtain 15000 military points? Moreover, you just join the military for less than one year." With what Zephyr had just said, everything began to make sense for Auron. Now, he knew why he was being called to demonstrate the staff when Auron didn''t even raise his hand. "So, you will sell this sword to me in exchange for a favor from me? What if I can''t do you what you want?" Auron asked. "Um... Actually, my offer price is not that. I knew that you only have 15000 military points. Based on the exchange rates, your military points are worthed for 750 golds. I intend to sell this sword for that 750 gold plus one favor from you. How about it?" Auron was pondering. Then, he asked back, "I can agree with the 750 gold. But my question is still the same. What if I can''t do you what you want?" "As long as you do your best, I will leave the result at your hands." "Really? You trust me that much?" Auron asked. "Not really, but I trust Alice and General Aston''s choices. You know I have checked your background, right? And, I found out that those two are quite close to you. I knew these two''s personalities, and I trust them. Hence, I trust you who these two trusted." Auron felt that Zephyr''s reason made sense. If Zephyr said that he trusted Auron, then Auron would not buy it. However, since he said that he trusted Alice and General Aston, Auron believed in him. "Okay, I believe in you. And, I promise, I will do my best to complete what you wanted. So, tell me, what do you want me to do?" Chapter 491 - Zephyr (3) Zephyr looked hesitant in telling Auron. Just like what he had said, even though he was impressed by Auron, but the one that genuinely made him trust Auron was Alice and General Aston''s trust. Moreover, what he wanted Auron to do was way beyond Auron''s strength. Actually, Zephyr wanted Auron to ask Alice or General Aston for help. However, he could not bluntly say that. He was afraid he would hurt Auron. After hesitating for a few seconds, Zephyr made up his mind. What he wanted Auron to do was essential for him. Moreover, Zephyr had given Auron a rare sword with a pretty good price. Zephyr believed that with that unique green sword, the price would go over 2000 golds. So he thought that he had given a lot of discount for Auron. "My younger sister was inflicted with some kind of deadly poison. I have brought her to a cleric. And, he said that he could help to recover my younger''s sister''s health. However, he could not cure the poison." "To cure the poison, he needs to make the antidote. And, to make the antidote, it needs certain herbs. I have collected most of the herbs needed. But, I still missed three kinds of herbs." "I want you to gather those three kinds of herbs. But, I have to remind you, it is not easy to gather those herbs. I have hired a mercenary group, but they failed to get the herbs and only managed to find the herbs'' location." "Here are the location of the herbs." Zephyr handed a piece of small paper to Auron. "How about it? Are you confident?" Zephyr asked when Auron had read the paper. Auron frowned. There were three locations stated in the piece of paper. And, Auron recognized those three places. It was not the places that he could go alone. Moreover, at his current level, it was nearly impossible. "Not really. But, trust my word, I will try my best." Auron stated. "I hope that you can collect those herbs as soon as possible. I don''t want my younger sister to be in pain for any longer." Zephyr said with teary eyes. "Here, take the sword. I hope you can give your best and help my younger sister." Zephyr handed over the sword. [You have accepted the quest, Help Zephyr] Actually, Zephyr wanted to go by himself. However, he could not. Today was the only day he could rest. Tomorrow, he had to go to the Bridge World and fought there. That was why he could only hire other people. Zephyr hoped that Auron would ask for Alice''s help, which would increase his chance of survival. However, what Zephyr didn''t know was Auron never intended to ask Alice. Instead, he had already thought of someone else. Auron wanted to look for Smite. Yes, Auron wanted some help from his team, Absurd team. However, before looking for Absurd''s help, Auron had one thing to do first. He bade Zephyr farewell and went back to his room. Auron already got a sword that he wanted. However, the sword he got would attract a lot of attention if used. It would invite unnecessary trouble. That was why Auron was thinking of painting the sword''s blade with a steel color. And, that was what he did. While painting the sword, Auron, suddenly, remembered something. The new sword was an upgradeable sword. However, he never had known how to upgrade the sword. Auron began to inspect the sword once again. He had to find out how to upgrade the sword. However, no matter where he looked, Auron could not find any information on how to upgrade the sword. Auron didn''t give up. He went to the military''s blacksmith to ask. Since it was related to weapons and equipment, a blacksmith should be the right choice. "Hm... Interesting sword. I feel some attraction from the sword. I believe that this sword is not complete yet. However, I don''t know anything about this. Maybe, you should ask my teacher at the blacksmith association." The military''s blacksmith said. [Meet Ruka] Countdown: None Description: The military''s blacksmith could not help you, but his teacher might. Meet his teacher, Ruka, and ask for his help. Quest Clear Condition: Meet Ruka and ask for his help Quest Clear Rewards: Information on how to upgrade the sword Quest Failure Punishment: None When Auron came, he didn''t introduce the sword properly. He just said there was something wrong with the sword that he found and asked the blacksmith to solve the problem. He never thought that it would make him trigger a quest. Actually, what Auron didn''t know, he just needed to meet any blacksmith and showed the sword to trigger the quest. Auron knew who Ruka was. He was one of the top blacksmiths in all of Gaia. He was also one of the blacksmith association''s leaders. Auron chose to meet Ruka first. He wanted to clear this quest first before helping Zephyr. At least, he wanted to know how to upgrade the weapon. It would be better if he could finish upgrading the sword first before helping Zephyr. Since it was dealing with the blacksmith association, a blacksmith was the most suitable person to meet with Ruka. Auron put the sword in his inventory and moved to his swordsman character who also was a blacksmith. Auron woke up and found himself standing idly beside a building doing nothing. Actually, Auron wanted to let both of his characters moved efficiently. Unfortunately, the reality was not that easy. Lately, Auron was lack of funds. Meanwhile, blacksmithing required a lot of money. Hence, he could not help but let his character wasted its time. Auron could only accept his current condition until the reward from the previous mission was distributed. Auron shook his head and tried to shoo the matter away. He should grateful for his cheat instead of complaining. Auron changed his mind and moved forward. His destination was the blacksmith association in Miderian. Chapter 492 - Upgradeable Weapon (1) It took less than 5 minutes before Auron arrived in front of the blacksmith association. He immediately went inside as soon as he arrived. Auron was greeted by the receptionist. He didn''t waste any more time and asked, "Is President Ruka present?" Auron also didn''t forget to show his blacksmith''s emblem. The receptionist took note of Auron''s blacksmith''s emblem. Then, she began to check President Ruka''s schedule. "President Ruka is present. However, he is receiving a guest and cannot be disturbed right now. Do you have any appointment with him? If not, maybe you can come back tomorrow." It was too long to wait for tomorrow. Auron began pestering the receptionist, "This is an urgent matter. I need to see President Ruka right now." "Can you tell me what matter is that about?" The receptionist didn''t believe in Auron since almost everyone made that excuses. Auron didn''t have any status, so he was being ignored by the receptionist. However, Auron didn''t give up. "I can''t tell you about that matter. I have to tell it to the president himself. How about this, you tell the president that I got his disciple''s reference. His disciple who is working in the military." When the receptionist heard the word military, she began paying more attention. If it was something related to the military, it would not be a simple matter. Auron cleverly told this information. He didn''t tell everything clearly and only mentioned the military. Of course, because of Auron''s action, the receptionist began to took Auron seriously. She relayed the message. It didn''t take long before she got the reply. Auron was allowed to meet President Ruka. Not long after, another staff arrived at the reception and picked Auron. Auron followed the new staff to President Ruka''s room. It turned out the matter of President Ruka was receiving a guest was a lie. President Ruka was taking a rest in his room, and he didn''t want to be disturbed. That was why he lied. When he heard about the military stuff, President Ruka immediately changed his clothes to a more formal one and waited for Auron. Auron arrived in front of President Ruka''s room. The staff knocked on the door and was replied by a shout from the inside, "Come in!" Auron came inside President Ruka''s room. He could see that President Ruka was sitting on his chair and working busily. President Ruka glanced at Auron and greeted Auron, "Hello there! I heard you have an important matter to discuss, and it is related to the military?" Actually, the real message had been changed from what Auron had said. Auron said to the receptionist that he got a reference from President Ruka''s disciple, who was working in the military. However, the receptionist only took note of the military word and relayed it. She told the president that there was some military stuff related. And, that was how President Ruka thought it was a military matter. Auron knew he had to straighten the misinformation. So, he said, "Actually, I come here for my own matter. I need your help, and it doesn''t have anything to do with the military." When President Ruka heard about that, he froze for a few seconds. He already wasted his relaxed time for someone who he didn''t know. He was very furious. President Ruka was about to call the guard when Auron quickly said, "Wait, you will not regret it for meeting me. Look at this sword!" Auron hurriedly took out the sword from his inventory. President Ruka, who was furious, took a glance at Auron''s sword. When he saw the sword, President Ruka''s finger, who was about to call the security, froze in the air. He put down the phone and quickly stood up and took a closer look at Auron''s sword. "I can''t believe it." President Ruka kept on saying this sentence. He already said this sentence three times when he approached Auron. Then, without anyone asked, President Ruka began mumbling about something. He said about this and that. He was only focused on the sword and ignored Auron completely. It was like there was only him and the sword in this room. It took almost thirty minutes before President Ruka realized that there was Auron here. During those times, Auron was staying quiet. He didn''t want to disturb President Ruka''s train of thought and only quietly hear about President Ruka''s mumbling. "Where did you obtain this sword?" Actually, the sword that Auron showed should be no different from the other sword since he already painted the green blade. However, somehow, when he showed the sword to President Ruka, he could see the sword completely and recognize it. Hence, the scene from before played. "I luckily obtained the sword from an ancient cave." Auron lied about where he obtained the sword. "I see... I see... It is no wonder there was such sword. What do you want to ask?" President Ruka was very excited and praised the sword. "What I want to ask is about this sword. When I use this sword, I feel that something is missing about the sword. It feels like it is not completed yet." Auron didn''t bluntly say what he knew. This was the best method to interact with an important NPC, humble himself, and let the NPC tell him anything. "You are correct! I know it. As soon as I see this sword, I immediately knew it." "Your feeling is correct. You feel that way because this sword is not in its highest form yet." "This sword needs to be upgraded several times before it reaches its peak." "This is an upgradeable weapon. The one and the only upgradeable weapon that I ever have seen." Then, President Ruka rumbled about how he researched this kind of weapon before during his young age. He was also mumbling about what he had experienced. However, Auron already knew about that. And, there was only one thing that Auron wanted to know. He asked President Ruka, "Do you know how to bring this word to its peak?" Chapter 493 - Upgradeable Weapon (2) "Uhm..." President Ruka pondered. "I need to analyze this weapon first before I can confidently say." "It is fine. You can take your time." Auron said calmly even though, inside, he was worried. Auron had a lot of tasks to be finished. Although Zephyr said that he didn''t care if Auron failed the task, Auron didn''t want to disappoint Zephyr. Moreover, Zephyr had given him quite a good deal. President Ruka took the sword and started to observe and analyze the sword. Meanwhile, Auron was waiting beside President Ruka. Time was ticking. Auron was waiting silently. He was quite nervous. What if the requirement was absurd and he couldn''t fulfill it. One hour later, President Ruka put down the sword and heaved a heavy sigh. Auron felt worried about President Ruka''s sigh. He hastily asked, "Do you find out something president?" "Just like I had guessed, it is not easy to upgrade this sword." "Do you want to hear the good news first or the bad news first?" President Ruka inquired. Auron stunned. However, before he could say anything, President Ruka already decided it for him, "Let me tell you the good news first!" "As you know, currently, this sword is common grade equipment. Since this is an upgradeable weapon, this weapon can be upgraded all the way to the legendary grade equipment even the mythic grade equipment." "Not only that, each time this weapon is upgraded, the power of this weapon will increase exponentially. I guess that there will be a new skill added or even increasing the user''s attributes for each upgrade." "Isn''t this awesome? You can become the first person who owned mythic grade equipment. I can''t wait for that to happen." President Ruka''s eyes brightened. President Ruka explained the good news excitedly while he was admiring the sword. Deep inside, Auron was also excited. However, he still remembered that there was bad news. Auron hastily asked, "What about the bad news?" Auron''s question woke President Ruka from his admiring state. President Ruka sighed once again. "The bad news is about the condition to upgrade it. To upgrade the weapon, you need to do three things. First, you need to sacrifice some amount of weapon with the same or less grade than the current weapon''s grade." "Not only that, the weapon sacrificed needed to have a higher level requirement than the current weapon''s level requirement. And, the most important thing is the sacrificed weapon should be a sword. You cannot use another kind of weapon." "The good news is you can use a lesser grade weapon as long as it had a higher level requirement and a sword. Of course, if you use a lesser grade weapon then the amount you need to sacrifice increased significantly. One weapon of the current grade was equivalent to 100 weapons of one grade lower." "The second thing you needed to do is to find several minerals to upgrade the weapon. Each upgrade needed you to gather 15 different kinds of mineral. And, each mineral needed quite a big amount." "Lastly, you need to find a good blacksmith to upgrade the weapon." After Auron heard the bad news, he frowned. He agreed with President Ruka that this was really bad news for him. "Uhm... You don''t have to worry about the blacksmith. As long as you can fulfill the previous two conditions, as I can help you to upgrade it up to King grade without any problem. As for after the king grade, I need to research first before I can confidently claim to be able to upgrade it to the legendary grade. However, you don''t need to think about it now as there is still a long way to go to reach that level." President Ruka tried to console Auron. After explaining everything, Auron was dejected. But, he could not do anything. After getting all of the information he needed, Auron decided to leave. "Thank you, President Ruka, for your help. I hope that you can help me with future upgrades." Auron politely asked "Ha... ha... ha... No worries. If you need to upgrade the weapon, just contact me and I will try my best to prioritize you." President Ruka promised Auron. Auron bowed and leave the blacksmith association. He had all of the information he needed. Auron inspected the weapon once again. And, there was more detailed information. [Moss Sword] (common grade equipment) (Upgradeable) Type: One-Handed Sword Requirement: 100 Strength, level 100 Class: Swordsman, Thief, Merchant Attack: 60 - 63 Effect: No effect Description: A one-handed sword with a green blade. Other than its strange color, the sword, currently, doesn''t have any effect. However, don''t underestimate this sword since this sword is upgradeable. Upgrade Information: - Sacrificed common grade weapon (0/100) - Coal (0/100) - Iron (0/100) .... There was a new section when Auron inspect the weapon. There was a new section about how to upgrade the weapon. Auron quietly calculating inside his mind, and he knew that the amount of money he needed was not small. And, that was only for upgrading to the uncommon grade. There was still a long way to upgrade it to a higher grade. Auron shook his head. Although the ingredient''s price was quite expensive, the upgrade ingredients needed for this first upgrade was quite easy to get. Auron knew he could not upgrade the weapon now. He decided to take one step at a time. Auron looked at his crafted weapon. It was fortunate that he still hadn''t get rid of the equipment he produced before. Auron started to pick the weapon that he could use as a sacrifice. Previously, Auron made a vastly different kind of weapon and equipment. Fortunately, he created a lot of swords. Sadly, not all of the sword could fulfill the level requirement. That was why Auron still needed to sort the item out. In the end, Auron managed to gather 73 swords that fulfill the level requirement. Using these 73 swords, one by one, Auron touched the sacrificed sword with the tip of the [Moss Sword]''s blade. Chapter 494 - Darius Auron was exiting the blacksmith association. He intended to go directly back to his mage character and went to help with Zephyr''s request. Actually, Auron didn''t need to gather the herbs using his mage character. He could use his swordsman character to gather the herbs and, later, transfer it to his mage character. However, Auron could not do that since he wanted the Absurd team''s help. Auron was trying to find a safe place to leave his swordsman character when he heard a sneer beside him, "Well... Well... Well... Look who this is?" Hearing this remark, Auron could not help but turned his head to see who said this. When Auron saw the owner of the voice, he frowned. It was a man. However, that man was not alone. Instead, there were 5 people behind him. Unfortunately, this man was someone who Auron didn''t want to see. This man was the one who started all of his misfortune, Raging Bull, Darius''s character. "So, you decided to start all over again. It was so unfortunate for your previous character. But, a bet is a bet after all. I hope you don''t get angry with me." Darius mocked Auron. Darius observed Auron''s character and asked once again, "Hey, why are you using this crap equipment? Didn''t you sell all of your previous character''s equipment?" "Are you using that money to relieve your stress because of losing?" Darius sneered followed by his henchmen''s laughter. Auron only glared at Darius. He was furious but he could not do anything. Auron could see Darius''s level which, probably, deliberately showed by Darius. Darius was currently at level 690 almost 700. This was the power of the guild. Although it was difficult to level up past level 500, Darius still leveled up quite fast. Auron knew that this would come one day. However, he never thought that it would come this soon. Previously, when Auron was going to the blacksmith association to meet Ruka, one of Red Storm''s higher executives saw Auron. At first, he didn''t confidence that it was Auron. However, after he looked carefully, he recognized that it was Auron. After that, he called Darius who was in the middle of hunting. Hearing this news, Darius immediately stopped hunting. He didn''t want to miss this chance to diss Auron. And, here they were. "Go away, Darius!" Auron said. However, Darius obviously would not go away. He looked at Auron and then, the building behind Auron, "So, my friend here said you become a blacksmith?" "You who didn''t care about any side class now become a blacksmith. How hilarious it is." "But, who cares. I will always support your choice. How about you help me make a weapon for me?" "I can pay you a lot," Darius added. "Not accepting! Get lost!" Auron said. He knew Darius only wanted to make fun of him. Auron tried to move away. However, Darius blocked Auron''s way. "What are you doing? Get lost!" Auron became annoyed. "What? Do you want a fight?" Darius wasn''t afraid of Auron. This commotion surely attracted a lot of the surrounding''s attention. The spectator recognized Darius and his guild''s emblem. At first, these people didn''t recognize Auron. However, after carefully looking at Auron, someone started to recognize Auron. "Isn''t that God of Sword?" When Auron''s previous character''s name was heard, people started to recognize Auron. Darius only smiled mockingly. "Do you dare for a duel?" He wanted to bully Auron. "What is happening here?" A voice broke the commotion. All of the people''s attention immediately went to the owner of the voice. It was someone from the military. These people immediately turned their heads over and didn''t want to be mistakenly included in the commotion. Darius also flinched because of the soldier. "Nothing happened. I just met with my old friend here and happily conversed with each other." He said politely. Although the soldier''s rank in front of him was not that high, he could not carelessly offend this man. If Darius carelessly offended this soldier without any solid excuses, he would be hunted down by the military. Not only that, but it might implicate his guild. "Okay, if you finish then disperse. Don''t make any commotion here." The soldier said. "Okay, thank you, officer," Darius said. Then, he turned to Auron and said, "You are lucky." After that, Darius went away followed by his henchmen. With Darius went away, the commotion also dispersed and Auron also went to his own. However, this incident didn''t stop here. The news where Auron made a new character spread like a tornado. "Do we really let him go like this?" One of Darius''s henchmen asked him. "What? Do you want to offend that officer?" Darius barked. "Anyway, ask our men to observe him. Don''t forget to do it secretly, don''t break any rules." "You are really lucky to have that officer around. However, I will not let you grow. Wait for my revenge. Ha... Ha... Ha..." Darius laughed evilly. However, what Darius didn''t know, the officer that stopped him from attacking Auron was Auron''s mage character. When Auron saw Darius, he knew it would not end with just a greet. So, he immediately commanded his mage character to this place. Although Auron''s mage character could not win against Darius if they had a fight, Auron only relied on his mage character''s status who was someone from the military. And, Auron was correct. Darius didn''t dare to make a mess with him. Auron could slip away from Darius and everything went well. However, Auron knew this was not the end but only the start of a new obstacle. But, Auron could not think about this yet. He still had many things to do. The closest one was to help Zephyr with his request. With that in mind, Auron left his swordsman character inside an inn. Then, he went over to his mage character. As soon as Auron woke up in his mage character, he went back to the military and directly go to the Absurd''s team base camp. Chapter 495 - Zephyr Request (1) Auron arrived at the Absurd''s team''s base camp. He was wondering about how to persuade his teammate. When Auron arrived, he was shocked by what he found. The base camp''s condition was very different from what he had thought. From the original 10 members excluding Auron, there were only three people left inside the base camp. It was astonishing, especially, knowing that the Absurd team''s members, except Julia, rarely took a mission. The three members left on the base camp were Smite, the team''s leader, Jeffrey, the team''s merchant, and, lastly, Julia. It was also astonishing to know that Julia stayed in the base camp instead of taking a mission. Auron thought maybe the last mission really burdening Julia, and she wanted to take some break. Auron sighed. Looking at the current number of members, it would be difficult to complete the quest. It seemed that he needed to look for outside help. Auron went inside the base camp. Smite, who was leisurely lying on the sofa, saw Auron. He immediately greeted Auron. "Hello. Long time no see!" Smite''s greeting immediately brought everyone''s attention to Auron, who just came. Auron nodded and greeted them back. "Come here! Let us relax together." Smite invited Auron. "Um... Actually, I need some help." Auron directly said. "Ho... Please, do tell us! Maybe, we could give some help." Smite said. However, what Auron had said piqued everyone''s interest. Actually, it was not strange when someone belonged to one group asking for his group''s help. But, seeing Auron''s personality made this thing interesting. Auron began to tell about his quest. Of course, Auron didn''t tell everything. He just said to them that he needed to gather three kinds of herbs in an ample amount. He told the team nothing about his new sword or Zephyr. Since these herbs were used for a quest, these herbs were categorized as a quest item. To complete the quest, Auron could not buy these herbs on the market even if there was someone who sold the herbs. Auron could only give the team the information about the herbs'' locations that Zephyr gave. Smite took the note and shared the note with the other two. "Nope! Count me out! I don''t want to go!" Jeffrey was the first one to declare. When he saw the first place, he already wanted to give up. Then, when he finished reading all of the three locations, he decided to give up. Jeffrey was someone who disliked hard work. That was also the reason why he chose a merchant as his job. Meanwhile, he arrived at his current level all this time because he used others to help him. Auron didn''t take Jeffrey''s statement to his heart. He knew that it was not easy to convince others to help him. If it was not because of the sword, Auron would not want to go to those places as well. Auron was waiting for Smite''s and Julia''s statements. He hoped that the two of them could help Auron. "Since I am free, I will help you," Julia said. Auron''s mood brightened. He had secured one person. Although one person was not enough, it was a good start. Smite was silent. He was still looking at the note. Then, he glanced at Julia, who had agreed, and to Jeffrey, who already declined. Lastly, he looked at Auron, who had waited for his answer. "Okay, I will help you." At last, Smite agreed to help Auron. However, Smite didn''t stop there. After agreeing to Auron''s request, he glared at Jeffrey. Feeling Smite''s intense glare, Jeffrey faced Smite and said, "What? I have nothing to do with this." Jeffrey still didn''t want to change his mind even though Smite was glaring at him. Auron also realized this situation. He didn''t want to force anyone. Since Jeffrey didn''t want to join, then he would not force him. That was why Auron wanted to stop Smite. However, before he could say anything, Jeffrey finally relented. "Okay, fine! Stop glaring! I will help. However, I need some compensation! I don''t want to do this for free." When Smite heard about the compensation, he glared at Jeffrey once again. However, Auron quickly said, "Of course, I will compensate you guys! I will not let you guys help me for free." Jeffrey glanced back at Smite and stuck his tongue out to mock Smite. "Okay, then. Then, that is it, I will go buy some potions supply. Will be back in one hour. Bye." With that, Jeffrey quickly went out of the base camp. Although Auron was grateful for Jeffrey''s change of mind, he still felt worried. He knew that someone who was forced would not show their all. Smite realized what was on Auron''s mind. He quickly said, "You don''t have to worry. He will do his best. I can guarantee you my position as the team''s leader, he will show his best and not become a burden." "He declined because he doesn''t want to go to a dangerous place without any benefit for him." Auron''s worries lessen a bit, but he still nodded. He knew that he needed to trust his teammate. What Auron didn''t know was the reason Jeffrey changed his mind was not because of the compensation, but it was because of Smite. The only one that could change Jeffrey''s mind in the team was only Smite. It was because they were best friends. They were also the first two members of the Absurd team. Auron asked Smite, "So, how many people do you think we should recruit?" Smite answered, "Hmm... Let''s see..." "Obviously, we need a cleric. If it is an average cleric, then we need two. Also, there is no tank yet, so we need at least two or three swordsmen or merchants who can tank." "One archer is necessary to help with physical damage. For a thief, it was not really necessary, but if we can find a decent one, it will be great." "What do you think?" Chapter 496 - Zephyr Request (2) Smite asked back to Auron. He didn''t want to decide it for Auron. Instead, he wanted to check on Auron''s leadership. Moreover, this was his quest after all. "Is it enough?" Auron still not confident with Smite''s arrangement. "Ho... Do you think it is not enough? So, how do you want to do it?" Smite asked back. The first herb was located inside a 20 man dungeon. Previously, when he was still a guild''s leader, his guild dispatched 20 people including him to conquer the dungeon. However, they conquered the dungeon with hardship. And, the average level of the people at that time was the same as the average level of the current member. Of course, level alone could not determine the whole thing, but it could be more or less became a benchmark to determine things. Moreover, Auron didn''t know how Smite''s and Jeffrey''s ability to fight. Meanwhile, what Smite previously suggested were around 10 - 11 people. Auron was not confident. Auron tried to remember his experience when conquering the dungeon. Then, a minute later, he said, "I think we should gather, at least, 3 clerics, 6 tanks, 1 thief, 2 archer more." "Well, okay. No problem. Do you need any help to gather these people?" Smite didn''t mind with Auron''s arrangement. So, he quickly agreed. "Nope. Let me contact my friend first. Then, we can hire the rest from the adventurer''s guild. Let us gather back in front of the military base around 4 hours later." As these outsiders could not go inside the military base, Auron decided the meetup place was in front of the military base. After saying that, Auron quickly bade farewell and got out of the place. Meanwhile, Julia also began to prepare her needs. She wanted to rest, however, she also could not forget Auron''s help from the previous mission. So, she wanted to repay the debt. On the other hand, Smite went back and laid leisurely on his sofa once again. Auron began to contact Roan and asked about his participation. Unfortunately, Roan and the others declined the invitation as they had an urgent business meeting. However, they said that they could help with some items. Auron didn''t decline the offer as he was broke since the previous mission''s rewards still not paid off. Since Auron could not get some help, he immediately went to the adventurer guild and post his request. Of course, the payment would be given to them using Roan''s money first. Now, Auron had to wait for the members to come. While waiting, Auron was pondering whether he should let his swordsman character joined the team. It would increase the experience point he got. In the end, Auron canceled his plan to let his swordsman character joined the team. Auron knew if his swordsman joined the team, it would expose his relationship. Auron believed that Darius would dispatch people to monitor his swordsman character. What would Darius think if he saw that Auron''s swordsman character was going together with the military soldier that saved him? One by one, the applicants started to gather because of the quest. Auron carefully selected the people. He didn''t want to hire the wrong people and throw his money away. However, hiring people was not easy. There were some people that asked for increased payment. There were also some people that want priority in selecting the monster''s loot. After 3 hours of carefully selecting the personnel, Auron finally managed to gather the people according to what he had said. Then, he asked these people to prepare themselves and waited at the designated place. Meanwhile, Auron also bought his own potion supplies. Auron knew that the place where he would go was not an easy place. So, he had to prepare carefully. One hour later, everyone had gathered in front of the military base. Julia, Smite, and Jeffrey were the last ones to arrive at the place. "Let''s go!" Auron said and led the group to the teleportation portal. This mixed group between NPC and players was common. Besides Auron and Julia, there were 7 more players. So, this group consisted of 9 players and 7 NPC. The first herbs'' location was inside a 20 man dungeon. Just like its name, a team could only have, at most, 20 members to enter. Fortunately, the dungeon location was not too remote. It was near a first-class city. Auron and his team teleported to the city and walked for 5 minutes at full speed to reach the dungeon. The dungeon was located at a relatively low-level hunting ground which was why there was no meaningful obstacle that hindered the team. After arriving at the place, Auron ordered the team to replenish their energy first before entering. Five minutes later, Auron led the team and enter the dungeon. The team was teleported to the middle of a grassland. It was really plain without any trees or stones around. There was only short grass that covered all of the grasslands. Although there was nothing as far as they see, this was not the first time for each of the members to come here. Auron deliberately chose people that had already finished the dungeon at least once. That was why, when the team''s members arrived at the grassland, they immediately took a battle stance. They knew that the dungeon had already begun and, right now, they were in the first stage. The first stage was the monster''s waves. There were 5 waves here that needed to be completed. Actually, there were two ways to complete this stage. The first one was to clear all the five waves available. Meanwhile, the second one was to break through the wave. Then, when they were out of the grasslands whether they already cleared all of the five waves or not, it didn''t matter. They already advanced to the second stage. However, of course, the safest way was to clear the five waves available. And, that was what Auron''s teams had chosen. A few seconds later, a sight of the first monster appeared. Chapter 497 - Himbaran Castle (1) Himbaran Castle is the name of this dungeon. The dungeon''s background story was about a crazy king that liked to torture his people. Once a month, the king would select one person from his people and bring them to his castle. Inside the castle, the person would be brought to the torture room that the king had prepared for his desire. At first, the people didn''t know the king''s intention for selecting the person. However, as time passed by, people started to wonder about the person he picked. It was because after getting selected, those people never be seen or back to their home. Of course, the king gave various reasons to hide the fact. For a few months, the fact could be hidden. However, the king seemed not satisfied with the number of people he brought. The quantity began to change. From once a month to twice a month and finally to once a week. With that change, the people started to get suspicious. The noble family inside the kingdom began to demand an explanation. However, those act just made the king became furious. Using the act of treason, he started to pressure and even eradicate the noble family. The unrest citizen began to join hands. They planned to revolt against the king. However, these people knew revolting was not easy. Hence, they hired an outside power. They hired an elite group of mercenaries to assassinate the king while the people distracted the soldiers. Auron''s group here would act like the hired mercenaries. Their task was to assassinate the king using the back door while the noble and people joined hand to distract the soldier. However, nobody knew how, but the king discovers the plan. Hence, the wave of soldiers happened in the field, which was in stage 1. As mentioned before, there were two ways to complete stage 1. The first one was to reach stage 2 place, which was the castle. Meanwhile, the second way was to completely eradicate these waves of soldiers. And Auron''s group chose the second method. There were a total of 5 waves. And each wave would contain 100 soldiers. The first soldier''s wave came into sight to Auron''s group. Auron''s group began to take out their weapon and form a formation. A simple and common formation. The tanker would stand in the front while the range unit will stay at the back. The range unit, mage, and archer, including Auron, already began to fire their attacks from far away. In truth, this dungeon was suitable for level 100''s group. However, higher-level people could still get inside. The only reason for this dungeon''s popularity was because of the herbs that Auron should gather. This was the only place where the herbs would have a 100% drop rate. Despite the 100% drop rate, this dungeon was not that popular. It was because the dungeon''s difficulty would raise according to the level of the group that entered. On the other hand, there was no change in terms of rewards. The monsters here, or rather Himbaran Castle''s soldiers, would have a level the same as the group''s average level with a minimum of level 100. Currently, Auron''s group''s average level was 380. So, the soldiers that Auron''s group had to face was around that level. The boss'' level would also rise according to the average level of the group. However, the rewards and experience the group got would not change. So, Auron''s group would face level 380 monsters, which only gave the same amount of experience as level 100 monsters. This mechanism made the dungeon''s popularity dropped. With three mages and two archers, the group''s firepower was quite powerful. When the enemy''s soldiers arrived at the swordsman at the front, the enemy''s number already reduced by 25%. Auron seemed to make the right choice in choosing his teammate. It showed by the progress so far. In just under 5 minutes, there were only around 5 enemies left with low health. This was also one of the important things to note about this dungeon. 500 enemy soldiers separated into 5 waves with 100 soldiers each. There were 5 minutes between each wave. The second wave would show after the 5 minutes limit whether the previous wave already cleared or not. If the party could not eradicate most of the enemy under 5 minutes, they would be overwhelmed by the enemy''s number. The second wave came. Auron''s group still had a relaxed face in their face. This would show that there was no burden in facing this wave. Of course, this stage was actually not that difficult to complete. Time passed by, the second, third, and fourth were cleared easily. It was not challenging at all for the group. When the fifth wave cleared, the group rest for a bit while collecting the loot on the ground. After collecting the loot, Auron led the group inside the castle, where the second stage would begin. Inside the castle, they had to face the enemy''s soldiers once more. The difficult part in this stage was still the enemy''s number that quite many. The other tricky part was the sense of direction. The castle had a unique structure that was confusing. Moreover, the people were not provided with any map or minimap to locate the enemy. So, they had to manually find the king''s place. Of course, during this search, the enemy''s endless soldiers would come to them. For a first-timer, to locate the king''s place was confusing. However, Auron''s group was not a first-timer here. Although it was already long ago since Auron came to this place, he still could recall some of the ways when he was here. Moreover, if he was wrong, there was always the others that reminded him. With this, Auron''s groups easily arrived in front of the king''s bedroom, where they would face the king there, with ease. They even spent less time than they had spent on the first stage. Soon, the battle against the king would begin. Chapter 498 - Himbaran Castle (2) Auron''s group entered the king''s bedroom only to found that the room was empty. It was expected as this was the storyline. After everyone entered the room, the door to the king''s bedroom automatically closed and locked. Although it was called a bedroom, the size of it was not just an ordinary bedroom. The size of the bedroom was so vast. There was even a kitchen and living room inside the room. It could be said that the bedroom was a one-floor house inside the castle. Auron led the group and walked forward. When the group was in the middle of the room, a burst of evil laughter rang. Auron''s group immediately took formation as soon as they heard the laughter. Of course, the owner of the laughter was none other than the king himself. The king came out of a room. It was not the bathroom. Instead, the said room was the torture room that the king built to satisfy his desire. When the king got out of the room, a thick smell of blood immediately filled the room. The king took a deep breath. It was like he enjoyed the scent of the blood. The king was about to say several sentences when an attack flew towards him. The king swung his arm and deflected the attack. Actually, this was supposed to be the moment where the king did a monologue. However, as this was not the first time for everyone in the group, they could skip the monologue by attacking the king. Of course, this attack immediately enraged the king. Without further ado, the king immediately attacked the group. There was a countdown timer of 2 minutes that appeared on every player inside the group. This timer''s purpose was to show the time limit before the king''s soldiers would barge inside the room. The king''s level and power were also increased in a portion of the group''s average level. The king summoned his guard using his [Summon Guard] skill. Three elite soldiers summoned at the call of the king. As soon as they were summoned, the three elite soldiers directly attacked Auron''s group. It was a 4 vs 16 situations where Auron''s group had the number advantages. Even though Auron''s group had number advantage, but they could not relax. Not only because of the enemies'' power that increased but also because of the king''s attack. The three elite soldiers clashed with the tanker. There were 6 tankers in Auron''s group which made the three elite soldiers seemed not that frightening. But, these three elite soldiers were only a decoy. The king was the dangerous one. When the three elite soldiers clashed with the tankers, the king suddenly disappeared from sight. Suddenly, the king appeared beside the cleric''s position and immediately bashed the cleric using a sword that appeared out of nowhere. It was unfortunate for the king that Auron''s group was not a first-timer. They knew how the king attack and already anticipated the attack. The other team''s members except the tanker already prepared themselves. So, when the king had appeared, Jeffrey, who was closed to the targeted cleric, blocked the attack. After the king''s attack was blocked, a rain of attacks immediately poured out to the king. The king tried to dodge this rain of attacks. However, it was difficult to dodge all of the attacks. Several attacks connected with the king. However, these attacks didn''t do much damage to the king. It was because of one of the king''s passive skills that reduces all incoming damage by 80%. After the king got attacked, he quickly used his [Summon Guard] skill and disappeared once again. Throughout the battle, the king would always disappear and appear. Each time the king disappeared, he would select one target from the enemy and teleport to the target''s side and appeared there. This was the king''s attack''s mechanism. He would randomly disappear and appear. When he got attacked or the target died, he would summon his guard and disappear to select a new target. What made this king''s battle difficult was the fact that the king would always use his [Summon Guard] skill. Although the elite soldiers summoned by the king was only slightly powerful than the ordinary soldiers, if the group could not defeat these soldiers quickly, then their number would only increase. Not only the elite soldiers that the king summoned, every two minutes, but a group of 20 soldiers would also appear in the room and acted as reinforcements. So, if the group could not eradicate the enemies quickly enough, they would be overwhelmed by the enemy''s number. Moreover, the battle against the king would be not a short one because the king had the passive skill that reduced the incoming damage by as high as 80%. Fortunately, Auron''s group was not a first-timer. They already knew about all the king''s mechanism as long as the cleric did not die, they could recover quickly. After the king summoned the guard, the three mages, including Auron immediately attack them. The heavy damage dealer''s job was to kill these guards. Time passed by, after two minutes, the king''s reinforcement came. However, this ordinary soldier was not much. Auron did a great job of choosing the team''s members. These people were powerful. It should be like this because Auron''s goal was to claim the herbs. Slowly but surely, the king''s health depleted. After 10 minutes, the king screamed his last shout and died. The boss had died, a portal appeared in the room. However, none of Auron''s group''s members moved to the portal. It was because the dungeon was not ended yet. To be precise, there was a hidden stage that could be cleared. And, this hidden stage was Auron''s goal. Because the hidden stage''s boss would have a 100% drop rate of the herbs that he needed. Auron let the group rest for a bit while they picked up the king''s loots. A few seconds later, they were ready. This was not the end. Instead, this was just the beginning. Chapter 499 - Himbaran Castle (3) This hidden stage was discovered accidentally by a player. That player was a low-level player that was leeching off from his group. Since he was the lowest player among the group, he could not contribute anything to the group. That was why he was assigned to be the loot picker among the group. After that player''s group finished the dungeon, all of the other players directly get out dungeon using the portal. Meanwhile, that player was picking up the king''s loot. When that player finished picking the loot and was about to get out of the dungeon, he saw the soldier''s reinforcement that was supposed to be spawned every 2 minutes was still going on. Of course, that player didn''t have the power to defeat the soldiers. Fortunately, he was near the portal. Hence, he immediately got out of the dungeon. Outside the dungeon, this player told the other about his discovery. The sudden discovery piqued the other players'' interest, and they went inside the dungeon once again. However, this time, they didn''t get out of the dungeon after defeating the last boss, the king. Instead, they got out of the bedroom and wandered around the dungeon. To their surprise, a hidden pathway was opened after the king''s death. The group discovered the hidden''s stage. However, since that was their first time, they got defeated miserably inside the hidden stage. After that dungeon run, all of the members decided to keep this a secret from the others. Unfortunately, a human was always a human. One player invited a group of his friend to run this dungeon. Of course, that player didn''t forget to remind them, ''Please keep this a secret''. From that point, the secret slowly leaked, and just two days after the first discovery, every player in Two Worlds already knew about this hidden stage. From various tries, people started to discover many things. The 100% drop rate of the herbs from the hidden stage''s boss was one of them. That was why this dungeon was a grinding place for those who needed the herbs. Of course, the popularity of this dungeon plummeted when many higher-level dungeons were introduced. Back to Auron''s group, who was still inside the dungeon, after picking all of the loot, the group got out of the room. They began following the path to the hidden pathway. Of course, they didn''t get lost as this was not their first time. Along the way, Auron''s group still had to defeat the soldier that came their way. However, it was not an issue. In less than 5 minutes, the group arrived in front of the hidden pathway. Before entering the path, Auron told them to prepare themselves. It was because the monster inside the hidden pathway was a lot stronger than the ordinary monster. If the ordinary stage''s monster had the level around the average level of the group that came inside, then the monster inside the hidden stage had a minimum level of the highest level member in the group. Currently, the member with the highest level in Auron''s group was Smite, who was level 480. This means the monster inside the hidden stage would have a level of at least 480. Everyone turned serious. "Let''s go!" Auron said. The tanker at the front began to move inside the pathway. In just a few steps forward, the first enemy already in sight. The enemies in the hidden stage were still in the form of soldiers. However, there were several differences between the soldiers here and the soldiers at the other place. The enemies here looked stronger. Their bodies were more robust and bulkier. Not only that, but their weapons also seemed sharper and deadlier. Then, not long after, more and more enemies started to be in sight. These new enemies wielded various weapons. The first stage of the hidden stage already began. The first stage of the hidden stage was the same as the first stage of the ordinary dungeon. There were 5 waves, and each wave contained 100 enemies. The difference between these two stages were the enemies inside each of the waves. In addition to the enemies'' level, their teamwork also quite good. The fortunate thing about this was the narrow pathway. Previously, they had to defend the enemy in the open field. However, now the narrow place served as a good obstacle for the enemies. Since the tanker''s level was lower than the enemies, they had to receive more massive damage. The cleric also had to work harder. Fortunately, there were two clerics here. So, they could divide the burden. On the other side, Auron and the other damager also saw their damage reduced. However, this didn''t stop them from attacking. All of them already aware of this change. They had just to show more effort. Auron''s group used all of their strength to defeat these enemies. It was because the second wave would soon come. Auron''s group''s effort paid off. When the second wave came, there were only 10 enemies left in the first wave. Of course, 10 enemies were still a lot compared by looking at the enemies'' power, but it was better than 50 enemies left. Smite, and Jeffrey started to show their prowess. As the two people with the highest level in the group, their damage and contribution shot out. In the damage ranking, these two reigned at the top. What shocking was Jeffrey, who was a merchant. Although a merchant class wasn''t always weak, usually, they were weaker than a pure mage like Julia. Julia was also shocked. This was also the first time that she fought alongside Jeffrey and she was surprised with the damage rank. She thought that she would rank two only below Smite. However, reality hit her hard. Julia was curious, but she could hold her curiosity down as she still focused on the enemies at the front. Five minutes later, the third waves already arrived when there were still 15 enemies left in the second waves. Chapter 500 - Himbaran Castle (4) The third wave was more difficult than the two previous waves. It was because starting the third waves, there were ranged units mixed inside the soldiers. In the third wave, there were 10 of those units. Auron''s group had to move forward to these ranged units soldier to kill them. However, it was not easy because there were still melee units that hindered their path. This means there was a high chance that these 10 ranged units would be carried over to the next waves. Not only that, the narrow path, which was supposed to be their advantage, also made them harder to dodge. However, this didn''t mean that Auron''s group was immediately destroyed. Auron began to distribute the strength potion to the damage dealer. This was to increase their output damage. Auron also told the two archers to aim at the enemy''s ranged unit. Meanwhile, the mage would start to use their area spell to quickly destroy the enemy. Everything worked as planned so far. When the fourth wave arrived, only 3 ranged units and 3 melee units were left from the third wave. Since the strength potion''s effect was still in effect, the fourth wave was not a problem. With only a few enemies left in the fourth wave, the fifth wave could be clear safely. Actually, Auron could distribute the strength potion from the first wave. However, he didn''t want to do that. It was because he felt that was unnecessary. And, the most important reason was that he tried to save his money. He still had a lot of costs to be paid after the dungeon was over. The fifth wave''s monster started to perish one by one. After another five minutes, the fifth wave finally cleared. Auron had to advance to continue. Before he gave the order to go, he told the clerics to heal everyone and recover their mana. While waiting, Auron looked at the damage ranking. Smite was at the top of the board. The second position was given to Jeffrey. Meanwhile, Julia was in third place. This top-three place didn''t change from the start of the dungeon. Although Auron''s level was the lowest in this group, he was ranked above the 6 tankers. For this dungeon, Auron deliberately chose the tanker to be a pure one. So, of course, these tankers'' damage output was lost to Auron. Still from the ranking board, what took Auron''s attention was Jeffrey. In the fifth wave, when only half of the enemies left, Auron had observed Jeffrey. And Jeffrey''s fighting style was ordinary. Jeffrey would attack the enemy and sometimes use his attack skill. He didn''t even use [Throw Item] skill. It was very ordinary that Auron was curious about how he could stay in the second position throughout the dungeon. "Let''s move!" Smite said to Auron. Auron woke up from his pondering state, then he nodded and led the group forward. After walking casually for three minutes, Auron''s group arrived at the end of the narrow pathway. This pathway was connected to the back of the castle, where the royal was placed. The second stage was about to begin. This time, Auron told the thief to lead at the front. Since this place was connected to the royal prison, there were many traps laid in position. It was to prevent the prisoner from escaping easily. The thief led the group while disarming the traps. Not long after, they arrived at the royal prison. The place where the second and the last stage would take place. Usually, a prison would be a damp and stinky place. However, it was different from the royal prison that Auron visit. It was clean and the air here seemed clear without any bad smell at all. This royal prison was just like another building that anyone would visit. Even though the prison''s interior was not extravagant, but everyone who came here knew that the prison should not have this kind of interior. Inside the prison, there were many cells. However, the cells near the entrance were empty. Auron''s group approached the back of the prison. At there, he could see there was a man sat down inside one of the cells comfortably. Surrounding him, there were many people kneel down. It was like they worship the man. Among these men, there was also the prison''s warden. As Auron''s group arrived at the prison, these group of people realized Auron''s group. The man who sat comfortably stood up and said, "Welco..." Before the man could say ''welcome'', Auron''s group already attacked. Just like the king in the bedroom, this was to proceed to the battle quicker. Everyone here already knew what would this man in front of him said. So, they immediately cut to the chase and attacked him. The man who just stood up frowned. His expression turned furious. Then, he command, "Attack them!" The people who were the man''s worshipper immediately got up and attacked Auron''s group like crazy. There were around 20 worshippers. This man was the source of why the king had deranged behavior. At first, he was just an average mage. One day, he made a pact with the devil and gained great power. He could control the people''s mind who was weaker than him. Of course, this great power came with a side effect. He had to sacrifice humans in order to keep his power. Hence, he started to search for away. Then, he found a convenient way. This man put the king''s under his spell and started to collect human sacrifice. He worked in the shadow while the world condemned the king for his act. As his supply of sacrifice maintained, the devil came to him again to offer another spell in exchange for more sacrifice. Drown in power, the man accepted the offer. Hence, the quantity of sacrifice increased. And, this man was the boss of this hidden stage as well as where the herbs that Auron needed would drop. Auron''s group got into formation. Chapter 501 - Himbaran Castle (5) With 6 tankers, the strategy was simple. 4 out of the 6 tankers with one cleric would tank the worshippers. Meanwhile, the rest of the tanker would take turns in defending against the boss. The rest of the group would focus on the boss. However, before Auron told the rest about his strategy, one of the archers used [Arrow Shower]. That skill was an area of effect skill. As the rain of arrows showered upon the boss and his worshippers, everyone besides that archers immediately looked upon at the archer. "Why did you do that?!!" One of the tankers shouted angrily at the archer. "What? Usually, my team would do this in this dungeon." The archer got confused and raised his voice because of the tanker''s high tone. "Stupid!!!" Jeffrey scoffed. "What did you say?" The archer got angry. The tension rose. Auron also didn''t feel that the archer stupid. However, as a team leader, he needed to stop these arguments. They were in the middle of a dungeon. "Stop it! Focus on the enemy! You can argue later." Auron barked. Meanwhile, the rain of arrows poured down on the boss and his worshippers. Those rain of arrows immediately killed all of the 20 worshippers around the boss and left the boss alone. The 20 worshippers died under this one skill. Of course, it was not like the skill was so overpowered. Instead, it was the worshippers that had low health and low defense. The game deliberately made the 20 worshipers had everything other than its attack to be lower than usual. Because of this, the worshippers would die with just one normal attack. When the worshippers died, the boss would gain a 5% increase in his attack for each of the worshipper''s death. This means that the boss had just earned an increase of 100% damage and defense. The boss'' attack would deal double damage. This was also the reason why all of the other team members scorned the archer. Like what the archer had said, some groups killed the worshippers when dealing with the boss. Usually, those kinds of groups would have the right equipment, and the level between the members didn''t differ that much. On the other hand, Auron''s current group had a variety of levels. Moreover, the tankers'' equipment was not that impressive. Of course, there was a benefit to kill all of the worshippers. The benefit was the boss'' loots'' drop rate would increase. This means there would be a higher chance that the boss dropped a rare item. Unfortunately, as the one who initiated this dungeon, Auron didn''t need that benefit. The herbs that he needed had a 100% drop rate. Moreover, with the boss''s strength increased, they must need to use more potions. Not only that, among the boss'' loots, the most expensive one was the herbs. The other items were only level 100 items. Fortunately, the quarrel died down quickly because of Auron. However, it was not because of Auron''s prestige or power. Instead, it was because Auron was the one that had the most loss. The difficulty increased, which means the chance of loss also increased. Meanwhile, Auron had to pay the hired member whether the dungeon runs success or failed. The boss groaned and howled furiously because of the death of his worshippers. Meanwhile, the 6 tankers already surrounded the boss. When the boss was groaning and howling, he could not attack, but he was vulnerable to all of the attacks. That was why Auron and the other damage dealers immediately attack the boss. They had to use this chance to reduce the boss''s health as much as they can. It took 30 seconds before the boss regained back his sense. Thanks to everyone''s effort, in these 30 seconds, a significant portion of the boss'' health had been depleted. The boss'' health had been reduced by 10%. Most of this was thanks to Smite and Jeffrey. As soon as all of the worshippers died, they immediately took action and attacked the boss with their quick reaction. With these two in the lead, the others started to follow. On the other hand, the archer who used the [Arrow Shower] still could not accept the blame. He didn''t think he was at fault. However, he still gritted his teeth and attacked the boss. When the boss regained back his sense, a dark aura shrouded the boss. This was to show that the boss got enhanced damage. As a mage, the boss used his spell to attack. Unfortunately, unlike other mages, the boss'' spell could not be canceled with an attack. They had to induce a status to stop the boss'' spell. The boss'' started to chant his area of effect spell. The boss'' chant was so quick. In just 2 seconds, the magic of this caliber had been completed. Fortunately, the tankers also reacted quickly. They immediately used their taunt skill. At first, the boss would use his spell to attack the large group. However, he turned back and unleashed the spell towards the tanker behind his back. Although the group was saved from the spell, all of the tankers still got attacked by the spell. "Ugh..." The weakest tanker among the 6 quickly groaned. Because of the boss increased power, almost half of his health went missing. One of the clerics quickly used the area heal spell and quickly healed all of the tankers. Jeffrey and the thief had moved back from the boss before it launched the spell. Hence, they didn''t take any damage. After the spell had been unleashed, the two of them approached the boss once again. Of course, the boss didn''t use the area of effect spell all the time. This time, he used a single target spell. A single target spell was not scary compared to the area of effect spell. Even though the single target spell''s damage was more significant, it could be controlled as long as it was not a single hit kill. After the spell hit, another tanker taunted the boss. Chapter 502 - Himbaran Castle (6) Due to the boss got stronger, half of the tanker''s health had reduced. Fortunately, the cleric was quick in action as they healed the tanker immediately. The boss changed his target to a new tanker and chanted another spell. This boss was so annoying because he kept on chanting his spell, never using his physical attacks. This time, another area of effect spell was chanted by the boss. Jeffrey, the thief, and the weakest tanker immediately backed out. Two seconds after chanting, the spell finished, and the boss unleashed his spell. After that, the cleric used area heal. Fortunately, the teamwork between the tanker and cleric was great. Time passed by, and there was no casualty yet. 90%... 80%... 70%... 60%... The boss'' health got lower and lower. When the boss'' health was below 50%, the boss got another increased damage buff. With this new buff, the tanker who could tank the boss reduced. From 6 tankers, two of them could not tank the boss anymore, which left 4 tankers. Because of that, the two tankers quickly adjusted their way of fighting from passive to be more active in attacking the boss. The boss''s health decreased quicker. "Be careful!" One of the clerics shouted when he saw the boss'' used a single target spell and aimed at the thief. Fortunately, the tanker was quick in action. Before the boss could complete the spell, the target already taunted the boss, who made the boss changed his target. The single-target spell hit the tanker, who immediately got healed by the cleric. As the boss''s health got lower and lower, the boss was often to get off target. When the boss got taunted, one second later, it would target another person. In other words, the tankers needed to taunt the boss at the right moment. This was made to increase the dungeon difficulty. Moreover, this was the hidden stage. Auron and the other damage dealer started to get more nervous. With the boss'' increased damage, the tanker got a serious problem, then what about them. The archer who killed off all the worshippers started to realize the problem he had brought onto the team. Usually, he would run this dungeon with his friend that had a similar level to him. He was even one of the highest levels in the team. Which was why the boss'' damage was not as scary as he had seen. On the other hand, currently, the archer was not the one who had the highest level. And, the difference between his level and the highest level was almost 100. The archer had seen how bloody the tankers got. Sweat started to form on his forehead. He was afraid that everyone would blame him for the dungeon failure. His nervousness even made him afraid to attack. As the troublemaker archer froze, the other archer tried to wake him up. A second later, the troublemaker archer woke up from his daze. He gritted his teeth and started to attack once more. Time passed by, the boss only had 10% of his health left. During this time, everything went smoothly even though there were several times that the boss changed his target. The 3 tankers worked quite well to taunt the boss and save the members. The boss chanted a single target spell towards one of the tankers. Just like several times before, the tankers were taking turns in taunting the boss. Unfortunately, this time, an accident happened. When the boss'' spell almost completed, suddenly, the boss turned his target and unleashed the spell. The single-target spell flew and hit its target. It was such a coincidence that the boss aimed towards the troublemaker archer. The boss'' level was around 500. Combined with the boss''s increased damage, the archer who had low health got killed with just one spell. The troublemaker archer was surprised because of this. He could not react at all. After he was respawned outside the dungeon, he still shocked and knew the degree of his mistake. After the troublemaker archer died, the dungeon run still continued. It was continued like the troublemaker archer didn''t mean anything. Auron also didn''t really care about the troublemaker archer. Even though he had forgiven the archer''s mistake, when this incident happened, Auron still felt a little bit satisfied. 5 minutes later, the boss finally gave his last breath. Fortunately, everything went fine. There was no more casualty after the troublemaker archer. When the boss died, a bunch of items appeared on the ground. As the leader, Auron was the one who collected the loot. After gathering everything, Auron decided to distribute the items outside the dungeon. Hence, everyone went back to the portal in the king''s bedroom since there was no exit portal in the royal prison. One minute later, a bunch of shadows appeared outside of the dungeon. The troublemaker archer was waiting outside the dungeon quietly when these shadows spawned. When the other members spawned, the troublemaker archer didn''t dare to ask anything and just waited silently. He knew his mistake and reflected upon it. Seeing the troublemaker archer reflected upon it, Auron was the one who approached him. He was not a spiteful person for such a small thing. Moreover, everything ended well and he got what he needed. With that Auron started to distribute everything fairly. First, he took all of the herbs since it was what he needed. For the equipment and other loot, they distributed it according to the member''s class. Everything went well. No problem occurred because of the distribution of the loots. However, Auron was grateful for one thing. There were 3 mages, Smite, Julia, and Auron. There were 5 mages equipment among the loot. At first, Auron wanted to give the 5 equipment and let Smite and Julia divided it among themselves because of their help. However, surprisingly, Smite and Julia rejected the loot. Auron didn''t want to waste the items and he accepted it. Although the equipment was only around level 100, Auron was still grateful because he was in need of money. Chapter 503 - Icy Stone Leaf (1) After the loot distribution had ended, it was time for Auron to pay these people. One by one, Auron gave them the promised money. Of course, this was not Auron''s money. Before the dungeon run, he had taken some loan from his friend, Roan. After distributing everything, these people dispersed and only left Auron, Julia, Smite, and Jeffrey. Jeffrey was approaching Auron. However, before he could reach Auron, he was stopped by Smite. Smite was glaring furiously at him. However, Jeffrey ignored him and kept moving forwards. Auron knew what Jeffrey wanted. He already promised to him, so he paid Jeffrey. Even though Auron had paid Jeffrey, but he was still felt grateful for him. Auron didn''t pay much for Jeffrey''s contribution. Compared to Jeffrey''s contribution, what Auron pay could not compare to his assistance. However, Jeffrey accepted the money without complaining. Smite approached Auron and asked, "So, do we continue?" Auron knew what Smite meant. He had asked Auron whether to continue to the next herb. "Of course, we continue. But, let us get back first. I need to sell this item first. I will contact you in 30 minutes." Auron said. Before continuing to the next herbs, Auron had to sell the item first. Although he still had some leftover money from Roan''s loan, he still tried to borrow lesser money. Moreover, Auron had to do something first. There were two kinds of herbs left. One of them was from a field boss, while the other one was inside another dungeon. The one from the field boss was easier to gather. It was because one didn''t need to kill the boss to get the herbs. Actually, the herb was not from the field boss'' loot. Instead, one needed to gather by themselves from the surrounding. However, the herbs would only appear if the field boss had spawned. Auron wanted to gather those herbs first if he could. However, he needed to gather some information first before going there, or else he would go back empty-handed. "Okay, then. We will wait at the base camp." Smite said. With that, Smite, Jeffrey, and Julia went back to the military base. On the other hand, Auron also got back to Miderian. However, instead of going to the military base, Auron directly went to the merchant guild. Auron had contacted Roan. He wanted to leave these items to Roan and asked his help to sell these items. Of course, Roan could not come himself. Instead, he had sent one of his men. As soon as Auron arrived at the merchant guild, he immediately recognized the one who Roan had sent. The one that Roan had sent was Keiran. After not meeting Keiran for a long time, Auron asked about his condition. Ten minutes later, Auron left the merchant guild and gave the equipment to Keiran. Auron went to the information guild. He immediately looked for information for the field boss'' last spawn. Fortunately, the boss had been killed three days ago. A field boss usually would spawn 72 hours after the boss'' last death. It had not been 72 hours before the boss''s last death, which means the boss would spawn soon. Auron immediately ran over to the Absurd''s base camp. There was a little bit more time before the boss spawned. The competition for this field boss was intense. It was because the boss'' loot was considered outstanding. Auron knew the boss would only last for several minutes before death. Fortunately, Auron didn''t have to compete for the boss. Instead, he just needed to collect the herb. As soon as Auron arrived at Absurd''s base camp, he immediately explained everything quickly. 5 minutes later, a group of four people departed from the military base. Of course, Jeffrey tagged along with an annoyed expression. He was too lazy to do something for someone else for free. However, Smite kept on glaring at him and made Jeffrey relented with the same excuse, money. Not long after, Auron''s group arrived at the field boss'' location. It was deep inside a forest nearby a town. At the core of the forest, there was a big area that was void of trees. This was the place where the boss would spawn. When Auron''s group was near the boss'' location, they could feel the temperature changed. It was colder than the outskirts of the forest. They could even saw snow around the area. This indicated that the boss'' would soon spawn. When Auron''s group arrived at the boss'' location, there were already a group of people at this place. These people wore the same badge indicating they were from the same guild. Auron recognized the guild''s emblem. It was one of the top 500 player guilds, SkyX. More precisely, it was a guild that ranked at 498. The field boss was a level 332 monster. So, none of the higher-ranked guilds would care about this. However, for a middle-ranked guild, this boss was still enticing for them. Auron could already see the aftermath of a battle near the area. This SkyX guild must have just won a battle against another guild for this boss. When Auron approached the location, the SkyX guild''s members became alert. A group of 4 people was coming towards them, so they immediately lowered their guard down a little bit. Then, the guild leader came forwards and stopped them. Auron''s group deliberately didn''t show their military badge. They didn''t want to use the military for their private matters. Actually, it was forbidden to use the military name for personal issues like this. Moreover, if they used it for looking trouble. Auron''s group and saw the SkyX''s guild leader asked them, "What are you doing here? Go Away! We already occupied this place. You can wait outside this place, at least, until the boss died." However, Auron calmly answered, "We don''t want to fight for the boss. Instead, we just need to gather the Icy Stone Leaf. Can you please let us through to gather these herbs? We will not disturb you." Chapter 504 - Icy Stone Leaf (2) The SkyX''s leader frowned. He knew that those herbs would only spawn when the boss had spawned. However, he didn''t believe Auron''s statement that easily. The SkyX''s leader stepped back and called some of the higher members in the guild and discussed this. A discussion was made between SkyX''s higher-ups. Meanwhile, Auron waited patiently. He knew that it was not easy to convince someone. Moreover, they didn''t know each other. Not long after, the discussion had ended. The SkyX''s leader approached Auron''s group with the higher-ups behind him. "We can let you take the herbs." The SkyX''s leader stated. Although the herbs were pretty good items, it was not that much compared to the boss. "However, you can only start to gather the herbs after the boss had died, and we all leave this place. How about it?" The SkyX''s leader questioned Auron. The [Icy Stone Plant] would only spawn at the field boss'' first appearance. This way, the herbs would be around the boss. So, if they wanted to gather the boss during the fight, they would have to approach the boss. Because of this, there would be a high chance that Auron''s group could kill steal the boss, and the SkyX''s guild didn''t want that to happen. Hence, they gave this condition to Auron. Auron knew that the reason behind SkyX''s guild statement. He accepted the guild leader condition. With that, Auron''s group backed out to show their goodwill. During this encounter, Auron was the only one that spoke. Smite, Jeffrey, and Julia didn''t talk anything. When Auron''s group had backed out, Smite suddenly said, "There are several other groups than us." Auron already knew about this. Even though SkyX''s guild had already won the right to kill the boss, there would still be people who tried to steal the boss, at least, stealing the loot. Of course, SkyX''s guild already wary about these people. That was why they had dispatched more guild members to this place to guard the battle. Time ticking by, as more SkyX''s guild members arrived at the area, the number of people surrounding the area also increased. Some people tried to kill steal the boss, or people like Auron wanted to get the [Icy Stone Plant]. For the upper-class player, [Icy Stone Plant] was not that precious, but it was still had some worth for some people. Although Auron had requested the SkyX''s guild leader politely, he actually didn''t need to do that. He could just wait at the outskirts and charge when the boss had died. Auron could feel the competitive aura in the surrounding area. On the other hand, the SkyX guild also got more pressure. The leader had never thought that the number of people eyeing this field boss would be this many. SkyX guild had already participated in this field boss several times. However, during his participation before, they never had this many participants. Seeing the participation rate right now, he decided to go all out. He commanded all of his guild members online right now to come here. After the SkyX guild''s leader commanded, a roar was heard. It was the sign when the field boss had spawned. Auron looked at the center of the area. He saw a faint silhouette slowly materializing. A few seconds later, the silhouette materialized completely, and a roar was heard. The field boss had been spawned completely. When the field boss had been spawned, the ground, a meter from the boss, [Icy Stone Plant], started to appear. The number was pretty high. However, the plant view started to get blocked by the SkyX guild''s members who started the fight. The battle for the boss had started. Several members of the SkyX guild had already fight with the boss. Meanwhile, the member that guards the surrounding area also tensed up. Although they didn''t attack the boss, they also had an essential role in this raid. They had to prevent or, at least, stopped the stealer for a bit. Of course, these stealers would not take any action right now. They would take action when the boss almost died. The boss'' health started to reduce. Although these players'' damage is not that much, the boss'' health reduced quickly because of their numbers and continuous attacksly. In just 5 minutes, the boss had lost 30% of its health. And, the numbers were still going down. The SkyX guild''s leader was also quite good at commanding his guild members. The number of casualties from the guild was not that many. Also, slowly, more and more SkyX guild''s members arrived because of the leader''s last command. Another 5 minutes passed, another 40% of the boss'' health disappeared. And, its health kept on going down as time passed by. When the boss'' health was under 10%, the people besides Auron started to prepare. There were even some people that had already clashed with the SkyX guild''s members. Auron also said to his group, "Let''s prepare as well!" Although Auron had asked for permission from the SkyX guild''s leader, the other parties would not care about that. This was a competition for sure. The one that claims the item, the one that will keep the item. The boss''s health dropped quicker compared to before. This was the SkyX guild''s leader strategy to pour everything in the last minute. He hoped by doing this, they could take their competitor by surprise and got all of the loots. However, the people around the area had already paid attention to the boss. So, when the boss'' health dropped quicker, these people had moved. The number of clashes increased. Meanwhile, there were also several people that tried to gather the herbs before the boss died. Of course, these people died before they reached the herbs whether by the SkyX guild members or by the field boss. Auron also started to get his group ready, "Let''s get ready!" In this chaotic battlefield, anything could happen. So, Auron didn''t want to come back empty-handed after all of this hard work. Chapter 505 - Icy Stone Leaf (3) Several shadows shot towards the boss. Around 10 people were coming towards the dying boss. These people had their own goals. Several of them wanted to take the boss'' loot while several of them, just like Auron, tried to gather the [Icy Stone Plant]. Auron''s group also began to act. They didn''t want to be late. There were only limited [Icy Stone Plant]. The battlefield was so chaotic. SkyX guild''s members were focusing on the field boss who was on his last breath. When the boss was about to die, several area spells were thrown at the boss. These spells were not coming from the SkyX guild. Instead, the people who were surrounding them were the ones who used these spells. Since these people were not in the same group as the SkyX guild, the spell damaged the SkyX guild members as well as the field boss. Not only that, but these spells also damaged the people who tried to loot the boss, just like Auron''s group. SkyX guild members also poured out all of their attacks in this last spurt. Under this rain of spells and attacks, several people could not endure the damage and die. The boss, who was at his last breath, also could not endure any longer. The boss roared its last roar before slumped down and disappeared, replaced by a bunch of loots. As soon as the boss died, the SkyX guild''s leader and higher-ups dashed forward to take the loots. If it was only the leader that took the haul, they were afraid that the loot would be taken by the others. Meanwhile, Auron''s group deliberately moved a step late. They wanted to dodge this rain of spells and attacks. Hence, when they arrived at the scene, the spells and attacks almost ended. Only several attacks left. Several people also arrived near the plant. As soon as they arrived, they immediately took out the plant as much as possible and departed immediately. They could not stay for too long because the SkyX guild members were tried to drive people away from claiming the loot. The SkyX guild members attacked everyone without differentiating people. Actually, they didn''t have the time to distinguish whether those people wanted to take the loot or just gather the herbs. Hence, they attack everyone who was trying to approach them. Auron''s group arrived a little bit late from the others. More than half of the [Icy Stone Plant] had gone. There were still many more people who tried to take the [Icy Stone Plant] leftover. When Auron''s group arrived at the scene, only around 10 more plants were left. Auron gritted his teeth. The number decreased far too quickly. He only needed 3 plants to complete the quest. Smite and Julia each managed to snatch one plant. Auron was near a plant. When he extended his hand to get the plant, a shadow passed him by and grabbed the plant first. Auron gnashed his teeth. That was the last plant, and he missed it. He was missing one more plant to complete his quest. The picture of him waiting for another three more days slipped into his mind. "No," Auron shook his head. He didn''t want to wait for three more days. Auron didn''t want to give up. He quickly glanced at the shadow that just passed him by. Then, Auron quickly chased that shadow. He tried to snatch back the plant. Auron chased the shadow. That person realized that Auron had chased him. He quickly increased his speed to escape. He was alone, and he had seen that Auron had brought his teammate here. So, he knew that he would not win against them even if he fought against them. Seeing the target he chase increased his speed, Auron also did the same. He even used a movement speed potion. Auron could not deduce the target''s level. Moreover, he didn''t want to wait for another three days. So, Auron used everything at his disposal, including the movement speed potion. Fortunately, Auron''s target was a thief who only had a slightly higher level than Auron. He relied on his thief class, who excelled at movement speed to gather the plant. The thief was not just a mere amateur. He had come to several occasions like this just to take anything he could. All of this time, he was quite successful with an 80% success rate. Even if he was failed, he still could keep his life intact. Unfortunately, right now, he was facing Auron. Auron, who also raised his agility attribute, could easily rival the thief''s speed with only a little difference between their level. Moreover, Auron had used a movement speed potion. In no time, Auron already arrived beside the thief. The thief was so surprised by Auron''s speed. However, before he could curse or punch Auron, he had to dodge. Auron had already swung his dagger towards the thief. A quick reaction came from the thief as he quickly jumped back and dodged Auron''s dagger. Although the thief could avoid Auron''s attack, he had to stop from his escape when another surprise had waited for him. A simple [Fire Bolt] flew from Auron towards the thief at such close range. This time, the thief was not ready by this [Fire Bolt]. He had never thought that Auron was a mage. He had thought that Auron had the same class as him, a thief. Boom... The thief''s face was hit by the incoming [Fire Bolt]. He fell to the ground and covered his face with both of his hands. Seeing the thief in such a state, Auron didn''t deliver the last blow. Instead, he looked to the side and saw the plant fell to the ground. When the thief fell to the ground, he unconsciously threw the plant. Auron didn''t waste any more time as he quickly dashed forward and retrieved the plant from the ground. With this newly acquired plant, Auron''s group had three plants in their possession. Auron''s goal had been completed. Chapter 506 - Icy Stone Leaf (4) Auron was about to leave the place when a hand grabbed his ankle. It was the thief on the ground. The thief would not let anyone steal what he had already had. Moreover, the weaker one. The thief believed that Auron could steal his possession because of the surprise attack without it, the thief confident he could overwhelm Auron. The thief also saw that the mage in front of him was weird. With high movement speed means, the agility attribute would be high. Hence, the other attributes would not be that high. The thief wanted another rematch with Auron. He knew he had to be quick since Auron''s teammate would come over him. The thief pulled Auron''s leg. He intended to make Auron fell. However, Auron did not. Auron staggered a bit but he didn''t fall down. He quickly glanced over to his feet and saw the thief. Auron stomped on the thief''s face. However, before his feet could reach the thief''s face, the thief already released his grip and rolled backward. The thief stood up and charged over to Auron. He brandished his dagger and tried to slice Auron''s neck. Auron raised his dagger and block the incoming attack. He kicked the thief''s stomach. However, the thief jumped backward to dodge the kick. Seeing his attack missed the target, it was Auron''s turn to dash forward. He swept his dagger and used [Earth Spike]. The two attacks were coming from the thief''s front and back. The thief rolled to the side. However, Auron already knew the thief would do this. He quickly approached the rolling thief. When the thief was about to stand up, Auron smacked the thief''s face with the back of his dagger. Then, stabbed his dagger towards the thief''s forehead. The thief dazed a bit. However, he quickly regained his sense only to find the incoming stab. The thief quickly moved his head. Auron''s dagger grazed his head and cut his side hair. Auron didn''t stop right there. He launched another attack and used his spell to attack the thief. The thief who was already in a disadvantaged situation could not regain back his position. After 5 minutes of battling, Auron killed the thief. When the thief died, his teammate arrived at the scene. Auron glanced back at his teammate and nodded. His teammate handed over the plant and let Auron kept the three of them. Then, he turned around and was about to leave with his teammate when a group of 8 people blocked his path. "Stop right there! Some thieves stole our boss'' loot." One of the people came forward and stopped Auron. Auron observed the people and recognized that these people were SkyX guild members through their guild emblem. "What do you want?" Auron asked. "We just gather the Icy Stone Plant here. Ask your leader, I already got permission from him." Auron stated. "No matter, we still have to check your belongings first!" One of the higher-ups in the SkyX guild said. Auron glanced back at his teammate. He wanted to see what''s his teammate thought. Smite kept smiling at Auron without saying anything. Julia looked blank as if she didn''t interested and didn''t care about this. On the other hand, Jeffrey looked very annoyed. He had been annoyed from the start of this mission. Auron looked back at the SkyX executives. Then, he said, "Okay, fine. We will cooperate!" With Auron had decided, the others followed. Auron and the others got one person each to scan their belongings. After three minutes, the people who searched Auron''s group reported that they didn''t find anything that could be loot from the boss. "Let''s go!" Auron also heard the report and tried to go back. However, the leading person stopped Auron, "Not so fast! Leave the plant here!" Auron frowned. "I had gotten your leader''s permission and they had acknowledged it." "So, get lost!" Auron started to get angry. "Trying to run away! You must be hiding something! Men! Get him!" The SkyX''s executive said. The 7 people behind that SkyX''s executive immediately charged forward. Auron quickly got into a battle stance. The others also followed the suit. A battle could not be avoided. Auron''s group was surrounded by these 8 people. Auron looked angry. However, it was not the case with Smite. He kept on smiling as if he knew that this would happen. Meanwhile, Jeffrey glanced at Smite furiously. He blamed Smite for what happens right now. More precisely, he blamed Smite for dragging him. Auron who was at the front confront the SkyX''s member first. He could dodge the first attack. However, he knew that this would be not for long. Auron''s group had a lower number of people. Sooner or later, they would be overwhelmed by the enemy''s number. Auron was thinking about whether he should expose their identity as a soldier. "What is happening here?" Fortunately, before he exposed his identity, the SkyX guild''s leader heard the commotion and came here. The SkyX guild''s leader recognized Auron. He had a good impression of Auron. It was rare to see someone asking for permission to take anything here. The others would always come and get as they like. The SkyX executive immediately explained to the leader. Of course, he twisted the story to his advantage. The leader looked at Auron''s group, especially to Auron at the front. Then, he sighed. The leader had known this executive''s personality. So, he knew that there was some lie within the story. On the other hand, the leader''s impression of Auron was good so he believed Auron than this executive. He was in a difficult position. If he chose Auron, then his guild members would not believe in him anymore. The leader faced Auron and apologized, "Sorry for my member''s behavior. As you know, some of our loot had been stolen. Please forgive my subordinate." "I hope you don''t mind his behavior." The leader had decided to leave Auron''s group even though he knew that his guild members would question him. Chapter 507 - The Last Herb (1) Auron was still furious by the executive''s behavior. However, he still appreciated the SkyX guild''s leader''s goodwill. Hence, Auron left the place without saying anything. However, before Auron could go any further, Smite said, "Thank you for your kindness! We are also sorry for our intrusion. I hope you don''t mind. Please take this as our token of gratitude." Smite deliberately said that sentence loud enough that Auron turned back. When Auron turned back, he could see Smite already shoved money into SkyX guild''s leader hands. After handing over the money, Smite went over to Auron and said casually as if nothing happened, "Let''s go." SkyX guild''s leader could not say anything until Auron''s group already went out of his sight. As a guild leader, SKyX guild''s leader knew Smite''s intention. With that the issue closed down, SkyX guild''s leader commanded his guild members to pack up and went back to the guild''s base. On the way back, Auron approached Smite and thanked him. Although he didn''t know why Smite did what he did previously, he knew that what Smite did was for his good. As if Smite could read Auron''s mind, he asked Auron, "I know you must be confused why I gave the SkyX guild''s leader money. Do you know the reason why I did that?" Auron shook his head. Auron never had been in that situation previously, so he didn''t know what to do. Actually, Auron had been in that situation when he played his last character. However, usually, his guild vice leader was the one who resolved the situation without letting Auron knew. Smite kindly answered, "I know you never been in the SkyX guild''s leader''s position, so you might not know it." "But, let me tell you. He is a good man and he was in a kind of difficult situation." Smite slowly explained. "SkyX is a big guild and, right now, there are three factions inside the guild. The first one, the one that supports the current guild''s leader, the second one, the one that opposes the guild''s leader and the last one is the neutral faction." "The executive that stopped us belonged to the one that opposes the guild''s leader. So you must know how difficult it is for the guild leader to let you go unscathed." "If previously, I didn''t give the guild''s leader any retribution, the opposing faction could use this fact to make the guild''s leader''s fame went down." "Of course, the guild leader could capture you or go along with the previous executive. However, he didn''t do that. Hence, you could see how kind is he." "By giving the guild''s leader money, you are actually helping the guild''s leader. Although it could not make all of the disagreement disappear, he could use it to at least lessen the damage. Moreover, by doing that, you could create a good relationship with the guild''s leader. I believe someone that can become the leader of a top 500 guild will be beneficial for you." Auron nodded. He knew what Smite had said was correct. He put what Smite had said inside his mind. After all of that talk, Auron''s group continued their journey back to the military base. When Auron''s group arrived at the city, the other went back to Absurd''s base camp while Auron went to the alchemist guild. He needed to process the plant into something else first before he could use it. It was not a difficult process. As a junior alchemist, Auron could easily process the plant. Not long after, Auron exited the alchemist guild and directly went back to the base camp. There was one herb left in Zephyr''s request. This last herb was the most difficult to gather out of the three. One of the reasons was that the place to gather this herb surpassed Auron''s level by a huge margin. Not only that, but this herb also dropped from a dungeon boss. However, unlike the first herb, it didn''t have a 100% drop rate. The drop rate for this herb was only 20%. Although it seemed high, 20% was enough to make people frustrated. There was a time when an unfortunate group also looked for this herb. They only managed to get the herb on their tenth tries. One more thing, the dungeon for this herb was a 10 man dungeon. However, what annoying about this dungeon was each person from the group needed to hold one ticket to enter. Although the ticket was sold by an NPC shop, as Auron was the one who invited the people, he should be the one to buy them the item. So, Auron needed to buy 10 tickets for each run. And, it could not just be one run. Moreover, what if the run failed and they didn''t get anything, Auron had to buy another ticket to enter. That was why Auron intended to run this dungeon tomorrow. It was because it was already late right now. Moreover, Auron had heard that the other members would come back tomorrow. So, Auron intended to bring Absurd''s team members to clear the dungeon. Of course, Auron had to persuade them first to help him. But, Auron felt that the other members were more kind and willing to help him. Because of this, Auron had to wait until tomorrow. Without anything to do Auron intended to hunt, or at least, looking for a way to gather more money. He needed quite a lot of money. Moreover, there was a chance for him to buy tickets more than once. Auron believed that with the Absurd team, he could conquer the dungeon. However, he didn''t have any confidence that the herb would drop at their first run. Auron was preparing to go hunting. This was the fastest source of income. He just hoped that he could get a rare item so it could give him a quite amount of money. With that in mind, Auron switched over to his swordsman character and went to the hunting ground. Chapter 508 - The Last Herb (2) The morning came. Throughout the night, Auron was diligently grinding the monster alone. He killed every monster he could see and loot all of their belongings. Unfortunately, everything didn''t go as he wanted. Even after grinding all that long time, Auron didn''t get much money. He only got enough money to buy 28 tickets for today''s dungeon run. Those 28 tickets were enough to run two full dungeons and one dungeon run with eight people. Of course, if Auron could fork two more tickets, then he could run another full dungeon run. However, Auron hoped that he didn''t need to do that so he could save some money. Even though Auron didn''t earn as many as he wanted, but he was satisfied. It was because, during this grinding session, Auron also trained his [Dual Wielding] skill. Actually, by learning the skill, it was already enough to be deemed as skilled. However, Auron didn''t want to stop right there. He wanted to incorporate this skill into his fighting style. Auron knew that this skill would boost his fighting capability besides his mage spells in the future. During this grinding session, Auron had become more proficient in taking the skill''s advantage. Now, he could use more variety of attacks against his opponent. One thing that he lack was a suitable weapon. Auron cleaned up the last monster he killed and prepared to go back. However, before he could get going, Auron saw a nimble shadow moving towards him. Auron quickly raised his sword to block the attacker''s attack and kicked the attacker away. Then, from his left, a spell came towards him. Using his other sword, Auron deflected the incoming spell. "Who are you?!" Auron asked. "Did Darius begin to take action against him?" Auron thought. Auron quickly glanced at his attackers. There were two of them. Unfortunately, Auron could not find any guild''s emblem on them. This could mean they hid their guild''s emblem on purpose, or they didn''t belong to any guild. Seeing no reply from his opponent, Auron asked once again, "Are you from Red Storm?" Hearing the name of a high ranked guild, these two attackers flinched and looked at each other. A second later, one of them answered, "You don''t need to know! Where did you get the [Dual Wielding] skill? Hand over the secret!" So, these two players attacked him because he had the [Dual Wielding] skill. At first, they didn''t know that Auron had the skill. It was because several people tried to play with two weapons style without the skill just for fun. However, the longer these two players observed Auron, they realized that Auron didn''t get any damage penalty, which means he had learned the skill. Hence, they attacked him to obtain the secret. It was fortunate that Auron had to take some safety measures before going to hunt. He used cloaked to cover his equipment and used some anti-spy items to not obtain his information. When the two attackers flinched, Auron knew that these two people didn''t know who he was. Whether they really came from Red Storm or not, Auron knew that these two people didn''t know his identity. Auron had to maintain his secrecy. Auron knew that his [Dual Wielding] secret had been exposed. Even if Auron managed to kill these two players, they could just respawn and find him again. What fortunate was they didn''t know Auron''s identity at all. So, if Auron changed his appearance a bit, they could not recognize Auron anymore. Auron knew talking with them was useless, and also, the longer these two people alive, there was a higher chance his identity could be exposed. These two players were a combination of a swordsman and a mage. Auron quickly charged and attacked the swordsman first since he was closer. The swordsman was not ready with the attack. However, he had a comrade nearby. The mage who saw Auron attacked chanted an [Earth Wall]. A wall of earth erupted and separated Auron and the swordsman. However, Auron already had seen this coming. When the [Earth Wall] started to rise from below, Auron immediately used [Blitz Attack]. He teleported to behind the swordsman. The swordsman turned around as quickly as he could. What he saw when he had turned entirely around was Auron''s sword falling towards him. The swordsman moved to the side. However, he could not dodge Auron''s sword completely. One of Auron''s swords slashed the swordsman''s right shoulders. Auron didn''t stop right there. Using the other sword, he immediately stabbed the sword to the swordsman''s abdomen. Auron knew he had to be quick in this killing. Hence, he pulled his swords and made several attacks. Auron changed between the slash and stabbed several times. Two swords were obviously had the advantage in this close combat duel. Moreover, the swordsman was not ready with this. In no time, the swordsman''s health depleted to zero. The mage was not idle. He also launched his spell. However, everything had gone too quick. The mage had just chanted his second spell when the swordsman already dropped to the ground, dead. After killing one, Auron directly changed his target. First, he moved to the side and dodged the incoming spell. Then, he used [Charged] and [Weapon''s Aura] simultaneously. Auron stabbed his left sword. Meanwhile, Auron used [Bash] using his right sword. The mage instantly panicked. He dodged Auron''s sword. However, Auron''s [Bash] was already waiting for him. Bang... The [Bash] stunned the mage. Auron used this two seconds stun to quickly attacked the mage. The mage could not do anything and just stand still when all of Auron''s attack arrived at him. When the stun effect had ended, the mage quickly moved aside. However, his health already near zero. Before the mage could escape further away, Auron used [Wind Slash]. This last attack ended the mage''s life. After eliminating all of his enemies, Auron didn''t stay still and immediately left the place. He was afraid the commotion here would attract other people''s attention. Chapter 509 - The Last Herb (3) Auron arrived at the nearby city. However, before he entered the city, he looked for a safe place and opened his disguise. Auron entered the city and teleported back to Miderian. Just like what Auron had thought, the rumor spread fast. When he arrived at Miderian, the news about a player owned [Dual Wielding] skill spread all over the Miderian. Then, in just mere seconds, the forum was flooded with this news. Even though the two players attacked Auron didn''t know Auron''s identity, but they knew that the one they attack should be a player. Of course, nobody still knew that the one they talked about was walking to an NPC shop hurriedly. Auron didn''t care about the news as long as his identity safe. He quickly went to the NPC shop to sell all of his loot. Selling the loots to the NPC shop was cheaper than selling them to the players. However, Auron could do nothing. If he sold all of his loot to the player with the rumor that had spread, they would become suspicious of Auron. There would be a high chance that they guessed Auron was the mysterious person. Fortunately, after selling everything, Auron still earned enough for 26 tickets. Although it was short of 2 tickets from his calculation before, he was satisfied. Auron found a safe place in the blacksmith association and returned back to his mage character. There was a little bit of time left before the designated meeting time with Smite. Since Auron was asking for help, he didn''t want to be late for this important occasion. When Auron arrived at the Absurd''s base camp, there were no people yet. Auron didn''t mind about this, and he waited patiently inside the room. On the previous day, Smite had already informed everyone about this expedition. However, he still left everything to each of their own individuals to agree or not. Time passed by. One by one, the Absurd''s member came inside the base camp. Not long after, all of the members had gathered. After everyone had gathered, Auron began to explain. Although Smite had explained the general gist about this meeting, Auron still needed to explain the detail and the reason. Auron was fortunate enough to join the Absurd team. He felt grateful for their kindness. Even though Auron was still a new joiner, he could see that the others didn''t discriminate against him. After explaining his reason, Auron could see others'' sincere expression. Auron knew they were eager to help him. However, a voice cut his happy feeling, "I am not joining." It was Jeffrey''s voice. Everyone turned at him, especially Smite, who was glaring at him. "What? I was helping him yesterday with two herbs. I am tired right now." Jeffrey said. He even pretended to be tired. "Moreover, it was 10 man dungeon, and there are 11 of us. One person needs to sit down, and I am gladly volunteering for that place." Jeffrey continued. The others had already known about Jeffrey''s attitude. However, they still could not get used to Jeffrey''s attitude. Smite was the only one among these people that brave enough to reprimand Jeffrey as he was the one who had the highest ranked and also Jeffrey''s friend. When Smite was about to reprimand Jeffrey once again, Auron stopped him. He already knew that Jeffrey didn''t mean bad to him. Jeffrey was just a lazy person, a very lazy person, to be precise. With Auron had taken action, Smite didn''t continue to reprimand Jeffrey. Moreover, what Jeffrey had said was correct. There were 11 people, so one person needed to be excluded. With everything had settled, everyone began to prepare for this new journey. Auron had decided that they would depart one hour later. One hour later, everyone had gathered in front of the dungeon''s entrance. The entrance was near Miderian. It was because this dungeon was unique. This dungeon was one of the ancient ruins discovered by the royalty a long time ago. Usually, an ancient ruin would give some benefits and advantages. And, this ancient ruin''s benefit came in the form of this 10 man dungeon. Since this dungeon was from an ancient ruin, the monster inside was stronger than the ordinary monster. Of course, this also comes with a huge benefit, such as the items from these monsters were rarer. Not only that, but also the experience that came from these monsters was huge. Of course, not everyone can enjoy this dungeon at the same time. This dungeon could only accept one group at a time. If there was already a group inside, the others needed to wait until that group succeeds or fail the dungeon to enter. Because of that, when the dungeon opened for the first time, chaos descended upon this place. People competed with each other to enter the dungeon. Some even used the underhanded method. Hence, the royalty decided to get involved. The royalty decided to guard and supervise this place to ensure this dungeon''s safety and orders. They also created a system that everyone who wanted to enter needed to bring a ticket. Of course, the one who created the ticket was the royalty. All of the money that came from ticket selling would be distributed to fund the military. The ticket could not be considered cheap. However, there were still many people gathered here. This could be seen by how many people already gathered at this place when Auron''s group arrived. There were already 5 groups ahead before Auron. Even though this place was opened 24 hours every day without stop, there was still a queue. You can imagine how popular this place. As the team''s leader, Auron bought 10 tickets. The royalty had to limit the number of tickets one could buy in one transaction. On the ticket, there was also information about the queue number they got. If they missed their turn, then they could no longer use that ticket and had to buy a new one. Chapter 510 - Ancient Training Ground (1) Auron''s group had to wait for several hours before they could go inside. To spend time, Auron began to start a conversation with the other Absurd''s members. They discussed a lot of things from the dungeon things until the other experience and funny stories. Time went by, they could not leave the place for too long because there was a rule. If it was their turn and they didn''t go inside the dungeon in 5 minutes, then it would be deemed as they forfeited their right to enter. Since nobody knew how long the party inside would go on, nobody could predict went the next group would go in. What fortunate was the dungeon had a time limit. If the party inside could not kill the boss in 2 hours, then they would be teleported outside and failed the run. Usually, an average group would spend around 1 hour inside. However, nobody could know whether they spend less or more than that number. Auron''s group was fortunate, the previous group before them was not an average group. Several groups only spend less than 1 hour to complete the dungeon. There was even a group that only spend 30 minutes inside. After three hours, a new group entered the dungeon. After this group, it was Auron''s group''s turn. After a long conversation, Auron''s group became bored. The members decided to do something else on their own. Some were hunting nearby monsters while some talking with the guards that guarding the dungeon. As someone from the military, some of them knew each other especially Smite who had a high rank and the leader of the group. They had promised to gather back in 30 minutes. On the other hand, Auron didn''t have anything to do so he just sat down and waited until it was their time to go. While waiting, Julia approached him. Since she also didn''t have anything to do and she was relatively new to this group, she could only come to Auron who was also a player the same as her. It was during their time together on the demonic monster mission that she knew Auron''s mage character as a player. Inside the Absurd team, Auron and Julia were the only players inside. Julia awkwardly started a topic, "Have you heard about the news?" Auron was confused about what she was talking about, "What news?" Auron was busy hunting and leveling that he didn''t have any time to look for any recent news. The most recent news that he knew was about a player that learned the [Dual Wielding] skill. Moreover, he knew it because it was related to him. Auron didn''t want to discuss that so he pretended to not know anything. Moreover, what if it was not the news that Julia meant. "There is a player who learned the [Dual Wielding] skill. It was a very rare skill." Julia didn''t find it strange that Auron didn''t know about it considering his level. She even told him that it was a very rare skill. "Oh really? Is that skill impressive?" Auron pretended to be surprised and acted like he didn''t know. "That skill was impressive. Do you know if you..." Julia started to explain the benefit of learning that skill. She also explained that after 10 years of this game running, this was the first time that skill appeared among the player. "But, well, it was nothing to do with us. Although we as a mage could use the skill, we cannot maximize the benefit. That skill was more suitable for the melee class." After Julia said that, the conversation stopped. An awkward atmosphere started to descends upon these two. Although Auron and Julia had worked together, it was only at the work level. They didn''t know each other''s information that well. Auron also felt the awkward atmosphere. As a man, he knew he needed to do something. So, he started to start another topic. Unfortunately, Auron''s love experience was not that much. He spent almost all of his time playing this game that he didn''t have any time to have an intimate relationship. Of course, it didn''t mean that Auron never liked any girl. There was a time when he was still in school that he like his classmate. However, it was only as far as liking that girl. Auron never had said to the girl directly. It was not like he didn''t want to say it, but his priority was the game. Because of that, the girl became his senior''s girlfriend. "What is your hobby?" As Auron didn''t have that much experience and he was pressured to start a new topic, Auron brought up this question. Julia was surprised by this abrupt question. However, she knew that Auron just wanted to bring a new topic, so she answered the question. From that point, the conversation went smoother, Auron began to ask about Julia''s information and Julia did the same. They began to know more about each other. "How are your parents doing?" Auron asked this question. However, Julia didn''t answer the question and kept silent. The awkward situation occurred once more. Auron was not that tactful. During their conversation, Julia always diverted the question about her family and smoothly changed the topic. However, Auron was not tactful enough to know about this. So, he could not help but ask that question. This time, Julia didn''t answer. It was not because she was furious. Instead, her expression turned sad. Auron saw this. Even though he was confused about the reason Julia became sad, he knew that he needed to change the topic. However, he was confused about what should he do. Should he apologize or directly change the topic? Fortunately, when Auron was about to ask another question, Smite came and said, "Let''s gather. It was almost time. The previous group should be done shortly." Auron breathed a sigh of relief. He stood up and nodded at Smite. Then, he extended his hand to Julia and said, "Let''s go." Chapter 511 - Ancient Training Ground (2) Auron''s group had gathered in front of the entrance. However, it was not yet the time for them to go inside yet. They decided to wait near the entrance in case they didn''t see the previous group came out. 10 minutes passed, and just as they had thought, several transportation lights shone near the dungeon''s entrance. It was the previous group. As soon as the previous group came out, the guards near the entrance immediately approached them and shooed them off. This was done because they didn''t want the same group took this chance to enter the dungeon once again. If that happened, then chaos could descend on this dungeon. Of course, they didn''t want that to happen. Hence, the strict guard of the dungeon happened. The guard in charge of the dungeon''s entrance saw Auron''s group. So, he called Auron''s group since it was their turn to enter. A minute later, all of Auron''s group already inside the dungeon. When Auron regained his sensed back, he was greeted with a wasteland view. On this wasteland, there were many large scale monster''s bones. It was the bone of a prehistoric monster. It was said that the prehistoric monster''s body was large that was twice as large as the current monster. When gaining the right to control this place, the royal family had got an introduction about this place from their archeologist. It was said that this place was used as a training ground back in the ancient era. Although this place was vast, this place also had a limit. This place was a deserted island made to be a training ground by the ancient people. To complete this dungeon, Auron''s group needed to kill the last boss of this dungeon. And, that final boss was the one that dropped the last herb that Auron needed. The last boss would appear at the center of this island where Auron''s group was currently located. However, there was a precondition to make the boss appeared. And, because they hadn''t completed the precondition, Auron''s group could not see the boss even if they were at the center of the island. To make the boss appeared, Auron''s group needed to gather 4 things from this place. These 4 things were some kind of orbs with a different element, [Orb of Fire], [Orb of Water], [Orb of Earth], and [Orb of Wind]. Of course, these 4 things were not easy to get. Each of the orbs was guarded by a guarding of the same element. Not only that but to reach the guardian''s location was not easy. They had to fight against many enemies along the way. Since this was an ancient ruin, the monster''s level was obviously higher than the ordinary dungeon. The monster''s level at this dungeon was higher than 500. On the other hand, Auron''s group''s average level without him was around 470. Based on the number, it was not that much difference. However, in reality, the difference in power could be seen. If the people weren''t equipped with good equipment, it would be difficult for them to fight. Fortunately, Absurd''s team was geared enough to run this dungeon. Considering his low level and equipment, Auron knew in this dungeon he could be a burden. However, it was not like Auron was a dead weight. Auron was fortunate that he was a mage and the monsters here had elemental in all of them. With the correct elemental attack, Auron could deal some damage and have some help for the team. In this dungeon, elemental attack played an important role. Because of that, a mage was a must for this dungeon. Not only that, but an elemental weapon could be some help. Even a swordsman brought all 4 types of elemental weapons to be used at this place. "Let''s go to get the [Orb of Fire] first," Auron said. Actually, there was no strict rule on which orb to get first. It just a matter of choice. The guardians were located at different places on this island. They were located on the most northwestern, northeastern, southwestern, and southeastern of the island. And, the [Fire Guardian] was situated in the northeast part of the island. Except for Smite and Julia, the others felt strange when Auron was the one leading. Although they had no problem with Auron leading, it still felt weird to get guided by someone other than Smite in Absurd''s team. Throughout the history of the team, only Smite and Jeffrey had the chance to lead the team. Smite was the one who was leading most of the time. Since Smite didn''t object and say anything, the others followed suit. When Auron''s group started to follow the northeastern part of the island, they felt the change in the temperature. It was getting hotter and hotter the close they were to the guardian''s place. "Prepare for battle!" The leading Auron shouted when he spotted the first enemy. He started to chant a water spell. Meanwhile, Dayton and Gavin, the two swordsmen, immediately went to the front and took the monster. Actually, the monster was not moving. Instead, they stayed in one place and created a camp there. Unfortunately, the dungeon''s participants could not avoid these monsters because they blocked the way to the guardian. Along the way to the guardian, there were three such camps, and the players needed to pass these three camps. Auron''s group met with the first camp, and it was the camp of [Fire Lizard]. The [Fire Lizard] also spotted Auron''s group, and their monster''s instinct kicked in. They immediately attacked Auron''s group as a bunch of crazy monsters. The [Fire Lizard Spearman] took the lead and clashed with Dayton and Gavin first. There were more than 5 [Fire Lizard Spearman] that charged towards Auron''s group. On the other hand, Auron''s group only had Dayton and Gavin. Behind the [Fire Lizard Spearman], there were [Fire Lizard Archer] and [Fire Lizard Mage]. These two types of monsters also launched their attack on Auron''s group. Auron''s group was surrounded by these monsters. Chapter 512 - Ancient Training Ground (3) Absurd''s team had gone to several dungeon and expedition together. So, in this situation, they already knew what to do. Smite, and Julia created two [Earth Wall] to block the incoming [Fire Lizard Spearman]. These two [Earth Wall]s were located to the group''s left and right. These two [Earth Wall]s not only blocked the [Fire Lizard Spearman], but they also created a path for the rest of the [Fire Lizard Spearman] in between these two [Earth Wall]. With the [Earth Wall]''s help, Dayton and Gavin could easily manage the [Fire Lizard Spearman]. Four [Fire Lizard Spearman] clashed with Dayton and Gavin. Axton and Bernard, the two archers, and Smite and Julia, the two mages, took action behind the swordsman''s back. They bombarded the four [Fire Lizard Spearman] with all of their attacks. On the other hand, the cleric prepared to heal Dayton and Gavin. Meanwhile, Ainsley and Cedric, the two thieves, had used [Stealth] from the start of the battle. They didn''t target the fire-lizard at the front. Instead, they walked around to the back and aimed at the [Fire Lizard Archer] and [Fire Lizard Mage]. All of these happened in a split second. Although this was the first time Auron worked together with these people, he didn''t want to be left behind. As a veteran player, Auron also knew what to do. Despite his low level, Auron chanted [Sloth]. This was one of the advanced spells that he had and the most helpful magic in this kind of situation. The monster here had more than three hundred levels above Auron''s level. That was why Auron didn''t stupidly charge to the front and display his close combat capability. As the group''s average level was lower compared to the enemies'' level, they proceed with caution and slowly. To pass this camp, they had to eradicate all of the fire-lizard at this camp. It was not an easy task, but it was also not a difficult task. If they were careful enough, Auron''s group could pass the camp easily. It just a matter of time. As the first five [Fire Lizard Spearman] died, more [Fire Lizard Spearman] began to come. Auron had changed his target and began to support the two thieves at the enemies'' camp. "Get back, guys!" Auron shouted at the two thieves while looking at the battlefield''s condition. The current situation was not that good for those two thieves to roam deep inside the enemies'' camp without support. Auron was supporting them to get back to the group. At the side, Smite smiled. He knew that Auron''s choice was right. If Auron didn''t move then, he would be the one who told the two thieves to get back, or else both of them would become two dead corpses. Five minutes passed since Auron''s group arrived at the camp. More than half of the fire lizard died. The first camp was usually the easiest. Moreover, most of the enemies were the archers and mages at the fire lizard camp who had poor health. Slash... The last [Fire Lizard Spearman] had died under Gavin''s attack. There only left the [Fire Lizard Mage] and [Fire Lizard Archer] with the tanker had gone. The speed of the fire-lizard died increased. In just another 3 minutes, Auron''s group had killed all of the fire-lizard inside the camp entirely. During the fire lizard''s camp raid, Auron didn''t have much to do. He only analyzed the situation and supported the team with the correct spell. And, the most important thing was looting the monster''s drop. Auron had to lower himself to pick up the monster''s loot. Previously, when he was still Heaven''s guild leader, he never picked the monster''s loot at all. However, at this current point, he could only swallow his pride and take the job. Not only because he was broke, but even if he attacked the monster, he would not do much damage. Auron knew that some members would have complaints inside their heads about Auron''s involvement in the raid. However, they could not do anything since it was Auron''s quest. Moreover, as the true leader of Absurd''s team, Smite didn''t voice any complaints at all. The members who felt this unfair could only swallow it and kept it inside. They believed that Smite must have his own reason, and all of them believed Smite. After finishing the first camp, they immediately departed to the second camp. The time was tight. They only had two hours to complete this dungeon. It would be no problem if they had the appropriate level and equipment. However, their level was not that much. The previous group who finished this dungeon in 30 minutes had a higher level and way better equipment than them. It was the elite group from the top-ranked guild. Fortunately, the distance between each camp here was not that far. Only by walking for 2 minutes, they arrived at the second camp. As soon as Auron''s group arrived at the second camp, they immediately engaged in battle. They had to be quick, or else they would not have time to complete the dungeon. Of course, they had to take everything in precaution. The second camp was the fire golem camp. Unlike the previous camp, the fire golem camp had more melee enemies, and they were sturdier compared to the fire lizard. The monster''s at this camp was sturdier. However, it was safer than the fire lizard. It was because the fire golem had a way lower attack compared to the fire lizard. Not only that, their attack speed and attack pattern also easy to guess. As long as they were not surrounded, a skillful person could dodge all of the golem''s attack. Auron''s group''s only problem in this camp was to find a way to kill the golem quick enough. The important key in this camp was to use the ice attribute attack. That was why the mage was important in this second camp. Even Auron had a low level also attack the golems. Chapter 513 - Fire Guardian (1) Since the golem attack speed and attack power was low, Auron could help the team to kill the golem. The second camp was relatively easy in this dungeon. The hardest thing about the second camp was the fact that it took longer to kill the golem. Fortunately, with good teamwork, Auron''s group could easily and safely kill all of the second camp golems. Despite the smooth and easy progress, it took them almost 8 minutes to finish this second camp. After everything was ended, Auron began to loot the monster''s drop. Meanwhile, to save time, the others continued their journey to the third camp. It took Auron one minute to loot all of the monster''s drops. As soon as he finished looting, Auron immediately caught up with the others. When Auron arrived at the third camp, the battle had already started. Auron had tried his best to catch up with the others as soon as he could. There was not much time passed, but there were already five monster corpses to the group''s side. While Auron was gone, Smite took the lead. When Smite took the lead, it could be seen that the group''s progress was much quicker and much efficient. Auron, himself, could also see the difference. Although there was some contribution to how the others trust Smite, Auron still astonished. He had never thought that the way he led the group was so much inferior to Smite. Remember, Auron had the experience as the leader of a big guild, and he led the group so many times. When Smite spotted Auron''s location, he nodded at Auron. Auron knew what Smite means. He wanted to give back the leading spot to Auron. Auron was in a tough spot. He knew that he didn''t have any power to force Smite to lead the group since this was his quest and the others just here to help him. However, he also knew that the group''s progress could decline if he led the group. Seeing Auron, who was pondering, Smite could deduce what Auron was thinking. He approached Auron and talked to him, "This will be a good experience for you. Also, you can understand more about the other members." "In conclusion, you have to take this chance." Smite finished his sentence with a rather forceful tone. However, Auron, who was pondering, didn''t realize Smite''s tone, and he nodded at Smite. As Smite said, it would be a good experience for him to lead the group and the best time to understand the other members. The monsters in the third camp were the [Fire Spirit]. The [Fire Spirit] could not be considered as a strong monster. However, it also could not be regarded as a weak monster. The [Fire Spirit] had a low amount of health that it made easier to kill based on its health. Its health was even lower than the [Fire Lizard Mage] at the first camp. However, the strong part in the [Fire Spirit] was that it was a magic monster and had many areas of attack spells. Not only that, but its spell power was not weak either. Moreover, the [Fire Spirit] would only take half of the damage from physical attack and no damage from any fire elemental attack. Fortunately, Auron''s group was not a newbie group. Each of the members had the experience of completing this dungeon several times. So, when they arrived at the third camp, they already knew what to do. Nobody used any fire attack, and if they can, they would use magical attack, ice elemental if they could. After Auron took the lead back, he began his best to lead the group. On the two previous camps, Auron would command the group passively. Auron would start to give orders if there was some imminent danger or something wrong about to happen. Auron felt inferior and didn''t want to offend the others who obviously stronger and had been with the team longer than Auron. However, right now, Auron was braver. He gave several orders and took the lead. The group''s progress was visibly quicker compared to when Auron first led the group. Although it was still could not match Smite''s speed, but it was an improvement. One by one, the [Fire Spirit] began to die at a much faster pace. Since the [Fire Spirit] was a magic monster who attack from far away, the group was the ones who had to approach the monster. The [Fire Spirit] had poor health. Hence, it was actually easy to kill them, especially using an ice elemental attack or spell. Obviously, in this camp, Smite and Julia took the lead in damage. Both of their contributions exceed the others. Auron''s damage ranking was also started to climb quicker than the others in this camp. Unfortunately, Auron still didn''t have that much ice elemental spell, or else he could move faster than the current pace. Three mages were obviously made the group faster in clearing this place. Usually, a group would only employ at most two mages. Although Auron was lower level, he was still a mage, and his elemental attacks were obviously not weak either. It took the group 4 minutes to finish this camp completely. Everything went smoothly. Auron''s group began to move to the boss, [Fire Guardian] at once. On the other hand, Auron began looting the monster''s drop. The time was tight. It almost took them 30 minutes to arrive this far. Obviously, this was not good progress. When Auron arrived at the [Fire Guardian]''s location, the battle had already started. In this dungeon, battling against the guardian was not that difficult. The guardian was alone, and it could not summon any minions. Moreover, the guardians would insist on using a wide-area spell, which obviously not optimal in this battle. If the group spread and moved quite far from each other, the spell would have less effect. What''s more, Auron''s current group''s composition only had three melee members. So, the other could keep attacking the boss on their spot. Chapter 514 - Fire Guardian (2) The time was not on Auron''s group''s side. When Auron''s group arrived at the [Fire Guardian]''s location, they had used more than 20 minutes. If Auron''s group used another 10 minutes to kill the boss, they would consume around 30 minutes to kill one guardian. However, there was more than one guardian in this dungeon. There were four, to be exact, which means they would 120 minutes to kill all four guardians. On the other hand, the time limit on this dungeon was only 2 hours. Hence, Auron''s group would not have enough time to kill the last boss, which was the most important boss. When the others were attacking the boss, Auron joined the group and approached Smite. He wanted to consult Smite about their current condition. "Nope," Smite rejected Auron''s offer to lead the group back while throwing his spell. "You don''t have to imitate someone else. I have my own way of leading the group, and you should have your own ways to solve the problem. And, I believe in you." "Think more about what you can do and maximize that thing. Each of the leaders has his own leading style. However, you should remember that the goal is to solve the problem the group faced." Auron felt flabbergasted with Smite''s sentence. He didn''t know why Smite insisted on him to lead the group when it already came to this point. Several reasons immediately popped out inside Auron''s mind. He had guessed that Smite wanted to let Auron experienced leading the group. This was the best way and the quickest way of getting to know the group''s members. Moreover, this was Auron''s quest, and if they failed, Auron would be the one who bore the cost. Auron quickly dismissed the thought. It was not the time to think about this. Auron had to think of a way to speed the group''s progress. Auron quickly found away. However, he still thought of another way. If he could, he didn''t want to use the first option. It was because the first option that immediately he thought was to use buff potions. Using buff potion in such casual dungeoning like this was rare to be heard. Currently, none of the members used any buff potion, including Auron. Of course, to make the other use their own buff potion was pretty tricky. Auron had to persuade them first. The easiest way was Auron would be the one who provided the buff potions. However, the cost would be not little. Rawr... The [Fire Guardian] roared and used its large area spell. Auron woke up from his daze. He quickly used [Mana Shield] to reduce the damage. The [Fire Guardian] area of effect spell was extensive. It still could reach the other even though the target was far from them. Of course, the damage would be different than if they were closer to the target. However, since it still reached them, they had to be prepared who know if they would receive critical damage. Fortunately, the boss'' attack was not a dangerous one. With the cleric''s help, everything went back to normal, as if the boss'' attack never happened. After the boss'' attack, Auron gritted his teeth and decided he had to do this. At most, he would borrow some money from Roan once more. Auron started to distribute his leftover stock of buff potions to the damager. With this added buff potion, the group''s damage started to rise up. Previously, it took around 1 minute to reduce 8% of the boss'' health. With this buff potion, the group''s damage almost doubled. They could reduce 14% of the boss'' health in 1 minute. There was even a time when they were lucky enough to get a lot of critical damage that the boss''s health reduced 21% in 1 minute. In just 5 minutes, the boss almost dead. The group could reach this most of it was thanks to the buff potion. Although everyone should be happy because the group was back on track, Auron was not that happy. He had become dizzy when he tried to calculate the cost. The buff potions only lasted for 30 seconds. So, for the [Fire Guardian], Auron already took out more than 20 buff potions. He even forked out some money to buy more buff potions. Seeing how his buff potions consumed, Auron was 100 percent sure that he needed to borrow money with Roan. Auron had already even contacted Roan to tell him about this matter while taking the [Fire Orb], which was located behind the [Fire Guardian]. Actually, to retrieve the [Fire Orb], a party didn''t need to kill the [Fire Guardian]. They could make the boss'' busy and send someone to retrieve the orb. However, no team would do that because there was nothing good that came out of doing that. If a party decided to do that strategy, then they would bring disaster to their team. It was because after they stole the orb, the guardian of the orb would follow them everywhere. Hence, if they moved to the next guardian, the first guardian would follow them there, and they would have to fight against two guardians. Even if they could survive that, that guardian would still follow them until the last boss or precisely until they kill the final boss and exit the dungeon. Seeing the profit and loss, no group liked to do that strategy. That was even the first thing they would discard from their mind even when they saw an unguarded orb. After collecting the [Fire Orb], Auron''s group immediately departed and went to the next area. They decided to go to the ice area first because it was closer. The first camp of the water area was the ice lizard. Actually, all of the monsters in this dungeon similar to each other, only the element that made them different from each other. After the ice lizard, it would be ice golem and lastly ice spirit. Before battling the first camp, Auron reluctantly distributed his buff potions. Chapter 515 - Quad Elemental Spirit King (1) One hour and twenty minutes had passed since Auron''s group entered the dungeon. They had gathered all of the four elemental orbs and were on their way back to the first location they were summoned in the dungeon, the center. They were not in a hurry to get to the center. It was because they already did a speed run for almost an hour, and they wanted to use this chance to relax a bit before doing the last battle in this dungeon. Thanks to Auron''s buff potion, all of the people here could fasten their pace and had 40 minutes of spare time to kill the last boss. Auron was leading the group back to the center of the dungeon. Deep inside, he felt rather sorry for taking this quest. Auron never knew that he would have to spend this many. He had already taken some loan to Roan. However, Auron had already gone this far. Of course, he would not give up midway. He could only continue on. He just hoped that the quest''s item would drop from the boss in this run, so he didn''t need to take the second dungeon run or even the third run. When they were on their way back, Cedric suddenly approached Auron secretly. Then, he said to Auron, "Boss, I don''t know you are this prepared and thorough for this dungeon run. I praise you for this." Auron had a mixed feeling. He didn''t know whether he had to be happy or not for Cedric''s compliment. However, whatever Cedric''s intention, it was already good enough that Cedric approached and talked to him first. It means that they become closer. Auron posed as this was nothing and said to Cedric, "What do you mean? Preparation is the most important thing to do when one wants to do some dungeon run." "Yeah, I know. But your preparation is on a different level. I look up to you for this matter. Can you tell me your secret, Boss?" "What secret? There is no secret. You just need to be more thorough when preparing for everything." Auron answered. "No... No... No... That is not what I mean." Cedric quickly said when he realized that Auron misunderstands his question. "So, what do you mean?" Auron was confused. Cedric moved closer to Auron and whispered, "Which conglomerate family are you coming from? Are you friend with our leader through your conglomerate''s connection?" Cedric had misunderstood Auron''s identity. He thought that Auron was coming from a wealthy family. Well, anyone could mistake Auron''s identity just like Cedric if they saw what Auron did. Auron was spending buff potions like it was drinking water. Because of that, Cedric misunderstood Auron''s identity. However, instead of answering Cedric''s question, Auron was more interested in what Cedric had said. "Our leader is coming from a rich family?" Auron asked. Cedric nodded and answered, "Yes, though he never wanted to admit that it is true. However, Jeffrey had said that Smite was coming from a rich family." "You know that Jeffrey and our leader were close friends, right? You should also know that Jeffrey is a money-grubber, and he is rich, right?" "But do you know what? Even the rich Jeffrey said that our leader was richer than him! Also, I heard some rumors that our leader used the money to come this far." Cedric was very excited when gossiping about Smite. He began to tell Auron about Smite''s rumors that he had heard of. However, Cedric''s excitement had to be cut off because they already arrived at the center of the dungeon. There were four pillars of different colors, red, blue, green, and white, in the center of the dungeon. As soon as they arrived, Auron immediately went to the red pillar. At the red pillar, Auron put on the [Fire Orb]. Then, he moved to the blue pillar and put [Ice Orb]. Lastly, he put the [Earth Orb] and [Wind Orb] at the green and white pillars respectively. After Auron put all of the four orbs, he immediately backed out and approached his teammate. The four orbs shone and shook tremendously. There was around one minute after all four orbs were put on the pillars until the last boss spawned. While waiting for the boss to come, Auron did what he had to do, distributing the buff potions to all members. From each of the four orbs, a light shone and shone towards above them. These fours light intertwined with each other, and a figure started to materialize slowly. It took several seconds before the figure materialized completely. The materialized figure had stood on his two legs like a human. However, its appearance was weird. The figure''s head was just like a normal middle-aged man''s face. On his neck, there was a necklace with the four orbs attached to it. What made this figure weird was his body. The body was made of four different elementals. His upper right body was made of fire. Then, his upper left body was made of ice. Meanwhile, his bottom right body was made of stone and rock. Lastly, his bottom left body was like a hurricane that shaped into a leg. This was the last boss of this dungeon, [Quad Elemental Spirit King]. Just like its name, the last boss could use all four elemental attacks. Just like the third camp, this last boss also only received halves damage from physical attacks. For the magical attacks, each body part would be immune to its element. For example, the upper right body was a fire element, so it was immune to fire element attacks. However, it could be attacked by other elements. This means that the mages had to aim their spell correctly. If they wanted to attack with a fire spell, they had to target body parts other than the upper-right place. The boss slowly floated down from the air. Although it was an elemental spirit, it could not fly. The game made it that way, so the difficulty was not that high. Chapter 516 - Quad Elemental Spirit King (2) The last boss slowly descended after it materialized. During this time, the [Quad Elemental Spirit King] was immune to all damage. Hence, it was useless to attack at this time. However, it was not like there was nothing for Auron''s group to do. Auron''s group immediately took their stance. As everyone had experience against this last boss, they knew what to do. The [Quad Elemental Spirit King] mastered all of the four elements. All of his attacks were considered a magical attack. Not only that, but almost all of the boss'' attacks was area attack even his basic attack was an area attack although the range was small. Because of that, Auron''s group as the contender had to maintain their distance from each other. Currently, the boss was still in an immune state. The boss would be freed from his immune state when he landed on the ground. When the boss'' feet touched the ground, Auron''s group immediately attacked the boss. The three mages, Smite, Julia, and Auron, directly used their spells and attacked the boss. Three different element spells flew to the boss, fire, ice, and wind. The [Quad Elemental Spirit King] was an epic grade boss. Because of that, the monster had a higher intelligence. When he saw the three spells coming towards him, he used his right hand to punch the fire. Then, he blocked the ice spell with his left hand and kicked the wind spell using his left leg. The boss used his body''s advantage to the fullest to block these three spells. Of course, Auron''s group was not surprised by this progress. They already knew that this boss was difficult to defeat. The spirit king didn''t passively wait and let Auron''s group bullied him. After nullifying the three spells, The spirit king returned the attack. The spirit king flipped his right hand upwards. A second later, a bolt of fire appeared floating above its palm. With a sway, the spirit king threw the [Fire Bolt] towards Auron''s group. However, after the boss threw the [Fire Bolt], he turned his body and took a kicking posture. Suddenly, in front of his right leg, a boulder of earth appeared out of nowhere. Like a professional soccer player, the boss kicked the boulder. A [Fire Bolt] and [Earth Ball] flew towards Auron''s group. These two spells flew and aimed at separate targets. The [Fire Bolt] flew to Julia while the [Earth Ball] moved towards Bernard, the archer. As a spirit king, it mastered the spell to the fullest. Even though it was a low-level spell like [Fire Bolt], the speed it flew was compared to a high leveled spell. Julia, who was the target of this [Fire Bolt], used [Ice Bolt] to block the incoming [Fire Bolt]. Boom... The two spells collided and nullified each other. Despite the fact that the spell negated each other, but it could be seen that Julia''s spell''s power was weaker. It was thanks to the elemental suppression that her spell could win the match. On the other side, Bernard jumped to the side to dodge the [Earth Ball]. The [Earth Ball] missed the target and hit the ground. It created a dent on the ground because of its massive strength. While on the air, Bernard did a quick shot towards the boss. The rain of attacks and spells flew towards the spirit king. Although the spirit king had more intelligence than the other monster, he could not dodge all of these various attacks. Several attacks connected to his body and reduced a little bit of his health. It tried to attack Auron''s group''s backline. However, before it could achieve that, Gavin and Dayton blocked its advance. The spirit king punched his right hand to Gavin. Flame shrouded his right hand. Gavin blocked the punch with his sword. When the punch and sword collided, a mini-explosion happened and pushed Gavin several step backs. Dayton helped Gavin by attacking the spirit king from the other side. Before his attack could reach the spirit king, a left kick from the spirit king blocked the attack. Even though it seemed difficult to attack the spirit king, the spirit king''s health slowly declined. After 5 minutes, the boss'' health was reduced by 10%. Auron''s buff potion was one of the important factors that Auron''s group could achieve this far. Time slowly passed, everyone had fully concentrated on this battle. One mistake, and it could mean death. Of course, the spirit king also knew his disadvantaged position. He struggled hard to escape from this position. However, the two swordsmen, Gavin, and Dayton kept sticking to him like glue. Gavin and Dayton kept on making the spirit king busy. Because of that, the spirit king had no time to dodge the incoming range attack from the archers and mages. Not only the two swordsmen that annoyed the spirit king but the two thieves, Cedric and Ainsley, also annoyed him. The two thieves used a hit and run strategy to attack the spirit king. These two thieves suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked the spirit king secretly. After that, they would back out and hide once again. Several minutes passed by. Gavin used his [Bash] and attacked the spirit king from behind. However, the spirit king already sensed Gavin''s attack. He backed out and dodged Gavin''s attack. Gavin''s sword missed the target. Before he could retract his blade, the spirit king attacked Gavin''s side. This attack made Gavin lost his balanced and pushed him towards the attacking Dayton. The two swordsmen collided with each other. Seeing this chance, the spirit king immediately sped up and aimed towards the cleric first. A dangerous situation occurred. Cedric hurriedly attacked to block the spirit king''s advance and bought some time. However, the spirit king had anticipated this attack. He kicked his right leg and used the [Earth Ball] once again. Cedric was not ready for this attack. The [Earth Ball] hit his stomach and thrown him away. The spirit king continued his advance towards the cleric. Chapter 517 - Quad Elemental Spirit King (3) The [Quad Elemental Spirit King] was an intelligent boss. He knew where to aim first. That was why he targeted the cleric first, who can heal the other and a fragile target. Gavin, Dayton, Cedric, and Ainsley also moved from their spot and tried to chase the boss. However, it was too late. With his fast speed, the [Quad Elemental Spirit King] already closed to the cleric in no time. A second later, the boss directly did an axe kick using his right kick towards the cleric. Fortunately, the cleric was not panic. Combined with Cedric and Ainsley''s advanced previously, they bought enough time for the cleric to chant [Holy Shield]. A white-yellowish layer appeared around the cleric. Bang... The axe kick dropped upon the cleric. The collision rang loudly. Several stones debris from the boss'' right leg also poured out upon the cleric because of the impact. However, the cleric didn''t seem to get affected by the kick. The cleric stood firmly while chanting the shield. All of this was thanks to the [Holy Shield]. This spell was one of the advanced spells that a cleric must have. This spell could be considered a powerful spell. [Holy Shield] was a spell that nullified all damage received by the cleric. Yes, it was all damage, magical or physical damage. Moreover, the spell was an activation spell. So, given a split a second, it could be activated immediately. A second later, it could be deactivated. Of course, this spell was not that overpowered. There were some disadvantages when using this spell. The first one was the mana consumption rate. The cleric must use 10% of his current mana or at least 300 mana points to activate this spell. Not only that, after activating this spell, the cleric would spend 100 mana points per second until it was deactivated. If the cleric''s mana was not enough to support the spell, the spell would automatically be deactivated. So, upon activation, the spell would last until the caster deactivated the skill or the caster emptied their mana. Even though it seemed there was no cooldown for activation type spell, but actually, there was a cooldown. However, it was so short that it almost seemed there was no cooldown. There was a 0.1 second cooldown after the spell deactivated. So, the caster needed to wait for 0.1 seconds after the spell deactivated before activating it once again. Of course, the cooldown seemed fast and looked useless, however, in a chaotic battlefield where projectile, skills, and spells flew randomly in the air. If the cleric was unfortunate enough, an attack could reach them in that 0.1 second cooldown window. There was one biggest downside when using this spell. Upon activation, the cleric could not do anything. They could not move, could not attack or chant another spell. They even could not use any items or potions. As a cleric, their main job was to support the team. If they could not do anything, it would mean they had become a burden for the team. Seeing his attack didn''t do any damage to his target, the boss frowned. However, he knew that as long as the cleric used this spell, he could not damage the cleric. Hence, he intended to change the target. The boss changed his target. He charged towards the closest enemy from his position. Unfortunately, the nearest target was Auron. Seeing the boss charged towards him, Auron immediately chanted [Aqua Barrier], his most powerful defense spell. Since the distance between the boss and Auron was so close, he could not move away. A collision could not be avoided. Auron fell down because of the crash. His [Aqua Barrier] was destroyed, and the surplus damage went into Auron''s health. Auron''s health decreased rapidly. Fortunately, his health stopped at 10%. Although Auron was fortunate that he didn''t die in a single attack, he could not celebrate yet. The boss was already prepared to launch his second attack. However, before the boss could finish his attack, from behind the boss, Gavin already charged towards the boss and hit him from behind. The boss lost balance, and his attack missed Auron, who was on the ground. Auron quickly rolled his body over and ran away from the boss while gulping a health potion. When Auron was running away, a white light shone upon him. It was a heal from the cleric who already moved further away from the previous place. The boss directly looked back and faced Gavin. He wanted to evade this Gavin and targeted the other fragile target. However, Dayton already arrived and worked with Gavin. The situation went back to the previous situation where the boss was busied with the melee members. Aside from the bleak situation that almost turned into a disaster for Auron, Smite, Julia, and the two archers diligently attacked the boss. Since the boss only took 50% from physical attack, they had to rely more on the magical attack. Even the two archers used their magical attacks like [Fire Arrow] or [Ice Arrow] all the time. Magical attacks were also tricky. They were based on the attack''s element. The four of them had to carefully aim at the boss'' body part, or else their attack would do no damage at all. If they used a fire element attack to attack the boss'' upper right body, which was also a fire element, they would not do any damage at all. If they could aim the fire attack towards the boss'' lower right body, which was an earth element, they would deal double the damage. Of course, saying was easier than done. It was really difficult to aim at a moving target. From this point, the skilled mage could be distinguished. Smite was the one who belonged to the professional group. He could easily aim for any element that he wanted. All of his attacks dealt double damage because of the element suppression. On the other hand, the others weren''t as skilled as Smite. Chapter 518 - Quad Elemental Spirit King (4) Smite was on top of the damage leaderboards in this current dungeon. His damage surpassed the other almost twofold. This showed how powerful Smite was. Even though Smite''s contribution was this great, the other members still hadn''t realized it yet. They were too focused on the boss. Auron''s rank on the leaderboard was around 8 to 9. He only surpassed the cleric in terms of damage. It was all thanks to his magical attack, which made his magic could deal double damage to a specific element. With Gavin and Dayton and the two thieves surrounded the boss, the situation almost back to normal. It was already 10 minutes since the boss'' battle started. Currently, the boss only had around 60% of his health left. As the boss'' health moving down, the boss'' strength and fierceness increased. Previously, Gavin and Dayton could still relax and confidently received the boss'' attack. However, right now, they had to be careful and tried their best to dodge the attack, or else they would increase the cleric''s burden. Auron, who already received the cleric''s heal, was beginning to attack the boss'' once more. He maintained some distance from the boss since he had just escaped a narrow death from the boss'' attack. Although Auron still attacked the boss, there was still one responsibility that he needed to do besides attacking. He needed to supply the other potions just like right now. Auron moved from Smite to Julia and to two archers and gave each of them several buff potions. He was like a walking potion store. Auron already didn''t feel anything when he gave those potions like it was nothing. He already spent so much, and he just hoped that everything ended soon. Time passed by. When the boss'' health reached 40%, his damage increased once more. Not only that, but the field around the boss also changed. The four pillars shook and started to release a random magical attack. From the fire pillar, a ball of fire would shoot randomly. From the ice pillar, an icicle shot randomly. From the earth pillar, a ball of earth shot. And, lastly, from the wind pillar, a wind blade cut through the air. These four magical attacks randomly appeared and were released from the pillars. These magical attacks also didn''t differentiate between Auron''s group and the boss. However, the difference was the boss could use his body'' parts to nullify these magical attacks. On the other hand, Auron''s group had to be more careful with the random magical attacks that appeared from the four pillars. Auron''s group''s pressure increased, especially, the cleric and Auron. The bottom two people in the damage leaderboard were pressured more. The cleric had to watch this randomly magical attack and also kept on observing his teammate, especially the four close combat members at the front. Meanwhile, Auron was so fragile that even one of these magical attacks could reap half of his health. Because of that, he had to become more careful. Even though the battle became harder and harder as the boss''s health went down, everything was still under control. With everyone''s effort and teamwork, the boss'' health still going down without any casualty. Everything seemed bright until suddenly, the boss did something strange. He suddenly stopped struggling against the four close combat members. This thing had never happened before. The boss didn''t do anything at all while Auron''s group still kept attacking them. Although Auron''s group also felt something weird going on, they could not waste this great chance. This thing had never happened before. Without the boss doing anything, his health dropped rapidly. From 30%, his health reduced to 15% in just 3 minutes. This all contributed to the magical attack that the mages and archers did. Since the boss didn''t do anything, it was very easy to target a stationary target. Their magical attack 100% dealt double damage at this 3-minute frame. Auron also felt something strange going on. He had never encountered this situation before. He attacked the boss while observing the boss closely. 15%... 14%... 13%... The boss didn''t do anything under this rain of attacks. When the boss''s health reached 10%, the boss''s body shook violently. Then, a thin layer of barrier appeared and surrounded the boss''s body completely. All of the attacks that flew towards the boss hit the thin layer and disappeared. All of Auron''s group''s members immediately frowned. Auron looked at the boss''s health. The previous attack didn''t do any damage at all to the boss. "What''s happening?" Gavin at the front shouted confusedly. However, nobody could answer Gavin''s question. Auron''s group kept on attacking for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, seeing all of their attacks didn''t do any damage at all, they stopped. The boss''s body started to glow. Then, fire, ice, earth, and wind suddenly appeared from the four orbs located in the four separate pillars. Those four elements flew up to the air before turned and went directly into the boss. Each of these elements went into the respective element at the boss'' body. It was as if the boss absorbed these four elements from the orbs. A minute passed, and it seemed the phenomenon would not finish in another minute. Another minute passed by, the boss''s body slowly floated from the ground. It floated and went to the center from those 4 pillars. Auron''s group had already gathered together and were watching this scene. All of them knew this was not a good sign. Auron watched this scene and frowned deeply. He cursed inside his head. "Why this strange occurrence should happen right now where this dungeon run was something important for him?" After another minute passed, the fire, ice, earth, and wind from the orbs began to dissipate. At the same moment, the sky started to darken. Thunder roared in the sky. This situation only happened for 5 minutes, before the sky slowly cleared once again. After the sky cleared, a notification popped out in front of Auron and Julia. [A secret stage has been triggered. You have one hour to complete this stage for abundant rewards.] Chapter 519 - Quad Elemental Spirit King (5) "What happened?" Gavin was still confused about what''s going on right now. Auron who already got the information, said in a normal tone, "We enter the dungeon''s secret stage." "What!! How come? I have challenged this dungeon numerous times, but this is my first time entering the secret stage. What is the trigger?" Auron shrugged his shoulders. He didn''t know since there was no information on the trigger to enter this secret stage. "We have one hour to clear this secret stage," Auron added. "What!! One hour? What happened if we cannot kill the boss?" Gavin asked once again to Auron. Without any information about the secret stage''s boss, Gavin didn''t know whether this one hour enough or not to clear the hidden stage. Hence, he asked Auron the consequence if they failed this secret stage. Once again, Auron shrugged his shoulders. He wanted to punch Gavin for asking these questions. He didn''t know anything at all. This was also his first time experiencing this kind of stage. Auron became worrier as time passed by. Previously, he had spent a lot just to kill the boss. However, right now, the boss was mutating. He believed the boss would become stronger because of this mutating instead of going weaker. Auron knew because of this, he had to spend more. He could not help but took a glance at his inventory to check his potion supplies. When he took a look at his inventory, he noticed something strange. One slot inside his inventory was glowing. Auron could not help but take a look at that item. It turned out the glowing item was the [Moss Sword], the weapon he got from Zephyr. "Wait a minute," Auron suddenly had a thought. Auron remembered Zephyr had said previously that he got this sword was from one of the ancient ruins. This dungeon where they currently run also came from an ancient ruin. Maybe, these two kinds of things were related to each other. This was the most possible reason that a secret stage from this dungeon occurred. However, it was not easy to conclude everything with just this one fact. There were already many people that held weapons or equipment from an ancient ruin. So, Auron was confused why he could trigger it but not the others. One most possible reason was the sword, and the dungeon was from the same ancient era. However, whatever the reasons were, Auron didn''t have any time to think about this yet. There was something important in front of them: killing the boss and clearing the dungeon. After the sky cleared, the boss''s transformation seemed almost ended. The flow of the four elements started to dissipate. When it completely dispersed, the boss descended slowly to the ground. Everyone in Auron''s group was observing the boss who was still descending. They could not attack the boss yet since they could see the thin layer that protected the boss. The boss''s appearance didn''t seem changed at all. However, Auron knew even though the appearance didn''t change, the boss'' power would be stronger. If not, it would not deserve to be the secret stage''s boss. What fortunate was the boss'' health didn''t change. The [Quad Elemental Spirit King] only had 10% of his health left. This means Auron''s group had 1 hour left to eliminate this 10% of the boss'' health. Even with 10% of the boss'' health left, Auron''s group was not confident that they could kill the boss. It was because they didn''t know how different the boss'' strength right now. It took 1 minute for the boss to reach the ground. Auron''s group had been prepared to attack the boss as soon as the boss got to the ground, even though they didn''t know whether the thin layer would disappear as soon as the boss'' feet touched the ground or not. When the boss'' feet touched the ground, Auron''s group threw everything they had been prepared. At the same time, Gavin and Dayton, and the two thieves immediately charged towards the boss. And, their guess was correct, the boss'' shield disappeared as soon as his feet touched the ground. After the boss'' feet touched the ground, he immediately opened his closed eyes. Then, he charged towards Gavin and the other melee members. The flying attacks missed their target and hit the boss'' previous location. Then, a baam sound was heard. The boss collided with Gavin. Surprisingly, Gavin lost in the power duel and flew backward. Dayton dodged the flying Gavin and attacked the boss. The boss raised his ice arm and blocked Dayton''s attack. Dayton didn''t lose confidence when his attack was blocked. He pulled his weapon and prepared to attack the boss once more. However, to his surprise, he could not pull his weapon back. The boss held Dayton''s weapon tightly. Also, from the contact point between Dayton''s weapon and the boss''s arm, ice began to spread out. Seeing this progress, Dayton became panicked. He used all of his power to pull the weapon back. But, it was futile. Fortunately, Dayton was not alone. Cedric launched a sneak attack from behind the boss and aimed at the boss'' head. It seemed that the boss already knew Cedric''s sneak attack. He raised his fire arm and blocked Cedric''s dagger. The attack didn''t stop there. There was still one thief lurking around, Ainsley. She used this moment, where all of the boss'' hands occupied, to attack the boss'' back. She directly used [Back Stab]. The boss turned his body 180 degrees. Of course, the two people, Dayton and Cedric, got swung around. Dayton''s body collided with Ainsley''s body and stopped her attack. Meanwhile, Cedric was thrown away by the boss. The boss didn''t stop right there. He immediately charged out and aimed towards the cleric. Gavin already stood up and blocked the boss'' path. The boss kneed Gavin''s stomach, then did a roundhouse kick and cleared Gavin from his path. When the boss was about to charge, a spell hit him. It was Smite''s spell. Chapter 520 - Quad Elemental Spirit King (6) Smite''s spell hit the boss hard and stopped the boss from charging forward. The [Quad Elemental Spirit King] turned his head to look for Smite. However, what greeted him were two other spells. One of the spells was from Auron, and the other one was from Julia. However, the boss seemed to know how powerful these two spells were. Still looking at Smite, the boss used his wind leg and nullified Julia''s magic. Then, for Auron''s spell, the boss didn''t do anything to it and just let it hit his earth left. Auron was using his fire spell and aimed towards the earth leg of the boss. Fire element would deal double damage to the earth element. However, the boss didn''t bother to dodge or block Auron''s spell even though it would deal him double damage. Smite didn''t want to participate in the staring contest with the boss. He ignored the boss''s stare and chanted another spell. When Smite was starting to chant a new spell, the boss immediately moved. However, he didn''t move to the cleric. Instead, he changed his target to Smite. Even though Smite was busy chanting the spell, he still observed the boss''s movements. So, when he knew that the boss was coming for him, Smite canceled his chanting and created an [Earth Wall]. The [Earth Wall] blocked Smite from the boss'' view. However, the boss didn''t care about it and kept on charging towards Smite. The boss''s charging speed was fast. Before he transforms, his speed already above average. Right now, his speed was faster compared to before. When the [Earth Wall] was just third-fourth erected from the ground, the boss arrived at the [Earth Wall] and destroyed it. However, to his surprise, he could not find Smite behind the [Earth Wall]. When the boss was about to move, he raised his right hand and grabbed two [Ice Arrow]. The fire hand immediately melted the arrow. The boss didn''t look in the arrow''s direction. Instead, he looked in the opposite direction and found Smite. He immediately charged towards Smite. However, before he reached Smite from his left side, Gavin and Dayton arrived at the boss. Both Gavin and Dayton did a body charge towards the boss. The boss turned towards the two newcomers and waved both of his hands upwards. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, two spikes appeared from the ground. However, those were not [Earth Spike]. Instead, it was a spike made of fire and ice. Smite opened his eyes wide as well as with Auron and Julia. They were surprised by what they saw. Usually, a monster who could use a spell like [Goblin Mage] or a similar monster would use magic that had already been known by the human. Although the name of the spell was sometimes different, the form of the spell used was the same. For example, a [Golem Mage] had a spell named [Spiky Thorns]. Although the name was different, that spell had the same effect and form [Earth Spike]. Meanwhile, in front of them right now, the [Quad Elemental Spirit King] already used two spells that didn''t have any relation to any spells they knew. The form was a little bit similar to [Earth Spike]; however, it was made of fire and ice instead of earth. Deep inside, Auron immediately thought of something, "Is it a combination of spell? Or is it a new entirely different spell?" On the other hand, Smite had a different thought from Auron, "Ancient spell?" The two pillars fire and ice sprung and hit Gavin and Dayton. Not only it halted them from coming towards the boss, but it also pushed them several steps back. Cedric and Ainsley appeared from the boss'' side and used their [Killing Stab]. But, before their dagger could reach the boss. A wall of earth and wall of wind appeared from the ground right at their dagger. Both Cedric and Ainsley''s dagger met with the obstacle and was reflected back. When the boss turned back his target to Smite, he could not see Smite at his previous location. Smite had already moved away from the crowded battle to somewhere safe. Seeing the battle''s progress, everyone frowned. The boss was too difficult. Throughout this time, only one Smite attack and Auron''s attack connected with the boss from numerous attacks. "Would the boss'' transformation increase the difficulty this much?" This was what inside Auron''s mind. Everyone already felt hopeless especially, the four melee members. These four people had tried their best to approach the boss only to find themselves being blown away by the boss. Twenty minutes passed by since the start of the battle. The battle''s situation was not that good for Auron''s group. For the past twenty minutes, only that Smite first attack and several Auron''s attacks could connect with the boss. Even though there was no casualty and the situation more or less was still under control, but if this situation continued, it would be only a matter of time before everyone became more dispirited and wiped out. Auron also frowned when seeing that his attack was blocked by the boss. The boss used several spells that were new to him and the others. Moreover, the boss could cast two spells at the same time. Of course, Auron didn''t know whether it was the boss'' limitation to only cast two spells or the boss just didn''t want to show off. When everyone seemed down, Auron looked at the boss'' health. Then, he realized something strange. The boss'' health had gone down to 8%. At the start of the battle with the transformed boss, the boss'' health was at 10%. Then, throughout the brutal fight, only Smite''s first attack and several Auron''s attacks could connect with the boss. Auron knew these attacks would not be enough to reduce 2% of the boss'' health. However, the truth showed before them, the boss had 2% lesser health. "Is it some kind of bug?" Auron thought. However, Auron didn''t want to conclude it yet. He decided to observe the boss closer. Chapter 521 - Quad Elemental Spirit King (7) Auron watched the [Quad Elemental Spirit King]''s movement closely. Not only that, but he also observed the [Quad Elemental Spirit King]''s health. He needed to know what made the boss had 2% lesser health. There were less than 40 minutes for the dungeon''s time limit. Based on the current progress, there was not enough time to finish this dungeon. Hence, Auron needed to know what made this 2% damage to the boss''s health and exploited it. Even though Auron was watching the boss closely, he didn''t forget to attack the boss. Five minutes passed by, the boss was still insisting on killing Smite''s life. However, the melee ranged members did all their best to block the boss'' advance. Gavin and Dayton had learned their lesson from their previous interaction with the boss. They moved to block the boss only to get blown away. However, it didn''t discourage them. Instead, it made them realized that there was someone or something else stronger than them. Thanks to Spica, the cleric, the melee members could still keep their life in the safe line. Even though a cleric, Spica was not an average cleric. She had good reflexes and good observation skills. Not only that, but her equipment was above average as well. In the Absurd team, Spica''s equipment was ranked two, only below Smite''s equipment. This equipment was also the one that specialized in increasing the healing effect and cleric''s skills. This was why Spica''s heal was twice as effective as the heal from an average cleric. Meanwhile, Auron, who was observing the boss closely suddenly found something strange. However, he didn''t want to conclude yet and kept on watching. What piqued Auron''s interest was the boss'' behavior. There was a time when the boss should have easily blocked Auron''s group''s attacks using his spells. However, the boss chose to do it the hard way. He blocked the attack using his elemental body. It was very strange when Auron saw it. Moreover, during these five minutes, the boss rarely used his spell. Even when he used his spell, the magic was low level and not as spectacular as the spike from fire and ice that he had used. A thought surfaced inside Auron''s mind, "Is the boss''s health will reduce every time he uses his spell?" Another 5 minutes passed, and Auron''s conjecture became stronger. The boss currently had 7% of his health left. Auron didn''t want to waste time. He believed that his guess was around 80% correct. He just needed to test it to be more sure. Auron moved besides Smite. He wanted to consult Smite about his guess. Surprisingly, Smite also had the same guess as Auron. Without further ado, Auron quickly relayed his order to the other members. Auron''s command was to force the boss to use his spell. If possible, force the boss to use the ancient spell. Auron believed that when the boss used the ancient spell, it would consume more health than the ordinary magic. What Auron means about the ancient spell was the spell that was not listed in the mage''s current spell list. It was the spell like a spike of ice and fire that the boss previously used. After relaying his order, Smite said to Auron, who was still next to him, "You are the leader of this dungeon run. You don''t need to ask for permission or anything else. As long as you feel that your order will not eradicate your group, you should do it." Auron knew what Smite had said. However, he was not confident and wanted to ask for Smite''s opinion. Of course, that was what was inside Auron''s mind. He didn''t want to argue with Smite anymore and just replied Smite with a nod. Everyone who heard Auron''s command nodded their head and began to look for a way to force the boss to use his spell. It was fortunate that there was no Jeffrey in the current rooster. Otherwise, Jeffrey would complain first before doing Auron''s commands. Auron was also racking his brain on how to force the boss to use his spell. One method that he had thought of was to increase their attack''s intensity. This way, the boss would feel overwhelmed by the attacks and had no choice but to use his spell. It seemed everyone thought the same as Auron. Everyone was doing almost the same thing as what Auron had thought. The attack''s intensity from every member increased. The boss also started to get overwhelmed by the attacks'' number. Currently, he occasionally used the low-level spell to block Auron''s group''s attacks. Even though the boss only used a low-level spell, that spell''s power was not weak. Its power could be compared to an advanced spell from an average mage. A minute later, Auron frowned. Even though the boss had used his spell, it was only low-level spells. It was not quick enough to reduce the boss''s health. Auron was pondering on how to force the boss to use the ancient spell. When Auron was pondering, the boss roared. Auron looked at the boss. The boss summoned the ice spike to block a spell coming towards him. It was a spell from Smite. Compared to what the others did, Smite had a different thought. Instead of increasing the attack''s intensity, he chose to attack at the right moment. Under the rain of the other''s attacks, Smite chose to wait and observe the boss. Then, stealthily, Smite launched his spell at the right moment. Combined with his mighty power, to begin with, Smite''s attack became deadlier. Because of that, the boss had no choice but to block Smite''s attack. Since Smite''s power was powerful, a low-level spell could not stop Smite''s attack. Hence, the boss used the ancient spell. Auron looked at the boss''s health. And, his guess was correct. When the boss used the ancient spell, his health reduced rapidly. After just three minutes since Auron gave his order, the boss'' health already dropped by 1%. Chapter 522 - Quad Elemental Spirit King (8) When everyone knew that their strategy worked, they became more spirited. "It is working! Keep up the good work!" Auron shouted. Smite was observing the boss, who was overwhelmed by the attacks. He was waiting for the right time to attack the boss. However, the boss had learned his lesson. The boss became more careful. He reduced his attack and increased his defense. This way, it became harder for Smite to get another opportunity. Another five minutes passed by, without any much change into the boss'' health. While dodging and blocking all the attacks, the boss also observed Smite''s action. When he saw that Smite was about to take action, he moved away and escaped from Smite''s magic range. The first time the boss used this strategy, the close combat members got surprised and were not ready. They let the boss escaped and wasted their chance to reduce the boss'' health. Auron''s group could see that the boss had shifted to use a defensive approach. It was difficult to create another chance for Smite to attack after they missed the first one. The second chance came right after the boss failed to block Cedric''s skills. Cedric''s skill connected with the boss''s body. Since the boss had a skill to half the damage from a physical attack, Cedric''s skill didn''t damage the boss''s health. However, Cedric''s skill surprisingly stunned the boss. Smite, who had been observing the boss all this time, didn''t miss this chance. He chanted his spell and directly launched it towards the boss. Unfortunately, the stun effect didn''t take too long. After half a second, the boss woke up from the stun effect and immediately escaped from the scene. And, there goes the second chance. Time passed by, there were only 20 minutes left in the timer. Meanwhile, the boss still had 5% of his health left. The urgent feeling started to seep into Auron''s group''s members. If this situation continued, even if they didn''t die from the boss, but their dungeon run would still fail. This time, the third chance came. The boss got stunned once again. Twice in a row, to be precise. Because of that, the boss didn''t have enough time to dodge Smite''s spell. He didn''t have any choice but to use his ancient spell to block these attacks. However, the boss also wasn''t stupid. Seeing that he had to use an ancient spell, he chose the right spell for this moment. It was a wide area spell. With the boss as the center, a blade of wind shot from the boss at all sides. This spell was kind of [Wind Blade]. However, it covered 360 degrees. Not only that, but the boss unleashed the blade of wind three times. Even for a boss, it was impossible to chant the same spell three times in a row. This means that this was the spell''s effect to create three blades of wind that covered 360 degrees. It was more accurate to call this wind shockwave rather than a blade of wind. Fortunately, the spell''s effect was not that far. The spell couldn''t reach the archer or mages. However, the spell had destroyed all of Auron''s group''s attacks at once. Not only that, but the spell blew and injured the close combat members heavily. This spell was different from the spike of ice or fire that the boss previously had used. This spell was far more dangerous than that. It was proved by the two thieves that were hanging with a sliver of their health left. Spica was indeed a skilled cleric. After the close combat members got injured by the boss and fallen to the ground, she finished chanting his area heal spell. The spell poured out to the fallen members. Of course, the spell could not heal the members back to their full health. Spica was chanting her second spell when the boss moved. The [Quad Elemental Spirit King] was not a kindhearted boss who waited for his enemies to go back to full health before attacking them again. After the boss unleashed those wind shockwave, he didn''t stay still. He immediately charged upon the fallen thief. His target was Ainsley, who was still on the ground. Then, with a slight movement, a spike of fire sprung from the ground under Ainsley. Although Ainsley had got heal by Spica, it was not enough. The wind shockwave already injured her badly, and the heal only recovered a little portion of her health. She could not dodge the spike of fire and immediately died because of it. She was the first casualty from Auron''s group. However, Auron''s group didn''t have time to mourn for Ainsley''s death. The boss already charged forward, ignoring the two swordsmen on the ground. He directly went to Spica, the cleric. Gavin and Dayton hurriedly went up to block the boss even though their health still not full yet. Sadly, the boss was faster than them. Moreover, Gavin and Dayton were one step late from the boss. So, they could not hold the boss back. Spica had already seen this coming. She was preparing to activate her [Holy Shield]. When the boss''s attack was about to reach Spica, a layer of [Holy Shield] already formed around Spica. Surprisingly, before the boss''s attack reached Spica''s [Holy Shield], the boss suddenly took a side step and charged towards the two archers who were close to each other. A spike of ice sprung from Axton''s right side and pushed him towards his younger brother, Bernard. Because of this spell, the two archers were grouped together. A block of thick ground appeared above these two archers and dropped towards them. These two archers hurriedly tried to escape from the spell. However, the ground below them shook and sprung upward. The two archers were hamburgered between these two blocks of ground. The boss arrived beside them and chanted a [Fire Bolt] and [Ice bolt] to each of the archers. These combinations of spells reaped the two archers'' life. Chapter 523 - Quad Elemental Spirit King (9) In just a short moment, the [Quad Elemental Spirit King] turned his precarious moment into something benefiting him. Three members had died in this short fight. After killing the two archers, the [Quad Elemental Spirit King] didn''t stop there. He tried to maximize his benefit by targeting Julia, the closest and easiest target. Unfortunately, his advanced had to stop since Gavin and Dayton already arrived and surrounded him. Three out of ten members had died. This was such a heavy blow for Auron''s group. Since these three members had gone, they knew it means that their damage would be reduced once more. Of course, by doing this, the boss also got some damage. After unleashing that several ancient spells, the boss''s health had reduced around 1.5%. Even though it seemed terrible for the boss, it was actually great for the boss. He could exchange 1.5% of his health for three enemies. If he didn''t get to kill these three enemies, he would still lose around 1% of his health. So, overall, the boss had the advantage in this short exchange. The battle resumed back with the boss was having trouble because of the close combat members. However, currently, the problem was not as big as the previous one. It was because one of the close combat members, Ainsley, had died. Cedric tried to fill Ainsley''s gap by working harder. However, it was not easy to cover those missing gaps. Several times, the boss had got out from the encirclement. Fortunately, Smite had seen this and supported the members. However, the gloomy aura around Auron''s group''s members could not be dismissed. After the previous exchange, they knew that the boss still had much power to eradicate them even though he only had around 3% of his health left. Auron also knew this. And, he also knew the reason why the boss didn''t use this power several times more. The boss was waiting for an opportunity. The boss could gain so much was only because of the surprise attack that he had released. If not because that, then the boss could lose 1.5% of his health without causing any damage to the enemies. That was why he was being careful. Another 10 minutes passed by. There were only 10 minutes left on the dungeon timer. On the other hand, the boss still got 2% of his health left. Seeing their track record to reduce 8% of the boss''s health in 50 minutes, they couldn''t finish this dungeon if they didn''t do something. Auron looked at his members, who were struggling. Then, he looked at Smite. Seeing that he didn''t much time left, Auron gritted his teeth and advanced forwards. Auron knew what he was doing right now was a suicide. Even Dayton and Gavin, who were stronger than him, could do nothing in front of the boss, much less him. However, as the leader, Auron had to do something. Auron was gambling his chance. Even if he didn''t do anything, they would fail this dungeon. So, Auron took this chance and gambled his life. Maybe, he could create an opportunity and turned the tide of the battle. Fortunately, this was a dungeon run. So, even though Auron died in this dungeon using his mage character, he would not lose his character. That was also one of the reasons why Auron was braved enough to take this chance. Auron charged forwards and joined Dayton and Gavin at the front. The boss was blocking Dayton''s attack when Auron came from his side and used [Ice Bolt] in short range. In such a short-range, the boss could not dodge the spell and get hit by the [Ice Bolt]. The boss roared furiously. It was not because of Auron''s attack. Instead, it was because Auron dared to come closer to him. The boss had already ignored Auron''s attack that so powerless and like a mosquito bite. However, seeing Auron came forwards, the boss perceived that as Auron mocking him. This reduced the boss'' prestige that even such a small character dared to face him up in the front. The boss could not accept this and prepared to eradicate Auron. He knew that killing Auron was easy. However, Auron was smart. Seeing that he was successfully raged the boss, Auron used Gavin and Dayton as a shield in front of him. He had to keep his presence there to let the boss became more furious. At first, the boss used his normal spell to push Dayton and Gavin away to reach Auron. However, Dayton and Gavin were like zombies and stuck to the boss tightly. He could not reach Auron at all. The boss had no choice but used one ancient spell to blast Dayton and Gavin away. After blasting Dayton and Gavin, and Auron, the boss immediately approached Auron and attacked him. However, before the boss''s attack could successfully reach Auron, the boss looked in front of him. A spell from Smite was coming at him. The boss reacted quickly, but it was too late. The boss was pushed back by Smite''s attack. Auron quickly crawled his way out from the boss. He was safe from such a perilous situation. One more attack from the boss, and he would be dead. Auron''s forehead was covered with sweat. His gamble could be considered a success since the boss had only 1.5% of his health left. However, this was not the end. Auron had to do this gamble one or two times more. On the other hand, the boss had woke up from his unstable mind. Previously, anger had controlled his mind that he forgot Auron was insignificant. Auron tried to use the same strategy. He moved forward and used Dayton and Gavin as a meat shield. However, the boss had recovered his state of mind and ignored Auron. The boss didn''t completely ignore Auron. However, he just became more careful, and if there was an opportunity, he would strike Auron instead of blindly charging towards Auron. Chapter 524 - Quad Elemental Spirit King (10) The boss only had 1.5% of his health left. As the boss calmed down, it was Auron''s group''s turn that became impatient. Although there were still more than 8 minutes left, Auron''s group''s members already became hurried. They wanted to kill the boss and finish this dungeon as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the boss didn''t let that happen. The boss quickly maintained some distance from the damage dealer at the back. Dayton, Gavin, and Cedric chased the boss. They had to stick close to the boss, or else it would be easy for the boss to attack the backline. Auron also followed from behind. When the four of them approached the boss, the boss quickly stopped escaping. Then, in a blink of an eye, the boss was already beside Cedric. The boss was actually baiting Auron''s group. He had changed his strategy to kill Auron''s group''s members one by one. And, his first choice was Cedric. The reason was that the boss had used another ancient spell that allowed him to do some short teleportation. Since it was only short teleportation, the boss could not target Auron, who was still lacking behind. Out of the four people, Auron was the easiest target to kill. However, since it was out of the short teleportation range, the boss changed his target and targeted Cedric, the easiest to kill between the three people. Cedric quickly reacted to the boss, who suddenly attacked him from his side. He raised his weapons and blocked the attack. However, the boss''s power was so strong that it pushed him down. When Cedric was down on the ground, the boss launched another attack. He used two normal spells and attack Cedric. Cedric could not block these two attacks and took a clean hit. Fortunately, the damage from these two spells wasn''t enough to end him. He quickly rolled his body over to escape from the boss'' clutch. The boss had seen this and waved his hand. Cedric, who was rolling on the ground, abruptly stopped. An [Earth Spike] had sprung from below him and stabbed him at the center of his chest. That [Earth Spike] ended Cedric''s life. The boss didn''t stop right there. He quickly changed his target to Auron. Auron had seen the [Earth Spike] stabbed Cedric, he stopped approaching the boss. He even tried to escape from the boss. Without Gavin and Dayton acted as his meat shield, it was easy for the boss to kill him. Auron was escaping. On his escape, Auron suddenly sensed something and quickly turned his way to the side. From Auron''s previous location, an [Earth Spike] sprung up. Auron was a mage, and he was quite sensitive with the magic element on the air. So, when there was a spell like this about to appear, Auron could know faintly sense it. However, in just a short second, Auron had to change his way once again. Another [Earth Spike] sprung and missed Auron. The boss had used [Earth Spike] like it was a normal attack and kept summoning it. Seeing that Auron could escape from his three spells, the boss didn''t bother Auron and turned his target to the two swordsmen. At this moment, a spell from Smite had come. The boss saw this and had come prepared. He easily dodged Smite''s spell without using any spell. Then, continued to attack Gavin and Dayton. The boss showed his strength. He easily knocked down the two swordsmen away. Then, the boss followed up with another two spells each to the two swordsmen. Fortunately, before the attack arrived, an area heal from Spice had poured down to the two swordsmen. This area heals saved the life of the two swordsmen. However, another two spells appeared and attacked Gavin. These two spells reaped Gavin''s life. It was unknown why the boss suddenly used this many spells to kill Auron''s group. Previously, he was very stingy with his spells. Dayton had a low health left. So, he backed out to recover some health first. He even took out his health potion. Unfortunately, everything went quickly. After killing Gavin, the boss immediately turned to Dayton. In this chaotic battle, Auron threw his [Fire Lance]. He wanted to help Gavin and Dayton. However, it was proved that it was impossible. Auron''s [Fire Lance] was ignored by the boss who was trying to kill Dayton. Just like with Gavin, the boss used another two spells to attack Dayton. Fortunately, a single heal arrived before the attack hit Dayton. Sadly, Spice''s effort was useless. Another two spells followed up and killed Dayton. The boss changed his target to Auron, who was alone at the front. There were only four members left, Auron, Julia, Smite, and Spice. On the other hand, the boss had also wasted too much health. He also didn''t try to block Auron''s and Julia''s attacks. This made there was only a sliver of health left on the boss. However, this sliver of health was like a mountain for Auron''s group. Auron tried to run away when the boss attacked him. However, he felt that he could not move. Since he could not move away, Auron took out his dagger and prepared to fight. The boss used his normal spells to fight with Auron. However, he still used his multicasting skill. Two spells came at Auron at once. Auron blocked one of the spells with another spell and the rest with his dagger. Unfortunately, his power was not enough. The boss spell dismissed his spell. Although the boss''s spell''s power had reduced, it was still hurt Auron a lot. Not only that, the other boss'' spell that hit Auron caused an explosion that also damaged him. With these two attacks, Auron was on his deathbed. A flick from the boss would kill him. The boss suddenly grew massive in Auron''s eyes. The boss stood tall and about to attack. Of course, Julia and Smite didn''t let the boss did what he want and attacked the boss as well. Chapter 525 - Quad Elemental Spirit King (11) Julia and Smite used their strongest spell to attack the boss. Since Auron had volunteered to become bait, then they would do their best to use that to kill the boss. Spica also didn''t stay still. She used a spell to the boss. Yes, it was to the boss instead of Auron. Seeing the current situation, Spica also had given up to save Auron. She knew that even with her heal to Auron, the boss''s attacks would still kill him. So, instead of healing Auron, it would be better to attack the boss. Spice used [Holy Fire] towards the boss. Although it had a fire in its name, this spell was not an attack spell. Instead, this spell was one of the debuff spells that a cleric would have. This spell''s effect would increase the target''s received damage, whether it was a physical attack or a magical attack. This debuff spell would last for 30 seconds or until the target had received 5 attacks. Despite the fact that the spell''s effect seemed extraordinary, but this spell could not be used carelessly. The reason was that, during the spell''s duration, the target''s attacks would be doubled. It was doubled and not just an increase of 10% or 15%. That was why, if it was used carelessly, then it could cause doom to the party. Previously, if this spell was used when the boss transformed, he could kill Ainsley with one ancient spell with the boss''s enhanced power. The [Quad Elemental Spirit King] saw Smite and Julia''s attack. However, he knew that there was still time for him to dodge the spells after killing Auron. So, he continued his attack instead of escaping. A golden fire spawned above the boss'' head and poured down to the boss. The boss got Spica''s debuff spell. It didn''t take time for a debuff spell to hit the target as long as the spell''s range was sufficient. Auron was facing the boss. Meanwhile, the other members were behind him. They could only saw Auron''s back and the boss. As the boss''s attack was coming towards him, Auron was racking his brain on what to do. He didn''t want to give up on the situation. He had to do something. With a dagger in his hands, Auron attacked the boss first. However, it was not a normal attack. Instead, Auron stealthy used his swordsman skill, [Bash]. Auron moved quicker, and his attack arrived first before the boss could finish his spell. Auron''s damage was obviously low. It could not reduce 0.1% of the boss''s health. However, a fortunate thing happened to Auron. Auron''s [Bash] fortunately triggered the stun effect. Although the stun effect had a minimal impact on the boss, it still stopped the boss'' action for less than one second. This stun effect was enough for the boss to get hit by Smite''s and Julia''s attacks. When the boss continued his attack, two spells from Smite and Julia hit the boss hard. The two spells hit the boss at the right element, and it caused increased damage. Moreover, with the help of [Holy Fire], the produced damage increased more. Julia''s spell hit the boss and pushed the boss several steps back. Julia''s spell halted the boss from attacking Auron. Next, Smite''s spell arrived at hit the boss. While Julia''s spell could push the boss several steps back, Smite''s spell had blown the boss away from Auron. Smite''s spell had triggered the critical attack. With the help of [Holy Fire] and increased damage over the element, the two spells, also the critical damage from Smite''s spell, managed to reduce the boss'' health to zero. The boss was fell down on the ground by Smite''s spell. The boss tried to stand up. However, his body felt weak and slowly turning into ashes. It took 30 seconds for the boss to completely turned into ashes. Auron, who was saved by the bell, felt his knee became weak and fell on his bottom. His body was drenched with sweat. He was saved. The survivor from Auron''s group immediately approached Auron. Meanwhile, Auron also got up. It was the most important time, looting the boss. Auron walked up to the boss''s loot and saw a bunch of items. These items were so exceptional that the price of these items could recover Auron''s loss. Auron scrummaged through the item and breathed a relieved sigh. He found the herbs that he needed. With this, Auron had fulfilled his goal. Smite tapped on his shoulder when he saw that Auron got what he needed. On the other hand, Spica and Julia had walked through the exit looking worn out. "Go, first. I will take these items. Later, I will distribute it to the members." Auron said. Auron knew that all of this could not happen without the members'' contributions. So, he intended to distribute these items to the members to repay their help. After looting all of the items, Auron got up and prepared to leave. However, he found something weird. The boss''s ashes were still on the ground and did not disappear. Usually, after a monster died, the corpse or whatever left from the monster would disappear after some time or until all of the items been looted. But, this didn''t happen right now. Auron suddenly got an insight. He looked at his inventory bag. He found the [Moss Sword] was glowing with light. "What happened?" Auron thought. Since Auron''s mage could not use a sword, he threw the sword to the ground above the ashes. Then, a magical thing happened. As soon as the sword touched the ashes, it immediately sucked all of the ashes around. It did not take long until all of the ashes had been absorbed by the sword. The sword was still glowing green on the ground before it slowly dimmed. Auron picked the sword once more after its glow completely disappeared. However, instead of checking the sword, Auron walked to the exit portal and exited this dungeon. Auron intended to check it later and didn''t want to make his group waited for him. Chapter 526 - Militarys Emblem (1) Auron arrived outside of the dungeon. He was greeted by a group of crowds. Auron was confused. Then, he realized that the group of crowds was surrounding his group. Auron approached his group when he heard a series of questions, "What happened inside? Why did it take long for your group? Were you triggering a secret level? How to trigger that?" It turned out the reason these people surrounded Auron''s group was that it took too long for Auron''s group to finish. Auron''s group had been inside for more than 2 hours. It was more than the time limit that the people had known. Hence, these people had known that there must be something going on for Auron''s group to spend more than the time limit. Ainsley, the first one who came out because she died, had already told them that they had entered a secret level. She also had explained to these people that she didn''t know what the trigger was. Unfortunately, these people didn''t believe what Ainsley had said. They thought that Ainsley had hidden something from them. Ainsley was being pestered by these people. That was when the two archers came out. The crowds started to pester the group. However, the answer they got was the same. One by one, Auron''s group''s members came out of the dungeon, and these people kept on bugging them. Auron, who came out last, also got surrounded like the others. The guards of this dungeon didn''t bother with these people as long as there was no blood. So, they close their eyes to this commotion. One of them looked at the time and asked Auron, who came last, "So, are you guys complete the secret level?" Auron didn''t know what to answer. If he answered the truth, they would come out with another question. Maybe they would ask Auron to show what he got and what triggered the secret level. If Auron lied, these people would not believe it since they only believed what they wanted to believe. It was a difficult choice. In the end, Auron chose to lie, "Unfortunately, we had failed the dungeon. The boss'' still had much health left, and we could not defeat it." Auron shook his head. Just like Auron had thought, these people looked skeptical. They didn''t believe Auron at all and kept on pouring on the questions. In the end, Auron raised his voice, "Stop! We have answered all of your questions! Whether you believe us or not, it is up to you, but we have told the truth. Now, leave us alone. We still have other matters to attend to." Auron led his group out of the crowds and intended to leave this place. However, these people would not let Auron''s group got away that easily. Some people blocked their paths. Auron gritted his teeth. He knew that this would happen. The people surrounded them had a higher level than them. Although Auron''s group was not weak, it was impossible to win against these many people. Moreover, these people''s equipment and skill was not simple at all. The guards who saw the situation escalated approached these people and said, "Go away if you want to make trouble. Don''t make trouble here!" The guards were not helping them. They just wanted Auron to move away. "Come on! We don''t have to do this! Just tell us the truth!" One of the people persuaded. "I have told the truth! We don''t know how to trigger the secret level, and we have failed miserably at that level! Don''t you know we have wasted our dungeon ticket only to get nothing!" Auron started to get furious and rebuked these people. However, Auron''s anger didn''t make these people scared. Instead, they also became furious. The situation started to get escalated. Meanwhile, All of Auron''s other members, except Julia, turned their heads and looked towards Smite. They didn''t have any worries on their face. Only Julia alone that worried about Auron''s mage character. Seeing no movement from Smite, the other members looked towards Auron and the people in front of them. Dayton whispered to Gavin, "They are fortunate. Jeffrey is not present right now." Gavin replied with a nod. Auron''s anger started to rise, and he could not keep it down anymore. However, he knew fighting with them was stupid and would only result in their loss. That was why Auron took out his military''s emblem. When the military''s emblem was brought out, Smite shook his head but kept silent and watched everything going on. As soon as the military''s emblem was shown, these people''s expression changed. This one emblem would complicate the situation. Moreover, there were royal guards stationed here. The military''s emblem means that Auron had the military as his backing. Although they had done nothing wrong, if they kept on cornered Auron, then Auron could deem this as they were looking for trouble. The royal guards also saw that Auron had taken out the military''s emblem. So, they began to approach Auron''s group. The people saw that the royal guards were coming over. Since they could do nothing to Auron''s group, they had no choice but dispersed. The crowds slowly dispersed, leaving only Auron''s group. The royal guards looked at Auron curiously. Then, he looked at the emblem before he said, "Don''t you know that it is forbidden to use the military''s emblem like this?" "Unfortunately, I have to report this to the higher-ups." The royal guards took Auron''s emblem and look for the name. After taking note of Auron''s name, the royal guards gave back the emblem to Auron and left Auron''s group alone. Auron had known this using the military''s emblem for his own use was prohibited. But, he had no choice to disperse the people away. Auron sighed. He would get on the trial. However, there was still at least one day before the trial would happen. For now, he had something to do. Auron turned around and said to his teammate, "Let''s go!" Chapter 527 - Militarys Emblem (2) Auron and his group went back to the military base. However, he didn''t go back to his room. Instead, they went to the Absurd team''s base camp. Auron intended to distribute what he got there. When Auron''s group arrived at the base camp, they found Jeffrey lying on the couch with a book covering his face. Jeffrey heard the noisy sound and got up, "Oh, you guys already back." It was already more than 7 hours since they started to go this morning. Most of the time was used for waiting for the line to enter the dungeon. Fortunately, they had entered and cleared the secret level of the dungeon. Everyone immediately gathered around the table. Jeffrey knew what they were doing. It was the loot distribution time for them. As Auron was the initiator of this dungeon as well as the leader of this dungeon run, he was the one who collected the loot. Auron began by taking out the equipment he got from the normal monster inside the dungeon. After tallying the number, there were 57 pieces of equipment from their dungeon run. However, none of the members were interested in the equipment. All of this equipment was only a low grade one. Without much debate, Auron passed the equipment to Smite. He also gave the miscellaneous item that he got from the dungeon run. Auron got two choices to pick from. The first one, he could sell these items and equipment by himself. Then, later on, he could distribute the money to the members. The second option, Auron, gave the Absurd team items, in this case, Smite as the leader, to sell. The team would sell the items and tally the numbers. Of course, a portion of the sales would be taken by the group as a fee. Auron chose this option because he didn''t have any time to sell all of these items. Moreover, Auron was a part of the Absurd team. So, there was no problem with giving a little bit of money to the team. Auron predicted that he could cover ticket expenses and a portion of his potion''s fee from the loot that he got from the normal monsters. After putting aside the loot from the normal monster, it was now the time for the real deal. Auron took out the haul from the final boss. Of course, he only took out the equipment left from the final boss. Everyone other than Auron had an eager look in their eyes. After all, it was the loot from a secret boss. Moreover, it was an ancient dungeon that was known to be better than an ordinary dungeon. There were 10 equipment and weapons in total from the last boss. Auron started to take out the item from the cheapest one. It was a rare grade weapon. Although it was just a rare grade, everyone knew that this weapon surpassed other weapons on the same level. It was comparable to a low epic grade weapon. When Auron took out the weapon, Gavin said, "It is not the best item, right?" Auron replied with a shook. Everyone''s eyes were glimmering with hope when they saw Auron shook his head. Although this item was pretty good, it was not enough to enter the Absurd team''s members'' eyes. No one commented about it. So, Auron put the weapon on the pile of items that would be sold and continued taking out the next items. Unfortunately, the following five items also could not enter the Absurd team''s members. There were 3 rare grade equipment and 2 epic grade equipment. If these items were put in front of ordinary people, they would fight for them. Even though the Absurd team''s members didn''t like it, but these items still could be sold for a reasonable price. So, Auron was quite satisfied with the items. When Auron took the seventh item, Gavin and Dayton immediately stood up. "This item is mine," Gavin said. "Nope, can''t do! I am missing good footgear, and this was the most suitable footgear for me." Dayton said. Just like Dayton had said, the seventh item was heavy footgear suitable for high defense. This equipment was also an epic grade item. What''s made this item coveted by both Gavin and Dayton was because it gave them an increase in movement speed and higher defense than other same grade footgear. Even though Dayton and Gavin was not the agile swordsman type, but a boost in their movement speed was incredible. After Dayton said his piece, Gavin looked at him and nodded. He gave up to get the item. Even though the footgear was better than his current footgear, it was only slightly better. This footgear would give a big boost to the team if it was used by Dayton. So, Gavin gave up his right for the item. With that, the item was handed to Dayton smoothly. If there was a loot distribution like this in the Absurd team, the one who wanted to take the item needed to pay the item for half price. Since Auron was the leader of this dungeon run and paid all the cost, Auron could determine the price and keep the money for himself. However, as goodwill, he decided to follow the team''s rules for the loot distribution. Auron took the money and kept it to distribute it among the members based on the rules. The rules said that 20% of the money would be given to the leader, and the rest would be split evenly. If there was leftover after the split would be put into the team''s funds. In this dungeon, Auron could be said very generous. So, everyone was pleased with Auron''s attitude, and no one complained about it. Auron was about to take out the eighth item when there was a knock on the door. The one closest to the door opened it. And, it turned out, an officer paid them a visit. All of them directly looked at Auron. Chapter 528 - Militarys Emblem (3) Auron had known that there would be an officer coming for him. It was related to the matter back at the dungeon. However, Auron didn''t know that it would be this quick. Auron approached the officer at the door. And, just like everyone had thought, the officer took out a paper and gave it to Auron, "This is your trial''s summons. You have to be on time!" After saying that, the officer quickly went away from the place. Meanwhile, Auron opened the trial''s summons and looked at the message. According to the warrant, Auron needed to go to the trial tomorrow morning. Since it was still tomorrow, Auron didn''t think about it. He folded the summons and kept it on him. Auron shook his head and moved back to the table. He said, "Let us continued. There are still three items left." Julia actually was worried about Auron. However, since Auron had said so, she put her worries aside. Auron continued the loot distribution. He took out the eighth item. The eighth item was still an epic grade item. It was still another heavy gear that suitable for close combat members. Just like before, Gavin''s and Dayton''s eyes glimmered. This new piece of equipment was better than the previous one. Gavin and Dayton fought for the item. In the end, Gavin gritted his teeth and let Dayton won once again. With two items in his hands, Dayton had earned enough. Moreover, the two items that he earned was high-end items. Auron continued to the ninth item, which was a king grade bow. Since the two archers in the Absurd''s team were real brothers. There was not much conflict with them, and they quickly settled the matters. Now, it was the time for the tenth and the last item. Everyone had anticipated it a lot. Even Jeffrey also waited for the last items. These items should be a king grade item since the previous item was a king grade one. There was still a low chance for this item to be a legendary grade item no one had ever seen. However, everyone believed that it was impossible. Auron took out the last item. It was another weapon. And, just like everyone had thought, it was a king grade weapon. As soon as the last item was shown. Almost every member''s of the team felt dejected. It was because the last item was a staff. There are only four people in the Absurd''s team that could use the staff, Smite, Julia, Auron, and Spica. Even though this staff was useful for Auron, he immediately gave up his chance to obtain the staff. It was because Auron didn''t have any money to buy this staff. Although Auron would get enough money after the other items'' sales, he was not in urgent need of a staff. Moreover, the staff''s level requirement was relatively high for him. Spica also gave up her right to the staff. Although her current weapon was inferior to the staff, her current weapon had an effect of increasing the healing effect. As a cleric, the healing effect''s increase was an important asset for them, so Spica decided to use her current weapon. There were Smite and Julia left. Julia had an eager look at obtaining the weapon. She required an equipment change. And, this weapon was suitable for her. Unfortunately, there was one problem. Her money was not enough to buy the weapon, even with a 50% discount. Thanks to the last dungeon, she leveled up, and that was when she needed to change all of her equipment. Smite looked at Julia and said calmly, "Do you want it?" Julia nodded and said, "But, I don''t have enough money on me. I have other equipment to buy and cannot waste all of my money on this one weapon. I am rather increasing my survival chance than increasing my firepower. Do you also want it?" Smite said like it was nothing to him, "This weapon is good. But, if you want it, you can take it. About the money, you can use the weapon first and pay the weapon in installment." Julia was shocked and looked at Auron. Meanwhile, Auron, who heard was Smite had said, also wanted to say that he wished for that weapon as well and paid in installment. However, he didn''t voice his inner thought and just nodded to Julia. Auron calmed himself by saying that the weapon''s level requirement was too high for him. It was better to be used by Julia instead of staying inside his inventory. Julia''s eyes brightened. She gladly took the weapon and thanked Smite, Auron, and everyone else. Actually, this was not the first time this kind of thing happened. The other members had seen this, so they didn''t have any problem with paying in installment as they knew that Smite would cover the cost first. With that loot distribution settled, everyone quickly went on what they wanted to do. Meanwhile, Smite handed the items to Jeffrey, the only merchant in the team. Jeffrey reluctantly accepted the goods and did his job. "Are you ready for tomorrow? Do you need my help?" Smite asked Auron. Auron knew what Smite was talking about. Auron shrugged his shoulder and said, "Let us see tomorrow. Thank you for the offer. If I need some help, I will contact you." With that, Smite left Auron alone. He believed with what Auron had said. Auron already got a plan for tomorrow. He intended to use his connection with General Aston. If he could not, he still had his trump card. He wanted to use the Fourth Prince. Of course, he didn''t want to use the Fourth Prince if he didn''t need to because the Fourth Prince only knew his swordsman character. Auron hoped that General Aston would help him. However, there was still one thing left to do before asking General Aston. Auron bade everyone farewell and went back to his room. Inside his room, Auron locked the door to his room. Chapter 529 - Elemental Form It was still in the afternoon. The sun was still shining brightly. However, Auron closed his curtain and turned on his light. He wanted to keep this a secret. After Auron felt secured, he took out the [Moss Sword]. [Moss Sword] (common grade equipment) (Upgradeable) Type: One-Handed Sword Requirement: 100 Strength, level 100 Class: Swordsman, Thief, Merchant Attack: 60 - 63 Effect: No effect Description: A one-handed sword with a green blade. Other than its strange color, the sword, currently, doesn''t have any effect. However, don''t underestimate this sword since this sword is upgradeable. Upgrade Information: - Sacrificed common grade weapon (0/100) - Coal (0/100) - Iron (0/100) .... Auron skimmed the weapon''s information. However, there was nothing change about the sword. No new information or change in the effect. Suddenly, Auron realized there was something new at the most bottom of the weapon''s information. There was a new line added. The line was named with ''energy''. And, Auron had already 100 energies. Auron guessed that this should be something new given by the [Quad Elemental Spirit King]''s corpse. Unfortunately, Auron didn''t know what this energy means. There was also no information about it anywhere. Auron saw there was a plus button near the energy. Auron clicked the plus button. And, a new popup confirmation appeared in front of him. [You are about to spend 100 energy to activate the elemental feature. Are you sure?] Auron''s eyes brightened when he saw the confirmation text. It seemed that he hit the jackpot. An elemental feature. Although Auron still didn''t know what it would do to the sword, he knew it should be impressive. Auron didn''t ponder for too long and immediately clicked the ''yes'' button. Suddenly, the sword glowed in red light. A second later, the red light vanished, only to be replaced with blue light. A second later, the brown light shone from the sword. And, one second later, a white light shone. It took a full four seconds before the light dimmed and the sword returned to normal. Because it was too sudden, Auron panicked. These strange lights would attract the passerby''s attention. He immediately stood up and opened the door to his room. Fortunately, there was no passerby. Auron breathed a relieved sigh and locked back his room. He went back to his sword. The sword''s blade had changed. Previously, it was only had a green moss color. However, right now, the blade had a diagonal dark red color pattern from its sword''s tip. It made the sword''s blade looked grimmer. It was as if the dark red pattern was made of real blood. Auron looked at the sword''s information. A new section was added below the energy information. There were four new lines. Each of the lines represented an element. [Moss Sword] (common grade equipment) (Upgradeable) Type: One-Handed Sword .... energy: 0 fire form level: 1/10 (activated) ice form level: 1/10 earth form level: 1/10 wind form level: 1/10 Seeing this, Auron knew that the sword was currently in its fire form. And, also the number should represent there were 10 levels for each elemental form. One question surfaced in Auron''s mind. How to upgrade these elemental form? Auron tried to look for information. Not long after, he found the answer. Auron needed to gather enough energy to upgrade the elemental form. And, each element would need to be upgraded separately. The cost for upgrading was also not cheap. Auron needed to spend 100 energy to upgrade to level two. Then, he needed 200 energy for the third level. 300 for the fourth level. 500 for the fifth level. 800 for the sixth level. 1300 for the seventh level. 2100 for the eighth level. 3400 for the ninth level. And 5500 for the tenth level. It was also not easy to obtain energy. The sword needed to absorb the corpse of a boss monster. Also, it was not any kind of boss monster. The boss needed to be a minimum of a rare grade boss monster for the sword to obtain energy. The higher the grade, the higher the energy received. A rare grade boss monster would give one energy. An epic one would give 10 energy. However, if it was a boss from ancient times, the energy would be multiplied by 10, just like the [Quad Elemental Spirit King]. This means that Auron needed to kill the [Quad Elemental Spirit King] four times to upgrade all forms to level 2. It was not easy. But, Auron knew he had secured a way to provide these energies, which was the previous dungeon. Of course, right now was not the correct time to farm these energies. He needed to be stronger first. He also required a lot of money to buy the ticket. Also, Auron knew if he were farming the energies, he would need a great team to keep his secret. Right now, Auron still could not trust the Absurd team with his secret yet. Hence, Auron was required to find 10 people to bring to farm. However, Auron knew it was still long in the future. Auron was happy as well as gloomy with this new gain. He was pleased because this means he already had an elemental weapon. The elemental weapon was not easy to obtain. Even they had an elemental weapon, no weapon had four elements like what Auron had. If this news got outside, then there would be many people who would try to snatch this weapon. However, he was also pained because he had to find more time to farm for these energies. There were already many things in his hands and another new one already added to the list. Auron shook his head. No, he could not think like this. This would only add to his burden. He decided to complete the task one by one slowly. Since Auron could not test the sword''s new power, he could only put it back to his inventory. Now, he had to prepare for tomorrow''s trial. Auron stood up and exited his room. It was time to meet with General Aston for some help. Chapter 530 - Aurons Military Trial (1) Auron was waiting outside of General Aston''s office. He already told the officer in charge to say to General Aston that he wanted to meet. Unfortunately, it was not easy to meet with General Aston. Auron was rejected by the officer. However, Auron didn''t give up. He showed the officer his intelligence corps badge. With that badge shown, the officer didn''t dare to wait. He rushed towards General Aston immediately. 5 minutes later, the officer in charge returned and told Auron that the general was in the middle of a meeting. He told Auron told to wait until the meeting was over. Auron was not in a hurry. So, he nodded and waited beside the officer in charge. One hour later, Auron got called to meet General Aston. Not long after, Auron went inside General Aston''s room. Inside the room, he could see that General Aston was sitting relaxedly on a couch. Actually, General Aston was not in a middle of a meeting. He was relaxing and was not in a hurry to call Auron. As the leader of the intelligence corps, General Aston already knew the reason why Auron came here. Although Auron had saved his life before, it was not enough for him to let Auron did what he wanted. "Come! Take a seat!" General Aston told Auron to sit in front of him. When Auron had been seated, General Aston continued, "What makes you here?" General Aston was pretending he didn''t know Auron''s intention for coming here. Auron sat straight and said solemnly, "I need some help." General Aston frowned. He kept on his pretense, "What happened?" Auron started to tell General Aston about his problem. He also said about the secret level inside the dungeon. Of course, Auron told General Aston the truth that he completed the dungeon. This matter already blew up everywhere. If the military decided to investigate, they would surely find out about the result. Moreover, even if Auron could keep the truth by himself, what about the Absurd team''s members. So, Auron could not lie in front of General Aston. However, Auron still kept the matter about his sword secret. After all, only he knew how to enter the secret level and also what his rewards were. General Aston laughed and said, "Ha... Ha... Ha... A small matter. It just a small matter." Auron felt relieved. However, a second later, his relieved feeling was washed away. General Aston said, "It just a small matter. But, why should I help you?" Although General Aston knew about Auron''s value, he felt that it was not enough for him. Moreover, Auron was breaking one of the important rules in the military''s code of conduct. General Aston intended to punish Auron for this. Auron was pondering on what he had to do to make the general helped him. The room was silent for 5 minutes before General Aston broke the silence. "You know right that you have broken one of the important rules. I don''t know the reason why you choose this when there are many ways to resolve your problem." "But, well. This time, I will let it go. However, remember, it was just for this once. There is no second chance." General Aston finally revealed his intention. This sentence made Auron felt relieved. He knew that what he was doing was stupid. He did it because he was too angry and could not think the matter straight. It seemed Auron had an anger management issue. With General Aston''s promise, Auron felt one of his burden lifted. He stood up and thanked General Aston. Then, he wanted to leave the room when General Aston said, "If you are free. You can visit the intelligence corps headquarter for a mission. There is a mission that needs some member." Auron stopped and nodded toward General Aston. Then, he left the place. Inside the room, General Aston shook his head. Just like what he had said to Auron, he didn''t know why Auron chose to act that way when there were many other ways to resolve his problem. Then, he stood up and started to call. Auron didn''t go back to his room immediately. Instead, he looked for Zephyr. He had completed Zephyr''s quest but not yet reported it back to him. Not long after, Auron met with Zephyr in his room. Seeing Auron, Zephyr''s face was calm. He didn''t know whether Auron succeed or not. He felt that Auron would fail the quest, but he still hope that Auron succeed. A second later, Zephyr''s face turned brighter when he knew that Auron had succeeded. Zephyr immediately asked Auron to hand over the herbs. He was in a hurry. Auron didn''t waste any time and immediately handed over all of the herbs. After receiving the herbs, Zephyr didn''t wait for Auron to go and directly went outside, leaving Auron dazed. But, not long after, Zephyr went back. He needed to lock his dorm room. He also thanked Auron and directly left Auron once again. Auron shook his head. He didn''t mind Zephyr''s action. He knew why Zephyr acted like this. It was obvious that he was very eager to save his family''s life. Auron left Zephyr''s place and went back to the Absurd team''s base camp. However, before he walked too far, he remembered what General Aston had said. Hence, he turned around and went to the intelligence corps'' headquarter. What Auron found inside the intelligence corps'' headquarter was surprising. Usually, the headquarter was calm, and there were not many people around. However, right now, Auron could feel the hectic feeling inside the headquarter. He also saw many people running around carrying a lot of paper in their hands. Auron walked inside. However, from his side, a person shouted to him, "Move away! Move away! Don''t just stand there!" Auron found this situation surprising. Suddenly, a thought appeared inside his mind. "Did General Aston trapped him?" However, Auron quickly dismissed the idea as he walked inside. He met the person in charge. Chapter 531 - Aurons Military Trial (2) In front of Auron, there was an old man with white hair and a white beard. The old man should be around 60 years old. But, the old man was still vigorous like a young man. This old man was worked at the intelligence corps as an agent. In the intelligence corps, an agent was some kind of manager. Their job was to supply and help as well as provide the intelligence officer with everything. Each agent would manage at least five people, and Auron was under this old man. Right now, this old man was busy with a pile of paper in front of him. He didn''t realize that Auron was in front of him. "Hey, Blackbeard," Auron called the old man in front of him. The old man had named himself Blackbeard. It was weird since the old man had a white beard. However, Auron could do nothing since the old man would not respond if he was called something else. Hearing someone calling him, the old man glanced over and saw Auron was in front of him. However, before the old man could say anything, Auron said, "What is happening here? Everything seems hectic here." The old man frowned upon hearing Auron''s words. However, he quickly recalled that Auron was new here. As Auron''s agent, Blackbeard, explained, "Once a year, the royalty hold an important meeting. The meeting''s agenda is to discuss everything that happens in their territory. And, it is not just about military reports. It is about everything and in detail." "And, this meeting also discuss the possibility to expand our area in Gaia as well as in the Bridge World." "Since this is an important decision, we have to give the right information. You don''t want to imagine the consequences if there is wrong information given." "This is one of our intelligence corps'' responsibility. As you can see, many people will spend their effort to compile the correct information and give the most detailed information. This matter also concerns our next year''s budget. So, everyone regards this as an important event." "You know we are busy, right. So, please don''t waste our time. If you come here just to ask about this, then get lost." "General Aston sent me here. He said there is a mission that needs some members?" Auron quickly said. Blackbeard stopped for a second, pondering. Then, he remembered something, "Oh yeah, there is one mission that needs some members." Blackbeard scoured his desk. Then, not long after, he took out a paper. "Here, take this. This mission is joint work with the military academy. And, this paper here represents your status as the intelligence corps." Auron nodded. It was not too long ago since he was graduated from the military academy. This time, Auron returned to the military academy but not as a student but as a professional military soldier. Auron wanted to leave the place and went to report to the military academy. However, before he could go too far, Blackbeard said, "You don''t have to report today. There are still 3 days before the deadline. You can report tomorrow after your trial." Auron halted his step and looked over. He stopped his action because Auron was shocked. He was shocked because even though the chaotic situation here, it seemed that Blackbeard still knew about his condition. Blackbeard was busy writing something on his paper while looking over at the paper on top of the pile. Auron shook his head and exited the place. However, he still did as what Blackbeard had said. The next day. Tok... Tok... Tok... "Since the defendant had agreed to accept any punishment and this is his first offense, hereby I sentence the defendant to pay 10 gold and five thousand military points as fine." "All of the fines should be paid in one month. If the defendant could not pay in time, he would be stripped of his military status and put in jail for one year." "Any objection?" The judges announced his sentence to Auron. "Since no one object, then the trial dismissed!" Auron stood up and exited the court. Even though the five thousand military points were quite huge, Auron knew that the amount was lesser than the average fines. General Aston had helped Auron to shifted the punishment from being jailed to pay some penalties. He also lower the penalties. An average level mission''s rewards would give Auron about 2 thousand up to 4 thousand. This means, five thousand points were equivalent to two of an average level mission''s rewards. Although Auron didn''t know about the mission tomorrow, he felt that tomorrow''s mission could give him around 3 thousand points. So, he could already get half of his point needed right away. As for the 10 gold fine, it was nothing. After all of the items from the ancient dungeon sold, Auron should get more than 10 gold. Of course, Auron still didn''t know when all of the things would be sold. All of the items would be sold in a week or two, so it should be no problem. With everything here done, Auron directly went to the military''s academy to report for the mission. Of course, Auron already told Smite that he was going for an assignment, so he knew where to look if there was something urgent. In no time, Auron arrived at the military''s academy. Auron directly went to the headmaster''s office. "Wow, you are the one that came?" The headmaster recognized Auron since it was not too long ago since Auron graduated. The headmaster was surprised because he knew it was not easy to enter the intelligence corps. And, in just such a short time, Auron could join the intelligence corps. If it was not because of nepotism, then it would be because Auron was so skillful or lucky enough. "Have a seat!" The headmaster continued, "I requested 5 intelligence officers, and you are the first one. So, let''s wait for the other four before I explained the mission." Chapter 532 - Five Bandit Groups (1) "Isn''t the deadline tomorrow?" Auron asked. What happened if one of them came tomorrow? Should Auron wait until tomorrow? The headmaster suddenly remembered, "Oh, I forgot! I thought the deadline is today. Thanks for your reminder. Then, let me started the explanation!" When the headmaster was about to explain, a knock was heard on the door. Then, from outside, his secretary said, "Headmaster, representatives from the military''s intelligence corps has arrived." "Let them in!" The headmaster said. Not long after, the door opened, and three people were seen. At the front was a woman who Auron recognized as the headmaster''s secretary. Behind her, there were another two people. It was a man and a woman. It seemed both the man and woman were the same age as Auron. "Come... Come... Come... Have a sit." The headmaster kindly invited them inside. The man and woman sat down beside Auron. Both of them looked at Auron and smiled. Auron replied with a smile as well. Auron joined the intelligence corps not too long ago. Moreover, during his stayed there, he never worked together with another person from the intelligence corps. So, Auron didn''t know the identity of the man and woman. Even though Auron didn''t know the two newcomers, Auron''s first impression of the man and woman was okay. "My name is Leon," The man said. "My name is Charlotte. Nice to meet you." The woman said. "Hello, you guys came to the right. I was about to explain the mission to Smiling Wizard here." The headmaster said. Both Leon and Charlotte looked at Auron, who introduced himself to them, "Hello, my name is Smiling Wizard." "Well, then. Let us start!" When the headmaster said this, Leon''s, Charlotte''s, and Auron''s attention went back to him. "As a military academy, our mission is to give a training preparation for our students here. So, when they enter the military, they already knew the basic knowledge and what to do in a dangerous situation." "All of this time, we just gave our students a lesson about the general military. And, now, we wanted to expand that knowledge to other things, including the intelligence corps. And, that was why we hired you guys." The headmaster explained the mission''s background. "As we haven''t created any curriculum yet, we wanted to give the student an introduction first. So, we opened applications for those who were willing to experience this." "And, we gathered 15 students in total. These 15 students would be divided into 5 groups. So, each of you would teach 3 students about the intelligence corps." Auron frowned. It was a teaching mission. Although Auron had learned the introductory lesson after joining the intelligence corps, Auron didn''t like teaching others. In real life, Auron was brilliant in academics. Mathematics was one of the subjects that he excelled in. There was a time that his classmate asked him to teach mathematics to his brother. The result was Auron got so stressed out and angry. He wanted to punch his classmate''s brother, but he successfully held that urge. After that incident, Auron never taught other people anymore. And, right now, Auron had to teach the student here. Auron was about to say something when the headmaster continued. "Don''t imagine that you would teach your student inside a class. We want this lesson to be as effective as possible. And, to make this effective, we believe the real experience is the best choice." "We have selected 5 local weak bandits groups. Each of your team will be gathering information about your assigned bandit group. Then, you will bring back the information here." "We have prepared 100 elite soldiers for each group here. You would bring the soldiers to eradicate the bandit group. Your mission''s success rate would be scored by the elite soldiers'' injury and casualty." "As for the mission, you can guide them, but you cannot interfere in any of the mission if it is not a dangerous situation." "But, of course, if your student is in danger because of lack of guidance, it will reduce your score." "That is the general gist of the mission. Any question?" The headmaster asked back. Auron was silent and tried to process the information. He was wavering on whether he should decline the mission and asked for a replacement. This mission was not suitable for him. When Auron was pondering, Leon and Charlotte already asked many questions to the headmaster. How was the student''s level? What was the student''s background? Would they get time to know the student? Could they pick the student? And many other questions related to the mission. The headmaster gladly answered all of Leon''s and Charlotte''s question. This was what an intelligence corps'' officer should do, gathered as much information as possible. The headmaster was so busy answering the questions that he didn''t realize Auron was silent throughout the time. After five minutes, the questions died down, and there were no more questions asked. The headmaster closed the conversation, "If you have no more question, then let us ended this here. We will meet again two days later." Leon and Charlotte stood up and saluted towards the headmaster before leaving. Meanwhile, Auron stood up late and was about to leave when the headmaster called him. The headmaster realized something strange about Auron. So, he called him. "What happened?" The headmaster asked Auron. Auron began explaining to the headmaster about his worries and about his teaching skill. In the end, he asked the headmaster''s opinions. The headmaster smiled. Auron was one of his proud students. Then, he began to pour out his past teaching experience: his obstacle and the moment he was proud to be a teacher. The headmaster shared his experience longer than when he discussed the mission with Auron. After about 1 hour of sharing, the headmaster said, "You know about Alice, right?" "You have been into one of Alice''s class. Do you think she is suitable to be a teacher?" Auron was surprised. But, he began to ponder what the headmaster had said about Alice. Chapter 533 - Five Bandit Groups (2) "I had numerous complaints from students'' parents regarding Alice''s way of teaching. However, I never told her about it. Do you know why?" Auron shook his head. The headmaster continued, "Everyone had their own way of teaching. And, not everyone is compatible with a teacher''s way of teaching." "However, it didn''t mean that the teacher cannot teach. There are also some cases that the student is not concentrating enough that make them could not grab what the teacher''s lesson." "For example, you. Despite the fact there were numerous complaints about Alice''s way of teaching, I am sure you found her teaching was not that confusing at all, right?" Auron was silent. When he was inside Alice''s class, Auron could understand what Alice had taught about. "My point is there are many aspects in teaching. When your students failed to understand what you mean, it didn''t mean you are at complete fault. You need to find your comfortable way of teaching. Then, you needed to adjust it slowly until the two of you meet in the middle." "I know it is not easy, but I believe you can do it." The headmaster encouraged Auron. "And, the most important thing about teaching someone else is you can also increase your skill and knowledge at the same time when you teach your students." "When they ask you a question, you will have no choice but to think of a simple answer. This will help you greatly in the future." "Take these three students as your small steps towards becoming better." The headmaster smiled widely while looking at Auron. Meanwhile, Auron was quiet and pondering all this time while the headmaster was encouraging him. Auron felt what the headmaster had said was somewhat reasonable. However, inside his heart, he still had the urge to quit. Auron clenched his fist and nodded hard. He had made the decision to take this chance. During his elementary school, he had asked another classmate of his. This classmate was quite bright, although he was not as smart as Auron. But, this classmate really liked to teach others. One day, Auron asked that person the reason why he liked to teach others. And, one of the reason was like what the headmaster had said, by teaching other, he could learn more. Besides, Auron also believed that if he could pass this hurdle, it would improve him in some aspects. "Thank you for your teaching, headmaster!" Auron thanked the headmaster. "No worries. I will wait two days later," The headmaster smilingly said. Auron bade the headmaster farewell and exited the room. Two days soon passed away. Today was the day for the group''s selection and also the bandit''s assignment. Auron once again arrived at the military''s academy. He went directly to the headmaster''s room. Auron came punctually. He was the first one among the five intelligence corps'' officers. Of course, he was not alone inside the headmaster''s room. There were already the headmaster and the 15 students that applied for this program. After doing some small talk to the headmaster, Auron scanned the 15 students. He could see there were various kinds of students. Some were arrogant, while the others act like they didn''t care. There was also a student that felt inferior. Among the 15 students, 3 were girls while the rest of them were boys. Their average level was level 56, with level 49 as the lowest and level 60 as the highest. The students also felt awe when they saw Auron''s level. They felt that Auron was strong and could kill them with just one flick. However, their awe feeling didn''t last long. Not long after, the other officers arrived, and the other fours had a higher level than Auron. Currently, Auron was level 322. He gained a lot of level during the ancient dungeon. It was thanks to the secret level''s boss that gave him a lot of levels. Out of the five officers, the two officers that Auron never met before had the highest level. Both of them were above level 500. On the other hand, Leon and Charlotte were above level 400. This made Auron the weakest among the officers. When everyone had arrived, the headmaster began explaining the mission once again. When his explanation reached the distribution of the groups, a student raised his hand and asked, "Do we choose our own group?" Sadly, the headmaster''s answer made the student felt dejected. It was because the officers would take turns and choose the students one by one. The time for distributing the groups came. Starting from the highest level officer, they would choose one student for their group, and this would repeat until the groups formed. The students could not be more honest. When the highest level officer''s turns, all of the students were excited and very eager to be chosen. However, when it was Auron''s turn to choose, the students were silent. There were even some students that avoided Auron''s stare. Auron shook his head. He knew it was because he was the weakest. In the end, Auron chose the one that showed a normal reaction to him. Not long after, the groups had been formed. Auron had chosen two boys and one girl in his groups. And, all of them was the weakest out of the 15 students. Moreover, the girl was the student that felt inferior to others. Meanwhile, the boys that Auron had selected were not that excited as well. They wanted to join other groups, but they ended up in Auron''s group. How could they not felt dejected? After the group''s distribution, it was time to distribute the bandit''s group. Actually, the headmaster already assigned each group with a suitable bandit group. The headmaster chose 5 bandit groups whose power not that far from each other. Then, he assigned each group with a bandit group. As Auron was the weakest officer, the headmaster had assigned the weakest bandit group to his group. After everything was over, the headmaster reminded everyone, "Remember, you only have one week to complete this!" Chapter 534 - Five Bandit Groups (3) Auron started off by knowing his group better. He gathered his group members and introduced himself. Then, one by one, the students introduced themselves. Of course, non of the students introduced themselves enthusiastically. They already felt hopeless when they joined this group. Only the girls that slowly got brightened. The girl was the weakest student among the 15 students. However, she had low self-esteem, which made her unconfident with others. In this small group, she slowly regained her confidence as she got to know the others. Besides, Auron was kind to her. Out of the three students, only the girl didn''t mind with Auron''s level among the officers. However, as time passed by, the two boys slowly accepted their fate. The introduction session lasted for 1 hour. Auron tried to blend with each of the students. So, he asked about their current situation and backgrounds in detail. From that conversation, Auron got to know about their family''s backgrounds. None of these students of his came from a wealthy family. And, it was not a surprise since Auron had seen that all of the 15 students didn''t wear anything special. Among his students, the girl was an archer, while the two boys were a thief and a cleric. It was actually rare to see a male cleric. After getting to know the students, Auron started to get to the topic. First of all, he explained the basics of intelligence and spying. Then, he went to the other materials. Fortunately, when Auron was explaining, all of the students observed him. The students also began to ask some questions. Fortunately, Auron could answer all of the problems. During this time, Auron had observed all of the students'' attitudes. And, he found out that only the girl was the one that was really interested in joining the intelligence corps. The two boys only did this for a trial. They still had no interest in the intelligence corps. After explaining the basics, it was time to discuss the mission. Auron started to introduce the bandit group that they needed to eradicate. All of the bandit groups for this mission was weak and small bandit group. Based on the military''s information one month ago, the group only had less than 50 people each. And, Auron''s bandit group only had 35 people. Not only that, the headmaster deliberately chose these five bandit groups because they scattered around the kingdom. They were located far from each other. If there was an attack on one of the groups, it would not alert the other groups. Auron shared all of the information he got from the headmaster to the students. The information was only on the surface, like the number of members inside the group, the leader''s and key person''s profile, and the location. After sharing all of the information, Auron let the students discussed it among themselves. Auron was only observing from the side. He wanted to know how these students thought. Actually, this mission was not that suitable for these students because of their young age. It would be difficult to gather information or infiltrate the bandit''s group because of their age restriction. Although it was difficult, it was not impossible. While the students were discussing, Auron also had to do his homework. He began to search the information about the groups himself. Auron would keep this information for himself and only shared it with his students if it was necessary. Auron needed this information to ensure his students'' safety. In case the students collected wrong information, Auron could help adjust it and protect them from danger. When the students asked for Auron''s opinions, Auron would answer them with a not detailed answer. Sometimes, he would give them options for them to pick. Auron felt that this way was the best way to let his students grew fast. After another hour of discussion, the students had already decided the several tasks. Surprisingly, during the discussion, the girl was the one that took the leader role and actively led the discussion. It was so surprising considering the girl''s attitude when Auron saw her. The first step was by coming to the nearest village to the bandit''s group''s location. Auron led the students to the teleportation portal. They teleport to the nearest town. From there, they took land transportation to the designated village. Of course, Auron was the one that paid for everything. Fortunately, Auron got some pocket money for this mission. If the mission''s funds were not enough, Auron could reimburse the money after the mission ended. So, he didn''t have to worry about the money issue. Fortunately, Auron''s bandit group was located near a village that was not that far from a town with a teleportation portal. It only took 3 hours for them to arrive at the village. The first thing they had to do was to go to the inn and secure their lodging. Of course, Auron was the one that did this. The students were excited about their first mission. With the girl in the lead, the three of them began searching for clues and information. Unfortunately for them, this time, Auron had to step over. It was because their action took too much attention. Auron had to reprimand them and reminded them of the basics of intelligence gathering. They could not expose their intention and identity. If the bandits knew their intention, they could be in danger. Hence, Auron reminded them to take it slowly and safely. They had one week to complete this mission. The students reflected because of what Auron had said. They slowly changed their approach and gathered the information around the village first. It was still dangerous for them to gather information outside of the village. And, if they wanted to do that, they needed Auron''s protection. Auron had promised them to do it tomorrow. Hence, they could only gather information around the village first. Auron was observing the students while gathering his own information. Not only that, he had to look for an emergency escape in case something went wrong. Chapter 535 - Pauper Bandit Group (1) The next day came. Auron was in the middle of preparing for his promise to his students when a loud voice was heard at the gate of the village. Auron glanced from the inn''s window to see what happened. The students who were eating their breakfast also hurriedly came over to the window and saw what happened. Auron could see that there was a caravan that arrived. However, he could not see clearly since the view from the inn''s window was too far away and a portion of his line of sight was blocked by a building in front of their inn. "Let''s go!" Auron said this word slowly. However, his students already knew what Auron wanted. They immediately changed their clothes and hid their weapon carefully. Four people came out of the inn using casual clothes. One of the basics in intelligence gathering was blending with the crowd. Although they could not cover their identity as an outsider, they could at least cover their identity as someone from the military. And, his students learned this well enough. Fortunately, Auron''s students were coming from a normal background. So, they could blend casually with the people inside the village. If they came from a noble background, it would be difficult for them to get rid of the noble''s behavior. It would be strange to see a noble in a remote village like this without hidden agenda. Even if they told the others that they were on a vacation, people would hardly believe that. Auron and his students quickly arrived at the village''s entrance. It was just like what Auron had seen previously, the newcomer was a caravan. However, it was in a tattered condition right now. The caravan''s guards were also in a dire state. There were 8 people left from the caravan. And, all of them had injuries on their body, including the owner of this caravan. The owner even had replaced the coachman''s position to control the caravan because the original coachman died. The village''s guards immediately came over to the crowd along with the village''s cleric. There was also some cleric inside the village that helped them voluntarily. While the wounded was being tended with by the clerics, the village''s head asked several questions to the owner who had light injuries. Information already came into Auron''s mind when seeing this caravan''s state. The caravan was quite luxurious so there should be more than 20 members going along with the caravan. However, it suddenly reduced to this state. This means, they got ambushed and from the injuries, Auron could conclude that the attackers must be more than 30 members or even more. Besides Auron, the girl also murmured several deductions like what Auron did while the boys only looked at the caravan like seeing an interesting movie. The girl suddenly said to the boys, "Hey! Come back to your senses! This is our opportunity." The boys turned their heads to look at the girl confused. The girl explained, "The caravan must be ambushed by a bandit group. Even though we don''t know which bandit group, but there is a chance that our target was the one who ambushed them." "You," the girl pointed at the cleric boy and said, "Go, help them while looking for more information!" Auron was satisfied with what the girl had said. Even though they could ask the village''s head about the story. However, there would be some piece of information that been missing. Moreover, as they had to keep their military''s identity, the village''s head didn''t have any obligation to tell them the story even if he knew. By dispatching the cleric boy to help the group, they could hear the information directly from firsthand. Also, by doing this, they could keep their identity safe. After the explanation, the boys realized what the girl had meant. The cleric boy quickly went over to help tend the wounded. Meanwhile, the girl and the other boy also approached the crowd. They intended to eavesdropping some news. Auron was left alone by his student. However, he wasn''t angry. Instead, he was ecstatic. It seemed he picked the right students, especially the girl. The girl was really suitable for the intelligence corps. Her behavior and way of think were already on the correct path. Auron began to collect information for himself. An hour later, the crowd gradually dispersed. Auron wanted to bring back his students. However, before he could say anything, the girl already asked Auron to go back to the inn and postponed the observing agenda to later. Inside the inn, the girl directly led the two boys and began to collect the information each of them gathered. Then, they started to discuss it. Just like Auron had though, the caravan was quite luxurious. They had hired mercenaries and guards and totaled 26 people. Along their way, they got ambushed by a group of 35 people. Although they suffered some casualties from the battle, their condition was still good. Hence, they continued their path. However, suddenly, another group of 35 people appeared once again. With their reduced number, the caravan had no choice but to sidetrack from their original path and escape. Surprisingly, the new 35 people didn''t chase them. Without any chaser, the caravan had intended to go back to the original path. Unfortunately, a group of bandits with 50 people arrived and prevented them from going back. Since they had escaped against 35 people, it was obvious that they would escape from the 50 people. Their path had deviated far from the original path. This time, the 50 people still chased them from behind. The caravan''s owner noticed this village. Without any choice, the caravan''s owner went to this village to seek refuge. However, before he could arrive, another group of 50 people appeared blocking their path to this village. The caravan''s owner didn''t want to give up and charged through the barricade. And, here was the result. They managed to arrived at the village but suffered great casualty. Chapter 536 - Pauper Bandit Group (2) After the caravan broke through the bandit''s group''s encirclement, they quickly reached the village''s vicinity. The bandit quickly stopped their chasing and began looting the caravan''s guard''s corpse. When the caravan reached the village''s vicinity, the bandit didn''t dare to continue chasing. It was because there was an unwritten rule among the bandit group, especially the weaker bandit group. The weaker bandit group would not chase or even raid a village. The reason was that they were afraid that the kingdom would eradicate them. Although the kingdom still knew there was a bandit group around the delivery''s path, they still could close their eyes. Moreover, if the bandit group was weak. The kingdom had only limited soldiers, and they had to allocate those limited resources everywhere. Hence, the kingdom prioritized those resources for the Bridge World. The bandit didn''t dare to go over the village''s vicinity or raided a village with everything said. It would invoke the kingdom''s wrath upon them. Even they could implicate the other bandit group. Because of this, the caravan''s group gambled their chance to break through the encirclement. As a veteran merchant group, they would know this secret. Actually, it already became a public secret. Many people already knew about this, but they didn''t dare to say it aloud in the open. Pauper Bandit Group was the last group which blocked the caravan''s path. This bandit group was also Auron''s group''s target for this mission. "50 people," One of the boys said. "It seemed the military''s information was way off the mark." "Nope. The information was based on one month ago. An increase of 15 people in a month seemed normal for a bandit group." The other boy rebuked. Auron was closely listening to the boys'' discussion. He stayed silent and looked towards the girl. The girl really piqued Auron''s interest. So, he waited until the girl said something before correcting the boys. Meanwhile, the girl was pondering silently with her hand holding her chin. Not long after, the girl opened her mouth. "It is not that simple," The girl started. The boys looked towards the girl. "First of all, the number is wrong. It is not an increase of 15 people. It is more than that. I think it is more than 20 people." "As a bandit group, when they are raiding, there should be some people that left to guard their base or the place where they hide their treasure. Maybe, they left around 5 up to 10 people to guard their base. Hence, with the raider''s number, there should be around 60 people. Almost double their number." "The number doesn''t make sense for a month. There should be something behind this. Moreover, I still sense something wrong with the raid this time. However, I still cannot figure it out." After the girl had said her piece, the boys started to ponder on the girl''s words. It seemed logical. However, everything was still based on the girl''s conjecture, no proof yet. At this moment, Auron chimed in, "The raid seemed too well organized." It was just that one sentence, but the girl seemed to get enlightenment from Auron''s words. "Ah!! That is correct!" "From the caravan''s owner''s story, the operation was too organized for a bandit group. More than one bandit group was involved in this, and it seemed like they are too well organized." "It looked like there is someone who pulls the string behind the scene," The girl was pondering. Auron agreed to what the girl had said. Such weaker bandit groups couldn''t work with each other. Their greed should be surpassed normal. So, it was difficult for them to work with each other. A stronger bandit group was involved in this situation that controlled all of the weaker bandit groups around this area. "Okay, that''s it for now! We will cancel our schedule to observe the Pauper''s bandit group''s base. I will make sure the bandit''s base first. In the meantime, you guys should look for more info around this village first." Auron had to make sure his student''s safety was not compromised. That was why he canceled the schedule and made sure of his information first. If everything was within the margin of safety, he would continue the mission. If not, then he would take the risk to cancel the mission and let the military knew. If the military deemed Auron''s mission to be a failure, Auron would be fine as long as he didn''t endanger his students'' safety. "Okay," Auron''s students said in unison. Since they didn''t have anything urgent to do, all of Auron''s students went back to finish their breakfast first. Meanwhile, Auron was preparing everything to scout the Pauper bandit group area first. Auron had brought the map and put a point to where the Pauper bandit group''s base. Then, using the Pauper bandit group''s base as the center, he drew a circle. From then on, he put several points more inside the circle. Usually, they would not feel satisfied with only one base for a weaker and growing bandit group. As they grew bigger, they would create a new base that could be used for later days. And, this new circle that Auron drew was the possible bandit base. Auron bade farewell to his students. He didn''t forget to remind them to stay low and don''t push themselves too hard. Auron exited the inn. Before he left the village, Auron intended to move around the village first to gather a quick report and more information about the villagers'' bandit group. Fortunately, Auron got the chance to meet with the caravan''s owner inside the bar. He was drinking and thinking about bad luck. Auron used this chance to approach the drunk caravan''s owner. Using this chance, Auron managed to get more information about the bandit group that attacked them. For example, Auron knew that there were actually only 2 bandit groups that attacked them. One of them was the Pauper bandit group. And, the leader had joined the raid as well. Chapter 537 - Pauper Bandit Group (3) Auron was satisfied with the information he got. He was ready to go to the base. Auron walked to the village''s exit. When Auron was near the village''s exit, he saw a young man walking inside the village. Auron brushed past this man, and he immediately turned around. The young man didn''t realize that Auron was looking at him and continued towards the center of the village. On the other hand, Auron noticed something strange about this man. The young man was around 17 - 18 years old. Despite the fact of his young age, the young man could not hide his ferocious look. The young man was not fit with the village''s vibe. Even though the young man in this village became a hunter and hunted nearby beast for a living, Auron knew that the man in front of him right now was not a hunter. Auron could even felt killing intent from the young man. The young man in front of him was a part of the bandit groups. Auron decided to tail this young man. Auron maintained some distance from the young man. And, just like Auron had thought, the young man was moving aimlessly as if he was searching for something. After wandering for five minutes, the man was passing by the bar. At the same time, the caravan''s owner was exiting from the bar. Auron could see a sudden change of posture from the young man he followed when he saw the caravan''s owner exiting the bar. The young man followed the caravan''s owner from behind. Meanwhile, the caravan''s owner went back towards his group. He wanted to get back to his group''s members. The caravan''s owner passed the inn where Auron usually slept in. And, at that time, his students were getting out of the inn after eating their breakfast. The three students immediately looked around and spotted Auron, who was tailing the young man. The three students found it strange when they saw Auron, who was supposed to exit the village, was here. The girl wanted to raise her hand and ask Auron. However, she suddenly realized something and put down her hand. Unfortunately, the two boys were not as tactful as the girl. They innocently raised their hand and shouted, "Why are you here, teacher? Didn''t you suppose to go already?" The young man saw this and knew that these students would not greet him as he didn''t know them. With that, the young man turned around and realized Auron was behind him. Auron cursed inside his heart, "These two boys!" However, he quickly pretended and answered the student, "Yes, I forgot something inside the room." Unfortunately, the young man found this strange. Moreover, he vaguely recognized Auron''s face at the village''s entrance. The young man could sense something was not right. He quickly ran. However, he was not escaping. Instead, he ran towards the caravan''s owner from behind. Auron, who saw this, also reacted quickly. He chased the young man. Meanwhile, the boys realized that there was something wrong when they saw the chase. The girl slapped the back of the boy''s head while saying in a low voice, "Stupid." The young man, who was running towards the caravan''s owner, put his hand inside his clothes. Then, from inside, he took out a knife and prepared to stab the caravan''s owner. The caravan''s owner, who was walking drunkenly, heard the commotion behind him. He stopped and turned around to see what was going on. However, what greeted him was a knife aimed towards his stomach. The caravan''s owner was panicked and slipped. He fell back on his bottom. The caravan''s owner was fortunate. Because he fell down, the knife missed the target. The young man was fl.u.s.tered with the sudden incident. However, he quickly regained his composure and stabbed the caravan''s owner once again. Before the knife could reach the caravan''s owner''s forehead, a [Fire Ball] arrived and hit the young man''s back. This explosion caused the young man to stagger and pushed him forwards. The young man lost his balance and could not help but fell forwards. The young man fell towards the caravan''s owner, who was on the ground. His knee hit the caravan''s owner''s face. He also lost his knife due to the impact. The young man quickly tried to grab his knife back and complete his mission. Unfortunately, Auron had arrived at the location and held down the young man. The young man struggled and tried to break free. However, Auron had held him tightly that he could not escape. Not long after, the village''s guards came because of the commotion. The guards quickly surrounded Auron and the caravan''s owner, as well as the young man. They quickly separated Auron and the young man. Fortunately, the caravan''s owner, who was in pain, pointed at the young man and said, "He tried to kill me!" Then, he quickly explained the story from his point of view. Since the guards recognized the caravan''s owner from this morning''s incident, they believed his words and released Auron. However, the guards still asked Auron to explain the story from his point of view. Quickly, this commotion invited many spectators, including Auron''s three students. Seeing it was not appropriate to listen to the story here, the village''s guards invited Auron to the village''s head''s house to tell the story. They also helped the caravan''s owner and asked for a cleric to help him. The girl thought quickly and pushed the boy, who was a cleric. The boy knew what to do and volunteered himself to heal the caravan''s owner. Although the boy''s heal was still weak, the caravan''s owner''s injury also not heavy. So, he didn''t mind with the boy healed him. Since there was a crowd here, the guards brought everyone to the village''s head''s house. They also brought Auron''s students. The addition of three young kids was not a problem. With that, the situation was under control. However, the two incidents that happened in a row made the villagers restless. Chapter 538 - Pauper Bandit Group (4) Inside the village''s head''s house, Auron was reiterating his story based on his experience. Of course, he still covered his identity by saying that he saw the young man hid the knife behind his clothes. Then, the village''s head moved to the young man. He asked the reason why the young man did that. The young man didn''t want to answer and kept on silent. Meanwhile, the village''s guards and the caravan''s owner already barked at him furiously. However, the young man kept silent. The guards could not help but began searching his body for a clue. The young man was obviously an outsider. This was a small village. So, everyone inside the village knew about each other. When there was a new face, then it would be an outsider. And, this young man was unknown to the villager here. After 5 minutes of searching, the guards could not find any clue, not even the young man''s name. Although everyone had their suspicion of the bandit groups because of the recent incident, they didn''t have any proof. And it would be difficult for the military to dispatch their soldiers without any evidence. The young man was actually a part of the Pauper Bandit Group. He was tasked to kill the caravan''s owner and covered it as a personal robbery. Of course, the bandit group had carefully not left any clue on the young man, including the bandit''s group''s emblem. This was actually a suicidal mission. The young man was a sacrificial pawn for the bandit group. However, the young man had already been brainwashed by the bandit group''s head to become extremely loyal. "He must be from one of the bandit groups that robbed me!!!" The caravan''s owners shouted harshly. "You have to take action and report it to the military!!" The caravan''s owner said to the village''s head. However, the village''s head said, "Not yet. We have to look for proof first!" The village''s head could not ask for the military''s help freely. He had to have firm reason and proof. If not, he would get punishment and free from his position as the village''s head. That was why, without any evidence, he would not report it to the military yet, even though he already had the same suspicion. Meanwhile, since he got nothing else to do, Auron asked to leave the place. His students also left the place along with him. Auron had to start his investigation on the bandit''s group''s base. Before he left, he reminded his students to stay low and gather information around the village. Auron also asked his student to pay attention to the jail. The young man would be jailed before he was trialed. And, this young man was the only lead to the bandit group right now. Because of that, Auron wanted to let his students watch for him. Auron''s students agreed to his request. And Auron quickly left the village. He was already behind his schedule. Auron traveled not quite far from the village. It was only 15 minutes if one traveled at normal walking speed. This was the possible location for the bandit''s group''s base. There were many places to hide here. Unfortunately, Auron was wrong. There was no trace of the bandit group''s base. However, it didn''t discourage Auron since it was just the first possibility from many possibilities. Auron quickly moved to the next location. There were many possible locations to cover. Auron intended to finish his tour before evening came. Auron could not find anything on the first location, the second location, and the third location. When it was the fourth location, Auron saw something. The place was far from the main path, but Auron could sense humans were around his place. In such a remote place, the only possibilities were the bandit group or people who were lost. Auron carefully approached the location. And, his conjecture was correct. This was one of the bases of the Pauper Bandit Group. Auron could see several guards roaming, guarding something like an entrance. Auron took out his map and noted this place on the map. While taking note, Auron carefully listened to the guards'' conversation. From the conversation, he found out that this was only a small base. It was the initial base but had been moved due to the increasing size of the bandit group. And, now, this place acted as one of the storage for the bandit group. The bandit group had split all of their loot to several locations. And, the location in front of Auron was one of them. Unfortunately, this location only held a small portion of all of the bandit group''s fortunes. After gathering enough information ranging from the number of guards and the terrain here, Auron moved to the next location. Time passed by as Auron moved to the next several locations. The evening came when Auron finished his investigation on the last locations. Auron had visited more than 20 possible locations. From that 20 locations, Auron got a total of 8 bases of the bandit group. Fortunately, Auron managed to get the potential location for the main base for the bandit group. From the tour, there was a piece of new information that Auron got. The Pauper Bandit Group should not be classified as the small bandit group anymore. Auron managed to find all of the bases because of the lack of security since the bandit group seemed very active in raiding. During Auron''s visit, he could hear that the leader had brought many people to raid. However, even with many portions of the members being brought out to raid, the number of guards stationed in each of the bases was not that few. In total, there should be more than 100 members inside the bandit group. The bandit groups should be classified as a medium-sized bandit group instead of a small-sized bandit group with that many members. This new piece of information was clearly not that good for Auron and his students. Chapter 539 - Pauper Bandit Group (5) Auron believed that the military would not make some mistake when investigating the Pauper Bandit group one month ago. He also didn''t think that the headmaster would intentionally give him the wrong information. Hence, there was only one explanation for this. In one month, the Pauper Bandit Group had grown from a small-sized bandit group to a medium-sized bandit group. Although this feat was not impossible, it was still difficult to do this in one month. Moreover, from the information Auron received, the bandit group didn''t have any backing. The leader''s background was a normal person. The only possibility was that the Pauper Bandit Group got some backing. The backing could be anyone like a noble in the kingdom, someone in the military, a merchant group, or even the bigger-sized bandit group. However, Auron could not care about the backing since what was done had been done. Auron''s current concern was to deliver this new information to the military academy. He also needed to find a way to eradicate this bandit group before they became a new threat. With that in mind, Auron began moving back to the village. Moreover, the sky was almost dark, and it was almost dinner time. 30 minutes later, Auron arrived back at the village, and he immediately went inside the inn. Inside his room, Auron saw his three students. He immediately gathered them together and gave the news. Auron didn''t give the students a detailed story. He just said that the mission''s level had deviated from the original level, so he had to report it back. He also told them that there was a huge chance that the mission would be canceled. Auron added that, until the decision came, he still expected his students to do their best and used this chance to absorb as much experience as they could. The three students seemed shocked by the news. However, they accepted it and didn''t ask more. Auron could see the disappointed expression on the girl''s face. After saying his piece, Auron began asking about the situation and information that they had got. With the situation right now, Auron could not help but intervene in the mission. Auron asked the students about the village''s condition and everything else. In the end, he asked about the young man who was at the jail. "What about the young man? Any new information about him?" Auron asked. One of the boys shook his head, "No. He still didn''t want to admit his reason, even his name. It is like he had gone muted." "The caravan''s owner was actually the one who got active. He was so furious and wanted to kill the young man by himself. Of course, the village would not let it. In the end, the caravan''s owner could only look for evidence himself while cursing at the village''s head." Auron nodded at the explanation. It was not strange, and he already guessed that this would happen. "Any other thing?" Auron asked the last time before he sent the news to the military. While listening to the story, Auron had actually written a letter to be sent to the military. For this mission, the headmaster had given him a disposable tool to send messages. This tool was a helpful tool but very expensive to produce. This tool could relay a message in under a minute. However, since this tool was expensive, it could not be freely used. It was mainly used for spying missions and rarely used for this kind of mission. However, the headmaster still gave them one of this expensive tool for each group. It could be seen how the headmaster cared for his student''s safety. The boys shook his head with Auron''s last question. "Okay," Auron had completed his message to be sent with this tool. Since the boys shook their heads, Auron was about to send the message when he heard the girl hesitating, "Um..." Auron looked at the girl and asked, "Anything you want to say?" The girl was clearly hesitating, "Umm... I don''t know whether I should tell you this or not. But, I felt the young man was strange." "What was strange about him?" Auron asked and looked at the two boys. However, the two boys replied with a shrugged at their shoulders. "I coincidentally saw him being transferred to the jail. And, I saw that the young man didn''t seem worried about him being jailed. Moreover, there was actually an incident when the caravan''s owner punched the young man in the face." "But, the young man laughed out loud like a crazed man. And, what he said next bothered me." The girl explained. "What did he say?" Auron asked. "He was saying, ''Soon... soon you will know that what you did just now would end you with a horrible death. We will meet again soon!'' while laughing." "It scared me off," The girl said while remembering the scene. "Oh yeah, I heard it too. But, what was strange about it? He had lost his mind because he was captured. People tend to become crazy when they knew they lost their hope." One of the boys said while the other one nodded as if he was agreeing to the statement. Auron frowned. He knew that the boys were right. However, he also knew what the girl had worried about. "Okay, thank you for the information. Good work for today! Get some dinner and then rest. I will take care of the rest," Auron said. The three students left Auron alone and went for dinner. Auron was pondering silently. In the end, Auron opened up his message once more. Then, he scribbled something on the message. Auron had added the information from the girl. He also had written his interpretation for the girl''s information. Auron also asked for the military to send the elite soldiers prepared to eradicate the Pauper Bandit Group. After putting everything, Auron was intending to send the message. However, he was pondering a few seconds before adding four characters to the end of the message, ASAP. Chapter 540 - Pauper Bandit Group (6) The night came. All of Auron''s students had gone to sleep while Auron was still awake. As a player, Auron didn''t need to sleep. Moreover, he already used the nutrient solution. During his start over, Auron had used a lot of nutrient solutions. He spent a lot on those nutrients by borrowing money from Roan. Of course, up to this moment, he had yet paid any money back to Roan. Whenever Auron saved some money and wanted to pay Roan back bit by bit, there would be something that needed him to use the saved money. Fortunately, the money that Auron spent was worthed it. Auron had reached the current level, 322, in just a short time. And, currently, Auron needed four more experience points more than the normal character. Although most of Auron''s experience points he got was due to his luck discovering something incredible, Auron played 24 hours a day also contributed a lot. If Auron didn''t play that long, Auron would not have enough money to support his two characters. Even the potions'' cost was overwhelming. Auron was inside his room. He was looking outside the window, observing the village. After hearing the girl''s story, Auron had a bad premonition. If what the girl said was true, then there was a huge chance that the young man knew he would survive. Auron even felt that the Pauper Bandit Group or whichever bandit group related to the young man would come to this village to save him. However, Auron kept on pushing away his guess. It was because even if the Pauper Bandit Group could be considered as a medium-sized bandit group, it would not be enough for them to be saved from the kingdom''s wrath. So, if by any chance that the Pauper Bandit Group really dared to invade the village, then there was more into that. After some time, Auron decided to exit the inn and roamed around the village. Since it was almost midnight, there were not many people out in the street. Only several village guards patrolled around the area and some drunk men from the village''s bar. Auron greeted the guards whenever he passed one. He was acting kinds. The guards knew Auron from the morning''s incident. So, they knew that Auron was not a bad man. Actually, a man roaming around in the middle of the night was quite strange. However, since the guards knew that Auron was not a bad man, they didn''t suspect Auron. Auron roamed around the village until he arrived in front of a building. This building was where the young man was held. Auron could not go inside without any permission, even if the guards knew about him. Auron stood in front of this building for quite a while. After some time, Auron shook his head and started to continue roaming the village. Auron didn''t roam around the village aimlessly. While wandering around, he tried to find something strange or some clues about the bandit group. When he met a drunk man, he intentionally approached him. Auron tried to gather information from the drunk man in disguise of helping the man. Of course, it was not that easy. There was a drunk man that was so drunk, he said many nonsense things. Meanwhile, Auron had the chance to ask a drunk man that could be talked to. Unfortunately, the man only knew what Auron had already known. While roaming around, Auron got an idea. He walked up to a building. The building in front of him was the building where the caravan''s owner rest. The caravan''s owner was quite scared to mingle around with other people in a public area like the inn. So, he asked the village''s head for a place to stay. The village''s head found a young married family that willing to lend their house for a night. Of course, the caravan''s owner had paid the place for reasonable money. Of course, the young married family didn''t mind this since it was just for a night and the remuneration was quite alluring for them. In front of the house, two guards were standing by guarding the place. The caravan''s owner had hired two village guards to exclusively protect him. The reason why Auron came here was obviously not to talk with the caravan''s owner. Auron knew that the caravan''s owner must have gone to sleep in the middle of the night. Auron''s reason for going here was to talk with the guards. Using his excellent image, Auron started a conversation with the guards. He intended to find out what the caravan''s owner did after all of his students went back to the inn. Unfortunately, the information he got disappointed him. The caravan''s owner didn''t go anywhere after he went back inside. The guards didn''t know what was inside since the caravan''s owner banned them from going inside. The only one who could go inside was the village''s head and the caravan''s members. At that time, from inside, one of the surviving caravan''s members came outside. He could not sleep at all. So, when he heard the noise coming from Auron and the guards talking to each other, this man decided to join the conversation and look for some fresh air. Auron immediately brightened when he saw the caravan''s members coming out. He intended to ask many questions when suddenly a noisy sound came from the village''s entrance. The noisy sound was followed by a scream and the emergency bell sound. The light could be seen from the window of each of the buildings inside the village, including the building in front of Auron. "What happened?" Auron could hear this question from inside. He recognized it was the voice of the caravan''s owner. Auron didn''t have any time or intention to reply to the question. Instead, he immediately went to the village''s entrance. When Auron arrived at the village''s entrance, he could see there were already many people at the entrance. The bandit group had attacked. Chapter 541 - Pauper Bandit Group (7) Auron saw an ocean of people in front of him. And, these people were bandits. As far as Auron saw, the number of people in front of him right now was more than 300 people. Even the number of people in the village right now was not more than 100 people, including the outsider and passerby. At the very front of the bandits, Auron recognized the person who led them. It was the Pauper Bandit Group''s leader. Auron frowned. There was no way Pauper Bandit Group could grow this big. 300 people were way more than the small-sized bandit group''s limit. After killing the entrance''s guard, the bandits didn''t immediately charge. Instead, they stayed right at the entrance and blocked it. Meanwhile, the guards and all of the people inside the village started to move towards the entrance. When the village''s head knew that the bandit had attacked his village, he immediately sent a request to the military using a secret tool. Still, it would take time for the reinforcements to arrive. Moreover, it was in the middle of the night. Hence, he needed to stall some time. Unfortunately, along the way, the village''s head moving towards the entrance, the villagers already panicked. The man took anything that could be used as a weapon. On the other hand, they kept the women, children, and elderly away. There was also an outsider that didn''t want to be involved in this mess, trying to find a way out by currying favor to the bandits. Sadly, the bandits ignore these outsiders. The village''s guards had all gathered around the village. However, the number was far from enough. The village''s guards combined with the village''s men only amounted to 50 people. It was already counting the barely legal teenager. The village''s head said politely, "What business do you have in the middle of the night like this? I will help you as long as it is within my capabilities." The village''s head was trying to curb the bandits, so they didn''t do anything crazy and caused casualties. Meanwhile, Auron was observing the bandits in front of him carefully and calmly. He discovered that not all of them were members of the Pauper Bandit Group. Auron could see two different emblems belonging to two other bandit groups. What was surprising, these two bandit groups should have enmity to each other, so they should not be working together. There must be something more about this. "Did Pauper Bandit Group already subdued the Cassava Bandit Group?" Auron could not believe this. Cassava Bandit Group was actually slightly stronger than the Pauper Bandit Group. So, suppose the Pauper Bandit Group subdued the Cassava Bandit Group. In that case, they should be weakened instead of becoming stronger like this. However, the proof was already in front of him. Auron could only put those things aside. Then, slowly, Auron spotted the third and fourth bandit group''s emblem. These two bandit groups were smaller than the Pauper Bandit Group, so it was not a surprise that the bandit group could subdue these two groups. "Did Pauper Bandit Group subdued these two bandit groups and used it to conquer the Cassava Bandit Group?" Auron thought. It was another possibility. However, it seemed that the Pauper Bandit Group didn''t subdue the other three. It was because they still used their old emblem. They should be wearing the Pauper Bandit Group''s emblem if they had been subdued. These 300 bandits had a varied level. Their level was ranging from 20 up to 200. All of them were weaker than Auron, who had level 322. However, their number made Auron had a headache. Although Auron could defeat all of them, it would still take some time. Also, Auron could not guarantee the bandits would not attack the villager. Auron could survive, but he didn''t know about the villager. If Auron really caused a great casualty because of his egoistic move, he would be punished by the military. Auron just escaped from one trial. He would not want to be trialed for the second time in such a short time. Because of that, Auron waited at the back. Auron knew what the village''s head wanted to do, stalling time. And that was the best way to handle this case. "Ha... Ha... Ha... You want to help me?" The Pauper Bandit Group''s leader laughed loudly. "Even if I want to ravage your village, what could you do?" The leader grinned. All of the villagers and guards shuddered when they heard the leader''s statement. What the leader had said was right. The bandits could destroy the village anytime they wanted. "Hand me over the young man?" The leader commanded. "Who? What young man? I didn''t know what did you mean?" The village''s head replied. Actually, everyone who heard the leader knew who was the young man. Meanwhile, at the back, of the crowd, a middle-aged man was shrinking in fear. It was the caravan''s owner. He didn''t know that the bandit group who attacked them was this big. Moreover, he was afraid that the leader recognized him and wanted to kill him. Hence, he moved away from the entrance to his crew and hid in fear. "Stop wasting my time! I know you are stalling time for the reinforcements. Give me the young man, or I will raze your village." The leader declared. Auron frowned. It was strange, very strange. The young man didn''t want to expose his identity when everyone had already known his identity. On the other hand, these bandits came here and demanded the young man who showed that the caravan''s raid was their doings. These two things were conflicted with each other. Auron believed there must be something more in the story. The village''s head still acted innocent as if he didn''t know what the leader meant. While watching this, Auron''s cloth was pulled. He turned over and spotted his students were already behind him. Auron motioned the silence gesture. He didn''t want to expose his military identity yet. Chapter 542 - Pauper Bandit Group (8) "If you want to continue like this, then I have no other choice," The Pauper Bandit Group''s leader shook his head. He began to move. Seeing this, the village''s head quickly said, "Wait! Did you mean the young man who we capture today?" The village''s head said this like he was pondering something serious. Then, he looked at the guard beside him and nodded his head. The guard already knew what to do. He turned around and went into the jail to bring the young man out. Meanwhile, the leader stayed silent when he saw that the village''s head started to do something. Not long after, the guard came back with the young man in custody. Then, he went and stood next to the village''s head with the young man in his possession. "Do you mean this young man?" The village''s head enquired politely. The leader kept on silent and didn''t take any action. On the other hand, the silence made the village''s head became nervous. He wanted to stay put and wasted more time. However, he didn''t know what would happen if he did that. Few seconds passed. The bandit''s leader didn''t answer the village''s head''s questions and kept on staring at him. On the other hand, the village''s head''s forehead was already filled with sweat because of his nervousness. Three minutes passed in silence. The village''s head was growing more nervous. In the end, he could not hold anymore, the village''s head handed over the young man. After the young man moved over to the bandit''s leader''s side, the bandit''s leader started to move. He turned around and moved back, followed by the young man. Seeing this, the village''s head breathed a relieved sigh. He thought that the bandit''s group would leave. After walking several steps, the bandit''s leader abruptly stopped. Then, he turned around once again and shouted, "Destroy them!!!" With that shout, the bandit around the bandit''s leader charged at the villagers. The village''s head and the villager became panic. The guards frowned. Auron knew that this would happen. He knew that this would happen. However, Auron knew that there was no other choice. "Prepare for battle!" Auron said lowly to his students. A wave of bandit immediately entered the village. The guards and the villager raised their weapons. There were only 15 guards in this village. The guards'' average level was 120. Although their level was high, their equipment was not that good since they were only assigned to a small village like this. When there was a wave of bandits like this, the guards were a little bit panicked. However, as they were already trained, they could somehow control their nervous level. On the other hand, the villagers were the one that panicked. Their hands trembled in fear. The guards moved forwards and swung their weapons. It was their duty to protect this village. Unfortunately, the bandits dispersed and surrounded the guards. The guards were attacked from all sides. Fortunately, the bandit''s vanguards were low-level. The guards could kill a few of them before being surrounded. However, it didn''t last long. After the guards were surrounded, they felt hopeless. Cuts and wounds started to appear on the guards'' bodies. Slowly, the guards lost their advantages. One of the guards was in danger as he lost his weapon. Although the guard had lost his weapon, he still fought bravely using his fist. But, it didn''t last long until he was at his end. A bandit kicked him on the stomach and went to stab him. However, before the dagger could reach the guard, an [Earth Spike] sprung and stabbed the bandit. This [Earth Spike] immediately killed the bandit. This newly appear [Earth Spike] took everyone''s attention, especially the Pauper Bandit Group''s leader. He was frowning. Pauper Bandit Group''s operation area was around this place. So, they had already investigated the village''s capabilities. And, in their investigation, there was no mage among the guards. Even there was an outsider mage traveled to this place, they usually would not have a high level and could kill the bandit with a single spell. A variable had appeared on the plan. How could the bandit''s leader didn''t frown? Several spells from Auron reaped some of the bandit''s life. These sudden spells that appeared made everyone looked at the caster, Auron. When the guards and villagers saw that it was Auron, they cheered. They already knew who Auron was. Their fighting spirit rose up. On the other hand, the bandits froze. Fear swept through the bandits. Several of them even dropped their weapon. Even though Auron was strong, he could not prevent these many bandits from harming the villagers. Fortunately, bandits always were bandits. They were not united at all. With their experience, the guards were the first ones who used this moment to attack the bandits. The villagers immediately followed suit. The tables slowly turn around. Moreover, the bandits were already at a disadvantage because of their level. The first one among the bandits that regained their sense was the leader. There were still 75% of the bandits left from the original number. He gritted his teeth and looked beside him towards the young man. The young man was also frowning. The bandit''s leader immediately shouted, "Hold the ground, you morons!!! We have more numbers! Don''t be afraid!!" Although the bandit''s leader said this, he was also not confident that they could defeat Auron and the guards. With the bandit''s leader''s shout, the bandits slowly gripped tight their weapons and fought back. However, Auron''s power in this place was like a wolf among the sheep. He used several areas of effect spells. The bandit''s numbers were slowly going down. When the number reached 50% of the original number, the bandit''s leader gritted his teeth and shouted, "Retreat!!!" With that command, all of the bandits immediately threw their weapons and ran for their life. The guards wanted to chase them. However, Auron stopped them. "Don''t chase them!" Then, he started to take command and said to his students and the guards, "Tend the wounded. I will follow them to ensure they move far enough from the village." Chapter 543 - Pauper Bandit Group (9) Auron followed the bandit group, who were escaping in fear. Because all of them were in fear, they didn''t have time to pay attention to Auron. Auron occasionally threw one or two spells to scare these bandits off. He didn''t have any intentions to chase them all the way and killed them all. It was because a cornered beast could become dangerous. Moreover, he was alone right now. Auron chased them quite far from the village. When he felt it was enough, he looked in the bandit''s leader and the young man''s direction. Then, he estimated the direction they went and compared it with the base''s locations that he had. From there, Auron got three base locations that got the most significant possibility for the leader and young man to visit. After getting that information, Auron didn''t continue chasing. Instead, he went back to the village. If he wanted to eradicate the Pauper Bandit group, he needed to do it in a single attempt. And, to do that, he could not do it alone. At least, he had to wait until the reinforcements came. Not long after, Auron reached the village back. When Auron arrived at the village, he could see the crowd already surrounded the entrance. However, it was not a bad thing since the crowd was made of soldiers. It was the soldiers that the headmaster had sent. When Auron arrived, he was stopped by these soldiers. However, he quickly got through after showing his military badge. Auron intended to find the village''s head and the man who was in charge of these soldiers. It didn''t take long before Auron saw the village''s head was talking to the man in charge as well as his students. Auron knew that his students must have already shown their identity as a military academy''s students. When Auron was about to interrupt the conversation, he suddenly stopped. He found the man that was talking with the village''s head and his students familiar. Auron quickly moved over and greeted the man, "Teacher." The man turned over and saw Auron. The man was Peter. Peter said, "So, it was you." Peter recognized Auron''s face. During his day teaching Auron''s class. Auron was one of the students that took his attention. However, he never cared about names. So, when he got brief for this mission, the headmaster already mention Auron''s name, he didn''t recognize it. Just after, he saw Auron''s face that he knew. When the headmaster received Auron''s message, he immediately prepared everything. However, he was still worried. So, he was hesitating whether to ask for more troops or not. Military resources were not something that could easily request. Moreover, it was not for war. Even someone like the headmaster could still be punished if he didn''t have a good reason. Hence, he was hesitating for a bit. Although the headmaster was someone from the military, he was not a cold person, especially his students. In the end, he took the responsibility to request more soldiers. Unfortunately, the military could not grant his wish. However, the headmaster insisted and said that he was going to take full responsibility. Because of that, the military relent. But, they could only grant 50 more soldiers. This new addition still could not make the headmaster''s worries subsided. Hence, he asked for Peter''s help. Although Peter was only a teacher, the headmaster still had to ask for him politely. Peter''s status was far from an ordinary teacher. He was actually a big shoot in the same generation as General Elbert. However, not many people knew about it, and Peter preferred to be treated as a nobody. Of course, the headmaster was one of the few people that knew Peter''s true identity. Peter didn''t have anything to do, so he immediately accepted the task. After Peter took the job, the headmaster''s worries were directly gone. In the end, Peter went to this village along with 100 elite soldiers plus 50 ordinary soldiers. After Auron joined the conversation, he didn''t dilly dally. He immediately recounted everything he knew. He also shared the information about the enemy''s bases that he found. Before Auron ended his story, he added his opinion and asked Peter about it. "Good," Peter praised Auron. Locating bandit''s bases alone was not an easy task. And, Auron could complete it. So, Peter praised him. "I agree with your guess. There is something weird about this bandit group. They must have joined a large-sized bandit group because they braved enough to act like this." Even for a medium-sized bandit group, it was strange for them to attack a village. So, there must be a large-sized bandit group involved. Moreover, the Pauper Bandit Group''s growth was abnormal if they didn''t have any backing. Unfortunately, the information was not enough to determine which large-sized bandit group backed them. Hence, they could only put it into deciding factor for each of their decision. After Auron told every information he had, Peter immediately took action. He gave a series of commands using Auron''s information. Peter was a decisive man. He had decided to attack the bandit group as soon as possible. From Auron''s information, he found 8 bases. So, Peter divided everyone into 8 groups. The size of each group was different depending on the target assigned to them. The group''s allocation was quick. It only took them 15 minutes for 8 groups to be formed. Then, Peter instructed them to familiarize themselves with each other in 10 minutes. While everyone was familiarized with each other, Peter went to the village''s head to settle the village''s issue and calmed the villager. Then, Peter let Auron''s students stayed at the village and waited for the reinforcements that the village''s head had called. Their task was to brief the soldiers of what happened as well as helping to calm the villager. After everything was settled, Peter led the troops to destroy the Pauper Bandit Group. The groups split into 8 directions. Auron belonged to the group that attacked the bandit''s leader''s position. Chapter 544 - Pauper Bandit Group (10) Inside one of the bandit''s base, the bandit''s leader smashed a wooden chair next to him. His henchmen flinched because of that. How could the bandit''s leader not furious when his detailed plan was ruin because of an outsider likes Auron? "Anyone know who was that man?" The young man suddenly asked. When hearing that question, the bandit''s leader turned around and faced the young man. However, he didn''t seem angry with the young man''s interruption. Instead, he said politely to the young man, "He must be an outsider. We will investigate his background and make sure he regrets involving in this matter." When someone knew the bandit''s leader saw this, they would be surprised. The bandit''s leader was known for his brutality and arrogance. He would never bow to anyone. Moreover, the young man was only half of his age. "No need! I will ask for help from my uncle. After the reinforcements arrived, we will kill them all. Remember, to leave that person to me!" The young man said arrogantly. "Yes! I am grateful for the young master''s help." The bandit''s leader bowed and thanked the young man, followed by the other bandits. "What should we do right now?" The bandit''s leader asked. "We shall prepare! Because of this, we must have notified the kingdom. They would send their soldiers soon. Group the weak and newcomer members and sacrifice them. For now, we will back off first until the situation calmed down!" "Yes!" With that, the bandit''s leader exit and began to give out several commands. Five minutes later, the Pauper Bandit Group''s leader went back inside and reported, "All has already taken care of. We are ready to move in one hour!" "Make it thirty!" The young man said. "Yes, sir!" The leader agreed. Then, he told his subordinate to finish all of the preparation in 30 minutes. "What about my brother''s achievements?" The young man said. This time, instead of the Pauper Bandit Group''s leader, it was another bandit group that answered. "Your second brother still didn''t show any achievement. He even made a blunder and caused his power to reduce by half." "The dangerous one was your eldest brother. He already made several achievements, such as successfully rob hundreds of merchants!" "His wealth had already surpassed our." When hearing the report, the young man frowned. He knew that this failure would cause a setback and made the gap with his eldest brother wider. However, he never thought that the gap would be this big. This young man was actually the reason that the Pauper Bandit Group could flourish like this. He was the youngest son of Emerzo, the leader of Sculd. Sculd was a large-sized bandit group. They were ranked in the top 10 and placed on the eight ranked among the large-sized bandit group. Their main source of income was robbing merchant''s caravan and dealt a shady business with nobles. Emerzo had three sons, and the young man was the youngest of the three. One week ago, Emerzo gave his three sons test to determine his successor. They would be given limited resources and, from there, they had to make more money. After one month, the wealthiest among the three would become his successor. Of course, there was a limitation. Besides the initial resource, all of the resources that the three sons used from Sculd would be considered as a loan. In the end, they would calculate the cost and subtracts it from the wealth the three sons had gathered. Besides money, other things could be considered, which was merit. However, to gain merit was more difficult than to gain money. To gain merit, one needed to cause significant damage to the kingdom, whether it was to the villages or the military. Because of that, merit was valued higher than ordinary gold. The young man''s first plan was to increase his troops. Hence, he gathered all of this small-sized bandit group and supplied them to become bigger. Pauper Bandit Group was the first bandit group that pledged allegiance to the young man. Hence, the Pauper Bandit Group''s position was higher than the other bandit group. Of course, the Pauper Bandit Group didn''t fear the young man. What he feared was the young man''s father. That was why he pledged allegiance to the young man. Using the Sculd as a backer in name, Pauper Bandit Group quickly developed. He gained more people in such a short time and became the medium-sized bandit group. Up to this moment, everything was going smoothly. The young man''s plan was executed well, and their progress grew steadily. Unfortunately, his eldest brother was a difficult opponent to beat. The young man''s eldest brother grew quickly and surpassed the young man. The young man racked his brain to gain more achievement. Then, he thought about gaining merit. The young man created a way to gain merit. And, he found one, the caravan''s owner. The caravan''s owner was one of the sons of military higher-ups. By killing the caravan''s owner, he would gain a little bit of merit. So, he had to kill the caravan''s owner. However, his plan failed, and the caravan''s owner survived and rested in the villages. Since his plan failed, the young man decided to go by himself to kill the caravan''s owner inside the village. He used his young age in his favor. The plan was for the young man to go inside the village and assassinate the caravan''s owner. Then, the Pauper Bandit Group would come to rescue him. Sadly, his assassination plan failed as well. However, he was not discouraged since he knew that his troops were ready to eradicate this village. Unfortunately, that was also failed. Not only that, he failed the plan twice by the same person. The young man''s assassination plan and raiding plan was failed because of Auron. The young man had tried to hold his anger on the outside. However, inside his mind, he was brimming with rage to kill Auron. Chapter 545 - Being Used (1) "We are ready to go in 10 minutes," A bandit came in and reported the progress. "Speed up!" The young man barked at the bandit, who nodded and bowed towards him. The young man knew that the kingdom would not stay silent on this attack. However, it was still in the middle of the night. So, even if the kingdom was quick in response, it would still take them around 1 hour to arrange and dispatch the troops. Unfortunately, even though he had that thought, he still had a bad feeling. Hence, he barked at the bandit previously to speed up the process. And, the young man''s bad feeling was proved to be true. A young bandit hurriedly rushed towards the room, "We are under attack!" The young man and the Pauper Bandit Group''s leader frowned. The Pauper Bandit group''s leader asked, "Who is attacking? How many people? Is it that man?" The young bandit gasped for air, and he answered, "There are 15 people. Yes, that man is present!" Auron led the group of 14 elite soldiers from the academy. These soldiers were supposed to be dispatched to clear the Pauper Bandit Group. However, they were sent to act as reinforcements. These 14 soldiers were different from the village''s guards. They were at an average level of 175, only 25 levels above the village''s guards. However, their fighting capability and their equipment were very different from the village''s guards. "Quick! We need to escape!" The Pauper Bandit Group''s leader was panicked. A bandit mostly was a selfish person. So, when a dangerous situation appeared like this, they would think about themselves first. The Pauper Bandit Group''s leader even wanted to escape first. However, he still realized that there was the young man''s presence. So, he toned down his panic state. The young man was also someone who feared death. So, he was also panic and didn''t realize that the Pauper Bandit Group''s leader wanted to leave him. The young man said, "Block the attacker while we escape!!" It was a nonsense request. The young bandit immediately said, "We cannot block them! They are too strong. The 14 soldiers are as strong as that man!" The 14 soldiers were actually weaker than Auron. However, the bandit could not care about that. The soldiers could easily kill them. Hence, they generalize that Auron and the 14 soldiers were at the same level. "Use every means to block them! Sacrifice all of our subordinates!!" The young man gave the order while escaping using the back door. The young man quickly escaped the room, followed by the upper management bandit, including the Pauper Bandit Group''s leader. In a matter of seconds, the space was completely empty and leaving the young bandit shocked. He could not say any words. The young bandit wanted to follow the young man. However, before he left, he turned around and exited the room. Outside the base, he could hear the sound of battle already going on. However, the young bandit didn''t join the fight. Instead, he went to find the nearest bandit and said, "The leader had given orders to hold the fort for 10 minutes. No... No... 5 minutes are enough for the reinforcements to come!" The bandit who received the young bandit''s statement nodded his head and immediately leading the other bandits and joined the fight. On the other hand, the young bandit turned around, entered the base once more, and followed the young man''s escape path. Auron was leading the 14 soldiers and quickly killed all of the bandits around here. Since most of the bandits that attack the village escaped here. This place was the place where the bandits most concentrated in. All in all, there were more than 100 bandits here, almost 200 bandits. Although these bandits were small fries, this place was the main base of these bandits. Hence, the area was already modified and fortified to support the defender and weaken the attacker. Fortunately, Auron was not alone. He brought these 14 soldiers that proved to be helpful comrades for him. All of the bandits had a lower level than them which made them easy to kill. The difficult part was only the fact that there were too many bandits here. Auron slowly pushed through the front line, and he was getting closer and closer towards the base. It didn''t last long as Peter''s squad arrived at this place after clearing the bandit''s base he was assigned to. With the addition of Peter''s squad, the bandits quickly eradicated. In 5 minutes, after Peter''s squad arrived, all of the bandits either died or surrendered. However, Peter and Auron didn''t have any time to care about these bandits as the leaders were escaping. Peter quickly delegated some tasks to the soldiers and brought Auron and several soldiers to chase the young man. Auron was already behind more than 10 minutes from the young man''s group. It was difficult to chase the young man with this 10 minutes behind. Moreover, the bandits obviously knew this terrain better than them. However, with Peter in the lead, Auron and the other soldiers kept chasing. 5 minutes after chasing, Auron could hear a faint sound of metals clashing. Auron''s mood began to brighten while Peter commanded, "Speed up! The enemies are at the front!" With that, the group quickly increased their speed. The young man''s group met with one of the soldier''s groups and was caught in battle. The young man''s group still had the advantage of number even though they were weaker. Moreover, the young man had utilized the traps planted around here to keep their base safe. It was a tough fight, but the young man''s group was the winner by paying a heavy price in the end. There were only less than 10 people left in the young man''s group. When Auron''s group arrived at the battle scene, the battle had already over. The young man''s groups already continued to escape. Fortunately, from far away, Auron could see the small silhouette of the young man''s group. Chapter 546 - Being Used (2) Seeing their target, Peter speeded up. Auron and the other soldiers tried to follow up. However, their speed was slower than Peter. The young man saw Peter dashed towards his group. He became more panicked. The man that wreaked his plan twice could not keep up with this new face who was chasing him. Even a stupid man would know that this new face was obviously stronger. The young man''s groups ran like they were about to die. Unfortunately, no matter how hard they ran, Peter and their group''s distance became closer instead of farther. Although Peter''s speed was fast, it still took some time to cover the distance. Moreover, his target was also moving away from him. The chasing continued for another 5 minutes when Peter was close enough to the person at the group''s back. Meanwhile, the person at the back of the group was very scared. He tried to increase his speed. However, his speed was already at maximum. In a panic state, he slipped and fell down to the ground. That person was the young bandit that reported the attack. As the bandit fell down to the ground, his body was scratched and was in pain. However, he could not think about the pain. Instead, he quickly got up and kneeled down while facing Peter. While Peter was still two meters from him, the young bandit began to cry for his life and beg for forgiveness. Peter saw this young bandit, but he didn''t bother with him and ignore the young bandit who was still kneeling. Peter passed the young bandit, followed with Auron and the soldiers several seconds later. Auron eyed the soldiers behind him and gave the sign to capture this young bandit. He knew that this young bandit was only small fry. Meanwhile, the young man''s group, who was in the lead, began to see their goal. "A little more!" The young man murmured to himself. In front of the young man, two high cliffs were close to each other. There was a narrow passage between the peaks. This passage was actually the primary path for a merchant caravan. If they used this path, they could cut their time by almost half. However, one of Skuld''s base operations was around this area. And, this passage was Skuld''s favorite raiding spot. As time passed by, more and more merchant caravan got raided here. The news spread to all of the merchant caravans that intended to pass here. To avoid getting raids, the merchant caravans decided to take a detour and took the longer and safer path. The young man''s expression was hopeful as he was getting closer and closer towards the passage. If he could pass or at least this passage, then he could use the soldiers stationed here to stop the man from chasing him. Peter raised his hand. He grabbed the bandit''s cloth who was at the back. Then, he pulled and threw the bandit behind him. The bandit was not ready with the sudden pull and staggered. Then, he was thrown backward and crashing to the ground. As Peter just threw randomly, he didn''t care about Auron and the soldiers behind him. Auron and the soldiers had to dodge the man from crashing with them. As Peter got closer and threw the young man''s group''s members one by one, the survivor''s number decreased. From the original 10, it had already been reduced to 5 people. Unfortunately, the time was not enough. At the front, the young man managed to enter the narrow passageway, followed by the Pauper Bandit Group''s leader. Then, all five people managed to enter the passage. Peter, who saw this, stopped at the entrance of the passageway. Seeing Peter stopped running, Auron and the soldiers also stopped near Peter. Auron glanced in the young man''s direction. The young man was already stopped running and panting out of breath. Next to him, there was an older man. Behind the older man were around 50 bandits who had a ferocious look. Meanwhile, the older man had a kind vibe, very in contrast with the bandits behind him. "Hello," The older man greeted Peter''s group. "Unfortunately, you have to stop right here. I think my little brother had paid enough. So, please leave!" The older man said kindly with a warm smile. Peter kept silent, looking at this scene. Auron was also didn''t say anything. Seeing this, the soldiers were agitated and persuaded Peter, "Sir! We have to capture them. Give the order to capture him! With only that many bandits, we can win!" However, Peter didn''t reply anything and kept silent, looking at the older man. Meanwhile, the older man kept on smiling while looking at Peter''s group. Unfortunately, the bandits behind the older man were not stood still. They kept on provoking Peter''s group and mocked Peter''s group. The soldiers at Peter''s side could not stand the mock. They became aggressive and wanted to attack. However, Peter raised his hand and stopped the soldiers from attacking. Then, he said, "Retreat!" After saying that one word, Peter turned around and moved back. Auron and the soldiers could not help but followed Peter back while stayed cautious on the bandit''s attacks. Meanwhile, the bandit''s mock became more aggressive seeing this. Fortunately, the soldiers were trained to follow the superior''s orders correctly. "What a shame!" The older man said. Although there were only 50 bandits behind the older man, actually, there were more bandits here. At the top of the cliff, there were already more than 100 archer bandits. More bandits were stationed around the area, ready to surround Peter''s group as soon as they entered the passageway. In total, there were more than 1000 bandits here hidden really well like a trained assassin. Meanwhile, the young man was panting out of breath. As the older man turned around, the young man got up and followed him. He was grateful that he could escape death. Then, he sighed and smiled bitterly. He knew it was over for him. Chapter 547 - Being Used (3) The young man followed his older brother all the way back to the Skuld''s headquarter. Along the way, these two brothers didn''t talk to each other. Instead, the older brother seemed busy arranging some matters. The young man kept on sighing along the way. He knew that his fate had already been settled. He could not compete anymore for the successor position. Moreover, the Pauper Bandit Group''s leader, his trusted aides, had already fawned over his big brother. The young man could only resign to his fate of being used by his big brother. Yes, the young man was being used by his big brother. It could be seen from how many bandits were stationed at this passage. The passage should only have around 100 bandits to raid and protect the headquarters. However, right now, the young man''s older brother was here. Not only that, but there were more than 1000 bandits here. And all of them were his big brother''s subordinates. There was no way his older brother would station 1000 bandits here randomly. He must have known that the young man would come here. Instead of helping the young man when he still had many soldiers, the older brother only helped when almost all of the young man''s troops had been killed. Not only that, the older brother had hidden his power thoroughly. The last report that the young man had received said that his older brother only had around 800 bandits. However, the bandits here were surpassed that number. There should be more of them on his older brother''s hideout. The successor of the Skuld''s leader had been settled with the young man''s failures. Even the young man''s second older brother already lost half of his power. Now, no one could contend with the eldest brother. The matter quickly closed. ------------ On Auron''s side, he and Peter had just arrived at the village. With the sun was just about to rise, the village was already bustling with people. The reinforcements requested by the village''s head had arrived at this village. These newly arrived soldiers began to take over the command control. They prepared to clear out the bandit around the area. Of course, there should be no bandits left since almost all of them had already killed or escape. However, they still had to do this. Meanwhile, Peter and Auron didn''t have anything left to do. Auron brought his students and went back along with the elite soldiers sent by the academy. Auron knew he had failed his mission. However, he was not disappointed with the failure as he reported everything he knew to the headmaster. Throughout Auron''s story, the headmaster only nodded his head several times. At the end of Auron''s story, the headmaster asked his students'' opinions and comments. All of them replied enthusiastically, especially the girl. The headmaster smiled and nodded again before dismissed the students. After the student left the room, the headmaster asked, "What do you think about the students?" "They were great, especially the girl. It seems that the girl also has an interest in the intelligence division. Maybe, you could give her a helping hand." Auron replied with a smile. The two of them continued to talk for several minutes before Auron asked permission to leave. Since Auron didn''t have anything to do yet, he started to back to his routine, raising his level. Auron began to hunt for the monster for two days when another call arrived at him. The headmaster called him to retrieve his rewards. Auron was slightly confused. It was because he failed his mission, so there should be no reward. However, the headmaster had clearly said to take his rewards. In the end, Auron could only comply and went back to the headmaster''s room. During these two days, Auron had heard about the other''s group''s mission''s progress. All of them had already completed the assignment perfectly. When Auron arrived at the headmaster''s room, he was greeted by Leon and Charlotte. The two of them quickly pity Auron, "You are so unlucky to be involved with the large-sized bandit." Auron could only reply with a wry smile. Not long after, the last two intelligence officers arrived. With everyone present, the headmaster didn''t waste any more time. He called the last two intelligence officers first and gave them their rewards. Each of them was given 50 golds. It was not much and not little considering the mission''s difficulty. After receiving their rewards, the two intelligent officers didn''t stay and immediately left without saying goodbye. Seeing this, Leon and Charlotte scorned the two people. The headmaster still smiled and didn''t mind it. Then, he called Leon and Charlotte. The two of them got 200 golds each. Their eyes brightened, considering the mission''s difficulty, 200 golds were a lot. Leon and Charlotte received the golds with a smile. They could not stop smiling even after receiving the gold. These two people didn''t leave the room yet and waited for Auron. The headmaster called Auron next. Then, he rewarded Auron with 100 golds. Auron was shocked. The headmaster was really giving him rewards. Moreover, it was more than what the first two intelligence officers got. Auron was confused and was about to ask, but the headmaster explained first, "Even though you had failed the mission, but you truly gave your all in teaching the students. If you ask about the first two officers, they were not serious in teaching the students. They even took care of almost everything in the mission, which made the student learned little." "Hence, I reward you more than the two of them." Leon and Charlotte nodded their head at the headmaster''s explanation. Moreover, the two didn''t like the first two intelligence officers, who were very arrogant. They were also closer to Auron, so they obviously supported Auron. Hearing the headmaster''s explanation, Auron could only thank the headmaster and bowed to him. Leon and Charlotte also bowed and respected the headmaster as an elder. After that, the three of them leave the headmaster''s office with a bright smile. Chapter 548 - Preparation (1) Auron bade farewell to Leon and Charlotte. Although Auron didn''t want to deem them a friend yet, they still got closer through this short interaction. Who knows, maybe in the future he would work together with them? Auron, Leon, and Charlotte went to separate ways. Auron decided to go back to his dorm room first. He was excited with these 100 golds. With these 100 golds, he could upgrade his [Moss Sword] to the next level. Auron had just closed the door to his room and was about to lay down when a knock sounded. He could not help but look at the door. Auron opened the door only to find Spica. He greeted her awkwardly, "Hello. What brings you here?" Seeing Auron''s awkward expression, Spica teased him with a seductive voice, "I am cold and lonely here. Would you mind letting me go inside and accompany me for a while?" Although Spica was not that beautiful, she was above average. And, combined with her seductive tone and Auron''s inexperience in love, made Auron nervous and panic. Auron opened and closed his mouth didn''t know what to reply. His mind was hot, and he could not think anything. Seeing Auron stood still like an idiot, Spica laughed out loud. She even held her stomach. Quickly, she revealed her real intentions were coming here while holding her laughter, "Smite wants me to inform everyone to gather at the base. He had something to say." After revealing this, Spica immediately went away, leaving Auron alone while laughing. Auron was embarrassed when he realized that he was teased by Spica. Auron smiled wryly and shook his head. Then, he went to the Absurd team''s base. When Auron arrived there, almost everyone was already there. There were only Julia and Spica who were missing. Not long after, the two women came while chatting with each other. When everyone had already present, Smite immediately began, "My goal to gather you right now is to share some news." Gavin immediately interrupted, "Whoa... Is this a secret? Will this bring us a lot of money?". His eyes were brightened. "Sadly, this is not a secret. You will hear this news tomorrow from the military. I just give the news to you earlier." "What is it? Is the promotion''s requirement will be reduced?" Gavin interrupted once again, which made him got a deadly stare from the others. "What... I am just a little bit excited," Gavin said weakly. "As you know, there was the annual meeting recently. The meeting was already over, and I am gonna share the result with you." Jeffrey, who all this time showed uninterested expression, immediately got up and looked serious. Like Spica and the two archer brothers, some of the people here also got a serious face. It was not a surprise that the meeting would have some effect on the military. However, all the past year, the effect was not that big, and it was not enough to make Smite did something like this. This year, if Smite did something like this, then it means that something huge was about to come. "The royal family wants to attack the Bridge World." This one sentence echoed in everyone''s mind. Attacking the Bridge World was not a small matter. Instead, it was a huge matter. If something went wrong, it would cause many casualties, but it could bring their world to demise. Smite continued, "As you know, previously, our cities in the Bridge World were attacked. The royal family could not let this matter went away just like that, and they want to counterattack." "And, let me tell you a secret this time," Smite said. "Tomorrow, the news, more or less, will say something like this. It was just an act of revenge without any goal. However, let me tell you the secret, the royal family had gone all out this time." "All of the princes will attend in this attack while the princesses will maintain the kingdom''s peace and internal matters. Almost all of the soldiers will be brought up, and only a leave little soldiers enough for guarding the kingdom." "Because of this, I want to let all of you know. Don''t underestimate this matter. Prepare everything thoroughly. If possible, go all out." "F***! F***! F***!" Jeffrey cursed out loudly while leaving the meeting. However, nobody stopped Jeffrey, including Smite. When Jeffrey was about to leave the room, Smite quickly said, "I will lead this time, and Smiling Wizard will be my vice!" Jeffrey exited the room as if he didn''t hear what Smite had said. Meanwhile, everyone had a weird expression. Everyone had thought that Jeffrey would be the one who became the vice since he was the one who known Smite the longest. However, nobody dared to ask the question to Smite. Instead, Auron raised his hand and questioned Smite, "Why me?" Smite replied with another question, "Why not?" Then, he continued, "You don''t expect me to choose Jeffrey, right?" "He is not suitable to be a leader. You have seen his temperament, right?" "Also, I have observed everyone else here. And, my options were between you or Spica. However, as Spica was a cleric, she could not move anywhere in the field. It will make her difficult to determine the right choice." "Moreover, I believe she didn''t want the position, right?" Smite said while looking at Spica, who replied to him with a nod. "Hence, I have no other options but you. I have seen you leading the group on the previous occasion. Although it was not perfect, I believe it was better than the others." "I don''t believe there is anyone who wants to object to my decision, right?" Smite asked calmly. Everyone on the team actually agreed on Smite''s reason. However, they somewhat still felt weird when they were led by a newcomer who was weaker than them. Julia raised her hand and said, "I support the leader''s decision." With Julia as the starter, everyone began to nod and agreed to Smite''s decision. With everyone supporting him, he didn''t have any reason to reject. Chapter 549 - Preparation (2) Dayton asked, "Wait! You said that we will go all out, but the military would announce otherwise. Why would the higher-ups conceal the matter?" "Are you stupid? It was obvious that the higher-ups do not want the Regalia''s spies or bandits around here would create havoc." Instead of Smite, Cedric replied to Dayton''s question. "That is correct. And, to make this plan better, they will deploy the soldiers in batches." Smite added. "And, I don''t know whether we have to be happy or not. But, we will be included in the second batch out of the four batches." "We have 2 weeks starting from tomorrow to prepare. Since the time is tight, I wish that you prepare carefully." "Especially, for you," Smite said this sentence directly to Auron. Everyone looked at Auron. However, everyone knew the reason why Smite said this. Auron also knew the reason. It was because he had the lowest level from the people here. With his level, Auron would not be able to survive for too long in the Bridge World. "Okay," Auron felt determined. It was really dangerous to survive in the Bridge World. Previously, Auron could only survive because he was defending inside the city. However, this time, Auron could not always stay inside the city. Hence, the danger level would rise significantly. With the increased danger level, Auron knew he had to raise his level. Obviously, Auron would use his mage character during this mission. And, if this mage character died, he would lose all of his benefits. He would not want this. "Prepare well, guys! One week from now, we will gather here once again. I want to know about your preparation. Also, if you have some problems, you can ask me. I will help you if I can." Smite ended the meeting. The room''s atmosphere turned heavy. They knew how serious this matter was. Everyone started to create some plan to increase their level and power. Auron was about to exit the base when Julia approached him, "Do you need any help?" Auron looked at Julia and said, "Thank you. But, I am good. I will tell you if I need some help." It was not like Auron didn''t want Julia''s help. However, Auron already had a plan. He would hunt with his swordsman character to speed up his hunt. Because of this, Auron could not accept Julia''s help. With that, Auron quickly exited the place. Then, he quickly went to the market. The time was tight, and Auron didn''t want to waste any more time. However, there was one thing that he had to do first, to upgrade his [Moss Sword]. Auron went to the market and quickly bought all of the requirements. The newly received 100 golds were really helpful. Unfortunately, these 100 golds were only enough for one time upgrade. Actually, it didn''t cost all of the 100 golds. However, to upgrade for this one time, Auron had to spend 60 golds. There were still around 40 golds left. However, it was not enough for Auron to upgrade it to the next level. Moreover, he still needed to supply his potions and other consumable items. Auron quickly brought all of the needed ingredients to the blacksmith association. Then, he quickly requested to meet Ruka, the blacksmith association''s leader. This was also one of the issues when upgrading the sword. Auron could not go to the other blacksmith. It was because only a handful of people had the capability to upgrade this sword, and Ruka was one of them. Moreover, Auron didn''t want to share this sword with many people. He was afraid that too many people knew his secret, then the chance it leaked would be high. Auron was fortunate. Ruka was available at the moment. His secretary quickly guided Auron to the president''s room. When Auron was inside Ruka''s room, Ruka immediately greeted Auron with a huge hug. Then, he quickly asked what Auron wanted. Actually, Ruka had an important schedule a few minutes from now. However, when he heard Auron wanted to meet him, he quickly pushed back his schedule and prioritized Auron. Auron implicitly told Ruka what he wanted to do. Ruka''s expression brightened. This was what he wanted for a long time. Ruka quickly urged Auron to quickly take the sword out. However, Auron stared at Ruka, then he looked towards Ruka''s secretary. Ruka glanced at where Auron saw and he knew what Auron means. Ruka quickly dismissed his secretary. Then, he quickly urged Auron to take out the sword. Auron took the sword out once again. Ruka immediately grabbed and caressed the sword like a madman. Ruka observed the sword carefully like it was a precious treasure while Auron took out the upgrade requirement. When Auron finished taking out all of the upgrade ingredients, he asked Ruka, "So, where are we going to do this?" Auron''s question woke Ruka from his intimate time with the sword. He answered Auron, "Oh follow me!" Ruka brought the sword and went to the next room. It turned out the room next door was Ruka''s personal work office. Ruka quickly went inside the room and leaving Auron who dazed. Auron had taken out this many items just to take it once more before following Ruka to the next door. Inside the room, Auron took out the ingredients once more when Ruka said, "It seemed the sword is still not ready to be upgraded yet." Auron frowned. Then, a sudden idea appeared on his mind. There was a requirement to sacrifice a number of common grade weapons. Maybe, this was why the sword was not ready to be upgraded. However, Auron didn''t know how this sacrificing works. Auron took the sword from Ruka''s hand. Then, he took out a common grade weapon that he had bought. Auron put the common grade weapon on the work table. Then, he touched the weapon with the sword''s tip. However, after waiting for several minutes, there was nothing happened. Auron was confused and observed the [Moss Sword]. Chapter 550 - Preparation (3) "What should I do?" This question surfaced on Auron''s mind when he saw nothing was happening. "Did I do it wrong?" Auron tried once more and touched the common grade sword with the tip of [Moss Sword]. However, there was nothing happened. While Auron was pondering, Ruka said, "Maybe, there is some condition to be fulfilled when sacrificing the sword." "Do you think we need to melt the common grade sword?" Auron asked. "I don''t think so," Ruka shrugged his shoulders. "If we melt the sword, why would we have to provide a sword in the first place? We could directly buy the metal directly." Auron nodded. He agreed with what Ruka had said. "Then, what should we do?" "How about you break the common grade sword with the [Moss Sword]?" Auron nodded with Ruka''s suggestions. Then, he began to hit the common grade sword with [Moss Sword]. However, it was not easy to break other swords. Auron hit hard the common grade sword three times, but there was no sign of it breaking down. Auron didn''t give up and hit the sword several times more. He even used skills like [Bash] to hit the common grade sword. After several hits, a crack appeared on the common grade sword. With several hits more, Auron finally broke the sword into two parts. When the common grade sword broke into two parts, a popup notification appeared in front of Auron. [Do you want to absorb the common grade sword?] Auron was excited. It seemed his method was working. Auron quickly pressed the ''yes'' option. As soon as Auron pressed the ''yes'' options, the two broken parts shook and quickly stuck on to the [Moss Sword]''s blade. Then, quickly, the two parts getting smaller and smaller as if it was eaten by the sword. In just five seconds, the two broken parts had already vanished from the scene. Auron quickly checked the [Moss Sword]''s information. And, there was an updated information. There was a number 1 out of 100 besides the sacrifice common grade sword information. With this discovery, Auron quickly got excited and spirited. He took another sword and slammed the [Moss Sword] onto it. Even though it was not difficult, Auron still spent a lot of effort in doing this. It still took him around one and a half hour to destroy up to 50 swords. While Auron was breaking the sword, Ruka was shocked to see that the [Moss Sword] didn''t get crack or even had any tiny break on it''s blade. The sword''s sharpness was still the same as if it had never been used. Another one and a half hour passed, Auron was on the last 5 swords when Ruka thought of something. He stopped Auron for a bit then took a common grade sword. With the sword in his hand, Ruka started to hammer the said sword. Using his strength and ability as a blacksmith and the fact that hammer could broke a weapon faster, the sword quickly worn out. When it was about to break, Ruka handed over the worn out sword to Auron. With three more hit, Auron broke the worn out sword easily. Then, as like what happened to the other swords, the broken part quickly absorbed into the sword. However, this new discovery made Auron smiled wrily. It seemed he didn''t need to destroy the sword all by himself. He could just find an almost worn out sword and broke the sword. Or, he could find some blacksmith and did like what Ruka did. When Auron thought he had wasted almost three hours just for this, he wanted to curse. With Ruka''s help, Auron could speed up the sacrifice process by three fourth times. Clang... Wungg... The last sword had been absorbed into the [Moss Sword]. Sacrificed common grade sword (100/100). After that, Auron handed over the sword to Ruka who started the upgrading process. Since this was the first time Ruka did something like this, he was very careful and took it slowly. Time ticked slowly. After two hours, the sword in front of Ruka''s shone brightly that it covered the room with light. In just a second later, the light dimmed and the [Moss Sword] in front of Ruka just laid there silently. Auron saw the sword and could see that the sword had been upgraded. Auron took the sword and directly looked into the information. [Moss Sword] (rare grade equipment) (Upgradeable) Type: One-Handed Sword Requirement: 150 Strength, 100 agility, level 200 Class: Swordsman, Thief, Merchant Attack: 1189 - 1256 Effect: Strength + 30 agility + 20 Description: A one-handed sword with a green blade. Other than its strange color, the sword, currently, doesn''t have any effect. However, don''t underestimate this sword since this sword is upgradeable. Upgrade Information: - Sacrificed rare grade sword (0/100) - Coal (0/200) - Iron (0/200) .... energy: 100 fire form level: 1/10 ice form level: 1/10 earth form level: 1/10 wind form level: 1/10 It was a surprise that the sword''s attack increased significantly compared to the previous grade. Also, there was an increase in attributes with this upgrade. Auron''s strength and agility increased 30 and 20 respectively. It was quite a great enhancement compared to the other weapon. Moreover, the increase was one fifth of the sword''s requirement. Auron was excited with this sword. Moreover, the sword could still be upgraded further. Auron quickly took the sword from Ruka''s sight which made Ruka disappointed. Ruka wanted to observe it longer. Since Auron had been helped by Ruka, he could not help but allow Ruka to observe it longer. One hour later, Auron exited the blacksmith association headquarter. Even though Ruka had wanted to observe it longer, Auron could not help do it. He had wasted more than 5 hours here. He still had a tight schedule around. he could only promise Ruka a chance in the future. Auron quickly supplied his potions and brought along his mage character and went hunting. Auron had only around two weeks before he had to go to the Bridge World. Chapter 551 - Talv City (1) Slash... Groarrrr... A huge ape shouted its last roar and fell down to the ground, not moving. Then, from the ape''s corpse, a bunch of items popped out. A team of two men looked at the ape''s corpse. A white light surrounded these two men as both of them were leveled up. This ape was one of the boss monsters around the area. It was quite surprising that a two-man team could kill this boss. Moreover, it was without a cleric''s help. One of the men approached the ape''s corpse and bent down. He started to collect the items. This man was Auron. Actually, both of the men were Auron''s character. It was already two weeks since Auron had upgraded his [Moss Sword]. During these two weeks, Auron had intensively hunt day and night. And, with his hard work, he managed to reach level 422. After killing the ape''s boss, Auron gained another level to level 423. Auron had managed to gain more than 100 levels in just two weeks. It was actually a fantastic feat to reach gain 100 levels. Although it was amazing, it was not impossible to achieve this feat. Someone with enough backing and money could achieve this feat as well. Also, to accomplish this feat, it was not free. Auron had to spend hundreds of thousand potions. It was fortunate that when Auron came to Smite with this problem, the latter gave Auron much money. He also gave Auron a bunch of high-grade potions. Auron was shocked and even rejected Smite''s offer. He didn''t want to be in such a huge debt. Surprisingly, Smite said that Auron didn''t need to think about it, and he could give all of this to Auron for free as long as it helped Auron. Smite''s reason for doing this was that he didn''t want any of his teammates to die in the Bridge World. So, he could spend this much as long as his goal was achieved. Auron also didn''t want to die in the Bridge World. Moreover, for his mage character to die would mean the end of his cheat. Furthermore, Auron was in dire need of money. In the end, Auron accepted the money. However, he promised to Smite that he would pay up this money in the future. Smite only laughed and said, "Do what you want as long as you don''t die." With this much money and potions at hand, Auron became more daring in hunting, even without a cleric. Auron even didn''t want to team up with others, including a cleric. He was afraid that it would slow his progress if he teamed up with the others. Moreover, it would also restrict his character to use both of the class''s skills. Actually, Auron''s goal in this hunting was to reach level 450. Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried, that number seemed impossible to achieve in two weeks. Although Auron failed to achieve his goal, he was satisfied with his achievement thus far. There were two reasons. The first one was Auron gained a lot of money from two weeks of hunting. Most of it was because of the fact that Auron hunted quite a lot of boss monsters. He even completed a 10 man dungeon with only two members. All of the loots and equipment he gained, if all of them were converted to money, Auron could pay his debt to Smite. There was even some leftover money to be used. However, Auron didn''t intend to pay his debt to Smite. It was because he knew that in the Bridge World, he would need more money to buy supplies. The second and most important reason was his newly upgraded [Moss Sword]. This was also the reason why Auron could hunt a lot of boss monsters even without a cleric. After upgrading the [Moss Sword] to the rare grade, the sword had a special ability besides the increase in attack power and attributes. It was a life steal ability. Each time Auron managed to hit his enemies with the sword, he would get 0.5% of the damage to recover his health. 0.5% was actually a small amount compared to other weapons. There was a weapon with a 20% life steal ability. Even though 0.5% was a small amount compared to the other weapon''s life steal, combined with Auron''s attack speed, it was enough to sustain his health. Moreover, that was not all. The life steal ability of the [Moss Sword] was different from others. When Auron''s health was full, then it would recover his mana. The most unique ability about the sword''s life steal was that it could share the recovery to the other on the same party at a certain distance. Auron could choose the recovery target. Then, when he attacks, that target would receive the recovery heal. Unfortunately, Auron could only choose one target, including himself. So, Auron had to decide whether to heal himself or the others at the same party as him. However, this unique ability was enough to get Auron excited. Using this unique ability, Auron could save up his potions usage to 10%. Moreover, Auron could reduce when he needed to consume the potions in the middle of a battle. He believed if the others knew about this sword''s ability, they would try to snatch it. Although Auron''s mage character could not use the sword, he could bring his swordsman character to the Bridge World. Like the previous expeditions to the Bridge World, the military had already announced the players'' recruitment. And Auron had already applied to join. Moreover, this time, they could choose to go with a team of their choice. Of course, Auron''s swordsman character''s choice was the Absurd team. In few more hours, the Absurd team would start to move to the Bridge World. Since there was still another long way to go to get another level, Auron decided to stop his hunting. Then, he went to the gathering point, which was located in Inverno City. Chapter 552 - Talv City (2) Inverno City was one of the four cities that connected to the Bridge World. As this city was an important city like only below Miderian City, the security here was very tight. Moreover, with the upcoming large-scale operation, the security was tightened several times. The city was already bustling with people even without the military''s announcement. Now, with the military''s announcement, the crowd doubled. Many players gathered here to participate in the war. Many of the players were excited about this upcoming war. They had very eager to participate in a large-scale operation like this. Unfortunately, it was not easy for players to join this operation. The players had to register and enter one of the teams to participate in the war. Of course, they could also choose to enter a top-ranked guild. They had to join like this to ease the access in command relay from the top. Of course, the top-ranked guild had already promised to help the military with some benefits given. In the end, the top-ranked guild had already reached an agreement with the military. So, they could be considered as an entity under the military. Hence, the players could choose to enter the top-ranked guild or become temporary team members from the military. Of course, the players could choose neither of the options, and the military would not forbid them from joining. However, if they chose this way, they would not benefit from what the military had promised them. They would join with their own funds and also took what they received. The Absurd team was one of the popular teams. Despite the fact that they only had 11 members, including Auron, this team was one of the best that the military had. Because of that, many players had applied to join the team as temporary members. For the team, a player joining them was helping them. That member''s achievement would be considered as the team''s achievement. However, that was only if the player could work together with them. If the player could not work together or even defy the orders, it could cause their team a problem. Hence, the players'' selection process and the selection authority were given to the team. Smite had already known about this system. Hence, he had consulted with some of the old members of the Absurd team to help him filters the players. With Smite''s strict selection process, out of 100 players register to this team, only 4 were accepted. And Auron''s swordsman character was one of the four. They accepted Auron''s swordsman character because they had been working together in the previous mission. Julia and Auron also gave their opinion, and it smoothed the acceptance process. Both of Auron''s characters had arrived at the Inverno City. There were already many teams gathered here. The Absurd team was just one of the many groups that departed from Inverno City. Many other teams passed from this city or other cities. Auron directly went to the gathering point of the Absurd team. It was a house. Actually, it was Smite''s house in Inverno City. Rumor had said that Smite had other houses in the other three cities. It was still unknown how much Smite''s assets were. Although the house was not big, it was not a small house either. It was a two-floor house with six rooms. When Auron arrived at this house, most of the members already gathered here, missing only Smite and Jeffrey. Since the last briefing was not started yet, Auron used this chance to get to know the new members. Although Auron knew their name, he never met them in person. As he was the team''s vice leader, Auron should know about their class and so on. There were 2 men and 1 woman among the newest members besides Auron''s swordsman character. The woman was another cleric, just like Spica. Meanwhile, the two men were a swordsman and a thief. Auron didn''t know whether Smite deliberately chose the members according to the member''s class or not. However, Smite''s choice was pretty good, class-wise. Obviously, a large-scale operation like these two swordsmen was not enough, so the addition of two swordsmen was the right choice. Obviously, one cleric would not be enough, and the new cleric would help ease Spica''s burdens. Meanwhile, the new thief also was not the agility or tracker type. Instead, he was the assassin type. Hence, the new thief could help raise the team''s attack power and act at a critical time. Auron could see that the new recruit was quite high leveled. He observed the other members as well. All of them had increased their level quite significantly. The average level of the members had gone up to 550. It was relatively high for a team comprise only of colonel rank and sergeant as the leader. If all of the members could take a promotion examination, they would reach sergeant rank or at least a senior corporal. Unfortunately, the promotion was halted due to this operation. It took Auron 10 minutes for the greetings and the introduction. Auron looked at the time once more. The departure time was almost coming. However, there was still no sign of Smite and Jeffrey. Auron had no choice but to start the meeting. Although Auron didn''t know the plan, at least he could start by asking the others'' preparation. When Auron was about to start, Smite came, followed by Jeffrey behind his back. Auron breathed a relieved sigh. Then, when he was about to greet Smite and Jeffrey, he was shocked. The other members besides the new members were shocked as well. Both Smite and Jeffrey had reached level 600. To be precise, it was level 650 and 648 for Smite and Jeffrey, respectively. Not only that, but their equipment was so dazzling that with one glance, one would know it was expensive. When everyone was dazed because of his level and equipment, Smite looked around while smiling and said, "It seems everyone has arrived. So, let us start the final briefing. Gather around." Chapter 553 - Talv City (3) The final briefing didn''t last for too long. Smite just wanted to make sure that everyone''s preparation was complete and thorough. He didn''t even tell about any strategy or anything else since even he still didn''t know about it until they arrived at Talv City. Smite also told everyone that today was the last ''free'' day for them. So, they still had some time even after they had arrived at Talv City. When they arrived at Talv City, Smite would receive their team''s task. Then, they would execute it at midnight or tomorrow morning, depending on the task. During their wait time, they could go back to Inverno City to supply what they need. However, if they did that, the portal fee would be deducted from their team''s money. Although Smite didn''t mind paying the fee, it would be better if they could avoid it. After the final briefing ended, the Absurd team prepared to go to the Talv City. Since there was no more preparation needed, all of them quickly went to the portal. On the way to the portal, Auron was behind Smite and Jeffrey, who was already surrounded by the team''s old members. All of them had one question in their mind. How could Smite and Jeffrey advance so fast? They wanted to know the answer. Auron, who heard the question, also became curious. His achievement to get around 100 levels in 2 weeks was quite amazing. It could be seen by the other member''s growth that could not reach that number. The highest among them was to get 60 levels in these two weeks. However, both Smite and Jeffrey could reach level 650. It was more than 150 levels, almost 200 levels. If their level were below level 100, it would not be surprising to get many levels. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Smite and Jeffrey start at around level 480. There must be some secret going on here. This secret piqued Auron''s interest. So, he moved closer to Smite to hear the answer. Unfortunately, Smite didn''t share his secret and avoid the question. When everyone moved to Jeffrey, the latter only whistled away as if he didn''t know what they were talking about. Even though they didn''t get the answer, the members kept on pestering Smite and Jeffrey to give them the answer. Unfortunately, until they reach the teleportation portal to Talv City, they still didn''t get the answer. When the Absurd team arrived at Talv City, Smite immediately went to the Talv City commander for a report and meeting. Jeffrey, who was left alone, pretended that he was tired and went to sleep. In the end, the other members could only give up. Everyone went off their own business with the matters settled until the designated time, at 6 pm. Auron, who had nothing to do, decided to went around the city. Although this was not his first time to the Bridge World, it was still a long time ago since he went to Talv City. The last time Auron visited Talv City was two years ago. Among the four cities in the Bridge World, Talv city was not that popular in Bridge World. The Gaia didn''t know the reason why but Regalia seemed didn''t have any interest in Talv City. During these few years, there was no attack at Talv City. The recent attack at Talv City was when Kevad City got attacked. In those attacks, the troops that attack Talv City were the weakest among the other city. Before that recent attack, Talv City had been at peace for more than 4 years. That was why Auron decided to walk around the city. He believed that the city had changed a lot since the last time he visits here. In the four cities of Bridge World, the military had monopolized the resource selling rights. No one could sell anything in the cities, even just simple potions. The thing''s price here was a little bit expensive than the one sold in the Gaia. The military did this because they needed the money to fund their activity. All of the profits gained here would go to the military to enhance their troops. Because of this, they could not afford another competitor. Moreover, the royal family had agreed to this system. Hence, there were no players or NPC that could sell here. It was really a city for the warzone. There was nothing fun here. Almost all of the buildings here were owned by the military. And all of them were used for lodgings. Some buildings owned by a big guild also had already become lodging exclusively for their guild members, like Smite, who owned a building here in this city. With nothing fun here, Auron went back to the team''s lodging and waited there. It seemed, unlike Auron, most of them also leisurely waiting here. Not too long after Auron went back to the lodging, Smite had already back from the meeting with the commander in charge. With Smite''s presence, everyone immediately gathered around. Everyone was curious about how the meeting went on. To everyone''s surprise, Smite had arrived while frowning. It was not a good sign. Smite looked at everyone who was already worried. Then, he began explaining their team''s task. Smite tried to explain as detailed as possible to avoid any ambiguity and confusion. After that, Smite also gave some idea that he had thought while walking back here, and he asked for everyone''s opinions. After hearing Smite''s explanation, all of them were also frowning. However, they could not do anything since it was their assigned task. All they could do was helping Smite in formulating the plan. With everyone chimed in, using Smite''s plan as the base, the plan slowly formed. Although it was still not perfect, it was better than Smite''s original plan. The meeting was over after 1 hour. Smite closed the meeting by saying, "Prepare well! We only have 2 hours before the plan execution!" "Yes, Sir!" Everyone answered in unison. Chapter 554 - Supply Raid (1) Auron led five people and went in another direction from Smite''s group. Based on the agreed strategy, the Absurd team would split into two. Auron, as the vice leader, would lead one group, and Smite would lead another one. The Absurd team''s task was very crucial and difficult. That was the reason why Smite was frowning when he heard his team''s mission. There were eight cities in the Bridge World. Four belonged to Gaia, and the other four belonged to Regalia. The distance between these two sides was far. It would take an a.d.u.l.t man 30 days to reach the other side at walking speed. Moreover, that man had to walk 24 hours nonstop to get to the other side in 30 days. Of course, the distance could be shortened if they ran or using a means of transportation. However, even if they used a vehicle, it was still not easy since the terrain was not supportive for transportation. Moreover, it would be safer for them to travel by foot since they could hide and not attract too much of the enemy''s attention. Because of this far distance, both sides built their own stop area for their army to rest and recover from their fatigue. Of course, the rest area was not a luxurious place. It made enough for the military to rest. However, the security of this stop area could not be underestimated. When one side decided to build a stop area, they had already considered many things, such as the terrain and the stop area''s distance and size. Hence, the stop area could be viewed as a mini stronghold. This stop area was so important that the soldiers assigned here would be nothing less than those stationed in the four main cities. Actually, when one side wanted to attack the other side, they didn''t have to conquer these stop areas first, they could avoid the stop areas and directly attack the other side like what Regalia previously did. However, if they did this, they had to consider the possibility of being pincered attacked by the army from the cities and the army from the stop areas. In the Bridge World, Gaia had already built four of the stop area while Regalia had owned 6 stop areas. And, The Absurd team''s task was to conquer one of the 6 stop areas. Actually, it was not conquered, they had to at least made one of the stop area busy, so it could not send reinforcement to the other stop area. It would be better if they could conquer it but it was not mandatory. The stop area that the Absurd team was assigned to was the one to the most eastern part of the Bridge World. Fortunately, Smite''s team would not attack the stop area alone. There was already a team assigned to the stop area and Smite was helping that team. However, the bad news was the previous team had suffered huge casualties and was on the verge of collapsing. Smite''s team would regroup with that team on the Gaia''s stop area closest to the target and took over the command control. The Absurd team''s strategy was to split into two. Auron''s team would act as a vanguard and probed the enemy''s power. Meanwhile, Smite''s team would gather around with the previous team before attacking the stop area. Of course, it would not possible for Auron''s team with only 6 people to conquer the area. However, Auron''s team''s task was to harras them. They would act as a bandit around the area. And, they would attack a smaller team than them or the team that they had the confidence to attack while waiting for Smite''s team to devise the concrete plan. Auron''s team was consist of two swordsmen, one thief, one cleric, one mage, and one archer. The mage was Auron himself, while one of the two swordsmen was Auron''s swordsman character. The thief was Cedric, while the cleric was the newcomer one. Meanwhile, the archer was the older brother of the archer''s brothers. The other swordsman was one of the newcomers as well. Auron''s team was quite small because to increase their mobility. Also, these 6 people would always move together at once. Currently, Auron''s goal was not the stop area itself. Instead, his team''s current goal was to pass over the stop area. Gaia had received a piece of insider information that there would be a supply delivery soon to the stop area that Auron''s team would attack. Hence, Auron''s current goal was to intercept that supply delivery. Since this was a secret mission, Auron''s team had to move secretly. Hence, they could not use the main path. Instead, Auron decided to take a detour to arrive past the stop area and intercept the supply delivery. Auron''s team was taking an unordinary path. They were currently inside a forest. Although there was still a far distance between their current position and the stop area, Auron had decided to lead his team using this unconventional path. He didn''t want to be tracked. And, by doing this, he could minimize the chance for his team to be discovered by the enemy. Auron''s team went inside the forest. Then, they took an incline path. They moved quite a bit fast. It was because of the information that they received, the supply delivery would be arrived at the stop area 8 days from now. So, they had to arrive earlier than that. If Auron''s team took the main path then they could arrive in just 6 days at a little bit quicker pace. However, he led his team through a detour and it would take more time. If they took the same pace, then they would arrive more than 8 days. Hence, Auron''s team tried to move a bit faster. They even reduced their rest time to arrive earlier. The time was a little bit tight for them. This mission was quite important to deal a heavy blow to the stop area that they gonna attack. Chapter 555 - Supply Raid (2) At a high cliff, a bunch of people was gathered here. They were moving stealthily. From above the cliff, one could see a stop area. This stop area belonged to Regalia, and the group was Auron''s group. Auron managed to lead his group and arrived near the stop area one day earlier than the supply delivery schedule. "Rest up a bit!" Auron said. Auron''s group was already moving nonstop during these past seven days. There was almost no time to rest or sleep. Fortunately, they could arrive on schedule. Auron watched the stop area from above. Unfortunately, he could not clearly see because the distance between him and the stop area was quite far away. However, he could see that the stop area was still in peace. The people in the stop area were waiting for the supply delivery peacefully. Maybe, it was because of their victory against the previous group that made them relaxed like this. Usually, after a failed attack, it would take some time before the attacker would relaunch their attack. Moreover, over these past 7 days, there was no other attack. Even though the people inside the stop area were relaxed, they still kept on their awareness up. The news about attacks at other stop areas had already reached every people in Bridge World. From above, Auron could see the man in charge of the stop area. And, from the intel he received from the military, this man was a veteran. He was quite skillful in managing the stop area. It could be proved by their recent victory against Gaia. After 30 minutes of resting and observing the stop area, Auron went back to his group and said, "Let''s go!" Auron''s group still had a task to take care of. They had to intercept the supply delivery. Obviously, they could not do it near the stop area. Hence, they had to block the supply delivery far from the stop area. Auron''s group continued their journey. They scoured the cliff''s path and went into another forest. After walking for another 4 hours, Auron felt that the distance was enough. Moreover, at his current position, the retreat path was secured. That was why Auron decided to intercept the supply delivery in this area. The distance between Auron''s group''s location and the stop area was 4 hours. Hence, they had only 4 hours to clear their mission and retreat from the place. Four hours was not a little time in a raid like this. However, the supply delivery was an essential thing for Regalia as well. That was why they would give tight security around the delivery. With Auron''s group''s number, it would be a challenging task. "Okay, rest up a bit until tomorrow. Don''t create any fireplace or any other that could attract any attention." Auron said. "Cedric, go observe the path for a bit," Auron said to Cedric, followed with a nod by the latter. It was still in the morning, and they still had more than 20 hours before the scheduled time. They could use this time to replenish their energy after all of this nonstop walking. Everyone began stretching their body and tried to find a place to relax, including Auron. Only Cedric was missing from the group because of Auron''s previous assignment. After 10 minutes of relaxation, Cedric came back. However, he was back in a hurry and quickly reported to Auron, "The supply delivery is near here." What Cedric said immediately aroused everyone''s attention. Auron quickly got up and solemnly said, "Are you sure?" Cedric nodded his head. It was quite a surprise for everyone that the schedule was one day earlier. However, Auron didn''t doubt what Cedric had said. He immediately commanded everyone to prepare for battle. And, just like what Cedric said, not long after, from far away, Auron''s group could see the shadow of a group of people walking along the main path. What Cedric had said was true. Auron quickly motioned to the group to be ready while observing the supply delivery group. There were only 10 people inside this group. The number was quite surprising considering the importance of the supply. It seemed that they went ahead of schedule and created a piece of fake information to preserve some manpower. It was fortunate that Auron''s group arrived on time. Also, it was lucky for them that the enemy''s number was not that many. With 6 people, they could handle 10 people more easily since the number was not that much. Besides, a surprise factor would bring down the enemies easier. Auron was ready to attack the supply delivery. He raised his hand mid-air, waiting for the supply delivery to be closer to them before giving the attack order. In waiting, the time seemed to pass slowly. As the supply delivery group got closer and closer, the pressure that Auron''s group felt intensified. Then, not long after, the supply delivery group was right in front of Auron. The latter was ready to give an attack order before he stopped. From the opposite direction of the supply delivery group, five galloping people came to the supply delivery group. Auron frowned, seeing this. The 5 people were soldiers from the stop area, and from their equipment, it was clear that these 5 people were elite soldiers. When the five people approached the supply delivery, the supply delivery group also stopped and prepared for battle. They had unsheathed their weapon when they see the newcomer''s attire. They were from the same side. One of the elite soldiers stopped near the supply delivery group and shouted, "Under the order of the commander, we are here to help with the supply delivery protection." "This is our token of proof. Sheathed your weapon!" The elite soldiers said while throwing the token of proof. The soldiers at the front took the token of proof and gave it to the man in charge of the supply delivery. A minute later, all of the weapons sheathed back. This was not a piece of good news for Auron''s group. Chapter 556 - Supply Raid (3) "Shall we continue?" The leader of the elite soldiers said. "Sure!" The supply delivery''s leader replied. The supply delivery group continued their journey towards the stop area. Meanwhile, Auron''s group was in a difficult position. With the addition of 5 elite soldiers, there were 15 enemies in total. It was twice Auron''s group''s size. Moreover, 5 of the enemies were elites soldiers. Although the rest of the enemies were not elite, they could not be underestimated. As the supply delivery group continued their journey, Auron had to decide quickly. If they started the raid near the stop area, maybe they could still destroy the supply. However, at that point, it would be harder for them to survive. Auron was thinking hard. It was now or never. He quickly whispered to Cedric, who began to fade using the stealth skill. Auron could only rely on a surprise attack. So he quickly told Cedric to aim at the enemy''s cleric. Meanwhile, the other followed and waited for the command. It was fortunate that there was only one cleric among the enemies. So, if Auron''s group could kill this cleric quickly, their chance of winning would increase a lot with a cleric on their side. Cedric stealthily approached the group from the back. Just like a standard group''s formation, the cleric was positioned in the group''s center. A few seconds later, Auron started to chant his [Fire Blast]. When the spell was about to ready, Axton also prepared to release his most powerful shot and aimed towards the cleric. Auron''s spell was unleashed and directly aimed at the group''s center, where the cleric was. Combined with Axton''s [Arrow Shower], attacks rained down upon the supply delivery group. The supply delivery group was already vigilant about their surroundings all this time. So, when the arrows and Auron''s spell were near them, they could somehow react quickly. Unfortunately, it was still difficult to avoid a surprise attack completely. The arrows and spell hit the supply delivery group and created chaos. However, the supply delivery group''s leader tried to maintain their group''s orders. The five elite soldiers already went ahead and charged towards the attack''s source. The supply delivery group took a blow from Auron''s spell and the arrows. However, they quickly regained themselves and prepared for battle. Amidst the chaos, Cedric was near the cleric. He jumped over the cleric and comboed the cleric to death. The sudden assassination of their cleric was surprising. However, they quickly surrounded Cedric. The latter was in a dangerous position inside the enemies'' group. Auron and Axton released another round of attacks. However, they were not aimed towards the five elite soldiers that were coming towards them. Instead, the attacks were aimed towards Cedric''s place. They had to help Cedric out of the encirclement. With a dagger in his hands, Cedric blocked an attack from the nearby swordsman. However, another attack was already coming towards him. He moved back and used the supply delivery''s caravan as a shield. Unfortunately, there were already enemies waiting for him at the other side. A chop coming towards him. Cedric tried to move, but his shoulder was grazed by the sword. Cedric was hurt, but he could not stay still yet. Another attack already coming towards him. Before the attack reached him, Auron''s spell and the arrow poured down towards Cedric''s surroundings. Quickly, Cedric used this chance to escape. The enemies who lost Cedric gnashed their teeth. The leader could not order to chase Cedric because battling running against a thief was useless. That was why the leader ordered their full power attack towards Auron''s group, who was still inside the forest. Meanwhile, after Auron unleashed the spell to help Cedric inside the forest, he moved over to his swordsman character and charged along with the other new swordsman. His mage character was still attacking with spells, but the attack was not directed properly. Auron and the swordsman got buffed by the cleric. They got an increase in attack and speed. Also, they got a barrier. Although the barrier was not that strong, it was better than nothing. Auron and the swordsman quickly met with the five elites. The two of them immediately attack. However, their number was on the losing side. Two of the five elites clashed with Auron and the swordsman. Meanwhile, the rest of them quickly passed the two of them and tried to attack behind them. Auron, who saw this, gritted his teeth and left the swordsman alone, battling against two people while he dashed towards the other three. Auron had to shield his ranged and magic members. From behind, Auron attack the three elite soldiers. Unfortunately, it was not easy to score a hit from an elite. One of the elite turned around and blocked Auron''s attack. The other two continued moving towards the cleric, Auron''s mage, and Axton. After finished helping Cedric, Auron''s mage and Axton could focus on these elite soldiers. They attacked the elite soldiers trying to slow them down. And, it worked. The elite soldiers had to stop to block the attack. However, there was a delay between Axton and Auron''s mage attack. The elite soldiers used those delays to advance closer. Auron was fighting against one of the elite. Auron was in a hurry and tried to shake off this elite soldier. However, the elite soldier didn''t let that happened easily. The battle getting more chaotic over time. As the elites were hindering Auron''s group, the supply delivery group also charged Auron''s group. Cedric, who was behind them, tried his best to lure the supply delivery group by killing them one by one. However, obviously, it was not enough, and he was not that quick enough to finish all of them. After killing three more people from the supply delivery group, Cedric found himself was far behind the supply delivery group''s guards, who were already close to the elite soldiers. Seeing this, Cedric could only follow the group while praying Auron''s group could hold on. Chapter 557 - Supply Raid (4) Auron was currently stuck battling against an elite soldier from the enemy. Although he was not that overwhelmed by the elite soldier, he was still on the losing side. Moreover, Auron was in a hurry to chase the two elite soldiers aiming towards the people at the back. Auron''s level and equipment were still not suitable to participate in the Bridge World war. His best equipment was his weapon, [Moss Sword]. Meanwhile, the other equipment was on average level. Even though the elite soldier could pressure and defeat Auron, it was still not easy for the elite soldier to kill Auron. Meanwhile, the two elite soldiers that already went past Auron had already reached Auron''s mage character. Of course, the two elite soldiers didn''t arrive unscathed. There were several wounds on their body because of Auron''s spell and Axton''s arrows. Still, the two wounded elite soldiers were a danger for magic and ranged units like them. Auron''s mage character sheathed out the dagger and faced the two elite soldiers. Seeing this, the two elite soldiers grinned and immediately attacked Auron''s mage character. They thought it was quick to kill a mage off. Just as expected, Auron''s mage character was beaten. The elite soldiers even underestimated Auron''s mage. He calmly received Auron''s attack like it was a gift before death for Auron''s mage. Contrary to their expectation, after their attacks landed, Auron''s mage wasn''t dead yet. Frowning, the two of them attacks once more. Unfortunately, the cleric would not leave Auron''s mage unsupported. Heal poured down on Auron''s mage and brought its health back to full. The two elite soldiers were surprised. However, they didn''t dwell on Auron''s matter for too long. If they could not kill this mage, then they would change their target. They didn''t believe all of these backline soldiers would be as tough as this mage. The two elite soldiers split up. One charged towards the cleric while the other one attacked Axton, the archer. Auron''s mage was suddenly left alone. Axton already foresaw this would happen. So, when he saw that one of the elite soldiers came to him, he immediately ran away. He wanted to lure one of them and buy some time until the other died. Unfortunately, Axton''s strategy didn''t work. When Axton immediately moved back, the elite soldier turned back and changed his target. Axton gritted his teeth. He took out his bow and unleashed an arrow. The elite soldier dodged the arrow and kept on moving towards Auron''s mage once more. Unfortunately, Auron''s mage was not at the previous location. He already moved and helping the others. However, the one that Auron''s mage helped was not the cleric. Instead, he moved and towards Auron''s swordsman''s location. The elite soldier who was facing Auron''s swordsman was caught in surprise and got attacked from behind. He cursed, "That two stupid people, how could they leave a mage alive!" While cursing, the elite soldier changed his target and charged towards the easier target first, the mage. How could Auron let this happened? The elite soldier faced two of Auron''s characters. During the preparation time, Auron had hunted together numerous times. And Auron was slowly accustomed to the AI level who commanded his mage character. The elite soldier who thought it would be an easy kill quickly realized his mistake. The situation was directly turned around in a matter of seconds. This opening was used by Auron beautifully. Auron''s two characters had dealt a heavy blow to the elite soldier in a matter of seconds. The elite soldier was on the verge of dying. When the elite soldier who turned away from Axton arrived at Auron''s location, the original elite soldier that Auron was fighting shouted his last cry. After finishing the elite soldiers, Auron immediately changed his target. There was no time to spare. The supply delivery group almost arrived. The new elite soldier attacked Auron''s mage. However, with great sync like twins, Auron''s mage didn''t move. Instead, he began chanting his spell. Then, Auron''s swordsman already moved to the front and received the attack. In a close range, Auron''s mage unleashed the spell. The elite soldier tried to dodge. However, he could not dodge completely, and his hand got attack by the spell. The elite soldier didn''t stop from running away. But, how could Auron let that happened? Auron kept on chasing the elite soldier. The elite soldier knew he was on the losing side. He intended to join with the one who was attacking the cleric. However, when he turned around, three arrows greeted him. The elite soldier was caught in surprise and tried to dodge. But, all of the three arrows hit him. He suddenly felt weakness took over his body. Poison. There was poison smeared on the arrow. The poison decreased his movement speed and reaction speed. Auron utilized this opportunity perfectly. The two characters poured out attacks on the weakened elite soldier. In just a matter of seconds, another elite soldier had died. Auron''s two characters immediately moved and saving the cleric. The cleric was clearly an important asset to them. After releasing the three poisoned arrows, Axton immediately helped the cleric, trying her best to stay alive. The cleric deliberately didn''t use her shield''s skill and tried to lure the elite soldier into attacking her. If she used her shield''s skill, the elite soldier would change his target once more. And, that strategy worked. Now, after the other two elite soldiers died, the cleric immediately used her shield skill. The elite soldier who was attacking the cleric gnashed his teeth and turned around to change his target. However, there were already Auron''s two characters, and Axton greeted him. Surrounded by three people, the elite soldier died in a matter of seconds. When the elite soldier was surrounded by three people, the cleric used her area-heal and brought everyone''s health to a safe zone. Then, the four of them quickly moved around and walked over, facing the enemies. There was still one person that they needed to save, the newcomer swordsman. Chapter 558 - Supply Raid (5) A man was facing two people in front of him. He held his right arm as it was already full of blood. Even though the man was injured heavily, he was still standing straight and looked at the two enemies in front of him with fierce eyes. The man was the newcomer swordsman that came along with Auron. He was an independent player that didn''t join any guilds. With all of his effort, he managed to reach level 612 with his own effort. It was difficult without any guild behind him. He even didn''t have any fixed party to join a dungeon. Usually, the man would avoid everything related to the military. However, this time, he had to admit that the royal family''s reward was enticing enough for him to join the expedition. The man was careful. So, when he first decided to join the expedition, he began exploring the military''s team that he could join. He did his research thoroughly for 5 days before choosing which team to join. And, his choice fell to the Absurd team. The man''s expectation rose when he knew that the selection process was very thorough. He believed that this was the sign of an elite team. The man didn''t know why the leader, Smite, chose Auron to lead this mission. Moreover, with such few members. On the way here, the man saw Auron''s leading skill. Although it was good, it was not great. However, the man could not refute Smite''s decision, and he could only follow it. However, currently, the man was regretting his decision. If only he questioned Auron''s decision to attack, maybe he would not in this state. Currently, the man was in a dire state. While in front of him, two enemies were ready to pounce at him. He had managed to hold off the two enemies in front of him for such a long time, and he was already at his limit. The two enemies in front of him charged towards him. The man had already given up. He just wanted this to end and closed his eyes. He had tried his best, but he could not fight against the two enemies in the end. Moreover, behind the two enemies, the supply delivery group had arrived and followed the two enemies behind. The man sighed. Although he was a player that could revive even he was dead, the penalty was still harsh for an independent player like him. Since this was a war state, he would lose two levels and lose two pieces of equipment. During this state, the man wondered whether Smite would reimburse his loss of equipment. Actually, there were no such rules. However, the man felt that Smite was a kind and rich man. So, there was a chance that would happen. The charging sound was getting louder and louder as the enemies approached him. He had already resigned to his fate and accepted his death. However, the moment that he waited didn''t come. Instead, he heard a pained shout, "Enemies incoming!" A heal also fell upon the man and reinvigorated him. He opened his eyes and saw the two enemies in front of him had looked to the side. However, these two enemies immediately looked back at him and attacked him. Feeling confused with the current condition, the given-up man raised his sword. Although he had not fully recover because of a single heal, he had regained some of his energy. The man was pushed back, but he could hold on. From behind him, there was a voice that asked him, "Are you okay?" The man looked behind him and found Auron was already beside him and took on one of the elites in front of him. The man was shocked and could not think straight. However, the man instinctively helped Auron and took the other enemy. "The situation was turned?" The man asked inside his head. "No... No... This was not enough. There were still more enemies behind these two, and with only 6 people, it would not be enough," The man denied his own idea. The man didn''t know that the number of enemies was not as much as he had thought. With the enemy''s cleric and three other people died under Cedric''s hands, the enemy''s number only amounted to 11 people. Then, three more elites died under the combined effort of Auron and the backline people. So, there were 8 people at the end. Not only that, but Cedric managed to kill another person and brought the amount to 7 people. 6 vs. 7 was not a big gap. Moreover, there was a cleric on their side and none at the enemy''s side. It was only a matter of time before they could eradicate all of the enemies. However, time was not really on their side. So, they still had to hurry up before the enemy realized and sent reinforcements. The two elites were bombarded by Auron and the backline. Meanwhile, the enemy''s attention also split because Cedric kept on attacking them from behind. Although Cedric was alone, he was a slippery one and hard to catch. With the tide turned around, the enemies began to die one by one until there was only one person left, the supply delivery group''s leader. The supply delivery group''s leader kneeled, and he roared furiously, "Who are you guys?" It was a stupid question from the leader. Cedric answered with a laugh, "Are you stupid? Who else that want to attack you?" "Quick! Kill him! We don''t have much time! Then, burned the supply!" Auron commanded. They had wasted time. They should be used this precious time to escape as soon as possible to increase their chance to live. Cedric nodded and killed the leader. Then, Auron''s mage started to burn down the supply. Since they could not bring the supply, they could only burn it down. After making sure that the supplies were entirely on fire, under Auron''s lead, the group escaped immediately from the scene. Chapter 559 - Arrived Back (1) Five people arrived at the scene riding on horses around 5 minutes after Auron''s group left the scene. The leader of these five people looked at the burned supplies and gnashed his teeth. With one glance, the leader knew that the supply delivery group had been ambushed. He looked at the trail and saw that the people were gathered inside the forest to their left. This means that the enemies were coming from the left, and it was apparent that they would leave using the same path. These 5 people were elite soldiers from the Regalia side. The stop area commander already knew there was a high chance for the Gaia to attack the supply delivery group. Hence, the commander assigned several elite soldiers as reinforcements. The 5 elite soldiers who fought with Auron''s group previously were the first reinforcements. The commander also arranged several checkpoints and stationed elite soldiers there. And, these new 5 elite soldiers were the soldiers stationed at the next checkpoint. When the first 5 elite soldiers were battling against Auron''s group, these 5 people still didn''t realize it. These 5 elite soldiers just realized what happened when they saw the smoke rising from this place. Hence, they paced their horses towards this place. Unfortunately, these 5 elite soldiers were too late. When they arrived at the scene, Auron''s group had already fled. The leader of these new elite soldiers didn''t dilly dally. He quickly commanded one of them to report back to the commander while the rest would chase Auron''s group. Unfortunately, the forest path was not suitable for horses. So, they had to get down from their horses and used their own feet. Then, the chase began. Auron''s group didn''t know that there was a chaser behind them. However, Auron didn''t relax. Instead, he wanted their group to maintain the lead and escaped at full speed. 5 minutes on the lead was not a big gap. However, since Auron''s group had passed through this place once, they already knew most of it. Hence, their speed increased. On the other hand, their chaser was still unfamiliar with the forest path and stumbled at several places. 5 days passed by since Auron escaped. Just like when they went to the supply delivery group, they also only rest for few times. Meanwhile, their chaser also didn''t rest. They knew that they were already behind Auron''s group. Hence, they didn''t have the luxury to rest. During these 5 days, the news that Auron''s group successfully destroy the supply delivery group had already reached Regalia''s stop area commander. When he first knew the news, he was furious and slammed the wooden table in front of him. However, it didn''t last long. The commander quickly regained his sense back and immediately gave several commands. Several soldiers were sent out from the stop area in small groups. Their only goal was to punish the one who destroyed their supply delivery group, Auron''s group. Meanwhile, on Gaia''s side, they still didn''t know about Auron''s news since the commander had kept the story tightly. It was only just on the third day that Gaia''s side knew about Auron''s news. They immediately sent reinforcement to help Auron and to stop the enemy''s chaser. Unfortunately, Auron''s group didn''t know about all of this. Currently, there were resting near a waterfall inside the forest. After escaping for all this time, Auron believed that they had widened the gap and could rest for a little bit longer. Moreover, he saw that his members'' conditions were not that great either. Auron''s group members besides the swordsman and cleric who were player, was grateful with this news. They were already tired. While resting, Auron and the new swordsman took the watcher position to ensure their safety while the others were resting. Auron used this chance to get to know this new swordsman player. Actually, during these past days, Auron had been curious about this man. However, since they had to escape, they didn''t have any chance to leisurely taking like this. Auron knew about the swordsman''s background, who was an independent player with no backing at all. He also knew that the swordsman was not a weak player since Smite had recruited him. What made Auron curious was the swordsman''s fighting capability. Auron had faced the elite soldiers and knew their strength level. So, when he knew that the swordsman was capable of withstanding two elite soldiers for quite a long time, he knew that the swordsman was above the average. Auron had observed the swordsman''s level and equipment. The swordsman''s level was relatively high, considering he was a lone wolf without any backing. On the other hand, the swordsman''s gear was only on the average level. Hence, with this kind of level and equipment, to withstand two elite soldiers showed that the swordsman''s fighting capability was not average. If the swordsman wanted, Auron could even introduce him to the [Dragon''s Den]. Auron believed with some help, the swordsman could soar quicker. Although Auron had that thought, he didn''t voice it out yet. He knew right now was not the time. They were currently on escape. Moreover, with more time, Auron could understand if the swordsman was the real deal or just a fluke. Auron had an hour conversation with the swordsman. Although the swordsman was a lone wolf, he was also a chatty man. So, it was easy for Auron to know about the swordsman. When Auron asked about why he became a lone wolf, the man told Auron a lot, from his reason until he played this game. And, in that one-hour conversation, Auron already got a lot of information. Unfortunately, the time was tight. They had to continue their journey, so Auron stopped the conversation. Both of them went back to the group. As soon as the two swordsmen arrived at the group, Auron quickly said, "Get ready! We will continue our journey. It is only less than one day before we get back to the base!" Chapter 560 - Arrived Back (2) Every Auron''s members were invigorated by Auron''s speech. Just like what Auron had said, they had only less than one day of travel before they could reach back to their base camp. After a long week of this mission, they needed something to tone down their nervousness. When Auron''s group was about to leave, all of them heard a bustling sound from the path where they came from. All of them immediately stopped moving. Auron gave a signal for them to hide. All of them quickly hid, only leaving Auron and the new swordsman alone. The two of them held their own weapon. Auron was currently using his swordsman character and made his mage character hid just like everyone else. A minute later, a shadow sprung behind from behind the tree and attacked Auron, who was at the front. Auron quickly raised his sword and managed to block the attack. The shadow was actually a weird monster with the body of a lion and had a scorpion tail. It was like a manticore. Auron frowned, looking at this animal in front of him. There was supposed to be no wild monster at all in the Bridge World. There was only one possibility, the monster in front of him was a battle mount. Unfortunately, he never saw any of Regalia''s people using this manticore which made him confused. Auron blocked the attack. However, the manticore was powerful. It gave more strength and pushed Auron back. The new swordsman quickly helped Auron. And, just like what Auron had thought, an arrow appeared from the forest and aimed towards him. Auron dodged the arrow, but the manticore, like had known what Auron did, attacked the location where Auron was fleeing to. Auron was surprised by the mount''s intelligence and could not block the attack. Auron was thrown to the ground by the mount''s sheer power. Then, from the direction where the arrow came, four shadows emerged. Three of them directly attacked Auron and the new swordsman. Auron, who was on the ground, was in danger. He could only roll over and tried to defend against the attacker. Fortunately, the other members who hid didn''t stay still. Axton fired arrows while Auron''s mage character also used [Fire Ball]. Meanwhile, the cleric gave her heal spell to Auron. Cedric, who was nowhere to be found, appeared behind the archer at the back and attacked him. The archer had already known this coming and defended against the attack. With the long-range help, The three enemies and the manticore jumped back and regrouped with the archer. Cedric, who was dealing with the archer, also fled before he was surrounded. Auron quickly used this chance to stand up. The two sides were separated. Auron with six people while on the other sides were the four enemies plus one manticore. It was a 6 versus 5 situation. Auron''s group still had the number advantage. However, he didn''t want to underestimate the enemies. Moreover, the manticore was quite powerful. In the Bridge World, the mount was allowed to be used. However, they were rarely used because at the Bridge World. There was an unknown power that suppressed the power of every monster here, including normal animals like horses. That was also the reason why there was no monster live in The Bridge World. The people who were in the Bridge World still could summon their mount. However, their mount power would be weakened by half. With only half power, their mount could do nothing in this warzone. Because of that, it was rare to see a mount was summoned here. Moreover, it was very difficult to get a mount. Furthermore, creating it to become a battle mount. What made Auron surprised was the manticore''s power. Even with half of its power left, the manticore was still strong. There were only two possibilities for this, the weakening power didn''t have any effect on the manticore, or the manticore''s power was very strong that even with only half of its power it was still this strong. Auron thought that the latter possibility was more likely to happen. There was no way that the weakening power was nullified. With such a strong mount, there was no way the owner of it was an ordinary person. Auron glanced at the four people in front of him. And, he spotted who was the owner of this mount. It was the leader of the four. Auron was really sure because the leader''s level and equipment were surpassed by the other by a huge margin. Moreover, the other three people seemed to respect the leader. The leader must have a great identity back in the Regalia World. The leader of the enemies was on the same level as Smite. However, his equipment clearly surpassed what Smite had. However, the manticore and the enemy''s leader were not the only things that surprised Auron. He was confused about how the enemies could quickly catch them. Auron thought that they should have around three hours lead. Even with Auron''s group''s resting time, the enemy should not be able to arrive this quickly even if they didn''t rest at all. Auron could see that the enemy seemed to have fatigue because of the lack of resting. However, it was not that heavy. "How could you chase us this quickly?" Auron asked. He was trying to catch the enemy off guard with this question. While asking this question, Auron already signaled his other members to prepare to attack the enemies. "You don''t need..." The enemy''s leader was answering Auron''s question. However, before he could finish his sentence, Auron''s group already attacked them. The manticore quickly rushed to the front with the other two members to block Auron''s and the new swordsman''s attack. "Be careful of the thief!!!" The enemy''s leader reminded his comrade, especially the archer. The battle was going on. While the two sides seemed balanced, but Auron''s side actually could win this battle because they had a cleric on their side. Chapter 561 - Arrived Back (3) The manticore jumped at Auron. The latter quickly raised his weapon to block the manticore''s attack. However, he was pushed back by the manticore''s sheer power. Because of this, Auron was separated from the new swordsman. And, in just a matter of seconds, the new swordsman was surrounded by the other three enemy''s members. Seeing this, the new swordsman was furious. In the previous fight, he was surrounded by two elite soldiers. And, now, he was surrounded by three people. Furthermore, one of them was obviously stronger than the previous two soldiers he fought. The new swordsman was lamenting on his bad luck. He quickly considered that his choice of coming to his team was wrong. However, before he could feel remorse deeply into his bad luck, he raised his weapon and fended off the enemy''s attacks. Unfortunately, it was easier said than done. The new swordsman could only fend two out of the three attacks. It was a pretty good feat. However, the one attack that he missed to block was the one coming from the leader. The strongest attack out of the three hit the new swordsman''s shoulder. The cleric was ready. She quickly cast her heal spell to the new swordsman. The heal quickly recover the new swordsman''s health. However, the new swordsman frowned. The wound on his shoulder didn''t heal. Instead, blood still seeped out from the injury. The new swordsman knew what happened to him. He got bleed effect. And, the new swordsman knew where this bleed effect came from. It came from the enemy''s leader''s weapon. The bleed effect was almost the same as the poison or burn effect. They would deal damage over time. Furthermore, the bleed effect could stack. As it stacked, the damage it dealt would increase. The cleric quickly used [Recover] to get rid of the bleed effect on the new swordsman. Meanwhile, Auron was occupied with the manticore. He saw that the new swordsman was in danger. However, he could not help him at all. The manticore was very difficult to handle at Auron''s current level. However, he could not ask for help from the other members. They were already busy helping the new swordsman. With the help of Axton and Auron''s mage, the new swordsman''s burden was eased. However, it was still not over. He had to wary of the enemy''s leader''s attack. The leader''s weapon was really powerful. Out of 10 attacks that managed to connect to the new swordsman, half of them produced a bleed effect on him. 50% chance of bleeding was a rare option and could only be found in a high leveled weapon. However, it was not only the new swordsman that was busy defending himself. The enemy''s archer was also in the same difficult position. The archer had a difficult time dealing with Cedric. Moreover, Cedric had a higher level than the archer. The archer tried to hold out as long as possible. Auron was blocking the manticore''s bite. During this time, Auron could only defend passively as he could not find any opening to attack. 10 minutes had last since the start of the battle. Auron''s group managed to hold on all this long. All of this was thanks to the cleric that support the group. The tide of the battle slowly tilted towards Auron''s group. As the enemies didn''t have any cleric on their formation, they could not recover easily. The enemy''s archer had a hard time dealing with Cedric. However, he managed to hold on for this long. Meanwhile, the three enemies that surrounded the new swordsman felt hurried, especially the leader. To win this battle, they had to kill Auron''s group''s cleric or at least took out one of Auron''s group''s members. The three of them glanced at each other and tacitly understood. The leader quickly pushed the new swordsman while the other two enemies split and moved towards Auron. They intended to kill Auron first. When the other two members started to move, an arrow flashed past the member''s head. The enemy didn''t even have to dodge to avoid this arrow. This arrow was not aimed towards them. One of the enemies glanced back. The flying arrow passed the enemy and aimed towards the enemy''s archer at the back. The enemy''s archer, who was pressured by Cedric, didn''t realize there was an arrow coming towards him. He just realized the arrow''s presence when it was about to hit him. Because of this, he could not avoid the arrow. The arrow pierced the enemy''s archer''s side neck. The enemy''s archer instinctively held the arrow on his neck. Blood gushed out from the archer''s neck. Seeing this, Cedric didn''t miss the opportunity. The enemy''s archer''s mind had already occupied with stopping the blood. Cedric quickly dealt several attacks towards the archer. And, in half a minute, the enemy''s archer slumped down to the ground died. The enemy who glanced back and saw this gritted his teeth. However, he could not do anything to help the archer. With a huge determination, the enemy focused on Auron. He had to kill Auron no matter what happened. Auron tried to block the manticore''s attacks. He saw the two enemies coming towards him. He wanted to escape. However, the manticore didn''t let Auron escape as it kept on pressuring Auron. Unfortunately, with the archer died, the balance of the battle had already broken. Cedric who finished the archer quickly moved forward towards the enemy''s leader and fought the leader along with the new swordsman. Meanwhile, Axton and Auron''s mage had moved to help Auron attacking the manticore. Several minutes later, the enemies drop death one by one. The first one that died after the archer was the manticore. Although it was a pity to kill the manticore, they could not do anything. The manticore could not be tamed anymore and could only be killed. After the manticore died, the enemies knew it was over for them. As they lost their fighting will, the two enemies besides the leader surrendered. Chapter 562 - Arrived Back (4) The enemy''s leader could not accept the defeat. However, he could do nothing as his comrade had surrendered. It was an impossible feat to defeat 6 people while being alone. Moreover, the enemy had a cleric on their side. After struggling for several minutes, the enemy''s leader, who had no help, was brought down by Auron''s group. "Surrender, or you will be killed!" Auron said while raising his sword towards the enemy''s leader''s neck. Auron deliberately didn''t kill the enemy''s leader because he knew the person had a high status. Maybe, he could use this high status as a bargaining chip. The enemy''s leader was on the ground facing down. He was so furious, not only to his comrade but also to himself, for acted recklessly like this. He gritted his teeth and punched the ground. In the end, he released his grip towards his weapon and just laid flatly on the ground. Auron''s group quickly secured the three surrender men. These three men were kneeling in front of Auron''s group with their hands tied behind their back. All of their weapons had been confiscated. The enemy''s leader was in between the other two. He looked towards his left and right with a furious expression. Meanwhile, his two comrades beside them could do nothing and didn''t dare to face the leader. They only faced straight towards Auron. "You...!" The leader was very furious at these two traitors beside him. The leader could not control his anger and headbutt the man on his right. The man on the leader''s right could not accept being headbutt, so he quickly returned the headbutt with a bite. Auron and his group didn''t even try to break them and only see through this fight. Only after 3 minutes, Auron signaled his teammate to break the two of them. The reason was that Auron didn''t have any time to waste. When Auron''s comrade broke the two of them away, the man who was headbutted shouted, "You, nobles, don''t know what we civilian felt. You have a lot of privileges since you are young! I don''t want to die with you. I don''t want to die because of your selfish ego!" "Shut up!" Auron barked at the two of them. However, the two of them could not stop and kept on insulting each other. Auron could not help but hit their cheek with the sword''s handle. Because of that, their bickering halted. Auron decided to tied their mouth with a cloth. All three of them. "Let''s go!" Auron said to his comrade. Auron started to walk and lead the group. Suddenly, he heard his comrade barked behind him, "Move!" It turned out the three prisoner didn''t seem to want to move. However, Auron didn''t waste any more time and coldly said, "Drag them if they didn''t want to move!" What Auron said made the three prisoners reluctantly complied with what Auron''s wanted. They didn''t have any choice. If they were dragged in this kind of field, it would be very painful. Moreover, there was still a long way to go. It could result in their death. If they were dead, then there was no way for them to come back. On the other hand, if they could survive this ordeal, they could come back and even revenge Auron''s group. All of them began to walk nonstop. Auron''s goal was to arrive at the area stop without resting at all. Along the way, Auron questioned the three prisoners. While the enemy''s leader didn''t want to answer, the other two were generously answering every question they asked. Unfortunately, their knowledge was not that much, but Auron still got quite good information. During the way, the enemy''s leader tried to escape once. However, he was stopped, and his escape failed. Sadly, the one who prevented the enemy''s leader from running was not Auron''s group. It was the man who was headbutt by the enemy''s leader previously. Of course, this action resulted in another bickering and insult between those two. Auron could not have any choice but to stop them. However, this time, what Auron did was different for each of these two people. Auron''s hit the enemy''s leader''s head with his sword''s handle several times before stopping. The enemy''s leader almost fainted before Auron stopped. Meanwhile, Auron only barked at the man who stopped the enemy''s leader. Auron deliberately showed a different reaction to these two people. By doing this, Auron created a glimmer of hope that they would be treated kindly if they were cooperative. However, there was no other incident after this one since the enemy''s leader became docile. The rest of the journey was a peaceful one. No enemies sighting, and everything seemed normal. However, Auron''s group still kept their guards up. Occasionally, Auron would send Cedric to monitor the road ahead to gather some information. Because of the smooth journey, Auron''s group could arrive at their destination faster. They arrived at the Gaia''s stop area in the middle of the night. When they arrived, Auron''s group was stopped by Gaia''s soldiers, who were assigned to this outpost. After Auron''s group showed all of their Gaia''s emblem, they quickly got a smooth way inside. Although it was in the middle of the night, the outpost was still bustling with soldiers, even if it was not as many as in the afternoon. Auron''s group entered the meeting place. He also brought along the three prisoners with him. Not long after, Smite, the stop area commander, and the rest of the Absurd''s team entered the meeting place. Without wasting any more time, Auron quickly told them the story and briefed them a bit of these three prisoners. "Good! Good! Excellent work!" The commander of the stop area praised Auron''s group. He was pleased. This was the first time he was smiling brightly after the last incident where their soldiers met with a harsh defeat when attacking the enemy''s stop area. The meeting didn''t take too long before Smite told Auron''s group to rest and asked some soldiers to send the three prisoners to the jail. Chapter 563 - Rochbeich Family (1) The morning came. Auron directly moved to the commander''s tent. On the previous day, they had agreed to come here today. Today''s agenda was to interrogate the prisoner. Although Auron had interrogated the prisoner, it was not enough. Moreover, Smite was curious about the noble soldier that Auron had captured before. Inside the tent, every member of the Absurd team had gathered. Not only them, but there was also the commander in charge of the stop area and the previous leader of the failed attack group. Not long after, three guards came inside the tent along with the three prisoners. The three prisoners only wore their underwear with their hands tied behind their back. They were treated like this to prevent the prisoner hid a hidden weapon. As a noble, the enemy''s leader was never treated like this. That was why he was so angry because of the humiliation. However, he also knew his position as a prisoner. He could not help but only curse the guards and blamed all of the faults on his two comrades. A fight even broke out in the middle of the night between the enemy''s leader and the two other prisoners. The guards had to separate the enemy''s leader from the other two. "Kneel!" The guards who brought the three prisoners yelled. As soon as they kneeled, the three prisoners became the center of attention inside the tent. Smite approached the three prisoners. Auron had watched this scene. He was surprised. Actually, Smite''s ranked was beneath the commander of the outpost ranks. However, since Smite was assigned to become the leader of the attacking party, his command level was somehow elevated. Currently, Smite and the commander of the outpost should have the same level of command power. However, from what played in front of him, Auron could see that the commander of the outpost actually acted respectfully to Smite. This made Auron became curious about Smite''s background. Smite went forward to the three prisoners. Then, he observed them carefully. He circled them several times. Sometimes, he touched the prisoner''s faces and observed their eyes. During this moment, none of the people inside the tent talked. It was so silent that it made the three prisoners shuddered because of this quiet atmosphere. "Where are the prisoners'' clothes?" After a moment, Smite asked. A guard brought forward the prisoners'' clothes and put them on the table. Everyone knew what Smite wanted to do, he was trying to guess the noble''s identity. Auron frowned. During his way here, Auron had tried his best to know the enemy''s leader''s identity. However, he could not know about it. The other two prisoners who had surrendered completely to Auron also didn''t know about the leader''s identity. The two prisoners had only guessed their leader''s identity as a noble because of the higher-up''s behavior towards the leader. The two prisoners had tried their best to give Auron all of their information in the hope they could be released or at least their punishment could be softened. Sadly, the leader''s identity was too mysterious. What they knew was that even the commander of the Regalia''s city had to act respectfully towards the leader. Auron had tried to torture the enemy''s leader, but the person in the question was muted. Since Auron was once the leader of a big guild, he knew some of the enemy''s noble and higher-ups. However, he never had seen the enemy''s leader anywhere. What surprised Auron actually, this was the enemy''s leader''s first assignment. He just joined the Regalia''s military a month ago and was quickly dispatched to the Bridge World. Smite rummaged through the prisoners'' belongings. He focused on the enemy''s leader''s clothes. During his time rummaging through the clothes, he called Jeffrey and discussed with him in a low voice. Smite didn''t even include the commander of the outpost in their discussion. But, Auron could see that the commander was not angry because of this. Five minutes later, Smite put down the clothes then he went to the three prisoners once again. Smite walked slowly with a solemn expression. Then, he stopped in front of the enemy''s leader. "Rochbeich Family." Smite only said those two words. When everyone heard what Smite had said, everyone was confused, including the two enemy leader comrades. They never heard of such a family in Regalia. While everyone was confused, there was only one person who flinched when he heard the two words. However, he tried to act normally and raised his head towards Smite with a confused look. Unfortunately, that little change could not escape through Smite and Jeffrey''s eyes. Jeffrey approached Smite and tap his shoulder and nodded towards Smite. Rochbeich Family was actually a family name in the Regalia. No one knew about Rochbeich Family except Regalia''s royal family. When the enemy''s leader looked at Smite with a confused look, his mind was messy. There should be no one knew about Rochbeich Family, except Regalia''s royal family. Rochbeich Family was not a true family name. They were like a codename given by the royal family. The Regalia''s royal family would adopt orphan kids and trained them. These kids would be trained in secrecy and only the royal family knew about this matter, even the noble family didn''t know about this. After several times of selection, the kids would be assigned to one of Regalia''s noble families. The kids could either join the noble family from the bottom or got secret help from the royal family. The kids would serve as the Regalia''s royal family''s hidden weapon to really control all of the nobles in Regalia. This enemy''s leader was actually assigned to a high-ranked noble family just like the other kids in the Rochbeich Family. Then, he joined the military using this noble family''s high background. Hence, the people fawned over him. If Smite had guessed the noble family he came from, he would not be surprised. However, Smite had guessed his real background instead of his camouflage background. Chapter 564 - Rochbeich Family (2) "What is the Rochbeich family?" The commander of the stop area asked Smite. "I never heard about that family name among the Regalia''s noble''s family list." The commander questioned Smite, followed by a nod by everyone here. The intelligent officer at this stop area also said, "I also never heard of Rochbeich Family. And, from my investigation, this enemy''s leader belonged to the Sparrow Family. Even though he is not a direct descendant from the family, he was currently one of the top candidates to inherit all of the family''s power." In the mention of the Sparrow Family, everyone in the room became shocked, including the two prisoners besides the leader in question. Since they were from Regalia, they knew what Sparrow Family was. Although the two prisoners had guessed that their leader would have a high background, they never thought that he was coming from the Sparrow Family. In Regalia, the one at the top was obviously the royal family. Then, below the royal family, there were 5 superfamilies. And, Sparrow Family was one of the superfamilies. Although the royal family had the right to decide everything, they still received some help from the other family. And, those privileges fell upon the superfamilies. They had the chance to influence the royal family''s decision. There were many nobles family in Regalia. However, the royal family would only consider the words from the superfamilies only. Except for them, they would not care for some small noble family. Hence, many small and medium-size noble families fawned over the superfamilies in the hope they could avoid a disaster that would about to fell to them. Although everyone in the room was surprised, there were only three men that weren''t surprised. Smite and Jeffrey were among the three men. The last one was the enemy''s leader since it was his shown-up identity. He knew that this background would serve as his camouflage towards his Rochbeich Family''s identity. The enemy''s leader glared at Smite in front of him. Inside his head, he said, "This reaction is what I expect." However, he could not say it out loud and could only curse Smite. This was also one reason why the enemy''s leader was confident that he would not be killed. Someone from a high background like him would not be killed. They would be more suitable to become a trade piece. However, right now, the enemy''s leader was worried because someone like Smite knew about Rochbeich Family. It would be impossible that Smite didn''t understand what Rochbeich Family means. However, what the enemy''s leader found next surprised him. Smite approached him and said calmly, "Sparrow Family? Why are you hide your identity? Even the two comrades behind you didn''t know about your background?" What surprised the enemy''s leader was not the question. However, Smite''s action seemed to forget everything about Rochbeich Family as if he never said it before. "As you have heard that man said previously, I am one of the top candidates. This mission is served to be a test. And, one of the rules said that I could not use my Sparrow Family''s background. However, a piece of news like this could not be hidden completely. Hence, only the higher-ups of the management knew my background." "However, with how the higher-ups treated me, some people would be able to guess my high background even if they did not know my exact identity, like those two behind me." "But, that still enough for me since nobody would want to offend someone who even their superior fawned over," The enemy''s leader explained. After his background was released, he was more confident that he would not be killed. The enemy''s leader''s explanation made sense. Hence, nobody questioned his explanation. Contrary to his expectation, Smite said, "So, you are only one of the chess pieces. Then, I guess, you are worthless." What Smite said also was not wrong. Even though the enemy''s leader came from Sparrow Family, he was just one of the top candidates. Moreover, he was not a direct descendant of the family. The enemy''s leader had known about this weak spot, and he already prepared the countermeasure. The enemy''s leader said, "If you think I am worthless, then you are wrong. There are three candidates, and among those three, I am at the top. The other two candidates are direct descendants of the family." "Even with their background as the direct descendant, I am still lead over them. If you still don''t know what I am worth, then you are stupid. Someone with a brain should come here and replaced you." The enemy''s leader mocked Smite. However, Smite was not angry. Instead, he smiled and said, "So, what do you suggest I should trade your life with?" "How about one of the cities in the Bridge World?" Smite asked. The enemy''s leader shook his head. "What about Chaotic Death''s life?" Smite continued, followed by another head shook. Then, Smite mentioned several of Regalia''s general''s names. All of which was declined by the enemy''s leader. Smite still smiled and said, "All of what I suggest was impossible. Then, what should I trade your life with?" "Even though my life could not be traded with the Bridge World''s cities or those names you mentioned, I believed you still could exchange my life with a lot of resources." "From rare materials to gold coins!" "Or you could guys could exchange it with a shelter which you guys can use when the Raiding Month came. I believed it would help you guys a lot." "Or you could exchange it with one favor from my family." "Or..." Before the enemy''s leader could complete his sentence, Smite cut off. "Or, I could kill you right now!" Smite said coldly. This sentence made the enemy''s leader''s confidence level plummeted. However, he still held on and said, "If you kill me, you will get nothing. It will be better to maximize your profit rather than get nothing. Do you really want to throw this chance away?" Chapter 565 - Rochbeich Family (3) "I don''t mind getting nothing from this since what you offer worthed nothing in my eyes. Shelter? Favor? Without them, we can still get what we want." Smite said solemnly. "Except, if you can offer something that worthed nearly the same value as what I asked you before." What Smite meant was the one where he asked could he exchange the enemy''s leader''s life with one of the Bridge World''s cities or some famous Regalia''s general''s head. The enemy''s leader got scared with Smite''s determination. It seemed nothing could entice Smite. Because of that, his doom was near. In the face of death, the enemy''s leader became afraid and tried to save his life. He promised several things to exchange for his life. However, all of which didn''t take Smite''s attention. Auron, who saw this, was surprised. He could see the change from the enemy''s leader''s behavior. From the arrogant one into the scared one. It was such a magnificent view. After suggesting several more things, the enemy''s leader still could not get what he wanted. When he was about to say something else, Smite cut him off, "Well then, that is enough. I don''t think you can give me something worthy enough." Smite started to look behind and indicate the commander of the stop area to take control. It was apparent that Smite had given a death sentence to the enemy''s leader. Seeing this, the enemy''s leader got panic. The enemy''s leader said desperately, "Wait!!! I can give you information about the thing you said previously." When everyone heard this, they were all confused. Smite turned around with a confused expression. However, it was apparent that Smite was pretending to be confused. Smite said confusedly, "Which thing?" "About that thing." "What? Which thing?" Smite still acted like he didn''t know. "Ughh... Damn it!! I cannot say those two words, or the royal family would know about it." The enemy''s leader said desperately. Everyone was seemed confused about which things that the enemy''s leader mean. Smite also pretended to be curious and confused. "It is the information about that. Don''t you pretend to not know what I mean! I am serious when I say that the royal family would know about it the second I say those two words! They had put a spell on us, so they know when someone says some of the forbidden words. When we trigger the spell, at that point, we already became a traitor." "If I became a traitor, then it would mean nothing whether I give this information or you kill me!" The enemy''s leader desperately explained. However, there was a mix of furious tones when he explained it to Smite. Smite smiled and calmly asked, "Oh... Do you mean about Rochbeich Family?" The enemy''s leader nodded his head. Meanwhile, everyone remembered those two words. Was it real? Everyone thought that Smite just casually said random words. "Okay, this is interesting. Go, explain!" Smite ordered. "Before I explain, you have to guarantee my life if I tell you about this information!" "Okay, no problem. If what you say is the truth, then you will be released. If not, then I have no choice for a liar." Smite promised. "No... No... No... This is not fair. What if you deemed me as a liar to kill me after I tell the truth?" The enemy''s leader felt unfair. Smite shrugged his shoulders and said, "You have no choice. You either believe me or not. It is that simple." The enemy''s leader still felt unfair. However, he didn''t have any choice. If he didn''t say anything, then he would 100% died. But, if he told Smite and Smite was true to his words, then he still had some chance to live. The enemy''s leader gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, fine. I will tell you. But, I want you to kill the two people behind me first. I don''t want any witnesses." "Okay, no problem," Smite said, then he casually nodded. The two guards behind the two prisoners knew what Auron meant. They dragged the two prisoners out from the tent. Along the way, the two prisoners were not ready for this sudden change of event. They shouted and cursed at the enemy''s leader. However, none of it could save their life from execution. Several seconds later, the shout and curse became quiet. Not long after, the two guards went back inside the tent and reported, "We have killed the two people." Smite nodded and faced the enemy''s leader once more, "Everything completed. Now, it was your turn to fulfill your obligation." The enemy''s leader knew he could not escape anymore. Then, he started to tell Smite and everyone here about the Rochbeich Family. Of course, he had to pick his word carefully, so he didn''t say the forbidden words. When the enemy''s leader got into the crucial information, he had to be more careful when explaining it. There were more and more forbidden words, and he had to change the words carefully and arrange them to deliver what he meant. Because of this, the explanation became more complicated and longer than usual. The enemy''s leader even became frustrated because of how difficult to explain this. After three total hours of explanation, the enemy''s leader completed his explanation, "That is all that I know." "I have even given you the list of people that I know. You should know how sincere I was." The enemy''s leader said. Just like what the enemy''s leader had said, he had given Smite a list of people that he knew. There were a total of 48 people inside the list, including him. Actually, it was not a list of names. Instead, it was a description of the 47 people. He could not give the name directly because it was included in the forbidden words. After the explanation, everyone inside the tent gained new knowledge about this. They were shocked seeing that the Regalia''s royal family did something like this. When everyone was still thinking about this new information they got, the enemy''s leader said, "Now, can you let me off?" Chapter 566 - Commence (1) In the middle of the night, a man was dashing. His body was full of dirt and blood. His condition was a mess, and he didn''t even wear any clothes except for his underwear. However, it didn''t stop him from running towards his goal. Occasionally, he would look back to see whether there were pursuers or not. Although he was out of breath, he still continued to run. Not long after, he could see the light from a distance. The light came from a building quite far away from his location. A smile could be seen on the man''s dirty face. Seeing this light, the man increased his speed. The building where the light came from was his destination. However, it was still quite far away. Even though with his full speed, the man still used 1 hour to arrive at the building''s location. When the man almost arrived, he heard a siren sound. Then, from inside the building, several people came out with weapons in their hands. As soon as the man saw these people came out with weapons in their hands, the man kneeled on the ground and put his hands up in the air. The guards approached the man. They still aim their weapons towards the man. The leader among them barked, "Who are you? State your name!" The man stated his name. When the guards heard his name, they were surprised. This man, who was almost n.a.k.e.d in the middle of the night, was the enemy''s leader that had been missing. The guards knew this name since the stop area had been turned around because this man was missing. Numerous searches had been dispatched these days just to search this man. Who knows that the man suddenly came back on his own in this messy state and almost n.a.k.e.d. The leader quickly brought the man inside the stop area and reported it to the commander. Smite had fulfilled his promise by letting the man free. However, when the man tried to ask for his clothes back, Smite refused. When he was asked what the reason was, Smite smiled and told the man it was for his own good. Smite said that it would be weird to find a person like you survive while the others died. Hence, without his clothes, the man could convince the people at his side that he was escaping after being caught. The man gnashed his teeth. He didn''t want to admit, but what Smite had said was reasonable. It would be annoying if he was suspected because of this. In the end, the man could not help but accept what Smite had said. Smite smiled brightly. Then, he offered some more advice to the man. You better went back in the middle of the night. Also, you need to have some messy state, and Smite even offered his help. The man was furious. However, he held on. He knew that everything Smite had said was true. In the end, he accepted all of Smite''s suggestions. Hence, his messy state. The Regalia''s stop area suddenly became noisy. The commander of the stop area didn''t dilly dally and immediately asked the man about what happened. The man started to explain his story. At the end of his explanation, the man gritted his teeth. He could not forget this humiliation, and he vowed to kill Smite and all of the people there. Meanwhile, back at Gaia''s side, it was quiet. Only the guards could be seen at the Gaia''s stop area. After releasing the man, Smite had prepared to attack the Regalia. However, he was not in a hurry. The most important right now was to deliver the information about Rochbeich Family to the royal family. Actually, Smite had told all of the Absurd team members that the attack would commence three days later. So, he told them to be prepared. Smite also dispatched several scouts to track the enemy''s movement. During these past three days, Smite had been on several meetings with the commander of the stop area. On the other hand, Auron and the other players here were bored. There was no activity here. However, they could not roam around randomly. Inside the Bridge World, they had to follow the military''s rule, or they would face punishment. In this stop area, there were 50 players, including Auron. Since there was no activity here to spend time, these players were sparring to determine who was the best player. Obviously, not everyone wanted to participate in this meaningless sparring. Auron was one of the people that didn''t participate in the sparring. However, he still watched the sparring to spend time here. Three days soon passed by, the commander of the stop area called everyone here, including the players. Then, he began to explain the strategy. He also announced that Smite would be the commander of this attack while he would stay and defend the stop area. The players, who heard about this, celebrated. They had been too bored during these past three days. And, this news brought everyone their excitement. Then, Smite took over and started to explain the strategy. He began by dividing these people into four small groups. Then, for each group, Smite assigned one of the Absurd team''s members as the leader. Smite, Jeffery, Auron, and Julia were assigned as the leader. After explaining the general strategy, Smite dismissed everyone and let them prepared before the attack began. While waiting, Smite called the leader and started to brief them about the detailed plan. He also distributed the communication device for the leader. This device was not a one-time use like what Auron had gotten previously. While Jeffrey was acting like he didn''t care, Auron and Julia paid full attention to Smite''s explanation. They didn''t want to make any mistake since a mistake could cost many lives, even their own lives. Two hours later, a big group departed from Gaia''s stop area. Then, they split into four directions and went separately following their leader''s instructions. Chapter 567 - Commence (2) Auron was leading his group towards the previous path. His group consisted of the same members as the previous mission, the new cleric and swordsman, Auron''s swordsman and mage, Axton, and Cedric. Out of the 4 groups that dispatched, Auron''s group had the fewest number of members. However, he was assigned with the same members as the previous mission. Smite''s group had the most members out of the 4. It was because Smite''s group would become the main attacker in this mission. This time, Auron''s group''s task was not to make a detour and attack the enemy from behind. However, it was to intercept the enemy''s reinforcement. Auron''s group''s goal was not to stop the enemy''s reinforcement. It was enough if they could buy 10 minutes or, even better, lure the enemies away. Although it seemed simple, in reality, it was not. The danger level was still high. However, because of Auron''s accomplishment in the previous mission, Smite had assigned his group this mission. Actually, Auron didn''t want to accept this mission. However, in a military environment, it would be difficult to reject an assigned mission. Moreover, this was in a war state. Auron could not help but accept the mission. Fortunately, Auron was not alone. Julia''s group had gotten the same mission as Auron. Julia''s group was assigned in the opposite direction of Auron''s group. Furthermore, her group had more members than Auron''s group. While Auron''s group only consist of 6 people, Julia''s group had 12 people. The biggest group, Smite''s group, had more than 80 people. While Jeffrey''s group had around 50 people. In total, there were approximately 150 people on this mission. It was not a small number considering this was just to attack a stop area. However, it was not a big number either. Based on the spy''s information, there were currently around 100 people inside the Regalia''s stop area. The number had increased significantly from the original number because of the missing enemy''s soldiers from the Sparrow Family. This would not become an easy fight. However, Smite could not wait either. They had a schedule to follow. Moreover, Smite was sure that even though he waited for a long time before attacking, the enemy''s number would not drop below 80 people. Hence, it would be a waste of time. Smite decided to clash against the enemies. And, he would try to reduce the casualty by employing a good strategy. After several hours marching, the enemy''s scout had gotten the information about Smite''s big group marching towards them. They immediately went into battle position. There was still a long way to go before Smite''s group arrived at the enemy''s place. However, the enemies had already dispatched several small groups. These small groups were tasked to harras Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups for 24 hours. Their main goal was to harras and made Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups not in a fit condition. Of course, it would be great if they could reduce Smite''s and Jeffrey''s group''s numbers. The small groups had high mobility compared to Smite''s and Jeffrey''s big groups. However, Smite and Jeffrey would not let these small groups did some casualties. They immediately adapted and made a shift out of their members. This act obviously slowed them down, but it was safer this way. Meanwhile, Auron''s and Julia''s groups could do anything with this. They had to hide so they could launch a surprise attack later on. Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups were next to each other. While Smite''s group was the main attacker, Jeffrey''s group was the second attacker. These two leaders had met and amended their strategy. Seeing the development of the battle, Smite and Jeffrey knew that Regalia''s side didn''t have any intention to fight out in the field. They wanted to optimize the use of their stop area. It would be a disadvantage for Gaia if they fought near the Regalia''s stop area. Hence, they actually wanted to lure the enemies out. However, it seemed the enemy''s commander was a great commander. Several hours passed by. During these hours, Smite''s and Jeffrey''s didn''t make any move. Instead, they hold on to their position. Seeing this, the enemy dispatched more small groups to harass them more. However, since Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups held their position, it was easier for them to fend off these small groups. The first casualty occurred when one of the small groups made a mistake. Three people from the group died as a result. However, Smite and Jeffrey could not stay at this place for too long. The longer they stayed here without doing anything, the higher the failure chance. By staying here, Regalia would obviously already call for reinforcement from their base. The longer they wait, Regalia would have more number. Moreover, by doing this, Regalia could accurately count the number of soldiers in Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups. Thirty minutes after the first casualty occurred, Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups started to march once more. Not long after, the night came. It was really dark. There were only moon and stars as the source of the light. The soldiers didn''t even light up a fire camp as it would attract a lot of attention. In the middle of the darkness, two small groups detached from Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups. Each small group went in a separate direction. These two small groups had gone to Auron''s and Julia''s locations. An hour later, at Auron''s location, the small group had already arrived. The small group consisted of 5 people. They had brought Smite''s message, and they also joined Auron''s group. Auron frowned when he saw Smite''s message. There was a change in the strategy. Tomorrow, Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups would hold their position once more for a long time. This way, they would attract more and more small groups to harras them. When Smite gave a signal, Auron''s and Julia''s groups would march forwards and block these small groups'' way of escape. Their mission was to completely eradicate these small groups. It was not an easy mission either. Chapter 568 - Commence (3) The next day came. Auron''s group had already moved back to match Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups'' position. When the sun rose, Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups had prepared their position. Their task today was to hold their position and lured as many enemies as possible. Meanwhile, Regalia''s side already dispatched several more small groups to harras Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups. "Prepare for battle!" Smite shouted. Everyone in Smite''s group had already aware of the strategy, but not the enemies. When the close Regalia''s small groups heard Smite''s shout, they immediately backed out. They increased their vigilance towards Smite''s group. When the Regalia''s groups saw that Smite''s group was not moving, they were confused. Several groups even looked at the other groups asking their opinion. However, none of the groups knew what Smite''s group was doing. One group tried to attack Smite''s group just like what they had done all the previous time. After launching one attack, they immediately backed out. After this one attack, they frowned. The feeling was different. This time, Smite''s group''s vigilance was high. The attacking group had suffered minor injuries while his attack missed the target. It was difficult to attack unscratched. The ranged and magic unit from Smite''s group had been protected completely, and it was difficult to attack them. After several tries, Smite''s group was stood still. They were not bothered with these small attacks. On the other hand, the small groups confused about what to do. If they attacked, they would only suffer the injuries. In the end, they decided to surround Smite''s group. They wanted to prevent Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups from escaping. However, they also didn''t attack and just kept on observing Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups from far away. Actually, by waiting here, Gaia''s side would become disadvantaged. So, Regalia''s side didn''t have to do anything. 1 hour passed by and there was still no sign of movement from Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups. Meanwhile, on Regalia''s side, more and more small groups gathered around here. During this time, they had sent a messenger back to the stop area to ask for the commander''s further command. The commander of the Regalia''s side saw this as an opportunity to stop Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups from escaping. He intended to surround the groups and waited for the reinforcement and annihilated them at one go. Hence, he sent several more small groups to Smite''s place. Another hour passed by, Regalia''s small groups had already surrounded Smite''s and Jeffrey''s groups. Smite counted that there were more than 10 groups of three people. There should be almost 40 people from the Regalia''s side. It was quite a big number considering the total amount of Regalia''s soldiers only amounted to around 100 soldiers. Of course, the number would have already increased since some of the reinforcements had already arrived. Another hour passed by and there was no more movement from the Regalia''s side. Smite thought that Regalia had already spent all of the soldiers they could use. Smite wanted to get the maximum amount he could kill. Seeing there was no more coming from the Regalia''s side, he wanted to give the signal. Surprisingly, before Smite could give the signal, he saw one more group coming. When Smite saw the newcomer, he was surprised and smiled brightly. The newcomer was the same man he saw previously, the enemy''s leader who was captured before. Smite looked at Jeffrey and smiled. Meanwhile, Jeffrey also looked back at Smite and smiled. It was like they had tacitly understood each other. The man who was coming from the Sparrow Family came with another four people. And, everyone who saw these four people could see that they were elites. These four people were Sparrow Family''s people that had been dispatched to search the man when the man was missing. Smite saw the man was really furious. He talked to the four elites besides him. And, from his expression, Smite could see that the man was really furious. The four elites besides him tried to calm him down, so he would not destroy the commander''s strategy. The man''s group was at the most back from all of the Regalia''s groups. He was still furious and, from far away, Smite could see that the man furiously shouted at the four elites and pointing at Smite''s group. Then, the man glanced at Smite''s group and saw Smite. The latter saw this and smirked. When the man saw Smite was smirking at him, his rage erupted. He immediately dashed towards the people and intended to kill Smite. Fortunately, the four elites around him saw this and could hold him back. The four elites tried to calm him down. After several seconds passed, the man gradually became calm. He along with the four elites walked towards the perimeter and intently gaze at Smite. Smite saw the man and smiled brightly. Then, he raised his hand and shot a big [Fire Ball] to the air. The [Fire Ball] flew to the air before exploded several seconds later. It was the signal. The Regalia''s side who saw this frowned. They were confused with what Smite had done and instinctively raised their guards. With the signal from Smite, his group and Jeffrey''s groups immediately charged towards the enemies. The enemies who already wary were not surprised and they immediately moved back wanted to avoid the fight. However, before they could back out, from behind them, two groups were coming towards them from the left and right. It was Auron''s and Julia''s groups. Although there were only a few people among Auron''s and Julia''s groups, in this situation, the enemies could not clearly see this. They were in the middle of a pincer attack and had already fallen into traps. Their mind had completely filled with looking for a way to escape. Hence, they could not think straight and scattered around. The scattered people made it easy for Auron''s and Julia''s small groups to defeat them. However, as the people had scattered around, they could not defeat all of the people here. Chapter 569 - Commence (4) Out of 45 Regalia''s soldiers, half of them already dead. Meanwhile, one-fourth of the soldiers managed to escape safely. Of course, they escape with some injuries on their body ranging from minor to medium wounds. The other one-fourth was either surrendered or captured. On the other hand, Gaia''s side only suffered one casualty and several minor injuries. It was an excellent win for Gaia. Moreover, the man from the Sparrow Family was captured once more. All of the four elites that accompanied him died. During this trap, Smite and Jeffrey tacitly understood each other. So, when the plan was commenced, both of them only had one target on their mind, the Sparrow Family''s man. The two of them brought several soldiers with them and chased the Sparrow Family''s man directly. When the Sparrow Family''s man''s group saw they were being targeted, they ran immediately. However, it was difficult to shake Smite and Jeffrey. In the end, a battle was inevitable. The four elites showed their loyalty by not running away even though the man from the Sparrow Family had already escaped leaving them alone. Overwhelmed by the number, Smite and Jeffrey quickly eradicated the four elites and chased their primary target. Fortunately, they finished the four elites rather quickly, so the man had not run too far away yet. In the midst of panic, the man was tripped by another soldier''s dead body and fell down. This made Smite and Jeffrey could surround the man. When Smite and Jeffrey had surrounded him, the man could see that both of them grinned evilly towards him. After the dust of the battles had settled, the Gaia''s side gathered near Smite and tallied their casualty. It was quite a big win for Gaia, with only one-fourth of the enemies escaped. The strategy was worthed it even though they had to show Auron''s and Julia''s groups'' presence. Moreover, they had gained another high leveled prisoner. While settling down, Auron looked towards Smite and Jeffrey, who kept on grinning non-stop to the man in front of him. The latter was kneeling and begging Smite and Jeffrey to release him. Auron looked at the man pathetically. It was so pathetic that Auron wondered whether the man was really someone from Rochbeich Family, Regalia''s secret weapon. In the end, Smite ordered some soldiers to tie the man properly and kept the man''s mouth shut. After properly looking at the prisoners, Smite and Jeffrey went to the next topic. They gathered all of the Absurd team''s members and some of the higher-ups. They had to decide whether to continue the mission or go back. Both of the options were not that good. If they chose to continue, the enemies would already prepare well. There would be a lot of casualties to capture the stop area. On the other hand, if they chose the other options, it would be worse. The Regalia''s side obviously would not lay down looking at this humiliating result. They would amass a lot of soldiers. Moreover, the Sparrow Family''s man was captured once again. Although the man''s value would drop because of this capture, the man still could be a bargaining chip. This time, Smite intended to exchange this man for something else since he knew the man already had no more valuable information. The discussion was pretty hectic. Almost all of the Absurd team''s members opted to continue to attack while the rest chose to abstain. However, there was opposition from the other party that joined their group. They wanted to go back and made another thorough plan instead of recklessly charging towards the enemy''s fort. Smite was pondering quietly. It was a difficult decision, but he had to choose one of them. 10 minutes later, the Gaia''s side had prepared to charge. Yes, Smite had decided to continue the mission. His reason was the enemy was already in a chaotic state with this loss. He didn''t want to miss this opportunity and let the enemy regain their position back. There should be less than 80 people left in Regalia''s stop area right now with this loss. Meanwhile, with around 150 people, Smite felt that they could win the battle even though the terrain would advantage the enemy. Unlike the previous days, this time, the soldiers marched quickly. They had to strike the iron while it was still hot. This time, Auron was not detaching from the main group. As the vice leader of the Absurd team, Auron got his own soldiers to command. After several more hours, Gaia''s soldiers arrived at their target''s perimeter. They could see the Regalia''s stop area from their location, and they also could see the Regalia''s soldiers that already aware and prepared for battle. The stop area was built between two high rocky cliffs. It would be difficult and a waste of time and energy to climb the rocky cliff. Moreover, after they had successfully climbed the cliff, they could do nothing because the Regalia''s side already built up a watchtower that could reach the top of the cliff. This watchtower also would be able to disturb them during the climbing process. They would suffer a massive casualty with nothing in return if they insisted on climbing the rocky cliffs. Meanwhile, between the two cliffs, there was only one way in and exit. Also, it was an open field without any trees or big boulders that could be used as a shield from arrows or magic. Smite stared at Regalia''s rest area. Then, after a minute of staring, he raised his hand. This was a signaled to start marching. However, they didn''t advance fast. Instead, it was one step at a time. This action would be considered a stupid move. They would be the target of arrows and magic easily. However, Smite led the process and moved one step at a time. When Smite was about to enter the arrows and magic attack range, he quickly dragged a man and put it in front of him to act as a shield. The man was the same man who came from the Sparrow Family. Chapter 570 - Negotiation (1) "No... No... No... Don''t shoot!" The man from the Sparrow Family cried out as loud as he could. He was terrified. All of the Gaia''s soldiers were wondered whether this pathetic man was the same man who acted so highly and mighty previously at the Gaia''s stop area. It was so weird that the same man turned 180 degrees in just several days. The man from the Sparrow Family had his hands and legs tied tightly. Even his head had been positioned and locked so that he could only look to the front. He could not turn his head downwards or sideways. It was so uncomfortable just by looking at the man. When he saw that there was no sign of movement from the Regalia''s side, the man kept on shouting. He was afraid that the Regalia''s soldiers could not hear him. After several steps, the soldiers behind Smite stopped following him. There was only Smite walking alone slowly while using the man from the Sparrow Family as a human shield. The man from the Sparrow Family was wriggling his body tried to break free from Smite''s clutches. However, it was futile. Smite had helped tightly to him. Meanwhile, at the Regalia''s side, a pretty high-ranked soldier asked the commander who was standing beside him, "What should we do, commander?" Seeing this scene, the commander was also stunned. He cursed, "That stupid noble son!!!" Actually, the commander didn''t like a noble son like the man from the Sparrow Family. That was why, when the man first came to this stop area, the commander didn''t belong to the group that fawned over him. However, the commander could not just ignore the command from his superiors. Hence, he could only turn a blind eye towards this noble son. The commander knew something wrong could happen if this man was capture or missing. Hence, he tried to assign some of his soldiers to act as guards to the man''s team before. Unfortunately, the man rejected and rebuked harshly. He said that he didn''t believe other soldiers besides the one from his family. The commander was so furious by this mock. However, he could do nothing and just comply with the noble''s son''s wish. And, the thing which the commander was afraid of happened. The man from the Sparrow Family was captured for the first time during his mission to guard the delivery supply. The commander sent several search parties. He also tried to cover the news. However, he could not hide it for too long. The next day, the news reached the Sparrow Family, and just like what he had thought, the Sparrow Family sent their soldiers. The Sparrow Family also cursed and mocked him for his incapability to protect their son. The commander could only accept the curse and mock towards him. As the search parties didn''t give a good result, the situation at the stop area tensed. The Sparrow Family''s representative kept on cursing and mocking the commander. He also even reported it to the Regalia''s military to have the commander fired and executed. However, the Regalia''s military rejected the Sparrow Family''s appeal as they had deemed the commander had quite big contributions. The military said that they would not fire or execute the commander unless it was a royal family command. Of course, it was not easy to request to the royal family. As a noble''s family, if they ask something from the royal family, then it would be the same as they owed a favor to the royal family. Moreover, just like what the military had said, the commander had quite a significant contribution to Regalia. Furthermore, the other faction inside the Sparrow Family that didn''t like the captured man prevented this. An internal struggle was inevitable inside the Sparrow Family. The commander was so furious. When the man from the Sparrow Family had safely returned back to the stop area the last time, the commander had implicitly ordered him to return back to his family in Regalia. However, contrary to the commander''s wish, the man didn''t return back. Instead, he asked the Sparrow Family to leave and ask for more reinforcements from the family. He wanted to take revenge. The man also asked for several elites to be left here. Of course, preparing for reinforcements from the family was not easy. Moreover, there were other factions inside the family that prevented this from happening. When the commander sent out harassed parties, the man had requested to be one of them. However, the commander rejected it flatly. The man from the Sparrow Family didn''t give up and asked several times more. Unfortunately, the commander was firm with his decision and rejected it flatly. After several rejections, the man didn''t request the commander. The latter had thought that the man had known his positions. Because of this, he could focus more on the upcoming battle. However, who could have known, the troublemaker, right now, was in the hand of the enemies and used as a human shield. The commander was torn by the decision. He wanted to give an attack order. However, he knew the repercussion of the act. If the commander tried to save the man, he also knew that Gaia''s side would not let go of this opportunity to extort Regalia to the fullest. And, the repercussion of this choice could result in the loss of the stop area. The commander got a headache because of this one person. While the commander was pondering which decision he should make, Smite had already walked halfway towards the stop area. In Smite''s hand, the man from the Sparrow Family cried non-stop. Meanwhile, the other soldiers at the stop area were waiting for the commander''s decision. When the commander was still in deep thought, the gate in the stop area opened. Two people departed from the stop area and charged towards Smite. The commander cursed, "This damned noble family!" When Smite saw this, he immediately raised his weapon towards the man''s head. Chapter 571 - Negotiation (2) "Wait... Wait... Wait...!!" The man cried out loud. He begged Smite not to kill him. "Calm down. I bet they want to make some negotiation." The man tried to calm Smite down. However, Smite didn''t care and kept on pointing his weapon towards the man''s head. The two people rushed towards Smite. However, they stopped when they were five meters from Smite. These two people were from the Sparrow Family. "See?" The man said towards Smite. However, Smite didn''t respond to the man''s statement. "Release that man at once!!!" One of the two people brazenly commanded Smite. Smite didn''t react towards the command. Instead, it was the nobleman who was furious and shouted back towards the first man. "You stupid!!! Can''t you ask more gently?" The nobleman rebuked the man harshly. He was afraid that Smite was offended and decided to kill him. The man was mad because of the nobleman. However, since he was only a subordinate, he didn''t dare to voice it out and complied with the nobleman''s wish. The man repeated the question more gently. However, Smite still didn''t respond to the man''s statement. The man was confused by this silent response. Hence, he turned towards his partner. The man''s partner also didn''t know what to do. So, he moved forward and said, "What do you want to release the man?" When the man''s partner said this, Smite quickly ease up and responded back, "Tell me what''s your bottom line!" Smite didn''t want to waste any time, so he quickly asked for the man''s bottom line. The man could not answer Smite''s question. He didn''t have any privilege to decided such an important decision. Seeing the man could not answer his question, Smite continued, "Bring the one who can make decisions! I give you 10 minutes from now!" "What? 10 minutes is not enough." The first man tried to negotiate. However, Smite was back to mute. He didn''t answer at all. The situation back to square one. The first man''s partner knew that Smite was a serious man. So, he quickly dragged back his partner and went back inside the outpost. The two men quickly reported it back to the outpost commander since he was the only one here who could make a decision. It was not enough time for them to call from the family back in the cities. This was also the reason why Smite didn''t give them more than 10 minutes. It was because he wanted to have the upper hand in the negotiation. Smite knew that the man at his hand was worthed quite a lot. So, Smite wanted to squeeze Regalia''s side thoroughly. Less than 10 minutes later, the outpost commander came back with the two people from the Sparrow Family and three more soldiers. Although the commander of the outpost was not from the Sparrow Family, he had the highest authority here. Moreover, he had the military as his backing, so he was eligible as a decision-maker. Smite recognized the man in front of him as the commander of the outpost. He smiled since it went along with his plan. The commander didn''t dilly dally and said, "We can give you 100 million golds and 100 King''s grade equipment and weapon. Also, we will not retaliate against any attacks towards this outpost for three days." 100 million golds and 100 king''s grade items were considered quite a lot. However, it was useless to gain a win in this Bridge World. "I know you are a smart person. If you are me, do you think you will accept these conditions?" Smite asked back towards the commanders. With the returned question, the commander didn''t answer. He knew that he would not accept these conditions at all. However, the commander still answered, "With my authority, I can only guarantee this much. If you want more, then you need to wait for two days, so that man''s family could come and negotiate with you?" "Nope, can''t do. Give me a satisfying offer right now, or you don''t need to see this man anymore," Smite smiled. "Wait... I bet they can offer more, right commander?" The man from the Sparrow Family said towards the commander. He was afraid of Smite''s threat. The commander was pondering. He was thinking hard about what to offer. Actually, he didn''t want to save this son of noble. However, he also knew that he was out of options. The commander doubled the offer. That was his limit. He knew that he could not give more than that. If Smite still didn''t want to accept the offer, he could only just let the nobleman die. Smite looked at the commander when he heard the new offer and said, "How about this? I don''t need all of what you had said. Leave this outpost and give it to me?" The soldiers behind the commander were triggered by this statement. They went forward but were stopped by the commander. "You knew that it was out of options." The commander said calmly. Smite shrugged his shoulders and said, " At least, I tried. Fine, I will take your offer." Smite was saying like he took a big loss in this negotiation. Meanwhile, the man from the Sparrow Family was brightened. He was saved. He quickly urged the commander to seal the deal so he could ensure his safety. "Can you give me two days to gather the money?" The commander asked. However, Smite shook his head and refused, "Nope, you only have one hour to fulfill your obligation. If you don''t have that much cash, I can accept other things that had the same value. And, don''t try to cheat by giving useless items. I have my own ways to evaluate things." The commander could only smile wryly. The first time he saw Smite, he knew that the negotiation would not go well for him. To gather that much amount of money within one hour means he had to empty half of his outpost. This would make his outpost''s defense opened wide. Chapter 572 - Negotiation Broke "Quick! Pack everything up. Bring that thing there!" The representative from the Sparrow Family started to take command. The soldiers started to look at each other. They didn''t want to do the command. However, they were afraid of the family''s wrath. Hence, they stopped their activities and looked at the commander. "What are you doing? You stupid bring those things. We don''t have much time." The Sparrow Family''s representatives hurried all of the soldiers. "Hey! What are you doing?" The vice commander started to take action. They could not let this family do what they wanted. "Just stand there! Do you dare to offend the Sparrow Family''s orders?" The Sparrow Family''s representatives threatened the vice commanders. The vice commanders didn''t want to fight against these people. However, he could not let these people rob all of the things here. "What are you doing? Hurry, bring the things! Will you take the responsibility if the young master died?" The soldiers who seemed freeze started to take action. Without anyone obstructing, the items gathering went quickly. However, to the side, the vice commander was gnashing his teeth. He held his anger inside. The vice commander knew that the Sparrow Family didn''t care at all about this outpost. The outpost could be considered half important and half not. If they had it, they would treasure it. However, if not, then it didn''t matter. Time passed by. And, 90% of the ransom had been gathered. There was only a little bit left. However, almost all of the things inside the outpost had already been collected. There were only important things left inside the outpost. The Sparrow Family''s representative didn''t care about what''s important and what''s not. They started to order to gather the things. At this point, the vice commander could not hold on anymore. He exploded with rage and shout, "You animal! If you take those things away, this outpost would 100% fell down. Do you want to sacrifice all of the people here just for that stupid son?!!!" Hearing this, the representative was offended. He quickly rebuked, "Oh, you dare!!! Okay, fine. Look after all of this matter had done, you will be the first person to feel the family''s wrath." "Ignore him! Bring those items here. I will personally take the items there!" The soldiers could not do anything and complied with the representative. Meanwhile, during this collecting phase, the outpost''s commander only looked at what unfolds before him. He didn''t react or comment on anything. Not long after, all of the ransom had been gathered. The representative excitedly recalculated everything. They didn''t want to mess with their young master''s life. After everything had been recalculated, they were about to depart when the outpost''s commander stopped them, "Wait!" The Sparrow Family''s representative stopped and turned around. He said, "What? We don''t have much time left. We can talk after all of this are over." The outpost commander was approaching the two family''s representative. When he was close to him, the outpost''s commander attacked the two representatives directly without wasting any more time. The two representatives tried to dodge the surprise attack. However, they could not avoid it entirely and were injured by the outpost''s commander''s attacks. "What are you doing?" The Sparrow Family''s representatives furiously shouted. "Capture them! If they fight back, kill them!" The outpost''s commander coldly commanded. However, the soldiers didn''t immediately take action. They were stunned by this sudden attack. All of this time, the commander only silently watching everything going on. They thought that the commander had agreed with the Sparrow Family. However, it didn''t long as the commander continued, "I will take the responsibility! Now, do as I say!" The soldiers quickly woke up from their daze. They immediately complied with the commander''s commands. The soldiers were more fond of the commander than of the Sparrow Family''s representatives. Moreover, the representatives had ignored their life and liked to use the family''s name to threaten them. Very quickly, all of the Sparrow Family''s men were captured. The ones who fought back were killed without any mercy. After this short while internal struggle, silence descended to the outpost. All of the soldiers were waiting for the commander''s following command. The commander sighed. He could not turn back now. He looked up to the sky then he looked at all of the soldiers in his surrounding. Then, he flatly said, "Prepare for battle!!!" "YES, SIR!" All of the soldiers answered in unison. Some of the soldiers quickly took back the ransom while some of them went up to the wall. The vice commander approached the commander. However, before he could say anything, the commander said, "Accompany me for my last battle!" What the commander means was clear. After he looked at Smite, he knew that the upcoming battle was not easy. He could die in the forthcoming battle. Even if somehow he could survive, the Sparrow Family would not let him alive. Hence, he already concluded that this would be his last battle. The vice commander looked straight towards his commander. He could not say anything. He nodded and tried to encourage the commander, "This will not be your last battle!" After saying that, the vice commander turned around and started to give several orders. Meanwhile, on Smite''s side, the noble son was waiting excitedly. He was glad that he was saved. Suddenly, Smite smiled and said, "What are you smiling at?" "No... Nothing..." The noble son answered. When he was about to continue, Smite interrupted him, "It seemed they don''t want to save your life anymore." "Wait, what?" The noble son was confused, then he looked in the direction where Smite was looking at. At the outpost, he could see all of the soldiers were already preparing for the war. The noble son was scared and quickly pleaded, "Wait... Wait... Wait... There must be some kind of misunderstanding here. We can talk when my family''s representatives are here." However, Smite ignored the man''s words. And, he quickly stabbed his weapon towards the noble son''s head. He threw the noble son''s body to the ground before giving another stab. Then, Smite shouted, "Prepare for battle!!!" Chapter 573 - War Started (1) The noble''s son''s corpse was left alone when Smite moved back towards his comrades. He was felt a little bit disappointed since he preferred to get the ransom rather than got nothing like this. However, Smite could already guess that the result would be like this when he saw the outpost''s commander. Since the enemy already knew that the war would happen soon, Smite had to adjust the strategy. Smite began to explain his revised plan. Previously, Smite relied heavily on the surprise attack. However, that element was now gone. After 30 minutes later, Smite finished his explanation and looked towards the outpost. He could already see the enemies were ready for him. "Attack!!" Smite said. With that command, all of the soldiers on Gaia''s side started to march forward. Smite was at the most front and led everyone. However, they stopped when they were almost entered the enemy''s ranged and magic unit''s attack range. The enemy''s archers were already ready at the wall and pulled their bowstring. They only needed to release the bowstring to attack. However, since no enemies entered the attack range yet, the archers were nervously held their bowstring. Time seemed to pass slowly. The Regalia''s archers still hadn''t launched their arrows yet. Meanwhile, Gaia with Smite at the very front also didn''t make any move. It seemed the time was stopped. Due to the pressure of the war, one of Regalia''s archers was so nervous and mistakenly released the arrow. The arrow flew upward and fell down to the ground. Of course, the arrow could not hit anyone since the enemy was still out of range. The archer, who made a mistake, quickly reloaded his arrow and pulled his bowstring. He was ready to release another attack. The outpost''s commander frowned. It seemed Gaia wanted to fish them out of the outpost. However, the outpost''s commander stayed still and waited. Another 5 minutes passed by. During those 5 minutes, the Regalia''s archers were already released several arrows by mistake. The number was still not that much. However, the outpost''s commander could see where this would go on if this continued. The outpost''s commander quickly changed his strategy and commanded half of his archers to rest. Although it was a rest command, actually, they were still standing at the front. It was to reduce their pressure and prepare them in case the enemies really attacked them. This strategy was a success. Although there were still some mistake arrows, the number had reduced a lot, and the commander could see that the pressure on his soldiers had lessened. Now, it came back to Smite. They could do things like this all day long. However, Gaia''s side could not waste any more time, or the enemy''s reinforcement would come. Smite smiled. He could see that the outpost''s commander was worthy of his name. Out of all the Regalia''s outpost, the outpost''s commander in front of him was actually the best. "Start the attack!" Smite shouted. With that, several people, including Smite, went forwards and entered the attack range. As soon as they entered the attack range, they immediately launched their attack. The archers used their most potent attack, while the mage also used their most powerful spell. All of them used their most powerful single target attacks. A single target attack had more range compared to an area of effect attacks. That was why they used the single-target attacks and not the area attacks. Of course, the Regalia''s side also didn''t stand idly. As soon as the Gaia''s side moved, the enemy''s soldiers, who already prepared, immediately released their attacks. Also, the archers who were resting beside them joined and launched their attacks. The number of people that moved from Gaia''s side was only around 10 people. Compared to the soldiers on the Regalia''s side that attacks, the number was vastly different. 10 Gaia''s attacks were covered by the Regalia''s rain of attacks. When the sky was clouded by the rain of attacks, several attacks were launched from the Gaia''s side. However, the attacks were not aimed towards the enemies. Instead, the attacks were aimed towards the Regalia''s attack. It was pretty challenging to aim towards a flying projectile or spell. However, since there were only 10 targets on Gaia''s side. Most of the attacks were concentrated properly. With two or three mage or archers backing each people, it was easy to fend off the Regalia''s attacks. Of course, the danger level was still high for Gaia''s soldiers. Hence, they didn''t stop there. After launching an attack, Smite and the others quickly went back and replaced by other people randomly. This way, they could raise the safety and also confused the enemies. The enemies had to properly read the Gaia''s soldiers'' movement or only hit an empty place. Unfortunately, although this strategy could ensure Gaia''s soldier''s safety, the firepower from this strategy also not that high. Several Gaia''s attacks could not even reach the enemy''s place. Meanwhile, several of them hit the outpost''s wall. Only a tiny amount of the attacks could get the enemy''s soldiers properly. However, those attacks were quickly blocked by the enemy''s soldiers. Fortunately, there was still a benefit for the Gaia''s side from this strategy. The enemies'' ammunition and supply significantly reduced because of this, especially their archers and mages. The outpost''s commander could not let this happened and called several shield-bearer soldiers up to the wall. Then, he commanded to cease the attacks and wait for Gaia''s soldiers to move deeper into the attack range. The shield-bearer soldiers were used to protect the archers and mage at the top of the wall from the enemies'' attacks. When the attacks from the Regalia''s side died down, Gaia''s side still continuing this strategy. After several minutes, Smite ordered a stop for this entirely. Inwardly, Smite sighed. It was tough to battle against a clever commander. Smite actually wanted to minimize the casualties by using hit-and-run strategies like this. However, it seemed he could not leisurely doing that. Chapter 574 - War Started (2) "Advance forward!" Smite shouted. With that one command, everyone on Gaia''s side began to move. Since the path towards the outpost was narrow, there was no use to separate into smaller groups. Hence, all of them took the same path. Because there was only one path, it would be easy for the enemies to concentrate their attacks on them. So, Smite had anticipated this by letting a tanker take most of the attacks and concentrate the cleric''s heal on them. Even though the terrain was detrimental for Gaia''s side, they had the advantage of number. There were almost 150 soldiers on Gaia''s side for this campaign. On the other hand, Regalia''s side only had less than 100 soldiers. Regalia''s side''s number was not that many, to begin with. They initially only amounted to around 100 soldiers, 108 soldiers to be exact. Out of that number, 30% of them were dispatched for the harassing strategy previously, resulting in harsh defeat for Regalia. From 108 soldiers, the number went down to 78 soldiers. Then, from those 78 soldiers, the noble son died, and also the Sparrow Family''s representatives were captured. This made the number of soldiers at Regalia''s side 70 soldiers. Although Gaia''s enemy only had half of their number, battle against an outpost without any siege weapon was still difficult. Gaia''s side marches with caution. They moved one step at a time. Meanwhile, the Regalia''s side didn''t let the Gaia moved freely. They started to bombard Gaia''s soldiers with attacks. Gaia''s soldiers had already moved halfway. Smite''s strategy seemed to work fine. There were no casualties yet from Gaia''s side. Although there were several dangerous moments for the tankers, the clerics could pass it with great effort. Regalia''s soldiers didn''t stay idle. They tried every way to at least caused a casualty towards the Gaia''s side. From attacking the clerics directly until concentrated their attacks towards one target. However, both strategies failed to cause casualties. When they aim towards the clerics directly, Smite had already anticipated this. He already assigned a group of 5 soldiers for each cleric to protect the clerics from the attacks. Meanwhile, the concentrated attacks were the ones that put Gaia''s soldiers until the dangerous moment. One of the tankers almost died because of the concentrated attacks. Fortunately, the Gaia''s side''s clerics, especially Spica, was proficient and hurriedly saved the tanker. The outpost commander was racking his brain hard. With no casualties yet from Gaia''s side would make the battle more difficult for him. Moreover, because of the harsh defeat from the harassing strategy, almost half of their current soldiers were a ranged and magic unit. It would be difficult for these two types of units to engage in a close combat battle. Moreover, in a disadvantages number. "Prepare the weapon!" The outpost commander shouted. Although Gaia''s side could reach halfway safely, it was still not enough to ensure their win. The real battle started right now. During a siege battle like this, the enemy''s outpost would obviously have a siege weapon and act as a defense. Unfortunately, since it was just an outpost, the weapon would not be that high grade and expensive. Hence, there was a limit on their attack range. In the current outpost, the siege weapon''s attack range was shorter than the mages and archers'' attack range. However, it could not be underestimated. Although the attack range was brief, its attack power was more powerful than any of the archers and mages attacks. Before the battle, Smite had already received the intelligence report from the spies. Hence, he already knew about this siege weapon. The first time Smite received the information, he frowned. The siege weapon installed at this outpost was a powerful one and had a big area of effect. The siege weapon would unleash a big mortar at high speed. The mortar was already heavy and powerful. Combined with the high speed, the force that resulted from it was so powerful. Smite had reckoned that the mortar could push back a tanker far away. If the tanker was not ready, the mortar could even blow the tanker away. What was fortunate was their tanker were not sausages. Smite had calculated that one mortar alone would not be enough to kill the tanker. Moreover, they had clerics on their side. Sadly, this was a war. Nobody could predict correctly. Furthermore, besides the mortar, there were still the soldiers'' attacks. But, there was still something to be appreciated of. There were only three such siege weapons at this place. "Keep moving!" Smite said towards his soldiers. BOOM... BOOM... BOOOOM... Three defeating sounds were heard, signaling the siege weapons had been fired simultaneously, and it was followed with a shout, "RELOAD!". Three mortar flew towards Gaia''s side. Smite immediately shouted, "Shield!!!" Smite had known that there was a delay between each shot, and the ammunition would not be that much. Smite reckoned that 20 shots for each siege weapon would be the limit. Smite''s intention was clear. They would move carefully. The best case was for them to reach the outpost before the 20 shots. However, if they could not, then Smite would move carefully and wasted the enemy''s ammunition. Each of the three mortars landed on their targets. Three explosive sound was heard. The three tankers who received the attacks were pushed back, but it was still within the calculation. Smite smiled when he looked at this. Everything was going on as his plan. However, the smile didn''t last for long. A few seconds later, Smite ducked and covered his body. Not only Smite, but the other soldiers also did the same. When the mortar hit the targets, it exploded and launched many shrapnels towards the back army. This small shrapnel was sharp and created cut injuries on the soldiers'' bodies. The damage from these small shrapnels was not that big. However, it managed to distract Gaia''s soldiers. All of them quickly got back up. When Smite was about to give a follow-up command, he exclaimed, "Poison!" Chapter 575 - War Started (3) Everyone who got cut by the small shrapnel got poisoned. Although the poison was not that strong, it was still annoying and distracting to get poison damage from this. Actually, not everyone got poison effect. Some of them got confuse effect and also burned effect. These three debuffs were coming from each mortar separately. The clerics acted quickly. Some of them heal the tanker while the others started to cure the poison and the other debuff. Unfortunately, there was not mass cure spell on clerics. So, they had no choice but to do this one by one. However, before everyone could get completely cured of the poison and the debuff, three loud sound was heard once again. Three mortars already flew towards Gaia''s soldiers. The three mortars already hit the tanker at the front. However, just like the previous occasion, small shrapnel exploded and flew towards the soldiers at the back. The reload time for the siege weapons surprised Smite. It was too quick considering the power and the effect of the weapons. And it was faster than the reported information. Smite wanted to curse the spy who supplied this inaccurate information. However, he knew that it was also not easy to be a spy. Moreover, they had to be careful not to get caught. "Drink your antidote and cure potion! Don''t rely on the clerics'' cure!" Smite shouted. Smite knew that if they only rely on the cleric''s cure, they could not advance. With Smite''s command, everyone started to take out their cure potion depending on the debuff they got. This strategy worked quite well. They started to advance once more. The Gaia''s soldiers advanced very slowly. They were blocked by the mortar''s power and the Regalia''s attacks. The cleric was busy healing the tanker. In the end, Smite''s commanded the cleric to focus on healing and let the soldiers cure their own debuff. Unfortunately, the pressure on the clerics had increased since the siege weapons joined in. The pressure made the clerics make some mistakes and heal the same person twice. Hence, there was someone else who didn''t get a proper heal. One mistake created another error. And, this widened the gap. In the end, the first casualty from Gaia''s side occurred. When the first casualty occurred, Smite immediately shouted, "Keep going!" Smite knew they could not stop in the middle of the war, or else they would all die for naught. Moreover, he already knew that casualties were inevitable in a war like this. Smite hoped that they could reach the outpost with minimum casualties. He was pondering on how to change the tide of battle. In the end, he gritted his teeth and shouted, "Melees! Go all out. The first one who can open the gate will get a bonus from me!" The soldiers who heard Smite''s shouts started to get greedy when they heard about the bonus, especially the players. Since they could resurrect even when they died, they wanted to try their luck here. Without disregarding the injuries, the melee soldiers ran off towards the outpost crazily as if they had seen a free diamond. Some of the ranged and magics players also tried their luck even though they had weak defense and low health. The melee soldiers used varied kinds of items and skills to minimize their damage. Some of them even held shields on one of their hand and health potions on their other hands. Of course, because of the absurd charge like this, the formation became chaotic. Only some of the soldiers could stay calm before the greed moved in a formation. Of course, both of Auron''s characters were included in that groups. With this free-style charge, Gaia''s soldiers advanced quicker. This sudden chaotic charge made Regalia''s soldiers stunned as well. At first, they panicked and aimed at the single target who was closer to the outpost. Of course, this type of attack would only disadvantage the Regalia''s side. However, that moment didn''t last long as the outpost''s commanders quickly commanded properly. He told the siege weapons and the ranged and magic units to aim towards the big groups behind. The outpost''s commanders also commanded the melee soldiers to receive these single soldiers. The outpost gate opened, and a group of elite soldiers led by the outpost''s vice commanders departed before the gate closed again. There were 15 Regalia''s soldiers inside this little group. Although it was only a small number, it was enough to deal against these single soldiers. A clash happened not too far away from the outpost''s gate. The Gaia''s soldiers were overwhelmed by the Regalia''s soldiers. However, they didn''t give up easily. They tried every trick to get through past these 15 soldiers to get to the gate. Casualties increased from the Gaia''s side, and it was rapidly. However, the sacrifice was not in vain. The big group led by Smite could also advance quickly and reached closer to the outpost''s gate. When they were already near, Smite commanded, "Attack the soldiers on the wall!!! Follow your leader''s lead!!!" Several attacks flew towards the Regalia''s soldiers on the wall. Smite had separated several ranged and magic units into some small groups. Each of the groups was led by one person. Smite had briefed the leaders of the groups to concentrate their attacks at one point. This way, they could achieve greater damage and had a higher chance to kill their enemies. Smite''s strategy worked brilliantly. Although there were only several targets each attack wave, 90% of the attacks would kill the target. This way, the Regalia''s soldiers on the wall also got reduced. The casualties on both sides increased significantly. As Smite''s group reached closer towards the gate, a reinforcement came from the Regalia''s side to help their vice commander''s group. Three minutes later, Smite shouted, "CHARGE!!!" The rest of the melee soldiers charged and joined with the first group that had already charged crazily. A battle near the gate erupted. Meanwhile, the ranged and magics units kept on attacking Regalia''s soldiers on the wall. Chapter 576 - War Started (4) "Charge!!" The Regalia''s vice commanders also shouted. In no time, the two sides clashed. The Regalia''s vice commander''s group was quickly surrounded since they had lower numbers. However, it didn''t mean they immediately gave up. On the contrary, it made them spirited. With only a small number, their fighting spirit increased, their decisiveness scared some of the Gaia''s soldiers. Moreover, all of the Regalia''s soldiers had already pledged their loyalty to follow their commander to the death. The casualties on Gaia''s side increased a lot. However, it didn''t make Gaia''s side backed down. They had a number advantage. It just a matter of time before the Regalia''s vice commander''s groups would be eradicated. Not all of Gaia''s soldiers surrounded Regalia''s vice commander''s group. There were a number of swordsmen who were confident enough, spread to the side. In a war like this, even though swordsman had a disadvantage because of their short attack range, but they were an important asset in a war. The first reason was obvious, they had high health and could act as a vanguard. However, the most important reason was because of their [Blitz Attack]. [Blitz Attack] was a skill that allowed a swordsman to perform short teleportation. Although the distance was only 1 meter, this skill could work well in a war, especially capturing a fort like this. This skill would allow them to teleport to the top of the wall or even passed through the castle wall. Of course, this skill could not be used freely. If they carelessly used this skill, they could appear in the middle of the enemy''s group. That would mean suicide. Some of the confident swordsmen moved to the side and scoured the wall. Then, they immediately used the skill and teleported. Some of them tried to directly move inside the outpost, while some of them teleported to the top of the wall. As soon as they arrived at their destination, they wanted to create havoc. However, before they could do it, three attacks landed on their body. Then, two more attacks landed at them and killed them. The outpost''s commander and several elites under him had already anticipated this. So, they had covered some of the outpost''s area near the wall. When these Gaia''s swordsman appeared among them, they immediately attack them. Some of the weaker Gaia''s swordsman immediately died. Meanwhile, the stronger one still alive despite the serious injuries. However, that also didn''t last long before they passed under the attacks. Fortunately, the number of Regalia''s soldiers that protect inside the outpost was little. Hence, some of them survived unscathed. These people who survive immediately moved around and attacked the nearest enemies they could see. The surprised attacks worked quite well. However, the enemies'' side had clerics on their side. So, when these attackers attacked Regalia''s soldiers, the clerics who were on stand-by immediately healed them. Although the Gaia''s swordsmen''s [Blitz Attack] could not cause any casualty among the enemies, they successfully disturbed the enemies'' ranged and magic unit. This disturbance lessened the burden on Gaia''s soldiers that still outside of the outpost. Using this opportunity, the other soldiers immediately charged and changed their target towards the Regalia''s vice commander''s group. The pressure on the vice commander''s group increased. Currently, they had half of their original number. Even with the reinforcements, it was not enough for the vice commander''s group to survive. In just a matter of minutes, the Regalia''s vice commander''s group was immediately killed. There was only the vice commander left from the group. Moreover, the vice commander had already been heavily injured. The vice commander''s situation was the worst. It was better to die instead of to hold on to his situation. The vice commander''s body was full of blood and scars. The vice commander even could not focus his eyes and see what in front of him clearly. He looked so fragile that even the simplest touch would end his life. However, despite the fact that the vice commander was in that state, he still didn''t give up. He kept swinging his weapon in front of him. Smite didn''t have mercy and ordered Gaia''s soldiers to kill the vice commanders. Although the vice commander''s group had completely eradicated, it was not that easy. The vice commander''s group had also reaped the life of Gaia''s soldiers. He, along with his group, had caused casualties twice the number of their group towards Gaia. Unfortunately, everything had to end. This was one of the advantages of having a higher quantity. "Break the Gate!!!" Smite shouted. Outside of the outpost had been seized by Gaia''s side. Now, they needed to get inside and killed all of the Regalia''s soldiers inside this outpost to capture the victory. In just a matter of seconds, the outpost''s gate was broken. A wave of Gaia''s soldiers immediately poured inside the outpost. The ranged and magic unit on the top of the wall directly launched their attacks towards these soldiers. Unfortunately, how could the other swordsman let them did this. At this moment, some of Gaia''s swordsman used their [Blitz Attack]. The Regalia''s ranged and magic unit, who already focused on the Gaia''s soldiers'' wave, could not defend against these attacks. They were forced to fight in close combat. Auron was also one of these swordsmen. Seeing the situation had calmed down and all of the enemies on the top of the wall focused on the gate, he used [Blitz Attack] and appeared on top of the wall. Then, Auron quickly unleashed everything he had on the first enemy he saw. Regalia''s soldiers '' fighting spirit weakened with the havoc created by these swordsmen and the Gaia''s soldiers. In the end, some of them surrendered, while some of them gave up and just stood still without surrendering or attacking. "Eliminate all of the enemies!!!!" Smite shouted without mercy. Because of Smite''s orders, Gaia''s soldiers killed all of the enemies, even those who had surrendered. The massacre occurred at the top of the outpost''s wall. Chapter 577 - War Started (5) The massacre lasted for 10 minutes before the last Regalia''s soldiers died on the top of the wall. However, that was not the last Regalia soldiers in this outpost. A group of 10 Regalia''s soldiers was surrounded inside the outpost. This was the outpost''s commander''s group. These 10 people were cornered to one side of the outpost. They formed a half circle and faced Gaia''s soldiers. In front of these Regalia''s soldiers, there were Gaia soldiers triple their size with Smite among these people. Smite looked at these leftover soldiers from Regalia. He walked to the front and said, "Surrender, now! And, I will leave your corpse intact!" "Fat Chance! There is no way I will surrender!" The outpost''s commander answered. "If you want to chop my corpse and feed it to the dog, I will not care! I have died anyway! But, there is no way I will surrender! I will fight you to the end!" After the outpost''s commander said that, the other soldiers roared because of their commander''s sentence. Seeing this, Smite shook his head. He already knew that he would not be able to persuade the commander to surrender. So, Smite ordered, "Killed them!" With that order, the Gaia''s soldiers showered the Regalia''s soldiers with their attacks. The Regalia''s soldiers shouted and also fought to their last breath. The two sides clashed. Of course, Gaia''s soldiers, who had more numbers, had the advantages. Moreover, they had clerics on their side. Meanwhile, the Regalia''s side didn''t have clerics on their side. In no time, all of the Regalia''s soldiers died. The outpost''s commander was the last Regalia''s soldiers to die. He saw all of his subordinates died before his eyes. With the last bit of his strength left, he brought over one of Gaia''s soldiers to the other side. Smite was seeing all of these scenes in front of him. In the end, he shook his head and felt pity for the outpost''s commander. It was such a pity for Regalia to have this kind of commander at their disposal. If only Smite could recruit this man to his side, then he would gladly accept him. However, he knew that a loyal man like this outpost''s commander couldn''t betray others. After killing everyone, Smite ordered, "Clean up the place! And, send a message back to the city." With the last bit of the Regalia''s soldiers died, the battle in the outpost had ended. It was time to clean up the place and tally up the casualties. Not only that, they had to prepare when the Regalia''s reinforcements came to this place. When Smite was overseeing the cleaning process and tallying up the casualties number, a soldier reported to him, "Commander, we have found these people inside the prison!" The soldier brought a bunch of people. These people were the representatives of the Sparrow Family that had been imprisoned by the outpost''s commander. Smite wanted to say something but was interrupted by one of the representatives, "Release us, and we will reward you heavily!" The representative arrogantly said that sentence because of the previous incident when Smite asked for ransom for the noble''s son. They thought that Smite was a man that could be bought over with money. Smite smiled and said, "Oh really? How could I trust you? And, what are you going to pay me with?" "Previously, we already prepared the ransom to pay. However, that stupid commander imprisoned us, and now that stupid commander died." "If you release us, we will double the previous ransom you asked!" The representative said. Smite looked delightful. However, it didn''t last long before his face turned ugly, "But, I have killed that man. If I release you, I believe the people from your family would not let me go!" When the representative heard Smite said this, he quickly said, "No... No... No... You are wrong. Actually, that man''s value had reduced a lot the moment he was captured the first time. So, I believe the family would not care even if you killed him." "If what you said was true, then why would you spend so much effort just to save him?" The representative looked down a bit and said with an embarrassed tone, "It was for my own greed! Although the man''s value was low, he still could be used to increase my value. If I could save him back then, the family would see me with delight, especially that man''s factions." "Hoo... Really? That was interesting." Smite looked interested. "Twice the previous ransom," Smite murmured while touching his chin. He deliberately said it quite loud. When the man saw Smite seemed interested, he quickly said, "Yes, that''s right! Twice the previous ransom." After pondering for minutes, Smite said, "Okay, then!" All of the Sparrow Family''s representatives'' eyes brightened. Their hopes had gone up. However, it didn''t last long before they heard Smite''s next sentence. "Kill them all!" Smite''s declared. "Wait... Wait... Wait... Why? You can get twice..." The sentence was cut off after several attacks ended the representative''s life. Several minutes later, all of the Sparrow Family''s representatives died. However, it was not an important matter anymore. The Gaia''s soldiers quickly focused on calculating their casualties and their supplies. Not long after that, Smite got the report. From this battle, Gaia''s side had suffered quite a lot. They lost halves of their original number. There were only around 75 soldiers in this outpost. Smite''s win could be considered a big win. It was pretty difficult to capture an outpost with only losing 75 soldiers. However, Smite was not thinking about that. Currently, he was thinking about the next battle. The Regalia''s reinforcements should be arriving the next day. Since there were no surviving members from this outpost, the news about the outpost fall should not be spread yet. Hence, Smite intended to trap the Regalia''s reinforcements. The first step was to dispatch several spies to know how many of Regalia''s reinforcements would come. A few minutes later, two soldiers departed from the outpost wearing Regalia''s equipment. Chapter 578 - War Started (6) The two Gaia''s spies scoured the path towards the Regalia''s cities. After quite some distances from the outpost, the two Gaia''s soldiers met with Regalia''s soldiers. The Regalia''s soldiers were still resting after quite a long way. When the two Gaia''s spies were in the vicinity, all of the Regalia''s soldiers quickly stood up. Even though they were resting, the Regalia''s soldiers were still vigilant towards their surroundings. All of the Regalia''s soldiers quickly stood up and raised their weapons. Meanwhile, Gaia''s soldiers rapidly raised their hands and said, "We are friends. We came from the outpost!" One of the Regalia''s soldiers walked forwards and said, "State your identity!" The two Gaia soldiers quickly stated their fake identities. Previously, Smite had prepared fake identities to use. He chose a not-to-well-known Regalia''s soldiers. The Regalia''s soldier who went forwards glanced at the two Gaia''s soldiers. Then, they scanned the two men from top to bottom. The Regalia''s soldier was suspicious of the two men. However, since the two men had used a not-to-well-known Regalia''s soldiers'' identities, the Regalia''s soldier could not help but believe the two men''s words. Moreover, the two men had used equipment with Regalia''s soldiers'' marks. Furthermore, the Regalia''s soldiers'' leader believed that the outpost would not have fallen yet. "What are your objectives for coming here? How is the situation at the outpost?" "Report! We managed to fend off Gaia''s attack. And, the situation was pretty much under control right now. However, we don''t know what will happen tomorrow. Hence, the two of us were dispatched to look for reinforcements. And, here we are." "Is the situation that dire?" The Regalia''s soldiers'' leader frowned. He was surprised to hear the story. The Gaia''s spies nodded their heads. "The enemy''s leader right now was so intelligent and different from the previous one. You must have heard that they had captured the son of Sparrow Family, right?" The leader nodded his head. He had heard the news about it. "Fortunately, our outpost''s commander was not weak either. Using his strategy, he had managed to fend off the danger. However, he had sacrificed a lot of soldiers in the previous battle. So, he had an urgent need of reinforcements, or we would lose tomorrow''s battle." The leader understood what the soldier means. "Okay, we will get ready first. Then, we will depart as soon as possible. If we departed now, we should be able to arrive before the sunrise." The reinforcements not only contained soldiers, but there were also supplies and, most importantly, several siege weapons to be installed at the outpost. Hence, their speed was slower than normal. The Gaia''s soldiers acted as if they were delighted with the leader''s response. Then, one of them said, "Can you tell us what did you bring? And, the number of soldiers in your group? Since the time was tight, we want to get back first and tell the commander about the reinforcement so he could plan a strategy." "Make sense!" The leader said. Then, he started to explain everything. Moreover, the leader even told the composition of the soldiers'' class within their group and the number of their supplies down to the number. "Thank you! We will report it back as soon as possible. We hope you guys could arrive as soon as possible as well." The two Gaia''s spies saluted the leader and immediately turned back and went back to the outpost. After the two soldiers left, the leader quickly commanded everyone to prepare to depart. The Regalia''s camp was bustling with activity. Almost ten minutes later, the group started to march. During this 10 minutes, the two Gaia''s soldiers had advanced quickly, and they had widened the distance between them and the Regalia''s soldiers. They knew the importance of this news. So, they didn''t dare to dilly dally and marched forward without resting. Two hours later, the two Gaia''s soldiers arrived at the outpost. They immediately asked to meet with Smite and the other higher-ups. A meeting took place 5 minutes later. The two spies reiterated every word that Regalia''s reinforcement leader had said. They didn''t even dare to reduce a word. After hearing the information, Smite frowned. The reinforcement''s number was out of their expectation. Previously, they thought that there would only be 100 soldiers as reinforcements. However, the real reinforcements number consisted of 200 soldiers. It was really fortunate they had captured the outpost. If not, there would be no chance for them to capture the outpost without asking for additional soldiers. Currently, there were 75 Gaia''s soldiers inside the outpost. Meanwhile, their upcoming enemies would have 200 soldiers. Even though their enemies were double their size, Smite was not worried. It was because they were on they had surprise element on their side. If they used it well, then they could reduce their enemy''s number by half without sacrificing their soldiers. This was also the reason why Smite had dispatched the two soldiers and told them to urge the Regalia''s reinforcement to come to the outpost as soon as possible. They wanted to utilize this surprise element before the news about the fallen outpost reached Regalia''s side. Gaia''s advantage was not only the surprise element. They also had the outpost as their advantages. They could utilize every arsenal at the outpost, including the siege weapon, to their fullest. Even though there was only a little bit of mortar left for the siege weapons, but it was enough to surprise their enemies. Smite started to discuss the defense strategy. Then, he began assigning everyone and gave several orders. "Quick, move the siege weapons to the south!" "Enhance the barricade to the south!" Several commands could be heard, and every soldier was busy preparing for the upcoming battle. Meanwhile, a group of 200 soldiers was walking towards the outpost. They had used their fastest speed. However, it was still slow since they had to take care of the supplies and the siege weapons. Finally, the group could see the outpost''s shadow from far away. They were excited. However, they didn''t know the nightmare waiting for them. Chapter 579 - War Started (7) "Hurry up! The outpost already on sight!" The Regalia''s reinforcements'' leader hurried everyone. Meanwhile, inside the outpost, Gaia''s soldiers had prepared to ambush the reinforcements. From the outside, the outpost seemed calm, and there was nothing strange. That was why the Regalia''s reinforcement didn''t feel suspicious. They hurried, and several minutes later, they arrived at the outpost. "Open the gate!" The Regalia''s leader shouted. However, there was no response from the outpost. The Regalia''s leader frowned. Then, he shouted once more. And, there was still no response yet. The leader confused and turned around. He asked his vice leader about his opinions. However, the vice leader shrugged his shoulders. The leader turned around once more and intended to call for the last time. However, before the sentence could escape his mouth, a signal flare flew towards the sky and exploded. As someone who was experienced in war, these unusual things alerted the leader. Not only the leader but every Regalia''s soldiers were alerted as well. They immediately took out their weapons and observed their surroundings. A minute later, three loud sounds were heard from the outpost''s direction. All of the Regalia''s soldiers looked towards the outpost and instinctively raised their weapons. When the three mortars hit the groups, a shout was heard, "Attack!!!!" After that shout, a rain of arrows and magic spells poured down towards the groups. All of these arrows and spells were the most strong skill or spell from the users. Not only that, but all of these attacks were area attacks. The Regalia''s soldiers were surprised. They directly used their protective spell. However, several people reacted too late. This rain of attacks powered down towards the groups. After the first wave of attacks finished, there came the second wave. Not long after, the third wave came. From these three attacks, Gaia''s side managed to kill 50 soldiers. The first wave managed to kill 30 soldiers by surprise. Meanwhile, the second wave only reaped the life of 15 soldiers. And, the third wave killed 5 soldiers. Actually, the attack didn''t stop until the third wave. The fourth and fifth waves came. However, both of these two waves didn''t reap any life because all of the Regalia''s soldiers had been prepared. The Regalia''s clerics also took action and started to heal everyone. When the leader had seen the attack didn''t take more casualties, he intended to back first and rearrange the formation first before deciding the next move. However, after he gave the order and was about to move, from behind them, two big groups ran out from the forest and attacked them. Smite, and Auron led these two groups. These two groups numbered 60 people. Almost all of Gaia''s soldiers were inside these two groups. The Regalia''s reinforcement''s leader had believed the Gaia''s spies from before. Because of that, he had put a minimal heavy armored unit at the back of the formation. Moreover, he intended to hurry up, and this formation could speed up their march speed. Because of the formations, the two Gaia''s groups, lead by Auron and Smite, engaged with the lightweight units. Combined with the surprise element, a massacre happened. Moreover, there were still ranged and magics attacks from the outpost. Getting pincered from two sides made the Regalia''s soldiers pressured. They tried their best to escape from this situation. Meanwhile, the most pressured were fell upon the clerics. There were only 15 clerics for this big group. However, these clerics were not enough to support all of the soldiers in this situation. The Regalia''s archers and mages were in a panicked state. They were like paper in front of Gaia''s heavy infantry units. In a short time, 20 Regalia''s soldiers died under these ambushed. However, there was not enough time before Regalia''s leader brought several people and fought back Smite and Auron''s group. "Leave all belongings and breakthrough from the encirclement!" The Regalia''s reinforcement''s leader''s commands calmed the soldiers and broke the soldiers out from the panicked state. Then, with one goal inside their mind, along with the leader, they quickly engaged with Smite''s and Auron''s unit. Another 20 soldiers died under Smite''s and Auron''s group. However, it was not enough to make Gaia''s had the same number as Regalia''s side. Having a bigger number, Regalia''s side started to push Auron''s and Smite''s groups. Casualties began to appear on Auron''s and Smite''s group. However, they didn''t give up and kept on pressuring Regalia. From the outpost, the rest of Gaia''s soldiers led by Jeffrey came out and attacked Regalia''s side. They intended to help Auron''s and Smite''s group. The Regalia''s reinforcement''s leader gritted his teeth. They already fell to Gaia''s scheme and suffered great casualties. Then, he shouted, "Prioritize escaping and saving your life!" The leader could not help but give the order to escape and saving as many soldiers as possible instead of killing Gaia''s soldiers. After 10 minutes of intense battle, the Regalia''s soldiers managed to create an opening and used that opening to escape. When Smite saw the Regalia''s soldiers were escaping, he ordered, "Chase them!" All of the Gaia''s soldiers chased Regalia''s soldiers. However, after several meters away from the outpost, Smite ordered once more, "Stop! Don''t chase them further! Go back to the outpost!" Smite decided to stop the chase and went back to the outpost. Although Smite could not kill all of the enemies, he still achieved a great victory. Several hours later, the news about Smite''s great victory spread to the two sides. The Regalia''s side was furious by this news. On the other hand, Gaia''s side was celebrating this news. Gaia would not let this victory went away just like that. They used this momentum to attack more ferociously to the other outpost. Meanwhile, they also sent several more soldiers to fortify the outpost they just got. This outpost would become the foothold for their next plan. So, they could not lose it away. Meanwhile, Auron and the others were waiting patiently at the outpost. They were resting and waiting for the reinforcements from the main cities. Chapter 580 - Next Action (1) Under Smite''s lead, Gaia''s side suffered quite a big casualties compared to the original number during this war. From the original 150 soldiers, after this war, Gaia''s side had only less than 50 soldiers left. It was one-third of their original number. Although Smite had lost quite a big number, no one complained about it. The reason was that Smite had also made their enemy, Regalia, suffered bigger casualties. Regalia had lost a strategic outpost. This way, Gaia could use this outpost as their gathering point to attack Regalia''s main Bridge World cities. Not only that but Regalia''s also suffered big casualties. From the original 200 soldiers that defend the outpost, none of them survived. Moreover, Smite also killed three-fourth of the Regalia''s reinforcements'' soldiers. It equaled almost 150 soldiers. This means, during this war, Gaia''s side had killed almost 350 of Regalia''s soldiers. This big win made Smite''s name became popular. Previously, Smite''s popularity was only circulated inside the military. Because of how Absurd team''s way of act, Smite was popular because of his uniqueness. The small number of the Absurd team was one of the reasons. The other reason was because of Smite''s identity. All of the people inside the military had seen how the higher-ups acted towards Smite. They acted so generously towards Smite. On the other hand, nobody knew about Smite''s identity. Hence, this led to numerous rumors about Smite. However, Smite didn''t care about those rumors and acted as if he didn''t know and care about it. Time passed by, and people started to believe some of those rumors, especially the rumors about Smite was one of the illegitimate sons of one of the higher-ups. One person had tried to investigate about Smite. He asked about Smite''s identity to his superior. However, his superior also didn''t know about Smite''s identity. His superior saw that his superior acted generously, so he also did the same. In the end, Smite''s identity was unknown. When Smite''s identity was popular among the military, nobody outside the military knew that Smite was so popular. However, after this great victory, the a.d.u.l.ts knew about Smite''s name. Meanwhile, the person in the talk was currently in a meeting with the higher-ups that already arrived at the outpost. The meeting''s agenda was to decide what next action for Gaia. As the meeting in progress, Auron was waiting inside the outpost. Because of this great win, Gaia''s military had sent a lot of supplies and rewards towards the survivor. Auron''s both characters were included in the list of the rewards'' receiver. The military had given the survivors a bunch of golds and a rare grade equipment set. Although this equipment set was not quite ordinary, it was better than Auron''s current equipment. So, Auron changed both of his characters'' equipment. Unfortunately, there were no good mage''s weapons. So, Auron''s mage character still used his current weapon. Because of the change in equipment, Auron was excited. He could save some money to upgrade his equipment. Moreover, it would increase his survivability in this war. However, Auron had to hide his excitement to save his face. Among the Absurd team''s members, Auron was the only one who changed the equipment with the given equipment. This showed that the other''s equipment was much higher than the one that Auron used. As the vice leader of the group, Auron had to keep his charisma intact. Hence, he hid his excitement. Auron also replenished his potions'' supplies during this moment. He had bought various potions at this moment. Several hours later, the meeting ended. Smite, and the other higher-ups exit the meeting place. When they exit the meeting place, they immediately attracted everyone''s attention. Smite didn''t dilly dally. He directly announced what the meeting''s decision was. After the announcement, everyone was silent. Just like everyone had thought, the next decision was for them to continue this winning vibe. There were two choices between them to attack, directly attacking one of the main cities or helping others capture the other outpost. Both choices had their own advantages and disadvantages. Since there was a limited number of soldiers that could be dispatched, the effectiveness would be reduced a lot if they split their group. Hence, they had to choose one of the options. In the end, Smite and the higher-ups decided to directly attack one of the main cities. Of course, the current number of soldiers would not be enough to conquest the main cities. Hence, Gaia had decided to concentrate most of their soldiers on this plan. And, Smite would be the leader for this plan hoping for him to continue his win. Auron had guessed this progress. He knew that Gaia would not miss this momentum. And, attacking the main cities would be the chosen option. Smite began explaining the general plan. They would only have 6 hours to prepare. After 6 hours had passed, the survivor from the previous war, combined with some of the soldiers brought by Gaia, would be the vanguard for this plan. Gaia had brought 200 soldiers as a reinforcement to this outpost, and 150 of them would join with the next mission. So, in total, the number of soldiers that would join the next war amounted to 200 soldiers while the rest of 50 soldiers would be left behind to defend the outpost and arrange for the next group. Obviously, 200 soldiers would not be enough to capture the city. Gaia had decided to dispatch these 200 soldiers to pressure the Regalia''s side and helping Gaia''s force to capture the other outpost. At the same time, Gaia also had prepared to send ten thousand soldiers to help these 200 soldiers to capture the city. While waiting for those ten thousand soldiers, Smite had been assigned to be the vanguard''s group. They were also assigned to grind the enemy''s soldiers. If possible, they had to intercept the reinforcement soldiers for the other outpost. When the ten thousand soldiers had arrived, then that was the time for the real battle. Chapter 581 - Next Action (2) After walking for several days, the two hundred soldiers under Smite''s led arrived inside a forest near the main road. Smite deliberately using this unconventional road to hide from the enemy''s radar. With only two hundred soldiers, it was very dangerous to roam around the enemy''s cities. If they were caught, the enemy could send endless reinforcements since they were close to the city. However, Smite''s group didn''t have such privilege. Currently, Smite''s group was resting after the long journey. Auron was sitting around his Absurd team''s members. The others were having a conversation with each other and tried to ease their nervousness. Meanwhile, Auron did not focus on the conversation. Instead, he was currently arranging his supplies and his current condition. Auron''s supplies seemed enough, so he went to the next things. Auron looked at his attribute and progress. War definitely contributed a lot of experience for him. Moreover, a winning war would provide greater experience points. Auron saw that he was currently at level 489. He was 66 levels higher from the first time he arrived at the Bridge World. His speed of gaining level was considered to be quick. It was difficult to raise 66 levels in less than a week and a half. The number of experience points needed to raise 66 levels from level 423 was different from 66 levels from level 300. Moreover, in his case, the number of experience points needed was different from others due to his special case. Auron checked on his total attributes, and he smiled. He was slowly moving closer to his previous character''s attributes. It was quite good since compared to his previous character, his current equipment was way lower quality. However, because he could equip two of his characters and his attributes points, his attributes points were so much high compared to others on the same level. Unfortunately, Auron''s skill level and spell level were not that high, and it was affecting his damage output as well. Overall, Auron was quite satisfied with his achievement. Obviously, Auron''s so-called ''cheat'' was the one that brought him to this point. So, he didn''t want to lose it yet, and Auron became more protective towards his mage character, which he controlled right now. Auron was still pondering on how to protect his mage character when Smite called over him. He approached Auron, who was discussing with three other people. These three people were Jeffrey, and the other two people were the people from the recent reinforcements. Jeffrey was obviously Smite''s closest friend and his trusted person. Meanwhile, the other two people had quite a high position in the military. Even though Smite was the leader of this expedition, he could not ignore these two people who had the same position as him in the military. When Auron arrived at the group, Smite immediately said, "Okay, let''s do that." Then, Smite looked over to Auron and began explaining his strategy. The strategy was to split this 200 person became smaller groups. Although their power would also split, it was easier to move that way. They would split into several small groups of 5. And, every 8 groups would have a leader as the coordinator and supervisor. The 5 people here were the ones who would supervise those small groups. That was not all. To confuse the enemies, Smite intended to spread the group''s activities towards the other cities. That way, they could help the others to stop the reinforcements to the other outpost. And, also it would obscure their real goal of conquering the city. Smite didn''t know how long would Gaia could gather 10 thousand soldiers. Hence, he could not determine how long would this side mission lasted. He could only tell the others to take off their own team and moved at a careful pace. "Prioritize safety! We don''t need to deal with many casualties towards the enemy. Our only goal was to confuse the enemy and this battlefield!" Smite reminded the others once more before he closed the discussion. Everyone nodded. Then, Smite immediately gathered everyone. He started to brief them for a bit. He could not give the detailed instruction and would leave it to the leader of each group. They already stopped here for quite a long time. Since this was deep inside the enemy''s territory, Smite was worried and didn''t want to stay longer. Smite quickly separated everyone into small groups. Then, he assigned those small groups to one of the supervisors. After that, he quickly assigned each big group to one part of the enemy''s place. After he did all of those things, he quickly dispersed everyone. Everything from assigning and dispersing the groups happened so quickly. It only took them less than 5 minutes. Auron led his group towards his assigned place. While they were on the way, Auron briefed them about the detailed instruction and their goals. As Auron was one of the supervisors in this side mission, he had the power to choose his team members. And, obviously, he decided his swordsman character to be one of his team members. Besides his swordsman character, the other three members were strangers to him. He had to choose quite a good composition for his team. Unfortunately, since there were only a few clerics, some of the small groups could not get any clerics for their team. And Auron''s group was one of the teams that didn''t get cleric. It was quite unfortunate for his group. However, Auron could not ask for more since the clerics were limited. In exchange for the cleric, Auron got quite a group composition. There were two swordsmen, one mage, one thief, and one archer inside his group. It was quite a good composition for a small group. Moreover, Auron could use his potion supplies to change the cleric''s functions. After briefed the small groups, Auron quickly let everyone spread. There were only his group of five people left beside him. Auron looked towards his group''s members. Then, he nodded and said, "Let''s go!" Chapter 582 - Next Action (3) Auron''s group''s assigned location was near Masdul City''s perimeter. Masdul City was one of Regalia''s cities in the Bridge World. It was located next to Puwit City, which was the real target. Puwit City was located across from Talv City of Gaia''s. Actually, Auron''s group was assigned the furthest from Puwit City. His designated area was in the middle of the two cities. Auron''s location could be considered the easiest. It was pretty rare for soldiers to travel from Masdul City to Puwit City when Puwit City was still under control. It would be quicker to use the teleportation portal inside Masdul City towards Puwit City. That was why there would be a rare case for soldiers to travel between those two places. Despite the fact that it was rare, nobody knew what one had thought. Hence, to be safe, Smite assigned Auron''s to that place. Moreover, it was wartime. Everything could happen during wartime. Obviously, Regalia would have already known Gaia''s intention from the past days'' attacks. They would have prepared some intervention. Currently, Auron, along with groups was overseeing the area. From far away, he could see the small groups that were assigned to him. They moved carefully. Of course, there was no action since there were no enemies passed by. 3 hours passed by. There was still no sign of enemies appearing. The soldiers under his group looked towards him. Not long after, Auron called each of the small groups'' representatives towards him. In less than half an hour, seven people gathered beside him. Julia was the last one to arrive. Yes, Julia was assigned under Auron. Each of the seven people looked towards Auron. They were waiting for Auron to say something. Auron said, "Let''s move forwards. What do you guys think?" If they decided to stay at their current place, there would no enemies coming towards them. It would mean their contribution would less than the others. However, if they advanced closer to Masdul City, it would be more dangerous. Hence, Auron asked the others'' opinions. The representatives pondered for a bit. Then, all of them voted to agree to march forwards. If there was no action, their contributions would be lesser. Lesser contributions would make them gained lesser rewards as well. Auron knew high risk means high rewards. Hence, he decided to move forwards. Slowly, every group under Auron moved closer towards Masdul City. In three hours, they arrived at Masdul City''s vicinity. From their current place, there was the main road that connected Masdult City and the nearest outpost. Auron raised his hands to signal the other to start their hunt. The seven groups under Auron began to disperse once more. Meanwhile, Auron led his group closer towards the main road. It was the main road, but there was still nobody passed by after one hour stationed here. However, it didn''t discourage Auron''s group. They kept waiting and scoured the area carefully. Half an hour later, Auron''s group saw a patrol group of five soldiers passed by. Auron quickly gave the signal to attack. Two groups, along with his own group, attack these five soldiers. The five soldiers were caught by surprise. With more numbers, Auron''s group quickly killed these five soldiers. They didn''t use much energy to kill these 5 people. After killing them, Auron ordered to cover the track. An hour later, another patrol group came. This patrol group became Auron''s group''s prey. They quickly killed these 5 soldiers. Meanwhile, at another place near the main road, a fight happened. Five groups under Auron surrounded ten Regalia''s soldiers. These soldiers were dispatched here to search for the first patrol group that went out of contact. The soldiers, who were dispatched here, had already kept their guards up. However, they never thought that there would be so many enemies. The enemies were double their size. Moreover, they were caught by surprise. When the battle concluded, another 10 Regalia''s soldiers died. Julia, who was among these five groups, reported to Auron. Auron, who heard the report, quickly recalled all of his soldiers. They backed out. Regalia had already found about their presence, so they would send more soldiers here. And, to preserve their energy and numbers, they could not fight head-on. Hence, Auron decided to back first. Auron''s guess was correct. Not long after Auron pulled all of his troops, A group of hundred soldiers dispatched from Masdul City. They arrived at the main road. The leader among the hundred quickly shouted, "Form a group of 10 people! Then, search these bastards! I believe they should still be around here! If you found them, give the signal and delay them as long as you can. We need to eradicate these Gaia''s bastards!" Auron had backed out as far as to their original assigned position. Hence, the Regalia''s soldiers who went on search could not find anything. They had never thought that the soldiers would come from Puwit City''s direction and would venture that far to arrive here. The Regalia''s soldiers, who searched, reported back to the leader that they could not find anything. The leader pondered for a bit. Then, he said, "Form two groups and expand the search area! I will go back to the city and ask the other cities to do some search!" Auron had settled down around his assigned area. He felt that they would be safe from the search. Even if the enemies came here, he knew that they would not dispatch a lot of soldiers this far. Hence, he felt relaxed. However, to be safe, he still sent a messenger to Smite''s group to explain what they had done and encountered. Auron didn''t know about Regalia''s leader''s decision. But, by reporting to Smite, he had done something good. Auron''s decision would bring unpredictable outcomes to Smite''s plan. One hour later, Smite received the report. He frowned and ordered a pulled out. He pulled every group under him, including Auron''s group. Smite didn''t forget to emphasize his seriousness in this by giving a time limit and punishment towards the late group. Chapter 583 - Discovered (1) Auron had already spread his group under him. He was waiting for everything to calm down before he harrassed Regalia once more. Auron was currently observing the path linked to Masdul City. While watching, he didn''t forget to communicate with the other group. So, he could act as quickly as possible when there was something wrong. While waiting, suddenly, one of the groups under him sent a signal. The signal means that there were enemies spotted. Auron frowned. He quickly ordered the other groups to go to the group that sent the signal. He also brought his group towards the group. Auron had tried to move carefully. Unfortunately, there were some groups under his spotted by the enemies. "Gaia is here! Prepare for battle!" One of Regalia''s soldiers spotted one of the groups under Auron. He quickly shouted to warn the others. Since they were already spotted, Auron''s groups could not help but intended to engage in battle. Auron gave the signal to attack. Auron still had 40 people under him. He thought that it would be easy to kill this Regalia''s soldiers'' group. Contrary to his expectation, Auron was surprised when he saw the enemies'' number kept increasing. He thought that there would be only around 5 or 8 soldiers, at most 10 soldiers. However, the number of enemies in front of him right now was almost equivalent to his group''s number. Moreover, it didn''t stop right there. The number kept increasing until there were 50 soldiers. It was too late for Auron to give a retreat command. One of the groups already engaged in battle. Obviously, he could not leave this group behind. Auron gritted his teeth and shouted, "Charge!" The reason was that their number and the enemies'' number were almost the same even though they were on the losing side. Moreover, Auron already sent a messenger towards Smite''s group. The Regalia''s soldiers'' leader did what their leader had told them to do. He quickly took out his signal flare and shot it to the sky. The signal could be seen from anywhere in the Bridge World, including Regalia''s and Gaia''s sides. Smite frowned. His bad feeling had been proven to be correct. He quickly changed his plan. Smite sent another messenger to the others group to tell them to pull out to the outpost. Then, Smite led his groups towards the signal flare. His intention was to save Auron''s group and retreated. Meanwhile, they also saw this signal flare and quickly deployed troops from the nearest cities from the Regalia''s side. The soldiers from Masdul City and Puwit City were dispatched to this location. All of the nearest troops from both sides converged here. Meanwhile, Auron, who was in the middle of a fight, frowned. Now, he could realize the result of his action. Since the situation had escalated to this, Auron quickly shouted, "Retreat!!!" If the Regalia didn''t send the signal flare, he would still fight on. However, since there was a signal flare, even a stupid person would know that something was going on. Every troop would be sent here to investigate. Since this location was closer to Regalia, if he didn''t give the retreat command, they would be surrounded and could not escape anymore. Of course, the Regalia''s soldiers would not let that happen. They quickly charged and surrounded Gaia''s soldiers. Auron''s escape path was blocked by the Regalia''s soldiers. He quickly used [Fire Lance] to breakthrough. The [Fire Lance] shot towards the soldiers in front of him. The soldiers quickly raised their weapons to block the attack. Obviously, Auron''s attack could not kill the soldiers. However, it didn''t matter since it was not Auron''s real intention. With that attack, Auron quickly commanded, "Charge!!!" All of the Gaia''s soldiers tried to breakthrough. Of course, Regalia''s soldiers fought back. Auron''s group, as the spearhead, led the groups under him to break the Regalia''s soldiers'' encirclement. Gaia''s soldiers started to see hope. Under Auron''s lead, they could escape from the Regalia''s soldiers'' encirclement. Unfortunately, not everyone was fortunate. One or two soldiers were left behind and got attacked by the Regalia''s soldiers. Sadly, those soldiers could not escape and died under Regalia''s soldiers. Auron also saw this. However, he could not do anything. Hence, he could only continue to escape while occasionally throwing some spells to help the others soldier in need. The Regalia''s soldiers kept on chasing Gaia''s soldiers. Not long after, a group of soldiers was seen near the place. The newcomer group was not Smite''s group. Instead, it was the other half of the Regalia''s armies. The group came from the side and tried to block Auron''s groups'' escape path. Auron had to turn direction to avoid the newcomer group. The chase happened. Some of the Regalia''s soldiers that had a quick movement attack the fleeing Gaia''s soldiers from behind. The attacked Gaia''s soldier could defend the attack, but it stopped them from escaping. Hence, when they blocked the attack, the other Regalia''s soldiers pounced on them and killed them. Slowly, Gaia''s soldiers were killed one by one. The only cleric inside Auron''s big group also became the victim of this. Almost one-third of Auron''s group''s died. Auron gritted his teeth. He could not let this continued, or else all of Gaia''s soldiers would die. Auron glanced behind him to see the Regalia''s soldiers. Then, he could see that one female mage was caught up in the pursuit and was engaged in battle. The female mage was Julia. Auron suddenly felt rage, and he wanted to help. However, he stopped before he could go far enough. He was now in his mage character, and it would be a disaster if he died from this. He quickly moved to his swordsman character. Then, using his swordsman character, he went to Julia. Julia blocked one of the attacks with a wand. However, there was another attack aiming at her. She gritted her teeth since she knew she could not avoid this. However, a sword blocked the attack for her. It was Auron. He was like a shining knight saving a princess.