"Thank you. So, does this mean you'll let us go now?"
"Huh? I never said I'd let you go. I only said that we won't reduce your levels to zero."
Sierra raised both her claws and started slashing Sagen. Everyone else followed suit and started attacking the trapped Cavalry Knights with fishing spears, pitch forks, bolts, and arrows.
* * * * * *
Smoke, Laernea, Gandiva, and the rest of the Non Aggression Pact members reached the forest fragment before Selatan village.
Everyone knew that the Pact stated that only the loot acquired before Selatan can be shared. The Pact council decided to hold a meeting.
The Pact members were ordered to get some rest and prepare for the lucrative fight ahead.
Smoke gathered his Lioumerean friends and gave them strict instructions.
"Alright, we're finally at the last stretch. I want you two to head out and get your Race Sigils verified."
Laernea was confused, and argued with her leader.
"But, we still have another Brandal base to attack."
"I know, but I also want you two to win first and second place in the Mounted Race. That's why I explicitly indicated in the Pact that only the loot before Selatan can be shared."
As Smoke explained further information about the Non Aggression Pact. They saw Soutien on top of his wind scorpion ride past them. Smoke instantly realized that the Druid was on to the loophole of the Pact.
"Damn! You two, chase after him. I think he's gonna make a straight dash for the finish line."
"Alright, but you better cool it at the Brandal base. Remember, you're Ilad, the Flame Knight. You can't use any other abilities outside of a Flame Knight's."
"Yes, yes, yes... Now, go! If you two don't win this race, you'll really see my angry face."
Laernea and Gandiva smiled and unleashed the limiters on their stag moose, Bilis, and Tulin. The Pathfinder Lioumereans chased the Druid with all their might.
However, Soutien's wind scorpion also had a limiter equipped on it. The Druid removed the limiter and increased his mount's speed.
Smoke was still able to see them with his 'Telefax Vision', but they already looked like small figures. He decided to head for the Pact's council meeting.
The DarkElf saw that the party leaders were already gathered. Smoke heard Mamelon talking.
"Like I said, We should get rid of these small Brandal outputs."
Smoke seated himself, and voiced out his opinion.
"Rather than going after the outputs, why not head for one of their main strongholds? If we attack their smaller outputs we may lose some more of our members. Instead of smaller gains, let's just go for the big gamble."
The party leaders chattered on and discussed Smoke's proposal. One of the party leaders agreed.
"I agree with sir Ilad. Let's go for broke. I raise that we put his proposal into a vote."
Everyone agreed and Smoke's proposal got a 75% approval. The Pact members headed towards the Brandal's second largest base.
Smoke used his 'Cunning of the Dire Fox' and sensed that there were 450 bandits inside the base. After their fight with Pogona, the bronze bearded dragon, the Pact members were reduced to less than 300.
They were at a disadvantage, but Smoke still needed to reduce the Brandal's numbers. The Pact's council of leaders decided that a three pronged attack would be the most efficient way to capture the base.
Smoke was assigned as one of the three leaders. He had his men ready on the left wall of the Brandal's base.
He positioned himself higher up to give him a better vantage point.
The DarkElf ordered the demolition team to break down the walls when he got the signal to commence the attack. As he observed the progress of the attack, a specialized stunning bolt hit him behind his head.
Smoke's vision turned pitch black. The next second he awoke he was bound and tucked discreetly behind a wagon. He tried to see the face of his captors. Macher's face came into view.
"Hello, Ilad. Don't take this the wrong way. It's nothing personal. I just have a quest that rewards me with 100,000,000 zecs. I'm sure if you had this quest you'd do the exact same thing."
Smoke received another attack on the back of his head and passed out.
Chapter Seven: Fortunate Misfortune
It had been months since Tristan, Baron of Tonaci City, started on his journey to the east. He and his guild of 10,000 players traveled across various towns and villages in Thayotl Kingdom (Eastern Kingdom).
Due to the cut throat environment in the outskirts of the eastern kingdom, many of the villages were either abandoned or died out with the corpses of their residents still inside.
The villages that survived may be different, but all of them had one thing in common: their resident's love for zecs, expensive jewels, and rare equipments.
The prominent religion in Thayotl Kingdom was Tezcazinism. They strongly believed that there was no afterlife, and only wealth mattered most in this world.
This was not a problem for the affluent people like Tristan, but not all the members of DracoRicco were rich. At least a fourth of their members had to save up a month's worth of game time in order to afford the guild's entrance fee.
It was common knowledge that Tristan's guild ranked first in overall power, defense, and money. However, Amahan's guild held the highest player to level ratio.
The Paladin Lord wanted to weed out the weaker members of his guild, and this long excursion to the unknown lands of the east was his solution to this problem.
As they got further away from the main cities, the citizens that they met in Thayotl Kingdom got greedier and greedier. The discrimination shown by the Zectians to the poor members of DracoRicco was very distinct.
The richer members were treated well, and were even given discounts. Whereas the poorer ones were ignored and neglected by shop owners. This gave the indigent members a harder time restocking their supplies on healing potions and food.
This unwelcomed treatment from the Zectians brought about two results from the targeted members. It either encouraged them to give it their best or made them quit the guild altogether.
Tristan had his men battle against bridge trolls until the whole monster clan was wiped out. They even went head to head against draugrs!
Draugrs were spirits of fallen Vikings who would reanimate any rotting corpse. The undead corpse is different from your typical zombie or ghoul. These undead draugrs had the fighting abilities of Vikings.
This was DracoRicco's hardest battle yet. Their Paladins and Priests did their best, and helped all their lower level members to survive.
Similar monster hunts were scheduled when Tristan saw how much his men improved against a life and death situation.
When the lowest member of DracoRicco attained level 80. Tristan decided to start their real journey to the east. He had his scouts spy on ahead.
The Paladin Lord started to plot out the best course that gave them rare items and high experience. Their guild master's harsh treatment brought about many deserters of DracoRicco, but Tristan welcomed their departure.
Months went on and the Tristan's despotic attitude towards his guild only became more intense.
* * * * * *
Inside an extravagantly large white tent, a blond Paladin Lord with short hair sat in front of a 3D map. He studied the explored regions of Thayotl Kingdom. His right hand massaged his temples. He was deep in thought as to how to proceed with the next campaign.
"Tristan? Tristan? Have you heard the latest news?"
A player with the job of a Shadow Phantom entered Tristan's tent. It was Bones, one of Tristan's most trusted generals. Bones' job was an advanced variation of the Thief job.
This also allowed Bones into secret societies who had useful gossips and rumors. The black haired Human had just received a disturbing news about one of the two men who they were keeping tabs on.
Tristan looked at Bones in a baffled manner.
"What news?"
"Apparently, some wannabe named Sagen took more than twenty men to ambush Ilad. You know, the guy who won Coatl's Swordsman To Knight Tournament. Apparently, Ilad changed jobs into a Flame Knight and joined Coatl's Mounted Race event, and this Sagen who lost to Ilad in the finals of the Swordsman tournament plotted to get back at him in the race."
Tristan was half listening to his Shadow Phantom general, as he placed an icon which symbolized 1,000 men on the map. He was busy and didn't have the time to be bothered.
"Bones, please get on with it. What does some guy, in the complete opposite side of Zectas, have anything to do with us?"
"Well, Smoke's red Werebear friend and the rest of his private army came out, and attacked Sagen. The Werebear told Sagen to lay off of Ilad because he's a part of their team. It looks like Smoke's started to make his move, and is recruiting players with great potential."
The Paladin Lord dropped the 1,000 men icon when he heard Smoke's name.
"That bastard finally showed himself. I knew he was still in Chayotl Kingdom(Western Kingdom). Do you know how many members he has in his private army, and also check on the status of his guild."
"According to the records, Smoke still doesn't have a guild. However, according to Sagen, the red Werebear had a private army of 100 NPCs. He also said that they were mostly made up of Farmers and Fishermen."
Tristan was confused. He couldn't understand Smoke's logic at all.
"Why would he use Farmers and Fishermen? But you know, Smoke has been tricky since the first time we met him; hold on, why is he in Coatl? Oh, right, the Maneator quest. I guess he must've managed to kill the beast and is claiming the treasure beneath the city."
The Paladin Lord stood up and went outside his tent. He walked out into a swamp. All 6,000 surviving guild members of DracoRicco were outside clearing the monsters in the area.
Their respawn point was at Dernier village. The last respawn point before they entered the unexplored territories of the east. All of the members who died were instructed to return to Tonaci city. There, they will be transferred to a different guild, DracoRiccoSecondo.
The lower guild members did increase their levels. However, the new objective of their expedition was uneventful. No hidden temples, no secret lairs, not even a new species of monster.
Everything was sub-par to what Tristan had envisioned phase two of their journey to be. Until today, this time in front of the Paladin Lord was Viverna Swamp, nests of the wyverns.
"I won't allow Smoke to be more famous than me. I already have qualms to deal with that Amahan character up Mictaztl Kingdom(Northern Kingdom), but don't worry, Bones. This hunt right here will put us back as most popular existence in this world, the strongest guild in all of Zectas."
The wyverns were smaller than dragons at a full height of 15 feet. These scaly green monsters had overly large heads and only two legs. Their wingspans covered their entire body. Their tails had sharp barbed spikes at the end.
Tristan's scouts found seven wyverns. He divided his men into a smaller regiment of 1,000 members. He assigned each regiment to a wyvern, and the last wyvern was assigned to himself and his private army of 300 NPCs.
Bones stepped out of Tristan's tent and stood beside him. The Paladin Lord stood in front of his guild and was about to inspire his men.
"I'm sure many of you remember the time that my personal army and I defeated the legendary dragon Valdurath. Let me tell you this. These wyverns are nothing compared to that monster! If I could do it with only 300 men then I'm sure your regiment of 1,000 will succeed without fail. Now go out and kill all those wyverns. Remember the spoils will be divided according to your personal contributions of the battle. Good Luck!"
After Tristan's speech, Bones whispered his concern.
"Are you sure that was a good way to inspire the men? Sure, they saw you kill Valdurath, but they didn't know that he only had 10% of his life left. Valdurath was running away from the other two great dragons of the east. That was the only reason why you and your personal army of 300 NPCs were able to defeat him."
"I know that, and you know that, but the other guild members don't have to know that. Anyway, these wyverns are really small when compared to Valdurath. I'm sure they could handle it. Besides, I'll have my personal army on standby and assist any of the regiment that's having a hard time."
"Tristan, please don't steal their kills and claim that you were only trying to help them. It worked before because they were dying, but if they aren't I don't think our guild members would be as forgiving."
