[Inside the Wicked Clown Guild; Fortieth(40th) Floor: Heaven Domensia]
"What the hell do you mean you've failed!?"
A man with a menacing presence and dark aura roared like thunder, punching the person who had just reported about his mission.
It was that tamer guy who lost to Zanthrix twice consecutively.
As the guild leader stuck him, applying tremendous force, he clashed against the wall and a system notification appeared.
[Indestructible Object]
The tamer— known as Kuroha, tried standing up only to find his feet denying his will.
The game might have an in-built function to prevent the players from experiencing pain. However, it worked only on physical pain. Against mental pain, it worked to an extent but not entirely. Players could still somewhat experience trauma and tragic death.
Such tragic pain was created when the guild leader, Sindragon, punched Kuroha. He was infuriated by Kuroha's incompetency. Somehow, collecting enough strength he stood up, his legs trembling slightly.
Sindragon gritted his teeth and looked at the other members who were with Kuroha—specifically the eight mages who were supposed to be one of the elite strike teams. Yet they failed inconsiderably.
"And what the hell were you up to? Couldn't you just beat a newbie and his thunder Seraphyll? Eight of you are highly trained mages of our guild. You could easily tackle any Thunder user, even one as formidable as a Seraphyll. Yet you still lost and failed to retrieve the dungeon permit."
He sat on his seat—in the head position of the table. Other Ace Members were on their seats. There were seven of them—three on each side, leaving the opposite seat of Sindragon empty.
"We're sorry boss!"
The eight mages standing in the corner of their meeting hall said in unison.
"Cut that crap! I don't need an apology. All I want is the entry permit. Without it, we cannot negotiate with the Dead Pirates Guild. We are at a disadvantage right now."
"That is true, boss!" a lady swordsman added, sitting on Sindragon's right side, "The Cyndrill dungeon is one of the rare events. There's no time limitation to it. However, there are restrictions. Only players with an entry permit can raid the dungeon. And there are only a few permits obtained through hidden quests. We were fortunate enough to get one, yet you lost it."
She stared at Kuroha, her eyes narrowing with detest.
"Not like we want to raid the dungeon ourselves." Sindragon continued after a sigh, "But we still require the Dwarvana Arsenal Access card. Dead Pirates guild is the only guild that can negotiate with us. They have an additional card on them."
"Speaking of, we can't rely on other guilds for intel either. They are after the bounty issued by the 'The Queen's Crowns' guild. They are killing every PKer on sight."
A person who looked mysterious said that. He wore an outfit reminiscent of an old-fashioned detective, yet styled with a distinctly modern flair. He might have held a rare class, much like their guild leader.
"Kuroha!" Sindragon blustered, "How the heck did you lose this time?"
Kuroha cleared his throat, wavered slightly, and said hesitantly, "We were caught off guard!"
Sindragon frowned but let him finish his words. He knew if he were to scare Kuroha with his presence he might mix up the pieces of information like the first time. However, he had eight more people to justify his truth this time. In the first place, a newbie but a Summoner—considered to be a mythical class—was, after all, unheard of. He dismissed the thought as preposterous, suspecting it was nothing more than a figment of his imagination triggered by the loss of the item. He still found it odd that the Summoner had the same kind of skill as Kuroha, though.
"I was certain that it was him and his summoning Seraphyll. But this time, there was another one accompanying him. We proceeded as planned but he slipped through the trap and confronted us."
"And…"
"Since he was our top priority, we didn't give much attention to the other two. And one of them was an ice user and she trapped us with her magic. Now that I think about it, She didn't look like a player, but rather an NPC."
Sindragon was listening carefully, determining the possibility of him giving excuses again. His eyebrows twinkled and he looked at the mages for confirmation. They nodded. He was surprised to hear about the NPC and inquired.
"So he was with an NPC that helped him with her ice magic?" he sighed and continued, "Then what happened next?"
"When we were chained with the frozen shackles, our energy was being sucked away. Meanwhile, the Summoner used Dark magic to melt the cage and release them. In the end, the Seraphyll used her overwhelming thunder to pulverize us."
"Huh-huh-huh…"
Sindragon laughed with a low tone and then….
"Hah-hah-hah-hah-hah." He burst into a wild laugh, wiping his laughing tears he said, "Right, right. He used dark magic to melt the cage away. He used daggers to kill you last time and now magic. What the hell is he, a sort of all-rounder class user? Or do you take me for a fool that I'd believe in your lunatic words?"
"I'm speaking the truth!" Kuroha firmly replied, "He used magic this time."
The mages nodded. Everyone was shocked.
Of course, it was hard for them to believe a player using multiple classes, and on top of that, he was a Summoner. Then another Ace Member of the guild proposed.
"He may be a mage to begin with. Remember the girl from Heaven Zandros. We thought it was a group of bandits who ambushed us. But it was a girl casting illusion magic all the time. We were deceived at that time. This person you speak of may be a mage like her."
With a cowboy hat on his head, he explained like a teacher. He looked mysterious too.
"It makes sense." Sindragon murmured, "If he's an illusion creator like that witch girl, everything we know about him may be false imagination after all. I mean, yeah, it's hard to believe a player using multiple classes. Besides he's a newbie with a Seraphyll? That can't be. Even a beta tester like myself couldn't find the secrets leading to the mythical classes."
He smiled.
"But boss, what about the ice user." One of the mages said, "I know how it felt to be in an illusion but the woman using ice prowess was real. Besides, she was different than any other NPCs."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, she looked fragile, but her prowess was the real deal. Her level may be above sixty I suppose. Otherwise, we could've broken through them. And to add more, she looked like an Iceborn from the forgotten clan."
"Iceborn from Mavi clan?" Sindragon frowned, "So the supposed mage has taken the quest to revive their clan I presume."
"Wait! I thought no one cared about that quest." The lady swordsman screamed out, "The completion rewards are lame. In fact, it's just a waste of time, isn't it."
"It is… but considering the facts, we now know how to strike back." Sindragon smiled cunningly, "But I still don't believe he has the same 'Random Scavenger' skill as ours, Kuroha. If I find that you lied, consider your summer vacation over. You'll be clearing my apartment and serving me IRL."
Kuroha remained silent. He couldn't possibly oppose Sindragon's words—nor in-game nor IRL. He nodded, looking miserably at Sindragon.
Sindragon on the other hand kept smiling cunningly.
"Guys! I have a perfect plan for getting the permit back from them."
Others nodded, sinister grin lurking on their faces.
*****
[Central City; Thirteenth(13th) Floor: Heaven Kaizoma]
Unlike the previous time, Zanthrix, Shika, and Zariel teleported safely to the teleportation center of the heaven Kaizoma. There was no intervention this time.
Zariel was still upset about the events that happened to her back in Heaven Elzoma. Before she would clap like thunder on him, Zanthrix explained to her that if she kept flying around the safe zones—where players could inevitably spot her— she might get into trouble like before.
Despite looking cute and childish, Zariel seemed to understand everything Zanthrix told her. She agreed, and to prevent additional complications, decided to return to the Astral Realms—where she rightfully belonged.
"You won this time, Zan." She said before leaving, "But if you ever get into trouble yourself, summon me without delay."
Zanthrix nodded as any child would do before his mother. She then took a sigh and disappeared like a shining star that suddenly stopped glowing and faded completely.
Shika smiled genuinely, seeing the relation between them. It wasn't like any master and servant-relationship. But at the same time, they looked very close and appeared to care for each other more than each of them realized.
Zanthrix embarrassedly rubbed his head and said…
"Shall we go to retrieve the second fragment?"
Shika nodded and began walking next to him toward their next destination—The Mido Clan.