Crowne was still confused about what had happened earlier. The incident kept replaying in his head. When he asked the others about it, none of them had seen the figure of white light.
The more he thought about it, the more confused and dizzy he beca. In the end, Crowne decided to ignore it for now.
He would think about it later. He would find out what and who that glowing figure was. He was sure it was sothing important.
"Could it be the guardian of this world? Like a God?"
Crowne wasn’t sure about that. The gods and goddesses he knew of were human-shaped beings, handso and with ideal bodies. That creature earlier was nothing like the image of gods in Crowne’s mind.
Crowne stood up. "Are you all ready?" he asked.
Sylvara, Velrisa, and Ronan nodded. "We’re ready."
They prepared to head back to Stromhall. But before they could go far, the forest suddenly shook. Strong tremors spread beneath their feet, accompanied by a pressing aura coming from the heart of the forest.
They all turned their heads in the sa direction.
"You want to ta a beast, don’t you, my Lord?" Velrisa asked, her eyes sharp. "I think this beast suits you."
Crowne frowned. "What if I ta it now?"
Velrisa nodded firmly. "I think that’s the right choice."
But Crowne still hesitated. The sky was already growing dark, and he wanted to return to Stromhall quickly. He wanted to finish the rank E mission he had taken today.
After thinking for a while, he finally made a decision.
"Will the beast still be here tomorrow?" Crowne asked again.
"Of course it will remain in this forest unless soone kills it," Velrisa replied confidently.
Crowne took a deep breath. "Then we’ll do it tomorrow. I want to make more preparations first."
Velrisa nodded. "As you wish."
So they decided to return to Stromhall that night, postponing their encounter with the mysterious beast until the next day.
**
The usually lively adventurer guild fell into silence the mont Crowne placed ten Gorthaks on the receptionist’s desk. It wasn’t an enormous number, but killing them with just two people was shocking enough.
Especially when one of them was only a rank F adventurer—it was truly surprising.
"Y-You... killed these two alone?" the receptionist’s voice trembled.
Ronan wanted to answer honestly, but Crowne imdiately stepped on his foot.
Crowne spoke instead. "Yes, and I still have a few more. Is there a larger place? These ones are bigger."
"A-a few more? Bigger?"
Crowne nodded casually. "Five more."
The entire hall instantly erupted. Adventurers turned their heads, eyes wide in disbelief. So even almost spat out their beer.
Fifteen Gorthaks had been slain by only two adventurers. That was extraordinary. It ant Ronan and Crowne had practically wiped out an entire Gorthak colony by themselves.
"Aren’t they newcors?"
"How could they possibly do that? And one of them is just rank F. Isn’t that harder since he’s just a burden?"
Of course, the one being praised was Ronan, since in their eyes, Ronan was the only possible reason those Gorthaks could be defeated.
A rank F like Crowne was only considered dead weight.
The receptionist hurriedly stood up. "P-please follow ... to the back."
Crowne and Ronan followed her into the back storage area of the guild, a large warehouse normally used to keep large hunting spoils.
"Put them here!" the receptionist said.
Crowne nodded and imdiately opened his Inventory Ring.
With a heavy thud, another Gorthak fell to the ground. Then another. Then three more. Their massive bodies filled nearly half the warehouse.
"Ah, I guess this space is big enough," Crowne said.
Then he released the final Gorthak. When it erged, the receptionist froze.
The last Gorthak’s body was far larger, its horns much longer, its fra nearly three tis that of a normal Gorthak.
"No way..." the receptionist’s lips trembled. "T-That’s... a King Gorthak!?" she shouted.
Her cry echoed, drawing in staff who passed by. They too were stunned, their jaws hanging as they saw the body of the King Gorthak lying on the ground.
It was a rank B monster. Sothing Ronan and Crowne shouldn’t have been able to kill. Even Ronan, the stronger one, was only rank C-.
But what truly shocked the receptionist wasn’t just that. It was the fact that the King Gorthak had appeared at all. The creature should only have been deep inside the forest.
This was a serious matter.
"Where exactly did you find this beast?" she asked.
"In the forest. About 800 ters from the forest’s edge," Crowne replied.
The receptionist nodded, her expression grave. She grew more certain that the Gorthak Wave would co sooner than expected. And perhaps this ti, the Gorthak Wave would be even stronger than in past years.
She knew she had to act quickly.
"Call the guild master at once!" the receptionist almost scread. "Call Lord Dorian, right now!"
Crowne frowned. "Is there sothing strange about this? Did we make a mistake?"
The receptionist shook her head. "You did nothing wrong. In fact, you’ve helped us greatly. If you hadn’t brought this King Gorthak here, we might never have realized how close the Gorthak Wave already is."
Crowne and Ronan frowned. "The Gorthak Wave?"
"I’ll explain it later. For now, you must give a detailed account of what you experienced in the southern forest near Stromhall," the receptionist said.
Crowne and Ronan exchanged glances. Then they both nodded. "Alright."
**
Dorian soon arrived. He saw the King Gorthak’s body lying in the outermost part of the forest on the map projection.
That ant the Gorthak Wave had already begun, though the attack itself hadn’t started yet. But this was the strange part—normally, when the Gorthak Wave occurred, hundreds of Gorthaks would imdiately attack the nearby villages. Yet so far, no reports had co from those villages.
"Could they be gathering a larger force?" the receptionist asked.
Dorian shook his head. "Gorthaks are not intelligent beasts. They aren’t that cunning."
"Then why haven’t they attacked the villages yet?"
"I don’t know," Dorian admitted. "But sothing feels off. I’ll send scouts into the forest to investigate."
The receptionist nodded.
Dorian turned to face Crowne and Ronan. A faint smile appeared on his lips. "Thank you."
"I’ve been waiting here all this ti, and all I get is a thank you? Don’t we get paid for this mission?" Crowne complained.
"Ah, my apologies." Dorian turned to the receptionist. "Reward them, and add twenty gold coins as a bonus."
"Yes, Guild Master."
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