“Finally...”
“Not bad, guys.”
“Us: 2 - Devil: 0!”
The group joked around, enjoying a brief mont of rest. lodious Edelweiss looked at everyone feeling sowhat antsy. She carefully asked Liam:
“Mirage, shouldn't we hurry and protect the scholar?”
“No need to worry. Nothing will happen to that guy. He got his protection.”
“If you say so...”
“Yes. If the quest gave us a ti limit or displayed the scholar's HP, only then would we have to be careful.”
“Oh, ok.”
anwhile Fortune was filming the temple, comnting about the sudden attack for her future viewers. Suddenly a ssage appeared in the chat opened for the core guild mbers.
[Silver Blade: Be careful, guys! We just got attacked by demons.]
[Cyclone: Aren't you in the Southern Wasteland? What's so strange about being attacked by demons there?]
[Silver Blade: Those weren't so random demons. They ca specifically for us thanks to the initial devilslayer title.]
[Cyclone: Oh, the loot delivery has started? Damn, and I'm stuck here in Duabalis.]
[Bloody Edge: We have been targeted as well.]
[Quickstep: Us too.]
[Cyclone: Wow, I'm so jealous. You are getting loot delivered right to your doorstep!]
[Quickstep: Not only loot but also EXP. I reached level 42!]
[Fortune: Oh you're right. I reached level 42 as well. Almost didn't notice it.]
[Cyclone: Stop, stop, stop! I can't... Balm, let's go. We take a short break and look for a fight!]
[Balm: Only us...?]
[Cyclone: Let's build a team with so of the new recruits. We can use the chance to test them.]
[Balm: Ok then...]
Afterwards Cyclone and Balm didn't write more in the chat, and it fell silent again. Braag didn't care for the discussion and went to loot the bodies. His gains were not bad. A new lute for lodious Edelweiss and new boots for himself. A few other items were directly sent into the guild treasury.
But what brought the most joy to Braag was a small pouch filled with coins. It was a special kind of loot triggered by his passive. Distributing the money among the group, everyone received one gold and twenty-one silver.
This was extrely generous loot and Braag seldom received so much at once. As more players entered the ga there was more gold available, causing the price to drop. But one gold coin was still worth about 14.000 credits.
Most of the big guilds kept buying gold, which was used for equipnt to outfit their players. Dream Avenue was an exception. Thanks to their enthusiastic mbers they had a surplus of equipnt and could sell so of it for gold, making a profit, which in turn partly paid for the mbers’ wages.
Soone like Braag made about 9.000 credits a month which was enough to comfortably sustain his family. Yet this treatnt still fell short in front of other big guilds. Especially those owned by companies, where the guild only existed for the purpose of marketing. Thanks to the ga's popularity companies were happy to sink hundreds of millions into the ga.
However, as the ga went on and so guilds couldn't show impressive achievents, they wouldn't be able to attract a lot of fans. It remained to be seen if the business model could still be sustained then.
In Dream Avenue such questions were handled by Cyclone, Balm, and especially Sun's Knight. Thanks to them and naturally the guild's success, things were going smoothly. However, because the guild reached rank two and subsequently started recruiting up to a thousand new mbers their finances had to be handled carefully for a while until the new mbers began to earn their keep.
Yet the guild leaders weren't anxious. After the federation tournant negotiations with new sponsors had already started. On top of that Liam promised that with the successful claim of a territory Dream Avenue would soon be able to earn a lot.
However, in order to confidently start the territory war there was still work to do. Thus, Liam ended the short break and led his team out of the temple.
Outside, they found Scholar Feng flanked by the guards he brought along. On the ground were the corpses of cultists. The soldiers, however, appeared mostly fine. Despite the dynasty's focus on scholars, their military was still of acceptable quality.
“Adventurers! I don't know how long I can bind the high priestess! Hurry, we need to leave the island!”
Scholar Feng didn’t have his usual arrogance, appearing rather solemn. His hand was pointed at the temple. Suddenly his hand shook as the entire building trembled and High Priestess Efroahnol's wrathful voice spread through the entire island:
“Heretical scholar! You won't leave the island! I hereby command all believers of the jailed god, capture the scholar!”
“Let's go!”
Scholar Feng urged the players to hurry up. Liam took the lead, walking on the path down the mountain. Scholar Feng stayed a few steps behind, the soldiers protecting him from the left and right. Fortune, lodious Edelweiss, and Brag made use to the opportunity to walk besides him.
The delegation didn’t co far before cultists blocked the road, engaging in a fierce fight.
Fortunately, the soldiers showed their power. They didn't do much in terms of offence, but their defence was airtight. This also allowed lodious Edelweiss, Fortune, and Braag to act freely, using their strong skills to take down the cultists.
Only Liam, Quickstep, and Lenn had to work hard dealing with at least five cultists coming from the front.
Soon the group was surrounded by the lifeless bodies of more than a dozen cultists. Scholar Feng only took a montary rest. It was enough for the players to loot the enemies but not enough for Braag to do it alone.
Thus, Liam's group had to act together, unfortunately missing out on so potential money. But Scholar Feng was in a hurry and the delegation had to move on.
Along the path down the mountain groups of cultists blocked them occasionally. As Fortune recorded the process she couldn't help but comnt to her viewers:
“At least they are kind enough not to co all at once or we might get overwheld...”
Her friends laughed in agreent as they finally reached the town entrance. Inside the town the delegation was caught up briefly as cultists ca from all sides. A chaotic battle ensued. But as Lenn deployed his ultimate skill again, many of the cultists were rendered useless, taking a lot of pressure off the delegation.
Since most cultists used magic the battle under the influence of Lenn's ultimate skill was rather easy, leaving only Fortune and lodious Edelweiss dissatisfied.
A short looting session followed, and the delegation continued towards the harbour.
When they reached an open area in front of the harbour, Scholar Feng let out a sigh of relief:
“Finally, we made it. Now let's board the Graceful Swan and get away from here!”
Imdiately the players froze. They looked at each other with wry smiles.
“If this isn't raising a flag, I don't know what is. And I thought scholars are supposed to be intelligent...”
“I agree. Get ready for a fight.”
“Why can't that guy keep his mouth shut...”
As the players lanted, heavy footsteps suddenly echoed through the harbour. The Graceful Swan swayed, cracking under the heavy weight. Two people appeared standing at the back of the ship, mockingly looking down on the delegation.
“With us here you will go nowhere!”
“Exactly! Sinners daring to defy the will of the jailed god. We will deliver your punishnt!”
The two newcors were both orcs, but even for the burly race they were still considered unusually tall. They wore comically wide black cloaks but even those couldn't hide the bulging muscles of their bodies. Thanks to those, only their squarish heads were visible, revealing a mix of green and grey skin.
The two orcs pulled out staffs from behind their backs, heavy and tall. Watchful Eye's weapon would appear like a toothpick in comparison.
With their weapons in hand the orcs jumped, causing the entire ship to sway dangerously, and landed not far from the delegation. Vibrations travelled through the ground and so cobblestones shattered directly.
The left orc sneered at the delegation:
“Now, are you surrendering by yourself or do we need to make you?”
Scholar Feng's eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Are you adamant on becoming an enemy of the mighty Xia Dynasty?”
“Ha! What is your dynasty against our god?”
“If you really think this, there is nothing to discuss!”
Suddenly the tension in the air erupted. The soldiers moved in unison, pointing spears at the orcs and shielding Scholar Feng behind them.
The players were drawn into the fight as well. A quick [Inspect] revealed the frightening power of their new enemies.
[Krach, vindicator of the jailed god
Rank: Sub-boss
Level: 46
HP: 48.000/48.000]
[Serreck, vindicator of the jailed god
Rank: Sub-boss
Level: 46
HP: 48.000/48.000]
“Ok, here is the plan. Let the soldiers hold one enemy back but try to keep them alive. Let's go!”
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