Sora looked at the list of players as he teleported back to Ales with a scroll he still had. Not in a rush to make his move, he took so ti to review the information he had.
The first list contained three nas, all mbers of the forr [Rouge Sang] guild, each with their current guild and position.
François Segnt: Level 59, Forr Guild Rank: Elder. Current guild: [Retour des Chasseurs].
Current position: Boulevard Gambetta, Nîs, France.
Gérard Deudeu: Level 53, Forr Guild Rank: mber. Current guild: [Retour des Chasseurs].
Current position: Rochers Noirs Dungeon [Level 40 Zone], France.
Nais Verdanks: Level 75, Forr Guild Rank: Rookie. Current guild: [Black Mist].
Current position: Napier Road, Karachi, Pakistan.
Gérard Deudeu was the only one outside the safety of a city, so Sora decided to target him first. While Gérard had only held the rank of mber in [Rouge Sang], Sora had a hard ti imagining that a guild na that ant ’Blood Red’ could possibly be full of naive and innocent players..
Contacting his information broker and asking him to relay François’s position every minute, he departed from Ales.
He quickly arrived near Nîs, where François Segnt was also located, and headed directly to the dungeon. Nîs, the largest city near Alès, was a place Sora knew well, having visited many tis both before and after the world changed. The [Rochers Noirs] dungeon, once a popular tourist attraction, now had its rocks blackened and scorched by the arrival of level 40-45 monsters and a new environnt. It was also a good mining spot for those seeking charcoal and so ores he forgot the nas of.
Seeing a group of players enter the dungeon, Sora noticed the player he was looking for, Gérard Deudeu. Waiting for François Segnt to leave the safety of Nis, he hid a certain distance away.
A few hours had passed, and at the dungeon entrance, Sora noticed a dozen players arriving, all wearing the [Retour des Chasseurs] guild tag. He quickly recognized Gérard’s guildmates. ’So they’re still hunting players,’ Sora thought darkly. Surrounding a dungeon was extrely suspicious, and Sora had understood their intentions from the way they stood, waiting in ambush.
Before long, a group exited the dungeon, and among them was Gérard Deudeu. He was accompanied by four other players who appeared exhausted from the battles inside. Sora watched as the dozen players slowly surrounded the group. His suspicions were confird. Gérard’s guild was using the dungeon as a setup to rob and kill unsuspecting adventurers. ’So people never change... No need to hold back then’ He mused.
Not too far from the scene, Kara sat calmly on a tree branch, with Hiyoko perched on her lap. Her gaze sharpened when she saw the group closing in on the weakened party. She shook her head in disapproval, feeling a strong urge to step in and drain the life from the ambushers. However, she refrained, instead feeding Hiyoko so snacks while honing her innate skill by manipulating small zones of ti around her, freezing and accelerating them at will.
Gérard smiled smugly as his guildmates surrounded the adventurers. He knew what was coming. The leader of the party, a young archer nad Dorian, noticed the ambush and called out cautiously, "What do you guys want?" He quickly ssaged his party, telling them to prepare for a fight.
"Nothing much," the leader of the ambushing group said casually. "That traitor behind you stole gold from our treasury."
Dorian turned to Gérard. "Is it true? Did you rob them?"
Gérard, feigning innocence, replied, "No! I swear, Dorian, they’re lying. We’ve been through many dungeons, and you’ve known my character for more than a week now; I’m not soone who would take advantage of others."
Dorian nodded slowly. "I didn’t think you were a thief, but I had to ask. But why didn’t you leave the guild if you had such bad blood with them?"
Gérard spun his tale quickly, "I was worried about my little brother, who’s still in the guild and needs my protection. I needed to farm gold to repay what they falsely accused of stealing. They said they’d leave us alone if I paid the full amount. That is why I joined your group."
Convinced, Dorian turned back to the ambushers. "Do you have any proof of these accusations?"
The ambushers, clearly bored of the conversation, didn’t bother responding. Their leader simply raised a hand, signaling the attack.
The ambush was swift. The dozen players attacked in pairs and trios, quickly overwhelming the tired party. Dorian barely had ti to react before chaos broke out.
Dorian’s party found themselves completely drained of mana after beating the dungeon, their spells growing weaker with every cast. Desperation was settling in, and Dorian, recognizing that their situation had beco dire, called out to his teammates.
"Use your escape tools! Now!" he shouted in the party chat, his voice hoarse from exhaustion. He glanced around as his team took invisibility scrolls, teleportation talismans, anything that could get them out of this ambush alive.
But then, from the corner of his eye, he saw Gérard moving—deliberately. Gérard, standing behind their healer, was reaching out, blade in hand, not towards the enemies but towards the teleportation scroll she held. Ti seed to slow for Dorian as Gérard slashed at the fragile parchnt.
"No!" Dorian shouted, but it was too late. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Dorian scread at Gérard, panic lacing his voice as the realization dawned on him. They were being betrayed.
Gérard didn’t even flinch at Dorian’s outburst. Instead, he simply smirked—a cold smile—as the rest of his guildmates moved in to finish the job. They had managed to interrupt all the players from using their escape tools, and Dorian’s party, already tired from the dungeon, stood no chance against the ambushers.
"This was your plan all along," Dorian muttered bitterly, his gaze flickering between Gérard and the advancing enemies. His voice was shaky, but his grip on his bow tightened, refusing to give in without a fight.
"I tried to tell you," Gérard said with a mocking tone, stepping back as his guildmates advanced. "But you were too naive, Dorian."
As Gérard raised his sword to deliver the final blow, his eyes bead with satisfaction. Dorian, injured and drained, could barely lift his arms to defend himself. Looking at his healer, she didn’t seem to be doing much better, so he couldn’t expect any help. The blade cut through the air, aiming straight for Dorian’s neck, but just as it was about to connect, a barrier appeared out of nowhere, halting the strike with a loud clang.
The shockwave spread through the battlefield, sending Gérard stumbling backward in surprise. His eyes widened, his blade vibrating from the force. "What the…?" he muttered, bewildered by the sudden interruption.
The rest of his guildmates, sensing sothing was off, hesitated, looking around for the source of the disturbance. And then they saw him.
Soone erged from the shadows, calm yet exuding an overwhelming pressure that made the entire battlefield shudder in fear. His steps were slow, deliberate, his presence suffocating. Sora had a cold look in his eyes, one that sent shivers down the spines of everyone present. His hand reached for what seed to be a staff strapped to his back, his aura flaring around him like a storm about to break.The dozen attackers surrounding the group tried probing for his level, but their faces contorted in horror as they found nothing—they couldn’t see his level at all.
"Gérard… I wanted to have a chat with you. Do you have a few minutes?" Sora’s voice was calm. His gaze shifted from Gérard to the surrounding attackers, his expression unreadable. He had just received the ssage he was waiting for, and could finally act.
"W-With ?! What did I do?!" Gérard’s voice wavered, panic bubbling beneath the surface. He didn’t recognize the figure standing before him but feared the worst. ’Did I kill so big shot’s family mber without knowing? Damn it, we always made sure no one escapes alive!’ His thoughts raced, anxiety twisting inside him.
But Sora didn’t respond to the outburst. He simply continued walking, his mana swirling ominously. Before Gérard could react further, Sora tightened his grip over the staff. In an instant, he vanished from sight, reappearing directly in front of one of Gérard’s guildmates. There was no warning, no chance for defense. Sora’s staff shone as it sliced through the air, slicing through the man’s head cleanly in a single motion. Blood sprayed, but Sora had already disappeared.
One by one, Gérard’s allies fell, their bodies hitting the ground before they even registered what had happened. The speed and precision of Sora’s movents were terrifying. He was a blur of raw power and skill, his strikes so fast that his enemies didn’t even have ti to scream.
One of the attackers raised a shield, only for it to shatter like fragile glass under the weight of Sora’s blow. Another tried casting a spell, only to watch in horror as Sora flicked his wrist, effortlessly redirecting the mana surge back at his face. The caster barely had ti to register the pain before Sora silenced him with a single slap, erasing him from existence in an instant.
Bodies dropped, one after another, like insects caught in a windshield. Blood pooled around the battlefield, but Sora remained untouched, his movents too fast, too flawless for anyone to counter. His opponents never stood a chance.
In less than a minute, the entire ambush team lay dead, save for Gérard.
Sora stood amid the carnage, his staff dripping with blood. He flicked it aside, sending droplets scattering across Gérard, who had collapsed to his knees, trembling in terror. The once confident swordsman now looked like a broken man, his eyes wide with disbelief and fear.
"No… no… this isn’t possible… We’ve never offended soone this strong…" Gérard stamred, his voice barely above a whisper.
Sora’s gaze was cold, unrelenting. "Have you killed so many players that you can’t even rember who’s coming for revenge, Gérard?" He took a step forward, and Gérard flinched, crawling backward like a cornered rat.
"Please… don’t kill … I can explain— I’m not the mastermind! I just follow orders!" Gérard’s voice cracked, desperate to save his own skin.
Sora stopped right in front of him, towering over the quivering man. He didn’t raise his staff again. Instead, he spoke with an indifferent tone. "You’ll live… if you tell what I want to know."
With a single motion, Sora threw Gérard over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Dorian’s party, still reeling from the sudden massacre, watched in stunned silence. Sora spared them a glance, his gaze softening slightly. "You should return to the city… and take care."
Without another word, Sora walked away from the scene of carnage, carrying Gérard with him, heading sowhere more private—sowhere he could extract the information he needed.
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