by A P Gore
That was the first part of the plan. The second part required the mayor’s help. He would uproot the Death March guild from Chinari.
“Let’s go to the Death March guild house. While we walk, tell me about the defense structure.” Jon patted Grimish’s shoulder as they walked out of the slums.
Chapter 59
Jon breathed deeply as he stepped out of the slums and entered the high street area. It was like walking from a dust-filled old house into a fresh garden. It wasn’t just the air, either. The weird suppression on his mind vanished too.
Even Grimish smiled as they walked out of the slums.
A guard protecting the inner town gate stopped them for Grimish, but after Jon showed his insignia, he let them go on the pretext of Grimish being a slave and promising not to cause any trouble inside.
Well, it wasn’t Grimish who would be causing the trouble. It would be Jon himself.
“Master, here’s the item you asked for. It cost one thousand gold.” Grimish pulled a white spherical object socketed in a small spiky base.
Quickly grabbing it, Jon hid it inside his bag and then cast perception.
Soul Orb of Light
Class: Unique
Stores healed souls.
2500/5000
Jon frowned. “What the heck, Grimish? I asked you to buy a soul orb.”
Grimish looked confused. “Isn’t that one?”
Jon pushed his fingers through his long hair. “This is a Soul Orb of Healing. I need a Soul Orb of Souls.” Wait, did that really make sense? “Forget it.” He would think about it later. Anyway, he didn’t plan to use his Vine of Darkness right now.
“Master, what are you planning to do?” Grimish asked as they walked along the paved path, surrounded by bright-colored shops.
“I’ll use these concealment scrolls to sneak inside the guild and steal the core. Once that’s done, I’ll use my baron power to expel the guild for one month. They’ll pay for their advances.” Jon gritted his teeth. Initially, he didn’t want to do this. When the mayor asked him about taking action against the Death March guild, he’d stopped him. However, those bastards had attacked his village and plotted to steal from him. They went too far, and they would pay for it.
Grimish stopped. “Master, are you joking? You are below level 15, and there are more than fifty guild members inside the guild house. They’re all level 20+. How are you going to sneak in? You’ll be discovered right away.”
“That’s why I bought concealment scrolls. I’ll use them every five seconds.”
Grimish stopped. “That won’t work. There are four level 30 guards protecting the guild core room. You might hide from level 20 players, but there are a few level 24 players too. They will see through your concealment scroll as it’s only a tier 1 spell.”
Clouds of disappointment loomed over Jon’s mind. Suddenly he felt like the sunlight had dimmed and he’d lost his advantage.
No. He had to do something about this guild, or they would be at his throat.
Anxiously, he stroked his chin. “Isn’t there any other way?”
Grimish smiled. “There’s one way. But it will cost you a lot.”
Jon stiffened. “What way? Tell me.”
“Hire a high-level assassin who can carry you in, but they will ask for a large amount of gold. No ordinary fella would take this job.” Grimish’s eyes flashed with worry. “But do you really want to go against a guild?”
“How much?”
“I know little about this, but it may fall into an A-rank mission. The cost for those is around five thousand gold.”
Jon stared at Grimish, surprised. There was more to this man he didn’t know about. “How do you know all this?”
Grimish sighed. “I worked lots of odd jobs when I was starting out. In forty years’, time, you get to know about such things.”
“Then let’s hire one. We have to steal that core and make these bastards pay.” Jon clenched his fingers. “I won’t let them toy with me.”
“Then we have to go back to slums, but you’ll need to obtain a token from the Association of Assassins to enter the trading place.”
“How do I get that?”
Grimish chuckled. “By offering them one thousand gold, of course.”
“God, this is getting expensive.” Jon glanced at his Bag of Golding, and he only had around fourteen thousand gold. He had to earn more gold if he wanted to use it for things like this.
Fifteen minutes later, they arrived in front of a large black building that reminded Jon of the Dungeon of Arthia castle. This building too radiated the dangerous aura the castle emitted.
A burly man stopped them from entering. “Token.”
“We have business.”
“One hundred gold,” the man said with a stern face.
“Master...” Grimish turned back, and Jon had no other option. He handed over the gold. At least, with his slavery connection, he knew Grimish wasn’t leading him into something dangerous.
Five minutes into a dark lobby lit with the bare minimum torchlight, another guard stopped them.
“One hundred gold.”
Cursing inwardly, Jon handed over more gold.
Five more minutes into the unending lobby, a tall guard stopped them.
“Three hundred gold.”
“What?” Jon asked. “When can we hire someone?”
The guard thumped haft of his spear against the ground, and three dark ropes shot from the ground, tying Jon to a nearby wall.
“What—” Another rope shot from the ground and wrapped around Jon’s open mouth.
“Mr. Guard. Please show mercy. Here’s the gold.” Grimish pulled three hundred gold from his bag and handed it over.
“One hundred more for disturbing me,” the guard said, stone-faced.
Grimish nodded and gave him another hundred gold.
Jon’s heart broke. This was extortion. Damn! The ropes were tight, and he guessed the guard was a high-level player or NPC.
The guard thumped his spear once again, and the ropes loosened, dropping Jon on the ground.
For the first time, Jon realized he had lost 200 life and everywhere the rope had touched hurt like someone had beat him with a thick stick.
“What type of mission?” The guard asked, his eyes still expressionless.
“Type A, probably.”
The guard’s posture stiffened. “Second room on the right.” He waved them down a hall leading to a small room.
It was another lobby. The building had looked small from outside, but they had been walking for almost fifteen minutes in a straight line since coming inside.
Strange.
The second room had a golden door. Upon entering through the door, a man in a black business suit welcomed them. His suit’s style reminded Jon of Baltazar, but upon closer inspection Jon realized the suit had been stitched inside the game. The rough material and the uneven sewing, no way was it a real-world object. The man must have emptied a pot of gold to get that mimicked.
The man had a plastic smile on his long face, and two sharp brown pupils stared at them like knives ready to cut.
“Do you know Baltazar or Devon?” Jon asked.
The man in the suit shook his head, but a subtle shift in his gaze told a different story.
“Esteemed guest, please take a seat. I’m Mitan, Vice President of the Chinari town branch. You can discuss any matter here, and it will be kept confidential.”
A contract appeared in Jon’s vision, depicting generic confidential terms. After Jon accepted it, Mitan too accepted it.
He sat across the small table and clapped his hands. “Let’s discuss business. What kind of mission do you want us to accomplish?” Three cups filled with fragrant tea appeared on the table. “As we talk, please enjoy this tea made from the five-leaf tree of Chinari. It’s our specialty.”
“I want someone to carry me to the core room of a guild—where the guild core is located.”
Mitan’s smile deepened.
“Definitely a rank A mission. Which guild do you want to mess with?”
“Death March.”
Mitan’s face darkened, like he had accidently stepped on a dog’s tail. “Sorry, but we can’t do this.”
The room temperature seemed to drop. Or maybe it was in Jon’s mind and not outside.
“Why not?” Jon asked.
“Is that a super-guild?” Grimish asked.
Mitan shook his head. “On the contrary, it’s just a small guild. But we can’t carry out this mission. I’m sorry. You can leave now.”
“Just like that?” Casting a disdainful look at Mitan, Jon rose from his chair.
“Yes.” Mitan’s sharp eyes stared back.
Something was amiss here.
Jon and Grimish turned back and walked down the long series of hallways and rooms to finally step out into the slum area again. The stale, gloomy air seemed thicker after losing four hundred gold for naught.
The next moment, dark vine-like things wrapped around their bodies, stopping their movement.
System: Warning, a player has cast Shadow Bind on you. You are incapacitated for the next hour.
Chapter 60
“I didn’t expect to find you here, old friend. Johnty.” A familiar-yet-irritating-to-death voice knocked Jon out of his dazed state. “Jonathan Bacardi. Even if you change your appearance, I can still see through you.”
Johnty. Only one person had ever called him that. “Kurush.” Jon’s eyes popped open, the inferno in his heart raging beneath the surface. The man he hated most in life stood in front of him. No, stared at him through a communication crystal.
He had the same red eyes, long face, and a hammer-like square nose.
But how could it be?
Kurush chuckled. “So, you remember me, Johnty. I guess you wouldn’t forget the person you killed, would you?” Another wicked chuckle.
“But how...” Jon got to his knees, wanting to jump through the crystal and squeeze Kurush’s neck until his eyes pops out. That f-ing bastard. Seeing him, Kiara’s teary-eyed face sprang to mind. “Why... I’ll kill you again!” He roared, struggling against the chains binding him to the wall. “Goddammit. Release me and let me kill you, you f-ing bastard! How did you dare to touch my daughter? You’ll die, again and again until your soul vanishes from this world.”
Heat rushed through his heart, spreading through his whole body. He wanted this man dead. Why the f-k was he alive and in front of him. Why? Why? Why?
Kurush snorted. “Johnty, do you still dare to act high and mighty? You killed me on R46 only because you caught me off guard. Do you think you can do it again here?”
Kurush Nemek. The man Jon had looked up to, trusted, for thirty-odd-years in real life. He was his mentor, his boss, his idol.
It all went down the gutter when he showed his true colors.
Jon reached R46 on his twentieth birthday, joining the farming association as a novice farmer. Kurush was a Master Farmer back then and used to live near Jon’s house. When he first met Kurush, he was so comfortable to talk with. He used to listen to Jon’s hours of rambling about farming issues and solve them in a jiffy. He was Jon’s real-life superhero. He was at the top, yet accessible. Jon could say that Kurush infused the love for farming in his heart.
For thirty-two years, Jon followed in the footsteps of Kurush and became a Master Farmer himself. When he received the award from Kurush’s hand, Jon’s heart soared with the greatest opportunity of his life.
When Jon turned thirty, Kurush joined the ranks of the Farmers’ Association. He had the full support of all the farmers on their region. Kurush climbed the ladder quite fast and even got elected to the Interplanetary Farmer’s Council.
When Jon earned the title of Master Farmer, Kurush came back as the caretaker of R46—the highest position in the Farmers’ Association. He practically ruled over hundreds of thousands of farmers living on R46.
Jon was so happy to see his old friend and idol again. When the old caretaker announced Kurush’s return, Jon couldn’t sleep the whole night. He dreamed about the new techniques Kurush would bring to the Farmers’ Association and the joy of meeting an old friend.
But when Kurush came back, he was a changed man. He had grown arrogant, sadist, and so many other terrible things that Jon didn’t even think possible with Kurush’s previous nature.
Then he laid his eyes on Kiara.
Before leaving R45, Kurush was a fatherly figure to Kiara, but after coming back he took an unnatural interest in her and began pursuing her. One day, he asked her out on a date. He even tried to force her to come with him when she declined.
That day, Jon found Kiara crying when he returned from fields. He learned how atrocious Kurush had behaved in his absence. He never would have thought Kurush’s bad behavior would reach his home.
The next day, Jon confronted Kurush.
Kurush apologized sincerely, begged Jon to let it pass as a mistake, and said he wanted to make Kiara his wife.
Jon was shocked to his core, but he let it go in the end and took a promise from Kurush that he won’t do that again. A gap of fifty years between husband and wife age was common, because of the life expectancy of two hundred years for all humans.
Maybe Kurush had developed feelings for Kiara.
Nonetheless, Jon stopped asking Kurush to visit his home for any occasion, expecting that, once they severed all contact, Kurush would forget Kiara.
Jon was wrong. After a few days, Kurush sneaked into his house in Jon’s absence and forced himself on Kiara.
Jon killed that f-ing bastard the same night. He killed Kurush with a shovel and hung his head on the wall and went to prison for murder. He never regretted the act. Jon had one principle from his childhood: he didn’t mess with anyone, but when someone messed with him, he would go to the end of the world to pay them back.
But how the heck was Kurush alive in the game? He had beheaded Kurush with his own hands.
“When you killed me, I felt dreaded, and I waited for the day you would enter the game. But I never thought we would face off again.” Kurush’s wicked smile flashed through the communication crystal.
“You bastard, how can you be alive?” Jon roared, trying to loosen the chains binding his hands, but he couldn’t. Glancing at his character sheet he found his Mana and Spirit were locked, he lingered at 50 life, and his stamina had bottomed out. The only thing he had access to was the God’s Garden.
Should he vanish in there?
“First, tell me, is Kiara in the game too?” Kurush asked in a wicked tone.
Jon’s blood boiled. “Come here, you moron. Let me kill you again and again.”
“Do you think I’m that stupid? No, I won’t kill you. I’ve painstakingly built this guild, and I’ll use its full power to send you to level zero.” He chuckled. “I’ll torture you until eternity.”
God, what should he do? How could this moron be alive? He must kill him, no matter what. He had to find some way. What could he do? Call on that favor from Miraha?
No, that wouldn’t work. Kurush sat across who knew how many thousand miles. He was only communicating through a crystal.
First, he needed to get out of here.
With a thought, Jon appeared in the calm environment of the God’s Garden.
However, his life remained at 50 and all his other stats were locked out too.
System: A player has cast Soul Recall on you. You will be teleported back in 10... 9... 8...
Damn! Would he really have to watch Kurush enjoy torturing him?
Chapter 61
The countdown continued. 7... 6... 5...
Damn!
Frustrated, Jon glanced at his Bag of Holding, hoping to find something he could use. Shovel? Orb of Soul? Key of Soul? Trial Key to Forgotten Land?
Key of Soul! Yes, the spirit guardian had told him that it would invite a demon or darkness creature of a high level. That’s what he needed to get out of here. It would bring chaos, and once the chaos began,
he would get out. Once out, he would somehow kill that bastard.
Sounded like a plan.
Jon pulled out the Key of Soul.
4... 3... 2... 1.
“Johnty, you can’t run away. You’re in my guild house, and there’s no way out.” Kurush chuckled, his ugly face fattening up through the communication crystal.
Two sturdy-looking players pressed in on either side of Jon.
Jon smirked. “Let’s see how you capture me.” Jon tapped on the Key of Soul to activate it.
System: You have initiated the Trial of Souls. You have 10 days to enter a trial location. If not chosen, you will be teleported to a random trial ground at one of 10 locations.
You have gained +20% darkness resistance.
Nearest trial grounds: Land of Souls, Realm of Massacre.
Warning, the guardian of the key will be teleported to the player location. Ready yourself for the first challenge.
Key usage remaining: 2/3
Black light washed over Jon, shrouding him in a mysterious fog.
“What is it? What did you do?” Kurush asked, his eyes twitching. “Your soul abilities won’t work.”
Jon chuckled as the counter continue descending. Kurush didn’t know what his guildmates would be soon facing.
A small black point emerged in front of Jon, slowly growing.
“What is that thing?” Kurush pointed while his guild players stopped their forward march and drew their weapons.
The black dot changed into a sphere and then into a black portal. Unfathomable rage and cruelty leaked through it. Two red hands grasped the edges of the portal, and then he came through.
The demon, or whatever the thing was, pushed his face through the portal and then took the first step into the guild house. A shockwave blew across the land when his feet landed on the ground, knocking everything around him down. The guild hall was flattened into a paste, creating a ten-yard-wide hole in the guild house.
