"Stop," Helena said, and the members of Witch's Forest stopped beating on Shion.

"Ugh."

Shion was sprawled on the ground. There wasn't a single spot on his body that was unhurt.

"Do you want me to kill you?" Helena asked.

Shion nodded his head. He'd rather get a game over than get beaten like a dog. It would be a hundred, no, a thousand times better.

Moreover, he had to return to headquarters, reorganize his guild, and see how they'd prepare for what came next.

"Then give it." Helena extended her hand.

"Give what?"

"Money to repair our guild headquarters, reparations for hurting our members, etc. Oh, and the equipment you're wearing too."

"Ugh." Shion wavered. Helena's face turned stone cold.

"Yericka, heal him aga..."

"I-I'll do it!" Shion yelled. He had to do whatever it took to get away from here.

"That's pretty impolite of you. And apologize to me and the girls."

"S-Sorry."

Helena smacked his head.

"Be more polite."

"I-I am so sorry!"

"Give us all your equipment. Don't leave a single one on. I'll know if you're still wearing something."

Helena took all of Shion's equipment. This was the leader of one of the 5 great guilds for god's sake!

"Kill me now..."

"Keep your promise." Helena cast a spell.

Ignite!

Shion was enveloped in flames, and then fell forward. Helena and her guild had gotten their revenge.

* * *

While the Storm Guild, Kang Oh, Helena, and the Witch's Forest were destroying the Hercules Guild, the Raon Alliance and Arthand's Steel Heart Guild were doing battle.

The Raon Alliance consisted of the Breaker Guild, its allied guilds, and the Jairus Guild, while the Steel Heart Guild was accompanied by its allies and the two traitorous guilds, White Lion and Black Sword.

The battle became unfavorable for Steel Heart. It was due to the Wyvern Squad, which dominated the skies.

Steel Heart, White Lion, and Black Sword were completely helpless against the wyverns' poisonous mist raining down from above.

It was difficult to take down a wyvern with their Steel Golems, cannons, magic, arrows, etc.

When Arthand saw the Hercules Guild crumble, he made his decision.

"Retreat!"

The war was already lost. If that's the case, then retreating and minimizing his losses was his best course of action.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sound of drums resounded throughout the battlefield.

"All forces, retreat!"

"Don't go in a disorderly mob! Stay in formation! Your sacrifice will save two or three of your comrades' lives!"

"Withdraw the Steel Golems!"

"Engineer Squad, evacuate the cannons!"

"We're leaving too!"

"Follow the Steel Heart Guild!"

White Lion's Lion Heart and Black Sword's Lee Tan simultaneously yelled.

They were traitors! The only way they'd come out of this alive was staying with the Steel Heart Guild!

"Where do you think you're going! Don't let a single one of them escape!"

Kuheong!

Raon roared.

"Uwooh!"

The Raon Alliance's elites, whose spirits had been lifted, began attacking the retreating enemy troops from behind.

"Steel Sword Squad, let's go!"

"Leopard Squad, follow me!"

Steel Sword's Schaal and Leopard's Snow Flower led their troops into battle once more.

"Focus on those Steel Heart bastards. We can deal with the traitors later!" Raon yelled, charging atop his rhinoceros. Their original goal was to weaken Hercules and Steel Heart as much as possible.

The Hercules Guild had already been wiped out, and they could always punish White Lion and Black Sword later. Thus, their main priority was killing as many members of the Steel Heart Guild as possible.

"Focus on the Golem Mages!"

"The Engineer Squad is over there!"

It was a one-sided slaughter.

'At this rate, we'll incur too many casualties.'

"Elite guard, follow me!" Arthand turned around, and led his elite guard into battle. "C'mon!" he yelled confidently.

At the same time, he pulled out the 'Rubaha Armor - Made by the Man with God's Hands' from his inventory. It was SS-rank armor that he'd personally created.

Tribute to the Blacksmith God!

This was a Blacksmith secret technique.

It was an ability that allowed him to sacrifice a piece of equipment to the Blacksmith God, Orgon, and use a portion of his power for 5 minutes in exchange!

Whoosh!

Arthand's SS-rank armor disappeared in a pillar of light. Then, his body shined and his large body became even bigger.

3 meters, 4 meters... 10 meters!

Arthand, who'd transformed into a Giant, swung his hammer downwards.

Boom!

Earthquake!

The ground violently shook, and a mighty shockwave spread in every direction.

Crack!

"Uheok!"

"Kyahk!"

The ground cracked in several places, and countless players fell into the cracks.

Arthand raised his offhand. Giant flames surged from his hand.

God's Flame!

It was said that the Blacksmith God's flames could melt anything!

"I'll burn you all to a crisp!" Arthand swung his flaming hand downwards.

Roar!

A ring of flame spread throughout the battlefield. In an instant, dozens of people had been killed.

"Everyone get away from Arthand!" Raon yelled.

Raon knew about Arthand's secret skill, Tribute to the Blacksmith God.

'He can use a god's power for 5 minutes.'

Only 5 minutes. Thus, there was no reason to fight him while he was assuming that form.

But that's exactly what Arthand wanted.

"Now! Everyone retreat! You have to get out of this alive! I'll see you at guild headquarters!" Arthand's rough voice rang out. That was the entire reason he'd sacrificed an SS-rank item and used his secret technique.

Countless players retreated from behind him like an ebbing tide.

"Haha. Let's play, shall we?" Arthand shot God's Flame into the air.

"Dodge!" the Wyvern Squad's leader, Saladin, yelled.

They'd already lost over half of their troops to the Phoenix. They couldn't afford to take any more losses.

Kyaaahk!

The group of wyverns avoided the flames, and rose into the air.

Roar!

Unfortunately, one of the wyvern's wings had been damaged, so it hadn't been able to dodge the God's Flame. Thus, it and its rider were killed.

Arthand didn't stop there. He slammed his hammer into the ground, causing earthquakes, and continually shot God's Flame in every direction.

However, he stayed put. He didn't rush in and attack the Raon Alliance head-on.

If he did, he'd be able to inflict a ton of damage, but in exchange, he'd be killed right after his technique expired.

Thus, he maintained a fair distance away from the enemy troops. He simultaneously bought time for his troops to retreat, and remained far enough from the enemy to get away once his skill was over.

Sometime later...

Arthand's body began to shrink. Tribute to the Blacksmith God had ended.

"Now!" Raon yelled, and then charged at Arthand. The rest of the Raon Alliance followed his lead.

"We'll hold them off. Please hurry and get away," Arthand's elite guard said.

"Got it." Arthand got on a horse and ran away without looking back.

"Stop him!" Saladin yelled.

The Wyvern Squad, which had remained high up in the sky, descended, aiming for Arthand.

"No!"

"You won't get through us!"

His elite guards' bodies glowed, and they self-destructed.

Self-Sacrifice!

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Their sacrifices resulted in massive explosions one after another, which consumed not just the Wyvern Squad, but the Raon Alliance as well.

Once the explosions were over, the battlefield was filled with dust clouds. By the time they subsided, Arthand was nowhere to be found.

The Black Lion, Raon, took a look around, and then raised his fist into the air.

"Victory is ours!" Raon declared.

"We won!"

"Hurray for Raon!"

"Uwoooh!"

Cheers of victory resounded throughout the Ekrast Plains.

* * *

Since they lost the war, the Hercules Guild and Steel Heart Guild had to pay huge war reparations to the Breaker Guild.

Arthand agreed to pay the war reparations in exchange for a ceasefire, while the Hercules Guild refused to answer them.

The Breaker Guild agreed to the ceasefire, and received their war reparations from the Steel Heart Guild. They got ready to make an example of the Hercules Guild next.

However, they were a little too late.

The Storm Guild, Kang Oh, and the Witch's Forest had already attacked Hercules' headquarters.

Their headquarters was surrounded by giant ramparts. They were quite tough, and offered them a defensive advantage.

However, they had lost most of their allies, as well as a significant portion of their troops. Thus, they couldn't fight Kang Oh, who came from the skies, Helena, who bombarded them with spells, and the Spear King, Hernandez and his guild. Moreover, their trump card, the Phoenix Egg, had been stolen by Kang Oh!

It seemed like their base would be overrun soon.

"We have to run away," Paton yelled from deep within the base.

"Where do you suggest we run to!?" Shion yelled.

"But..."

"What about our request for help?"

Paton shook his head. The loss of their allies had really hurt them.

Plus, no guilds were willing to lend them troops to fight off the Storm Guild.

"How did it come to this?" Shion lamented.

Attacking the Witch's Forest and Helena had worked wonders. However, nothing went as planned after that.

"Take all the treasure from the treasure house and run away with the rest of the guild's executives. We'll get another chance in the future," Paton said.

"Hoo, got it." Shion gathered all of his guild's high rankers and headed for the storehouse.

"We're leaving the base. Take the items that you've been assigned, and then escape through the hidden tunnels."

"Understood."

Lacus and Light Rock left the treasure house first. But before they could escape, they lost their lives to Kang Oh and Hernandez.

"Ugh, shit!"

"Hercules will rise again!"

Those were Lacus and Light Rock's last words.

Shion, Duvalnetta, and Excal pocketed the treasure, and then left the storehouse. All of a sudden, however, the White Shark, Excal, stabbed Shion in the back with his serrated knife.

Stab!

"You!"

"Hercules is no more," Excal whispered. He had accepted Hercules' fall, and had quickly joined the Storm Guild.

"You bastard!" Shion furiously swung his staff. It was one of the items found in the treasure house. After all, his original staff had been taken by Helena.

Mother Nature's Fury!

He unleashed a green energy blast from his staff.

"Guildmaster!" Duvalnetta shot arrows at Excal.

Excal moved like a cat, dodging both Shion and Duvalnetta's attacks. Then, he fiddled with his dual serrated daggers, and circled around Shion and Duvalnetta. His goal was to delay them until the Storm Guild's elites could get here.

"Guildmaster, please go. I'll take care of him," Duvalnetta said.

"Grr, I'll pay them back for this."

"You must!"

Shion gritted his teeth, briefly stared at Excal, and turned around.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Excal rushed over, but Duvalnetta stopped him.

"I'm your opponent, you traitor."

"Hmph. I'm a higher rank than you."

The two high rankers engaged in battle.

Sometime later...

Hernandez and the Storm Guild's elites arrived. However, they arrived at the end of the battle.

"Rest in peace."

Stab.

Excal's serrated dagger pierced through Duvalnetta's throat.

"What about Shion?" Hernandez asked.

"He went that way. He's probably escaping through the hidden tunnels. I know them by heart, so please follow me," Excal yelled.

"Let's go."

Hernandez and Excal ran side by side.

In the end, they weren't able to catch Shion. After all, he'd already escaped the Hercules Guild's headquarters.

'I'll pay you back for this!' Shion looked back with bloodshot eyes. He could see the Storm Guild's flags planted in the Hercules Guild's headquarters.

'I'll take my revenge on the Storm Guild, Helena, the Witch's Forest, and Kang Oh! One day, Hercules will rise again!' he pledged again and again.

However, his path ahead would prove difficult indeed.

After all, the Storm Guild would keep killing the Hercules Guild. They wouldn't stop until the Hercules Guild completely disbanded! The Breaker Guild was gunning for them too.

Was there even a way of getting out of this situation?

He would just have to wait and see.