...

BOOM!!!

A powerful explosion shook the entire Shunkai Forest. And all of the remaining players in the vicinity were able to feel the intensity of that explosion. When they turned their heads in the source of it, what they saw was a huge mushroom cloud that was extending towards the sky.

Some of the high-levelled thief-related class players in the vicinity started rushing towards the direction of the explosion to see what it was. At the same time, the powerful guilds also some of their scouts the check out what was that explosion for.

And when they arrived on the scene, what they witnessed was a large desolated land that was devoid of life; not even wild grass could be seen. The whole place was devastated by the explosion; the land was scorched black for being burned too much. There was a huge crater in a distance that seemed to be the center of the explosion, there were even some flame remnants left burning in it. From the sky, there were a lot of hazes falling on the ground that seemed to be a falling snow with a grey color.

When all of them witnessed that sight, the only question that enter thier minds was –"What the hell happened in here."–

In a few distance away from the explosion, a TigenKin Master Berserker looked at the rising mushroom cloud while tightly gripping the pair of battle-axes on each of his hands and muttering to himself. "Lich God: Immortal, I will remember this debt that you owe and I will make sure that you are going to pay it back with ten folds of its price."

At the same time, a Dark Elf Master Twilight was also watching the mushroom cloud in a distance. He didn't say anything, but the cold look on his eyes was more than enough for us to know what he currently felt. The atmosphere around him suddenly became deadly as the temperature in the vicinity dropped with a great margin because of his coldness. There are too much killing intent overflowing from his body.

Meanwhile, a White Elf Master Elementalist was staring the mushroom cloud with her cold and indifferent eyes. But contrary to her look, a hidden feeling that was a little unfamiliar to her suddenly rose deep inside her as she felt that she needed to do something. After few moments of watching, she turned around and started to walk away from this place.

.....

Meanwhile, at the same moment of the explosion, Shin who just finished dealing with the things on his side, received a system notification regarding the deaths of the trio of Morgan, Stephanie and Hayden. The look on his face suddenly turned stiff as he read the message.

He didn't feel the powerful explosion that was exploded earlier because he was in an isolated place in the corner of the Shunkai Forest. What's more, his connection with Lawless and the others was cut off for some unknown reason the moment he was separated form them, so it was natural for him to be shock at the sudden news that he received.

Then he immediately opened his virtual map to look for their location, unfortunately, he couldn't find them because their connection was being block. He turned his head at Hanzo and asked. "Do you know where are we?"

Hanzo feel on a deep thought while trying to sense his surroundings. After some time, he looked at Shin and replied. "We are in an enclose space but if my guess was right, then we are still inside the forest that we were trapped before."

"Can you get us out this time? And bring us with Lawless and the others?" asked Shin almost immediately.

Hanzo thought for another time and answered. "Hmm... I think I can since I can't feel that this place was being controlled by some Void Spirit like me."

"Then what we are waiting for?" said Shin with a hurried expression on his face.

Hanzo closed his eyes as he tried to sense his location of Lawless and the others. After a few moments, he looked at Shin and said. "They are currently in different locations, but they seem to be moving towards a single location. Do you want me to teleport us where one of them was located or should we go on the place that they are proceeding into?"

"If that was the case, then let's go the original meeting place. I'm sure that it is the place that they are going," said Shin.

Hanzo nodded his head and opened a teleportation gate that was connected to their desired location. Naturally, the Void Spirit double checked the gate if there were no problems on the it. It was to make sure that they were really going to arrive at their desired location. And only after confirming that there were no signs of breaching on it, did Hanzo let Shin entered the gate.

Shin nodded his head and unsummoned the twin tigers that were currently playing behind them before entering the teleportation gate.

.....

After some time of waiting on their meeting place, Shin saw Lawless, Faker, Ravier, and Ember arrived one by one. And he immediately asked them what happened.

Lawless released a helpless sigh before telling him all of the events that took place one by one. And Shin couldn't help himself but turn cold the moment he heard Immortal. But he also felt so helpless because he was fully aware that he couldn't do anything against that lunatic with his current self. What he could he do if even Lawless, Faker and the others couldn't even do anything against that guy even if they combined their strengths? All he can do for now was to raise his strength for as fast as he could and do his best at catching up with them.

When Lawless saw that Shin finally processed all the things that he had said, it was his turn of asking questions. He asked what happened after he got separated on the group. Shin collected his thoughts for a moment before replying. He briefed them about what happened the moment he walked out the teleportation gate and his battle against Rhaba.

"So that was what happened. No wonder we can't contact you earlier, so those guys set a trap for us if ever we tried to teleport at that time," said Lawless after hearing that explanation. But he immediately added a sarcastic remark after. "But I wonder how is he going to handle all of us if ever we chose to teleport at that place at the same time. Heh! Don't tell me that he think he is Immortal."

Then Faker suddenly chimed in. "That might be Immortal's original plan. But since we chose to face the Allied Forces ourselves, he maybe chose to go with Plan B and leave one of his subordinates behind to deal with Shin, while he, himself will go after us."

Lawless shrugged his shoulders and said. "Well, you got a point there. Anyway, it is pointless to think about it now since we already managed to survive that predicament. All we need to do now is wait for the clock reach zero so that we can end this f*cking quest. And so that Morgan, Stephanie and Hayden can finally revived theirselves."

While talking to Lawless, Shin finally noticed that Charlotte was not in the group so he asked out of curiosity. "Miss Charlotte is not here?"

Then Lawless suddenly remember about that topic. "Ah! Yeah. She already contacted us earlier. She said that is going to back to the City before us since she still need do some things before logging out of the game."

'What a cold woman.' Shin knitted his brows and thought for a moment. He knew that she needed to do some things in the Real World since she already informed him about it earlier, but could she at least wait with them to end this event/quest? She couldn't get out of the vicinity of the Shunkai Forest after all, much less logout of the game.

Lawless suddenly formed a huge grin when he saw Shin fell on a deep thought. Then he immediately sneered at the latter as if he was able to read what was running inside Shin's head. "What? Already missed her? Don't worry; you can always contact her once she had gone back online."

The expression on Shin's face suddenly turned stiff after hearing that. Then he immediate defended himself. "What are you talking about? I will never miss that conceited woman."

Lawless shrugged his shoulders and said. "Whatever you say."

And after some more time of waiting, the long awaited system announcement finally sounded on their ears.

*Ding!*

Regional System Announcement: Attention all players of the Holy City! The Special Event 'Catch the Culprits' have finally come to an end. The so-called culprits are now proven their innocence for Archbishop Ronald finally regained his senses. He claimed that the ones that assaulted him were not the current suspects.

Let's congratulate them for they are able to survive until now! Their rewards will be awarded to them personally by the system.

Regional System Announcement: Attention all players of the Holy City! The Special Event 'Catch the Culprits' have finally come to an end. The so-called culprits are now proven their innocence for Archbishop Ronald finally regained his senses. He claimed that the ones that assaulted him were not the current suspects.

Let's congratulate them for they are able to survive until now! Their rewards will be awarded to them personally by the system.

Regional System Announcement: Attention all players of the Holy City! The Special Event 'Catch the Culprits' have finally come to an end. The so-called culprits .....

Just like any other regional announcement was heard three times on every players' ear, making it hard for them not to noticed it.

And when they confirmed that the other side managed to survived the combine forces of some of the most Powerful Powerhouses of the game, both of the players based on the Holy City and all of the spectators watching in the online forums suddenly burst in an uproar!

Phantomnite: What the!? They really did it? They won despite having the disadvantage?

Frank_Fehr: That was good battle!

FBC9: ....

Whitejr: X

Blue Neko: As expected of the 'God Slayer: Tora' and 'Death God: Yami'. Even the Allied Forces of the Hydra Guild, Blood Carnival, Golden Dawn, Credit Republic and HeadHunter Guild, can't do anything about them.

Ghann: To the commentator above. The other group also get some supports from Dragon Pavilion.

FriendlyFyre: That battled of Dragon Pavilion and Hydra Guild was pretty much expected since they were always in war with each other. It is nothing to surprise about.

Kupkake: Don't forget the three chiefs of the 'Hand of Midas Trading Firm'. And those three even manage to kill three of the Godlike Players of the other side.

Nightraven: There are also those guys from the Assassin Union, the famous Shadow Raven Corps. And you guys should wait. I am also going to join that Corps!

Arthain: No one will praise the battle prowess of the dynamic couple? The Winter Demon: Ravier and Flame Witch: Ember?

TheBlank: How about the Elemental Goddess?

....

On the other hand, Shin was staring at the system notification in front of him.

*Ding!*

System: Congratulations! You have successfully endured the harsh two days. You will now receive the rewards of the quest.

Level Up

Level Up

Level Up

Level Up

Level Up

System: You received 200 Fame points, 20 000 Reputation points and 15 LP(Legacy Points) as your rewards.

System: You lost three members of you party during the process of the quest so you will not receive the Special Quest Reward.

*Ding!*

System: The Quest 'Traitor of the Church' has been updated.

-----------------

Quest Name: Traitor of the Church

Quest Type: Hidden Investigative Quest

Quest Difficultly: (???)

Details:

After Archbishop Ronald regain his consciousness, your name on the church was finally clear. But even if that was the case, that doesn't mean that you are already safe, especially that you have discovered that the real Traitor of the Sun-Moon Church is still around.

Quest Condition:

-Meet with Archbishop Ronald and ask him about what had happened. You might get some clues from him regarding the traitor since he was assaulted by them.

-(Will be Updated when you meet up with the Archbishop)

Quest Progress(0%):

Quest Rewards:

-(Will be revealed once you meet the Archbishop)

Quest Penalty:

-(Will be revealed once you meet the Archbishop)

-----------------

After reading the series of the quest, Shin turned his head at Lawless and asked. "So what is our next plan?"

Lawless thought for a moment before replying. "Let's go back to the City first to resupply our bags and repair our equipments before proceeding to the other quests that we have. Let us also regroup with the other three there."

Then he paused briefly before quickly adding. "But we should also logout of the game for a moment to fix our daily routine in the Real World. We can't slack on our training after all. What's more, it should already be daytime on the outside."

The group nodded their heads before using their teleportation scrolls to get back to the Holy City.

And with all of that, the Shunkai Forest finally dropped its curtain, signifying the end of the historic and prolonged battle held on this place.

...