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Blind Abyss Empire, Ancient Ruins

Inside the Central Order's Temporary Headquarters, Elrond was currently kneeling with one knee while bowing in front of the man who was sitting in the head seat earlier.

"Great Elder, we are already done doing all of the necessary preparations. We are now waiting for your orders to move," said Elrond in a very respective manner.

If the other players from the meeting earlier saw this scene, they all were going to be shocked since they all knew that Elrond was a very arrogant man with no respect for anyone.

This scene could only mean a single thing – this guy was addressed by Elrond as the Great Elder was not an ordinary Godlike Player of the guild.

The Great Elder turned his head at Elrond before glaring at him. "I already told you that you can't call me that way. If someone overheard you, all of my plans are going to be meaningless."

"I apologize for my incompetence, Sir," said Elrond while bowing his head further to the ground.

"Did you already investigate the innermost part of the Ruins?" asked the Great Elder while taking a seat on the nearby chair.

Elrond hesitated for a moment when he heard that before replying. "I'm sorry, Sir. But we still can't break through the defensive formation guarding that place. Our formation architects and other masters are still trying to figure out how to break that formation."

The Great Elder suddenly squinted his eyes when he didn't hear that report that he wanted. And after a few moments of thinking, he suddenly said. "You need to tell them to make haste or else Immortal and his Apostles may strike us before he could even get what is inside it."

He then took a brief pause before mumbling. "If that guy needs us to defend from Undying Guild, then Immortal probably knows what that thing is. And since he chose to hide it alongside the Superior Mana Vein, then it is most probably something with an equal value if not greater."

A moment later, he turned his attention back to Elrond before giving another order to Elrond. "Go contact the boys. Tell them to investigate what's inside that place."

"Eh!?" Elrond was suddenly taken aback when he heard those words which threw him in a dazed state for a moment. And right after recovering himself, he immediately asked. "Are you sure about that, Sir?"

"Isn't it a little early to summon them now? The other elders are going to notice us if I mobilized our private elite group," he added in a nervous tone.

"It's fine. The selection for the next Guild Master is already around the corner, so it is better for us to collect all of the advantages that we can get right now," said the Great Elder before adding with a serious tone. "We need to do everything we can so that our side is going to win."

"If we win this war and take control of this place, then we are most probably going to have a huge advantage in the election with that achievement alone. And if you add ownership of the Superior Mana Vein, our odds of winning are surely going to be the highest among all of the candidates."

Then his eyes suddenly flashed with a deadly glint as he was saying. "And as for the secret of this Ancient Ruins, it is going to our extra card for the upcoming internal competition."

After that, he stood up once again turned around while crossing his hands behind him. "Go, and do as we plan. Just make sure to not make any mistakes."

"Yes, Sir," responded Elrond before standing up and leaving the tent.

The Great Elder waited for a few more minutes to make sure that Elrond already left the room before opening his friend list. He was planning to contact someone when he suddenly felt that some suddenly entered the room.

Thinking that it was Elrond, the Great Elder couldn't help but feel displeased and said. "Didn't I tell you not to go start moving? Why are you still here?"

But despite his furious tone, the person who entered the tent didn't respond to him. So, the Great Elder suddenly frowned his eyebrows and planned to turn around.

Unfortunately, he suddenly noticed that he couldn't move his body due to being immobilized by a skill.

Realizing that there was an intruder, he immediately cast a debuff skill on himself with a single thought in mind before quickly using a teleportation skill.

Shing!

But right after he reappeared a few distances away from his previous location, he suddenly heard the whistling sound of a blade cutting through the air.

"Fast!" thought the Great Elder as he leaned his body backward to dodge the incoming strike.

He managed to avoid getting hit by that attack but the tip of the blade still grazed his left cheek and made it bled a little.

After that, the Great Elder did a couple of hops backward to distance himself away from the intruder.

"Who are you and how did you come in?" he asked with a vicious glare after seeing that the intruder didn't have any intention of chasing after him.

Then he wiped off the blood on his cheek before observing the person standing a few meters away from him.

That person was wearing a slightly tattered cloak that had a dark grey color mixed with some patches of black color on its surface. And the hood of that cloak was hanging over the intruder's head which was why the Great Elder couldn't see his face.

Aside from it, this person was also holding a long scythe while resting it on his shoulder. And his current appearance was giving off a strange aura that could send chills on anyone's back if ever they saw him.

He looked like the incarnation of death due to the cold and heavy atmosphere that was surrounding him. And when the Great Elder saw that, he couldn't help but feel threatened by this person's presence even if he could feel that he was much stronger than him.

"Who are you?" asked the Great Elder once again while wearing a solemn look on his face.

This time, the intruder finally responded to him. "Who I am is not important now. What you should be worrying about is your own life."

The Great Elder couldn't help but feel a little skeptical at this person after hearing those words. "Don't you know who I am?"

But despite the threatening tone that he had, the person in front of him just chuckled at his words while saying. "That's quite amusing. First, you asked me who I am. Then you are now asking me who you are? Interesting."

After that, the intruder raised his head a little and made the shade that was covering his face to be lifted a little. And when his face was now fully revealed for the Great Elder to see.

"You!'' The Great Elder was able to instantly identify the intruder after seeing his face. "You are 'Sickarius' of the Saint Heaven Kingdom."

After being taken aback a little, the Great Elder wore a cold look on his face before asking. "But what are you doing here? Did you know who you are provoking right now?"

Hearing that, Shin started chuckling once again before replying. "I see that you really like to ask a lot of questions."

He paused for a moment to throw a flying dagger at the Great Elder, preventing the latter from casting a spell.

"Since you love to know the reason why I am here. Then let me satisfy your curiosity. First, let me tell you that you made a few mistakes just recently," said Shin with a cold tone.

"And I happened to be the errand boy tasked to deliver that message to you," he added while looking at the Great Elder with a sharp glare before counting out a couple of the said mistakes.

"You underestimate 'him' a little too much and you forgot where your temporary command center currently stands. Especially who is currently in control of this place."

On the other hand, the Great Elder started wearing an even more solemn expression as he knew that an unexpected variable suddenly appeared at the crucial time of the war.

Given that he was a part of a Powerhouse Guild, it was easy for him to gather the information regarding the most important news from different Empires and Kingdoms. And among those, there was a certain issue that attracted the attention of every top-ranked Guild of the game – 'the battle outside the walls of Holy City'.

Based on the report, that was quite huge which even involved quite a lot of powerful guilds and other organizations. But what made that topic special was the appearance of a party of four players who caused huge chaos on the battlefield and affected the result of that incident.

The 'Dragon God: Siegfried', 'War God: Simba', and the 'Gentle Goddess: Arielle' – these were the biggest names who appeared on that battlefield.

Given their reputations, a lot of players would surely take notice of them. And because of that reason, the fourth person of their small party caught a lot of attention from different Powerhouses of the game – the 'Emperor of the Night: Sickarius'.

Being linked with three Top-ranked Godlike Players, the Great Elder couldn't help but become wary at Shin. 'If this guy is here, then those three are most probably in this place as well.'

The Great Elder started to have a bad feeling at the current situation which also made him feel some urgency to execute their plan.

Unfortunately, Shin could already read what was running inside the elder's head and said. "Too bad, it is already too late to realize your mistakes now."

"Don't get cocky yet, kid! Do you honestly think that assassinating me is going to be easy?" said the Great Elder while activating all of the insta-cast spells from his arsenal.

But before he could actually do that, he suddenly noticed that he could no longer move his body while his vision was starting to turn dark.

"Unfortunately, you are already a dead man walking," said Shin while watching the dumbfounded look on the Great Elder's face.

He immediately used the sure kill skill of his scythe the moment he saw his opponent about to retaliate.

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Death Sentence (Active): After entering the Reaper's State (with Death Scythe), you have the special authority to take someone else's life.

(As long as your Scythe touched their bodies)

Kill Order: 2 times (Sure-Kill Single-Target Skill)

Cooldown: 1 Week (in-game time)

Note: Can only be used on a player.

Note 2: The enemies who became the victim of this skill will enter a weakened state for 1 week (In-game time) when they respawned.

And if both charges were used on the same target, then the victim will not be able to enter the game for 3 days (real-world time).

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"And enjoy your vacation time," added Shin as he used the second charge of the skill.

After that, he snapped with his fingers to remove the special barrier that he cast earlier using the formation surrounding the Ancient Ruins. And due to that, the bodies of the players that he killed earlier were now able to start transforming into specks of light.

Walking out of the tent, Shin looked at those lights for a moment before muttering to himself. "Chopped off the head and the whole system will stop working."

He then turned his head towards a certain direction before walking towards it while wearing a solemn expression on his face. "Now, let's start hunting some deers, shall we?"

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