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"It looks like they are strong players, Dad," said Daulla while looking at Shin and the other two.

"Just hold them back a little," Hearing that, Archimedes nodded his head slightly before directing his gaze at Kayne once again before putting more pressure on his leg that was stepping on the latter's shoulders.

On the other hand, Daulla started walking towards Shin who was also coming in their direction.

"That is how far you can go," she warned while preparing to cast a series of spells.

But despite seeing the large group of fireballs hovering right behind Daulla, Shin was still wearing the calm look on his face and walking leisurely towards her.

"I've warned you!" said Daulla as she waved to her staff, sending all of the fireballs that she prepared.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Meanwhile, Shin took a quick look at the incoming spells, reading each of their trajectories. He then started moving his body according to what he saw and easily dodged all of them with just simple movements such as swaying left and right.

On the other hand, the fireballs landed on the ground behind him, leaving a bunch of craters behind.

Dualla was quite surprised when she saw that. She controlled her fireballs to travel in the air with tricky trajectories, so dodging them was supposedly hard.

But from the simple manner how Shin had dodge each of them, Daulla needed to take her opponent seriously now.

Unfortunately, Shin suddenly disappeared in front of her which was immediately followed by a gust of wind that swept past her.

She couldn't even do anything when Shin suddenly appeared behind her and was saying. "Relax, we are here to talk not to fight," with his back facing her.

After that, Shin resumed his steps once again, leaving Daulla behind.

Daulla was surprised with what just happened but she immediately recovered herself after an instant and immediately turned around to attack Shin once again.

But when she turned around, she was immediately greeted by a golden ball of light flying straight to her face.

Seeing that, she immediately cast an instantaneous blink to get away from her current position and reappeared a few meters away. She then raised her head and looked at her previous location where she saw Cloe staring back at her with a smiling face.

"How about we let the boys talk a little?" said Cloe smilingly before adding after a brief moment of pause. "Don't worry, I can be your partner to keep you occupied."

Daulla knitted her brows when she heard that since she couldn't feel any hostility coming from Cloe's tone.

But she also couldn't help but think that it was only a trick; if she got something good for her 'father's introvert nature', then that was always being wary towards other people since everyone had a mask to hide their schemes.

So, she ignored what Cloe had said and immediately waved her hand to cast another set of spells instantaneously. This time, lighting spears appeared behind her which formed a fan shape formation in the air as they hovered around her.

After that, she suddenly pointed her index finger at Cloe, sending all of the lighting spears behind her to fly straight to Cloe.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

'Magician Spell: (Modified) Electro Discharge'

But it didn't end with just that yet. Because at the same time, Daulla suddenly raised her staff up in the air with its tip pointing at the sky.

"Condense!"

Right after shouting, the lighting spears suddenly came together and revolved around each other. Then they combined their tips altogether, forming a larger spear that was spinning rapidly while flying through the air.

'Advance Combat Technique: Magic Control: Lightning Truncheon'

Swoosh!

Naturally, Cloe was not idling either; especially when she saw Daulla preparing her spell. In fact, she already completed her own spell before the latter could even complete hers.

But instead of using an offensive spell to counterattack, she chose to cast a defensive spell since her only job was to keep Daulla busy while Shin was trying to negotiate with Archimedes.

'Priestess Skill: (Modified) (Enhanced) Wall of Holy Light'

Bang!

The collision of their spells created a powerful explosion that sent a powerful shockwave in every direction.

And in the midst of that chaos, a streak of light suddenly broke through the cloud of dust created by the previous explosion and flew straight to Cloe.

Swoosh!

Cloe was fast enough to respond to that unexpected move and created a wall of light in front of her, preventing it from advancing forward.

But all of a sudden, something stabbed her from behind and pierced through her back.

"Eh!?" Cloe was quite surprised at what happened and immediately turned her head to the side, trying to see who it was.

Behind her, Daulla was gripping tightly on her staff which was now being enfolded with electricity.

"I'm sorry, but we are quite tight on time," said Daulla as she pushed her staff further.

On the other hand, Cloe just smiled at her while saying. "Too bad, I still want to play with you a little."

When those words left her mouth, Cloe's body started to transform into particles of light that were about to disappear at any given moment.

Seeing that, Daulla was able to relax a little and unconsciously lowered her guard. She was planning to turn around and chase after Shin who was currently walking towards Archimedes.

But at that very moment, she suddenly sensed a very dangerous threat coming out of nowhere. Then she immediately cast a couple of Blinks to get away from her current location and escape from that predicament.

Boom!

And that was when the particles of light surrounding her earlier suddenly exploded all at the same time.

Daulla couldn't help but break with cold sweat when she saw that scene since she could easily tell that she was going to die instantly if ever she got caught by those explosions.

Then she saw Cloe walking out of the cloud of smoke created by the previous explosions. She was giggling a little as she looked at Daulla with smiling eyes. "Despite having a cute and innocent look, you are quite hot-tempered."

"You are going to grow old faster that way. So, how about we calm down for a second and chat?" she added with a smile while also putting her hands together behind her waist at the same time.

But her words just made Daulla be even more on guard since she was still not sure whether they were enemies or not.

Given that, she started casting another spell and was preparing to attack once again.

Seeing that, Cloe could only release a helpless sigh before muttering to herself. "I guess she really doesn't wish to chat."

*********

Meanwhile, Shin finally arrived a few meters away from Archimedes and Kayne.

"Hey, brother. Would you mind handing that guy over to us when you are done with him? We happen to have some business with that dude," he asked after observing them a little.

Unfortunately, Archimedes was the kind of guy who didn't like talking to other people; especially with someone that he didn't know.

This personality of his was quite troublesome which was why he didn't get along with other players. And that was also the reason why Daulla was the one who always talked with others when they were on a quest or mission.

But currently, Daulla was not with his side as she was quite busy dealing with Cloe. So, all he could do was to remain silent while putting more strength on his foot stepping on Kayne's shoulders.

"Ahh~!" Kayne started shouting loudly due to burning pain coming from his wound.

Whistle~♪

And when Shin saw that, he immediately forgot that Archimedes just ignored him since he was not aware that the players could do something like this inside the game. 'Interesting~! So, they added new features like this in the game?'

'Maybe, I should take a little look at it later,' he added inside his head as his mind started to think about a few things where he could take advantage of these new features.

In the meantime, Kayne happened to see the grinning look that Shin was currently making which suddenly sent an intense chill on his spine.

He then remembered the words that Shin had said earlier; he said that they had some business with him.

Kayne didn't know what it was and why they wanted to take him. But one thing was sure, he couldn't let himself get captured by this evil guy since he didn't know what the consequence would be.

Due to the thoughts that suddenly flashed inside his head, Kayne started panicking and struggled to get away from Archimedes' grasp. "Archimedes! I really don't know where the boss is, but if you let me go this time, I will help you find him! Definitely! I have a way to find him!"

Archimedes was suddenly taken aback by his sudden change of attitude. Earlier, this guy was acting quite stubborn and was even mocking them. But right now, he seemed to be scared of something and ready to spill the beans.

But given his personality, Archimedes couldn't trust his words yet. So, he needed to confirm whether he was telling the truth or not.

But before he could even open his mouth to ask, Shin suddenly chimed in from the side. "Oh~♪ It looks like you know a lot!"

"So, how about giving us some information about your plans as well since you are already at it? It looks like you are not bound by any kind of system contract given that you are willing to sell your boss," he added while sitting on his feet beside Kayne.

Archimedes was quite annoyed by Shin's sudden interruption; especially that he was butting in on his own quest. He was about to give Shin a little warning when he suddenly noticed Kayne shivering with fear.

Confused, he shifted his gaze between Shin and Kayne, trying to understand the current situation.

But since he saw that Kayne was quite afraid of Shin due to some unknown reason, Archimedes decided to let this newcomer handle the situation for him since it looked like their aims were coinciding with each other.

Seeing that, Kayne started to panic even more and said desperately. "Archimedes! I'll d-do anything you want! J-just don't hand me to this guy!"

On the other hand, Shin was currently wearing an evil grin while complementing the Wingman Archer stepping on Kayne. 'Looks like he is quite sharp.'

He then turned his attention back to Kayne while asking. "Looks like you are quite quick at catching up on things. So, how about we start talking peacefully now? – Before things get ugly."

...