Chapter 8

In the royal palace of the Western Kingdom, Warlord sat at the head of a conference table with over a dozen chars.

The Players he was meeting with were the investors and corporate leaders who sponsored the Devastators guild.

Valentine led the meeting, doing his best to deflect and defuse some of the heat directed at Warlord by the angry board members.

“We’re here to discuss the negligent behavior of guildmaster Warlord. Behavior that prevented this guild and its investors from benefiting and profiting from the possession of a source of immense wealth.” The speaker’s anger was plain to hear and see. Satan Slayer was the CEO of a company that produced super-computers and other high-tech devices. Both he and his company were heavily invested in the Devastators. He was a miserly soul, counting every gain and loss and his passions swayed whatever way the market was swinging.

“Let’s all remain calm. Warlord is not to blame for what happened in the Underworld. The Blood-Ragers were the ones at fault, they betrayed our deal and tried to take advantage of the situation. Their actions dumped everyone into the fire,” Valentine tried to placate the irate board members.

“I don’t give a fuck about that! You all saw the video, this bravo had the chance to grab the flag. The video feed clearly showed the Guildmaster had time to secure the flag and ensure victory. But he couldn’t even kill a low level draugr properly. Instead he turned himself and the guild into a laughingstock,” said Satan Slayer. Most of the people around the table were nodding at his words

Slayer was correct after all. If Warlord hadn’t frittered away those moments they would be the owners of the new raid zone, envied by all instead of being the objects of ridicule.

“His toon discorporated after I zeroed his health. No one could have known he would revive after being sent to respawn. Under normal circumstances, it should be nearly impossible for a lowbie to one-shot someone like me, with hundreds of levels over him,” Warlord spoke through gritted teeth.

“It’s over now, what’s done is done,” interjected a player in elegant white robes. An ornately carved wooden staff leaned against his chair. A priest.

“What happened cannot be changed.” the venerable Priest continued.

“Rencha, you lost the most out of all of us with your company’s investment in the Devastators. Why are you defending Warlord?” asked Satan Slayer.

“I am not defending anyone. Dwelling on the past won’t change what has already happened. We need to make the best of the current situation. We have three month contracts giving us access to the Crimson Monastery dungeon and the right to work the Bristle Mines. With those contracts we can power level more of our upper tier players. Also it will increase our appeal to the High-Level rogue players, they will join us just to get the EXP from the monastery and the Bristle mines.”

Satan Slayer crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, mouth set in an angry line.

“What do we know about the elfess, this Lone Arrow?” asked Rencha, changing the subject.

“I found something interesting when I investigated her.” said Valentine.

Everybody leaned forward, hanging on Valentine’s next words.

“She is Untouchable.”

“What?!” some of the assembled players yelled out. Others relaxed back into their seats.

“What do you mean?” asked Rencha.

“We have, ah, discovered her identity. Apparently she has connections with some of the guild members. We looked into her background, her name is Zoe Silvana, she is the daughter of Dante Silvana.

“Dante ‘Da Monsta’ Silvana, the weapons dealer!? I thought he was arrested and sent up for the next two decades.” Satan Slayer was clearly upset about the news.

“That was a sham for the public, he is too valuable in certain circles to be behind bars. The movers and shakers always have a use for someone like him; plausible deniability or negotiations they do not want to be associated with. ”

“So the Draugr is related to her, probably a family member. So he’s also untouchable.”

“I highly doubt that, though it is not impossible. We have no information regarding his present whereabouts, where he came from or his previous affiliations with guilds or other organizations, if any. We even investigated the three players that were in some of the earlier videos that he posted online, but we didn’t find any concrete information. It is like he appeared out of nowhere. Just some random new Player with no connections or backing,” Valentine finished musingly with a slight smile.

An elfess sitting next to Valentine spoke in a lovely contralto voice, “Maybe he’s some kind of super-AI. An entity created by the game to shake things up, upset the balance.”

Valentine shook his head, “We reviewed and analyzed his behavior and speech patterns, according to every measure available he is human.

“This was only the first Raid-Zone discovered in the Underworld. There will be more. We are searching for other entryways to the Underworld. We also hired [It’s Just Business] to track down Mr. Skeletal. Their S Legacy Player accepted the contract.”

The Priest, Rencha, nodded. “The Shadow Assassin Legacy holder is a wily Player. It was thanks to her we rule here in the Western Kingdom now,” he smacked the table. “We contracted with her to assassinate the old king, which was part of the quest to claim the kingdom as Devastators HQ. If anyone can track the draugr down she can, especially with her skill-set.”

“Without knowing a Player’s true name, I don’t think it is possible. But who knows, maybe you are right and she can track him, but killing him is not worth it,” said Warlord.

Valentine nodded, “Killing the draugr is only a last resort, getting him to join us is preferable. If he does end up joining us, he can supply us with teleport scrolls to the Underworld. We would have access before anyone else and eliminate our dependence on finding a new gate, at least for the immediate future. Given sole access to the Underworld and some time we will conquer the Underworld and in due course the whole of Conquest itself!”

***

Dave stood watch near the dungeon gate. He’d been yawning for the last hour.

‘Damn, it’s been six hours and not one player has shown up. So effing bored. I’m not doing this crap again, I can’t afford to if I want to level up.

‘The AI sent the TNT the moment I got here. Which means if he wanted to he could give a quest to send any number of powerhouses from the guilds here to take me out.

‘So I should probably stay in the Underworld, that way at least I would be facing only monsters. If I hunt the gargoyles and the Demonic Rams I could level up without risk of being PKed.

Just as Dave finished his thought process, the dungeon-gate fog broke and two figures entered.

A paladin and a Priest.

Dave noticed the two incoming players before they spotted him.

“Dude I’m telling you, there is no way he is back here. We should just work on leveling, staying here is useless,” the priest nagged at the paladin.

“I won’t rest until I destroy him. The fucker stole my Legacy Quest, you think I’m just gonna watch while he gets all that power and glory?” the paladin ranted, his piglike eyes darting everywhere.

Dave’s mouth went dry. He recognized the two players the moment he saw them.

Stainless Steel

High-Priest

Level 335

Bone Breaker

Paladin

Level 348