“Oh, come on, Xander. Just confirm or deny what your boys already told me, will you?” Questioning a chained up and shackled Xander, “You know I can’t trust their word over yours, so tell me, if the #1 Ranked Player really is in our Guide, why would he be alright letting you be the Leader over himself? It just doesn’t make sense, now does it?”

Spitting in the direction of the dwarven woman dressed in an armoured coat, Xander laughingly scoffed “Why do you think, Crystal? 'Cause he’s a cheater and a fraud! Why else would he be okay letting someone else be Leader if that wasn’t the case?”

“Then why don’t you try to explain that intense rumbling by the inner gates a few moments ago?” Crystal astutely pointed out, “Don’t tell me you actually believe Cullen and the others could’ve caused such an immense shockwave to reach this deep into the stronghold, do you?”

“No…” Xander quietly admitted, then angrily ranting “But there’s no way that asshole is actually as strong as his Rank or Level says he is! I mean that fucker had the actual nerve to kill our own unconscious teammate in front of everybody and still claim he was already strong enough to win on his own!”

“I see, what an asshole indeed...” Crystal then grinned wickedly as she quickly thought of an idea to use this opportunity wisely, saying “Well you know, Xander, we could always use this Event as the perfect chance to teach this ‘fucker’ a lesson?”

“A lesson, huh? What do you have in mind?” Then as they began to work out a deal and discuss the details of a plan, they suddenly heard a different loud rumbling explosion echoing throughout the entire inner stronghold—shaking the very stone they stood on.

***

Cullen

Cullen- Are you alright? You didn’t actually act as bait to have the ceiling of the stronghold collapse on you and the other Players, did you?

That’s exactly what I did.

Calling out “Infinity” I deactivated its consuming black hole and emerged perfectly unharmed by the mountain of large stone and dirt rumble completely surrounding me. And as I witnessed a few of the crushed and buried body parts I could see disappear in a blue flash, I smiled in relief, thinking “I'm so glad that worked exactly like I thought it would and didn’t count as me killing them.”

Oh and tell everyone good job on taking out 50 Players for me. You guys don’t know how much of a relief this is.

Cullen- Your welcome? All we did was drop your arrows, you know?

Yeah, but it’s the thought that counts.

Cullen- Whatever you say. Now what do you need us to do next?

Honestly, seeing how we still have 11+ hours to complete this Event, and ‘cause with Xander’s Party and us already taking out most of the Players, I’m seriously questioning if I should just wait for you guys to climb down here and finish the rest of them off for me.

Cullen- Hold on, if you think you can already finish the Event by yourself, why would wait for us to do it?

Well, should I tell you the multiple moral reasons I shouldn’t end this with my own hands?

Cullen- I have no clue what you're on about, but there has to be a Hidden Quest for this Event like the Tutorials, right? And what if the condition is for completing the Event first/the fastest, or maybe even before a certain Time Limit? So don’t you think we should at least go for it?

I do think there’s a Hidden Quest for this Event, but I don’t think it’s worth me killing multiple innocent people over.

Cullen- Who cares, I’m sure they’ll get over losing by the time we return to the hub anyway.

I seriously don’t think they will…

Cullen- By the way, Penelope and Razi both said “Fuck everybody else! Go for the win!”

I’ll think about it.

I closed the Menu and sighed, thinking “I do really want whatever the Hidden Reward is, if there is one, but can I really justify murdering the remaining Players for it?” Shaking my head of all thoughts, I put off making a decision for now, and instead called out “Infinity” again to clear out the mountains of rumble surrounding me. Then as the large stones and piles of dirt were effortlessly swallowed up by Infinity’s black hole, and all the debris in the area began to clear out, I was suddenly taken back to see there were still Players barely alive under the large pieces of rubble.

Most of them were unconscious and bleeding out from being crushed by the heavy stone, but a single conscious dwarven woman quietly voiced, “H...He...lp...” Instinctively I did want to help her, but I hesitated when the thought of healing her or anyone else would potentially lead them to being heartlessly killed by me.

“I...I’m sorry. I can’t help you...” I regrettably told her, seeing the clear pain and hurt in her eyes, but doing nothing to prevent her from falling unconscious like the others. Kicking a large piece of stone out of frustration, I sent it flying straight towards one of the broken dwarven statues demolished by the ceiling collapse, and watching the stones smashing together, it suddenly gave me a theory I had to test out.

Fastening a mana-rope onto the lip of the collapsed ceiling above, I climbed to the top and unstrapped Infinity from my waist; and holding Infinity over an unconscious Player, I thought to myself “Here’s hoping what I’m thinking is correct.” Then pulling out one of the large stones stored inside, I gently let it drop out of my hand, and watched as the heavy stone easily crushed the Player’s head, killing her in an instance; but I was quickly relieved to see her body disappear in a blue flash like the others a split second later.

“Yes! I knew! As long as I don’t intentionally attack another Player myself, then it doesn’t count as me killing them, and it doesn’t activate the urge to annihilate them.” Realizing that although my Explosive Arrows caused the ceiling to collapse, since I didn’t actually shoot them myself, the initial Players who died from the collapse didn’t stay dead and the annihilation urge never forced me to kill the ones who survived.

Cheering at the amazing loophole I discovered, I without hesitation began dropping heavy stones onto each of the remaining Players—crushing their skulls and killing them—and always made sure to simply let the stones gently fall from my hands, keeping in mind to never make a motion that could be considered an attack against them. When there were no more Players left to kill, I couldn’t help but laugh at the crazy thought of technically having saved all their lives from being killed by me, by actually killing them before I would’ve been forced too anyway. And slightly losing my mind from all the hoops I have to jump through just not to murder anyone, I laughed maniacally to myself as I let Infinity swallow up all the rubble again.

Carefully continuing down the long hallway, I kept a keen eye for any traps, illusions, and Players I expected to be running into here; but I strangely found nothing to worry about at all. “What’s going on? I thought Cullen said Crystal was known for her planning, so where’s all the traps and illusions?” While I admired the beautiful and intricate dwarven architecture around, I finally approached the end of the hallway where an identical three-way split occurred, and unexpectedly came across a limping Xander coming from the left hallway split.

“H-Hey!” He called out, his face appearing to be beaten and bruised, “Help me!” partially shackled by the wrists and ankles, with heavy chains dragging on the stone floor behind him.

“Didn’t you call me a cheater, a fraud, and a killer earlier? Are you sure you want to be asking for help from someone like me?” I asked, ignoring Xander and simply heading down the middle hallway.

“Oh, that? That was just a joke, man.” He unconvincingly said to me, “We’re on the same side remember? So why don’t you help me get out of these shackles, huh?” closely following me down the middle hallway.

“If you were strong enough to break the chains off of wherever you were chained up to, I’m sure strong enough to break yourself out for the rest of it too.” Trying to ignore him, I strangely noticed an eerily familiar collapsed ceiling and broken dwarven statues up ahead; and shortly arriving at the place, I came to the realization it was the exact same place I thought I just left behind.

“D-Did you do all this?” Xander questioned, shocked by the massive endless hole in the ceiling.

Though not answering him, I thought to myself “Ahh, this must be Crystal’s illusions, right? And if so, is she planning to keep me stuck in an endless loop like this? or is she planning something else for me?”

“Hey, asshole! Don’t ignore me when I’m talking to you!” Xander angrily shouted, threateningly approaching me.

“Now is that anyway to talk to someone you begged for help just a second ago?” I smugly scoffed, seeing him reveal his true colours.

“Begged you? Hah! I would never beg for help from someone as despicable as you!” Xander proudly stated.

“Seriously? I can’t believe you couldn’t even last 5 minutes acting like you were actually on my side.” Pointing out how plainly obvious he was being, “So what do you want Xander? Wanna attack me here? Or do you and Crystal have some planned ambush you were supposed to lead me to or something?”

“Was it that obvious?” Xander asked, easily unlocking and taking off the shackles he pretended to drag around, “I told the boys this was a stupid idea.”

“I mean the only thing that would’ve made it more obvious was if Crystal and your Party was actually here pretending with you.” Then asking him again, “So are you gonna tell me what you want or what?”

Taking out his sword and shield from his Inventory, Xander gave me an ultimatum, saying “You have three options: you either put on those shackles by yourself and come with me, I beat the shit out of you and drag you with me anyway, or I just leave you here in Crystal’s illusion until the end of the Event; so what’ll it be?”

“Well I guess if he’s offering a free escape, I might as well accept since I won’t need to spend any energy finding a way out of this illusion, even if I am knowingly walking straight into their trap.” Smugly smiling at Xander, I picked the shackles up from the ground and willingly latched them onto my wrists and ankles. “How’s that? Does that make you feel better than me now?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Xander shouted, picking up the chains and dragging me along behind him.

Arriving back at the three-way split, I noticed something I didn’t before, as the intersection between the hallways had very faint magic floating throughout air in the space. “That must be what’s causing the illusion.” I figured, watching Xander plugging his nose before walking himself into the magic-filled space. However purposely not following his lead, I allowed myself to breathe in the magic air, and being quite aware of it this time, I felt my senses and mind being slightly altered as I unwillingly turned around and headed back towards the way I came; though being pulled by the chain Xander held, I didn’t go far as I unconsciously walked towards the direction we came.

While we continued down the middle hallway for a bit, my senses eventually returned back to me, witnessing us entering into a large and wide banquet hall; four columns supported the ceiling near the corners, varied banners hung along the walls, multiple rows of wooden tables and benches were placed throughout, and a giant fireplace burned brightly on the other end of the hall. The banquet hall for the most part was largely empty, all except for half of the remaining Players standing by the fireplace, along with Xander’s Party members casually talking to them—having also been let go like Xander was.

Briefly focusing, I saw the 10 Players’ only ranging from Lv.26-27, but my eyes immediately darted to the nine Lv.28-29 names randomly floating in the air throughout the banquet hall—a few even somehow floating high in the air. “Are they invisible? or are they just hiding behind more of Crystal's illusion?” I asked myself, noticing the faint concentration of magic occupying the space where their names appeared. Although my attention was drawn back to the single dwarven woman confidently standing in front of everyone else by the fireplace—appearing to be the only person I couldn’t see a thing from.

Now as I didn’t know where Crystal actually was, or if she was naturally a Dwarf or not, I instead decided to focus on her Leader armour and staff that clearly reflected what she wore. Fitted out in a relatively long fur-trimmed leather coat and dark pants, Crystal had large shining golden inlaid pauldrons, gauntlets, legplates, and boots over top the coat and pants; while a shining golden inlaid breastplate was worn underneath the coat—displaying a prominent golden emblem of two crossing pickaxes and a hammer in the middle onto the chest of the breastplate. And not going unnoticed, she also carried on her back a strange metal staff with a crystal-lit lantern hanging from the top.

“I told you I could capture him by myself!” Xander yelled out, causing everyone to cheer at the sight, except Crystal who stayed mindful and wary. “What’d I tell you, Crystal, he’s nothing but a fraud!” Pulling me towards the group and pretending to fall onto the ground.

“If that’s the case, why does he have that amazing looking quiver on his waist?” Her illusionary-self openly pointed out, thoroughly observing me with her own eyes.

“Oh, that? No, that's just his enchanted quiver he carries around.” Xander wrongfully informed her, “13’s real Gift is the circlet on his head—we even saw it in action earlier, right guys?” and his Party all confirmed that to be true.

However seemingly still being wary of who I was, Crystal approached me and asked “Are you really Eyes Thalion Ven’Thyl? Or are you just a fraud like Xander says you are?”

“Funny, I could ask you the same thing.” I smirkingly winked, momentarily catching her by surprise before she appeared even more mindful of me. I then answered, “But back to if I'm a fraud or not, hmm…I’m sure you all saw each other’s names when you guys had to choose your own Leader, so if these idiots are still dumb enough to question who I am even after the System clearly showed them, then I don’t know what to tell you.” Shrugging at Xander and his Party’s stupidity.

“Call me an idiot again, you piece of shit!” Xander angrily lifted me up by the cloak.

“Xander, put him down.” Crystal sternly told him, “I wasn’t done speaking to him yet.” and he reluctantly complied and dropped me back onto the floor.

Smiling in amusement, I said “Crystal, right? I heard from Cullen and the others that you’re known for your intelligence and planning, but what happened to any of that here?” elaborating, “I mean I can’t believe someone who’s as cautious as I think you are just let 9 Attackers kill over 70 Defenders in less than an hour since the Siege Event started—even technically allowing 5 of us to infiltrate the inner stronghold so easily, regardless if 4 of them are brainless traitors.” happily receiving angry looks from Xander and his Party, “And honestly, I expected more from a Founding Member of a Guild Faction planning to kill the Guides and return home. You...disappoint me.”

Crystal’s illusionary-self menacingly chuckled, “I see, so you really must be the genuine thing if you’re speaking to me with such condescension—that or you're denser than I believe you are, given the current situation you're in right now.”

"It's all about perspective." I told her, "Because from my point of view, none of you pose a threat against me, more than I pose a threat against all of you." staring Crystal dead in her illusionary eyes.

She grinned wickedly at me, saying “Well morning then, it’s nice to have finally met the elusive and...controversial Eyes Thalion Ven’Thyl.”

My ears then pricked up at the distinct but quiet sound of multiple mechanisms being turned, pulled back, and locked in place behind me; making me reply “I would say the same thing if you were actually here, but I guess I’ll have to save my introduction for when I actually meet you in person later. For now though, it looks like I’ll have to deal with all these idiots first.” And in an instance, the sound of the multiple locked mechanism released, simultaneously revealing 9 manned ballista hidden under an illusionary veil spread throughout the banquet hall, and all firing giant serrated ballista bolts flying directly at me with incredible speeds.