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Volume 5

Chapter 209: Reappearance of the Riddlers

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“Why must we stop the attack?”

“Deputy Commander!” the marshal disregarded ranks at this moment when he shouted because this reply had put the units under his command in jeopardy.

As the commander, the lives of his unit were his own responsibility. If they die like this, shot in the ass with no way to retaliate, would that make their deaths in vain and a waste?

Why did they even come here in the first place?

The Deputy spoke as if the Bishop is a trivial character.

From his tone, there was no trace of respect towards the Bishop and this made Marshal D’Catch’s nape feel itchy from rage and fear.

Under his mask, Thorn frowned at this attitude of the Deputy Commander but before he could even say a word, Deputy Commander Ravenous said with an uncaring gesture of his hand.

“I gave you your orders earlier, Marshal D’Catch. You are the Strike Commander of this Armada and the glory of The Legion lies on your ability to delay this Elder God. If we get our hands on The Providence and then successfully control the Blood Dragon God, not even this small existence of an Elder God will be able to stop us on our plans. Do you now get the importance of your mission? Delay him from approaching at all cost… even in the expense of your own life. That’s all you need to do.”

After he spoke of this, the Deputy bat an uncaring eye at the Bishop and his [email protected] rendering blinked into disappearance without a care for the latter’s reaction.

Marshal D’Catch was in a loss for words.

Was he and his Turquoise Armada had just been rendered sacrifices?

Thorn, looking at the horrified expression on the man’s face, thought of something and with a wave of a hand, the charging of the Bloody Mary Cannons of the three warships of the three guilds paused, as the bombardment ceased on coming.

“Marshal.” Thorn spoke and his tone was kind yet still calm. If there was something that changed this time, it is that he was now looking at D’Catch directly.

When D’Catch faced the Bishop, he couldn’t help but grit his teeth and ponder whether to retaliate or not.

But the attack never came and he also noticed that the bombardment had also stopped.

“I have my orders. I shall comply with—” this thought was running on his mind when he heard the words of the Bishop.

“Marshal, following a leader that can disregard a unit as if they are insignificant ants isn’t worth a single ounce of sacrifice.”

The marshal was surprised by these words.

“What are you… trying to say?”

From start to finish, there were no changes on the NPC’s expressions. And even when he was speaking of something of this level of emotional impact, he was still like a calm underground lake, untouched by the turbid storm of the outside world.

This level of calmness and, perhaps, holiness, was something that is only achievable by either a very good actor or an uncaring and indifferent NPC.

“I have seen many leaders with that kind of character, Marshal, and I can tell you that even if you survive our attack this time, if you go back to that leader, there will a second time that you will be regarded as an insignificant sacrifice the next time around. I ask you then: are you willing to be treated as a mere fodder?”

True, the Marshal thought bitterly.

He didn’t expect that the Deputy Commander will just abandon them like that and treat his whole Armada like ants that can block an Elder God’s wrath for them.

In fact, the Deputy already regarded them dead and even openly portrayed that they are okay with them sacrificing everything just for the sake of their two main goals in attacking Alexandria.

He thought about the words that the Bishop said and why there was no attack that came after.

Looking at the Bishop who is now intently observing him, his mind reeled as he realized, “Ah, an immortal looks down on the enemies but respects those who he deems worthy to be looked upon.”

If he think about it this way, even if this guy is an NPC, as a mere mortal, wouldn’t be being pitied upon like this by an Immortal a blessing?

“You don’t say…” D’Catch could only mutter.

Thorn extended a hand and wore a smile at him and his tone changed into a kind one as he delivered the words D’Catch had imagined.

“It is not worth it to follow a mortal who can throw a life as if it didn’t matter. His Majesty treasures people who are sensible and reasonable. He came here to be able to experience the life of a mortal, and influence the way the world works. Since he was already here, he will protect those who follow him. So I shall ask you a question… do you want to be his follower?”

The marshal’s mustache trembled and he pondered greatly, weighing the pros and cons.

He knew that the Bloody Mary Cannon was already charged and ready to fire.

He had also seen the cruelty and might of Donar…

The Turquoise Armada’s current position was like showing their asses at the enemy and asking for a beating.

If he decline, not only would it be a sign of disrespect to this Immortal’s benevolence but they will also really burn in the skies and fall down in ashes. Dead.

With the Deputy’s attitude earlier, only a stupid man would think that they were not betrayed.

“We are not merely sacrifices!” he cried in his heart.

In all of this, in order to survive and vent this anger in his chest from the way he was told to sacrifice his unit earlier by the Deputy Commander, only a fool wouldn’t think of revenge.

Clenching his fists, he knelt down in one knee and bowed his head to the NPC in front of him, gesturing to grab the illusory [email protected] hand of the Bishop and speaking in a sincere solemn tone:

“The Turquoise Armada of the Blue Card Legion had fallen today. We, the Black Mustache Unit, are now on His Majesty, Elder God Donar’s, command…”

A smile beamed on Thorn’s lips.

Who would expect that everything will turn out like this way?

The mistake of others is their ticket to a gold mine so why wouldn’t he take this chance to strengthen their muscles?

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Kladis looked at the Deputy Commander as the latter gave him a nod. He then faced the panel of operators in the command room, slamming the chart table with his hand as he gave a command.

“We have at least a 2-hour margin to finish all of our tasks in this city. Prepare the Spatial Jump Formation and arm The Legion to prepare for combat.”

As he spoke, the Deputy Commander also gave an eye to a corner of the command bridge, towards the group of people Kladis said to be is on a special mission.

He didn’t show any kind of emotion nor any kind of reaction to them but deep in his heart, this group of people shouldn’t be in this place if they don’t plan to help out.

As if sensing these thoughts, Kladis turned and went towards them, and then spoke directly at Olaf.

“Elder God Donar is being delayed right now. If you have something to do, you should do it now in this time because in this 2-hour margin, the Infiltration Units will be coming back any minute now, with them succeeding on their tasks. In our current situation, we cannot fight a head-on collision with two forces. I suggest that you make your move now.”

Olaf thought for a moment before answering, “Are you going back to Heartilia?”

Kladis shook his head. “No.” and then he summoned a window panel in his vision and checked something before speaking, “Our next stop is the City of Prontera in the Western Region of Tiara. We have to scatter our presences and also pretend that we are jumping here and there to escape detection. That way, we can hide our real aim. After that, we are jumping towards the northern region, to the City of Paneme.”

Olaf thought for a moment before glancing over the table in the middle of the command room.

In that table was the map of the north and there were marks and labels, indicating the progress of their goal and the level of infiltration on a certain city.

These plans of theirs were intricate and very detailed that it was frightening to a degree.

Who would believe that behind Gats’ warm smiles was a calculating genius with great plans and ambitions?

Olaf turned at his personal team and then nodded.

“I will have to trouble you for the moment.”

Kladis had no time to accommodate anymore delay and changes as he waved him a hand, “Just don’t let my team members die.”

“Naturally.” Olaf said smiling and led the five members of the [Panorama Payroll] towards the exit of the command bridge.

After their exit, the Deputy Commander approached Kladis, “Are we just going to leave them like that?”

Clenching his fist, Kladis clicked his tongue and brushed his hair up that had been messed up from being agitated by the unforeseen events.

“We don’t have a choice. It’s all about money.”

“But the leader…”

“It’s okay.” Kladis waved a hand and there were five profiles with different labels on them. “I already have replacements ready for them anyways.”

As he spoke, Kladis thought of that mysterious woman.

Kira.

“Who would have thought…” his mind worked and he licked his lips in a lewd manner. Who would have thought that a great character had actually entered their influence? “Ah, Alfred Pegasus… such a man is offering a generous reward…”

In his panel, five player profiles were displayed.

If anyone would actually see these five player profiles, they would link these five to those mysterious people that is slowly gaining popularity recently.

Riddler’s Guise Guild…

(A/N: See Vol-4 Chapter 8)

It was a guild made up only of five people.

Recently, they’ve been gaining a lot of attention because they’ve been posting videos of them undertaking very rare quests and missions but never share the information on how they’d managed to get to trigger these quests.

Many people who got information on these repeatable missions tried to trace these guys’ footsteps but they still failed on triggering the rare missions and ended up giving up, cursing them, and saying that they’re being selfish pricks who monopolize on how to get rare and good missions with tremendous rewards.

There are even some who contacted them and offered a hefty sum and although the Riddler’s Guise Guild shared the information on how they triggered these rare missions and quests, when it was done by the team of that rich person, the NPC responsible on giving out these missions only shook his head and told them that “you are not qualified”.

In the end, although the Riddler’s Guise Guild did not lie on how to trigger these rare quests and missions, it’s only at the fact that these players did not qualify to actually undertake these rare quests and missions that they failed.

Smart people could only wonder, “There is something like a [qualification criteria] that a player needs to have in order to be able to undertake these missions.”

At this point, they could only look afar as the Riddler’s Guise Guild continued to rise in fame.

“Who would’ve thought… that I’d be able to order these guys around?”

As Kladis basked in his thoughts, he also did not forget that at the current moment, there was a threat of an Elder God still threatening to ruin their plans.

Of course, with these possible new recruits comes a heavy responsibility.

“If I were to actually have these guys as subordinates, I have to find and kill that Destroyer… and as well as help kill that one named Janus.”

As he murmured, he looked at the direction where Olaf and his team walked out of.

“It’s all about money.” He thought. It’s all about money.

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Deep below the underground shelter zone, deeper by almost ninety levels than the highest floor above, was a team of over 300 people freefalling in the darkness.

No NPC could be seen in this group.

All of them are players.

Leading this team were two members of the Blue Card Legion. Both wearing a bright armor set carrying the insignia of the dragon chasing its tail. At this moment, they don’t have their helmets and only their shining armors could be seen glittering in the dark.

“Shit. The Commander gave the order to abandon looting at the strangest of times…” said the one with a bald head and blue armor.

“Shut it, Zaza.” The other, a trim cut man with enticing red eyes, chuckled. “Orders are orders.”

Zaza, the bald headed man with a blue armor that portrayed an eagle, hissed, “Aiii… we only got to loot ten floors! Although thanks to these special talismans that we were able to resist the crushing force and the lack of air on these levels, it was still such a waste to not be able to loot the rest of the levels! Sigh, if only we have more days, we could have been the richest men in this world! Hey, Redeye, do you think we could, uh… you know, pocket some few items for ourselves?”

The last few words were uttered in a whisper at the trim-hairstyled man called Redeye.

Redeye sighed but didn’t answer him. He was afraid that the stark emptiness of this large-ass-wide tower interior would echo his words to the ears of these 300 subordinates so he just swiped the air and showed the bald guy, Zaza, his inventory.

Seeing this, the bald Zaza couldn’t help but narrow his eyes at the red-eyed cheater while the latter only cleared his throat and ignored the glare.

Not long after, their free falling carefree manner was interrupted as they saw the base of the tower.

Their expressions became serious.

“We’re here.” Said Redeye.

The speed of their fall wasn’t slow and considering the time they’ve been falling since earlier, it was really indeed fast that the wind howled angrily in their ears.

But with a thought, wings expanded on their backs and unfolded, their falling speed instantly taking a drop until they seemed to hover slowly towards the ground.

TAP! TAP!

The first to land was Redeye. The clear sound of his metal soles touching hard rock floor resounded but not a second later, he was followed by Zaza with another set of light metallic tapping sounds.

As light as their descents were, it still aroused the rising of dust clouds.

Following them, a few seconds later, the winged 300 members of their crew also landed, surrounding the two of them, looking around for entrances or enemy.

“Whew.” Redeye looked up and could only whistle lightly as there wasn’t even the trace of light in above them.

“Good thing our armors have a natural glow.” Said Zaza and chuckled.

Redeye bent down and touched the dusty floor before he stood up and cautioned, “Everyone, hold your breaths.”

Not even a moment after his warning, he raised his hands in the air. In between his facing palms formed a ball of transparent greyish blub of Mana and following that, he smashed the blob of Mana into the floor that blasted the dusts into a sea of dark grey clouds.

Many coughed, including Zaza. Following his actions, the simple spell he cast formed into a layer of thin wind blades that hit the walls far away, scattering the dusts on them as well.

Redeye looked around him and went into a direction. As he walked on, he pointed on another direction and said, “You take that direction. The rest of you scatter and investigate.”

“Aye.”

Redeye and Zaza took two paths while the rest of the 300 members of their team followed the instruction.

Redeye’s side reached the nearest wall and he looked up to that pitch black wall that doesn’t contain any kind of embellishment or even a scarp of detail.

“Weird.” He murmured before he heard one of their subordinates call from the side he pointed earlier.

“I found something.”

Redeye turned around and then flew towards that direction.

It should be noted that this tower was shaped really weird aside from being large. There are levels where it was narrower than the levels above while there are also levels where it was wider when compared from the previous levels… like a huge continuously curving bottle!

“This place should be narrower than the rest…” Redeye flew for what he supposed to have been at least 450m before reaching the source of the commotion.

He met Zaza midair and the two landed behind a small crowd. One of their subordinates departed from the crowd and gave them a salute.

“Sir. We have found a tablet with some inscriptions.”

“Inscriptions?” Redeye was a bit skeptic but he wasn’t much surprised because that’s the reason why Zaza was here in the first place.

He and Zaza followed the man through the crowd and they saw a half-meter square tablet with ancient letters and symbols written like a text plastered on the wall.

The letters were as dark and dull-colored like the tablet and from just the look of it the solid rock material could be felt even without touching it.

But what was eye-catching on the tablet was not the letters but the small symbolic slot at the bottom.

“Zaza.” Upon seeing this, Redeye gave way for the bald knight beside him and the latter flexed his hand and neck, walking forward with confidence and a wide smile.

“Leave it to the genius.” He said and stood in front of the tablet.

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The secret of the spires finally revealed!

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