Before Sain could meet with the others, a window appeared in front of him suddenly.

Help the Knight from the Order of True Knights to slay the Vile Demon King

One of the Knights of this order has formally requested the Independent Guild Sleeping Sheep Centre to help slay a Demon King that has captured and imprisoned the Princess of a long lost Kingdom for hundreds of years. Many centuries have passed and yet their devotion to their loyalty still continues. The Kingdom will reward greatly for helping this knight.

Guild Rank Quest: B+

Restrictions:

- The Knight must live at least until the quest is done

- The Demon King must be slain

- Must come with the Knight to battle the Demon King

“What?!” Sain could only stare at it in disbelief.

A B+ ranked Guild quest that would require a large amount of people to gather to complete. That was the raw difficulty of doing a B+ ranked guild quest, it would be nil impossible for a small guild like this to complete it. In fact even a large guild would have difficulties completing it as well requiring the help of other Independent Guilds as well.

“Yes...he will probably deny it since it would be too difficult to complete” muttered Sain carrying Bright Luna. Surely someone like Eden would know how difficult a B ranked quest was and how much more difficult was a B ranked Guild quest not to mention a B+ ranked Guild quest. You could say that it was at least equal to a normal S ranked quest.

However once again Eden, destroyed that expectation.

Guildmaster Eden has accepted the Guild Quest on behalf of the Independent Guild

“....”

Sain simply sighed considering the amount of knowledge Eden had and his power. If it was him, then he may be able to complete it. He knew that Eden is one of the strongest players in the game since there wasn't many that could fight like that to begin with, but how strong was the question. Eden was hiding quite a bit from the group including his true strength.

Nevertheless, Sain walked to dining room where the others were already there discussing what Eden just done.

“A B+ quest! I bet it will be impressive to see!” said Lyndis not fully comprehending how bad this was to them.

Miriel sighed and said while leaning her head on the table, “A quest like that...we won't be doing it or get near it to begin with. We're too weak for a quest like that....” It seems that she was disappointed on not being a part of it.

“Yeah, it would be a miracle itself if the Guildmasters let us tag along as well” said Shadow.

Raven and Serena were missing from these lot so it was most likely that they were still in their training room as well. That means Sain was the forth person here from the group. Then Lyndis and Miriel saw Sain and the wolf pup known as Bright Luna in his arms.

“WHAT IS THAT CUTE THING?!” shouted Lyndis trying to grab Bright Luna.

'I have a feeling...that this one will be cuddled to death if Lyndis gets her hands on it'

Sain immediately retreated and kicked Lyndis away without knowing it or even thinking of it to protect Bright Luna in his hands. Shadow stared at what Sain just did with wide eyes while Miriel was focusing on the wolf pup in his arms like Lyndis.

However it looked like the kick wasn't strong enough since Lyndis, bloody nosed came running back at Sain with Bright Luna in mind. Sain wasn't able to escape due to a number of factors, the main being Lyndis was faster than him.

“Root Bind.”

Bang!

Then a saviour appeared with Serena restraining Lyndis onto the floor with her spell. Roots tangled up around Lyndis making her unable to move at all. It was only then that she calmed down.

“Sorry....I get like that sometimes....” muttered Lyndis red in the face while facing the floor.

Serena sighed and said, “Please don't try to attack...” Serena then saw Bright Luna in Sain's arms as well and immediately went to try and grab it completely focused on it.

Chop!

Miriel unexpectedly chopped Serena's head snapping her out of the trance. Then she looked at Sain with a strange look in her eyes and asked, “So...when did you get....” the charm of this creature completely tamed the girls on first sight.

“....”

'I definitely summoned a dangerous creature here....only a few seconds in and the group is already breaking apart' thought Sain sadly.

“Is that your summoned wolf Sain?” asked Raven politely patting the head of Bright Luna causing it to lick his hand in response.

“It's more like a pet puppy though...” said Shadow looking at Bright Luna closely.

Sain let out a small laugh and replied, “Yeah it does...but Eden said to immediately make a contract since it seems to be a powerful breed.”

Sain took Bright Luna to the table and sat down waiting for the girls to completely snap out of the trance they were in. Minutes later, they still didn't snap out of it for some reason.

“Let me hug it!”

“Cute creature get!”

“What a cute puppy!”

The girls were completely in a charmed stance and the guys had no choice but to fight them in order to stop them and try to return to to sanity.

“What the hell happened?!” shouted Shadow trying to literally knock some senses to the girls.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Eden entered the building with Alexandra and the knights at his side.

“Hey guy~ I have a-what the hell happened?” Eden immediately went from his carefree mood to a completely serious tone in a split second seeing the chaos that occurred in this place.

First of all, the dining room, nay more of the building was wrecked.

The second thing was that the girls were tied up with rope.

The third thing was that the guys were the ones tying them up restricting their movements.

“....”

Eden stared with dull eyes and said:

“Sorry for intruding” in a monotone voice before slamming the door shut. He turned to Alexandra and the Knight and then said, “It seems that they are having a bit of difficulties here.”

Alexandra laughed it off while the Knight was silent the entire way. For some reason, it's mood was rapidly decreasing. Before long a shout came from inside the building.

“Wait! Guildmaster, help! Something is wrong with the girl-ahhhh!” such a scream came out from one of the guys mouth before something unspeakable happened to him and the other two.

“Damn...why the hell does this kind of thing happen right when...” muttered Eden entering the building and not letting the other two in.

Alexandra simply hummed a tune while the Knight still stood there silent of the entire event happening in front of it.

“Was it really right to ask this place for help....?” the knight could not help to sigh since everything seemed to have gone out of expectation from the very beginning.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Everyone was at the Guild Building at the area where discussions were made. Before that, Eden sealed the 'rare' charm inducing power that Bright Luna had. Apparently while females being able to charm male beings wasn't so rare, the opposite was extremely rare and not many people have immunities to it. Because of this, literally half the beings on this continent will not attack Bright Luna and will protect it instead.

“What an interesting creature” muttered Alexandra looking at Bright Luna without being affected by the charm powers.

“It's name is a little to long to pronounce...so just shorten it to Luna then” said Eden after placing a 'minor' seal on Luna rapping up the situation perfectly.

Now back to the current situation the group...no Guild was dragged into.

“This is a person from the Order of Knights, a group that is very old and powerful” said Eden introducing the Knight in white and red with a helmet and armour that perfectly hid it's gender.

“I am noth but a lowly one in the order” said the Knight introducing itself to the group. The Knight then started to explain the quest that it had given the guild.

“The order of knights have for centuries had to vanquest the vile demon lord with each time being a narrow failure. Each time the demon lord had captured a princess and trapped her in it's castle guarded by many evils of this world. Therefore, this lowly one request that you all help me in hopes that this will be the last time.”

“Well, that's more or less the situation. Now for the personal that's going....” Eden looked at the group and the masters that were also summoned here due to the appearance of the quest.

“First, the new brats will be part of the group going.”

“WHAT?!”

The group and masters both said aloud immediately with the words coming out of Eden's mouth. The shock was certainly there.

“And the other that will go as well....hmm....say, is there a limit on the number of people that can go?” asked Eden to the knight.

“Not at all, the more the better since there will surely be hundreds of powerful foes to slay.”

Eden smiled and then said, “In that case me and Alexandra will go as well since this is the new brats' first mission as part of this guild. The rest of you will protect this city while we're gone right?”

There was a threatening feeling coming from Eden for some reason as he said this.

The masters immediately saluted in fear and replied, “Yes Sir!” like a band of military units in the orders of the commander.

“Good good~” Eden said humorously seeing this.

But Alexandra was the one surprisingly to repute Eden, “Wait, is it a good idea for one of us not protecting this place? You DO know that there were reports of....”

“There's no problem, a mere month or so won't do anything. Plus during this time, the barrier will be a full power due to the alignment of stars. Not even a God can easily break through that before I'm called back to this place.”

Alexandra thought about for a bit and then said, “Okay then~” lightening up the mood from the very serious one just then. Then Alexandra looked at the knight and asked, “By the way, where's this Demon King Castle?”

“North to the mountains home to Dragons” the Knight replied without much care.

The group gulped their saliva since they knew of that place. At the northern parts of the western continent known to be home to hundreds of rampaging Dragons that can easily wipe part of the continent off the maps. It's only due to their pride of superior creatures that they haven't attacked humans though they do defend their homes with great viciousness.

“Good, lucky Eden's coming with us then” said Alexandra with a sigh.

Eden made an irritated face and said, “Alexandra...you DO know what happened last time right...?”

“Hmm? Let's see....long story short the three of us had a nice fight to the death with hundreds of the Dragons at once?”

“No the reason for that event.”

“Umm....I think some prideful white Dragon proposed to you thinking you were a female and when you said that you were already married and a guy....”

“Yep....that white dragon brat is the current ruler of that place. Which means, it'll be a pain to deal with even with I'm a supposed ally of theirs. It's better for me NOT to go this time.”

“But if you don't do, hundreds of Dragons will attack us you know. Even in the presence of me, most of them believe themselves to be stronger than me even if I show them my power.”

The knight cut in here, “Passing through the rampage of one hundred dragons is a part of the trial the knights must take to reach the Demon King's castle. It would save a number of energy if someone could prevent such a large waste of stamina before the Legion of Darkness.”

“Legion of Darkness?” asked Alexandra.

“Yes...” the knight started to explain it in more detail, “There is a Legion of Darkness defending the outer area of the castle while a Legion of Light defends the inner area. The fact that both sides of opposite points are under the Demon King confirms it's massive power. Not many beings can do that even if you include Gods.”

Both Alexandra and Eden sighed at the same time hearing this.

“That just means the Demon King has a very rare dual affinity with both light and darkness” said Eden calmly.

“Yep...how many Gods can you find with a dual affinity like that? However having such a dual affinity has risks on its own you know. You can't actually combine those two elements at once in battle; if you can then your a monster on Eden's level. I mean this wife of mine is pretty much one of the few beings that can manage to combine the two; a true monster in human skin” said Alexandra with distress trying to frighten the group for fun.

WHACK!

“How many times do I have to tell you that I'm suppose to be the husband, not the wife?” scolded Eden to Alexandra.

Everyone in the room more or less thought that the main problem wasn't that statement but the one after it. Thought it seems like Eden didn't mind either way so there was no chance of a rampage happening right now.

Several minutes later of nothing productive going on....

“Okay then! Me and Alexandra will go with the new brats along to complete this quest from the order of knights; Dismiss!”

The masters more or less disappeared completely while the group had to stay with two guildmasters and a knight.

'Why does it seem that several minutes were wasted in the middle of this meeting and it could be completed in a matter of second...?'

The group could not help but to collectively sigh at the sheer amount of randomness that this guild that they joined had. Being productive itself was something that now came to a surprise to the group which originally had many things planned out. A number of those plans were immediately destroyed by them joining an Independent Guild though....

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Guildmaster.....please explain to me why you just didn't teleport us to that Demon King Castle?” asked Miriel holding a large backpack on her back like the others.

The group plus Eden, Alexandra and the Knight were walking north from the city to the mountains where Dragons lived and to the Demon King Castle from there. Frankly this entire trip will last for at least 3 months of actual travelling and more time added from all the battles that may happen.

“Simply because that if I do, then you guys won't be able to feel the tension of this quest. Plus it'll do some good for you to fight some monsters that may attack us along the way” replied Eden not wearing anything on his back.

Out of everyone, only the group of six had these large backpacks filled with supplies.

“But since you three are so strong, doesn't that mean only really strong monsters will come to fight us on the road?” asked Sain steadying his breathing so he won't be exhausted from the heavy load in the long run.

“Ah, I have a skill that basically makes it appear that we are a lot weaker than we are....in fact the skill basically makes it so it seems that there's only you lot travelling. So...I believe monsters will come out to fight which are at least on your level.”

“....”

The group said nothing at all since it was the decision of one of the guildmasters of the guild. Eden literally had the authority to torture them in whatever way he wanted under the pretence of training. However the fact remains that the group's growth was extremely high when these events happened.

Although they were not even level 60 yet, their stats were at level 70 or perhaps even on the same level as a level 80 player. Because of this, the group could perhaps like Eden said before, be able to take down a strong level 100 foe like the Zolerd from 2 months ago.

“Anyway while we have the time...Alexandra and the Knight are scouting ahead taking care of the really strong monsters that you don't want to meet right now, why don't I explain how Independent Guilds work and how they differ from normal guilds.”

“....”

The group nodded since the topic of Independent Guilds were something that they did not study and also something that only a small percentage, at most 0.05% of players related to. That was around 500 million players; a large number of players itself but drowned out compared to the 10 billion that were in the game at any time.

“First of all, there are very little differences with Independent Guilds and normal Guilds. A Guild is basically a collection of players and NPCs which numbered enough to be called that. Normal Guilds collect money, buys locations as bases and eventually try to expand their influences for their own gain. The most famous case of a normal Guild is the once Hermes Guild that almost conquered the continent with force alone. Of course by doing so, NPCs and players alike won't like it and eventually they were defeated with a combine force giving way to the current Kingdom...or Empire if you like.”

Eden took out a badge which had a Dragon wrapped around the sun with stars falling around it.

“This badge is basically proof of me being a Guildmaster of an Independent Guild. The main difference that Independent Guilds have is that we are directly in service to the Kingdom itself. You can call us the government employees of Royal Road, we have even get a salary from the Kingdom itself.”

Eden placed the badge back into his inventory.

“In exchange for this, we are not allowed to directly own buildings and locations that are associated with the Guild. Personal owned things are allowed though since there are people who leave Independent Guilds for others. Another thing is that our influence as a Guild also reflects back to the Kingdom management as well which means every success goes back to the Kingdom's influence and every failure as well. Because of this, Guild ranking exist to filter out Guilds that will definitely fail a quest which in turn make things bad for the Kingdom. Basically the ranks goes from F to A with higher ranked Guilds getting more benefits from the Kingdom like a bigger base, more supplies and request for troops will be forwarded more likely.”

Eden paused for a bit to collect his thoughts.

“Every Independent Guild starts from rank F in which you can only do C ranked Guild Quests. Guild Quests are another thing that came with Independent Guilds. These quests were designed for while Independent Guilds to work for. A C ranked Guild quest is basically the equivalent of a B ranked quest normally. Think of one of the early quests that Weed, the current Emperor did which was to eliminate the True Blood Vampires from Morata and Collect the Crown of Freya that was stolen by them. That was a B ranked quest and would be considered a C ranked Guild Quest if it gets forwarded to the Kingdom to be taken care of. A B ranked Guild Quest would be considered an A ranked quest and an A ranked Guild Quest would be considered a S ranked Quest. Basically the level of difficulties between these ranks that much larger than normal quests and because of that, it is important to have a lot of members working on a single Guild quest.”

“However because of that, the rewards from these Guild quests are so much more rewarding. Not only do you gain a large amount of experience, you also get a large amount of gold or a rare item from the Kingdom as well as Fame and Contribution points to the Kingdom itself. But if you fail, and many people fail doing these quests; then fame and contribution points both drop dramatically. If you fail a C ranked Guild quest than you will lose on average 500-1000 fame while the higher the guild quest rank, the worse these effects get. Besides that, there are also what you call plus quests like this one. Basically when a quest has this sign on it, you would need an average of 10 times more guilds to complete it due to the difficulties and the quest yet does not go up another rank due to lack of impact on the continent if failed.”

“Now back to actual ranks that an Independent Guild can have. Basically from rank F to A you need to complete 10 Guild quests of a certain level to rank up. A rank F guild needs to do 10 C ranked Guild quest or 1 C+ ranked Guild quest in order to get to E rank. The same is with E rank but you need to complete at least 1 B ranked guild quest to rank up to D rank. D and C rank are the same as before but it focuses on B rank guild quests instead. Another thing to know is a B rank guild quest is equal to 5 or so C rank quests so you can actually do 50 C rank guild quests and still rank up that way as long as you do at least 1 B rank guild quests. The same things happens with B and A rank with A rank Guild quests. Also, 1 A rank guild quest is more or less equal to 10 B rank guild quests as well so you need do 500 C rank guild quests to rank up to A along with the required quests. There is also S rank as well but you need to complete 10 S ranked guild quest or 1 S+ guild quest to get there.”

“Finally there are also another type of ranking an Independent Guild goes through. Namely ranks between other Independent Guilds. Basically, there are a few thousand Independent Guilds due to the high difficulties and Kingdom restrictions on making one. Out of those Independent Guilds, most or at E or F rank. Around 10% are of C or D rank and 1% are of A or B rank. You can literally count the number of Independent Guilds that are S ranked. Generally these rankings are determined by two factors. Overall contribution and yearly contribution to the Kingdom. Each part takes half of the consideration on the ranks so retired Independent Guilds can get back into the action if they want after a while hahaha.”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

At the vanguard of the group several kilometres ahead of the others....

“Miss Alexandra...is it fine to leave those monsters?” asked the knight.

“Of course of course~ Who said this would be a pleasant trip?”

“....I see....let us take care of this then” responded the knight drawing a red and white sword that had a mechanical feel.

Alexandra looked at the monster in front of them. It was a demon that was hundred metres long and 10 metres tall. A giant centipede if you will call it that with hundreds of legs...hundreds of weapons to use.

Light gathered around Alexandra in a burning white flame as her 'aura'.

“Well time to test out this new power I got from sacrificing my divinity” said Alexandra drawing out a pure white blade from the white flames that surrounds her.

“Flames of Judgement”

BANG!

The clash between the two and the demon centipede began!

[p=center]xXx[/p]

After the laugh, Eden looked at the front in the distance and said with a calm smile, “Monsters are coming at us....time for you lot to show the worth of your training.”

The group a bit nervous put down their backpacks and drew their weapons for the upcoming fight.

“Stay calm since I won't let you guys die if it comes to that.”

A day passed on their trip to the Demon King Castle and their first battle since 2 months was starting out of nowhere although the group believed partly that Eden was the one who summoned it here to begin with judging by his past record....even though it was only one time.

“Melody of Vitality!” chanted Miriel starting things off.

Vitality increased by 32% for 10 minutes

Miriel started things off before the battle started with 'Melody of Sound' which due to the effects of magic and sound mastery, is double the effects to 32% from 16% that spell originally had. The effects of the training was already showing to begin with.

“Heartbeat Healing!” chanted Serena as well giving the group a second buff.

Heal will regenerate for 6 points every second for 10 minutes

Like Miriel's spell, 'Heartbeat Healing' was also under the effects of Magic and Nature Mastery which at this point also doubled it's effects to 6 health regenerated per second from 3 health per second. It can be seen that other than the actual skill proficiencies of the spells, the next most important thing would be to increase the mastery skills to an extremely high level to further boost the spells' power multiple times passively.

“Gaaaaar!”

The enemy appeared. It was a group of 3 black wolves....no they looked more like Demons to begin with. Black aura covered their bodies and their fur looked ragged and hard like scales at the same time. It could not be described as a 'living' creature.

“Serena, bind them!” ordered Sain immediately when he saw them.

“Right! Root Bind!” replied Serena as well.

Roots came from the ground in front of them and covered one of the black wolves completely stopping it in track.

“This can only bind them for so long and I can't use other spells at the moment, please defeat the others before that happens!” shouted Serena to the group.

“Right!” “Got it!”

Both Lyndis and Raven replied to Serena and charged forward acting as the vanguard of the group taking on the black wolves head on. The black wolves were the size of the usual wolves but for some reason their power was much higher; it was no common monster to face.

“Footwork! Ram!” Raven moved ahead of Lyndis and took on the black wolf to the right slamming his shield into it and still charging froward with the wolf stuck to the shield.

“Haaaaaaaaa!”

The other black wolf seeing this, turned to attack Raven from behind; it;s agility was higher than Raven's that was just over 100 after all. However there was someone with double the agility amount in the group as well.

“Burst Speed.”

Bang!

Shadow kicked off the ground and headed in a straight line to the wolf that was going to attack Raven and slashed it's back stopping it while continuing for a few more metres so he could turn around without getting attacked.

“Weaken! Mana Bolt!” chanted Sain both at once. The black wolf that was targeted, the one Shadow attacked just then got it's strength reduced by 45% like that and 11 mana bolts flew and hit it doing minor damage completely preventing from paying attention to Raven.

“Ice Bolt!” Miriel fired he spell a split second after Sain and it hit the black wolf head on smashing part of the black wolf's body in the process, it looked like it only gave a moderate amount of damage to the black wolf.

“Fire Blade! Speed Strike!” Lyndis seeing this chance moved in quickly and slashed through the black wolf killing it in a move.

Critical Hit!

You have gained experience

This message appeared for Lyndis as she cut through the black wolf telling her that she dealt double damage there. At that moment the black wolf that was being restrained by Serena broke free seeing it's breathen killed.

“Awoooooooooo!!!” The black wolf cried along with the other one with Raven as well pouring out some black aura from their body.

Contact with Black Aura deals damage

“Ahh!” Raven screamed a bit retreating using 'footwork' again a few tens of metres away from the wolf he hit. Raven's health dropped by around 5% which was a lot to the group due to the black aura.

“Raven, retreat. Long range attacks!” ordered Sain seeing the effects of the black aura on Raven.

“Ice Bolt!” “Fire Strike!” “Magic Arrows!”

Miriel, Lyndis and Sain; the ones with long ranged attacks fired their spells and skills at the same time at the two black wolves. Naturally the attack from Miriel and Lyndis head to different wolves while Sain's one went to both of them at the same time, more to the one that was already damaged before.

Bang Bang Bang...

The black wolves were damaged but it was not much compared to before. Part of the damage was negated by the black aura that wrapped around them. Both wolves moved at the same time at Lyndis and Raven respectively since they were the closest to them. To this Lyndis readied her sword as Raven to his sword.

“Ice Bolt!” Miriel casted another ice bolt at the wolf that was attacking Raven but it dodged the attack with high agility. It looked like the black aura also increased the combat abilities of the wolves as well.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Raven hit the black wolf with his shield not minding the damage he took and continued to bash it using his shield at the same time using 'Shield Bash' over and over again to get the stun effect on it and eventually killed it.

You have gained experience

Lyndis on the other hand dodged the first strike of the black wolf on her and then used 'Precision Stance' naturally to hit one of the legs in a quick slash that did not involve any game skills. After the black wolf hit the ground due to the hit she turned around being near it and said, “Burning Touch” before burning it using her hand tapping on the black wolf lightly.

You have gained experience

The battle ended in around a minute or so but the group felt like it was a lot longer than that.

Clap Clap Clap

Eden to the side that was watching all of this smiled and said, “Congratulations, you just fought against Demon Wolves that were level 80 each.”

“Huh?”

The group was quite surprised since they had trouble with a level 100 once upon a time but facing a level 80 would still be difficult no matter what. They all checked their status windows to find that their experience bar increased quite a bit. A few more battles like that and they would level up.

Although stated before, fighting monsters stronger than you will let you gain more experience at once. At the group's current level, it was not unusual for them to gain several levels in a day facing against foes that are 10 levels above them if they continuously fought them one after another. This experience gain at least doubled for foes 20 levels above them from 10 levels above them. It was quite a gain to see.

“Well this is only proof that my training worked to a certain extent. If only you could withstand my 'Hell Training'....then each of you would be able to one shot kill these weaklings alone.”

“....”

It seems that Eden was still disappointed that he wasn't able to do Hell Training one the group. Soon after Alexandra and the knight returned saying that all Demons and other monsters from this path on for a few kilometres have been wiped out.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Well that was a good stress reliever~” said Alexandra stretching her arms coming back to the group and Eden with the Knight.

“As expected from such a powerful person Miss Alexandra, to think that your power surpassed what I initially thought of” commented the Knight as well.

“....Why do I feel that several ecosystems in the area are endangered now?” asked Eden seeing how Alexandra is relieved after fighting. Normally it would take a hell of a dangerous fight for that to happen...say whenever she and Eden fought.

“Don't worry” Alexandra patted Eden's shoulder, “Only a bit of land was destroyed.”

Eden didn't buy it.

“How much?”

“Around a forest amount” replied Alexandra immediately.

Eden sighed and almost face palmed since this would go back to bite him later with all the Kingdom inquires and such. The only good thing was that Eden could lie his mouth off with the excuse of Demons being there. That was certainly shut up those who believed it while completing this quest would shut those who didn't believe him to begin with. Results were everything no matter the world after all.

Eden looked around and it was getting dark and then looked at the group which wasn't that experienced with night travelling at all. Well Eden could only think that Shadow was the only one who could cope with it considering the training that Anna did on him.

“I think we should take a break now” echoed Alexandra who was reading his mind and concerns. The Knight also agreed with this.

“It's not like the Demon King will be moving a bit further away if we set camp” added the Knight.

With that, the first day passed and the party set to bring down the Demon King set camp.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

While the camp was running, Eden and the knight had some discussing to do. Naturally Alexandra and the group also listened in.

“So...is there a relation to the sudden Demon appearance and you?”

“Yes, the Demon King wishes to stop me from slaying thy in it's castle.”

“I see...how many more battles like that should we expect? I do hope they don't come each day to attack us.”

“Of course not, thy are simply scouts. Perhaps once a week, a new batch will be sent to combat us.”

“Hmm....”

Eden scratched his cheek thinking of a number of things at once. He was mostly thinking of the measure of a pain this would be in the end in his head. A total of three months were required to reach the mountain area on foot. The attacks of Demons would only slow them a bit and the next problem would be the Dragons. Well Eden thought he could figure all of that out when it came to it.

“Wait....” muttered Eden suddenly realising it, “Isn't it usually a Demon Lord awakening not a Demon King?”

The knight chuckled a bit as if the remark was humorous. “Ay, if it was a mere Demon Lord then I would not have requested thy for help. A Demon King is much more powerful and frightening I power. It leads an army of Demons after all.”

“Meh.”

Eden really didn't care at all at what level this Demon King was. The only problem was that something worse would inevitably happen; namely facing a white Dragon which was considered the Royalty of Dragons. Eden sighed and then looked at the group. They weren't even strong yet so this quest would literally be a suicide mission without him and Alexandra along.

“Alexandra, if I recall even though you never use it anyway; have a damage resilience buff?” he asked to Alexandra.

“Hmm? Yeah I do but it's better to just dodge if you don't want to die” she answered back.

“Not everyone is like you with inhuman senses you know!” retorted Eden, “Anyway Demons are one of the stronger monsters in this world and that means the new brats will certainly die unless we babysit them. Just make it so they can survive a few hits to make our work easier.”

“Roger~”

Alexandra seemed to have gotten what Eden wanted to do. They weren't parent in any case that would take care of their children but rather guildmasters and had the job of raising new members up to scratch. Naturally if they died then it was their own fault to begin with. It would be a miracle if even one of them survived this quest.

“Anyway, I want us to pick up the pace from now on. Don't wear those ridiculous backpacks from now on, we will more or less be sprinting unless we find a carriage along the way” said Eden with the other nodding their heads.

This was going to be a long trip indeed.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

A week later, like the Knight said; more Demons appeared and this time the two didn't exactly scout out ahead to clear them out for the sake of the group. There was a giant Demon once again leading a bunch of other Demons with it that were gradually smaller in size and power.

“A bull? Why a bull?” asked Eden questioning the taste of whoever sent this lot of a Demon here. Other than that, there were the black wolves the group faced before in much greater numbers as well as bears and trolls like creatures in the mix as well.

The demon bull which was 5 times larger than a normal let out a roar that was unlike any bull.

“Gaaaaaaaaaar!”

Several black things came out of it's body and formed two great large wings on it's back. It seems like this was the leader of this pack of demons since the other ones didn't attack yet.

“Alexandra!” shouted Eden feeling that the Demons were about to attack.

“Let the light protect and shield you from eternal darkness! Shield of Light!” chanted Alexandra casting the spell on the group all at once.

Light appeared and faintly covered the six as this message appeared in front of them at the same time.

Shield of Light is now active

- Damage taken will be reduced by 80%

- Strength and Agility increase by 50%

- Stamina consumption will be minimum

- Effects will last for 5 Hours

The sheer effects of this spell made it impossible to recognise it as anything but a first class spell of the highest level. Although there are other spells and skills that may do more than this, a spell that can be casted onto other people on mass was rare.

“Get ready to fight! I'll leave the small fries to you guys!” shouted Eden unleashing his presence to the demons. There was a small shockwave around Eden, Alexandra and the Knight at the same time. Was such a thing common for strong people? The group didn't know but they knew that they were no longer going to protect them from simple attacks anymore.

“Let's go!” said Sain brimming with a will to battle.

“Yeah!” the other responded with the three at the front charging straight into the crowd of Demons.

There were only around a hundred Demons to face but for the group, it was a terrifying number since they at most faced 10 enemies at once. Plus these enemies were at least stronger than them at the very least.

Sain counted that there were only around 10 foes that they could actually face while all the other ones were too strong to fight even with 'Shield of Light' casted on them.

“Aim for the wolves again! Magic Arrows!” Sain shot out three magic arrows at the wolves and drew their attention immediately. All of a sudden, ten black wolves of the demon species were attacking them now.

“Heartbeat Healing! Minor Health Regeneration!” Serena casted two healing spells one after the other; one for the entire group and the second for Raven who was about to clash head on against the black wolves.

Heal will regenerate for 6 points every second for 10 minutes

“Melody of Speed!” chanted Miriel at the same time.

Agility increased by 32% for 10 minutes

Another thing to say about buffing spells, is that the strength of buffs are usually proportional to the length that they last. Something that will last for a battle, like Melody of Sound will last longer than something that spans over several battles at once. More to the point, people would rather than long lasting spells than short lasting ones even if it sacrifices some power behind the spells.

That is one of the main reasons why priests and clerics, who can use both kinds of buffing spells are so popular. You layer the weak long lasting spell onto a group and then layer another stronger spell over that as well. You more or less get great benefits thanks to this.

But back to the battle at hand. Miriel wasn't finished yet.

“Shriek!” chanted Miriel immediately to stop the charge of the wolves.

Shrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriek!

The black wolves that were the weakest of the enemies here were the only ones affected by Miriel's spell and were stunned for a few seconds at most. But this was enough time for the others to attack immediately.

“Flame Strike!

Lyndis shot at one of the wolves closest to her and then proceeded to slash that wolf down to pieces easily with her 'Fire Blade'.

“Cracked Barrier!” chanted Miriel placing another damage negating spell on Raven lowering the amount of damage he would take to another level.

“Ram.”

Raven seeing that he would take a lot less damage went to three wolves at once hitting them all with his shield and them afterwards stabbing at them quickly with his spear before retreating. Those three wolves that were attacking Raven were then stopped by Miriel.

“Ice Bolt!”

Miriel shout out three ice bolts, all of them hitting a single black wolf killing it. The other wolves more or less got their priorities set and aimed to take down Serena, Miriel and Lyndis who seemed to be the core of the group.

Sain casted 'Magic Arrow' and 'Mana Bolt' at the same time at the wolves to at least distract them with his pitiful magic attack power. There were 8 more black wolves left after all. That means they still outnumbered the group and gradually surrounded them as well after a minute or so of fighting here and there not getting too deep into it in case they might be met with a powerful attacking that could kill them in an instant.

“Shadow, please distract them” asked Sain seeing that things were going to be bad if this kept up. Even with taking less damage, a strike that normally would kill them in one hit may still be dangerous.

“Right” responsed Shadow taking his short sword in his hand.

“Burst Speed.”

Shadow kicked off the ground letting out a small after-image where he stood a moment ago.

Slash Slash Slash!

Shadow hit three of the wolves at once in a moment appeared on the other side of their formation to surround the group. Getting hit, those three wolves naturally went to attack Shadow which was a big mistake.

“Attack now!” shouted Sain.

The formation of the wolves fell apart so they should take advantage of that.

“Ice Bolt!” “Magic Arrows!” “Blood Burst!”

All three of them unleashed their spells at the wolves at once. Lyndis and Raven who were in close combat with multiple of them immediately retreated since they didn't want to die at any rate.

Bang Bang Bang Bang....!

In an instant, several wolves....no 5 of them in total all died from the magic attacks. It was there and then that the group really felt that magic was really powerful, even Sain who had literally the lowest magic attack of the group had powerful attacks that surpassed his damage he could deal with his spear.

“Backstab.” “Speed Strike!” “Double Strike!”

The other three not wanting to be outdone killed the other two black wolves with ease and in no time.

You have gained experience

You have levelled up

The group all levelled up more or less at the same time since the experience gain from this battle was enough for them all to jump to the next level. With this, they were all level 57 except for Serena who was level 59 now and the one with the highest level, wisdom and fame in the group.

“Ah, you guys are done?” asked Eden who was standing on a large pile of Demon Corpses that he killed.

His armour was covered in black blood which was a characteristic of the Demon Race along with Alexandra and the Knight. All three of them more or less dealt with the Demons quite well in this case and were simply watching the group take down the demon wolves after they were done.

'How long....were they watching...?'

The group had that thought seeing that even the large demon bull was slain before they were able to take down 10 mere small fry demon wolves that were coloured black.

“It really looks like that fear of you guys dying so easily was a false alarm~” said Eden cheerful. He did not expect them to be able to take down those demon wolves which outnumbered and out levelled them so easily. His expectation of them at least increased a bit.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

At the beginning of the battle, leaving the new recruits to defend themselves, Eden and the other two charged straight into the Demon crowd to attack them.

“Dark Claw!” Eden's hands turned dark like the demons and he slashed at them once producing 5 distinct waves of power like an energy blast at the Demons.

Bang!

The Demons were knocked back easily from this but were not so easily killed. There was something wrong since even with this Dark Element move, even Demons would be killed instantly by it.

“Holy Bolt!”

Alexandra struck the Demon Bull with her Holy Spell but for some reason, it was not effective on it at all. The Holy Element was one of the greatest weaknesses that a Demon may have but yet...

“In that case!” Alexandra was not that overly suspicious of things and took out a so-so sword to use and slashed multiple times at the demons around her into pieces like beams of light were coming out of her hands.

Demon Bears, Deers and other mutations of these variants that surrounded Alexandra were chopped into pieces without mercy.

After the chopping, the three of them fell back onto each other.

“Dark Element stuff doesn't work for some reason even with my power” said Eden.

“Is that strange?” asked the knight since Demons were normal of the dark element so it was natural for them to be strong against it.

“Yeah...usually something of a Demon Lord level can be completely immune to it but these guys are certainly not Demon Lords at all. Were they produced directly from the Demon King and therefore carry it's characteristics?”

“Perhaps, Holy spells don't seem to work but chopping them works fine as normal” added Alexandra.

“In that case....” Eden looked around and the Demons completely surrounded them on all sides. But they were not afraid at all since all three of them including the knight went through worst and lived through them.

“We just have to do this the old fashion way.”

The three moved and attacked the Demons in three different directions at once.

“Lightning Strike!” Shouted Eden sending out a shockwave of lightning from his body into a Demon near him overcharging it to the point that it exploded into pieces. He dodged several attacks immediately like he was using short range teleportation and took out his replica Divine Sword since the original was too strong to use normally at this point.

“Heaven Slash!”

Eden slashed and a bunch of Demons were killed.

On the other hand, Alexandra didn't even bother to use skills or spells and was simply using pure swordplay to completely dominate her enemies to the point that her sword that was actually a good quality one for level 400s to use broke into pieces in her hands.

“Damn, that was a good sword!” complained Alexandra kicking the Demons and throwing punches instead still taking them down rapidly.

The knight too used it's powers to deal with demons around it in it's own way.

“Sword #5: Light Slasher!” The knight drew a sword from another dimension and slashed at the Demons spitting them into pieces. Some Demons tried to attack from behind but the knight immediately noticed and reacted in kind.

“Sword #15 Sword #53”

Two more swords appeared in which the knight grabbed and cut down the demons with ease. A mere minute passed and the three more or less cleared out the demons except for the large Demon Bull that watched from afar.

“Another coward type commander eh?” said Alexandra looking at it weaponless right now.

She drew her hands with light and white flames.

“Arrow of Judgement.”

And the arrow of white flame flew piercing both wings that allowed it to fly in the air causing it to fall to the ground. Seeing this, Eden moved under it and simply stabbed it using his sword from beneath.

“You're not allowed to die in such a loud way; you'll disturb the new brats in their own fight” said Eden gently as he sent his energy into the Demon Bull literally cooking it from the inside out while it was still alive before killing it just before it could scream.

“Hmp!”

Eden threw the body onto the pile of the other Demons and looked with disinterest.

That was more or less what happened on the other side of things.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Later that day...when it became night....once again; the party went ahead and set up camp for the night. Of course this was for the benefit of the new recruits that Eden even suggested this to begin with and also so he could get some shut eye for a little while longer.

As always...Alexandra was in charge of cooking the food that they had. Two weeks into the trip and for some reason over half the food that they had brought as supplies disappeared.

“At this rate, we will starve to death. We better collect some food from the area soon” muttered Eden grabbing onto the large piece of meat that Alexandra just cooked.

For some reason the meat was pure black and had black dripping from it....

“Yuck! What the hell is....don't tell me...YOU COOKED DEMON MEAT?!” shouted Eden in anger at Alexandra who only made a 'tee hee' face back at him.

Eden frantically looked at the group whom were about to eat and immediately snatched away the food from their hands.

“NEVER ever eat Demons meat okay. Trust me, you would rather die a hundred times than to taste it” Eden said very serious.

Whack!

He then hit Alexandra in the head and said in anger, “Feeding them demon meat....this can't even be considered a joke anymore.” His killing intent spilled out without end towards Alexandra.

“If you eat Demon Meat without proper strength then it will kill you...over and over again to the point that it would be the same as deleting your avatar. At this point you all have a 100% chance of losing your avatars thanks to this.”

“....”

The group could only thank Eden for his act of saving them since it allowed them to keep their characters and not waste another few months getting back to this point once again.

“Honestly....please try to restrain yourself when your bored....” plead Eden since he can't always keep an eye on Alexandra to protect everyone around her.

“Don't worry so much, I already used detoxification on the meat so even if they ate it, it wouldn't do anything at all” replied Alexandra reassuring Eden.

“....”

Eden stared at Alexandra.

“That doesn't change the fact that it taste horrible.”

Alexandra smiled and said, “And that is why it actually boosts the effects of the food you eat later. Quite useful for a cook to increase her abilities using this method though many people won't even eat anything you make afterwards if you use this method so...” she looked away a bit embarrassed at the end.

Eden went over and pulled her cheeks saying, “So you decided to use me as an experiment since it was really disgusting?!” in an annoyed voice rather than an angry one. It seems that Eden developed a reaction to calm down quickly over the years else his temper would always be bad.

He sighed and said, “Next time...tell me when you do these kinds of things. That way I can at least prepare myself.”

“Okay honey~” replied Alexandra cheerfully. Those listening did not know whether she was happy to have a willing test subject to her Demon Cooking skills or because Eden accepted that role.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Weeks and months passed with a total of 10 different battles occurring. The group gained a total of 3 levels thanks to these 10 battles and were all now over level 60. They were more or less a bit stronger than before even if their skill proficiencies did not increase that much in those 10 battles along the way which gradually got harder and harder.

First it was simply the Demon Wolves that were left to them, then there were Demon Bears, Demon Ants and so on that were adding onto their plate. At the end they alone faced a total of 20 enemies at once; all of which were strong and made it out alive.

However the most pressing thing was right in front of them.

Mountains lined up next to get other from the left to right.

“This is the Dragon Crossing Mountains” explained Eden, “A fair chunk of the Western Continent is taken up by these mountains. However not many live here since....well Dragons. It is also here that the Demon King we need to kill made his home.”

The Knight looked at the mountains and simply went ahead without a word. The group seeing that it was their duty to go with the knight immediately followed.

Eden and Alexandra on the other hand stayed near the back talking to each other without the group knowing.

“Hey....you seem a bit off since a while back even back to when we were still at the city” said Eden looking a tiny bit concern of Alexandra.

“What? Don't worry about it” Alexandra tried to give a cheerful smile but it came up sad looking.

“Just tell me already. Haven't we literally been through several Hells and back? I more or less get what you are feeling either way.”

Alexandra let out a small laugh and replied, “Then why don't you tell me what I'm thinking?” taunting him.

Eden without a care said, “Don't know, don't really care. A woman's mind you something a guy cannot understand no matter how long.”

“....”

Alexandra stared in disbelief for a while and then let out a small grin nudging Eden.

“Those words means nothing when you are prettier than most women in the first place.”

Eden raised his eyebrow a bit annoyed by that statement. It was something that he would never get used to no matter how long he lived.

“Does that include you?”

“Of course not.” She let out a small 'hmp' telling him that such a thing will never happen as long as she was alive and well.

“Then tell me already, I can't read your deepest thoughts you know” Eden sighed since the conversation was going in circles again. The two silently walked together for a while and Alexandra let out her thoughts to him just this once in all their time together.

“It's....so close to the end now” she finally said.

Hearing this, Eden sighed in almost relief since she seems a bit more normal now. They who had no past besides of this game called Royal Road could not be anything but normal to other people. This was their home, their whole world in fact for already so long.

“You do know that we have a few more years....several decades more here?” asked Eden thinking that Alexandra forgot about this fact.

“Compared to what happened before in the past....what's to come is only a small part of the whole journey.”

“Of course, a journey must have an end someday. And it happens that our...my one came a bit earlier than most....although it is long compared to the NPCs in this game.”

Alexandra looked at Eden sadly and said, “In that case me and Viv are coming with you at the end since things will go wrong without one of us to keep the others in check. We'll always be together” with a smile that only Eden saw a few times before.

Eden laughed it off since he was still a guy and Alexandra was a girl and such a thing would definitely embarrass him in the end. His final words till he and Alexandra caught up to the others sounded like a small prayer.

“It's not like you guys had a choice you know.”

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 9700~

- Yay...actually finished this chapter just 5 mins ago. Don't expect a new chapter anytime soon.

- This was more or less the group getting to the damn place in 3 months. Of course they could level up more in a dungeon with the same amount of time but....this is a Guild Quest so the reward will be worth it in the end.

- So...they have spent 7 months in same right now at the end of this chapter. Planning this series out, I put a time limit of 5 years; 20 years in RR so the group are more or less still at the very beginning and have a lot to do....well I'm making this a long series either way.