CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

New Friends

Sneaky Snek was the leader of the Basilisk guild. What had once begun as a gaggle of friends had swiftly ballooned to one of the new rising stars of the Elseworlds.

That said, they did not have the best track record. After a humiliating defeat at the hands of Legacy in addition to the failure of White City, their reputation had taken quite a hit. Thus the influx of guild applications had slowed, and Snek was at a complete Loss as to how to remedy it.

However, his salvation came in the form of a disgruntled officer who informed him that an unlikely duo were seeking his services.

"Our scouts had confirmed it. There is something hidden under the Eastport warehouse."

They were all seated around the largest table in the Wandering Eye. It was expensive, but as a somewhat prestigious guild leader, appearances must be made.

Seated beside him were but a couple of his trusted officers. Viper, a red-skinned femme fatale who specialized in poisons. Python, a great warrior with a trusty Warhammer. And Toby, whose name nobody could seem to remember.

Across from him were a paladin and a mage who were previously present at the White Chapel disaster.

Of course, the mage was of no import, however, the paladin was definitely strong enough to contend with one of his officers. Which begs the question, why were the two of them together?

'Tch. Damn couples.'

Snek cried a little in his heart.

"It seems your information is good. So what do you want in exchange?" Viper supplied. As the guild administrative and diplomatic officer, she dealt with all interactions between the guild as a whole and other players.

Here scale slits briefly snapped shut over her eyes as she threw the ball into their court. If they had simple monetary requests, then they could be filled without a problem. Naturally, they would not cheat them, as the two of them were guildless and highly desirable to the rapidly expanding Basilisk guild.

Removing the straw from his mouth, Pale put forth his terms.

"We want nothing. To be frank, one of our friends is also trapped in there, and we would very much like to get her out."

"So you are using us, to help your friend?" Toby interjected. Toby was never the most charismatic person and he and Pale did not exactly have the best first impressions of one another.

"We are helping each other." Pale emphasized on the 'each other' part. "After all, I would imagine the title of 'Savior of White City, would be much to your taste."

"That is true, but there is no concrete reward for doing so," Python grunted. "There is no quest, no promise of treasure. Now I'm not against volunteer work, but I do like getting paid for my efforts."

"What Python means to say is that our guild is currently going through a very fragile period. We are expanding yes, but there are dozens of others doing the exact same thing. At the moment, the average player level is weaker than a generic NPC, and if we were to all get wiped out during the battle, we might have a hard time retaining new recruits."Viper explained.

"Yes, it is a gamble." Pale agreed. "But I can assure you that there are treasures to be had and that the opposing force is not as strong as you think."

"Oh?" Viper tilted her head in curiosity. "And how do you know that?"

"Remember that friend? She has already gotten a full layout of the area. The numbers of enemies, their general strength Not to mention a map of the facilities. You would be able to engage in a fight with all the advantages."

"Except level. Very well. Before you had my interest, but now you have my full attention. What will we be facing?" Viper asked.

"Let me see." Pale flipped through his adventurer's journal and began reciting. "At least Fifty enemies from levels 90 to 150, Not including one boss which probably surpasses level 250 in addition to twenty corrupted knights, all of whom surpass level ninety. Of course all these numbers are just estimations."

"See? What did I tell you! It's a suicide mission." Python complained. To be honest, he had always been apart of the 'grind to the death' club and was not a fan of questing. Especially one without concrete rewards.

"I'm going to have to agree with Python on this one. Even if we mobilized the entire guild, we would be able to take down at most ten of the weaker enemies." Viper shook her head. It would seem this entire thing was a wash.

"Didn't you mobilize a bunch of beginners for the last raid you did? Whats to stop you from doing it again?" Pale clasped his hands over his knee, clearly unperturbed by their refusal. After all, these people were probably not 'that' stupid.

"Yes, and it backfired horribly on us, else we would have already taken full control of this area by now." Viper acknowledged the mistake. "Besides, even if we could convince the general masses to join with us once more, why should they? The quest ban has already been lifted in Baracus. There is no stick to prod them into action."

"If you don't have the stick then just offer them the carrot. Broadcast the raid, and offer one thousand gold pieces to each party that ends up taking down an enemy."

"Are you crazy? We don't have that kind of money?!" Toby shouted. Assuming they were successful, that would be a full seventy-one thousand gold coins.

"Of course you don't. And you won't be expected to pay it."

"And ruin the trust between our guild and the general users? That's public relations suicide." Viper sighed. Was this man an idiot? Or was he just another of those arrogant adventurer's who never took the time to think of the repercussions of one's actions.

"No. No. You misunderstand me. I'm saying you won't have to pay since none of the users would succeed. Actually, let's talk numbers first. How many general users are within the vicinity of Baracus at any one time."

"About ten thousand." Viper supplied.

"And what is the average level of those ten thousand."

"About fourteen."

"Good. Now even if we were to gain the support of all ten thousand players, would they be able to break through a group of almost one hundred level ninety NPCs."

"..."

"The answer is no. Perhaps if the NPCs were alone and isolated and the users moved as a single unit, we would be able to, but it would foolish to assume a ragtag bunch of users could possibly work together."

"So what is your suggestion?" Viper slithered, obviously interested in where this was going.

"We use them as a diversion." Pale slammed his adventurer's journal down onto the table and flipped to a page where there was a very crudely drawn out map.

"As you can clearly see, the facility is not large. And most of the enemies convene in this location, here." Pale pointed towards the innermost area on the map. "If we were to send an army coming at them from the front, most of the hostiles would move to intercept them, while we push a small elite force through the back."

"And in doing so, completely wipe out the users. Both them and their trust in us."

"That's why you can give them a consolation prize of 1 gold each for their trouble. As long as you succeed, you can recoup those losses easily." Pale pushed.

"But, that if we end up running into any lv 90 enemies, we are done. So I don't understand what you're trying to do." Python growled.

"Simple. Save Road, in addition to the numerous knights and citizens locked up within the facility. Although we have a general location for Road, the location of the rest of the hostages is unknown. However, should we free them, we can cause a sudden reversal in the situation"

"..." The three officers of Basilisk each took turns looking at one another before convening their gazes at Snek. Naturally, he would be the one to make the final call after Pale had laid down all his chips down on the table.

"After..." Snek started. "this raid, I would be very interested in meeting your friend. You know, the one who is trapped down there."

"Does that mean you'll help?"

"I will think about it. Such a decision can not be made on the spur of the moment, however, I thank you for your input. Toby, pay the man."

"That's more than alright." Pale started as Toby began to rifle through his inventory with a dirty look in his eye.

However, Pale's refusal was ignored completely as a heavy spiked ball on a stick was dumped onto the table before him.

The Boom Stick (Single Use)

Req: 15 STR

Attack: 10-50

Explosion Damage: 100-500

Launches a spiked projectile which explodes on impact. Must be recharged after each use.

"Unfortunately I'm going to have to insist. In the event that we reach a collaboration, we will require your aid in coordinating the masses." Snek stated. "Not to mention, you would be doing me a favor. This weapon is the latest creation of a talented smith of ours, and we would most appreciate it if you helped us with testing it out."

"Well in that case, how can we refuse?" Pale raised his mug in a toast.

"To new friends?"

Python and Toby froze, however, Snek, Viper, and Dawn rose their glasses in kind.

"To new friends."

"I don't like him."

Toby complained as the four members of Basilisk left the tavern. Snek had already issued an emergency meeting for all of the regular guild members. They were to convene near the city outskirts to decide the next course of action.

After all, this was not a dictatorship, and Snek welcomed the input of all his members, especially for a decision as vital as this.

As the rewards for such a mission were unclear, he wasn't completely comfortable gambling with the lives of his men. At the very least, he wanted their consent first.

There was also the issue with Dawn and Pale. Whether it be Pale's calm demeanor and Dawn's strength, both had highly desirable qualities, and he suspected that they would contribute greatly to Basilisk's strength should they ever take leadership roles.

Of course, that would be a discussion left for after the raid.

"Calm down Toby. They haven't done anything to warrant our suspicion." Viper soothed the dull-faced archer. Of course, she didn't decide on the name of Viper due to her trusting nature, but she also wasn't going to discriminate against a couple players due to a lack of evidence.

"But they are! Don't you wonder why they have a person inside such a secret operation? Don't you wonder why they didn't ask for payment? It's a setup. A setup I tell you." Toby wiped away the bits of drool leaking down his face. The whole feeling gave the feeling of being a sham.

"Junior Officer Toby. That is enough. Yes, it does seem suspicious, but what could they possibly be planning?"

"I-I don't know, but it can't be anything good. We're the ones taking the risk here. We're the ones with everything to lose. I-I don't think we should do it." Toby's voice was jittery as he began mouthing off machine gun style.

The shadow of the outer city gates cast a dark patch over the party as they walked silently in contemplation.

"Ninia! Ninia would understand me. She would never--"

"Ninia is off dungeon diving with the main group. And she is not the leader of the guild. Snek is. And we do it his way." Viper hissed, feeling mildly irked at Toby's paranoia.

"Enough! We will discuss this with the rest of the guild. If the information Pale provided was correct, then we have at most three days to save Road. That is barely enough time to assemble the raiding party and to gather volunteers." Snek interjected. His temple throbbed as he felt a migraine coming through.

Would it be worth it? Even with the full power of the Basilisk guild, they barely had ten users that exceeded level sixty. To take down but one of the weakest grunts would require their combined efforts.

Perhaps if they could take down each monster one at a time, then such a task would be doable, but for some odd reason, the Elseworlds favored the zerg strategy the most. In a typical dungeon, unless the other monsters were preoccupied, then the moment a party steps in, they would be assaulted by a nonstop barrage of NPCs.

Of course, it wasn't always like this. The monster AI prior to the purge of heroes had actually been very vanilla, with each monster calmly waiting to get beaten up by a party of heroes.

However, after the death of Koro under the swarms of low-level beginner's, it seemed that monsters all around the world began to copy such a tactic.

Not only that, but the average humanoid NPC normally had better-fighting skills than the average player, hence the disparity increased even more. If not for party play and individual level tactics, many players would end up facing unsurmountable walls when going out to grind.

"If only Ninia and Cobra were here..." Toby whined while Snek wracked his brain in potential strategies.

Actually, wait! If they were to recruit a bunch of beginners before sending them to their deaths, then there was, in fact, one option. The Basilisk guild's trump card.

However such a card had remained a firm secret, as once used, they would either have to win or lose the card forever. For a currently expanding Basilisk guild, that was not a risk they had been willing to take. Even as they were getting smashed to pieces by the Legacy guild, they had not once moved their trump card.

However, for this one situation, perhaps it would be finally time to use it.

Snek bit his thumb and watched the virtual blood slowly dribble down his hand.

There were just too many variables.

"Excuse me, are you Snek, the leader of the Basilisk guild?" A voice broke through Snek's thoughts as he looked up with a start.

On a sad dirt trail, there were two figures. One of which was playing with a small blue bird while the other blocked their way. The voice that spoke was surprisingly feminine but still carried the aura of maturity.

"Yes, I am he?" Snek answered, confused. Was this a beginner? Perhaps a fan? He had received quite a few views on his latest hunting videos. Perhaps they were interested in joining the guild?

"Oh good. Love your work. But I have a small request." There was the screeching sound of metal as the figure withdrew a double bladed bone ax from within the folds of her cloak. Decorated between the two blades was a skeever's skull, its empty eye sockets were bloody and menacing.

"Oh, so it's like that." Python sighed as he withdrew his own iron warhammer. As a relatively famous guild leader, Snek would always get challenges from people looking for instant fame and glory.

Of course, most of those people were weaker than himself, as only a few rankers were even his match in combat prowess. That said, the continuous challenges while exciting at first, had long lost their appeal. Instead, he allowed Python to handle them.

"Send me a duel request. I'll fight you in the leader's stead." Python grumbled. His voice reminiscent of boulders crumbling. Although, that might also be due to the fact that Python was a mountain person and his entire body was rather rocky.

"Oh, no need. After all, you will all be dying here today." The woman removed her cowl, revealing the kind and gentle face of a middle-aged woman. Her silver hair was cropped short, and she had opaque white scales arranged neatly around her olive green face.

To Snek, she looked very familiar, while he couldn't exactly place where he last saw her.

Nonetheless, Python laughed at the woman's audacity as he looked to either side. The four of them were all rankers, veritable supermen compared to the general masses.

Although it seemed as though the middle-aged woman was a ranker as well, there was absolutely no way she could take on four of them at once. Not that they would do something as lame as ganging up on her.

After all, women were women. No matter how enthusiastic they were at the game, there was no way they would ever be a match for someone as battle-hardened as Python, who spent most of his game life slaying monsters in dungeons.

"Pfft...Let me tell you this lady. You might not know who we are, but we...*Shiik*" While Python was going to give the woman one last chance to apologize, his words suddenly caught in his throat as the double-headed war ax disappeared from the woman's arms and buried itself down his shoulder.

"You Dare?!!" Python roared as he ran towards the woman. Despite such grievous injuries, this was a game. And his health was far from emptying out. Not to mention, the woman initiated the first attack so there would be no penalty if he were to slay her now.

Coupled with the weapon in her shoulder, she had no way of defending herself as he viciously swung down with the warhammer.

"Python Wait!!"

However, by the time Viper called out for Python, it was far too late. Cooly plucking the weapon's handle from Python's body, the woman spun and did a swift reverse slash.

*...Plop*

Even as the hammer swung down onto thin air, the rest of the user's body buckled and collapsed onto the ground. As for Python's head, it had flown off and landed prone just a few meters away.

It had taken but a second, but one of their strongest members were dead.

The resulting slash had blown off the woman's cloak, revealing an ostentatious set of bone armor risquely exposing copious amounts of skin.

Even as the rest of the Basilisk guild member's looked on in horror, the user's name quickly became apparent to all, as it was drenched in the blood red color of infamy.

"It's Legacy!"

*Thud*

Toby barely had time to scream out in surprise before the top half of his face was severed from his body.

"Hehehe." The middle-aged woman had a girlish laugh, even as she whirled her axe, splattering blood everywhere.

"Viper!" Snek roared as he pushed his last officer to the side, catching the next blow with his chain sword.

His arms trembled and his feet sunk into the ground, but he managed to ward off the attack.

'She's not fast?'

Snek quickly realized as he parried another swing. Each attack by that axe was vicious to be sure, but her movements were readable. If they hadn't been surprised by Python's sudden death, they could have easily coordinated to bring her down.

"Viper! She's not fast! She's not--" His voice caught in his throat as he momentarily glanced over to Viper.

"B-Boss..." Viper's words were weak as she struggled against her assailant. Caught in a deadly chokehold, Viper snarled and kicked but was unable to break free as the life was being squeezed out of her by...herself?

That's right, her assailant had red skin, white hair and apart from the clothes, was an exact carbon copy of the Basilisk guild officer. However, even as Snek looked on in confusion, another heavy axe blow rained down on his sword. The axe's owner unyielding even as Snek attempted to put some distance between them.

Immediately his chain sword coiled within itself before exploding outwards in a spiral pattern around Snek. The numerous chain blades sliced open the ground and sent specks of dust flying into the air.

As the woman retreated against the frenzied blow, Snek decided to bank everything on one final attack.

The blade retracted once more and Snek's arm surged with power. He could feel the thrum of the energy balled up within his fist, just waiting to be released.

With a heavy thrust, his sword screamed as the tip of the blade momentarily exceeded the speed of sound, a roaring missile capable of demolishing everything that stood in its way.

However, it seemed that the woman cared none for that, for the moment the sword point struck towards her, she merely batted it away with the flat of her axe, completely dissipating the momentum of the attack.

"...!"

Snek didn't even have the chance to gasp before the woman swiftly brought the full might of her axe across his chest. The spray of blood rained over the grinning woman. Even as it dripped into her eyes, staining her irises red, she still laughed that childish laugh.

"Hehe"

The next second? He was falling. His limbs have lost all their strength. Through his blurred eyes, he could see Viper moving no more, and her killer transformed into someone else. He wanted to speak but found himself unable. And even as he looked up at the face of his killer, a fearful realization swept over him.

'She hadn't even used a skill once.'

"...Hehe."

...

As Snek finally succumbed to the sweet abyss, a couple stalkers finally made their appearance! They were dressed in cheap armor with iron full helms to cover their faces.

Pale whistled. Dawn had said that there would be a surprise coming after the meeting, but he wasn't quite sure what it was.

This. This was a surprise. Not necessarily a good surprise, but still a surprise.

"Hey... We should be safe right? Pale murmured nervously as the two newcomers turned their gazes towards them. After wiping the floor with the Basilisk guild, they had turned their blades onto any witnesses nearby.

Suffice to say, the grounds but a mere few hundred feet outside the city were completely littered with corpses. Whether it be beginners who just started the game, pseudo beginners like Pale, or veterans like the Basilisk guild, absolutely no one was safe.

In the end, the middle-aged woman who did most of the killing started making her way leisurely towards the two of them. Her strides were calm and collected, her face bright, as if completely oblivious to the rivers of blood (not her own) flowing down her armor.

"Haha, Dawn? She's getting closer. Dawn?"

Dawn who had been silent this whole time remained stoic as she waited for them. After drawing her favored sword, she rested it carefully against her collarbone, waiting for their arrival.

"Should I take out a weapon too?"

Seeing that he wasn't getting an answer, Pale pulled out the boomstick. Although he was sure that Dawn would never do anything to hurt him...well, kill him, the sight of countless newbie slaughter was a bit tough for his heart. At the very least, if Dawn was being suicidal, he would at least go down with her fighting.

Dawn felt quite smug over Pale's little freakout.

"Why hello there young man." The middle-aged woman bared her teeth.

"Hello there... young lady." The moment the words escaped his lips, all parties present turned to look at Pale as if he were an idiot. "Erm. Ma'am."

Smooth move Pale.

"A bit awkward. Not what I expected out of you." The woman said pointedly at Dawn.

"Nana!" Dawn bloomed into a smile as she embraced the middle-aged woman.

"Nana?"

The middle-aged woman shot a glare at Pale. "And rude too. Dawn, you should really get better taste in men."

"Bu--" Pale began.

"Hush child. The women are speaking. Tch. Kids these days."

"..."

Okay. So there were few things less infuriating than an old lady rolling her eyes at you. Pale wasn't quite sure what those things were, but he would probably think of something eventually.

"He wouldn't be my first choice, but you know the saying. You can't pick who your friends are." Dawn smiled and stripped off her cumbersome metal plate armor.

"Oh? You have friends now. That's new."

"Nana!"

"I joke. I joke. Come, let us introduce our boys." The middle-aged woman pulled over her partner which had Dawn and Pale staring at his face in confusion.

Mostly because he had no face. And it wasn't Dawn's level of having no face. It was more like it was censored. A whole mix-mash of different skin color pallettes blocked out any distinguishable features.

"Ah, don't mind that, he's a doppelganger. Anyways, go on, introduce yourself!"

The blurred out censored face suddenly froze as an inky black color started to spread over his skin. From his face, came a low feral growl.

"I...am the sound of silence. The reaper of the dark. The devil once whispered to me, 'You'll never withstand the storm', and I told the devil, 'I am the storm'."

"Okay, just your name please."

"This humble personage is known as Myomoto Darkblade. Sound Ninja extraordinaire!"

"..."

"..."

"You know, frankly, I'm not even surprised," Pale whispered perhaps a bit too loudly to Dawn as once again, all eyes fell upon him. "Um. I'm Pale Storm. A friend of Dawn. I burn things."

"I am...you." Darkblade's face morphed into a perfect facsimile of Pale's.

"You are not me."

"That's right because I am better than you in every way."

"Yeah? Can you do this?" Pale snapped his fingers and a string of green flame orbs began to coalesce around his hands.

"Psh. I have no need for parlor tricks, for I already ventured into the dragon's den."

"Oh? You know fire spells too?" Dawn asked with interest.

"No, I just have chlamydia."

"Oh...Okay then." Dawn was normally all for making new friends. Especially one sent by her uncle. But...perhaps it would be better to keep to what she knew and just stick with Pale.

Finally, the middle-aged woman stepped up. Her dragon scales glistened brilliantly and she offered a hand to Pale. "As for me. I am Hellsinger. A Halfblood Berzerker.”

Although he had just witnessed her slaughtering a bunch of noobs, hearing her class made Pale widen his eyes in astonishment. A berserker was a class that was reserved for gruff men and gruffer life forms such as mini giants or taurens. As such classes had bonuses in their constitution and vitality, they synergized well with berserker type classes which improved damage and attack speed as the fight drew on.

For a dainty old woman to choose such a class, there could be only one reason. It was also fortunate that she was not born a man, lest she be weighed down by dem massive balls.

“I used to babysit Dawn when I was a teenager, and I swear to you. If you ever do anything to hurt my baby girl, I'm coming for you."

"Oh...Dawn and I aren't actually a couple.." Pale sucked in a breath as he felt his palm being crushed in the vice that was Hellinger's grip.

"What did I just say?"

"I mean. Yes, ma'am." As so as he acquiesced, Hellsinger released his hand and patted him twice on the cheek.

"That's a good boy." Hellsinger then popped a small round red pill. After which the red aura of infamy that had previously covered her dissipated into a fine mist, before disappearing entirely.

"Well, I don't know about you all, but I could use a drink. You two lead the way. I'll be paying." Hellsinger said generously. In the game, it was actually possible to get drunk. However, Dawn and Pale had already undergone a drinking session with the Basilisk guild. That was before they all got slaughtered and they were feeling rather tipsy right now.

"Oh, there's this great tavern. We can show you, but we're just finished having a drink."

"Boi?!" Hellsinger curtly cut him off. Her stern tone brook no argument. Coupled with her bloody axe and wolfish demeanor, Pale who was normally quite deadpan could not help but be cowed.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"We're drinking together."

"Yes ma'am" ;(

"Thanks, Nana." Dawn beamed brightly. For some odd reason, she was feeling an indescribable pleasure right now. Was it sadism? Malice? Whatever the case, she couldn't wait to introduce her Nana to Roari.