Chapter 148: Darkness in a Different Light
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Chapter 148: Darkness in a Different Light
Dr1fter walked calmly towards the last survivor from a group of five [Karma] Guild members. His sword was raised imperiously towards their throat, as he corralled them unhurriedly towards a large boulder behind them.
His target, named [LuckC], scattered desperately backwards, falling over himself yet still staring at the white sword pointing towards him as if mesmerised.
On reaching the boulder, LuckyC felt its cold, blunt stone against his back, and looked from side to side wildly trying to find a way out. However, Hashin members had formed a funnel shape across both sides, and he had nowhere to go except straight towards where Dr1fter was approaching.
LuckyC tried to make a desperate break to his right, raising his sword threateningly as he attempted to dodge past ImpalerVladislav, but a phalanx of swords rose in his way and he backed off instinctively. Retreating, he felt a freezing hand grab his left shoulder, and looked around to see Dr1fter preparing to behead him.
Raising his sword in a hopeless attempt at defence, he found his sword deflected down by the boulder, and Dr1fter's sword cut easily through the back of his neck.
Dr1fter sighed, and let go of LuckC's body, allowing it to fall to the ground.
"Alright," he said, "that was all the biggest [Karma] players. Small Guild, no? Many members, small talent. So, what Guild do we target next?"
"Why not [Erasure]?" Jin suggested.
"They're busy fighting [Stranded]," Immisera chimed in, with her typical, hyperactive voice, "so if we kill them, then it will make [Stranded] stronger. Instead, we should let them both weaken each other."
"Exactly," Dr1fter said, smiling. "We should hold off from getting involved there yet. Immy, you're getting too reasonable now, you scare me sometimes. Before you were just a little gossip."
"I guess you're rubbing off on me."
"Maybe." He turned to the rest of the group. "Anyway, the members of [MountainHome] have holed up in a building just off from the centre. They were a large PvE Guild, but they've had many losses, members of both [Stranded] and [Erasure] started picking them off in the middle. Let's deal with them now they're weak."
He set off towards the central plains, not waiting for a reply. The other members followed obediently.
"Where did Maroc's group go, by the way?" Jin said.
"Oh, they got killed, trapped against the mountain-side and surrounded by [Stranded]," Dr1fter said. "We could have tried saving them, but the crowd around them was too big, would have been risky. They went too close to the main battle, maybe too enthusiastic."
"Wasn't Mino a named player? Does that mean he's gone for good?"
"Yes, he was actually a big whale! But didn't put it to good use. Anyway, too late to worry, let's go."
[MinoTroy] had always been passive-aggressive towards Dr1fter, and implied that Awdimir would make a better leader. As such, Dr1fter was considerably more cold in talking about him than Jin, who had been friends with him.
As the Hashin group headed off towards a large, white building resembling the Parthenon, Dr1fter suddenly raised a hand to stop them.
"Wait, there is something odd," he said. "Someone is here."
The group went silent, and heard the faint sound of foosteps from inside a large rock beside them.
Soon, a large group of fifteen [Mannequin] players emerged, running out from a small hole below the opposite side of the rock.
"An underground tunnel, they set an ambush," Dr1fter said, matter-of-factly. "Alright, get ready. They think they will be the first to attack, but we will charge them instead."
"Who are these guys, what's their problem with us?" Immisera asked tensely.
"Another Northern Guild, I killed their leader earlier, now they have it out for us."
"Alright, leave them up to me."
As the Mannequin players ran forwards to attack, the Hashin surprised them by surging in to attack first.
Immisera's group was the first to reach, flanking the Mannequin players and drifting further to attack from the rear. While Immisera's swordwork was fairly crude, she made the most of her adrenaline rush and cannoned into the Mannequin group like lightning. She chained a series of fierce, dangerous attacks towards the upper body, with her occasional, sturdy blocks just a brief delay in the sequence of attacks.
"Hm. Be honest, you like me, don't you? You just don't want to say it." She pursed her lips in mock-frustration.
"Next question."
"Oh, be that way. So what was that red glow around you? It was really flash, but you wouldn't just do it for style, eh?"
"Oh, that's a more interesting question. I only figured it out a few hours ago. It is an item, paywall, called the [World Emperor's Coin], at first I thought it was only for enhancing goldsmithing tradeskill. But, in fights, it will lower the Strength and Constitution of enemies in nearby range. It made it easier to force a way through."
Immisera had been drifting off, and hadn't really listened to most of that. "Oh, that's great! I don't think I have that coin, I bet it's expensive. Most of the stuff you have is for, like, thousands or millions of dollars. I'm envious!"
"Uh huh. By the way, will your little brother show up in this event? It could be dangerous for him."
"No, he's only level, um... 30-something," she said, waving her hand high next to her face to indicate that she knew that she sounded like an airhead. "That's all thanks to you, obviously. But he'll be fine, he's probably just sleeping."
"Alright. Anyway, enough chit-chat. This is not one of the crappy slice-of-life animes you are a fan of. Let's go to the building up ahead now."
Immisera made a couple of half-hearted shows of stepping away, but kept her back bent until she fell snugly back into his arms again. Finally, after turning her head to give an indignant look, she took a few steps forwards and prepared for the journey.
As the group began to walk, Jin suddenly looked up from his Guild chat and turned to Dr1fter. "Have you heard what happened to Awdimir?"
"Oh? Yes, didn't he fall from a height and get an injury? I think he has mentioned it," Dr1fter said. "I asked him to join up with us, but he says he's fine."
"Ah, okay, his team-mate says he's in pain, and has to stay at ground level because climbing hurts him."
Dr1fter laughed. "Yes, that is very interesting. I think Awdimir would not like us to know that, now his team-mate will get a hard slap!"
"Why does Awdimir hate your guys so much?" Vladislav asked.
To the left, Immisera had tilted her head as she avidly listened in on the conversation. Like most of the Guild, she was fond of Awdimir, whom she liked because he was not only strong but helpful and swashbuckling, not authoritarian and dry like Dr1fter. She was curious about his condition, and disappointed that he wouldn't be joining up with them.
"He doesn't," Dr1fter replied to Vladislav, not entirely honestly. "It's complex, alright?"
Before entering the building, Vladislav alerted Dr1fter to a [MountainHome] player who was returning to the back of the building to report on the situation on the central plains. He didn't seem to have noticed them yet, since he was in a rush to get away from the danger of the crowded central plains.
Dr1fter and Vladislav quickly approached this player, unamusingly named [AliceInCranes], taking him by surprise as they turned the corner. Dr1fter immediately caught him in a [Chokehold] as Vladislav muffled him with a black rag. The player reached for his sword, but a quick slash from Dr1fter took his arm off.
Dr1fter then lifted AliceInCranes' shoulder high and forced him down with [Suppression], while Vladislav kept the rag high up the player's throat to keep him quiet.
"Excuse me, please show us the backdoor of this building," Dr1fter said, raising his sword to the player's neck.
However, there was no response.
Dr1fter began slowly cutting through the player's nose instead, carefully splitting it off from the face. The player cried out, and began to gesture towards the back door while fumbling for a key.
Soon, he had shown them into the door, where only two [MountainHome] players stood guard a short distance away. After stabbing AliceInCranes through the heart, Dr1fter tossed the corpse aside and rushed in.
Jin, Vladislav, and Immisera followed, and the group quickly overwhelmed the two guards.
The guards had seemed surprised that enemies had entered, since the only way through the back door was to have the keys, which dropped rarely from humanoid monsters inside the building. A few [MountainHome] players had won this during the process of clearing out the building, but other Guilds were unlikely to have it.
Dr1fter used Guild chat to keep in contact with the larger group of DeathGang. His plan was to swarm in through the entrance, spreading out to force the [MountainHome] players to spread out as well and face that direction. This would allow him and his companions to easily break through the rear and target vulnerable players.
Since [MountainHome] were a PvE Guild not used to combat of this sort, he expected that the fight would be easier in practice than on paper.
Once Hashin started to break in through the front door, the [MountainHome] players quickly began to fold, and Dr1fter rushed forwards to further the rout.
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Chapter 148: Darkness in a Different Light
Dr1fter walked calmly towards the last survivor from a group of five [Karma] Guild members. His sword was raised imperiously towards their throat, as he corralled them unhurriedly towards a large boulder behind them.
His target, named [LuckC], scattered desperately backwards, falling over himself yet still staring at the white sword pointing towards him as if mesmerised.
On reaching the boulder, LuckyC felt its cold, blunt stone against his back, and looked from side to side wildly trying to find a way out. However, Hashin members had formed a funnel shape across both sides, and he had nowhere to go except straight towards where Dr1fter was approaching.
LuckyC tried to make a desperate break to his right, raising his sword threateningly as he attempted to dodge past ImpalerVladislav, but a phalanx of swords rose in his way and he backed off instinctively. Retreating, he felt a freezing hand grab his left shoulder, and looked around to see Dr1fter preparing to behead him.
Raising his sword in a hopeless attempt at defence, he found his sword deflected down by the boulder, and Dr1fter's sword cut easily through the back of his neck.
Dr1fter sighed, and let go of LuckC's body, allowing it to fall to the ground.
"Alright," he said, "that was all the biggest [Karma] players. Small Guild, no? Many members, small talent. So, what Guild do we target next?"
"Why not [Erasure]?" Jin suggested.
"They're busy fighting [Stranded]," Immisera chimed in, with her typical, hyperactive voice, "so if we kill them, then it will make [Stranded] stronger. Instead, we should let them both weaken each other."
"Exactly," Dr1fter said, smiling. "We should hold off from getting involved there yet. Immy, you're getting too reasonable now, you scare me sometimes. Before you were just a little gossip."
"I guess you're rubbing off on me."
"Maybe." He turned to the rest of the group. "Anyway, the members of [MountainHome] have holed up in a building just off from the centre. They were a large PvE Guild, but they've had many losses, members of both [Stranded] and [Erasure] started picking them off in the middle. Let's deal with them now they're weak."
He set off towards the central plains, not waiting for a reply. The other members followed obediently.
"Where did Maroc's group go, by the way?" Jin said.
"Oh, they got killed, trapped against the mountain-side and surrounded by [Stranded]," Dr1fter said. "We could have tried saving them, but the crowd around them was too big, would have been risky. They went too close to the main battle, maybe too enthusiastic."
"Wasn't Mino a named player? Does that mean he's gone for good?"
"Yes, he was actually a big whale! But didn't put it to good use. Anyway, too late to worry, let's go."
[MinoTroy] had always been passive-aggressive towards Dr1fter, and implied that Awdimir would make a better leader. As such, Dr1fter was considerably more cold in talking about him than Jin, who had been friends with him.
As the Hashin group headed off towards a large, white building resembling the Parthenon, Dr1fter suddenly raised a hand to stop them.
"Wait, there is something odd," he said. "Someone is here."
The group went silent, and heard the faint sound of foosteps from inside a large rock beside them.
Soon, a large group of fifteen [Mannequin] players emerged, running out from a small hole below the opposite side of the rock.
"An underground tunnel, they set an ambush," Dr1fter said, matter-of-factly. "Alright, get ready. They think they will be the first to attack, but we will charge them instead."
"Who are these guys, what's their problem with us?" Immisera asked tensely.
"Another Northern Guild, I killed their leader earlier, now they have it out for us."
"Alright, leave them up to me."
As the Mannequin players ran forwards to attack, the Hashin surprised them by surging in to attack first.
Immisera's group was the first to reach, flanking the Mannequin players and drifting further to attack from the rear. While Immisera's swordwork was fairly crude, she made the most of her adrenaline rush and cannoned into the Mannequin group like lightning. She chained a series of fierce, dangerous attacks towards the upper body, with her occasional, sturdy blocks just a brief delay in the sequence of attacks.
"Hm. Be honest, you like me, don't you? You just don't want to say it." She pursed her lips in mock-frustration.
"Next question."
"Oh, be that way. So what was that red glow around you? It was really flash, but you wouldn't just do it for style, eh?"
"Oh, that's a more interesting question. I only figured it out a few hours ago. It is an item, paywall, called the [World Emperor's Coin], at first I thought it was only for enhancing goldsmithing tradeskill. But, in fights, it will lower the Strength and Constitution of enemies in nearby range. It made it easier to force a way through."
Immisera had been drifting off, and hadn't really listened to most of that. "Oh, that's great! I don't think I have that coin, I bet it's expensive. Most of the stuff you have is for, like, thousands or millions of dollars. I'm envious!"
"Uh huh. By the way, will your little brother show up in this event? It could be dangerous for him."
"No, he's only level, um... 30-something," she said, waving her hand high next to her face to indicate that she knew that she sounded like an airhead. "That's all thanks to you, obviously. But he'll be fine, he's probably just sleeping."
"Alright. Anyway, enough chit-chat. This is not one of the crappy slice-of-life animes you are a fan of. Let's go to the building up ahead now."
Immisera made a couple of half-hearted shows of stepping away, but kept her back bent until she fell snugly back into his arms again. Finally, after turning her head to give an indignant look, she took a few steps forwards and prepared for the journey.
As the group began to walk, Jin suddenly looked up from his Guild chat and turned to Dr1fter. "Have you heard what happened to Awdimir?"
"Oh? Yes, didn't he fall from a height and get an injury? I think he has mentioned it," Dr1fter said. "I asked him to join up with us, but he says he's fine."
"Ah, okay, his team-mate says he's in pain, and has to stay at ground level because climbing hurts him."
Dr1fter laughed. "Yes, that is very interesting. I think Awdimir would not like us to know that, now his team-mate will get a hard slap!"
"Why does Awdimir hate your guys so much?" Vladislav asked.
To the left, Immisera had tilted her head as she avidly listened in on the conversation. Like most of the Guild, she was fond of Awdimir, whom she liked because he was not only strong but helpful and swashbuckling, not authoritarian and dry like Dr1fter. She was curious about his condition, and disappointed that he wouldn't be joining up with them.
"He doesn't," Dr1fter replied to Vladislav, not entirely honestly. "It's complex, alright?"
Before entering the building, Vladislav alerted Dr1fter to a [MountainHome] player who was returning to the back of the building to report on the situation on the central plains. He didn't seem to have noticed them yet, since he was in a rush to get away from the danger of the crowded central plains.
Dr1fter and Vladislav quickly approached this player, unamusingly named [AliceInCranes], taking him by surprise as they turned the corner. Dr1fter immediately caught him in a [Chokehold] as Vladislav muffled him with a black rag. The player reached for his sword, but a quick slash from Dr1fter took his arm off.
Dr1fter then lifted AliceInCranes' shoulder high and forced him down with [Suppression], while Vladislav kept the rag high up the player's throat to keep him quiet.
"Excuse me, please show us the backdoor of this building," Dr1fter said, raising his sword to the player's neck.
However, there was no response.
Dr1fter began slowly cutting through the player's nose instead, carefully splitting it off from the face. The player cried out, and began to gesture towards the back door while fumbling for a key.
Soon, he had shown them into the door, where only two [MountainHome] players stood guard a short distance away. After stabbing AliceInCranes through the heart, Dr1fter tossed the corpse aside and rushed in.
Jin, Vladislav, and Immisera followed, and the group quickly overwhelmed the two guards.
The guards had seemed surprised that enemies had entered, since the only way through the back door was to have the keys, which dropped rarely from humanoid monsters inside the building. A few [MountainHome] players had won this during the process of clearing out the building, but other Guilds were unlikely to have it.
Dr1fter used Guild chat to keep in contact with the larger group of DeathGang. His plan was to swarm in through the entrance, spreading out to force the [MountainHome] players to spread out as well and face that direction. This would allow him and his companions to easily break through the rear and target vulnerable players.
Since [MountainHome] were a PvE Guild not used to combat of this sort, he expected that the fight would be easier in practice than on paper.
Once Hashin started to break in through the front door, the [MountainHome] players quickly began to fold, and Dr1fter rushed forwards to further the rout.
Chapter 148: Darkness in a Different LightDr1fter walked calmly towards the last survivor from a group of five Karma Guild members. His sword was raised imperiously towards their throat, as he corralled them unhurriedly towards a large boulder behind them.His target, named LuckC, scattered desperately backwards, falling over himself yet still staring at the white sword pointing towards him as if mesmerised.On reaching the boulder, LuckyC felt its cold, blunt stone against his back, and looked from side to side wildly trying to find a way out. However, Hashin members had formed a funnel shape across both sides, and he had nowhere to go except straight towards where Dr1fter was approaching.LuckyC tried to make a desperate break to his right, raising his sword threateningly as he attempted to dodge past ImpalerVladislav, but a phalanx of swords rose in his way and he backed off instinctively. Retreating, he felt a freezing hand grab his left shoulder, and looked around to see Dr1fter preparing to behead him.Raising his sword in a hopeless attempt at defence, he found his sword deflected down by the boulder, and Dr1fter's sword cut easily through the back of his neck.Dr1fter sighed, and let go of LuckC's body, allowing it to fall to the ground."Alright," he said, "that was all the biggest Karma players. Small Guild, no? Many members, small talent. So, what Guild do we target next?""Why not Erasure?" Jin suggested."They're busy fighting Stranded," Immisera chimed in, with her typical, hyperactive voice, "so if we kill them, then it will make Stranded stronger. Instead, we should let them both weaken each other.""Exactly," Dr1fter said, smiling. "We should hold off from getting involved there yet. Immy, you're getting too reasonable now, you scare me sometimes. Before you were just a little gossip.""I guess you're rubbing off on me.""Maybe." He turned to the rest of the group. "Anyway, the members of MountainHome have holed up in a building just off from the centre. They were a large PvE Guild, but they've had many losses, members of both Stranded and Erasure started picking them off in the middle. Let's deal with them now they're weak."He set off towards the central plains, not waiting for a reply. The other members followed obediently."Where did Maroc's group go, by the way?" Jin said."Oh, they got killed, trapped against the mountain-side and surrounded by Stranded," Dr1fter said. "We could have tried saving them, but the crowd around them was too big, would have been risky. They went too close to the main battle, maybe too enthusiastic.""Wasn't Mino a named player? Does that mean he's gone for good?""Yes, he was actually a big whale! But didn't put it to good use. Anyway, too late to worry, let's go."MinoTroy had always been passive-aggressive towards Dr1fter, and implied that Awdimir would make a better leader. As such, Dr1fter was considerably more cold in talking about him than Jin, who had been friends with him.As the Hashin group headed off towards a large, white building resembling the Parthenon, Dr1fter suddenly raised a hand to stop them."Wait, there is something odd," he said. "Someone is here."The group went silent, and heard the faint sound of foosteps from inside a large rock beside them.Soon, a large group of fifteen Mannequin players emerged, running out from a small hole below the opposite side of the rock."An underground tunnel, they set an ambush," Dr1fter said, matter-of-factly. "Alright, get ready. They think they will be the first to attack, but we will charge them instead.""Who are these guys, what's their problem with us?" Immisera asked tensely."Another Northern Guild, I killed their leader earlier, now they have it out for us.""Alright, leave them up to me."As the Mannequin players ran forwards to attack, the Hashin surprised them by surging in to attack first.Immisera's group was the first to reach, flanking the Mannequin players and drifting further to attack from the rear. While Immisera's swordwork was fairly crude, she made the most of her adrenaline rush and cannoned into the Mannequin group like lightning. She chained a series of fierce, dangerous attacks towards the upper body, with her occasional, sturdy blocks just a brief delay in the sequence of attacks."Hm. Be honest, you like me, don't you? You just don't want to say it." She pursed her lips in mock-frustration."Next question.""Oh, be that way. So what was that red glow around you? It was really flash, but you wouldn't just do it for style, eh?""Oh, that's a more interesting question. I only figured it out a few hours ago. It is an item, paywall, called the World Emperor's Coin, at first I thought it was only for enhancing goldsmithing tradeskill. But, in fights, it will lower the Strength and Constitution of enemies in nearby range. It made it easier to force a way through."Immisera had been drifting off, and hadn't really listened to most of that. "Oh, that's great! I don't think I have that coin, I bet it's expensive. Most of the stuff you have is for, like, thousands or millions of dollars. I'm envious!""Uh huh. By the way, will your little brother show up in this event? It could be dangerous for him.""No, he's only level, um... 30-something," she said, waving her hand high next to her face to indicate that she knew that she sounded like an airhead. "That's all thanks to you, obviously. But he'll be fine, he's probably just sleeping.""Alright. Anyway, enough chit-chat. This is not one of the crappy slice-of-life animes you are a fan of. Let's go to the building up ahead now."Immisera made a couple of half-hearted shows of stepping away, but kept her back bent until she fell snugly back into his arms again. Finally, after turning her head to give an indignant look, she took a few steps forwards and prepared for the journey.As the group began to walk, Jin suddenly looked up from his Guild chat and turned to Dr1fter. "Have you heard what happened to Awdimir?""Oh? Yes, didn't he fall from a height and get an injury? I think he has mentioned it," Dr1fter said. "I asked him to join up with us, but he says he's fine.""Ah, okay, his team-mate says he's in pain, and has to stay at ground level because climbing hurts him."Dr1fter laughed. "Yes, that is very interesting. I think Awdimir would not like us to know that, now his team-mate will get a hard slap!""Why does Awdimir hate your guys so much?" Vladislav asked.To the left, Immisera had tilted her head as she avidly listened in on the conversation. Like most of the Guild, she was fond of Awdimir, whom she liked because he was not only strong but helpful and swashbuckling, not authoritarian and dry like Dr1fter. She was curious about his condition, and disappointed that he wouldn't be joining up with them."He doesn't," Dr1fter replied to Vladislav, not entirely honestly. "It's complex, alright?"Before entering the building, Vladislav alerted Dr1fter to a MountainHome player who was returning to the back of the building to report on the situation on the central plains. He didn't seem to have noticed them yet, since he was in a rush to get away from the danger of the crowded central plains.Dr1fter and Vladislav quickly approached this player, unamusingly named AliceInCranes, taking him by surprise as they turned the corner. Dr1fter immediately caught him in a Chokehold as Vladislav muffled him with a black rag. The player reached for his sword, but a quick slash from Dr1fter took his arm off.Dr1fter then lifted AliceInCranes' shoulder high and forced him down with Suppression, while Vladislav kept the rag high up the player's throat to keep him quiet."Excuse me, please show us the backdoor of this building," Dr1fter said, raising his sword to the player's neck.However, there was no response.Dr1fter began slowly cutting through the player's nose instead, carefully splitting it off from the face. The player cried out, and began to gesture towards the back door while fumbling for a key.Soon, he had shown them into the door, where only two MountainHome players stood guard a short distance away. After stabbing AliceInCranes through the heart, Dr1fter tossed the corpse aside and rushed in.Jin, Vladislav, and Immisera followed, and the group quickly overwhelmed the two guards.The guards had seemed surprised that enemies had entered, since the only way through the back door was to have the keys, which dropped rarely from humanoid monsters inside the building. A few MountainHome players had won this during the process of clearing out the building, but other Guilds were unlikely to have it.Dr1fter used Guild chat to keep in contact with the larger group of DeathGang. His plan was to swarm in through the entrance, spreading out to force the MountainHome players to spread out as well and face that direction. This would allow him and his companions to easily break through the rear and target vulnerable players.Since MountainHome were a PvE Guild not used to combat of this sort, he expected that the fight would be easier in practice than on paper.Once Hashin started to break in through the front door, the MountainHome players quickly began to fold, and Dr1fter rushed forwards to further the rout.
