World Online

"Yup. You really are right. They are one of yours." Jake nodded as he stepped forward, glancing at the two shadows.

"How were you able to tell who your guild members were from such a distance? Do you have a marker on them or something?" He asked, truly curious.

"Trade secret." Phoenix shook her head and said. "Can\'t just reveal it to someone, especially to you. For you, you would have to pay for it." She said.

"Alright. Both of you, what have you seen till now?" Phoenix glared at the two players in front of her now. They were the reason they walked for ten minutes aimlessly about.

Ghostly Star and Volcanic Python froze as they looked at the two stars that stood in front of them.

They had been in the guild for all of a month, and this was the first time that the guild master even looked at them, let alone talked to them.

"Are both of you mute? Can\'t you speak?" She said, her tone as harsh as the sun that was supposed to shine upon them.

"Give them a break." Jake sighed.

"If you need some time to gather your thoughts, take them. But after that, it would really help us if we can get some intel from you guys. What is going around? Where are the other players? I doubt you can help us with the last question though." Jake asked.

"Y-you are the guild master of the Bright Horizon guild! Shadow King!" Ghostly Star blurted out.

Jake just nodded faintly.

"I am a big fan! Ever since the raid, I have been following everything that you did. I was shocked that no one had ranked you in the golden ranking list that was made a week ago!" He shouted out with respect and awe.

"The golden rankings? I will not be in there for a while. No one in the golden rankings is even worth considering. The first few months, it will be filled with a bunch of idiots who think that staying in the golden rankings is something to be prideful about." Jake chuckled.

"Now then, tell me. What have you both seen around? Did you meet any monster that looked like a human, but was not? Maybe of woman form?" He asked.

"No, Mr. Shadow King. I have not seen anybody like that. We met only one wolf, and we lost our team mate to him." Ghostly Star said.

"Wait, you lost someone to a wolf? How useless are you two?" Phoenix spat out. It was embarrassing to be said, especially in front of Jake of all people.

"The wolf revived! Who would have thought that it would revive, and then pierce through his chest? He was an assassin, so he died almost instantly. If it were me, I could have survived." Ghostly Star sighed.

"Yes. Assassins have too little defense. Let us get going though. This is why I ave everyone the warning to make sure the corpses disappear. It looks like word didn\'t go around." Jake sighed.

"The inboxes aren\'t working. That means that our communication is cut." Phoenix shook her head and said.

"Ah! I can\'t do anything about that, can I? Oh wait. Yes, I can. I can tell everyone physically that something is afoot. Like I did to most of the people on my side. How the hell didn\'t this spread like it should have?" Jake said, shaking his head.

"Because everyone thinks like me, not like you." Phoenix said, sighing.

"Alright. Let us just start moving. We have a short clock to work on. We don\'t want more casualties like the one we have just seen. I mean, imagine losing more to the freaking wolves, especially after what I have seen." Jake shook his head.

"Those monsters, guild masters." Volcanic Python asked, her voice trembling.

"Will we have to match them after this? Will they be the final fight?" She asked.

"We cannot say. We cannot guarantee anything. If we knew everything, then you would have gotten instructions to stick close and make sure this pink mist wouldn\'t split us apart like it did." Jake said, sighing.

"At the end of the day, no one knows what the game will spit out at us. It is everyone\'s first run. So let us just see what happens." Jake almost laughed hearing himself say that out, but he calmed himself as he let things go on.

"Let us get going. Hopefully, we can find a few monsters on the way." Jake said.

His eyes darted here and there, trying to test his luck. He was hoping that he would see one of those monster tags somewhere, and he would take care of it before it could do anything.

He needed to thin the pink mist a little more. Maybe if a few hundred were taken care of, the mist would thin enough for it not to matter too much.

At the point it was right now, it was too thick to see anything that was happening a few meters away from one another.

And even with each other next to them, Jake could see the pink mist obstructing his view slightly.

"I wonder what Myriad Arrows and Kierch are doing. They should be able to take care of this problem relatively easily. What kind of monster would actually pose a problem to them?" Jake wondered.

"If Kierch is able to find a good concentration of the monsters we need to kill, that would be perfect. He will be able to give us a break. He just needs to have the right amount of luck." Jake told himself as he tapped on his thighs.

He was not holding his sword, because he was so confident that he was going to see a sneak attack at least ten meters away.

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

076205