382 Chapter 382 - Clearly Trying to Steal the Kill (1/2)

Eternal Dominion watched the players from either side of the battle fighting with each other behind him. As a player belonging to Luori City, he felt extremely dispirited for all his fellow mercenaries.

He had already heard from his comrades that both sides had been fighting it out with one another for the longest time. Apparently Todd was supposed to be in one of these four parties, yet in the end, after all the fighting, Todd was nowhere to be found. It was like they had planned out a monumentally grand scheme to steal the sun from the sky, yet all they stole was a matchbox, and it even turned out to be g*dd*mn empty; how could anyone bear this level of frustration?

The coalition of Luori City players were feeling precisely this particular emotion right now. Every mercenary channel quickly spread the news the moment they discovered Todd was not with this final party. Black Forefinger had also informed all his fellow mercenaries from Yunduan City who were participating in this subterfuge the moment he was defeated. The passionate fight between both sides coincidentally stopped at the same time as well, with members from both sides staring at one another, suddenly realizing how pointless this was.

Indeed, there was nothing more pointless and disheartening than finding out that what they had accomplished had been entirely meaningless.

The players from Luori City instantly felt this fight was entirely fruitless once they found out Todd was not here. On the other hand, the players from Yunduan City felt as if all the hard work they had been doing all this while was meaningless as well, since they had yet to receive the message about Todd's safe delivery to Luori City, yet their plan to stall for time had already been exposed by the enemy.

It should not have ended so quickly! The Yunduan City players were all feeling regretful since the reason for this had been due to the sudden inclusion of Eternal War mercenary group. Oh heavens, where in the world did these bunch of b*st*rds come from! Just having one or two experts of their caliber was already unreasonable enough, but to actually have an entire mercenary group of them? Where's the justice in that?, all the players thought with great indignation.

”If Todd's nowhere to be found within these four parties, then where exactly is he hiding right now?” Eternal Dominion did not bother lamenting too much as he calmly continued to focus on their mission goal.

”Well...” None of his underlings could answer him.

”Anyone know?” Eternal Dominion called out, heavily hinting his willingness to reward anyone who could give him a straight answer.

No one answered.

”This is so strange. When they left that river valley, they clearly had only split up into four parties, not five!” someone wondered aloud.

”River Valley?” Eternal Dominion started. ”So if he's not here, wouldn't that mean he's still in the valley?”

Everyone was stunned. The more attentive players among them had instantly glanced over to the faces of those Yunduan City players to look for signs from their expressions, and they indeed noticed a row of regretful expressions the moment Eternal Dominion said that.

”Did anyone from your group split off into the valley and take a look?” Eternal Dominion asked those mercenaries from Luori City.

”Nope…” Those who replied looked ashamed, as they were embarrassed that they had actually missed such a possibility. In truth, it was not that they failed to review this option, but rather the person who did consider this possibility became selfish.

At this point of time, that selfish man had to share this piece of information as well. After he heard that the four parties outside the river valley had been taken care of and had yet to find any trace of Todd, he immediately blurted out as if he had suddenly made the realization, ”I got it, he must be hiding in that valley, hoping to enter the city via the valley!”

He had no choice but to say it now. He believed that no matter how stupid his fellow mercenaries in this coalition were, they would easily make the same deduction once they believed Todd was still in the valley. If the lot of them were to rush over to the valley to check, then his scheme to intercept and kill Todd by himself would be exposed; he would have likely dyed the river red as a result. Thus, he decided to make the first move instead, messaging everyone to report his inference and quickly added, ”I'm near here, I'll lead my men into the valley! Everyone, hurry!”

He would be the only fool here if he still had designs to take this mission for himself.

Besides, he could not take it for himself even if he wanted to. This was due to the fact that even now, he had yet to even caught a glimpse of YMH and his men.

The team of Archers that he had sent in advance had been running all this while and were about to reach the very walls that surrounded Luori City, but they they had yet to find any trace of them. Meanwhile, they had came up with nothing as they made their way through the connecting path between the branches of the valley.

”Could it be that just as they ran past here, they had already made their way through before we were even here, so we had them sandwiched between us?” that mercenary leader muttered.

Southern Lone Blade furrowed his brow, as he had already felt this was a little strange.

”Brother Southern Blade, what are your thoughts on this?” It just so happened that this mercenary leader had even asked for his opinion by name. He could tell that the man had been thinking over this for quite some time, and was at a loss. Besides, now that he was no longer able to have this cake to himself, his will to fight had also dropped hugely.

”Let's first get your men from outside to properly watch this valley. They are sure to discover them if they do appear,” Southern Lone Blade replied.

”Relax, I've already got my men situated around for this. They confirmed they saw no one making their way up,” that mercenary leader said.

”Then they must still be in the valley!”

”They must be!”

”Could it really have been coincidence, time and time again that led to a strange combination of circumstances that caused us to never cross paths?” Southern Lone Blade wondered.

”Some of you, continue on forward and meet up with those that headed back. If you meet them, stall for time; the rest of the guys will reach you soon enough,” the mercenary ordered, his words unable to hide how downcast he felt about this situation.

”Brother Southern Blade, let us walk through here once more!” he pointed towards the passage that connected horizontally, ”Perhaps they are coming this way.”

Southern Lone Blade was a little hesitant to take up this offer; he was worried the men would not be headed in this direction. Even though he had an accord with this mercenary leader to leave that Video Mage to him, it was evident that the words of this man might not hold any weight in this current situation, now that reinforcements were coming their way. Just in case they were headed the wrong way and YMH and his men were going the other direction, he was worried that the Video Mage would have already been slain by the time he rushed over, and the heap of equipment that person would drop would naturally land in their hands as well!