676 Chapter 676 - Mounting Another Wave of Assaul (1/2)

”Who was it?” Brave Surge continued the conversation as he shouted aloud over the guild channel. This was quite a rare sight as Brave Surge would normally show a lot more forbearance, and he had actually lost his composure in this instance.

”We didn't see anyone inside the tent when we arrived,” someone mentioned in the channel.

”If you didn't see anyone, are you implying it was a ghost?” Brave Surge was raging even as he dashed toward the spawn point. He had been a little happy when he went over to receive Oathless Sword the last time, but this time he was completely furious, so much so that all the flora that Brave Surge came across along the way got trampled with impunity.

”WHO WAS IT!?” Brave Surge immediately accosted that player who had just been killed as he asked this.

”I—I don't know!” This player's name was Half Moon and was originally just another insignificant member in Carouse. After he had inadvertently stumbled upon this quest, something which the guild valued greatly, the guild leader had even come over in person to glean greater detail on the matter before he ultimately assigned a party of elites as his bodyguard. The man was thrilled to receive such treatment, but who would have guessed that there would be such an unforeseen complication in the final minute of the quest. When Half Moon discovered that there was someone hiding inside the tent in the corner of his eye, he had been sent back to the spawn point before he could even turn round his head to warn the rest of his guildmates. He truly had no idea who that interloper was.

”How could you have no idea who attacked you if the person managed to kill you?” Brave Surge was still enraged.

”Was he Stealthed?” someone beside Brave Surge quipped.

”Yes, he was Stealthed! And he possessed an immense attack power capable of insta-killing me in a single blow.” What Half Moon had done in this instance was to borrow the most convenient excuse to absolve himself from fault. Even though he had no idea who the attacker was, Half Moon was originally aware that this person was not Stealthed to begin with. Yet seeing how incensed Brave Surge looked, the man had hurriedly used the reasoning that the other party was Stealthed so as to reduce the responsibility that he had toward the situation. It was very common for people to be unaware of their assailants if it was an Assassin or Thief performing the sneak attack.

”No wonder this interloper had managed to sneak into the tent without anyone knowing,” someone next to Brave Surge said.

”Didn't we send men who were able to detect Stealth? Were they doing nothing while this happened?” Brave Surge poked holes about this reasoning in the mercenary channel again.

”Detecting Stealth is subjected to chance as well, so if someone had managed to Stealth through, it naturally means none of them procced detection,” Young Master Han gave a fair explanation to this.

”Was it Sword Demon?” Brave Surge suddenly considered this possibility.

”I can't contact him at the moment. I'll help you ask him about it afterward,” Young Master Han insouciantly offered.

Suspicions arose from within the guild. Everyone obviously knew about Young Master Han's relationship with Sword Demon, Gu Fei and the others from his mercenary group, and adding to the fact that they were not particularly acquainted with Young Master Han, a good number of players had suspected that the man must have gone easy on their enemy. Plus, hearing that unconcerned tone Young Master Han used only served to aggravate such misgivings even further, which was why someone had posed a question backhandedly, ”Could you have intentionally let them get in?”

Young Master Han scoffed coldly, ”Even if it was my intention to, there are over a hundred other players out here as well. Are they all without eyes and brains of their own as well?”

These hundred players all with their brains and eyes intact were still engaged in the bloody battle on their end, and a good number of them were not about to let that misleading suspicion slide.

”What sort of convoluted m*th*rf*ck*ng fart are you trying to pass off as truth, Inexplicit!?”

”Who did you say intentionally let our enemies pass? What nonsense are you spouting?”

”Are you looking to be beaten up?”

”YOU M*TH*RF*CK*R!!!”

That man going by the IGN of Inexplicit had posed such a question without thinking it through, which resulted in him instantly offending over a hundred players in one go. Some instantly lashed out and cursed at the man, while others went tit for tat and threw out enigmatic threats of their own. There were even those who linked their top tier equipment right into chat to express their desire to teach the man a lesson. Inexplicit evidently no longer dared to make another comment, randomly finding the nearest tree to hug and cry to.

”Hey, we are all of the same guild here. Don't spout nonsense so wildly, Inexplicit.” Even Brave Surge had stood out to criticize what the man had suggested. What Inexplicit had insinuated could having a varying degree of impact; logically speaking, this was just a game. If someone could not trust someone else, that person could very well end up leaving the guild. Who would be willing to cheapen himself or herself and subject themselves to being maligned? There were over a thousand players here in the guild, and only but a handful of players would feel deeply attached to the guild.

Brave Surge himself had not suspected anything like that, and it was mainly because of the reasoning that Young Master Han had mentioned; Even if that man was going easy on his fellow mercenaries, there was no reason the over one hundred players Young Master Han was commanding were foolish enough to do the same. How could he have gotten their full support to let their enemies pass like that? Brave Surge had dared to hand command over to Young Master Han not because he personally trusted the man, but precisely because he understood this very point. Besides, there were people he completely trusted among the hundred men onsite, so they were able to keep an eye on things. If Young Master Han had deliberately done something in secret, those people would surely inform him accordingly.

However, all these people whom he trusted had nothing but praise for how Young Master Han had commanded and set everything up. They were especially impressed by how he had chosen not to make a move the moment he was aware that there were people in that cluster of trees, opting to position their men appropriately before springing the trap once their enemy had walked right into it themselves. From this, it could be seen that the man had considered every detail possible, and all they could blame was bad luck when that accident occurred right at the end. It was already something that no amount of manpower could prevent.

”Perhaps the interloper that suddenly appeared isn't really any player. What if it was a particular plot point for this quest?” Someone made a guess.

”That's possible. D*mn, we got careless!” Brave Surge was disappointed. ”Are the rest of you able to pick up the quest again?”

”Impossible, we already tried,” There were players who were still in the cavity who reported accordingly.

”How's the skirmish?”

”An easy victory. Those who survived have fled.”

”Everyone should begin making their way back! Remember, pretend like nothing had happened, and don't go confronting the men from Pikes N' Roses. We'll settle this score after the City War event is over.” Brave Surge gave the order, and it was clear that he had returned to his calm and collected self. The initial compulsion he had felt was logical. After all, he had been looking forward to concluding this quest for over two hours, yet it got ruined in the final minute. This sort of feeling was something the Bayern Munich soccer team in 1999 knew best. Those who are interested can search about it on Baidu.

Gu Fei and Sword Demon returned back to Yunduan City, each heading in separate directions to submit their respective quests. Sword Demon was much closer, and he ended up not seeing any sort of reward upon quest completion. Skeptical, he asked Gu Fei, only to find out that he had yet to hand in his quest. He next thought to contact the bar owner Ray to find out more from him. Everyone had added each other as friends, so Sword Demon sent a message over to ask him about it, and his answer was the same: he had not received any reward as well.

”Perhaps it would only be given after the city war event has ended,” Ray suggested.

”Do you have a follow-up quest?” Sword Demon asked.

”Yeah,” Ray said.

Sword Demon was depressed. Everyone had a follow-up, but he did not. ”What is it?” Sword Demon asked Ray.

”The quest-giver said it wasn't enough, so I need to make another trip over,” Ray said.

”You've worked hard…” Sword Demon was speechless. He would rather not have any follow-up if he had been given such a quest. With that thought in mind, he went into the League of Assassin's secret base, found inside the Thieves' Union, to talk to every NPC there. He wanted to see if there were any other quests he could pick up. As Sword Demon busied himself with his own thing, Gu Fei had very quickly reached the City Hall in the meantime. After he handed over the letter to the captain of the Vigilante Corps, he actually got praised by it for his efforts. Players did not really care if an NPC was happy or angry with them, so Gu Fei patiently waited for the plot to finish. The moment the captain's face reverted to that solemn look once more, it began elaborating on another quest.

”Head out now and investigate this lead that Guillermo had given us,” the captain said.

”What lead?” Gu Fei asked.

”Head out to Yunjiao Lake. It seems like there's something that would determine the outcome of the siege there. It's all up to you now,” the captain even stepped forward and placed its hand on Gu Fei's shoulder as it said this.

”Yunjiao Lake's really far! Is that still considered part of the City War?” Gu Fei had his doubts. He knew the place rather well, and it was quite a distance away from Yunduan City.

In response, the captain said something that was quite dramatic, ”The entire world is engaged in the City Wars…”

”Alright, I'll head over.” Gu Fei answered before he gazed over at the soldiers gathered in the room. The three soldiers from before had returned to take their positions with the rest. Just how many NPCs would he be given this time?”

”Okay, you may go!” The Captain politely ordered him out.

Unfortunately, Gu Fei was not given any soldiers to play around with this time. Gu Fei had gotten a little addicted after playing around with them the last time! Having been unable to utilize those soldiers in the fighting before, it was such a pity that the system no longer gave him the chance to have them under his command again. Gu Fei bitterly departed from the Vigilante Corps Chamber, only to bump into Ray when he turned a corner on the ground floor.

”Hey, you're here.” Gu Fei greeted.

”Yeah. I just got myself another list, about to head on over to the Warehouse to pick up the goods,” Ray sighed.

”Your Faction quest really has a certain style to it….” Gu Fei said.

”It's not too bad!”

The two men continued chatting as they departed from the City Hall, Ray rolled his shoulders casually and began pushing the wooden cart of his. He waved at Gu Fei, ”I'm leaving. See you later.”

”See you later.”

Gu Fei sent Ray off, before he messaged Sword Demon, ”I got a new quest. How are things over on your side?”

”It's another assassination,” Sword Demon said. ”Little Bottlecap. I don't know which guild's guild leader he is. I haven't even heard of the name…”

”D*mn, we don't have anyone to inquire about this. What are you going to do now?” Gu Fei asked.

”What do you mean we don't have anyone? I'm heading off to the Hall of Guild Creation right now. I'll find out which guild this person belongs to before we talk about this further,” Sword Demon said.

”I'm off to Yunjiao Lake,” Gu Fei said.

”Oh? What quest is it this time?” Sword Demon asked.

”It's not clear. All it said was that it might hold the key to determine the outcome of this war. I'll go take a look,” Gu Fei said.