62 Kleon (1/2)
From behind the mist, around thirty players stood. Murmurs and whispers covered the area.
”Silence, everyone.”
The murmurs died down after Shesmu's order and everyone's attention was focused on him.
”Congratulation. Thanks to all of you guys' effort, we were able to hold off the horde of hounds and emerge victoriously.” Shesmu then took a lighter tone as he continued speaking. ”After the little break that we had, we will now continue our journey to the target point. We still have around 3 hours left, and we have no idea about what kind of trials are awaiting us.”
”What about the disguised monster?” A person from the back snarled.
A red-haired person strode towards the front and faced Shesmu.
”We still haven't made any progress in finding the disguised monster. I thought that if we did as you said, we would have found him already by now. Wasn't that what you promised?!”
For a second, Shesmu stayed silent and didn't respond to the red-haired player.
Looking at Shesmu being silent, Arthur stepped up.
”Hey, stop that. Since Shesmu took the lead, no one had died. I think that's good enough proof that he is a good leader.”
The red-haired player grinned in contempt at Arthur's argument.
”Since no one died from the moment he took the lead, you could conclude that he is a great leader. But you know what you could also conclude?” The red-haired player raised his voice and looked back at all the players behind him. ”That he is the monster, and that's why no one died. It's so that he can gain our trust and trap us all later down the line!”
Murmurs and whispers became even more prominent after the red player's shocking revelation. Everyone started looking at Shesmu with the corner of their eyes, stealing glances to see if he was actually a monster.
”Haha,” Shesmu chuckled under his breath.
”What are you laughing for?”
”What's your name, mister red hair?”
”Kleon, that's my name.”
”Haha, great name. Mister Kleon, what you just said was great. Doubt me! Suspect me! I don't mind that. Just don't trust what anyone tells you, because anyone could be the disguised monster.”
Kleon stayed silent for a second before laughing.
”Haha, is that your speech so that you gain back our trust, monster?”
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Shesmu smiled at the obvious taunt.
”Well, not really but… I'll make a bet with you if you don't mind.”
Kleon tilted his head at Shesmu's declaration. He was puzzled by what Shesmu meant.
”If I don't find the disguised monster by the end of the second challenge. I'll log out and lose all my progress in this tower. This also means that I won't receive any rewards for making it this far, other than the loot I gained already.”
”Oh!”
Surprised exclamations overlapped as the crowd couldn't believe what Shesmu just said. He was willing to bet what he worked so hard for just to quench a revolt made by a baseless conjecture.
”Haha, okay then. You can't take that back, else I'll personally kill you and send you out of this tower!”
”Well, you'll not be able to do that, but whatever floats your boat, man,” Shesmu muttered under his breath.
”Eh? Did you say something?”
”No, nothing. Moving on, we don't have that much time left, but I think that one important thing needs to be discussed first.”
Shesmu looked at the crowd, and once he made sure that the earlier cacophony was silenced, he continued.
”Staying on the subject of the disguised monster. I'm sure that many of you already have their own theories about it. But just to make sure, I'll reiterate everything we currently know about it.”
Shesmu took a deep breath before continuing.
”First of all, the monster knows about the existence of players. Else, there is no way it could blend in. Second of all, the monster must have access to at least some of the memories of the person it copies. The same reasoning as the first one, if it doesn't even have a basic understanding of the person it copies, there is no way it could blend in. Third of all, the monster must have some kind of offensive abilities. If it didn't, it wouldn't be considered a hidden BOSS, and it wouldn't be able to kill us either way. For now, this is all.”
”One last announcement before we take off. I want everyone who isn't part of my, Arthur's, or Hector's team party up and decide on a leader. Please make sure to decide on your representative before half an hour passes. We don't know when we'll have to fight other monsters, so that can't take too long. With that, let's go. For victory!”
”For victory!”