"I told you I don't have any more money!"
PAK!
"Ugh!"
Dreyer was helplessly smacked in the head as his hands were tied. One of the bandits stood up and approached him.
"Enough. We've been beating him enough."
Unknown to them, Dreyer was smiling under that bloodied face of his.
'Right. You're not gonna get shit from me!'
Dreyer was confident, as he stashed all his important items somewhere before getting captured by bandits.
CLACK!
Dreyer was surprised as his hands were shackled.
"W-What? Aren't you gonna kill me?!"
[New Quest Received: Ruler of the Empire]
Description: You got caught in the middle of the war.
Clear Conditions: SURVIVE.
Rewards: Unknown SS Class Reward
Penalty: -5 Levels. -100 FAME. You will gain the Cowardice title.
[Warning: Accepting this quest will prevent you from logging out for an unspecified amount of time. You can log out and accept the penalties before taking the quest.]
'WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?! 5 LEVELS! I JUST REACHED LEVEL 50 AFTER 2 YEARS!'
[You will automatically accept this quest in 10]
[You will automatically accept this quest in 9]
[You will automatically accept this quest in 8]
'There's no way I wouldn't accept this when there's a SS Class Reward!"
[You will automatically accept this quest in 2]
[You will automatically accept this quest in 1]
PAK!
"Mmmh! Mmh!"
Dreyer was surprised as the bandits gagged his mouth. The Bandit grabbed him on his collar and dragged him away.
"I heard Paragons were immortals, and the pain you could feel in this world is halved compared to the world you came from. But that doesn't mean your mind can handle it, right? As long as we're not gonna kill you, we can do everything we want..."
BAM!
The Bandit kicked the door open. Dreyer started tearing up upon seeing the horrendous torture room right in front of him.
***
The Six Irelian Shrines.
They were Shrines that were blessed by The Maiden Goddess of Light, Irelia the Magnifica.
Irelia was one of the deities protected and watched over the Synderium family and their allies for countless years. Until Emperor Scadovia Synderium came to power and started his conquest throughout Arcadia.
The Goddess disapproved of his conquest that she withdrew all her blessings toward the Empire. But it wasn't enough since other deities supported Scadovia's war.
Years later, Scadovia's children vowed to the Goddess to make amends for their father's sins.
Leonordius the Young
Rashina the Conqueror
Maelion the Ferocious
Skander the Tenacious
The four of them, spearheaded by their eldest sister, Morgana the Kind, took a contract with Irelia to protect the Kingdom.
Since then, Irelia started bestowing blessings once again. Morgana created 6 shrines that would protect the capital from imminent invasion.
The only people who could enter the capital were people allowed by the Synderium family that even Paragon's will suffer consequences if they trespassed their domain.
But since it was Princess Rashina Synderium leading the invasion, the western part of the Empire immediately fell apart as Rashina easily overwritten the permissions on the western shrine.
Rashina and her connections with the demons easily controlled three shines in just two days. Just one more, and she could render the remaining two useless.
To stop that, the Royal Family gathered soldiers as much as possible and rushed them toward the Fourth Shrine.
Kane, Presley, Brahmian, Tormund, Howser, and Sommer were all stunned upon seeing the bloodbath happening right in front of their eyes.
BAM!
"Ugh!"
Kane was suddenly kicked from behind.
"Go on! Don't stop!"
The Sparrowknights kept on pushing them and other reluctant soldiers.
"If you stop, you will be considered a traitor!"
'Assholes!'
It was a total chaos.
Since they had many recruits, the Empire was carelessly sending their soldiers without a plan. They don't even care if their numbers were dropping like flies.
Kane and the others had no choice but to step forward to the battlefield.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
It was much much chaotic than what happened in Tanyang Fishing Village.
This place was the Amasino Mountain. It was the secluded and icy mountain ranges that were filled with monsters lurking around.
Because of that, Kane had to fight Rashina's forces and the roaming monsters. To add to that, Cold was Kane's biggest weakness.
"Come here!"
Chaos Revenant shouted at them as he managed to find a safe trench. Despite happy as Revenant found a safe hiding spot for them, Kane was still disappointed by the events' turnout.
"Ugh! I wanna go home!"
The dismayed players and NPCs ran toward Chaos Revenant for safe haven. Even Presley was madly glaring at the bulky Sparrowknight Commander at the hill before running toward Revenant.
"Fuckin' assholes! They were gone during the invasion, suddenly they recruited us and acted like they had a plan! But they're just tossing us to our deaths!"
The exhausted Kane looked up at the sky.
"I wanna go home. Cleaning dishes is much less hassle than this!"
POOF!
"GAH!"
The group was all frightened as a red witch hat suddenly emerged from the snow that Howser shouted.
"Quick! Kill it!"
Immediately, Kane took out his mace and smacked the mysterious item.
"Yah!"
BONK!
"Ouch!"
The squad took a step back upon hearing a woman's voice. The lady removed her hat to look back at the people who smacked her.
Upon turning around, she saw Presley holding Kane's mace.
"W-Why? Did you hit me?!"
[ID: R1zz4]
Presley immediately tossed the mace back to Kane and helped Rizza afterward by pulling her out.
"I'm sorry about that. I wasn't me. B-But what are you doing under the snow?"
"Ugghhh..."
Instead of answering, Rinna was just wimping while scratching the portion of her head that they smacked. Since Presley felt bad, he just took a step back and gave Rizza her hat.
Rinna was a slim lady and a little bit taller than Kane. She was wearing a red and black colored leotard along with her red hat. She was blonde and had blue eyes.
Seeing that the charming woman was still crying, the males couldn't help but glare at Kane, specially Howser.
"What an asshole? Why would you hit a woman?"
"Unbelievable. What a Simp. That's probably why you're still single despite your age."
Howser shifted his gaze away, acting like he wasn't the one who ordered the smacking.
BOOM!
But an explosion nearby stopped the commotion. Luckily, that explosion woke their stupid coconut brains back to reality.
Presley grunted at their pitiful situation.
"Shit... I really hope Jenny's okay..."
PEW!
"Ack!"
An arrow suddenly landed near Presley's hand. It came from the Empire. The group turned around and looked at the Sparrowknight commander.
The Sparrowknight glared down at them while shoving his hand forward, implying that they should move or they'll shoot some arrows at them again.
"Assholes..."
Presley was about to do something bad, but Tormund tapped his shoulder.
"Calm down... calm down, brother."
"If only I have my equipment. Jenny took all the stuff I dropped."
Revenant intervened.
"I think I found a way. There is a way we can escape this war without getting branded as traitors and failing the quest."
Their heads simultaneously gazed at Revenant upon hearing it.
"Come closer... I'll tell you. You see those blue-skinned humanoid monsters over there..."
Even Rizza walked closer like she was one of them!
***
A few minutes later.
The Sparrow Commander waved his hand, calling for his captain.
"Yes, commander?"
"Those guys, how long have they been hiding in that place."
"It's been 10 minutes now."
"Hmmm... then just kill them. We don't need cowards in this war."
The archers aimed their
"Haha! Hey, guys! Do you want to escape this hell but not
Altogether, the archers aimed their bows toward Kane's group.
"Yaaahhhhh!!"
But they were all surprised as the group suddenly charged toward some Snow Orcs.
These beings had bodies similar to humans except that they were blue-skinned, and their sizes could reach up to three times the size of an average person.
The Commander chuckled upon seeing them.
"Now, finally grew some balls!"
"Yeaaahhhh!!"
The Orcs noticed the incoming squad that they immediately lifted their wooden shields toward them.
CLANG!
CLANG!
Presley shouted.
"Rizza, now! Unleash your skills!"
Rizza jumped into the sky to unleash her magical skills!
POOF!
A Claymore suddenly appeared.
"Eh?!?!"
All of the males were confused.
BAM!
Rizza slammed the ground that pushed the Orcs away. Kane immediately approached Presley.
"What the hell was that? I thought we're having another Mage in the party?"
"Yeah. What's her deal with that mismatched clothes?"
An Orc suddenly appeared from the smoke. Presley and Kane couldn't dodge.
Chaos Revenant jumped between them and received the attack.
"Guhh!"
"Revenant!"
Kane tried to help, but an arrow pierced his chest.
"Ack!"
"Kane!"
Presley pulled Kane backward, but it was too late. He was already... already... knocked out?
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Arrows were rained down on them. Tormund, Sommer, and Howser were also hit and knocked out. Even the Orcs were confused.
Brahmian jumped high and spawned a silver hammer. He tried to slam it on the Orc Ringleader's head.
BAM!
But the Orc caught it with his bare hand.
PAK!
The Gigantic Orc kicked him hard that he was immediately knocked out. With that, Presley and Rizza were the only ones left as the Orcs surrounded them.
The Sparrow Commander scratched his head while looking at the shameful turnout of their battle.
"Aren't those guys Paragons?"
"Not entirely, sire."
Presley undauntedly dashed forward and faced the Orcs.
"Yaaaaahhhhh!!"
BONK!
But he was smacked with a club, that he was immediately knocked out.
Despite being alone, Rizza dodged the simultaneous attacks of three Orcs. One Orc tried to club her, but Rizza deflected it with her claymore.
CLANG!
Suddenly, her weapon turned blue, and it unleashed a water slash.
SHING!
"Aaarrrggghhh!!"
Two of the three Orcs were heavily wounded in the torso. The other Orcs heard the commotion that they started running toward Rizza.
Kane, who was still on the ground, opened one of his eyes.
"W-What the? She's still fighting?"
He closed his eyes and returned to being knocked out after uttering those words.
SHING!
Rizza beautifully swung her sword along with water slashes toward the oncoming orcs.
"Waaaaaaa!!"
Because of their determination, there were now at least twenty orcs facing her. They were even hurling magical abilities at her.
[Fireball]
[Lightning bolt]
[Wind Slash]
"Haaa... haaa..."
But just like everyone else, she reached her limit.
The Ringleader walked forward and swung his club toward her.
BAGAM!
Strong winds suddenly started coming out of Rizza's body, that the other Orcs were being pushed back. Even the Sparrow Commander at the peak could feel the winds.
Presley, who was supposed to be knocked out, suddenly woke up upon hearing another person.
"What the fuck is she doing? Why is she doing that?!"
Presley opened his eyes and saw that Kane crawled up to him.
"What are you doing?! Are you stupid?!"
"Shut up. At this point, we'll be fucked!"
THUD!
Kane and Presley looked to their right upon seeing that something big was dropped to the snowy floor.
"We're definitely fucked."
Rizza decapitated the Ringleader's head.
"Arrrrggghhhhhh!!"
The eyes of the Orcs suddenly turned red. They were about to attack Rizza, but she dropped to the ground because of exhaustion.
The enraged monsters grabbed the Players and NPCs. They stripped them naked and tied them to wooden poles like skewers prepared to be cooked.
Kane, who was pretending to be asleep, couldn't help but get mad.
'Fucking Rizza! I've never been this naked before, and now I'm turning into barbeque! Why did she have to take things far?!'
The Orcs immediately left the battlefield, carrying their newly found ingredients for their food.
And with the combination of the group's bad acting and Rizza's wonderful performance, Kane's group was able to leave the Sparrow Commander's control without failing the quest.