From the Titan Guild’s point of view, the episode of the Lich King had to last longer without anyone clearing it in order for them to compete with the Lotus.

The longer their advantage of being in the Southwest far from the dark forces last, the better would be their scope for expansion.

Because of that, Shakran had held a meeting instead of giving out an immediate answer.

It was because the request seemed a bit silly and he had to be sure.

“So master. The Lotus wants to clear the episode quickly in order to overcome the geographical disadvantages?”

“Yeah. It looks like they are facing quite a problem due to the Legions of Darkness.”

At that word from Shakran, Ceilron opened his mouth to speak with a puzzled look.

“Hmm, but after the war between the Lotus and Elrika, it seemed like Lotus had enough power to face the Kingdom of Darkness.”

Shakran shook his head.

“That looks like it.”

“Then why is Lotus trying to change their manner if they are trying to get their goal?”

This time it was Emily who answered instead of Shakran.

“Lotus was able to easily take over the Elrika Kingdom because of a special quest.”

“Huh?”

“I looked into the video from the start to the end and analyzed it. It was obvious that someone from Elrika has helped Lotus.”

When Emily first looked at the video, she thought that there was a buggy play involved with Ian.

Ian’s siege orders made no sense.

However, after thoroughly analyzing the video several times, she was able to find a pattern.

The troops of the Elrika were using obvious strategies in obvious situations.

Ian’s play wasn’t the buggy one, but the royal defense’s AI was so stupid that it was at a bug level.

However, when she contacted LB, they just said that there wasn’t a bug, so Emily determined that the stupid AI actions were the effect of some special quest.

The conversation between Emily and Ceilron continued.

“Hmm… that could be.”

“I’m not trying to look down on the power of Lotus, but I think that their current line up of users isn’t the best of them, given their strong power. That is why Ian wants to flip the plate.”

“Till the extent that he would have to disclose the facts about the unknown content?”

“Yeah. The Lamaris and Icaroon Kingdoms, which are now blocking the expansion of the Lotus, are the Kingdoms of Darkness which hold more power than the Elrika. I’m not entirely sure, but it definitely will take a lot longer time and effort to get to their goal.”

While Emily was continuing her explanation, all the other guild members of the Titan were fixated on her.

Emily took a sip of the cold water that was on the table and continued,

“On the other hand, in the Southwest region where our Titan Guild is located, there isn’t anything to do. Although the Lotus managed to capture the Elrika Kingdom in ways we never imagined, it is only a matter of time for us to fill in the gap.”

Ceilron smiled and asked Emily,

“So Emily what you’re saying is, if the situation is maintained, then our Titan will be able to pre-empt the Empire content before the Lotus?”

Emily nodded and replied,

“Yes, that is it. I think the proposal of Ian is smart.”

Shakran who was listening to the conversation between then, cut in with a low voice,

“Then Emily, do you think that I should reject the offer of Ian?”

“Well…”

Emily wasn’t able to answer.

And in a moment, she opened her lips to speak again,

“That shouldn’t be done, master.”

“Why?”

“Even without our help, I feel like Ian can manage to take down the Lich King.”

“Lotus can get the Lich King without our help?”

Emily shook her head and reframed her words.

“Of course, not right away. At least in a month or two, they would be able to get the Lich King even without us.”

“Huh…”

Emily thought high of the potential of Ian.

Therefore, she always assumed the worst-case scenario possible.

“And then, that time the lead in the negotiations will probably move to the Lotus.”

“It sure will, unless we declare Empire status before that.”

“Then is there anything crucial in our Titan Guild that the Lotus Guild doesn’t have?”

“…?”

In response to that question from Emily, Shakran was just confused.

“Something we have, that Lotus doesn’t…?”

Emily answered with a smile,

“Conditions for the Empire declaration. Did you forget about it already?”

“Ah…!”

“Even if the Lich King episode is cleared, and the Lotus does somehow manage to gain territory before us, they cannot become an Empire.”

“Yeah!”

Emily’s thought was really simple.

Now that they were going to have an upper hand in the negotiations with Lotus, they should try to take as much as possible.

Lotus wouldn’t be able to declare itself an Empire unless some miracle found its way to them, and there was no reason to worry too much about it even if the Lotus manages to flip the boards and overcome the penalty.

Even if the Kingdoms of Darkness disappeared, and the Lotus winged the war conquest, it was still impossible for them to declare themselves as an Empire, so there wasn’t need to think much about it.

“Okay then…”

Shakran who made a decision smiled and asked Emily,

“Emily, I’ll leave the matters of the deal to you.”

“Okay, master.”

“Go over to Ian and try to snatch as many advantages as you can.”

* * *

Creak-

In the meeting room of the Lotus Castle.

The door opened with Ian entering, and everyone’s eyes were on him.

Fiolan, Hoonie and Carwin and the leaders of the Lotus were waiting for the return of Ian.

And among them, the most reckless one, Hoonie jumped out to ask Ian.

“How did it turn out, hyung? Will the Titan negotiate with us? Will Shakran Uncle help us out?”

Hoonie wasn’t as eager as Ian, but he still was the topmost person who was eager for the negotiations to proceed.

The reason for Hoonie’s enthusiasm was the hidden quest, ‘Annihilate the Lich King Chalian’s Ambition’ which only lasted for 10 days.

In order to become a four-tier hidden class of the ‘Monarch of Darkness’, they had to deal with the Titan Guild and then execute the Lich King.

He didn’t have a huge penalty as Ian did.

Ian looked at Hoonie and smiled.

“Hu huoo, it was a good deal”

“…!”

“The Titan Guild has decided to join the expedition.”

“Yeah, Ian God!”

Hoonie threw his fists to the air and cheered.

It was because that was the most difficult hurdle for them to cross.

On the other hand, the expression of Fiolan and Herz were much closer to novelty than that of joy.

Fiolan was the one to ask Ian,

“Is Shakran smarter than what I assumed or is he plain stupid?”

“What?”

“Nothing much. If I was in the position of Shakran I would have never yielded to the suggestion of Ian. It is an opportunity for Titan to look at their strongest competitor losing one of his tiers.”

Herz too replied reluctantly.

“Yeah. I don’t understand it either. I have been thinking about the same thing as Fiolan.”

Ian smiled and responded.

“You think that I will be showing the Titan all the weaknesses of mine?”

“Then?”

“Titan knew nothing about the quest that I was given. So I made a stupid offer that they would accept.”

At that reply from Ian, Herz put his tongue out.

“How did you manage that? If you didn’t talk about the quest, then how did you convince him about defeating Chalian?”

Instead of answering him, Ian just laughed.

It was because the job was done much easier than he thought.

‘While giving some stake in the boss drop items, I placed the bait…’

In any case, the success rate of attracting the Titan, which was less than half was brought to 100%.

All that was left for the Lotus to do was to do their best and defeat the Lich King and the Legions of Darkness.

After defeating the Legion of Darkness and completing the quests related to the episode, he was thinking about the war conquest.

At least till the point where the first empire would be formed, and an emperor would be made.

Unlike the misunderstanding that the Titan Guild had, the Lotus had long back fulfilled the conditions that were needed for the declaration of Empire.

Ian was the first user to get the Emperor’s Jade.

In any case, after the successful negotiation with the Titan Guild the largest mountain blocking their path, Ian began to plan the attack of the Castle of Darkness with his forces.

“Firstly Herz, under the name of the guild master, you’ll be announcing the expedition recruitment.”

“Fine, the criteria to select?”

“Starting with the level limit—Level 350 or higher.”

“Wouldn’t the participation be a bit too limited?”

“No. If they are lower than 350, it won’t be of much help. And as an additional condition, damage dealers should have DPS over 200,000. Tankers should have 2 million vitality and over 13 thousand defense.”

“Uhm… I’m worried if we can get enough people.”

Herz was a bit concerned about the strict criteria conditions; however, Ian didn’t seem to be concerned about it at all.

A union raid of Titan and Lotus.

It was clear that that would attract users from all over the continent.

“Kay, let’s get moving. The raid should leave by tomorrow morning in the least.”

“Kay, hyung.”

“Understood Ian.”

Ian, who managed to assign a role for each of the leaders, went out to go somewhere.

It was time to go and find the secret weapon that he had left in the hands of the dwarf, Han.

‘Since it has been half a day, it should have been completed, right? I hope that it was made to be a bit useful…’

What Ian had given Han was none other than the ‘Shards of Darkness pack’ that he obtained from defeating Lacamer.

A special miscellaneous item of ‘myth’ level that allowed him to summon an undead that he created.

‘The ability of Han is the best… I am sure that I can trust him.’

Ian tried to shake off the useless thoughts from his head.

No matter how much a useless ‘bonus power’ he got, it had no use with his leadership.

‘If something like a ghost dragon came out, then I won’t need anything.’

There was no other reason for Ian to wish for a ghost dragon.

Ghost Dragon’s strong passive ‘physical attack immunity’ was a must.

Compared to the other dragons, its overall stats seemed to fall behind; however, its excellent maneuverability and physical immunity covered its shortcomings.

A black smith tower occupied a large lot in the north of Lotus.

Kang- Kang-!

As Ian entered, he heard a large rumbling sound.

Ian found Han, and one of the nearby blacksmiths quickly approached Ian and bowed.

“Majesty, you have come.”

“Yeah, where is Han?”

“He is in the large workshop behind the forge.”

“Large… workshop?”

“Yes. Is there some problem…?”

The large workshop of the smith was mainly used to make siege weapons.

Ian started to get ominous thoughts.

‘Don’t tell me… you’re not going to make that skeleton giant king like that one right?’

The closer he went to the workshop, the faster Ian’s pace got.

Within a while, the moment Ian entered the workshop, something huge appeared in front of his eyes.