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Volume 3

Chapter 30: Escape from… Brighton Forest?

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Surprise might be part of it but the crowd of the strong swordsman cheered loudly as they celebrated in their hideout cave.

Though they lost a few men, Siva was ensured that his men are prepared to sacrifice their careers for the glory of Helium.

Only a few select members of Jack’s guild recognized the great Volt and his gang while the rest was actually going crazy about their excitement on meeting a legend of the War of the Two Powers.

When Siva learned that Helium was actually an ally of that Cramer he defeated, he felt honestly alarmed.

Remembering Amanda along with Loni who’s been with Cramer in Walled City of Maria was also a matter.

But when Jack assured him that Cramer would have just laughed his defeat, Siva sighed and asked: “Is he a battle freak or something?”

“A battle freak, you say?” Jack and the rest of the Helium members laughed out loud. “The only reason Cramer is in TOS is because TOS attracts a lot of enemy. He’s their wall. For your information, that guy’s a large mass of accumulated violence. Nothing goes on his mind than the battles he had on Terroa.”

He drank his ale and forcefully bumped Siva’s cup.

“And let me tell ya this, since your fight with him was an epic battle all over the net, I bet he even dreams of you until this day.”

Siva’s eyes widened and from his feet to the tip of his air, an animation of trembling could be seen.

As if frightened by the thought, he gulped down the small amount of beer on his cup as he sighed deeply as if letting go of a long held breath.

“Anyways, why are you here, The Destroyer?”

To this question, Volt and the rest gathered around Siva and until now, Volt had this look of disbelief with the name. Of course. Because unlike the three girls who only cared what he said, Volt was also aware of some of the few things happening around the Terroa where they work.

“We were sent here by a group led by someone called Cassiopeia. You know her?”

“Cassiopeia?! You mean you fought against her and her boys?”

Siva looked puzzled with the surprised expression on Jack’s face.

“Is she… that famous?”

“Bah. Not only famous, she’s also strong. Tell me, are you aware of the name Garin ‘The Grinder’?”

“No. I don’t know that title but I fought against this Garin. He even almost defeated me.”

Jack was taken aback. He exchanged looks with his sub-commander before going back to Siva.

“By the Gods. You really live up to your name.”

Siva’s eyes went to Volt but the other just shrugged.

“Are they strong?”

“Hmm, answering that question is hard. Let me just simplify things for you. Cassiopeia is a member of the elite group of players in Terroa called ‘The Illuminati’ that deals in the sub-underground trading of rare to legendary treasures of Terroa.”

Hearing this, Siva remembered Augustus and how he wanted him to meet Dante as the place to go after he got his first package.

Also, one reason he fell seriously silent is because of the fact that Cassiopeia and her boys is a competitor on such super rare items that had classification.

“So how do you know of this and we don’t?” He asked.

“That’s because I am a member of ‘The Illuminati’ myself and the only difference between us is that I have my guild while she only operates with her boys.”

“I see.”

“Moreover, what I actually find shocking is that you survived a clash with Garin. That’s a rare feat.”

“How so?”

“Well, if I have to put it in numbers, if we rank all of the users in Terroa according to their strength, then that man would be close to the top 100.”

GASP!

Volt and the rest of their team all gasped. Even Siva who was silently listening to Jack had an expression that said he was also shocked.

“So even you can’t win against him?”

He asked this question with honest curiosity. But Jack laughed and patted his right knee many times.

“Gyahaha, I wouldn’t say I can’t win. Garin and I have fought many times before and we always ended up in a draw. In terms of fighting prowess, I say he’s really a few notch away from me. But he’s the type of person to rely heavily on support so when it comes to one on one, his abilities decline like a steep cliff.”

“By your words, you sounded like the same in rank.”

“Gyahahaha…”

“Moreover, The Destroyer,” This time it was the sub-commander named Jin who butted in. “You said earlier that you were in the Walled City of Maria when they ambushed you and brought you to this forest. What were you doing in Maria then?”

“About that,”

Siva swiped his fingers in mid air and a holo panel appeared with him clicking on an item.

In the split second that followed, bright particles of light converged into a shape, the Lantern of Evergreen Light appeared before them.

Only two people were surprised when they saw the old lantern. But their reactions were so small that it can be regarded as the same amazed reactions of the crowd.

“—we were on our way to complete a mission with this lantern as the medium. But then they appeared and messed up all our plans. Now, we were just trying to get out of this forest so that we can chase the deadline on our mission.”

“H-How many days did your mission gave you?”

“23 days. It’s a C-rank mission.”

“Actually,” Volt cut in. “We already wasted 9 days.”

“Then we don’t have time to waste, do we?” Jin could only blink as he was surprised by the question and this reaction of their esteemed captain. “Jin, we have to get them to the borders of the Brighton Forest as soon as possible. I need ten strong men to escort our guests out, who likes to volunteer?”

Siva was lost in words in this energetic declaration. He was even swallowed by the pace of Helium’s Commander.

Two seconds passed, no one raised a hand. 6 seconds, then the ten hands were raised.

“Huh?”

Agatha saw Hawkeye glanced behind Jack and it was where Jin’s index finger could be seen pressed on a holo panel’s button.

“Isn’t this good news, Hawk? We’re finally getting out of here!”

“Oh, ah… S-Sure.”

Ten really strong looking men approached them from behind the crowd. Their bodies were built, five of them had large swords as their main weapon on their backs.

Swordsmen are considered a rarity in Terroa because of the brutality of the melee fights against monsters. But it seems that this guild, Helium, was influenced by their swordsman leader so much that the five who had large buster swords looked intimidating.

—as the other members were of swordsman class.

The other five were comprised of a large spear user, two Mages, and two Rangers.

If the five large men were tanks, then these other five were the damagers. It was a completely balanced team of players with the exception of the spear user.

“I am Karim,” the spear user introduced himself. “I will be guiding you out of the forest to withhold the honor of the strong Helium soldiers.”

A hand touched Karim’s shoulder and Jack beamed a smile at Siva.

“Karim is a strong S-rank player. The three of us, with Jin over there, can take care of a Lapis Lazuli by ourselves, though it‘s a very long fight. But anyways, with him as the leader of this escort group, you can be sure that you’ll arrive safely in the border. If you have a T-device with you, you can just teleport away once you’re out of Brighton Forest.”

Siva felt embarrassed at this VIP treatment.

“Thank you for your kindness.”

“No problem. At least now, you know that Helium can be trusted.”

It was only a short while, they did not waste any moment. Siva’s group departed from the cave where they spent a short time to have break.

When they knew that they were really gone, Jack hit the cave’s wall with his fist.

“Damn it. Why him of all people.”

“Jack. I sent an order to assassinate him when they get the timing. Should I send reinforcements just to make sure the job’s done?”

On Jin’s prompt, the dark shadows of his ambitions made a line on Jack’s eyes.

“Yeah. Send our men with the stealth skill and make sure that they finish the job in case Karim fails to give him the surprise attack.”

“But if we do that, we won’t have enough men to conduct the recon on the path. Besides,” At this point, Jin brought up a panel with a list of schedule. “It’s just a few days to go until last week before full moon.”

“I know. From here, if they take the straight path, it’s a two weeks hike up to the nearest border. As we’ve cleared that place already, they’d only take at least a few days to get by.”

“Let’s hope that The Destroyer remains oblivious.”

“Yeah, let’s hope that he doesn’t give us trouble.”

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“So how many days is it to get out of Brighton Forest?”

Siva asked this question to the leader of the escort team who seemed to be the type to say only a few words to conduct the necessary conversation.

“Six, if we’re fast. A week, if we encounter monsters.”

“Can’t we just fly there?” Asked Volt.

“Impossible.” Karim replied acidly, pointing at the sky up front. “That’s the nearest border from our cave and that area is Sky Wyverns territory. No matter how low you fly, if they see you, you’ll be hunted, thus slows us down. Aren’t you chasing time?”

Siva felt surprised, is it just him or is his impression of the guy wrong. He was pretty sure Karim was the type to be silent unless the conversation is of an important matter that he must reply.

“This place is dangerous so I must divide my team.”

On this, the team of five were pinched by two heavy swordsman and a mage up front; two heavy swordsman behind with a ranger and the last Mage; then on their left is the last swordsman and the last Archer, while on the right is Karim.

“Wow, VIP treatment.” Commented Samara.

“’Tis my Guild Master’s commands. I cannot disobey.”

“Alright. Then we’ll trust you with our escape in the Brighton Forest. I thank you well.”

On Siva’s remarks, they sped up their travel, running was the fastest way but there is always the thought of equipping «flight wings» or «flight armors» to jump around in the grounds.