Our party rounded the craggy bend and entered the tunnel system’s sort of ‘lobby.’ Several passages led out of this massive cavern. One connected to the world above, the opening a short trot to the village’s southern gate—the only exit. The rest went further into the earth, leading to different ‘floors’ and caves and quests. That was why I thought of it as the ‘lobby.’

Before the Blight world quest, the tunnels barely had any activity. I couldn’t recall meeting any player when passing through here back then. Just Mardukryon NPCs doing scripted jobs, if ever.

When Mardukryons became famous again, thanks to yours truly, this place became a busy hub, an intersection with heavy foot traffic. People formed parties in disorganized shouting, merchants sold their wares to those parties, and dozens of players went in and out of tunnels.

That wasn’t the case now.

The entire uneven floor was packed as if there was a sold-out concert. No one was entering the tunnels. Those that exited were as bewildered as our party at the crowds. We couldn’t see what was up ahead, but it was obvious something extraordinary had happened because players celebrated in a ruckus, high-fiving and butting horns with each other.

I had a sinking feeling I knew what this was about.

“What’s going on here?” Megan wondered, craning her neck to see over the throngs of Mardukryons. “I need to know what it is to pick the right color for my sparklers. Nitana, lift me.”

“Yeah, not gonna happen,” said Nitana with a snort. “Like, how am I even supposed to do that? And I don’t have enough Might to carry you.”

“Just try!”

I looked around the cavern. “Doesn’t this place look… cleaner?”

“You’re right,” said Melonomi. “No glowing slime gushing out of cracks. No grime of only god knows what. No funky smell like rotten eggs. Just a regular cave, like the way it was before.”

“Maybe everyone got together for a cleaning project,” said Megan. “And that’s why there are lots of people here. Isn’t that sweet?”

“The tunnel we passed after defeating the Squall Banshee was also clean,” I said. My worst nightmare was becoming a reality. Okay, not worst. But I still didn’t want this to happen.

“What does it mean?” Paritor asked.

“Someone succeeded in finishing the world quest,” I replied. Someone that isn’t me.

This shouldn’t be surprising—and I wasn’t surprised. While Bawu’s quests were tailored in difficulty for me, world quests were supposed to be done by the entire race. Expectedly, the strongest Mardukryon players had the best chance of completing whatever was needed to plug the hole in this environmental disaster. They succeeded. Everything was returning to normal.

“You’re probably right, Herald,” said Kezo. “I can’t think of another reason why everyone gathered here.”

“Really? That’s great news!” Megan shot golden sparks in the air. “Hurray! Hurray!” The cheering became louder when players saw her fireworks. They also joined in shooting spells in the air.

I approached a random guy. He had the garb and staff of a spellcaster, showering his vicinity with sparkling dust, a new convert of Megan. “Excuse me,” I said. “What’s up with—?”

“Nothing much!” he quickly replied, startled I suddenly asked him.

I raised a brow. Okay.

He continued, “If… if you really want to know what’s up… I finally got the time to play after all the crap I dealt with at work. Just an awful week, man, but slowly getting better.”

I blinked. Okaaayyy. “Good to hear you’re doing well. Keep it up!”

“Thanks for asking, by the way. Means a lot, man.”

“Enjoy yourself in MCO.” I nudged my head toward the front of the crowd. “You’re just in time for this… what’s happening over there? We just finished a quest and were late to the party.” My teammates came closer to listen in.

“The top dogs completed the world quest,” the random spellcaster confirmed my hunch. I clenched my teeth but didn’t say anything. He continued, “They destroyed the labs of—who was that crazy brewer again? The villain of this whole gig?”

“Mad Brewer Bawu,” supplied his friend, possibly a knife merchant, by the numerous daggers hanging off his leather armor. Or an assassin; that’d work too. “That’s what she’s called, methinks.”

“Sounds about right, man.” The spellcaster turned to us. “Anyway, the big boys cleared the labs and got the main tunnel unblocked.”

“Unblocked?” I asked.

“They got through to the other side, is what he’s saying,” the assassin chimed in. “Beyond the cliff walls. The NPC Spirit Carvers are reconnecting the Sigil warp points that Bawu messed with. Soon, we’ll be able to warp over there. Or walk; that works too. Huge changes over there, people are saying.”

“Man, I’m stoked to check the place out myself,” said the spellcaster. “I don’t know if the world quest got sequels or whatnot—they usually become connected to the main quest. We’ll find out eventually when we look for that Mad Brewer Bawu somewhere out there.”

“That means I can finish my quest,” I said—a small consolation to get [Embers of Rebirth].

Resurrecting others might distract me from the glory I failed to grab. Not that I had any chance of completing the world quest. Still, I’d rather it was me.

“It also means the Great Hunt will start soon,” said Kezo. “The villagers were worried it might get canceled if the tunnels weren’t cleared before the energies of the mountain calmed down. But it looks like we’re right on schedule.”

The random spellcaster let go of his staff—it stayed standing straight—and jabbed his thumb to where the crowd faced. “And it’s all thanks to them.”

“Who’s them?” I couldn’t help but ask. I had to know who stole my glory. “Is it Chimi’s party? Or SpartanDonkey’s?” Chimichangaroo and his pals were the whalest whales on the mountain; the consensus was that they were the strongest players. SpartanDonkey, as a member of the Expeditionary Legion and one of the most ancient Mardukryon players, also had a good chance of solving the world quest, though I didn’t know who his party mates were.

“It wasn’t just one group,” said the expository spellcaster. “Four parties took part in it. Several difficult quests needed to be completed simultaneously or something like that. I’m not too keen on the details.”

“They got different tasks,” his assassin friend explained. “I heard one party protected the Miners digging through the last stretch to the main tunnel’s end. Another fought the kidnapped Mardukryons that mutated—”

“Those poor NPCs,” interjected Megan.

I turned away, my hand unconsciously covering my mouth.

Oops. I never did save any NPC from getting turned by Bawu into monstrous test subjects, even though I promised to do so—such a failure on my part. Looking at the bigger picture, the whole mess of the world quest was also my fault because I provided Bawu with more materials for her foul concoctions. If not for me, she couldn’t unleash a bioterrorist strike on the village and kidnap more NPCs.

No one but Bawu and I knew about my shenanigans, and I intended to keep it that way.

Nonetheless, even if I couldn’t save the ‘poor NPCs’ as Megan called them, I should’ve put them out of their misery with my own hands. But that was a stretch, given I was a tank, not a DPS. Also, I was just level twenty-six.

Maybe I should hunt Bawu… Keep her mouth shut while getting revenge on behalf of her victims? Was it time for Herald Stone, the Remorseful Hero with a Tragic Backstory?

“Another party was with the NPC cleaning crew,” continued the assassin. “And one more. I didn’t quite get what they were doing. Fighting some new monsters from the depths that Bawu stirred. An emerging storyline, probably.”

“Yeah, you’re right about Chimi’s and Spartan’s crew,” said the guy with the staff. “They both participated, maybe handling the hardest quests.”

“A miracle they teamed up, methinks,” the assassin said. “Spartan dude wants to stick where the money’s at—that’s with Chimi and his gang. But Chimi’s crew are distancing themselves from owing Spartan dude too much. They’re sniffing an escape from this mountain soon. Dangerous to owe the Expeditionary Legion a lot when they could reach you in the world out there.”

“If it were just some money they owed, it wouldn’t be too bad, yeah. But, no.”

“Who are the other two parties?” I had another sinking feeling. An unknown force told me I didn’t want to know who they were.

“The party of Tomasino,” said the spellcaster.

“Tomasino’s back?” said Kezo. Turning to us, he explained, “A solid player—a combat mage-type with an Unarmed build using summoned flaming weapons.”

This Tomasino guy has met the Big M, I thought, glancing at Paritor. My Asipu summoner friend gave me a nod. It sounded like Tomasino picked the Katinnu Ancestral Flame Form Ocadule—conjuring weapons of flames was what it did.

“I remember Tomasino,” said Melonomi. “He leeched me and my friends for a few hours when we were newbies. His weapons of fire just go everywhere to kill everything. Insanely fast like hell. Essence and Gli poured in like a waterfall.”

“He seems like a nice guy,” Megan said.

“Not as whale as Chimi’s group,” Kezo said, “but Tomasino’s party could certainly contest the top spot. A couple of times, they did get the top during Great Hunts. I assumed they changed races because I hadn’t seen them around. Apparently, they just stepped back from the MCO.”

“Now, they’ve returned to kick ass,” said the assassin, laughing.

“Who’s the last party?” I asked the expository spellcaster.

“BeetsbyLudwig and his—”

“Oh, come on,” someone groaned. It was Nitana. I kept my face passive upon hearing the name, but I shared her reaction. We all did. “That prick is going to be prickier than before,” she said. “Maybe I should stop coming to the village to avoid running into him.”

“Let’s go and congratulate them,” said Megan.

“Congratulate Luds?” said Nitana. “You do remember he bashes your two-wands-build every chance he got?”

Megan shrugged. “I was just trying to be nice.”

“Be nice all you want, but you should learn to avoid danger. Completing the world quest? Luds’ head is going to be so inflated that it might pop. It will pop!” Nitana waved her hands to simulate an explosion. “You don’t want to be anywhere near him when it does.”

“I second avoiding Luds,” Paritor said, raising his hand.

“Two votes!” Nitana also raised her hand.

“Are people okay with the world quest finished?” I asked the spellcaster. Judging from the cheering, they were. But there was bound to be some discontent. “We can’t farm Blighted Tokens anymore, right?”

“We probably can,” he replied. “The event doesn’t abruptly end after the world quest is solved. Just a guess, man. Check with Chief Nogras later to make sure.”

“I wager there’ll be some cleaning-up quests for a day or two,” Kezo said. “Don’t worry about it, Herald. You can still gather Tokens to buy the item you’re aiming for. Just in time for the Great Hunt.”

“So, what do we do now?” Melonomi said, gesturing to the crowds starting to break apart.

The victors—that should’ve included me—were done with their speeches or whatever they did in the far front. People were calling for parties and entering the tunnels.

“Let’s go back to the village,” said Kezo, “and check if there are still Blighted quests.”

“No, before that,” I said. “Help me get Embers of Rebirth. Let’s travel to the other side of the cliff walls.”