Chapter 702 - Connecting The Pieces (Part 5): Inviting The Big Sister

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After Arthur convinced Shin and the others to team up with S.Tigris' party, he immediately discussed the conditions that their team wanted in this cooperation.

Naturally, the latter team didn't have much advantage in this matter since the Empyrean Talons didn't necessarily need the token in their possession.

Moreover, S.Tigris and his team were also seeking some protection under the wings of the gods of Empyrean Talons, so all they could do with the conditions presented to them without raising any complaints.

After that, Arthur summoned the contract that Shin had prepared before asking S.Tigris and Black Hand to read it carefully before signing it. Since the two already got the gist of it, they only needed to skim through the contract before finally signing it alongside the other members of the group.

"If you don't have anything to ask, then we can start moving now," said Arthur before asking them to follow him.

Not long after, they finally arrived in front of a rundown building in a secluded place within the city.

Arthur surveyed the surroundings for a couple of moments before signaling to the group to enter the building alongside him.

After that, they waited for a few moments before Alucard, Daulla, and Archimedes met up with them. And quickly after their arrival, Leonard also followed and immediately explained the layout of the place.

"There are no guards in this place. But the entrance to the underground that I've shown you earlier is heavily guarded. Then there are three more floors beyond it and each floor is much larger than the previous ones."

"The guards in the entrance are not much of a problem since each of them are only Special Elites with 125 Levels. But killing them will immediately alert the higher-level guards. Moreover, it will also give us Sin Points every time we kill each one of them."

Hearing that, Arthur couldn't help but knit his eyebrows before falling into deep thought. And when he was doing that, the others were pretty confused about how Leonard was able to gather that much information within a short period of time.

Especially the other members of the Empyrean who were in the meeting earlier. From what they knew, Leonard was only able to explore the outside of that dungeon before how heavily guarded the entrance was.

On top of that, he also mentioned that the Open Dungeon had three floors with a map size bigger than the other. They were not sure if they were going to believe what he just said since it was pretty impossible for them to explore such a huge place with just a limited amount of time.

Additionally, he also said that they were going to get corresponding Sin Points every time they killed one of those guards.

Sin Points could be reflected by the IGN (In-game Name) of the players. It was slowly turning red every time they attacked an NPC or a Player. And even redder if they killed anyone.

But the name above Leonard's head was so clean that they couldn't find any stains on it. So, it was pretty natural for them to be a little suspicious of his words.

But on the other hand, they were currently talking about the War God here, so they were not entirely sure what kind of impossible feats he could do. So, they could only nod their heads while waiting for him to continue.

Naturally, Leonard was pretty aware of the thoughts that were currently running inside theirs. But he was pretty lazy to explain himself and just continued. "As for that Grand Scholar, I didn't really see him. But I suspect that he is hiding inside the room on the lowest floor of the dungeon."

"Who knows, he may actually be the hidden boss of the dungeon," he added while opening a virtual screen in front of him which was projecting the entire map of the dungeon. There was also a metal door located at the very end of the third floor.

Aside from that, there were also some glowing dots in different parts of the dungeon, seemingly indicating the locations of the monsters and NPCs guarding the place.

– "Since when did he draw that map? Don't tell me, he gathered all of that information while waiting for us?" – this was the new thought that emerged in everyone's mind when they saw how detailed the virtual map was in front of them.

Arthur copied the virtual map that Leonard had shown before studying for himself. This guy who hated reading books was currently immersed in memorizing a particular within the game.

Black Hand, who was also able to keep his rationality after learning everything that Leonard had done while waiting for them, also copied the virtual and started studying it. And after a few moments, he also asked for the basic details of the sub-quest that Leonard had received.

Since the other side was bound with the contract, Leonard shared the quest details with them without a problem.

Black Hand studied the details of the quest very closely before asking. "With this, we can assume that we need to protect this so-called Grand Historian while escorting him towards the main part of the quest."

"But the suspicious thing is whether this so-called friend of the Grand Historian is really a friend or just a spy that the Crown had purposely planted on his side to closely monitor him."

Hearing that, Arthur immediately understood what he was trying to say and immediately chimed in. "So, you are saying that the Sin Points that we are going to get from killing the guards within the dungeon are either addressed to the King or the Grand Historian himself."

Black Hand quickly nodded his head when he heard Arthur's remark and continued. "And that is why we need to lower the number of the guards that we are going to encounter within the dungeon. After all, we are not sure which side we are going to provoke by killing them."

"It is fine if my assumption is wrong since we can just use the token to prove to the Grand Historian that we are investing the truth behind the mystery of this so-called 'Lost Kingdom'."

"But we are indeed going to provoke the current ruler of the Saint Heaven Kingdom by killing those guards, then we are going to be in great trouble. After all, we are most likely going to be a national criminal within this kingdom if something goes wrong."

After that, he turned his head to Leonard before saying. "So, I suggest we go with the way the War God entered the dungeon."

Hearing that, Leonard immediately knew what he was trying to say and quickly responded. "Sneaking instead is going to be hard given the size of our party. If I am going to sneak back again by myself, then it is just going to be a walk in the park. But that is practically impossible."

"And also, I actually want to finish this sub-quest alone if only I could. Unfortunately, it is practically impossible since my instincts are telling me that whoever the dungeon boss is lying in wait behind that door is someone that I can't take on alone," he emphasized.

This time, S.Tigris joined the conversation and asked. "How about we take this particular route? It seems like the safest path we can take," while pointing to a certain spot on the virtual map.

Leonard immediately nodded his head when he heard that before saying. "That path is indeed plausible since it had a very small number of guards."

"But the problem is the strength of the guards around that area. The weakest guard in that place is at least a Level 175 NPC in 'Knight Rank'. There are also a couple of guards in 'Cavalier Rank' guarding those places."

(Special NPC Ranks – Elite, Special Elite, Knight, Cavalier, Royal Knights, and General)

*NPCs are slightly stronger than monsters in terms of strengths.

*They are equivalent to monsters with ranks of (Chieftain, Commander, Lord, King Class, Overlord, and Emperor)

Hearing those words from Leonard, the faces of the group immediately turned weird as they understood how scary this particular dungeon was.

Well, aside from Arthur who casually commented. "So, this Open Dungeon is indeed in Nightmare Difficulty."

'This place is a lot bigger than what we expected. Maybe I should inform Big Sis about this matter,' he thought to himself before turning his attention back to the virtual screen. 'Given the size of this dungeon, I am pretty sure that she will immediately send an elite team to secure the entrance.'

'No, she may even send a full-raid team to seal the entire area. Tsk! With the way her mind is working, I am pretty sure that she wants to monopolize the entire thing,' he added as he started to formulate a plan inside his head.

After a couple of moments, he opened the party chat channel and consulted the other members of the group about his idea.

Not long after, Shin also agreed with his plan since they had no other choice. After all, it was better for Shiella to handle these kinds of things since her Trading Firm was big enough to swallow such a big pie.

'This was also a good opportunity to discuss my plans for Calderock Town with her. I also gathered all of the cards that I need for this deal, so I am currently in the upper hand,' thought Shin to himself before giving Arthur the go signal.

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