Chapter 638: A Hollow Victory

...…

Shin looked solemnly at the old man standing beside Thirio as he read the basic details of the NPC. "A Level 300 NPC? Tsk! This is going to be really troublesome."

Then he shifted his gaze at Vladimir and Grimrace who were currently in a special state where they could temporarily regain a portion of their original strength.

"These two are currently Level 250. Defeating that old man may still be impossible due to the level suppression, but pinning him in place shouldn't be a problem," muttered Shin to himself before starting to make some places inside his head. 'And while they are keeping that old man busy, I can take advantage of that situation and eliminate that guy-…'

But while he was in the middle of formulating his plan, the old man suddenly opened his mouth and said something that Shin had never expected. "You did a fine job, Envoy of the Sun and Moon Church. It is our defeat once again."

He then took a brief pause before quickly adding with a sneering tone. "But don't let your guard down yet because the next one may be ours."

Then Shin suddenly sensed a very dangerous feeling coming from the old man. Naturally, both Vladimir and Grimrace would sense it too. So, they quickly put up a defensive stance and get ready for battle.

When the old man saw their reactions, he suddenly smirked and waved his hands before saying. "There is no need to be tense. We both know that it is going to be hard for us to properly fight while protecting our 'baggage'. So, I suggest we stop everything for now."

'Baggage?' thought Shin with a twitching face the moment he heard those words. But aside from that, he didn't say anything to refute the old man's words since he knew that all of it was true. 'It may be hard for this old man to fight both of my Reapers while protecting Thirio. But we are also in the same situation.'

Shin was trying to weigh the result of the battle if they continue fighting. It was already obvious that he currently had the advantage since he would only lose a single level whereas Thirio would lose ten alongside undergoing a weakened state for a weak.

But despite that being the case, Shin couldn't help feeling that there was something odd with the old man's words. Even though the tone that the old man had really sounded that he wanted this fight to be over, the feeling that Shin was getting from those words seemed to be quite the opposite; he felt that the old man was trying to provoke them instead.

'Is it a bluff or not? But my instincts can never be wrong when it comes to these kinds of things,' thought Shin to himself as he hesitated whether to continue fighting or not.

While he was still contemplating what he was going to do, he suddenly heard the old man smirking at him. "Heh! You might be a dangerous tiger but you are still too young."

Swoosh!

After that, Shin suddenly saw a shadow around the old man and Thirio moved and circled around the two before transforming into a ring of black flame that slowly rose in the air.

Then the old man continued to wear his smirking smile before saying. "I am looking forward to our next meeting. I wonder how you are going to move your pieces when you are given enough time to look at the board."

Swoosh!

Not long after, the two of them were swallowed by the shadowy flame before dissipating alongside it.

"D*mn it! So, it is indeed a bluff!" cursed Shin out loud before quickly adding to his thoughts. "Now that I think about it, that old man is giving off the same feeling whenever I am talking to Grandfather. So, that is what I felt," while wearing a weird look on his face.

A few moments later, Shin suddenly received a call from Owen and snapped him out of his daze. And right after he picked up the call, the latter quickly reported. "We successfully saved the king and his attendants. We are now dealing with the aftermath, so you better hurry and regroup with us before the royal guards capture you."

Shin didn't respond immediately because he was still in the middle of collecting his thoughts. And when he finally regained himself, he slightly nodded his head before asking. "What about Alucard and Akailu?"

"Well, since we can't share our quest with them, they can't stay inside the castle. So, they immediately fled as soon as they got my message, just like what we had planned," answered Owen in an instant.

"What about the crown prince?" asked Shin immediately after.

Hearing that, Owen released a helpless sigh before answering. "Unfortunately, he managed to escape alongside his closest aide."

Shin slightly nodded his head. "Alright, that's enough for now. Send me your coordinates and I will head over there."

...…

Everything went smoothly since the King was personally dealing with the aftermath. Naturally, his attendants wanted to stop him and asked him to take a rest.

Unfortunately for them, they couldn't respond to the king when he said that it was his responsibility to clean up the mess that his son had made. And with such a strong argument, the attendants could only shut their mouths and comply with his words.

The entire castle was really overturned due to the battle. There were quite a lot of places that were destroyed during the process. Even the main palace suffered some serious damage. Well, it was natural since that was the place where Shin and Thirio mainly fought, so it was natural for it to become in ruins.

There were also a lot of elven guards who died in battle while the survivors were either fatally wounded or became crippled. They were NPCs, so they couldn't revive nor regrow their limbs. And due to these, the military forces of the castle suffered greatly.

Looking at all of these, Shin couldn't help but think if this was really what the Corrupted Cult was after. And since the capital city of the Elven Kingdom suffered such a devastating blow, the other cities within the kingdom couldn't help but be on high alert and strengthen their defense.

After all, they were not sure if the members of the Corrupted Cult were lurking within their borders.

In the meantime, the Elven Council was in a mess. And since they were still in the middle of recovering, the 'Crown' was not in a position to hold a ceremony to honor the achievement of Shin and the others.

Fortunately, their rewards were still given to them after meeting the King. Though, they could tell that they didn't manage to ace the quest since they didn't receive any special rewards nor a follow-up quest.

Well, that was to be expected given how much damage the castle had suffered. So, to put it bluntly, they really scored very low in this particular quest.

After that, Shin and Charlotte mentioned the situation of the Beast Glade Kingdom and proposed a couple of ways to assist them. And one of them was sending some delegates that would visit their allied kingdom. This was one of their original plans for the Elven Kingdom previously. But since they couldn't do it earlier, they were trying to see if it would work the other way around.

Unfortunately, they were immediately rejected by the council right after they presented their proposition. Shin tried his hardest to convince them but they were repeatedly rejected by the elders of the council.

One of the reasons why they were rejected was because these elves were looking for someone to vent their anger. And since one of the 'intruders' who killed most of the elven guards earlier was a Beastman, it was natural for them to direct their anger to Akailu.

Fortunately, Charlotte couldn't share the quest with Alucard and Akailu, so Shin was able to say that they did not belong to their group. If the quest was shared with those two, then Shin and the others would surely be in trouble. Or worse, they would be the ones locked within the prison even though they managed to save the king.

Given all of that, Shin and Charlotte walked out of the castle dejectedly. They failed to convince the council. And due to that, the former couldn't shake off the feeling that it was one of the Corrupted Cults schemes.

"What if their real target is the Beast Glade Kingdom and not the Elven Kingdom in the first place?" muttered Shin as he started looking from a different perspective. "How about both?"

"There is definitely something odd going on with that Elder from the Corrupted Cult. He is talking a little leisurely earlier too. It is as if the failure of taking over the Elven Kingdom is not a big deal."

"If they manage to win earlier, then they will be able to take control of the Elven Kingdom and their plans for the Beast Glade Kingdom will proceed smoothly since the former will not be able to provide any assistance."

"But now that they lose to us-… F*ck! The Elven Kingdom still couldn't assist the Beast Glade Kingdom due to the heavy blow that they suffered from the earlier battle!"

"At the same time, the other cities can't give any help since they are afraid that they are the next target of the Corrupted Cult. Or worse, some of their cities have already been taken over unnoticed."

Shin then halted his steps and looked at the sky before closing his eyes. "So, that is the real reason why I am getting that ominous feeling earlier. We are already in a lose-lose battle from the very start."

"Now, I am starting to suspect that whatever is happening in the Dwarf Kingdom is also one of the Corrupted Cult's tricks to isolate the Beast Glade Kingdom from their allies. I wonder who plotted such a grand scheme. Is it really that old man or someone else?"

After that, he clenched his hands quite tightly before muttering with an annoyed tone. "This is my first time feeling unhappy despite winning a battle."

"Looks like this is going to be an interesting match. I wonder who I am up against," he added while wearing a huge grin under his mask.

...…