Chapter 136 - 136

The summons around Cain have just finished up the dirty work when he gets a stream of notifications.

[Guild Master AllNatty has died] 

[Montauk Guardians] has been disbanded

[Montauk Guardians Team 2] has been disbanded

[Montauk Guardians Team 3] has been disbanded

[Guild War Has Ended] 

[Calculating War Totals] 

[Flawless Victory 500-0]

[Darklight Host is Victorious] 

The last four are Zone Announcements that everyone with a system near the city can see, making Sylvia and the others gasp in horror. The sounds from inside the city are a mix of amazement, horror, and cheers of victory from the transfers now freed from their contracts. 

Cain looks at the Guild interface to see what they've been awarded. Five Guild Houses, the contents of the Guild banks, a bunch of gear that Vala seems to have looted and one pending calculation.

[Processing total gains to calculate bonus experience]

[2 members participating] please wait.

Well, this should be interesting. Cain hasn't really been part of wide scale Guild combat, preferring not to start fights in the outside world where possible. Things just got a bit out of hand today when the whole city declared war on him before he knew what was happening. 

The entire population of this place can't be more than about five thousand people, including the civilians with no interface. If they killed 500 Guild members, plus an unknown number of non Guilded allies who might have joined in the fight, there can't be all that many transfers left, unless every transfer who arrived in the last decade is still here. 

That actually turns out to be not far from the truth, as transfers in Iron collars start crowding towards the city gates, hoping to catch a glimpse of their saviors Cain assumes. 

[847 Contracts may be transferred: Accept or Nullify]

The captured workers contracts are transferable? Just how evil was this Guild Master? Cain selects nullify, as he really doesn't intend on taking over this city, and the collars begin falling to the ground with a metallic ring. A roar of victory sounds all over the city, echoing off the walls as if the city itself was shouting.

An old man that Cain's interface identifies as the former mayor of Montauk City comes forward with a large object in his hands. It looks to be a huge key on a pillow. The ceremonial key to the city perhaps? 

"Welcome to Montauk. My name is Steve, the former mayor of the city, before AllNatty and his Guardians deposed me and took over the city. I do hope your intentions are honorable, though you do have the right to take his place." The mayor begins as the crowds part and the two teams led by Vala appear, walking over to stand behind Cain and the party. 

His eyes widen at the army of demons and the pair of shimmering white Dragons, but he continues anyways, seeing that Cain is the Guild Master. 

"As I was saying, the city is yours for the taking, if you so choose."

[Quest: Capture or Free Montauk] quest reward based on decision. 

"The city is free Mayor. We only came here to see why nobody ever returned to Beginners Valley, and why no news or goods ever traveled anymore." Cain explains. 

"News rarely traveled before they arrived, anyone over level 100 must complete a Mentor quest to return through the mountains, that limits their power inside the valley and requires a lot of hours helping others advance. Not many are willing to do it, so only secondhand news passes through to the new arrivals." The mayor slowly explains, his age and poor health getting to him. 

Seeing the shape he's in, Kone casts the full array of healing abilities she knows, to cleanse, heal and refresh the elderly mayor, who immediately begins to look much more healthy. 

"Thank you for that. The Guild had Forbidden the healers to help me, worried that I would start a rebellion if I could." The old man bows to the Druid. 

"Tonight we celebrate!" Comes a cheer from inside the walls and the old man smiles. 

"Welcome to Montauk, let me show you to your new home here. It passed to your control when you won the Guild War." The mayor leads them through bloodstained streets, littered with bodies. There are far more than five hundred dead if this density is anything to go by, but they are near where the fighting started, so maybe the other side of the city is better. 

They are led to a large white plantation style house with a stone wall and solid Gold gates with a man's head impaled upon them. 

"Welcome to the former home of the Montauk Guardians Guild. If I'm not mistaken, that head belongs to the former Guild Master, the level 137 AllNatty." The mayor swings the gate open with a grand gesture, making the head sway on its spike. 

"Hey, I remember that guy, excellent fighter. It took me plus two Wrath Bringers to take him down." Vala announces with a hint of admiration for his skills.

The mayor looks impressed, the Guild Master had always seemed an invincible presence here in the city. Even when ambushed ten on one he barely took a scratch. But in the end, it was the excessive self healing gained by Vala from the [Pestilence] skill that changed the balance. He couldn't kill her through the healing, and couldn't escape her speed. Seeing his head on the gate now, he doesn't look so fearsome as his presence made him seem to the Mayor and townsfolk. 

The inside of the Guild House is extremely luxurious, as expected of a Tyrant. Cain looks around for a good spot to sit before leading the mayor to a set of couches.

"Can the city defend itself? Or should we have someone sent over to work as guards until we can be sure nobody will try to take his place." Cain asks. 

"With the contracts gone, we should be fine. The transfers were overwhelmed individually when they arrived, and forced into the contract and enchanted collars. Free of them, we should have a sufficient force of reliable warriors. I tried to keep in contact with as many good people as I could over the years." The mayor nods his head as he thinks. 

"Do you think a meeting in the city Square would be enough to get your town guard assembled and start rebuilding? I saw a lot of dead shopkeepers and Guild members, plus we may have broken a few buildings during the battle." Cain asks. 

"It should be enough to get things in order for a few days. Once the Guilds started falling, the transfers under contract started killing off all the informants and cronies that worked for them. It caused a lot of additional casualties all over the city, so even I don't know where things stand yet." The mayor explains. 

It looks like they caused a bit more trouble than intended during their visit here. But at least it's taken care of. 

[Calculation Complete: Bonus Experience Awarded] 

[System Estimates required inactive time 30 minutes. Confirm to complete Quest] 

30 minutes inactive to complete a quest? Does that mean him or the interface? Kone is looking at him with confusion, so it must have given her the same notice. 

"How about we meet you at the town square in 4 hours? It will give us time to rest and refresh, and for the survivors to start getting things in order and the bodies out of the streets before holding the meeting?" Cain suggests. 

The mayor agrees and heads out to get everything organized, before Cain turns to the Elves. "We have got a few quest notifications to deal with, the interface says it needs us inactive for 30 minutes for whatever reason, can you watch over us? I'm not sure if my summons will stay active."

"We got some notifications too, and more than two levels from the hidden quest. You had the Guild War on top of that, so it might have given you an even bigger bonus. I'll watch over you while you do whatever the system needs." Misaki agrees. 

Cain and Kone get comfortable on the couch and select the option to complete the quests.

[Quest Complete: Hero of the Valley] 

[Quest Complete: Free Montauk]

[Guild War Won: Ratio 500:0] error, beyond maximum bonus cannot be applied. Maximum modifier selected. 

[Error: Maximum modifier altered above parameters by Class Skill] experience progression stopped by Class Option. 

[Level Set to 100]

[Congratulations on Randomly Obtaining the Puppet Master Class. Please Select a Skill Tree to finalize new character creation] 

This is definitely the new character creation screen, Cain can see the tabs at the top where he chose his name and random rolled his class. What in the world is going on here? 

On the other end of the couch, Kone has it much easier. While she got the same set of notifications, it brought her to the advanced class selection screen. 

[Please Choose a Class Option] 

[Hidden Selection available due to obtained skill combination] 

[Base Options] Druid: Forest Protector, Druid: Regenerist, Druid: Nature's Ally

[Hidden Option] Beast Lord 

All the base options are progression paths within the Druid Class, which isn't too surprising, as it's already an advanced class and she likely didn't meet a requirement for any of the the third progression classes at level 100. But what exactly is a Beast Lord?