Chapter 1000 The Calm Before The Final Battle

...

While Shin and the rest of the group were running toward the center of the city at full speed, they suddenly heard the sound of the battle coming to a halt. This gave them the idea that Immortal might had succeed at securing the Demon of Slaughter.

"Tsk! It seems like we are already too late," said Lawless right after they arrived at their destination.

The city plaza was already beyond recognition. Everything was pretty much devastated, there were fallen buildings that turned into a pile of rubble, and huge craters caused by powerful impacts which made the group very uneven.

Standing at the center of all of that were Lycan and Duke Bellion. They were currently discussing something. It seemed to be pretty a serious topic given the heavy expression that they were wearing.

When Shin and the others walked over, the two quickly noticed them and then walked over. Lycan didn't even wait for Shin to ask them what happened and quickly explained what had happened.

Since Shin and the rest of the group were already expecting it, they didn't look surprised at all. But the others still showed some signs of concern as they knew the consequence of Immortal possessing such a powerful creature.

Even though they knew that the strength of the Demon of Slaughter would be restricted by the system and set its stats proportional to its master's strength, it would still be a powerful monster that break the balance of the game.

Though, Shin and the others, who could enter the state of Reality Manifestation, were also kind of cheat themselves.

Shin, on the other hand, was currently in deep thought. He was already expecting this to happen. Even though the process was a little different, it was still within his expectation. The result would still be the same.

'Given Immortal's character, I am sure that he is now making preparations to awaken the Guardian Dragon of Grand Marshal Draco and corrupt its mind in the process,' thought Shin silently before turning his gaze at Arthur.

Arthur quickly noticed his gaze and quickly nodded. And when Shin saw that, he knew that Arthur had successfully convinced one of his dragons to work with them.

With that, Shin asked Lycan and Duke Bellion to talk to him in private for a moment, distancing themselves from the rest of the group.

The others were slightly confused when they saw that, but given that the two NPCs were constantly throwing them some gazes during the discussion, they knew that it was definitely related to their current situation.

A few moments later, Lycan and Duke Bellion slightly nodded their heads to Shin before disappearing from everyone's sight. The others didn't know where those two were going, but they were sure that it was another arrangement of Shin to deal with the next part of the quest.

Then Shin walked toward them and quickly said. "Let's find a safe place to rest. We are going to recuperate until we recover our peak forms. The next battle is going to be much more intense than what we have faced so far."

He paused for a moment before trying to cheer them up. "We are almost at the final part of the quest, so I hope that we can hold up until it."

Shin didn't explain much about his plans to the group since he knew that most of them already figured it out.

He was planning to wait patiently and conserve their energies instead of chasing after Immortal. Since the Demon of Slaughter was already in the other party's hands, it would be useless to waste their time and look for the latter.

In a sense, this current situation would be working in their favor. The moment when Immortal succeeded at waking up the Guardian Dragon, he would have exhausted most of his resources already. Even though he somehow managed to corrupt the dragon, the losses that he would suffer were pretty massive.

It was the perfect time to land a powerful blow on Immortal. Shin and Arthur already prepared everything, so all they needed to do was patiently wait for the pieces to land in their rightful place.

*********

As the situation in the city calmed down a little, a heated battle was currently taking place in the other part of the Frozen Kingdom.

In the place where the teleportation portal was being constructed, the trio of Chiefs from the Hand of Midas Trading Firm was currently facing a large group of places.

Earlier, some of the scouts of the Pandemonium Descendants accidentally set foot on Illusion Boundary that there had set up. And after learning that something was hidden within that place, they started sending more and more scouting parties to investigate.

It did not long until they learned that the people on the other side were from the Hand of Midas Trading Firm. And when the people leading the Pandemonium Descendants heard about it, they became even more interested in what was beyond the Illusion Boundary and quickly launched a restless assault.

...

"These guys are pretty persistent," muttered Adept Hands before continuing. "I heard from the young miss that they will be restricted from entering the Kingdom again after dying here."

"They will also be suffering quite a huge loss if they died. They will not only lose a level or two after dying but whole 10 levels!" she added. He didn't know if she would praise them for their persistence or idiocy.

Hearing her words, Tinker shrugged his shoulders. "Well, given that they manage to spot us here, I am sure that they must have figured out a couple of things."

"After all, we never appear anywhere unless the firm is reaping a huge benefit," he added before pausing and glancing at the two beside him. "What's more, they learn that there are at least three chiefs of the present here, so I can relate to what they are thinking."

"Heh! This is also a good opportunity for us. We can weaken the forces of the Pandemonium Descendants by killing more elite sweepers from their side," said Black Hammer with a smirk.

They had already received some reports from the outside that this mysterious organization was already making huge movements and started conquering a couple of key regions of the game. Three even heard that the Pandemonium Descendants took control of the two largest neutral regions.

"Since they choose to relieve themselves now and announce their presence in the world, we can tell that they are plotting something big," said Adept Hands.

Nodding his head, Tinker added. "Moreover, the regions that they have chosen are pretty interesting."

While the three of them were discussing one of the members busying themselves with building the Teleportation Formation suddenly walked toward them. "Chief Tinker, everything is already been built. We can now proceed at opening the portal."

"Hoh! Already?" he commented before slightly nodding his head. "Then that is good. But we can delay opening the portal. We still have to wait for the Guild Leader's permission."

"For now, fortify the formations and strengthen the altar. We still have extra materials with us, we should use them to the fullest," he added before dismissing the subordinate.

On the side, Black Hammer could not contain his grin before asking. "Now that we don't have to oversee this place, should we play with those guys from the Pandemonium Descendants? I am itching to test some of the special equipment that I've recently forged."

Tinker gave the chief blacksmith of the firm a skeptical look before replying. "I know what you are thinking but our task still remains. We can't afford any mishaps now, can we?"

Ignoring Black Hammer, Tinker turned to Adept Hands. "You should start preparing now. Once the young miss gives the order, we are proceeding with the next plan."

Adept Hands sighed in boredom before nodding her head. But before she managed to move her feet, she suddenly remembered something and turned back to Tinker. "Wait! What about the suggestion Young Master Shin said? I think it is a good plan."

This time, Black Hammer quickly chimed in. "About building a temporary settlement here? I think that is also a good idea. And when they are done with the quest and unlock this region, then we can turn it into a village, then into a town â€" or may even be a city, if possible."

"I also think that is a good idea. But we don't have enough resources for it," refuted Tinker. "An advance settlement is possible, but you can forget about turning it into a village."

Pausing for a moment, he frowned deeply before continuing. "I am not sure about this, but I feel like the young miss and Young Master Shin are making their own arrangements for this place."

"Anyway, you can forget about those useless thoughts for now. Just do your job and be ready anytime."

He was about to turn around when he remembered something and quickly gave Black Hammer a warning. "You! Don't ever do something foolish. We only bring a limited number of people for this operation, so we can't afford to lose any of them."

"We have the advantage over the Pandemonium Descendants because the young master set up the Illusion Boundary ahead of time, but once we lose control because of your recklessness, then the consequences are going to be dire."

After that, he quickly left with Adept Hands to proceed with the preparations that they needed for opening the teleportation portal.

Black Hammer had an unsatisfied look on his face but given that he would be personally punished by their guild leader once he messed everything up, he disregarded the thoughts of creating trouble.

He could wait until they make sure that everything was perfectly under control before he got the chance to test his new creations. A huge cut on his salary was on the line, so he would not dare to act recklessly.

He just hoped that Shiella passed down the orders as soon as possible. He was itching to use his new babies right now.

...