Second World

The twenty-five just stood there, not moving a muscle. The transformed Whitebeard did the same. He just stared at the twenty.

One of the twenty-five finally spoke, "There is nothing to worry about! I used Inspect before, the rat is just a level 18 basic animal!"

"But… It can't be inspected now… Doesn't it mean its level is higher than us now?" Another said.

"It's still only a basic grade. How many levels can that rat increase after transforming? We can take it down together!" The first person who spoke uttered again. He was trying to give others the motivation. He was from Corporate United. He was even a corporate manager in real life. He was used to giving this kind of motivating speech.

"But… It looks rather menacing now," The others were not convinced.

"It is just for show. Look! It is not even taking any action. It just stands there doing nothing. It probably hopes its new appearance will scare us into a retreat. But we will not be tricked by such a cheap trick. Our guilds depend on us. This is the time we shine. We will return to our guilds as heroes who have managed to take the guild hostage token of our sworn enemy! Now, who is with me?!"

The others looked at one another. They did feel fired up after that speech. That's right. The rat just stood there doing nothing. It must be a trick!

"I'm with you!" One person uttered.

"Me too!" Another said.

Everyone soon bellowed an enthusiastic cry.

"Now, follow me!" The lead Corporate United member shouted and started charging forward. "We will take down the core. We will–"

His latest speech didn't get the chance to be finished, because Whitebeard's one paw came and stomped the guy. He lost half of his life. Whitebeard grabbed the guy's body and threw him up. His large shark-like mouth opened and chomped, shredding the body into pieces as the poor guy's HP zeroed.

Whitebeard then looked at the others before him who had frozen again. He said, "I've warned you, people. But since you people didn't heed my warning, then so be it. This is not my village. I won't hold anything back!"

Whitebeard then pounced at the players.

Pointy Tip who was watching the scene, sent a message in the chat, "Um, Grace… How strong is Whitebeard after he transformed?" Tip also couldn't inspect Whitebeard's level.

"Transformed?" Jeanny asked in the chat.

Grace answered Tip's question, "When he is in his true form, he is a level 68 rare elite."

Level 68 rare elite?! Tip was astonished. No wonder those players were helpless. They might not even win against a rare elite of the same level. What's more, one that was twenty levels above them.

"True form?" Jack asked in the chat.

"All the villagers in the Village of Peace are members of the divine faction, Harmony Keepers," Grace answered. "They just take up peaceful forms most of the time. But if needed, they can assume their true forms to defend the village."

"Oh… I see. Now, that makes more sense," Jack commented.

*

"Say what!?" Queen Magenta yelled after receiving the message. "What do you mean there is a giant rat monster protecting the Guild Hall?!"

White Death sighed. They were currently moving away from the reinforcement army's camp. Their forces had also dispersed and ran away to all corners to make it harder for the enemies to pursue.

"I truly didn't expect they still have such a defense in place. That guild continued to give us a surprise. There is nothing else we can do. Our part in this war is over."

"What do you mean over?!" Queen Magenta shouted. "I will be in trouble if I don't bring back Everlasting Heavenly Legends' guild hostage token!"

No one responded to her. Manager Steelhand shot her a sympathetic look, while White Death was completely indifferent. Seeing the situation, Queen Magenta's face went pale.

Tip had seen members of Wicked Witches amongst the ones that rushed into the Guild Hall. He had sent a report to Jeanny, who sent a message to Selena, asking her what her guild meant by this. Why were they fighting together in this war but some of her members were attacking their guild headquarters?

Selena said that she had no idea about this. She promised she would get to the bottom of this once the war was over. While in fact, she had an inkling as to who had carried out that covert attack. She sent a message to her leader, Nova, who in turn sent a message to Queen Magenta asking about her involvement in all this.

Queen Magenta was now staring at the message, unsure of how to reply.

*

When White Death's player army started charging at the camp, the battle near the fort was already fierce. After exhausting the Enhance Defensive Ability magic scrolls during the first-day battle, John had requested their scroll makers to produce another batch. He had given each wing some of these scrolls, to help them defend against the initial clash.

While Jack's left-wing was clashing with a part of the encircling army, Armstrong and Ahab's army had clashed with Therribus' 40,000 main army. Jack's left-wing was the furthest away so he didn't receive the full brunt of the attack. Still, they were not that far off, the fighting slowly trickled to where his troops were.

Arlcard cast his Sonata of the Night and Perpetual Sword of Death, bringing massive advantage to Jack's troops. Both spells covered a very large area and didn't inflict friendly fire.

The best advantage of Jack's left-wing came from their air superiority. With a hundred and fifty Eagle Rider Hunter led by the Lava Dragonet, they dominated the sky above. Even within all the armies in this battle, both sides combined, there were no more than one hundred natives that possessed flying spells or flying tools.

But unfortunately, having more units in the air didn't mean that they were unbeatable. At this moment, A massive amount of lightning forks filled the sky and struck many Eagle Rider Hunters in the air. The struck eagles lost lots of HP. They even fell to the ground, losing their flight capability due to the paralyzation effect. Once they hit the ground, they were sitting ducks for the enemies.

Jack turned to where the lightning attack had come from and saw an obese man covered by lightning walking in the air.

"It's Garland!" Jack uttered. A strong opponent finally showed up.

"I will face him!" Duke Alfredo who was fighting not far away declared. He floated up and met Garland in the air.

Jack looked at the two. If it was the old duke, he might not be Garland's opponent. However, the duke had increased in level after receiving the Council of Virtus' blessings and training. In terms of grade and level, the two were now equal.

Following Garland's appearance, several enemy officers with flying spells and tools came into the sky. They fought against the remaining eagle rider hunters and the lava dragonet.

Jack continued fighting below. The occasional sounds of explosion and thunder filled the air as Garland and the duke fought above.

But even when Garland was up there fighting the duke, he still caused trouble down here. Three lightning orbs fell from the sky, which then turned into three large lightning golems. Jack had seen one of these golems before when it fought against the Crypt Ogre during Heavenly Citadel's undead invasion. He knew these golems were no joke.

Jack used his Inspect and found that these Lightning Golems were level 60 rare elite. The golems went in different directions, creating havoc on the reinforcement army.

Miller clashed with one of the golems. Although his level was higher, he was one grade lower. Additionally, the lightning golem had a constant electrical field around its body. This electrical field caused damage with a slight chance of causing paralyzing status. The lightning golem was superior against melee foes.

Miller, who was one such combatant, was having difficulty facing the golem. He used a spear and his attacks were mostly of the wind element, similar to Bailey. Jack sent his Ice Demon Fiend to help Miller. He also went over to provide support. With his high lightning resistance, it was still safe for him to go against these beings.

Jack used his spells to deal damage from ranged. Although the lightning golem had an electrical field, his Ice Demon Fiend had an icy aura. So, the scale was somewhat balanced. Miller and the Ice Demon Fiend received brief paralyzation from time to time, but the lightning golem was also slowed. Since the golem was already slow in the first place, it became sluggish due to the icy aura. Miller and the Ice Demon Fiend could still dodge the golem's attack most of the time.

The lightning golem mostly used physical attacks. Its fortes were its electrical field, its great strength, and high HP. Otherwise, it was not much to write about. With patience and persistence, the three wore the lightning golem's HP down.

The battle lasted for quite a while. They were still dealing with the lightning golem when Jack was having chat messages with the others regarding the sleeper agent incident in their headquarters.

On the other side, Arlcard was still supporting the troops. Although his Perpetual Sword of Death seemed unending, it still had a limit. Once his MP fell to half, the spell stopped. When it did, Jack sent him a mental call to come help. With the vampire's aid, they should be able to finish this lightning golem faster. Then they could go and take care of the other two that were still rampaging around.

As Arlcard was coming over, Jack heard Bailey's scream from the side. He turned and saw the lieutenant getting impaled by a spear. Her HP was critical. Jack recognized her opponent. The owner of the spear impaling Bailey was Claudius, another of Therribus' Lord Commanders.