Second World

Jack had trouble understanding Paytowin's words. The sounds of explosion convinced him that Paytowin wasn't joking.

"I thought this place has a barrier protecting outsiders from entering?" Jack asked.

"The invaders used something to deactivate the barrier," Paytowin answered.

"Who the hell dares to attack a divine faction?" Jack asked, still couldn't believe what was happening.

"I'm not sure."

"You didn't see the assailants?"

"I don't dare to go near. The fighting is too fierce."

"The f*ck...! So, why do you call me? Do you think I can do anything against people who dare to attack a divine faction? Well... Not that I complain about you summoning me here. You have helped me out of a prison. I am in your debt, George."

"What...? That's not important! I need your help to get into a shrine. My boss, Myson, had entrusted me with a task to activate a defensive mechanism in the shrine, but there were enemies guarding the place."

"How strong are those enemies?"

"As I said, I don't know. Once I saw them from a distance, I move away and decided to summon you. I need you to engage them. If they are too strong, you can draw them away from the shrine so I can sneak in."

"F*ck! You want me to be bait?"

"Yes!"

Jack saw Paytowin's serious expression. He figured his friend must have been desperate to try anything to complete his task.

"All right, point me the way," Jack said.

As they were about to move, Jack noticed something on his radar. "Hey, are there other players here aside from us?" He asked.

He had seen white dots on his radar. Some were grouped together and moved haphazardly within that group. He figured those should be natives who were fighting. But he also saw several blue dots.

"If there are players, then they should be with the enemies. No players are permitted in this place aside from me," Paytowin answered.

Jack grabbed Paytowin and moved away.

"Two players and two natives are heading here," Jack informed. Since players were sure to be with the enemies, then it was better to avoid that group.

Paytowin didn't ask how Jack knew because he knew about Jack's monocle.

"Where is this shrine you want to enter?" Jack asked.

"That way," Paytowin pointed in a direction.

As they headed there, Jack again dragged Paytowin sideways from where they should be going.

"Another enemy?" Paytowin asked.

"Same group...," Jack answered.

Jack changed direction again, this time he led Paytowin moving back, away from the shrine.

"... I think I know who this group of players is," Jack said.

"Who?"

"The World Maker. One of these players must have the same monocle as mine. This group keeps on changing direction following our positions. I bet this group is part of the enemies who guarded the shrine. They must have detected you when you checked on the shrine from afar. They had been coming at you since."

"The World Maker? But, why do they want to attack this place?"

"I don't know. But if there is any player group crazy enough to dare attack this place, I can only think of them as well."

"What should we do? I need to get into the shrine fast," Paytowin uttered. They had continued to move away. Every step away from their destination was making him more restless.

"We will make a jump on them," Jack replied.

*

Four figures walked at a fast pace across vast beautiful gardens. A player with the Avenger class was leading the group. They had been tasked to guard a certain shrine. Their leader had mentioned that someone might come to use the defensive mechanism inside that place. They were to stop anyone who tried to do so.

The avenger had noticed a blue dot on his radar. He was surprised to see this blue dot because his leader had mentioned that it was unlikely for a player to be in this place at this stage. That blue dot left soon after.

He was curious about the existence of this player. So, he went with a portion of the group that was guarding the shrine and go after this mysterious player.

As he did, he was becoming even more surprised when he saw another blue dot popped up on his radar.

He stopped for a while due to this unexpected circumstance but then decided to proceed again. He had two level 60 special elite natives accompanying him. He himself was a level 53 Avenger, while his other comrade was a level 50 Assassin. The current mainstream players were mostly still level 52. His comrade was lower than the mainstream's level because his comrade had died once before. Still, he didn't think the four of them would have a problem dealing with these two mysterious players they were chasing. Those two shouldn't have levels higher than the mainstream.

These two players kept on moving around randomly. He wondered what they were up to. And then, one of the blue dots suddenly disappeared.

'The heck? What is going on?' He wondered. This second player popped up without explanation and now mystically vanished again. The original blue dot was still moving away, so he decided to just catch the player that was still there to be interrogated.

The blue dot suddenly stopped.

'Hm?' The Avenger gave the others the sign to slow down. He observed the blue dot that had now stopped. Was this player looking for something? He was not sure if this player was on the side of the Council of Virtus. He didn't think this player could do much to affect the current battle raging in this place but it was still better if he made sure.

He gave a hand signal informing the others that their target was nearby, just behind that row of trees. They all moved slowly to avoid making noise.

As they were getting closer to the row of trees, the ground underneath them suddenly alighted with eerie green light. Fifteen vipers burst out of the glowing ground, pouncing at them without warning.

All of them were ensnared except for the assassin. The assassin had managed to use his Vanish skill before any of the vipers touched him. He disappeared from the glowing area and reappeared some distance away. While being invisible, he surveyed his surroundings.

"Behind you!" The avenger shouted. His assassin comrade didn't wear God-Eye monocle, so he wasn't aware that the second blue dot, which had now turned into a black dot, had suddenly appeared again behind them just as they were assaulted by these green vipers.

Just as the assassin wanted to turn back, a ring of light clamped his body. His two arms were locked by the side of his body and he couldn't move. It was the Magic Bind spell.

Jack had used Cloak of Shadow's ability to turn invisible under the tree's shadow. Even a high-level native like Arlstraxx couldn't detect Jack when his cloak's ability was active, and so too was the radar of God-Eye monocle. Jack had waited until the four went past him before he sprung his attack.

He was rather surprised when he saw the four because the two players were the ones he knew. One of them even died by his hand in the past. They were GraphicZ and Soundeffect. These two had confirmed his suspicion of the World Maker's involvement.

The two natives following the World Maker duo were priests from the Cult of Phobos. No wonder they dared to attack this place. Only a divine faction would be brazen enough to attack another divine faction. What he was wondering, though, was what was World Maker doing attacking this place? Weren't they busy enough fighting the Liguritudum's civil war?

Paytowin came out from behind the row of trees he was hiding and started shooting using his gun. Brave King followed after him and rushed forward. It went into Myriad Venomous Vipers' circle. Since Paytowin was in a party with Jack, the vipers didn't hinder Brave King.

Under the punishment from the vipers, Paytowin, and Brave King, GraphicZ didn't last long. The two natives lasted longer because they had high HP, but from the rate their HP went down, they also won't last past the Myriad Venomous Vipers' spell duration.

Soundeffect tried to break free but the ring of light that was locking him won't budge. He had never experienced such a sturdy Magic Bind before aside from Master's one.

"Hello, we meet again," Jack came in front of him. "Mind telling me what you people are doing here?"

"You...!" Soundeffect uttered, recognizing Jack. It would be weird not to, considering Jack was the only one that had ever killed him in this new world. "The lightning thief!"

"Lightning thief? Hm... Not a bad title," Jack said. He was thinking about taking out a restraining rope to continue his interrogation, but Paytowin seemed urgent to get to the shrine, so Jack decided to let go of his curiosity and deal with the matters at hand.

"Magic Bind is not a spell that last long, so goodbye," Jack said. He proceeded to use Soundeffect as a practice dummy for his sword art, incorporating mana manipulation. Since this Daminos Square Garden had dense mana condition, a third of his hit successfully carried mana manipulation attacks.

Soundeffect lost his life for the second time before the Magic Bind's duration ended.