Second World-Novel

The Death Associates players who were manning the walls were anxious looking at the sea of players appearing near their headquarters. They were just backup players. Their levels were only around level 50 to 54. Most of the higher-level players had gone to join the operation in Aurebor Dynasty.

Now, they were told to defend against an attack? From the number one guild in this country? At first, they thought it was a joke. But when they saw the mass of players appearing, they knew this was real.

They were commanded to stop the enemies at any cost, even by sacrificing their lives. And many of them didn't have Amulet of Rebirth anymore. The reason was that the amulet had become too expensive for them by now. They were players who had died several times. This was also the reason their levels were lower than the average players.

As they watched the enemies who were gathering in the distance, something flew up from the sea of players. At first, they thought it was a summoned monster, sent at them as an opening strike. But then they saw it was a small humanoid dragon.

"Shit!" All of them involuntarily exclaimed. They all recognized this humanoid dragon.

The humanoid dragon, however, didn't bother with them. It just flew passed above them and headed straight to the main building in their headquarters. The players looked back in silence.

One player finally asked, "Should we go chase him? We were asked to defend this headquarters, right?"

"I prefer facing those enemies in front rather than chasing that guy," his friend answered. "Defending this place still counts as defending the headquarters, right? Well, you are welcome to go chase him if you want."

After several brief seconds, the first player who spoke turned back facing the front, and said, "Let's stop those bastards from breaching this wall."

*

Jack looked at the wall down there as he passed. There were plenty of enemy players guarding that wall. But the force they brought was more, there should be no problem for Jeanny and John to defeat these players. The question was just how long it took. With them keeping these enemy players busy, he should have little resistance getting into the guild hall.

Paytowin at first wanted to follow after him. He could fly, after all, either by riding pegasus or by piggybacking atop Brave King. However, Jack told him not to. Even though he had Brave King and Mihos to defend him, he himself was not exactly a durable class. If a mistake happened and he was isolated, Jack might need to come to his help. Jack said it would be more flexible if he charged in alone.

Paytowin was not offended by Jack's words. During the battle in Slaughterer Plains, he experienced such a scenario happening. Even with his Brave Techno Suit, he was still at high risk of dying if he was surrounded by enemies.

So, Paytowin stayed behind with Jeanny and John. He promised they would make short work of breaching the gate so they could all come to assist Jack as soon as possible.

After a short flight, Jack landed in front of the entrance to the main building. It was closed and locked, as expected. Two guild knights were guarding the entrance. Although Death Associates summoned their guild soldiers, some soldiers stationed as guards at key positions had the option to not be summoned. White Death had set so that these guards didn't follow when the rest of the guild army was summoned.

The guild knights here were also not the standard kind. They wore thick plate armor. They were Heavy Knights, a variation evolved using an insignia.

The two heavy knights immediately advanced on Jack since Jack was considered hostile the second he entered this place without permission.

Jack wasn't flustered by the two knights. His two claws spun with Whirlwind Slash, knocking the knights' heavy swords away and damaging them. He then cast Ice Bolt at the knight on his left and Flame Strike at the knight on his right. The left knight was frozen while the right knight was pushed away.

He then used Devouring Cross on the entrance door. The doors were smacked open with one hit. The door didn't have a barrier, after all. Structures with proper barriers inside headquarters were the walls, its gate, and the entrance into the guild hall. Hence, this door didn't give much resistance against Jack's overwhelming power.

Jack saw several players guarding behind the door. They seemed surprised at how fast Jack had broken the door open.

"Oh, hi!" Jack greeted. He then used Wings of Devastation. The lobby behind the entrance door was not that large. So, his Wings of Devastation which covered a large area practically hit everything inside that lobby. There was nowhere to run.

These players were similarly low-level ones. Even lower than the ones on the wall. It was because most of them were players who focused on their auxiliary skills. They were all dead once Jack's Wings of Devastation washed over them.

"Oh, I didn't have the chance to say bye..." Jack said.

The two heavy knights came again at him. Jack summoned Therras and then used Mirage Beast. A second Therras appeared. This second Therras, however, didn't wear pet armor. Peniel had also informed Jack that a mirage beast couldn't use skills as the original pet did. It was simply an expendable copy used for a meat shield and brute force fights.

Jack instructed the mirage beast to keep the two heavy knights busy. He and Therras ran into the building. Jack also summoned his wolf pack. The ten fast wolves with Therras ran ahead and dealt with any enemy so Jack could continue to advance without hindrance.

Most guild headquarters had the same layout. Making changes from the standard layout needed extra resources. Most guilds didn't want to waste their limited resources on such cosmetics at this stage. So, Jack didn't have a problem finding his way to the guild hall.

---------------

Inside the headquarters of Offline Beasts, a group of people was walking along a corridor.

Members of the Offline Beasts tried to block this group but they were assaulted by a stream of raging flame. The flame burst came from Ronald's flame-thrower drone. Inside the narrow corridor, the flame burst covered all space. There was nowhere to hide.

While the flame assaulted and blinded them, they were also harassed by Ronald's bullets and his Boom Hound's sonic bullets. Ranged players from both Death Associates and World Maker also sent their ranged attacks to quicken the demise of these players who blocked them.

"We have to hurry!" Scarface uttered. Among the guild members he brought were Stonecleave and Grimclaw.

"Go and run ahead then," Gridhacker said.

"Our enemies had entered the main building in our headquarters as well. We have to destroy the guild core here before them!"

"You people are truly useless," Gridhacker mocked. He then commanded all players to quicken the pace. Ronald, however, continued to walk at a normal pace.

---------------

With Therras and his wolves running interference, Jack's advance was mostly unhindered. With his fast movement speed, he quickly got to the antechamber before the guild hall. In that room, a squad was waiting for him. All of them had high levels. This squad seemed to be led by four players. One of the four was one he was familiar with.

"Are you going to lose your third Amulet of Rebirth to me again?" Jack asked Yellow Death with a grin. Jack used Inspect and found that the other three leaders were Blue Death, Green Death, and Violet Death.

Once World Maker players broke Offline Beasts' wall gate open and Scarface's team joined them, White Death instructed the four Deaths to remove themselves from the battle, bringing a small elite squad and return to Death Hall to buy them time.

"F*ck you...!" Yellow Death cursed. He was extremely pissed at being reminded of the fact that he had been killed twice by Jack.

"You, fiend! We have finally met," Blue Death exclaimed. "You are the one who had corrupted Red. Now, you are going to feel my wrath!"

"Huh?" Jack was confused by the words. But he had no time to entertain them, he was short on time. He used Ultimate Beast, turning Therras into its bipedal sovereign mode form. He then unleashed Lightning God Barrage, Soul Breath, and had Therras fire its earth core bomb.

Lightning God Barrage alone should be enough to massacre the Death Associates players here. There was not much space to run in this enclosed antechamber. But Jack didn't just aim to wipe out this squad before him, he also wanted to destroy the barrier to the guild hall in one go!

Standard guild hall's barrier was rather sturdy. Not as strong as a guild's wall gate, but should be strong enough to withstand the full power of Lightning God Barrage. Hence, Jack used his combination assault.

But just as the three attacks were carried out, Jack noticed Green Death who stood slightly behind the others unfurled a magic scroll. A circle of light appeared under the squad, they then vanished before the lightning balls hit.

"Mass teleportation?" Jack said, recognizing the spell.

The three attacks hit where the enemies were standing a second ago, creating a large explosion. After it subsided, Jack saw the barrier to the guild hall was no more. Jack went through the entrance and as expected, he saw the squad from before inside this guild hall.

The barrier protecting the guild hall prevented enemies from teleporting inside. Hence, Jack couldn't use his teleportation spell to bypass the barrier. But if the ones teleporting were allies, they were not blocked.

"Hmph! We know we couldn't prevent you from entering here. But now that your unreasonable lightning skill is on cooldown, don't expect an easy time destroying our guild core!" Yellow Death declared.

"My unreasonable skill is not only that lightning attack, you know," Jack said with a grin.

"Spread out! All we need to do is delay him!" Yellow Death bellowed to the others. He knew that there was no way they could win against this man with their current force. He just hoped that the other side could hurry the f*ck up!