The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 796  Gossip Spreads Fast

Within the hour, word of the Guild Battle had spread through the city, and the timeline had already gotten blurred by gossip.

The rumour going around the city was that someone had attacked the Thunderbird while he was scouting, and the beast had retaliated by wiping out a group of Initiates while they were shopping.

The thought was horrifying to the people, but not as horrific as the storm of swirling flames that had eaten the Truelight Host Guild house. There was so little chance for them to defend themselves, even when the attack had come so long after the alarms signalling a Guild Conflict had been sounded.

That had to mean that the attack had started at the Darklight Host shop, and they hadnʼt been given the chance for a challenge.

Under normal circumstances, you would not openly attack and try to take over a shop if you didnʼt have overwhelming strength. Not only did you need to win the property, you needed to convince the City Governor that you should be allowed to keep it. The full activation of the System was relatively new, even here, and the old rules were still in place. Those rules said that whoever the owner had designated as the inheritor got the property, and if they were permanently dead with no heir, it went back to the city. The rule of law did not support taking over shops by force.

However, the Guild Function allowed the victor of a Guild battle to force the other Guildʼs members out of the city. It would remove their Guild House designation from the property, and make the members physically unable to enter it after 24 hours. So, the city generally took over the loserʼs property, and gave them the net proceeds after it was sold.

Already Guild Alliances were forming, so that entire regions would be pulled into a larger battle, which essentially prevented wars from starting, but both parties involved this time were independent of such alliances.

The guards were still waiting in the yard, so the kitchen staff brought them out tea and snacks while they waited. The guards had called over a repairman for the roof of the workshop, but Karl suspected that just fixing the roof tiles would not be enough to calm the two unfortunate sculptors who came metres from being bisected.

Somehow, the whole thing felt like a loss, even though it was objectively a crushing victory for their side.

”Davis, if you can get a hold of the mage who did the barriers, some of them were damaged during the battle, and we will need stronger ones for the workshop made. I know it was an afterthought, so we didnʼt put much of a barrier on it last time, but now it appears that we need to prepare for a much more violent future for the property.” Karl instructed.

”Davis, if you can get a hold of the mage who did the barriers, some of them were damaged during the battle, and we will need stronger ones for the workshop made. I know it was an afterthought, so we didnʼt put much of a barrier on it last time, but now it appears that we need to prepare for a much more violent future for the property.” Karl instructed.

”Of course, Sir.”

The guard Captain turned to Karl. ”Were there any casualties on your side? We can bring over shamans to resurrect.”

Karl shook his head. ”There were no casualties on our side, but we have Lotus. She can resurrect.”

The Guard blinked slowly, as he realized that the fallen Overlords could have been resurrected right where they were. Well, in theory, as the Priestess was unlikely to bring enemies back to life even if her Goddess agreed to it.

Loros and Wendy finally came out of the ruined workshop, allowing Tessa to check them over.

”Weʼre alright, really. The barrier on us never broke, even though the workshop did. Who creates that, by the way? Itʼs a really comfortable barrier.” Loros explained.

Thor stomped his feet to get her attention, and lowered his head to accept her praise.

”Oh, itʼs Thor, right? Thank you so much. I thought that we were in real trouble, but when the roof tiles collapsed, they hit the personal barrier, and nothing hurt us at all.”

She was loving on Thor, leaning against his head to rub the good spot between his upper horns. The Cerro was having a great day.

Thor settled on his belly, so his scales could be more effectively rubbed, and decided to ignore the commotion outside the gates, where someone was shouting.

The City Guard had stopped someone from approaching, but the shouting caught Karlʼs attention. An unfamiliar woman was screaming at the guards and threatening to kill someone, so Karl went out the gate to see what was going on.

”You! The War Champion. I demand satisfaction. You killed my husband!” The woman screamed.

Karl and the Guard Captain stared at each other in confusion. Of course, he had, that was how Guild Wars worked.

But the woman wasnʼt done.

”The Shaman Canʼt bring him back, his soul is damaged. You bastard, what did you do to him?” She screamed, as the neighbours came out of their shops to watch the shows.

”Itʼs divine punishment for stupidity. He refused to accept a Challenge and demanded annihilation. Thatʼs what he got.” Karl explained calmly.

”The gods have nothing to do with anything, you Murderer!” Karl didnʼt even know how to argue with that. He had used the Haint Claw for extra damage, knowing what would happen. But did he regret it? Surprisingly, no. Not even a little bit.

Now, everyone on the street understood what had happened. The losing side hadnʼt been able to resurrect all their Overlords. That was a tragedy for the family, but the Demons generally didnʼt get too worked up about such things. If you tried your luck and ended up becoming the yearʼs Find Out Champion, you deserved it in the minds of the majority here.

The major concern that they had was what that Darklight Host War Champion had done to him.

Karlʼs Tabard now had two golden rings around it, marking two above Rank defensive victories, so this was not a new feat for him. Whatever hidden Skill he had must amount to an instant kill assassination technique.

But Karl was also getting incredibly close to the Overlord Rank, they could all feel it in his aura. So, while this one did count, he was just generally a monster in combat by any standard below Totem Rank.

It was probably best to make friends with his people, as they had the secret to crushing a numerically superior force in less time than it took to drink a coffee.

Karl shook his head in dismay. ”Iʼm sorry for your loss, but he refused the challenge. Safety isnʼt assured during a Guild War, and it was his choice.”

Then he walked back in the gate and motioned for everyone to head in the house.