Second World

”Shit! Damn those coalition f*ckers…!” Jack cursed in frustration. Are they to lose their hard-earned Guild Headquarters to this swarm of monsters?”

ʼWait… A swarm of monsters…?ʼ The words brought back a memory. Perhaps there was still a way out. He turned and dashed with speed back to the wall.

”Move aside! Move aside!” He called out.

His guildmates were taken aback by his sudden return but they still opened a path for him.

”Where are you going?” Jeanny called out to him.

”I have a way that might save us, but you have to hold out until my return!” Jack shouted back without stopping his run.

”What do you mean?” Jeanny asked..

”Hey, bro! We wonʼt hold out without you!” Bowler called out.

”Just hold out until my return! Do not give up! I will be back!” Jack yelled at them without explaining more. He continued to run into the Guild Headquarters.

”Expert, what is your plan?” John sent him a message.

”No time to explain. Just do your best to hold out until Iʼm back!” Jack replied.

John didnʼt ask further, but he continued to look at Jackʼs position in the hologram projection while controlling the soldier units in defending the wall. Jackʼs figure in the hologram continued to travel inside the headquarters ʼ building. He entered the teleportation chamber. Before long, his figure disappeared.

”Shit! Is he fleeing?” John couldnʼt help but ask.

”Donʼt be absurd, my grandson is not a coward,” Domon who stood beside him commented.

John looked at him, then said, ”old man, as you can see, we are in a bind. How about you lend us a hand? You are a member of this guild, for crying out loud. Try to defend it, will you? The enemies now are monsters, so it shouldnʼt go against that outdated philosophy of yours now, should it?”

”Although I donʼt like the way you talk to me, okay, I will do what I can, for my grandson,” Domon said and walked towards the exit.

John looked at him in exasperation, he just couldnʼt hold it inside him to say, ”Old man, can you please walk faster?”

Jack appeared at the zone portal inside Thereath, he quickly ran outside. Once he arrived on the road. He said to Peniel, ”You said before I canʼt ride a steed inside the city unless Iʼm a noble, right?”

”Yes, but…”

Jack took out his red whistle and blew, Pandora burst out in a rage of flame. The players and natives around jumped back in consternation. Jack jumped onto Pandora and urged her forward. She huffed in displeasure but still follow the command.

”Sorry, mam! Iʼm in an emergency,” Jack still made the time to apologize to the Nightmare.

Pandora shot forward in a blitz. Jack gave him the general direction to the Noble District. Despite her extreme speed, she still managed to weave through the crowd on the street and avoid crushing anyone. The fire she left on her trail though, caused the pedestrians to unable to cross the street. They had to wait a while before the mystical flame died out before they resumed their walks.

When Pandora came near the gate to the noble district, the guards were taken aback by the Nightmare who was rushing towards them. They put themselves at the gate opening and barred the way.

ʼShit! I have to waste time to explain,ʼ Jack said in his mind, but suddenly he felt his body becoming light, and the guards became smaller.

”Holy…”

Pandora had made a high jump and he directly jumped through both the gate and the guards, who could only stare at them with wide eyes. She landed on the other side of the gate and continued running.

Jack was in a daze until Peniel shouted at him. ”She asked which way!”

”Uh, that way!” Jack pointed and the Nightmare adjusted her direction.

Not long after, they arrived before Commander Quintusʼ tower. Jack jumped down as the Nightmare was unsummoned. He quickly ran inside the tower and towards the second floor. Commander Quintus was still not there, but the usual officer was.

He wondered if the commander was actually there on his first day because the Royal Advisor asked the commander to process him? Because he saw him behind that desk only on that day. He figured that should be the case, it would be weird if a high-rank commander had to take care of these menial tasks.

The officer looked at Jack in bewilderment, this was the first time he saw someone come to him in such haste.

Jack tried to catch his breath for a bit before exclaiming, ”I want to exchange my merit points!”

The officer didnʼt bother to ask, he simply opened the exchange list for Jack. Jack quickly interacted with the list and opened the guild page.

”Luckily I have enough point,” Jack uttered as he clicked on the list.

Imperial Rescue (cooldown: 4 weeks) = request kingdom armyʼs protection for the Guild Headquarters for the next 6 hours

Cost: 1400 merit

Jack had 1490 merit points, just enough for this Imperial Rescue. He used his points without hesitation and activated the service.

Only after he made the request did he think of something and ask the officer, ”uh, how long does it take for this imperial rescue to arrive at my Guild Headquarters?”

”Roughly half to one hour,” the officer answered.

Jack gave a relieved sigh, ”if it was too long, their headquarters might have been razed to the ground before the reinforcement arrived. But one hour was still risky, they had to hold out that long. He hoped it was half an hour. He had to go back immediately and help with the defense until the imperial army arrived.

”The rescue army knew where to go, right?” He asked the officer again.

”Yes, your Guild Headquartersʼ location is registered in our archive,” the officer replied.

After making sure everything was in order, Jack ran down the tower. Once he arrived outside, two soldiers halted him.

”Were you the one riding your steed irresponsibly through the streets?” One of them asked.

”I was about to tell you before,” Peniel said. ”You can ride your steed as a noble, but you canʼt run with full speed in a street full of pedestrians. You will get a fine if you do so.”

”Oh… How much is the fine?” Jack asked the soldiers.

”Ten gold coins,” the soldier answered.

Jack took out some coins and handed them to him. He then used his whistled to summon Pandora again. As he climbed the steed, the soldier called out, ”hey! You paid more than necessary, there are twenty gold coins here.”

”I know, it is to pay for my next fine as well,” Jack replied and rode Pandora at high speed towards the zone portal.

Outside Heavenly Citadel, the battle still raged on. There were already some casualties, both from the trained native units and players. For the players, most of them also wore Amulet of Rebirth. And the good thing about being the defending side was that they would revive back inside their Guild Headquartersʼ teleportation chamber instead of Thereath cityʼs zone portal. So they could immediately rush outside to fight again.

However, one could only carry one Amulet of Rebirth at one time, so if they wanted to wear it again, they had to teleport to the capital to get a new one. Which took a long time as the process of getting the amulet itself required a lengthy ceremony.

Many had left the guild before the battle with the coalition started. The ones that stayed with the guild at this time were those that were loyal. So they rushed back out again despite knowing that if they died again, they would lose everything.

Everyone fought fiercely outside, as the undead hordes continued to come relentlessly.

As they were fighting, a man in armor carrying a long glaive walked out to the front line. The ones that caught the sight of the bearded face behind the helmet, wondered in their minds, ”whatʼs that old geezer doing out here? Is he trying to get killed?”

As they were wondering, this old geezer arrived at the front line. Hordes of level 32 zombies were rushing at him. The old man lifted his glaive. The weapon was suddenly enveloped by a blazing white aura. He took a pose as the incoming hordes reached him.

He uttered softly, ”Death Carrying Cyclone.” His body then spun around at high speed. The blazing glaive turned into a rotating comet that created a whirlwind that crashed all the zombies around. By the time his spinning stop, all the zombies around had turned to ash.

😉