End Online: Volume 5 (20 page)

Verde and I burst out in laughter at his so blatantly being
called arrogant. The prince himself staggers back a few steps in shock,
dropping to his knees and mumbling to himself in self-dialogue, “It appears
this world is not yet ready for this noble knight’s sacrifice. I must continue
to strive to stand by my values regardless of how others view me.”

‘Hey, what exactly are you doing? You are just going to go along
with the insult like that?’
 I wonder at Sir
Laurence, undecided whether to frown and shake my head or be impressed by his
iron determination.

The Guild Snowdragon member looks over Fen and Verde as well
with admiration, not a trace of lust in his eyes. His eyes come to rest on our
new tattoos used as a guild symbol imitation.

“You’re all in a guild already?” He asks in surprise.

“Sort of. It is more like a guild we formed: The Wanderers,” I
rub my chin while trying to predict further questions he may have and how to
answer them.

Despite my expectations, he doesn’t ask any further questions,
“Such a shame, your party members are all on our guild’s VIP list. I wanted to
be the one to invite you to Guild Snowdragon. Anyway, you are all still VIPs
for this event, so how about being in group one?”

His offer is interesting, but also somewhat different from what
I wanted. Thinking that his guild consider me an important person, I act a
little brazenly, “We plan on staying to defend the city. Place us in one of the
defensive groups and we are happy to assist you.”

The guild member looks at Verde, Sir Laurence and Fen who is
holding onto my arm. Seeing them not refute my decision in the slightest, he
seems to look a little helpless.

“But our guild was insistent that if any members from the VIP
list was encountered, they are to be grouped together in group one to form a
specialist corps for attacking the enemy.”

“If you pretend you didn’t recognize us, then it will not be a
problem.”

“O-Only if you show me the stats of the new weapon you got
during the Royal Summer Tournament! I remember your attack power skyrocketed
when you got that and even your speed increased somewhat.”

He seems so focused on me that he may have forgotten the rest of
the world. Someone could casually walk up and stab him in the back and he
probably wouldn’t notice it at all. I open up my cloak with my arms, revealing
my pure white and glistening silver attire. On my hip are two pitch black daggers.
I draw the daggers, whose blades seem to glisten like the night sky and open
the item information window.

‘The best strength is the one kept hidden, but my greatest
strength is my class skill, not my weapon. One person seeing the stats
shouldn’t be a problem,’
 I find myself
rationalizing my actions as I repeat what he did earlier, flicking the screen
over so he can view the item information.

The guild member looks at the item information, his mouth
opening further and further in shock every second. He reads the information
three times before turning to me and exclaiming, “S-scaling weapon. G-g-god
class rarity!!?”

His voice is so loud everyone around hears him and turns silent.
It is safe to assume that at least a thousand people heard the words, “God class
rarity.”

‘I… forgot about that…’
 I
inwardly curse at forgetting about how high the rarity of my weapon is. I only
hope that I don’t become the target of greedy individuals with the aim of
killing me until my weapon drops. Well, it can’t drop so hopefully that won’t
happen.

“Alright, I-I will place you in group nine, the final line of
defense.” The guild member fitfully writes down our names under the group nine
section, nervous about being discovered by the guild. “By the way, my name is
LostForgotten, please remember it.”

With his parting words, LostForgotten moves elsewhere in the
crowd to assign people to different groups. I won’t forget his name, I will
never be able to forget the name of the first person I met to have used my name
as the base for theirs.

“Lost,” Sir Laurence appears next to me with his usual noble
demeanor, “congratulations. You are the first of our party that someone has
named themselves after.”

I give him a defeated look, “Please don’t congratulate me. It is
embarrassing enough already.”

He simply puts a hand on my shoulder and gives me a broad grin
that makes it seem like he is mocking me. Before I can continue further, I
notice several people in the crowd are slowly edging closer to us. They don’t
look like they have good intentions either.

Verde notices them next, while Sir Laurence remains oblivious
until I mention them and recommend we leave the crowd and go back into the
city. As we were one of the last groups to exit the city, we aren’t far from
the city gates. Once inside, the guards will stop any assaults so we will be
safe.

Turning around and ducking my head, I lead the way back to the
gates as fast as I can through the enormous crowd. Poking my head up from the
crowd momentarily, I can see the pursuers have noticed our movements as well.
They are practically barging through the crowd, leaving angry shouts in their
wake.

“They’re gaining, push through!” I hiss through my teeth to the
others in the party, rushing for the gate as fast as possible.

Just when I think we are clear, a hand casually brushes past my
hip and over one of the ‘Twin Nightingales’. It is someone using a thieving
skill, and a highly levelled one as well. I snort in laughter at the hand as it
attempts to steal my weapon through my cloak. I know all the weapon’s abilities
by heart, including the one that bestows the curse of the dragon to anyone
attempting to steal it.

Just when the hand is about to close in on the weapon, a pitch
black flame appears and engulfs not just that hand but the whole arm. The thief
stops in his tracks with a mixture of surprise and disbelief on his face.
Clearly this curse will consume the arm entirely, creating a status effect
similar to a disabled or severed limb.

The effect will disappear and the arm can be healed, but not
until the black flame burning at the missing shoulder vanishes. I would like to
know how long this curse lasts, but only the player who is affected will be
able to see how long it has left. By the ugly look on his face, I assume it
isn’t any time soon.

Everyone else, seeing what happened to the thief, creates some
distance between themselves and us. It helps us in reaching the gate faster,
but also the other pursuers who are trying to catch us.

“Fen, ice wall behind us!” I order the scantily dressed wolf
girl easily keeping pace next to me.

Fen nods slightly, turning around while still running and with
the raise of a hand, forms a fifty meter wide, and five meters high wall of
solid ice. The two of us could have escaped the pursuers easily with our speed,
but Verde and Sir Laurence have little chance of being able to do that.

A wolf whistle comes from the side and I turn my head while
drawing weapons. A knot forms in my brow when I see it is just a male player
casually gawking at Fen. Now that I am looking for it, I notice a few other
people are eyeing her as well.

‘Damn it, are you serious?’
 I
want to hit them already.

Before the pursuers have a chance to get around, over, or even
through the ice wall which many are trying to do, the four of us safely enter
the city gate. When the players see this, most lose hope. There are still
several others who stare with obvious greed, willing to take the risk of
attacking in the city in the hopes they may be able to get my weapon.

I vow to myself never to reveal one of my strengths ever again
no matter what.  For now, I can only concentrate on avoiding people
grouping up and pointlessly killing me in the futile attempt to claim my
weapon. I consider publishing the item information on the internet so they see
it cannot be taken by anyone, but instantly decide against it.

There are too many idiots out there who believe the information
may have been faked. At the moment the information is only known to about a
thousand players from Iceridge. They also shouldn’t spread the information
beyond close friends to prevent someone else from claiming the reward. What I
need to do is escape Iceridge and all the people who know about the ‘Twin
Nightingale’.

“Lost, how are you? I assume you had a strategy meeting for the
city, same as us?”
Mason’s voice sounds in
my head from a private message.

Gently grasping my throat to activate the private message system
while walking down a desolate street in Iceridge, I respond to him
immediately, 
“There were a few things that could have gone better!
Regardless, I will deal with it. We did indeed have a strategy meeting. We will
be defending the city. Yourself?”

“Matrix and I will be defending our city as well! Barely a
quarter of our city’s player population to defend, but most of Grenton is
surrounded by impenetrable forest so we should be fine.”

“You know, I wouldn’t complain if you just happened to attack
one of the guard posts as our offensive is launched on Grenton.”

“Strange, I was about to suggest the exact same thing from my
end!”

“It appears that only one of us will be the victor.”

“May the best city win… What’s that Matrix? Their city only has
10 percent of the total player population? I know, their fall will be quick and
effortless.”

After taunting us, Mason goes silent. I’m not angry or
frustrated in the slightest either. I repeat the conversation back to Verde and
Sir Laurence and we all have a friendly laugh about it. Of course, we vow to
have Mason and Matrix eating snow the next time we see them.

“Why don’t we go back to the ‘Unknown Goblin Lair’?” I ask all
of a sudden, surprising Verde and Sir Laurence.

“Let’s go,” Sir Laurence decides before Verde which is strange.
“But I need to go to the church first. There is a skill I want to learn.”

“A skill?”

“Yes, my skills are directly related to the main church. I have
unlocked a few that normally aren’t available. Recently I received a
notification that the next tier has unlocked, including one skill that I want.”

“That is amazing! I never knew that’s where you got your skills
from. Are you a member of the church?”

“I am. After Verde disappeared, I managed to get into the
Guardians of Light faction of the main church of the three kingdoms.”

“So that is how you became stronger. I was surprised at the
time, but it makes more sense now. What is the skill you want?”

“It is called ‘Self-Sacrifice’. I can actively take a portion of
the damage instead of other party members.”

“So you could take some of the damage I normally would. That
will be a great help!”

“You can take your own damage!” Sir Laurence declares and looks
toward Verde. Anyone can tell that he plans to get the skill and protect her
with it in hopes of gaining a more favorable position with her.

I don’t press the matter, I know this man far too well to bother
trying, “Okay, okay, let’s go then.”

We change direction and head for the church where players
revive. The trip takes about half an hour of walking and the evening sun begins
to set by the time we arrive. At least there are no players following me as far
as I can tell.

I have a nostalgic feeling while climbing the steps to the
church and wonder whatever happened to that aggravating old man. Beyond the
steps, we follow Sir Laurence’s lead toward the confession booth that is used
to attain new skills. He steps inside and emerges a few minutes later.

What gets my attention is that from the other side of the booth,
the priest who gives the skills exits the booth.

‘Hang on, a priest that grants skills…’
 Mental cogs begin turning in my mind as I start to
understand a greater picture.

As my mood darkens, the priest that steps out is indeed the old
man who knocked me unconscious and bestowed the hated ‘Aggravation’ skill on
me. The light grey robe, long white hair and even the staff with the
amply-sized blue crystal decorating the top. It’s all the exact same as I
remember.

Acting reflexively on my feelings toward the old man, I
immediately grab five of the throwing knives strapped to my thigh and throw
them at him. Three knives fly directly at his torso, while the other two are
aimed at his head. The old priest noticed the attack as soon as I sent it,
whirling around on one foot and deflecting all the throwing knives with an
impressive staff technique.

He glares at me furiously before noticing my equally angry
expression and recalling who I am. His fury completely vanishes and he quickly
escapes back into the confessional booth, leaving Sir Laurence standing around
stupidly.

“You’re not getting away that easily!” I shout as I surge
forward as fast as I possibly can.

Thanks to all the boosts and bonuses my speed has reached a
frightening level. It takes me a single second to cross the twenty meter
distance and arrive in front of the confession booth as the priest’s door
clicks shut.