Chapter 423 - A Close Call (2)

So, I even thought of fighting against the rulers of the 8th, 9th, and 10th Royal Districts, who were thought relatively weaker than other rulers instead of plundering the lower districts.

But no matter how fast I was, I couldn’t be faster than the rumors that were spreading by word of mouth. In other words, the moment I met them, they would already know about me. Or they might be waiting for me after setting a trap for me.

Of course, even if they set a trap, it would not work.

However, the traps set by the rulers of two or more royal districts, except for the 4th and 7th Royal Districts whose rulers were killed by me, would obviously be dangerous for me.

Especially the rulers of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Royal Districts, who were supposedly the strongest, were particularly threatening for me.

So I decided to pick up the easy loot because being too impatient would ruin my plans.

“Alright. Let me go ahead then.”

First of all, I set the goal of getting rid of at least one more ruler of a Royal District. And I did not cae which ruler it was because any ruler would be enough to fulfill my goal.

Of course, if the opportunity came along, I would try to obtain more bonus points by killing as many as possible.

Anyway, I immediately jumped high in the air using Fly and Blink with zero cooldown, then kept moving west.

Since I didn’t have to kill the strongest rulers for now, I headed to the 10th Royal District whose ruler was known as the weakest.

***

It has been nine days since the event ‘Advance Party’ started.

In the Myongjin Shelter in Gangwon Province.

Today the Myongjin Shelter was peaceful.

No wonder it was peaceful because this was a place where a formidable player, mightier than any monster, lived. Of course, right now that player has been away for a while. But there was nobody who would dare challenge Myongjin because all of them knew that he would return safely to the Myongjin Shlether sooner or later even if all the people who went with him were killed.

However, no one knew that a group of people were steadily approaching at a distance of about 30 kilometres away from the peaceful Myongjin Shelter.

They moved very secretly, and they made a large cave deep under the ground. And one person was sitting on a high-end chair in one corner of the cave.

He was Umberto, the leader of the Lucia Guild.

Umberto opened his mouth softly to the person standing next to him.

“Are they all here?”

“17 people haven’t come yet.”

“It looks like they don’t want to come.”

“…”

His deputy, standing next to Umberto, didn’t say anything.

To be honest, he didn’t like the way Umberto spoke.

But he had no choice but to follow his direction since his life was at the mercy of this guild leader.

So he said softly, “In the end, they will come here like me.”

“Hahaha!”

Umberto broke into a big laugh upon hearing that.

“Don’t worry. When I’m done with this project, I will set you free.”

“But if Juyoung Hong comes back to the earth, aren’t I as good as dead?”

“Just beg for your life! Who knows? He may spare your life! Or you might want to live in hiding. Isn’t it better than you living under my control all your life?”

“…”

His deputy didn’t respond again.

At that moment, someone suddenly appeared and interrupted their conversation.

Guild leader Umberto just gave him a slight glance as he already knew that person.

Then the man immediately opened his mouth.

“There was no one who would do it even for a zillion dollars.”

“Tut, tut. They’re too scared for mercenaries.”

“Well, our opponent is formidable. By the way, I made sure that they will keep silent about it. They agreed to stay put until we moved.”

“Got it. Stand by. We’re going to attack the Myongjin Shelter as soon as these 17 cowards appear.”

“Understood!”

Umberto was convinced that the 17 guys who had not yet come would soon show up.

They knew that they would be killed if they didn’t show up, so they had to turn up and try to survive even if their chance of surviving after this particular venture was less than 1%.

Umberto also promised to set them free if they played a key role in destroying the Myongjin Shelter this time.

Of course, Umberto had no intention of keeping his promise because he decided to ignore them from the beginning.

Shortly afterwards, Umberto saw a group of people entering the underground cavity.

As soon as they entered, he shouted, “Move, everybody!”

Umberto knew that even if his deputy made sure those mercenaries kept silent about his operation, they would leak it in one way or another soon. That’s why he notified them of his operation only ten minutes before the planned attack of the Myongjin Shelter

Anyway, 117 people and Umberto, the leader of the Lucia Guild, moved directly to the Myongjin Shelter with all of them with tightened expressions or frown aside from Umberto.

Everybody would say it was crazy for the 118 people including Umberto to attack the Myongjin Shelter, but the Lucia Guild leader Umberto was confident of successfully destroying the shelter because all the 118 people, including himself, were not just ordinary players.

Of course, there was one thing that Umberto regretted a bit.

Just a few months ago, he killed Matthias in person, who possessed the trait, ‘Ancient Monster Summoning Energy.’

Actually, he really trusted and recognized Matthias. Matthias was one of the top executives of the Lucia Guild which only contained the elite of the elite. But he was already dead.

Umberto shook off his regrets.

Instead, he sent a message on the guild chat window to encourage his squad as Juyoung Hong was still away.

[Guild Leader: You should never lose to Juyoung Hong’s family! If you can’t kill them because you are scared about Juyoung Hong’s revenge, just capture them alive and drag them before me. I will free the guy who can do this job successfully, and give him 30 billion golden rings and 1000 remaining stat points as a reward. As I said clearly, don’t slack off while fighting. I won’t give freedom to anybody in the lowest 20% group whose performance is below my expectations. Alright, let me watch you closely. You guys also have to confront him who will want to take vengeance against you when he comes back.]

This was the message that guild leader Umberto posted in the guild chat window.

Most, if not all, of the guild members who confirmed the message frowned.

But they did not post any message to refute his words because they knew that he would not pay attention regardless of what they typed.

At that moment, another message from Umberto rang.

[Guild Leader: You may have to hide for the rest of your life rather than confronting Juyoung Hong, but isn’t it a better choice for you? So think about it wisely. ]

[Guild Member 37: You said you would set us free if we performed well. Can we trust that you will keep your promise?]

This was the first response by a guild member to Umberto’s message in the guild chat window. So everyone paid attention to how Umberto would respond.

After all, his confirmation of his promise was the most important to them.

But the guild leader reacted sarcastically.

[Guild Leader: So what if you don’t trust me?]

“…”

“…”

“…”