116 How the Party got Started

To understand the events that led up to Mistaken Fox teaming up with the two elf women against a group of hostile players, the events of the hour preceding Kirou's arrival must first be brought to light.

*******Flashback*******

Both Reya and Navi had just logged back in after taking a few moments offline to take care of their respective needs. Now that they were done with those and the time of the appointment was upon them, both logged in and decided to meet up before making their way towards the entrance of SC Pier City together. Unfortunately for them, trouble struck when they least expected it.

After meeting up in some random, nameless forest, both elven women had started making their way to SC Pier City when they ran into an elite hunting squad. While this in and of itself wasn't really an issue, that was only when you don't consider the fact that both Reya and Navi were members of the \u003cSanming Sect\u003e while the hunting squad belonged to the \u003cPhantom Thieves Guild Alliance\u003e. This was further exasperated by the fact that this squad was headed by a person who went red in the eyes at the sight of anyone from the Sanming Sect.

Upon identifying the guild insignia, a certain organ wearing a hat and splashed in red, and recognizing the person leading the squad, Reya and Navi only gave each other a quick glance before the broke out in a mad sprint away from the area at their top speed. As for the members of the Phantom Thieves Guild Alliance, all it took was for them to see the stylized 'SMS' insignia, the Sanming Sect's guild insignia, for them to give chase. Hell, their squad leader, a red-haired man with dark skin, similar to Kirou's when he's in his human form, equipped with a large Warhammer, was the first to chase after the two women when they started running, seconds after they started moving. As for the rest of the squad, although they were slower by a tick in moving off, they all made up for it with incredible enthusiasm as they all quickly closed in on the two fleeing elves with warped expressions.

The two fleeing elves both cursed their luck inwardly as they did their best to make a getaway. They had both heard of this squad of zealots that belonged to the Phantom Thieves Guild so it only took a moment for the duo to recognize them.

This squad was known as the Dutchman, gaining their name both from the fact that the red-head squad leader went by the name of Davy Jones, and the fact that the squad chased down prey similarly to how its fictional counterpart chased down its own targets to hell and back.

While both women fled at their fastest speeds, never once did it cross either's mind to split up and run in different directions. The first reason for this stems from the fact that the other side had more numbers so splitting up would make their situation even worse. The second was the fact that the duo was very close and even the thought of splitting up probably never had the chance to enter their mind. As for the third reason, both were currently on the outskirts of SC Pier City. They only had to make it within the borders surrounding the city, roughly one and a half kilometers away, in order for all class-offensive skills to be forcefully deactivated. Once that happened, they could meet up with Kirou and make use of the teleport gate in order to lose this psycho squad.

Those were their thoughts as they fled. Unfortunately for the duo, reality just loves to screw with people when they least want it to happen. As soon as the duo rushed by a few trees, an arrow came dangerously close to Navi's chest from the side. It was already too close for her to dodge it by the time she saw it so she could only shift her body enough for the arrow to hit her arm.

[-75]

[-3]

[-3]

...

[System: You have been attacked by player \u003cTwinshot\u003e]

[System: Due to the hostile action of another player, you have been forced into \u003cCombat Mode\u003e]

[System: Due to the hostile actions of another player, you have gained the PvP Buff, \u003cRetalliation\u003e]

Both sides received their respective system messages from that attack. While the players of the Dutchman Squad cared not for the penalties or debuff they had been slapped with, the two girls weren't looking good now that they received the buffs. In fact, their faces were downright terrible at the moment. What good was the retaliation debuff when both girls now had to face not one, but two squads from the Phantom Thieves Guild?

The two women could only grit their teeth in anger as they slightly adjusted their course as they fled. The second squad joined up with the Dutchman's for a moment before they split off a few minutes later, opting to try and cut off both women in another area. The two women obviously knew that was what they were planning but they couldn't do anything about it as they were.

This went on for another few minutes, the duo taking a few hits from behind as they did their best to dodge while the Dutchman Squad was busy making sport of them. All of this changed a minute or two later. It was around the point where the duo had to pass by a clearing that directly led to SC Pier City's entrance. While the Dutchman Squad was expecting the members of the other squad to have gone ahead and set up an ambush at this clearing, both sides were given a quite a surprise.

Instead of the ambush that both sides were expecting, they were greeted to the sight of the remains of that squad being decimated by both a giant minotaur that was duel wielding stone axes and a strange mage appearing behind an unsuspecting player and combing him to death with what appeared to be thief techniques while utilizing a pair of knives, which admittedly confused everyone else.

When the strange mage and the giant minotaur were done with their work, they turned around to face both the girls and the Dutchman Squad. Both sides had apparently come to a tacit agreement to unanimously stop where they were to watch him deal with the remaining players. Now that he was done, the strange mage glanced over at the two groups, almost immediately figuring out what was going on.

The strange mage just smiled as he stared in their direction as he spoke, "From those guild tags I can assume that you girls are from the Sanming Sect while the guys in the back are from the Phantom Thieves Guild, right?" Although he said it like a question, the answer was clear to all those present.

From the Dutchman's side walked out the red-headed warrior equipped with the giant Warhammer. Davy Jones stared at the strange mage and the giant minotaur next to him before taking a glance at the two elves. Although his guild and the Sanming Sect were mortal enemies, and he had a personal grudge against quite a few members of their sect, that doesn't mean he was an idiot. He could clearly see that this strange mage wasn't someone he and his squad could currently deal with, at least with their current numbers. That giant minotaur gave him a bad feeling, one that he just can't place for the moment.

Taking a minute to run the various scenarios that could play out in his head, Davy Jones turned towards his men and gave them the signal to back off. While his squad was backing off, Davy Jones turned his gaze towards the two elves before speaking, "We'll meet another day, Sanming ladies. You as well, mysterious thief." At the end of Davy Jones' words, he gave the strange mage a glare before joining his squad in leaving. He wasn't going to take this slight standing.

Watching as Davy Jones and his squad left the area. Navi then turned her sight towards the strange mage and spoke, "Thanks for the help back there. You've gotten us out of a really sticky situation."

The strange mage turned towards the elves and spoke, "No worries. I just don't like seeing a bunch of guys picking on two girls, regardless of whether this is a game or not. Besides, they were the ones who started the fight so it wouldn't be right for me to just roll over and die now, would it?"

Reya was the one who spoke up next, "That's true. Since they started it then it's only right for them to face the consequences."

When Reya said this, she had a smile on her face. Next to her, Navi shared in on this smile as well. As for the strange mage, he started chuckling, which resulted in all three players sharing a laugh while the giant minotaur just stared at them with a human-like aloof expression.

After doing this for a few seconds, all three regained their calm and started chatting and introducing themselves as they made their way towards the city entrance. As they did so, the strange mage made sure to unsummoned the giant minotaur, in order not to attract any unwanted attention as they got closer to the city entrance. Another five minutes of walking brought the trio to the entrance of the city where they were now under the protection of its safe zone.

Originally, the trio was intending to split up, but when the two elves told the strange mage that they were waiting for someone, he decided to stick around to see which guy was crazy enough to be late for a meeting with them. A few minutes later, the person didn't show. The few minutes eventually turned into half an hour and still the person didn't show up.

This admittedly caused the strange mage to think that something must be up with the person these elves were waiting for. And then there is that old saying, about how when it rains, it pours. Roughly fifteen minutes later, a familiar squad appeared at the entrance to SC Pier City. The Dutchman squad made another appearance, this time with more members and their equipment didn't look as cheap as they did earlier.

Upon seeing the trio that escaped them before, the Dutchman squad decided to stay at the entrance, surrounding the trio. Although they couldn't make use of any of their class-offensive skills, there were still other skills that they could make use of, especially the thieves. That being said, neither side made any movements, and this went on for another fifteen or so, gathering quite an interesting crowd of onlookers. At least, until a random player walked out from the crowd and went over to the trio's side. Naturally, this was Kirou entering the show.

*******Flashback End*******

Naturally, Kirou had no idea about these various details depicting prior events. This wouldn't be something he becomes privy to until much, much later. As for now, he had a hostile situation involving his associates to defuse, or at the very least prevent it from escalating unnecessarily.

After Kirou went over to his three associates and gave them a simple greeting, he turned towards the Dutchman squad. More specifically, he turned towards the red-haired warrior with the large Warhammer. The warrior too focused his gaze on Kirou the moment the latter had appeared. There was an invisible clash between their gazes. A few seconds later, Kirou revealed a casual smile while Davy Jones was frowning heavily.

They each sized up the other with their respective gazes and what they saw was anything but simple. For Kirou, when he stared at Davy Jones, it's as if he could see the aura of a mad man willing to chase his target to the ends of the earth in order to rend them limb from limb. Kirou found this quite interesting as he never expected to meet a person with such an aura so soon amongst the player base. While it was a very far cry from just the vague silhouette that Bladesmith had released earlier in the duo's clash, Kirou still found this interesting as it shows the direction in which Davy Jones was growing.

As for what Davy Jones saw, he had no idea what to think about it. He couldn't see any aura behind Kirou like what the latter had done with him, but he could feel the confidence and strength rolling off of Kirou in waves. Worst of all, maybe it was an instinctual thought on his part, but Davy Jones knew that what he was feeling now wasn't Kirou's true strength at all, just him being casual. And even then, the waves rolling off of Kirou's casual forming was suffocating the aura radiating around Davy Jones. It reminded him of the feeling he faced when he compared notes with his class instructor.

(Battling the class instructor for a class advancement is common for all classes and Davy Jones thought it was a good idea to challenge the warrior instructor to a no holds bard fight. Yea, he didn't last that long. He got his ass beat for half an hour straight before the class instructor felt some pity for the poor lad and tossed him aside. And since the class instructor made sure to pull all his punches while radiating his strength, while the damage figures that appeared above Davy Jones during that whole fight was very low, capping at [-10] for good measure, Davy Jones was made to feel every hit in the most effective way, essentially teaching him that just because it's a game, that doesn't mean he can't feel physical pain, even those the pain setting was only at 30%.)

Although he was being subdued by Kirou's unseen and sealed aura, Davy Jones never backed away but instead stepped forward. He walked a few feet and stood before Kirou before speaking, "I challenge you to a duel, Lycan."

Those words surprised everyone present, both the trio and the Dutchman squad included. What surprised them, even more, was Kirou's response, "Sure. How are we going to do this, 1v1 or my team vs yours?"