......
As the flames of war within the borders of the Dark Could Kingdom grew stronger, players started to get the strong pressure coming from all sides.
Through this war, the players were surprised by the military prowess of the Dark Cloud Kingdom. Despite being besieged from all sides, they were still able to hold themselves back losing much from every battle.
Their generals were also quite strong, particularly the ones who were leading the battles against the strongest front of their enemies.
This military prowess was almost as strong as the Strom Empire, which had yet to join the war.
The players who had joined the side of the Dark Cloud Kingdom were also slowly growing in numbers due to this, especially when the rewards that they could give the players were also much better than what the other kingdoms did.
With these alluring rewards and the military prowess that they were showing, more and more players became tempted to join them.
But those were only limited to regular players as some of the elite and expert players found something strange with the Dark Cloud Kingdoms.
The top Guilds, Mercenary Groups, and Adventurer Teams sensed that there was something wrong with the kingdom, especially when they saw that their military forces were emitting a strange aura.
It was barely noticeable from the regular people, but to these powerhouses, who had experienced quite a lot within the game, something like this was somewhat disturbing.
Due to these, most of these powerhouses pulled their forces back and switched sides instead.
Of course, there were also those groups and powers that did not care. They continued what they were doing and claimed the rewards that they earned.
They did not care about the strangeness of the Dark Cloud Kingdom as what mattered to them were the benefits that they would be getting.
Among these groups that chose to side with the Dark Could Kingdom, those from the Dark Guilds were the ones that were showcasing their presence more.
...
As all of these were happening, some absurd rumors started to spread in every place.
It was said that someone had slaughtered an entire army of the Dark Cloud Kingdom, left a sea of corpses, and dyed the ground red with their blood.
What was even crazier about this was it was done by a single person, which made the people who had heard it unbelievable.
Everyone was aware of the military prowess of the Dark Could Kingdom. Even if that said army was the weakest of them all, that army shouldn't be that weak. That was unless the person who had slaughtered them was someone as strong as an Enlightened Being.
But such a person would not appear that easily given the war's state. It was too early for such a powerful individual to appear yet.
Even the few commanding generals of the Dark Cloud Kingdom, who were at that level had yet to make their moves, so the other sides couldn't show themselves.
That was when an even crazier rumor spread among the players. It was said that a lone player did the massacre of the army.
Naturally, it was absurd to hear, but a few people claimed that they had witnessed the one-sided slaughter.
But since there were no recorded clips of the said battle, people took it as some sort of nonsense that the people had created to build up hype for some entertainment.
Everyone thought that way at least until they started hearing something from the NPCs from the Dark Cloud Kingdom. They had heard that some Otherworldly Individual (a player) was hunting their forces down, which everyone found absurd.
How could a player slaughter an entire army by themselves?
Forget about the high-ranking officers of the army as the sheer number of the army alone was overwhelming enough for a single person.
"...-the place where the portal is located," Belial finished his words for him as they also came up with the same conclusion.
Squinting his eyes, Paimon could not help but say. "This person is targeting that place."
He then paused and turned to Belial and Amon before continuing. "Do you think it is the work of that variable?"
Belial thought for a moment before nodding. "It is highly possible. Even if we have lost track of him since his last encounter with our forces, there are also signs that he is targeting us."
"The problem is-..." reaching this point, he could not help but pause for a moment before turning to Amon.
Amon also seemed to be in deep thought before nodding. "Yeah-... this battle prowess is too absurd. It is much more powerful compared to what we have got from him."
"He may be strong, but he shouldn't be strong enough to annihilate an entire army," he paused and thought of something before adding. "At least, not alone."
"But it is also impossible for the other members of their adventurer team to gather in this place," refuted Belial. "I have our people watching over the others. None of them are showing any signs of suspicious movements while the rest were too busy to deal with their respective quests."
He then paused before adding. "Moreover, Lucifer and the other two also informed us that the core members of the Empyrean Talons are busy with matters in the real world. They can't have any time to play the game now."
The room suddenly fell into silence immediately after.
After a few moments, Paimon suddenly tapped the table before saying. "Regardless, we must watch our backs with such a person lurking around us."
"The gate is in the crucial stages, we have to make sure that everything will be going perfectly," he added before standing up and dismissing the meeting.
Baal did not care and just went back to do his job.
Belial and Amon were left in the meeting room and the former suddenly said. "What do you of this person? Do you have any confidence in fighting them?"
Amon shook his head as he stood up. "Don't make me laugh. I will always have confidence in facing anyone."
But he suddenly paused when he thought of something before adding. "However, I must admit that this person is much more powerful than any of us. Annihilating an NPC army alone-...? Even I can't do even if I activated my Demon Contract."
"Or unless I possess the powers that our leader has," he added before leaving.
Belial remained seated on his spot for a few moments before mumbling. "The same level as the powers of the Great Leader, huh? This is getting more and more interesting."
After that, he stood up and walked away.
...
At the same time, somewhere on the outskirts of the Dark Cloud Kingdom, an individual was sitting on a mountain of corpses of demonic monsters.
He seemed to be cleaning his sword from the corrupted blood of these monsters before turning his head in a certain direction.
"That's one problem to deal with. Now, onto the next target," mumbled Uno as he squinted his eyes.
Through his version of 'True Sight' ocular skill, he seemed to be able to see something. After confirming something, he suddenly started to grin deviously. "Ah~! You finally showed yourselves~!"
"I have been waiting for these nobles to make their moves. Let's just hope their king is with them," he added as he stood up.
He then sheathed the [Yamato] before disappearing from the top of the monster corpse mountain.
...