Chapter 53 - 50 : Emperor’s Might In Trouble

"Have you found it?"

"Not yet Princess. It's possibly one of these craters but we aren't sure which one." A male voice replied.

In the midst of the battlefield, a team of players had formed a wall of sorts, blocking out the goblins from approaching those behind the 'wall'. Normally this would be a difficult tactic to apply for most players but as the guild members of a Super guild, the players didn't have much trouble coordinating properly with each other and holding back the goblins.

The MTs formed a wall while the ranged players attacked from behind with the other close combat classes going on a charge once in awhile.

Among the people behind the 'wall' were 2 players, one being the 'Queen' Snow Goddess, Yukino Akihira while the other was 'false king' Chesces.

In the official player rankings, a 'King' or a 'Queen' is a monster class expert or a pinnacle/Apex expert capable of rivalling a monster class expert. The second kind of players are usually quite close to becoming a true monster class expert that's why they are permitted to hold the title 'King' or 'Queen'.

However there are special cases of Pinnacle/Apex experts being far stronger than their average mates but weaker than a 'King'. This is normally because despite their strength, they are still some distance away from reaching the monster rank. Such players, because of their ability to be above their mates but still be weaker than bona fide 'Kings' and 'Queens', have been nicknamed 'False Kings' or 'False Queens'.[1]

Chesces was one such 'false King'. Nicknamed the 'Sly devil', he was well-known for his scheming ability and cunning mind. Together with his superior fighting prowess, most pro players tend to stay clear of him as he doesn't just fight with his muscles but his head.

"You aren't sure? Is it me or are you bringing disgrace to the title Sly devil?" Another player, a ranger particularly, who was with the two spoke out.

"I said I'm not sure and by sure, I mean my confirmation rate is less than 100%." Chesces smirked. " If you were to ask me which it is, I would decide on a crater closer to the mountain. Even though it's highly possible for the command centre to be located underground, it's more possible for it to be closer to the mountain if not beneath it.

"With that in mind, I have selected a couple possible locations for it to be. Among them all, there are only 2 craters that actually lead to 2 of those locations. All that remains is to choose one."

"I see. Latte, you take 5 men with you and check out one of those craters. The rest are with me."

"Yes ma'am."

The ranger Latte then separated from the group with his team as they all headed to one of the holes that formed an entrance underground. The Snow goddess on the other hand, left with Chesces and 2 other players.

"Over there."

"Let's go."

With that, the team of Yukino and Chesces dived into a hole formed by the emergence of  the goblins.

As they headed down, they didn't seem to notice a bunch of other players following right behind.

After a free-fall of 3 seconds, they finally landed on hard ground. Looking around the place, they began studying their location.

Their landing location, unlike that of Sato and Fudo, was in a hallway of sorts that was artificially dug out underneath the surface. There was little lighting due to some of the candlesticks. Noticing to this, one of the 2 players that accompanied the duo, a cleric precisely, cast the spell [Illuminate], forming a ball of light in his hand that lit the area hence increasing the visibility of the people present.

The hallway was quite empty with only terribly drawn murals seen all over the walls with a couple of candle-stands for holding the candles. Some torches were hanged at the sides of the walls but not all of them hem were lit.

The hallway had about 3 different doors all located at the different ends of the room.

Yukino asked "So where do we go?"

"Apologies Princess but you yourself should be away that I know nothing of this place."

Taking a pause for a little while, he continued "But I'd suggest that we go through that gate." Chesces said while pointing at a door ahead of him. "That door faces the mountain so it's my only best bet."

"... alright. Let's move."

*Thump*

*Thump*

*Thump*

As the team walked towards the door, they heard a couple of muffled sounds akin to that of heavy footsteps.

Turning back, they saw a bunch of cloaked players landing at their original spot.

"Looks like we rushed in too early." A player from the opposing team who seemed like the leader commented.

The two sides stared at each other warily for awhile before Snow, who already had her hand on her sword's hilt, asked "State your purpose for following us."

"State our purpose?" The leader of the opposing players chuckled before lifting up his hood, revealing a demonic smile.

"Your ass of a Captain dared to hunt our boss! He's lucky we didn't find him but that doesn't mean we will let you go."

"Savage Tribe's Maniac Chief?" Chesces frowned at the sight of the man's face.

"What about it?" The young man snickered.

The Savage Tribe was one of the few Dark guilds capable of rivalling a Super guild. With a bunch of experts in their ranks, they neither feared nor retreated in the presence of anyone. Even though 'King' Chike had managed to defeat the team sent after him, even pushing Azure Dragon to use a trump card scroll, the fact that he was hunted by Emperor's Might left a scar to the Savage Tribe. They felt as if they had to pay Emperor's Might for the humiliation and decision of hunting one of their 'Kings' even though he actually won.

Despite so, not all the upper echelons of Savage Tribe were in support of this decision. Since Chike had successfully held out against them, even making them going as far as losing most of their forces sent in the assault, they felt that there was no need for a retaliation.

But still, some of the other upper echelons disagreed and so they sent the Maniac Chief, Goro, after Emperor's Might players.

Goro had originally planned to attack them during the battle, but he realized that if he did so, the NPCs would have attacked him too. He, of course, discovered this after a team member tried it out. So rather than dying a pointless death, he bid his time for the opportune moment.

The large scale goblin event even made it easier to trace their movements and so, they finally found a chance to make a move now Snow Goddess and her team were separated from the public.

Now that the opportunity was made possible with Yukino and Chesces looking for the goblin commander, he planned to make good sure of it.

"Today, none of you are leaving here that easily."

AN :

Sorry for the late release. More coming up soon.

Was initially planning on releasing more but I noticed that this was actually the 50th chapter. With that I said to myself "Why don't you take a break man? 50 chapters ain't easy." Plus, building up the suspense for the next battle makes me feel good...So I decided to release only one chapter today but be expecting 3-4 chapters tomorrow or this weekend.

Notice: There might not be any updates this Friday and Saturday (GMT). This is because I will be having a football match on Friday whereas Saturday is actually an Anniversary for one of my organizations. But I will try to do at least 1 chapter for those days.

By the way, Happy 50th chapter to my first work, Infinite Realm.

[1] To better understand this, think of Pinnacle/Apex experts being divided into 3; those who can rival Monster class experts, above-average Pinnacle/Apex experts and Average Pinnacle/Apex experts.. Snow Goddess is the first kind while Azure Dragon and Chesces are under the 2nd kind.