Chapter 78 - 75 : Eliminate The Intruders

(AN: I made some tiny changes to the previous chapter...)

"The Snow Goddess!"

Yes, the Snow Goddess. The very same lady who brings fear to the hearts of foes and admiration in the hearts of men. With a temperament as cold as ice and strength on par with a lioness. A true 'Queen' with great strength.

Though she had just recently received the title, none of the members of Sinland dared to underestimate her. Be they a newborn or a veteran, every titled player was never to be underestimated as the difference between them and a non-titled player was comparable to the depth of a chasm.

None of the players of Sinland was that strong so it was pretty much very understandable as to why they were afraid.

"The Snow Goddess eh? So if I'm correct then the other team should be Emperor's Might." The captain of Sinland smirked.

Even though the distance between them and the others was quite far, by focusing on their combat standards and style of battle, he had reached the conclusion that the team that battled alongside East Crow Guild had a combat standard comparable to that of First Tier guilds and Super Guilds. Even though he had suspected them to be a Super Guild, Sinland's captain never really wanted it to be so. Handling a First Tier guild might be difficult but with proper planning,they could succeed but a Super guild was a different story.

Nonetheless, even if it was a Super guild, Sinland wasn't going to surrender.

"So what if you are the Snow Goddess? Even if you are a member of Emperor's Might or the incarnate of a gaming god, you would still die today." The captain yelled fiercely.

A Super guild might scare others but Sinland was filled with ex-convicts and lawless players. Unlike the 'righteous' guilds, they didn't have an official base so they had nothing to fear about.

"You really are persistent. Fine, let me educate you a bit."

"Arggggh." As Yukino had concluded her speech, a scream immediately sounded out from the Sinland camp but it wasn't caused by Yukino as she had yet to attack.

"When did you...?" Cursed Eye*****, the one who was on the receiving end of the attack questioned his attacker with surprise.

"Just die." Swift Blade said before delivering the finishing strike, eliminating that last chunk of HP that remained.

Earlier on, Riddled Tree had stated that he had noticed one of the players snooping around with their aura at its lowest. That very player was Swift Blade, who was ordered by Chesces to attack the group the very second Yukino creates a distraction.

The plan turned out to be very effective as not only did Yukino succeed by far, eliminating one of the players, but Swift Blade also made good use of the distraction brought about by her appearance, finishing off one more figure. He had originally aimed for Riddled Tree as he was a support class player with healing abilities but Swift Blade changed his target when he got a weird feeling from his instincts. This proved to be a wise choice as despite Riddled Tree acting fragile with tons of open points, he was actually guarding against an attack. With the appearance of Yukino, Riddled Tree was quick to suspect that if there was more ambushers, they would likely aim for him, the group's healer.

"Shit." The captain of Sinland cursed after seeing one more of his men falling before him again. He then rushed towards Swift Blade with the intent to kill him quickly after all, there was still the 'Queen' there.

"Your opponent is me." Yukino interrupted him halfway.

"You guys handle him and keep your eye out for the rest."

Facing Yukino, he continued

"Come. Let me play with you a bit."

Yukino frowned at the middle aged man before her. This wasn't only because she was disgusted at his supercilious tone but she was also surprised by the fact that the man dared to take her on alone. After all, anyone who had her aw an opponent would immediately take to their heels much less an unknown figure from a low ranking power.

"Good. It's been awhile since anyone dared to face me with that attitude." (AN : Goro just fucking did!)

One should remember that Yukino is a true 'Queen', in other words, her fighting prowess is far more superior than any average peak expert much less an average expert. Despite being aware of this, the captain of Sinland still dared to face her. Unless he was either foolish or arrogant, he should have some thing or some skill that he depends on.

Taking an arrow from his quiver, the middle aged man set it on his bow and aimed at the Snow Goddess.

"[Tracer]"

*Phew*

With a sound akin to that of a high speed missile, the arrow flew towards Yukino with the intent to kill.

Even though the arrow was quite fast, for an expert at the level of Yukino, dodging it isn't so much of a problem; especially with the wide gap between them.

"Hmph." Disappointed at her opponent's lack of enthusiasm and strength when facing her, Yukino harrumphed before jumping towards her right while dashing towards the man.

As the arrow flitted past her, it suddenly took a 180 degree turn, aiming right at her back with double the speed it had earlier, leaving a light red tail right behind it.

With a shocked expression, Yukino was about to turn and deflect the arrow but the middle aged captain would let her be. Before the first arrow had made a sharp turn back towards Yukino, the man had quickly drawn two more arrows and fired them at a speed far greater than the first one he fired with the arrows attacking at different angles.

The result of this action of his was that Yukino now had to face three different arrows; one from behind with two in front but at different angles, at almost the same time.

*Clang*

*Clang* *Clang*

Almost will forever remain almost. As a Peak expert, Yukino was able to use that minuscule delay in time between the three different arrows to dodge the first one and use her great sword as a shield against the other two.

However, no matter how strong Yukino was, this was the early stage of the game and so the players were still weak. The first arrow had caught her by surprise and even though she had dodged it, she didn't do a perfect work at that as the arrow had managed to graze her.

"I told you." The middle aged man smirked. "You are dying today."

. . . . .

"Griffin, keep the boss down. Mages assist him. The rest with me."

After Yukino had made her entry, the team was initially shocked but still kept their focus on the boss. When Swift Blade had finished off Cursed Eye, Chesces gave the above command before leaving with the selected players. His intention was to eliminate the intruders before finishing the boss. Chesces had purposefully taken his time because he had received a message from Yukino asking about his current status.

As the man hailed as the '5th Hand of the Emperor', Chesces had seen a perfect plan taking shape. He had requested[1] the Snow Goddess' aid to launch a sneak attack on the opposing team and grab their attention. With that in mind, Chesces had made Swift Blade idle while the rest faced the boss[2]. In actuality, he had secretly informed Swift Blade to slowly hide his aura and sneak up to their enemies once Yukino had their attention, eliminating at least one of their players.

'Now that the first phase has succeeded, its time for the second phase.' Chesces inwardly prepared himself.

The second phase was for the team to divide into two groups; one group would handle the boss and keep it busy while the other would hurry over to assist Yukino and Swift Blade to quickly eliminate their adversaries before the first group would fall to the boss.

The major difficulty Chesces had in this plan was whom to select for each group. Apart from the MT, there needed to be one more physical class player to assist the MT. He had initially planned to let Sato and Fudo hold the boss down as they had done so previously.

But of course, Chesces was aware that the state of things was different as when Sato and Fudo kept the boss busy, it was mostly due to the fact that the boss refused to abandon its formation which in this case, it was free to move about. He had planned to send them assistance in the form of Griffin and Kylian but even so, Chesces revised this plan once more before cancelling it out.

He eventually decided to have Griffin tank the boss while Kylian supplies him with the heals and the mages interrupt the boss' moves. Chesces decided to let Sato go after he had witnessed his prowess while the both of them fought the boss. He also decided on Dream Tiger to follow Sato and help attack their enemies from afar, fulfilling the conditions of close and long range combat players and a powerful team to quickly eliminate their foes.

"Sky Blade was it? I hope you won't disappoint me." Dream Tiger said seriously as they ran towards the other team. The distance between them both was quite big so it would take them at least 6 seconds to reach. This was enough time for Dream Tiger to have a very short conversation with Sato as it was only the two of them who would assist Swift Blade and Yukino against .

"Just don't hold me back."

AN :

[1] Yes, 'requested' not 'ordered'. Despite holding the title of a 'Hand of the Emperor', Chesces' rank is slightly below Yukino because, just like every other super guild, individual power is valued more. Yukino is seen as a genius in the guild and so her rank is quite special such that there are only very few people who can order her around.

[2] If you were reading carefully, then you would have noticed that those who helmed the front in the battle with Sygrart were Griffin, Sato and Chesces.