Chapter 166 - 161 : Emperor’s Might’s Progress

"How far are we from the Exit Gate?" A man in a [Swordsman] lightweight armour asked. His light armour was all black and added with his overbearing and wild aura, the man was like a devastating unsheathed sword that blitz forth in a straight path, ignoring any obstacles. Beneath his foot was the body of a level 7 Kobold which had apparently bled to death. This man was Black Tempest; one of the top ranking [Swordsman] of Emperor's Might, who also participated in this mission alongside Azure Dragon and Chesces.

"That's the third time you are asking this question already." Chesces glanced frustratingly at him. 

In just two days, Emperor's Might had made massive progress into Black Grill's Cave diving into the Middle region's 7th floor a few hours back. Following Chesces' suggestion, they had slowed down their progress while waiting for Yukino and the rest of the reinforcements. But despite being slow, they were still able to make it to close to the Exit gate of the 7th floor.

"Is there any rule that says I can't do so?" Black Tempest retorted.

"You guys always like arguing every second." Azure Dragon sighed. He then continued, "We should be close, at most within an hour or so we should be there."

"An hour huh? How far are the others? Snow and her team? And also our competitors?" Chesces asked.

"Snow's progress is quite fast already. Following our map and the route wee went through, they are already on the 5th floor." Azure Dragon replied.

"...*sighs* She really is worthy of her title as a 'Queen.'" Chesces sighed. Even Black Tempest had a shocked expression on his face.

It was indeed true that the Snow Goddess' team was smaller than Emperor's Might's main team nonetheless, to be able to reach the 5th floor of the Middle Region within a few hours, even with some guidance, was more of a testament to the team's strength; after all not everyone would be able to achieve such a record speed so easily. What was still more worth taking note of was that the team's strength was largely dependent on Yukino. It wasn't that the players assigned to her were weak but instead she was too strong. Unlike dark players, Yukino's forte wasn't in PvP, hence the reason why she didn't shine much against Three Kills' team. But when it comes to PvE and dungeon battles, Yukino was a true Queen.

"What about our opponents?" Chesces continued his query.

"The players in this expedition would surely be the core of the guilds. They are their various guilds most trusted sub-ordinates and it's quite difficult to get our men into their ranks. You should have obviously figured this out." Azure Dragon glanced at Chesces.

"Hehe." Chesces chuckled in response. "Even if that is so, there should still be a few of our men in there right?"

Azure Dragon smiled faintly.

Despite being a high ranking member of Emperor's Might, Chesces didn't have access to the information of all the spies placed in the various guilds; even Azure Dragon didn't have such authority. For this expedition though, the higher ups in the guild gave some of the information of the spies and the communication route to them. However, the information regarding the player's identity and the communication method used to contact them was limited and only given to Azure Dragon. This action was more than enough to show the amount of trust and faith the higher ups had in Azure Dragon. Without a doubt, he was one of the most influential and powerful members of Emperor's Might in the younger generation.

"Each time we communicate with them increases the risk of them getting exposed. So the higher ups have severely cautioned me and assigned stringent requirements I have to bide by before I can do so. However, I guess this could be said to be an important issue so maybe they would let it slide." Azure Dragon said.

Azure Dragon then opened up his System interface and searched for a player before calling the player while screening out his ID from the call. In this fashion, the player who was being called would be unable to see his name, only seeing an '[Anonymous ID]' where the Caller ID should have been. He didn't wait for the player to answer the call before cutting it. In the same fashion, he called a few other players before going to a special group chat that was linked to a social platform that exited in reality. None of the regular members and even core members knew of the existence of this channel. Azure Dragon only gained entry after the upper echelons had recommended. This channel was actually the communication platform of all the spies of Emperor's Might with the guild's officials. The act of calling-and-cutting or rather, 'flashing', of the various spies' player ID with an anonymous one, was a special secret code that requested them to come online in the channel. 

While Azure Dragon communicated with the various spies, Black Tempest led a small team of 5 to clear a spot for the group to rest. Having battled monsters for more than two consecutive days, Black Tempest was no longer the same. He was now a level 7 [Swordsman] and had also lucked out to gain a skill book from a Mortal rank chest they discovered earlier on. With these added together, it didn't take him long to clear a spot for the guild to take a short 10 minutes break.

Chesces had also benefited from the chest as he got an Upper tier Mortal rank sword. Of course with Black Tempest having an increase in level, Chesces also got his share. Because he didn't survive till the end against Sygrart, he was ineligible to receive a majority of the rewards especially the titles and the customized weapon option. On the good side though, he had still gotten a lot of Experience points from the battle. Added with the ones he now got from Black Grill's Cave, Chesces was now a level 8 [Swordsman], one level higher than Black Tempest. 

"*Sighs* Let's move." Before the team could enjoy 3 minutes of rest, Azure Dragon suddenly broke their joy.

"That quick?" 

Some players were stunned but they didn't go against his words. To be in the same team as the stunning Azure Dragon, who was appreciated by the upper echelons of the guild, was a noteworthy achievement to any one of them. As a result of this, none of them dared to complain about any of his orders but would try to fulfill it with the best rating in hope of being selected to directly serve under his him. At that point, their life would reach its peak and their gaming achievements and ranks would even soar alongside his.

"Any problem?" Chesces asked with surprise as he walked over. Alongside him was Black Tempest, who also wanted to know what was going on.

Azure Dragon frowned before he said in a low voice that only Chesces and Black Tempest could hear "I just got info that some of the guilds are catching up, with a majority of them being at the 5th floor."

"Already?" Chesces asked with surprise but also confusion. 

Reaching the 5th floor so quickly was quite impressive but compared to Yukino's stellar achievement, it was still a bit lacking. Also, the 5th floor was still some distance away from the 7th floor. Even if it was just two floors those two floors were huge in area. There was still the fact that the other guilds would have to proceed cautiously but Yukino, with the experience of Emperor's Might's main team, wouldn't need to be so cautious, hence she would reach the 7th floor even faster than the other guilds' teams. As such, Chesces was confused as to why Azure Dragon would order them to move. 

"If that was all, then I wouldn't be so worried." Azure Dragon said with a heavy and serious tone.

"Heaven's Angels' God's Retaliation battalion has already set sights here. Worst part is that they are on the 6th floor."

After hearing what Azure Dragon said, both Chesces and Black Tempest had heavy expressions displayed on their faces.

Heaven's Angels wasn't a super guild but a 1st tier guild. Compared to a super guild, a first tier guild doesn't sound much but Heaven's Angels wasn't your regular first tier guilds. They were peak first tier guilds! This means that they were just one step away from being rated as a super guild! With such a title attached to them, even super guilds had to take them seriously. As for the God's Retaliation battalion, this was their trump card battalion! Most of the top guilds still had their trump card battalions in other VR games, with a majority in Conquest, the current number one VR game. No one had actually migrated their top battalions to Infinite Realm yet as that would be almost the same as surrendering their attainments in other VR games. But Heaven's Angels had actually dared to pull such a devastating maneuver. Every peak guilds' trump battalion was one made up of their strongest. Such battalions had the ability to simply bulldozer through any obstacle and claim territories no matter where.

"Heaven's Angels really is ambitious. No one knows the secret about Infinite Real yet but they still dare to make such detrimental actions. Don't they care about their territories in Conquest?!" Chesces was surprised.

"Either they know something we don't or they are making a risky bet. I take it as the latter since even Hermes has no information on the secret and also that old fogey of theirs always likes making such risky bets." Azure Dragon said.

"In that case, we should move quickly. Forget about Snow's team. Every second counts so we can't wait for her." Even Black tempest had kept a rare serious expression after hearing this news. This was just to show how much of a threat they saw the God's Retaliation battalion as. 

Back in Conquest, God's Retaliation battalion had actually faced off against a super guild's army in a city defense battle and won. The God's Retaliation battalion was more known for attacking than defending but they still pulled it off. This battle ended up adding more fame and fear to their name, making them recognized by the majority of players with more super guilds having to take them more seriously. If that wasn't enough, they retaliated and actually a launched an offensive against the said super guild laying siege on one of their cities. In the end, the God's Retaliation battalion actually one. This battle added more emphasis to their name 'Retaliation' because it was said that their performance in attacking was way better than defending. And the best part, the said super guild was actually Emperor's Might! 

"This time, we won't lose to them. We have to wash that shame away.." Azure Dragon said lightly but his eyes displayed how serious he took this expedition.