Chapter 65: Momentary Thoughts Part 12 Part 2

Right, so now the only thing that was left for us to do was to wait for Pencilgton, who was the mastermind behind this whole operation.

As we were waiting, we could suddenly hear some sort of commotion coming from further inside the cave.

「Sorry for keeping you waiting!」

「About time, man……」

「Really sorry, guys, my business took me a whole lot more time than I would have initially expected. I never would have thought that some of my most trusted people would turn out to be so thick-headed.」

Talk about pitiful…… I know that Ashura-kai is the biggest PVP guild out there, but are they really alright with someone like that being one of their top players?

While drinking something that was seemingly a potion, Pencilgton looks at us again.

「Chances are we might fail this hard…… But at least we won’t have to worry about Ashura-kai for now.」

「Don’t worry. We won’t fail this. Mark my words.」

「Well, we are going against a great opponent like Gravekeeper Wezaemon, so I understand that you might be worried, but…… Since we are all here, doesn’t that mean there is only one thing left to say?」

Then we all smile and bump our fists together.

「Now, Mister Organizer…… Let’s all do our best and beat the living crap out of that Robo Samurai!」

「「YEAH!!」」

As we withdrew our fists, we accepted Pencilgton’s invitation to form a party, and then we jumped right into the special distortion that suddenly appeared right in the middle of the Hidden Garden.

Katsu jumped in first, I was second, and Pencilgton was the last to jump in.

And then the world got reversed all of a sudden!

After what was like a split second for us, all three of us jumped out of the portal and the first thing we saw…… Was the cherry tree.

There was a figure standing right there. We couldn’t see it all too well because of the light the moon was casting at the place, but this could only be one person.

「Set-chan…… No, Setsuna.」

Her existence must have been bound to this place. She was in here all this time, thinking about her lover and…… waiting patiently.

She was an NPC. Nothing more than a program generated by the game engine. She wasn’t real by any standards. However, I could feel that for Pencilgton she was as much of a real person as any other player in the game.

「Your wish, I…… No, we will make it a reality!」

The withered tree’s branches swayed gently in the night’s breeze. But Pencilgton was looking only at Setsuna-san.

That is why Pencilgton jumped into the battle arena headfirst, without even waiting for us to catch up.

They were all severely exhausted. There was a sudden attack onto their Headquarters that no one even suspected. Members of the four biggest PVP guilds in ShanFro –– “Black Wolves”, “Int Association”, “Ten p.m. Army”, “Tenpura Knights” –– formed a raid party unlike any boss had ever seen and assaulted the Ashura-Kai, causing the guild severe losses.

Still, even though it was extremely hard, they managed to defend their Headquarter from the invaders.

「Sh*t…… Fuck……! Why the fuck would they all gang up on us like some kind of fucking boss battle……!?」

They even had “Golems” with them, one of the few monsters that players could tame and use in battle! Those things could only be produced under a set of very specific conditions! Then there was a player that managed to kill ten level seventy players with a single blow…… Saiga-0.

Ashura-kai, which was known as the strongest PVP guild, was now on the verge of collapse. The only survivors were a guild master and the strongest people of the guild…… all the rest were either killed or carried away to the Bounty Hunters.

「A, AllSlot-san…… What are we going to do right now!?」

「…… For the time being let’s evacuate to the Hidden Garden. They may be waiting there for us, but maybe we can survive there until morning.」

There was also the possibility of fleeing to a larger area like Thirdrema, but the hidden area that not too many people were aware of was a perfect hiding spot from their attackers.

As she moved towards the Hidden Garden, the Ashura-Kai Guild master, AllSlot, was deep in thought.

(Why was the raid party so all-out!? Who leaked the information about us……!?)

Ashura-kai’s headquarters was located inside the city of Fifthia, “The Abondoned Ship Elly’s Glory”. So how did it happen that so many guilds managed to find the information about a hidden area that no information broker could provide?

A mole in their ranks was still the most probable possibility. But judging by the genuine surprise on the faces of the members of the guild, who would it be? AllSlot had a hard time imagining that.

(Wait just a fucking minute.)

In the mind of the AllSlot, the dots slowly started to connect.

What day it is today? The day of the update? No, to hell with the update. It was the day of the new moon. A day when you could challenge the unique monster that Ashura-kai discovered.

Where did Pencilgton go? According to the eyewitness’s statements, when the attack started to let up a bit, he was seen running off somewhere.

Pencilgton was an asshole, but he had a head on his shoulder. If so, then he should be aware of the fact that the Hidden Garden was right now Ashura-kai’s best bet at surviving this crisis.

But if that was the case, then where the fuck was he right now?

Those assumptions were being reinforced and turned into conviction.

Her pace gradually increased and before she even knew it, she started to ignore the voices of her fellow clan members and ran towards the Hidden Garden at full speed.

「Wha, ah……!?」

Even though AllSlot knew the Hidden Garden well, its sight was a true sight to behold every single time. However, there were signs that someone was here recently, even though the place should have been deserted.

「Ah, but……」

Finally every single piece of the puzzle fell into place. The worst assumptions that AllSlot had about Pencilgton started to come true.

There was a case in the past where he managed to control almost the whole population of a certain game and played people like a fiddle with little to no trouble at all. That person was her elder sister in real life, and right about now she must have had the time of her life that she managed to pull a stunt like that.

「I, I’m fed up with all of this sh*t……」

「AllSlot-san?」

Just for that one moment.

For the sake of that, AllSlot wanted to do everything that was in her power to stop the raid battle against the Gravekeeper Wezaemon at all cost.

Arthur Pencilgton sold the Ashura-Kai out.

When AllSlot arrived at that conclusion…… Amane Koun forgot everything about manners and screamed out loud.

「That…… That FUCKING ELDER SISTEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR~~~!!!!!!!!!」