Hussar entered the portal and returned to his team's tower.
He slightly raised his eyes to stare at the four people hanging on the black chains. A crimson aura glossed the tethers of darkness, stripping off the caught players from all possible means of escape.
Those chains protruded from the first floor's ceiling.
Hussar was familiar with them.
It was Meredith's magic.
"So Eastern True Dragons are eliminated," Hussar said.
His teammate, Hubo, approached him. "Where are Weis and Triple M?"
"Weis died... you didn't get any notification?" Hussar asked.
Hubo shook his head. "No. What about Triple M? Did he leave you behind?"
"You can think of him as a dead man. Clowns ganged up on him and are bullying him as we speak now," Hussar replied without hiding his displeasure. He didn't like such acts.
Hubo sighed.
The other teammate chimed in, "He had it coming. Didn't he go at Joker in the hotel?" He wielded a spear that rested on his shoulder. "He should have stayed back in his hotel room."
Hussar shifted his eyes to his spearman. "He should have stayed in the tower. Hubo would have done a much better job... because of Triple M, only I returned alone. At least I got three records and good intel. Shiro and her team challenged Clowns. Joker killed Shiro, and his spearman friend defeated his counterpart."
"Oh?" The Blue Union's spearman patted his shoulder with his weapon.
Hussar added. "The ninja ran away. But he's in for a surprise, I guess."
"Impossible! Shiro would never lose to Joker!" an Eastern True Dragon Guild man screamed at Hussar.
Hussar arched his head back.
He shrugged. "I guess you don't get any notification from outside the tower. She died. I could see that she left wounds on Joker, but he returned to fight others while she was nowhere to be seen. Is she the type to run away like a ninja man? I don't think so from what she did on the theater's scene."
"How... could we... get obliterated... by two people?!" the man shouted back.
Eastern True Dragons believed in their individual prowess more than others. While Shiro was sent to the record team to defeat everyone and hoard as many records as possible, the rest of her team entered the raid teleport.
They were randomly sent to another tower.
This tower happened to be The Blue Union's Tower.
On the first floor, the four splendid individuals fought against a single entity—The Meredith. It wasn't even her floor, but it didn't matter in the long run.
Her chain magic overwhelmed the four enemy players despite the abundance of skills thrown at her. She didn't break into sweat as she maneuvered her chains to defeat all her opponents and catch them in her chains.
She then hung them on the ceiling to make them into a chandelier.
Meredith wasn't much of a sadist. She did that because her black chains could feed on any lifeforms. She could strengthen her black chains into a single-use skill whose power depended on the stats she absorbed from others.
Those stats from defeated players of the same level were splendid resources.
"You! It wasn't just two people. Casual Clown's I Come In Peace defeated your spearman! Give respect where respect is due, Chinese dude!" The Blue Union's spearman, Glenn, pointed his spear at the talkative captive and glowered at him. He wouldn't let his a fellow spearman player get no achievement!
The more achievements his enemies had, the tastier the victory!
That, too, mattered to Glenn.
"I am Japanese! Japanese! You hear me?!"
The last team on the scene copped out from fighting with them.
It was Veni Vidi Vici's team, whose mage and a swordsman were stronger than Ogun's tank and a club user. These two suffered a loss at Veni Vidi Vici's hands, dropping three records!
It was enough to get an instant route back.
"Aren't we... on the worse end?" Shaw asked.
Jake and Arthur didn't reply to him. Their faces were straight.
It was true, though.
There were six teams on the record battleground.
Two victorious teams brought three records to their towers each.
Casual Clowns, however, had their hands on two records.
Jake clenched his hands, "NINJA!"
Shaw furiously impaled his spear on the ground. "DRAGON!"
Arthur coughed, "We can't get a teleport... and other teams are gone."
A heavy realization fell on three heads.
While the other two teams had a happy and instant trip back to their towers, the three would have to return to their tower on foot. It'd not be a short voyage as well.
Jake fished out a shot.
[Your stats have been upgraded.]
"It's all my fault," Jake said.
Arthur shook his head. "Had I defeated the ninja man, we would have been in our tower by now. I take the blame."
"Will you two taking the blame get us to the tower? Nah! So let's get moving!" Shaw glanced over his shoulder at his friends before staring forward and marching.
Jake said, "You're going the wrong way."
"Wait? Seriously?!" Shaw grew redder and quickly returned to his friends' side.
Arthur looked at the minimap. "Our tower is in this direction. The map is all black because we have never been here before. We can only see the mark of our tower. There's a chance we will stumble upon someone else's tower. What are we doing in this situation?"
The three of them looked at each other.
Jake raised his hand. "My decision put us in this situation. I'll leave it to you two."
"Since I'm also to take the blame for our predicament, it's up to Shaw what we will do." Arthur declared his statement.
Shaw stared at them with narrowed eyes. "You guys know I will make the worst decision! Whatever! The chances of us stumbling upon the other team's tower are close to zero anyway! Let's go!"
An hour later, the three clowns stood before a tower.
A foreign tower.
"..."
"..."
"Your command, Mr. Shaw?"