Chapter 717 Escalating Danger

When I got bored checking the forum and videos, I turned off my computer and logged back in to check the situation once more. After all, the game does not pause while I am away and continues on.

"[Welcome Back, Bladeheart!]"

The usual login screen welcomes me every time I returned but the moment I closed the welcome screen, everything shook like there is a massive earthquake happening in the background. I almost fell from the bed when that occurred as well.

"What the f*ck was going on?"

I prepared my gear and went out of the cabin and saw that the situation is looking grim. The sky is reddish and a large smoke is forming in the sky like there is a massive burning area below that has been burning the whole forest area, except that the location is located where the battle is currently happening.

The others are there as usual but they are pretty calm and are currently eating alongside some players who are currently healing up their wounds and watching the situation uncover.

"Is there any development while I was away?" I asked Gobu and Lina who are both munching on a sandwich.

"Oh, it's you, Master. As you can see, the situation has escalated quite a lot and many of the people who fought there returned here to grind and rest from the chaos. Also, the mantis is still alive and kicking."

Looking around, there are indeed a lot of players just idling around instead of actively looking for players to team up with. There are some still doing that but most are just sitting on the chairs and tables I made and are either eating or drinking a potion while watching the scenery before us.

Then, I realized it late but the trees that were blocking the view of the battle had been cut down and cleared up. There are even log piles beside the cabin, which means Gobu and Lina might be responsible for that. I am not complaining though and just looked at the situation.

Then, the ground once again shook the surroundings and the players wobbled from where they were for a bit including me before everything settled down. Like before, the players are too passive and didn't do much and just remain there watching things unfold. While I am still wondering why the players seem to be a little bit passive right now, Lady Flan approached me.

"Hello, are you going to open your shop now?" Lady Flan asked. I noticed she was full of wounds and her armor is not in a good shape either.

"I will be preparing a few stuff for a bit before opening, so please wait for a bit, alright?"

"Oh, that's good. To be honest we are waiting for you to log back in since we ran out of potions to use. Since yours is quite potent, we are waiting for your store to open up so that we can go buy a bulk now that we are in the battle against the raid boss, we needed more potions now more than ever."

"Eh? Is that the main reason why most of you players are here and doing nothing?"

One of the players who heard my question answered instead of Lady Flan. "Some of us are relaxing for a bit but some are just waiting for you to open up. We are waiting patiently though as we don't want to get banned for being a piece of sh*t so please don't mind us crowding here for a while."

"No worries guys. I will be preparing stuff for a bit then open up the store. If you guys are going to buy, please line up at the usual spot so that we can progress the purchases smoothly, yeah? Also, please make a separate line for those who wanted to trade instead of buying potions so that we can have those who needed potions immediately have their orders processed."

When the players heard that, everyone immediately stood up and started lining up outside the front of the store. I am thankful no one was making a ruckus though as I don't want to make a big scene. It's pretty rare in some players these days so seeing them quite united is quite nice to see.

Lina and Gobu are fine in there eating for a while so I went back inside. The reason I didn't want to open just yet is that I want to check the situation with Tina.

As usual, Tina is still there but this time, she is knitting a scarf. When she noticed me approaching, she stopped sewing for a bit and put away her sewing kit but I just stopped her as it is not necessary for her to do so.

"Master, you are back. You see, we needed replacements for the cores soon. The cores are now down to 1 piece left and it's also about to run out of energy. I didn't know it would be this fast the cores will be drained."

"Don't panic, here, take this and replace all the cores that needed to be replaced. Keep calm since it's not that necessary to panic about something minor. Just ask me for more cores if it runs out of energy alright?" I then pulled out 5 more level 300 cores and handed them to her which made her surprised that I still have more.

"Oh, sorry about that Master. I will be replacing them now. Don't worry about Cotton, Master. She is developing fine. At this rate, in just a few weeks she is ready to hatch out from her cocoon and go outside in her new form."

"I will be looking forward to it."

With the new cores in hand, Tina entered the room and replaced the old cores with new ones. Now that I am done here, I went to the store, ready my items out, and opened up, welcoming the players. The line was long but that doesn't perturb me on doing it and immediately accepted the orders.

Thankfully, they are too organized this time around, it seems some players also realized that it was me who was creating the potions so they didn't want to anger me, knowing I am one of the rankers but it is good to know that there are no audacious players trying to make their might known even though they are just some random nobody.

While doing the transactions, the shaking surroundings are happening again and are making some of the players outbalanced as well and fall over. It was quite strong considering that something of a big force is causing this. Still, the business went on.

Some of those players who bought the potions they needed didn't waste their time and returned immediately, rushing back to the battlefield. However, not all of them as some just decided to stay behind and go idle and relax for a while there. Still, I can't deny that the danger happening against the Insect Kingdom is getting out of hand. If the boss has yet to be killed, it will only take a matter of minutes before the Insect Kingdom is gone for good.