Chapter 187: God Dragon Karceus (3)

In the beginning of Kailan, a total of seventeen gods who each had different powers existed.

And exactly a thousand years from then.

In order to block the attack of the devildom, five of the seventeen gods came down to the world of mortals.

However, the gods could not directly get involved with the world of mortals.

Due to this, the five gods used each of their own powers and helped humans that were invaded by the devils, and in order to help block off the Evil Dragon Khalifa, they each sent a dragon that was granted a portion of their power down to the human world.

Amongst them, the dragon that was born through the power of 'Kailes', the God of War, was the God Dragon of War, 'Karceus', and the human hero that he divided that strength with was the Undefeated Swordsman, 'Kaizar'.

The times that the two were active were the same, but there was nothing they knew about each other.

This was because Karceus was protecting the Prilania Valley of the northern continent as he fought face-to-face with the evil dragons, while Kaizar was playing an active part as he faced the devils in the central continent.

As the war with the devils was coming to an end, Karceus was hit by a big crisis by the Evil Dragon Khalifa and he was sealed into the state of a spirit, and as Kaizar's memories were sealed by the God of War, he began to wander the human world.

Kaizar and Karceus both had the same stem as the God of War 'Kailes'.

In some ways, they were no different than brothers, but the two, who didn't even know of each other's existence up until now, had met for the first time in a thousand years through Ian.

Because that was the case, the two just felt a strong sense of kinship towards each other, but they were in a state where they didn't know much about each other.

A dungeon in the outskirts of the central continent.

Ian, who was diligently hunting alone, mumbled towards Karceus.

"Yo, Mojilee[1]. Can you not combine with the retainer like last time?"

Thanks to having diligently leveled up for a couple days, Karceus had grown close to lv 100 in no time.

However, because he wasn't able to properly show an active role within the dungeon of the central continent, where lv 150-180 ranged monsters were standing close together, Ian was sighing deeply.

• It was only possible to have borrowed his strength because it was a special situation. It is impossible right now.

At Karceus's words, Ian licked his lips.

"Tsk... When will I even get you on the edge of my level at this rate?"

When Karceus fought unified with Kaizar, he was at lv 128, but his stats were at a much stronger level than that.

Of course, even lv 90 Karceus right now was strong to the point that it was nonsensical when compared to his level, but Ian was frustrated.

"Retainer, let's sweep this place up quickly and move on to the next dungeon."

At Ian's words, Kaizar nodded his head as he replied.

"Let's do that. Because of that mojilee, our hunting speed is incredibly slow."

At Kaizar's words, Karceus spun his head around as he wore a serious face.

• It's just because I am in the body of a human right now. If I return to my main body, monsters and such like this...!

However, Karceus's excuses were brushed aside by Ian's one statement.

"If your main body was of any help, you would have remained as your main form."

• That, that's not so! I'm...!

Ian threw another statement towards Karceus, who was trembling.

"Since it doesn't make a difference on the fact that you're of no help either way, I was just telling you to stay in your human body as it's easier to move around in. Anyways, stop the small talk and just follow us. Since Kaizar and I will carry you."

• Just wait a little bit, owner... I will become stronger than that ignorant human in no time.

Karceus ignited his competitive spirit while looking at Kaizar.

Ian, who glanced back and forth at the two, smirked as he moved his feet.

"I really hope that happens."

"I agree. Mojilee dragon dude."

• ...

On the outside, they squabbled with each other, but Kaizar and Karceus got along quite well.

As his level was low, he lacked stats, but as expected for one who has the modifier the Dragon of War, Karceus's combat AI was absolutely exceptional.

And the most encouraging part was that ever since Karceus was awoken, Kaizar's Loyalty had increased by a whopping 20.

'For Kaizar's Loyalty to be at 27... Now I don't have to worry about suffering a team kill.'

As Kaizar even listened to Ian's orders when he was in a good mood, it couldn't help but simply be a tremendous advancement.

Bang- Ba-bang-!

While looking at Kaizar and Karceus diligently whip through the dungeon, Ian firmly grasped his spear and charged into the battlefield.

Ian, who used the Will of the Selamus Warrior skill, may not be as strong as Kaizar, but he was able to demonstrate a stronger fighting power than Karceus currently.

'Speaking of which, it's about time that the Kaimon dudes start nibbling, yet why is it so quiet?'

Ian momentarily thought about the situation he had caused, but shortly after, he began to focus on the hunt.

It wasn't an extremely urgent issue anyways, and the most important thing right now was to get Karceus's levels back on the rails immediately.

'And I also need to find a way to raise my Leadership by any means...'

If Karceus was over lv 100, he was planning on doing the Summoner-class quests that he had lying idly for a while.

This was because there were a lot of cases where class quests generally gave class-related stats as rewards.

* * *

Yoohyun, who had escaped the world of Kailan and had spent a relaxed weekend for the first time in while by going on a date with his girlfriend, turned on his computer as soon as he arrived home and laid down on the couch.

"Hmm... Was there not much going on in Kailan today?"

However, Yoohyun, who realized he thought of Kailan as soon as he returned home, shook his head.

"Whew, well, am I also a hopeless game maniac?'

Yoohyun, who logged onto the official community shortly after, began to look around the bulletin board here and there.

And shortly after, his two eyes slightly grew.

"Hmm... What the hell? Is something going on? Why is there suddenly such a high post count here?"

The 'Today's Issues' bulletin board that normally had about 50 new posts per hour at most had as many as over five times the amount of bulletin posts uploaded onto it.

It was not really a bulletin board that he went into often, but out of curiosity, Yoohyun clicked on it.

Click-.

And after reading the content, he couldn't help but become even more flustered.

"What the hell? This is about our guild!"

Yoohyun, who muttered audibly before he even realized, slowly began to read through the bulletin posts.

• Wow, seriously, Luspel's top-ranking are actually rotten. I never even dreamed that the Pyro Domain's door opening back then was actually them back-stabbing.

• No kidding. They're seriously crazy. But I still don't know why they did such a thing, so is there someone that could explain this so that it's understandable?

• Well, I also don't know the exact situation, but the content that's been known so far, I will try to organize the content that I've seen and heard.

As the siege warfare at the Pyro Domain went on for longer than expected, the establishing guilds of Luspel that were just sucking their thumbs in the safe zone in the back could have become anxious that they wouldn't come down to the back. This is because as war is eventually money and amazing, it is the characteristic of the central continent, which is an amazing resource. Even if the Pyro Domain was expected to fall to the enemy in a couple days, their stomachs probably hurt at the profit the Lotus Guild obtained for that duration. Since truthfully, the Lotus Guild had jumped up about 70-80 rankings compared to before this siege warfare and after. From what I know, the Lotus Guild should have now entered the top 20 of the guild rankings. Lastly, the longer the siege warfare went on for, they would have been afraid of the criticism they would receive from the general public from an ethical side. This was because the longer the Lotus Guild lasted in the Pyro Domain, their popularity wouldn't be able to help but drop as they didn't help them and hid in the back. Since the fact that Lotus lasted for a long time corresponded to the words that if the top-ranking guilds backed up Lotus, they would have been able to block them off for sure. Although, of course, Lotus blocked off the Allied Forces without their help, that is.

• Kya, person above, your insight is seriously no joke. Now that you actually mention it now, it's plausible. Splendor, Oaklan... Truly bad guys. I knew from the moment they monopolized the dungeons in the northern continent before.

• I agree with everything the person above wrote but let me be clear about one thing. We, the Valiant Guild, helped Lotus with our fighting power. Juhu, of course, the Lotus Guild and Ian played an amazingly active role, but I wish that everybody knew about the fact that our assistance also took up a big portion.

• Keu, person above, you must be affiliated with the Valiant Guild. You must be pleased. I noticed that the popularity of Valiant also went up an incredible amount through this siege warfare. I noticed that you've gone up in the ranking as well and am firmly defending 1st place. I'm jealous, to be in Valiant, ha...

• Huhut, borrowing the intermission to promote once, the doors of our Valiant Guild are always open. Come and join us whenever! Although, of course, the level limit has gone up to 130, that is.

Dozens of bulletin board pages were filled to the brim with criticism towards the establishing guilds including the Splendor Guild, and Herz, who slowly read down, abruptly got up from his spot.

"Now is not the time to be like this. Jinsung, this dude, is probably cooped up in a dungeon and just hunting, so I should go quickly and let him know."

Yoohyun hurriedly turned off his computer and went into the capsule.

It was a little late at night, but as it was not time for Jinsung to log out yet, It was much faster to log onto the game rather than send him a text message.

* * *

Jinsung, who received Yoohyun's call, immediately went into the Lord's castle of the Pyro Domain.

And with even Fiolan, who was logged on in case of an emergency, the three began a meeting.

"So, the word that Splendor Guild was the one behind this is spread here and there, right?"

At Ian's question, Herz shook his head as he replied.

"No, it's not like that. I didn't read everything, so I can't say exactly how it is, but I think it's just vaguely being stated that the 'top-ranking guilds are the ones behind this'."

At Herz's words, Fiolan asked with a serious expression.

"What are the chances of it being a rumour?"

"Well, I'm not sure. It could just be a rumour, but the ripple effect of this is too big. I'm also a little confused right now. I wish that all of this content was all rumours instead and it's just the scheme of the executive members of Kaimon in order to induce an internal conflict amongst the Luspel Empire guilds..."

Ian let out a short sigh as he spoke.

"Ha, unfortunately, both are probably right."

At Ian's words that were out of the blue, Herz widened his eyes as he asked back.

"What are?"

"The fact that they are the masterminds that back-stabbed us is probably right, and the fact that it's the scheme of Kaimon in order to induce an internal conflict in Luspel is also probably right."

"...!"

The two people, who momentarily chewed over the words that Ian said thoroughly, were able to understand shortly after.

"So, you're saying that the side of the Kaimon Allied Forces intentionally poured out the truth, right?"

At Fiolan's question, Ian nodded his head.

"Yes, that's right. As a matter of fact, on the basis of the information that Herz gave, as I've almost secured the identity of the Assassin, I had assumed over 90% of the things would have happened. And this situation, to be honest, the Kaimon side had just bitten the bait that I had let out."

"Huh?"

"Although it is a development that is slightly unexpected..."

Ian's expression slightly darkened..."

This was because he didn't think that the situation would snowball this much.

'I thought that if the word that they planted a spy was found out, it would land a blow on the image of the Kaimon dudes, so I didn't think that they would be like this so openly...'

However, if it was like this, all of the arrows of criticism would be shot towards the ranked guilds of the Luspel Empire, so naturally, the Kaimon Allied Forces would be able to avoid the arrows of criticism.

This was a part that Ian hadn't thought about.

'If things don't go well, the whole Luspel Empire might waver.'

If it becomes issued like this, even if Ian and the Lotus Guild didn't directly hold anything against the establishing guilds of the Luspel Empire, the public sentiment would turn away.

And if they could not receive the support of the mid-upper level users, the chance that they would helplessly fall to the Allied Forces of the Kaimon Empire was high.

Since the Kaimon side was quite superior when it comes to fighting power.

Ian's mind began to race quickly.

'Perhaps this could be a chance to draw a new picture...'

[1] Mojilee = Someone who is lacking just 1-2% from being perfect (ex. A guy who has the looks and money, but is a little lacking in the brain department)