Chapter 235: The Great Seal 5
Kamiyou pondered for a moment, looked around and then shook his head at Einchel.
"Let's move. We need to go with him.""What... If we move together like this, we will definitely get caught!"
Einchel freaked out as she spoke.
The players weren't stupid.
They already guessed that something was hiding here and were always looking for their traces.
They just weren't quite interested in them because there were more precious things in deeper floors.
And even in such a situation and themselves moving discreetly, they lost around a hundred people a year.
What would happen if a number close to a thousand moved at once?
There was only one answer for so many people moving when the other players weren't notified of it.
Bug players.
They would get chased down immediately.
'Why must we go through such lengths...'
Einchel clenched her teeth as she looked at Kamiyou who had a very resolute expression.
She wanted to say the ones who opposed this idea should stay and only those who wanted to follow should.
Though Kamiyou was a good leader he didn't really force anybody.
But that was actually the worse choice.
The reason why the players hadn't searched the corners of the Maze was because they didn't have any real proof.
Though a small number had been caught, because of the secret of their location and existence being bounded by Kamiyou's trait <contract>, they had been able to stay hidden.
But the story might change if a large amount of people got caught.
It would be impossible not to become suspicious when hundreds of people got caught at the same time.
They would pour all their strengths to search the entire maze.
Which meant that if Kamiyou didn't change his thoughts, there was only one choice.
For all of them to follow.
Einchel thought up to this point and then shouted towards Kamiyou in rage,
"Fuck! Are you crazy? Even if you're the leader, you cannot just trust in a piece of some random prophecy and do this! What's so great about those things that are trapped below!?"
Even if Hansoo did succeed in destroying the seal, that would be the end of it.
Those things were still the ones who had lost.
There's no way they could win with them.
And there was an even bigger issue.
The ones where kingdoms and countries outside would charge in to kill them.
'It's terrifying...Fucking hell.'
Einchel's body shuddered as she remembered the massacre caused by the captain of the Magic Brigade, Francheska.
That person alone was that strong.
And there were plenty of people stronger than him in the kingdom and there were people who were even stronger in those countries, the empires that ruled over this damned world.
The players alone were hard to deal with, they couldn't afford to make enemies with them as well.
Kamiyou spoke out with a dark expression towards Einchel who was looking back at him with eyes full of despair.
"...I see, they've just been blindly following me the entire time."
Kamiyou shook his head.
Losers.
They didn't lose because they were weak.
Instead they had been tied down below in order to bear the consequences of their strength.
If the Ains were indeed that weak then why would the kingdoms and the empires try so hard to maintain the seal and were always on their toes about the seal breaking?
And why did they not come down to kill the Ains?
'And that Prophet was really... Really....'
Kamiyou finished his thoughts and then made up his mind.
'Yeah. The important thing right now isn't... Maintaining the current situation.'
Unlike Einchel, Kamiyou decided to look further ahead into the future.
Countless players would get in their way while they traversed through the Green Zone.
At this rate, they will slowly sink into the depths and get killed off.
He didn't know if the AIns being released would be beneficial or harmful to them as a whole.
But he was sure of one thing.
That a change that would sweep across the entire Green Zone will happen.
A great change.
Moving quickly wasn't enough to escape from the Green Zone, the swamp that dragged them down.
They needed a change that would sweep across the entirety of this damned place.
Of course there was no guarantee that they would be safe from this change.
'...I just need to pray that the prophecy is true then.'
Though there would be people who opposed him, there was nothing else he could do.
He would just take everyone who would come with him.
Kamiyou finished his mumbles and then spoke to Hansoo."Let me lead you to the secret portal."
All the portals that have been found were already swarming with players who had seen the blacklist.
It was confirmed by the Watchmen.
Even Hansoo would get slowed down if he had to go through thousands of people.
But in this place, there was a portal for them to escape during an emergency.
A portal which hadn't been found by them distracting and misleading others through the Watchmen.
There was a portal for going up and another for going down but the only important thing was the one going down.
As Kamiyou looked around to persuade everyone to go down with him.
'Ugh...'
Kamiyou clenched his teeth as he looked at the eyes of the people staring at him.
Chaos and distrust.
Why did he have to go this far?
But this was a reasonable reaction since their leader was trying to make all of them leave after finally securing a safe haven for them to stay just because of some random stranger.
Kamiyou looked towards Hansoo with a sorry expression and spoke.
"Could you give me a bit of time?"
He needed to persuade as much as he could, if not all.
And he had the confidence to do so if there was time.
Since there wasn't much choice for the ones staying.
Hansoo nodded at Kamiyou's words.
Since it wouldn't take long.
'....He probably has a contract type trait.'
Maintaining the security of this place was impossible just through hard work.
Them not being found despite a hundred of them being caught and killed each other meant one thing.
That he had a method or a trait to control the ones who entered.
And the trait <contract> which could put restrictions on those weaker than oneself could easily accomplish this.
'And...He probably has a few other methods in the contract that could be used for this situation.'
Since the weaker ones separating at an important moment would only make them weaker.
Even if he didn't like to do such things, as long as he wasn't a stupid leader he would've set some things up.
It wouldn't take long by using it.
'Tsk. I wish I could help with the persuasion...'
But sadly there was not much he could do.
Since he had indeed come to break the seal but being with him wasn't particularly safer or anything."I'll wait and we can..."
As Hansoo started to speak.Rumbleee.
Classshh.
Sounds of thunder and lightning echoed throughout the maze from a distance.
A vicious sound that was different from the ones the Watchmen made.
Everyone's expression froze as they heard this.
............................
Rrrrummblee!
Endless amounts of flame poured out from the sword of the captain of the Scarlet Demons, Sharon Stiller.
Towards the trailers at the outermost parts of the Ant Tunnel the watchmen set up as residence.
Whoooosh!
The fire, which rushed forward like a dragon made of flames, ate up the trailer as the giant trailer started to melt down.
The trailer was merely made of steel after all.
There was no way it could handle the S grade Spirit Stone, <scarlet flower>, that could buy an entire house at the center of the capital.
Basically it was like using a weapon meant to slay dragons just to kill a few chickens.
Others might call her stupid for doing so but would Sharon Stiller have used a weapon imbued with a spirit stone just to melt down a trailer?
Screams came out from the trailer surrounded by flames.
"Uaaaaaaa...""Kuaaaak!"
People, who though were low level, had been armed with artifacts and magic resistance skills.
But even they could not withstand the flames from the spirit stone.
Sharon Stiller smiled as she saw this.
"Though it's a bit much to kill a few bugs...We should use a secure method since they're strong."
Sharon Stiller then pointed with her chin towards the back.
Towards those who had been looking at the Bug Players with green in their eyes.
The moment the nod came, five members of the Gold Demons walked out in glee.
Towards the bug players who were burning up in the distance and barely maintaining their life.
And Sharon Stiller and the other fifteen Scarlet Demons just watched the Gold Demons walking by.
It wasn't that they didn't have the confidence to handle the situation.
Since they didn't bring the Gold Demons because they lacked strength.
The 15 of them, armed with S and A grade Spirit Stones, were sure that they could erase any group of bug players.
They was only a single reason why they brought the Gold Demons.
"Uaaaaaak!""Kuuhuk!"
The Gold Demon members swung their blades towards the Watchmen,
And the two watchmen who were ablaze were people who could easily deal with five members of the Gold Demons.
But they could not fight the Gold Demons while being surrounded by Sharon Stiller's flames that were burning them alive.
They couldn't even resist as they lost their lives.
At that moment.
Kiiing!
Two of the five members of the Gold Demons shined out brightly.
A sign of leveling up.
And the other members looked at this with satisfied expressions.
"Keke! This is why I can't stop being a bug killer."
"Why did I farm dungeons until now?"
Of course they wouldn't usually level up once from just this.
But the remaining exp they needed which they would've had to grind out had been filled up in an instant.
Flame Warrior-V nodded as he looked at this scene.
'...So she brought them to raise them huh.'
Experience was useless to the Scarlet Demons who were already at cap levels.
But the tremendous amount of experience would be waste to just throw it away.
Sharon Stiller laughed towards the Gold Demon members and walked forward.
"Don't be happy about just this much. There's so much more to go."
The Gold Demons who had been following shouted out in glee.
"Hahahaha! Yes!"
"Let's chase them down before they run!""For justice!"
There was nothing more fun than leveling up in a game.
Especially more so in a game like exodus where some say the max level is when the game began due to all the contents made specifically for those at level 250.
As the people were shouting in glee."Aaaah! Cursed bastards!"
A person jumped up from the flaming trailer and started to run away.
A Watchman had been hiding despite burning up and started to madly run the moment he saw an opening.
And the Gold Demons immediately started to chase.
"Where do you think you're going?!"
It was pointless to run.
Since one wouldn't be able to run at their full speed with injuries.
The Scarlet Demons shrugged their shoulders as they saw the Gold Demons chasing.
There wasn't much for them here since they were already at max level.
They just needed to do the job they were tasked with, receive rewards from the leader.
'It won't be dangerous anyway.'
Sharon Stiller mumbled inwardly.
The bug players would get erased once they got killed.
A sane person would not be able even think of fighting them.
They would just focus on running away.
And this was why she had dealt the first blow.
Since it was easier to hunt those running.
'And it's useless to run anyway.'
As Sharon Stiller was looking at the Gold Demons who were running up ahead with a calm expression.
Boooooooom!
Something giant flew in from across the maze and smashed into the Gold Demons.
With a tremendously loud noise.
"Kuaaaak!"
"What the fuck!"
One of the Gold Demon members melted away and the other seven's bodies got smashed apart and were flung backwards.
The only one surviving in the tunnel was the Watchmen.
"Huuaak...Phew..."
The Watchmen, who had barely dodged the attack which resembled a dragon, lost strength in his legs and fell down onto the ground.
At the same time.
Whoosh.
Hansoo raised the man and then pointed towards the back.
"Go back there and join the others."
Hansoo, who was fixing a bit of his body back, then spoke while looking at the Scarlet and Gold Demons in the distance.
"It seems I'll have to 'talk' with these guys for a bit."
"Ha."
It was clear that he wasn't talking about exchanging words from the way he was holding the spear.
Sharon Stiller raised her sword with a dumbfounded expression.