Chapter 43 – You Are Screwed.

(Dammed! Where are they taking us?) – though Ellise Emerald.

(These unknown people wearing a masks suddenly busted into the mansion and killed everybody before kidnaping me and stuffing me into the box.)

(Who the heck are they?!)

(Are they by any chance working for Marcel or Hjin?)

"?!"

(What is going on?! Somebody lifted the box.)

The box with the girl inside of it was lifted and then put on the caravan. After the box was put down, the carriage began moving.

"?!"

(This feeling, did they put me on the carriage? Are they transporting me somewhere? Damn! Where are they taking me?!) – though Ellise Emerald.

Sometime later.

"…"

"Okay. Wait, here." – said the male voice.

(What is going on there? They stopped or something. Where are we?)

After some time passed the person that spoke before had return and a loud footsteps could be heard near the caravan.

"Here. These three boxes. Get them inside but be careful." – said the male voice from before.

"?"

"!"

(The box is moving again, but this time is different. Are we no longer traveling by the caravan but are carried or something?)

The tree boxes were carried through the forest before entering a mine and then entering the hidden dungeon.

After sometime passed the tree boxes were put down and the sound of many loud footsteps could be heard walking away before disappearing.

After few seconds passed, the three boxes were opened and the people inside of them were throwed out on the ground.

"?!"

"Stop struggling. We are taking off these gags right now." – said the female voice.

The three people bang removing gags as well as blindfolds the three people were wearing.

"Damn you! Do you have any idea – Ellise?! What the heck are you doing here?!" – asked shocked Marcel the Golden Merchant as soon as he saw Ellise Emerald right next to him.

"Marcel?! And Hjin?! You got kidnapped as well?!" – asked Ellise Emerald after realizing she wasn't the only one kidnapped.

"By the look of things yea, but I wasn't expecting you two to get kidnapped. I thought it was that pig doing." – said Hjin Sun.

"What did you said?!" – said angry Marcel.

"If I were you, I would shut up." – said the man.

"?!"

The trio turned towards the group of four people wearing an iron mask as well as cloaks.

"Who the heck are you? Why did you kidnaped us? Do you want money or something? Or do you just want us as the hostages?" - Hjin Sun.

"No. We don't care. All we want is to get our stuff back." – said the man holding a staff.

"Your stuff back?! The hell are you talking about?!" – asked Marcel.

"The stuff you stole. Sometime ago our caravan got attacked by the minotaurs and the stuff inside had gone missing."

"…. What does have to do with us?" – asked Ellise Emerald.

"Everything." – replied the man.

"After that incident, the minotaurs village was raided and all minotaurs related to the incident were killed."

"However, only half of the stuff that was stolen was found in the village."

"We know that the Joshua Emerald, Marcel the Golden Merchant as well as Hjin Sun were the ones who hired minotaurs to do their dirty work. We also know that you took the half of the stuff that the caravan was caring."

"?!"

"What kind of bullshit is- "

Before Marcel could say anything, one of the kidnappers wearing a mask pointed his gun at him and shot him in the leg.

"?!"

"Agh!?" – screamed Marcel in pain.

"Know your place. This is all happening because of your greed." – said the man holding a gun.

"If all things go well, we can leave you alive with just missing leg or two missing."

"?!"

"Now, are you ready to talk?" – asked the man with a gun.

"…"

"Good."

"Like said before, we know that the two of you as well as that girl father were working together and used the minotaurs to do your dirty work."

"We want to know what you did to the stuff you stole from the caravan."

"…"

"Marcel, Hjin. What the hell are they talking about?!" – asked confused Elise Emerald.

"…W-well…" – said Hjin.

"…Tch! I TOLD IT WAS STUPID IDEA! LOOK WHAT KIND OF MESS WE ARE IN RIGHT NOW?!" – said angry Marcel.

"My fault?! You were the one who suggested to rob that caravan, your greedy pig!" – said Hjin.

"The fuck you said?! After all this trouble of smuggling illegal goods for you, now you blame me for everything?!" – said Marcel.

"Right back at you! What about those stupid times where I carried those assassination on the people you wanted me to get rid off?!" – replied Hjin.

"Illegal goods?! Assassination?! What is this about?!" – asked confused and shocked Ellise Emerald

"Oh shit!" – said Hjin.

"Em…." – said Marcel while looking away from the girl.

"…"

(Oh, so they really did illegal stuff. We couldn't find anything in the end, so I just thought I was overthinking or something, but they were really doing illegal stuff?)

(And by the look of things, this lady really didn't know anything and seem quite shocked. I guess she really was a straight up "Good Person".)

(Huh. Well, we already kidnaped them, so is this information even useful for us right now?) – though the masked man who was in reality ClownFrog.

"Hey, shut up." – said the ClownFrog.

"You can fight among yourself after we are done with you. Just so you know, we only needs to keep at least one of you alive to get info, so just saying."

"Now, where is our stuff?"

"…"

"In the west. There is an old wooden cabin near the cliff and quiet far away from the main road." – said Marcel.

"?!"

"What the heck are you doing Marcel?!" – asked Hjin.

"SHUT UP! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! I RATHER BE A COWARD THAN DIE!" – replied Marcel.

"…. Y-you fuking bastard." – said Hjin

"…"

"Go on. Continue explaining." – said ClownFrog.

"Y-yes!"

"In the fire place there is 3 keyholes. You need 3 special magical keys and put them inside to open the hidden passage."

"The only way to open the passage was to use the keys and each of us had kept those special keys."

"Me, that guy there and the Joshua Emerald had the keys and we aways carried them with us for the safety reason!"

"…. Do you have yours on you right now?"

"Y-yea! Its underneath my clothes. That guy probably have his on him as well!" – said Marcel.

"You fuking traitor!" – shouted angry Hjin.

"…"

"Take their keys, I got to check something." – said ClownFrog before leaving the room.

The masked kidnapers searched the Marcel and Hjin and confiscated their keys. After some time passed the ClownFrog walked back into the room while holding the key.

"Hey, are the keys you took look like this one?" – asked ClownFrog while showing a key with a jewel.

"Yeb. The keys we took look exactly the same." – said Shri.

"Good."

"?!"

"Hey, wait! Why do you have that key?! That is the Joshua key! Are by any chance you were responsible for the disappearance of Joshua Emerald?!" – asked Hjin.

"What?!" – said Ellise Emerald.

"No. We weren't the ones, but this was found on his corpse."

"Well now. You said that the stuff you stole is in there, is that correct? Anything else?" – asked ClownFrog.

"N-no! Please spare my life!" – said Marcel.

"Not yet. We still have some unfinish business."

"?!"

"But I told you everything!"

"Not exactly. You haven't told what you were going to do with our stuff after stealing it."

"…"

"Shoot his other leg."

"Okay." – said the masked man while pointing his gun at the man uninjured leg.

"!"

"W-wait! We wanted to sell it to the king! King Arnold Adernul!" – said Marcel in panic.

"!"

(Well, well, well. I wasn't expecting to hear his name. Now I'm even more curios to find out what they took.) – though ClownFrog.

"Hm… Okay. I have no more questions. We won't kill you." – said ClownFrog.

"T-then!"

"However, there are still some people that have business with you."

"HEY! WE ARE DONE WITH THEM! ITS YOUR TURN!" – shouted ClownFrog.

After ClownFrog shouted, a trio could hear a loud footsteps coming closer to them before a group of minotaurs entered.

"?!"

"M-minotaurs?!" – said shocked Hjin.

"Yea. Minotaurs." – said the female voice.

"Long time no see."

"?!"

"W-wait! I remember you! But you were supposed to be dead!" – said Marcel.

"Unfortunately for you, some of us manage to survive." – said female minotaur chieftain Uruni.

"And by the look of things you still remember me. I honestly was doubting you bastards would even bother remembering me."

"Well then, they all yours now. Have fun." – said ClownFrog while leaving the room.

"W-wait! You told us you will let us live!" – said Marcel.

"Yes, I did. We didn't killed you, but we never said anything about them." – said ClownFrog.

"Anyway, we will be waiting right outside the secret entrance." – said ClownFrog before leaving the room with his party members.

"Just saying, we will take our sweet time while dealing with them." – said Uruni.

"W-wait! Get away from me! Please!" – shouted Ellise Emerald while crying in panic and fear.

"Sorry, but you will have to pay for all you have done you bastards!" – said Uruni while getting closer the trio with the other minotaurs.

While the party was leaving the hidden dungeon, a screams of the three kidnaped people could be heard even after they left the dungeon.

"Huh, I guess it will take a while. So, what do you think? About the stuff they stole?" – asked Shri while taking off the mask.

"It's obviously they stole something extremely valuable, but the question is what? They went silence when we asked about and that fat guy started talking the moment he was threaten." – said Oron.

"He also said that they were planning to sell it to the king, but the question is, why? How valuable was the thing they stole to the point where they want to sell it to the king of the country?"

"Well, we have the keys and location where we can find it, so we will see what is the thing they stole." – said GreyHunt.

"By the way, where the heck did you get that key?"

"Oh, I went and asked the Uruni about it. Apparently, she took it off the corpse of the Joshua Emerald. She said that she noticed strange magic coming off the key and tried inspecting it. All she said that the key unlocked some special seal or something."

"She kept the key because she thought that she may find out where to use it." – said ClownFrog.

"Huh. So now we have all 3 keys and we even have location. So does that mean that we can steal the stuff they stole?" – said Oron.

"Pretty much. But honestly, we have to talk with the minotaurs about it first. We can't be greedy and betray them, since we would need their help in the future for our future plans. We have to discuss what do we do with it WITH them." – said ClownFrog.

"Agree. Betraying them right now would very stupid and not worth at all." – said GreyHunt.

The party waited for some time in the mines where the entrance to the hidden dungeon was located.

Suddenly from the hidden path a minotaurs appeared and signaled with his hand, informing them that they should fallow him.

The minotaurs lead the party back to the main room of the hidden dungeon where they meet up with the Crushing Hooves tribe.

"…"

Upon entering the room, ClownFrog looked at the floor and saw the dead bodies of the Ellise Emerald, Marcel the Golden Merchant and headless body of the Hjin Sun.

"So, was the revenge satisfying?" – asked ClownFrog.

"Oh yea, it was." – replied Uruni

"Good to hear. So, I guess working with us was a good idea?" – said ClownFrog.

"…"

"…You know, I honestly was expecting you and your friends to betray us or something, but surprisingly, you kept the end of your deal."

"So, I have to say, yea, it was worth having you help us out." – said Uruni.

[You have completed the quest: Minotaurs Wrath.]

[You have completed sub quest: Minotaurs Wrath - Food Problem.]

[Favorability with Crushing Hooves tribe has increased.]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have helped out the Crushing Hooves tribe in enacting their revenge.]

[You have brough the 3 targets of the Crushing Hooves tribe alive in order for the tribe to enact their revenge themselves.]

[You have received a title!]

[Title: The One Who Helped The Crushing Hooves Tribe]

[Title Rarity: Epic]

[You have successfully helped out the minotaurs tribe called Crushing Hooves tribe in their revenge against the people that harmed them.]

[The Crushing Hooves tribe will remember you from now as their benefactor.]

[Title Effect:

-Increase favorability with all minotaurs as well as minotaurs tribes. The effect stack with itself.

-Slightly increase the favorability with demi-human monsters.

-Receive 100 free skill points.

-Receive 100 free stat points.]

"!"

(TITLE! NICE!)

(It was worth it brining these guys alive in the end. Free 10 level ups from the title and not only that, but there is even a bonus to the favorability when dealing with demi humans' monsters and minotaurs. This is extremely good!) – though ClownFrog.

(3 titles. 2 rare and now 1 epic. Things are looking quite good!)

"And just so you know, I haven't forgotten our deal. When you would the little war of yours against this kingdom, the Crushing Hooves tribes shall help you out! You have our word; we will help you out my friends."

"Thanks. But it will probably take some time until the war would begin, since we have a long way and even have to resurrect the queen and all." – said ClownFrog.

"Anyway, what are you going to do? Are you finally going to leave this damn place?"

"Yea. Now that our enemies are gone, we shall rebuild our village and try to restore our tribe." – said Uruni.

"Good to hear. Oh, and by the way, there is another thing." – said ClownFrog.

"The stuff these guys took maybe very valuable and all and they needed these keys to get it. We want to discuss of what we should do with it, since you know, we are kind partners now."

"Keep it. Whatever the treasure is, you can freaking keep it. You deserve it." – said Uruni.

"Oh, thanks then." – said GreyHunt.

"No problem. Honestly, I would rather craft you something like a weapon or armor, but I don't have any proper tools as well as any good materials on me or anything, so sorry." – said Uruni.

"No problem, mate. You already crafted these mask and cloaks for us. They are not powerful or anything, but they worked well for our cover." – said GreyHunt.

"I mean… Those things are half assed made and all. I didn't had any proper tools or materials, so they are not very good at all. Maybe next time I will be able to make you all something worth using." – said Uruni.

"Then we will be looking forwards to it." – said GreyHunt.

"Well then, don't die on us and see you later." – said ClownFrog.

"Same goes to you. Goodbye friends." – said Uruni.

The party left the hidden dungeon and began trying to leave the mine.

[Meanwhile at the city.]

"…"

"What!?"

[Silver Tiger Guild Master – Alamin]

"…. The young miss Ellise Emerald is missing." – said the city guard capitan.

"B-but how?! What the hell happened?!"

The player guild named Silver Tiger was meeting with the guard capitan right in front of the burned down city mayor mansion.

"Nobody knows. The mansion was suddenly on fire and after the fire was put down, everybody inside was found dead and the young miss was found missing. Nobody knows what the heck happened." – said the city guard capitan.

Suddenly, a messenge popped up right in front of players of the Silver Tiger guild.

[Warning! The Elise Emerald had officially gone missing!]

[If the Ellise Emerald won't be found in the spawn of two days and bringed to the city alive, the quest will be consider as failure.]

[You will still be affected by the quest failure penalty.]

[Time left: 48 hours]

"?!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" – shouted Alamin.

(We have two days to find her?! On top of that she has be alive?! But nobody knows if she is alive or not!)

"W-we only left the city to gather more info, but to think something like this happened. What do we do Alamin?" – asked the female priest player.

"…. I-I don't know…"

"!"

"Right! Marcel the Golden Mercanti and the Hjin Sun! They were one of our main suspect regarding the disappearance of the Joshua Emerald! What if it was their doing?! Where are they?!" – asked Alamin.

"…"

"They are both missing." – said the city guard capitan.

"…. W-what?"

"Somebody broke into the golden coin company build and murder the people inside and the Marcel is currently missing."

"The same goes to the Hjin Sun. Somebody tore down the wall in the building and kidnapped him. His men tried chasing the culprits but they got away."

"Both of them are currently missing right now and nobody knows where they are and if they are even alive or not."

"…."

"You got to be kidding me." – said Alamin.

(Both the main suspect of the case are missing?! Not only that but the person we were supposed to make sure stays alive is missing as well?!)

(How we will complete the quest now?! Is it even possible to clear it?!)

(We spend so many freaking days and even manage to get so many clues and all other shit, but now you are telling me that all of our hard work will go down the drain?!)

"Who…."

"WHO THE FUCK DID IT?!" – shouted furious Alamin.

After the disappearance of the two other main figure of the city as well as Ellise Emerald that was filling in the spot left behind by her father, had affected the entire city.

Nobody knew what was going on anymore.

Nobody trusted each other.

People began accusing and fighting between themselves.

Some greedy even people tried using the situation for their own advantage.

The word "Trust" had begun disappearing in the city.

The entire city was swallowed up by the chaos and nobody was safe from it, be it merchant, noble, commoner or even a player. Everybody was affected.

The once great merchant city Emerald began crumbling apart one by one.

There were obviously some people trying to save the city like the city guard capitan, but all of his efforts would end up in vain.

ClownFrog evil plan was working out just as he hoped.

While the city was being consumed by chaos, the Purple Hyena guild were trying to find the old wooden cabin where the treasure was located.

After few hours of searching the area, the party finally manage to find the cabin.

"Fuck me. No wonder they hid the treasure here. I think it took us 4 hours to find it." – said Shri.

"Don't be so mad sis. We know that whatever stuff we find will be very valuable. So, let's just go already." – said Oron.

The party approached and entered the old wooden cabin.

"…"

"Found it." – said GreyHunt while pointing his finger at the fire place.

The entire group approached the fire place and began inspecting it.

After looking around a bit the party manage to find 3 keyholes.

The party took out the keys they manage to get hold off and put each one into the key hole before turning them.

Suddenly, the magic circle suddenly appeared on the floor before seconds later disappearing alongside the floor, revealing a staircase.

"Let's go." – said ClownFrog.

The party took the secret stairs and head straight down. After finally reaching the end, the party ended up finding themselves in the room with 3 chest laying around.

"Tresure chest!" – said Shri with excited voice.

"There are 3 chest here. Two of them have very normal looking appearance, but the one in the middle seem quite ominous. I can kind of guess already that the best stuff is inside it or something." – said ClownFrog.

"Well then, how about we open the normal looking ones and then open the scary one?"

"Dibs on the scary one." – said GreyHunt.

"Hey! You fucker! I wanted to open it!" – said Shri.

"Well sucks to be you." – said GreyHunt.

"Fuck you!"

"Then I'm opening the first chest!"

Shri didn't wasted a second and instantly rushed to the neared chest and opened it.

"Oh! Gold coins! And there is even a jewelry inside!" – said Shri while inspecting the box.

"Damn. This is quite a lot. How much money is in here? I can already guess we won't have to worry about the money for some time." – said Oron.

"Well, who opens the second chest?"

"Rock, paper, scissors?" – ClownFrog.

"Sounds goods." – replied Oron.

"Rock."

"Paper."

"Scissors!"

Oron – Paper.

ClownFrog – Rock.

"Well, then. Go ahead." – said ClownFrog.

Oron approached the second chest and opened it.

"Hm?"

"Oh, that is quite interesting." – said Oron.

"What is it?" – asked ClownFrog while trying to peek into the chest.

"Book and some sort of potions?"

[Class Book: Bandit Lord] – [Epic]

[Elixir Of The Lesser Strength Potion] x5

[Increase user strength stat permanently by 2 upon consumption.]

[Elixir Of The Lesser Intelligent Potion] x5

[Increase user intelligent stat permanently by 2 upon consumption.]

"Epic skill book! Holy shit! I wasn't expecting that we find one so soon." – said Oron.

"Yea, but I'm more interested in these bad boys." – said ClownFrog.

"Permanent increase of strength and intelligent by 2? This seem extremely valuable, maybe even more than the skill book."

"Maybe, but still, we manage to get a hold of another epic class book." – said Oron.

"And now it's my turn." – said GreyHunt.

GreyHunt approached the chest with a giant horned skull on it.

"Okay, time to see the main dish!"

GreyHunt opened the chest and what was inside of it.

"…."

"Holy fuking shit." – said GreyHunt.

"What is it?!– said impatient Shri.

The rest of the party quickly approached GreyHunt in order to see what was inside of the box.

"…."

"Oh, fuck me." – said Shri.

Inside of the chest there was only a one item inside, a crimson revolver.

[Devil Seven]

[Rarity: Legendary]

[A gun forged by sacrificing many lives of the demons and demonoids by the cruel demon lord Paimon. This legendary weapon was once used by the demon lord Paimon while he was still alive.]

[The weapon was once the symbol of power and cruelty of the demon lord Paimon.]

[Gun Type: Cylinder – 6 bullets slots.]

[Attack Power: 2160-2625]

[Whenever you deal damage to the target using this weapon, the target will suffer bonus 10% damage as demonic magic damage.]

[After loading six bullets into the gun and then firing all six of them without reloading in between, the [Devil Seven] will be active. While the [Devil Seven] is active, the gun will create a special bullet inside of it that can be fired, the special attack doesn't require the real bullet to be inside.

The special bullet will deal 125% of the current attack power. The attack type of the attack will be counted as the demonic magic attack. The special attack will be still influenced by the attack power modifier.

The [Devil Seven] will be only active for 15 seconds after the six bullet was fired. If the gun is reloaded, the [Devil Seven] will be reseted.]

[Durability: 77777/77777]

[Reequipment: Level 250 / [Highest Tier Gun User] / [High Tier Pistole User] / 750 Base Stat Agility.]