43 By My Will

After a little under a day, Blaze and the others come back online and go around repeating Astur's action from the previous day, looking around the village. However, unlike Astur, their search is much more thorough and substantial compared to Astur who had only been wandering around bored. They found out that not only is there another group searching around but there were some other people a few days ago who tried to purchase some supplies such as food. The first group was quickly identified as by Blaze and Nero, having seen some familiar names, they quickly concluded that Dahu Lu's group is in the area. As people who make their living through the internet, they are naturally aware of who Dahu Lu is, especially as people from Atlantis. While he hasn't interacted much with Dahu Lu, Woden has taken part in beating him up in other games before and like most people, he has a negative impression of him. Blaze and Nero on the other hand are a little more familiar with him, having actually met the chubby man in person. And like most people, the siblings don't have the greatest impressions of him.

Likewise, Dahu Lu also caught wind of Blaze's group. Although he had already been aware of them from his chat with Astur the night before. But he doesn't really care about what there doing and instructs his brothers to just ignore them and continue searching for the Warband. While Blaze and the others had been searching around the village, Dahu Lu and his band of brothers had already moved on to the surrounding areas. Over the course of the day, they had actually been a bit more successful as well, having found traces of activity leading into the deeper parts of the mountain where the villagers seldom go for their hunting expeditions.

Having sent the message to Astur, they agreed to meet up the next day to follow up on the clues Dahu Lu's group had found.

At noon the next day, while Astur, Blaze, Nero, and Woden are waiting at the beaten down trail leading up towards the mountain, they soon see Dahu Lu coming up, leading a group of eight other players. While Astur is unconcerned, Blaze and the others draw their weapons, having not been told anything regarding Dahu Lu and his group as they thought he is here to pick a fight.

Raising his arms, Dahu Lu says, "Hey, hold on, we ain't here to pick a fight. Just ask Astur."

As the three players turn to Astur, she nods, "I met him the other night and came to an agreement for him to tell me if he finds any leads regarding the Warband. He was the one we were waiting for."

Astur, of course, hides the fact that she already knew Dahu Lu since there isn't a good way to explain it without revealing the true nature of the game the other players believe they're playing. This goes for both the trio that had followed Astur as well as Dahu Lu's band of brothers since besides his closest brothers since beside them, most of Dahu Lu's followers don't know about his abilities as a psychic nor have they seen Astur before.

"Based on the footprints we found, they seemed to be relatively fresh, but from what we gathered, the villagers almost never go that deep into the mountains. Thus we suspect that if we follow the trail it might lead to the Warband, but we are too weak to go there on our own, which is why I asked Astur for help. In return for searching for a lead, we get a strong guard to accompany us," Dahu Lu says.

"Well, at least the reasoning sounds decent and makes sense," Blaze says. But seeing the mocking grin on Dahu Lu's face, Blaze can't help but get the urge to punch his face, though she clenches her fist and suppresses it in the end.

"I'm not sure what it is, but you lot seem to be not poor terms. But put it aside for now, we have a more important matter to deal with. The faster we get this done the fast I get to go home and relax." Then looking towards Dahu Lu, Astur says, "Lead the way.

"Of course," Dahu Lu says. But as he takes the lead, he can't help but sigh inwardly over how even in a new world that resembles a game, Astur still only wants to laze around. "Some things never change," he thinks as he shakes his head.

As the group is trekking up the mountain, it doesn't take long before they notice something odd. Footprints, and a whole lot of them. What makes them strange is that they weren't here yesterday and are incredibly uniform.

Before long, one of Dahu Lu's followers speaks up, "I might have an idea of where these footprints come from."

"Go on, keep talking, it might be important," Dahu Lu says.

"When I was on the way to the meeting point, I thought I saw a large caravan of heavily large vehicles in the distance, but I didn't look any further since I was going to be late. But Seeing these footprints, I think those were military vehicles."

"Do you think the provincial army located the Warband and is here to eliminate them?" Nero asks.

"From what we know, the provincial army isn't in a state in which it can engage in combat with the Warband, especially in terrain like this which makes guerrilla warfare easy to conduct. Unless they are really that stupid, I don't think they would do something like seek out the Warband," Blaze says.

"But what if they had reinforcements from the central government?" Woden asks. "I think they might have a chance then, at least when it comes to driving them out of their lands."

"That sounds plausible, we should hurry," Astur says, picking up the pace.

In a rush, Astur and the other eventually cross over the small mountain after a few hours and find themselves looking down at a valley. If not for the solid devoid of grass, the dead withered trees and what seems to be a dried-up river, the sight might look picturesque. Down towards the flat land of the valley, they can see what looks to be two groups fighting. One side is clearly the army of the Kingdom, both the provincial army as well as reinforcements from the central government. The other side is at a disadvantageous in nearly every way, having few numbers, what looks to be old equipment, with many makeshift weapons. But despite this disadvantage, they look to be holding their ground well, with a giant horned man in a rusted mechanical suit leading them. But despite their efforts, they are slowly being forced back.

In a hurry, Astur's side begins running down the mountain as fast as they can and as they are only a few hundred metres away from the battlefield, they trigger a quest.

[Quest: Battle of Karthion Valley (Rank B)]

[Description]: You have encountered a battle between the Demon Warband and the military forces of the Kingdom of Virpal. Choose a side to support, the Warband or the Kingdom of Virpal. If supporting the Warband, give them enough time to allow for a retreat. If supporting the Kingdom of Virpal, eliminate at least 30% of the Warband's forces. Bonus rewards for completely defeating 90% or higher of the opposing side. Note, siding with the Warband will make you an international criminal of the seven nations.

[Rewards]: +40,000 EXP, +10,000 VD, +30 Faction Points with chosen Faction.

[Bonus]: +20,000 EXP, +10,000 VD, +20 Faction Points with chosen Faction.

[Extra]: If achieving a 100% elimination of the Kingdom forces, you won't be given criminal status.

[Penalty]: -50 Faction Points with opposing Faction.

Astur and the players choose to support the Warband. For Astur and the trio who had followed her, their goal had been to recruit the Warband. Astur is already has a shaky relationship with the Kingdom and is bound to come into conflict eventually, so she has no qualms with becoming their enemy, while Blaze and the other had long since placed their bets on Astur and followed her lead. Dahu Lu and his brothers also choose to support the Warband since it was also their goal since it is likely a good place for them to develop. And Dahu Lu knowing about Astur's intention only serve to push this idea forward.

As they step onto the battlefield, Astur's group immediately draws attention from both sides. Both the Kingdom and the Warband are suspicious of this third party that appeared out of nowhere, but before any action gets taken against them, Astur lights one of her cigarettes.

Although this will only give her a couple of minutes to use the power she unseals, upon looking at what she got, a wide grin appears on Astur's face.

Grabbing the cigarette in between two fingers, Astur lets out a puff of smoke and says, "This situation is chaotic. By my will, all shall halt and none shall move."

Despite not speaking too loudly, Astur's voiced resounds throughout the entire valley and other than her, everyone and everything comes to a complete stop. The players, the Warband, the Kingdom's military, the wind, everything in the valley becomes incapable of moving.