37 – Sides

Alan hurriedly changed his clothes and exited the room with the others. The house residents had gathered in the front room near the door that had fallen off. Each of them was already preparing to attack.

"With all due respect." Ziggy gave a firm tone. "You shouldn't have broken our door, sir."

"What the…" Gina gasped hard when she found a tall man with a face full of beards outside. "Sigmund?"

Everyone's gaze turned to the short-haired woman.

"Nice to see you again, Gina." Sigmund stepped into the house. "You kept your promise by gathering many saviors. I can feel the unique flow of energy from all of them."

"What is this?" Ziggy widened his eyes at Gina. Never get a reply, the man snapped. "Gina, answer me!!!"

"I framed him!" Gina shouted back. "I said I would gather other players for him, so he would spare my life! But my main goal is still to build an army to kill him!"

"Is that so?" Sigmund gave Gina a glare. "Well, looks like it was the right decision for me to come before you guys got any stronger."

Gina shook her head. "No! I'm still on your side!"

"Gina?" Ziggy held his breath as the woman ran to Sigmund.

"You two get ready." Alan hissed at his friends. "I think this will end ugly."

Celia pointed her spear forward. Meanwhile, Haruna clutched her shirt by the chest as if she was going to rip it off.

Gina spun around when she was in front of Sigmund, then looked at her friends. With a bitter laugh, she said. "Forgive me…. I enjoy my time with you…. But I have to survive…. So…"

She didn't have time to finish her sentence when suddenly Sigmund twisted her head. That woman fell with her face facing the wrong direction.

The room was enveloped in silence. All eyes were fixed on Gina's motionless body on the floor.

And Ziggy's breath went wild seconds later. "Arrghhhh!!!"

He dashed forward, followed by his comrades. The melee fighters attacked from various directions using their weapons, while arrows and magic projectiles also flew at Sigmund.

But all that means nothing. The bearded man managed to block those with his bare hands or dodge attacks. He then gave counterattacks in the form of a combination of fists and kicks like an expert martial artist.

The sight was enough for Alan to press his device to call Brunch.

"Should we join the attack, Al?" Haruna pulled her clothes and threw them away, exposing the special outfit she had just got.

Alan continued to observe the fight. The players were clearly overwhelmed against Sigmund. Even if their attacks were on target, that man seemed unaffected and kept fighting.

"Go." Alan gave the order. "But don't even think about beating him. You guys have to buy time until Brunch comes…. And be careful, please."

Celia and Haruna exchanged glances, then joined in the attack. Alan also did not remain silent. He shot an earthen needle when he saw an opening.

Sigmund had just knocked out five opponents at once when he caught Alan's projectile. "A cheap trick."

And he threw that thing to Alan back. The young man had no time to react. The projectile came at him at breakneck speed.

But someone suddenly jumped in front of Alan and took the shot. The young man widened his eyes when Ziggy's body fell on him.

Ziggy's left chest instantly spurted red liquid.

"Hey! Are you okay!?" Not knowing what to do, Alan laid the guild leader's body on the floor.

With a mouth full of blood, Ziggy gripped Alan's arm with ragged breaths. "You have to save Celia…. It seems she is very close to you…. Don't let her die… If that happens, I, as a member of the Wolf gang, will never forgive you…"

Alan suppressed his panic, trying to remove that man's metal breastplate.

"Wolf Gang is a group of fans who always support Celia Wolfe, a cute and slightly crazy wolf girl." Ziggy's tone became erratic when he talked about Celia's streaming avatar. "From how she talks, what she does when drunk, the food she chooses, and her powerful singing…. I know that woman is really the one behind Celia Wolfe."

Smiling with teary eyes, he looked at that female fighter. She was still fighting alongside the others.

"You will be okay." Alan pressed the wound on the man's chest, looked around for help, and thought about what to do.

"Even though she has lowered her intonation, I'm sure she really is Cel-tan." Ziggy's smile widened. "At that time, I didn't press her because I felt she wanted privacy…." That man's voice was getting fainter. "But I am pleased to finally meet her. She revived my spirit, made me smile again, made life easier for me... As a hopeless man…. Ah, too bad I didn't get to tell him that I was Gizei…."

Ziggy's mouth didn't move anymore. One drop of his tears fell, but his breath had stopped.

"Shit!" Alan got up to call Celia and Haruna to ask them to run.

However, his friends' bodies were flying and hit the wall hard, causing it to collapse.

Alan had yet to react when a loud roar echoed. Brunch hit the roof from outside, through the ceiling of the house, and dived toward Sigmund.

But the bearded man jumped high and gave an uppercut to the wyvern's jaw.