16 Chapter 16

The guild was quiet as they read and re-read the message displayed over their vision. No one made a sound as everyone processed what the fuck happened.

Even I remained quiet. Right now, I am scrolling through the bonuses of such a promotion.

I was a World Enemy now, and World Enemies were Raid Bosses.

I opened up my stats and paused.

So much different and wild shit appeared in front of me.

My level max had increased from 100 to 120. That was the first of the changes. 20 Levels was huge in Yggdrasil. A level 80 would get dog walked by a level 100, and the same would go for a level 100 against a level 120.

But that wasn't the biggest change.

Most of my stats now displayed a (x3) next to them.

"Holy crapbaskets!" Everyone turned to HeroHero, who had shouted. "Look at Kakuei's HP!"

Everyone's heads snapped toward me.

"...What…the…hell?!" Pero said slowly and pointed at me. "Your HP is over 250 thousand!"

I tapped the table, trying to calm the overwhelming surprise and excitement that I was feeling. "The World Enemy job seems to give a 3x increase to all stats, barring magical defense and physical defense…"

Stunned silence formed around the room. A 3x increase to all stats besides the two defenses was insanely powerful. It meant that I could take out most people in a couple of hits, and that was without World Savior.

Honestly, I'm glad the devs didn't add a 3x increase to my defenses. Such a thing wouldn't allow anybody to hurt me. And that…would have just been broken.

"If your stats have increased that much, you could probably take on a whole guild by yourself!" Pero shot up, looking around the table. "Kakuei with World Savior could bring the fight to the entirety of Asgard, and with us backing him, there's no way we could lose!"

The guild all seemed to get over their initial surprise, and chatter sprang across the table. Some were conversing with each other, and some were trying to speak to the entire guild.

It was a disorienting mess, but it wouldn't be our guild if it weren't.

"Order." Touch Me said, standing up. "I know you're all excited, but we cannot devise a plan for perfect justice if we cannot hear each other think!"

Slowly, at his words, the guildmembers quieted down, and all of them looked toward me.

I was still thinking of the possibilities. An x3 stat boost and 20 extra levels… would probably put me as an equal to around 30, maybe 36, level 100 players.

Which alone would be insane-

But I have two World Items, and one of them grows infinitely.

I could get to the point where I'm one-shotting players just because I have World Savior, and then I'd have the boosted stats and extra levels to keep me alive while I do so.

"I need to think," I announced to the guild, holding up a hand before anyone could say anything. "I know what you all want more than anything is for us to head over to Asgard and attack them right now, but such a thing wouldn't work without a plan."

"Yes, but if we wait, they may devise a plan to counter you!" Warrior Takemikazuchi slammed the table and stood up. "Now is the perfect time to strike. We can have Buku lead our forces; she's the best in the guild at thinking on the fly!"

"I'll have to disagree with you, Take." Nishikienrai stood up. "Master is correct in his analysis of the situation. Sure, waiting would give them time to plan for our attack, but attacking now and going without a plan may wipe our entire guild out. Plus, if Seraphim and Slaine are even half as smart as us, they'll expect such a thing."

I'm glad Nishi could decipher my thought process, although him calling me 'Master' is getting really old.

"So what do we do then?!" Take pushed his feelings on us once more. "We wait, and then what happens?!"

I tapped the table and sent a mischievous smile emoji. "We wait until the time is right."

Another silence descended over the table as Take sat back down.

"And what time is that?" He asked, much calmer this time. I liked to see he could trust me even when he was upset.

"Ulbert." I called, looking over to the goat-looking Arch Demon.

"Hmm?"

"Tell me, if you were Seraphim, what would you do in this situation?" I questioned, leaning forward and propping my chin on my hands.

"Hm, well, I'd start by reinforcing the treasury to protect any World Items and other treasures, then I'd likely call for the guild's strongest to be more active and protect the treasury. As for NPCs, I'd keep them in their typical rotations but have some other members of the guild start focusing on manually training more NPCs. The more, the better."

"And then?" I asked, tapping the table.

Ulbert paused, likely not expecting that. I didn't want to do this to him, but he was the smartest person at the table, and the people in the guild needed to see that.

"Uh, I'd well, I'd expect an attack anytime… So I'd-"

"And if we didn't attack within that expected time slot?" I cut him off, hoping to push this along a bit faster.

Ulbert took a moment to think before he snapped his fingers.

"You're a genius, Kakuei!" He shouted suddenly.

"I'm told that often." I shrugged.

"Hold up, what conclusion did you guys come to?" Buku asked, sounding extremely curious.

"Well, think about it!" Ulbert threw out his hands. "If you feared an attack every day and that attack never came, what would you do?"

Silence descended over the guild again as everyone thought about it.

"You'd grow a sense of paranoia and act rashly!" Momonga said to my left, and I had to give my girl a round of applause. Ulbert joined in on the applause, and in seconds, everyone applauded while looking completely confused.

These guys…

"Both Momonga and Ulbert are correct." I stood once the applause died down. "With all of their players being forced to stay on longer than usual, they'll be forced to act sooner rather than later. After all, we all have lives IRL that we just can't put aside to play Yggdrasil for longer."

"Okay…and how does that help us? If they attack, Seraphim will likely bring Slaine and the rest of Asgard." Pero kicked his talons up onto the table. "Do you have a plan to defend?"

"That's the thing… we don't need to!" I started walking around the table, everyone looking at my moving form. "The day they attack, they'll be tired, they'll be fed up, and most importantly, they'll be blinded by their will. They'll attempt to push for our guild hall, and when they do…" I paused for dramatic effect, getting the others on the edge of their seats.

"We'll attack first and cut our way through their guild. We'll use their guild as our stronghold."

Thoughtful silence permeated through the War Room.

"Wait… but what if they attack our guild and no one is here to defend it… what do we do then?" Ancient One asked.

"If they split their forces like that, they're just asking to fail." I laughed. "They'd have two choices at that point: they could continue their attack on Nazarick, or they could return to their base and try to win it back. There is no in-between, no halfsies. Either they all work together or reach the same conclusion: defeat."

Another round of applause started from Ulbert and spread through the players. If the raiding party decided to attack Nazarick, we would definitely be back in time to deal with them before they even reached the 8th floor. Even with all of them working together, Nazarick was just set up in a way where there was no way they could get through it in any less than six hours.

Honestly, I outdid myself with this one.

Sure, Asgard may have some World Items that we aren't considering, but none of them should be any of the 20, which means they shouldn't create any serious lasting effects on us.

"It won't go as smoothly as you explained it, Master," Nishikienrai said from his seat. "Many unknown factors could end up coming to bite us in the behind."

"That's true." I nodded. "But we're going up against thousands of players. There will be problems in whatever path we choose. The question is, do you trust me, Nishi?"

"Of course." He said instantly, getting out of his seat and dropping to a knee. "I am the Shadow of Nazarick. Wherever you go, I will follow, even to certain annihilation."

I nodded. Nishi was always the most loyal member of the guild. If I instructed him to cut down any guild member, he'd do so with no hesitation.

He always had my back, and I swore always to have his.

"Any final points, questions, arguments?" I asked, and while I could see some of the guild members teetering on whether this was an incredible idea or not, they didn't speak on it. "Then we're done here. Becoming a World Enemy likely has made me a target the entire guild will have to face. Which means we'll be attacked indiscriminately to get the World Item I will drop upon my death."

Most of the guild members nodded at this; likely, they had the same concerns floating around through their minds.

"Which means we'll need to cut down any forces before then. Half of the guild will leave to attack other guilds for their World Items; the other half will stay here and defend Nazarick. I'll always be one of the people taking part in the raids on these other guilds because our goal is to start and finish them quickly and mix around when we attack to avoid any consistency in our attacks."

"That's for the best." Ulbert stood up. "All World Champions and World Disasters should be a part of the raiding forces. Nazarick is a stronghold that can defend itself for hours, so we don't need our strongest players sitting around here." Ulbert's head turned toward Touch Me, and his order was clearly directed at him.

""Right!""

The World Champions/Disasters, with the exception of Ulbert, Touch Me, and I shouted in agreement.

"Good, then our first attack begins today!"