Chapter 25 : Aftermath at the Ghost Mansion 1

"Sir, it looks like we aren't the first one here." A level 4 Paladin garbed in black colored Mid tier Mortal class full body equipment.

"What do you take me for, Banta? I can already see that." The berserker that exuded a little bit of bloodlust around him, frowned at the Paladin.

Indeed, this team was that of the East Crow guild charged with completing the Ghost Mansion mission. Originally, they were being held back by other members of Sinland but after Dream Tiger decided to handle it, they hurried over to the Ghost Mansion in fear of Sinland taking the goods. To their shock though, they weren't the first nor the second to make it there.

"It doesn't matter. Since we are here we might as well find out what's going on." White Zero walked out from behind and uttered.

"Oh? Little Song, what are you doing over there? Can't you come say hi to me ?" A Caucasian man clad in blue iron armor with a greatsword hung behind waved at the East Crow party or rather yet, Little Song.

The berserker had an artistic touch to his facial features and was worth comparing to a model. With silk blond hair, light pink lips, caramel coloured eyes and a slightly pale coloured skin, he was indeed worthy of being an ambassador for a clothing line or even a cosmetic company. Despite looking so fragile, none of the members of East Crow looked down on the man. If anything, some of them even got their guards up while staring at him, waiting for him to make any unnecessary moves during which they would attack him.

"Pilate. Never thought I would see you here." Little Song was quite surprised since Pilate was not Asian.

"Well then surprise, I'm here." Pilate smiled coquettishly.

'Is it me or did the weather get cold?' thought Little Song while he felt a chill from Pilate's feminine smile.

Lavelle Mason, aka Pilate, is a professional French gamer for the foreign 2nd tier guild, Halo's Dawn. Pilate was not an average figure but a core member of Halo's Dawn, just as White Zero is to East Crow. One shouldn't judge him by his looks as his lean muscles were actually the product of the zenith of genetics study and physical training. That's why despite their weak appearance, they enable Pilate to lift his huge greatsword and swing it easily as if it's nothing.

"I thought you would be with your people. Don't tell me Halo thinks it has a shot at Black Rock?" White Zero asked surprised.

Most VR games was made to support people from all races and locations as such, there aren't only Asian players. However, even though they are meant for the entire world's population, the producers tend to subtly influence their works such that the indigenes of a particular region be moved to one region in the game at the early stages. This allows them to first interact with the people in their surroundings before meeting foreign people. However, this feature can be bypassed by actively choosing your point of initial spawning.(AN : Which in the case of our MC, he set at random.) [1] Due to this bypassing, some guilds spread their powers to foreign sites.

"We aren't so optimistic. I'm just here as a representative." Pilate smiled kindly.

"So Halo has it's eye on Black Rock?" White Zero frowned.

"It's not like we are the only ones plus East Crow must have already thought of the same thing or even more, begun your 'invasion'. " Pilate replied, still smiling.

Normally, big guilds tend to focus most of their power at certain spots(either one or two cities), which is normally their local region, with the remaining spread apart in various places. The bigger the guild, the more places they can place their attention on. Because of this, it is possible to find foreign guilds in places occupied by native guilds.

'Seems like I"ll have to tell Boss.' White Zero inwardly noted.

Halo's Dawn, despite being a 2nd tier guild was feared by many including it's fellow rankers. The reason; they had a very close alliance with a 1st tier guild, Achilles Bow. Their partnership was said to be so tight that they would help each other even at the risk of themselves. Since Daichi together with his guild, East Crow, had had an encounter previously with Achilles Bow and a very serious one at that, the relationship between them and Halo's Dawn became unfriendly though not to the point of attacking each other on sight.

"So why haven't you guys gone in yet?" White Zero said while staring at all the other guilds waiting by the gate.

"Apparently, there's been a weird change to the mission." Pilate pondered before answering.

"A weird change? How come we weren't notified?" White Zero was confused.

"Rather than a change in the mission, it's more like an unexpected progress here leading to a rise in the mission's difficulty. However, the System doesn't identify this as a real change in the mission's difficulty or rather this should have been the real difficulty, just that we never expected it." Another man explained. He had a red hair styled with a ruffian trait to it.

"Kodak, You're also here?" (AN : No relation) White Zero was fairly surprised at the presence of the vice guild leader of Warmongers, a 3rd tier guild. Despite being a 3rd tier, Warmongers were capable of rivalling the weaker 2nd tier guilds and even some of the average ones. It would even take a guild like East Crow a lot of manpower and determination to wipe them out. To have become the vice guild leader speaks loudly of his ability, as such, Kodak was capable of having a conversation with them.

Kodak nodded.

"So what's the change you were talking about?"

"From the info our scouts got, they spotted a goblin horde, numbering around 35-100, in the mansion's location. We don't know why there's such a mob out in the open like that and from our investigations so far, they had just recently appeared." Kodak disclosed.

"And Sinland?"

"Apparently, they met an unfortunate end at the hands of the monsters. Only one of them was found; the assassin Devis."

"Oh? Devis? That then means that the group that died was probably their main force." White Zero speculated.

"That's what he told us." Kodak nodded before continuing "He also said that there seemed to be another group that arrived before them; as for who they are, he doesn't seem to know."

'Another group…?' White Zero sighed inwardly. "Did he say anything else?"

Kodak frowned contemplatively before shaking his head.

"So what do you guys plan on doing?" White Zero asked even though he had an inkling as to their next objective.

This time, Pilate answered "Well we can't go back empty handed so we might as well level up. The problem however is that Devis claimed that there seems to be a boss level monster down there; one far beyond the current competence of us players. This was confirmed by the druids. However we can't just leave it be neither can we handle it alone."

"So you plan on teaming up with all the guilds present?" White Zero gave Pilate and Kodak a strange look.

"We really have no choice; it's either we team up to defeat it or the heavyweights do." Pilate spread his arms out nonchalantly.

"Word around is that the message has already reached the ears of other towns. Originally, the distance dissuaded them from doing so but if they find out about the current progression on this matter, they might start taking actions. Worst of all, Emperor's Might has been spotted in Riverdale. I don't know why they aren't here yet but there's no way they would want to miss an opportunity to earn [Void Silver]."

"In other words, better us than them?" White Zero didn't know whether to laugh or cry but they both made some sense. Rather than empowering a greater foe without receiving benefits, they decided to risk losing the opportunity to their fellow opponents. At the very least, they would still get something out of it and who knows, they might land the last blow, claiming all the rewards.

Taking a deep breath, he said "Okay, we're in."