Betrayal

Seeing this newcomer whom Connor hadn't noticed speak, he was shell-shocked. He didn't even notice his presence either.

Even looking at him now, it was hard to detect the mana and existence of a Rank 6 assassin.

Not many people can make this man move or even show himself in public. Yet, here he is in front of Connor. Why else would he be here with his rival?

'He's here for the legacy artifact in my possession.'

This is the only reason Connor could think of while gazing at his vice guild leader.

"Vice Guild Leader, this orb was given to me fair and square. Don't you think it's a bit shameful to forcefully take an item from a lower-ranking member of the Guild," Connor questions, accusation clear in his tone.

With a sly smirk on his face, the Rank 6 assassin responds to Connor.

"What nonsense are you speaking of? What member of our Lightheart Guild is named Connor Lin? Do any of you know?"

At the last statement, more than half a dozen people surround Connor. All of them are Rank 4 except for a man who's a beginner Rank 5 Ranger. As if in agreement, they all shake their heads.

"Ah, Vice Leader, I think this guy must be crazy. Talking to these kinds of people is a waste of time. We should use force," the beginner Rank 5 Ranger says with a cunning smile on his face.

The other newcomers laugh in response to his ridiculous claim.

Looking at them with an exasperated expression, Connor says, "Hey, man you've got too far. I've put too much time and effort into this guild. You mean to tell me that you would steal from your people? For what? An artifact that none of you can activate?"

While talking to them, Connor was mentally trying to forcefully log out of the game. However, he's met with an unexpected error:

[Unable to log out. Permission has been denied due to artifacts in the area. Advised to leave the 50m area.]

'What? You can't be serious. The Vice Guild Leader brought a Logout Nullifier with him. He's insane!'

One must know that if a person brings a Logout Nullifier (LN) with them, then that person plans to eliminate whoever is within that 50m radius.

The downside to using a LN is that it can only be used once. To put it more into perspective, the rarity of these things dropping is equivalent to someone finding a unicorn.

It's impossible!!! And that is why Connor is surprised to find that one has been activated on him.

Therefore, for his Vice Guild Leader to use an LN shows that he really must know the same thing Connor knows that it's a…

Legacy Artifact.

"As you notice, forcefully logging out is impossible. Accept your fate and hand over that artifact. Or, I'll make killing you the only thing you'll wish for," the Rank 6 assassin says, inching closer to Connor with each word he speaks.

He stops at about 1m in front of Connor, staring him directly in the eye. Not one to back down from a fight, Connor also stares him down.

"No matter what you do, you will not be getting the artifact from me while I still breathe," Connor declares, resolution clear in his voice.

"Alrighty, then. Have it your way," the assassin says before doing a 90° left turn. Once turned, he delivers a swift right kick which propels Connor far into the forest behind.

Connor's health bar immediately depletes by 40%.

If not for Connor turning a bit left to mitigate the damage as much as possible with his arm shield, he would have been gravely injured.

This goes to show the difference in ranks. Just a simple kick was enough to deplete close to half of Connor's health even with his arm shield. Not to mention, assassins aren't known for their strength, but rather their speed.

Thankfully, Connor is a Guardian Knight class player with high health.

"Go, quickly. Finish him off and deliver the orb to me. With that acquired, I'll be able to quickly take over the guild. That bastard Lionheart won't be able to suppress me anymore and the elders will be more than happy to side with me."

"Sir, it will be done," the Rank 5 Ranger replies to the Rank 6 Assassin in a matter-of-factly tone.

Without any more words spoken, the Rank 5 Ranger, along with the other 6 newcomers, quickly followed after Connor.

Upon reaching the clearing in which Connor was currently in, the group of 7 take notice of Connor's situation.

Connor is currently fuming with anger. Though he is a Knight Saint at the peak of Rank 4, one must know that he has been at the top of his class for two years now.

And despite all of his failures in dungeon raids, he was still not reprimanded in the slightest. The reason is because of the equipment he'd acquired along with his talent.

Despite being stuck at the Epic rank, the arm shield called Vibrant Mitigation is regarded as having the ability to rival the stats and effects of Fractured Legendary shields.

Some even say that it could have been a Fractured Legendary arm shield at one point in time.

The reason is due to the unique passive ability of the arm shield which has the effect of nullifying kinetic energy of all kinds.

It goes to show how groundbreaking his arm shield is. To mitigate the power of a Rank 6 assassin is simply insane.

At one point, Connor was able to completely nullify the attacks of an opponent from a rival guild, Frostbane Guild, who had a Fractured Legendary sword equipped ranking within the Top 100 for Fractured Legendary weapons.

The only downside is that the shield has a low melting point. That is why it's still labeled an Epic-rank equipment.

All mage-class players of the same rank needed to do was repeatedly use their fire-type spells and within no time, the shield would begin to melt.

Despite the low melting point, Vibrant Mitigation gives all melee-class players a major migraine. Simply because their attacks would become useless if they did not add mana to their attacks.

Even with mana-enhanced attacks, Connor could easily counter their mana attacks by simply imbuing his mana into the shield. Thus, their attacks continue to be useless.

As Connor equips Vibrant Mitigation, he walks toward the group of Rank 4 players. When he gets to about 5 meters from them, he launches an attack.

This is an attack he had never shown anyone. The plates on the arm shield begin to shift while converging onto themselves.

Once in a circular shape, a fierce and sharp aura surrounds it, making it all the more dangerous.

"He's launching an attack. I haven't seen this move of his. Be careful. Numeric Wind, go," the Rank 5 Ranger orders a Rank 4 swordswoman.

Drawing her sword, she launches into action. Connor sees Numeric Wind spring forth at him. With the activation time for the special ability of Vibrant Mitigation complete, Connor immediately acts.

'The best chance of getting rid of her is while she's still in the air.'

Making up his mind in a split second, Connor imbues a quarter of his mana into the now circular arm shield and throws it at the swordswoman with the precision of a guided missile.

Not expecting him to throw his shield, the swordswoman tried to defend with her sword but was a second too late and was hit with the shield.

A deafening boom occurs soon after as an explosive wave of force destroys every tree and green thing in its wake.

When the dust settled, the Rank 5 Ranger received a system notification:

[Your party member, Numberic Wind, has died.]

"What? Are you serious? Numeric Wind was killed," the assassin exclaims in shock.

A Rank 4 Sword Saint was killed in a single attack? From a Knight Saint at that?

Trying to wrap his head around how a guardian knight could one-shot a player, the Rank 5 Ranger sees Connor adjusting his shield while also looking back at him.

"All of you, go!! I want him dead," the Ranger orders the remaining 5 members.

"You're sending them all to me? How delightful," Connor taunts the Ranger. He knows that he can't take all five of them on.

Even if he could, he still has to worry about the Rank 5 Ranger himself. Despite knowing this, he was not going to go out without a fight.

What ensues after is the brutal beating of Connor which takes us back to the present.

***

"I worked like a slave for 22 years and this is the payment I receive? A betrayal?" Connor says, shouting at the group of 12 people surrounding him.

No one present responds to Connor's frustration and hate-filled shout.

Instead, the Rank 6 assassin turns to the woman in golden armor and speaks.

"This was started because of you. Now, end it."

Nodding her head, the woman in golden armor steps forward.

Glancing down at Connor, she says, "I'm sorry, Connor, but this was never meant to be. You were an escape. Someone who could shield me," at that, she chuckles a bit.

"Seeing your heroic face with such an expression makes me enjoy breaking you. Though, I must say, you were an excellent shield. As of now, you can be my stepping stone. With your death, I can step into the realm of the true experts."

With that being said, she promptly thrusts the epic-grade spear through Connor's throat.

All the while she spoke, Connor never stopped giving her his most hated expression… disgust.

Having a spear thrust into his neck was the most painful experience he'd ever had. Right when he was about to lose consciousness, Connor heard a whisper in his ear.

"The sun has set but it will rise again..."

[You have died. Penalty for death while under the effect of Logout Nullifier is permanent account deletion.]

Then, everything goes black.

[Deletion commencing in 5…4…3…2…]

[ERROR. Deletion aborted.]

[Motherboard initiates Protocol: Soul Temporal Shift. Protocol will take effect in 14 minutes and 59 seconds.]