“Also, that buffed guy behind him. Scholar said he’s the cleric with exquisite footwork, right?”

Handsome Scholar nodded. “He’s an annoying one to deal with. If I didn’t take him out with Soul Snatcher, I’m not confident that I could kill him quickly.”

“That’s fine.” Chau Yu and the rest entered a building. It was their guild base—Empyreal Spire.

Chau Yu walked along the red carpet, went up the two steps of stairs at the end of it, and sat on the seat which belonged to the master of Empyreal Spire.

“There’s also that famous girl. It’s the Pyrowitch, Idyllic Poet, right?”

When Idyllic Poet’s name came up, Handsome Scholar became even more suspicious of her and said, “She’s no simple woman. She always has that cheerful and casual smile on her face, but no one really knows what she’s thinking and how strong she actually is. I’ve fought her before, but I can tell she was always holding back. Frankly, I’m surprised that such a person went to Mask’s side.”

“Ho, this guy… He’s going down the same path as I am.” The smile on Chau Yu’s face gradually faded.

“Zephyrwolf, Greenstone, Idyllic Poet, and Underworld which they’re very friendly with. He also doesn’t care about numbers, but instead focuses on quality. They’ll affect our plans if we let them off the hook.”

The Empyreal Spire members who sat on chairs along the red carpet murmured among themselves.

“Isn’t that over-exaggerating things?”

“They’re… just a bunch of lackeys.”

Chau Yu sighed and shook his head.

How foolish. It’s fine, they’re just expendable pieces anyways. It’ll be easier to control them this way.

“Tripurity.”

Tripurity lifted his head, his face still void of emotions. Apart from combat, nothing could arouse his interest.

“Pick four members and take care of Mask. Kill him until he’s Level 0,” Chau Yu hesitated briefly before saying words that shook Handsome Scholar to his core.

Tripurity stood up and replied, “I alone am enough…”

“I am telling you to pick four members to go with you,” Chau Yu stared into Tripurity’s eyes and said, “do you understand?”

Noticing Chau Yu’s cold gaze, Tripurity clenched his teeth and answered, “I understand.”

“Very well.”

Chau Yu leaned back onto the soft flannel backrest and looked at the chandeliers hanging on the ceiling.

Mask, is it? If I can’t make you mine, I’ll destroy you!

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Seeing Chau Yu and his two guild members disappear from the city walls of Yoda, the leaders of each crowd all eased themselves from the tension. After all, everyone could tell that Tripurity and Handsome Scholar were all very decent fighters. The pressure on the leaders had been enormous.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Now that they’ve run away, I shall be taking my leave.” King-Hit gave Drako Yau a palm-and-fist salute and said, “Mask, let’s have a friendly bout of spearmanship someday.”

Drako Yau nodded. “Sure.”

After King-Hit led his members away, Hexen also came over to Drako Yau, clearly there to curry a favour or two.

“Mask, if there’s anything I can be of help, just say it and it’ll be done. Fighting and killing might be beyond me, but there’s always some miscellaneous tasks I can take care of.”

Drako Yau laughed in his head. This guy has a different kind of talent.

“Great, I’ll look for you when something comes up then.”

“Hoho, I’ll be waiting.” Hexen waved his hand and led his followers away. Now that two out of the three major powers in Yoda had left, players who were just there for the commotion also dispersed, leaving behind people from Howl of the Tempest Wolves.

“What the hell are those bastards saying! Cheh, sounding all high and almighty, as if joining them’s the most glorious thing in the world!” Zephyrwolf’s private messages to Drako Yau were full of nothing but disdain for the sudden visitors. While people speculated that they were close with each other, it wasn’t an established fact, so they kept such dialogues to themselves.

“Heh, what if they recruit you?” Drako Yau chuckled as he said, “It’s a hundred thousand dollars a month, at the very least you know.”

“Hey, what kind of person do you think I am!”

“I’m just joking. Anyways, back to the serious stuff. Let Idyllic Poet join Howl of the Tempest Wolves. With her in your guild, those troublemakers will likely tone down their moves. We can’t care too much about everything, but Yoda’s our base. We must keep a rein on it.”

“Okay, you’re the boss, I’ll do as you say so.”

After settling Idyllic Poet down, Drako Yau left the scene. That was enough setbacks in one day; he really had to make good use of his remaining time and go level up now.

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In the Demon City, Drako Yau was once again taking on the skeleton king. Clearing Hell difficulty alone was still too much for him, but Hard was well within his capabilities—though it was still an impossible feat in the eyes of everyone else. When most players were still stuck at clearing Hard, he was already soloing the same difficulty.

The experience he gained was incomparable to ordinary players as well because it was meant to be shared between five players. Not that it was unfair or anything; anyone could solo it as long as they were good enough to do so.

Whoosh.

His spear struck like a viper and gnawed at the skeleton king’s rib, depleting its final bit of Health.

“Ha…” Drako Yau sighed. Clearing Easy, Normal, and Hard to their daily limits all by himself turned out to be a rather tiring task. He then checked his experience bar and thought, I can probably level up after clearing Hell.

He opened up a chat room which included Greenstone, Zephyrwolf, and Sasaki. Hades and Soulsmith had their own guild to take care of, and they had to level up their own members as well, so it hurt his consciousness to bother them all the time.

“Boss, boss! I’m Level 15!” Sasaki’s enthusiastic voice reached Drako Yau through the chat room, bringing a smile to his face.

“Yeah I know, that’s why I invited you over. Let’s go clear Hell difficulty together today.”

The chat room was immediately filled with Sasaki’s cheers. It was difficult to imagine such a talented person who almost seemed favoured by the heavens was acting like a good little boy in front of Drako Yau.

“Let’s meet up at the Demon City entrance in half an hour,” he said before teleporting out of the dungeon.

“Hm?” The moment he was teleported to the dungeon’s entrance, he realised something was off.

There were… a little too few players around. Although it was already midnight in the actual world, there were always night owls who stayed online at night, yet the number of players around was even fewer than usual.

Soon enough, he came to understand why—the aura of five people encircled him. While they weren’t visible, Drako Yau could feel it, the raw killing intent radiating from the hidden ones.

“Come out.” Drako Yau took out the spear on his back and readied himself. In the heat of the night where the moon was nowhere to be seen, it was truly a night suited for murdering someone.

Five shadows landed around Drako Yau within a three to four-metre radius. One of them was a familiar one; it was none other than Chau Yu’s most favoured fighter who wielded a wooden sword, Tripurity!

In the dark night, Drako Yau held his spear and stood his ground, with enemies surrounding him on all sides. Surveying his surroundings, he thought, Heh, they really think highly of me.

All five of them weren’t weak at all; they had all undergone class progression, yet he himself was just Level 17. After having a closer look, he noticed that Tripurity wasn’t the only familiar face present—it was more than surprising to come across that person at such a place.