Donned in a flame-red mage robe and holding a short staff, Idyllic Poet stood in front of Drako Yau with a grin and said, “No one’s allowed to mess around with my toy.”

She pointed her staff forwards, creating a shield of fire that protected them from frontal attacks.

“Level 20 Elementalist skill, Fire Shield (or Ice Shield): Deploys an elemental shield in front of the caster, lasts for 10 seconds and can negate a certain amount of damage.”

However, under the buff of Idyllic Poet’s Phoenix Ring, Hau Ngai’s Explosive Arrow alone wasn’t enough to bust through the shield of fire. Man-of-Steel’s charge was also forcefully stopped by a flick of her hand; Ring of Rebounding Flames easily pushed him away.

But that was only enough to stall for a tad bit of time. If they could be dealt with so easily, they wouldn’t be Empyreal Spire’s elites in the first place. Hau Ngai fired Repelling Shot, Double-Shot, and Heart-Piercing Shot in quick succession along with several basic attacks, creating a rain of arrows; he was really going in for the kill with all he had in his arsenal. Man-of-Steel who just got knocked back by Ring of Rebounding Flames also started closing in on Mask immediately after regaining his footing.

Idyllic Poet wasn’t that dumb either; her purpose was to buy time for Mask to catch his breath. Also, she and Zephyrwolf weren’t the only reinforcements on the way.

A silhouette that almost looked like it glided across the ground appeared before Man-of-Steel abruptly along with an argent flash. Though surprised, the muscular man didn’t fret and swung his greatsword to clash with the flash.

“Such great strength.”

The two of them pulled away from each other. A teenager wearing traditional Japanese clothing stood in Man-of-Steel’s way: Sasaki.

What dealt the final blow to Empyreal Spire’s assassination plan was a beam of green light—Heal. Even the cleric had arrived.

Tripurity frowned; he knew the mission was a failure. Signalling each other, the other three members of Empyreal Spire also disengaged and returned to Tripurity’s side.

Five people stood in front of Mask: Zephyrwolf, Danting, Greenstone, Sasaki, and Idyllic Poet. They had the advantage in numbers, not to mention Mask who was getting back on his feet upon being healed by Greenstone.

This was the first time Tripurity had failed.

“Mask, you’re lucky this time. Empyreal Spire will hunt you down forever!”

Drako Yau took two steps forwards, and a speech bubble popped up above his head.

“As you please. We’ll gladly take you on.”

The four Empyreal Spire members left at a wave of Tripurity’s hand.

Zephyrwolf cursed, “You’re going to come and go just like that?” He then wanted to pursue them, but was instead blocked by Drako Yau.

“Don’t hunt down cornered beasts. Also, it’s a fact that they’re very strong. If we really intend on deciding the victors of this encounter, we’ll definitely have casualties as well.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Seeing them glance at each other without saying anything, Idyllic Poet finally couldn’t take it any longer. “Hey! Don’t just go on and talk among yourselves!” she cried.

Among everyone present, only Danting and Idyllic Poet weren’t in their squad channel.

“Thank you.” This was the first time Drako Yau spoke to Idyllic Poet. She twitched her brows, made a hmph, then turned silent.

Hearing his voice, Danting also ran over while almost drooling and said, “Boss! Boss! I did great didn’t I!”

Everyone was somewhat wary of him after seeing him take on Tripurity splendidly. However, their vigilance didn’t last long; after Drako Yau hung his spear on his back, he started punching Danting with his bare fists.

“Quite the rebel aren’t you, pointing your sword at me!”

Danting cried while getting hammered with punches, “Boss! Geez, how can I recognise when you’re wearing a mask!”

“Can’t recognise me?” Drako Yau continued the one-sided beatdown. “You can’t tell from my figure and voice? You even asked me who I am after I directly spoke to you!”

----------------------------------------

Dan used to work in Jubilant Games as a gofer whose daily routine was to sweep and mop the floor, clean the toilets, those sort of miscellaneous tasks. Despite being a low-ranked job, the name “Jubilant Games” alone attracted many people for the vacancy.

In the end, they employed Dan—a gangster who had been imprisoned before.

As a kid, little Dan had a great interest in ancient martial arts movies and dramas. In one way or another, it led him down the wrong path, and he ended up as a gangster who was sentenced to imprisonment.

One day, Dan arrived at the company early in the morning to tidy the place up. That was until he noticed that the door to the roof was opened. Having seen countless crime films, the first thing which came to mind was burglary. Dan, with a broom in hand, searched throughout the building for the thief, but his efforts were futile. He was about to shut the door when he caught sight of a young man who was about his age training on the roof.

The young man held a spear decorated with a red tassel on the shaft near the blade. His spearmanship was so enchanting that Dan couldn’t hold himself back from rushing over to beg the young man to take him in as an apprentice.

Drako Yau, who was in the middle of his routine morning training, was surprised and beat Dan up… because he thought Dan was a thief.

When Drako Yau had to quit Jubilant Games, Dan was the one who cried the hardest. Soon after, Dan also decided to resign and spend his savings on purchasing a brainwave helmet. He realised his class was a hidden class, Magic Swordsman, the moment he entered the game.

----------------------------------------

“What went wrong?” Chau Yu sat on his chair, his voice clearly showing his rage. “Someone, tell me what happened.”

Slyfox didn’t hesitate to blurt everything out, all while emphasising that Tripurity ignored their orders and fought Mask in a duel, which gave Mask time to seek reinforcements. He also mentioned Danting’s sudden betrayal.

Chau Yu sent a long gaze at Tripurity. “It’s your fault this time.”

Tripurity nodded calmly; he had no intention of denying his responsibility for the failure. Chau Yu sighed and said, “The most disappointing thing isn’t failing to kill Mask, but Danting’s betrayal.”

“Guild master, why care so much about Danting? Frankly, apart from his ability to level up a bit faster, I don’t see why he has the qualifications to join Empyreal Spire.”

Tripurity couldn’t be bothered to explain it to someone who only had a smattering of the truth, so he simply said, “Danting is as strong as I am in battle.”

The moment he spoke those words, everyone in Empyreal Spire turned silent. If Hau Ngai, Man-of-Steel, and Slyfox hadn’t seen their fight first-hand, they would have made the same reaction.

“How is that possible?”

Danting was an easy-going and cheerful person, almost a bit naive, which was why he was always bullied in the guild. However, he wasn’t in a hurry to prove himself or anything; no matter what harsh words others threw at him, he simply shrugged them off with a good chuckle. Over time, the elites in Empyreal Spire looked down upon him, thinking that he was a coward. But now… Tripurity was saying that Danting was as good as he was?

Chau Yu didn’t say anything, his mind occupied by the occasion which he coincidentally fought alongside Danting in a dungeon some day in the past.

Back then, all his teammates had died. Danting, with nothing but a sword in hand along with Chau Yu’s support, single-handedly brute forced his way through the Burning Cave (Hell) dungeon. Just how devastating of a fighter he was…

Magic Swordsman, a hidden class with mighty combat strength—Danting was the one who could unleash the class’ full strength.