Meanwhile...

Orlina had spent a lot of time and effort to avoid the drama that surrounded guild leadership. She was an officer, but she was also the raid leader. Unlike the others on the roster, she took her position seriously. She usually only dealt with these people at meetings, when she could safely ignore their bullshit, or during raids, when they deferred to her authority.

Even Fidelis, their guild leader, knew that she suffered no funny business when victory was on the line.

Unfortunately, her self-insulation meant she was unprepared to deal with their particular level of bullshit today.

Orlina and her fellow officers were gathered on a hilltop a safe distance from town. To observe.

She had grown tired of them within seconds.

It seemed like the other members of Last of the Strong had forgotten who was in charge of this operation. It came with the territory, though. When they were outside of instances, they just stopped listening to her. They weren’t physically in a raid, which meant that it was time to pay attention to Andrew and Mel being catty bitches. It was aggravating, but she couldn’t be surprised.

Luckily, her team - the ones who were good enough to carry these useless officers through current content - was still inside the instance, doing the work without her. She was aware of their callouts for mechanics in the chat channels, and knew they were doing their jobs.

At least some people in this guild could be trusted.

Since they didn’t need her attention, she had to, instead, focus her efforts on the people who couldn’t be trusted.

“How much longer?” Rumi asked with a whine that made Orlina want to slap him silly.. Despite the implied impatience in his tone, his attention was tuned almost exclusively on the destruction unfolding before them. Excitedly.

Hungrily.

He was a creepy little shit, but he was the only one actually on task today besides her, so Orlina decided not to ignore him.

“At current rates,” she said, “just a few more minutes.”

The little village of Yenon was being overrun. Scaled monsters ran rampant in the streets. Those who survived the attacks transformed into monsters themselves, spreading the condition even further with their bite attacks.

That was their objective.

The Merciless Plague debuff had to be spread.

It was a critical mechanic in the current endgame raid tier. The Darkwater Monarch afflicted players with a plague debuff, which turned players into adds who could also inflict that same plague debuff. Those adds had to be carefully managed, or else more people would be transformed, inevitably causing a wipe.

The inevitability of that wipe was a problem, though. There was an achievement - the last raid achievement of the tier - that required the Merciless Plague debuff to propagate a certain number of times before felling the Darkwater Monarch. The number of propagations was enough to make the fight mathematically impossible until the next raid tier - or even the next level cap increase - without cheesing the fight somehow.

Luckily, someone - she refused to believe it was actually Andrew, who was currently taking credit - had discovered that the debuff could be carried out of the instance. Outside the instance, it could be passed with impunity. The transformations out here wouldn’t affect her team’s ability to finish the fight, but they would meet the number of propagations required for their achievement.

World first, naturally.

She didn’t understand the fires, though. Someone had set the town on fire. She suspected Rumi, but it was just as likely that one of the fights resulted in a lantern or candle being kicked over.

Just because he was an unsubtle sadist didn’t mean every act of destruction was at his hand.

“Don’t be impatient,” Fidelis said with a thin veil of aggravation. He obviously didn’t share Rumi’s fascination with destruction, but he stood at parade rest, refusing to turn away from the unfolding chaos. “We’re in no hurry.”

“Kick back with me then, Fidelis,” Andrew said with a cocky smile, leaning back in the gaudy padded chair he’d brought. “I just wish we didn’t have to be logged in for this. I could catch up on Ozark. Unless you’d care to join me? Maybe a little bit of chill to go with my Netflix?”

Fidelis didn’t deign to respond to that.

It was the most Fidelis possible reaction. The man had built the whole guild so that he wouldn’t have to do anything with his own two hands, as much as he’d crafted an appearance of a terrifying warrior to imply the opposite. Orlina knew from firsthand experience as raid leader that his pristine gear had seen use in battle, but he kept it meticulously clean and maintained at all times, just like his carefully manicured beard and perfectly-tousled black hair.

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He’s so goddamn disgusting, Orlina’s message log flashed with a private message from Clive. She looked back at him over her shoulder as he continued. I can’t stand Andrew.

I know, Orlina messaged back with a mental effort. I can’t even look at him. His stupid uncanny valley face makes me feel ill.

Andrew must have spent hours in the character creator to carefully sculpt a face that was as pretty as he could make it. It meant his features were nearly inhuman.

Why is he even here? Clive messaged back. I don’t believe for a second that he actually came up with this plan himself.

Fidelis has his reasons, I’m sure. Orlina replied, trying to hide her smirk.

It can’t be for the flirting, Clive shot back immediately. Fidelis is so obviously not interested it causes me physical pain. I’ve seen men get more enthusiastic responses from bathroom sinks at concert venues.

Orlina struggled not to snort out a laugh at that. She had to focus her attention on the spread of the Merciless Plague. It needed to propagate twenty-one times, which meant with the one person they brought out of the raid, only twenty people needed to be attacked, survive, and transform.

The Darkwater Monarch had a stacking - but merely cosmetic - buff for every active Merciless Plague victim, and all she had to do was keep track of what her raiders were dutifully reporting in another chat window.

They were up to fifteen now, though the buff had dropped by one three times, indicating that some number of the afflicted had died. She wanted to say that it meant the count was at eighteen, and they only needed three more, but her team was the best in the world.

At her instruction, they would hold the Darkwater Monarch at 1% health if that’s what it took.

Failure was not an option, and she would take every precaution. They could run the raid again all they wanted - it was instanced content, after all - but if they failed to get the achievement now, world first would be in jeopardy. Within the hour, word would be out about what Last of the Strong had done to Yenon to get the Darkwater Monarch achievement. If world first was off the table, it was possible that no one else would be able to stomach what had to be done. But if rival guilds had a shot at the title, Orlina knew more than a few would do anything to capitalize on their misstep.

“I don’t know how you all are so cavalier about this,” Mel said. Of the officers gathered, she was the only one who couldn’t bear to look at the town. “I know it’s what has to be done, but it just seems so… uncivilized.”

“We can always get more NPCs,” Andrew said with a dismissive gesture. “Sure, the town will be a smoldering crater for a few days, but on Tuesday reset they’ll all be back to normal like nothing happened. They’ll barely remember the attack at all, even if they survive”

“We discussed this,” Fidelis said, firmly. “It’s why we picked Yenon. It’s been months since anyone cared about the quests here. No real people are being affected by this.”

“Anyone doing the Yenon line instead of going to Enathona deserves to find a smoldering ruin anyway,” Rumi said. He was still staring at the destruction unfolding before them with a creepy amount of fascination. “I have no sympathy for people who choose to do things the hard way.”

“You have no sympathy for anyone,” Mel observed. But she didn’t complain about the carnage any farther. She just faced away and ignored it.

Peak Mel behavior, Clive messaged Orlina. She looked back at him to see a smirk on his face. Playing Devil’s advocate for no reason.

It’s not for no reason if it works, Orlina messaged back. Some idiots think she actually believes what she says when she questions Fidelis.

Now it was Clive’s turn to stifle a laugh.

Mel was an old friend of Fidelis, and so she could slack off as much as Andrew did, but she was too shrewd to rest on her laurels. Expressing the occasional dissenting opinion - even when she didn’t stand by it - made her seem like she was keeping the guild leadership honest. In truth, she was apathetic to everything but her continued position at Fidelis’s right hand, as the middle manager who delegated the tasks he delegated to her.

Orlina would have hated her the most of all the other officers, if Andrew was capable of shutting his mouth for more than five consecutive seconds.

“How much longer?” Andrew said, letting his voice rise up into the most annoyingly whiny pitch he was capable of. “We’ve been at this for hours.”

“It’s been barely ten fucking minutes,” Orlina snapped, “and you’re not the one actually in the raid doing the real work. Your ass is out here not doing a single fucking-”

“Enough, Orlina!” Fidelis snapped. Despite her personal disdain for the company the guild leader kept, he knew how to project an iron grip on his officers. “Andrew, I just said that we’re not in a hurry. If you don’t want the achievement, just go back to your bed and log out. I don’t want to hear any complaints while you get to sit on your ass.”

Andrew grumbled something about a bed, but Orlina tuned it out. The last thing she needed was more reasons to despise him.

Merciless Plague buff is at twenty-one, the message in the Raid Chat channel said. Permission to finish this, sir?

Orlina gave a sigh of relief. The people she had actual authority over had been well-chosen. Unlike Fidelis, if someone wasn’t competent and useful, Orlina didn’t keep them around. She was grateful for that, knowing they wouldn’t finish the fight without her command.

“We’re done here,” she announced. “I’m giving the order.”

“Just a minute longer?” Rumi asked, still staring at the destruction.

“No,” Fidelis said, finally turning away from the town and starting the long march back to the big city of Inoha. “Whenever you’re ready, Orlina, end it. Good work today.”

Do it, Orlina ordered through the raid channel. Remember that Juri is up for first dibs on drops this week, but you know what to do if a legendary drops with BUR on it.

Barely a moment later, the achievement notification popped up.

World first, naturally.