Chapter 16

At the northern kingdom of the Conquest world, deep into a frigid forest of ice and snow stood an enormous temple.

It was old and decrypt, built with red stone and pillars that had seen better days supporting it.

It was the Crimson Monastery, where Warlord and a party of the highest level players of The Devastators were grinding their levels and leveling up.

At this moment, Warlord reached level 440, further confirming himself as the highest level player in the game.

Then a notification popped up right when they were about to face a level 450 Ice Golem

Conquest Server Announcement!

Kis’Shteingbrah managed to slay the first Ethereal Monster in the game.

May his name stands for all those who valor honor and courage for all eternity.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH THIS GAME?!!!”

Warlord cursed to the announcement flying high up in the sky

‘Kis’Shtingbrah. Who the hell is that?

Where do these people come from? The skeletal guy, the elf and now some guy managing to defeat an ethereal level monster? That was utterly inconceivable.’

“Vali, what do you know about this?” Warlord asked his right-handed man.

“No, I am sending orders to the HQ, they will get us information soon.” Said Vali who was staring at the notification held up high in the sky.

Warlord rubbed his nose bridge and sighed

“Let’s get done with this dungeon run now, we need to get to level 450 at least to be able to tackle the dungeons at the eastern borders.”

“Warlord, aren’t you being too hasty. Even if we manage to get to level 450 before the end of the contract with the Blood Rage guild for grinding in the Crimson Monastery. The Monsters at the lowest level dungeon there range from Epic to Mythical tier! And you know well that numbers are worth squat shit against the absolute strength of the monsters there…”

“I know Vali, I know, but you just saw! Someone destroyed an Ethereal Level monster! That is even stronger than a mythical one. How can we just sit by and watch? We are already under a lot of pressure from having lost the Raid-Zone and now, losing out on the first Ethereal Monster Kill is another blow to our guild.”

“Hast won’t make us do any better, there has to be a reason why a player that is even lower level than you managed to kill an Ethereal monster, it must be a trick.”

“You don’t think it could be that Skeletal guy?” said Warlord as he remembered the only player able to bypass levels and defeat himself, the highest level player in the game.

“No, I don’t believe so, it is highly unlikely…” said Vali, with a tone betraying his words.

“Hold on, I am receiving an emergency voice-mail,”

Vali’s eyes widened once he heard the entirety of the vocal message.

“What is it?” Warlord asked his friend.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Some two players just contacted our guild, they say that they have Met this Kis’Shtiengbrah.”

“What? Where? Make them tell us!”

“Hang on, this is the weird part, they said he was a Boss? Yes, a boss monster in the Desolate Temple near the city Moria.”

“This doesn’t make any sense, why would a boss…” Warlord’s voice trailed as he thought of a possibility they just discarded.

“Do they still have the video feed of the encounter?”

“Yes, they just sent it to the HQ and I am receiving it,”

Valentine shared the video with Warlord and they both watched it together.

“That is him! That is the Mr. Skeletal guy! How did he become that big?”

“I don’t know, but he I now a boss-class,” said Valentine.

Then he heard the discussion between the players and the ‘Boss’

“Those three guys… where did I see them before?” Warlord muttered.

“It’s the guys that Mr. Skeletal first met, they were in his first videos.”

“Yes, we contacted them a few days ago and they claimed they have no relationship with him… we will have to toughen our approach. Send some guys over, have them give up information on the Mr.Skeletal, if they don’t, PK them until they quit the game!”

Valentine sent Warlord’s Orders and added one of his own.

“Get a group of twenty A team to the Desolate Temple Dungeon, search every corner, and under every rock! I want that place combed! Find the guy!”

The HQ of the devastators started moving.

Warlord snorted after seeing the end of the video sent to them.

“That bastard just scammed these two players for their items. But it’s their fault they should have noticed the absence of a notification screen when they were given that shady quest. Alright, those two are rogue players right, See if we can recruit them to our Devastators, if not just pay them for their information,” said Warlord.

“Alright consider it done,” replied Vali, then they went toward the crimson monastery to grind their level.

Back at the Underworld. Dave stared deeply into the notification in front of him.

“So, I just killed an Ethereal monster. Ahm, that is unexpected,” Dave muttered, “But how the hell can I get the loot?!”

Looking at the caved-in cliff, Dave felt helpless, there was no way for him to get down there and search for the remains of the Sworn Stalwarter.

“Killing an ethereal monster without getting the loot. That is just sad,”

Dave turned around to leave but then thought of something

“Why didn’t I level up? ALFRED!” Dave called

A butler in a black sparrow tailed suit appeared as he fixed his monocular.

The world turned black and white, and Lord Samael actually froze… the appearance of the butler froze the time in-game!

“It’s you again… How many troubles will you cause me?” said the butler not concealing the bit of anger in his eyes.

“Wow, what did I do? I am just playing the game!”

“You are ruining everything I have been working on! But no matter, what is the cause of your summon?”

“As you can see, I managed to slay an Ethereal Boss, and didn’t get the loot or the exp,”

“I know… The monster in question was not supposed to be killed, the actions you took were not taken into consideration, the kill should have been in favor of the Abyssal Knight with you. The Experience and the drop WERE supposed to go him! Now you somehow managed to attract the Monster’s aggro before the Abyssal Knight attacked it, and also used the Fear effect, though it failed it is considered an attack.”

“So it was all luck? The monster was supposed to die?”

“Yes, but no player was meant to get the drops,”

“That can’t be, what if I was higher level? What if for example, I was level 800 when I attempted this quest?”

“This is exactly the problem! When the average level of players reached a power threshold strong enough to take on the Sworn Stalwarter, this very quest, should have been long since disappeared. This Abyssal Knight would have taken care of this area alone without the help of any players.”

“Ah, so no loot for me?”

“No…,” said the Butler with a disgruntled voice.

“I will make you something for your... efforts, also you will gain the experience from killing the monster. However, the amount of experience you will gain is too much…it will break the game’s balance.” Said the Butler.

“What do you mean?”

“It is an ethereal Monster, killing it, and being solo will grant a few billion exp, if I were to give you the full amount, your character will level up too fast and will affect the undead chain of command’s quests. You still need to do several quests and in a slow motion, therefore I will compensate you with a special item.” Sai the Butler and snapped his finger.

A small red bead appeared in the butler’s hand.

“This is a special item, you can put in on your Ring of the Death God.”

Dave received the item and got it closer to the golden Skull-ring on his hand.

The bead flew and stuck itself on the right eye socket like a glowing jewel.

EXP Bead

While wearing this item, all exp gained from; Quests, Monster Kills and other methods are doubled until the player reaches level 500.

Not applicable to Crafting, Alchemy, Forgesmithing, and Ressource Gathering

Oh, sweet! Said Dave enjoying the unexpected bonus.

The butler was about to disappear before Dave said

“Hey; what about the loot!”

A vein bulged in the butler’s head as he said

“I almost forgot… here..."