Inside the Castles meeting room in one of the far corners sat Samuel who was quietly working on some paperwork.
“Thanks for helping my sister and the grand elders with keeping the castle running,” said Akira, as he walked over to him.
“It is my job, and purpose in life. There is no need to thank me,” said Samuel as he turned over a piece of paper and continued working on the large stack of files.
“Akira! What's with this? Why are we having more meetings?” asked Crulak who had not been with the main force earlier due to a few problems near his own settlement.
The room was soon filled with the leaders and representatives of the allied demon races all taking their seats. Among them was the ever-present thorn in his side.
One person Akira did not expect to see was Captain Pegleg who was now sitting in the chair next to Akira.
“I will give a quick explanation for those that were not with us. On our expedition north we ran into the demigods and had several skirmishes,” said Akira.
“Did they overpower you?” asked Crulak.
Akira shook his head, “No, we ran into another problem. At this moment... It may be even worse than our demigod problem. The new enemy seemed to be some sort of undead with a hard outer layer. Even when they received wounds that would have killed me or you, they still kept moving,” said Akira.
“The people controlling them had some odd skills,” said Klyn thinking back to what they had seen far off into the distance.
“Stop playing dumb! After thinking over all that I saw... it is now clear to me!” said Tormoid pointing his finger at Akira. “I know you are in league with them!”
“What nonsense are you speaking now?” asked Grand elder Carl angrily. It seemed Akira was not the only one that was tiring of Tormoid's rants.
“The undead enemy exited a dark fog and attacked the demigods. He... has been using such a dark fog lately during several of the fights! The most damning evidence is, he is friends with one of those undead!” said Tormoid as he moved his hand to point at Captain Pegleg.
“Don't even dare compare me to those useless idiots! They are but puppets controlled by some $%#^&. I am Captain Pegleg! Ruler of Bone island and all the seas around it! Also... didn't your mother ever tell you that when you point at someone you have three fingers pointing back at you?” asked captain Pegleg.
“My skill has nothing to do with those dark-robed figures who were controlling the massive wave of undead creatures. I will remind you that we were able to escape the enemy because we used it. Don't sully the names of the several hundred in the rearguard that were killed or wounded trying to hold them so we could retreat,” said Akira angrily.
The meeting continued into a spiral of arguing between everyone on who was to blame ignoring the real reason everyone was called to the meeting.
***
Froit castle.
“Damn it! What's with this damn continent! First, it was the damn werewolves and the other demon races. Now it is these damn infected things ruining all our plans!” screeched Fella.
“We tried to warn you before,” said Bland looking at the ceiling where a chandelier was burning several fat candles.
“Almost everywhere we go there are those infected things popping up! All the minions we need to fight are getting sick as well!”
“This place is a living nightmare. I am surprised we even managed to take Froit,” said Phobia.
“Since coming here I have lost so much gear and power that it is not funny, and that bastard even stole all my expensive potions!” said Fela.
“You're preaching to the choir. We have lost more than you can imagine. All this for a mission that we have pretty much forgotten the main reason why we came here,” said Kooter.
“What was the reason again?” asked Berk the berserker.
“We were supposed to kill some werewolf, but it seems that the task is near impossible. Hey Fela do we still have to do it?” asked the short LieLie.
“Eh? You guys are still trying to do that quest? I forgot to tell you the guild leader gave up on it a long time ago. He is more interested in getting a foothold over here and making money to fund the larger goals of the guild on Halrverold. Why would you guys waste your time on such a pointless quest?” asked Fela.
Several of the people who had been affected the most by the quest coughed up blood as if they had received a heavy blow.
While others let out loud curses after hearing what she said. Many of them had lost quite a bit of strength and wealth due to the seemingly impossible quest.
They were quietly fuming over past events when they all received a message at the same time.
“What's this?”
***
Ding!
The [Molten Onyx] plague main chain quest has started!!
The Main quest is separated into three main branches. You can choose to focus on one, or work on all three!
Branch one: Find the shadows behind the Molten Onyx plague: Little is known about this phenomenon that has popped up overnight in every country around the world. Your task is to discover all you can about the new infected and who is controlling them.
Branch two: The Molten Onyx plague Cure: The Molten Onyx plague has swept through both continents and has infected humans, demon races, monsters, and even some demigods! If a cure is not found the world will soon be swept away by the large tide of infected!
Branch three: War! Wipe out the Molten Onyx plague!: Kill every infected you see. You will also need to kill and bring to justice the controllers of this plague.
Each Branch has several stages, and each stage can only be completed once. Whether it is completed by a large group or by a single person does not matter.
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Once the stage is completed by a person or a group, the branch in question will move on to the next stage for everyone who has accepted that branch. Even if you were not part of the party that completed the quest.
There is something for everyone to do! It is suggested that you chose wisely as missing out on information will make the later missions harder to complete.
Difficulty: Single mission A class, all three missions S class
Reward: 1000 gold for each branch. It will be given to the person or group that has the most contribution to the quest.
Each branch when completed will reward the person or group with the most contribution to the quest with a special title.
Each title given out will have different special stat boosts.
Several other rewards will be given throughout the quests!
Akira had been in mid-sentence when he received the message window for the new quest. He now had everyone staring at him waiting for him to finish as he just stood there staring off into the sky.
Grandelder Seoc cleared his throat loudly bringing Akira back to realize that everyone was staring at him.
“Ahem... I just got new information on the issue.”
“From who?” demanded Tormoid.
“Did someone from the clan's shaman scouts contact you?” asked Klyn.
“Something like that. This Plague has taken hold on Halrverold as well. It is apparently called the [Molten Onyx plague] I think you all can understand why. It is infecting everyone: humans, demon race, monsters, and even demigods!”
“What! Even demigods are not free from it?” asked grand elder Carl.
“How are we to fight this if even they are taken down by such a cursed plague?” asked grand elder Àaron.
“Grand elder Hegir, I need you and Klyn to help train more holy shamans. I have a feeling that if we are to get through this we will be relying on you and the shaman under your command.”
“I have a suggestion! Let us both go together and check on these idiots that got themselves caught under those puppet masters. I want to see what they are like. Maybe I can reason with them,” said captain Pegleg, placing a bony hand on Akira's shoulder.
“Aren't you afraid that they will try to control you?” asked Akira.
“Don't insult me like that! I can not be controlled! I do the controlling! Plus I do not care about some plague as I am already dead!”
“Alright, I have decided! I will go with Captain Pegleg and his undead sailors to scope out the infected. I will try to find out more about the infected and bring back some more samples for you to study later to see if you can see what makes them tick. Maybe you can find a cure that way,” said Akira.
“And if we have to we will kill them all!” said Captain Pegleg.
Ding!
All three Branches of the main quest have been accepted!
“Have Captain Walcott take some ships to the designated spot and wait to pick up Varbu.”
“We will go with him to help secure the area until Varbu arrives,” said Snuwball.
“Right, can't leave everything to the ship boys,” said Brizard.
“I'm coming with you Akira! I can't let you go alone and my chants will be needed to keep you safe,” said Klyn.
Captain Pegleg looked over at Klyn with distaste. He could feel the same unpleasant holy aura that was present in the water coming from him.
“If you try anything funny around me I'll poke your eyes out and eat them,” said Captain Pegleg.
His two bony fingers made a poking motion at Klyn's face and his jaw made a loud clack as he shut as he pretended to chew on invisible eyes.
***
“What did the guild leader have to say about the new mission?” asked Kooter.
“They are taking on the third branch mission. I was told that we need to work on the first branch and inform them on any information we may discover,” said Fela.
“What are the other big guilds doing? How much competition do we have?” asked Phobia.
“From what I heard our guild leader and the rest of the guild are working in Beorin, the Purgatory guild in the Vussia territory, Banished Knights in Cadia, and the two forever rival guilds immortal dawn, and Blazing dawn are still fighting over the quests and territory in Freopia. Each of those guilds have stated that they are working on one or more of the branches of this mission but did not say which ones. They are putting the full weight of their guilds behind researching and the destruction of the infected army.”
“The two idiot brothers are still fighting in Fregoldawae?” asked LieLie, referring to the two guild leaders of the Dawn guilds.
Olbrou was the older brother and guild leader of Blazing dawn, while Yobrou was the younger brother and guild leader of the guild Immortal dawn.
The two were always fighting over anything and everything including the fact that they had such similar named guilds.
“It's surprising that they are even in control of anything,” said Phobia.
“We need to prepare our gear and head out to find out more about these things. Get those under your command ready!” commanded Fela.
***
At a small village on the outer edges of Beorin's territory.
A large fire raged inside a small village. A small smattering of arrows flew from atop the walls surrounding the village. The arrows flew towards the group of 100 or so attackers that had started to lay siege on the village.
A large hail of multi-color skills flew through the air bombarding the walls. Several of the skills were aimed at and continued to rain down on the wooden gate, blasting it to shreds.
“The gates are down! Kill them all!”
“This is great! Once we kill everyone we can claim this village as our own and start taking over the local territory. Then we can get taxes from everyone who comes here!” shouted a happy demigod as he charged forward into the village.
The slaughter was quick and brutal as there were mainly only the old and those too stubborn to leave and go to the larger towns and cities near the capitol. Those who had stayed behind had decided to stay and protect their village from the infected even if it meant that they themselves may die from the plague.
Sadly they did not die valiantly fighting the [Molten Onyx] plague but were slaughtered by the bizarre skills and weapons of the demigods.
“Ha! While the main guilds are so focused on the main mission we were able to take over a village!” said the leader of the group.
He stood on the balcony of the village chief's home overlooking the dead villagers that littered the ground turning the streets into a muddy pink slush.
Movement in the distance outside the village caught his eyes and soured his mood.
“Everyone to the walls! Some leeches are trying to take our prize from us!” shouted the guild commander.
Over 200 mounted soldiers riding expensive-looking warhorses were headed towards the village.
A flag was flying at the head of the column which the guild leader immediately recognized making him let out a few curses.
He didn't dare attack them so the mounted warriors were able to trot right up to the walls of the village unmolested before stopping.
“Why are you guys here bothering us? We are just a small guild and you are a large guild! Don't you feel shame picking on someone smaller than you?” asked the guild leader from atop the wall.
The demigods outside the walls were silent, not answering him. They all looked towards the center of the formation where several officers sat talking waiting for orders on what to do.
“How many did you count?” asked Ualtar.
“Around 100,” said Scar.
“Guild leader, why are we stopping here to bother with them? We still have to join up with the others and work on our quest to exterminate the infected. If someone meets the goal before us it will be a great shame!”
“King Rodger gave me a side task as a favor for canceling the kill request from before. 1 gold for each person killed causing any of his villages or towns trouble. We need more gold to keep funding our growth. I count 100 gold in front of us. All we need to do is take down their names and kill them.”
“You demon hunters need to go play somewhere else! This is our prize!”
Ualtar looked to the man speaking replied in a loud booming voice, “Dead wanted men shouldn't be talking.”