When Maria entered the game, she took a deep breath before exhaling somewhat exaggeratedly as she spread her wings and stretched her body.
“Ugh, I feel alive now…”
Maria had appeared near Discordia City’s Colosseum and her abrupt appearance attracted quite a lot of attention. It hadn’t been too long since she was in the spotlight from the IGC’s event today so her showing up in the game caused quite a stir among the people that were around.
However, before anyone could approach her, Maria quickly took to the skies and with a sonic boom, left Discordia in the blink of an eye. She wanted to quickly get to a monster hotspot so she could slay a few of them to release her frustrations. Maria had acknowledged her loss against Thor but it didn’t mean that she accepted it. She was so frustrated at her loss because she knew she could have won the battle if she hadn’t pulled her punches and just went all out from the beginning.
She wouldn’t have to call her subordinates either because if she had used her [Nightmare] skill, the battle would have ended after she had reduced Thor’s HP to half and just finished him with a [Shin-Zantetsuken]. However, it was already too late to regret the outcome now since it was over. She needed to keep her [Nightmare] form a secret for now since she didn’t want anyone to hunt her down for her past actions of sabotaging many of the guilds, factions, and teams’ quests.
Even now, the players only thought that Maria’s Nightmare form which they had dubbed the ‘Black Shadow’ was an NPC that was out to sabotage the players’ main scenario quests’ progress. The various guilds from both the Pantheon and the Celestial Order had already issued a bounty on her head so if she were to reveal her form in the battle against Thor, things would work to her disadvantage when she returned to the game once people knew about the Black Shadow’s real identity.
The cost of preserving her pride in that battle against Thor in comparison to sabotaging her Main Scenario Quest was just not worth it. She could plow through with her strength, but there was just so much one person could do on their own. For now, she had the advantage of being able to stay in the dark while the guilds and factions were out in the light. They wouldn’t know when she’d strike but she’d know where her targets were located.
The rewards she missed out on the IGC’s events were a bit unfortunate but she couldn’t sabotage her own quest due to her pride. Maria still hadn’t known that she had won the winning prize for her monster-hunting so she was still feeling a little peeved by it. Maria quickly found a hunting ground that was devoid of any players after flying for a while so she touched down and began hunting the monsters, however, this time’s hunt was going to be much different than before.
She hadn’t come all this way just to thrash the monsters around, she also came to hone her dual-wielding swordsmanship so she took out her Calamity-Z and her Zantetsu-R and began wielding them against the monsters that rushed at her.
“Alright, I’ll use these level 135 Arcane Bandits as sandbags. Next time, I definitely won’t lose against that Thor bastard!”
*****
While Maria was back to honing her skills out on the field, elsewhere in the game, a group of players had convened together in Discordia’s market district. Surprisingly, it was a meeting of the guilds from both the Celestial Order and the Pantheon. Usually, the players from these two opposing factions would always be at each other’s throats or making harsh jabs at each other when in Discordia but right now, everyone was sitting amiably together in a room.
The players attending this meeting largely consisted of each of the two factions’ guild leaders and vice guild leaders. The guild leaders attending were from the guilds that didn’t receive an invite to participate in the IGC or those that chose to abstain due to the sensitive period and situation within the game. Their topic for discussion today was the Black Shadow which had been terrorizing the frontline players that were doing quests for their respective factions.
The vice guild master of Angel’s League, one of the Heavenly Order’s Guilds that closely rivaled the Testament guild, stepped forward and said, “We’re here to discuss the problem of the Black Shadow. Everyone knows by now that this...monster, or NPC, has been a big thorn in all our sides for the past few days.”
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Everyone nodded subtly in agreement since this meeting was held precisely for that purpose.
“As we all know, the Black Shadow doesn’t discriminate between who it attacks. It doesn’t stand on any of our factions’ sides. I’m guessing, it’s probably some kind of mechanism placed by the game’s devs to prevent us, players, from progressing too far and too quickly into the game’s Main Storyline.”
One of the guild masters stood up and suddenly added, “The Black Shadow hasn’t been sighted in the past few days because no one can run a Main Scenario-category quest due to the IGC restriction. What Vice-Guild Leader Monroe said holds some truth.”
“Get to the point already! All of us here already know that!” One of the vice guild leaders from the Nine Hells Guild quipped as he was annoyed that only the angels had been talking since earlier.
“Relax, we’ll get to that soon. Some of us here still need a briefing on what’s happening. Anyway, we can all agree that the Black Shadow is a nuisance. I propose that we unite together during this lull period where the shadow isn’t showing itself.
“...And why should we? Our factions are against each other and I honestly don’t mind seeing the shadow sabotage you all,” Achitor, the Nine Hells’ Vice Guildmaster, said as he replied derisively.
“We just said that the Black Shadow doesn’t discriminate! If we don’t work together, the Main Scenario quests will be stuck here for a long time without any progress!”
“I understand that, but it’s not like we can’t take care of the problem with our own people. The Black Shadow may be superior to some, if not all of us, but it’s just one monster. Our Nine Hells Guild can win with our numbers!”
Celes, the Vice-guild master of Angel’s League, quickly rebuked, “Do you think we’d organize this meeting if we could handle the Black Shadow by ourselves?! You pride yourself on your numbers but I can tell that you haven’t personally experienced an attack by the Black Shadow!”
“What’s that?!”
“Hmph, if you have, you would know that numbers won’t mean anything to that monster since it can also spawn additional monsters that help it when it attacks! All of the monsters it spawns at least rivals a high-grade level 120 boss monster in stats alone!”
“...”
“Not only that but the AI that powers these additional boss monsters also seem very complex. Although I’ve never seen these spawned boss monsters use any skills, their battle techniques are enough to put an elite player to shame!” Celes said as she took out a recording sphere and placed it in the middle of the meeting area.
A large screen popped up and it showcased a battle between a few elite teams from Celes’s guild, Angel’s League, against the Black Shadow. The players fighting against the humanoid monster were by no means weak as all of them were elites from Angel’s League. They were doing pretty well fighting against the Black Shadow at the start since they were able to overwhelm the female humanoid monster with their numbers but once the Black Shadow began spawning a few of its shadow monsters, the tides of battle immediately shifted in an instant.
“This is footage that was taken by one of my guild’s elite players. It’s humiliating but I need to raise everyone’s awareness regarding this threat!”
“Hmph, it’s just that your so-called elites are just subpar,” Achitor mocked.
Celes turned to the man and scoffed, “I’d like to see your teams do any better. As I recall, no one─and I mean, NO ONE─has been able to complete a main scenario quest, even if it was only an insignificant one with a low rating.”
“Your point?”
“Heh, my point is that your so-called elites aren’t doing any better than mine!”
“You!”
“Shut up already. You two are so annoying,” Testament’s vice guild master, Chrome, clicked his tongue and said. This immediately stopped the two leaders from bickering any further.
The young man playing as an angel stood up and continued the discussion, taking over Celes’s job.
“Anyway, the threat is real and while we have the time to sit down to discuss countermeasures against this monster, we should quit our petty bickering and set aside our differences for now!”
Chrome quickly took command of the room and continued, “Stop with the squabbles for just a while until we finish dealing with our common enemy!”
“Whatever, as long as we quickly resolve this, our Nine Hells guild won’t care about the methods but tell me, how are we going to fight against such an overpowered being?” Achitor asked.
“Well, I guess it’s about time we truly start the meeting, yeah? But before that, I want to ask everyone here whether or not their guilds are willing to fully cooperate with all of us despite any past aggressions and allegiances? I don’t want anyone to start backstabbing each other in the middle of an operation or patrol once the IGC restriction is lifted!”
A few guild masters and vice guild masters grunted at his words while others spoke up.
“We’re all here so we know what we’re getting ourselves into...”
“...Despite some past grudges, we should all work together to defeat this common enemy. The Black Shadow is damaging our guilds much more than the small skirmishes we have against any rival guild.”
“Just get on with the meeting! Every one of us convened here because we’re willing to cooperate. Just tell us the plan!”
Chrome listened to everyone’s unison agreement and nodded his head, “Alright then. Since we’re all in agreement and willing to cooperate with each other, then let’s get down to business! First of all…”