"You can't, miss. The guild leader ordered that no outsiders are allowed into the city while it's still under construction. Besides, Mr. Siegfried isn't here."
"He's not? Where did he go? The city was just claid—he shouldn't be leaving it like this."
Narada's sharp tone reflected her frustration. After making the effort to co all this way, she still could not see the man she longed for.
"He's at Agaz Mountain. The guild leaders went there to secure the mining area for the materials needed to build the city."
Without even thanking them, Narada climbed onto her unicorn mount and rode off in the direction of Agaz Mountain imdiately.
anwhile,
a group of allied guild mbers was making their way back to Heaven, their unofficial new city. They had used a teleportation scroll to transport themselves to Troy City and then continued on foot. As they arrived at the city's gates, the two guards hurried to report to Destiny, Phiros, and Rafael.
"Just now, a woman ca asking for Guild Leader Siegfried."
"Who?"
Peach Blossom was the first to speak, her expression deeply curious. Although she did not want to admit it, a small part of her wondered if the woman could be Chang Long.
"Miss Narada, the number one beauty in the ga,"
the gatekeeper reported.
"Narada. Are you serious? The number one beauty in the ga ca here looking for Siegfried!"
Phiros and Destiny exclaid in unison, stunned. They never imagined that the famously reserved Siegfried would have a woman coming all this way just to see him.
"Did she say why she was looking for him?"
Rafael asked, puzzled. In all the ti he had known Siegfried, he had never heard of his friend having any connection with the ga's most celebrated beauty.
"She didn't say. As soon as I told her Siegfried was at Agaz Mountain, she imdiately headed that way."
"What does the number one beauty want with my brother? This is suspicious,"
Peach Blossom muttered, frowning as she considered the possibilities.
"She might want to form an alliance. Or perhaps she's interested in leasing land in the city,"
Oliang speculated.
"Could be. But for now, we've got more pressing matters to deal with. We need to finalize the purchase of the slting plant from the bank and work on setting up the mining area's borders."
Draco said in a serious tone.
"Draco's right. The sooner we take care of these issues, the faster Heaven will take shape as a proper city,"
Rafael added, and the others nodded in agreent. They quickly dispersed to handle their responsibilities, letting the matter of Narada's visit slide.
.....
"You said you're bringing your guildmates to crush ? What exactly did I do to you?"
Chang Long asked irritably. The woman stared at her critically. Behind Chang Long stood two strikingly handso n dressed in cosplay-like outfits, and perched on her shoulder was a tiny mouse wielding a sword no larger than a toothpick, standing proudly.
"Why did you interfere? You must be on his sid.! Either way, you're both dood for daring to provoke !"
The female player snapped at Chang Long angrily as she raised her wristwatch to send a ssage to her guildmates.
"I provoked you? You're the one who threw a flowerpot at my head!"
Chang Long retorted, trying to suppress her rising anger.
"Exactly! You can't just go around acting like this. And for the record, you were the one who interfered while I was fighting the beast. When the loot dropped and I picked it up, it beca mine. You have no right to demand it from ."
The male player took the opportunity to explain. He was well aware that his level was lower than the female player's, and if her guildmates joined the fray, he would never get to play the ga in peace. Taking advantage of Chang Long's presence, he quickly shared the reason behind their argunt.
"There's no rule against interfering in this ga! Besides, I dealt more damage than you every ti. So, the loot should be mine!"
The female player argued back. She did not care who attacked the beast first; her focus was solely on whoever dealt the most damage deserving the spoils.
"Easy for you to say. But if soone stronger than you ca along and interfered with your fight, would you happily hand over the loot to them?"
Chang Long asked. The woman turned sharply to glare at her with disdain and replied firmly,
"Not a chance!"
"You're being unreasonable. You should have so manners when playing a ga. Do you even know what manners are? You're a woman."
The male player's tone was filled with frustration. His words made the female player livid. Without a hint of sha, she grabbed the sword lying on the ground and lunged at him.
The man quickly drew his spear to block her attack. However, the woman was fast and closed the gap between them easily, rendering his long weapon clumsy and unwieldy. He twisted his body to dodge her strikes, though he knew he would not be able to avoid all of them completely.
Clang!
Chang Long intervened, using the Sovereign Sword to block the woman's attack. The female player glared at Chang Long, leaping back to her original position with a sour expression.
"Why are you interfering? He insulted , and I'm going to kill him!"
The woman yelled at Chang Long.
"Because what he said about you is true, isn't it?"
Chang Long shot back, causing the woman's face to flush with anger. Her hand gripping the sword trembled slightly as she glared at Chang Long with pure hatred.
"Angie, who dared to bully you?"
A male player's voice called out, causing the female player to tear her gaze away from Chang Long. She turned and saw her guildmates arriving, led by the male player who had shouted. Behind him were over ten other male and female players.
"Dus, these two stole my items. No matter how much I demanded them back, they refused to return them,"
the female player, called Angie, pointed her sword at Chang Long and the male spear-wielding player standing beside her, glaring fiercely.
"You've got guts, ssing with a mber of the Sunset Guild in our own territory,"
the man Angie had called Dus stepped forward to confront Chang Long and the male player. His eyes briefly scanned Kitsune and Hulu, who stood silently behind Chang Long as though awaiting orders.
"You have beast king pets?"
Dus asked, looking back at Chang Long after examining Kitsune and Hulu with satisfaction.
"How'd you know?"
Chang Long replied, surprised.
"Well, it's true, isn't it? And you've got two of them. That must an you're no amateur. But listen, as long as you're in my territory, you won't make it out alive."
Dus sneered, and more guild mbers roaming the city began gathering around instinctively, sensing that their guild leader was about to start sothing with the strangers.
"I don't just have two. I've got three. Want to et the other one?"
Chang Long said nonchalantly, completely unfazed by her streak of bad luck. She rummaged through her bag amidst the confused stares of the Sunset Guild mbers.
She pulled out a small wooden doll and set it on the ground, eliciting laughter from the onlookers, most of whom were from the Sunset Guild. Chang Long chuckled along with them, further confusing the male player standing dumbfounded beside her. He could not believe she was pulling a la joke at such a critical mont.
"Summon Fluffy Head-chan,"
Chang Long called upon her spirit. The laughter of the crowd grew even louder.
"Hahaha. Are you trying to stall for ti with jokes? If you're that desperate not to die, I'll give you a chance: apologize to Angie and return what you stole."
Dus spoke loudly, his mocking tone ant to intimidate. He continued to laugh, oblivious to Fluffy Head-chan's growing fury at being mocked. Chang Long flashed a sly smile at Dus before shouting her skill command,
"Not a chance. Puppet Manipulation!"
As soon as the skill was activated, Fluffy Head-chan's small body expanded into a majestic, massive lion. He leapt into the crowd of stunned Sunset Guild mbers, attacking before they could react. Kitsune and Hulu exchanged knowing smiles and joined Fluffy Head-chan in the fray.
The stunned guild mbers scrambled to draw their weapons to defend themselves. Many called their guildmates for reinforcents, knowing they were up against beast kings. Uninvolved players and AI hurriedly ran away from the combat zone, watching with excitent from a safe distance.
"You…"
The male player standing beside Chang Long turned to her, utterly shocked. It was his first ti encountering soone with three beast kings, even though only Fluffy Head-chan was truly a beast king pet.
"Devi-chan, Hisa-chan, Alice-chan…"
Chang Long called upon her three ghosts, who had been invisibly lurking nearby. They materialized and bowed respectfully to her.. When the player who was still stunned by her pets saw the trio appear, his composure broke, and he let out a loud yelp of surprise.
"My Lord,"
the three ghosts answered her summons in unison.
"Kill everyone except for that woman. I have sothing to teach her. Spirit Realm," Chang Long ordered calmly. Devi-chan, Hisa-chan, and Alice-chan nodded and leapt into the fray with excitent. Each drew their signature weapons, obtained from the Tomb of Blades, and wielded them with impressive skill. Alice-chan, in particular, surprised Chang Long. She fought with such professionalism that Chang Long never knew was in her. Normally, Alice-chan would linger at the rear, waiting to catch prey that escaped Devi-chan and Hisa-chan to drain their blood into vials. But today, she was fighting with earnest resolve.
Before long, the battlefield was cleared of all but two players: Dus and Angie. Both appeared terrified of Chang Long, especially Angie, who cowered behind Dus, refusing to et Chang Long's gaze. Chang Long deactivated her Puppet Manipulation and Spirit Realm skills, then stepped forward toward the two remaining players.
"Hey, what's your profession!"
Dus asked boldly, trying to mask his fear.
"My profession deals with death,"
Chang Long replied curtly.
"A spirit wielder, huh? But just now, you used skills I've never seen before. Soone in our guild has a spirit-related profession too, but none of their skills look anything like yours."
Dus pressed on, clearly intrigued. Before facing his end, he was determined to understand what kind of player could summon spirits to fight in their stead without using a beast user's skill like puppet manipulation.
"You don't need to know. I'm tired of this. If the woman apologizes properly, I'll let you both go."
Chang Long replied with irritation. She had an appointnt with Siegfried today, and this nonsense was already threatening to make her late.
"What? You're the one at fault here. You stole Angie's item. You're the one who should apologize and return it, not go around killing my people like this!"
Dus shouted, his voice laced with anger. He could not believe the audacity of Chang Long to talk down to him like that.
"Who's the thief here? Why don't you ask Angie again?"
Chang Long said icily, casting a sharp glance at Angie, who shrank further behind Dus, trembling with fear. When Angie felt Chang Long's piercing gaze, she tried to hide even more.
Dus turned to Angie, confusion and doubt creeping onto his face. He had trusted her implicitly, but now her refusal to et his eyes was causing him to waver.
"Angie, what really happened here?"
"Uh… it's… it's a quest item, Dus. Super rare. I had to kill so many beasts before one finally dropped,"
Angie stamred, her voice barely above a whisper, still avoiding eye contact.
"What? Don't tell you're actually the one in the wrong!"
Dus exclaid, his voice ringing anger. He did not think that Angie would lie to him and drag him into attacking innocent players.
"Dus, I didn't do anything wrong. There's no rule against interfering in a fight. Besides, it's a quest item, and I've been looking for it forever. That guy just picked it up like it was nothing," Angie protested defensively, her tone shifting to justify her actions.
Angie stubbornly argued back, refusing to admit she was in the wrong even when cornered.
"I was attacking that beast first. Every polite player knows not to interfere in another's fight. You don't need any written rule to tell you that. Besides, I was on a quest too. How many beasts did you even kill before complaining about drop rates? I've been hunting for half a day just to find this one!"
the male player retorted after remaining silent for a long ti. Hearing this, Dus' face fell, while Angie glared at the man without a shred of remorse.
"What did you just say? Are you calling rude!"
She shouted back.
"Enough, Angie. Apologize to these two right now. And you'll also have to go back and apologize to the guild mbers who died because of your nonsense."
Dus snapped at Angie, his face flushed with anger.
"Dus!"
Angie protested, but seeing Dus's stern expression, she grudgingly relented. Reluctantly, she stepped forward to apologize as ordered by her guild leader. Before Angie could speak, a loud cheer erupted from behind.
Chang Long turned toward the sound and saw a large group of ard players heading in their direction. Judging by their hostile expressions and deanor, they were not here to make friends.
"The Doom Fla Guild. They're rumored to be an affiliate of the Doom Star Guild!"
Dus exclaid, stunned. Nearly all his guild mbers were currently waiting to respawn. If the Doom Fla Guild attacked now, he would be killed and banished from the city for sure.
"What now?"
Chang Long asked, confused.
"They're hunting small guilds to consolidate power. Unlike other guilds that form alliances. Rumor has it they're a subsidiary of the Doom Star Guild, though no one from Doom Star has ever confird it. Their mbers are all skilled players. You should leave—quickly. The ones they're after are likely ."
Dus explained bitterly, clearly frustrated at having trusted Angie's side of the story, which had led to this ss.
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Read 'Adventure World Online (AWO)' before anyone else with more chapters at sjinovel/en
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