Mick turned his head towards Ryder and nodded a little. Ryder knew what this meant and gave a slight nod in return before sprinting away. Mick then put his attention back on Izroth as a cold look invaded his eyes and an irritable smirk emerged on his face. He folded his arms and tilted his head back as if he was looking down on Izroth. "Good, good, I'm glad we've managed to meet again. Some people think that just because they have a bit of luck and strength, that they can do whatever they want. Heh, let me tell you noob, the second you came back to 'Opal Town' is the moment your fate was sealed. The captain of the 'Blue Oasis' will take care of you."
Izroth frowned when he saw how arrogant and confident Mick was acting. "It seems as though all realms have people with eyes who still refuse to see." he thought to himself and could only shake his head at this little act.
Izroth was already being generous by not taking further action against Mick and his group of trash, but now here he was creating trouble for himself.
When Tina saw the look on Izroth's face, she thought he was frightened by the idea of a captain from large guild like 'Blue Oasis' coming after him. "It's too late for regrets now. You should have known that this would be the only outcome from you crossing us. Of course, if you bow down right now and apologize we may be able to forgive you" a lovely smile blossomed on Tina's face, but behind that smile was an ice cold heart. Would she forgive Izroth if he apologized and bowed down? That just wasn't possible at all. There was too much enmity between them, she just wanted to see him beg for mercy and then crush all his hopes at escaping after he embarrassed himself.
Izroth blinked a few times while staring at the two of them and thought to himself, "These guys… Are they complete idiots?" he could not believe the words they were saying to him. Captain of the 'Blue Oasis'? Who the hell are they? Too late for regrets? Bow down and apologize for forgiveness? How could they be anything other than complete idiots! Morons! This entire situation reminded him of when he was a young cultivator in the seven realms just starting to make a name for himself. One day he was buying an item, then soon after ran into a random cultivator. He did not have any sort of backing and so that self-proclaimed genius cultivator thought he would be easily bullied out of the item he acquired. Let's just say that cultivator did not have a good ending…
"You know to be completely honest, I don't even remember your names. I had forgotten all about your insignificant existences. However, since you've been kind enough to remind me then let me remind both of you of something as well… There are certain people you can and can't afford to offend, but there are few who you should not even dream of offending." Izroth had already dealt with this kind of nonsense during his younger years as a cultivator on his path to the top. He did not care what kind of backer they had then and he doesn't care now. Whoever tries to block his path forward will be mercilessly removed, that is the path of cultivation.
Mick glared at Izroth with a cold expression, "It's fine, you don't have to remember our names. After today, you won't be able to think about anything else except what you could have done to prevent what's about to happen from taking place" Mick was trying to taunt Izroth into not running away. He knew how aggressive his personality was, so he decided to try and trick him and enrage him to get them to stay put long enough for Niflheim to arrive. Little did Mick know that Izroth never planned on running away to start with.
In the distance, Ryder could be seen walking behind someone in a respectful manner. He was giving the person in front directions to where Izroth was located. Behind that person was another player with a cold look on his face. The one in front was Niflheim and the other player with them was Olohas, who Mick originally told his "tragic" story to.
When Mick saw that Ryder was returning with Niflheim, he became much bolder and decided to make a spectacle of things. "Izroth! Now that a mighty captain of the 'Blue Oasis' guild is here, there is nowhere left for you to run!" Mick was shouting on purpose, trying to draw attention to them. Of course, when people heard the names 'Izroth' and the title 'Captain of the Blue Oasis', they couldn't help but be interested in what was going on.
"What's going on? Is Izroth going to fight against a captain from the 'Blue Oasis'? This is my first time actually seeing him… Is he insane though?"
"I think he has a good chance of winning. He did beat the first world boss and cleared a dungeon by himself! I don't think even a captain of 'Blue Oasis' could do something like that."
"Fool, don't you know? Izroth is not in any guild! That means that he's most likely a solo player with no support. No matter how strong he is, how can he go against 'Blue Oasis' who has thousands of players?"
The crowd was gathering nearby to see the events going on and talking amongst each other about who would win in a fight between Izroth and a 'Blue Oasis' captain.
Mick was very satisfied with the way things escalated. "That noob will never be able to show his face again after this humiliation…" Mick held back his laughter, he wanted to laugh out of joy from finally obtaining his revenge against Izroth.
Niflheim frowned when he saw that Mick was intentionally drawing a crowd in to witness what was going on. When he arrived, the first thing he noticed was a pair of eyes staring him down. Those eyes were ferocious, resembling that of a beast. It was Izroth sizing him up. "Oh? That doesn't seem like a coward who would sneak attack at all.." Niflheim thought to himself as he also took the time out to size up Izroth.
As Mick saw the two of them staring at each other, he tried to take this opportunity to instigate things. "Respectable captain Niflheim! This person here is Izroth, the one I told you all about who cowardly sneak attacked us and stole the first world boss from us. He's completely shameless!" Mick said raising his voice so all those around him could clearly hear the words he spoke.
The crowd started mumbling and whispering amongst each other.
"I never knew that Izroth was such a person, and to think I actually started to respect him."
"You idiot, can't you see that guy is obviously lying. I mean come on, wouldn't a coward had run away by now since it's a safe zone?"
"Huh? Who cares about that guy, I just want to see the captain of the 'Blue Oasis' and Izroth go at it. Besides, you guys have to be curious about his strength to clear a world boss and then a dungeon all alone right?"
Everyone had different opinions regarding the matter, but one thing was nearly the same throughout all of it. They wanted to see Izroth fight against Niflheim!
"How amusing.." Izroth said to himself before resting his hand on the hilt of his 'Nameless Blade'. "You say I'm a cowardly person who launches sneak attacks in order to win? Then come and fight me, all three of you together!" Izroth shouted loud enough for everyone to hear as he pointed to Mick, Ryder, and Tina.
All three of their faces turned extremely hideous. They understood how powerful Izroth was and stood no chance at all. That's precisely why they invited along a captain from the 'Blue Oasis' guild. Would they be stupid enough to toss aside their advantage over Izroth and let him have his way?
"You don't get any say here! You need to le-" Mick was speaking when he was suddenly interrupted by a voice behind him.
"Alright, that's enough!" Niflheim was the one who spoke and interrupted Mick in the middle of speaking. "It shouldn't be much of a problem for the three of you at once to take on the person who attacked you by surprise. This time, everything is fair and there are no surprise attacks." Niflheim had a cold and distant look in his eyes as he watched the events unfold before him. "You have no problem with that either, right?" he said looking towards Izroth with a much friendly expression than Mick and his friends.
Izroth stared at Niflheim for a bit before slightly nodding. It did not seem as though Niflheim was going to interfere. In fact, it even looked like he was pushing them straight towards Izroth to deal with as he saw fit.
Mick was a bit surprised when he heard Niflheim's response, he felt a cold shiver run down his back. "R-respectable captain… Such a shameless bastard does not deserve fairness, he should be punished and-" as Mick was trying to elegantly talk his way out of things, Olohas suddenly spoke out from behind Niflheim.
"Are you trying to question the judgment of my captain? You should choose your next words very carefully!" Olohas was already fuming with rage on the inside for even believing such a stupid story! Now his captain would question his judgment in the future and it may make it harder for him to advance further in the guild hierarchy. All because he was trying to do the right thing and impress his captain by showing his side of justice, but now he came off as an ignorant fool. How could he not be boiling with anger on the inside at Mick?
Mick swallowed back the rest of the words down his throat. Everything was okay, he still had the backing of the 'Blue Oasis'. They would step in and defend him if things got too out of control right? Izroth would not dare to kill them with Niflheim present unless he himself had a death wish. Yeah, that was it… Why was he trying to question the judgment of a 'Blue Oasis' captain?
Mick glanced at Ryder and Tina before making a small gesture towards them. "Alright, we accept your challenge! It's too let to beg for mercy, and regret your actions now."
Izroth had a smirk on his face, looking down on Mick and his group in disdain. Trash like that did not even warrant his attention, but some people could only learn by firsthand experience. He then started to walk out of the safe zone and towards the beginning open area in front of the 'Willowed Forest'. Niflheim, Olohas, Mick, Ryder, and Tina all followed after Izroth. A large portion of the crowd decided to follow along as well since they already spent so much time here they wanted to see someone fight at the very least. PvP did not happen much this early on in the game, so to witness it happening out in the open like this was quite rare at the moment. As soon as Izroth arrived outside of the safe zone, a system alert went off.
Ding! Player Izroth has left the safe zone and can now be attacked!
Izroth removed his 'Nameless Blade' from its sheath and sat it lazily upon his right shoulder with a carefree expression on his face.
Mick and his group also left the safe zone and as soon as they did Ryder went into stealth mode, prepared to battle. Niflheim and Olohas stood at the very edge of the safe zone, one could not fully tell if they were inside or outside of the safe zone at that moment.
"You three should know something very important… Before wanting revenge, you first have to possess the strength to take it" Izroth said looking completely indifferent. He understood that if he did not display an overwhelming amount of strength, idiotic people may continue to think of him as an easy target to bully. So he would show them, all of them, an overwhelming level of strength.
