The members of Sleeping Gardenia did not hesitate to follow through with Shao Qingge's orders as the melee users charged forward, and the ranged players fired off a volley of skills!
Reilei and her party were surprised by the sudden appearance of this third party. However, a sense of relief washed over them. Thankfully, the new arrivals did not seem to be their enemies.
"Ha! Serves them right! Getting a taste of their own medicine!" Hidden Pulse sneered.
Phoenix released a long sigh. Her mana was running low, and she was only confident in holding out for another 10 seconds or so. If that group did not show up when they did, then their party would have been in a perilous situation!
"Let's not sit back and let them have all the fun. It's time we take out some of our frustration! Daring to bully us, hmph, we won't let them off easy!" Two Tons stated as he brandished his shield.
With Two Tons leading the charge, Reilei and her party joined the battle to clean up the rest of the Headhunter Syndicate players.
"Xiao Liang!" Reilei called out. At the same time, Xiao Liang jumped off Reilei's shoulder and latched onto her right arm that was wielding the summoner's orb. After some time recuperating, although he could not resume his human form, Xiao Liang was finally able to use other skills.
"Amalgamate!" Xiao Liang's body glowed as Reilei's arm abruptly burst into blue and violet colored flames! Simultaneously, the summoner's orb sunk into the palm of her hand.
A few moments later, when the flames died down, Xiao Liang had vanished, and Reilei's physical appearance had been somewhat altered. Reilei's arm was covered in the purplish-blue scales with scaly spikes, and her hand had become a claw. The far right side of her face was covered in beautiful silver scales as her right eye's pupil and color matched that of Xiao Liang's.
Love Swan, one of the Headhunter Syndicate players, saw that Reilei was up to something suspicious. Therefore, she prepared to cast a spell in an attempt to interrupt her actions. But, while Reilei was there one moment, when Love Swan blinked, she had disappeared into thin air!
"Where did she-" Love Swan questioned, but before she could even finish her thought process, she found that everything around her had turned gray, and the world was suddenly upside down. Then, for some reason, she could not move her body no matter how much she tried!
"Eh? I died? How?!" Love Swan soon realized that it was not the world that was upside down, but her! She had been killed! However, she did not understand when or how it happened!
Unfortunately for the Headhunter Syndicate side, Love Swan was not the only one to experience this bizarre situation. Player after player from the Headhunter Syndicate had their sights grayed and found themselves in an upside-down world—they too had been unknowingly eliminated.
"Oh? Gladi, are you seeing this?" Shao Qingge said in a slightly excited tone.
"Seeing it? I can barely follow it." Breezing Gladiolus responded. She had accompanied Shao Qingge to ensure that this was not a trap set out by the Headhunter Syndicate. After all, her class specialized in widespread detection and player management.
Like Shao Qingge, Breezing Gladiolus also lacked an offensive presence. Therefore, the two of them maintained a safe distance and provided support from the rear. As an added bonus, they also had a better view of the battlefield than most others.
"Ah, that's right. You haven't received a Five Cycles Pill yet, have you?" Shao Qingge said.
"I'm not exactly high up on the priority list to receive one. Plus, buying one myself would be a waste with my class since it's not a necessity. Unlike your class, mine relies solely on concentration more than anything." Breezing Gladiolus responded.
"Hehe, well, there are some interesting players in that party. Summer Grass was leading the party who attended this event, right? Where is she now?" Shao Qingge asked.
"She has already joined the fight. Should I pull her out?" Breezing Gladiolus replied.
"Yeah, do it. I have some questions I want to ask her about that party over there." Shao Qingge stated with a grin.
Breezing Gladiolus glanced over in her Shao Qingge's direction. She had seen that look from her many times—someone had caught her attention!
One had to remember, Shao Qingge's rank in Sleeping Gardenia, while not the highest, was not low by any means. After all, she was one of the few core members of the guild who was not assigned to the Lotus Guard under Valkyria. In the end, Sleeping Gardenia was one of the top ten guilds in RML. So, when someone caught the eyes of one of its high ranking members, it could only mean good things for that person!
Breezing Gladiolus reached towards the air as a thin azure string appeared before her that led deep into the crowd of fighting players.
"Azure Drawing Twine." Breezing Gladiolus grabbed the azure string and pulled on it. A few moments later, something—or rather, someone, came soaring out of the battlefield and towards Breezing Gladiolus!
In less than a breath, a player had found themselves facing Shao Qingge and Breezing Gladiolus. This player's name was Summer Grass, and she was the party leader of the Sleeping Gardenia group who participated in the Spirit Cave event. After she and her party were eliminated by the players from the Headhunter Syndicate, Summer Grass immediately reported the incident. It was common for guilds to have small disputes; however, the Headhunter Syndicate had gone too far in their bullying. If it were just a single party, then Summer Grass could only blame the weakness of her own party. But, they were ambushed by thirty players! Naturally, Sleeping Gardenia would not take this slap to the face lying down and responded in full force!
Summer Grass blinked in confusion as she was abruptly pulled out in the middle of a fight. However, she knew that this was the work of Breezing Gladiolus and did not dare show any displeasure to someone who ranked much higher than her. Nevertheless, she was a bit disappointed that she did not get to slaughter those detestable Headhunter Syndicate players after what they did to her.
As if sensing her thoughts, Shao Qingge smiled and said, "Don't be too disappointed. I asked Gladi to pull you here because I wanted to ask you what you know about that party." Shao Qingge pointed towards Two Tons and the others.
"Ah! That's the party with the cute summon and weird summoner! To be honest, I was shocked to see that they were still alive and fighting. But, it kinda makes sense when I really think about it." Summer Grass replied with a thoughtful expression.
"Oh? Explain." Shao Qingge said.
"Well, you see…" Summer Grass went on to explain what happened during the first part of the event. By the time she finished speaking, Shao Qingge was even more interested in that player! That player was, of course, Reilei.
"To think such a summoner actually exists—I never heard of anything like it. How fun! Hahaha!" Shao Qingge squirmed from excitement.
"Little Devil! Mark my words! My Headhunter Syndicate will not let you off!" Dead Fire yelled as he struggled to keep his life! His mighty group had gone from thirty players to less than a dozen before he knew it. At the moment, he was fuming with rage!
"You're still alive? Don't think your threats will work against me. Even if your guild leader were here himself, I would not show him any face. If you mess with my Sleeping Gardenia, then there's only one end for you." Shao Qingge's eyes turned cold as she looked at Dead Fire with contempt.
"You-!" Before Dead Fire could even respond, he was stabbed with a sword from his back, and his life came to a swift end as he dissipated into countless particles. The Sleeping Gardenia fighting forced that arrived was simply too overwhelming!
A few moments later, every player from the Headhunter Syndicate had been successfully eliminated—not one had escaped!
"Gladi, can you bring 'that' player here?" Shao Qingge inquired.
Breezing Gladiolus frowned and responded, "I should be able to. But isn't it easier just to call them over?"
"Yes~ But there's something I want to test for myself." Shao Qingge stated with an innocent expression on her face.
Breezing Gladiolus shook her head. She did not understand Shao Qingge's intention. Nevertheless, she decided to play along. Just as she did with Summer Grass, Breezing Gladiolus used her Azure Drawing Twine on Reilei. But, something happened that caused a look of disbelief to appear on Breezing Gladiolus' face.
"My azure twine—it snapped…!" Breezing Gladiolus exclaimed. She never had her azure twine snapped so effortlessly. But, that was not all that happened. Breezing Gladiolus' mana that had been practically at 100% had been reduced to 80% out of nowhere!
"I see, so my eyes weren't playing tricks on me earlier." Shao Qingge said. Earlier during the fight, Shao Qingge witnessed some magic spells being deflected off of Reilei whenever it made contact with her right arm! A skill that could deflect multiple spells had to be a high A-rank or even an S-ranked skill!
As for Reilei, she did not even feel Breezing Gladiolus' azure twin make contact with her!
"Everyone, pick up the loot! But, be sure to leave some for our hardworking friends over there!" Shao Qingge ordered. Not too long after giving out orders, Shao Qingge approached Reilei's party, who had regrouped once the fight ended.
Reilei's appearance had returned to normal. As for Xiao Liang, he was soundly asleep on Reilei's shoulder.
"Looks like we have some company." Shuyi said.
Everyone in the group turned their attention towards the approaching Shao Qingge and the accompanying Breezing Gladiolus. They were nervous; after all, just because they fought against the other group did not mean that they held good intentions. But, seeing that Shao Qingge had only come over with just one person instead of a full squad of people made them feel somewhat at ease.
But, what none of them expected was the words that immediately left Shao Qingge's mouth when she stopped in front of them.
"You—how would you like to join Sleeping Gardenia?" Shao Qingge said as she pointed forward.
Everyone followed the direction of Shao Qingge's finger and noticed that it was pointing directly at Reilei!
Reilei blinked a few times before looking around. Was she talking to her?
"So, how about it?" Shao Qingge asked, getting straight to the point.
The players from Reilei's party were stunned! She was receiving a personal invitation to join a top guild like Sleeping Gardenia? If she accepted, her future in RML would be limitless! One had to know that this kind of opportunity was something that most players would kill to obtain!
After all, what player did not dream of joining a top guild and soaring to the top of RML?
But, Reilei seemed somewhat embarrassed to answer the question. Still, she managed to work up the nerve to say what was on her mind.
"Um, what's a Sleeping Gardenia?" Reilei asked with a helpless smile.
Everyone nearly coughed up blood after Reilei asked that question and stared at her in bewilderment. How could she not know of a famous guild like Sleeping Gardenia?! Unless one lived under a rock in RML, such a thing was unimaginable!
…
Three days later…
Izroth was currently on the fifth floor of his Mystical Realm Palace. The decor was average, and there was nothing too elaborate, except the bed that sat towards the middle-back area of the room. At the moment, this bed was occupied by a sleeping child with flame-colored hair along with slightly longer and pointed ears. It was the young Trephasia Izroth, and his party found in the Millennial Veiled Oasis!
In just three days, his Mystical Realm Palace had expanded from a two-floor establishment to a five-floor establishment! However, the fifth floor was an unexpected last-minute addition.
'It's already been nine days in-game, and she still hasn't awakened. Is this supposed to happen?'
