As soon as Draco read the notification, the scenario immediately shifted back to the default super mini small world room. His expression was horrifying to look at. A black aura rose all over his body and blasted out, overturning almost everything inside as his rage flared up.
Even Roma, who trusted and revered Draco so potently, started shivering when she felt the rawness of his anger. It was white-hot and immense, unlike his usual calm and composed self.
Qiong Qi had a look of disgust and shock on his face as well, his playfulness was gone as his eyes were locked onto the announcement which popped up before him. Thick-headed and shameless he may be, yet he knew better than to play around at that moment.
Draco remained like that for over 5 minutes before he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He wordlessly blinked into Riveting Night's room.
Her place looked like a hurricane had passed through.
Riveting Night was screaming in pure rage as she had destroyed everything around her, her eyes glowed with the fires of madness and hatred. When Draco appeared behind her, she slowly turned around and stared at him silently.
Draco sighed and walked to Riveting Night before hugging her. Riveting Night fell into his embrace, grasping his midsection tightly. Draco likewise held her close as they felt each other's dark emotions.
When they released each other, they felt much better. However, they were still greatly angered by the new event, so they didn't talk too much.
Instead, Draco sent a message to the channel in the Guild Text Chat.
"All players of Umbra, convene in the Guild Assembly Room in 6 hours. -Draco"
The various members of Umbra, who were still shocked by this global event, suddenly saw the message from the Guildmaster and knew that something was up. As such, they each dropped whatever they were doing and rushed back.
Those in dungeons canceled their runs and those in the midst of quests chose to abandon them halfway.
The members of Umbra did so without hesitation. Even if those quests were Uncommon or above, they still resolutely canceled them, to heed their Guildmaster's summons.
While they were on their way, Draco returned to his room with Riveting Night. They both went into the bath and soaked themselves in the hot spring.
Roma also joined them and offered to wash Eva's back. Draco just languidly bobbed in the warm water as he watched the two n.a.k.e.d women clean each other genially.
His lips were curled into a satisfied smirk at the sight before him. It was exactly what he wanted to see for the rest of his life. It was for this he fought every day, so calm moments could occur without interruption.
When Eva and Roma cleaned each other thoroughly and returned to the hot springs, they washed themselves for a bit before they pulled Draco out.
The fellow laughed and allowed them to clean his n.a.k.e.d body with their gentle and soft palms.
Perhaps sensing the calm before the storm, Roma didn't try anything s.e.x.u.a.l or lewd. She noticed that despite the two of them seeming genial, there was something brewing that would explode soon.
As such, Roma behaved calm and composed.
Soon, the trio finished their bath and noticed that at some point, Qiong Qi had gone missing. Roma expressed worry about this initially, but Draco just waved his hands nonchalantly. Qiong Qi was an undying beast and must have had his own plans for what would happen next, so it was all up to him.
Draco and Riveting Night appeared in the Guild Assembly Room a few minutes later. The 6-hour deadline still wasn't over, yet every member of Umbra was present in the room, and had been quietly chatting using the Voice Chat in order not to cause a disturbance.
When they saw Draco and Riveting Night appear, they went silent and waited for them to speak. The Guildmaster and Vice-Guildmaster scanned the room and after confirming that all were in attendance started this meeting.
"You all have seen the announcement for the Abyss event. I can clearly see that you all must be wondering what kind of event it is for there to be a sudden summons right after we just had one a few hours ago." Draco began.
"This event promises to be a terrible one, as you can see from the fact that it was announced three times. One for the area, one for the continent and one for the world. The Abyss Event, therefore, qualifies as a World Quest."
All the members of Umbra held their breaths as their minds trembled. They weren't as adept as Draco or Riveting Night when it came to the deeper and more obscure rules of Boundless, but they could use their own reasoning to derive some conclusions.
The horrendous fight with the Metal Dragon, the fight that had ruined so many Rare and below guilds, had only been an Area Quest at the Kingdom level. This meant that should worse come to worse, the NPCs of the kingdom could eventually handle the fallout.
What would a World Quest be like and how could they survive it?
"From the information we gathered, the Abyss Event should be a semi-apocalyptic event where various creatures of the Null Realm invade the world of the material. These entities are the inverse of all matter, and are similar to anti-matter in a way."
"According to the lore, magic, swords, arrows and the like do not harm them. However, their attacks do fatal damage to us. You won't lose your account or face any penalties the first few times, but enough deaths under a Void Monster will render you crippled, as your cellular structure will end up corroded."
Draco sighed as he paused here, letting Riveting Night take over.
"The only way to harm them is to use weapons and staves made of a special material called… Aether. Aether is a condensed form of Worldly Energy that is usually presented in the form of a crystal."
"Fortunately, our guild acquired 200 of them, plus an extra 150 as tribute from our allies Kamisuo and Desecrators. Draco will spend some time refining them into your weapons, so submit them all to Sublime Notion after this meeting."
Her voice was genial, despite her simmering rage, and her tone suddenly shifted to reflect that.
"We suspect the Abyss Key to be a very important item for this event. It should us access a cache of weapons and equipment built for taking down creatures of the Null Realm. As such, we must acquire it at all costs."
The members of Umbra felt their breathing still as they understood what Riveting Night was referring to. Her next words proved their assumptions to be true.
"Umbra will initiate a Guild War against Myriad Cards and Lorebinders!" Riveting Night roared.
The members of Umbra roared back as they stamped their feet. "War! War! War!"
Draco turned to Sublime Notion while Riveting Night hyped up the members of Umbra. "Sublime, after you collect all weapons and armor of our guild members for me, contact Gentle Flower and Noble Soul, informing them of our resolution and the details of this event."
Sublime Notion nodded with a serious expression as she walked over to the Five Generals in order to coordinate everything. Draco then turned to Yui.
"Little Sister, go and inform your own members of everything as well, and let them bring their equipment to me. I shall help upgrade their stuff as well."
"En, I'll be back soon, Big Brother-in-law," Yui responded resolutely. With a City Portal Scroll, she quickly left.
Draco waited for Riveting Night to share the plans for the Guild War while he himself went to the upgraded Guild Menu to start the movement.
｢ Name: Umbra
Tier: 2
Reputation: 27000
Members: 3000
Accolades: 25
Properties: 21
– Guild Bank
– Guild Text Chat
– Guild Store
– Guild Warehouse
– Guild Arena
– Guild Voice Chat
– Guild Wars
– Permissions｣
Umbra had really gone up from a Tier 1 guild with only 7 members, 3 accolades and 4 properties to this monstrous power that owned many lots – most of them in Vita Settlement – and with over 20 accolades – which came from First Clears and any other notable announcement/achievement – showing their excellent growth.
Still, Umbra had quite a way to go. Things were relatively easy in the beginning but got harder later on. This fact wasn't unique to RPG games but also applied to life itself.
Draco opened the Guild War menu and was prompted for the basic details, which were the target(s) for the war, the reason for the war, the reward for victory, the terms of the war and the selected mode of battle.
Naturally, he chose Myriad Cards and Lorebinders for the first, he clarified the reason as 'to punish the insolent', the reward was the Abyss Key and the terms of the war were only that both sides could use whatever they wanted.
He left the mode of battle to default.
In other words, this would be a true Guild War, featuring an epic battle between two sides who would fight to be the last one to survive.
On paper, Umbra were the underdogs, as they had only 3000 members – of which 500 were Tradeskill players – while Myriad Cards and Lorebinders were two guilds, with the former housing 300,000 members already, while the latter had 267,000 members.
Was this a lot?
No, it was frighteningly few. When almost 7 billion humans swarmed the game, some guilds would reach hundreds of millions of members. What was 300,000 compared to that?
Not to mention that Myriad Cards and Lorebinders were seen to be on the same level as Kamisuo and Desecrators currently, which were only one step below Umbra.
The truth was, this was false. Kamisuo and Desecrators would become Divine Guilds – or higher, now that they were in Draco's good books – while Myriad Cards and Lorebinders would become Legendary Guilds that were half a step into Divine.
This was what occurred in the previous timeline and would probably occur in this one too.
Compared to a guild like Umbra that was half a step into whatever lay above Divine, they fell short and those with discerning eyes could recognize this.
Draco forwarded the application and Joker, as well as Happy Scholar, received it immediately.
They were still in the Plains of Deriam, standing on the only place free from Destruction Energy, which was the hillock, while watching the spatial tear that the Eyes of Caelo had created.
The two had watched their players struggle to traverse the mist, as many accounts had been crippled in order to get closer and investigate.
They had lost over 100,000 members each at the least, which greatly weakened them, but the reward was worth it when they saw the spatial tear flash when a member of their guilds finally reached it after using the lives of many to pave the way.
They saw the announcement for the event and realized that the player who touched the spatial tear was blasted back to where they stood, with a pitch-black key in his hand.
The player was a member of Myriad Cards guild and he presented the key to the two Guildmasters.
｢Abyss Key – Event Item
Rank: Legendary
Effects:
Passive 1 – Abyss Absorption: The possessor of the Abyss Key can Absorb Abyssal Energy and convert it into Aetheric Energy.
Passive 2 – Abyss Protection: The wielder of the Abyss Key and his followers will be immune to the negative effects of Abyssal Energy.
Active 1 – Abyssal Trove: Activating this skill transports the user and his followers to the Abyssal Trove. The Key will shatter after this is activated.｣
During the time Draco and Riveting Night had been bathing and speaking to their guild members, they had sat down to discuss how they would share the spoils.
Joker planned to divide the spoils with Lorebinders 45% while he took 55%. After all, the one to get the key had been one of his guild members. Happy Scholar agreed that he should have a higher share, but proposed that it should be 51% Myriad Cards and 49% Lorebinders.
Lorebinders had a smaller roster than Myriad Cards but lost almost the same number of members, so their overall damage had been heavier.
Joker agreed that this was proper, but he continued to haggle playfully. Happy Scholar was all too happy to play along with Joker, so they bounced about percentages between their two suggestions margins.
That was until they were hit with the war application from Umbra.
After that, they froze and became silent for a long time. They both had ashen faces as they looked like they had swallowed shit.
Happy Scholar did not look happy any more and Joker also no longer had a mind to joke around. They both realized that they had courted disaster this time.
Unlike Draco and Eva, they had no idea what the Abyss Event was or what the Abyss Key could do aside from what it stated in its skills. They thought the active skill would be a waste since the passives looked great, so they had held onto it.
Now, they would have to give it up.
With the application being launched, the Key had immediately been seized from them. As a possible reward for the war, how could they keep their grimy hands on it?
Wouldn't it be funny if they just used it and ruined the item? If the challenged party could just get rid of the possible reward at any point, what would be the point of a Guild War?
"I think we should concede. There is no way we can fight Umbra, who could kill that Metal Dragon when so many guilds got routed. It would be childish arrogance to think we can win without some help that is stronger than a Metal Dragon." Happy Scholar stated gloomily.
He might not be as smart as Gentle Flower, but he wasn't too far off, his only weakness was that he was too soft. Gentle Flower and he had the gumption to assess situations, with their analytical abilities being almost at the same level, but Happy Scholar avoided great risks while Gentle Flower embraced them. Although this sometimes backfired, overall Kamisuo becoming a Divine Guild spoke for itself.
"I… agree. Fighting Umbra is not wise. This event does not seem to be simple and it's best we use this to gain favor with them. By conceding and handing over the Abyss Key, we should be able to ride their coattails and achieve high scores in the event." Joker concluded as his eyes flashed.
After all, any fool could see that Umbra were the ones who made winning the previous event possible. The other guilds who partook only had their guild leaders survive and the external guild's Guild Leader only survived due to her close relationship with Umbra's Vice-Guildmaster.
If only they had stayed around and supported Umbra at the time… Who cared about their whole guild being annihilated? As long as they remained to collect the rewards, they could easily reimburse the losses!
As such, they both nodded and selected 'no' when prompted to accept the terms of the war.
｢System to Guild Announcement
Myriad Cards and Lorebinders have chosen to reject the Guild War. As such, the losses incurred in the case of defeat will be reimbursed by 20%.｣
When Joker and Happy Scholar saw this, they froze in place for more than a few seconds once again. They stared at the screen before them with incomprehension, wondering if it was a BUG.
They had rejected the war, so why wasn't it being handled as they had forfeited? Why did they still have to partake in the war but with such a handicap?
Joker sighed as he came down from his shock. He then turned to Happy Scholar and said with a heavy tone: "Things have escaped our control. It seems we can't avoid fighting Umbra regardless… As such, I suggest we go all out!"
Happy Scholar breathed lightly as he nodded. "I will bring out everything Lorebinders have kept hidden since we started the game. I expect Myriad Cards will do the same?"
………….
Draco smirked derisively when he saw that they both rejected the application. He didn't care about their thought process in doing so. All he knew was that his unyielding rage had to be vented out properly if he wanted a peaceful mind.
Since Myriad Cards and Lorebinders had foolishly chosen to reject, the powers and decisions which should have been theirs were passed over to Draco. If the two guilds had a 10% chance of victory before, they had slashed it in half with this decision of theirs.
He chose the battlefield to be a zonal area called Fleeting Forest, which was a level 40 -50 Field Zone. The monsters there were similar to those in the Wood Monster Army, featuring Shamblers, Assassin Vines and Killer Trees.
Dryads, outside of the Unique Quest, were far too rare to be in every forest zone.
Once that was done, he declared for the Guild war to begin in 7 days.
After that, he closed the Guild War menu and headed to the Guild Shop menu. He directly took back all the Uncommon items and left the Rare ones behind.
Since he needed to sell items, the Uncommon ones should fetch him quite a bit. He did this without worry because he wanted to push the members of Umbra to possess a certain standard, which was Rare items at the minimum.
Only a guild as decadent as Umbra could think of items that would cost 50 gold at the minimum to be barely enough to show off their prestige.
Riveting Night had begun lecturing them about the theory aspect of Guild Battles. Her focus lay on large-scale conflicts and Guild War tactics.
Draco left her to it as he called Akainu and Jada to the Common Room, where they sat on a couch with drinks in hand. Since food was now necessary, the Common Room saw an increase in options. Food and drink of the highest quality were present here for horrendously low prices compared to outside.
Draco focused on Akainu. "Take these items and place them in the Intermediary Trade Center under your name. Set the prices to the system default and all the proceeds are to go into the group account."
Akainu took the items and nodded. "No problem. I'll inform you when the money arrives then."
Draco nodded and then turned to Jada. "My beautiful and fiery Jada, could you please predict the winning chance for Umbra against Myriad Cards and Lorebinders?"
Jada was pleased by Draco's praise and harrumphed with an upturned nose. "Of course, I can. Since it's you who asked, I shall make an exception."
While Jada began her clairvoyant predictions, Draco saw another screen pop up before him, with a new event.
｢Sturgehaven Kingdom Regional Announcement
Guild Umbra has initiated a Guild War against Guilds Myriad Cards and Lorebinders! A new sub-event has been created, The First Guild War!｣
｢Cario Continent International Announcement
Guild Umbra has initiated a Guild War against Guilds Myriad Cards and Lorebinders! A new sub-event has been created, The First Guild War!｣
｢Boundless System-wide Announcement
Guild Umbra has initiated a Guild War against Guilds Myriad Cards and Lorebinders! A new sub-event has been created, The First Guild War!｣
