The earth was quaking.
Although many citizens had managed to escape the city thanks to the instructions from newbie Players, many could not make it out in time, and were beginning to panic right now.
“Calm down! Everybody, please calm down!” Nala tried her best to set the crowd at ease. “My people will try to buy time, none of you have to squeeze. This will only make things worse!”
And yet, no one heard her.
With everyone only caring about running away, why would they listen to a young girl? Hence, a figure descended from the air, promptly knocking several brutes leading to the charge into the ground or to the nooks on the street. The movement was as ferocious as it was intimidating, and it appeared to have been done more than once.
“You could tell us if you want to die right here, right now. I’ll grant your wish!” Simba roared at the crowd.
Nana looked at him worriedly, afraid that his heavy-handed behavior would only cause retaliation.
The truth, however, proved to be the exact opposite.
While the young girl had kindly persuaded the crowd failed, the pressure of Simba’s swift and decisive iron fists had instead forced them to queue up tamely to leave in an orderly manner. Aside from the few thuggish exceptions, the citizens had become so amicable that there wasn’t even anger in their eyes, and appeared much settled than before.
What was going on? Nala was left a little puzzled.
“The blind and the deaf are not many, so there is no keeping the drama outside secret from them.”
Simba then took some time to offer an explanation, seemingly having seen through Nala’s confusion. “In such a situation, you would have to be harsher the direr things were. If us leaders are too soft and scared, they would think that things are even more out of control, but if you are harsh, they would think that we still have the strength to spare despite the danger to maintain order and therefore calm down.”
“I see…” Nala watched her former playmate, looking as if she didn’t really understand.
Still, it had been just half a day, but the air around Simba had changed considerably. As the person in charge to lead the other newbie Players in evacuating the citizens of Crookes, he was changing and growing in the process.
In Nana’s eyes, even though his level would never catch up to first-rate Players, Simba could ease everyone’s minds just by standing there. His leadership stature did not lose out to the first-rate Players who moved heaven and earth, and perhaps only the duke’s heir, Angora Faust would match him in the entire God of Games.
No wonder the God of Games would suddenly assign such a quest. Could he have seen through Simba’s talent aside from acknowledging Simba’s ideal? He really was the God of Games!
(Xi Wei who was multitasking in his divine kingdom sneezed, his ball form wrinkling.)
Nonetheless, Simba’s growth was limited, and he certainly couldn’t stop the ensuing turn of events.
As everyone watched in astonishment, the city of Crookes rose to its feet!
It was not some bizarre metaphor. Three pairs of colossal legs built from stone and metal which resembled spider legs were extending from both ends of the city.
The legs hence propped up the city-or indeed something beneath Crookes so that it could stand up. When the entire city eventually stopped rising into the air, the Players who had some spare time noticed that the spider legs had quickly shrunk beneath the city. And when seen from the distance, the upper half of Mount Meredith had turned completely into a tortoise of titanic proportions. Not only did it carry the city on its back, its head was the size of a hill!
And the monster that had chomped the Tunnel Eye Serpent in two was the tortoises’s head!
“Woah. So that’s the true face of the high elven ruins!?”
Edward observed the monster of unmatched size while riding the Red Eyes Black Dragon he summoned, finding his perception of size crumbling On the Player forums, Eleena had already revealed what she knew, which meant that every Player was now aware that the ‘high elven ruins’—their objective for coming to Crookes was in the ground beneath it.
That being said, they did not expect the ground beneath to flip over and one ginormous mountain tortoise. What even is this setting?
Even the typically quick-witted Edward was left dumbfounded.
“Edward, where is Gou Dan?” Joe asked from beneath Edward’s dragon.
He had tried his best to fight the tremors as the tortoise got up, but still ended up tripping more than a few times.
“I think he went off to hit the tortoise’s head…” Edward scowled as he glanced at where Gou Dan was heading.
His specialty being agility, Gou Dan had scaled a good portion of the tortoise’s neckbut the behemoth appeared to feel an itch in its neck just then and shook it a little, throwing Gou Dan off itself and leaving him to vanish into the rolling clouds of dust in its wake.
And when he saw Gou Dan’s name turn gray in the party display, Edward knew that he was definitely dead…
But just as Edward was about to inherit his will and fly over to the tortoise’s head to start some trouble or at least wash its head with some black dragon flames, he noticed that the undead elf was standing atop it, watching everything else with a blank gaze.
Could that thing be controlling the tortoise? Edward thought then.
Then, even as he steered his dragon towards it, he was forced to retreat as the undead unleashed a cone of ice before he could get closer.
Edward has exceedingly high elemental immunity a Player who had surpassed the threshold of level 40, thereby making his way into the grand domain of level 50. Even so, the resistance buff that his items and class possess wasn’t effective against the undead elf’s frost magic!
And was that really ice?
Edward then understood in his disbelief: The undead elf was more than a little troublesome than he had expected.
Hence, he collected himself and his underestimation against it, and began to observe it carefully.
With that, its stats naturally showed up over its head.
(Undead high elf, The Last Crypter, level 48]
“Its level is lower than mine… elite, or maybe a Boss template? Or could it be class advantage?”
Edward hence began to hover above the tortoise’s head like a fly, attempting to find an opening for an ambush.
Weirdly, however, the elf didn’t bother itself with Edward the fly. It instead kept standing over the tortoise’s head, watching the skies as it persistently muttered something…
