"My sins? You dare to barge into the area belonging to my Sage Falls and talk about my sins?!" Slayer shouted as he glared at Wang Qiang. So what if he was one of Cross Haven's Five Great Generals? In Slayer's eyes, such a title was meaningless before him.
"Looks like he still wants to play ignorant of his actions. Well, that's fine by me. There may have been a bit of mercy left if you just told the truth but... Oh, who am I kidding? There was never any room for mercy to begin with. You'll know the heavy price of making enemies with my Cross Haven." Zhang Jie said as he pointed his spear towards Slayer.
"Zhang Jie...!" Slayer did not notice Zhang Jie at first, but it was safe to say that he was someone Slayer did not wish to meet right now. The last thing Slayer expected was for another top-level member from Cross Haven to come here. This would further complicate things as it meant Cross Haven had sent more players here than he anticipated.
"Good, very good! I didn't know that Cross Haven was filled with a bunch of dishonorable scum!" Slayer spoke to try and buy some time to figure out how to handle this situation.
Since the seventh wave had already begun, the main forces of Sage Falls were spread thin to cover more ground and earn more points. Therefore, unless they found a way to regroup, they would be overrun and defeated with relative ease.
However, even if they could regroup, the odds were stacked against them. The one thing that Slayer failed to understand was how this happened. He did not antagonize any guild besides Hypers Symphony.
As for Cross Haven, even though they were allies with Hypers Symphony for this event, he did not think that they would actually go so far to assist them. But, what truly bothered him was that Blue Oasis who was supposed to be fighting against Cross Haven was instead assisting them with their assault on his Sage Falls guild.
Furthermore, Hollow Tempo who he had absolutely no contact with decided to join in on the attack as well.
"Dishonorable scum?" Wang Qiang stared coldly at Slayer. He had the audacity to call Cross Haven dishonorable scum after everything he did?
"Your skin is truly thick without equal, Slayer. Enough words, you and your Sage Falls will perish here!" Zhang Jie said as he charged directly towards Slayer.
"If you think that my Sage Falls is so easy to overcome, then you're highly mistaken!" Slayer responded in an enraged tone of voice as he engaged in combat with Zhang Jie. However, it was clear as day that although Slayer was a top-level skilled player, Zhang Jie was in another league of his own by comparison.
Zhang Jie's spear danced in the air at great speed, causing afterimages of the spearhead to form. Three strikes crashed into Slayer's body and sent him flying back. Zhang Jie widened his legs and stood strong as his spear was aimed locked onto Slayer.
"Boss! Protect the boss!" One of the nearby players from Sage Falls shouted. Soon after, a group of players from Sage Falls rushed over, however, they were intercepted by Wang Qiang and some of the other members from Cross Haven.
"We'll entertain you." Wang Qiang said as he brandished his sword and then pushed forward with his shoulder while kicking off his back foot. His shield slammed into one of his opponent's bodies and knocked them back a great distance.
A one-sided slaughter took place as four top guilds were simply too much for Sage Falls to handle alone.
A few moments later, the only member of Sage Falls remaining was Slayer himself. Although the other top guilds did not bother chasing after those who ran away, Hollow Tempo was ruthless. They chased down every single player from Sage Falls who tried to run away and made sure they met with a swift death.
Cling! Cling!
Zhang Jie was still facing off against Slayer, however, it could not even be called a battle at this point. Zhang Jie was toying with Slayer who had long since been blinded by pure rage. In fact, he even failed to notice that he was the last remaining member of Sage Falls left in this area!
"Zhang Jie, we must return soon before our guild leader worries. Finish this fight." Wang Qiang said.
"You're no fun, Wang Qiang." Zhang Jie parried a vicious and thoughtless blow from Slayer as his spear swept cleanly across his neck.
"You... All of you will pay! All of you!" Slayer said just before his body fell over and dissipated. One could tell from the tone of his voice that nothing but hatred was on his mind. Deep down inside, Slayer was already plotting his revenge.
After Slayer was eliminated, everyone met up to discuss a few things.
"Did anyone see Reaper?" Dark Suffice said with a slight hint of rage in his voice. Although he felt a bit better after wiping away so many Sage Falls guild members, he did not manage to locate the main culprit he wanted to get his hands on, Reaper.
However, no one there had seen Reaper during that entire exchange. It was possible that Reaper was still away and taking care of other tasks.
"Hmph, he won't hide from us so easily! Hollow Tempo, we're leaving!" Dark Suffice said without even bothering to give anyone a proper farewell.
Wang Qiang shook his head as he watched Dark Suffice and the members of Hollow Tempo journey away. "I can understand his anger, but if he fights Reaper with his current state of mind, then based on the rumors I heard his chance for success is extremely low."
"I want to thank you again, General Wang Qiang, as well as Cross Haven for coming to our aid in a time of need. It is good to see the members of Blue Oasis as well, Captain Niflheim, Captain Minus." Wang Ping said with a friendly smile on his face.
"We'll be heading back to our sector. There is still a bit of time before the end of the seventh wave, we should make the most of it." Wang Ping gave a polite goodbye before he and the members of Hypers Symphony headed back towards their sector.
"I've heard rumors about you, General Wang Qiang. But, it seems that the rumors do not do you any justice. After what happened, I would not blame you for pointing a finger towards my Blue Oasis." Niflheim said.
"Modesty doesn't suit you well, Captain Niflheim." Wang Qiang said jokingly which caused Niflheim to laugh in response.
"Indeed, modesty is something I am unpracticed in." Niflheim said.
After chatting for a bit, Wang Qiang and Zhang bid farewell to Niflheim and Minus before making their way to the Cross Haven sector. It was just as Wang Ping said, they did not have much time before the event ended and so they had to make the most of what little time was left.
...
"Report." Vault said as soon as Menerva appeared before him.
"In the end, Hollow Tempo and Hypers Symphony sustained a great deal of damage. It should take a while before they recover. However, Sage Falls received the largest blow and was wiped clean. It will take them the greatest deal of time to recover. Cross Haven and Blue Oasis are both with minimal casualties, just as planned." Menerva said.
"Ahahaha! Good, very good! You've done well, Menerva. With this, we can use the gains from this event to solidify our place as one of the top ten guilds within RML! Of course, you've done well too, Reaper." Vault said as he looked towards Reaper who stood not too far behind Menerva.
Reaper did not respond and just stood there silently, however, unlike with most others, Vault did not get mad and lash out but was quite calm about it.
"Since you're all freed up, your next task with me to investigate and find the Apothecary who made the Five Cycles Pill. After you find them, bring them to me by force if necessary. I have an offer to make that they won't be able to refuse." Vault said as a large grin found its way to his face.
...
It was nearing the end of the seventh wave as Izroth and his party had managed to fill up the Vessel of The Endless One around 40% of the way. Even though the monsters worked in groups, Izroth and his party were still able to take care of them without much issue.
But, that was not all that occurred during the seventh wave. Izroth had managed to level up once again and was now level 28. With this, he not only gained an additional three stat points and one skill point, but his Soul Essence increased once again to level 14.
Izroth concluded that every two levels he gained, his Soul Essence trait level would increase by one. However, the strange part was that his essence regeneration still seemed to be stuck at one per minute. But the bright side was that his Flow of Essence rose another 0.5%, making the stat bonus rise by 7%.
There were no other surprises during the seventh wave, as it ended without any issues for Izroth and his party. The next few waves also went by without any problems. The monsters from the eighth wave had an average level range of 25-26, while those of the ninth wave had an average level of 27-28.
In fact, things had been so difficult during the ninth wave that the magic cannons on top of Amaharpe's gates were finally being put to use.
As for the casual players, there were not many of them left and the large majority of the remaining players were made up of top guilds or big guilds.
Unfortunately, Izroth and his party had only faced off against one other normal event boss monster as no others had arrived in their area. The strangest thing was that the Vessel of The Endless One was stuck at 99.99/100. No matter how many more monsters they defeated, it would not budge any further.
Izroth had reached level 30 and there were quite a few gains that he managed to come across thanks to this event. However, the ninth wave had just ended and they were soon approaching the tenth wave. If they did not find the answer soon, then they would be stuck here and all their effort would have been wasted.
"Why are we unable to take the last step?" Zi Yi frowned as she spoke with a hint of annoyance in her voice. She tried to think of different solutions but came up empty-handed in the end.
"We have to be overlooking something important. Otherwise, the Vessel of The Endless One should have already been filled. The question is, what is it that we are overlooking?" Luna said.
"There is a possibility that the final charge requires something specific. After all, we had to defeat the Brooding Behemoth Basbus just to obtain the Vessel of The Endless One. Therefore, it isn't too wild to think that we need one final item to satisfy its hunger." Valentine explained.
Izroth looked down at the glowing crystal in his hands. It was pulsating as if it were a living thing and the glow was its heartbeat.
'We're running out of time. If we are unable to find the answers during the tenth wave, then we may not have the chance to find it at all.'
Izroth returned the crystal to his inventory as he gazed towards the Towering Oak Forest in the distance. He soon narrowed his eyes as if he were pondering something.
'Could it be...'
"It's possible that the final piece has been right in front of our eyes this entire time." Izroth said.
Everyone was startled by his words. In front of their eyes? How was that possible?