Everyone glared at Silver Crux and could not believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. Did he take them all for naive and gullible fools? The members of Sage Falls were at their own leisure? What nonsense! It was obvious that Sage Falls purposely filled up the shop with their own players to prevent others from entering inside.
Without the owner of the shop or someone who held administrative permission(s) for the shop in question, the NPCs that ran the shop were powerless to do anything about it. Therefore, until the owner of the shop returned to the Mystical Realm Palace, Sage Falls was in total control over who could enter inside.
They were acting with such a heavy hand and did not seem to care who they offended in the process. Maybe if it was just the casual player's, things would have been a bit more understandable, however, even the members of other top guilds were denied access into the shop! Had Sage Falls finally snapped and lost their minds? Could they afford to make an enemy of all the top guilds right now?
Needless to say, they reported the situation to their guild immediately. The initial reaction was mainly disbelief and amusement. After all, Sage Falls had been severely weakened after the event that hit Amaharpe, therefore, it was illogical for them to take such a bold and open action. Right now, they should be biding their time and rebuilding their strength so as to not fall even further behind.
But, after receiving confirmation from multiple sources, that initial amusing feeling had completely vanished and was replaced by outrage and fury. Who did Sage Falls think they were?! Did Slayer finally lose his mind? Even if they did manage to hold the shop for now, once the owner returned, they would all be ejected out immediately and probably banned from ever entering again.
Was it worth such a huge risk for a short term gain? The answer was obviously no! Maybe there was something they were not seeing yet, but one thing was for certain, Sage Falls could not be allowed to continue on with this unrestrained madness. It had to be stopped at once! At that moment, every big guild within RML began to move against Sage Falls.
Meanwhile, at the Sleeping Gardenia temporary headquarters, He Huian had just received confirmation about what was happening at the Mystical Realm Palace. Since Izroth provided the pills to them directly, they had no need to send members there to collect pills as the other guilds did.
However, there were still some lower ranked members of Sleeping Gardenia who had yet to receive any pills and went to the Mystical Realm Palace to procure their own. It was not as if Sleeping Gardenia could afford to simply hand out pills to every single member of their guild.
After all, the more expensive pills were something that were reserved for the core and elite members. If anyone else outside of that specific group wanted a grade three or grade two pill, then they would have to purchase it using their own gold or RMB, not Sleeping Gardenia's.
But because of that, it quickly circulated and since He Huian was in charge of things in Amaharpe while Mariposa was away, the news eventually landed in her lap.
"Ridiculous!" He Huian had a quiet and reserved type of personality and so she rarely ever lost her temper. However, she was absolutely livid after reading that message! Sleeping Gardenia had a direct connection with the Mystical Realm Palace and its owner, Izroth.
Whenever the Mystical Realm Palace benefited, so too did their Sleeping Gardenia since they currently had a share of the profits. Right now, Sage Falls was practically crippling a source of Sleeping Gardenia's income which by itself was unacceptable on all levels!
Since it was such a serious matter, He Huian contacted both Izroth and Mariposa about what was currently going on. Not only that, but she also sent a message to Valkyria, recalling her to Amaharpe. Normally, He Huian would not have the authority to recall Valkyria since the Lotus Guard was not under her jurisdiction, but Mariposa had given her that authority given the current circumstances.
"I'm heading over. You two will accompany me." He Huian said as she picked out two members of Sleeping Gardenia to accompany her to the Mystical Realm Palace.
...
"Do you want to turn back? I can even lend you a Returning Scroll if you don't already have one." Mariposa said in a serious tone of voice.
After disturbing the loot and being in a good mood with the defeat of a rare boss, Izroth and his group had temporarily halted their journey deeper into the tomb after receiving a disturbing message from He Huian about what was going on at the Mystical Realm Palace. Needless to say, everyone immediately became infuriated when Mariposa explained what was taking place within Amaharpe.
"We have to go back and teach those punks a lesson they'll never forget! Hmph, blocking off my brother's shop? They must not wish to live any longer!" Guan Yu said with a darkened expression on his face. It was almost as if he had forgotten that Amaharpe was a safe zone that one could not fight in.
"I agree! We can't just let them take over and not go back. Besides, we'll still have plenty of time to return to this place after taking care of those guys." Halls said in an upset manner.
Luna, on the other hand, was silent. But, even though she was not as loud and outspoken about it as Guan Yu and Halls, the look in her eyes said it all. It was an icy cold and distant look with a layer of fury hidden underneath. Izroth was always the one helping them one way or another, therefore, if anyone wanted to become his enemy, then they would have to become their enemy as well!
Zi Yi frowned and said, "I just don't understand. Why would Sage Falls do something so foolish? There's only much to lose, not gain from their aggressive actions. They have to know that Izroth can simply kick them all out once he returns to his shop. What's their end game?"
"Who knows? You have to remember, some people are simply born fools, my adorable little sister." Mariposa stated.
Mariposa then turned her attention back towards Izroth who had not yet answered her question. However, she was secretly startled by how calm Izroth appeared to be. There was no rage, or anger visible on his face. It was that same as usual carefree expression of his. But, that was when Mariposa noticed something else about Izroth.
He was not just as calm as usual, no, he was even calmer than his usual self. That level of calmness was frightening because it made it impossible to tell what was going on through his mind at the moment. But, Mariposa knew one thing for sure, Izroth was the type of person to take such a blatant slap to his face and do nothing in return.
"I gave He Huian permission to recall Valkyria back to Amaharpe. However, in the end, she'll only be able to act as a deterrent element to the situation at hand. If Sage Falls chooses to stay even after seeing how serious we are, then only you will be able to do anything about it since it's a safe zone. If you want to go back, no one will blame you." Mariposa explained.
"No, it's fine. We'll continue on our way into the chambers." Izroth spoke in a calm and steady manner as he resumed walking deeper into the underground chambers.
Everyone was unsure if they had just heard Izroth correctly. Did he just say no to returning to Amaharpe?
"Brother, you can't be serious, right? Those shameless scum have no respect or decency! Are we really just going to let them off so easily?" Guan Yu questioned as he quickly followed after Izroth. He was confused by Izroth's reaction. If it were him, he'd be storming back to Amaharpe already to kick every last one of them out of his shop!
Guan Yu was not the only one who was surprised by Izroth's decision. Everyone else felt the same way as him. In fact, it was strange that Izroth was the only person here who seemed to be the least bothered with it.
"Let them off?" Izroth said as he halted his steps. He then turned to face everyone with a nonchalant smile on his face. However, that nonchalant smile sent shivers down the spine of everyone present. There was something about it that simply gave them the chills.
"I plan to eradicate them. Sage Falls will cease to exist, that's all." Izroth stated as he turned back around and started walking again.
Eradicate them? Sage Falls will cease to exist? What bold statements! Even if Sage Falls was in a weakened state, they were still one of the top ten guilds. If it had been anyone else who said those words, they would have simply laughed it off as mere nonsense.
But, for some reason, when those words left Izroth's mouth, there was not a shred of doubt in their minds that he truly planned to eradicate Sage Falls!
Since Izroth himself had already spoken about the matter, no one continued to question him about it and followed after him into the depths underground chambers. There was a strange silence present as they traveled forward and only the sound of their footsteps could be heard. The atmosphere felt incredibly heavy and just by looking at Izroth, it was as if there was an invisible pressure around him.
'Is it bravery, or mere stupidity? Either way, it seems I have become far too lenient with my enemies since I've come to this world. Very well, if they wish to force my hand, so be it.'
...
Fifteen minutes later...
As Izroth and his party moved closer to the depth's of the underground chambers, they came across a few Netherworld creatures roaming around. However, they were mostly just weak normal monsters that were easy to deal with, a far cry from their initial welcoming party.
That heavy pressure that was being released by Izroth had recently faded and the mood of the group had become a little better as Halls and Guan Yu tried to lighten things up.
A few moments later, Izroth's party came before three tombstones. The sound of wind chimes grew louder as it turned from an almost pleasant tone into a screeching and crying noise. The Vozrak's Gift within the palm of Izroth's hand was reacting to something nearby. Of course, it could only be one thing given the purpose of the item itself.
'It's close. The lost page from the Book of Beginnings.'
"Isn't there some way to turn that thing off?" Guan Yu yelled with a frown on his face as he covered his ears.
However, after a few more seconds of crying out, the sound suddenly stopped without warning.
"Eh? It turned off?" Guan Yu removed his hands from his ears as the sound disappeared. He did not expect it to really stop.
Izroth narrowed his eyes as he felt something or someone lurking nearby. It was as if thousands or even millions of eyes were staring at him from the darkness. But, he soon found out that was not the case at all.
'It's not me they're looking at, it's Vozrak's Gift.'
Ooooooom! Oooooooom!
Every few seconds, a pulse of violet light would spread throughout the underground chambers followed by the loud noise of a metal rod slamming into another piece of metal. The violet light became darker and the sound louder with every pulse that went by.
"Something's coming." Izroth said as everyone had already gone on full alert mode.
Ooom...
The sound completely died down, however, a hue of violet light remained within the chambers. A few seconds later, a portal around fifteen meters opened up just above the three tombstones on the ground. All of a sudden, massive hand followed by an arm made its way out of the portal!