Thrax led Emery towards the second entrance, while the two of them kept on the lookout for enemies. After a few minutes of walking, Emery saw a dozen other acolytes had gathered near the entrance, as if they were waiting for something or someone. Each of them scanned their surroundings vigilantly and were fully equipped with weapons, showing they were ready for confrontation at any time.
From the mess seen in the surrounding area, Emery was able to conclude that a battle had just happened in this place. It looked like everyone gathered here was a regular acolytes and they had captured other regular acolytes. As for the reason, neither Thrax nor Emery knew yet, but they could at least guess it.
Emery approached them to take a closer look and saw one captured acolyte was begging to be released.
"Dopa! We are from the same class 75, please release me! I don't have enough points yet. Please don't do this!" the acolyte cried, as he grabbed the other acolyte's robe.
"Huh?! Now you are begging? I bet you regret not accepting my offer to join the alliance back then."
"Yes! I really regret it! Dopa, please! Let me go right now!" the acolyte quickly replied, as he saw the other acolytes.
"How about... no? Continue dreaming and one day you might get into the elite class, sucker!"
Right after mocking him, Dopa slammed down his huge ax towards the poor acolyte's head, instantly killing him and turning him into motes of light particles.
Dopa was one of the more influential figures from Class 75. He was influential enough to lead his own team, but his team unfortunately was not in the top 10. Therefore, his influence in the alliance was not as big as Emery's team.
"Oh hey, Emery! You're here!" Chumo called out from afar and waved his hand before coming closer.
"So, how many points have you gotten?" Emery asked with a smile. Upon hearing the question, Thrax looked at Chumo in interest before interjecting. "Ah, right, yeah. Let's say our current points!"
"I got…" Emery halted, checking his points. "10.000 points so far."
"Wow! Emery, that's so amazing! I only have 3000 points, while Thrax here got 4000."
Thrax cut in and showed a proud smile. "Nah, not anymore. 5000 now! I just got one."
From hearing the number of points all his friends have gathered, Emery realized everyone here had been fighting other regular acolytes only. Well, it was to be expected. After all, there was no way his friends would be so "lucky" to find so many elite acolytes like him.
In the middle of their lively conversation, Chumo approached Emery, leaned close to him, and whispered. "Oh right, Emery… Watch out. When you see Klea, you better be on your best behavior, or…"
"What do you mean, Chumo?" Emery asked with a confused expression. Alas, before Chumo could explain what he meant. An enraged shout could be heard from afar, making the three of them turn their heads and look at the source.
"EMERYYY!!"
Klea shouted, before running towards Emery at a breakneck speed, like a racing car. Her expression was one of annoyance, as she looked at Emery up and down, seemingly checking for wounds.
"Where the hell have you been?! You really got me worried, you know!"
Upon receiving the blast of words, Emery could only scratch his cheek. "Well, I'm sorry. I encountered a few elites on my way here, so…"
Klea looked around Emery. She seemed distracted and not too interested in hearing Emery's side of the story. After looking around the surrounding for a while, Klea walked closer and whispered.
"You were late because of that snake girlfriend of yours, didn't you?" Klea narrowed her eyes accusingly.
"Huh? Ah, no…" Emery rubbed the back of his head. "I was fighting two elite acolytes and got injured, so I rested first before coming here."
"Bad Emery, you can't lie to me, you know? I can sense it, and if you still dare try lying to me, You do know I can just enchant you so you tell the truth!"
"Wow, that's… no, we did nothing of the sort. I just saw her, and we fought together. I was late not because of her or anything like that."
Hearing Emery's explanation made Klea proceed to continue asking him what happened during the hours they were separated. However, Emery, sensing the incoming barrage of questions, decided to cut in and asked. "Hey, by the way, where is Julian? Is he alright?"
As usual, the mention of Julian's name made Thrax snort, before he answered with a tinge of annoyance. "That Roman is more than fine, worry about yourself more than about him." Thrax pointed towards a group of acolytes gathered around someone. In the middle of that crowd, Emery saw Julian giving instructions and discussing various strategies with the other acolytes. Curious, Emery approached them.
"Ah, my brother Emery, I'm glad to see you return here safe and sound!" Julian said. "Now that you have come here, you can take the guard duty at this position and cover this part. I assume you'll get a sword, so why don't you partner with Chumo? That way, you have perfect offense from the front line and backline!"
Emery saw Julian clearly took his whole co-leader of the alliance thing extremely seriously. So far, he had been fully committed to the well being of the alliance and tried his very best to look out for everyone. Seeing the attitudes of the acolytes made Emery crack a small smile. Just last year, those acolytes would have made fun of him for being a magus from a lower world, now everyone listened to Julian. It appeared being part of the top 10 in the first game did give them some advantages.
"Ah, right. Hey, Emery! Quickly, get your weapon inside!" Julian said as he beckoned with his hand.
Emery walked deeper into the place, while accompanied by Klea behind him. To enter this place, one had to use one of the two entrances, and the two entrances both led to another entrance, letting them reach the room where they could retrieve their chosen weapon. As there were alliance members guarding both of the entrances, the normal acolytes got the advantage of equipment alongside their inherent advantage in numbers.
The inside entrance led to a huge space with multiple cube-like items stacked all around them. Each cube looked similar to the cubes available to them in their own residence.
[Congratulations on reaching the center, you are rewarded with one weapon]
[Choose your weapon]
As usual, Emery chose a long sword. As soon as he made his choice, a flash of light appeared and a standard looking sword materialized right in front of him. Emery looked at the sword's surface and gave it a few practice swings. From the weight and sharpness of the sword, it seemed to be no more than a tier 2 item.
Emery tinkered around with the cube again, hoping to get a secondary weapon. However, the notification appearing before his eyes told him that each acolyte was only allowed to get one weapon. Right as Emery stopped fumbling with the cube, Klea gave him a mischievous smile.
"Emery, I think you'd like to see this." Klea said, as she offered him another sword, and Emery gave her a confused stare.
"See, I got this one from the first big battle, right after we took over this central area from the elites. You know I have no use for a sword, so you can have it."
A look of realization appeared on Emery's face. "Thank you very much, Klea,"
"I knew you would appreciate it. Tell me, aren't I the nicest person you will ever meet? Right?" Klea teased Emery and giggled.
Emery seriously gave it a thought before saying,"Yes, Klea you are the nicest person I have ever met."
Klea stopped giggling, not expecting that Emery would take her jokes seriously. Her face immediately went as red as a tomato.
After getting his weapon, Emery met with Roran, who quickly brief him of the situation. Thanks to picking up bits and pieces of information from Roran and the gathered acolytes, Emery was able to understand their current situation better and what did he miss the last 6 hours.
From the 92 members of the alliance, a total of 74 acolytes managed to reach the center. Roran was in charge of guarding the northern entrance along with half of the surviving acolytes, while the other half and Julian were in charge of guarding the southern entrance. All the while, they had been killing a few elites and dozens of regulars, who tried to approach the center.
Roran's preparations paid off, and it appeared that everything was running as they planned.