'Fight 10 members?' Zach uttered inwardly. 'I can just reject, but that wouldn't change anything. I want to free Victoria from the guild.'
As long as Victoria was still part of the guild, she couldn't join Zach's party. She could live and travel with him, but she couldn't ascend together with him.
There were also many duties of the vice-captain, and she had to do them as long as she was in the guild.
That's why, Zach wanted to free her.
Still, there was a high chance that Elliott was lying about freeing Victoria. He could go back on his words at any time.
However, Elliot said that in front of all the NPCs, players, and his guild members. And he couldn't back out from his words when there were so many to witness his words.
Zach looked at the guild members, and he recognized a few of them from the dungeon expedition and the demon invasion.
They all avoided eye contact with Zach because they had first-hand experience of Zach's powers. They didn't want to mess with Zach, nor did they want Zach to think that they were with Elliott.
Sure, they came together with Elliott, but they had no choice but to follow the order of the guild master.
Zach agreed to fight ten battles to free Victoria from the guild.
"Let's go to the garden," Zach asserted in a solemn voice.
Everyone, including the NPCs, players, and the guild members, went to the garden.
The NPCs left their shops and work to accompany their Lord— Zach. While the players went there for fun and to pass the time. And the guild members had no choice but to go with them.
After reaching the garden, Elliott selected 10 of his best and the strongest members to fight against Zach, and he threatened them that if they didn't win, they would be demoted in ranks.
Meanwhile, Aria, Victoria, Ninia, and the rest of the NPCs had gathered around Zach.
"Be careful, my Lord. That man is a bad omen. You shouldn't interact with him," one of the NPCs said.
"Don't worry about it," Zach chuckled and said, "If he is a bad omen, then I am the worst omen."
The NPCs had faith in Zach, and they believed that he was the strongest, and he would win against any and everyone.
However, it was different for his girls.
Aria wasn't worried about Zach, but she was angry at Zach as Elliott not only insulted Victoria, but he insulted Zach too.
"Let me go fight him instead, and I will bring you his head!" Aria said with her voice full of anger.
"Zach." Victoria nudged Zach to get his attention and said, "Let me be the one to fight. You are doing this for me, while I should be responsible for myself."
Zach licked his lips and said, "That kiss in the restaurant was amazing."
"What are you—"
Before Victoria could speak one more word, Zach shut her up with a kiss.
Normally, Victoria would have pushed him away, especially if it was in the public. But she no longer cared about anything.
After the dungeon expedition, Victoria spent a week without Zach, thinking about him all the time. She realized that the more distance she would make between Zach and her, the more she would be hurting herself.
She wanted to kiss Zach and do many more things, but her 'morals' and 'ideals' were getting in the way of her love. Furthermore, she had to fight them with her feelings, and win to be finally able to throw aside her ideals and morals.
Without them, she was like a normal girl with pride and ego, who wanted to be with Zach and compete with other girls.
One of Victoria's main motivations was Aria, who was in the same boat as her until not long ago— when Aria finally decided to accept her feelings and confess her love to Zach.
Aria and Victoria had spent a week together in a dungeon expedition, and they had become good friends. But she still didn't know many things about Aurora, who was her main rival.
If Victoria wanted to compete against Aurora, she first had to enter the competition— that was to be on the same relationship level as the other girls.
After the kiss, Victoria stared into Zach's eyes and said, "I love you."
"I know that."
"Let's…" Victoria averted her gaze for a second because of embarrassment, but she made eye contact with Zach again and said, "Let's… do it… once we ascend."
"…!"
Victoria's words had become Zach's main motivation and made him happy, but only if he hadn't caught Aria glaring at him.
Zach nodded at Victoria and Aria and uttered, "We will talk about this later."
Zach turned around and looked at the other group of guild members.
"Umm…" Ninia pulled Zach's sleeve and bit her lips with an anxious look on her face.
She wanted to say something to Zach like everyone else did, but the words she wanted to say were already spoken by others.
Zach chuckled with a smile on his face and patted Ninia's head. "Don't worry. I will be alright."
"Umm… I will also give you something once you return…" Ninia uttered in a low voice with a flushed face.
"…"
Zach wanted to ask for details, but two dangerous entities were glaring at him, so he had no choice but to stay silent.
"I will be back before you start to miss me," Zach scoffed out loud as he walked out of the group and made his way to the center of the garden.
Ninia watched Zach with an alluring gaze and started praying for Zach's safety.
She was praying to Zach for his own safety.
Victoria and Aria glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes and nodded.
"Is this what I think it is?" Victoria asked Aria in a low voice.
"I think so, too. But I am not sure. It could just be her faith and loyalty to him as his first follower," Aria responded with a whisper.
The ten strongest guild members of Risen warrior stepped forward and stood in front of Zach to challenge him.
Zach cracked his fingers with his thumb and muttered, "My hands were itching for some action anyway."
***
Total players in the game- 1,482,169
0 new players logged in.
19 players died.
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Author's Note- As always, thanks for reading!