Broken stood tall with his sword in hand, poised as if ready to strike someone before him. His grip was unyielding, and his gaze turned steely as he braced himself for any immediate frёeωebɳovel.com
reactions.
In the profound silence, Broken’s mind raced through various scenarios to maximize his advantage from this encounter. He toyed with the idea of accepting Elincia’s offer to kill her once or even twice. Surely, such an act could yield a handsome reward in the form of valuable items from her inventory-imagine the precious loot a top-ranked player like her might possess. Yet, a seed of doubt nagged at him.
The chance of valuable items dropping upon her death wasn’t guaranteed. There was a possibility that all he would achieve would be to satisfy his anger, gaining nothing more. Elincia had said it was all a misunderstanding, but the fact remained that she had killed him once. Her guild members wouldn’t easily accept Broken killing her on the spot. They might rebel and retaliate against him despite Elincia’s assurances that no one would act against her orders. After all, Melliandra had defied Elincia’s commands out of personal interest.
Booba and even Freya weren’t yet strong enough to fend off such powerful adversaries, he reasoned.
This scenario was fraught with potential trouble. Provoking a powerful guild in his current state was not a wise move; he wasn’t prepared for the inevitable fallout.
As these thoughts churned in his mind, another idea began to crystallize-one that promised greater benefit. He nodded slowly, firming up his decision.
“I’ve made my decision,” Broken declared once more.
Elincia looked at him with a curious expression. “Please tell me.”
“Vine Horror Treant,” he replied.
Elincia’s eyes flickered with confusion at his response.
“I need your help,” he continued. “I need your guild’s power to defeat this monster and claim its precious loot for myself. There’s something I need from this creature.”
Elincia took a moment to weigh the situation, scrutinizing him all the while. Eventually, she nodded in agreement.
“Are you sure that will resolve all our issues?” she asked.
“As you can see, I’m alone. I don’t have the strength to fight such a formidable monster on my own, but I need something from it. That’s why I need to secure the loot efficiently,” Broken explained.
Elincia nodded slowly. “Yes,” she agreed firmly. “If that is your wish, it is not an unreasonable request. We will assist you in battling this creature. When it falls, you shall have all its drop items. Our guild’s aid will be yours until you obtain what you need.”
Freya smiled faintly, hearing his decision. “He sure knows how to turn the situation to his advantage,” she muttered under her breath. “This is a smart move!”
The tension in the air was palpable as everyone awaited Broken’s response.
“With this, I may be willing to discuss further collaboration with your guild. However, I can’t promise that I will agree to any long-term deal,” he continued.
“Understood.” Elincia bowed her head respectfully. “Thank you for your generous answer. We need to regroup and discuss our strategy further since we may need more people than just our guild members.”
“What? Why?”
“The Vine Horror Treant was initially a level 150 raid boss, but it has since grown to level 180,” Elincia explained. “As the world progresses, the monster gains levels and becomes harder to defeat. It takes fifty to sixty level 150 players to raid it, or around fifteen level 200 players. Our guild has only thirteen members in total.”
Broken’s mind swirled with the new information. He glanced over at Freya, who gave him a sheepish smile and shrugged.
“Sorry, my data is a bit outdated,” she admitted.
Elincia slowly shifted her gaze to the other members of her guild.
“Any comments?” she asked, her voice tight.
Maylock, the archer donning sunglasses, responded with a faint smile, “I think this is a fair deal. We know this task won’t be easy, but we can manage. We’ve faced this monster before, after all.”
Skywarden, the knight in white armor, looked irritated but remained silent and motionless. Goldrich, the older mage, gave Elincia a knowing grin. “This young man seems wise enough to prioritize personal goals over anger,” he noted approvingly. “It’s a greedy proposal, for sure, but if it helps us get what we need, I support it.”
Kingsley smiled and nodded his agreement slowly. “Of course, I have no objections to this plan, Elincia. As usual, I will be the tank on the front lines,” he affirmed confidently.
Elincia took a deep breath before addressing Broken. “I will discuss this with my guild members, and we will meet again at Clario Town in a few days. Would that work for you?”
Broken inclined his head slightly. “That’s fine with me.”
But then Elincia hesitated. “And…how do I contact you?”
Booba interjected with a big grin. “Don’t you dare send him a friend request. He hasn’t completely forgiven you,” he said, wagging a finger playfully. “Just contact me, and I’ll be the intermediary between you two.”
“Understood. Thank you, Booba.”
Booba strode over to Elincia and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Uh, Broken… actually, she is my sister,” he confessed awkwardly.
“Shut up, troublemaker!”
Elincia’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she pulled away from Booba’s grasp and stormed off.
Booba just chuckled at her retreating figure. “C’mon, be a bit nicer to your big brother,” he called after her.
Broken’s eyes widened in disbelief. “What?! Sister?”
Freya let out a tiny snicker, finding the situation amusing.
Broken turned towards her. “You knew about this?”
She shrugged, giving him a sheepish smile.
Booba grinned, though his attempt at levity did little to calm the undercurrent of tension. “Sorry for complicating things. I guess I didn’t completely understand what was going on. And, well, I thought they were hunting you because of what happened before, hahaha.” Freya shot Booba a disapproving look. “Geez, Booba,” she exclaimed, “sometimes you can be so dense! You should see a doctor and check if something happened to your brain! If you had clarified your sister’s intentions better, this whole mess wouldn’t have gotten so complicated.”
“I just didn’t want any trouble between Broken and Elincia,” Booba protested, still chuckling. “After I found out Elincia killed him when they first met, I figured I should try to smooth
things over.”
“You’re so dumb,” Freya shot back.
Elincia and her companions stepped closer to the group, halting only when they stood face to
face.
“I hope this misunderstanding will soon be resolved and that it will open the door to new opportunities,” Elincia said earnestly. “Let my guild mates and I depart first.”
Broken nodded in agreement, allowing Elincia and the others to turn and walk away from him.
As they vanished from sight, Freya looked over to Booba. “So, you’re not following them?” Booba chuckled heartily. “Ahahaha, no. I’m staying here with both of you.”
Broken took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment to gather his thoughts. “So much is happening all at once. I need to log out to keep my mind sane.”
“Oh, so you just realized this?” Freya said with a chuckle. “I thought you had forgotten about
the real world.”
Broken turned towards Booba. “Let’s meet back here in 24 hours, okay? After that, we’ll head
to Clario Town together.”
“Alright!” Booba responded eagerly.
With their plan in place, Broken and the others exchanged quick farewells before logging out
of the game.