“Arrgh!” Jock appeared in the flash of light. He was sweating furiously as he looked around the fancy-looking room.
The room clearly belonged to a female occupant, judging by the female touch in the decor.
“Who the fuck was he?” He gritted his teeth hatefully and rushed out of the room. To his surprise, the nearby doors also swung open.
Miguel and Leroy, looking beaten and bruised, walked out of the room with frightened expressions.
It looked like they saw a ghost.
“Miguel, Leroy?!” Jock exclaimed. He had a hunch that Leroy got killed too, but Miguel shocked him the most.
“Jock… Miguel.” Leroy looked stunned, and then he touched his throat. His hand trembled as he still remembered the sight of a black blade moving through his throat in slow motion.
“Argh…” Miguel clutched his chest and remembered the cold look of his killer. Then black and red mixed together, delivering a swift death.
He had never been beaten up that badly in a frontal fight.
“Miguel, did he also ambush you?” Jock asked.
“No, he defeated me fairly.” Miguel said and mockingly chuckled. “I had no chance.”
“Damn it!” Jock cursed and glanced at the golden-framed picture on the wall. It showed a family of four. He punched it to smithereens and shouted, “How come there was a powerful player in some random house in the middle of nowhere!”
Tap, tap—footsteps came from the stairs, revealing a drunken player. He swayed side-to-side and then saw the three players standing in the hallway.
He showed a silly, surprised look.
“Jock, Miguel, and Leroy, didn’t you three go to that farm place?”
“We died, you moron; get out of my way!” Jock pushed him to the side and rushed downstairs, then out of the house.
Construction was ongoing on the broken buildings, but none of Death Blade members were construction experts, so they simply cleared off the trash and decided to pay for NPC to build for them.
“Jaeger, boss!” Jock fast-walked towards the leader of Death Blade, who had an axe in hand. He was chopping food for another late-night bonfire.
“Jock?” Jaeger turned around with an axe in hand. He deeply frowned. “Why are you here? What happened.” 𝑜𝒱𝓛xt.𝐂𝔬
The nearby Death Blade members also stopped cleaning to hear what Jock had to say, as they remembered him leaving through the gates early morning to go to the farm.
“We died, boss!” Jock said with a heavy look. “Me, Leroy, Miguel, and possibly Narnia. We encountered a powerful player!”
Jaeger wrinkled his face as he was clearly disappointed, but he also wanted more details about what happened.
He then saw Miguel and Leroy walk with their heads low out of the main building.
“Only one or more?”
“O-only one, boss.” Jock said even though he was embarrassed to admit it.
The nearby Death Blade members were surprised, as they knew about Miguel’s strength. Jock was also quite powerful, while Narnia and Leroy were the newest members of their group and had the potential to grow.
“Hmm, tell me what happened.” Jaeger smashed the axe into a wooden log and sat down on the wooden fence.
“Well…” Jock began talking about what had happened since they arrived at the house. Leroy and Miguel also talked about their experience, and soon Jaeger had almost a complete picture of the incident.
“Instead of running away, he decided to kill all of you.” Jaeger rubbed his chin and frowned. “What about Narnia? Do you know what happened to him?”
“No, boss.” Jock said. “However, he is on my friend list, and I received notification that he came online.
“I sent him messages, but he did not reply back. We can assume that he is dead.”
“If he is dead, why has he not spawned back here?” Jaeger asked.
“Well…” Jock scratched the back of his head. “The moron had to log off to clean his room. He put a new temporary spawn on that abandoned house.
“If he died, he was sent back to Amaterasu.”
Jaeger cracked his knuckles, starting to slowly get annoyed by his incompetent team members. He then took a deep breath and exhaled.
“Take a few men with you, go to that farm, and clear it. If you happen to find that player again, kill him.”
“Y-you are not going with us?” Jock gulped.
“No, someone has to defend this village!” Jaeger roared and stood up. He straightened his sleeves and said. “He cannot ambush you guys anymore. You are prepared, but to be sure, create a party and add each one there. That way, you cannot possibly be taken off guard!”
“Oh, excellent idea!” Jock resisted clapping at the marvelous idea. ‘We would get notification if any of the party members died. If we were in the party and received the notification when Leroy died, Miguel and I would have killed that bastard!’
Miguel and Leroy also nodded, feeling more confident now. They doubted they would meet with that same rogue player anymore, but still, both of them wanted revenge.
…
18 Cavern Street.
Creak—Jack, holding his silver-handled walking cane, opened the metal gate and slowly limped towards the front door with a calm demeanor.
He raised his hand and pressed the doorbell. He then grabbed the silver-handed tip of the cane with both hands and waited until he heard footsteps approaching the door.
The door opened.
A blue-eyed woman with rather attractive features and long black hair stood before him. Her clear-as-sky blue eyes widened in shock when she saw who stood outside.
The towel she was carrying fell off her hand and slowly landed on the doorway, in the middle of the two figures.
“Y-you…”
“Hello, Maria.” Jack took off his top hat and bowed to her. He then straightened his back and put the top hat back on. “May we talk?”
Maria anxiously looked back inside, stepped out of the house, and closed the door.
“What are you doing in here?” She asked quite angrily. “Terry is home currently, and so is my daughter!”
“But not your son, huh?” Jack looked into her eyes and saw her expression turn complicated. “May I ask, why? Why did you abandon him?”
“I…” Maria looked away and timidly asked. “H-how did you know?”
“I am glad I found out,” Jack said. “I didn’t expect my own son to be mistreated like this in this household. I thought you, out of all people, would understand how difficult a person with Humanoid Imperfecta has.
“He might not even live past thirty, yet you were ready to abandon him.”
“I-it was Terry’s idea.”
“He is your son. You should have fought harder for him.” Jack looked angrier by the second. He reached out to his coat, pulled out several wrinkled pieces of paperwork, and handed them to Maria.
“W-what are these?”
“Custody papers; I am taking custody of Jesse. Write your name on it, then make Terry write his name on it. Then you don’t have to hear from me ever again.
“However, if you don’t, I will tell Terry everything.”
“Y-you are blackmailing me?” Maria looked shocked, as this was not Jack she remembered. She still sometimes remembered that passionate night, even though she wished to forget it.
“Yes, for him, I am blackmailing you.” Jack turned away, stepped through the gate, and nodded towards his driver, who started the engine and drove the car beside him. The driver then stood out of the car and went to open the backseat door.
“Mail me the papers once you are done signing them.” Jack looked at Maria and made one small bow before saying. “Farewell.”
He entered the car, and then the engine hummed gently before they drove off. Maria watched as they drove away; she was still in shock from what had just happened.
She then looked at the papers in her hand and painfully took a pen from her pocket and wrote her name down.