MMORPG: Rebirth of the Shadow Mage

148 Another Guild?

Leo felt his eyes twitch with annoyance as he looked at Robin, who was jumping in his face, asking about the Orc’s identity.

How was he supposed to know anything else, except for the player’s name? The Orc didn’t speak, and the only information Leo had was the player’s name, Martin.

“His name was Martin, he was a berserker Orc...”

Leo took a step back to avoid being run into by Robin, who froze upon hearing the Orc’s name.

“Shit!”

Leo was surprised to hear Robin curse, as he had always thought of him as a refined and cold-blooded leader who doesn’t let his emotions get the better of him.

Leo observed Robin’s face, which was adorned with blond hair and red eyes, and noticed his lips curling up into a scary smile.

“Say... Leo, would you help your coworker?”

Leo noticed a dangerous glint shining in Robin’s red eyes and smirked, he had a feeling that his purse would soon contain more gold coins.

.....

“If the pay is appropriate...”

Waving his hand nonchalantly, Leo acted as if he had no concern whether the Cross guild would hire him or not. But in reality, he was almost pleading for them to do so, he wouldn’t mind earning easy money.

“I’ll pay the price depending on the number of players you kill!”

Leo’s ears perked up upon hearing Robin’s statement.

What players? Weren’t they the only ones in the vicinity?

Feeling Leo’s questioning gaze, Robin sighed and gestured for the elf archer and the old monk to approach, before starting to speak in a solemn tone.

“Since our guild was only recently created and is relatively new, we are facing pressure from other guilds. One of them is a guild called ‘Vikings’. They are mostly Orc berserkers, and they want to disband our guild, as our growth is so rapid that we are a threat to overtake them. The Orc berserker you found in the bushes, whose name is Martin, is already familiar with us, as he delivered some messages from the ‘Vikings’ guild leader...”

Observing Leo’s eyes fixated on him and seeing that he was listening attentively, Robin nodded slightly before continuing to speak.

“The only thing that prevented them from attacking us was the public’s reaction, as they would be buried under a wave of hate if they began killing us without reason. But now, we have directly or indirectly killed one of their members... I think this will be a good excuse for them to attack us”

Listening to Robin, Leo couldn’t help but curse under his breath. If he had known that the Orc was just a messenger, he would have only restrained him and not killed him.

Well... it was the Orc’s own fault for attempting to summon a weapon from his inventory.

Leo wanted to refuse to take part in the fight between the guilds, as they are usually highly violent and deadly, but a strange feeling of guilt washed over him as he thought that the Cross guild had to fight because of his own actions.

‘Why do I even have a conscience...’

Feeling the gaze of the green-haired elf glaring at him, Leo lifted his head and met her gaze, before turning to Robin.

“I’ll help you, but I have a few questions”

Leo said whilst raising three fingers into the air.

“What is the average level of your guild members?”

“Do you have any fairies that can cast healing spells?”

“Why is this elf hiding her class?”

Looking at the three people standing before him, Leo saw a variety of expressions. Robin’s face was that of surprise, the monk looked like he was lost in thought, and the elf was trying to compose herself, her cheeks slightly flushed.

‘Was the question about the average level too sensitive?’

Leo thought, and was about to apologize for delving into sensitive information, when his expectations were shattered.

“What do you mean, she’s hiding her class?”

The elderly monk was the first to collect himself and looked at Leo with a troubled expression, leaving Leo even more confused.

“Isn’t she an earth mage?”

Leo asked another question examining the expression of the people sitting nearby.

“Layla, is he telling the truth?”

Robin spoke, while looking at the green-haired girl, who was covering her face, her eyes peeking through her fingers and looking at Leo.

“How did you know?”

‘...’

Leo quietly watched this awkward exchange and offered to temporarily leave until they talked to each other. He walked away from the trio and sat under the shade of a tree, absorbing Shadow Energy.

A few minutes later, he felt someone approaching and opened his eyes to see Robin and the elderly monk nearing his location.

“We’ve decided to temporarily restrain Layla’s actions... We’ll continue the conversation without her presence.”

They took a seat nearby and continued to explain the situation with the ‘Vikings’ guild. Essentially, they were an enemy that needed to be eliminated if the Cross Guild wanted to exist.

Leo was at least 80% sure that Robin and his guild would win even without his help, as he didn’t recall hearing anything about the ‘Vikings’ guild in the future. But he didn’t say anything, as it could cost him a well-paid job.

In the end, the three men shook hands, sealing the deal and making Leo smirk in response.

Robin immediately began preparations, sending scouts throughout the forest to ensure they couldn’t be ambushed. The Elderly monk, whose name was Alfred, led Leo through the guild members, introducing him to some fairies that could cast Heal and some stronger players who would be a strong asset in the fight.

Since Leo was known as one of the best players in the game, Robin didn’t mind swallowing his pride and allowing Leo to prepare a strategy for defeating the ‘Vikings’ guild.

Robin’s decision made Leo admire the man even more. Robin was one of a kind, truly a leader born to lead one of the best guilds in the entire Fragmental.

Who could swallow his pride that easily?

Leo sent Robin a friend request, which he quickly accepted. Leo had already met many players who would become formidable forces in the future.

Was he now proficient in the most difficult skill ‘communication’?

Shrugging his shoulders, Leo quickly instructed the players to split into five layers: Humans, Demons, Elves, Fairies, and Orcs.

He strategically positioned the Orcs to be in an outer circle, with humans and demons following closely behind. The elves and fairies were placed in the middle, so they could provide support to the outer layers with powerful spells, buffs, and healing. This formation would maximize the strengths of each group while minimizing their weaknesses.

From the information he had received, the ‘Vikings’ guild was composed entirely of Orcs, which was a strategic mistake as they lacked ranged damage dealers. Leo could even mount Fenrir to evade their attacks and rain them with spells from a distance, gradually wiping out the entire guild on his own.

Leo discussed his plan with Robin and Alfred, proposing that he hide in the tree tops and ambush the ‘Vikings’ guild from behind.

Robin instantly offered Leo to take some players with him, but Leo declined, as he intended to eradicate an entire guild and believed that having extra people by his side would only impede his task.

Upon hearing Leo’s goal, Robin’s eyes widened slightly and he began scratching his chin.

“Say, are you truly a demon and not... a money goblin?”

Leo lifted his gaze from the System window displaying a map and turned to Robin.

“There is no such race as the money goblin?”

Leo returned his focus to the map and lost himself in thought, not noticing as Robin sighed and left him alone.

“Can’t we just bribe him to join our guild?”

Robin heard a gruff voice and turned to see Alfred, who was tightly gripping his iron knuckles that glinted in the sunlight.

“We both watched the interview, he’s not planning to join any guild...”

Even though Robin said that, he felt that if the required amount of Gold Coins was brought into equation nothing was impossible.

Robin gazed at the lush forest and sighed, sensing the tense atmosphere. Even the players who were usually lively, were now whispering quietly among themselves, as if trying to hasten the passage of time.

Ring...

He suddenly received a system message from one of the scouts he placed within the forest and quickly warned Leo.

“A huge crown of around 200 Orcs is marching towards us from the north!”

Leo dismissed the azure-colored System window with a wave of his hand and surveyed the members of the Cross guild, who were looking at him with nervous expressions.

“Try to survive, kill as many as you can, don’t leave your position, and don’t hesitate to use potions.”

Said Leo before dashing towards the north and disappearing into the dense forest, leaving Robin and Alfred standing in surprise.

“Why was I even expecting something more motivating from him...”