MMORPG: Rebirth of the Mortal Online - Chapter 92

Chapter 92: Return to Dawnwatch
A bright, golden light appeared in the sky.

It was almost as bright as the sun.

At that moment, from the light, a treasure chest appeared and dropped down to the ground with a thump.

“The treasure chest is here!”

Knoxx walked over to the chest and kicked it open, revealing piles of shining coins and worn-out scrolls with some weapons stabbed into them.

He placed his hand on the treasure chest, and then the chest disappeared and left behind a pouch with Shinecoins inside, a couple of scrolls, a couple of weapons, and a strange ring with a glowing gemstone embedded in it.

“A pouch with 15,000 Shinecoins inside…

“A couple of common weapons and… oh, a rare longsword! Not bad.

“Skills of common rank… a spell scroll…

“A ring?”

Knoxx picked up the ring and examined it.

He tried to gain information out of it, but everything just came up as question marks.

“It is definitely an artifact.”

“Artifact?!” Hana looked at it with an excited look. “That must be worth a lot!”

“I’ll show it to the guild master.” Knoxx said and stored most of the stuff inside his inventory.

Then, he split the money in six ways, giving each member of the party their fair share.

‘1,500 Shinecoins…’ Adam stored his Shinecoins inside his interface. ‘Each member gets 1,500 Shinecoins; the rest goes to the guild.’

“Let’s scavenge important material from the Spider Mother, and then we’ll leave!”

Knoxx gave an order.

The Spider Mother had plenty of valuable materials that sold for a great deal.

Rumble!

The ground started suddenly shaking violently beneath their feet, causing the group to stumble and lose their balance.

A few steps of stairs emerged from the muddy ground and headed towards the hazy sky.

At the top of the stairs, a door appeared. It was slightly ajar, revealing a faint glow coming from inside.

“The door to the eleventh floor…” Knoxx thought out loud and waved his finger around. “Finish up looting; we’ll have to return to Dawnwatch soon!”

Adam looked over to the door for a moment, but then moved his gaze away.

‘The eleventh floor is dangerous.’

It was a thought shared by them all.

From the first to the tenth floor, it was still basically a tutorial of the dungeon.

The eleventh floor was where the real challenges began.

They would need an entire party consisting of Ordergivers and above if they wanted to survive.

A short while later, they finished harvesting Spider Mother for all of her valuable silk, venom, and body parts.

“Aight, that’s it!” Knoxx shouted. “Let’s leave!”

Adam slung his heavy backpack over his shoulder, took a final look at the floor, before heading towards the exit with the rest of the group.

…

Thump, thump!

A carriage rolled down a cobblestone street.

It arrived at the gates of Crimson Hound’s residence and came to a gentle stop.

The door swung open, and the exhausting-looking members of the raid party stepped out.

The gates swung wide open, and the guard nodded at them briefly, welcoming them back from the raid.

“I’ll need to meet with the guild master.” Knoxx walked over to the guard and said with a somber tone. “It is very serious.”

“I’ll inform him.” The guard replied before turning to head into the guild hall.

Knoxx then turned to the raid party and smiled, “Good job, everyone. It was much harder than expected, but we prevailed in the end.”

“Go take a good rest.”

The raid party felt their shoulders weight a ton, but they mustered a smile and started heading to their quarters. They planned to log off immediately, go take a long, hot shower, and then sleep for the entire day.

‘I guess I’ll go check out the nearby merchant store…’

Adam thought to himself.

He didn’t plan to go to sleep just yet. There was some stuff he wanted to purchase with his newly-earned Shinecoins.

“Adam, mind coming with me?” Knoxx suddenly asked.

“Eh, why?” Adam raised an eyebrow.

“I have a feeling that the guild master wants to see that you are alright.” Knoxx said, “After all, you’re his pupil…”

“Fine, I suppose.” Adam nodded.

They waited for the guard to return, and soon he came back with hurried steps.

“The guild master is waiting for you in his office.”

Knoxx and Adam immediately headed towards the office. It took them a while to navigate through the large villa.

However, soon enough, they entered the office and saw that beside Digby, the Vice Guild Master, Valora Holly, was also seated there with a purring cat in her lap.

“I see that you made it safely back,” Digby said. “Good job, Knoxx.”

“Thank you, guild master,” Knoxx bowed, but then said somberly. “However, I have some bad news.”

“I heard from the guard that only half returned,” Digby said with a frown. “The others died?”

“Yes, they did…”

“That’s unfortunate…” Digby sighed.

“We were ambushed,” Knoxx said. “It wasn’t by Chaosbeings, but by players!”

That surprised both Digby and Valora.

“We never received a report that another guild beside ours was supposed to be there.” Valora said.

“Do you know who?” Digby asked with a steely expression.

“Ameryn Brothers!”

“Them…” Digby’s eyes turned cold. “But, why? What could they possibly gain from interfering in our raid like this?”

“Perhaps their goal was to hinder us?” Knoxx said without certainty. “Those who died wasted half a year of training. They’ll have to start from scratch. That’s a lot of time.”

“I don’t think so.” Valora said. “They knew if they got caught doing so, they’d be in trouble. To do something as dangerous for something so small doesn’t make any sense.”

“Hmm…” Digby looked over to the person who had been quiet so far and asked, “Adam, do you have any idea?”

“I sensed their attacking intent.” Adam said. “They were aiming for me.”

“You sensed it?” Digby’s lips curled into a smile. “You learned Kiryoku?”

“Yes, I did,” Adam replied.

“Good, good.” Digby smiled, but then again steeled his expression. “So, they were going after you…”

“But why?” Knoxx asked with a frown. “He wouldn’t have lost almost anything from dying. It seems like a waste.”

“They wanted to show how fragile he is.” Valora said with a cold tone in her voice. “Crimson Hound is weak and can’t protect you—that was their message.”

“Were they planning to recruit him?” Knoxx asked with a frown.

“No.” Digby shook his head. “Aaron is not stupid. He knows that Adam wouldn’t possibly join people who schemed and eventually killed him.”

“Then what…”

“They wanted Adam to leave.” Valora said. “To go seek better protection. They wanted him to go to Imperium City.”

“They must’ve been losing hair over knowing that we have S-ranker in our midst.” Digby said with a scoff. “They’re scared about the future.”

“The future…” Knoxx whispered.

“I am getting old.” Digby said with a sigh. “We all know it. I am almost past my prime. There comes a time when I keep becoming weaker and weaker.”

Valora lowered her head with a disheartened expression. She moved her hand across the cat’s back, feeling the soft fur beneath her fingertips.

“The future generation is all that matters.” Digby said. “We hadn’t had proper talent in a long time. We’ve tried to acquire A-rankers, but none of them want to join a declining guild.”

“That’s why…”

“If they get rid of Adam, they can just wait for a couple of years and then finish us off when we are weak enough.

“I still don’t understand why.” Knoxx said. “Why are the Ameryn Brothers so set on destroying us? What happened between us and them?”

Valora looked at Digby with a soft look.

“Ameryn Brothers was destined to become a Tier-1 guild.” Digby said. “After all, they had three powerful, talented brothers leading them…”

“Three?” Knoxx frowned and soon realized. “You mean…”

“I killed one of their brothers.” Digby said. “That brother eventually gave up on Mortal Online after losing everything. That’s why Aaron and Arunn hate me to the core.”