MMORPG: Rise of the Strongest Shadow God

Five minutes later, Let-There-Be-Light and the others began logging back into the game one after another.

Flynn didn’t have any of their real-world contact information, so he had been forced to rely on Chad. Unfortunately, Chad wasn’t particularly familiar with Let-There-Be-Light’s group either and didn’t have their numbers stored. Still, Let-There-Be-Light’s team operated under the name Byance Studio, which carried a fair amount of recognition in gaming circles. Chad also had a surprisingly wide network of contacts, and after making a few calls and digging around, he eventually managed to get their information.

He immediately contacted them and urged them to log in as quickly as possible.

During that conversation, Chad also learned the key to defeating Prince Markel from Flynn: Edruson, hidden inside the dungeon’s secret chamber.

By the time Let-There-Be-Light logged in, Flynn was already standing beside Edruson. The two of them alone could not defeat Prince Markel yet, but they had been steadily clearing the trash mobs along the way. In fact, by the time the rest of the team returned, Flynn and Edruson had already wiped out several waves of enemies.

Of course, most of those kills had been Edruson’s doing.

"Night-Stalker, why did you call us back so urgently?" Let-There-Be-Light asked as he approached, his eyes shifting curiously toward the Rogue standing beside Flynn.

"Good news," Flynn replied. "I think we can kill Markel now, but we need to move fast."

He glanced at the others who were still logging in.

"I had a quest to find Mentor Edruson. After you all logged off, I discovered him inside the secret room where Gaimer came from. He’s willing to help us defeat Prince Markel because the Prince happens to be his enemy."

"Seriously?"

"You can ask him yourself if you want."

But Let-There-Be-Light didn’t bother asking. He trusted Flynn enough for that. Instead, he stepped forward and clapped Flynn heavily on the shoulder.

"Night-Stalker, thank you for this."

"Don’t thank me yet," Flynn said quickly. "We should hurry. My friend also received this information."

Let-There-Be-Light blinked. "How did they know? Did you tell them?"

"Yes. He’s my friend, after all," Flynn replied honestly. "And I’d like him to get a good result too."

Let-There-Be-Light and Not-A-Bystander both frowned slightly, exchanging a helpless glance but saying nothing.

Peerless Blood-Sword, however, exploded immediately.

"You sold us out!" he shouted furiously. "How could you tell such important information to someone else?!"

Let-There-Be-Light instantly realized the situation was about to spiral out of control.

"Blood-Sword, shut your mouth!" he snapped.

Flynn had always seemed friendly and easygoing, but Let-There-Be-Light had no illusions that he was harmless. Anyone who watched Flynn’s enthusiasm for PvP, or saw the occasional glimpse of his ruthless fighting style, could tell he wasn’t someone to provoke lightly.

And considering Blood-Sword’s earlier attempts to needle Flynn during the dungeon run, Let-There-Be-Light was already starting to wonder whether he should replace him in future teams. Blood-Sword was simply too emotional. If he angered Night-Stalker now, their chance of cooperating again might vanish entirely.

Normally Peerless Blood-Sword listened to Let-There-Be-Light without argument, but this time he stubbornly raised his chin.

"Boss, that secret could have guaranteed us the world first for the dungeon. At the very least we would have gotten the first kill on Prince Markel. And now he’s given it away to his friend Blood-Stained-Boxers, who’s one of our biggest competitors!"

Not-A-Bystander finally lost his patience.

"Damn it, shut up already!" he roared. "Night-Stalker isn’t a member of our studio. He doesn’t have to follow our rules. He discovered that secret himself through his own quest, and it has nothing to do with us. Why should he keep it confidential for our sake?"

Let-There-Be-Light saw Blood-Sword opening his mouth again and immediately cut him off.

"Don’t say another word," he said sharply. "Night-Stalker is someone we invited to help, and he’s not even getting paid. He discovered that information through his own quest line. It has nothing to do with our studio. Even if he posted the whole thing on the forums, we’d have no grounds to complain. Do you understand?"

Flynn watched the exchange quietly. One of them playing the strict enforcer, the other defending him openly. For a moment he wondered if the situation was really such a big deal.

In the end he decided it wasn’t worth thinking about too deeply.

"If you keep arguing," Flynn said casually, "you might actually lose the world first."

Let-There-Be-Light nodded immediately, then shot a fierce glare at Peerless Blood-Sword.

"Blood-Sword, keep your mouth shut. If you say one more word, I’ll kick you from the party right now. There are plenty of people qualified to run this dungeon."

At last Blood-Sword fell silent, though the resentment on his face was obvious as he followed the others upstairs.

Amy had stayed quiet during the entire argument. She had no interest in getting involved, but when she noticed the faint smile lingering on Flynn’s lips, she couldn’t help sending him a private message.

"Don’t take it personally. Blood-Sword isn’t a bad person. He just behaves like a child sometimes."

"Like a child?" Flynn replied. "I don’t think that’s it."

"Really," Amy insisted. "He’s usually very friendly and easy to talk to."

"That’s when he’s talking to you," Flynn answered. "Do you know why he’s so upset today?"

He glanced sideways at her, slightly incredulous.

Could she really not see it?

Amy looked back at him, her expression completely confused. She silently mouthed a single word.

"Why?"

Flynn almost laughed.

"Come on. You really can’t see it? He’s jealous because I’m getting along too well with you. And I’m too good at this game, so of course he feels threatened."

"Jealous?" Amy was walking up the stairs behind him and nearly tripped, letting out a little yelp. Let-There-Be-Light and the others up front turned around.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, fine. Just tripped." Amy mumbled something, then shot Flynn another message. "Hey, quit messing around. You’re making me look dumb."

"Heh," Flynn replied, chuckling quietly.

After a moment he added another message. "By the way... did I actually do something wrong earlier?"

Amy thought about it carefully before answering.

"There’s no absolute right or wrong in this situation. Personally, I’m not thrilled about what you did, but from your perspective you didn’t break any rules. However, remember one thing. If someone hired you, like paid you to run with them, then before the job ends, any strategy used to defeat a Boss belongs to the employer. Even if you discovered the method yourself, you cannot reveal it."

Her tone grew noticeably more serious toward the end.

She understood very well that if Flynn developed a reputation for leaking strategies, it could destroy his future as a player.

Flynn nodded thoughtfully.

"That’s exactly why I told my friend. We’re not in an employer–employee relationship. If I had been hired, I wouldn’t have said a word. Don’t worry, I know more about mercenary rules than you do."

Amy blinked.

"Have you already visited the Mercenary Guild? You need to be at least level twenty to form a mercenary team."

"Haven’t had time. I’m a mercenary in real life though. One of the cold-blooded kinds." He said in a playful tone.

"Yeah, right. Who’d believe that?" Amy wrinkled her nose.

Flynn simply glanced at her and let the topic drop, shifting his attention to the remaining enemies ahead.

Now that all five players were present again, the group resumed clearing the remaining mobs.

Edruson, however, showed no interest in participating. Perhaps because of his status as a mentor-level NPC, he remained hidden in Stealth, observing the battle with cold detachment.

Since Flynn and Edruson had already cleared about half the enemies earlier, the remaining mobs fell quickly. In less than ten minutes the only enemies left in the hall were Prince Markel and the two royal guards standing beside him on the second floor.

Before Let-There-Be-Light could even assign roles, Edruson suddenly stepped forward and vanished into motion.

"Markel!" he shouted coldly. "Your arrogance ends today!"

"Holy hell!" Let-There-Be-Light groaned. "Bystander, move!"

Everyone reacted instantly.

Not-A-Bystander’s Avenger’s Shield had already left his hand, but Edruson barked a sharp order.

"Markel is mine. You deal with his attendants."

Hearing that the Boss would be handled by the NPC, Not-A-Bystander immediately switched targets. He slammed a Shield Bash into the head of one of the royal guards, pulling the monster’s aggro.

The guard wielded two swords, and judging from his stance and attack patterns, he resembled a Finesse Duelist more than a Rogue.

"Dual swords?" Peerless Blood-Sword scoffed. "A Finesse Duelist using two swords has terrible attack power."

Duelist builds were generally divided into two main types: Strength Duelists and Agility Duelists.

Strength Duelists, often called Berserkers, invested heavily in Strength. Their normal attacks hit extremely hard, though their speed was relatively slow. Agility Duelists relied on speed instead, sacrificing raw power for rapid strikes.

Heavy Duelists usually favored greatswords, colossal swords, or broadswords, while Agility Duelists typically used standard longswords.

Dual-wielding two one-handed swords wasn’t impossible, but doing so significantly reduced attack power. Among high-level players, almost no one used that style seriously.

Not-A-Bystander grimaced.

"Low attack power? That thing could kill you in two hits!"

He spoke through clenched teeth while blocking another strike.

When he first saw the guard’s dual swords, he had assumed the damage would be low as well. Instead, a single slash had removed nearly two hundred points of his health, almost a fifth of his total.

And that was with him acting as the tank.

If anyone else had taken that hit, they probably would have been dead in two or three strikes.

Peerless Blood-Sword glanced at the tank’s rapidly dropping health bar and chuckled quietly, but he said nothing more.

Although the royal guards were weaker than the heavily armored elites from earlier, their attack speed made them extremely dangerous. Even with Let-There-Be-Light supporting him, Not-A-Bystander was under tremendous pressure, constantly monitoring his health and chugging potions whenever the healer fell behind.

Fortunately, they were still attendants rather than true Bosses. Their health pools and abilities were far more limited.

Two minutes later, both royal guards collapsed.

As soon as the attendants fell, the team prepared to focus on Prince Markel. But before they could move, the Boss suddenly roared.

"Intruders! Royal Mage Corps, attack!"

A hidden door behind him burst open.

A group of enemies rushed into the hall: two elite monsters bearing the title Grand Royal Mage, accompanied by four lesser mages.

"Are you kidding me?" Not-A-Bystander cursed and charged forward.

The four lesser mages were little more than ordinary mobs. Their strength was slightly higher than enemies outside the dungeon, but their defenses were poor and they fell quickly under the team’s attacks.

The two elite mages were another matter entirely.

These undead-like figures had likely been real Royal Mages of the Duchy of Ceylan during their lifetimes. One wore crimson robes and wielded fire magic, while the other dressed in deep blue and commanded ice.

The Fire Mage’s spells were brutal. Each Fireball slammed into Not-A-Bystander for nearly three hundred damage.

Meanwhile, the Ice Mage conjured icy circles beneath the players’ feet, freezing them in place. Whenever someone became trapped, the Fire Mage would follow up by summoning a blazing Ring of Fire around them.

For a few chaotic moments Flynn and the others were forced into a frantic scramble.

Fortunately, mage-type monsters had glaring weaknesses.

Their physical defenses were low, their health pools were small, and most importantly, their casting times were long. Simple spells like Fireball and Ice Shard required about three seconds to cast, but larger spells such as Ice Ring and Ring of Fire took even longer and had lengthy cooldowns.

Worse for the mages, taking damage while casting extended their cast time even further.

That vulnerability quickly became their downfall.

Under the team’s relentless attacks, the two Royal Mages struggled to complete their spells. Gradually they began to falter, until finally both collapsed to the floor.

But the moment the undead attendants died, Prince Markel erupted with fury.

"No! You filthy commoners!" he roared. "Do you truly believe this is enough to defeat the great Prince Markel, heir to the glorious Duchy of Ceylan?"

He suddenly raised a stone radiating intense golden light.

Energy surged from it.

Red and blue streams of power rose from the corpses of the fallen Royal Mages, flowing into the glowing stone before pouring directly into Prince Markel’s body.