Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 104

104. The Irregular Trader (3)

“No way! How could you lose him when the boss himself went after him!”

Beken shouted, his voice filled with disbelief and outrage.

He had just received news that Godin and the guild members had personally pursued Aile, whom he despised, only to fail to capture him.

Unlike Amaranth, who had only heard rumors, Beken knew his brother’s capabilities well and couldn’t fathom how this could happen.

“Well, they said he suddenly used some strange trick. They’re back on his trail, so they should catch him soon.”

“You’re chasing him right now? Are you sure?”

“Yeah, yeah. So stop bothering me and go do your own thing.”

The guild member waved his hand dismissively, a hint of annoyance in his expression.

They were keeping the fact that they were trying to recruit Aile into the guild a secret from Beken.

Beken had been thrilled when the guild members started chasing Aile, assuming they had finally put him on the guild’s hit list. He would be furious if he knew they were trying to bring him into their ranks.

While the man kept Beken occupied, the other three White Fang guild members were in a strategy meeting.

“We can’t get anything done with this baggage. What are we going to do about it? We even paid gold to get in here. Are we just going to stay like this?”

“What do you want to do? Kill him here?”

“Ugh, I was planning to level up today…”

They were in the Howling Canyon, a popular hunting ground for players around level 130.

It was known for its excellent hunting efficiency and convenient location, with a nearby base for quick resupplies, making it a popular choice for many players.

However, such a prime hunting ground wouldn’t be unguarded.

The Nightmare guild’s sub-guild, ‘Glade,’ managed the area directly, and no one dared to enter without paying the toll [a fee for using the hunting ground].

Their party had paid to enter for efficient hunting.

But a problem had arisen.

Beken, who was several levels lower, kept following them around, wanting to get real-time updates.

Since he was the guild leader’s brother, they couldn’t discipline him or leave him to die. It was like carrying around a dead weight.

“Forget it. I’ll just take him out of here. Why did he even come in here without paying the toll in the first place?”

One of the guild members volunteered, sounding exasperated.

Even if they weren’t directly affiliated, it was still a hunting ground managed by Nightmare, one of the six major guilds in the game.

Even if Beken was a newbie who couldn’t participate in hunting, getting caught trespassing could cause trouble.

But as he approached Beken, they heard the sound of heavy hooves approaching.

Dudududu!

In an instant, riders burst through the bushes.

The riders circled them once before stopping.

“W, what…?”

The guild members, startled by the sudden appearance, stepped back cautiously.

The riders wore green armor and bore the distinct hummingbird insignia.

They were Glade guild members.

“Five users affiliated with White Fang… You must be them, right?”

“Wait, this guy is a beginner. He’s part of our guild, but… he got lost and we were about to take him back out.”

The man next to Beken quickly stepped forward and explained.

He assumed the Glade guild members were there to catch trespassers as the managers of Howling Canyon, so he hurried to make excuses.

But they weren’t concerned about toll fees.

“We don’t care about that.”

Thwack!

The man who had stepped forward was struck head-on by a swung mace, his helmet and head caving in as he fell to the ground.

It had happened in an instant.

The comrades stared in disbelief at the unbelievable situation.

But before they could even process what was happening, the Glade guild members who had surrounded them began to attack simultaneously.

“Kuhuk…!”

“You bastards!”

The sudden, unprovoked attack caught the guild members off guard.

They desperately tried to resist, but it was futile.

They were outmatched in stats and skill, and the enemy outnumbered them six to four.

Thwack!

The last resisting guild member was stabbed by a spear and collapsed.

Now, only Beken remained, unable to even think about drawing his weapon.

“W, what are you doing!”

Beken shouted.

It was true that they were in a position where no one could easily mess with them as a sub-guild of Nightmare.

But attacking a guild without any justification was unacceptable.

It would be one thing if the target was a small, insignificant guild, but White Fang was a mid-sized guild with hundreds of members.

Glade could even face disciplinary action from Nightmare for this.

“To launch a preemptive strike without warning! Do you know what will happen when my brother finds out about this!”

“Wait. Are you Beken, Godin’s brother?”

“Yeah! You son of a b–”

Thwack!

“Kuhuk…?”

Beken, impaled by a spear, spat out blood.

The guild member who had silenced him with a single blow looked down at the dying Beken with a sneer.

“Perfect. You’re a special target. The order is to completely eliminate you so you can never set foot in Warlord again.”

* * *

“He was spotted on a flight heading to Media. He’s even showing his face, so it shouldn’t take long to track him down.”

“Don’t let your guard down. Hire bounty guilds as well. Finish this as quickly as possible. We can’t keep being tied down to this forever.”

Godin said, sitting in his guild office.

A mid-sized guild couldn’t afford to dedicate its entire resources to chasing down a single person.

Godin, the guild leader, and the main forces classified as the top tier, had several important raid schedules lined up starting today.

They were trying to accelerate their spec upgrades ahead of the highly anticipated joint stronghold war [a large-scale PvP event where guilds fight for control of strategic locations].

But suddenly, strange noises came from outside the guild building.

Beyond just being noisy, the atmosphere was chaotic, making Godin feel uneasy. He left his office and went down to the first floor.

“What’s going on?”

“S, something terrible! Over there…!”

The guild member who had just burst through the door pointed outside. Godin and a few other guild members went outside to assess the situation.

They saw users in black armor standing in front of the guild building.

Six users who had caused a commotion and approached right in front of them.

‘Nightmare…!’

Godin froze for a moment.

It was none other than Nightmare’s direct guild members who had come to find them, creating a tense atmosphere as if they were declaring war.

The people who had noticed the unusual atmosphere gathered on the street, creating a crowd of onlookers.

“What brings you here so suddenly?”

“Are you the guild leader of White Fang?”

“I am.”

Godin said, trying to hide his nervousness.

There were over 40 guild members remaining in the guild building, but he knew that even with that many people, they had no chance of defeating those six users.

However, Godin was confident that he had never done anything that would jeopardize his relationship with Nightmare.

He thought it couldn’t be a big problem.

But his expectations were shattered in an instant.

“We’ve come to disband your guild.”

“Wh, what?”

The man’s words shocked Godin and his guild members, and even the onlookers were surprised and began to stir.

No one expected the word ‘guild disbandment’ to be uttered.

It was no different from going beyond a simple war and uprooting them entirely.

“No… That’s impossible. There’s no reason for Nightmare to attack our guild.”

“Well, it seems you’ve touched something you shouldn’t have.”

‘Touched something…?’

Godin’s mind began to race in confusion.

Operating a large guild inevitably led to conflicts with other forces.

So many people came to mind as potential sources of resentment that Aile was barely a consideration.

‘Damn it, who is it? To be able to bribe one of the six major guilds…’

Godin wracked his brain, but he couldn’t figure it out.

Meanwhile, the Nightmare guild members, thinking the conversation was over, drew their weapons and narrowed the distance.

“Wait…! We need time to understand the situation. I need to talk to your executives.”

Godin had some shallow connections within the Nightmare guild.

One of the rankers in Nightmare was from the same ‘Clan War’ game as him.

He, who had never lost first place in the Clan War rankings, had entered Nightmare in Warlord and had a considerable voice as one of the rankers, even if he wasn’t among the main executives.

They weren’t close enough to contact frequently, but if he met him separately and asked for a favor, he might be able to overcome this situation.

But the answer he received was simple.

“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t matter who you talk to. This is an order directly from the guild leader.”

“Th, that can’t be…”

Deep shock appeared on Godin’s face.

There was no way someone who could make the leader of one of the six major guilds move was around him.

But what if that was true?

No matter how much he tried to find a way out, there was no answer.

Completely cornered, Godin, who had been trying not to lose his composure, began to shake rapidly.

How could he face this crisis with the guild he had led so far?

He had invested everything in it, and it was the result of all the effort and achievements he had poured out while overcoming fierce competition.

Godin held his trembling arms and opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Please. Let me meet your guild leader, even for a moment. No, if I could meet the person who commissioned this, I would sincerely apologize. I can’t accept this as it is. Not so futilely…”

“Hey, you’ve been a guild leader, so you should know. Such trivial stories don’t work in Warlord. Apologies? Then what about the countless guilds and users you trampled on to grow your guild? Did you sheathe your swords when they knelt and begged? Of course not. If you had, you wouldn’t be standing here.”

“That’s…”

Godin couldn’t say anything to the man’s words, and silence lingered.

It was an undeniable fact as long as he was deeply involved in Warlord.

And a word that broke the silence.

“Wipe them out.”