In the royal pce of the Western Kingdom, Warlord sat at the head of a conference table with over a dozen chars.


    The yers he was meeting with were the investors and corporate leaders who sponsored the Devastators guild.


    Valentine led the meeting, doing his best to deflect and defuse some of the heat directed at Warlord by the angry board members.


    "We’re here to discuss the negligent behavior of guildmaster Warlord. Behavior that prevented this guild and its investors from benefiting and profiting from the possession of a source of immense wealth." The speaker’s anger was in to hear and see. Satan yer was the CEO of apany that produced superputers and other high-tech devices. Both he and hispany were heavily invested in the Devastators. He was a miserly soul, counting every gain and loss and his passions swayed whatever way the market was swinging.


    "Let’s all remain calm. Warlord is not to me for what happened in the Underworld. The Blood-Ragers were the ones at fault, they betrayed our deal and tried to take advantage of the situation. Their actions dumped everyone into the fire," Valentine tried to cate the irate board members.


    "I don’t give a fuck about that! You all saw the video, this bravo had the chance to grab the g. The video feed clearly showed the Guildmaster had time to secure the g and ensure victory. But he couldn’t even kill a low level draugr properly. Instead he turned himself and the guild into aughingstock," said Satan yer. Most of the people around the table were nodding at his words


    yer was correct after all. If Warlord hadn’t frittered away those moments they would be the owners of the new raid zone, envied by all instead of being the objects of ridicule.


    "His toon discorporated after I zeroed his health. No one could have known he would revive after being sent to respawn. Under normal circumstances it should be nearly impossible for a lowbie to one-shot someone like me, with hundreds of levels over him," Warlord spoke through gritted teeth.


    "It’s over now, what’s done is done," interjected a yer in elegant white robes. An ornately carved wooden staff leaned against his chair. A priest.


    "What happened cannot be changed." the venerable Priest continued.


    "Rencha, you lost the most out of all of us with yourpany’s investment in the Devastators. Why are you defending Warlord?" asked Satan yer.


    "I am not defending anyone. Dwelling on the past won’t change what has already happened. We need to make the best of the current situation. We have three month contracts giving us ess to the Crimson Monastery dungeon and the right to work the Bristle Mines. With those contracts we can power level more of our upper tier yers. Also it will increase our appeal to the High-Level rogue yers, they will join us just to get the EXP from the monastery and the Bristle mines."


    Satan yer crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, mouth set in an angry line.


    "What do we know about the elfess, this Lone Arrow?" asked Rencha, changing the subject.


    "I found something interesting when I investigated her." said Valentine.


    Everybody leaned forward, hanging on Valentine’s next words.


    "She is Untouchable."


    "What?!" some of the assembled yers yelled out. Others rxed back into their seats.


    "What do you mean?" asked Rencha.


    "We have, ah, discovered her identity. Apparently she has connections with some of the guild members. We looked into her background, her name is Zoe Silvana, she is the daughter of Dante Silvana.


    "Dante ’Da Monsta’ Silvana, the weapons dealer!? I thought he was arrested and sent up for the next two decades." Satan yer was clearly upset about the news.


    "That was a sham for the public, he is too valuable in certain circles to be behind bars. The movers and shakers always have a use for someone like him; usible deniability or negotiations they do not want to be associated with. "


    "So the Draugr is rted to her, probably a family member. So he’s also untouchable."


    "I highly doubt that, though it is not impossible. We have no information regarding his present whereabouts, where he came from or his previous affiliations with guilds or other organizations, if any. We even investigated the three yers that were in some of the earlier videos that he posted online, but we didn’t find any concrete information. It is like he appeared out of nowhere. Just some random new yer with no connections or backing," Valentine finished musingly with a slight smile.


    An elfess sitting next to Valentine spoke in a lovely contralto voice, "Maybe he’s some kind of super-AI. An entity created by the game to shake things up, upset the bnce."


    Valentine shook his head, "We reviewed and analyzed his behavior and speech patterns, ording to every measure avable he is human.


    "This was only the first Raid-Zone discovered in the Underworld. There will be more. We are searching for other entryways to the Underworld. We also hired [It’s Just Business] to track down Mr. Skeletal. Their S Legacy yer epted the contract."


    The Priest, Rencha, nodded. "The Shadow Assassin Legacy holder is a wily yer. It was thanks to her we rule here in the Western Kingdom now," he smacked the table. "We contracted with her to assassinate the old king, which was part of the quest to im the kingdom as Devastators HQ. If anyone can track the draugr down she can, especially with her skill-set."


    "Without knowing a yer’s true name, I don’t think it is possible. But who knows, maybe you are right and she can track him, but killing him is not worth it," said Warlord.


    Valentine nodded, "Killing the draugr is only ast resort, getting him to join us is preferable. If he does end up joining us, he can supply us with teleport scrolls to the Underworld. We would have ess before anyone else and eliminate our dependence on finding a new gate, at least for the immediate future. Given sole ess to the Underworld and some time we will conquer the Underworld and in due course the whole of Conquest itself!"


    ***


    Dave stood watch near the dungeon gate. He’d been yawning for thest hour.


    ’Damn, it’s been six hours and not one yer has shown up. So effing bored. I’m not doing this crap again, I can’t afford to if I want to level up.


    ’The AI sent the TNT the moment I came here, this would only mean that he can send any powerhouse from any guild using a quest and take me out if he ever wanted to.


    ’I should probably stay in the Underworld, that way at least I would be facing only monsters. If I hunt the gargoyles and the Demonic Rams I could level up without risk of being PKed.


    As Dave finished his thought process, the dungeon-gate fog broke and two figures entered.


    A pdin and a Priest.


    Dave Noticed the two iing yers before they got the chance to spot him.


    "Dude I’m telling you, there is no way he is back here. We should just work on leveling, staying here is useless," the priest nagged at the pdin.


    "I won’t rest until I destroy him. The fucker stole my Legacy Quest, you think I’m just gonna watch while he gets all that power and glory?" the pdin ranted, his piglike eyes darting everywhere.


    Dave’s mouth went dry. He recognized the two yers the moment he saw them.


    Stainless Steel


    High-Priest


    Level 335


    Bone Breaker


    Pdin


    Level 348