Gamers of the Underworld (Web Novel)
chapter-465

The Mana bullets were like rockets that smashed into the ground, and the dust from the explosions engulfed the entire forest. When the dust settled, Dragonborn and Tomato had vanished.

The Magicians who attacked them didn’t think that they were hit by the Mana bullets. Even if they were killed, there would be corpses.

A man wearing a magic cloak squatted on a tree branch. He was looking for traces of Dragonborn and Tomato, but he couldn’t find them.

As he was hesitating whether to jump down and look for them, he heard wind movements beside him.

He turned his head and felt his neck being held before a “Ka cha” sound of twisted bones was heard.

The Magician fell limply from the tree branch and landed on the ground with a thud.

The forest became quiet. It was as though nothing had happened.

After a few minutes, a man walked slowly towards the tree that the Magician had fallen from.

As he got close, his foot stepped on something, and a rope tightened around his ankle. He was pulled up to an opposite tree trunk. A large tree stump that was sharpened to a fatal tip flew towards him and penetrated his chest. He was pinned to the tree trunk and didn’t make any noise.

The people who were hiding could no longer wait peacefully. They came out from the trees and rocks and gathered as they surveyed the surroundings. They had masks on their faces, and numerous Magicians, who were holding their trademark Magic Wands, could be seen.

“What’s happening? Did you see Tomato?” a person asked another man impatiently.

Everyone shook their heads. They didn’t know where Tomato attacked from.

“What should we do now?” another man asked.

“Illumination Mana!” the leader ordered.

A few Magicians lifted their Magic Wands towards the sky.

Strong illumination emitted from their Magic Wands, and a few light balls flew up to the sky and exploded. The forest was lit up like daytime, the morning mist was dispelled, and the figures of the hiding creatures in the trees were clearly identified.

But there were no traces of Dragonborn or Tomato.

Even the two Forest Wolves and the young Wyvern weren’t around.

“D*mn, are there any traps nearby? Didn’t your men say that there were no traps here? Are you deceiving us?” the leader asked as he grabbed a nearby Magician.

The Magician said calmly to the leader, “I didn’t deceive you, we didn’t detect any traps. My men sustained casualties too. Don’t be too agitated. Even if there are traps that aren’t disarmed, it’s alright. Tomato and the man who disrupted our plan can’t escape.”

The Magician spoke firmly, and the leader calmed down and released his grasp on the Magician.

“Let’s get out of here. Tomato is hidden. From my understanding of him, he’ll not show himself. He will kill us one by one. Don’t get separated.”

The Magician at his side said loudly, “We’ve paid you. Are you mercenaries going to leave like that? We have to capture both of them today!”

The leader rebuked loudly, “We only received the mission to capture the man who stole the young Wyvern. We’re not supposed to capture Tomato. Even though the bounty is generous, if we perish, what’s the use of the bounty? If you want to capture Tomato, please go ahead. Don’t involve us!”

The leader was blunt.

“What are you saying? Are you revolting against the King?”

The Magician lifted his Magic Wand angrily and pointed it at the leader. The leader looked fearlessly at the Magician and said, “If you want my brothers and me to be killed, we’ll kill you now. Do you believe that?”

A warrior pulled the leader’s arm nervously as he said softly, “Leader, it’s not the time to be willful. They are the Kings’ Tower Magicians.”

The Magician smirked, but the leader was adamant.

He unsheathed his weapon and stabbed the Magician’s chest. The Magician looked on in disbelief as the leader kicked him to the ground. Fresh blood flowed from the Magician’s chest, and his life force was draining. The Magicians at the side were horrified. They didn’t expect such a thing to happen. A Magician wanted to attack with his Magic Wand, but a mercenary slashed him.

A chaotic battle ensued as the mercenaries and Magicians fought. Mana was released, and weapons cut into bodies. When the battle came to an end, only a few mercenaries and the leader were left.

A bloodstained mercenary who was seriously wounded said angrily to the leader, “Leader, we were just exiled by the Empire, and now you’ve offended the King. Where are we going to go now? Are we going to live among the Underworld creatures?”

The leader had no intention of explaining. He grabbed the man’s shoulder and stabbed his chest like the Magician that he killed. The bloodstained mercenaries were seriously injured and were in a daze. A strange mercenary turned and killed other mercenaries around him. The rest of the mercenaries fled but were pursued by the leader and the strange mercenary. In the end, the fleeing mercenaries were all killed.

The strange mercenary panted as he sheathed his weapon. He was Dragonborn.

It was hard to imagine how a man could kill two opponents within a short time and disguise himself as the dead person.

Dragonborn hadn’t encountered or heard of this skill before. To Tomato, it was like his daily routine. The scary part was that it wasn’t a Mana Skill. It was actually Tomato’s favorite assassination skill.

That was the skill that he was going to teach Dragonborn.

The leader was actually the disguised Tomato. He had killed the leader at the start of the battle and disguised himself as the leader.

Everything went as planned by Tomato. All the mercenaries and Magicians were killed in the battle, though it remained to be seen whether there were other pursuers.

At least Dragonborn and Tomato were safe for now.

Tomato took off his disguise, walked to a huge tree, and knocked on the tree trunk. The bark of the tree opened, and two Forest Wolves and a young Wyvern came out. They were hiding in the tree trunk of the huge tree.

A smart assassin and hunter would also take care of his pets.

Dragonborn looked at the corpses on the ground and felt exhilarated. The Magician’s equipment was endowed with Mana. If he could bring them back, the equipment would fetch very high prices. Perhaps the equipment might be of Legendary quality. The equipment of the mercenaries was also of Superior quality. In fact, the armor of the mercenaries was of better quality than the current armor of Dragonborn.

Though the armor wasn’t appraised, during the battle, he felt the power of the armor, which had some magical defenses. His current armor didn’t have any magical defenses, so his skin would be scalded by a flame attack.

As he was about to salvage the equipment, Tomato stopped him.

“There’s no need to clear the corpses. We have to leave immediately. We’re not safe yet,” Tomato said as he threw away the armor and Magic Wand that Dragonborn was holding. He grabbed Dragonborn and walked towards the exit of the forest. Tomato looked nervous. It was as though there were pursuers behind him.

“Are there enemies nearby?” Dragonborn asked nervously.

“No, I don’t sense any enemies nearby. However, there might be more fearsome creatures than Humans in the forest,” Tomato said fearfully as he stopped suddenly in his track. Dragonborn almost knocked into him. When Dragonborn recovered, he saw Tomato looking at a tree in front.

Dragonborn saw a petite creature with a pair of translucent wings standing on a tree branch. He had seen this creature before. It was the Little Fairy captured by Lord Sherlock in Eternal Kingdom.

The unyielding Little Fairy had become the Potion Concoction Instructor in Eternal Kingdom.

The creature on the tree branch looked exactly like the Little Fairy.

“He…”

The Fairy spat saliva and looked without emotion at Tomato and Dragonborn. The powerful Tomato didn’t move at all.

There were sounds of saliva spitting coming from the trees, and pairs of eyes were gazing at them. Countless Fairies had surrounded them.

Dragonborn was anxious. What should he do?

He waited in the precarious situation.

…

At the Sighing Wilderness, there were hundreds of Eternal Kingdom’s warriors gathered at a forked road. They were members of the Pioneer Alliance Guild.

They were gathered there at the order of Arthur to attack the Changan City Stronghold at the far end of the forked road.

There were only around a hundred members there because the remaining Guild members were at the forest to bait the main force of Changan City.

“Is this the forked road?” BurningChestHair asked an Orc as he held two Daggers and looked excitedly at the forked road ahead.

“Brother ChestHair, it’s this forked road. We have scouts in front. We’ll walk 10 minutes before arriving at the Changan City Stronghold. According to our informants, Sylvanas should be held at this Stronghold,” the Orc replied quickly.

“Okay, everyone should be clear about the mission. Our mission is to rescue Sylvanas or kill her so that she can revive. Then she won’t have to be imprisoned here, wasting her time. If possible, our secondary mission is to destroy this Stronghold,” NotWearingPants said to his comrades.

An Orc shouted, “For Sylvanas!”

Another Gnome said, “I don’t want to do it for Sylvanas. She killed the Great King and messed up the latest 8.25 Plot. I believe there is going to be a new Instance Dungeon soon, and Sylvanas’s reins can be found inside!”

“Gosh! You hypocritical tribesman. I’ll never yield and become a slave!”

“How hilarious. Do you believe that you’ll be the first one to challenge the Instance Dungeon once it’s out?”

“I’ll never take the reins of the person I respect. Just like the Blood Prince, I haven’t had his reins.”

“Be reasonable. In the current Plot of World of Warcraft, if Queen Sylvanas doesn’t clear up the Plot, I’ll never play the game.”

“Shucks, you’re already playing Dungeon. Why are you playing World of Warcraft?”

“Dungeon is Dungeon. World of Warcraft is different. The classic World of Warcraft is fun. Try it, it’s fun!”

“No, aren’t we about to start a war? Aren’t we supposed to be preparing? Why are you talking about World of Warcraft?”

“Because everyone is trash. Everyone is dying!”

“Most people don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

The gamers weren’t nervous about the coming battle as they were all seasoned. Their combat skills were high, and most of them were First Beta Gamers.

The most important preparation was accumulating enough explosives. Hemp Rope Technology had come up with a new Rune Mana explosives. The explosives were accounted for and distributed to the Guild members. They weren’t going to scale the walls of the enemy Stronghold. Instead, they would use explosives to blow up the entrance. Walls created by normal materials were unable to withstand the power of the explosives.

There was nothing that the explosives couldn’t destroy. If there was, the explosives would be used a second time.

After the distribution of the explosives, NotWearingPants brought the Guild members to the enemy Stronghold. Arthur was at the forest with 100 Guild members to bait the main force of Changan City.

…

Sylvanas was kept in a prison cell, with two Orc gamers watching over her.

The Changan City members didn’t have gamers below the Gnome level. The lowest levels were either Gnomes or Houndhead Men, while most of the members upgraded to Orcs. Though the Mana Skills and power of an Orc was inferior to a Gnome, an Orc could still use Mana Skills and fight at the same time.

Mana Skills weren’t widely used, and their power wasn’t as high as the Bladder Bombs or the Rune Mana Bombs. Orcs were the main choice for gamers.

If the gamers didn’t like Ocs, they could choose Goblins, Gnomes, or Houndhead Men. Becoming a Houndhead Man required the blessing of Eggface, while Goblins and Gnomes could be freely chosen. If they chose other races and reverted back to an Orc, they would have to redo the Orc upgrade mission.

“Hey, do you want to earn some extra money?”

Sylvanas said to the emotionless guards, “Release me, and I’ll give both of you one million Renminbi. I’m not joking.”