145 Notorious Villains

... Lawless released Charlotte's hand as soon as he shook it a little. Then he immediately said to the latter. "I didn't expect to meet a legendary figure like you here. What's more, doing something as trivial as a mercenary job." Charlotte's attitude became a little less cold when she gotten to know Lawless' identity. Then she said. "If I'm a legendary figure, then I should call you a myth." While the two are exchanging some pleasantries, Shin walked towards Morgan and whispered. "What are they talking about?" Morgan chuckles at Shin's question before replying. "You should read forums more, Young Master Shin. Especially regarding expert players." Shin knitted his brows before asking. "I'm reading some topics on the forums during my free time. But what it have to do with what they are talking." Morgan didn't answer Shin's question and just laugh at him. And when Shin is about to open the forums to take a look at it, Lawless and Charlotte are finally done with their pleasantries. And immediately after that, they gone back to the main business."So are you still going to refuse our offered job. No, it is more right to say a collaboration." said Lawless. Charlotte turned her head at Shin and said. "Is that guy a part of your team?" Shin is the one answer that with unfriendly tone. "I am not. Why? Do you have problem with it?" The face of the others suddenly turned stiff after hearing that. –"What's wrong with you? We just stopped your battle, yet you are already starting one?"– "Haha... Don't mind him. He is just like that. He didn't mean too offend you." laughed Lawless trying to lighten up the mood while giving out some eye-signals at Shin. –"We are trying to fish out some negotiation here so don't ruin the mood."– Shin shrugged his shoulders while Charlotte coldly said while pointing at him. "I don't feel like working with him." "But he is the initiator of the quests." said Lawless. "But he is weak." rebutted Charlotte making Shin to choke up some air. And as if rubbing some salt in the wound, she added. "He is just going to get some free ride on our bus." "They are my friends so it is fine if they help out a little. As for you, we are just hiring you as a mercenary." said Shin with annoyed tone. This time, the others are looking at him weirdly as if saying. –"What is wrong with you? Did you hit your head or something? "– Meanwhile, Morgan felt that there is something wrong with the situation. Just earlier, Shin is with his usual self. But now, he seems to be a different person. Then he suddenly remember something. It is about Shin's unusual behavior. Sometimes he is with his carefree attitude, sometimes he is calm, and there is also be a time that he can easily be agitated. Morgan raised his right hand and used it to pat Shin's left shoulder with a little bit of force that is enough to shake Shin's body. Then he said with a whispering voice. "Hey! Calm down a little, your are starting to losing it." Unfortunately, Shin didn't seem to calm down. Morgan knitted his brows and about to do it again when he suddenly saw flash of a dim light in Shin's eyes. At first, he thought it is just his imagination but he felt a quick shift at Shin's aura. Then Shin finally snapped it off and came back at his usual self and he seems to be aware at what he had done and stayed silent. That changes where quite brief and unnoticeable for others. In fact, if Morgan is not looking at Shin closely and not aware of the latter's condition, then he might not be able to notice it either. And not aware at what had happened, Charlotte look at Lawless and said. "See? We didn't seem to fit in a team, so accidents might happen." Lawless release a helpless sigh before asking. "Anyway, what kind of condition did this guy offer to you to accept it earlier?" Then Shin immediately chimed in. "The negotiations are not done yet. That is why she is here to finalized it." Lawless turn his head at Shin while frowning his brows and about give the latter an earful. But he immediately choked with the words that he is about to say when he heard Shin's next words. "I offered her a piece of bloodstone together with sharing of the Quest. She is excluded on the loots though, but it is still up to you if you want her to take a share." Shin's offer is very tempting even for a players on their level. Getting a Bloodstone from a mercenary job? Even Lawless is going to accept that job if it is offered to him. Even Faker is looking at Shin with a weird expression on his face. What is a Bloodstone? It is an item that can be used to unlocked some Awakening Skills, or improve one's Battle Physique. Every player can get some free skills from their Class Instructors every time you reach the 25-level mark, but when they reached the Level-100 mark, there are no free skills at all. At this point, a player needs to use a bloodstone to enter a testing site to get some Awakening Skills at level 100 and 150 marks. And these skills is not simple as the name implies, they are OP skills dedicated to that player only. It is a skill unique skill created by the system base on the player's class, fighting style, and habits. In some sense, it is a system generated 'Class Fighting Style' Skill. What's more, these items are hard to come by. In fact, even if Lawless and Faker are already Level-110, they still haven't unlocked their Awakening Skills. So it is natural for them to have that kind of reactions. Charlotte opened and closed her mouth as if she wanted to say something but no words came out. At the same time, Lawless send a private message to Shin. Lawless: D*mn you, lucky b*st*rd! You have that kind of good stuff yet you never share it with your brother here? What kind of friend are you? After that, Lawless turned his head at Charlotte giving her a meaningful eyes. The latter just release a helpless sigh as she don't know what to do anymore as she finally remembered why she is here for. Then another negotiation started after that brief episode. They took for quite some time to finalized it, but they able to draft a condition that both sides are satisfied. Charlotte is not going to take any pay from them anymore as she is going the get her fair share on the loots and get involved in the quest instead. She didn't complain much about Shin anymore since she discovered that it is a three-way high-ranking quest that are interconnected with each other with him being the main initiator. At the same time, Lawless' group promised that they are going to help her at one of the high-ranking quest of her own to return the favor. It is also the quest that she had a trouble with. It is also their real payment for her 'mercenary job'. After finalizing everything and signing the contract, the group started to prepare themselves so that they can finally proceed towards their destination. They started summoning their mounts/pets before riding them one by one. And once Lawless saw Whitie, he immediately use an ocular skill to observed it. And when he saw the details of the badass white tiger, he started cursing Shin with his good luck once again. And to much Shin's surprise, the suspected traitor did run away despite the group didn't pay him any attention at the situation earlier. Well, it is just either he is completely innocent or he have some hidden agenda. Naturally, Shin let this paladin to ride with him on Whitie's back. Actually, he can also summon Blackie for the extra mount. But since he is using two identities now, he just assigned the black tiger as he real identity's mount. ... The group spend two hours of traveling with their mounts, just to arrived at the place were the paladins got ambushed. And along the way, they didn't encounter any kind of monster which made the group to become suspicious at the situation. Their surroundings are too quiet. There are even no blowing wind in the vicinity, even a simple breeze is not present as the the branches of the trees remain steady and unmoved. The vegetation is ongoing to sway a little when the group brushed past them. Given that, they started to slow down. They even dismount from the back of their pets to further slow down their pace, but didn't unsummon them to prevent some accidents. "This is odd, why we didn't encounter any kind of monster until now?" said Lawless before opening his virtual map to check on their location. Then he become shock at what he saw. "What!? How did that happened?" The group simultaneously looked at Lawless with confused expression. Then he looked at them and said. "I think we are not on the map of Atlas World anymore. It is as if we entered an instance dungeon." The others also opened their respective virtual maps and discovered that it is just a blank map. –"Since when did we entered here?"– muttered the others. Then Shin asked Hanzo. "Hey, Old Man. Did you discovered something? You should have felt something, right? Then why didn't you warn us earlier?" Hanzo clicked his tongue and replied. "Tsk! Take it easy, kid. One question at a time. First, you are still in the main world, because if you entered another plane, I should have felt it. But I felt nothing. That is why I didn't warn you in advance." Grimrace suddenly chimed in. "We are on an enclosed space if I'm not wrong. It is like a space cage that is put in a single place to entrapped others. And it can bypassed an Elemental Spirit's senses. That is why the Old Spirit didn't noticed it." "I've experienced something similar before when I'm being chased by a Messenger of Corrupted Cult. That guy is strong, maybe as strong as that Elementalist. If I didn't get lucky, then that guy might had already captured me." Then Hanzo said. "If what you have said is true, then our enemies are already aware that we are coming." Shin nodded his head silently before sending a message on the party chat channel to share his findings. Then he turned his head at the paladin that they have brought. "Did you also experienced something similar when you and the others are coming here?" The paladin is currently shivering because of fear while replying at Shin stutteringly. "Y-Yes, Sir Envoy. T-This is pretty much t-the same t-to what w-we have experienced. I-If we move a little more f-further then w-we might encounter s-some people of the C-Corrupted Cult together with some Corrupted Beast." The group suddenly turned silent to think. Then they exchange some ideas in the party channel chat, it is to avoid being heard by their suspected traitor paladin. "Then let me scout ahead first to see if there is an ambush waiting for us." said Faker after their discussion. And before he entered stealth, Charlotte suddenly added. "We should be careful this time. If my guess is correct, then we might encounter some players that converted to the Corrupted Cult and Demonic Churches." "If that is the case, then it is going to become more easy. I prefer fighting some players than an overpowered NPC." sneered by Lawless while having an evil grin with his mouth. Charlotte shook her head before saying. "If it is just some random guys, then it is just a piece of cake. But I am talking about 'Immortal' and 'Hoawin'." The grin on Lawless face suddenly turned stiff before asking. "Those lunatics?"Charlotte nodded her head and said. "Yeah, 'Immortal' became a Messenger of a Corrupted Cult while 'Haowin' is an Apostle of Demonic Church." "I've exchanged some blows with them before and they've became even more stronger on this game. It is like the nature of this game gave them more freedom." Meanwhile, Shin is looking at them with confused expression of his face. He don't know who are they talking about so stealthy opened an online forum to search for the names that he had heard. What he had discovered is enough to choked him with a mouth of air. He just entered the two names and what he saw is–.... –"Immortal: a lunatic Godlike Player that always stands on the dark side of all games. He is always playing a Necromancer Class so the people gave him a title of 'Lich God'." "Even a powerful Guild is not willing to clash with him because of his powerful and massive army of undead. Some lunatic players even created a Guild that is composed only of members with Necromancer Class just because him. And they become one of the Powerhouse Guilds named 'Undying Guild' with just few battles. " –"Hoawin: A notorious Godlike player that is infamous for being a villain in all of games. He is going to slaughter anyone he wants, even powerful guilds will trembled in fear just hearing his name." "People called him the 'God of Carnage' because of his feats. He is always be siding on the dark side of the game to become an enemy of everyone." Shin is staring blankly at the informations on the virtual screen in front of him. 'No wonder brother Lawless become shocked when he heard their names. These guys should be notoriously strong since they are Godlike Players.' And out of curiosity, Shin also search for the information regarding Charlotte. Then, his head suddenly short-circuited at what he saw. After a few moments, he tried looking for some information regarding the name 'Tora'. And this time, his head turned completely blank. ...