150 Battle of Wits Part 3 : Each of their Sides

..... Atlas World, Saint Heaven Kingdom, Forbidden City. Inside the Guild Residence of the HeadHunter Guild. Cruelty and the three other Godlike Players of the HeadHunter Guild are currently sitting around a roundtable and are having a meeting inside the conference room. Behind them stood their trusted aides who are listening to them silently. Cruelty, the 'Ruthless God', stoke his chin with the fingers of his right-hand while having a deep thought. After a few moments, he said. "We can't make our moves for now. Those guys on our rival guilds will only take advantage of our current situation. What do you guys think?" Soulless, the 'Savage God', nodded his head and agreed. "I'm pretty sure that those guys in our rival guilds are going to be on standby since they knew that we are going after those guys no matter what." "So it is better if we wait until the last minute before making our move. Let's see who are the ones that have more patience. They are aware that we are hot-headed, but we are still the HeadHuter Guild, and hunting heads are our forte." Then Bloody Edge, the 'Mad God', raise his concern. "But those guys will not let us jumped on those guys willingly. That is their special event after all." "Then how about we use it to rope some of them to our side?" said Helena, the 'Bewitching Goddess', playfully.The brows of the other Godlike players suddenly raise after hearing her words. They simultaneously looked at her while waiting for her to continue. Helena giggles when she saw the reactions of the three. Then she said after that. "They know that those guys are our prey while we know that they need to hunt those guys to win their special event, so why not we collaborate with one or two guilds based on that City." "We hunt those guys down together with some of our old acquaintance on their guilds while ours and their members will hold the other powerhouses that are going to try sabotaging us. That way, we hunted our prey while they won the event. It is a win-win situation for us." The other three nodded their heads agreeing with her suggestion. Cruelty even added. "Sounds like a plausible plan. We can also avoid having some accidents with the help of their own Godlike Players since we also don't know if those guys have a helper of their own." "The question is, 'Who are the guilds that we are going to side with'?" asked Bloody Edge. Then Soulless give his suggestion. "Hydra Guild is out of the question since the Dragon Pavilion will surely get on our way if we do. Same goes on the other way around." "Those guys don't have anything in mind but to slaughter each other whenever they see each other in the field. So how about we go with the second-best, the Titan Guild?" Bloody Edge shook his head and rejected the suggestion. "That is impossible. Those guys in the Titan Guild will only reply to us with something like 'Honor and Dignity before everything else' or something like that." "Those guys always want to fight fair and square, so I'm sure that they will not join this special. Or they might even side on the other side since they also like doing some heroic deeds. How about we collaborate with the Wing's Alliance instead?" This time, Helena immediately rejected that idea strongly. "No! Absolutely not! We can side with any other guilds but not with that sly and manipulative woman!!!! I will never collaborate with her!!!!" The other three look at her with a weird expression on their faces as if they are saying. –"Like you are the one to talk? Aren't you the same?"– Well, they can also understand her since she and Amanda of the Wing's Alliance is her unspoken rivals. Most of the players are comparing the 'Bewitching Goddess' and 'Alluring Goddess' from time to time. Their battle prowess is almost on par with each other, but what Helena can't accept is Amanda being in a much higher ranking than her in the 'Beauty Ranking List' of the official website of the 'All-Gamers Bulletin'. The three release a helpless sigh before Cruelty said his view. "If we can't side with the previous ones then we should settle with the businessmen instead. Those guys will favor profit over everything else after all." "But those businessmen don't want to share a profit with another businessman if they can monopolize it fully." said Bloody Edge while holding his chin with his right hand. "Then I suggest being with Golden Dawn and the Credit Republic. Those guys are quite friendly with each other, and their ideals didn't conflict with each other, so it is better if we chose them." said Soulless after some consideration. "One wants fame while the other is greedy for money, not a bad choice indeed. Let's go with it." said Helena. "So it is final then?" asked Cruelty to make sure that all of them is in favor of it. And when he saw that no one objects, he said. "Then that is final. Now, let's make our own arrangements. Helena, you go negotiate with the Credit Republic people." Soulless, go get in touch with Golden Dawn guys. Just make sure that you two are going to do secretly so that our rival guilds will not notice it." "Blood Edge, take some of our Rankers' group with you and go to the Holy City. Do it a little secretly, enough to fool the others but not enough to escape the eyes of our rival guilds." "We can't afford to get them suspicious of us. So we should at least show them that we are getting ready to make our moves." Then Cruelty looked at the other three and asked. "Is everything clear?" The other three nodded their heads in response. Then Cruelty nodded his head in return before having a grin with his mouth. "Now, let's see who is the biggest hunter of his hunting game. "Then they were dismissed and started to stand up one by one to do their things. .... Atlas World, Saint Heaven Kingdom, Calderock Town. In Hand of Midas Trading Firm, Shiella, or rather known as Snow White in the gaming world, is currently reading some reports inside her office. And if Shin was here, then he will surely break with cold sweat when he saw what's written on the reports. Shiella had gotten interested in her current business partner, the current Town's Mayor, and the so-called 'Nameless Swordsman'. According to the report, this guy is just a hermit. He just came out of nowhere. No one knows about him until he first shows up in the City Plaza of the Holy City. And that was his first conflict with the HeadHunter Guild people. Then his next feat is when he defeats Gray Fangs and his group twice in a row. And both of the cases happened when he is still considered as a Newbie Player. Then it is followed by his conflict with 'Minotaur Guild', and just like the previous ones, he slaughtered them all. And immediately after that battle, he has beaten a group of Potential Rankers from HeadHunter Guild all by himself. Then he suddenly turns out to be the Village Chief of the Calderock Village, the only player-owned village of the Saint Heaven Kingdom. And it is now promoted to a player-owned town which is also about to be promoted into an Intermediate Town. And as if not satisfied with all of that, he even dared to enter his enemies' turf and caused havoc there before having his victory over the Potential Titled Ranker, the 'Berserk Thief', Honkey. Then he got out of the place without having a scratch and disappeared to who knows where. And that incident humiliated the HeadHunter Guild even further. Then the next thing she knew about this guy, is he, being protected by some powerful figures. And those guys are even some legendary players. Every time Shiella received some news about this guy, he is always surpassing the previous feat that he had achieved. She doesn't know who is this guy entirely as even the Assassin Union can't dig out any kind of information about his background. This 'Nameless Swordsman' suddenly pop-up out of nowhere just like some kind of wild mushroom before disappearing like just like a ghost. But the most intriguing about this guy is him being a 'friend' of one of her little brothers. What's more, this brother of hers is quite a shut-in type of person. So Shiella investigated all of Shin's friends, they are not that many after all. And what she had discovered is all of them are playing «Destiny's Fate» which is not that surprising. She ordered some of her people to know these guys' in-game characters and they found out that no one of them is related to the 'Nameless Swordsman' which made Shiella become a little suspicious. And when she become suspicious of something, she is starting to reassess it from the very start. Shin first joined the game for almost three weeks ago. And judging from the time when the Nameless Swordsman first appeared, that should also be the time when Shin graduated from the Beginner's Village, so both of them are happened to be Newbie players at that time. Then Shin's first TV appearance(System announcement) of the game is when he cleared an Open Dungeon alone, which is also happened to be close by the Calderock Village. After that, Shin's next appearance on TV(system announcement) is when he cleared a Five-man Instance Dungeon in a Chaos Difficulty. And that dungeon is also near the Calderock Village. What's more, Shin even told her that it was discovered by his so-called 'friend' which taken by Shiella as the Nameless Swordsman. And together with her subordinates reports, Shin is disappearing every time they trailed behind. He is also able to shake them off time and time again. And when Shin disappeared, the Nameless Swordsman suddenly pop-up causing some havoc. The first two instances might be a coincidence, but if coincidence happened for a few more times, then it can't be considered as some coincidence anymore. And now that Shiella had closer look at it, Shin and the Nameless Swordsman have similar battle styles. Their Classes might be different, but their movements are almost the same. Others might not notice it, but it can escape Shiella's eyes as he is her brother. She knows him very well. Shiella is tapping her right-hand index finger on the table while thinking about this. And the more she thinks about it, the more convinced she became. The temperature on the room is also been dropping uncontrollably. But all of this is only her speculation as she doesn't have very solid evidence yet, and she needs to confirm it with her own eyes before coming with a conclusion. Then she closes her eyes as if she is making a decision. And after some time of thinking, Shiella opened her friend list and dialed a number. The call immediately connected after a few rings, then a hooded girl was revealed on the virtual screen. And this is the very same girl that had a meeting with Shiella before, the Head of the Assassin Union. The hooded girl immediately opens her mouth after answering the call. "So~♪ Have you made your decision, Sister Shiella?" Shiella took a deep breath before nodding her head while replying. "I'll make it straight. I'm going to support you. But can you bear the responsibility? We are practically announcing that we are going in war with them" The hooded girl clicked her tongue and said. "Tsk! What are you so concerned about? We have a strong alibi to support our claims." Shiella smiled bitterly and said. "You don't understand me. I'm unlike you, I have some competitors, you know? There are some Trading Firms that are rising up recently." "Especially, the 'Black Market' and the 'Grand Banquet' Trading Firms. These guys are giving me some headache these past few days. And they might take advantage of this situation to snatched up some clients away from me." The other side immediately rebutted "Don't try to trick me. I know that any of those guys don't know that you are the real Guild Leader of your firm." "But I'm going to send some of my men, and they are pretty much recognizable by those guys." said Shiella not willing to back down. The hooded girl releases a helpless sigh before replying. "Alright, Alright. I'll compensate your loses after this. But make sure we are going to succeed, alright? Our opponents are somewhat troublesome after all." Then Shiella finally formed a smile with her lips before replying. "That's more like it. And why are you so concerned about those guys? They are more than enough to handle themselves. So if we gave them a helping hand, then it is impossible for us to fail." The hooded girl on the virtual screen seems to roll her eyes at Shiella before saying. "Whatever you say. So see you that the meeting place, alright?" After that, the hooded girl immediately ended the call. From the looks of it, she is pretty much in a hurry. Shiella just shrugged her shoulders after hearing that. Then she closes the blank virtual screen before summoning all the available chiefs of the respective fields of the Hand of Midas Trading Firm. And from the tone of her voice, the summoned chiefs can tell that the gravity of the situation is somewhat heavy. .....