Cid physically felt Todd's joy at getting so much loot.
To be fair, it was, in fact, a lot of various interesting things. These guys, despite looking even more demons than some actual demons, were not, in fact, demons in nature. Cid could even say that they were just some mutated beasts, and the variety of mutations was, to say the least, large.
Though one problem has arisen: they were running out of rooms to store goodies. Todd was already shaking poor Hams to create more space for the hard-earned items, and Cid wholeheartedly agreed with the Toad (capital T, because it's not just some toad, it's his Toad!). Like, what if they run out of space and there's still something interesting left? Toad will get a heart attack because they will be forced to leave something!
In short, Hams was forced to think about something to store more stuff, be it another subspace or the expansion of Cid's Soul Space… But only after they study this Black Rose!
Victoria looked into the sky in delight.
This was her God.
This was their protector, the one who granted salvation to those in need, the one who purged the filth that plagued the world.
Lord Shadow opened the Black Rose. Not to summon the so-called demons here, oh no… He wanted to slaughter them so his world would no longer fear their invasion.
Yes, his world. Everything in this world was his. Including the world itself.
If someone doubts it, they can come and say it straight to her face.
If they have the skills to survive her wrath, that is.
"So the Black Rose was nothing more than a door for otherworldly beings to enter, huh?…" Rose mused as she looked outside the window, at the sky where all the invaders just turned into nothing by the will of Shadow.
Or, rather, Cid Kagenou, the one she proclaimed her husband…
Her cheeks reddened at this thought as she buried her face into her hands. Now she was feeling kinda silly with these thoughts; Rose thought she could just take him away and let him grow under her wing. Turns out, this whole time it was actually the other way around…
Well, now she wants to take him as her husband even more, but…
Rose counted mentally.
Yes, there are Seven Shades, apparently this Victoria… Should she count Alexia Midgar and… Sherry Barnett, was it? If yes, then it's eleven women that all have sights on him. This is gonna be tough…
Rose inhaled.
But that's fine. She will prove her love to him, and then they will marry and have a happy family…
She felt someone behind her. Interesting… After training with Shadow Garden members she has grown quite perceptive…
After turning around she saw two elves clad in Shadow Garden uniform. One with white hair, another with blue. Both looked at her with curious blue eyes.
"You are…?"
"I am 664. This one is 665. We were assigned to serve as the link between you and the rest of Shadow Garden, and we were instructed to wait until you come back into Oriana kingdom," the shorter one with blue hair spoke military-like.
"Hi~ I am 665, pleased to meet you," white-haired was, in contrast, more laid-back and a head taller than her teammate.
"I see," Rose nodded and turned back to the window.
Two Numbers simply stood right behind her and watched the Black Rose in the sky.
She will need to finish the clean-up and make contacts with other countries. Maybe, collaborate with Shadow Garden. Later. For now, she wishes nothing more than to watch her beloved.
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah, equip is good, full mana and HP, skills' CD over."
"Same."
"Mhm."
The leader nodded and looked over the squad. Their guild was not the top-100, and not even top-250, but they still were strong enough to fight for top-500; a lot of people looted the Naruto worlds, giving access to Doujutsu, Fuinjutsu, and other interesting stuff; other preferred to start new games in worlds that were at war or had a large amount of outlaws, like One Piece where it was pretty easy to farm Soul Crystals from pirates and marines alike, depending on which side you got reincarnated to.
They had a large amount of people (over three hundreds), were lucky enough to reincarnate into the worlds where leveling is pretty easy and a lot of powers to get and trade existed, so no wonder they got into top-500 out of 214985 Guilds. Honestly, nobody knew how much, exactly, people were in The Game, but it was definitely a large amount, probably close to billions-
"Lead, take trade," voice of clan's second-in-command interrupted him.
"M-m-m," he immediately accepted.
Second-in-command received a mythic-grade bow, while leader got a mythic-grade armor.
Apparently, the world they wanted to go into had a Raid Boss of high level. Some small clan used the System Portal to get into a random world, and was instead met with level 500 or something Raid Boss. The most important part is… The world like that was never found before. Which means new place to farm, new powers to get, and much more.
Of course, the guild decided to overprepare for that. Twenty level 470+, ten level 500+, five level 520+, and the guild leader himself at level 534 that will serve as tank.
"It's finally available."
Indeed, the System Portal finally answered to coordinates. It was unusually long, probably because it's first time this world was identified by System.
"I am not gonna talk much about it; it's not your first Game, and you all are high-levels, so you should know how Raid Boss works: unless we kill it, we are not going back."
Upon receiving the confirmation guild leader used the Portal.
The next moment, a raid squad of thirty six players appeared in a new world. Some kind of medieval city surrounded them, and gigantic image of a flower was shining in the sky.
Leader immediately received a notification:
New quest received: Shadows of Garden
Description: A new force appeared in this world. Please, eliminate it to restore the balance of this world.
Main Goal: defeat as many members as possible (0/672)
Secondary Goal: defeat higher-level members (0/12)
Secondary Goal: defeat force's leaders (0/7)
Additional Goal: defeat Sha/ERRRRR…
Rewards: +1000 EXP for every member defeated, +5000 EXP and a epic-tier item of your choice for every higher-level member defeated, +50000 EXP and a legendary-tier item of your choice for every leader defeated; EXP reward is given out to every participant of squad, item is only given to the one who killed the member.
Refusal penalty: none.
Failure penalty: none.
He blinked for a moment, but this Additional Goal was nowhere to be seen anymore. Did he just imagine it? The quest seemed normal so far, even generous. Of course, 50000 EXP by itself is not that much, but considering that everyone in the group will receive 50000 each? Yeah, if they manage to fully finish this quest, they should be able to get two to three levels. And a legendary item is only one tier below mythic-
"And who are you to interrupt Lord's investigation?" they suddenly heard a voice behind them.
Upon turning around leader's breath hitched: tall, beautiful, voluptuous woman with pink hair stared at them as she held a sword in her hand.
"[Discern]."
Name: Victoria
Level: 324
Just 324? Surprisingly high, but still not enough. It should be easy then.
"Take her," he commanded and prepared the sealing collar.
Moments later, he heard screams. But not feminine. The woman suddenly slashed against one of their DPS, inflicting heavy damage. Very heavy. [Status] window showed that their DPS lost 48% of her health in one strike, which… Should not be possible because of difference in level.
Come to think of it, that small clan did say that they met with a woman that at first seemed unassuming and then revealed herself as Raid Boss of a high level… Could it be that one?
"Prepare the formation!"
Woman just stared at them with icy blue eyes and shifted a bit. Leader himself got into tank position.
She slashed at him. Her strike was… not that strong, only taking about 0.8% of his HP. The problem was, he was exactly 210 levels above her. With that difference, she should not be able to damage him at all. Yet she did.
She only smirked at him and jumped to the backrow. That's why he held his [Taunt] until now-!
It didn't work? No, it did work, but she only staggered for a couple of seconds and shook it off. And now his [Taunt] is in CD for a couple of minutes.
"Don't you dare to think a vermin like you can shake the faith in my Lord!"
Oh, she got enraged. On one hand, sucks, now she can probably two-shot their squishies. On the other hand, she herself should now be more easily damaged.
But the fact that she can ignore the [Taunt] clearly shows that she's one of the Raid Bosses… Could she be the one related to quest? They did appear near her, after all.
"Hmm, are you related to Garden, missy?" one of their members asked, salivating.
Leader only sighed at his stupidity; it was one of the newbies, third Game only, and he still didn't shake off his left-over morality and whatnot. It was long time to realize that the only goal was to enjoy the Game itself and min-max your stats, only caring about NPCs in regards of how useful they can be for that… Waifu Hunters never change…
"…Are you Cult's pawns?" she smiled coldly, "Well, then I will give you painful deaths."
'Cult,' he noted. Apparently, Garden was the new force of this world, while Cult was the old one… The more information they get now, the more places for farm they will get in the future.
"That's none of your business," he stated calmly.
"We shall see… Watch over me, my Lord! I offer this victory to you!"
'Indeed, she suddenly got 200 levels…' he calmly noted. And now her strike took away 7% of his HP every time. A Raid Boss, indeed. Probably one of that Garden's leaders.
However, they still had something to surprise her-
"Victoria?" another woman appeared.
And once again he could hear the gulps of male members… And even some of the female ones. Well, she had an alluring figure and beautiful blonde hair, he had to give that, but he was more interested in her stats.
Name: Rose Oriana
Level: 269
"Rose…" the Raid Boss squinted, "As you can see, there are some… heretics."
The newcomer merely nodded and took a fighting position. And, of course, the moment she did so she suddenly got a boost in levels; though, compared to Raid Boss, that one only got 150. Honestly, it was the first time he saw such strong boosts on NPCs.
Leader calmly calculated their odds; they could sacrifice some of their members in order to take victory. Leveling them back wouldn't take that much, and rewards they could get from the quest are way superior.
Then, the course of actions is set.
"Oh, what are you doing here?" sudden voice from behind startled them.
"Lord Shadow!" Raid Boss suddenly squealed in happiness.
Come to think of it, wasn't Additional Goal trying to say "Sha-" or something?
Leader slowly turned around and saw a man in coat made of darkness (and he's now being serious, he saw shadows moving in it), face closed off that only two red orbs watched over them.
So, if he's the Lord, that means he's the highest authority in that Garden?
"[Discern]."
Of course, it's not [Observe], but it should do its job.
NAmE: Sha/ERRRRR
ERR- ERROR-
"Oh, what was that, I wonder…" he could hear the mocking.
Guild leader only stared in shock as his System suddenly shut itself down. And judging by reactions of everyone else, their own did, too. And without System, they couldn't access their skills!
"My Lord, these people appeared right after you slaughtered these beasts! I assume they are related to Cult!" Raid Boss fell on her knee towards the man, as if not caring about the Players in the slightest.
"No, these guys are not from Cult…" man himself tilted his head, "They are from beyond this world, just like the beasts and those you fought before."
'So that's why we didn't hear from any of them back then,' sudden realization hit the Guild Leader.
That Pink Cat clan was silent about disappearance of their members. Now, he knew why.
"How amazing…" the blonde woman gasped, "You found out about other worlds and realized that you could use the Black Rose to get them out and remove all threats!"
"Ah- Yes, something like that," the man agreed.
And at this moment, Guild Leader heard System's reboot. In hopes, he looked at the message.
However upon seeing the contents of the message he lost any will to live.
That… had to be a joke, right…?
One day, System suddenly shut itself down out of nowhere.
A lot of Players, not being able to use skills and System Revival, perished permanently.
They waited it out, and in a hour or so System was brought back to work. Apology compensation was sent out to everyone who survived.
They thought it was over.
In the next three System days, Players got a shocking quest.
They were just minding their own business, converting NPCs and mobs into SCs and CCs, respectively, when they received a quest message. They thought it was an apology from System Administrator for the sudden shutdown.
Upon opening it, however…
Cough, cough.
Param-pam-pam!
Congratulations!
You just got a brand new quest!
Goal: drown yourself in the toilet!
Reward: you will not be forced to drown in the toilet!
Refusal/Failure penalty: you will be drown in the toilet!
Time limit: 12:00:00
Many dismissed it as a joke, only to suddenly find themselves drowning in the toilet's sewage with all their skills locked. Needless to say, 70% of the Players were very angry. System Administrator had to step in and manually fix the strange bug.
They still couldn't find the reason behind that, though many suspected one of the once top-500 guild to be guilty of that, considering the time they went into some new world and the time Players started receiving this quest to be suspiciously close…
These guys appeared again. You know, the ones with these constructs on their souls? Yeah, these ones.
Apparently, they somehow got through the Black Rose. Cid did not expect it, either. He was busy fixing the Black Rose channel with Hams and Todd, after all!
What's to fix? Well, it was two-sided portal between worlds. And when he says worlds, he means worlds, not Planes like Demon Realm, Shadow Realm, et cetera. Planes, as Hams' research showed, belonged solely to the world they, so to say, were bound to, and were easy to travel to and back; moreover, Shadow Realm breakthrough into another world was just one time dangerous thing. For worlds, something way better was needed… Which they just found!
The problem was, by Todd's calculations, the time between one world and the other was way too different. For some reason, time on Cid's side (again, if Todd is to be believed) was going way faster than it should. Hams was busy recalibrating that thing, but the only thing he could do currently is reverse time difference: now instead of going five times faster on his side it would go five times faster on the other side… At least, that was the intention. Hams sighed in pity and lamented that if only they had something about time, they would be able to recalibrate it to lower or higher parameters; he would prefer magic, but physics books will do just fine, too.
Anyway, what they did should fix any problems that would arise should he disappear for a long time! Now he can spend more than a month on the other side, and by return only a week will pass!
"Rose, tell to others that I will be gone for some time," he smiled in delight.
"Alright, Cid, good luck," she smiled gently (Todd took out some gold and precious gems and started making a ring; if she gets it she should produce more love, right?).
"My Lord, allow me to travel with you!" Victoria suddenly spoke.
"Sure, I guess?" he immediately agreed; now, that was not because Hams screamed into his (inner) ears that having a source of Faith nearby is good.
Victoria suspiciously beamed as Todd rang the alarm about overflowing Faith containers.
Well, what will a brand new world show him?!
Cid: exists
System: "My job here is done."
Oh, yeah, there also was Ragnarok, right? Well, there's no more Ragnarok, only "very precious ingredient №42".