Of course, Fayte was not going to stand around and let her companion do all the attacking. She pointed her staff at [Orthros] and fired off a [Thunder Bolt] that struck its flank. A gigantic -52,536 appeared above the monster, which reared back in pain. Fayte didn’t let up, firing a [Fireball] followed by [Wind Hammer]. The fire attack struck [Orthros] in the face. Following the fire attack’s wake was the wind attack, which took the shape of a giant hammer that crashed into the monster with enough power to knock it onto its back. Its Magical Defense must have been lower than Fayte’s for her attack to work.

  -26,440!

  Lilith followed up on Fayte’s attack and slid her dagger across [Orthros’s] throat. The monster shuddered for several seconds before its eyes dimmed and its body stopped moving. As it slumped onto the ground, Lilith leapt off and quickly dashed toward the next nearby enemy trying to sneak past them—a giant ram of some kind—and pulled its aggro to her with [Slash].

  Fayte used that moment to look at the other battles taking place all around her. Kureha and Titania were sticking close together. It looked like Kureha was trying to protect the fairy, though Titania didn’t appear to be drawing any aggro. Meanwhile, darting around the entire battlefield was Aris. The young woman was using her incredible speed advantage to race across the flat plain and launch attack after attack on enemies too slow to react. Doing this pulled a lot of aggro, but that also meant these monsters wouldn’t continue charging toward the construction site.

  The construction of their guild house was progressing smoothly. It was predominantly white but accented with blue roofing and awnings. Everything had been built on an elevated platform with stairs leading to the door. They had even already added a flag with her guild’s symbol on it. The flag fluttered in the breeze. But while the main building had been built, they still needed to construct the surrounding garden and fence everything in. From what Fayte understood, the garden was built to create a repelling barrier that kept monsters at bay, though she didn’t know how that worked.

  Fayte wasn’t able to stay idle for longer than a few seconds, however, and she quickly threw herself back into the fray. She targeted the monsters chasing after Aris. There must have been two dozen of them. Lightning flashed from her tip as she fired off a [Chain Lightning] attack. A bolt of lightning leapt from her staff, struck a monster, then leapt to another monster, then another and another, creating a thick chain of lightning that connected over a dozen monsters together.

  -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576; -44,576!

  [Chain Lightning] was a powerful attack that had a small chance of stunning an enemy. While it was only 10%, that was enough to stun one of the monsters chasing Aris, and the young woman wasn’t one to miss such a perfect chance. She activated her [Blade Dance] skill and struck the monster with a relentless barrage of nonstop attacks.

  -700; -700; -700; -700; -3,500; -700; -3,500; -3,500; -700; -700; -3,500; -3,500; -3,500; -700; -700; -700; -700; -3,500; -700; -3,500; -700; -3,500; -3,500; -700; -700; -3,500; -700; -700; -700; -700; -700; -3,500; -3,500; -3,500; -3,500; -700; -700; -3,500; -700; -700; -700; -700; -3,500; -3,500; -700; -3,500; -3,500; -700; -3,500; -700; -700; -700; -3,500; -700!

  The girl was quite the piece of work. Her relentless assault tore away its health swiftly despite the fact that she couldn’t do nearly as much damage as Fayte or Lilith could. Aris’s character class appeared to be one built with speedy attacks in mind. She made up for her lack of power by being able to strike nearly a dozen times for every one of Fayte’s attacks.

  The monster Aris was attacking looked like a Triceratops. Three thick horns sat on its head, it possessed a parrot-like beak for a mouth, and its skin was a leathery gray. Height-wise, it wasn’t too much taller than a person. What it lacked in height, however, it made up for in girth. The thing was easily several times longer and thicker than any human she had ever met. Despite its imposing size, Aris was easily tearing into the monster with great zeal.

  -18,850!

  Just then, a large damage sign appeared above the creature as an object became embedded into the monster’s eyes. It was an arrow. Fayte turned toward where the arrow had come from and saw Susan standing several dozen meters away. She was kneeling on the ground, bow in hand as she smoothly removed an arrow from her quiver, notched it, and fired another attack.

  This attack did not do any damage. It struck another monster that had come charging in toward Aris, then sprouted vines that grew so thick they could wrap around the monster's arms, legs, and buried themselves into the ground. That was Susan’s skill [Nature Arrow]. It was a skill unique to the Fairy Archer Class, an attack that infused the power of nature into an arrow and created vines that were powerful enough to trap an enemy for 120 seconds. The monster now trapped in a tangle of vines looked like an earth golem. It was a monster three times the size of a person, with an earthy brown color, a single glowing green eye, and plants sprouting from its body.

  The moment Fayte saw it become trapped, she launched her own attacks. [Fireball] and [Thunder Bolt] struck the monster head-on. Each attack tore away a massive amount of health, not enough to kill it sadly, but enough to draw all its aggro to her. The vines burned away from her attack and the golem lumbered toward her. Fayte was not afraid as she launched an [Energy Blast] from the tip of her staff. It struck the monster in the face and sent it stumbling backward.

  [Quick Sand]

  Fayte tapped her staff against the ground. A faint line of magical power ran through the ground, toward the monster that had just managed to get free of the vines. The area around the monster’s feet turned into sand. Unable to bear its weight, the sand gave way, and the monster slowly sank into the depths until it was buried up to its neck.

  [Fireball]

  [Thunder Bolt]

  That was the moment Kureha struck the creature with two of her attacks. A bolt of lightning slammed into the monster’s flank and did a nice -12,012 points of damage, then a fireball exploded in its face and did a further -6,916 damage. Its health must have already been close to zero because that was enough to kill it. The monster’s corpse quickly sank beneath the quicksand.

  Fayte ran out of MP as the battle continued and was forced to consume several [middle-grade magic potions]. Beyond her lack of MP, her exhaustion was beginning to get to her. She didn’t know how long they had been fighting, but this was easily the longest battle she’d ever been in. If something wasn’t done soon, she and the others might succumb to exhaustion.

  Just as she was beginning to really worry, the monsters all stopped attacking and looked toward something in the distance. Fayte didn’t understand what was happening at first, but then she saw where they were looking, at Adam and the headless corpse of a massive creature. Had he done it? Did he defeat the Boss of this Stampede? As if to answer her silent query, all the monsters they had been battling raced back toward the Suncrest Mountain Range with their tails tucked between their legs.

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! Your party has successfully fended off a Stampede! Number of monsters defeated: 46 out of 250. Experience points earned: 22,650,780. Items dropped: 233. Items will be distributed to players based on their contribution in battle. Player who contributed the most: Fayte. Fayte gets ⅓ of the items received from Stampede. Items have been placed into inventory. Inventory full. Cannot carry all the items. The Guild House contains an [item box]. Items unable to fit inside the inventory have been placed into the item box. You may check them whenever you are inside the Guild House.]

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! You have leveled up! You are now at level 18! +1,600 HP! +7,960 MP! +5 SP!]

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! Lilith has leveled up! She is now at level 18! +600 HP! +200 MP! +5 SP!]

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! Little_Su has leveled up! She is now at level 18! +500 HP! +200 MP! +5 SP!]

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! Aris has leveled up! She is now at level 17! +400 HP! +200 MP! +5 SP!]

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! Aris has leveled up! She is now at level 18! +400 HP! +200 MP! +5 SP!]

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! Titania has leveled up! She is now at level 19! +200 HP! +10,500 MP! +10 SP!]

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! Kureha has leveled up! She is now at level 19! +700 HP! +9,100 MP! +10 SP!]

  Ding!

  [Congratulations. Your Guild House has been built. You are now the leader of the first established Guild in Age of Gods. An international announcement will be made regarding your new status as the leader of the game’s first-ever Guild.]

  Ding!

  [This is an international announcement. The player Changing_Fayte has established Age of Gods’ first guild: Destiny’s Overture. Her guild has thus been awarded one hundred million gold coins to use as she sees fit. As the first guild established, she also has the right to refuse all challenges for one month after the creation of a second guild, will receive more quests than any other guild, and has been allowed to create a Guild House free of charge. We hope the knowledge of the rewards granted will motivate other players to find fame, fortune, and glory as they explore the ancient and mysterious Forgotten Realm.]

  Destiny’s Overture

  As the one in charge of all their virtual holdings, Levon Pleonexia dealt with everything regarding games. As the latest VRMMO, Age of Gods was completely within his jurisdiction, and he was allowed carte blanche to do whatever he wanted within it. His father had told him privately that this was a test to see whether or not he was worthy of becoming the head of the Pleonexia Family. Levon had to prove his worth by showing off his talent at managing their current largest business venture.

  Virtual Reality had changed the face of businesses everywhere. With the World War III Treaties of Non-Aggression in place, disputes of all kinds could only ever be settled in the virtual world. Of course, it wasn’t necessarily true that all disputes were settled there. Levon himself had dealt with a number of problematic issues in the real world. On paper, however, issues between individuals, companies, and even countries could only be solved virtually.

  A good example of this was the dispute between Italica and France five years ago, which had been a mining dispute over the rights to a new mine that had been discovered on the border between these two vassal states. To determine who would get the mining rights, the two vassal states had played a game—a first-person shooter called Fall in the Line of Duty. The dispute ended in Italica’s victory, giving them complete access to the mine. There had been many other such disagreements. All of them were decided in the same way.

  Right now, the only disagreement Levon was interested in settling was the one between him and Fayte.

  “Let’s get this meeting started. I would like to hear your reports now,” Levon said as he stared at the five people sitting at the long table with him. While the room they were in was large, it seemed even larger than it actually was because of the numerous glass windows that spanned two of the walls, opening the space up. The long table was pure black but sparkled as if freshly polished. Several unoccupied chairs were arrayed around the table where the six of them sat, and hanging from the ceiling was a 3D holographic projector—something created from the latest technology.

  The room was otherwise barren.

  “Our cash flow has increased by .5% ever since you implemented the new policy that branch guilds must begin searching for and exploring new instance dungeons,” Gaia said. She sat on his right, looking sharp in her all-black business suit. “So far, they have not found many dungeons. One was discovered close to Watershore. It’s not very high level, however. The monsters’ levels range from ten to fifteen and even the boss is only a 1-Star monster called [Starmite]. There was another found ten kilometers west of a tiny hamlet with more powerful monsters. Levels range in the twenties. I’ve sent many of our branch guilds there to grind their levels and clear the dungeon.”

  Gaia was not only a member of the Element Four but also his secretary/bodyguard in the real world—not that he believed he needed one. Her skin was dark like obsidian, as were her eyes and perfectly straight hair. She rarely changed facial expressions. This made her seem cold and unfeeling, but he knew that not to be the case. She was a woman who had dedicated her life to him and always acted in ways she believed would benefit him. That was why she hated Fayte. Levon knew Gaia believed Fayte was unworthy of him and would often tell him so. She just didn’t understand. A woman as beautiful as Fayte could belong to no one but Levon. No one else was even close to being worthy of her.

  “That is a tempting offer, but I’m gonna have to pass.”

  “Because what Fayte has given me is something you never could.”

  Levon sucked in a breath as a grating voice penetrated the darkest corners of his mind, causing his vision to seep red. He still remembered Adam’s words even now. They clawed at his carefully crafted mental defenses, wearing him down and making him angry. Just the other day, one of his captains had said something that set him off. It hadn’t been anything bad. Just a simple remark about the tournament that had taken place, but it had been enough to send Levon into a rage. The man had not been fired, but his pay had been docked and he would certainly be regretting ever opening his fat mouth in Levon’s presence for the rest of his life.

  Despite his anger, Levon was able to keep a lid on it and listen to Gaia’s report.

  “Given that you’re in charge of an area with weaker enemies to begin with, I’m not surprised there aren’t many powerful dungeons. Don’t let this discourage you. Age of Gods is not your average game. I’m certain there are as of yet unexplored areas close to Watershore that could prove incredibly useful. It’s also a great area to train new recruits,” Levon said.

  “Yes, sir,” Gaia said with a nod.

  “And what of the rest of you?” Levon looked at his other four commanders.

  “I’ve recently begun exploring the area east of Solum,” said Thor God of Thunder. Despite being named after the famous God of Thunder from Norse Mythology, this man looked like a slob. His face was masked by a five o’clock shadow and surrounded by dirty blond hair that looked unkept. It was too bad. He would have been attractive if he took better care of himself, but he probably didn’t care about his looks. Rumors abound about how this man had slept with more than half the woman in the Pleonexia Alliance.

  “Have you found anything?” asked Levon, folding his hands in front of him.

  “I’ve found a forest that I believe is an instance dungeon.” Thor God of Thunder scratched at his beard. “It’s a forest covered in a thick fog that decreases visibility and causes confusion. We haven’t been able to get too deep into it. I suspect in order to explore this forest, we’ll need to have a craftsman create items that can fend off statuses like Confusion, or find an item that does the same thing.”

  There were many craftsmen in Solum, but none of them had the talent to create items that did much more than raise someone’s defense. The most powerful item a person could buy right now was a pendant that slowly regenerated HP. Even then, it could only regenerate +1 HP every ten seconds. An item like that was all but useless inside of a dungeon like the one Thor was describing.

  “Ignore the forest for now and keep expanding east,” Levon instructed.

  “Yessir,” Thor said with an idle wave of his hand. His lazy tone caused Gaia to glare at him, but the man didn’t seem to care.

  “Ymir? What do you have for me?” asked Levon, turning to the man whose face appeared to have been chiseled from ice. Despite how cold his face was—no, because his face looked so cold—the man possessed a chilling beauty. He had the kind of feminine looks that made it easy to mistake him for a woman, but that just enhanced the aesthetic of a hauntingly beautiful man.

  The man, Ymir, said nothing at first. This man was always abnormally quiet and slow to respond. While Gaia hated this about him, Levon appreciated it. He believed the man was carefully pondering what to say because he wanted to present only the most relevant information to him.

  “You will be pleased to know that not only did I discover an instance dungeon near the westernmost edge of the Suncrest Mountain Range, but the Boss monster I battled there dropped a [Guild Creation Token].”

  The words caused a jolt to run through the entire group. Connor Sword straightened in his seat, Flame Emperor frowned at Ymir, Gaia furrowed her brow as if angry that the person who found the current most important item in the game hadn’t been her, and Thor God of Thunder whistled in awe.

  “Damn, bruh. You work fast,” Thor said.

  Levon placed his hands on the table and clasped them together to keep his emotions carefully locked away. He didn’t want his subordinates to see him shaking with excitement. As their leader, he needed to remain calm at all times.

  “It’s been two weeks since Fayte formed the Guild, Destiny’s Overture. Not a single person has found a [Guild Creation Token] since then,” Levon murmured.

  In every game since the conception of the virtual world, the [Guild Creation Token] that was hardest to find was the first closely followed by the second and third. Once the first three were discovered, [Guild Creation Tokens] became common. Those first three were important since they always came with certain perks. Of course, the one who got the most perks was the first guild created, which was why the top guilds were always rushing to find a [Guild Creation Token] before anyone else.

  “Good job, Ymir. Let me know if there’s any reward you want. You deserve it.”

  Ymir nodded but didn’t say anything. Levon was certain the man would eventually think of something he wanted and talk to him in private. With that settled, they could move on to other matters.