A Divine Revelation and Summer Snow

"No, you can't, Lord Tae-hyun! I went through all the trouble of sending him away to find the relic!"

"No matter how I look at it, Galakpad should have been here. I should have entrusted this job to Galakpad instead of you."

Pelmas clung desperately to Tae-hyun's ankles, dragging along the ground.

"No, you can't, Lord Tae-hyun! This isn't for my sake, but absolutely for the sake of this territory!"

"Wow, it must be hard to speak with so little persuasion. Let go."

"I'm telling you, Galakpad is a real lunatic! You can ask anyone else!"

"Even if I ask others, they're just your friends, so they'll all call Galakpad a lunatic too. So, where is Galakpad right now?"

"Uh, well... he's probably in Frozeland."

"Frozeland?!"

Frozeland. It was a freezing ice continent located far to the north of the Central Continent. It was a mysterious land, almost entirely unexplored.

Currently, the only areas revealed in Frozeland were those relatively close to the Central Continent. Even then, it was a place where average high-level players wouldn't even dare to set foot!

The level of the monsters was one thing, but the continent itself was so brutally cold that conquering it was impossible without proper countermeasures against the freezing temperatures.

"Why did he go all the way there?"

"Ahem, when he was looking for the Authority of Archisus, I recommended the farthest known place..."

Thud! Thwack! Thump!

"Sigh. And you call yourself an ally."

"Cough! I had no choice, Lord Tae-hyun! You'll understand once you see him yourself! I swear!"

Seeing Pelmas persist so stubbornly made Tae-hyun feel a slight pang of worry. Pelmas was selfish, self-centered, greedy, and possessed almost every bad trait imaginable, but he wasn't stupid. For someone like him to oppose it this desperately!

Just how bad is it if I summon him?

Based on what he had heard so far, it sounded like it would only be beneficial, not detrimental.

"Anyway, Cain went there too, so there's nothing we can do. We can't avoid him forever, so we might as well meet him now. It'd be great if they could find the Authority and bring it back too."

"Sob... Not Galakpad...!"

Tae-hyun promptly shut Pelmas's mouth. At that exact moment, another whisper arrived.

Tae-hyun cut off the whisper without listening any further. It was a gesture of pure faith that Cain would figure things out on his own! Of course, Cain was not particularly touched by this display of trust.

"#$^@&#^*$^&*#$^!"

Watching Cain jump up and down in a frenzy, Galakpad tilted his head in confusion.

"Why is that slave acting like that? Has he finally lost his mind?"

"Perhaps so."

"Hmm. A slave of Lord Archisus must not lose his mind. I must cure him."

Tap—

"N-No, I'm not! I'm perfectly fine! I'm sane!"

When one of Galakpad's companions pointed a staff at him, Cain cried out in sheer terror. If there was one thing he knew for sure, it was that the strength of this group was absolutely terrifying!

Having barely cleared up the misunderstanding, Cain cautiously spoke up. He couldn't understand why things always got so twisted for him, whereas Tae-hyun could boldly strike up a conversation with any NPC he met for the first time.

"B-By the way... we came here to find the Authority, right?"

"Indeed."

"Will the Authority be in this dungeon?"

"There is a high probability. We have thoroughly searched the entire surrounding area."

Cain let out a sigh of relief. At least that was a good thing! He had arrived near the end of Galakpad's quest to find the Authority. If he had arrived at the beginning, he might have had to wander around this frozen wasteland with this lunatic.

"Then, about when do you think we can clear this dungeon?"

"Hmm. That, I do not know."

"Pardon?"

"As you have just experienced, this dungeon is the most difficult and perplexing one in this region. That is why it was left for last. Not only are the monsters formidable, but the various traps... even we have been blocked repeatedly and struggled."

"I see."

Cain nodded, thinking to himself.

Wait, are we giving up and going back?

Looking at Galakpad's appearance, he seemed like a benevolent grandfather. The type of gentle elder who wouldn't force impossible tasks and knew when to give up!

"If it's too much, there's nothing we can do! Bringing Kim Tae-hyun, that bas— I mean, Lord Kim Tae-hyun, would be a great idea! He can break through traps like this in an instant..."

Thwack!

"Augh!"

"How dare a mere slave speak so lightly of summoning Lord Archisus!"

This is absolute bullshit...

Whether Kim Tae-hyun was here or not, Cain was destined to get scolded either way!

"We can resolve this even without Lord Kim Tae-hyun."

"Yes? How?"

"You have newly arrived like this. This must be a divine revelation."

Galakpad pointed his staff directly at Cain. A deep sense of dread washed over him. That look was the exact same expression Tae-hyun wore whenever he was plotting something wicked!

N-No...!

"Let us go, slave! With your sturdy body, you will surely be able to pull this off!"

"We survived! We actually survived!"

"Ugh! We're alive!"

The Woodstock Guild members hugged each other in pure joy. They had thought they were dead when the party of rankers appeared behind them. Fortunately, Tae-hyun had acted as a scapegoat and distracted them, allowing them to escape.

"Sob! What a relief!"

"...?"

"??"

Feeling something strange, the Woodstock Guild members turned their heads. They were all hugging, but it felt like something not quite human was mixed in among them.

"What the—?!"

"A-A demon!"

"But you guys are demons too!"

It was the winged demons Tae-hyun had been leading! They had been abandoned by Tae-hyun once again. Normally, being abandoned like this would trigger a penalty causing them to desert, but seeing how they stubbornly remained loyal to Tae-hyun, his accumulated loyalty rating with them must have been incredible.

It was a loyalty built on hunting high-ranking demons and sweeping the entire area alongside them!

"Our Master had a reason for leaving us behind. He surely wants us to cooperate and fight alongside you fellow demons."

"I-Is that so?"

"Didn't he just dump us and run?"

"Absolutely not! How dare you say such a thing!"

"S-Sorry. I must have been mistaken."

As the winged demons grew dead serious, the Woodstock Guild members backed off in embarrassment. The Woodstock Guild Leader frowned and spoke up.

"In any case, our current situation isn't good. That bastard Su Ning is still alive and kicking. If we show our faces anywhere near the Auston Kingdom, they'll try to devour us. To make matters worse, we're stuck in this demonized state and can't even undo it, so the penalties are even harsher..."

The guild members nodded. Their situation was undeniably grim. Getting revenge on Su Ning felt great, but dealing with the aftermath was incredibly difficult. Finding a new territory was out of the question, and even hunting or completing quests in this area seemed nearly impossible.

The Su Ning Guild would definitely target them first since they were easy prey!

"What if we just go somewhere else entirely?"

"Hmm... It's such a waste to abandon everything we've built up here."

"But we can't even enter towns right now because of the demonization..."

"That's true. We need to lift this first."

The Woodstock Guild Leader clapped his hands, reaching a decision.

"Let's move for now. If we go to a territory owned by a guild leader I'm close with, we won't get kicked out. We can gather our members there and plan our next move."

"Will they really take us in?"

"They won't kick us out. He's a real-life friend of mine."

"Oh! That's a relief!"

Not everything in Pan-On was governed strictly by game logic. Sometimes, real-life relationships carried over!

Rustle—

"Huh?"

"It's... snow?"

"Why is it snowing?"

Suddenly, snow began falling from the sky.

The Woodstock Guild members watched in fascination before quickly realizing something was wrong. The current season on the continent was summer.

"It's summer! There's no way it should be snowing!"

"What's going on?!"

At first, they thought it was just a localized anomaly. But it wasn't.

Before long, posts began rapidly flooding the Pan-On community boards.

Most players didn't seem particularly worried. A bit of snow didn't affect everyone that much. Although some players suffered damage, most passed it off as "they were just unlucky." Only a few players wondered if this was some kind of quest.

Besides, there was a much bigger issue right now: the Prika Continent Arena tournament!

Although it was held in Korea, players from all over the world were paying attention. There was hardly any content that Pan-On players loved more than the Arena.

Posts about the Arena were flooding in without a moment's rest. All kinds of speculations and highly anticipated threads. One thing was absolutely certain: until the tournament actually began, nothing could be known for sure!