The Captives of the Earth Spirit King
"My friend!"
"Since when were we friends?!"
"My friend! Don't say such things!"
Of course, whether Kang actually considered Quadro a friend didn't matter. What mattered was whether he could help share this burden!
"Ah! Look over there, it's Quadro's friend, Kang!"
"He's got a bounty on his head! Get him!"
"You crazy bastards! Do you really think the Guild Alliance is going to pay out that bounty? How many times have they pulled an eat-and-run?!"
Kang desperately tried to reason with them. Players blinded by greed were terrifying. Catching just one of them literally meant a life-changing payout! The amount of money circulating in Fantasia Online these days was no joke.
"Don't you know how much investment the Guild Alliance has received lately? I checked their financial statements! Their fiscal health is outstanding!"
"Why the hell are bounty hunters checking financial statements?!"
Kang was utterly dumbfounded. What kind of crazy bastards did thorough background checks on their employers? But it couldn't be helped. The Guild Alliance had previously placed a bounty related to Tae-hyun and failed to pay it out. For the players, meticulous verification was a must!
'Should I have just stayed logged out?!'
Kang clutched his head as he fled from the bounty hunters. Everyone had expected an attack once Tae-hyun stepped away. However, they never imagined it would come this quickly, and with this many enemies!
"Why the hell are there so many players in a backwater place like the Salz Kingdom?!"
Someone must have heard Kang's wail, because a sharp retort immediately flew back.
"You bastard, are you looking down on the Salz Kingdom?! What's wrong with the Salz Kingdom?!"
Apparently, one of the bounty hunters was a local player from the Salz Kingdom!
The World Tree Rankers had made a grave miscalculation. Tae-hyun had returned to the Salz Kingdom with a literal castle from the Demon Realm; how could that not draw attention? On top of that, he had even streamed it... Unbeknownst to the rankers, an astronomical number of players had flocked to the Salz Kingdom with a simple mindset: 'Whoa! Let's go check it out!'
Even if only a tenth of those visiting players were bounty hunters, it was more than enough to completely surround the area. The only reasons they hadn't shown themselves until now were because the dungeon's location was kept secret, and because they feared Tae-hyun! Everyone had been biding their time, snickering to themselves: 'Hehehe... Kim Tae-hyun is going to play in the tournament soon... Hehehe.'
The only ones who had been complacent were the World Tree Rankers!
- Rope of Binding!
- Net of Movement Reduction!
- Footsteps of the Wedge!
"Bounty hunter" wasn't a specific class. While such a class did exist, most of the bounty hunters gathered here possessed entirely different classes. However, they all shared one common trait...
They were all PvP-specialized characters!
The very fact that they hunted bounties meant they were far better at catching players than monsters. Armed to the teeth with various debuff skills designed to bind and slow their targets, these bounty hunters were formidable. Even though their average level was lower than that of the World Tree Rankers, having dozens of them pounce at once quickly pushed the rankers into a corner.
*Rumbleeeee!*
"???"
At that moment, the ground shook. Everyone gasped at the sudden disturbance.
"What is it?! An earthquake?!"
"Is it an Archisus Church Mage?!"
"Is it Kim Tae-hyun?!"
"You crazy bastard! Why would you say his name and jinx us?! What if he actually shows up?!"
"S-sorry..."
One bounty hunter scolded his companion. What if that bringer of bad luck actually appeared? However, Tae-hyun was still in the middle of his tournament match. The ground was shaking for an entirely different reason.
- Do you... desire power...?
A majestic voice echoed as if rising from the deepest depths of the earth! It was instantly recognizable as a powerful monster. The pursuing players froze in unison, their tension spiking. Who on earth was this?!
The earth roars!
The players already knew what lay beneath the unconquered dungeon. It was all thanks to Tae-hyun's previous raid! Ironically, because of that raid, neither the Guild Alliance nor the Midas Guild had dared to touch the mine for a while. A Lich was troublesome enough, but having the Earth Spirit King beneath it? It was a terrifying demonic den just to think about.
The Spirit King was not an entity players could raid yet. He was a boss monster on par with a dragon. One wrong move, and the entire kingdom could be wiped off the map... And yet, that very Spirit King was suddenly intervening!
- Fufu... Avatar of Archisus... You must desire power. Is that not so?
"Uh..."
"Excuse me..."
"Um..."
The pursued rankers hesitated, unable to answer the booming voice.
"Excuse me... but... the Avatar of Archisus isn't here."
*Thwack!*
At Quadro's words, Kang elbowed him hard in the ribs.
- Are you insane?! Even if he's not here, we should say he is!
- He's a Spirit King, you idiot! How can I lie to him?!
A Spirit King was a boss monster on par with a dragon. One wrong word could result in instant death without even a chance to fight back. Just as one had to grovel and walk on eggshells in front of a dragon, the same applied to a Spirit King!
- Still, phrasing matters! You should have said the Avatar of Archisus will return soon!
- Oh... right!
For some reason, the Spirit King seemed to be looking for the Avatar of Archisus. The rankers racked their brains. They had to survive no matter what! But in the meantime, the Spirit King muttered in a bewildered tone.
- Uh... The Avatar is not here...? Were you not the ones who follow the Avatar of Archisus?
The Spirit King had heard a commotion near the mountains outside and ordered the Liches to investigate. The Liches had reported back: 'It seems those adventurer scoundrels who came last time are being chased, kekeke.' If Tae-hyun or the Goblins had been present, Lich Zaggaran would have stepped forward and asked, "Should we help them anyway?" But right now, the World Tree Rankers had absolutely no relationship with the Liches here! Whether they died outside or not was none of their business.
But the Spirit King thought differently. He had been wanting to meet and speak with the Avatar of Archisus directly anyway, so he thought this was a perfect opportunity. Since the Avatar's subordinates were here, the Avatar himself had to be nearby! He had planned to bestow a favor upon them and strike up a conversation... but the Avatar was nowhere to be found.
"We are indeed the Avatar's subordinates!"
"I have respected Kim Tae-hyun since the launch of Fantasia Online! I've been his subordinate since then!"
"You bastard! I respect him several times more than you do!"
The rankers grabbed each other by the collars and began to bicker. The Spirit King hadn't even said "I will only spare one of you," but they had already started competing on their own.
The Earth Spirit King looked at them with a gaze of pure disgust. How could the followers of the Avatar of Archisus be so utterly lacking in dignity? Still, since they claimed to be the Avatar's subordinates...
*Rumbleeeee!*
The Earth Spirit King summons his spirits!
Earth Spirits have appeared!
Spirits popped out of the nearby rocks and ground! The gathered players were flustered, but they didn't back down. Their numbers were quite formidable as well!
"Looks like spirits are coming out!"
"Don't worry! Look at how many of us are here. We can just crush them and go back to catching our targets!"
It wasn't like they had never fought spirits before! If it was just summoned spirits and not the Spirit King himself, it was worth a shot...
*Rumble... Rumble! Crash! Rumble!*
"U-uh..."
"L-look at that..."
Aren't there way too many of them?
Earth spirits rose frantically from all directions. Normally, their forms—clumped together from rock and soil—should have looked pathetic, but... when their size multiplied several times over, it was a completely different story.
"Crazy...!"
The spirits were the size of giants! Seeing the tag [High-grade] attached to their names, the players had thought, 'Hmm, are they decent elite spirit monsters?' but they were far more than just "decent." They were indeed spirits worthy of being summoned by a Spirit King! Such monstrosities tightly packed and surrounded the area.
"...Did you say we could just crush them and go back to catching our targets?"
- Adventurers. How dare you ignore my warning and...
"No, we didn't! We didn't ignore it!"
"We were just about to leave! Really! Please believe us!"
The gathered bounty hunters prostrated themselves. Some among them took a more proactive approach.
"I am also a fan of Kim Tae-hyun! Those guys are fakes!"
"Do you really think that's going to work right now?"
- Do you dare lie in my presence?
It backfired! Cornered, the bounty hunters desperately wagged their tongues.
"N-no! It's true! I even believe in Archisus!"
"I even made a donation to the Archisus Church!"
There were actually quite a few believers of the Archisus Church even among the bounty hunters! That was how far the Archisus Church's influence had spread. The Earth Spirit King seemed taken aback by this persuasion.
- Were you subordinates of the Avatar of Archisus as well?
"Yes! We are his subordinates!"
- Then those fellows over there...
"They're just nobodies we ran into on the road! As you can see, we aren't even traveling together!"
"N-no, that's not true! He'll be back soon! He'll really be back soon!"
World Tree Rankers vs. Bounty Hunters. A life-or-death battle of Speech! Since both sides only possessed low-grade Speech skills, it was practically a mudslinging match.
- Enough! I do not wish to hear it! You noisy adventurers! This is why mortals are... I shall pass judgment!
*Gulp.*
- I shall bind both of you here until the Avatar of Archisus returns!
"?"
"What?"
"N-no... we have things to do..."
"Even if you are a Spirit King, isn't it too much to capture all of us?! Is this any way to behave?!"
With so many people around, they had found the courage to stand up to the Spirit King. A brave bounty hunter indeed! And his reward was delivered promptly.
*BOOM!*
A massive stone fist suddenly materialized in the sky and crushed the player who had just spoken into paste.
⊳ Status:Logged Out (Deceased)
"..."
"..."
The atmosphere instantly turned ice-cold! They had finally realized just how terrifying of a boss monster the Earth Spirit King truly was.
- Does anyone else have a complaint?!
"N-no! We have absolutely no complaints!"
"That's right! None at all!"
- When the Avatar of Archisus returns, I shall ask him for the truth! If anyone has lied, they shall be punished then!
"...!!!"
Both the rankers and the bounty hunters turned pale.
'What did we just say?'
'Didn't we say we were Kim Tae-hyun's subordinates?'
'Who told you to say we were Kim Tae-hyun's subordinates, you idiot!'
'If we hadn't said that, we'd be dead already!'
You have been trapped by the army of spirits summoned by the Earth Spirit King!
Movement to other areas is restricted.
Your status has been changed to [Captive].
Attempting to escape may result in execution.
Hundreds of players were suddenly trapped in the mountain range of the Salz Kingdom! It was an unimaginable disaster.
"That guy is Green!"
"I... I am a Power Warrior! Do you think you'll get away with touching a Power Warrior?!"
Green, the only ranker who had managed to join the Power Warrior Guild, shouted and then froze. When he thought about it, it sounded a bit strange.
Saying "Do you think you'll get away with touching the Guild Alliance?" or "Do you think you'll get away with touching Midas?" sounded plausible...
But "Do you think you'll get away with touching a Power Warrior?" felt somewhat nonsensical. It was embarrassing even to his own ears!
Yet, surprisingly, it was effective.
"P-Power Warrior...!"
"That bastard was part of Power Warrior?!"
"Ugh... to think he was a Power Warrior...!"
'Wait, it actually worked?'
It was a phenomenon that left Green, the speaker, even more bewildered! The bounty hunters hesitated, their faces filled with genuine dread over the potential consequences.
"Damn it! I'm out!"
"M-me too!"
As they began to pull out one by one, the pressure on the remaining hunters only intensified. In the end, the crowd of bounty hunters scattered in a chaotic rush!