Chapter 76: Confusion (3)
Countless players made their way through the alleyway as they looked for Shinto.
"Grr...! He must be somewhere!" The players clicked their tongue. "He can't just disappear out of thin air like that!"
"Check the other end of the alleyway, he must have made it out by now!"
"Right!"
The players discussed with one another as they fastened their steps, quickly making their way over to the exit on the other end of the narrow pathway. Whilst doing so, they made way past a small corner, and within that spot, hid Shinto.
"...phew," Peeking out slightly through the corner, Shinto let out a sigh of relieve as he saw that the players ran passed him. "That should be taken care of..." Seeing as how all players within the vicinity had already gone away, he turned towards two people standing by the side of him, Ethaniel and Kon.
"Are we safe yet, master...?" Kon questioned.
"I guess, for the time being," Shinto replied.
"Hey, what the hell's going on?" Ethaniel frowned. "Why are you here?"
"I'm just as lost as you in this whole predicament, but the reason why we're here is because we came to save you," Shinto explained.
"You two? This fox guy... who is this?"
"Errr..." Shinto looked over towards Kon. "He's a companion of mine."
"A companion? So a pet?" he raised his brow. "Well, whatever. You, why did you come to save me? What's your deal?"
"H-Hey, I'm no-"
The moment Kon tried to say something, Shinto quickly covered his mouth as he answered. "Well, we saw that you were in trouble, which is why we lent a hand."
Ethaniel glared at Shinto with suspicion. "You 'saw' that I was in trouble and came to help me? That sounds farfetched to me. You don't have any ulterior motives, do you?"
Shinto shook his head. "Not at all, though... seeing as how Lavida is against you, I thought I might request a favour from you."
"A favour? What is it?"
"Join hands with me and help me save someone that's been held captive in the hotel," Shinto said firmly.
"...who?"
"It's someone that you wouldn't know... but I'm in need of help to save them."
"Tsk... this isn't Raina we're talking about, yes?" Ethaniel frowned.
"Raina? No, not her. But... did something happen to her?"
"Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have asked," he clicked his tongue. "Those Lavida bastards took her captive too."
"...what?"
"You heard me right, they took her captive and now she's currently trapped in the hotel."
"How...?"
"I do not know how it happened, but by the time those bastards came to me, I came to know of it."
"Ahem... then, all the more reasons for us to work together, right? We both need to head to the hotel to save someone," Shinto said
"Hmph... before that, answer me this."
"...?"
"You're not a priest, aren't you?"
Hearing the question, Shinto let out a sigh. Keeping it a secret in this situation would be useless since he needed Ethaniel to trust him. Although he could say that the skills he used were from Kon, it wouldn't be wise, as Ethaniel would question on regarding him. "No, I'm not."
"Then what are you?"
"It does not concern you, just like how it doesn't concern me from knowing what class you are," he said calmly as he sent a friend request to Ethaniel. "So, are you willing to work together with me?"
"Tsk... fine," he looked away as he accepted. Moments later, a party invite was sent.
[ You have joined Shinto's party. ]
[ Party Leader: Shinto, (Hidden), Level 15 ]
[ Party Member: Ethaniel, (Hidden), Level 15 ]
[ Party Member: Kon, (Hidden), Level 6 ]
"So? What's the plan? We're not going to be charging in directly at the front door, right?" he asked.
"Cough... well, I've thought about doing just that..." Shinto awkwardly laughed. "Besides the front entrance, there are no other ways in."
"Tsk... so you have no plan then?" he frowned. "You know if we charge in directly, we'll end up dead before even reaching Raina and whoever you want to save right?"
"Yes... I do know that." He nodded his head. "But we won't be the ones directly charging in."
"What? Then who?"
"This little fox right here will be the one who will do it," Shinto pointed to Kon.
"...huh?" Kon tilted its head.
...
Outside of the hotel's entrance, a few players and NPCs stood in front of it, on high alert.
"Tsk... what kind of quest is this?" A player clicked their tongues as they scrutinized the area. "Stand on guard and defend the hotel if anything happens? What is this, a war or something?"
"No idea..." Another player replied. "But the night's been damn noisy as of late."
"Jee. I never knew that this hotel had this much level of authority to make all the NPCs stay in their homes and prevent any players from entering out and in from this town."
"Something must have happened for them to do this, but what is it?"
"Donno. Those higher-up guys brought two people and then there was some discourse that happened in the building earlier.
"Sigh, this quest rewards better be worth my time," The player complained as he heard small footsteps coming from in front of him. "...what?" Turning his head towards the direction of the sound, he saw that a fox was approaching him.
"A fox?" The player beside him raised his brow. "Why's a black fox here?"
The fox continued to approach, as suddenly, another animal, that looked to be exactly as the black fox appeared out of nowhere.
"What the...?" The player stumbled back. At that moment, the two foxes leapt forward as the dark orbital shadow protruded out from their tails hitting the two players, simultaneously causing a large explosion to occur.
"Arghh...!!" The players shouted out.
"Huh?! What's going on!?"
"An explosion...?!"
Noticing the sudden explosion that occurred, most of the players and NPCs that were stationed in front of the hotel quickly made their way to the scene.
"...an enemy attack?" The remaining players that stayed at their spots, questioned.
"Finally! We're getting some-" One of the players cheered out, as suddenly a sword swung straight towards him, quickly cutting him down.
"...!!!"