Immortal Era's Crafting Master 52 Raising Levels, Betrayal

After he parted ways with Kirou the night before, Mistaken Fox had rushed all the way to Thousand Wood Forest. Apparently, there was something there for him to do. It's been a few hours now since he's arrived and since then, he's been taking on all the high leveled monsters that he's run into.

As Mistaken Fox was taking down these monsters, so too was his ax-wielding minotaur. In fact, the minotaur was actually killing monsters faster than Mistaken Fox himself. Mistaken Fox could only form a wry smile on his face as he used his knives to take down the monsters before him while the minotaur took down the rest.

Fighting like this carried on for another few hours before Mistaken Fox finally had enough and collapsed under a random tree. The ax-wielding minotaur that's been with him the whole time only looked at Mistaken Fox's pathetic form before it scoffed at its master before sitting down to rest as well. Mistaken Fox was naturally aware of his pet minotaur's att.i.tude towards him but there was nothing that he could do. Although the minotaur had submitted itself to Mistaken Fox, that didn't stop it from showing its contempt towards its "weak" master.

Mistaken Fox could only shake his head when he thought about this. The reason why the minotaur submitted to him in the first place was that it was created via the common path for a chimera creature. Following this route, regardless of the creature's true nature, it would still submit to its creator. Had the ax-wielding minotaur been created via any other route or following similar actions as to what Kirou did, the creature would have already tried to defect and would have done so successfully as Mistaken Fox still lacked a proper weapon to make use of his cla.s.s's special skills.

It was during this time of rest that Kirou had sent him a notification for the telepathic call. After he had connected and answered all of Kirou's questions, along with giving him that warning, Mistaken Fox was now reinvigorated and ready to continue his quest. Looking at its master from the side, the ax-wield minotaur stared at its master for a moment before rising to its feet as well. Even if its master was weak, it planned to take on all the dangers Mistaken Fox would face as he was its master.

Like this, Mistaken Fox and his pet minotaur continued to roam Thousand Wood Forest in search of more high leveled monsters to kill. The minotaur had no idea why its master was going after such monsters but it would do its job in killing them. As for Mistaken Fox, his reason for chasing down these monsters was to provide his new pet with enough experience to level up as it was a bit too low for his liking, especially when he thinks about how Kirou and his pet spider move in actual combat.

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Located in a nameless forest to the west of SC Pier City, a female elf was currently harvesting some rare plants that she came across on her trip. This elf had just returned from one of the many hidden villages located on the Southern Continent. This village just so happened to be the closest to SC Pier City so the female elf saved it for last before she had to return to the city in order to finish her mission. This female elf is naturally Reya, the archer.

Just like Navi, Reya was on her way back to SC Pier City in order to deposit her spoils within the guild building located there. Along the way, she came across a few herbs she couldn't identify but recognized the aura they gave off as rare plants so she is now carefully harvesting them. As Reya was putting the newly harvested herb away, she heard faint sounds from the distance.

Reya recognized these sounds as those many by players. Maybe it was because she was influenced by the events that happened a few days back or maybe it's due to her own gut feeling, Reya immediately retreated behind a tree surrounded by shrubs. As Reya carefully waited there, eventually a team of players did indeed show up before her.

As the group of players got closer, Reya noticed the guild tag above their heads. Just as Reya was about to step out from cover, however, a voice that she recognized spoke up. This voice caused her to halt her actions.

"Have you found that archer yet? The boss wants us to use the archer as a hostage in order to get that dark elf thief to comply. We can't allow that dark elf to return to the guild with that blueprint." Reya recognized the voice but it wasn't until a moment later that she saw who the voice belonged to. Reya recognized him as the leader of the group that attacked her, along with Kirou and Navi on the previous day.

"Hey, leader. Are you sure it's wise for us to have rejoined the guild before we completed this mission? I mean, unlike yesterday when we engaged that group, they had no idea who we were or what guild we belong to, if we run into them now with the guild emblems on us, they'll know we are members of Sanming's a.s.sa.s.sination Guild." The one who spoke was a priest. This priest was one of the hastily drafted recruits that joined this team of thief players.

"It was the boss's orders. Apparently, he wants to use the guild's name to intimidate these guys into backing down the next time we meet. Besides that, he probably doesn't care anymore since the target has already realized who we are and why we were sent." As the team leader spoke, he surveyed the area, looking for tracks of the group's current target, the female elf.

"On the off chance that the elf archer is also a member of one of Sanming's guilds, wouldn't it be a bad idea for us to be moving around like this?" This time, it was a thief who spoke up. If Kirou was present, he would recognize the presence of this thief as it was one who found the party in front of Old Oak's cottage. This was the gnome thief who reported back to the leader that day.

The team leader and the priest both went quiet. Apparently, neither of them had thought about this point. This went on for a few minutes before the leader spoke up, "We're just following orders. If that ends up being the case, we'll still carry out the plan but let the boss know so that he could deal with the aftermath."

At this point, the gnome thief spoke up again. This time, with a bit of hesitation, "What about that guy? You know.....the one that devastated our party the last time."

While the priest had no idea who the gnome thief was referring to, the team leader was completely aware of the person the gnome thief was talking about. As the leader of the party that day, the stalker still had visions of dread when he recalled that player.

After a moment of silence to clear the dread from his mind, the team leader spoke up once again, "We are to avoid combat with that player at all costs. If our target is alone, we are free to engage her but if she is with that player, abort stay away and report back to the boss."

Both the gnome thief and the priest nodded their heads at the team leader's words before they walked away to survey the surroundings. As the subject of the discussion, Reya remained hiding behind the tree while listening to their discussion with a hand over her mouth. Reya was shocked to discover that the one after Navi was one of Sanming's guild leaders.

Thinking up to here, Reya now realized that she was in a very precarious situation. While it is common knowledge among Sanming's top bra.s.s that Reya was playing Immortal Era and was a member of one of the many guilds they run, besides her brother, the CEO of the gaming studio and a few others that she trusts, no one else knows what her in-game character looks like. With that being the case, she would have to put up with a lot of annoying things if she got caught by these guys. With that in mind, Reya decided that she would retreat from the area before logging off in order to warn Navi. This plan went south real fast following her next action though.

*SNAP*

Following that sound, Reya didn't even need to look to know that her location was revealed. Just as the thought of running away entered her mind, Reya forcefully squashed it before diving into a nearby bush and quickly activated the archer skill, . Just like Kirou and Navi, Reya too possessed a skill that turned her invisible. Unlike the two, however, she couldn't move while using the skill as her figure would turn visible the moment she does do.

At the same time that Reya had successfully blended into the surroundings, the group of players rushed to the area where the snapping sound came from. As soon as they got there, less than ten seconds later, they found the snapped twig on the floor, along with footprints leading past the bush that was still slightly shaking from when Reya had dived into it.

The team leader immediately ordered his men to give chase in the direction of the footprints while quickly speeding off as well. The priests that joined the group also followed behind, albeit a bit slowly. Remaining in the area was just Reya, still hiding under the effects of within the bush and the gnome thief from earlier.

From the sound was heard, this gnome thief was the first to arrive at the spot where the sound originated. As soon as he arrived, his eyes were glued to the bush that Reya had dived into. Instead of joining the team leader and the rest in chasing after a ghost, the gnome player remained behind with his eyes still trailed on that bush. It seems as if he had noticed something that the others had missed.

After staying like this for a minute, the gnome player spoke up, as if talking to himself but loud enough for Reya to hear from the bush, "I know you're in there but I won't expose you. I suggest you leave in the opposite direction or just log off and warn your dark elf friend. Tell her that she's got a target on her back and that she should be careful of the a.s.sa.s.sination's guild master." Following those words, the gnome thief's figure disappeared from sight, apparently leaving the area.

The area remained like that for a few moments. After roughly two or three minutes, Reya finally revealed herself from within the bush. While she didn't trust the gnome thief, she was sure that he wasn't trying to capture her. Taking a look around, Reya then ran in the opposite direction of the team of thieves and priests. She had to make it back to SC Pier City immediately in order to find Navi. While the thought of telepathically calling Navi did cross her mind, she wasn't sure if Navi was in a situation where such a call would disturb her so Reya ran with all her might.
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Roughly a few seconds after Reya disappeared from sight in the opposite direction, from the same spot where he had disappeared, the gnome thief reappeared, having watched Reya leave. From this, it can be seen that he never left the area and was watching Reya the entire time.

After contemplating for a few moments, the gnome thief turned in the direction of the team of thieves before speaking to himself, "While I know it's a betrayal to disobey orders like this, I'd rather face the boss's wrath than that weird player in tribal tattoos. My instincts have been screaming that he's dangerous from the moment he saw me and they are rarely wrong." Following that, the gnome thief then turned invisible once again, this time truly leaving the area.