Agatha The Legendary Guild Master

My arrow went to hit the location I intended to cause a severe explosion that went beyond my expectations. The shock wave alone had caused my balloon to shake many times before it stabilized itself.

As for the demon, it had all its interest focused over the spot of that explosion, as it began to move towards that place while summoning more and more hands to devastate the area.

For a moment there I was nearly tempted by the idea of guiding this demon towards the place of those bastards, however I didn't follow these thoughts.

I needed to get my revenge, but I needed more to get my hands over one of them alive. So I began to move towards the place where I guessed they were hiding by taking the long route there.

My team wasn't aware of all that, however as long as the demon was led far from here then they wouldn't mind anything else. When my direction was getting away towards the south, another rocket like attack came from the same place targeting the place between me and the demon.

They were mean and ruthless, I got it, but they would think me as a moron if I didn't expect and anticipate this kind of attack. So just as I glanced at the rocket, I didn't need to follow it to make sure of its direction as I muttered:

'Firework arrow skill activated.'

They wanted to guide the demon using their rocket explosion towards the south, however my arrow targeted the north area, leading the demon away.

The two explosions happened nearly at the same time, with some moments in difference, however my arrow beat their rocket easily and the explosive sounds that emerged were dominated by my arrow.

So the demon moved towards the north, further away from me. as for the balloon, it kept moving to the south with clear intention to target those bastards.

I knew this wasn't all what they got, as I had one scenario in mind if they were really nuts and decided to face me head to head. I wasn't afraid of them, but playing aggressively with the presence of such a monster here would be suicidal.

If I had to play with them, I had to make sure I would end this up smooth and swift, without any problems of any kind.

The two explosions' effects just faded away and then a second rocket and third one were launched from the same spot which I already recognized. The two rockets aimed at the same place, between me and the demon.

They intended to outsmart me by using quantity over quality. I didn't know how many rockets they had, but I was limited here by the CD of my skill.

This made me realize something, weren't these rockets skills as well? Or what? Which led me to a more important question, what was the nature of this place? Was it like the empire, based on a VR game, or like my kingdom based on magicians and spells?

To be honest I wasn't enthusiastic to know anything as all I wanted to do was to find a way out of here and return home again in one piece. That castle was dangerous, way more dangerous than I initially thought.

How the hell did these players complete this dungeon? It wasn't possible to do a mission, it was an impossible quest that had no way to emerge victorious from it.

As I couldn't reply to that threat, the rockets exploded and caused a huge explosion. Just as the demon stopped and began to move towards here, the CD for my skill was finally over.

'Firework arrow skill activated.'

The arrow was launched again just in time, as the demon was about to move towards here and relocate its arms to here. the arrow exploded fast and managed to attract the attention of the demon again.

This time I didn't need to cover my plan, as they would have realized my true intentions by now. So, I turned the balloon and moved it directly towards the east.

I headed directly towards the place where all these rockets came from, in a clear provocation to these people.

'Be alert, we will have a big fight coming up,' I privately sent this message to Gen who turned to look in question to me as I added:

'We are already in an open war with them, concealing our presence wouldn't do any good here. prepare everyone, messages only and no talk.'

'Are they the same people from before?' he asked.

'Perhaps, but something is telling me we will find others there.'

'Good, I will ready the men.'

Gen was something I was blessed with. I hoped he became a virus and infected everyone around me with his devotion and precise decisions and actions.

As he began to relay my orders, the other side received my provocation as I expected, as they launched a couple of rockets targeting my balloon. The distance between us was becoming shorter and shorter with every passing second, and these rockets even if they couldn't reach us, their explosions would be enough to draw the demon to here.

As before, the CD to my balloon skill was yet to end, so I only watched the rockets heading towards us with no interest at all. One way or another, these rockets had no impact on the end result of this conflict with them.

I would win and they would lose.

The rockets were really impressive, as they managed to reach the balloon and hit us strongly, however just before they hit the balloon, I used the deflective defensive shield to protect the balloon and simply sent these rockets back towards the place which they came from.

One explosion happened followed by another, one at my place and the other at my enemies. the demon seemed to be attracted to the last place as it paused, and began to turn towards their direction.

I waited, as my skill could be launched now at any time I wanted, but I wanted my enemies to waste more rockets as well. My skill was limited by time, and their rockets were limited by numbers.

Just as I was calculating things and imagining all the scenarios I could think of in my head, I received a weird message from Gen.

'They are requesting surrender, saving their lives in exchange for swearing their loyalty to you.'

I turned sharply to look towards Gen as I understood the words he said, but I couldn't understand how.

'How did you get this message from them, Gen?' I sent it to him privately.

'This isn't Gen, this is one of us who is requesting to be one of your people.'

This time the shock was higher, way higher than everything else. I had imagined many scenarios but I couldn't predict such one at all. I never imagined they, the people living here, would have such a weird ability.

An ability to control people.

'If you can control Gen, why didn't you try and control me?' I asked.

'First it would be impolite to do such a thing towards the lady we were asking her to help,' Gen sent to me, or the one whoever was controlling him from that distant ditch over there.

'And the second reason is?' I asked while looking straight in Gen's eyes which had some weird luster, dark green one.

Strange!

'We… well we can't actually affect special people like yourself.'

'Ah, so that it is.'

Everything began to reveal its mysteries to me, as it seemed the privilege of being a mystic art player wasn't only limited to the range of the sacred lands, but there was some protection here as well.

Thank god, or else I would be doomed by now.

These people weren't good hearted like they were trying to picture themselves, they must have tried to control me before but they failed.

One way or another I was going to have my goal, so I had the upper hand here especially when I guessed why they took this bold and risky move.

Their rockets must have been depleted.

They couldn't attack or defend themselves, they couldn't drive the demon away like now as I could only retreat to the back and watch the slaughter done by the demons.

However this wouldn't serve my best interest, I wanted to obtain some of them and they didn't know that so far, which my current advantage was.

'You know I might just let the demon do the job and watch from far, why would I dirty my hands saving you?' I sent it to Gen.

'Well, if you wanted to do so from the start then you wouldn't bother by directing the demon away from here and come to us yourself, right?' Gen replied.

'I might just be a psychopath who loves to take revenge personally,' I sent back.

'Or you might want to catch some of us alive to know more info about this world. after all you just arrived here and you seem to be weaker than the rest of others,' he replied.

'Bold and daring,' I sent.

'That's what I can say for you too,' he sent back.

This man or woman or demon or whatever he is was interesting. He seemed to know and understand me very well, and he wasn't just nobody.

I sensed some sort of connection, I didn't know what it was but he had some similarities with me. Perhaps he was a prince or royalty to his people, or perhaps he was a general.

That wasn't important, what was important was that he guessed my hidden agenda well, and now the demon was about to reach them so I needed to settle this fast.

After all I really needed part of them alive.

'What guarantee you can give me to not double cross after the demon leaves?' I sent it to him.

'It's simple, I can sense the breath of one of that witch's curses on you. Tell me, is it the prison? Yeah, it's the prison. This prison has some sort of effect over us, so I and everyone there could simply swear an oath with the prison as witness. 

We will be your slaves or subjects according to your will, and we won't interfere or reject any will of yours. That's my promise, and the guarantee you asked for. Is this enough for you?' he sent these shocking words which made me unable to speak fast on him.

'How did you know…?'

'There is no time for that, do we have an agreement?' he asked with great unease, as the demon was about to send his arms towards their place.

I knew what I had to do, however I didn't know I could use the prison here, which was a brand new info to me and also some sort of regret. If I knew that earlier, many things wouldn't have gone south.

The only excuse I had was at the end I had gained more than I lost, which was good anyway.