For the first time since the players set foot on the game world, Gaia Project, the sky darkened and it began to rain heavily.
From the sky, dozens of people jumped down while wearing serious expressions as they looked at the situation around them.
Standing at the front was a veteran magic knight and captain in charge of Blight City, Aldoun.
Seeing a bunch of fresh corpses, Aldoun said in a cold tone, "This massacre has just happened recently. The criminals must still be not far from this location. Herling, use your magic to track them. Meanwhile, divide the team into two. One for the hunt and the other to check whether there are survivors. Remember to always be alert. We still don't know who our enemies are."
Herling used his summoning magic again. His ability to create contracts with monsters makes him a specialist in summoning type magic.
"O predator of the dark forest, appear before me according to the contract that binds us – Shadow Dogs!"
Several magic circles were created on the ground and a pack of black dogs with red eyes came out of the circle while growling with drooling fangs.
Considering area around them is filled with darkness because of the weather, Shadow Dogs are creatures that are very suitable for tracking enemies because they can blend into the darkness and move silently like owls.
Their sense of smell is also 100 times sharper than ordinary dogs, so even if it rains heavily, the scent of the criminals can still be clearly smelled by these dogs.
"Go!" said Herling giving orders to the dogs.
Before following the dog, Aldous handed over leadership of the second team to Jenner.
"Jenner, I'll leave the situation here to you. If you find someone who is still alive, immediately take them to the city but you must be careful of the traps they might set."
Patting his chest, Jenner replied, "Leave it to me captain. Teach them a very painful lesson."
After saying what needed to be said, the magic knights split into two teams and Aldoun took the lead in their hunt.
Meanwhile a few kilometers from the destroyed village, a group of cloaked people ran towards the Inzerno kingdom before their leader stopped for a moment and looked towards the place where they had carried out their massacre a moment ago.
One of them who had a tall and burly body asked the leader, "What's wrong, Death Bringer?"
"One of the magic trees I created responded to the rapid movements of several people heading towards us. We've been trailed by possibly NPCs from the Arcanium Kingdom."
"So what should we do next?" asked one of his other colleagues.
"We have just gained the strength to fight and we don't have enough experience compared to NPC's troops like the magic knights of the Arcanium Kingdom. However, as players we have an absolute advantage. We are eternal. If we die, we will be brought back to life. This is a rare opportunity to measure the strength between us and the NPCs who are chasing us. Of course getting arrested wasn't an option. We will kill ourselves before being arrested because if we're imprisoned we will not be able to get out of the game."
The burly man standing next to the player named Death Bringer immediately took out a two-handed axe. His mouth makes a smile that showed this person really loved fighting.
"Apart from that, our main task has been completed. Whatever the outcome of our battle will not change the situation. I'm looking forward to a big payout once we arrive at the Kingdom of Inzerno."
In less than half an hour, Aldoun and the others arrived and came face to face with the players who were carrying out massacres in the Arcanium Kingdom territory.
What surprised the magic knights was the criminal's calm expressions showed that they had anticipated their arrival. Even the criminals had long been ready with weapons in their hands.
The tall and burly player in front of them even said, "We've been waiting for you show up, so how about we just fight straight away? My hands are already itchy to kill all of you."
The arrogant attitude of their enemy made the magic knights immediately ready to attack the players but Aldoun gave a code to restrain themselves before asking a question to the players in front of him.
"For a group of weaklings your words sounds very arrogant. Tell me, who are you and what is your purpose in carrying out the massacre? If you guys are willing to confess everything, I will just arrest you and spare your lives. If you refuse to answer, your gruesome death is the only price for doing a massacre!"
Not even a second after those words left Aldoun's mouth, several trees emerged from the ground and their trunks moved like tentacles about to catch the magic knights.
"Hahaha, I see you are the leader of the magic knight squad that wants to capture us. What an idiot, you think threats will make your opponent flinch?"
Death Bringer looked at the magic knights in front of him with a look of disdain. The burly player next to him immediately charged forward while shouting, "We've set up traps around here. Why do you think we didn't run away?"
Seeing several of his colleagues trapped by enemy magic traps, Aldoun made eye contact with Herling. Without wasting any time, Herling gave orders to his shadow dogs to attack the burly man who was about to attack their comrade that was caught in the enemy's trap.
From the darkness, several shadow dogs attack and were about to bite the figure of the burly player but the player immediately swung his two axes to behead every shadow dogs that attacked him. There is no hesitation in his every move.
"A surprise attack like this won't be able to stop me, Juggernaut."
Aldoun did not waste the opportunity to launch an attack on Juggernaut while several of his other colleagues tried to free their trapped comrade.
"O proud steel, give me the strength to cut down my enemies, Steel Layer!"
Suddenly the sword in Aldoun's hand turned black, including his hand. The iron-elemental magic layer not only increased his attacking power but also his body's defense.
Sparks could be seen when Juggernaut's axes and Aldoun's sword clashed.
Gaia Project is a unique game that does not have a level system. The strength and weakness of a player is determined by their physical ability, magical ability, technique or skill, intelligence, and wisdom in playing the game. Status like strength, intelligence, speed, etc can be obtained through training or titles and achievements.
In one attack, it was clear that Juggernaut was still inferior in overall status. Juggernaut was pushed back several steps while Aldoun didn't give him any chance and continue to move forward to attack him.
Several players wanted to help Juggernaut but the magic knights didn't let them and also attack so a fight between the two camps broke out.
Herling recited the incantation and summoned several predatory birds while Death Bringer cast his unique magic to create several living trees to ward off attacks from Herling's predatory birds.
The fight had just started but they are already cornered in several attacks and tactics.
As someone who had just gained magic power, Death Bringer's mana stat was far less than that of Arcanium magic knights. It made him quickly become exhausted and run out of mana.
Several players had even died before him until finally only he and his partner juggernaut were left.
Aldoun, Herling, and the other magic knights were quite surprised to see the calmness of their two remaining opponents even though all their other comrades had died. Aldoun began to think there was something strange about the enemy they were currently fighting.
The fighting conditions should have made them panic or show some fear because death was clearly in front of them, but in reality, even though they were cornered with many wounds on their bodies, both of them remained calm to read the situation and carry out a measured counterattack.
"Juggernaut. It seems our abilities are still very lacking. I think we will die horribly at the hands of these magic knights."
Juggernaut nodded in agreement and replied, "It can't be helped. We have to train harder if we want to beat them in the future."
Aldoun felt like he was being underestimated. Did they think they can escape from his clutch after what they did to the villagers?
In a cold tone, Aldoun gave an order, "You think you will escape from here? You won't get a chance to live. Everyone attack them at the same time!"
Heard the orders, all the magic knights attack the two players in front of them with various kinds of magic. little did they know that death didn't mean much to the players they had fought against.
Before the two players were killed without leaving bones or dust, Aldoun heard and saw the expressions of his two enemies.
"Interesting and valuable experience. Next fight, we will be the ones to win and that means the next meeting will be the end for you."