Chapter 111: Leaving the Beginner Village
Back in the beginner village, Ragnarok99, Bunny, BrawlerX and Sniperbowlegend had successfully reached level 10, with ChaosCleric and IceQueen following closely behind at level nine.
"Now that we’ve reached level 10, should we proceed to the capital or awaken a class first?" Sniperbowlegend asked.
"For some reason, the churches here are very hostile to us," Bunny remarked. "I know it’s the church’s obligation to allow citizens to awaken a class, but just to be on the safe side, I say we head to another city."
Ragnarok99 frowned. "Awakening a class now would be beneficial. Just looking at the map, it might take us a couple of hours to reach the capital."
Since there was no harm in trying the church in Red Fang, Bunny eventually relented and they went there.
But they were escorted out by a guard who told them the local priest didn’t want to attend to them.
This made Bunny wonder if the church had recollections of what happened during the beta.
Weren’t they supposed to forget everything?
’The reputation bar is in neutral, yet they act otherwise.’ She frowned, taking a glance at the church and turning to the others.
"I guess we’ll go with my original plan then." Bunny smirked.
No one objected.
Some time later, the group went to the park where several trucks were crafted solely for traversing the wilderness.
Though they weren’t as expensive or durable as the Graves Kesla truck, they still did the job.
"Escort mission to Theoderim! 1000 Valerian dollars!"
"Escort mission to StoneHeart City!"
"Escort mission to Whitebridge!"
After hunting and selling body parts, the group had raised about 2,000 Valerian dollars, which was more than enough to get to the capital.
However, no truck seemed to be heading directly toward the capital.
"Let’s take the escort mission to StoneHeart," suggested Sniperbowlegend. "It’s the closest city to the capital. From there, we can head towards the capital."
"Agreed. We’ll also try out the churches there."
With that in mind, they approached the driver heading toward StoneHeart City.
"Good sir, is this truck still accepting escort passengers?" Bunny asked.
The driver glanced up from adjusting a lever on the truck’s side. He eyed the group for a second, then spat the toothpick onto the ground.
"Yes, otherworlder. You lot are very durable—you’re hired!"
Back in the capital, inside the Monkey Paradise Dungeon, Lily had been called, and all the adventurers present were subjected to an interrogation personally conducted by Alice.
They had asked Vex, the only survivor, and he said he hadn’t seen a thing. Because of her talent, Alice knew he wasn’t lying.
Afterwards, she proceeded to ask the other adventurers present, even going as far as asking Sophie and Cassie, even though it wasn’t necessary.
A small frown appeared on her face as she finished questioning the last person.
"None of them committed the murder," Alice said, reporting to the representative of the Graves family.
The representative naturally knew about Alice’s unique talent, so he didn’t doubt her for a second.
However, this only raised the question... what truly happened to Darius and Vera?
Of course, Alice had an idea of who could have done the deed, but she didn’t dare speak.
"If you don’t mind, give us more time. The adventurer guild will personally find the killers and submit them to the Graves to do as they please." Lilly bowed slightly.
"The Adventurer Guild has a good relationship with the Graves family," the representative said. "Don’t disappoint us."
Without waiting for Lilly’s reply, he left along with his men.
Even after they left, Lilly remained standing. It was only when they were out of sight that she moved from her spot.
After the incident, the adventurers returned to their hunts.
"What do we do... do you think Gabriel had something to do with it?" Sophie asked, concern on her face.
"Those two were known to be very arrogant and aloof, especially the girl," Lily said. "If I’m not wrong, they initiated the first attack on him."
"Wait—so you’re openly admitting that he did it?"
"He’s the only one not here. It’s definitely him." Lily said emotionlessly. The dead didn’t really concern her—she was only doing her duty.
"Let’s not jump to conclusions yet," Alice said. "We could be wrong."
Cassie recalled his fight against the Ant Queen, and seeing how savagely Gabriel fought—and how savage the cuts were on the deceased—she knew Lily wasn’t lying.
For the meantime, the group of four decided to spread out to look for him.
After some hours, they met back at the entrance alone.
"Still no sign of him," Cassie said, slightly out of breath as she rejoined the others.
"Me too," Sophie said, adjusting her veil.
"Nope." Alice was the last to arrive.
In the end, they decided to return to the Adventurer Guild.
Meanwhile, back in the Orc World, the main culprit of everything was attacking the second usurper settlement, which was just after Krag’s.
The orcs here weren’t as fast or agile as those in Krag’s encampment. These ones were brutes—much slower, but very durable.
What was worse, they had giant hounds that acted as mounts and pets.
Over 50 hounds were released to attack Gabriel and Gorath. However, just as they closed in within a 10-meter range, Gabriel swapped his class and activated [Hellfire Ring].
A burning ring of demonic fire quickly surrounded him, and all the hounds that entered its range were quickly obliterated.
The orcs, seeing how their pets died, panicked.
Before the 10-second duration of [Hellfire Ring] ended, at least 20 of the hounds had died.
Gabriel, burning through his mana reserves, reactivated the skill moments later. With a mighty stomp—Bang!—he launched into the settlement. Orcs and hounds alike received fire damage.
-99
-98
CRITICAL! -100
-49
-53
Gabriel’s expression was filled with exhilaration as he watched the orcs fall one after the other.
According to Gorath, these were the personal soldiers of the second usurper. As for his own loyal men—they were locked up.
As such, Gabriel had no qualms about killing them.
After some time hunting, they finally arrived before the second usurper, who wielded a massive iron hammer with a furious expression on his face.
"Be careful with this one," Gorath warned with a serious expression. "He’s special."
Looking at the orc, Gabriel could tell there was indeed something special about him.