Gamers of the Underworld

Bond hid behind the dark rocks that overlooked the nearby Ogre Stronghold.

“Is that the Ogre Stronghold?”

NotWearingPants squatted next to Bond, who was one of the surveillance team members. In front of NotWearingPants was a huge fort surrounded by walls that were ten meters high.

According to the game officials, the location was a Stronghold, but it didn’t look like one.

“Warriors, you’ll obey my orders… where are they?”

Bond turned back to look at the gamers who were walking out merrily. They didn’t seem like they were scouting for intelligence, their actions looking more like defection.

“Don’t open fire with your guns! We’re defecting!”

“Are you a fool? Have you seen any guns in this game?”

“Oh… don’t shoot your arrows! We’re here to defect! We’re from Eternal Kingdom!”

“And Winterfell!”

“We have lots of information for you!”

“This is the defense map of Winterfell. Let us in!”

The gamers shouted loudly.

Bond’s head almost exploded. He had more than ten years of experience in intelligence work, but he hadn’t seen agents walking openly and shouting to obtain intelligence. No, this wasn’t intelligence gathering…

“What shall we do, Captain Bond? We were betrayed by Eternal Kingdom! These 100 creatures are here to defect! They even have our Winterfell defense map!”

“Let’s kill them! Captain Bond, we have to stop them!”

Bond’s subordinates, who were Winterfell’s intelligence agents, were furious. They wanted to dash out and kill the gamers.

But Bond was calm, thinking that it wasn’t possible for them to obtain Winterfell’s latest defense map within such a short time. After Nicholas became the Dungeon Lord, the defenses were overhauled.

Even if he let his subordinates dash out and kill those despicable creatures from Eternal Kingdom, it was of no use. He would even run the risk of his subordinates sustaining casualties.

It wasn’t a wise thing to do. He had to…

“Retreat, everyone retreat! They’ll definitely betray us!”

Bond gave his order. Even if the intelligence agents were unhappy, they couldn’t disobey his order. The disciplined and trained Winterfell agents returned to their hidden Beetlemons and left in a hurry.

Before leaving, Bond wrote a letter explaining how the creatures of Eternal Kingdom defected at the first instant. It was extremely abnormal, and Bond thought that they could have a mastermind, perhaps Sherlock!

Bond’s letter was to inform Dungeon Lord Nicholas, who might be in the dark, to be careful of Sherlock!

Bond glanced at the Ogre Stronghold that was behind the scattered rocks. He had never suffered such humiliation in his life as an intelligence agent!

But now, it was time for him to leave.

Not long after Bond ordered a retreat, a large group of Ogres was led to the location where the hidden Beetlemons used to be. Fortunately, Bond had left, and the Ogres wouldn’t risk pursuing them.

Just as Bond had expected, he was betrayed by the gamers!

The gamers said, “I can betray Sherlie, so what’s a Winterfell NPC to me? Chief, is there equipment for me? Something that fits a Gnome!”

…

In the Winterfell Dungeon Lord’s office…

Nicholas couldn’t believe his own eyes. In his hand was a letter that he had just received, which depicted the situation at the Ogre Stronghold and spoke of how the creatures of Eternal Kingdom defected en masse!

If he wasn’t sure that the writer of the letter was his experienced intelligence agent, the best of the best, Bond, Nicholas would have burnt the letter.

Those 100 warriors were recommended by Lord Sherlock and were selected out of 1,000 candidates. How could they possibly have defected?

“Assistant!” Nicholas shouted with a frown. If that was the truth, Lord Sherlock could have a different idea. Though Nicholas trusted Lord Sherlock, he was, after all, a superior Devil.

Nicholas decided to make some preparations and called for his assistant, who came in with Sherlock.

“Good night, Dungeon Lord Nicholas.”

Sherlock politely took off his hat and placed it and his outer coat on a rack.

“Good night, Lord Sherlock.”

Nicholas swallowed hard, his hair standing on end. His assistant said, “You said that if the visitor was Lord Sherlock, I didn’t need to inform you, so I brought him in. Is something the matter?”

“It’s nothing. Help me brew a cup of tea, the strongest kind,” Nicholas said as he wiped away the sweat on his forehead.

The assistant nodded and walked out to prepare the tea. As for Sherlock, he looked at Nicholas with concern and said, “Dungeon Lord Nicholas, are you feeling warm? Take care of yourself.”

“Thank you for your concern, Lord Sherlock…” Nicholas glanced at the letter on the table and almost had a heart attack. He discreetly extended his hand and slowly moved the letter away.

Sherlock noticed Nicholas’ behavior. In fact, he noticed the letter when he came in. It was what he had expected.

“I’m here regarding the intelligence of the Ogre Stronghold.” Sherlock crossed his hands and placed them on his knees, speaking calmly.

The assistant returned with a cup of bloody chrysanthemum tea and green tea filled with rolling sleeping worms. He placed them in front of Sherlock and Nicholas respectively.

“Slurp.”

Sherlock sipped while the tea was hot, while Nicholas held the cup and trembled. He was feeling extremely tense.

“Regarding the Ogre Stronghold? Ha, haha. Lord Sherlock, you’re joking. Our scouts have just arrived outside the Ogre Stronghold. Of course, I believe in your loyal servants. They will provide the latest and most comprehensive intelligence!”

Nicholas gave a fake smile, but Sherlock wasn’t bothered. He took out a drawn map and said, “No, the intelligence has been sent back. This is a bird’s eye view of the Ogre Stronghold, which shows the detailed defense deployment and various campsites of the Ogre tribes. Yes, we have their totems.”

Sherlock placed a round Adamantine rock on the table, which would project images when Mana was infused. After Sherlock infused his Mana into the rock, images flashed like a slide projector. They were images of the Ogre Stronghold’s interior, the tribes’ totems, their leaders, and the equipment of the Ogres. There were even group photographs of some Gnomes with green words above their heads.

Nicholas was dumbfounded. He had been a Vampire for so long, and he didn’t know that the round Adamantine rock could record images. Where did the images come from? How did Sherlock obtain the images so fast when the journey from the Ogre Stronghold took three days? It hadn’t even been four hours since Sherlock’s servants defected, but Sherlock had brought back intelligence of the Ogres?

“I know you’ll have a lot of questions, but listen to me, and don’t ask. The answers aren’t something that you can bear.”

Sherlock put away the round Adamantine rock and said, “You only need to know that I’m your strong backing and reliable ally. As for these images, they were obtained in a special way. It cost me a lot of creature resources and materials, but I won’t mention them.”

Nicholas picked up the round Adamantine rock and examined it again.

“The warriors of Eternal Kingdom are all fearless, especially the intelligence agents. They were born to sacrifice for the greater good. The reason they were able to obtain intelligence this fast is because of their hard work. Without their sacrifice, we wouldn’t be able to obtain intelligence in a timely manner.”

While Nicholas was still musing over the rock, Sherlock continued and said, “Of course, we’ll always remember the sacrifice of the 100 warriors, won’t we, Dungeon Lord Nicholas?”

“Ah?” Nicholas was shaken from his bewilderment by Sherlock’s question and quickly said, “Yes, that’s right. The 100 warriors sacrificed themselves to obtain intelligence on our enemies…” Nicholas’ eyes became red, and he wiped away his tears.

“I’ll pay 2,000 Magic Stones as death compensation. Don’t you worry, Lord Sherlock…”