Gamers of the Underworld

The Central Garrison Guard Captain gave the letters that were found in the principal’s office to Sherlock. The letters mentioned Professor Bacon, so they were given to Sherlock to take a look. However, the letters didn’t belong to Sherlock as they would be used as a piece of evidence for the prosecution of the principal of Specter College.

Sherlock examined the letter that was sent out by his subordinates. It told of how they had located and killed Professor Bacon. But his student Brainiac investigated the clues left by Professor Bacon and entered the fantasy-scape created by him. Brainiac discovered the secret of Specter College. Fortunately, the principal’s subordinates captured Brainiac.

The last letter was regarding Sherlock. Eternal Kingdom was investigating the matter, and Sherlock found the fantasy-scape. They disguised as Eggface and destroyed the Mana impression while two of Sherlock’s bodyguards were keeping watch, but they couldn’t stop Sherlock from escaping the fantasy-scape. Sherlock was their hindrance, and they intended to kill Sherlock in their next step!

The letter ended with a somber note.

The letters didn’t mention if Brainiac was dead, nor did they contain his whereabouts.

After reading all of the letters, Sherlock returned them to the Central Garrison Guard Captain.

“What an evil plan. They committed such heinous crimes just to revive Frangipani,” Sherlock sighed and said.

“Don’t worry, Lord Sherlock, the Central Garrison Guards will stop these evil creatures. We’ll inform the Devil Management Committee to strengthen the seals of the Ancient Gods so that they have no chance to escape!”

“Whether there’s a Mana Formation sealing Frangipani, we have to wait for the specialists to complete their investigations.”

The Central Garrison Guard Captain hailed his members and left the college with the principal.

“Pa ta, pa ta, pa ta.”

The Beetlemon with the arrested principal went into the distance, but his voice was still heard. He said, “I’m innocent! I have no intention to release Frangipani—!”

The Lich students who were watching behind Sherlock were greatly shaken, not expecting the muddled and irresponsible principal to have such evil plans. They were excited.

How could they not be excited when the legendary figure of the Ancient Gods was so close to them. Their college was related to the primordial Ancient Gods. It was a piece of shocking news.

“Lord Sherlock, I didn’t expect our college to have such an incident… Professor Bacon…” Professor Cabbage lowered her head sadly.

“No problem. I’m not that close to Professor Bacon,” Sherlock waved his hand and said in consolation.

“Ah?”

“We’ll put Professor Bacon’s matter aside. Our goal is to find Brainiac. I hope that he’s alright.” Sherlock sighed.

Professor Cabbage didn’t expect Sherlock to be indifferent to the death of Professor Bacon. She said, “I understand. Specter College will cooperate with you, Lord Sherlock.”

“Thank you. I’m depending on you,” Sherlock said as he nodded at Professor Cabbage.

…

The dusk light illuminated both sides of a narrow corridor, and sounds of footsteps reverberated off the walls.

The end of the corridor was a huge and wet room, and inside was a prison cell.

Two Liches were imprisoned there. One Lich was lying on the ground, unconscious. Another one was leaning against the metal railing. He had half-closed eye sockets and looked very feeble.

Professor Bacon was the one unconscious on the ground, while Brainiac was the feeble Lich.

Both of them were constrained by special fetters that prohibited the use of Mana.

Liches who couldn’t use Mana were like normal Skeletons.

A dark figure stood at the entrance of the room.

“What tenacity! You’re indeed a rare once-in-a-thousand-year genius, but you can’t sustain yourself for long. Your power will be leeched by the great Frangipani. You’ll be the stepping stone for the revival of Frangipani,” the dark figure said sinisterly as he walked towards Brainiac.

“You won’t be successful… Lord Sherlock… will stop you…” Brainiac spoke every word slowly. He grasped the metal railing at the side and struggled to stand up, but he failed.

“Lord Sherlock? Your trusted Lord Sherlock will become another stepping stone for the revival of Frangipani!” the dark figure said maliciously.

“Even if Lord Sherlock is killed, there’s Winterfell, the Merchant Alliance, and the Devil Management Committee…”

“They are all stepping stones!”

“And the seven Devil Kings.”

“They are stepping stones!”

“And…”

Brainiac wanted to continue, but the dark figure roared and interrupted Brainiac’s sentence.

“Enough! No more rebuttals! Nobody can stop me!”

A voice was heard coming from the roof.

“No, I, King of Darkness, Master of the Magical Flames, the Dominant Dragon of Eternal Kingdom, Eggface, can stop you!”

A dark coil of matter dropped onto the ground. The body had a pair of small wings that were flapping with great effort. However, the wings had no lifting effect on the heavy body, so he landed with an embarrassing “Pom” sound on the ground.

Eggface sat on the ground.

“What?”

The sinister dark figure didn’t expect a Black Dragon to appear. The dark figure dashed towards Eggface, and gray Mana started to gather at the dark figure.

In the next moment, numerous bones broke out from the ground and perforated Eggface’s body like sharp Pikes. There was no fresh blood. Instead, black mist seeped out from Eggface’s body.

The mist gathered and became a massive Dragon head that glared at the dark figure.

The dark figure didn’t expect such an outcome and backed up two steps. Someone spoke from the prison cell, saying, “Apologies, but you’re not facing Eggface. That’s the ethereal Polio who doesn’t have a physical body. That’s right, the Polio who escaped from Bankazia and one of the 72 Devils of Michelangelo. Are you surprised?”

The speaker was Sherlock, who walked out of the prison cell.

Beside him were Phoenix and Eggface.

“I apologize, I have fooled you again. But who asked you to take me for a ride inside the fantasy-scape? I’m vengeful. This is my revenge.”

“Sherlock…”

The dark figure looked at Sherlock in disbelief.

“Sorry to give you a fright.”

Sherlock lifted his hand and said, “Professor Cabbage, to be honest, I never suspected you.”

The dark figure walked towards the light. From the silhouette and the clothing, it was easy to identify—Professor Cabbage!

“Tell me when you discovered my secret. I already made it inconspicuous.”

Professor Cabbage lowered her head and was wary. Her hands were filled with gray mist.

“Sorry, I can’t, because I don’t believe in explanations.”

Sherlock lifted his hand, and the parrot flew out. The parrot’s body emitted crimson flames, which incinerated his feathers until he became a fireball. Just as the fireball engulfed him, a phoenix flew up, and his large wings extended out in the room. Even the temperature increased dramatically.

The flaming phoenix dashed towards Professor Cabbage and the Dragon head Polio, the strong flames engulfing them.

“It’s time for the King of Darkness, Master of Magical Flames, to appear!”

Eggface brandished his fists as he walked forward. He howled viciously before flapping his wings to take off, but after trying a few times, he failed.

Eggface wasn’t required anyway. The flaming phoenix transformed back into a parrot on Sherlock’s shoulder. There was only a ball of fire at the previous spot of Professor Cabbage.

“What a weak Lich! The fight ended too soon.”

Phoenix blew his feathers to snuff out the last bit of flames on his body.

Black mist seeped out from the flames and transformed into the black kitten who walked to Sherlock’s leg. The fur of the black kitten smelt of roasting and was all curled up. Polio looked angrily at Phoenix and shouted, “What was that? Are you looking to kill your friends too?”

Sherlock remained nonchalant while the two of them bickered. He looked underneath his leg as a large Mana Formation appeared and expanded to fill the entire room. The Mana Formation in the room was only a part of a greater whole.

From rough estimation, the surface area of this Mana Formation was huge.

Professor Cabbage, who was lit up by Phoenix, had stopped burning and was showing dark burnt patches.

“Was she burnt to death?” Polio asked as he looked at the burnt patches.

The room started to quake, and the floor became muddy. Sherlock started to sink in slowly.

“Meow!”

Polio leaped and grasped Sherlock’s trousers. As for Eggface, he was submerged halfway.

He tried hard to flap his wings, but he was unable to fly up.

Sherlock grabbed Eggface’s wings and pulled him up. Eggface’s wings started flapping, and he pulled Polio off the ground.

In the prison cell, Professor Bacon and Brainiac were submerged deep in the ground, black sludge covering them.

When Sherlock decided to rescue Bacon and Brainiac, the ceiling started leaking a liquid that looked like saliva.

The ceiling had become a black sludge, much like the ground, and was leaking liquid.

The entire room had almost become an organic stomach.

The liquid dripped on Sherlock’s bat wings and eroded the feathers. Small holes even started appearing on the bat wings.

Sherlock took out a scroll and tore it. The Teleport Scroll’s Mana Formation appeared before Sherlock. Afterward, Sherlock and his three pets vanished.

With the flashing of white rays, Sherlock, Eggface, Phoenix, and Polio appeared before the Dungeon Lord Main Hall in Eternal Kingdom.

The nearby gamers were given a fright by the sudden appearance of Sherlock. His eroded body was emitting steam, and his bat wings were full of holes.

This was an important Plot Animation!

The gamers gathered, wanting to know what was happening. Before Sherlock spoke, the gamers who were near the Teleport Portal Main Hall and about to enter the Instance Dungeon shouted, “Gosh, what’s happening! Why aren’t we able to enter Specter College?”

“Is it a BUG?”

“I can’t enter either!”

“Everyone is unable to travel to Specter College!”

“Shucks, what’s happening to the gamers who are already over there?”

“I don’t know. Let me ask on the discussion forum.”

Sherlock looked at the commotion at the Teleport Portal Main Hall and thought for a while. Then he shouted at the gamers, “Everyone, gather! Prepare for a massive battle, my citizens!”

…

At Specter College, the Lich students hadn’t recovered from the surprise of the principal being arrested. They were chatting about the principal’s arrest.

They didn’t notice that the ground underneath the college started shimmering. Soon, the quaking was felt all over the college. A student asked, bewildered, “Earthquake?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps it’s an earthquake?”

“Did Specter College have earthquakes before?”

The students didn’t know what was happening. Then, a chilling voice came from underneath the college.

“Who dares to summon me… Frangipani!”

…

The gamers of Victoria City accidentally obtained the Wyvern hunting mission, whereas the gamers of Eternal Kingdom received a new Plot Mission.

Sherlock came back with injuries!

Even the Teleport Portals to Specter College were shut down, making the gamers unable to access Specter College.

It wasn’t important. The important thing was what Sherlock announced.

“Warriors! The Void army is making its moves! They occupied Specter College and obtained sufficient energy to attack the world! I have to inform you that Ba.Mannoroth.Con and their new commander, Cabbage, were involved in a conflict. Cabbage killed Ba.Mannoroth.Con! Fortunately, I preserved his other spirit, but Cabbage imprisoned Ba.Mannoroth.Con and your Lich commander, Brainiac! Cabbage is releasing the legendary Ancient Gods commander, Frangipani…”

“Now is the time for our counterattack! Let’s attack Specter College!”

That was the important message.

“Gosh, what a loose Plot. Previously, we were in search of Strange Encounters. Perhaps they were for this Plot?” BurningChestHair said unhappily.

“I think so. We found the shop with the Strange Encounter Mission, and it was burnt down. This is the Plot development for what transpired.” Peasant nodded in agreement.

“Stop discussing. Let’s gather at the Teleport Portal. Sherlie’s opening the portal!” Sylvanas said.

The gamers of Eternal Kingdom gathered at the Teleport Portal Main Hall, where Sherlock was opening a new Teleport Portal.

The destination was… Specter College’s Main Entrance.

Sherlock had already installed a Teleport Rune Mana Formation outside Specter College when he went there.

Now he was able to use it.

Sherlock stood before the Rune Mana Formation as he infused it with Mana, while the gamers waited in anticipation. Some gamers were pushing the Ballistas that were to be used for the siege. They were preparing to conquer Specter College.

The gamers didn’t wait for long. Soon, Sherlock opened a new Teleport Portal. He stood before the portal and shouted to the gamers, “Warriors of Eternal Kingdom! The entire Underworld is in danger. We can’t allow the gathered Void army to escape from Specter College. We have to guard the location! You may lose your precious lives, but it’s for the Underworld! Let’s go! Warriors!”

The gamers were highly motivated.

“For Eternal Kingdom!”

“For Sherlie!”

“For Ba.Mannoroth.Con!”

“For Frangipani!”

“Waaaah—!”

Arthur charged into the shimmering Teleport Portal amidst the commotion. When they came out of the portal, they stood in awe of Specter College.

It was a scene of Hades.