MMORPG: The Elementalist

Outside Moonrise City…

The League Master of Netherspirit’s Claw—Netherclaw was observing thousands of people that were behind the city walls. Every single one of them was his enemy now. Watching them gathering in there, it was like watching enemies gathering up at their borders… no, this was within his and his friends’ borders.

This was the first time that Netherclaw felt that he probably should have retired. All that was felt in his heart was bitterness and helplessness.

Since when… since when had the renowned “Netherspirit’s Claw’, the League that was untouchable by anyone in the Angel and Demon Faction, fallen to this? That over 2,000 of its Tier 5 members had jumped ship… even his closest right-hand men—Snowmelt and Dark Dragon!

After the departure of these two Veteran Champions, the powerful trio that was sustaining the power balance within the guild crumbled. Netherspirit’s Claw had basically lost one-third of its main forces in one go and that had resulted in its drop in ranking on the League Honor Point Leader Board—all the way down to Number 6…

Now, not only that there was a conceited “Fallen Angels” above them… there were Hall of Exalted, Hall of Heroes, Scarlet Dynasty, and Black Prison stepping on their pride.

They had lost their Top One spot and downgraded to the Number 2. And now, they were Number 2 no more… they were a disgraceful Number 6.

Netherclaw could see that his League had now fallen in grace to become one of these weakling Leagues like the Black Prison League.

Even if there was a tremendous rage fuming within him, Netherclaw had no other choice but to work together with the other small Clans to take on the Hall of Exalted. What a disgrace!

Just what kind of benefits had the Hall of Exalted offered to Snowmelt and Dark Dragon? To the point they would let him leave Netherspirit’s Claw? If it was due to the fact that Netherspirit’s Claw and the Fallen Angels had now got on friendly terms, and they refused to work with Winter Demon, then it was beyond Netherclaw’s comprehension. He thought they had reconciled with the Fallen Angels.

Perhaps it was due to money?

Rumors had it that the new Tier 5 members in the Hall of the Exalted each received 500,000 gold coins… if it were Snowmelt and Dark Dragon… their value ought to be higher than that.

Netherclaw couldn’t help but grin to himself in a self-deprecating way, laughing at himself.

So, it had all come down to this… his formidable lieutenants betraying his League for material gains…

As he was deep in his thoughts, suddenly a loud scream was heard.

“League Master, look! It’s Boss Snowmelt and Boss Dark Dragon!”

Before they were able to finish their words, Netherclaw glared at them and pressured them into silence.

Netherclaw quickly calmed himself down and then glared at the two traitors who flew from the city walls, then coldly retorted, “Remember. They are not part of Netherspirit’s Claw anymore. So… stop calling them ‘Boss’.”

“Oh… alright…”

“Understood, sir.”

The members of the Netherspirit’s Claw responded meekly. Snowmelt and Dark Dragon had been their leaders for quite some time… so, it was quite difficult for them to change their ways of addressing these two overnight.

Netherclaw understood that Snowmelt and Dark Dragon both had been revered by these underlings. Thus, he didn’t say anything further and frowned at Snowmelt and Dark Dragon.

This war that he waged… Netherclaw wasn’t quite sure if he could win…

The Hall of the Exalted had been expanding rapidly. They had a lot of Champions joining their ranks by the days, making them the second biggest League in the Angel Faction. Fearing their numbers and power, many Clans with members joining the Hall of the Exalted didn’t dare to protest at all. And that was why there were only around 600,000 people that Netherclaw could gather from all these bullied Clans.

Although the Hall of the Exalted was running its Project Pioneer in the Underworld, they still had over 15,000 members left behind in the Mythical Continent.

Sure, Netherclaw and his militia outnumbered these people. However, the Hall of the Exalted had all its members well-equipped. No one had equipment that was at least at Gold Tier. There were also countless members clad in Dark Gold Tier. Heck, there were also some people wearing full sets of Legendary equipment too.

Netherclaw could see that the Hall of the Exalted wanted to totally decimate them at one go to gain more fame… It was no wonder that they had elites like Snowmelt and Dark Dragon left behind in the Mythical Continent when running Project Pioneer.

“Tell me. How much longer do we need to wait?” Netherclaw turned to his underling and asked.

Then, a member quickly stepped forward and replied, “Seven minutes more before the League War starts, sir…”

After a League had registered to wage a League War against another League, the opponent would receive the relevant system message and then a countdown would start. Both sides needed to wait for two hours before clashing.

“Seven minutes.” Netherclaw frowned as his heart got more and more anxious by the minute.

This war was quite important to him and Netherspirit’s Claw.

He couldn’t afford to lose…

Indeed, there were a lot of formidable foes showing up among the ranks of the Hall of the Exalted. However, Netherclaw had more people on his side.

As long as there were no more hiccups, Netherspirit’s Claw could still destroy the Hall of the Exalted in this war.

Yet…

Suddenly a cold voice was heard from behind.

“Hey, isn’t this the League Master Netherclaw? Why are you here, staring at the gates? Oh, that’s right… you don’t have many Veterans left in your League, that’s why your army needs you on the frontline. What a joke!”

Knitting his brows, Netherclaw turned to look at the ones who were throwing insults at him. Seeing the men who were hovering above the city walls, Netherclaw felt a chill down his spine.

“No… not you too…”

Netherclaw couldn’t believe his eyes as he saw the two Elementalists within the enemy lines — both of them were still Field Commanders of the Netherspirit’s Claw just minutes ago. And yet now, they had jumped ship and were wearing the insignia of “Hall of the Exalted” proudly.

“I’m so sorry, League Master. We’re followers of Boss Snowmelt after all. If he wants to leave, then we’ll do the same…” Chameleon meekly announced as he avoided eye contact with the furious Netherclaw.

Other than that, Netherclaw could see Ron and Ron’s Mistress within the ranks of the Hall of Exalted, lining up behind Bruvver. Ron and Ron’s Mistress smirked at the once prideful Netherclaw. Now, this once powerful League Master was nothing but a weakling in their eyes.

Now that they were able to pick on Netherclaw… the next one would be Winter Demon…

Ron and Ron’s Mistress were hoping to take down Qin Ruo, this monster that was able to surpass Netherclaw, one day. This man could climb to such heights and gain such glory today was all due to the one little monster that they had caught back then. That Shadowfox was supposedly theirs! They had been very resentful toward Qin Ruo all this while.

***

Other than that, there were also several members that Netherclaw recognized within the ranks of Hall of the Exalted. These people were also renown Veteran Champions in the Angel Faction.

He didn’t think that Bruvver could even recruit these stubborn solo Veterans.

Netherclaw’s face turned grimmer and grimmer as he saw this.

It would seem that Bruvver was determined to destroy the Netherspirit’s Claw in this war…

***

Bruvver hovered to Netherclaw’s side. Then, players who were gathered inside and outside of the city walls started to extend their barriers and shields, preparing for the fierce incoming battle. Bruvver let out a grin as he spoke to Netherclaw.

“Netherclaw, what about we wager a bet?”

“…”

Netherclaw looked at Bruvver coldly and remained silent, not responding to his taunt at all.

Bruvver didn’t seem to mind Netherclaw’s indifference at all. He pointed at the people who were gathering outside the city walls and loudly proclaimed, “In three hours! I’ll ensure that the ones left out here are all members of the Hall of the Exalted. Only my people will be left out here!”

Hearing this, Netherclaw’s underlings couldn’t hold in their anger any longer and blurted out insults at the conceited man.

“You can try if you dare!”

“Fuck you!”

“…”

Bruvver grinned at the furious members of the Netherspirit’s Claw and then smirked at Netherclaw.

“Three hours. That’s the bet. If I did it, you will head back to the Mercenary Guild and withdraw the League War… oh, and if you’re so broke that you can’t pay the two million gold coins to withdraw from the war… I don’t mind paying for you. I have plenty of money to spare.”

Bruvver’s conceited words had now enraged the members of the Netherspirit’s Claw even more. If he didn’t fly back to the city walls in time, he might be attacked by now.

“So? What about it?”

Ignoring the angry roars from the crowd, Bruvver continued pressing for a response from Netherclaw.

“Alright. I’ll call the bet too.”

After being pressured by Bruvver in front of countless people, Netherclaw finally conceded to the bet. Of course, he needed to declare his terms too.

“In three hours, if my men here decimated your men. And if we can pull this off, you will need to spend five million gold coins to pledge for the League War to end, begging for the Mercenary Guild’s protection pitifully.”

Bruvver let out a burst of prolonged laughter, as though he heard an amusing joke, after hearing this.

“Okay. The bet’s on!”

Then, Bruvver turned toward one of his men and ordered, “Zero, I want you to tag along with Netherclaw here. Be sure to treat him like a guest.”

Then, the prideful Bruvver flew swiftly away from the city walls.

Suddenly, a group of people flew out of the city and landed next to Netherclaw. In just a second, Netherclaw could see a Berserker walked toward him from behind, carrying a huge broadsword on his shoulder. The Berserker stood behind him, not saying a word.

“Zero?”

Netherclaw frowned as he pondered upon the name. This Steel Berserker was a famous Berserker. And yet now, Bruvver had asked him to “babysit” Netherclaw? Now that was interesting…

Netherclaw then glanced at Zero and his men and then flew out of Moonrise City.

In a few seconds, several Winged Champions too flew out of the city walls, including a mix of Zero’s and Netherspirit’s Claw’s men.

“League Master, let’s chase these rascals back to where they belong.”

A voice rang in Netherclaw’s ears.

Then, in an instant, Netherclaw’s eyes were filled with murderous intent as he glared and nodded.