Chapter 1130: It All Falls Down
Chapter 1130: It All Falls Down
"It is a shame that I won’t be able to claim everything for myself. By removing the Headhunter Syndicate and Defiant from the picture, there will be more loot to go around. And, since we will have the majority, even if they have complaints, they won’t dare to express them through action." Umi thought to herself with a grin.
It was common knowledge by now that the Headhunter Syndicate had been severely weakened. As for Defiant, while they were not in the same situation as the Headhunter Syndicate, their section leader, Defeaning Silence, was not present. Without him, they could only grit their teeth at the lost opportunity and go with the flow.
"You..!" Clutch wanted to cough up blood from anger by Umi’s suggestion. She had no intention of sharing a single crumb with his Headhunter Syndicate!
"This—isn’t it a little inappropriate for allies, section leader Umi?" Slow Slumber commented with furrowed brows.
On the inside, Slow Slumber was burning with rage. If Defeaning Silence was here, Umi would never have suggested such ridiculous terms. Wasn’t she looking down on his Defiant guild too much?!
"I agree with section leader Umi’s approach. Since our three guilds contributed the most to this fight, it is only right that we reap the benefits." Mist Palace stated with a satisfied expression.
"I, too, agree with section leader Umi’s decision." Off Beat followed up.
Umi nodded and then ordered, "Then, since it’s decided, we’ll end the matter here. All those from the Headhunter Syndicate and Defiant are to immediately disengage and back off from the boss monster! If you choose to remain, then don’t blame us for being unkind!"
The members of the Headhunter Syndicate and Defiant looked to Clutch and Slow Slumber; however, the two could only swallow their pride and bury their grievances.
"Defiant, fall back...!" Slow Slumber commanded as he escaped from the failed chimera’s range as a tank from Broken Exile pulled the boss monster’s aggro.
The members of Defiant cursed under their breaths and gave death glares to the other three guilds as they, too, retreated along with Slow Slumber.
Seeing that Slow Slumber and Defiant had no plans of putting up a fight, Clutch tightly clenched his fists and ordered through his teeth while holding back his anger, "Members of the Headhunter Syndicate, retreat!"
Not long after the members of Defiant and the Headhunter Syndicate were forced to retreat, the attacks from the remaining players exploded. And, in less than a few breaths, the Failed Chimera released its final cry as it fell to the ground.
Graaaaaaah..! Thud!
Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!
In a flash, Umi, Mist Princess and Off Beat arrived in front of the fallen boss monster.
"As agreed, we will split the loot evenly three ways. As for priority, since it was my idea, you two should not be against my Broken Exile having the first pick, right?" Umi said with a meaningful gaze.
"Since section leader Umi was the one to find a solution, it is only right that you get to pick the first item." Mist Princess replied with a smile. However, buried behind her smile was a cold chill.
"Now is a sensitive time for the top guilds. Otherwise, even if she does belong to Broken Exile, hmph, how would I dare accept her arrogance?" Mist Princess thought to herself.
"Seeing as how section leader Mist Princess has agreed, it would be out of place to go against the flow of things. Rest assured, section leader Umi, the first pick belongs to you and your Broken Exile." Off Beat commented with a light sigh.
A few seconds later, the Failed Chimera’s body turned into particles that scattered in every direction.
The three section leaders looked on in anticipation for the pile of loot to appear before them. However, what happened next caused the three section leaders to look on in shock. Explore more stories with .com.Côm
"The loot—where is all the loot?!" Umi said as she turned to look in every direction.
"What is this? Why did nothing drop?!" Mist Princess gasped.
"Impossible! How can loot not drop from a level 70 epic boss monster?! The real loot must be hidden somewhere in this room! Everyone, start searching and report immediately if you find anything!" Off Beat scowled.
"What’s going on?! A boss monster not dropping a single item after being defeated is unheard of!" Umi thought to herself.
"Heh, serves those bastards right. Want to cut my Headhunter Syndicate out of the picture? If we deserve nothing, you deserve even less." Clutch said under his breath with a mocking expression.
"Karma comes when one least expects it. What else can this be but bad karma finding its rightful owner?" Slow Slumber uttered quietly.
The members of Broken Exile, Mist Palace and Hollow Tempo spent the next few moments searching the boss room; however, in the end, their search came up empty.
Umi’s expression darkened as she clenched her fists. Not long ago, she forced the Headhunter Syndicate and Defiant to take a step back in order to secure a bigger portion of the boss loot.
As long as she got some results, the higher ups in the guild would not blame her for the choice she made. Additionally, the other guilds would not want to escalate a matter that had already passed for the sake of the alliance.
But, now, Umi had nothing to show for her bold choice. Furthermore, her actions even pushed away two of the top guilds and risked weakening the alliance between their guilds. If that happened, how could she explain herself to the guild leader?
"Even if the alliance isn’t broken, my position as a section leader will be over if this incident gets to the ears of the guild leader." Umi’s thoughts raced as she bit down nervously on the nail of her thumb.
"No, it’s still not too late. As long as we can claim the rewards from clearing this vicinity quest, it is possible to salvage everything." Umi said to herself softly.
The fact that the boss did not drop any loot, there was no way anyone would have been able to guess that such a thing would take place. That is, no one except Izroth.
Using a single boss monster, Izroth had managed to sow discord and mistrust among the middle ranks of the top guilds who were against him.
As for whether or not the top guilds would have fought against the Failed Chimera at its full strength, Izroth was certain that this would have not happened.
If they sided against him, it meant that they would protect the secret underwater base. Because of this, Izroth figured it was all but certain that the Failed Chimera would ignore their presence and let them pass without issue.
If the Failed Chimera was at full health when they found it, not wanting to risk their quest rewards for a single boss monster, the top guilds would have probably left it alone. At the very least, until they were able to clear the quest. After all, in their minds, it would not be too late to go back and fight the boss monster.
Unfortunately for those present, Izroth saw too far ahead.
When Izroth was fighting the Failed Chimera, he noticed something strange about the creature. And, when using Deep Insight, he became even more suspicious of the Failed Chimera’s origins and status as a boss monster. At the time, he was only 80% to 90% certain of his thoughts; however, after reading Zitra’s Research Notebook, he finally managed to confirm it.
Half of the Failed Chimera was made using monsters, while the other half was created by sacrificing the residents of the Mortal Realm. In other words, the Failed Chimera could be considered as half an NPC.
In RML, the chances of an NPC dropping loot was abysmally low. It was to the point that even if you eliminated 10,000 NPCs, perhaps only one or none would drop any loot.
Izroth, believing that to be the case for the Failed Chimera, intentionally left the boss monster at less than half of its health. He predicted that the top guilds would rush to the secret underwater base after accepting the vicinity quest. And, considering the difference of rewards, they would no doubt side against him.
Therefore, Izroth created a scenario too good for the top guilds to pass up—a weakened level 70 epic boss monster ripe for the taking. By now, Izroth was familiar with the personalities of those in the top guilds. When it came to loot and claiming resources, they would not hesitate to backstab their own guild members, let alone those who belonged to other guilds.
Given that he eliminated Defiant’s section leader and many of their forces, as well as accounting for the current sad state of the Headhunter Syndicate, Izroth deduced that, in order to secure more loot, those two guilds would be left out of it by the others. This would create discourse that would not easily be washed off and plant a lingering seed of doubt in the minds of the top guilds.
While there was no guarantee that this seed would fully sprout into something big, it did not matter. To Izroth, the seed being planted alone was more than enough.
Of course, Izroth also predicted that no loot would drop from the Failed Chimera, which would ultimately cause the top guilds present to feel even more distanced from one another.
Though the most frightening part of everything was that there were no traces that led back to Izroth. In other words, those present would have nowhere to direct their anger at except each other!