“So . . . ,” Evie chimed in, “what World Boss are we talking about here?”
Ren’s focus flickered to her, and a lazy grin spread across his face.
“There’s a few,” he told them, hands sprawling on the large map of Arcadia on top of the table. “The one we have a chance to defeat lived in the west on the Continent of the Humans.
Leonel rubbed his hands together. “Oh. That means the land of our real race.”
“But make no mistake,” Ren warned, “though I said we can defeat it. We still need hundreds of players to reduce its HP to even half.”
“So that’s when the guilds came in,” Evie said.
“That’s right. In the fight against a World Boss, it didn’t matter if you belonged to the top guilds or top players. Whoever kills the beast is the winner. Our job is to make sure that we’re the ones who killed it while every eye is on us.
“Sounds . . .” Leonel scratched his head, “. . . complicated.”
He then grabbed Ren’s shoulder and said in a dramatic voice, “I’m still not convinced that we can pull it off with just the three of us but if it’s you . . . I guess there’s no choice but to lay my life like always.”
Ren only slapped his arm away, and Leonel faked a tear while rubbing his hand.
“Ow. Harsh.”
“Just follow my plan, and everything will come into place.”
“Is Isolde going to come?” Leonel asked, holding his breath. Frankly, if Isolde did, he feared he couldn’t fulfill his role as a tank to the fullest because he would always come to her rescue. Least he wanted his head served on a golden platter for letting her die, even in just the game.
But he wanted her to come nevertheless because he liked her company and that she was a reliable comrade in arms.
Leonel inwardly sighed. Having a girlfriend belonging to a mafia family wasn’t exactly his idea of a thrilling and romantic relationship.
“You should invite her,” Ren said to Leonel. “Though I doubt she would join us since she had a duty to her family regarding stuff like this. And with a World Boss, Guns and Knives will surely need her.”
Leonel could only take a deep breath, face full of complicated expressions.
“Just call her,” Ren told him when Leonel couldn’t decide for himself.
“Right . . .” Leonel was about to dial her number when he thought of something. “I’ll call her later.” He thought of getting a bouquet for her first before calling her about the mission. Was that romantic? He had no idea.
“Who is Isolde? Your girlfriend?” Evie asked. She was new to World Conqueror, so she didn’t know. Ren said that only he and Leonel were the current member of World Conqueror. However, there were players who worked part-time in the group.
Before Leonel could open his mouth, Ren beat him to it.
“Isolde Gambino sometimes helps us with things around here. She’s also a part-time member of the group, but she belongs to the guild, Guns, and Knives. And . . . she’s Leonel’s girlfriend.”
“Is that so? She sounded nice,” Evie said.
“She’s cool and reliable.” Ren praised without care, but Evie’s ears perked nonetheless.
“I-is that so?” Cool and reliable . . . the words rang in her head. Ren praising someone was new to her. She admired him for being a god in the game, and she surely didn’t expect that he would give praises just as easily.
Isolde must really be a good player. Evie thought, something heavy tugging her heart.
“Uhm . . .” Leonel didn’t know how to correct the misunderstanding. Were he and Isolde in a relationship now? He really didn’t know. He was lost in the sea of confusion.
The more days passed by, the deeper the misunderstanding until it would come to a point that it would be a big hot mess.
“How about Ragnar?” Evie asked, and Ren’s expression fell.
Why Ragnar? He thought.
Ren dismissed the idea. “He is busy admiring his mask.”
Leonel didn’t get Ren’s hidden intent that he didn’t want to contact Ragnar as the former said, “I’ll contact him.”
Leonel’s face was bright as the sun while Ren was murdering him with his glares.
“And . . . send. There, I sent him a message to join us.” Leonel was smiling from ear to ear, face shining at the thought that they could play with Ragnar again. It had been so long since the Gargantuan Cave.
And when his eyes landed on Ren, his smile dropped.
“What?” Leonel asked with his puppy face.
Ren’s eyelid twitched. “Nothing.”
Leonel opened his mouth when a notification made him say, “Oh. Look. Ragnar said yes.”
Evie’s face brightened though her eyelids appeared heavy. “That’s good news. At least there are four of us now.”
Leonel and Evie rejoiced while Ren slumped at the side with a dark face.
Great.
Evie then changed the topic when they felt that Ren’s mood had plummeted for some reason. “Is there a specific requirement that we should do first to trigger it? I read that a World Boss wouldn’t just appear out of nowhere, and it’s really hard to trigger the event that led to its appearance.”
Ren nodded and answered, “That’s right. But this World Boss in the West is one of the weakest and easy to trigger. I chose it because of those reasons. But the biggest factor is . . . it’s out of its lair and roaming free.”
A flower sprouted over Leonel’s head. “What’s with the lair?”
“We should never fight a World Boss inside its lair and domain unless all our ATP already passed the hundred mark.”
Leonel swallowed hard at Ren’s ominous voice. “Now you’re scaring me.” He didn’t want to die and suffer a massive EXP penalty enough for him to start all over again.
“You should be. World Bosses are the apex predators in Arcadia. Even a weaker one is enough to level structures, rend armies’ limb from limb, and shatter the very earth itself.”