As soon as Levi finished the task, Adrian sent a message using his illusion to everyone present in the castle. The players who were beginning to struggle against the NPCs, refound their hope as they began attacking even more than before.
On the other hand, the NPCs began shaking in fear as they found their partners dying for real. Those who were much stronger than the others like the Prince and the Twins immediately found that their life energy had been cut and they needed to be careful with their attacks and defense. As for the weaker guards, they could only learn it the hard way.
Amia was dead and Luke was now killing the rest of the weaker enemies on his way.
The 7 Royal Guards were dead and Invar was moving outside, going to meet with his teammates as he looked at the 7 Cards in his hand. Even though half of them were useless, 3 of them seemed that they could be useful, hence he was wondering if he should use them or not. Though in the end he kept them in before continuing to walk.
As for the Reinforcement, Levi has rewritten the entire program in such a way that opening a portal within the city was impossible for the enemy. At least using this machinery. Thus, he too got up from that machinery and began walking towards the main castle gate where all the players were collected.
"You guys go to the main hall on the third floor. I will send all the vampires there. Your work would be to calm them down until I come back with the players," I spoke to the trio, and though hesitant, they all nodded at me.
Well. At least they weren't glaring at each other anymore.
The trio left from there, taking the stairs up while I looked in front, from where a familiar person was walking with a bright smile on her face. From her looks, it seemed she was pretty successful in her task.
"Avida!" I shouted her name, making her turn at me, before her smile blossomed even more. She ran towards me before reaching close to me and..
I blocked her punch, making her glare at me as she spoke,"you didn't tell me there would be that bastard king hiding in that treasury."
"He wasn't there last I checked," I shrugged as I looked at her, while she sighed before smiling again as she spoke,"well. I got the treasure. Damn, there was a lot. Like really a lot," her smile turned into a grin while I chuckled before looking at the screen message I got.
[Total Event skill points: 301,047!]
[Your Share: 120,012!]
'I guess we both got a lot this time,' I smiled as I then patted her head
Before she punched me in the gut.
"Stop treating me like a cat," She looked at me with a glare again before I smiled. My [Parkour] skill, can cancel momentum, so I could easily withstand an attack of that much intensity. Though Avida subbed my stomach as she was surprised to see me still standing in front of her.
"Did you get some form of strength up or something?" She asked curiously.
"Did you just 'tch' me?"
"Must be your imagination."
We bickered as we walked towards the main hall. I saw Invar walking with Levi, as they both were talking to each other. Calling them towards us, I then asked how everything went. And based on how they explained everything with a cheerful expression, it seemed like they had their fun as well.
Reaching outside, towards the main gate, I saw the battle was still going on. The last enemy NPC, the Prince, was still remaining as he battled through the hordes of players.
Though based on the coordination of the players the situation was pretty much unfavorable towards him.
Firstly, he was barely able to move with all those restriction spells on him. Every step was restricted with either [Paralysis!] or [Slow] or similar spells.
Then there were at least a dozen more weakening spells that were aimed at him, decreasing his overall power even more. Even though he was a proper B-Grade, now with all those hindrances, one can't even call him a C-Grade anymore.
If not for the base stats and skills with which he was able to kill the close combat players coming closer to him, he would have been killed pretty easily by anyone present here.
'Should I go for the last kill?' I thought this seemed fun, but then I noticed Boss moving in herself. I paused my steps before letting her take the final kill. It was her task so my interference will only make her feel more bad about herself.
"You bastards! Do you think you have won?! YOU CAN'T EVEN ESCAPE FROM HERE! HAHAHAHA! THIS BARRIER WAS CREATED BY OUR GOD HIMSELF AND ONLY HE CAN LET YOU ALL OUT!" He began shouting as everyone halted their steps.
Given how he was bleeding from everywhere, it didn't seem like he would last much longer.
"You are all going to starve to death. Nobody can save you-" and then as he was giving his speech, his head flew off while he tried to look at his killer with his eyes widened.
His body fell and turned into ash as the rest of the players ran to get the card. However, when they reached closer to him, there wasn't any card present which they could take.
"Good Job Boss," I smiled at her, as she appeared from the shadows. As soon as I said that, her smile widened as she nodded at me.
Before she passed on the [B-Grade] card to me. It was the same card she got for killing that prince. I checked the card before passing it back to her as I spoke,
"I don't need it, boss. I think you should keep it and exchange it for points in the shop when we return to the tutorial."
She nodded before keeping the card to herself.
"The Prince wasn't lying though. I tried finding the key to that barrier but there wasn't any. It is a separate entity from the machine that was powering their resurrection," Levi spoke with a thoughtful expression.
His eyes then turned to me, hoping I could find an answer to this. I pondered for a few seconds before speaking,
"Leave the barrier to me. I will open it somehow."
[Item: Game Master's Key!
Status: Bound to Adrian John Rodriguez!
Effects: Once every 24 Hours, the Game master can unlock any locked item/door!]
'I guess, I don't need to worry about the barrier for now,' I sighed as I then looked at the players who were trying to break the barrier on their own.
Since the event gave them all quite a bit of skill points, some of them were actively trying to increase some of their weaker skills. There was a smile present on everyone's faces as they got busy with their skill sets.
"You guys should also take a break. You are going to need it," I spoke as I recalled the rest of the quest. There was a war coming and I had no idea when the enemy would strike.
So the least we can do is take a break and recover our energy.
Nodding, the group then left from there before I looked at my own skills. I pondered a bit about which skill I should upgrade this time, but then I paused as I decided to wait for now.
I wanted to take this time to create a mana based skill that would fulfill all the requirements of any mana related skill possible. Though before that I need to know about the mana itself.
And since I already have a person who seems to have a bit of a knowledge about [Mana], I happily walked towards that girl with a smile.
"What should we do now?" Alex asked as he looked at Alice, though before she could answer, I waved at her, making her eyes widen before she smiled brightly.
"Adrian!" She spoke out before she began walking towards me. The rest of the group saw me, a bit surprised before they began walking towards me as well.
And as they reached closer to me…
I got punched hard by Mark who was glaring at me right now.
He kept punching me for a while, as a crowd gathered around me. People were questioning what was going on as I kept lying on the ground, taking all those punches at my face.
'I guess I deserve this,' I thought as I realized how much of a dick I have been to Mark. He probably was worried sick of me, while I have been enjoying this whole situation.
But if I had met him, there was a chance he would have asked to come along with me. I couldn't afford that. At least not in the tutorial when I needed to go on a hunt in the forest.
Since I can't tell him about my complete strength, he would have totally stopped me from going there.
"You could have told me that you were alive," he spoke as he looked at me with silent eyes. I could see the sadness in them, and the hidden relief behind that sadness.
"I got a seperate quest that forced me not," I lied as I looked at him. His eyes weren't believing me but he let go of me as he stood up before speaking,
"Let's go into our room. I want to know everything that is going on. I can't afford to lose my only bestfriend once again. I… can't."
And I sighed as I nodded, wondering what should I tell him and what I should hide.