Chapter Thirty: When Enemies Meet

With two powerful teammates by his side, clearing out the insect nests became less of a battle and more of a time-consuming search. Over the next ten minutes, the trio destroyed three nests—one medium and two small. However, despite the area being rarely visited due to its rugged terrain, they failed to acquire any items worth celebrating. Coupled with the fact that his small mantis was stuck at a metamorphosis bottleneck, the team naturally turned their gaze toward the center of the island, where buildings stood thick: Maple Island City.

With only forty minutes of game time remaining and the player count having dropped to forty, they sensed the assault on the large-scale insect nests was about to begin, so the trio hurried toward Maple Island City.

At the same time, within Maple Island City, where player skirmishes had repeatedly broken out, the fighting had ceased. Most surviving players, constrained by the extremely hostile environment, were forced to group up for warmth; continuing to act alone in such circumstances was too risky. Furthermore, given the scale of the large insect nests, it was impossible for any single individual to clear them.

The twenty-plus players were roughly divided into three factions, led by "Withered Vine Old Tree" of the University, "Death Song" of the Scavengers, and "Water Dweller" of the Nine Divinations Foundation. The first two were veteran players, while the latter was a high-ranking member of the Nine Divinations with significant influence. Seeing signs of the situation collapsing, the three parties initiated a truce and chose an open location to negotiate.

"It has been confirmed that there are six large insect nests in total: two ant, two spider, and two mantis. Conservatively estimating, beneath the Lord Boss, there are at least two leaders, four lieutenants, and over a dozen elites. The difficulty is more than double that of a medium nest. If we continue to fight among ourselves, we won't even meet the assessment requirements. Therefore, I suggest we set aside our grievances, join forces to destroy three of the large nests, and then compete for the position of Guardian Knight at the end."

At the start of the negotiation, Withered Vine Old Tree expressed his desire for stability. His team members were primarily users of anomalous arts; while they were numerous, their survivability was lacking. Despite their high burst damage, they were at a disadvantage when clearing nests.

In contrast, the Death Song team, with a more balanced composition, held more leverage. However, his attitude was more self-serving: "A ceasefire is fine, but joining forces is out of the question. I just lost two brothers here; it’s a miracle I’m not hunting you down. Besides, there are plenty of large nests, so we’re better off fighting on our own!"

"I agree with relying on our own skills."

Water Dweller, the only female leader among the three, was picturesque with an alluring temperament. Catching Withered Vine Old Tree’s look of displeasure, she let out a soft, charming laugh: "If Guild Leader Withered Vine is having trouble, you and I could exchange personnel. You bolster your front line, and we improve our damage output—wouldn't that be a win-win?"

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Withered Vine Old Tree felt a stir. This method could solve his immediate crisis; his only fear was that Water Dweller, known for her cunning, might have ulterior motives.

Seeing Withered Vine Old Tree hesitate, Water Dweller remained unhurried, waiting with a smile. Death Song, watching from the sidelines, sneered inwardly. He had dealt with the Nine Divinations many times and had suffered under Water Dweller often. Others thought she relied on her looks, but he knew exactly how vicious she was. Her sudden offer of goodwill to Withered Vine Old Tree was definitely a scheme.

*Hmph!* Whether you plan to consume Withered Vine Old Tree’s team or have other designs, you’d better not calculate against me!

Death Song snorted coldly, unwilling to waste more time there, and immediately led his teammates to finalize preparations for the large insect nest assault. His departure prompted Withered Vine Old Tree to make up his mind, trading three University members for two melee players with solid defensive capabilities. Watching Water Dweller leave with a smile afterward, Withered Vine Old Tree still couldn't be sure if the trade was right or wrong. With the game entering its final phase, this was the only way to quickly make up for his team's deficiencies.

"Even if it’s wrong, I have to see it through."

Withered Vine Old Tree sighed inwardly and led his people to lay out their battle plan.

As the three factions chose their targets and began their operations, Ember and his team arrived at Maple Island City. Unfortunately, they ran straight into five members of the Thunder guild coming from another direction.

Enemies meeting face to face, their eyes burned with hatred!

At least in Ember’s view, the five players opposite him were murderous, their eyes redder than rabbits'. If not for the forceful suppression of the Thunder Duke, a fight would have broken out the moment they locked eyes.

"Do we follow procedure, or do we fight now?"

Ember tapped his bio-active prosthetic arm against the ground, his burning gaze fixed on the Thunder Duke. Although his team was smaller, he refused to lose his momentum! With a flick of his left hand, he secretly retrieved a Berserker Potion he had obtained by chance. If a conflict erupted, he knew he would have to give it his all, or he would not only be finished himself but also drag his two teammates down with him.

"Not a Master" knew of Ember’s conflict with the Thunder guild, but as a teammate, he stood firmly by Ember’s side, expressing his stance through his actions.

"Lu Renjia? You really are a turncoat!"

The Thunder Duke was hesitant, but one of the players beside him immediately pointed at Lu Renjia’s nose and cursed: "I shouldn't have let you have that anomalous weapon in the first place. You weren't in the guild for two days, you didn't follow any rules, you took the treasure and quit, and now you’re working against our Thunder guild everywhere. 'Raising a tiger brings trouble'—that fits you perfectly!"

"You're slandering me!"

Hearing the Thunder player, known as "Clear Skies," twist the truth, Lu Renjia was furious and moved to argue, but Not a Master gripped his shoulder, signaling him not to act impulsively.

"Haha! Do I need to slander you? What a joke! When you joined, did we ever treat you poorly? A small, unknown player with mediocre skills like you relied on your closed-beta qualification to earn a high salary. Dare you say that’s a lie? We did everything we could for you! And you? You have no sense of responsibility or honor, treating Thunder like a springboard to be discarded at will. You offended two executives in two dungeon runs, and you still have the nerve to talk back when corrected. How dare you say I’m slandering you?"

"You..."

Clear Skies’ voice grew louder and louder, grating on Ember’s ears. He told the indignant Lu Renjia to calm down and said flatly: "Truth doesn't require a loud voice. You keep saying you 'let' Lu Renjia have that anomalous weapon, but the news I heard was that you tried to rob him by force and ended up oppressing a guild member. If you have evidence, bring it out; if not, shut your mouth. You can't just make up whatever you want."

"Our guild's private business, do you really need to meddle?"

Clear Skies’ expression changed, turning the conflict toward Ember: "We haven't settled our account with you yet! Ember, I want to ask, why did you lay a hand on Guild Leader Sweep the Army and Tomorrow Has Rain?"

"Why don't you turn around and ask them yourself?"

Ember chuckled, too lazy to engage with the man. Seeing the man's uncouth, street-thug demeanor, he knew exactly who to believe.

Lu Renjia was moved by Ember’s support and gave a sincere explanation.

"This Skull Cross was my mission item to begin with. Clear Skies saw it and wanted to steal it; when I refused, he made things difficult for me at every turn. Along with him, a Thunder executive named 'Thunderous Force' squeezed me out! Guild Leader Thunder Duke, I know you’re a reasonable man. I swear everything I said is true. After I quit the guild, those two directed Thunder members to provoke conflict—I never intentionally went against Thunder."

"Guild Leader! Don't listen to his nonsense..."

Seeing the Thunder Duke remain silent, Clear Skies grew anxious and tried to defend himself. As for "Thunderous Force," whom Lu Renjia accused, he had been a shadow of his former self since the Dark Curtain Forest incident and failed to earn a ticket to Killing Island.

"Shut up!"

The Thunder Duke suddenly erupted, scaring Clear Skies into silence.

At this moment, Not a Master looked at the brooding Thunder Duke and spoke up: "I heard from Sister Yu that you plan to make a name for yourself in this new Singularity game, but I’m beginning to think that with these bottom-tier subordinates, you should thank your lucky stars if you don't end up losing your limbs! Clear Skies and Thunderous Force may be the old guard who helped you build the guild, but I think you know their reputations."

This remark hit the Thunder Duke where it hurt. His eyelid twitched, and he said coldly: "That is no concern of yours!"

He knew his own house's mess. The Thunder Duke knew exactly why Lu Renjia left, which was why he personally signed off on his peaceful withdrawal. As Not a Master said, the existence of Clear Skies and Thunderous Force was indeed a hindrance to the guild's development—not only did they make enemies everywhere, but they also purged dissenters within the guild. However, both had contributed significantly to the guild’s rise, and the Thunder Duke couldn't bear to "discard the dog once the rabbit is caught."

Similar situations were common in the gaming world. Even a top guild like Nine Divinations kept a troublemaker like "Fire Marsh," didn't they?

Technical skill does not equate to character. It is easy to gather experts to start things off, but how to grow and last is as difficult as ascending to heaven. The collapse of a large guild often starts with years of conflict erupting in an instant. In truth, the actions of Clear Skies and Thunderous Force had already drawn much opposition within the guild, but the Thunder Duke had forcibly suppressed it all. The core issue was his inability to cut off his own arm due to sentimentality.

Sensing the Thunder Duke’s true attitude, Clear Skies breathed a sigh of relief. His eyes swept over Ember and the others, finally landing on Lu Renjia. Compared to Ember, the top of the leaderboards, he preferred to take out the weaker Lu Renjia—it was just a pity he couldn't reclaim that anomalous weapon!

Clear Skies felt a surge of hatred. If he had known, he should have been more ruthless and directly destroyed the kid’s closed-beta qualification so none of this would have happened!

He secretly signaled his three guild members to kill; the moment the fight started, Lu Renjia had to be wiped out instantly!

But just then, another group of players emerged from the dark curtain. The leader saw the situation, rubbed his shiny, polished bald head, and couldn't help but laugh: "Looks like I’ve arrived just in time! Don't be in such a hurry to fight; that won't do anyone any good."