The three of them were stunned by the sudden notification.
"What happened? Why is our guild core under attack?" Jeanny uttered while sending messages to ask those who were in the headquarters.
"No time to ask," Jack said as he pulled out his guild return scroll.
Seeing Jack's action, Jeanny and Jason did the same. Jack materialized inside the teleportation chamber first. He ran out to the corridor without further ado. Once there, he summoned Pandora just as Jeanny and Jason teleported inside the chamber.
Jack climbed onto Pandora and rode at high speed. The corridor was wide enough for him to use his mount, but it was strangely vacant. When Jack came to the teleportation chamber not long ago, he still saw some players coming and going through the corridor.
Despite Pandora's incredible speed, the dreadful news he feared still arrive.
"Your guild core had been broken by Saint Edge, 20% of current guild resources had been taken. And from now on, Saint Edge will possess Everlasting Heavenly Legends' Guild Hostage Token, gaining the rights to 15% guild resources gained."
'Saint Edge?!' Jack thought as he reached the entrance into the Guild Hall.
He jumped down from Pandora and went into the hall just in time to see a silvery portal next to their destroyed guild core. Two people were standing in front of it. Saint Jonathan and the other one was, surprisingly, John.
The two noticed Jack. Saint Jonathan simply gave Jack a nonchalant glance before stepping into the portal. John, on the other hand, grinned at Jack and gave him a salute before he also step into the portal.
"JOOHHHNNNN...!!!" Jack shouted as he executed Wind Slash. Two green sharp energies shot out with high speed. But before those sharp energies hit, John had disappeared inside and the portal vanished.
Not long after, he heard another notification, informing him that John had left Everlasting Heavenly Legends. Jack sent him a message since John was still on his friend list, but he received a reply that his message was blocked by the recipient.
The guild core that was destroyed reformed again, but there was a notification that one guild hostage token had been taken. At this time, Jeanny and Jason rushed in. Numerous footsteps were also heard as they saw many members come.
Bowler and The Man were at the front. They asked when they came in, "What happened? How come we are getting attacked?"
"I should be the one asking," Jack retorted. "Where the hell are you people? Why is no one guarding outside this hall?"
"But... John asked us all to gather in the courtyard. He said there is an important announcement. We have been waiting for him out there in the courtyard... Why did he leave the guild?"
Jack gritted his teeth. He found it hard to believe and he didn't want to, but it was pretty clear that John had planned this. The detestable fellow had betrayed them!
After the rest were dismissed to do their usual things, Jeanny, Jack, Bowler, and The Man remained inside the Guild Hall, discussing the recent events.
"Wicked Witches is invading tomorrow?" Bowler asked.
"Not invading. It is an arranged group battle," Jeanny replied. "But I still request everyone to return by tonight, just in case."
"What are we going to do about Saint Edge? About John? Damn it! I still can't believe it. I never like that guy but I never peg him for a traitor."
"Same here. I still find it hard to believe... Boss, are you sure you saw John go with those Saint Edge people willingly?" The Man asked.
"Not only willingly. He still had the time to smile at me," Jack replied.
The four were silent. Everyone had a downcast expression. It was bad enough to lose one guild hostage token but to have it done by someone they trust. It was a deep stab to their hearts.
"Do you think he has planned this from the start? Maybe that's why he approached us?" Bowler asked.
"How? We formed this guild on impulse. No way he predicted that. Also, he had no idea about Guild Headquarters until later, the same as us," The Man countered.
"Perhaps he has his reasons," Jeanny said.
"What reasons? This is betrayal through and through!" Bowler exclaimed. "I don't care if he has reasons. I will run my f*cking sword through his traitorous heart when I see him!"
"... Bro, you don't use a sword," The Man said.
"I'm just saying! I will shove my staff up his ass then!" Bowler uttered.
Jeanny sighed. She took a deep breath before saying, "All right. Let's leave the matter of John and Saint Edge for later. We need to deal with the battle with Wicked Witches tomorrow first. Once we are done with them, we will talk further about Saint Edge."
"No," Jack said. "You all handle the Wicked Witches battle. I will head over to Saint Edge's Guild Headquarters."
"Jack, this is no time to be reckless," Jeanny said. "They will be prepared. Even though you are strong, you won't break through their defenses all by yourself."
"Which is why I have to go alone. If I bring others, there will be many casualties. It's better if I face them myself."
"Did you get another disaster item?" Jeanny asked.
"No," Jack answered.
"Then why...? Wait until tomorrow and we will think of a plan after..."
"I'm sorry, I can't wait," Jack said. "Don't worry. I won't force breaking into their headquarters. I don't plan to get into their Guild Hall by force all by myself, but I need to meet with him and hear the words from his mouth."
Jeanny eyed Jack for a while more before sighing. "Okay, we will manage here. Don't worry about us. In exchange, try not to be too reckless."
"Don't worry. I will run if things get too dangerous."
Jeanny nodded. She could see that it was futile to try persuading Jack. She took out something and gave it to him.
"This is... orb of concealment?" Jack asked.
"Yes. If you are really going, try to be as discreet if possible. This orb should shield you from being detected by their guild hall's platform."
Jack accepted and thanked her. He also asked her for Saint Edge's guild headquarters' coordinates. Jeanny told him.
"Rest early, tomorrow will be a long day," Jeanny said to them. "The agreed time with Wicked Witches is late afternoon tomorrow. We will talk about our strategy with the others in the morning."
The four dispersed. Jack open his guild page and checked on the structures of the guild, making sure the one he was looking for was already built. After making sure it was, he proceeded to make his preparation. He went and took the ores stock inside the warehouse.
Although the amount of the equipment was abundant after two months of stock. He was not in the mood to fuse them, so he left the equipment alone. He only wanted to level up his own equipment at the moment.
He started with his main weapon first. He had gotten a super rare sword after killing the rare elite Forest Wyrmling. He was now leveling it up to feed it to his Storm Breaker.
The dropped sword was level 40. Without using the runestone of probability, his Intermediate Expert Blacksmith's success chance was only 45%. He could ask Kirsi to level up the sword but he wanted to do it himself to increase his proficiency. When he was leveling it up from level 49 to 50, it was a 0% chance. Luckily, his runestone of probability provided a 25% boost. With willpower, the boost could go up to around 35%.
Starting level 50, the silver ore required was two instead of one. After many tries. He finally leveled up the sword to level 51, the maximum he could still use. He fed the sword to Storm Breaker. Its physical damage went up to 420.
Doing the same to his Rapid Dazing Staff, Its magical damage went up to 377. He also upgraded all his armors to level 51, boosting his overall defense.
He still had many ores left since they were from two months of stock. He fused half of them into the higher grade ores for later use. The other half he would use for the guild later.
Finishing his preparation, he came out of his private room.
"You are not going to rest?" Peniel asked. "Don't tell me you will be heading to Saint Edge's headquarters tonight?"
"No. I will head out tomorrow morning. But since I won't be helping them in the fight against Wicked Witches. I want to give them something that might help, in case the Wicked Witches go back on their words."
"Oh? Give them what?" Peniel asked. Jack didn't answer, but when he saw him walking down the stairs that brought him into the basement below, she knew the answer. The basement was where the Jail was located. The structure that Jack checked when he opened his guild page was Hero Altar.
"Do you want to challenge Uruk to recruit him?"
"Yes," Jack answered.
"Do it at the altar, he won't accept your challenge if you do it in front of his jail cell," Peniel said.
"Oh..." Was the only thing Jack could say.
"That's what you get for trying to act cool and not telling me your plan," Peniel added salt to the wound.
Jack opened his guild page, there was a simplified map of the headquarters there. He checked the position of the Hero Altar before heading that way. On his way, he asked Peniel, "One thing I want to ask. If we can only recruit the captured native after we beat them in combat. Won't they always be around the level of mainstream players when they were recruited? With how fast we outworlders level up, won't these heroes get left behind soon? They won't be that much help if so."
"Once they are recruited, You can assign them inside the training hall like the other soldiers. The speed they increase their levels will not lose to outworlders in this way. But a hero will take up ten of regular soldiers' slots."
Their Training Hall at the moment was level 2. It had the capacity to train Five hundred soldiers at the same time, so it should not be a problem, since not all the soldiers will occupy the hall, some were needed for patrol duty.
"Aside from that, you have the option to use mana cores on the Hero Altar to boost the hero's exp by five levels."
"Only five?" Jack asked.
"Yes, only five levels can be done in this way. You can only rely on Training Hall afterward. Also, better do it once you recruit him. The higher his level, the higher the mana core cost. Another benefit of having a hero, each hero will give a passive boost to all your trained units."
"Each? We can recruit more than one hero?" Jack asked.
"Upgrade your hero altar to level 2 and you can recruit your second hero," Peniel answered.
