The two priests of Phobos lost their lives as well, dropping coins and mana cores. Soundeffect didn't drop anything. GraphicZ dropped his God-eye monocle. The monocle was a sure drop item, aside from that, nothing else was dropped. They must have been wearing the Amulet of Rebirth. Considering they were attacking one of the strongest factions in this world, it would be stupid not to wear one.
Paytowin didn't even bother to pick up the loots from the fallen priests of Phobos. "Hurry!" He uttered and ran towards the shrine with Brave King.
"Wait!" Jack said. He picked up those loots and the God-eye monocle then ran after Paytowin.
Jack looked up, some of the natives were fighting in the distant sky. There were even more individuals who could fly here compared to those in the entire army during the civil war between Therribus and Alonzo. If not counting the number of their Eagle Rider Hunters, of course.
Explosion and torrents of energy filled the sky where these individuals were fighting. Jack assumed Fear must have mobilized all his minions here. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to push the Council of Virtus to this extent.
"Do you think Fear is here?" Jack asked Peniel. This faction would have little chance of winning if that God was here, because their patron, the God of Courage, didn't exist anymore.
"I don't think so, if he is here, the other Gods would interfere," Peniel said.
Hearing her words, Jack uttered, "Wait! This is one of the good God's factions, right? Why the other Gods didn't come and help?"
"Although we consider them as the God's factions, the Gods themselves simply consider these factions as common mortals. The one that has affection for this faction is the patron God who was watching over this faction's direction. In this case, the God of Courage. The other Gods won't bat an eye unless another God was directly involved in the battle."
"Crap! What a bunch of a*sholes! Uh… Except for Lady Serenity, of course," Jack hurriedly corrected. "What if we ask for her help? Do you know of a way to contact her? I believe she would come if we ask nicely."
"I don't," Peniel replied. "Maybe you can try looking for an Eternal grade enemy and put yourself in harm's way. She would sense it from the mark she put on you."
Jack rolled his eyes at her remark. If he did that, he might actually get one-hit-killed before Serenity appeared. He turned to Paytowin, "Hey, George! Does this faction have a way to contact the other good God's divine factions?"
Paytowin answered without slowing down, "No. But even if there is, the people in this faction won't ask for help."
"Huh? Why?"
"I've asked them about asking for help when the fighting got alarming. Callan said that requesting aid is an act of cowardice. Even if we fall here, we will fall with honor."
"What a load of shit! Damn, they are taking this courage thing a bit too far," Jack commented.
"My feeling as well. I bet I will get scolded if they know I call you for help, but I don't care. They will have to survive this first if they want to scold me."
As they talked, a large shadow covered the sky. Jack looked up and froze when he saw the largest lion he had ever laid eyes on. It was the size of a cargo plane. It had crimson fur and a fiery mane. It had two bat-like wings with wingspans of almost one hundred meters.
The gargantuan lion flew away and crashed into something that was equally titanic. A five-headed dragon. The two behemoths fought fiercely, causing dust clouds and hurricanes with each of their movements.
"Bro, hurry!" Paytowin called when he looked back and saw Jack stop.
Jack resumed his running after Paytowin's call. He asked Peniel, "Is that…?"
"Yes, that lion is the guardian of the Council of Virtus," Peniel answered.
Jack remembered Peniel mentioned every divine faction had an eternal-grade guardian, which meant that the titanic crimson lion was of the eternal grade.
"The hydra it is fighting against is Fear's pet, the guardian of the Cult of Phobos," Peniel informed.
"They can send their guardian here?"
"This just shows that the Cult of Phobos is serious about this attack. You better be careful here. There should be many other powerful individuals. Don't go joining a fight you can't win."
"You don't need to tell me, sister. This battle is totally out of my league… Hey, George, slow down! Hey…!"
Jack ran ahead and grabbed Paytowin who wasn't heeding his words. "There are enemies ahead! I bet they are guarding that shrine you want to enter."
"How many people?" Paytowin asked, finally stopping.
"Two players, five natives," Jack answered.
"How do they know we want to enter that shrine?"
"If it is Master, I bet he might even know more about this place compared to your faction. Why did they send your weak ass to activate the defensive mechanism anyway? If it is so important, why not send Mihos or Pallas?"
"Everyone is fighting. Pallas is the first one to charge toward the invaders when they first appeared. He should be at the frontline where the battle is the fiercest. I'm the only one that can be spared to carry out this task. So, what do you think? Can we make a jump on these enemies like before?"
Jack shook his head. "The ones we defeated must have sent a message to warn his friends about us. Most likely one of the two ahead also wore a God-eye monocle. My cloak's ability is only activated if I stay still. I can't catch them off guard if they stayed in their positions. Here, take this one."
Jack offered the monocle he got from GraphicZ. Paytowin didn't refuse. He wore the monocle on the spot. Soon, he also could see the enemy's position on his radar.
"So, what should we do now?" Paytowin asked.
"Since the two parties know each other positions, an ambush is off the table. Let's just storm through the front door," Jack said. He fed one hundred mana cores to his amulet and summoned the Ice Demon Fiend. His stock of mana cores was running low now. He had been limiting the use of this amulet in Greed's endless wave portal. If he summoned the Ice Demon Fiend on every entry, he would have run out of his mana cores long ago.
He also used his companion token and summoned Arlcard. The vampire was surprised to find the place he was summoned to.
"What's this place?" He asked. "It feels… thick?"
'Hm? Can he sense mana too?' Jack thought after hearing Arlcard's remark. He also checked Arlcard's level. The vampire was now at level 61. Jack was impressed by Arlcard's diligence. He thought he had caught up to his companion's level.
Arlcard couldn't inspect Jack, but since he was linked to Jack, he could also know Jack's level. He was astounded by Jack's improvement. Their level difference was almost ten levels in the past, but now it had shrunk. He had been grinding crazily to level up, what did Jack do to shorten the gap? He also knew about Jack's triple classes, this fact added to his astonishment.
Jack continued to summon Therras and his ten wolves.
"What's your level?" Paytowin asked. He couldn't inspect Jack but he could inspect Therras. Seeing Therras' level 57 made him wonder about Jack's level.
"Level 55," Jack answered.
"Which class?"
"All three."
Paytowin took in a deep breath. He himself was still at level 52 despite only having one class.
"All right, I am ready. You follow behind," Jack said to Paytowin. "We will clash with them directly. If you see a chance, enter the shrine."
Paytowin nodded.
"Let's hope their side is also short on manpower so they can only spare weak-level natives to guard that shrine," Jack said and led them onward.
*
The one that was guarding the shrine was Gridhacker. He had also seen the blue dot on his radar. When GraphicZ informed that he wanted to check it out, Gridhacker didn't object. GraphicZ took Soundeffect and two natives. They chased until they were out of his radar's range, so he was not sure what had happened. He received a message soon, informing him that they had been ambushed by the man who had stolen the Lightning God Blessing.
He received notification of their demise soon after. He checked his party screen again to make sure. He knew Jack was formidable, but had their gap increased so much now that Jack could take down the two in such a short time? In the past, they could still resist somewhat.
Never mind, he had five natives with him. One of them was even that person from the cult. Then, there was also that guy.
He looked back at his comrade, who was sitting leisurely on the ground beside the shrine they were supposed to be guarding. He couldn't believe why Master put this guy in such high regard. Yes, his skill was real. But other than going out grinding and doing his own quests, he was practically lazy in doing all the other tasks given to him.
The guy noticed Gridhacker looking at him. He smiled and waved. Gridhacker looked away.
While Gridhacker was sighing, he noticed two black dots approaching on his radar.
The lightning boy had come. "Get ready, everyone! Enemies incoming," He announced. He took a glance again at his comrade. The guy was still sitting lazily as if he didn't hear anything.
