Chapter 51: Kaelen Cross? I was with him the whole time!

"Wait a damn minute... if the crystals were the reason behind the undead rising, wouldn’t taking them out of the dungeon break the cursed energy controlling the undead?"

[Server Announcement]:

[Kaelen Cross has cleared the Cursed Mine Dungeon]

[+100,000 Merit Points have been earned for your guild]

Kaelen almost fell to his knees and screamed his lungs out.

300,000 Merit Points?!

Black Rose might as well step down for him.

How the hell was he going to explain that, and the fact that each and every one of the locations he went to had ’his’ digital footprint?

How was he supposed to prove now that he had nothing to do with Kaelen Cross?

That was when a thought crossed his mind, and Kaelen paused to weigh the possibility.

He had already cooked up a story to tell before. But now, after the three pieces of evidence in the three locations pointed to him, he could simply accept it and use that to his advantage.

Instead of denying having anything to do with Kaelen Cross, he could simply tell a twisted truth and tell the entire world about his encounter with Kaelen Cross.

That’s right.

Kaelen quickly gathered up his things and immediately headed straight for the city. But before he returned to the guild to turn the three quests in, Kaelen stopped by a bar.

He didn’t store the goblin ears and cursed crystals in his inventory, but instead, stashed them in sack bags as he walked into the bar, immediately drawing the attention of everyone inside.

Even the bartender was surprised as Kaelen walked up to the counter and dumped the two hefty sacks on the table.

"Good day, sir," the bartender lady said as her eyes drifted to the sacks on the counter. "If I may ask, what’s inside the sack?" she asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

At that moment, the bar had fallen into pin-drop silence as everyone held their breaths for his reply.

"This one holds over one thousand goblin ears from the farmland outside the city, and the other holds the crystals of the Cursed Mine Dungeon."

As soon as those words left his lips, the bar instantly fell into chaos, and the people began muttering in shock and surprise amongst themselves.

"S-Sir, did you just say Cursed Mine Dungeon? The same one Kaelen Cross just cleared?!"

Kaelen’s lips tugged up in a slight smile. "That’s right. Everyone knows Kaelen Cross not only cleared the Cursed Mine Dungeon, but defeated two hidden bosses, including one from where I got all these goblin ears. And you know why that is?" Kaelen asked, before looking to the sides and beckoning for the bartender to lean closer.

"Because I was with him the whole time," he said as loudly as possible.

"W-What?!"

"That’s right. And you won’t believe how it all started..."

***

As soon as Black Rose entered the game, what greeted her immediately after the Evolution Online intro was a series of notifications. Server announcements, to be specific, of events that happened while everyone was away.

Except each and every one of the notifications bore the name of her nemesis.

[Server Announcement]:

[Kaelen Cross has defeated the Goblin Hidden Boss]

[Server Announcement]:

[Kaelen Cross has defeated the Witch Master Hidden Boss]

[Server Announcement]:

[Kaelen Cross has cleared the Cursed Mine Dungeon]

"What the hell is this?" Her eyes widened in surprise as she went through the announcements over and over again, to be sure it wasn’t a bug.

It wasn’t.

There was a history of announcements declaring the rise of hidden bosses, then came the defeat announcements only seconds to minutes apart.

The last announcement was roughly an hour ago.

Most of her executives were yet to log in, leaving her in the dark. So she quickly burst out of her office and headed straight for the lobby, in search of anyone who had been in-game when it was all happening.

That was when a group of guild members’ discussion reached her ears. They were so engrossed in their story that no one had noticed her presence.

She didn’t mind until she happened to overhear a name mentioned in the story that made her freeze in her steps to listen.

"...I’m telling you, man. That Idris guy was literally grinding in the goblin field when the Goblin Hidden Boss awakened. He was about to run back to call for backup when this slime pops outta nowhere, jiggles his body, snaps a finger, and EVERYTHING is gone. And guess what... the Goblin Hidden Boss actually gets a hit on the slime, but you wouldn’t believe what happened next."

"Ohhhh, I heard that one. Its spiked club broke in two."

"That’s right. And this Idris guy is just standing there, about to make a run for it. But Kaelen Cross ignores his ass and disappears into thin air."

"Are you serious??"

"That’s not all, though, because this Idris guy goes over to complete a mission at this village and fucking triggers another hidden boss."

"Nooooo. Don’t tell me the Slime appeared again."

"That’s right. This slime pulls up at this location in like a second, casually pulls out a Divine-tier item, and obliterates the hidden boss in one freaking move."

"No wayyy. What happens to Idris guy this time?"

"You won’t believe what happened. Kaelen Cross doesn’t ignore him this time and looks at him for like five seconds before asking him straight up... ’Want to team up?’"

"No wayyy."

"Yes way. And then they literally adventure through the entire jungle while the entire world was away, and clear the Cursed Mine Dungeon together."

"What did you just say?" Black Rose’s voice suddenly came from behind the group, and they jumped as they turned around, coughing awkwardly as they greeted her.

"Greetings, Guild Leader."

"What did you just say?" She asked again, almost immediately.

"I-I was just telling them about what happened between Idris and Kaelen Cross."

"Which Idris?" She frowned.

The guild members exchanged glances amongst themselves. "Y-Your... ahem. I think it was Idris Thomas."

"He hasn’t told you yet? You won’t believe how many merit points he made in that single trip..."

"300,000."

"W-What?!"