Infinite Realm

Stone Creek Forest was a level 0 map that barely had any appeal to current players. Only those who had just started the game with the novice towns of Black Rock province as their starting point would bother exploring the place, or so it was supposed to be.

In recent times, apart from the low levelled players(level 0-5), a majority of the other mainstream players and experts had also frequented the area. A closer look at their tracks would show that all these figures went in one direction; towards a mountain that was located in the depths of the forest.

This mountain was quite big, and could almost compare with some of the majestic natural 'giants' in the real world, but in the world of IR, it was just one of the small-sized common mountains. However, this mountain held a lure to the players. This was it was the location of the level 5 map, Black Grill's Cave, and in recent times, Black Grill's Cave had undergone a new development that attracted the attention of a majority of the world's guilds and players to set their sights here. Even though a greater part of these numbers couldn't make it there, they still sent in their spies and contacted every information agency to get the gist of the locale players and guilds' progress in the situation.

"So, what's the current situation of the place?"

In a bar in Riverdale, two players sat across from each other on a wooden table as they discussed over a glass of beer. One of them wore leather-type armor and had an armguard strapped on his left arm. As for the other player, they had a black cloak on, but even with it, the player could be seen to be a male. This was because of the appearance of the two hands that stretched out from the cloak. While it was smooth and spotless like jade, it had a tyrannical feeling to it and looked more like a man's palms than a lady's.

The voices of the two figures were quite low but just loud enough for the duo to hear each other while outsiders would have a hard time listening in.

"What do you think?" The other man, a [Ranger] based on his dressing, asked in return.

"The top guilds are rushing in like there's no tomorrow. Information reaching me says that there are at least three 1st tier guilds in there and the super guild, Emperor's Might. Even though they are just branch guilds, their strength shouldn't be underestimated especially Emperor's Might and those psychos, Battle Wolves. Even to this moment, I still don't get why a highly ranked 1st tier guild like this would aim for a Secondary spawn point. It sounds good at first as they could easily avoid conflicts with the big guys in the early stage, but they would lose out here compared to the others in those Main spawn points." The [Ranger] shook his head as he sipped from his glass, seemingly filled with regret at the decision made by the guild.

"Do you think they will win?" The other player, who was dressed in a black cloak, ignored his comment on Battle Wolves to focus on the topic at hand.

"Didn't you hear me? Three 1st guilds and one super guild branch, which is even stronger than some of the main forces of a 1st tier guild. These are just some of the top powers engaged in this raid. There are still the 2nd tier guilds and the big clubs and associations. While they may not number in the hundreds or thousands, they are still strong enough to take on ten level 10 monsters. As for the world-class BOSS, in my eyes, it's nothing more than a dead dog. Ah, a living dead dog to be exact." The [Ranger] chuckled.

"But why do I feel this isn't so?" The other player sighed.

"Huh?" The [Ranger] glanced at him with disdain.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that your judgement on their strength is wrong. I'm just wondering, are our estimates of the BOSS' strength really accurate? I mean, this is a monster that took over the entire floors from the Middle region's 10th floor down to the Outer region. Such a monster cannot simply be a level 10 creature."

The cloaked player hurriedly explained, seeming to be afraid of making the other party annoyed.

"You think the big guilds didn't think of that? They obviously did but what difference will it make. It's obviously because they are aware of this that they are all still moving forward." The [Ranger] said.

"Can you better explain for me?" The cloaked player asked in a somewhat humble tone.

A hint of arrogance shone in the [Ranger]'s eyes but it was only off a brief moment before it dissipated without a trace. However, the next words that came out of his mouth seemed to be said with a bit of contempt laced within it.

"The top guilds of Black Rock province are not dimwits but great leaders and pro gamers. If you could have realised such an obvious fact, then they too would have? Yet, they still wandered towards the Middle region. And why? This is simply because they don't want to give up. The current forces in Black Grill's Cave now could be said to be the strongest in the entire province. Such a force is capable of cutting a sorry figure out of any opponent even if it were a level 10 Special Elite." The [Ranger] said with a bit of pride as if he were one of those players.

"If they could do that to a monster of such prowess by relying solely on their abilities, imagine what would happen if they made use of the boons in the game? Stuff like explosives, scrolls, Rare-Steel weapons, and so on. Not even a level 11 or even level 12 Elite would stand in their way. It's because of this that they have such confidence. The system is just so there's no way the BOSS would surpass level 11 much less 12. That alone is sufficient reason why the guilds are so confident."

"In other words?" The cloaked player seemed to grasp at something.

"In other words, they plan on using each other. I reckon those guys would reach the 9th floor of the Middle region and wait for the others. At that point, they would decide to team up and face the BOSS because individually, none of them stand a chance against it." The [Ranger] cleared things up for the cloaked player.

"However, while that would work, they would all harbor ideas behind their backs. The appeal of a world-class BOSS is too good for any guild. There would inevitably be some internal frictions during the battle." The cloaked player said with a frown on his face. However, due to the cloak's shading abilities, his facial expressions couldn't be seen.

"Yeah but those guilds aren't excessively dumb. They know what to do and when to do it. They would surely keep themselves in check but only till the last minute. At that point, they would all wreak havoc on one another in a bid to secure the first kill. Even if they don't pull that off, attacking the other for the loot would still be possible. While the First kill glory for a world-class BOSS is impressive, the loot would be more enticing if you ask me." The [Ranger] smirked.

'That would be such a lovely sight to see. However, I'm not worthy of such.' He shook his head with a bitter expression on his face.

"Thank you brother, for this advice of yours." The cloaked man stood up before giving a simple bow to their other party.

"No need for the formalities. You paid for the information and I gave it to you, it's simply a business transaction."

The [Ranger] shook his head showing that he couldn't accept such but his face had a smug smile that showed how satisfied he was with this treatment. From this alone, one could infer one thing; the [Ranger] was a shameless, thick-skinned, arrogant bastard.

"Alright then. Later." The cloaked man departed.

"Don't forget to meet me if you need more info." The [Ranger] smiled as he twirled his glass of beer.

Apart from the simple conversation the two had, a detailed report of the strength of some of the guilds participating in the raid was sent to the inbox of the cloaked figure. After he left, the cloaked man then sent the information to some other players. The [Ranger] in the tavern would never have guessed that this player was actually an info-hunter for one of the guilds contending in the raid. He had been tasked with getting information on the other teams to prepare his guild for what was to come.

Similar events had taken place in different places at different times as the various big guilds of Black Rock province were all gathering information on the teams sent in by their adversaries. While this information didn't seem so useful to any random player, it was extremely valuable to these guilds as they could craft up plots and plans to deal with their adversary once the Kobold King was dead.

In the eyes of these guilds, the real difficulty, or rather the true opponent, wasn't the world-class BOSS but themselves. In their heads, the Kobold king was nothing more than a living dead whose lifespan had already begun counting down.. The only issue they had to face was how to reap the most rewards once that countdown was over.