Chapter 74: Mercenary Brotherhood and Vengeance

An hour—neither particularly long nor especially short. In that time, nearly sixty Blackwind Direwolves fell beneath my Silver Beast Dagger… a haul worth nine thousand experience points.

If I’d been grouped with Xiaomei as before, it would have taken us three hours to amass that much experience—so in terms of efficiency, my time here was well spent. Yet, for nearly fifty of those sixty minutes, I sat idly on the ground in boredom, resting.

To be honest, sitting alone for so long in this pitch-dark, eerie environment would make even the boldest heart quiver with unease. If the experience gain hadn’t been worthwhile, I certainly wouldn’t have chosen to linger in this wretched place—if you weren’t sick before, you’d surely be stifled into illness here.

Finally, I decided to contact White Valentine and chat aimlessly about anything and everything.

As we talked, the conversation drifted to the major events that had rocked Frostshroud City today.

From White Valentine, I finally learned more about the inner workings of the Dragonwolf Knights and the Supreme Mercenary Corps.

It turned out that from the very founding of the mercenary corps, the Dragonwolf Knights and the Supreme Mercenary Corps had been evenly matched rivals. Both were fiercely competing for control over the city's three mining districts and the resources outside the city walls, sparing no effort to recruit third-rank experts and expand their own strength.

Neither side would yield an inch.

For a long time, clashes between them were so frequent as to be unremarkable. Yet both groups, wary of other mercenary factions coveting their power, restrained themselves from escalating the conflict, lest the situation in Frostshroud become even more precarious.

Thus, behind the scenes, the city’s resources were tacitly divided between the two great mercenary groups, leaving the weaker guilds unable to gain a foothold in Frostshroud at all.

But this fragile balance was shattered with the arrival of a fourth-rank powerhouse.

Supreme!

The appearance of a fourth-rank expert, synonymous with absolute strength, instantly disrupted Frostshroud’s former tranquility. The Supreme Mercenary Corps’ fame soared thanks to Supreme’s presence, and the influx of third-rank experts further solidified their dominance, pushing the Dragonwolf Knights—long their equals—into the shadows.

Though the Dragonwolf Knights were not truly much weaker than their rivals, lacking a top-tier leader like Supreme and having no fourth-rank champion of their own, they could not withstand the swelling ambition and pressure from the Supreme Mercenary Corps. In the end, they began a full withdrawal from Frostshroud City.

Not long ago, however, rumors spread that the leader of the Dragonwolf Knights had nearly reached level 40—just one last challenge away from becoming the third fourth-rank powerhouse in the entire Knight Empire!

To ensure success in this final trial, the Dragonwolf Knights spent days scouring for treasures, assembling a complete set of top-tier golden armor for the knight class, cultivating a formidable cadre of third-rank mages, and expending a fortune to craft a large cache of third-rank magic scrolls.

All of this, to help their leader—the Dragon Warrior—slay a level 40 boss and ascend into the ranks of fourth-rank champions. The Dragonwolf Knights poured the entire strength of their guild into this effort.

Yet this task, meant to be carried out in secret, was somehow leaked. The Supreme Mercenary Corps, having learned of their plan, discovered that the Dragonwolf Knights’ target was the quasi-boss of the Shadow Spirit Gorge outside Frostshroud—a level 40 foe known as the Blood Spirit Warlock. On that very day, they dispatched over three hundred third-rank experts to lock down the gorge, announcing to the world that they were “claiming land for a Supreme Mercenary Corps mission.”

Naturally, the Dragonwolf Knights fiercely objected. But with Supreme and his mercenary corps being at the height of their power, the Knights dared not challenge them head-on on their own turf.

They chose instead to bide their time.

A day passed.

The blockade of Shadow Spirit Gorge showed no sign of lifting. At last, the Dragonwolf Knights’ patience snapped. At dusk, over five hundred third-rank experts swept down upon the Supreme Mercenary Corps’ blockade, wiping them out and sending them back to Frostshroud in defeat, then vanished into the Blackwind Forest to hunt down red-named offenders.

This move gave Supreme a perfect pretext. A public ultimatum was delivered in Frostshroud City: no member of the Dragonwolf Knights was permitted to enter the city, and any who appeared outside the walls would be slain on sight.

At this point, I couldn’t help but feel confused.

The Supreme Mercenary Corps was strong, yes—but Frostshroud had hundreds of thousands of players. If Supreme dared to act with such blatant malice, wouldn’t others rebel? Killing one or two might be overlooked, but if mass slaughter resulted in a horde of red-named players, surely many would leap at the chance to profit from the chaos!

I voiced my doubts, and White Valentine just chuckled.

Supreme had issued another ultimatum at the time, which was spread throughout the city:

“Anyone who dares to attack the Supreme Mercenary Corps—no matter what their ‘status’—will face tenfold retribution at the hands of Supreme himself!”

Hearing this, a chill ran down my spine.

No wonder…

From top to bottom, the entire Supreme Mercenary Corps consisted of third-rank experts, with Supreme himself a fourth-rank champion. They had every reason to be so brazen.

If a lone wanderer drew the Supreme Mercenary Corps’ ire, any future encounter would be a fight to the death. As for mercenary groups—if you killed a member of the Supreme Mercenary Corps, your name would be tarnished; your guild would struggle to survive in the world of “Magic Era.”

Weighing the risks, no one would take on such a losing venture.

But shouldn’t the Dragonwolf Knights be unafraid? As a guild of comparable strength, in a situation of self-defense, the Supreme Mercenary Corps would suffer if they initiated a malicious attack. After all, being red-named meant a twelve-hour lockout if killed!

When I asked this, White Valentine only laughed again.

“If the Dragonwolf Knights really dared to send a large force into Frostshroud, that would truly be their end.”