MMORPG: Rebirth as an Alchemist-Novel

"What now?" Ren had a small smile playing across his lips as he asked Eric, "You still want to take a go at it?"

Eric's eyes shortly shot to the players backing World Conqueror. The only notable guilds among them were Golden Phoenix and Guns and Knives. As for the others, they were simply not worth mentioning.

However, if a fight broke out, the side who would win wouldn't come out of the battle unscathed either. With the World Boss still running around, unconquered and undefeated, they couldn't afford to send the armies they had left to purge World Conqueror.

There were a lot of 'what ifs' surrounding the possible fight. What if Ren really didn't have the scepter like he proclaimed? And what if the rod was already stored in a bank? Wouldn't that just be sending their men to die without getting anything in return?

That wasn't all. What if Black Lion and Ferocious Ravens stabbed them in the back? No one would know what the other guilds might do while they were busy fighting Ren and the ones backing him. They couldn't trust any of the guilds here. After all, the World Boss was still at large.

They should be focusing on the bigger picture, which was to exterminate Jibblinplip. They got tons of Gil and EXP from killing the Colossus but never any chest. EXP and Gil were great, but they needed those chests more.

Erica stepped forward, seeing that her brother remained silent. "Count your blessing, Ren," she said, voice calm but laced with venom. "You won't be lucky the next time."

Ren gave a lazy half grin. "I have plenty of LCK."

Erica's lips twitched before she shouted, "Move out!"

With her lead, White Unicorns followed. Scar gave one lingering stare at Ren before he instructed his guild to start moving as well.

With that, the massive-scale PvP fight that was supposed to happen ended before it could even start.

Every guild assumed its position at least a hundred meters away from Jibblinplip. Since all that came forward were already engaged with the Continental Ooze, the system prevented them from straying further and out of its range.

The White Mages of each group were alert in case another hum caught them off guard again.

Meanwhile, the higher-ups were discussing how they'd approach the Ooze while Ren and the others gave thanks to their supporters.

"Thanks for having our back," Ren said to Isolde. "Is Guns and Knives going to be alright?

Isolde gave a half-shrug. "We can manage. Our guild isn't that weak that they would be threatened by someone like the Alvarez family."

While Ren and Isolde were talking, Silvia steadily crept beside Ragnar and said in a hushed voice, "So here you are, Ragnar. I almost didn't recognize you."

Ragnar paused for a moment and sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't find out."

"You don't want anyone to find out about your other identity that badly?"

"I wouldn't be in this race and wearing this mask if I wanted someone to recognize me here. Does your friend know?" It would be troublesome if they did. The only reason why he joined Ren and the others was that he was curious about the World Boss. He was betting that Silvia wouldn't recognize him with the mask and everything.

Guess he underestimated her too much.

"No. Your friend Ren over there stole all their attention."

"Good. Now stop talking to me and get away from me."

Silvia was flabbergasted and before she could smack Ragnar on the face, the man had already left.

As*!

As the players were distancing themselves from the Ooze, the Kingdoms' armies were discussing with the Princess about how they'd approach Jibblinplip.

"I suggest that we wait for its resistance to disappear by tomorrow. The Empire's Battalion will also be here by that time."

The Princess vehemently shook her head in protest. "By that time, its HP and MP will be recovered already. Then we'll be back to square one. And who knows how many towns and villages it will destroy if we leave it alive for another day."

"You have a point," a General told her, not disclosing her identity to the others who weren't in the ranks of a General or higher. "But our soldiers, warriors, and mages need rest to recover their Mana. Our supplies have all run out due to the unexpected appearance of the Colossus, and the backup we requested hasn't arrived yet."

The Princess clicked her tongue. This was indeed a problem. Jibblinplip recovered some of its HP and MP while they were busy with the Colossus. With it continuously developing resistance to their attacks, it was almost impossible to kill it now.

If she attacked alone with little support from the armies, she would only exhaust everyone, and they might not even be able to kill the monsters by the end of the day. Not to mention that she had emptied more than half of her Mana fighting against the Colossus. Without spells, she couldn't use physical attacks against the Continental Ooze because she would only get absorbed.

Right now, the best course of action was to rest and recover while slowing Jibblinplip down. As long as they didn't attack the Continental Ooze and its minions, they were safe from a distance to discuss their next course of action.

Luckily though, Jibblinplip went back to consuming things while the players didn't dare to engage it.

The Princess had more brawn than brains. It was not that she didn't use her brain but that all her problems were solved through force, and it didn't require much strategizing. Without using force, she was clueless about how to stop the Continental Ooze.

"Jibblinplip is generally unstoppable, but there are a few things that everyone can do to slow it down and buy time for the nearby towns and villages for evacuation."

A voice spoke from behind them. Both the Princess and the Generals looked back and found Ren, Evie, and Ragnar.

"You." The Princess was about to reproach him that this was no place for the likes of them when Ren explained further.

"Hazardous and obstructive terrain can slow the Ooze down for a few minutes while it works its way around them. A wall of fire and a wall of ice are both great choices. Even though it doesn't hurt Jibby, those walls would buy us time while it engulfed them.

"A non-magical option is to bring a lot of edible materials to different sides of Jibby, making the ooze divert its attention and pursue the more easily attainable meal."