Second World

'That is one modern-looking gadget,' Jack commented in his mind. Was that the one jamming his radar? Considering their familiarity with God-eye monocle, that could be the case.

"Still have the mood to joke?" GraphicZ sneered. "Or do you think you will get a reinforcement?"

"Is that what that gadget prevents?" Jack asked, indicating the jamming device.

"It stopped us, players, from sending messages," GraphicZ answered. "Apart from jamming the radar detection of our God-eye monocle."

"I didn't expect you to manage to complete the dungeon," Gridhacker said. "You will only appear here if you did. I also had Sunset and GraphicZ go back into the dungeon some hours ago. If you died during the fight with the boss, the Memory of Elding will be masterless and stayed where it was. But when they arrived back there, it was no longer around, and your friends as well. Unlikely that they took it and left after going so far, more likely they took turns to go into the Boss' space after your demise, unaware of the danger, and perished as well. Another possibility is that you have cleared the dungeon and they were all teleported out since you all entered the dungeon together as a party. Seeing you appeared here, I can say it was the latter."

"Well… I didn't ask for it but thank you for your lengthy explanation. You must really like to explain things, don't you?" Jack responded. "Since you are at it, how about you explain to me the nature of your organization and why you people seemed to know a lot about this world and also why do you chase after the divine treasure?"

Gridhacker frowned, "so you really have gotten it. Now hand it over and we can each go our own…"

"It has fused with me, I don't know how to give it out even if I want to," Jack said before Gridhacker could complete his sentence.

Gridhacker's frown became deeper. "You managed to survive the fusion…? That's unfortunate… In that case, you have to come with us."

"What if I refuse?" Jack asked.

"You have no say in this!" GraphicZ announced. He took out a long rope with golden inscriptions on its surface.

That looked similar to the ones that bound Bowler and the others during the Crestfall Plain battle, Jack thought. His liberty of Movement could free him from movement binding caused by status effects and magic spells, but he doubted it would be effective against a physical binding.

As GraphicZ came nearer, Jack used another Liberty of Movement and broke free from the blue chains. He unsheathed his sword and made a quick swing at GraphicZ, who quickly jumped back as if he had expected it.

"You truly have the tool to escape from my spell," Gridhacker said after seeing the exchange. The last time it was all so sudden and his line of sight was partially blocked by his two comrades, so he didn't get a good look.

Jack took out his magic staff as well, ready for combat. He watched the three's expressions. They should be clear already that they were no match against him after their last contest, but they seemed perfectly calm.

After a brief thought, Jack decided to be prudent. He took out the Alert Beacon that was given by Duke Alfredo and activated it. It shot into the sky before exploding into colorful fireworks. The jamming device might be able to block the players' messaging system, but it would be helpless if the message was a large visual sign in the sky.

Gridhacker looked at the fireworks with a frown. "Aren't you being a bit too vigilant?" He asked.

"Heh, I always trust my guts. I know you have something up your sleeves," Jack replied.

Gridhacker's expression turned grim, "in that case, no need to delay things. Get him!"

As Gridhacker gave the command, oddly GraphicZ and Sunset stayed on their feet, relaxed. Jack soon found out why. The command was not for those two. Instead, several shadows burst out from around and converged at his position.

So apart from preventing him from contacting his friends, the jamming device also shrouded the existence of these people hiding around. Probably to ambush him when he least expected, but his act of using the Alert Beacon had forced Gridhacker to reveal them as he could not afford to waste any more time.

Jack didn't wait until these ambushers ganged up upon him. He picked one and ran forward to confront the person. All the people wore long brown robes with hoods.

"Do not kill him. Immobilize him so we can tie him up!" Gridhacker shouted his command.

'As if I will let them,' Jack thought.

The one in front of him was using a mace for a weapon. He swung at the approaching Jack, who parried it with his sword, and then utilizing the momentum, Jack jumped onto his opponent's body and used it as a stepping stone to push himself up. Jack somersaulted above the opponent and landed behind him.

"Ugh, what a monkey," GraphicZ commented. The memory of him being climbed by Jack was still fresh.

With his opponent's back in clear sight, Jack unleashed his newly evolved skill, Flame Strike. A streak of fire accompanied his swing as it created a fiery arc and caused an explosive fiery burst when his sword connected with his opponent's back.

Damage number of 1293 was floating above his opponent's head as he was sent flying away. He fell nearby the other ambushers, but to Jack's surprise, he got back up again. The HP bar on him indicated that he only lost around one-tenth of his HP.

"Don't tell me they are…," Jack used Inspect on them. There were six on them, and all were NPCs. Jack had expected the ones collaborating with Gridhacker and the others to be also players, but it turned out that was not the case.

But giving the matter a second thought, for them to reach this place was unlikely that they relied on their own power. So they were like his group, they had NPC escorts as well. Another thing gave that Jack a surprise was that he was not a stranger to these NPCs' names. They were all level 26 Acolyte of Phobos.

While he was still contemplating, he suddenly heard Peniel shouted, "behind!"

Without even questioning the fairy's warning, he quickly made a roll on the ground, moving away from his initial position. He heard a boom as he stopped his roll and looked at the place where he was a moment ago.

Another three figures wearing black cloaks had appeared there. The center one was holding a large two-handed mace which was currently implanted deep in the ground where Jack was standing a moment ago. Jack would have been squashed by that large mace if he didn't roll out of the way as he did, thanks to Peniel's warning.

I have to stop relying on the radar, Jack thought. Over-dependence on that tool had dulled his instinct. He wouldn't have been caught by that kind of sneak attack if it were his past games.

When he got up, another thing caught his attention. The lead of the three who had ambushed him just now, was wearing a deer skull hat which he had seen before. He used Inspect on them to make sure.

"It really is you!" He exclaimed.

The three were Priest of Phobos, two were level 29, while the lead one with the deer skull hat was level 30. The lead one was five levels higher than when Jack last saw him, but he had a feeling that it was the same priest that he had fought when he was doing Amy's quest.

The priest with the deer skull hat, seeing that his attack had missed, immediately lunged at Jack. Jack did not back away this time, he met the priest head-on, clashing strikes with strikes. Jack felt strangely elated despite his disadvantageous situation of being surrounded. An opponent of which he was totally helpless before, he could now go toe to toe with. He was even at an advantage on this one-on-one exchange.

But as the other two priests approached and the six acolytes came, Jack could not afford to revel in this feeling and play around with his old enemy. He quickly disengaged and cast Ice Ring, Sadly none was frozen, but it slowed all the priests and acolytes that surrounded him.

Going against these many NPCs, he could not afford to be careless. He activated Adrenaline Rush and Heightened State. Unfortunately, his Life Burning Art was still on cooldown after he used it to fight Eldingar, so it was not available at this time.

He also started casting Barrier as he clashed with the surrounding opponents. Luckily they were slowed so he could still cope with that many opponents at the same time. With the help of his Barrier, and the fact that each of his landed attacks, whether by sword or magic, had a chance to paralyze the opponents, this gave him an easier time contending with these multiple assaults.

"Strange, why did he stay at one place? Letting himself get surrounded?" Sunset asked.

"He was simply helpless. It's not an easy thing going against so many enemies at the same time," GraphicZ said.