[You killed a Player!]

[425 XP Earned!]

[You killed a Player!]

[425 XP Earned!]

[You killed a Player!]

[400 XP Earned!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[Level 34 -> 35]

[You killed a Player!]

[600 XP Earned!] 𝑜𝒱𝓛xt.𝐂𝔬

Ambrose watched as the notifications flew by. They were the rewards for killing the three players and Jaeger.

They left behind several items, which he picked up and tossed inside his inventory—planning to check them out at a later date.

‘Now, let’s see whether they are drunk enough to come back online.’ Ambrose thought and sat on the steps of the stairs, looking silently at the empty air in front of him. He waited, with time ticking by.

At last, he heard the familiar dinging echo.

[You killed a Player!]

[425 XP Earned!]

[You killed a Player!]

[425 XP Earned!]

[You killed a Player!]

[400 XP Earned!]

Ambrose stood up and walked out of the inn. He looked across the street towards the burning building in the distance.

The second and third floors were ablaze.

‘Maybe some of their spawn spots were on the third floor, and they wanted to try their luck to survive there, but fire has already reached it. Therefore, they died.’

Ambrose began walking towards the burning building, but then he remembered something that made him stop.

‘He didn’t come back online!’ He thought in panic. ‘I thought he didn’t have the patience to wait for the fire to die down and then log back online. Damn, this stinks.

‘Well, I don’t plan on waiting for the fire to die down and for him to come back. There are two people left in the burning building; I should go finish them off.’

He picked up his pace and was soon running towards the burning building.

After arriving there, he saw a screaming man limping towards the entrance of the building while dragging his leg behind him, which had a woman clinging to him for dear life.

“Welma, come on, let go!”

“Noo, let’s leave!” Welma firmly shook her head.

At that moment, they heard footsteps approaching them.

They turned around and paled significantly.

Morris clumsily raised his sword and shouted. “D-don’t come any closer!”

“If you remove your temporary spawn and log off, I will let you go.” Ambrose unsheathed his black sword. “However, now we are in combat. Therefore, I will show you no mercy if you decide to fight.”

“Let’s just go…” Welma hugged Morris’ leg and drooled on it. “I am tired…”

“Shit!” Morris looked at his girlfriend before turning to Ambrose. He didn’t want to leave this easily. “Hah, how do you know if we remove the spawn spot?”

“I will be staying here for a few days. I will notice if you log back in, and if I do, I will be very angry.” Ambrose smiled coldly. “If you think I was bad in the barn, you haven’t seen anything.”

Welma moved her arms randomly around her and pressed something. She then shouted with a drunken smile. “There~ I removed it!”

“Welma!” Morris’ eyes shook, and he then cursed loudly and also removed his temporary spawn.

Ambrose slowly sheathed the sword, removing the combat state.

He then watched as they logged off, their avatars disappearing from the virtual world.

‘I guess my bluff worked.’ He thought with a small chuckle.

If they had actually stayed to fight, he would have killed them and left Tonshen Village.

His only goal was to destroy but also hinder Death Blade’s progress.

He was certain that he had managed to do that, but he wanted to do so much more.

‘I guess it is right what those people said in forums—putting temporary spawns has a cooldown.’ Ambrose thought and looked around the burning, destroyed building. ‘If one dies, they can’t simply spam spawn spots and keep coming back to fight.’

Crack—a ceiling broke and collapsed like badly built sand castles.

The sound of crumbling debris filled the air while the fire began spreading across the bottom floor as well.

‘I should leave; there’s nothing left in here.’ Ambrose thought as he turned and sprinted towards the exit.

He could feel the heat intensifying behind him.

Without warning, a dark shadow appeared over him.

The shadow engulfed him, blocking out the light and sending a shiver down his spine.

Then he felt his hair rise at the back of his neck.

Ambrose spun his head around and widened his eyes in shock.

He quickly drew his sword and smashed it into the incoming axe.

Crack—the floor cracked below Ambrose.

He barely had time to react before he plummeted into the darkness below.

“Aaah!” Ambrose screamed and tried to reach his hand out to grab onto something, but it was too late.

He fell down and soon crashed into the ground below.

Everything turned dark.

The hood slid off his head after the sudden impact.

After who knows how long, he squinted his eyes open and saw a world of darkness around him.

He couldn’t see anything except the broken ceiling and the sea of fire.

And standing there, looking down at the darkness below, was a blond-haired man with a one-handed axe in hand.

His clothes had been badly burned, as had half of his face, but his eyes burned with determination.

‘Jaeger…’ Ambrose groaned and stood up. He touched the back of his head and felt something sticky.

He thought he must’ve hit his head on the ground.

“Whoo…”

Jaeger took a deep breath and grabbed a broken wooden floorboard from the ground before walking to the stairs, where Sea of Fire was trying to move onto the first floor.

He lit up the floorboard and then returned to the broken floor before throwing it into the darkness.

He then followed after the burning floorboard and gently landed on the ground, right beside the floorboard.

The burning floorboard lit up a small area around them.

“Agh, so you survived the fire, huh?” Ambrose said and drew his weapon.

“…” Jaeger narrowed his eyes, but then looked shocked after the scarlet-red light landed on Ambrose’s revealed face.

He then started chuckling before laughing like a madman. “I see, so it is you. No wonder Zahhak is so after you!”

“Huh?” Ambrose frowned, but then felt that something was amiss.

He touched his head and couldn’t feel his hood anywhere.

Ambrose covered his face and closed his eyes. ‘Damn it…’

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, not caring about that now.

“Ambrose, Ambrose, haha. I checked your face yesterday to see what the ruckus was all about.” Jaeger laughed and rested his axe against his shoulder while he paced about.

“Now I understand why Zahhak is after you.

“You are an annoying bastard who messes with other people’s business. Now that I know where you are, I just need to inform Zahhak. I wonder how long you will survive when they know where you are?”

Ambrose narrowed his eyes and lunged forward with his sword in hand.

He smashed it down, but it got blocked by the skull-faced blade of the axe.

“Haha, did you know that I can tie you up and force you to stay online?”

Jaeger grinned.

“I tried that once. It is very effective. You can’t log off if I keep you in combat, but it only lasts 24 hours.

“However, 24 hours is long enough for Zahhak. Once he arrives, you’ll have bigger problems to deal with.” Jaeger laughed with ecstasy.

‘He… Cerberus, I assume. However, I do not plan on losing!’ Ambrose reached into his inventory and pulled out his Red Sword.

“Yes, that’s the dual wielding I have heard about.” Jaeger squeezed the handle of his one-handed axe and roared. “Come on, Ambrose!”

Ambrose lunged forward and opened his mouth wide.

He let out a mighty roar.

“Kill!”