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Chapter 179: Meeting (1)

Going through the rubble of the abandoned village, Reru frantically leapt around the area as he searched for Rustly after hearing his initial scream.

"Rustly! Where the hell are you?!" With his eyes glancing around the areahe noted that besides all the materials that once were called buildings in the area, there were a few structures that remained themselves intact over the past years. "Ugh... Do I have to go and search through each and every one?"

He muttered to himself as he considered doing just that. However, with time seemingly counting down to nil, he didn't have the luxury of going to each building one by one and searching for Rustly.

"One of these should be where Rustly is... But the hell. Why are they all the same?" he clicked his tongue. Though It wasn't right to say that they were all the same since they each had a certain distinct look at a closer glance, Reru just couldn't bat an eye to it. "Bah... I'll just take a hit and head to that building in the end."

Without any clues as to where Rustly was besides his initial scream, he could only waltz in on the building blindly. Thus, with a step through the door, he was greeted by the sight of a few skeletons laying rest on the dirt grounds stripped from a floor.

"Tch... Wrong house," he frowned. "Just where the hell is Lier's?!" Reru could've sworn that he had heard the direction of Rustly's voice within the area, but it seemed that he had to go through multiple trial and errors in order to find the correct one.

"I thought Rustly would be attacked by monsters... But," he murmured to himself. "It's too quiet. I can only hear the battles going on from where I left the humans..."

Moving out of the house as he walked towards each building to scrutinize its interior in search of Rustly, he pondered on a sudden thought. If Rustly had screamed for help and was in trouble, he would continuously cry out and made a run for it. However, the sounds in the area were still. He could no longer hear anything from Rustly.

"This isn't good... This isn't good at all!" The atmosphere around Reru grew dire as his pace quickened.

...

Rushing through the pinewood forest, a young man's eyes fixed on the black raven flying in the sky whilst seemingly attacking thing's below him.

"Over there, that's where the village is!" Shinto shouted out as he prepared himself to cast out skills the moment he enters into the battle. "Ethan get ready."

"Yeah, yeah," Ethaniel stated as he prepared himself as well. The two didn't know the situation of the troubles Frey and Raina were in. But, with the way Blake was attacking whilst in the sky, Shinto and himself could only assume the worse.

With each step moving forward into the villageupon exiting out of the forest and into the open snowy fields, Shinto was immediately greeted by a familiar sight of a paladin struggling in battle.

"...huh?" he raised his brow in confusion. "T-This is...?"

"Huh? Hey!" Just as Ethaniel was about to unleash his skills to aid the two adventurers upfront, he stopped at his action as he noticed that Shinto had stopped at his footsteps, now only staring in a dumbfounded manner at the paladin. "Earth to Zayden? Why did you suddenly stop?"

"A-Ahem... It's nothing," Shinto coughed out slightly. "Go on ahead of me, I'll support from behind."

"..." Skeptical of Shinto's odd behaviour, he raised a brow at him. However, Ethaniel soon shrugged it off as he rushed in on the monsters that Frey and the woman in armour were attacking. "Oi! You two, step back!"

Shouting out as the blade in his hand lit a bright luminesce, he swung his sword over to the horde of monsters, quickly sending an arc of light over to them. In the next moment, Ethaniel leapt forward as he began to connect his attack with another skill.

[ Judgement Knight - Down Bringer ]

[ Down Bringer Lv 1 ] [ 25 Sword Energy ] [ Cooldown: 1 Minute ]

Lighting up one's blade with light that shines away the darkness, the Judgement Knight raises his blade and soon swings it down to an enemy, thus forcing a pillar of light down towards them, dealing 550% light physical damage whilst decreasing the enemy's light RES by 10% for 15 seconds.

...

"...kikk!!" Upon being hit by Ethaniel's skill, the goblins who had repeatedly been hit by countless sources of attacks stumbled back. Within his final moments, the monster turned to Ethaniel in enmity, but, without a single word out of him, a black feather shot forward and turned him into grey ash.

"E-Etaniel...?" Frey uttered out in surprise as she saw his appearance in front of her. "You're finally here! Phew..." letting out a sigh of relief as she saw that the monsters had finally been cleared out upon the arrival of Ethaniel. "Where's Master? I've heard his voice... But I don't see him anywhere..."

"...hah, we're done..." Crowelin sighed a sigh of relief as she soon turned towards the black raven up into the sky. "Now all's that left is that monster... Since the mobs are cleared out, it'll only be a matter of time until..."

"Hmm? If you're talking about me," a male's voice protruded out from the sky. "....then your worry is not needed."

"H-Huh? What?" Upon hearing an unknown voice coming closer from the distance, Crowelin noted that the blackbird flying in the sky had disappeared. "W-Where?"

"I am right behind you," Blake's voice rang through Crowelin's years.

"A-Ack...!" Caught in surprise by the sudden appearance of a black-haired man, Crowelin jumped back, nearly stumbling to the ground. "Hey...! Don't jump at me like that! That's not funny."

"Oh? I apologize for my rude entrance," Blake uttered out. "All I did was land to the ground. I hadn't expected that I would land directly below you."

"...you, you're that bird from earlier?" Crowelin tilted her head. "How did you... No. I don't need to question that. There are more pressing matters at hand," she coughed. "I heard a familiar voice... Where's Shinto? No... Do you know who Shinto is? Wait... Should I start with your levels? Argh!" stumbling at her words as she was filled with confusion to the brim, Crowelin placed her hands on her head as if attempting to get herself together.

"U-Um... Let's start with Master first..." Frey tilted her head and she blurted out. "...yes, we do know him? And uh... I don't know where he is..."

"...!" Hearing the answer from Frey, Crowelin's eyes grew in an excited manner almost as if her previous confusion was non-existent. "So you know him? What class is he? No... How does he look like? Wait... Can't I just whisper to him and personally ask? No... He's ignoring everyone's whispers in the game. Damn it Shinto! Why are you like this!"

"...hey, Frey. The hell are you trying to tell her?" Ethaniel whispered to Frey through her ears. "Yes, we know a Shinto. But you being straightforward and telling her yourself?"

"H-Huh? Is there a problem...?" Frey blinked. "I just answered her question only... I mean, it's not like she means ill-intentions right?"

"That girl's a paladin, Frey. She's in the level of 200s," he stated. "The 'Shinto' she's asking for is the first placed user! How could this Shinto be anything like him? Heck... He's nothing like him!"

"...who? What? Where? There's another Shinto? There can be duplicate names??" she raised her brow in utter confusion. "Eh?!"

"...ugh. You..." Ethaniel sighed. "Yes, people can have duplicate names. There are millions of players in the damn game. You tell me, is 'Frey' that unique of a name that no one ever used before?" he frowned. "But whatever. That's not the point here. What I'm saying is, don't mislead her!"

"...u-um okay..." Frey muttered out. "But... How do you know that this isn't the Shinto from the top ranks? I mean..."

"Look, just believe me. I can't be bothered to explain," Ethaniel clicked his tongue. "All you have to do know is, if the person really is Shinto, he wouldn't be with us. After all, he has the backing of Vainblood and that, he would have all the equipment needed to progress if even he were to have a level reset due to his sudden disappearance of the rankings."

"...O-okay... I got it!" Frey nodded her head. Although she knew nothing of what 'Vainblood', 'Rankings', 'Level Reset' and the like is, she could tell Ethaniel's genuine comments, but seemingly disregarding the current Shinto they know. "But... I still feel a little sceptical... I mean... He's some sort of veteran at least, right?"

"Like I said... He has the backing of one of the top guilds. Like hell would this Shinto wear some sort of shitty equipment and level up so slowly, right?" he frowned. "He has access to better places for levelling up too."

"I see..." Frey tilted her head, though still sceptical. "Then what do we do about the current situation?"

"We just tell her that we know someone named Shinto, but he's not the one she's looking for," Ethaniel stated as he turned towards the girl in front of him. "Hey, Crow... Crowelin?!" he shouted out in surprise as he saw her name. "Ahem... Whatever. We know a Shinto. But, he's not the one you're looking for."

"A-Ah...? So he's not the Lunar Swordsman Shinto?" Crowelin frowned. "Hah... Bummer. I guess I'll have to tell-" As she was about to continue her sentence, Crowelin received a sudden whisper.

"...Crowelin, please just... keep quiet about me," with her eyes opened wide in shock, she noted that the whisper came from the person himself. Shinto.