Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

The Bloody Lily, who had already torn forty paws off the Queen Centipede, looked back when she felt the bang and hoped that this tremor had been caused by one of her subordinates. She could only hope for that, because there was nothing she could do while the Centipede Queen was still alive.

Araxie was still slightly conscious and dragged her chin on the ground to look in the direction Dathan had been thrown in. Her HP bar was almost zeroed, however, she still had strength.

As the dust raised by the explosion subsided, Araxie soon noticed that the yellow-eyed man's attack had done no damage. Despite this, Dathan was still down, so she wondered:

'What just happened?'

When she saw the gleams of Kaizen's steel-toed boots, she realized that it was he who saved Dathan from certain death.

The yellow-eyed man looked at that with his eyebrows tilted in anger. It was possible to see veins bulging with hatred on his forehead.

"You may even be a bit of a tough guy... but do you have any idea who you are messing with?" This man inquired to Kaizen.

Kaizen was relieved that using eighty percent of his mana was enough to defend such powerful magic.

However, he did not even show this because, with clenched eyes feigning boredom, he inquired while pulling wax out of his ear:

"Oh, are you talking about the Lord?"

The reaction of both the long-haired man and all the other servants of The Eye of Hermodr was one of complete astonishment and shivering.

"Does he know about the Lord?!" That's what some of them asked aloud.

The confused and exhausted players present in the square were completely uncomprehending.

"Lord...?"

"What?"

"What are they talking about?"

Kaizen knew it was his responsibility to answer these questions. "The Lorde appears when a base is protected by 50 or more people and is destroyed before the third horde. The ruler of the passage between Midgard and Nilfheim, the 'Guard of the Gate of the Dead', also known as the Lorde."

All the people present in the square were completely silent as they listened to Psyker.

"When I found out that this was your plan, I was worried about how to reach the number of people needed to protect this place. After all, we are only at approximately twenty and we need thirty more to complete fifty."

The black-haired man spread his arms and looked around, evidencing that all the players except him were in lint.

"I bet that low amount of members in the library wasn't up to your expectations, that's why you're still here, hoping for more reinforcements to arrive while you torture those that are left. Also, I see that you have already obtained what you also came looking for in the library to complete such a ritual... This grimoire that is inside your cloak, you plan to use it, right?"

One of the hooded servants who was fighting on the rooftops against Orkoi, took off his hood, revealing himself to be a dark blue haired woman, and stated:

"The lord is a being that cannot be defeated even if everyone here joins forces. You cannot stop us and when he is here, he will reduce this city to ashes."

"Who says I want to stop you? I am the one who will summon that 'Guard of the Gate of the Dead'." Kaizen stated with a vile smile and his face shadowed. "You know... I'm lazy and don't have time to deal with yet another horde." He shrugged with a mean face.

"P- lazy?!" The players and servants of The Eye of Hermodr asked at the same time.

"And I was also too lazy to gather thirty more people here to complete the right amount, but luckily you guys from this crazy cult have practically already made this place your base, which means..."

"Wait a second, you mean..." The yellow-eyed man was about to inquire when Kaizen interrupted him.

"...That you have brought the key to victory to me and that obviously the number of sacrifices has already been reached!" Kaizen opened his arms once again, showing the dozens of bodies of servants of The Eye of Hermodr lying on the ground.

'Wait, he really plans to summon the Lord? Does he think he can control him?'

Suddenly, Kaizen was gone in the blink of an eye, and everyone's terrified gazes turned to the yellow-eyed man, who looked like he had just been stabbed in the stomach.

All the servants and players of that sick cult were so shocked that they didn't even move. A black smoke began to rise from under this man's clothes and as Kaizen held the sword stuck in his belly, the Psyker slowly removed the book from the mysterious man's belt.

This book was exhaling this black, dense smoke.

Araxie watched this with wide eyes. She couldn't believe this was happening. She couldn't believe that this man, whom she had been despising just a few minutes ago, would actually summon this Lord.

Kaizen didn't bother to take the sword from inside the man's body. "Don't look at me in that hopeless way.  Don't try to make me feel sorry for you. The sorcerer told me everything. I know that you want to take over this world and that you are willing to do anything for it. I know that you would kill, steal, torture, deceive and even sacrifice your own relatives just to achieve your goals.

Kaizen pulled the sword wedged into the man's body and pulled it out of him, leaving a bloody hole in place. At the same time, he stepped back with the grimoire in one hand.

At that moment, all the corpses scattered around the square began to emanate the same black smoke as the grimoire.

The players couldn't understand what was happening, but the servants of the Eye of Hermodr knew, they could feel, that this was the scene they had been warned about. This was the first sign of the resurgence of the Guard of Niflheim's Gate of the Dead.

As the corpses began to rise and the smoke emanating from them began to gather into a single sphere in the center of the square, some people present in the square began to scream and flee in panic.

Orkoi, who was fighting the servants of The Eye of Hermodr on the roof, jumped back as soon as he saw the corpses rising. He had no idea what was happening, but he knew it was not good.