Second World

Ever since Heavenly Citadel was built, many guilds had sent in spies. Everlasting Heavenly Legends being the first guild to have headquarters, this was an expected response. Both John and Jeanny knew they surely had spies in their members. There was no way to prevent this. What they could do was simply keep these spies from entering the core member circles where more valuable information was circulated.

Many guilds had given up trying to have their spies enter the core members. John and Jeanny kept a tight leash on the selection process. So, they just left one or two spies to keep tabs on Everlasting Heavenly Legends' general affairs.

Except for the three founding guilds of the ex-coalition. They had been continuously planting spies at an interval to avoid suspicion. Even their spies didn't know about each other. They didn't mind these spies providing labors to Everlasting Heavenly Legends. All they requested from these spies were simply for them to just lay low. They didn't even ask these spies to look for information, because these spies were meant to be sleeper agents.

When the war summon quest happened. They knew it would be time to use these sleeper agents. The protective barrier that protected guild headquarters only kept non-guild members from entering, but if hostiles were already inside the headquarters, there was nothing this protective barrier could do.

Death Associates, Corporate United, and Wicked Witches had asked these sleeper agents to not join the war and just stayed inside the headquarters. Although John did demand higher weekly contributions to members who didn't join the war, Everlasting Heavenly Legends didn't impose that every member had to join. So, these sleeper agents remained inside the headquarters.

The three guilds combined had thirty-two sleeper agents. It was not a high number, but at this time, most combatants were out fighting in the war. The rests that were still inside headquarters were mostly players who focused on their auxiliary skills, they generally had low levels.

During the first battle on the first day, the three guilds didn't activate these sleeper agents because there were imperial guards who Jack had hired using his merit points as an Earl, but these guards lasted only one week. Jack did the hiring when he was back to prolong the training boost. He didn't go back again after the army arrived near Fort Garadhor, hence the imperial guards didn't return.

When White Death, Manager Steelhand, and Wicked Witches sent the command. These thirty-two players immediately gathered outside the Guild Hall. They had no permission to enter the hall, so they had to break the barriers protecting the hall.

At the same time, they quit the guild. Only non-guild could deliver damage to the barrier. Guild members who tried to strike the barrier would just cause 0 damage. No longer a member of Everlasting Heavenly Legends, they struck the barrier that protected the Guild Hall's entrance.

Every member of Everlasting Heavenly Legends received a notification regarding the attack.

"What the hell happened?" Jeanny asked in the guild core member's channel.

Tip, the only high-level core member still inside the headquarters, answered, "There are multiple hostiles outside the Guild Hall. They are trying to get inside here."

"How do they get into our headquarters? Didn't we get protected status during this war?"

"I saw thirty-two people quitting our guild just now," John said. "I'm betting that was the number of hostiles outside our Guild Hall. Damn, I must admit I don't see this coming. Those enemy guilds must have prepared this for quite some time."

"It's impressive that you can still compliment our enemies. Now, what should we do about this?" Jeanny asked.

"I don't see any other way than sending people back to the headquarters, Tip won't be able to hold them all by himself," John said.

"That is true, please do not lump me as a freak like Jack," Tip agreed.

"No one says you are," John replied without mercy. "There are not enough high-level members inside the headquarters at the moment. I suggest we send fifty people back, we don't know how good these hostiles are. Luckily, we have reinforced our guild core and the entrance barrier using the Protective Framework rune diagram. It should take them some time to get into our Guild Hall. It should be enough time to send people back."

"Wait!" Someone suddenly joined the chat. They looked at the name and found it to be Grace. "Tip, is Captain Whitebeard inside the Guild Hall with you?" Grace asked.

"That cute rat? Yeah, he is right beside me," Tip said, then added, "Uh, I must have said that out loud. He just thanked me for calling him cute."

"Then there should not be a problem. No need to send people back. I've asked Whitebeard to protect the guild core. Our guild is not the Village of Peace, he should have no problem taking action."

Tip sent a reply, "Um… I just used my Inspect. This small rat is a level 18 basic animal. I can stomp him with one foot, what can he do against thirty-two high-level players?"

"Trust me. Our guild core will be fine. He is a member of the Harmony Keepers, a divine faction," Grace assured.

The chat was silent for a while.

"I trust her," Jack finally gave his opinion.

"I trust Jack," Jeanny added not long after.

"And I trust you, we can go one circle with this," John mocked. He then asked, "Grace, are you sure about this?"

"I do," Grace replied.

"Fine. It's not my habit to do things just based on trust. But I guess not seeing this covert attack is my blunder. This war is already hard enough as it is. Sending back fifty capable combatants will just make it harder. Let's hope you are right."

"Don't worry. Whitebeard will chew through them."

*

"What the hell is taking them so long?" Queen Magenta complained. She had been sending messages.

"They said there is some kind of weird writings all around the entrance. That seems to make the barrier stronger," Manager Steelhand said.

"If it takes too long, they will be able to send people back. This attack will fail again! Remember, I take the most risk here!" Queen Magenta uttered.

'You are the one offering it,' Manager Steelhand wanted to retort.

"There is nothing we can do about what's going on inside Heavenly Citadel," White Death said. "We can't stay here. Our force is losing. They might send their army on us as well. Let's sound the retreat."

Manager Steelhand looked at the battle at the camp and then at the statuses of his guild members. Many had died.

They could no longer hope for a lucky team to get to their enemies' guild mobile platforms. It seemed more unlikely with each passing minute. They all sent the retreat commands to the surviving members and pulled away.

*

Outside Heavenly Citadel's Guild Hall, the thirty-two players were hard at work to break the barrier. Some members despite being low-level had come once they heard the notification about the attack, but they couldn't do much against these intruders.

The barrier's light finally dimmed before dispersing altogether. Twenty-five players rushed in to destroy the guild core while seven stayed at the entrance to block Everlasting Heavenly Legends' weak players from interfering.

The twenty-five that rushed in paused for a beat to take in the situation inside.

Only one person was manning the guild platform, a level 47 Archmage. This should be a piece of cake, all of them had the same thought. Their eyes were already ignoring this archmage and locked onto the guild core at the end of this hall. There were some runic writings around this guild core, similar to the ones that were around the entrance they just broke through. They figured those writings must have the same effect of making the core difficult to destroy. This meant they had to act fast before any more reinforcement came.

When they were about to advance, a voice stopped them. "Halt!"

They looked around. The archmage behind the guild platform hadn't opened his mouth. Was there another person inside this hall? One of the players at the front received a tap from his friend. He looked over and saw his friend pointed down at the floor. He looked down and saw a little rat with a weird costume. It was standing upright with one palm extended forward. This rat then spoke.

"I warn you, people. Do not proceed any further. My friend gives me a task to protect this hall and I intend to keep it. Though I detest violence, I will have no choice if you insist. I strongly suggest you go back."

"F*ck! The rat talks!" Someone uttered.

"We should catch it. It might be usable for something. Probably alchemy or perhaps it might trigger a quest?"

"Mission first! We destroy the core then only we catch the rat."

"Catch me…?" Captain Whitebeard uttered softly. "I remember there were others who tried to do that. My friend suffered because I hold myself back at the time. She still suffers now for being exiled. I won't do the same mistake again."

"The f*ck is this rodent on about? Ignore it! Let's go take down the core!"

The twenty-five advanced at the same time. But after taking one step, they suddenly stopped. The reason was that they suddenly felt as if the air become heavier. They heard a sound that sounded like a squeak at first but gradually turned into a thundering growl. The wide space of the hall in front of them was suddenly blocked, by an enormous body. They looked up and came face to face with a giant rat-like creature with shark-like teeth and a pair of menacing red eyes.

"I will be damned…," Tip uttered from behind the guild platform.