Judar Outpost,

Outlands, Serisis.

10:30 a.m. 18th Banem 1092.

Judar Outpost was a small barrack/fortress located at a small settlement on the border of the Outlands. Adventurers and soldiers with missions in the Outlands usually stopped by this post for resupply and rest before venturing into the dangerous lands.

Currently, a terse silence hung over a room in a private quarters as a skinny lycan shaman examined the massive orc who laid on a bearskin rug. Rudega and Ragnaf stood to the side with complicated expressions, while Chu Ling and two commanders stood next to the shaman.

While everyone waited with bated breath, the shaman finally finished his examination and looked up at Ragnaf with a heavy expression. "When was he poisoned?"

"Yesterday evening," Ragnaf responded, his eyes dark. "Can you cure it?"

The shaman shook his head. "If you had arrived a few hours ago, maybe, but I'm afraid it's too late."

"What?" Rudega trembled, unable to keep calm. Durst was absolutely necessary to prevent an all-out war. The orc's credibility was such that his one word was equivalent to a thousand of Rudega's platitudes. Without Durst, Rudega knew he had no way of convincing the orcs they were being manipulated. "How about a priest? Surely a healing spell can cure this?"

The shaman once again shook his head. "Unfortunately no. This is not an injury, but poison. Only the dispel spell can erase it. However, this strand of poison," he muttered as he cast a pensive look at Durst, "I'm afraid only a grandmaster poison expert can dispel it. It's a sinister virus that mimics the infected's blood. My dispel level is too low to differentiate between the real blood and infected blood. Worst case scenario, I might end up killing him if I cast dispel on him right now."

Despair colored Rudega's eyes as he slumped to the ground and buried his head in his hands. "What do we do now? He is our only hope of turning this mess around."

A heavy silence hung in the room as no one could find the right words to say. Chu Ling and her commanders did not know these people well enough to start offering platitudes and the shaman did not have any good news to share so he kept his mouth shut and waited for his prompt to leave.

At this moment however, Ragnaf's voice suddenly cut through the silence. "How long does he have left?"

The shaman's eyes brightened, glad he finally had something that could at least be construed as a bit of good news. "An orc's regenerative abilities are truly extraordinary," the shaman praised. "He is rapidly replenishing the blood cells eating up by the virus, and healing his organs almost as fast as the poison is spreading. That is the only reason he is still alive, as well as why he's still in a coma. His body has shutdown to conserve its resources for this fight. At the current rate, I'd say he has just over one month left – two at the most."

"Two months," Ragnaf muttered. "That should be enough time. I'll find someone who can heal him within that period." The orc's gaze hardened as he gazed at the bed-ridden Durst. "This is no way for a proud orc to die."

Ragnaf turned, and was about to leave the room to begin his search, but Chu Ling hastily called him back. The orc paused, confused and looked at the princess, wondering what she wanted.

Chu Ling let out a sigh, recognizing the desperation in Ragnaf's eyes. Two months. He wanted to find a Grandmaster Poison expert in two months? In Serisis of all places. That was a fools errand if there ever was one. Normally she would not have cared and let the orc do whatever he wanted, but after hearing their story from Rudega, she could not help but sympathize towards their plight.

The Summoned had manipulated their clans with the purpose of starting a war, all so they could swoop in later and eat up the spoils. The Summoned had also greatly damaged the fragile ecosystem in Serisis, almost causing a civil war in the process. Thankfully, the worst outcome was prevented through the aid of Rosendun and the strange Summoned guild, Hopeful Maggots.

Perhaps it was because she too had experienced the ebb and flow of the waves left behind by the reckless Summoned, Chu Ling found herself wanting to help. The princess wanted to help them. "Hold on," she said to Ragnaf, preventing him from going further. "We might not be able to help, but I know a guild that has a habit of performing miracles. Perhaps they might have a cure."

"Really!?" Rudega shouted, unable to control the excitement in his eyes. This was what it meant to see the light at the end of a tunnel.

"I cannot guarantee 100%," Chu Ling stated. "But, if there is one guild that should be able to do something, its them."

Ragnaf paused, eyes flashing as he looked at the princess. "Who are they?"

An embarrassed smile tugged at the corner of Chu Ling's lips as she said, "They're called the Hopeful Maggots."

Kover Dungeon,

Briarhoard, Rosendun.

10:45 a.m. 18th Banem 1092.

The Kover Dungeon was an infamous high level dungeon in Rosendun. It occupied a vast mountain range close to the northeast. This dungeon, which had risen after the 'Moon Incident' which saw a terrifying mask occupy the moon, contained a portal to the Netherworld – precisely, the Cambion plane of the netherworlds.

The portal regularly spat out low-level demons and creatures with the sole purpose of destroying everything they came across. Like most naturally formed dungeons, a small barrier prevented the demons from leaving their floors or the dungeon. However, once the number of monsters surpassed a certain threshold the barriers would break, and the monsters would spill out like a tidal wave into the world, destroying everything they came across.

This was the feared, 'Monster Tide,' and every country tried their best to find and regulate dungeons to prevent this from happening.

The Kover Dungeon was especially notorious because of its high spawn rate. If the dungeon was not cleared at least once week, a Monster Tide would erupt. Because of this risk, a request to permanently exterminate the dungeon had been sent out by the Royal Family to the Adventurers' Guild.

The rewards were mouth-watering so many guilds took up the offer, but as one would expect, one guild had already begun clearing the dungeon by the time the others caught up.

Naturally, that guild was none other than the tyrannically famous Hopeful Maggots. Luckily, the Kover Dungeon was way too large and had far too many entrances for one guild to monopolize it, which gave other guilds something to do. But it came as no surprise that most of the elite dangerous paths which had the best loot and most dangerous enemies had already been seized by the Maggots.

Normally, the Summoned would complain about how the Hopeful Maggots were being too tyrannical or unreasonable or selfish, but all thoughts of anger or protest died when they actually saw the guild in action.

The Maggots' method of fighting was completely different to other guilds. Most guilds relied on numbers and calling upon skills and magic to safely defeat an enemy. The Maggots, on the other hand, rarely used skills when fighting. They challenged their enemies with hair-raising real combat, only utilizing their skills as the finishing part of a combo, or a heavy strike after breaking an enemy's guard.

Unlike most other guilds, if a Maggot was given their weapon of choice in real life, they would be as deadly as professionals. This was as a result of Kashi's mandate to prioritize real combat over skills in training. It was also why there was an equal number of Summoned and Resident warriors in the guild. Most Summoned could not keep up with the harsh training and eventually quit.

The reason Kashi did this was for the latter stages. At the early levels, it was still okay to rely on skills to defeat enemies. However, near end game, aside from those massive enemies that were walking targets, the most elite enemies were small, human sized monsters.

These type were quick, fast and relied on real-combat with a blend of skills thrown in. Those people who were satisfied spamming their combat skills would be given a rude awakening when they were faced with a rapid 12-hit combo and realized they had not learned how to properly deflect or parry incoming strikes.

This was the power of the Hopeful Maggots.

Surprisingly, today there was a massive crowd in one of the dungeon paths. This path, labeled 'Death Road' contained the dungeons strongest elitist Cambions. The Cambions looked like red-skinned humans with bat wings and a long, scaly tail. Most guilds did not dare face these quick masters of death as the Cambions did not give the Summoned any time to bring out their skills before impaling them.

Which was why it was such a strange sight to see a single woman facing off against three Cambions with nothing but a bow in her hand. Cold aura oozed off the exceptionally beautiful woman, rendering her unapproachable. Those cold eyes tracked every movement in the hall as arrows shot out of her bow string at impossible speeds.

The arrows' path were insidious and cruel, repeatedly striking the Cambion's vital parts despite their attempts to dodge or escape. How could they? In the time it would take a regular archer to shoot one arrow, this woman would have accurately shot several dozen. Worse yet, these arrows were systematically released in order to force the prey to a desired position before finishing them off.

The Cambions had never been so distressed in their lifetime. If any other guild had come, they would have been able to play them to death. Countless others had fallen to their speed and illusion techniques, but in front of this woman, all of that war rendered mute.

Speed? Her arrows were exponentially faster.

Illusions? Nothing seemed to work on her. They could not be sure, but it seemed to have something to do with the Nespian Tiger sat next to her. Its grey eyes never left them despite how many illusionary figures they sent out to confuse the archer.

The peanut gallery swallowed hard as they stared at the indomitable archer. They all knew the identity of this woman who was perhaps the most famous person in Rosendun: Leila Lightwood, vice-guildmaster of the Hopeful Maggots.

As they watched Leila effortlessly toy with the Cambions, the gallery could not help but wonder. If this was the vice-guildmaster, then just how strong was Kashi?

Bzzzz!

At this moment, a soft buzzing sound came from the Nespian Tiger, Hogosha.

"Who is it?" Leila asked.

Hogosha growled as it looked at the Rink on the ground. It infused mana into its claw and tapped the device. Moments later, it looked at Leila with surprise and reported, "It is from Serisis, master. From Princess Chu Ling."

"Chu Ling?" Leila murmured. "Did something happen?" This was a crucial time for Serisis and Rosendun. So much was riding on their agreement, and neither party could afford any mishaps. As a result, she did not dare to leave the phone ringing.

Leila put down her bow and looked at the Cambion elites. Her cold gaze was akin to the scythe of the grim reaper. Without being told, the Cambions descended and warily looked at her. "That should have been enough for you to understand my ability," Leila said, her gaze never leaving their eyes. "You have two options. Surrender or Die."

The spectating adventurers fell into a deep silence and then erupted in a cacophony of shouts of disbelief. That's right. While other guilds were focused on exterminating the monster, the Hopeful Maggots were considering recruiting some of the stronger demons into their midst.

Well, recruitment is too generous a word. After all, at the end of the day, they were still demons and could not be trusted. It was more like forced servitude with great benefits. Like the true demons they were, Cambions loved their own life before anything like pride or loyalty.

They immediately agreed to surrender, believing they would always get a chance to play these guys to death later on and steal the guild's resources for themselves.

Unfortunately, that delusion was bound to never be reality.

Leila waved her hand, and a Maggot walked out from the crowd and handed a massive book to each demon. The demons were confused at first, but upon opening it and reading its contents, their eyes went wide in shock.

This was a contract! And not just any contract. This was a blood contract overseen by both the god of merchants and the high devil Beelzebub. If either party reneged on the statutes in the contract, they would immediately be struck by divine lightning, and their souls would not return to the circle but be sent to Beelzebub.

This contract was exceedingly vicious, and the more they read it, the greater the demons' headache. Unlike those low level contracts with a lot of vagueness, which were open to interpretation, this contract was specific – so specific, it felt like the drafter had thought of every single possibility and added them to the contract, hence why it was so thick.

The Cambion demons looked at each other in despair as they signed their lives away to the Hopeful Maggots. However, at the same time, a part of them was excited. A guild that could create a contract strong enough to be blessed by both a god and a demon was certainly not a weak guild. Perhaps this would turn out for the best.

Leila was pleased with the despair she initially saw in the Cambions' eyes. This showed that the contract was even more effective than she initially thought. Hmm, she would have to later thank Miote for drafting the first copy.

With the matter of the demons taken care of, Leila finally picked up the Rink and answered the call.

As expected, Chu Ling's energetic voice immediately came through, "Hey, Leila-chan, I have a favor to ask..."

Leila patiently listened to Chu Ling's report on the situation in Daggerfall as well as the status of Durst, Rudega and Farvulia. The gears began to spin in the young lady's head as she reflexively began to ponder how to utilize the situation to the benefit of the Hopeful Maggots.

SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATREON STARS:

Residents: Andrew Maurer, Eli Calabria, Rusty Reaper, Cobalt_Storm, Eli Romero, Niyeban, Sarah Kinkade, Gamma2626, GodSpeed99, Antinium, Oziel

Adventurers: Hyproxy, Merlin252, Michael Barton, OlusholaAbidakun, Mental_Napalm, Jamie Ibarra, Adam Whitman, Sven Buchheit

Warriors: Caleb Ian Melton, Ragnaf, Cullen M Brewer,

The High Council: Sly, Jacob Morgan, StrikerPrince, Thund3rTank, Facemaster, Pumba

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