Gamers of the Underworld

Sherlock floated in the sky above the Central Courtyard of Specter College, a parrot perched on his shoulder.

Below him was a courtyard filled by Liches whose eye sockets were glimmering with gray light. The Mana Formation shimmered while drawing Mana into the large ugly box.

“Kill him!”

Professor Cabbage pointed to Sherlock and ordered her students, who lifted up their heads as Mana started to gather on their hands. Dark clouds with thunder and lightning appeared above Sherlock’s head.

“Hold tight!” Sherlock shouted and flapped his wings. He rose up and disappeared in the dark clouds.

Numerous Mana rays shot into the dark clouds, and various colored clouds exploded, making the dark clouds look like multi-colored cotton candy.

The Mana attacks continued for a few minutes before Professor Cabbage gave the order to stop.

She squinted her eye sockets and observed the dark clouds. After all of the Mana attacks were terminated, the dark clouds were still there. They must have been created by Sherlock.

The dark clouds didn’t dissipate. Professor Cabbage watched them intently. Soon, a flaming color pervaded the dark clouds.

With a sharp and crisp shriek, the flames pried open the dark clouds, and a phoenix with extended wings dashed out.

The huge wings were about ten meters wide. The large flaming phoenix dove down at the Liches and engulfed them in an inferno.

Shrill screams were heard wherever the phoenix went, the flames scorching the controlled Lich students. Large fireballs trailed Phoenix as he flew past, and flames bathed the entire courtyard.

Compared to the large number of Lich students, the flames could only inflict limited damage.

Phoenix’s flames didn’t spread. Immediately after the flames started, gray mist surrounded Phoenix, and his flames were unable to penetrate it. From far, it looked as though there was a constricted ball of fire that was surrounded by gray mist flying around in the sky.

Sherlock surveyed the group of Liches below to locate the Lich who had released the gray mist. Soon he found that Lich.

It wasn’t Professor Cabbage, it was Brainiac!

Brainiac was like the other Lich students, his eye sockets filled with gray light. He lifted both of his hands and controlled the gray mist that shrouded and restrained Phoenix’s flames.

Sherlock flapped his wings to gain altitude, then dove down towards Brainiac.

At that moment, a group of white Gargoyles flew out from the Education Block of Specter College. The Gargoyles extended their sharp claws and bared their fangs at Sherlock.

However, the Gargoyles were unable to harm him and were shattered by Sherlock’s punches.

Not only did the Gargoyles slow down Sherlock’s advance towards Brainiac, but the shattered Gargoyles weren’t completely destroyed. They slowly reassembled their broken fragments to form a tall humanoid with a pair of wings.

It looked like a rock statue with wings.

The shattered Gargoyles continued to be added to the body of the Giant Statue.

The Giant Statue punched at Sherlock, who didn’t dodge. He lifted up his fist and punched the Giant Statue’s fist, which was much larger. The two fists collided and created a loud bang, and the Giant Statue’s fist started showing dense web-like cracks. Large cracks spread from the Giant Statue’s arm. Within three seconds, the Giant Statue’s fist broke into pieces, the large rock fragments falling to the ground and smashing several Skeletons.

The Giant Statue didn’t stop its attack, lifting its remaining fist, which was surrounded by gray Mana.

Sherlock inhaled deeply and punched at the rock fist that was approaching him. When the two fists collided, the arm of the Giant Statue disintegrated. The Giant Statue backed up two steps after losing both of its hands. It fell heavily against a building behind it with a loud “Pom”. The dislodged fragments of the building dropped to the ground and landed on the heads of the Lich students. The small fragments didn’t cause any harm, but the large fragments flattened several Lich students.

The Mana Formation on the ground spread to the Giant Statue’s body, and Mana infused into his body, which then shimmered with energy.

“Lord Sherlock, this Giant Statue looks different from the common Magical Puppet. Let’s find the puppet manipulator,” Bru said to Sherlock.

Sherlock had found the possible puppet manipulator among the Lich students.

It was Professor Bacon.

Professor Bacon was like the other Liches, his eye sockets glimmering with gray light. Professor Bacon was also controlled by Professor Cabbage.

Sherlock guessed that the control method was via the huge Mana Formation underneath Specter College.

“Lord Sherlock, what shall we do? Do we kill Brainiac and Professor Bacon? For the sake of the Underworld, it might be necessary,” Bru said to Sherlock.

“Though your suggestion is good, it’s not easy for me to find free labor. I’ll not destroy my precious employee.”

Sherlock rejected Bru’s suggestion without thinking.

He looked at the entrance of Specter College and heard strange sounds.

Professor Cabbage also discovered strange sounds. She turned her head to observe the crystal ball and couldn’t believe the images she saw.

The Specter army, which was deployed to stop the gamers, was being decimated by a huge Gundam.

The gamers followed behind the Gundam and cleared the remaining Skeleton Soldiers.

Yoda dismantled the Gundam parts and reassembled the Gundam at the Stronghold. As the parts were designed by Hemp Rope Technology, he implemented an easy way of dismantling and assembling the Gundam. The assembly of the Gundam was completed within a short time due to the fact that the gamers were familiar with the Gundam parts.

The Liches had never seen such a weapon. They were already unable to break the lines held by the reviving gamers, and now, there was an invincible Gundam. The Liches were unable to hold their own lines, and they couldn’t fight directly with Gundam.

Arthur was in the cockpit of the Gundam. Before him, there was a crude observation window. His mission was to break the defenses at the main entrance so that the gamers could enter Specter College.

“What is that thing?” Professor Cabbage muttered to herself as she looked on in disbelief.

Nobody answered her question. Sherlock flapped his wings as he clasped his hands together. White Mana gathered in his hands while Sherlock gazed at the Giant Statue, which was covered with Mana Runes.

When the white Mana had gathered into the size of a light ball, Sherlock pitched the light ball towards the Giant Statue. The light ball left a trail of white afterimages as it smacked into the Giant Statue’s body. The sudden explosion of white light and the loud bang shook Specter College.

The huge impact was like a meteorite smashing into the ground, and the heatwave and powerful force pinned the Giant Statue to a building.

It occurred within seconds. The Giant Statue was melted by the huge light ball, and the Giant Statue and the building behind it were vaporized.

The explosion expanded out with the light ball as the origin, and the rising flames appeared in the Central Courtyard. The powerful Mana energy knocked the surrounding Lich students to the ground.

Professor Cabbage gaped in shock and disbelief. Since she was far from the explosion, she wasn’t harmed.

It was the first time Professor Cabbage witnessed a superior Devil with such powerful Mana.

It wasn’t easy for Sherlock. After his devastating attack, he looked exhausted. Moreover, the gamers were reviving and firing the Magic Cannons continuously. Sherlock flapped his wings and rested on a building by the side, having no intention to continue fighting.

Professor Cabbage didn’t allow Sherlock any rest. She ordered Brainiac and Professor Bacon, “Continue to attack while the superior Devil hasn’t fully rested!”

She gave the order.

The buildings beside the courtyard were smashed open with a large cavity after a loud bang. Dust filled the air.

A multi-colored Gundam wielded a twenty to thirty-meter Longsword. The Gundam executed a focused attack and destroyed the Specter College building. Behind the collapsing building were wild-looking gamers who were gazing at the Liches.

The nearby Skeleton Soldiers wanted to stop them, but the Skeleton army was decimated by the Gundam and the Magic Cannons. The scattered Skeleton Soldiers were of no threat to the gamers.

“Gosh, the Gundam is awesome. I want to pilot the Gundam too.”

“Veteran Hemp Rope, don’t say a word. After this battle, I’m going to marry you. Please make a Gundam for me.”

“Disgusting guys, make way. I’m a pretty gal. Veteran Hemp Rope, I’ll provide complete service. Please make me a Gundam.”

Some gamers surrounded the feet of the Gundam and begged Hemp Rope Technology, who was in the cockpit with Arthur.

Hemp Rope Technology wasn’t able to hear the gamers, as the height of the Gundam was ten meters. The gamers were like ants compared to the size of the Gundam.

Due to the special materials used by the Gundam, it was hard to hear sounds from outside.

Arthur was in the cockpit, looking out of the observation window. Groups of Liches stood in the courtyard, and a huge ugly box made of white bones and minced meat was placed in the middle of the courtyard.

There was also a large shimmering Mana Formation underneath their legs. The entire setup looked like an evil ritual. As for Lord Sherlock, he was sitting on top of an opposite building. In front of Sherlock was a large pit caused by a powerful explosion. A vicious battle had just occurred. Nobody knew where Phoenix had flown to.

“Arthur, attack that big box. I don’t know what that is, but it looks cool. Destroy it. It shouldn’t be a big problem.”

Arthur was already moving the Gundam towards the huge box.

Gray light pulsated in the eye sockets of the Liches, and various Mana gathered in their hands. Mana rays rained down on the Gundam, but there was no effect.

“Lord Sherlock, what material did you use for the Gundam? Why is Mana ineffective against the Gundam?” Bru asked in surprise.

“Nothing much. I spent millions of Magic Stones to purchase a rare ore that has anti-Mana properties, and it was applied to the surface of the Gundam. I felt that it was too expensive, but the result is better than my expectations,” Sherlock said as he stood at the railings of the building and smiled. The Gundam strolled past the Lich students who were releasing Mana in a frenzy.

“You are farsighted, Lord Sherlock,” Bru complimented Sherlock.

“Though the Gundam has anti-Mana properties, the defenses have to be improved. It’s weaker than the Prototype Robot, but it’s more than sufficient for these Skeletons. They don’t have any heavy weapons,” Sherlock said, smiling.

The manipulated Brainiac tore a scroll. Gray Mana gathered on Brainiac’s body, and small balls of Mana engulfed large building fragments that were tossed at high speed at the Gundam.

“Arthur! Be careful!” Hemp Rope Technology shouted as the gray balls came at them.

Arthur noticed the incoming light balls and executed evasive maneuvers. The huge Gundam mimicked Arthur’s action and dodged to the side. Many gamers were squished by the heavy Gundam, but they weren’t worried about death. Rather, they were concerned about whether their equipment would be damaged. The Gundam was very heavy, and even the best equipment would become flattened. Could the flattened equipment be repaired?

That was what the gamers were thinking about.

The gray light balls didn’t hit the Gundam, landing on the heads of the gamers behind it instead. Besides the physical damage of the collisions, the light balls had gray Mana, which exploded upon impact. A series of detonations occurred to the affected gamers.

“Shucks, find cover!”

“Is Brainiac attacking us?”

“Aren’t we supposed to rescue Brainiac in the Plot?”

“The equipment of half of the Guild members is gone!”

After the explosion, the gamers were complaining, but they instinctively looked for cover. They were wary of Brainiac’s second attack.

After performing a side roll to evade the light balls, the Gundam placed one of its hands on the ground for support. Then, it stood up and charged towards the ugly box.

Though Arthur would like to kill Brainiac, he was too far away. Moreover, there were too many Liches blocking his way. It wasn’t practical to attack Brainiac.

Arthur knew that while the anti-Mana property of the Gundam was good, its defenses were weak.

The Gundam took big strides and charged towards the ugly box while slashing the Lich students with its large Longsword. Each slash killed a large group of students. Though the students were skilled in Mana, their close combat skills were far inferior to an ordinary Orc, so how could they fight against the Gundam?

Professor Cabbage didn’t feel any pain, as there were still many Liches in the courtyard. Moreover, the ritual was in the final stage. She merely had to stop the gigantic metal monster from advancing.

Professor Cabbage lifted both of her hands and manipulated the scattered bones of the perished students to form a huge bone wall in front of the Gundam.

“You won’t be able to stop me. This is the last stage of reviving Frangipani. The whole world will quiver under Frangipani, including all of you. All of the sacrifices are worth it!”

She turned around and walked towards the ugly box, which had flesh-colored tentacles sticking out. The tentacles wrapped around Professor Cabbage as more and more Mana was drained from the students to the Mana Formation, which had reached its limit.

Professor Cabbage had a crazed look as she said, “Lord Frangipani! Let us combine as one! Let me be the stepping stone to your revival!”

Professor Cabbage’s Mana was drained rapidly. Before long, she was sucked dry until she became a pile of white powder that scattered in the air.

The gamers watched the scene, worried that the mission was going to fail.

There was no reaction from the huge box, and the Mana Formation was still draining the students’ Mana. The huge box only quivered. The gamers could feel the impatience of the ugly box.

The feeling was like, “Why am I not satiated yet?”

Arthur broke through the bone wall. As he was nearing the box and was about to slash with his huge Longsword, his body went into Plot Animation Mode.

Sherlock flapped his wings and floated in between Arthur and the big box. He hugged his arms and observed for a while before saying, “Professor Cabbage’s math is pretty bad. The draining of Mana wasn’t completed, and she sacrificed herself. Is the revival of Frangipani going to fail?”

Sherlock spoke with dissatisfaction.

“Lord Sherlock, it’s a good chance to disrupt the revival ritual. The Devil Management Committee and the Merchant Alliance will give us a handsome reward. We can purchase a new Dungeon Core, a large quantity of materials, and war equipment. I can imagine us conquering the world. The first step starts with occupying Winterfell!” Bru said excitedly.

Sherlock didn’t respond. He flapped his wings and got closer to the big box.

The tentacles felt a Mana source approaching and edged closer to Sherlock to probe.

Sherlock didn’t evade the tentacles. He lifted his arm and allowed the tentacles to wrap around it. Mana was drained from Sherlock.

“Lord Sherlock?” Bru asked, puzzled.

“No problem. I feel that Frangipani looks good in appearance. He’s suitable to work for Eternal Kingdom. I’ll offer him promising and satisfactory benefits. Of course, the prerequisite is that he must be revived. Don’t you think so?” Sherlock looked at the shimmering box and said.

After draining enough Mana, the tentacles retracted, and a loud deafening bellow was heard.