Six Months

It didn't take long for them to merge over twenty Black Boxes together with No. 00. Snow was quite astonished by it. Even holding the weapons in hand wasn't as uncomfortable as she had thought, but she could feel the power coming from the sword was a bit difficult to manage.

They got to the point where Snow had asked to stop merging any more Black Boxes before it would overpower her. Even Mr. Rogers had felt the uncomfortable air around it.

When they were done, they agreed to meet again as they would go out in search of more information on the Demon King's appearance.

For the next six months, Snow was very busy.

The problem with the Church of Light was quickly handled. The returning Priest and Priestess talked about the dangerous experience inside the dungeon. It was a heavy blow to know that the church harbored a demon in their ranks.

The church thanked Snow, asking her to be an ambassador. Which Snow declined heavily, but the title was still pushed onto her even if she liked it or not. They wouldn't let her go.

During the months, her study into the Black Box series had her running around different historical sights and even talking with anyone who could point her with more information. There wasn't much that she had learned about the Demon King that she didn't already know.

Snow picked up a book in the library as she scored through endless amounts of information in different cities. The history that she knew was that every thousand years, a Demon King was born, creating terror and havoc upon its lands. People of different races and species came together to push back the monsters that the Demon King had put out upon the people.

Such bloody wars were terrible and bitter, almost to the point where they eradicated whole species.

It took seven heroes from different races to put down the Demon King, bringing peace and prosperity.

Snow sighed, she had a book of the Demon King history in hand, but it wasn't enough. Even though she had read it over a few times, there wasn't much she could glean out of it. Even the other history books talked about the same thing over and over again.

There have been glimpses of the Black Box series, which she had read through the histories. Which many were in the form of legendary items that saved and pushed back the monsters back.

The seven heroes were able to use these weapons and items to fight off the Demon King. But even still, there was nothing that she could find that would tell her that was useful.

Closing the book, she placed it down on the table. She spun around on her chair. She frowned.

Thinking back, Dairen was busy working with Mike, diving into the harder dungeons as months flew by. The number of high-level dungeons appearing worldwide had increased exponentially, and it was getting much more challenging to be on top.

Dairen continued to fight against the other Demon Princes. It was a dangerous endeavor as the Demon Princes weren't an easy foe. Already, Dairen had two many close-death encounters that put him in the loss, which Snow had heard from Mike.

Snow had seen Dairen when he was badly injured that he was recuperating for weeks. His fights against the Demon Princes affected cities and even their environment, which was considered a significant catastrophic level. She saw pictures of such events twice in his battle against the Demon Princes.

Dairen had never asked Snow to come to join him on this hunt. Even when she had explicitly told him that if he needed her help, she would be there. Every time, he would disappear with Mike hunting the monsters together.

The number of dungeon bursts was becoming more frequent than before. Small cities have been demolished as these raging dungeons could not be stopped and later on became dangerous zones as the monster littered the area.

On the other hand, the large cities were well protected as the governments had stationed high-level guilds worldwide to watch over these cities. They paid large amounts of money to keep the citizens safe.

The number of players appearing in the world has drastically been increasing, occurring all around the world. The lower-level dungeons were quickly curtailed as they weren't terrible to handle as the level A and up dungeons.

Still, it was not enough.

For the past months, Snow had an uncomfortable nagging feeling in the back of her mind, telling her that she had to hurry up and find ways to counter what was going to come. It got worse and worse until she was going out for long runs to dungeon dives with Levian herself.

On the other hand, Levian was causing trouble here and there, but it wasn't as bad as before. The havoc he had caused with the other guilds to the government put him high on the watch list.

Which have caused both Snow and Levian to meet in more secluded areas where prideful eyes would not track them.

They were able to conqueror together the numerous level B's and A's without a problem. Pushing through them with the Church of Light and the numerous group of guild members. She used this opportunity to also sell with other Players to boost up the names of both the Dragon Express and Gold Phoenix guild.

Another few months have passed by. With no new information, Snow had stepped out of a level A dungeon with Levian.

A young Player ran up to her with a message in hand, stopping in front of her with excitement. "Saintess!" She excitedly shouted, rocking back and forth.

"Yes?" Snow turned around to see a young girl, who looked to be in her teens, smile up at her. She had an envelope in hand as she reached out to give it to her. "This is?"

"Mr. Rogers."

"He couldn't call me why?"

"He said he won't be near any receptions." The girl squirmed under Snow's intense gaze.

"I see." Snow took it from her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Snow handed her a silver coin that the Player gratefully took with gratitude. She ripped the envelope in her hand and read it out loud.

"To my dear lovely flower. By the time that you are reading this, I will be with Mr. Jay and Falcon. Don't search for me. We will find you. Stay safe and destroy many villains. XOXO Mr. Rogers."

Flipping it over a few times, she tried to see if anything else was written on it but found nothing else.

"As flamboyant as always." Snow shook her head. She burned the paper in one go, leaving behind a flutter of ashes that fell onto the ground.

What did catch her attention was the message about Mr. Jay and Falcon working together. She had wondered where Mr. Jay had disappeared off too as he was replaced by Lily, which she didn't quite like. Still, to read that Mr. Jay was doing okay made her feel better.

Levian walked up from behind her. "Everything alright?" He had a dagger in his hand that he was cleaning. With one fluid motion, he put it away.

"Yes." Snow clapped her hand, dusting away the ashes on her hand. "I should head back to the guild house and report our dungeon dive."

"Okay, don't forget we got the other A-level dungeon to do for tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I won't forget."

"See you later," Levian disappeared in thin air, leaving her behind.

Snow went to her car. It was a red economy car that took her around. These days, she wanted to live a very simple life. The amount of driving had increased exponentially, that she didn't find any use for expensive cars.

It didn't take long for her to get to the Guild building.

The guild building has changed drastically over time. The exterior was much more polished, with the guild's logo and title above the glass door. Not too far away were other major guild buildings that were completed with their renovations. Especially Heavenly Guild that was a few blocks away from the main building.

Heading straight toward the direction that she needed to go, she entered inside the building. Upon entrance, the receptionist welcomed her in. "Saintess, I am glad to see you arrive back safely."

"Thanks, Jen. Is Mike or Dairen in?"

"No, not yet." Jen shook her head.

"When would they arrive?"

"They should be back in a few days."

"That soon?"

"Yes."

"I'm impressed. Usually, Mike and Dairen would take a week or two more to conquer an A-level dungeon. They cut their time by half." Snow rubbed her cheek. She knew that they were doing well, especially these past few months they have been clearing dungeons at a rapid pace.

"Yes, the captain and the vice-captain have been clearing away the dungeons quickly. They have cleared five B-level dungeons and three A-level dungeons in under three months. Something like this for a big guild would take over three months to complete. The growth rate of our guild has gained a lot of strong players from around the world." Jen said with excitement. "We have now been listed as the top ten guilds in the world."

Snow smiled. She was proud to hear that the guild was ranked in the top ten. It took sweat and tears to get to this point.

"Well, we still got a lot of work to do. We can't let this get to our head."

"Absolutely," Jen said with seriousness. She stood up straighter and was much more serious than before. "We have an image to uphold."

Snow thanked Jen for her time. She left, heading to the cafeteria to grab a bite of food as her stomach grumbled.