Chapter 12: Graceful Lilies

The woman became irritated when Hegen and the group didn't move. Instead of charging at them, however, she did something surprising.

"It seems they won't give up their equipment. Harrowing Owl, go retrieve our items. You may take your men if you need to."

Harrowing Owl turned to look at the woman in shock before turning to look at Hegen dreadfully. He had understood before coming here that he was not Hegen's match, which was why he wished to ride the coattails of the true experts in the guild. Left with no choice, he called his entire group, which consisted of many more members than when Hegen and the others had fought them the first time.

He quickly organized his men and set toward Maniac, who was at the front still. A total of 11 people were charging at him, with more ranged players staying behind. Maniac had an irritated look before using the new skill on his axe, Earth's Tide.

Harrowing Owl, being a top-tier expert, quickly dodged past the tide but the people following him weren't so lucky. The tide continued past Harrowing Owl and crashed into 4 people who were tightly packed together. They were immediately killed and turned into countless particles.

Not easily deterred, however, the rest of the members continued to charge, quickly arriving in front of Maniac. They quickly locked him in position as more members rushed past him towards Style and Demon.

Noticing their targeting, they both quickly ran away as Style let loose multiple arrows toward the Ouroboros members, hindering their movements and increasing the distance between himself and them. A few members also went for Hegen and Demon, but Demon quickly vanished using the Stealth of the thief class. Those targeting Demon decided to target Hegen instead as the others had already run off.

A group of five had quickly reached him with three others heading his way. There were also the many ranged classes that did not take part in the chase still lingering around. They weren't shooting at the moment because of their allies being nearby but if they were to get the chance then it could be a fatal mistake.

Hegen quickly unsheathed his sword and used the Blade of the Flowing Ocean to gracefully drift between each player as they charged, leaving many marks and killing a few of them as he went. Unfortunately, he didn't deal too much damage and the ones he had killed were already damaged from Maniac's attack from earlier. Hegen paid it no attention, however, and continued to maneuver in between the various members on the field, making sure to leave no gaps for the ranged players to take advantage of.

He had complete control of the battlefield and Harrowing Owl, who was watching from a slight distance, was overcome with rage. How dare these people make him look like a fool in front of his commander. He charged towards Hegen, slicing down in a quick slash that landed right next to Hegen and caused a rupture on the ground upon contact.

Harrowing Owl had a shocked look on his face as he had no clue how Hegen had deflected his attack. The woman who had stayed back, however, was even more shocked. She had barely noticed that Hegen had quickly pulled out his sword, and used the flat of the blade to gently readjust Harrowing Owl's greatsword. Shortly after doing this, he put away the sword again, appearing as if nothing had just happened.

Harrowing Owl was even more enraged after his attack had missed. He was embarrassed yet again, and the only way he thought he could rectify this was to kill the man who was the source of the embarrassment. He quickly used his berserker skill, turning into the Shrilli that he had morphed into in their last duel.

Not having any break, he immediately sent a slash sideways towards Hegen, who had noticed his movements and simply ran towards Harrowing Owl. Right before the blade made contact with Hegen, he jumped up and used a single foot to step off of the blade and propel himself toward Owl. Upon arriving in front of Owl, he used the skill 'Oceanic Strength' and sent a frenzy of attacks at Harrowing Owl.

Although only the first attack had an increased amount of strength, due to the frenzied speed of the attacks, Owl could only last a few short moments before he fell once more.

The woman was shocked, as were the rest of the group that Harrowing Owl had brought along to take out Dynasty. The woman quickly calmed her nerves and recalled the people who had gone to fight the group.

"You didn't steal their weapons or their kill, did you?" The lady questioned them.

Hegen responded with a simple shrug while putting on a confused look.

'You're going to attack first and then ask questions? Get off of your high horse!'

The lady sighed before speaking to them once more.

"It seems that we've made an irreconcilable mistake. I am Graceful Lilies, may I know your names?"

In response, the group quickly said their names and their group name. After hearing and registering their names, she nodded slightly before getting ready to leave.

"Hegen and Dynasty, I shall remember this name. Hopefully, we meet again on better terms next time."

And with these words, she turned and left.