.
.
.
—-----
/A moment later…/
"Urg, how did he... Tsk, only a few seconds this time?" Dale muttered as he raised his head from his bed
Despite raising his guard to the maximum and trying his all from the beginning, he was still defeated within ten moves by the Reflection, being thrown into an inescapable position as the decisive blow was dealt to his chest.
'Still better than before, but the fact I can only last any significant amount of time even if the Reflection has no weapons is a bit humiliating.'
'No matter how much I fight it, I feel like a small child trying to overcome the gap in strength with a 2.5M tall Muscular adult with nothing but brute force.'
'Maybe this is how Testros, Tina, and Sarferato see me or how the result of a fight between us would look like.'
'But I'm making progress, maybe after dying ten thousand times to the Reflection, then I won't die to it anymore.'
'And if I can't die to the Reflection... Then what can?'
Letting out a sigh, Dale adjusted his clothes and left his room, he had someone to meet.
He had already taken a shower and brushed his teeth before he activated his Special Skill, there was no need for another.
So after leaving the empty Inn as the kids were still with the parents and Illia was managing her "restaurant", he made his way into the busy streets of Resko, hiding his identity from the others, as today, no one can know of his movements.
…
/A few minutes later, inside a building…/
"... Don't worry Mr. Houston, there won't be any problems." A man with Square glasses replied as he sat on a wooden chair
"I'm not worried about the situation itself… Regardless, is it okay for you to not participate in the event?" Dale inquired as he looked at the man
The man in front of him was none other than one of Roger's agents.
He had long blond hair that went down his shoulders and with his glasses, he looked more like a woman than a man.
He was the kind of guy that had the physique to make the transition into the dark side...
It didn't help that he wore mostly unisex clothes… Though his voice gave it away.
That he was a man.
(Image?)[1]
Around a day ago, they all arrived, a group of 25+ players, including him and a little girl which he immediately recognized as his target for 'babysitting'.
Roger's Granddaughter.
Okay, he was exaggerating, but it was true that Dale was meant to take some care of her, like helping her grow stronger, mature as a person, and so on, which could easily be done with time and by giving her challenges to overcome.
Not that he would lose anything anyway… Because it didn't take long for him to find out that the girl was… Skilled, and extremely so.
She definitely received training in the real world to be this good, which is to be expected given what Roger knows.
Since she was skilled, it made things easy for him, he could give her hard tasks only she could accomplish and kill two birds with one stone.
Above all, having a capable player who is also on his side would only prove beneficial with what he had in mind for the future.
And not only her but the entire group of agents, minus this guy of course, were strong and capable players, though he is more of specialized support than anything else due to his array of Skills and Abilities.
Most Agents were around Level 30, which was incredible given how long they must've spent traveling to reach Resko, with Dale suspecting Roger might've used his position to find hidden training zones to grow his own forces.
And without exception, they were all HardCore characters, once again including this "man" in front of him.
The only person who wasn't a HardCore player was the girl, which caught him by surprise.
He hadn't interacted much with her so maybe he would figure it out eventually, but it was kind of a shame since the girl had incredible degrees of control and technique, it was all wasted on a standard character.
That didn't apply to the other players though… Who were all trained and capable.
In fact… Too trained… Dale could feel faint waves of energy moving within their bodies, it was rhythmical, a breathing method.
But once again, given Roger's identity and what he knows, it's not out of the realm of possibility that all of those agents were trained in the real world prior to being here.
Like those two criminals that tried to capture him in the real world a few weeks before…
"I'm okay, you don't have to worry about that." The man replied to Dale's question as he shook his head
"The Event itself isn't something I want to miss, but work comes first."
"As planned, I'll be acting as 'you' for the next few hours and once everything's in place, I'll hide and enter Babylon."
"And in the future, whenever you need me, be it for the sake of posing as you or even anyone else, I'll be available unless I'm not already occupied." He said with a thin smile
"Just don't expect me to fight… I'm not that good at it, haha…"
"... Alright." He replied as he closed his eyes
'Keeping my identity as an NPC will be many times easier now that I have some support, and since there was an influx of Villagers recently, I can hide these players amidst them as guards, that would be fun to see.'
'But I can't drop my guard.'
'Until when will Robert be my ally? Or even if he does remain one for long, can I count on these people of his?'
'Being overly paranoid won't progress my Quests, but it's something to keep in mind for the future.'
Regardless, the plan was simple.
While everyone was teleported to Babylon, this man would wear Dale's current armor and stand in the open without his helmet, so when all players entered, everyone that returned, including new players that were arriving by the minute, would all see that he didn't enter, thus allowing Dale in the future to defend himself from allegations that affirm he was the NPC in question.
To reinforce this, there would be an official announcement in the real world regarding this, though Dale didn't know the details, only that it would fix most of his current problems regarding his identity to close friends and family members alike.
'Sometimes I wonder how much authority Roger truly has within Azimuth, to bypass the rules and create backdoors like this to allow a player to enter Babylon later…'
'What information can he look into?'
'Maybe he has little authority and this is nothing in the grand scheme of things, or maybe it's so high that he could eliminate my account with the press of a button, but can't due to reasons and interests…'
'He's certainly not an enemy for me to make, at least for now.'
'Well, as long as he's on my side and it works…'
"Then… Here, my armor Set." Dale said as he opened his inventory, opening a trade request with the man
Once he accepted and the armor was confirmed to be in his inventory, he said:
"As expected, this isn't something just anyone can wear... I'll try my best to at least move in it but even that could prove challenging." He said with a chuckle as he closed his system window
"I'll be in the predetermined place waiting for the right time in case you need me, though for now, I'll continue to prepare with the materials you handed to me." He said as he got up from his chair
To maximize his identity and make it believable, Dale noted some key things about his daily routine just in case he came across any inconveniences.
The chances of that were low but just in the off chance something does go awry…
Then he would have the proper responses for that.
Well, he can always quickly contact him through the message feature of the game… But that only applies if Dale is available to reply and the man himself has the time to wait.
"Good luck Mr. Derol." Dale said as he got up from his seat as well
"To you too Mr. Houston." Derol said as he placed a large hat over his head, it was rather goofy as it made him look like a traditional fantasy magician
(Image?)
/Clack…/
As he left the room, Dale was left with his thoughts as now the only thing left for him to do was…
/Tic-Toc…/
To wait for the pointer to finish its lap.
[DING]
[You've received a party invite from player: Jelly Donuts without Sugar]
"Hum?... Oh! I almost forgot about this." Dale said as a smile appeared on his face
'Since I want to be close to Jelly when Babylon opens, it's better to get in a party with him.'
[Invite accepted]
[Opening Party Screen…]
[Party Leader: Vacation_Deprived_Girl Lv27
Party Member 1: LPCutie*Max Lv27
Party Member 2: Jelly Donuts without Sugar Lv 28
Party Member 3: DareDevil Lv 69
]
"This is truly the Hero party…" Dale mumbled to himself with a chuckle as he read
[DING]
[You've received a call request from…]
"Yeah, right, I bet he's quite shocked."
'I didn't plan to hide my Level from him anyway.'
"Accept."
The call connected, but no sounds were pronounced from the other side.
Dale raised an eyebrow, confused, so he eventually decided to start the conversation.
"Hello? Good afternoon everyone, or am I talking with Mr Jelly's brain?" He asked in an amused tone as he expected a reply
"... Bro, I think there's something wrong with your Level, can you check it for me please?" Ermin asked from the other side of the call
"Oh yeah, that, yes it's bugged."
"Oh! For a moment I thought..."
"I'm actually Level 96…" Dale replied humbly
"Bruh… I'm serious here…"
"Are you sisters with you? Good afternoon to you two."
"H-Hello!" A younger feminine voice echoed from the call
"It's been a while." His older sister added from the side
"Wait I..."
"I imagine you're all ready? This Event promised a lot and I'm not planning on losing anything."
"We did get everything… I just called you to see how you were doing, even though we'll be meeting each other soon anyway… But don't dodge the question!"
"What question?"
"You're playing with me aren't you?"
"Just a little." He replied with a chuckle
"Sigh... Yes, my Level is 69, it could've been higher but I wanted to keep it like this for a while since I've Leveled up too fast."
"... Leveled up too fast?... At this rate I wonder if we'll even be able to play together, you're double my Level and more."
"Maybe we won't be able to do all activities together but most should be in the open… Though I doubt we would be able to do all of them anyway."
'If this Event is to be played in any similar way as past Events they did in their previous game, then the focus here should be to find key activities and explore them as much as possible.'
'Together with any secrets of course...'
For the next few minutes Dale exchanged some words with Ermin and his sisters before he ended the call since they were about to Log Off to eat and get ready for the Event.
They would be meeting soon enough anyway, so there wasn't much to discuss through a call like this.
So with a relaxed expression, Dale did something he had never done before ever since he started playing Azimuth.
"Zzzz…"
He took a quick and light nap.
...
/A few minutes later.../
[DING]
[Server-Wide Announcement]
"Huh?!" Dale asked as he opened his eyes abruptly
It's time.
…
.
.
.
Notes
[1] Sorry for never leaving images, I just end up making them but since I can't post the images on the advanced chapters at least from the PC, I just end up forgetting about posting them when the chapter stops being advanced, but most of the images on the last 50ish chapters? I have them all
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