...…
Shin arrived at the place where the main forces of the Black Market were hiding. He looked down on it from the peak of a stone mountain, watching each of their movements.
He could see them sending out unit after unit of players that were heading to continue their assault against the forces of the Hand of Midas. Based on the auras that surrounded those players, Shin could tell that all of them were elites among elites.
Seeing that, he knew that the Black Market was starting their final struggle. Based on the movements of their forces, he could tell that they were plotting something that could cause serious damage to the Hand of Midas.
He could see what kind of net the Black Market was trying to make. They were planning to lure the forces of their opposition toward the area where those high-level golems were located before surrounding and trapping them.
It might look like a simple plan, but it was not easy to see through since those golems were not moving from their respective places due to some unknown reason. All Shin knew was that there were certain conditions that needed to be met before they were awakened from their slumber.
If not for Astaroth telling him about it, then Shin would not be able to learn such methods.
Aside from this, those problems were also very tricky to deal with. Even with Shin and Astaroth working together, the two of them were still having a hard time taking down a single of them.
Shin practically knew a lot of spots that were too dangerous to approach even with his current strength. It was because he had hunted in this place for quite some time already, which was why he had become familiar with most of the map.
Adding the assistance and information that Astaroth had given him during their hunt, he pretty much knew the inside and out of the outer region of the entire map.
He was not sure how the Black Market had become familiar with the method of waking up the Earth Elemental Golems, but he was confident that it was their plan given the strategic movements that they were showing.
Thinking about that, he quickly warned Harmony about the scheme that the opposing side was plotting and even informed them about the method of how to awaken those sleeping golems.
After that, he was about to proceed with his initial plan of launching a direct attack on this temporary headquarters and dealing serious damage to them. But before he could even make his move, he suddenly noticed a strange movement from the innermost part of the camp.
He saw three people, who seemed to hold the highest authority within the forces of the Black Market, walk out from the largest tent and meet with a group of scouts.
Feeling that something was not right, he quickly connected with Blackie and used their shared vision. Within an instant, what was happening in front of their tent was suddenly projected in front of Shin through a virtual screen.
...
In the camp of the Black Market, Arlott stood in front of a scout, who seemed to be leading an elite scouting group.
"What do you say? Your group has discovered a mine rich with Mana Crystal?" he asked with a tone that could not hide his astonishment.
The scout leader lowered his head and continued his report. "While we were scouting the area in the eastern region, we found a simple-looking cave. We are about to ignore it when one of our members discovered the high density of concentrated mana coming from the cave when he got near it."
"When we investigated inside, we discovered that there is a large Mana Crystal Mine inside. And that is only when we look at the outer layer of the mine; we suspect that there is a larger mana crystal deposit in its deeper parts."
Hearing that, Arlott could not help but be shaken a little. This was a Mana Crystal Mine that they were talking about. It was a strategic resource that had a lot of usage. It could even be considered as a universal resource due to the current update of the damage where raw materials were much more important than rare weapons found in the chests of the dungeons.
If the Black Market took control of this Mana Crystal Mine, then they would surely become a true powerhouse inside the game within a very short time. They could even rival the Hand of Midas in terms of wealth if they played this right.
The only problem was they were currently at war with the Hand of Midas, and if those people got wind of this, this war would only escalate to the point it was very hard to control.
"What is the situation inside that mine?" asked Arlott with a deep frown.
The scout leader hesitated for a moment before replying. "Entering the outer layer of the mine is relatively easy, but if we want to deeper into it, then we have to prepare for a large sacrifice."
"Why is that? Is there a powerful monster guarding inside?" asked Illumi from the side, unable to suppress his curiosity.
The scout leader nodded his head as he answered. "There is indeed a powerful monster inside, but it is not an ordinary one. It is a level 165 Overlord Monster."
"And it is not just one but two of them," he added after gulping a mouthful of saliva. Then he quickly named the monsters. "Those two were both beast-type monsters named as the Steelfist Ape and the Ironhead Chimpanzee."
"Our team has already investigated these monsters, and it turns out that they are known as the three kings of the outer region of the Starry Spears Mountain Forest."
"Aside from those two, there is another one known as the Stoneback Gorilla."
"We are doing everything we can to track down this monster, but up until this point, we still haven't seen any sign of it. But we are suspecting that it is hiding in the deeper parts of the mines."
…
Shin, who was watching everything with the help of Blackie, could not help but become surprised at the sudden revelation.
As it turned out, the Overlord Stoneback Gorilla that he had fought earlier alongside Solus, Whitie, and Astaroth was one of the kings of the outer region of this map.
He was not sure how to feel about it. He also did not know whether he was lucky or unlucky to encounter such a monster when he was looking for the Meteorites that he needed for the upgrade of his weapon.
"No wonder, it is too overpowered. It turns out that it is one of the lesser leaders in this region," mumbled Shin to himself as he recalled the battle against that humongous gorilla.
Fortunately, he was strong enough to fight it, or else he would most likely lose his life inside the game and be banned for reentering it for the next 24-hour period (real-world time).
"But how come I only encounter it when the three of them are supposedly moving together," he thought confusedly as he clearly remembered that he could not find any sign of other monsters when he explored the rest of the cave.
From what he had heard from the scout leader, these three kings of the outer region were supposed to work together guarding the Mana Crystal Mine.
"How come that Stoneback Gorilla is the cave where the Meteorites are located when the Mana Crystal Mine is clearly on the…" he was in the middle of his thoughts when a sudden idea flashed through his mind. "…-unless the two cave channels are interconnected."
Having that thought, Shin could not help but draw a virtual map inside his head. He first marked the cave where he encountered the Stoneback Gorilla then also marked the cave that the scout leader had pointed out.
And when he connected them inside his head, his eyes suddenly turned wide as he realized how large the mine could possibly be. "The heck!? That is too large!"
When he realized that, he quickly started formulating a plan inside his head while continuing to watch what the opposing side was saying.
…
"This is a huge opportunity. Should we contact the headquarters and ask for more reinforcements?" asked Izumi as he realized the importance of this operation reached a point that they could never have imagined.
"That is a good idea. But we can't risk it altogether. We can't afford to let those people from the Hand of Midas learn about this matter?" commented Illumi.
Arlott, on the other hand, fell into deep thought before saying. "We have no choice but to be on the defensive and buy as much time as we can until the reinforcements arrive."
He then paused for a moment before continuing. "And we also have to take control of the mines and build a temporary base inside. It is even better if we manage to seal off the cave entrance altogether."
Hearing that the brothers Illumi and Izumi turned to him simultaneously as they could read what he was trying to say.
"You want to hunt down those Overlord Monsters? That is too risky. Given the information that we have about them, our forces are not enough to hand the two of them. We will only suffer more losses if we try to fight them," said Illumi, trying to discourage Arlott with his plan.
"If it those two monsters are together, then it will be impossible to defeat them. But if we separate them from each other, then we can at least work together to deal with one before proceeding with the other," countered Arlott as if he finally made up his mind.
But Illumi was still not fully convinced. "But what if the Hand of Midas discovered us and interfered during the battle? We will only be putting ourselves in our deathbeds."
"That is why we are going to seal off the entrance before they can even approach it. They don't have any mining or digging tools with them, so it will take some time before they can reopen the entrance," refuted Arlott.
"And are we going to trap ourselves with those two monsters? Then what about the people that are going to be left outside?" Illumi insisted.
Arlott understood Illumi's concerns but he still tried to be patient and explain his plan. "That is why they have to continue with our initial plan before playing the turtle-defense game."
"They can also play guerilla tactics if needed, as long as they can buy us enough time until the reinforcements from the headquarters arrive."
"The rest of the officers will be leading their troops and proceed with the plan while the three of us will bring the best of our elite members to the cave and secure the mines."
Illumi knitted his brows and reminded. "There are three level 165 Overlord Monsters, not just three. We may be strong, but we are still not on the level where we can fight either one of those monsters by only leading a single elite unit, much less ourselves if things go wrong."
This time, Izumi, who remained silent up until now, finally joined the conversation. "Then we have no choice but to use that 'thing'."
Hearing that, both Illumi and Arlott turned to him almost at the same time before wearing serious expressions.
Seeing that, Izumi shrugged his shoulders. "Don't look at me like that. I know the consequences are dire, but it will be worth it if we successfully take over the mine containing such a huge Mana Crystal Vien."
"I will not mind being banned from entering the game for a whole day or two if we really can capture such an important resource. I think it is worth the sacrifice," he added, making the two remain silent for a while.
This time, Illumi finally became convinced and nodded his head.
With that, Arlott started finalizing the plan and gave a series of orders to the rest of the officers that were going to be left outside. At the same time, he also sent an urgent message to their headquarters, informing them of the current situation.
...
In the meantime, Shin could not help but laugh so hard after listening to them. He was not sure how to react to this, but he really found the situation rather funny.
He was suspecting them of being too cautious when fighting the two Overlord Rank Monsters as they were expecting the third one.
But unknown to them, that Stoneback Gorilla would never come, but a much more dangerous and more scheming 'monster' would be stalking them instead.
"They may be able to seal off one of the entrances, but they will never know that there is another channel connected to it from deep inside the cave," he chuckled as he could already imagine their faces after realizing how foolish they were.
"It has been a while since I have stolen a kill from my enemies. Let's try enjoying this one before I proceed to put those theories into practice," he muttered as he stretched his waist lazily while informing Harmony of everything alongside his plans.
"This is going to be much funnier than I expected!"
...…
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