304 The Ooze at the Center of the Continent
The corner of Scar’s lips rose. “Don’t be so arrogant. It’s not books you’re selling to us, but merely the probability of killing the Boss.”
“That’s right,” Dmitri seconded, hiding his malicious intent beneath a calm tone. “Don’t be unreasonable, and sell it at a fair price.”
Beatrix rolled her eyes and spat, “Who cares about those stupid amulets anyway?! I say we just kill them!”
She was itching to kill all players with the name Ren, simply because it somehow made her feel better. After the tragic thieving incident, she was traumatized to the point that every time she remembered what had happened, she would shake with rage. Later, she developed a coping mechanism to calm her down, and that was none other than killing players named Ren.
Beatrix was a woman who would neither easily forget nor forgive. At this moment, anger was overflowing in her heart, clouding her judgement.
“They’ll just respawn,” her lackeys whispered to her.
“Then we’ll kill them every time they respawn,” she snarled with finality. “We may not get those items they’ve already stored in their bank, but we can still get their equipment as drops when they die.”
“That’s only if our LCK is higher than theirs.”
Beatrix spat. “Hush, you!”
Ren ignored Beatrix and addressed everyone’s concerns. “Indeed, I’m only selling you probability, but that’s exactly why I set the Amulets’ price to a million each. If you don’t want to buy them, then that’s fine. Nobody is forcing you. But if you make up your mind, then you know where to find me.”
pan-d a-n0vel.com Some players were discontent with the turn of events, so they took to social media to vent their displeasure. Some agreed to their rants, while others took Ren’s side.
[MoneyIsLife: Oh, come on. You’ll do the same if given the chance. Stop being hypocrites.]
[NotAFan: I’ll do the same. That’s good business right there.]
[ImNotAHypocrite: Let’s be honest. Everyone wants money. I’ll probably charge more if I were them.]
Those were just a few of the many statements agreeing with Ren.
While the media was recording the whole thing live, the keyboard warriors were also doing their own thing on the internet.
When all movement ceased and Jibblinplip suddenly shrunk, everyone knew that something was up.
“It stopped!” Triumphant cries of similar content rang out across the land, and at first, all seemed good.
Jibblinplip had stopped growing, and it was even sinking. While this was good news for the inhabitants, it spelled bad news for the players.
“What’s going on?” a player asked.
“Did someone kill it?”
“There’s no notification booming in the sky.”
“No.” Sebastian’s deep baritone voice rang in everyone’s ears. “It’s not shrinking, it’s sinking! The Ooze is eating the soil and replacing it with its own oozing mass. If it isn’t stopped, the continent will start to break!”
Upon his words, the armies took a closer look and realized that Sebastian spoke the truth. They were alarmed, and the next thing that followed was orders to finish it as soon as possible with every man they got.
During this confusion and chaos, Jibblinplip spawned many groups of Ooze minions all around itself, forming a perimeter. This perimeter was two minion groups thick, covering it from all sides, which meant that if everyone were to take the direct approach, they must fight through two groups of minions before getting to Jibblinplip.
Everyone feared that long-range attacks wouldn’t reach Jibblinplip and that they would be left with no options but to break through that barrier of ooze if they wanted to kill it.
Suddenly, that [Amulet of Ooze] was twice more inciting than before, and every top guild clamored around Ren, wanting to buy it. This was no time for them to be indecisive, especially when they could feel that the climax was fast-approaching. At this rate, the final battle would soon be upon them.
However, true to his words, Ren refused to sell Scar anything.
“You! What do you mean by that?” Scar gnashed his teeth.
“I made a promise to your dad that I would never deal with Black Lion. I’m a man of my word.”
Scar was so furious that he wanted to come out of his skin. Veins bulged from his tight face. Ren! “I’ll buy it for twice the price.”
“Even if you offered ten times the price, I won’t deal with your group. Ever,” Ren declared, stone-faced.
During that time of chaos, it was said that there was a tear of frustration in Scar’s eyes and that his face was bursting red. There were even some who claimed that they saw him curse and stab a member of his guild to appease his anger. The most extreme distortion of the rumor was that Scar stormed Ren and that they wrestled on the ground. They even swore of witnessing the drama with their own eyes.
Whatever transpired at that time was unclear, but there was one thing for sure — Ren and his group were richer than ever.
As for what happened after that, no one knew for certain. Everyone’s attention was pulled into Jibblinplip as it gradually settled and turned translucent.
Using a [Spyglass], everyone could discern something of significance at the very center of the ooze. It looked like a massive internal organ. However, Sebastian could clearly see that it was pulsating with power.
With a great spasm, Jibblinplip forced the rest of the landmass away from itself, causing earthquakes and widespread devastation. This prompted the armies and the Princess to act right away, charging ahead and crashing into the minions around the ooze. With their continent suddenly facing a much less certain future, they couldn’t afford to waste even just a split second. It was either the Ooze that consumed their world or them bringing it death. There could be no middle ground. No coexistence.
Their charge provided the guilds an opportunity to get close, and some even lashed out that the amulet wasn’t necessary.
( . . . continuation are in NOTES)