Chapter 381: A splitting headache

An awkward silence descended upon the group for a second or two, until Tovack the blind broke it. "We can decide what is right after, for now, we do not want to create a diplomatic issue."

"What, why wou-" Vivian could not finish her answer as the dwarves all nodded and started leaving in the direction of the Ganalin mountains. Sprinting at full speed she tried to keep up, yet with each step she took she fell more and more behind. 

Worry gripped at her heart and pushed her to her limits, unfortunately, she did not have some miracle talent that would suddenly make her ten times faster. 

Falling to the ground in frustration, Vivian looked at the group disappear from her vision near instantly. As she was about to lose hope the blindfolded dwarf suddenly appeared next to her. 

"Are you sure you want to abandon your post?" Tovack asked and Vivian nodded without a doubt. She had lost far too much already in this war, she did not wish to lose more. She knew it was not up to her, but she would be dammed if she just gave up. 

"Alright, give me your hand."

Taking the offered hand, Vivian suddenly had her sights filled with the blur of trees. A few minutes was all that was required for them to exit the forest. The group suddenly stopping after making sure they had not been followed. 

"Tovack!" Hrothgar shouted in anger, disregarding the line of command. "How could you?"

His voice broke as he felt his world breaking apart, for his mentor and hero to suddenly disobey their orders was too much for the dwarf to accept. 

"Hrothgar, I know you are upset. I have talked with Lord Amnur."

"Did he... Did he agree?"

"No, but he also felt that what I said was not wrong."

"What does this mean then, Sir Tovack?" Girlan asked, a dwarf with a bright ginger beard springing to life as he took off his helmet and loosened his armor. 

"It means we will let our charge decide whether he wishes to stay and fight, or come with us."

"And the girl?" Girlan asked, shocked that Tovack would have helped her keep up. She was covered in small cuts from leaves and branches, not to mention a good number of bugs. Luckily her skin was quite tough thanks to her high constitution. Calling her appearance haggard however would be too good, she looked absolutely ghastly.

"Right..." Tovack finally let go of Vivian's hand, who immediately collapsed to the ground from vertigo. "I am not sure."

The answer stunned everyone, however, they did not push it since they were only a few kilometers from the forest. It was just around the horizon. She would be able to make it back without much of a problem.

...

Eldrian woke with a massive headache but not much else. Still, the headache was not just extreme, it felt like his head was literally splitting apart. Gripping the sides of the seat in pain, Eldrian waited for the pain to subside. 

It slowly did, however, this did not happen quickly. When Eldrian finally let go of the seat his hands were covered in blood and refused to open fully. Moving slowly to avoid a recurrence, Eldrian looked at his hands and sighed as the headache flashed again for a moment. 

Making sure not to rush he slowly slid down from the seat and went to wash his hands and face. With a throbbing headache he hopped onto his PC and hoped his last trick had worked. 

"Yes!" Eldrian felt a massive stone lifted from his chest as he confirmed that his avatar was still alive. His shout of joy and suddenly burst of energy causing him to nearly double over from the pain again. Gritting his teeth Eldrian fought through the onset and slowly stood up to answer the knock on his door. 

"Seems like you are doing well," Gengxin said as he entered the room and confirmed that Eldrian had no lasting symptoms. The headache was already improving, and after giving Eldrian some medication he felt it should be gone in an hour or two. 

Naturally, he also took some readings to make sure there was nothing else that they might have missed.

"It is the first time that I didn't end up dying or-" Eldrian said after the headache lessened a bit more and he felt up to talking. 

"That is true, I presume it must have made a big difference," Gengxin said as he went through the readings and found something interesting from today's. Something he had never seen before. 

"When can I go back in?" Eldrian asked, getting a sigh in reply. 

"I have no idea. You need to make sure you are in good health first." Gengxin replied, patting Eldrian's shoulder and causing another flare of the headache to remind him of what he was dealing with. 

Nodding in silence, Eldrian didn't quite wish to wait. He was worried about how things had ended, unfortunately, he did not have a great deal of things he could try. Not to mention the team had a match in a few hours. 

"Rest, my recommendation, and this is a strong one. Don't log in until tomorrow night. You need to let your mind rest, you know that you never get a proper rest with the game."

"But-" Eldrian stopped after the but, realizing that he could fight the advertisement all he wanted. The fact was, there is a limit in how much you could do before it stopped allowing your mind to get rest. Certainly, he was always at or over the limit. Honestly, he had no idea how it even worked for him. 

Probably the meditation. Probably...

"Good, I recommend you sleep properly."

Nodding, Eldrian thanked Gengxin for his help and asked if he needed to fill them in on anything that had happened. 

"No need right now. I presume it is all a massive blur. I also do not think that this time is any different compared to the times before."

Eldrian nodded, it was what he thought too. Sitting at the edge of his bed and staring at the closed door, Eldrian thought of what had happened. 

"Who the hell is Milgoroth? And why the hell did he target me?" This question kept repeating in Eldrian's mind until he finally asked it aloud. Naturally, there was a bunch of other questions too, but this one ruled over most. 

Burning the name in his heart, Eldrian promised whoever listened to his thoughts that he would get back at this Devil Prince.

A certain burnt devil making the same promised while floating in a lake to soothe his wounds. Hate filling him at the fact that the same elf has now ruined two of his missions. Unwilling to accept that trying to kill him was something that the person would naturally fight against. 

...

"Hey guys," Judith cheered happily as she entered Elizabeth's virtual home. The team had finally decided to make a name for their meeting spot, and after a casual look around they had landed on the name: The Training Gardens.

"And why are... I see, nice skirt." Eldrian didn't quite know how to feel about it, but he felt he had to compliment her before the match. True to her barbarian style, the skirt was not much more than a bikini. It didn't even look whole, it appeared as if it had been through one too many fights. 

"Right!" Spinning around Eldrian wondered if she was trying to flaunt the skirt or her firm buttocks. Looking away in embarrassment he asked what they did to hide his reddened cheeks. 

"Nothing much, I mean it can double my strength for a single strike. But isn't it sooo cute?"

Left stunned, the guys all looked at her like she was a madwoman. All of them asking just how she could have gotten her hands on such an OP item. Doubling her strength for one strike might not sound like much, but it was. It would mean a well-timed strike could simply crush whoever she was facing. 

"Where did you get it?" Eldrian asked after the shock passed, Judith enjoying their stunned looks for a second more before answering. Only for Elizabeth to steal her thunder. 

"It was on one of the enemies we killed in the last quest. While everyone ignored the rag on the kobolds, she had been drawn to it as only a madwoman could."

Hearing the origin of the bikini, everyone suddenly shuddered and looked at Judith as if she was madder than they had thought. Seeing the change in their stares she suddenly became super angry. 

"Hey! I cleaned it properly." She countered, trying to defend her femininity but failing miserably. Instead, her words caused the group to look at her even stranger. 

Giggling at the sight of Judith suddenly actually caring what others thought, Elizabeth moved a few steps forward and told them that it was time to get ready for their fight. 

"Last time was quite easy, no guarantees this will be as easy. The group we are facing isn't one of the top 20, but they were well in the top 50. 

"So? We were also in the top 50. And that was before our gear upgrade." Ilmadia said, filled with confidence. 

"And like us, they could also have had massive increases in strength. Did none of you see?"

"See what?"

"The first Tier 4 player appeared today. You can look, we have a few minutes still. It is all over the forum."

The group quickly satisfied their curiosity, finding that this person had managed it just an hour ago. However, this was still quite a shock. All of those in the group understood just how far they were from that level. What made it worse was this person was from Zinopia, the number 1 team according to the rankings.