Liss burst into the Guild Master’s office from the front desk, her movements frantic and urgent.
“Guild Master, this is terrible news! Even Senior Roland can’t defeat the monster rampaging through the city!”
Sharlene, who had been engrossed in reviewing documents, slowly raised her head. The golden chains on either side of her spectacles swayed gently.
Then, with an air of complete composure, she lowered her head back to her work and replied:
“Roland has already informed me.”
Liss nodded, her gaze expectant, waiting for Guild Master Sharlene’s next move. Yet, after a long moment, she realized Sharlene continued her work with an unwavering calm, showing no sign of preparing to intervene personally.
“Guild Master, this monster has already reached the Fifth Order. If you don’t act soon, the city might…”
Liss offered a cautious reminder, but Sharlene merely allowed a faint smile to play on her lips.
“Celia’s team is also there. Someone will help us resolve this. I believe in her.”
‘Celia’s team?’
“Are you referring to *that* senior?”
Liss’s mind immediately went to the mysterious senior clad in black robes.
Sharlene merely smiled, offering no direct answer. Nevertheless, Liss’s agitated heart settled into a strange calm.
‘That’s right,’ she thought. ‘With *that* senior present, what is a mere Fifth-Order monster?’
****
On the battlefield, the newly ascended Fifth-Order monster relentlessly suppressed the heroes, leaving them gasping for breath. Below, the sight of renowned heroes falling in quick succession cast a heavy shadow of dread over the onlookers.
‘Could it be that even the esteemed heroes are powerless against this monster?’ they wondered.
High in the sky, Roland, usually composed and aloof, couldn’t help but curse aloud.
“Just stall it? Someone will intervene? What in the world is Sharlene playing at?!”
She had contacted Guild Master Sharlene, but the response she received sent her heart plummeting.
Sharlene would not be coming to help. She claimed someone else would act in her stead and that there was no need to worry about the Fifth-Order monster destroying the city.
‘Damn it all!’ she thought. ‘She’d never heard of any hero within the city capable of dealing with a Fifth-Order monster!’
Roland gritted her teeth, utterly at a loss. Suddenly, a clear, cool voice echoed in her ear.
“Its weak points are on its flanks, where there is no carapace covering. Concentrated magical attacks can kill it.”
“Who’s there?”
Startled, she frantically scanned her surroundings but found no one nearby.
“What’s wrong, Captain?”
Her distant teammates noticed her unusual behavior and rushed over. Roland, having regained her composure, dismissed it as mere auditory hallucination. She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
Yet, as she re-examined the monster, she observed that its flanks were indeed devoid of carapace. A thin layer of magical barrier was the only defense present.
A realization struck her. She shouted to the heroes around her: “Its flanks are its weak points!”
The heroes’ eyes sharpened instantly. After enduring a difficult wave of the monster’s attacks, they retaliated by unleashing magic, bombarding its sides.
As if genuinely threatened, the monster’s assault faltered. It retreated, using its formidable carapace to shield against the incoming magic.
It worked!
Roland saw a glimmer of hope!
“Keep going!”
Roland’s team rejoined the fray. This time, armed with knowledge of the monster’s weakness, they seized the initiative.
The monster that had previously overwhelmed them was now being suppressed. Explosions thundered ceaselessly, illuminating the skies above Vidona with a bizarre, kaleidoscopic glow.
Even a Fifth-Order monster, despite its frantic defense, had its magical barriers on its flanks shattered by the heroes.
“Now.”
The clear, cool voice resonated in Roland’s ear once more. This time, she didn’t bother searching for its source. Instead, she silently chanted a spell, and a crimson magic circle materialized before her.
Just as the monster was about to reconstruct the magic on its flanks, a pillar of fire erupted from the center of the magic circle, shooting forth like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, directly piercing the flesh on its side!
Several of its massive limbs were torn away. The pillar of fire had pierced its heart, leaving only an empty, bloody cavity.
The monster struggled briefly, lifting its pincers, before finally collapsing back to the ground, its life extinguished.
This time, its demise was truly absolute.
Witnessing this, the heroes collectively breathed a massive sigh of relief. Most of them were Third-Order heroes, and facing a monster two ranks above their own had naturally filled them with dread.
After a round of triumphant cheers, many heroes approached Roland, their eyes brimming with admiration and awe.
“Thanks to Senior Roland, we wouldn’t have been able to defeat this monster.”
“Indeed, if Senior Roland hadn’t known its flanks were its weakness, who knows how long this monster would have terrorized Vidona.”
“Senior, you’ll probably become a Fifth-Order hero soon, won’t you? One of only two Fifth-Order heroes in Vidona!”
Facing these heroes’ compliments, Roland merely shook her head, her voice cool. “Defeating the monster was not my doing. You are thanking the wrong person.”
Without offering any further explanation, she led her teammates, who had arrived from afar, directly towards the Guild. The remaining heroes were left standing, exchanging confused glances, unable to comprehend her words.
“That was truly dangerous just now,” the brown-haired girl, one of Roland’s teammates, complained on the way. “What was Guild Master Sharlene even doing?”
Guild Master Sharlene was the only Fifth-Order hero in the city. After a Fifth-Order monster appeared, she not only failed to come to their aid but also claimed someone else would intervene?
In the end, it was Captain Roland who resolved the situation.
“Let’s go back and find her,” Roland said, narrowing her eyes, her thoughts unreadable.
“It’s time to settle scores!” the brown-haired girl huffed, puffing out her chest with a defiant air. “As a Guild Master, she didn’t even lift a finger at such a critical moment! If Roland hadn’t discovered the monster’s weakness, Vidona might have been lost.”
Upon reaching the Guild Hall, before the heroes gathered on either side could even begin their congratulations, Roland and her teammates stormed directly towards the Guild Master’s office on the second floor, clearly driven by personal indignation.
The office door was thrown open with a bang. Sharlene set down her pen, and seeing them, she greeted them with a beaming smile. “Roland, you’re back?”
*Thud!*
Roland slammed her hands onto the desk, leaning into it, her knuckles white. Several white documents fluttered to the floor.
She stared intently at Sharlene for a long moment, then asked in a low voice: “Who was that senior?”
The brown-haired girl glared at Sharlene with equal indignation. In her eyes, Sharlene’s mention of a “senior” was nothing more than a deception; no such person truly existed.
Roland’s direct question would surely leave the Guild Master speechless!
Shrugging, Sharlene replied, “I’m afraid I cannot tell you.”
“You truly can’t say?”
“She asked me to keep her identity a secret.”
Unable to obtain any information about the senior, Roland felt a pang of disappointment.
After a glance at Sharlene, who smiled like a sly fox, Roland let out a cold huff and turned to leave. The brown-haired girl stood stunned, surprised that her captain had let the Guild Master off so easily.
‘Given the Captain’s personality, this isn’t right,’ she thought.
‘Could it be that…’
“Captain, just now… did a senior really intervene?”
“Yes.”
Roland’s simple answer rendered her speechless.
‘A senior? There’s actually a senior in the Guild even stronger than Guild Master Sharlene?’