Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/A few minutes of listening later…/

[Your quest has updated]

[The Unknown Devil

A powerful Devil has settled in the Southern Horizon Woods, disrupting its ecosystem with its intrusive actions, creating a great deal of trouble for all of those in and out of the forest.

A preliminary analysis has pointed to the possibility of the Devil being severely wounded due to a recent fight, weakening it considerably.

It is unknown what it was fighting, nor does it matter.

It is confirmed that its behind the sudden surge in Vitality within the forest, likely a ritual to heal itself from its wounds.

Requirements:

Pass the Shard of a Greater Devil to Tina 1/1

Wait for her to inspect it 1/1

Prepare for the Forest raid and eliminate the Greater Devil 0/1

Absorb the Greater Devil to evolve the Tripodial Mark 0/1

*Optional: Stop the Greater Devil from healing its wounds and permanently damaging the Vitality of the forest 0/1

]

"Phew..."

After listening to a lengthy explanation, Dale was finally given some time to breathe…

He massaged his temples, trying to make do with everything that had been happening recently...

"... With that in mind… The faster we take it down, the better it'll be for us."

But Tina's expression did not change, she wasn't happy with this information in the least.

/Shua.../

A red ball of smoke was created in her fingers, she played around with it by squishing it and crushing it over and over...

For some reason, Dale remembered stress balls back in reality.

"Whatever the Devil is going, it's greatly affecting the balance of the forest, and albeit it isn't noticeable now, its actions will soon cast their shadows on us."

"However, we cannot bet everything on a single attack."

"So instead, we'll confirm its current conditions before proceeding."

"If it's weakened, we'll proceed with its extermination, if it's not then we'll retreat and rethink our plans, such as luring it out of the forest where many variables lay."

"Regardless, we have to move fast."

She got up from her chair, saying:

"For now, you're free to do as you wish, but be sure to be ready by tomorrow morning, that's when we move."

Dale was a bit confused, this was progressing a bit too quickly, though in a sense, its good that it was.

"Wait a bit… I understood everything you said before, but you didn't tell me how the excursion in itself will play out, nor your plans in how to find this creature..."

"What about the other creatures that are in the forest? I doubt they'll just let us be."

'And with the recent changes, every monster in there will be stronger and more annoying to deal with...'

'This is quite annoying because I was planning on maintaining my level for Babilon before focusing on Leveling Up.'

"Also, you didn't make it clear who'll be coming with us... Unless you want to keep it a small expedition like our previous ventures into the forest..."

'Remembering those times makes me shudder a bit.'

/Chuckles.../

She smiled, saying, "Everyone." as she walked away.

"Hey, wait! If everyone comes, who'll stay to take care of this place? What about my other questions?"

"Aren't there some newcomers? They can do that." She said as she shook her head

"Huh?! Are you willing to bet on them? After all they've done?…"

"Dale, if we don't move, everyone's gonna hang their boots, we have to compromise a little."

"..."

"Get ready, tomorrow… We'll be hunting some Devils."

"Hey!"

"You'll see it tomorrow~"

/Clack/

She closed the door to the kitchen, leaving Dale alone in the living room.

"..."

'Damn old hag.'

Knowing that it was best to not remain here for longer, he also left, walking outside.

…

After walking for a few minutes under the scalding sun, Dale sat on a bench, watching the people walk by.

Most players ignored him, not because they didn't recognize him, but because they knew he was going to refuse to talk with them.

In the first place, to be in this part of the town, they need quite a high Reputation, and second, in order to talk with Dale directly, he decided to set up a bar of at least +20 reputation.

And the majority of the players didn't have that...

He did it mostly for his own convenience, as he wished to keep interactions with players as low as possible.

But those were only some of his excuses, in truth, Dale was an awful person to talk to from the players' perspective because he was always working.

Due to this, he was always slightly stressed, and he would let out some steam on these poor players that only want to get some quests...

Still, if you were to ask him, he would say these players were that poor or pitiful, they were as sly as him...

Most of the time. <subtxt> . </subtxt>

"Sigh, what a mess…" He mumbled to himself as he scratched his head

'Announcements, Resko's new rating, the Caravan, and now… This?

'What a fulfilling day, it's as if those damn developers were waiting for this...'

'To drop everything at once and make my time that much harder...'

"What's next? One of the ancient sealed monsters is going to unseal itself and I'll have to raid the Catacombs again?"

"..."

'I-I didn't say that...'

/Crack…/

Cracking his back, Dale thought:

'Time to visit the Mercenary Guild, see what they have to say.'

'My rankings were always strange, with Misgurd being very restrictive in increasing it.'

'Due to this, they don't represent my current capabilities...'

'Albeit that doesn't really matter as I have a very high Reputation with Misgurd, so any Quests he can give he'll pass to me regardless of Rank…'

'But he puts a lot of importance on the Ranking as well, and if something were to happen to that because of some suspicions, he would be rather distraught.'

'Although… I don't think those people would do anything of the sort in the first place.'

'Why would they care if a man in the corner of the world has raised the ranking of a single mercenary after 4 decades?'

'The Mercenary Guild would be very petty to backlash all the way here in the South... But even if they do, it would only be a minor loss.'

'But who knows? Giving the vibes I felt from the people of the Mercenary Guild, they don't look that bad, everyone seems fine with their presence.'

'Perhaps, I may finally change my badge...'

'I wouldn't refuse some Rank ups, they may be useful one day, especially in the far future when I leave this place... If I ever do that...'

'No, I will, there are some things I need to confirm, such as the things I collected from the Corps Commander Vault.'

'Albeit... That'll likely take some time...'

"Hey! Hurry up man! Where's Coby and Leroy?" A man exclaimed behind Dale, a player from the looks of it giving his shabby gear and way of speech

Players could be easily distinguished from other townsfolk due to the translation feature, as said before, the reason why Dale can't be distinguished like this as well is that the system translates his words in another way.

Even if someone turns off the translation feature, Dale would still sound strange to them like everyone around them, this was the same for all Hardcore players.

It made identifying them that harder... And with that, all around Azimuth, there have been many players pretending to be NPCs, some successfully swindling players.

And now, with two weeks since the launch of the game, the players are slowly developing their own methods of identifying these pretenders.

Dale had to keep his eyes open to not end up being played by the players...

"Co... Coby is... Huff..."

A girl, visibly tired as she ran behind the man, replied:

"Coby will meet us at the gate! As for... Huff..."

"L-Leroy… He's dead already! Hit the bucket not so long ago!"

"What?! Did he rush alone again?"

"Y-Yes… And he was killed in one shot by that guy."

"DAMN LEROY!" The player screamed in unending anger

"If our kill participation decreases I'll take a bite of his leg once I log out!"

Those players weren't the only ones running…

Dale found it really curious, why were there so many players running toward the crop fields? At least that was the general direction…

'Is it due to the recent announcement? Isn't it a tad too quick?' He thought to himself as he saw them run

Dale wasn't sure if the Crop fields were considered part of the forest, so he couldn't tell if the creatures within would be qualifiable for the chances due to the announcements.

However, that didn't remove the chance of unique creatures from within the forest grounds to make their way North and into the fields...

That already happened quite frequently before, and now, that was likely going to spike quite a bit.

He turned his face to look at the road, seeing more and more players converge...

"Did something happen? Another Minor Event?" He mumbled to himself in a low tone

'It's not like this is the first time such a thing has happened, a few days ago a rare Level 45 Field Boss spawned in the grasslands near the farms, and many players formed parties to try and kill it.'

'Of course, it took several thousand sacrifices but it went down as its health was chipped away.'

'In this sort of game, 10000 ants can shake a tree, one bite at a time.'

"Hum... Albeit it died, I don't quite remember what it dropped..." Dale mumbled as he tried to remember

It was simple in fact, Dale couldn't remember because he never checked...

He only heard a bit from the players here and there...

"Whatever, that's not important anyway."

'Even if its another Field Boss, this seems a bit much for that… They are quite euphoric.'

'Last time, the competition for the Field Boss' items was already extreme, I don't expect it to be any different now.'

'As such, I thought there would be even fewer players than last time since the top dogs have already been determined in some way...'

'Well... I'm bored, might as well check it out.' Dale thought as he walked after the players

Right now, Dale only needed to wait for the Expedition to start.

Still, he slowly made his way down the road, as there was no need to rush, he would get there eventually.

His armor was unequipped allowing the faint breeze to pass through his hair… What a good feeling it was, to relax once in a while…

[DING]

But Dale's peace soon came to an end as he came to a complete halt.

"Holy sh… I swear, they're messing with me at this point in time." He said with a frown

'This awful timing...'

[Quest, Visitor of the Wooden Heart has activated]

[Many creatures live within the ocean of emerald trees South of Resko.

From common animals to Monsters, and even from Devils to Undead…

Perhaps even a few more other abominations…

But such creatures aren't all there is to it.

From the dark depths of those woods, a visitor has arrived.

As an Elder of Resko, upon hearing about it, it's your responsibility to act upon it!

>Requirements:

Meet with this foreign being and understand the motives behind its visit 0/1

Or put a short end to its trespassing 0/1

?? 0/1

?? 0/1

]

"... How great…"

'More trouble…'

/Crack!/

Not thinking much more, Dale stopped walking as he bolted forward, cracking the ground beneath him and leaving the players behind with dust in their mouths.

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Notes

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