[Tome of seventy-seven praises to Bhima: (Marvelous Gold) Once per day a new passage detailing the ultimate wisdom of Bhima shall be revealed. Upon reading each new passage Potency increases by 1 (All accumulated bonuses are lost upon death) (Bonuses become permanent after 77 days and 77 passages) (This item will always drop upon death) (1 use per account)]

  Raine jumped back far enough to be surrounded by his bandits, then quickly opened the book, reading the first passage: “In this, the Mortal Realm, there can be only one undeniable truth: There is no good, nor evil. Only weight, and those too weak to lift it.” Raine chuckled at the ridiculous line, then dropped the item into his inventory. He noted its ticking twenty-four-hour cooldown and the lone message in his interface.

  [Potency: +1]

  Poor Marco isn't having an easy time of it this life, either.

  The book’s golden glow vanished, yet greedy eyes remained glued to him. The bandits weren't about to miss such a good distraction, and dozens of players died in under two seconds. A barrage of missiles tore into the space Raine was standing right after he dashed forward, back into the crowd.

  “No, don’t com—” Raine’s greatsword cut the man’s head in two. His boots slid along the ground, collecting loot while positioning himself for a cleave that took out three more players. A few attacks hit his back, doing minimal damage. He turned with a snarl, and they fell back in fear, throwing their weapons up to block his next swing.

  Their efforts were useless. The members of Righteous died in waves. Raine continued to dive recklessly through the ranks until he reached the casters. Rupture and another Great Divide reaped over two hundred lives. Those lucky enough to be outside his skills’ ranges slipped up in their shock, failing to refresh their defense reduction debuffs. Since he continued to chase them down, they couldn’t fully stack their skills again; the damage he was taking dove sharply. Raine didn’t bother restoring his health when it passed below fifty percent, relying on regeneration to get the job done.

  A short time later, the bandit leaders cut their way through the ranks to join him. The three made wide circles around the flag, targeting the most formidable clumps of soldiers. Occasionally, enemy leaders made themselves known, and Raine expended Discipline and CP to close the distance and end them.

  A shift took place after what felt like hours but was really only minutes. Raine had been in enough battles to pick out the subtle signs of a conflict about to turn: Furious warcries became drowned out by screams, the press of the front line’s advance slowed, and then it stopped altogether.

  Raine could feel Righteous was about to break. It was an odd sensation, going beyond his past experiences, as though he weren’t facing individuals but a collective hivemind and his finger was on its pulse. He messaged Rhino to return to his original position, then left the bandit brothers for the flag.

  Raine raised his voice over the clamor of pitched battle, “That's enough summoning. We have the numbers to finish them! Press the attack; leave none alive!”

  “Raghr!” The bandits thundered back, then swapped from defensive techniques to those bred for slaughter. For the first time since Righteous found the flag, the bandits pushed back and recovered lost ground.

  With a roar of his own, Raine pushed out a pulse of bloodlust that was so potent it instantly bloomed into throbbing needles behind his eyes. The closest players took one last look at him and his suddenly zealous bandits, then turned and ran. Others followed, and like ripples on a pond, a mass route began.

  “Those level ten and above, follow me!” Raine led the charge, quickly catching the players trying to press through their own allies to flee. Rupture and Great Divide opened a path, and his bandits flowed into it, widening it further. By this point, his crappy replacement sword was nearly destroyed. It hardly mattered with the mass of loot he’d accumulated.

  Minutes later, they cut through the other end of the eastern formation and spread out to reinforce Rhino. The town was at their back as Righteous attacked Raine’s line with a frenzy. The gates to freedom were within sight, urging the players on. Devoid of leadership and coordination, they didn’t kill a single elite bandit. Seeing their last chance for salvation slip away, true despair clutched their hearts, and they scattered in every direction.

  “Level fifteen’s with me. Everyone else, give chase! Prioritize looters and collect the drops near the flag!”

  “Hurrah!” Rhino shouted along with the bandits, rushing after a group of players and repeatedly stabbing them in the back.

  “Kill ‘em! Kill 'em all!”

  “Get da shineys!”

  Raine dashed toward the town, stopping far enough away that the guards wouldn’t aggro his elites, “Spread out. Don’t let any of their reinforcements through.” Heading closer alone, he arrived before the gates and waited.

  A standard, ‘first-time’ resurrection only took five minutes. Subsequent deaths within an hour would multiply that downtime, each by the law of five. Respawning from a third death took over two hours, and anyone foolish enough to die a fifth time would be unable to play for several days. Thirty minutes after the first players died, brave leaders managed to rally the revived soldiers, and they gathered at the gates. Raine stood on the road alone, daring anyone to take a step outside.

  They didn’t.

  Marco pushed his way to the front. Bloodshot eyes regarded Raine with seething hatred, “You have no idea how bad you just fucked your life. We’ll find out who you are. You won’t have any special little items to save you when we meet in the real world.”

  “That’s neat. Didn’t realize it was possible to race change to a chihuahua. If you want to do more than bark, I’m right here.” Raine spread his arms, grinning.

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  Marco spat on the ground between them, then raised his arm and spun it, “Get back! We’re done! I said, get out of the way! Line the damn walls. Stay off the streets before the Vaaterrans arrest you for impeding.”

  Planting his hands on his hips, Raine remained where he was, standing confidently as the timer for the flag ticked down.

  That was close. If they chose to keep coming until the flag despawned, I would be the one running for my life when my army vanished into thin air.

  Ten minutes later, when only five minutes left, Raine pumped Discipline into his legs and tore across the nearby fields to return to his now-massive pile of loot. Rhino met him there, greedily eyeing the nearly thirty thousand items but unwilling to break their contract by touching anything.

  Raine pointed him toward the north, “Run as fast as you can, and don’t stop. I’ll catch you soon.”

  Rhino nodded and did as told. Despite Raine’s scrambling, he didn’t manage to gather everything before the bandits disappeared into puffs of smoke. He kept on, wading through the goods as quickly as he could. Furious roars filled the air from the direction of the town. The ground shook from thousands of boots rushing his way.

  Seconds passed, each more precious than the last. Raine's hands and feet blurred. The pile disappeared into his inventory. If he died in the next two hours, the loot explosion would be a sight to behold. Not all the bandits returned to the pile with their ill-gotten gains before vanishing. Instead of turning north, Raine dashed toward the nearest pile. The first players appeared as he was on the fifth such cache. Led by Marco, they screamed bloody murder as they gave chase, “You’re dead! You’re fucking dead! Get our gear back! Don’t let him escape!”

  Raine almost turned back to fight them, knowing he was close to the hundred thousand kills achievement. He chose not to, as attacking even once would enter him into combat again. At that point, escaping would be much more challenging. With tantalizing loot to be gained, Raine ran the other way at full speed.

  Between Discipline to boost his basic movements, Lunge, and Leap, they couldn’t keep up. From one pile to the next, Raine stayed barely ahead. Despondently, he had little choice but to leave them a few scraps here and there that happened to be left in poor locations. Righteous grew more incensed with each retrieval, their forces spreading out to eventually box him in since he was weaving about chaotically.

  When he could see no more loot, Raine bent his knees and turned toward Marco, giving him a friendly wave, “You guys are the best. Let’s do this again soon!”

  Leap and three Lunges brought him high enough to activate his skydrifter, and he vanished from sight. A soul-wrenching scream followed him north.

  “Noooooo!”

  Almost all the pieces are in place to start my guild. After I get everyone together and powerlevel them to fifteen, it’ll finally be time. Never even dreamt I would own my own guild in the past. This gear and the credits I’ve earned so far won’t be nearly enough. The second I need to equip and pay the salary for a hundred thousand players, I’ll be more broke than ever.

  That knowledge couldn’t come close to dousing his excitement. Raine couldn’t remember feeling so eager at any time in either life. He swiftly caught up with Rhino, dropping to land beside him. Huffing, the boy shot him a wicked grin, “We looping back around to town?”

  Raine shook his head, “We aren't going to town. We have more important things to do.”

  “Really? Like what?”

  Raine returned his grin, “Not telling.”

  More fun to watch his paranoid ass squirm while trying to figure it out.

  Predictably, Rhino blanched, his eyes darting around for the ambush Raine was no doubt leading him into.

  They ran for several hours. After angling toward the nearest road north, they sped up, but it still took another three hours to reach the zone around Dry Canyon Town. They met several Righteous patrols, earning themselves a few extra pieces of gear.

  During that time, Raine edited his VRVod of the battle and posted it on several trending threads until it took off. Alaric strikes again, using an extraordinary method to single-handedly defeat an army of a hundred thousand!

  The responses were predictable, and Righteous learning the name of their detestable cockroach only further set them off. Another call came in, and Raine ignored it like all the others. His HUD indicated Morok the Viper had left him over fifty voiced messages. He passed them along to Morty, not expecting there to be anything worth responding to.

  In a pleasant twist of fate, Fizgore, Mel, and Celeste were right where Raine told them to be. They met off the main road in a thick copse tucked behind a small hill.

  Celeste’s greeting was a grumpy, “Who’s that?”

  “My new slave,” Raine immediately realized his mistake when Mel’s eyes flew wide. “Joking, joking. This is Rhino. He signed a contract to work for me. Good job hitting level five. We can talk more on the road.”

  Mel hid her disappointment as he dodged her wishes again, “We saw the announcement and post. I can’t believe you killed so many players. They’re not going to come after us, are they?”

  Raine filled in the gaps, knowing she was referring to the real world. There was no reason to sugarcoat it, so he didn’t, “They most certainly will. Growing strong enough to protect ourselves is our first priority. Don’t worry, Melbelle, by the time they find you, you won’t need anyone to protect you ever again.”

  Raine met her embarrassment with a confident smirk, then returned to the road. He formed a raid group and added everyone to it. They took a few moments to adjust to the new pop-up in their HUDs. Raine made his own adjustments, then broadcasted a link to the raid chat, allowing them to copy his options for anyone who wanted a more streamlined version of the new interface mechanic.

  Fizgore accepted Raine’s version, cupping his fists, “Endless gratitude, brother.”

  “Oh, that’s way better,” Mel agreed, her tone not quite back to its usual carefree joviality.

  As everyone put Discipline into their feet to speed up, Raine sent her a private message, “We’ll talk about your contract the next time we’re alone. I gave it some thought, and I have a few ideas.”

  She responded instantly, blasting the back of his head with a brilliant smile, “Okay! Thank you!”

  Their next location was bound to be far more challenging to reach than the last time he visited. In the mountain passes on the way to Silverlight City, they would have to travel through Vile Peak Town. Due to being one of only three intermediate towns connecting the outer and inner zones of the Silvergate Kingdom, it was guaranteed to be the bustling hub of activity Raine remembered from the past. With the war between Righteous and DyingNight ended and Vile Peak Town smack in the middle of both guilds, tensions in the area were sure to be sky-high.

  Raine sent another message, this time to his brother, “We’re finally heading your way. Have there been any issues?”

  Richtor took nearly an hour to respond, his message catching Raine by surprise, “Too many to count. Ever hear of a guild called Rising Endlessly? They’ve got all the mountain passes locked down, and they kill anyone trying to reach Vile Peak Town. We’ve tried to break through a few times, but these guys aren’t playing around like DyingNight.”

  Raine had indeed heard of Rising Endlessly. They were the personal guild of Damian Tafell, Talerra’s cousin and rival for the Phoenix Clan’s line of succession. Since Raine was on good terms with her, he was unlikely to get his people through Damian’s territory without a brutal fight.

  Damian, Damian, Damian. We already have a date at the arena in two days. Are you really in such a hurry to die?

  End of Martial Messiah Book 2

  Thank you for reading!!