The Coffin Guild's Guild Leader, [Overlord], and [Daydreamer] quickly looked toward the spot where four beams of white light appeared. But when they saw who the resurrected players were, their faces instantly darkened.
The four players at the respawn point were the very Coffin Guild members who had gone into the sewer map.
The one [Overlord] was hoping to see—[Windchaser]—wasn't there at all.
[Daydreamer] tried to comfort him, speaking softly: "Guild Leader, I'm sure nothing unexpected happened. It's not like [Windchaser] could have killed all our people, right? Let's just wait a bit. These four were probably killed by players from other guilds."
[Overlord] nodded, thinking that made some sense. He hurried over to the four players who had just respawned, wanting to ask them what had happened.
But the four players who had been brutally killed by Ethan were still lost in the pain of their deaths. They just stood there like zombies, trembling, eyes empty, not responding to anything.
They kept mumbling in terrified voices, "Please, just kill me. I'm begging you, please…"
"[Windchaser], please make it quick. I swear I'll never bully other players again."
[Overlord], who was just approaching, stopped in his tracks. His body went stiff, and his face twisted.
He had heard it clearly—they were talking about [Windchaser]!
Did that mean [Windchaser] was the one who killed them? How could that be? Wasn't he just an ordinary player who got lucky? Any Coffin Guild member in the sewer map should have been able to take him down easily!
With these thoughts swirling in his mind, [Overlord] hurried up to the four players and asked urgently:
"What happened? Tell me, what's going on?"
But none of them answered. The four players who had been tortured by Ethan just stood there, completely cut off from the world around them.
It took several minutes before anyone finally snapped out of their fear. One of them touched his own body in a daze, stared blankly at [Overlord], and broke down:
"Guild Leader, [Windchaser] is a total madman. He broke my arms and legs, then kept cutting into my flesh, bit by bit, with his sword…"
Before he could finish, [Overlord] grabbed his shoulders and asked, "Was it [Windchaser] who killed you? Or did you run into some strong monster and [Windchaser] just took advantage of the situation?"
The player swallowed hard and replied, "No, it wasn't like that. He… he took out all four of us by himself."
Hearing this, [Overlord] was stunned, his face full of shock and disbelief.
Even a level ten player would have a hard time taking down four people so quickly.
After all, before changing classes, 99.9% of players don't have any skills. They have to rely only on their gear, stats, and fighting experience.
Could [Windchaser] actually be a gaming expert?
[Overlord] and the four just-respawned Coffin Guild players hadn't bothered to lower their voices, so other guild members nearby at the respawn point also heard what happened with [Windchaser].
The Guild Leader of Winter Guild, [EarlyToBed]—also known as Serena—immediately checked her watch and messaged her team, asking if anyone had seen [Windchaser] fighting the Coffin Guild players.
When she learned that the Winter Guild members in the sewer map hadn't run into [Windchaser], she finally relaxed.
[Windchaser] was much stronger than she had expected. With someone like that, she knew she needed to be extra careful.
If [Windchaser] ever realized what she'd planned before and started to distrust her, that would be bad.
So, [EarlyToBed] quickly sent out a message to all Winter Guild members, telling them to help [Windchaser] with everything they had.
After finishing all this, [EarlyToBed] strolled over to the grim-faced [Overlord], smiled lightly, and said,
"Well, it looks like someone's trouble is even bigger than they thought, huh?"
[Overlord] just gave Serena, who had come over just to mock him, a quick look. He clenched his fists tightly and answered through gritted teeth:
"It's not over yet. Our Coffin Guild still has more than a dozen players. Even if [Windchaser] is strong, there's no way he can survive against all of us!"
"Just wait, he'll show up at the respawn point soon!"
[EarlyToBed] actually agreed a little with [Overlord]. If her people couldn't get there in time and [Windchaser] was surrounded by so many Coffin Guild players, he would be finished for sure.
At that moment, more and more regular players began gathering around the "Noob Nest." These players weren't respawning—they had come after hearing about the fight between [Windchaser] and Coffin Guild, just to watch the drama.
Normally, outside the safe zone in Dawnfall Online, it was best to avoid crowds if you wanted to stay out of trouble. But here, in the safe zone, anyone who dared to fight would be taken down by the guards and thrown into jail.
Getting put in jail meant losing your freedom for a long time, which was actually a worse punishment than dying for most players.
As the crowd grew, Coffin Guild's [Daydreamer] suddenly thought of something. He quickly pulled [Overlord] aside and whispered,
"Guild Leader, no one else knows about our fight with [Windchaser] yet. Why don't we take the initiative? We can hire some trolls and use public opinion to ruin [Windchaser]'s reputation, make everyone hate him."
[Overlord] looked at [Daydreamer] with sudden interest and asked, "Keep going, what's the plan?"
[Daydreamer] gave a sly smile and explained:
"It's simple. We get our guild members and paid trolls to post complaints on the forums about how shameless [Windchaser] is. Say things like he sneak-attacked people from behind just to steal the Frostspire Tower boss."
"We can say that when our guild members saw [Windchaser] get a purple-quality Intel reward, they were just curious, but [Windchaser] killed them because he didn't want anyone else to know about it…"
"Then we guide the discussion, maybe use some clueless bystanders to help push comments that make us look good and make [Windchaser] look bad."
"…"
[Daydreamer] kept talking, sharing all his ideas, and [Overlord] grew more and more interested. He agreed to the plan right away.
Then [Overlord] took a deep breath, his voice turning cold as he said, "Also, see if you can dig up more info about [Windchaser], especially anything from real life."
[Daydreamer]'s eyes went wide. He stared at [Overlord]'s icy expression and subconsciously stepped back.
Is the Guild Leader planning to get revenge on [Windchaser] in real life?
Isn't that going way too far?
That's what [Daydreamer] was thinking, but he still answered, "Okay, Guild Leader. I'll try my best to find something."
[Overlord] nodded with satisfaction. Anyone who dared to go against him or make him lose face would never get away with it!
Coffin Guild did nothing wrong. The one at fault was [Windchaser]!
That damn guy—if he'd just sold the purple Intel reward to [Overlord] for a low price, none of this would have happened. It's not like [Overlord] wouldn't pay.
Suddenly, [Overlord] remembered something. He quickly opened his watch and checked the guild channel, wanting to see if any of the members in the sewer map had found [Windchaser].
While he was looking at his watch, [Daydreamer] looked behind him and gasped.
[Overlord] immediately felt something was wrong. He whipped around and saw beam after beam of white light flashing as Coffin Guild members, all with pained faces and trembling bodies, started respawning at the point.
[Overlord] opened his mouth, wanting to ask who killed them, but the words wouldn't come out. He was honestly scared to hear [Windchaser]'s name in their answers.