[Lucas]: [Ethan! Ethan! You need to check the forums right now!]
[Lucas]: [Damn Coffin Guild. They're calling you out on the forums, saying you killed their members first, stole their boss, and now you're using the Intel reward to go after them even harder.]
[Lucas]: [Their Guild Leader, Overlord, even showed up himself and called you human trash—said you're despicable, shameless, and a whole lot worse…]
[Lucas]: [And now a bunch of random people have popped up, claiming they know you in real life. They're accusing you of being a rapist, a pedophile, even saying you torture animals…]
Ethan stared at his watch, brow furrowed, face set in stone.
He hadn't expected Coffin Guild to stoop so low—when they couldn't get to him in-game, they went after his reputation instead.
The rest he could handle, but those accusations—rapist, pedophile—were beyond the pale. Ethan, who always prided himself on keeping a cool head, felt real anger bubbling up inside him.
Nothing disgusted him more than rapists and pedophiles. For Coffin Guild to use the things he hated most as weapons against him? That was crossing the line.
Ethan took a deep breath, forcing himself to keep his temper in check, and kept reading Lucas's messages.
[Lucas]: [There's something else, Ethan. My contact inside Coffin Guild says they're trying to dig up your real-life identity. You'd better be careful for a while—try not to go out much.]
[Lucas]: [Overlord's done this kind of thing before—in another game, he had people set fire to a rival player's house. They just never found any proof.]
[Lucas]: [Maybe you should lay low for a bit, Ethan. Once players start leaving the safe zone and moving into the settlements, this stuff should blow over.]
When Ethan realized Coffin Guild was trying to uncover his real-life identity, he completely lost control of his anger.
Most people, faced with this kind of threat, would react with fear or try to back down. But not Ethan. All he could think about now was crushing his enemies before they had a chance to strike—he wanted to go on the offensive.
Ever since he'd entered Dawnfall Online, he hadn't had time to do anything else; so much of it had been wasted dealing with Coffin Guild and, more specifically, with [Overlord].
Getting Grimmount to agree to help him kill inside the safe zone was just Ethan's way of trying to put an end to the Coffin Guild mess as quickly as possible.
Now that Coffin Guild and [Overlord] were doubling down and coming after him again, Ethan knew he couldn't just sit back and take it. It wasn't in his nature. If they wanted a fight, he'd give them one—and he wasn't going to hold back.
Taking a deep breath, Ethan looked over at Grimmount and asked in a calm but dangerous voice, "Do you know how to completely wipe a guild off the map?"
Grimmount shot Ethan a surprised look, clearly caught off guard by the sudden question.
He was still a little sore about being threatened earlier and honestly hadn't planned on answering any more of Ethan's questions. But destroying a guild? That wasn't easy, and it was definitely risky.
With a small, almost spiteful smile—hoping Ethan would bite off more than he could chew—Grimmount didn't hesitate. "Of course there's a way. I can help you skip all the preliminary steps. All you have to do is kill the guild's defenders before the deadline, then destroy the guild's banner. That's it."
"Sounds easy enough, right?"
Ethan could see the expectation in Grimmount's eyes, and he knew things were never as simple as Grimmount made them sound.
He could tell Grimmount was trying to bait him into rushing in headfirst.
After a moment's thought, Ethan replied: "Fine. Once I'm out, that's your cue. You handle the rest for me."
Grimmount blinked in surprise. "You're not heading out now?"
Ethan shook his head. He still needed to hunt down those "little cockroaches" Grimmount had mentioned and score some fresh Intel rewards.
At the same time, Ethan shot a reply to [Lucas].
[Windchaser]: [Let the other guild leaders know—I'll be auctioning off the Guild Hidden Quest Intel soon. Anyone with high-quality weapons and gear will get priority consideration.]
[Lucas]: [Got it!]
…
Meanwhile, back in the real world, the forums for Safe Zone 9527 were blowing up. More and more players were getting drawn in by the drama between [Windchaser] and Coffin Guild.
At first, most players in Safe Zone 9527 thought the conflict was started by Coffin Guild and that everything that happened next was just [Windchaser's] fierce counterattack.
But not long ago, someone posted a detailed account of the whole situation on the forum. The story sounded convincing, and soon a flood of players started sharing their own takes from all sorts of angles.
At first, the regular players didn't really buy into these new threads—after all, they already had a pretty negative impression of Coffin Guild and naturally sided with anyone who stood up to them.
But as the discussion snowballed, more and more "neutral" voices appeared—players who seemed unbiased but whose comments subtly steered the conversation in a new direction. Little by little, the focus of Safe Zone 9527's player base started to shift.
People who originally cared about the [Windchaser] vs. Coffin Guild feud—and all the dirt on Coffin Guild—were now being nudged toward more neutral topics, like: [Who is Windchaser, really?]
[An objective analysis of Windchaser's methods.]
[A deep dive into Windchaser's motives: Why is he so fixated on Coffin Guild?]
As the crowd's attention gravitated toward these supposedly neutral discussions, a few people claiming to know [Windchaser] in real life suddenly popped up and started sharing all kinds of stories about him.
At first, some players remained skeptical. But as more and more bystanders were drawn into the narrative, public opinion started to shift. The crowd that had once supported [Windchaser] and stood against Coffin Guild was now slowly turning on him.
Voices of doubt and reason were drowned out by the rising tide of the majority.
The truth was, most people are easily swayed—herd mentality takes over, and all it takes is a little push for the wind to completely change direction.
Now, the entire game forum was buzzing with talk about [Windchaser], while Coffin Guild had quietly slipped out of the spotlight, almost as if they'd never been part of the drama at all.
Those users who claimed to know [Windchaser] in real life started exposing his "true identity," saying that [Windchaser's] real name was Lee, and accusing him of being a rapist, a pedophile, despicable and shameless, guilty of every imaginable crime.
These people, whether intentionally or not, leaked some supposed "victims'" photos. Players from Safe Zone 9527 noticed that the photos posted by these different users who claimed to know [Windchaser] in real life were strikingly similar.
So, they quickly concluded that all the negative information about [Windchaser] on the forums must be true.
The emotions of most ordinary players in Safe Zone 9527 were now inflamed, and they started posting even nastier topics on their own initiative.
[Windchaser is nothing but a beast! The girl in those photos looks only seven or eight years old!]
[If I ever run into Windchaser in-game, even if I'm not his match, I'll do my best to kill him!]
[Just knowing I'm in the same Safe Zone as garbage like Windchaser makes me sick!]
...
By this point, the original posters—and those claiming to know [Windchaser] in real life—had already deactivated their accounts and deleted their threads.
Liam, also known as [Overlord], was now looking at the forum with satisfaction, scrolling through his phone and reading post after post slandering and insulting [Windchaser].
A smug smile curled at the corner of Liam's lips as he typed a short message and sent it to one of the game forum moderators.
[Great, keep up the pace. Make sure to delete any posts supporting Windchaser as quickly as possible. Once this is over, I'll transfer the money to you.]
After that, Liam put down his phone, stood up, poured himself a glass of red wine, and began to savor it slowly.
[Daydreamer's] methods were really effective.
At this point, not only was he not afraid of [Windchaser] trying to clear his name—he was actually hoping [Windchaser] would do it.
Because the investigation into [Windchaser's] real-life identity was going nowhere—[Windchaser] had never leaked any useful information at all.
That's why he was hoping [Windchaser] would try to clear his name—if that happened, he could finally track down [Windchaser]'s real-life identity.
At this thought, Liam drained his glass of red wine in one go, his expression turning vicious as he said in a low voice:
"You've caused me so much loss. Once I find out who you really are, you'd better start counting your days!"
"No, that's not enough. I'll make sure to ruin your family and friends, too, so they spend their whole lives facing blame and humiliation!"
In [Dawnfall Online], inside the sewer map.
Ethan looked at the corpse of the giant cockroach monster in front of him—at least four or five meters long—as purple light floated up from it. He took a deep breath.
Coffin Guild, [Overlord], get ready to face my wrath!