Pride Online

Chapter 79: Nemesis (2) Part IV

“I guess I should try talking to you with my fists!”

After that, Marcus drew his fist and hit Vincent with full force, making the crowd exclaim in shock.

But at the second of thrill, a slender figure of someone leaped from the front roll of the grandstand. She had started moving since the moment this crazy muscle clenched his finger into a fist.

BOOM!!

A loud explosion echoed throughout the area. It came with the strong, blasting wind that made many players cover their faces with their hands. This strong impact of the attack made it clear that Marcus was aiming to take Vincent down in just one hit.

However, the one who should have stayed dead on the floor right now was still standing. He even had an amused smile on his face like nothing happened. This wasn’t because Marcus was holding in his fist mid-way. But it was because his attack was stopped by a small hand of someone who got in between them fearlessly.

“What is this...?” Marcus whined.

He was not shocked because his attack missed, but because this woman from nowhere could deadpan stop it. She was not even affected or hurt.

“That was a bit too impetuous, Mister Marcus,” Vincent said with a chuckle. “But, well, that was so classic of you. This punch was just like how I expected.”

“Y ...you.” The huge guy was trying hard to force the word out of his throat as he was staring at the woman in front of him, who could stop his attack so easily.

She was a pretty woman. Her brown hair was waving softly, matching her smooth oval face and a pair of beautiful emerald green eyes.

“Oh, let me introduce her. She’s Waree, the deputy leader of our guild.”

“...De ...deputy...” Marcus’ voice was shaking.

“Yes, she is only the deputy,” Vincent stressed on the word purposely, and his message made Marcus pale.

Was he getting pressured? Was this masked man trying to imply that only just the deputy could already stop his fist so easily, let alone the leader who probably could kill him anytime he wanted?

His thoughts were running fast, making him get goosebumps. But when he was about to move his other hand, something just pointed at his forehead so quickly that he flinched.

CLANG!

“Don’t you dare move a finger, or I’ll take you down right here, Marcus,” the cold voice came from another thin girl. Her grey eyes looked serious with her words, while her finger was on the gun’s striker.

Marcus then had a second thought about attacking this guy here. The pressure made him gulp. He had never thought that a god of the Pride like him would get caught in a difficult situation by the gun on his face, the slim woman stopping his fist, and the sharp gaze of Vincent that made him get a shiver in his spine.

The scene made more than eighty thousand players here get excited, while the GM like Thada just kept observing, with no clue about how to stop them from turning this stage into a boxing ring.

“That’s not nice, you girls,” Vincent said amusedly. “He probably feels uncomfortable, getting teased like that. My apologies, Mister Marcus. These girls are a bit too impulsive, especially Waree. She doesn’t like someone trying to hurt me. Same as the latest monster, it got very unfortunate for attacking me, so she took it down. I’m not sure how many seconds it took for her to slash its throat, though.”

He spoke as he was putting down the girls’ hands before he bowed his head like he was terribly sorry from his heart.

“I think we should just get over it for today.” The plain voice made Marcus pause.

“...Y ...you think you can take me down.”

“No, I don’t. You’re the one who’s trying to take me down.” Vincent smiled. “Also, I’m actually tryna save your reputation here, Mister Marcus. I hope you still remember that there are many thousands of observers behind you.” His words made the other one draw his steps back.

Marcus had just realized that he made a big mistake by drawing the first attack, just because he got a little provoked. This masked man did not have many flaws like he looked. He could weaponize his words, fooling him to focus on himself rather than be careful of his supporters who were sharp-sighted and skillful.

Apart from that, Vincent had gotten the situation in control since the beginning!

This guy... he was obviously a devil!

“God damnit. I’ll see you later. Next time, it’ll be fun!” He ended the conversation before the buff figure turned and walked away without looking back. And the sassy one was just waving at his back like that.

“I’ll be looking forward to it until then, Mister Marcus.” He yelled behind the other one’s back on purpose to be annoying. But Marcus just clenched his teeth as he was walking to the hallway under the grandstand, disappearing with a skinny minion skipping feet behind his boss.

Three of the people who were left on the stage shook their heads wearily. Only Vincent was still laughing like a kid enjoying his game.

After Marcus left, the crowd started acclaiming and cheering throughout the dome. For a few moments, Vincent did something unexpected by handling Marcus, one of the four gods under his thumb. This had made his words about forming a legendary guild sound more possible, resulting in the audience starting to chant the name ‘Nemesis’ in unison.

The three members were standing to watch their plan become successful with a satisfied look on their faces. They caught each other’s eyes and smiled the widest smile of the day.

Who would have thought that all this was just the biggest scene play that was directed, produced, and acted by themselves? Starting with the hot air balloon carrying a dragon, until the possibility of someone trying to attack Vincent, who would have thought that these were all calculated by the little evil genius brain of Maysa!

‘Listen, Wisana, you have to say your lines exactly like I told you. Your character is a casual guy who can be naturally flirty, too. And the most important thing is that you’re smiley and chill. You have to keep your look of being a compromised person, but actually, you’re fearless and ready to encounter anything and anyone.’ Maysa’s words when they were in Gigi’s store were still echoing in Wisana’s brain until now. When he heard her for the first time, he remembered bursting into a laugh. Because he found that her brief was ridiculous.

‘Hey, May, we’re going to be there for just about twenty minutes, how on earth would I act all that? Are you serious?’

‘Believe me, you will.’ Maysa replied, smiling. ‘From my assumption, the GMs would be interviewing you and me for sure. And for the interview questions and how to answer them, I’ve estimated and listed out 30 items. You need to be able to recall them all.’

‘30 items?! Are you crazy? How can I memorize them all?’ Wisana cried.

‘Well, you don’t have to memorize them, just make sure you understand the main idea of each one. No need to answer exactly like how I’ve written it down.’ Maysa explained joyfully as she was handing the script paper to him. Then she glanced at Manoch.

‘And you, Ae, about 2 minutes after we get to the stage, that’s when your friend rides the balloon past above the dome. You got it?’

‘Yeah.’ Manoch affirmed, sounding bored. ‘But, damn, we really have to hire someone riding a quest courier to fool the audience? We even have to use the amazing balloon just to make a dragon’s corpse now. Aren’t we going too far, May?’

‘Believe me! This is our punching scene. If we don’t have this balloon carrying a dragon, Vincent’s script and mine will be unreliable.’

‘Okay, alright, but I think we’re already unreliable since this dragon balloon. If it gets busted, we’re game over right away.’

‘Don’t worry, it’s going to work surely. It’ll be dark by then, and it will float way too high for the crowd to see it clearly. You can fly this through, Ae.’ hearing that, Manoch just nodded helplessly.

‘And what about me, May?’ Waree asked. Her green eyes were sparkling with extreme excitement. Seeing her like that, the director smiled brightly, before handing a piece of paper to her.

‘Waree will be staying off the stage, getting ready to support us when any unexpected events occur.’

‘Occur ...what kind of event occurs, May!’ Wisana cried again.

‘Well, just in case. I guess that after we finish our lines, not everyone will like us. So, there could be someone who would hate us enough to pick a fight. And those who would, they have to be those who are impulsive and quite skilled.’

‘Wait, isn’t that like I’ll be like their target to eliminate?’

‘That’s the plan.’ Her answer made the stepsiblings catch eyes with each other confusedly.

‘Explain.’

‘Well, that one who would get to the stage has to disapprove of you so much, Wisana. Then you have to provoke them, getting in every nerve of theirs until they throw the first fist.’

‘Hey, that sounds hurt.’

‘No, because we have Nam.’ Maysa explained. ‘From what I saw in your class information, you’re the player who is more expert with defensive skills, right?’

‘Yup.’ Nam nodded in reply, getting a big smile from the chief of staff’s face.

‘So, here’s your role. When there’s someone there to attack Wisana, you need to jump in and defend him as fast as you can. This is important. Because if you fail this, then we’re over, too.’ Maysa said with a serious expression. ‘But if you succeed, we’ll get all the credit.’

Until this, the brother and sister started to see how Maysa’s plan was going to turn out, little by little. Wisana nodded slightly, before asking another question.

‘What if she could successfully defend me, but they wouldn’t stop just that, like they still insisted on punching me, something like that?’

‘Then, I’ll stop them. Don’t worry, I’m kind of an expert on threatening people, too. You just need to annoy them as much as you can. Also, look them in the eyes all the time. Most people would get awkward from being stared at. They wouldn’t be able to focus on what they should do. Trust me, they’d stop picking on us and back away eventually.’

‘You’re sure?’

‘Don’t worry, Na. If something happens, I’ll do my best to protect my brother.’ The confirmation made the man pause, before glancing at Waree who was giving him a cheerful smile. He made an uneasy face for a moment, then he held up his hand to rock her head softly.

‘I’m so glad to hear that. But wasn’t that more like my line to say? This looks like I’m too lame that I need my sister to protect me somehow.’

‘No, I’d never think that you’re too lame.’ The girl burst out laughing at how her brother was offended by this, making the brother scratch his face. Maysa looked at them, before letting out a long sigh.

‘Alright now, stop showing your brother-sister love. We don’t have much time left to prepare for our greatest stage play.’ Hearing this, everyone turned to look at each other, before letting out a laugh in unison.

Maysa had to call for attention by clearing her throat again.

‘So, go get ready, everyone. And I’ll call this mission, ‘The beginning of Nemesis’. May the luck be with you guys.’