Second World

Near Palgrost's border, a massive army was sieging a border town. The army was a combination of ethereal, draconian, and zombie troops. The town stood no chance. It fell in a short time.

Master used that border town as a foothold to establish the supply line he had built from Liguritudum. This would be their base before they moved deeper toward the capital, Balgadur.

"The mission to disrupt the peace between Themisphere and Verremor has failed?" Master asked with discontent.

"I'm sorry. The small company of the Raretooth tribe we sent for the mission had been discovered and routed. Some are even captured. I don't think we can stop them from finding out about our involvement," Linda reported.

She was the one who sent the Raretooth tribe. She had the orcs gathered at Giggragh Village before they headed to Themisphere's border settlements. She instructed the orcs to enter a few at a time. If so many Raretooth tribes entered Themisphere's settlements at the same time. It would be suspicious.

One thing she didn't take into account was the Raretooth tribe's hatred for the human race. They were also an unruly race. When they entered the border settlements, they caused trouble. They committed vandalism and theft. Linda had quickly sent instructions to rein them in.

The situation was handled, but Linda didn't expect this to cause Jack and John's eyes to turn to these settlements.

When Liguritudum's army crossed into Palgrost's territory, Linda was ready to have the Raretooth tribe go full throttle on creating political tension between Themisphere and Verremor. But only after a few murders, the Raretooth tribe was already found out and captured. She never expected her ploy to end so abruptly after it had just started.

"Hmph! Such incompetence. They didn't even make it last a bit longer so it will at least have some effects," Master harrumphed. "What about the chain kingdom faction quest to disrupt the peace of Verremor nation?"

"It is still ongoing. When the quest is completed, they won't have the time to deal with us even if they know about our involvement from the captive orcs."

"Will the captured orcs reveal the plan?"

"No, only Abasi knew about this chain kingdom faction quest. He made contact with the guild he used to associate with in Verremor. So, that plan is still safe."

"What about Motherboard? Any news from her?" Master asked.

"The other side was happy with our tips. He promised to aid us," Linda answered.

"That one is a little slippery, so we have to be careful," Master said. "But we have something he wants, so he should hold up his end of the bargain for the time being."

Linda nodded.

"In that case, we shouldn't worry about interference on this conquest. Let us march to Balgadur!" Master declared.

*

Jack spent the days inside the kingdom's training cave. The one in the guild only had monsters up to level 70. They were already too weak for him. He used the one in the kingdom where he could fight monsters up to level 80.

In between his training, he also entered the Ice Throne Legacy dungeon and the Ancient Battleground Legacy dungeon in Heavenly Citadel.

At his current level, he was strong enough to attempt the Hard difficulty of both legacy dungeons.

Aside from the monsters' levels, the Hard difficulty of the Ice Throne Legacy dungeon was roughly the same as the medium one except the rate of freezing was faster. However, current players already had a collection of equipment with high elemental resistance. The guild's cooks and scrollmakers also provided those who entered the dungeon with food and magic scrolls that boosted their ice resistance.

As for Jack, he simply set his cloak's element to ice and he had ice resistance surpassing anyone who entered with him. When the others were getting slowed by the time they reached the dungeon boss, Jack could still move normally.

The boss of the Ice Throne Legacy dungeon in hard difficulty was the Ice Demon King. It was a level 75 mythical-grade demon.

Its appearance was bigger and taller than the Ice Demon Fiend. It wore an ice crown and its body was constantly shrouded by an ice mist. As if it was wearing a cloak made of mist.

Jack asked everyone to stay back as he transformed into Supreme Dragon Form and clashed with the Ice Demon King. He had no problem fighting a mythical-grade opponent of the same level, but the Ice Demon King was categorized as boss, so it was slightly stronger than the common mythical grade.

Even so, Jack completely obliterated it once he used the Strength of Hope. The demon couldn't land a single hit on Jack. Aside from because Jack was too fast, it was also because on the rare occasion that an attack might hit, Jack's cloak went and intercepted that attack, nullifying the damage.

The Ice Demon King used its ultimate skill in its final struggle. The skill was similar to the one used by the ice demon bosses in the lower difficulties, which was the ice spear rain. Except this version's ice spear rain has larger and more ice spears, hence higher damage.

Jack gathered everyone around him and then used his cloak's active skill. The Elemental God Barrier in the shape of an ice shell was formed around Jack. The countless ice spears battered this shell but none managed to break it. Even after all the ice spears had fallen, the ice shell was still standing.

The Ice Demon King fell soon after.

They got a bunch of loots but nothing phenomenal even after Jack used his Runestone of Luck. The most remarkable loot was the Heart of Ice Demon King. This Heart of Ice Demon King could be used with his pendant to summon the Ice Demon King, but he did not need it since the Archdemon Lord was a stronger summon.

He remembered Tip once mentioned that this item could be used to craft a stronger Ice Cannon Tank, so he donated it to the guild.

The hard difficulty of Ice Throne Legacy dungeon had a cooldown of three days. He could use it one more time before he left for Palgrost.