Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

“Yeah.” Shiu answered without a second thought, then froze. Looking puzzled, he asked, “How did you know?”

“Well… I’d heard a friend mention it before. Your names were on the dungeon record rankings.”

“I see…” Unfortunately, dungeon records couldn’t be hidden, so by now everyone was familiar with their IDs. Hopefully they wouldn’t end up attracting the attention of people with ill intentions.

“Let’s drop that for now. We should get moving first. I’ll give him a call later.”

“Mm.” Everyone nodded in agreement.

However, Yoyo remained rooted to the spot.

“Yoyo? Let’s go.” Dukeette patted her on the shoulder.

She shook her head instead. “The people from Wynwater City… don’t seem to be making any moves.” Just as she said, the plaza was filled with bewildered players standing around aimlessly.

“What’s going on? Isn’t Wynwater City sending troops? Every other city left ages ago!”
“No idea. Normally you could see the defending general standing on the city walls, but now he’s nowhere to be found.”
“What happened?”

Some players compared the usual appearance times of the key NPCs and were shocked to discover that they hadn’t shown up even once throughout the entire previous day.

Naturally, something this strange quickly spread across the forums, where countless theories emerged.

Some claimed the City Lord had been assassinated. Others joked that Aegis had run off with his sister-in-law. At a critical moment like this, however, nobody had the time to investigate the truth. Many players simply teleported to other cities to join the battle instead.

Meanwhile, the elf players from Silverglow sighed that fortune always came full circle. Every campaign seemed to have one city slacking off.

***

* **Noctilune.**

42%

From beginning to end, the Skeleton Warlord had only used two skills: Charge and Multi Strike. The rest of its combat relied entirely on instinctive fighting techniques.

Even so, Windblossom truly lived up to her reputation as the former third-place finisher in the national solo tournament. In just a few minutes, she had completely adapted to the boss’ attack patterns.

Her footwork became increasingly fluid, and it seemed as though she had an endless supply of bear traps. The moment the cooldown ended, another one was tossed onto the battlefield.

“So this is what a real top-tier player looks like… Taking on a Unique boss as if it were child’s play.” Inkseason couldn’t help but marvel. With skill like that, even another several years of practice might not be enough for him to reach the same level.

“…” Even Zane was left speechless in admiration. If he had been the one fighting with Starry instead, he would probably have been killed within two exchanges.

20%

After being blasted backward once again by Meteor Arrow, the Skeleton Warlord staggered back to its feet. It stared at Windblossom for a long while before finally shaking its head. “So… it’s not you…”

Then it leaped backward, abandoning the fight altogether.

“…” A pillar of golden light enveloped Windblossom, instantly restoring all of her HP back to full.

Although she found it odd that the boss had only used those two skills, there was no time to dwell on it. She could only focus on dealing with the enemies that came next.

With the Skeleton Warlord gone, there were no more Unique monsters left in this area.

Over the next half hour, Windblossom defeated three more Epic-rank opponents in succession. The original plan had been for Zane and Inkseason to take turns feeding kills, but without a Unique boss remaining, there was no longer any need for that strategy.

Sure enough, when the countdown finally ended, Windblossom successfully obtained the Azurewater Token, becoming the second Small Arena Champion after Starry.

Now… only the last one remained. Before that, though, he decided to check the system notifications.

Earlier, something had seemed to flash briefly, but since his attention had been fixed on the battle in the arena, he hadn’t paid it any mind. Now was the perfect opportunity to take a look.

The moment he did, he was completely stunned.

An assault on Flowerdance City!? Had those NPCs lost their minds? Hadn’t enough people already died in the previous battle? Leaving everything else aside, just two or three hundred Undead Centaurs from the final wave alone would be enough to trample back and forth through their entire army without ever slowing down!

Even if the Shadow Overlord had been seriously wounded, he still wasn’t someone just anyone could challenge. Not only was the Light Faction’s military an entire rank below their opponent’s, but they were also far inferior when it came to top-tier combatants.

After witnessing the gate guards of Noctilune, Zane had become even more convinced of that assessment.

Besides the world announcement, there were also messages from Shiu and the others. Zane quickly replied, “Shiu, what’s going on over there now?”

“Damn it, could you reply to messages a little faster next time?” The moment he asked, he was immediately greeted with a barrage of complaints.

“It wasn’t my fault, was it? It was an SS-rank quest! If I got distracted for even a moment, something could’ve gone wrong!”

“Fair enough. So where are you now?”
“I’ve basically finished the first phase. I can take a short break.”
“Then can you participate in this event? Or is it… too late?”
“Let me ask first. Hang on.”

Zane turned toward Windblossom. Her brows were tightly knitted, and it was obvious she was struggling with the same dilemma.

“What should we do? Should we head back?”

Inkseason looked utterly confused. “Huh? What do you mean we’re heading back? What happened?”

“You didn’t see it? The world announcement,” Zane asked.

“Huh? Nothing popped up for me.”

Could it be that world announcements weren’t shared between the two factions?

“…Go check the forums.”
“Huh? Alright, I’ll take a look.”

A short while later, Windblossom finally spoke. “The difference in strength between the two sides is simply too great. Even if they besiege Flowerdance, it’ll be extremely difficult for them to capture it. And… what worries me most is whether they’ll leave themselves vulnerable to a counterattack by committing all their forces to the siege.”

She was right. Those were exactly the concerns Zane had as well.

“I just looked through the information. Every city has a defending garrison of roughly five to ten thousand soldiers. But each expeditionary force took around four thousand troops with them.

“The announcement said the Imperial Capital flew into a rage, but no one has reached Level 50 yet, so nobody can activate the Imperial Capital’s teleportation point. It seems that every city suddenly received a high-ranking commander, and every single one of them is at least Legendary rank.

“And then there’s Wynwater. It still hasn’t made a single move.”

“…” Windblossom fell silent. About three minutes later, she took a deep breath. “Let’s head back first. The Small Arena tournament will last for three days and three nights, and this is only the first day. As long as this event doesn’t drag on for too long, we’ll still have time to come back and finish this quest.”

“Sounds like a good plan.” Zane nodded in agreement.

“Hey, hey! What about me? What about me!?” Inkseason had also caught wind of the news, but he belonged to the Dark Faction. He couldn’t exactly go over there and farm player points, could he? If he did, he’d probably end up becoming everyone’s primary target.

Besides, he hadn’t even obtained the Azurewater Token yet.

Zane looked him up and down before suddenly saying in a serious tone, “Inkseason.”

“W-What is it?”
“Interested in being a spy?”

***

They hurriedly left Noctilune. Fortunately, the guards weren’t particularly strict about people entering or leaving. As long as someone had vouched for you, nobody would stop you. The two guards had excellent memories. They remembered that Xaelia had personally guaranteed Zane and Starry’s entry, so they simply let the three of them leave without question.

Inkseason followed the trio out of the city.

“I won’t get blacklisted by the Dark Faction for doing this… will I?”
“You’re asking that after you’ve already followed us out? Once you’re aboard the pirate ship, there’s no getting off.” Zane laughed.
“Holy crap, don’t scare me like that! If this account gets ruined, there’s no way I could catch up by starting over!”
“Don’t overthink it. It’s not like you’re betraying your allies right in front of them. If we’re talking through the party chat, who’s going to know?”
“Alright…”
“Don’t worry. Didn’t you say there was a boss in a hidden zone that you couldn’t beat? Once we’ve dealt with this, we’ll help you clear it.”

Inkseason’s eyes immediately lit up, and he finally relaxed. “Deal! Leave it to me!”