Genius Chapter 36: The Oriole Behind

Chapter 36: The Oriole Behind

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Su Mo hesitated for a moment and casually sent a question mark over.

[ZenSlasher: I’ve got some conflicts with the Temple of the Gods. If the guild members see the live broadcast, it might cause trouble for you guys.]

Before the raid, ClearWind had only mentioned a few words about ZenSlasher’s situation. He remembered that she had conflicts with the management of the Temple of the Gods and got kicked out because of it. After that, she was slandered and hunted down. ClearWind had mentioned this incident without any evidence, but since the Temple of the Gods had a large number of people, each person’s word could turn falsehood into truth. At least in their interactions within this dungeon, ZenSlasher had left him with the impression of being a quiet girl who played the assassin class very well.

“ClearWind, are you saying that the Temple of the Gods is allied with Eternal Flame?” Su Mo asked ClearWind.

Yu Zhen noticed Su Mo’s expression and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Su Mo said, “Nothing, just received a message.”

ClearWind casually closed the live broadcast and said, “Yes, bro, you can check alliance messages through the guild interface. The Temple of the Gods and Eternal Flame belong to the same alliance. Oh, alliance means that they fight together in the wilderness or in guild battles, sharing the same front line, occasionally helping each other with resources or in fights.”

Apple was also part of the Abyss faction. Upon hearing them discussing the Temple of the Gods, he said, “The Temple of the Gods hasn’t been doing well recently. They used to be a big guild ranked fifth, but then their guild master had some real-life issues and temporarily stopped playing. Now it’s managed by their vice leader, and let me tell you, once the vice leader took over, they started causing trouble, the management became chaotic. Our guild is hostile towards them. Honestly, during guild battles, their current command is really bad. They lack experience and love to trash talk. They can’t take a loss and just resort to insulting others.”

ChatMasterWu chuckled, “They used to be called the Temple of the Gods, now they’re just the Madhouse of Insults.”

“They’re only able to maintain their position in Celestial Horizon because they seized the early resources in the game,” ScarletFruit said unhappily upon hearing about Eternal Flame, “And you know what, bro? Eternal Flame is getting beaten badly now, right? They even have time to surf the internet and several times they’ve left sarcastic comments under my trading posts, full of sourness, especially that EverFaithful guy, always accusing me of sucking up. So what if I suck up? I, ScarletFruit, am willing to rely on others!”

But if others are sarcastic, he’s not a pushover either. The next day, he blacklisted all the players from Eternal Flame in his stores, adding them to the StarNetID blacklist. If they were bound to the same ID, they could forget about buying anything from his stores.

Su Mo corrected him promptly, “I don’t have money to feed you.”

ScarletFruit said, “Bro, I think we can be closer…”

He had just finished speaking when he suddenly received a message.

[The Temple of the Gods] has set your guild [Get Rich Soon] as hostile. 

[Eternal Flame] has set your guild [Get Rich Soon] as hostile too.

ScarletFruit: “…Wow! They set us as hostile right after I finished speaking!”

Apple was surprised, “Bold move. Do you want to join our Alliance, Fruit?”

“Forget it, forget it. I’m just a small guild,” ScarletFruit knew the requirements of attendance in a big Alliance and had no interest in getting into fights. 

ClearWind said, “So arrogant. Fruit, invite me to your guild. I’ll take care of them in the wilderness.”

Everyone in the team was still focused on the dungeon. ScarletFruit’s voice wasn’t exactly low, so everyone around could hear. ZenSlasher had been messaging, but stopped when she heard them discussing. Now she heard that ScarletFruit’s guild had been set as hostile. “Sorry for causing trouble.”

Su Mo replied, “No need to apologize.”

“Why are you apologizing?” ScarletFruit pulled ClearWindIsHere into the guild and said, “We already had conflicts with them. Whether they set us as hostile or not doesn’t make much difference. Besides, our guild only has one warehouse with nothing in it, so we’re not afraid of them taking building resources.”

ZenSlasher hesitated for a moment but apologized again.

ScarletFruit and ClearWind were not used to receiving apologies from a girl. Moreover, they had let people into the guild knowing the situation. The person was just a consumer boss, there was no need for apologies at all.

The Desert Inn dungeon was about to close, so everyone was getting ready to leave. At this point, the warrior SnackTimeBear in the team said, “My friend said there are three teams from the Temple of the Gods in the Northern Desert. They might have seen the livestream and are coming for us. Let’s be careful.”

The Desert Inn was a safe area, but the Northern Desert wasn’t. They had just finished a limited-time event, so they had a lot of demon points on them. If they died in the wilderness, they could lose points, and possibly lose unbound equipment. These people were prepared.

“Three teams? Any intel?” Su Mo asked SnackTimeBear.

The bear said, “I asked my friend to send me a screenshot.”

Soon the other side sent a screenshot. All three teams were full, with levels above 70, and there were two managers among them.

“These accounts are all good, with three ranked accounts,” Apple said, “The elite teams of the Temple of the Gods.”

Su Mo asked, “Fat?”

Apple didn’t understand, “Fat?”

Yu Zhen chimed in, “Fat, meaning lots of points for ranked accounts.”

ScarletFruit quickly added, “Bro, the elite teams of big guilds, each one of them is fatter than regular players.”

“We can consider making some profit,” Su Mo said, then looked at the others, “Do you guys farm points? Today’s point tasks haven’t been done yet.”

Others: “???”

SubmergedFish said, “Currently, my guild is a family and friends guild. I don’t want to inconvenience my friends, but I’ll borrow an account to help you guys.”

ChatMasterWu replied, “Darn it, why am I in Eclipse? I also want to earn points. I’m almost catching up to ReturnToSimplicity on the leaderboard! Wait a minute, I’ll ask my underlings for an Abyss assassin account.”

The bear added, “Can you add my friend to the task? He’s a healer.”

“It’s a war map outside, killing people from opposing factions to earn points is normal,” Su Mo glanced at the time. “Perfect, we’ll probably finish just in time for dinner.”

The Northern Desert was a war map. Most of the people in their team were from the Abyss faction, except for the assassin ChatMasterWu. When they heard about blocking people for tasks, several in the team got excited. Su Mo opened the game’s map, requested the terrain map of the Northern Desert from customer service, and reorganized the team, forming a group of 11.

As the Desert Inn map closed, everyone moved from the dungeon to the first floor of the Desert Inn. They used ClearWindIsHere’s lifetime free privilege to eat and wait for SubmergedFish and ChatMasterWu to switch accounts. It took about ten minutes to gather everyone.

During this time, not only the members of the Temple of the Gods but also ScarletFruit’s old enemy EverFaithful, with a team of their own, were waiting outside. In total, there were four teams, totaling 20 people.

After examining the map, Su Mo separated the two assassins into their own team. “The resurrection point in the Northern Desert is a bit far, so they probably won’t make it in time for support. The demon point rewards decrease gradually as the number of people in the team increases. Let the two assassins guard the resurrection point. If anyone resurrects, just take out the squishy ones.”

ScarletFruit asked, “What if they don’t resurrect?”

“They will,” Su Mo replied. “How many times were you been chased by Eternal Flame’s people before in the wilderness?”

ScarletFruit reported a number.

“Alright,” Su Mo nodded. Then he turned to Apple. “You said your guild is hostile to them, right?”

“Yeah,” Apple confirmed. “What’s up?”

Su Mo closed the map. “I have a win-win opportunity. Are you guys interested?”

***

Outside the Desert Inn, members of the Temple of the Gods and Eternal Flame were growing impatient. Leading the Temple of the Gods this time was one of the guild’s managers, named KillerBlade, a physical Swordsman. The team he led consisted of a complete setup of warriors, healers, Swordsman, Daoist priests, and array masters. Before coming here, he had watched the livestream and knew that Momo and the others were skilled, but PvE and PvP operations were two different things. They had blocked numerous teams in the wilderness with just a few people, so dealing with them wouldn’t be an issue.

“They haven’t come out yet?” KillerBlade asked.

One of his underlings replied, “The livestreamer’s broadcast has ended, but they’re still inside the Desert Inn. Boss, could they be chickening out and not coming out?”

KillerBlade sneered, “Even if they don’t come out, it’s fine. Once we post about it later, everyone will know that this group is a bunch of cowards, just showing off in PvE.”

EverFaithful was quick to flatter him.

Before long, the minion responsible for scouting returned, “Boss, they’re coming out! Momo is leading a group with ScarletFruit.”

“Where’s ZenSlasher? Did she run away?” KillerBlade sneered. “What a coward. Let’s kill Momo first and see if we can get some loot. They probably don’t know we’re blocking them, so they likely haven’t stored anything in the inn’s warehouse.”

In the Northern Desert, where sandstorms raged, the group positioned themselves at the blind spot of a small sand dune, watching as a group emerged from the Desert Inn.

When the group was almost within their attack range, KillerBlade gave the command, “Attack together!”

The group rushed out from the edge of the sand dune, with the array master unleashing a control skill, successfully controlling the front few people. KillerBlade exclaimed in delight, “Got them! Quickly, kill them all!”

However, just then, a sudden group dispel fell upon Momo and the others, instantly releasing those under control. Array master UnchainedWanderer and summoner Momo immediately cast control skills, before KillerBlade could even curse, a group sword formation landed on them, directly reducing their health by 20% and inflicting a 5-second stiffness effect.

Standing atop a high point, the magic swordsman Apple whistled in satisfaction, “Nice! The sword formation hit seven of them.”

“What’s going on!?” KillerBlade raised his head and saw another team emerging from the sand dune where they had been hiding. “It’s an ambush! Healers, dispel and heal! Archers, shoot down the magic swordsman!”

But as their team broke free from control, they were immediately hit with successive control spells from the mage. In a corner they couldn’t see, the physical swordsman ClearWindIsHere charged into the backline, targeting the Daoist priest with a flurry of attacks, scattering their backline. With the coordination of the array master and summoner, ClearWindIsHere directly killed two squishy Daoist priests and even managed to eliminate an archer.

ClearWindIsHere shouted, “Bro, cast silence! I’ll go kill that array master.”

UnchainedWanderer accurately applied silence, and ClearWind charged in for another round of attacks.

KillerBlade urgently ordered, “Healers, heal!”

The healer replied, “Our skills are sealed.”

KillerBlade asked, “Where’s the archer!? Hasn’t the magic swordsman on high ground been taken care of yet?”

The lone archer replied, “There’s an obstacle blocking our line of sight. We can’t reach him from here.”

The lineup of the Temple of the Gods could be considered a fully equipped team. Initially, during the ambush, they had divided into two groups: the front line warriors led by the physical swordsman, with the backline consisting of Daoist priests, array masters, and mages for damage output, supported by four healers. However, they never expected that although they only saw a frontal attack coming, they would be hit by a group damage skill from the magic swordsman on high ground. Following that, the sudden appearance of the physical swordsman ClearWindIsHere and the mage Mewminati from the rear caught them off guard. Their front line was controlled, while their back line was under attack. In no time, chaos ensued within their team.

Furthermore, the DPS from Momo’s side was exceptionally clear—they targeted control, healing, and warriors first, then used their burst skills to quickly eliminate their ranged DPS. In just a few minutes, seven out of their team of 20 were instantly killed.

KillerBlade remained calm. “Their burst is gone, we can still fight! Let’s focus on killing their healers first.”

Following his command, the warriors and physical swordsman from the Temple of the Gods charged towards Momo’s backline healers. However, just at that moment, the two healers explicitly began running away. They activated their escape skills and ran past the warriors and physical swordsman, completely ignoring the others.

KillerBlade was momentarily stunned. After chasing them for a few steps, he realized something was wrong. But when he turned back, he found that the DPS from Momo’s team were fully focused on eliminating their healers, while the summoner and array master provided long-range control, and the physical swordsman and mage dealt continuous damage. Without their burst skills, they were easily focused down and their healers were killed.

His command not only failed to turn the tide but also led to others using up their powerful skills, creating openings in their team formation, which were exploited by their opponents, resulting in a wipeout. With 20 against 9, they had no advantage. In the end, all their ranged DPS and healers were dead.

“Quickly respawn!” KillerBlade roared over the channel. “Come back and flank them from behind, don’t give them a chance!”

There was silence in the voice channel, and the reinforcements were nowhere to be seen.

KillerBlade demanded, “Where are the reinforcements?”

His minion replied, “There are assassins at the respawn point, we’re blocked!”

The minion added, “ZenSlasher and an unknown assassin are here. Every time we respawn, they kill us.”

KillerBlade hadn’t anticipated this situation at all. He was about to call for support from the guild when suddenly a warning popped up in their guild chat. At this critical moment, one of their guild’s bases was under attack. There were fewer players online in the afternoon than at night, and with the new dungeon opening soon, two main teams were planning to rush through it. Half of the elite team members were taken out by him. At this moment, there were hardly any players watching over the guild base.

He was dumbfounded. Urgent messages from the vice guild master flooded in, questioning him about the situation and why he hadn’t defended the base when it was under attack.

Just then, the summoner’s final blow landed on him, and he finally died. He hastily respawned at the designated point. However, when he arrived, he found his teammates lying on the ground. Some had just respawned and were immediately killed again, while others were still on cooldown and unable to respawn. Standing over their bodies were two assassins.

KillerBlade exclaimed, “Are you guys stupid?! Respawn together, don’t respawn alone! Wait for your teammates to respawn together.”

As he waited for his respawn cooldown, he noticed more people approaching from a distance. The summoner and others who had just killed them in the Northern Desert were driving them out. Not only that, but there were also many Abyss faction players joining in the commotion. If they respawned, it would be difficult to escape from such a surround…

Meanwhile, the vice guild master kept urging, “We can’t hold the base anymore! Where are you guys? Hurry up and surround them!”

KillerBlade struggled to respond, “We can’t get out.”

They were completely trapped at the respawn point in the Northern Desert. 

The respawn point was surrounded by people, and KillerBlade and his team didn’t dare to respawn individually.

Su Mo was content with settling the demon points he had just earned. This group of people was truly lucrative. Considering they were only wiped out once and killed a few individually, the points obtained were enough to complete the basic tasks. It seemed like these teams often lurked and killed people in the wilderness; otherwise, they wouldn’t have accumulated so many points.

“We’re just short of a few points. I’ll go kill some demon monsters later to fulfill today’s point task.” Su Mo looked at Apple. “How much longer until your guild’s ambush?”

Apple replied, “Ten minutes. Thanks, boss. This ambush was beautifully executed.”

Su Mo glanced at the time and realized that after completing the task, it would be time for dinner.

With ten minutes to spare, he decided to open the clearance treasure chest that hadn’t been opened yet. As he opened it, two flashes of gold and one purple light flashed in the package. Su Mo was a bit surprised; his luck seemed to be pretty good at the moment.

[Congratulations! You’ve obtained a rare material: Heavenly Cloud Silk x1.]

[Congratulations! You’ve obtained a quest item: Fate’s Thread.]

[Congratulations! You’ve obtained a special skill: Limited Enhancement.]