After Leo's exact location was exposed by the ship operators, the various righteous faction players quickly mobilized response teams into action.
All the nearby towns and villages that surrounded the area were alerted, and operating guilds within them were asked to prepare for war.
Everyone in the world of Terra Nova Online knew that 'TheBoss' alone was akin to a walking army, and hence no-one took him lightly, however, nobody was scared of dying at his hands either.
This was a chance for the righteous faction players to overshadow his legend and bring the strongest player in the game to his knees and hence, everyone was enthusiastic to do it.
Apart from the nearby villages and major roads, there were patrol squads deployed in the forests and small agricultural trails as well, to ensure that 'TheBoss' had no shot of moving past their perimeter unnoticed.
Overall, a massive man-hunt began, with there being an unsaid understanding between all righteous faction players to confirm Leo's location on the forums, once any of them encountered him.
This meant that, regardless of Leo moving on, or killing an opponent, as long as he encountered one of them, his location was sure to be exposed, as after respawning from death, the righteous faction player that he killed, would create a post confirming his last known whereabouts, helping others nearby to zero-in on him.
What this essentially meant was that Leo had to slip-past them all without killing them, going into full stealth mode, to keep them all guessing till the very end.
"Master, in-case we face a small group of opponents and can get past them without killing them. Don't kill them as far as possible. Let's remain stealthy and move like the wind" Leo instructed, as for the first half an hour of the team's journey into the righteous faction lands, they avoided any and all fights as per Leo's instructions.
With all three of them capable of using [Vanish] they circled around enemy patrols without revealing their location and managed to cover a lot of ground, unnoticed.
However, once they reached the small village of Duffledem, they could not avoid a fight anymore.
With around 250-300 men guarding the village, Duffledem was incredibly hard to slip-past unnoticed, as the players in Duffledem had surprisingly covered the entire village roads in a light layer of wheat flour, to make sure that incase someone that they could not see, did indeed step onto the roads they would be able to detect him nonetheless.
In a way, it was a genius strategy, as without them covering the entire village in flour, Leo and Ben would most likely have used [Vanish] to breeze past, however, they could not do so anymore.
"The rooftops of this village are made of straw and wood, we cannot jump from rooftop to rooftop to cross this village.
Looks like we must butcher our way through" Ben said, as he studied the village from a distance, feeling shocked to see them waste such a large quantity of flour, just to lay out a trap.
"Yes, I guess we can't avoid this fight, but we can make it quick" Leo said, looking at the map of the world, and calculating just how long it would take the other troops to converge on their location once the fight broke off.
If possible, Leo would never have preferred to travel on a well paved conventional road, however, unfortunately, the paved roads that went through towns and villages were the fastest roads leading to the capital.
If he tried to go through the forests and swamps, his travel time to reach the capital would increase by triple as much, and with his location being exposed every two hours, taking such a dangerous route was akin to a death sentence.
After thoroughly contemplating all his choices, Leo eventually came to the conclusion that despite the risks, traveling on the conventional roads was the best choice for him, which meant that he had to go through Duffledem, even though it meant starting a fight.
"Dumpy…. It's time" Leo said, as Dumpy leapt from his shoulders and assumed a 12 feet tall body, while also unsheathing his dual blades.
"Fret not Lord Father, this lowly one will not slow you down" Dumpy said confidently, as Leo gave him an encouraging nod.
With the three of them together, there was no chance in hell that a meager 300 men could stop them, which was why Leo headed into Duffledem with the confidence to conclude the next fight within the next five minutes at best.
**********
(Meanwhile within Duffledem)
Two players stood near the outskirts of the village, leaning on their spears as they scanned the quiet surroundings.
Despite their attempts to look composed, a strong undercurrent of tension hung in the air.
"Man, can you believe it?" one of them muttered, kicking at the layer of flour covering the ground. "The guildmaster's gone too far this time. He forcibly took the villagers' grain stockpile and used it for this ridiculous stunt. These people barely have enough to survive, and we're out here wasting their food like it's nothing."
The other player glanced at him with a raised brow. "Yeah, but think about it. Isn't it kind of genius? TheBoss relies on that invisibility trick of his. This way, even if we can't see him, he can't just walk through without leaving tracks. It's the only way we could hope to catch someone like him."
"Still," the first player replied, his voice laced with doubt. "It feels wrong, you know? I mean, sure, TheBoss is dangerous, but taking food from starving villagers? There's gotta be a better way than this."
Before the second player could respond, a faint whistle cut through the air. The first player staggered, his words abruptly silenced as a dagger embedded itself in his throat.
His companion barely had time to process what had happened before he himself collapsed to the ground, his avatar disintegrating into particles as a cold system notification popped up:
[You have been killed.]
There was no warning, no time to react to any signs of threat, before they suddenly lost their lives, however, although they died and lost a few levels.
The moment they revived at the nearest re-spawn point, they typed a message on the global forums, alerting the world about what they witnessed.
"CONFIRMED SIGHTING OF THEBOSS! Location: Duffledem. Fight currently underway. Prepare to converge!" One of them typed with trembling hands, as the notification hit the forums like a thunderclap, sending a wave of activity rippling through the righteous faction.
Within moments, messages of excitement, plans for ambushes, and cries for reinforcements flooded the thread, as thousands of players who were on the ready to move, began to ride towards Duffledem, eager to catch 'TheBoss', before he slipped away.
Many knew that they were too far as of now to effectively reach 'TheBoss' before the fight concluded, however, they mobilized immediately nonetheless, as they wished to stay hot on TheBoss's trail.
Although not yet, they had faith that their chance to fight him would eventually come, and hence with an eye towards they future, they began to converge near his position just the same.