Also: THAT PUNISHMENT WASN’T THERE BEFORE. Was it??
"FUDGE!" he screamed, feeling his blood pressure rising. The exclamation also attracted the nosy Panda to run to him. The spirit had access to all rooms, so he could easily enter his room, looking for gossip.
"What? What? What is it, what?"
"Explain to me why a previous mission suddenly changed deadlines?" he asked, explaining what he saw.
"Oh," the panda shrugged. "Flexible missions are flexible missions, la. Means something changed somewhere ."
Finn quickly looked at the other flexible mission to see if there were any changes.
[Active Mission (Flexible): Kill Thornspawn Creepers]
[Information: A large infestation of Thornspawn creepers has grown tens of kilometers from the Eastern Dungeon. They are ravenous by nature and have been rapidly spreading through various areas, slowly smothering native flora, which can prove detrimental to the area’s biodiversity. Please complete the quest within 5 months.
Time Limit: 5 months
Progress: 0/1000
Completion Requirement: Kill 1000 Thornspawn Creepers
Reward: 10,000 Hearth Points ]
His knees almost buckled, relieved that this one was the same at least.
However, the Brootrat mission definitely had months when he got it, too! How did it get reduced by so much?!
He was planning on chilling within the barrier and taking his time to slowly improve himself and earn more money. He also wanted to earn more points to gather some skills and things to improve his lifestyle.
It was a fact that he was weak amongst mobs without the barrier; it was wise for him to strengthen himself first before venturing out, especially since he might be alone.
This seemed like a great plan, especially when he found out there were Brootrats that would come to his area on their own! He could just swipe them down while in the barrier, right? That was what he thought.
Now... he was forced to go out! What the heck?
More than the time limit itself, he was more concerned about the fact that the details had changed.
Why!? Which bastard did this!?
...
A few kilometers away.
At this time, a certain adventurer party was squeezed together inside a small cave, bloody, pale, and shivering.
There were five people here right now. They came in different shapes, sizes, and... race? Visually, there were three humans, a half-elf, and a smaller, stouter one, a halfling.
They were all in poor condition. They were covered in blood mixed with their own and others’, there was no clean and undamaged spot in their clothes, and there was none among them who could still fight the monsters outside.
"What are we going to do now?" one of the bigger humans, a muscular blonde, rubbed his short hair in annoyance.
He then turned to another human, a thin man in his mid-20s with orange-blonde hair. "What do you propose we do?"
"Why are you asking me?"
"This is your fault!"
"If you’ve been doing your jobs," the thin man paused, looking at each of them. "Then maybe things would’ve been different!"
"You— you know how many people died of your carelessness?!" the blonde yelled, grabbing the man’s collar. "Those were our friends and colleagues!!"
"Let me go!" The other yelled. The staff on his hand lit up, and the bulky man’s teammates immediately flinched.
"Marcus! Watch out!"
But the man was too annoyed to notice condensed wind entering their small cave until it hit his chest.
BANG!
The big man flew a few meters, smack into the opposite wall.
"Urgh..." he gasped, taken by surprise. The others ran to him, while some glared at him and pointed their weapons at him. The mage sneered. "Weak."
This made the adventurers’ eyes redden. Obviously, they were all heavily injured, especially Marcus, who was their frontliner! But this bastard didn’t care about that now, did he?
BANG!
The mage gasped when he felt a smack come from the side. He, too, was put off-balance.
Marcus and the others looked and saw that it was a petite woman with dark hair. "If he’s weak, then you’re worse than a bug."
"What? How dare you— Have you forgotten I’m paying for everything in this mission?"
Everyone gave him a bad look. "Even if you hired us, you do not own us," this time, it was the half-elf, a beautiful woman with greenish hair, who spoke up.
The mage, Frago, softened a bit as he stared at her. "Leiah, you know I don’t mean it like that."
The woman looked visibly disgusted by his face. "Disgusting."
"You—"
Before he could approach, the black-haired woman from before blocked his way. "You should’ve hired mercenaries instead of the adventurers—one from your own Town, too.
"Why did you hire us and cause the deaths of two teams? Did you do it on purpose?"
"Are you idiots? Why would I risk my life? My life is too precious!" Frago said, voice rising. "That’s why I paid twice the normal amount. You enjoyed the money, and now that you got so much, you’re turning your back on me?"
The adventurers couldn’t believe their ears.
"That’s just money. How are you supposed to pay for the guildmates we lost because of your stupidity!?"
They were fortunate that their team was intact. The thing was, there were two other—much more powerful teams—and their lives were either unknown or gone, all because this bastard did something near the dungeons!
He even pushed someone to shield him! However, she did not dare say it lest she be his next victim.
Still—
BANG!
Smack!
Frago was thrown to the other side of the cave with a similar force to what he used before.
"YOU—Wait til my father hears about this!" Frago screamed, turning to the side to see the half-elf archer’s arrow pointed at him.
Fargo flinched but didn’t show any more weakness. Rather, he sneered at them.
"You know, I have an artifact that would capture the last moments of my life," he said. "Good luck surviving if you get hunted down by my family."
This made the adventurers pause, glaring at him, but no longer making moves. Some weapons were still up, though, and it seemed like they were seriously considering what to do if they killed him.
However, eventually, they did cave in, finally taking down their weapons. They had friends and families to care for, and they didn’t want a powerful family after them as well.
When they looked away in defeat, the man smirked, his chest puffed out in pride. "I thought so."