Chapter 245: Bewilderment

Seeing them celebrating their victory in their first large-scale war against demons, Max shook his head and smiled.

He took out his communication device to deliver the news to Matilda, and the latter happily informed him of the victories on Maurice’s and Gareth’s sides.

They had successfully killed the demon armies that crossed through the space rifts, leaving not a single one of them to flee elsewhere.

This was the Demon Hunters Guild’s first large-scale war that threatened an entire province, and they had successfully defended it against the demon invasion.

Max’s gaze landed on the dead environment left behind by the devastation caused by the demons’ demonic mana. He watched as the Authority of Salvation gathered to cleanse the land.

Soon enough, life would return, and the scars of the great war against the demons would become difficult to spot.

Even so, for the Mirefall Province, today would go down in history.

It was the day that proved that humanity could still fight and defend itself against an invasion by the forces of a Demon Lord of Wrath.

Max wanted the good news to spread.

And he was the first person to do so.

"Tonight!"

A single word from him silenced the celebrating Demon Hunters.

They eagerly focused their attention on him.

Max smiled brightly. "The Demon Hunters Guild, in cooperation with the Imperial Army, has successfully prevented the demons from destroying the Mirefall Province.

Only the villages in the Southern Frontier were affected by the demons.

But there were no civilian casualties.

We have truly defended the Mirefall Province.

Today will go down in history!"

The Demon Hunters shouted at the top of their lungs, cheering alongside their Guildmaster.

Angelo smiled as well, laughing to his heart’s content.

Seeing his reaction naturally evoked a sense of satisfaction among the Demon Hunters who had fought alongside him.

Although some were saddened to discover that their friends were among the casualties, they simply believed that their fallen comrades were celebrating with them, even in the afterlife.

Today was truly a remarkable day—not just for the Mirefall Province, but for the entire Empire.

However, there were Guilds that could not fully celebrate.

In the Verdantreach Province, Lewis was listening to the reports of his tactician.

"We have successfully defended against the demon invasion.

We have killed every demon that tried to invade.

Half of our members were among the casualties, but they can return in three days."

Lewis continued to stare at Max’s name in first place.

He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, his long blonde hair fluttering in the wind.

As the tactician remained quiet, he suddenly heard Lewis question him.

"If that is the case, why do he and his Guild stand at the top?

Are they facing demons far stronger than us?"

The tactician thought for a while before replying, "Likely. Given that the demon the first player killed came from the southwestern province, the Demon Lord of Wrath’s forces might have focused heavily there.

Meanwhile, the other provinces might have faced the demon invasion from the Demon Lord of Wrath as well, but it might not have been as terrifying as what the Mirefall Province faced."

Lewis said, "It doesn’t make sense. How are they able to reach first place if what they faced was more terrifying than what we had?"

The tactician was silent for a while.

He finally opened his mouth and said, "Guildmaster, we should not forget that there are many high-ranking NPCs in the Demon Hunters Guild. As far as we know, there are five known A-rankers there."

The Guildmaster finally tore his gaze away from the leaderboard and stared at the lifeless environment from the watchtower post in the Southern Frontier.

" The Demon Hunters Guild has NPCs, while we have players.

Players who can return every three days because of the first world event.

Even then, if we still fail to surpass Max and his Guild despite having an advantage in numbers because of our players, then there must be something that needs to be changed in our Guild as well."

His firm and absolute tone caused the tactician to feel a chill running down his spine.

At the same time, he wondered if Max and his Guild could hold on against the demon forces until the end of the first world event with only NPCs as members.

Players could be resurrected, but NPCs could not.

If Max drained his members, his Guild would be erased from the leaderboard because it could no longer function without members.

Just as the tactician was thinking negatively about Max’s future, a sudden thought arose in his mind.

What if he can pull it off somehow?

What if he manages to survive and forces the Demon Lords outside the Empire to retreat?

Although his future is already certain to be doomed after provoking a Demon Lord, the fact that he could come out victorious when the first world event ends means that the Guildmaster will be infuriated and will indeed make some changes to the Guild.

The tactician immediately thought of a way to convince the Guildmaster to be rational, but he held himself back.

He knew his Guildmaster was not someone who made decisions based on emotions.

However, the fact that the first player’s actions had greatly influenced the Guildmaster’s understanding stunned the tactician.

He had admired Lewis ever since he started playing virtual games.

To the tactician, Lewis was almost like a godlike figure in the VMMORPG world.

But here he was, struggling greatly and seemingly clinging to the first player’s shadow.

Just who is he?

The tactician thought.

It was not only Lewis who realized that something was amiss on the first night of the war against the demons.

Aaron himself felt that something was strange. Despite successfully killing every demon that tried to invade and stealing a lot of kills from the Imperial Army, including kills that would otherwise have gone to his own guild members, they had still failed to reach first place.

They didn’t even reach second place.

Aaron was infuriated.

Primarily because he was a Berserker, his accumulated rage became unrestrained until he finally vented his frustrations on his guild members, who were also Berserkers, by fighting against them in a group.

Which showed just how strong Aaron was...