While Dream Avenue were organizing their spoils, bursts of announcements finally came. Cyclone was still distracted by the loot, so Balm filled in all the information.
A server announcement appeared, congratulation Dream Avenue for the successful first kill of Mehphre.
The announcement only drew some attention. World bosses weren't exceedingly rare anymore and news of their discovery and subsequent slaying spread from time to time.
Only the name Dream Avenue made people pay more attention.
A few seconds later, however, someone mentioned The Only Way attempting the same boss yesterday and seemingly failing.
Getting wiped by a world boss wouldn't have been too embarrassing, but with Dream Avenue succeeding the following day it was a resounding slap to the face.
Somewhere, Silken shattered the cup of tea he had been drinking, his eyes filled with anger.
He didn't understand how this could have happened.
After discovering Mehphre yesterday he mobilized the entire guild and attempted to take down the world boss.
But with limited time left they were hasty and eventually failed. This morning he made some additional preparation and with the intel gathered during the first fight he was confident enough to go for a second attempt.
But after gathering the guild and giving an uplifting speech they returned to the Five Pillars Tribe only to be unable to find the boss.
So, how did Dream Avenue succeed?! How did they figure out the boss's location?! Could it be that Silva has that much more information about the game than me? But the Colville family is not that much more influential than our Delaney family. No, I need to ask Brayan!
Liam and his friends didn't know that Silken nearly faced an existential crisis. They were happily distributing the loot.
Most of the huge pile were various materials of considerable value but there were also many useful pieces of equipment.
The guild received five pieces of set equipment, two of them suitable for Silver Blade and Watchful Eye respectively. On top of that Mehphre dropped more than ten pieces of rare equipment and various uncommon and magic ones.
Cyclone and Balm grinned at each other realizing that the guild received a powerful boost before the federation tournament.
Due to all the joy Cyclone 'almost forgot' the set equipment for Silver Blade, only handing it over at the very end. Silver Blade grinned, dangerously narrowing her eyes, swearing to take revenge the next time they met.
Meanwhile Liam, despite not getting a noteworthy upgrade himself, was quite satisfied as he played around with a piece of black scale in his hand.
This was a rare material which Liam planned to use during his next smithing session. It might just be enough to finally push him to the rank of an intermediary blacksmith.
It took a while until the loot was finally distributed among the whole guild.
Cyclone let out a sigh as all the valuables she laboriously gathered were in the hands of other people again. But thinking that her guild had made a big step forward she quickly began to smile again. She took the lead to climb up the dune together with Balm, addressing everyone:
"We sincerely thank everyone for your hard work! Especially our fallen comrades. Together we slayed another world boss, claiming another achievement!"
"Yes!", continued Balm. "But we not only fought for the achievement. Let's return to Duabalis together and visit the guild association! It is time for Dream Avenue to upgrade to a rank two guild!"
"Haha, great!"
"We're the best!"
"Dream Avenue! Dream Avenue!"
The entire guild cheered excitedly, growing closer together, forming a real sturdy core, which would be the guild's foundation even after recruiting the next batch of members.
However, just as Cyclone and Balm wanted to leave, Liam sent them a brief message.
[Bleary Mirage: If you want to wait for a second there is still something brief to watch.]
[Cyclone: Hm, what is it?]
[Balm: Like a post-credit scene?]
[Bleary Mirage: Haha, I guess that's an apt description.]
[Cyclone: Couldn't you have told us earlier?]
Looking back at her guild, Cyclone felt quite awkward. She and Balm had just roused everyone's spirits and now they were to stay for another few seconds?
As she hesitated, the guild members were still conversing animatedly, not noticing her awkwardness just yet.
Luckily a change suddenly happened at that moment. A sharp-eyed young dwarven player pointed towards a spot at the sky, asking loudly:
"What's that?"
The player immediately attracted great attention. One by one all the players looked towards the sky.
Right then the black dot's size rapidly increased until it was large enough for a person to fit through. Looking at the swirling mass the players quickly realized that it was another spatial gate, this time entirely in black.
A figure swiftly emerged from the spatial rift. He had a pale skin and a skinny body. His once majestic feathers looked ruffled and multiple wounds could be seen adorning his body, unable to close because of the holy magic they contained.
It took Liam's friends a moment to recognize him. Watchful Eye was the first to reveal his identity:
"Is that Taragal?"
"Eh?"
The others were surprised, looking with squinted eyes.
"It's indeed the tyrant."
"He's actually still alive? Did he escape from the godspawn adjutant?"
"What is he doing here? Was he not content with turning his islands into hell? Does he now want to spread his horror in the Northern Desert?"
"Perhaps he seek to take revenge against us!"
The rest of the guild mostly recognized the nephilim as well.
Most of them had also worked for the Black Hand, going through the quest, and recognized Taragal. Some had only seen Fortune's videos. Some had done both. Overall Taragal could be considered quite well-known in Dream Avenue.
Now everyone was surprised by the tyrant's sudden appearance.
Taragal stood in the air, looking dishevelled and exhausted. He looked around frantically. Suddenly he cursed through gritted teeth:
"Damn, who killed Mehphre?! That's years of my work! If I ever get my hands on you..."
Listening from the ground, Cyclone whispered to Balm:
"Do you think we should give him a hint? Maybe he would chase after the dragon."
"I don't think he pays us any attention..."
While the two women where whispering, a spot of concentrated holy light suddenly appeared next to Taragal. The nephilim's eyes boiled with rage.
"Still chasing! Damn!"
Taragal instantly turned into a black flash and vanished towards the horizon.
A moment later the holy light formed a spatial rift and revealed the godspawn adjutant, apparently in pristine condition. She scanned the surroundings quickly before also turning into a flash, chasing after Taragal.
"Is it over?"
"Seems like it."
"How long do those two want to continue?"
"I guess the godspawn won't stop until Taragal falls."
"Quite fierce."
"And beautiful..."
"What? You couldn't see anything but armor."
"Sure, but that figure..."
"Hmpf! Men!"
The guild members discussed animatedly, some veering in strange directions. Meanwhile Cyclone and Balm inquired with Liam, confirming that this was the end of the show.
Finally, the guild began moving. It took them a while to return to the dilapidated temple housing the teleportation platform.
One player at a time Dream Avenue returned to Duabalis. Their gathering immediately attracted quite the attention.
Seeing that the guild didn't disperse but instead collectively walked down the street, many players decided to stick around.
Some were fans of Dream Avenue, some were only there for the fun, and others stuck around to gather information.
"What are they doing?"
"Maybe they are celebrating their victory."
"Are they heading for their guild hall?"
The spirited players discussed happily as they watched. Of those present, not many realized that the top guilds were on the verge of upgrading to rank 2, thus they couldn't make the connection.
Many thought that Dream Avenue would celebrate the kill of the world boss as they headed for the direction of their headquarter.
But instead of entering the building, even more players came out of it, joining their fellow guild members. Those were the profession players and those who had died against Mehphre, returning early.
Serena was at the front, skipping towards Liam with a smile.
"Big brother, you're the best! Look, I prepared new food to celebrate!"
The young girl laughed as she took out her newest creation which was a bowl of salad made from all kinds of exotic fruits and some thinly sliced meat, created by herself instead of relying on a recipe.
"Great. I'm looking forward to it!", praised Liam as he scrutinized the tasty looking food.
Silver Blade standing next to Liam smiled gently as she said:
"It wasn't only your brother who killed the world boss. I hope we will also be allowed to taste your food."
"Sure..."
Silver Blade smiled wryly as Serena sounded less than enthusiastic. Liam knew that his sister was still apprehensive towards Silva Colville. But he couldn't blame her for it as this was only natural.
While they spoke, the rest of the guild members also caught up. Now with almost all 350 players gathered Cyclone led everyone further through the city.
The action sparked more discussion among the watching players. Gradually it became apparent where Dream Avenue was heading.
"The guild association!"