Hazel kept her Astral Eyes trained on the hidden players she just spotted, carefully monitoring their movements in case they attempted to try anything. Meanwhile, she spoke to Astrid through both the Chat Room and out loud.

  “So, do you think my plan with the Spider Queen is worth a shot?”

  [Hazel Thatcher: At least twenty enemies are surrounding us. All of them players.]

  Astrid spared a glance at Hazel before following along.

  “I don’t know. I think it would be better for us to simply run away while we can.”

  [Astrid Skogr: We should be able to take them if we can catch them by surprise and lower their numbers a bit.]

  “Even if we did, it wouldn’t solve anything. We would still have the Spider Queen chasing us.”

  [Hazel Thatcher: They’re too spread out for us to do a considerable amount of damage to their numbers.]

  “You should remember that the Spider Queen is likely a couple of dozen levels higher than us.”

  [Astrid Skogr: What about their levels? Are they weak or strong?]

  Hazel took a moment to use her Astral Eyes and inspect the players’ status to see their levels. For the most part, a good majority of their enemies were pretty weak compared to them. But she noticed that there were a few that concerned her.

  “Which is why I’m suggesting that we use the spider swarm to our advantage to even the odds.”

  [Hazel Thatcher: Most of them are barely past level ten while a few are a couple of levels short of level 20. And before you ask, the high-level ones are not grouped together, so we can’t ambush one and deal with the rest along with the other low-level ones.]

  Astrid clicked her tongue, expressing her frustration, but making it look like she was responding to Hazel’s statement regarding her plan with the spider swarm.

  “Instead of dealing with the swarm, I’d rather just take down the Queen and be done with it.”

  [Astrid Skogr: Which one of the players has the highest level?]

  Hazel scanned the players surrounding them, searching for the one that possessed a higher level than the rest. That was when she spotted one. The player was a level 24 Hunter. He was currently hiding within one of the buildings around them, spying on Hazel and Astrid through a second-floor window.

  There was something else that caught Hazel’s attention. The player looked like a Dark Elf like Astrid. He had the same gray skin and silver hair, though his hair was a little short and tied in a wolf’s tail. Although his outfit was a little different compared to Astrid's, Hazel could tell that this player was a dark elf.

  [Dolk Trygg, Class: Hunter, Level: 24]

  Although the possibility of Astrid knowing the dark elf was low, she at least needed to try. Who knows, maybe she did and she could convince this Dolk guy and the rest of his people to back off. But what bothered Hazel was why this guy was the only dark elf amongst the rest of the group.

  “Well, we can’t do that unless we level up a little, which means we have to take on the swarm to raise our levels.”

  [Hazel Thatcher: You’re not going to believe this, but it’s apparently a dark elf. His name is Dolk Trygg and he’s a Level 24 Hunter. You know him by any chance?]

  “...What?”

  Reading her message, Astrid turned over to Hazel. As she did, Hazel nearly jumped when she looked at the dark elf’s expression. She didn’t look simply stunned by what she was told. It felt more like...she was angry.

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  If Hazel had to somehow describe Astrid’s reaction...she looked like she just found out that someone she hated was nearby. And she wanted to give that person a piece of her mind.

  “A-Astrid...?” Hazel backed up, feeling nervous around her dark elf partner while she was in that state of mind.

  “That name...” Astrid muttered, practically gnashing her teeth together. “Where did you-!”

  “Well, would you look at that!” A voice nearby called out to the two players. “Is that really you, Astrid?”

  Both Hazel and Astrid turned toward the source of the voice and watched a figure jump out a second-floor window of a house. Landing in front of the pair, Hazel quickly realized that it was the dark elf that she tried to tell Astrid about. Dolk Trygg.

  He stood before the two players with a daring, cocking grin. The type that gave Hazel the urge to punch him in the face. But something told her that Astrid was going to beat her to the punch. Quite literally, in fact.

  “So, it is you, Astrid,” Dolk stated as his grin grew wider. “And here I thought you bit the dust before...you know, all of this happened.” He waved his hand around the surrounding area, likely referring to the System combining their worlds and sending them off to the Tutorial Dungeons. “How have you be-?!”

  Before he could finish, an arrow zipped toward her in an instant. He jerked his head to the side and watched the projectile whizzed past his face.

  Looking back, he saw Astrid with her bow drawn while reaching for another arrow to fire. Seeing this, he laughed a little.

  “Okay, then, it seems you’re still mad, huh?”

  “Shut it!” Astrid snarled before loosing another arrow at her fellow Dark Elf.

  Dolk once again dodged the attack, maintaining the same cocky grin as if he wasn’t fazed by any of it. If anything, he seemed to have expected this. The question Hazel wanted to know was why...

  “Look, if you’re still angry about what happened before, then could you at lea-whoa!”

  Another arrow whistled toward him, this time much faster than before. He barely managed to shift to the left to avoid the attack. Even then, he couldn’t completely dodge it as the arrow grazed his cheek in the process.

  Wiping the blood that dripped down his cheek, Dolk gave Astrid a slight glare before shifting back to smiling. When Hazel saw that expression before the shift, she felt a chill run down her spine.

  “It’s clear that talking this out isn’t going to work. Then how about this?” Dolk suddenly snapped his fingers and all the other players in hiding decided to emerge from their hiding spots, revealing themselves before Hazel and Astrid.

  While Hazel cautiously looked at the players that showed themselves, Astrid kept her eyes trained on Dolk, not even bothering with his friends who came at his beck and call. All the other players pulled out their weapons with eager faces, expecting a fight to go down.

  “I currently have you outnumbered, Astrid,” The dark elf declared. “So, are we going to handle this civilly or are you still going to be stubborn?”

  Astrid glared at Dolk, clearly furious at what he was doing. Hazel could tell that she wanted to attack, but couldn’t because of the potential risk of his allies stepping in to aid him. If they were alone, then she would’ve pounced on the bastard without a second thought.

  And Hazel planned to do that.

  [Hazel Thatcher: I’m assuming you want to deal with this alone, right?]

  Astrid briefly ceased her menacing glare and read through Hazel’s message before giving her a short and sweet response.

  [Astrid Skogr: Yes.]

  Seeing the message, Hazel let out a heavy sigh, knowing that she was going to regret the next move she was about to make.

  [Hazel Thatcher: Alright then, when I give you the signal, you attack the bastard. You ready?]

  [Astrid Skogr:...Yes.]

  It seemed like Astrid was a bit hesitant to pull through with Hazel’s plan, probably believing that she was being extremely selfish and was causing problems for her witch partner. However, Hazel didn’t see it that way and knew that this situation was personal for her.

  [Hazel Thatcher: By the way, when this is over, you’re explaining what the deal is with this Dolk guy, alright?]

  [Astrid Skogr: Okay...]

  As soon as the two players agreed, they then started to get their plan in motion. All the while, Dolk was oblivious to their interaction.

  “So, what do you say, Astrid?” Dolk asked, sounding a bit arrogant since he believed that he held the upper hand. “Ready to talk this out like normal adults?”

  Astrid hesitated to respond, either determining whether she wanted to give one or just couldn’t come up with what to say to him. However, after clenching her fists and directing her glare back to the dark elf that she knew, this was her response.

  “This is what I say; piss off!”

  As Astrid roared this, Hazel took action and summoned all five cursed spears and hurled them at the players. The other players were startled by this and raised their weapons to try and defend themselves, only to watch the hurtling spears change directions for a split second before piercing through them a moment later.