Chapter 1084: Who Is To Blame?

A few moments later...

Dragon and the other members of Broken Exile who had just participated in the battle against the Ghoul of Deep Sins, Travgelga currently, sat gathered around a long table inside of a spacious room.

The room was in one of their temporary bases of operations, located in a town near the edge of the Proximus kingdom border. They chose this place because it was the closest town to the area where the Ghoul of Deep Sins, Travgelga, roamed.

At the moment, the room had a heavy and gloomy atmosphere. Broken Exile had invested a lot of resources and time into preparing for the fight against the Ghoul of Deep Sins, Travgelga. However, in the end, it was all for nothing.

"...Money, time, event lives, consumables, and even a legendary-ranked item-we've lost quite a bit this time around, wouldn't you all agree?" Dragon was the first to break the lingering silence as he swept his gaze out over the room.

He then continued, "Failure is not uncommon among top guilds. But, of course, that applies to other top guilds, not my Broken Exile. Failure is a weakness. Failure is a sin. Failure is unacceptable. Yet, here we are, embracing failure like a long-lost lover. So, can anyone tell me why we failed?"

Dragon's question was met with silence.

"No? No one? What about you, Judge? Any idea why we failed?" Dragon questioned as he set his cold gaze onto Judge.

Judge furrowed his brows and hesitantly replied, "I'm not sure, leader. The shield just shattered without warning. If not for that, we would have-"

BANG!

Suddenly, the long table split in half and collapsed, causing Judge to halt his words.

Dragon's fist could be seen hovering above the exact height where the table once stood. The aura around him had drastically shifted to one that was intense and overwhelming. The veins on his forehead, neck, and arms protruded as his expression turned fierce.

"Shut up! The reason we lost is because you're all too weak! Even the trash from Sleeping Gardenia has two members in the top ten of the event leaderboards! What about us? There's only me! Must I do everything around here myself?! Core players?! Six Stars?! More like Crap players and Six Jokes!" Dragon erupted in a fit of rage and verbal onslaught.

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Despite the flurry of insults he threw at his guild members, none of them dared to speak out. Even if his words were harsh, what he said held some truth.

When the existence of the event leaderboards was first revealed, Broken Exile had plans to dominate the top ten spots and show off its power to the world. It was a chance to let the other top guilds know exactly where they stood and belonged-underneath Broken Exile's feet. However, things did not go as planned.

"You mean to tell me we're being outdone by a little pill shop owner, that masked bastard from Cross Haven, a group of women, and a handful of nobodies?! Ridiculous! You all truly amaze me with how worthless you are! It must take skill and intention to be so bad at what you're paid to do!" Dragon shouted.

Dragon proceeded to scold and insult his guild members for the next few minutes. He made sure to point out every mistake he witnessed during their fight against the Ghoul of Deep Sins, Travgelga. He also brought up old failures and mistakes, rubbing salt into open wounds and causing many of the Broken Exile members to feel a great sense of shame.

"And, don't even get me started on-!" Dragon began to speak.

"Guild leader, I think we should stop here." A woman's voice sounded from one of the seats closest to Dragon.

Dragon glared at the woman who spoke up just now.

She was a gorgeous young woman who appeared to be in her early to mid-twenties. She had long white hair that stopped at her lower back and a pair of dazzling baby-blue eyes. She wore a set of exquisite silver and blue leather armor with a white crystal-like recurve bow on her back.

There was a soft smile on her face as she spoke. And, more importantly, Dragon did not begin to immediately lash out at her. That's because this young woman was the current vice-guild leader of Broken Exile, Pax.

It had not been that long since Pax had moved up to the position of Vice-Guild Leader; therefore, she was still establishing her authority and influence. While there was a base level of respect that the guild members had for Pax, it was still a long way off from how they viewed their previous vice-guild leader.

Of course, Dragon was aware of this and the importance of a firm power structure for top guilds. That's why he only allowed Pax to actually speak up.

"Hmph... You all should thank the vice-guild leader. We'll end the reflection session here." Dragon stated, causing the members of Broken Exile to sigh in relief.

"Thank you for your consideration, guild leader. I believe that we need to focus our attention on the loss of the Shield of the Breaking Dawn. Even if we were facing off against a legendary world boss monster, a legendary-ranked item, especially a shield, should not have been so fragile. I find it suspicious that it broke at such a pivotal moment in the fight." Pax voiced her opinion.

Judge cleared his throat and added, "...You're right. There was no indication or warning that the shield was in a vulnerable state. Even after looking back through the system alerts, the only thing that shows is the Shield of the Breaking Dawn being destroyed. A legendary- ranked doesn't just destroy itself out of nowhere. Something must have happened that we're unaware of."

"Could it have something to do with the method used to obtain the item?" Pax inquired.

"Certainly, things that are too good to be true often are just as such. But, just to be sure nothing was wrong with it, we tested it out for three days straight before the boss fight. We didn't come across any issues, even after prolonged use, which we expected to face in a boss fight." Judge explained.

"Leader, if I may speak." A male's voice sounded from somewhere near the middle of the

table.

The voice belonged to a healthy-looking young man with short brown hair and ash-colored eyes. He donned a set of black and gray leather armor and had two daggers at his side. This young man was a core player of Broken Exile who went by the name Juke.

"What is it?" Dragon asked with an intense gaze.

"Well, it may be just a coincidence, but... I thought I should bring it up, just in case. The A- ranked magic item I received from that place was also destroyed without warning. It doesn't really add up since there were still five charges left in it." Juke said with a bit of hesitation. At first, Juke was reluctant to bring it up. After all, the A-ranked magic item was the reward that he was allowed to keep for discovering that mysterious cave and the Imp of Dreams in Fragul's Valley. He feared that if he told others that the magic item was suddenly destroyed, they may not believe him or, even worse, blame him for its destruction and force him to compensate the guild.

But, once he heard what happened with Judge's shield, Juke decided to speak up. Dragon frowned as he looked over at Judge and said, "You're the one in charge of assignments to that place. Who's the person we sent to collect this time around?"

"Since we were short on hands, I sent my younger brother, Feral Blade. Rest assured, guild leader, I can personally vouch for his trustworthiness and competence." Judge reassured. "Contact your younger brother immediately. Ask him for an update on that location and to note anything that seems strange. Pax, I want you to contact the section leader of Shattered in that place. Ask them if anything out of the ordinary occurred recently." Dragon ordered.

"Leave it to me." Judge nodded.

"I will get on it right away, leader," Pax replied calmly.

"Why do I have this annoying feeling?" Dragon thought to himself as he visibly frowned.

...

Somewhere in RML...

'I can already see it. I should receive an alert soon.'

After departing from Fragul's Valley, Izroth had been traveling nonstop. Thanks to his title,

Gift of Divine Speed, his journey time had been greatly reduced, and he was approaching his destination ahead of schedule.

'I'm a little earlier than expected. Though I already contacted them ahead of time.'

[System Alert: You have entered <<Kifa Karsts>>![]

Right as Izroth received that system alert, another sound rang from the system. It was a

message from one of the players waiting for him at Kifa Karsts. The message contained updated coordinates to the spot where they agreed to meet up with one another.

'Perfect timing."'

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