2024-07-10 22:21:11
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The Guild Of Shadows The Crypt IV
Krystal fought not to listen to what the pair were saying: “I will actually admit that with all your fancy artifacts and all your fancy display and sword skills, you’re much improved.” After laughing, he added, “But no matter what you do, you will still remain weak in our eyes, and there is nothing you can do about this.” How dare they! He shut up his mind not to pay attention to it. But as the fight wore on, he realized that he had heard what he had not intended to hear. His spirit was growing weary.And as he looked around, noting the mannerisms of his team members, he realized they had lost their zeal. They were tired!Their spirit as a group was being attacked by the words of their opponents, who knew just what to say to discourage them from fighting further.The only person who seemed not to be affected was Shambala. His moves were perfunctory, aimed at one thing only: keeping his team from harm. As he did so, he thought exasperatedly, ‘Ob the annoying vigor of youth! Look where
The Guild Of Shadows Rocky Plains
A week had gone by since the guild’s epic failure in a battle that involved procuring maybe the most lethal artifacts in all of existence. They had left the location of the battle and followed Shambala to this village.Getting to the village, they realized that Shambala had most likely been here before, as he was sure of the route. He brought them to an inn in the small village that provided boarding, food, and basic necessities. As for things of comfort, they were not lacking in anything, but as for peace of mind, they had none.The first few days Krystal spent in the inn, he still had that deep-seated anger in him that did not let him reason properly. He was weary and sad, but his mind had more anger in him than he knew what to do with it. It had not even registered to him that he was in a place of comfort after several nights under the night sky. He could not enjoy peace.Of course, he also had no way of knowing that Grover and Vladimir were also going through similar kinds of tortu
The Guild Of Shadows Rocky Plains II
Getting to Shambala’s door, they stopped without moving for a while. Grover knocked, but there was no answer. He knocked again, louder this time, but there was still no answer. They debated whether they should open the door or return the following morning. Vladimir said they should talk to him and get over it, but Grover was leaning towards leaving him be for the moment. They could always return the following morning.“And if he still does not respond tomorrow morning?” Vladimir asked tersely.“Then we open the door. But there’s no need to rush in and invade his privacy tonight.” Grover retorted quietly. Krystal signaled for them to move a little further away from Shambala’s doorstep to continue this discussion. They stopped in front of Krystal’s door.He said to Vladimir, “I agree with Grover. There’s no need to rush in and disturb Shambala as though we have not done enough by disobeying him.” Vladimir huffed in reply, “I just want us to be done with this.”.Krystal thought of how
The Guild Of Shadows Reconciliation
When they knelt, all of them had various thoughts running through their minds. Would he wash his hands off them? They may not have seen the need for someone like him in the guild before he joined them, but he was definitely an asset. He had skill, knowledge and experience in ways that young folks like them could only dream of.Out of the blue, he replied, “You should get up now. It is all past. All we have left is the future.” He said this with an even tone, almost devoid of the anger they had sensed in him earlier. It was as though he had actually dealt with the anger before they came to beg him, but he needed to let them discover the enormity of their offense.Grover did not know what to think. ‘Had he forgiven us? Or is he just trying to rope us in to punish us?’ He kept thinking while Shambala spoke. Well, no one would have blamed him for speaking that way, it was how he grew up.They all got up and took their places beside him on the mat on the floor in the middle of the room, for
The Guild Of Shadows Reconciliation II
The members of the guild were shocked to hear what Shambala had said. He could see it on their faces. ‘I mean, their organization was a sleazy corporation, so it would not be too far-fetched for them to lie to get their way, but I wondered how they were able to successfully get away with lying to us. These people fought dirty and felt that all was fair in war and was permissible. No moral!’ Vladimir thought. He could not imagine a situation that would insult his honor more.“And to think we believed them!” Krystal spat out. Shambala had not yet explained how they had lied and gotten away with it, but he was enraged just thinking about it. Vladimir chipped in, “So how’re they able to pull it off?” This information had made them so shocked, they couldn't believe their ears. Shambala laughed before asking them to listen to his explanation. “Calm down; I will explain. There’s no need to get angry anew, as they are not even heard to face it.” Then, with a sly grin, he added, "Besides, I
The Guild Of Shadows Tales Of The Great
The guild remained on the floor in May, talking like a pack of excited children, listening to Shambala and internalizing what he was saying.The steward did not return himself but sent his assistants, two of whom had been tasked with picking up the plates after the group had eaten. They returned with cleaning equipment, which they realized was not needed. They just took the dishes and left. As they did, the last of them whispered something in Shambala’s ear, and he nodded in agreement.Grover was curious about that, but since he had determined to begin learning how to reign in his curiosity, he kept quiet while Shambala returned to what he was saying.“Where was I?” He asked, clearing his throat.You said what spells out the difference between welding an artifact and unlocking the full power of an artifact is practice and mastery.” Krystal said confidently. He had internalized this lesson fully.He could not remember ever being interested in any class as much as he had been in this exp
The Guild Of Shadows Tales Of The Great II
Shambala was amused at the enthusiasm with which the guild answered his question. It felt good to know the answers to life’s questions.“Can anyone tell me his name?” He goaded them further, and they chorused the name in unison.“Hercules!” they chanted, laughing and being happy. He simply shook his head in wry amusement. They sounded like a group of young girls playing. Only then did they have deeper voices.He did not realize that the guild had observed him as he shook his head and had looked at each other, laughing at him. As soon as he caught on to the joke, they again chorused, "Oh, the exuberance of youth!” and then burst out laughing.At this, even Shambala could not help but smile fondly. They were catching on quickly.Continuing, he said, “There is a reason why brave warriors among men only surface from time to time and are dotted throughout history. The reason why strong warriors would only appear from time to time was not because they were particularly special, as most peop
The Guild Of Shadows Tales Of The Great III
The group of men on the mat had gone through a series of emotions all at once. The guild was definitely surprised when Shambala told them that in recent times, very few people could be counted who have been able to unlock up to fifty percent of their artifact powers.All others simply settled for mediocrity in announcing their artifacts and their grade, or by being very quick to announce the number of artifacts they control. They never even see the need for mastery.“You know what makes this whole situation worse than it even is?” Shambala said it direly.When they shook their heads, not knowing what he meant, he continued, “It’s the fact that this trend began about twenty-five years ago. It has persisted for so long that this new generation—your generation—has begun to think that this is the norm. This has cut down on half the already slim chances that every generation has to produce great men!Grover’s head hung in despondency, thinking about all these details. Krystal seemed to be
Latest Chapter
Fini
Grover sat meditating in the house of shadows. One of the most unlikeliest places that he thought he would be at this time. Not quite surprisingly, it had been a year since their adventures with the members of the guild and the Ore organization. He smiled gently because, at least, that was something to smile about now—because those were terrible days. Days in which they lived for months on the brink of the end of all humanity, only one step away from one wrong move. Beside him, Shambala was levitating. It seemed as though both of them were communicating through telepathic means without even saying any words. Not too far away from them, Vladimir and Krystal had just finished dueling that morning, and while Vladimir had stopped to clean the perspiration from his face, Krystal, who had won the match, was feeling a bit more excited and was walking away with a smile on his face.On Krystal’s side, it seems like after everything, their lives went back to normal. But, of course, he knows th
In The Enemy's Lair IV
Krystal, in getting out of his stance, quickly lunged at the man, whom he quickly identified as a member of the organization. He remembered the horrible things this particular individual had done to him in the past few hours and was not only going to pay back, but was also going to take the opportunity to punish him for his offenses against mankind.The man quickly realized that he was in a dire situation with three of them facing him, but being a typical member of the organization, it did not even occur to him that there was any other way out of this. He was possessed by the kind of pride that could not ask for mercy. He braced himself for battle and began to fight ceaselessly, even as they attacked him mercilessly on every side.Several times in the short period, they would look at each other’s faces and, without saying a word, deploy the strategy on how to teach this fellow lesson. All he knew was that he bore the brunt of this skill technique, but he did not know how they arrived,
In The Enemy's Lair III
As Grover and Vladimir fought with the guard, Krystal simply looked on without saying anything. Grover realized that, at that point, he was unstable and also very vulnerable. It could easily be tilted in any direction if he stayed in that trance, so even as he fought, he thought of the scheme to get them out of this situation.“Krystal! Krystal, we’re here.” He yelled, but there was no response.Seeing this, they immediately continued to fight with the man once again while they kept trying to use physics on Krystal so he would awaken.Krystal remained where he was standing and didn’t quite pay attention to them, but the man they were fighting with did not like the idea that they were trying to wake Krystal up. The man was annoyed with the way things were going. It was his fault, but there was nothing he was going to be able to do about it. He had caused it. In that moment, he thought of a number of things. The first of which was the reason why he did not call for backup as soon as he
In The Enemy's Lair II
Grover lay on his side, thinking about how he had probably broken a few ribs and how tired he felt. This fight had gone on seemingly forever. He knew they could not give up. But he had to admit that he was getting tired. He looked to Vladimir, who was unmoving with his face in the dust, and did not like the silence, which was only interrupted by the heavy breathing of the guard. If there was any consolation in this situation, it was the fact that the heavy breathing was an indication that the guard himself found them a worthy challenge and was also tired.Just as they finished fighting, as they lay in the dust, they heard a mighty sound as the wall behind them cracked. Grover mustered all his energy in time to see what had made that sound, and he noticed Vladimir also tried to do that, regardless of how tired he was. Not knowing what was beyond the wall, he did not like it that the man behind it had been fighting. He was excited about whoever was coming behind it and looked at it with
In The Enemy's Lair
Grover and Vladimir had been fighting the security person they had seen by the gate to the cave, and it looked like he was getting the better of them. In fact, he had begun gloating, teasing, and making fun of them about how weak they were despite being two and coming against him as a single person.Just as he thought that he had defeated the two, a loud yell came from deep inside the structure. When Grover heard it, it took a minute to sink in, and he then became excited because he would know this voice. Anyway, this was Krystal’s voice. Krystal was yelling that he was not going to agree to be used.“ Arggg!!! Leave me alone! I will win! I have already won! I will always win.“ He kept shouting these over and over again, warding off whatever entity it was that he was fighting, saying that he wouldn’t give up and he'd keep fighting. The more they listened to the exchange, the more they realized that he wasn’t fighting with someone outside of himself but with something on his inside. It
Battle At The Gates Of Doom II
Grover and Vladimir have been deployed by Shambala to go find Krystal and his father, rescue them, and bring them to safety while he and the rest of the guild had a face-off with the members of the organization at the gate. Aside from the unfortunate fellow who had seen them attempting to escape and had paid for it dealing with his life, no other person had seen or been accosted so far because of the chaos they had left at the gate. Grover did not think that they would intentionally make such a stupid decision as to drain the entire facility of its fighting force to only one location to fight an enemy.He thought that the decision to concentrate their entire fighting force in one location was born out of the mindset that they had never been attacked here and, with the exception of the members of the guild, might never have even been discovered at this location. Grover also thought of how it was such a good feeling. Nobody was lunging at him to take his life or were trying to fight wit
Battle At The Gates Of Doom
As soon as Grover noticed that the portal and the gates had started shutting them in, he quickly shouted, “Fight for the freedom of the five continents, oh ye men! This is a fight for the earth!”This charge, as innocuous as it sounded, was just the right encouragement that his comrades needed as they warded off their enemies with physical strength and artifact strength. They fought as though recharged by an invisible force.While he was fighting, Shambala found a way to distance his mind from the fight and then his thoughts. And as he did so, he realized something. That one, when the bell was rung earlier, had a code to it. One strike alone would have been a major indication that the barrier had been reached. Two strikes would have been a call for reinforcement, being that the intruders would be too strong. Three strikes were a summons for every possible fighting person in the structure to come out and join the reinforcement. And if that was the situation, it means that every single
The Gates Of Doom III
Open, open, mother of horror, and let the children come in. Kin or foe, you shall decide. For to kin your cleave and on foe you will feast. These words reverberated in Grover’s mind as he heard the crack of the opening of the Gates of Doom, and indeed, as they opened, he understood why they were known as the gates of hell. The others have been clearly amazed that the poem he heard in the atmosphere turned out to be the key, and as Shambala said the words, the gate opened. However, before they could jubilate, some figures flew out of the building, looking at them angrily; they did not look like they were pleased to see them.Obviously, since no one knew the location of the gates of doom, it was understandable that they had not had guests in a long time. Not like a place called the Gates of Doom would have many visitors at any rate. In Vladimir’s mind, as he looked at these figures, he quickly realized that this was where the battle was to begin. He only hoped that their fate did not e
The Gates Of Doom II
Following the suggestion by one of them, they fired at the barrier until a building started to reveal itself in bits as they hit it. And as they persisted, the whole building was shown to be a gate. At some point, no matter how hard they hit, the building wouldn’t budge but continued to reflect their energy against them. It’s only made him get tired faster.Shambala had come to the front of the company and was able, after some time, to interpret the inscription on the door. He voiced out the words in the old tongue and then translated them into their language as “the gates of doom." As if the literal meaning of the words was not terrifying enough, the horror on his face as he said those words made a chill run down the spines of his men. Some of them, who had invariably been to close the door, moved further away from it.Of course, they knew that they had no choice but to go in knowing that Krystal was in there, and they would not leave without him. Seeing these things only made them he
