"Orakh is dead!"

At the announcement, the Orcs all went into chaos and went to see Orakh's corpse carried by his fellow warriors.

Evie and Ragnar looked at the commotion before they stared at Ren in the eyes. He was the only player who remained in his seat with a calm face and even breath.

"Ren . . . Orakh just died," said Evie, voice laced with concern in case that Ren missed the news.

"Ah . . . yeah. It's part of the mission to get the mask," replied Ren.

The indifference in his voice shocked Evie.

"You . . . you're not worried or sad at all?" she asked. Orakh had been with them since they got here. Though he was only an NPC, he didn't feel like one. He was more of a person than anything else.

In fact, Evie was treating Orakh like a player because he acted like one. A real person.

Ren only gave a half-shrug. "To get that mask and the true ending of the quest, some sacrifices have to be made."

"But . . ." Evie bit her lip not to tremble. She didn't know what was worse -- Ren's no-care attitude or the fact that they had to kill NPC to get what they wanted.

"Evie," said Ragnar, "This is just a game. And they're only NPC generated by the system. Their death meant nothing. Besides, it's not like he died in our hands."

". . ." Evie was stunned. Why were the two emotionless to the whole thing? Was it because they were men? Or was she the one who was too emotional?

Though he said that, Ren didn't want to ponder about Orakh's death since his feelings would only get in the way of the next thing that was about to happen.

Ren didn't want to lament every NPCs death because there were more of those to come. If he wanted to survive in the game, he must learn to steel his heart because the death of NPC in COVENANT was happening left and right.

"What happened?!" Sharina's voice rang amidst the cries and noises.

"We found him outside the camp, in the forest. His body is already bluish, and there's a large hole in his stomach."

"Poison," Zukulum said, shaking her head.

Sharina was silent, having a hard time digesting the turn of events. She didn't expect to lose one of her best warriors in times like this. Losing Orakh meant crippling a third of their strength.

"Can you find out what happened?" Sharina's eyes blazed with fury as she snapped at Zukulum. She needed to know what happened and avenge Orakh's death, or she wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

Zukulum did some ritual on Orakh's body while throwing some weird powder and items on the corpse and uttered some chant.

Ren took a sharp breath and said to the others, "Get ready . . ."

"Huh?"

Before Evie and Ragnar could ask more, a resounding shriek shook the earth.

"The Night Thing!"

"The Night Thing is here!"

Over the camp, blotting the sky, was the ugly and menacing head of a dragon with a giant body of a centipede. The heavy, smoldering aura emanating from this figure dampened and oppressed all else around them.

Everyone recognized a terrible affliction of bloodlust that wracked them to their core. The creature made no effort to conceal its frightful nature, bringing every ounce of intimidation to bear.

And with a frightful howl, the beast unleashed a torrent of attacks upon them. Acting on instinct, it attacked impulsively and without warning, destroying tents, fences, and everything it touched.

"Bring it outside!"

"All warriors, bring the fight outside!"

"Take the children into safety!"

It was chaos for a time, and even the players were caught off guard at the sudden appearance of the Night Thing.

Fate Alliance Guild, Black Lion, and Great Dynasty were amongst to act first, and together with some Orcs with Draki's lead, they brought the fight outside the camp.

"Why is that monster here at this time?" Sharina was confused because the Night Thing didn't show itself not until after midnight after the Night Crawlers attacked.

"It doesn't matter," Zukulum said, "Keep it occupied. We'll try to finish that monster once and for all! Get Orakh's body to safety first!"

The ritual to know Orakh's killer was halted until the fight with the Night Thing was finished.

Sharina joined in the fight with the Night Thing while at the side Ren and the others only stood to watch at a safe distance.

"Aren't we going to go and help them?" Evie questioned.

Ren shook his head. "Let's just stay from a safe distance. This fight will determine who will get Sharina's blade. And since we're not after that item, we don't need to waste our time and MP in that fight."

He then flashed a concerning smile. "Don't you want to be a spectator on who would win between these guilds?"

". . ." Evie and Ragnar didn't comment. Ren said some details about the mission but left some specific deaths for their suspense.

Evie and Ragnar got really curious about how Ren knew all of this. This level of information couldn't be obtained by just simple hacking on the net or paying into the black market for the information.

Was it because of his skill? They wondered. Could it be that Ren's skill could also pry on quests?

If that was so . . . he would really conquer the game.

Ragnar didn't care as long as he could get the mask and live his second life in the game in peace and quiet, away from the troubles and limelight.

While Evie . . . Evie just really wanted to know if Ren was the same as the player Ren she knew.

The night raged on, and the battle for Sharina's prized blade would soon come to a conclusion.

A/N (Doesn't consume coins)

Hey guys,

I know that I have a lot of mistakes in spelling, especially the invincible and invisible parts.

I still haven't found an editor because most who applied are worse than me in English

I'm planning to give a quick read of the whole chapters, editing it along the way if I have the time.

Not now, though.

The storm really left so much damage to our home, food, and livelihood. But we're still grateful that we're fine and still have a roof over our heads. Some have their house blown away.

Pray for the Philippines. I have experienced so many storms, but this one hit us really hard.

Anyway, thank you to the readers who have the patience and time to edit the chapters. That helps me a lot, and please continue to do so

Thank you all for supporting the book, and sorry for my irregular chaps schedule. Just too busy because of the aftermath of the storm (Paeng is still here by the way and there's still rain and winds for 3 days straight).

We'll get back to the regular chap released next month.

PS. I do read chapter comments once a week. Just not paragraph comments because it's too many

Stat updates s.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN