MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith-Chapter 1370: Following the Path

"That… was something."

As these words left Valyr's mouth, five people looked back at him with slightly embarrassed expressions, all of them thinking back to the string of words that left their mouths just moments earlier.

Of course, these people were none other than the ones who volunteered for the very first task they got on their path.

Though surprisingly, the task involved both trash talking and swearing at the heavens that forsook the red wyvern.

"Honestly thought you volunteered just for the sake of volunteering, Merias. Who knew you were actually the streamer that became viral for trash talking back in the day?"

"Not gonna lie… that was kinda sick, Limit. You should cuss more when you're with us."

"As expected from someone like Lanta. It's not surprising that he could talk shit with the same level of elegance and complexity as Shakespeare."

"…But Shakespeare wasn't really known for talking shit, though?"

Naturally, everyone in the guild had differing reactions to the way these volunteers talked trash. Some of them looked at the volunteers in surprise, not expecting that the person they talked often to would have the mouth of sailor.

On the other hand, some of them looked at the volunteers with pride and glee, confident that their friends who volunteered would be able to rise to the occasion… as long as it came to string profanities as if they were skill combos.

Of course, it also went without saying that there were those who gave scrutinizing looks to the volunteers, with some of them staring at one of the volunteers more than the others.

"…What?" Thomas glanced at the three glaring daggers at him with shame. "As long as we complete the task, it doesn't matter how we did it, no?"

"I know you did it for the sake of the task, but…" Alisa shook her head at his words. "This is the first time I've seen this side of you, Thomas.

"We don't really think of you as some innocent guy, but…" As for Meria and Lucques, the two of them look at their friend in disbelief. "We never knew you could bottle up rage to that extent."

"…Are you guys being serious right now?" replied Thomas to the three, crestfallen. "It was for the task, alright? It was all for the task!"

"Valyr, could you tell these three that I'm not usually like this?" Seeing as the three remained unconvinced, the man decided to enlist Valyr's help in proving his innocence.

"I rarely curse when I'm with others, right?"

Unfortunately for him, even Valyr wasn't on his side this time around.

"…I thought you were better than that, Thomas." Receiving a message from the three through the way they looked at him, the young man understood what he needed to do, shaking his head in disappointment as he said those words.

"I know it's for the task, but… you could have let someone else volunteer instead of you, right?"

Hearing those words, Thomas felt as if his heart had shattered to pieces, kneeling on the ground in defeat with head slumped down.

Obtaining confirmation that the task was completed just as his friend turned out that way, Valyr hastily snapped Thomas back to reality with the help of Alisa and the others, telling their friend that all of what they said was just an elaborate prank.

"I don't know… it didn't sound like you guys didn't mean it…" murmured the man in response, forcing the four to inwardly let out sighs as they realized they might have gone a bit too far with their joke.

Looking at each other as they pondered over ways to fix the problem they themselves caused, the guild eventually continued along the path to head onto the second task.

Having distributed the rewards of the first task equally amongst the members that volunteered, the young man soon received a question from one of the members, asking him if all of the tasks along their path would have a similar gimmick.

In response, Valyr explained to everyone that there was a likely chance for the task to be along a similar vein of thought, only to then add that there was also a likely chance for all of them to be embroiled in a difficult battle.

Preparing themselves for what was to come, the guild eventually arrived at the spot where their second task could be found, with the reconnaissance member that stayed behind sharing the task with Valyr.

Reading through their second task in detail, the young man let out yet another sigh as he asked for another group of volunteers to step forward.

Explaining the mechanics of the second task to the volunteers that stepped forward, Valyr could only wryly smile as both the volunteers and the other members gave him a blank glance, briefly wondering to themselves whether they'd heard correctly.

Yet, as their guild leader continued to remain silent after saying what they needed to say, everyone in the group was eventually forced to accept the reality that was laid out in front of them.

Though, that didn't stop some of them from complaining.

"…Seriously though. How do you even talk shit to the heavens?"

…

Although it seemed like everyone in the group took their sweet time going through all of the tasks given to them, in reality, all of them were completing their tasks as quickly and as efficiently they possibly could.

From the tasks that involved trash talking, to the tasks writing short excerpts about how the red wyvern abhorred the heavens' existence, almost everyone that volunteered gave it more than their all in each task.

Aside from the fact that an exemplary performance would net them even greater rewards from completing the task, the other reason the volunteers worked harder than usual was because of Valyr mentioning a secret treasure they could obtain later on in passing.

With that and the promise of a new set of equipment by the time they came out, the entire group cleared the various tasks thrown at them like locusts swarming a field, allowing them to reach the path's midpoint in just an hour.

"We'll take a short break for now." Messaging the reconnaissance members that went ahead through their group chat, Valyr looked at the members of his guild with gratitude for a bit before distancing himself from the group for a bit.

Whoosh!

With the screen in front of him still containing the system's chat feature, the young man sent a message to the group chat containing the other guild leaders.

"We're currently at the midpoint of our path," wrote Valyr in his message. "How's everyone else faring?"

"Around a third of the way on our path," wrote Malutar in return, being the first among the other four to respond. "We had a bit of a delay due to us getting two combat-related tasks in a row, but we'll get to the halfway point soon enough."

"Our progress is the same as Big Richard." Not long after, both Lighthouse and Krakatatakark replied to his query, updating Valyr on their situation.

"We've already passed the midpoint," replied Soaring Skies, his wording causing Valyr to imagine the man gloating at them. "At our current pace, it'll only take less than an hour for us to reach the final area for the raid."

"Guess we have to speed up our paces, then," wrote Malutar after a bit of silence, to which the leaders of Lighthouse and Krakatatakark responded in agreement.

"Feel free to go ahead, you two. Just make sure not to do the final part before we get there."

"Noted," replied Valyr as he faintly nodded, catching SoaringSkies1's slightly arrogant response before closing the screen.

Whoosh!

Returning to where the group stayed, Valyr looked at everyone for a bit before asking if everyone was ready to continue.

Receiving a series of affirmative nods from the others in response, the young man nodded back as they continued to walk along their path, the reconnaissance members positioned near the front of the group.

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"Stop!" After moving forward for another 10 minutes or so, one of the reconnaissance members yelled out all of a sudden, forcing the entire group to come to a halt as Valyr and the others looked at the man that yelled.

"This is where the next task is located," said the man after some time, only to then move closer to the large clearing ahead of them.

Swoosh!

By the time the man got to the edge of the clearing, a large figure slowly began to appear at the center of the clearing all of a sudden, its piercing gaze causing many among the group to start shuddering in fear.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the shitty group of envoys the heavens have sent down to hinder me from achieving my dreams."

Opening its maw, a low, gravelly voice soon echoed throughout the clearing, prompting everyone including Valyr to listen to the red wyvern's words with a solemn expression.

"You're just like all the other envoys I've fought against. All of you think you could put me in my place with just sheer numbers."

"Do you really think you could stop me? Huh? Do you really think you could stop this great being from becoming a dragon?"

"…Yeah. That's right." The red wyvern looked down at them.

"You can't."