Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 129 The Gathering of Guild Masters

Rhys had only been to the domed city of Mankappan once, and although it was just a concrete jungle like Old York, it was still a surreal sight to see a more technologically advanced, and perhaps, more civilized city.

Since it was technically built around a Danger Zone, they had to be more creative in ways to protect themselves unlike Old York, which was surrounded by smaller cities who are farther from the Danger Zone.

They had to be more creative in protecting themselves… and yet the people saw it fit to dig a Hole right at the very center of the city for their convenience.

And now, as Rhys arrived outside the domed city, all he could see was smoke being pushed out by the air ducts; the citizens being evacuated out from the exit road; some either on a stretcher, or outright being dragged away by their own friends and families, wounded and injured.

Although Rhys still could not see the full view of the city, it was obvious from all the smoke that it was chaos inside.

As for the entrance road, there were already several trucks, buses, and tents there — and now the buses of Wilder's Harem and Laughing Bronze will add to the chaos.

"We're here, Rhys," Kenneth was the first to step out of the bus, with Rhys following behind him along with the soldiers of Wilder's Harem. Due to the lack of buses of the Wilder's Harem, Rhys had to ask a favor from the guild master of the Laughing Bronze, who quickly agreed without even a second thought.

After all, the Laughing Bronze was also one of the guilds asked to respond to the calamity happening in Mankappan — by all means, they would have just been a minor player in this due to several bigger guilds responding, but with him partnering with the Wilder's Harem, well… they would be at the center of it.

Not to mention Rhys gave out all streaming rights of this rescue to Kenneth in return for his… financial assistance. This was a win-win for both of them, as Rhys did not really want to be caught streaming a tragedy.

"No. 1, wait beside the bus with your platoon," Rhys quickly ordered one of his men to stay put.

"Roger that, hubby dubs," the woman bowed and placed her hand on her chest… quite provocatively, before she raised and started rotating her hands in the air, ordering the rest of the soldiers to relax for now.

As for Rhys, he could really only sigh and stare at her. Every one of them was wearing a mask, and the woman even had a hat to hide the fact she was a Commonore — but her demeanor and voice were enough for Rhys to not really forget her even though he had more than 500 members under Wilder's Harem now.

Bettina Williams, the Commoner who stared down Rhys while licking her bleeding hand during Wilder's Harem's first application.

"Rhys, the guild masters are gathered there."

"Hm. Have you already talked to the rescue team?" Rhys quickly followed behind Kenneth as he called for him.

"I tried, but he was busy and told me he'll talk to us later," Kenneth groaned, "If only I could just throw money to get all of this over with."

"...But then you won't be able to have any content for your streamers."

"What do you take me for, Rhys?" Kenneth gasped and looked incredibly offended at Rhys, but after a few seconds, he snorted and tried to stop himself from laughing, "Ack. I don't like that you know what kind of person I am."

"Doesn't matter that you are doing this for views, Kenneth," Rhys sighed and shook his head, "You're still helping, that counts and—"

"We finally meet, Rhys Wilder."

Before Rhys and Kenneth could join the other guild masters, someone deliberately blocked Rhys's path; causing him to slightly take a step back as it almost felt like he hit a brick wall.

A short brick wall.

Rhys slightly looked down, only to see a man standing in front of him; his armor, bulky and obviously heavy by the way it was almost cracking the cement.

"Nice… to meet you too…" Rhys squinted his eyes as he looked at the… slightly balding man in front of him, before subtly glancing at Kenneth for help.

"Edward," Kenneth leaned closer to Rhys and whispered in his ear, "GM of the Cerberus guild."

"...Guild master Edward," Rhys nodded as he turned his focus back to Edward.

"What…? Pretending not to know who I am?" Edward crossed his arms as he looked Rhys in the eyes; the tone of his voice, extremely confrontational, "After you have caused so many problems for my guild!?"

"Wait, wait…" Kenneth quickly stood between Rhys and Kenneth, "...The last time I checked, it was you who has been causing problems for him — we've all seen the recent video of the mayor from one of the Underworld's settlements. I didn't even know they had cities there."

"Who even are you to interrupt our conversation!?" Edward raised his voice as he stretched his hand toward Kenneth. Before his hand could reach him, however, someone suddenly grabbed his wrist, and it isn't Rhys.

"Whenever there is noise, I know there's a dwarf roaming loose," the man who grabbed Edward's wrist whispered loudly; his voice, almost a hum as there was a certain slowness in it similar to Rhys's voice… except more queer.

"Cillian! Let go of my hand!" Edward raised his voice even further, causing all the dust around him to ripple away, "And I'm not a dwarf! I'm 5'3"! It's the two of you that are unnecessarily tall!"

"I would…" Cillian tilted his head to the side, causing his smooth, silky green hair to flow from his shoulders, "...but I'm holding your wrist."

"Who's… that?" Rhys once again whispered to Kenneth.

"Guild master of the Ages Of Man," Kenneth whispered back as he slowly backed away from the two, "The two… are sort of competing for the number 2 spot."

"Cillian Scott. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wilder," Cillian swatted Edward's wrist away before stretching his hand toward Rhys.

"Ah, yes. It—" Rhys was about to reach for Cillian's hand, but Kenneth quickly pulled him away.

"Rude," Cillian smiled.

"Don't touch his hand, Rhys!" Kenneth quickly breathed out, "The main god flowing through his veins is Hypnos. He… might seem friendly, but trust me — you'd rather be stuck in a room with Edward."

"Tut tut tut, that's not true at all," Cillian let out a soft chuckle as he shook his head, "Why don't you let Mr. Wilder form his own opinion about me first, hm?"

"It's… also nice to meet you, Sir Scott," Rhys let out a small sigh as he nodded his head. He no longer reached for Cillian's hand, however… as his thoughts were currently bombarding Rhys's mind.

'Hold my hand. Hold my hand.' Cillian's desire was incredibly wild, and so was the flickering hearts floating above his head.

"Hm, a shame…" Cillian shrugged as he retracted his hand, "...I would have liked to be your friend. Edward doesn't like you, that means I automatically like you."

"We could still be friends, Sir," Rhys once again sighed, "My hands are just dirty.

"Oh…?" Cillian also smiled as he looked at Rhys from head to toe, before turning his focus back to Edward and sneering "A man with dirty hands, that is something you don't see much these days. Lately, I've only been seeing heads going bald."

"You fucking homo," Edward gritted his teeth as the air around him started to vibrate.

"Oh, be careful now, my sweet little Eddy," Cillian raised an eyebrow as vines started to appear from the tip of his nails,

"You've already been canceled by one minority, you don't want to be canceled by another. That's a life sentence for you and your… sorry guild, Dwarf."

"Call me that again, and you'll be the one looking at me from below."

"A challenge? Then—Hm?"

Before anything could happen between Edward and Cillian, the temperature around them suddenly lowered to the point that their breaths became vapor. A buzzing sound also started to thunder in the air, causing everyone to turn their heads to the sky. And there, they saw a jet flying above them.

And not even a second later, they saw someone jumping for the aircraft.

"!!!"

The silhouette landed almost instantly right between Edward and Cillian, causing a glimmer to explode as ice suddenly started cracking from the ground. Within this glimmer, however, was a woman with skin smoother than porcelain; dark, almost chocolate — her long, braided white hair that gave out an almost harsh glow, mysteriously complimenting everything about her.

"Mrs. Jordan," Cillian quickly took a step back as he bowed his head. Edward, who was truly ready to break hands, also quickly took a step back as he just looked to the side, "I didn't know they also called for your guild."

"They… didn't," the Noble woman, Esme, just casually started looking around as she responded to Cillian, "It's only me."

"That…" Kenneth quickly retrieved his phone to record as he once again whispered to Rhys, "...That's the guild master of Stoneheart, Esme Jordan…

…the strongest Explorer in Amerka. Ranked No. 2 in the entire world."

"No. 2…" Kenneth did not actually need to introduce Esme to Rhys, as he knew who she was from all the things he had read about her on the internet. He quickly turned to look above her head… only to see that no hearts were floating there.

Unbeknownst to Rhys, however…

…Esme was also looking back at him.