The Achievement Junkie 120 Exposed

The final words of the incantation rang through the air as loud as thunderclaps. Everyone covered their ears and stopped fighting.

"Shan't go berserk… Shan't go berserk… CRACK!!!"

As the echo continued it was quickly replaced by lightning and thunder. The extremely chaotic lightning sent shivers down everyone's spines. They were are enthralled by the lightning's explosiveness and unruliness.

Without warning, a strand of black lightning descended on to the battlefield. Before anyone had a chance to escape the lightning's wrath, another five bolts of black lightning rained down one-by-one.

Normal lightning would be terrifying of any of the soldiers wearing armor or the packed battlefield, wounding or killing many people with each bolt. The black lightning felt far more terrifying! Yet, the stray black lightning caused them no damage whatsoever. In fact, it surprised the soldiers and the adventurers alike to see six people targeted by those strands of lightning.

"What's happening?!"

The crowd was in awe. They all assumed that Jack was trying to summon a powerful being or cast a strong lightning spell that none of them had heard of. Seeing everything unfold so strangely, the crowd could only watch and wait to understand what was really going on.

Once the first person was struck and the lightning kept pouring down on the same people, everyone knew that something was off. That person wasn't yelling in pain or agony, he just looked enraged and humiliated.

It was shockingly one of the four soldiers that had broken through the adventurers' defenses. Then, everyone noticed that all four of those strong, unknown soldiers were bathing in the black lightning, and all of them were furious.

The fifth target's identity was obviously Arnole, but the crowd was stunned seeing the man they always adored bathing in black lightning, looking particularly angry at everyone around him.

Target number six was the man in a purple hood, who had only remained on the sidelines of the battle thus far. However, there was no anger or madness on his face, only a toothy grin.

"How dare you?!" yelled Arnole, trying his best to grab people's attention from the situation, but it was too late.

As the black lightning danced over its targets' bodies, their appearances started changing. When the crowd noticed that Arnole, the proud chief officer of the Royal Court, now showed his true pale white skin and sunken eyes, they trembled.

"How evil…"

"Is that… Is that really the chief officer?"

"No way… Whwhat's going on?!"

Citizens and soldiers alike were shaking in fear at the sight before them. All of those six people had their true appearances revealed and it was clear to everyone that they all were evil by some means. A single look into their eyes could reveal their true natures; cruel, unforgiving, merciless, evil.

"So that's the real Arny…" Zariff was watching Arnole closely. He was warned by Jack that this would happen, so it's not too shocking, but Arnole's natural evilness was shocking enough on its own.

"Finally, they will know that truth." King Leodoro's shoulders felt a thousand times lighter. He no longer had to keep quiet about his biggest, most threatening secret. Now the world would know the truth, and he could feel at ease for the moment.

"The man you see before you is the real Arnole!" shouted the king. His words engraved themselves into people's minds with the aid of Arnole's shocking transformation. "He and the secret men he's planted have always been working for someone else, someone so frightening that even I, your king, was unable to do anything alone without fearing for my life. Now you all know that your former chief officer was actually a member of the Chaos Syndicate, sent here to bring ruin and destruction to you all!"

"Chaos Syndicate…"

That name rang in everyone's ears over and over again. Everyone watching was breathing heavy. Such a reveal was unbelievable and too much to take in. Had it not been for the lightning and the men's evil transformation, then no one would ever believe the king. But now they had no choice.

"SHUT UP!"

Arnole's shout was grating on the ear. It was cold and the bloodlust in his voice was obvious to everyone.

"You weaklings! I'm amazed that you were able to do this much, but that just proved how stupid you are, Leo! You knew and you still dared reveal everything, publicly even! Now, you've shared your demise with the entire city, great job!"

"HA! HA! HA!"

Hideous laughter rang out, stupifying everyone, including Arnole. The ex-chief officer looked back at the hood man. "What's so funny?"

"You are," answered the man, slowly calming his laugh. "After everything you've done and you've prepared, you still only amounted to this much. I thought you would at least kill the brat hero before this point, but even a kid has outsmarted you and destroyed your plans."

Arnole's cruel smile faded and fear crept onto his face.

The hooded man continued. "You begged for my help and now, you won't even be able to repay me like you had promised."

"I'll definitely repay you, we only need to destroy them first. After that, then I can--"

"Then you can what? Beg for another high up job? I've got clear orders on what to do with you when you were to fail," chuckled the man. "You are right about destroying the city, but who said you were needed to make that happen?"

"No…" Arnole activated the wind around him, effectively boosting his speed to the max. He flew, rushing away to escape the man's power.

"How can you run from what's inside you?"

"No… No… NO!!"

Just when Arnole was about to leave everyone's vision and escape, his body became black and exploded into a puff of smoke and ash.

All eyes were on that black cloud, freezing some people's bones by the sight alone. Arnole, the strongest in Reinolt… died… that easily? If he was so easy for that man to kill, then what would he do to the rest of them and the city?"

The hooded man laughed, "I've been waiting too long to see that man perish, and it felt so much better since I was the one who caused it."

Those other four men hurried back to the hooded man's side, unfazed by Arnole's death. They kept their cold faces, which appeared even more even than Arnole's.

"Stall as many adventurers as you can, in particular, that brat hero, the chief, and the king," stated the hooded man. "I'll handle the rest."

A black staff appeared in the man's hands. It looked like a wilting branch from a strong tree. It then glowed black-bluish color. 

Suddenly, storm clouds dashed across the skies and hovered over the city. Sheets of rain came pouring down together with lightning throughout the entire city.

"ROOOOOAAAAARRR!!!"

A deafening roar spread through the city and caused everyone's brains to rattle inside their heads.

"The pride lord…" All of the adventurers had only one thing in mind after they heard that roar.

"Men! The hour of judgment may have arrived," yelled Zariff. "How about we show them how wrong they are and show the heavens that we can't be killed so easily!"

"YEAH!!"

A resounding battle cry came from the adventurers. Some soldiers also joined in, naturally wanting to stay true to their position and defend the city at all costs, even their lives.

King Leodoro also addressed his men, "Soldiers! None of this is your fault, and none of you will feel the repercussions of the decisions of your superiors. However, now is the time to fight! Everyone over lv. 20, rush to the north and stall the incoming cetuses!"

"Cetuses?" The crowd had no clue what was happening or how the cetus attacks were a part of all this.

"Anyone over lv. 25 will be in charge of the stronger cetuses. Men, let's move out!" A bolt of lightning rained down on King Leodoro, but instead of damaging him he let the energy dance around him and stimulate his strength. In a flash, he dashed into the sky, heading straight for the pier. 

The few men he brought and the soldiers followed his example and left at full speed to stop toward the north end.

"They must want to die quickly," joked the hooded man. "Let them go and face the beasts. In time they'll be overrun and we can kill them after finishing here. Attack!"

"Careful! All four of them are either lv. 34 or lv. 36, and the boss's true power is lv. 42!" Rydel's shout warned them all, letting the weaker adventurers step back to avoid unnecessary casualties.

Understanding the meaning behind Rydel's words, Zariff, Maynard, and Tomas all retrieved a sparkling blue potion from their storages and drank them like a shot of their favorite brundy.

"AAAAGGGHH!"

All three of them yelled as their veins bulged and their strength rocketed, immediately letting them gain five levels worth of strength.

The hooded man's smile disappeared. He then realized that they had even prepared for him and possibly the cetuses as well. Immediately, the man knew he had again underestimated the association and the knowledge they had.

The other four members of the Chaos Syndicate lunged into the crowd of adventurers. It was obvious to everyone that they wanted to quickly kill the men their leader had mentioned, starting with the weakest, Jack.

"Jack, hurry and get out of here!" Zariff looked back at Jack, but he froze the moment he laid eyes on him.

Jack appeared to be oblivious to everything that had just happened. He knelt on the ground, ignorant of the bloody gash in his chest. The young hero was too distracted to feel the pain.

Laying in his arms was a beautiful girl with blonde hair and a hole through her torso, making Jack's injury look like a scratch.

Chapter end