Chapter 33: Quarrelling Factions

With Esumi out of the picture, and having successfully rescued Kaori, the half-sister of the elite. player Iona, Noctis outsmarted the Necromancer Guild Leader. 

"Thanks for helping me obtain the mace, and helping to look out for my sister, Lelouch." 

Iona chatted with Noctis. 

"It's not a problem, Iona. I have a question, though. Why did you bid for that mace, when you're not even a fighter class? The weapon isn't compatible with you. And why did you let your sister fend for herself, with zero support, when you could have at least backed her behind the scenes since you got a Nobility Badge? "

Awkward silence filled the air for a few minutes before Iona managed to reply back through the message function of the game system. 

" I wanted to get back at Esumi for disrespecting my sister upfront. So I decided that I might as well spoil his plan for the 100th time again. And as for why I let her fend for herself with zero support, it's because I want her to get stronger. How? She has to get stronger by her own efforts, and climb her way up to the top. I'm impressed that she managed to make it inside a subsidiary guild of the Assassin Guild, but she still has a long way to go. "

Noctis wasn't surprised by Iona's reply, because he knew her backstory, as his deceased brother told him a lot of stories regarding the elites of RPG Fantasia. 

" It's nice talking with you, Iona, but we have to focus on the auction for now. Let me treat you to dinner later, along with your sister." 

Noctis winked at Iona, making her blush again. 

I can sense that you're nearly out of gems. Here, I'll give you 700 million gems. It's all yours for free. Take it." 

Noctis rummaged inside his inventory and found a lot of bags filled with gems,and gave them to Iona, who couldn't believe that she just met another elite player who was richer than her,someone who seemed so familiar yet so mysterious, and oozing with power. 

Noctis saw that the hybrid troll variant's pendant was now being auctioned, with the starting bid at a whopping 15 million gems. 

" I bid 60 million gems" 

Noctis could hear Iona place her bid. 

Iona is an ice mage/assassin, and ice is technically just frozen water, so it still counts as a power from nature. 

If Iona obtained the pendant, she'd be a scary force to deal with on the battlefield, with her ice magic amplified to 100% of her original power, potentially turning the tide of the battle all by herself. Well, I gave her quite a lot of gems. Goodluck to her if she manages to get it. 

Noctis thought to himself as he looked on at the fierce bidding going on. 

"100 million gems" 

Noctis could hear a young but female cackling voice. Clearly a witch, possibly an elite underling of the witch goddess Hecate, the Guild Leader of the Witches and Warlocks Guild. 

" 130 million gems" 

A hybrid vampire from the Vampires and Werewolves Guild countered the witch. 

"You hybrids, vampires, and werewolves always spoil the plans of us witches" 

The witch said in an annoyed and angry voice. 

The witch got so angry  that she flung a fireball straight at the male vampire, but the vampire managed to avoid the fireball in time. 

"Boo-hoo. You missed, stupid witch." 

The vampire shapeshifted back to his human form, and taunted the witch even more. 

Interesting. Things are getting more and more spiced up from there. If ever any of those managed to get this pendant, it's not like it's a big loss, since I had Yuusei place a safety safeguard in it anyway. It will eventually lose durability upon repeated use until the durability of the pendant reaches zero and becomes practically useless. Humph, even my daggers have infinite durability, and the complete set of armor and warhammer that I gave to Yuusei have infinite durability. 

Noctis thought to himself. 

"I bid 200 million gems" 

A young elite female mage wearing ancient Egyptian attire countered.  

So that's Bastet, the underling of Anubis, who backed the Ancient Egyptian Guild. So ordinary players really can't fight inside the Auction House because they get ejected out immediately, but the elites can start a fight with anyone they hold a beef with inside the Auction House. 

"Bastet! You are the reason why I had to become a hybrid just to enhance my magical powers. You Egyptian traitors!" 

The male vampire shouted, and sent a flock of ferocious blood-sucking bats flying at Bastet, who blocked the attack with a shield wall. 

"Hmph. Foolish vampires. You're quite easy to trick. Huhu." 

It was the male hybrid vampire's turn to get mocked. 

"Hmph. You ancient Egyptians think you're all high and mighty. I bet you'll lose to our nature magic, which is more powerful. Ground is naturally weak to plants and water." 

An elite female wood elf who seemed to be a hunter/ranger class, easily broke the elite Egyptian mage's ground shield barrier with arrows imbued with plant magic. 

" Be grateful I didn't kill you, Bastet, or the entire Egyptian Guild would have been weakened in a single strike. I bid 300 million gems." 

The female wood elf added, with the High Elves cheering her on, while her fellow wood elves who sat in the same room as her looked on with approval. 

The wood elf looked up to see incoming arrows aimed at her, and made a water shield barrier appear right in time, effectively blocking the arrows enchanted with a death spell. 

"Hmph. If not for the nature healing and defense skills of you wood elves, the Elven Guild would have long fallen. And don't you think you're oh so high and mighty, you High Elves just because the lot of you use Celestial Rune magic. Morrigan is a goddess, while your powers are granted by a mere archangel."

A guy who wore a punk attire with the symbol of a blood red 4 leaved clover emblazoned on the back of shirt while holding a bow with a bunch of enchanted arrows at his back, said,his lips formed into a perfect smirk with his eyebrows raised while facing the direction of the elves, antagonizing the elves even further. 

" I bid 400 million gems." 

" You! I've had enough of your shameless boasting. The dragon god should have killed Morrigan back then, and that would have solved everything in a snap. Take this attack!" 

An obviously irritated female high elf stood up and started chanting a Celestial Rune. 

After the female elf finished chanting, a Celestial rune, bolts of blinding white light shot straight at the guy with punk attire,but the guy pulled out a defensive barrier scroll, and a dark barrier protected the punk guy. 

The blinding bolts of light failed to penetrate the dark shield barrier. 

"Oh no, you failed to break my defenses down. Is the power difference between an archangel's borrowed power and a goddess of death clear to you now, Thou Holy Elf?" 

The guy mocked the female high elf even more. 

Hmph. If I make a move now, that younger brother of Morrigan's assistant would be dead in a snap. I can sense that he's holding back on his magic. He is more experienced and has a higher level, but the quality of my weapons are better, and the destructive power of my spells are more powerful than his. But I don't want to reveal myself this early yet. 

Noctis thought to himself. 

"I bid 500 million gems. Hmph. So what if you got a good defensive barrier? In the end, we, the High Elves, are far richer than you." 

"Are there no more bidders? Congratulations to the High Elves of the Elven Guild for obtaining the pendant."