Ann's silence still clung to me long after the call cut, she left no goodbye, no snarky remarks (which, honestly, she rarely do, mostly a me thing), not even a chuckle.

Just gone and disconnected.

I sat I stared at the mug in front of me until the foam turned flat and the glass felt heavy, my mind still tangled in knots, I sniffed a bit to feel the alcohol in my nostrils.

Some questions had answers now:

Ann's going to call me back soon, probably tonight

Tanya's an enigmatic bitch.

New Destiny is Destiny + Omnitetris.

That whole tangle had been ripped open and half-stitched back together, but the rest is still at large.

Most of what's left just minor worries that harm no one… Like the way Pearl looked at me like a government agent keeping tabs on a Soviet spy… Was he suspicious, or just that kind of man who's born with a bitch resting face?

Then there's the raid results… I wonder what's my share will be.

But the biggest problem was the bosses themselves… Null Shepherd, Titan of Ashen Bark… Both of them has been acting out of script, like marionettes tugged by some drunken puppeteer trying to fuck with the playerbase.

I don't think the devs would want players to be discouraged and quit… So they can't be increasing the difficulty that drastically, of course, a challenge is always welcomed, but not Asian mode.

My head buzzed with questions that never made sense, but I liked it that way, because confusion was better than clarity, it kept me alive, it kept humans on their toes. I'll stop yapping and just ask Eirlys, it's fun to have the heiress chairwoman on speed dial.

"Bartender! Do you know burp how to make a dry martini? Shaken not stirred of course, ehehe."

I was half-wasted, but one more drink couldn't hurt.

But then, something shook me awake. A chime, rather, a friend request was sent by Hailie.

I clicked accepted and prepared for another phone call, of course, in public spaces, not caring about all the background noises or disrupting other people, because I'm strong, fuck you guys, heh.

"Yello~, Hailie?" I said.

I haerd Hailie Sonder's voice on the other side, soft, trembling like she was seeking shelter from a rainstorm.

"Oh… um, Cory? I'm scared."

She paused for a second, presumably to look around from what I've imagined, she does that a lot, say something to express her opinion, then take another look around, before continuing to elaborate upon why.

"We met a guy… NPC? Um, he's wounded so I healed him in the middle of the dungeon and… He's asking for help finding his way back to his village. Now the team's arguing if they want to continue or turn back and do his quest…"

I groaned into my palm and rolled my eyes, not really thinking that this was important, and I thanked the bartender for the drink before continuing.

"Hailie, we had this talk before, remember? That time you tried to save a cat stuck in a tree… (Wasn't even a quest by the way, probably just a prop cat). You wanted to waste time climbing when we had actual progress to make and you only had 2 hours to be online."

I cleared my throat after a sip of drink,

"This is the same, we all got schedules, just, like, uh… Split up, do both, it's an easy dungeon, there's 9 of you, right? 7 continue, 2 escort, donezo. Or hell, rock-paper-scissors, it's not worth an argument. Just get it over with."

Strangely enough, this time, I didn't get a response.

I was fully expecting, "Um… Okay" or "But…" or "Say hi to a random guy for me!"

But… she didn't answer, the silence stretched, but it wasn't empty, after just 2 seconds of confusion and Hailie saying to someone "Hey, what are you…" the entire voice call was filled with something worse.

At first I thought my headset was glitching, crackling, overlapping voices, a kind of white-noise roar. But then I picked out pieces: yellings, heavy clashing sounds, steel slamming against steel, magic detonations that rattled even through digital filters.

The whole call dissolved into raw chaos, bodies slamming, people cursing each other, voices overlapping until it was just a grinding mess of rage.

And in the middle of it, Hailie's small, thin voice broke through. "Please stop! Stop, don't fight!"

The more she begged, the louder the others grew. A man's guttural roar, a woman screeching insults, something exploding in the background, then the muffled screaming.

Every sound bled together into a warzone I couldn't parse, my pulse jumped in my throat.

"Where are you?!" I shouted into the call, my voice breaking louder than I meant. My stool clattered as I half-stood, drawing every eye in the hideout. "Hailie, what dungeon are you in?! Is Olga there with you? Which one, say it, say it! Which direction from the hideout???"

No answer, and I heard one last thing she said.

"Stop it, please!"

And then… silence, the line went dead.

I slammed my hand against the counter, hard enough to sting.

Someone behind me scoffed, muttered about me keeping it down. My glare snapped his way, sharp enough to slice him in two, and I already got another grip on my sword.

Dear goddess, I do not want to be a menace today, but please do not challenge my patience because I will burn down another guild if I have to.

"There's trouble with Olga's dungeon team, does anyone know where they're headed??" I yelled out, "I heard explosions, don't you get it? Something's wrong, where the hell are they?"

That shut him up, but the bar was full of murmurs now, buzzing with the weight of my panic, mostly just doubts and confusion.

"They said they were going to a low level one, what could possibly go wrong?"

"They didn't type anything in guild's chat, could you just be paranoid?"

"Not on the guild's minimap… So they're definitely in a dungeon."

"She's probably overthinking this."

My nails dug into the wood of the counter, chest heaving.

"You goddamn morons!" I yelled "My best friend's out there, and if something happens to her, I'll burn everyone of you motherfuckers down, you hear me?!"

I saw a few of them already clenched their grip on their weapons. A few tapped on their armor for a quick check, a few stared at me, a few stood up with an intimidating frown.

"Stand down, CJS69Real, and all of you."

Someone spoke up, it was Pearl.

He set his mug down with precise care, stood, and brushed off his cloak like we weren't already drowning in tension.

"Follow me." He said.

I blinked, half in disbelief. "You…?"

"I know where that dungeon is," he cut me off, his gaze caught mine, unreadable but burning with some quiet confirmation. "And truthfully… I was already suspicious this would happen to that team."

My stomach turned to stone as I downed my dry martini and followed suit.

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