In the game, the Titan of Discord never used such a method. Even though it should have already possessed such information, considering it was part of the system, it never leveraged it. In the game, none of the Orcs were players; while some people did take on the form, they cooperated with other players, not against them.

Thus, to create discord, the Titan had to use other, less direct means.

However, this time, the Titan started by creating the tension between the Orcs and the humans, and then slowly allowed the problem to escalate to this point. It strategically placed the Orcs close to the Dark Mountains with the help of the humans, made the humans believe the Orcs were a threat, and simultaneously made it known that killing Orcs could instantly make them stronger!

It also knew that the Orcs weren't as strong as they were in the game, otherwise, it wouldn't have been so easy for the humans to kill them. For everything to be so well-planned, Akhil knew the mastermind had to be a Beta Tester, or someone who already knew the deep workings of the game.

And that was what brought Akhil to his grim conclusion.

'It has to be either one of these two suspects... If it's not them, then could the System itself have made some fundamental change?' he thought, his eyes showing a flicker of uncertainty.

His two suspects didn't seem like they would even pull off such a stunt. On one end was Langdon, who was eagerly trying to propose a peace deal with the Orcs. On the other was Seth, who was far too lazy to care about any of this.

'Knowing him, I'm sure he's not taking any of his Guild Master's work seriously, or else we wouldn't be facing this issue right now.'

Akhil could only let out a sigh of exasperation. There was so much strategy put into place, and he was certain that whoever the mastermind was, they had invested a considerable amount of effort into creating this entire mess for them.

The three hastily moved to the location using the coordinates Seth had given them. With Langdon in the lead, they navigated the advanced city streets easily. In no time, they arrived at the said location.

In front of them stood a massive warehouse. It was dark and completely devoid of internal light, clearly having been unused for a long time.

Some windows were broken, and the paint was worn off from lack of maintenance; plants could even be seen curling up its wall. It stood in stark contrast to the rest of the high-tech city.

But it didn't look out of place. In fact, this was normal. After all, it was the same fate for several companies since the Transmission.

A large chunk of the population had turned into Gamers, and that included politicians, businessmen, workers, and all manner of folk.

People were genuinely stunned to discover that those fat-headed politicians actually played real games. Like, actual games—instead of just treating the country like their personal joystick. It was weird imagining them hunched over a screen instead of a pile of documents they'd probably never read. After all, most folks assumed their only hobbies were sitting behind giant desks, issuing lousy orders that complicated everyone's lives, and somehow misplacing public funds with Olympic-level consistency.

The group, however, wasn't here to admire the old building. Nibo and Ryan were already walking toward the door, their chests puffed out, ready to burst into the warehouse like trained vigilantes.

But right before they could, Akhil's voice stopped them.

"Wait, I'll go first," Akhil said, walking to the front of the group.

He could already see past the doors of the warehouse, thanks to his heat vision, so he was sure of one thing: the culprits were definitely inside.

He counted about sixteen figures within the room. About six were tied up and apparently knocked out, while the others were currently huddled together, blocking the person upfront from view. 'So that is the boss?'

"You all should do me a favor and make sure no one leaves this place," Akhil instructed quietly.

They all nodded in approval, falling in line behind him.

Akhil confidently walked to the door, pushing it open. His sharp crimson gaze swept past the nine men who stood in front.

As they entered, the Adventurers who were huddled together all turned back to look at the newcomers.

A skinny-looking man, who had a band tied on his head, turned to the group first.

"Ahhh, seems another group caught some Orcs," he cackled. But his voice hung as he saw Akhil confidently leading the group.

He turned his gaze to Seth and Langdon.

"What's this? The request said you should knock them out before bringing them here!" The skinny man looked at the two in confusion.

But Langdon and Seth didn't reply. All the Adventurers quickly turned to face them as well, noticing that something was wrong as Akhil made confident strides toward them.

Akhil soon paused in his tracks, as he caught a clear look at the captured Orcs. He could barely even recognize them.

Their faces were bruised almost beyond recognition; some even had blood leaking from their heads. Dirt mixed with blood thickly coated their skin. Seeing the brutal sight, Akhil quietly observed the bodies. Then, he slowly dropped his gaze to the ground.

A thick, oppressive aura quickly permeated the air.

"Nibo, take them out of here," Akhil commanded, the air around him growing heavy as his voice dropped an octave, cold and dangerous.

The skinny adventurer seeing Akhil' reaction laughed coldly, "Don't tell me the Orcs came for a rescue mission?" He laughed mockingly, pulling out his short dagger.

"More fun for us then! Don't mind if I do!" The man shouted, rushing straight at Akhil with his dagger raised.

But instead of going forward, the skinny adventurer suddenly felt his body accelerating backward with terrifying force.

BOOM!

His back slammed violently into the concrete floor with a powerful, crushing impact, instantly sending thick cracks spider-webbing across the area.

Akhil's voice, now utterly devoid of warmth, cut through the sudden silence.

"Yeah, don't mind if I do."

{A/N: Marijayne, can you be kind enough to join our discord community and connect with other readers!}

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