Jake Smithson was rather conflicted when they returned to the Grand Duelists' headquarters, ostensibly to prepare for the task appointed to him and Liam by their leader.

"I'm ordering you to escort them to Evergreen," Li replied in a manner completely unlike what he came to expect from a division leader.

"..and then what?"

"Your presence should stop hostilities between the divisions. Go with Liam and keep the peace there."

As much as Jake wanted something to break the monotony of hunting monsters for points, this opportunity came with horrible timing, as there were items that he really wanted to save points up for.

"Is it really urgent that we have to leave?" Jake asked, the horrible timing's effect written on his face.

"Being here won't help you grow further, because of the first impression you've made. Go to Evergreen, play security guard for a few weeks until this all boils over. And when that's done, you can take your time going back here, take the scenic route, and hunt monsters at your leisure."

"Unfortunately, this is not the best time for me.."

"Well, think of this as another lesson. Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to because you're in a division. Compared to what others went through, this is nothing. Also, you can consider this an opportunity."

"An opportunity to do what?"

"Once your mediation duty is done, you can return here at your own pace and hunt monsters," Li explained.

Jake's expression shifted from frustration to contemplation, but the old man had to butt in. This was a very important matter for their division.

"There should be a powerful monster on the route between here and Evergreen."

"How much does it give?"

Li grinned at the expected response.

"I do not know exactly, but it will probably be the most expensive monster you will defeat; if you go to the Evergreen, I'll tell you its exact location."

Jake's face started to show interest, because he needed all the points he could scrounge up at the moment; when the master gave him a source of those points, he jumped at it.

"Roger that," Jake replied, trying to mimic the voice of the GD Security awakeners they ran into earlier. "I hope the location of the Evergreen isn't that far."

The old man laughed.

"I will write down the location and give it to you. Bear in mind, though, that this monster is way beyond your current level now. You will have a greater chance of defeating it after you go to Evergreen and train a lot before fighting him on your way back here."

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" Jake asked, unable to hear the advice because he was so busy returning the items in his room to the inventory.

The old man sighed.

"I'm glad you are enthusiastic about taking on this mission, but do listen to this old man every now and then, okay?"

Jake stopped packing for a moment.

"Since you're most likely going to want to face that monster after your guard duty at Evergreen, I should give you the Empowerment Pill now: take it a day or two before you battle the monster. Understood?"

"Crystal clear," Jake replied before returning to his packing. "Oh, and one more thing, Gramps."

"What is it now?"

"Love ya."

It was impossible for the old man to keep his indignant face after that, and they both laughed.

***

The trek to Evergreen's headquarters wasn't that long, but Jake and Liam still tried to make their way there as fast as possible: time was running out for them, every moment was important.

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Several days' worth of travel was condensed into several hours, with only one or two hours allotted for naps during the night to regain their energy.

Jake and Liam didn't complain; from the moment Morris and Igor talked about their home and division, the two Grand Duelist rookies felt the strength of their conviction from their words alone.

Despite the arduous travel schedule, it wasn't such a drain on Jake and Liam's energy due to the Cloud Walk skill, and they were able to make it to the outskirts of Evergreen in a fraction of the time Morris and Igor predicted.

That was the only bit of good news they would have in a long time, because upon their arrival..

..Night had just fallen over the town, but only a few lights within the town itself were lit.

"Wait a minute," Jake said as he gestured the party to stop.

He removed his gauntlet and wiped his bare hand on a small handkerchief before licking the tip of his index finger and raising it up in the air.

He took a deep breath, and that was when he realized something was up.

'This is like a department store two minutes before Black Friday.'

It's the same feeling he had before chaos would erupt, just like the minutes a stampede of buyers barging into a store and going into a shopping frenzy.

'The tension in the air now is so thick I could cut it with my Swiftstone.'

"I have a bad feeling about this," Jake whispered, and everyone else caught onto what he was feeling after that.

"Haven't you noticed our visibility lowering faster than usual? Also, we should have run into a monster or two on the way here.." Liam added.

"We're almost to the gate, but what could be happening?" Igor asked as they were close to the main gates of the Evergreen complex.

The tension here had everyone on edge and thinking ominous thoughts, though.

"We'll need to hurry even more now," Morris whispered, but before he could take another step, Jake grabbed him by the scruff of his armor and yanked him back, right before a flurry of arrows struck the ground where he would have been standing.

"Who's that?" Morris asked, and the two awakeners from Evergreen found themselves placed behind cover by Jake and Liam, just in time to see several cloaked and shadowed figures emerged from the darkness, bows in their hands.

'An ambush,' Jake mused. 'There won't be any time to do any how-do-you-dos here. Just kill them all.'

***

'Goddammit, Murphy,' Jake thought as he went into Evergreen with the expectation that this would just be a simple task.

Go to Evergreen, play security guard with Liam, train a bit, maybe trash talk the awakeners from Froad a bit, then take the scenic route home and beat that monster for fifty million points.

There was a small part of Jake that had him ready to expect the worst, but he never expected shit to hit the fan this hard, this soon.

He also never expected to be making his best impersonation of that trench coated guy in the movie while dodging arrows flying towards him.

'Right, ambush. Dodging one at a time isn't a problem. They're launching volleys of multiple arrows, staggered in waves.'

Jake didn't have too much trouble evading, but he had other concerns.

'I can handle these arrows no problem. The question is, what about them? Also, where do we go, now that the exit route is blocked?

Liam was quick to call the presence of more unknown awakeners in black guarding the escape route – so why aren't they moving in?

What are they doing, just shooting at us with arrows?'

Jake realized the awful truth quickly.

'They're firing at us to exhaust us dodging, or if they get one of us in the leg, they'll move in. This is professional-grade hunter etiquette we're dealing with here.

We're going to need to find a way out.. or make our own way out.. and we need to do it soon.'

Jake knew that their stamina would quickly be depleted by playing along with the ambush, and looked around for any possible way out, all the while deflecting the arrows he couldn't dodge.

One of them was chanting: Igor had his eyes closed and chanting while holding his hands together in front of his chest, with Morris looking on carefully.

Jake was about to ask him what he was doing, but the look on Morris said that Igor shouldn't be interrupted.

"Whatever you're doing, it better be worth it, because I can't cover for you forever," Jake said, his voice oddly calm in the midst of the ambush.

He was barely done speaking when Igor stopped muttering and opened his half-closed eyes fully, pointing to the west with his right hand.

"That way," Morris said, gesturing to Jake and Liam as he saw where Igor's finger was pointing at. "Everyone, head west; that's our safest way out of here."

"This is the best way out of here; safety isn't guaranteed, but that's our best shot of breaking this ambush."

"That's all Igor and I need to say, no time to explain. Come on."

Jake was sure that Igor pointed their escape route out, but something was stopping him from moving: his life was at stake, and these masked men were out for blood.

'Ah, fuck it. I'm out of options. Best cover them on the escape route west.'

Jake made his decision after taking account of his situation: there's no other way out.

Plus, he could see the conviction in their eyes: they also want to return home.

'These guys look like salespeople who are sure they're selling quality stuff.'

Jake had seen that look on their face a few times, and he was never led astray.

'All right. I was never one to make a leap of faith, but here goes nothing!'

"Okay, we'll cover you. Liam, take our six!"

"Gotcha," Liam said, and the two of them followed Morris and Igor going westward. "Party time?"

Jake nodded, and threw the contents of his water bottle into the air, where a haze of magic caused it to gather more water from the moisture nearby, and made it coalesce into the shape of a blade.

As they readied to break through the ambush by going west, the blade of water hovering behind Jake, several pieces of armor began to materialize on the Grand Duelist rookie: spaulders and a breastplate.

A purple haze began to form around the weapons on him as he felt his Bankroll began to activate.

"That's right, Liam," Jake replied. "Let's party."

He moved.

***

As they saw Jake try to break the ambush, the masked men surrounding them moved in as well, collapsing on the party of four.

With fifty of them, they thought this would be an easy slaughter.

And as soon as battle was joined, Jake began to understand just why the Grand Duelists were such a prestigious division.

'Is this the difference between greater and lesser divisions?'

He also saw a faint hope that they could make it out of there unscathed.

"Liam, cover me!" Jake cried out as he began dancing in and out of his opponents, swords in each of his hand and a Vapor Blade floating behind him.

He was cutting through opponents like a reaper's scythe through wheat: wielding two weapons in each hand, both with their own variation of attacks, plus the Vapor Blade assisting him?

It was a slaughter.

'Don't think. Just keep going. It's either you or them.'

There was a small part of Jake that thought the last awakener he'd kill was Emmanuel, but that part slowly faded away as he ducked under a slash that would have decapitated him, and counterattacked by boring a hole through the masked assailant's chest with a thrust from the Stinger Stiletto.

Liam was also putting Jake's hand-me-down armor to good use: despite the Griefen being unable to perform at its best, it was still enough to disrupt the enemy movements – enough for him to move in with his sword.

Thanks to the old man's training, Liam's swordsmanship had become sudden, stealthy, and frightening.

It didn't look like it was enhanced with his own aura, but one swing was enough for Liam's enemy to realize it was just an illusion.

And as Liam shattered another masked man's sword with a single swing, it was the last mistake the ambusher made as Liam's sword was in and out of the enemy's throat instantaneously.

Liam focused on the efficiency and compression of his aura to both increase its cutting power and render it invisible to most awakeners.

All the while, the two awakeners from Evergreen were in shock watching Jake and Liam break the ambush from cover.

'Are these the Grand Duelists' new recruits?' Morris thought. 'Well, it makes sense, they are the Grand Duelists, part of the Ten Stars, but this.. this is a bit out of my reach.'

'Also, these weapons.. these aren't the weapons and equipment a beginner would use!'

'This Jake Smithson.. what kind of awakener is this guy?'

The situation was truly absurd: only veterans of Nohas were wielding items the like of which Jake and Liam brought into the battlefield.

'If these guys are mere new recruits in the Grand Duelists, what does that make us?' Morris thought in despair.

For all their attempts, this display only made the gap between their divisions even larger.

'Our master is strong, but I have no idea how strong these guys will become..'

"We're through!" Jake yelled as he ran through the last masked man with his Aqua Blade. "Come on!"

They were about to advance past the ambush, but another group emerged to impede their progress.

"What the.. what are those things?" Morris asked, in distress as he could hear the growls from the animals facing them.

An array of awakeners accompanied by dogs on leashes were lined up and at the ready.

"What the hell is the Hunters' Guild doing here?" he asked, as the professional raiding division loomed over the four of them.

***