The Achievement Junkie

The councilmen rushed through the rest of the labyrinth, ignoring all of the false items that glittered and tempted Quallace in the fourth treasure trove.

"Vixus, I imagine you've got some sort of plan."

"Yes, Bikkem. I told Tralon that I want to speak in person, just the two of us. He agreed and we promised to meet up in the last treasure trove. It should be the sixth one."

"Hmmm… Then what will we do next? Do you plan to lure him back toward us or do you want us to strike while he's not suspecting it?" Bikkem asked.

Vixus shook his head. "I'll let you decide since you're the tactician. If you want me to keep him distracted, then that's what I'll do. I'm not sure if I have a reliable way to lead him back toward you guys."

"True, then let's go with that plan. We'll strike Tralon together while you distract him, Vixus. That simplifies things and keeps us from dealing with Argyle, so long as we can kill Tralon instantly."

Kims smiled, "As long as I get to thrust my sword into him."

"Then I'll need about ten seconds to charge the most appropriate spell," stated Quallace. "To avoid missing or accidentally hitting Vixus instead of Argyle, that's what I'll need."

"Very well, then when I signal, you'll start counting into your contact crystal for Vixus to hear," ordered Bikkem. "We need complete cooperation for this to work. If we underestimate Tralon for his level again, there's no way out of the consequences this time."

Vixus squinted as he heard that, as did Kims.

It was clear to them and many of the councilmen that neither Bikkem nor Quallace were ever willing to cooperate with Tralon or his proposals. But to hear that this wasn't the first time they had attempted to kill the aging mage was news to both of them. This time they had been persuaded by money from the vault and the item he had been seeking his whole life or through the chance to gain loads of EXP, but they wondered what could motivate the other two councilmen so much as to act with such malice.

"We're passing the fifth treasure trove now, so let's slow down and stay as quiet as possible," Bikkem suggested.

The others followed the order and slowed to a silent jog as they neared the meeting place. They took a few wrong turns but managed to find the entrance to the sixth trove, which gave off a golden light from the items inside the open space.

With a nod, Vixus stepped forward. "I'll distract him, so you'd better not mess this up. You'll get one chance."

Vixus walked a few meters and turned a corner to catch sight of an elderly man with drooping, pointed ears. The man looked back to Vixus with a soft smile. "Vixus, I'm glad you came alone."

"That's what we agreed on, so here I am. Now, what are you willing to offer me?"

As the two men started to converse, Bikkem motioned to Quallace as he and Kims crept toward the edge of the corner.

"10… 9…" The sorcerer began the countdown.

"It's always straight to business with you," sighed Tralon. "Very well, I can offer you the item you wish so long as you tell me what it is."

"But I wish to retrieve it myself. Can't you at least offer to take me into the vault for that?" Vixus questioned, keeping his usual persona and playing the part.

"That's impossible." Tralon shook his head. "Getting you into the vault would make things to difficult for me. I hope you can understand that much, Vixus."

"4… 3…"

Vixus sighed as the countdown got nearer to its end. He paced to the side, making sure he wasn't between the soon-to-be attackers and their target. "Tralon, I'm sorry to decline."

"1!"

Suddenly, a red-hot magic circle appeared beneath Tralon's feet, startling the aging man.

"Vixus…"

An explosive plume of flames burst from the magic circle, consuming Tralon entirely as Vixus jumped back.

At the same time, both Kims and Bikkem charged into the treasure trove with bloodlust. The plume of fire would only last for a moment, leaving a small opening for the other two to go in for the kill.

As the plume began to die down, the attackers prepared to deliver the final blow.

"Goodbye, Tralon!" Bikkem shouted as he hurled himself toward the rescinding plume of fire.

But to his surprise, as the plume died down there were still flames roaring around Tralon's body, and they seemed more formidable than Quallace's sneak attack. Then, those new red flames with a tinge of white began to grow and take the form of a large humanoid staring down the incoming attackers with a devilish grin.

"W-what?!" Bikkem halted his assaulted and refrained from plunging his fist into those fearsome flames.

The attack crazed Kims, however, continued his attack unabated. He wasn't sure what was going on or if the person in front of him was really Tralon, but he knew it was an enemy and Kims wanted to try himself against such a fearsome foe.

Yet he was stopped.

The faces of the councilmen grew dim for a moment as they hadn't noticed Argyle charging in to block Kims in his tracks. They had been too distracted by the unusual, elemental-like entity before them.

Kims's excitement instantly dwindled into seriousness as he was forced to trade blows with Argyle.

"Try this!" Argyle cackled, knocking Kims's sword to the side and slashing off one of his arms, but Argyle failed to take Kims's sword-wielding arm.

"Quallace! Cauterize this!" Kims's shouted with veins bulging from his forehead.

The sorcerer ran in from around the corner, stunned by what he discovered. "B-but then we can't--"

"Just do it! I can't fight while I'm bleeding out." Kims argued, jumping back to make it easier on Quallace.

"Fine…" The sorcerer reluctantly agreed and brought out high-intensity flames to cauterize and seal Kims's wound.

Not flinching but relishing in the pain, Kims smiled. "Argyle, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Kims. Just because you've gotten a bit stronger doesn't mean you'll be able to handle me." Argyle laughed as he picked up the dismembered arm. "Since you don't want to salvage this…"

A few swipes of Argyle's sword were enough to hack and dice the arm into nothing but bits of flesh and bone, making it impossible to piece back together.

Bikkem glared at Argyle first, then at the towering body of flame, and finally at Vixus. "Vixus! You--"

Just as Vixus was about to be labeled as a traitor, that flame body lunged out to the nearby beast tamer, forcing the Vixus toward the opposite entrance to the trove and burning his side. "Get back here, coward!"

Vixus grimaced and released his lv. 62 Flame Tiger. "Sick him!"

The Flame Tiger was high-leveled, obvious from its size alone. It was almost as big as the towering flame body, which the tiger attacked fearlessly.

But the Flame Tiger suddenly flinched and jumped back as another flame body appeared from the hall and dove toward the incoming tiger.

When the councilmen noticed the other flame body, they were shaken. It was far larger and the flames surrounding it were bright white. Even the kari crystals lining the ceiling were dim by comparison to the roaring white flames.

"That's… So that's how it happened," Bikkem stated aloud. "That's Jack and the Hell-flame Fox, be careful!"

"What?! That's them?" Quallace was baffled.

"They must've been the ones that Argyle used to delay the Limneer army. It would explain the white-hot forest fire that destroyed the Limneer forest and the city walls of Zurden," Bikkem explained, clearly putting the pieces together for all to understand. "He must be able to use illusion magic as well in order to disguise himself as Tralon."

"But he was only supposed to be lv. 30. Clearly, he's not lv. 30 right now!" Quallace was in denial as the two groups were in a staredown.

"Maybe that's why he came in here, to power grind and to let these two carry him so he could level up rapidly," reasoned Bikkem, surprising even Jack with his abilities of deduction. "Either way, there's no turning back now, so follow the plan!"

"But where's Tralon?" Vixus asked as sweat leaked from his brow.

Bikkem was about to report Tralon's location when he realized that the mage was nowhere to be found.