Martial Online.

Chapter 192 Punishment of Failure

In the skies, a chilling announcement appeared.

[World Quest Has Failed!]

[Players from Yatagarasu will be punished for the failure!]

...

At random street of Warhaven.

Cerberus looked around with a keen eye, sensing the hostile gazes coming from almost every direction.

"Hey, boss." SweetieHell returned from her quick trip and looked around the streets with a frown. "This place is not what I expected. Everyone is very hostile."

"What have you discovered?" Cerberus asked with a lukewarm tone while looking towards a group of people seated below a parasol.

The group of people seated below the shelter of the parasol looked back at Cerberus, their eyes filled with malice.

"This place has a hierarchy, and we are at the bottom." SweetieHell said and felt her skin crawl after sensing many lust-filled gazes. "The bounties determine the hierarchy."

"And let me guess, because we don't have bounties, we are more worthless than trash?" Cerberus laughed.

"The way you said made it look better than it actually is." SweetieHell scoffed. "Trash has no worth, but we have only one worth: being slaves till we die.

"If we based that on hierarchy, we would actually be below the trash that litters the ground."

"Interesting." Cerberus chuckled. "Ambrose has a brown bounty. How high is he in the hierarchy?"

"Brown bounties are different." SweetieHell tried to remember what she heard from a few drunken fools.

"The value of brown bounty outlaws varies by a great deal.

"Those below 10,000 silvers are still trash, but at better position than white-ranked, but still servants of someone higher.

"Those above 10,000 silvers are soldiers of Warhaven."

"Soldiers?" Cerberus asked curiously.

"Yes, and that's the rank of Ambrose." SweetieHell crossed her arms. "His bounty is at 19,999 silvers, which makes his hierarchy high enough to have servants of his own."

"Huh, so he has been living the good life." Cerberus scoffed. "I wonder how long he has been here."

"Then, the ones with over 100,000 silvers but still brown-ranked are the high-ranked soldiers.

"Then, we get to the red-ranked territory, which is the highest possible.

"They control the streets over here.

"The ruler of the Street of Sex is called Madame Sinclair; she is red-ranked.

"The ruler of the Street of Alcohol is called Chester; he is also red-ranked.

"Then, there is Russian of the Street of Gambling.

"Amos of the Street of Drugs.

"Eleanor of the Street of Slavery.

"And many more, but before I could find more, those drunken bastards tried to touch me, so I crushed their balls. They don't need those anymore."

"I suppose we now know what we need to do." Cerberus said nonchalantly. "We have to get our bounties. If we plan on staying here, being the fuck toy of some fat bastard shouldn't be our plan.

"Gather everyone; we have to find a way to get bounty quickly."

"I think I know how." SweetieHell pointed her cute nose towards the tall gates. "That is called the Gates of Freedom. They lead to a battlefield, where Warhaven's soldiers are fighting against Inqusitors.

"I would assume that is the easiest place to gain bounty."

"Soldiers?" Cerberus then remembered that she said that people with bounties over 10,000 silvers were soldiers. "Does that mean..."

"I would assume Ambrose is there." SweetieHell nodded. "However, I have heard that the battlefield is now more dangerous than ever before because of something called the Night of the Crescent Moon."

"Hmm..." Cerberus rubbed his chin and said. "Go get everyone."

"Alright." SweetieHell nodded and left to find the other members of Zahhak, who had spread around to find any clues about Ambrose's whereabouts.

"19,999 silvers..." Cerberus scoffed. "So that is my goal. I will not rest until my bounty is higher than that bastard's."

At that moment, an announcement appeared in the sky.

"Huh, World Quest failed..." Cerberus narrowed his eyes. "Ah, right. I heard that Yatagarasu finally got the World Quest, and we planned to go there shortly. To think those weaklings already failed."

Only a few seconds later, another row of messages appeared in front of Cerberus.

[Because of the failure of the World Quest, all players from Yatagarasu had been given a punishment!]

[50% Decrease in Defense!]

[50% Decrease in Attack!]

[HP Decreased by 50%]

[The punishment ends in one week!]

"The fuck..." Cerberus's eyes shook. "What kind of punishment is that? This is bullshit."

Below the parasol, the group of menacing-looking individuals nodded at each other, then stood up and approached Cerberus.

"Hey, you bastard!"

"Hmm?" Cerberus frowned and turned to look at the group. "What the hell do you want?"

"That is not the way to speak to your superior." One of them grinned and pointed at his mud-stained boots. "Lick or die."

"I would rather die." Cerberus pulled out his sword and grinned hideously. "I already desired to rip out your eyes!"

"Huh, look at this cretin." The group members laughed and pulled out their cleaves.

Their leader stepped forward with a cheek-stretching grin. "I never expected to be talked to like this by a moron with no bounty. But don't worry; we'll make sure you regret it. Your body will remember this lesson very intimately!"

'These fuckers, huh.' Cerberus now realized his level in the hierarchy.

In a sense, he wasn't even part of the hierarchy; that's how low he was.

However, he steeled his resolve and promised to rise the ranks until everyone bowed below his feet.

"Ambrose... Hahahahah!" Cerberus laughed madly, and suddenly the faces of the hostile group changed until all of them resembled the faces of Ambrose, his arch nemesis!

"Ambrose, who?" The hostile groups looked at each other in confusion.

"Is he talking about that rookie with a bounty of 19,999 silvers?"

"Hahaha!" The leader laughed. "I see. I have heard that a person who is on their death bed usually remembers the face of their closest enemy."

"Perhaps this Ambrose has already loosened him for us, hahaha!" One of the group members laughed, but suddenly a sword pierced through his chest, silencing his laughter forever.

"?!" The leader flinched, as did the rest of his members.

They turned towards Cerberus, but out of nowhere, he had pulled out a second sword.

His grin resembled that of a devil, sending chills down their spines.

"Ambrose... Hahahaha!" Cerberus lunged forward and massacred the group like a ruthless beast, leaving nothing but carnage in his wake. "Use your dual wielding, come on!"

A while later, SweetieHell and the rest of the members of Zahhak came running back after hearing the sounds of fighting.

They were shocked to see the scene of absolute carnage.

Cerberus, covered by the blood of his enemies, stood triumphant in the midst of the chaos.

His devil-like laughter echoed through the air, silencing the citizens of Warhaven, most of whom had bounties near 10,000 silvers.

However, even they hadn't seen someone as insane as Cerberus!

"Ambrose..." Cerberus sighed and touched his blood-stained hair. "I'll kill you."

...

'Finally...' Ambrose crouched behind a bush; his gaze was locked at a mutated wild bear that looked like a mix of a bear and a lion. 'Now, I somehow have to capture it without killing. This is going to be difficult.'

At that moment, he heard the sound of dinging bells, which caused his gaze to automatically lift towards the sky.

His eyes widened in shock.

'They failed? What will happen now?' Ambrose, completely taken off guard, turned worried. 'Emma and Bella, I wonder if they are alright.'

Stomp, stomp—a loud sound of stomping sounded behind the bush as the mutated-looking wild boar suddenly came rushing in!

'It noticed me?!' Ambrose quickly jumped backward and pulled out his glorious Black Sword.

'I don't have time to think about them now. I somehow have to defeat this thing without killing, but how!'