Chapter 381: Mad Lad

“Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!”

The ringing of the orange bow was becoming more intense.

The Frog Queen had arrived along with a bunch of frogmen escorts.

‘That’s hot!’

That was Li Yi’s first reaction after seeing the Frog Queen.

He had originally assumed that the Frog Queen would be shabby looking and would be nothing more than another frogman with a slightly larger head. However, his assumptions were immediately shattered after seeing it.

The Frog Queen’s head was smaller than a normal frogman and it was only a foot tall. Its skin, however, was white as snow and it was as if it were made from divine jade. It was a stark contrast from the coarse texture of the normal frogmen’s skin.

The Frog Queen advanced with strong and heavy steps while flaunting its ‘new clothes’. A gold crown adorned its head, and within it, lied an egg-sized blood-red pearl. The pearl had a classy air about it and was flashing incessantly.

“That’s the item that’s calling out to me.” The Hunter Goddess spoke.

Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu!

The crimson pearl vibrated continuously, much to the Frog Queen’s irritation.

“The queen is on patrol!”

The frogman, Zhengda shouted out the signal energetically, in order to relay the news to all the frogmen within the tribe.

Li Yi was part of the Frog Queen’s Guard, but he quickly realized that he stood out like a sore thumb as he compared himself to the other frogmen.

Unlike him, the other frogmen were covering their faces with masks.

‘The Queen doesn’t like your ugly looks!’

Li Yi recalled Zhengda’s words and an ominous feeling clouded his heart. He attempted to take out a mask from his inventory but was stopped short by the System Notification that said, [Human items are disabled during frogman transformation…]

“F*ck!”

Feeling worried, Li Yi quickly waded his way to the other side of the Guards in order to avoid the Frog Queen’s line of sight.

The Frog Queen has now left its palace, and Li Yi noticed that each of the frogmen was covering their faces with masks. It was obvious that the purpose of Zhengda’s signal was to warn them.

No matter where the Frog Queen went, it received thunderous applause. Countless frogmen fawned over her and were complimenting her new clothes.

Suddenly, the queen stopped. She pointed towards a certain frogman that was not wearing a mask with a face full of murderous intent.

Ten or so Frogman Guards charged forward and tore the poor frogman to shreds.

“Showing your hideous face to our beautiful queen is akin to disrespecting her. Only death awaits those who dare to do so!”

Li Yi silently choked. He lowered his head as he covered his face with his webbed palm. While doing so, he quickly snuck his way to the back of the guards’ ranks.

While passing by the pitiful frogman that was torn to shreds, Li Yi found a mask on the floor and he hastily grabbed it. This time, no notifications appeared when he was trying to wear the mask and at long last, he had finally hidden his face.

“D*mmit Ah Fa. I’ve already warned him several times, but he never listened. Now look at him, he’s literally a pile of mincemeat. Poor Ol’ Ah Fa, he hasn’t even gotten a wife after 50 plus days.”

A Frogman Guard lamented as it stared at the pieces of flesh that used to be a frogman.

Li Yi curiously prodded, “What’s the big deal about 50 days?”

The Frogman Guard rolled its eyes as it answered, “It’s the time that he’s spent on this mortal plane ribbit. Why’re you asking such a dumb question? Ribbit ribbit, how long have you lived?”

Li Yi was caught off guard and randomly blurted, “It’s my 180th day now.”

“Ribbit ribbit, that long? That’s impressive!”

“Is living longer such an impressive feat?”

The Frogman Guard laughed delightedly, “Why of course. I came to this world at the same time as Ah Fa, but unlike him, I was fortunate. I’ve worked my way up to the Queen’s Guard, and I’ve found a wife too…”

Another frogman joined the conversation and it whispered, “I heard our Mighty Frog Queen has already lived for several years. It is truly amazing.”

After hearing their exchange, Li Yi lapsed into thought.

‘Lived for several years? What does that even mean?’

‘If their age was the amount of time that they had been spawned, did it mean that the Frog Queen has never been killed since the inception of the game?’

‘The Frog Queen had never been slain, but the Frogman Guard had just mentioned that he was around 50 days old. What does this imply?’

Although Li Yi was unable to comprehend the Frogmen’s worldview, he was quite knowledgeable about the monsters respawn rate. To his knowledge, the living things within King of Pantheon had no concept of lifespan. In other words, unless it was for the sake of plot, no man nor beast would die a natural death.

‘King of Pantheon had already been released for a year or so, as such, the frogmen should have fully spawned, right? If no one came after them, they would automatically stop spawning after they reach the limits of the map.’

‘Unless… someone else had killed them!’

‘Could it be that someone else had been here before?’

‘This place is so secret, there wasn’t any information regarding this place in the forum from my past life…’

After giving it some deep thought, nobody came to mind that was strong enough to sneak in to kill the frogmen.

The frogman he previously killed had 500,000 HP and had given 50,000 EXP points. If there was really a player that came here to hunt the frogmen, they would certainly not be low level.

Once it arrived at the tailor shop, the Frog Queen stopped abruptly.

Zhengda proclaimed, “Abu the tailor, please step out to greet her royal highness!’

The purpose of the Frog Queen’s patrol was to offer her gratitude to the tailor, Abu, who had made her ‘new clothes’.

“I’ve already mentioned this just now, but Master Abu is sick. He’s not accepting any customers!” A clear voice rang out from within the tailor shop.

Zhengda stamped in fury as he bellowed, “How dare you! The queen has personally come to visit! I don’t care whether he’s sick or not, get him out here even if you have to carry him!”

The door of the tailor shop swung open, and a slender frogman dug its way out. The frogman was especially defiant, as it was not wearing a mask.

To Li Yi’s surprise, there was a title above the frogman’s head that read, Advanced-level Tailor — Windless Heavenly Robe!

This was no monster, it was another player!

In truth, Li Yi was already alerted when he heard Windless Heavenly Robe shouting from the shop as the words that Windless Heavenly Robe spoke was not the croaking of frogmen, but the words of a human!

Although the frogman transformation allowed communication between frogmen, they were only able to ‘understand’ one another. However, the transformation did not teach the language of the frogmen to the user.

“You’re a brave one, aren’t you? To face the queen without masking your face, do you have a death wish?”

Zhengda was seething with rage and had stepped forward to teach Windless Heavenly Robe a lesson.

“Back off!” Clearly upset, the Frog Queen reprimanded Zhengda.

“Yes, your majesty!” Unable to defy her, Zhengda backed off.

Windless Heavenly Robe waved its hand towards the Frog Queen, saying, “Master Abu is sick and isn’t taking any customers. Please return home, your majesty.”

The way it talked had made it seem that he was of higher authority than the Frog Queen.

‘That’s definitely a player! No other frogman would dare to talk so crudely to the queen!’

Li Yi sneakily took out Divine Looking Glass. After keying in Windless Heavenly Robe into it, his questions had been laid to rest.

[Windless Heavenly Robe (Male)]

[Affiliated Camp: Invincible Continent]

[Affiliated Guild: None]

[Level: 69]

[Class: Undead Summoner]

[HP: 7,678]

[STR: 12]

[WIL: 235; Priest’s Robes (25 points), Priest’s Hat (55 points), Bracers of Intelligence (30 points), Foresight Bangle (60 points)…]

[AGI: …]

[Target area: Southern Continent, Southern Mountains, central region of Wailing Grotto, Frogmen Tribal Area. Coordinates: 5521155: 2551111]

…

‘As expected!’

Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that he would encounter another player here. Better yet, the player was from the same camp as him as well.

‘Windless Heavenly Robe!’

‘Was he a celebrity in the past life?’

Li Yi sifted through the memories of his past as he attempted to recall anyone with a similar name. Alas, to his dismay, he could think of no such person.

‘How did he find this place? His level is so high, yet he’s nowhere to be found within the ranking boards. Since he’s purposely being incognito, could he be a closed beta player?’

The more Li Yi thought of it, the more he got interested in Windless Heavenly Robe.

Windless Heavenly Robe had not noticed Li Yi. After chiding the queen, he immediately scurried back into his hole.

Zhengda screamed, “Frog Queen, Master Abu’s apprentice has gone way overboard. Please allow us to kill it!”

“Ribbit ribbit ribbit, kill it! Kill it!” The crowd of frogmen roared vehemently.

The Queen shook her head, saying, “Master Abu is the only frogman that appeared with me. As such, you must treat him with respect and naturally, that courtesy extends to its apprentice as well.”

“Ribbit—” The frogmen nodded in consent.

“The queen is now returning to the palace!”

Following Zhengda’s loud declaration, the queen began her journey back to the palace.

This time, Li Yi did not follow the guards and snuck away instead. He was now before the tailor’s shop and was knocking on the door.

“Stop disturbing me!” Windless Heavenly Robe’s angry voice could be heard from within.

Li Yi grinned, “Windless Heavenly Robe, open up!”

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The door was now open and a shocked expression hung on Windless Heavenly Robe’s face as he stared speechlessly at Li Yi.

“A player?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you end up here?” Windless Heavenly Robes had some questions for Li Yi and so did Li Yi.

Li Yi pointed behind Windless, asking, “How about we talk inside?”

“Come in!”

Li Yi scurried into the Tailor Shop and he was surprised at what he saw.

The shop was small, and aside from a few fabrics and textiles, there was only Windless Heavenly Robe.

Li Yi asked, “So where’s Master Abu?”

“Oh, he’s long dead,” said Windless Heavenly Robe casually.

“Now spill, how did you reach this place? What’s your name?”

Li Yi had the Divine Looking Glass with him. Aside from its ability to track its target, it also had the amazing function to hide every information regarding the user, which naturally, included their name!

Li Yi was able to see Windless Heavenly Robe’s name, but the reverse could not be said.

“I’m just as curious as you are. How did you even end up here? Let’s make a trade then, I’ll tell you my story and you tell me yours.”

“Deal!” Windless Heavenly Robe nodded his head.

“You first!”

“You first!”

They both spoke the same words.

“Let’s ROLL then!” suggested Li Yi.

Both of them rolled to decide who spoke first. As a result, Windless Heavenly Robe had lost at 50 points whereas Li Yi had won at 65 points.

Thus, Windless Heavenly Robe spoke first.

He was a truthful man and he withheld nothing as he faithfully told his story.

He was indeed a player from the Invincible Continent (previously from the Eastern Continent) and the reason for being here was due to the rare quest he received when he was Level 30.

Since Windless Heavenly Robe had the Frogmen’s Pearl with him that allowed him to transform freely, his arrival to the Wailing Grotto was relatively unhindered. After tumbling within the grotto for nearly a month, he finally encountered a frogman and was brought here.

Li Yi’s frogman form was plump and round, his external appearance and characteristics were not far off from the usual frogmen. However, Windless Heavenly Robe’s transformation was different. His form was slender and dry, and his appearance was a stark contrast to the other frogmen.

He was turned into a slave and was given to the Master Tailor, Abu as a gift. He was forced to labor every day and to serve Abu’s every whim. At times, he was even forced to endure Abu’s berating.

Since he was a player and not an NPC, he had the option to call it quits anytime and would suffer no consequences whatsoever. However, he persevered and had leveled up behind his master’s back. Whenever he had spare time, he would run out and kill patched snakes, and as a result, his level had rapidly soared. In no time at all, he had already gained the ability to defend himself.

In addition, he was an Undead Summoner, the only class in King of Pantheon able to summon multiple pets at the same time, which allowed him to gain the upper hand in combat.

One by one, he picked off the frogmen, and from them, he had received multiple great drops, including skill tomes, equipment, and etc. It was not long before he was able to turn the tables against the Master Tailor, Abu.

The Master Tailor, Abu spawned every 10 days, and every time he spawned, Windless Heavenly Robe was there to slay him. In other words, ever since Windless Heavenly Robe had disposed of Abu, he became the Master Tailor himself.

Startled, Li Yi asked, “So the queen’s new clothes were your idea?”

Windless Heavenly Robe smirked, “Why of course. I had to come up with something, or else I would’ve gone crazy dealing with these insufferable toads.”

“Hahahaha, you smart b*stard.” Li Yi flashed him a thumbs-up.

“This is nothing. The frogmen were stupid to begin with, and with Master Abu’s influence, I was able to convince them that only idiots were unable to see the magical clothing.”

“Hahahaha…” Both of them let out hearty laughs.

Li Yi asked, “So, from the time you wandered in here during Level 30, you’ve never left?”

Windless Heavenly Robe shook his head in a depressed manner, saying, “Never. Leaving before completing my quest just doesn’t sit well with me.”

“Would you mind elaborating on the quest?”

“I am tasked with searching and returning an Orange-colored Quality Frogman’s Eye to the Great Wizard Katrana. I’ve killed more than 10,000 frogmen by now, and I’ve been carving out their eyes every day. Despite that, I haven’t even found anything above Gold-colored Quality, much less Orange-colored ones… Wait, why are you staring at me like that?”

“So, what you’re saying is that you accepted the quest from the Great Wizard Katrana?”

Windless Heavenly Robe nodded, “Yup. I was doing a quest at Black Rock Mountain when I encountered her, and she told me that since she was a Messenger of Legends, the quests she issued were all Legendary-level quests. Thinking back, it’s almost a year since I accepted this quest.”

Li Yi was stunned…

The Great Wizard Katrana was the human guise of the Black Dragon Princess. Could the quest she issued be legitimate, even when the name she used was fake?

“Have you ever visited the forum?”

Windless Heavenly Robe shook his head.

“My name’s Dark Wing, ever heard of me?”

Windless Heavenly Robe shook his head again.

“Please don’t tell me that you’ve never left this place for the entire duration of your quest.”

Windless Heavenly Robe nodded.

“…” Li Yi gulped unintentionally as he had finally understood why Windless Heavenly Robe was wearing Priest equipment…

‘All the equipment on him was grinded from here…”

Li Yi sighed as he contemplated whether to explain the actual situation to the ‘Mad Lad’ before him…

Seeing that Li Yi was viewing him in a different light, Windless Heavenly Robe panicked. “What’s the problem? Don’t look at me like this man, the only reason I’m doing this is that I’m bored. Plus, I don’t feel like forfeiting the quest. I only log in when I have time to kill, plus this makes great entertainment. I’m telling you, I’m not paranoid, I’m really not!”

“I know, I know.”

“I’m not paranoid!”

“I know!”

Windless Heavenly Robe breathed a huge sigh of relief as he flashed a smile at Li Yi.

Li Yi rolled his eyes. There was no way the Windless was not paranoid. He had launched a barrage of questions just because he had doubted himself. On the other hand, the man before him had shown a terrifying amount of perseverance. Compared to Snickersnee, no, there was no competition as he was on a whole new level compared to Snickersnee…

“Your quest is fake. The Great Wizard Katrana is actually the human guise of the Black Dragon Princess. Most of her quests were made to troll people and as a result, they were impossible to complete.”

“Say what?” Windless Heavenly Robe stared at Li Yi in bewilderment.

“Katrana is currently in Shattered Frost City. You can visit her there if you don’t believe me.”

Windless Heavenly Robe shook his head vigorously. “That’s impossible, how can this be possible? How could that beautiful angel of a Wizard be a scammer?”

“What do I stand to gain by lying to you? I’m the Castellan of Shattered Frost City and Katrana’s a guard under my supervision.”

“I don’t believe you. How could the game issue fake quests? Also, if this quest is fake, how do you explain the Frogmen’s Pearl? It’s a personal gift from Katrana to me.”

Windless Heavenly Robe waved the pearl in front of Li Yi.

Li Yi groaned, “Don’t you think that there’s a difference in our transformation?”

“You’re chubbier and I’m skinnier.”

“You were turned into a slave when you arrived, whereas I’m a Queen’s Guard.”

“…”

Windless Heavenly Robe stared at Li Yi wide-eyed. After a minute had passed, he finally squeezed out, “The Orange-colored Quest couldn’t be fake!”

‘Mate, how can anyone believe that you’re not paranoid?’

Li Yi was truly at a loss for words. He finally understood why he never remembered this ‘Mad Lad’ in his previous life.

‘By the looks of it, unless something major occurs, he could very well ‘play’ here until the game shuts down…’

“Let me show you the evidence.” Li Yi opened up the forum and pulled up a bunch of videos that detailed Katrana’s scams for Windless Heavenly Robe to observe.

“That’s her! That’s her! Epic-level quest… Orange-colored quests…”

Windless Heavenly Robe muttered to himself. It appeared as though he was taking the videos seriously.

“How can this be? How can such a beautiful NPC be a liar?” Windless Heavenly Robe constantly muttered as he watched, and it was giving Li Yi a migraine.

‘He remains true to his belief even as the truth comes crashing upon him. Well, I guess that’s how he is…’

Half an hour had passed, and Windless Heavenly Robe had finished watching the videos. He glanced at Li Yi and did not say a word.

“So, do you believe me now?”

Windless Heavenly Robe shook his head, saying: “Let’s change the subject. I just remembered that it’s your turn to explain how you ended up here.”

“Oh, mine’s quite simple actually…”

Li Yi spoke the truth as well. He hid nothing as he explained all the details of his journey through the Wailing Grotto.

“So that’s how it is…” Windless Heavenly Robe nodded vigorously.

Li Yi spoke once again, “I’m actually here to retrieve the Bloody Pearl on the Queen’s head. The only problem now is that I haven’t figured out how to get it.”

The orange bow in his inventory was still clanging incessantly.

“That won’t be easy. I’ve attempted it several times behind its back, but the Frog Queen is just too OP. I have 7,000 HP and she instantly bursts it down with a single skill.”

“Master Abu’s apprentice, get your *ss out here!”

Just as Li Yi and Windless Heavenly Robe were hitting it up, an angry yell could be heard outside the gates.

“Come out, now!” There was not just one, but several frogmen that were shouting outside the gates.

“They’re here to reward me with EXP again. Stay still while I handle this.”

With a staff in hand, Windless Heavenly Robe burrowed his way out.

He was already Level 69, and yet, he still did not possess the weapon of choice of Summoners (quarterstaffs)…

…