Terra—Underground Parking Garage
Everyone was amazed at Hulk's story.
Apophis had been captured? How could someone like him, someone who had always been so far-sighted and strategic, fall into such an obvious trap?
Jiraya was there, and he crossed his arms in frustration. "How could this happen? Damn it!"
ThreeDog said, "Yeah, I can't figure it out at all. It's so stupid to go alone onto an Imperial battleship that it just makes no sense."
Hulk said, "I think that's the key. It seems so stupid on the surface that Apophis must have had a plan in mind."
Chocolate said, "Yes, I think you're right. We've had to put up with Apophis's crazy antics for a while now. They always seem insane, but in the end, things usually end up in his favor. He must have a plan that none of us are aware of."
Everyone looked at one another skeptically. After all, except for Apophis's core team, most of the gathered Eclipse players who made up the crews had no experience with Apophis in crisis situations.
Hulk said, "I guess it doesn't matter at the moment. For now, let's just focus on the mission… and staying alive. Where's Antanria?"
Jiraya and ThreeDog look at each other doubtfully for a moment. Then Jiraya said, "She's in the back."
The two players accompanied Hulk to a small, mostly empty room, which had probably once been a supply closet.
A white-haired woman was lying unconscious on a mattress.
Woman, not girl.
Hulk, who knew Antanria, was confused and alarmed. "Um, who is this?"
Jiraya looked confused. "Princess Antanria. See for yourself."
But Antanria was a girl who was perhaps ten years old—thirteen at the oldest. This person on the mattress must have been about twenty.
Hulk opened his inspection menu.
╔══════════════╕
╟─╼ NPC CHARACTER
║ ╰╼[Name]: Antanria
║ ╰╼[Title]: Princess
║ ╰╼[LvL]: ???
║ ╰╼[Rank]: C
║ ╰╼[Class]: Esper
║ ╰╼[Biology] Female Fallen Zetark
╚══════════════╛
A Fallen Zetark?! What the hell is this?! In addition to having grown, Antanria had also changed species?
None of this made sense.
Hulk turned towards Jiraya. "Explain! Don't spare a single detail! How exactly did you find him?!"
Jiraya realized that something was very wrong, and that the fastest way to get to the bottom of it was to give a full explanation. "When we respawned, we searched where Apophis had told us to—the Royal Palace of Terra hotel—but we were captured by the Imperial Army, who took us to the Emperor—"
Hulk cut him off. "Wait… You were brought before Azerof himself?!"
Jiraya nodded. "Yes."
Hulk replied, "Well, what did he want?"
Jiraya said, slowly, "He gave us a… quest. The objective was to reveal all the secrets of the Eternals. The way we respawn, how we communicate without radios, how guilds work, and so on. In exchange, we received a bunch of GC and immunity from the Imperium's attacks—"
Hulk shouted, "What?! You gave our secrets to an NPC?! And not just any NPC, but the leader of a hostile faction who has made our lives incredibly hard?!"
Jiraya frowned. "Hey, if you'd let me finish, you'd get your answer! Yes. We did. And I don't regret it. Because I didn't care about all the GC and stuff. There was only one factor to worry about. In exchange for this information… Azerof also handed over Antanria."
Hulk glared at both Jiraya and ThreeDog. He remembered his previous words when they reached the planet, that no matter what, his squad must pursue the mission that Apophis had given them.
If what Jiraya said was true, then the first squad had done that exact same thing: pursued the mission Apophis gave them at any cost.
But surely there were other ways they could've succeeded!
Jiraya threw up his arms in exasperation. "Well, what? If you have something more to say, just say it! Look, how many players are there in the game? Any random LvL1 could come to the Imperials and give them the information for free! If the Emperor wanted the info, he would definitely get it.
"This way, at least, we were able to get quest rewards and retrieve Antanria, all in exchange for information the Imperium would have gotten, anyway! You really can't be mad at us for taking advantage of the situation."
Hulk let out a long breath. Despite the logic of what Jiraya said, it still felt like some kind of betrayal. "Damn it, guys! Apophis briefed us on this! The NPCs are learning. They're plotting against us, and now they understand our weaknesses and flaws. Maybe that bastard Azerof would have gotten the information at some point, but timing is everything!"
Jiraya laughed. "Come on, man. You're giving the intelligence levels of these NPCs way too much credit. Sure, they sound natural when they talk, but it's silly to think they can adapt and plan like that to such a degree. The devs designed this whole quest line and war event, obviously. They're preparing for a big story expansion, I bet."
Hulk shook his head. "You haven't been paying attention. I'm telling you that NPCs are identical to humans in every way. This has been made obvious time and time again. There aren't enough developers in the world to program individual personality models this detailed. But that's not important right now. Let's get back to Antanria. Did you find her in this… state?"
Jiraya rolled his eyes at Hulk's claims, but answered. "Yeah. Once we finished the quest, Azerof handed her over in a coma. He said that his people had found her like that in the hotel."
Suddenly, a call came through from White, and Hulk answered it. "I'm listening. Did you find a way to disable the anti-aircraft battery?"
White said, "So, we've located the anti-aircraft guns, but the problem is that they're each protected by a hundred soldiers and a Vk5 assault mecha!"
Hulk could hardly believe his ears. "They put something as expensive as an assault mecha at each anti-aircraft battery?!"
White said, "Yes. There are three batteries in the sector, and we've confirmed that's the case for each of them."
Hulk was not happy, and didn't know what to make of the news. An assault mecha was a heavy weapon that was most efficient at stopping other heavy units like tanks and artillery.
But he knew they weren't placed at the batteries to protect against tanks. The Battle of Cronos I had made it clear that Federation military doctrine involved the use of these mechas against Ascensionists like the Eternals.
Azerof had predicted this kind of attack would come against his anti-aircraft batteries.
Hulk said, "We have about fifty players around LvL 24 or so. I don't like these odds even against a single one of those metal colossuses. Is there any way to sabotage them, rather than face them directly?"
White replied, "I already thought of that. There's no other option. Sorry, Hulk."
Hulk grimaced. "Well, we'll do what we can, then. Here's our location. Join us and we'll organize the raid."
***
White—Somewhere in the district
╔══════════════╕
╟─╼ Construct
║ ╰╼[Name]: Assault Mecha Vk.5
║ ╰╼[LvL]: 100
║ ╰╼[Firepower]: 100,000
║ ╰╼[Construct Type]: Mecha
╚══════════════╛
White stood with her team at the top of a destroyed skyscraper, observing the looming machine with a pair of optical binoculars. This location gave her an incredible view.
Unfortunately, that was because the city had undergone heavy bombing.
A captain, Roland, approached White. "What did Hulk say?"
White lowered her binoculars. "We have to regroup near the Temple of Valor. We're going to organize a raid on this assault mecha."
Roland was shocked. "Seriously?! We're going to fight it face-to face?! That's insane!"
White shrugged and began walking away from the edge of the building. "These are the orders of the mission leader. We'll obey them."
Roland shouted, "To hell with orders! Only Apophis could take one of those things down!"
White didn't even look back as she answered. "I don't think we'll succeed, either. However, there's a hierarchy in this guild, and we will respect it. Hulk is our mission leader, so we'll follow his orders."
Roland let out a contemptuous puff of air. "Pfff!"
White quickly communicated with the rest of her team. "Well, time to get moving. As you know, we've spotted quite a few ambushes from up here, either by Imperial troops or by groups of players. Be ready at all times to either flee or fight. Let's go!"
Roland and White's team had been personally selected by White herself. Each member had a well-defined function. However, they each had one detail in common: each was a Hunter.
Hunters were, without a doubt, the most versatile and easiest-to-play class in the game. Specializing in ranged weapons was a huge strength, but they also had a wide range of useful Skills.
Offensive Skills, defense Skills, buffing Skills, tanking Skills, and even healing Skills, though these were mostly designed to heal their combat pets, not other players.
Because of this versatility, the team had multiple layers of redundancy. Any single player could die, and their role would still be filled by someone else.
Moreover, White was a brilliant strategist, and was especially good at tactical planning. Therefore, she carefully managed her team's formation as they began traveling towards the Temple of Valor.
The players formed a cluster surrounded by all their combat pets, so that in the event of an ambush, the players themselves could react without any danger to themselves.
***
They walked tensely for an hour without trouble.
However, at that point, a player named Yarra said, "My mutant eagle sees three players about 300 meters to the north-east! Most likely an ambush."
White responded, "Shit! Well, I guess it was going to happen at some point. All right, Yarra, you and your brother Yarro will go to the 30th floor of that skyscraper. Set up a good overwatch with your sniper rifles.
"Roland, you and your pet act as bait. The rest of you, prepare your pets to swarm the enemy when they appear!"
Roland went forward alone for about two minutes with his pet, which was a giant rhinoceros. If one looked very closely, a faint shimmer could be seen surrounding Roland.
Suddenly, his pet stepped on a landmine!
It exploded, creating a crater ten meters across! The shock wave hurled Roland back, landing him on top of a nearby car.
Three players emerged from a nearby building: a Boxer, an Engineer, and a Warrior.
The Warrior said, "I hate landmines. They're such a fucking cheap Skill."
The Engineer answered, "Why didn't this moron die? He's just a Hunter. Their defenses are supposed to be as weak as Espers, right?"
The Warrior stepped forward in front of Roland. "Sorry, my man. This is nothing personal. But we lost two levels and all our money on this shitty planet. Gotta make up for it somehow…"
But before he could attack Roland, a powerful beam of green energy charred the Warrior!
The two other enemy players were terrified by this and hurriedly backed away.
White had just used her Legendary weapon, [Staff of the Prophetess], that she had won in the dungeon of Messiah's Path. This was, in fact, the first time she'd used it in real combat.
Everyone was stunned by the power of the attack, especially since all three enemy players were LvL 23, barely two levels below her.
But before the remaining enemies could respond, Yarra and Yarro finished charging their DPS Skills and killed the Engineer with shots to the chest and head.
Only the Boxer survived for more than ten seconds. He immediately fled, terrified and hoping to go unnoticed by the players he had intended to be his victims.
The Boxer slipped behind a sheet of metal that was hidden in shadow. He sighed in relief, thinking that he had escaped—
But the pack of Hunter combat pets was of a different opinion.
Birds, bats, rats, and even a lion ripped him from his hiding place and devoured him alive.
It was an overwhelming victory.
White's team hadn't suffered a single player loss, and only Roland had lost his pet and suffered minor injuries. This was thanks to one of the powers of White's staff, which had placed a protective bubble around Roland, absorbing 90% of the explosion's damage.
The rest of their journey went well…
…Until White came face to face with Ceasar.
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