AhriGato AKA ‘the secretary’

  Marco’s metal gauntlets slammed together as he punched his palm, “How could they have disappeared?! There were over a thousand of them? Who’s in command of the scouts? Never mind, I don’t want to know; I want you to bring me his fucking head!”

  AhriGato saw right through his blustering to the fear lurking beneath the surface. Calling him general would only remind him of the stakes and trigger him further; she left out the moniker as she pitched her tone to the subservience he found so soothing, “I received a report that the cockroach left town and vanished into thin air. At least we know there aren’t two of him. Considering the bandits’ perfectly timed escape, should we assume a traitor is feeding our movements?”

  “A traitor? That would make sense. How else could they know when to withdra—”

  “General!” A young man burst from the nearby grass, escorted by two of Marco’s trusted bodyguards. Out of breath and shaking with urgency, he pressed on with his report, “The bandit threat is far more dangerous than anticipated!” AhriGato was ready to strangle the idiot if he didn’t have something of substance to report. Lucky for him, he wasn’t completely incompetent and sent her the relevant VRVod as he continued, “We found where they're coming from! It's some kind of item that spawns them. One of my men caught them throwing equipment near the item. When it disappeared, more bandits spawned!”

  Marco shuddered, rubbing his temples, “Dear god, they're growing as they kill us. No wonder. Where is this item?”

  “I-I don’t know exactly, General,” seeing Marco’s expression turn to thunderclouds, the scout leader blurted the rest of his information, “It should be somewhere northwest of the last engagement. My scout was crawling to avoid detection. He couldn’t see over the grass, and they found him after only a few seconds of observation.”

  Marco opened his mouth to start shouting orders, then stopped, glancing suspiciously over both shoulders at the nearby players. After briefly examining the recorded vodcast, AhriGato dared to interject, “It appears the summoning flag is a stationary item.”

  “Finally, some good news!” Marco roared, “I don’t care what losses we have to take; find that flag in the next five minutes!”

  AhriGato nodded, relaying the appropriate orders to their commanders. Even if they couldn’t reach the item, they would find it quickly enough if they swarmed the area where most of their people were dying. As scouts discarded stealth to boldly run through the grass, kill reports came in by the dozen. AhriGato relayed the relevant information to her office team, which had access to a holographic map they could use to triangulate.

  Meanwhile, General Marco coordinated with the commanders directly, tightening the noose around their slippery foe. Right when it seemed the tables had turned, a report came in that turned the general’s face white as a sheet. As if she knew before he did, a call came through. Marco cringed, accepting it reluctantly.

  The moment Vaneese saw his face appear, she screeched at him, “How could you let three thousand members of my division die so easily?!”

  Seething, Marco growled, his voice low, “What? How dare you try to pin that on me! It was your people who let the bandits break through the encirclement so easily. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you told them to do it on purpose.”

  As if the rodent wandered right into her trap, Vaneese’s supposed fury vanished, and her voice turned to a purr, “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, husband. You’ve been in control of my forces since demanding I relinquish them to you. I haven’t communicated even once. It would be terrible if I accidentally countermanded one of your brilliant strategies…”

  “Vaneese, stop messing around. This is serious. Master Torune isn't going to let you off with a light slap if you don't help me turn this situation around. Use one of those fancy gems and get your ass here on the triple! If you don’t, mark my words: I’ve plenty of ways to make you suffer.”

  An evil smile pulled her lips wide, “Gems? Can you be more specific? I’m not at all sure what you’re referring to. Oh, look at the time. My favorite vodcast is airing right now. Ta-ta.” Without waiting for another response, she ended the call.

  It had been a long time since AhriGato wanted to curse out loud. The expletive almost left her lips before she controlled herself with an iron will. Until the master no longer held her daughter hostage, she had to keep his unpredictable godson under control. She met Marco’s eyes, exuding the calm solidarity he needed to recover. However, as if she were cursed, another call came in. Marco released a shudder at the Ncode displayed in his HUD.

  He answered with trepidation, “Morok, my dear friend. What can I do for you?”

  “How many of my employees are you planning to kill, you incompetent little shit? Those men and women aren’t yours! They’re mine! Mine! Do you fucking hear me?”

  Marco cringed, attempting to salvage the conversation, “Of co—”

  “Shut the fuck up!” Morok the Viper’s voice turned shrill, “I’ll be sending a bill totaling every death and lost piece of gear directly to Master Torune. If I’m not refunded by the end of the day, consider our cooperation ended!” Morok didn’t allow any chance to respond, promptly ending the call.

  “These damn bandits aren’t even dropping any loot, and now this?!” In a full-blown tantrum, Marco screeched and furiously kicked the ground, sending dirt flying. He repeatedly smashed a gauntlet against his chest plate, the reverberations calming his nerves. Facing AhriGato, he growled through a tight jaw, “There’s nothing we can do about containing the bandits now that they’ve broken through the pincer. If we assume that flag can make infinite reinforcements, then we have no choice but to make it our top priority. Order Vanee-the western forces to continue closing the encirclement. Anyone attacked should fight back to buy the rest of us time.”

  Just then, a message tagged emergency came in from AhriGato’s team. She accessed it immediately, praying for good news. As her eyes flew over the words, the tension drained from her shoulders, “We’ve found it.”

  Raine KongRu

  Raine’s greatsword plunged through a woman’s chest, reaping a level and a piece of gear. A spear darted toward his head, but it was intercepted by one of the bandits at his side. A shuffle-spin brought Raine forward and around, his heavy weapon slicing through armor and flesh with equal ease. He finished the martial maneuver with a Rupture, sending fifty players off to respawn. It was hard to deny that he was having the time of his life.

  Butter on the biscuit, every CronGate employee that died put them one step further away from disrupting his future plans. When he started a guild, they would be the first to come knocking for revenge. This was his best chance to deliver them a crushing blow.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  The bandits charged into the gap his skill created. They killed almost as quickly as he did. The morale of his enemies snapped like a dry twig. They bolted, and the bandits roared, prepared to charge after them. A sharp whistle from Raine stopped them in their tracks. Looking at the lack of forces made it clear they either found the flag or decided to prioritize locating it over trying to kill his elite Vaaterrans.

  Looks like they didn’t take the bait. That’s too bad, but this works too.

  Raine signaled for his troops to spread out and press the attack instead of remaining in a tightly clustered formation. The direct path east, back to the flag, was still open from when they broke through a few minutes ago. He commanded one of the bandit leaders to sprint his troops back to the flag, taking the five thousand pieces of gear they’d collected so far. They would still be outnumbered six to one, but it didn’t matter if they all died. They only needed to keep Righteous away from the flag for a few minutes.

  The enemy casters and archers were the real problem. So long as they remained alive, the sheer numerical disadvantage would eventually wear down his forces. The remaining bandits charged in a wide formation. Raine was at the front, cutting through the fleeing stragglers while closing in on the back ranks of the rapidly advancing western encirclement.

  Raine sent a quick message to Rhino, “Get back into the fight. Stay on the outskirts and assassinate as many casters as possible. Stay focused on the flow of the battle. When Righteous breaks, get back to position and stop them from entering the town.”

  “You sure know how to make a guy happy. Wait… how did you know that would make me so happy?” Rhino replied right away with a squinty-eyed meme.

  Raine snorted, beginning to wonder if the kid’s antics were an act just for laughs. The fleeing players caught up with the main forces. They turned, weapons and shields raised and ready. Raine’s bandits plowed into them, the clangor of clashing weapons, rent armor, and screams filling the air.

  Due to being concentrated in a smaller area as they closed in on the flag, this enemy formation was nearly a hundred players deep. Raine’s forces were also spread thin, resembling a school of piranhas attempting to eat their way through a whale. Luckily, Righteous was either incompetent or unfamiliar enough with the warfare in ZionLine not to concentrate their casters in the middle of the formation.

  Arrows and Blasts filled the air in haphazard waves, some firing back at Raine and the bandits, some toward the flag's location. Due to the volleys being thin and the bandits having ‘adequate’ combat standards, most of them failed to hit. Raine wasn’t about to let them get their shit together without paying a hefty toll for their mistake.

  “Don’t let up! Kill ‘em all!” He shouted, simultaneously unleashing a Great Divide that cut deep into the thick formation.

  [Iron 2-H Sword: Durability -2]

  Lunging into the center of the cleared space, he roared like a madman, unleashing a wave of bloodlust with all his mental strength. For fifteen meters in each direction, the frenetic pace of pitched combat stuttered to a stop. It was only a momentary pause but served to further disrupt their cohesion, allowing his bandits to kill hundreds more.

  [Achievement for first to murder (intended or otherwise) 10,000 Travelers: Ethereal Powder dropped]

  Raine snatched the falling item so fast its bright blue glow barely strobed before vanishing.

  [Ethereal Powder: (Lustrous Blue) Sprinkle on the body to slip into the ethereal realm for fifteen seconds. Beware the hidden dangers that lurk within the unknown abyss]

  [Regional System announcement: Congratulations Alaric for being the first to murder ten thousand Travelers!]

  [World System Announcement: Congratulations Alaric for being the first to murder ten thousand Travelers!]

  Amidst shrill screams packed with indignation, Raine bent his knees and Leaped high to get a snapshot of the battle. The area around the flag was swarmed with players and Vaaterrans alike. The bandits were down to less than five hundred, but those remaining were level ten and fifteen elites. Each took dozens of hits to kill, and they weren’t easy to hit. Tens of players died for each. Unfortunately, they had little time to secure the loot from their kills to spawn more bandits.

  They wouldn’t last much longer against the eastern flank. It was no longer in a thin, broad line. They were now clustered two hundred deep, and the concentration of fire coming from within that sea of humanity wasn’t to be underestimated.

  Lunging off the air, Raine flew headfirst into the thick of Righteous’s warriors. He landed with another Rupture, bringing his Discipline below half. Raine dashed into the ring of bandits around the flag, unloading the fifty pieces of gear picked up so far. Before the fresh recruits could coalesce, he was tearing into the enemies to the east.

  “Damn you, cockroach!” A thunderous shout perked Raine’s ears. Looking up, his grin widened seeing General Marco again.

  Raine’s spinning cleave cleared space as the man’s long axe whirled from above. Raine smoothly side-stepped without breaking the momentum of his greatsword. Marco ducked, expertly using his axe’s pommel to knock Raine’s sword up at the last second so it harmlessly flew over his head. Marco’s eyes shot wide as he was thrown back three paces from the brief contact.

  He clearly expected to tackle Raine before he recovered from his overextension. Furious spittle flew from his mouth as he charged again, “How high is your Potency, you damn cheater!” Marco’s competence as an early class five martial master was on full display as he weaved forward with a complex body movement that left Raine dizzy.

  There was only a single level difference between them, and Raine didn’t have the full set bonus from his armor, nor his level fifteen greatsword. Meanwhile, Marco was in head-to-toe, level ten Lustrous Blues. Still, Raine held an advantage in attributes and easily deflected a wickedly-angled chop from above.

  When he stepped forward to return the favor, several flanking players stabbed at him with spears while those behind fired arrows and Blasts. Marco’s grin was wiped off his face as Raine simply tanked every last hit, closing the distance until both their weapons were useless.

  Marco’s foot lashed out at his extended knee. As a fist fighter for thirty years, this was precisely the distance Raine felt the most comfortable. Additionally, while Marco might be a class five by today’s standards, he was closer to the future’s definition of a class four, though without knowing how to properly take advantage of his attributes.

  With absolute control over every muscle in his body, Raine’s knee bent unnaturally as his quad and calf twisted it out of the way of Marco’s kick. His knee would have been dislocated if they were in the outside world. Instead, Raine merely suffered tremendous pain and a dip in his health. He ignored both as his foot snapped forward at an equally disturbing angle, catching Marco’s boot as it tried to withdraw.

  A heavy thud preceded the man trying to jump backward off one leg, but Raine had the advantage in forward momentum. He maintained their distance, the fist not holding his sword whipping out. Marco blocked the attack, but again, Raine’s muscles contorted, turning his arm into a snake that wove around the shaft of Marco’s axe.

  There was little force behind the punch, but there didn’t need to be. The moment Raine’s fingers grazed Marco’s breastplate, Life Drain activated, sapping more than half the general’s health. He screamed and stumbled back, the pain from feeling like he was being turned inside out too much to bear.

  Raine had guessed the man wasn’t used to taking damage. With his skills, and constantly fighting in a group, he might not have been hit more than once or twice since creating his avatar. Without the repeated experience of life-ending pain, shrugging off such a powerful skill was simply unrealistic. It’s not like he’d faced anything close to it in the outside world, either.

  The half a second it took him to recover was far too long. Raine’s greatsword crunched into his chest. He rapidly spun the other way, the weapon slicing into Marco from the other direction. Each hit took a quarter of the general’s life. Left with only a sliver, Marco met Raine’s eyes, disbelief scrawled across his face as a boot crashed into his chest. He slid off Raine’s sword, the last of his health draining away.

  Marco hit the ground in a spray of blood, and Raine stepped on his corpse. The last thing the general saw was a Rupture overkilling his trusted bodyguards, exploding them into clouds of shimmering dust. Due to merely meeting his health, Marco’s body vanished slower than his subordinates. It was replaced by a resplendent golden glow.

  Frowning, Raine ignored the chaotic fighting around him to bend down and pick up the book that dropped, “Where did you find such a good thing? We should meet again soon so I can thank you.”

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