Fantasy Shiva (Fantasy/Sci-fi)

[TKhan]

Update 10

Something Beyond Normal


“Stupid…” Laughed the Mage. “It took you so long just to realize that? Pft…you’re underestimating us.” +

The archer, again, released his arrows and the four arrows that came from a single one bounced off on her Dark Shield. But then, as she thought that the fire balls were coming next, what came next was the shadow of the Manna Blader who came with a slash from above.

Her reactions were too late as all she could do was to raise her hand to form the shield. She met the attack and as usual, she was pushed down with the player’s incredible force.

What’s up with this attack?! It’s abnormally strong!

A kick on her head woke her up from a moment of distraction and she was hit pretty hard for she fell back around 15meters.

When she landed, she was already on her back and as she raised her head, she was surprised that the Mage was the one who kicked her instead. But he was already in the middle of his casting and the fire balls were already complete when she saw it.

It flew straight at her and all she could do was to be a target with a Dark Shield.

Or so she thought.

Because right at the most terrible of all the bad timing it might happen, her manna was now 0, which is bad, but Ceres’s Tech Ability is also fire attributed so in short even if she activated the ability, it’s still going to be useless since both abilities are Tier-1 category.

She watched as the fireballs slowly approached her face. The light of the ball reflected in her eyes, saying that this direct hit will end her career. In so in her mind, the last dying thoughts she had in this world, the regrets of not having the last mouth full of the in-game super delicacy, Diamond Moss Pudding, the thought of her last adventure, the last time she had seen a friend, the last time she had been on her in-game house —it all came to her, flashing, shining like a vivid memory.

She don’t even know if she’ll get to buy the console and start again since she really had no plans for it.

Like most players, she entered this world to escape the chains of responsibility and loneliness in the real world, full of pretense and everyone only worked and almost forgot how to be free.

Lately, her best friend have been sad, broken even, because as soon as she met her first love, the guy just then vanished with no traces as to what had happened to him. They don’t even know if he’s alive or not. With this, her best friend had stopped working, shut her self up in her room and only cried or stare outside the window, wishing that one day he’d show up again.

It saddened her friend so much since they only had small time to be with each other. She hasn’t even told him about her feelings.

Though she had been successful on inviting her to go online in Terroa, when she’s inside, she’d only stare at the lake outside her starting city and spend the whole day doing just that. It even came to a point that she had been thought as a quest NPC since she’s really pretty.

The thought that she can’t do anything for her friend had caused her sadness too. She hasn’t even brought her to the best sight seeing places she had discovered in all of her time in Terroa.

But to die now, have her character deleted, all her hardship, all of her sweat on developing FlowerLord, all of her effort on trying to make this avatar the coolest girly character ever, all her plans on pulling the pretty avatar, Scion, to enter Terroa too…
…was it all going to end here?

She asked that question as she stared at the star that’s slowly approaching her.

It’s because somehow, she felt calm.

I won’t die here.

Because as soon as she knew that, she was certain, she believe she’s not going to die here. FlowerLord’s career won’t end here with a pitiful death in the hands of murderers. The legend of FlowerLord has just began. 1

There is no way the legend will end here where it’s just getting started.

But the attack came.

The explosion of the impact knocked her feet off and she felt the harrowing pain of the Burn magic spell. It melted her skin, torn up her clothes, blurred her vision, and made her remember every pain she had in her life put together in one. She cried a painful scream and got blown off several meters from her feet. But of all the bad news she had right now, the greatest news is just she was still alive. A little sacrifice but she was alive.

If she hadn’t at least tried to protect herself with the Ceres, then she might really have died back then.

But she didn’t die and it made her smile.

She laughed hard as she tried to stand up. But these guys are professionals and they didn’t give her time to recover as the Manna Blader continued to attack her with a devastating blow.

Using the Ceres, she bared with the pain of scorched skin and aching muscle and met with the attack backed with tremendous strength.

Weirdly, the archer from their group released arrows after arrows as if the log between using skills and the cool down of each skills wasn’t a variable. She was being pushed in a corner and if she don’t do anything, she might really actually end up a goner.

“Efel!”

“Get off her!”

At that, as if an angel, as the mage’s Burn magic spell was about to be cast out, hails of bullets came from behind her. And so to save himself, the masked Mage cancelled the release and instead used the fire balls as shields to melt the bullets and jump away.

Two screams bellowed and the hails never stopped. The beautiful twins with jiggling racks from the Tekz Race backed her up as the masked men took their defensive stances.

“Paak! Waan!” She called as the two got beside her.

Paak, the one with the blonde straight hair took a red potion from her QIP and gave it to her. She drank it up in one go and after a second, her HP came back to 60% and her burns started to heal one by one.

Then, Waan, the one with long black hair helped her stand and gave her a manna gem’s blessing to recover her manna to 1. 2

FlowerLord thanked them gratefully. “We‘re in a war. A single mishap will cause you your life here.” Waan told her and FlowerLord nodded with a weak smile.

“I got careless and forgot to maintain my manna.”

“That’s the problem with Dark Technology,” Said Paak who changed the magazine of her Gunryu. “they are too manna dependent and eat up too much of it.”

Then Waan slapped her butt with a wink. “Try not to enjoy too much. And never take your enemies lightly.”

“Why do I get lectures from you guys?”

“Because we’ve been joining wars ever since this game began, girl, and we are more experienced in these things than you.” Answered Waan and charged their group with magic buffs.

“Right.” Nodded Paak and put her Gunryu on her small shoulder. “So if they can use better magic, and is better in group fighting, then we just have to be better at them at those fields. Isn’t that right sisters?”

FlowerLord smiled and drank a vial of blue liquid manna potion. “Yup. Better and deadlier than them.”

“Ya finished?” The masked Mage said mockingly. “I was worried that you will be taking more time talking and not actually resuming our contest.”

“Come on, Black. We should’ve just attacked them while they were chit chat’n.” Said the masked Archer.

Then the Manna Blader took a step. “Let them have it. It’s no fun ambushing them two times in a row.”

The two others laughed and their shoulder shrugged. FlowerLord and the twins shared a glance and began their attack. The two girls who switched from guns to guns, rifle to handguns, to machine guns, volleyed their expensive bullets to the enemies while FlowerLord did a barrage of arrows with her archery skills.

Her enemy was the masked archer while the masked Mage faced the blonde haired Paak.

“Hahaha, pathetic.” The masked archer laughed and fired two shots of cloning arrows.

The arrows went straight for FlowerLord but she was already prepared and got used to the weirdness of her abilities that she used her Ceres to mechanically block the attacks. Two more volleys came, and this started to take a toll on FlowerLord’s senses.

“Surprised?” Yes she was as FlowerLord’s reaction to the words indicated that clearly. “You average users are very reliant to what you know. Pathetic. And that’s why you work hard and earn less. Gyahahahaha…”

Like a lunatic’s laugh, it crept out the hairs on her and she deliberately took a few distances more.

“You…what are you…”

“Simply put,” The masked Archer released an arrow that cloned into four and FlowerLord shielded herself, drinking a manna potion as it happen. “There are more in this game than what you commoners know. And as an example…”

As he spoke, the masked Archer dematerialized his bow and switched into a bright silver colored shield.

No swords?

FlowerLord looked puzzled as she watched him. It only took a few moments after he summoned it that the man motioned as if to have a charge and at the next moment, the shield began to shine. Then…

BOOM!

The masked man with the shield suddenly charged straight at him and the shield itself was basked in lights that was a reminiscent of a skill.

“What the…?!”

FlowerLord dodged with all her might and the shield and the man slammed the ground with monstrous force that the ground where she once stood became the center of a large crater. Rubbles flew, smokes and dust that’s a reflection of the blue colored moon above filled the area and so she jumped away as much as she could. But the attack continued, like a meteor going straight at her and so she summoned the Dark Spear and met is with a strike instead.

The charging shield was so fast that her return came a bit late as the Dark Spear and his shield met 10meters away from her. And so as the two attacks met, she, who was a fragile archer as she was at the start, was thrown off by the colliding force’s impact.

It felt like an explosion from the Crimson Overlord spell as the area around the collision point was reduced to rubbles and dust after the blinding light. +

There were no traces of the masked man and she was in the ground lying there, motionless.

She raised her head to check and saw the masked man trembling somewhere in the middle of the crater as he tried to stand using his bow. He quickly tried to drink a potion from his QIP but since the distance was ten meters away, her thoughts came faster as she used her left hand to wave for the spear to attack the man.

The sound of a body being pierced by the Dark Spear resounded and the man became a black statue by the spear’s ability.

“That…that…was lucky…” She heaved the words in between huge breaths as she kept lying there looking up to the moon. Then, she drank potions and recovered her health and manna, then took a tiny silver cube from her inventory and put it on her chest. “Dark Spear is…still a superior…weapon…after all…”

What was that ability?

Though she wanted to think it over, the sound of war around her prevented her to wander her thoughts.

As the repair of her clothes took place, though she may looked like fresh and new, the fatigue in her body was still from the fight in this war and the reason she was trembling is because of those.

She stood up and tried to fix her bearing, using the Ceres to be her third leg. Looking around, the war still continued from afar but on her side, it was completely a chaos. The whole division was disorganized, her own Company was annihilated by the ambush of the Masked Organization, and there were still the ongoing fights of those like her that was ambushed.

From afar, she could see the Arch Mage, Merlock, in a deadlock with five masked men. Darna, the renowned mercenary, exchanging arrows with four archers. It was even a miracle that she could last against them.

Me, FlowerLord continued to look at her milieus, it’s a miracle that I survived that clash.

And then from above, the pirate ship Nicholas, with its descriptive UFO design, began to take fire as there was a long black alien-ish warship 1.5 of its own size crawling up above it with claws. And at that moment, it totally got blown off the sky as pieces of its burning parts fell down on the eastern horizon.

The explosion brighten up the sky and lighted up the surroundings. It felt like fireworks, only, massively big and a little bit horrifying in a sense.

On the side of the wall, there were winged players who started to take down the TGG forces on the ground with sniping skills. It looked like flocks of marauders picking up ducks on the pond. Those who were able to master the use of such wings did an ambush attack where they land and fly to kill enemies.

And so, in turn, from above, the same units from the TGG were launched from the Three Sisters. And they, in their sky diving formation, looked so fascinating as seen from the ground. But then, somehow, she drew her attention to the indigo dawn coming from the east. 1

At that, FlowerLord saw the dark horizon slowly becoming dyed in lighter blue. As dawn closed in, she couldn’t help but feel nervous as there was a silhouette of a ship, bidding an oppressive, negative vibe coming along with Terroa’s bright star.

 

[Sendbobsandvegana]

Satisfying update bro...

 

[TKhan]

Satisfying update bro...

Thanks bro

 

[TKhan]

Update 11

Incomplete Monster


[The Nicholas is down! The Prontera had received substantial damage from the explosion! The Masked Organization took down the Nicholas!]

“Deploy Cyclone escort squads six and seven. Tell them the priority of Prontera’s safety until it gets back to the hangar base.”

[The interference on the southeast and eastern sides of the battlefield have been confirmed, sir!]

“Order the 9th Division to deploy their beast platoon first to flank the enemy. Tell the Hydra to lend a panel of missiles to cover the east gate.”

[Another platoon of Bombers are coming sir!]

“Tell the Shield Mages to hold their grounds!”

[Second division is starting to crumble! Division commander has fallen to the masked men! H-His MOD has been taken!]

“Damn. Tell the 13th Division to support the 2nd Division and tell Colonel Forge to take charge of those troops. Do not let the line crumble down! Warn the others of the masked men’s target at once!”

[Attention to all Sylphs, the Masked Organization is targeting MOD wielders! Warning to…]

“Radar! What’s the situation in the sky?”

[Winged Element units are being deployed from the Amaya and Acala sir! Captain Nash is currently taking part in a dogfight!]

“Shit! He’s done it again. How long until Missouri recovers its energy?”

[Unconfirmed sir! The communication is down due to the masked men’s interference!]

[Sir! Detected an unknown heat signature! Location, 139! Estimated speed at 140kn and dropping! Distance, 180km! Its headed towards our direction!]

The reports from the officers of the Sylphs came in on the Command HQ. Their Guild Master, Matsuri, were looking at different angles of the war taken from his own men assigned to become correspondents. In the conference room of their HQ, Real@D screens were set up in a side way series, placed next to each other like a large curved wall.

“What is the affiliations of that ship?” He asked the Radar Officer. The operator looked at his console and did another check on the database regarding all of the publicised information about warships in Terroa.

[Nothing…sir. Its…It’s not registered in any of the existing database. I think it’s a rogue unit or a private owned ship that is just developed recently sir.]

“Does it look like it’s going to attack any side?”

[Its not sending any lock-on lasers. But it’s ignoring our warning messages! Though I don’t think its going to target anything for now. But scanners shows that it’s equipped with six Bloodymary cannons and two large bio-signatures inside. Category, “S”.]

Bloodymary and an S-ranked bio-signature? But if it has six of those monstrous cannons, then that means…

“Alright. Mark that unknown ship.”

[S-Sir?]

Matsuri somehow became anxious as his expression made the people in the room nervous.

The Radar Officer encharged of the table console for watching over the battlefield locator chart marked the unknown blue dot on their Real@D locator hologram though he himself wasn’t sure if he received the right command.

Then, Matsuri called out without turning his head.

“Reynolds.”

“Sir!” On Matsuri’s right side was a gruffly Atlas in his classic Swordmage attire —semi-armor clothing and a large buster sword on his back, always looking like ready to leap into the battlefield anytime. “What’re your orders?”

Lieutenant Reynolds, with his stark and firm bearing that immediately betrayed the sense of the avatar inside a game stood neatly in a military manner.

He pursed his lips and looked straight ahead as if in a real military office and his snappy posture gave away his real-life affiliations, a military personnel.

What more, it’s because Matsuri, his Guild Master, is actually his real-life commanding officer in their liaison somewhere in Fort Magsaysay. That would explain the reason why of all of Matsuri’s Guild Staffs, he specifically trusts the gruffly character Reynolds. If there was actually a reason the two of them is this close and familiar with each other, that would be because the two of them are living in the Liaison Officer Quarters.

“Sneak out of the battlefield. Bring a squad of your trusted skilled men and meet with the crew of that ship.” Then he gave him a small box. “Give this to the person who will meet you and…just be who you are in there. Do you understand?”

“Sir!” Without hesitation, Reynolds replied with a firm tone and stiffened posture.

“Good.” Replied Matsuri and sent him a PM. After seeing that Reynolds had understood what was written there, their eyes met and he nodded at Reynolds. “Go now. We are pressed for time. Oh, yeah, some piece of advice, no matter what happens, don’t look at her.”

Reynolds saluted, “Yes sir!” and turned around with a snappy act as Matsuri watched him leave the room while wearing a tensed expression and going back to his in-game job.

***

The Miranda, an Archangel-class Explorer Vessel that can also be categorized as a semi-warship, stopped from its cruise speed approach and hovered 4km above the Buendia River, overlooking the on-going war of the TGG and Sylphs on the Buendia Valley, 38km away, in a relatively safe distance.

Actually, anything within 1,000km from any warship inside, and especially outside, the atmosphere can be detected by the Laser Satellite Communication System (LaSaC System).

But the difference in those distance, especially those within the atmosphere, is that civilian and the nearby countries’ warships (if any) deployed in their defensive stances could also be detected. So with this approach, not until the Miranda had entered the 300km distance from the battlefield that the warships taking part in the war could actually notice that it was already coming.

If it was in space, any ship approaching within the distance of 300km is already considered approaching close-range firing distance.

Rafaela knows it. She already knew that entering the nearest 200km of the battlefield will make them receive Warning Messages from the groups partaking the war.

Especially when they are coming from the east side, where the defensive line of the Sylphs were grounded, with Miranda’s unknown affiliations, it was actually a wonder that the Sylphs haven’t attacked them at all.

Since with the Lightstone Disbursement Technology (LDT) that shoots out High Density Particle Beams (HDPB) in sub-light speeds, anything near 50km can be taken down without worry. That is, speaking within the atmosphere of Terroa since the HDPB’s concentration is greatly affected by gravitational pull and the aliens’ Plasma Field that bonded within the atmosphere, were able to affect the HDPB to lose 90% its effectiveness.

The principle behind the LDT, according to Terroa’s storyline, is that the Lightstone absorbs light from the Sol and stores it in itself until it becomes dark. And so with the LDT, the absorption of light of the elemental stone reaches the vacuum level and its disbursement or release was forcedly amplified through the use of the Blackrock chamber in the cartridge —bullets.

Hence is the principle behind the majority of all the weapons technology used in warships in Terroa, a trend that began eight months after the release of the game.

It’s not only destructive aside from being expensive, it was also the strongest of all ship weapon technology, as of five months ago, as it was toppled by a video of the Alcides Guild’s invention, Spandau Technology that reshaped a mountain in a single blast.

The Alcides Guild did not share its specs and thus created fear amongst the players against them.

Still, those were not the only Weapon Technology available in Terroa. There was also the Nanoweapons Technology, or just Nanotech, the widely conventional user-based weapons. Nanotech weapons are developed by humans against the aliens, according to the story. It is, by default, the user’s very specific-based weaponry that they can access right after entering the game.

In the recent months, there have been more records of very unique designs. Many of such have been appreciated on TV shows and other media related ways of connecting to people. Trend on social network sites are also discussing things regarding inventions and though Inventions are used by almost 99.5% of all the users of Terroa, there still those .5% who preferred weapons sold in the Shops or kept by monsters.

These weapons are very basic and do not have any explosive damages in them. But these extreme minority that preferred to use these seemingly weak weapons are the ones who’re secretly, currently, standing at the top.

Rafaela, for one, is also part of this crowd, though, only in the away side.

And upon discovering the secret that lies behind the simplicity of these weapons, she began to take the interest on progressing and feeding her curiosity in the field of Terran Weaponry.

And that’s how she came to be who she is now.

There are many kinds of weapons in Terroa that was already somewhere in the intelligent mind of Rafaela who, she herself, was a corrupting Mage, Necromancer.

Necromancers aren’t an official class in Terroa, nor are the Mages. But these players, fewer than ten as they are, originally, are all but those who reached advanced level of knowledge and experience inside the game. For melee users have a tendency to search for more power and strength, the path of wizardry requires one to be hungry for more knowledge in magic. Thus, research is essential if one wanted to advance.

If being a Mage is the main road in the path of the mastery of wizardry, then Necromancers are some sort of one of its branch. Like chemistry, as a branch of Science, Necromancy is also in the same category.

Rafaela had her research in the field of the Tier-1 magic and she discovered that not all of Tier-2 are their improved versions, as the public stated. In truth, it’s a branching of abilities with each and every one of those ability having an equal corresponding junction that can be integrated to work together with another junction. It therefore bring about an endless chain of junction “events” resulting from one effect to another with each one of them having endless potential for another magic.

She herself experimented countless times on these phenomena, that subsequently resulted on her discovery of the Corruption ability —which in turn became her Ultimate Skill, which, also, in turn, defined her class in Terroa, the Necromancer.

At first it began with a skill that resulted from Tier-1 magic, Bind, that she junctioned with the Tier-3 magic spell, Save Them (5m diameter AOE, healing magic, 40MP = 50%HP) and Telekinesis (Tier-2 magic, active spell, 5MP/1sq. m, 1MP/sec), that then results in an event that can make a corpse moving again. The corpse doesn’t have a will but it moves according to the will of the caster. But the effect of the magic lasts only as long as the caster has MP, which is not a practical spell for battle since she had to first cast the spells according to the formula and wait for the casting time to finish.

The manna cost per casting is 37MP per AOE and the casting time and cooldown period for the respective spells are accumulated because junctioning abilities doesn’t cancel out the spells’ basic properties. She also had used up four of the 10 slots intended for the maximum number of equipped abilities, with the fourth being the resulting skill, Revive. Thus, she had to be careful on choosing what other skills she had to take to get to her goal. After all, the limit on how many times junction can be used is (15x) per equipment settings.

So what she did is to junction the skill, Revive, with three Tier-3 accessories, Area Extension (expands the AOE of the junctioned spell by 15m —x3), and did it again with a Tier-4 accessory, HP Battery, that enables her to buy a “Battery with 100HP” on the target of the junctioned skill —the AOE of Revive. And as soon as she did that, the skill’s name changed to Howl and ate up the ability slot where Revive has been earlier.

But even if she already had the desired ability and effect parameters, utility wise, Howl, in general, isn’t battlefield ready yet. She would immediately die before she could even cast the spell.

It’s because with every accessory used, 1sec is added on the junctioned skills’ casting time. Since she had used four, that’s automatically +4sec on casting time.

With all its disadvantages, she junctioned Howl to another set of three Tier-3 accessories. The first was the Half Down to reduce cooldown period by half, second was Half MP that already goes by its name, and then the last, Half Count, that halved the casting time of the skill by half of its overall amount. At that time, as soon as she finished, Howl had changed into the ability, Evoke, that greatly resembled the ability to actually bring the dead back to life.

She did it all with almost countless trials and error before landing on the resulting event, Evoke.

Still, it was AOE dependent and 50m “around” the user doesn’t guarantee that she’ll be able to actually bring her targets inside the skill’s AOE. Plus, the shape of the AOE is just a circle, fixed around the caster as the origin. So she sought to modify the “target” of the skill, went back to the target of the Bind magic, and junctioned it to a Tier-3 (supposedly useless) accessory, Crosshair, that allowed the target of the ability to only effect those with the same status like it.

Thus, the birth of a legendary skill, Summon.

Upon looking up on what tier the skill is, it easily landed on the S-ranked only, Tier-4 magic spells. But as soon as she saw her Invention —the solid staff made of pure S-ranked monster bones, Drake’s Whiskers, she immediately thought of the extra junction slots and tested if the Dark Spear —the staff’s hybrid form, would actually connect. When it actually did, Summon immediately became her prided skill, Corruption, with the versatility of the Dark Spear applied to the spell.

So far, she had only known of three people who also unlocked the concept behind this Necromancer class.

The first is herself.

The second is Malecite from the Alcides Guild.

And the third is an unknown character who, in some odd circumstances, only roams around a dangerous area in one of Heartilia’s neutral territories, Caledonia, somewhere in the Island Country of Antoine. And the accidental meeting with this person did not end well into a good impression. Because this player is one of those very few who wasn’t at all affected by her charms and instead attack her without second thoughts.

Rafaela was proud of these achievements. Even if this world is just a recreational place for her, the fact that there are people who was able to test her wits in terms of ingenious originality was enough to make her stay and linger for more hours, studying magic and doing research for concepts for new Inventions.

 

[TKhan]

Update 12

Pink!

Looking down from a window of her recreational room, at the cargo hall at the back side of the ship, a man was fixing the magnetic locks that held two red colored freight containers. Seeing how focused the man was, she can’t help but think about all the things that ran through her mind earlier.

Inventions.

I was positive I was one of the best Inventor and Enchanter in this world. But to think that his concept…

Because even if she tell everyone that she had come up with the Necromancer ability to summon dead units as her minions on her own, the fact that she doesn’t have the same damage output as this man’s Invention was making her grunt with irritation.

But that’s not all there is to it.

While actually looking at the man, she can’t help but bit her lower lip as she had never seen such crazy feat, yet, powerfully intimidating and attractive style as his.

It’s as if her belief was stepped down upon.

But thinking more about it, it was really surprising that there are people like him who was crazy enough to challenge this world’s Realistic Graphic Engine using only his fists and maximizing item usage and the 90% RGE itself against everything else.

The appearance of a monster in this world, alone, is so real that it’s enough to make even the bravest of soldiers in the real world cower in terror.

…yet he wasn’t affected by this at all.

Not at the slightest bit!

And not to mention receiving an attack from a 30m high monster such as the Lapis, and actually standing up again right after being hit, is also another matter of mental durability to endure pain.

Though he wasn’t able to kill one, but to actually subjugate a Lapis Lazuli until it was practically dead, no other man had actually made her heart skip their beats until two days ago.

And now, they have two live S-ranked monsters in a cargo container. This was the first time she had heard of such crazy style of fighting.

She then thought, the first attack of the first Lapis, in which she and the crew of Miranda fought four days ago, was one in turn that resulted on the change on his arsenal of skills. She felt like she was used as a tester to the swirling thoughts in his mind —according to him, about this world’s countless useless skills and items.

And look at him now…

The subject of her gaze continued to maintain the security of the package he won himself, and the other that she gave him as a gift in exchange for the data about the new skill that he invented just two days ago.

Now that she thinks bout it, she also had the same thoughts on those supposedly useless things when she was still starting on doing her research about Terran Weapon Technology and their Magic and its uses.

Even so, what actually attracted her attention to this man was his weapon. He said he designed it and that all of it is his original concept. But it was hard to believe how he first got hold of its material, not to mention that his Tech Ability is also the first time she ever seen of it being used in that way.

And its materials? It was a weapon made from dragon materials.

This is the first time she had ever saw one up close.

And that skill he used to subdue the other Lapis, two days ago? —it was, in one word, a result of ingenuity.

What a cunning man.

In just a day, he used everything he heard from me and created that…skill. Though it wasn’t complete, it’s still enough to scare the hell out of me.

She gasped as she realized something.

What if it becomes a complete Ultimate Skill?

The thought made her shiver.

As her mind worked and worked about the man’s real identity, behind her, the door slid open with a whist sound and Captain Newgate’s bearded face bowed and spoke with utter respect.

“Ma’am, we have reached the sponsor’s specified location.”

“Is that so?” The face who answered did not change her expression nor had a reaction even at the slightest.

Instead, she remained looking down at the cargos with their owner who’s been trembling and roaring for awhile now. “The war, is it not finished yet?”

“Actually, it only started just a few hours ago. But according to our Intel, there was an interference from the Masked Organization and that the client had sent an envoy. He had the proof of authority so I let him in.”

“I see. Bring him to me.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Newgate turned around and pressed a button from his control panel and then the door opened, welcoming a man with a straight posture, a calm face, and bearing that gave the impression of awareness.

Then, when Rafaela and the man’s eyes met, the man stomped his heels that created a dull sound. Then he saluted and introduced himself,

“I am Lieutenant Reynolds of the Sylphiadora Guild, ma’am, and I am here to deliver a message from our esteemed Guild Master, General Matsuri, ma’am.”

Rafaela blinked four times due to surprise before she smiled with her natural attractive and tempting aura.

“A lively one, is he? Tell me what of this message?”

“Yes ma’am!” Reynolds snappily replied. Then he swiped a window on his hologram panel and an Info Window appeared in front of Rafaela. “I was sent here to inform you, ma’am, that Guild Master Matsuri was in great need of your support in this war. He told me that The Union of the Six Federation would send in a support so he sent me here to meet you and give you this.”

When Rafaela saw the item inside the small box, she started to read the contents of the Information Window.

“The Union, you say? Hmm..” Rafaela’s expression became serious as she studied the sent text. “And why would our sponsor be meddling in the affairs of this war?”

“I’m sorry ma’am! I don’t have the answer to that question! I was only ordered to bring you this message by the esteemed Guild Master himself.”

“Hmm…” Rafaela studied the message with a deep expression and erotically sat down on the sofa on Reynolds’s right side.

She was wearing an elegant purple dress with a half exposed bosom and her large bulging weapons were forcefully slapping Reynolds’s eyes.

Must endure…must end…end…end…whoa…

Rafaela moved her hand and scrolled down the view on the panel. Since she was wearing a dress, it means that she doesn’t have anything else but the dress to cover her body. Thus, every time her arms moved, her chest also jiggled and Reynolds couldn’t help but to close his eyes in order to endure.

But then, Rafaela, while still focused on the contents of the hologram panel, fixed the right side of her dress at which the moment she tried to pull up that part, the bellying eyes of Lieutenant Reynolds timely opened up.

Kuh! P-P-P-P-Pinkkkkk…!!!

Sensing that something was amiss, Rafaela looked up and stared at her visitor’s face and then looked at Newgate then asked, “What happened to him? Why is his eyes out of life? Is he lagging?”

Confused, Newgate checked the face of the man and saw his grey eyes that was out of life.

“I think so ma’am.”

“Hmm…he’ll come back to us.” Then she brought her gaze back to the panel. “More importantly, it seems that we will have to join this war, alert the crew.”

“As you ordered.” Newgate bowed and escaped the scene after a reply of confirmation.

Meanwhile, Reynolds’s mind was still overheating for in his entire life, he had never seen such beautiful scene before.

***

After checking that the seals and the magnetic locks of the freight containers were fixed and stable, Siva did a last check on his wasted items.

He looked up and saw the opening on the hatch on the Starboard side of the ship and climbed there using the ladders on the side. The factory space below the cargo deck at where he was now, had a large freight elevator for carrying large objects that also acted as a large lift for connecting the four middle decks.

This six level high 80m long semi-warship was as big as a building, only, you can’t escape the feeling that that building actually flies since there was this constant hum of the caterpillar. The caterpillar was that large alternating Blackrock space at the bottom of the ship, used to keep it afloat when not in cruising mode.

The Miranda literally looked like a shopping mall in this situation while he looked down below and saw all the busy bodies that tried to fix the ship.

A hole here and there, some pent down metals, a 10m wide triple claw scratch from a Lapis, and then from one corner of the large area were body bags with the bodies of the NPC sailors who got killed during the attack.

Siva closed his eyes and remembered the scenes of their struggle against it. He can still remember the fear he felt when he was almost bitten to his death.

The Lapis is really a violent creature, unlike the last large creature he fought, the forest dragon, who valued his honor and posture more than himself. The Lapis is somehow not the same, but similarly strong. It attacked them still, ignoring its injuries, trying to use the main deck as a foot hold and start his clawing there.

A Lapis’s structure was like a jaguar, only its two front paws had vulture claws, as hard as any metal, as sharp as a sword, attached to a skin that stretches into wings when it decides to fly.

Truthfully, it was even a thought for Siva how it was aerodynamically possible to hide such wings from very large, muscular front legs.

Thankfully, there was magic support from Rafaela and some Mages so the main deck became safe from the attack. But the threat only began over there. It was also another thought how these Lapis Lazuli, 20+m large monsters with muscular bodies, flew so fast like hawk on its prey in the sky.

It even dodged the cannon fires!

And after it flew around, it dived from a very steep blind spot 90 degrees from the ship’s main deck.

The Miranda rocked over the sea surface and small waves were created from the impact of the attack. Siva got blown off from his feet from the air pressure and actually began to appreciate how the old form of his attack, the Air Shot, actually felt like.

A large dent on the main deck formed and the Lapis began to tackle down the melee fighting sailors that tried to attack it.

The Lapis’s attack pattern was very easy to read for it only consisted of strong frontal attacks.

When it roars and does that Pose of the King, there was always a tackle attack that will follow. So since he’s immune to SPR damage abilities, he used those chances to deal damage to the Lapis. And then, when the conditions are met, he would release his new attack thus, resulting to the successful defense of Miranda.

But in all considerations, only after receiving advices about the junctioning of abilities from Rafaela that he realized the reason why Thorn and the others, including Volt and his team, was that strong. It is because they had these so called Ultimate Skills.

He clearly remembered hearing the term once. And it was only thanks to his still incomplete skill that he was able to stun the Lapis and subdue it.

Siva turned around to the window. The time now in Terroa is 4:35. Forty minutes from now, the scheduled solrise will happen and so he will be in Xargoal-6 to sell and take the loots from the trapped Lapis.

Why the monsters are alive? It’s simply because he wasn’t strong enough to totally defeat them. But on the other hand, the traders love them more alive than dead and he also gets more and better items selling breathing monsters. He learned this lesson when he sold that Forest Dragon in Walled City of Hagonoy.

Regarding on its disadvantages, he officially became an S-ranked monster hunter. And personally, he knew it himself that he isn’t ready for the rank.

Yet, he was aware that there was a problem.

Opening an internet browser, Siva sat down on one of the cargo boxes and had the window basked in the darkness of dawn act as the background of the browser window. He entered an address and almost instantly, he was directed to Terroa’s official site.

Thanks to the latest technology in Net connectivity, the browsing period to watch videos, whether it’s live or not, was no different with playing a video saved on a flash drive.

His pulse raised as he watched the latest happening, Kathleen Brew, reporting live from the war, just barely 40km away from his feet.

Lights that came from a camera angle taken from above shows how swordsmen fight it off with their pride with skills in sword mastery and their life on the line. Spells of varying colors, telling which elemental attribute they are inclined, was cast out against enemy players. Though it’s already been a few hours since the war began, with the events happening on his fingertips, it was evident that this would take longer to finish up.

With this thought, Siva began to be worried. Yes, it is true that he had captured the S-ranked monsters alive but the reason why they are still not getting our of their confinement is because they’re still healing themselves from their injuries.

But surely, given enough time, if they don’t reach the Mining City of Xargoal-6 soon, these savage beasts will regain enough strength to break free of their chains and their fatigues.

Siva changed channels and angles, shifting from one angle here and there. He observed how high ranking users and experienced fighters fought and true enough, they are really scary. Their attacks are precise, they know how to use their skills and abilities at the right moment at the right time. Then there was someone in a fight against multiple players but this player from the Gonn Race did not mind as he continued to bash them using his superb double sword style.

“He fights really well. He’s an extreme melee…”

Siva skimmed through the video angles, looking at a place or a video with something that might interest him but he’s seen through it all and nothing really bothered anymore and so he decided to close the browser.

Suddenly, he stopped and saw a familiar face.

Bright armor, a white large buster sword fighter that can easily switch himself to a claymore. He knew that guy but can’t find the words.

He sharpened the video, full screened it, and did a screen shot of the man’s angled face.

And then, re shouted, “Ah!” that surprised all the working men around the cargo bay and the catwalk. He faced the railing’s side and leaned his back on the black background window with a red face.

He remembered the man but forgot his name.

They’ve met before when he was still a beginner, when he was still in those days when he was struggling to adjust in the time difference and atmosphere of this world and the real world.

The man was fighting many masked players and as soon as he saw them with their full faced, white colored murderer masks, he suddenly remembered what the girl with the piercing eyes asked her once.

‘…are you part of the masked organization?’

Masked Organization…

His mind repeated the words and continued to watch the live feed. These masked people weren’t all that good but they have numbers and that they were all somewhat, intimidatingly strong in that regard.

But it wasn’t only the girl with this guy that spoke of him, asking about his connection with these guys, but Rafaela too, who, in their first meeting, asked if he has any ties with this Masked Organization. It just keeps an additional worrying gland on his head thinking about all of these coincidences. But now that he think about it, there was also that time when he was brought in the underground city of Goldwyn.

And these guys, maybe, just maybe, they are all in the same boat as Augustus.

From the moment he realized that, all the hairs on his body rose up as he felt some sort of irritation and anger swell up in his chest. Just thinking about the name Augustus made him feel this angry. As if there was something in his heart that’s want to explode.

At that, a large explosion occurred from the audio of his hologram panel, though it was only loud enough that it’s only him that could hear it.

His body started to tremble as he saw those masked people, as if he somehow instinctively wanted to join the fun of the on going war.

But more importantly, in a sudden turn of events, the alarm rang throughout the ship and the voice of the captain echoed through the speakers.

 

[TKhan]

Update13

Intervention

Along the sound of the sudden mobilization of the whole Titan force, the loud cry of their turbine engines came like thunder from the distant plains.

The marching men who stomped the ground with a rhythmic motion all resounded along the booming of the drums and the blowing of the horn. Monsters tamed by the players roared angrily as they pulled and pushed artilleries of warfare. The mammoth tanks began to fire volleys of lights and those equipped with projectile cannons all took the roles of line’s vanguard.

Thousands of Cyclones began to darken the sky and their numbers alone were enough to over power even the Golgoda’s supreme defensive abilities.

Thousands of reinforcements are coming down from the west horizon.

[All Sylph sky infantry units! All Sylph sky infantry units! Retreat to your mother ships immediately! All Sylph sky infantry units, retreat to your respective mother ships immediately!]

The orders that Captain Nash heard in his helmet was echoing with urgency and hard tone. It came from the Command HQ inside the fortress, in the tower started from the ground, 250m high.

He saw a large ship’s shadow in the west as the moon who was fully blue and bright was there, parting the clouds and showing off its brilliance. The shadow was big, he knew instinctively, and with the bright moon, Luna, with its distinctive dark hole on the north pole, lighting up the background of the big ship, the terror he felt crawled all the way from his legs to his spine.

The large ship had a rectangular shape, longer than the Missouri, bigger than the Nicholas. It had the eyeing characteristics of the Three Sisters and even from 20km or so away, Nash felt the gravity of that hovering fear.

He kicked the air and his body straightened but his arms are free as he went towards the Missouri.

“Bridge! Come in! Bridge, this is Captain Nash!”

[We read you captain!]

“What is the situation?! Why is the whole TGG force suddenly mobilized?!”

[It seems that Commander Elsass had decided to settle this in a quick manner. He had just broadcasted a message not long ago in all of the open channels.]

“What?! So that speech earlier…”

[Yes captain! This is an all out attack!]

When Nash reached the main deck of the Missouri, he immediately went towards the entrance hatch, pulled a lever, and a small opening 3sq. m wide opened up where he dived. Later on, he made his way to the ship’s command bridge and sat down on the captain’s seat. As soon as he sat down, holo-panels began to take life.

“Report.”

[TGG units coming in from the west sir. Speed at steady 40kn. Distance, 58km! Type-1 heat signature detected! It’s the battleship Camarilla!]

‘Camarilla?!’

‘The TGG’s flagship?!’

‘They’re really coming…’

‘What should we do now…’

The voices and murmurs of the crew were heard in a frightened whispering. The ramblings did not help to lift the tension rising on Nash’s chest and he could only look at the reports and images displayed on his console with a grim face.

“How many units are coming?”

[About 20,000 Cyclone units sir! Five fleets of Air Infantry Units. S-Seven escort warships! Referencing from database indicates that it was the Hugo, Jackal, Jones, Safari, Hyperion, Piranha, and Asakura! All of them are Nebuchadnezzar-class Battlecruisers!]

My gad…that many…

“How long until we charged up the Longhorn?”

On his question, the assistant commander leaned to obstruct his vision from the all view mirror and had a face as he argued, “Charging that cannon?! We can’t even use all of our thruster engines, how can you ask to charge the cannon?”

“We have no choice but to use it!” Nash shouted back and he met the vice captain with a stare. “Did you forget what we are fighting for? Remember who you are and what we are here for! If we let the fortress fall, we fail the quest, and not only the quest, we also gave the TGG the power to rule over Terroa! Do you not understand what’s at stake here? Even if I have to pay the price of sacrificing this ship, I will defend Mooran!”

The crew along with the vice captain fell silent and a moment where the panting commanding officer looked at the face of the man who stood by as the contradiction and adviser.

A vice captain’s essential job is to be the opposition on the decision of the captain. That way, if the captain had had a decision made by impulse, the vice captain can remind him what and where his place really are. In a way, aside from repeating the orders from the captain to the crew, the vice captain’s job is as important as the captain’s itself.

But going at this rule, what he saw from his captain wasn’t a decision made by impulse. It was a decision by someone who’s ready to give his all to the cause.

For an NPC like him (though he wasn’t aware of it) a man like Nash is a person worthy of being followed.

“How. Long. Is. The. Charging. Going. To. Be?”

Nash repeated the question and the vice captain who had a momentary frozen state began to firm his bearing and stand tall on the captain’s left side.

“Engineering. How long is the Longhorn going to take before we can use it?”

[I-I’m not sure sir. The reactor core is still hot. The power output isn’t even enough to power all thruster engines. The battery is ready but we can’t risk wasting the only battery we have. Transferring the power from the battery to the Longhorn’s LDT core will destroy the ship, or if we’re lucky, destroy half of the ship, or if…]

“What’s the problem there?” Asked Nash hastily.

[It’s the LDT system sir! The main core’s misaligned and it’s going to take time before the core cools down so we can align it. And truthfully sir, the shaking and the tilting is not helping.]

“Then we will have to make use of it.”

The moment Nash stood up from his seat, the vice captain pulled his arm and warned him. “No! You are not going there yourself!”

“I have to do this!” Nash argued back. “We have…”

“This ship needs a captain! And you can’t abandon your job as the captain of the ship!”

The remark hit Nash in the head and he fell silent, staring at the eyes of the NPC only users know they are.

Nash looked around him and saw both user and NPC crews looking at them and realized that job wise, it is a misconception of the captain doing a job that a vice…

“No.” He said firmly. “I am not letting you go there!”

“I am a Summa Cum Laude of both The Academy of Applied Sciences and the Supreme Masteral Institute, Major in Lightstone Disbursement Technology. If you are going to stop me, then at least have the same degree of diploma as I have.”

With a firm glare, a stern voice, and a resolute tone on his belief, Nash was dumbstruck as to how an NPC could deliver such realistic presence.

Friendship. Camaraderie. Honor. Valor. Decisive…

Intimidating.

How can a computer program composed of numbers and algorithms such as him imposed such presence on a real human?

As his mind asked this, the vice captain nodded at him and Nash could only stare at his back.

“You.” the man pointed at the Deputy. “Take over of my post. Make sure that the captain does his job well.”

The Deputy saluted. “Yes sir.”

“Lohan…”

“Captain. Remember your job well.”

At the back side of the bridge is the elevator with the access to all five levels of the Missouri. And while he could only follow the back of the vice commander he’s been with for two in game years, Nash saw a simple nod and a smile as a farewell remark on the elevator’s closing doors.

And at that moment, the Signal Officer’s voice rang on the entire bridge.

[Captain! Incoming transmission from the unknown ship. It’s a direct laser link sir!]

“Display.”

[Captain of that Knight Ship. This is the Captain of the Miranda speaking. I have something I would like to tell and ask you to do…]

***

[Attention all crew. Attention all crew. This is your captain speaking. We are changing status and now entering combat mode. All hands to your battle stations. I say again. We are changing status and will enter combat mode. All hands to your battle stations…]

The people around him started to run, leaving all of their unnecessary things and activities to where they are placed.

Blue mechanic uniforms spread all over the factory, white uniformed Winged Elements that numbered at about 20 units began to take their Flight Suit that was in an inclined hatch on the wall near his location. As Siva was dressed in his player uniform, white upper and black lower garment made up of high grade dragon and B-ranked materials, the blinking red light on the catwalk somehow lit his clothes to a purple color.

It was distinguishable and with the commotion all around him took their turn, the monster inside the metal containers below who got surprised began to create their own horrifying high pitched screeching sound.

The roar of an S-ranked monster was as loud as the engine and it filled the entire cargo deck with the now terrified and petrified crew.

[Attention The Destroyer. Please report to the ship’s Briefing Room at once. Attention The Destroyer, please report to the Briefing Room at once.]

The voice of the Communications Operator echoed on the hallways and though he had already turned off his browser window, another window popped up with a warning sound through the ship-wide communications channel. A familiar attractive face came with it and a somehow endearing smile greeted him.

[Destroyer…]

“You don’t say…” Replied Siva as he made his way towards the center of the ship.

[Yes.] Rafaela replied, not removing her enticing red lips curved into a snicker. [War…oh, there’s someone in the cafeteria, will you get him for me?]

The transmission link was cut as the ship slightly tilted, along with a strong shaking of the Miranda’s ironwood walls. The video feed showed static, and Siva could only call out to her.

“W-Wait, who…” But the link was gone.

Before he could even argue on the sudden change of direction, the line was cut and he stopped on his feet. There was a T-junction that goes left—right—straight in front of him and the crossroad wasn’t giving him any good direction points at all.

He tried to reconnect with the ship’s communication link again but failed, tried again, but failed. There was no response, not even to the public comms channel.

As the red blinking lights in the hall continued to alternate along with the alarm sound of red alert, Siva was looking around reading himself for any signs of the cafeteria.

He regretted that he was accommodated like a king on Rafaela’s private quarters and now he’s lost.

But then, two men in uniform came running from a corner and he saw the indication above in green fonts, Cafeteria, at the corner. He turned there and met a tall militaristic man in armor and that made him assume the message that Rafaela said.

“Are you a member of the crew?” He asked.

The man shook his head, “No. I’m a guest here.”

“Then are you perhaps Rafaela’s…”

His question was stopped as a strong shaking of the ship occurred along with the tilting of the floor and a loud explosive sound that came from outside. The two had the same impression that they just escaped death but the other guy was the first person to react.

“I have to go.”

“Wait!” Called Siva. “I have orders from Rafaela. I have to take you to the Briefing Room.”

“Briefing room? It’s this way!” And they ran.

Through the ship’s frantic crew that’s been running from here and there, and through some empty passages, they eventually reached the briefing room at which Rafaela was zipping the back of her clothes.

“Damn, I came late.” He heard the man murmur.

Rafaela spoke without looking, “We’re still far from the main battlefield but we’re already close to the enemy’s frontlines.”

“Frontline?! Why? Why are we going there?”

Rafaela turned around and faced him, “I haven’t told you, I’m sorry. This man is a member of the Sylphs and this ship is under The Union’s backing. It may be registered as an Exploration Vessel, but in Terroa, you cannot own a ship fitted with lots of artillery without being backed up by a prominent flag of authority.”

“You?! Sylphiadora Guild?”

“Yes. Sorry I haven’t the time to introduce myself. I am called Reynolds.”

Even though he was still confused, Siva took the hand and shook it. “Si…call me The Destroyer.”

“Well, nice to meet you…er…Destroyer.”

Siva shook his head facing Rafaela. “Anyways, why is this ship’s connection to this so called The Union being used to join the defense?”

“Because the Sylphiadora Guild is innocent of the crime the TGG had accused it of committing and that our sponsor had ordered me to join their side.”

“I-Innocent?”

“Yes.” Reynolds spoke. “We are a Guild established to promote friendship and camaraderie to all users. But TGG accused us of a crime that none of our members committed. And according to our own investigations, it was made by another group who attacked them and stole that MOD! And…And now…this is the result.”

The man actually said those words with a troubled expression. And as soon as Siva heard these words, he gritted his teeth as he felt angry for being tangled into something that he can’t avoid again. He actually felt the world banging his shoulders. So he fell silent.

Reports coming from the bridge’s console operators rang in the ship-wide speakers on the ceiling. The room with soft material floor and walls looked like a room in a Star Trek movie where lots of people can be fitted in close to each other. But even in all of this, the shaking of the entire ship still bade an irritating feeling on Siva who was now thinking solely on his precious loot on their freight cages.

There were three doors in the room and they came from the back right side, overlooking the entirety of the small blue chairs filled room, in front of the stage.

Siva observed their reactions and expressions and felt that the irritation he felt earlier had been amplified.

But his silence and these thoughts only lasted for just two moments when the automatic door at the stage opened up. That’s when Captain Newgate’s stern face came to greet them with his gaze automatically landing on him.

 

[TKhan]

Updade 14

Clash with the Titans

His lips moved with the frowning expression, using his distinct East Indian accent that matched his face.

“Good. You’re here.” The bushy brown bearded captain materialized a box from his inventory and he threw it hard on Siva’s chest. “Wear that and prepare to sortie to protect the Miss.”

“P-Protect?” A confused Siva tried to approach the stage, asking with anxiety on the sudden change of events. “Oh wait just a minute there! What’s happening now? Why do I have to join this fight?”

At that, Newgate glared at him, “This is this ship’s job. Our…job!” And he wore a frown as he continued to speak, “You may be the Miss’s guest but no one in Miranda is allowed to stay without working their share of labor…or are you scared? I do remember saying that I’d kick you off my ship if you cower, right?”

“I’m not scared of anything!”

“Good. End of discussion.” And as soon as Newgate faced the door again, he leaned back as if he forgot to say his reminders while pointing a threatening finger at Siva. “Defending the ship twice from Lapis attacks doesn’t pay up for the price of the ride. And as a fair trade from letting your pest pets be kept in my ship, this much, I think, is just a little fare for the trouble of my frightened men, aye? So let me remind you again, your pets are in my ship!” And as the captain spoke with a daunting voice, Siva clenched fist as he watched him exit the briefing room.

Siva tried his best to suppress his anger.

In the briefing room that was then filled with a moment of silence, the thinly dressed Rafaela on her Aarunian Mage’s wardrobe had an apologetic smile.

“Ship’s comms are down. If we were to contact each other, it would have to be by our communicator devices.”

Curiously, Siva was annoyed and the hard shaking and trembling of the ship, along with the tilting and the sudden shift on gravity wasn’t helping on making his mood better.

Why? He asked himself and could only land on the conclusion that it has something to do with the masked organization, and to bushy bearded captain, added, that he was also worried that his precious packages would get free…or be thrown away.

If that happens…trouble.

Why do I have to go again?

Also, as he began to examine what the box was, he saw the other man taking out another kind of box from his inventory and motioned to equip the item.

From the handle, the man reached out on a slot on the top of the box and pressed something. The box lighted up, split into four, at which the guy took the parts on both his arms and feet. The four parts crawled up to his limbs from the ends, transformed into armor, except that it only looked hard but still as thin as if the normal armor for knights.

It all happened after just a few seconds, looking like an Arthurian Armor version of Ironman.

Siva shook his head aside, trying to think away from the irritation on his chest. He could feel that his heart was pounding and for some still unknown reason, he was in the point where he was going to burst. And then, a loud roar was heard and he knew, trouble is spelling on the people in the Cargo Deck for they really are getting bothered by the Lapis’s roars.

“Why do I have to go again?” He voiced out the question he’s been saving up.

But instead of answering the angry Siva, Rafaela took a step closer to him and purposely ignoring the other man as she pressed her bosom on his left arm.

“Oh dear, you’re not planning on leaving me on the battlefield all alone…are you?”

He was hooked.

The urge to refuse was strong but he was still a man with a dignity to protect. And it just so happens that his dignity took a shape of a person with huge racks.

Meanwhile, the knight-soldier hybrid in the room did an “Ehem” that took away Rafaela’s eyes. “Excuse me, ma’am, me and my men are taking our leave here and returning to our post. I look forward on seeing you on the battlefield.”

“Hmm…” a nonchalant smile came as a reply from the sexy and charming Rafaela. “If the Union had put a finger on this side, then I wouldn’t mind showing some face. After all, sponsors are still sponsors.”

“Then I’ll take my leave. But…before that,” The man faced Siva and wore an honest expression. “I can’t help but be curious, does that loud roar just now was what the captain was referring to as…your pets?”

Siva, with blithe indifference and still wearing a face full of irritation, answered, “Yes.” and escaped Rafaela, going to the table, and facing her. “And I really hate it when I think of leaving them here unguarded.”

At that reply, Reynolds showed an honest concern but layered with a face of curiosity. On the other hand, the maiden in the room wearing a matching silver-colored wardrobe in a two piece classic Mage that emphasized her hips and allowed adequate protection on the upper body, took the door first and swiped a panel that popped up on Siva’s vision along the way.

“I’ll bid my leave.” Reynolds followed and also sent an invitation on Siva’s vision.

Siva, alone in the room, wore the “box” and upon the completion of its armor equipping, a window appeared on his vision, asking him to select the flight system he wanted to set as default.

There was a classic straight body form intended for beginner stage flyers, Wave Rider, emphasizing speed in exchange for control and balance between shooting off equipped weapons.

Next is the Frog Form, enabling the Flight Suit’s double thruster burner for control and was asking for the user to have at least the Tier-1 magic spell, Burn, to maximized the use of its Bluerock jet chamber.

And then there was the Hybrid Two mode that had the freedom to switch into the first two simultaneously.

Finally, the Shinigami form —a suicidal form where the thruster burners are replaced by Power Jet Engines that consumes the stamina of the user in exchange for superb speed, freedom of movement, and the actual use of the five afterburners on the back, the legs, and the arms. But along with its name, the acceleration and the power output was just too strong that the unprotected body who’s not used to gravity shifts may feel Vertigo and lose his control, that may lead to a crash.

This was a suicidal form of the Flight Armor Suit since there was actually no wings that provide balance of the speed over the control of movements.

Hence, instantaneous repositioning in midair became possible, consuming 5SP at each burst.

It was the first time he had seen such equipment and so he was surprised to see that instead of replacing the armor that he wore, it was actually the gear that was intended on the “mechanical wing set” slot on his equipment settings. Therefore, he immediately set the Flight Armor to the last settings as its default function.

The color matched the clothes he’s been wearing and looked as if he just wore some second layer of the same armor clothes. Siva tried to take a glance to the two large Cargo Containers below and remembered his reason for the boiling temper.

What he was worried about is that these rare and precious cargos might actually escape, wasting away his effort, and most especially, wasting away the items that he used on capturing them.

He stepped towards the door and it opened up after a hissing sound of the air lock. He met Rafaela’s frown in the grey lit room who was now on her own red Flight Armor Suit that matched her voluptuous curves.

“You haven’t accepted my request.”

“Do I really have to?”

After Siva’s reply, Rafaela took a moment before she leaned closer and prompted as if about to kiss him.

“What are you afraid of?” She whispered sweetly.

Siva looked at her and for the first time ever, did not feel the pressure of her beautiful gaze. “Even if this is just a game, I’m still not okay trusting people of my identity. Isn’t it enough that you’re the first person to ever see my face?”

“Hmp. Identity? I doubt it.” Rafaela’s very adorable pouting reply.

“No.” Siva shook his head. “I’m actually afraid that you will pop up like a mushroom somewhere near my location someday. Friends can be tracked after all.”

“Hmm, that’s not a bad suggestion.” She said, and teasingly went behind him as if to bite his ears.

Siva looked around and saw that the other man was not in the room. The ship tilted and shook, the sound of the Lapis roaring in anger, the trembling of the hull that continued, and the hum of the engines along with the sound of the Blackrock caterpillar base rang to his ears for this room next to the briefing room was the last wall between him and the dawning sky.

“I have a certain skill and I am not someone to be trusted because of it. So in turn, I don’t trust back.”

“But you can trust me. I’m actually hurt you know.”

Siva paused before he replied. “Why do I have to be deployed? Are you really going out?”

“Yes.” She firmly answered. “Yes, I had to. This ship, my ship’s mission, and the purpose for its creation is to meddle in wars like this when summoned.”

“Why and for what reason?”

At his question, Rafaela leaned closer and kissed him on his cheek. Then she smiled on the blushing and surprised Siva, “Because it’s my sister’s orders.” then handed him something that left a slight electric jolt on his hand.

On Siva’s vision, an information window popped up that told him that he received some items from her. And those items aren’t normal inventory items.

“Th-This is…” His eyes were pointed on the first item’s information window and just timely stopped himself from uttering, I already have this one! But in truth, he actually received three accessories.

Tier-1, Quick Draw, puts an item from a slot in the Quick Item Pocket (QIP) directly to the hand.

Tier-3, Alternation, allows two targets of junctioned skill and alternates between them.

Tier-3, Area Extension, expands AOE of junctioned spell by 15m.

Rafaela bit her lower lip, “I don’t need those things in my inventory so instead of throwing them, use them to improve your skills a notch higher.” and pressed a button that opened up the latch that bade a rang of the decreasing pressure.

“I guess a thank you is in order. Thank you.”

He smiled in appreciation then she swiped the air to send a Crew Notice on Siva’s vision.

As the owner of the ship, she had every authority to recruit its crew. And whatever the ship’s captain do, the crew is all part of The Captain’s decision.

When Siva confirmed that he was a crew of the ship, a transparent gold indicator appeared above her head.

“Tell me one thing, if you are not part of the Masked Organization, then why do you wear a mask?”

Siva could only pause and gaze at her.

As the moment of his hesitation ended with a stare, Siva switched his equipment to his Dragunov set, that also enabled him to be The Destroyer and wear the mask. The mask is The Destroyer, after all.

His red and black domino, an anti-glare mask worn to help him focus on whatever was it that his goal was, is the trigger that changed his mood. A sudden sense of urge flowed in his body, an urge to release the violent wind upon this battlefield, The Destroyer’s birthplace, the only place he could call home…

…a place where he feel an urge of excitement.

Is this ‘that’ something that awakened in me?

—No.

It can’t be.

Siva ignored the other invitation and stared at her wearing a smile that made Rafaela frown.

“Well, if there really is a good thing that happened between us, I think that would be the time that you taught me about the junctioning of Items and Abilities.”

“Wa-Wait… What are you…”

“…and for giving me the Lapis that we defeated, thank you.” Siva took steps towards the blowing open latch.

“Hey, wait! What about my friend request? We can’t contact each other without us being friends.”

At that, Siva stared at the violent winds blowing outside. The black smokes that filled the battlefield, the sparkling lights of the flashing spells below…he smiled as he felt the fervor of entering a real battlefield for the first time inside the game.

“You want to know who I am…” He took the last step towards the edge of the latch. Then, the speakers rang with the female operator’s voice.

[All hands! All hands! We are about to break TGG’s formation! Prepare for a left barrel roll!]

Rafaela instinctively held on to the holding bar on her side when Siva only remained standing there, and keeping his balance to himself. At that moment, she saw the smile that made her heart skip a beat that time .

“I’m the Destroyer.”

[Now!]

And the barrel roll came that Siva timed to jump out of the latch. The timing of the left roll to reach the peak of its momentum came at the very apex of its arc. At the same time, Siva activated the flight suit’s Power Jet Engines that created a BOOM in the latch, momentarily deafening Rafaela who was also knocked aside, clinging dearly on the support bar, and could only look out on the latch opening and follow his jump after ten seconds had passed.

But when she was already outside, the chaos of the war could be seen all around her and there was actually no sign of that fleeting image of the man on her mind.

Or so she thought.

Her hairs started to rise, her vision became a blur, and her skin began to have gooseflesh. The feeling of a cold chill running through the negated current, passing through the gaps of her flight suit, and through the roar of the Power Jet Engine that kept her balanced while standing in midair. Still, looking around at the now dawning battlefield below and around her, there was no sign of that black and white clothed man anywhere.

But when she looked up, there, she saw it! A blue light coming from beyond the thick clouds of war. The clouds of dawn that’s normally white and fluffy as seen below had a bluish purple flicking light that constantly felt like becoming bigger.

She knew what it means.

He already used the items?! That was fast!

In their exchange of stories from the past few days, she learned from The Destroyer how he was able to do that loud, thundering attack —at least its principle.

With the strong push of her heart, amplified by her desire to see the completion of that ability, she gave him what she thought was going to improve the skill on the grade that she imagined it should be.

The next moment, something small dived down like a meteor, followed by whirlpools of smog on two sides as if the space he went through was split up by a sword.

Magnified Vision told her that it was at least a 4km drop towards the solid ground filled with people.

That’s Suicide!

She tried to call out and follow him but he was too far to hear her voice. What more, his dive was pushed by the Power Jet Engines and so it didn’t take long before he actually crashed to the ground, in the middle of the transparent red marked army and creating a crater of dust and stormy wind, expanding 200m wide.

And what’s the hair raising best part of it all is that the advent of The Destroyer was accompanied by a lightning strike along with a loud thundering roar that came from the sky.

 

[TKhan]

Update 15

One Punch Execution

The Valley of Buendia is a peaceful land filled with green life and herbivorous creatures. Though there are still monsters here, these monsters are very rarely seen as they are not only rare kinds of monsters, they are also quite high ranked so nobody disturbs them.

In this valley, with its southwestern side having the weirdly green capes of Banahaw Mountain and the Northeastern side the Taal Peak, situated 130m above sea level and was blessed with fertile lands, abundant resources, unexplored and undiscovered dungeons, and many nearby forests nested by dragons and high ranked undiscovered creatures, was a 100sq. km land of life and energy.

On the east side was a pass, The Great Humming Road, going through to Taal mountain range, having a geological formation that is lower than the Taal Peak itself, and a water fall the same as the Angel Falls somewhere in the southern sides.

Then somewhere smacked in the base, is the mining city, esteemed Xargoal-6, dealer of Elemental Stones and one of the three of Terroa’s only manufacturers of the S-class Equipment Enhancement Item, Orontium.

Tens of kilometers away from this city, going on a straight line towards the west horizon, is the Fortress of Mooran.

Mooran, the keeper of number 6 of 11 of the world’s only Lightstone Mines. There’re supposedly five guilds who can guard this fortress against anything, monsters or dragons, or according to the game’s storyline, against the aliens, but occupation of this fortress is by Quest, so only those who found the quests scattered all over the planet may occupy the fortress. It may differ from their respective quests’ goals but the sole idea was to occupy the fortress.

The wall of Mooran stretches a long straight line of three layered 50m high ironwood wall. With the stretch extending exactly from north to south and its Command HQ inside the castle that protected the mine.

In this castle is the Command HQ of the Sylphs, one of the recognized Powers of the eastern continent.

On their Real@D screens, along with the cry of the speakers and reports from the Signal, Logistics, Intel, Personnel, and the Warship Accounts Officers, rang on the room filled with machines and blinking holo-panels.

The operators who were busy people, combed and swiped their monitors and delivered the messages to the Guild Master who was looking unbelievably on the main hologram screen up front. It’s because if there really are something that should surprise anyone right at this instant, that would be the Miranda’s tactics.

Technically, Warships in Terroa can be piloted and commanded by either users or NPCs.

With that setting, the unconfirmed identity of the captain of the Miranda showed the unpredictableness of a human player and the stout resolution of an NPC on his decision.

The Miranda, with its light armors and averagely powerful close to mid ranged Bloodymary and Blastoise cannons, had a twisted idea of receiving all the frontal attacks from the incoming TGG reinforcement. From the back line of defense towards even beyond the frontline set up by the Amaya and Acala of the Three Sisters, the Miranda took all of the damage from the bombardments and the sniping, and paved a way for a chance of a surprise attack.

Everything that the so called Captain Newgate from the Miranda said to convince Captain Nash was also heard from by the command HQ and that would explain the reason for the stiff face and the anxious expressions on the faces of everyone inside.

In the video of the war images was the Miranda, with ten or so Grappling Beams from the aft attached to the bow of the Missouri, who’s slipstreaming behind it.

As they all watched the video with amazed anxious gazes, their ears were tied on the communications line.

[Eos Shields at 58% and still dropping!] Yelled an Operator from the Miranda’s command bridge. [BM4 is down! Hull damage at 14%! Warships Jones and Jackal incoming fast! Distance 47km and closing! They have deployed grappling arms sir! ] +

[That is not good. Continue the anti-air fires! Hey Knight Ship! What’s with the long silence?]

Then as they listened to the sounds of reports, all of the people in the room momentarily froze as they heard Nash’s voice.

[I really think that this is a bad idea!]

[Don’t be such a wuss now, young captain, just hold on until you fix that damn cannon up! Don‘t waste my freaking sacrifice. Their forces are too great if this doesn’t succeed then Terroa will have to face demise!]

[That’s not what I’m worried about! Engineering! Where is Lohan?]

[I’m here captain.]

[Captain! Why is the vice captain in a thermal suit?]

[Don’t worry about me, Mister Gibbs, if I were you, I will prepare myself to an immediate evac in case I do succeed with this mission.]

[I don’t want to hear those words from you, Lohan. And if you’re planning on really doing it, then bring a damn T-Device!]

[You know that it’s not gonna work, captain. The EM-Field will interfere with the teleport system. Or do you want me to end up with my hand on my butt?]

[Enough with the jokes!]

[I’m quite serious, captain. That’s why I’m already preparing myself for the impact.]

[Captain! He’s planning to enter the reactor core’s operating room…should I be stopping him?]

There was a silence before Lohan’s voice came back on the communications link. [Captain…please…]

SIGH.

[All hands. Prepare for an immediate evac. Mister Gibbs, start the energy transfer of the battery to the reactor core.]

[B-But…]

[You heard your orders, Mister Gibbs.]

[Y-Yes captain.]

[Don’t worry captain. I will handle this.]

“Captain Nash.” The communications link broke the audio barrier and Guild Master Matsuri’s voice rang on the Missouri’s comms.

[Yes commander?]

“You…” He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “You make sure to evac all crew members and prepare to be surrounded by air and ground units.”

[Already ordered that sir.]

“Good. Then make sure you come home.”

[Yes sir.]

The video showed two ships. The leading ship fired simultaneous shots with almost no cooldown between short and mid-ranged fires. Advanced air units from the TGG fell one after another and the armor piercing rounds took down the frontline forces.

In the right screen beside the main monitor was the zoomed image of two warships with grappling arms and cannons firing volleys of lights on the Miranda.

The white ship with red and few colored paints had its shields concentrated in the front.

[Knight Ship! The enemies are really serious about physically taking us down! We won’t last much longer in this state!]

Then Captain Nash yelled out. [Engineering!]

[95% percent complete sir!]

And the sound of someone panting, shouting, and is partnered with the sound of something hard hitting a thick metal bar echoed along the sounds of explosions.

[97%!]

And the audio from the Miranda rang with explosion and a smoke came from the front side of the ship.

[Knight ship! 20 seconds until our shields collapse!]

[I’m trying! Weapon Controls! Give me the trigger!]

[98%!]

[Lohan!]

Everyone in the Command HQ held their breaths as the moment that will change the flow of the war came to their hands.

BAG!

The sound of something hard hitting the thick metal on the audio rang and an electric buzz clouded all the speakers. No sound came after that, instead, there was just the scream of Lohan’s voice.

[Captain!]

As the speakers sounded with all the reports, the silhouettes of the approaching enemy warships came to be seen in both the monitor panels.

[99%!]

[All hands! Abandon ship!]

As the order was given, escape pods began to fire out from the Missouri’s body. Inside the command bridge, the crew pressed their own switches and their consoles became their seats that automatically became part of an escape pod and was ejected on the base of the ship.

Only Captain Nash was left on the once noisy Missouri command bridge.

Then the captain of the Miranda shouted, [Now!] as the ship rolled to the left and escaped, along with something small thrown up to the sky. The surprised enemies tried to change their courses but the light that came with the Missouri killed everything upfront.

[FOR LOHAAAAANNN…!!!]

The line was cut and a pillar of bright light came in instantly. Jones and Jackal was caught in the line of fire and exploded right on the spot. The evading Camarilla 30+km away tilted just in time to avoid direct impact but parts of its body was still caught in the fire.

Still, along with everything in its path; the Cyclone escorts, the Jones and Jackal warships, including the Hugo and the Camarilla’s right side and two of its wings’ thrusters, were caught in the blast and exploded.

Black smokes came from the distance but in closer range, the Missouri, with its unique Knight Theme and unique purpose and design, came to be filled with black smokes and exploded from within.

Parts of it scattered and a long trail of smoke began to fall like a burning meteor towards the left side of the battlefield.

In the room filled with the Command HQ’s crew, it was Guild Master Matsuri who remained standing. He had been saluting the moment he saw the explosion and upon seeing his action, everyone else in the room did the same.

After two seconds, he spoke. “Scan the area. Find out if he made it out alive.”

The operators rang with their busy sounds.

No answer.

And as the large debris of the Missouri came falling from the sky, suddenly, the camera caught something.

[What is that?]

“Huh?”

Everyone looked at the monitor. As the zoomed blue clouded and ambient sky focused and fixed the captured images, something small and black cut the smog and the clouds above.

[Bio-signature confirmed!]

“Who is it?” Asked the confused Matsuri.

[I don’t know sir but whoever he is, he’s falling really fast on purpose!]

In the camera’s view, the clouds parted as if split by a large invisible sword. Then that someone made two halos in one second intervals then another halo after the third. There was a halo in the air that expanded wide, a result of entering subsonic speed that pushed away the smokes as it passed through his one kilometer fall.

In terms of human attainable speed, that someone had just entered a 800kph powerdive. The halo was the result of his effort to increase the speed of his fall.

[Th-That’s a 90 degree drop sir!]

“That crazy suicidal bastard! Who is he?!”

[Eight seconds to impact! He’s not slowing down!]

“Damn! He’s planning to attack the people on the ground! Warn our troops! Stay away from him!”

[Estimated landing site…on the TGG frontline!]

[Two seconds to impact!]

***

“Huh? What the…”

“Hey, what’s that?”

“Something’s falling!”

“It’s coming this way…”

The TGG troops looked up an saw a large beautiful ring in the sky, expanding ever widely that separated the clouds.

The view was beautiful that the TGG momentarily thought it was some kind of effect of the war. But then those people, at the next moment, was forced to log out of the game along with a message on their visions…

[You are dead!]

[Game Over!]

***

BOOM!

The impact came along with a lightning strike. The thundering roar was so loud that the act momentarily caught the attention of everyone in the nearest 2km of the entire battlefield.

Cramer saw how that something landed in the midst of the TGG troops. The lightning strike and the thunder that exploded like a large bomb about a kilometer away surprised everyone, even the forces of the Masked Org!

All eyes were focused on that direction as the light and of course, the thunder, had made everyone jolt in shock. The dust of cloud wasn’t as strong from his location but the tremors still reached him and this had a clear effect on the weak hearted individuals.

‘What was that?!’

‘A skill?! Is that a skill?’

‘Something just fell from the sky!’

‘Is there an event happening at the same time?’

‘Who’s side is that attack?’

***

[Something…Something just fell from the sky and annihilated three whole platoons of our forces sir!]

“SYLPHIADORA!!!”

The angry roar echoed on all the corners of the now red and yellow blinking dimmed lit command bridge of the Camarilla. The red indicators of warnings had their span of attention and the panicking staff and officers were busy trying to maintain the unsteady descent of the Flagship Camarilla.

“ORDER THE ATTACK! DO NOT CONSERVE ANY RESOURCES! DO NOT SAVE YOUR BULLETS! USE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE TO TAKE THEM ALL DOWN! KILL THEM ALL!!!”

As Elsass screamed in fury, in the main screen of the command bridge, the view of the crater surrounded by misty dust and clouds of smokes from the impact shows a silhouette of a person standing right at its midst. And all around him in his immediate vicinity were the dead burnt remains of those unlucky enough not to escape his attack.

But despite the shock, the fear, and the astonishment of all those around him, someone from the back ranks of the first frontline divisions initiated an attack towards the culprit of their force’s misalignment.

That person, on the label on their holograph in the middle of the locator chart table, had a very peculiar name. She was one of the 30 Dark Spear users that they had hired but was actually the only one alive left.

And thus, even within his angry heart, Elsass gave his all out support for the esteemed FlowerLord of the northern lands.

 

[Siraj Patel]

Hi dear,

As you are aware, we are organizing our first Ultimate Story Contest. We will be pleased to see your story at the contest, it's a platform for everyone to express their thoughts.

You can check the details about the contest and post your stories here: ★☆★ Xforum | Ultimate Story Contest 2019 ~ Entry Thread ★☆★

In case you need any help or you have any queries, feel free to pm me or any Staff Member.



As your Friend,
Regards - Siraj Patel