“Yes, sir.”

  “Use that.” Levon took a deep breath. “In the meantime, I’m going to travel through the secret passage with a squad of elites and attack them from behind.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Connor said.

  “If possible, I would like to fight Fayte,” Flame Emperor said.

  Thor God of Thunder raised an eyebrow. “You wanna fight her after how handily she beat you in that tournament?”

  Flame Emperor scowled but still responded. “That is precisely why I wish to fight her. I need to regain the honor I lost in that shameful bout.”

  “All right. I won’t stop you from fighting her if you reach her first, but remember where your priorities lay. This isn’t a one-on-one duel. It’s a Guild War,” Levon said.

  “I understand.”

  “Good. Then I’ll take Alpha and Delta squad with me.”

  Alpha and Delta were their strongest squads, filled with members who had reached level 20. There were only about one dozen in each squad. Leveling up was difficult in this game, and so the ones who could reach such a high level were easily the best and brightest amongst their guilds. They had all been placed in a single squad for this Guild War to be used for the most dangerous missions.

  “Good luck,” Connor said.

  “Right back at you,” replied Levon before he went off to gather the two squads.

  As he moved, Levon gritted his teeth in frustration. This Guild War was already off to a humiliating start.

  Skyrim whistled. “Daaaaaaamn. Would you look at that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen an attack with that much destructive power before.”

  He had a good reason to be impressed. It was hard to see if you were standing at ground level, but with the bird’s eye view they had, spotting the massive crater was child’s play.

  It was big.

  Daren had never seen a crater that large before outside of the Barringer Crater in Arizona. That monster had a diameter of about fifty meters. The one down below looked comparable in size and depth.

  “The fact that a single person could cause such destruction is impressive… and worrying. Destiny’s Overture might not have the size of a large guild, but they have the power of one. Each member is a monster in human guise,” Morrowind mumbled.

  “You got that right. Seriously. I wouldn’t want to mess with them,” said Skyrim.

  Daren didn’t say anything as he watched the battle begin anew. Levon had taken a group of about twenty or thirty and was heading off toward the cliff opposite them. What was that man doing? He put Levon out of his mind to focus on the battle.

  The massive army opposing Destiny’s Overture was rushing toward the wall. They pushed their siege towers forward. It looked like four of the five squads were acting as a distraction by attacking the wall, while Gaia’s squad traveled toward the fortress door. He didn’t think such a tactic would work, but to his surprise, no one seemed to contest her.

  Just then, a massive firestorm swept over the attacking units, demolishing them in a single hit. Daren didn’t even need to see the number signs floating above to know they had been killed by that one attack.

  The fire attack was followed by a bolt of lightning, which struck one attacker, then another, another, another, and another. It hit about ten enemies. They, too, were killed by that one attack.

  A second firestorm soon swept out from a different place on the wall. It didn’t seem as strong as the first, but it still killed every enemy it touched. Those not outright annihilated were lit ablaze like a bonfire. They ran around as burn damage accumulated until their health reached zero and they died.

  “Fayte’s guild is really giving it to them. The Pleonexia Alliance hasn’t even been able to use their siege towers,” said Morrowind.

  “Most are being destroyed by Fayte or that other mage… I wonder who it is? I didn’t have a chance to look at their guild roster, but I don’t believe there was another mage in their group,” said Oblivion.

  “It’s the little fox yokai,” Daren said.

  His brothers turned to him.

  “You mean, that little fox we saw with them at the tournament?” asked Skyrim.

  “That’s right. I did some research after the tournament and discovered there exists a race of powerful beings known as yokai. They’re different from beastmen and monsters. According to the lore, fox yokai are a race created to serve the Moon Goddess. The little fox had two tails, so she should still be quite young. It’s incredible that she can wield this much power,” Daren explained.

  “Well… damn. So they have a fox yokai and a fairy on their side,” Skyrim mumbled. “Now I really don’t want to mess with them.”

  “You and me both.”

  Susan used [Farsight] to look at the people down below. There were a lot, and they were moving fast. She normally would never be able to see individuals with any clarity in such a crowd, but [Farsight] granted her not only the ability to see objects from far away, but it also let her see those objects with perfect clarity. Everything was brought into sharp focus when using this skill.

  Thanks to that, she was able to see the people giving orders.

  [Deadeye]

  Susan took aim, notched back her arrow, and let it fly.

  -90,600!

  Her arrow punched straight through her target’s head. The damage dealt was so massive that he was instantly killed. He hit the ground with a thud and his body burst into particles of light. He would be resurrected at the church in Solum.

  Several enemies were getting close to the wall. It looked like they had grappling hooks. Their intentions were to no doubt secure the hooks on the parapets so they could ascend the wall.

  Not on my watch!

  [Rain of Arrows]

  Susan fired off a volley of arrows faster than the eye could blink. The hailstorm pelted the ground like rain, piercing her enemies so many times that their bodies looked like pin cushions.

  -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950; -67,950!

  Every attack was a one-hit kill. Susan could only marvel at how powerful her bow was.

  Until now, she had the lowest attack power because her equipment was nowhere near as powerful as everyone else’s. Minus Kureha and Titania, exceptions to the rule, the other members of her party had powerful weapons that increased the damage they could do, but not her, not until this moment. Now she finally had a powerful weapon of her own.

  She felt strong.

  In the real world, Susan was meek, deferential, and had trouble speaking her mind. She was getting better, but she suspected it would be a long time before she could truly be strong in real life.

  That was not the case in the game world.

  Here, Susan could be strong. Here, Susan could be at least somewhat confident in her abilities. She might not be able to change who she was, but she could acquire powers she would never attain in the real world.

  That was why Susan liked video games so much. They gave her the chance to be someone she was not. Someone strong, confident, and able to make her own choices in life.

  Someone like Fayte.

  [Deadeye]

  -90,600!

  Another captain was pierced through the head with her arrow. It was easy to tell who was in charge. The Pleonexia Alliance was a guild that believed in conformity. All members wore the same type of armor. Higher-ranked members had better armor.

  Captains wore a form of silver platemail, including breastplate, helmet, greaves, gauntlets, and pauldrons. They looked like knights spoken of in tails of yore.

  Above the captains were the Elemental Four and Connor Sword, whose equipment was custom. They were the only ones allowed to distinguish themselves by wearing unique armor that didn’t conform.

  Speaking of…

  Susan finally found one of the Elemental Four. It was the man with a feminine face and cold demeanor. The icy blue robes he wore billowed as he raced between his allies, using their bodies as shields to move closer. He was quick. Gripped within his hand was a silver staff that glowing blue lines flowing over it like water, or ice. It was definitely a staff that enhanced his ice magic.

  Susan was tempted to ask Titania to use [Scan] on him, but she was busy singing [Song of Vigor] to increase their attack power. She also didn’t think his stats mattered. The power she and her companions wielded right now was beyond anything their enemies could defend against.

  She took aim, held her breath, and let loose an arrow.

  [Rapid Fire]

  Susan used one of her new skills, firing off arrow after arrow in quick succession to create a near-continuous stream of attacks. It was almost like machine gun fire.

  While some of her shots missed, more than half her attacks hit.

  -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650; -22,650!

  [Rapid Fire] decreased the power of her arrows in exchange for a higher fire rate. All of her attacks did fifty percent of their normal damage. This would normally mean her attacks only did around -7,000, but thanks to Titania, each shot did upwards of -22,000, meaning each arrow fired was still enough to kill a single person in one hit.

  Ymir didn’t stand a chance.

  As he fell to the ground, already dead, and burst into light particles, Susan continued firing shot after shot into the crowd, demolishing them almost as quickly as Fayte and Kureha with their AoE skills. She soon ran out of MP, but she just downed a [medium-grade magic potion] to restore what she had lost and kept attacking.

  The battle had just begun and already more than half of the Pleonexia Alliance’s forces were gone.

  Cry Havoc

  Gaia stood before the massive portcullis that kept intruders out of Iron Fortress. She looked up to see no one standing on the parapet. Fayte, Susan, and Kureha—Destiny’s Overture’s three long-range attackers—were situated on the wall far to her left. They were in the process of destroying the last of the Pleonexia Alliance’s siege towers.

  Why did they leave this gate unguarded? Are they foolish, or do they have such confidence in the gate’s defensive properties that they felt no need to defend it?

  Everything from the environment to objects was destructible in Age of Gods. Their destructibility was marked by invisible stats to avoid letting players know how close they were to destroying them. The only way to tell was signified by the damage a player could visibly see.

  For example, when you heat metal in this game, it turned red. If you slashed at a tree with your sword, slash marks would gouge out the bark. In some cases, a player might cut right through the three and it would topple.

  Those were just examples, but they served to highlight an important aspect of Age of Gods that Gaia planned to capitalize on.

  “All of you, get back. I need you to retreat by at least ten meters.”

  The members of her battalion backed off. Taking a deep breath, Gaia held her staff aloft, then slammed it into the gate.

  [Earth Shatter]

  This was the latest spell she had learned. It was normally used to create earthquakes, which not only caused damage but disrupted a person’s balance. She had learned this technique to counter people like Mist. Even now that humiliating defeat during the tournament served to motivate her into acquiring more power and spells.

  One day, I will make that man pay for humiliating me in front of Levon!

  Gaia watched in grim silence as the gate and surrounding wall shook fiercely. Cracks soon formed on the surrounding walls, but the gate remained intact.

  She frowned.

  While steel and metal were susceptible to warping and denting, the overall continuity and consistency of metal protected it from breaking apart. The malleability of steel also let it absorb seismic shocks without passing on the reverberating damage.

  “I see. So this attack is no good.”

  Gaia took a deep breath, then raised her staff again.

  [Stone Sphere]

  The ground around the gate was ripped apart, chunks of earth traveling toward the tip of her staff, where it all agglomerated together as though attracted by a gravity well. A massive ball of stone formed above her. It glowed a bright green.

  This was the second attack she had learned after the tournament.

  “HAAAAAAAAAAA!”

  With a piercing, elongated scream of effort, Gaia swung her staff and lobbed the stone sphere at the gate. The cacophonous sound of stone meeting metal nearly made her go deaf. Several people covered their ears. Gaia wished she could do the same, but she was still holding her staff with both hands to maintain the [Stone Sphere].

  The gate warped inward under the strain of her assault. The stone keeping it intact broke. With a groan, the gate fell inward, clattering against the ground with a loud noise that echoed across the battlefield.

  “All forces! Head inside the fortress!” Gaia commanded.

  With a shout, she and her force of twenty-five thousand rushed into Iron Fortress—only to find it empty?

  She and her forces stopped when they noticed the eerie silence that descended upon them. Gaia had expected Adam to be standing by the gate, waiting for it to come down so he could fight them. Her plan had been to overwhelm him with sheer numbers. But he wasn’t here. No one was here.

  What’s going on?

  “Ma’am, your orders?” one of her men asked.

  “Let’s keep moving, but do so cautiously. I’m sure they’ve set up traps somewhere.”

  They all moved forward, soon coming upon a T-junction, where she had her forces split up. She took the left. The sound of hers and her force’s footsteps echoed along the walls.

  Something wasn’t right.

  It took Gaia several minutes to figure out what was bothering her, but a cold sweat formed on her brow when she did.

  The sound of explosions, which had been a near-constant companion, had stopped. Up to this point, Fayte and Kureha had been bombarding their forces with magic. Gaia had been able to constantly hear the sound of their spells going off. Now all noise had ceased. It was as if she had entered a vacuum.

  What did that mean?

  Just as her nerves were beginning to fray, a whizzing sound zipped past her ear, followed by a scream. She turned just her head to see the man who’d been walking beside her fall backward. An arrow was pierced through his head.

  Her eyes widened as he burst into light particles.

  “We’re being attacked!”

  At that moment, several hundred more arrows rained down from the sky. Gaia grimaced as she raised her staff and activated the spell [Earthen Wall] to protect her forces from the onslaught. It created a wall that could be formed anywhere. It didn’t have to remain on the ground. She could create it in the air and it would hover there, protecting them from attacks overhead.

  Yet the moment she did that, a loud roaring sound echoed behind her.

  She turned her head, eyes widening in horror. A rushing wall of flames burst through the hallway and washed over the men and women under her command. A shudder ran through her as screams of agony echoed from those who were consumed.

  As if that wasn’t enough, bolts of lightning rained down from the sky, killing even more of her forces. They slammed into the ground, exploded in a shower of sparks, and took out several of her men with ease. Each bolt also released a shockwave that knocked several people from at least two meters out to the ground. Those people were then picked off by arrows.

  Gaia looked up and searched everywhere. She soon found the attackers. Fayte, Susan, Kureha, and that tiny fairy stood on one of the walls, launching attacks at them from above.

  She was about to order an attack on them, but then the group vanished. The attacks stopped. It was so abrupt that many of her forces were still screaming in horror as if they hadn’t realized it.

  “Everyone! Keep moving! Move quickly! We need to get out of this hallway!”

  Gaia now realized why no one had been at the front gate. The interior of this fortress was a killing field. The halls were wide enough for several people to stand shoulder to shoulder, but that was all. Anyone with a powerful AoE skill could launch attacks from above and kill them by the dozens.

  It wasn’t until she began rushing through this fortress that she realized how big it was. There were numerous passages they could take. Some of them led to dead ends, which resulted in her forces being led into traps.

  Men and women were killed in droves as Fayte, Susan, and Kureha launched attacks from above. They never remained for long. After their initial assault, the trio would retreat and attack from somewhere else. The walkways seemed to be connected from above, allowing them to traverse across the parapet without being spotted.

  They didn’t always launch attacks at Gaia. Sometimes, she would hear explosions and thunder in the distance. It was clear to her that Fayte’s group was whittling away at their forces both physically and mentally. She was playing mind games to cause panic among Gaia’s forces.

  Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

  Gaia swore as she continued to race through the fortress. Her troops followed behind her. She didn’t know how many were left, but there had to be at least more than half her original force. She’d started this Guild War with twenty-five thousand. Even if Fayte and the others had AoE attacks that could kill several dozen people in one hit, they couldn’t reduce her entire force to nothing in so short a time.

  Not that it mattered.

  She glanced at the man on her left. His face was pale, eyes shifty. He was on the verge of panic. She turned her head. The woman on her right was crying as she ran. She was actually bawling and mumbling something under her breath as she clutched a spear in her hands.

  My forces are broken.

  The mental strain of knowing they could be attacked at any moment but not when had taken its toll on them. Knowing that Fayte could literally wipe them out by the dozens with a single spell further enhanced the terror they felt.