Collect the World (A LitRPG Adventure, Book 2), page 48
Minutes later, after ordering another squad to take the flank, he glanced behind him and froze. Just barely, he spotted Skyships in the distance. Thinking quickly, Radav sent down commands to change the army’s formation. The troops at the front came back to support the rear, forming a defensive line that spanned miles.
Unfortunately, his plan to make a surprise attack with the Skyships failed. The demons, seeing the Skyships, stopped their assault and pulled back.
“All troops, retreat!” Radav shouted.
Under the cover of the Skyships, the Elemental army successfully made it back to the capital after six hours of travel. The demons had followed behind the entire time, and upon nearing the capital, spread out to surround it.
Now standing atop the capital’s ramparts, Radav watched the demons build fortifications with a grim expression.
At that moment, Torg landed beside Radav, weary with exhaustion. He had just spent the past several hours fighting Wrath.
“Father.” Radav turned to face Torg, his tone full of respect.
Torg wiped the sweat from his brow and grunted. “Give me your opinion.”
“I suspect the demons want to drown us in Blood Oil,” Radav said, returning his gaze to the countless catapults in the distance.
“Can we hold?” Torg asked directly.
Radav answered honestly. “If it was before we acquired those Mana Reactors, I suspect not.”
“And now?” Torg pressed.
Radav rubbed his chin. “That depends on how much Blood Oil they have. I’m guessing they spent the last three months producing it, so they must have quite a lot. All I can say for sure is it will be a prolonged siege.”
“I see,” Torg sighed.
Radav faced his father and spoke firmly. “I propose we abandon the Blockade.”
“What’s your reasoning?” Torg was visibly hesitant.
Radav raised two fingers. “First, it’ll prevent the possibility of the demons faking an assault on the Fourgleam Barrier only to turn around and wipe out our troops defending the Blockade. Second, it’ll concentrate our forces, making it so that even if the Fourgleam Barrier falls, we’ll outnumber the demons by a significant amount. For too long, Tyranus’s monster horde has forced us to split up our troops. The truth is, the demons can’t withstand a direct clash against the full might of our army.”
Torg mulled it over. “What about the monster horde? They’ll destroy all our infrastructure from the Blockade to here.”
“A temporary loss,” Radav replied. “Once we deal with the demons, we’ll hunt down Tyranus, and the monster hordes will be a thing of the past.”
Torg eventually nodded. “Fine. We’ll do as you say.”
At that moment, Markus and Ska’dur flew over and landed nearby.
“Thank you for your earlier assistance.” Radav bowed slightly upon seeing them.
Markus approached with a smile. “Not a problem.”
Torg eyed Markus, surprised he was unable to accurately gauge Markus’s strength.
Ignoring Torg’s gaze on him, Markus continued, “What’s your strategy for the upcoming battle?”
After Radav repeated what he told his father a second ago, Markus looked at Radav in a new light. He was just going to suggest the same plan to Torg, only for Radav to beat him to the punch.
Pointing, Markus said, “We have ten million troops stationed in the next zone over, ready to assist when necessary.”
Radav’s eyes lit up. “In that case, we don’t have to be so defensive. We can take advantage of the fact the demons spread out their forces to surround the city and pincer a portion of their army. For example, the south side.”
“It sounds good, but we’ll need to finish them fast before the rest of their soldiers collapse on you,” Markus reminded.
For the next half hour, Radav and Markus hashed out the finer details of their cooperation, with Ska’dur, Torg, and Radav’s officers listening at the side. Neither Markus nor Radav brought up how their alliance would fare when they wiped out the demons. It was a taboo subject. Or rather, both knew what the answer was.
“Look!” a soldier called out, catching everyone’s attention.
When they glanced over, they saw the demons loading their catapults with barrels of Blood Oil. Grimacing, Radav rose into the air and shouted, his voice ringing throughout the city, “All troops, get to your positions!”
A moment later, thousands of barrels hurtled through the air.
They crashed into the Fourgleam Barrier and broke apart, spewing their contents along the Barrier’s surface. Smoke rose at the places of contact, accompanied by a sizzling sound. The beautiful Fourgleam Barrier now had blotches of black across its surface, dirtying it.
Over the next two hours, the demons never stopped loading their catapults, and the Fourgleam Barrier was now completely covered in Blood Oil.
Nobody could see in or out.
Markus observed the Blood Oil from within the safety of the barrier, thinking that the Fourgleam Barrier array was too static. He knew his array masters could design an array to shed skin, much like a snake would. That would counter the Blood Oil.
Turning away from the barrier, Markus noted the Mana Reactors situated throughout the city, currently running at full power. Beside each Mana Reactor were thousands of soldiers sitting cross-legged, channeling their mana into the Fourgleam Barrier.
At Markus’s side, Ska’dur had been standing with his eyes closed for the past few minutes, garnering Markus’s interest. Sensing Markus’s gaze on him, Ska’dur opened his eyes, saying, “Don’t you feel like it’s a bit hard to breathe in here?”
Markus took a deep breath before responding, “No?”
Ska’dur rolled his eyes. “Not the air. I’m talking about mana.”
“Oh?” Markus spread out his senses.
Right then, Ska’dur gasped.
“What?” Markus grew alert.
Ska’dur pointed in front of him. “My mana regeneration rate is dropping.”
Markus pulled up his status and found the same thing.
“Slimeballs, that’s never happened before.” Ska’dur tugged at his beard.
“Give me a second,” Markus said, activating his Civil Telepathy skill. It enabled him to mentally commune with any citizen of the Innate Nation. Among the billions of people, he focused on his son.
Keith, can you hear me? Markus sent.
Uh, Dad? Hello? Is this thing on?
Markus promptly shared the details of his skill to quell Keith’s confusion, then asked, Can you use your Mana Vision to cover the Elemental capital and tell me if there’s anything strange?
Sure. Wait, how’d you know I could do that? Keith’s tone was full of concern.
Another skill of mine, Markus answered.
Sheesh! That’s a blatant violation of privacy, Keith complained.
Seconds later, Keith exclaimed, What the!
What is it? Markus’s heart tightened.
All the nearby mana is getting pulled into the city. It looks like a whirlpool, Keith revealed.
As I thought, Markus sighed.
What’s going on in there? Keith grew curious.
There are too many Mana Reactors in one location, Markus replied.
Huh. Then Frisk was right, Keith said, stunned.
About what? Markus asked.
Basically, he thought the Grandsky Realm had a limited quantity of mana. It’s not a problem right now, but considering how in the future we’ll have thousands upon thousands of Mana Reactors, it’ll cause mana drought, so to speak, Keith explained.
Interesting. Thanks for your help. I’ll return to your side shortly, Markus said, then cut off the connection.
Chapter 98
Over the past six hours, the elemental troops defending the Blockade continuously teleported back to the capital. Combined with the twelve million already stationed here, they filled the city to the brim.
Radav stood in a stadium, resting with his eyes closed. All around him were military officers discussing in quiet voices.
Sometime later, one of them approached Radav. “Sir, the last batch has arrived.”
Radav’s eyes snapped open. Glancing around, he locked gazes with Markus and nodded.
After Radav watched Markus leave via a teleportation array, he flew up into the sky, flanked by his trusted subordinates. What greeted him was thirty million soldiers, men and women of all ages, hovering above the city. They were already in formation, split into blocks.
When Radav appeared, all the soldiers halted their chatter and stared at their commander. Radav froze, suffocated by the pressure. He had never led so many people. Thankfully, Torg arrived at his side and placed a hand on his shoulder.
With his father supporting him, Radav straightened his back.
Staring back at the army, he shouted, “The decisive battle has arrived! Show these demons their foolishness in thinking they can challenge us. Show them that under our might, they stand no chance. And know that the moment we defeat them is the moment we become the rulers of the Grandsky Realm. To victory!”
Emboldened by Radav’s speech, thirty million soldiers roared out, “To victory!”
With adrenaline coursing through him, Radav turned around to face the Fourgleam Barrier and waved. “Charge!”
***
Thirty miles away from the Elemental’s capital, ten million Innate soldiers stood in rows, with three hundred Silverswift Skyship V2s hovering above them. Everyone was ready and raring to go. All they needed was one person.
At that moment, a teleportation array on the ground lit up.
As Markus appeared, the ten million troops simultaneously saluted with a shout. “High Commander!”
Their voices echoed throughout the zone, intimidating countless monsters.
“At ease.” Markus chuckled as he walked over to Ska’dur, Keith, Frod, Luca, and the other generals, who stood at the front.
Facing the army, Markus was about to say something when Ska’dur said, “Hey, keep it short this time, will you?”
The soldiers burst into laughter, easing the tension in the air.
Markus waited briefly before raising a hand, making everyone fall silent.
“Ahem.” Markus cleared his throat. “Well, you all know what’s about to happen, so I won’t say much. Just watch each other’s backs and stay alert, got it?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” everyone responded.
Markus rose into the air, shouting, “Move out!”
With Markus in the lead, everyone took off, some flying with a skill and some using mounts. Moving beyond the speed of sound, they stuck low to the ground, just above the treetops. At their speed, they would arrive at the battlefield in less than a minute.
Before they did, Markus used his telepathy skill to speak with his son. Keith, you’re certain you want to target Greed?
Keith glanced at his father as they flew. Yeah. If I can get his Treasure Vault, it’ll greatly increase my stats.
Greed had an ability similar in nature to Keith’s innate gift called the Treasure Vault.
Though limited in inventory size, the rarer the items Greed kept inside, the more skills and stats he acquired. Keith knew that Greed had lived for over two thousand years, so he was sure to have stored up incredibly valuable items. If Keith could kill Greed, everything in the Treasure Vault would become his.
Markus gave Keith a hard stare. Flynn has always been on the losing side when facing Greed. Be careful.
Although Markus didn’t know exactly how strong Keith currently was, his son’s position on the Blockade Event’s leaderboard spoke volumes. He only hoped Keith wasn’t letting his desire for Greed’s belongings overcome his reason.
Seconds later, Markus saw the Elemental’s capital in the distance.
The Elemental army had just charged out from the southern side of the Blood-Oil-covered Fourgleam Barrier. The demons, seeing countless Elemental troops rushing toward them, prepared for the imminent battle. As for the demons on the other sides of the Fourgleam Barrier, they began flying over, intending to strike the exposed flank of the Elemental’s army.
Just before both armies collided, the demons in the back of the southern side heard deafening sonic booms from behind. A few turned around to see the Innate army closing in on their location. Paling at the sight, they shouted, “Reinforce the rear! Quick!”
Unfortunately for them, it was at that very moment the Elemental army crashed into the demon’s troops, and the sounds of millions of people clashing covered up their voices. Besides a few thousand demons situated at the very back, nobody else knew about the Innate forces.
While the demons were unaware, the Innate troops plowed through the demon’s back line like they were low-level monsters. In moments, the Innates reached deep into the demon’s southern line, and by the time the demons finally reacted, it was too late.
The Innate and Elemental armies worked together to quickly wipe out the southern line of demons. When they met up in the middle, the Elemental soldiers moved west while the Innates went east. They formed a defensive line right as the rest of the demons arrived.
“Kill!”
“Die! Die! Die!”
Empowered by various skills unique to the Sin Dimension, the bloodlust of the demon forces was at an all-time high, their clarity replaced by a strong desire to unleash destruction upon their foes. Without regard for their safety, they charged straight at their enemy.
“Hold the line!” Markus shouted from above, only for his voice to be drowned out by the sound of metal clashing as the next phase of the battle began. While Markus struggled to control the battlefield, Keith’s Mana Vision encompassed everything, dazing him.
There were so many people releasing skills that it was pure chaos.
Explosions, meteors, poison.
Every skill in the Grandsky Realm appeared, making it hard for Keith to filter all the information he was receiving. It took him several seconds to find Greed, who was locked in combat with Flynn to the northwest.
With no hesitation, Keith made a beeline straight for Greed, encompassed by a horde of summoned weapons coated in a layer of Tremor Force. He overpowered any demon in his way, arriving at his location in less than a minute. Though he was now out of range of his War Array, it mattered little. Keith’s current stats made them barely effective.
There was nobody within a thousand feet of Greed and Flynn’s battle, so when Keith approached, they immediately noticed him.
Flynn, seeing that Keith was a human, paid him no heed and continued to defend against Greed’s twelve Treasure Puppets.
As for Greed, he looked at Keith in surprise. “It’s you!”
Greed recognized Keith as the one who slew Irezz and Gerard, two of his strongest subordinates. More importantly, his Treasure Sense skill informed him that Keith was wearing two pieces of transcendent grade equipment, turning his surprise into delight.
Greed stretched out a hand in Keith’s direction, shouting, “Steal!”
Following a brief flash of light, Keith’s Helm of Resolve appeared in Greed’s hand.
The expression on Greed’s face warped into horror when he saw the helm, knowing that it once belonged to Gluttony. Without thinking, Greed retreated, unwilling to let Keith close the distance between them so easily now that he understood Keith wasn’t some weakling.
The moment Greed fell back, Keith clicked his tongue and came to a halt, annoyed that his ambush had failed. While Flynn was baffled by Greed’s behavior, Greed put on the Helm of Resolve and glared at Keith. “And here I thought it was Tyranus who did Gluttony in. Turns out it was someone from the Innate Dimension.”
“What? Gluttony’s dead?” Flynn exclaimed.
Everyone had believed Gluttony was busy doing something in the Sin Dimension over the past three months. To hear that he was dead came as quite a shock.
“How’d you do it?” Greed growled.
Keith merely smiled. “Want me to show you?”
Greed burst into laughter. “Haha! If you think that killing Gluttony means you can take me on, you’re mistaken. Gluttony was a one-trick pony. Besides having thick skin, he was nothing special.”
“Oh,” Keith replied simply, then looked at Flynn. “Let’s team up.”
Greed’s eyebrows twitched as Flynn answered, “Sure.”
Glancing back at Greed, Keith scratched his ear. “What were you saying?”
Greed was stunned.
Taking a deep breath, Greed promptly turned and made a run for it.
Chapter 99
When Greed dove into the demon army, Keith swallowed an Ascent Potion and gave chase, his Mana Vision locked onto Greed’s position. As he followed after Greed, he heard Flynn shout at him, but there was so much noise that he couldn’t discern what was said.
Thinking nothing of it, Keith continued the hunt.
With millions of people fighting, the battlefield was as chaotic as could be. Hundreds of thousands of spells flew about at any given moment. Keith’s conjured weapons swirled around him, blocking any spells and mowing down any demons in his path.
Though Greed tried to use his fellow demons as cover, Keith’s Mana Vision caught his every move. It didn’t take long before Keith was deep in the demon’s side of the battlefield. Just then, Keith’s Mana Vision saw Greed’s figure distort. In his place now stood a Treasure Puppet.
