Parallel Vol. 5

Chapter 30: Sloth

[11:00]

"Hahaha, the Maggots are really something else. Hey, Yong-Su! Your little Chaos Order's gonna lose at this rate!" Up in the skies, Tritan heartily laughed as he arrogantly rested his legs on the table. He smugly regarded his rival pirate while they observed the various battles below. "Oi, are you regretting joining the wrong side now? It's not too late to switch, you know? Just bend down and kiss my boots once."

Yong-Su's glared at Oni Hill with furrowed brows. He loathed Tritan's jests, but unfortunately, as things stood, he could not refute them. There was no doubt that the Maggots were performing way above expectations on all fronts.

The Transcendents and other observers had divided the great battlefield into three fronts. The first, and perhaps most important was Oni Hill. Everyone was eager to see whether the super guilds' coalition could climb the Sin levels fast enough to beat the midnight deadline. The second and most desperate battlefield was the Maggots and three nations' defense against the undead army. Unlike the first, this was not an offensive battle, but rather, a desperate defense to prevent even a single undead from reaching Oni Hill.

Like a game of chess or checkers, a single pawn reaching Oni Hill, could potentially transform into a terrifying king or queen that would wreck the Maggots' army and then ambush those in Oni Hill. So far, Absalon and Leila had done an excellent job commanding the various groups to hold the line while also giving back more than they got. Unfortunately, due to the undead's sheer numbers, Absalon really needed those pincer forces to relieve some pressure.

The final battlefield, if it could be called that, was the chaotic forest scramble. Forces from all parties were desperately raiding dungeons and tombs for loot. The line between friend and foe predictably turned blurry in the face of immense profits. Unlike the first two battlefields, the Chaos Order actually had some joy here. They stoked the chaos and madness by sowing discord, planting spies and disguised assassinations. This caused the coalition to focus more on fighting each other rather than the Chaos Order they were supposed to defeat.

Unfortunately, the Chaos Transcendents were not pleased despite their side's superiority. How could they when their number one target had treated the forest like their background. Not only did Stryke's Strike Party raid the best dungeons, but all attempts to pull them into unnecessary conflict failed woefully. Even worse, Stryke's team made short work of those who chose direct approaches.

Now, Stryke had paired up with a few orcs, and was charging directly at the Lich while the rest of their forces broke off to launch an attack at the undead army's vulnerable rear.

The Chaos Order's Transcendents hoped Renark wanted to backstab the Maggots, but so far, nothing supported that possibility.

Yong-Su turned away from the forest to inspect the situation at Oni Hill. Once his gaze shifted over, the mountain seemed to dissipate, revealing a gigantic field that covered ten times the mountain's width. The field was divided into several identical sections where each member of the three guild's advance parties challenged the next Sin Floor.

"What a marvel of Magical Engineering." Damah Dumm suddenly exclaimed with a sigh, drawing everyone's attention. Sensing the searching gazes, the enigmatic merchant raised his goblet and said with an apologetic smile. "Forgive me. My amazement got the better of me. Even with all my years of experience, I cannot fathom how Oni Hill's creators made it so we can view the test like this."

"Mm." Nornesh observed the Sin Floor with appreciation. Furthermore, the Hill is intelligent enough to differentiate between Transcendents and common folk. The pursuit of such fake intelligence alone is enough to occupy any mage's research for several lifetimes."