Ranad, Rosendun.
6:05 pm. 17th Zelyr, 1092.
A robed traveler walked into the strangely quiet city. The traveler's torn windbreaker and dusty, worn shoes told the tale of a long, arduous journey. A guard at the gate stopped the suspicious person for some routine questions.
"What's your purpose for visiting Ranad?"
"I need to speak to the Hopeful Maggots."
The guard nodded and promptly explained the path to the Hopeful Maggots' headquarters. However, out of goodwill, he added, "I know it's been a long journey, but I suggest you take a bath at the inn and change your clothes. Hundreds apply every day. First impressions are important."
"Thanks for the advice." The traveler candidly gave the guard a few gold coins to express his gratitude. "But I'm in somewhat of a hurry."
The guard pocketed the gold and shook his head as he watched the traveler walk into the city. "What a pity. He's so handsome too. Hope he doesn't end up on the streets."
Meanwhile, the traveler chuckled as he looked at Ranad's streets. "It's only been a year, and it's changed this much?" The tiny village, Ranad, had disappeared, replaced by a busy modern city with paved roads, complex road networks, and thousands of residents.
The residents had eager eyes as they went about their daily routines. Residents and Summoned worked together to achieve various goals, which boosted the city's economy and standing. Furthermore, Ranad was one of two cities located at the Atled Delta's head. Its strategic position made it become a major trading city for fishermen and adventurers who sold rare items found in the Delta.
All of Ranad's recent accomplishments was directly or indirectly caused by the city's gem: the Hopeful Maggots' Headquarters. Many Residents and Summoned traveled to the town to apply for the guild. When they settled down, they needed jobs. So some took to the Delta to search for opportunities, while other less ambitious individuals settled as farmers, fishermen, or handymen for the countless available jobs in the developing city.
The traveler had passed by Ranad once in the last year before he returned home. The broken-down hopeless town he saw then paled far too much to the magnificent city around him.
The traveler adjusted his windbreaker as a cool breeze blew. His identity was still a bit sensitive in these parts. He could not let the wrong person recognize him, or that would cause a lot of unwanted problems.
Fortunately, the traveler did not need to search for long before reaching the Hopeful Maggots' HQ. The guard gave accurate directions, and honestly, no one could miss the grand building. It was the largest building and compound in the entire city, after all.
Like at the city gates, a guard stopped the traveler, mostly because of his inconspicuous, dirty appearance. "Forgive me, sir. May I ask your purpose for this visit?"
'Polite, yet firm. Kashi trained them well.' The traveler smiled in appreciation of the guards' conduct. "I am an old friend of Kashi, your guildmaster. I'm here to see him."
"The guildmaster's friend?" The guard looked at the traveler with skeptical eyes. However, he did not turn the traveler away. "Our guildmaster is currently occupied with a mission. But you may speak with the receptionist. She will tell you the next steps to take if you wish to wait."
The traveler nodded. "Thank you." He walked past the guards and through the gates, wondering why the large garden he passed through was so deserted. Eventually, he walked into the main building, but even the reception hall was empty.
The traveler wondered if the absences had something to do with that 'mission' the guard mentioned. Regardless of his thoughts, he walked up to the reception desk and pressed the bell. It took a few tries, but eventually, a young mertian woman rushed out of a backroom.
Intriguingly, the lady's furrowed brows gave off the feeling she was annoyed. It looked like the traveler interrupted her in the middle of something important. Fortunately, the lady quickly fixed her expression and greeted the traveler with a warm smile. "Good Evening Sir, welcome to the Hopeful Maggots' Headquarters. May I inquire the purpose of your visit."
"Ah, I want to meet your guildmaster." The traveler pulled down his windbreaker, revealing dirty blond hair and a pair of beautiful, charming brown eyes. His lips spread in a killer smile as he said, "My name is Leon. He can verify my identity."
The receptionists' heart nearly stopped when Leon smiled. As the Maggots' receptionist, she had come across countless handsome young men—especially among the Summoned who abused the character creation menu. Leon, however, was a different breed. His every being oozed charisma and charm. A simple smile could cause nations to go to war over him.
"U-um, Leon-san, is it?" The receptionist took out a notebook and ran through a list of names. "Indeed, your name was put down as an important VIP by the guildmaster." She put the book away and smiled at Leon. "The guildmaster is away on a mission right now. Most of the staff is watching the mission as we speak. We can provide a room for you to wash up and wait, or you could watch with us."
"Watch? What do you mean?"
The receptionist smiled as she explained, "The Summoned have a strange method of sending events happening far away so we can view them. I do not know the intricacies, but you should see it for yourself. If you are lucky, you might even see our guildmaster in action."
"Kashi?" Curiosity sparkled in Leon's eyes as he followed the woman through a backdoor. She led him to a large courtyard, where a massive crowd watched something on a large screen.
L.N.E was a game with countless skills, many of which some would consider useless at first glance. However, innovative individuals always found ways to make these seemingly hopeless skills priceless.
Genaco's Entertainment Division often promoted the game through in-game stories and interviews held by its player-reporters. These player-reporters learned various auditory and ocular skills to improve the quality of the things they saw and heard. Those sights and sounds were filtered to the entertainment Division in real-time, who then uploaded them to their live network.
Anyone connected to a Virtual Drive could access these live reports or wait until the media team cut the videos for their television and UTube contents. Currently, a Summoned was broadcasting a live report from a player-reporter mixed into the army at Oni-Hill.
Coincidentally, Leon walked in just as the 'camera' zoomed-in a conspicuous daeben wearing a triumphant grin as he roared, "MAGGOTS..."
"HUOOO!"
Leon trembled as the courtyard exploded with roars and chants. Clearly, these people idolized that daeben beyond common reasoning. It would not be too much to say he was a god to some of them. This was even more so for Ranad's original citizens, who pinched themselves awake every morning.
"Hehe. You came a long way from that tiny cell, Kashi." Leon's lips curled upward as he looked at the daeben on the screen. "Don't you dare die!"
Like Leon, countless eyes around the continent watched with bated breath as Kashi dropped his hand and then declared, "It is time to feed."
Oni Hill, Drakase.
The arrival of Kashi's Hopeful Maggots sent explosive ripples echoing through the hearts of everyone at the hill. Whether it was Kashi's kirin, Drixlia, the portals, the skyboats, or the Maggots' scary strength, each marvel was more shocking than the last!
Following Kashi's order, the Hopeful Maggots' allied army descended from the skyboats and then rushed at the stunned undead army under Absalon's lead.
Humans, elves, beastkin, dwarfs, and drakul fought side-by-side without prejudice, revealing scarily explosive strength as they pulverized the undead. It was a sight the continent had not seen in thousands of years. So many races fighting on the same side, on equal footing? How did the daeben accomplish this?
Atop Oni Hill, Queen Alia Tatjana Thorraid stared at the Hopeful Maggots' army with a complicated gaze.
"Ho-ho. Isn't this quite the sight?" Bellmaster Rene laughed as he gazed at the little flies on the ground. "That daeben is trying to accomplish the same goal as you. What do you say? Do you think we can work with him?"
Alia scrunched her nose in disgust. "Regardless of his accomplishments, that man is a Summoned. Summoned are too dangerous since they do not fear death. We can not work with someone whose fate we cannot tamper with." She then paused as a smile spread on her lips. "But the Summoned do have their uses. Let us go, Bellmaster. Now that everyone is here, we must greet our guests."
"As you wish." Bellmaster Rene took Alia's hand as one of his bells softly rang. Moments later, they disappeared and appeared on the ground, between the Maggot alliance and the Chaos Order soldiers.
Kashi, who had been watching the soldiers' progress against the undead army, turned around when he felt a dangerous presence behind him. His brows furrowed when he saw the daeben queen standing next to a massive monk-looking man. "Transcendents."
Kashi recognized the energy from the newcomers. It was very similar to Brock and Damah Dumm's. An oppressive force that seemed to reject the world around them, like they were going against the world's rule. However, he could tell that the daeben was a new transcendent. Her aura was still unstable and wild, indicating she was not yet used to her new strength.
Queen Alia smiled as she felt the hot gazes coming from the allied armies. "Sonic, Brilith, and Kashi." She spoke softly, but somehow her voice carried above the din of clashing metal into the guildmasters' ears. "I am Queen Alia Tatjana Thorraid, leader of the Chaos Order. May we have a chat?"
"Heh. So you're the head?" muttered Kashi as he committed her face to memory. Soon, he would have to cut off that head. For now, though, Kashi turned to Leila and said, "Take command. I'm going on a short stroll."
Leila glanced at the scantily-clad daeben queen. "Sure, but make it quick."
"Hehe." Kashi grinned and cracked his knuckles as he walked away. "I'm not entirely sure that's up to me."
Kashi was not surprised to see two individuals step out of the flanking armies at nearly the same time as him. He had received reports from Leila about these two troublemakers, but this was the first time seeing their faces.
"Sonic and Brilith." Kashi clenched his fists as he also committed their faces to memory. Knowing your enemy was one of the first and most essential facets of battle. They might be allies now, but Kashi knew he would have to face off against them soon enough. He also had no doubt that the others were doing something similar.
Kashi, Sonic, and Brilith stopped roughly five meters away from Alia and themselves, forming an interesting diamond-shape. It was apparent that the trio did not trust themselves enough to stay within attacking range.
Queen Alia looked at the leaders with a teasing smile, "Thank you for accepting my invitation, guildmasters. I have called you here to propose a temporary alliance if you dare accept."
"An alliance?" Sonic shook his head as he softly chewed on a stalk. "Our goals are directly opposite to each other. You want to summon Razznik, while we want to stop you. How could we possibly ally with each other?"
"Oh, this alliance would not get in the way of your goal." Queen Alia pointed at Oni Hill's guardian statues. "Even if you defeat my army, ninety-five percent of you will not be able to pass through the gate's sorting test. Rather than waste lives this way, why don't we let our soldiers work together to take down the undead and loot the numerous dragon graves and dungeons while we still have the chance?"
"Interesting proposition." Brilith sneered. Did this woman get scared when Kashi's army showed up? Did she think she could backtrack now? "However, what guarantee do we have your word is true? Who says our army cannot pass through the gates—"
"She's telling the truth." Kashi interrupted with a calm gaze. "Most of us cannot make it through." He paused and then rephrased, "No. More like, if they aren't at the level of your generals, you can forget it. The gate doesn't just test strength, but will too."
Alia's eyes sparkled with curiosity. "You seem to know a lot about the gate?"
Kashi shrugged. "I am a big Razznik fan. Your timing sucks, or I would have helped you summon him myself."
"You are a Razznik 'fan'? What does that mean?"
"It means no one knows more about Razznik than me, and no one wants to defeat him more than I do. But that is neither here nor there. You want our armies to raid the dungeons now that we have the advantage in numbers, right? This way, no matter what happens in the end, all sides can escape Oni Hill with countless resources to strengthen their forces." Kashi playfully tapped his chin. "Good plan. I like it. The Maggots are in."
"You cannot make that decision by yourself." Sonic angrily glared at Kashi. "Your callousness can put the rest of us at risk."
Kashi glanced at Alia. "Hey, is your army going to backstab ours during the operation?"
Alia shook her head with an amused glint in her eyes. "No, certainly not. The Chaos Order does not deceive or lie. We take what we want with upright honesty."
"Hear that?" Kashi chuckled as he glanced at Sonic. "They don't think we're worth shit. That's why they can work with us without qualms. I dare say she's been planning for this exact moment. For all we know, releasing Razznik might just be a hail-mary attempt, while ransacking Drakase is the true aim. Whichever way, we don't stand to lose much. Rather than waste lives fighting, why not let the adventurers and warriors seek fortune while the leaders duke it out inside Oni Hill?"
Kashi looked at the mountain range with a thin smile. "I'm betting you've set up many surprises for us in there, right?" Kashi's eyes already gleamed with challenging light as he glanced at Alia. "It won't be boring, right?"
Queen Alia involuntarily trembled at the bloodlust in Kashi's eyes. This man was a true battle-lust warrior. She dared not judge him by conventional means, or she would end up in a terrible situation. With these thoughts in mind, Alia laughed and then gestured at the mountain. "Yes. We have prepared many 'gifts' for those who choose to attack Oni Hill. I wonder if you can make it to the top before time runs out?"
Sonic and Brilith's expressions twitched when they recalled the time limit. Indeed, if the Chaos Order's army insisted on fighting a defensive battle, they could hold out for a few hours. Would the allied forces still be able to reach the top in time after all that?
Sonic and Brilith quickly calculated and realized it was indeed unlikely. To beat that time limit, the elites would have to break through the Chaos Order on their own. Since both scenarios separated the elites from the main army, why not reduce their losses and give their men a chance to earn plenty of Syros?
While Brilith and Sonic agonized over their choice, Kashi turned his attention to the Chaos Order leader. "Well, since I have you here, I might as well ask: what is your ultimate goal? People with your eyes are not the type to fanatically worship a god. And I do not believe for a moment that you truly believe Razznik is the type to do everything you say just because you summon him."
Queen Alia let out a short laugh as she examined Kashi. "As I thought, you are a different kind of man. In Markoth, you would have been a worthy husband to fight over."
"Well, thank you for the praise."
"It is well-deserved." Queen Alia tapped her arm while wearing a playful smirk. "What is our goal, you ask?" She glanced over Kashi's shoulder at the Maggot army wreaking havoc in the distance. "Our goal is probably the same as yours: A united world under a single banner, where no race need feel inferior to others. Tell me, is that such a bad goal?"
"Would I not be a hypocrite if I said otherwise? After all, I am trying to do the same thing." Kashi's expression darkened as he recalled the tragic sight in Merriheim's mines and the centaurs' plight. "However, your methods—"
"Forced, unfortunately," answered Queen Alia as she looked up at the half-moon in the sky. "Before the Summoned returned, this world went through a thousand years in which perished souls could not return to the Circle, but rather hung around the world. That amount of soul energy would have destabilized our realm if left unchecked. We needed to find a way to control and harness those souls until the Summoned returned to revive the gods."
Alia sighed. "Our methods might be gruesome, but we did find a way to control the dead's soul energy. It just so happens that we found out we could use that energy for something greater than we ever anticipated."
"Razznik's Summoning." Kashi's eyes darkened as he began filling in the missing pieces in this complex puzzle. "All the suffering you've caused. The dark energies in Kirkcour Woods and in the mines. You've been harvesting chaotic energy from the continent for decades. All for today—you need that energy to summon Razznik."
"Brilliant!" Queen Alia clapped her hands with appreciative eyes. "I knew you were different, but your brilliance astounds me. Yes, we will use that energy to summon Razznik today." Her lips spread in a smile as she added, "Do not bother sending priests to those locations. The chaotic energy has festered for decades. You cannot get rid of it with a few Purification spells. Besides, we have dozens of locations you are yet to find." Alia adjusted her hair behind her ear. "We remained in the shadows for so long, specifically so no one would find out what we did until it was too late."
"That was a magnificent plan." Kashi nodded in frank appreciation. "Patience, wisdom, and strength. You guys have it all. No wonder you grew to your current strength." Despite his words, Kashi's fists clenched as he looked at Alia. "But you will still fail. Just wait patiently at the top. I will come over and punch some sense into you lot." Kashi then turned to Sonic and Brilith. "Stop overthinking it. Let the kids go have some fun. You heard her. We don't have time to waste."
Sonic spat out the stalk. It suddenly had a bad taste after listening to the daebens' chat. "Well, why not? This seems to be the path with the least casualties."
Brilith glanced at Sonic and Kashi. With the reduced numbers, it would be easier to assassinate either of them without witnesses. Thinking up to this point, Brilith revealed a venomous smile as she replied, "We will do as you suggest. I am sure the warriors will be glad to hear your proposal."
With the forces reaching an agreement, Kashi laughed and then walked back to his army. He briefly glanced at Alia and promised, "See you at the top."
Alia's eyes trembled as Bellmaster Rene placed a hand on her shoulder. With the ring of a bell, they reappeared at the mountaintop, overlooking the armies below. Despite the vast distance between them, Alia somehow met Kashi's gaze. Against her reasoning, she instinctively replied, "I'll be waiting..."