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Volume 5

Chapter 215: Open Channel Threat Exchange

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Seeing the departing figures, Siva came back to look at the distant wall of Alexandria with a worried face.

“Baron… I hope you are fine. Just wait a bit more, kuya is here for you.”

After murmuring, he vanished with a flash and came back to the all-viewing sphere in the heart of Akhenaton.

As soon as he came back, he could now feel that almost all of the major threats and problems have a lid to cover them. He can now then lead Akhenaton on an all-out rampage with the defenses of Apus Epirus.

In fact, in his heart, he could feel that there was really something there that’s been wanting to free itself for quite some time now.

Like a lion growling all the time or a Lapis Lazuli that continuously pounces over a wall of a city.

This kind of sensation was familiar yet uncomfortable because the longer he held this in, the tighter and the more violent it becomes and the harder it is for him to breathe every moment.

It has already come to a point that it was making him feel suffocated.

That’s why he had to release it.

And now, this rage in his heart that’s been gathering for quite some time had just found its very meal.

“I hate this world… I hate it. It only take away all the things important to me. This time I will not stop until every single one of you is dead.”

With a metallic grating roar, Akhenaton once again bid a cry to the heavens. In fact, if one would see it, the shape and size of the mouth was morbidly deformed when it was roaring to the heavens like this.

Its body lowered then took a giant step that churned the wind barrier into trembling as it passed by.

Behind Akhenaton was the deafening thunder as its distance to The Wall of Alexandria came to as close as 5km.

The darkness on the lands had spread wide and the soldiers, players, and citizens that failed to evacuate were all horrified by the sudden vanishing of the light of day.

Even the winds didn’t dare to scream now as the only loud sound that could be heard is that which had been conjured with Akhenaton’s every step.

BOOM!

……BOOM!

……………BOOM!

Its every pace carried the weight of a 1km large golden humanoid figure hundreds of thousands or perhaps even a million or far more tons of compacted special metallic alloy that hammered and battered the fragile resistance of empty air.

The magical step in midair can be seen by the naked eye but every gesture was fast and wide in between, almost as fast as the fastest person taking flight using flight equipment.

One moment it was close and at the next it was afar, thus leaving behind the gap in between the thundering claps of its every step.

Following these roaring thunderous steps were the occasional metallic cry in the darkness that resounded like the declaration of doom towards those that Akhenaton abhor.

The golden idol in the dark sky traversed an incredible distance within a few minutes until finally…

Siva’s eyes could glare upon that abominable castle.

*****

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP...

The alarm’s been going on for some time now and it was waking each and every soul inside the Apus Epirus. The usual empty hallways of the Castle Base became crowded by the rushing personnel.

Men and women, players and NPCs, ran around these cold brick walls and while others carried papers and a few files, more than half of these running personnel carried weapons and even thick shields.

Their armors clanged as they gave way to a woman, one of the said [weaker] and unimportant member of the core of their Blue Card Legion.

She eventually reached the end of the hall where the darkness of the night could be seen.

Or… was it night time already? Wasn’t it just lunch time a little earlier?

“It’s already here?” Kira was utterly surprised.

When she finally ran outside, she looked up and saw the pitch black starless curtain of the sky that even the clouds shied away at Akhenaton’s coming.

“A single man is capable of this?” She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Although she was privy on many information that no normal person inside and even outside the game should know, she was still quite startled when she was seeing Akhenaton’s ‘Eternal Night Curse’ in full effect. “Such vile presence! No wonder this curse is able to afflict mental pressure on everyone in the stadium…”

“Wear a goggles or some mask! Activate your night vision! Deploy flare light bogeys to the immediate 10km of the castle! No one is allowed to stay still until we win the fight against him! Do it now, do it fast!”

Not too far from her, on the wall, was Kladis giving orders here and there.

Seeming to have noticed the gaze from behind him, Kladis turned his head but didn’t say a word.

Although it hasn’t been that long since he had discovered her hidden charms that enticed him very much, there was still the former way on how he treated her ‘plain and weak Kira’ so in front of The Legion, he didn’t dare to reveal her identity.

What more, men has 80% tendencies to monopolize what they really like and this was one reason why he doesn’t want others to pay special attention to Kira and only want Kira to pay attention to him.

The two only exchanged glances and did not exchange any word or action.

Kira gazed at him going back to his tasks and she then put her gaze up front, summoned a panel window, then checked the status of the incoming Akhenaton.

“…!! So soon?!”

Her eyes widened and her brows twitched in surprise.

The speed at which the Akhenaton was arriving towards them was really astonishing.

“It hasn’t even a full ten minutes yet since the last report. At this rate, he’ll reach us before we could even start firing the longhorns!”

Kladis, who stood on the wall, said to the adjutant behind him, “How long until we can fire the longhorn?”

The adjutant looked at her panel: “Three minutes!”

Kladis clicked his tongue. “Make the Rewloola hold this position. Adjust the location of the Castle Base to the south by 8km. What’s the situation with Hilda?”

Another adjutant saluted, “Reporting to Supreme Commander. The Major has yet to follow up a report since the last relay had been sent.”

“Location?”

“9km centering the last known location of target. Her tracking team had reported a trace of their destination and revealed that Jack Stone might be planning to board a Cyclone out of the city to teleport himself out as soon as he did that’s why the Major maintained the distance around the hangar and kept bombarding the area.”

“Mn. Good thinking.” After nodding, Kladis then looked behind him and glanced over at Kira again. “Aside from the two of us, no one is left in this base. The Chief is yet to come back from his errand so I will have to need your help on dealing with any contingencies.”

Kira had always maintained a cold and indifferent face but as soon as Kladis spoke, she smiled lovingly at him like a mother looking at a cute child full of catsup.

“Why don’t you recall the escorts of that nerd?”

Kladis clicked his tongue. “Right now, we’ve already been paid to let him borrow those people. If we back out now on the deal, the Panorama Corporation will never make a deal with us again.”

“You’re screwed. At this rate your Apus Epirus will fall and everything that you have been working on all these time will come to an end.”

“I know that but it was the Leader’s orders. And besides, it’s just an NPC. How can it win against me?”

Kira frowned. Before, it was Gats who actually found and recruited her in The Legion and by that time, she was already a confidante of the Great Father in Haven, Dr. Pegasus.

She had clear missions given by the Great Father but she was also given orders not to interfere with the leader of The Legion’s plans.

Kira shrugged, helpless, “If that’s what he wants, then that’s what he gets. Just treat my advice as if it was never spoken.”

“N-No… I…”

Even though he wanted to say a retort, Kira had already turned around and purposefully, and gracefully, swayed an extra inch on her hips in flirtatious manner.

DUB! DUB!

The man’s heart skipped a beat and all the words he wanted to say vanished in his mind. His face reddened, temporarily stealing his thoughts on the matters in front of him.

Looking at that body, he recalled that time when he first discovered her secrets.

When was the last time that he had actually found a thrilling experience with a woman?

And yet for how many times he had ‘conquered’ Kira in many places, only when they had Scion did Kira reveal the true ‘her’ that knew just what Kladis’ body wants.

Kladis then recalled the frustrations that Scion caused him because right now, upon the orders given to him by Kira to continue the plans and ensure victory, this one single unknown variable known as ‘Donar’ just had to cause major setbacks on their plans.

With clenched fists, he faced the north western horizon, shouting orders to the personnel to hurry and double the efforts on their tasks.

The castle base rumbled and from below, one could see the slow but steady movement of the forest.

Apus Epirus is retreating.

Kladis gritted his teeth and ignored the rumbling sound of his castle and then held the hilt of his sword as he roared angrily, stomping his foot to the ground.

“Damn it!” he yelled then turned his head sideways to the left adjutant, “What is the status of the infiltration team? It’s been so long, why aren’t they responding to our calls?”

“Reporting to the Supreme Commander. Sir Zaza and Sir Redeye’s flag markers are still active so we are sure that they’re still alive. It’s just that the relay team stationed on the middle floors reported that the seal underground has yet to disperse.”

Kladis cursed in his heart.

It’s been a few minutes now but the infiltration team is yet to get the record they needed in order to get out of this city.

They have received the news that Zaza and Redeye’s infiltration mission was successful and had also received their confirmation reply when they were ordered to abandon the looting of the floors and just focus on the main mission.

But who would have thought that as soon as they reached the lowest floor, they would be met with an uncertainty.

Not only the last report contained an incomplete description of having nothing in the lower floors, not even ten minutes after that report was submitted, they lost contact with the infiltration team.

They assumed that they’ve met their Game Overs but the flag markers Gats left behind to indicate the lives of their members were still active, meaning, they are undoubtedly still alive somewhere underground.

“At least they could’ve sent an email.” Kladis could only murmur.

Then, as if to have heard this prayer, a prompt appeared on his player panel of a white envelope icon, stating that he had received a personal email. It was an email that is outside of the game and was actually a direct link to his PC’s email software.

“Hm? It’s Zaza’s personal email.” Kladis was surprised but after opening it, “This is…!!” a smile beamed out of his lips. “Damn game, to think that it has this much surprises in store for us. This Northern Continent is really not an easy case to crack.”

After reading the email, Kladis’ mood started rising and he faced the adjutant with a beaming smile.

“Prepare to teleport away.”

The adjutant was shocked at first but then realized that the Supreme Commander’s mood has risen so there was no need to delay the execution of the command.

“Hai!” the adjutant saluted and immediately started the preparations for teleporting Apus Epirus away from this chaotic place.

Kladis’ smile was painted with anger but also with a great sense of happiness.

“It wasn’t the right time to fight you but I will make sure that when we do, you will cease to exist by my hand! Heh. I wonder how strong a God of this world will be against my Anti-Magic ability.”

Right when Kladis was musing happily to himself, one of the two adjutants spoke with a serious manner.

“Sir! Incoming open channel call from Akhenaton!”

“Hm? Open channel?” Kladis was bit surprised but not very much. “I’ve always known that it was an ancient warship but I never knew that it had the ability to make a call on the open channel of this game world’s human communication technology…” after pondering for a bit, he gave a nod to the adjutant, “Accept it.”

DING!

An electronic sound came and a [email protected] rendering of a pontificated-robed person came into Kladis’ sight.

“Your Highness.” Kladis greeted respectfully yet was still layered with his haughtiness and pride. He was a real human of the real world and he will not allow himself to bow down on a mere NPC.

“Kladis.” Siva’s voice was deep and very serene. The NPC and User adjutants standing behind Kladis both felt the holiness on that bearing. “I will not speak of nonsense. Your actions had irrevocably roused the ire of this Elder God. Many innocent lives in that city have been killed because of your greed. But, I shall still give you one last chance to redeem yourself. But know that this is my last warning—”

Kladis’ brows knitted.

“Just who do you think you are?” His mind raged. “You are only an NPC. You have no right to order me around as if I am beneath you!”

“—stop the attack in Alexandria and hand over the Archmage that you kidnapped to me. Lest, I will make sure that your death will be slow, your comrades will burn by my hand, and even if you possess an Undying Soul, I will hunt you down every day, every minute, you will not be able to sleep, you will see me in your nightmares and you will never… ever… live the rest of your life in peace ever again. Continue to defy me and I will make sure that in every corner of this world, there will be no safe haven for you to hide from my wrath. If you live, you will die by my hands again! And every time you die, it will be a slow… painful… and agonizing death.”

Siva’s anger couldn’t be contained as the words he was saying were spoken in between gritted teeth. It was calm yet savage.

His hate was clear on every syllable of every word.

“My patience is limited and this is your last chance to uphold whatever sense of justice and propriety you have in your hands. If you still fail to listen to me, there will be no glory in this coming fight and this will be a one sided massacre on my part for I know everything you have done and even if the world will not be aware of the crime you did against her, you can be assured that my wrath will chase you down in every corner of this planet. Kladis of the Blue Card Legion… I don’t care what kind of organization is behind you or whatever power you expect to push your back… but heed my words very clearly because this is the only chance you will hear me say it…”

“How da—” Kladis tried to butt in for he also felt angry at the way he was being addressed.

But before the second could even spoken…

“—give her to me and retreat, or die… over and over… until asking for death is your salvation and dying each and every time will be your only solace. Stop the attack in Alexandria, and give me back Archmage Scion that you took away!”

Kladis’ eyes widened in shock and he realized too late that he wasn’t even able to conjure up a poker face nor was he able to even utter a single retort of a word for being looked down upon by a mere NPC.

This clear threat, in addition to the contents of it, was just too chocking to him.

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Siva explode and unleash his threats…

What will be Kladis’ reply?

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