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Chapter 279: Little Blacky

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The Union…

Just thinking about it makes the players cringe at the thought of their immense power inside and even outside the game… with the latter being a fact only known by the real powers of the game.

So who wouldn’t be wary of them? They treat money like it was dust that they can brush of and even spend without care.

Terroa, for them, is not a place of adventure but a place of business. Since recreational places and tourist spots in the real world are decreasing at an alarming rate, new and exciting places where people can choose to relax are becoming an overly increasing demand.

As such, The Union of Seven Nations in the real world erected their in-game counterpart, The Union, a commercial strategy to create unique places they can put investments on to pull tourists who play the game to sightsee and not battle monsters.

So they hire adventurers and explorers like Volt and his crew to discover new places that The Union can invest their money and create money in turn.

In the Continent of Espada, they control an entire region, comprising of six state-sized lands almost half the size of Amerika, and dubbed it as “The Union of Six Federations” or simply The Union outside its offices, and just The Six when they talk within themselves inside their secretive walls.

Their headquarters was located in the Walled City of Dakar… a near desert city in the southeastern federation of Corona, the biggest of The Six.

[So that concludes the meeting. Any questions?]

In a dark lit room, seven [email protected] figures clad in black shadows could be seen seated high above pillars that surrounded a circular platform where a table and three figures are currently seen seated as if in an interview.

Only their heads’ silhouette could be seen above by a light purple glow. Their faces were hidden, making Jack Stone, one of the three seated men in the table below, nervous and sweating.

The reason why is because today, along with the two men on his left and right, are being promoted into Army Commanders that could lead a group of elite NPCs and players hired specifically to work under the banner of The Union.

The voice that spoke just now and gave the three their assignments after their promotions was the one that sat in the middle of the seven figures.

When Jack and the three did not reply, the voice of the man in the middle spoke again with his stiff and jagged distorted male voice.

[If you have no questions, then I have one. Since you are now official Commanders of The Union’s Military Unit, especially you, Jack… do you think you are worthy of the responsibility we have put on your shoulders?]

Jack gulped down his nervousness and stood up as he made a snappy military salute.

“I shall do my best to prove my worth under your trust, sir.”

The voice snorted but it felt like he was satisfied.

[Good. Then I shall look forward to seeing more grand accomplishments that you have in the future. Fufufu…]

Right after speaking, that figure in the middle bid a wave of a hand before vanishing, and with it, is the rest of the seven disappearing one by one and only leaving a lonely figure on the last seat at the very left of the pillars.

That figure spoke:

[Longyun and Tabata… you two have been long since members of The Union. Don’t let your guard down and think that Jack is but a newbie. He had proven his worth with his accomplishments and his fame is not even inferior to the two of yours combined. Do you understand?]

“Yes, uncle.” (Tabata)

“Rest assured, father, we shall do our best.” (Longyun)

[Then I’ll leave the rest to you.]

After waving his hand, he also vanished.

When the three were the only ones left, a sense of shifting pressure in the space around them assaulted their senses before the flow of time came back to the normal flow of Terroa which is three times faster than that of earth.

In-game to real world calls were hard like that.

As the shifting space returned the tense faces of the three relaxed and the once dark room lit up, revealing the empty wall the three of them were facing.

“Whew…” Jack let out a sigh. “That was a har—”

“Hmp. Lucky bastard.”

“Who told you you’re qualified to talk to us?”

Jack, who wanted to strike a conversation and also establish a friendly relationship with the two, right before he launched his aim, was already brought down with disdain and an attitude full of contempt.

He was surprised and couldn’t retort to the once positive image he had of them earlier.

Who would have thought that while they were in the waiting room earlier, these two’s courteous smile and approachable auras would make a 180 degree turn right after they heard of Jack and his extreme accomplishments?

What happened to their “Glad to be your acquaintance” and “Let’s work hard in the future!” gestures?

These two were proud children of a priest that looks down on anyone that does a better job than them.

Jack was utterly surprised by the change on their attitudes and couldn’t say a word. The two stood up and turned their backs on him while he was left their alone, sighing, and clenching his fists in fury.

“I worked hard to get my achievements!” he gnarled to himself. “I lost a sidekick and a friend trying to get the Light Sword… I also saved a life, although, I can’t tell that to anyone else…”

Jack followed the back of the two as they exited the room and while the light on the other side of the left opened door blinded his eyes into purple shadow, he never took a step off his former place as he just focused on cooling his fury down.

“I even made an enemy out of The Legion just for the sake of The Union. If we’re talking about level of loyalty and devotion to the banner, then I would not even lose to the two of you! I should be the one whose looking down on you two for being a direct subordinate and the son of one of the head of The Union…!!”

Alas, Jack could only eat these words as his fists crumpled on his sleeve. He sat down on the chair and savoured the silence as he swiped the air and contacted someone.

“Karim.”

[Captain. How’s the meeting?]

“Successful, but, I never knew the internal politics between Army Commanders are this tight here. I am really in a loss.”

[Heh. If it’s you, I know you can do it.]

“Sigh… rather than that, are you going to take the same career as you have before? To have to die twice in one month, you sure are a rich guy…”

[Hahaha… it can’t be helped. If I hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t be sitting in that chair right now. My pocket’s as deep as yours since we started this game together at the same time. If you want to pay me up with my sacrifice, then what about you buy me and Jin a drink?]

“Pfft. Ahaha! Shut up… alright, drink’s on me this weekend. So, have you actually decided? I heard there are new skills and abilities being developed in the forums lately. Even Darna and Kratos from the War of Two Powers have levelled up their games and are still rivals until this day. But thanks to that, many people are focusing on their skills and ability sets, and have more or less deducted their talisman settings… and… as far as I know, your Naginata’s effectivity will be more effective with Kratos’s mid-range/short-range magic deployment.”

[Nah… I’ll stick with what I’m good at. But better and bolder than before since that’s the reason why I chose to the Gonn Race. Aside from that, I will be relying on you for the materials of my new Naginata.]

“I’ll be working hard for that. Oh, right, since you are in Zenturo, I think you might be interested in a bit of news I’ve got just a few minutes ago.”

When he spoke at this part, Jack walked over at the open door then peeked outside, left and right, making sure that there was no one in the corridor before going back inside and closing the door of the conference room.

[Why so secretive?]

“Well, it’s because I. Just. Got. This. News. A. Few. Minutes. Ago.”

Jack enunciated every syllable of every word and Karim, with a slightly different tanned face but the same voice and name as before, chuckled.

[Riiiiiight~~~~~]

“Tsk. I was planning on delaying this news until you officially came back to my unit but since they treated me that way, they could only blame their shitty plastic attitudes when I ruin their plans.”

On the other line, Karim smiled sinisterly.

[Hoooo? I am liking the sound of revenge in this music. It seems that they are underestimating you since you got lucky acquiring Excalibur and the Light Sword?]

“Not only that, my friend. They actually look down on my unit and your sacrifice. Hmp. Anyways, you can delay joining back on my team this time since I want you to be a hindrance on two specific people that managed to rouse my anger.”

[Tell me the name and I will take care of it.]

“It’s Longyun and Tabata.”

[And the story?]

“Well, I don’t think you’re new to this. It’s about the incoming King Selection Tests.”

[Oh. In Jeremiah… I’m quite close to it.]

“Alright. I’ll send you their details and faces. I want you to make it hard for them and if you could, you can actually try your best to be the next king.”

[Hahaha… my hands are itchy already. I’ll send you my Naginata specks and the right resources I want to have in it. Can you send me that asap?]

“Leave it to me, brother. I’ll build it right away.”

[Alright. Alright. So when do we start this plan?]

“Today.”

[Heh. Better.]

*****

The reason why Siva chose to take his time to meet Billion is because he wanted to personally observe the damage in Alexandria.

Not only that, personally, he also have a rather… more evil plan in his mind.

“If my guess is correct, it should be proven with another one of those things. If only I could find one before the diggers, then it would be better.”

Diggers, meaning, Alexandria’s recovery team.

It’s been six days (Terroa time) since Siva last went online and in those six days, the remaining forces and civilian volunteers of the city had begun their recovery and mourning in the southern quadrant of the city.

“The damage is greater than I thought…”

On his hover board, Siva was looking around him and is seeing the civilians crying over their ruined houses, businessmen mourning over their ruined and collapsed establishments, and some people weeping over the rotting remains of their dead soldier relatives.

He had fought against the demons who destroyed this city and tasted a defeat himself against one of the Demon Generals, Sefirah “The Prideful”, and knew firsthand how terrifying these menaces are.

“They’re opponents I can’t defeat as I am now so I need to get stronger.”

With the memories in his mind and the tiny voice, telling him of terrifying consequences if he does not defeat them, especially Mefisto, Siva was left with no choice but find ways within his reach right now on how to be stronger than anything.

As such, earlier in the Meeting Room, when he thought back to the Giant Black Ball that won’t even budge back in the Sword Island, he could only remember how it was actually utilized by the infamous Alcides Guild.

“The LAGRAM Alliance’s Demon Army, they can mold and control Black Element to the point that their Demon Commanders use it as their main source of power… the Colossus Monsters and that black warship torpedo that infected and even corrupted Immortal God Knight’s Golem Body, the Garuda, I am sure that it wasn’t a Commander Warship and is an invention designed by a player and is made using Human Nano Technology!”

In the ruined southern quadrant, the Diggers, the army of NPCs, players, and vehicles that sorted out and lifted debris from there to there, were all scattered in a wide range in the area.

Although they numbered hundreds, the southern quadrant of the city is just that large and thus it was hard for them to actually finish the job of fixing the debris field in just six days.

“If I delay this further, I wouldn’t be able to get that item! I gotta move fast!”

SHWOOOOOSSSSHHH~~~~~~!!!

While riding the hover board, there was an open panel on his vision and it had a map, a top view model of the southern quadrant of Alexandria that was procured by Thorn, thanks to Fuma.

“It should be here…”

With a wildly beating heart, he stopped in an area a few tens of meters away from a group of the volunteer diggers.

He caught their attention but when Siva looked at them and instinctively activated [Killing Zone], the poor NPCs umped on their feet from fear and did their best, burned their souls, and endured their bleeding feet from the sharp rocks and nails just to get away from Siva as soon as possible.

In normal occasions, he would’ve been hunted in any city for various reasons but not in Alexandria.

Because right now, he was treated as a savior and it was The Company who was believed to have averted the destruction of the city.

It was clear that Gabriel hadn’t made his return.

As such, as much as he can exploit this advantage over the city, he won’t care about anything that’ll probably hinder on his plans to become strong.

“Those who will stop me will burn!” he declared.

As he stopped over that spot, he looked around him and could only confirm the destruction of the city. It was once a busy street connected to the main avenue of Alexandria but now, it was but a flat land that stretched on for miles and miles.

It was a wide debris field with protruding melted parts of what was once tall buildings; bricks and houses in tatters, perhaps underneath were still the bodies of those knights and civilians who had failed to get away in time.

Siva checked the map on his panel and confirmed it for the umpteenth time.

“This should be the place.”

As he murmured that, he pulled out a whistle from his inventory and blew on it. After that, he waited for a minute more before a sound of roaring wind came from the horizons in the south as a figure of its silhouette, a large 30m or so monster, flying at breakneck speed towards his direction.

Siva smiled under his mask.

“Come to think, I haven’t officially named you.”

When the monster neared his location, it slammed the ground not far away from him and it rattled the debris field, roaring proudly, frightening all of the diggers, widening the area that Siva could work on to by an additional kilometer.

The monster was the Lapis Lazuli who did not show itself during the fight in Alexandria because of the simple fact that it wouldn’t change anything.

The Lapis Lazuli may be a frightening killing force in a normal battlefield involving men, but when it’s a fight against the scale of Akhenaton, it’s as good as an ant that can be trampled over.

[Grrrr…. GROOOOAARRRRRRR!!!]

Like a lion acknowledging his master, the Lapis Lazuli roared to the surroundings for a good while before it looked at Siva, bowed its head, and then approached him like a docile pet who wanted to be patted in the head.

Siva could feel the link between him and the Lapis Lazuli through the ritual of submission that only an Apollo Race member could do with a beast kin.

The docile Lapis Lazuli wagged its tail as Siva pats its head (or nose) and only after a good minute of this scene did Siva stepped back and gave an order to the Lapis.

“Since I haven’t given you a name, I shall you call you Blacky from now on.”

[KRAWR!!!]

“Heh. Good. Your name may not mean anything for now, but I will give you a good gift in the near future and by then, you can have a better chance on becoming more than just a Lesser Dragon but even greater and grander than even an Elder Dragon.”

[RAAAAWWWRRRRR…!!!]

The Lapis Lazuli, now Blacky, roared to the sky as if to acknowledge his name and this made Siva nod in satisfaction.

When Blacky had calmed down, Siva then pointed to the ground below them and ordered:

“Now, start digging.”

[G-GRAWR?]

“Yep. Now. Dig.”

[….]

Whether Siva had a pathetic naming sense or not, he wasn’t that much bothered calling a green-scaled, yellow striped-skinned horned 30m large monster Blacky.

In fact, he was actually proud of it.

There was even a slight glint of cleverness in his eyes right now!

Blacky, as good as an occasion this may be for him obediently followed the orders of his master.

As much as he cared about dignity and face of having half-dragon blood running on his veins, he was already bound to his whim his freedom to see the skies or death to become materials depended on Siva.

Thus, he silently dug the ground.

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An S-Ranked Monster made into a digger…

What’s he really up to?

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