Bart tailed the roiling mass of screams and gore that marked Mike’s location as he tore through the villagers. Soul Contracts only protected Bart from the malicious intentions of others, so death by trampling was a real concern in this environment, especially given that he still wore the Ring of Invisibility. Near the back of the pack, he was able to simply weave between adventurers, but as Mike, and consequently Bart, got closer to the top of the pass, the press of bodies became a real impediment for him.

His patience eventually broke when his progress was stalled for the third time in as many minutes. Roaring furiously, he grabbed the back of the shirt of the adventurer directly in front of him and shoved him backwards. The sloping ground and surprised jump of the unsuspecting villager were enough to make up for Bart’s lack of stats, and a small place was cleared before him. Moving into that space, he repeated the action over and over again, until his labored and wheezing breath gave away his position almost as much as a visible body would have.

There were a few moments where Bart worried that Mike would get away, but then the Boss ran into a small pocket of slightly higher leveled adventurers which slowed his progress enough for Bart to catch up. Pushing through the last of the thong, Bart entered the space cleared by Mike’s axes and lunged forward, the dagger outstretched.

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Mike stopped midswing as Damage Premonition blared through his mind with an intensity he had never felt before. Acting on instinct, he dove forward, using Stomach Surfing to maintain some control over his breakneck momentum that crushed legs and toppled adventurers as he careened through their ranks at ankle height. None of them were prepared to deal with his second dive, and even without Unflinching Meteor, he sustained minimal damage, Hardened Skin and a high Toughness score protecting him from the impacts that shattered the bones of his enemies.

As he knifed through the back ranks of the attackers, he guided his body to a gentle stop. His body was tired, but he pulled himself back to his feet and began marching up the hill. He would die of exhaustion before he stopped fighting for the valley.

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Bart’s upper teeth bit deeply into his lower lip as his airborne form missed its intended target and crashed into the helmet of a falling villager instead. Spitting out blood, he pushed himself upright with as much speed as his dazed body could muster and began glancing about anxiously for Soul Sunder, which had come out of his grip during his flight. It took almost a full minute of rolling toppled bodies over to find the deadly weapon, which had lodged itself blade first into the dirt.

Once again equipped, he began looking around for his prey, only to see Mike 40 yards away from his location, still battering aside villagers with ease. Bart cursed loudly, causing a few nearby adventurers to jump in surprise, before he resumed pushing bodies aside as he moved towards his target. It was easier going this time around, the majority of adventurers were behind him now, and many of the adventurers that stood between himself and Mike had been wounded during the battle and only pushed towards the valley to fulfill their contracts. In less than a minute he was once again in range of the berserking boss.

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Many of the adventurers near the rear of the pack were injured, and Mike was making short work of them. He wouldn’t have bothered to attack them at all if they didn’t insist on attacking him whenever he came in range of them. All the while, he wondered what had caused Damage Premonition to warn him so intensely. The impending sense of doom he had felt surpassed the anxiety that the Zone Barrier emitted.

The current batch of 3 adventurers fell before him with ease, and as he moved towards another batch of 5, another urgent warning predicted danger near his right kidney. Having already used Stomach Surfing twice, he instead opted to jump into the air as high as he could. The slick ground had other plans for him though. In a single motion, his feet slid out from under him, arcing behind his back, even as his chest, shoulders, and head were launched straight at the muck-covered ground beneath him.

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Bart anticipated another dive, so he planned his attack accordingly. Angling from upslope, he waited until Mike’s back was turned before jumping down at him from above. He saw Mike’s legs bunch up as he prepared to jump, and smiled victoriously. The fool would end up slamming into his dagger even harder. The man’s body blurred into motion, and Bart was unable to follow exactly what happened. One moment Mike had been jumping, the next moment his legs were swinging straight into Bart’s outstretched wrist like a pendulum. The force of the collision sent Bart tumbling, his wrist already throbbing before his body had fully stopped.

It took several seconds for him to regain his senses, the anger he felt towards the old hermit enabling him to push past the pain of his wrist. Wincing as he stood, he could only feel thankful that it was his off-hand that had taken the blow, his right hand still firmly grasped onto the dagger, which had somehow failed to prick him despite two good tumbles.

Proof that the System favors me. He thought to himself as he limped towards Mike, who had rolled over and was pushing himself back to his feet, blood streaming from his broken nose and into his gray beard.

When he was only a few feet away, the Boss’s dazed eyes seemed to focus on him.

Bart pulled up short, and turned to either side, sure that he was looking at someone else. To his dismay, no one was near the two men any longer, their series of tumbles having carried them a good 10 feet from the nearest combatants. When he turned back to Mike, he saw that he was studying the dagger in his hand with an impressively deep frown. Bart’s confusion turned to alarm, as he gazed down at his swollen hand and realized that the Ring of Invisibility was no longer on his finger.

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Mike had been confused to see Bart approaching him so carelessly, almost as if he thought Mike was unable to see him, and Mike instinctively prepared himself for battle. The shopkeeper stopped though, and Mike Analyzed the dagger his opponent wielded. As he read its description, he was taken back to the moment when Creeagle had disappeared into the void. Was Bart the one that was responsible for the hobgoblin’s death? Was this dagger the source of the shopkeeper’s influence over the rest of the villagers?

Damage Premonition alerted him to the attack, a vicious swing straight at his neck, reminiscent of the first time Bart had attacked him in his shop. Though Mike’s instincts were mostly the same, his reaction time was far faster now. His right hand snapped up to hit the underside of the approaching wrist, shattering the bone and causing the Soul Sunder to fall into Mike’s waiting left hand, which was already closing the distance to Bart’s chest.

Just as Creeagle had passed, so too did Bart. His body dissolved into nothing before the dagger was able to draw more than a single drop of blood.

A relieved gasp seemed to escape every villager at once then, and their robotic fight for the valley came to a complete halt. The hobgoblins seemed to sense the change, and they too stopped their fighting, leaving a polar atmosphere that seemed both violently charged and reluctantly calm.

Seizing the moment, Mike turned up-slope and projected his voice to the adventurers.

“Bart is dead, and your battle with the valley is at an end. If you leave now, we will not chase you or seek out revenge for the war you have waged against us. Our valley has only ever sought for peace, and that is still true now.”

No one moved, and Mike was forced to continue, “Or you can stay here, and I will start using this on you” he declared loudly as he held Soul Sunder aloft.

That seemed to be sufficient, for the villagers all began moving back towards the forest, giving a wide berth to where Mike stood. As they parted around him and he watched their retreating forms, he thought back to Creeagle and Bart’s deaths and realized something: The only experience that even remotely mirrored their fate was when the Quicksilver Boss had touched the Zone Barrier.

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The vessel’s main chamber echoed with the shocked and horrified gasps of everyone present. The anomaly now had possession of the secret weapon, making him stronger than ever before. How could this have happened? Had anyone experienced anything like this before during an integration? What did this mean in terms of the crew's profits?

“SILENCE!!” The prolonged shout of System Administrator cut through the din, and years of following orders brought everyone to attention.

“Junior Administrator, I believe now would be a good time to hear how that dimwitted assimlant got ahold of that weapon in the first place.” They said in a quieter voice that still demanded order.

The younger officer moved forward with a swagger born from years of wealth and getting their way.

“Certainly. After looking through the Log Book, we have identified the party responsible.” With a flourish, they pressed several buttons on the keypad in front of them.

“As you can see here, the Logs clearly state that the person responsible for making that weapon available would be…… Me?” The sputtering question was followed by Junior Administrator looking about in confusion.

“But wait, no! This isn’t possible. Where is the Keeper of the Logs? They changed….” Junior Administrator’s voice was cut off by System Administrator’s commanding voice.

“You overestimate yourself. Do you really think that a few backtentacled conversations would be enough to bring about a full mutiny? You entitled brats are always a headache, but in all of my assimilations, I have never seen this level of stupidity.” System Leader’s tirade caused Junior Administrator to shrink back in fear.

“As soon as you started lurking about, almost every single crew member you interacted with came to me and reported your actions.” The haunting truth of just how abysmally they had failed nearly broke Junior Administrator then.

“Your punishment will come later.” System Administrator concluded, before spouting out a stream of curses that had even the tentacles of even the most experienced of crew members changing colors.

Pivoting back to the rest of the crew, they seemed to regain composure and continued on, “To answer the remainder of your questions, things are not as bad as they appear, but we will need to activate Phase 3 with all haste.”

“System, bring the anomaly back up on the main viewing screen.” They continued on with little pause.

The chamber once again exploded into panic as the image came into focus. Hurtling towards the Zone Barrier, the anomaly had their arm cocked back as they flew through the air towards the purple energy field.

“System, roll out the phase 3 anomaly immediately.” System Leader yelled.

A swirling vortex opened in front of the anomaly’s moving form, swallowing them up whole, but the dagger had already been released. A crack formed in the air where the dagger struck the barrier, which spread out with impossible speed to every inch of the barrier miles-long barrier. Then a tremendous flash emanated from the barrier, and the viewing screen displayed a message.

[System Report: Noob Zone AA12 barrier has been destroyed.

Forced integration with Ranker Zoner commencing]