Chapter 185: The Fourth Hour

The announcement was a bold declaration that made Pangean's scream in fanaticism even more.

To the rest of the world, it was a huge slap in their face. Lynd could have exchanged far more powerful weapons. But the first upgrade Lynd purchased with his points was to use enable the city-wide communication systems that were spread across the entire map.

"Why would he do that?" One of the Generals pondered. It would be simply too arrogant of him if he did that.

"General, does that mean, he is still in the fort?"

"Right. No need to fire a flare. It will make Lynd aware of the codes of the flare. We'll just stick to the plan. For now, we use our counter points to purchase radios." The General ordered.

And so, radios were purchased.

"All team Corban. Our frequency is Six-Three-Seven." The General known as Corban announced in his radio device.

Several broadcast of the other Generals started their own broadcast announcing their locations.

The soldiers who have not yet joined with their troop began to communicate with their respective Generals and were now headed to their assigned locations cautiously. They continued to move by the walls, hiding by the shade of the buildings and would even use vehicles to crossroads which they knew to have a clear view from the peak of the tower where Lynd was.

"Any thoughts? How did they kill those eight?" A general asked. They were using a frequency reserved for Generals.

"Lynd might have used the sounds of the submachine gun to cover a rifle shot? He must have activated a sentry gun to fool us."

"No. With the game's set up, Lynd doesn't have enough points to unlock rifles." Corban replied.

"He purchased a skyline tool. It should be within the points he has. It used up his points immediately and he used it to hightail on the next building and then the next and killed eight fringe soldiers. When he had enough points, he used the skyline tool to get towards the floor where he then broadcasted his message." A General deduced.

Everyone was silent.

"Check the points. It's exactly enough." The General repeated.

"Adler's right. Her analysis is correct."

"You boys should think once in a while." Adler laughed.

"We are to assume that Lynd is currently housed in his fort. Let's proceed with the original plan. Lynd is trying to confuse us using strange tactics. What can he use the communication broadcast for?"

Suddenly, several loud sounds of a submachine gun shooting were heard all over the map.

Some of the soldiers suddenly moved recklessly as some tried to look for the source of the gunfire.

"… And now we know." The General sighed exasperatedly.

"It's a diversion. Do not panic." The General's began to order on the other radio line.

Suddenly, several names were listed on the screen.

"I see… He's using this to mask the methods of kills. That way we won't know what weapon he bought."

"He's still after fringe soldiers though. Gather the group immediately. Since we cannot communicate with any players that died, we can't find out how he killed them." Corban addressed.

"No need to tell us that. I mean… Oh, wait. Now I know. He's piloting drones."

"How sure are you, Arclight?" Adler inquired.

"We're facing some. Wait. Give me a sec. Lynd seemed to be manually piloting this one. It's quite tricky to shoot."

General Arclight had twelve soldiers with him. The drone flew overhead to surprise them but its attacks failed to kill any players. The players easily evaded the attacks and guarded against it.

"Shoot it down together." The General gave its irritated reply.

Three players moved out of their covers and shot the drone.

Though the drone was moving at an extremely fast speed, a single bullet from each player was all that was necessary to bring the drone down.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three gunshots rang out. The players didn't even waste shooting another bullet.

The drone was struck on its weakest part and slowly began its descent to the ground.

"Let's go," Arclight ordered and moved even before the drone fell.

BOOM!

Seven names were shown on the screen.

The Generals were shocked at the sight of it. Arclight's name was among the fallen soldiers.

A unison of curses was heard as seven names were shown.

"What happened? Report!" One of the Generals immediately radioed over to the main frequency.

But almost immediately, several names were shown once more on screen. The remaining soldiers who were with Arclight were now dead.

Cold sweat drenched all the backs of the players.

A General was killed and his platoon was all dead.

The World Governing Powers were shocked at the skillful execution by Lynd. He indeed purchased a Skyline tool that allowed him quick mobility. With it, he carried one Drone, used the skyline to travel onto some building and launched the drone. He navigated it towards an approaching enemy troop and used it to attack. But midway, Lynd abandoned control of the drone and threw a grenade.

Only the members of the WGP saw the difficult maneuver that Lynd did. The Grenade was thrown right exactly behind the Drone. In that expert throw, the soldiers did not notice the falling grenade. They immediately moved in haste and the well-timed grenade exploded killing several of them.

The sudden explosion stunned the enemy, but as they were experts they proceeded to do their job, but then, Lynd shouted.

Unlike the spectators, those who were playing the game used an advanced, high-quality sound technology that could replicate and pass on messages with frightening precision. It was so advanced, that even the footsteps of the players in-game could actually be heard just as how it would sound like in real life.

Lynd shouted, Die. And this time, unlike the previous players that were killed, one of the spectator's view was locked to show the area of the Generals. Upon the General's death, the view remained, and everyone saw Lynd jumping down from who knows where and killed them all.

His movements were so smooth that they could see Lynd firing seven bullets, killing the players with a headshot.

Their positions were all around and Lynd had to maneuver his avatar to make an almost 360-degree turn to kill everyone.

"What was that? Did you see that? It was as clear as day and as smooth as ice! Lynd Indigo just shot seven bullets in an accuracy that would only match the top pro players of this game! That was amazing!" One of the commentators commented.

"It looked like Arclight and his troop didn't notice the grenade! The drone must have gotten their attention. A sudden explosion and the death of their General. It was Lynd's gamble. If any of those pro-soldiers managed to react in time, he would have been just as easily killed!" The commentator argued.

"That was a gamble? It looked like art! That Lynd must have known he wouldn't have been killed!"

"It's still a gamble. If NightShooter or Purple Creation managed to react, Lynd's avatar would have been dead. Too bad they were killed in that grenade."

"Are you serious? Juggernutter was among them and he had the same hustle as those former, yet he failed to shoot! Lynd surprised him! That shout may have caused them to panic! Didn't you hear it? It was loud!"

Meanwhile, in the room where Lynd was actually playing, the World Governing Powers was almost paralyzed in fear as well.

"What- What was that?!" One who wore the Exoskeleton voiced out angrily.

It was bizarre. They all felt fear.

The moment Lynd shouted, they felt a constricting and painful vibration. It was just for a fraction of a second."

"Harker and Colestar are hiding something from us." The other spoke angrily.

"That is true. I hope you don't mind. I took this as our tech rewards for our great contribution." Harker approached the three Exoskeletons. Trailing behind Harker was President Colestar of Pangea.

The Three turned and glared angrily at Harker and extended their arms.

"Are you sure you want that? I finally managed to talk to you without being overheard by them. I was planning to give you the weapon Australia developed with that same sound technology." Harker laughed.

"An Australian secret weapon?"

"Yes. They equipped it on an Armor that we managed to retrieve. You see, my daughter and that Lowengren didn't die in vain. When they executed their suicidal attack, they killed General Garland of New Birth Fort. It has a strange sound technology they call Peals of Thunder."

"All technologies must be presented to the WGP first. You dared to employ and use that technology you reverse-engineered on that kid?"

"He is a soldier. But it's not the full thing. We have failed in reverse engineering it, hence were giving it to you, and want that same tech granted back to us. As for Lynd, what's a little added volume to a kid? Peals of Thunder simply creates a thunderous vibration. It's like he can shout louder than average. It is useful in those situations. Like when he was surprising his enemies just now." Harker laughed. 

The WGP was silent but they could not retort.

"Of course, a weaponized version is different. Australia has found ways to use sounds as their weapons." Harker spoke bluntly.

"We've been contacted by the organization that is trying to attack you." Colestar moved forward.

"What?" One of the three asked in anger.

"Believe us, don't believe us. You'll believe us soon anyway. How do you think Australia managed to recover despite a bombardment between Pangea, New Great Britain, and even Russia? Do you even know that the Americas have sent their forces to infiltrate Australia?"

Harker gave a silent nod to simply affirm what Colestar challenged.

"Aside from Peals of Thunder that enlarges sound, Australia developed a tech that could magnify sounds and create soldiers that could hear the words you would whisper in an enclosed room. Why did you think, I, the President of Pangea made such an effort to bring you three here? This whole show was to present you with this information!"

"Exactly who is this mysterious organization?"

"We don't know. Harker was the first one contacted. Harker ruined their plans in that attack in Australia. So they wanted to use Pangea instead. He played the part but when I was drawn in, I convinced Harker to be their enemy! Alean's death was his wake up call. So we pretended to be their friends. They must have wanted me to draw suspicion from you through Lynd. But we're not idiots. They promised to save us, but we're sure they'd leave us dead in your hands."

"Who are they?" One of the WGP members prompted.

"We don't know! They asked us and threatened us if we know who the Primordial is or someone called the Progenitor." Colestar sighed.

"Who?"

"We don't know who they are," Colestar replied.

"Here's the truth of what we do know. These Primordial or Progenitor is some head of a secret organization. More secretive and mysterious than yours. So right now, we know that there are three entities in this Earth that can shake this planet if they will it." Harker convinced them.

"Right. You, the group that this Primordial or Progenitor leads… and of course, the organization trying to look for them. Just be careful. We can only play along with their music. We can't help you. But if one of your bases attack…"

"You can be sure… that perhaps the group under the Primordial is taking part in it." Harker continued Colestar's statement.

"Right. Or it could be the organization looking for them. Just be careful. This is the most we can do."

"Where is the Armor of General Garland?"

"Oh? You want it now? You're not curious how we can assure our victory in this gamble? Maybe you'll call us cheaters."

"We already know it. Lynd's a legit pro-gamer that surpasses the skills of everyone in there. He has no missed moments, he plans every step and every second. With that sound that can shock even us, his sure to win. This is legit. The rules were to use technologies that were external. But any enhancements are allowed. Bring us to the Armor."

"Fine. But you can't talk. We don't know if they have ears out there. With the Australian tech, we've had to change our entire protocol."

"We understand." The three followed. As the trio walked, one of them was extremely anxious.

"Progenitor... Have your enemies surfaced?" She pondered as she continued to stagger but forced her legs to walk normally.

As the trio followed Harker to see the Armor, Lynd then began to smile.

"Finally! Now I can go all out." Lynd sighed in relief.

The mouse and keyboard that Lynd had were special. It was able to accommodate extremely fast commands and was designed to even surpass the limits of speed that a human can click, or type on their keyboards. This was because, as the Pro scene of all games evolved into a national pastime, the gaming devices had higher demands.

Lynd Had several small monitors near his desk. Part of the deal of the battle was that Lynd would have a dedicated monitor that will constantly show the weapons he has, the geographic maps other monitors that were dedicated to specific technologies that Lynd may purchase in-game.

These were generally add-ons that even Pro-gamers didn't invest in. One of the techs was actually an in-game mod that showed the in-game physics calculation. And yet, Lynd used his points to purchase that.

The Generals acted more cautiously. They merged their groups to form a platoon of fifty soldiers, with one platoon consisting of more than seventy-five soldiers. The first two fifty-men platoons were searching for Lynd, while the seventy-strong troop headed for the tower to take over control of the tower.

Lynd rushed towards the city and reached the ground. He used one car and drove it, as soon as it was moving fast, Lynd jumped off and in the smallest split-second gap of his jump, he used the Skyline and flew to the skies.

The small split second-movements were so minute yet Lynd was actually able to exploit the physics of the game to his advantage. Soon, Lynd was in the building as the car moved onwards.

"Sir! A car!" One of the players noticed the car from afar.

"No one's driving. But Lynd must be nearby!" The General ordered.

"Shoot that car down. But don't blow it up. The rest continue to advance. If Lynd's not in that car he must be nearby." The other General ordered.

Several players started shooting. They knew what the General ordered. And the attacks were made on the body to try to kill any player hiding inside the car. The tires were shot causing the car to crash on to a nearby building. Several gunshots continued while other soldiers rushed towards the direction where the car came from.

"He's not in the car, sir." A soldier reported after approaching the vehicle. Suddenly, he saw it. In the sky, a small figure was flying. The front of the drone was flashing. But because of the broadcast that masked the noise, they did not hear it.

"Drone!" The player cried to alert his companions but was already killed.

The players started to take cover.

"He's controlling it! Alright. On three, we shoot it together!" One of the veteran players called to his companions crouching behind several glassed windows inside a building. There were four windows that gave them a clear view on the drone.

"One… Two… Three!" The player commanded and his four other companions stood up their respective windows to shoot the drone.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Four names floated on screen as these players were killed by the drone.

"He's controlling it! Don't take risks! Listen to your general!" One of the General cursed as he saw those names.

"Players fifty to sixty-three, rush out of your covers and shoot that drone!" The General ordered.

And as quickly, as they could, several players all together rushed out of the covers they hid under to shoot the drone.

Lynd however, yawned. With his perspective, even if he was controlling the drone manually, the emerging soldiers were as slow as snails. Giving Lynd enough time to fire one bullet each as it moved closer towards the vehicle that he rode earlier.

As he approached it, it finally came into view.

Lynd used his points after killing the previous soldiers to purchase an explosive bomb. It was a simple, and crude bomb that unlike modern bombs could explode if shot. Lynd placed this bomb under the car seats. He trusted the expert skills of his enemies. No one messed us shooting and did not hit that particular area where the bomb was placed.

And so, the drone shot one bullet.

BOOM!

The death of a fifty-man platoon made the remaining players panic.

The game continued on. And this time, the system would display how Lynd killed his enemies. The appearance of a sniper rifle made everyone afraid as Lynd killed nearly a dozen more men. In an odd turn of events, it was the surviving players who locked themselves inside the fortress they wanted to raid.

Soon, the fourth hour passed.