Chapter 272: Unsung Heroes

Chapter 272: Unsung Heroes

Two in-game months later...

Ryan walked through a large dimly lit room with several monitors on the far wall displaying a mix of livestream broadcasts, graphics, and other lists of information including several counters. He had bags under his eyes and lazily glanced up at them, processing the information as he calmly moved through the room with a cup of coffee in his hand, taking a sip from it.

The room also contained rows upon rows of state-of-the-art Simboxes, most of which had green lights glowing from the top to indicate they were currently in use. He wasn’t the only person moving about the room outside of their Simbox, as another young lady in casual clothes similar to Ryan saw him walking and hastily moved to catch him just as he was about to enter his Simbox once more.

“Ryan? You’re still working? You were here when I got here.” She asked curiously. Ryan turned and smiled weakly at her, glancing from her name badge pinned to her shirt before looking up at her familiar face. Linda, one of the few coworkers who’d talked to him since he’d started working at Averon.

“Yup. Overtime, I guess.”

“You’ve been working almost nonstop, you look absolutely exhausted.”

“Heh, well...” Ryan shrugged awkwardly, unsure of how to respond while simultaneously being too tired to come up with anything. He instead took another sip of his coffee, or at least attempted to until discovering the cup was empty. He then calmly dropped it into a nearby recycling bin beside his Simbox.

“Still that special assignment from Nicholas?”

“Yep.” Ryan nodded.

“Can’t talk about it?”

“Nope.”

“Jeez.” Linda sighed. “I wish I could get a special assignment that paid that much overtime.”

“Trust me.” Ryan took a deep breath as he began settling into his Simbox. “You really don’t.” He finished with, and she caught a final glimpse as his expression changed completely to a serious glare as the Simbox shut, and he logged into the Shattered World simulation as the character Ryner, standing at the stern of his Airship.

It was exactly where he’d left it, floating above the abyss some distance away from Puagas.

“Good, you’re back.” Mikael smiled at him from the lower deck, where his guildmates all stood around him. Their numbers had grown, and now included nearly all of the crusader, cleric and paladin players who worshiped Zeus that had initially ventured to Puagas with them aboard the ship. Some had left on the other ships that arrived monthly to transport gladiator participants, but most remained. The Iconography of Zeus’ thunderbolt was present on nearly all of their equipment, and many of the NPC crew members that Ryner had initially brought with him had too been converted to worship Zeus, and become elite due to the constant interactions by the Schadenfreude guild members aboard his vessel.

“We’ve located a good grind spot near the edge of the Island, should give us a chance to resupply and gain some more levels. For the time being, Seraxus is focused on finding his advanced battlemaster quest.” Mikael explained, and as he said this, Ryner eyed the levels of 114 floating above Mikael. He was the highest of the bunch, but most others were not trailing far behind.

“Renault will be meeting us there to grind with us.” Mightymira said with an excited tone, directing her words towards Mikael’s livestream as she spoke in a direction above his head.

“I thought he was training the soldiers in Bashriok?” Ryner asked. His words were met by a depressing expression, Mikael and others suddenly avoiding his gaze. “Seriously? I was only logged out for four hours...” Ryner shook his head in disbelief.

“The sword’s getting stronger, as are the creatures he can control.” Jeremax shrugged.

“That poor kid really didn’t stand a chance.” Mikael shook his head. An ominous silence was broken by the sound of Ryner using his skills to begin steering the Airship in the direction Mikael had pointed. They soared with the wingsails open through the skies, flying wide around the outskirts of Puagas until they arrived at the designated location. Before any action could be taken by the players to begin their transit to the edge of the land, Renault could be seen soaring towards them through the sky using his fly spell, and landed softly on the deck.

“Hey, are you guys ready? This grind spot should be really good for us, I got some information from the last of the local NPCs still hiding in the area.” Renault said with a forced smile on his gnomish avatar, but the frustration behind his eyes were clearly visible.

“Sorry, we couldn’t help.” Mikael replied first.

“I was offline...” Ryner apologized to Renault.

“It’s fine. It’s my fault, I didn’t hide the NPCs better. Reapers scouted us during a training mission.”

“Not everything is your fault, you know?” Mightymira sighed at him.

“Well... it doesn’t matter now.” Renault continued with his forced positivity. It was obvious that he was ignoring Mira’s words to everyone around them.

“What’re you going to do now, then?”

“He’s coming here to kill the Great Prophet of Zeus. He has a quest to do it, and we’ve stopped him for months through great effort. If you let him in, that’s exactly what he’s going to do.” Mikael explained.

“You really think a group of 5 players are going to be able to march through our capital and kill a Great Prophet in the middle of Stormtop?” Daehyun shook his head dismissively at them. “I’ve been told he’ll be on his best behavior, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“He’s not going to play nice, no matter what he says. That kid is a psychopath.” Mightymira jumped in with urgency in her voice. “Your only chance is to shoot him out of the sky before he gets here.”

“And it’s not just five, the sword lets him order around abysslings.” Jeremax added.

“Guys. Relax.” Daehyun smiled condescendingly. “He’d be stupid to try something. Makaroth and Feng are on their way here as well, or did you forget? They’ll be arriving before he does. If he tries anything, they’ll stop him. There’s nothing to worry about.” Daehyun replied dismissively.

“If they wanted to stop him, they would’ve done it months ago.” Ryner joined in.

“Look. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes to make sure this event is one of the biggest gladiator tournaments to ever take place in this game. We’re blessed to have it hosted on our island - the benefits to the people of our kingdom will be immense.”

“You’re not being blessed, you’re being cursed!” Mikael shouted at him angrily. “I’ve been fighting against that kid nonstop, I can tell you without any shadow of a doubt that you are making a huge mistake. If you let him into Tarolas, this island will fall to chaos just like Puagas did.”

“Let me worry about that. You focus on winning your first round match. If you’re good enough, you’ll be able to stop his sword of hatred in the arena, won’t you?”

“Bu-”

“Leave now, I’ve got preparations to make. Makaroth’s ship is arriving soon.” Daehyun waved them off and headed towards the exit of the throne room through a door behind the throne.

“Idiot!” Mikael shouted at him, but was ignored.

“Maybe he’s right?” Jeremax suggested weakly as the group of four turned and began marching out of the throne room through the main entrance. “Maybe he’ll play nice with all of his network buddies around?”

“Fat chance.” Mightymira shook her head at this.

“They even went so far as to stop Renault’s group from competing.” Ryner sighed.

“That kid made the mistake of teaming up with Makaroth’s son. They were never gonna compete seriously, anyway. It’s all just a show to these guys.” Mikael sighed. “We’re all that’s left. Plan the city's defenses, and alert the Great Prophet.” Mikael quickly ordered his companions.

Makaroth was standing on the deck of a large Airship, soaring through the cloudy skies of Tarolas. The tallest mountain came into view, with the walls of Stormtop visible at its peak. Makaroth was not watching it, though, but rather glancing at the final clip of Aegis’ livestream before he shut it off.

“You can stop looking into it. All sources point to them being out of the competition. We can focus on putting on a good show, now.” Lilya smiled while placing her hand softly on Makaroth’s shoulder. Without being able to see his interface personally, she still knew what Makaroth was looking at. “Look, the beautiful city of Stormtop.” Lilya motioned her free hand out towards the view in front of them. “I hear recently they’ve finally discovered the secret to finding Mithral.”

“Really?” Calikgos asked curiously, moving to stand beside the pair.

“Mhm.” Lilya smiled.

“If that’s the case, we ought to find out if the rumors are true, and acquire some for your team, Synopse.” Makaroth spoke in his normal, boisterous voice as he addressed his livestream viewers. “We want to guarantee your victory over that Sword of Hatred, don’t we?”

“Yeah, it’d help. I mean, I think my artifact staff oughta be enough, but mithral wouldn’t hurt.” Synopse forced a smile.

“How’d they suddenly discover it?” Calikgos asked curiously.

“Apparently, some recently banished player from Kalmoore had loose lips.” Lilya smiled deviously.

“Lucky for us, huh?” Makaroth grinned back at her. “The crafting capital of the Shattered World, filled with thousands of skilled dwarven craftsmen, will undoubtedly be able to make mithral weapons far greater than any the world has seen thus far.” Makaroth declared. “Look!” He added with excitement, motioning to the Skyport as it came more clearly into view. “Yumily’s airship has already arrived, and she’s promised to put on a grand opening performance for the tournament. Only 30 hours away, now.”

“Ooh, maybe she’ll sing a personalized song for the victor?” Lilya added excitedly, gently patting Synopse on the back.

“Heh. Yeah, maybe.” He replied.