Siege War, six hours in.
After a bunch of weird twists and turns, Ayane finally escaped from Elbrite and successfully brought down the first castle in the North.
It was a small castle located in the northeast, only guarded by a handful of level 60-70 users and a few dozen NPCs, making the job a breeze.
Now that she had conquered the castle, others would surely find out that the Medium and Small Alliance was in the North.
A bit late, but she had to quickly seize more territory from now on.
Ayane deployed a few small Rabbit Dolls and swiftly moved to the next castle.
Beep!
─ Ayane.
“Uh-huh.”
─ Took you long enough. You blocked all communications, didn’t you?
“Don’t get me started. I thought I was a goner.”
Ayane replied gruffly to the voice of Alliance Leader, Rai, coming through the alliance communication.
Who would’ve thought that the Sword Master would be guarding the Academy?
She was lucky to pass through; otherwise, everything could’ve ended right there.
─ You didn’t need to cut off communications, though.
“I needed to focus. And don’t make me do stuff like this again. It was utterly ridiculous.”
─ The rewards aren’t bad, though?
“Yeah, whatever… By the way, everyone is doing well, right?”
By this point, they should have pushed most of the West.
With the power of the Medium and Small Guild Alliance, they shouldn’t have had a problem with the guilds in the West.
Although Ayane was worried about losing too much Contribution Degree, unexpected news came through.
─ … The situation isn’t good.
“What? No way. The last time I checked, it looked like we were making good progress.”
─ Check for yourself.
Ayane paused for a moment and checked the alliance’s current situation.
They had mostly taken over the East and South, but the conquest of the West was slower than expected.
Aside from a tiny bit of the Southwest and Northwest, they had barely made any progress.
Ayane frowned.
“What is this? Did everyone slack off?”
─ We have to defend what we’ve captured. The loss of our existing forces also played a big role.
“Can’t we just kill them a few times to increase the resurrection time? What’s Black Sword doing?”
─ Black Sword is handling the Southwest.
“…Huh?! He’s just taking care of his own guild!”
There was no denying that the core strength of the Medium and Small Alliance was Ayane and Black Sword.
Those two were the strongest in the alliance, and while the Alliance Leader was strong, he had to minimize unexpected variables and act as the control tower.
Sure, it would be nice for them to mobilize if they could, but directing the assault on dozens of castles, the resurrected opposing guild members, and the future castles they would face was also crucial.
The leader’s abilities were specialized for that.
“At the very least, if you’re going to eat, finish off the other side first. Is it only your mouth that matters? What were you doing while he was handling those guys?”
─ … Our first plan was to finish the East and South.
“What does that mean?”
─ If we pushed further, there could be a gap in our forces. That’s why we gave some degree of ‘Free Agency’ to the guilds belonging to the alliance. It was a form of reward.
If we move forward with this, there might be a void in our power. That’s why some degree of ‘Free Agency’ was given to guilds belonging to the Alliance. It’s a form of compensation, after all.
“That Free Agency is about to ruin the Alliance.”
Ayane stomped her foot again.
Since a lot of time has already passed, discussing plans while standing felt like a waste of time.
First of all, the momentum of the large guilds is alarming.
While the once powerful ‘Large Guild Alliance’ has been disbanded, the individuals have become stronger as they’ve scattered, rather than weakened.
It’s difficult for relatively weaker guilds to handle them, even if they’re famous guilds or users from the Medium and Small Alliance.
To reduce that gap, key members need to help to some extent, but Ayane is currently in the North.
Black Sword has been pushing hard in the Southwest all day just to fill his own belly.
“This is why we’re doomed. Just like this.”
Hoo…
“First, tell Black Sword to take as much as he can and support us. With his abilities, he might not get more, but he can recover what we’re losing right now.”
─I doubt that.
“What do you mean, you doubt that? Stop hesitating and say it!”
─Think about it. The West is filled with those who used to dominate the world. Even if a tiger has lost its teeth, it’s still a tiger.
“……”
─One or two might be manageable, but if they gather together, it’s a different story. The Medium and Small Alliance really has ‘Medium Guilds’ too, you know?
“Ha…”
─We’re starting to get pushed, and they’re regrouping again.
“So what are you trying to say? Stop dancing around and just say it.”
Swish!!
Arriving at the second castle on her wolf puppet, Ayane quickly activated her Puppet Technique.
Inside the castle, there were about a hundred soldiers.
Just moments ago, these soldiers had shown strong determination not to yield to any external pressure, but with just one use of the Puppet Technique, they turned into naive puppets.
Creeeak…
“Pass…”
It was dishearteningly easy to open the castle doors.
─Don’t you need support in the North too?
“…What?”
─Even excluding Eden Alliance’s ‘Seven Castles’, the North is quite vast. There are dozens of castles, so you can’t conquer everything by yourself.
“What? Didn’t you just tell me to worry about my Contribution Degree? And now you say this?”
─I’m not saying I’ll take your Contribution Degree away. I’m just planning to send some users to prevent any following users or NPCs from recapturing the castle. That’s the purpose of sending a few users.
“…I have puppets placed within the castle. Getting past them to recapture will be impossible.”
─Of course, there are such castles. But there are also some strong castles in the North. And those puppets of yours can’t be infinite, right?
“……”
That’s not necessarily wrong.
The Puppet Technique may seem overpowered at first glance.
You can control NPCs, summon animal-shaped puppets, mimic powerful beings, and even command other ‘users’.
User manipulation is certainly harder than controlling regular creatures, but it wasn’t completely impossible.
Puppet technique is nearly akin to magic, but there were still limitations to it.
‘The stronger the puppet and the more of them you control, the weaker the puppet technique becomes.’
Right now, it’s manageable with few puppets to summon or control, but if that number increases, Ayane wouldn’t be able to handle it alone.
It’s only natural to get support for the alliance’s victory, but…
“…Absolutely not.”
─The Black Sword, only thinking of himself, laid it out so bluntly?
“That’s not what I meant! You’d have to get through Elbrite first. That’s impossible.”
─But you came.
“Are you crazy? It’s only possible because it’s me; they could never do it. I’m certain of that.”
─But if we back down now, we have no idea who will win. The large guilds centering around Black are showing signs of regrouping. You need to make a choice, Ayane.
“…I said it! Do not send them!”
Doo-ook.
Ayane cut off the communication and approached the core of the second castle.
No one must come.
Any more commotion would be truly dangerous.
‘Absolutely!’
■
“Ta-da! But it seems there is no such thing as absolutely, huh?”
“What are you blabbering about, you idiot.”
“Hehe! You really want to get rid of them quickly, huh!”
“Ugh… Truly vulgar. Tsk.”
One of the guilds in the Medium and Small Alliance, Moben.
Guild members of Moben were originally responsible for the northwest front.
They had been advancing at breakneck speed to the east and south, but the western front was no walk in the park.
The Moben guild was among the stronger ones in the Medium and Small Alliance, but the west wasn’t easy either.
Just as they were worrying about whether to keep what they had seized or not, a piece of news arrived.
A key figure in the alliance.
Ayane, the unlucky puppet brat formerly of the Rookie Alliance, had achieved results in the northern region.
The north was an area so blocked by natural disasters (Lily, Empire) that it was nearly impossible to set foot in.
But was the north strong? Not at all.
The Angel Guild belonging to the Eden Federation was the number one guild ranking and the victor of the last season, but currently, they were all absent.
It was truly a ‘vacant house’ robbery.
Hearing that Ayane had succeeded in the north enraged the Moben guild.
‘No way, you mean to tell me you’d go after a place that strong without a fight?’
Just when they were seething at the fact that they were barely holding their ground against the large guilds in the west while leisurely targeting the north, this message showed up in the alliance chat.
– Absolutely do not come north, and protect the castles you’ve taken well.
– Even if you do come, never, absolutely never pass Elbrite.
Don’t cross over.
A short warning message of about two lines.
Most members of the Medium and Small Alliance who saw this thought,
“Don’t cross over to Elbrite? Isn’t that basically an invite to come over?”
“There’s some truth to that…”
“You just want to take all the glory for yourself. Typical rookie alliance behavior.”
The Moben Guild chuckled as they abandoned their post at the northwest front and headed towards Elbrite.
Of course, they weren’t ignorant of whose land Elbrite was.
It’s the land ruled by the user Lily, a foe that is impossible to oppose, beyond anything else in existence.
No matter how intoxicated they were with hidden jobs and races, they could still distinguish right from wrong.
“Ah~ I wanted to fight with Lily, but it can’t be helped.”
“Shut it. You’ll run away at full speed if you actually meet her.”
“Hehe…”
“Rude fellows! Let’s hurry and cross over. We need to dominate the North before that devious little doll does.”
“Got it, got it.”
Four executives from the Moben Guild swiftly reached the entrance of the Outer Castle of Elbrite using the floating ship they stole from the Magic Engineering Guild.
Ideally, they wanted to cross over entirely using the floating ship, but they couldn’t help the shield floating in the sky.
The appearance of the four flashy outsiders caused the surrounding residents to whisper among themselves, but they paid no mind.
The largest man among them pushed to the very front, showcasing his rugged physique.
Despite four people cutting in line causing a bit of commotion behind them, they were unfazed.
“Can I kill a guard or two and have some fun?”
“That would probably make it less fun. Aren’t they all just trash?”
“Sigh~ What should we do about these rude people, God?”
“Let’s go, let’s go~”
“Hey, the identity badge…”
Kwak!
The guard was lifted effortlessly.
With his collar grabbed, the guard swung helplessly in mid-air.
The residents watched in shock, but the four only looked ahead.
“C-cough?!”
“Identity badge? Can’t you tell I’m an outsider just by looking?”
“Kek! Kek!”
“I’m passing through. The crazy ones behind me too. If you understand, nod your heads.”
“Ugh…”
“Good, good. You’re such a nice guy.”
With a flick, the man let go, and the guard tumbled awkwardly to the ground.
They passed by the guard as if it was nothing.
“Let’s move!”
“Very barbaric. Poor guy…”
“What are you saying, you’re the craziest one here.”
“Hehe. I’m excited…”
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
