Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
Four hours before sunrise…
Thirty thousand people were gathered at a secret place in Center D. Twenty-five thousand of them were members of the Spec Ops battalion, two thousand were Warp Mages, and the other three thousand were the Warp Mages’ guards. I was there too, as the commander of the Spec Ops battalion. I had rejected the position at first, since I knew that strength alone was not enough to lead, but all of my allies had insisted, saying that I was the one who formed the Empire and I would have to fight with everyone on the front lines at least once.
I stood at a tall lectern and faced the thirty thousand people. I had pivotal roles in just about all of the battles I had participated in, but I had never stood in front of this many soldiers before. I was slightly nervous for a moment, but quickly shook it off. I had more experience than even the guild master of the largest guild, or the strongest Monarch. With a stoic expression, I looked down at the soldiers.
“I only have one thing to say as your commander. I will be the first to meet the enemy and will be the last to leave the battle. I will be relying on my officers to lead your men as best as you can.” That was it. I did not have the ability to raise the morale of this many soldiers ,but I did have strength.
“…” I wasn’t met with a hurrah of sorts from the soldiers. It wasn’t because my little speech was boring; it was because we were about to move out without letting any other guild or organization know. We could have been public about our intentions to the rest of Earth’s fighters, but we realized that many of them were not going to like it, thinking that the Empire was just trying to obtain EXP and golden rings sooner than everyone else. Sure, they would be happy if we won, but they were going to be anxious about us all the same. They wouldn’t want to lag behind in their growth.
I turned to look at Victor Lucas, who nodded when he caught my gaze. He then led the Warp Mages, who were already connected to a Warp Point at Section 3, one of the Sections that were closest to the center of the Continent. Soon, a bright light shone down on one side of the area, revealing a giant Teleporter Zone. It took three minutes to move all thirty thousand soldiers together.
——
Section 3…
“We leave it to you, Jiwon. It’s going to take us at least a month to secure Sections 3, 6, and 7,” Song Daechul said to me.
“I understand.”
The Sunbin Guild was chosen to secure and control Section 3. The Ravi Guild was to secure and control Section 6, while the Myth Guild was to secure Section 7. I shook hands with the guild masters of each of the three guilds before leading the thirty thousand soldiers to the east.
——
World 1512; also known as Croot. The inhabitants of Croot had encountered the same voice that appeared in Earth and had their world suddenly changed the same way. The world of Croot reacted and adapted in a way very similar to what Earth had. Croot had also plunged into chaos for a while, before adapting and forming guilds and organizations and the like to combat and survive against the monsters that had appeared.
However, there was one thing different between Croot and Earth. Croot was entirely ruled by 114 deities. Croot had the same number of deities as Earth, but these deities were different. Unlike Earth’s deities who tended to distance themselves from each other, besides the Seven Monarchs, Croot’s deities had actually banded together to take over their entire world, calling it their right as God’s descendants.
They were met with resistance from Croot’s own 114 Unrivaled devas, but that resistance did not last long. The deities had just become too strong for the Unrivaled devas to handle, and the devas could never hold their ground for very long. It was too late for the devas to surrender and they were completely outnumbered when fellow devas had joined the deities, becoming vultures that fed on the carrion left in the wake of the deities’ destruction.
To make matters worse, a deva with the random skill known as the Tracker made life hell for the Unrivaled devas. Thanks to the Tracker, the deities never let the Unrivaled devas have a single day of rest. If they decided to hide, their own families and friends were then targeted. With no other choice, the Unrivaled devas were forced to delete their Unrivaled skills, leaving the deities free reign over Croot.
—
“Do you think World 1455 is ruled by deities, too?”
“Shouldn’t it be? If that world is anything like ours, their devas are nothing compared to their deities.”
“Hmm… that might become a problem for us. It could very well become a war between deities,” said Claudia, known as the Time Controller.
“Hmm…”
“Should we just send out devas at the enemy and use them to gather as much intelligence as we can?”
“But you heard what the Judge said. If we want to get stronger, we have to kill the enemy ourselves. If we just send out devas, we may just end up feeding the enemy.”
“That’s true. It’s also a very lazy decision.”
“What did you just say? Are you calling me lazy!?”
“Look, you’re the one who thought that was a good idea. If that’s not lazy thinking, what is?”
“Now, now, that’s enough. There’s no reason to fight amongst ourselves when our enemy is at our doorstep,” Claudia quickly stepped in. Considered to be the strongest and the leader of a clique of thirty-three deities, Claudia’s words were absolute,and the other deities quickly quieted down.
“It’s obvious we have the numbers. As long as we avoid large-scale battles, we can become stronger as time passes by. In other words, as long as we buy time, the enemy will become restless,” Coby, Claudia’s aide, said. “It would be best to establish stability within our own ranks first. We will need time to adapt to the Judge’s Continent, as well.”
“Sounds good.”
And so, 114 people had decided what two billion people were to do. But with that many people, it was only normal for there to be those who thought differently…
——
The next day at Section 108…
Skyla, leader of the third biggest clique of thirteen deities, was lost in thought, thinking about the meeting Claudia had led the day before. “Tsk! It’s obvious what she’s really planning. In the end, she wants it all for herself.” The excuse Claudia had come up with was almost laughable to Skyla, who had seen Claudia could do over the past ten years.
“Rocky!” Skyla angrily called for Rocky, her right-hand man.
Soon, a three-meter tall and overly-muscular man appeared before her. “Yes, ma’am!”
“Prepare five hundred thousand men for battle!”
“But…” Rocky was a deity as well, and was at the meeting yesterday. The decision was made to not fight the enemy for the time being.
“If we do as Claudia says, we’ll get nothing out of this war. She and her people will leave nothing for us!”
“But they’ll find out soon enough.”
“I know that. That’s why I’m not going.”
“So you mean…”
“That’s right.”
“Then may I suggest using the fifty thousand secret soldiers instead? It’ll be more difficult for Claudia and her people to trace them back to you.”
“Hmm…” Skyla thought about what Rocky suggested.
“Even if she does manage to find out, we can just say that we did it for the sake of our people.”
“Fine! We’ll do as you say.”
“Understood, ma’am. I’ll have them ready within two days.” Once Rocky left her alone, Skyla stood up. There was a lot she had to do if she was to prepare her special ability.
==[Leech (1/1), (Passive)
Skyla’s exclusive skill.
This skill gives Skyla the ability to latch on to someone like an actual leech. Once she latches on, it is difficult to remove her. This ability allows Skyla to absorb 50% of her target’s total EXP. However, Skyla can only receive 1% of the absorbed EXP. The remaining EXP is wasted. The Leech also grants Skyla the ability to know how many golden rings and what sort of items her target has.
Skyla can use Leech on up to 1,000 targets at the same time.]==
Thanks to Leech, Skyla did not have to fight in actual battles to become stronger. She could only receive a small portion of the absorbed EXP, but she didn’t mind as she was able to use it on a thousand people at the same time. If she could gain 144 more levels, she could increase the total number of targets to fifteen hundred!
“Just you wait, Claudia! I’ll stick fifteen hundred leeches that you won’t be able to get rid of soon!”
As Skyla walked out of her room, a black, slimy object fell from Skyla’s body to the floor. But as if nothing was wrong, the thing crawled back to Skyla’s foot and was absorbed.
——
Two days later…
Rocky had gathered the fifty thousand secret soldiers at Section 108. Skyla stepped out in front of the soldiers and raised her hand to the sky. Soon, black raindrops fell from the sky, except the raindrops squirmed…
“Gah!” The soldiers cried out in pain as the black leeches falling from the sky bit into them. But no one swatted them away, as they had experienced this many times before.
Once she confirmed that her one thousand leeches had attached, she spoke up. “Those chosen by my leeches have the honor to kill the enemy. The rest of you are to protect them with your lives!”
“Yes ma’am!” the soldiers cried out in unison, but many of them were afraid. They were essentially meat shields for Skyla and the other four deities that owned them.
“Move out!” At Skyla’s command, Rocky led the soldiers out of Section 108 through an underground tunnel. They could not get caught by Claudia, no matter what. And so, the fifty thousand soldiers moved west, not knowing that the enemy was heading their way, as well!
