With Jin stuck in his personal hellhole and Kraft free to enact his master plan, everyone had decided to focus on their own task to keep Jin's assets afloat.
Demopolis had indeed developed into a large military city thanks to the 'assist efforts' that the Pandarens had put in (chief of all a certain Hippo). Speaking of the Pandarens, the fighting concluded as soon as they killed the last enemy soldier that had been alive within Demopolis. The Home Guards and Night Foxes had withdrawn their forces as soon as they had been informed that the situation had been under control, giving the Pandarens the chance to search and kill any enemies on sight.
This also prompted the System to give extra Raid Points for those who were able to kill the remaining enemies. The fewer remained, the more valuable the targets became.
It was not a very satisfying end for most of the Pandarens since they were all rushing to find the very last soldier and ultimately it came down more to luck than anything else. Still seeing their efforts being rewarded when they contributed Raid Points during the assist event, was another kind of satisfaction.
Most importantly, their efforts were apparent for everyone to see. For example, the walls had initially been made from brick and mortar but with the Raid Point (and monetary) contribution, they got upgraded to cemented walls and later into reinforced steel cement walls before the Home Guards rushed in to fill up the defences. The construction was nearly instantaneous, making most of them feel as if they were witnessing some sort of real life magic trick. (The raising of the walls from the ground was truly a feat to behold, nearly everyone held their Pandamonium App camera to take pictures and video of it.)
The military vehicle equipment such as the jeeps were also being deployed by the Pandarens to move around the cities quite smoothly and they saw tanks stationed in Demopolis military base. But as the situation unfolded, they realised that the enemies were not as powerful or intimidating as they should be, preventing the tank drivers from having any fun at all.
As if to address their mood, King Rex had sent out a message that reassured them that the end was still before him, hinting that the progress of this instance would subsequently be brought over to future instances.
In fact, the message had been created way back in the very beginning of the raid, at that point Kraft and co. had still been under the impression that the Churchies would come out with something amazing. Kraft, as the one in charge, felt quite cheated for once.
Their side had overprepared, amassing a large army and even going so far as to reconstruct Demopolis as a centralised military base… only to learn that the Church wouldn't act until they came to get them, and if they did, it would end in a large scale battle, one in which the Pandarens would be reduced to sacrificial pawns.
He had half a mind to just send the Pandarens into the Farming World and was considering rewriting the scenario and turn the last act into something of a playable teaser, preparing them for what's to come in the future… until the System notified him that Jin had actually prepared a monster instance specifically for an emergency, in case this particular dungeon raid did not offer his customers sufficient fun.
"System, if we put this up as a Final Boss Fight for this Raid, how much will it cost us?" Kraft questioned as he felt partially responsible for the lack of monsters and soldiers for the Pandarens to kill.
"Cheaper than resurrecting entire armies for the sake of replayability." The System noted and Kraft shrugged his shoulders, ordering the System to put it out for one last big bang for the Pandarens to have fun with.
.However, the System advised Kraft to allow it to create a new separate dungeon instance with all identical assets since it would be even cheaper than producing it in the Dungeon World itself. (also less costly in terms of damage control)
"What's the drawback then?" Kraft asked since he knew that the System was a cheapskate and would have something that would spoil the players' experience.
"Since the features aren't completely integrated yet, we will have to proceed with an intermittent wave of teleportations which are prone to cause some teleportation feedback into the new instance. The feeling would be something to a slight lag in their movements especially since it would be a replicated dungeon instance based on User's past creations. Without test loading it, for which we lack the time, programming bugs are likely to appear." The System stated.
"It's not the first time you're doing this, right? As I recall, something like this already happened during the Goblin World Raid too." Kraft questioned as he sat up straight and looked at the tablet that he was holding on to.
"Fine, I shall deal with the programming bugs. Can't have people accuse us that our Demopolis Raid's ending was a bummer. Wouldn't want them to tarnish my brothers' new city name." Kraft stretched as he placed the tablet on the side of the throne and immediately a full computerised console with a few monitors emerged from the back of the throne's chair and branched out right in front of him.
The others were quite surprised to see the hardworking side of Kraft for a change. The troublemaker usually disappeared for long periods of time, only to appear to cause some mischief. Only the foxes knew him long enough to know that he was actually a workaholic by nature and him toiling about was his way of relaxing. (Not that it excused his behaviour in any way though.)
"Very well. Creating a dungeon instance based on Demopolis territory. Initiating polygrams and setting aside the necessary processing space for said dungeon instance." The System stated and Kraft immediately requested his Big Brother to make another announcement, to lead the customers to the Royal Palace. Since there were too many Panderens the last step would need to be limited in numbers for balance reasons. (Aka a technical excuse.)
As the King of Demopolis, Rex happily obliged and followed the script that Kiyu had made in tandem with the System. Via the very same hologram, they told every Pandaren that the 'real enemy' who was behind the attacks is sending out their trump card.
———–
"Oh… no wonder there was no Raid Complete sign coming out. Seems like this really is an interim event." Xiong Da thought to himself as he grouped back with his fellow Pandawans. At the same time, he carried back the very same lance he had picked up from the dead general whom he killed recently. It had not been an easygoing battle considering the fact that he fought the Taris General and his guards with little to no reinforcement.
The Pandarens that had come in to assist him had been killed too quickly to be of use. The General's guards had made short work of them, but at least they had served as sufficient distraction for Xiong Da to kill those, before duelling one on one against the general.
Needless to say, it had indeed been an exhilarating experience and the Hippo Pandawan had come close to death twice. If not for the potent potions which he had bought from the main shop instance, he was sure to have kicked the bucket.
"Yo, Xiong Da. How did your hunt go?" Bu Dong waved his hand at him, as he had arrived as quick as he could once he saw the 'Assist the War Efforts' Events come about. As a hardcore player of Jin's dungeons, there was no way he would miss out on contributing to clear the first instance of a Raid. He was already looking forward to some personal rewards.
"Isn't my bloody self enough to tell you just how much I must have suffered?" Xiong Da smirked as he threw the lance towards Bu Dong, allowing him to check out his trophy from his fight while he beckoned his girlfriend to meet him and Bu Dong.
"I took the liberty to call most of the Pandawans since King Rex's announcement sounded like we'll be entering the last part of the Raid." Bu Dong informed him and Xiong Da felt the same. Everyone anticipated the abrupt teleportation as it would finally bring an end to this particular raid!
