“Now this is getting interesting!” Kraft stopped whatever he was doing on his laptop. Instead, he looked up at the screen, watching the transformation of Baphomet happening in real-time. Even the cultivators could not believe their eyes as they saw the monster evolution in front of them. Many wondered whether he was a new bad guy until they noticed the blue monster ally tag in their mask’s visor.
“Man, and here I thought all monsters are bad!” A member of the audience in the shop instance commented.
“Definitely not! Our dungeons are meant to provide a comprehensive experience, and we aim to dispel the notion that storylines in dungeons are always boring.” Mr Patsu explained, and many of the repeat customers concurred.
They had been through many of Jin’s dungeons, and there certainly was a theme of cooperation with monsters they had fought against in previous dungeon instances. It provided the Pandarens with a somewhat strange relationship.
The random dungeon arena was solid proof as to how far this could evolve. Some of the dungeon monsters they fought often learned to adapt to the Pandarens’ style of fighting. Most started treating them as temporary rivals. Whenever they clashed, the monsters took the time to give them pointers, offering them a chance to improve themselves.
This had always been the goal of dungeon instances. Fight. Improve oneself, cooperate and most importantly have fun doing all of that. It did not matter if some other cultivator was better than you. In Jin’s dungeons, if you obeyed certain rules and were able to afford them, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Sin Baphomet’s awakening came at the perfect time, and many assumed it had been planned for it to become the enticing highlight for the cultivators willing to join after dinner. The number of people buying tickets to enter the dungeon was at a record high, confirming that delaying Barbatos was the right move from a financial perspective at least. (If the System could show emotions, it would probably be giving the quiet tsundere kind of grin.)
While the cultivators enjoyed gaining a super powerful-looking ally, Qiu Yue could only hope Sin Baphomet’s awakening would not be hindered by his bloodlust. After all, they still wanted Barbatos to actually end up putting the temporary raid checkpoint down so that more demon reinforcements could come in.
Fortunately, it seemed like the Mad Giant had the very same idea running through his head when he tried to overcome the oddity of seeing a power-up happening right in front of his eyes.
With the major loss of ground troops from Stalingrad’s bombardment, the Giants were the sole deterrent against the defenders and with Sin Baphomet at their backs, they only had one choice.
“FOR GLORY!!!!” Barbatos shouted.
The giants complied, turning around to hold down Sin Baphomet to buy Barbatos the time he needed. The Earl heavily utilised the Wights’ buff to speed forward as fast as possible.
In his new form, Sin Baphomet had grown wings, not of organic nature but consisting of tank debris. The tank gun barrels acted as the bone structure for his wings while the wheels became the joints and thin sheets of armour were the membrane of the wings.
Hence, after a little adjustment to their angle, Sin Baphomet could literally use his wings as cannons. Shells blasted out of the wings, aimed towards the incoming Giants, but they had already been prepared.
Armoured Giants unhesitatingly came forward to block the attacks. Some were experienced enough to use skills like adventurers and utilised them to make their skin even tougher so they could withstand the brunt of the attack without being pushed back.
Meanwhile, Baphomet rushed forward and the Dark Templar Tanks pretended to stop him. They ‘accidentally’ left out a not-so-obvious path for him to move forward.
Some of the cultivators were foolishly brave and tried to cut-off his legs but because of the Wights’ buff, many were run over before they could do anything. Thus, Barbatos managed to reach near the end of the Sky Bridge without too much trouble, regretting that he hadn’t done this way earlier… If only he knew he was dancing in the palm of Jin’s tacticians.
Upon reaching the end of the Sky Bridge, he finally caught a glimpse of the floating platform in front of him. “How could Moloch even manage to gather this many…” Before he could even finish his thought, he felt a hefty yet clean slice through his newly generated arm, and the perpetrator was none other than Sin Baphomet himself.
“Surprise! I can fly now.” Sin Baphomet mocked him with the very same glee that Barbatos had shown him decades ago as he slammed the Mad Giant onto the ground.
Knowing his duty to complete the task given to him, Barbatos immediately headbutted Sin Baphomet for pinning him down as he gathered all the powers in him to materialise a magic hand which he placed on the ground.
“By my authority as a Demon Earl, Dungeon Core, I hereby declare this place as Sanctuary to my people!!” Barbatos announced. A wide round magic rainbow circle appeared and Barbatos finally laughed.
“You should have gone for the head! I kept telling you that your emotions always get the better of you. You will be responsible for the life of all who help that traitor due to your irrational wish for revenge! Now it’s too late! The checkpoint is set and with the overwhelming might of the Demon Army, I swear King Baal will bring you and that trickster Moloch down to your knees!” Barbatos shouted.
Despite the headbutt, Sin Baphomet was still holding on to him and subsequently brought his wings to various parts of the Mad Giant’s body and shot it. Yet the Mad Giant continued to laugh in madness.
“It’s useless! It’s all useless! You can have your pitiful revenge. I have already activated the checkpoint! In less than five minutes, you will all be gone! It’s too bad I cannot see to it personally. But I promise to watch the replays from the mages as you are being torn to pieces. For my meritorious deed, I shall request gaining you as my personal slave! I am looking forward to you being forced to serve me your kids each and every single day!”
It was at that moment Sin Baphomet could not hold it anymore and sliced off both of Barbatos’ legs and his remaining arm. Then he started giggling as he released the dying Giant. “Mission Complete. The checkpoint has been firmly established. Proceed with the next phase of the plan, Miss Sandy.” Sin Baphomet spoke out loud so Barbatos wouldn’t have the last laugh.
“What are you talking about? What mission?!” Barbatos had a sudden pang of worry and it exacerbated as he felt a little shake on the Sky Bridge.
“Didn’t you think things were too easy? Didn’t you realise that our attempts at intercepting you were a bit too shallow? Letting you through was just part of the plan to get you to initiate your checkpoint. At the ‘end’ of the Sky Bridge.” Sin Baphomet revealed enjoying his fill of fun and revenge.
“What do you mean?!” Barbatos tried to move, but after all the injuries inflicted on him, he was currently a Giant quadriplegic. All he had left was the magically created hand which was also slowly fading after he had used it for the temporary checkpoint.
“You will see.” Sin Baphomet smirked as he flew above him and lifted Barbatos’ head. Then he started to shoot his cannons from a distance. It was all part of one of many plans Moloch and Qiu Yue had made to deal with the demons.
According to their predictions, one of the more likely scenarios had been the Giants being used for the assault on the Sky Bridge. However, it wasn’t one big overall plan. No, it consisted of countless hours of hard work.
With his intricate knowledge of the Demons, Moloch had set up hundreds of ‘what if’ scenarios. All of them had been stored within Qiu Yue’s Sub System and they were pulled out by the recommendation of the Sub System whenever it was needed.
That was why despite some disagreements on the table at one moment, they could perfectly act in unison on the next. The clearer the situation became, the more precise the demons acted along the ‘what if’ scenarios, the easier it was for them to choose the corresponding course of action.
Still, it wasn’t all that simple. After all, this was not some video game where the enemies behaved just as they wanted them to. The same could be said about their own allies who also didn’t listen to them with complete obedience. Qiu Yue had to adapt to those scenarios as well.
Since a Demon Lord had managed to place down the checkpoint on the end of the Sky Bridge, it was time for Sandy’s grand debut. The Sand Witch materialised at the edge of the floating platform and started to cast her magic. The Sky Bridge was mainly her creation so she still had authority and knowledge over it.
Both the demon soldiers and Pandarens could not believe their eyes as they saw two parts of the Sky Bridge suddenly break apart from each other.
“What are you all doing? What kind of insane sorcery is this?!” Barbatos vomited blood from sheer shock.
“You know, even the odds a little. We can’t have a hundred thousand troops marching all at once, right? We got to inflict some damage so that you guys really have to die trying.” Sin Baphomet answered as Barbatos came to realise that he had indeed been played. After all he had done, he could forget any kind of praise. He should be thankful if King Baal wouldn’t blame him for failing.
“It’s a trap within a trap… You baited me to go for the Sky Bridge because you knew that I would realise that going for the ship would be a trap too? Damn it!” Barbatos complained with a weak sounding voice. His remaining lifeforce was like a candle which would go out at the slightest gust of wind.
Sandy was moving the Sky Bridge as if it was some lego piece. The Sky Bridge had originally been five parts joined together so she could easily reshuffle the bridge in whatever way she liked. In this instance, she placed the end of the Sky Bridge to the middle and the middle occupied the end. Instead of a glorious charge, the demons would have to look out for a flanking attack.
“You have seen enough. Time for you to disappear from this act.” Sin Baphomet said as he brought out his scythe and chopped off Barbatos’ head. He took it with him and asked the System for leave.
There were some people out there waiting for him, who would appreciate this spoil of war.
