Just as Jin and Qiu Yue were laughing away at the System’s impromptu comment, the situation took a sudden change.
“Emergency. EMERGENCY!” The System was blaring out through the channel. Nearly every monster who was working suddenly stopped in their tracks.
“What is happening?!” Jin quickly took a look at his phone and realised the screen display had already been switched to a view of the Farming World.
“System has detected a significantly large magical presence right above the town Wecha.” The System stated as it had already taken the initiative to teleport Peppers into the field.
Although Pandapolis had been a clear priority for Jin and his monsters because of the imminent attack from King Baal, they had not left the last remaining major trade centre of the Northern region completely defenceless. Silver and the rest of the Jacks had been reinforcing the town as well as they could, taking care of the refugee population in the area.
Gold and his cousin took turns to train the refugees from various towns and taught them basic fighting skills. They might not account for much in the grand scheme of things, but at the very least they would be able to do their part in defending the (second to) last remaining sanctuary for humans.
“Is it some mass wide offensive magic?” Jin also asked if the town had already been equipped with Ayse’s shield generator.
“Affirmative. The shield generator has already been booted up by Silver. However, the System is unable to recognise the pattern as it has been shrouded with some form of unknown magic. Bellator Peppers has been teleported to the scene to investigate while enhancing its magic defence systems.”
“Shit, of all times this had to happen now! Just what kind of twisted fate do I have with rats?” Jin cursed as he called back Yun to take over the counter as soon as she was done with her break. Meanwhile, his astral form allowed Jin Two to temporarily hold the fort in the shop instance as he checked out the situation in the Dungeon Maker.
“Right now is not the worst possible moment. If the Demon Rats from the Farming World had launched an offensive during our defensive battle against the Demon Metropolis, it would have been far more devastating for the town of Wecha.” The System reasoned, but Jin was looking for someone else.
His one and only spy who had been monitoring the Rats ever since she had managed to get into the Northern’s Region Capital.
Sure enough, the magic signals by the System were not a lie as Sebastia’s constant scouting immediately noticed something was off with the current capital occupied by the rats.
“Master, it seems that-“
“Holy mother of – JIN, THERE IS A FREAKING FLYING FORTRESS…above me!” Peppers excitedly reported. She had wanted to blow it into pieces the moment she laid her eyes on the piece of land that had a variety of engines and machines installed at the bottom of the island to keep it afloat.
The only thing stopping Peppers from attempting exactly that were the consequences of blasting it right over the Town of Wecha. The resulting debris meteor shower would rain down, unquestionably killing many citizens and refugees residing in Wecha.
While she could conjure a wide energy barrier after an explosion massive enough to take it out, she knew all too well that her strongest ‘spear’ would defeat the strongest ‘shield’ in her arsenal. Thus, Peppers unwillingly followed the System’s orders to create a large enough energy barrier, surrounding the town of Wecha.
“Cough! As I was trying to say. Master, it seems that a portion of the Northern capital where I’ve been hiding has somehow emerged over Wecha. I can see the view from where I am spying has turned into an endless ocean of blue skies. No wonder the rats have sent all the human slaves into the castle. They might be used to boot up the steam engine.” Sebastia finished her report by stating that she would continue to go deeper into the floating fortress to gain a better grasp of the situation.
“Looks like the fortress hovering is mainly due to the steampunk technology Weslie had invented…” Jin took a look at the steampunk floating fortress as it seemed to be descending towards the town itself.
Suddenly, giant pillar supports emerged out of the fortress and sank into the ground around Wecha’s enhanced shield barrier.
“Damn, I had hoped they’d be stupid enough to force itself through my barrier.” Peppers pouted as she saw the pillars avoiding the shield. She thought they would be stupid to do just that.
“I have a very bad feeling about this.” Silver said in the System channel, and the others shared his bleak outlook.
“What are you guys staring into space for?!” Qiu Yue shouted in the System Channel. “Aren’t we supposed to protect the remaining Northerners and get rid of those pesky rats? If the rats are gonna rain down now, are we going to allow the rats to dominate?!”
“Well said. Orcs, stop the maintenance work, go to your battle stations and get ready to be teleported into battle! Orc Artillery Company Alpha, Bravo and Charlie, prep as many High Explosives rounds you can into the storage trucks for teleportation! Remember we can only carry that much for the fight!” General Nubwort sent the command, and every Orc dropped their tools to sortie quickly.
“Gobs! You heard General Nubwort! Will we allow ourselves to be outdone by them?! Activate any usable Fortress Golems and standby for teleportation! Wyvern Goblin Knights, sortie in five!” Wyrstriker shouted through his command’s sub channel as well.
“We might be a smaller group compared to the Orcs and Goblins but let’s not forget this is our home, Jacks! Make sure every able citizen militia has retrieved their weapon from the armoury and remember to give out the basic protection for them! Silver, Brown, Yellow bring the elderly to the Militia headquarters basement!” Gold ordered, and Jin found it weird.
“What about the women and children?”
“What are you talking about? They are fighting along with us.” Gold answered as he shut the main communication channel out and tuned into the Jack’s sub channels. Jin might not be fighting in his real-world, but he had made a commitment to save the Northern Region in the Farming World.
This was one fight he wouldn’t back away from… even if it meant skipping out on the counter offence.
