Code Hero (Champion is Playing Book #2): LitRPG Series
Author: Anton Emelianov
Date: 2019-05-13 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy
Description: Dan's first tournament may have ended, but life goes on. His luck is still with him in his regular life as well, and it seems to be endless. However, he is surrounded by very smart people, and surely one of them is going to start doubting his talents, at least a bit?Especially now, with a new game about to start. The latest foes are even more dangerous than the last and the rules are still unfamiliar to him. Dan wonders how reasonable the rules are in the first place. Is it really possible to take a competition that lasts a couple of hours at most seriously? A competition in which you are supp

Champion Is Playing

Book 1: True Hero

Emelianov & Savinov

Copyright © 2015 by Anton Emelianov and Sergei Savinov

All rights reserved

Table of Contents:

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Ending With Additional Details

Prologue

I was standing in the office of Pantheon, filling out a form. For those of you not in the know, Pantheon’s in the business of almost everything: weapons, food, cars, goods for children, et cetera. In general, they made over half of everything you’d want to buy in any supermarket. What was I doing in this place? To be honest, I wanted a job. My plan was quite simple, considering that I didn’t know much about this world. At some point, I had appeared here without any useful skills, and now I wanted to try and get a job in the largest company.

“My name is Dan Kornev,” I said, my tone hesitant. I was only becoming more nervous as the delay stretched. Then the moment came when my fate didn’t depend on me anymore. The door suddenly opened and I overheard a fragment of the conversation being had with another candidate.

“The information about your skills, that you tried to conceal, will be included in your work file.” Judging by the scared look on the face of the short, bald man who nearly ran into me, it was not a good sign. Probably, when he had filled out his form, he had written about false accomplishments and this was the logical result of him lying. Considering the widespread use of information technologies, and retention of any information in the databases, it was not only cheating but also a sign of low intellect. As for me, I filled up all sixty sheets of paper absolutely honestly, carefully writing the phrase “I don’t have any” under every question that described my professional skills and experience.

Honestly, I was afraid of more tests and additional questions—I thought I had a great chance to become a laughingstock afterward—but everything turned out quite differently. Some lady just gave me a chip with an access code for the first task. They probably searched the files for omissions, but my lie had been so big that nobody had foreseen it. The people of the future seemed to be quite naive in certain regards.

I guess I should point out the fact that the date on my calendar was fifty years ago only two days prior.

“Welcome, Dan. Go to the gravity platform, and you will be taken to your area.”

As expected, I met nobody in the corridor. The company did not give us even a small chance to make any agreements in advance. However, I didn’t mind; after all, I had nothing to say to my opponents.

Sitting in the cabin, I could finally enjoy a comfortable chair, some tasty food, and natural alcohol. I hadn’t eaten for what seemed like a week. In the old world, my life hadn’t been much easier. It was not only that I had been a student who had just finished university, but everything was more straightforward, and more difficult, at the same time—Doomsday arrived. Without any special effects or warning, it just happened. One day people began to die. I am not quite sure about this part, but I hadn’t met anyone for two days and had started to think that there were no people left alive, except for me, in the whole city. Then, one day, after going down to the first floor of the hotel where I was living, I found that all of the corpses had disappeared. Considering that the floor was covered with chunks of dead flesh and fragments of bone, I assumed that someone, or some thing, had devoured them. Something that was very angry, with big claws. After that, I moved to an apartment with the thickest and most durable door that I could find. Unfortunately, it didn’t help—I was visited in the morning. Have you ever seen a metal door bending due to blows? It was not a pleasant sight, and I would not recommend it to anyone. I had made peace with death as something unexpected suddenly happened, and I appeared in the center of a big city, amid its noise and bustle.

To be honest, I was stunned. I stood still for an hour, without moving even once. I was just starting to realize what had happened and, as I understood later, it had been my salvation. When I appeared from out of nowhere on city cameras, I received a yellow status, which included the full verification and control of any of my movements. If I had taken a step or showed at least one unusual reaction, I would have been captured and spent my whole life in a laboratory, surrounded by people in white coats.

However, no deviations from the norm were revealed during the standard time, and I was given back a green status. If someone had tried to find out any information about me, they would have revealed a secret for certain. On the other hand, they would have had to do it in the first place.

While I was lost in my reverie, the platform arrived at its destination. It had taken a little more than an hour, so I was about 600 miles or so away from the city. It was true that I had gradually begun to comprehend the world surrounding me thanks to advertisements. About twenty years ago, one remarkable man had passed a bill that every leaflet, video, or any other promotional material should include useful information. Now you could not just write “Buy pineapples.” You had to add, for example, that Russia’s largest supplier of pineapples is the US, which sends a certain number of tons per week. Thanks to this, I learned about the cameras, security system, and, luckily, about "Pantheon." It helped me come up with my plan.

"Dan, please follow the highlighted yellow path, it will take you to your room," said a soft voice coming from nowhere. A yellow line appeared on the unknown material of the floor. If I had to take a walk, I didn’t mind; especially since I had refreshed myself with breakfast a short time ago.

I was walking slowly, deep in thought, remembering how after a few hours of wandering the city I had seen a poster. It showed two armies of knights with the support of angels, unicorns, and a bunch of other magical races, colliding on the field of battle. A modest inscription under the picture read, The final battle of the last qualifying competition of Pantheon. I had almost given up by that point. I had lost one world and was thrown into a new one where I didn’t know anything and no one would help me. The point was, I could not even make money. As I shook it off, my first thought was to get a job as a loader and slowly sort it all out, but alas, there was no such profession anymore. In general, machines had replaced all unskilled labor. They said that if you want to earn, learn to do something useful, but you also needed money for any sort of education. It was a vicious cycle. I had been planning to surrender to the government for experiments, but this poster attracted my attention. Playing a game was a good idea; even if I didn’t succeed, I would always have the ability to go with my fallback option.

Maybe there was a chance that I was wrong, and this plan was a big mistake. However, I could not just give up after receiving a vision of my life to come. Virtual reality had been nothing more than a fairy tale fifty years ago.

Suddenly, a red line crossed the yellow one that I was following. A blonde girl in strict business clothes walked past, looking at me with barely veiled contempt. I had seen the elite of this world before, on the streets, and in the halls of the company. These people were so used to living by the rules. They were used to knowing what to do, predicting the result in advance. However, I was also here, now, and had a chance to compete with them.

It was not an empty boast. Someone could think that it was pure luck that I had become a candidate for the job; however, this was the first of my twenty-three applications that was accepted, the other ones using fake names. If any of my other personalities had passed, it would’ve probably been the first time in history where a candidate for the game wouldn’t have come. I figured I could become a part of local history just with that.

It was kind of funny that, if I had tried to get settled in at any other place, nothing would have come of it since everything was checked by computers. But it was the big leagues, and many things were based on trust. And the final prize was gorgeous: an annual contract with Pantheon—a salary high enough for several lives over. The fact that I would not be able to do anything at this job was not my problem. Who would’ve guessed that such an unreasoned selection could happen?

I walked up to the door of my living quarters. They looked chic; several rooms, intelligent management, furniture that looked not only expensive but also comfortable. Behind one of the two remaining doors was a bathroom, and behind the next one was a capsule. How is it possible that I got into this place? I thought. Perhaps this was my paradise, or maybe it was my hell. I suppose I would find out.

I inserted my key in the capsule’s activation panel.

3 minutes 14 seconds left before the start of the Great Game

People in the future were not inclined to waste time, and I had no chance of rivaling their planning. However, games weren’t only about that. And being a champion was a state of mind.

Chapter One

Dan

After searching for a while, I couldn’t find the capsule’s manual. Fortunately, everything turned out to be somewhat intuitive. I got in and the timer immediately started the 8-hour game cycle. Molecular gel began to flow into the capsule, through special tubes, filling up the space around me. Maybe someone would have found it strange, but the most complicated thing in creating virtual reality turned out not to be reading the signals of the brain. In fact, passing signals onto it wasn’t an issue either. The technology was perfectly capable, even when employing the simplest neural interfaces. The main problem was the physics of the human body itself. If the movements a person made were completely blocked, the brain refused to believe in the reality of the transferred data. But if one neglected this precaution, nine times out of ten, the immersion ended with fractures and other types of injuries. The gel solved these problems; it slowed the movements of the body. It helped provide feedback and made the brain believe that the body was working as intended. The final problem was that the gel was very expensive, so virtual reality was only available to the elite of this new world. Ninety-nine percent of people could not afford even a one-time purchase for immersion. Even if they could, how would they deal with the necessity of having to replace it regularly?

When the viscous substance filled the whole capsule, I received the coded electric charge. Without even a hint of discomfort, my brain switched over to the virtual world.

Welcome to the World of the new Empire

Conquer the whole kingdom and become its sole ruler

There I was, a beautiful screensaver in front of me. Everything was simple and straightforward, but no less enticing for it. The world map, however, was missing in the background. I sighed. Why would they even show it to me at the very beginning? I thought.

Continue

Choose your path: Warrior, Mage

Players had scant few options at the start. In the late game, there would be possible variations and specializations, but there were only two main directions in the very beginning.

Honestly, however, there was no real choice. A lot of people wanted to play as warriors, and so far none of them had reached the top. This was to be expected. In the game, you would recruit an army, develop your units, and then, with their help, you would capture the rest of the country. There had to be a catch in there somewhere, you would think, and you’d be right. The answer was quite simple—the intelligence of the hero determined the number of units a player could control, and intelligence was raised by default for Mages as they leveled, but Warriors could only increase it by investing the points they’d received from leveling. As a result, some players would only have half as many units as others of the same level. I saw a video about one of the most successful variants of the warrior path: a small detachment of Knights in their heavy, shining armor, with the support of the healer Monks. Every member of the group had had the highest level and the best upgrades possible. That small army broke through the enemy's formation, and it seemed like they could not have been stopped by anything. They were destroying everything in their path, but lost in the end despite all their best efforts. At one point, spectators had been given an opportunity to see the battlefield from up above, and the audience immediately realized that this massacre had been insignificant in comparison to the true size of the army of one of the players.

It was horrible to think that if you just tried a bit harder, you could win, only to then realize that you were way behind all along. However, despite knowing all this, I was sure that, if I were to play by the general rules, I would find myself losing to the other players. This meant that if I wanted not only to enjoy the virtual game, but also to achieve something in it, I would need to make unusual and unpredictable decisions. Even in my life before, playing computer games, I had been fond of choosing the weakest classes and then finding their strengths, using those to reach the very top.

I could not claim that I had always succeeded, but I had written a couple of successful guides which had then shifted public opinion about some of the forgotten classes.

You have chosen the class of Warrior

Here was my new path, I thought. Now, there was nothing left but to figure out how to turn it into my road to victory. The next step was the allocation of attributes. There weren’t a lot of them: strength, intelligence, endurance, and dexterity. It was also such an unfair setup— raising only intelligence was enough for Mages, but for Warriors, both strength and dexterity were needed, and health points weren’t superfluous either.

There were twenty starting points to spend, and it was necessary to do so wisely. From what I had seen about Warriors on the advertising posters, while I had been filling out the questionnaire, there were two main options for their development:

The first one was to put points in intelligence at the very beginning, and then, having had the opportunity to recruit more troops, increase the main military attributes through the process of killing enemies. The trick to this method was that after you recruited the maximum number of units at the very beginning, you could upgrade them and get a small but dangerous detachment in the end, as it demonstrated in that video.

The other option was the standard scheme, where you put some points in intelligence and got a small amount of freedom in managing your forces. The rest of the points could be equally divided among the other attributes. As a result, you would be at the head of your army, crushing the enemy with your might.

Strength +20

Everything else was left on zero. I had decided to stay stupid, slow, and fragile—but be damn strong. The first rule of the Champion: you should not be like everyone else. Immediately, I thought that maybe I should’ve been more careful with this rule. However, it was too late to change anything now.

Entrance

One moment, a huge eight letter inscription was floating in front of my eyes, and the next, I was in the woods. It turned out that I had missed the beauty of nature. Grass, trees, a flock of birds overhead—none of these things could be found in the new world. The wind ruffled my hair, and it was something incredible, compared to the anthill of the modern human city. I breathed in deeply, soaking in the beauty of everything around me.

A while later, I checked my attributes. The Warrior path, ten health points, twenty points of strength—everything was as I had planned. My gaze settled on the possible size of my future detachment: one cell, no more than one kind of troop, no more than ten creatures. With my absolute zero intelligence, it was quite logical. On the other hand, I hadn’t had the opportunity to recruit even this low number.

Suddenly, I realized that I had almost forgotten to check how great my strength was now. Licking my lips in anticipation, I came up to the nearest tree, swung, and hit it with all my might. Something cracked, both in the tree, and in my hand. A small dent had appeared on the tree’s bark, but as for me, I had the bad luck of managing to break my arm or something to that effect. Oddly enough, I didn’t feel any pain at all. It was strange, since it was said that I should experience all sensations as I would normally feel them, in real life. I thought the only possible explanation had to be my zero intelligence. The nervous system generated by the game was so simple that it must not have been able to transmit all the signals needed to the brain.

It turned out that I had become something like a troll—strong, dull, and with thick skin. With a crack, I set the dislocated joint. It was a good time to evaluate my prospects. Suddenly, I heard something make a crunch from beside the tree.

Cautiously, I tried to find out what it was.

Because of the foliage, it took me some time to notice a huge, dead branch resting against the trunk of a nearby forest giant. When I had hit the tree, I had made it shake violently. A branch had fallen against the next trunk, and I then heard a crunch. For some reason, I thought this club would make a good weapon for me. With my low health points, I should keep enemies at a distance.

It took a dozen strikes, and I had to set my joints three times, but I was finally holding the giant branch in my hands. After I had finished, I thought that maybe it would have been easier to just climb up and break off a branch.  And then I wondered whether this body could affect the how my brain worked. However, the dead branch did appear to have some obvious advantages. It was lighter, and it would not be changing its shape in the future. Moreover, it had turned black due to its age, and the black club looked solid enough. Every time I had seen a video about this game, the players had had armies of Light creatures - angels, monks, elves and so on. Maybe I should be a dark lord.

After swinging the club of darkness a couple of times from side to side to get used to the weight of it, I finally looked around. There was a path leading to the right, opposite the setting sun. It was the main road, and, most likely, if I did go north, I would reach the starting point assigned to each player, where they would begin forming the backbone of their army. There was no reason to visit that place—with my inability to recruit troops, it was a better bet to immediately move to the territory of a neighbor. This was my great plan—sneaking up to the enemy’s camp and killing him stealthily. My twenty points of strength made me believe that one blow should be enough. The next step of my plan was to repeat this until my enemies started tightening their security and it stopped working. If I had chosen the path of a magician, I couldn’t have done this; it took time to hire and train troops. As for me, I was already a dangerous combatant. I hoped that if I managed to gather the resources of several settlements for my own use, I could try to achieve something on a global scale.

I turned my back on the path and went deeper into the forest. If my newbie territory was to the north, then I should come across another player heading south. Despite the absence of a road, it was a pleasant walk. Either the forest was not dense enough to stop my advance, or I was simply too tough and strong for it to hinder me.

About half an hour had passed since I entered the game and still nothing had happened. I was beginning to feel like a bit of an oddity. Was my behavior so unusual?

At that moment, I heard a grunting sort of growl, and a huge figure appeared from the foliage. The huge creature was standing ahead of me, fast and agile despite its height, and holding a giant cudgel in one hand. It seemed that the monster was almost dancing, with how fluid its movements were. The system highlighted the information about it:

Insomniac Troll, level 5

I imagined what one of these future directors of the Eurasian branch would do, if they were in my place. Would they run away, or get into a fight? Most likely, they would not have come here without an army capable of winning the fight for them. That would be the logical, reasonable, and worthy plan of action for the future director. But since this troll and I were both right here, in this place, my options were limited.

I took a deep breath and sighed; maybe I was too stressed. Thinking about all this certainly wasn’t going to do me much good.

For some reason, the troll wasn’t in a hurry to attack. He stood still, then suddenly started beating a nearby tree with his cudgel. What was I supposed to do? I also had a club, and it was even black. Now the two trees were shaking from our echoing blows, and it should be noted that I was doing it better. My huge tree was making a louder rattling noise.

"Gr-gr." The troll stopped and looked at me with some respect. "Stranger—a strong warrior."

It was a very clever remark from the monster who was rattling a tree with a piece of wood. To be fair, I probably didn’t look much better.

"I'm not a stranger. They call me the Dark Lord," I decided to reply, getting a headstart on my legend. Maybe it was not the best moment, but you couldn’t immediately agree with an opponent in these kinds of situations. Your image played an important role, and the part of a stranger was not something that would help me establish control.

"What Dark Lords are doing?" asked the monster in a loud voice. If he hadn’t been growling every time he was pronouncing the ‘L’ sound, I would’ve said that he was interested, and maybe even slightly intrigued with me.

"Well, usually, the goal is to take over the world." The truth was a most powerful weapon in this case. Then an idea came to my mind. "What do you think about helping me? Trolls are strong warriors, after all."

My woolly interlocutor immediately straightened up, and unconcealed pride shone in his eyes. "All right, I agree to serve Dark Lord, to help him. To take over the world. It should be interesting."

You have gained the skill 'Leadership'

You can increase the number of your subordinate units, due to your good leadership and charisma.

I stared at the panel of attributes with deep interest, adding another cell for the troops. I had heard about this ability; with its help, Warriors could somewhat compensate for their small number of units, compared to Mages. I had hoped to get it, but did not expect to receive it so quickly and certainly not at this low level.

"My name is Klaus," my new companion said amiably. It was hard to decide how I should react, since I had no idea whether this was an appropriate name for a troll or not.

However, I was looking at him with great pride. Level 5 was a big advantage for me. High strength and movement speed made him a very powerful ally; no wonder he took the place of five creatures at once. I was sure he would be of great help to me. A sudden thought came to mind—I remembered a story from childhood about trolls and their amazing ability to pick up a scent, or, at least, that was what the book had said.

“My name is Dan. Can you sense any living beings nearby?”

"Dan... hmm, what a stupid name! I'll call you Dark Lord." It seemed my joke was beginning to gather momentum. On the other hand, I already had a troll in my army—a good reason to be a serious contender for the title of ‘Your Darkness.'  The reply came swiftly and was delivered in a casual tone: "I feel two settlements."

He waved his paw in the direction from which I came, and then somewhere to the east. The first was clearly mine, but the second one clearly belonged to my first neighbor. To be honest, it was a weak point of my plan: how could I find my opponents in the game? After all, if we were all weak now, it was possible to be at a distance of just a few hundred feet away from each other and not notice a thing. However, if they became strong and increased the size of their army, then it would be too late. Now, it seemed this problem had been solved, and I was now ready for anything.

"Lead on, Klaus!" A smile curved my lips as we rushed through the forest.

I was not very good at running, but at this point, I ran as though I could not be fatigued. Klaus was howling, and at some point, I started to join him. Then, my eyes saw the icon of a new buff appear:

Wild Hunt, level 1

You get a blessing as two or more creatures give in to their animal instincts

Fatigue is reduced by 90%

Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance are increased +10

As soon as I concentrated on the inscription, the buff immediately disappeared. But it didn’t take me much time to once more awaken my feral side. My club began to tap a wild rhythm as I flew past the trees, and I howled. Satisfied, Klaus began to hum a strange melody. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the buff icon had appeared again, and a thin smile appeared on my face.

"Master, the enemy is upon us!" Klaus shouted.

"Don't stop! Charge forward!" The troll ran ahead, and I stayed a little behind him. No one else should have the power to stop such a monster, but it was better not to take that risk. Klaus lowered his weapon, dragging it along the ground behind him and causing a terrible rumbling. As I thought about the point of his behavior, everything immediately became clear: dust, dirt, and forest debris—all these things, getting into the air, surrounding the troll with a solid cloud in which his figure was lost. Could I also do this? At first, nothing happened, but then I noticed that tapping a club was not as chaotic as I had thought at first. In our own world, you could say that many things weren’t as simple and meaningless as we sometimes thought they were, initially. Then I tried to repeat the pattern of my new friend, copying his every move.

Small cloud of dirt, level 1

Reduces the accuracy of remote attacks by 50%

Reduces the damage of zone attacks by 30%

A giant troll and a man following behind him emerged into a clearing, where six footmen in mail armor and about a dozen peasants armed with various tools were already ready to do battle. It was hard not to pay attention to the talent of this player: during those few hours that I had spent running through the forest, they were able to organize their settlement and had even trained some of the soldiers to the level of footmen.

I also admired that the peasants were standing up for this player. Achieving such results, while still staying popular with the populace, was no mean feat. It seemed to me that any other attempt to attack this settlement early on would have been doomed to failure. Not mine, however.

Imagine a charging troll, rotating a huge club with the speed of a chopper. It was really hard to stop him, especially given he was a much higher level than his enemies—it was almost an impossibility, in fact. In the next few moments, the soldiers disappeared in the cloud of dust and then reappeared when the dust cloud passed by, dead on the ground. Without the support of a professional army, the peasants immediately lost their nerve and dropped their weapons. I was confused. Where was the hero? Was it possible that they’d run away?

As I was thinking this, a bolt of lightning hit me.

You have been struck by lightning for 70 damage

Someone had dealt me seventy damage with just one spell, and for some reason, I was still alive. I realized that the wild hunt buff had added ten endurance, giving me an extra 100 hit points. Since I didn’t have any desire to get hit by such magic again, I hid in the woods and ordered Klaus to destroy everything in sight until he found the magician. He was immediately taken with this idea. He wasn’t feeling disappointed that he’d agreed to join me now, that’s for sure. The next lightning bolt hit the troll but didn’t damage him at all. It was not surprising, given the difference in levels and his natural resistance.

As for me, I already had a charred spot on my skin. I was lucky that the sensitivity of my new body was low, otherwise, I would have been frantic due to the pain. I could only guess how ordinary soldiers survived here.

Player Samantha Hollins was defeated

You gain 2 levels

Strength is increased +2

You gain 2 attribute points

Apparently, the troll had found my opponent. You were a good player, Samantha, but I was better. A sardonic expression crossed my face. Two levels wasn’t that much of an achievement, certainly, but she didn’t have a large detachment. My strength had been increased, apparently due to my level up, and I had also gotten two more points to spend freely.

The question was, how should I spend them? I was sure that I didn’t want to increase intelligence—if the feeling of pain was turned on, I would end up regretting it for sure. I also didn’t see many advantages to leveling dexterity, so only endurance remained. If there hadn’t been any buffs on me, I would now be dead. Ten health points was a very small number; I needed at least more than seventy. That way, I wouldn’t have to be afraid of first level spells. On the other hand, in the future, my enemies would get higher level incantations. Would I always be forced to spend my free points on vitality? One defense could not defeat an enemy, but as I had already proved, it was possible to make do with strength alone. So I made my choice:

Strength +2

I came out of the woods, and went back to the settlement. In the meantime, Klaus had managed to destroy the last building, a stone tomb. I should’ve stopped him earlier; after all, this was my property now.

"Do what you did before." I waved a hand to the peasants. If this girl had a plan, why shouldn’t I try to use it?

Samantha Hollins

My grandfather had been preparing me for this test for as long as I could remember. I had access to all of the best schools, the best tutors, trial immersions, and training simulators. I had thought I was ready even for the previous games, but my grandfather only allowed me to register this time.

At first, everything went just fine with the well-thought-out sequence of actions to ensure the economic well-being of my village. The model was a simple one, with everything taken into account, and an accident was impossible. Then, after an hour had passed, the first footman began his training. It seemed simple, but it was necessary to arrange for a full cycle of work in the smithy in order to produce the needed weapons and armor. I also had to implement the cycle for the training of people who had just been peasants until recently. I did not doubt my success, but everything was turning out even better than I’d planned.

Each of my warriors had almost fifty health points and steel weapons. By the end of the day, I would have had about forty of them.

I could have taken two detachments and gone hunting in the surrounding lands. While my forces were preparing, I spent time thinking over the potential for development in this area. I could put all of my production facilities downstream and make the residential sector just upstream from the production facilities, reducing any dangerous pollution.

I should build a reserve, the number of my homagers should only increase. Homagers? There was a reason I had been called Princess when I had been a child.

However, as soon as I was distracted for a second, everything went to hell, all at once. A terrible roar came from the forest, heading in our direction. I stood still, puzzled, wondering what it could be. There shouldn’t be any attacks from wild animals in the first week. That meant it must’ve been a player. Given that they had had to get here from their own settlement, there would be one or, at best, two warriors in their squad. They had no chance, but I didn’t want to take any risks and marshaled all my forces. In the distance, I gathered peasants; they wouldn’t be much use in a battle, but the effect of the crowd would give a buff, plus two or even three points to each attribute.

I could hear the roar approaching. At the last moment, the thought came to my mind that I should hide. Of course, it was heroic to stand in front of my little army under the red banner, but I had a completely different task. I had to prove that I could manage any team; from a few people to armies of thousands. I had to prove that I could achieve success at the head of any sized group.

When two dust clouds appeared out of the forest, I spotted the faint outline of a troll. I froze for a second, confused, and not knowing what to do. Where had a player, in such a short time, gotten a servant of such high level? Where did the troll come from? Did he carry out an experiment on the villagers that turned them into such a monster? After all, I had read about something similar, but who could predict that such sheer stupidity would actually work.

My soldiers were already dead, and it was no surprise, because neither they, nor I were ready for such a clash. My peasants were, of course, useless. However, I still had a trump card, since 'Pantheon' gave players special bonuses for unique achievements in the real world. From the very beginning, I had had a spell of the second circle: heavenly lightning that hits a whole area. The dust cloud in the air would not prevent me from punishing this man for his impudent behavior. One hundred damage for one attack—most likely, it would be enough to end him.

I cast the spell, and the debris in the air around him dropped to the ground in a heap of ashes, but he continued to stand there as if nothing had happened. I wondered why it only did seventy points of damage to him. How did he get even those seventy points, if he needed to invest so much into strength to be able to kill my footmen in one blow? Why was he not doubled over in pain, when his shoulder and half of his arm had been burnt that badly? At that moment, I recognized him—this was the guy I had seen in the corridor. Cheap clothes, an admiring glance, it had been a miserable sight. I had always wondered why these people were even allowed to enter the Game. Who knew that, in the end, it would turn out this way? Was this an accident? I should check who among our political opponents could play this kind of game.

The cooldown for my lightning was over, but the player had already disappeared into the forest and I could not reach him. However, he did not hide, but instead stood on the forest border. Maybe I could try to kill him, but what if this was a trap? When fighting such a foe, one could expect anything. At that moment, the troll rushed to the side of the house where I was hiding. How had he guessed? I tried to jump to another roof and was knocked down by a blow from the troll’s club.

You died

Would you like to resurrect on the altar?

Yes

Resurrection will be finished in 10 minutes

I thought we could negotiate. Or, to be more specific, I would first pay, and then we would talk. Whatever the case, I planned to get some answers.

Your altar is destroyed

This was outrageous. What was the point of this? Why did he destroy the altar of the player, without even having attempted to get the ransom? Was he really that rich?

Do you want to use the “second chance?”

Yes

The second chance was an opportunity for any player to start their game in the Empire from scratch. In a couple of days, it would not make much sense; it would be impossible to catch up to other players. However, if you were to make a critical mistake at the very beginning, with its help everything could be fixed. Or, like in my case, if you got destroyed, early on...

Dan, I'll remember you.

Chapter Two

Dan

Grabbing a big bag of food from my peasants, the troll and I moved farther east. With a cheery smile, my giant friend stated that he smelled a great number of living beings in that direction. Therefore, I came to the decision to visit them. While we walked, I thought about how to unsummon my green fellow. As it turned out, every unit in a player's forces could be temporarily dismissed. However, I then remembered that while with me, my nosy friend was increasing his skills and had almost reached level six. It was not a bad idea to let him run alongside me. He didn’t bother me at all, and with his sense of smell, we might find something interesting. After half an hour, he said that the creatures whose scents he had picked up were moving and we should change our route to intercept them. Given this information, I assumed that it was not a player, and therefore, it would be good to exercise caution. I was frightened of the game’s artificial intelligence more than the other players—I had a good idea of what I could expect from real people at this point, but these quasi-living monsters could always spring a nasty surprise on me. Everyone who had ever watched the movie “Terminator” knew that robots weren’t to be trusted.

This time, as Klaus said that we were almost there, I forbade him attacking as he had before. Despite our strategy having been quite successful, I decided to start with scouting the enemy territory. I didn’t intend to do this myself, though, and sent the troll forward. Strange as it may have seemed, he was capable of moving quietly and going unnoticed, at least compared to me. Moreover, he had more health points, and I had no desire to end up dead. Klaus returned about five minutes later.

"There are about forty level-three wild boars. Braaax," he gave a loud belch. I breathed a sigh of relief; an intelligent troll would have been too strange for me to trust him.

"Why are you so pleased?" I could not resist asking the beaming troll.

"They noticed me and attacked, so I tried to leave them behind. But it didn’t work, so they will be here soon."

For some reason, looking at his guilty grin, I did not believe his story. I thought he must’ve forced them to attack, having decided that I would choose the option to retreat. On the other hand, to be honest, I would’ve done so anyway.

"Can we deal with them together?" I decided to ask, just in case.

"No, there is no chance. They would tear us apart in a couple of minutes." He had a sweet smile and looked happy. If trolls had ever existed in the real world, they had probably gone extinct because of their sense of adventure and madness.

A loud crackling could be heard from the forest, headed toward us. My eyes moved to the troll standing before me, and a surprised expression crossed my face; I noticed that Klaus had managed to hit level six during his scouting.

"You didn’t by chance kill any of them along the way, did you?”

"Of course not." He gave me a guiltless gaze with his honest eyes, and I understood right away that he was lying. It was a pity; it would be interesting to get experience while doing reconnaissance. Imagine if spying on a black dragon could get you ten levels.

"Okay, new plan—we're running away." As I said this, a huge boar appeared from behind the trees. The boar was five times wider than me and much scarier. When I had seen the troll the first time, I had honestly been less frightened. Apparently, I had immediately sensed his intelligence.

Then, we were running again. I was looking for a place where I could play a game called "Three hundred Spartans," but Klaus seemed to like this strange hunt. Boars fiercely grunted with every step over the next kilometer. It felt like they were raising their self-esteem by chasing us. At some point, I heard that their grunting was getting closer. Either they had started running faster, or I was slowing down. For some reason, I was inclined to believe the latter. It seemed there was a growing heaviness to my movements—apparently, it was fatigue; if only there were a bar showing it. After all, if you didn’t notice it, then you could have no strength left at the most unfortunate moment.

"Klaus, can you howl?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm. It was just a game, after all, and even in the most extreme case, nothing would really happen to me. For a second, the lobby of a hotel, filled with corpses, appeared in my mind, but I immediately tried to distract myself from this and cram the picture of that day into the very deepest recesses of my memory. I would have liked to forget it entirely, but I couldn’t.

Not wasting any time, the troll took a few deep breaths, apparently getting ready, and then he howled. I immediately took up this strange melody, adjusting to the sound. The “Wild Hunt” buff appeared over my head, and it meant the race could continue.

There was a strange feeling, as if I were watching the two of us from a distance. We were rushing through some garden beds. I didn’t have a clue how they came to be in the forest, but it was not an appropriate time to be distracted. I paid just a bit of attention to this oddity and almost lost the rhythm of our song; the chase was not going to stop, even for a moment.

The troll was running ahead, knocking down any trees in his way, followed by a man who, in contrast, was trying to go around the obstacles, but, apparently, because of his natural awkwardness, crashing into them instead and also knocking them down. They were followed by a detachment of giant pigs, grunting a malicious rhythm and trampling down everything that was missed.

I ran in a circle a couple of times before choosing the right direction, and the chase continued.

An hour later, I finally found a good place—a cave that I noticed only thanks to the booming echo that had caught our howls. The first time we ran past, but then we came back in a circle, coming to it again. We advanced a little deeper into the cavern so that Klaus could block the passage, letting the wild pigs attack only from one side.

The end result seemed to be good. The wild boars could only come at us one at a time. However, my pulse was now racing for another reason entirely; I wondered if the troll had enough health to stand against all of them. For some reason, I did not reflect on this point enough before I had led us into what was effectively a trap. Just in case, I looked around. The cave went far into the mountain, so, maybe, in case things went pear-shaped, we could try to break away from the pursuers that way.

At that moment, the first wild boar rushed into the cave and immediately received a blow to the head. All I saw was the sight of a pig being thrown back. However, the boar did not die from one hit. Klaus had taken off only a third of its health, and now the animal was standing on the sidelines, shaking its head. You hog, I thought. The boar was waiting for his life to be restored to full, and in the meantime, other ones would try attacking us instead.

Fortunately, the troll managed to keep them at a distance; boars could not approach him. However, the balance of power was still not in our favor. Our enemies could switch positions with each other, and sooner or later, we would obviously be defeated. I could see that this fight was exhausting for my green friend, though Klaus didn’t say a word. He was too proud to complain, but after twenty minutes he began to look exhausted. I was watching a piece of forgotten, withered saliva dangling under his lower jaw, and felt a wave of panic. What was I supposed to do? It was necessary to find a way to fight them, without letting them regroup, but nothing came to mind. It seemed that there was no other choice but to retreat deep into the cave. But was taking such risk the right decision? I could have replaced Klaus for a while, and then he would make us a path through enemy lines. And then the chase would be back on. However, I didn’t have a choice, it was better than blindly wandering in the dark.

"Klaus, my turn," I commanded.

The troll jumped right behind me and leaned against the wall as he panted for breath. His face was red. I knew the job was going to be tough, but this was no time to get distracted. In the distance, I saw my first enemy approaching. Geez, I don't want it to end like this, I thought briefly, but immediately stopped complaining to myself, as I concentrated on my foe. At this point, I did not need any memories from the past.

Man-Eater Boar, Level 3

I knew that pigs were omnivorous, but what was the chance of meeting the one herd of pigs that would choose a human being as their main dish? I seemed to be a lucky one indeed. Apparently, feeling my uncertainty, the animal grunted and made to rush me. I probably looked much weaker than the troll, but my twenty-four points of Strength were nothing to sneeze at. I swung the club like Klaus, and hit the beast with all my might. My damage dealt was the same as the troll’s, about a third of the enemy’s health bar. Now it was clear why Klaus respected me. Apparently, he felt a kindred spirit within me. However, the direction of the blow turned out to not be very lucky. Instead of throwing the pig aside, I had beaten the hog into the ground. One of his brothers took advantage of this position, and scrambled up the boar’s back. Now, two of them were against me. Pushing away from the floor and the ceiling at the same time, the pork pyramid was approaching me. This was not the way of a dark lord; for certain, but maybe this was finally a chance to kill some of them. However, given the fact that my endurance was not high, I would probably end up dead.

I took a step back, devoid of any ideas. Come on, brain. I took another step - still no answer. Suddenly, I noticed that the boars had stopped chasing me. As I looked closer, the tunnel began to narrow, and they appeared to be stuck there. Was this a good chance to kill them? Probably, yes. Unfortunately, it didn’t really matter what the situation was because, no matter what, there were still too many opponents for just the two of us to handle. Our only remaining option was to use cunning military strategies.

"Klaus, what do you think about fried pork?" I asked in a loud voice. In response, there was an indignant grunt on one hand and a polite cough on the other. "Well, I prefer raw meat, it's more delicious this way,” said the troll. “By the way, we have guests here." I turned around and in the depths of the cave saw some little green men approaching us. They were not aliens. They were something else—with crooked teeth, bad breath and a complete lack of manners. Although smelly and rude, they were not as bad as some drunken people I’d seen. All of them were gawky and inoffensive-looking creatures. Their eyes had lost color from a long life in the darkness and they had huge ears, like bats almost. Most likely those were gifted by evolution; the huge ears let them detect their enemies first.

Cave Goblin, Level 2

Judging by the number of dark figures that seemed to be moving in our direction, there were a lot of them. If they encircled us from both sides, it would be tough to get out of here alive. Still, my instincts had been right, when they had warned me against going deeper into this uninhabited dungeon.

"Big brother," the goblin remarked. Then, in an attempt to comply with formalities, he blew his nose. "We immediately recognized the sound of your steps and came to serve you,” said the Goblin.

"Well, why would I need you?" said Klaus assuming a dignified air, but after a kick from me, he changed his tone. "I mean, why should my Dark Lord and I pay any attention to you?"

In the darkness, I waved at the goblin with my club in hand but it was barely noticeable. This was to let everyone know that I was this famous ‘Lord.’ It was important that I showed my black weapon. Once again, I was convinced that image played a great role in this world. Does anyone really want to help a stranger? Of course not. But what about the Dark Lord? It was much harder to answer this question. Was it dangerous? Sure it was, but it would also bring lasting benefits.

"We also want to serve the Dark Lord." It seemed that even the pigs were affected by my greatness. I was confused at the fact they were talking like humans. At this moment, I had a feeling that my entire story had somehow turned into a fairy tale.

"I won't take all of you. There is only one place for a detachment." I wondered what they would do now.

"Take us. We have a higher level, more strength, more endurance." The pigs immediately took the bull by the horns. It was true, no matter how it might sound.

"Well, you won't be able to feed them. They are bottomless pits. With our ears, we can notice the enemy from afar." A slow smile spread across my face. Now the goblins had begun to bargain as well. I wondered what the end result of this auction would be; it was hard to decide who would be more useful to me.

"You have a troll, and he will notice any enemies nearby. Why do you need these squirts?" It seemed that the boars were feeling quite offended if they had the cheek to make this personal remark.

"Well, we can create a paralyzing poison." The goblins were clearly upset at the reference to their small physical size. I wondered whether they really had complexes because of it. However, it seemed that they were trying to speak politely and honestly, which I was impressed by. I was going to become a Dark Lord, and it was common knowledge that I had to have goblins in my army. The goblins were not a choice, but the pigs were. I wasn’t sure about the pigs. If only they hadn’t been wild boars, but wolves instead. Then, at least, I could’ve tried to make wolf riders. I had always thought that this idea was impressive. Would these pigs necessarily be bad for that? I had no clue whether the system would account for this or not, but it seemed a promising idea.

"Everyone, be silent and listen to me," I said thoughtfully waving a hand to the goblins that helped the stuck boars get out of their predicament. The meeting continued when everyone was outside.

"I need the ten strongest boars," I said, my voice harsh. It seemed that not everyone knew that we were allies now. They shot me a hungry glance. But my cheerful tone helped avoid being their lunch. The meeting continued without further interruptions.

"Now, the ten strongest goblins." The biggest and most muscular ones came forward. The most crucial moment was approaching. "Boars—freeze. Goblins—mount them!" By some strange inertia, all of them obeyed my command. When their eyes were on me and their minds could not be changed. I shouted loudly, "I name you, the 'Boar Riders'!"

10 Boar Riders, Level 4, have joined your detachment

Leadership +1, total 2

The maximum number of creatures in the cell is increased to 20

I was surprised that the meeting had gone so well. I hadn’t expected such an enthusiastic reaction from the goblins and boars. The ordinary goblins and wild boars were dumbfounded and didn’t know what was really going on. Then, one of my boar riders raised his head up at the sky and howled. After a moment's hesitation, his howl was followed up by his 'horse’s’ howl. I didn’t even know that pigs could do something like that. The power that I felt from this sound was menacing. One by one, every goblin and boar around joined in this primitive song. Klaus and I exchanged glances and then took up the song as well.

You have received the 'Unity' buff

Strength and Endurance increased by 10 for one day

A smile curved my lips. It was the solution to the problem of my health points for the next couple of levels.

"My lord," came the voice of the gray goblin who had hidden behind the others before. "I think we'll start training new riders. When you decide to return to us for of us to join your army, we will not let you down."

"Well, I'm counting on you, then. When will the next ten riders be ready?" I now had the opportunity to increase the size of the detachment, so it would be stupid to not take advantage of this.

"Tomorrow morning, master." I could get used to this kind of treatment very quickly. Moreover, the delay was not a critical one. The game would disconnect soon, after all.

"Good. In the meantime, we need food for everyone, at least for a couple of days, and information. Are there any settlements of other players in this area?"

The old goblin immediately started talking about the strange activity in the western forests, and while he talked, I was watching the cells of my detachment with open admiration. In the first cell, I had Klaus; a troll at level 6, who occupied five places out of a possible twenty. It would have been nice to find more trolls. In the second cell, I had ten unique boar riders at level 4. A very good start, I thought. It seemed I had done well enough for the first day. Ten minutes remained until the connection was to end - just enough time to give orders and command them to train hard during my absence.

The session is complete. After 60 seconds you will be disconnected, try to finish all important things by this time

I wondered, what would have happened if I had been fighting someone at that moment? Would I have disappeared in the middle of the fight or would I have just stopped moving and be killed? This lack of information was an important matter to look into.

As I got out of the game capsule, the inconspicuous guy in the standard Pantheon uniform came up to me and asked me to sign one more paper for the next stage of the selection. I flipped through the papers, a lot of words written according to the rules of the law language, but the point could easily be reduced to one phrase: do not communicate on game issues, and do not ask for help. Any personal questions about the participants were also prohibited. The only exception was that official information from the organizers was permitted so that people could discuss it.

I could say only one thing for sure now: soon I would get acquainted with other players. It seemed that we had all gathered in one place. Even with us fighting to the death in virtual reality, in the real world, we would have to learn to get along. To be honest, I didn’t mind facing other people. I took a hasty shower, put on a specially prepared uniform and followed the yellow line. Where would it lead me this time?

After a while, I entered a huge hall with transparent windows and paused briefly to look at the picturesque scenery. However, given that there was no more wilderness in this world—these were just screens. Their sizes were impressive. The hall was divided into several sections, and each one contained several buffet tables. My path had led me to the smallest of them. I wondered if this was an accident or there was some purpose to it.

I tried to estimate the number of people who were gathered in this place. Using fire safety posters that were hung on the walls, I determined the area of the room. Judging by what I saw, I could say that there was one person per 10 or so square feet, and not because it was easier to count this way, but because it was actually so. It turned out that there were a little more than six thousand people present. Not too much considering the size of the whole planet, but if you took into account that this was the young elite of the new world, even this number would be plenty.

While I was standing and had a meal at the first table I found, I caught some strangers staring at me with a cold and repulsive look. One was the girl I had met in the corridor when I had first arrived. I could only guess as to why she disliked me. As for the second man, I had never seen him in my life. Young, well-groomed, with a barely noticeable belly, but you would forget about his appearance as you caught his eye—sharp and piercing. I would have remembered this man if I had met him earlier. He was also looking at me with some strange, unhealthy interest. What had I done to spite these two? At this moment, one of the screen-walls showed a picture: a curly, tanned guy standing next to an angel. After seeing this, I thought maybe I had overestimated my success earlier…

"He’s showing off in vain." I heard two Asian girls with childish faces talking nearby. "I considered this option: to build a temple, to meditate all day, consecrating in the hope that everything would turn out well. He got lucky, although the chances were not that good. He also completely stopped his economic development."

"Yes, these things will haunt him sooner or later," one of them said indignantly. It was strange, but could this conversation be considered as a discussion of the game, which was strictly prohibited? Given that no one was in a hurry to kick these girls out, this was most likely counted as a talk about official information. On the other hand, it seemed that maybe the rules didn’t apply to everyone the same way.

As I looked at the wall next to me, the picture on the screen changed to what looked like a group of archers led by a beautiful Hispanic player shooting centaurs who were rushing at them. At first, it seemed that the humans didn’t even have a chance to escape or win the battle. That at any moment the half-human creatures would get to them and tear them to pieces, but it didn’t happen. One, then another centaur rushed forward, falling as the archers shot their bows. I watched as someone fell from the impact of the arrows and then another. After a while, I started to realize that there was a trick in all of this. The field was covered with narrow, deep holes. The centaurs weren’t being shot down by the archers, they were tripping, falling, and breaking their legs from the holes in the field. As the centaurs ran towards the archers, they were doomed. While running, their hooves got stuck in the narrow holes, and humans with bows took aim at them. The centaurs, that were usually so difficult to hit, now made an easy target. The humans took advantage of this and killed many of them.

"Kathy Gomez." the Asian girl commented in a low voice. Unfortunately, this time the information was not very useful. "Don't you think she has crooked legs?"

"Yes, I'm glad you noticed it, too," said another girl.

I wondered who would be shown in the next video, and it didn’t take long to get an answer. Suddenly, some awkward guy with crazy looking eyes appeared on the screen in the company of a troll, pigs, and goblins, howling at the moon. I suddenly realized, damn, that’s me on the screen. For some reason, I wanted to know what these two gossipers would say about me.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t overhear anything from their talk. Because, right as I was eavesdropping, someone came up to me from behind and said, "I say, good afternoon, Dan."

I turned around, and there in front of me stood the blonde who was staring at me earlier. I could only guess what she might have wanted.

"Good afternoon. Unfortunately, I don’t know your name." I thought I should be more polite with the strangers; otherwise, I might get myself into trouble.

"My name is Samantha. I wanted to congratulate you on getting to the top of the ratings." She gave me a sweet smile. There was something familiar in her name, but I couldn’t quite remember. What ratings did she mean? It seemed that the last words I thought out loud, and her face clearly said she didn’t like that I knew so little about the tournament.

"Come along, I'll show you." While following her, I had an opportunity to get acquainted with the new technologies. Touching what seemed like a completely random place on the wall, Samantha activated a screen hanging in the air. "Look, here is the Strength rating of all of the player's armies. You are the third-ranked here. That's why you were shown on the main screen. Here’s the strength rating of all the heroes. Here, you have the ninety-first place. To be in the first hundred is a very good result."

"Hm, don't you think that a disclosure of such information about the leaders isn’t fair?" For some reason, I could not resist the question. But what I was really interested in was why she had come up to me in the first place

"The law of business. If you are ahead and succeeding, everyone knows about you. Moreover, everyone has a similar feature. You can watch five minutes of any opponent’s game, per your request, but only one time per day and the five minutes that you watch are selected randomly."

"Is this also similar to real life? You can’t conceal something as global as the size of an army. However, there are always details and nuances that can be hidden. Am I right?"

"Yes, that's it. By the way, I'm sure your video will be popular today. After all, you're a newcomer, and given that you didn’t talk with anyone, I can conclude that you don’t have any friends here. Many people will be interested in rating your chances of winning."

"Well, what’s the reason for this division into zones?" I tried to change the subject to get the attention off of myself. This conversation did not violate the rules because she wasn’t asking personal questions. However, by carefully watching the reaction of a man you can learn a lot about him. I thought it would be better to keep the veil of secrecy on myself for as long as possible.

"We are now in the elite zone. As you can see, it is the smallest one. Here are the leaders of the ratings and the strongest contenders. There...” She pointed with her hand. “There is a zone of pursuers. They are those who are close but have not reached the elite yet. The next ones are the average, they do not count for anything. But by adding a line about the tournament in their resume they can double their salaries for sure. Because of their attitude, everyone calls them the hamsters. Those players in the corner are the weakest players, with a minimum of knowledge and training. They are just meat. Their fate is to be victims, for the show of it. They are not capable of providing anything more."

"Samantha, since you are in the elite, what spot are you?" It looked like she was blushing.

"I'm in the third thousand," Samantha murmured. It seemed that she was not very good.  Everyone can’t be good at playing games. I always thought that girls were genetically predisposed to not being good at games. Samantha looked so pitiful at that moment that I decided to try and encourage her somehow.

"Don’t worry, it's a good result for a girl. I'm sure you'll be able to go up to the second and maybe even the first thousand." I was confused why she looked at me like she was ready to commit murder. It seemed like she was a strange person, or maybe it was just me. I hadn’t communicated with real-life people in a long time.

Staying somewhat silent, she just hissed something inaudible, turned sharply and then went to the other part of the hall. Well, I thought, I wasn’t eager to talk with someone from the very beginning anyway.

Vasily Mamontov

A worthy son should always justify the expectations of his parents. Especially if he is the son of the Minister of Finance. I was not just playing for the sake of my future, I was proving the practical effectiveness of the national education. For the last five years, people stopped paying attention to the usual ratings: It was only important for those whose graduates would be better off in the 'Empire.' That is why I couldn’t lose. I had to do my best to represent my father’s position.

In any game, one of the main goals is to always be one step ahead of your opponents. The more your moves are aimed at predicting the future of the game and not so much on the present; the more difficult it will be to stop you from dominating. Strangely enough, most people will try to calculate the consequences to the future of only a few moves. They say that there are too many variables in such equations; therefore, claiming that strategic planning in a dynamic environment is hopeless. Nonsense. Choose your line of development carefully and control the circumstances.

The first day was reaching its end, and there wasn’t a single combat unit in my army. To be honest, I was proud of my achievement, the large area of the forest was already cleared. I had planted potatoes which had the biggest coefficient of potential food amount per ten square feet of cultivated area. Tomorrow, I would have enough resources and my soldiers could train all day long. According to my calculations, by the evening I would catch up to my rivals, and the day after tomorrow, I would leave them behind. I thought that there shouldn’t have been any surprises.

A terrible howl came from the forest. Wolves? Players? Whatever it was, it was necessary to take the peasants away. I couldn’t protect them but could try to hide. I had hardly managed to do so when a level 6 troll appeared from the forest, being chased by a player. I was confused about how someone could frighten such a monster. It would be more logical if the man were running away from the troll. Fortunately, they weren’t looking around and did notice neither me nor my fields that they were trampling. At that moment, through the howl of this couple, came a chorus grunt and a herd of wild boars came out from the forest. In less than a minute, they had negated the results of all my efforts thus far. My whole vegetable plantation was destroyed by these bastards. There was no other way but to start over from the very beginning.

How had this guy guessed my plan? I would not fight anyone. If someone attacked me, I would let them chase me for a while, until the enemy tired of wasting time. Now it was the most valuable resource that we had. However, this sabotage attack was something I hadn’t expected. He had spent the minimum amount of time to cause maximum damage to my development. I should look for information about him at the end of the day. While there was still some time, I had to try to somehow compensate for the damage.

The dinner began, but I was in no mood for all of this. I had to put on these clothes, the same as everyone in this hall. Although the quality of them was not that bad, I was still feeling imprisoned. However, my desire to complain about life was lost when I noticed him. The guy that had ruined all of my plans today. I wished I could talk to him without worry and ask all the questions I wanted! Suddenly, I noticed that someone else was looking at him. Samantha Hollins? I was surprised. The guy had not only managed to annoy me, but also this Norman princess. He was not afraid to take risks, that’s for certain.

Standing aside for a while, I decided to look at the table of leaders. The first one was O'Connor. The second was Gomez and it was not a great surprise. In the dispute about who would take the third place under normal circumstances, I would bet on Hollins. But now, it seemed that she was not going to succeed from the start.

I was amazed at what I was seeing. It turned out that this guy was in the third position. The troll, the pigs, the goblins. At first, there was the thought that he was just running away from them. But now, looking at these creatures in his detachment, it became clear that sabotage had been planned. Hollins came up to him and I decided to come closer and listen in.

This guy was smart. I liked him, playing himself off as misunderstanding things! If I were in Hollin’s place, I would have also clenched my teeth in anger, talking to him. The last phrase was just brilliant. To wish one of the favorites here a place in the top 1000. To pat her on the shoulder and say that things will work out. Moreover, it was funny to me that he had mentioned her gender. I felt that it was necessary to be careful around this guy, it seemed that he could be quite dangerous.

I wonder where you came from, Dan Kornev.

Chapter Three

Dan

My entire small army moved slowly through the woods. Klaus was cheerfully walking and breaking through the branches of the bushes. On the contrary, the pigs were sad. I could hear their cries about eating something. The goblins kept a gloomy neutrality. I had an option to return to the first captured village. There, we could find some food, and I could continue the training of my units. After everything that had happened yesterday, though, I wanted something more. I had a strange feeling, as though thousands of eyes were watching my actions, waiting for my new exploits. Perhaps it was even true.

After a lot of walking, we saw a beaten path clearly leading to someone's settlement. It was another opportunity to show off, and this time there shouldn’t be any crazy attacks. Only planning and good judgment.

First, it was necessary to decide who would scout. The troll was quiet, but it was hard not to notice him. The goblins were noisy, the pigs were smelly, the boar riders were noisy and smelly. There was no choice but for me to go myself. I had no dexterity, but at least I was quick on my feet. I got down on my belly and began to crawl forward. It seemed that I was pretty good at this. Even my skills should be enough to remain unnoticed if someone looked in this direction from a distance. It took me ten minutes, and then I saw a small fortress. Even if it was made of wood, to achieve something like that on the second day of the game was impressive. The owner of this territory was a tough one. Maybe the number of soldiers was no more than in the first village, but they were under the protection of high walls. I was confused about what I should do next.

Suddenly, behind my back, something happened and I heard a thumping noise. It was a tree that I had hit by accident, while moving to my scouting position. It broke down and fell over.  Someone appeared on top of the walls, and I decided that I should return to my detachment. At that moment, I saw the player looking in my direction: he was old, thin, and tall. His gray hair only covered half of his bald head.

Player Alessandro del Mayo

Nice to meet you, I greeted my opponent, before I started crawling back.

Now, he would send some group to reconnoiter. They would find my tracks, and there would not be an element of surprise anymore. If I wanted to do something, I should do it quickly. I thought that maybe it was necessary to cover up my tracks as my gaze settled on the trench I had just left. It seemed that I had somehow outdone myself implementing the idea of pushing myself into the ground. In frustration, I pounded my fist on the tree and as a result, I heard a crash and another forest giant fall.

"Master, are you all right?" Klaus and my pig horsemen appeared from the forest. "We thought that you had started fighting without us."

I was afraid to even imagine how this scene might look to someone who was not familiar with the backstory. But at that moment, heads of the soldiers sent to do reconnaissance appeared from fallen forest giants at the opposite side. Theoretically, they had the chance to notice the danger, retreat and then give a signal to their commander. But it seemed that no one could have predicted that at such an early stage of development, someone would have cavalry. My boar riders lived up to their name. My pigs, if they wanted, could move much faster than anyone could on foot, especially on the rugged terrain. In the blink of an eye, the scouts were surrounded and stunned with accurate blows to the head. I faced a question, what should I do now? How could we get answers from them, after that? I had to understand what was happening inside the fortress. Moreover, with every second these poor people were absent, the information they owned was losing more of its value.

"Any ideas on how to take a fortress?" I thought that asking advice from members of my detachment might be a good idea.

"We can tear them to pieces, and then make a banner from their bodies. This will plunge the enemies into horror, and then we will rush inside the fortress and have them for lunch." The troll was very happy with the idea he had suggested.

"We strongly support this plan!" There came the sound of cheers. If the pigs had wanted to offer something of their own, they were now unable to do so. It seemed that they had immediately lost the opportunity to think rationally after the word 'food’ had been said.

"Our choice is deception." The goblins were standing crowded together, apparently, ready to suggest something more interesting. It was pleasant to have someone with more than zero intelligence in the detachment, because the banner from the scraps of people was somehow too much. "We will put on the scouts’ armor, return under their guise to the fortress and hold the gate until you come."

"With the banner!" Listening with due attention to the goblins, the troll hadn’t found any contradiction to this plan.

However, it seemed I had overestimated my adherents all the same. How could guards confuse an ordinary person with a goblin who was half the size? On the other hand, maybe it was just a feature of the game.

"Won't they recognize you?" I asked, and hit Klaus as he walked by in the direction of the captives.

"We'll smear our face with mud!" One of them said, focusing his devotion right at me. It seemed they believed that no one would notice the difference. I thought that even if I lost a couple of goblins it would not be a big deal. But it would help me start understanding the game mechanics better.

"Well, let's capture these weaklings. Two heroes must open and hold the gate. The other ones prepare for a breakthrough. The idea with the banner will be postponed for a while." Having noticed sincere grief on the troll's face, I added, "Such a small fortress does not deserve a real bloody banner. When the hour of the final battle comes, then we'll make a good one."

You have listened to the advice of your adherents and did not reject any of them

Your soldiers have faith in your power

Leadership +1, total 3

The maximum number of creatures in the cell is increased to 30

I considered that while maybe I didn’t have enough units to increase my detachment, this additional point of leadership was a gift from fate. Now, if someone wanted to join us, I could bring them into the squad without having to come up with something crazy. I threw a glance at the happy goblins, who did not get down from their pigs for even a minute. However, it was also true that some crazy ideas sometimes turned out to be successful.

At this point, two volunteers finished dressing, smeared their faces with the forest mud and moved to the gate. They were so dissimilar to how the people had looked, but for some reason, nobody was in a hurry to raise the alarm. Apparently, normal NPCs did not see a difference and were satisfied with the same clothes that the goblins wore. There was not a player to give them advice. Who would risk their life to be on the wall with the threat of siege imminent?

I was watching them, and after a while, the goblins came closer. The faces of the guards began to turn purple with rage. Apparently, they didn’t believe the goblin’s change of clothes.

"Retreat!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Who needed this fortress!? Considering my possible casualties in this siege it was better to face a couple of players who hadn’t had the time to build walls.

Two pigs ran out of the woods and caught up with the unlucky saboteurs. My small army moved forward along an arc around the fortress. It was annoying to waste time, but it was an important ability to retreat in time. You could lose all battles except one and win the war in the end, and vice versa.

I preferred to win the war. Although, in my heart, I had hoped to end this without a single defeat. A small consolation in this whole situation was the fact that I had managed to increase my leadership, and that on the other side of the fortress we caught a pair of guards with a small chest. As a reward, I got some experience and a half-empty box with cloudy blue stones. Most importantly, it was necessary to not fall into despair.

There was still half a day ahead and enough time to find someone to help boost my self-esteem. But after such a failure, I could possibly lose my leadership position. Perhaps they would even ask me to leave the zone of champions. The day before, I didn’t know anything and did not care about such things, but today it was next to impossible to forget about this. I remembered the girl, Samantha. If I lost, then people like her would not even look at me.

"We need to find someone and destroy him!" In a barely audible voice but distinctly pronouncing every word, I addressed Klaus who was running nearby.

"There's an idea, my lord!"  one of the riders shouted at the top of his lungs, listening with half of his gigantic ear to our conversation. "We don’t even have to go anywhere."

"Hm, everyone stop now." I waved my hand and gave my green adherent a questioning look. "My grandmother told me that her great-great-grandfather served another dark lord."

"Don't waste our time. What is your point?" exclaimed Klaus. For some reason, he stepped back from me. I did not pay attention to his behavior. The troll was probably right about the goblins. I needed to be stern with them; otherwise, they would consider it a weakness.

"Well, he didn’t look for anyone. Dark creatures were eager to join his army. As I remember, the main thing is to start a special ritual and then be ready to greet the guests."

"Oooh." The other goblins stared respectfully at their brother.

"Do you know any of these rituals?" I was not one hundred percent sure about this dark magic, but such a trick could come in handy.

"No, master, I don't." The goblin's ears paled, and everyone immediately lost interest in his story. He hadn’t been the hero of the day for long.

"My lord." As I decided to take a minute to collect my thoughts, Klaus immediately decided to interrupt me, appearing as if from thin air right in front of me. In his left hand, he held one of the pigs, and in the other, there was some blue powder. "Look at this!" He began sprinkling the yelping pig with powder and a white cloud enveloped the frightened beast. However, instead of a small and almost harmless creature: in front of me now stood his brother, twice the size and covered in armor. I quickly looked around. One of the goblins had also changed and was looking at his unexpectedly lessened brothers with superiority.

"Where did you get this powder?" I asked.

"Well, I decided to see what kind of stones we’d gotten and accidentally ground one of them into dust." I was wondering if this was a well-thought-out effect or an accidental result of the combination of immense power and the mind of a five-year-old child.

I put my hand on the frozen pig and the system messages appeared in front of my eyes.

Choose an upgrade option

Armored Boar Rider

Special Abilities: increased defense, powerful blow

Flying Boar Rider

Special Abilities: increased movement speed, range attack

Everything became clear. The powder somehow accelerated the development of the unit, and it would be stupid not to take advantage of this opportunity. The important thing now was to decide what I needed more: an analog of a heavy knight cavalry or something like Mongolian riders? For some reason, it seemed logical to make these comparisons. However, I already had a troll. A high-leveled creature with a large number of health points, I thought, eyeing Klaus. Therefore, it would be more useful to take the second option, the Mongolian riders.

Flying Boar Rider

Life has taught wild boars and their allies that it is not always possible to be the strongest one. However, if you are cunning enough, you can catch up with weak enemies and escape from more powerful ones.

As soon as I clicked on this option, the changes happened. Their armor was now lighter. The pig's legs stretched out and were covered with muscles. In the hands of the goblin, instead of a rusty scimitar, there was now a moldy wooden bow.

"Klaus, cover everyone with this powder and don't forget about yourself," I commanded.

The troll immediately went to carry out my order. I had to crush another mysterious stone to have enough of this dust for every member of my army. After the dust was sprinkled on all creatures, my detachment immediately became much stronger. I wondered what could be found inside the fortress if you could come across such treasures near its walls. The troll rubbed the powder in his hands. I touched his skin and entered the game menu.

Choose an upgrade option

Troll Shaman

Special Abilities: the magic spells of the first circle

Troll Warrior

Special Abilities: the reflection of magic

It wasn’t even worth thinking about this choice. I didn’t have any mages and had no clue how to manage them. I also feared that the nature of my friend Klaus could change after such a transformation. My decision was clear.

Troll Warrior

Most of the enemies did not pose a particular danger to the mighty trolls, but powerful magic often caused them to meet their death on the battlefield. That's why the strongest warriors of all the tribes underwent special training, which enabled them to gain the strength needed to reflect the magic used against them back at the caster.

Klaus did not change much, except that his skin now had an alabaster shade to it. His club had become darker which made his weapon look more similar to mine. After sitting down together and talking about the changes, we broke into a wide grin. A gust of wind swept past us, swirling bits of forest debris in a chaotic dance.

"I feel the enemy," said the troll, sniffing.

"Then don't waste time. Let's find them, my followers of darkness!" I commanded. With the new changes, it seemed that no one was too dangerous for us. All the members of my detachment rushed forward after hearing this. We were moving much faster now. The trees flashed before us on either side, when we weren’t just running them down.

"He’s stopped moving. He felt us and has begun preparing for the battle," Klaus warned me and seized his club with both hands: ready to activate the cloud of mud.

"Weapons down!" I yelled out.

Ahead, I could see the glade. The enemies were standing on the edge of the forest, on the other side, ready to meet us. I wanted to make sure who it was, since I had promised myself that I’d be more careful this morning. However, there was no need now to bother with scouting. Even through the thick leaves, one could see the enemies the same as they could see us.

"It's not enough to stop us. We will teach them a lesson using our might!" I growled. Ten warriors were standing next to a haughty-looking player. What did he expect from this fight? Only ten creatures were with him; nor were they higher than the fourth level. I thought to myself that one troll could have killed them all.

"For the Dark Lord!" Klaus and the goblins shouted at once. They shared my faith in victory as they felt contempt for the enemy.

"What about eating something before the fight?" uttered one of the pigs and his brothers immediately supported his idea. I was tired of their whining.

"Is that really necessary? There are oaks growing out there," I said pointing to the rows of trees at the edge of the glade. "Leave the goblins and go dig the acorns. We’ll manage without you."

Either they were not paying attention to the threat in my voice or they were just pretending. The pigs cheerfully ran to their long-awaited meal.

One more fight, one that should be fun. We slowly stepped out of the forest to face the enemy. A troll and twenty goblin archers versus ten knights in heavy armor. Then came the thought that I would need drummers. Such a moment clearly lacked solemnity. Maybe I should have taught a couple of goblins how to play them.

Player Milos Lansky

I kept my gaze on the opponent. The player waved his hand, but surprisingly none of his soldiers moved in our direction. I didn’t have time to realize what this meant. Was it a trap?! Confirming my fears two flying orbs with tentacles, a giant central eye and a rapacious mouth floated from the bushes, surrounding my detachment. I remembered similar creatures in the games of old Earth. They were supposed to eat brains and subjugate other units.

Beholder, level 4

A Creature, class 2

I took a moment to find out that even despite all their improvements, all my units were still only first class. I was sure that this was not a good sign. At this point, a bearded man in a dark robe came out from behind the knights and a golden glow surrounded them. He was a priest. How could he manage to get such units in less than two days? Even with all of that, I did not plan to lose.

Giving the goblins the command to hold the back line, Klaus and I rushed forward in spite of the danger. It was necessary to reach these strange enemies. As we were approaching, the huge eyes blinked and some semi-transparent haze was cast in our direction. The goblins and I were paralyzed at the same instance, but thanks to his new ability, the troll was able to reflect the first spell. The second spell, from another beholder, immediately got to him. My army, which just a moment ago had seemed invincible, was now standing without moving and the enemy soldiers were approaching us to end the fight. Was it really true that brute force was nothing against really powerful magic?

At that moment, I heard a familiar crash of falling trees and several fallen oaks buried the bodies of the beholders. In search of acorns, the boars had dug the ground up and destroyed the roots of the Forest Giants. The trees could not stand their own weight and fell down. As the effects of the paralysis disappeared, I broke into a grin.

"Proceed to phase two," I shouted in an icy tone. I wanted this player to think that everything was happening just as I had planned.

"Kill the bastards!" Klaus joyfully joined me, swinging his club.

As I suspected, in a direct fight, they were not a real threat to us. The troll broke through their defenses and trampled the priest that was trying to cast spells. Most of the goblins managed to mount their pigs and did not let anyone escape.

Player Milos Lansky defeated

You have received 3 levels

Strength is increased by 3 points

You have received 3 points of attributes

You can choose a specialization

The troll and boar riders also received a level up. The battle ended quite well for me, except for the fact that I had just gotten lucky.

As I was checking what options I got with my specialization, from under one of the fallen trees came a smothered hiss. It turned out that one of those giant eyes had managed to survive. While I stood still, hesitant, Klaus immediately seized his club and went to finish it off. On one hand, it was the right decision. This was extra experience and it was a bad idea to leave any enemies alive for sure. On the other hand, why shouldn’t I try to become a little bit stronger?

"Hey, beholder, how about joining us? We, the dark ones, should stick together." The giant eye was silent. I kept talking, "I promise you delicious brains every six months."

"Once a month," came a low whisper, which seemed to ring in my mind.

"Once every two months," I said. My voice was firm. I was sure that there would be a lot more enemy corpses, but it would not be right to agree right away in a negotiation.

A Beholder, level 4, has joined your detachment

A creature class 2

Beholders can control up to 40 creatures, but no more than two species

For some reason, instead of pride and confidence in my abilities, I became a bit sad. Some giant, overgrown orb of flesh with an eye in the center had the same abilities and control of units as me. Had I defeated myself from the very beginning, choosing the path of a warrior? By some miracle, I had managed to win today, but what would happen next?

There was only one way to deal with it—I had to become stronger.

Samantha Hollins

Dan looked strange this evening. He seemed to hide in the corner, staring at the stewards walking along the hall. At first, I thought that he had lost to someone today, but the fourth-place result proved that my guess was wrong. A few vicious glances that could only be noticed if you had been training to do so since childhood showed whom he had met today.

I decided to walk up, say hello, and try to find out the details.

"Good evening, Alessandro." Did you eat something spoiled? You look upset!"

"Don't be sarcastic," he said in an icy tone. It was a good sign. It meant he was ready to talk to me and didn't mind violating the protocol. His family was powerful enough that he could afford it, the same as mine. But since the conversation had been initiated by me I had to observe protocol.

"What happened? I can see that you want to talk to someone. We don't have common interests, except maybe the ones in the game. So why not just indulge your desire?”

"This newbie. He brought me down, so easily!" His lips tightened into a narrow line. He was indeed furious.

"Tell me," I said and sat on the nearest sofa. Apparently, it hadn’t been just a direct attack this time. Alessandro was not a guy who could be beaten that way; especially on the second day. Something had been done that was much more subtle.

"Perhaps I'll tell you. Anyway, sooner or later, you will know about it." He looked around, making sure that there was no one around him, and continued, "I noticed him early in the morning. Well, anyone would have noticed him. Everyone in his detachment was making so much noise. They should be prohibited from moving through the forest."

"So you decided to leave the fortress?" I asked in a low voice, smiling. I thought it was a good 'burn.'

"Of course not. But then his troops began to bring down the trees." He confirmed my guess that he did have a fortress.

"Has he already gotten siege technology?" I asked in surprise.

"As it turns out, he hasn’t. But I couldn’t leave it without making sure and I ordered a couple of soldiers to do a reconnaissance of the enemy's position. However, he had been waiting for this. They were immediately captured and taken prisoner. And then...I didn’t expect such a psychological attack from anyone. He ordered the goblins to wear the clothes of my soldiers, smeared them in mud and sent them to the gate."

"Wow..." I murmured. Everyone knew that after the two ninety-sixth amendments in the game had been introduced the same rules that applied to real life, when it came to respecting the dead.

"I could hardly keep my soldiers from charging. All of them wanted to attack immediately, to avenge their fallen comrades."

"Was he waiting for this? Was he ready to retreat and trap you in an ambush?"

"I also thought that," Alessandro sighed sadly. "I was sure that I had unraveled his plan and even decided to make my move. I thought he would keep all of his troops back for an ambush, and I would be able to transport the most valuable things from the fortress to a safe place."

"Your starting bonus, are they the building crystals?"

"Yes, they are. After everything I had heard about him after the first day, I didn't want to risk it. But he figured me out." As he said it, I saw the panic in his eyes. We were used to always having a couple of tricks in reserve, and no one knew until the end what exactly we were planning to do. "He didn't waste time. Somehow he learned the direction my soldiers were going and intercepted the cargo."

"How much was there?" This was very important information, but I hoped he would not stop talking.

"Half of the chest, the largest stones. It's enough to build a small fortress if you meet all the conditions."

“Do you think he will manage to break them?" In reply, he shrugged his shoulders in confusion.

This newcomer was a real champion. Without any effort, he dealt with players who had Family bonuses right from the start. Even at times when they were particularly strong. When did he manage to find time to gather information and do all this planning?

"Alessandro, Samantha," Milos said. Milos was the last representative of one of the ancient houses of Eastern Europe. He approached us and bent his head. I wondered what he wanted. Maybe I should ask him since he had come to us on his own, but I did not want to show my interest.

"Well, what do you want?" Alessandro could not hold back and asked, his voice shaking. He must have had a hard day, if he could not manage to keep control of his behavior like this.

"I lost all my beholders. He lured them and crushed them with trees. Most surprisingly, it happened that I had had a good start. I specifically waited a day for my neighbors to upgrade their troops to get a chance to take control of their best units. I had already destroyed two players when he appeared and dealt with me literally in a couple of minutes." The one who had seemed so confident just a moment ago was now was standing in front of us clearly depressed. "Have you already faced this guy, Dan Kornev?"

I couldn’t help laughing. Were we forming a loser’s club here?

"Let me guess, he trapped you and then he outplayed you. It was some kind of trick, but until the last moment you were sure that you were in control of the situation.”

"A very accurate description, but don't you think that we all lost sight of one important thing?" Next to our group appeared one more person. Vasily Mamontov? A Russian? When did he manage to get close to us? "He could kill each of us. It was only necessary to wait and use his success but he didn’t."

"Do you think that this is a hint of his leadership in the alliance?" The first time during this evening, a spark of interest flared up in the eyes of Alessandro.

"I don't know, but I will watch his further successes with interest." Milos did not look surprised. So it seemed that he had also considered such an option.

Then, why hadn’t I thought about it? Apparently, I was thinking too much about this guy. I had studied hard, preparing for this game, not for this.

"Welcome to the club." A pleasant smile touched my lips as I greeted Vasily.

Chapter Four

Dan

“Well, a little bit to the right.” I was standing behind the troll, who was holding the beholder, trying to eyeball the distance. “This time, try to throw him past the tree and right at the target.”

Klaus only shrugged guiltily, while an expression of total despair appeared on the disgusting face of the giant, living eye. I decided to cheer him up and even stroked one of his tentacles.

Maybe we shouldn’t do this. I heard a trembling voice in my head say this, seemingly out of nowhere. It seemed that our spherical monster was exhausted, but there was nothing to be done about it. I wasn’t going to deviate from our tried and true method.

After our victory over Milos, I had decided to retreat to our camp but somehow managed to get lost. I was pretty sure I hadn't passed these settlements before. We had already seen three new villages, and even my natural inattentiveness wasn't enough to explain having missed so many.

We walked past the first settlement, just in case some hidden threat decided to try and surprise us, but decided that we needed to deal with the second fortress. That’s when I invented my new plan of attack. We would throw the beholder into the enemy’s camp, where he would take control of everyone he could—especially those guarding the gate—then make a path out of the fortress and all run away in a hurry.

After this first operation, we encountered a couple of mishaps, had casualties from failed throws, but our small army still increased by thirty peasants, eight spearmen, and four arbalesters from the siege of the village. We also got about twenty bags of different resources, but it was unlikely that they were precious. It was hard to be overly optimistic about the value of sawdust, manure, and parched peas.

No one dared to pursue us, so we just kept moving forward and faced the next base of another player. Before we engaged the enemy player, we were busy planning about how to repeat our prior, successful mission. The boar riders and my new warriors had infiltrated and hidden in the vicinity, ready to cover the retreat of our hero, who, by the way, deserved a real name of his own.

“Stierlitz, you have to do this,” I said, looking over at the beholder, ready for his launch. Stierlitz, I like it, I thought, as Klaus loaded the beholder into his hand. Finally, I approximated the trajectory and signaled to Klaus. “Fire!”

The troll made a quick movement with his hand and the beholder was launched toward the enemies.

“A perfect shot!” came the enthusiastic whispering of the goblins, who were always ready to support any initiative of their bigger brother.

Leadership +1, total 4

The maximum number of creatures in the cell is increased to 40

Even the most insane of your ideas leads to a positive result, and your followers can’t help but appreciate this fact.

I could only guess at what was so insane about my plan, it seemed to be a standard tactic. Stierlitz landed on the top of the archer’s tower, and now, as he had taken control of as many captives as he could, he was in a hurry to get back to us. This time, I had made sure that he would avoid rookie mistakes: archers were the first ones to be taken under control, even before the guardians near the gates. The next targets were those who could run faster than him, in order to ensure they wouldn’t escape his control, and the final command I had given to the beholder was to control the people standing near the valuables. After that, fifteen control slots remained in the eye, so I believed that there wouldn’t be any difficulties.

The gate opened, and a large crowd of people ran out in our direction. I caught sight of Stierlitz, who had been hit by a couple of arrows, now sticking out of his body, and then some others attracted my attention.

Some figures appeared in the doorway. One was a player, a young boy, and a female priest was escorting him. At this point, I could only wonder what consequences this confrontation would lead to.

“You have won, Dan Kornev. Now let’s end this fairly, one on one.” A smile touched my lips. Was he really serious? Who on earth would be tricked like this? To bet a victory that was already yours for such a temporary pleasure such as honor... And then it dawned on me that my entire army was watching me with such pride and eagerness, which immediately gave this suggestion a lot more weight. Who knew what would happen to my army’s loyalty if I refused. I didn’t really want to fight; it could be the end of me and my army if I missed one random spell.

“I won’t kill you,” I answered in a harsh voice. It was important to continue playing the role of the Dark Lord. “We will wait until your heart is hardened by defeat—the same hardening of your heart that will lead you to the dark side.” These words somehow came to me from another story, but no one seemed to have noticed. “You and your companion will stay alive, but, when you look at each other, you will always remember this dark day.”

“He showed no mercy.” Tears appeared, even on the cheeks of goblins. “That’s so cruel of you, milord.”

“Thank you.” The young man bowed before me.

“Thank you,” the priest repeated, a look of surprise in her eyes.

And at that very moment, the tower where the beholder had recently landed fell down on top of the player, who was not expecting such misfortune. The priestess stood as if nothing had happened.

Player Carlos del Mayo defeated

You have received 1 level

Upgrade of skills blocked prior to specialization

Damn it, I thought, as I remembered that I had still not made the difficult choice of what to specialize in.

“Dan,” said the priestess. I fixed my gaze on her, wondering whether she would attack me or just step back into her fortress. “I heard your words about hardened hearts, and as I have just lost my master, I wish to destroy this whole world.”

As she said this, the name of her class changed to “dark priestess.” She was a creature of the second level-class, the same as our beholder. Therefore, I had a strong feeling that something dangerous was approaching me.

“The opposite is also true,” she continued, as if nothing had happened, “you were the last one who did something good for my master. Looking at you, I will always remember him with a smile.”

A Dark Priestess, level 6, has joined your detachment

Class 2 creature

Dark priestesses have the power to use an enemy’s strength against them

It was strange that I hadn’t even been asked for my permission, but, of course, I didn’t mind her being in my army, and my new cell for a new unit would now come in handy.

“Should we capture the fortress?” asked Klaus. His gaze was following our new ally with some strange jealousy behind it.

“No, just leave it.” It was hard to refuse taking more of this dead player’s treasures, but half of my army was already overloaded with resources and there could still be traps inside. I didn’t want to take any risks. “This fortress will delay a strong enemy for a while if they try to siege it. I guess we can think less about the weaker enemies for now, and play a more serious game against the strongest players, planning our steps in advance.”

“It seems that you are not only strong and honorable, my lord,” said the dark priestess, with a bow of her head, “but also very wise.”

Reputation with darkness is increased +1

Having only dark creatures in your army enables you to have twice the number of cells for your units

This was the best present I could’ve asked for. A little bit of foolish talk, some ridiculous excuses, and the power of my army is doubled. Pleased with myself, I lie on the back of one of my pigs, who seemed to be immediately promoted in their own system of ranks, and pointed in a new direction. Somehow, I was sure that this time I wouldn’t make a mistake and we’d get home without fail. In the meantime, taking the opportunity, I decided to take up my class specialization. Fortunately, the forest was thin, no bumps were expected, and one could expect to not be distracted. But it wasn’t easy to concentrate, as a disturbing thought about the optimization of my army was creeping into my mind. The fact that the priestess, troll, and beholder took up three times more space than all my boar riders put together made me feel tense. However, this problem also gave me a lot of opportunities to be creative. My favorite idea was a flying witch on a ball, although, for some reason, I wasn’t sure that game makers had foreseen the possibility of a witch driving the beholder.

“Well then.” I disregarded my thoughts and opened the menu of specialization choices.

Three classes are available:

Knight

Feature: your protection and health points double

Paladin

Feature: access to the magic of light

Barbarian

Feature: your attack and health points double

A common feature of all classes: your stats are transferred to the soldiers of your army

To put it mildly, I was disappointed. It hurt that I hadn’t even gotten a normal class to choose from. The knight wasn’t my path for sure. It doesn’t matter how many times you multiply by zero, in the end, your result will still be the same, and that was the knight class when applied to me. Considering all my stats, it was definitely the worst choice. One might think that the way of the barbarian seemed pretty good; it was true that the growth of my strength did look promising, but the increase in health was a thorn in my side. I imagined goblins and pigs laughing at their leader, who had wasted a specialization on a half-useless class. All that was left was the paladin, but that was also a very controversial option—who knew whether I would get something valuable from this magic of light or not? It could just end up being some healing. Taking into account that I would most likely die from just one blow dealt by any serious enemy, such a reward could easily win the prize for most useless.

To distract myself, I put my new stat points into strength.

Achievement "First Line of Strength"

You’ve reached thirty points of strength and proven that you take your path seriously. As a reward, the gods bless you with a new madness

Reward: Berserker class

Feature: you can crush creatures, objects, and structures

Accept?

The description could’ve been anything. At this point, it didn’t matter, but it was obvious to me that a unique class couldn’t be bad. Moreover, I gained a stat point and put it into strength, increasing it to thirty-one.

“Thank you, my Lord,” Klaus rumbled cheerfully. “I feel more powerful.”

My pigs decided not to postpone a test of their new abilities and immediately crushed a couple of trees. In my eyes, they were a true army, destroying everything in its way.

I immediately remembered the very beginning, when the troll and I had been crushing everything together. I wondered what had happened to that girl—what was her name, Samantha? Did she get out of the three thousand range of player ranks, or had she already been eliminated from the competition? Her elimination seems unlikely, I thought. Yesterday, I had seen her standing and flirting with a bunch of dandies with smug expressions and painted lips. I should probably also get acquainted with someone. I had a lot of spare time in the real world, but it seemed that morals were corrupted in this society. Settling back down on the back of my boar, I fell into a reverie for a couple of hours.

After a while, we left the forest and went out into the countryside. I could hardly believe that we had finally made it to this place. But the map did confirm that it really was the first village that I had captured after the fight with the blonde. The settlement was almost unrecognizable.

No walls or fortifications appeared, but lines of houses and fields stretched for hundreds of yards. Pink spots of pigs and green silhouettes of goblins were running around everywhere. When had they managed to move to this place and breed so much? I asked myself but didn’t find an answer.
At that moment, our triumphantly returning army was noticed and the village was drowned in a wave of exultant hubbub.

Leadership +1, total 5

The maximum number of creatures in the cell is increased to 50

More than a thousand living creatures welcome you warmly and, most importantly, sincerely

It seemed that I had returned just in time; considering my increase in leadership and reputation I got from the dark priestess, I could now raise a powerful army. But the first thing to do was to figure out what had happened in my absence. As I read about the settings of the village, everything immediately became clear. Most of the players develop fortifications and new types of units, but in my case, the basic algorithm remained unchanged, apparently written in the very beginning by the girl. All resources were spent on the building of houses and farms. Of course, all structures were of very poor quality, but my pigs and goblins, who had come here to examine my lands, were delighted by such luxury. Simple little houses appeared to be great sheds for the boars and good barracks for my green soldiers, and the rutabagas that were sown all around raised my managerial qualities to an unattainable height. It wasn’t surprising that in such a wonderful atmosphere they had begun to reproduce at a great rate, with a quadruple coefficient, and I now had under my control a little more than 800 pigs and almost a thousand goblins.

“Оur Lord! Mas-ter!” The hum of voices turned into a chant, only occasionally interrupted by some grunts, yet some in my army appeared to be unable to express their admiration.

One had to admit, it looked impressive. But what was I supposed to do with this vast crowd? I couldn’t recruit all of them. I had five points of leadership: one and a half went to my unique creatures, leaving only three and a half points available. With a maximum size of fifty units in a squad-cell, that meant I could only have three hundred and fifty regular soldiers under my authority. To be honest, I hadn’t even seen non-magician heroes with such large armies in the videos. Usually, there were a few of them, but they were strong—this was probably a sign that my warriors should also increase their levels.

“Listen to me, my pigs and goblins, my Army of Darkness…” I almost said something wrong, but paused and then continued, “The Forces of Light have awakened, and they aren’t going to let us enjoy our peaceful life.”

I immediately heard numerous grumbles and promises of various punishments to those who would try to prevent them from enjoying their rutabaga paradise.

“We can surrender, or we can protect what is dear to our hearts,” I said in a loud voice.

“Protect!” The crowd exploded with the cry.

“Then listen to my order. You will now split into groups of fifty riders and go in all directions. Destroy any enemies you meet along the way. Remember, no one should get to this place and destroy our blooming,” and smelly, it had to be said, “city! Tomorrow morning, the seven most powerful squads will begin serving directly under my command.”

It seemed I had given a good, inspiring speech, and now my pigs and goblins were involved in some rowdy activity. As for my little detachment plan, I had an interesting trip scheduled to visit the troll’s forest. For some reason, I was sure that Klaus, even if he didn’t want to talk about it, wasn’t the only inhabitant of this place.

“Let’s go.” I waved a hand to attract the attention of my remaining warriors, and directed them around the settlement. “We won’t go straight through, otherwise our villagers will never forgive us for destroying their fields.”

“What’s our next target?” asked Klaus. Stierlitz came closer and began to listen, with the priestess following him. I thought about giving her a name, or at least asking if she already had one.

“We’ll find you a fiancée.” As I said this, the troll broke out into a smile.

“Were there others in your forest?” I asked carefully.

“No,” he answered. There wasn’t a hint of a smile on his face. ”There’d been only men in our village. We’d planned to kidnap elves for breeding, yet somehow we didn’t find any of them.”

I noted that there were still other trolls; that was fine. But I was kind of confused by his remark about the elves, and I wasn’t alone. The dark priestess was looking at him with wide eyes.

“How? You’re so big, and they’re small. Or would they have played the role of a beautiful toy?” I asked after a while.

“Toys for a game? No, trolls can change their size during mating season and morph into people, like dragons. Everything is fine, that way.” He paused. To put it mildly, I couldn’t even begin to imagine how that really worked. At this point, Klaus couldn’t stand it anymore and broke into laughter. “Grgh, ghrgh, I can’t believe that you really believed me. Trolls aren’t dragons!”

I looked around—the eye was also shaking in slight convulsions; I was being laughed at by a bag with tentacles. For the next few hours that we spent looking for the road, both of them laughed, remembering that stupid joke.

The session is complete. After 60 seconds you will be disconnected. Try to finish all your important actions by that time

It was time to return to my real life, and I’d almost forgotten…

“Priestess, what is your name?”

“Christina.” A strange one, I thought. It seemed too simple. At that moment, she caught my eye and added, “Dan, we’ll wait for you. Come back as soon as possible.”

Exit

After five minutes of lying on a bed, I composed myself and headed for the common room. It was annoying that I couldn’t have my meals separately and was forced to tolerate the presence of these boring snobs. I knew what would happen in advance—as I entered the hall, Samantha came up to me. What a persistent girl she was, though, I had to admit, she was very attractive. But what was I supposed to do? I was super hungry, and at the same time, I felt it would be really uncomfortable to eat in front of her. If this were an ordinary party, I would’ve suffered even for the sake of a small chance to have a good time with her. But this was a different world, and I had lived here long enough to understand that girls like her didn’t date guys like me. Somehow, at this point, I remembered that childish story about trolls and elves.

I wondered what she was talking about. What was my plan for the next stage of the Game? It appeared that it was going to be an interesting one—it turned out that soon, all of the lands in ‘Pantheon’ would be divided into future kingdoms, and the war for power would start between players. In some areas, monarchs would ascend to the throne, and in others, there would be local, independent lords, but it didn’t matter. The important part was to finish the process as quickly as possible, in order to receive resources from our new status and prepare for the final stage—the battle of five armies, the fight of the largest alliances in an attempt to decide on the winner. Maybe this conversation wasn’t such a waste of time, I thought as I continued to ponder the matter.

“Thank you,” I said, then stepped aside, away from her, and hid in a crowd of people.

Why was she looking at me so viciously?

Samantha Hollins

How was it possible that he hadn’t understood my hints? Could there be another reason for telling him such things about the Game, if not to discuss the possibility of our future alliance? He just stood there, pretending that he was listening. There was no sign from him that he understood what I’d meant. I hated that bastard.

Sharp nails pierced my palm, and that helped me come to my senses. Samantha, you’re already a grown-up, you can’t let your emotions control you. I took a deep breath, now I was able to go back. Alessandro, Milos, and Vasily were looking at me attentively, waiting to hear the results of the talk.

“He pretended that he didn’t understand what I was talking about.” I raised my wine glass and, having hidden my eyes, started watching their reactions.

“I don’t know what game he’s playing,” Vasily Mamontov said slowly.

“I sent spies and scouts to his territory,” Milos shared. That was interesting, since I had done the same and no one had returned. “Both high and low level ones, but all of them were killed by pigs and goblins. It seems the forests are swarming with these creatures.”

“If he’s strengthened his patrols in the area, it means there is definitely a good reason for such behavior.” Alessandro scratched his chin thoughtfully. It looked disgusting; I could never understand what other girls like about bearded men. “I also tried sending scouts, and it didn’t work out.”

“I’d say that the answer is obvious, but your pride doesn’t allow you to see it.” I turned my head. Mamontov? What was his point? “He’s reduced our numbers. The question is how many resources have you spent on attempts to understand his plans, instead of investing in your own development? I have wasted ten.”

“Fifteen,” said Milos.

“I’ve spent ten,” murmured Alessandro. As for me, I decided to stay silent. But this Russian was right, what had I been thinking, spending almost twenty percent of all my resources on spying on that dunderhead Dan.

“You see, even doing nothing, he’s managed to slow us down and increase the gap between us and him. Whatever we do, he’s always ahead. To be honest, I haven’t met such a dangerous player in a long time.”

Yeah. It’s so annoying, but at the same time, very interesting, I thought to myself.

I fixed my gaze on a man coming toward us.

Carlos del Mayo

Today, I was trying to get drunk. There was a very good reason for this—I had come into the Game to prove to my brother that I could do much more than just run the family business in one single country, but who could’ve known that it would end this way. I had already drunk a whole glass of straight whiskey, but the alcohol hadn’t done much to help me. At least it strengthened my resolve to talk with my brother. It was the same way as it had been in childhood. He was standing with his friends, pretending that he didn’t know me at all, but today I was going to be brave enough to not walk past him.

“Brother, I’ve lost!” I finally said.

“Leave me alone.” I got a disappointed look from Alessandro, as his friends watched me with slight interest.

“I didn’t just lose. I also made an avatar of our sister and lost her, too.” We were immediately left alone, as family business was still a private topic.

“An avatar of our sister? How did you manage that?” I was surprised to see my brother looking a little bit nervous. Where is his usual equanimity? There was something wrong with his look; it seemed he had also faced some problems.

“I only received a small family bonus, so I chose a rare creature—a priest. When asked to choose its appearance, I remembered our cousin from the senior branch of the family. I knew that if she were to learn about this, I’d be dead. But, at first, it just seemed funny, and I was sure that any accidents were impossible.”

“Okay, it doesn’t matter. This is a game where any member of your army can die. I will do my best to make sure that she doesn’t learn about this, now leave me alone.”

My brother still didn’t understand what I had done. If the avatar of Christina had just died, it wouldn’t have been that important. If it had happened that way, it could’ve just ended as a serious conversation inside of our family.

“But she didn’t die, another player lured her away. I still can’t believe that it happened.”

“What? But priests have absolute loyalty, how is that even possible? And you want to tell me that out there somewhere, in another player’s squad, exists an exact copy of our sister, made with your permission, with which they can do whatever they want?”

I didn’t even want to think about that side of the problem. Who knew what they had already done with her. However, in addition to the moral humiliation, there were always political risks that our family couldn’t ignore.

“Christina will never forgive me, will she?” Do I really behave myself as a small child?

“It doesn’t matter, now it’s about the honor of our family. Who did it? Maybe we’ll be able to negotiate about this.” I was looking at my brother hopefully; in this, I was relying on him. I didn’t dare approach him myself.

“There, that guy.” I pointed at the man who’d attacked my fortress, and Alessandro’s face fell.

What was with Alessandro? Where had his determination gone? Who was this new person? If my brother didn’t want to do this... or maybe even he was afraid of negotiating with that man?

“How did he do it?” I wanted to see through his game myself.

“He sieged my fortress and then threw a beholder into it.” How could he have thought of such a thing?

“But there’s a fifty percent chance that his creature would die to fall damage. What have you done to annoy him so much that he decided to take such a risk?”

I wished I knew. I would not have risked an encounter with a monster of the second level so easily. Once more, I glanced at my attacker from this morning, trying to remember him. His behavior was so childish and carefree, but I wasn’t going to fall for those tricks again.

“I don’t know. Maybe he learned about the priest and needs her for some mission.” For some reason, I couldn’t believe that someone would take advantage of the situation in an attempt to settle old scores with my family. It was still a corporation; it kept tight control over the confrontation between players, to ensure that there was no need for this.

“Okay. He threw a beholder into your castle, but what was his next move? Did he take control of her with some dirty trick?” I could understand brother’s questioning. It seemed almost impossible to me that he had thought it all through and then managed to organize everything.

“No. Priests have absolute resistance to mental attacks, and I’d had the time to devote her to the light. So even if the protection was removed, she would’ve died together with the beholder. I thought I had foreseen everything.” I tried to point out all the efforts that had gone into the avatar’s protection.

“You’re straying from the subject.” Alessandro immediately stopped my attempts at justification. “So he didn’t even try. It’s just like him to do it that way—he knew everything, therefore, he captured everyone except her. What was his next step?”

“He opened the gate and moved toward his main army. Christina and I stepped forward to die with honor, but he pretended that he had gotten everything he’d needed and was about to leave. To be honest, I had already said goodbye to my life and was really confused as I heard his words. I was nervous, and at the point when it was about to die, I thanked him. Even then, I didn’t immediately realize what a mistake I had made.”

“I guess... I’m starting to understand exactly what he did.” Brother’s stare became icy again. “Your priest saw her master expressing gratitude toward him, and then you suddenly died. The only thing that remained was for him to bond with her, getting around all of the rules of the game. But how did he manage to get rid of you so that she didn’t associate your death with him? Otherwise, it wouldn’t have worked.”

“I think the mission of his beholder was not only to take my soldiers away,” it was the only explanation for why he’d been thrown exactly there, “but also to damage the tower he’d landed on, so that at the right moment, Dan just had to give a signal. It was destroyed, and I was crushed.”

“What a complicated combination, and everything was done for the sake of the priest. I can’t even imagine what purpose he has in mind for her. And I can only guess who this guy is.” It seemed my brother had his own interest in helping to defeat this person. I should look in the portal for information about this guy; somehow, I didn’t know anything at all about him. It was unthinkable for me to be this clueless about him.

“We should go and try to negotiate with him. Maybe he’ll let sister’s avatar go,” I said. I still had a little hope that, by some miracle, everything would turn out fine.

“Do you really think that he will agree to that, after all the trouble he went through? No, if we come up to him, it will show our weakness. At this point, just be patient and wait. We’ll strike back soon with a plan to defeat him.”

Chapter Five

Dan

Since all my boar riders were busy farming in the neighborhood, I decided to take only goblins to the troll’s forest. Firstly, Klaus had their respect and admiration, and I hoped it would give us more confidence and help us look more esteemed in the eyes of our hosts and make their attitude toward us more respectful. In my plan, Klaus was supposed to play a serious role in our negotiations with his relatives, in order to set a more courteous tone. Secondly, the pigs were too noisy and impudent. I just wanted to have a little rest, staying away from them and their assault of the senses. Under my command, two hundred and fifty goblins were left, with the support of the troll, beholder, and dark priestess. I was sure that it would be more than enough to deal with any danger we could possibly face in the forest.

On the way, I asked the goblins to gnaw on the middle of the largest spherical root crops and organize a detachment of drummers. It didn’t turn out very well from a purely musical perspective, but the Game did appreciate the efforts of my green drummers.

Inspiration

Resistance to negative effects on your mind is increased to 100%

Buff is active while drums are heard

Despite the fact that it wasn’t a battle effect, absolute protection from mental spells like horror or other types of control was not something one could disregard.

“Very good music! Louder!” said Klaus. His observation was very perceptive, and even the beholder began to move to the rhythm of this strange tune. However, the priestess seemed to suffer from the loud noise; she clapped her hands over her ears but stayed silent. Apparently, she didn’t want to be in opposition to our positive, collective opinion.

Traveling like this, we soon reached the trolls’ forest.

“And where should we go now?” I asked my large friend.

“Well, one has to find out where my tribe’s camp is right now.” Klaus began to walk along the glade, thoughtfully striking the trunks of different trees.

“What are you doing?” I appeared to be the only one in our detachment who was confused by these strange actions.

“Special forest magic,” Klaus grunted, delighting the stray pig that had somehow joined our campaign. As for me, I was deep in thought, trying to figure out what exactly he was doing. Probably, I thought, he is trying to calculate the distance. The question of how it was possible to calculate something like distance by banging on trees remained, though.

“Don’t even try to escape.” I was pulled out of my thoughts by a troll’s roar; it turned out this system worked much better than I had thought. As one of his blows hit the next tree, Klaus knocked a pair of goblins out of it. “Are you free agents, or do you work for the tribe?”

“For the glory of the tribe,” said one of the long-eared scouts proudly.

“Then it’s your lucky day. Lead me to the village.” The goblins stayed silent; they decided not to ask why they were lucky. They had no spirit of adventure in their hearts.

While the unlucky scouts were leading us to the troll’s settlement, cautiously gazing at their stronger brothers in my detachment, I decided to ask Klaus what exactly would happen next. Somehow, I had forgotten to ask that question before this point.

“Well, there are two options. First, I can ask for my part of the tribe’s power, and they won’t refuse me.” Klaus proudly looked at the army of goblins following us. “Every week, they will send us a troll that’s passed basic military training. Second, you could fight the strongest warrior of the tribe to prove our might, and then half of the fighters of the village would join us as a reward.”

A big increase in the power of my army was definitely good, but was it worth it?
Suddenly, I felt fatigue, but the feeling passed a moment later. Was it a sense of fear? It was strange—I didn’t want this fight, but to be honest, I wasn’t afraid of some mysterious troll; I felt the strength of my hands. My body was ready for battle. On the other hand, was I right to be so confident? A figure of a giant, wooly monster that was twice as big as Klaus suddenly appeared in front of us. Was it too early for me to have come to this place? I hope I’m ready. My body may have been ready, but my mind began questioning that.

“You have proven the strength of your spirit,” the troll said in a low voice. I could only wonder when I’d had the time to prove anything to him. Well, it doesn’t matter now, I thought. In the meantime, the troll continued, “The man who calls himself the Dark Lord, you’ve heard what Klaus had to say. As a delegate of the tribe, I can confirm his words—what is your choice? Shall we send you tribute, or will you fight for the right to prove your strength?”

Who asks questions like this? To refuse this was very dangerous, considering that all my chances for victory were connected with my leadership—if I rejected this offer, I had a strange feeling that my leadership attribute would be cut down by the Game system.

“Why do you ask? Of course I choose to fight. Who needs this pitiful charity when you can have it all?” All the goblins immediately supported me with an enthusiastic roar. As for me, I stood still, trying to estimate my chances of victory. Before me now stood the shaman or probably their leader, but my opponent would be an ordinary troll. It shouldn’t be that hard, I thought.

Leadership +1, total 6

The maximum number of creatures in each cell is increased to 60

For the sake of glory, you’ve entered into a battle with a much more powerful enemy before your soldiers’ eyes

An increase in leadership was good, but the system’s description of this situation gave me cause for concern. As it turned out, my bad feeling wasn’t unjustified. I was standing on one side of the large, trampled meadow, with my entire army behind me. Standing opposite me was the troll’s tribe, and in front of them was the gigantic figure of a troll, even bigger than the shaman we had met before. Judging by the song and dance he was performing, my current opponent was also not the leader of the tribe.

Troll Champion

Level 10

“Klaus, are you a dwarf?” I asked, getting nervous. My friend looked surprisingly small in comparison with his troll brothers.

“I’m just... still learning,” he retorted, seeming to shrink even more. I realized that I had accidentally insulted him, so now it was necessary to cheer him up, to raise his spirits for the upcoming battle. His sad face made me feel guilty, and that wasn’t what I needed at this point.

“Klaus, do you remember our first attack on the village?” As I asked, a twinkle immediately appeared in his eyes. This was the reaction I’d expected—our battle cry rang out loudly in the forest, and was taken up by the troll, who instantly forgot about all his complexes.

Wild Hunt, level 1

You get a blessing as two or more creatures give themselves to their animal instincts

Fatigue is reduced by 90%

Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance are increased +10

Somehow, I had totally forgotten about this buff—maybe this was my solution. If you can’t win, all that’s left to do is become stronger. I waved a hand to the goblins, and they immediately joined our duet.

You have received the buff "Unity"

Strength and Endurance are increased +10 for one day

My stats had become much better, but I wanted more. The floating figure of the beholder was nearby, waving his tentacles. Without wasting any time, I gave him a quick high five.

Your basic attributes are increased by 0.5%

Not too much of an increase, but that was just the beginning. I ordered my goblins into rows and ran past them, slapping my green soldiers’ little hands along the way. The extremely small bonus from the camaraderie stacked two hundred and fifty times. My health points had already begun to creep to over five hundred and the power was boiling up inside me, but I still wanted more. The second run along the lines of my warriors didn’t bring me anything in return. In the meantime, the troll champion had almost finished his dance and the fight was about to start. I cast a glance at the dark priestess Well, that’s also an option, I thought. Why shouldn’t I try it? If cries and high fives worked, why wouldn’t I get a good buff from a kiss for good luck?

“Hey, girl, damn it.” I had forgotten her name. I waved my hand to attract her attention, but it seemed she couldn’t hear anything through all the hubbub. Sometimes, you have to do everything on your own. I just came up to her and kissed her. And... nothing happened, there was no effect. What a strange game, I thought, it has no respect for the power of love. Romance and love seemed not to be fashionable in this game.

“Grang-grang-grang.” A crowd of trolls on their side of meadow began to chant, and our duel began.

I was an ordinary human, and tiny compared to the giant troll, but I noted that our clubs were approximately the same size. Stepping forward, we both dealt blows and, unlike me, my opponent stepped back. A smile appeared on my face—I wasn’t going to surrender. During the first couple of minutes, we moved around, circling the arena. I was only hit once, but this one blow threw me aside and I lost two hundred health points. The troll champion was a little more hurt than me, his right hand hanging limp and lifeless.

“Grang-grang-grang!” The crowd didn’t stop chanting. I caught a quick glance at Christina’s wrinkled face, suddenly remembering the name of my dark priestess. Was she making that expression because of the kiss?

A strong motivation to end this fight right now suddenly arose within me, and I started tapping a familiar rhythm with my weapon. There was a surprised look on the face of the troll shaman as the dust cloud covered me. It was protection from missile attacks, but this game was full immersion, and one shouldn’t forget about unwritten difficulties that could cause. Now I was much harder to notice. I rushed forward, one blow, then another, and that was the end; the fight was over.

A Troll Champion was defeated

You gain 2 levels

The ability “Rage” is unlocked

If your health is below 30%, your strength will increase by 10% for every lost percent of health

Ten trolls wish to join you

Accept?

The troll village now belongs to Dan Kornev

In order to accept the trolls, I was forced to distribute goblins from one detachment among the others. As a result, I got a free cell for my giants. Klaus seemed very pleased; after all, I partially said yes because I thought he’d missed communicating and socializing with others of his species.

“Congratulations, Klaus!” I decided to cheer him up a little. “Now you’re not just a dwarf troll but also a leader of the elite armor-piercing squad.”

Judging by the whispers that I heard coming from my new warriors, they liked the name of their detachment. As for Klaus, he appeared a little upset at my reminder about his size. Let’s just say, I took my vengeance on him... for blinding me earlier with his might.

“Well, do we go home now?” the voice of the beholder sounded in my head.

“We’ll have a festival in the honor of our victory, and there’ll be a lot of rutabagas,” many goblins immediately cried out in joy. It seemed the eye had broadcasted his question not only to me but to the minds of every member of my army at once as well.

“It’s not yet time to celebrate.” I calmed my soldiers. “First, we’ll visit my native village.”

It was true that now I wasn’t far from the place where the settlement should be. It would be foolish not to check out what was happening there—after all, I hadn’t visited that place in the very beginning of the Game, so I needed to investigate it for resources I could use. I wondered whether there’d been another such player in the whole history of Pantheon.

This time, we walked without singing any songs, everyone was already tired and prepared for the journey home. But the atmosphere was strange, the closer we got to the place where my village should be, the darker the forest around us became. At some point, there was nothing left except dead trees. I didn’t even want to think about what we’d find there, instead of my settlement. As I thought about giving the order to turn back, the forest ended, and we saw the burned down ruins of houses and a group of skeletons wandering around them. The skeletal monsters were green.

That green color wasn’t the color of their bones; they were green because they turned out to be allies of mine.

Your village was destroyed by enemies, but peasants that were supposed to wait for you couldn’t rest without fulfilling their duty

It was unexpected and interesting news, I took a step and emerged from the forest.

37 skeleton peasants, level 1, wish to join you

There was no space in the detachments for more units under my command, but I had the beholder, which immediately took control over the newbies. As for their stats: no strength, no dexterity, but extremely high endurance and load-carrying capacity. It was a pity, somehow I had already managed to fantasize about endless legions of undead in my army. It would seem it wasn’t my destiny to become a necromancer, but I was sure that I’d be able to find a use for these skeletons. They could drag a cart. My soldiers couldn't carry too much, otherwise, their speed would decrease, but these undead creatures were ideal loaders and carriers that would never grow tired.

Everything else in the village turned out to not be very interesting, so I just gave the command to return home. Since during the trip back all bags were carried by skeletons, we weren’t slowed by anything and even arrived at the village that I proudly called Rutabagas before dark. My pigs had already returned by this time, and for some mysterious reason, all of them appeared to be higher than level three now, so I decided not to waste time and raised my army.

The first detachment were trolls under the authority of Klaus, the second detachment was the dark priestess on her own, the third one was occupied by the beholder, along with the skeletons, and the remaining nine cells were filled with five hundred and forty battle boar riders.

The next task was to find a solution to the armament problem. It turned out that my goblins had already begun to break fences built in my village to make spears out of them, and I supported their initiative. Now skeletons were covered with our luggage, luckily they didn’t have eyes, otherwise, it could’ve been a problem, had they been able to see how much, and what they were carrying. But a good result of their ability to carry the loads was that now we had about two thousand spears that could also be used as missile weapons. Moreover, some of the undead were loaded with food, so I wasn’t afraid of a hungry rebellion from my own soldiers, at least in the next couple of days.

“Now you’ll be called GAD—Great Army of Destruction!” I waved my hand, indicating a seemingly random direction for our advance.

Game time was coming to an end, but I still didn’t lose hope that we’d face someone to conquer and continue advancing our army. It had been almost a whole day within the Game, and I still hadn’t met a single player; there was a lingering fear that I could lose my position as leader. And somehow my dream was still fulfilled, but as they say: fear the results of your desires. Before us now, was standing an enemy army; if just recently I had thought that I had a big one myself, right now I realized how much I’d been mistaken. Forty-five hundred and twenty creatures—the Game system immediately told me.

“Throw everything and retreat.” I didn’t lose my head. Goblins immediately executed my order, hurling their spears at the enemy, and about a hundred of their soldiers fell dead. Part of the enemy’s army rushed forward, forgetting about defense, trying to reach us as quickly as possible, since they thought we were unarmed now. Unlike the trolls, who were waiting for my next command, the goblins, as they got to the skeletons’ cart, got their new spears and threw them again. This time, the enemies lost more than two hundred, and, most importantly, it slowed their offensive. We’d managed to retreat into the forest; fortunately, none of the goblins had died. But it was still a retreat, and I didn’t have a clue about what to do next to win this fight.

Maybe it was the destiny of all the great armies, sooner or later, they had to suffer a defeat—but somehow, it had happened too early with me.

After 60 seconds you will be disconnected

Apparently, my disgraceful defeat would only continue tomorrow.

Samantha Hollins

My intelligence service reported that the Pig patrols had retired to their camp almost four hours ago, and ever since then, I started getting even more strange information about Dan. I’d just wanted to follow him to find a place for our future battlefield; it was necessary to show him that no one should underestimate the power of ancient aristocratic families. Negotiating from a position of weakness—at the moment, things were going well enough that I didn’t need to resort to such extreme measures.

The first thing that struck me as odd—he went to the area of high-leveled monsters, and the most surprising thing was that he’d managed to get there. Usually, there was the Game protection that would help inexperienced players not lose their army—usually high-level spells of horror, cast by the leader of any strong tribe. But somehow it hadn’t had any effect: either Dan was a player that had been put into the Game by the administration—I couldn’t even imagine why they would’ve decided to do such a thing, especially in such an obvious way—or he knew a lot more about the Game than he tried to show.

What a show he gave us before the fight! What was this ritual all about? A sudden thought came into my mind, that my anger had been caused solely by his kiss with that dark priestess from his squad. She looked vaguely familiar to me. The battle began, the trolls started to chant a melody that was supposed to decrease all attributes of their opponent by one percent every second, but somehow it didn’t work. Of course, it was the dark priestess and her ability to repel curses—judging by her face, she was having a hard time, but not a single curse ended up affecting her master.

It was hard to imagine that I’d ever say something like this before I met this guy, but a solo victory over a monster-champion was trivial in comparison to what he’d found in the ruins of his former village. I remembered that Milos had been bragging about how he had found and destroyed it, that he was the only one who’d managed to take a little revenge on Dan. But, as it turned out, the situation ended up being far from dire and he managed to use it in his favor. For the first time in the history of the game, undead creatures had been created. Unfortunately, I couldn’t look through their stats, but I knew that one should be especially careful in close combat with them.

However, it didn’t stop any of us: Alessandro, who nearly went into hysterics after this accident with the trolls, calculated the trajectory of Dan’s army, which surprisingly large for a player that had chosen the path of the warrior. And now we were standing in anticipation, becoming more and more nervous as the delay stretched. Somehow, even jokes about Milos, who’d managed to give the enemy not only the beholder but also skeletons, weren’t that funny anymore. And then Dan appeared before us.

To be honest, I’d wanted to see panic on his face at least once. ‘What else can you feel when you meet superior enemy forces, ready and waiting for you?’ But he just instantly commanded his soldiers to attack, and the next second, one hundred of our warriors were already dead. I could only wonder what kind of strength he had, if his soldiers could kill our footmen, who were armored, so easily. This attack seemed to leave his goblins unarmed and Milos immediately tried to take advantage of that mistake. And once again it was a trap; it turned out he’d used his skeletons to supply the army with missile weapons, and as Milos’ units started running toward them, they dealt a powerful blow that killed a lot more of our warriors.

It was time to exit the game, and somehow, I wasn’t so sure anymore that an attempt to unite and punish this guy for his pride was a good idea. I had to talk to him—in a hurry, I took just half an hour, I made elaborate preparations and left my room. Once again, an evening in a room full of recent enemies.

I went toward him determinedly; there was no reason for hesitation.

“Dan, I’d like to offer you an alliance.” It was straight to the point and simple, without any hints or trying to hide my true intent. My teachers would’ve been ashamed. But I just couldn’t wait any longer.

“Is it possible to talk about this outside the game?” Dan asked slowly. As for me, I’d completely forgotten that he wasn’t aware of the fact that I was one of those attackers, and therefore, there was nothing forbidden in this conversation outside of the game. If we’d been on different continents, it would’ve violated the game rules. But in this case, why not? It was the same negotiation, theoretically, that we could’ve conducted in the game.

“I am one of the people who attacked you.” It was so stupid. I said it, and immediately, my persona appeared to be inappropriate for any negotiations. It was all the nerves I felt; what a shame I’d answered with only one layer of meaning.

“All right,” he suddenly said. “But it will be an equal partnership.”

“I agree.” I could only guess why he’d made this decision. He could’ve set any conditions; I hadn’t even expected a positive answer. He was so strange... but it was cute.

I gave him a hug, and it was a mistake, I’d crossed a line. Dad would kill me, for sure.

Christina del Mayo

I finally found the time to get ready and arrived at the banquet for the new game of “Pantheon,” the only place in the world where one could meet so many influential people—those who had already achieved so much and those who’d only started climbing the career ladder. It was also true that there were a great number of losers there, as well. For example, if one compared Alessandro and Carlos, both of them were playing at the time: one was judicious and talented, the other was irascible and inclined to make mistakes. It seemed the question of which one of them should be trusted with getting a part in the main business was obvious, but father believed only in the test of the Game. What could one expect from him, he was an old school type of man.

I liked the atmosphere in this place, it was classic: leaders, losers, and fresh meat. I wished to see what place my brothers had on the leaderboard; if some of their acquaintances were ahead, I wanted to taunt my distant relatives. Although it was a childish habit, where else, if not in this place, could I have some good fun and a rest?

I fixed my gaze on the biggest screen-wall in the world that was showing the random moments of one of the leaders. Wait a minute, is that me? What the hell? Considering that the image couldn’t be used without an agreement from a family member, someone definitely owed me some answers. I was shocked as I saw some stranger addressing me with, “Hey, girl.” How was it possible that I was in his squad?

What happened next made me freeze: this guy who’d just spoken to me kissed my avatar, and she didn’t mind it. It was broadcasted on the main wall of “Pantheon”, before representatives of the most powerful families in the world. I had a strong desire to kill someone.

I wondered where my relatives were. “Had they really expected that I would come here and had decided to hide?”

It wasn’t hard to notice the guy that had recently kissed my double. It was a pity that the corporation took responsibility for the safety of all its members. It was dangerous to quarrel with them, even for me. But who would consider a slap an actual attack? I went to him—he’d touched me, and finally, I would be able to vent my feelings.

“I don’t know whether you did it on purpose or by accident, but you’ll have to answer for this,” I whispered in his reddened ear and calmly stepped aside. I felt better. The anger was replaced with interest: who was this man if he was ready to do it with my avatar, despite all the consequences?

He was already leaving the hall, and I saw him hugging Hollins’ daughter; things were getting more and more interesting. Apparently, he was much more than he let on with his “hick” appearance.

Dan

First, some crazy woman ran into me and slapped me just because I’d accidentally ran into her. It was as I’d always suspected: the attitude of aristocrats toward ordinary people wasn’t good and left a lot to be desired. The thought that she was similar to my dark priestess flitted through my mind but was quickly replaced by me reflecting on my failures today.

Then that blonde girl came up to me and offered me an alliance. I wasn’t going to reject her help, but giving up so early and submitting to her wasn’t something I planned to do. Then again, who said that I had to give up? Was I the champion or not? One had to risk things sometimes, just to get a little bit more of an advantage.

“But it will be an equal partnership.” It seemed my voice hadn’t trembled; I’d said it well, with confidence.

“I agree,” said the blonde. She was even a little confused; it seemed she hadn’t expected my compliance.

I was pleased with such a result, it’d show her how she had to treat me in the future. In these kinds of situations, it was important to immediately establish your position. One could not help but admit that I already had a decent reputation, even these aristocrats had begun to perceive me as an equal.

Although, that wasn’t the case with all of them: I immediately remembered the girl I’d recently encountered.

And then Samantha flung her arms around my neck. It wasn’t a hug between equals, that’s for sure. It seemed I was nothing more than a fun toy for her to manipulate.

At that moment, I wished that this game was over already, and I had the time to go to a brothel.

Chapter Six

Dan

You tried to escape the battlefield

If within 30 minutes your main forces don’t start the fight, the system will consider it a defeat

Unfortunately, it was already on to the second plan, and this second one hadn’t worked either. The first had been the hope that my new ally would help, but the blonde girl hadn’t even tried to attack her former partners. It was true that she wasn’t on their side anymore, and they’d had to leave a part of their armies to restrain her, but it was still not enough. After my goblins had managed a couple of lucky spear throws, 4200 soldiers had been left, and then Samantha disengaged her thousand armor-clad warriors. It was a surprise for me to see that she had such an army, yet she was a player from the middle of the ratings—as I thought my results weren’t that special.

My second option was to just retreat, hide in the forests and start a small guerilla war. But the game system wasn’t going to let me do it—as we drew away to a distance no more than two hundred yards from the edge of the wood, I got that stupid message. Now I had no choice but to fight; moreover, I was forced to attack directly.

What was my power? Oddly enough, it was my strength. Despite the fact that I had fewer units, their hits were much more painful; after all, I was a warrior, and part of my strength went to my minions. The idea was that I could try to go the route of the medieval heavy cavalry—as one whole unit, one rushes toward the enemy and tramples it. If that isn’t enough, one just has to repeat it with one more attack run, and they’re guaranteed to crush the foe.

“Everyone, come close to me!” I grouped together all my troops, to let my aura reach all of them; we were a strike force. Unfortunately, at the same time, such a large crowd was an excellent target for any mass spell that my adversary-magicians had in their arsenal.

As we huddled together, powerful chains of lightning hit the front ranks, immediately killing over forty goblins, and then the magic continued to roar, hitting more and more soldiers.

“Grab your clubs, tap the rhythm,” I shouted. It wasn’t important that instead of clubs some had swords, bows or just hoofs or tentacles. I sensed that my soldiers would understand me. “Secret technique of dust cloud. Klaus, go!”

Boom!—it was the hit of a giant club. A second later, it seemed all of the surrounding ground was shaking due to hundreds of weaker blows and reverberations. In the meantime, the lightning had killed only two of us—It seemed that something had slowed it down.

Boom! Boom! Boom!—Some of the trolls immediately caught up to the rhythm. The rest were still doing it wrong, but my feet could already feel the running waves on the ground. The lightning spell was stopped in space, I realized that the dark priestess had used her abilities; unfortunately, she was quickly running out of mana. It seemed like we had just one more second and then we would’ve continued dying without any protection, but we did it.

Mass cloud of dirt, level 1

Reduces the accuracy of remote attacks by 80%

Reduces the damage of zone attacks by 70%

The mass version of the cloud of dirt appeared to be even better than the ordinary one, and it looked cool. In an instant, a large part of the forest disappeared in the dusty vortex.

“Go forward!” I didn’t mind retreating, but because of the rules, I was forced to run in the opposite direction.

“Kill the bastards!” Squads of trolls joined the battle cry of their leader.

“They have food!” The goblins encouraged the pigs.

Christina and Stierlitz were next to me, I sensed that they also wanted to join in with the collective roar and shout something cool, but one couldn’t do it because of her upbringing, the other one because of his physiology.

Everything started very well—a weak wall of spearmen was scattered in less than a minute. One could imagine that after one more burst of effort we’d break through the ranks of footmen and reach the enemy heroes standing on a hill. But I didn’t expect that it would be so easy, that my opponents didn’t have a backup plan. Yet there were no ordinary people in this place, well, except for me, and even that depended on how you looked at the definition of “ordinary.”

Suddenly, my strike force, the troop of trolls, was surrounded by a stone wall. The huge, solid construction seemed to be invulnerable, their clubs and fists could deal no real damage to it. I was standing still, confused, and in a few seconds, the same walls appeared on both sides of my whole army—we were limited in our actions and maneuvers now. At this point, coming from the hill where the players were standing, spells were cast at a fast rate, instantly killing six trolls and reducing my main power by half its strength. And I’d still been lucky because Christina had managed to hold back a part of the spells, but ultimately, she fell exhausted to the ground— it was more than just a loss of one ordinary fighter. The situation was only getting more critical. I appeared to have cornered myself, lost a lot of warriors and used up almost all my trump cards—and in return, achieved almost nothing. ‘Could it get any worse?’ I thought as I was being cornered even further.

“Boss! We’re being attacked by horses.”  The goblin seemed to be jumping together with his pig, pointing to the left flank.

Was it possible that I’d jinxed myself? Almost twenty knights in heavy armor were moving toward us at a high speed. On this battlefield, each knight had the same effect as a tank. If one continued with this analogy, I had lost all of my tanks and appeared to be under attack by enemy’s tanks. It had, in fact, gotten worse.

“Stop them with your spears!” There was a hope that maybe that could slow them down, at least a little bit, but no: a player who was leading them cast a flash, blinding the first rows of goblins, and the detachment of knights just went right through them.

“Delay them, do the best you can!” No one was left next to me, except the useless-in-battle skeletons. ‘Maybe they can hold them back,’ I thought, ‘since they have a high endurance.’ Strangely enough, my bony pack mules were encouraged by my command; their eyes flashed red.

Ability “Last Order” is activated

But I just didn’t have any time to read descriptions—gathering all the debris of my army, I ran forward. It was my only chance—I had to reach the enemy players before the knights got to me. I didn’t stay behind my units this time, now they were following me.

You have earned the achievement “Real Leader”

You led the main attack of your army, risking your own life. Your soldiers will never be able to forget this

Leadership +1, total 7

The maximum number of creatures in the cell is increased to 70

I was pleased, but this positive feeling didn’t last long: despite the fact that we had again disappeared in the dust storm, our position was quickly calculated, and once again we were surrounded by stone walls. I couldn’t believe it, it seemed like this was definitely the end of us. A fast, concentrated flow of fiery arrows knocked down one more troll.

“Shall we throw them some goblins?” Klaus suggested. This one, my best friend, hadn’t lost faith in me, not even for a second; he still believed in our victory. “That’ll give us some time, while we maneuver around this.”

“Then it’s better to use the beholder.” I’d intended it as a joke, but the troll took my idea very seriously, and in an instant, the eye flew ahead. It was hard to blame him—if the commander had said it, you didn’t have to think about it. Moreover, the maneuver had already been used many times. The bombardment immediately ceased; it seemed our one-eyed monster had managed to cause enough alarm to cause a disruption.

It was too early to surrender; my friends were fighting and believed in me, but what was I supposed to do... I hit the stone in vexation; my knuckles covered with blood. My mind was pierced with severe pain, but a piece of the wall had split off.

Class ability “Crush” is activated

You can temporarily crush creatures, objects, and structures

Aura radius is 30 feet for friendly creatures

It was a miracle!

“Break the wall!” A couple of simultaneous blows almost instantly opened the way forward for us. “The time has come to show the enemy that they also have blood, and its red smears will look well on their corpses.”

“Well said, master!” My battle pigs were impressed by the phrase, and as they were running out into open space, away from the stone trap, each thought that it was his duty to grunt enthusiastically in my direction. Some were so deeply touched that they blew their nose into me. Bastards!

More than 300 dark creatures have praised you

Reputation with darkness is increased +1

You can build your cult

As if I had nothing else to do, I thought. The previous bonus had been much more useful. However, it wasn’t a good time to get distracted, during what was to be my last attack. I threw a glance at the battlefield for the last time and froze in surprise. There was a panic among the enemy commanders: one of them, controlled by the beholder, was fiercely jumping from side to side with a knife in his hand, threatening his partners, and from time to time, returning to the frightened eye, shielding him from spells. Considering they had such entertainment, it was no wonder that they’d missed my unexpected breakthrough, and now it was already too late to do anything about it. Still, my riders were fast— the goblins had already reached the heart of the enemy army and now their spears were stuck in the foe’s bodies. Well done, I thought. But what was going on in the rear of my forces? The cavalry should’ve already gotten to me, but they were nowhere to be found. Could my skeletons have stopped them? Judging by their appearance, they had not only done so, but had also gotten a big level-up—instead of thirty undead peasants, before me now stood seven liches, lowering their eyes.

Was this a victory?

“We’ve won?” I asked without much confidence.

“We’ve won!”

Here and there, single voices echoed the shout, and then my entire army chorused in triumph.

You have won

Players Alessandro del Mayo, Milos Lanski died

Player Vasily Mamontov retreated from the battlefield and admitted his defeat

Player Samantha Hollins joins your alliance as a partner

You have achieved level 10

Unlocked new ability "Transformation of Power"

Your power is so terrible that it begins to be reflected in reality. The aura of might is formed around you, absorbing 300 points of damage

As I put all my free points into my primary attribute, the absorbed damage was increased up to 400. It seemed my strength and aura were directly connected: the relation was something like “strength multiplied by ten.” But I didn’t have time for these thoughts. Samantha was approaching me with her undamaged army. In the game, in her plate mail, she didn’t look any worse than she did in reality. Though it wasn’t a fantasy armor that looked more like a swimsuit, it was feminine all the same. I felt concerned that she would attack me now. All my troops were too far away: I could only wonder... how I hadn’t foreseen this. The girl made to rush at me, but of course, was just pretending that she wanted to hug me. However, I wasn’t simple enough to mistake her motives.

“It was grandiose!” she flattered me. I didn’t really like her behavior; it was obvious that I should be more careful around her. “Oh, how you escaped that meteorite, and how you frightened the horses, using the skeletons! Do you have surprises for every occasion?” She beamed her most innocent look at me.

What was this all about? It seemed she wanted to confuse me—I hadn’t seen any meteorites and did nothing with the horses that I could remember. I shrugged my shoulders and grinned at her, my eyes sparkling—she could understand it as she wanted.

“Now there is no one to stop you in our sector, so you can quickly capture the castles of all the defeated players. I’m sure they’ll join you right away, and then you’ll be able to found a kingdom,” she advised me. Was I forced to follow her advice? Could I trust this blonde, that had stood back during the whole fight, doing nothing? Yes, to attack your former partners is bad, but to make an alliance and then stand aside and do nothing wasn’t the behavior of a person I could rely on.

“Master, are they with us? Or maybe I’ll..?” Either Klaus made an obscene gesture or he showed how he’d crush their heads with his club. Samantha was about to get angry, as suddenly an idea formed in my mind.

I needed to check whether I could trust her.

“Can you give me control over your army?” I wanted to learn how she would answer here, how she would react.

“Sure.” Why did she agree so quickly? “I’ve got spearmen, knights, and even three priests. You can look at their stats.”

It was clear. She’d realized that her units didn’t fit me, and that’s why she agreed so easily to bend before my will. Knights and spearmen weren’t much better than my boar riders, but as light creatures would take up twice as much space. Priests that could heal were cool, but the girl had only three of them. It wouldn’t change things much, and they would occupy the whole cell. If I had to choose between them and twenty-four ogres or one hundred and forty riders, the right choice seemed to be obvious, at least for me.

“Maybe you have some dark creatures?” I asked without much hope.

“I do have some, they came across me on my way to this place. I didn’t have time to fight, so I decided to take them for a while.” About twenty green orcs appeared before me. Unfortunately, they were only level 2 and according to their description, were only workers. But that didn’t upset me, my skeletons hadn’t immediately become liches. To put it mildly, I was really lucky—what kind of a dark lord would I be without orcs.

“I can say… that they’re good guys,” Klaus whispered loudly. The Orcs immediately smiled, it was evident that they liked our company; we had much more in common with them than she and her troops did.

“Then they are yours,” Samantha said with a generous gesture.

“You can give them the armor of your knights,” I said.

Ten minutes later, the orcs began to look much more solid, their level was increased up to four, and their name was changed to “orc-warrior.” Their image, which included their new name, played a significant role in how they were perceived by the others. Even the goblins immediately began to respect them: one even came close and started telling them about the rutabaga paradise and my wise leadership. I was glad to see the orcs integrating well, for Klaus’ sake as well.

The tribe of the Black Ax has joined you

Things were definitely getting better for my army. It was true that I had lost many in this battle—now I had a little more than three hundred riders, four trolls, seven liches, a sleeping dark priestess and the beholder that had lost one of his tentacles. But now I knew that as I got closer to home, more orcs of the tribe would join me. If I got some dark creature that was able to fly, it would be a real set of the dark master.

“So, should we go and capture the castles?” The blonde was nervous. There was definitely something shady about her words.

“I have a different plan; it will take me a couple of days to prepare for, and then we’ll meet at your camp. Will you wait for me?” It was a good opportunity to test whether she would try to command me or not.

“Okay, I’ll wait for you.” What a cunning girl, she was really good at suppressing her emotions and disguising her true feelings.

“We’re going home!” All the soldiers that’d stayed alive were loaded with trophies from the defeated army and then we stretched along the road like an uncoiled snake and moved toward our native village.

Vasily Mamontov

After all, Samantha was a decent girl: she could have gone quietly to the beginner, but no, yesterday she’d said in public what side she had chosen. That was good, it meant now it wasn’t a fight to the death, it was the struggle for leadership, a much more civil affair. I was not an idealist, I knew that the time for back stabbings would come sooner or later, I was just glad it wasn’t happening right now.

As I’d expected, Samantha herself didn’t try to attack, but I was surprised that Dan hadn’t ordered her to join the battle. The alliance oath could start killing her soldiers as punishment for the backstab, but even with a depleted force, she could’ve still ruined our plans. Alessandro called him a spineless man, Milos snorted contemptuously, and even I couldn’t understand why he’d done this. No one could ignore such a power that appeared to be at his disposal without a good reason.

And only toward the end of the battle, I finally realized why it was the most effective solution. The very fact that her army was nearby constantly attracted our attention, forcing us to consider it while planning our next move. He had managed to distract us and preserve manpower at the same time. As the ancient Anglo-Saxons had begun to say in the seventeenth century—it was a “fleet in being.”

I had twenty knights under my command. One could say that this wasn’t that impressive, but in fact, it was a force that could deal a decisive blow to the beginner. A quick development of these units wasn’t easy at all, they were expensive to upgrade: only a strong economy could allow me to achieve such a result. Their armor that could protect them from almost any attack was much too costly: heavy spears, ready to break through any defense, and horses, capable of carrying a rider with all of his equipment. None of my allies could afford even one of these knights. Today, I was the strike force of our group, the task of the others was to place Dan in a position where he’d be ripe for my attack. Alessandro and Milos did expect that one of their traps would work, but this guy wasn’t that easily fooled. If they succeeded with their plans, I would probably even regret the fact that he’d lost so simply.

It wasn’t a good start to the plan. He’d already gotten out of the first trap. Milos gathered a circle of mages and cast a spell of meteorites on the area where Dan was standing, but he just directed his army to the side, where he was left rather vulnerable. I had no clue how he could have guessed this, no one would have done it in his situation. Why?
If you have fewer troops, you are supposed to strengthen your defense and wait for the attack in fortified positions. But he’d just avoided the powerful magic—he’d somehow known about it, or predicted it.

How gracefully he minimized the damage from Alessandro’s attacks! If the prideful Italian knew that his spells that had consumed a great amount of mana had killed less than fifty goblins, I’d have learned some new curse words today. And this elegant switch from defense to attack... If he’d immediately raised a cloud of dust, our mages would have easily removed it and then started shooting his troops, who would’ve been left without any protection. But no, he waited until there wasn’t enough energy to destroy it and only then ordered to activate this shield. As a result, our spells were wasted for nothing. His army was coming toward us, and in fact, there was nothing left to stop him. It was the play of a Grandmaster. But we’d also prepared—Alessandro had managed to find a tower of mages and exchange family relics for scrolls of incarnations. The man had been ready to pay any price for a victory over our opponent. As a result, the stone walls that blocked the way for his hordes appeared as a surprise even for him. He didn’t panic, and he managed to reduce his losses to a minimum; we thought he’d see a wall in front of him and try to go round the obstacle. He was supposed to have been pierced by stone thorns growing on the sides of the walls. But he knew—he stopped, waited and stepped back waiting for the thorns to subside. It seemed my finest hour was here.

“To the horses!”

Samantha Hollins

Vasily had retreated: among all my former allies, he was the most reasonable. If we’d wanted to see what Dan was capable of, that became clear in the first ten minutes of the fight. Why was everything turned into a fight to the bitter end? It was just stupid men’s stubbornness!

But I was really impressed by how my Dan had thought it over: at first, I couldn’t understand why he hadn’t put his undead creatures on the front line, with their endurance, it seemed stupid to use these units as loaders and carriers. They were perfect tanks, capable of withstanding almost any attack. However, in that case, it would have been impossible to stop Mamontov’s cavalry in the rear—it appeared he’d managed to predict it and face the knights with the undead... and how! What a psychological effect that had had on the enemy—their horses rose on their hind legs, not ready to attack the undead. I almost clapped in delight.

Dan… he seemed to be waiting to make his move until the very end so that Alessandro and Milos could surrender. But as they continued to show persistence, he destroyed them with one powerful pinpoint strike after another. Now, as everything was already over, it became obvious that he could’ve gotten out of the stone trap at any point. Even the first time he was trapped had all been part of his plan, but he eventually retreated, while still winning the battle, giving those stubborn donkeys an opportunity to preserve their dignity.

How clever I’d been for joining him yesterday—but today, the value of my gesture had seriously depreciated. I was so happy that I ran to hug him, but the bastard dodged me. He had such an injured look.

“It was grandiose!” I managed to hide my irritation, moreover, he deserved to be praised. “How you escaped the meteorite, how you frightened the horses, using the skeletons! Do you have a surprise for every occasion?”

It was already becoming a little bit annoying—once again, he pretended that he didn’t know what I was talking about. However, I could understand him—could I have trusted a stranger myself? There was only one solution: I had to help him and wait until he would accept me as a part of his inner circle. It would be so interesting to see what other secrets he had. Maybe he was even someone’s bastard. After all, to get such an education, to go to such a good school without money, and, most importantly, without influential friends, was just impossible.

“Now there is no one to stop you in our sector, so you can quickly capture the castles of all the defeated players, I’m sure that they’ll join you right away, and then you’ll be able to found a kingdom.” I tried to start a conversation. The next step was obvious, but what did he plan to do after this? It could be interesting.

Judging by his look, he wasn’t that sure that the choice of his next step was simple—was there something I hadn’t noticed? It was common knowledge that if you have an opportunity to found a kingdom, you just do it. Well, let’s try not to discount the possibility that there exists some more efficient option that I just don’t see yet—what could it be? The role of a grey eminence? Then what was the reason for the battle? The path of a loner? But could it be better than a double income of units from holding a royal court? It had to be something different. What if I broadened my conception somehow…

It’s definitely his style, suddenly it dawned on me, to go beyond the limit and get what others consider impossible. I ignored the rude troll’s antics, while going over this new idea: he was right, it did seem unreasonable to capture only one kingdom, limiting yourself to one area until the next stage of the game, when you could bring rulers of several realms to their knees and then, as the time came, you’d usurp all their power at once.

He asked me to lend him my troops—for the man who was going to implement such a plan I would do everything. He asked for the armor—I didn’t mind. And once again, he managed to surprise me: from ordinary hobos he not only made real warriors but also made an alliance with their tribe. Judging by their description, these orcs didn’t know how to fight as a group, but one on one versus my knights, they would perhaps win nine fights out of ten.

Wait, maybe I’ve just made all this up. And this guy has no great plans and he’s just an ordinary loser that got lucky.

“So, should we go and capture the castles?” I asked in a low voice. Inside me, everything froze. Right now, he would agree, and all my castles in the sky would be destroyed.

It was a success. He admitted that he had another plan. I was the one to whom he told his secrets. It meant I was doing something right if he’d begun to trust me, even if it was only a small step.

Calm down, Samantha, nothing particularly important has happened. And your cheeks are red only because of the strong wind.

Christina del Mayo

It was my second day in the Pantheon. They’d tried to hint that it’s against the rules, but as I’d thought, they didn’t dare to actually refuse me. That wasn’t surprising; it was still me, after all.

Today, the big screen was broadcasting as much as two battles. On one of them, an army of elves was trampling their opponents into the ground, one could hardly find another word to describe this: a well-coordinated attack of ents, centaurs, and archers—the rival of Kathy Gomez hadn’t had a chance—still it was not for nothing, she maintained her second place on the leaderboards. But the second battle was even more interesting: Dan Kornev, the third place in the ratings, was up against the alliance of four players and he managed to win. Wow, how many good ideas he used—most of all, I liked the way he’d made that girl, Hollins, quit the game before the fight. Simple and elegant, it was a solution in my style.

There he was, the hero of the day.

“Do you mind having a drink with me?” I whispered, and my breath touched his neck. He couldn’t hide it: a wave of pleasure swept over him. A warm woman’s breath could bring even more severe men than him to their knees.

What? He just ran away.

I should calm down: if I break this glass right now, it would attract too much attention. But what a jerk!

Chapter Seven

In the office of “Pantheon”

“If you continue to insist on it, then we’ll be forced to disqualify the participant who put your image into the Game without your consent.”

“I do insist.”

“I didn’t expect that; usually, clan members stand by their family through thick and thin.”

“Not in this case, moreover, it’ll be a kind of double compensation. Brother will be punished for his injudicious actions, and I’ll get a bonus to help ease my suffering.”

“This also concerns one more person. If we’re forced to take your image away from a neutral player, we’ll have to give him compensation.”

“I agree. What will you do to let me catch up to the other participants?”

“You’ll get the same army and level of your hero you had last time, on this day of the game, reigning champion Christina del Mayo.”

Dan

I almost missed the start of the game—I wondered whether that would’ve been the first time that had happened in the history of Pantheon. Still yawning and rubbing my eyes, I was nearly deafened by the roar of Klaus.

“Master, Christina is gone! I suspect there are pigs involved in this. You should’ve seen how they were looking at her, licking their lips.” I didn’t have time to think about the probability of cannibalism in my army since a system message appeared and immediately cleared up the matter.

In accordance with the third paragraph of article 725-H in the code of Noble Houses, the battle unit “dark priestess” was withdrawn from your army. In accordance with the twelfth paragraph of the Pantheon code on fair play, you’re given an opportunity to choose an equal replacement—a unit of the same class.

Would you like to go to the selection screen?

Sure, I want to see it, I thought. It turned out that there was a great number of second-class creatures to choose from: there were different types of knights, magicians, and priests. But I was definitely much more interested in magical animals. The first thing that I checked for were dragons—alas, units of the ninth class were something I couldn’t get. Considering that I only had a second class unit, there was a lot of potential for growth. Sighing sadly and not pausing to yawn, I spent some time looking at the manticore of the seventh class, and then returned to what was available to me.

Harpy

Features: thanks to its ancient blood, it has a chance to reflect hostile magic into the caster, but because of their vile temper, very few are eager to deal with them.

Gnoll

Features: strong hands and keen sight let these creatures block 90% of frontal attacks, using their shields. They are ideal tanks with noble but slightly cowardly souls.

Minotaur

Features: despite their huge size, these creatures are usually not outstanding warriors, but when they get angry, their power is increased fivefold. Special ability “Frenzy”–their power is increased tenfold, but minotaurs aren’t able to distinguish allies from enemies anymore.

This wasn’t impressive at all, after everything I’d already seen. I surrendered myself to a sense of apathy and touched the button ‘Random choice’ that was barely noticeable in the corner. If I was always so unlucky, and nothing ever went according to my plans, maybe this once things would go my way.

Do you want to consider younglings as a part of the drawing?

Younglings can belong to the species of a higher class, but you will have to spend some time to raise them

The system message made me think but not for too long: I had a strong army now, but investing in the future and a chance to gain a strong ally wasn’t superfluous. I added a tick to confirm my choice.

You have received the egg of a wart dragon

Features: dragons of this type are usually ugly, without fire breath and almost useless in close combat. However, they have a good load-carrying capacity; they were widely used by generals of the past to transport armies. Upon landing, fighters are given 10 seconds of invulnerability

What bad luck! As soon as I’d seen the word “dragon,” to be completely honest, I’d been ready to dance around like a fool with happiness. And only after I’d read the full description, I realized that fate had laughed in my face once again. It was unclear whether it was even worth raising such a useless creature.

“Master!” The voice of Klaus brought me back to reality. “We picked up your dragon egg!”

“Yes?” I tried to understand what he meant.

“Me and big-eye both decided that it’s a very uncomfortable thing to carry.” It was a veiled start to the conversation that I didn’t like.

“The pigs will definitely break it, and the troll said that he’s too lazy to take care of it,” Stierlitz told me with his telepathy.

“Well.” Klaus looked suspiciously at the eye and then continued. “We sprinkled it with the remnants of the crystals, you know, the ones that we’d used to get stronger.”

Remnants? There was still almost a full chest remaining; I could have still used that. I didn’t manage to find an appropriate curse to call my minions. As I searched for it... in the clearing, having broken through a couple of trees to get there, stood a giant dragon, no less than twenty yards long.

“That’s unfortunate! Some ordinary human appears to be my master. Are there enough brains in your head to command a dragon?” There were no warts, and I had no clue how he’d gotten such a name. Maybe it was because of his skin, that had something similar to a toads’ one. Why was I thinking about this? There was a dragon-racist under my authority, and for some reason, I was thinking about toads. What was I supposed to do with him?

“I don’t need brains for this!” My words appeared to be a little bit ambiguous. But I continued, “What would you say about the admiration of a thousand goblins?”

I was sure that the green shorties would like him; many “people” would stoop to being placated by flattery and adoration.

“Goblins,” the dragon mocked. It wasn’t a simple thing to do, considering the snout of this creature, but I still noticed that he was slightly interested.

“Hey!” I yelled for all my army to come closer. “What thoughts do you have about our newcomer?”

“Huge!” the goblins shouted amiably, giving me the thumbs up.

“Eats a lot!” It was clear that the pigs were still unsure about whether they should welcome him into the club of “heavy eaters” or consider him a strong competitor for food.

“I like him! He’s a good one.” Klaus and Stierlitz were both trying to protect the result of their experiment.

Morale of the wart dragon is increased to neutral

Reminder: units with negative morale can ignore your orders

And then the army and I continued on our way home: despite the losses, everyone was in high spirits, and as for me, I was busy thinking about the next step on our journey. If the dragon had been a fire one, with battle abilities, no enemy would’ve had a chance. But unfortunately, I couldn’t find a good use for him at the moment.

After a while, it dawned on me: I didn’t have to think of others, the first step was to take care of myself. And since I had a flying creature, I had to use this unique opportunity to explore the skies. It’d been a dream of mankind for centuries, and at least once, all of us had dreamt about it. And as for the fear of heights, I was strongly convinced that it was nothing more than an attempt of our mind to compensate for the inability to achieve this dream.

I boarded the wart dragon and he calmly allowed my presence on his giant neck. I held on to the folds between his lower neck and shoulders and braced myself for the ride. “Hup, hey!” I yelled at the dragon and held on tight. The dragon-eye view of all the territories that had, just an instant ago, seemed huge now made them appear funny and small.

There is my native village. There is Samantha with her army, here are the villages of other players, but what small armies they have. It seemed that the difference between average and really strong players was great. As I looked over the other side of the dragon, I started examining what was waiting for me here. This direction was new, and it was noticeable. Six giant castles were towering over everything in sight. They were still in the process of being built, but one could immediately see that they would be powerful fortifications, with no easy way to capture them. Maybe it would be a good idea to build my own, now if only I knew how to construct something like that.

Having landed, I held a brief consultation about this question with my officers. As it turned out, only the orcs were well informed in this field. Together with the warriors of the tribe had come the shaman, who briefed me on the subject.

“Castles are built by spirits. You call them in the place where one of your settlements is, and if you pay with gold, they’ll build whatever you want.” The old orc inflated with pride as he saw me listening to him attentively.

“So I can start it right now?” I asked. The basics were simple. “How much will it cost me?”

The system immediately showed me my gold savings, stolen during all my campaigns—almost ten thousand. Of course, I had no idea whether this was a big sum or not.

“If you’re not going to be stingy about anything, they will demand about fifteen thousand,” the orc said thoughtfully. “But there is one small secret that the tribe of Black Ax is ready to share with you. If you put the castle on the border of two territories, its potential will be doubled, new features and opportunities will be available. But its price will also increase by no less than three times the amount.”

I spent some time in thought: there was such a place not far away from here, I’d seen it while in the air, but there were definitely certain problems with getting the money.

Once again, I wasn’t given an opportunity to think it through: next to me rang out the thundering sounds of the dragon, who was trying to throw off the goblins that’d decided to mount the giant monster. As one of the green shorties was thrown aside, his body was covered with a golden glow. Invulnerability—I remembered the description of the dragon. It seemed like a good idea—if I couldn’t capture something by brute force, I’d make a raid.

“Hercule!” I called the dragon whose intelligent face reminded me of one famous Belgian detective. “Prepare for flight; we’re going to be dropping a landing force.”

After a small test, I figured out that there was enough space for thirty goblins on the dragon’s back. Moreover, if they were hanging from all sides instead of just lying on its ridge, their numbers could be increased by up to fifty.

Klaus and Stierlitz were left in the village to look after the newbies, and my small group went to our first operation. Having estimated the time of our arrival to be fifteen minutes, I began to instruct my brave thieves.

“The plan is quite simple.” As I started, the goblins’ ears perked up. “I don’t want to risk your lives, that’s why we’ll try to avoid the bloody fights.”

“Yeah!” The shorties were immediately taken by my idea. It seemed that they were too often treated as no more than cannon fodder.

“We’ll drop you into the enemy’s fortress from the air, your main task is to grab as many valuables as you can and escape. Since the walls are still incomplete and there are many holes in their structure, you shouldn’t face many difficulties.” My explanation seemed to be good; the goblins were imbued with confidence in their mission.

“To steal is not a simple matter, you need brains to do it.” After a couple of minutes, I heard the comments of the old goblin who was an elder amongst them. “To choose the most precious thing and drag it away is much more difficult than just crushing heads with not a thought in your mind. It’s obvious that the master values us highly and is ready to give us very important tasks.”

I wouldn’t have said it was a matter of trust, I just didn’t have much choice. But if one thought about it, the goblins were indeed the most reasonable warriors in my army. However, it was also true that their only competitors were the pigs, so their rating as the best warriors wasn't really all that prestigious.

We were already approaching the castle: I had chosen the largest one for the expropriation of its owner’s wealth. Fortunately, there was no anti-air warfare system, and nothing could stop us from hovering over one of the towers. It was hard to believe that these flying lizards were able to do this, but maybe it was just a feature of this one since he was a specialist in the transportation and landing of small military groups.

“I sense that this is the gold warehouse,” Hercule murmured in a harsh voice. I immediately remembered children’s stories about dragons that could sense treasures—such an ability definitely increased the chance of my adventure being a success.

“Then let’s start the landing!” I commanded the goblins.

“I’m afraid of heights,” whispered one of them after a short pause, the others just tried to move as far away from the edge as possible.

“Turn upside down,” I commanded Hercule, putting an end to the goblins’ commotion. The dragon reacted to the sharp tone in my voice and immediately executed the command; the poor goblins fell down, not having expected such a dirty trick. Since I’d gripped the dragon’s ears just in time, I was left alone on our flying vehicle. My mission was to stay around the perimeter and control the situation.

Somehow, all of it immediately went wrong—the goblins appeared to be too light and were blown away from the chosen tower by the wind; at least the invulnerability did its work and no one died. It was sad that the goblins didn’t even think to return to the tower with the gold and quickly snuck into the closest one to their landing. Five minutes later, as I was nervously watching patrols of guards that were coming toward us, the goblins ran out of the tower with seemingly heavy bags and rushed to the nearest hole like a row of ants crawling on the ground.

“Follow them,” I commanded Hercule. In response, he just snorted contemptuously but didn’t keep arguing with me during the battle’s operation. Somehow, it was just obvious to me that he wouldn’t forget about this, and I would have to listen to his accusations and criticism later. Fortunately, I had a plan for how to avoid that—immediately sending him to the next mission.

Only then did I realize that by following them I had made a mistake, letting the defenders see the direction of our retreat. And as it turned out, one of them had no intention of letting us leave. Despite the fact that we’d already left the borders of the castle, we definitely didn’t need such a chase.

“Stand still!” cried our pursuer. The elderly man chasing us had obvious bald patches, dressed in the costume of the classic magician. He began to shorten the distance, ready to cast a powerful spell on my thieves. It seemed it was time to cover our retreat; surrounded by the glow of invulnerability, I jumped down. If I’d calculated it right, I would be landing right on top of him.

Bam! An ice arrow vanished into the shield surrounding me. The old man was pretty good, he’d not only managed to notice me but had also managed to attack me while I’d still been in the air.

Boom! Wham! Boop! Spell after spell was cast at me; the mage was attacking me without any hesitation. He began stepping back, but I had already landed and was approaching him.

You have taken 375 damage (375 damage is absorbed)

The power shield that I’d gotten as a conversion of my strength blocked the last spell, and then the fight was basically over. One blow and the enemy mage was defeated. It wasn’t surprising, the amount of strength I now possessed wasn’t something to sneeze at.

Alex Staromidis was defeated

You gain 4 levels

Strength is increased +4

Leadership is increased +2

You have received the artifact “Gray Breastplate of Valor”

Armor: 50

Strength +10

Intelligence -5

Endurance -5

Levels and leadership were a good reward for defeating this magician. The new armor also pleased me. If my strategy had been to work on all my attributes, it would’ve been a complicated question, whether it was worth wearing it or not. But considering my zeroes in intelligence and endurance, I didn’t lose anything by putting it on, and ten strength wasn’t something meaningless. There was also the bonus of wearing the armor itself.

Without conscious thought, I’d habitually put all new points into my strength: together with the bonus of the cuirass, it was an additional 140 points added to my power shield. The only thing that was a little bit odd was that as I’d defeated this player named ‘Alex,’ there had been no familiar notification that he was a player. And the reward for my victory over him was slightly larger than usual. However, considering that I didn’t have much information now, I decided to just figure it out later. There were certain things that I had to worry about at this very moment: the guardians of the castle began to come out of it.

“Evacuation, boys,” I shouted to the goblins. We loaded our spoils on the dragon that slightly grunted, and then we flew back to my native village.

The raid was over for now.

Alessandro del Mayo

Today, everyone was talking about my sister’s comeback. I didn’t know what she’d done to put pressure on Pantheon, but she’d been allowed to enter the game. I had a great temptation to send my spies to take a look at what she was planning, but, fortunately, I changed my mind. It was obvious that there was no sense in this—Pantheon wouldn’t let her interference in the common rules pass without consequences. This meant that in the evening, her entire day in the game would become public on the big screen. And, of course, the administration would say, “Oh, it’s just an accident.” But judging by what I knew about my sister, this wasn’t going to help her enemies. As of this moment, I was much more interested in another person.

Carlos had been expelled because of him, and now I had one more goal. Now it was not only about testing my strength, but it was also about avenging the insult dealt to our family. Could I leave it to my dear sister? It was definitely not for nothing that she’d entered the game. But in any case, I planned to be aware of everything that was happening. Unfortunately, the first scouts didn’t return—surprisingly, this time Dan was concerned with the secrecy of his territory. Since he’d never been so before, I wondered what plans he had going on.

However, it was impossible to be good at everything. I had already learned this lesson once, and I wasn’t going to make this mistake again. Two elite spies had been ordered to sneak into his area through neighboring territories. It turned out to be for the best; if I had tried to send my intelligence service the ordinary way, they wouldn’t have had a chance to catch up to him and see his sortie. I was most likely the only owner of this information.

He had a dragon, but since he hadn’t attacked the fortifications, the creature wasn’t a battle one. The air transport was an advantage, but not a critical one. And then I saw whose castle he’d attacked. It seemed his madness knew no limits—who else except this guy would’ve attacked the castle of the champion. Of course, such attempts had been made previously, but no one had ever succeeded. And it wasn’t surprising, since the champion was a copy of a player who had won one of the previous tournaments. Pantheon put them into the game to create an atmosphere of continuity, increasing their rate of development several times over, but depriving them of the opportunity to leave their territory and attack other players first.

But if Dan had decided to do it, it meant he had a plan. The dragon was loaded with goblins carrying bags—it looked like he’d just wanted to rob the local champion. I could only wonder how much gold you could get from such a campaign. In the meantime, the dragon hovered over one of the towers, of which the smell had apparently attracted his attention—Was it possible that he didn’t know that there were always empty skyscrapers to distract dragons from the really valuable buildings? But no, it wasn’t a mistake, he just took into consideration the strength of the wind that blew his units aside and chose the point of landing on that basis. As for me, I hadn’t thought about the wind so quickly—it was probably one of those things that contributed to the difference between us.

His units seemed to quickly achieve their goal, and now they were already retreating. But why did he follow them? It was obvious that he would be noticed, and apparently, in his case, it was something he’d wanted to achieve. It was impossible to suspect something different when it was about something that concerned this guy. Did he want to lure the champion outside the castle? If he did, he’d succeeded! Moreover, he also won in a fight against him—it was something incredible, beyond my wildest dream. Every attack of the champion put a debuff on his opponent that decreased all of their attributes by ninety percent. Could he have made it so that none of the champion’s attacks reached their goal?

I’m sorry, sister, but I guess in this game... I won’t be choosing your side.

Samantha Hollins

Yesterday, I thought I’d discovered that he’d planned to attack the neighboring territories—I wasn’t sure whether this was a wise decision since his army had been weakened after defeating us. However, as I’d promised, I didn’t bother him, focusing more on my own development. I did believe in him, but I still couldn’t help myself and sent my spies. This allowed me to be informed of what was happening and it was also a great opportunity to protect him from other enemy players. For some reason, Dan himself didn’t pay any attention to the control of his secret agents and intelligence gatherers.

Twelve professional assassins blocked all approaches to the allied territory. The first report did please me—they’d managed to destroy a spy that most likely worked for Alessandro. This proved that my actions had been worth the effort. And then…

“Dragon, god damn it, damn dragon.” Probably for the first time in my whole life, I swore out loud. But how was it possible that he’d gotten such a creature so early? Although we were allies, I sent a request to the administration to check if he was cheating in the game—and they replied that everything was according to the game’s rules. I just couldn’t believe it: a dragon was within the rules. I barely managed to calm down, but then I realized that this was also good in some ways, I had so much to learn. And a good person to learn from was right before my eyes.

He and the squad of goblins climbed the dragon and flew to the neighboring territory. The last thing I managed to hear was how he’d been telling his minions about his plan.

Not trying to capture anything, just robbing people instead—how hadn’t I seen this opportunity? Was it the influence of standard conventions or just what my mind was like that had prevented me from coming up with this idea?

This day had put me in a pensive mood; I had no wish to talk with anyone. I was just sitting in a corner and watching people.

Samantha, if you want to be worthy of your family, you have to meet the new requirements.

Dan had me shown that one could get to a completely different level, and I had to believe in myself, believe that I was able to do the same.

At this very moment, on the central screen appeared a vaguely familiar figure, and I recognized her—Christina del Mayo, the current leader of the senior branch of the clan and the former winner of Pantheon. I didn’t know how she’d gotten into the game but judging by her actions, she was one of those who’d adopted Dan’s ideas. Nothing was impossible, there was no limit—just act and the world will be adjusted for you.

She’d sacrificed all her units for the creation of a giant hecatomb that appeared to be a portal into Inferno, and now dozens of hellhounds and a couple of butchers were in her army. It didn’t even make sense to try and count the hundreds of little demons walking around her settlement. The rate of growth was simply incredible and it had been done in just one day. It wasn’t surprising that she looked down on everyone. Or was she just waiting for someone? Really, it wasn’t hard to guess who she was interested in. They were a good match, it was hard to say which of them appeared to be more successful in the game, right now.

Christina, who’d gotten to the top ten of the strongest players in a couple of hours, or Dan, who seemed to have succeeded in his adventure and had taken first place in the gold rating.

Get over it, Samantha, tomorrow you’ll show them all!

Vasily Mamontov

Watching Christina’s video where she’d started creating her army of demons, I realized that I wasn’t the only one who’d come up with the idea of thinking outside the box within the game’s rules. Today, I’d returned to the battlefield, gathered all the corpses of my knights killed by the enemy’s undead and then cast a series of healing spells, one after another, until it worked. A lot of time and much energy had been spent, but I’d received a new, hidden class, the necromancer. My army was replenished with a dozen death knights and almost one hundred skeleton-warriors.

Dan, you taught me that there is always a way to achieve victory. As a thank you for this lesson, I’ll become a worthy opponent for you.

It was hard not to notice that this time an interesting group was at the top of the ranks: elves, demons, undead and probably darkness. It was the first word that came into my mind as I thought about his army.

He entered the hall. No matter what happened in the coming future, this man had already become the real hero of the game, having changed our idea of what was possible. He was walking slowly, having a slightly shy look, trying to hide his left side. Had he cut himself while shaving and was late, having waited for the wounds to heal a little?

Chapter Eight

Dan

Yesterday was strange: people were just staring at me. Was it possible that they had learned about the dragon? It seemed unlikely that they would be able to do this. They probably just wanted to use me in their plans. Still, I was pleased with their manners, no one interrupted me while I had dinner and then I wasn’t stopped while heading to the toilet. But after that, it was already over, I ran back to my room—I had no intention of having any conversations, that’s for sure. The day had been overall unlucky, and I was in no mood.

And then, right in the middle of the game, Samantha found me, and she was followed by a group of elite knights, dozens of priests and a crowd of blacksmiths.

“I realized how I can make a major contribution to our alliance: my craftsmen will make your soldiers the best armor and weapons.” She was as cunning as a fox; the girl did want to get the best, using my own resources. I knew it was dangerous to deal with her; nothing was free in this world. But I’d taken her clothing for my orcs last time, and there was no obvious reason to reject her offer this time, either.

“All right,” I said. Since there was no alternative, I was forced to agree. “Then let’s first equip the trolls and orcs. By the way, how much armor will they get?”

“An enhanced full set will give almost fifteen armor to an ordinary man, but considering the size of your trolls, I think it will be no less than twenty-five.” I was standing there, listening, having no clue what this meant. Fifteen armor—was that worth the effort? The single breastplate I had acquired recently had given me fifty, but without any precise information, it was better to stay silent. An intelligent person could learn too much from my questions. In my case, any information in the hands of these people was unwanted.

Since Samantha and I had already reached an agreement, it was finally time to get to my own business. As I checked how much money I had, a curved smile touched my lips. Geez, almost seventy thousand, that seemed quite good. It turns out that we hadn’t squandered our opportunity yesterday. It was almost four times more than I’d managed to get before, and most importantly, now I had enough to build my own dark citadel. I was a little bit ashamed of the fact that everyone already had their own castles, and I was the only one who’d been left behind in development. But the first thing to do was to give tasks to my units. While taking a shower today, I realized that they were just hanging out in the village, instead of farming in our neighborhood. Fifty goblins and the dragon would stay in the castle—why would I stop our gold-mining machine if it was able to bring me so much profit, my raids were going to continue to bring me a profit. The pigs would move to the south, I’d not been there yet, and in case of emergency, they’d just retreat. The squad of orcs would be divided into two parts, one with the support of the trolls and the beholder would head east, another one under the protection of the liches would go west. Somehow, while planning this strategy, I’d managed to forget about my own interests, but that was okay, it was necessary to consider the army at this point. A few orcs, goblins, Klaus, and Samantha’s squad would stay under my command—it had to be enough, moreover, in case of any serious danger in our area, Hercule was supposed to inform me about it. I thought I’d taken everything into consideration, and now it was time to give commands.

“Goblin-saboteurs!” As I called on them, 49 brave “men” immediately came forward from the crowd. “You and Hercule will continue with the sorties.”

“I don’t mind,” said the dragon. Yesterday, he’d planned on quarreling, but as he saw the giant mountain of gold, and considering the fact that no one had stopped him from lying on it, his mood changed very dramatically. “You’re a good guy, Dan, without any prejudices regarding dragons, it’s good that you don’t believe these biased stories that say we stole common gold only for ourselves. And moreover, you’re entrusting us with a good mission, we won’t fail you.”

I froze for a moment, trying to comprehend what he’d just said, and at the same time, trying to remember how much we’d grabbed here yesterday and whether the pile had become smaller. But it was really hard to concentrate since Samantha was looking straight at me, very intently, and at this very moment, I also appeared to have a strong desire to sneeze. Hold on, Dan, a sneezing dark lord doesn’t inspire any respect, after something like that, you could lose all your authority. How hard it was when this blonde was around, one couldn’t relax for a moment.

After a while, I finished giving orders to the liches and the beholder, and my last instruction was, “Don’t get involved in a fight with strong enemies, immediately retreat if any appear.” After this, I myself headed to the place that I had considered as an appropriate area for my future castle.

“Why don’t you consider building it right here, you already have houses for all of your creatures and the surroundings are well explored, right?” The voice of Samantha, who was walking nearby, sounded malicious. And what was this all about? “If you start everything from the very beginning, you will have to spend a lot to rebuild the entire infrastructure.”

“How much?” I didn’t really think about it. “Yesterday we took about fifty thousand from the castle of some Staromidis player.”

Samantha drowned herself in calculations: education in our times hadn’t been bad, at least we didn’t move our lips while counting in our heads. I thought the princess would share her information with me, but in the end, she just nodded as a sign that it would be enough.

Finally, we got to the place where it would be best to place the castle—immediately, Klaus was ordered to check the surroundings instead of just running around in circles with a happy-go-lucky face. He thought I hadn’t noticed how he’d gathered bones from the last battlefield and made two bony banners, which were solemnly and secretly handed over to the two intelligence squads. To be honest, I didn’t really mind this idea: after all, it was helping my image as the dark lord, and an increase in morale was a good reason to decide in favor of this idea.

Well, it’s time to start the ritual. As the orc shaman had already taught me, I raised my hands up and addressed the spirits of this area.

“Come and help me found my citadel!” Samantha was staring at me, her eyes wide open; it seemed this wasn’t common practice. Considering that no spirits appeared before my eyes, but just an ordinary game menu, it was obvious that there wasn’t much sense in yelling at the top of my lungs.

Having made an estimation of the maximum length and width of the area, I sent goblins to level the ground. Samantha tried to say something, but I just interrupted her. It was time to stop being too dependent on the girl and so cautious about each step—I knew that I had to be more selfish about my own interests. So I just plunged into planning my castle. Its volume, number of rooms, the thickness of the walls—the stats were set to the maximum. The next option was the choice of towers—but what if there was only be one, but a huge one, with all the points put into its height? From my point of view, that did look promising, only a giant eye at its top was missing, but I was still only a beginner dark lord. I could still find it later, or the beholder could sit there for the benefit of the aesthetic. It seemed all possible information had already been looked through and it had taken me only thirty minutes—now all that remained was to estimate the project according to the area, then the system would demand its price. After I paid it, my dark citadel would be immediately built.

At this point, the goblins had already finished their job, even deepened the whole area in order to establish a firm foundation. It turned out that they were naturals at digging. But another problem immediately emerged, somehow the castle didn’t fit the estimated square area, despite all my calculations according to the system’s dimensions. I was forced to send goblins to continue digging; surprisingly, it also increased their morale. In the meantime, I plunged into the castle constructor once again, where I found unseen tabs with new options for the walls. I really liked the ones that were twice as high as the previous ones. Because of its features, its base was wider than the top, and the castle itself started to resemble something like a pyramid. Moreover, this option provided me with an opportunity to add a moat and traps. Only the question of its color remained: not spending much time on this, I chose a gray bottom, a light top, with a zigzag-shaped border—it was an epic sight.

“Found the ‘Dark Citadel!’” The system immediately registered its name, and my account lost sixty-seven thousand. The price was significantly higher than any predictions of the orc-expert had been, even for the border castle, but it seemed to be worth it. Everything looked great, it was even bigger than the castle of Staromidis.

“It reminds me of a huge mountain.” Samantha immediately killed my joy. What did she know about castles? Although maybe she was right, they did have something in common. But at this point, there was already nothing I could do to change that. The girl continued, “What is the point of only one tower? They are usually built along the walls for efficient defense; it provides the defenders with the opportunity to attack the enemy from their unprotected flanks.”

Damn it, said the voice in my head. It was true that I hadn’t really thought about this, it wasn’t for no reason that most castles looked very similar to each other. All of these fortifications were the result of a very long, thought-out selection, gained out from the results of many sieges and experiments. Apparently, my childish dream of the tower of a dark lord had played a certain role in making this decision. But my desire not to lose face was strong.

“What about air attacks?” I glanced at her meaningfully. Since I had no idea what would occur in such a situation, it was a genuine question and I was just waiting for her reaction, no games. But she fell silent, thinking it over. For me that was fine.

At that very moment, in the sky, a small dot that was quickly increasing in size appeared. At first, a crazy idea occurred to me: that I had jinxed myself and we were being attacked, but it appeared to only be Hercule. According to the system, there were somehow only twenty goblins left under his command. Was it possible that they’d gotten into trouble and had died in an unfair fight? In order to avoid disgrace in front of Samantha, I told her that I’d like to meet my soldiers carrying their loot alone, and headed to the top of my tower. Fortunately, there wasn’t only a ladder inside it, but also a high-speed elevator. Although it worked only in peacetime, it was exactly what I needed right now, otherwise, my way to the top would’ve taken up too much of my time.

“He dropped us, and half of us fell to our death.” The goblins squealed as they got off of the dragon and hid behind me.

“It wasn’t my fault!” roared Hercule pain in his voice. “I did everything exactly the same way as we’d done it last time, even better. It was perfectly calculated, they were blown away by the wind and flew over the whole fortress. It didn’t only involve intelligence but also plenty of entertainment!”

“Calm down!” My club hit the stone, the floor cracked, and a couple of cobblestones fell down. I could only hope that no one would get hurt somewhere far below.

Having opened the dragon’s panel, I read his features and abilities once again. I started to suspect that the problem wasn’t with my soldiers. And it was true, the invulnerability appeared to be finite: there was a certain number of charges, only fifty, with a cooldown of one charge per hour. It turned out that I had already used all of them yesterday, and only part of the charges had been replenished, which hadn’t been enough for all the goblins. To put it mildly, I felt uneasy deep down.

“Listen up. For the valor all of you demonstrated during the testing of the dragon in combat conditions, you are awarded a special badge of merit.” Using the castle menu, I ordered a bucket of red paint and walked along the line of my units, leaving the imprint of my hand on each goblin’s face.

Oddly enough, it worked: a simple recognition of their services raised the morale of my soldiers to its maximum once again and rewarded me with one more point of leadership.

“What about me?” Hercule asked in a sad voice.

“As for you, as of right now, you are no longer an ordinary cargo dragon and are re-qualified into a military one. From this moment onward, you will participate only in battle operations.” The dragon took his promotion with dignity and flew to conduct reconnaissance; his mission was to find the squads that had left the village in the morning.

A little exhausted, I went downstairs, where a delegation of priests, a part of Samantha’s army, had already been waiting for me.

“We heard you managed to seduce our sister to the dark side?” They started the rendezvous with a claim intended to put me on the defensive, but I saw through it. And where was their princess hanging out? It wasn’t that I was afraid of a fight—it would have been one blow for each of them, and I didn’t care about their anti-magic, there was no doubt in my mind that I would’ve won. But still, twenty enemies were twenty enemies. I had to be somewhat careful.

“I don’t know what you’ve imagined in your heads, but she was accepted into my detachment as an equal when she was deprived of the purpose in her life. And now, since Christina’s disappeared, I’m rallying my forces, and we’ll get her back soon! But what have you done? Weren’t you just talking behind my back? And now you’re planning to stop me?” In ordinary life, the thesis that the best defense is a good offense doesn’t always work. But in a dispute, it was an excellent weapon. The priests hesitated and, judging by their statements, they were even embarrassed now.

“It’s true, it wasn’t wise of us to blame him before listening to his story.”

“To help a sister is a worthy cause!”

“Although he is of the dark, the guy has a good spirit!”

“Will we allow ourselves to stand back?”

And as all of the crowd supported that last statement, a dark glow surrounded them, the same one that I had already seen before.

Leadership +1, total 11

20 priests have become dark ones

The second manipulation of units reveals information about hidden activation triggers

–    Friendly magic aimed at dark creatures

–    Friendly support aimed at dark creatures

It seemed to be clear. Before, they’d been healing my goblins that I’d sent to dig the foundation pit for the castle, and now they’d promised to help in my spontaneously announced quest. Since I’d learned how it works, now it was possible to organize a constant replenishment of my army; I had a strong feeling that the priests’ anti-magic barriers would definitely help me.

“Samantha, you need to give me your detachment of dark priests.”

Samantha Hollins

Today, in the morning, I’d received two letters. The first one from my dad—he was disappointed that I wasn’t independent in the game. Another one was from grandfather—he’d written that there was no information about Dan, and asked me to be more cautious. What was that supposed to mean? Firstly, that someone had delivered the message about Dan and me to the outside world, despite the prohibition of Pantheon. In principle, it wasn’t very difficult: you just pay someone in the lowest ranks to deliver a message, they don’t care about the fact that they’ll be banned from the game, they don’t have a chance here regardless. Secondly, my father was irritated, he seemed to think that this was an attempt to get a hold of the family fortune. Thirdly, grandpa was so confused that he’d decided to intervene. Finally, a little note from administration contained the request to not share any information: this was also understandable; as always, they’d allow sufficient maneuver room, even if it violates the rules. They were trying to maintain the balance. It seemed a little bit odd that the letters had still reached me. Or maybe not? Pantheon had let me get the messages to see their contents, to find out what my family had learned about Dan. It meant that they themselves didn’t know anything about him. Grandfather had also written in order to check whether it was true or not. What level of realization had this game already achieved?

Entrance

The first thing was to gather the elite troops that I’d already marked yesterday, and then I quickly drew up my economic development for the next week and went to Dan’s settlement. Spending almost the whole night on charting different courses of development, I realized that I could be the most useful to him exactly as a specialist in technical support. Moreover, I was lucky to have leveled-up my blacksmith-master, so now my armor would be better than a standard one. Fifteen percent of the blocked damage instead of the usual ten—such a thing could decide a battle.

Still, Dan was a man of noble character: apparently, he’d immediately noticed my high-leveled craftsmanship, but he still asked me about it and gave me an opportunity to show off. Education and manners are things that you can’t just hide. Wherever he’d come from, I didn’t regret joining him. One could trust such a man not only with their life but with their honor as well. In the meantime, I was just glad to use the unique opportunity to watch the gameplay of a genius, while being next to him.

It was obvious, Dan had already thought it through, working at night the same way I was, and now he was just sketching out his plans for his soldiers. It was one of his features, to send units to freely search on their own: of course, it required you to raise morale to its maximum, morale that just recently, people had thought was useless. If it wasn’t below zero, players didn’t even pay any attention to it. He’d just changed the public conception of successful strategies, easily having found a couple of new ones. As if it was just the first game, and thousands of players hadn’t already tried everything that’d seemed possible.

I froze for a moment. He’d let his dragon lie near gold? Even one creature was able to sneak off with half of the whole pile; no unit, even of such a high class, was worth such losses! Was there something I was blind to? Proceeding on the assumption that there was definitely some point to this decision, I quickly realized that the puzzle wasn’t that hard. Dragon receives gold, his morale grows—Dan gets an opportunity to send him on solo flights. As a result, it was an active battle unit, able to carry out difficult tasks on its own, and since it was constantly on assignments, gold wasn’t wasted. A stroke of genius: he seemed to have given access to the gold but hadn’t lost anything.

And then he stopped paying any attention to me, being deep in thought about moving to his future castle. I was ready to bet that he would spring a surprise on me once again, he had set aside its creation for so long for a good reason, that’s for sure. Dan was becoming more and more strategic with his game plan.

“Why don’t you consider building it right here, you already have houses for all of your creatures, and the surroundings are well explored, right?” Was I really trying to mock him? If grandpa found out that I wasn’t able to control myself at such an important moment, he would kill me. Even if Dan didn’t use scouts, there was no point in emphasizing this. It was necessary to soften my attitude, and I changed the subject. “If you start everything from the very beginning, you’ll have to spend a lot to rebuild the entire infrastructure.”

“How much?” He thought for a second. And it made me fear that he’d want to break off our alliance. “Yesterday, we took about fifty thousand from the castle of some Staromidis.”

It was a clear hint that we were still together. And he was just scoffing at my self-esteem: my brilliant economic model that was the result of my hard work during the whole of last year had given me only ten thousand by this point. His single idea had brought him five times the amount mine had. Staromidis, that name did sound familiar—had he stolen the treasure from the former champion? I’d have to learn how he’d managed to escape from the copy of this monster. This whole story looked like I was trying to synthesize an apple with the help of genetic engineering, but he was just coming up to a tree and filling the basket full with his bare hands.

As I got some spare time, my masters were ordered to start setting up new forges, my priests to heal the goblins, which, for some reason, were digging something like a foundation pit. I could only wonder why, if the castle would adjust itself to the terrain. Or was it some kind of a ritual? Maybe he’d just decided to follow the Rome rule of not letting soldiers sit idle. Considering his tactics with the dragon, it could’ve been true. But as it turned out, it was a ritual, he was even using his voice for activation. Or maybe he’d just decided to show off in front of me?

Stop it, Samantha! Forget these stupid fantasies—Dan is not a prince, his pigs are not white and they are definitely not horses. In the meantime, the result of his actions was three times bigger than an ordinary castle. Just a week ago, I would’ve stood here with my mouth wide open, but now I didn’t expect anything less from him.

“It reminds me of a huge mountain.” Once again, I’d said something without even thinking twice about it. Even with my rule not to comment on his actions before I fully understood their motivations.

“What about air attacks?” Dan had said only a couple of words, but in my head, I was already forming the whole picture. What was a standard fortress? It was a tool of defense, invented in order to protect ourselves from conventional armies. The key word was conventional. Even in our history, castles had become a thing of the past when more powerful weapons appeared. What could one say about a world where magic existed! It seemed obvious that fortresses should be built not according to the common standards, but based on some new ideas. And this huge tower in the center was not only possibly, but definitely a good solution. Suddenly, it dawned on me that its height was also the result of Dan’s calculations—it was a little bit higher than a standard one, where most of the creatures could fly easily. They could get even higher, but their speed would be significantly reduced. As a result, his flying units would be able to reach this height before the fight and be in a position of vertical advantage. Putting aside the tower, I tried to estimate the consequences of an enemy’s massive infantry attack. If I were in charge of the defenses, I would put the liches on the top, they would create a stone cloud, then direct it through the air so it was above the enemy’s position. And then a little acceleration and the force of gravity would turn this cloud into a rain of death. Perhaps I’d been a little bit unfair in calling this fortification decision just good—it was genius.

At this very moment, Dan tried to run away from me, but he wasn’t a good liar. I didn’t want to insist, but still, it was interesting what he’d tried to hide from me. Didn’t he trust me enough? While I was thinking on whether it was worth raising the question of trust within our alliance, a stone fell from above, landing literally a couple of meters away from me, and knocking a spy vampire out of invisibility. I did wonder who his master was. A completely advantageous angle of viewing, fantastic speed, and absolute invisibility—they were very expensive, but it’d previously been believed that it was simply impossible to detect and stop these elite spies. But that was before Dan had joined the game—one attack from above and it was over. Now it was clear why he didn’t tell me where he was going, he didn’t want to give the enemy a chance to realize what was happening. If I’d had a couple of hours, I could have planned the same, but to do something like this, spontaneously… I was feeling pathetic, now I could understand why the others were trying to hold on to the last of their time in the game, being tenacious with what remained of their independence. Although, the most dangerous enemy was the one who had nothing left but pride.

Still, it wasn’t like this whole game had been in vain for me. I did feel like the way my brain worked was definitely changing. New options were becoming more obvious and easier to decipher. Grandfather had always told me: learn from the strongest—the stronger your partner, the faster you’ll bridge the gap between you. So what was the distance between Dan and I, if I was growing so rapidly?

“Samantha, you need to give me your detachment of dark priests.”

What dark priests? Oh, god, what has he done now?

Milos Lansky

It had been a crazy day in the game. Samantha had formed an alliance with Dan, but I myself wasn’t going to surrender so easily. The fact that there was no player left in our area who had enough power to resist this upstart didn’t matter, there were other zones and other players. I could help them win in a fight against this monster, and maybe I would be lucky enough to seize some power again. A winner was not the one who had the most strength but the one who didn’t surrender.

In front of me was George Summers, the American. Looking at his good-humored face, one could hardly say that this man had a natural killer instinct. He was a skilled leader, he had the twenty-eighth place in the overall rating and his army was the largest one among all his neighbors—but, of course, it wouldn’t be enough against Dan.

Quit stalling for time, you stubborn animal, only all of you united can stop him.

“And yet I think you’re exaggerating the threat. I saw him at the reception, the boy was a bit simple. And where are the guarantees that you won’t deceive me?” Did he really expect me to make an oath of loyalty?

Greed, exaggerating of his own forces, underestimating the enemy, and I was forced to deal with this man!

“Mr. George.” Having run into the room, the captain of the guard interrupted our conversation. “A dragon is approaching!”

“Is it him?” The American paled.

“Yes, I’ve made some inquiries, and at this point, Dan is the only owner of a dragon. In spite of the fact that it’s not fire-breathing, I’d not expect a good outcome.” I gave the American a stern look.

“Well, it means I’ll become the first killer of dragons in the current game.” Summers managed to pull himself together. I wanted to say that one shouldn’t underestimate the danger, but I considered that this could break his fighting spirit. It was better to let it happen that way. “Archers, to the walls, knights, cover them with your shields. Mages, freeze the air, let this bird sweat to stay in the sky!”

So far, he’d ordered everything right: archers deal the damage, the knights prevent them from dying to any serious attacks, his idea with the mages was also pretty good. It was common knowledge that magic creatures move slower in cold air. Although I’d have preferred to focus their spells on inflicting damage.

The guest was greeted with the first volley of arrows, but the creature was still too far, they didn’t get it.

I noted to myself that Dan himself wasn’t there. Maybe things would come to a screeching halt in the end?

But what was this dragon doing? Having made a sharp turn, it flew toward the ground and then just dropped a bunch of goblins. They were immediately caught by a gust of wind, and like a flock of mad, green pigeons, they flew over our heads. I didn’t know what Dan had planned, but his maneuver did create a panic.

The cry of goblins that spread across the whole castle was indeed a terrifying experience.

“Aaaaaaah!” The guardians standing nearby just ran away in all directions, and I could understand why they’d disobeyed the order. If you were hit by a live missile fallen from the sky, you wouldn’t forget it. I wondered whether someone had ever done something similar in the real world.

“Master, it was a maneuver to draw our attention. They’ve carried away the treasure!” Despite all the chaos that was around us, I heard the voice of the castle governor, but Summers just ignored him. The man was standing still, clenching his fists, staring into the distance.

“Something else has happened?” I guessed.

“Look.” His command menu appeared before my eyes, and I saw that the number of units in each detachment was rapidly declining. “They’re deserting! If this was just a move to draw our attention, made by a bunch of goblins and one dragon without the player himself... Then what will happen when it’s a real battle?”

Thirty dead goblins, about a thousand fugitive soldiers and a treasury that was almost empty—he’d done something impossible again. Moreover, it had taken him only ten minutes.

Dan, you’re a real devil, but now these trembling creatures will come together, and I’ll lead them against you with my firm hand. Suddenly, it dawned on me that it was impossible he hadn’t considered this… Yes, indeed, it was what you’d planned from the very beginning and that’s why you sent your dragon here.

All right, Dan, I’ll justify your expectations, this time you’ll have a worthy battle!

Chapter Nine

Dan

Yesterday, Samantha hadn’t left me alone all day, asking for my opinion on different events. And in such an interesting way, I was at least learning something about them.

It turned out that one of the people I’d already defeated once had managed to create an army of undead—I was ashamed that I hadn’t thought of this myself. It could have led to a lot of advantages, but I’d just stopped myself at a couple of liches. I am such a loser. There was also that girl who’d guessed how to open a new race. Her demons were unique creatures, and no one knew what to expect from them. In every fight, she could spring a surprise on her enemies!

There was also one more bit of interesting news—it appeared that everyone was trying to make an alliance with me, but I’d not only rejected any negotiations, but had also attacked the neighboring territory. Someone should’ve given me a hint of what was going on. Now, as I’d already found out, the borders of all recently founded kingdoms would be closed in two days, to let their rulers prepare for the final battle. And now I’d either seize the initiative or be left behind in development and lose any chance for victory. Why was Samantha so sure that I had a plan? After all the new information, I’d been turning over and over in my bed all night, unable to fall asleep, and then I realized that at this point I didn’t have a choice but to gather all of my forces and go on a full offensive.

Eleven points of leadership, that was twenty-two cells with one hundred and ten creatures in each of them. All together, I could’ve had almost twenty-five hundred units. Although there were also some nuances: the dragon and beholder, as unique creatures, occupied whole cells. At least I didn’t have the same problem with the trolls and priests anymore, they’d become full-fledged detachments.

All right, Dan, you have to get to the root of this problem, you’ve been learning from your enemies all this time: the main problem for you as a warrior will always be a numerical disadvantage.

Thanks to their primary being intelligence, my enemies would always be ahead in the size of their army, therefore, to rush forward wasn’t a good strategy. But what could I do to oppose them? Some attacks with an area of effect? I was quite sure that different protections had already been implemented against that. I needed something to surprise my opponents. If only there was one strategy that I could easily implement, taken from history—what in its day had changed the course of war? Firearms, heavy armaments, nuclear weapons, all of these inventions were beyond my capabilities.

“My lord!” Klaus came up to me on his tiptoes. I already knew that my scouts had returned and I wanted to learn how their campaigns had gone. “The goblins snuck into the warehouse again and ate all of our supply of rutabagas.”

While my green friend did raise a valid concern there, this question wasn’t worth pondering at the moment. The landing force would be my secret weapon. The dragon would drop the squad of my elite warriors right on the enemy player, my minions would kill him, and victory would be mine, without any exhausting battles. A brilliant plan.

“You’ve done a good job, Klaus.” I praised the troll for his role in forming the idea.

“Wow, you already know.” He grinned at me from ear to ear. What did that mean? What did his squad manage to do on their intelligence gathering mission? “The eye, the liches, and the pigs were also pretty good, but I’m convinced that it was my bone banners that brought them luck.”

It looked like my soldiers had had a good time, and their mission had included some adventures.

“Bring everyone here! Let’s see what you’ve achieved…” As I saw Samantha coming up, I slightly changed the end of my phrase. “In your battle missions.”

It didn’t take much time for a huge crowd of my followers to gather around me, and somehow all the space right in front of me was occupied by pigs and goblins: either they appeared to be faster or the others were more cunning and had chosen to stay behind. Either way, it wasn’t that important, and I waved my hand to signal my light cavalry to start their report.

Am I allowed to sit down? The dark lord sitting on his club—that’s okay, right?

“Along the way, we were attacked by some enemies, but since we didn’t forget your wise order, we tried to avoid any losses.” It seemed he’d heeded my words “don’t get involved in a fight with strong enemies, immediately retreat.” Indeed, it was true that living beings are inclined to pay much more attention to what they themselves want to hear.

“I think if goblins hadn’t teased them, they would’ve stopped chasing us,” said someone from back lines.

“They also stole the corpse and promised to make a banner out of it.” I immediately imagined the player who’d heard this threat from a goblin and what he must’ve thought about me personally. The idea of bone banners probably had some drawbacks.

“Be silent. How does the story end?” Under the respectful glances of my green-pink horde, I stopped their shouts.

“Well, we got lost, then we were chased by someone else, and then one more detachment tried to attack us. In the end, they faced each other, and we stole the provisions from their carts.” Somehow, it didn’t look like this had been a great endeavor.

“All right, I see,” I said and turned toward the detachment under the authority of the liches. “What can you boast about?”

“We also followed your wise advice, master, and when we met the superior forces of death knights and banshees, we didn’t start a fight but entered into negotiations instead.” This was something unexpected. I was really curious about the details of this conversation. “To be honest, they refused to join your army, but we used other forms of military cunning.”

“And what did you do?” Samantha asked, as the pause in the lich’s story stretched. I was surprised at how impatient she was being.

“We weren’t in a strong position, and our master was not with us, so we chose a place far away from here and suggested they meet us there for a fair fight. So now, it will take them about a whole day to get there and then to return.”

“Why, of course!” I was immediately all ears, as Samantha started analyzing what had happened. “Before, they served as knights, and even in their afterlife, they’ve retained the nobility of their souls and therefore agreed to an honest battle. And since the non-players can’t tell “untruths,” they accepted your words at face value. But one question remains, how did you manage to lie?”

“We didn’t lie.” The liches gave her a resentful glare. “Master ordered us to avoid fighting, so we followed his order.”

Judging by Samantha’s surprised look, ordinary monsters were usually less sensible, but I thought I knew what this was about: all the local players cared only about numbers, paying attention only to the class of the creatures. But mine had increased their levels, going beyond level 1, and that had apparently had a positive effect on their wits. This was a result of following the path of proper development.

“And what have you done?” In high spirits, I turned toward the beholder.

“My lord,” a lich interrupted me. “Later, we also attacked one of their small groups and captured a cart full of bones that they’d apparently planned to use to heal their warriors.”

Klaus, who was hanging out nearby, immediately broke into a wide grin as I only placed my hand across my face.

“Thank you, my lord,” immediately responded the lich.

“Hmm?” This game had already taught me that it wasn’t worth waiting and hoping that something good could happen.

“I’m grateful, master, that you’ve decided to accept us into the elite Order of the Red Palm.” As it turned out. the goblins had spread the news about my ritual, and apparently my “facepalm” was considered as an appropriate gesture. To be honest, I didn’t mind indulging the desires of my brave soldiers. Especially since everyone now was looking at the liches with thinly veiled envy—if my units were going to try harder, there was enough red paint for everyone. As life had shown me many times, it was all about what was going on in our minds: sometimes a little thing could be much more precious than even your own life and vice versa, sometimes, something really precious, under certain conditions, would be easily thrown away.

“But we faced demons!” said the proud voice of the beholder, who’d decided to attract my attention. I could only hope that from here on out, there wasn’t any bad news left.

“How many thousands?” I had already gotten used to huge numbers, but the answer of the eye reminded me that someone else did also care about quality.

“Not thousands, only five creatures, but they were so gigantic, wings—big paws—huge.” It was really hard to estimate the real size, since the beholder was trying to show the scale using his not quite long enough tentacles. But it was clear that they’d come across a serious enemy. “At first, we were eager to slaughter them, but then we remembered your order and used a cunning plan instead.”

“What was the result?” I was even a little bit afraid of the possible consequences.

“We challenged them to fight in a ritual duel,” one of Klaus’ relatives said in a deep voice. “In a small circle, they were unable to stay at a distance, in order to win with magic. So we cornered them and hit them with our clubs, not giving them a chance to use spells. In the end, we were canceling their casting until a technical decision was able to be made.”

“It was a pity we couldn’t finish them off,” sighed the eye sadly, “otherwise, they could’ve just forgotten the rules and easily destroyed us. At least we won on points.”

“All right,” I summed up the results, “the important part is that everyone returned and there are no losses. The enemy fear for their lives, while we’re preparing for new battles.”

“That’s not all, master…” The beholder seemed to be confused as he continued. “There are some people that came after us. About twenty thousand—all local players, gathered together to confront our power.”

It dawned on me that it wasn’t confusion, it was pride that enemies had united in such a huge crowd to oppose us! They must have considered me an exceedingly formidable opponent. As for me, considering such an advantage as theirs, I couldn’t have even fathomed what to do about twenty thousand hostile creatures.

“Well, let’s open the gates and emerge all together toward them,” Klaus suggested immediately.

“Maybe it would be better to stay out on the walls?” asked one of the orcs, but instantly fell silent under the severe glares from everyone around him. I realized that the situation was worse than I’d thought: with the reputation I’d gained, it was impossible just to stand aside. It turned out that either I would crush the enemy or it would all be over, no in between.

All of them were watching me with such hope, even Samantha. I wondered what the blonde had on her mind.

“No one will be going out. I’ll deal with this on my own.” It was such a simple phrase, but my leadership was increased by two points. “Hercule, be prepared for flight; the orcs and the beholder will come with me.”

“What about me?” Klaus roared in an injured voice.

“You’re too heavy, my friend.” Who said that only girls could be offended at words about weight? The troll looked at me as if he’d been stabbed in the back.

“Ah…” Klaus tried to save the situation, but I interrupted him.

“No, I won’t hold the banner.” As I said it, the troll got even more upset. I was feeling bad for him, he was still my first ally here. “Well, if you really want to, you can hand it over to the dragon, of course, if you manage to persuade him to keep it in his paws.”

Much to my regret, Hercule immediately agreed, and this strange bone creation appeared in his claws within a second.

After a while, my special forces group gathered around me, and it was time to start.

On the dragon, there was enough space only for twenty orcs in full sets of plate armor, me, and the beholder, a total of 22—and almost a thousand enemies for each of us.

“We are only tens against thousands and yet it will not be the less said we had a numerical advantage.” I wondered whether it was a coincidence or the beholder had somehow managed to get Dumas’ novel from somewhere.

“For the king!” Under the influence of this important moment, I shouted this, giving the dragon a sign to take off. Instead of fulfilling my order, he hesitated, then turned his head and looked thoughtfully at me. The troops began to whisper, then a sudden hush fell over them, and a multi-voiced roar ascended.

“For the king!”

“For the Dark King!”

I was glad that Samantha wasn’t here to see my shame. And only then I noticed system messages flashing.

You have founded the dark kingdom

Its borders will be locked as the new stage of the game begins—defeat as many enemies as you can and don’t let your enemies capture your main castle

Reputation before darkness is increased +1

Your creatures can increase their class in a fight

It was a strange feeling, as if I had received a piece of advice from “Captain Obvious.” At least my new ability from the darkness was pleasing to my eye: creatures of a high class were the main treasure in this game, and I’d been able to motivate them to focus on just fighting and winning.

Somehow, a strong sense of confidence appeared within me, fueled by our successes, and the urge to shout became overwhelming. As the dragon soared up into the heavens, the air rang with my cry, “Woohoo!”

I had no idea how the creators of the game had managed to make me feel as if adrenaline was surging directly through my veins, it was still just virtual reality. But while flying over the heads of our enemies that gazed up at the sky in fear, I was feeling choked up with emotion. They just didn’t have enough time to aim at us, as we crossed the sea of creatures and reached the general headquarters that had seemed just an instant ago to be protected from any danger.

The beholder and ten orcs were ordered to stay behind—their task was to buy us time to get to the heroes and decide the fight with a couple of severed heads. On our way there, the thin, transparent wall of some magic defense appeared. It seemed they were naive enough to think that it would be enough to stop us.

The unique ability of your class “crush” was activated. Symbol of absolute protection (type: structure) was destroyed

We broke through, going forward, and not having enough time to read it, I just skipped the message; obviously, this wasn’t the right moment for this. Half of the rearguard had already ended up dead, and if not for Stierlitz who had taken under his control a large part of the attackers, we would’ve had had a rough time. But we were already very close to reaching our goal. Suddenly, I just ran into another invisible wall—they seemed to have placed them everywhere. As I abruptly stopped, an assassin player came out from invisibility right behind me—fortunately, one strike was enough to deal with him. Another couple of blows made the magic shield shatter into crystal shards.

As we came to an open space, we faced a group of twenty other players. There was nothing at all difficult about this group, that would prevent me from sending all twenty enemy players to reincarnation. These people weren’t ready to fight in close combat.

If someone would’ve asked me... I’d say that these had been the easiest five levels I’d gained during all of my time in the game of Pantheon.

And there we were—the beholder, my nine surviving orcs, and me—standing in the middle of the sea of confused enemies. The wart dragon had landed behind us, ready to evacuate us back to the castle. Breathing hard, I was wondering what would happen next to these units, after the death of their heroes. As if answering my questions, the system displayed some messages.

You can’t accept new units, but if you give them an order right now, they will follow it no matter what it costs them.

“Move west, destroying everything that comes your way!” The detachment of knights standing closest to me indeed began to push their way through the crowd of their former allies.

You can’t accept new units, but if you give them an order right now, they will follow it no matter what it costs them.

“Go east, destroying everything in your path!” An abandoned army standing next to my castle did cause me a certain amount of concern, they had just recently been preparing to besiege it, and so I made sure their number was reduced by one more detachment.

You can’t accept new units, but if you give them an order right now, they will follow it no matter what it costs them.

“Move south, crushing everything that crosses your path.” As one more squad left, I finally smiled with pleasure.

And then it was happening over and over again, until all of the detachments of the large army that just recently had been planning to lay siege to my castle went on their last crusade. Only then, I noticed that they didn’t leave empty-handed—almost each of their leaders received the branded bone banner from Klaus, who run out to the battlefield through the gates as soon as the battle had ended. Something told me that all the trophy bones were gone. But I didn’t really mind, I’d allow it, to let it build up my image even more, maybe one day I would even be able to find a use for this.

The rest of the day passed slowly, as if it was just an ordinary, boring day: having realized that I had already gained some experience from a real war, I decided to sit alone awhile and think about my future tactics. So far, I’d managed without doing so, but having a couple of tricks available seemed like something I would need soon—in the past, it’d helped me a lot, in winning against other players. However, pretty soon I got bored of this work. On the one hand, I wanted to go out, to move my army and capture new territories, on the other, I first had to prepare before such a battle came. Tomorrow, Samantha’s blacksmiths would finish creating the armor for my army, and I thought this would be the right time for a counter-attack.

Bammm, bamm, bamm!

“An alarm bell, my king!” said the messenger-goblin, after he’d run into my room. It was a shame that some of the goblins were aware of these features while I wasn’t.

“What’s happening?”

“Almost 100,000 demons and undead are approaching the castle.” Had I really been complaining about boredom? It seemed that fate had prepared a lot of adventures for me.

The game’s time was up and today had already come to an end, and that meant that the decisive battle would be taking place tomorrow. Unfortunately, I had no idea whether any delay could help me. Why was I so lucky?

Exit

Vasily Mamontov

Today, I led my whole undead army to Dan’s castle, tomorrow, the fight between us would finally happen again. I didn’t know how he’d managed to do this, but somehow, his sabotage group had lured nearly ten thousand of my death knights to some obviously false battle. Then, I was told that the cart with the bones intended for the summoning of the dragon had been stolen. The whole thing was irritating, but I hadn’t had even the slightest thought that it would be easy.

Dan, you showed that you’re in control of the situation, but everything, one way or another, will be over tomorrow, on the battlefield, in a fair fight.

Now I had nothing to do but wait, standing on a balcony in the shadows of the columns, hidden from prying eyes, watching what was happening all around me, and in my immediate surroundings. People were quite funny and direct when they thought there was no one around. Now my attention was directed at the panic that reigned in the meat hall, and they probably had reasonable grounds to panic.

Usually, if these losers were sitting off to the side, not even trying to play for the high stakes, nobody cared about them. There was no point wasting resources–these players still had no gold or artifacts, but you could very well lose a part of your army. I’d heard that they were even using their favorable position, making bets on who would last longer. Needless to say, these people were just meat, they had no idea of honor or true loyalty and respect. But this time something had changed; the last order that had been given to the allied army left without their players meant detachments had been sent in all directions, destroying so much in a half day’s time, ruining a couple of big bets… I had a strong feeling that soon we’d be hearing about a suicide wave and other types of accidents.

The poor guys had even thought up a name for this—“The legions of horror begin their death march.” I wasn’t even forced to exert myself in order to hear their excited voices coming from different sides of the hall. It took me some time to realize that Dan had changed not only us, but had also had a big influence on these players. If before they were just a formless, gutless mass, now when they were dying not by players’ hand but losing against ordinary monsters, it seemed something had awakened in them. Tables were moved to form a couple of circles, according to the new alliances that’d appeared today. These players were starting to unite in order to survive these unexpected attacks, and who knew what would happen next. Maybe the meat would show that they had some teeth?

Everything becomes so interesting with you, Dan!

Samantha Hollins

Yesterday, I had a pretty hard evening: it hadn’t been that simple to keep Dan at a distance from everyone who was trying to talk to him. And all those contemptuous looks Christina had given me. Well, we’d see who’d be the winner in the end.

What pleased me yesterday: when I’d told Dan about the army of demons, he hadn’t even remembered this girl, the ex-champion. It was a good sign, in all meanings of the word. Firstly, it meant he knew how to deal with her, secondly… well, that part wasn’t so important.

Also the whole evening, I had wanted to ask him one question—I wondered why he’d let other players stay independent instead of letting them join him. And then, it was so surprising how fast it was possible to find answers to all the questions by just being with him, everything had become so clear. After all, each of us, his former adversaries, had found a way to become stronger after a collision with his might. Mamontov subdued a new race, Lanski organized a takeover among his neighbors, Alessandro was in hiding, but his sister had immediately found a way to use the new strategies he’d showed us. If you forgot for a second about the game and remembered what it was all about, it became obvious that Dan was showing organizers how he could develop the abilities of people, even if they were his enemies. What could he have achieved with his own employees? I bet the top hundred companies had already sent him their job offers.

It was a start of the most unusual day of my life. First, his intelligence detachments returned, and only then I was able to see the subtlety with which Dan was working: all those negotiations his followers had conducted—it was mind boggling how many scripts and algorithms he had written and put into their minds to achieve such stunning success! I had no idea how he could’ve found the time for all of it.

After a little while, we were attacked—all our neighbors had gathered together and presented a united front. Usually, it was impossible to meet such an army before the final confrontation. Only, no deadly battle happened, Dan stopped them, almost singlehanded. I didn’t know why he’d decided to reveal his trump card of being capable of crushing any defensive spell, but it did look effective.

And then, it appeared this wasn’t the end of the surprises. At the very end of the day, two great armies of demons and undead coming from different sides, marched out to the plain in front of the castle. One hundred thousand enemies approached him, but somehow, there was no fear. The last fight we’d won with a ratio of one to a thousand, so according to that fight, we even had an advantage now. Of course, I was just trying to stay positive, with Vasily and Christina leading the armies, we couldn’t beat them so easily. But we didn’t need a victory—we could just wait for a day, until the borders closed, and we would get time to prepare for a second round.

So, take a deep breath, Samantha, everything will be fine.

In the evening, I’d decided to come up to Alessandro and Milos who were standing alone, dejected. Today was their last day. I didn’t think they would start from scratch, considering how much they’d already lost, so tomorrow they would leave Pantheon. I was afraid that they wouldn’t talk to me after everything that had happened today, but as it turned out, their desire to speak to me appeared to be stronger than their stubbornness.

“You saw his castle, right? Well, of course, you did!” The voice of the usually calm del Mayo was full of emotion. “How did he manage to build such a huge one? There are restrictions on its size.”

“But he didn’t even try to use it,” Lanski said. “You should’ve heard me swearing as we saw that stone monster.”

Having snatched a glass of champagne from the passing robot-waiter, he drank it dry and immediately took a second one, but didn’t rush it this time, just sipping instead.

“Alessandro, at least, suspected something like this: he convinced us to put up two symbols of absolute protection. I myself was naive enough to think we could deal with him using brute force, but he needed just twenty soldiers to crush us.” Having said that, he emptied his glass and took the next one. “And those allies of ours, some of them chased after some pigs, then collided and nearly killed each other. Idiots!”

“He had not twenty, but twenty-one units.” I decided to change the subject. Although I was surprised, as it turned out, Dan had suspected an attack and had sent his detachments not without a good reason, but with the goal to decrease the enemy forces and sow confusion. It was logical to keep at least a couple of options in mind and consistently follow each of them.

“What’s the difference!” Somehow, it was del Mayo who broke down and yelled. “I have no idea how he destroyed my shields, nor how he avoided my attack. I was sure that I’d deal a deadly blow to him even after he ran into the protective spell, dodging my first attack. You know, I have a feeling that I’ve truly grown up only today. In the morning, I was happy with the new class of assassin and dreamed about how, even without armies, I could have climbed the very top, and then I was sent to reincarnation with one single blow. You, Hollins, can’t understand this, but such a difference between us was really inspiring. At first, it tramples you into the dust, but then it makes you climb up, cling to every opportunity to become stronger.”

It was an interesting idea, I thought. Real parents should always be an example to their child, and while they’re trying to catch up with them, the child would constantly be developing. The more challenges they take up, the faster this process goes.

And then Dan entered the hall. As usual, not paying any attention to what was happening, he went toward the table with food. Then he noticed us and turned in our direction: it was noble of him if he’d decided to give a piece of advice to his defeated enemies. Maybe he’d even noticed something interesting in their tactics and would have been able to praise them. For the self-esteem of Milos and Alessandro, it could’ve been very useful.

“Hey, losers! You like how I smashed you in a couple of minutes!?” Then he gave me a warm, yet elusive smile and left.

What a sweet smile he had… But what had he just said? It was too cruel and also kind of pointless. What was the reason for humiliating the defeated players?

“I won’t leave! I’ll start from scratch and do my best to give him one more fight!” Alessandro hissed through his teeth.

“Me too. I’ve never been so mad!” Milos was trembling violently.

I thought I realized what Dan had done just now. He’d given them a thirst for victory, taught them not to surrender, and it was all about the right words said at the right moment. He was a real master of psychology.

Christina del Mayo

What would ordinary servants do if they faced an enemy? They should destroy them! What had my five most powerful demons that I’d sent to make all weak players in the neighboring territories join me done? Nothing! Not having killed anyone, they’d returned with a story about some dark lord named Dan Kornev, and a suggestion to make friends with him. It was hard to imagine: demons that were advising an alliance. I wondered how he was able to do these kinds of things on a regular basis.

Right now, I had an advantage, but it was clear that soon that would change: there were certain restrictions I had for recruiting, and my demons weren’t as strong as I wished. While I was still on top, I had to destroy my most dangerous rival.

I waved my hand, and a dozen succubi flew in different directions to deliver the order that our campaign would start today. Only Christina was left nearby, my double who had been put into the game by brother and then stolen by Dan. The only “non-demon” in my army. She was standing silent, as always, with no emotion on her face. If she were a human, I’d say she missed him.

But it wasn’t supposed to be this way. It was definitely not right, or maybe… Since you’ve appeared, Dan, the boundaries of what was possible have been significantly moved. And it was so very exciting.

“Let’s go!” I said, and the dark priestess obediently followed me, her footsteps quiet. “Someone is waiting for us.”

And then it was a long and tiresome march. Unfortunately, the huge castle that belonged to Dan had only been reached before the very end of the day. But that was okay; tomorrow, I’d have a lot of time to prove that some upstart was incomparable with a true aristocrat. His best, that he could’ve been proud of, would’ve been to accompany me to receptions and faithfully meet me at home until I’d gotten bored with him. Still, it was true that I wouldn’t have hurried to replace someone like him, there was something special about that guy.

Chapter Ten

Dan

Today, I felt ashamed of myself: yesterday, for no good reason, I’d mocked the aristocrats that had lost for the second time. What if Samantha were to stop talking to me after that: it was true that she wasn’t very useful, but honestly I had already gotten used to her being nearby.

However, who wouldn’t have blown off some steam in my shoes? Having only two thousands units, I’d managed to crush forces ten times superior to my own, and then I was confronted with armies that were five times bigger. Until the very last moment, I’d had a hope that they wouldn’t unite against me, but no: as if they’d concluded a tacit agreement, the undead began to form their base from one side of the castle, demons on the other.

“You think they’ve protected themselves from the landing force?” Standing nearby, Samantha flinched from the cold rush of morning wind.

“They’ve decided to be more cunning and have hidden their general headquarters, I have no idea where they are.” It turned out that it had been in vain, me making plans yesterday for the whole hour while I’d been in the tub. If there were no heroes, there was no point in the landing force; considering the enemy had a numbers advantage, all other options were meaningless.

“Well, you’ll wait in the fortress until they make a mistake?” Samantha asked in a low voice.

That seemed like a good plan, most importantly, it could provide an explanation for why we’d not go outside this time. I just needed to complement it with some ideas.

Gathering detachments of pigs in the courtyard of the fortress, I told them what an important mission they had to accomplish. I, to be honest, was far from being good at strategy, but from the school course in history, I could perfectly remember how many problems partisans caused both to Napoleon and Hitler, destroying their means of communication. And now it was time for me to show the power of the guerrilla movement.

“Your task is to slip between the armies of undead and demons; they keep a distance between each other, you will have enough room for your maneuvers.” It wasn’t hard to notice that they immediately looked strained, somehow. I wasn’t quite sure yet on whether they were so peace-loving or they were just cowardly. “And then you will start raiding their rear. You’re not supposed to enter a battle with their primary forces, your main task is to find and destroy their supply carts.”

“Dark Lord! Hooray!” I could directly feel it when in their brains the logical chain “cart-food” had completed and thus activated the shouting function.

For everyone else, I explained that, considering we had such a wonderful opportunity we should test the defense of our castle. Ordinary, standard battles we’d have later, but when would we again have such great armies standing under our walls.

“Only by repulsing at least one assault will we be able to say with pride that no one is able to capture our citadel.” So, we weren’t hiding behind walls, we were making history.

“But we can say that all the same even without a siege,” said a squeaky voice from the goblin ranks. It seemed someone had been with me for too long and had become too clever.

“Yes, that’s possible.” Raising my hand palm upward, I stopped the indignant cries. “But will it be fair? You can take any stone in the desert and claim that it’s unsinkable since it’s never been in water. No, only in a big battle is real glory born. Let’s show them! For the darkness! For the win!”

“For the dark king!” The courtyard was drowned in rapturous shouts, but it was a pity that this didn’t increase my stats. Probably, some illogical part of my speech had still played a role. Although, in my mind, the analogy with the stone had seemed pretty good.

Going up to the platform for the catapults, I was pondering why I hadn’t thought to order them right away. In battle, it was no longer possible… My cavalry looked insufficient for the task ahead. Their number went up to one thousand, a small drop of water in the ocean, in comparison with the forces that had attacked us. As I’d planned, they slipped between the skeletons and demons, and neither of them risked attacking, being scared of provoking a conflict with the other side. Somehow it was even pleasant, finally I’d been noticed by someone really strong, the fighting I’d done with only weak players up until then wasn’t even prestigious. Maybe, in the end, I would be able to make myself known, even if I didn’t become a champion and get the chance to have a truly good life. Maybe I’d even be invited to make some money through advertising on the big screen and get enough money to live comfortably with.

Stop that, Dan, at the point you start thinking about defeat, you’ve already lost! Only victory is allowed! There is no place other than first for us.

The leaders of all the detachments gathered around me, Hercule was hovering in the air, ready to land at any moment and take my airborne troops aboard. We were few, but it didn’t mean that we’d lose.

“All who prove themselves in this battle will get a sign of the Red Palm.” The usual roar didn’t sound in response, but I noticed how everyone seized their weapon more tightly. Sometimes, you didn’t even need to say anything. And right at that moment, somehow, quietly, and as if it were an everyday occurrence, the horde of undead moved, starting the storm. The demons were still busy with preparations, giving them the right to make the first move. The legions of skeletons were moving slowly and frightfully, but bone horses rushed forward immediately, with five or seven zombies hanging from each side.

“Not bad,” Samantha whispered. The girl was standing nearby. “Judging by what’s happening, those ghouls are rather slow but strong. If they get to our ranks, they’ll probably cause some problems.”

To me, while we were on the walls, it seemed to not be a big threat—we’d shoot them up and down like in a shooting gallery. At that very moment, the goblins threw their spears and no less than forty bone horses fell down, scattering zombies and knocking down those who were riding alongside. But what a small part of the avalanche that was approaching us that was. Yes, they were weak, but such a number of enemies was frightening on some deeper level, beyond thought.

For the first time, I noticed the effect of my player’s aura: the goblins who were far away needed two attacks to deal with the enemy, those who were close to me could inflict a deadly blow in one hit.

After a little while, the only thing that was separating the castle walls and the attackers was a moat. I could only hope it was deep enough, and they would not be able to easily dam it. But they turned out to be more cunning than I’d thought: clutching each other, zombies seemed to crawl onto the obstacle, turning into a kind of living bridge.

“Oh, I was wondering how they would move through your ‘bottomless moat.’” It turned out it was bottomless. I wondered how Samantha had learned about it and why I didn’t have this information. “A deathly grip is a special ability of zombies, it can’t be broken. As a result, it’s an ideal way to get through these type of obstacles. I don’t think it will be easy to destroy them.”

The blonde was right, as if she knew how things would go. My archers fired another volley of spears, but the undead continued to move as if they didn’t care about those losses, their reinforcements were coming, more dead horses, but this time with skeletons.

I just watched in fascination as they rushed in, flew into the newly constructed bridges and exploded right there, turning into fragments of bone and pieces of meat.

“Of course, you knew everything in advance!” The girl was just destroying my mind, but it was definitely not the right time to ask her any questions. Whatever had just happened, it suited me fine. The attack was bogged down, and the leader of the undead army ordered it back to regroup.

A smile touched my lips. The demons had already finished their preparations and it was obvious that they would start at any moment, and an attack from both sides was the last thing I needed. And indeed, in the back rows of the demons, the stirring sharply stopped, and in front of the fortress, in the clouds of smoke, appeared five giant, wooden pigs. It could’ve probably been regarded as something innocuous, but in fact, the huge constructions, no less than 35 feet in height, were a horrifying sight.

“Siege golems,” Samantha whispered beside me. “Usually, even one of them can decide the fate of a battle, but there are as much as five of them here. It’s likely that she spent all her gold on this, instead of building a castle.”

To be honest, I didn’t share such an admiration for this technological achievement. It was true, they were powerful, big, but I still couldn’t imagine how these machines would help break the walls. Although I was forced to admit, almost immediately, that they were a good protection from the attacks of goblins. Moreover, they just stepped over the moat that had just recently made the leader of the undead resort to some unusual ideas.

Booom!

Hidden inside each of the golems, rams struck the wall with a loud noise, and its durability suddenly dropped by five percent. How could I have forgotten that everything around me was just a game—in the real world, such an attack was useless, but here “if you hit, it should cause damage.” Which meant they were quite capable of destroying my fortifications, but it was also true that nothing could stop me from using the same rules, against them.

“Klaus, gather your people!” I hoped that my voice wasn’t trembling. “Orcs, prepare to cover the passage if they do break through.”

By the time I was standing on the wall, at the head of the detachment of twenty-five trolls, the golems had destroyed thirty percent of the wall. We were still lucky that stakes were everywhere, as that didn’t let them gather in one place: if they’d had an opportunity to concentrate their attacks, they would already be inside.

“Jump!” I cried, and was then immediately followed by my heavy landing group.

As we landed on the back of the golem, our twenty-six clubs crushed its armor in an instant, and then we tore out the attachments that held the ram, turning a menacing weapon into a mountain of wood and steel. And suddenly, it dawned on me that I didn’t have a plan, how was I supposed to get back to the wall and then get to the next golem... It seemed that time had stopped: my heart was pounding in my chest, the main forces of the demons began to move to the walls in order to repel our bold sally or maybe to break through a breach that was about to appear.

A cloud of small imps, bellowing and waving their small daggers, was approaching.

“Be cautious with your legs,” Klaus commanded to the trolls. “These small ones will try to cut your tendons, just trample those who get too close.”

Somehow his words awakened me. Being struck with a sudden idea, I led the trolls to crush the paws of the pig-golems which hadn’t stopped breaking the wall. It seemed to be an obvious solution, but how hard it was to switch from one line of thinking to another, especially in the heat of battle. And again, our clubs ruthlessly extinguished the resistance of those huge, but flimsy horned demons that tried to block us, defending the siege machines from the bottom. And then it was the turn of the golems themselves. After all, trolls were a real power, especially when I was around. The second siege pig fell down, then the third, and after a little while, the fourth as well.

“One more push and we’ll deal with them!” I encouraged my soldiers, trying not to think about what could happen as we were left trapped between the castle walls and the enemy hordes.  There was always Hercule and the option to run away, at least for me—the dragon couldn’t get all the trolls out. But I was not going to abandon my ‘people’.

Almost simultaneously, the last siege golem and a piece of the wall collapsed, which opened a way back for us. I always knew that if you didn’t surrender, fate itself would come and help you. The hole turned out to be small, literally about six feet, but we didn’t need more. Under the very nose of the advancing demons, we jumped inside and just fell to the ground, hiding behind the detachments of orcs who were covering the way into the fortress.

“We sure beat these jerks!” groaned Klaus, still catching his breath, with a pause after each word.

“Yep.” I also hadn’t recovered my breath yet, but it was necessary to start thinking about what to do next. I wondered whether it was possible to hold the enemy at this passage. If I ordered my troops to leave the walls and concentrated all my forces here, what could prevent the foe from making a hole in a different place? Although the width of the walls was no less than a hundred feet, those siege golems had destroyed it in less than ten minutes; they were, indeed, very dangerous.

At that very moment, the avalanche of imps reached the line of orcs that stood at the hole in the wall, defending the breach. It seemed the armor created by Samantha’s smiths did help, my units were able to hold this position. The demons were dying faster than the new ones could make their way through the bodies. But it was clear, this couldn’t last very long. They were climbing forward fast, walking almost on the shoulders of each other.

“What the heck! Help them!” Samantha cried, and at that very moment, the green defenders were covered with a silvery glow.

Your detachment have upgraded their class from Orc-Warriors to Orc-Praetorians

Current class: 2

Features: while fighting in ranks, their effectiveness is increased by 300%

A smile curved my lips, the reputation before darkness had worked, and I could say it had been just in time. We continued to stand in the breach, but it seemed the demons weren’t going to stop their attack: here and there appeared hellhounds, and the passage seemed to be filled with bodies clambering over each other. Already, there were definitely more than several thousand demonic creatures in there. And I could only wonder why the traps that I’d set in the constructor of the castle hadn’t activated yet. As soon as I thought this, the walls came together with a grim noise, devouring everyone between them. The noise of the battle that had just recently seemed to be endless completely disappeared.

“My dark king, they are retreating!” There was a cry from one of the goblins that stood on the walls, while I was looking at the system message that had just appeared before my eyes.

The trap "Stone Tomb" is activated

You will be able to refresh the traps when the siege is finished

We’d withstood the first assault, and although there was a whole day ahead, it was still a little victory.

We have to hold on.

I didn’t even pay attention to squeezing Samantha’s hand. I wondered whether she was okay; she looked unhealthy.

Vasily Mamontov

Dan, at last, the day of the real battle has come.

Despite the fact that Christina was also present, I was sure that if I didn’t provoke the girl, she’d concentrate all her forces only on you. At each of our previous meetings, I‘d made mistakes, but today, I knew one thing for sure: I wouldn’t repeat the most important of them—I wouldn’t try to defeat you with brute force.

Although I had more units and all my previous experience suggested that this was right, now I knew for sure that it was a trap. If I did want to win, I had to think outside the box.

As I’d made up my mind that I was ready for everything, Dan once again puzzled me with his actions. I could only guess why he’d sent his light cavalry out of the castle. If it were a long siege, they could disrupt my supply lines. But considering that everything would be decided by the end of the day, it seemed there was no point in this. They were also too few for a serious attack from behind. Maybe he just wanted to distract me. After all, being the cunning son of a bitch that he was, even with totally superior forces, I was unable to fully control the course of the battle. I couldn’t even stand proudly and had had to hide from his deadly assault.

I wished I knew what was happening in his head!

“Start the offensive!” No matter what he’d planned, I didn’t see a reason to abandon my own plans.

The main army began the advance—if everything went as planned, I bet he won’t be able to stop it. The first lines were detachments of dead horses with a small squad of zombies on each of them—who said that cavalry was useless in a siege. They passed through the area of fire much faster than someone could even imagine—if the zombies had been on their own, I was pretty sure that none of them would’ve even gotten there. No matter how many of them there were, the defenders would have shot them all. And then came my turn to show off my know-how—a bridge made of zombies. This idea was based on a feature that the zombies had. Basically, the zombies’ health was seen as one large pool, if you wanted to break their death grip. It wasn’t an easy task to break such a bridge, even if you had the time needed, but I wasn’t going to give that time to my foes.

Living bombs, one of the most powerful weapons of a hero-necromancer. And their power was diluted only by complexities and the conditions for their application. But I had considered all the nuances: the last dead animals were ordered to bring about several hundred living bombs to the walls of his citadel. And then it didn’t matter what would happen next—the explosion would destroy everything in its radius and my legions would finish off what remained of Dan’s army. In a battle like this, even a tactician like him couldn’t have done anything to oppose my superior forces.

“The explosion has gone off,” my adjutant-skeleton reported, although I had seen what happened myself.

But why? Why had they exploded early? All my zombies were lying dead, and it pained me.

It was a real shame: all this time, Dan had been standing still on the wall and watching. He’d understood at first glance that I’d made a mistake in my calculations and remained motionless. What composure and self-control he had.

But this wasn’t the end yet, I still had soldiers and trump cards up my sleeve, the battle had to go on.

Christina del Mayo

The son of the Mamontov family had a pretty good plan, but he hadn’t taken into account that a high humidity increases the rate of the reaction. Because of such little things, boy, you won’t become the first ranked.

“My lady,” the chief demon-mechanic addressed me, “all five siege golems are ready for activation.”

“Why only five?” I hated nasty surprises, but unfortunately, it was impossible to do without them.

“Those pigs that ran out of the besieged fortress, they have trampled all the moonflowers, without which we can’t summon the spirits for the machines.” It was indeed cunning of Dan. I had been wondering on what mission he’d sent those animals. I’d covered all the targets that he could’ve attacked with one thousand soldiers, but it had been a deception—such a number was only needed to distract someone, their task could’ve been accomplished by a single creature. Indeed, why should you attack the main forces, if you can achieve the same result by just digging up a couple of glades?

At least the first harvest had already been gathered: five golems were less than ten, but it was still a huge power. Seven thousand gold for activation, not so many people could afford such a waste, but against a rival like Dan, it wasn’t worth taking any risks. Sometimes you had to hit decisively and be certain it would work.

Having appeared out of thin air, the golems began moving toward the fortress; my double was standing next to me, clenching her fists, thinking that I didn’t notice this. It was really fun watching her. So far, everything went according to my plan: the defenders weren’t able to damage the golems, a moat was not an obstacle. The leaders of the main forces received a command to be ready for a quick advance—if we followed too slowly after the golems, it would just mean unnecessary losses. I certainly didn’t intend to neglect forethought: when the walls collapsed, nothing would stop me.

I watched as he led an attack himself. What a stupid decision that was, and most importantly, what a risk—I immediately gave the signal to start. If we managed to trap him under the walls, it would be such good luck, a gift from heaven. Unfortunately, I was forced to accept that he was pretty good, he would probably even be able to destroy all the golems before my main forces reached him. I wondered how high his attribute of strength was, considering that his trolls and my masters of demons were of the same class, but mine didn’t have a chance at victory in a collision. These horned bastards wouldn’t be able to kill anyone.

Well, this was nothing to me. Wait a while, Dan, and I’ll put you in your place.

“…!” Decent girls didn’t swear, but that had hurt. I’d thought he was trapped, but this bastard seemed to just be playing with me. It was supposed to be the other way around! Now it was clear why he made a pause before giving the command to attack the second golem—he’d been waiting for the right time, so the fifth one would manage to break the wall and open the way back for him.

So, Christina, you have to calm down, hot-headed actions rarely lead to success. After all, if you think about it, the battle is still far from over, it was just a trade: the golems in exchange for a hole in the wall. Even though it hadn’t gone in my favor, I could afford such a trade, but he couldn’t.

On my order, bridges were quickly thrown across the moat, and all my forces rushed at the narrow mouth of the passage. Yes, we were taking casualties, since from the moment I’d led my demons forward to catch him, his archers and spearmen had been levying a bloody tax on me, but it wasn’t for nothing. I knew that with one more effort made from our side, the line of his defenders would be broken.

With magic vision, I was able to see everything that was happening on the front line. This was the real power of magicians: not lightning or fireballs, but the opportunity to see the whole picture of any battle and then make a decision that leads to victory. Warriors rushing ahead of their armies were deprived of this opportunity, and that’s why their fate was always to be second. A thin smile touched my lips as I saw Hollins getting nervous. But why was Dan so calm? Despite the fierce battle that was taking place in front of him, he was still lying on the ground. I wondered what he was waiting for.

His orcs reached the next class, but that could give him only a short period of respite. Was I missing something? At least, I could not see a way out of this for him, one final push and it would be over: as my demons filled the whole passage, it started looking as if they were between the palms of a huge giant. And suddenly it dawned on me that of course it had been a trick.

“Retreat! It’s a trap!” I cried, having realized that it was already too late.

When one fourth of your army had been devoured before your eyes, not because a rival appears to be stronger, but because you’ve made a mistake, letting him seize control of the battle, was so unusual. What an odd feeling. Was it rage, resentment? Or respect?

So, Christina, your heart has been conquered, but it’s not over yet.

There was still half of the day left to go; my detachments of mages had not joined this battle yet. I should stop wearing this foolish grin!

If this moment were to be captured on camera, I’d definitely kill someone!

Samantha Hollins

He held my hand. On his own! For the first time! And I blushed scarlet; something similar had happened to me only in the childhood when grandfather praised me for a project that had brought me my first million.

Samantha, you’re not supposed to be in his shadow. Why are you standing idle and letting him do all the work for you? Dan was too noble to point this out—if it were someone else, I’d say it was a weakness, but when he was doing it, I just wanted to do my best to show him what I was capable of.

Well, it seems the new attack has started. Samantha, your time has come.

Chapter Eleven

Dan

Samantha and I were standing at top of the castle wall, our long clothes billowing in the breeze, and far below, the armies of demons and undead, which looked tiny from such a height, were advancing on us. Adrenalin was surging through my veins, a cry tore itself from my throat—it was so good.

When, in the very beginning, I’d decided to sneak into “Pantheon” to solve my financial problems, I couldn’t even have imagined how great it was. Only now, I realized that I wasn’t playing some game, I was living in this world, and that’s probably why I was making so many mistakes. Were these the actions of that rational gamer I remembered being? I’d cornered myself: my task was to hold out for half the day against the simultaneous attack of these forces—I hadn’t a single thought on how to deal with it. Damn it, I was just shaking with excitement and, no point in hiding, with fear. But was someone expecting me to surrender? Certainly not!

“Eeeeeeuaaaahh!” The wind seemed as if it’d been waiting for me to shout, spreading the echo throughout the area.

Having reached level 15, you get the opportunity to create a new unique ability for your class

You have created the ability “Battle Roar”

The power of a real berserker overwhelms not only its owner but also everyone around. Letting loose a battle cry, you increase the radius of your hero’s aura up to half a mile

Duration—5 minutes

Cooldown—360 minutes

At that very moment, a troll that had ascended the stairs awkwardly touched the railing and brought it down. Under my studying gaze, he tried to grip a wall and also destroyed a piece of it. And now this power was available to every soldier, even the ones in the most distant detachments. Then what was I waiting for? About ten seconds had already been wasted!

“Rush outside! Crush the enemy, but on my command, immediately retreat!” It was unlikely we could do something serious in these couple of minutes, since it was necessary to reach the foe and then come back, but it was better than just standing still.

Everyone that had been standing in the courtyard of the fortress started to get out through the breach in the wall. But the orcs, goblins, and liches who were on guard on the walls surprised me—taking advantage of the fact that the walls had expanded at the bottom, they just slid down the slope. Had it been designed for that kind of use? It seemed the mystery of the wall edge going upward was now unraveled. With a scream no less impressive than mine, large and small green projectiles rushed into the air.

“Holy crap!” I whispered to myself as liches, rattling their bones, rolled over the wall.

The demons and undead had just finished building a wall of shields against small detachments gathering outside the wall, when those unexpected forces flew over their heads. You’re probably wondering what one goblin could do, surrounded by enemies. Nothing? But don’t forget that under the effect of the player’s aura he’d received a part of my attributes. The power shield was covering his tiny body, preventing an instant death, and a blow of his short sword forged by Samantha’s smiths could cut demon bodies, despite their huge size. The orcs were also doing great, although I’d saved a little on their weapons and made not swords, but clubs studded with steel strips. With the strength they’d gotten from me, they were just wreaking havoc on the enemy ranks around themselves. But even they couldn’t be compared with liches.

To be honest, at first I’d feared that my undead mages would be immediately beaten in melee combat, but as it turned out, they had an option for fighting in close: daggers they could hold in bone fingers, with techniques unavailable to the living ones, started to cover the air around them with a fancy series of strikes.

“What the frack?” I pushed away the beholder who was trying to cuddle up against me. What a monster he was, distracting me at such a crucial moment.

After the last landing operation before the siege had started, the eye was exhausted and hadn’t had the time to recover because of the sudden attack. Surprisingly, it turned out that a hungry beholder was more like a cat than a serious and dangerous creature. I wondered what had led to such a monster clinging to me and asking for a goblin as an aperitif. I thought that it would be better if I gave him something useful to do.

Getting off me and resentfully rustling his tentacles, the beholder slid down the stairs.

“Your soldiers reached the enemy just a minute ago, but Christina and Vasily have already lost no less than five thousand.” Samantha ignored the scene that had just occurred, focusing her attention on counting the enemy casualties. In the meantime, I was looking at my command panel. My army had lost 486 soldiers, but even at this ratio, it was an exchange in favor of the enemy.

And suddenly the system exploded with a bunch of messages.

Your detachments have upgraded their class from Orc-Warriors to Orc-Champions

Current class: 2

Features: in a battle where they are surrounded by enemies, all their attributes are increased by 300%

This was a surprise, now I had two types of orcs, and it was necessary to be more cautious when distributing them among the troops; moreover, it turned out they were trained for directly opposite tasks.

Your detachments have upgraded their class from Liches to Lich-Renegades

Current class: 2

Features: all magic attributes changed to physical

I wondered what would follow this transformation, and it was quite unexpected. An almost infinite reserve of mana turned into an almost infinite number of health. With my power—these creatures appeared to be gods of melee fighting. They alone could have killed a dragon without wincing.

At this point, the liches started to advance even faster and managed to raise their class one more time.

Your detachments have upgraded their class from Lich-Renegades to Higher Lich-Renegades

Current class: 3

Features: number of hands is increased up to 6

Immediately, some parts of their bodies were broken down into components, turning into two more pairs of limbs. Well, having called them the gods of war before, I definitely got excited—their previous version had been like a small, harmless child, in comparison to the meat grinders they’d become now.

Your detachments have upgraded their class from Goblins to Sneaking Goblins

Current class: 2

Features: When they backstab, the power of their attack is increased by 300%; the first blow is always critical

One more upgrade. That left only the trolls—but, apparently, it had taken them too much time to get to the enemy ranks and they still hadn’t beaten enough of them to get a new class. But the time to retreat was already approaching. And then two messages came at the same time.

Your detachments have upgraded their class from Trolls to Bloody Trolls

Current class: 2

Features: they regenerate 5% of their maximum health points per second

Beholder has upgraded his class to Ancient Beholder

Current class: 3

Feature: tentacles become 50% longer; it inspires respect among other beholders

I could only wonder when that one had managed to get into a fight. Looking closely, I noticed how an eye that just recently had been hanging nearby outflanked the enemies and, using the general turmoil, was quite successfully attacking the demons. His improvement was, of course, kind of useless, but it definitely pleased that conceited giant orb. Well, only one minute of the buff was left.

“Retreat!” And no stewards were even needed. As it turned out, during my “cry” my voice was heard by every unit in my army.

Quickly getting out through the open ranks of the enemy, everyone started moving back to the castle. Forces of undead tried to use this opportunity and counterattacked, but we were ready, it wasn’t for nothing that I’d saved one minute of the buff. Quickly breaking their spontaneous momentum, my detachments got back to the fortress. Somehow, no one was in a hurry to get back to their positions on the walls; everyone had gathered beside me.

“Master, master, we’ve become stronger!” The goblins were jumping around.

“It was wise of us to pledge ourselves to your rule, my dark king!” The orcs bowed their heads. “The ancestors are pleased with us for moving along the green path of valor.”

“We saw those like us in the ranks of the foe.” The liches said in a creaking voice. “How weak they are, how far from real power. We are proud to have found true life under your reign.”

Klaus, at the head of his trolls, on whose backs red tattoos had appeared, was just standing, proudly smiling.

“I was willfully deceived!” The beholder destroyed the solemn atmosphere. “I can accept that the skulls of undead are empty, but it turns out that, physiologically, demons also have no brains. They are nothing more than a materialized energy. What am I supposed to eat? I carried out such an impressive maneuver and attacked their flank, as you’d ordered me, master.” I wondered when I’d had time to do this. “Yes, they weren’t able to do anything but now I must go to sleep. Wake me up when we get some brains, otherwise, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

The disappointed eye slid to the nearest corner and, curling up with his new long tentacles, heavily collapsed into a pig manure heap that had been carefully collected from the whole fortress. The squad of demons that was following him immediately stopped being under his control, but was bound by the watchful goblins. It seemed they’d begun being especially cautious and attentive with the beholder.

“Christina?” I heard the satisfied roar of Klaus.

As soon as the crowd of demons was moved aside, I saw an old acquaintance who had before been hidden behind the huge bodies.

1 dark priestess wishes to join you

Accept?

I didn’t know how she’d been able to escape on her own, but I was glad at the return of an old friend. She nodded her head, looking a little bit confused; later, we’d definitely have a talk.

“Welcome home!” When you try hard, and it goes well, you get a pleasant feeling of fatigue, but when something good happens by itself, that very smile involuntary appears on your face.

The walls of the citadel shook from the blow that struck them: this was the moment when both the demon and undead mages sent a hurricane of spells at the fortress. If only I had the chance to attack them right at this moment, I was missing such a good opportunity, but alas, the balance of forces didn’t leave us a chance. In the meantime, the durability of the walls began to decline.

As a result, we’d managed to gain almost two hours to regroup, after which the fortifications fell down, and we were forced to meet the enemy face to face. They again tried to smash us with a wave of spells, but this time dark priests stood in their way, in narrow rows, successfully destroying the stream of magic directed at us. It wasn’t for nothing that I’d saved them for exactly this moment. In the end, everything was supposed to be decided by fair steel, and my high-class units. I believed we could withstand the enemy. And they held on for hour after hour, standing against endless waves of enemies rushing forward more and more fiercely. With each minute that we withstood the onslaught, the confidence in our victory grew, and, at the same time, a strong feeling that something was about to happen took hold of me from deep inside.

When the time was almost up, I gave the signal to my troops to retreat to the courtyard. The gates of the donjon should have given us some time to hold out until the end of the day, without any more losses. Now, only three hundred warriors were left under my command, the strongest ones, the ones who were the luckiest, and I didn’t want to lose any of them. There were only ten minutes left until the end; was it really over? I knew that this time we’d barely managed to survive; everything had been so close to failure.

At that very moment, the joint casting of two powerful spells knocked out the door, that a moment ago had seemed indestructible, in an instant.

“Forward!” Surrounded by their elite warriors, the enemy heroes moved ahead. Walking practically shoulder to shoulder, they pretended not to notice each other. In front of the man, a wheel of ice was rolling, scattering my orcs who were trying to block its path, and the woman, the double of my Christina, was covered with flames.

“Forward!” I had no choice but to rush to face them; if they broke into the throne room, the castle would fall.

Next to me, ahead of our small group, I noticed all the familiar faces. Samantha, unusually focused; the girl hadn’t gotten scared and stood beside me, despite all the wounds that had appeared on her body from somewhere. Klaus, so huge and loyal, when you were next to him, you always started to believe that everything would be fine. Stierlitz, who looked terribly scary, but inside was an ordinary cat, and although he was a mage, always managed to get into the thick of the fighting, crazy in the same way all of us here were. Jafar, the chief orc, whose name I’d come up with when he’d come closer, holding his staff, and gazed at me with his huge eyes. The liches and goblins hadn’t come to an agreement about who was in charge of their detachments, but all of them were also with me, I could feel their support at my back.

Seal of Darkness

A superpower that is available only once a day

Darkness is not a curse, darkness is not evil, only people surrounded by darkness become really close to each other. The bonds of dark brotherhood allow you to protect your house from enemies for one hour

I clicked on “use”—and all the soldiers of the besieging armies immediately found themselves, along with their heroes, outside the gates.

Had we really held out?

Vasily Mamontov

That was okay, it wasn’t over yet. Deep down, I’d been ready for my plan not to work, so it was time to play my trump cards. There were so many mages in my army for a reason—they would be able to crush the wall without any tricks. Moreover, Dan had gotten himself into a trap, stealing the bones that had been prepared to summon a dragon. My necromancers didn’t care where they had to raise it, on this side of the walls or the other. No one could have all their bases covered.

“They advance!” Had the words of my adjutant made me flinch? But what was Dan doing? Despite all the advantages that we had, his units had still sallied out.

“So crush them!” I had already tried to play it safe and overly complicated things, losing all of the vanguard. Now, let’s try to act without tricks—the simpler the better.

As always, the organization of his units was at a high level. First, he led his troops outside the walls, so that I concentrated on the front attack, and then, using the geometry of the walls, sent his soldiers to take the rear. And what a force it was—their strength and defense were unattainable. The morale of my army immediately fell, and, accordingly, the speed of reaction to my commands—the rest of his troops that had already reached the front ranks of the undead, of course, took advantage of this opportunity. How was it possible that his calculations were always so accurate? I’d like to believe that it was just a talent, otherwise I’d have to admit that I hadn’t been so lucky with my education. I wished I could get him to join us after all this mess was over with, but it was clear that they wouldn’t let me do it.

One thousand of his against forty thousand of mine, and if he hadn’t retreated, I could not have kept my troops from fleeing. Who would have thought that it was possible to make undead run away from you? And his liches, at the end of the fight, looked more like avatars of Shiva. Who could’ve expected that? A way to turn mages into warriors that makes them even stronger; I would’ve been afraid to make such a risk, but Dan wasn’t me. Even my brilliant plan to awaken the dragon hadn’t worked—I didn’t know what steps he’d taken, either the bones had been consecrated or dragged away from each other, but I spent almost all my reserve of mana in vain. Was it really impossible to catch him unawares?

The day was about to come to an end; it seemed there was no point in hiding any longer. The last attack, and this time, I’ll be at the front.

Christina del Mayo

Once again they’d stolen my avatar! At first, they attacked and thinned the ranks of my army, and then took Christina away. But I just couldn’t understand his motivation: he could’ve used his advantage much more efficiently, but Dan turned it into some farce, with the salvation of my double. What was it? An attempt to disturb my peace of mind? It was kind of stupid, he couldn’t be so naive. Or maybe it was a sign? But what was its meaning? I knew the Russian culture too poorly to decipher this allusion correctly. Somehow, it was offensive to realize that someone had overestimated your mental abilities.

And then there were a couple of boring hours, until the mages finally broke the wall. For a second, the thought to unite with Mamontov occurred to me, to deal with this matter for sure—but what a victory would that be after this? It would be one of those stories I’d not want to recall afterward.

Moreover, I never put all my eggs in one basket. Fortunately, no one knew what the true power of demons was, the fact that they were masters of surprise attacks and portals. And I intended to use this secret in full. Being covered from attacks, I was able to prepare an opportunity to open a passage into the dungeons of Dan’s castle. Its dimensional protection appeared to be surprisingly high, and there was only one minute at my disposal. It wasn’t enough to lead my whole army through the portal, and I was forced to choose which of my detachments would do the most, when stabbing the foe in the back. However, it was simple—the magicians were an obvious choice. The important question was whether I should go with them or not.

Perhaps it was too early to gamble with everything; our family was not prone to these kinds of risks. Mamontov, I thought, would probably have led such a detachment himself, but he didn’t have such an opportunity. And that was the difference between us.

Almost eight hundred succubi passed through the portal in one minute. Even that number was more than what Dan had at his disposal. If they struck their blow in an appropriate time... well, it wasn’t even about good timing. If they just managed to not die in some foolish way, no one would have a chance to stand against them in such a situation. Even this narcissistic bastard.

Okay, calm down, Christina, you should only wait for the appearance of your special forces, and then all will be fine.

It seemed like it was never going to happen; an hour passed, and there was still nothing. All that time, Dan stood on the front line, cool as a cucumber. How could he have learned and dealt with such a number of adversaries at the rear of his forces?

It was almost the end of the day, I’d almost lost hope, when he suddenly retreated. This bastard was showing off, mocking all our efforts. But it wasn’t worth underestimating me, I’d capture the castle and make him regret his attempts to demonstrate his superiority.

Nearby, Mamontov also personally went ahead. I strengthened his attack instead of doing it all by myself—it wasn’t the time to look noble, the castle had to fall. And we could make it in time—we entered the courtyard and the gates of the donjon were blown into pieces. I was able to see that he hadn’t expected us to reach him so quickly! Or was this a part of his plan? Mamontov had activated his ultimate ability, I did the same—definitely the right decision, it wasn’t the time to hold back any power. Forward!

We were more numerous, we were supported by the magic of the fifth circle, but he did not hesitate for a second and rushed forward. That hadn’t been a decision he’d thought through, but only instincts—what a male. And how the others followed him, it was astonishing. All his allies kept pace, being his giant shadow. This gave me the creeps; a couple of seconds left before the collision. And then came sudden darkness, and we turned out to be outside the completely unharmed castle walls. I had no choice but to grit my teeth at such humiliation.

It was over. Despite the burning desire for it, there was no opportunity to get inside the fortress one more time. I wondered why he’d rushed into that final attack, if he’d known in advance that he would be kicking us outside even before the collision. Or… had he done it to show off? It seemed everyone had their own weaknesses, even him. Which one of us was his? Me, or Hollins?

Samantha Hollins

Can a girl show her weakness? Dan was eagerly anticipating the coming battle, shaking from excitement, waiting to finally face worthy opponents. It even seemed that he’d based his decision to commit all his creatures in the assault on emotions, not facts. Or had he?

The way he’d used the walls; the clubs the orcs had been wielding turned out to be a perfect weapon for a fight in that pile of bodies—I wondered whether he’d specifically waited for this opportunity. But wasn’t it better to face the enemy on the wall or in narrow passages, if they still managed to break through? However, why he’d done it was obvious—he sacrificed a part of the army to enable the proper development of the rest. Those orcs that had increased their class, standing against the imps, received a bonus for a fight in the ranks. But he’d also wanted to get units that could be a threat, even alone and surrounded by the enemy forces. And he did it; sometimes, Dan followed his cold, logical plans to serve his own interests and didn’t care about anything else.

And then he did something as romantic as the rescue of that dark priestess. I’d never believe that the beholder had taken her by accident. And the way she was looking at him was quite interesting. The time she’d spent with the lecherous demons hadn’t done her any good.

“… portal in the basement.” Being deep in thought, I hadn’t immediately paid attention to what she was saying. And Dan pretended that he was too engrossed in the battle and didn’t even turn in her direction. Well of course he is, Samantha, he’s giving you the chance to prove yourself.

“You’ll go with me.” I grabbed the hand of our unexpected spy and walked toward my detachments. In the end, her appearance turned out to be not only a beautiful gesture but also a way to reveal the plans of the foe. Apparently, Dan understood that it wasn’t easy to outplay Christina and had solved this problem in his own style, easily and elegantly.

So, I had 150 armor-clad knights, dark priestess, and about a hundred of the pigs that had missed the common sortie and were now hiding from their master. By the way, I didn’t believe that this had been an accident. For some reason, he’d thought that I would need them and had ordered the animals to follow me. Okay, I pretended not to notice.

As I’d expected, I was able to get a benefit from the pigs from the very start. They turned out to be perfect scouts, able to vanish in the darkness and merge with the shadows. And it was they who found the eight hundred succubus-mages making their way to the surface. A serious threat? Not even close! I finally perceived what Dan had had in mind, and it wasn’t hard to implement his idea.

The knights mounted the pigs and rushed forward at great speed, the dark priestess shielded them from the first cast, not letting the demons destroy their formation, and then, you could say, it was over. In close combat, succubi weren’t any more dangerous for heavily armed warriors than a training dummy. It was time to go back; we could still be useful in the fortress, in the real battle.

“You seems to be a good one,” grunted a passing pig.

Am I really proud of that compliment?

Alessandro del Mayo

I was back in the game and still eager to win.

My day hadn’t quite been a usual one, but now I was primarily interested in the results of the siege on Dan’s citadel. One hundred thousand units—I wondered whether he could hold out. What a stupid feeling this was, I was annoyed that someone else was trying to defeat my enemy, as if I were doubting his strength. What if they’d succeeded? After all, it would mean that my ideal rival hadn’t been that good. It was some kind of a crisis of faith. And unfortunately, not a single episode from that battle was shown on the big screens.

I heard light footsteps behind me.

“Sell me information on Dan,” said Kathy Gomez. I was slightly intrigued by what she could offer me. She certainly knew that I wasn’t interested in money.

Chapter Twelve

Dan

Three days of peace and a quiet life.

And then the war will go on!

I repelled such a huge assault.

But how only small units were left in my army!

I’ve earned a good reputation.

But no one in the real world cares about your results in the game!

Calm down, Dan, you have to gather your thoughts, otherwise, this schizophrenia of yours will make you sick.

Yesterday, I even missed a dinner, and now had a stomach ache; a couple of pieces of toast in the morning were unlikely to help in this situation. Maybe a bottle of wine from the bar? It could’ve probably helped, but there wasn’t enough time; soon, I’d have to dive into the game once again—I’d left a lot of messages unread yesterday, since I hadn’t had the time to read them, and so it was necessary to look at what had happened.

What if there was something that could improve my situation? How strong the faith of people hoping for a miracle was... It was almost impossible to not hope, even if you knew that there was no actual chance.

I opened the panel with the system information.

You have created the dark kingdom

The size of the kingdom is twice the size of the required territory; the word “Great” will be added to its name

You can choose the name of your kingdom

Leadership points are doubled

Income of all units is doubled

You have received 5 levels

The fact I’d repulsed the attack had brought me to level 27, and I even got the opportunity to learn a new skill.

Whirlwind of blades

A real warrior is always surrounded by a crowd of enemies, and this technique was developed for exactly those times

Duration—6 seconds, cooldown—5 minutes

Features: you are invulnerable while this skill is active

It seemed promising; I liked it, and not only because it was my first attack with an area of effect. What was most important was the fact that it was an opportunity to become invulnerable very often. But that would come later, for now, I needed to fill in the table that had appeared before my eyes, by giving my kingdom a name. What about this one?

You have founded the Great Kingdom!

Well, I got a unique state with no name: I thought the organizers had only themselves to blame, they could’ve deprived players of the opportunity to press only one space and confirm such a choice.

“Why doesn’t our kingdom have a name?” Klaus asked sadly. And when had he snuck up on me? After all, no one had been around just a moment ago.

“It does, but it’s so terrible that no one should say it out loud.” It seemed my green giant was satisfied with such an explanation.

“The-Kingdom-That-Must-Not-Be-Named,” came the voice of Samantha from my other side. She was already here as well; I could only wonder how all of them had found me. Maybe there was some kind of tracker on me? “It does sound good.”

“A very dark name, my king!” the beholder hissed quietly. I wasn’t even surprised, that one could fly at least, it was clear how he’d managed to come up to me silently.

As a result, I received one more point of leadership. Now I had twenty-seven, and I’d call that pretty powerful. With the attribute that high, my army could number up to 14,000. I would have to think on where to find that many soldiers.

And why did Samantha look so confused? It was clear that she was hesitating to tell me about something. Someone else might not have noticed it, but not me. Pay attention to all the little things, because only with their help can you make your own unique path to victory—that was my motto.

“Do you want to say something?” I looked so intently into her eyes that my nose started to itch. Hold on, Dan, don’t sneeze, keep yourself in check.

“Dan, yesterday, when I was repulsing the attack of the succubi, I mean, their special forces group…” Had she repelled an attack? How could I have missed that?! And I’d just boasted to myself about noticing everything—and this wasn’t something small either, this was the event that could’ve decided the battle. This was such a shame, now she’d definitely start to think poorly of me. But the girl was pretending that everything was normal, it might’ve even seemed like she had some respect for me. What a two-faced, lying lady. “So, yesterday, I noticed a portal to the underworld in our castle.”

Underworld? Don’t panic, try to look at things in a positive way. Maybe you’d missed everything, but the fact is—you have a passage to some unique place. We had to take advantage of this.

“Now I see why you ordered that hole be dug before building the castle. As a result, you got a castle on the border of not two, but three territories. It explains why it’s so huge, and why there’s a portal.” Well, it seemed some answers had been found. And I was pretty good—I’d managed to get all this information from her. But, in all seriousness, I was concerned that Samantha had started to assume too big of a role—I wondered whether she was planning something behind my back.

“Samantha, I guess you’ll stay here, with your detachments and the pig reinforcements, while I lead the rest down to the dungeon. Let’s see what’s hidden in its depths.” It was time to do something useful myself. Otherwise, I was afraid, even if there was no malicious intent from my only ally, that she would definitely start thinking of me as some kind of fool.

Suddenly, it occurred to me: I asked myself whether I would be able to reveal the truth about me to Samantha, if I knew she wasn’t playing me behind my back. But I quickly forgot about this idea, concentrating instead on the distribution of the remaining units among my troops. There were only three hundred left of those who’d gone through yesterday’s battle and become the real elite of the army, but it was worth mentioning that each of them could now beat a few dozens. There were also a thousand pigs who, during their cavalry raid, hadn’t increased their class and hadn’t even lost anyone. All the others, I had to recruit from newbies: fortunately, after the formation of the kingdom, the income of creatures had been significantly increased, and the day after tomorrow, I planned on being able to fill all my available cells with new, inexperienced trainees.

“Advance!” My commanders relayed the order to their detachments, and we started to enter the portal one after another. Surprisingly, without any questions, Samantha remained in the castle as I’d asked her. But Christina, who’d somehow vanished from my sight right after her unexpected return, was now keeping close to me. It was slightly inconvenient, but I couldn’t send her away: everyone was looking at the dark priestess that had returned to our ranks with such affection that I just couldn’t bear to disappoint them.

The first thing we saw as we appeared underground was an endless number of multicolored, pimpled backs.

Troglodyte

Number of health points 10

Attack power 5

I hadn’t met anyone weaker than these creatures, but there were so many of them that it seemed like this horde would sweep away anyone who comes at them, even me, with my entire army. But they were standing around without any intention to attack first.

“Stand still. Don’t start a fight,” I ordered my soldiers, just in case.

“The right choice is it. There will be no war,” one of the troglodytes who stood slightly ahead of their lines said awkwardly.

“What do you want from us?” Okay, let’s try to come to an agreement, you strange, green monster.

“Nothing I ask—but an important question is whether you will give us your help,” the old ‘man’ responded.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked, but the old man was silent.

And then the troglodyte quietly said, “Patience you must have, young man whose dream is to become the most powerful dark lord who’s ever lived.”

I stared at him, my face set. About twenty seconds passed, and I asked once again, “Is there something I can do for your tribe?”

“Cave dragons, hmm, get rid of them.” This time he immediately answered. And then, while I was pondering, he spoke again.

“And then we will serve you as loyal disciples. Your answer will be no or?”

“Yes,” I answered, without much hesitation. And it had nothing to do with his childish wordplay trap, it was a conscious decision I made in order to replenish my army with new soldiers—at least it would be possible to leave them behind to defend the castle.

After a while, the troglodytes were left to prepare for moving their settlement, and we moved on. Cave dragons, he’d said. Well, maybe with the help of Hercule, I’d manage to lure them into my army. Unfortunately, the reality was not as rosy I’d have liked it to be. Going where the leader of these pimply creatures had directed us, we were met by three black dragons defending the passage to their nest.

Black Guard-Dragon

Class 9 creature

“Brother, look who’s come to us,” one of the lizards immediately noticed my army approaching them and breathed fire in our direction. And then I just froze with horror, unable to decide what to do. But the flame didn’t reach our ranks, stopping about ten feet before our first line.

“Hmm, he isn’t that bad, he certainly has some guts,” the second one misinterpreted my behavior, taking my immobility as a demonstration of unprecedented composure. “He didn’t even budge.”

“Let’s allow him to prove his coolness, I don’t mind giving him a chance,” the third dragon said lazily. “Will you fight us, or will you follow an even more dangerous path? We’ve just prepared the potion of ‘the most terrible enemy.’ If you drink it and win, very well, our nest will join you.”

“Well, maybe it would be better to stay just friends.” I didn’t believe that the developers could’ve left an easy way for a player to get dragons into his army. A fight with creatures that were at level 9 was also not an option. I wasn’t going to take any risks with the units left in my army.

“No.” All three dragons immediately smiled, showing their huge teeth. I had no choice but to grin in reply.

“The master is so great that he gave these stupid dragons an opportunity to choose their own destiny.” The enthusiastic whisper came from the ranks of the goblins. It seemed I’d always be a hero for them.

“Okay, give me your potion and don’t say I didn’t warn you in advance.” It wasn’t important to actually have something I’d warned them about. I just needed to remain confident and play the role I’d chosen.

In front of my eyes was a bowl, filled to the brim with some muddy, pinkish liquid, which immediately reminded me of a punch that I’d once had the chance to try in my student years. Given how unwell I’d felt that time, it was unlikely that it would be worse now. By the way, I’d guessed right, the system highlighted the name of the drink. The dragon punch. Without much hesitation, I drank deeply from the bowl.

As soon as the last drop fell down my throat, I found myself in a void filled with dark mist. And then, right in front of me, appeared a creature. The one that I’d seen before I’d been transferred to this world, or to this age, I still wasn’t sure about what had happened. All game abilities were gone and only the faithful club remained in my hand. But was it enough against the human-sized, monstrous creature? And why did I now have a feeling that everything was much more real than before?

The creature jumped, I swung my weapon, ready to meet it with a blow, but at the last moment, guided by some instinct, I changed the angle of my attack, directing the weapon a little higher. And the creature was thrown to the side by my club. At the last moment, the monster had teleported itself, and if I hadn’t changed the trajectory, its fangs would’ve plunged into my neck. And how had I guessed what to do? At this point, a rustling sound came from the corner where the body of the creature was lying. Having rushed to it, I saw how its broken spine was beginning to mend itself. I wasn’t going to wait for the end of this process, that’s for sure. I dealt it another blow, then one more.  And then I was back in the cave, all sweaty, my eyes wide with horror, my heart pounding in my chest.

“Hey, look, the boy’s returned.”

“The dude did a good job.”

“It’s a promising achievement.” The dragons surrounded me and immediately started to discuss me.

“Just keep in mind that we won’t agree to a tower smaller than 150 feet.” They started to present new demands.

“It’s true, the other dragons wouldn’t understand if we agreed to something shorter than that.” How disgusting they sounded at that moment.

“Five hundred,” I interrupted all their talk, making the dragons fall silent for a while. It seemed my breath had eased, but there was still this strange feeling, as if I were able to hear every beat of my heart. Perhaps I’d just come up with some new entertainment for this world, horror movies online. Guaranteed unforgettable feelings, without any guaranteed safety.

“What did you mean, when you said five hundred?” Finally, one of the dragons couldn’t stand my silence any longer.

“It’s the height of my tower. Do you think it will be enough to inspire respect among your relatives?” How stupid this must have sounded to any onlookers.

“Respect, bro!”

“That’s the stuff, mate!”

“Well, lads, we’re moving to the surface, then.” The eldest dragon opened the portal and entered it, no longer paying any attention to me.

“Follow them, don’t lag behind!” I wasn’t taken aback and immediately gave the order to my army. There was no sense in walking back on our own, if there was a faster way. Moreover, the game time was approaching its end.

Having provided my recruits with some instructions, I left the game. Today I’d had, surprisingly, a simple day. There was enough strength left in me not only to get to bed, but even to walk through our banquet hall. I’d decided that today I’d be going out into the world.

How long had it been since I’d had such a quiet evening, where I could walk around the zone for the leaders of the ratings, watch scenes of battles on the big screen, listen to what people were talking about. Finally, I could just talk with someone interesting, not with some guy I’d already encountered in the game, who was, of course, interested in getting something from me. I could just talk with a random acquaintance that I’d chosen without any intentions. In a meeting that didn’t commit to anything, in order to just relax.

Maybe I should even get acquainted with that hot Spaniard who was casting glances at me. It seemed to me that I’d even seen her battling on the screen once. Well, that seemed like a good way to start a conversation.

“Good evening, may I offer you a glass of punch?” I’d noticed a bowl with that drink on one of the tables nearby.

“No, thank you.” It was noticeable when a shiver went down the spine of the girl who’d seemed cool just an instant ago. I wondered whether she’d also had a very bad experience today.

“Dragons, you never know what you should expect from them, huh?” I tried to support the girl and show empathy.

And why were her eyes sparkling? Also, it’s extremely impolite to leave without even saying anything. What was wrong with her upbringing? And why were the people around me snickering? Had I really looked like such a fool that people couldn’t help laughing at me? It seemed I always had the bad luck of putting myself at a disadvantage, and everyone around wished only to have some fun at the expense of the newbie.

Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to forget about this high society and have a talk with some ordinary players. I decided not to thrust my way through the crowd, and after a little while, noticed a small group sitting on the outskirts.

“Hey, dudes!” It seemed that the conversation I’d had with the dragons had left its mark on me. But the guys around the table didn’t look like they were offended.

“How’s it going?” I smiled, but no one answered me. I was surprised that they were behaving like some arrogant bastards. Who could’ve guessed that there wasn’t much difference between the very top of the social ladder and its lower rungs? These people thought it wasn’t even worth talking to a person who wasn’t in their circle. For some reason, I’d hoped that at least my rating in the game meant something. Apparently, my prospects after the end of the tournament weren’t as good as I’d thought before.

Don’t worry, Dan. Basically, this doesn’t change anything, you just need to win, as you’d planned from the very beginning. And then you’ll get a good job, followed by a year of ‘hard’ work and, finally, your dismissal.

And then I’d be able to play normal games, with ordinary people.

Alas, I still had a long wait ahead of me. A heavy sigh escaped my lips against my will.

Samantha Hollins

He’d entered the game right next to me. Maybe that was a sign? And yesterday, the way he’d looked at me when Mamontov and del Mayo had broken into the donjon. And all those development tasks he constantly left for me... Was it supposed to mean something? Was he really paying attention to me, or was that only wishful thinking on my part? Why isn’t it ever easy when it comes to feelings?

You have founded the Great Kingdom!

I was surprised. For a long time, no one had seen a great kingdom in the game, it wasn’t an easy task to conquer a large territory in the initial stage, with a limited army. But even this achievement seemed small, considering the other thing he’d also managed to do: a kingdom without any additional words in the name. People would feel more than just a twinge of envy; it would be a sign to them, intended to put them in their place.

Stop smiling, Samantha, girls aren’t supposed to behave like this, even in the privacy of their own thoughts.

But still, what a smart play it had been. If you compared a kingdom with an overly long name with one that had a name like ours, it would be clear which one was the more important. Considering how much people in my social circle didn’t like to be on the sidelines, it was like a red flag waved in front of a bull. I wondered at what stage Dan had conceived this plan.

“The-Kingdom-That-Must-Not-Be-Named.” Once again, he was startled upon noticing me.

And how brave he looked while I told him about the portal. Was he really courting me?

It was a pity that every second was precious; there was no time to discuss everything. I could feel that, even now, he wanted to take me along, but in the end, cold calculation won out. By dividing our forces, we would get better results: I’d contribute more by developing the economy than I would in ordinary combat.

Well, let’s see what can be improved here. I opened the menu of the castle, and to my great surprise, Dan hadn’t put any restrictions on managing his stronghold. It was a real show of trust. And I’d justify it, for sure.

And then I had to do a lot of work to adapt my economic scripts to his current development model. As it turned out, everything Dan had at his disposal wasn’t very efficient, to put it mildly. At first, I couldn’t even understand it. How could he, considering all his talents, have made so many mistakes in the financial model of his kingdom? But as I thought about it a little, as usual, everything became clear—it would be a banal distribution of his interests. Since he was a warrior, the size of his army was quite limited, and that meant there wasn’t much sense in wasting time trying to get a lot of warriors. So he’d just let it go, and had chosen instead to focus on much more important things: politics, and the development of combat potential. As they say in his country: “Grasp all, lose all.” In fact, many players trying to keep track of everything stopped focusing on their strong suites.

And this was also a hint to me. As always, Dan had made sure that I’d continue to develop. And the real power of magicians was, of course, magic. In a castle of this level, it was possible to upgrade the Mage Guild to level seven. It was even kind of scary to think about what spells would be available to me. This task was assigned special priority—in two days, by the end of the truce, it would be completed. And though I’d had to cancel all other developments, it was worth it.

After all, it was magic of a very high class. For most players, even the sixth circle of spellcasting was available only with scrolls.

Katrina Marie Antoinette Gomez

Why had he approached me? All this time he’d ignored me, and then suddenly, after I’d made some inquiries about him, he’d decided to talk to me. Had Alessandro sent him after me? Or was he just monitoring the growth of my army, the same way I was doing with him?

He asked me a cruel question, and I blundered, unable to stay calm due to the horror that had swept through my body. It was just impossible to erase such a terrible experience from my memory. It wasn’t hard to understand that he had also encountered the dragons and drunk their brew. Given that the strength of his army had only increased today, it turns out he’d managed to win. I’d thought there was no one capable of passing their trial except for me. I knew on what psychological experiments the task had been based on, it was simply impossible to pass the test if you hadn’t coped with the same fear in reality, in advance. It was impossible not in the sense that it was really hard, but in the sense that an ordinary man simply had no chance.

“Dragons, you never know what you should expect from them, huh?” He said, smiling, as if all my preparation for this game had been worth nothing. As if all those months of psychological torture for the sake of this one day had brought me only a little bit closer to him, to his level.

I had no more strength left, I couldn’t stay near this man anymore.

Turning resolutely on my heel, I strode away from him. In the end, I regretted only that I hadn’t learned what artifact he’d taken from the treasury of the dragons.

Alessandro del Mayo

I felt so embarrassed; being the heir of an ancient house, and yet I was forced to surround myself with the ‘meat.’ However, given the gap between me and all the others after I’d had to start from the very beginning, it was surprising that I’d even managed to achieve this much.

Wait, why had Dan come down here? I wondered whether something had happened. I quickly checked his status on the general screen—he’d risen to the second position, I didn’t know how, but despite everything, after the siege, he’d managed to seriously strengthen his army. For me, it wasn’t hard to guess why Gomez was so angry: apparently, he’d also talked to the girl and had been able to hurt her pride. I couldn’t understand why my sister and that scion of the Hollins family were looking at him with such delight. He was nothing more than some bastard, a pompous, strutting cock, obsessed with his own grandness.

“Hey, dudes!” He went straight to the table of the leaders of the newly born alliance, which included most of the players that had survived up to this point, and greeted them like they were mere street punks. Compared to him, the aristocrats who contemptuously called these players ‘meat’ were simply an ideal of politeness.

Everyone fell silent at once, but this guy just pretended that he hadn’t noticed it.

“How’s it going?” He’d made them hide in holes and was now asking such provocative questions. These people were, of course, simpler, but they were still the elite at their regional level. And this situation was definitely an insult, an attack on their pride.

It was true that Dan could surprise you. Most importantly, since there was no single leader in their alliance yet, no one could venture to answer him first. But he was well aware of this fact and he was enjoying the moment. He sighed heavily, as if he’d mocked them, and started going back.

“I’ll kill him!” said one of the Chinese, a former member of the triad. It had probably been even more offensive to him, with such an upbringing. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but my people will concentrate all their efforts on crushing him.”

“Maybe our forces aren’t so powerful,” said the leader of the group of Arab players. “But we’ll be the straw that breaks the back of that camel.”

“How annoying his bloated sense of his own importance is!” At this point, the Latin Americans couldn’t stay calm anymore. “Summers, it looks like your idea of focusing on this man has swayed all of us. It would be funny, if in the end, after all his victories, he were to fall by our hand.”

The plump American, on whom all gazes immediately focused, straightened and nodded; a faint smile stirred his lips. As Milos had said, this man wasn’t the best option, he was no winner, but he would do his best. It was worth mentioning that he had a certain charisma.

Never before in the fields of “Pantheon” had such bizarre alliances been formed; I was sure the ratings were higher than ever. And it was all because of one person. After all, Dan was really talented: two phrases, one sigh, and thousands of disagreements were immediately put aside; people with directly opposite interests were ready to work together on one team.

“Gentlemen.” It was time for me to intervene with this state of things. “I think you’ll need an expert on the number one enemy of our alliance.”

Somewhere on the upper terrace

Why was everyone so obsessed with this guy? It was obvious that he’s a dummy. An amusing one, able to distract attention, but holding its position only with the help of luck. And as everyone knows, there is nothing less permanent.

But as long as you draw the attention of the other players, I don’t mind you enjoying your triumph. Anyway, your time will come, and nothing will save you. After all, luck helps only if there’s a chance to win. And you won’t even have that!

Chapter Thirteen

Dan

“I’m really glad you’ve returned,” I said, giving her a thin smile. It seemed like almost the whole morning had been a sequence of unexpected meetings with Christina, or I should probably say, with her double. I didn’t know what else I could say to her and was a little bit confused as the pause grew longer.

“I took an oath of allegiance, and even the gods have no right to take it back,” she finally said, in a quiet voice. I guessed that she was talking about the system that had taken her to her living original.

“Hmm, do the gods really exist here?” I couldn’t resist asking. What if there was something interesting I could learn?

“Sure, you serve the darkness, and I’ve accepted the same path, by following you.” And at this point, the sublime style of her speech changed to a hesitant one, filled with emotions. “But to be honest, I don’t understand why you don’t want to create the cult... I mean, it will let us hire even more of my brothers. And if we’re lucky, the darkness will grant us new abilities. If you don’t want to deal with it, you can let me be in charge of this matter.”

I was listening attentively, and, according to my priestess, I had an opportunity to hire other dark priests and even a chance to upgrade them later. I seem to have missed such an important thing; I remembered that there had indeed been some message about the dark cult. It was a shame that I was so bad at a game, but it’s never too late to admit your mistakes.

“You can start, your forces will come in handy.” Christina’s class went up to tier 4 and its name changed to High Dark Priestess.

“We’ll do everything you need, my lord.” She bowed her head and, out of nowhere, a whip that looked like a huge snake, twisted in pain, appeared in her hands. And then I felt odd as she kissed me on the cheek.

The priestess went away to deal with the cult, while I continued to stride through the fortress. The meaning behind these three days of the truce wasn’t very clear to me. What should I have done, if I hadn’t had the dungeon? It seemed there would’ve been absolutely nothing to do. I was pondering whether I should go down there one more time, I still hadn’t explored it fully. But it was probably not worth it. The troglodytes and pigs had promised to go all the way through the dungeon and report if they found something interesting.

After a while, I noticed Samantha approaching me. And it dawned on me that, probably, these three days were a test of my ability to keep up the act.

“I have to ask, what artifact did you take from the treasury of the dragons?” I hadn’t expected such a question from my blonde. And when, by the way, had I started to call her mine? But at this point, there were more important matters to think about; it seemed I’d hurried too much when leaving the dungeon. There’d been the idea to stay, to explore the dragon’s lair, but the thirst for free stuff, or rather, for the free teleport home, had just appealed to me at some instinctive level.

“Thanks for reminding me, I left it as a present for you. After all, I must take care of my ally.” It looked like I’d gotten away with it. Or did I need to send the pigs to take it? I didn’t even know what was there, but it was still sad to lose it this way. On the other hand, my reputation was more precious, and my allies needed to be developed. After coming to this conclusion, I continued, “I didn’t touch it myself, in case it bonds to the first player that takes it into their hands.”

“Oh, right, thanks.” It seemed she was confused. “Then I guess I’ll go there right now.”

“I’d almost forgotten.” A line of troglodytes that had appeared from the dungeon reminded me that I had this source of recruiting for which, in fact, there was no place in my own army. “I know that your detachment is pretty small and you have a lot of space in your army, so I’ll make sure to send these guys to you. Though their attributes aren’t that good, from this moment onward, you won’t lack creatures for your army.”

I wasn’t sure how many troops Samantha could have in her army, but I decided to postpone this matter for later. For now, it was important for my newcomers to be passed over to her command. Speaking of new members, there was an unsolved problem regarding the dragons, and I knew that I should visit the lizards. But there was no desire to do this now: compared with the others, these creatures had not even a bit of respect. And this was despite the fact that I’d accomplished their task, which had also been kind of strange and gloomy. I didn’t have a clue about how that creature from the past had appeared there, in that mist. The game was full of riddles, and there were no guides, there wasn’t even a decent forum.

Maybe the best choice was just to relax while Samantha was in the dungeon and nobody was watching. I stretched and looked around, perhaps I could have a little rest; all the same, from the point of view of a player, there was nothing to do now.

And so, I just started wasting time with a sense of contentment, pondering things deeply while lying on the ground and watching the orcs practicing in their new armor. I couldn’t really figure out who these creatures were. A part of the computer program? But why were they so alive? Was my attitude the real reason behind their behavior? Was I the one who’d humanized them?

“My lord!” Kicking up a cloud of dust, Hercule landed next to me. I knew that in the evening something was sure to happen, no single day could pass without some activity at least. “The newcomers are being insolent.”

Apparently, black dragons were really annoying, because, usually, our heavyweight was almost impossible to ruffle.

“What have they done?” I was too lazy to stand up, even though this was a problem I needed to solve. It was true that once you have some spare time on your hands, it corrupts you.

“They don’t obey me!” Hercule exclaimed. A personal insult, it seemed, nothing serious so far. Now I’ll give him a couple of tips on leadership, and maybe I won’t even have to get up, I thought. And then the dragon sighed and continued, “Also, they called you an earthworm.”

And then it got serious. Not that they’d said it, I didn’t really care about that, but the fact that it had been heard by ubiquitous pigs and goblins that were hanging around nearby. If the dragons got away with it, by the end of the day, that information would disperse throughout the castle, and it would definitely have a bunch of bad consequences. It would seem these dragons could do nothing else but cause me problems!

“Well, let me get on you and then let’s visit them!” Under the enthusiastic whisper of the goblins, I climbed on Hercule, trying to make him feel slightly uncomfortable. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful, since the dragon was not only silly about certain things, but also not very sensitive.

As soon as we reached the very roof of the tower, the situation would turn into a heated conflict. As it turned out, settling in, the black dragons had demolished all the buildings on the top of the tower, including the one that the five surviving liches had chosen for themselves. And now it looked really perilous, as the undead warriors were circling around the snarling lizards, and their thirty hands were waving in the air around them. Fortunately, it hadn’t moved on to a real fight so far.

“Stop this immediately!” The liches immediately froze, in the meantime, the dragons turned their heads in my direction with displeasure. This was a perfect demonstration of the difference in their morale level.

“They have destroyed our houses!” the five undead groaned in chorus. The only ones who’d remained in my ranks after the great siege.

“If they broke them, that means they will help you rebuild them.” The dragons were silent. I didn’t really want to continue, but it was clear that I didn’t have a choice. “Or does anyone have any objections?”

“What if I disagree with you?” The largest of the black dragons grinned back at me, showing all his giant teeth. “What will you do, boy? Or maybe you’ll dare spank me, huh?”

“Damn you, if we can’t do it differently, then let’s fight!” Still, it was just a single dragon, I could win against this creature one-on-one, I had to deal with this bold lizard.

Also, I had a couple of plans prepared for such a turn of events. First, I knew the timing and cooldown of his skills, so I could activate the whirlwind in time and dodge the flame. Second, as I was now standing on the back of Hercule and didn’t have any intent to get down before the fight started, as soon as I jumped off, twenty more seconds of invulnerability was guaranteed. With all the rest, I planned to deal using just my strength, without any tricks. In my mind, any self-respecting gamer should be able to deal with any rival in single combat.

“Descend to the courtyard of the fortress, otherwise you’ll break what remains of the tower!” I commanded in a harsh voice.

Also, I was afraid of heights, not much, but even a slight shudder wasn’t a part of my plan for the upcoming battle. Shortly after that, we were standing opposite each other, the black monster, ten times bigger than me, and an ordinary man, with a big club in his hands.  Almost all of my soldiers had gathered behind me, it would be such bad luck if I lost, and only his relatives were behind the dragon. It was like a sketch from a strange fantasy: the destitute black dragons had rebelled against some inhuman and cruel tyrant, and other poor creatures were hopefully waiting for the result of the fight. What strange thoughts sometimes got into my mind. Well, it seems it’s time to get started.

As I’d expected, the dragon began with the flame. It was an ideal weapon, passing through any defense, either physical or magical. And the only way to survive this attack was invulnerability. Unfortunately, either I’d jumped off Hercule too early or my opponent had used some kind of strategic thinking and had made a pause before the first attack, as at the crucial moment, I had only three seconds of absolute defense left. However, this wasn’t a disaster. On the one hand, it wasn’t enough for sure, since the fire breath of the dragon lasts as much as ten seconds. On the other, if he got hit in the jaw at the most crucial moment, maybe it would make him interrupt his deadly attack. Hit! This gave me a whole minute until my rival was ready to breathe fire once again.

In a melee fight, the dragon was also dangerous, but I also had a plan for this; during the game, I’d noticed a slight weakness in all non-player creatures. All of them were too eager for perfection, and this was how I’d planned to defeat the lizard. The idea was quite simple: at some point, the creature would be preparing to hit, and then I’d immediately take a little step to the side. And this was the whole trick, since after my maneuver, the dragon was no longer in an ideal position to land a blow. As he was turning toward me, I had exactly enough time to hit him with my club. The hardest thing was not to hurry but at the same time not be too late. But I’d had enough practice with this way of fighting back in my time, in my old world, even though there’d been no such a thing as virtual reality. As it often happens, the most effective solution turned out to be the simplest one, the one without any complexities. And that’s why I believed that real excitement was possible only in a fight with a living person. Only when your enemy was someone who can also bring a surprise to the table, only then would adrenalin start to surge through your veins and your real emotions would wake up. In all other cases, cold logic and good judgment were more than enough.

What was the difference between a gamer and any other man? It was very simple, the gamer saw not a beautiful world, not deadly skills, but a way to kill the enemy, the sequence of steps and countermeasures that would not let him lose. If you’d beaten all the levels of “Contra Force” on the Super Nintendo without losing a single life, then some fire-breathing and invulnerable to magic lizard wasn’t a threat to you. There was no difference between pushing buttons and moving your own body, if you’re a real player, you don’t care about these things.

Wait, why isn’t my opponent moving anymore?

I kicked the body of the dragon who’d lost most of his health points and was now lying on the stones of the central square of the fortress with no strength left. Maybe I wasn’t that good at strategy, compared to the aristocrats, but in a one-on-one fight against an artificial intelligence, I had no equal here.

“Who’s next!?” I shouted, as the adrenaline surged through my blood. And the second dragon landed in front of me, looking at me with some vague apprehension.

This time I didn’t even use any abilities.

“Any more takers?!” I roared.

The last dragon simply had no chance. And then, as the giant body fell to the ground, it was as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes, and the world around me sped up, catching up with me, and gained back its colors. The dragons were no longer just some programs, imitations of deadly monsters; they’d turned into huge bodies, laboring to breathe. And it was I who’d crushed them.

“You’re a real demon, master, with how you’ve punished those overgrown lizards,” Hercule drawled respectfully. “Now they’ve learned not to allow themselves the freedom of insults and incivilities.”

But I didn’t even listen to him. It has to be some skill, I thought, some new ability that accelerates the time and the speed of my reactions. But my guess was wrong, the system menu was clean, and the victory over the dragons hadn’t brought me a bit of experience.

Did I really do it all by myself?

“Now I understand how you’d planned to win and why you weren’t afraid to reveal your trump cards earlier.” It turned out Samantha had returned from her campaign to the dungeon and now stood, staring intently at me as if it were the first time she was seeing me.

What bad luck this was. As soon as I’d started to think that she’d gotten used to me, I showed myself as being some kind of savage. And then I turned my eyes to the man standing next to her.

“Alessandro del Mayo, we’re already acquainted, I’ll be glad to join your kingdom and be a part of your great army.” He wore a cunning smile. I guessed he’d enjoyed that I’d justified his low expectations of me. I had a strange desire to kill the scoundrel, but it was too inconvenient.

So, in the end, I just said, “I don’t mind.” Using the game system, I allocated troglodytes to his command, up to his maximum, and still their numbers seemed to have no end.

Only now, as the crowd broke out into enthusiastic shouts, chanting my name, the system was generous enough to give me three more points of leadership, but it didn’t please me as much as usual. However, a new ability, the reward for reaching the milestone of thirty points in this attribute, did improve my mood a little.

Superiority of Leadership

Once a day, you can subdue the mind of any hostile creature, no restriction on class and level. Base time of submission — 1 hour

Why was I worried about this? Was it really the case that someone’s opinion was that important to me? Or maybe it was just that I had a problem with Samantha’s friends.

In the end, I managed to calm down only by the time evening came about. I wished I had someone to fight, this pause was making me a little bit stir crazy. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single enemy: all the pig-scouts I’d sent to explore the dungeon returned without any news. Except for the endless number of troglodytes and the nest of black dragons, nothing more had been found down there.

I had already left the game, but my heavy thoughts didn’t stop haunting me. No wonder that someone had said that thinking too much was bad. I’d even say that it was directly opposed to a carefree life.

The day after tomorrow, the truce would end, and all the newly founded kingdoms would face each other. Players who’d managed to survive up to this moment by some miracle but hadn’t reached a new stage would simply be swept away. They would have no chance against the new armies. Standing in front of the huge screen, which hadn’t shown any information for the last three days, I looked at the list of my main competitors.

“It’s me,” on the screen, the words ‘Great Kingdom’ and my distorted face appeared, “And Samantha.”

The camera zoomed in, showing my ally standing behind my left shoulder. It seemed the system hadn’t added Alessandro yet. But, in my opinion, the two of us also looked pretty good.

“That’s Christina.”
The leader of the kingdom of demons, an unpredictable one, like her subjects. But also a pretty one. A dreamy smile appeared on my face.

“Vasily?” I couldn’t quite remember the name of the King of Undead.

“Ka-te-ri-na,” I whispered her name as if singing it. It didn’t fit this girl. I’d talked to her only once, but I’d not been fooled by her attempts to look like some kind of elf princess. ‘Kingdom of the Eternal Forest,’ the name was overloaded with affected pathos.

“Simon White.” I’d never even seen that curly guy at the evening receptions. It was suspicious that the leader of the ‘Kingdom of Light’ had decided to lead the life of a recluse.

“George Summers.” What a fat guy he was, and his eyes were so cunning. However, this man managed to stand out, he was the leader of not a kingdom, like everyone else, but of a union of free baronies. As I remembered this person, he appeared nearby, walking past me in the real world. Taking this opportunity, I raised my glass and saluted him. If this man had gotten to the final part and had been able to unite so many people under him, it meant he deserved a place here.

And then my thoughts were once again focused on my main competitors, the leaders of the game. Dan, could you really have imagined that you’d get to the finals?! After all, unless you were lying to yourself, you couldn’t even think about such a thing in the very beginning, when you were trying not to fall into despair on your way to sign up for the first interview.

So, perhaps, things weren’t that bad.

Unable to hide my emotions, I hugged Samantha, who’d unexpectedly appeared nearby. I should’ve expected that she would break away from me. The girl didn’t even utter a word and ran away, blushing, casting her eyes down. And what had I been thinking? What if she sued me or something even worse happened?

Samantha Hollins

At the time of the truce, it seemed the dust had settled, but not the turmoil in my heart. Christina, or rather her digital copy, ignoring my direct orders, hadn’t stopped spending every spare minute with Dan. Who did this minx think she was? And he wasn’t sending her away, either. And then he even made her the head of the priests. I couldn’t stop thinking about whether he had some kind of relationship with her.

Still, my guess was probably wrong. Having received a higher rank and a new class, she was about to kiss him square on the lips, but he’d deftly dodged and put a cheek in the path of her lips.

And then he smiled and presented me with an artifact. This was, perhaps, the most valuable gift I’d received in my whole life. It was true that grandfather had once given me a real island, but right now, a victory in the game wasn’t dependent on those several square miles. Nothing depended on that island. And, as they say, the value of a real gift can’t be determined in absolute terms, only circumstances can show its true value. While I was thinking about how I should react, he also gave me control over the troglodytes.

I almost rejected his offer, unable to find a use for these weaklings, my first thought had been that they would only decrease the morale of my detachments, but after a little while, I understood his thinking. It wasn’t for nothing that his pigs had led my blacksmiths and me into the dungeon to show us the deposits of anti-magic ore under the guise of having a picnic and a drink. After all, what kind of a picnic could you possibly have underground?

The ore turned out to be very poor; if you crafted enchanted armor with it, you’d get only a one percent chance of reflecting spells. Under normal circumstances, this was only a waste of resources, but not when you had troglodytes in your army. Given their small size and ball-shaped bodies, for which it was easy to forge armor, it would be much easier to equip them than representatives of any other race. Moreover, with their numbers, even a one percent chance was huge, half of the enemy army would destroy itself. I immediately imagined how easy it would be to execute maneuvers while using them as cover, even right in front of the enemy. Samantha, stop daydreaming, it’s time to go get your gift.

Nothing interesting happened during the journey through the dungeon, not counting the artifact itself. A necklace in the form of a flaming salamander, which gives complete invulnerability to fire attacks. As always, Dan hadn’t said anything directly but instead gave me a hint, to steer me toward an interesting option. Pondering the new possibilities, I returned to the castle, and there found Alessandro, who was walking around gloomily, surrounded by patrolling pigs. And what was he doing here?

“Finally!” The animals were pleased to see me. After the fight against the succubi, our relationship had improved and probably even become friendly. Oh, god, I’m friends with pigs. “This guy wanted to talk with one of the bosses. We leave him in your care.”

And then they rushed off somewhere in the direction of the kitchen.

“I see you didn’t come here to fight,” I greeted him. It wasn’t customary to say hello to an uninvited guest, especially if you didn’t know what to expect from them. After all, it was unclear what del Mayo, who’d unexpectedly come here, needed from us.

“Sure.” He looked kind of tired, but he was still trying to preserve his dignity.

“What do you need?” I asked in a harsh voice. Pity was a disgusting feeling, it offends others and gains you nothing. The only ones who couldn’t do without it are wimps, but it wasn’t worth taking them into account. And the man in front of me was definitely not that type of person.

“You know that during these three days everyone engages in diplomacy. They meet at the borders, pretending to make alliances—but they’re in fact just trying to fool each other. If only you could see what’s happening all over the place.” At this point, he sharply raised his voice. It seemed that communicating with the ‘meat’ had had a negative effect on him—such a rough imitation of being under pressure, things like that hadn’t worked on me for more than ten years. “But you weren’t there. No one came from your kingdom, what’s more, you’ve not even closed your borders. As if you were inviting people to come here.”

“I won’t explain the reasons behind this idea to you.” It was in vain to even say that, there was no need to justify myself to him.

“I knew it, he hadn’t informed you about his decision.” Indeed, del Mayo was a really cunning fox, it was difficult to conceal anything from him, but still, it was a shame that he’d figured it out so quickly. “Do you think he’s gathering allies?”

I’d rather say that people who are desperate, those who are ready to risk everything and step into the unknown, are following after him. Those who will fight to the last for their leader who welcomed them, those who will destroy others for the sake of victory. It seems these are the traits you expect from your team in the future, Dan.

“Yes.” So many thoughts, and such a short answer had come from them. “Let’s take a walk, I’ll lead you to the yard, he should be there.”

I didn’t consider the Italian’s story false, and it was true that such an ally could be useful. But it had been Dan’s decision to ignore diplomatic games, so it was he who had to decide what to do with Alessandro. I wondered what my ally was doing all day, whether he was deep in thought about policy, economy or was training to master new skills with his detachments. It was like this man could spring one surprise after another and was never going to stop doing it. He had beaten the dragon. For five minutes, we watched him rain blows on the giant black monster, until it fell to the ground.

Moreover, what a precise calculation it had been, only now everything was clear to me: the recently appeared black dragons stood out in his army, because of their high level and class. He could have immediately put them in their place and then probably gotten a much more serious conflict that could’ve intensified the situation at the most inappropriate moment. But his actions were smarter, he’d waited until the problem became obvious to everyone and then solved it in the cruelest way, once and forever showing them the structure of power he’d built and their place in it. He was a real genius of psychology.

“Now I understand how you’d planned to win and why you weren’t afraid to reveal your trump cards earlier.” I thought I knew him, but time and time again, he was showing me new sides of himself. Why had I never met anyone even slightly similar to him?

While I was deep in thought, he admitted Alessandro to the alliance—the guy would be under my command, and finally, there was someone I could boast to about our achievements. It was a pity that we’d reach the higher level magic only tomorrow.

Only a reception was left on today’s agenda, and for some reason, today I wanted to look especially good. And why was there such a dreamy expression on my face? Still, it was harmful to express too many emotions when it came to important matters, it would be necessary to spend the rest of the evening getting my thoughts together. But first, I could give myself an hour to relax.

I caught sight of Dan, who was standing in front of the main screen. I could only wonder what he was thinking about, wearing such a sweet smile. And then I locked my eyes on Christina. After she’d quickly tidied up her hair, though it seemed that there was no reason to do so, the girl returned her glass to the waiter, and I could swear that I heard the name Kornev being mentioned. With a quick step, I caught the servant with the tray. No matter what she had in mind, it was worthwhile to stop her—but it was unclear what exactly I should do. Just knocking the glass from the tray was an option. But I didn’t need the reputation of a clutz, and that meant I had no choice but to drink the liquid and just return to my room. I was sure del Mayo wouldn’t harm him, and anything else I could just endure, if I were alone.

I took a sip, and then it was time to leave. But I lingered only for a minute, curious to hear what Dan was talking about.

“It’s me and Samantha,” he said out loud. I couldn’t believe that he was thinking of us. Had he really noticed that I favored him? What if he were to suggest that we confirm our relationship? Should I agree to it? There wasn’t even anyone to consult about it—neither father nor grandpa were here to give me advice. It wasn’t customary, but this was Dan, who had already so many times changed the rules, according to his own perception of the situation.

“This is Christina,” he said, as if imagining us all together. So, Samantha, now it would be better to step aside, quietly and unnoticed. Sharing a man—that’s for some shameless girls but not for the heir of the Hollins clan.

“Vasily?” There was doubt in his voice. Did he like more than just girls? This time, my subconscious refused to paint a colorful picture and just started to panic. And Dan wasn’t going to stop adding new names to the list.

Oh, my god, what nonsense I had been thinking about; suddenly, it dawned on me. He was just looking at his main opponents, and I couldn’t find a reason for why he was smiling. Still, all of them were serious rivals. But that was part of him. Maybe that’s why my wish to go after him was so strong.

But then he noticed me and hugged me close to him, and the images that had recently filled my mind seemed to return, but this time ten times stronger. I can’t, I just can’t. Not in public. I couldn’t even say a word, I was afraid that a moan would escape me. What was going on with me?

Or was this just the result of that drink? And what would happen if I hadn’t intervened?

Alessandro del Mayo

When I’d abandoned my army and decided to go into the territory of Dan’s kingdom, having forgotten about caution, I hadn’t expected such a reception. He beat a dragon—who could’ve imagined that? And most importantly, what was his reason for taking such a senseless risk?

On the other hand, it wasn’t shameful to seek out such a person. Furthermore, I was provided with an army, and despite the fact that it was just detachments of troglodytes with practically no attributes, he’d given almost a hundred thousand warriors to a person he didn’t really know—who else would do such a thing. Also, Samantha had said that a level seven Mages Guild would be completed tomorrow. And all these things Dan was ready to share, with a newcomer, in fact. It was so strange, I had never found myself waiting for the next entry into the game with such eagerness before! In some ways, it was fantastic, how he’d managed to do all this with the people around him. So, one could even start involuntary thinking whether there was magic in the real world.

Although, sometimes, the guy was cruel: everyone had seen how he’d humiliated Summers on his very first day in the elite zone. He waited until his baronies appeared on the screen and then emphasized that he hadn’t managed to develop them into a real kingdom. I didn’t think that the fat man had expected such a reception. And, most importantly, he wasn’t only humiliated, but others had changed their way of thinking about him.

A moment ago, the meat had considered you a hero, you were a new force on the game scene, and then, just a second later, you were no one once again. A bug that had reached this point, but was still unable to change anything.

In general, it was an interesting technique, an application of a sense of loathing to manipulate other people. Not everyone was ready to take such steps.

Chapter Fourteen

Dan

The third day of the truce flew by without any news. Samantha and Alessandro rushed off into the fields, ostensibly to test new spells. Why would they so obviously lie? It wasn’t hard to guess that they simply didn’t want to endure my presence any longer than it was necessary. In the end, I was left alone and angry, with only the troglodytes hanging around nearby. After a while, I decided that there was no point sitting idle and gathered up all of the ones that had been left without armor and arranged gladiator fights. These creatures were funny and clumsy, but they fought with a lot of enthusiasm, and soon, everyone else in the castle had come to join in our strange entertainment. The priests had to try hard to prevent anyone from dying, but as a result, all the newcomers managed to increase their class up to the level of the veterans who’d survived the siege against the undead and demon hordes. Even the troglodytes had gotten an upgrade and become rainbow-colored ones, whose features were that they cause worry among opponents and attract additional attention.

One might say that the day had gone well, but my mood was still worse than ever. So, when the truce was over, in the early morning, I gathered a detachment of trolls, the beholder and the girl, Christina just quietly followed after me, and silently went to carry out reconnaissance. I also thought to take the black dragons with me, but they still hadn’t recovered from our educational duel.

I managed to convince myself that this campaign was an attempt to extract information from my enemies, but deep inside, I knew I just wanted to relieve my feelings, and there was no desire to wait any longer, to ensure my main forces would be ready. It was like in the good old days, we were rushing through the forest, howling like a pack of wolves that were tracking their prey. Ablaze with enthusiasm, both Klaus and I started crushing trees along the way, and after a while, our little game paid off. An archer, outfitted with green camouflage, fell on us from a tree with a loud shout, but it was in vain, the fate of the troublemaker and his long-eared comrades was solved almost instantly. Heh, today’s started pretty well, I noted to myself.

Taking a nice walk in the forest around our castle, literally in a couple of hours, we’d exterminated four more detachments of knights, two of the undead, and three of demons. And then we met him.

Simon White

Player, lord of the Kingdom of Light

What a famous guest had come to me all on his own. Of course, I had never met him before, but the name of the player who had taken the first place in the ratings from the very start of the game was one I couldn’t forget.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Dan,” he said, his face set. His glance was as if he was looking not at an insect, but through me, like I was nothing. “I want to thank you, you’ve helped me a lot in this game.”

“Hmm, what are you talking about?” There were only two creatures with him, two archangels. Class 12 units, but I wasn’t afraid of them; my soldiers, with the effect of my aura of power, had already proven their superiority in a fight with enemies that were equal in theory. What did he expect? Somehow, it was clear that I shouldn’t rush things.

“Don’t wrinkle your forehead, you won’t be able to understand this. When fate takes matters into her own hands, there is no room for logic. I needed time to develop my abilities up to the maximum, and that’s why you were brought into the game. You might think that luck was on your side, but you’re just a tool.” I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. It seemed I’d gotten lucky indeed and met some psycho. “I am the one who is the real favorite of fate, and you are no longer needed here.”

Only now did it dawn on me that he believed that I’d been lucky all this time—definitely a crazy man.

“So you scheduled our meeting here, huh? And how did you make me come to this place?” Such questions didn’t work with crazy people, but I at least tried to influence him with some logic.

“You still don’t understand anything.” How annoying he was. “I needed for you to come here, and fate brought you to me. It’s my feature––absolute luck.”

“He’s kind of weird,” said Klaus. “I suggest we kill him, just in case.”

“Yeah.” I just nodded in response.

Sixty trolls were a force to be reckoned with, sixty trolls that had the buff of my strength were a force that could destroy everything that crossed their path. I thought that they would crush the white giants holding their shining spears with one blow, but no—they easily withstood our attack.

“Master.” Christina’s voice was trembling. “This man has strengthened his warriors with spells, and now they are very powerful.”

“The girl has a point.” My opponent grinned, the man hadn’t even moved since the fight had started.

Hell no. Can’t I figure out how to beat this bastard? I thought.
At that moment, Simon waved his hand, and two shining orbs flashed around the archangels and almost immediately went out.

“He’s restored their shields, we didn’t even get to their health bar.” Now, in the voice of my dark priestess, there wasn’t just horror, but a real panic.

“Your luck is weaker than mine.” Simon was simply enjoying this situation. “And in an ordinary fight, you have nothing to count on.”

It’s okay, I’ll show him what we are capable of. If he’s participating in the battle, it’s improper for me to stand by.

“Everyone, follow me! Attack all together. Stiertlitz, try to slow down the second one,” I shouted.

I had already lost seven trolls, despite their monstrous regeneration. If they weren’t killed immediately, they rolled out of the fight and were almost instantly healed. But at this point, as I rushed forward, I already had a plan in mind.

The moment when their magical shields were destroyed came, and then the white clothes of the archangels started getting drenched with blood from their wounds. My army had never suffered such losses in a fight against such a small squad. I had lost most of my detachments being besieged by undead and demons—but those had had a numerical superiority, so it wasn’t even embarrassing. But this guy, standing in front of me, was really creepy.

While I was holding back the blows of the first one, the second archangel killed another ten of my soldiers. But we still dealt with it—the feathered giant fell to the ground like a lifeless body.

“Hooray!” I shouted, and all the others took up my cry.

Now to deal with the second one, and then, comrade Simon, it will be your turn. You will learn who is strong and lucky here.

But why was he so calm? And why hadn’t he intervened in the fight?

“I decided not to interfere with the execution of your brilliant plan.” As he started talking, the anxiety inside me heightened. “Only this way will you see the true depths of despair you find yourself in.”

At that same instant, the second archangel waved his spear, and a beam of light hit from the sky, and his dead brother jumped to his feet with full health, as if nothing had happened.

Okay, an unpleasant surprise, but not a fatal one: the time has come to use my secret weapon—an ability that I recently received.

The archangel has come under the influence of “Superiority of Leadership”

For an instant, the giant light creature froze, having lost control over his body and mind, and then immediately continued to move.

“Purification.” Simon condescendingly explained what had happened. His self-confidence made me mad. “Whatever dark curses you have in your arsenal, I can remove them.”

What a turn of events, I thought, this man was indeed full of surprises.

“Retreat!” What had I said when today adventure’s had only just started? That we were going on a reconnaissance mission—consequently, everything was going according to plan, we’d gotten new information and it was time to return.

But it turned out that it wasn’t so easy to get away from here; with the speed of lightning bolts, both archangels appeared behind our backs and blocked the way. They were really fast…

“I won’t let you go.” What a damn bastard he was. “I hope you already understand that you don’t have a chance.”

The power of his units wasn’t inferior to mine, thanks to his blessings, and because of the resurrection, we were unable to deal any damage to them—what option was left…

“They have a mental defense, the enemy is invulnerable to my attacks,” complained the beholder, helplessly waving his tentacles.

Was it true that I didn’t have anything to oppose this man with?

“Stop panicking and step aside, I’ll deal with these ones on my own.” If the eye and trolls were useless, the best option now was just to save their lives for future battles, of course, if they still occurred someday. I understood that it would all be over if I died now.

“Smart play,” Simon approved my decision, for some reason, “the less chance you have to win, the higher the probability that luck would be on your side. However, that doesn’t work against me.”

What is this about?

“Master…” Klaus roared, trying to say something.

“Go away, don’t interfere.” The giant was offended, but he still couldn’t improve the situation. And now he was walking away, angrily hitting the trees along his path, which meant they were falling to the ground one after another, turning the forest into an impenetrable mess.

Simon didn’t wait for my troops to retreat without hindrance and sent the archangels to attack them from the back—but I was ready for this. Having realized that I’d not be able to hold back both of the giants, I rushed directly at the player, forcing him to bring them back in order to protect himself.

“I guess I don’t really need to kill them,” my opponent said, with some doubt in his voice. “It’ll be enough if you die.”

At that very moment, the blow of an archangel passed through my defense and hit me right in the chest. It was a horrible feeling—if not for the protective shield, he’d have cut me in half, but instead I was just thrown aside and hit a tree. The fact that I didn’t break anything was probably a miracle; shortly after, as I got to my feet, it was as if my mind had been cleared. I managed to dodge the next attack of the archangel, having calculated the place where it would hit, the same way as it had been in the fight against the dragons. Then I avoided one more attack, and then it was time for a retaliatory strike—how annoying it was that I couldn’t even get through their defenses. For five long minutes, I managed to hold on, and then I missed the thrust of a spear. At least, it was good that my power shield had had time to recover, and I managed to avoid the fate of being split in half, even though the attack was stronger than the previous one had been. I was hit with a powerful blow and even flew over of the mountain of fallen trees, that had been arranged by Klaus.

This was my salvation. The wooden obstacle held the winged creatures back and gave me time, so I was able to jump to my feet and run away. The trees that had already been knocked down by my club didn’t let the pursuers get close to me. The distance between us was only getting bigger, and after a while, the creatures of light turned back. Apparently, Simon had ordered them to return.

The annoying thing was that even though I was saved, after that crazy fight, my club had become unfit to use. So I stood in the middle of a dense forest, all alone, and most importantly, without a weapon in my hands. An awkward situation.

After wandering through the forest for a couple of hours, I hadn’t noticed anyone or anything familiar. No one was searching for me, well, at least I didn’t notice them if they were. I was wondering whether someone had thought to send Hercule. Or the pigs? I was sure that those pink scouts would immediately find my tracks.

“Hey, are you lost?” I was so far away in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice how a player in a worn raincoat had come out into the clearing, surrounded by five knights. “Heh, all of the newbies can’t get used to the new order of things. But the truth is, now you’re not alone, you’re a part of a real power!” Having waved his hand, hinting that I should keep up, my unexpected forest guide continued talking, as if addressing someone else, “Before, our territories would have been captured, no one would’ve even paid any attention to it, but now they’re all afraid. Only that crazy Kornev has the guts to wander wherever he wants and destroy our detachments. By the way, who are you—a magician or a warrior?”

“I’m a warrior,” I said in a quiet voice. If I’d had my club, the need to answer would have disappeared on its own, as I would’ve hit him with it. But rushing forward with my bare hands was somehow too strange. Beyond that, since he hadn’t even recognized me yet, why shouldn’t I listen to the man… Also, I hoped he would lead me out of the forest, and since they had already clashed with my units, finding where to go next shouldn’t be that hard to find, after that.

“That’s an interesting path you’ve chosen for yourself,” the stranger said with a tinge of sympathy for me, “I see you’ve also lost your sword.”

Being generous, he took a spare one from his knight and handed it to me.

“If you want, you can join my detachment. I’m now in the second thousand of the Scarlet Barony, we have room for a good fighter, and maybe you’ll even get a chance to participate in a big battle. Imagine it, after all this, you’ll be able to write in your resume that you’ve fought in the finals of “Pantheon,” and the job of your dreams will become a reality.” At this point, he even closed his eyes in a dreamy way. Who could’ve guessed that you’re such a dreamer, Ville Tamm—I looked closely at his name.

Just then, the rumble of voices reached my ears; it seemed we were approaching the camp of the so-called Scarlet Barony. If I wanted to escape, this was probably my last opportunity. It seemed unlikely that they’d just let me go after something goes wrong. Oh, screw it, let’s go, I thought, if I managed to get away from the archangels, it won’t be that hard to run away from these people.

The main thing was to be on guard, and everything would be fine.

Simon White

My luck, as always, led me. Dan had been attracting the public’s attention with his oddities, and I’d managed to pass through the initial stage of the Game without any losses, though it had been the most dangerous part of my plan, given my class. Now, as my training had been completed, the time had come to act. To begin with, my primary goal was to deal with the person who’d been my smoke screen and reliable protection all this time. As I’d decided that the beginner had played his role and should be destroyed, I stayed alone and waited; he came to meet me, practically alone. He hadn’t even taken a single creature above the tenth class. Was I supposed to take him seriously? I even started wondering how he’d managed to hold on for so long.

He was, funnily enough, sincerely surprised by my superiority. It seemed he’d naively thought that everything in this world could be achieved with brute force. But the path of Light wasn’t about stupid destructive spells, it was the way of blessings, which with a proper sized army could outweigh any advantage of the opposite side.

Oddly enough, the beginner was also capable of surprising me. It was interesting that he could confront the archangel one on one. Then he’d even risked himself in order to save the remnants of his detachment. I was sure that he hadn’t even guessed how hopeless his situation was. I was wondering whether I should stop playing with him and end this fight.

But, suddenly, it appeared I was too late. I almost believed that he’d deliberately put himself in the way of the archangel’s attack, in order to be launched away from us.

How strange it was—I’d crushed him, but it hadn’t been a victory.

Oh, Luck, do I still need him?

Samantha Hollins

Alessandro and I spent the entire third day of the truce on testing new spells. There were only three of them, two of the sixth circle and one of the seventh, but only an amateur would start using even such a low number of new spells without putting in enough practice first. It was always worth wasting time to understand all the factors that enhance and weaken the spell and study the real time of activation, which is always different from the one in the description. Let’s also not forget about the testing of the spell in motion and checking its striking power on single targets and its effects on the area. Overall, everything went pretty well, we’d even had time to draw corrective tables, so our magic arsenal was one hundred percent ready for a future battle.

But a surprise was waiting for me when we returned to the castle. Dan was sad and angry, his face like thunder. If I hadn’t known him, I’d have guessed he’d been offended by me. But could a man like him be worried over some trifles? Apparently, this was about something else, it seemed that a new threat had appeared and he hadn’t been able to figure out how to deal with it. I tried to discuss this matter with Alessandro, but he was of no use—he just shrugged his shoulders. At least he wasn’t bad at management; a part of the tasks having to do with the development of the castle had been given over to him. Also, without him, I couldn’t have coped with all the features of the new spells so quickly.

Oh, Samantha, you’re glad that strong players are starting to gather around him, that they recognize his leadership.
Although, it was probably inevitable. In the same way it was inevitable that this talented player wouldn’t stop surprising you.

In the early morning, he gathered the trolls, the beholder, and his priestess and disappeared. Well, I didn’t mind that he had just gone off without saying a word, but why had he taken the girl along? Calm down, and stop sniveling; no matter what he has in mind for her, you’re now responsible for the castle, and there is no time to stand around idly.

He’d run away, not even giving me a hint as to what he expected me to do. On the other hand, I had waited a long time for a chance to prove myself. And Dan had probably noticed that, but, as usual, hadn’t said a word, and had simply decided to give me a chance.

“Troops one to twenty, line up!” I commanded, my voice harsh. We wouldn’t begin any large operations, but doing some reconnaissance with a sizeable force was never something that brought bad results.

Alessandro del Mayo

It was immediately clear that Samantha had a good idea of what Dan was like. Yesterday, she’d figured out that Dan was deep in thought about something important. And today, it became clear what it had all been about. I had no clue what indirect signs had helped him see a threat in White, to whom, for some reason, no one had paid any attention before, but he had. Beyond that, he’d managed to figure out how to use the appearance of a stronger player in his favor. It wasn’t for nothing that I’d decided to spy on him in the morning.

First, he gathered spies, had a walk through the forest, and then, having lost only a couple dozen soldiers, arranged a performance that was a good demonstration of the power of the forces the kingdom of Light had. And now everyone would have to consider them threat number one. It’d taken him half a day, but now all the alliances and agreements that had been concluded in the last three days meant nothing. It wasn’t surprising that Dan had ignored the truce and hadn’t taken part in this farce.

But one question still remained unanswered; why had he gone to the barons? When the battle ended, all the other spies ran away to report to their masters. As for me, I had been in no rush to leave him alone and was able to see that moment. He was coming back and then it was like he’d suddenly lost his sense of orientation, bypassing a small ravine. He turned sharply and headed toward our neighbors. What was he planning?

Was it possible that he understood why I’d joined him, but had decided to give me a chance, instead of just destroying me? My heart began to beat faster, and all the same old thoughts once again invaded my mind.

One can win in different ways. As my grandmother used to say, “You can’t become famous for good deeds.” And my sister always liked to give the example of the apostles. Does anyone know the names of each of them? But there was one name everyone had heard. Judas Iscariot had made himself famous for centuries, he’d found a way to record his name in history, once and for all. And I could’ve used his experience.

Who would get more? A small cog in a baron’s large machine, one of the companions of Dan, or the one who would influence the course of the entire Game? After that, of course, some would hate me, some would consider me a weakling, but there would also be those who would admire my actions. And certainly, there would be no one who didn’t know my name afterward. I’d never thought that was so important to me. But during this game, something deep inside of me cracked. I had come to Dan, survived up to the finals and I believed that I’d change the course of the Game no matter what the price was.

And I sincerely believed that I had no more options. But that was me, not him. Dan had understood everything and found a new way. For a while, Samantha and I had been ceded command over all the allied forces, we’d been given an opportunity to prove ourselves, while he himself, apparently, had decided to implement his new, cunning plan. How much time had I been given? A day? Two days? I didn’t care! I could handle this. And everyone would see what I was made of.

It was indeed a strange feeling: did I really want to get his approval? Until now, only father could have made me feel like this.

In different parts of the game

“I watched him carefully. Dan met with White, fought him and lost.” The figure of the elf-spy was trembling under her steady gaze.

“And was it worth trying to establish contact with him? It seems this once, uncle, your advice was useless.” The female player started to think out loud. “Your mysterious stranger has already died and lost everything, while I’m still here.”

“Sorry, my lady.” The elf that had brought the news shrugged his shoulders. “He didn’t die. He lost, but managed to save more than half of his detachment and retreat. I’d say that he’d just wanted to test the strength of the opponent he encountered.”

That was probably true. Simon White was very dangerous, and if Dan had met him only in the Battle of Great Armies, judging by what I’d heard, the newcomer wouldn’t have stood a chance. And so, he’d revealed the secrets of his opponent, and now I didn’t even know which of them was ahead. So much power, the will of strong people, schemes and intrigues—all of this made me feel so alive.

***

“So you’re saying that Simon routed Dan. Insanely strong units, capable of resurrecting allies—this is something new.”

“Two archangels against fifty creatures, and they didn’t even have a chance,” the little demon squeaked. His face took on a cunning expression.

“Don’t rush to conclusions.” The girl sitting in the center of the large pyramid stretched out her legs. “On the one hand, it’s simply impossible not to recognize the power of our number one player, but to be honest, I’m more confused by why Dan went there with such a small detachment, and how he made the spies of practically all notable players follow him and observe his defeat.”

“Maybe he’s just a fool,” a grey-haired demon that stood nearby offered his opinion.

“Why do I waste time on you?” the girl lazily drawled. “You’re a sage demon, but don’t even notice the obvious. Yes, he lost, but as he did, he showed the power of the Light to the public and it didn’t take him much effort to escape the battlefield. I think he’d planned on it happening that way. Without this information, I’m sure that, in the final battle he’d have been attacked from all sides; everyone would’ve been eager to deal a crushing blow to him. But this way, he’s made it clear that everyone else who wants to win should also be wary of his opponent.”

“So this means that we should first attack the kingdom of light?” the old demon, after a short pause, drawled, still hesitating.

“Perhaps that’d be the best decision, but to be honest, I don’t have a clue about how to win against him,” she said and then smiled vaguely at her own words.

***

“So, you’re saying that he prepared a heap of trees in advance, in order to stop the invulnerable enemy?!” A huge man angrily shook a little scout wrapped in a green raincoat. “That’s where the real game is going on, that’s where emotions run high! And what about us? With the last of our strength, we’re trying to hold back the uncoordinated attack of the second-class forces of the undead and darkness. Ugh!”

Lowering his overweight body into the throne, the man breathed heavily for several minutes, ignoring the scout, but not letting him go.

“And you didn’t see where Dan went after he mocked the very best player?” The undisguised irony in the man’s voice sounded so aggressive that it made the nervous dwarf shiver with fear.

“No, your grace.” Though frightened, he handled it off well and bowed before the baron. “As he’d managed to run away from his pursuers, I and all other spies that were nearby hurried back with our report.”

“And were there many of you?” The man even stopped clenching his jaw, suppressing his anger, and leaned forward.

“Seventeen…” The dwarf hurried to answer. “As he and his trolls had knocked one of the elves out of a tree, all of us gathered around him at once, so we could learn why he was trying so hard to get rid of people shadowing him.”

And immediately, the hall was filled with wild laughter.

“Seventeen spies for one player. I wonder how he assembled all of you so cleverly, why, it even makes me feel envy at his success. I think he had a good laugh at such an amusing bunch of spectators. Paparazzi pay less attention to celebrities than all the aristocratic families do to this guy. Dan Kornev, why am I so weak and why can’t I crush you, even when I want it so much?”

Chapter Fifteen

Dan

I was acting out one of my nightmares, the worst way I could imagine this game going for me: I was standing on the front line, awaiting the orders of some supposedly wise leaders. Some losers, losers like me, were standing there beside me, in rust-covered armor, and waves of skeletons were advancing on our detachments. Honestly, I’d have preferred not to stay here and head toward my citadel instead, but I still didn’t have a clue where it was. So I was forced to wait until this attack was repelled, and then someone could show me where I should go.

“Huh! Nice, now we’ll get them!” Ville Tamm said nearby. The guy who’d invited me to join the troops of the Baronies was sincerely glad that at least something now depended on him.

How great it was that everything was actually different for me. And I really felt sorry for these people since I kind of even liked them, they weren’t like the aristocrats I’d met before. Ville was from Finland, his family had a fish factory there, and ever since childhood, he could not only make a business estimate but had also often worked all night, unloading a barge with goods or unraveling old nets. Olaf was another harsh, northern man, he was well over fifty, but he’d gone all the way from an ordinary worker to the president of a large company; he’d earned a right to establish his own clan. If his son didn’t make any mistakes, a new noble house might appear on the map of Europe. The story of the brothers Snurri was also rather exciting. No one could understand how they’d both managed to pass the interview, then find each other in the game, while not dying. Although, in my opinion, they had a great desire to escape from under the shadow of the funeral empire their grandfather ran.

“Well, Snurri,” Tamm said with a smile, squinting at the undead, “They’ve come after you. A family business is a delicate matter, you can’t run away from it.”

“Hah, we didn’t promise coffins to each of them,” said the eldest brother. “But we’ll let them rest in peace with all due care, according to the age-old traditions.”

The guys were acting brave, but I saw how their faces were set and knew that they were frightened of a bad outcome in this battle. There was about a thousand of the undead arrayed against us, a small reconnaissance detachment, without commanders and the support of high-level creatures. No more than two hundred knights were under the command of the Scarlet Barony. These were all the units the noble sirs had managed to save up for this moment. The scary barony turned out to not be as great as I’d expected.

As soon as the undead got within a certain distance from us, a number of spells were cast: fireballs, lightning bolts and ice arrows were thrown toward the enemy. It was no longer single target magic; each spell would hit two or three creatures at a time, but still, the effect of their magic was negligible. Those losses could hardly be noticed in the attackers’ army. As for the players around me, panic began to spread in their ranks; apparently, they’d overestimated their own strength and had only now realized that the battle was about to transform from a beautiful fight at a distance into a bloody massacre in close combat. It looked like I would have to take matters into my own hands.

“Well, let’s get a move on!” I said in a harsh voice.

If a man is afraid of something, you just need to increase the dose of fear. After reaching a certain point, the fear ceases to affect you. A man can get used to anything, and now I’ll make them see their fear for what it truly is, how scared they actually are.

My new allies, of course, tried to resist, but what could they have done against my high-level strength… One of the players ordered his knights to attack me, but when I hit one of them and he was launched high into the air, all the others immediately lost faith in that idea.

“Yeah, come on, it’ll be a good battle,” I tried to cheer them up. Act like men, I thought, but didn’t say it out loud. “Right here and now, we’ll deal a sharp blow to these undead! If you have any useful spells, don’t keep them secret, it’s time to use them.”

Shortly after I said that, Ville pulled out a small sword, waved his other hand, and waves of flame covered its blade. An icy staff appeared in Olaf’s arms out of nowhere, and the brothers Snurri held shields and spiked maces with lightning running over them. I didn’t know whether it would work, but it looked awesome, for sure. I’d almost forgotten my ability and invited them to my squad only a second before the skeletons reached our ranks. My aura wouldn’t give them all my strength, but even a part of it would certainly help.

Batting away the undead that dealt practically no damage to me at this level, I watched how the others fought the enemy. I’d say they were inspired; they crushed the bone creatures with a passion, their eyes blazing. Of course, it was a little bit different, winning at a distance versus doing it literally with your own hands. After a while, I realized that there was no need to worry; having stopped looking around, I rushed forward and almost instantly appeared at the head of the attack aimed at the center of the enemy army.

“And now we counterattack!” I shouted, my voice harsh. And everyone followed me, against the far superior forces of the foe. I was pretty sure that a loud battle cry had just sounded somewhere in the ranks behind me. It reminded me of Klaus; it was true that I had already started to miss my friends.

A well-coordinated attack against a weak opponent; it wasn’t surprising that in twenty minutes, it was all over. The knights were wearily finishing off the still moving skeletons while the mages were discussing the new levels and achievements they’d gotten.

“I’ve unlocked a new class, the battle-magician,” the brothers boasted together.

“Hm, I haven’t,” Ville said in a sad voice, but almost immediately continued, “But I’ve received a new unique skill, a fiery touch. It gives me one percent chance to incinerate the enemy when I hit them.”

“I also got a skill,” Olaf said. “A frost mantle, that slows down the attacks of all opponents within a radius of ten yards by ten percent.”

The guys were pretty lucky; I, for example, didn’t get anything. Despite the fact that they looked clumsy, they didn’t make a blunder, even in a situation like the one we’d just had. They, probably, hadn’t just swung their weapons, but had tried to do something new, testing the possibilities, and that’s why the system had rewarded them.

As I was about to do something stupid, some other players butted into our ranks with the grace of hippopotami. These players even had a couple of horsemen and a dozen archers, although, on the whole, they weren’t very different from us, except for the fact that they looked tired and haggard.

“Who are you?” Olaf stepped forward and started the negotiations.

“We’re what remains of the Purple Barony,” their leader on the horse proudly replied. “The undead broke through our positions, and I, Alexander Cohen, decided to retreat and join your forces since you can still hold on.”

“He got scared and is now just trying to come up with excuses for it,” Ville whispered in my ear. He was smiling at the leader of another detachment. Nothing gives us more strength and pride than someone else’s weaknesses.

“I’m very glad that you’ve decided to join us.” I gave them a nod of greeting. “We were just planning to start our counterattack, we’ll also be able to recover your positions.”

A thin smile appeared on my face as I saw everyone around me turning pale. They’d known how to show off with their achievements to poor old me. Maybe if I gathered more players around me, my leadership would be increased. Still, I hadn’t gotten anything for the dragons, I’d got nothing for the fight with the angels. The system had also not appreciated my helping the barons. Perhaps it wasn’t right to include my black lizards on this list, since our fight hadn’t been to the death, but despite that, the lack of rewards for my latest actions made me a little bit nervous.

Having decided not to waste any more time, I ordered Alexander to dismount from his horse, and now he and two other allied players stood with us, in the front ranks. Since our risky strategy had paid off, I decided that there was no point in abandoning this idea.

After our long, non-stop run, people were exhausted, but I finally led them out of another small forest. And right in front of us, hordes of the undead were advancing.

“Liches!”

Once again, the battle cry filled the air.

But I wasn’t sure that it played any serious role in this battle since we almost instantly crushed the undead magicians, who were weak in melee combat, and then it took us even less time to finish off all the other creatures than it had in the previous fight. The recruits did very well and also received new classes and skills: the usual magic strikes that they got as a reward didn’t look really impressive, except for the one that was called “Disruption of Horror” and made enemies feel disoriented when wounded. Alexander, the leader of the newcomers, got pretty lucky. Ville, Olaf, and the brothers Snurri frowned as they heard about the achievements of their new allies, so when I suggested not stopping but continuing the offensive, they quickly broke the resistance of those who doubted we should do so.

After a couple of hours, we lost all the knights, but our small detachment now included 45 former barons, each of whom had managed to go all the way from a frightened mage to a pretty decent warrior. I was even sad at the thought that I’d probably have to leave them soon. Of course, there was also the option to lure them away.

I also noticed that the detachments of the foe had started to grow, the number of liches and death knights in them was larger with each subsequent battle, and the final ones included only these high-level creatures. Although, on the other hand, I had only managed to finally raise my level and get a new skill in that last battle.

Eagle Eye

Passive Skill

Gives a chance to learn an ability or spell used by the enemy

As usual, bad luck followed me everywhere. I had no idea how a person like me, with the lowest magical potential, was supposed to have an opportunity to learn spells.

A little bit less than an hour remained until the end of playing time, and I was about to plunge into despair, when suddenly, on the horizon, a rapidly approaching dot appeared.

“It’s a dragon…” It was clear that my allies were frightened, even despite the fact that our previous victories had emboldened them to fight to the last. However, this time there wouldn’t be any battle.

“Hercule!” I gave a joyful smile. Somehow, it was hard to believe that I had finally been found and would soon be home. I’m so tired, I thought.

Now I had only to reassure my temporary allies. “Don’t worry, it’s a friend.”

“Yeah, it looks like he’s not going to attack us.” Tamm calmed down first, still, he’d known me a little bit longer than others. “And what about those five? Are they allies too?”

“There’s Mamontov himself.” Olaf’s cry caused a scare among the other players.

However, I could understand the old man. It seemed our actions had been quite annoying, since the lord of the Undead had decided to deal with the situation himself and arrived here at the head of an army that included five bone dragons, hundreds of death knights, more than fifty liches and a couple thousand skeletons.

“Hercule, fly away!” I didn’t know how dangerous the winged creatures made of bone were, but my wart dragon was simply useless in a battle, so it was better to keep him at a distance.

However, Hercule wasn’t in a hurry to escape. He rapidly ascended and started to hover high in the sky. Fortunately, Vasily also decided to take care of his dragons, so he ordered them to land and sent his regular squads forward.

“All of you, line up!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, but it seemed that my harsh tone had managed to cheer the guys up. They pulled themselves together, and I was glad to see the fighting spirit in their eyes. “All mages, prepare to attack the enemy on the left flank. As we reach them, slam into the bastards without mercy!”

And then, I had to say, I was a little bit lucky: for some reason, Mamontov decided to change the position of his troops. He managed to do it quickly, but it was still kind of stupid—all of his archers were grouped up right in the path of our attack. It was hard to come up with a better scenario for our forces—with one coordinated attack, the battle mages, or as one could also call them, the brave barons, actually destroyed the undead ranged soldiers.

“If someone had told me this morning that we’d be able to fight and win against enemy forces ten times our number, I'd have said they were just a fool. I always thought that these stories were supposed to be about aristocrats, about those who were born to this fate. Dan, where have you been all our lives?” I saw that Ville’s eyes sparkled with excitement, he didn’t even realize that he’d touched a sore spot.

“Half an hour until the end of the day, it’ll be enough to have some fun!” Olaf said, swinging his staff. I was glad that the old man had diverted the conversation to a safer topic.

“You’re being given a chance to surrender.” Mamontov came forward, to the front of his troops, his voice as cold as iron. He was in black, full armor and rode on a skeletal horse. The image of the Lord of Undead was both cool and terrifying.

“Screw you!” said the voice of Hercule from above. I had the strange feeling that at that very moment, a cheeky smile had lit up the dragon’s face, and at the same time I could only wonder who’d taught him such words.

“Okay, it’s your choice,” Mamontov said, his voice empty, not even cold. It gave me the creeps. “Spear of Death!”

A huge amount of bones appeared out of nowhere, squeezed into one line and, like a giant snake, rushed in our direction. I could hardly stand the horrible noise of rattling bones—it was obvious that if such an attack wasn’t stopped, it would kill a lot of the barons. I was curious to know why he attacked us, after all, it was the dragon who’d rejected his offer. There was nothing else I could think to do, so I stepped forward, swung my sword, and hit the spell straight on, and the compressed bone mass shattered into many tiny, harmless fragments. The truth was that a lot of strength only looked simple, in fact, it was an infinite well of possibilities. You just had to hit harder, and the world would bend to your will, sooner or later.

“Dan? Kornev?” Mamontov recognized me. Given that he’d already seen me, and more than once, it wasn’t surprising. Standing still, I was in a state of pleasurable anticipation, waiting to see what would happen next!

“I propose an alliance.” The guy looked serious. Suddenly, I realized that he didn’t plan to finish us off. To be honest, it had all been over so quickly that I hadn’t even had the time to get scared. “But it will be on equal terms!”

“Why not, I agree!” That was quite unexpected, but I’d gotten my third ally. However, given the things that Simon White had shown to me, there was a chance that even this wouldn’t be enough. “Okay, then I suggest we fly together to my citadel.”

“Wait,” said the dry voice of Ville. Somehow, I’d managed to forget about the barons. I realized that it was necessary to say goodbye to them now, even if they’d showed themselves as strong warriors in our shared adventure. “We’ve had a little confab here, and we’d like to join your alliance, even as just vassals.”

“Does everyone agree?” I looked around, doubtful, examining the set faces of the players.

“Of course we do,” Olaf seemed to sense that I didn’t mind the idea, “after what happened today, we won’t be able to return to our former life. In one single day, we’ve achieved more than in all the time before. Personally, I want this adventure to continue.”

You have received 10 points of leadership

In the end, it seemed the day had gone pretty well; the boost to my leadership was bigger than ever. And then, after all of my new allies climbed onto the back of the descended Hercule, we flew to the place that I considered my home.

Tomorrow would be a hard day, full of interesting events, for sure.

How mistaken I’d been. Some events started to occur that very evening: when I came to the usual reception, Samantha was peacefully chatting with Christina. It was a surprise for me, since I’d always thought that they didn’t really like each other.

Maybe they want to negotiate behind my back. Well, the main thing is not to panic. There is no way they’d do it in public.

“Hi.” Vasily approached me; the guy had entered the hall right after me. He smiled and slapped me on the shoulder. “Lead on, I’m ready to get to know our allies!”

“Dan.” As soon as we approached, both girls greeted me, observing all the proprieties. “Christina has decided to join us today… Would you please bring her to our citadel?”

“As I see it, Vasily has also joined our little club,” said Alessandro, who emerged from somewhere nearby. He was wearing a cheerful smile. Within a second, a glass of champagne was in each of our hands, and Alessandro proudly said, “Let’s drink to forming the most powerful alliance of Pantheon today!”

“Actually, we weren’t the only ones who reached an agreement today,” Christina said, her voice hoarse.

Following her gaze, we saw White, Gomez, and Summers, who stood on the other side of the hall, also with glasses of champagne in their hands.

Light, elves, and people against Darkness, undead, and demons.

Ville Tamm

At first, I thought that I’d met just another loser in the forest; the valiant ranks of the barons’ army were full of such people. Only, this guy turned out to be very unusual. The fact that he was a warrior wasn’t even that surprising, he wasn’t the first one who’d tried to stand out with his class, and he wouldn’t be the last. But when he led us against more than two thousand skeletons, and we obeyed—it became clear that this man was not like everyone else. We all had only one life, and if you died, you’d lose your chance to change something in that life, the chance that was so hard to come by. For aristocrats, with their clans and power, winning the tournament was a question of honor, but for us, for the ordinary guys, these were the couple of days when your fate would be decided. And there was no place here for heroic or brave deeds; if you’re confident in your victory, you advance, if there is a chance for losing, your life is not worth the slim chance luck would be on your side.

It's hard to describe our surprise when we were sent to the front line, despite all the unwritten rules. Olaf tried to defend us with a detachment of knights, but for some reason, they didn’t even dare to move. Only one of the knights jerked forward, but immediately got slapped, and instantly his morale dropped below zero, and after that, he was still. One man was controlling four players and several hundred soldiers with only his will. One damn person! At this point, I started to suspect that I was looking at one of those aristocrats that I’d just cursed. And that meant it was the end for all of us: these guys weren’t used to saving the lives of their subordinates. Who were we to them? No more than just resources for their plans. And after all, it was me who’d brought him here—we could have just retreated. If the enemy forces didn’t surround us, we could surely hold out until tomorrow.

The skeletons were coming closer, I knew that soon it would just be over. He asked us to activate our magic for a melee fight. What was the point? In some kind of trance, I summoned a fiery sword. Then, at the very last moment, when I’d already heard the crunch of bones signifying the skeletons were rushing at me, he invited us to his group. The moment it happened, it was like my body was hit with a bolt of lighting, and my muscles were filled with such an unusual strength. Later, when analyzing that moment in a calm atmosphere, I realized that it was the only way it could’ve worked. At first, there was the horror, then the hope that replaced it, and then the adrenaline shock that threw us forward. In that fight, I first saw what real fighting was all about—not even the deadliest spells could replace the feeling of the bones of the enemy being crushed by your sword. We were almost instantly leveled up, the system chat was full of our achievements. This was probably a true life, where you didn’t shake like a leaf, but enjoyed it, didn’t analyze the risks but breathed deeply instead.

In the heat of the moment, we got a little carried away and forgot about the absence of healers in our detachment. If Dan hadn’t foreseen everything again, at this point, our battle would’ve ended. He just stepped forward, taking the hordes of the undead upon himself and giving us the opportunity to take a breath and restore our health.

“And now we counterattack!” As soon as I thought that it was impossible to surprise me anymore, he did it again. He pronounced these words so calmly, as if the fact that we were holding on against the onslaught of superior enemy force wasn’t enough. As if it were a common thing to attack at this point.

Old Olaf even screamed in surprise, but when Dan moved forward, each of us was hard on his heels. It was giving me the creeps: it was such a pleasant feeling to believe that you could do anything. Even though we weren’t on our own, but stood behind the back of another player, even then, this was much more than I’d ever dreamed about.

And then the fight was over, we’d won. Two hundred men against two thousand monsters, and the latter hadn’t even had a chance. And most importantly, the Snurri brothers, Olaf, and I became much stronger, having received new classes and abilities. It turned out that the mixture of battle styles in an extreme situation had led us along new paths of development. It was clear that Dan had known these things, and had therefore sent us ahead, covering us and not letting us die. The state of being constantly on the edge and never stopping, in spite of everything—obviously, this was the way that led to new exploits.

Dan was clearly not an aristocrat, they’d never have wasted their time on us, especially at such a crucial moment of the game. Regarding his name, the younger of the Snurri brothers was the one who said what I was afraid to even think about. This was Kornev—the new star of Pantheon, an unknown player who’d changed the concept of the game, the one who’d left behind the heirs of the most ancient and famous families. For the first time in my life, I learned what it meant to follow such a person. I wondered what he needed from us. Did he really want us to join him? Surely, it was wrong to flatter myself like that, even in my own thoughts—none of us, even all of us together, weren’t worth all this effort.

As soon as we’d decided to talk to him, the remnants of the Purple Barony arrived. I thought Dan would send them away, but he welcomed the newcomers, and then we kept going forward. At first, no one could understand why we were in a hurry, but it turned out he’d managed to calculate the route of the advancing undead detachments, and under his command, we’d gotten to the enemy’s rear. I couldn’t even imagine what sort of complicated equations he’d solved in his head.

“Liches!” Olaf broke down once again and squealed. It wasn’t the first time we’d met these dangerous opponents, they’d made us turn and flee more than once. But not this time, none of us dared fall behind our leader, and it took us only a few moments to sweep away the undead magicians. Was it really that simple?

Upon meeting our new reinforcements, we told everyone our guesses about the identity of our leader. And seeing how much stronger we’d become, each of us had the same thought going through our heads, “I don’t want this to end.” And then came the battle with the real elite of the undead monsters: the liches, death knights, and even dragons. With Mamontov himself at the head of this army, no less. And we’d won again. This was probably what the real barons should be, frantic and all-destroying, the ones who rush forward and aren’t afraid of anything.

“Wait.” Having realized that Dan, who had just formed an alliance with the until recently invincible ruler of the undead was going to leave, I was confused. After all, I’d convinced myself that he would have offered us a chance to join him. But he was silent. Suddenly, it dawned on me that he’d already shown us everything he wanted, and now it was we who had to make a decision. Why would he need people who can only follow orders? “We’ve had a little confab here, and we’d like to join your alliance, even as just vassals.”

Well, if we are to serve a real king, it’ll be an honor to be his barons. The combat mages of the Great Kingdom—we’ll make everyone remember who we are.

Vasily Mamontov

I’d never thought that a small squad of meat could cause so much trouble. Frankly speaking, they not only crushed all my rear detachments, but their powerful attack on the left flank also caught my forces by surprise, depriving me of communication with some of my generals. So I was forced to deal with this matter personally. It was unfortunate, since I’d planned to end things with Summers today, but he’d gotten lucky: he got some really good players along with the usual rabble.

And yet, I’d underestimated these strangers: having decided not to waste much time on gathering units, I took only a small detachment with me: my Royal Guards, liches, death knights, and dragons. And in the very first seconds of the battle, I lost almost half of my high-level forces. I didn’t know where these bastards had managed to get a dragon, but that winged creature had ascended to a height that was out of reach for my bone constructed monsters. In melee combat, my creatures were even stronger than the usual ones, but in the field of magic and air combat they couldn’t compete with ordinary dragons. And considering how high the barons’ lizard was hovering, I knew that it would be a mistake to enter such an aerial fight. I hadn’t even known before now that some creature in the game could fly so high; I was forced to land my bone dragons and had no other choice but to leave them at the back of my forces.

It seemed to not be a big deal; my detachments of liches and death knights would be more than enough, especially with the support of the hordes of ordinary skeletons that I’d gathered along the way.

“All mages, prepare to attack the enemy on the left flank. As we reach them, slam into the bastards without mercy!”

All the liches and archer-skeletons were sent to the point where the foe was supposed to attack—ranged soldiers were an ideal countermeasure to magicians, it even made a thin smile appeared on my face. Somehow, I’d started to worry that this battle had a chance to cause me heavy losses. Obviously, I also took into consideration that this might be a trap, but I was strongly convinced that I would be able to protect my soldiers from any tricks these magicians could come up with.

As it turned out, I’d been mistaken! But who could have imagined that these psychos would turn mages into melee warriors? Such a risk has never been taken by the meat. And where had that great strength come from? It seemed like it would be necessary to give my all in such a meaningless battle.

“You’re being given a chance to surrender.” ‘Spear of Death’ was a spell that had a very long activation time but was almost unstoppable, not a single magic shield would hold back its destructive power, but it also required a lot of conditions for its activation. So I just came out ahead of my frontline, becoming a nice target and stalling for time with meaningless words: the thrill of victory always makes beginners hungry for valorous deeds, and it would be stupid of me not to use this opportunity.

“Screw you!” High above, the dragon had clearly noticed the high concentration of magic, but it was already too late and my spell couldn’t be stopped.

I cast the level six spell and didn’t even have the time to feel joy at my upcoming victory before the deadly bone weapon was literally broken into an endless number of fragments. I was amazed at what a monstrous power I’d just witnessed. And at this point, I suddenly saw all the latest events in a new light, the missing element that explained all the oddities was finally there. The squad of invincible barons, their new tactics, and the unerring precision of their attacks—all these things were part of the style of one person. And he was standing right in front of me. I wondered why I hadn’t paid attention to this name before.

“Dan? Kornev?” At one point, you might feel like the lord of the world, but then you’re suddenly brought back to reality.

He was waiting for me to say the words, and I just couldn’t keep silent.

“I propose an alliance.” I realized that he’d come here after me. He’d spent all day luring me into a small skirmish, giving me a chance to save face. It wouldn’t be the same in the battle of the great armies, where there is no chance to retreat. After a small pause, I continued, “But it will be on equal terms!”

“Why not, I agree!” My guess was right, he’d expected me to say these words. And though he pretended to be surprised, I now knew for sure that everything had just been a part of one big plan.

Alessandro del Mayo

“As I see it, Vasily has also joined our little club.” It was what I’d expected to happen. Only a fool would think that Dan would waste his time without a good reason: he’d gained a squad of unique soldiers, a squad of barons to be his battle magicians. Who could’ve even guessed that something like that was possible, and he’d also convinced the lord of the undead to join our alliance. And he did it all by himself—it was no wonder that he was our leader.

As for us, Samantha and I also hadn’t wasted our time in vain—it hadn’t been that simple to catch up to my sister and make her accept a fight. The battle itself was a real classic of military science. Quick pinpoint attacks, ideally verified time for maneuvers, no one had dared to move forward without gaining an advantage. And then a double rift that divided our armies was summoned—the magic of the sixth circle was indeed something incredible.

For a while, everything froze, and we took advantage of this stillness to begin negotiations. ‘Alliance by Force’—if Pantheon were to agree to print an article about it, that’s what I’d call it. How good it was to finally feel like you were in control of the situation.

And most importantly, after all the work we’d done, Dan didn’t even praise us, as some supervisor would’ve done with his subordinates, he just took everything for granted. It was as if he’d expected nothing less from us. It turned out we were indeed equal partners, not only in word but truly in deed as well—it was really inspiring.

Christina del Mayo

Silly kids, so much time had been wasted—it was so irritating that we’d spent the whole day on these stupid games. So many times, I’d felt an overwhelming desire to stop everything, but I didn’t want to destroy the educational process Dan had started. He was indeed a talented person, a good man that didn’t stop impressing me, day after day. As a result of that, I just couldn’t resist my desire to try to fight at his side in this war. What else could one expect from a weak woman like me?

However, it was time to bring my allies back to reality, for it was too early for such merry speeches. As I pointed out the opponents we’d be facing tomorrow, even Kornev was surprised. But I could understand him: he’d strengthened his position at the expense of my and Mamontov’s forces. But without the help of Samantha and my younger brother, he wouldn’t have had the time to do all of these things in one day. White, however, had done everything himself!

Will we really see Dan playing to the best of his ability tomorrow?

Chapter Sixteen

Dan

What the heck! It seemed like I’d just allied with some strong players, which I hoped would help me achieve victory, and our enemies immediately decided to unite as well. Now I only had a vague idea of how this would end. If even the barons were getting stronger at a faster pace than I was, then the top contenders were leaving me in the dust. Of course, I’d never met an army of elves, but the curly-haired archangels had already shown me their true power. In my fight with these creatures, I’d managed to break away only by some miracle—at least one, and I’d been lucky the whole time. But it was unclear whether or not I should be glad that I’d gotten lucky. What was the end result? The power of my first opponent was unknown to me and I didn’t have a clue about what I could expect from her, while the second one had already crushed me once. To put it mildly, such prospects filled me with horror.

As I entered the game, I was swamped with strange questions. Everyone was trying to get my attention, even though, in fifteen minutes, there would be a council where we’d be discussing the tactics and strategies we’d be employing, and then we’d most likely be moving out immediately after. I had the strange feeling that I was the only one who cared about the upcoming battle.

“It will be a great massacre, my lord,” said Klaus, standing at the head of the troll delegation. “May we have your permission to cook the tribe’s potion that will clear our minds and grant us the protection of our ancestors?”

I figured that they could do whatever they wanted, and as soon as I said so, the trolls immediately rejoiced at my words and then went off somewhere.

“Master, may I take one or two of the skeletons for myself? I want to try using them as fire ships.” I wondered what the eye even wanted from me. He was talking about some ships—I didn’t have a clue what that was all about.

But I’d deal with it later—I nodded to the beholder, and he flew to the camp outside the citadel, where Mamontov’s troops had gathered.

“My lord.” The orcs also came up to me. “Will you allow us to use the demon portals? As legend says, a long time ago, a part of our clan went to the Inferno: we think we can try to call for their help.”

It was the first reasonable suggestion I’d heard today. Having granted the orcs’ request, I saw a group of pigs and goblins who were already in a good mood.

“Breakfast!” Enthusiastically burping, a horde of my small minions flew past, hesitating only for a moment in order to nod to me respectfully.

“My Dark King!” said the velvety voice of Hercule from above. The wind he whipped up almost knocked me off my feet, and I swore under my breath. “Can I work out a strategy with the black dragons on how we’ll use the landing force?”

“Sure!” Oh, god, so many questions… So far, out of all my army, only the liches and dark priests had pleasantly surprised me with not suggesting strange ideas. It was even kind of funny that they all had such a sincere desire to ask for my permission to implement their plans. Fortunately, I’d already gone to the council, and now none of them would be able to reach me.

The meeting was being held in the central hall: Samantha, Alessandro, Vasily, and Christina, the original, were already there. What a look that girl had, it was as if she saw right through me. My barons hadn’t been invited, but they’d sworn their allegiance to me, without any conditions, so I wasn’t worried about them. The five of us were standing around the table—I was wondering how I’d ended up in such company. On the one hand, I was lucky, on the other, I was always under a lot of pressure because of their constant attempts to look down on me.

And now it was the same thing all over again: everyone was silent, apparently waiting for me to start our meeting—however, it was common knowledge that the first word is given to a person who is of junior rank. To put it mildly, I hated this practice of dividing people into castes, but it wasn’t a good time to argue about it. Okay, let’s try this, I thought. I offered them the chance to choose the location of the battle and suggested we wait there for the enemy: according to my plan, my two detachments of ambushers and some spike traps scattered across the field would bring us victory. The traps would slow the enemy down, and then we’d advance and crush their forces. I thought that everyone would start arguing with me, offering up different strategies, but they just silently shrugged and agreed. Had these aristocrats surrendered in advance? And now, in anticipation of defeat, they were just looking for a scapegoat to shift the blame onto. What a vile thing to do!

I went outside, really upset about the current situation—even the bright rays of the sun and pleasant morning breeze couldn’t cheer me up. However, I knew that now the main thing was to not relax. If my fighting spirit was broken, it would be just impossible to pull myself together since I had such wonderful allies. And what would I do then?

I had about an hour until all the preparations were complete and the scouts came back with their reports; a great number of them had been sent to find an ideal place for the final battle. I was standing idle, not wanting to do anything—was I really afraid? What the frak? I thought. Was I the Champion or not? In a burst of inspiration, I decided to spend some time with Klaus. As it turned out, he was working alone while his brothers were busy preparing their magic potion. My green friend had seized the opportunity of having an almost inexhaustible supply of bones from our allies. The giant creature was sitting, making flags for all the detachments of my army—who would’ve thought at our first meeting that he could be so hardworking…

“Master!” the troll exclaimed, the sound loud enough to mimic a whole band of musicians greeting me. He immediately jumped to his feet. “I know that I’ve already said this to you, but you underestimate the influence of one’s image, you can’t get away from it.”

A picture immediately flashed through my mind, the epic sight of Vasily on his horse, in his shining armor. One couldn’t say the same about me and my unremarkable rags. And then it dawned on me that this was a good way to spend my time before everything started. It was indeed a good idea to make a set of armor for myself: Klaus was nearby and could help me with it.

Having picked out a number of bones of the same color from a huge basket in the corner, I started to work.  As it turned out, at one time, Klaus had trained as a blacksmith, so he quickly found the necessary things and crafted me the basis for my bone armor. All that was left was to insert the chosen bones into the special slots for them.

In the end, only an hour had passed, but the armor we’d created looked great. If I hadn’t cut my fingers on the sharp edges of the bones in the process, one could’ve even said that it had gone perfectly.

You have created the living armor “Unity of Three”

Armor: 30

Steel, bones, and blood are the main magical components of the real armor of a death knight

Due to the fact that most of the materials for the armor were taken from one living creature, it has been imbued with life

Effects stack with other means of protection

“How dare you? I demand you return me to my owner!” Have you ever heard your clothes talk? I was glad I hadn’t put it on yet, at least.

Smash—a powerful blow from the troll threw the recently crafted armor to the ground, and I heard panic in its voice as it spoke again.

“Hey, calm down, I get it, no more complaints. I’m ready for cooperation!” As it turns out, educational measures where you cause minor injuries are quite effective.

At that very moment, the hum of the drums rang out so loudly that everyone in the castle could hear it. It was time to advance. The stats of the armor were pretty good, I’d already learned how to command it, so there was no time for thinking too long about whether it’s appropriate to wear something conscious. Quickly putting on the new armor, I hurried to take my place at the head of the army.

Getting to the battlefield didn’t last long, I didn’t even remember it; all I could feel was my heart hammering in my throat. And then it was time to line up the troops. In the center, behind me, were the ones I trusted the most, my own forces who’d traveled this long road with me. On the left flank stood the army of demons, and on the right flank, the undead. The detachments of troglodytes, under the command of Samantha and Alessandro, were placed near my allies to cover their forces. My ambush squads were sent into position, and the goblins began to set up traps on the future battlefield. This was an effective weapon, and Samantha’s blacksmiths had prepared a lot of them for the goblins.

As all these were concluded, I realized that I was getting nervous. It was hard to describe the jumble of thoughts that flashed through my mind as I started to think about what else I could do, but it was already too late. The columns of the enemy army started to appear from the other side of the field. Knights, horsemen, and footmen—the main forces of the barons’ army. Archers, unicorns, and huge living trees—the army of the elves. And finally, priests, inquisitors, and archangels—obviously, the forces of light. Everyone was here, and that meant the final battle would definitely take place. While I was pondering whether it was a good idea to start the attack right now, before the enemy players lined up their units, they sprang a surprise.

My plans were ruined immediately, as a wave of magic was sent over the heads of the enemy creatures, destroying all the traps my goblins had set up, and right after that, huge, white monsters flew in our direction.

“Silver dragons,” breathed out one of the barons. The battle magicians were standing nearby, being my personal reserve, my royal guards.

“I bet they’re very delicious,” said one of the goblins while the others were glancing at the majestic lizards with a strange gleam in their eyes. The green shorties had lost any sense of fear.

Hm, and where are our dragons? My subconscious asked the important question that no one else had dared to ask. I realized that no one had seen Hercule after our morning conversation.

Obviously, the enemy players had noticed that our air support was missing and decided to use this opportunity to its fullest extent. This wasn’t an artificial intelligence, inclined to save its most powerful weapon till the very end—in a real fight, no one would wait until the last second to use their trump cards.

“Damn elves!” Alessandro swore nearby. “It seems Gomez spent all her resources on the development of dragons. Now it’s clear why she has so few other creatures under her control. Apparently, she decided to neglect the well-known tactic of elves that was all about recruiting as much as possible, which is always easy with their incubators, and then making the foe just drown in the sea of corpses.”

It seemed the concept of the pointy-eared race in the Pantheon had been completely redone. Considering my traditional perception of these creatures, only the appearance of their troops had been left unchanged. Their current attitude would fit some zerg better, not the traditional peaceful forest-dwellers.

Meanwhile, the silver dragons had almost gotten to us, and we seemed to have no choice but to fight them with arrows and magic. For some reason, I was sure that this would lead to a bad outcome for us. I couldn’t believe that I’d been framed by that wart lizard, and this had happened despite the fact that he was the most disciplined among my dragons.

“Hercule!” I shouted at the top of my voice. Could he even hear me? All of a sudden, my cry appeared to be much louder than I’d expected. It seemed that your strength also affected the volume of your voice.

“Got it! Initiating the operation!” answered a voice from somewhere above me.

As if on command, half of the soldiers lifted their heads and saw Hercule, who had emerged from behind the clouds, and shortly after dropped one of the black dragons from his back. The idea was indeed a good one: the silver dragons couldn’t have gotten to such a height, and consequently, my winged monster would have an advantage.

However, there was only one of him, I wasn’t sure that it would be enough. The barrier of invulnerability flashed around the diving black lizard, Hercule’s skill still worked. It was strange that the silver dragons had done nothing so far. As if they hadn’t noticed anything.

“Hm, I see it now,” Vasily drawled, his voice deep. The guy stood nearby and shot me a meaningful glance. “How well this was organized: great speed, good wingspan. I only just realized that they attacked from the side of the sun. I wouldn’t be surprised if this kamikaze attack stayed unnoticed until the very moment of collision. How long have you been practicing this?”

In response, I did nothing but shrug my shoulders meaningfully. Just then, the black dragon swept through the enemy’s formation: the giant body hit four of the enemy’s creatures at once, at great speed. Four powerful units had just been eliminated since with those kinds of injuries they just couldn’t continue fighting. Thanks to the invulnerability, my brave winged soldier had remained unharmed and immediately turned toward the left flank, avoiding a retaliatory blow. I was pleased to see that the silver dragons just furiously hissed and followed him, with no more intentions to attack the main forces of our army.

“Well, this means that, for now, we shouldn’t worry about air combat, the outcome of the battle will be decided on the ground.” Did I just say that out loud? This kind of tension wasn’t good for my nerves.

At this point, I knew I had to decide who would be sent forward first. Against my will, my eyes landed on Samantha and Christina. Both of them, the same as me, had exchanged their old armor for a new, more advanced one before the battle. And let’s just say that they looked grand: I wouldn’t be surprised if their armor had a bonus for distracting the foe and lowered the chance for a successful attack against its owner.

“Got it! We’ll advance.” Both girls interpreted my glance in their own way.

“Samantha…” I tried to stop the girl standing closer to me, as the final battle wasn’t a place to hide your mistakes in order to look better in the eyes of others.

But she didn’t even think about stopping, just bit her lip, and a horde of troglodytes, located between the center and our left flank, rushed forward, ahead of the demons, forming a kind of living shield between the two armies.

Apparently, this move had been a mistake: the enemy’s baron-magicians, who had come forward as well, buried the underground monsters under a rain of various spells. In less than a minute, we’d lost at least a third of our largest detachment. Such a success inspired the enemy, and their forces launched an all-out attack.

And this meant it was time for me to advance as well. As if reading my thoughts, Klaus roared at the top of his lungs and raised the bone flag in his hand. The battle cry rang out through the battlefield.

“For the Master!” Pigs and liches shouted together and rushed headlong into the battle.

None of the players followed us, cowards, but that wasn’t a reason to stop the advance. As soon as I set a pace, a long hedge of thorns sprouted up, blocking our way. Apparently, the elves had decided to use their magic to slow us down, but that only made me smile; I’d already crushed stone walls and could obviously deal with this as well. I swung, hit the hedge, and surprisingly, nothing happened.  The vines just absorbed my strike, as if it were some flexible substance. There was no sign that it could be torn up.

Fortunately, these magic tricks didn’t have a chance of stopping us. Almost immediately, a solution was found, surprisingly, by the pigs. The animals gnawed on the roots of the plants, and as we broke out of the green trap, enemy archers greeted us with a rain of arrows.

And if people could barely pierce the goblin’s armor, the arrows of elves went through even huge troll bodies.

“Go faster!” I shouted. The sooner we got to these bow-wielding bastards, the less our losses would be.

“Sure. Hurry up, drink the potions!” Klaus’ words made me confused.

But shortly after, everything became clear: every member of the troll detachments grabbed a small flask from their belts and emptied it. In an instant, their skin was covered with a stone crust, which turned out to be surprisingly strong. Even the arrows of the pointy-eared archers just bounced off their bodies in nine out of ten shots. And that definitely helped us continue our advance.

“Unicorns on the flank!” someone shouted. It was impossible to discern who had said it.

“Stierlitz, is that you?” It was similar to the tone of the eye. But I couldn’t be sure, due to all the noise around me.

“Got it. My turn!” I caught sight of the eye, who’d appeared next to me out of nowhere, and then vanished into the crowd once again. I didn’t have time to think what that was all about, the enemy was already close, no time for sweating the small stuff.

In the meantime, the enemy had moved their lines, the archers had gone to the rear, and the living trees moved forward. The forest giants were terrifying, and the most terrifying of all was that their bodies were shining with a bright light. It wasn’t hard to guess that this had something to do with White’s blessings.

Having dashed ahead of my detachments, I swung and hit a tree with all my might, throwing it five yards back. And that’s it? I thought. Maybe it was just me being unlucky. But no, the same thing happened everywhere else, the trolls and orcs rushed into the enemy ranks, at first forcing them to step back a little, and then they themselves had to move back. Damn these woods! The goblins and pigs hadn’t even dared to attack the giants; with their height and power, it would indeed be madness. The only ones who were effective in this strange fight were the liches, but unfortunately, there were too few of them.

Having missed a blow, one of the trolls flew past me. It seemed he’d lost consciousness for a couple of seconds, but the bone flag he’d gotten from Klaus was still in his hands. Everyone around me was fighting to the last; there was no way that I would allow myself to fail at dealing with them. Come on, I thought, you decided to beat the foe in a hurry, rushed forward to mess up their plans. But has that ever worked?

And now, it seemed there was nothing left to do but retreat. I wondered whether there was a way to do it with dignity. Were there any trump cards left up my sleeve? I remembered the orcs and their idea to call for help from the Inferno.

“Jafar, it’s time!” The chief orc was trying to say something in response, but it was just impossible to hear his words through the roar of all the clubs hitting the trunks of the trees. Judging by his gestures, I understood that the orc had some doubts. I was surprised by that, since this definitely wasn’t a time when we could afford to hold anything back. “Stop worrying! I take all responsibility! Just do it!”

The orc shamans quickly stood in a circle and a huge green portal appeared right in the spot between the two armies. I felt that something would happen now—here it was, the sudden arrival of our cavalry from the mysterious underground kingdom. Unfortunately, my dreams didn’t come true: only two or three hundred orcs came out of the emerald haze. I couldn’t believe that this was all the help that had come. They were even unarmored…

At the same time, the portal flared even brighter, and another creature emerged from it. A giant demon, which looked like a cross between a centaur and a tortoise. It was definitely not an orc, this monster looked more like a zealous owner who’d suddenly lost his property. I was examining the thing which Jafar had tried to warn me about. Meanwhile, the demon first looked at us, then at our opponents, apparently wondering who’d dared to steal his slaves. Fortunately, the light creatures, with their strong views about universal justice, were more suspicious in that regard, so he roared something in his demonic language and then turned in their direction.

“Retreat!” I immediately gave the command to my soldiers. Even though we’d been unlucky with the reinforcements, this demon would now give us some time to return to our previous position, without unnecessary losses and panic.

Despite its size, the centaur-tortoise was defeated pretty quickly and fell over dead after twenty minutes of fighting. By that point, my detachments had retreated to our main forces and had had the time to line up. Everything was the same as it had been in the very beginning, apart from the left flank, which had managed to slightly damage the enemy. But I wasn’t sure if it would help us. The center of the hostile army was advancing on us, the large steps of dendroids made the ground tremble, and I didn’t have a clue about what I should do with these creatures. Or was there something that could help? Only now did I remember the spells Samantha had boasted about. Magic was probably a way to deal with them.

“Samantha, Alessandro, cast your most powerful spells!” Once again, I was at the command post and could rely on my allies for help.

“Where?” What a stupid questions that was, especially in the midst of battle.

“There!” I pointed at the dendroids moving toward us.

High-level spells were indeed a real power. The enemy’s detachments just disappeared in a sea of fire and earth, but to be honest, I wasn’t sure that even that would be enough. How many had been killed by that attack? Maybe ten thousand, definitely no more than twenty. Even if these creatures were elite ones, the angels hadn’t even entered the battle yet. I wondered whether we had a chance to win. If everything continued like this, I’d say not.

“Retreat!” I said to the other players. And my glance involuntary settled on Samantha, who’d stepped on my foot. “Now I know how to win, but we’ll need some time.”

I didn’t know how I hadn’t thought of this before, since it was always considered to be the most powerful weapon in any RPG system. Soon, White, I’ll use it to the full extent against you.”

Vasily Mamontov

What the hell? The plan Dan had come up with was just nonsense. His idea about ambush squads was all he’d shared with us. Moreover, he didn’t even decide who exactly would be included in these detachments, and what enemy creatures would come under that attack. No preparatory work had been done, no information had been gathered, no roles had been defined, and no goals had been set. The whole strategy of the future battle could be compared with the work of some fifth-grade amateur. If it had been someone else, I’d have just destroyed him. But it was Dan, I knew he had some plan in mind, and for some reason, he’d chosen not to reveal his ideas to us. Judging by the atmosphere, it was clear that I wasn’t the only one having such thoughts; each of us had come to this place, joined this alliance, because we trusted this man. And we’d trust him once again.

Was it all just one big mistake? It was only the beginning of the battle, ten huge creatures of the 11th class were approaching our army, and I had no idea where our strongest units were. I wished I could just ask him straight out, Dan, what have you done with them? He didn’t even ask me or Christina to face the attack with our elite creatures. Of course, the number of creatures under our command was lower, but they could have slowed the enemies down. Did he really plan to fight the dragons with an ordinary army? It wasn’t hard to foresee the result of such a collision… half of our units would die, wouldn’t they?

Of course, it was the same trick he’d almost used against me. His dragon had reached an altitude that others were just incapable of reaching, and attacked, using that advantage. Although, saying it like that, I was oversimplifying the matter, I couldn’t imagine how long you’d need to train to get this kind of result, to calculate the point of that dive so that during the flight you were hidden by the sun and crossed the trajectories of as many enemies as possible.

I asked him, and as usual, Dan didn’t answer. The guy was all about doing this: doing something incredible and then he’d just stay silent and only a sly smile would be given in response.

Wait, did he really plan to attack right now? But what about finishing off the enemy? There were still six dragons left. Considering those strong creatures at the back of our forces, there was so much the foe could do with that. His black dragon had lured them away, but sooner or later they would return, and I was sure that it would happen at the wrong time. How was it possible that he hadn’t taken that into consideration?

And then it happened once again. After all this time, I still hadn’t gotten used to working in a team with such a genius. Two black lightning bolts appeared out of the forest and attacked the silver dragons who’d gotten carried away by the chase from behind. In less than a minute, the forces of both sides were already equal. At this point, I realized why Dan had been so calm and didn’t care about this matter anymore. Everything had already been taken into account. I caught sight of Christina; it seemed the result of the battle wasn’t really interesting to the girl, her eyes were fixed on our leader, she was carefully watching all his actions. Judging by her look, I’d say that so far he’d justified her expectations. Damn, now I was also curious about what he would do next.

Samantha Hollins

Finally, the last battle. I was elated, anticipating what would happen. It was a pity, of course, that Christina was also here; without her, one could’ve said that it was just perfect. At some point, his gaze settled on both of us—and it could mean only one thing, we had the privilege of dealing the first blow. It was an attack only from one flank, and I was wondering what he had in mind. He looked so mysterious in his new bone armor.

“Samantha!” I’d been so lost in reverie that I hadn’t realized that he wanted my troops to go forward first.

I bit my lip in exertion. I’d had to spend quite a bit of mana in order to cast a series of haste buffs on all my troglodytes, but it worked out. My units were ahead of Christina’s demons. A smile touched my lips, I’d not only fulfilled Dan’s plan but also left behind that arrogant woman.

It was done right on time. If my detachments had been late, the main blow of Summers’s barons would’ve hit the center of our army. The dark priests would’ve repelled it, but why we should waste such resources, when we could do it like this instead. With a sense of satisfaction at a job well-done, I watched as spells ricocheted from the armor forged by my blacksmiths and flew back at their casters. The chance was small, but the barons were few in comparison with my legions of troglodytes. Within the first minute of the battle, they lost about a thousand players, by my general estimate, and were forced to retreat.

It wasn’t surprising that the enemy had decided to advance first, they’d realized that they had no chance in a long-range battle. I personally didn’t mind, it was common knowledge that it was easier to stand and defend, our losses would be lessened that way. But what did Dan plan to do?

He ran forward… Alone… He didn’t even call for anyone to help him… The only thing that remained was to just wait. If there were no orders, some misguided initiative could only mess up his plans. I sighed in admiration. He was so skilled. How quickly he’d managed to deal with the “Wall of jungles” cast by the druids. If fans of the Game were measuring the best time for countering the most powerful spells somewhere, then this was definitely a new record.

It had always been a mystery to me, why he had so many pigs in his army, so many resources had been used for their development and breeding. After all, it seemed to be so much better to invest into dragons or liches. And now it finally became clear what it had all been about: pigs were an ideal weapon against natural objects, summoned by the elves, that traditionally have high resistance to any magic and physical damage. It turned out he had  guessed who would be against him a long time ago, in the very beginning. And that also meant that we weren’t together by chance, it had been his plan for me to be here, next to him.

It’s not time yet, Samantha, wipe that smug look off your face. The Game isn’t over yet.

The enemy immediately paid attention to our center forces that had run ahead, leaving all their allies behind, and immediately decided to try and surround Dan’s detachments. Their unicorns were fast as hell; I knew that it wouldn’t take them much time to encircle him and his soldiers. Most importantly, the right flank hadn’t been ordered to go in, and no one could stop the enemy creatures. I just couldn’t believe he’d made such a mistake.

He did notice them approaching and sent forward one of his squads… Who exactly? Only one beholder and a mere hundred skeletons. They should have been shot to pieces, without even getting a chance to approach the magic animals. And then it dawned on me that there were no archers there: our enemies had been in such a hurry that they’d sent their unicorns in without any support. But still, what could a hundred skeletons do against a thousand creatures, all of them level eight?

It turned out that they could just explode. I didn’t know when Dan had trained them, but the idea was now paying off. He’d left his flank unprotected and made himself vulnerable to the enemy’s attack, and then just sent his suicide undead forward. He knew that none of his allies were there and thus he could just act, without worrying about friendly casualties. The unicorns did have a huge number of health points and they didn’t lose too much. But the wounded creatures were forced to retreat for healing, and that meant that our advance would be able to continue without any more obstacles.

And then there was the last line of defense. Even from my position, I was able to see how Dan took the lead and struck the first blow. It looked strong when he knocked down a dendroid that had taken root. However, at this point, the success of our advance ended. The trees stopped the breakthrough and launched a slow offensive. And soon, other enemy troops would be joining them. Was this really the end?

I felt an urge to run in and help. Samantha, is this what you’ve been taught your whole life? Grandfather would have blushed with shame. And father would have just grinned as he always did, and it would be totally impossible to guess what he thought: either he approved of my actions or he’d never expected more from me. And then Dan summoned the demon, well, he definitely hadn’t called him, since such a spell should have been at least level 6 magic, and he wasn’t a magician at all. So it meant that this was a neutral monster that he’d forced into entering the battle on his side. I’d always known that he had no equal in manipulating other living beings.

“He’s retreating,” Christina said. Why had I bothered with persuading her to join us? On the other hand, what she’d said was true. Despite all his cunning plans and tricks, Dan was now retreating.

Pull yourself together, Samantha. It’s a real fight, not a fairy tale where you can just win with a snap of your fingers. There wouldn’t be an easy victory, even though Dan was giving it his all. His face streamed with sweat, his eyes shone with a feverish intensity.

“Samantha, Alessandro, cast your most powerful spells!” Now it was our turn to enter the battle. It was so odd, trying to beat giant trees with magic, given their ninety percent resistance to it… But since he’d asked us…

Having involuntary reacted to his words, del Mayo and I simultaneously activated our spells. And it did work out—the crack of the rift crossed the field, and the meteor that hit it head on caused a real earthquake. A huge square with a side of about a hundred yards immediately sank into the earth, and all the dendroids fell into the fiery hell storming underground. Even they weren’t able to bear such high temperatures.

We’d been thinking about something like this while we’d been training, but in the heat of battle, it just slipped my mind. However, Dan had calculated everything and even given us a cue. And that was despite the fact that he’d just returned from a hard battle. Probably, this was his real power—being a man of genius and also having the will to win.

I didn’t really like that he hadn’t warned us about this idea in advance. But, in principle, great precision wasn’t required here—and this way, it was guaranteed that our attack would be unexpected.

“Now I know how to win.” Dan’s voice was so tense. And I noticed that he was looking straight at me while saying this. There was nothing more to think about, it simply couldn’t be an accident—he definitely had some feelings for me.

Christina del Mayo

I was wondering why Dan was so busy doing all this nonsense. However, soon enough, everything became clear—as they say, secrets are never long-lived. The main goal of his attack hadn’t been to defeat the enemy but to check their defenses and find the right weapon to use against them, while taking as few casualties as possible. And in fact, we’d lost very, very few soldiers thus far.

Chapter Seventeen

Dan

All the bone dragons had died, the liches had fallen to pieces, the death knights had been reduced to dust, but Mamontov’s undead army had bought us time, almost an hour. And it was worth all the losses—now I was sure that we’d succeed. Though people were looking at me in bewilderment—as if they were waiting for some miracle, one I wasn’t performing— but the most important thing was that I, personally, had absolute confidence in my own power. How amazing it was to feel invincible, to know that no matter what happens, you would be able to withstand it, and win.

To tell the truth, my plan was, in fact, very simple. Everyone had gotten so carried away by the realism of what was going on around us that they’d lost sight of the fact that it was just a game, with the conventions and weak points that entailed. In fact, an ideal solution for how to deal with an opponent in any game, no matter how strong he is, had already been found. Only three roles were needed: those who receive the blows, those who strike back, and the ones who heal their teammates. As they say, the simplest solution tends to be the best one.

Most importantly, I had everything I needed to implement this idea. The trolls and orcs were ideal tanks, given their new armor, which was so heavy and thick that it was unlikely that they could deal a lot of damage. More to the point, they didn’t need to, their task was to withstand the attacks of the foe. We had other creatures that would crush the enemy—our damage-dealers had been left practically without any armor, but their blows became much stronger as a result. Considering the cover they had, they didn’t have to worry about their life. The priests had worn heavy plate armor and had stood in front of them, so now our healers could restore the health of their allies, even in the midst of a battle.

My new detachments turned out a little bit motley: in some of them, the right to deal damage had been given to deadly liches, in others, to small goblins. But overall, I’d employed my strategy pretty well, the same principle was now applied everywhere. Although this plan didn’t take our cavalry into consideration, I was sure that I would find a place for our mobile creatures. They were good if we needed someone chased, or quick counter-attacks.

“The time has come!” I shouted at the top of my voice. “We’re advancing!”

Having heard my cry, Mamontov immediately began to retreat with the remnants of his army in order to save at least some of them. As for me, I decided, anticipating our upcoming victory, to sing something. And one familiar tune came to mind:

One King to rule them all,

One King to find them,

One King to bring them all

And in the darkness bind them.

Well, I wasn’t very good at reworking poetry, but at least I had a brilliant plan. I was pleased that my work had attracted Klaus, although I was sure that he’d just come because he’d heard the familiar word “darkness.” Shortly after, I learned that my huge green friend had an inborn talent for being a public relations specialist. I had no clue how exactly he’d done it, but it took him no more than two minutes to get my whole army howling these four lines. Even Christina’s demons turned out to be cool guys and quickly joined in. Of course, the succubi tried to turn their noses up at us, but after the twentieth repetition, they also felt a rush of excitement. The players resisted the peer pressure longer than others, but, first a baron, and then all the others joined the common choir and belted out these lines at least once.

You have received the 'Unity' buff

Strength and Endurance increased by 50 for one day

I remembered that we’d already gotten this buff once before, while howling at the moon. At the time, the bonuses hadn’t been this significant, but there had been fewer of us as well. I wondered why Samantha, Vasily, and del Mayo were looking at each other as if they were surprised. They probably didn’t think that I’d be able to manage this on my own. That’s it for sure; they themselves had been using it all the time and even now, despite the gravity of our situation, they’d hoped to keep their secret. Of course, it was all due to their class prejudice.

And then we charged into the enemy lines: the tanks were taking the hits, the soldiers were dealing damage, and the healers were restoring the soldiers’ health. Surprisingly, the foe didn’t target us with their magic and curses much; to be honest, I’d thought that it would be worse, but this was probably the result of the efforts of my dark priests, well, actually, all of them had already become dark high priests. Christina’s double had gathered all of them together in one detachment, and now they stood a little bit to the side, ready to follow my orders at any time.

My barons were probably dealing with things better than anyone else: all their military-magic tricks, in my new line-up, had finally shown their true power, so that they even had to hold back, in order to not leave everyone else behind. Personally, I was really worried about the troops formed from the goblin ranks. But my shorties also perfectly adapted to the new style: apparently, our training in the courtyard of the castle hadn’t been in vain. Like the Roman legionaries, they never struck at the enemy standing right in front of them, but aimed their blows sideways, hitting the opponent of their neighbor, who wasn’t expecting an attack from the side. It was simple, just like all brilliant ideas are.

About half an hour later, we crushed the enemy’s front ranks and started pushing their main forces.

Well, it’s your time to make a move, White, I thought.

And it didn’t take him long to act. Having recovered from their last attack, the unicorns began to maneuver around the flank—however, I hadn’t left my cavalry in reserve for nothing, I had my own forces ready to meet them.

“Knights, pigs, your time has come! Time to show them what you’re capable of.” It was a strange combination of units for sure, but no one was paying any attention to this fact. My piglets had long ago proved their right to be in the ranks of my army.

“They won’t be able to handle them, even with all the bonuses you gave them,” said the quiet voice of Christina. Her tone gave me the creeps. I was sure that she wouldn’t lie to me, so it was necessary to come up with something. Did I have to use the battlecry? But White hadn’t sent his most powerful units into the battle yet, which I had to wait for.

“Any ideas?” I asked. Usually, if a girl drew your attention to something, she already had a plan in mind.

“Actually, yes, I have a good Succubus enhancement among my spells, but it requires a special activation.” I’ll admit, I was confused about what she meant by that… a kiss, or what? I quickly looked around, but everyone was pretending to be busy with something. So, as usual, I had to do everything myself.

“Is that okay?” I quickly pressed my lips to hers.

“No, it has to be a proper kiss.” She wore a predatory smile, her hands’ grip became steel, and our kiss continued, but on a completely different level.

Half a minute later, we pulled away from each other, and at this point, I could say that I knew for sure what some great stories were talking about when they mentioned kisses a hero would be ready to die for. At the same time, Christina spread her hands wide, and her figure shone with a bright red light. Moving along some strange trajectories, the rays of light caught up with our cavalry and covered them with a pulsating heat haze.

Veil of Passion

Your units deal twice their damage

Duration of the spell is hidden by its owner

“Will it last for long?” I decided to ask, seeking clarification. What if I’d tried so hard, and it had been for nothing?

“Should be enough. You were pretty good.” What was that all about? However, if she didn’t want to answer, it wasn’t a big deal.

Meanwhile, the enemy launched a new offensive: the elite of the baronial cavalry had rushed the other flank. And there was no one I could send against them stop them, because only a detachment of dark priests remained in reserve. I didn’t plan to use them now, for it would just be a waste of high-level creatures. Mamontov? No, he wasn’t ready yet. All the troglodytes of Alessandro and Samantha had already vanished in the heat of battle. I was wondering whether I really had to slow down my attack and stop this horse avalanche. And then, among those who were leading the enemy attack, I saw a familiar face.

“Milos!” This name, surprisingly, came to me. I remembered Samantha telling me something about this guy, but most of that information had just slipped from my mind. It seemed that he was the only one of my old friends who’d remained on the enemy side. It was a pity. On the other hand, it was slightly symbolic that, at this point, he was one of those who were leading such a dangerous attack against me.

And then everything instantly changed.

“Let the rebellion begin! For true freedom, for the real barony!” Half of the barons pounced on the other, and their deadly attack immediately turned everything into real chaos.

A smile crossed my face. Of course, he was on our side. Samantha or Alessandro had probably persuaded him, and they’d done a good job. It was impossible not to admit it, since  I personally hadn’t even thought about such an option. Still, the aristocrats were superior to me in some ways. And, unlike them, I knew how to recognize the victories of others—I turned to my allies and respectfully bowed my head.

At that moment, a bright flash lit up the sky.

“It’s begun…” Everyone who was nearby whispered the same words.

Samantha Hollins

Tanks, damage-dealers, healers, what strange terms he was using. And the system itself was, to put it mildly, strange—how could one simplify the enormous variety of battle strategies to only three components? And yet he was so sure of his success! I even had the odd feeling that he was much prouder of this idea than of everything he’d done before.

I’d have thought about it a little bit longer, but I was distracted by a tasteless tune he was singing. It seemed to me like I’d already seen something similar once, in one old book, but how little sense there was in these lines, no rhyme, no melody. It was possible to single out only a rhythm, which was catchy, and everyone probably liked it for this reason. God damn it, I thought, it’s one of those variants of mental programming, where if you repeat something for a countless number of times, your brain will perceive even madness as the norm.

Why was everyone looking at me? I should also sing it? Well, okay, but just once. Maybe twice.

You have received the 'Unity' buff, level 5

The main thing was not to laugh. Hysterical laughter has never helped anyone create a positive image. Plus fifty endurance—even if, during the whole game, you put all your stat points into this one attribute, it was unlikely that you would reach such a high number. And this one worked for the whole army, for the whole day. I wondered how many tricks Dan had had in his pocket. It wasn’t surprising that he’d been dealing with us so easily all this time.

Sometimes we don’t remember the most important moments of our lives, only some fragments remain in our memory, between which there is an emptiness, cold and ruthless. And no matter how much you want to remember, how much you want to run away from these fragments, you’ll return to these particular pieces of your memory, even though you’ll feel sick of scrolling through them over and over again.

And I knew what would be flashing through my head. A picture of Christina, domineering and strong, pressing Dan to herself and smothering him with a fervent kiss. Even at a distance, I could see her eyes burning with passion. How was Dan restraining himself? He couldn’t possibly be blunt enough to not notice anything. The most disappointing thing in this episode was that we could’ve dealt with the problem even without Christina’s buff, since the pigs were throwing themselves at the feet of the unicorns, making them halt and turning them into easy targets for the knights’ spears. The sight of that collision was so odd, so fantastic, like a strange dream.

And then it happened, one more attack on the other flank, and there were no more forces left to repel it. I’d been thinking about volunteering. If I’d taken a couple of detachments, I’d have been able to stop the barons. Not to smash them, but to slow them down, and most importantly, our attack would’ve continued and we would’ve still had a chance to win.

Oh, I almost goofed. It was lucky that I’d decided not to hurry with my decision.

Divide et impera. Dan was cunning as hell. I wondered whether he’d had an agreement with Lansky in advance or if he’d just noticed him and skillfully played this card. If the enemy commander called out to a leader of your detachment, you would surely think that something was wrong there. But all of his showing off was superfluous. Well, you broke the enemy assault with one phrase, but why are you looking at us so smugly?

Overall, the situation was pretty good, I’d even say that we were winning. Actually, it was the achievement of only one person—no matter what, Dan was our leader and our champion. Although, if I didn't take into consideration the instances of him repelling the last two flank attacks that had been played out in his own fashion, I had to admit that his ideas were kind of preposterous today. However, the main thing was that they had worked.

I couldn't assess what was happening. There was a strange feeling, as if today was the first time he’d done something on his own. No, I thought, that’s just some nonsense, I’ve made it all up.

Milos Lansky

Damn it, Dan’s noticed me. It seems I have to start my plan ahead of time.

“Let the rebellion begin! For true freedom, for the real barony!”

Wimps are always looking for an excuse, they always say that it’s not a suitable moment. But really strong people fulfill their plans, no matter what. And the more intense the situation, the more you can achieve.

Now I’d finish off Summers, and then… Then I’d see how long this battle would last for me. Until I gave up, nothing was over.

Dan

A flash of lightning lit the sky, and a peal of thunder was heard. And then we saw the inquisitors and angels moving forward. Without checking who was in front of them, allies or enemies, they almost instantly destroyed the remnants of the barons and elves and were now directly opposite us.

“You’ve found my allies difficult to deal with.” White wisely didn’t show himself, but his voice was just hovering over the battlefield. “Why keep fighting, Dan? I alone could destroy both you and them. You must know that by now. Why do you persist? In a game where luck can determine the outcome of any fight, victory can only be mine.”

I wondered what that was all about. About a chance for a critical attack or some other features of the Game? Personally, I’d had no problems with anything like that.

“It will be so beautiful,” in the meantime, White continued, “if you surrender at your discretion, without even a fight. Yes? No? I see you’re silent… Well, then I’ll show you what real power is.”

If he’d been nearby, we’d have probably noticed something else, but we only saw a lonely star rising high into the air, and then the sign of a curse appeared over all the allied forces.

Shine of the Light

Every 10 seconds, the troops of the Light replenish 10% of their health, and the troops of the Darkness lose 10% of their health

Only a couple of lines, but it meant that, in less than two minutes, we would all be dead, and everything would be over. Could I just lose like that? And what about all my plans? Hadn’t I wanted to be a champion? Haven’t I been fighting for a victory all this time?

“We won’t surrender!” I said, my voice harsh. Maybe it would’ve been good to say something inspiring, but there was no time for long speeches. “Since we can’t do anything about a curse, we just need to win this battle in these two minutes.”

What I’d said was quite naive, White even laughed in response, but everyone else looked serious, their eyes were intent, their faces grave, and then the air above the battlefield rang with the battlecry of my soldiers.

“For our Master! For the Darkness!”

At the same time, all the bone flags turned into dust, and a new star flew over our ranks. But this time, it was covered with a black light.

As the head of the order, you have the right to turn to your element and use its power

Shine of the Darkness

Every 10 seconds, the troops of the Darkness replenish 10% of their health, and the troops of the Light lose 10% of their health

“Pathetic attempt, Dan, your luck is not infinite!” My ears rang with his words. And then White’s army moved forward once again, but this time, five archangels flew over his detachments, powerful creatures that hadn’t been sent into the battle, the ones that had conserved their strength for this very moment. They moved like gigantic battleships in an innumerable enemy armada.

We’d also tried to take care of our elite monsters for the sake of this very moment; unfortunately, I couldn’t say that we’d succeeded: the black dragons had suffered while repelling the first attack, and the bone monsters had died while buying us time to regroup.

“Christina, I’ll take care of the feathered ones, all the rest are on you.” The girl immediately nodded and gave me control over two archdemons. This was all the reserve we had: two armored red giants, two not yet recovered black dragons, and one man with tousled hair. It wasn’t hard to guess who the only hope of our team was. As usual, I was the one who had to do all the dirty work.

“Euaaaaaaeeeeeeeeuauaaaaaaaaaaa!” It seemed my voice had whipped up the wind, and then all the dust settled. This was the ability that I’d saved especially for this moment.

You have used the ability “Battle Roar”

The power of a real berserker overwhelms not only its owner but also everyone around them. Taking up a battlecry, you increase the radius of your hero’s aura up to 1 mile

Duration—5 minutes

“The true power is with us!” The pigs rushed into the enemy ranks first, and then everyone else followed them.

Unfortunately, my situation wasn’t that good. Concentrating all our attacks on one of the archangels, we quickly killed him, even despite his shield absorbing some of the damage. However, in the same way as the last time I’d encountered them, he was immediately resurrected. At least I’d been expecting this and retreated, otherwise, if he’d attacked us from the back, someone would’ve already been dead.

Well, since it’s just a game, after all, that means there’s some way to win, you just have to find it. I was sure I’d succeed if I was cool enough and not too slow. Oh, luck, today I can’t do without you.

“Cut their heads off!” What if the idea from ‘Highlander’ would also work here?

Alas, it wasn’t the right way to deal with these creatures. Meanwhile, the archangels had used some kind of mass strike, the result of which was that the health of the demons and dragons dropped by half. And this wasn’t even a big deal, considering that a few thousand orcs and trolls who’d also been in the area of the attack had just evaporated. At least none of my friends had been hurt.

Incinerating the corpses and tearing them into pieces hadn’t worked either, and at this point, only two minutes were left before the end of my battlecry effects. It seemed there was no other choice but to take extreme measures. It might sound strange, but you didn’t always need to defeat the enemy to win a fight. Not waiting until they finished off one of the black dragons with practically no health left, I cast submission on the largest archangel. The last time, White had been able to remove it, but for this trick, he’d had to use a spell himself.

A blessing of purification was immediately activated from the distant back rows. Though it had been done quickly, I was able to detect his position.

“Christina, go!” My last reserve, the dark priests… Following my order, they rushed forward. They had almost perfect protection against the magic of the light, so there was a chance that they would be able to reach him.

One of the enemies nearly thrust a spear into my body while I was distracted, watching as my soldiers managed to surround a figure in a white robe. The Archangels were too far away; my priests couldn’t be stopped by ordinary inquisitors—would we really win?

Player Simon White has used the transformation “Avatar of the Light”

Above the rows of priests and priestesses, a golden armor grew to a height of fifty feet. It looked plain and even dull, with only the eye slits emanating a light blue glow.

That’s it? I wasn’t impressed. But then White, hidden in the armor, swung his sword, and everyone he touched lost their lives. After a couple of minutes, all my dark priest were dead, and I couldn’t do anything to help them. It was stupid to be upset about the deaths of ordinary NPCs, but Christina, my Christina, who had been with me for so long, had also died right there. At the same time, the effect of my aura stopped reaching all my allies, and as if I’d sensed something, I turned around and saw how they’d surrounded Jafar, and then the huge body of the orc was pierced several times with swords. I saw how the eye, rushing in for a counterattack, was first caught in some net that slowed him down, and then some bright spell incinerated him.

It hurt me. Was this really the end? Was it beyond my ability to do something?

No… While I was alive, I could still fight. In my hands was a new, faithful club, I was wearing a strong armor, even the old cuirass had been put on, just in case—so there was nothing to do but to fight to the last…

“Barons, follow me!” It was the last hope, the last idea I had, if this didn’t work, then it would be the end, for sure. If only I’d showered a little bit longer, then I could’ve probably come up with more plans.

Simon White

While my allies were fatty Summers and tomboy Gomez, Dan had all the most beautiful girls in the Game… And all those kisses, ostensibly, for the sake of victory. What a hypocritical poseur he was, pretending that he hadn’t understood anything!

Stop this, you can’t even think that his luck will hold. Remember the myth where a hero was favored by fate, but then he began to boast that he’d achieved everything himself, and his luck abandoned him? I have to believe in my luck, otherwise, I won’t win. But what does he count on?

However, some of his ideas were indeed impressive. The bone flags that turned into a means to dispel magic, due to the collected necromantic energy. And this wasn’t an impediment for ordinary spells—a fireball doesn’t care whether there is a rarefied air around the enemy or not—but it was exactly right for countering curses. It was a pity, if I’d had an opportunity to use them, everything could’ve been completed much faster.

What a pleasure it had been to give the order to go through the ranks of elves and barons—the useless and weak ones had to be destroyed. If they hadn’t had enough luck to be able to achieve something more, then it was their fate. And there wasn’t anything that could be done about it, each person gets their own fate at birth.

“You’ve found my allies difficult to deal with.” A smile crossed my face as doubt appeared in their eyes. Now they would see the full power of a high-level hero. “I alone could destroy both you and them.”

What was wrong with me—why had I lauded my own strength but not my luck? It wasn’t a good sign, now I had to deal with them quickly.

Shine of the Light

Now they wouldn’t have a chance, the power of this spell was unstoppable at their level.

Shine of the Darkness

How? Was he really that strong? Or just that lucky?

“Pathetic attempt, Dan, your luck is not infinite!” What was I doing? I’d just made myself Her opponent. Was this really the end? A shiver ran down my back.

I was forced to send my archangels forward, I needed some time to pull myself together. I’d never been so scared. What if he solved their mystery now? However, with each resurrection, my self-confidence was coming back more and more, and after a while, the feeling of anxiety disappeared.

But he could’ve guessed so easily… And if his luck had been stronger, he’d have succeeded. But he chose to concentrate all his attacks on one single creature, while the solution was indeed quite simple: each creature corresponded to a day in the creation of the world, and they should have been destroyed in that order. The scientific approach, where you take a part of the whole object and study its properties, with only this single sample at your disposal, wouldn’t work with the light.

A naive boy, he still tried to fight and resisted the inevitable. He used a submission on an archangel. And in fact, he’d chosen the one who symbolized the first day—at this point, I had no choice but to intervene.

That was smart of him, he’d used the moment of purification to figure out where I was. But this wasn’t his luck, this was his plan—I could always sense these things. He’d managed to spring a surprise on me. And I’d been wondering what he would do next. Shortly after, he sent his dark priests to confront me. What a fool he was! So many creatures of the opposite faction were exactly what I needed to finish this battle that had lasted for far too long. Now I realized that I’d doubted my luck unnecessarily—at this point, she’d clearly shown whom she favored more.

Avatar of the Light

The most powerful spell of the element, which can only be used if you are threatened by darkness

Each blow deals 125% of the life of the enemy in front of you

That was the end of the game for my foes. A standard armor rarely got over 20, which meant I’d kill any opponent with one blow, no matter how many health points they had. So it wasn’t surprising that these dark priests, even though they had already reached the rank of high priests, were quickly sent to the heavens. One of them, while dying, even promised that Dan would get revenge for them—so stupid and naive… Even if he had enough luck, who cares about some characters in the game?

It seemed my enemies have tired of resisting: my order to focus our attacks on the leaders of the detachments had been very useful, and now my units were advancing. Dan, as if he’d gone completely out of his mind, decided to rush me with a small detachment—it was even kind of symbolic. The leader of one army would fight with the leader of another.

“Step aside!” I shouted. The inquisitors immediately parted to form a semicircle, and the other half was formed by Dan’s detachment, which had broken through to get here.

He’d brought the barons with him, high-leveled magicians; if they all hit me together, it would be bad. However, while Dan was nearby, they wouldn’t take the risk, and then everything would be over very quickly. Despite my attempts to calm myself down, the mild weakness hadn’t gone away—I couldn’t understand why I always felt so uncomfortable next to him.

Hit. One more hit! Why was he still alive? Considering that each my blows took away 125% of his life, and he was able to survive two of them, it turned out he had about 80 armor. He was well-equipped, but he surely didn’t have more than ten percent of his life left.

As I smiled, one of his barons restored his health bar to full.

“That’s not fair!” I complained, and then suddenly realized what I’d said.

“I’m a dark one, I’m supposed to play like that.” The guy even dared to joke.

One more blow, and he was healed once again. Another blow, but his disciples continued to support him. However, I could feel that I’d be able to finish off him.

“You can’t always be so lucky!” For the second time that day, I doubted the power of luck out loud. And suddenly, deep within me, a feeling that my words would come back to haunt me rose up.

Our fast movements kicked up a real dust storm. His strikes, despite all his strength, couldn’t break through the armor of the avatar, and I felt that I’d started to go through his defense. I needed just a little bit more time, I dealt a blow, then one more…

“Hit the bastard with magic!” he said. I only had time to wonder why that sounded as if it had come from the side.

44 spells hit me and the body of my enemy, that had stopped in front of me. Had he really decided to sacrifice himself in order not to lose? Oh, luck, do you leave us both?

Epilogue

When your enemy is stronger than you, and not only do you want to win, but you have to do it, anything becomes an option. For example, even receiving healing in a duel; I was lucky that White didn’t rush the barons, but continued to vent his anger on me. Still, obsession was a thing that rarely helped people.

And then I just asked my armor to fight without me for a while. Since this thing was conscious, its duty was to help me. In the dust storm that we raised, White didn’t notice the substitution; on the contrary, he got so carried by what he perceived as my unexpected weakness that his attacks became even more frenzied than before.

“Hit the bastard with magic!” Having run away, I gave the command to the barons, and the fight was over…

Up until the last moment, I had been plagued by the thought that something would go wrong now—but no, luckily, he just died…

The Great Kingdom won the Final Battle

Are there any willing to challenge the king and his victory?

I was slightly surprised by the news that my allies would now probably try to kill me. I was without any armor, alone, with no faithful friends nearby.

Much to my surprise, no one took advantage of their right to try and take the lead; Christina thought it over longer than others, but in the end, she also confirmed the results.

Victory?! We’d really won? It was so hard to believe the words, I really wanted to run around and find all those who had survived and reached the end along with me, but the world around me, drowning in the gray haze of the battlefield, with thousands of dead soldiers scattered all over, was replaced by a table. I always forgot that this was just a game, not a battle of light against darkness, not the adventure of some friends with a quest to save the world, not the formation of a kingdom. I wouldn’t have to rejoice at the victory and wouldn’t have to say goodbye to my friends, standing at their graves. The numbers in front of me had a sobering effect, preparing me for coming back to reality.

Opponents killed –12 346

Players killed – 42

Players from the top ten killed – 5

Gold earned – 102 741

Army size – 32 100

Creatures above class 10 – 4

Summoned demons – 1

Buildings destroyed – 97

Deaths – 0

Place in the ratings – 1

Just a few lines defined everything that I’d been doing for the last few days. It was sad, but I was probably even glad that I wasn’t allowed to linger on in the game, otherwise, it would’ve been so much harder.

Exit

A farewell dinner was being held in the central hall. None of the people who had lost found the strength to come, but all the neutral players and all the winners were here.

Vasily hugged me, patted me on the back, and admitted that he was glad to have met a guy like me—I was sure that he was being sincere, there were some nice guys even among the aristocrats, it seemed.

Then Alessandro approached, he’d been standing nearby for a while, silent, then he shook my hand, and said that he would find me if something happened with his sister, then waved his hand, and left—he was still a strange person. But he didn’t get scared and had stood to the last—the man had a strong spirit.

For some reason, I most of all wanted to talk to Samantha, but the girl came over for only a couple of seconds. She congratulated me on the victory and offered to come for a visit once I’d settled into a new place. It seemed we’d gone through so much together: I had thought that there was something special between us, but apparently, I’d been wrong, and all I deserved was a “you can come and visit.”

As for Christina, I’d always known that she was a doer, not a talker: she tried to lead me out of the hall and suggested, in a whisper, that we continue the kiss from the game. Of course, I didn’t have time for that, but it still was nice. Fortunately, at that very moment, the organizers announced that landspeeders were waiting for us at the entrance, to take us home, so I didn’t even have to lie.

I wondered where they would take me. Do they know that I have no home?

“Mr. Kornev,” said a deep voice. An inconspicuous, chubby man had approached me. “We can immediately deliver you to your workplace, to Canberra, the central office of the Pacific branch. Are you ready?”

“Yes, I am.”

A week later

On TV, they were still running the news about the last Pantheon finale.

…For the first time ever, the alliance of winners unanimously agreed that the victory belonged to their leader. Before that day, in each of the final battles, there’d been players who’d thought that they deserved it more, but not this time. Dan Kornev is the most peaceful winner of “Pantheon” to date, and now the head of the Pacific branch of the corporation as well. The young man continues to achieve success at work, though nothing incredible so far. In just seven days, his subordinates have managed to increase the indices of the company development, albeit slightly, but in all parameters.

It was nice to be praised, but all these great expectations had already become annoying. As for the work, to be honest, I was just lucky.

In order to avoid having my competence questioned, I had been using the following tactic for a week: I tried to keep silent and speak only but asking other people questions. And the fact that, in the end, some indices had been increased, although I honestly didn’t understand what they all meant, could be explained by either the fact that I was asking the right questions, and people had started to think how to do things better, or that I was simply the only one in this company who didn’t distract the employees, and they were able to just do their job.

This morning, I received an advance: according to most approximate estimates, if I lived the life of an ordinary man, it would be enough not only for me but also for my children as well. Of course, only if I ended up having no more than a dozen of them… And I’d receive a salary soon, as well.

Another important thing was that I had given the guards a photo of Christina and a strict order that she wasn’t allowed to approach me, no matter what. I had to stay away from those with whom I had to speak in a normal way, who could have been able to see through my pretense. And this girl was, for sure, one of those who could’ve come here. It was even a little bit strange when it all started, I’d been ready to admit my incompetence, even on the first working day. But now I didn’t want to lose all the respect I could see in the eyes of the people around me. So the only way was to reduce any communication to a minimum.

On the other hand, I could allow myself to chat with someone at least for today, nothing serious would happen. Having convinced myself of that, I pressed the “Send” button, and an already written message, with a suggestion to have lunch sometime, was sent to Samantha’s e-mail. I sighed deeply and stared out of the window; in the end, I was glad that I’d decided to do it.

“You have a package from the central office,” said the voice of Emma. The woman was my secretary. It might seem that she was here just for her beauty, but I suspected that she was, in fact, a very smart and cunning one. Personally, I’d been afraid of her from the very first day.

After waiting for her to leave, I unwrapped a regular paper bag, protected only with government tape. It seemed to be a simple and harmless thing, but if the wrong person had tried and opened the package, specially trained people would learn about it and then all the unnecessary information would be very quickly removed from the swindler.

Putting aside the wrapping paper, I wondered what it was.

A Virtual Reality hoop? But don’t you need a capsule, super gel... have they already developed such technology? Or was this just a joke?

However, it wasn’t hard to check what it was all about—I put on the narrow iron strip, having a strange feeling that this thing was weightless.

Enter

The world around me immediately lost its colors and was plunged into darkness, from which came the red sign saying “choose your class” and a long line of characters, stretching away into the horizon.

Warrior, mage, archer, shooter, assassin… How many options are there? I thought. And then my gaze settled on a necromancer, covered with a blue flame, at whose feet a very familiar creature was lying. The one I’d been running away from when I entered this world. The one that I’d met in the nightmares caused by the dragons’ trial —did that mean that I’d already played this game?

Someone, somewhere

“Object D-1 has entered virtuality 2.0.”

“Make sure that this time there aren’t any jumps to the third level.”

“Will do, sir. And what do you think? Can he also win here? Or have all the stocks of his luck run out?”

“Why not? Who’s the champion, after all?”

Ending With Additional Details

Vasily Mamontov

Father called, said that he was pleased with my result. In one day, we’d gone from the 17th place in the educational ranking system to the second one. Although, regarding this matter, I was sure that it wasn’t really my accomplishment. Dan Kornev, the guy that had the Russian first and second name, even if there was no information about him... the appearance of this mysterious genius had done more for the popularization of our education system than years of hard work by the best PR agencies. Father boasted that his friend had called and asked for his assistance in transferring his grandson from Cambridge to one of our universities.

Also, my younger sister had written me a message. This naughty little girl had created an account with my name on social networks and had started sharing my fantastic experience from playing the Game. And it didn’t bother anyone that the participants were prohibited from getting in touch with the outside world—in the end, more than forty million people had subscribed to me. Now I was a media person, and I had a feeling that my reception at home would be an emotional one.

Alessandro del Mayo

I couldn’t believe that it was all over. This time they didn’t even force the participants to use the corporate gravity rail but had called a landspeeder for each of us. However, my mind didn’t even notice all these things, as I focused all my attention on the messages I’d received.

Carlos congratulated me on the victory and asked if he could come in for a visit; it seemed like such a long time ago that he’d lost the game. To be honest, I’d thought that my little brother was a little bit disappointed in me. But it seemed I’d been mistaken, I was still his idol.

And father said that I’d passed the test of the Game, and now I would be allowed to spend my trust fund on buying shares in the company. Which meant I’d be able to enter the board of directors. To be honest, when it had all started, I couldn’t have even thought about achieving so much.

Dan, thank you—although I’d never say it out loud, I’m glad that I joined you.

On the other hand, the attention my sister is paying you is really disturbing, she’s behaving like a cat that’s caught the scent of sour cream. I’ve never seen her like that.

Christina del Mayo

Oh, Mystery, I feel you.

Even though Dan had run away from me for now, there was no place on this planet where he could escape from me.

I’ll find you, boy, and figure out what secrets are pursuing you.

How interesting it all was. It wasn’t even a pity that, because of all the fuss the heads of the Pantheon had made, I’d been forced to temporarily retire. And why were they so offended by my intervention in the game? Not so much at the pressure I had put on them—I’d say that they were just too relaxed in the absence of serious competition.

Just a couple of months ago, this idleness could’ve broken me, but not now. It would probably be even better this way: I’d be able to spend more time trying to get to Dan and those secrets he’s hiding.

And I could feel that it would be something big.

Milos Lansky

…The troops under my command had already surrounded Summers. If I’d had just a little bit more time, I’d have taken the lead, but that bastard, White, had just attacked all of us, stabbing us in the back. The mage players had had no chance. What a shame it was to lose like that.

I couldn’t resist and hit the wall with all my might. And it immediately made the ache in the wrist that I’d damaged in my childhood flare up. At that point, I still had a father; I remembered us riding horses together in the castle park. And now I’d have to return home again: only the bright and kind place from my memories had already turned into a burden of responsibility that weighed heavily on my shoulders.

Milos, you’re the last member of your family. Milos, you must prove yourself worthy of your ancestors. Milos, you owe it to your family.

I hadn’t admitted, even to myself, how much I needed this victory. A few shabby square kilometers in Central Europe… if nothing was done, all this would fall into decay and then disappear. And it seemed that I’d failed.

“Mr. Lansky.” I didn’t notice that I’d picked up the phone, and now an unfamiliar voice was screaming in my ear.

“Who is it?” I had no intention of talking to anyone.

“Melinda, Melinda Johnson, the vice president of Imperial Bank. We’d like to discuss an investment project we had in mind for your estate. What do you think about creating a recreational park based on Pantheon, on your territory? I’m sure that the participation of one of the heroes of the finals would guarantee our success.”

I almost asked who this hero of the finals was, but, fortunately, managed to pull myself together. There was no point in showing my weakness. It seemed the fact that Kornev himself had drawn attention to me during our flank attack attracted the attention of viewers. And I had turned from “just one of the barons” to “The Milos who stopped the attack.” Having agreed on a meeting, I wrote a message to my assistant to prepare an analysis of public opinion about my participation in the game.

Hah, it seems my life is getting better.

Simon White

Now, repeatedly going over what had happened, I was able to see all the events very clearly.

“Get off,” Dan said to his armor. And a second later, they were separated. While the armor continued to fight me, its master, crouching, ran to the side.

I wondered how I hadn’t even paid any attention to this. Of course, at that moment, it had just been some noise and a barely noticeable silhouette. But if I could guess it now, why couldn’t I do it at that point? Was he lucky?

No, that’s my fault. I relied too much on my own strength, I turned to it, but not to my luck, and she, naturally, preferred the one for whom she is most important.

Dan, I thought you were just a tool of mine. But you appeared to be an independent player. Well, perhaps I’m even grateful to you for this lesson. Next time, I’ll set the right priorities.

“Mr. White, your delivery,” said an unfamiliar voice.

I had never seen this courier before. And the parcel was small, square, the side was about eight inches, the height not more than one. I wondered what was in it. A book? Or…

Samantha Hollins

Was it really all over? It was like after the summer I’d spent in the Alps as if I’d been split into two people. One was constantly going through all the events that had happened to me. How I’d met Dan, how his troll had knocked me out with his club, how Dan had offered me the chance to become his equal partner, how I’d not been able to resist and hugged him. I was also remembering those days when I’d been haunted by doubts about who he was, and how in the end, I’d just decided to trust him. And another part of me just gathered all the emotions and put them aside since soon there would be a meeting with grandpa and father. I shouldn’t be an ordinary girl, but the heir of our house, the one they’d brought up.

If Dan had given me at least a hint, that would’ve been enough. But he was silent, just watching me, and his behavior gave me more confidence.

You couldn’t fight for someone who didn’t want to be with you… As the last concession to myself, I’d offered him the chance to come for a visit.

Then came the conversation with my family, they didn’t say it out loud, but I could see that they were very proud of me, and it gave me strength. But still, it was very difficult: reading a newspaper every day, I was afraid to see the news about the couple of Kornev and del Mayo being noticed at some reception. But it seemed Dan wasn’t in the mood to have a social life.

A week passed, and the memories weren’t so vivid any longer. So, everything was fine; I was sure that I’d be able to deal with this. I didn’t know why Dan had decided not to continue our friendship in real life, but that was definitely his choice. On the easel in front of me was an almost finished picture of a knight with a blurred face, surrounded by pink, merry pigs…

Suddenly, the sound that announced someone had sent me a message came. I wondered who it might be.

End of Book 1

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