“Roger that.”
Zyrus closed the call tab and focused all his attention on the live map. As much as he wanted to join his troops, the theme of the shatar didn’t allow him to.
Exactly 78 seconds after he used the turn, the 300 players reached the target site.
This was the players' first contact with the natives.
…
At the enemy settlement,
Although it looked like a village, it was more apt to call it a steel fortress. Ten-foot walls guarded the village from all sides, along with twice as deep moat.
It was a basic wall made from wood and mud. But when the element of metal was added, anything ceased to be ‘basic.’
Zyrus had told the players that it would be impossible for them to breach the defense with their numbers. Thus, their one and only mission was to launch a surprise raid while the gates were still open.
*Thud*Thud*Thud*
The ground tremored with every step of the mammoth projection. It was impossible for this to not catch the eyes of the natives.
*Riingg*
They saw the tree-like trolls and gigantic ogres running towards their home. They tried to ring the bells and gather the guards, but alas, it was too late.
*ROOOOOAAR*
The leading troll let out a war cry and initiated its transformation. A hundred others followed his actions and slammed their fists on the ground.
[Call of Kheu]
Thousands of dark green vines sprouted from the fractured ground and crawled towards the wide-open gate.
“Thir unth Kyra?” (What are they)
“Kyra-Nal?” (Animals?)
“Kyra-Vil?” (Enemies?)
“Dren, Zhul Gorn!” (Look, a giant monster!)
“Kahl Vyra...” (Oh lord…)
No one except Zyrus understood what the natives were speaking. They looked no different from humans except for their lifeless silver eyes and copper skin. The strangest thing was their means of communication. Rather than using their mouth, their whole body was producing sounds via vibrations.
The players were unaware of what the pike-wielding guards were shouting. Nonetheless, was there a need for understanding when the roles of both sides were clear?
The vines made an overbridge by using the moat and the gate. The trolls themselves became a part of the overbridge to make it more stable.
*GROOOAR*
This was all the ogres needed.
[Berserk Charge]
The air above the moat became thick with a blood-red aura. 200 ogres had burned their lifeblood at the same time.
Blue veins protruded out from their muscles, and with their newfound explosive strength, they stepped on the trolls and the bridge they created.
*BAAANG*
The entire village quaked as the ogres jumped down from the sky. The overbridge was formed above the gate, so it was about three meters tall. Adding on the ogres' jumping height under the berserk stride, the impact was nothing to scoff at.
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“Vyran unth Kyra!” (Surround them!)
A bearded native wearing a golden armor shouted at the scrambling guards. The village had a population of close to ten thousand, and each and every one of them was stronger than the ogre. The leader didn’t believe that these rude intruders could do anything except cause a ruckus.
*Trrrrrraaaaaaaaa*
A deep bellow shattered the leaders' judgment, along with an entire wall segment.
Even the spectating Zyrus didn’t expect the mammoth to be so powerful, much less the natives. The bridge created by the trolls was the only thing that remained intact within the radius of 100 meters.
“Got it,” Ria replied to Zyrus and conveyed his orders to everyone else. Zyrus could tell them individually as well, but opted for the long route in order to build a habit in them.
The players were excited to engage in their first all-out land war.
But such excitement didn’t even last a minute.
They outnumbered the natives by a lot, but still, their individual strength was nothing compared to them.
“Nyth unth Vylen,” (kill the intruders)
Just a thousand guards held back Zyrus’s entire army. The players' spells and weapons had no effect on their copper-like skin. On the other hand, player's defenses were non-existent in front of the natives' weapons.
Things would’ve been better if the players had access to system prompts. Due to the unique nature of this event, they couldn’t see the damage numbers they were all too used to.
Zyrus spoke to all the players. No one noticed for a while before suddenly, there was a loud clamor on the battlefield.
“Formations!”
“Motherfucker, that’s unfair.”
“Eyes on the front ya bastards,”
Their hard-trained disciple faltered for the first time. But no one could blame them.
Everyone saw that when their attacks landed on the natives or when they themselves were attacked, a metallic rune would flash for a brief moment.
This was hard to notice mid-fight before Zyrus pointed it out. The players understood at this moment why Zyrus gave out the information on talisman making for free.
There was no one who didn’t see the mission. Whether they were interested in the job or not, everyone at least knew which runes were used for what.
“They’re using ‘Harden’ and ‘Sharp’ runes for their defense and offense. It may look effortless, but there’s a way to get around it by chain attacking,” Ria took the initiative and told everyone about her plan. She was second only to Zyrus when it came to her intelligence stat.
“Thir unth Zal?”
This time, everyone could guess what the native leader was screaming about. It was probably something like ‘How’s that possible?’
The rune for ‘Harden’ looked like a mic of H and I. The ‘I’ was twice the size of H with protrusions like Y. The key here was that since everyone knew about the rune and its drawing method beforehand, it was easy for them to destroy it.
Hundreds of natives died against the players' onslaught. However, things got even more peculiar.
The natives that looked similar to humanoids became a mercury-like liquid upon their death. It was extremely toxic to the players, so they could do nothing but watch as their enemies ‘dissolved’ into the ground.
Zyrus spoke to the players and zoomed out on the map to see the overall progress. The players were doing ‘Okay’ by his standards. Since it looked like everything was on the right track, he focused his attention on what was the most important for him– collecting data on the runes and the effects of talismans.
The rune for attack looked like a mix of inverse triangles with a sword in the middle. The talismans he shared with the players were made from the runes of Harden, Sharp, Conduct, and Bend.
They were related to simple metallic properties which was easy for everyone to understand. What would one think when they see a metal plate? It's sturdy, sharp, and malleable. To take a step further, metals are good conductors of heat, electricity, and even mana.
The general laws and applications of metal were thus easy to apply. One didn’t have to walk on that path to make use of it.
Zyrus had no plans to learn the laws of metal. It was impossible for one to reach the end of more than one path. No one had told him as such, but he could guess it based on his experiences on the source of existence.
‘Should I say…it’s too simple?’
Zyrus muttered to himself as he saw the players use their talismans to break the enemy’s defense. The tablets would shatter when mana was applied and in turn create a blazing rune. It was flashier in appearance, but Zyrus knew that his creations were in fact inferior.
Nonetheless, they did their job. The natives were being slashed in half and their weapons were no longer invincible. The players would’ve won even without the talismans. The main purpose behind his investment was to collect more information and reduce the number of dead players.
And it worked.
‘A pity that it’s the last time I can observe like this…’
Zyrus took a sip of water and zoomed in on Strongfist and Kyle. The natives were different from the monsters they had faced thus far. There was a clear command structure between the different villages and the ‘Capital’. He knew that at this moment the news of his attack should've spread to every corner of Jindao island.
Without the element of surprise, the players didn’t have the luxury to treat this fight as a learning experience. This will also be the last time when they could outnumber the enemies by 10 to 1.
“Roger that.”
Zyrus closed the comms and started working on the large chart in front of him. Miniature and simple diagrams of countless races were drawn on it- and besides them were the common runes belonging to five elements.
This chart was the core of his grand ambitions.