Chapter 165: Tribute (Patreon)

Coop only spent a moment on his back, staring up at the starlight as it twinkled in the clear night sky. The shockwave had sent him sliding along the deck of the Sapphire Armada’s flagship, but it hadn’t dealt any damage. The blue flame might have singed his eyebrows a bit, but when it came to magic damage he was truly a juggernaut.

“Magic defense is too good.” He acknowledged with only the stars left to listen.

Admittedly, he had been slowly becoming more exposed to various abilities that were more like hybrid attacks. His own Legacy of the Mists was the most obvious example where physical stats were dealing magic damage, but many of his companions had their own similar mechanics. The Armada’s Champion had magical water whips that dealt physical damage. It was probably only a matter of time before he felt the sting of some dual damage attacks again. However, it wasn’t like his physical defense was that far behind the extremes that his magic defense reached. Plus, he had multiple layers of additional protections, so he would be ready.

As Coop sat up the mental exhaustion really set in. He was tired. Physically, he was scraped up, but the real drain on his personal battery was due to the type of opponents he was facing. He just wanted a nice long grind session with monsters, but it didn’t seem like overcoming human nature would be easy or convenient. It was like he had a third resource bar that was diminished every time he had to kill another person.

He sighed as he returned to his feet and assessed the physical damage left on his body. Other than the stinging cuts on his arms and legs, he really was fine, though his health pool was lower than it had been in ages. Physically, he looked like he had drunkenly stumbled through patches of thorn bushes with all the cuts he had accumulated wherever his skin was exposed, but he’d heal up in no time. He didn’t even have any lingering negative afflictions.

The enemy Champion had managed to chip away at his health pool until it was depleted to below half even with the massive level difference between them. Obviously, the empowerment brought by the web of mana had drastically improved the Enchantrix’s status. Judging by the way the Champion of the Sapphire Armada had burst into mana when she was eventually defeated, Coop suspected that the other bursts of blue flames that had occurred around the ship had been individuals lending their own power. All of the settlement’s elites had congregated in one place for their final gambit. They had really pushed themselves to rise to Coop’s level and had ultimately fallen far short.

Coop shook his head, feeling disappointed with the result, despite his victory. The Sapphire Armada had been an organized and formidable force. They could have been valuable allies if they hadn’t been sold on the battle royale-esque premise of the assimilation. Compared to the Endless Empire’s incompetence, there really was a drastic difference in capability.

Plus, beyond the fact that they had demonstrated valuable proficiency, he felt like he had been brought down a peg, adding to his feelings of dissatisfaction. If he was going to need to fight, he wanted to be able to overwhelm his opponents rather than scrape by. Obviously, he wasn’t done progressing. He wasn’t as overpowered as he thought, if there were still countermeasures that could be taken by regular humans to rise to his level. He needed to keep going.

The Armada’s flagship was completely silent after the defeat of the Champion. There was no sign of remaining energy around the ship, even in the exterior shields. Evidently, they didn’t leave anything on the table in their effort to kill him. The gentle blue glows that signified the shields were active had faded, and other than the ocean breeze slipping between the empty platforms that rose above the edge of the ship, only Coop’s footsteps disturbed the silence. Even the body of the Champion had disappeared, vaporized in the blue flame burst. The enormous flagship was just a large piece of debris floating beyond the edge of the island chain’s barrier reef. He would leave it up to the pirates to determine whether or not there was anything to scavenge.

All in all, the Sapphire Armada had been soundly defeated. Coop decided he would rinse off before returning to the phantoms. The remnants of the invasion force would be cleaned up in short order and despite the Armada’s best efforts, all they had managed to do was deliver more shipwrecks around Ghost Reef and cause some insignificant damage to Coop himself.

“Shame…” He mumbled to himself, still lingering on the losses even if they were standing in opposition to Ghost Reef. Coop cracked his back and rotated his right shoulder before summoning his spear, preparing to bring his allies across the finish line before dawn broke.

“What’s a shame?” A voice interrupted his motion. “You won fair and square.” Coop spun, pushing Presence of Mind to its maximum as he faced a mystery person who had managed to sneak up on him.

[Human (Level 64)]

[Zone Suppressor (Intelligence)]

[Chosen of the Sapphire Armada]

“Honestly, it’s pretty amazing you took on the combined strength of the entire elite conclave. They should have reached upwards of 2,000 levels worth of power if you just add them up.” The voice continued dispassionately, hardly expressing any actual admiration.

A teenage girl that was dressed in the Sapphire Armada’s equipment had appeared. She tapped at a tablet that seemed to have three-dimensional figures displayed, glowing with blue animations that reflected off of her oversized round glasses. Rather than facing him, she was observing the display on the device from less than 10 feet away. Coop squinted, suspicious at her apparent distraction as if it was a ploy to have him lower his defense, but he had his shield and spear ready in the instant that she made her presence known. He didn’t make the first move, though. Perhaps she was preparing to attack him, but she was also just a child.

When she realized the tip of his spear was aimed straight at her, she finally shifted her focus toward him. “Whoa…” She slowly elevated one hand forward, still cradling the tablet with her other, like she was suddenly faced with taming a lion. “I’m not going to fight anymore. I was just in charge of the barriers anyway. I doubt I could do any real damage to you as a purely support build.”

“When did you get there?” Coop demanded. The Sapphire Armada had revealed that he had become a bit too comfortable in several different areas now. He had been too confident in his detection abilities if this girl was able to sneak up on him, just as he had also believed that no humans could match his fighting power. The only part of his confidence that hadn’t been shaken was in the abilities that the residents of Ghost Reef had developed. At least they had proven to be steadfast defenders that didn’t necessarily need him to babysit all the time.

“I’ve been here the whole time…” She spoke slowly, like she didn’t want to surprise him. She let go of the tablet and it disappeared in a puff of mana, exposing her other palm to show her capitulation.  “I only revealed myself to present the unconditional surrender of Neptune’s Bridge.” She explained. “Now that Champion Miriam and all of the other elites have been defeated, I am the leader of the settlement.”

“Who are you?” Coop wondered, not lowering his weapons while concentrating on Presence of Mind, just in case there were more people lurking in the vicinity.

“Ahem!” She cleared her throat unnecessarily, sounding like a kid imitating an adult as they prepared for a speech. “I am Viceroy Hali of Neptune’s Bridge, Chosen of the Sapphire Armada.” She stated confidently, nodding to herself once after her declaration before adjusting her glasses.

“But, you’re just a kid.” The fact that she was level 64 had barely registered to Coop. None of the kids around Ghost Reef had been able to get any experience, even when they tried, and it didn’t take more than a glance at the girl to see that she belonged in school with them.

She frowned at his observation. “I’m 16. And in case you haven’t noticed, mana came to Earth and changed some things. I’m just as capable as any adult.” She rolled her eyes before she flicked her wrist which summoned her tablet again. Apparently, she deemed Coop to be unthreatening afterall and she returned her stare back to her tablet and began tapping away as if his lack of confidence in her had made him unworthy of her full attention.

Coop thought about apologizing, but before he made up his mind, a classic treasure chest appeared in front of his feet, in between the pair, with a puff of blue mana. He took a hesitant step back, imagining classing RPG monsters with lots of teeth. It was a wooden trunk that would have been perfectly at home aboard The Eye of the Storm, but it had come out of nowhere and he was still within what he considered enemy territory, considering their organization had been robust enough to maintain leadership even at the final stage.

Viceroy Hali, the high schooler, watched Coop’s reaction as she continued. “This is our war chest, presented as tribute to our conqueror. We hope that you will accept this in exchange for sparing the lives of the surviving members of our faction and allowing them to live within yours. Anyone capable of defeating the Sapphire Armada on Earth will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.” When Coop didn’t move or say anything in response, she looked away from watching lines of script pass by on the inside of her glasses and shifted her stare toward Coop. “Open it.” She suggested a bit demandingly.

Coop looked at the chest, then back at her. He didn’t detect anything unusual about the chest other than the fact that it had appeared out of thin air. “Could be a trap.” He muttered in response to the demanding teenager.

“It’s not a trap.” She sighed, growing exasperated with all of his caution. “Are you gonna accept our surrender or not?”

“If anyone surrenders, I’ll accept it, but you’re the only one here.” Coop’s eyes darted left and right suspiciously before resettling on the girl. “You’re the only one here, right?” He hadn’t been able to detect anyone else, but he felt the need to be cautious after being humbled.

“Yes, everyone else blew up.” She confirmed. “And everyone else will have surrendered when Champion Miriam was defeated. It’s good that you’ll accept our surrender.” Her shoulders sagged with relief.

“If you were going to try to be reasonable about all of this, why didn’t you just negotiate with us in the first place?” Coop demanded, frustrated that it seemed like they could have dealt with the Sapphire Armada without getting straight into the fighting.

“Obviously, we still wanted to win the assimilation. Our sponsors advised us on the rules of the game and put us on what would have been a winning strategy as long as we dominated the seas.” She tapped away at her tablet like Coop wasn’t worth her undivided attention. “Plus, our original settlement is in a bad position. If there’s another siege event we will be overrun for sure, so we needed to relocate to a more strategic place. Ghost Reef would have made an even better stronghold for us to withstand the Primal Constructs and we would have taken out our primary competition in claiming it in the first place.”

Coop just grunted, not feeling up to the explanation required to reveal the Eradication Protocol and how their priorities were necessarily different. “What was your plan if I didn’t accept your surrender?” He asked instead.

She smirked. “I would have disappeared right before your eyes and returned to Neptune’s Bridge to plan our defense with the help of our new allies. Once we regathered enough strength we would return better prepared for what we would face.” She pressed her pointer finger directly into the center of the tablet and she did in fact vanish from his sight. Coop blinked and squinted, but she was gone. Hali the former Viceroy had a perfect invisibility.

Except she had made a mistake in demonstrating her abilities right in front of him. Rather than detecting her aura in the same manner as he used Presence of Mind to track the cloaked Ancient Prowlers, or even the shadowy transfer skill that Camila’s cousin, Carlos, implemented, Coop was able to detect the absence of any aura. It was almost as though her cloak was too perfect, creating a void in space. Mana was flowing everywhere, except for where she was suppressing it around herself. She really had been shadowing him the entire time that he spent on the flagship.

When his eyes locked onto her position, she remained still for a moment before slipping sideways. He continued to focus on her, tracking her position with a hunter’s gaze as she tried to shrink away, evidently testing him and finding the result uncomfortable.

When Hali reappeared, it was pretty clear that she realized she wouldn’t have an easy time sneaking away from Coop. “So, are you going to open the chest or what?” She demanded, unmistakably trying to change the subject, while nervously fixing her hair.

Coop ignored the treasure chest, more curious about the Sapphire Armada’s attitude considering the girl in front of him was the de facto leader. “If you were counting on the Endless Empire being your new allies, they’re already gone.”

She sighed. “So it’s a total defeat. I hope you will allow the residents of Neptune’s Bridge to settle into Ghost Reef in that case.”

“No way.” Coop refused. “Aren’t you being kind of chummy with someone that wiped out your elites?” Coop questioned.

She crossed her arms and frowned. “It was always a possibility and you’ve got a really nice city with a bunch of happy people, so I figure you’re probably alright. But why not let us settle in? We’ll accept becoming an underclass if that’s what you want. We’d sign whatever system contract you draw up. I already saw the inside of your settlement when I scouted it, and while there might not be room, we can easily make shelters outside of the walls of your fort.”

Coop shook his head, raising a hand to get her to stop. “There’s way too many of you, and you attacked us. It was a completely unprovoked battle. Really, you’re lucky we don’t execute you all.”

Hali obviously wasn’t ready to give up, continuing to frown at Coop like a spoiled child. “We can start a small settlement on the farthest island! You’ll barely even know we’re there.”

“No, I’m gonna send you all back.” Coop declared.

“What about Empress City? You took it over? Let us go there.” She tried, sounding a bit more desperate in the face of Coop’s adamance.

Coop just kept shaking his head. “They have their own issues to smooth over, I definitely can’t throw however many new people into that situation. How many people do you have left?”

She tapped at her tablet before responding. “There are 68,452 soldiers left among the assault platoons and 312,691 residents back in Neptune’s Bridge and one member of the conclave. That’s me.”

“Wow, that’s a lot.” Coop remarked, tilting his head and nodding. “That settles it then, we’ll claim your settlement as Ghost Reef’s subordinate when we send you back.”

Hali uncrossed her arms and balled her fists at her sides “Ugh. Don’t you listen? It won’t work. That settlement really is doomed. The Primal Constructs have completely taken over the region to the north of its borders. Powerful elites encroach on the territory daily. With the territory expansion from upgrades the number of elites will wipe it out in the next siege. The people there need to be evacuated.”

Coop ignored her gestures and made his own evaluation. “That sounds great, I’ll send some people to fortify it. I look forward to exploring that elite region myself.”

“You’ll die. I’m the only one that could travel into it anymore, and it was already becoming more dangerous before the siege event even began. Now, I wouldn’t even risk a scouting mission.” She stomped forward and opened up the chest herself. “Look, just identify this stuff and reconsider. There should be plenty to support accepting us into Ghost Reef.”

Coop finally followed her directions and raised his eyebrows at the stuff they had offered up. Almost 4,000,000 Basic Credits, thousands of Sapphire Armada gear sets, nearly 1,000 mana tokens for the sacrificed ships, and a Unique Relic called the Tear of the Sea.

“See? That should be plenty to allow us to stay. Right?” She implored.

“That’s pretty good,” Coop admitted. “But no.”