HC:Pacifist | Ch. 155 - Art of War (Patreon)

BlueFire looked at the meeting table. He had several windows floating around him, containing reports from the guild’s intelligence, forum posts and messages the Ogres exchanged with their branch guilds and allies.

“Are you sure?” asked Ogre again.

He didn’t blame his boss for triple-checking. The implications of Loki being responsible for this event were massive. “Positive, boss. There’s no question. The battle at the Forest Fortress, the drills over the last two weeks, and now, them being the first ones to act. It can’t all just be a coincidence.”

Ogre slumped into his chair, pale. “It can’t be. They triggered the event?”

“First ones to know, first ones to act,” stated BlueFire gravely.

“Well, I have to give it to you, BlueFire. You called it. They were planning something big,” commented Cyclops.

BlueFire smiled weakly, “I wish I could be happier.” He called the system interface and projected the map of AstroTerra. This map resulted from countless explorations, spying, and hours of negotiating information exchanges with other guilds. The seven starting regions of AstroTerra were all clearly marked. Green Country, Water Caves, Rock Canyon, the Sky Islands, Sun Desert, Fire Pits, and Thunder Mountain formed a ring. At the center, there was the capital. He wondered if the designers had thought of a donut when making the world of AstroTerra.

The two world regions that had been discovered since the start of the game were shown, too. One was marked with a pin over the Green Woods, with a few question marks reading ‘Entrance to Treeant City???’ A black pin on the border between the Green Country and Rock Canyon marked the entrance to the Dark Abyss.

He needed to take a few steps back. How long had they known about this event? He activated the filters in the map to display the areas of influence of guilds since the game's inception. He observed as the map showed the progression each of the top 10 guilds made, then rewound it and fast-forwarded it in a few places.

“Talk to us, BlueFire. What are you thinking?” asked Cyclops.

BlueFire felt annoyed at the interruption. There was so much to think about. Whatever. Maybe going through the facts out loud would help him reason. He mentally outlined what he would say and cleared his throat.

He reminded himself not to sound patronizing and began, “The game started with everyone scattered throughout the different world regions. Although Pegasus only came into the top 10 later, our intelligence shows they started their operations in the Sky Islands and later expanded to Green Country.”

He fast-forwarded the timeline in the map, revealing shades of different colors, representing the guilds, all occupying the mid-grade cities and then encroaching toward the center of the map. “Then, six months ago, as players started to hit level 40, the major guilds moved the bulk of their forces into the capital region. Sure, they left recruitment posts and some guild branches behind to keep their guilds growing, but their eyes were all set on the capital. A month or so after the major guilds arrived at the capital, we saw Loki pick most of his forces and send them back to the outer ring, to Hadestown, near the Death Mountains.”

“At the time, we couldn’t understand why he had become so interested in that city on the border of Rock Canyon and Green Country. But, later, we discovered it was because he had discovered the entrance to the Dark Abyss,” commented Ogre.

“Precisely. Pegasus has always been a very aggressive guild. They aren’t afraid of starting fights. They fought viciously to establish dominance in the Dark Abyss but went quiet right before the first Fortress War.” At the memory of being mercilessly one-shotted by Zin, BlueFire felt his cheeks flush and an unpleasant taste in his mouth. He messed around with the map settings and showed Loki’s movements over the last month. “That change happened about five to six weeks ago. I suspect that’s when Loki found out about this event.”

Cyclops and Ogre gasped. 

“That long?” Ogre asked.

“If I’m correct, yes. You can find other incidents that support this theory. For example, Loki used to have a branch of his guild in Greensburg and another in Verdant Town. About a month ago, they began moving their resources toward other cities in Green Country. Pegasus gave all their players a deadline to end all pending quests in these cities and told them to establish themselves in a list of different cities.” He waved his hand and sent them the report from their spies. “Look at the list. What do you see?”

“None of the cities on the list were affected by the event so far.”

“That doesn’t look like a coincidence, does it?”

With each statement, Ogre’s wrinkles became more pronounced. He looked ten years older than when this conversation started.

“Loki could have known about what cities would be affected for one of two reasons. One, they were determined by the system beforehand, and he managed to secure the information. Two, he was the one deciding on what cities would be affected. Assuming that it was Loki who chose where this event would be triggered, try to look at the cities from a strategist’s point of view. What do you see?”

Ogre stood up and studied the map. His eyes widened. “It forms a circle.”

“So that’s why they were so invested in the Forest Fortress. It helps them close the circle. Look,” pointed Cyclops.

BlueFire resisted saying something cheeky at Cyclop’s stupidly obvious remark. As if he hadn’t noticed it before. “Look at what is at the center of the circle.”

His guild master became even paler.

“That’s right. The Dark Abyss. The region that Loki has turned into his stronghold.”

“Impressive as always, Blue. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Don’t mention it, boss. That’s why you pay me so handsomely.”

“What I don’t get is why he chose Cloudia. It makes no sense. It’s completely out of the circle. Why? Why not Hilsford? Its location is much better. It forms a good defensive triangle with Forest Fortress and Bush Castle.”

BlueFire hadn’t seen that. “Why indeed?”

“Also, why did he evacuate his forces from the cities that would host the event? If it was me, I would have done the opposite. I would stuff all my guild forces in those cities. When the time came, I would be in complete control.”

“Hence, a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to twenty of one's own, and likewise, a single PICUL of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one's store,“ quoted BlueFire.

“There you go, speaking in riddles. What do you mean?”

“What he’s saying, guild master, is that not only has Pegasus started this event, but they were careful to only trigger it in cities that weren’t important to them.”

“Loki is foraging on the enemy. He’s keeping the event away from the cities where he’s based.”

“Why?” asked Ogre.

“Because Loki thinks this event will scar those cities.” This time, Cyclops was the one pulling up reports and projecting them. “I asked one of our branch guilds to have some players join both sides.”

BlueFire smirked. Even though Cyclops sometimes stated the obvious, she was pragmatic. While BlueFire had been busy comparing reports, she had just organized a few guinea pigs and had conducted her experiments. Her nonchalant practicality had often benefited the guild as much as his strategic analysis.

“I had some on the alien side contaminate an NPC they had a relationship with. Once an NPC is contaminated, all previous reputation gains and quests are canceled. Then, I had some guys on the human side attack the same contaminated NPC. They don’t respawn. Once an NPC is contaminated all quests and reputation are gone for good.”

Ogre sank into his chair. “Loki is vicious. He’s destroying the efforts of countless hours of play of the common players. If they find out, they’ll eat him alive.”

“Maybe that’s why he also triggered the event in Cloudia. Isn’t that one of Pegasus’ main cities? Maybe if anyone accuses him, he can present Cloudia as proof of not being involved with triggering the event.” theorized Cyclops.

“Loki is definitely mindful of the guildless players. That’s why he’s already preemptively positioned himself as a benefactor for them,” explained BlueFire.

The trio stared at the map for a few silent moments. Trying to connect the dots and understand Pegasus’ maneuvers and counter-maneuvers. Cyclops interrupted the silence. “Oooh. This is interesting. When players on the human side kill a contaminated NPC, there’s the chance they’ll leave an item behind.”

“What item?” asked BlueFire. This was new information to him.

Cyclops swiped her hand and showed the item’s description.

“The black eggs?!” For the first time in this discussion, the dominant emotion in Ogre’s tone wasn’t apprehension. That had turned to greed. They had only secured about 20 of the things after scouring the sewers of one of the cities they controlled. The oozing monsters were just too rare.

As he thought of this, BlueFire’s mind went into overdrive. Pieces started fitting, and it all began clicking. “The sewers…” He opened his notepad app. He sifted through countless memos and reports and quickly found a guide they had bought about light affinity. He then quickly pinned every reference to where black eggs were found in the sewers.

He found a reference to a hunt in Greensburg and another in Hadestown. Once he found a third one for Verdant Town and compared it with the map, he knew his guess was right. He then typed ‘sewers’ and ‘Hilsford’ in the search engine. A memo popped up.

He read it, and one of his eyebrows shot up. “Interesting. It’s him again.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I know why Hilsford was spared. I also know why Pegasus threw Cloudia under the bus. Excuse me. I have to make a call.”

“Who are you calling?” asked Cyclops.

“Roth Tailor.”

*

“So, nothing’s going on in Hilsford yet?” Roth asked Drake as he saw leaf-cutter ants mining calcite veins to craft mineral armor.

“Nah. The event is in the next town over. It hasn’t arrived here yet. But people talk about little else.”

“What will you guys do?”

“Well, everyone’s talking about joining the good guys. I’m inclined to-”

“Excuse me, Drake. Just a moment." Roth received a new incoming call. It was from BlueFire, the Ogres’ general. “I’m sorry, Drake. I’m getting a call from someone in the top 10. I gotta take this.”

“Connect him to our call. I want to hear this.”

“But, Drake. I-”

Drake’s gaze chilled him to the bone. His sponsor had seemed to master anger management, but this was one of the rare instances when he couldn’t hide the flame of discontent. It was terrifying. He couldn’t imagine how scary he must have looked when he let his rage go unbridled. Drake was still obviously furious that Roth had talked to the top 10 without checking with him first. Roth sighed resignedly and invited BlueFire to join their conference call.

“Hello, Roth.”

“Hey, BlueFire.”

“And who might this person be?”

Drake regarded BlueFire silently but didn’t say a word. Roth took the hint. “He’s my friend HarmlessShark. He’ll stay on this call if that’s OK.”

“Is this one of the people you’re trying to save from Loki?”

“Yes.”

“I see. Anyway, I need to talk to you. I need you to tell me exactly what happened in the sewers of Hilsford.”

“Why?”

Drake interrupted him abruptly. “Roth, from now on, I want you to be as silent as a rock. A mute rock! Let the grown-ups do the talking here. Can’t you see that you just gave him two pieces of information for free? Now he knows a little about who I am and that you were involved in the sewers incident in Hilsford!”

Roth spared a look at BlueFire, who had the smallest of smiles, and gulped. Roth was trying to feel angry at Drake for berating him as a child, but all he felt was terror from disobeying Drake. “Fine, Drake. You have the floor.”

Drake dug his head into his hands. Roth wondered what Drake was so disappointed with now. What did he say wrong?

Ch. 154 - Betray Humanity

INDEX

Ch. 156 - Mr. Shark