HC:Pacifist | Ch. 166 - Death Sentence (Patreon)

He waited for a few seconds and only then remembered Drake’s ban on calling big shots from top guilds on his own. Before he could cancel the call, the blonde girl in plate armor stared at him from the other side with a raised brow.

“Roth? To what do the Krakens owe the pleasure?”

“Uh… I just wanted to ask you a quick question.”

“OK?”

“You have a golden sparrow, right?”

Her expression hardened. “It’s a hawk. A golden hawk.”

“Cool. Cool. What is his grade?”

“Uh? Why do you ask?” Roth was beginning to regret making this call. Even though she wasn’t as clever as BlueFire, this girl was still quick on her feet. He could see the gears turning in her head. She softened her expression and tried sounding cute. “Did you find a pet in Antioch? I would love to take a look at it. Can you show it to me?”

Roth tapped his foot. He had to make the guilds drool over Antioch if he wanted to milk them. There shouldn’t be any harm in telling her the grade.

“Tell you what. Tell me the grade of your pet, and I’ll tell you the grade of mine.”

“Fine. It’s going to blow your socks off.” She made a small pause for suspense. “It’s a B+!”

Roth stared at her. “Only a B?”

“What are you talking about, you moron?! Do you have any idea how powerful Goldie is? He can wipe the floor with you.” Realization dawned on the girl. “Don’t tell me. You got something higher?”

The progress bar was very close to filling, and the light in his hand grew brighter.

“Nice talking to you, Mel. I’ll send you a document with some info on Antioch soon. Bye!”

“Wait. You didn’t…”

Roth hung up the call. The light flashed and coalesced into the form of a mature queen in his hand. His pet had just arrived!

*

Loki beat his wings as he hovered over the map, which showed the progress of his troops. He was now level 78 and only a few steps away from his 3rd class advancement. His guild’s coffers were filled with shiny gold, and his troops were becoming stronger by the minute. He made sure to fly over all of the guild elders that he had summoned here so that they could get a good look at his powerful form. He noticed a few shivers and shudders, which appeased him.

The people around him were all brilliant. He didn’t dare underestimate any of them. After all, he had climbed up by betraying employers more than once. Nothing prevented them from doing the same.

“You’ve all done excellent work. Especially you, Zin. Congratulations! The blitzkrieg worked perfectly.”

The pale man responded with a curt nod. Loki had been pressuring Zin too much lately. Complimenting him in front of the others should feed his ego and make others jealous enough to try harder to surpass him. “Zin, I’m granting you a million credits as a bonus for a job well done.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Loki studied the faces of the others in the tent and found Xerxes was having a hard time keeping it together. Good. Jealousy was a powerful leash. “Anak, what is the status of our troops?”

Anak could not attend the meeting in person and spoke through a hologram projected on the campaign tent. He wore a black snake as if it were a slithering scarf, but the man still managed to look more reptilian than his pet. “We already have three 100-teams fully clad in the alien gold set. Several have already gotten it to level 10 and are now working toward gaining darkness affinity.”

“Good. Good. Yillian, what about the other guilds? Any more movements?”

“They have all joined the human side, sir. The alliance has set up camp in Hilsford. They are the one breach in the perimeter, but I’m sure we can hold them off from the Dark Abyss.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. This event can’t last forever. It would go against the nature of the developers. Even though the Parasitoid faction will remain, there’s no way they’ll let us hold on to this much power forever. Just prepare for all contingencies and watch their movements closely.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Yillian, I want you to keep drilling our defenses. Keep rotating the squads guarding our base in the Dark Abyss, and try to simulate defense plans in case the human side manages to teleport here directly.”

“You’ve got it, boss.”

“Xerxes, any news on Antioch?”

“The Ogrelords are still camping there, sir. Without more troops, there’s nothing I can do.”

“It’s fine. I don’t hold you accountable for it. You fought bravely, Xerxes. Feel free to choose one item from the guild’s black vault.”

“Thank you, sir! Thank you!”

Loki grinned at how easily he made Xerxes dance on the palm of his hand. “All are dismissed. Zin, you stay, please.”

As all the others left, Zin stood facing Loki. “Sir?”

“It’s time to slay the Slayer.”

“Yes, sir.”

“That is all.”

Zin faded into a wisp of smoke, leaving Loki alone in the tent. Loki was aware of how he lost all good judgment whenever the Slayer was concerned. No more. Seeing all the top guilds banding together against him had given him something more enticing to entertain himself with. It was time to focus on his future and to abandon the past.

He would end the top 10's monopoly. AstroTerra had been subjugated by their corporations for too long. He would also do the world a favor and put that violent beast to sleep. He wouldn’t let that brute do to others what he had done to him.

*

Congratulations! You’ve hatched the egg of the Hybrid Ant Queen!

+20 nature affinity.

Hybrid Ant Queen (Pet)

Pet rating: A+.

Description: This queen has been bred to take up different specializations from different ant species.

Genome:

[Acorn]; [Weaver]; [Carpenter]; [Fire].

What would you like to call your pet colony?

Name? He hadn’t expected to have to name his pet. Roth looked at the ant queen, with her shiny, glossy shell, who regarded him curiously. She was green and so tiny that he could hardly see her. After a few moments, he settled on a name.

“Leafies!”

Leafies (Pet)

Pet rating: A+

Lvl. 1

Affection: 1/100

Weight Lifting: 10 kg

Dexterity: 3

Intelligence: 5

Skills: [Tiny House]

Tiny House (Pet Skill)

Description: The colony is small enough to fit in the smallest crooks and crannies, so you won’t even notice it’s there.

Effects:

The Leafies don’t occupy a pet slot;

You can keep a colony inside of a very small space.

Roth looked at the description of his pet. How cool! He hadn’t realized that the Leafies would have stats. They had dexterity and intelligence. They also came with an inherent skill, which suited Roth perfectly.

Roth grabbed one acorn from his bag and put it next to the queen. He watched as the queen bit into the acorn and ate the shavings.

The Leafies enjoy acorns.

+3 affection with the Leafies.

First, her head disappeared into it, and after just a couple of minutes, she had burrowed into the acorn. As the queen got busy making the acorn her home, Roth had to start moving. He took off toward the location where the Table was.

While Roth ran at top speed to where the Table was, he put together all the juicy details he had seen in Antioch. He included the fantastic consumables and, more importantly, information on his pet. If Mel was so happy to have a B+ pet, his ant colony was priceless!

Queen Lea has laid 10 ant worker eggs.

Countdown until first egg hatches: 15 min.

It looked like the queen had dug a small chamber to start the colony. Once workers arrived, the growth would be exponential. He couldn’t wait to see what would happen with the colony. After running for a few minutes, Roth bumped into the first group of local monsters. He inspected one of them.

Nubian, the Stone Wolf

One of the wolves that inhabits the petrified forest of Green Country.

Lvl. 23

Hp: 430/430

Skills: [Prowl], [Hunter Eyes], [Howl].

It was a pack of wolves. He looked at them, and they at him, but nothing happened. It looked like, even though he had a negative reputation with other wolves, they didn’t care. At the same time, his charisma bonus wasn’t triggered. The [Discoverer of Species] bonus only triggered the first time he met wolves. It didn’t matter that they were from another wolf clan.

Roth nodded respectfully, and the wolves responded in kind. They went their separate ways. As Roth looked at the time, he estimated that he had about one day before the Table convened.

“Hello, Roth.”

Roth jumped, startled. A man stood two steps away from him. He was almost as tall as Roth but slimmer. Roth felt the urge to run, but at the same time, his legs didn’t obey him. This wasn’t like the last time when he had been ambushed by Xerxes. Back then, he could still act. But not with this man.

He had black armor with intricate white carvings on them. There were two daggers in his belt that looked like teeth pulled out from an ancient beast. His eyes were dark, and the man's face was so devoid of expression that he almost looked like a doll.

“W-who are you?”

“Loki wants to kill you. Soon.”

Roth gulped. His heart raced, and he felt a tight knot in his stomach. “So he has finally lost his patience with me.”

“So it seems.”

“And are you here to let me know so that I can suffer more?”

“No. Loki is just a fat cow that I’ve been feeding. However, he’s a tricky cow to deal with. He leaves no holes for me to exploit. He does get a little vulnerable where you’re concerned, though.”

“So?”

“It’s in my best interests that you stay alive.”

“Are you going to let me go?”

“I’ve been watching you with interest. You have a very unique playstyle. Your teams’ plans are solid. I think you have a good shot at getting under the good graces of one of the other guilds.”

Roth felt his whole body shake. Who was this man? How did he know so much?

“Whatever you have planned, make it happen within the next 24 hours. That’s all the time I can buy for you.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Although you are a convenient piece on my board, you’re not a vital one.”

A gust of wind blew, and the man’s figure faded into smoke, carried out by the wind. Roth fell to his knees. This was the real deal. To survive in prison, one had to develop a good sixth sense. Knowing if one should talk back or be quiet when provoked by a stranger in prison could spell the difference between getting beaten or worse.

This man was trouble. Big, big trouble. He had to get out of his capsule, or he wouldn’t live to see tomorrow. He called Drake. “Drake?”

“Hey, Roth. What’s going on?”

“24 hours.”

“What?”

“Someone came from Pegasus. I’m dead in 24 hours if I can’t get out of the capsule.”

“Take a deep breath, and tell me what happened.”

Roth sent him a video of his conversation with the mystery man. Drake’s expression became darker and darker with each second of the video.

“Wait a second, Roth. It will be OK.”

Drake fiddled with the controls, and two seconds later, H and Sergeant were tied into the call.

“Sarg, H, watch this video.”

Roth tried to watch the video again, too, putting to the side his fear of death. After the sergeant and H saw it, they exchanged somber looks.

“We need to move fast,” spoke the Sergeant.

“How confident are we in making it work?” asked Drake.

“If Roth’s new skill really is as broken as he says it is, we might be able to make it work.”

“Roth, change of plans. Forget about the quest. Run to the nearest city and teleport here. It’s time to start the unions.”

“But you said…”

“I know what I said. But nothing matters if you’re not alive. Let’s just hope we’re fast enough.”

END OF BOOK 3: ANTIOCH

Ch. 165 - Stamp

INDEX

Ch. 167 - Refugee Column