Unchosen Champion

Before Coop discovered Nyiragongo, he encountered an army.

He stood still, observing from a distance as he tried to come to terms with the scale of conflict that was occurring across the planet. By this point, he expected to have grown numb to the expansive forces established by the Primal Constructs, but he was also inevitably surprised by humanity’s capacity for adaptation and survival.

Warriors stretched across the horizon, organized into their smaller squads that all carried matching shields. Where Ghost Reef had a standard set of equipment, Africa had settled on emblazoned leather shields. Casters and unarmed fighters kept them strapped to their backs while more standard warriors paired them with spears, axes, and one-armed glaives.

This was the combined force of the Assembly of Settlements, the single major organization within all of Africa. Before, Coop had seen Neon Park’s generous force and been majorly impressed by the numbers, finally getting some perspective on how many people were still out there. They had made the populations of Empress City and Neptune’s Bridge seem quaint, and were better compared to the Cult of Chakyum’s peak than what any of the Lighthouse settlements had scraped together. Neon Park had something like four or five million people in the Underlayer, and even bringing that many people was such a massive undertaking it would have been impossible without their complicated web of leadership delegations.

In comparison, Coop was staring at a force that could have been two, three, even four times as many people compared to Neon Park. The difference between a continental force and a regional force was something he had completely underestimated. It was absolutely ridiculous, but if he considered the extent of humanity before mana had activated, it would seem rather bleak. The transition to apocalyptic survival had taken a toll that was difficult to comprehend.

Still, the Settlement Events were designed by the system to be challenges for individual settlements to confront. Even combining subordinate settlements seemed almost like a cheat, because the intention of the events were for the settlements to contend for themselves, as they were literally competing against each other. The challenges were based on factors surrounding the individual shards.

To have approximately 40 settlements, many of which were already large enough to generate ambitions for total victory if controlled by an alien faction, all working together at once seemed crazy. Even without his contribution, many places around the world would have handled most of the Underlayer Event with relative ease, and that was best exemplified in Africa.

That wasn’t to say he was useless. Inevitably, if humans battled the Primal Constructs, they would experience losses. Coop was sparing those who may have been unlucky or were simply outmatched at the moment from a premature defeat. The more time people had to survive the assimilation, the stronger they would become, and the more ready they would be for future challenges.

If there was any chance they would die in the Underlayer, they should be gaining experience on the surface instead. Simple.

It didn’t take long for him to be noticed, conspicuous as he was just staring at their army as a lone ethereal gladiator in the distance. They had been carefully tracking his movement over the last full week as well, so his arrival was more or less expected. In a few minutes, various groups formed from the larger squads and drew close enough to get a better look at him, but none of them made any effort to get into range for a conversation. It seemed like they didn’t want to accidentally step into a challenge with the one that was sweeping across their holdings, haunting their settlements like some kind of unstoppable conqueror.

When Coop walked forward, they kept an even distance, pressing against each other to avoid encroaching on his path by a large 50 yard margin. Coop felt like a shark among a gigantic school of fish, but eventually a few broke from the crowd and approached him directly. Coop inspected them, finding the three highest levels yet, along with one familiar face.

[Human (Level 231)]