Vol. 3: Chapter 14
Lila’s squad made it back to Starlight Village, shaken but unharmed. Rena immediately sent the video file to her.
“Guild Master, this is what the [Orb of Scrying] saw.”
Lila opened the file. The sight of the endless, disciplined sea of Orcs made her skin crawl. And in the distance, that nameless beast… even seeing just its two glowing eyes in the darkness was enough to know it was a creature of immense power.
She did a quick edit, trimming the clip to the most impactful ten seconds, and posted it in the guild leaders’ channel.
“This is footage our scouts just captured in the eastern forest.”
A few of the usual antagonists immediately started talking trash.
AstroDrake - Drakefang Order: “What’d you get, a video of some squirrels?”
GrimJester - Rogue’s Den: “Typical. Probably got a lucky gear drop and wants to show it off.”
Then they watched the video.
The channel fell silent as a grave. The footage was too shocking, the threat too real. The troublemakers had nothing more to say.
It was MirthBringer, the leader of the [Laughing Tribe], who broke the silence.
“Lila, whatever your call is, the [Laughing Tribe] will follow it.”
SkyVault of [Eternal Legacy] was right behind him.
“The [Eternal Legacy] guild stands with you. Give us our orders.”
One by one, the other guild masters chimed in.
“We’re with you, Lila.”
“Yeah, agreed. Tell us what to do.”
Seeing that the tide had turned, Lila laid out her plan. “The top one hundred guilds in this village are the leaders here. We have to set the example. I propose a joint declaration: all major guilds will commit no more than 20% of their forces to the west. Anyone without the official goblin quest must return to the eastern wall immediately. Any signatory guild that violates this agreement will be blacklisted by all others after this event is over.”
“Done!”
“I’m in. We’ll do as she says.”
“Agreed!”
Lila quickly drafted a [Joint Declaration] and uploaded it to the channel for signatures. Of the one hundred guilds, the vast majority signed instantly. Only five refused, among them the leaders of [Drakefang Order] and [Rogue’s Den].
Lila scoffed internally but ignored them. Getting forces back to the east was the priority; there was no time to deal with fools. There will be plenty of time to deal with them later, she thought.
She immediately posted the signed [Joint Declaration] on the public village notice board for every player to see. While it wasn't binding for smaller guilds, the social pressure from the top hundred was immense. Most players got the message.
Slowly but surely, the defensive forces on the eastern wall were restored to full strength. Patrols kept a vigilant watch on the forest, and even the guard presence around the mines was reinforced.
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Nearly two hours later, the last of the goblins in the west was finally exterminated. The east remained relatively quiet, save for a few skirmishes with enemy scout parties. No large-scale battle ever materialized.
After 2:00 AM, Lila dispatched a ten-person squad to charge into the eastern forest. As she suspected, the main enemy force was gone. Their feint had failed. With the village’s defenses clearly prepared, the WarChief’s army had never advanced. Having lost their supply depot, the Orcs couldn't afford a protracted siege and needed to wait for reinforcements. Their chance for a surprise attack was lost.
Starlight Village had weathered the crisis.
Many other villages with competent leadership saw the goblin invasion for the feint it was and held their ground, surviving the night. But not every village was so lucky.
In thousands of other starting zones, players panicked as they watched the point-exchange prices for potions skyrocket. A massive, disorganized swarm of players abandoned their posts and flooded the western fronts to farm the goblins. With most players online being from later time zones, the eastern defenses were left dangerously undermanned.
The Burning Horde seized the opportunity, charging the eastern walls with overwhelming force. By the time the players in the west realized what was happening, the gates had been breached.
When they finally returned to fight the invaders, it was too late. They were caught at a disadvantage, fighting in the cramped village streets where their numbers meant little.
This was the WarChief’s main army. These weren't the sub-level-30 mobs from the vanguard. The core troops were all level 30 or higher, with elite battalions of level 35s mixed in. The villages were quickly overrun.
By the end of the second day of the invasion, a staggering 4,225 villages had fallen.
Videos of the slaughter quickly spread online. Players in the surviving villages watched in horror.
The guild leaders in Starlight, in particular, broke into a cold sweat. They knew, without a doubt, that if not for Lila’s foresight, their home would have met the same fate. The sheer power of the Burning Horde was terrifying.
Thinking about the final battle, now only a day away, a single thought consumed everyone: Gear. We need more PVE gear.
Meanwhile, the masters of [Drakefang Order] and [Rogue’s Den] were congratulating themselves. Their members had farmed a massive number of points in the west while the other "idiot" guilds stood around the east playing watchdog for them. It felt great.
Lila, Hazel, and Rena logged off around 2:30 AM and were back online by 8:00 AM. The day was filled with a flurry of small, miscellaneous quests. There were no major operations like the [Raid the Supply Depot] mission, so they split up to work on tasks individually.
Lila currently had 4,000 points saved up. She was already wearing six pieces of level 30 Ascendant gear—helmet, necklace, chest piece, boots, ring, and bracer—bringing her total Strength stat to over 2,500.
Kael had told her that [Dragonbane] would have an extremely high Strength requirement. The exact number was unknown, depending entirely on what Gilded Hand managed to create. Her points were her insurance, saved to dump into more Strength-boosting gear if needed.
Outside the Starlight Village quarry.
AstroDrake of [Drakefang Order] and GrimJester of [Rogue’s Den] were on a mind-numbingly dull mine defense quest.
“Hey, AstroDrake,” GrimJester said, leaning against a rock. “You think Lila’s actually going to try and get back at us?”
AstroDrake scoffed. “What’s to be afraid of? She’s a liability who’s only in charge because she’s a pretty face. Useless otherwise.”
“But she’s tight with Dawnbreaker.”
“So what? Dawnbreaker hasn’t even shown up for this whole event. He has no right to say anything to us.”
“Where do you think he’s been, anyway? You think he got into some trouble?”
“My guess? The system finally caught up with him. I bet he got hit by the ban-hammer. Nobody’s RNG is that cracked.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” GrimJester mused. “His luck was always way too good. Getting world-boss drops, insane dungeon loot every single time… he had to be running some kind of hack. The rumor is he got caught.”
“Good,” AstroDrake sneered. “Serves him right for being such a tryhard. His absence is good for us. One less person to compete with on the leaderboards, right?”
“Haha, true. Wonder how they’re gonna rank this event.”
As the two were chatting, a new NPC appeared at the border between the quarry and the eastern forest—one they had never seen before. Curious, they walked over.
The NPC’s tag read: [Mysterious Point Merchant].
They initiated a dialogue, and a shop window opened. Their jaws dropped.
Ascendant Equipment (Level 30) - Exchange Cost: 1000 Points.
They looked at each other, their eyes wide. Then, slowly, enormous grins spread across their faces.
“We’re hitting the jackpot.”