The clear skies slowly turn dark, blocking the Sun of the strange world. Most of the commanders from Paul’s tank battalion hear rumors that the robots they’ve been fighting possibly had human pilots inside them which lowered their morale.
“Look, it's just rumors. If it was the case, they would’ve already respawned at the Churches we’ve captured.” He orders his men to get back on their feet and help their skeleton crew in reloading and refueling the tanks and Bradleys. Bahamut on the other hand lands next to the town, she was in full size and even from inside the town her wings and head could be seen. Alana could see the General was tired and haggard from the day, sitting by the stone sidewalk.
“Are you calm?”
“You know this is so fucked. I’m supposed to be commanding Five tank battalions, but all I have here is this: four companies and some Bradleys from the recon section loaded with infantry. For fucks sake I don’t even have a Recovery and Maintenance Section. The reason why we’ve been stopping in towns and cities is because I had to borrow their sections.”
“We’re in the last part right? After this you can go back to that city and blame your higher ups.”
“Oh I will, no wonder Hassan was so silent. This is so scuffed. Good thing he didn’t send everyone to this mess. Ugh.”
He stood up, growling like an old man and helped in re-arming and refueling. Alana on the other hand opened her bat-like wings and flew to Bahamut who was resting in a field. Curious players were all around her, touching her scales and just looking at the gigantic dragon. The Vampire landed with a bit of an intensity, taking the players attention away from the large dragon and towards her.
“Could you boys be good and scurry off?”
Sensing her immense power and intimidatingly beautiful face, the players disperse. Going back to their posts and returning to their tasks. Seeing the small vampire, Bahamut leans in to talk to her.
“Hmmm? What is it immortal one?”
“You sense it don’t you? Something is off with this entire thing.”
“Hmmm… I do. But for now, I recommend staying low. Thou art forces in play, big forces and we’re seemingly marching to the middle without noticing.”
“I don’t get it, I’m sure Paul sees it too but he’s too busy to act on it. We must do something.”
“And what dost suggest?”
Far into town, the roaring sound of the turbine engines of the main battle tanks ready to go. It echoes to the outskirts as the seventy one ton tanks roll out of the North part of the quaint settlement, the shadows of the polished walls of Kingsland loom over the formation which quickly made a right turn without breaking the arrowhead.
“Hannibal to all callsigns, remember the plan. Keep tight and watch for any surprises. The moment you guys enter the city, you’ll be inside their bounded field. So far, the Guilds that were faster than us have already started invading the town, their military inside is nothing to be afraid of as I said.”
“Redwood to Hannibal, Sir, why do I get the feeling they poured everything into those machines of theirs but we just totaled with air superiority?”
“Well, the folks inside said that the moment they saw the Leo Two brought by the Eisendrache Guild, they just raised their hands and surrendered. Thank the Lord we didn’t firebomb the place before entering.”
“So we’re just gonna rush into their Guild Hall?”
“Yep Redwood, you with Tusk are gonna just rush it. Don’t stop for traffic or anything, just roll through the city. Their Guild Hall is an old looking Governor's building.”
“Affirmative. I still think we should just let the Humvees do it sir.”
“So far, everyone’s caught up with what the fuck’s happening. I’m sure some of the Guilds are already rushing to it but we need armor to secure the rest of the block and I can’t call in Humvee’s.”
“Copy. Redwood out.”
Paul sets down the radio handset and pops out of the hatch to talk to Alana who was standing on top of the turret again.
“Isn’t the dust getting on your eyes?”
“No.”
“Okie, well I want you to be with Redwood, I’m sure they’ll need your political knowhow in talking to the players in Kingsland.”
“Whatever you say, just be sure to be alive when I return.”
“As long as I haven’t returned home yet, I can’t die and I’ll respawn anyways. So rest assured. Bahamut’s covering me too.” He points upwards where Bahamut’s gigantic wings peek through the clouds.
“But just in case, if you ever need me, you can scream or call out my name like a long lost puppy and I’ll come rushing.”
“Haha, I highly doubt we’ll encounter much resistance anyways. More guilds have arrived and’re cleaning up what remains of the self replicating robots. This one is in the bag.”
Tusk and Redwood, who was on the right of his formation, starts peeling away, following the arch of the tall fortress wall while he and Anvil ride on to guard the front entrance. As they get closer, he once again picks up the radio and tunes into the open frequency.
“Is this the Ninth?”
“Jawohl. Ve’re here.”
“This is the Fifthteenth Joint Tank Battalion, the requested main battle tanks are headed to the front entrance. Me and another company will be guarding the front gate, over.”
“Affirm. Be sure to be at least one kilometer for our Panzers und Panzerjäger to support you.”
“Copy. Good luck Ninth.”
“You too Fifteenth.”
Paul was not as oblivious as he seems, he knows something is up but doesn’t have enough clue to make a conclusion to what’s about to happen. It was all too easy, and these Robots wouldn’t go haywire without a reason, there’s also the dead player on the Church. Frustrated, he grasps his radio and prepares for the worst.
“Redwood to Hannibal, may I ask a question, over?”
Snapped out of his emotion, he replies to the young man.
“Yes, Redwood, what’s up?”
“Sir, are you still in human form? High command has made it strict that we stay in skeleton when engaging in combat.”
“A certain Princess told me I looked better in human form.”
“Uhhh… I see.”
“Yea, so get back to getting that tank on Kingsland’s city hall.”
“Roger that sir, traffic is getting on the way. Out.”
Inside the player city, the dense traffic put the tank column to a halt, the German and Russian players who were escorting the tanks to the Hall were also stuck. Alana was visibly getting annoyed by the loud sound of cars honking and people getting angry at the tanks invading their city.
“Grrrrrr… such annoying machines and impatient owners.”
“Feels like a Monday to me, Miss.”
“What’s your name, young man?”
“Ah, It’s Jeremy. Though the callsign is Redwood.”
“Alana, from House Chaîne de Montagnes.”
“House?”
“It’s basically our political party. House represents the family.”
“Ah, well Miss Alana, I’ve seen you before and I suggest you sit down. This massive four lane street isn’t gonna move anytime soon seeing the commotion up there.”
A few hundred meters in front of them, one of the players from Russia accidentally hit an Isuzu box truck with his Ural 4320. The two seemed to be in a furious debate and argument while German Guild members rushed to break up the two. Tackling the Russian and the angered player from Kingsland.
“Is this how you humans usually are?”
“This is how humans are in traffic. It gets to everyone.”
“I see, this phenomenon also affected me. I’m very annoyed right now.”
“We really can’t do anything ma’am. Hence why I wore my CVCH. Better to drown out the annoying sounds of traffic.”
“Ugh.” Alana looks down, with defeat on her face. She sits down on the barrel of the tank, elegantly waiting for the traffic jam to finish.
Meanwhile, back on the Outskirts, Paul is having a conversation with the Allied Tank Commander of 1st Tank Company callsign Tusk.
“You know, I never did believe in multidimensional theory, but I guess it does make sense. This world is very close to ours, even the architecture and technology. It’s just that it has Fantasy elements to it.”
“You know sir, I never did take you for a talker.”
“Well, I might be quiet and stoic but that’s only when stuff is happening. I’m usually just doing my stuff, but I never shy away from a good conversation. You can’t run a business being afraid of knowing people. So, how’s the Men of the Woods?”
“Ah, I guess you have some operation back in our world?”
“Yep, I run a transport corporation. Pretty popular in Southeast Asia, we’ve expanded to Oceania and North America and let me tell you that things are going pretty good.” Though sounding proud, his wording was slow and tired.
“You seemed pretty sad about that. Guess money doesn’t buy happiness.”
“Oh it doesn’t. I never really did this for money anyways, I just wanted to leave something to the family before I join my ancestors on the other side. Don’t have big houses or expensive cars. Actually, I’d escape my main office just to drive trucks for the company.”
“That’s pretty innocent actually. Well, in terms of the Guild. Nothing much had truly happened apart from a mass relocation of resources. The Men of the Woods are known for their beautiful modern architectural projects in Dark World VR. Our latest was, as you saw. The Space Elevator.”
A UH-60M Blackhawk flies over Paul, taking his attention away from the conversation. It was extremely low, dodging patches of trees on the open field outside of Kingsland.
“Uhhh Hannibal actual, do you copy?”
“Yea, a Blackhawk just flew by. What the Hell was that about? All helicopters are barred from getting close to Kingsland.”
“Maybe they’ve confirmed that there’s no anti air presence left.”
“Still, those are still low. And how would I not be informed? I’m still a General. What a mess.”
Back inside Kingsland, Redwood and Anvil’s tank column has finally reached the city hall. The Abrams surrounds the entire Mansion-like building. Redwood One’s M1A2 is directly on the frontgate, watching over players from various guild talkover to the leaders of Kingsland on the open field. The Countess was restless, her heels constantly tapping the upper front plate of the tank as she thought about what’s happening behind the curtains.
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“So, Jeremy, what’s the task now?”
“Well Miss Alana. Just sit tight and let the ground forces handle the negotiating. We’re just here to intimidate them.”
“Then why are they doing it outside? This is extremely unsafe. Something’s wrong, unusual even.”
“Now that you say it, the players of Kingsland seem to be adamant in whatever’s happening there.”
“If only I could get closer.”
“Wait, you're a vampire. Don’t you have super hearing?”
“I do but my Master barred me from using my vampiric abilities loosely.”
“I’m sure he’ll let it pass. General Paul seemed pretty chill.”
After some seconds of thinking it through, she activates her vampiric hearing. Her pointy ears pick up the conversation between the players.
“I know that you want to create peace, but I’m telling you that we cannot let anyone inside this building.”
“Sir, let me remind you. We have you surrounded. The only thing preventing us from completely levelling this place is the Bounded Shield you have which we’re inside now. I suggest you go through with us with what’s actually happening.”
“Please leave immediately.”
“Sir, do you want me to tell you about your crimes against the people of this land? Using them as cannon fodder to pilot your robotic machines?!”
“We had to do what we had to. We don’t regret it, for the sake of keeping us safe.”
“Uh huh, look as I said, We do not care about the robots' blueprints or that we completely made them extinct to the point only human controlled ones remained. What we want to know is how everything went wrong. How does it end up with a near world ending extinction event?!”
“They’re listening. I can’t say it. They're here, everywhere. They’ve already killed a player, they can do it again!”
The Captain who was trying to speak to the man in the suit got tired of the dabble and facepalms from the hysteria. He walks away with other players wearing combat uniforms from various European and Slavic countries.
“Get me the radio, we’re moving in. These people are nutjobs.”
Sensing the danger, the players of Kingsland run to the front door of the city hall. Locking it with magic and casting curses upon the door. Behind it, lightly armed soldiers block the door with sandbags. Completely closing off the city hall from the outside world.
“Ara, it seems that negotiations broke down.”
“Ah damn.” Redwood One wears his CVC-H immediately and picks up his short wave radio mic and hears the Captain on command calling out orders.
“Redwood, send an HE round through the balcony. We’re charging in.”
“Affirmative, stand clear of the cannon, over.”
After sending this message, Alana’s hand held the radio that was still in his palm.
“Uhh, Miss Alana, I need that.” She seductively leans in closer to him, her breath could almost reach Redwood One’s face, the soldiers around the tank couldn’t help but look at her magnificent figure, bending down to use the radio mic.
“Captain, may I help your men in this siege?”
“What, who is this?!” Her low and mature female voice caughts the officer off guard.
“Alana le Minuit, from the Knights of Eldwood, Servant of one of their prestigious Eldritch Knight Generals. I’ve come to aid you in your objective.”
Panicking, Redwood One replies back.
“Ignore her Hades Actual. She’s a Vampire from the Eldwood guild.”
In a mere few seconds, a reply comes back.
“Is that so? I’ve heard rumors about those players. Alright, I’ll attach you to Alpha One, good luck, out.”
Sensing action, she stands straight up and a vicious smile is on her face. Ready to kill once again as bloodlust runs through her veins. Suddenly, she remembers Paul telling her to calm down with the violence. Though the aroma of death has taken over her, smiling as she lets off a small devilish laugh.
Redwood One fires the M1A2’s 120mm Smoothbore, hurdling the high explosive shell straight into the second floor balcony. The shell goes through the glass window and explodes upon impact on the sandbag wall. To their surprise, a player inside uses his magic to contain the explosion and dissipate it like a fire snubbed of air.
Alpha One’s Squad Leader couldn’t help but swallow from the sight of the beautiful woman standing on top of a tank, laughing maniacally. A real true vampire, one that might have been killing humans for hundreds or even thousands of years, now with them. He gathered himself and loudly instructed her.
“HEY MISS! WE’LL BE THE LEAD! KEEP CLOSE! DO NOT DO ANYTHING BRASH, IF YOU SPOT ANYONE, INFORM US!”
She looks at him with a stare that screams death.
“Ah. It shall be done.”
The squad leader didn’t take a second to breathe and let the already running adrenaline push him to the gate and the concrete pavement that leads to the doors of the city hall. They immediately make a Vee formation, tactically walking through the ground with their guns up, aiming at the windows of the building with the Countess in the middle, protected by men in full combat gear.
Upon approaching the door, the Squad leader gestures for a block of C4 to be planted. But before the Grenadier could plant the charge, Alana has already kicked the door in. Blasting the sandbags away, the force of the doors opening rips them open and creates a small plume of smoke in the main lobby.
“NVGs on.”
The soldiers immediately put down their night vision goggles, with the IR laser sight of their M4A1s on. Not far behind, German players from the Guild of Schwarzwald, signified by the clocktower patch on their shoulders turn right, planting a charge on the window in the middle of the West Wing while Russians with Italian players head to the East Wing, firing an RPG-7 rocket into the window and blasting an entrance clean open.
The breach was quick and fast, Alpha One let the Countess go on first, securing the first floor main lobby when she got attacked by a mixture of guns and magic. The squad leader was surprised by the various types of magic used. From fire, ice, wind and curses and varying power. After taking a deep breath, he orders his skeleton soldiers to rush in with him. Scanning the second floor, there was nothing but wounded players. Most with their kneecaps sliced.
“What in the…”
The vampire suddenly appears behind him.
“M’Lord said I should avoid killing as much as possible. I recommend calling healers, some of them got sliced very badly.”
“O-of course.”
The man hastily calls for medics to arrive, he looks in the direction of where the Countess was but she has completely disappeared once again. All he could hear was the clacking of heels on the building’s marble floor.
“This shit’s mental.” was all he could mutter to himself as more squads breach the building, rays of the Moon hit the inside as soldiers from the rooftop and rear blast their way to the inner sanctum of the well defended structure.
Alana was quick to her wit, knowing where the soldiers would go, she’d run from various parts of the building, quickly disabling would be ambushers and saving the men from getting jumped. Some high level ones were able to withstand her in close quarter combat but her mixed martial arts was lightning fast, literally. Her experience alone was unmatched and her hands that she used as claws left marks that cut through the walls of the building.
The soldiers carefully combing the building's rooms and hallways could hear the commotion as the players of Kingsland pitifully fend off the Purebred. Using her senses, she quickly noticed some men in suits deep inside the basement, their room was soundproofed to a level that she could only hear them in whisper and it looked like they were sitting in a war room.
Back on the outskirts, Paul is quietly eating some leftover MRE Pasta when the busy radio suddenly gets interrupted by a forward scout reporting demonic beasts have appeared in some of the forests.
“Guess nature is returning.” While eating some Baked Macaroni
“That’s way too sudden wouldn’t it be? Like, wouldn’t they avoid this place first since it just got bombed to oblivion a day or two ago?”
“Yea, I’ve been feeling that something’s been wrong. Ever since we discovered that body on Treitleze’s church.”
“What body?”
“Nothing, just something concerning. But yea, something is very wrong here. Let’s just wait for the main force to arrive tomorrow, I’ll be handing over command to one of my colonels. I want to dig deeper with what happened here.”
“Bad A.I. maybe?”
“For that to happen, then there must be a supercomputer somewhere here. The thing is, the robots of these three nations are powered by the game engine. Which means that they’ve been built before we got transported here. So, just like our Skeleton soldiers, they have absolutely zero reason to go against their Masters.”
“So there must be a corrupted giant robot or something controlling all of them.”
“Or a mainframe of sorts. They must be automatically commanding these things somewhere.”
“Though what could’ve made them go berserk in the first place?”
“I have no idea myself. Well I actually do, thinking about it now, ever since we came to this world. Everything changed, to say that something changed on the robot or AI program running them is not a stretch.”
“Man, but sir, after this, what’ll happen?”
“I don’t know, though, I want to learn more about this world. I feel like we’ll be here for a long time. Might as well get to know the place. I already traveled for a bit and this world is straight out of a fantasy book.”
“It is insane, what’s more crazy is that we're actually here and with functioning main battle tanks nonetheless.”
To Paul’s right is Hannibal Two, its player tank commander is visibly annoyed as he rummages through the various military boxes on the turret’s rear and side stowage boxes.
“I know right? I don’t even know how I’ll explain this when I get back home.”
“Or how we killed people.”
“Yea…” as if his brain just remembered something for a second, his eyes just stared at the inside of his hatch.
“FUCK! FUCK!” Hannibal Two is angered that he couldn’t find the Sweetroll he kept hidden on the turret bustle. Rambling around his turret like a child while his skeleton crew silently ignores him.
In the basement of Kingsland City Hall, its defenders put up a good fight but with a trump card like a Purebred Vampire, their efforts were ultimately squandered every time she’d appear. Minimal losses were received by the United Nations while the guards were in absolute shambles. Those who died respawned at the city’s Church with the few soldiers who also died. The rest was disabled, by either unconsciousness or having their kneecaps sliced.
The blast door protecting the room where Alana sensed the Government officials was is shut tight.
“This could be a meter thick. We’re gonna need some big boom booms.” One of the soldiers commented.
“Heh, we got an event boss here. She could just pry it open.” a soldier proudly comments.
“No. The people inside this room are pretty powerful, now that I am closer, I can actually feel their strength.”
Alana was adamant she could take them on, but didn’t want the risk of creating a bigger mess as the surrounding buildings of the city hall were occupied by people living quiet lives.
“We’ll try to negotiate.” The Captain once again appears, with his field cap on, he tries buzzing the door’s security lock. In a good minute did someone finally reply.
“We won’t surrender. Kill us now and we’ll just respawn.”
The Captain puts on the mute and makes out a clear sigh and his face turns even more tired.
“Alpha to Echo, you guys can rest. Ugh, I’ll take care of these morons.”
“Yes sir.” The Squad leader of Alpha makes a snappy salute with Bravo and they quietly step off and back to the surface where they thank Alana for her support. The soldiers shook her hand and gave her compliments for the amazing work. She in return smiles at them, which absolutely shatters the players hearts.
As she enjoys the small celebrations, more and more military units arrive and the street is quickly filled with army vehicles. Soldiers started becoming more frequent than the average citizen and the traffic that was once full of modern and retro cars was replaced with parked tanks and other armored vehicles.
One of them was an M939 5-Ton Transport truck that dropped a squad of engineers. Fully kitted with boxes of demolition charges, power tools and lock openers. They passed through the celebration and ran straight to the basement, going past the soldiers who guarded the place and were helping in the movement of wounded people. The Captain was busy talking to the people on the intercom when behind him, their engineer's boots were heard with the rustle of their toolboxes.
“Finally, you’ve arrived.” The burly middle aged man in USMC camo’s commented. His voice was crass and mature, a man who had seen things before and lived to tell the tale.
“Colonel! the Fourth Engineering Company, First Platoon, Second Squad reporting for duty!” They quickly make a snappy salute, respecting the high ranking officer.
“Open this up. These sliding blast doors will lead us to the answer.”
The engineers were met with a large blast door, it slid apart like an aircraft hangar. Problem was, it's a tough nut to crack and it might take them a while to even bust it open.
“Sir, I recommend we use magic on this one.”
“I can try, but we need a Caster here and see if it's not magic proofed. There’s also the problem with the method, sure the old ways could work on large and giant labyrinths, but this is tight space. Better with charges planted carefully.”
“Copy sir, we’ll start measuring it and see if we can do some damage.”
“Alrighty, on it then men.”
The rest of the night was uneventful, they only managed to crack the large blast doors after the Morning sun had risen. The leading players of Kingsland also surrendered when they got the notification that the doors to the rest of the basement had been opened. They were quickly taken away by Military Police to be interrogated.
Alana once again had to venture with Alpha squad, fighting the various defense mechanisms of the playerbase. Mostly medium to high level creatures and automated turrets with a mixture of creative traps and iron spikes.
Back on the outskirts of Kingsland, Paul was sleeping on his hatch with an Olive drab Pillow when he’s suddenly awakened by the weakening sound of the Bounded Field.
“Wha-what the Hell?” He quickly rushes to the long wave radio, calling in what’s happening on the inside. It was just static, becoming more tense, he hastily picks up the short wave and informs the rest of Hannibal and Tusk to wake up.
“I can see that sir, is that supposed to happen?”
“Negative Hannibal Four, keep your eyes peeled. Something is about to go down.”
“Roger that.”
“This is Tusk Actual signing in, what happened there?”
“No idea Tusk, but it awfully feels like something bad is going to happen.”
“Alrighty, I’m gonna check on the rest of my units sir. Tusk out.”