As Alex ran away, he realized that Krizzik had left out some critical information. Just how big would this explosion be? It had taken Alex a while to actually get to the plaza in the first place. He didn’t want to have to back track after he blew this tower up to finish the job. If that was the case, he would spend weeks. It was already looking like it was going to be a prolonged job as it was. The original plan had gone thoroughly out the proverbial window. Would it have been easier to just sneak into each tower, plant the bombs, and then simultaneously detonate each of them? Yes it would have been, but something that Alex was quickly figuring out was that rarely was he able to take the easiest path. Sometimes it felt like he was actively pushed into the most difficult path.

Alex just kept running. He had run into even more patrols on his way out of the tower than he had on his way up to the engine room, the bulk of which were still chasing him even though he was nearly a mile away from the tower.

Well this is probably far enough. Maybe it will be enough to distract these guys for long enough for me to slip their pursuit.

Alex jammed the button down. The ground rumbled and he could feel an intense heat against his back. It was like somebody took a blow dryer, amped it up, and attached it to a leaf blower engine. He hazarded a look back and was happy to see that the group of Zotari had slowed significantly. He was surprised at the magnitude of the explosion. He hadn’t ever seen an atom bomb explosion up close for obvious reasons, but he had seen pictures of one and the light show behind him was similar though only a fraction of the size. A few of his pursuers had actually been knocked off of their feet by the explosion.

I guess I was just barely out of range. Storing that information for future reference, he thought knowing full well that he was just going to guess again later.

Before the rest of his pursuers could look back, Alex shot out of sight. He took a circuitous route until he was sure he had lost any stragglers at which point he quickly scaled a building. He looked out at the plaza and saw pure chaos. Zotari ran around like chickens with their heads cut off. He saw at least four instances when the Zotari actively ran closer to danger rather than further away. The tower was a smoldering, unrecognizable pile debris. He watched for a few more minutes and decided he would need to wait a while for things to cool down before he attempted another tower.

It took hours for the Zotari to calm down enough to start cleaning up the wreckage and nearly an entire day for the plaza to clear. Alex decided to wait another full day to strike again. This pattern continued for the next few weeks of him blowing up a tower, waiting for things to cool down, and then striking again. Each tower was progressively harder than the last. It seemed like the concentration of soldiers grew each time, and they were more alert. He didn’t know if they were redistributing the survivors to the other towers or if they were receiving reinforcements, but Alex was really starting to rack up the experience. He checked his gains and was extremely happy with the results.

Alex Sullivan

Race- Human

Rank- Private

Grade- F

Class- Shift

Level- 66

Strength-411 (484)

Agility- 309 (366)

Intelligence- 168 (204)

Durability- 627 (761)

Endurance- 386 (455)

Health- 7,610/7,610

Stamina- 4,550/4,550

P.E.- 0/7,160

He had gained ten levels since the last time he had given it a good look. He had thrown all of his free points into intelligence since it was so terribly far behind. He was afraid that he would have to continue with this pattern or else it could have some unforeseen consequences. He wasn’t sure what could happen, but he felt like he should try to keep his stats somewhat well rounded. Plus, with his bonuses his intelligence had finally passed two hundred so that was a welcome boon. It was nearly a fourth of his durability stat, but he wasn’t going to complain about that. Well, he wouldn’t complain too much about that.

With these levels, Alex was growing ever closer to his goal of defeating the Sand Drake. Its unexpected growth had put a damper on his excitement, but he didn’t feel like it was wholly out of reach still. Maybe that was hopeless optimism, but Alex would grab hold of anything he could. He was hoping that he could still find that Sandstorm Djinn to help grind the last few levels as well. Maybe it would have some friends that he could fight too. That would be nice. That was definitely something Alex wouldn’t complain about. Unless they all came at once, then he might. Alex was starting to see a trend.

Am I just a complainer? Maybe my life isn’t that bad. Maybe I just can’t be pleased.

He thought about his current situation.

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Trapped on alien world. Enslaved by an alien race. Forced to fight against absolutely stupid odds all alone for some reason. Under constant threat to my life. Freedoms both current and future are at the mercy of my overlord’s whims. Nah. I think I’m justified.

“I wouldn’t mind if you stopped complaining all the time. It’s like I’m always watching a melodrama,” Nagaar said.

“Oh I didn’t realize that was so inconvenient for you,” Alex said in mock pity. He paused for a moment as if contemplating. “Well sucks to suck I guess. I’m not going to apologize for being me.”

“I don’t even know why I bothered.”

Alex decided to leave it at that. He had important stuff to do. He had to take out his final tower. He was a little apprehensive about it. The last one he had really struggled with it and had barely made it out at all. When he had set off the bomb, he had to do it much closer than he would’ve liked and the explosion had charred his backside. He had to take a couple days just to recover.

This time was different however. As he approached the final tower, he could see three figures in the distance. One looked to be a normal sized Zotari. The other two, however, were much, much larger. Not larger like the brutes were. These two were twice the size of the Zotari while retaining their proportions. They were literal giants. One thing Alex had learned was that these variants weren’t something to mess around with. He was always extra careful when there were more than one in a party as well. So far he only had to deal with the grey ones and the brutes. They were easy enough to deal with now that he knew their abilities, but these two were completely unknown to him. And the one in the middle had to have its own tricks, otherwise, why would it face off against Alex?

The trio made no move and neither did the tower, so Alex decided to carefully continue forward. This gave him a sense of deja vu as he remembered his meeting with David and his group of miscreants.

What is up with the Mexican standoff? Why is that even a thing? Why would they want to talk to me before we face off? It seems kind of dumb. Is it to just get me lower my guard or something? Are they going to try to get me to turn? I just don’t get it.

As expected, when he was in ear shot, the one in the middle spoke as the giants looked out as if they were trees watching the forest’s borders.

“I think it’s about time we discussed some things,” the man said.

“I guess. What do you want to talk about?”

“For starters, I would like to introduce myself. I am Commander Grit-or. This is my platoon that you almost single handily exterminated. My soldiers.”

“Sorry about that. It’s really nothing personal. Just business. I’m really sorry that my business is quite literally to kill you guys, but it is what is.”

“Oh I get it. That’s what this is. We are in a war. We are just reacting to our circumstances. You are fighting us just like we have to fight you. My only question is, how loyal are you?”

Alex was slightly taken aback. “Well if I had to say anything, I would say not very.”

Grit-or smiled as if he had just found the cure for cancer. Not that Alex thought he would ever do something so selfless as that. Even though he had just met the Commander, Alex could tell that he and David were cut from the same cloth. They were self serving. They only did something if it benefitted them.

“That is great news, truly. I feel a little ashamed that I didn’t bring this up sooner then. I could’ve saved so many lives. I’m definitely going to have to explain all of this, but it will go over much better if I can recruit you.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don’t think this is going to go over the way you’re thinking.”

Grit-or cocked his head to the side the way a dog does when you say one of their least favorite words.

“I’m not sure I understand. You just said that you aren’t loyal. I still don’t entirely understand your role with the Saxans, but we can match whatever they are paying and then some. I’m assuming you are some type of mercenary. We are winning this war. They can’t pay you if they are all dead.”

“Huh. I would’ve thought you all knew what was going on. Maybe this is like a new program or something. You guys did leave the Coalition when things went crazy. That’s probably when they started this.”

“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about. You were hired by the Coalition?”

“Not really. It’s kind of a long story, but let’s just say I fight for the Coalition because I am part of the Coalition. Not really by choice, but you know, here I am,” Alex said.

“I am thoroughly confused now.”

“Let’s just say, no matter what you offer me, I just can’t abandon the Coalition.”

Alex wasn’t sure why he was being so cryptic about the whole thing. It wasn’t like he had been sworn to secrecy or anything. Every bit of what had happened to him could be disclosed right now. But, it was just too darn entertaining to watch the Zotari try to puzzle out what he was saying.

“So you’re not loyal to their cause, but you can’t leave them either? That doesn’t make any sense to me. Do they have you under some sort of contract or something?”

Alex was surprised how close he had gotten.

I guess I wasn’t as cryptic as I thought.

Apparently his face betrayed his emotions.

“Oh. So that’s on the right track then? Well if that’s the case, I believe we could have a way to get you out of it. Not the Zotari specifically, but I have heard of this type of thing before and I know someone who could get you out of it. It sounds like this is a little more intense than what he would normally deal with, but the principles should be the same. Does that interest you?” Grit-or asked.

Alex was even more shocked now. He was left speechless. Could he really be free? That would be a dream come true. Maybe he would even be able to keep his powers. His heart sank when he saw the message.

Attack the Zotari commander. Failure to initiate conflict in five seconds will result in immediate termination.

Time until termination: 3 seconds