After securing the second holding, the Lord of the Oak gave the troops a day to repair their armor, sharpen their blades, reorganize, and replace casualties. Now, the fresh army of 10,000 ants marched toward what would soon become their empire’s new territory: Flowerbed Holdings.

The Lord of the Oak wasn't thinking of creating a new base of operations here. That would mean breeding new queens and splitting the colony. Having only one queen served them fine for now; he only wanted to establish an outpost to station troops and protect meat before it was transported back to the palace. The Lord of the Oak had already scouted a rose bush that would work well. It hardly qualified as a tree; however, it was good enough for what he had in mind.

The army marched through the back tunnel dug by their benefactor, which linked all the territories from Oak Holdings to Flowerbed Holdings, and stopped near the gate leading into the new territory. It was the middle of the night, and giants never came out when it was dark. This was the best time to move a sizable military force without drawing undue attention. The Lord hadn’t gotten this far by being reckless.

Slowly and steadily, more and more soldiers passed through. The more treeants that got through the gate, the better the Lord could smell it. This holding wasn’t as bare and stark as Dune Holdings, and plenty of grass provided cover. This was a place filled with flowers, a green, red, white, and pink paradise, much more colorful than the other holdings.

Once half the army had passed, the Lord deployed it and scouted the perimeter. With 5000 pairs of antennae scanning the area, it wasn’t difficult to find their first prey.

Contact.

The Lord of the Oak focused on their first encounter in this new land. This creature was remarkably similar to the armored beetles. However, it was half the size with a red, black-dotted carapace. As the Lord searched his genetic memory, he identified the creature as a ladybug. It was a lonesome hunter that only targeted tiny ants. It wasn’t too difficult to hunt.

Attack.

The treeants charged the beetle, using the same strategy they utilized when hunting the armored beetles. The ants swarmed it, trying to pry open its carapace. The Lord kept waiting for the acid spray, which was characteristic of this prey. Sure enough, the ladybug thrashed violently and folded upon itself, opening its carapace.

“Shields up!” The lord commanded, and the armored division stepped forward, protecting the mandibladers from being showered with acid. However, no acid ever came. The Lord instead picked up a droning sound. When the shields lowered, no ladybug was seen. “Where?” the Lord asked, scattering the soldiers, looking for their prey.

Boom!

The ladybug dove into the ranks, squashing a couple of ants. It had flown up before dropping on the soldiers.

Boom!

Boom!

Two other ladybugs dove from the sky toward the ants. The Lord double-checked his memory. Had ladybugs ever used this tactic before?

Boom!

Boom!

Two more ladybugs joined the fray. When had the ladybug called for help? Weren’t ladybugs supposed to be lonesome hunters?

Reinforcements!

The Lord summoned all forces available to join the fighting soldiers. This territory wasn’t going to accept their conquest lying down.

*

“How bad is it?” Loki asked while massaging his temples.

“Bad, boss. Real bad.”

There were times when Loki liked PutridMouse and other times when he couldn’t stand him. After much introspection, he had finally narrowed down the reason for these contradicting feelings: PutridMouse reminded him too much of himself.

The guild leader of the Rats was the calculating type, with a devious intelligence and a perfect poker face. It wasn’t for naught that he had managed to lead his guild to number 32 in the rankings.

At the same time, PutridMouse was weaker than Loki and a happy reminder of his superior stock. After all, regardless of how talented this man was, Loki had still bought his whole guild and absorbed it into Pegasus. He was his eyes and ears in Crownia, and he couldn’t help but feel annoyed by everything he said.

“The discount they’re offering is ludicrous. They’re offering tickets to the Dark Abyss for free! This is a blatant attack on Pegasus!” Loki complained bitterly.

PutridMouse remained silent, waiting for Loki’s instructions. “What should I do, sir?”

“Nothing for now. Maintain pretenses and keep bringing your men into the Dark Abyss. Make the most out of the discounted prices of the teleportation gate.”

“What about the rest of our guild, sir?”

“Let me worry about that,” Loki said coldly before he hung up on PutridMouse. The vestiges of PutridMouse's authority as a former guild leader still lingered, and Loki used every chance to remind him who the boss was.

Loki went pale. He'd been more than happy to help everyone gain evil alignment and a dark affinity when they joined the guild. He hadn’t expected that to come back to bite him so soon. Dozens of thousands of players would want to travel to the Dark Abyss. His Dark Abyss.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He had to do something. If Pegasus didn’t get access to the same discounts, it would only be a matter of time before all his hard work went down the drain. Pegasus would lose its dominance in the region. A difference of 10,000 gold in teleportation per player was too much, even for him. He had no choice. He took a few deep breaths and called BlueFire.

“Barry!” BlueFire answered the call with a beaming smile.

“Ethan,” Loki said in a neutral tone.

BlueFire remained silent, waiting for Loki to take the initiative. Loki couldn’t help but fall hook, line, and sinker for BlueFire’s power move. “It has come to my understanding that you're offering discounts for using the portal in Crownia,” Loki said, trying to sound as uninterested as possible.

“So we are,” BlueFire said, smiling.

“How can Pegasus benefit from this deal? What’s the price?”

BlueFire seemed lost in thought as if he hadn’t considered this matter, even though Loki was sure he'd been waiting for his call. He knew it was all part of the show and an attempt to annoy him. The worst part was that it was working.

“I’m sorry, Loki, but we can’t offer any discounts to Pegasus.”

Loki took a deep breath. “I’m willing to cover the maintenance of the teleportation gate single-handedly. What is the price for running it? 100k every month? 150k?”

“Here’s the thing, Loki, you already have a way into the Dark Abyss. You have full control of the Centipede Cave. Do you think it’s fair that you keep everyone out of the Dark Abyss and still want to benefit from a discount?”

Loki clenched his teeth. “But surely, you didn’t have to come up with such an inflated price just for my guild, did you, BlueFire? Can you at least consider reverting it to a fairer price?”

“Oh, it’s quite fair already. I could have asked Roth to ban you. He decided that would be unfair to you and Pegasus, so he magnanimously decided to keep the portal open for Pegasus. Wasn’t that kind of him?”

Loki knew that BlueFire had only brought up Roth’s name to anger him further. But he had long deduced that the Slayer was in on this, and he wouldn’t give BlueFire the pleasure of seeing how mad he was. “You’re charging Pegasus players three times as much as every other player!” Loki said with a calm voice. “I know we’ve had our differences in the past, BlueFire. However, you and I are businessmen. What do you want? I’m sure we can negotiate.”

“What do I want? I’ve always wanted a teleportation gate in the Dark Abyss. It makes traveling there much more convenient. I also want Pegasus players to enjoy it, provided they pay the price,” BlueFire said, grinning.

Loki’s knuckles were white from clutching his chair so hard. His voice remained unaffected, though. “I’ll send you a list of a few items that might interest the Ogres. Please let me know if you change your mind. Talk to the Slayer… I mean, Roth. Be reasonable. Have a good evening, BlueFire.”

Loki hung up the call on BlueFire, the only sad, petty victory compared to the major defeat he had just suffered. “ARGH!” he shouted as he threw skills against the wall of the guild’s headquarters, burning a hole into the wall and overturning a table and a bookshelf. He gasped in heavy breaths.

The Dark Abyss was his foundation. He had invested most of his guild’s resources in maintaining a foothold in the region. After this portal opened, everything had changed. He could stand his ground in a narrow tunnel, fighting against the guilds. But he couldn’t take on the entire player base!

As Loki’s mind projected the drop in prices of items he’d been harvesting from the Dark Abyss and selling in other regions for a much higher price, he paled. His finances had taken a hit. The most he could do was damage control.

“Yillian. Take your squad. I want you to roam the area around the tower. Kill whatever players you find. I’m sending you an extra squad from the capital to the Abyss. The Rats will be there and can let you know when someone leaves the city.”

“Yes, sir.” Came the swift reply.

Loki slumped into his chair. Today was a bad day for Pegasus. Thankfully, he had O'Shaughnessy's support. Yes. That would have to do.

Thinking of the Slayer and BlueFire, his anger bubbled up again, and he burned a new hole in the wall.

*

Roth paced back and forth, checking the system clock every other minute. Why was it running so slowly today?

Another adventurer joins the ranks of the lizardmen.

+1 gold

Someone has just used ProcessCore Crownia Portal.

+100 gold

Someone has just used ProcessCore Crownia Portal.

+10,000 gold.

Congratulations! Your associates have concluded a trade with the Badgers of the Green Woods.

+53 gold;

+1300 Broker XP.

Congratulations! Someone has used the neuralizing chair. According to your contract you receive 50 silver.

The Leafies have hunted a midnight tarantula.

+10,000 XP.

Leafies [Level Up!]

The notifications that would before stop him in his tracks and make him celebrate had become so banal that he didn’t even register them anymore. XP, gold, and levels were just numbers. He was fed up with numbers. They did little to calm his heart, which was beating so fast that it felt like it was about to jump out of his chest.

Questions and thoughts flashed through his mind like trains departing and leaving a busy central station. Would she like what he had prepared for today? Was he dressed OK? Would Lin behave? These questions were the easiest to rein in. Other questions downright terrified him. Was what they had real? It was real to him, but what if it wasn’t for her? What if this was just a game to Mel?

He glanced at the only numbers that mattered to him today: rankings. Here he was, close to the top. What would happen if he did get out? How would Mel perceive him once all the levels, items, skills, and in-game bells and whistles weren’t there anymore? What if she changed her mind about dating him once they met in real life? What if she didn’t like him anymore?

Lin’s head popped out from Roth’s armor. His cat had the talent to find a nook to sleep in regardless of what equipment Roth wore. He stared at him with ears drawn back and pupils dilated. “I’m trying to sleep, but you’re all over the place, human. When your heart beats this fast, your chest sounds like a drum. Quiet. down.”

“Sorry, Lin,” Roth apologized promptly. “I’m just nervous. I really want this date to go well.”

“Argh. Bird girl better bring me a treat, or my opinion about her will be severely compromised. And that Goldie better pay me what he owes me.”

Roth’s eyes widened. “Goldie owes you money?! Since when?”

Lin didn’t bother confirming or elaborating how much money it was and how Goldie had become indebted to him. Instead, foreseeing that Roth wouldn’t calm down anytime soon, he hopped off, walked a few meters away, and sat with his back toward him. Roth couldn’t tell if he was signaling his annoyance for his nervousness or if he was only jealous of Mel.

Back when Roth spoke no Felinian, and all he could hear from Lin was meows and nyah, he assumed everything his kitty said was sweet and cute. Boy, was he wrong. He now knew his cat’s cute-sounding remarks were often blunt like a hammer or edgy like a knife. Or maybe he really used to be cuter but had become more bitter after reaching adolescence.

Roth caught a group of young girls approaching from the corner of his eye. They seemed to be level 30, one a warrior, one an esper, and the other a medic. Old habits die hard, and Roth couldn’t help but evaluate the strength of whatever players he crossed paths with. At first, he assumed they would just pass by; however, after overhearing their excited shrieks, he realized they were heading toward Lin!

“Oh my goodness! A kitty! It’s the first one I’ve seen in the game!”

“I just want to eat him up. He’s adorable. Here, kitty, kitty. Here, kitty, kitty.”

“Wait! Don’t!” Roth tried to warn them, but it was too late.