CHAPTER EIGHTY TWO

CHAPTER EIGHTY TWO

Jason kept his mind cool and serene as he gazed at the carnage.

Most of his teammates were totally freaking out. Stephanie and Anthony seemed convinced that their party was already dead. Steven and Danny were doing their best to keep the guild calm, and Jason agreed with them.

Despite the frightening sight, it was important to remain rational. The countless scattered parts were clearly the remnants of a great battle, but that didn't mean that Jason and his party were in danger right at this moment.

For now, Jason didn't closely examine the broken parts. He could do that later - the destroyed machines weren't going anywhere.

Instead, he searched for hidden enemies.

The veteran pilot carefully scanned the storm of parts, relying on both his regular eyesight and the Red Minerva's motion detection abilities. He considered pulling up his Mech's enhanced sensory skills, but the Red Minerva couldn't smell or hear in the vacuum of space.

It'd be easy for an enemy machine to hide temporarily in the chaotically splayed parts. However, as the broken pieces gradually drifted back and forth in their different orbits, any hidden enemy would gradually be revealed.

He turned to his teammates.

"I don't see anything. What about you guys?"

The BAG Guild's other players shook their heads.

After confirming that he was in no immediate danger, Jason's first move was looking at the station above the planet. He ignored the ring of damaged parts and stared straight at the save point.

A regulation space station orbited every planet or major space colony on the Overdrive server. Just like the one above the Palace of Emotions, this station was a white sphere lined with panels.

As far as Jason could tell, the space station was totally ordinary. Although there'd been a large and deadly battle, the BAG Guild could still arrive at the station and save their progress for tomorrow's descent.

Next, Jason checked the planet itself. Once again, he ignored the distracting ring of shattered parts.

Most of the planet was covered with lush green forestation. The martial arts-focused guild that shared the planet with the Illusionists used a clear-cut monastery theme. Their bright red and gold temples jutted out prominently compared to the verdant woods.

Overall, the planet was approximately eighty percent land. The remaining twenty percent was a beautiful blue ocean.

At the northern side of the planet, directly beneath the space station and right along the coast, was the jet black Castle Notoria. Unlike the rest of the planet's water, the small sea at the base of the castle's cliff was constantly murky with blood - the Illusionist's ravenous hammerhead shark Hemoborn instantly devoured any living creature that entered the vicinity. Compared to natural beauty, the twisted and menacing castle stuck out like a sore thumb.

Despite the frightening scene, the planet was also normal. Castle Notoria looked no less bizarre than it usually did.

Jason murmured under his breath.

"Alright. At least our win conditions are still intact..."

Danny nodded.

"Right. There was a huge fight here, but that doesn't change anything."

Wendy pointed at the shattered parts. Based on the density of the parts, it seemed like over fifty Mechs had been destroyed.

"Based on the number of arms and legs I'm seeing, it seems like a guild tried a blockade."

Jason nodded.

Blockades were common techniques during Guild Wars. An organization that wasn't confident in its raw firepower could try and shut off an area with a siege. In this case, the blockade was clearly meant to shut off the Tournament of Assassins mission and allow the guild to win by default.

The enemy team had blasted right through the blockade, but they hadn't bothered setting up one of their own. There were no enemy machines remaining nearby. The group that'd destroyed this army had already left the area. If Jason had to guess, they'd saved their progress in the space station before logging off.

Danny gestured for the team to move forward and fly into the ring of ruined parts orbiting the space station.

"Alright. Before we reach the station, let's try to gather information on the ruins. We'll at least get some data on our enemies."

Wendy nodded.

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"That's a smart call."

The Guild Wars veteran spurred the rest of the team forward.

"Come on, guys, there's no need to be scared. It's spooky to fly into a bunch of destroyed Mechs, but broken Mechs don't fight back."

Jason flew forward. The veteran pilot closely categorized the individual broken parts as he flew amongst the rubble. Roughly half of the broken parts were crude and jagged. However, the other half was strangely stringy...

Jason turned to Danny.

"Look at this. About half of these are Hemoborn."

Jason highlighted the torn-up flesh. From far away, the dissolved parts had seen indistinguishable, but up close, he noticed that half of the parts were clearly of biological origin.

Jason frowned.

Half Hemoborn and half conventional Mechs.

The breakdown reminded him of the Illusionists' split of Watchdogs and Bandits.

Of course, the Illusionists as a whole wouldn't try and blockade the stage. They actively wanted to lure contestants onto the planet. The guild made plenty of money off of the Salvage Rule, which only took effect after players stepped foot on the grounds of Castle Notoria.

The only players who'd attack contestants before the tournament were individuals looking for glory, just like the trio that'd assaulted the BAG Guild an hour ago. Players who hadn't been selected for the tournament needed a way to distinguish themselves.

However, the guild as a whole couldn't embargo their own competition. Logically speaking, the blockade had come from a different guild, and it sounded like Wendy had followed the same line of thinking as Jason.

"I'm checking for matches. Hold on."

She plugged the build information from the broken remains into her database then shook her head.

"No matches."

Danny asked the obvious question.

"Do you think the parts are just too broken up? It's pretty tough for any recognition system to identify shards..."

Wendy shook her head.

"I don't think so. I'm not matching the parts to the information I already had. I was just trying to compare the builds to each other. It looks like fifty different Mechs were destroyed here. Even among the remains, there weren't any matching parts."

Jason frowned.

The group of Mechs had clearly died in a coordinated fight. Their actions heavily suggested an organized guild, but almost all guilds used matching Mechs like the Bandit or the Dehua. Even organizations like the Dragon Tamers, which didn't have their own specialized Grunt Mechs, mandated a specific theme.

In the end, it was Lynn who identified the pattern. Once again, her inside information was invaluable. The commonality wasn't what the Mechs looked like. Rather, it was how the different Mechs had been destroyed.

"Look at this."

She brought up the zoomed-in images of various destroyed parts and sent them to the rest of the guild.

"These attacks are the hallmark of my brother's martial arts techniques. The damaged parts have been punched straight through, but not by a fist. Now we know for a fact that we're facing off against him tomorrow."

Jason closely examined the pictures, then nodded. The parts had been destroyed via hand-to-hand combat. However, the markings weren't created by a humanoid five-fingered hand. Rather, then been cut through by a single blade-like appendage.

Lynn typed rapidly as she pulled up a picture of Castor's Mech.

The famous ace's build was a giant spider that stood on its two hind legs. Mechanical grafts had replaced all of the creature's joints. The upper six legs were equipped with special transforming blades that could operate as both daggers and pistols. Meanwhile, the two base legs were wide and thick - they looked much more like a human's legs than a spindly spider's. Like the legs of the Devoted Monk, they were built to create a stable platform.

Roughly a third of the damaged Mechs had been destroyed by Castor's spider, but the others had been obliterated with simple long-ranged gunfire. Jason recognized a variety of distinctive markings, including the perfectly circular holes of beam rifles and the haphazard twisting craters created by high-velocity mortars.

When he pointed out the markings, the rest of the group frowned. For the last two years, the Hive had famously lacked an artillery expert. The situation had forced the guild to engage in direct combat at all times.

Lynn frowned.

"Who knows. Maybe they found someone. I mean, they did add my brother pretty recently..."

Steven suddenly cried out.

"There! There! Look at the planet!"

A pair of enemies flew towards them.

The first was the same upgraded Bandit that Jason and the BAG Guild had fought after arriving within an hour of the castle. The former scout had been reconfigured for battle. It had a large missile launcher above its right shoulder, and it carried a bazooka in its left hand.

The second build was an Ace Mech. The bright orange machine was another copy of the Prince of Thieves. The only difference from the version Jason and Danny had battled was the custom coat of paint.

The two high-powered Mechs surged towards the BAG Guild, but their positioning was extremely poor. It was almost impossible to defeat a larger enemy force while exiting a planet's gravitational pull.

Lynn's spell had been invaluable. The damaged scout had been forced to return to the planet before it could warn its ally, which had given Jason and the BAG Guild a significant advantage.

Lynn's cloak flapped aside, revealing her hermit Mech's arm. The expert illusionist raised her crossbow and fired at the approaching troops. Her move was completely casual and confident. In fact, she picked up her conversation right where she'd left off previously.

"As I was saying, I think that the Hive probably added an artillery expert around the time they added my brother. I know they always like to expand in pairs so the new players can do missions together. I'll ask him for more details next time I see him, but that kid is such a brat. He'll probably just laugh in my face."

Although Lynn was talking, her blow was deadly accurate. Speaking while attacking was a classic trick used by high-ranking members of the Illusionists. The combination of a casual tone and deadly force always caught opponents off guard. However, that same training also allowed Lynn to carry on a conversation in the middle of a tense battle.

The bolt pierced the King of Thieves's thruster unit. Smoke billowed from the Mech's back as it abruptly lost the ability to overcome the force of gravity. The Mech somersaulted briefly, then crashed into the deadly sea.

Moments later, Jason and the BAG Guild defeated the remaining scout.

Lynn turned to Jason and smirked.

"I learned that one from you, by the way. I was watching when you guys battled the random mercenaries I sent after you guys. Thought that one was a pretty nice move."

Unlike before, Lynn had wisely used a private communications line instead of yelling on her speakers. Though the other members of the BAG Guild had accepted her, it was still a bit of a sore subject that she'd made them fly three extra hours back to the Palace of Emotions.

But after that brief note, she promptly returned to the overall line.

"Hey, guys. I know I'm new to the group, but I definitely want to help out. Let's enter the space station and save our progress. I'm pretty worried about facing off my brother tomorrow, but if we work together, I know we can beat him."