PvP Quest.
Kill the rogue tank.
The quest screen told him all he needed to know. Some players decided it would be a good idea to mess with NPC, prompting a sudden quest. It had a similar system to bounty quests in other games, but with a bit of story made by the game’s system. Anton gritted his teeth. Not only was he expected to fight a tank in a LAV, it was also the result of some random player’s boredom.
He should have known when he heard about the long barrel. Why would someone, who wanted to steal the produce, destroy the truck that carried it?
He also hated that real players operated the tank, making the quest much harder. Anton faced real players before, the helicopter chase from before came to mind, but that didn’t make him any less worried. He thought of canceling the mission, but he couldn’t begin to imagine Kayla’s disappointment in him if he did that. In his seat, he let out another sigh, surrendering himself to fate.
I’m rich, repair costs won’t hurt me.
He repeated to himself, trying to get his mind off the quest. The group made a left turn at the intersection, driving further down into the valley. A warning came on, telling him that he had left the peace zone. They continued driving down the road, following the NPC’s car that drove in front of them. Eventually, the car stopped on the side of the road, prompting Kayla to stop as well.
The NPC got off his vehicle and made his way toward the LAV. Kayla opened the hatch once more.
“The area ahead is where we last engaged the enemy. I hate to say this, but I couldn’t risk going with you. Fighters, please defeat the enemy for us. Once you’re finished, you can return to the Mitte Adventure Terminal to collect your reward.”
“Alright, just leave them to us,” Kayla gave the NPC a thumbs up. The NPC nodded and headed back to his car. He turned around and ran off toward Mitte. Kayla closed the hatch before moving forward. A small red circle appeared on Anton’s map, showing the location where they last spotted the target.
In other games, the enemy would be located inside a circle and the players needed to find it. Since the bandits consisted of real players, there was a chance that they had left the area. Anton checked the location. He couldn’t see the exact place yet, the marked area covered by dense forest.
“Let’s go offroad,” Anton said.
“Roger,” Kayla replied, turning the Tarup 57 off the road and into the dirt. Kayla held the brakes as she moved the LAV down a steep descent, before stopping near some beech trees.
Kayla carefully navigated through the dense tree cover. The forest consisted mostly of beech trees, separated a few meters away from each other. The LAV’s large size made navigating through the tightly packed trees difficult. Anton kept a watchful eye on their surroundings as they approached the marked location. They stayed close to the road, but not on it. Kayla lightly tapped on the gas, minimizing the engine sounds.
“There they are,” Anton muttered. A flipped-over truck. Its rear end gone, thrown into a tree. Its front had been burnt, evident by the blackened color of the cab. Both doors had been opened. The left one lay above the truck’s frame, while the right one lies on the ground right below the flipped cab, all of its windows shattered and gone. Some parts of the metal frame bent, others snapped. Had no one told them about it, they may not have recognized it as a truck in the first place.
“How long has it been since it attacked?” Anton asked. It looked like it had been severely damaged.
Anton thought about possible clues. Based on how the truck flipped to its left side, the attack most likely came from the truck’s right. The truck faced toward Mitte, toward where Anton came from.
“Let’s go left,” Anton said, wanting to chase down the bandits and get this over with.
He still didn’t know how to defeat them, however. His 25mm cannon couldn’t pierce a tank’s armor, nor did he know any heavy magic that could take out a heavily armored vehicle. He could go back and equip his vehicle with TOW missiles. It would cost him a lot more, however, and the longer they play around, the farther the tank could go.
He hoped that the bandits, all of them, remained inside the tank. Armored vehicles, especially tanks, were weak to ground troops. The tank provided a limited view thanks to all the armor they have, thus their crew may have trouble spotting someone hiding in the bushes or standing right beside them.
“Move slowly, make sure they can't spot us.”
“Okay,” Kayla did as told and maneuvered the Tarup 57, using the forest as their cover. They went deeper into the forest, distancing themselves from the road, while driving close enough to still see it. Another destroyed truck lies on the road, this one in a worse condition compared to the one before. Its entire front cab was gone, with its chassis and a small part of its engine remained. The truck behind it was slightly luckier, with the truck bed gone and both doors opened.
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As the two searched for the tank, a notification appeared, telling them that their allies had entered the area. In PvP bounty quests, other random players could choose to side with one of the sides involved in the conflict. Those in the same team couldn’t damage each other, a rule made specifically for quests like this.
“Should we meet up with the other team?” Kayla asked, but Anton rejected the idea.
“It will only waste time. I can communicate with them through text,” Anton explained. He noticed a different notification on his screen. He checked it, finding some words from their ally.
‘Found it?’ the message said. A special group chat had been set up just for this mission. Anton ignored them. Noticing that he didn’t reply, Kayla stopped the vehicle and replied with a simple ‘not yet’.
‘Share info once you find it,’ the other side replied.
‘Alright,’ Kayla typed before returning to the control and continued moving forward.
Thirty minutes passed. Anton let out a yawn, frustrated at how the quest went. The quest marker didn’t move. They hadn’t found anything. No communications went between the Tarup 57 and their allies, either.
“Should we just abandon this?” Anton asked, not bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice.
“...” Kayla didn’t reply immediately, probably thinking about what she should say. Anton let out a sigh. He knew that Kayla didn’t want to let go of the mission, but at the same time, he didn’t want to spend all his time hunting down a target that didn’t exist. Just then, Kayla slammed the steering wheel and jumped into speed.
“Kayla!?”
“You didn’t hear that?”
“Ah, right,” Anton went to his settings and returned his volumes.
She drove as fast as she could, while being wary of the terrain. A boom shook the previously silent air. Anton moved the camera toward where the sound came from. A notification appeared from the other team.
‘Help us!’ it said, with their location attached to the message. Their marker was located seven hundred meters in front of them, meaning they drove on the right course.
Anton noticed something on the screen and checked his cameras, finding their target sitting in the middle of an empty field, its barrel pointed at another vehicle. That other vehicle stood not far in front of them, covered in smoke and flames, smoke so thick to the point that they couldn’t see the vehicle’s shape. Two people took cover not far behind it, hiding behind a tree. The two drank their potions. Meanwhile, a second vehicle, standing further away from Anton’s position, left side of the destroyed vehicle, turned its cannon toward it. The second vehicle had a shoebox shape, with its front the only area with a sloped surface.
Unlike the Tarup 57, it had tracks instead of wheels. It turned its cannon toward the tank and opened fire. Most of the rounds bounce off rather easily, sending tracers into the sky and the ground surrounding the enemy. The tank shrugged it off, the rounds doing no more than scratching its skin. It turned its turret toward the second vehicle. The two people, now healed, ran across the foliage, heading toward a third vehicle left on Anton’s Tarup 57. The last vehicle looked similar to the second one.
Anton looked at the tank, recognizing its shape. His eyes widened once he realized the vehicle’s type. Its large sandy brown body stood tall above the plains. Its roundish turret with a flat top, its massive cannon, and its two large exhaust pipes at the rear of the vehicle. It formed a silhouette of a famous tank, its in-game design having many similarities with its real-world counterpart, although with several minor differences.
“Kayla, retreat!”
“Eh!? Ah, alright!” Kayla moved the vehicle backward, away from the engagement. Anton quickly typed a message and sent it to the chat, asking everyone to retreat and regroup.
He then looked back through his screen, noticing the two people entering the third vehicle. He received no reply. The second armored vehicle reversed, while the third one, left of him, started speeding away with him. With the second vehicle in its sights, the tank opened fire, sending a projectile screaming toward the vehicle. It pierced right through the vehicle’s left side, causing a large explosion. No one left the vehicle. Kayla drove away, escaping, the third vehicle following behind him.
They managed to escape and met up deep in the forest.
“They survived, and are now hiding while watching the tank for us.”
The boy with glasses said, a girl sitting beside him. His name was Ronald, and the girl, an AI companion, was Cecily. She had light blue short hair with a dark blue robe. They were a friend group of three people, making a total of six people with their AI companions. Based on their faces, Anton assumed them to be around high school. The ones that stayed behind to watch over the tank were called Caleb and Mia, with the last two in the single surviving Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) named Luke and Lily. Ronald, acting as the boss of the group, now sat inside Anton’s Tarup 57, discussing what to do.
The group operated Rodley IFV-01s. In the game’s lore, these were Rodley's first IFVs. They lacked thick armor and had relatively limited speed and maneuverability. They carried 25mm cannons, similar to the one Anton’s Tarup 57 used, but used a much earlier model. They were cheaper, though. Price was the only thing they had going for them.
“Wish we equipped some TOW on ours,” Ronald let out a sigh.
Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided were missiles that could easily destroy the tank.
“Couldn’t you equip it now? We only need one with it,” Anton asked. Ronald shook his head.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough money to get it.”
Anton then glanced toward Kayla. He went with his original plan to equip the cheapest option, the 25mm. A decent weapon for most of the engagements he expected. The tank threatening them couldn’t even hit fifty kilometers per hour, so if they ever met another one, the 25mm would be enough to distract it as they made their escape. If they wanted to finish this quest, however, they would require that TOW missile.
It would take a while for them to return to Mitte, but with Caleb and Mia watching the tank for them, they didn’t need to worry about losing it.
Or so they thought.
‘Everyone, they’re heading for you!’