================================
Volume 5
Chapter 212: Kladis Calls For War
================================
“You told him to be a sacrifice?”
“Uh…”
“ANSWER ME!”
“Yes! Yes, sir, I did! Even I, when given that order, will do my best to buy time for us if I was on his shoes! My loyalty to The Legion runs deep on my bones!”
After hearing this, Kladis’s face turned completely ugly out of anger as he kicked the man into a corner that destroyed some secondary unimportant equipment.
“STUPID FOOL! I can’t believe I’m surrounded by the largest morons in the fucking universe! You told a fleet commander to be a sacrificial pawn against a God of War and his entire Church… with his entire fleet made up of more than a thousand of his personally and painstakingly groomed soldiers, five expensive High-Tier attack warships, hundreds of Cyclones, and him being a fucking general with three stars on his shoulders… you ordered him to die an ant’s death just so you could buy a meager two-hours’… worth…… of…… fucking time…?!”
The Deputy Commander trembled on his feet and although there is fear in his eyes, the light of devotion and reverence is still present when he replied:
“Supreme Commander… what use is a three star general to us when we have The Providence and have control over a Dragon God in our ranks? The order I gave him was backed up by this reasoning. He clearly knew it as well! If he was loyal to The Legion, he would never betray it! He is a traitor and he must die! I will give the order for his execution!”
CRACK!
An illusory sound of something breaking was heard as soon as the Deputy stopped speaking.
Kladis was glaring at him. Brows, lips, nose, face —almost every muscle on his body were twitching. His chest was heaving pants, and his hands were shaped like claws that wanted to tear and choke the living hell out of the moronic bastard.
“God, I was wrong.” Kladis cried helplessly to the ceiling. “You aren’t just an ordinary stupid moron. You aren’t an imbecile as well… sigh… you just don’t have a brain in that big fucking empty head.”
As Kladis spoke, he raised his hand, his eyes darkened with a cold-blooded look of ruthlessness in them.
WHOOSH!
“S-Supre—!!“
BANG!
Without a warning, a gold-lined, elegant-looking wood-bodied pistol design like the ones before the old Wild West era, materialized on Kladis’ right hand.
At the next moment, the golden hammer at the right side fell and a golden bullet flew in a speed that’s almost visible yet unavoidable inside the command room. The sound of gunpowder exploding and the sight of the bullet flying off the barrel towards the middle of his brows interloped in the mind of the poor Deputy telling him his death before it even happened.
The ruthless look in Kladis’ face registered in the man’s brain before he began to fall dead on the floor.
But…
At the next instant that the bullet hit his head, a golden fire burst from the hole in the head, engulfing his body in less than a moment, and turning him into ashes before falling in the floor.
“Fucking shit, making me waste a general…” Kladis murmured in between gritted teeth.
Everyone inside the room was aghast as they watched it all happen in but just a moment.
Kladis’ golden locks danced elegantly in the air but his face still displayed that cold indifference of a killer as he glances at those ashes as if it were ants.
He then turned his gaze on a shivering man and raised his right hand, the gun vanishing and him clicking his tongue.
With a pointed finger Kladis ordered, “You’re now the Deputy.”
The man looked at the ashes for a moment and then gave a stiff salute and fear in his expression. “Yes sir.”
He had no choice. He doesn’t want his career to end uselessly like that. This Deputy-turned-ash had sucked up too much and the result was not only The Legion losing two divisions’ worth of trained army, lost an entire Armada, and also gained another enemy that ultimately now bore hatred deep his heart, but they also lost a talented general who had an ability to lead.
“Sound the alarm, code red, all personnel to their battle stations.” Kladis’s words were uttered calmly but underneath his every word is the grating anger creeping through on his skin.
Following this command was the sound of alarm and the entire castle was placed in a state of emergency.
“Contact the excavation team. Tell them to hurry back with the record. Contact Hilda and tell her to abandon the attack on the other part of the city and only focus on searching for Jack in the nearest 10km of his last location. Also, dispatch all warships and maintain a defensive perimeter. Deploy the Rewloolas. Do not allow that Elder God to approach the city.”
After he spoke, he straightened himself and then faced the exit. The moment he turned his back is the moment the alarm sound rung.
Noises of the NPC panel operators giving orders and relaying necessary operational commands became the background of his stiff and angry back.
His every step was heavy and caused every person in the command room to focus all their senses to their assigned tasks.
When Kladis was on the exit, they almost sighed in relief when the man stopped and turned to the face them.
Instantly, tension rose again.
Kladis, with a frown, told the new Deputy, “Clean that trash. I don’t want that moron’s smell lingering in the air when I come back.”
“Y-Yes sir.”
Kladis exited the room, cursing to himself.
The red and yellow lights blinked in the hallway while the alarm sound ringing to stirring every legionnaire’s soul awake. Outside the command bridge, at a fork, Kladis turned left, intending to exit the castle and join the battlefront himself.
As soon as he turned, he stopped walking. He did not fully turn his body but he addressed the shadow of the person waiting on the junction’s right side.
He said, “I will fix this.”
“No rush.” A female voice, Kira’s voice, replied blandly.
Kladis’ body trembled and a look of fear and anger flashed on his face.
“I will fix this. I promise.”
A short silence occurred and the sound of footsteps getting further away from him echoes back on his ears.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“Take your time.” A distant voice replied and he slightly turned his body to see Kira wave an uncaring hand as if dismissing his sentence in the air. Even her voice seemed to not care about it.
When the footsteps disappeared to the corner, Kladis turned around and faced the empty long hallway on the right side of the junction. He clenched a fist, and punched the wall in front of him, creating a loud bang that echoes in the hallways.
“God or not, you fucking ruined everything.”
He walked off the hallway, shoulders swaggering left and right.
*****
Along the sound of alarm, a change occurred in the seemingly tranquil-looking ever majestic castle base, Apus Epirus, from the distance.
The soldiers stationed as lookout in the wall saw the roof of three island castles at the far back opened and spurted hundreds of Cyclones that were dispatched around the area of Apus Epirus.
Also, from the side islands, two large gold and silver-painted battleships and nine warships exited from the castle roofs that formed a large defensive array, protecting the main castle, focusing on the general direction of northeast where Akhenaton will be coming from.
Kladis stood at the wall of his castle, eyes focused at the sight ahead.
A Guard Captain on the wall had his eyes widened as soon as he saw the two battleships.
“My God…! Those are Rewloola-Class Battleships!”
The Rewloola… it was the name of a famous battleship in a robot-featured TV Series in the 21st Century. It was incorporated and first used in RPG: Terroa by the Panorama Corp. as an ad background-feat when they were still campaigning for the release of the game.
When the game was released, the players were very disappointed when they realized that not only the requirements on building a ‘warship’ too expensive and strict, but owning one had even stricter requirements because of its abilities. Battleships aren’t like Flagships for the former can serve as the main artillery of an entire fleet while also still serving as the Flagship of an entire Armada.
These are just few of the many benefits of a battleship.
One battleship was already enough to bankrupt an ordinary country in Terroa, owning two of them means that the power the Blue Card Legion possesses wasn’t something that easily ignored.
“I wanted to keep it a secret but this damn Elder God is forcing my hand. I just hope that the Leader is also watching these events today and hurry back online.”
Kladis, at the castle wall, grated his teeth. He watched as one of the 500m sized battleships went straight towards Alexandria, while the other one hovered above the castle, surrounded by nine warships of two Knight, four Garuda, and three Lambda Classes.
“Rewloowla-1, I need you to destroy that Barrier in less than an hour. Do not save anything. Pour in all effort to breach that barrier wall.”
On his vision, a Fleet Commander gave a salute and the video call ended.
Kladis then glanced over the magnified display of The Akhenaton on one of the display panels on his vision and clicked his tongue.
“Tsk. Now the whole world and our enemies can prepare for our battleships. I really hate this Elder God for forcing me to revealing our cards this early!”
Although the number of his units is fewer than the thirteen warship formation of Akhenaton, there was still the presence of a battleship that specialized in defense with heavy bombardment ability hovering above Apus Epirus.
The Bloody Mary Cannons mounted on this ship was a staggering number of ten!
Including two long-ranged “Longhorn” Cannons and a complete array of 100 multi-functional Missile Pods, just the firepower and defensive ability of this battleship alone was enough to destroy the entire current Black Mustache fleet ten times over.
With a sword at his waste, Kladis touched the hilt as he played his thumb on the gem at the end of it.
Looking at the distance, an NPC woman reported at his side, “The enemy is 70km away from us.”
“Load missiles. Charge the Longhorn. Scatter the Cyclones and focus fire on the giant golden figure when it enters our firing range. Prepare all units to attack. We will not let them hinder our plans here!” At the end of his sentence, the NPC woman bowed and Kladis clicked his tongue again in irritation. “So what if you’re a god? I can still trample you with my foot if I want to!”
On his panel window, the Akhenaton carried the Godhammer in a threatening manner and continued to rush towards the Apus Epirus.
While Kladis was glaring angrily at Akhenaton, his mind was working on the losses he had suffered.
“This Elder God ruined our plans. Not only he made me lose my libido, I actually lost an entire Armada and two divisions’ worth of excellently trained NPCs in addition to a Strike Commander! Damn this loss is big!”
It was one thing for the soldiers, they can be replaced, but what can’t be replaced was the fact that he lost two good generals from this Elder God, especially that mustached Lieutenant General D’Catch... a Fleet Marshal with his own elite fleet!
One should take note that an ordinary Fleet Commander and a Fleet Commander with “his own fleet” are two hugely different things.
While the first one is also an ‘elite’, not having your own fleet means that you cannot control how your forces develop and improve overtime and that you are dependent on your commander in chief to provide you with your own force to command.
A Fleet Commander who trains his own units is two whole tiers higher than any other Fleet Commander.
Marshal D’Catch has his own fleet and he is also a renowned Fleet Commander that earned his rank and title “Turquoise” through battles.
Losing him because of a single stupid command, this loss was just too big!
D’Catch is such a good and talented commander and the root cause of losing him is this Elder God Donar.
“Fuck it all.” Kladis cursed and pulled up a window. In the window, Hilda the Female Knight that faced Karim was seriously attentive. “Destroy the buildings, kill the innocents, I don’t care what you do… I want you to find Jack and bring me what he stole from us! If you fail this, I will make sure you will suffer greatly. Do you understand?”
There was a placid expression on Hilda’s face and she gave a salute before answering.
“I shall heed your command.”
Kladis ended the call and glared up front, the NPC woman who waited behind him reporting an update.
“He just entered a 67km marked distance.”
“What is the charging level of the longhorn?”
“22%, sir. Estimated full-charging time of 15 minutes.”
Kladis pondered for a moment and then turned his head back towards the castle door. There, he saw the woman, Kira, watching him, seemingly amused.
He turned his gaze back at the horizon, giving an order to the NPC aide at his side.
“Send an order to the warships. Deploy at a spearhead formation with the Rewloola-2 in the heart. As soon as Donar gets into 20km, shoot him down from the sky.”
“Yes sir.”
*****
The authority to command the forces in Akhenaton is divided by Volt and Thorn but both of them ultimately had the same authority to view each other’s given tasks on the functions of the armies.
As such, both of them learned that up ahead was the entire array of warships and a battleship that’s been formerly craved for by players, a Rewloola-Class Battleship, was already preparing to engage them on a direct frontal brawl.
Thorn, atop the Bat Wing, frowned at this.
He turned his head aside and nodded. Marshal D’Catch gave a nod confirming reply and swiped the air, making a call directly at Apus Epirus.
At 65km, the call connected and a Real@D rendering of Kladis with an entire background of followers came through in front of them.
“You must be Kladis.”
“I am Kladis. You are?”
“Bishop White.”
“I see. I heard you wanted us to stop the attack in Alexandria? May I know why?”
“His Majesty demands that you stop your attack. This city is under his protection as of the moment. Do not try to force His Majesty to conform to any laws set by your mortal world. If you follow his will, he will give a generous reward. Stop your attacks now.”
Kladis frowned. No. In fact, he’s always been frowning from the very beginning but it deepened further when he heard this arrogant and overbearing demand.
Still, it doesn’t mean that it was a one-sided, no-reward ultimatum from an NPC.
The personality algorithm that controlled this NPC had still offered a reward for the trouble.
It is still enough enticement for an ordinary player.
But of course, as “Players” of this game world, no human will bow down on a mere NPC. Even if they did so, it was still a superficial display of allegiance. No sane man with pride and dignity that was as high as the clouds as Kladis will let himself be enslaved and be pushed around and ordered upon by a mere computer program.
Though there are people who, like D’Catch, who puts the meaning of “Role Playing Game” in a new different level, it was clear that Kladis was the type of the former unbending class.
He doesn’t like being looked down upon by an NPC. If he did, he wouldn’t have his harem comprised entirely of the most beautiful women of the most beautiful races in the game wouldn’t he?
As such, when he heard this demand, he couldn’t help but deeply frown.
“No.” He said and raised his chin, a display of his own dignified arrogance. “If you want me to stop my attacks, then you will have to either give me what I want or you will have to force me to do so. Either way, I will not bend on my decision. Assuming that you have spoken with my former subordinate, Marshal D’Catch there behind you, I employ you to come over here if you want us to have a negotiation.”
Thorn felt yelling but assuming his persona at the moment, he only smiled mysteriously, “You have such a tone for a mere mortal. I wonder where that kind of confidence is coming from… is it from your position, or from your ability?”
Whether it was coincidental or not, as soon as Thorn finished speaking, a thunderous roar resounded on the background and hearing this made Kladis frown even deeper than his already deep frown.
It was a deterrent effect that was unexpected.
“…or not.” Thorn suddenly said and sighed, “It seems that you have angered His Majesty so we shall now disregard any other form of negotiation and face each other in glorious combat as you wished.”
BLINK!
In Kladis’ side, Thorn’s Real@D rendering disappeared without waiting for a reply.
.
.
===================
The war has been brewed, now we samba!
===================
.
.
Next chapter: A strong arm pledges in the name of honor!