Bao Wang, the pet rock, and myself were just South of Esperanaza. I had talked to Bao Wang and there were two options for going to the West. The options were split up by a void zone to the West of Esperanza.

Esperanza was at coordinates (-3,-1) and the void zone was at coordinates (-6,-2). New Beijing which was the evil empire’s staging city was at coordinates (-8,-3) and the Forbidden City at coordinates (-10, -5). A road had been built that ended in the swamp to the West of Esperanza, just to the edge of the zone where I had run into the demonic babies.

The road from West to East went through several level 3 zones. Bao Wang estimated there were four it went through. The zones appeared to be at just the right range from the cities to create a cluster of level 3 zones in that area.

There was also another road that ran North to South that had been on the old boarder. It was still patrolled, but nowhere to the extent it had been before since many soldiers had been pulled to East. Further South past the void zone, there were level 3 zones, but Bao Wang had no idea about them or the monsters in those zones.

The real pain in my ass, was the giant pet rock I had to escort. I couldn’t risk it getting it hurt and it wasn’t fast. It had become the most dreaded quest of them all, an escort quest. The safest and quickest option would be to take the road, but there would be a lot of soldiers along the road.

But going off road would mean I would have to watch out for the pet rock very carefully. I also didn’t want it seen, since it had a replica of the Divine Empress’s head that I was constantly improving. I had gotten it the Chinese black and white clothing the Divine Empress had worn, minus any enchantments.

It was passable, barely. I spent every spare moment I had working on the head. To get every detail and nuance right. The entire thing was covered in two large black robes and white face mask while we were traveling. The hoods of the robes covered the head of the monster completely. I couldn’t afford it to be seen by anyone and I was not going to take any chances from an accidental tear in the clothing. I even had a spare Divine Empress outfit packed away with the spare Elite Black Talon armor.

I was trying to think of every failure possibility before we reached the gates of the Forbidden City. This was plan A for audacity. Plan B was for brutality when plan A went up into flames.

What I didn’t want to do was trudge through the swamps that much. I would have to carry the pet rock to avoid making the clothing soggy. The Divine Empress would not wear anything but the most pristine of clothing, even when injured.

Bao Wang had explained that Esperanza had probably been upgraded with the Regional Map and the road extended. It was one of the few expenses that the evil empire invested in. Since a road was key for moving tribute and soldiers easily. Can’t slow down that tribute to the treasury and the Divine Empress.

Since the roads were clear of monsters and negated a large portion of the terrain effects, it allowed weak soldiers to cross level 3 zones. If I took the road, it would be constant battles for a large portion forward, but it would shatter the Empire’s army and allow Clarissa some breathing room.

I could do it. I just needed to go forward, and Bao Wang could hang back with the pet rock. Just kill my way through wave after wave of advancing soldiers. Once we got through the level 3 zones and almost to New Beijing, we would go off road and make our way to another road and then to the Forbidden City. This would stir the Empire up something fierce.

The other route was to go two zones South of the road, through a lot of swamp at two or three level 3 zones to enter the level 2 zones East of New Beijing. I would have to carry the pet rock and treat it like a special VIP the entire way across difficult terrain, watching out for monsters constantly. I wouldn’t stir up the Empire and create a lot of breathing room.

Both ways offered a lot of stress and accomplished different goals. In terms of pulling off the heist, they both appeared equal in my mind. The road route would draw a lot of attention and put a lot of stress on the Empire. I might even run into the Envoy and kill him again or draw him towards me. Possibly drawing the Black Talons out of the Capital allowing the heist to proceed easier.

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The stealth route would allowed me to just show up unexpectedly and the forces there wouldn’t be on alert. I had changed my armor out in Neo Brasilia as we passed back through the place and purchased the Divine Empress outfit. I had put my old armor in my pack. I was making the pet rock be my pack carrier.

I was in black armor with lots of spikes and a full skull shaped helmet. With a huge sword to complete the ensemble. It looked as edge lord as possible. I was wearing it as we traveled right now to get used to it. Bao Wang would introduce me as Hei Nu, which meant Black Slave. He assured me that the translation would come across as a servant as the Divine Empress and the clear offensive nature to Yankee sensibilities would make it clear I wasn’t a Yankee.

That part I was leaving up to Bao Wang. Right now, if we did run across a tribe member or a solider and they gave us problems, I would just smash them with the buster stick. My heart clenched at that thought. I would not use any skills so no one would suspect it was me under the armor, specifically word getting back to the Envoy.

My part was figuring out how to get to the Forbidden City so the heist could begin in the first place. I considered both options carefully. I could easily switch out armor sets and Bao Wang was in a concealing black cloak and robe while wearing one of the Elite Black Talon armor sets.

I would just smash anyone in our way, but the question was if I should make a ruckus first. The way I changed the entire battle at Neo Brasilia had given me this idea. Before I would have just snuck through and accepted it, but I could create a lot of drama first and there was very little risk and it might provide benefits by causing chaos.

Two paths and I had to make decision now. I had been putting it off for as long as possible. North took us to Esperanza where I would begin my massacre. South would be the stealth option. Bao Wang wanted the stealth option of course, but his opinion didn’t matter in this aspect of the plan.

I had more than enough confidence I could kill anyone approaching and we could plow through the empire soldiers easily enough. It came down to what I wanted. Chaos and helping out my side of the war. Or stealth and not putting anyone on alert.

“We assault,” I said and began changing out of my armor. Bao Wang let out a loud sigh and looked up at the sky. I could tell he was frustrated from being on the roller coaster of Michael decisions, but that was what happened when you became a prisoner of war. You didn’t get a vote on things like this.

I carefully packed away the Edge Lord set as I was calling it and put on the Champion set. I made sure to take the time to make sure the pack and buster stick were hidden under one of the oversized robes of the pet rock. I handed Bao Wang the Rod of Taming.

That way he could hold my hard rod in his hands and control the pet rock while I focused on murdering everything and everyone. Naran, I promised you a mountain of corpses as revenge, you are getting a literal mountain of corpses. No half measures. Also, it would let my side recover and take the offensive in the war effort.

“This is such a bad idea. We should sneak to the Forbidden City,” Bao Wang complained.

“Just focus on keeping up and moving the rock along,” I told him off. I had no mental energy to listen to any complaints. Also, we had gotten a lot of sleep and rest the last couple of days.

We advanced through the level 1 zone, flowerlands, of Esperanza. There were people killing monsters. I noted they were Chinese and not Brazilian. The evil empire had probably brought in tribes to grind out here and help support the war effort.

Level 1 grinders, since there wasn’t any real point in killing them. Better to send back the non-Chinese to suffer in the fighting pits and brothels. I saw the city in the distance and there were a lot of soldiers at the entrance.

Air Burst. I shot forward after making sure there was no threat near Bao Wang or the pet rock. The soldiers began to panic. “Acid Shot,” x20. I wiped them out and then shot to the top of the wall. I killed the soldiers there and cleared out the towers that had been built.

Bao Wang and the pet rock entered Esperanza unmolested. We advanced North through the city of Esperanza. Anyone I ran across I killed. See a person, kill a person. When I reached the plaza, several beam attacks were unleashed at me.

I easily dodged them with my higher Body stat and Air Burst skill. I targeted the skill users first, then the regular soldiers, then the officers. I didn’t want them running until the last possible moment. The officers tended to fight until the end, so I left them alone so they would kill the soldiers that panicked and ran.

I lost count how many people I killed. I wasn’t even winded at the end of the massacre as Bao Wang and the pet rock entered the plaza completely unmolested. This was the proper way to handle an escort quest. Just kill everything that could be a threat.

We kept advancing North through the city and I cleared out the North gate of any soldiers and saw the road for the first time. It was about twice as wide as the tunnel through the city. Same paved gray stones and slightly sloped so water would run off. Not liked it rained. With the edges elevated, it reminded me of a Roman road.

Bao Wang had purchased a cart to sit and more supplies. The pet rock pulled the cart while he sat in the cart and kept an eye out. He had given the monster orders to stay on the road and a certain distance behind me.

As long as I didn’t rush too far ahead, the pet rock would keep shifting its way forward. It was painfully slow, but the weight of the cart didn’t make a difference to it in the slightest.