Ruth

I tossed another crystal into my pack after killing the monster in front of me. I had escaped that hell and now I was stuck in the wilderness. It had taken me a long time, but I had recovered quite a few points. The current war was perfect for slipping in and out of cities to cash in my points.

The goal was to leave the Dragon Empire and return to the East and the lands of Purgatory. I am sure Michael had forgotten about me by now. Also, it would be easier to deal with English speakers.

“Hey, what group or unit are you with?!” a man called out. I had stolen a uniform from a soldier I had killed. It had been enough to get me to the East, but not enough to blend in with the other grinders out here.

“Just passing through,” I replied.

“Passing through? Then why take the crystals. I am sorry, but I am going to have to detain you for questioning,” the man said. I frowned at this.

“Detain me? Why? I haven’t done anything,” I replied.

“This zone is under the authority of Purgatory and Chief Administrator Clarissa.” My heart raged at that name. That vile bitch. She was going to pay for stealing my spot of being in charge.

“Very well,” I replied and approached the man. My hands were to the side. “Acid Shot,” I used the skill when I was quite close to him. He didn’t dodge in time.

“Ahhhh!” He screamed.

“Acid Shot. Acid Shot.” I quickly melted him. I could see why Michael enjoyed doing that so much. While horrifying, there was a feeling of power that came from melting people. I walked past the man that had tried to stop me and continued on my way. I made sure to pay attention to what he was wearing. Time to get to a city so I could blend in, but not give up my crystals like all these idiots. I needed to get as many points as possible before this war ended one way or the other.

I would need to get a flying summon soon to keep overwatch and keep an eye out for threats. That was Michael’s biggest weakness. Not considering how to leverage all the tools at his disposal. Or perhaps his biggest weakness was turning his back on me.

Well, it was not a problem, I would increase my strength one step at a time, then I would stand at the top. I had only suffered a minor setback. Thankfully a restoration had fixed any issues I might have had.

What I needed now was strength. As much strength as I could get. That meant points and killing as many monsters as I could find. Hopefully I would be able to get strong enough to start killing level 3 monsters. I didn’t feel confident yet, but it was only a matter of time.

The main thing I needed to do until I got strong enough was not get caught or pinned down. Also upgrading my skills. There was a lot I needed to do. I shook my head a bit. I had a bit of a headache all the time now, but some stats should make that go away.

Michael had tried to kill me, the Divine Empress had captured me, but I was still alive. I would outlast all of them and get my revenge. They were idiots for what they had done to me, and it was all their fault. It was only a matter of time until I took over this place.

Chief Administrator Clarissa

I looked over the map I had set up in my secret bunker. Various tokens were placed all over the place as I traced the path the Divine Empress had left. I was trying to figure out if there was a pattern so I could move more critical grinding teams.

Losing a level 1 or a level 2 team was not a big deal, but it was a pain to lose a level 3 team, since there had already been quite a bit of investment into their stats. A messenger arrived and delivered a report about Neo Brasilia.

The city had been leveled. I frowned at that. It would be costly to repair. But it wasn’t crippling. War expenses were winding down as the zones under my control had increased. Even with the Divine Empress’s return that had only put a dent into things. It hadn’t been a huge issue. Just a hassle.

At least I was confident she wouldn’t be able to find me or her kid. I had taken several measures to ensure there were no screwups. One of them being the elite team that was posing as regular grinders while keeping the kid under tight lockdown.

In addition, I was moving between five different bases at random. It made things harder to coordinate, but that was why I had Commanders at each individual city handle regional issues. Everything was holding together thankfully.

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The Divine Empress had come East and gone to the East Bastion after destroying New Beijing. She had searched around the city briefly before leaving and now she had gone to Neo Brasilia. I knew that the research facility was uncompromised.

That was critical to everything. The main issue was not losing the good doctor. Even if he went to the city for a restoration, he would not be there long. I trusted the guards I had assigned to him. Everything should be fine. But it was stressful, hoping there were no screwups.

She was probably looking for clues. Even if she questioned individual people, it would take along time to work her way back up to me and the flow of crystals. There were several hand offs with the later ones involving checking for hostile presences.

It was headache inducing, but the one thing I had learned about the Divine Empress was that she had no patience. Her Dragon Empire was a mess and was already falling apart. Her return hadn’t done much, but kept it on life support.

Hopefully Michael would get those crafting crystals so we could finish the superweapon and kill her off. I would just have to keep watching if there was any kind of pattern to her movements and adjust accordingly. The annoying part was that she never left anyone alive.

Trent

“One more monster. One more monster,” I hummed to myself as I carefully speared another monster. I looked around. That was it for the day. I picked up the crystal, put it in my pack and began making my way back to the campsite.

Other people began to trickle in as well. Once everyone was there, a tally was taken of crystals collected and stored in the cart. It wasn’t hard work, but it was boring. Still, it was better than dying. The captain of our grinding team had been on the front lines.

While he didn’t like to talk about it, it was clear he had seen some crazy things. I was glad not having to fight against the Dragon Empire. We all sat down at the table out in the wilderness. Since we were out here for so long, we left the furniture next to our personal cart during the day and it didn’t disappear. We had a crystal cart which would be exchanged for a supply cart.

“Wonder who that person was in the morning?” Right before we set off someone had rushed past our campsite quite quickly. We didn’t take time to chat about it then, so I decided to ask now.

“Someone important obviously. Best not to mess with someone that travels that fast,” our captain said. We then got to chatting about stats and how many someone would need to travel that fast and how many stats Champion Michael had.

When our carts were swapped out, there was always updates and news. Champion Michael featured in a lot of them. He had shattered the armies of the Dragon Empire apparently which was good to here. Hopefully this war would be over soon. No promises were made, but there was a lot of hope it would be done sooner rather than later.

Our grinding team liked to go out early to get a head start on the other teams. That way we had the afternoon off and got more crystals. Our captain had told us that this wouldn’t be safe in higher level zones, but for now, he wanted to make his numbers and our numbers look as good as possible.

“Hello,” a female voice said and we all turned to an older Asian lady dressed in white and black. Her white hair was done up in bun and she had a smile on her face. “I am trying to find my friend. He probably came through here recently? Traveling very quickly.”

I noticed my captain trembling and it took me a moment to realize that the fluid leaking down his chair was because he had pissed himself. He scrambled backwards. His chair falling over as he quickly tried to get back to his feet.

He suddenly exploded. Blood and shards of bones splattered all over me. “What a shame. Now speak.”

“I…I…someone ran by this morning,” I quickly said. I didn’t want to die. Who was this woman?! She turned to look at me.

“Which way?” she asked. I quickly pointed the direction the man had been traveling. It was towards East Bastion.

“What a good dog. Now play dead.”

Doctor Katz

I cut open Champion Michael. He was screaming in pain, but he held onto the pillar and kept his Body stat suppressed. I had done an examination beforehand, but it was likely that this bomb or tumor was quite small.

Anything large would impact the nearby organs. Just some minor pain and cramping wasn’t too serious in terms of size. I pulled out his intestines. If he wasn’t holding onto the pillar ready to purchase a restoration, I would not have dared risk this.

This wasn’t even a real surgery. It was butchery with witchcraft thrown in at the end. I checked the intestines, looking for any lumps like that. Blood was coming out of the opening and Michael kept screaming. But I didn’t rush.

Staying calm no matter what was critical during any operation. Be it on the battlefield or in the operating room. The intestines were clean. I expanded the opening more and began aggressively exploring as quickly as I could.

Michael had minutes and the pain was incredible. There! A lump connected to a lot of blood vessels, attached to the lining of his abdominal muscles. I quickly cut it off, ready to throw the foreign mass away. It was in a weird sack.

“How interesting. Your pain tolerance is quite impressive. I will have to think quite hard about how to get around it.” I froze and saw a woman I had only seen once before. Fear gripped my heart. I quickly scrambled away as Michael’s body regenerated.

He used his arms to leverage himself backwards in a flip. His bloody chest visible. I was backing away as quickly as I could. The Divine Empress glanced at me but didn’t do anything. I noticed both my guards had vanished.

“Divine Empress,” Champion Michael said as I quickly ran away. Staying anywhere nearby this fight was going to be my death. I didn’t hear the Divine Empress’s reply. Looking over my shoulder, he was backing up slowly as she slowly advanced towards him.

I didn’t slow down and kept running. I am sorry Michael, but there was nothing I could do. I needed to survive no matter what. Everyone was counting on me to finish the superweapon to take out the Divine Empress.