It had taken a lot of time. I had gone East trying to find the Avatar, but she had stopped spying. Then I tracked the points down and their flow to this city of Neo Brasilia. It was built up, but it was easy enough to knock down again.

I destroyed structure after structure, but the worms hid and ran. They had been getting better recently at hiding. I had found several hiding spots with enchanted blankets to block my Sense stat. It was quite clever of them. Even worms know to crawl up from the soil when it rains to not drown.

Looking around I considered the devastation I had unleashed and found a survivor. I rushed over and grabbed them, pulling them free from the debris. They screamed as their foot was ripped off from being trapped and my hand dug into their shoulder, but I didn’t care.

“Do you want to live?” I asked.

“Ahhh!” I gave the man a gentle slap, sending several teeth from his mouth.

“Do you want to live,” I asked.

“Yesp!” he sputtered out with flecks of blood. That was disgusting.

“Then where are you sending the points to. I know this city is being used as a hub, but they have to be going to somewhere. Where are they going?” I asked.

“Nah, nah, points,” he hastily stuttered out. “Geearp.”

“Gear?” I asked. He nodded at that. “You are making gear and other equipment here and sending it out?” I asked and he nodded again and gave an affirmative. That was interesting, but not helpful. I wanted the flow of points, since that would point to the leaders, since they would be accumulating power with the points to fight me.

I just needed to keep following them. I could see a chunk of the points being spent to keep the troops going and outfitting them, but I couldn’t imagine investing large number of points in their regular troops. But they did have good gear and their stats were decently high. I frowned at this.

Were they really not using the points to empower themselves? I frowned at this thought. I had considered it a possibility but had dismissed it before. But now it seemed likely. Even if they were going to get points, they were probably using high level zones to funnel those points in a different direction.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Spec-spec gearp,” the man struggled to say.

“Spec gear?” I asked. He waved his hands and sputtered out more blood. “Speak clearly,” I ordered him, but he was not inclined to listen. I quickly brought him to the plaza and put him on the pillar. He put his hands on it and was restored.

He quickly scrambled to his feet touching his mouth and looking at me in fear. At least he had points to live and answer questions. “Speak, quickly.”

“Specialty gear. Armored plates and stuff. They are commissioned and sent up to the East Bastion. That’s all I know, I swear,” the man said.

“What kind of armored plates, like shields?” I asked.

“Larger, more complex. The orders are divided up. So, I don’t see it all. But a lot of reflection enchantments.” I considered that. Possibly something to build a deep bunker. How interesting and clever.

Building something deep underground would make it very hard to find. Get some large metal plates, well that would be even better. “Good job,” I idlily said. The man let out a sigh of relief just before his head separated from his neck. No one would be spared.

I had been too lenient in the past and too caring. I needed to crush those emotions and focus on killing my enemies. I left the ruined city and considered how I would handle this next part. It was time to engage in a bit of hiding and stealth.

That was another reason I had made such obvious patterns with my movements and didn’t chase after the few that escaped. They would pass on word where I was. I was trying to stir things up and create gaps in this entire web operation.

The next step would be to go to the area around the East Bastion and circle it, picking off isolated people and teams discretely, questioning them about where Champion Michael and possibly Clarissa were located. I was doubtful I would find the woman, she was the wormiest worm of them all.

But Champion Michael, well I had come across people who had spoken about him and him traveling about already. He wasn’t disguising his movements. That was another reason why I had come to this city. I had heard he might be in the area, but he was hiding away like the dog he was.

No matter, I would track down this bunker or super base. That was probably where they were keeping my son and Champion Michael would eventually check on its progress and him to ensure that he was still around. It was what I would do in his place.

That would be his undoing. I was going to cut him off at the knees and end his threat once and for all. It was simply a matter of following the money. It was always about the money. Or points in this case, since that translated to power.

Humans might have to survive differently in these lands, but they were still the same base creatures at heart. Once I found him, he would not escape me. The East Bastion was also out of the way and would seem like a safe city. The perfect city to surveil discreetly and ambush him in.

There was a flash of energy in the sky. Too far away to see clearly, but it was the Avatar. She had gotten smarter. That was annoying, but no surprise. Her time was coming as well and she would soon die. My hands clenched into fists, they would all die.