“They’re perfect meat shields,”

“They’re much more than that.”

“Hoh hoh.. I’ll wait for the surprise then,” Franken hummed while chewing on a fruit he picked from god knows where.

Zyrus had used his one and only chance of using the earth movement to travel to a different sector. There were no walls or barriers that separated the sectors from the underground.

He knew about this from his past life. The rat king was able to travel to all sectors, and it caused no small commotion in the city of ruin. The cunning rat only popped up near spawn points and ‘stole’ the revived players.

It was able to get 3000 followers before anyone else. However, it came at the cost of offending every other crown holder. But the rats' luck ran out as the central area had a barrier that locked the sky and the earth.

Forget about a golden crown, it nearly lost all of its kind in an interspecies whack-a-mole event.

Another hour went by as Zyrus and Franken observed the fight. He knew that the others had already finished their tasks as the troops under his command numbered over 2000.

“Shouldn’t we hurry?”

“No need for that. We can’t do much with just the two of us.” Zyrus calmly observed the ongoing fight which was like a deforestation.

Less than half a day was left from the crown hunt. He knew that some of the crown holders must have reached the central district. Thanks to his past experience though, he knew that getting more followers before everyone else wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

The existence of a spawn point was something that could change the tides at any point.

‘Even the orcs know that,’

Zyrus grinned evilly as he looked at the far horizon. Others may not see that far, but he and Franken could.

*ROOOOOAR*

*Guuu*

*Guuoooo*

The trolls cried out one after another as if they were possessed. Green blood flowed out from their limbs and seeped into the trees and plants all around them.

“What’s going on with ‘em?”

“Who knows, let’s just finish them off before they do anything else,”

“Hahaha, ya got that right missy,”

All of the close combat players charged ahead under the man’s command. The archers and shield warriors provided cover whereas the mages and the dagger users were left to cut down the trees.

*Thunk*

*Chop*

The trees and plants were cut down with ease. No more branches or vines popped out as well.

“H-hey leader, I have a bad feeling about this,”

“I thin-”

“RETREAT!” The violet dressed woman shouted while placing her hands on the ground. The man was about to question her but soon realized that the warning wasn’t meant for them.

“Why you bitch!”

The woman didn’t even bother to reply and poured more and more mana into the ground. There was enough moisture in the soil to hold them off. The ground hardened under their feet and thin icicles popped all around the trolls.

*GRRROOO*

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The troll leader growled at the moonless sky above. It was like a switch had been flipped as the trolls began to transform.

*Crack*

Thick bark filled with thorns covered their entire body. Long vines replaced their fingers as they flailed around the players.

*Thump*

*Thump*Thump*

One after another, the trolls marched towards the humans. There was no escape from their whip-like hands. Even if they wanted to run backward, they couldn’t because of the sharp icicles on the ground.

The woman looked gloatingly at the trapped players. There were a few from the man's group who were mixed in with other units, but none of them dared to give them a helping hand.

The man even used his ‘Radiance’ ability which shrouded his team in a golden halo, but alas, it was of no use. In gaming terminology, it was as if all of the troll's defense was converted into attack.

“Get ready,”

The players charged their most powerful attacks. The humans were getting mauled down by the angry trolls, but even then, the trolls had suffered severe causalities.

The duration of their transformed state was very short. The trolls were sliced like tofu once they were back to normal. Let alone the angry humans, even the icicles on the ground were a fatal threat to them.

“I…will... avenge….my..people,”

“FIRE!” the woman ordered as she saw that the man was about to speak. She didn’t know if the troll leader had figured out their plan, but even if he did, it was too late.

Hundreds of humans and trolls were felled with the barrage of attacks. Compared to their drawn-out fight, the conclusion was very quick. Just as the woman was about to celebrate though, she heard a familiar sound that drained all the color from her face.

*BUUUUUUU*

Bugles cried out from all around the garden.

“Fuck.”

Hundreds of orcs walked out from the surrounding streets. Their red eyes were all the more menacing under the crystals' glow.

“Let’s go Franken,” Zyrus smirked as he got on top of the reindeer. Despite the earth movement's limitations, he was able to bring Franken along with him.

He knew that Franken wasn’t a simple companion. The sentiment only grew stronger as he saw the streets pass by in a blur.

They streaked across the night sky by hopping off the buildings. Franken was able to land perfectly on any surface thanks to his silver hooves. In less than a minute they were already within a 100 meters of the spawn point.

The distance was short enough for the orcs to see them, but that was no longer an issue. The orcs were already occupied in killing the surviving trolls and humans. From their point of view, leaving 100 orcs was more than enough to guard the spawn point.

The orc leader had sent many scouting teams around the area to notify them of any hostile forces. Naturally, a reindeer with silver antlers wouldn’t be unnoticed by them in the dark night.

*Grrrrrr*

“Are they scaring us off?”

“Looks like it.”

“To think that one day these lowly cretins would treat me as a wild animal...”

“I mean- h-hey slow down,” Zyrus grabbed the silver antlers as Franken jumped ahead without any warning.

“Were you saying something?”

“Spoken like a true wild animal.”

“C’mon chief, at least say something that makes sense,”

“Whatever, just watch where you’re going,” Zyrus spoke with a jolt as Franken ran straight towards the orcs.

“You’d better jump off, hahaha..”

Zyrus had no desire to collide with the orcs. So as any normal Sylvarix would, he jumped off the wild animal.

The orcs were just as if not more surprised by Franken’s sudden charge. Before they could mount a defense or call for support, the silver antlers were already at their faces.

*Crack*

An out-of-place sound rang out near the spawn point. The orcs' bones shattered into pieces just as they came across the shining antlers. Franken no longer looked like a fairy tale creature.

It would be more accurate to call him an incarnation of nightmare. The bright emerald glow wasn’t able to hide the blood that stuck on his antlers.

“Kuh-”

*Buuuu-

His shiny hooves were splashing in the puddles of blood as the one-eyed reindeer ran wild on the streets.

“What a mess, at least kill them properly,” Zyrus grunted as he took out his bloodspine spear. He didn’t have any fond memories of the orcs, and besides, he was long since used to bloody fights like this.

‘Looks like my companion has a screw lose,’

[Shackles of Nihility]

Well, he wasn’t much better than the reindeer in this aspect.

“Kuhuhu.. that’s right, hold ‘em off,”

“Take out the running ones first,”

“With pleasure,” Franken ran off like a bull after hearing Zyrus. Both of them knew that the other orcs were on their way towards this area.

[Poison breath]

Zyrus didn’t even check the damage and Exp numbers as he ran towards a fountain. This was the spawn point where the trolls would revive.

“Stop!”

“Too late motherfucker.”

*FLASH*

A blue beacon of light erupted from the fountain. Aurora hadn’t told anyone a crucial detail. When someone recruited new players from a spawn point, a flare would shout out from that area.

And it’ll be visible across the whole sector.

The more players you recruit, the brighter the light would be. And since there were 500 trolls behind Zyrus, the light was particularly eye-catching this time.

“Damn you!”

“Yeah yeah, I’ve been hearing that a lot,”

Zyrus didn’t give the orc leader a second glance and walked towards his new subordinates. He only needed 500 more to automatically pass through this sector. Since it was the first time someone was using this method, he didn’t know whether he’d be reunited with his other subordinates or not.

“All done chief.”

“Great, let's collect some more,” Zyrus grinned at the oncoming orcs and ordered the tolls to go all out.

He would be in the central district by the time their reinforcement arrived, and the trolls would teleport alongside him.