With Maria being out of the tournament because she couldn’t meet the minimum level requirements to register despite having a lot of help from Lizzy and Emily who even asked a few of their guild members to help her out with her leveling, she continued her leveling spree and eventually got to level 100, the second benchmark of the game after level 50.
*DING*
You have fulfilled the necessary requirement to undergo a Class Advancement!
“Class Advancement, finally!”
Maria said as she slumped her shoulders and just floated in the air looking all exhausted. With the new school semester starting, Maria had only a quarter of a day’s time to play Unitale after she got back home from school and finished doing her homework. It was likely because of her shorter amount of game time that she wasn’t able to efficiently power-level her way to level 100 in time for the tournament’s registration.
Maria was sad about it and even cursed her misfortune but it had already passed and it took her another week before she got to level 100 so she probably wouldn’t have been able to make the cut even if she did have 12 hours of game time every day like she used to previously have during the winter vacation period. The preliminary rounds of the tournament were already underway and all the major sports channels had broadcasted the intense and heart-pounding matches of the participants.
The preliminary rounds garnered a large viewership and it continued to rise as the tournament kept on going. This was only the preliminaries and not even the main event. Many people predicted that this International Grand Colosseum 1―or IGC 1 for short―was most likely going to be as large as other international sports events due to the game's large playerbase. With players all around the world, it was only natural that it would receive worldwide attention. The tournament would also be held on the day when Unitale celebrated its 6-month anniversary, so the IGC was Universal Game’s half-year launch special event.
The company released a few Colosseum-related events and goals for the players to fulfill to earn rewards and in-game bonuses such as skill books, mounts, pets, weapons, equipment, and currency. Naturally, you would have to be on the second planet in order to participate in the events but this didn’t mean that the players on the first planet weren’t given anything to do.
The devs decided that for the following weeks leading up to Unitale’s half-year anniversary, the players on the first planet would have a 2 times item drop rate and EXP gain that lasted until they were off of the first planet or reached level 100. Many players who wanted in on the second planet’s events quickly began to grind their levels and quickly move over to Gaia while others took advantage of the 2 times item drop rate to grind for equipment to sell and make a profit from.
Naturally, with the two times drop rate, the value of equipment and weapons on the market of Planet Eur dropped tremendously but with new players constantly registering and jumping in to play the game since it was now on a large hype train, the guilds and organizations that took advantage of the item drop bonus earned quite a bit regardless.
“Ugh, if only I didn’t have such a large EXP penalty...it got even worse after I Awakened into a Variant but this is just too much!” Maria complained as she looked at her status menu.
On top of the already large amount of EXP she needed to earn to level up, her race Variant Awakening had added another 10% EXP to it. Her character and skills were indeed a bit broken, but the penalty was her very low level that restricted her in various ways not limited to just the tournament’s cut-off level requirement.
While Maria was lamenting on the inability to participate in the IGC, back on planet Vanhal, a new development had happened while she was away. It wasn’t known how word got out, but the vampire nobles surrounding the Dire had gotten word of Maria’s absence so they took this chance to launch attacks on her territory. Ash and Carmilla were doing their best to hold down the fort but with Carmilla restricted in her actions because Maria and Ash didn’t want it to be known that she was already taking their side, the two had a little trouble dealing with all of the attacks relying only on the Dire’s military force that still wasn’t well-developed.
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“Darling, we’ve lost the battle at the Red Plains so now they’re marching straight for the Bloodrock Mountain Range...what should we do?” Carmilla asked. “I can't move my forces so it's quite frustrating that we're being pushed around like this... things started going wrong not long after our Queen left for that other world...someone must have leaked the news of her absence to our enemies!”
Ash thought for a moment before replying, “Since we can’t use your forces, I’ll have to go to the frontlines and lead the troops myself. Stay behind and take over the government while I’m gone. I can trust you with this, right?”
“Of course. Anything for my beloved.”
The vampires had attacked them without warning so they lost the Red Plains which was just next to the Bloodrock Mountain Range. Their forces were spread too thinly apart so after being attacked by multiple vampire forces just outside the Red Plains, it didn’t take long for the Dire to lose the place they had just conquered. It would take a few hours or even days for Ash to rally the Dire's soldiers for a counterattack. If Maria was there, she could just summon her elite army and repel the vampires who tried to attack them. Unfortunately, she was off-world and the convenience she brought to her allies from her Queen sub-class was not available for the time being.
With no other option, Ash called for the immediate retreat of all Dire soldiers within the Red Plains to the Bloodrock Mountains. The Bloodrock Mountains was like a natural stronghold, so he believed that they would be able to hold off the advancing vampire forces at the mountain range because that was where the bulk of the Dire's Army was stationed.
A few days later, Ash was able to deliver on his words and successfully held off the advancing enemy vampire armies at the foot of the mountain range. There was only a few ways through the mountain range and the Dire had conquered all of these passages. The easiest place was through the Bloody Gorge, a place within the Bloodrock Mountains, and the enemy vampires had gathered there to try and conquer it.
Unfortunately for them, that place was heavily guarded by the ogres and various other monster species that Maria had recruited into her army. The gorge had a large fortress built right in the middle of it and since they failed to conquer this fortress, it was impossible for the enemy vampires to move through the mountains.
Since the Dire was located at the south western edge of the continent and was isolated by the Bloodrock Mountain Range in the east, all Ash had to do was guard that area since everywhere else was protected by natural barriers that were impossible to cross, making his job a little bit easier. To their north was Carmilla’s territory and it was forbidden for anyone to march an army through there. They didn't have to worry about a coastal invasion because the Dire's coasts were all steep cliffs, making it impossible for any ships to land enemy forces from there.
As fortunate as it sounded, Maria didn't think that it was good because it meant she couldn't build a harbor city by the coasts of her territory to make use of the ocean. She didn't have to worry about a coastal invasion because of the steep cliffs that acted as a natural deterrent for any potential invaders, but she would rather worry about the coast's security than not having easy access to the natural resources that were readily available from the ocean.
Even though Maria's territory didn't have easy access to the sea, Carmilla's territory did. Her coastal areas didn't have cliffs like the Dire's areas, so she had plenty of harbor cities and fishing towns set up along there. Carmilla was her subordinate, so Maria took solace in that fact because it meant that she could have access to the sea by using her.
It wasn’t known yet that Carmilla had sided with Maria and the Dire, so she had neutral stance on the surface and didn’t allow either side’s forces to march through her territory. If they did, it would be an act of war on the Bathory Grand Duchy. Of course, it was only an act of war for the enemy vampires. Maria could do whatever she wanted because she was Carmilla's master, but she wanted to keep their relationship a secret from her enemies and never entertained the thought.
Still, the Dire did end up losing the Red Plains, which was actually around a third of the land that they had conquered up until now. It was the land that Maria planned on turning into a large farm area for her forces’ food supply due to the fertile soil it had. The development plan was still in the works, so nothing had been built there yet except for a few fortresses where she garrisoned her soldiers that she tasked to protect the area.
If her army only had to protect the area from an invasion from the vampire nobles that were at the edges of the Red Plains, it would've been hard, but still possible. The only reason why the soldiers she had stationed there were so easily routed was because vampire nobles from afar had also participated in the attack along with the vampires bordering the plains. The large amount of enemy soldiers completely overwhelmed her soldiers and many were killed while only a lucky few managed to escape.
If Maria was present and heard about this. She would've gathered her soldiers and mounted a full-scale counterattack right away. Unfortunately, she was not and it was impossible for her to know about what was currently happening since she was not even on the planet.
Ash knew that the Red Plains was a crucial part of his Queen’s plans, so he wanted to retake it before things got out of hand. If she returned and was presented with such bad news, he feared what would happen once she flew into a rage about it. He wanted to quickly attack the enemy soldiers that were camping in the Red Plains as soon as possible, but he had to be patient for now because Carmilla was still trying to find the little weasel that was leaking their information to their enemies.
While glaring at the enemies at the mouth of the Blood Gorge, Ash mumbled to himself, “If we don't quickly find the traitor and take back the Red Plains, there will be hell to pay once Her Highness returns…”