A few days later, in a camp within the core area of the Lycan territory, Zhuge Lan along with his master, Hecate, were inside a large room together with a few other members of the PK Alliance.
There was no semblance of a hierarchical system within the PK Alliance as strength was the only speaking power there. The players within the alliance ranked themselves based on their individual strength and those who were strong had more say in the PK Alliance’s meetings, which they had very sparsely, since everyone was busy fighting in Gaia’s Colosseum Arena or were out PKing other players.
The alliance hardly held any meetings unless it was to discuss something very important, like right now.
Zhuge Lan had called for the meeting as the Alliance’s strategist and 3rd-in-command. He needed to talk to everyone about their participation in Vanhal’s Main Story Quest. Many were willing to join the Main Story Quest at its current stage because it had a lot to do with battles against other players since it was a war.
“Zhuge, you had better have a good reason to call for this meeting other than to talk about the Main Story Quest. I, as well as everyone else, have already given you our answer last time,” A fiery young lass with red hair and glowing red eyes said as she eyed Zhuge Lan with a fierce look.
“Calm down, Flare. I called everyone here today for good reason.”
“Flare, how about we listen to Zhuge Lan? We hardly ever gather together like this and since he insisted on it this time, I’m sure he has a good reason for bringing us together.”
This time around, it was a large and extremely buff man who spoke up. His upper body was only covered by a fur coat made of a lion’s mane, so his chest, which had well-sculpted muscles, was showing.
Flare looked at the lion-like man and snorted before sitting back down on her chair and looking away before saying, “Fine.”
The lion-like man was the second-in-command of the PK Alliance after Hecate. This also meant that he was the second strongest within the Alliance and was only a little bit weaker than Hecate, the leader of the Alliance.
Since the Alliance’s hierarchical system worked on who was the strongest and had the biggest fist, this meant that Hecate and anyone else underneath her, could be dethroned if a stronger person came around and challenged their position within the PK Alliance.
Sometimes, there were a few people who had done that and some of them even succeeded and were put up there within the upper echelons of the PK Alliance. However, most of the time, challengers would fail to take a spot and be brutally PKed by the players they challenged.
Lately, not many newcomers would place a challenge to the alliance’s higher-ups. This was because hardly anyone joined the true PK Alliance because they were either scared of the alliance or were part of those unscrupulous rats that had been putting a bad name to their organization.
The man who spoke up earlier had the title Lion King, but his character’s actual name wasn’t so fearsome. His character’s name was Rose and, unlike his appearance suggests, he wasn’t a knight or warrior-class player. Instead, he was just an ordinary rogue.
Not only that, but he was also only 21 years old. 21 years old, and yet he already had such a hulking body, but that wasn’t the end of it. Despite only having an ordinary rogue class–not even a hidden or unique one–he was able to stand above everyone else and become the second-in-command of the PK Alliance after Hecate.
This meant that his technical and mechanical skills were way above the norm, which enabled him to earn his seat within the PK Alliance.
“Since everyone here hardly ever meets up, I didn’t want to miss this chance to see everyone~ How are all you bastards doing?” A skinny young man said as he eyed everyone eerily and chuckled.
The last member in the meeting room looked a little fed up and spoke up with her hands crossed on top of her chest, “Enough with the banter, let’s get on with this.”
The 5 players within the room other than Hecate were known as the PK Alliance’s 5 Summits, and the last two people were called Belphegor and Lamia.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
All 5 players were extremely powerful and they were all Unlisted rankers. None of them cared about the player leaderboards. The rankings that they really cared about were the PK Alliance’s hidden rankings that were privy only to those who had joined the true PK Alliance.
As for the ones in the room, they were ranked as follows: The First Summit, Rose–also known as the Second-in-Command of the PK Alliance. The Second Summit, Zhuge Lan–the Third-in-Command of the PK Alliance.
The Third Summit, Flare, a Mage-class player who the normal player base referred to as the Arsonist Witch because of her arsenal of spells that were entirely made up of fire-element magic.
The Fourth Summit, Belphegor, a necromancer who was secretly an avid fan of Hecate’s current rival, the Blood Empress Maria. However, the only reason why Belphegor was secretly stanning Maria was not because of her streams or anything.
To date, Maria is currently the strongest ‘necromancer’ despite not possessing the necromancer class.
Many had already seen her Dark Army and Undead Army before. Not only that, but a few had also been able to secretly identify the items Maria wielded when she wasn’t using her Calamity and Zantetsu-R.
Belphegor was one of these people and he secretly coveted Maria’s items though it was extremely unlikely that he’d be able to take them from Maria.
The last member of the 5 Summits was Lamia, and just like her name, she was of the lamia race. Like Rose, she didn’t possess a rare class and was only a regular Mage in her Fourth-class advancement.
That’s right, Lamia was in her Fourth-class Advancement just like Lizzy and the other 2 girls. She was the first Mage-class player to get to her Fourth Advancement, so she possessed a unique skill just like them.
Within the Summit, she was the one who had the highest level, but despite all that, she still had the lowest seat. Levels weren’t always everything and it certainly wasn’t the determining factor behind a person’s combat power.
Finally, above the 5 Summits was naturally the PK Alliance’s leader, Hecate. She had practically everything. A unique class, a unique race, and even unique skills. However, she also had the mechanical ability to fully harness all of those unique powers, which was why she was at the top of the PK Alliance.
No one in the room could rival her. In fact, there was probably no player in the game that could rival her except for Maria, who was similar to her in almost all aspects of their character.
“Get on with the meeting Zhuge,” Hecate spoke up and said, which quickly quieted down the room.
“Yes, Master,” Zhuge Lan nodded towards her before turning to everyone else and saying, “I’ve called you all here today because our plans for moving forward from now on must only be kept between the 6 of us here.”
“You’re always like that. Keeping everyone else in the dark while only a few of us know what we’re really going to do. What else have you been keeping a secret from us? Huh?"
"..."
"Tsk, go ahead and spill it. What are we going to do this time?” Flare asked.
“Previously, we'd all decided to stop the purging of our alliance and join in on the Main Story Quest.”
“You decided on that for us, mind you.”
“Yes, but I only did that because this story quest is important to us. We can’t keep going after players all day long and neglect the Main Story when we can obtain a lot of power upgrades from it.”
“Mhm, what the strategist says is true, kekeke,” Belphegor said with an eerie chuckle.
“Shut the fuck up, Belphegor. No one asked you that!”
“Hihihihii~”
“Tsk, anyway Zhuge, get on to the point.”
“We’re fighting a losing battle. We won’t be able to win against Maria and her army. Their weaponry and command far outclasses the players and Lycans whom we are allied with.”
“So…are you telling us that we’re going to defect to her side?” Rose asked with a frown.
Hecate gave Zhuge Lan a glance and he could tell that she was disapproving of the notion of defecting to Maria’s side just so that they could win. That girl was her rival and Hecate didn’t want to work with her. She wanted to fight and PK her until they determined once and for all who was the better of them.
Zhuge Lan shook his head at their words. They were jumping ahead to conclusions that weren’t in his plans.
“What we’re going to do is cause as much damage as possible to the Dire’s army, so even if they win, it will be a pyrrhic victory,” he said with a devious smile.
“...Why can’t we just win against them? I’m sure that the players and NPCs on our side aren’t that incompetent,” Lamia quipped.
“I won’t explain it. Let me just show it to you so you’ll understand what I mean when I say we’re fighting a losing battle.”
He quickly pulled out a few Scryer Orbs and threw them onto the meeting table. The orbs activated and showed recordings of the Dire’s Navy and air force along with a few of the hidden armaments that Maria hadn’t yet announced to the public.
“What the…is this some kind of sci-fi game? Why are there airships, cannons, howitzers, and–wait a minute, that insignia! It’s the Dire’s?!” Flare exclaimed.
“Yup…that’s what my informants have been able to get for me and they say that there’s actually more. The only reason they haven’t found any evidence of it like this is because those weapons are being strictly regulated or are still in production…” Zhuge Lan said as he snapped his feather fan shut.
“...This is…just too scary. Not only is she a genius in battle, but she’s also this good at managing a nation?” Rose said with a contemplative look on his face before turning to look at Hecate, who had a smile on her face. “Boss?”
Hecate stretched her arms and yawned before saying to Zhuge Lan, “Give us the details of the plans. I want to start your plan as soon as possible!”