22:00 AT, Day one | Area around The First Fort
[Over comms]“General Ducker, everyone is in position. Bisoclo interception expected in approximately forty seconds.”
“Good work, team. Let's get this siege over and roast some nice meat as a celebration.”
Cheers of excitement and enthusiasm go through the comms.
It's a bit of a weird thing to entice them with, since Ray and I are the only ones who need actual food (which is readily available in the castle). But hey, it increases morale.
I am currently hovering in the air about two kilometers from the fort.
It's a fairly normal castle-like fort. Basically just four walls and a few buildings inside.
Though the centerpiece really sticks out. A large hellfire cannon is mounted in the center of the fort. A cannon that is basically a klack you to any infantry that tries to get close.
Well, supposing that infantry isn't smart enough to bait its shot and sneak in during the recharge.
The fort is set on top of a small hill – one of the rare ones that dot the grassland. All told, it does kinda look a bit intimidating.
That just means it'll look really cool once it's flying our flag.
Right on the forty second mark, the field in front of me explodes.
Around a 90° arc centered around the bisoclo is completely incinerated for about a kilometer out.
“Woah, glad that wasn't us, darling.” Ray says, still wearing her super cute cowboy hat as she sits on her ATV below where I am floating.
“Yeah, good thing. Ray, you wanna do the honors?”
“I'd be glad to! Giddy up folks! Charge into that fort like your lives depend upon it!”
I sit down behind Ray and hold on tight as she hits the accelerator hard.
“Ko, are you ready with the special surprise?”
“Of course, we are about to give these automatons a rude awakening.”
Our team quickly traverses the hellscape before us, careful to avoid any of the large fires that are still smoldering. It wouldn't hurt us, but I'd rather not smell of soot for a week.
We get within a few hundred meters of the wall and I open my inventory screen. Listed there is the special surprise.
I click on the button labeled ‘Retrieve Mk1 Hellsphere Launcher.’
A few moments later, nearby the ground opens up and a floating drone appears carrying a large weapon. It's basically a fancy super powered RPG.
By the way, the entire ground seems to be some sort of device that allows the system to do things like inventory, and spawning of beasts I presume.
I grab the launcher and the drone disappears back into the ground. I stand up, supported by Ray’s super cute back.
Emil & Linda are getting quite near to us, with Rigar a bit in front of us.
I brace the cannon against my shoulder and aim at a wall of the fort.
I press the button and I can feel the cannon charge up.
After about two seconds, the muzzle barks and releases a massive high-energy plasma ball.
The cannon basically falls apart in my hands, its only one use unfortunately. Hence why we get three with every purchase.
But, the effect is rendered nonetheless.
In a massive explosion that can be heard for several klicks all around, the projectile impacts the wall.
Once the dust cloud clears, there is nothing but a gaping hole left in the wall.
We quickly move in to enter the gap. Jumping off our ATVs once we are within a quick sprint.
Rigar is the first one in, warhammer in hand.
“For Dominion!” Can be heard as they utter their warcry. Resounding around the battlefield at a deafening volume.
I deploy my perception field and gain information about the entire fort. It seems that most of the side buildings are empty, since there is no one here. There are seventy two drones occupying the fort.
It's a pretty close fort, so they can't be stronger than low-level.
Ray and I enter the fort and are greeted with the large open courtyard. Several drones mill about inside, weapons at the ready to face any intruders – us.
Rigar charges in and gives a few of them a nice whack with a few swings of his hammer.
I'm glad Rigar is on our side, I definitely wouldn't want to fight them.
The moment we cross the threshold, the system announces in a loud voice that projects across the nearby landscape.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Neutral Fort M1 is now under siege by the Moonlight Alliance. Defeat all occupiers and Interface with the central core to gain control over the fort.”
In my vision, a circle appears around the central building. Must be where the core is located.
The longer this goes on, the more it feels like a game. There are clear indicators of it not being a game, like the way that the inventory system has to function. But, it's surprisingly game-like for taking place in reality.
I can't imagine how much time and funds this arena took to construct.
Though, with some funds from every massive sovereign empire, it probably was merely pocket change.
“Darling, let's do this thing, shall we?”
“Of course, let's show these bots what moonlight is capable of.”
Right at that moment, a drone charges out from a nearby alleyway, sword in hand and looking ready for some good ol’ murder.
I swing the point of my spear and quickly decapitate it. Decapitation is fun, best to enjoy it while the enemies are weak. It likely won't work on anything that has any form of armor.
Ray and I quickly dispatch a few dozen of the drones that dare to get close to us.
Emil, Linda and Rigar do so in a similar fashion.
Linda has taken on a simple short sword for this mission. Anti-material rifles don't really work well in this setting. She isn't bad, but Emil is definitely keeping a close eye on her.
It's probably good training, these drones are pretty good practice for her.
Within half an hour, we manage to fully clear out all seventy two drones.
“Wow, pretty quick work, wasn't it, darling.”
“Sure thing, it's all thanks to your super fancy spear skills. You got four with one swing that one time!”
“Oh stahp, I just got lucky is all.” Ray, super cutely says as she tries to not act arrogant. Even though she really is cool and awesome and super cute.
“Alright then, folks. Let's go see what this core thing is all about.”
We walk up to the center building and are greeted with a fancy door. Above it inscribed in the stone it says ‘Only contestants may enter the central core.’
The other three sit down against the wall to wait for Ray and I.
We enter the room and are greeted with a very fancy looking white orb floating in the center of the room. It radiates a strong white light that makes the entire room look very sterile. In front of it is a terminal with a handprint marking on it.
“Ko, you want to do the honors?”
“Sure thing, darling.”
I step forward and place my hand on the terminal. Instantly, the room erupts into a fanfare of trumpets and general excitement.
The orb turns silvery-purple, our faction color I suppose. The light casts some interesting patterns in the room.
After a few seconds, a large screen appears in front of the orb. Displayed on it is the simple question of ‘What do you wish to name your fort?’
“Hmm, what should we name it?”
“Ooo, I know. How about Fort Ridere? The fort of laughs.”
“That’s an excellent name, I'd expect nothing less from my genius darling Ray.” She makes a small noise at my comment. I shall have to look into such things in the future.
I enter the name into the terminal. Shortly after, I can hear the system make an announcement outside.
“Fort M1 has been captured by the Moonlight Alliance. It shall now be known as Fort Ridere.”
“That's so cool, it's like we just completed some major objective or something!”
The terminal then updates to show a lot of information.
It's broken down into three sections; Fort Status, Finances, and Permissions.
I quickly look through the menus. The status menu basically says how the fort is doing, any breaches, occupants, etc. It says the hole in the wall will be mended in about four hours.
The finances menu is by far the most interesting. It tells us the total amount of currency that we are earning from the fort. Which is 75 Ti per day (At 0:00). It also has some options for upgrades to the fort.
For instance, we can repair the drones for a daily upkeep cost of 5 Ti per day. We could also add more, upgrade the hellfire cannon, or even add smaller static defenses. It's relatively expensive for now, so I leave it without any upgrades. It's not like we are very likely to be attacked this early on.
The last menu is permissions. It basically has a list of all of the people in our faction. We can set certain permissions, like access to the fort’s inventory and weaponry, as well as assign certain roles to individuals. Like garrison commanders and such. I bet this will come in handy once we actually have more than the five of us around.
“Ray, you should check this out, it's quite neat. Though, it doesn't seem like it's all that much use at this current moment.”
Ray checks it out and we converse a bit about strategy and stuff.
Suddenly, she grabs my hand and drags me out of the room. “C’mon Ko, let's go check out our new territory from a better vantage point!”
We pass by the other three and I give them a quick wave and point them in the direction of a building. Supposedly its troop barracks or something similar. Emil waves back with a nice half-smile half-grimance on his face.
We come up to one of the walls and Ray makes an interesting request. “Ko, lift us up on top of the walls.”
“Wait, I thought I couldn't use my inae on anyone other than myself.”
A screen with a message from the system appears in my vision in response.
‘Inae usage shall be permitted between allied contestants.’
“See, darling. Even the system can't deny my overwhelming charm!”
With permission granted, I pick up both of us with a bit of inae and lift us on top of the wall. It's quite narrow, only about a meter thick. So we carefully balance on top so as not to fall.
“C’mon Ko, we should sit down, it'd be more comfortable.”
We sit down, our feet dangling along the outside of the fort. I lean my head against Ray’s shoulder, she dragged me out here, so I might as well receive a bit of compensation.
Before it was quite a beautiful sight.
In all directions stretches a vast ocean of grass.
We sit in silence, just watching the grass as it gently sways in the wind.
After a while, Ray reaches over and starts to idly stroke my hair. It feels really nice.
We sit like that for what must be an hour or two.
The silence and coziness is a vast contrast to the battle we just fought.
Even if it was quite easy, battles are still very intense.
It's nice to just sit and relax with my super duper cute girlfriend and get some headrubs.
I am certain this is just the start of this whole trial. But, so long as I have her by my side, we will overcome anything it tries to throw at us. So, bring it on.
End of Chapter 85
Next: Chapter 86 | Mighty Grassland
