At the same time, twenty thousand undying were attempting to break through in the Icy Mountains. But there my defenses were strong. There were many strategically placed fortifications covering the whole route. Ballistae and catapults were mounted on all guard towers, and my many orc crossbowmen and Drow archers knew exactly what to do when the time came. What was more, we set off a couple of avalanches to quench the enemy ardor and bury their hopes of getting through the Icy Mountains both literally and figuratively.
But the west was more problematic, nothing was going right there. No matter how my brave soldiers tried to hold back the enemy, no matter how they rained down arrows, stones and spells on the attackers, there were just too many undying jostling across the Styx. No less than three hundred thousand based on my scouts’ reports, and maybe even half a million. The Boundless Realm Corporation’s correspondents, who were broadcasting the epic battle live, were choking with elation and giving ever-larger numbers. In their words, there were now one or even one and a half million players, but everyone who had a rough idea how these things worked knew that wasn’t exactly true. Sure, the Boundless Realm Corporation wanted to trumpet their grand success and claim huge player interest in the event, but there were many times less participants than President Thomas Heywood was hoping.
And my actions were what killed the demand. First and foremost, my spontaneous poetry contest was wildly popular, surpassing even my boldest expectations. Of course, I wouldn’t have had time to actually read the several million paltry rhymes posted on the forum, so I called for help. Hundreds of Boundless Realm bards responded eagerly to my call, alongside some very famous and respected real-world poets. They sifted through that mound of cockle-shells, leaving me with only the most brilliant and biting works. I didn’t even have to pay my volunteer assistants, because there was just too much demand to judge this contest.
The biggest zinger was that all the poets who had passed the selection stages were invited to one of the biggest news channels on earth, where they made a real show of choosing the winner live on air. The CEO of the channel got in touch with me in advance to ask my permission. And dressed as their characters, the players recited their poems, answered questions from the audience, talked about what made their gameplay in Boundless Realm interesting and took part in all kinds of contests. He really tried to get me to come into the studio myself too, offering eight-figure sums for the hour-and-a-half-long program, but I refused outright. I didn’t have the time to fly half way around the world and record a show. I needed every precious minute to prepare to repel the undying attack.
Nevertheless, I did agree to give a speech on camera to the winner. It was a very famous Japanese poetess, a level-115 Brigand in the game. I couldn’t speak Japanese but I was told that, in translation, her haiku sounded approximately like this:
The Dark Sovereign stared
As the hordes approached his castle
What naïve losers!
More than two hundred fifty million people watched that show, the ratings were off the charts and the whole audience wore identical black t-shirts with a white shark, the emblem of the Dark Sovereign! The victor received the coordinates and the remaining poets also got a prize: a random object from the Dark Sovereign’s treasure chest. Funny how things work out. I didn’t even manipulate the results one bit. It was entirely and truly at random. But the prize was the very same legendary Bow from the Elven Amazon set which Kristina Mozzi, the TOP warrior queen of the Legion of Steel had lost. I honestly thought my sister Valerianna had put the invaluable object up for auction, but apparently she told the Storekeeper to fritter it away.
Even a bomb going off in the studio would have caused less uproar. The audience shot to their feet and began screaming and applauding. The victor then jumped onto a table and wailed in into a microphone in exhilaration, even losing the ability to speak for a time and making disjointed sounds. The host of the show even lost control of the situation, while the millions of viewers most likely started thinking all the Dark Sovereign’s chests were filled with stuff just like that. And that would have meant he also had the funds to hire any number of mercenaries. After that broadcast, many players must have lost confidence that they could ever defeat the Dark Sovereign.
Another reason the players had little appetite for war was my last video clip, in which I showed the thousands and thousands of NPC warriors training to repel the attack, as well as the many player mercenaries who had come to fight on my side. I also showed my smithies, which worked day and night and my dungeons and torture chamber just waiting for their chance to shine. I also showed the master of the torture chamber, the fearsome level-325 Grave Curse, who loved nothing more than sucking levels and stat points down to zero. I showed my huge alchemy laboratories and the NPC laborers plugging away. There were also some Alchemist players busy preparing medicinal elixirs, magical bombs and poisons for the Dark Sovereign’s army day and night.
What was more, not all the poisons were made to kill players or sap their strength. I purposely demonstrated one of the poisons of a different variety for the camera. It was an advanced and significantly improved version of the clever elixir I used at the Goblin Wedding competition in the village of Tysh. This time, the extremely strong attack of diarrhea was accompanied by skin blackening, hair falling out and an array of other effects, which were extremely unpleasant both to look at and smell. Respawning wouldn’t save them either, it would take a whole week of real time before the negative effects began to fade. As far as I heard from Taisha, who was watching the situation in the enemy camp carefully, after my video, tens of thousands of players, especially the handsome elf men and pretty elven ladies chickened out. Further, my remaining opponents had been dubbed the “fail army” on the forum, which of course did not add any popularity to the already flagging event.
And everyone at the corporation understood that. Today, at four o’clock AM I jumped up after an alarming call from Iron Jeanette and hurried to work in a taxi because my enemies were on the attack. But another call followed. It was Tina, my boss’s secretary. Tina was at work at this ungodly hour, as were many other Boundless Realm employees:
“Timothy the president of the corporation just called the Special Projects Department himself. He was asking for you. He sounded very upset. I told him you were on the way to work. Thomas Heywood said that, when you get to the building, he wants you to come straight to his office. He wants to discuss your plans for the upcoming battle from the very first shots to the culmination and finally the fall of the Dark Sovereign. In his words, ‘despite the low number of participants, everything must look epic so the audience is entertained.’“
Low number of participants? Very upset? And that was not all! Today it finally became clear that there were many fewer participants in the event than he was hoping. So, did the president want me to just lie down in a certain round and let them win?! No doubt he was hoping to place some bets at a casino for a quick buck, huh? That was not gonna fly! To hell with him, I’d never surrender! If the Dark Sovereign did fall today then, before dying, I would strive with all my might, not sparing any effort and certainly not sparing any enemies!
“So then, Tina...” I tried very hard to hold back and talk normally. “Please give President Heywood a message from me: ‘Suck on my little green pee-pee!’”
Based on the gasp of fear, she just about fainted.
“Yes Tina, you heard right. I want you to say that word for word. And don’t worry. If Thomas fires you I promise to pay compensation of one million credits. Also tell him this: ‘I’ll see you at the board of directors meeting!’”
There was no way back now. Even if the Dark Sovereign won today’s battle, the president would never forgive the insult and, by the end of the day, I’d certainly lose my job. But still I was satisfied that I had told this slippery asshole exactly what I thought about him.
* * *
THE BIG BATTLE was now in a lull. We’d blown the dam, releasing a flood which split the undyi
ng army and swept away their front lines. Unfortunately, nowhere near all my enemies were sent to respawn. It was hard to say how many players died, I hadn’t seen any numbers. Maybe eight thousand, maybe twenty. In any case I was greatly hoping for Hel and Hades, who had the power to temporarily trap players in the kingdom of the dead and delay respawn.
So now I could tally up my first results. And to my immense pity, they were not comforting. Of my eighty thousand initial soldiers, I had no more than fifty thousand left in formation. And that was at the fact that my generals were trying to place respawned mercenaries from the clans Mercs , Amazons , Bregan D’Aerthe and around ten other smaller clans on my front lines. The enemy force had also suffered deaths in the tens of thousands but they all respawned and were still pressing in, occupying the narrow pass leading to the flat plain foot by foot.
The level-402 rougarou archer Ama-Rohd was dead. The nameless dark elf who was the last survivor of the night battle at Frigid Lake had also passed, having been made commander of my archers. After a severe wound, the god of war Ares was also forced to leave the battle and return to Mount Olympus. I personally considered him a hotshot, too self-confident in battle, with no real knowledge of tactics. He just ran alone into the ranks of undying, which didn’t exactly work out. I was even forced to recall Cerberus after his life bar sagged into the red. I handed him off to some healers, but the three-headed hound’s pride had clearly somewhat diminished. He just bared his teeth sluggishly when they treated his wounds, healed him with magic and pulled the deeply-embedded harpoons, spears and massive ballista bolts from his body.
The Ravenous Cur was also basically used up. While saving the dying Cerberus, I got distracted and stopped watching Faithful and his many clones. And that horde, now without attention, attacked the enemy rear guard of support players, craftsmen and healers. The invisible monsters flew through the noncombat characters in an avalanche of blood, eating them up and dividing uncontrollably. When I came back, instead of the menacing Ravenous Curs I started with, I had a pack of low-level bugs, which the undying were stomping left and right. I saved ten of the invisible monsters, but with their level at twenty or thirty, they posed no threat to anyone.
But the Sphinx was like a duck in water. Both invincible and dangerous, he was just frolicking and bringing wanton death. Unfortunately the Sphinx was alone, and also very slow. The attackers just went around him at a good distance and kept going. The gods were more use, but they eventually threw up the white flag after a concentrated attack of thousands of players. The psychological effect of their presence was still palpable, though. My scouts, and the vampires and werebeasts embedded in the enemy ranks were reporting that the morale of the attackers had taken a big step back.
Eris also played her role brilliantly. The goddess of strife had completely forgiven me for a few strips of vibrantly colored fabric and a collection of women’s fashion magazines from the last two hundred years. After that, the leaders of the Keepers and the Lords of Chaos declared that they’d had it up to their necks with the worthless commanders, and pulled their clans out of the war.
Overall, the situation was still up in the air. On the one hand, my army had taken serious losses and was falling back gradually step by step. Now in the fairly narrow crevasse, neither side could fully deploy and the battle was being fought by just one and a half thousand soldiers per side, leaving the others back in reserve. But once the undying broke through to the plains, the situation would become critical. Unfortunately, the enemy army was still five times as large as mine and, out in the open, they could finally take advantage of that. Everyone understood that, so the enemy was desperately pressing forward, not particularly worried about losses.
On the other hand, the enemy was seriously trailing their expectations as well, and had shed the illusion that they might win this quickly. The arrival of the invisible Ravenous Curs, the indestructible Sphinx, the fearsome Cerberus and the large number of divine beings, as well as the unexpectedly huge size of the Dark Sovereign’s army were all unpleasant surprises. The enemy was just not ready for such a fierce battle. I was even forming the impression that one big push might be all it took to make them flee. Actually, the first little birdies had already taken flight. Now I would have to make their retreat grow into an uncontrollable rush for the hills.
I had been in my throne room since morning observing the situation through the Eye of the Sovereign and accepting reports from my commanders. I hadn’t joined the battle myself yet, not wanting to risk it for so little. But every time a sector threatened to go out of control, my Gray Pack was there to replace normal NPC soldiers with respawning predators. All my generals were tired, but I could still see in their eyes that they still believed we would win. And that was what mattered.
Just then, in the silence after my generals finished their reports, Taisha’s words sounded out softly:
“When defending one of the stone towers at the third defensive echelon, the entire catapult team led by Tarek Bigfoot died.”
I didn’t realize at first why my goblin lady was drawing my attention to that episode in the battle. After all, I’d lost a number of defensive towers since morning while dead goblins, as with other creatures, numbered in the thousands. But then I realized. Tarek Bigfoot was Taisha’s father!!! I didn’t even know he had come to this fight. When I offered my condolences, the beautiful goblin lady just waved her hand:
“It’s nothing, Amra. After all, I already know that my whole family and all my memories were just a story invented by some programmers for atmosphere. None of it existed before and was created along with me. And yes Amra, I free you from the oath to hunt down and take revenge on my sisters’ killers...”
Taisha said one thing but her deadened face immediately told me that the impressionable girl was just trying to reassure herself and that her father’s death really had shook her to the core. So I was categorical:
“It was the gods of Boundless Realm who accepted my oath. You have no power over them. I will only stop avenging the deaths of your sisters after I bring them both back to life. And I can bring your father back too. It’s all a matter of time and Direct Intervention Points.”
All of Taisha’s distance and lethargy blew away like the wind:
“So do it, Amra! Do it as fast as you can! And I’ll help you! Including in the real world!”
At that very moment Gloom the Dark Rider rode into my throne room:
“Sovereign, invasion again! I have detected five Legion of Steel players flying over Frigid Lake on silver pegasuses! They’re coming straight here!”
Iron Jeanette was first to react, saying what we were all thinking:
“We proved too much for them. Now they’re trying to send troops behind our back and open a second front! We cannot allow them to cross the lake!”
But how? Angelica Wayward’s ships took severe damage in this morning’s battle, and her pirates could not stop the winged pegasuses. They just flew too high. Only a player on a flying mount could stop this. To the attentive gazes of everyone in the room, my flap-eared Goblin Herbalist hopped down off his huge throne:
“The time has now come for me to enter the battle! Valerianna, attach your hornets to me. Friends, wish me luck. I just might need it!”
I ordered the Steward to transport me to my front door and whistled for VIXEN. The Royal Forest Wyvern was now as large as an airplane at level 440 and, flapping her wings noisily, plopped down next to me. I walked up and looked my love right in her big intelligent eyes:
“You’ve done a great job today spraying acid and poison on my enemies. You know the undying even gave you nicknames: Winged Death or F**ks-up-Armor. That’s because your acid has destroyed many of the best weapons and armor in the game today. But now we have another battle. It will be most important battle of either of our lives. There will be many enemies and they’re very strong and experienced. But we cannot afford to lose!”
I took a heavy sigh and opened my stat sheet, showing what I had to work
with in what very well might have been my final battle:
Name
Amra
Race
Goblin Vampire
Class
Dark Sovereign
Experience
#overflow error
Character level
442
Hitpoints (HP):
25271/25271
Endurance points
15826/15826
Statistics
Strength (S)
652 (1751)
Agility (A)
630 (3642)
Intelligence (I)
50 (554)
Constitution (C)
642 (3159)
Perception (P)
50 (1251)
Charisma (Ch)
896 (1650)
Unused points
0
Primary skills (10 of 10 chosen)
Survivor (C S)
552
First specialization: double hitpoints bonus
Second specialization: -10% damage taken
Third Specialization: 30% defense against magic
Fourth specialization: tripled Regeneration speed
Heavy armor (C S)
555
First specialization: resistant to acid.
Second specialization: reduce all damage taken by 20%.
Third Specialization: no penalty to movement speed.
Fourth Specialization: all armor set bonuses increased by 25%
Foreman (Ch P)
210
First specialization: workers immune to recruitment
Second specialization: doubled number of workers
Third specialization: increased speed of all works
Fourth specialization: tripled number of workers
Finding a Body (The Dark Herbalist Book #4) LitRPG series Page 30